That way, I get better games against Creatures Combo decks, as gaining life and keeping blockers can win such games.
Collector Ouphe has replaced Harmonic Sliver in the SB. With Syphon now in the main deck, I’ve replaced it with 2 Leeching for a more aggressive game 2 or 3 while on the play. But I’m seriously considering Plage Engineer instead, to fight Elves, Goblins and Humans. Naming Human, it can also be good against CoCo Combo, to kill Vizier and totally prevent the combo.
I’ve found out that Temur Midrange/Control, with Bloodmoon or Molten Vortex [along with Loam) is a pretty hard matchup. I don’t know what card would help there. I didn’t draw Athreos both games, but I think it would have been good... other ideas?
That way, I get better games against Creatures Combo decks, as gaining life and keeping blockers can win such games.
Collector Ouphe has replaced Harmonic Sliver in the SB. With Syphon now in the main deck, I’ve replaced it with 2 Leeching for a more aggressive game 2 or 3 while on the play. But I’m seriously considering Plage Engineer instead, to fight Elves, Goblins and Humans. Naming Human, it can also be good against CoCo Combo, to kill Vizier and totally prevent the combo.
I’ve found out that Temur Midrange/Control, with Bloodmoon or Molten Vortex [along with Loam) is a pretty hard matchup. I don’t know what card would help there. I didn’t draw Athreos both games, but I think it would have been good... other ideas?
That's why i personaly run a list with a few basic swamp and forest.. the only way you con kill those permanents with the gold manabase is using harmonic/necrotic sliver also this manabase opens the possibility to use some removals / graveyard hate
In competitive Modern, the best you can hope for is to have as many favorable matchups as you can. Every decks have their nemesis to which they’ll lose most of the time. Humans are Tier 1, and they don’t run their manabase for the occasional SB cards they might need. Dismember, Yixlid Jailer, Grafdigger’s Cage, Ravenous Trap... they can all do what you say, and are castable on a golden manabase.
Sam: a demon summoning spell ? why?
Lucifer: to summon a demon (auto censorship here)
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The Wizard of Oz: A juvenile delinquent runs away from home, kills the first person she meets in a foreign land, robs her corpse, then promptly forms a gang with three complete strangers in order to kill again.
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Right. Last list had 2 Leeching and 2 Automaton. I think I may have said somewhere that Automaton was replaced with full playset of Leeching. Because it only costs 2 and is easier to manage with Vial.
I really am thorned here. Leeching makes a lot of sense for a fast win on game 1. More than 3 Syphon and an extra Sentinel. There are hard matchups, however, where these are needed. And considering how some Midrange matchups are also a pain, I’m considering Athreos in the main deck...
Sam: a demon summoning spell ? why?
Lucifer: to summon a demon (auto censorship here)
====
The Wizard of Oz: A juvenile delinquent runs away from home, kills the first person she meets in a foreign land, robs her corpse, then promptly forms a gang with three complete strangers in order to kill again.
====
I preferred 2 Mana Confluence over Ziggurat. This halves the odds of unkeepable one-landers with Aether Vial (or with Ziggurats only), and makes it easier to activate Silver Hive. Tapping for mana costs 1 life, but I think we’ll lose less games with it, if only to avoid Mulligans. And with less than 1 card in 3 being a land, for each Ziggurat that we draw, we need on average 3 more cards to find a land that can at least tap for colorless. In many cases, this is 6+ turns, which is enough to lose. This change feels positive.
I, however, screwed up on my flex spots and SB, losing 0-2 vs Esper Control (featuring Monastery Mentor), and 0-2 vs Saheeli Felidar Combo. It had all started so well against a Naya Control deck (Nahiri + Emrakul), winning 2-0. What went wrong?
I think I was really unlucky both matchups, being on the draw in both cases and having to Mulligan down to 6 for barely hands.
Turn 2 Diffusion + another one turn 3 was a great way to protect the tribe vs removals against Naya. But I never saw them vs Esper Mentor and Saheeli Felidar. It may be super important to have one in the opening hand in these kind of matchups. Note to self : Mulligan if need be, it’s as important as graveyard hate vs Dredge and Phoenix.
Path to Exile, Settle the Wreckage, Terminus and Anger of the Gods : they all don’t care about Athreos (but it easily deals 9-12 damage in other kind of Midrange/Control decks).
Whithout Leeching, fast wins on game 1 was a lot harder.
Sentinel is very conditional : meh alone (but 2/2 is nice), better with Manaweft and Striking Slivers (we should otherwise almost never block, because we need a critical mass next turn).
Lifelink is generally more useful and less conditional than Vigilance (evasion helps to effectively drain life, but we have 8 Slivers for that). It gives a great buffer to soak damage while staying aggressive.
Plague Engineer, naming Cat, was only good delaying the Felidar combo half a turn. Path or Bolt on it, then opponent proceeded as normal.
Deputy of Detention is a very bad way of dealing with the Felidar Combo. Not fast enough.
Next steps : revamped flex slots, with 3-4 Leeching and 2-3 Syphon/Automaton (probably Automaton, to win faster), and review SB.
Jailer/Cage and Teeg/Ouphe are all awesome against Bridgevine and Tron. Jailer is also randomly good against Ux Control (Snap and Teferi’s flashback), Arclight Phoenix, Classic Dredge, Hollow One, etc. Cage prevents CoCo and Neoform can’t Combo with this on the board. Teeg is good vs sweepers, Cryptic Command, PWs, Entreat the Angels, CoCo, etc. And Ouphe isn’t pointless vs Affinity and artifacts based Combo decks, like Paradoxial Urza. These 8 cards HAVE to stay.
There’s 7 slots left in the SB, but so much to do. Here’s a quick list of the matchups that require help from SB :
Midrange with recurring removals (that can overload us with flashback, Grim Lavamancer or Molten Vortex).
Prison decks, with Chalice, Ensnaring Bridge and Blood Moon.
Frankly, I’m almost tempted to put Meddling Mage (or something that does the same) in the SB, to deal with both Creatures Combo and Prison decks. But the manabase is probably not very friendly to Mage. Thus, I doubt that we can divert our attention to all these 3 archetypes. We should focus on 2, and hope to have good post SB games against them. I would thus ignore Prison, because if feels natural losing to it, no matter what (Blood Moon turn 1? GG).
Instant speed removals can deal with Creatures Combo, and other Aggro decks. That’s something to look at. And Athreos + Frenetic Sliver is a nice combo that can disrupt removals and sweepers that send our creatures anywhere but the GY. I know Frenetic’s ability is random. But against Control, it’s pseudo card advantage, the equivalent of flipping the top deck of a 30 Creatures deck and casting it for free every time opponent tries something nasty. Maybe even without Athreos... I don’t know.
I'm going to stick with my CoCo version of Slivers along with Blasphemous Act - Spiteful Sliver "combo", even without Blasphemous Act, the ability of Spiteful stacks if we have multiple of them in the battlefield.
I think that Horizon lands can help a bit drawing an extra card (mostly a creature) to add a bit more pressure to the opponent. With mana generator slivers, it should not punish us that much, as we can generate tons of it.
