I've seen a lot of article comments, forum threads, reddit discussion, and general buzz around beating the rising Bx Eldrazi strategy. We've seen "How to beat ____" threads in the MTGS Modern area before, whether in response to Burn shares on MTGO, or just questions about top decks like Tron and BGx. Following that tradition, and responding to the recent demand, I'm creating this thread as a home for MTGS Moderners to share ways to beat the deck. Whenever a new deck appears in Modern, or an old deck attains newfound relevance, it's always good to get on the same page with strategies for beating that deck. This thread will help us do that.
Based on my testing, here are some strategies I've had success with in beating Bx Eldrazi.
Play an aggressive deck with a good matchup: Burn, Affinity, Merfolk, and Bogles all come to mind.
Leverage Ghost Quarter. Hatebears and Death and Taxes are very well-positioned right now, especially the BW versions with Confidant.
Pair Blood Moon with pressure. A T2-3 Moon coupled with a clock like Goyf can close a game fast before the Eldrazi player can rally.
Bring back those Leyline of Sanctitys. Eldrazi gains a lot of its metagame power from targeted discard spells, and Leyline stops those cold. It also forces them to sink mana into blowing up Relic to get processor fuel from the artifact, shuts down Oblivion Sower, and stops the new Thought-Knot Seer.
The number one conceptual approach you want to follow is not staying passive. You do not beat Eldrazi by sitting around and reacting. If you are playing a proactive deck, keep doing that and add in the disruption needed to stop them. If you are playing a reactive deck, make sure you have the right proactive elements to stop this new deck.
Remember that banlist discussion is strictly prohibited in this thread. Anyone who mentions or refers to it will be warned/infracted accordingly. All other forum rules also apply.
So let's share ideas and figure out ways to tackle this new strategy!
I played against BRx Eldrazi deck last night on MTGO as UR Twin. Blood Moon certainly delays them. It definitely doesn't win for you, but if you can tempo and pressure them fast enough it can get you there
It's a nightmare though, remanding a Sower stole all of my lands, they can't be outgrinded easily, they need to be killed fast or combo'd out
Countering them isn't the end of the world, they'll keep tutoring with Eye of Ugin
I definitely think another spike on Eldrazi cards will spike, it'll hit tier 1 for a few months, could be a strong tier 1.5/2 deck
I don't want to play this Eldrazi over Jund/Junk though
Are there any good videos on youtube of this deck being played? Bonus points for it vs BGx midrange. Been relatively out of the loop lately. Looking at the decklist, it seems like a midrange deck that can just go bigger than BGx at the same speed because of eldrazi temple and eye of ugin
There have been a couple of video sets on channelfireball.com with the mono-black and UB lists.
Speaking of, I noticed that Stony Silence seemed to put in work against the Eldrazi decks by cutting off their Maps, Relics and co. For the moment it is probably going to be hard to setting on the appropriate hate because there are so many different versions of the deck running around, once the "correct" list has been found and tuned it is going to be a lot easier.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
In play: Jund Death Shadow, Grixis Control, Eldrazi Stompy, Ponza
In the yard: RUG Delver, Kiki-Chord, Grixis Twin, Mardu Control, Smallpox, Jeskai Control, Jeskai Delver, Assault Loam, Elves, Deathcloud, Eggs, Storm
It seems like any graveyard-based deck would fold to Eldrazi, but I'm curious how Loam Pox would do. Turn 2 Smallpox is backbreaking, and if you can get some Ghost Quarter recursion, it seems like the matchup could be okay, even with the maindeck graveyard hate.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
I can't say I'm pleased to see you and must warn you I may have to do something about it.
EDH: UGEdric
Pauper: URDelver
Modern: UGRDelver
Draft my cube: Eric's 390 Unpowered
Decks I have in my bag of tricks- Needless to say, someone who wants to play will probably have a deck UB/x Faeries UR Storm XURWB Affinity G Elves UW control
Played against a Leyline of Sanctity as an Eldrazi player and it was absolutely terrible. Gummed up everything I wanted to be doing.
I lost on a different occasion to a Grixis Twin player through a combination of not finding Ulamog and him having an unchecked Olivia Voldaren (I never thought Victim of Night's drawback would feel so real) who was able to mind control my whole board (two creatures) and swing.
If you catch the deck fur fling and apply real pressure, you're on the right track.
My best buddy just built the BW Eldrazi deck with me, but i have been playing Jund and Junk against him in testing and i so far we are something like 10-5 in my favor. I havent had too hard of a time with the Eldrazi decks. Most of the games i have won its been me turning my deck into a tempo deck and just using removal and disruption to get in damage as often as i can.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Active Modern Decks
U Tron GW Bogles RG Loam UR Blue Breach RBU Grixis Goryo BRU Grixis Delver GBR Jund GBW Junk
Ground Seal for Enchantress maybe?
