This talking about ban is getting really boring already, all the foruns are like this, people don't want to think what can be done, they just talk about ban this, ban that.
Nothing is banned without WZ giving SB options first, just chill and w8 for someone to came up with a solution, it's just a matter of time. This is just one tournament, lots of the card choices were meta call, once people learn to play against and what can be done, things will change.
Round 2 vs. Affinity (2-0): Lingering Souls did its thing again, this time with Vault on T5 to put the game out of reach. Souls took game 2 as well, with a T2 Stony Silence that I kept in a one-land hand after mulling to six. SIDE IN: Disenchant x2, Stony x2, Engineered Explosives x2 OUT: TKS x2, Ulamog, Extraction, Claws, Map. EE is a nonbo with Stony (as are my Relics, Claws, and Map) but both Stony and EE are so good vs. Affinity that I bring them in anyway. I keep Relic in here as well, to help me set up Strangler and dig for answers if I don't draw Stony. I find Affinity very positive for this deck post-board.
Now that twin is gone, would Revoke existence be a replacement for Disenchant? Did you ever come across a situation against affinity where the instant speed was relevant?
6/8 eldrazi in the top 8 is a horrible meta. The colorless decks look focused on taking out infect, burn and boggles. The chalice on 1 is bad for us, but I will say Eldrazi mimic has my attention. LSV played 2 on the first turn after playing a single eye.
Frankly I am not scared of deaths shadow. We have a enough removal to deal with them I believe and life gain with vault and sorin.
Of all the decks I am most intrigued by the UR version. The use of skyspawnners is really cool imo. The way the deck plays with Gemstone Cavern they can play a turn 2 smasher which is just stupid good.
I am not going to talk about bans here, but the ban thread is buzzing right now.
I'm on the same spot, Mimic was a star, T1 Mimic into T2 TKS into T3 Smasher is back breaking !!!
All i can say is that Reality smasher is a complete powerhouse. I've cruised games with only him. I've never missed the oblivion sower and i will never
go back to them. I was pleased with the Sorin, he did some work of baiting a counterspell for me to cast a Reality smasher agaisn't Scapeshift.
Round 1 (VS scapeshift):
Game 1: I tore his hand appart with inquisition and thoughtseize followed by reality smasher. Sakura tribe-elder doesn't stand a chance as a chump blocker. He
had so much pressure that he wasn't able to do anything.
Game 2: I had a not so good hand. I had 2 strangler and a blight herder on the field with a Urborg and one of my friend did tell my opponent that i had Urborg out so he could cast the damnation in his hand (he had no black mana and haven't realised my urborg) I was so pissed. That gave him the time to assemble the combo. GG
Game 3: It was a grindy and long game. I got my 2 inquisition and thoughtseize early on to disrupt him. His deck didn't cooperate. I was able to bait his cryptic with my Sorin to follow with a Reality smasher for the win. I was so high in life total that even when he caster scapeshift he couldn't kill me.
(1-0)
Round 2 (VS Tron):
Game 1: I feared this matchup. I hate playing agaisn't tron and i never was able to win agaisn't it in the past so I was not very confident. Turn 2 thought knot seer into turn 3 reality smasher did a lot of work putting him down to 8. He cast a spellskite then a wurmcoil. Path the wurmcoil, redirect on spellskite, go down to 6, gain 6 life. Topdeck a second reality smasher, and cast sorin. (had enough mana to cast both) Go in for 12. GG
Game 2: He mulled to 4 (all no lander). I keep a hand with ghost quarter, surgical extraction and reality smasher. I crushed him in 4-5 turns.
(2-0)
Round 3 (Vs A Rakdos brew):
Game 1: turn 2 thought knot seer into turn 3 reality. He can't deal with them and die
Game 2: A crumble to dust turn 3 on my eldrazi temple gave him the game. I had a crazy hand (a second eldrazi temple, 2 blight herder, 1 wasteland strangler and a reality smasher with a relic). If
he hadn't did it, it was game for sure. Was never able to draw colored mana (was stuck with a vault of the archangel)
Game 3: He kept a greedy hand with 1 land and 3 rakdos signet. He never drew the 2nd land and lost to a reality smasher and TKS.
(3-0)
Round 4 (VS affinity):
Game 1: We drawed to have a split pot but still played. I had an awful hand and lost quickly to etched champion, signal pest, archbound ravager and ornithopter. Never saw any creature
Game 2: I tried to slow him down with 2 thoughtseize. Wasn't enough, didn't draw much land and lost to a double galvanic blast to the face (i was at 7)
(3-0-1)
The deck is a lot more powerfull with the smashers and TKS. I did draw Ulamog twice tonight but i never was able to cast it. I don't miss the expedition as they were only dead draw most of the time. Was happy with the 1 shambling vent as it gave me so way to deal with a liliana agaisn't the Rakdos deck. I'm happy with the direction the deck is going and i'm eager to see the future (read here the pro tour this weekend).
Well, looks like Ulamog is doing nothing there, why dont you test 1 more Smasher or TKS on its place, or even 1 more discard spell ?
I am only playing 1 map main and I have no idea what else to cut to get the second in. I really want to keep 1 surgical extraction main and 2 removal spells above the set of paths. Everything else is pretty standard.
I dont like it, you only have 10B and 9W, you will have more trouble casting ur discard turn 1 or pathing, if needed.
