MTG Salvation

I'm off Looting and back on Sleight of Hand. The card disadvantage is already real when playing Force, plus extra blue cards feels good. We also do have a mana sink in Hexdrinker to make use of the extra lands Wrenn gets.

Moreover, the Wrenn and Six ultimate is super fun and not all that difficult to achieve in grindy games. You either win very soon with Bolts, or you get to do sweet stuff like pitch a land to counter a spell. I've also found a pair of Magmatic Sinkhole to be very good. I'm off Tarfire for now because Wrenn is filling some of that role, and there are more things Sinkhole kills that Tarfire doesn't touch. Think walkers, Thing, TKS, etc.

I had the Delver pseudo scry feth loop going with Wrenn and Six last night, the first time I ever cast it. Cool effect as it marches up to emblem.

I'm going to try out 2 Looting for next week. I'll be down to 24 blue cards, and becausebim playing a set of Forces, I don't want to go lower.

The only real mana intensive play in my build is Hexdrinker, but even then I only need 5 lands to be able to cast it and having it swing at level 8 next turn.

Quote from CatParty »

My faith in this deck is restored, though it was against a sampling of 2 decks. What this deck really could use is a Nerset in the sideboard to bring in against decks that go really long like UW Control. That deck shuts down if they can't draw more than once per turn, and we need her dig ability to find answers that can close the game - like Lightning Bolt.

I asked in the discord about Cindervines against UW, but you answered my question here. Good to know.

And for Narset: I'm running one in the board for now, though I have had 2 in the past. I think it's great against UW because the static messes up some of their sequencing. It's hard to tell because it's not actively countering anything. But I think it's great as an engine they can't just answer. UW has a very hard time against it. Phoenix can burn it, but you just cast it and don't activate it right away and then they have to use 2 spells on it. You can activate it when you untap and have the mana to protect it.

Quote from Mikefon »

You did play against the best decks for W6 to shine. I'd like to know how they perform in other MUs. Glad that we have another option though.

True, true. GDS and Jund are both decks where a card advantage engine helps out a ton, like Huntmaster in the older builds. Other decks you want that kind of engine are any flavor of Control or midrange. But you also want the card against go wide creature strategies. The fact that you've got both of those on the same 2 mana card that doesn't die to most easy removal and also wins the game if they cant deal with it is huge to me.

You know how sometimes decks play Grim Lavamancer from the side to deal with small creature decks? Wrenn and Six is like that stapled to Dark Confidant, and you get to choose the most relevant mode each turn, and it activates right away, and it doesn't die to Bolt if you don't want it to. I get that it doesn't flip Delver, but at some point the raw quality of the card overcomes the being slightly off plan.

I'm also debating swapping my Sleight of Hands for a pair of Faithless Looting. I've thought about the swap for a while but have been hesitant to lessen the number of blue cards. But I think I can balance it, and the extra selection combined with the synergy with W6 might make it worth a swap.

Agreed on Hexdrinker being a 4cmc creature against W6 decks.

Played 2x Wrenn and Six tonight, and it was great. Went 1-2-1 overall, which isn't great, but the losses were in very close games against Dredge and Jund. The draw was against a very slow GDS player after a G2 where I ulted a W6, had Blood Moon out, but couldn't find a Bolt to retrace for a long time. G3 got 2 turns in before they called turns. I was in okay shape and it was 50/50.

Not going to bother with a full report on a lackluster night, butI'll say this. You know how Jund runs you out of resources? How would you like to have 5 cards in hand, with 5 lands on board, plus a Goyf and planeswalker on turn 5? Because that's where I was at. I think W6 is the engine we've been waiting for, and all we have to do to play it is ditch 2 flex instants / sorceries anyway. In exchange, we get a machine gun against x/1s, never miss a land drop, and a win con on a different axis. It's great.

Fry is definitely better at killing walkers. Obviously it's narrow, but it does that job plus acts as hardnosed removal for Humans, Thing, and Spirits, too.

Have you played with Hexdrinker? I find it just replaces all the 4cmc threats we've all played in the board, and is something we want anyway as a 1 cmc threat. Off the top in a grindy game, it just wins. But you can also cast it early and chip in for damage, and they have to deal with it before it levels out of control.

I'm with you on Hazoret. It's great against Jund and Rock, but very marginal against the Celestial Colonnade decks, and outside of those matchups, I never found myself bringing it in.

