So I've been testing a slightly different version of this deck, the non Deathmist Raptor and Den Protector version. My reasoning behind this decision is that the cards that we want to be using to abuse are other cards, Collected Company and Rally the Ancestors, don't mesh well with Den Protector (a nonbo if you will).
The sideboard is pretty much the way it is because we really don't want to dilute our game plan to much. There is really no pure control deck to worry about, so Brain Maggot suffices for now. Personally I haven't had to many problems with Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver.
Anyway, let me know what you guys think of the deck, its been testing really well and has been really consistent so far. The only games I've been out of are the ones that MTGO decides it doesn't want to let you play Magic.
I have yet to test a version without deathmist and den protector, but that's because they win me so many games it just seems really strange to cut them. The reason the control-matchup is a bye is that killing my creaturs doesn't really work out, because deathmist keeps coming back and forces them to do something, at which point rally takes them out. If I didn't have deathmist they could just kill all my guys and make sure to counter rally. It could be that in practice they just aren't able to handle all creatures we produce anyway, but if they have the right cards I think they can win if you don't have raptors. With raptors it actually feels impossible to lose.
The problem with caryatid is that it's horrible against control, and if you run 4 of them combined with 8! Sacrifice creatures you're actually quite bad vs creatureless control, and you don't have any good things to side in to replace them. Just attacking with elvish mystic and a raptor is enough of a clock that control has to deal with them, at which point you get to resolve enough things that they are forced to react again, and again until you rally and kill them. If you run cards that are bad vs a general archetype, like control or aggro, I think it's very important to only have so many that you can replace them all with good sideboard cards. For that reason I run 2 caryatids that I can replace with 2 thoughtseize/duress (or brain maggot in your case, which seems kind of bad vs decks with sweepers, sin collector would have been an all-star in this deck!).
I was wondering in which matchups you like minister of pain? UR thopters? I guess with so many sacrifice-creatures you can't side them out and hangarback walkers will get you bad if you dont have a good way to deal with the thopters. I would definetly cut down the number of sacrifice creatures a lot and side them out. Hangarbacks don't have flying by themselves so they aren't really an issue until they crack. The way I win vs thopters is to side out all sacrifice creatures and swarm around them. I usually get them to 8-11 life with deathmist attacks before I can't attack due to some large hangarbacks or indestructible ensouled guy. At that point I usually take some hits from an equipped flier before I rally back enough creatures to get around the blockers and finish them off. Definetly one of our worst matchups, but with reclamation sages, dromoka's command and some downfalls you can deal with the biggest issues (flying ensoul artifacts and shrapnel blast).
Minister of pain seems bad vs mono-red though, at which point I wonder if you really want 4 of them in the board. In my experience mono-red sideboard out all x-1 creatures except abbot of feral keep, if they have any experience with decks that run arashin cleric and satyr wayfinder. Minister doesn't really seem great vs zurgo, swiftspear, rabblemaster, eidolon of great revel or thunderbreak. I agree that it's by far the most preferable to have your sideboard-effects to stick on a creature, but when they don't do what you need them to (exploiting isn't neccesarily good anyway with all those sacrifice creatures you actually might have too few blockers at some point). I would rather cut down on rallys/companies if you sideboard in such a way that you have too few creatures for them to be good.
The mana-base also seems very bad. With 20 lands you will often start with 1 land in your opener and you don't have any scry-lands or 1 mana-dorks. Why no temples and why no windswept heaths? You could cut down on the number of basics easily.
I played abzan rally (deathmist raptor version) at game day yesterday and went 4-1 in the swiss facing Mono red, bant heroic, UB control, Abzan Control, Esper Dragons. I lost to mono red 0-2 and won the rest 2-0 easily. In the top 8 I faced mardu dragons, which I think is a really bad matchup, but he kept a bad hand game 1 and got mana screwed game 2 so won that also 2-0. In the semis I faced the same mono red that beat me in the swiss and I lost again.
In order to beat mono red I tried out 1 arashin cleric in the main and 3 in the side combined with a dromoka's command and 2 drown in sorrow. I never saw the cleric in any game 1 and I'm not really sure it would have helped much unless I'd have a much better draw (like mystic into liliana into double wayfinder into rally or something). The sideboard games actually went worse than the game 1s. I'm not sure if it's possible to make the mono-red matchup good post board, but I think next time I want to run 4 cleric of the forward order in addition to the arashin cleric in the main instead of the 3 clerics in the side(and shave an anafenza). The idea with arashin cleric was to run drown in sorrow and have the arashin cleric survive it, but the problem is that the games last so short and my opener doesn't necessarily have any of those cards (odds are like 50/50 to have 1 of them). In addition the arashin cleric only blocks firedrinker satyr well, while all the other creatures don't run any risk with running into it. I think if I have a hand with 2 cleric of the forward order and 1 drown I'd be thrilled anyway(although they die to wild slash and searing blood and they side in outpost siege and thunderbreak regent, so depending on their draw it might not be all that good even. It just annoys me that it doesn't seem to be any way to make the matchup really good. Thunderbreak regent kind of trumps anything I bring in, and in order to bring in all the gain life creatures I have to take out cards that help me execute my gameplan early (like mogis marauder is a bit aggressive and I at least thought siding out 1-2 of them should be correct, but now I'm not sure anymore (I run 3 main). I ended up with a graveyard without any of them and rally ends up being like a gain 3 life spell if I have a cleric in there, as my creatures cant ambush thunderbreak and the others don't attack me at that point anyway). I really would need to find out a good deck configuration after sideboard against mono red. The good creatures in the matchup should be elvish mystic/sylvan caryatid, satyr wayfinder, Liliana, arashin cleric, cleric of the forward order, marauders(as long as they are on the pro-tour version and not some goblin version), and I assume also deathmist raptor should be quite good? The problem with deathmist is that I need to have some other morph guys to make him shine, and den protector and grim haruspex aren't that great in the matchup. I also side in 2 reclamation sage to deal with eidolon of the great revel and outpost siege (I actually had 3 but I couldn't find anything to side out). What happened in both sideboard games was that I ended up with 2 rallys in hand and casting them didn't really accomplish anything (partly due to only hitting 1 satyr wayfinder in one of the games and none in the other). In the second game 1 all I needed was to find a rally to win however. I also mulliganed to 5 in one of the games due slow hands(with multiple rallys and 3-drops and no 1 or 2 drops). So could it be correct to side out some number of rallys? Anyone tried this out? I don't care if I have to devote like 8-10 cards for the matchup as I hardly sideboard anything against midrange and control and 5 specific hate cards should be enough for UR ensoul (dromoka's command and reclamation sage are good vs monoR anyway). But there's no point to have a huge sideboard unless I have cards I want to bring out, and I'm just not sure what those cards should be.
Here's what I consider to run after board against Mono red:
Primary gameplan then seems to develop mana/gain life in the early game and then drown away their guys and use fleshbags and executioners to take out thunderbreaks while reclamation sage/commands takes down outpost siege/eidolons. Then eventually get out of burn range by getting multiple clerics on the board at the same time with rally/company and take them out with a mogis marauder or just grind them down. Not sure if it will work, but if it does I think the deck can be really well positioned.
