Attending a 150ppl modern tournament this weekend with Stickballruss' Decklist - and thinking bout some sideboard slots.
For which matchups the Damping Matrix is needed? I can't remember any game where it would have helped me :'D
Beside that im quite unsure bout the 3xEidolon of the Great Revel - when they come in? Only to fight Storm/Fenix?
Damping matrix is great against affinity, Dominate against devoted druid and eldrazi tron, and good against tron and spirits.
Eidolon comes in when we are on the aggro plan. it's a low cc creature that punishes the opponent just for playing spells. It usually gets killed immediately, but in the rare circumstances when it doesn't, it takes over a game. also, when it dies, it does do 2 damage. Over the course of a game, that adds up. especially vs deaths shadow when all we really need to do is 4-6 damage to win those games.
I love the Ballista idea, I actually split Warboss and Ballista 2/2. I've been running the stock list for over a year straight, and I totally stand by the list, I just try not to steer everyone to it when they've customized the list to their liking. Your list is very close now, and I expect you can do well.
Also, I forgot to mention this yesterday, but with GB, Tron, Humans etc.. Magus of the Moon could be decent over the Jaya in the board. Just a thought.
Truth right here. I'x had magus in the board and maindeck when I felt it was right to play him. we are one faithless looting away from Magus coming back into the main deck as a 2 of and completely ditching warboss. Not there yet because everyone and their mom are playing red because of looting and dredge, but if that changes, I expect magus to make a comeback!
Now, I really enjoy this deck, and have watched you and FluffyWolf stream it a ton. And you do very well online, but the results for the deck (not your performances per say) in tournaments has been lacking. Why do you think that is? Doesn't get played very much and so there just aren't that many to choose from? Doesn't do very well against a large field? I must admit, it doesn't seem like a Tier 1 or even 2 deck, so not sure why we keep touting its greatness. No trying to be critical, just trying to see why we keep believing in it when the results (on paper) at least don't translate in bigger tournaments.
Sorry it took so long to answer. I see others have already answered, but allow me to chime in.
First, I did not play in Philly. I've been waiting all year for this event, but God had other plans. I got really sick. I mean really really sick and couldn't even get off the couch. Dr. thinks I had Viral Pneumonia that turned into the flu. Fun times.
As far as why we play this deck? it's fun. and it's good. but mostly, it's fun. when played at a high level, it can be nothing short of dominant. I am proof of that. I've tor through more paper events with this deck than I can count. I actually lost track of the number of time I made top 8 with this deck at non-FNM events. Sure, MTGO is hostile to this deck, but that's MTGO. paper magic is VERY different than online. Pople are much worse players in paper. also, there's the whole bluffing, body language, missing triggers thing in person that doesn't happen on MTGO. I streamed all week before regionals and didn't get a single 5-0. not one. I even scrubbed out of regionals at 1-2 to some bad variance, but then I entered the IQ and proceeded to not lose a game (not match, game) until the finals. It was the most dominate performance that I've ever seen anyone have, and I'm lucky to have it.
This deck, when piloted well, can tore through an event like no other. the problem is many people just want to pick up a deck and do well with it. Most people play standard, modern, draft, etc... this is NOT a deck for people like that. I've been playing this deck for years now as well as many of the people on here. And the lines are tight and can win or lose very easily by taking an incorrect line. Caligula referenced this in the post directly before this one. Had he just sat tight and held up 5 mountains, he wins. Instead he decided to fight a battle over a spyglass and lost.
Sideboard strategy is also huge we flip from control to aggro all the time and we need to know not only what to bring in and out, but also need to construct our board to be able to do so. If we need to be the control role, do we have enough stuff to bring in if we side out all the rabbles? If you're playing 8 rabble and/or eidolons maindeck, do we have a control card to bring in for each creature we're bringing out? I see this all the time where the main deck is full aggro, then get paired against humans and are forced to leave in rabbles or eidolons because we just don't have enough to take out. the the pilot loses because they draw said creatures instead of the control cards they need.
I talk about this a lot on stream. At the end of the day, this deck is VERY hard to pilot. Sure, you can take this to an FNM and the core 50 (30 mana, Chandra, Chalice, Rabble, Bridge, Moon) can propel you to a 3-1 or a 4-0. It happens all the time. But it's those other 10 cards and how you use them which can get you through an IQ or an Open/GP.