It's terribly narrow but it stops Relic of Progenitus which seems like the main exile engine they have.
No, it doesn't. Relic doesn't target.
The first ability does. But the second one doesn't, so Ground Seal is useless indeed.
The first ability targets a player, though, not a card in the graveyard. So Ground Seal does nothing. You'd need Leyline of Sanctity or something like that to cut off Relic's first ability.
While testing Sea Gate Wreckage in Lantern Control, I tested against pre-OGW Bx Eldrazi for a while, and the match-up is generally in Lantern Control's favour. The only threat they play that completely wrecks you is Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger...and as long as you mill him and/or Pithing NeedleEye of Ugin, they'll be praying he's in their opening hand and not Thoughtseized out. Blight Herder is actually one of their biggest threats against Lantern Control because it makes 3 1/1's. Ensnaring Bridge, preferably with Spellskite backup, deals with the rest.
Kozilek, the Great Distortion is generally pretty good against Lantern Control, but I currently don't see Bx Eldrazi adopting him.
You can argue that post-OGW Bx Eldrazi will have an even worse time against Lantern Control because they'll all play Thought-Knot Seer-the-4/4-that's-bad-against-Hellbent, but you can also argue that post-OGW Bx Eldrazi will be better against Lantern Control because they'll play rogue choices such as Bearer of Silence (tutorable way to kill Spellskite), World Breaker (breaks Ensnaring Bridge in half), Endbringer (demands Pithing Needle), Dread Defiler (demands Pithing Needle), Dimensional Infiltrator (may demand Pithing Needle), or Essence Depleter (demands Pithing Needle). At least Leyline of Sanctity can cover for Pithing Needle against them.
I've heard that Tron's match-up against Bx Eldrazi isn't that crummy (and I suspect that's the case for all Tron decks).
I wanted to chime in here because I took B/R Eldrazi to a local Modern tournament last week and encountered some salt about this "ridiculous/stupid deck that's going to be garbage in a month".
Affinity and Burn are obviously great against it. Twin is pretty good as well as Eldrazi really can't stop Bolt>Snap>Bolt stuff 100% of the time. Beating down with Pestermite also got me pretty good since they're nothing with reach in the deck.
Your best chance is playing Burn, Affinity, Merfolk, or some other fast aggressive deck. That's pretty much it. IF the Bx Edlrazi player is (smartly) loading up on Ghost Quarter and even 1-2 Tectonic Edge, I'd even say that the Tron matchup is in their favor.
Guys, I think one thing you are all forgetting or underestimating is that the different flavors play completely differently. Mono B is arguably the front runner at the moment for the archetype and the Tron matchup isn't really that bad as it runs 4 Ghost Quarters and can pretty easily keep them off Tron while advancing their own board. GW actually has a decent Affinity matchup with Paths and Souls; I would say that they are still favored but it's by no means an auto win for Robots. BR lists are full of anti-aggro hate with lots of Bolts and board wipes (Pyroclasm/Wrath). I'm not as familiar with UB lists but I know they run a lot of counter magic. There are also a few BG lists out there but I couldn't tell you much about them either.
The two top tier decks that seem to give them the most trouble across the board are Burn and Merfolk, although some people have said in testing the new Thought-Knot Seer card (as well as some others) Merfolk seems better. Burn is by far the worst though. These decks are still in their infancy but it would be a mistake at this point in time to lump them all together because they are not all doing the same things and they do not all play the same game.
Also, as someone mentioned Blood Moon and Leyline are good but not necessarily back breaking. BW specifically has the side board to deal with those cards, but I could see UB also not caring much about them.
Is it possible that Day's Undoing could actually be useful against the Eldrazi decks? Another card that comes to mind is Wheel of Sun and Moon as it would keep anything from hitting the graveyard whatsoever.
Is it possible that Day's Undoing could actually be useful against the Eldrazi decks? Another card that comes to mind is Wheel of Sun and Moon as it would keep anything from hitting the graveyard whatsoever.
Wheel actually seems like some pretttty sick tech against what the deck is trying to do.
Dear Wizards: give us land death back. Please. I want to Strip Mine the world.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
I can't say I'm pleased to see you and must warn you I may have to do something about it.
EDH: UGEdric
Pauper: URDelver
Modern: UGRDelver
Draft my cube: Eric's 390 Unpowered
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Based on my testing, here are some strategies I've had success with in beating Bx Eldrazi.
