I don't think I would change anything from the deck so far. I've only played this twice, going 2-4 at the Mythic Championship Qualifier in Oakland on Sunday and 4-2 today at a STACKED IQ. I saw a list that had 2 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, so I wanted to try it. Since I only owned 1, I could only try 1. It possibly doesn't beat GB, as they have Assassin's Trophy anyway. I was unsure of how it would fare vs. Tireless Tracker. But I've tried Tireless Trackers before, so I wanted to give Gideon a fair shot. Maybe Gideon of the Trials is better? The mulligans were pretty obvious ones. I feel that sometimes you have to keep hands that literally need to draw a single land to operate - like 1 land, Druid, Vizier, Recruiter, and some other stuff. It is a combo deck and sometimes you lose to not drawing a land. It doesn't really matter which way you lose; each way hurts equally.
Did you watch my match at 4 hours and 50 minutes? I wanted to get some feedback if I could. I got some feedback from my video of my match with Bogles and it really helped me as a player. I feel that with more feedback from videos like this, I can definitely improve as a player.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Legacy - Sneak Show, BR Reanimator, Miracles, UW Stoneblade
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/ Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander - Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build) (dead format for me)
I don't think I would change anything from the deck so far. I've only played this twice, going 2-4 at the Mythic Championship Qualifier in Oakland on Sunday and 4-2 today at a STACKED IQ. I saw a list that had 2 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, so I wanted to try it. Since I only owned 1, I could only try 1. It possibly doesn't beat GB, as they have Assassin's Trophy anyway. I was unsure of how it would fare vs. Tireless Tracker. But I've tried Tireless Trackers before, so I wanted to give Gideon a fair shot. Maybe Gideon of the Trials is better? The mulligans were pretty obvious ones. I feel that sometimes you have to keep hands that literally need to draw a single land to operate - like 1 land, Druid, Vizier, Recruiter, and some other stuff. It is a combo deck and sometimes you lose to not drawing a land. It doesn't really matter which way you lose; each way hurts equally.
Did you watch my match at 4 hours and 50 minutes? I wanted to get some feedback if I could. I got some feedback from my video of my match with Bogles and it really helped me as a player. I feel that with more feedback from videos like this, I can definitely improve as a player.
Definitely bring in the Paths against burn. Unlike older lists running Finks we don`t have creatures which brickwall Swiftspear and both Eidolon/Lavamancer are a huge beating if left unchecked. The creatures are what beat you in that specific game since you were on a very big life cushion until the Swiftspears started beating you down. I see you aren`t running any Scooze but those can easily win the game for us, maybe not in that specific game but for example my most recent win v Burn was with a 9/9 scooze just gobbling up all the creatures he killed. Your last game was sad, 1 land and you`d have landed Shalai, given your dorks hexproof to then land Worship. I didn`t notice anything you could have done differently to be honest, the only thing you could`ve done was trying to hit the Dryad Arbor off Commune and taking 1 damage off the Canopy the turn you played Devoted Druid and left up the Canopy. You were in such a bad spot I think I would have risked it, but that wouldn`t have paid off since you Commune`d next turn and didn`t see the Arbor, still a line you could have taken. Oh and the attack with KoA was a bit ambitious but I get that you wanted to get in damage to find a path to victory.
Hello ! Cannot find an updated guide for the side. can someone help me?
You cannot find one because there still is none since the lists vary alot. Once Incubation/Incongruity is released and the ban announcement is made the 75 will likely be more refined so I'd wait until then.
Hello ! Cannot find an updated guide for the side. can someone help me?
I do not plan to develop a typical "-X this +X of that" sideboard guide for the primer because they tend to be pretty contentious as people vary their plan and value certain cards differently than others. Not to mention they go outdated quickly. I do look to add a "card breakdown" section to the primer at some point, so I'll give some guidelines in the there.
That said, I did respond to a post earlier asking about sideboarding and gave some tips. Take a look here.
I see Linvala in a LOT of sideboards. Is she relevant against any competitive decks besides Hardened Scales? Sure she shuts off Elves, but we're faster and more consistent than them already.
Personally I think Gideon isn't what we want for the deck, and doesn't actually beat BGX as you'd think. WE'd want Elspeth Sun's Champion to do that, but that card is too expensive for our build.