Edit: Tested 5 sideboard games against mono red that brings in 2 thunderbreak 4 eidolon of great revel 2 Outpost Siege and takes out satyr firedrinkers and lightning berserkers. I wasn't sure what they take out, but I would expect most players to take out guys that can't attack into arashin cleric or satyr wayfinder. With the sideboard configuration above, rally won all 5, where 4 of them weren't even close (ended up with more than 20 life and with MonoR in topdeck mode. MonoR kept good 7s, while rally mulliganed to 6 in 2 of them. Obviously a small sample size, but I think it's representative of the matchup.
I don't have time to go through all the matchups, but I've been playing a lot against twin with both junk, birthing pod and also Melira company, so I can probably provide some help for that particular matchup.
Against twin the cards you want to see in your opener are a at least one of either voice, spellskite, chord, collected company, removal and/or qasali in addition to a manadork and lands of course. Depending on your list your odds should be quite good for this to be the case. You need to have a turn 1 or at least turn 2 play, and if you're on the play you can even commit a threat to the board turn 3. If you have a choice between collected company and a creature or two, I'd rather wait with the company until he has 3 mana in order to represent removal. The same goes for chord obviously. Due to the deck being able to win and operate at instant speed, it feels the matchup against twin has improved slightly from before.
As for sideboarding, you should assume that your opponent is bringing in blood moons and probably a batterskull or keranos and if they're good they might also take in a dispel (some lists run 2). If they saw a spellskite turn 1 they'll take in ancient grudge for sure. It could then be wise to actually leave spellskite out if you have removal to replace it with (note chord becomes significantly worse if you do this). Some lists also run anger of the gods in the sideboard(the avg is 0.9 on avg on mtgtop8), which is probably the best card against this deck. Personally I bring in 2 reclamation sages, a burrenton-forge tender and orzhov pontiff in addition to extra removal and thoughtseizes (numbers differ when on play/draw). Sin collector might also be an option when on the play at least. I think it's a tad bit slow on the draw if you don't get a manadork. If it misses it's not too bad, as you get to see their hand which is valuable anyway, but a freshly drawn or flashbacked electrolyze makes 1 toughness guys a bit risky. How much you sideboard in and out depends on if you're on the play or on the draw. On the play blood-moon is less threatening and we can be the aggressor and still go for the combo. On the draw I think the combo is less likely to pan out and blood moon is much more backbreaking. I thus sideboard out Anafenzas (due to difficult casting cost) and bring in more disruption. Since you're likely siding in a large number of 3-drops, some number of finks might have to go as well and probably a viscera seer or two. If you can beat blood moon and batterskull and not get blown out by anger I think your beatdown plan is better than theirs so it should be possible to win without the combo.
I think most twin players would still consider us weak to their combo after board, and I don't think they'll go down on combo-pieces, but possibly go down on remands or cantrips (like probe/peek) or other disruption. This makes the sideboarded games quite draw-dependent. If they get a hand with lightning bolt and blood moon, it could spell trouble if they're on the play, but if you can play around bloodmoon, either by being able to fetch both turn 1 and turn 2 (or simply have basics in your opener) and maybe land a dork, or have at least access to forest and get to play a reclamation sage or a qasali (they probably won't play a moon while qasali is on the board, giving you time to fetch for more basics). An option which doesn't work that well in practice is to not play anything turn 2 and have abrupt decay up. If a turn 3 blood moon is game then you might just have to do it, but you might just end up loosing in the long run anyway if they don't play blood moon and just plan to play deciever or something and you just wasted your whole turn and then can't do anything the next turn either. If they do end up playing blood moon, you're likely favored to win from there however as you then can safely deploy a 2 or 3 mana-threat like loxodon smiter/Knight of the reliquary/finks/voice or whatever floats your boat(goyf maybe?) that they'll have to deal with somehow and you can sit on removal while deploying cheaper threats, or at least represent removal and play chord/companys to get ahead on board or get a spellskite to stop them going off.
I haven't tested the matchup more than a couple of times, but as in most matchups, the draw and the skill of the pilot matters most, which is another way of saying not too far from 50/50. If your list is tuned and you play well and don't just draw lands or mulligan into oblivion I think the matchup is favorable. Likewise if your opponent is better than you and doesn't mulligan and doesn't hit his 6th and 7th land drop you're probably losing.
3 abrupt decay goes a long way to deal with scooze and goyf. I'd not bother with additional graveyard hate. You even have revoker that can name scooze if you want. In general your sideboard seems to contain too many non-creatures. In a collected company deck your hate should mainly consist of creatures. I'm not sure why you want 2 maelstrom pulses, but if you're worried about tokens you should run orzhov pontiff, or if you're worried about artifacts or enchantment you should have more reclamation sages. Two qasali seems weird to have in the board, they are pretty good to run in the main. I'd also run some number of Sin Collector for combo/control. I think some number of path to exile should be somewhere in the 75 also and probably a Burrenton Forge-Tender in order to not just scoop to anger.
Some thoughts on the decks position in the metagame.
The matchup against Liliana-abzan is practically impossible to lose. Inquisition, thoughtseize, liliana and abrupt decay are horrible against this list. The main reason to play this deck is this matchup.
The matchup against burn seems favorable, with 8 creatures to incidentially gain life and outclass goblin guides or swiftspears. If I'm starting to lose this matchup I can see adding 1-2 more cards to the sideboard to make this matchup even better, but siding 2 thoughtseizes out for chalice and sword of war and peace has been working well so far.
The matchup against tron is pretty bad on paper when on the draw game 1, but if you win the die-roll and can snag game 1, stony silence, thoughtseize, chalice of the void, aven mindcensor and path to exile are great at disrupting them and most of our beaters survive pyroclasm or leave something behind against o-stone. I've only played against tron once with this list, and won easily 2-0, but having played hatebears, junk and pod before I know this one will always be tough.
The matchup against affinity is slightly favorable. Lingering souls, path to exile and abrupt decay are the allstars. Game 1 will be tough, but after boarding you have access to more lingering souls, stony silence, creeping corrosion, zealous persecution (on the play chalice on 0 is also great). Siege rhino is fantastic.
I haven't played against twin yet with this list, but with only 7 cards that interact you will on average see a bit more than 1 piece game 1. Sometimes that is enough, but you'll sometimes see 0 and sometimes see 2. If you get 0 you're going to lose and if you see 2 you should probably win. Voice is great and will allow you to stall the game even if you don't have removal (just don't tap out) as they'll not risk giving you a token in case you have removal unless they probe you first. After board we have access to 13 interactive spells. I suspect my list runs more interactive spells than other GWb lists and thus twin will most likely keep the combo as their main win-condition. With so much interaction (and with 4 of them uncounterable), it should be more or less impossible for them to go off. The only card you thus have to play around is blood moon. If you can deal with turn 3 bloodmoon you should easily win game 2. If it gets to game 3 I would expect that they side out some number of splinter twins and bring on the keranos/batterskull/wurmcoil package. It could be that zealous persecution should head back into the board and a lingering souls should come in instead then in order to not have too many interactive cards. Keranos is hard to beat in topdeck wars.
The matchup against infect is decent. Game 1 is possible to lose, but all our non-creature spells are fantastic here(particularly lingering souls). Voice is a fantastic blocker, often drawing out a pump spell in order for their guy to survive. After board it's hard to lose with 4 abrupt, 4 path, 4 thoughtseize, zealous, 2 chalice and more souls.