I'm going to stick with my CoCo version of Slivers along with Blasphemous Act - Spiteful Sliver "combo", even without Blasphemous Act, the ability of Spiteful stacks if we have multiple of them in the battlefield.
I think that Horizon lands can help a bit drawing an extra card (mostly a creature) to add a bit more pressure to the opponent. With mana generator slivers, it should not punish us that much, as we can generate tons of it.
I think your biggest problem might be casting CoCo or blaesphemous act. Good Luck though and tell us the results!
I'm going to stick with my CoCo version of Slivers along with Blasphemous Act - Spiteful Sliver "combo", even without Blasphemous Act, the ability of Spiteful stacks if we have multiple of them in the battlefield.
I think that Horizon lands can help a bit drawing an extra card (mostly a creature) to add a bit more pressure to the opponent. With mana generator slivers, it should not punish us that much, as we can generate tons of it.
Have you done the maths of your manabase while building it? Deck building and playing Magic is *all* about statistics and probabilities. Good decks are reliable, and will do their thing with a high measure of consistency, and on time. Read Frank Karsten’s article if you haven’t done so, yet. Skip the explanations, and go directly to « The Numbers ».
Including your 4 Manaweft (that count as half a colored source each, because removals and hand disruption), you only have 6 sources of G and 5 sources of R to cast CoCo and BlAc, out of 22 sources of mana (20 lands + 4 x 0.5 for Manaweft). These numbers are insanely low, and the odds of success are abysmal :
54% chance of having 4 sources of mana by turn 4 (ex: 3 lands + manaweft).
Multiply by 68% : chance of having at least one source of G by turn 4.
Result is 37% of both having 4 sources of mana by turn 4, at least one of which is G.
Same logic for R : odds are 33%.
You many think 35% are good odds of winning the lottery, be my guest, and go for it. But if you play with these odds in any events (not kitchen table), you’ll soon realize that your opponents’ decks are WAAAAYYYY more consistent than yours. Good deck building aims at 90% odds, what is considered a good measure of « consistency ». Over 20 games (5 rounds + top 8), yours will fail to do it’s thing, on time (curve is so important in Magic), more than half the time (13 games). The better decks will only fail twice (2 games out of 20)... which is ***550%*** less than your 13 failures (the spread between 2 and 13 is +11, or 550%).
You should build a manabase that supports at least 11 sources of G and R. See Frank’s first Chart, 60 cards by Turn 4 = 11 sources. Each land counts for 1 source, and each mana dork counts for half a source. If you keep the dorks at 4, it means you need 5 more sources that can produce pure green mana, and 6 more that can tap for red. Maybe you can work a miracle, but I doubt any deck could support that without forcing you away for one or two colors (Naya, probably).
FYI, CoCo Vizier decks usually play 21 lands (17-19 tap for G) and with 8 mana dorks (so 25 sources, at least 21 can pool green mana). Such decks avoid 5 colors, and will only splash the 4th color if need be. CoCo Vizier is dedicated in it’s mission to not fail at casting CoCo as soon as turn 3, no later than turn 4. Your manabase looks like it will only reliably cast CoCo after turn 10 (unless you’re lucky).
If you are aiming for poison, I would remove Lavabelly Sliver and add more protection, like Unsettled Mariner, as you don't want your Virulent get removed.
I would add the Harmonic Sliver slot to sideboard and add the 4th Manaweft Sliver. Because if you are not playing against affinity, hardened scales, etc... you will have to destroy your own Vial.
well poison is just one of the decks killers. Not really going for poison, if i have that in hand it makes it go faster. Also, i have diffusional sliver for if my slivers are targeted. Harmonic in main is really for more what i have been playing against at fnm, as well as looking at tier decks. I really use lavabelly for plainswalker hate or for gaining life.
IMHO, First Strike is more important than Poisonous. You most probably hit for lethal anyway.
I don’t like Lavabelly. Kalastria Healer never saw play in Ally decks in Modern (except for combo with Rally the Ancestors), and it only costs 2 mana. Pretty sure there are better options for us.
Yesterday I played a Modern Open Series and went with a 3/3.
1st match: 0-2 vs Esper control - the quantity of removal on that deck is just absurd against us. Even with diffusion or unsettled mariner if I had played them.
2nd match: 2-0 vs BG - even it has removal and the new plague (-1/-1 to all the chosen type creatures), it was an easy one.
3rd match: 0-2 vs Storm - 3rd turn on every game I was comboed.
4th match: 0-2 vs Vizier - Same as Storm, 3rd turn combo.
5th match: 2-1 vs UW - First game I was stuck with 3 mana. With one more I could won it. 2nd I could finish him fast. And the third game I could combo with Spiteful Sliver and Blasphemous Act.
6th match: now I don't remember, but won 2-0 iirc.
Round 1: Mono Green Tron 0-2. Neither game did the tron player have natural tron but he did manage turn 4 tron each game. He also managed turn 4 Ugin both games to wipe my board and end each game. In game 2 I was able to get him 1 swing away from death before he top decked Ugin for the game, he stated this after the match. I sided in Harmonic and damping sphere and took out diffusion, dismembers, and a coco.
Round 2: Titanshift 2-1. I didnt have a good enough starting hand in game 1 to compete with the combo and being interacted with along the way, I lost a few slivers to bolts. Game 2 he found an Obstinate Baloth but it did very little for him as I found flying and countered a scapeshift with warping wail. Game 3 a Collected Company landed a Sedge and Shedder onto a field with a Dregscape and Sinew and swung 14 at his life total of 15. Sided in Syphon and Warping wails, and took out dismember, diffusion and one other card (cant remember right now).
Round 3: Merfolk 1-2. I got off to a bad start from the get go. The only damage my opponent took was self inflicted by a horizon land. Game 2 was the opposite of game 1, I only suffered damage from a fetch and shock. Game 3, here is where I error-ed. I played too aggressively during game 3 and was beaten by vial tricks. I had Sedge, Dregscape and Darkheart, I went to cast a sinew from hand and in response he casts dismember on Sedge, I responded by sacing to darkheart, after that I unearthed it and activated my vial sitting on 2 to drop another Sinew into play and then proceeded to combat. After attackers were declared, he activated his vial to drop a harbinger of the tides into play and attempted to bounce Sedge, I saced him again to Darkheart and then he blocked and attempted to kill Darkheart, I saced it. He took 4 from dregscape then on his turn he dismembered a sinew and swung lethal.
Round 4: Jund 2-0. This guy was pretty salty sitting down he'd been frustrated pretty hard already. I hid my strategy on the first turn leading on godless shrine into vial. Turn 2 I dropped the bomb on him with a cavern. That shock was the only damage I took that game. Game 2 was similar, I only suffered self-inflicted damage, a fetch, a dismember and a shock. I dont remember much of this match it was over too fast and the guy was insanely salty to lose to slivers on the mighty jund.
Round 5: Prismatic Omen Scapeshift 2-1. Game 1 was very fast as my opponent had to mulligan down. I took 3 swings to fell the tree. Game 2 I was not sure what he was on but I had an idea because of the lands he played. He played a prismatic omen and was able to interact by lightning helixing a crucial creature. He was able to scapeshift for the win with exactly 18 damage after I shocked myself to 18. Game 3, I was able to warping wail an anger of the gods to keep my predatory, sinew and gemhide in play, I followed it up the next turn by coco into more fun and into a win.