Side note, if you want to see how NOT to pilot this deck, take a look at Saffron Olive's latest stream. Seth's a good guy and I do like him, but even someone with his experience playing magic, especially with this deck that he calls his own, made MAJOR mistakes and errors in both how he thinks about the deck and the specific decisions throughout his stream. From sideboarding to game play, there were a lot wrong and it showed in his results.
So, long answer, but I like to be thorogh. this deck is HARD to play well, so people will pick up another deck that's much easier, like tron, phenoix, or dredge. People also like to look smart, so they play amulet titan. Look at me, I'm playing a super complicated deck! Please. Pick up Pyro Prison if you want a complicated deck. If not, that's fine. Just be ready for the turn one moon!
Assuming I start to feel better, I'll be rocking it out in philly this weekend.. This will be mu 2bd individual open and we all know what happened the first tune.....will lightning strike twice.
oh, and combust also deals with an angel and thing in the ice cleanly and can be another piece of removal vs spirits, especially with the 1/3 dudes grow out of anger range. something to think about.....
So, I streamed Showtime's deck last night and it was awesome. Felt great. I like his theory on spot removal and in this meta, he's 100% correct. I would love to find more aggressive 2 drops, but sadly, they don't exist in modern right now for mono red.
Changes I would make.....
#1. Using Grafdiggers cage in place of Leyline. Yes, Leyline is more powerful and there's no debate when dealing with Graveyard strategies. However, Cage also deals with Collected Company, eldrich Evolution, MadCap experiment, and Collected company. The added versatility of cage is huge and being able to cast it when in the draw and it's the first draw of the game is also good. We've all played with Leylines and we've all gotten the dreaded..."this hand is good enough, keep, 1st draw, leyline" hand. Cage doesn't have that problem. With KCI out of the picture, there's no need to actually exile the cards, so cage is my pick.
Also, I didn't play vs control, but I feel we need a solid 4 more aggressive cards to bring in vs control. if we take out 4 bridges, I want 4 more aggro cards coming in. Or at least two. I can see spyglass coming in to stop the planeswalkers and spellskite to protect the team, but I would struggle to find two additional cards to bring in. Maybe we keep the bridges to aviod getting blown out by baneslayer angel. Maybe we drop 3-ball for a 2nd spyglass to deal with the planeswalkers. I don't know, but it's something worth thinking about.
All said, I'm going to test it more. I am usually on the stock list with 2 abrade and 2 slagstorm maindeck, but replacing those with 4 eidolon felt great. Plus, we have access to the same 2 abrade and 4 anger effect post board in the event we get matched up against spirits or humans. I like how you think, showtime, about each card having maximum impact and I'm on board. Lets continue to fine tune the deck and make it even better!!
Can someone explains me how eidolon and bridge works together. For me is weird. U can't have cards in hand but the same time u are punish for casting them.
You are correct, it's awkward at times, but this is not the meta from early 2018. There are very few decks that use 1 power creatures now, so if eidolon ever becomes a problem, you can always just start attacking with it until they block and kill it. But it's also another lock piece vs the spell heavy decks. Looking at you, UR Thing and storm!
I was thinking dropping the sweepers maindexk all together. Run 4 abrade and zero sweepers instead if the 2/2 split. Then we can test two new goblin over two chainwhirler, which makes us weaker to Thalia and other creature matches. Honestly, I really like the new goblin, but having a hard time finding room in my list. I think the list I ran this weekend is as optinized as it's gonna be for me at this point. Chainwhirler and walking ballista have proven too valuable and eidolon out the board is much needed aggression va control but also another lock piece vs combo. We can't replace eidolon with new goblin. Crap, this is hard.....
After playing many games, I think if you are not running dragons, Sarkhan is not good enough. When you are behind a bridge, he's great. Probably the 2nd best thing you want outside of chandra, but you only have bridge in your opening hand 44% of the time. That means roughly half the games, you'll be battling without a bridge in play. In those games, Chainwhirler is better. It kills stuff, helps stabilize the board, blocks like a champ, and it something else the control deck needs to deal with. Also, vs control, I can't tell you how many times I land a sarkhan, only to watch my opponent flash in a snapcaster mage, attack and bolt it down. True, you get one cycle out of it, but is that worth three mana and your turn. Same argument can also be said for chainwhirler, but sometimes it also takes out their existing snapcaster mage, v clique, or soldier tokens. If they don't have an answer for it, you have a clock at three damage a turn. Sarkhan is also a clock, but a much sloer one and if they find an answer several turns later, at least chainwhirler did some damage.