After playing Gideon Ally against midrange decks this weekend, I've come to the conclusion that he is for use against pure control (UW and UWR usually) and not for midrange. Given that midrange is significantly more common locally, I need to come up with a stellar replacement (especially after Tireless Tracker failed to suffice also).
Hello ! Cannot find an updated guide for the side. can someone help me?
I do not plan to develop a typical "-X this +X of that" sideboard guide for the primer because they tend to be pretty contentious as people vary their plan and value certain cards differently than others. Not to mention they go outdated quickly. I do look to add a "card breakdown" section to the primer at some point, so I'll give some guidelines in the there.
That said, I did respond to a post earlier asking about sideboarding and gave some tips. Take a look here.
Your original advice on sideboarding was very useful this weekend, but I was still consistently stumped on what to cut. For example, sideboarding against Burn requires a minimum of 5 sideboard cards, but optimally 8 in my current list. KCI requires 4 but optimally 10. The Phoenix matchup would like 10. Your advice helped me figure out 3-5 MD cards to trim for sideboard options, but I cannot find enough things to carve out of the maindeck to bring in a sufficient number of highly effective sideboard cards while managing to maintain consistency.
My theory for the future is that the Devoted build will cut Chord and end up playing 8 Commune effects to maximize our ability to play a druid on turn 2.
An interesting concept, but Chord is still very good in a lot of situations. I think maybe some number of Chords stay in the SB (with Communes MD, or Communes SB with Chords MD) to provide flexibility depending on the matchup.
I see Linvala in a LOT of sideboards. Is she relevant against any competitive decks besides Hardened Scales? Sure she shuts off Elves, but we're faster and more consistent than them already.
I'm personally not a Linvala fan either. The deck I'd bring it in against don't make up a big metagame share. Not to mention most decks we want Linvala against don't pack much removal, so we're not really searching bullets up as often.
Your original advice on sideboarding was very useful this weekend, but I was still consistently stumped on what to cut. For example, sideboarding against Burn requires a minimum of 5 sideboard cards, but optimally 8 in my current list. KCI requires 4 but optimally 10. The Phoenix matchup would like 10. Your advice helped me figure out 3-5 MD cards to trim for sideboard options, but I cannot find enough things to carve out of the maindeck to bring in a sufficient number of highly effective sideboard cards while managing to maintain consistency.
It sounds like you may be trying to bring in too many cards, but I don't know what all you're considering. I try to look the main and ask what cards am I not happy with first, rather than ask what's relevant out of the sideboard. Balancing interaction vs goldfish speed/consistency is hard, but I always side with being not interactive enough since we turn 3 and 4 so often.
Against Burn I go -4 Chord, -1 Vizier, -1 Ballista for +2 Forge-Tender, +1 Knight of Autumn, +1 Scooze, +1 Spellskite +1 Selfless Spirit. It might be right to take out a Lunges or two but I'm not sure.
For KCI, I go -1 Lunge, -1 Rallier, -1 Ballista for +1 Spirit, +1 Pridemage, +1 Meddling Mage. My talented KCI buddy told me I shouldn't bring in gravehate.
Phoenix has been changing so much and a newer deck overall so it's hard for me to keep a consistent board plan. I go -1 Rallier, -1 Ballista, -2 Chord, +1 Skite, +2 BFT, +1 Selfless Spirit. I don't like Scooze or Cleric, Paths could be worth it. Proactive protection is important so we don't lose to Surgical.
Part of me wonders if I'm taking Ballista out too much. It is annoying when you can't win because you don't have WW.
Balancing interaction vs goldfish speed/consistency is hard, but I always side with being not interactive enough since we turn 3 and 4 so often.
I strongly agree. I learned this lesson the hard way this weekend. In fact, you can probably include that as concrete sideboarding advice in the primer! Though that perspective may need to be flexible with consideration towards being on the play vs on the draw.
Against Burn I go -4 Chord, -1 Vizier, -1 Ballista for +2 Forge-Tender, +1 Knight of Autumn, +1 Scooze, +1 Spellskite +1 Selfless Spirit. It might be right to take out a Lunges or two but I'm not sure.
Would you bring in a second Scooze if you had one?
For KCI, I go -1 Lunge, -1 Rallier, -1 Ballista for +1 Spirit, +1 Pridemage, +1 Meddling Mage. My talented KCI buddy told me I shouldn't bring in gravehate.