The matchup against bloom-titan is similar to twin game 1, probably slightly worse. You need to have interaction in your opener or you're going to lose turn 2-4. After board the matchup is probably still bad, but at least winnable. Thoughtseize, path and abrupt disrupt them and the deck can present a decent clock. Chalice is ok at countering pacts, but unfortunately it won't stop them from winning with hive mind.
The matchup against auras is bad. Chalice, abrupt, zealous and thoughtseize are good here, but odds are you lost game 1 and will only be able to bring the matchup to around 50/50 after boarding. Obviously creeping corrosion can be replaced by a fracturing dust, but I feel hexproof is quite poorly positioned in the meta now and would not expect to face this past round 1.
The matchup against UWR control is very good. They can't interact favorable with us apart from counters and path to exile. Voice and smiter makes countering a nightmare for them and lightning bolt is only good for killing a bird or a pridemage if they're lucky. Sword of war and peace is good UWR is seeing a slight rise in popularity but having a bad matchup against abzan makes me think it will not be very well positioned.
The matchup against scapeshift is fairly bad. Our beaters are quite resilient and their counters will sometimes be dead against it, but unfortunately we will be hard-pressed to win before turn 5, making it quite easy for them to go off. Thoughtseize can always steal a game here, but unfortunately some of our cards don't do anything here (path to exile and abrupt decay), making me belive this matchup is quite bad. Our sideboard also doesn't really interact a lot here. More thoughtseize is good, but lack of slaughter games type of effects makes our only hope to beat them down before they combo off or hope to snag a scapeshift with a thoughtseize. Anger of the gods can be quite good against us depending on our draw, so yeh this one is hard. It seems scapeshift is heavily on the decline now however, but could see a rise in the future.
The matchup against Living end is pretty even. Chalice shuts them down game 2 and 3, but game 1 we have to rely on a good draw. Voice is great (especially if they're inexperienced and go off on your turn thinking that you'll only get 1 token).Path is obviously great and Thoughtseize can sometimes steal the game, but lack of a scavening ooze makes it hard to stop them from coming back in after you've stabilized. Abrupt decay is obviously terrible. This is a fairly fringe deck however and should not be given too much consideration.
The matchup against storm is probably bad, though we have some sideboard cards that work well here. Storm is however ~ 0 % of the field right now, so this doesn't really matter.
I'd rate the overall win % against the field to be somewhere between 60-65% (when I weighted the estimated win % with percentage of the field from mtgtop8 data for last two weeks, I ended up with a win % of 62.47%), given typical GBx being around ~20% of the field, making this clearly tier 1 material. The sideboard cards that abzan-colours have access to are so great that in a known meta the win % after sideboard will increase dramatically for most matchups.
The deck feels incredibly powerful and demolishes most decks, but unfortunately the matchup against aggressive abzan and mardu decks is not good (~40% I estimate), which is probably why I will not play it for a PPTQ tomorrow. The matchup against control is good to bad depending on the list. Disdainful stroke is really good against this list and Ugin can actually deal with an indestructible and hexproof soulflayer. Usually manage to snag ugin with a thoughtseize or counter him after board, but I obviously don't get an indestructible soulflayer every game so it can still be tough. In a meta where all abzan and mardu players play control then I would play this for sure, but anafenza, thoughtseize and abzan charm in combination is just really hard to win against. Mardu lists with thoughtseize and crackling doom is also really hard, though if they only run crackling it becomes quite easy as they usually don't play more than 1-2 per game and we have more must-deal threats than that. It's just when they snag the soulflayer with ts right after I play commune with the gods that it gets really hard.
If your meta is filled with sidi whip or eidolon of blossom decks then I'd play this in a heartbeat. It basically can't lose to slow decks that don't run ugin .
The only really hard matchup I've come across so far is Abzan aggro. I have not actually lost a match to any other deck yet with the list in its current state(though lost plenty of games). Abzan charm is really annoying as it gets around indestructible and thoughtseize is also annoying after setting up soulflayer with commune with the gods. Anafenza luckily comes down a turn late to affect the early plays, but he is large enough to trade with soulflayer without chromanticore or pharika and if the game drags on the exiling really becomes annoying. The matchup is still winnable (at least I have won some games if not matches), but need to swap some stubborn denials in the board for more removal as both anafenza and actually warden of the first tree are threats you usually need to deal with somehow eventually. I actually had 3 bestowed chromanticores at one point and still lost to warden in the end becoming a 43/43 lifelink trampler as I just couldn't for the life of me find a removal spell.
The cards I'm most uncertain of are pharika, courser, nyx weaver and the exact amount of wayfinders. As I mentioned before it could be taigam's scheming is better than wayfinder, but my manabase doesn't support blue turn 2 so would need to change up a lot to accomodate that. Since we're running caryatids anyway, running courser is always nice to improve aggro matchup a lot. Courser doesn't really work that well against abzan aggro though, so could be there's some better options here, probably more removal instead. Nyx weaver I obviously don't see in a lot of games as I only play 1, but it's been quite good in a few games where I just end of turn traded it for a chromanticore and bestowed a rhino for the win. I can see this being replaced by removal as well or another creature with better abilities for soulflayer. So far I've just been winning too much to bother change anything, but people are playing a lot of weird brews right now so this will probably change eventually.
I will actually test 2 abzan charm in the sideboard instead of erebos and a stubborn denial and replace the nyx weaver with hero's downfall (ugin is a *****).
I've been winning non-stop on cockatrice for a while now with a soulflayer deck which is similar in many ways. What the deck really wants to achieve is a turn 3 soulflayer that preferably is hexproof or indestructible or at least has chromanticore abilities. I haven't bothered keeping track of how often this happens, and I don't think I will, but it does feel like I do it around 30-40% of the time. The card that makes it happen is commune with the gods and I can tell for sure that if you want to run a soulflayer/chromanticore list, then 4 commune, 4 soulflayer and 4 chromanticore is where you want to start. 4 caryatids is probably also a lock. Any hand with commune with the gods and at least 2 lands is keepable (probably even a 6-lander, though I'd not be thrilled, but as commune and 5 lands would be decent at 6 I think I'd keep it). I also play 4 satyr wayfinder, though these ones are obviously a bit hit or miss depending on whether your hand contains a soulflayer or not. I've been running 2 Pharika and been quite happy with her. I even manage to turn her on now and then, but you obviously want to delve her away. I'm not sure she's a lock, but a lot of games end turn 3 when you get to delve pharika and chromanticore with soulflayer. There are some answers to it like Ugin and crackling doom, but the majority of the decks just scoop to it.
I've also included thoughtseizes in my list as a way to get rid of a pharika or chromanticore before you play a soulflayer or to get through a counterspell or get rid of a removal spell. The card is incredibly strong and better in this shell than average. I also run 4 Siege Rhinos as I believe this is the best card in standard and if you're 5 colours anyway I think you should play it. I've not been playing with Sidisi yet and I probably should give her a shot, but she is sort of small and fragile compared to the rhino and bestowing chromanticore on rhino doesn't get ruined by lightning strike or stoke. Rhinos also pair up a bit better with whip of Erebos. Sidisi is also sort of random and I avoid randomness where I can. Rhino also helps mitigate damage from mana confluence and is extremely good vs aggro, which this deck can have a hard time against before sideboard (I haven't dropped a sideboarded game to mono-red yet with 3 drowns and 3 blight in the sideboard, but only played 2 matches). Once you get rhinos/chromanticores/soulfayer w/chrom out, the game ends if you've drowned them first.