I have been loving sarkhan and even tore through an IQ a few weeks ago with it. Remeber, I wnet undefeated and had 1st seed going into the Top 8, so it's not that I don't like the card. Its just modern has gotten so incredible fast, that I need something that impacts the game state NOW. Even control is fast now a days. With all control decks packing 3-4 logic knots and 1-2 negates (which I want to punch the computer screen every time a control player casts negate game one vs me), you really need to be fast to get under those spells and have an impact before they get to cryptic mana. Once they got three blue and anything else, if you aren't in a commanding position, you're dead. every time. spending a turn to cast sarkhaan may feel great, and he may even stick around for a few turns, but make no doubt about it, they don't have to counter it and you've just given blue another chance to play another land without adding any pressure to the board.
Now, this whole equation changes if you are running dragons. Dragons change this equation because now you can use sarkhaan to start pumping out haymakers. Also, in a list Like Ray's Trash Dragons, I like sarkhaan over chainwhirler by a lot. Sarkhaan help power out big stupid ***** way ahead of curve and he's running 11-12 rituals whereas the stock list only runs 8-9 rituals. Trash Dragons is a similar but different approach to Pyro Prison and equally as effective. Stock lists, like the one I usually run, try to use targeted spells to pick the opponent apart and make them feels helpless. Trash Dragons tries to pound you into the ground with Haymaker after haymaker and presents questions that are so large and heavy hitting, the moment the opponent doesn't have an answer, they are dead. A True call back to the Hammer's Slammer deck of old.
So, I think both are good in the right builds and if the meta changes to a more midrange format, I can totally see Sarkhaan being better than chainwhirler across the board, but for now, midrange decks have gone into hiding. Either you're facing an incredibly fast deck (humans, affinity, hollow-one, bridge vine, burn), a big mana control type deck (Tron, UW Control, Scapeshift) or combo that wins on turn 3-4 (Storm, KCI, Ad Nausem, Devoted Druid). Jund, death and taxes, and even mardu pyromancer have all gone been almost non-existent lately and in those attrition based matches, Sarkhaan is better, no doubt. But in all those decks where the game is virtually or actually decided by turn three, unless you are running dragons, I think sarkhaan is too slow in the stock list, or at least too slow to run two. Maybe a 1/1 split of a chainwhirler and a sarkhan could be good. I haven't tried that yet.
Was I the only one that found that New Yorker article difficult to read? Felt like the author was all over the place, with one random idea after another with no cohesive story to tell or news to report.
Ray is 100% correct. I've been playing since 1995 and I've NEVER seen someone act like an ******** at a card shop or a tournament (and I've been to a LOT of them) in regards to racist or sexist comments. I've had opponents pissed they lost, not shake my hand, or other visibly upset behavior, but never in a way that would rise classify as politically incorrect.
Just stay out of politics, treat others with respect, and you'll have no problems....unless your opponent turn one blood moons you, then all bets are off!
Had some last minute shake-ups with my unified team for GP Detroit.
Mardu player bailed and we picked a Tron player, which forced my other teammate into Infect
No more Ballista
No more Cage
No more Spellskite
Can I cope? Is this gonna pooch the deck? If Prison is sub-optimal I might have to switch to Hollow One.
I’m not really sure what to expect out of this Unified meta.
I've been the biggest cheerleader of Spellskite since I've picked up the deck, and it's time for it to go. Decks are too focused now and we need more answers or threats. Can't be spending time protecting out stuff anymore. This make us weaker vs burn, but that's a concession I'm willing to make.
Damping matrix is great against affinity, Dominate against devoted druid and eldrazi tron, and good against tron and spirits.
Eidolon comes in when we are on the aggro plan. it's a low cc creature that punishes the opponent just for playing spells. It usually gets killed immediately, but in the rare circumstances when it doesn't, it takes over a game. also, when it dies, it does do 2 damage. Over the course of a game, that adds up. especially vs deaths shadow when all we really need to do is 4-6 damage to win those games.