What about Burrenton Forge Tender? It saves your combo and hate creatures from their Bolts and Galv Blasts. Though I suppose its kinda passive and can be totally dead.
Also, your buddy suggested ZERO graveyard hate?!? I find that a little hard to believe. I could understand a recommendation to skip Scavenging Ooze, as its activation cost forces you to make decisions between developing your board or being prepared to hate. But, for example, your list has a 1x Remorseful Cleric in the SB which seems perfect for that matchup.
Phoenix has been changing so much and a newer deck overall so it's hard for me to keep a consistent board plan ... I don't like Scooze or Cleric, Paths could be worth it.
Why not Scooze against Phoenix? It seems like it would be great. In addition to forcing the opponent to play their Phoenixes awkwardly, Scooze also matches unflipped TiTi after eating a few of our inevitably killed creatures.
Proactive protection is important so we don't lose to Surgical.
I'm playing a 1-of Riftsweeper in my sideboard. Hasn't been necessary yet, but its sure been nice knowing I won't get completely screwed by Surgical or GY hate. Has anyone else considered this or had a significant number of losses to Surgical? I'm starting to wonder if its necessary or just a baby's blanket that makes me feel safe.
Part of me wonders if I'm taking Ballista out too much. It is annoying when you can't win because you don't have WW.
Are you taking Ballista out because it doesn't perform well in a given matchup if you draw it without the combo? Or are you taking it out because its an easy hate target? That latter concern is leading me to leave 1x Ballista and 1x Shalai in post-board in most matchups. And I agree that needing WW is obnoxious.
Against Burn I would look to bring in the second Scooze I think, yes. Not sure what I'd cut.
For KCI, we should keep Lunge in before boarding in BFT given EE and the fact that you can't provide protection when your hand wants you to curve dork into Evo for Druid like Lunge does. They only have 5 ways to kill T2 Druid on the draw and 8-9 on the play so we're just looking to race them mostly, which isn't hard since I believe they take out Mind Stones for Bolt effects normally. For Crypt effects vs KCI, the reasoning is mostly that it's common for them to just not slow them down at all. I've found given that, Cleric is actually too narrow so I've replaced it in my list for a Gideon AoZ since I seem to face Jeskai and UW often.
RE: Scooze vs Phoenix, I don't know that I really care too much if they are recurring Phoenix, and it's easy for them to get them in play before I can even activate Scooze. A 3/2 haste flyer isn't that fast a clock and my plan currently isn't trying to beat them down. You could try and shave more of the combo and try attacking for wins, but TitI makes that difficult. Basically, I value Path more already — and don't bring it in — since it kills everything and most importantly I don't ever plan to Chord or Evolve for Scooze in the matchup so I don't know that Scooze being attached to a creature really matters outside it sometimes being the best creature in a Commune.
Not sure what I think about Riftsweeper since most removal + Surgical decks outside Phoenix we do have a real beatdown plan. It's pretty narrow in my eyes.
Yes, I take out Ballista when it on 1 or 2 doesn't kill anything meaningful, and now that I play Witness I have a way to get Shalai back if it dies.
Not sure what I think about Riftsweeper since most removal + Surgical decks outside Phoenix we do have a real beatdown plan.
I'm not quite clear on something here. In what situation do you feel we have "a real beatdown plan"?
Also, has anyone found a reliable SB card for midrange? We know Gideon AoZ is not impactful enough and Tireless Tracker gets shot too fast for it to provide any significant advantage. Mystic Enforcer looks good at first blush, but midrange is overflowing with graveyard hate these days. I wonder if, after Commune with Nature gets replaced in the MD with Incubation//Incongruity, maybe Commune with Nature could be a SB card vs midrange? Unfortunately it provides no card advantage, but it could help us recover our combo plans after disruption.
My research has turned up Sigarda, Host of Herons , which is hella spicy but CMC = 5 is rough. The same list also had SB Siege Rhinos. A guy that can block Tarmogoyf and live, combined with Gain 3 Life seems good enough vs midrange.
I meant that getting Surgical'd is okay when we have a real beatdown plan since we don't rely on winning with the combo anyway.
When do we have a real beatdown plan? When do we not rely on winning with the combo? I've never found a situation where this happens.