Sultai Charm is a nice card in this deck as it also allows you to dump what you need and kills some annoying blockers or whatnot occasionally.
A card that can improve the t3 soulflayer and also pseudo-protects it against thoughtseize is taigam's scheming. I usually don't even consider running cards that are card disadvantage by themselves, but this card could possibly be worth it. It would be as a replacement for wayfinders, but wayfinders are obviously a central piece to a 5-colour deck, but scheming would surely lead to more broken starts. I don't think I'll priortize testing this myself as the list already works incredibly well, but someone should look into it if they have time.
By the way the manabase in the opener is a complete mess and needs to be fixed. 15(+4 caryatid) black sources is way too few. You need 18(+4 caryatid) to reliably cast soulflayer turn 3. You also need more green sources 12 is too few to cast caryatid turn 2. You need at least 13 and more is probably better. While fetches appear nice on paper for synergy with delve, they force you to run basics, which you just can't play in a 5-colour deck. Play llanowar wastes and mana confluence for untapped sources, the rest can be tri-lands and temples. Casting double red turn 3 also requires ~20 sources and those cards should obviously not be there. The deck needs to have a BG shell with the other colours being splashes. You need green turn 2 always and you want to have 2 black by turn 3 for soulflayer, downfall, bile blight and drown in sorrow, so you should have around 18(+4 caryatids) of each to make the mana smooth. The rest you shouldn't need before turn 4-5 and thus only needs 9(+4 caryatids). I'm posting from my office so don't have a list available and not sure I want to post it yet, but you can't really test a deck without a working manabase.
By the way disdainful stroke is really important sideboard card. It's the card I side in the most.
I'm no legacy-player but seems pretty ok in a show and tell or phasenought shell. Or just make a new flicker deck, though probably needs more enablers for consistent turn 3 emrakul/progenitus/etc.
If you experienced that play you should have won. Goyf would have been 3/4 by the time state based actions are checked, so the bolt would have been thrown away. You're also not podding away Goyf usually. I'm not saying he is better than voice. I have always said that voice is the best 2-drop in this shell, so you go up to 4 voice before you add Goyf. Strangleroot geist would be better if the manacost was 1G.
I've always played qasali over sage in angel-pod as he is a beater and the deck is beatdown. I tried out sage main after seeing Lanto's build however and I do think he is actually better. The number of games that I podded for qasali must be incredibly few and he dies very easily unlike goyf, so getting him preemitively doesn't really change a lot. It's not like splinter twin would go off while he was on the board while I had mana up. Well actually they do since I still have to keep 2 mana up and then they will just play deciever+bolt end of turn and kill him and then they will go off anyway. I like having the toolboxy creatures mainly at 3 cmc and 4 cmc as voice and finks are the cards I want to pod away. Playing dork into voice into pod kill my opponents turn 2 pod or steel overseer or spreading sees or whatnot is nice. I think sage is useful in more than 50% of the matchups right now and he is so much more value than qasali. The interaction with resto also comes up occasionally where I follow up pod into sage with play finks, pod into resto and flicker sage.
I think playing goyf instead on 2 cmc is just a lot better against most of the decks you usually want qasali. If you can't tap out due to splinter twin, you want to have a clock that they can't kill beating down on them while you keep mana up. I've also won games with goyf where my opponent plays bloodmoon and I have 1 forest as my only basic (or sometimes 1 dork) and play goyf and win him as my opponent cant race him, wheras I wouldn't have been able to play qasali.
I just watched the semifinals of gp madrid and saw pod beat up ascendancy. The odd thing though was that I think the pod-player misplayed badly. His board was voice and voice token and 4 untapped mana (and 1 tapped) and opponent reanimates Elesh Norn. Bellini just puts his voice and token in the graveyard and afterwards uses path to exile on elesh. If he had used path in response to voice trigger he should have gotten a voice token and ended the match like 10 turns earlier. None of the commentators commented on it, so figure it's something many could miss so just saying it here in case someone here encounters a similar situation.
Anyone run chalice of the void sideboard? If so, what match ups do you like it in? What is your typical casting cost for it? X=1?
Chalice for 0 is great against:
Affinity (when on the play)
Living end
Chalice for 1 is great against:
UR Delver
Burn
Jeskai Ascendancy
Storm
Infect
Aura Hexproof
Gr Tron (hits 18-20 cards)
Chalice can also be ok against ad nauseum, usually for 1, the problem with chalice for 1 agaisnt combo decks is that you don't get to play thoughtseize after you resolve it. Against the decks in the list that's not a problem as they won't be winning through chalice for 1 and thoughtseize is boarded out/or not taken in against delver and burn. Against ad nauseum it is a probelm, as they can easily win through chalice for 1, but at least they have to use phyrexian arena, which we have a lot of answers for. Chalice can also randomly hose a lot of decks that aren't played a lot, like weird paradise and other paradise mantle decks. It is probably good at 2 against a lot of decks, but I've never tested this and does seem very risky as our 2-drops are usually ok draws lategame. Especially lists running a lot of voices and goyfs (like mine).
Any experienced player of abzan pod know how the matchup is against Junk? As the junk player I always feel like the underdog, what are some good hosers that really turn the game around for the junk player? Just wanted to see the pod perspective and wanted to hear how junk beats pod in general..
Pod is a difficult matchup for junk, though it's definetly beatable. When I played junk I sided in torpor orb and stony silence (grafdiggers cage is even better). The problem is usually how to get ahead on card advantage. If you don't run bob that could be really hard as Liliana is pretty bad against pod and should probably be sided out (at least I did, but apparantly willy edel does not). I suppsoe you might have to keep liliana as a way to somehow get ahead, though odds are that she'll just die to a resto angel or persisted finks/redcap or voice token. The games also tend to drag out, so thoughtseize and iok are quite risky. They are good enough in the opener that you should risk running some, but I'm not sure how many is correct. If you have some flying beaters in the board or main like sigarda or restoration angel, that will usually be a way to win. Pod is sort of weak to flyers, so would try that combined with lingering souls+batterskull.
Torpor orb is sort of narrow these days, so no one's playing it, but at least an option. Could be hushwing gryph is better, both die to abrupt and 3 cmc pod targets, but hopefully you can either discard pod or play a stony silence first.
Feel free to laugh me off the thread if you like, but what is the bare minimum of creatures to support a skeleton pod chain in junk pod?
Let me give some background, I've been invested and brewing with 4c gifts. Along the way I realized that I was like $200 bucks away from five different more mainstreamly competitive decks, including BGx and Pod(s). Gifts is basically just a mix and match of the two archetypes but plays out like a junk deck with gifts for value rather than pod value chains.
So my idea is this: mix chocolate and peanut butter and add pod and chains to a junk deck. Old builds of pod did run a singleton goyf back in the day, what if I ran 4 and cut stuff like reclamation sage and other game 2 friends to the sideboard in exchange for the full set of abrupts and more mainboard decay. It would lead to a less toolboxy deck, but I'm thinking it could trump either mirror, while being difficult to sideboard against given its hybrid nature.
