I love this talk of more controlling sideboards. Happy to see more people posting results without Whir. I always thought we did just fine with Crane and Serum Visions :/ LotV, Damnation, and CB are too powerful not to play, and they synergize way better with a control build.
I came up with the dankest control sideboard I could come up with, given 3 LotV, 2 Damnation, and at least 3 CB already in the (my) main. I'm toying with a green splash because Vraska and Maelstrom Pulse are catch-all answers to anything else we struggle with.
This sideboard is intended to sort-of forget the artifact theme postboard and double down on control, especially with cards that are combined answers + threats. Ashiok, Vraska, Clique, Hostage Taker, Ballista, and even Fulminator are able to pressure the opponent somewhat while providing other value too. No need to pull the combo, necessarily, but there are plenty of dead cards for me after a game 1 that it would be nice to have a whole stable of powerful control cards to replace.
Hey Mill players! Short time lurker, got brought in by Quartz's well-written Reddit post and the excitement over Fraying Sanity to finally give this a build. I've already got my traps and orbs and shelldock (good foresight by 2-years-ago me who knew I'd build mill if Glimpse would drop in price).
Few quick questions:
How important is the "all with the same name" clause on Echoing Truth? Because Winds of Rebuke would be a blast to play 4 of.
Given that I'm playing 4 Profane Memento, is Fatal Push straight up necessary to survive aggression? Or could I skate by with 4 copies of Echoing Truth/Winds? I am reluctant to decrease mill spell density for anything if I can help it.
Lastly, Compelling Argument I don't find anywhere discussed for modern. Is 5 cards just too few for a mill spell to nab, even with cycling?
I am super in love with Lost Legacy, especially in tandem with targeted discard. If you get a peek at their hand with a T1 or T2 Thoughtseize and you see something else troublesome in their hand, LL gets 'em good. That comes up mostly against Tron when I TS a map or scrying to slow them down, then followup with LL to extract whatever other threat was in their hand. LL is our answer to every deck where taking T3 off doesn't just make us lose: Titan/scapeshift, UW control, Tron. I keep 2 in my sideboard and love them!
Y'all, cut it out with these narrow cards. The answer to opponents holding up countermagic and shatters is LotV in the main and Ashiok in the side. Planeswalkers just trash opponents on the control plan. With Lili also having great synergy in the deck.
LotV + Thopters =
I agree with Krenko that Whir might just be opposed to LotV. Mana requirements if nothing else. I heavily recommend Crane alongside LotV because:
* 1U is a much easier mana requirement
* the body blocks for her
* replacing itself with another card helps with her +1
IF you turn Whir into Crane, then...:
* you probably want to turn 2 IoK into Bridges 3+4. LotV and Bridge go very well together.
* Lingering Souls' job is kinda covered by Crane, so that can become an artifact
* Baubles can become higher impact artifacts
Funny enough, Altar and Reactor are trying to do the same thing--just stay alive and let the win come to you! The upside to Altar was that you'd have to be insane to counter it or waste a Wear//Tear on it, so we should be able to stick it as an innocuous wincon against answer-heavy decks. It's just so bad though. You aren't really going to Whir for it ever, cause if you can resolve a Whir, it's not a matchup where you really need Altar.
@Saggarath I wanted to circle back and say yes, I've tried Swan Song and I love it. It hits all the card types we care about, including denying RIP/Stony on the draw, giving additional trouble to Violent Outburst/Gifts Ungiven/Scapeshift/Ad Nauseum, and just trading up in CMC against K-com. I think I can handle the 2/2 Bird token better than the next guy though, cause I still run 4x Cranes which can block it as well as 2 Damnations.
Tutorable artifacts that win the game on their own:
Darksteel Reactor is all I found that checks all your boxes
Decimator Web loses to Stony and Leyline, and the activation cost is real. DOES beat infinite life though.
Batterskull, Noxious Gearhulk, and Wurmcoil Engine can die but are powerful enough to be their own wincon.
Blightsteel Colossus has a problematic CMC
Memnarch is gonna cost too much and also can die
Altar of the Brood has been tried to meh results
Booby Trap is a mega combo with Bauble! lol
Hate artifacts are definitely what we should be doing postboard. That's the definition of a good sideboard card: one that is great in some matchups but awful in others. Cage, relic/spellbomb, defense grid, trinisphere, witchbane orb. The nature of Whir makes it pretty tempting to bring those cards maindeck, but be careful. I am pretty sure (?) that it makes sense to put the relic/spellbomb main since they at least draw you a card if nothing else, but the others should stick in the sideboard. Use those slots in the main for cards that are never useless--namely serum visions and brutality.
