WHY PLAY BGx ROCK?
The Rock utilizes the best two cards in the format, Thoughtseize and Abrupt Decay.
With the most efficient disruption in modern this deck is built to force wars of attrition that you are best equipped to win. The Rock plays the most permanent removal and discard in the format, forcing your opponent to interact with you. This deck is built to trade card for card, a war of attrition, with your opponent until you are able to force 2-1s in your favor. It is one of the few decks in the format that can disrupt the opponent's hand, manipulate the graveyard, answer threats, and apply pressure. Most of all, the deck rewards tight and skillful play very well to its user. Though I think that Reid Duke says it best:
Quote from Reid Duke »
B/G Obliterator Rock is the epitome of midrange. It features a healthy suite of discard spells in conjunction with diverse removal to handle any problem permanents you might encounter. Its creatures are hand-picked to defend you early, but also to close the game quickly once you're ready to do so. The goal in the early game is to play defense against aggressive decks, and to set control and combo decks off-balance with disruption. In either case, once you're ready to turn the corner, it will only take a couple of turns for your giant creatures to finish off the helpless opponent.
One other question that comes up often enough is 'Why to play The Rock over Jund?'
The manabase is very, very smooth. Where Jund will have problems against dedicated land destruction, blood moon effects, and leonin arbiter The Rock does not have these problems.
The ability to play Treetop Village as a 4-of translates into being able to shift gears to being the aggro deck more sooner enabling The Rock to win games before the opponent can stabilize more oft.
DECK HISTORY
A brief history of the decks origin and Modern format beginnings.
BG Rock stems from an old Standard deck from Urza block created by Sol Malka, “The Rock”. Malka would use mana dorks to power out Phyrexian Plaguelord and/or Deranged Hermitwhile disrupting opponents with hand and permanent disruption. The arrival of Pernicious Deed and Spiritmonger in Apocalypse led to BG Rock having success in Ice Age/Invasion Extended when Michael Pustilnik took 1st place at Grand Prix Las Vagas 2001. Rock decks continued to evolve keeping the aspects that were strongest and replacing cards with the most efficient options available with every new release. There are numerous BGx decks that have been spawned from the original BG Rock concept and shell since, but the last BG Rock deck I feel it important to mention is Ernie Marchesanos’ BG Rock deck that won Grand Prix Seattle 2005.
Although the basis of Sols’ original idea, to disrupt your opponent while creating card advantage and beating down your opponent with efficient creatures, is still present in the current form of BG Rock, the cards utilized in current BG Rock is very different (Treetop Village excluded, of course).
Straight BG Rock first appeared in Modern in Worlds 2013, although the core of the deck has been a part of Modern since the beginning of the formats history in BGx decks. Josh Utter-Leyton wanted to cut red from the Jund shell as he recognized that the BG aspects of Jund are the main power behind the deck and preferred running Tectonic Edge over Lightning Bolt. He also recognized the power of Scavenging Ooze, in the then Melira Pod dominant meta, and wanted to utilize the card optimally.
Josh Utter-Leyton, Eric Froehlich and David Ochoa all ran the build at Worlds 2013 to a 6-3 record, earning the archetype an impressive 67% win ratio at the event.
Since Worlds 2013, BG Rock has placed well in many MTGO Daily, Premier and MOCS events with it's most recent success coming from both Marcelino Freeman and Willy Edel who skillfully piloted the deck to two Top 8 finishes at GP Detroit, the most recent pro level event since Worlds. Like Worlds, GP Detroit also showed the deck over-perform, with GB Rock being 9% of the decks for day two of the event yet making up 25% of the top 8 spots.
In 2014, Reid Duke brought Obliterator Rock to PT Born of the Gods to 42nd place in a field of over 4k players less than after a month of the banning of DRS and the supposed 'death' of BGx Midrange.
THE DECKS
Currently, there are two popular deck archetypes within The Rock. The classic 'edge' version which elects to use Tectonic Edge as yet another key disruption piece and the other option being ObliteRock which totes the massive Phyrexian Obliterator.
Phyrexian Obliterator gives the deck inevitability. Its the best wall or unblockable creature in the format. It begs to be answered and laughs at the most popular spell in the format, Lightning Bolt.
Tectonic Edge is one of the most powerful
tools a control deck can play. In an age of modern where manlands are win conditions and manabases are weak & fragile land destruction wins games. Often times, activating multiple edges in one turn gives you the game.
BGw rock is built for a metagame with a surplus of midrange BGx type decks and affinity. Lingering souls lets the deck become even grindier and gives even more avenues of card advantage. The other advantage of splashing white is for the very powerful sideboards cards, namely Stony Silence that shores up the horrible tron and affinity matchups.
These are the cards that form the foundation for the deck. Most of these cards are automatic '4-ofs,' while a few can be dropped to 3 for flex spots.
Creatures Dark Confidant1B Dark Confidant, or affectionately “Bob”, is the epitome of card advantage. The loss of life is negligible for the overwhelming advantage he bring to the battlefield. Frequently, a turn-1 discard spell can clear a safe path for Dark Confidant, and he can provide an immediate and irreversible advantage starting the turn after you play him.
Scavenging Ooze1G "Scooze" While the mana cost in the upper corner might lead you to think of Scavenging Ooze as a two-drop, the actual goal is to cast it a bit later, after the dust settles from a flurry of early-game action. Scavenging Ooze grows huge in this deck, and it serves to trump Tarmogoyf, Knight of the Reliquary, Snapcaster Mage, and of course any graveyard based sort of strategy. It also provides all-important life gain and incidental graveyard hate against combo decks. T2 Scooze can be justifiable though of course against decks lacking bolts or as a lightning rod to make way for Bob.
Tarmogoyf1G Goyf. Just a vanilla beater. Gets bigger as you kill stuff.
Spells ThoughtseizeB Is the perfect card for The Rocks early game, enabling us to trade 1-1 with any card in the opponents hand. Reid Duke wrote a great article on thoughtseize (and discard in general) that can be found here, 1/3 of the way down at 'The rewards of Thoughtseize' is the most relevant to this deck.
Inquisition of KozilekB A very solid, but conditional, 1cmc discard spell. IoK allows you to take any nonland card with a cmc of 3 or less. Although there is no additional life cost to playing IoK like there is with Thoughtseize, there are a few match-ups that it’s bad against.
Maelstrom Pulse1BG This is our Jack of All trades. All rock decks run atleast one of these, most run 2.
Abrupt DecayBG One of the strongest removal cards ever printed in MTG. It hits nearly all problematic permanents in the format, is uncounterable and an instant. Unfortunately, it doesn’t hit manlands or cards with cmc of 4 or greater.
Slaughter Pact With the banning of Deathrite Shaman the need to kill black creatures is at an all-time low. This spell can effectively kill anything that plagues The Rock. Its amazing against control/tempo decks that tote around remand and punishes the various decks that think its safe to try and combo off because we haave tapped out.
Walker Liliana of the Veil1BB The best plainswalker ever printed. Lilys’ -2 is strong against Aggro, her +1 is solid against Control and Combo, her -6 is amazing against any deck, and you get all this for 3cmc. LotV is just a very flexible plainswalker that gives most decks nightmares when she lands. She’s almost always a 2(+) for 1, and with the new Legendary rules change she becomes even stronger.
Manabase Treetop Village – The only card left from the original rock deck this ape is a control players nightmare and enables The Rock to shift gears into aggro roll very easily. This is one of the reasons to play The Rock over Jund.
Verdant Catacombs Fixing mana and feeding your goyf is important. Marsh Flats Generally not played as a 4-of, just enough to round out the mana base.
Overgrown Tomb a full playset is almost never needed, 2 is usually fine to limit damage from lands, 3 isnt undeard of though.
