I'm always watching for teh best overall interaction to combine it with agressive / valueable creatures for beatdown, but nowadays it's just very limited. Thought-Knot Seer, Tidehollow Sculler, Reflector Mage and Spell Queller are my personal heroes in this case, Vendilion Clique too, but it's so hard to figure out what deck / deck-composition suites the format teh best.
i've tested a couple of cards in the two flex slots.
Starting with 2x Scavenging Ooze i came across 2x Endbringer which couldn't convince me.
The last days i was testing a one-of Chandra, Torch of Defiance and a single Magma Jet which totally convinced me.
THey filter, they burn and they pan out in case of curve-wise pattern.
Maybe you give 'em a shot too, both pieces pull there weight
Either my opponent got bigger creatures, stack-interaction or a swarm-strategy that doesn't match my removal-suite.
So what's the consensus about the format in general? Is Reflector Mage teh best it gets?
Maybe i'm just tending towards one side singlehandily, but my guts tell me that there must be a piece of interaction that hits 75% or so of the format.
i'm a huge fan of Eldrazi's in Modern but quite not happy with the current iterations of the deck because they is too few interaction around.
BW is far too clunky, RG is pretty uninteractive and EldraziTron too.
Maybe adding Restoration Angel, but i really wondered if Aether Vial has a place in here.
What are your thoughts on that topic? Is BW just better? or is there something i'm missing?
i wrote a short article about Eldrazi and Taxes in my blog, maybe you check it out and give some feedback.
It contains a matchup guide against Merfolk and some general thoughts about the deck.
I encountered the same problems and was lost for half a year now. I've switched from Affinity to Bant Company to Dredge to Bant Company and even Rg Eldrazi. Nothing was really outstanding. I sat down and really felt disappointed about the format.
Finally i've settled on a deck many players discarded: BW Eldrazi and Taxes. It's still struggling against it's both worst offenders (Jund and Affinity), but everything else beside those Matchups felt good. Sometimes it easily locks out opponents of the game, on other occasions decisions will offer intrueging plays that lead to rewarding games.
It's clunky sometimes and card-draw isn't one of it's strength, but it has all the tools for fun, competitive and exciting games.
just returned to BW Eldrazi and Taxes after playing other decks for quite some time.
My results has been pretty fine so far. I've built my sideboard to beat the most ubiquitous Matchups - Affinity and Jund.
I got trouble dealing with Death's shadow-decks, because there gameplan is a bit counterintuitive to me;
What is our plan against them? I got the issue, that most of our critters line up poorly against there threats and just outright die.
An obvious choice would be Death and Taxes (because you like midrange and aggro), which settles anywhere between aggro / midrange / tempo.
You could start with Mono White and decide to invest money into it for building up BW Eldrazi & Taxes, GW Death & Taxes or even Humans.
GW Hatebears is also easy to build up to.
I ended up 2-1-2 last saturday with my usual Retreat list.
Round 1: Rg Eldrazi
I started and quellered consecutively, built up my board and overwhelmed him with a huge Knight + Township.
Game 2 i sacrificed Selfless Spirit for Anger turn 3 and flooded the board again, pressured my opponent and finally won.
1-0
Round 2: Rg Ponza
Game 1 i got the game with huge Beaters, going under Blood Moon and a Stone Rain.
Game 2 went to time while i was not able to get through a bunch of huge Tireless Tracker and in my last turn i couldn't put together enough damage to threat lethal.
1-0-1
Round 3: Jund
Game 1 was easily mine, i outcomboed my opponent on 8 life and he has tapped out for Bloodbraid Elf.
Game 2 was about 30 turns and my opponent mulled to 5 with no lands. Sadly he found one and casted Grafdigger's Cage, which shuts down 2 companies in hand. I topdecked lands and manadorks for 10 turns, but he hasn't much business going on either. At some point he casted Goyf and ran away with the game.
Game 3 we only played a couple of turns when time was called, again i wasn't able to punch through enough damage with Kessig Wolf Run.
1-0-2
Round 4: Bushwhacker Zoo
He started and had the nuts with Goblin Guide x2 plus Nacatl with a follow up Atarka's Command for lethal.
Game 2 i dropped an early Courser of Kruphix and bounced or path'd everything he dropped.
Game 3 he had again the nuts with a turn 3 kill when i had already Voice of Resurgence on board.
1-1-2
Round 5: Ad Nauseam
Game 1 i killed him like turn 7 or 8. A pretty inexperienced player that can't put together the combo, i believe.
I had the combo, but he responded with a Slaughter Pact, but wasn't able to get off at any point in time.