Re: Academy Ruins, I think everyone is correct that it doesn't go in the Whir deck, but it still hurts me to hear @Systrill disliking it. It's mediocre if you're running Whir, period. UUU is not easy, but also the deck fundamentally changes to threaten artifacts at instant speed, so you can strain countermagic better. For me without Whir, countermagic can tear me apart. Academy Ruins is seriously A+ and I will never cut it from my own build because of the inevitability it brings. When I see my opponent on UW-tie-bracket.dek or Temur-whatever.dek, holding up remand on turn 2 and cryptic on turn 4, suddenly Academy Ruins is the very top of the list of cards I want to see, followed by Expedition Map and Crucible of Worlds.
@LeoLeft just wanna argue semantics, but I'd say a build with serum visions is in fact an "all in combo" build. You don't run serum visions cause you like wasting time setting up the top of your deck. You run it because there is a specific card you want to draw (the other half of the combo, or bridge if you need to turtle). I do agree that diverse wincons postboard is the right idea, and to that end I say everyone should toss in an Ashiok for decks with high answer-to-threat ratios.
Mechanized Production is a super cool card. It just doesn't... fit anywhere. Maindeck is stupid; we have a much stronger plan. That leaves the board, but when would you ever want it? It's a good strategy against people who have lots of answers to your artifacts: GBx variants for Decay/Pulse/K-com and UW control for counters. But it's noninteractive and slow. I'd love Production if we had an artifact that was BOTH controlling and mattered in multiples. Something like Aether Spellbomb, if it could draw you a card and bounce a creature with the same ability, or Needle if it gained you 3 life on ETB.
Last thought: why do I have fatal push in my 75? The best answer I have is cause -2/-2 doesn't kill Baral, and that's pretty narrow. Brutality is growing back on me every day.
@radouf Unfortunately Crystal Ball didn't get to shine. I dropped it against my Scapeshift opponent with mana up to scry, but he Krosan Gripped it, of all things, so I couldn't even scry in response. Then I dropped it again against that opponent without mana up, and he Destructive Revelry'd it before I untapped mana to scry. I can't remember if I saw Crystal Ball against other opponents--I'm sure it was in my hand, but I was either busier making thopters or dropping planeswalkers to get to cast it. I think I nabbed it with a Crane as fodder for Lili's +1 once
It's a tough comparison to Sunset Pyramid. The most appealing thing about Pyramid is the lower CMC, but I hate that it costs 2 and only scries 1. I am not sure the card draw is even an advantage; it has been said, card quality matters more than quantity for us, and I'd rather dig more efficiently than draw extra cards. If Crystal Ball ends up being bad, I don't think Pyramid will be any better.
Hi all,
Just took Tezzeret to a 4-2, 13th place finish at a 1k. 50 players were in attendance. There was a TON of burn represented, a disproportionately high amount of Elves, and plenty Eldrazi Tron. Only like 3 DS players.
Match 1: Eldrazi Tron
Game 1 is a grindfest. Bridge does heavy lifting while I Crane and SV my way to the combo. By the time I assemble the combo, Endbringer has gotten me in the danger zone. A timely All Is Dust kills my first round of thopters and my foundries, so the game becomes hunting for another Foundry or Needle before Endbringer pings me to death. I do not get there.
Side in Ashiok and Witchbane Orb for Ballista and Relic.
Game 2 My 7 include Crucible, GQ, Ashiok, and Talisman. I play the talisman on turn 2. By turn 3 the opponent had no board presence, so I wanted to get an engine going with my moment to breathe. I wasn't going to be able to play Crucible and play a land from GY that turn, so instead I thought I'd play Ashiok and GQ on turn 3--next turn I'd be able to play Crucible and then re-play last turn's GQ from the bin. Welp, I didn't respect the Thought-Knot Seer and he played a Temple to rip Crucible on his t3. That cost me an easy victory... but then fast forward many turns. I've found a Bridge and gotten Tezz to 5 while my opponent has again found an Endbringer and started in on my life total. All Is Dust has killed a foundry, and I have Sword and Academy Ruins in play with 6 mana untapped. I just... missed putting the Foundry back on top with Ruins. Didn't see it. And I lost to Endpinger. 0-1.
Match 2: Temur Scapeshift--No titans
Game 1 I'm on the play. He drops a Young Pyromancer on turn 2 so I have no idea what he's on. I untap and casually LotV, -2 her, and Pyromancer avoided being a thing. Then he just plays lands forever. Many of my spells get countered while a beatdown Sakura-Tribe Elder keeps my LotV in check, but I finally peel a Tezz and make a hasty 5/5 Talisman. That turn, the Elder swings at Tezz But next turn I just make another hasty creature and they put him away.
