So my phone clowned me and posted my last post twice.. so oops. I tried to edit to say that the Sultai deck can't beat Blood Moon, but it sure is sexy. Curve like, Goyf into Lili into Jace.. Seems ok.
lright, gonna try to do something stupid and stream from my radioshack computer. new computer hasn't come in yet, so I have no sound, but I'm doing it to display the type of game I play and decisions I make. hopefully my computer doesn't crash.
Well done, Russ. To be fair, policy change notwithstanding, we've been published loads of times for MTGO performances.
As Jace, the Mind Sculptor comes into focus, so does the judicious use of Sorcerous Spyglass. Applicable. But, few cards are written in stone for Pyro Prison - the Spyglass is no exception. I often make the case for Damping Matrix, and in the dawn of The Blue Cape, I ask for an audience once more. If you don't dig the slight alterations needed for the inclusion of Matrix, that's cool, but don't write back dismissively so quickly.
Spyglass is a sniper's rifle and Matrix is a grenade. You'll recall that I was having a discussion with a fellow 1K winner at my LGS, and we agreed that Damping Matrix is the most underrated card in Modern today.
Like all of our spell selections, it's not about how much they hurt us, it's about how much they hurt the opponent. Attrition. Let's take a look at the Tier 1 decks on MTGsalvation. Not all of them, just the ones that can be a prickly pear. And, let's count how many Spyglass/Matrix targets are in the Main Deck constructions. X-for-1. How much value can we get from our spell selection: Spyglass vs. Matrix.
The preceding list exhibits tremendous uppercut force for the splash of a Damping Matrix, particularly for Vizier Coco/Chord. That's a list that FluffyWolf recently cited as an extraordinarily difficult matchup. sidenote: Oh, boss write-up by the way on your Jace analysis - also, I have followed your lead on swapping in (1) Blood Sun. As you advocate, excellent evaluation on providing an pretty-even swap for effectiveness against Scapeshift/Affinity/Tron.
But, what about the instances where Matrix blanks and Spyglass shines? Primarily, 3 planeswalkers: Karn Liberated and Liliana of the Veil and Jace. No real enchantments or lands to speak of. Yes, Ghirapur Æther Grid, but I pack a witchbane orb for that. Again, this is a hedged bet. There will be misses, but if you are proactive and not reactive, you can calculate the advantage which should deliver the win. After all, answering artifact threats alone are clogging up so many slots in our (75): Abrade, Sorcerous Spyglass, and Shattering Spree. Orrrrrr just make a slight adjustment to allow for a more substantive weapon: Damping Matrix.
I'll be running this list in (3) paper Tournaments this Weekend. And, please note, after all that I've written, I still have included one copy of Sorcerous Spyglass in my (75), mostly because of Lily. Wish me luck!
Went 0-3 drop in my first stream.the rock beat us twice. Not Good
Welcome to the streamer curse!
Couldn't have you feeling left out, now could I? Seriously, bloodbraid elf is causing much more jund and GBX decks to be in the meta. That deck always gave us problems and it didn't get better with elf.
Good luck over the weekend, Ray! I'm interested in how the new list works for you, Flamecaller in particular. Spicy stuff.
Went 2-3 last night, losing to Jund twice. Blood Moon is so important in that matchup. The night before last, I was 4-0 in games vs Jund, last night I lost 2 close matches, and Blood Moon was in hibernation for both of them. I'm really wishing I could fit a couple Molten Rain in the 75 for that basic swamp, but it's a tough fit.
Oh, Spyglass. Let me count the reasons I love you. The peek is so underappreciated, and in matches where we're 50/50 or worse, the right decision can easily be the difference. I've won games naming Map vs Tron, Druid vs CoCo, Raging Ravine vs Jund and Bloodstained Mire vs Mardu Pyromancer, some of which would be huge gambles without the peek.
Poll question; with Jund on the rise, along with control getting a boost with Jace, hasn't Pia and Kiran Nalaar gotten better? 1-for-1 removal is deep, and having a little extra reach vs planeswalkers wouldn't hurt either. How do you guys feel about a 2-of cutting a Rabblemaster?