Game 2 i was able to destroy a timely Pentad Prism with Pridemage and held Queller plus Disdainful Stroke in my hand to keep everything in check.
2-1-2
That's funny I actually had a similar yet opposite experience with Ponza. Game 1 was in the bag but a top decked primal command saved him. I resolved 3 CoCos that game without seeing a single KotR. Sometimes variance just gets ya. So anyways Game 2 I was expecting him to go more Midrange so I boarded out my Birds and Retreat. But he didn't and I whiffed my 3rd land drop just long enough for him to start blowing my first 2 up. Didn't take long to lose from there.
So I think my plan for the next time is to keep Birds in, but take Retreat and maybe a scooze out to make room for counterspells and Dromoka's Command (pet card). Staticaster doesn't seem terrible on the play but I don't think it's worth it.
Probably mulligan anything that doesn't have turn 2 Knight, Reflector (only good if they have an Elf obviously), or Queller. Double dork + Uwill doesn't seem terrible either if you have something fat like Knight or CoCo to back it up turn 3
This could be totally wrong, but I feel like getting Knight to stick early is crucial to punish them for blowing up your lands. And then try to keep them off their ramp by killing dorks/GQ their Utopia Sprawl lands.
My argument is with the fact that they stick on Stone Rain and Blood Moon, so as i'm aware of this i always sticking to 8 manadorks. Retreat to Coralhelm is super-bad with Blood Moon in game, so i board it out for more interaction.
I believe Karn has serious synergy with Tireless Tracker and Thraben Inspector which provides incidentially Clue Tokens and therefore pumps up the construct token.
What does everyone think about dropping jace and going back to Bant splash red for kessig and staticaster? Jace has been pretty unimpressive for me, although not terrible. Just not good. I am going to run a league tonight and replace my two maindeck jace with two maindeck retreats again. That makes me want to pick up red again too because I won't need double blue anymore (I would have to drop Clique too).
I've ran the classic Bant Knightfall yesterday to a 2-1-2 finish. It felt alright and not too low-impact with Retreat to Coralhelm.
I've managed to put it down 2 times, the first against Jund (i was on 8 life) which was enough to finish the game, the other time against Ad Nauseam but he had Slaughter Pact.
The good-ol' Retreat-Combo felt totally fine - i wasn't anywhere in a spot where i'd regret that it's in my deck.
I've also noticed an influx of green decks on mtgo, specifically Vizier combo decks and green Saheeli combo decks. Izzet staticaster can decimate those matchups (as well as other matchups like elves, affinity, lingering souls, and storm) and I don't like not having staticaster in the board. I think if I'm dropping jace, I'm going back to red.
In paper it's the exact opposite - i'm really in for dropping Staticcaster because i never board it. I firmly beliebe that Reflector Mage makes up for that loss.
Gideon, AoZ has been a beast in the board, and I want to have two of him in the 75. Maybe I just replace the 2 maindeck jace with 2 maindeck gideon instead of retreats and see how it goes. I think Gideon is more matchup dependent though.
You can gobble around with different Planeswalkers (last week i ran 2 Nissa, Steward of Elements in my 60), but it just shore up some matchups and weaken others. So it's really up to you to decide wether it's worth that trade.
My opponent indeed boarded into a Midrange-Plan. He cuts Rain and added much more midrange-game Beaters and Planeswalkers. Therefore my gameplan didn't pay off completely. We ended up drawing in extra turns after i destroyed Blood Moon and had Kessig Wolf Run tutored by Knight, but i couldn't get through lethal damage.
What's your plan against Ponza? Play the longer game with Value-Creatures or sneaking in a quick win, countering there mana-denial spells and threaten letahl with a huge Knight?
Thought-Knot Seer, Tidehollow Sculler, Reflector Mage and Spell Queller are my personal heroes in this case, Vendilion Clique too, but it's so hard to figure out what deck / deck-composition suites the format teh best.
i've tested a couple of cards in the two flex slots.
Starting with 2x Scavenging Ooze i came across 2x Endbringer which couldn't convince me.
The last days i was testing a one-of Chandra, Torch of Defiance and a single Magma Jet which totally convinced me.
THey filter, they burn and they pan out in case of curve-wise pattern.
Maybe you give 'em a shot too, both pieces pull there weight
Is any kind of interaction superior to another? Like Thoughtseize over Stubborn Denial or Lightning Bolt over Fatal Push? I got the intention that none kind of interaction suites the metagame very well.
Either my opponent got bigger creatures, stack-interaction or a swarm-strategy that doesn't match my removal-suite.