Round 6: The Rock 2-1. Game 1 I won thru 3 scavenging ooze activations. A big swing of 10+ ended game 1. In game 2 the rock did its thing, lots of cheap removal and big dudes, I dealt no damage. Game 3 was a marathon. I fought thru 7 scooze activations and flipped 4 coins from frenetic (2/4 correct, opponent insisted on flipping the coin while I called it). I errored in allowing an early galerider to die and almost gave the match away, but I finally top decked another galerider just as he took me down to 4 life.
Round 7: BW Zombies 2-1. So this guys leads on swamp gravecrawler and I immediately thought it was hogaak. I was very thankful in turn 2 when he dropped unclaimed territory naming zombie. I rolled him pretty hard in game 1, but he did get some things going, he isnt a tribal deck in the sense of lords and getting big dudes, all of his zombies had either etb or dies triggers to gain life, cause the loss of life or both. Game 2he set up a combo of sorts where he had an undying geralfs messenger saced it to carrion feeder have it undie and trigger like 4 other zombies on the ways in and out. I remembered to bring Syphon in for game 3, dumb move not bringing them in for game 2. I ended game 3 with 47 life because zombies dont fly and I was throwing 10+ damage his way each turn and gaining it all back.
Round 8: mono red prowess 0-2. I lost on turn 5 of game 1 due to a non-functional hand, a bad keep. I lost game 2 on turn 3. On said turn 3, he had 2 monastery swiftspears, cast manamorphose, cast a second, cast a third, cast a bolt targeting me, cast a lava spike targeting me, then swung for 12 and I was at exactly 18 life and had no blockers.
Looking back, there was nothing I could do about rounds 1 and 8. I really wish I could get round 3 back though. I played far too aggrssively in that game 3 and I should have backed off. I didnt see any of the top tier decks, hogaak, phoenix, humans or infect, thankfully. I spoke to Bryan on Sunday, he faced 3 infect decks on day 1, so I feel like I dodged a bullet there. I look forward to the SCG Open in August that will also be held in DFW, but until then there is a few more local IQ's and GenCon to look forward to.
I tested this list a bit, and I was impressed with the two new techs : Virulent Sliver and down to 16 lands. BTW, Leeching Sliver is back in my deck. Now, before anyone tells my I’m crazy at 16 lands, please bear with me...
Virulent Sliver makes turn 3 wins more feasible than before (twice, with Cloudshredder and another Sliver). But not only that, the deck is a lot more aggressive with such a low curve. More one-drops means that turn 1 is almost never a lost turn, and Vial on 1 (turn 2) is not wasted as often as before. It’s also easier to chain Slivers with Manaweft and Cloudshredder, or to play 2-3 Slivers per turn on just lands. Poisonous will rarely win a game, but Virulent adds an extra body for a very low cost. And this is what wins us games.
Sometimes, Virulent will take the role of a mini-Lord with this text box : « Opponents can’t gain life, and their life total is set to 10. Each Sliver now only deals 1 damage per Virulent Sliver on the battlefield, regardless of power. » Getting to 10 isn’t that hard with such a wide board. For now, I love it.
I added back the 4 Leeching Sliver, so my list now has 16 Lords (Sinew, Predatory, Leeching and Virulent).
Playing only 16 lands (all of which can cast Vial on turn 1, no Ziggurat) seems feasible with such a low curve. Compared to 18 lands and 8 one-drops :
Odds of 1+ land in 7 cards : down to 90% (was 93%).
Odds of 2+ land in 7 cards : down to 61% (was 69%).
Odds of 1+ one-drop (excluding Vial) in 7 cards : up to 81% (was 65%).
Odds of 2+ one-drop (excluding Vial) in 7 cards : up to 43% (was 23%).
Odds of 1+ land in the next top 2 cards if I keep a one-lander : 49%.
Odds of 1+ land in the next top 3 cards if I keep a one-lander : 64%.
London Mulligan will favor such an aggressive deck list, to sculpt a keepable opening hand of 6 cards. Speaking of which, depending if you’re on the play or draw, it may be a good idea to simply focus on keeping hands that can play a spell per turn for 2-3 rounds.
It may now be easier to overload Control and Midrange’s removals (more cards, casted earlier and faster).
Edit : Gut Shot replaces Dismember in the SB. It can kill creatures-based Combo decks just as well, without having to take a break in our development.
My record :
Round 1 : 2-0 vs Jund
I won thanks to Diffusion Sliver and Unsettled Mariner which forced him to use all his mana for kill them and meanwhile I killed him with flying. He sided Plague Engineer and anger of the gods but he didn’t draw them or can’t play them because my lords protected my board.
Round 2 : 2-1 vs Hogaak Bridgevine
He won the first game with a Carrion Feeder buffed and a Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis, plus I didn’t keep a very good hand and didn’t draw the good cards too.
The 2nd match, I mulligan down 5 for finding extraction and a lord. I extract vengevine whom he had planned to win by brute force. He didn’t have Hogaak or an Altar of Dementia.
The 3rd match, Surgical Extraction on Bridge from Below and harmonic sliver on his altar (I top decked a land for it). He cast a Hogaak but my board with leeching/flying/lifelink/lords was better .
Round 3 : 2-1 vs Golgari (rock?)
I taken a match loss by the judge because I forgot my forest in the decklist :/
Personnally, I mull to 6 to first match then to 5.
But, nevertheless, gods of Magic didn’t favor my opponent much less, whose mulli down to 5 each match and lose at turn 4 each time without doing much (he played dark confident/tarmo/ooze but he didn’t do anything else). He finished very salted and very pissed, even the judge came to ask me why.
Round 4 : 0-2 vs Eldrazi Tron
Clearly a unfavorable match-up
Tron t3 each match.
Game 1 : Karn, the Great Creator into Skysovereign, Consul Flagship and ping my slivers because karn transform him into a 5/5 flyer.
Game 2 : Turn 3, I put a harmonic for destroy his Expedition map, but he had already his tron land in hand. He ping my slivers with Walking Ballista/Endbringer then smash me.
Round 5 : Draw vs Hatebear
After discussion, we decide about a draw. My opponent and me was hungry
Round ¼ : 0-2 Eldrazi tron again (the same guy)
Match 1 : Tron t3 into Reality Smasher into ballista
Match 2 : I put a Damping sphere but didn’t draw a flyer and lord/leeching vs Smasher/Ballista with Basilisk collar.
Diffusion and Mariner together are very strong. Except Tron, they are saved my games each time.
After playing with the terrible manabase caused by sedge and coco, I found that having 16 gold lands is really really nice.
Versus Hogaak, I found extraction a very good counter card and can be played anytime in the game contrary to leyline due to the manabase. The deck cannot block flyers and has almost nothing to destroy creatures.
I don’t know if I continue to play dork sliver… I don't see how they're useful except against blood moons. And it's not a card that's really being played right now.
I think Eldrazy Tron is really favored agains us. If I don’t have a hate tron with flyers and lords in the first round, I lost.