The deck is dead :-(,Jund destroy our defense,abrupt decay, kologhan's command,maelstrom pulse,B.elf and destroy artifacts post sideboarding.
Sorry boys, wizards kill the deck.
Keep in mind, if the meta shifts towards this, we can still change things up. As Caligula mentioned, Blood moon is pretty big here and we can still add two more moons through Magus. (Not that that's what we want to be doing)
Come on Ray!....I hoping to see a giant goblin uppercut to the moon of blood and back! Time for the creator of all this miserable for our opponents to step in the ring and get a knock out. Don't be like me and punt in top 8....go all the way brother! You got a whole team behind ya!
As far as jund is concerned, here's the issue. They main deck 6-8 discard spells, so if moon is not on turn one, it's probably not happening. Also, they have 6-8 fetch lands and all they need is one basic to do lots of stuff. So, 6-8 fetches and 6-8 discard spells....Dodge all that AND draw a turn two moon and we have a chance. Then, goyf is bigger than everything we can throw at it and all their removal hits everything, unlike fatal push and path, decay and pulse can hit all out lock pieces. This math is extremely difficult for us. The only thing bloodbraid elf does is get .ore people to play it. It's not the elf that's the problem, it's the e tire deck and strategy. I don't see how our strategy could ever line up well against any BGX deck.
If someone has a different take, let me know, but in the matches I've played, that's how it goes.
You certainly are correct that I have had issues with Vizier, as of MTGO update though I have not seen too many decks with activated abilities. Everyone seems to be going to "Fair" (Jund) decks, or Control. We are seeing a reduction in Aether Vial Decks, and Activated Creature decks. Certainly not writing it off and I've had Damping Matrix in my sideboards locally for many months. Raystack would you think a sniper is more tuned though? I'm afraid of the only thiing that D-Matrix misses and that is planeswalkers. I've seen an upturn of Gideon (All 3 versions, Trials/Token one/Jura), Jace (obviously just now), Liliana (both versions), and Chandra.
And quick shout out, THANKS RUSS! I don't want to be alone =). We likely will either run Pyro or experiment with BBE (We need to learn the other card).
Yes, Jund matches up well against us, and I also agree that Bloodbraid does nothing but attract people to the deck, but I don't think it makes it a whole lot better. My thought on the matchup, like many of our tougher fringe matchups, is weather the early storm. As the meta continues to change, I think Jund players will realize they don't match up well against the top tiers, popularity will slip down to where it was before the unban, and GBx midrange will fall by the wayside.
Yes, Jund matches up well against us, and I also agree that Bloodbraid does nothing but attract people to the deck, but I don't think it makes it a whole lot better. My thought on the matchup, like many of our tougher fringe matchups, is weather the early storm. As the meta continues to change, I think Jund players will realize they don't match up well against the top tiers, popularity will slip down to where it was before the unban, and GBx midrange will fall by the wayside.
What we may consider though is a bit more on the Spellskite front. I've been thinking this. Burn will want to go linear and kill quickly with Jace around, Jace decks die to Blood Moon, and Spellskite can help block and or take the Pulse/K-Command/Abrupt Decay. Blood Moon is still pretty decent against our Jund opponents.
Yes, Jund matches up well against us, and I also agree that Bloodbraid does nothing but attract people to the deck, but I don't think it makes it a whole lot better. My thought on the matchup, like many of our tougher fringe matchups, is weather the early storm. As the meta continues to change, I think Jund players will realize they don't match up well against the top tiers, popularity will slip down to where it was before the unban, and GBx midrange will fall by the wayside.
What we may consider though is a bit more on the Spellskite front. I've been thinking this. Burn will want to go linear and kill quickly with Jace around, Jace decks die to Blood Moon, and Spellskite can help block and or take the Pulse/K-Command/Abrupt Decay. Blood Moon is still pretty decent against our Jund opponents.
Sorry Flufy but you forgiven that BBE cascade abrupt decay and they have basics lands and discards a lot. My advice,don't play this deck with this meta,two spellskite not is the solution,JUND is better deck than pyro prison. Wizards is the reason,only them:-(
The only reason I'll disagree for now, is Jund is statistically the deck that runs the least amount of basics (aside from say Affinity, which kinda doesn't always care about Blood Moon). A quick Blood Moon I think can really close out the Jund matchup, but perhaps we'll need to play Jund tonight to understand. That being said, Blood Moon IMO is King.