Swamp <insert obvious comment> Forest <insert less obvious comment, because we play less of these>
Twilight Mire This deck has a lot of double green and double black needs. Twilight Mire is the glue that makes it all work to well together. A 4 of in obliterock, and 1-2 of in edge.
Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth Lets fetchlands tap for mana lategame and functions as twilight mires 5 and 6. Obligatory for Obliterock less needed for Edge.
THE FLEX SPOTS
This list consists of cards that are commonly run within the two competitive maindeck versions of the deck.
Creatures Kitchen Finksoptional The best way to stabilize a game against a Wild Nacatl deck. Kitchen Finks bridges the gap and ensures you can survive to cast your four-drop creatures. More commonly found in the tec edge version but always a contender for the sideboard.
Courser of Kruphixoptional While not a massive amount of lifegain, courser often gains you enough to offset bob or simply keep you out of the danger zone. He is a variable wall against the assortment of cards that deal 3 damage in the format. Courser is nowhere near as flashy as the other creatures in BGx but plays a vital role in incremental lifegain and helping you power through land draws to give you virtual card advantage.
Thrun, the Last Troll I hesitate to say this card is optional. This card always finds its way somewhere in the 75. Thrun survives just about everything modern removal can throw at a creature. Hes a variable brick wall against numerous decks in the format.
Phyrexian Obliterator The best wall and unblockable creature in the format. He can either completely stalemate combat or force an end to it.
Eternal Witness is a great silver bullet to play in the deck if you have the extra slot. Its your effective late game snapcaster mage that can get back lily OTV.
Artifacts Batterskull5 Batterskull is a powerful equipment capable of swinging a game well in your favor. Unlike your average equipment, Batterskull has living weapon - meaning that the turn you play it it comes with a germ token attached to it. As an equipment it grants the equipt creature +4/+4, Lifelink and Vigilance – forming the automatically equipt 0/0 Germ token into a 4/4 Vigilant, Lifelinking monster. The real power behind Batterskull is that once you have enough mana it’s very difficult to destroy as, if targeted by artifact removal, you can simply return the equipment to your hand by paying 3 – this is also a great way of refreshing your token if it dies too which, in turn, is a great way to exhaust your opponent of their creature removal. It has been seen in a couple of main decks and many sideboards N.B. beware though, it can really hurt revealing it from a Dark Confidant trigger.
Bow of Nylea In a fair meta this card can do an awful amount of work. It can turn any of your creatures into a threat, kills various fae and Birds of Paradise, and gains life. This is a great card in any grindy matchup against control and midrange. Not generally too important but it also pumps goyfs for 2.
Planeswalkers Garruk Wildspeaker Garruk is unique in that he can protect himself the turn he comes down by either untapping lands to removal or by making a 3/3. The biggest strength of Garruk is his overrun allowing you to quickly end games. As far as good cards for grindy matchups garruk is very good. Garruk Relentless While hes seen better days, there are still a few who swear by him. Not overwhelmingly amazing in any one matchup, but never a poor draw nevertheless.
Removal DismemberA very easy to cast flexible removal spell that can kill just about anything in the format. Bile Blight Can kill many things in the format and can set up potential 2 for 1s Victim of Night Our variable Terminate. The 4th abrupt decay that can kill manlands? Putrefy serves as the halfway point between Abrupt Decay and Maelstrom Pulse, able to kill nearly everything you care about but still a bit expensive.
Lands Tectonic Edge – Modern's Wasteland and namesake of one of The Rock's decktypes. As a result of not splashing for an additional color, BG Rock can play its own mana disruption. While no Wasteland, Edge can keep an opponent off a color and can kill manlands. All in all, a strong disruption tool for the deck. Most effective when firing off multiples on turn 4/5.
Ghost Quarter - Not often something we look to do, but can be used as tec edge 5 and possibly 6 in extremely tron saturated metas if you refuse to play a different deck.
Creeping Corrosion – Affinity Sweeper Choke This can easily replace 1-2 Fulminators in your SB if you dont expect to see any tron. Its great against UWR and some merfolk decks. Damnation – One of many sweepers. Darkblast – Repeatable removal for x/1s or x/2s that shines against affinity, pod, and mana dork heavy decks. "Dorkblast" Deathmark – Cheap sorcery speed removal for green and white creatures. It’s decent against: Zoo, GW Hatebears, Pod, Jund, Junk and mirror. Drown in Sorrow Sweeper of swarm aggro that doesnt hit most of our creatures, the closest we'll get to anger of the gods w/o red Deglamer – Deglamer is primarily used to exile artifacts like Wurmcoil Engine and against decks that can recycle artifacts. It’s strong against all versions of Tron, Affinity and prison decks that recycle artifacts. Duress – Duress is strong hand disruption that’s useful against combo decks or decks that depend less on creatures than spells. Namely, Scapeshift, UWR Control, Tron, burn, RDW, etc. This shouldnt be played unless you already have 4 IOK and 4 thoughtseize. Engineered Explosives For bogles, Soul Sisters, small zoo, and tokens. Fulminator Mage This is one of your goto cards because of the nature of modern he can come in for any weak card in your MD. Including but not limited to Tron, Scapeshift, UWR, Affinity, and the mirror match. Grafdigger's Cage Great against pod, vengevine, past in flames, Unburial Gifts and not dead against deck with snapcaster. Gaze of Granite – Moderns Pernicious Deed. While expensive it can swing games well in your favor. It’s a particularly strong sweeper against: Zoo, Tokens, Affinity, Jund, Junk, mirror and basically any deck that depends on permanents with low avg cmc. Geth's Verdict/Devour Flesh – Our choices for untargeted removal to compliment lily's -2 Golgari Charm – Sweeper that hits manlands, dodges mass removal for us, and can kill enchants. Harmonize an alternate to phyrexian arena that doesnt get abrupt decayed, used against midrange decks. Mutiliate - One of many sweepers, can be one sided, best against decks w/o goyfs and many x/3s Obstinate Baloth/Kitchen Finks In aggro and burn heavy metagames we often want more lifegain. Two Baloths is often too many, and two finks not enough- the 1/1 split is usually favored. Pack Rat as midrange becomes more popular in modern and unfair decks become less popular this card will find more of a place in the SB. Phyrexian Arena for those grindy matchups that bob can just never stick. Rain of Tears – Essentially a budget version of Fulminator Mage only it can’t deal any damage but can destroy basic lands. It’s most useful against Tron but can be brought in against any deck that runs a greedy manabase. Spellskite Any deck with a lot of lightning bolt effects, critical auras, and infect decks. Also isnt horrible against scapeshift. This card is an answer to a broad number of decks Seal of Primordium Removal that lets yous further your game plan without having to leave mana up every turn. Shadow of Doubt – Shadow of Doubt is a useful tempo card that can be used to disrupt fetchlands and cantrip. A very useful card against both Pod and Tron or any deck that needs to search through its library. Torpor Orb Not bad against merfolk, great against twin. Can be used against pod if you have no cages. Wrench Mind – Wrench Mind is additional hand disruption that makes us stronger against most combo decks, it’s useful verses most decks other than GW Hatebears.
VERSUS
MATCH-UP ANALYSIS
How the deck performs verses the main decks in the format. this section still needs to be updated, please feel free to post/pm me what should be here
POD
-IOK
-Abrupt Decay
-lily
+sweepers (drown in sorrow, golgari charm, EE, etc)
+grafdiggers
+removal
+ Thoughtseize (if you dont already have 4 MD)
I always take out all of my IoK then some number of abrupts or lilies depending if im on the draw or play. Its usually safe to assume they'll take out most of their combo for your, so get ready for a grindy game.