I think Hexdrinker does everything you want against the grindy matchups, but is also very solid in the linear matchups. And you can play 4 of them, and cast them starting turn 1. Hexdrinker has totally changed how the UWx matchups play, and so I don't find myself wanting that extra creature threat from the board. Instead, I'm playing a Narset as a different angle of attack that also has utility against Phoenix, Storm, etc.

I find Burn to be a little stressful. If they're on the creature plan, you want a Goyf asap. You always want counters. I let through pretty much all Lava Spikes unless they're lethal, and try to counter any Searing Blaze blowouts and Helix if I can help it.

Eidolon is really rough on us and difficult to beat once resolved.

Meanwhile, I went 4-1 in a league with this:



Same as my paper deck, except the Traps are Surgicals in paper. Here's what I said in the Discord:

Round 1: Lost to E Tron 1-2. I cast Moon and cut myself off green early, had some Bolts and a Force for the inevitable planeswalkers, but after surviving the first two little Ugins, I lost to the Karn I didn't have an answer for. Actually, I lost to the Expedition Map that found him Wastes to unlock his hand. Rough matchup.

Round 2: Beat Scales 2-0. I think this is secretly one of our better matchups. Forced an Animation Module G1 backed up by pressure and Bolts to clear the way for Goyf. G2 I kept 2 lands,, Abrade, Return to Earth, EE, Bolt, and Tarfire, figuring I'd run opponent out of threats and find one soon. Worked great. Goyf and an EE on 0 held off a huge Hangarback Walker while Hexdrinker got ulted and swung uncontested for the last 6.

Round 3: Beat Rock 2-1. Had a grindy G1, but as always, their Goyfs are just better than ours. And the card I lost to was Spawn of Mayhem, of all things. Opponent must have been trying it as a random 4 drop in the spot they usually use for Kalitas. Flample is real. G2, they discarded a Hexdrinker and Goyf, but I had a third one and they flooded out. They Field of Ruined my red source, I Bolted down to 6, and they scooped. Prematurely, to me, but whatever. G3 I kept 2 lands, 2 Delvers, and a Hexdrinker. Delver flipped early and lived, I Bolted a Scooze and Leaked another, and after I got a Goyf out, they scooped when I flashed in a naked Snapcaster to eat a Liliana edict. Untap, attack, Bolt for lethal.

Round 4: Beat UW 2-1. G1 I didn't have enough disruption for their stuff, and they ended up with a flipped Search, Narset, and Jace ticking up. Drew lands, even when shuffling after the Jace activation, and scooped in the interest of time. G2 was quicker, when I got down a Delver that flipped T3, hit twice before eating a Path. Veil of Summer was huge here, forcing a Goyf through a Mana Leak or Spell Snare. Narset was quite good for me, too. G3 was more of the same, except Veil just cycled in response to Snap-Path. Punted a thing: opponent has two Snaps out, I've got a Goyf and a Narset. They swing to put me lower on life than they were and cast Timely. I had 2 Bolts and could've basically countered it. Fry was great as it tagged a Baneslayer. I won with the one Tarfire I left in after a Path I couldn't answer.

Round 5: Beat Jund 2-1. G1 I just got Junded. Seems to happen at least once a round against this deck, where they Thoughtseize your most important card, Push your threat, and land Liliana uncontested. G2 I don't much remember, but it was over when I flashed in a naked Snapcaster to eat the Liliana edict (apparently a favorite play against BGx) and swung back with a Bolt to the face. G3 was similar, except it involved me countering an Abrupt Decay with Veil of Summer. More than anywhere else, that card is great here. It's good against UW but it's straight up Cryptic Command here.

I'm going to trim a Vapor Snag and something else to try out a pair of Wrenn and Six in paper in a week and a half, but overall I've had really good luck with this list. I'm 13-8 in matches I've paid for, both paper and this league, and a lot of that is dragged down by an awful night at the LGS where I went 0-4, including the hugest combat math punt of my Modern career. The point is: the deck feels like it has some legs.

I'll be testing Wrenn and Six in a week and a half. Very optimistic. They shore up two hard matchups: go wide aggro and the decks that force a longer game. Am going to try a pair to start, replacing probably a Tarfire and a Vapor Snag to start.

I think Coatl is much more of a defensive card and doesn't fit with the plan here. I also think 4c Delver is just a bad hybrid of Delver and Snow Control, each of which are fine decks. It works in Legacy because they can flip Delver and it can be a threat, whereas Delver is pretty underpowered as a control finisher in Modern.