Having played a LOT of games vs jund online and in paper, I can tell you there's nothing I've come up with to make this match winnable consistently. Too much discard and versitle removal combined with goyfs and dark confidants, there's a lot of stuff they can do to stop us and only a few lines to beat them. Our hope is Jace warps the format to make jund unplayable
Having played a LOT of games vs jund online and in paper, I can tell you there's nothing I've come up with to make this match winnable consistently. Too much discard and versitle removal combined with goyfs and dark confidants, there's a lot of stuff they can do to stop us and only a few lines to beat them. Our hope is Jace warps the format to make jund unplayable
OR Jace doesn't warp the meta too much and it goes back to something similar to what it was preban, like the pro tour, making Jund hardly playable. Either way is great for us. Hopefully it happens before June!
Until then, I'm enjoying the flood of new ideas. The endless possibilities in this game never cease to amaze me.. I remember the first time I ran into Grishoalbrand. I didn't study tournament results back then, so I had no idea what was happening, but I was in awe lol. I actually like the challenge of facing the legendary Mindsculptor!
On top of this crazy metagame that continues to shift and settle over the next few months, I leave you with this; every deck in modern has matchups that feel like they have to get lucky to win. Since Splinter Twin got banned, no deck has held such a large chunk of the meta that it becomes "beat this deck or your deck is unplayable". If you look at the most popular decks, Death's Shadow is the most played at 8% of the meta.. think about that. Even if Jund manages to become the most played deck over the next few months, you'll be looking at facing them once every 10 matches or so.. hardly a reason to panic, and certainly no reason to write us off for the foreseeable future.
3 Spellskite
2 Welding Jar
3 Grafdigger's Cage
4 Leyline of Sanctity
3 By Force
I played a mini-tournament yesterday and I have some news for some or not but tips.
I made 2x1 UWR and 2x0 Flashlight
Blood Moon is insane, for the sake of locking up the lands, plus the lantern is playing with the blue cord, which costs 2 blue mana, and Abrputs decay, they having only one MOX get stuck with the bridge at stake and the Goblins beating 1/1, muligue up to do Blood Moon, after I won was so fast and played without value, I lost the 2 against flashlight because I tried to use the blood sun turn 1 .. then she is better against UWR, my deck has 12 Draws, I'm looking for what I want.
4 Chandra
4 Blood Sun
4 Looting
Trinesfera against flashlight, burn, aura, infect is GG, I do not understand how you guys do not use rs here works very well. I borrowed 4 chandras and everything is OK.
Detail that I took discarded every time I played against a flashlight, I miss something that of life, I lost to the UWR with blood moon and bridge in play, taking lightning, lightning, lightning, lightning, lightning, propelling, and ... there it goes, even doing 2x1 if it had some life was better, maybe I try to use 2 Looting only, and would fit a Witchbane Orb and 1 goticula of the sun.
Now for the big championships I'm going to use 4 lines of the sanctity force of side..I hate descartes, I wonder if they've already played against JACE, the 2 decks I played yesterday that had jace, I've easily been with blood moon, no I saw the destruction that it can cause.
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https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/mtgo-standings/competitive-modern-constructed-league-2018-02-16
Welcome to the streamer curse!
Edit: FYI you are not archiving your VODs so, I can't watch the replay :'(
As Jace, the Mind Sculptor comes into focus, so does the judicious use of Sorcerous Spyglass. Applicable. But, few cards are written in stone for Pyro Prison - the Spyglass is no exception. I often make the case for Damping Matrix, and in the dawn of The Blue Cape, I ask for an audience once more. If you don't dig the slight alterations needed for the inclusion of Matrix, that's cool, but don't write back dismissively so quickly.
Spyglass is a sniper's rifle and Matrix is a grenade. You'll recall that I was having a discussion with a fellow 1K winner at my LGS, and we agreed that Damping Matrix is the most underrated card in Modern today.