And finally, don't write your list in haste.
I would like to have a surgical, but 40€... I know that caverns cost me 50€, but they were never have been at the price of 1-2€ like surgical used to cost. It's... absurd. But definitely I must have them, because Hoogak and Phoenixes, and possibly Storm and Tron (if we can destroy a land with Necrotic Sliver).
Your list looks a lot like mine... but why do you play that Forest? Fetching to Field of Ruin or Path to Exile is not as much important as overloading opponent’s ressources with threats, and getting the critical mass of Slivers to win. May I suggest you to try out my most recent list? That includes Virulent Sliver (not for Infect, but additional cheap body and removal magnet) and down to 16 lands (avoid 3cmc).
Gaddock Teeg against Tron would have prevented opponent from playing Karn and Skysovereign. You can use Vial, Mana Confluence (that I prefer over some Ziggurats) to cast it, or name its creature type with Cavern or Territory. Comes to worst, mana dorks will do the job (one of the reason they should stay).
Against Eldrazi Tron, I say it’s an even matchup, if you get Striking Sliver to stall. First Strike on a horde does that. To break the stall, mana dorks + Sliver Hive are amazing (again, keep them on your list). You’ll attack once, with lethal, while preventing opponent from attacking without sacrificing creatures to you better blockers.
I’m glad someone took the courage to try out a golden lands manabase, away from Sedge Sliver and CoCo.
Against Bridgevine, have you tried Yixlid Jailer and/or Grafdigger’s Cage? A lot cheaper than Surgical Extraction, and they usually do the job.
Surgical extraction is very expensive, too much like many others cards (hi, Cavern of souls). A game should not cost so much money compared to the prizes you can get. But it's an another debate.
However, Surgical is a very versatile card that is effective against combo, graveyard et control decks. It's rarely a dead card in your side.
My list is based on Timba's list (fast slivers) and yours(gold lands) . the mariners were a auto-inclusion as soon as they were announced. And dorks/forest because of my fear of the blood moon/ponza/field played by a significant number of players in Paris (at least one opponent per tournament). But Modern Horizon has significantly modified the meta and many azorius/ponza players switched for Vizier, Hogaak and eldrazi tron. But, Bridgevine is not that popular, and in addition, Hogaak and/or altar are probably going to be banned this month.
Virulent... Hmm, I prefer Sidewinder sliver for a 1-drop, maybe? If you place a virulent, and apply poison markers; then if the opponent kill him, you no longer inflict poison markers, unless you have another virulent in your hand, which is difficult, you now inflict only classical damages . You will then have lost 1 turn maybe 2 to inflict markers, which are now just decorations without utility.
Integrating poison markers splits your objective for defeat your opponent as quickly as possible : either you deal damage to PV, either poison markers. Not both at the same time.
However, maybe replace Adaptive Automaton by Syphon Sliver or sentinel sliver for match-ups creatures then put 2 Gaddock Teeg in side instead of syphon; with Mana confluence instead Ancient Ziggurat like you suggest.
I don't know... With the banlist of july, wait and see.
Versus Eldrazi tron, striking didn't make a difference. The opponent put eldrazis 4/4 or 5/5 covered by ballista. You need so many lords to compete with these creatures and I had rarely more than 2 on board. Anyway, ballista with collar kill everything turn 5. No, you need to evade and attack with a board buffed by lords or/and leeching sliver or find a card that prevents pings.
You have Virulent all wrong. Poisonous isn’t Infect. It’s a triggered ability that says « when this creature deals combat damage to opponent, he also gets a poison counter ». So normal damage IS NOT replaced by poison, which allows me to pursue the 2 game plans at the same time. If opponent deals with the immediate threat of Poisonous (it stacks in multiples), I can still threaten lethal next turn with all the damage dealt. It really acts as an extra Lord in the deck, and I really don’t think Sidewinder is a good replacement.
1-2 vs Mono Black Devotion
Game 1, easy win. Game 2, opponent disrupted my hand twice, robbing me of Galerider and Cloudshredder. When finally I could unload 3 Slivers on the battlefield, opponent casted Force of Despair for free, EOT. Then, opponent chained Nyktos into Nyktos, pooling insane amount of mana, to play Obliterator and Gary for lethal.
Game 3, I kept a hand with 3 lands, Vial and 3 creatures. But I didn’t played Magic at all. Hand disruption and removal took care of 2 of my 3 Slivers, and I topdecked 5 lands consecutively, from T2 to T6. The only non land card was Striking Sliver on T7. Two tokens from the Hive only helped delaying the inevitable. Really? 8 lands and 1 Vial out of 13 cards, and only 4 creatures in a deck that plays 40 and 16 lands? I was extremely pissed and frustrated going into the next matchup.
2-1 vs Goblins (Midrange version)
Game 1 on easy mode with Sinew and Leeching. Game 2 was over quickly after opponent played two Chainwhirlers, on turn 3 on 5 for maximum value each time (and I had no Lords).
Game 3 was a good game. I pressured him with 2 Virulent, and made a mistake by just attacking with 4/4 Mariner on board of 3 Goblins 1/1. I could also have attacked with Predatory (3/3) and Virulent (3/3), but I was afraid he would have gang blocked Predatory or Virulent. Had he done that, I could have threatened lethal next turn with Poison (still had another Virulent on board). Game got a bit longer because of that (Virulents got removed), but I eventually managed to win with Leeching and Cloudshredder.
1-2 vs Jund Death Shadow
Again, game 1 is easy win. I lost game 2 purely because of mana flood (again). And I was about to win game 3 (I had lethal next turn)... but I didn’t block the two 3/4 Goyfs that were attacking my 11 life. I was expecting Temur Battle Rage, but opponent couldn’t Bolt me for lethal, thanks to 2 Mariners. I didn’t know, but it seems Become Immense is a card this version plays (opponent never played it in games 1-2). Well, GG.
2-0 vs Faeries
As always, game 1 = easy victory. Game 2, I slowly built up my army (no Lords to make attacking possible against a deck that plays Flash creatures), and Sliver Hive got me 2 tokens while I was stalling (TY, Manaweft). Eventually, double Leeching with wide board did the job.
In the end :
I’ve lost to super-duper-extreme variance against Mono Black Devotion (still salty about topdecking 5 lands in 5 turns).
Gaddock Teeg is awesome... in a deck that can cast it on turn 2. Slivers can’t do that without a steep cost in our development.
Mulligans or mana short never was a problem in the 11 games played (in a deck with 16 lands).
I learned about Become Immense in the Jund Shadow Matchup.
Virulent Sliver is better on the play, when super agression is rewarded. I used to side out Leeching on game 2 in most matchups, but I probably would have been better every time with it, instead of Virulent. Maybe I could have won against Jund Shadow on game 2 or 3.
The main deck is perfect as it is. I wish hate cards (graveyard, Tron and creatures Combo) wouldn’t take that much slots in the SB, or I would have a transformational SB. On the draw, we have to play more defensive and reactive. Since we don’t have much tools to interact, I would load up on Syphon and Sentinel (we can attack if we have a cushion of life, or blockers), and Dregscape to get value back from the Slivers opponent removed or discarded post SB (face it, they’ll go heavy on removals and sweepers).