I just don't know, I could be ruining two good things, but I'd appreciate someone humoring me. For some reason I envision a dork or two less, but what is the bare minimum of a creature base to still pod things for value? I'd imagine keeping the voices and finks, and pontiff, but not much else.
This is basiclly what I did when I started building pod last spring, I actually posted my list from back then on the deck creation forums as I was winning like crazy with it (http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/modern/modern-deck-creation/545518-junk-pod). I was playing junk right before I built it and was looking for something else with deathrite being banned and thought pod was a very good value card but I didn't really need all the toolboxy situational creatures so I just played voices, goyfs, finks, blade splicers and restoration angel together with the spike feeder combo. This was later known as angel pod when LSV played something similar. Back then people played chord of calling, so I replaced only the chords with path and thoughtseize in main, but I think you can go down to around 25 creatures if you want. I do that occasionally after board and while I sometimes do feel light on creatures you only actually need 1 to start the pod chain, so usually works fine. Right now I'm playing combo-less, and the deck has never felt better. You're only playing superb cards and your 'tools' are top notch. If you play 4 goyfs, I would play at least 3 thoughtseize in main and 3 abrupt decays, probably 4 ts and 3 abrupts is correct. If you want more non-creature spells I would consider going down on the number of pods, but personally I don't think that route leads anywhere good. As basis for the deck I would suggest looking at the GP milan winner, that list is actually really well tuned I think, though with goyfs I would drop reveillark to make you less graveyard dependent and get thragtusk instead. When I played with goyfs during the spring, the only hate I really couldn't beat was rest in peace. It really turned of my whole deck (goyf, voice, finks, witness, redcap, scooze). Luckily I haven't seen that card once since that game.
I have yet to test a version without deathmist and den protector, but that's because they win me so many games it just seems really strange to cut them. The reason the control-matchup is a bye is that killing my creaturs doesn't really work out, because deathmist keeps coming back and forces them to do something, at which point rally takes them out. If I didn't have deathmist they could just kill all my guys and make sure to counter rally. It could be that in practice they just aren't able to handle all creatures we produce anyway, but if they have the right cards I think they can win if you don't have raptors. With raptors it actually feels impossible to lose.
The problem with caryatid is that it's horrible against control, and if you run 4 of them combined with 8! Sacrifice creatures you're actually quite bad vs creatureless control, and you don't have any good things to side in to replace them. Just attacking with elvish mystic and a raptor is enough of a clock that control has to deal with them, at which point you get to resolve enough things that they are forced to react again, and again until you rally and kill them. If you run cards that are bad vs a general archetype, like control or aggro, I think it's very important to only have so many that you can replace them all with good sideboard cards. For that reason I run 2 caryatids that I can replace with 2 thoughtseize/duress (or brain maggot in your case, which seems kind of bad vs decks with sweepers, sin collector would have been an all-star in this deck!).
I was wondering in which matchups you like minister of pain? UR thopters? I guess with so many sacrifice-creatures you can't side them out and hangarback walkers will get you bad if you dont have a good way to deal with the thopters. I would definetly cut down the number of sacrifice creatures a lot and side them out. Hangarbacks don't have flying by themselves so they aren't really an issue until they crack. The way I win vs thopters is to side out all sacrifice creatures and swarm around them. I usually get them to 8-11 life with deathmist attacks before I can't attack due to some large hangarbacks or indestructible ensouled guy. At that point I usually take some hits from an equipped flier before I rally back enough creatures to get around the blockers and finish them off. Definetly one of our worst matchups, but with reclamation sages, dromoka's command and some downfalls you can deal with the biggest issues (flying ensoul artifacts and shrapnel blast).
Minister of pain seems bad vs mono-red though, at which point I wonder if you really want 4 of them in the board. In my experience mono-red sideboard out all x-1 creatures except abbot of feral keep, if they have any experience with decks that run arashin cleric and satyr wayfinder. Minister doesn't really seem great vs zurgo, swiftspear, rabblemaster, eidolon of great revel or thunderbreak. I agree that it's by far the most preferable to have your sideboard-effects to stick on a creature, but when they don't do what you need them to (exploiting isn't neccesarily good anyway with all those sacrifice creatures you actually might have too few blockers at some point). I would rather cut down on rallys/companies if you sideboard in such a way that you have too few creatures for them to be good.
The mana-base also seems very bad. With 20 lands you will often start with 1 land in your opener and you don't have any scry-lands or 1 mana-dorks. Why no temples and why no windswept heaths? You could cut down on the number of basics easily.
In order to beat mono red I tried out 1 arashin cleric in the main and 3 in the side combined with a dromoka's command and 2 drown in sorrow. I never saw the cleric in any game 1 and I'm not really sure it would have helped much unless I'd have a much better draw (like mystic into liliana into double wayfinder into rally or something). The sideboard games actually went worse than the game 1s. I'm not sure if it's possible to make the mono-red matchup good post board, but I think next time I want to run 4 cleric of the forward order in addition to the arashin cleric in the main instead of the 3 clerics in the side(and shave an anafenza). The idea with arashin cleric was to run drown in sorrow and have the arashin cleric survive it, but the problem is that the games last so short and my opener doesn't necessarily have any of those cards (odds are like 50/50 to have 1 of them). In addition the arashin cleric only blocks firedrinker satyr well, while all the other creatures don't run any risk with running into it. I think if I have a hand with 2 cleric of the forward order and 1 drown I'd be thrilled anyway(although they die to wild slash and searing blood and they side in outpost siege and thunderbreak regent, so depending on their draw it might not be all that good even. It just annoys me that it doesn't seem to be any way to make the matchup really good. Thunderbreak regent kind of trumps anything I bring in, and in order to bring in all the gain life creatures I have to take out cards that help me execute my gameplan early (like mogis marauder is a bit aggressive and I at least thought siding out 1-2 of them should be correct, but now I'm not sure anymore (I run 3 main). I ended up with a graveyard without any of them and rally ends up being like a gain 3 life spell if I have a cleric in there, as my creatures cant ambush thunderbreak and the others don't attack me at that point anyway). I really would need to find out a good deck configuration after sideboard against mono red. The good creatures in the matchup should be elvish mystic/sylvan caryatid, satyr wayfinder, Liliana, arashin cleric, cleric of the forward order, marauders(as long as they are on the pro-tour version and not some goblin version), and I assume also deathmist raptor should be quite good? The problem with deathmist is that I need to have some other morph guys to make him shine, and den protector and grim haruspex aren't that great in the matchup. I also side in 2 reclamation sage to deal with eidolon of the great revel and outpost siege (I actually had 3 but I couldn't find anything to side out). What happened in both sideboard games was that I ended up with 2 rallys in hand and casting them didn't really accomplish anything (partly due to only hitting 1 satyr wayfinder in one of the games and none in the other). In the second game 1 all I needed was to find a rally to win however. I also mulliganed to 5 in one of the games due slow hands(with multiple rallys and 3-drops and no 1 or 2 drops). So could it be correct to side out some number of rallys? Anyone tried this out? I don't care if I have to devote like 8-10 cards for the matchup as I hardly sideboard anything against midrange and control and 5 specific hate cards should be enough for UR ensoul (dromoka's command and reclamation sage are good vs monoR anyway). But there's no point to have a huge sideboard unless I have cards I want to bring out, and I'm just not sure what those cards should be.