Sorry, I shouldn't say that we don't rely on comboing. I meant that as in we try and have a beatdown plan that's equally viable or better to the combo plan. Against Jeskai and BGx we board around 4 or so value cards in like Tracker, Voice, Gideon etc and oftentimes they Surgical us but it's far from game over since we aren't putting all our eggs in the combo basket anyway.
However, my board plan against Phoenix is decidedly risky since they have Surgical. However I do not see the beatdown plan as being a viable option against them since their threats fly and evacuate our board. Maybe we could try and board in Paths and prioritize using the back half of Incubation, but since they mainly just interact with removal instead of removal + discard or counters I'm happier trying to play around Surgical and not try and beat them down.
Definitely bring in the Paths against burn. Unlike older lists running Finks we don`t have creatures which brickwall Swiftspear and both Eidolon/Lavamancer are a huge beating if left unchecked. The creatures are what beat you in that specific game since you were on a very big life cushion until the Swiftspears started beating you down. I see you aren`t running any Scooze but those can easily win the game for us, maybe not in that specific game but for example my most recent win v Burn was with a 9/9 scooze just gobbling up all the creatures he killed. Your last game was sad, 1 land and you`d have landed Shalai, given your dorks hexproof to then land Worship. I didn`t notice anything you could have done differently to be honest, the only thing you could`ve done was trying to hit the Dryad Arbor off Commune and taking 1 damage off the Canopy the turn you played Devoted Druid and left up the Canopy. You were in such a bad spot I think I would have risked it, but that wouldn`t have paid off since you Commune`d next turn and didn`t see the Arbor, still a line you could have taken. Oh and the attack with KoA was a bit ambitious but I get that you wanted to get in damage to find a path to victory.
Thank you for the advice. I really appreciate it. Actually I usually side in Path to Exile vs. Burn with other decks. I just felt like I was siding in too many cards if I had done so, which is fine. I do realize that after sideboard, I don't need to be a Combo deck; I just need to be a deck that doesn't lose to Burn. At this moment, I do in fact feel like that was the correct call. On one of those Commune with Natures, I considered taking Birds of Paradise because I feel my opponent wouldn't have killed that quite as quickly as a Devoted Druid. That is why I tanked for a while, but in the end I felt like Devoted Druid was THAT much better than Birds of Paradise, so I have to take a chance with it.
Yeah, the attack was to find a path to victory and a single non creature spell next turn makes the Swiftspear a 2/3 anyway. Sometimes I wish I could gain 2 life with the Knight of Autumn and put one +1/+1 counter, but that would make it even more busted.
*Now I feel badly because my sideboard plan wasn't the best. I guess that happens occasionally when sideboarding on the fly.
**Regarding Linvala, Keeper of Silence, yes my main reason for keeping it in is Hardened Scales. It shuts them the **** down. Being able to put it in vs. mirrors, semi mirrors, and Elves is enough for me to keep her. I think I've just had wins against Scales a lot recently because of her, mostly by Eldritch Evolution into her. I have, in the past, found Linvala, to not be useful enough in other versions of "Company" decks.
Legacy - Sneak Show, BR Reanimator, Miracles, UW Stoneblade
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/ Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander - Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build) (dead format for me)
So I played this deck on Friday in Prague for 2 byes and went 2-1 losing to UW (Terminus is a retarded card) to then 4-0 the second trial and win the byes. On Sunday after dropping from day 2 I went 2-0-1 drawing v Izzet Phoenix in an extremely grindy match 2 which I ended up winning and then went 4-1 in an mtgo league on monday before departing from Prague again, so my latest results with the deck are 12-2-1 which is pretty sweet ^^.
Funnily enough I got surgical'ed twice in those games and I ended up winning both, once against the Izzet Phoenix I drew against but won the second game, and the second time was against a Mardu player who surgical'ed me twice just to lose to the beatdown plan as well, so I don't believe it's a good card against us since we have a more reliable plan B than most other combo decks.
I do realize that after sideboard, I don't need to be a Combo deck; I just need to be a deck that doesn't lose to Burn.
This is exactly it, against decks like Burn which have such a high density of interaction my plan is just to take as little damage as possible, trade redundant creatures off whenever presented with the opportunity and then land either a Shalai which turns off their Searing Blaze effects or one of the two Ooze and get it out of Bolt range right away. It's fine to "overboard" in these matchups in my opinion, it reminds me of the sideboard plan Storm applies against decks such as Grixis DS where they board out basically all mana dorks and try to win in a completely different fashion without removing their abillity to combo off if presented with the opportunity.
