I think 1 Martyr is a bit pointless. The only use is for tutoring with Ranger, and by the time you cast Ranger, your hand is usually quite depleted, negating the usefulness of Martyr. I've brought it up before, but I think the right numbers are either 3-4 or 0.
The meta I saw was Grixis, some Tron variants, several Affinity, a Valakut deck or two, and some combo. No idea how much to read into that for GP Vegas though.
I lost to two Grixis Control decks (half the people there were on Grixis variants) and Merfolk, piloted by GPLA winner Simon ****sky. Ghostly Prison is going back in the board...
Last night I pitched a perfect game at my LGS not a single game dropped! The gods of RNG were truly on my side. Don't have time for a write-up right now, but I played against Eldrazi Tron, Grixis Delver, GU Tron (wuh?) and Grixis Control/Shadow. I'd consider all these to be fairly even to somewhat unfavorable matchups, so I was certainly lucky not to get Ballista'd or Staticaster'd or Chaliced (although I did get Ratchet Bombed and K-Returned). Moment of the night: My round 3 opponent (on a bizarre GU Karnless Tron list) sees me open on T1 Soul Warden and goes "You're 2-0?!" with a look of straight up shock. And then I wiped the floor with him my success (and store credit) has made me decide to attend the GPT for Las Vegas that's happening today! Wish me luck! Any other Sisters players planning on going to GP Vegas?
Mhm. I run it over the third RiP, because it's better against Coco/Chord decks, Nahiri, and Through the Breach. Turns off chording up a Reclamation Sage too
Surgical is great vs graveyard-based combo, but Rest in Peace truly destroys any strategy relying on the graveyard. If your goal is to interact with combo in general, the better way is using Thoughtseize, which in turn makes Surgical better when you run them. Overall, when spending precious sideboard slots, RiP is the best choice for strength against a wide range of decks.
Well it bricks the combo, is the important part. They can't go Grace-Ad Naus. Same with Living End. But Ad Naus could draw Unlife. Lantern also has the problem of emptying the hand with their first 6 mana :/ we should keep thinking of ways to attack these non-creature decks
Edit: Just realized it would still brick their Lightning Storm/Lab Man after the Ad Naus, unless they draw their deck and have a way to deal with it (like Patrician's Scorn
Edit 2: Ugh, they can Slaughter Pact them both after drawing the deck...
Ooh, I hadn't recognized the utility vs Lantern and Cheerios. Thankfully I haven't seen any Sram at my stores but we do have Lantern, and Ad Nauseam, which these also stop. I may switch to Eidolon for the lack of the word "artifact" though..
Check it out, 3 local tourneys in a row cashed! Undefeated tonight (3-0-1 so still technically correct... the best kind of correct!) It was a great night with a ton of different decks in the room, many off-tier. Here's the list again, with a new sideboard (I changed some things drastically and it all paid off):
I drew in round 1, which always feels good he was playing an interesting brew that beat me in G2 with Hornet Nest + Blasphemous Act. He was also playing mana walls, Mwonvuli Acid-Moss and Primal Command. Sweetness abound! We went to time, because I didn't scoop when I should have in G2. At turn 5 of G3, I had an activated Ascendant that would kill in two turns. Oops.
-2 Sisters +2 Moonlight
Round 2 was a pair-down (as they all would be), and I played against GB Infect. Obviously Infect is a pretty nightmare matchup, but this version lacks the unblockable poisoner, and also the deck was piloted by a pretty fresh player (and from what I've seen Infect is a very skill-intensive strategy). I got to 2-0 him with a relatively quick Ascendant draw and a scoop to Blessed Alliance. Clawing my way up the ladder!
-1 Ranger -1 Honor -1 Martyr +3 Alliance
Round 3 was Naya Burn. I completely annihilated in both games, with multiple Martyr draws and him being forced to tap out under various circumstances. I got to cast Spectral through an Eidolon (CMC 6), which always feels good (and I would make my opponent brick on an Inquisition for the same reason next round!) At this point, I had four straight games where it never really felt close to losable. That feeling would not extend into round 4!
-2 Ranger -1 Honor +3 Alliance
I was ready for the dream-crush. It had happened so many times before. at 2-0-1 I could end up first or not cashing. There was a GB Tron player in the room. I dodged him, but instead went up against 8 Rack. Woof.