Here's what I consider to run after board against Mono red:
2 Sylvan Caryatid
4 Satyr Wayfinder
4 Cleric of the Forward Order
1 Arashin Cleric
4 Liliana, Heretical Healer
2 Fleshbag Marauder
2 Merciless Executioner
1 Mogis's Marauder
2 Reclamation Sage
1 Grim Haruspex
3 Deathmist Raptor
1 Nantuko husk
2 Dromoka's command
3 Drown in Sorrow
4 Collected Company
2 Rally the Ancestors
20 Lands
Primary gameplan then seems to develop mana/gain life in the early game and then drown away their guys and use fleshbags and executioners to take out thunderbreaks while reclamation sage/commands takes down outpost siege/eidolons. Then eventually get out of burn range by getting multiple clerics on the board at the same time with rally/company and take them out with a mogis marauder or just grind them down. Not sure if it will work, but if it does I think the deck can be really well positioned.
Edit: Tested 5 sideboard games against mono red that brings in 2 thunderbreak 4 eidolon of great revel 2 Outpost Siege and takes out satyr firedrinkers and lightning berserkers. I wasn't sure what they take out, but I would expect most players to take out guys that can't attack into arashin cleric or satyr wayfinder. With the sideboard configuration above, rally won all 5, where 4 of them weren't even close (ended up with more than 20 life and with MonoR in topdeck mode. MonoR kept good 7s, while rally mulliganed to 6 in 2 of them. Obviously a small sample size, but I think it's representative of the matchup.
Against twin the cards you want to see in your opener are a at least one of either voice, spellskite, chord, collected company, removal and/or qasali in addition to a manadork and lands of course. Depending on your list your odds should be quite good for this to be the case. You need to have a turn 1 or at least turn 2 play, and if you're on the play you can even commit a threat to the board turn 3. If you have a choice between collected company and a creature or two, I'd rather wait with the company until he has 3 mana in order to represent removal. The same goes for chord obviously. Due to the deck being able to win and operate at instant speed, it feels the matchup against twin has improved slightly from before.
As for sideboarding, you should assume that your opponent is bringing in blood moons and probably a batterskull or keranos and if they're good they might also take in a dispel (some lists run 2). If they saw a spellskite turn 1 they'll take in ancient grudge for sure. It could then be wise to actually leave spellskite out if you have removal to replace it with (note chord becomes significantly worse if you do this). Some lists also run anger of the gods in the sideboard(the avg is 0.9 on avg on mtgtop8), which is probably the best card against this deck. Personally I bring in 2 reclamation sages, a burrenton-forge tender and orzhov pontiff in addition to extra removal and thoughtseizes (numbers differ when on play/draw). Sin collector might also be an option when on the play at least. I think it's a tad bit slow on the draw if you don't get a manadork. If it misses it's not too bad, as you get to see their hand which is valuable anyway, but a freshly drawn or flashbacked electrolyze makes 1 toughness guys a bit risky. How much you sideboard in and out depends on if you're on the play or on the draw. On the play blood-moon is less threatening and we can be the aggressor and still go for the combo. On the draw I think the combo is less likely to pan out and blood moon is much more backbreaking. I thus sideboard out Anafenzas (due to difficult casting cost) and bring in more disruption. Since you're likely siding in a large number of 3-drops, some number of finks might have to go as well and probably a viscera seer or two. If you can beat blood moon and batterskull and not get blown out by anger I think your beatdown plan is better than theirs so it should be possible to win without the combo.
I think most twin players would still consider us weak to their combo after board, and I don't think they'll go down on combo-pieces, but possibly go down on remands or cantrips (like probe/peek) or other disruption. This makes the sideboarded games quite draw-dependent. If they get a hand with lightning bolt and blood moon, it could spell trouble if they're on the play, but if you can play around bloodmoon, either by being able to fetch both turn 1 and turn 2 (or simply have basics in your opener) and maybe land a dork, or have at least access to forest and get to play a reclamation sage or a qasali (they probably won't play a moon while qasali is on the board, giving you time to fetch for more basics). An option which doesn't work that well in practice is to not play anything turn 2 and have abrupt decay up. If a turn 3 blood moon is game then you might just have to do it, but you might just end up loosing in the long run anyway if they don't play blood moon and just plan to play deciever or something and you just wasted your whole turn and then can't do anything the next turn either. If they do end up playing blood moon, you're likely favored to win from there however as you then can safely deploy a 2 or 3 mana-threat like loxodon smiter/Knight of the reliquary/finks/voice or whatever floats your boat(goyf maybe?) that they'll have to deal with somehow and you can sit on removal while deploying cheaper threats, or at least represent removal and play chord/companys to get ahead on board or get a spellskite to stop them going off.
I haven't tested the matchup more than a couple of times, but as in most matchups, the draw and the skill of the pilot matters most, which is another way of saying not too far from 50/50. If your list is tuned and you play well and don't just draw lands or mulligan into oblivion I think the matchup is favorable. Likewise if your opponent is better than you and doesn't mulligan and doesn't hit his 6th and 7th land drop you're probably losing.
3 Noble Hierarch
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Voice of Resurgence
2 Qasali Pridemage
4 Loxodon Smiter
4 Kitchen Finks
4 Siege Rhino
3 Wilt-Leaf Liege
Spells: 9
3 Path to Exile
2 Lingering Souls
2 Abrupt Decay
2 Thoughtseize
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Windswept Heath
1 Stirring Wildwood
3 Razorverge Thicket
1 Godless Shrine
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Temple Garden
3 Gavony Township
2 Forest
1 Swamp
1 Plains
2 Stony Silence
1 Creeping Corrosion
1 Lingering Souls
2 Abrupt Decay
1 Path to Exile
2 Thoughtseize
1 Zealous Persecution
2 Chalice of the Void
2 Aven Mindcensor
1 Sword of War and Peace
Some thoughts on the decks position in the metagame.
The matchup against Liliana-abzan is practically impossible to lose. Inquisition, thoughtseize, liliana and abrupt decay are horrible against this list. The main reason to play this deck is this matchup.
The matchup against burn seems favorable, with 8 creatures to incidentially gain life and outclass goblin guides or swiftspears. If I'm starting to lose this matchup I can see adding 1-2 more cards to the sideboard to make this matchup even better, but siding 2 thoughtseizes out for chalice and sword of war and peace has been working well so far.
The matchup against tron is pretty bad on paper when on the draw game 1, but if you win the die-roll and can snag game 1, stony silence, thoughtseize, chalice of the void, aven mindcensor and path to exile are great at disrupting them and most of our beaters survive pyroclasm or leave something behind against o-stone. I've only played against tron once with this list, and won easily 2-0, but having played hatebears, junk and pod before I know this one will always be tough.
The matchup against affinity is slightly favorable. Lingering souls, path to exile and abrupt decay are the allstars. Game 1 will be tough, but after boarding you have access to more lingering souls, stony silence, creeping corrosion, zealous persecution (on the play chalice on 0 is also great). Siege rhino is fantastic.