Jund/BGx/Junk/Most midrange
-discard
+creatures
+removal
You want to limit the number of dead cards you draw here once you both hit topdeck mode.
Whoever gets bob to last longer usually wins here.
Scapeshift
-removal
+discard
+fulminator mage
You dont want to take out all of your removal here, most of them will side in batterskull, obstinate baloth, and/or Vendilion Clique for g2/3
Storm
-creature Removal
+Gradigger's Cage
+Golgari Charm (kills empty the warrens tokens and pyromancer's ascension)
Affinity
-Bob
-Thoughtseize
-Lily/Courser/Finks
+removal
+Fulminator Mage (for manlands)
Some people like to keep a couple thoughtseize in against affinity
I feel like they usually dump their hand too fast for it to matter. Depends how much hate you have in the side.
Twin
Against Pure Combo
-Pulse
-Courser
-Thrun/Oblit/ 1-2 Scooze
Against Tempo Twin (ie patrick dickman's popular list)
-Bob
+golgari Charm
+instant speed removal
+thrun
UWR
-removal that isnt Slaughter Pact
+Fulminator Mage
+Thrun
+Lifegain (Obstinate baloth, kitchen finks, bow of nylea)
UR Delver
-bob
-thoughtseize
+sweepers
+lifegain
Living End
-Abrupt Decay
+GY hate
+Fulminator Mage
GW Hatebears
Depending on the build you may keep the same SB strategy as other midrange decks and take out the discard for removal/creatures
If youre on the play Id go with fulminator mages, on the draw I'd leave in some amount of discard.
Infect
Take out your slow threats and put in more removal and discard
Fae
This plays out a lot like UWR control. Stick thrun and win. Side in lifegain if theyre splashing red and snaps.
I think the rock is the best deck in modern I mean we have discard for combo sweepers for aggro and discard for control. and based from what im seeing on mtg goldfish its the second best deck in the format right now....I hope wizards doesnt ban something else in it....
I think the rock is the best deck in modern I mean we have discard for combo sweepers for aggro and discard for control. and based from what im seeing on mtg goldfish its the second best deck in the format right now....I hope wizards doesnt ban something else in it....
It really doesn't seem like it is in ban territory right now.
Nice series of videos on SCG premium today with Michael Jacob piloting the classic version with Tectonic Edge.
I'm still pretty unclear on the relative merits of Jund, Obliterator Rock, and Tectonic Edge Rock. Which decks are better in which metagames? In particular, I don't really know when Obliterator Rock would be better than Jund. If you're in a creature-heavy metagame (which is what people usually say the Obliterator version shines in), wouldn't you rather have Anger of the Gods, Terminate, and Lightning Bolt than Obliterator?
I think the rock is the best deck in modern I mean we have discard for combo sweepers for aggro and discard for control. and based from what im seeing on mtg goldfish its the second best deck in the format right now....I hope wizards doesnt ban something else in it....
It has enough bad matchups to keep it in check. If it really gains popularity Tron and affinity will have a massive uprising.
Nice series of videos on SCG premium today with Michael Jacob piloting the classic version with Tectonic Edge.
I'm still pretty unclear on the relative merits of Jund, Obliterator Rock, and Tectonic Edge Rock. Which decks are better in which metagames? In particular, I don't really know when Obliterator Rock would be better than Jund. If you're in a creature-heavy metagame (which is what people usually say the Obliterator version shines in), wouldn't you rather have Anger of the Gods, Terminate, and Lightning Bolt than Obliterator?
All of the following decks are bad matchups for Jund/Edge/'bliterator, but each deck has a few matchups its a lot better against than the others
In general, all three decks have problems dealing with 'swarms.'
Jund- Affinity, Tron, decks with creatures with >3 toughness
Edge- tempo and control decks, anything with 3 colors
Obliterator- merfolk, anything with lightning bolt as primary removal, creatures <3 toughness, creature decks in general (pod)
Jund generally plays 1-2 spells to deal with creatures that arent 3 cmc or 3 toughness. Creatures with big asses are its downfall, whereas obliterator stalls them easily and plays more removal to deal with them.
Sure, terminate is nice, but we have a huge 2 cmc slot, i'd almost always rather have slaughter pact
With 3 finks and 3 courser you definitely have enough lifegain to support bitterblossom. But the real reason is that we want more threats that dominate the board and break stalls, not creatures that just stall it out. The 'default' creature package stalls the board nicely.
Honestly; bitterblossom just isnt good in the meta right now, even faeries cant use it to its full potential. Bitterblossom and Lingering Souls are best against affinity and midrange decks. The current meta heavily favors 'unfair' decks too much for tokens that clog up the board to be beneficial for us.
If you really want to utilize tokens you'll want 1-2 MD swords and Garruk Wildspeaker as your 4 cmc planeswalker. Relentless isnt good since the DRS ban. Wildspeaker can protect himself or untap the lands you need to cast removal and then a few turns later ult him to push your tokens thru for damage.
Great job with the primer! I was planning to play Junk this PTQ season. However, with so much combo out there I agree that Lingering Souls is bad right now. Here is my list:
I'm playing in a PTQ tomorrow and plan to write up a short report on my matches. I would prefer Rain of tears to be fulminator mage, but those won't arrive in time. I'm in the Pacific Northwest (USA) and expect a meta of Jund, Affinity, Tron, Pod, UR Delver (people love delver out here) and Twin. Would you recommend any changes anything to the MB or SB?
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What do you guys think about geralf's messenger for the obliterators version? He's aggressive and resilient.
I think the Obliterator version of the list is at it's best by taking a "control" role against Aggro and mid-range decks. Playing a creature that can't block the turn he's played doesn't really fit well in that strategy. However, Geralf's messenger could be good out of the sideboard (on the play) against other mid-range decks and those that have mostly targeted removal.
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You probably dont need surgical extraction in your SB at all.
If you know youre going to play against atleast 2 delver decks in 5 rounds I'd play a skylasher in SB.
That matchup is a huge pain for us, we dont do well against tempo.
I'd drop Garruk Relentless in favor of another Thrun MD or batterskull.
You have a few things listed twice in your SB.
This is what I would run in your meta
What do people think about a 1 of Obliterator in the SB? Maybe splitting the difference between the Oblit version and the Tec Edge version? It's just so good against midrange/zoo match-ups but I really think at least a 1 of Thrun is the way to go main. I've eyed Skylasher as well. Mistcutter is also a nice topdeck vs Blue.
@ Plowshears to Swords: I second 2 Cages. I'd also run 2 Slaughter Pacts & 1 Dismember over the 2 Dismembers and single Slaughter Pact you have.
Regarding Geralf's Messenger... I do love me some Messenger but not here. There is so much in the 3 drop slot already and Obliterator just doesn't need the aggro support. Against Affinity and Burn the life loss isn't nearly as good as life gain from Finks. And the trifecta of Courser, Bob and Fetches is just too good to interrupt.
I played a BG Rock or Rack.. however i have never really played in any tourneys yet. I know that playing BG Rock, knowing what to pick with three cards mentioned above plays a great deal in how the end game turn up.
So i would like to ask against the Tier 1 deck below, what would be my priority pick?
Melira Pod
Affinity
UR Twin
Jund
UWR Control
BG Rock
Storm
Scapeshift
Kiki Pod
RUG Twin
Merfolk
Bogles
also on top of that, would it be advisable to have a BG Rack deck as a sideboard? which includes taking out finks, courser etc for more discards like raven, wrench mind and putting in the rack and shrieking affliction.. it gives a surprise element to the opponent and maybe forcing a third game if we lost against a control deck and making it rather difficult to guess how our third gameplay would be ?
I played a BG Rock or Rack.. however i have never really played in any tourneys yet. I know that playing BG Rock, knowing what to pick with three cards mentioned above plays a great deal in how the end game turn up.
