**+1 spellbomb, -1 thoughtseize to sideboard**
I feel like I sideboard thoughtseizes out of my deck a looot, and spellbomb is a relatively low cost inclusion to hedge against the multitude of grave decks. How often do you all sideboard out thoughtseize? Like 2/3 of matches like I do nowadays?
**4 trophy, 0 pulse, 0 decay**
I wanted to hedge a bit against tron since moving from Rock means losing FoR. It may be in vain, and if so maybe I want 3 trophy-1 decay, but I feel pretty strongly that pulse is too slow in modern nowadays for a removal spell. It’s almost always tempo negative which can leave you very behind on board. Any thoughts?
**1 LtLH, 1 kcommand vs 2kcommabd**
I went with the first LtLH over a second kcommand simply because I feel like BBE into a Liliana planeswalker is such a powerful play, even more powerful than BBE->kcommand. Also without pulse, I’m kind of weak to tokens. The drawback of course is that I’m down a burn spell that can help close out a game. How do you all feel about maindeck LtLH vs kcommand at the 3cmc slot?
I don’t think lili’s triumph is gonna be all that great tbh. Many, many decks in modern go wide rather than tall and edicts just aren’t effective against that style. As is most BGx decks play 4, or sometimes fewer, LotV. Adding diabolical edict is largely unneeded redundancy.
I think the card is very playable, but people seem to be overreacting big time. I don’t see this card making it out of the sideboard, and even then it’s probably only to be included when you’re fearing specifically bogles.
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Modern UMerfolk GBWMelira PodRIP GBW Abzan Midrange GBR Jund Midrange
Could be, my French is pretty rusty - "Affres". I agree with your overall view, it warrants testing though.
I think it would be fairly safe to write this card off. The mana cost is quite restrictive and impossible to cast on 3 mana if you have a forest or treetop village. Not to mention that it’s more narrow than both trophy and pulse, and more expensive than dreadbore. My advice would be don’t waste your time. Hero’s downfall is possibly better just because it’s easier to cast and the artifact clause is pretty redundant with the tools we have available already.
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Modern UMerfolk GBWMelira PodRIP GBW Abzan Midrange GBR Jund Midrange
Out of curiosity, has anyone playtested the new vraksa in either jund or the rock? It does basically everything we’d want out of a planeswalker. I could see it being really powerful, but I could also see it being just generally less powerful than either tracker or BBE. Seems like it would be fun to you with at the very least, just not sure how good it is.
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One of the best things about jund is that it’s highly customizeable to beat whatever is meta. If the meta dictates that you should play maindeck sweepers, play maindeck sweepers. I think a maindeck engineered explosives could be a great idea, or perhaps damnation to avoid bad cascades/for budget reasons.
Now that hollow one and human’s stock has gone down a bit I think Bob is getting better, just for my two cents. Still, I don’t know that I ever want to play the full 4 again. It’s such a serious liability in multiples (unless you’re fighting a grind battle or your opponent gives 0 *****s about your health) and I’ve really been happy with a deck playing only 2. Might be time to bump up to 3 perhaps tho.
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On the subject of manlands, has anyone ever considered playing a singleton lavaclaw reaches? I know it's probably the weakest of the original zendikar manlands, but it is still *a* manland. And as a mana producer it's in the right color combo to cast anger and LotV.
Jut to be clear, the motivation is that while ravine and treetop are better manlands, they’re in probably the worst color combo as far as lands go. So you can sacrifice the power level of one manland for slightly better mana. Reasonable, or going too deep?
Since I haven't really played the matchup enough, how extensively do we have to sideboard to beat dredge now that it's newly empowered? Are we at a state where 4 leyline is mandatory?
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I've been away from MtG for a while, but have been following the news a little since Trophy came out. Is there any consensus at this point regarding some of the popular topics that arose when Trophy was spoiled? IIRC, some of those questions were:
- Most importantly, which brand of BGx midrange is the top dog? Still Jund, or is it supplanted by abzan or BG?
- How many Trophies to play? 4 seemed like the obvious answer, but the land drawback led some to advocate playing 3 or less.
- How has sideboard construction changed now that we have better catch-all answers?
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Though if one removal spell is not enough, the answer is pretty obvious; play more of it.