Then I got insanely stupidly lucky. If this round had had a title, it would have been "Xarnithru Accused of Colluding with Russian RNG Hackers". I stabilized G1 at ONE life by topdecking a Squadron Hawk on the turn before I would have died. G2 he got me fair and square (if fair can be used to describe 8 Rack). G3 I got a board with 2 Sisters and an Ascendant, plus Honor. He draws his last card. I ask "Flaying Tendrils"? He says "No, but that was the out," and extends the hand. Then he reveals his next card.
I had to actually apologize for that one
-3 Path +1 O-Ring +1 Disenchant +1 Alliance
Overall, the deck has been impressing me with its aggro potential, and extremely winnable matchups. DS Jund is a walk with 3 mainboard Aurioks. The white sideboard cards are devastating in the right situations. I've certainly been getting very lucky, but it's good to realize I didn't have that 3 month losing streak because of play mistakes alone. And I also mulliganed a ton and lost most rolls today, so it's not like I'm just lucksacking my way to the top. We have some amazingly powerful plays in this deck, and I will keep playing it as long as it keeps winning me store credit! And then probably some more.
I do! How do you win through multiple board wipes? All the sisters die!
Edit: Just realized it would still brick their Lightning Storm/Lab Man after the Ad Naus, unless they draw their deck and have a way to deal with it (like Patrician's Scorn
Edit 2: Ugh, they can Slaughter Pact them both after drawing the deck...
3 Soul Warden
3 Soul's Attendant
3 Auriok Champion
3 Martyr of Sands
4 Serra Ascendant
4 Ajani's Pridemate
3 Ranger of Eos
Non-Creature Spells:
2 Smuggler's Copter
3 Path to Exile
4 Spectral Procession
3 Honor of the Pure
11 Plains
4 Flagstones of Trokair
3 Ghost Quarter
2 Windbrisk Heights
1 Mistveil Plains
3 Stony Silence
2 Rest in Peace
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Disenchant
1 Suppression Field
1 Oblivion Ring
2 Hallowed Moonlight
3 Blessed Alliance
1 Ethersworn Canonist
I drew in round 1, which always feels good he was playing an interesting brew that beat me in G2 with Hornet Nest + Blasphemous Act. He was also playing mana walls, Mwonvuli Acid-Moss and Primal Command. Sweetness abound! We went to time, because I didn't scoop when I should have in G2. At turn 5 of G3, I had an activated Ascendant that would kill in two turns. Oops.
-2 Sisters +2 Moonlight
Round 2 was a pair-down (as they all would be), and I played against GB Infect. Obviously Infect is a pretty nightmare matchup, but this version lacks the unblockable poisoner, and also the deck was piloted by a pretty fresh player (and from what I've seen Infect is a very skill-intensive strategy). I got to 2-0 him with a relatively quick Ascendant draw and a scoop to Blessed Alliance. Clawing my way up the ladder!
-1 Ranger -1 Honor -1 Martyr +3 Alliance
Round 3 was Naya Burn. I completely annihilated in both games, with multiple Martyr draws and him being forced to tap out under various circumstances. I got to cast Spectral through an Eidolon (CMC 6), which always feels good (and I would make my opponent brick on an Inquisition for the same reason next round!) At this point, I had four straight games where it never really felt close to losable. That feeling would not extend into round 4!
-2 Ranger -1 Honor +3 Alliance
I was ready for the dream-crush. It had happened so many times before. at 2-0-1 I could end up first or not cashing. There was a GB Tron player in the room. I dodged him, but instead went up against 8 Rack. Woof.
Then I got insanely stupidly lucky. If this round had had a title, it would have been "Xarnithru Accused of Colluding with Russian RNG Hackers". I stabilized G1 at ONE life by topdecking a Squadron Hawk on the turn before I would have died. G2 he got me fair and square (if fair can be used to describe 8 Rack). G3 I got a board with 2 Sisters and an Ascendant, plus Honor. He draws his last card. I ask "Flaying Tendrils"? He says "No, but that was the out," and extends the hand. Then he reveals his next card.
Flaying Tendrils.
I had to actually apologize for that one
-3 Path +1 O-Ring +1 Disenchant +1 Alliance
Overall, the deck has been impressing me with its aggro potential, and extremely winnable matchups. DS Jund is a walk with 3 mainboard Aurioks. The white sideboard cards are devastating in the right situations. I've certainly been getting very lucky, but it's good to realize I didn't have that 3 month losing streak because of play mistakes alone. And I also mulliganed a ton and lost most rolls today, so it's not like I'm just lucksacking my way to the top. We have some amazingly powerful plays in this deck, and I will keep playing it as long as it keeps winning me store credit! And then probably some more.