By the way, I recommend reading the page below. The author gives a thoughtful overview of Eldrazi in the meta and a breakdown of BR vs. BW. This link was posted on the Bx forum.
I have been thinking about the land base a lot. I agree that fetching a shock-you-once-but-then-pain-free dual, or getting a basic for 1 life instead of 1 land, is where I want to be. Though I sure can't argue with results like Exatraz (in my head it always sounds like Extra-Taz). Nice job, BTW! I too would like to see your whole list.
Here's what I came up with, thinking behind my choices after.
This gives 12 C, 12 B, and 11 W, which is as good as I can do. No tap lands (e.g., Bojuka Bog) because CIPT sucks so bad; also I have 11 exile sources main so Bog is less important, and Vent feels too expensive and easily-killed. No filter lands like Fetid Heath because I don't want to be locked out of colors, or to have to mulligan more than necessary. Although that might be a swap-out for the Wastes down the road, because any hand I would mulligan for a Heath would also get mulled for a Wastes.
The Shrine/Flats balance is 2-3 to fetch the land I need. I definitely want to have reasonably good odds of getting a Shrine online early, because a few times Caves has dinged me more than I felt comfortable with. I also want to be able to fetch basics to combat Blood Moon or Tectonic Edge. I wish a fetch would get the Wastes, but oh well. Plains are duals under Urborg, and I definitely need one vs. Blood Moon (Disenchant, Path, Souls, Stony, etc.), which is why they are a 2x. Four basics feels right with Path and GQ being used against us.
I don't really like Map, but I am running a 1-of main to find what I need. I was not happy seeing a second Eye in hand, and that happened more than I liked, so two of that now--but I can get it with Map, so it's kind of like 3 for reliability. To make room for the Map I lost one Sower, going to three because he is a little slow and expensive.
I'd also like to say thanks to the forum for sharing your experiences and ideas, and if anyone has feedback on the land list I would love to hear it.
Can u share ur deck, so i can see ur card choices ? But by now i would say, go 25 lands, we are Mid with a "high" cost threats
I'm not liking taplands in this deck, it keeps ruining my turn 1 discard, i think i'll run 0 taplands
I think Bojuka bog can be easily replaced with a non-tap utility land as we got more than enough ways to exile the graveyard of an opponent already in our repertoire. Shizo, Deaths storehouse would be a good one to put in it's place.
I love Bojuka Bog as it gives you an uncounterable way to exile their yard and very rarely has it actually affected my ability to discard T1. I don't think Shizo is good because we have 1 legendary creature and we don't care if he gets blocked.
I don't know what happens, looks like i'm a Bojuka magnet, it keeps coming in my initial hand all the time, so i took off.
The ban is what it is. Tron isn't a horrible match up, a challenge sure but not horrible, just means possibly upping GQ to 4 MD to combat that puts you over 50% by turn 3. Wurmcoil is answered cleanly in this build with Path. Its Karn that is the issue, and even a resolved Karn isn't instascoop. With this announcement though Warping Wail might loses a little bit of its luster since Snap, Deceiver Exarch and Skite made up 3 of the top 10 most played creatures in the format. Affinty, Burn, Infect and Boggles will likely steadily rise to combat tron so I still think MD spellskite will go a long way. The fear against twin was them having both blood moon and the combo but with the combo gone while still having Maps, it might be correct to now run a full playset of Caves and move beyond fetches.
Nothing is banned without WZ giving SB options first, just chill and w8 for someone to came up with a solution, it's just a matter of time. This is just one tournament, lots of the card choices were meta call, once people learn to play against and what can be done, things will change.
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I like the idea of Revoke Existence, it's a SB good card
I'm on the same spot, Mimic was a star, T1 Mimic into T2 TKS into T3 Smasher is back breaking !!!
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Hes also commenting here, you can see hes report on page 37.
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Well, looks like Ulamog is doing nothing there, why dont you test 1 more Smasher or TKS on its place, or even 1 more discard spell ?
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I dont like it, you only have 10B and 9W, you will have more trouble casting ur discard turn 1 or pathing, if needed.
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I didn't like his deck at all, R just for 2 creatures MD and some SB, no ty
I still think BW is the best, followed by both monoB (Mid and Heartless)
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Can u share ur deck, so i can see ur card choices ? But by now i would say, go 25 lands, we are Mid with a "high" cost threats
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I don't know what happens, looks like i'm a Bojuka magnet, it keeps coming in my initial hand all the time, so i took off.
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4 Wasteland Strangler
3 Thought-Knot Seer
4 Blight Herder
4 Oblivion Sower
1 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
Spells (19)
1 Slaughter Pact
2 Expedition Map
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Path to Exile
4 Relic of Progenitus
2 Thoughtseize
4 Lingering Souls
4 Caves of Koilos
4 Eldrazi Temple
2 Eye of Ugin
3 Ghost Quarter
2 Godless Shrine
4 Marsh Flats
2 Plains
1 Swamp
2 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Vault of the Archangel
1 Engineered Explosives
2 Duress
2 Pithing Needle
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Celestial Purge
2 Rest for the Weary
2 Spellskite
2 Stony Silence
1 Timely Reinforcements
I could swap the 2 Expedition Map for 1 more Inquisition of Kozilek or Thoughtseize and 1 more Ghost Quarter, Godless Shrine or Eye of Ugin.
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I think 4 Marsh Flats is the right choice
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