So i would like to ask against the Tier 1 deck below, what would be my priority pick?
Melira Pod
Affinity
UR Twin
Jund
UWR Control
BG Rock
Storm
Scapeshift
Kiki Pod
RUG Twin
Merfolk
Bogles
also on top of that, would it be advisable to have a BG Rack deck as a sideboard? which includes taking out finks, courser etc for more discards like raven, wrench mind and putting in the rack and shrieking affliction.. it gives a surprise element to the opponent and maybe forcing a third game if we lost against a control deck and making it rather difficult to guess how our third gameplay would be ?
I would avoid the transformation side board. 8 rack is horrible. Too many times i had all discard or all racks and you just sat there and watched my opponent play magic. Besides, no Ensnaring Bridge, if they resolve a resto with counter back up your just dead. In my experience the worse match-up is robots, way too fast to keep up. This weekend I'm trying a combination of creeping corrosion with nature's claim. They shouldn't thoughtseize until you have your third land drop that way they can snag your corrosion at the last second. Nature's claim might catch them off guard.
Here's some details from my matches. Let me preface this by saying I absolutely love playing this deck and will likely ride out the PTQ season with only minor tweaks. It has game against everything, even Tron.
0-0 Round 1: Tarmo-Twin 2-1
I expected a lot of twin, and the first round didn't disappoint. I lost game one to the combo. Tried to bluff an abrupt decay after thoughtseize discovered a turn 4 combo, but vendilion clique called my bluff and he won turn 5.
Side out:
I won the next two games on the backs of Bob, Goyf, and LotV, just as this deck should. Quick play note, always represent abrupt decay. Twin is terrified of this card. Also, wait for the vendilion clique trigger to target before responding.
1-0 Round 2: UR Twin 0-2
More twin! This version was streamlined to be all in on the combo and it worked. Despite multiple Thoughtseize, IoK, Abrupt Decay, Goyf and Bobs he just kept drawing the combo. I sided same as above, didn't help. My opponent had a 4 digit DCI#, so I didn't feel too bad and I had time to eat before round 3.
1-1 Round 3: Kiki-Pod 2-0
Opponent mulls to 4 and I've got Thoughtseize and Inquisition of Kozilek in my opening hand. I Thoughtseize first, because I assume he has no early plays at 4 cards and I don't want to whiff with my IoK. I now believe that was a mistake, as I revealed 2 lands, Kiki-Jiki, the Mirror Breaker, and Noble Hierarch. Of course I took the Hierarch, but now I have no way to snag Kiki and he could combo if he naturally draw's the other piece. He actually draws a restoration angel, but I was able to kill and beat him with a goyf. Can't remember my sideboard here, probably brought in batterskull and replaced a Thrun, the last troll. Game 2 I Thoughtseize his Birthing Podand beat him as no pod makes him just an inconsistent mid-range deck.
2-1 Round 4: Junk 2-1
Up until the night before the PTQ, I was running a Junk list with Lingering Souls and Path to Exile mainboard, and the solid sideboard white cards. I think Souls is bonkers, but it just isn't good enough in a combo filled meta. This player was running Junk, but no Souls and no PtE, I'm not really sure why he was in 3 colors. Can't remember a ton of details from this match, but Dark Confidant was once again the hero in both games I won. I drew everything I needed and more to run him over in games 1 and 3. I did make a play mistake in game 2 however. I cast Slaughter Pact during his attack phase (took out a goyf that was swinging for lethal) and forgot to pay 3 on my upkeep. Put dice on top of your library after casting Slaughter Pact!!! I was way behind in the game and likely to lose anyway, but that is easily the dumbest way to lose. Never again!
3-1 Round 5: Merfolk 2-1
A matchup I practiced against, this deck is just as scary as any of the other aggro strategies. Spreading Seas will ruin your day, but at 2 colors I'm slightly better off. In game 1, Liliana of the veil got online and Goyf did the dirty work.
Side out: Dark Confidant
Side in:
Game 2, he has the nut draw and blows me away. After a lengthy, mid-match deck check (weird), we were in an almost stalemated board. Everyone is watching as the deck check gave us extra time and all other matches were complete. He's able to start swinging and I'm on a 2 turn clock. On my turn, with a hand of Goyf, Slaughter Pact, and Abrupt, I tapped my mana wrong to cast goyf and almost killed my self since I really needed that abrupt decay. Luckily, he drew an Island and attacked, I used Slaughter Pact on his lord (put 4 dice on my library ), all his blocked attackers died at the hands of 2 goyfs and a fat scavenging ooze. Paid my cost on my upkeep, pumped my scooze and swung back for lethal. I'm not used to a crowd, was really fun to win despite my poor use of Twilight Mire.
4-1 Round 6: LSV-Pod (no Melira) 0-2
By this match I'm pretty tired but stoked to still be in the winner's bracket. I don't have a lot to say about this match, but I saw 5 pods in 2 games. This deck can only handle a few 4+ mana, non-creature permanents and that is too many. He beat me with flying, value creatures and don't think I made any play errors.
I played out the next 2 matches before prizes, lost the Burn lottery and drew with U/B Fae player. Overall I'm happy with deck and will probably replace victim of the night with slaughter pact. Thanks for reading, feedback and sideboard advice appreciated!
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Modern: Lingering RockBGW - Patriot FlashURW - Mono Black InfectB(MTGO)
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INTRODUCTION
WHY PLAY BGx ROCK?
The Rock utilizes the best two cards in the format, Thoughtseize and Abrupt Decay.
With the most efficient disruption in modern this deck is built to force wars of attrition that you are best equipped to win. The Rock plays the most permanent removal and discard in the format, forcing your opponent to interact with you. This deck is built to trade card for card, a war of attrition, with your opponent until you are able to force 2-1s in your favor. It is one of the few decks in the format that can disrupt the opponent's hand, manipulate the graveyard, answer threats, and apply pressure. Most of all, the deck rewards tight and skillful play very well to its user. Though I think that Reid Duke says it best:
The manabase is very, very smooth. Where Jund will have problems against dedicated land destruction, blood moon effects, and leonin arbiter The Rock does not have these problems.
The ability to play Treetop Village as a 4-of translates into being able to shift gears to being the aggro deck more sooner enabling The Rock to win games before the opponent can stabilize more oft.
DECK HISTORY
A brief history of the decks origin and Modern format beginnings.
Although the basis of Sols’ original idea, to disrupt your opponent while creating card advantage and beating down your opponent with efficient creatures, is still present in the current form of BG Rock, the cards utilized in current BG Rock is very different (Treetop Village excluded, of course).
Josh Utter-Leyton, Eric Froehlich and David Ochoa all ran the build at Worlds 2013 to a 6-3 record, earning the archetype an impressive 67% win ratio at the event.
Since Worlds 2013, BG Rock has placed well in many MTGO Daily, Premier and MOCS events with it's most recent success coming from both Marcelino Freeman and Willy Edel who skillfully piloted the deck to two Top 8 finishes at GP Detroit, the most recent pro level event since Worlds. Like Worlds, GP Detroit also showed the deck over-perform, with GB Rock being 9% of the decks for day two of the event yet making up 25% of the top 8 spots.
In 2014, Reid Duke brought Obliterator Rock to PT Born of the Gods to 42nd place in a field of over 4k players less than after a month of the banning of DRS and the supposed 'death' of BGx Midrange.