Truth right here. I'x had magus in the board and maindeck when I felt it was right to play him. we are one faithless looting away from Magus coming back into the main deck as a 2 of and completely ditching warboss. Not there yet because everyone and their mom are playing red because of looting and dredge, but if that changes, I expect magus to make a comeback!
Sorry it took so long to answer. I see others have already answered, but allow me to chime in.
First, I did not play in Philly. I've been waiting all year for this event, but God had other plans. I got really sick. I mean really really sick and couldn't even get off the couch. Dr. thinks I had Viral Pneumonia that turned into the flu. Fun times.
As far as why we play this deck? it's fun. and it's good. but mostly, it's fun. when played at a high level, it can be nothing short of dominant. I am proof of that. I've tor through more paper events with this deck than I can count. I actually lost track of the number of time I made top 8 with this deck at non-FNM events. Sure, MTGO is hostile to this deck, but that's MTGO. paper magic is VERY different than online. Pople are much worse players in paper. also, there's the whole bluffing, body language, missing triggers thing in person that doesn't happen on MTGO. I streamed all week before regionals and didn't get a single 5-0. not one. I even scrubbed out of regionals at 1-2 to some bad variance, but then I entered the IQ and proceeded to not lose a game (not match, game) until the finals. It was the most dominate performance that I've ever seen anyone have, and I'm lucky to have it.
This deck, when piloted well, can tore through an event like no other. the problem is many people just want to pick up a deck and do well with it. Most people play standard, modern, draft, etc... this is NOT a deck for people like that. I've been playing this deck for years now as well as many of the people on here. And the lines are tight and can win or lose very easily by taking an incorrect line. Caligula referenced this in the post directly before this one. Had he just sat tight and held up 5 mountains, he wins. Instead he decided to fight a battle over a spyglass and lost.
Sideboard strategy is also huge we flip from control to aggro all the time and we need to know not only what to bring in and out, but also need to construct our board to be able to do so. If we need to be the control role, do we have enough stuff to bring in if we side out all the rabbles? If you're playing 8 rabble and/or eidolons maindeck, do we have a control card to bring in for each creature we're bringing out? I see this all the time where the main deck is full aggro, then get paired against humans and are forced to leave in rabbles or eidolons because we just don't have enough to take out. the the pilot loses because they draw said creatures instead of the control cards they need.
I talk about this a lot on stream. At the end of the day, this deck is VERY hard to pilot. Sure, you can take this to an FNM and the core 50 (30 mana, Chandra, Chalice, Rabble, Bridge, Moon) can propel you to a 3-1 or a 4-0. It happens all the time. But it's those other 10 cards and how you use them which can get you through an IQ or an Open/GP.
Side note, if you want to see how NOT to pilot this deck, take a look at Saffron Olive's latest stream. Seth's a good guy and I do like him, but even someone with his experience playing magic, especially with this deck that he calls his own, made MAJOR mistakes and errors in both how he thinks about the deck and the specific decisions throughout his stream. From sideboarding to game play, there were a lot wrong and it showed in his results.
So, long answer, but I like to be thorogh. this deck is HARD to play well, so people will pick up another deck that's much easier, like tron, phenoix, or dredge. People also like to look smart, so they play amulet titan. Look at me, I'm playing a super complicated deck! Please. Pick up Pyro Prison if you want a complicated deck. If not, that's fine. Just be ready for the turn one moon!
I posted my list to my Twitter. It's a picture, so I cant upload it here.
Changes would be ravenous trap over surgical in the board. Otherwise the list is good
Changes I would make.....
#1. Using Grafdiggers cage in place of Leyline. Yes, Leyline is more powerful and there's no debate when dealing with Graveyard strategies. However, Cage also deals with Collected Company, eldrich Evolution, MadCap experiment, and Collected company. The added versatility of cage is huge and being able to cast it when in the draw and it's the first draw of the game is also good. We've all played with Leylines and we've all gotten the dreaded..."this hand is good enough, keep, 1st draw, leyline" hand. Cage doesn't have that problem. With KCI out of the picture, there's no need to actually exile the cards, so cage is my pick.