I see what you're saying though, and I agree that it's hard to cover all the bases. In general, fair decks flourish in a narrow field where you can build a 15 card sideboard that neatly covers the format and, conversely, have more difficulty when the metagame is wide and hard to cover in 15 cards. With that in mind, it's not too surprising that the fair decks struggle right now.
I think it's helpful though that many of the strategies in modern have converged on graveyard abuse as a part of their strategy, meaning that you can cover a very wide swath of modern now with like 3 nihil spellbombs. When you really think about it, basically every unfair deck nowadays, and even some fair decks, gets tagged/hosed by grave hate including: storm, KCI, hollow one, dredge, bridgevine, mardu, living end, grishoalbrand, and probably more that I'm not thinking of. That's a lot of the top 20 archetypes in modern.
Hell, looking at that list, maybe 3 spellbomb + 1 grafdigger's cage or perhaps 4 leyline should be standard as long as graveyard abuse remains this popular.
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Modern UMerfolk GBWMelira PodRIP GBW Abzan Midrange GBR Jund Midrange
Idk, I think this problem of “non-redundant removal” is being way overstated. I think if jund pilots just trim on their creature count (so as to have more removal/discard overall) you can handle just about anything with proper planning. This problem does unfortunately exist against hollow one and other decks where the opponents creatures dodge 1/2 or more of our removal, but we’re hardly alone there. Mardu and jeskai don’t fare that much better against hollow one than we do.
But against humans? I find the problem isn’t that I have the *wrong* removal, it’s that I don’t have enough removal. How many spells are really conditional here? Mantis rider is the only meaningful spell that can’t be fatal pushed without revolt, and otherwise the only way to get got is to let the opponent grow a creature to 4 toughness such that it ducks bolt. It’s quite easy to stick an early goyf or scooze and just race while you kill-spell all of their powerful creatures. Your opponent can’t really race a scavenging ooze when their largest creature is a 2/3.
Maybe I’m lucky, but I haven’t had many problems with creature-based strategies other than hollow one.
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Modern UMerfolk GBWMelira PodRIP GBW Abzan Midrange GBR Jund Midrange
Delver and I had a rather protracted and occasionally contentious discussion about the tracker build; if you want to read more thoughts on the subject you might wanna check out my comment history, or go back 10 pages or so. Not sure we reached any meaningful agreements though.
Anyways I’ve also been very impressed with the tracker build. I think it has better game against midrange and aggro decks than more bob-centric builds do, and right now winning those matchups are really the key to success. I think the tracker build struggles a lot more comparatively in a metagame with lots of combo and decks that don’t threaten your life total. Tracker can dig faster, but he can’t start digging until turn 4 and in a turn 4 format, that’s quite meaningful.
Still, while aggro and midrange continue to define modern I think I’m going to be emphasizing tracker and I’ll be running as few bobs as my curve will allow.
So you’ve been impressed with brutality in the maindeck? I like brutality, but I feel like I often whiff on the ‘duress’ mode against a random opponent, and the other two modes semi-often don’t have text. Like against, say, ironworks or hollow one or tron. I feel like I have to sideboard it out an unsavory % of the time.
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I’d be inclined to agree, however I do think that push serves a vital role as lightning bolt 5-6. It’s annoyingly conditional and not the best removal a lot of the time, but it keeps you from getting curve’d out by aggro. I think it’s a necessary evil, where decay feels a lot more disposable.
You’re right though, it should not be the go to removal if you can play bolt.
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Modern UMerfolk GBWMelira PodRIP GBW Abzan Midrange GBR Jund Midrange
To echo ayiluss’ comments I’m not particularly enamored with decay right now. Consider how many high-cmc creatures there are in the format right now: hollow one is packed full of them, death’s shadow plays anglers and tasigur, bedlam reveler out of mardu, primeval titan, vengevine, etc. I wouldn’t leave home without a terminate, and I even play a dreadbore to supplement with the same effect. If anything I think decay is the card most frequently on the chopping block for me.
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Modern UMerfolk GBWMelira PodRIP GBW Abzan Midrange GBR Jund Midrange
Yeah, I keep getting drawn back to 25 land builds as well.
Is 5 manlands for sure the way to go though? I feel like the first manland is great for dodging flood, but manlands 2-3 lose their utility since you can usually only animate one, which is, in part, why I chose to run field of ruin. Does anyone have an opinion on hissing quagmire? It’s not a good attacker, but it’s a much better blocker than raging ravine in a pinch (if, say, you’re getting beat to death by an angler). It would certainly provide different utility which is kinda what I’m going for, I just don’t know if it’s good enough.