THE DECKS
1 Forest
1 Godless Shrine
1 Woodland Cemetery
2 Marsh Flats
2 Overgrown Tomb
2 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
3 Swamp
4 Treetop Village
4 Twilight Mire
4 Verdant Catacombs
CREATURES
2 Kitchen Finks
4 Dark Confidant
4 Phyrexian Obliterator
4 Scavenging Ooze
4 Tarmogoyf
3 Liliana of the Veil
1 Victim of Night
2 Dismember
2 Slaughter Pact
3 Abrupt Decay
1 Maelstrom Pulse
2 Thoughtseize
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 Maelstrom Pulse
3 Creeping Corrosion
1 Damnation
2 Deathmark
3 Fulminator Mage
2 Grafdigger's Cage
2 Stony Silence
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
2 Marsh Flats
3 Overgrown Tomb
4 Tectonic Edge
4 Treetop Village
2 Twilight Mire
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Verdant Catacombs
1 Woodland Cemetery
2 Swamp
1 Forest
CREATURES
3 Courser of Kruphix
4 Dark Confidant
3 Scavenging Ooze
4 Tarmogoyf
2 Thrun, the Last Troll
4 Abrupt Decay
2 Dismember
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Liliana of the Veil
2 Maelstrom Pulse
2 Slaughter Pact
3 Thoughtseize
1 Back to Nature
3 Creeping Corrosion
1 Devour Flesh
2 Drown in Sorrow
3 Fulminator Mage
1 Golgari Charm
2 Grafdigger's Cage
2 Kitchen Finks
2 x Overgrown Tomb
1 x Temple Garden
1 x Godless Shrine
1 x Twilight Mire
4 x Marsh Flats
4 x Verdant Catacombs
4 x Tectonic Edge
1 x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
3 x Treetop Village
1 x Stirring Wildwood
1 x Forest
2 x Swamp
4 x Dark Confidant
4 x Tarmogoyf
3 x Lingering Souls
3 x Inquisition of Kozilek
4 x Thoughtseize
2 x Maelstrom Pulse
1 x Slaughter Pact
4 x Abrupt Decay
2 x Dismember
1 x Garruk Wildspeaker
4 x Liliana of the Veil
1 x Lingering Souls
1 x Engineered Explosives
1 x Slaughter Pact
1 x Obstinate Baloth
1 x Kitchen Finks
3 x Fulminator Mage
2 x Pack Rat
2 x Grafdigger's Cage
1 x Creeping Corrosion
2 x Stony Silence
THE CORE OF THE DECK
These are the cards that form the foundation for the deck. Most of these cards are automatic '4-ofs,' while a few can be dropped to 3 for flex spots.
Dark Confidant 1B Dark Confidant, or affectionately “Bob”, is the epitome of card advantage. The loss of life is negligible for the overwhelming advantage he bring to the battlefield. Frequently, a turn-1 discard spell can clear a safe path for Dark Confidant, and he can provide an immediate and irreversible advantage starting the turn after you play him.
Scavenging Ooze 1G "Scooze" While the mana cost in the upper corner might lead you to think of Scavenging Ooze as a two-drop, the actual goal is to cast it a bit later, after the dust settles from a flurry of early-game action. Scavenging Ooze grows huge in this deck, and it serves to trump Tarmogoyf, Knight of the Reliquary, Snapcaster Mage, and of course any graveyard based sort of strategy. It also provides all-important life gain and incidental graveyard hate against combo decks. T2 Scooze can be justifiable though of course against decks lacking bolts or as a lightning rod to make way for Bob.
Tarmogoyf 1G Goyf. Just a vanilla beater. Gets bigger as you kill stuff.
Thoughtseize B Is the perfect card for The Rocks early game, enabling us to trade 1-1 with any card in the opponents hand. Reid Duke wrote a great article on thoughtseize (and discard in general) that can be found here, 1/3 of the way down at 'The rewards of Thoughtseize' is the most relevant to this deck.
Inquisition of Kozilek B A very solid, but conditional, 1cmc discard spell. IoK allows you to take any nonland card with a cmc of 3 or less. Although there is no additional life cost to playing IoK like there is with Thoughtseize, there are a few match-ups that it’s bad against.
Maelstrom Pulse 1BG This is our Jack of All trades. All rock decks run atleast one of these, most run 2.
Abrupt Decay BG One of the strongest removal cards ever printed in MTG. It hits nearly all problematic permanents in the format, is uncounterable and an instant. Unfortunately, it doesn’t hit manlands or cards with cmc of 4 or greater.
Slaughter Pact With the banning of Deathrite Shaman the need to kill black creatures is at an all-time low. This spell can effectively kill anything that plagues The Rock. Its amazing against control/tempo decks that tote around remand and punishes the various decks that think its safe to try and combo off because we haave tapped out.
Liliana of the Veil 1BB The best plainswalker ever printed. Lilys’ -2 is strong against Aggro, her +1 is solid against Control and Combo, her -6 is amazing against any deck, and you get all this for 3cmc. LotV is just a very flexible plainswalker that gives most decks nightmares when she lands. She’s almost always a 2(+) for 1, and with the new Legendary rules change she becomes even stronger.
Treetop Village – The only card left from the original rock deck this ape is a control players nightmare and enables The Rock to shift gears into aggro roll very easily. This is one of the reasons to play The Rock over Jund.
Verdant Catacombs Fixing mana and feeding your goyf is important.
Marsh Flats Generally not played as a 4-of, just enough to round out the mana base.
Overgrown Tomb a full playset is almost never needed, 2 is usually fine to limit damage from lands, 3 isnt undeard of though.
Swamp <insert obvious comment>
Forest <insert less obvious comment, because we play less of these>
Twilight Mire This deck has a lot of double green and double black needs. Twilight Mire is the glue that makes it all work to well together. A 4 of in obliterock, and 1-2 of in edge.
Woodland Cemetery sees play in many decklists as a singleton.
Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth Lets fetchlands tap for mana lategame and functions as twilight mires 5 and 6. Obligatory for Obliterock less needed for Edge.
THE FLEX SPOTS
This list consists of cards that are commonly run within the two competitive maindeck versions of the deck.
Kitchen Finksoptional The best way to stabilize a game against a Wild Nacatl deck. Kitchen Finks bridges the gap and ensures you can survive to cast your four-drop creatures. More commonly found in the tec edge version but always a contender for the sideboard.
Courser of Kruphixoptional While not a massive amount of lifegain, courser often gains you enough to offset bob or simply keep you out of the danger zone. He is a variable wall against the assortment of cards that deal 3 damage in the format. Courser is nowhere near as flashy as the other creatures in BGx but plays a vital role in incremental lifegain and helping you power through land draws to give you virtual card advantage.
Thrun, the Last Troll I hesitate to say this card is optional. This card always finds its way somewhere in the 75. Thrun survives just about everything modern removal can throw at a creature. Hes a variable brick wall against numerous decks in the format.
Phyrexian Obliterator The best wall and unblockable creature in the format. He can either completely stalemate combat or force an end to it.
Eternal Witness is a great silver bullet to play in the deck if you have the extra slot. Its your effective late game snapcaster mage that can get back lily OTV.
Batterskull 5 Batterskull is a powerful equipment capable of swinging a game well in your favor. Unlike your average equipment, Batterskull has living weapon - meaning that the turn you play it it comes with a germ token attached to it. As an equipment it grants the equipt creature +4/+4, Lifelink and Vigilance – forming the automatically equipt 0/0 Germ token into a 4/4 Vigilant, Lifelinking monster. The real power behind Batterskull is that once you have enough mana it’s very difficult to destroy as, if targeted by artifact removal, you can simply return the equipment to your hand by paying 3 – this is also a great way of refreshing your token if it dies too which, in turn, is a great way to exhaust your opponent of their creature removal. It has been seen in a couple of main decks and many sideboards N.B. beware though, it can really hurt revealing it from a Dark Confidant trigger.
Bow of Nylea In a fair meta this card can do an awful amount of work. It can turn any of your creatures into a threat, kills various fae and Birds of Paradise, and gains life. This is a great card in any grindy matchup against control and midrange. Not generally too important but it also pumps goyfs for 2.