I haven't played against twin yet with this list, but with only 7 cards that interact you will on average see a bit more than 1 piece game 1. Sometimes that is enough, but you'll sometimes see 0 and sometimes see 2. If you get 0 you're going to lose and if you see 2 you should probably win. Voice is great and will allow you to stall the game even if you don't have removal (just don't tap out) as they'll not risk giving you a token in case you have removal unless they probe you first. After board we have access to 13 interactive spells. I suspect my list runs more interactive spells than other GWb lists and thus twin will most likely keep the combo as their main win-condition. With so much interaction (and with 4 of them uncounterable), it should be more or less impossible for them to go off. The only card you thus have to play around is blood moon. If you can deal with turn 3 bloodmoon you should easily win game 2. If it gets to game 3 I would expect that they side out some number of splinter twins and bring on the keranos/batterskull/wurmcoil package. It could be that zealous persecution should head back into the board and a lingering souls should come in instead then in order to not have too many interactive cards. Keranos is hard to beat in topdeck wars.
The matchup against infect is decent. Game 1 is possible to lose, but all our non-creature spells are fantastic here(particularly lingering souls). Voice is a fantastic blocker, often drawing out a pump spell in order for their guy to survive. After board it's hard to lose with 4 abrupt, 4 path, 4 thoughtseize, zealous, 2 chalice and more souls.
The matchup against bloom-titan is similar to twin game 1, probably slightly worse. You need to have interaction in your opener or you're going to lose turn 2-4. After board the matchup is probably still bad, but at least winnable. Thoughtseize, path and abrupt disrupt them and the deck can present a decent clock. Chalice is ok at countering pacts, but unfortunately it won't stop them from winning with hive mind.
The matchup against auras is bad. Chalice, abrupt, zealous and thoughtseize are good here, but odds are you lost game 1 and will only be able to bring the matchup to around 50/50 after boarding. Obviously creeping corrosion can be replaced by a fracturing dust, but I feel hexproof is quite poorly positioned in the meta now and would not expect to face this past round 1.
The matchup against UWR control is very good. They can't interact favorable with us apart from counters and path to exile. Voice and smiter makes countering a nightmare for them and lightning bolt is only good for killing a bird or a pridemage if they're lucky. Sword of war and peace is good UWR is seeing a slight rise in popularity but having a bad matchup against abzan makes me think it will not be very well positioned.
The matchup against scapeshift is fairly bad. Our beaters are quite resilient and their counters will sometimes be dead against it, but unfortunately we will be hard-pressed to win before turn 5, making it quite easy for them to go off. Thoughtseize can always steal a game here, but unfortunately some of our cards don't do anything here (path to exile and abrupt decay), making me belive this matchup is quite bad. Our sideboard also doesn't really interact a lot here. More thoughtseize is good, but lack of slaughter games type of effects makes our only hope to beat them down before they combo off or hope to snag a scapeshift with a thoughtseize. Anger of the gods can be quite good against us depending on our draw, so yeh this one is hard. It seems scapeshift is heavily on the decline now however, but could see a rise in the future.
The matchup against Living end is pretty even. Chalice shuts them down game 2 and 3, but game 1 we have to rely on a good draw. Voice is great (especially if they're inexperienced and go off on your turn thinking that you'll only get 1 token).Path is obviously great and Thoughtseize can sometimes steal the game, but lack of a scavening ooze makes it hard to stop them from coming back in after you've stabilized. Abrupt decay is obviously terrible. This is a fairly fringe deck however and should not be given too much consideration.
The matchup against storm is probably bad, though we have some sideboard cards that work well here. Storm is however ~ 0 % of the field right now, so this doesn't really matter.
I'd rate the overall win % against the field to be somewhere between 60-65% (when I weighted the estimated win % with percentage of the field from mtgtop8 data for last two weeks, I ended up with a win % of 62.47%), given typical GBx being around ~20% of the field, making this clearly tier 1 material. The sideboard cards that abzan-colours have access to are so great that in a known meta the win % after sideboard will increase dramatically for most matchups.
1 Yavimaya Coast
2 Nomad Outpost
1 Mystic Monastery
4 Opulent Palace
4 Sandsteppe Citadel
3 Mana Confluence
2 Temple of Plenty
2 Temple of Abandon
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
3 Llanowar Wastes
1 Temple of Malady
1 Temple of Malice
4 Sylvan Caryatid
4 Chromanticore
4 Soulflayer
4 Siege Rhino
3 Satyr Wayfinder
2 Courser of Kruphix
2 Pharika, God of Affliction
Non-creature spells (10)
4 Commune with the Gods
2 Sultai Charm
2 Thoughtseize
2 Hero's Downfall
1 Whip of Erebos
1 Bile Blight
3 Bile Blight
3 Drown in Sorrow
1 Sultai Charm
1 Murderous Cut
2 Disdainful Stroke
1 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
1 Thoughtseize
1 Erebos, God of the Dead
2 Stubborn Denial
The deck feels incredibly powerful and demolishes most decks, but unfortunately the matchup against aggressive abzan and mardu decks is not good (~40% I estimate), which is probably why I will not play it for a PPTQ tomorrow. The matchup against control is good to bad depending on the list. Disdainful stroke is really good against this list and Ugin can actually deal with an indestructible and hexproof soulflayer. Usually manage to snag ugin with a thoughtseize or counter him after board, but I obviously don't get an indestructible soulflayer every game so it can still be tough. In a meta where all abzan and mardu players play control then I would play this for sure, but anafenza, thoughtseize and abzan charm in combination is just really hard to win against. Mardu lists with thoughtseize and crackling doom is also really hard, though if they only run crackling it becomes quite easy as they usually don't play more than 1-2 per game and we have more must-deal threats than that. It's just when they snag the soulflayer with ts right after I play commune with the gods that it gets really hard.
If your meta is filled with sidi whip or eidolon of blossom decks then I'd play this in a heartbeat. It basically can't lose to slow decks that don't run ugin .
1 Yavimaya Coast
2 Nomad Outpost
1 Mystic Monastery
4 Opulent Palace
4 Sandsteppe Citadel
3 Mana Confluence
2 Temple of Plenty
2 Temple of Abandon
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
3 Llanowar Wastes
1 Temple of Malady
1 Temple of Malice
4 Sylvan Caryatid
4 Chromanticore
4 Soulflayer
4 Siege Rhino
3 Satyr Wayfinder
2 Courser of Kruphix
1 Nyx Weaver
2 Pharika, God of Affliction
Non-creature spells (10)
4 Commune with the Gods
2 Sultai Charm
2 Thoughtseize
2 Hero's Downfall
1 Whip of Erebos
3 Bile Blight
3 Drown in Sorrow
1 Sultai Charm
1 Murderous Cut
2 Disdainful Stroke
1 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
1 Thoughtseize
1 Erebos, God of the Dead
2 Stubborn Denial
The only really hard matchup I've come across so far is Abzan aggro. I have not actually lost a match to any other deck yet with the list in its current state(though lost plenty of games). Abzan charm is really annoying as it gets around indestructible and thoughtseize is also annoying after setting up soulflayer with commune with the gods. Anafenza luckily comes down a turn late to affect the early plays, but he is large enough to trade with soulflayer without chromanticore or pharika and if the game drags on the exiling really becomes annoying. The matchup is still winnable (at least I have won some games if not matches), but need to swap some stubborn denials in the board for more removal as both anafenza and actually warden of the first tree are threats you usually need to deal with somehow eventually. I actually had 3 bestowed chromanticores at one point and still lost to warden in the end becoming a 43/43 lifelink trampler as I just couldn't for the life of me find a removal spell.