Side in 2 Lost Legacy, Swan Song, and Witchbane Orb. Out: Relic, Needle, Ballista, 1 Damnation
Game 2 I don't find enough interruption. He's heavy on countermagic, but Academy Ruins is ******* MVP. I let him blow some counters on swords (lol) and when he had EVEN MORE COUNTERS for the Foundries, I bought em back twice with Ruins. Buuut then he just Scapeshifted me from 18.
Game 3 Academy Ruins again super all-star. I stupidly didn't side out Bridges because I thought he had titans, but I should have learned those were not in his deck after game 2. Well, he D-Revs me 2 times while also countering Foundries and 2 Bridges. He Snapcasters another D-Rev on my bridge, so I'm hurting. The snapcaster beats me to 5 before I Academy Ruins myself a Bridge, which ended up actually being relevant to stop Snapcaster beats. I find a Lili to give me a clock, then a Witchbane Orb to save both our asses (mine and Lili's, ofc). Eventually find combo and get there at 28 life. 1-1.
Match 3: Elves
Game 1, he's too fast. I'm on the draw, I scoop turn 4 staring down mega lethal. He has seen a Sword at this point unfortunately, but after it was clear I'm not winning, I revealed nothing else.
Side in 2 Fatal Push and Cage. Side out Crucible, Relic, and Thoughtseize.
Game 2 I keep a hand with 2 SV, a Sword, LotV, and 3 lands. Turn 1 SV finds Foundry. Turn 2 play Foundry; he plays More Dudes. Turn 3, drop a Sword, he plays More Dudes. Turn 4, Damnation. He's emptyhanded. Felt great. Thopters take it home real quick.
Game 3 I get annihilated. He was too fast. I had Damnation and would have had the mana to cast it, but he takes turn 3 after playing a million dudes to Druid them into GGG for Choke. My Watery Grave doesn't untap and I don't hit a 5th land for Damnation in time. 1-2.
Match 4: BW Eldrazi and Taxes
Game 1 saw Wasteland Strangler as he took his deck out. He plays Vial on turn 1 so I'm careful to play and crack my fetchlands fast before Arbiter. Speaking of which, he does play for mana on his turn 3, while pathing a Crane. So on my turn, he's tapped out, and yours truly is a troll who plays 3 GQs main, so I strip mine him to his own Arbiter. Thopters soon after thanks to SV, and they show him the door.
Sideboard: saw white, figured games 2/3 would be an uphill battle. Brought in Herald and Ashiok, took out Relic and Crystal Ball. Probably didn't need Ashiok here but I was expecting to need to find nonartifact ways to win the game.
Game 2 I just land early combo thanks to Serum Visions. Destroyed him shortly, but I casted Herald just to say I did. He got a card discarded for me, and he turned a Map that was just sitting there (thopters are a better mana sink after all) into killing Tidehollow Sculler that had taken my Damnation. Thopters and Herald beat real quick. 2-2.
Match 5: B Devotion splash R for Kolaghan's Command
Game 1 nobody knows better than me how screwed black decks are against artifacts. He's dropping Gifted Aetherborn, Geralf's Messenger, and Phyrexian Obliterator on curve, while I'm dropping the combo. Block and kill Aetherborn before he learned the combo. Don't bother blocking Obliterator--I'm gaining that life back and chunking him every turn. Bridge not required. He did play a BR land on his last turn, so I know to expect at least some resistance after boarding.
Side in Ashiok, take out Ballista.
Game 2 he just doesn't draw the K-commands. Bridge keeps him at bay with his great curve of creatures while I land a Tezz and uptick. He has gained a lot through Aetherborn so a Tezz ult, even after I land the combo and spew thopters, is not lethal in 1 turn. HOWEEEEVER mah girl Ashiok has been ticking up since turn 3 and has a Geralf's Messenger in her wallet. I toss that into play and the drain is enough to make Tezz lethal. Thanks, Ashiok. 3-2.
Match 6: Burn
Game 1 - He is on the play. I keep a 1-lander cause it has Serum Visions and natural combo. He leads on mountain, Goblin Guide, put a land in my hand. I play a tapped Watery Grave, being careful with my life, and with combo already I didn't feel the need to play SV. Turn 2, swiftspear, bolt me, swing for another 4 (draw me a land). I'm looking pretty ****ed. I play Brutality, go 3 modes, have a Sword to discard and at this point an extra land to pitch thanks to the Goblin Guide extras, and then play combo and seal the deal.
Sideboard in Padeem, Trinisphere, Trading Post, Witchbane Orb. Take out Lili and Tezz (what good are they if I'm dead), crystal ball (no time for that!) and relic. I see now Needle would have been a better side-out than the LotV.