Garruk Wildspeaker Garruk is unique in that he can protect himself the turn he comes down by either untapping lands to removal or by making a 3/3. The biggest strength of Garruk is his overrun allowing you to quickly end games. As far as good cards for grindy matchups garruk is very good.
Garruk Relentless While hes seen better days, there are still a few who swear by him. Not overwhelmingly amazing in any one matchup, but never a poor draw nevertheless.
DismemberA very easy to cast flexible removal spell that can kill just about anything in the format.
Bile Blight Can kill many things in the format and can set up potential 2 for 1s
Victim of Night Our variable Terminate. The 4th abrupt decay that can kill manlands?
Putrefy serves as the halfway point between Abrupt Decay and Maelstrom Pulse, able to kill nearly everything you care about but still a bit expensive.
Tectonic Edge – Modern's Wasteland and namesake of one of The Rock's decktypes. As a result of not splashing for an additional color, BG Rock can play its own mana disruption. While no Wasteland, Edge can keep an opponent off a color and can kill manlands. All in all, a strong disruption tool for the deck. Most effective when firing off multiples on turn 4/5.
Ghost Quarter - Not often something we look to do, but can be used as tec edge 5 and possibly 6 in extremely tron saturated metas if you refuse to play a different deck.
Barebone Structure for building a rock deck:
Creatures
4 Dark Confidant
4 Tarmogoyf
3-4 Scavenging Ooze
0-3 Courser of Kruphix
0-2 Kitchen Finks
Walkers
3-4 Liliana of the Veil
Discard 6-8
3-4 Inquisition of Kozilek
3-4 Thoughtseize
Removal 7-8
3-4 Abrupt Decay
1-2 Maelstrum Pulse
1-2 Dismember
1-2 Slaughter Pact
Lands
4 Verdant Catacombs
2-3 Marsh Flats
2-4 Swamps
1-2 Forest
2-3 Overgrown Tomb
1-4 Twilight Mire
1-2 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
0-1 Woodland Cemetery
Recent Top 8s
A HUGE thanks toHeroes of the Plane Studios - DNC and Xeno for our banners!!!
Mimeoplasm Midrange, CHAINER CHAINER HIGH VOLTAGE
Rafiq of the Astral Slide, 67land.dec Child of Alara, Gisela <3 Sunforger
TRADE!?WUBRGMy Pauper Cube
Sek'Kuar, Deathkeeper, Phage the Uncastable, Azusa Lost but Stompy, Crosis Combo Breaker, All-In-Skullbriar, Rafiq/Jenara ETB army, Hazezon Swarm, Glissa Voltron!, Jarad Zombie Tribal, Zedruu Pillowfort, Reaper King Artifact Shenanagains
SIDEBOARD OPTIONS
Creeping Corrosion – Affinity Sweeper
Choke This can easily replace 1-2 Fulminators in your SB if you dont expect to see any tron. Its great against UWR and some merfolk decks.
Damnation – One of many sweepers.
Darkblast – Repeatable removal for x/1s or x/2s that shines against affinity, pod, and mana dork heavy decks. "Dorkblast"
Deathmark – Cheap sorcery speed removal for green and white creatures. It’s decent against: Zoo, GW Hatebears, Pod, Jund, Junk and mirror.
Drown in Sorrow Sweeper of swarm aggro that doesnt hit most of our creatures, the closest we'll get to anger of the gods w/o red
Deglamer – Deglamer is primarily used to exile artifacts like Wurmcoil Engine and against decks that can recycle artifacts. It’s strong against all versions of Tron, Affinity and prison decks that recycle artifacts.
Duress – Duress is strong hand disruption that’s useful against combo decks or decks that depend less on creatures than spells. Namely, Scapeshift, UWR Control, Tron, burn, RDW, etc. This shouldnt be played unless you already have 4 IOK and 4 thoughtseize.
Engineered Explosives For bogles, Soul Sisters, small zoo, and tokens.
Fulminator Mage This is one of your goto cards because of the nature of modern he can come in for any weak card in your MD. Including but not limited to Tron, Scapeshift, UWR, Affinity, and the mirror match.
Grafdigger's Cage Great against pod, vengevine, past in flames, Unburial Gifts and not dead against deck with snapcaster.
Gaze of Granite – Moderns Pernicious Deed. While expensive it can swing games well in your favor. It’s a particularly strong sweeper against: Zoo, Tokens, Affinity, Jund, Junk, mirror and basically any deck that depends on permanents with low avg cmc.
Geth's Verdict/Devour Flesh – Our choices for untargeted removal to compliment lily's -2
Golgari Charm – Sweeper that hits manlands, dodges mass removal for us, and can kill enchants.
Harmonize an alternate to phyrexian arena that doesnt get abrupt decayed, used against midrange decks.
Mutiliate - One of many sweepers, can be one sided, best against decks w/o goyfs and many x/3s
Obstinate Baloth/Kitchen Finks In aggro and burn heavy metagames we often want more lifegain. Two Baloths is often too many, and two finks not enough- the 1/1 split is usually favored.
Pack Rat as midrange becomes more popular in modern and unfair decks become less popular this card will find more of a place in the SB.
Phyrexian Arena for those grindy matchups that bob can just never stick.
Rain of Tears – Essentially a budget version of Fulminator Mage only it can’t deal any damage but can destroy basic lands. It’s most useful against Tron but can be brought in against any deck that runs a greedy manabase.
Spellskite Any deck with a lot of lightning bolt effects, critical auras, and infect decks. Also isnt horrible against scapeshift. This card is an answer to a broad number of decks
Seal of Primordium Removal that lets yous further your game plan without having to leave mana up every turn.
Shadow of Doubt – Shadow of Doubt is a useful tempo card that can be used to disrupt fetchlands and cantrip. A very useful card against both Pod and Tron or any deck that needs to search through its library.
Torpor Orb Not bad against merfolk, great against twin. Can be used against pod if you have no cages.
Wrench Mind – Wrench Mind is additional hand disruption that makes us stronger against most combo decks, it’s useful verses most decks other than GW Hatebears.
MATCH-UP ANALYSIS
How the deck performs verses the main decks in the format.
this section still needs to be updated, please feel free to post/pm me what should be here
POD
-IOK
-Abrupt Decay
-lily
+sweepers (drown in sorrow, golgari charm, EE, etc)
+grafdiggers
+removal
+ Thoughtseize (if you dont already have 4 MD)
I always take out all of my IoK then some number of abrupts or lilies depending if im on the draw or play. Its usually safe to assume they'll take out most of their combo for your, so get ready for a grindy game.
Jund/BGx/Junk/Most midrange
-discard
+creatures
+removal
You want to limit the number of dead cards you draw here once you both hit topdeck mode.
Whoever gets bob to last longer usually wins here.
Merfolk
+sweepers
Bogles
-targeted removal
+Engineered Explosives
+discard
+Golgari Charm
Scapeshift
-removal
+discard
+fulminator mage
You dont want to take out all of your removal here, most of them will side in batterskull, obstinate baloth, and/or Vendilion Clique for g2/3
Storm
-creature Removal
+Gradigger's Cage
+Golgari Charm (kills empty the warrens tokens and pyromancer's ascension)
Affinity
-Bob
-Thoughtseize
-Lily/Courser/Finks
+removal
+Fulminator Mage (for manlands)
Some people like to keep a couple thoughtseize in against affinity
I feel like they usually dump their hand too fast for it to matter. Depends how much hate you have in the side.