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EDH GBR Prossh
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3 blackcleave cliffs
2 blooming marsh
4 verdant catacombs
3 bloodstained mire
1 wooded foothills
2 overgrown tomb
1 stomping ground
1 blood crypt
2 swamp
1 Forest
1 mountain
3 raging ravine
3 dark confidant
3 scavenging ooze
4 tarmogoyf
4 BBE
Planeswalkers (5)
4 Liliana of the Veil
1 Liliana, the Last Hope
Spells (16)
4 inquisition of kozilek
1 thoughtseize
3 fatal push
3 lightning bolt
4 assassin’s trophy
1 kolaghan’s command
1 Nihil Spellbomb
**+1 spellbomb, -1 thoughtseize to sideboard**
I feel like I sideboard thoughtseizes out of my deck a looot, and spellbomb is a relatively low cost inclusion to hedge against the multitude of grave decks. How often do you all sideboard out thoughtseize? Like 2/3 of matches like I do nowadays?
**4 trophy, 0 pulse, 0 decay**
I wanted to hedge a bit against tron since moving from Rock means losing FoR. It may be in vain, and if so maybe I want 3 trophy-1 decay, but I feel pretty strongly that pulse is too slow in modern nowadays for a removal spell. It’s almost always tempo negative which can leave you very behind on board. Any thoughts?
**1 LtLH, 1 kcommand vs 2kcommabd**
I went with the first LtLH over a second kcommand simply because I feel like BBE into a Liliana planeswalker is such a powerful play, even more powerful than BBE->kcommand. Also without pulse, I’m kind of weak to tokens. The drawback of course is that I’m down a burn spell that can help close out a game. How do you all feel about maindeck LtLH vs kcommand at the 3cmc slot?
UMerfolkGBW
Melira PodRIPGBW Abzan Midrange
GBR Jund Midrange
EDH
GBR Prossh
I think the card is very playable, but people seem to be overreacting big time. I don’t see this card making it out of the sideboard, and even then it’s probably only to be included when you’re fearing specifically bogles.
UMerfolkGBW
Melira PodRIPGBW Abzan Midrange
GBR Jund Midrange
EDH
GBR Prossh
Secondly, what are opinions regarding maindeck nihil spellbomb to enable grim flayer? Is it too clunky?
I guess my general question is: what’s the best delirium enabler?
UMerfolkGBW
Melira PodRIPGBW Abzan Midrange
GBR Jund Midrange
EDH
GBR Prossh
I think it would be fairly safe to write this card off. The mana cost is quite restrictive and impossible to cast on 3 mana if you have a forest or treetop village. Not to mention that it’s more narrow than both trophy and pulse, and more expensive than dreadbore. My advice would be don’t waste your time. Hero’s downfall is possibly better just because it’s easier to cast and the artifact clause is pretty redundant with the tools we have available already.
UMerfolkGBW
Melira PodRIPGBW Abzan Midrange
GBR Jund Midrange
EDH
GBR Prossh
UMerfolkGBW
Melira PodRIPGBW Abzan Midrange
GBR Jund Midrange
EDH
GBR Prossh
Now that hollow one and human’s stock has gone down a bit I think Bob is getting better, just for my two cents. Still, I don’t know that I ever want to play the full 4 again. It’s such a serious liability in multiples (unless you’re fighting a grind battle or your opponent gives 0 *****s about your health) and I’ve really been happy with a deck playing only 2. Might be time to bump up to 3 perhaps tho.
UMerfolkGBW
Melira PodRIPGBW Abzan Midrange
GBR Jund Midrange
EDH
GBR Prossh
Jut to be clear, the motivation is that while ravine and treetop are better manlands, they’re in probably the worst color combo as far as lands go. So you can sacrifice the power level of one manland for slightly better mana. Reasonable, or going too deep?
UMerfolkGBW
Melira PodRIPGBW Abzan Midrange
GBR Jund Midrange
EDH
GBR Prossh
UMerfolkGBW
Melira PodRIPGBW Abzan Midrange
GBR Jund Midrange
EDH
GBR Prossh
- Most importantly, which brand of BGx midrange is the top dog? Still Jund, or is it supplanted by abzan or BG?
- How many Trophies to play? 4 seemed like the obvious answer, but the land drawback led some to advocate playing 3 or less.