Thus, I think we should try to find SB cards that are universally good in all the problematic matchups. What about Sorcerous Spyglass? It can certainly help against Tron (naming Ballista, Karn, Ugin, O-Stone), Bridgevine (naming Carrion Feeder or Altar), UW Control (naming Jace or Teferi) and even creatures Combo like Copy Cat (name Saheeli), CoCo Vizier (naming Devoted Druid), Kiki-Jiki (name it), Elves (naming Ezuri), etc.
Anyone has a better idea? I really think Slivers should have a hyper aggressive main deck, and a transformational SB to change our play style for when we’re on the draw.
Modern : Burn WR and Humans / Allies / Slivers WUBRG
Dreaming of a competitive Modern Werewolves deck.
1st, GP Toronto Sunday Super Series 2016 : Ally Company RWBG
Top 8, PPTQ Shadows over Innistrad : Boros Humans WR.
and use TopDecked MTG to manage your decks and collection on your Apple or Android device.
-4 Leeching
+1 Sentinel (now 3)
+3 Syphon (from 0)
That way, I get better games against Creatures Combo decks, as gaining life and keeping blockers can win such games.
Collector Ouphe has replaced Harmonic Sliver in the SB. With Syphon now in the main deck, I’ve replaced it with 2 Leeching for a more aggressive game 2 or 3 while on the play. But I’m seriously considering Plage Engineer instead, to fight Elves, Goblins and Humans. Naming Human, it can also be good against CoCo Combo, to kill Vizier and totally prevent the combo.
I’ve found out that Temur Midrange/Control, with Bloodmoon or Molten Vortex [along with Loam) is a pretty hard matchup. I don’t know what card would help there. I didn’t draw Athreos both games, but I think it would have been good... other ideas?
Modern : Burn WR and Humans / Allies / Slivers WUBRG
Dreaming of a competitive Modern Werewolves deck.
1st, GP Toronto Sunday Super Series 2016 : Ally Company RWBG
Top 8, PPTQ Shadows over Innistrad : Boros Humans WR.
and use TopDecked MTG to manage your decks and collection on your Apple or Android device.
That's why i personaly run a list with a few basic swamp and forest.. the only way you con kill those permanents with the gold manabase is using harmonic/necrotic sliver also this manabase opens the possibility to use some removals / graveyard hate
Modern : Burn WR and Humans / Allies / Slivers WUBRG
Dreaming of a competitive Modern Werewolves deck.
1st, GP Toronto Sunday Super Series 2016 : Ally Company RWBG
Top 8, PPTQ Shadows over Innistrad : Boros Humans WR.
and use TopDecked MTG to manage your decks and collection on your Apple or Android device.
@patbou_clone:i see only 2 leeching in the deck.
Sam: a demon summoning spell ? why?
Lucifer: to summon a demon (auto censorship here)
====
The Wizard of Oz: A juvenile delinquent runs away from home, kills the first person she meets in a foreign land, robs her corpse, then promptly forms a gang with three complete strangers in order to kill again.
====
with R i'll burn you and with B youll'be maimed
I really am thorned here. Leeching makes a lot of sense for a fast win on game 1. More than 3 Syphon and an extra Sentinel. There are hard matchups, however, where these are needed. And considering how some Midrange matchups are also a pain, I’m considering Athreos in the main deck...
These flex slots really are giving me a headache.
Modern : Burn WR and Humans / Allies / Slivers WUBRG
Dreaming of a competitive Modern Werewolves deck.
1st, GP Toronto Sunday Super Series 2016 : Ally Company RWBG
Top 8, PPTQ Shadows over Innistrad : Boros Humans WR.
and use TopDecked MTG to manage your decks and collection on your Apple or Android device.
Sam: a demon summoning spell ? why?
Lucifer: to summon a demon (auto censorship here)
====
The Wizard of Oz: A juvenile delinquent runs away from home, kills the first person she meets in a foreign land, robs her corpse, then promptly forms a gang with three complete strangers in order to kill again.
====
with R i'll burn you and with B youll'be maimed
4 Aether Vial
4 Striking Sliver
4 Galerider Sliver
Disruptors (8)
4 Diffusion Sliver
4 Unsettled Mariner
Accelerators (8)
4 Cloudshredder Sliver
4 Manaweft Sliver
Lords (8)
4 Predatory Sliver
4 Sinew Sliver
2 Sentinel Sliver
2 Syphon Sliver
2 Athreos, God of Passage
Lands (18)
4 Cavern of Souls
4 Sliver Hive
4 Unclaimed Territory
2 Ancient Ziggurat
2 Mana Confluence
2 Mutavault
2 Yixlid Jailer
2 Grafdigger's Cage
2 Gaddock Teeg
2 Collector Ouphe
3 Deputy of Detention
1 Plague Engineer
3 Damping Sphere
I preferred 2 Mana Confluence over Ziggurat. This halves the odds of unkeepable one-landers with Aether Vial (or with Ziggurats only), and makes it easier to activate Silver Hive. Tapping for mana costs 1 life, but I think we’ll lose less games with it, if only to avoid Mulligans. And with less than 1 card in 3 being a land, for each Ziggurat that we draw, we need on average 3 more cards to find a land that can at least tap for colorless. In many cases, this is 6+ turns, which is enough to lose. This change feels positive.
I, however, screwed up on my flex spots and SB, losing 0-2 vs Esper Control (featuring Monastery Mentor), and 0-2 vs Saheeli Felidar Combo. It had all started so well against a Naya Control deck (Nahiri + Emrakul), winning 2-0. What went wrong?
Next steps : revamped flex slots, with 3-4 Leeching and 2-3 Syphon/Automaton (probably Automaton, to win faster), and review SB.
Jailer/Cage and Teeg/Ouphe are all awesome against Bridgevine and Tron. Jailer is also randomly good against Ux Control (Snap and Teferi’s flashback), Arclight Phoenix, Classic Dredge, Hollow One, etc. Cage prevents CoCo and Neoform can’t Combo with this on the board. Teeg is good vs sweepers, Cryptic Command, PWs, Entreat the Angels, CoCo, etc. And Ouphe isn’t pointless vs Affinity and artifacts based Combo decks, like Paradoxial Urza. These 8 cards HAVE to stay.
There’s 7 slots left in the SB, but so much to do. Here’s a quick list of the matchups that require help from SB :
Instant speed removals can deal with Creatures Combo, and other Aggro decks. That’s something to look at. And Athreos + Frenetic Sliver is a nice combo that can disrupt removals and sweepers that send our creatures anywhere but the GY. I know Frenetic’s ability is random. But against Control, it’s pseudo card advantage, the equivalent of flipping the top deck of a 30 Creatures deck and casting it for free every time opponent tries something nasty. Maybe even without Athreos... I don’t know.
Modern : Burn WR and Humans / Allies / Slivers WUBRG
Dreaming of a competitive Modern Werewolves deck.
1st, GP Toronto Sunday Super Series 2016 : Ally Company RWBG
Top 8, PPTQ Shadows over Innistrad : Boros Humans WR.
and use TopDecked MTG to manage your decks and collection on your Apple or Android device.