But you should absolutely try it out and let us know what works and doesn't. Astrolabe and Coatl are powerful cards, and access to black would solve many problems, though it opens up others.

I played 2 Veil of Summer and a Fry at Monday Modern last night. Beat Grixis Control, Abzan, and 5c Niv 2-0 each, and lost to Jund 0-2. Never boarded in Fry, and although I had Veil in for 3 of the 4 matchups, I never saw it.

But I had an interesting G2 against Niv. I had a Steam Vents, Stomping Ground, and Island in play, plus a flipped Delver and an unlevelled Hexdrinker. Opponent was at 11. I attacked for 5 with 2 Bolts, Opt, Snare, and Force in hand. On his upkeep, I cast Bolt, he responds with Helix on the Delver. I Snare it. He responds with Veil of Summer, so I Force pitching the Opt, then Bolt him for lethal. Just a sweet play.

Reid Duke had a good article on Veil the other day.

Quote from Reid Duke »

The best home in Modern would be green combo decks like Scapeshift, Neoform, Infect, and Collected Company. As a Jund player, I’m not looking forward to having my discard spells met by Veil of Summer. It’s a devastating trap, and it feels practically unavoidable. Holding up a single green mana is such a low cost to pay. And besides, discard spells are usually the way to sniff out a trap and make sure the coast is clear! Now, your best cards against opposing combo decks turn into devastating two-for-one exchanges in the opponent’s favor.

While we're not a combo deck, I think we're trying to do something similar to Infect or Company by protecting an important creature.

What are you playing these days, Jordan? Are you still on Mandrills, or have you migrated to Hexdrinker or Mongoose? For what it's worth, I'm super pleased with roughly 56/60 of my main deck right now, and while it's hard to say we're well-positioned, I think we have gotten some important tools in these last few sets.

I will say that while Jund was never easy, Wrenn and Six has made it that much more difficult. That card is a house against us. Pings our dudes, drowns us in card advantage. It even makes the Blood Moon plan pretty sketchy postboard.

Seasoned Pyromancer seems like a great add to keep pace with the attrition decks. I don't own any yet, but I can see this being the best option available.

Things I've played: Hazoret is good. I've played Chandra, Torch of Defiance and didn't care for it. A long time ago, I tried Bedlam Reveler but didn't like it much. I've played a Vendillion Clique, a Savage Knuckleblade, a Nimble Obstructionist . . . all more or less fine. My favorite of things I've played is definitely Huntmaster of the Fells, which just eats the board alive if you can untap with it. If you're just aiming for Jund, probably Hazoret is your best bet.

I think the main thing is to just increase your threat density a little bit, and it doesn't much matter with what. I was thinking of playing a pair of Young Pyromancer from the side just to make blockers and have an engine, but Seasoned Pyromancer is just better for that purpose at this point.

But tomorrow, I'm trying something totally different: Veil of Summer as a pair out of the board. I'm always tinkering, a evidenced above, and like I said, I think it basically doesn't matter what extra threat or two you add in. But this is totally different and gives a way to create 2 for 1s pretty easily against decks where that's really relevant. It's also 1cmc. Imagine casting it in response to a Fatal Push, having your creature live, and then drawing a card. It's a very narrow Cryptic Command. I don't know if it's going to be good, but I know exactly how all the other cards behave in the matchup, so I aim to find out if this is viable. I'm 50-50 on it.

I think the idea is the staff decided to start a new site they'd be in control of. I'm registered over there and would prefer to move.

I'm down to 2 Moon after more than a year of playing 3. Needed an extra slot for grave hate. The meta will clock back around again, I'm sure. When Amulet and Tron are good, so is Moon. Also 3 color fair decks. We're especially well set up to play Moon because we have a clock down to close the game before opponents can get out from under the Moon.

If I have a threat down already, I'll cut myself off green or blue pretty readily with Moon, especially if I have Bolts or Force in hand.

EDIT I cut my Tarfire and a Vapor Snag to make room for 2x Surgical Extraction main with 3x Ravenous Trap in the board. Until Hogaak eats a ban, I think this is where we have to be for grave hate.

Agree with BloodyRabbit. If I have a Vapor Snag, Force, and another blue card in hand, I'll focus on developing my board and hitting hard. If I don't have the Snag, I'll Force the Stirring or Map or whatever. I almost never bother with Spheres and Stars.