Twin
Against Pure Combo
-Pulse
-Courser
-Thrun/Oblit/ 1-2 Scooze
+Instant speed Removal/Golgari Charm
+fulminator Mage
Against Tempo Twin (ie patrick dickman's popular list)
-Bob
+golgari Charm
+instant speed removal
+thrun
UWR
-removal that isnt Slaughter Pact
+Fulminator Mage
+Thrun
+Lifegain (Obstinate baloth, kitchen finks, bow of nylea)
UR Delver
-bob
-thoughtseize
+sweepers
+lifegain
Living End
-Abrupt Decay
+GY hate
+Fulminator Mage
GW Hatebears
Depending on the build you may keep the same SB strategy as other midrange decks and take out the discard for removal/creatures
If youre on the play Id go with fulminator mages, on the draw I'd leave in some amount of discard.
Infect
Take out your slow threats and put in more removal and discard
Fae
This plays out a lot like UWR control. Stick thrun and win. Side in lifegain if theyre splashing red and snaps.
Zoo
-Thoughtseize
-Bob
+lifegain
+sweepers
+Thrun
+removal
a huge thanks to LEH and his original primer for the bulk of the primer and to the various writes I plagiarized
Adrian Sullivan and Reid Duke
Willy //www.channelfireball.com/home/junk-is-the-new-jund/">Edel
Mimeoplasm Midrange, CHAINER CHAINER HIGH VOLTAGE
Rafiq of the Astral Slide, 67land.dec Child of Alara, Gisela <3 Sunforger
TRADE!?WUBRGMy Pauper Cube
Sek'Kuar, Deathkeeper, Phage the Uncastable, Azusa Lost but Stompy, Crosis Combo Breaker, All-In-Skullbriar, Rafiq/Jenara ETB army, Hazezon Swarm, Glissa Voltron!, Jarad Zombie Tribal, Zedruu Pillowfort, Reaper King Artifact Shenanagains
Current decks of choice:
Vintage: Shops.
Legacy: Lands.
Modern: Lantern.
The matchup analysis definitely needs work!
Mimeoplasm Midrange, CHAINER CHAINER HIGH VOLTAGE
Rafiq of the Astral Slide, 67land.dec Child of Alara, Gisela <3 Sunforger
TRADE!?WUBRGMy Pauper Cube
Sek'Kuar, Deathkeeper, Phage the Uncastable, Azusa Lost but Stompy, Crosis Combo Breaker, All-In-Skullbriar, Rafiq/Jenara ETB army, Hazezon Swarm, Glissa Voltron!, Jarad Zombie Tribal, Zedruu Pillowfort, Reaper King Artifact Shenanagains
decks playing:
none
It really doesn't seem like it is in ban territory right now.
Storm Crow is strictly worse than Seacoast Drake.
decks playing:
none
I'm still pretty unclear on the relative merits of Jund, Obliterator Rock, and Tectonic Edge Rock. Which decks are better in which metagames? In particular, I don't really know when Obliterator Rock would be better than Jund. If you're in a creature-heavy metagame (which is what people usually say the Obliterator version shines in), wouldn't you rather have Anger of the Gods, Terminate, and Lightning Bolt than Obliterator?
Here's the deck I'm thinking about using:
3 Thoughtseize
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Abrupt Decay
1 Slaughter Pact
4 Bitterblossom
3 Liliana of the Veil
1 Garruck Relentless
Creatures- 18
4 Taromogoyf
4 Dark Confidant
3 Scavenging Ooze
3 Kitchen Finks
3 Courser of Kruphix
1 Thrun, the last troll
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgomouth
4 Overgrown Tomb
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Tetonic Edges
4 Treetop Villages
7 Swamp
3 Forrest
3 Deathmark
3 Wrench Mind
3 Choke
3 Krosan Grip
3 Maelstrom Pulse
JundBGR
RW Blood MoonRW
Pauper
Delver U
Elves G
Control B
Commander
Edgar Markov BRW
Captain Sisay GW
Niv-Mizzet, Parun UR
Tymna and Ravos WB
It has enough bad matchups to keep it in check. If it really gains popularity Tron and affinity will have a massive uprising.
All of the following decks are bad matchups for Jund/Edge/'bliterator, but each deck has a few matchups its a lot better against than the others
In general, all three decks have problems dealing with 'swarms.'
Jund- Affinity, Tron, decks with creatures with >3 toughness
Edge- tempo and control decks, anything with 3 colors
Obliterator- merfolk, anything with lightning bolt as primary removal, creatures <3 toughness, creature decks in general (pod)
Jund generally plays 1-2 spells to deal with creatures that arent 3 cmc or 3 toughness. Creatures with big asses are its downfall, whereas obliterator stalls them easily and plays more removal to deal with them.
Sure, terminate is nice, but we have a huge 2 cmc slot, i'd almost always rather have slaughter pact
With 3 finks and 3 courser you definitely have enough lifegain to support bitterblossom. But the real reason is that we want more threats that dominate the board and break stalls, not creatures that just stall it out. The 'default' creature package stalls the board nicely.
Honestly; bitterblossom just isnt good in the meta right now, even faeries cant use it to its full potential. Bitterblossom and Lingering Souls are best against affinity and midrange decks. The current meta heavily favors 'unfair' decks too much for tokens that clog up the board to be beneficial for us.
If you really want to utilize tokens you'll want 1-2 MD swords and Garruk Wildspeaker as your 4 cmc planeswalker. Relentless isnt good since the DRS ban. Wildspeaker can protect himself or untap the lands you need to cast removal and then a few turns later ult him to push your tokens thru for damage.
Mimeoplasm Midrange, CHAINER CHAINER HIGH VOLTAGE
Rafiq of the Astral Slide, 67land.dec Child of Alara, Gisela <3 Sunforger
TRADE!?WUBRGMy Pauper Cube
Sek'Kuar, Deathkeeper, Phage the Uncastable, Azusa Lost but Stompy, Crosis Combo Breaker, All-In-Skullbriar, Rafiq/Jenara ETB army, Hazezon Swarm, Glissa Voltron!, Jarad Zombie Tribal, Zedruu Pillowfort, Reaper King Artifact Shenanagains
JundBGR
RW Blood MoonRW
Pauper
Delver U
Elves G
Control B
Commander
Edgar Markov BRW
Captain Sisay GW
Niv-Mizzet, Parun UR
Tymna and Ravos WB
2x Forest
1x woodland cemetery
2x Marsh Flats
2x Twilight Mire
2x Overgrown Tomb
2x Swamp
4x Tectonic Edge
4x Treetop Village
1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4x Verdant Catacombs
Creature
2x Courser of Kruphix
4x Dark Confidant
3x Scavenging Ooze
1x eternal witness
4x Tarmogoyf
1x Thrun, the last troll
1x Garruk Relentless
4x Liliana of the Veil
Sorcery
4x Inquisition of Kozilek
2x Maelstrom Pulse
3x Thoughtseize
Instant
2x dismember
4x Abrupt Decay
1x slaughter pact
2x drown in sorrow
2x Surgical Extraction
1x Thrun, the last troll
1x Batterskull
1x Creeping Corrosion
2x Golgari Charm
1x Grafdigger's Cage
2x surgical extraction
2x rain of tears
1x Thrun, the Last Troll
I'm playing in a PTQ tomorrow and plan to write up a short report on my matches. I would prefer Rain of tears to be fulminator mage, but those won't arrive in time. I'm in the Pacific Northwest (USA) and expect a meta of Jund, Affinity, Tron, Pod, UR Delver (people love delver out here) and Twin. Would you recommend any changes anything to the MB or SB?
I think the Obliterator version of the list is at it's best by taking a "control" role against Aggro and mid-range decks. Playing a creature that can't block the turn he's played doesn't really fit well in that strategy. However, Geralf's messenger could be good out of the sideboard (on the play) against other mid-range decks and those that have mostly targeted removal.