So what's the consensus about the format in general? Is Reflector Mage teh best it gets?
Maybe i'm just tending towards one side singlehandily, but my guts tell me that there must be a piece of interaction that hits 75% or so of the format.
i'm a huge fan of Eldrazi's in Modern but quite not happy with the current iterations of the deck because they is too few interaction around.
BW is far too clunky, RG is pretty uninteractive and EldraziTron too.
I thought UW is viable through cards like Serum Visions, Spell Queller and Reflector Mage.
Adding Displacer for flicker-shenanigans, Eldrazi Skyspawner for value and additional flyers.
Maybe adding Restoration Angel, but i really wondered if Aether Vial has a place in here.
What are your thoughts on that topic? Is BW just better? or is there something i'm missing?
I believe that this color-wedge combines the most powerful threats with the most disruptive creatures. I could add Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Leonin Arbiter or Spirit of the Labyrinth for more
disruption.
Meddling Mage is a viable option too.
A sample decklist:
4 Serum Visions
4 Vapor Snag
4 Meddling Mage
4 Eldrazi Skyspawner
4 Spell Queller
4 Reflector Mage
4 Thought-Knot Seer
Moved to Deck Creation - Torpf
i wrote a short article about Eldrazi and Taxes in my blog, maybe you check it out and give some feedback.
It contains a matchup guide against Merfolk and some general thoughts about the deck.
At least balanced
I encountered the same problems and was lost for half a year now. I've switched from Affinity to Bant Company to Dredge to Bant Company and even Rg Eldrazi. Nothing was really outstanding. I sat down and really felt disappointed about the format.
Finally i've settled on a deck many players discarded: BW Eldrazi and Taxes. It's still struggling against it's both worst offenders (Jund and Affinity), but everything else beside those Matchups felt good. Sometimes it easily locks out opponents of the game, on other occasions decisions will offer intrueging plays that lead to rewarding games.
It's clunky sometimes and card-draw isn't one of it's strength, but it has all the tools for fun, competitive and exciting games.
just returned to BW Eldrazi and Taxes after playing other decks for quite some time.
My results has been pretty fine so far. I've built my sideboard to beat the most ubiquitous Matchups - Affinity and Jund.
3 caves of koilos
2 godless shrine
3 plains
1 swamp
4 eldrazi temple
4 ghost quarter
1 mutavault
2 shambling vents
4 aether vial
4 tidehollows sculler
4 thalia, guardian of thraben
4 leonin arbiter
1 fatal push
4 flickerwisp
3 wasteland strangler
4 eldrazi displacer
4 thought-knot seer
1 thalia, heretic cathar
3 lingering souls
3 relic of progenitus
3 stony silence
1 kambal, consul of allocation
1 blessed alliance
1 zealous persecution
1 settle the wreckage
1 gideon, ally of zendikar
1 eidolon of rhetoric
You'll recognize that i covered the most awkward matchups with Souls, Relic, Stony + additional removal.
Just the Thalia, Heretic Cathar underperformed - has someone a suggestion here?
Orzhov pontiff or mirran crusader maybe?
Additional Manasink, CMC 4 and hast give it an intrueging appealing.
i'm running Bant Knightfall for half a year now.
This is my list:
4 misty rainforest
2 flooded strand
2 botanical sanctum
2 forest
1 island
1 plains
1 breeding pool
1 hallowed fountain
1 temple garden
1 horizon canopy
1 ghost quarter
1 gavony township
4 birds of paradise
2 qasali pridemage
2 scavenging ooze
4 voice of resurgence
4 spell queller
2 vendilion clique
4 knight of the reliquary
2 tireless tracker
4 collected company
4 path to exile
2 jace, the mind sculptor
3 reflector mage
2 blessed alliance
2 kitchen finks
2 negate
2 disdainful stroke
1 eidolon of rhetoric
1 reclamation sage
1 stony silence
1 gideon, ally of zendikar
I got trouble dealing with Death's shadow-decks, because there gameplan is a bit counterintuitive to me;
What is our plan against them? I got the issue, that most of our critters line up poorly against there threats and just outright die.
The most useful creatures had been Reflector Mage, Svanging Ooze, Tireless Tracker and Knight.
Sometimes i'm not sure if they stick to there Temur Battle Rage gameplan - should i board out Spell Queller?
Right now i'm boarding as follows:
-2 Birds, -2 Queller, -2 Clique
+2 Finks, +3 Reflector Mage, +1 Gideon
because all Flyers line up poorly against there removal, Lingering Souls and Liliana, the Last hope. Am i right with this?