4 Cavern of Souls
4 Unclaimed Territory
4 Sliver Hive
1 Fiery Islet
1 Sunbaked Canyon
1 Horizon Canopy
1 Forest
1 Plains
1 Mutavault
1 Stomping Ground
1 Temple Garden
Creatures (31)
4 Cloudshredder Sliver
4 Sinew Sliver
4 Predatory Sliver
4 Spiteful Sliver
4 Galerider Sliver
2 Gemhide Sliver
2 Homing Sliver
2 Manaweft Sliver
2 Sentinel Sliver
1 Cautery Sliver
1 Sliver Legion
1 Striking Sliver
4 Aether Vial
4 Collected Company
1 Blasphemous Act
2 Damping Sphere
2 Dismember
1 Relic of Progenitus
2 Torpor Orb
2 Darkheart Sliver
2 Frenetic Sliver
2 Harmonic Sliver
1 Necrotic Sliver
1 Telekinetic Sliver
I think that Horizon lands can help a bit drawing an extra card (mostly a creature) to add a bit more pressure to the opponent. With mana generator slivers, it should not punish us that much, as we can generate tons of it.
I think your biggest problem might be casting CoCo or blaesphemous act. Good Luck though and tell us the results!
Have you done the maths of your manabase while building it? Deck building and playing Magic is *all* about statistics and probabilities. Good decks are reliable, and will do their thing with a high measure of consistency, and on time. Read Frank Karsten’s article if you haven’t done so, yet. Skip the explanations, and go directly to « The Numbers ».
Including your 4 Manaweft (that count as half a colored source each, because removals and hand disruption), you only have 6 sources of G and 5 sources of R to cast CoCo and BlAc, out of 22 sources of mana (20 lands + 4 x 0.5 for Manaweft). These numbers are insanely low, and the odds of success are abysmal :
You should build a manabase that supports at least 11 sources of G and R. See Frank’s first Chart, 60 cards by Turn 4 = 11 sources. Each land counts for 1 source, and each mana dork counts for half a source. If you keep the dorks at 4, it means you need 5 more sources that can produce pure green mana, and 6 more that can tap for red. Maybe you can work a miracle, but I doubt any deck could support that without forcing you away for one or two colors (Naya, probably).
FYI, CoCo Vizier decks usually play 21 lands (17-19 tap for G) and with 8 mana dorks (so 25 sources, at least 21 can pool green mana). Such decks avoid 5 colors, and will only splash the 4th color if need be. CoCo Vizier is dedicated in it’s mission to not fail at casting CoCo as soon as turn 3, no later than turn 4. Your manabase looks like it will only reliably cast CoCo after turn 10 (unless you’re lucky).
Modern : Burn WR and Humans / Allies / Slivers WUBRG
Dreaming of a competitive Modern Werewolves deck.
1st, GP Toronto Sunday Super Series 2016 : Ally Company RWBG
Top 8, PPTQ Shadows over Innistrad : Boros Humans WR.
and use TopDecked MTG to manage your decks and collection on your Apple or Android device.
any suggested changes or what do you guys think of it?
I would add the Harmonic Sliver slot to sideboard and add the 4th Manaweft Sliver. Because if you are not playing against affinity, hardened scales, etc... you will have to destroy your own Vial.
I don’t like Lavabelly. Kalastria Healer never saw play in Ally decks in Modern (except for combo with Rally the Ancestors), and it only costs 2 mana. Pretty sure there are better options for us.
1st, GP Toronto Sunday Super Series 2016 : Ally Company RWBG
Top 8, PPTQ Shadows over Innistrad : Boros Humans WR.
Use a hypergeometric calculator for your deckbuilding maths,
and use TopDecked to manage your decks and collection on your Apple or Android device.
1st match: 0-2 vs Esper control - the quantity of removal on that deck is just absurd against us. Even with diffusion or unsettled mariner if I had played them.
2nd match: 2-0 vs BG - even it has removal and the new plague (-1/-1 to all the chosen type creatures), it was an easy one.
3rd match: 0-2 vs Storm - 3rd turn on every game I was comboed.
4th match: 0-2 vs Vizier - Same as Storm, 3rd turn combo.
5th match: 2-1 vs UW - First game I was stuck with 3 mana. With one more I could won it. 2nd I could finish him fast. And the third game I could combo with Spiteful Sliver and Blasphemous Act.
6th match: now I don't remember, but won 2-0 iirc.
Match record 5-3
Round 1: Mono Green Tron 0-2. Neither game did the tron player have natural tron but he did manage turn 4 tron each game. He also managed turn 4 Ugin both games to wipe my board and end each game. In game 2 I was able to get him 1 swing away from death before he top decked Ugin for the game, he stated this after the match. I sided in Harmonic and damping sphere and took out diffusion, dismembers, and a coco.
Round 2: Titanshift 2-1. I didnt have a good enough starting hand in game 1 to compete with the combo and being interacted with along the way, I lost a few slivers to bolts. Game 2 he found an Obstinate Baloth but it did very little for him as I found flying and countered a scapeshift with warping wail. Game 3 a Collected Company landed a Sedge and Shedder onto a field with a Dregscape and Sinew and swung 14 at his life total of 15. Sided in Syphon and Warping wails, and took out dismember, diffusion and one other card (cant remember right now).
Round 3: Merfolk 1-2. I got off to a bad start from the get go. The only damage my opponent took was self inflicted by a horizon land. Game 2 was the opposite of game 1, I only suffered damage from a fetch and shock. Game 3, here is where I error-ed. I played too aggressively during game 3 and was beaten by vial tricks. I had Sedge, Dregscape and Darkheart, I went to cast a sinew from hand and in response he casts dismember on Sedge, I responded by sacing to darkheart, after that I unearthed it and activated my vial sitting on 2 to drop another Sinew into play and then proceeded to combat. After attackers were declared, he activated his vial to drop a harbinger of the tides into play and attempted to bounce Sedge, I saced him again to Darkheart and then he blocked and attempted to kill Darkheart, I saced it. He took 4 from dregscape then on his turn he dismembered a sinew and swung lethal.
Round 4: Jund 2-0. This guy was pretty salty sitting down he'd been frustrated pretty hard already. I hid my strategy on the first turn leading on godless shrine into vial. Turn 2 I dropped the bomb on him with a cavern. That shock was the only damage I took that game. Game 2 was similar, I only suffered self-inflicted damage, a fetch, a dismember and a shock. I dont remember much of this match it was over too fast and the guy was insanely salty to lose to slivers on the mighty jund.
Round 5: Prismatic Omen Scapeshift 2-1. Game 1 was very fast as my opponent had to mulligan down. I took 3 swings to fell the tree. Game 2 I was not sure what he was on but I had an idea because of the lands he played. He played a prismatic omen and was able to interact by lightning helixing a crucial creature. He was able to scapeshift for the win with exactly 18 damage after I shocked myself to 18. Game 3, I was able to warping wail an anger of the gods to keep my predatory, sinew and gemhide in play, I followed it up the next turn by coco into more fun and into a win.