Also, I didn't play vs control, but I feel we need a solid 4 more aggressive cards to bring in vs control. if we take out 4 bridges, I want 4 more aggro cards coming in. Or at least two. I can see spyglass coming in to stop the planeswalkers and spellskite to protect the team, but I would struggle to find two additional cards to bring in. Maybe we keep the bridges to aviod getting blown out by baneslayer angel. Maybe we drop 3-ball for a 2nd spyglass to deal with the planeswalkers. I don't know, but it's something worth thinking about.
All said, I'm going to test it more. I am usually on the stock list with 2 abrade and 2 slagstorm maindeck, but replacing those with 4 eidolon felt great. Plus, we have access to the same 2 abrade and 4 anger effect post board in the event we get matched up against spirits or humans. I like how you think, showtime, about each card having maximum impact and I'm on board. Lets continue to fine tune the deck and make it even better!!
Russ
You are correct, it's awkward at times, but this is not the meta from early 2018. There are very few decks that use 1 power creatures now, so if eidolon ever becomes a problem, you can always just start attacking with it until they block and kill it. But it's also another lock piece vs the spell heavy decks. Looking at you, UR Thing and storm!
I have been loving sarkhan and even tore through an IQ a few weeks ago with it. Remeber, I wnet undefeated and had 1st seed going into the Top 8, so it's not that I don't like the card. Its just modern has gotten so incredible fast, that I need something that impacts the game state NOW. Even control is fast now a days. With all control decks packing 3-4 logic knots and 1-2 negates (which I want to punch the computer screen every time a control player casts negate game one vs me), you really need to be fast to get under those spells and have an impact before they get to cryptic mana. Once they got three blue and anything else, if you aren't in a commanding position, you're dead. every time. spending a turn to cast sarkhaan may feel great, and he may even stick around for a few turns, but make no doubt about it, they don't have to counter it and you've just given blue another chance to play another land without adding any pressure to the board.
Now, this whole equation changes if you are running dragons. Dragons change this equation because now you can use sarkhaan to start pumping out haymakers. Also, in a list Like Ray's Trash Dragons, I like sarkhaan over chainwhirler by a lot. Sarkhaan help power out big stupid ***** way ahead of curve and he's running 11-12 rituals whereas the stock list only runs 8-9 rituals. Trash Dragons is a similar but different approach to Pyro Prison and equally as effective. Stock lists, like the one I usually run, try to use targeted spells to pick the opponent apart and make them feels helpless. Trash Dragons tries to pound you into the ground with Haymaker after haymaker and presents questions that are so large and heavy hitting, the moment the opponent doesn't have an answer, they are dead. A True call back to the Hammer's Slammer deck of old.
So, I think both are good in the right builds and if the meta changes to a more midrange format, I can totally see Sarkhaan being better than chainwhirler across the board, but for now, midrange decks have gone into hiding. Either you're facing an incredibly fast deck (humans, affinity, hollow-one, bridge vine, burn), a big mana control type deck (Tron, UW Control, Scapeshift) or combo that wins on turn 3-4 (Storm, KCI, Ad Nausem, Devoted Druid). Jund, death and taxes, and even mardu pyromancer have all gone been almost non-existent lately and in those attrition based matches, Sarkhaan is better, no doubt. But in all those decks where the game is virtually or actually decided by turn three, unless you are running dragons, I think sarkhaan is too slow in the stock list, or at least too slow to run two. Maybe a 1/1 split of a chainwhirler and a sarkhan could be good. I haven't tried that yet.
And I tore through that IQ a few weeks ago with Sarkhan, so he's good, no doubt. Just not sure if the govlin is better. Maybe a 1/1 split?
Ray is 100% correct. I've been playing since 1995 and I've NEVER seen someone act like an ******** at a card shop or a tournament (and I've been to a LOT of them) in regards to racist or sexist comments. I've had opponents pissed they lost, not shake my hand, or other visibly upset behavior, but never in a way that would rise classify as politically incorrect.
Just stay out of politics, treat others with respect, and you'll have no problems....unless your opponent turn one blood moons you, then all bets are off!
Hazoret over P&K.
I've been the biggest cheerleader of Spellskite since I've picked up the deck, and it's time for it to go. Decks are too focused now and we need more answers or threats. Can't be spending time protecting out stuff anymore. This make us weaker vs burn, but that's a concession I'm willing to make.