Game 2 I miraculously find the Brutality and combo in my opening 7. He opens with Lava Spike. My turn is Delta, which I crack on his end step for a tapped Watery Grave after he spends turn 2 playing a land and passing. My turn 2, it's Brutality City. Only 2 modes cause there's no creature to get this time. He responds by skullcracking me, and I'm able to duress a Bolt. So I basically threw away a card, but it's all about staying alive, not maximizing efficiency. His turn 3, plays Swiftspear and chunks me for 1; I untap and play Lili as an Assassinate. His turn 4 he bolts Lili, which may not have been what cost him the game, but it was not correct either way. I drop the combo; he's now the one on the clock. On his turn he thinks for a while, plays Eidolon, then realizes I will not be casting spells for the rest of the game. I finally do something clever instead of dumb on my next turn: I make a thopter in my main phase, to which he responds with skullcrack to prevent the lifegain. I'm like, cool pass turn, then I just do all my thopter making and lifegain on his turn, skullcrack having only prevented the gain of a single life instead of all of it if I had waited until his turn to begin. Thopter life gains me back into the teens and he scoops. 4-2.
Thoughts
Crane, y'all. Block dudes from hitting Lili, find me lands (citadels), make assembling the combo super easy. Also even when I didn't plan on casting whatever Crane drew, I'd just grab a junk artifact to throw away to Lili's +1 or Brutality. 1000% on the Crane plan.
LotV is amazing. On hands without the combo, she's a 1-card wincon, which is a very strong thing-that-isn't-the-combo to be doing. Only ever felt I didn't want her against Elves, and even then, a slow edict that gains me a few life when they swing at her isn't awful.
Crucible lock is real. I goofed up and missed my chance to get a free Eldrazi Tron win with it, but I got it online in some other grindy game and just recurred a few Deltas, which was great.
Tezzeret did less work than I expected. Not that he wasn't amazing when I could cast him, but I was so worried for my life total in many games that I had to put all of my energy into getting a bridge or thopter lifegain going, and he would not get cast if I was able to start the combo. His time of most importance was as a topdeck against the Scapeshift guy just to steal the game with hasty 5/5s.
Collective Brutality is amazing. I am dumb to only have 1 copy in my 75. I feel like I want 2 more copies, maybe 1 main and 1 side.
Map and Relic were lame. Guess I'm happy to have them for curve reasons, but whenever I cast them they just sat there. I think, even considering they occupy an important slot on the curve, I found myself often taking turn 1 to play a tapped Grave or fetch for a tapped Grave to preserve my life. A common play for me was to save life by not shocking on turn 1, playing whatever colorless land turn 2 into Talisman, then using the Talisman to play the 1 drop I skipped earlier.
GQing my own Citadel for a painless fetch happened a few times. On that note, my mana was totally fine despite all the colorless lands, but I do give a lot of that credit to talisman.
Academy Ruins did a ton of work. Buying back foundries and bridges through destructive revelry was way strong, and I should have been able to win an Eldrazi Tron game by Ruins-ing a foundry back.
Leaving Fatal Pushes in the side felt fine. BUT I think that was only made ok by having LotV and Damnation main. Felt great not having to rely -only- on bridge.
Going forward, I am definitely cutting Culling Scales from the side, and maybe Herald (my build doesn't power it out very quickly), for a Brutality. Then I might shift Ballista to the side and put another Brutality in its place maindeck. Ballista was really only there as a Crane-findable extra removal spell for combo dorks, and I never got to use it.
Lots of people loving this for EDH. Am I insane to want this for modern? Instead of banning DS, Wizards gave us a brand new card that attacks it! I will definitely try to find room in my 75, possibly a copy in place of one of my 2 MD damnations.
Sorcerous Spyglass IS cool because it costs 2 and could be played in a Chalice build, but as the reddit thread points out, if you're bringing in needle, you know what you want to name with it, so costing 1 instead of 2 means Spyglass will not be worth it.
I watched some CalebD playing his Tezz brews. I loved the Lili and Gemstone Caverns, but the lack of thopter combo was sad, and a lot of his iterations felt like they didn't do much until turn 4. I love our Serum Visions, hand disruption, and cheap artifacts for getting things going on early turns.
Which leads me into my own Chalice testing. I could not make it work in the maindeck, no matter what I did. I added Gemstone Caverns, turned my Serum Visions and TSes into Thirsts and Brutalities to accommodate Chalice, took out my (beloved) Crucible package to accommodate the Caverns. The only silver lining except from Chalice itself was that, with my high-ass curve as well as Gemstone Caverns, it made sense to maindeck Trinisphere. In testing however, if I didn't cast Chalice on turn 1, I felt super vulnerable until later turns, especially because it was harder to go hellbent for Bridge.