Round 6: The Rock 2-1. Game 1 I won thru 3 scavenging ooze activations. A big swing of 10+ ended game 1. In game 2 the rock did its thing, lots of cheap removal and big dudes, I dealt no damage. Game 3 was a marathon. I fought thru 7 scooze activations and flipped 4 coins from frenetic (2/4 correct, opponent insisted on flipping the coin while I called it). I errored in allowing an early galerider to die and almost gave the match away, but I finally top decked another galerider just as he took me down to 4 life.
Round 7: BW Zombies 2-1. So this guys leads on swamp gravecrawler and I immediately thought it was hogaak. I was very thankful in turn 2 when he dropped unclaimed territory naming zombie. I rolled him pretty hard in game 1, but he did get some things going, he isnt a tribal deck in the sense of lords and getting big dudes, all of his zombies had either etb or dies triggers to gain life, cause the loss of life or both. Game 2he set up a combo of sorts where he had an undying geralfs messenger saced it to carrion feeder have it undie and trigger like 4 other zombies on the ways in and out. I remembered to bring Syphon in for game 3, dumb move not bringing them in for game 2. I ended game 3 with 47 life because zombies dont fly and I was throwing 10+ damage his way each turn and gaining it all back.
Round 8: mono red prowess 0-2. I lost on turn 5 of game 1 due to a non-functional hand, a bad keep. I lost game 2 on turn 3. On said turn 3, he had 2 monastery swiftspears, cast manamorphose, cast a second, cast a third, cast a bolt targeting me, cast a lava spike targeting me, then swung for 12 and I was at exactly 18 life and had no blockers.
Looking back, there was nothing I could do about rounds 1 and 8. I really wish I could get round 3 back though. I played far too aggrssively in that game 3 and I should have backed off. I didnt see any of the top tier decks, hogaak, phoenix, humans or infect, thankfully. I spoke to Bryan on Sunday, he faced 3 infect decks on day 1, so I feel like I dodged a bullet there. I look forward to the SCG Open in August that will also be held in DFW, but until then there is a few more local IQ's and GenCon to look forward to.
WUBRGCoco/Vial Slivers
WUBRGSlivers of the Void
Pioneer
WUBRGCoco Slivers
Legacy
WUBRGAll in Slivers
I’ve run some tests, and I take back what I said about Virulent Sliver. Here’s the list that I’ll run tomorrow night at LGS :
4 Aether Vial
4 Striking Sliver
4 Galerider Sliver
4 Virulent Sliver
Disruptors (8)
4 Diffusion Sliver
4 Unsettled Mariner
Accelerators (8)
4 Cloudshredder Sliver
4 Manaweft Sliver
4 Predatory Sliver
4 Sinew Sliver
4 Leeching Sliver
Lands (16)
4 Cavern of Souls
4 Sliver Hive
4 Unclaimed Territory
2 Mana Confluence
2 Mutavault
2 Yixlid Jailer
2 Grafdigger's Cage
2 Gaddock Teeg
2 Collector Ouphe
1 Frenetic Sliver
1 Harmonic Sliver
1 Necrotic Sliver
2 Gut Shot
2 Plague Engineer
I tested this list a bit, and I was impressed with the two new techs : Virulent Sliver and down to 16 lands. BTW, Leeching Sliver is back in my deck. Now, before anyone tells my I’m crazy at 16 lands, please bear with me...
Virulent Sliver makes turn 3 wins more feasible than before (twice, with Cloudshredder and another Sliver). But not only that, the deck is a lot more aggressive with such a low curve. More one-drops means that turn 1 is almost never a lost turn, and Vial on 1 (turn 2) is not wasted as often as before. It’s also easier to chain Slivers with Manaweft and Cloudshredder, or to play 2-3 Slivers per turn on just lands. Poisonous will rarely win a game, but Virulent adds an extra body for a very low cost. And this is what wins us games.
Sometimes, Virulent will take the role of a mini-Lord with this text box : « Opponents can’t gain life, and their life total is set to 10. Each Sliver now only deals 1 damage per Virulent Sliver on the battlefield, regardless of power. » Getting to 10 isn’t that hard with such a wide board. For now, I love it.
I added back the 4 Leeching Sliver, so my list now has 16 Lords (Sinew, Predatory, Leeching and Virulent).
Playing only 16 lands (all of which can cast Vial on turn 1, no Ziggurat) seems feasible with such a low curve. Compared to 18 lands and 8 one-drops :
It may now be easier to overload Control and Midrange’s removals (more cards, casted earlier and faster).
Edit : Gut Shot replaces Dismember in the SB. It can kill creatures-based Combo decks just as well, without having to take a break in our development.
Modern : Burn WR and Humans / Allies / Slivers WUBRG
Dreaming of a competitive Modern Werewolves deck.
1st, GP Toronto Sunday Super Series 2016 : Ally Company RWBG
Top 8, PPTQ Shadows over Innistrad : Boros Humans WR.
and use TopDecked MTG to manage your decks and collection on your Apple or Android device.
I participed to a tournament satursday where I finished 6th :
https://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=22359&d=351751&f=MO
My record :
Round 1 : 2-0 vs Jund
I won thanks to Diffusion Sliver and Unsettled Mariner which forced him to use all his mana for kill them and meanwhile I killed him with flying. He sided Plague Engineer and anger of the gods but he didn’t draw them or can’t play them because my lords protected my board.
Round 2 : 2-1 vs Hogaak Bridgevine
He won the first game with a Carrion Feeder buffed and a Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis, plus I didn’t keep a very good hand and didn’t draw the good cards too.
The 2nd match, I mulligan down 5 for finding extraction and a lord. I extract vengevine whom he had planned to win by brute force. He didn’t have Hogaak or an Altar of Dementia.
The 3rd match, Surgical Extraction on Bridge from Below and harmonic sliver on his altar (I top decked a land for it). He cast a Hogaak but my board with leeching/flying/lifelink/lords was better .
Round 3 : 2-1 vs Golgari (rock?)
I taken a match loss by the judge because I forgot my forest in the decklist :/
Personnally, I mull to 6 to first match then to 5.
But, nevertheless, gods of Magic didn’t favor my opponent much less, whose mulli down to 5 each match and lose at turn 4 each time without doing much (he played dark confident/tarmo/ooze but he didn’t do anything else). He finished very salted and very pissed, even the judge came to ask me why.
Round 4 : 0-2 vs Eldrazi Tron
Clearly a unfavorable match-up
Tron t3 each match.
Game 1 : Karn, the Great Creator into Skysovereign, Consul Flagship and ping my slivers because karn transform him into a 5/5 flyer.
Game 2 : Turn 3, I put a harmonic for destroy his Expedition map, but he had already his tron land in hand. He ping my slivers with Walking Ballista/Endbringer then smash me.
Round 5 : Draw vs Hatebear
After discussion, we decide about a draw. My opponent and me was hungry
Round ¼ : 0-2 Eldrazi tron again (the same guy)
Match 1 : Tron t3 into Reality Smasher into ballista
Match 2 : I put a Damping sphere but didn’t draw a flyer and lord/leeching vs Smasher/Ballista with Basilisk collar.
Diffusion and Mariner together are very strong. Except Tron, they are saved my games each time.