On the other hand Blessed Alliance and Negate look like promising tools against there deck.
You could start with Mono White and decide to invest money into it for building up BW Eldrazi & Taxes, GW Death & Taxes or even Humans.
GW Hatebears is also easy to build up to.
Round 1: Rg Eldrazi
I started and quellered consecutively, built up my board and overwhelmed him with a huge Knight + Township.
Game 2 i sacrificed Selfless Spirit for Anger turn 3 and flooded the board again, pressured my opponent and finally won.
1-0
Round 2: Rg Ponza
Game 1 i got the game with huge Beaters, going under Blood Moon and a Stone Rain.
Game 2 went to time while i was not able to get through a bunch of huge Tireless Tracker and in my last turn i couldn't put together enough damage to threat lethal.
1-0-1
Round 3: Jund
Game 1 was easily mine, i outcomboed my opponent on 8 life and he has tapped out for Bloodbraid Elf.
Game 2 was about 30 turns and my opponent mulled to 5 with no lands. Sadly he found one and casted Grafdigger's Cage, which shuts down 2 companies in hand. I topdecked lands and manadorks for 10 turns, but he hasn't much business going on either. At some point he casted Goyf and ran away with the game.
Game 3 we only played a couple of turns when time was called, again i wasn't able to punch through enough damage with Kessig Wolf Run.
1-0-2
Round 4: Bushwhacker Zoo
He started and had the nuts with Goblin Guide x2 plus Nacatl with a follow up Atarka's Command for lethal.
Game 2 i dropped an early Courser of Kruphix and bounced or path'd everything he dropped.
Game 3 he had again the nuts with a turn 3 kill when i had already Voice of Resurgence on board.
1-1-2
Round 5: Ad Nauseam
Game 1 i killed him like turn 7 or 8. A pretty inexperienced player that can't put together the combo, i believe.
I had the combo, but he responded with a Slaughter Pact, but wasn't able to get off at any point in time.
Game 2 i was able to destroy a timely Pentad Prism with Pridemage and held Queller plus Disdainful Stroke in my hand to keep everything in check.
2-1-2
My argument is with the fact that they stick on Stone Rain and Blood Moon, so as i'm aware of this i always sticking to 8 manadorks. Retreat to Coralhelm is super-bad with Blood Moon in game, so i board it out for more interaction.
I'm trying to handle Arbor Elf, preventing a turn 2 Garruk Wildspeaker, or an Utopia Sprawl with a Pridemage / Reclamation Sage. In the long run they have Courser of Kruphix, Bloodbraid Elf, Scavenging Ooze and Tireless Tracker in multiples, so they are pretty well-equipped to fight the grind-game.
Inferno Titan and Stormbreath Dragon can be real gamebreakers and must be handled quickly.
I've ran the classic Bant Knightfall yesterday to a 2-1-2 finish. It felt alright and not too low-impact with Retreat to Coralhelm.
I've managed to put it down 2 times, the first against Jund (i was on 8 life) which was enough to finish the game, the other time against Ad Nauseam but he had Slaughter Pact.
The good-ol' Retreat-Combo felt totally fine - i wasn't anywhere in a spot where i'd regret that it's in my deck.
In paper it's the exact opposite - i'm really in for dropping Staticcaster because i never board it. I firmly beliebe that Reflector Mage makes up for that loss.
You can gobble around with different Planeswalkers (last week i ran 2 Nissa, Steward of Elements in my 60), but it just shore up some matchups and weaken others. So it's really up to you to decide wether it's worth that trade.
I was paired against Ponza yesterday. I maybe on a wrong spot here, because i boarded wrong. I thought the game comes down to if the ponza player has an
early Blood Moon or Stone Rain. To prevent that, i'm always boarding Spell Pierce (against an early Moon, Anger and Utopia Sprawl), Disdainful Stroke (against Dragon's, Inferno Titan, Bonfire of the Damned, Chandra, Torch of Defiance) plus Reflector Mage (against early Arbor Elf and other Creatures) and Reclamation Sage (against Sprawl, Moon and RoP).
My opponent indeed boarded into a Midrange-Plan. He cuts Rain and added much more midrange-game Beaters and Planeswalkers. Therefore my gameplan didn't pay off completely. We ended up drawing in extra turns after i destroyed Blood Moon and had Kessig Wolf Run tutored by Knight, but i couldn't get through lethal damage.
What's your plan against Ponza? Play the longer game with Value-Creatures or sneaking in a quick win, countering there mana-denial spells and threaten letahl with a huge Knight?