The big reason for Chalice is for points in DS matches. I do wish we had some other tool against t1 thoughtseize into t2 DS/Tasigur. There's a bunch of jank that kind of helps, but nothing helps enough without messing up the rest of the deck too much. Nephalia Academy (ew), maindeck Trinisphere (delve threats don't care), Swan Song (that can't be worth it, can it?). Their sideboard is great against us with Ceremonious Rejections and Stubborn Denials, so it would be nice to make game 1 distinctly favor us.
I came up with the dankest control sideboard I could come up with, given 3 LotV, 2 Damnation, and at least 3 CB already in the (my) main. I'm toying with a green splash because Vraska and Maelstrom Pulse are catch-all answers to anything else we struggle with.
-Damnation
-Fulminator Mage
-Lost Legacy
-Lost Legacy
-Ashiok
-Vraska the Unseen
-Maelstrom Pulse
-Maelstrom Pulse
-Forbidden Alchemy
-Walking Ballista
-Thoughtseize
-Thoughtseize
-Vendilion Clique
-Hostage Taker
-Nihil Spellbomb
This sideboard is intended to sort-of forget the artifact theme postboard and double down on control, especially with cards that are combined answers + threats. Ashiok, Vraska, Clique, Hostage Taker, Ballista, and even Fulminator are able to pressure the opponent somewhat while providing other value too. No need to pull the combo, necessarily, but there are plenty of dead cards for me after a game 1 that it would be nice to have a whole stable of powerful control cards to replace.
Few quick questions:
How important is the "all with the same name" clause on Echoing Truth? Because Winds of Rebuke would be a blast to play 4 of.
Given that I'm playing 4 Profane Memento, is Fatal Push straight up necessary to survive aggression? Or could I skate by with 4 copies of Echoing Truth/Winds? I am reluctant to decrease mill spell density for anything if I can help it.
Lastly, Compelling Argument I don't find anywhere discussed for modern. Is 5 cards just too few for a mill spell to nab, even with cycling?
LotV + Thopters =
I agree with Krenko that Whir might just be opposed to LotV. Mana requirements if nothing else. I heavily recommend Crane alongside LotV because:
* 1U is a much easier mana requirement
* the body blocks for her
* replacing itself with another card helps with her +1
IF you turn Whir into Crane, then...:
* you probably want to turn 2 IoK into Bridges 3+4. LotV and Bridge go very well together.
* Lingering Souls' job is kinda covered by Crane, so that can become an artifact
* Baubles can become higher impact artifacts
@Saggarath I wanted to circle back and say yes, I've tried Swan Song and I love it. It hits all the card types we care about, including denying RIP/Stony on the draw, giving additional trouble to Violent Outburst/Gifts Ungiven/Scapeshift/Ad Nauseum, and just trading up in CMC against K-com. I think I can handle the 2/2 Bird token better than the next guy though, cause I still run 4x Cranes which can block it as well as 2 Damnations.
Darksteel Reactor is all I found that checks all your boxes
Decimator Web loses to Stony and Leyline, and the activation cost is real. DOES beat infinite life though.
Batterskull, Noxious Gearhulk, and Wurmcoil Engine can die but are powerful enough to be their own wincon.
Blightsteel Colossus has a problematic CMC
Memnarch is gonna cost too much and also can die
Altar of the Brood has been tried to meh results
Booby Trap is a mega combo with Bauble! lol
Re: Academy Ruins, I think everyone is correct that it doesn't go in the Whir deck, but it still hurts me to hear @Systrill disliking it. It's mediocre if you're running Whir, period. UUU is not easy, but also the deck fundamentally changes to threaten artifacts at instant speed, so you can strain countermagic better. For me without Whir, countermagic can tear me apart. Academy Ruins is seriously A+ and I will never cut it from my own build because of the inevitability it brings. When I see my opponent on UW-tie-bracket.dek or Temur-whatever.dek, holding up remand on turn 2 and cryptic on turn 4, suddenly Academy Ruins is the very top of the list of cards I want to see, followed by Expedition Map and Crucible of Worlds.
@LeoLeft just wanna argue semantics, but I'd say a build with serum visions is in fact an "all in combo" build. You don't run serum visions cause you like wasting time setting up the top of your deck. You run it because there is a specific card you want to draw (the other half of the combo, or bridge if you need to turtle). I do agree that diverse wincons postboard is the right idea, and to that end I say everyone should toss in an Ashiok for decks with high answer-to-threat ratios.