On the play
- 1 E Witness, - 1 Duskwatch Recruiter (the most redundant combo piece), -2 Eldritch Evolution, -4 Postmortem Lunge
On the draw
- 1 E Witness, 1 Duskwatch Recruiter, -2 Chord of Calling, -4 Postmortem Lunge
The switch of Chord/Eldritch Evo otp and on the draw might seem odd but I think the logic I applied is fine.
After sideboarding we have a total of 10 1cc creatures so, especially on the play, our Chords for x=1+ are actually live often, you can also Chord for x=0 if you're stuck with multiples in hand to get a Dryad Arbor.
Crucially, Chords, beside Shalai, are the only cards which get around Eidolon dealing us damage, and since my gameplan is often trading whenever possible/beneficial I don't really like Eldritch Evolution that much since it's card disadvantage, except to get Shalai, to get an Ooze late game or to combo off if the Burn player is stumbling.
On the draw Chords get worse and we are a card up so the drawback of Eldritch Evolution gets slightly mitigated. Also, if the opponent goes turn 1 Guide into turn 2 Eidolon we are likely forced to turn our 1-Drop into Knight of Autumn to present a possible trade for Guide and get Eidolon off the table.
Either way, I think in this matchup we are favored on the play and on the backfoot on the draw due to Eidolon/Chord and just Burn doing what it does.
It seems like AcademyRuins leaves in the Lunges v Burn which is good when the opponent has a hand with little interaction, but my instinct is to board them out due to the obvious life loss. Especially if they see the card game one a savvy Burn player will not expose himself to getting combo'ed if he has the option. I have definitely not tested the matchup enough to know what is exactly correct though, I'm just giving my opinion
Yeah, the attack was to find a path to victory and a single non creature spell next turn makes the Swiftspear a 2/3 anyway. Sometimes I wish I could gain 2 life with the Knight of Autumn and put one +1/+1 counter, but that would make it even more busted.
Yeah, the attack seemed odd to me at first but it is because our gameplans against Burn differ a bit. You want to mantain your creatures on board since you are playing 2 Worships, and I want to gobble up as much damage as possible since I have 2 Ooze. Iirc (I'm at work, can't confirm unfortunately :P) the opponent had a Rift Bolt suspended so I thought to myself, if you don't attack there are two things which might go in your favor. The first one is that he kills your KoA instead of the dork to force through damage, the second one, and this is more relevant to my gameplan, is that the Knight might possibly be preventing 3+ damage from a Swiftspear (due to the additional prowess trigger from the Rift Bolt) instead of future 2 damage. Once I saw your Worship I definitely thought you made the right call though.
Edit: Note that the Sideboarding I did vs Burn is specific for my Sideboard plan, If I have a Kor Firewalker in the SB for example then the 4 Eldritch Evolution would definitely always stay in, but I just don't have such a bomb in my 15 to justify leaving in all 4.
I meant that getting Surgical'd is okay when we have a real beatdown plan since we don't rely on winning with the combo anyway.
When do we have a real beatdown plan? When do we not rely on winning with the combo? I've never found a situation where this happens.
Sorry, I shouldn't say that we don't rely on comboing. I meant that as in we try and have a beatdown plan that's equally viable or better to the combo plan. Against Jeskai and BGx we board around 4 or so value cards in like Tracker, Voice, Gideon etc and oftentimes they Surgical us but it's far from game over since we aren't putting all our eggs in the combo basket anyway.
However, my board plan against Phoenix is decidedly risky since they have Surgical. However I do not see the beatdown plan as being a viable option against them since their threats fly and evacuate our board. Maybe we could try and board in Paths and prioritize using the back half of Incubation, but since they mainly just interact with removal instead of removal + discard or counters I'm happier trying to play around Surgical and not try and beat them down.
Our beatdown plan is a joke. 12 0 power creatures and nothing is over 2 power except a couple shalai and a few flipped duskwatches. Also most of our creatures are really bad on their own.
Pre-board I agree that our beatdown plan is very mediocre. Just nitpicking, but 4 of those 0 power creatures are Hierarchs which are actually very decent at contributing to the beatdown plan.