After playing with the terrible manabase caused by sedge and coco, I found that having 16 gold lands is really really nice.
Versus Hogaak, I found extraction a very good counter card and can be played anytime in the game contrary to leyline due to the manabase. The deck cannot block flyers and has almost nothing to destroy creatures.
I don’t know if I continue to play dork sliver… I don't see how they're useful except against blood moons. And it's not a card that's really being played right now.
I think Eldrazy Tron is really favored agains us. If I don’t have a hate tron with flyers and lords in the first round, I lost.
And finally, don't write your list in haste.
Nice result btw!
Your list looks a lot like mine... but why do you play that Forest? Fetching to Field of Ruin or Path to Exile is not as much important as overloading opponent’s ressources with threats, and getting the critical mass of Slivers to win. May I suggest you to try out my most recent list? That includes Virulent Sliver (not for Infect, but additional cheap body and removal magnet) and down to 16 lands (avoid 3cmc).
Gaddock Teeg against Tron would have prevented opponent from playing Karn and Skysovereign. You can use Vial, Mana Confluence (that I prefer over some Ziggurats) to cast it, or name its creature type with Cavern or Territory. Comes to worst, mana dorks will do the job (one of the reason they should stay).
Against Eldrazi Tron, I say it’s an even matchup, if you get Striking Sliver to stall. First Strike on a horde does that. To break the stall, mana dorks + Sliver Hive are amazing (again, keep them on your list). You’ll attack once, with lethal, while preventing opponent from attacking without sacrificing creatures to you better blockers.
I’m glad someone took the courage to try out a golden lands manabase, away from Sedge Sliver and CoCo.
Against Bridgevine, have you tried Yixlid Jailer and/or Grafdigger’s Cage? A lot cheaper than Surgical Extraction, and they usually do the job.
Modern : Burn WR and Humans / Allies / Slivers WUBRG
Dreaming of a competitive Modern Werewolves deck.
1st, GP Toronto Sunday Super Series 2016 : Ally Company RWBG
Top 8, PPTQ Shadows over Innistrad : Boros Humans WR.
and use TopDecked MTG to manage your decks and collection on your Apple or Android device.
Surgical extraction is very expensive, too much like many others cards (hi, Cavern of souls). A game should not cost so much money compared to the prizes you can get. But it's an another debate.
However, Surgical is a very versatile card that is effective against combo, graveyard et control decks. It's rarely a dead card in your side.
My list is based on Timba's list (fast slivers) and yours(gold lands) . the mariners were a auto-inclusion as soon as they were announced. And dorks/forest because of my fear of the blood moon/ponza/field played by a significant number of players in Paris (at least one opponent per tournament). But Modern Horizon has significantly modified the meta and many azorius/ponza players switched for Vizier, Hogaak and eldrazi tron. But, Bridgevine is not that popular, and in addition, Hogaak and/or altar are probably going to be banned this month.
Virulent... Hmm, I prefer Sidewinder sliver for a 1-drop, maybe? If you place a virulent, and apply poison markers; then if the opponent kill him, you no longer inflict poison markers, unless you have another virulent in your hand, which is difficult, you now inflict only classical damages . You will then have lost 1 turn maybe 2 to inflict markers, which are now just decorations without utility.
Integrating poison markers splits your objective for defeat your opponent as quickly as possible : either you deal damage to PV, either poison markers. Not both at the same time.
However, maybe replace Adaptive Automaton by Syphon Sliver or sentinel sliver for match-ups creatures then put 2 Gaddock Teeg in side instead of syphon; with Mana confluence instead Ancient Ziggurat like you suggest.
I don't know... With the banlist of july, wait and see.
Versus Eldrazi tron, striking didn't make a difference. The opponent put eldrazis 4/4 or 5/5 covered by ballista. You need so many lords to compete with these creatures and I had rarely more than 2 on board. Anyway, ballista with collar kill everything turn 5. No, you need to evade and attack with a board buffed by lords or/and leeching sliver or find a card that prevents pings.
I played my above list tonight.
1-2 vs Mono Black Devotion
Game 1, easy win. Game 2, opponent disrupted my hand twice, robbing me of Galerider and Cloudshredder. When finally I could unload 3 Slivers on the battlefield, opponent casted Force of Despair for free, EOT. Then, opponent chained Nyktos into Nyktos, pooling insane amount of mana, to play Obliterator and Gary for lethal.
Game 3, I kept a hand with 3 lands, Vial and 3 creatures. But I didn’t played Magic at all. Hand disruption and removal took care of 2 of my 3 Slivers, and I topdecked 5 lands consecutively, from T2 to T6. The only non land card was Striking Sliver on T7. Two tokens from the Hive only helped delaying the inevitable. Really? 8 lands and 1 Vial out of 13 cards, and only 4 creatures in a deck that plays 40 and 16 lands? I was extremely pissed and frustrated going into the next matchup.
2-1 vs Goblins (Midrange version)
Game 1 on easy mode with Sinew and Leeching. Game 2 was over quickly after opponent played two Chainwhirlers, on turn 3 on 5 for maximum value each time (and I had no Lords).
Game 3 was a good game. I pressured him with 2 Virulent, and made a mistake by just attacking with 4/4 Mariner on board of 3 Goblins 1/1. I could also have attacked with Predatory (3/3) and Virulent (3/3), but I was afraid he would have gang blocked Predatory or Virulent. Had he done that, I could have threatened lethal next turn with Poison (still had another Virulent on board). Game got a bit longer because of that (Virulents got removed), but I eventually managed to win with Leeching and Cloudshredder.
1-2 vs Jund Death Shadow
Again, game 1 is easy win. I lost game 2 purely because of mana flood (again). And I was about to win game 3 (I had lethal next turn)... but I didn’t block the two 3/4 Goyfs that were attacking my 11 life. I was expecting Temur Battle Rage, but opponent couldn’t Bolt me for lethal, thanks to 2 Mariners. I didn’t know, but it seems Become Immense is a card this version plays (opponent never played it in games 1-2). Well, GG.
2-0 vs Faeries
As always, game 1 = easy victory. Game 2, I slowly built up my army (no Lords to make attacking possible against a deck that plays Flash creatures), and Sliver Hive got me 2 tokens while I was stalling (TY, Manaweft). Eventually, double Leeching with wide board did the job.
In the end :
Thus, I think we should try to find SB cards that are universally good in all the problematic matchups. What about Sorcerous Spyglass? It can certainly help against Tron (naming Ballista, Karn, Ugin, O-Stone), Bridgevine (naming Carrion Feeder or Altar), UW Control (naming Jace or Teferi) and even creatures Combo like Copy Cat (name Saheeli), CoCo Vizier (naming Devoted Druid), Kiki-Jiki (name it), Elves (naming Ezuri), etc.
Anyone has a better idea? I really think Slivers should have a hyper aggressive main deck, and a transformational SB to change our play style for when we’re on the draw.
Modern : Burn WR and Humans / Allies / Slivers WUBRG
Dreaming of a competitive Modern Werewolves deck.
1st, GP Toronto Sunday Super Series 2016 : Ally Company RWBG
Top 8, PPTQ Shadows over Innistrad : Boros Humans WR.
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