Mechanized Production is a super cool card. It just doesn't... fit anywhere. Maindeck is stupid; we have a much stronger plan. That leaves the board, but when would you ever want it? It's a good strategy against people who have lots of answers to your artifacts: GBx variants for Decay/Pulse/K-com and UW control for counters. But it's noninteractive and slow. I'd love Production if we had an artifact that was BOTH controlling and mattered in multiples. Something like Aether Spellbomb, if it could draw you a card and bounce a creature with the same ability, or Needle if it gained you 3 life on ETB.
Last thought: why do I have fatal push in my 75? The best answer I have is cause -2/-2 doesn't kill Baral, and that's pretty narrow. Brutality is growing back on me every day.
StonyLeyline looks likeIt's a tough comparison to Sunset Pyramid. The most appealing thing about Pyramid is the lower CMC, but I hate that it costs 2 and only scries 1. I am not sure the card draw is even an advantage; it has been said, card quality matters more than quantity for us, and I'd rather dig more efficiently than draw extra cards. If Crystal Ball ends up being bad, I don't think Pyramid will be any better.
Just took Tezzeret to a 4-2, 13th place finish at a 1k. 50 players were in attendance. There was a TON of burn represented, a disproportionately high amount of Elves, and plenty Eldrazi Tron. Only like 3 DS players.
Here's the list I took:
1x Crucible of Worlds
1x Crystal Ball
4x Ensnaring Bridge
1x Expedition Map
1x Pithing Needle
1x Relic of Progenitus
3x Sword of the Meek
3x Talisman of Dominance
4x Thopter Foundry
1x Walking Ballista
Planeswalker (6)
3x Liliana of the Veil
3x Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
Creature (4)
4x Glint-Nest Crane
1x Collective Brutality
2x Damnation
4x Serum Visions
1x Thoughtseize
Land (22)
1x Academy Ruins
3x Darksteel Citadel
3x Ghost Quarter
1x Inventors' Fair
2x Island
4x Polluted Delta
2x Swamp
1x Underground River
1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4x Watery Grave
1x Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
1x Culling Scales
1x Dispel
2x Fatal Push
1x Grafdigger's Cage
1x Herald of Anguish
2x Lost Legacy
1x Nihil Spellbomb
1x Padeem, Consul of Innovation
1x Swan Song
1x Trading Post
1x Trinisphere
1x Witchbane Orb
Match 1: Eldrazi Tron
Game 1 is a grindfest. Bridge does heavy lifting while I Crane and SV my way to the combo. By the time I assemble the combo, Endbringer has gotten me in the danger zone. A timely All Is Dust kills my first round of thopters and my foundries, so the game becomes hunting for another Foundry or Needle before Endbringer pings me to death. I do not get there.
Side in Ashiok and Witchbane Orb for Ballista and Relic.
Game 2 My 7 include Crucible, GQ, Ashiok, and Talisman. I play the talisman on turn 2. By turn 3 the opponent had no board presence, so I wanted to get an engine going with my moment to breathe. I wasn't going to be able to play Crucible and play a land from GY that turn, so instead I thought I'd play Ashiok and GQ on turn 3--next turn I'd be able to play Crucible and then re-play last turn's GQ from the bin. Welp, I didn't respect the Thought-Knot Seer and he played a Temple to rip Crucible on his t3. That cost me an easy victory... but then fast forward many turns. I've found a Bridge and gotten Tezz to 5 while my opponent has again found an Endbringer and started in on my life total. All Is Dust has killed a foundry, and I have Sword and Academy Ruins in play with 6 mana untapped. I just... missed putting the Foundry back on top with Ruins. Didn't see it. And I lost to Endpinger. 0-1.
Match 2: Temur Scapeshift--No titans
Game 1 I'm on the play. He drops a Young Pyromancer on turn 2 so I have no idea what he's on. I untap and casually LotV, -2 her, and Pyromancer avoided being a thing. Then he just plays lands forever. Many of my spells get countered while a beatdown Sakura-Tribe Elder keeps my LotV in check, but I finally peel a Tezz and make a hasty 5/5 Talisman. That turn, the Elder swings at Tezz
Side in 2 Lost Legacy, Swan Song, and Witchbane Orb. Out: Relic, Needle, Ballista, 1 Damnation
Game 2 I don't find enough interruption. He's heavy on countermagic, but Academy Ruins is ******* MVP. I let him blow some counters on swords (lol) and when he had EVEN MORE COUNTERS for the Foundries, I bought em back twice with Ruins. Buuut then he just Scapeshifted me from 18.