- How has sideboard construction changed now that we have better catch-all answers?
UMerfolkGBW
Melira PodRIPGBW Abzan Midrange
GBR Jund Midrange
EDH
GBR Prossh
Though if one removal spell is not enough, the answer is pretty obvious; play more of it.
I see what you're saying though, and I agree that it's hard to cover all the bases. In general, fair decks flourish in a narrow field where you can build a 15 card sideboard that neatly covers the format and, conversely, have more difficulty when the metagame is wide and hard to cover in 15 cards. With that in mind, it's not too surprising that the fair decks struggle right now.
I think it's helpful though that many of the strategies in modern have converged on graveyard abuse as a part of their strategy, meaning that you can cover a very wide swath of modern now with like 3 nihil spellbombs. When you really think about it, basically every unfair deck nowadays, and even some fair decks, gets tagged/hosed by grave hate including: storm, KCI, hollow one, dredge, bridgevine, mardu, living end, grishoalbrand, and probably more that I'm not thinking of. That's a lot of the top 20 archetypes in modern.
Hell, looking at that list, maybe 3 spellbomb + 1 grafdigger's cage or perhaps 4 leyline should be standard as long as graveyard abuse remains this popular.
UMerfolkGBW
Melira PodRIPGBW Abzan Midrange
GBR Jund Midrange
EDH
GBR Prossh
But against humans? I find the problem isn’t that I have the *wrong* removal, it’s that I don’t have enough removal. How many spells are really conditional here? Mantis rider is the only meaningful spell that can’t be fatal pushed without revolt, and otherwise the only way to get got is to let the opponent grow a creature to 4 toughness such that it ducks bolt. It’s quite easy to stick an early goyf or scooze and just race while you kill-spell all of their powerful creatures. Your opponent can’t really race a scavenging ooze when their largest creature is a 2/3.
Maybe I’m lucky, but I haven’t had many problems with creature-based strategies other than hollow one.
UMerfolkGBW
Melira PodRIPGBW Abzan Midrange
GBR Jund Midrange
EDH
GBR Prossh
Delver and I had a rather protracted and occasionally contentious discussion about the tracker build; if you want to read more thoughts on the subject you might wanna check out my comment history, or go back 10 pages or so. Not sure we reached any meaningful agreements though.
Anyways I’ve also been very impressed with the tracker build. I think it has better game against midrange and aggro decks than more bob-centric builds do, and right now winning those matchups are really the key to success. I think the tracker build struggles a lot more comparatively in a metagame with lots of combo and decks that don’t threaten your life total. Tracker can dig faster, but he can’t start digging until turn 4 and in a turn 4 format, that’s quite meaningful.
Still, while aggro and midrange continue to define modern I think I’m going to be emphasizing tracker and I’ll be running as few bobs as my curve will allow.
So you’ve been impressed with brutality in the maindeck? I like brutality, but I feel like I often whiff on the ‘duress’ mode against a random opponent, and the other two modes semi-often don’t have text. Like against, say, ironworks or hollow one or tron. I feel like I have to sideboard it out an unsavory % of the time.
UMerfolkGBW
Melira PodRIPGBW Abzan Midrange
GBR Jund Midrange
EDH
GBR Prossh
I’d be inclined to agree, however I do think that push serves a vital role as lightning bolt 5-6. It’s annoyingly conditional and not the best removal a lot of the time, but it keeps you from getting curve’d out by aggro. I think it’s a necessary evil, where decay feels a lot more disposable.
You’re right though, it should not be the go to removal if you can play bolt.
UMerfolkGBW
Melira PodRIPGBW Abzan Midrange
GBR Jund Midrange
EDH
GBR Prossh
UMerfolkGBW
Melira PodRIPGBW Abzan Midrange
GBR Jund Midrange
EDH
GBR Prossh
Is 5 manlands for sure the way to go though? I feel like the first manland is great for dodging flood, but manlands 2-3 lose their utility since you can usually only animate one, which is, in part, why I chose to run field of ruin. Does anyone have an opinion on hissing quagmire? It’s not a good attacker, but it’s a much better blocker than raging ravine in a pinch (if, say, you’re getting beat to death by an angler). It would certainly provide different utility which is kinda what I’m going for, I just don’t know if it’s good enough.
UMerfolkGBW
Melira PodRIPGBW Abzan Midrange
GBR Jund Midrange
EDH
GBR Prossh