How does it conflict with The Stock List? In the main deck:
Pia and Kiran Nalaar
Walking Ballista
In the sideboard:
Ratchet Bomb
Spellskite
Hazoret the Fervent
Like all of our spell selections, it's not about how much they hurt us, it's about how much they hurt the opponent. Attrition. Let's take a look at the Tier 1 decks on MTGsalvation. Not all of them, just the ones that can be a prickly pear. And, let's count how many Spyglass/Matrix targets are in the Main Deck constructions. X-for-1. How much value can we get from our spell selection: Spyglass vs. Matrix.
X/Tron: Oblivion Stone - Expedition Map - Endbringer - Walking Ballista
Affinity: Cranial Plating - Arcbound Ravager - Steel Overseer
Vizier Coco/Chord: Duskwatch Recruiter - Viscera Seer - Rhonas, the Indomitable - Walking Ballista - Selfless Spirit - Qasali Pridemage
The preceding list exhibits tremendous uppercut force for the splash of a Damping Matrix, particularly for Vizier Coco/Chord. That's a list that FluffyWolf recently cited as an extraordinarily difficult matchup. sidenote: Oh, boss write-up by the way on your Jace analysis - also, I have followed your lead on swapping in (1) Blood Sun. As you advocate, excellent evaluation on providing an pretty-even swap for effectiveness against Scapeshift/Affinity/Tron.
But, what about the instances where Matrix blanks and Spyglass shines? Primarily, 3 planeswalkers: Karn Liberated and Liliana of the Veil and Jace. No real enchantments or lands to speak of. Yes, Ghirapur Æther Grid, but I pack a witchbane orb for that. Again, this is a hedged bet. There will be misses, but if you are proactive and not reactive, you can calculate the advantage which should deliver the win. After all, answering artifact threats alone are clogging up so many slots in our (75): Abrade, Sorcerous Spyglass, and Shattering Spree. Orrrrrr just make a slight adjustment to allow for a more substantive weapon: Damping Matrix.
I'll be running this list in (3) paper Tournaments this Weekend. And, please note, after all that I've written, I still have included one copy of Sorcerous Spyglass in my (75), mostly because of Lily. Wish me luck!
Creatures (5)
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
1 Pia and Kiran Nalaar
Power Locks (13)
4 Ensnaring Bridge
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Blood Moon
1 Magus of the Moon
Draw/Disruption (12)
4 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
3 Sweltering Suns
3 Tormenting Voice
1 Blood Sun
1 Chandra, Flamecaller
4 Simian Spirit Guide
4 Desperate Ritual
1 Pyretic Ritual
Lands (21)
17 Mountains
3 Gemstone Caverns
1 Mutavault
3 Eidolon of the Great Revel
2 Grafdigger's Cage
2 Damping Matrix
1 Torpor Orb
1 Kozilek's Return
1 Ratchet Bomb
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Sorcerous Spyglass
1 Witchbane Orb
1 Spellskite
1 Koth of the Hammer
Couldn't have you feeling left out, now could I? Seriously, bloodbraid elf is causing much more jund and GBX decks to be in the meta. That deck always gave us problems and it didn't get better with elf.
Went 2-3 last night, losing to Jund twice. Blood Moon is so important in that matchup. The night before last, I was 4-0 in games vs Jund, last night I lost 2 close matches, and Blood Moon was in hibernation for both of them. I'm really wishing I could fit a couple Molten Rain in the 75 for that basic swamp, but it's a tough fit.
Oh, Spyglass. Let me count the reasons I love you. The peek is so underappreciated, and in matches where we're 50/50 or worse, the right decision can easily be the difference. I've won games naming Map vs Tron, Druid vs CoCo, Raging Ravine vs Jund and Bloodstained Mire vs Mardu Pyromancer, some of which would be huge gambles without the peek.
Poll question; with Jund on the rise, along with control getting a boost with Jace, hasn't Pia and Kiran Nalaar gotten better? 1-for-1 removal is deep, and having a little extra reach vs planeswalkers wouldn't hurt either. How do you guys feel about a 2-of cutting a Rabblemaster?
If someone has a different take, let me know, but in the matches I've played, that's how it goes.