Game 3 Academy Ruins again super all-star. I stupidly didn't side out Bridges because I thought he had titans, but I should have learned those were not in his deck after game 2. Well, he D-Revs me 2 times while also countering Foundries and 2 Bridges. He Snapcasters another D-Rev on my bridge, so I'm hurting. The snapcaster beats me to 5 before I Academy Ruins myself a Bridge, which ended up actually being relevant to stop Snapcaster beats. I find a Lili to give me a clock, then a Witchbane Orb to save both our asses (mine and Lili's, ofc). Eventually find combo and get there at 28 life. 1-1.
Match 3: Elves
Game 1, he's too fast. I'm on the draw, I scoop turn 4 staring down mega lethal. He has seen a Sword at this point unfortunately, but after it was clear I'm not winning, I revealed nothing else.
Side in 2 Fatal Push and Cage. Side out Crucible, Relic, and Thoughtseize.
Game 2 I keep a hand with 2 SV, a Sword, LotV, and 3 lands. Turn 1 SV finds Foundry. Turn 2 play Foundry; he plays More Dudes. Turn 3, drop a Sword, he plays More Dudes. Turn 4, Damnation. He's emptyhanded. Felt great. Thopters take it home real quick.
Game 3 I get annihilated. He was too fast. I had Damnation and would have had the mana to cast it, but he takes turn 3 after playing a million dudes to Druid them into GGG for Choke. My Watery Grave doesn't untap and I don't hit a 5th land for Damnation in time. 1-2.
Match 4: BW Eldrazi and Taxes
Game 1 saw Wasteland Strangler as he took his deck out. He plays Vial on turn 1 so I'm careful to play and crack my fetchlands fast before Arbiter. Speaking of which, he does play for mana on his turn 3, while pathing a Crane. So on my turn, he's tapped out, and yours truly is a troll who plays 3 GQs main, so I strip mine him to his own Arbiter. Thopters soon after thanks to SV, and they show him the door.
Sideboard: saw white, figured games 2/3 would be an uphill battle. Brought in Herald and Ashiok, took out Relic and Crystal Ball. Probably didn't need Ashiok here but I was expecting to need to find nonartifact ways to win the game.
Game 2 I just land early combo thanks to Serum Visions. Destroyed him shortly, but I casted Herald just to say I did. He got a card discarded for me, and he turned a Map that was just sitting there (thopters are a better mana sink after all) into killing Tidehollow Sculler that had taken my Damnation. Thopters and Herald beat real quick. 2-2.
Match 5: B Devotion splash R for Kolaghan's Command
Game 1 nobody knows better than me how screwed black decks are against artifacts. He's dropping Gifted Aetherborn, Geralf's Messenger, and Phyrexian Obliterator on curve, while I'm dropping the combo. Block and kill Aetherborn before he learned the combo. Don't bother blocking Obliterator--I'm gaining that life back and chunking him every turn. Bridge not required. He did play a BR land on his last turn, so I know to expect at least some resistance after boarding.
Side in Ashiok, take out Ballista.
Game 2 he just doesn't draw the K-commands. Bridge keeps him at bay with his great curve of creatures while I land a Tezz and uptick. He has gained a lot through Aetherborn so a Tezz ult, even after I land the combo and spew thopters, is not lethal in 1 turn. HOWEEEEVER mah girl Ashiok has been ticking up since turn 3 and has a Geralf's Messenger in her wallet. I toss that into play and the drain is enough to make Tezz lethal. Thanks, Ashiok. 3-2.
Match 6: Burn
Game 1 - He is on the play. I keep a 1-lander cause it has Serum Visions and natural combo. He leads on mountain, Goblin Guide, put a land in my hand. I play a tapped Watery Grave, being careful with my life, and with combo already I didn't feel the need to play SV. Turn 2, swiftspear, bolt me, swing for another 4 (draw me a land). I'm looking pretty ****ed. I play Brutality, go 3 modes, have a Sword to discard and at this point an extra land to pitch thanks to the Goblin Guide extras, and then play combo and seal the deal.
Sideboard in Padeem, Trinisphere, Trading Post, Witchbane Orb. Take out Lili and Tezz (what good are they if I'm dead), crystal ball (no time for that!) and relic. I see now Needle would have been a better side-out than the LotV.
Game 2 I miraculously find the Brutality and combo in my opening 7. He opens with Lava Spike. My turn is Delta, which I crack on his end step for a tapped Watery Grave after he spends turn 2 playing a land and passing. My turn 2, it's Brutality City. Only 2 modes cause there's no creature to get this time. He responds by skullcracking me, and I'm able to duress a Bolt. So I basically threw away a card, but it's all about staying alive, not maximizing efficiency. His turn 3, plays Swiftspear and chunks me for 1; I untap and play Lili as an Assassinate. His turn 4 he bolts Lili, which may not have been what cost him the game, but it was not correct either way. I drop the combo; he's now the one on the clock. On his turn he thinks for a while, plays Eidolon, then realizes I will not be casting spells for the rest of the game. I finally do something clever instead of dumb on my next turn: I make a thopter in my main phase, to which he responds with skullcrack to prevent the lifegain. I'm like, cool pass turn, then I just do all my thopter making and lifegain on his turn, skullcrack having only prevented the gain of a single life instead of all of it if I had waited until his turn to begin. Thopter life gains me back into the teens and he scoops. 4-2.