The cards I'm most uncertain of are pharika, courser, nyx weaver and the exact amount of wayfinders. As I mentioned before it could be taigam's scheming is better than wayfinder, but my manabase doesn't support blue turn 2 so would need to change up a lot to accomodate that. Since we're running caryatids anyway, running courser is always nice to improve aggro matchup a lot. Courser doesn't really work that well against abzan aggro though, so could be there's some better options here, probably more removal instead. Nyx weaver I obviously don't see in a lot of games as I only play 1, but it's been quite good in a few games where I just end of turn traded it for a chromanticore and bestowed a rhino for the win. I can see this being replaced by removal as well or another creature with better abilities for soulflayer. So far I've just been winning too much to bother change anything, but people are playing a lot of weird brews right now so this will probably change eventually.
I will actually test 2 abzan charm in the sideboard instead of erebos and a stubborn denial and replace the nyx weaver with hero's downfall (ugin is a *****).
I've also included thoughtseizes in my list as a way to get rid of a pharika or chromanticore before you play a soulflayer or to get through a counterspell or get rid of a removal spell. The card is incredibly strong and better in this shell than average. I also run 4 Siege Rhinos as I believe this is the best card in standard and if you're 5 colours anyway I think you should play it. I've not been playing with Sidisi yet and I probably should give her a shot, but she is sort of small and fragile compared to the rhino and bestowing chromanticore on rhino doesn't get ruined by lightning strike or stoke. Rhinos also pair up a bit better with whip of Erebos. Sidisi is also sort of random and I avoid randomness where I can. Rhino also helps mitigate damage from mana confluence and is extremely good vs aggro, which this deck can have a hard time against before sideboard (I haven't dropped a sideboarded game to mono-red yet with 3 drowns and 3 blight in the sideboard, but only played 2 matches). Once you get rhinos/chromanticores/soulfayer w/chrom out, the game ends if you've drowned them first.
Sultai Charm is a nice card in this deck as it also allows you to dump what you need and kills some annoying blockers or whatnot occasionally.
A card that can improve the t3 soulflayer and also pseudo-protects it against thoughtseize is taigam's scheming. I usually don't even consider running cards that are card disadvantage by themselves, but this card could possibly be worth it. It would be as a replacement for wayfinders, but wayfinders are obviously a central piece to a 5-colour deck, but scheming would surely lead to more broken starts. I don't think I'll priortize testing this myself as the list already works incredibly well, but someone should look into it if they have time.
By the way the manabase in the opener is a complete mess and needs to be fixed. 15(+4 caryatid) black sources is way too few. You need 18(+4 caryatid) to reliably cast soulflayer turn 3. You also need more green sources 12 is too few to cast caryatid turn 2. You need at least 13 and more is probably better. While fetches appear nice on paper for synergy with delve, they force you to run basics, which you just can't play in a 5-colour deck. Play llanowar wastes and mana confluence for untapped sources, the rest can be tri-lands and temples. Casting double red turn 3 also requires ~20 sources and those cards should obviously not be there. The deck needs to have a BG shell with the other colours being splashes. You need green turn 2 always and you want to have 2 black by turn 3 for soulflayer, downfall, bile blight and drown in sorrow, so you should have around 18(+4 caryatids) of each to make the mana smooth. The rest you shouldn't need before turn 4-5 and thus only needs 9(+4 caryatids). I'm posting from my office so don't have a list available and not sure I want to post it yet, but you can't really test a deck without a working manabase.
By the way disdainful stroke is really important sideboard card. It's the card I side in the most.
I think playing goyf instead on 2 cmc is just a lot better against most of the decks you usually want qasali. If you can't tap out due to splinter twin, you want to have a clock that they can't kill beating down on them while you keep mana up. I've also won games with goyf where my opponent plays bloodmoon and I have 1 forest as my only basic (or sometimes 1 dork) and play goyf and win him as my opponent cant race him, wheras I wouldn't have been able to play qasali.
Chalice for 0 is great against:
Affinity (when on the play)
Living end
Chalice for 1 is great against:
UR Delver
Burn
Jeskai Ascendancy
Storm
Infect
Aura Hexproof
Gr Tron (hits 18-20 cards)
Chalice can also be ok against ad nauseum, usually for 1, the problem with chalice for 1 agaisnt combo decks is that you don't get to play thoughtseize after you resolve it. Against the decks in the list that's not a problem as they won't be winning through chalice for 1 and thoughtseize is boarded out/or not taken in against delver and burn. Against ad nauseum it is a probelm, as they can easily win through chalice for 1, but at least they have to use phyrexian arena, which we have a lot of answers for. Chalice can also randomly hose a lot of decks that aren't played a lot, like weird paradise and other paradise mantle decks. It is probably good at 2 against a lot of decks, but I've never tested this and does seem very risky as our 2-drops are usually ok draws lategame. Especially lists running a lot of voices and goyfs (like mine).
Pod is a difficult matchup for junk, though it's definetly beatable. When I played junk I sided in torpor orb and stony silence (grafdiggers cage is even better). The problem is usually how to get ahead on card advantage. If you don't run bob that could be really hard as Liliana is pretty bad against pod and should probably be sided out (at least I did, but apparantly willy edel does not). I suppsoe you might have to keep liliana as a way to somehow get ahead, though odds are that she'll just die to a resto angel or persisted finks/redcap or voice token. The games also tend to drag out, so thoughtseize and iok are quite risky. They are good enough in the opener that you should risk running some, but I'm not sure how many is correct. If you have some flying beaters in the board or main like sigarda or restoration angel, that will usually be a way to win. Pod is sort of weak to flyers, so would try that combined with lingering souls+batterskull.
Torpor orb is sort of narrow these days, so no one's playing it, but at least an option. Could be hushwing gryph is better, both die to abrupt and 3 cmc pod targets, but hopefully you can either discard pod or play a stony silence first.
This is basiclly what I did when I started building pod last spring, I actually posted my list from back then on the deck creation forums as I was winning like crazy with it (http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/modern/modern-deck-creation/545518-junk-pod). I was playing junk right before I built it and was looking for something else with deathrite being banned and thought pod was a very good value card but I didn't really need all the toolboxy situational creatures so I just played voices, goyfs, finks, blade splicers and restoration angel together with the spike feeder combo. This was later known as angel pod when LSV played something similar. Back then people played chord of calling, so I replaced only the chords with path and thoughtseize in main, but I think you can go down to around 25 creatures if you want. I do that occasionally after board and while I sometimes do feel light on creatures you only actually need 1 to start the pod chain, so usually works fine. Right now I'm playing combo-less, and the deck has never felt better. You're only playing superb cards and your 'tools' are top notch. If you play 4 goyfs, I would play at least 3 thoughtseize in main and 3 abrupt decays, probably 4 ts and 3 abrupts is correct. If you want more non-creature spells I would consider going down on the number of pods, but personally I don't think that route leads anywhere good. As basis for the deck I would suggest looking at the GP milan winner, that list is actually really well tuned I think, though with goyfs I would drop reveillark to make you less graveyard dependent and get thragtusk instead. When I played with goyfs during the spring, the only hate I really couldn't beat was rest in peace. It really turned of my whole deck (goyf, voice, finks, witness, redcap, scooze). Luckily I haven't seen that card once since that game.