You certainly are correct that I have had issues with Vizier, as of MTGO update though I have not seen too many decks with activated abilities. Everyone seems to be going to "Fair" (Jund) decks, or Control. We are seeing a reduction in Aether Vial Decks, and Activated Creature decks. Certainly not writing it off and I've had Damping Matrix in my sideboards locally for many months. Raystack would you think a sniper is more tuned though? I'm afraid of the only thiing that D-Matrix misses and that is planeswalkers. I've seen an upturn of Gideon (All 3 versions, Trials/Token one/Jura), Jace (obviously just now), Liliana (both versions), and Chandra.
And quick shout out, THANKS RUSS! I don't want to be alone =). We likely will either run Pyro or experiment with BBE (We need to learn the other card).
What we may consider though is a bit more on the Spellskite front. I've been thinking this. Burn will want to go linear and kill quickly with Jace around, Jace decks die to Blood Moon, and Spellskite can help block and or take the Pulse/K-Command/Abrupt Decay. Blood Moon is still pretty decent against our Jund opponents.
I like that line of thinking Fluff. That's a good answer for Jund removal. Question; can you redirect a Dreadbore from Chandra to Skite?
The only reason I'll disagree for now, is Jund is statistically the deck that runs the least amount of basics (aside from say Affinity, which kinda doesn't always care about Blood Moon). A quick Blood Moon I think can really close out the Jund matchup, but perhaps we'll need to play Jund tonight to understand. That being said, Blood Moon IMO is King.
OR Jace doesn't warp the meta too much and it goes back to something similar to what it was preban, like the pro tour, making Jund hardly playable. Either way is great for us. Hopefully it happens before June!
Until then, I'm enjoying the flood of new ideas. The endless possibilities in this game never cease to amaze me.. I remember the first time I ran into Grishoalbrand. I didn't study tournament results back then, so I had no idea what was happening, but I was in awe lol. I actually like the challenge of facing the legendary Mindsculptor!
On top of this crazy metagame that continues to shift and settle over the next few months, I leave you with this; every deck in modern has matchups that feel like they have to get lucky to win. Since Splinter Twin got banned, no deck has held such a large chunk of the meta that it becomes "beat this deck or your deck is unplayable". If you look at the most popular decks, Death's Shadow is the most played at 8% of the meta.. think about that. Even if Jund manages to become the most played deck over the next few months, you'll be looking at facing them once every 10 matches or so.. hardly a reason to panic, and certainly no reason to write us off for the foreseeable future.
4 Gemstone Mine
17 Mountain (253)
4 Simian Spirit Guide
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
4 Chandra, Torch of Defia
1 Trading Post
4 Blood Moon
4 Faithless Looting
4 Ensnaring Bridge
3 Desperate Ritual
3 Pyretic Ritual
4 Blood Sun
4 Trinisphere
3 Spellskite
2 Welding Jar
3 Grafdigger's Cage
4 Leyline of Sanctity
3 By Force
I played a mini-tournament yesterday and I have some news for some or not but tips.
I made 2x1 UWR and 2x0 Flashlight
Blood Moon is insane, for the sake of locking up the lands, plus the lantern is playing with the blue cord, which costs 2 blue mana, and Abrputs decay, they having only one MOX get stuck with the bridge at stake and the Goblins beating 1/1, muligue up to do Blood Moon, after I won was so fast and played without value, I lost the 2 against flashlight because I tried to use the blood sun turn 1 .. then she is better against UWR, my deck has 12 Draws, I'm looking for what I want.
4 Chandra
4 Blood Sun
4 Looting
Trinesfera against flashlight, burn, aura, infect is GG, I do not understand how you guys do not use rs here works very well. I borrowed 4 chandras and everything is OK.
Detail that I took discarded every time I played against a flashlight, I miss something that of life, I lost to the UWR with blood moon and bridge in play, taking lightning, lightning, lightning, lightning, lightning, propelling, and ... there it goes, even doing 2x1 if it had some life was better, maybe I try to use 2 Looting only, and would fit a Witchbane Orb and 1 goticula of the sun.
Now for the big championships I'm going to use 4 lines of the sanctity force of side..I hate descartes, I wonder if they've already played against JACE, the 2 decks I played yesterday that had jace, I've easily been with blood moon, no I saw the destruction that it can cause.