Thoughts
Crane, y'all. Block dudes from hitting Lili, find me lands (citadels), make assembling the combo super easy. Also even when I didn't plan on casting whatever Crane drew, I'd just grab a junk artifact to throw away to Lili's +1 or Brutality. 1000% on the Crane plan.
LotV is amazing. On hands without the combo, she's a 1-card wincon, which is a very strong thing-that-isn't-the-combo to be doing. Only ever felt I didn't want her against Elves, and even then, a slow edict that gains me a few life when they swing at her isn't awful.
Crucible lock is real. I goofed up and missed my chance to get a free Eldrazi Tron win with it, but I got it online in some other grindy game and just recurred a few Deltas, which was great.
Tezzeret did less work than I expected. Not that he wasn't amazing when I could cast him, but I was so worried for my life total in many games that I had to put all of my energy into getting a bridge or thopter lifegain going, and he would not get cast if I was able to start the combo. His time of most importance was as a topdeck against the Scapeshift guy just to steal the game with hasty 5/5s.
Collective Brutality is amazing. I am dumb to only have 1 copy in my 75. I feel like I want 2 more copies, maybe 1 main and 1 side.
Map and Relic were lame. Guess I'm happy to have them for curve reasons, but whenever I cast them they just sat there. I think, even considering they occupy an important slot on the curve, I found myself often taking turn 1 to play a tapped Grave or fetch for a tapped Grave to preserve my life. A common play for me was to save life by not shocking on turn 1, playing whatever colorless land turn 2 into Talisman, then using the Talisman to play the 1 drop I skipped earlier.
GQing my own Citadel for a painless fetch happened a few times. On that note, my mana was totally fine despite all the colorless lands, but I do give a lot of that credit to talisman.
Academy Ruins did a ton of work. Buying back foundries and bridges through destructive revelry was way strong, and I should have been able to win an Eldrazi Tron game by Ruins-ing a foundry back.
Leaving Fatal Pushes in the side felt fine. BUT I think that was only made ok by having LotV and Damnation main. Felt great not having to rely -only- on bridge.
Going forward, I am definitely cutting Culling Scales from the side, and maybe Herald (my build doesn't power it out very quickly), for a Brutality. Then I might shift Ballista to the side and put another Brutality in its place maindeck. Ballista was really only there as a Crane-findable extra removal spell for combo dorks, and I never got to use it.
Lots of people loving this for EDH. Am I insane to want this for modern? Instead of banning DS, Wizards gave us a brand new card that attacks it! I will definitely try to find room in my 75, possibly a copy in place of one of my 2 MD damnations.
Sorcerous Spyglass IS cool because it costs 2 and could be played in a Chalice build, but as the reddit thread points out, if you're bringing in needle, you know what you want to name with it, so costing 1 instead of 2 means Spyglass will not be worth it.
I watched some CalebD playing his Tezz brews. I loved the Lili and Gemstone Caverns, but the lack of thopter combo was sad, and a lot of his iterations felt like they didn't do much until turn 4. I love our Serum Visions, hand disruption, and cheap artifacts for getting things going on early turns.
Which leads me into my own Chalice testing. I could not make it work in the maindeck, no matter what I did. I added Gemstone Caverns, turned my Serum Visions and TSes into Thirsts and Brutalities to accommodate Chalice, took out my (beloved) Crucible package to accommodate the Caverns. The only silver lining except from Chalice itself was that, with my high-ass curve as well as Gemstone Caverns, it made sense to maindeck Trinisphere. In testing however, if I didn't cast Chalice on turn 1, I felt super vulnerable until later turns, especially because it was harder to go hellbent for Bridge.
The big reason for Chalice is for points in DS matches. I do wish we had some other tool against t1 thoughtseize into t2 DS/Tasigur. There's a bunch of jank that kind of helps, but nothing helps enough without messing up the rest of the deck too much. Nephalia Academy (ew), maindeck Trinisphere (delve threats don't care), Swan Song (that can't be worth it, can it?). Their sideboard is great against us with Ceremonious Rejections and Stubborn Denials, so it would be nice to make game 1 distinctly favor us.