Remember that banlist discussion is strictly prohibited in this thread. Anyone who mentions or refers to it will be warned/infracted accordingly. All other forum rules also apply.
So let's share ideas and figure out ways to tackle this new strategy!
It's a nightmare though, remanding a Sower stole all of my lands, they can't be outgrinded easily, they need to be killed fast or combo'd out
Countering them isn't the end of the world, they'll keep tutoring with Eye of Ugin
I definitely think another spike on Eldrazi cards will spike, it'll hit tier 1 for a few months, could be a strong tier 1.5/2 deck
I don't want to play this Eldrazi over Jund/Junk though
No, it doesn't. Relic doesn't target.
Speaking of, I noticed that Stony Silence seemed to put in work against the Eldrazi decks by cutting off their Maps, Relics and co. For the moment it is probably going to be hard to setting on the appropriate hate because there are so many different versions of the deck running around, once the "correct" list has been found and tuned it is going to be a lot easier.
In the yard: RUG Delver, Kiki-Chord, Grixis Twin, Mardu Control, Smallpox, Jeskai Control, Jeskai Delver, Assault Loam, Elves, Deathcloud, Eggs, Storm
The first ability does. But the second one doesn't, so Ground Seal is useless indeed.
"When you get your opponent down to 0 sanity, you win the game!"
I get the feeling BWx Eldrazi will be the deck of choice. Lingering souls works against aggro and Affinity, discard helps against combo and aggro
It's looking solid, and I very much would keep my eye on the BW version
EDH: UGEdric
Pauper: UR Delver
Modern: UGR Delver
Draft my cube: Eric's 390 Unpowered
UB/x Faeries
UR Storm
XURWB Affinity
G Elves
UW control
I lost on a different occasion to a Grixis Twin player through a combination of not finding Ulamog and him having an unchecked Olivia Voldaren (I never thought Victim of Night's drawback would feel so real) who was able to mind control my whole board (two creatures) and swing.
If you catch the deck fur fling and apply real pressure, you're on the right track.
I played a RW boom bust deck against some of the new variants, still got smashed, so I don't think land destruction on its own is a great choice.
U Tron
GW Bogles
RG Loam
UR Blue Breach
RBU Grixis Goryo
BRU Grixis Delver
GBR Jund
GBW Junk
Active Legacy Decks
BR Reanimator
This is a highlight of Rich Shay going 5-0 in a Modern League with Bx Eldrazi. He plays against BGx at least once.
I've been looking at trying to add Spreading Algae to my deck if Eldrazi takes off. Repeatable land destruction would be nice.
Kozilek, the Great Distortion is generally pretty good against Lantern Control, but I currently don't see Bx Eldrazi adopting him.
You can argue that post-OGW Bx Eldrazi will have an even worse time against Lantern Control because they'll all play Thought-Knot Seer-the-4/4-that's-bad-against-Hellbent, but you can also argue that post-OGW Bx Eldrazi will be better against Lantern Control because they'll play rogue choices such as Bearer of Silence (tutorable way to kill Spellskite), World Breaker (breaks Ensnaring Bridge in half), Endbringer (demands Pithing Needle), Dread Defiler (demands Pithing Needle), Dimensional Infiltrator (may demand Pithing Needle), or Essence Depleter (demands Pithing Needle). At least Leyline of Sanctity can cover for Pithing Needle against them.
I've heard that Tron's match-up against Bx Eldrazi isn't that crummy (and I suspect that's the case for all Tron decks).
Modern:
UWUW TronUW
Legacy:
WDeath N TaxesW
CEldrazi C
If you couldn't tell I hate greedy blue decks.
Vintage
WWhite Trash
Affinity and Burn are obviously great against it. Twin is pretty good as well as Eldrazi really can't stop Bolt>Snap>Bolt stuff 100% of the time. Beating down with Pestermite also got me pretty good since they're nothing with reach in the deck.
The two top tier decks that seem to give them the most trouble across the board are Burn and Merfolk, although some people have said in testing the new Thought-Knot Seer card (as well as some others) Merfolk seems better. Burn is by far the worst though. These decks are still in their infancy but it would be a mistake at this point in time to lump them all together because they are not all doing the same things and they do not all play the same game.
Also, as someone mentioned Blood Moon and Leyline are good but not necessarily back breaking. BW specifically has the side board to deal with those cards, but I could see UB also not caring much about them.
Wheel actually seems like some pretttty sick tech against what the deck is trying to do.
Cheeri0sXWU
Reid Duke's Level One
Who's the Beatdown
Alt+0198=Æ
EDH: UGEdric
Pauper: UR Delver
Modern: UGR Delver
Draft my cube: Eric's 390 Unpowered