If you know youre going to play against atleast 2 delver decks in 5 rounds I'd play a skylasher in SB.
That matchup is a huge pain for us, we dont do well against tempo.
I'd drop Garruk Relentless in favor of another Thrun MD or batterskull.
You have a few things listed twice in your SB.
This is what I would run in your meta
Mimeoplasm Midrange, CHAINER CHAINER HIGH VOLTAGE
Rafiq of the Astral Slide, 67land.dec Child of Alara, Gisela <3 Sunforger
TRADE!?WUBRGMy Pauper Cube
Sek'Kuar, Deathkeeper, Phage the Uncastable, Azusa Lost but Stompy, Crosis Combo Breaker, All-In-Skullbriar, Rafiq/Jenara ETB army, Hazezon Swarm, Glissa Voltron!, Jarad Zombie Tribal, Zedruu Pillowfort, Reaper King Artifact Shenanagains
@ Plowshears to Swords: I second 2 Cages. I'd also run 2 Slaughter Pacts & 1 Dismember over the 2 Dismembers and single Slaughter Pact you have.
Regarding Geralf's Messenger... I do love me some Messenger but not here. There is so much in the 3 drop slot already and Obliterator just doesn't need the aggro support. Against Affinity and Burn the life loss isn't nearly as good as life gain from Finks. And the trifecta of Courser, Bob and Fetches is just too good to interrupt.
So i would like to ask against the Tier 1 deck below, what would be my priority pick?
Melira Pod
Affinity
UR Twin
Jund
UWR Control
BG Rock
Storm
Scapeshift
Kiki Pod
RUG Twin
Merfolk
Bogles
also on top of that, would it be advisable to have a BG Rack deck as a sideboard? which includes taking out finks, courser etc for more discards like raven, wrench mind and putting in the rack and shrieking affliction.. it gives a surprise element to the opponent and maybe forcing a third game if we lost against a control deck and making it rather difficult to guess how our third gameplay would be ?
So i would like to ask against the Tier 1 deck below, what would be my priority pick?
Melira Pod
Affinity
UR Twin
Jund
UWR Control
BG Rock
Storm
Scapeshift
Kiki Pod
RUG Twin
Merfolk
Bogles
also on top of that, would it be advisable to have a BG Rack deck as a sideboard? which includes taking out finks, courser etc for more discards like raven, wrench mind and putting in the rack and shrieking affliction.. it gives a surprise element to the opponent and maybe forcing a third game if we lost against a control deck and making it rather difficult to guess how our third gameplay would be ?
2x Forest
1x woodland cemetery
2x Marsh Flats
2x Twilight Mire
2x Overgrown Tomb
2x Swamp
4x Tectonic Edge
4x Treetop Village
1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4x Verdant Catacombs
Creature
2x Courser of Kruphix
4x Dark Confidant
3x Scavenging Ooze
1x eternal witness
4x Tarmogoyf
2x Thrun, the last troll
4x Liliana of the Veil
Sorcery
4x Inquisition of Kozilek
2x Maelstrom Pulse
3x Thoughtseize
Instant
1x dismember
4x Abrupt Decay
1x slaughter pact
1x victim of the night
1x drown in sorrow
1x geth's verdict
2x Surgical Extraction
1x Batterskull
2x Creeping Corrosion
1x Golgari Charm
2x Grafdigger's Cage
2x kitchen finks
3x rain of tears
Here's some details from my matches. Let me preface this by saying I absolutely love playing this deck and will likely ride out the PTQ season with only minor tweaks. It has game against everything, even Tron.
0-0 Round 1: Tarmo-Twin 2-1
I expected a lot of twin, and the first round didn't disappoint. I lost game one to the combo. Tried to bluff an abrupt decay after thoughtseize discovered a turn 4 combo, but vendilion clique called my bluff and he won turn 5.
Side out:
- Courser of Kruphix
- eternal witness
Side in:- geth's verdict
- Surgical Extraction
I won the next two games on the backs of Bob, Goyf, and LotV, just as this deck should. Quick play note, always represent abrupt decay. Twin is terrified of this card. Also, wait for the vendilion clique trigger to target before responding.1-0 Round 2: UR Twin 0-2
More twin! This version was streamlined to be all in on the combo and it worked. Despite multiple Thoughtseize, IoK, Abrupt Decay, Goyf and Bobs he just kept drawing the combo. I sided same as above, didn't help. My opponent had a 4 digit DCI#, so I didn't feel too bad and I had time to eat before round 3.
1-1 Round 3: Kiki-Pod 2-0
Opponent mulls to 4 and I've got Thoughtseize and Inquisition of Kozilek in my opening hand. I Thoughtseize first, because I assume he has no early plays at 4 cards and I don't want to whiff with my IoK. I now believe that was a mistake, as I revealed 2 lands, Kiki-Jiki, the Mirror Breaker, and Noble Hierarch. Of course I took the Hierarch, but now I have no way to snag Kiki and he could combo if he naturally draw's the other piece. He actually draws a restoration angel, but I was able to kill and beat him with a goyf. Can't remember my sideboard here, probably brought in batterskull and replaced a Thrun, the last troll. Game 2 I Thoughtseize his Birthing Podand beat him as no pod makes him just an inconsistent mid-range deck.
2-1 Round 4: Junk 2-1
Up until the night before the PTQ, I was running a Junk list with Lingering Souls and Path to Exile mainboard, and the solid sideboard white cards. I think Souls is bonkers, but it just isn't good enough in a combo filled meta. This player was running Junk, but no Souls and no PtE, I'm not really sure why he was in 3 colors. Can't remember a ton of details from this match, but Dark Confidant was once again the hero in both games I won. I drew everything I needed and more to run him over in games 1 and 3. I did make a play mistake in game 2 however. I cast Slaughter Pact during his attack phase (took out a goyf that was swinging for lethal) and forgot to pay 3 on my upkeep. Put dice on top of your library after casting Slaughter Pact!!! I was way behind in the game and likely to lose anyway, but that is easily the dumbest way to lose. Never again!
3-1 Round 5: Merfolk 2-1
A matchup I practiced against, this deck is just as scary as any of the other aggro strategies. Spreading Seas will ruin your day, but at 2 colors I'm slightly better off. In game 1, Liliana of the veil got online and Goyf did the dirty work.
Side out: Dark Confidant
Side in:
- Kitchen Finks
- Golgari Charm
- Drown in Sorrow
Game 2, he has the nut draw and blows me away. After a lengthy, mid-match deck check (weird), we were in an almost stalemated board. Everyone is watching as the deck check gave us extra time and all other matches were complete. He's able to start swinging and I'm on a 2 turn clock. On my turn, with a hand of Goyf, Slaughter Pact, and Abrupt, I tapped my mana wrong to cast goyf and almost killed my self since I really needed that abrupt decay. Luckily, he drew an Island and attacked, I used Slaughter Pact on his lord (put 4 dice on my library ), all his blocked attackers died at the hands of 2 goyfs and a fat scavenging ooze. Paid my cost on my upkeep, pumped my scooze and swung back for lethal. I'm not used to a crowd, was really fun to win despite my poor use of Twilight Mire.4-1 Round 6: LSV-Pod (no Melira) 0-2
By this match I'm pretty tired but stoked to still be in the winner's bracket. I don't have a lot to say about this match, but I saw 5 pods in 2 games. This deck can only handle a few 4+ mana, non-creature permanents and that is too many. He beat me with flying, value creatures and don't think I made any play errors.
I played out the next 2 matches before prizes, lost the Burn lottery and drew with U/B Fae player. Overall I'm happy with deck and will probably replace victim of the night with slaughter pact. Thanks for reading, feedback and sideboard advice appreciated!