After Sideboarding it gets quite a bit better though, with everything from Scoozes to Trackers and Gideon, and in long games the value Duskwatch provides is also very good.
You can always add some Gavony Township if you feel like you're forced to go the beatdown plan too often, it's a very real wincon with the amount of dorks we play and sinergizes well with Devoted Druid.
I meant that getting Surgical'd is okay when we have a real beatdown plan since we don't rely on winning with the combo anyway.
When do we have a real beatdown plan? When do we not rely on winning with the combo? I've never found a situation where this happens.
Sorry, I shouldn't say that we don't rely on comboing. I meant that as in we try and have a beatdown plan that's equally viable or better to the combo plan. Against Jeskai and BGx we board around 4 or so value cards in like Tracker, Voice, Gideon etc and oftentimes they Surgical us but it's far from game over since we aren't putting all our eggs in the combo basket anyway.
However, my board plan against Phoenix is decidedly risky since they have Surgical. However I do not see the beatdown plan as being a viable option against them since their threats fly and evacuate our board. Maybe we could try and board in Paths and prioritize using the back half of Incubation, but since they mainly just interact with removal instead of removal + discard or counters I'm happier trying to play around Surgical and not try and beat them down.
Our beatdown plan is a joke. 12 0 power creatures and nothing is over 2 power except a couple shalai and a few flipped duskwatches. Also most of our creatures are really bad on their own.
You're taking that post out of context. mirrislegend asked about Surgical and I responded saying that I didn't view getting Surgical'd against Jeskai and BGx as game over because I'm boarding into a real beatdown plan with Trackers, Mystic Enforcer, and Gideon AoZ.
I'll be the first to agree our game one beatdown plan is all but nonexistent.
It seems like AcademyRuins leaves in the Lunges v Burn which is good when the opponent has a hand with little interaction, but my instinct is to board them out due to the obvious life loss. Especially if they see the card game one a savvy Burn player will not expose himself to getting combo'ed if he has the option. I have definitely not tested the matchup enough to know what is exactly correct though, I'm just giving my opinion
Yet another reason I don't like sideboard guides (: Not only do I honestly not have the reps in against Burn to really say for certain how I'll board everytime, but there's many ways to think about how to position yourself in the matchup.
After losing a couple games to Lunge's life cost, I put 1x Overgrown Tomb back into the MD specifically to cover that. It provides me the ability to keep Lunge in against highly aggressive decks, if I want to.
Balancing interaction vs goldfish speed/consistency is hard, but I always side with being not interactive enough since we turn 3 and 4 so often.
This contrast makes me wonder if we just found a dividing line in our matchups and the easiest way to guide sideboarding: distinguish which matchups we would rather under-sideboard and rely more on the consistency and speed of the combo game plan vs matchups where we should heavily sideboard and focus less on winning (by whatever means) quickly.
I agree with others about not relying on the combo vs removal heavy decks.
I like Gideon. Maybe thragtusk? Siege rhino could be good, but looking for more value cards for m/u. I’ve been trying 1 Viven Reed. It’s decent, but would like more suggestions.
Gideon AoZ is good when you're at a stalemate or you're ahead. He's abysmal when you're behind.
Nissa, Vital Force is well known for filling this kind of role, but I haven't tried her. Also at 5cmc is Sigarda, Host of Herons who has the added bonus of shutting off Liliana of the Veil's -2 (and All is Dust, if you see that a lot). Thragtusk also looks good, but again with that 5cmc.
There's also Reveillark, he's arguably the best value creature at 5cc.
A++ for value, but not for beats and not against graveyard hate. The beats are necessary in order for us to still have game against much removal + GY hate, a combination which is rampant. UW has RIP, Phoenix and Jeskai have Surgical Extraction, BGx has Scooze and Kalitas. Reveillark does not pull its weight in these matchups where we need value (and attackers, preferably) WITHOUT graveyard reliance.
I played at a small 16 person FNM to rough results.
Round 1 vs. Tron. I play against the guy I drive to FNM each week (that I go). We just got done splitting a 6 game "series" of PreModern before this match. In game 1 after a mull, I turn 3 him. He played a Forest on turn 2 and did Sylvan Scrying, so I knew there was very little that would impede me, if anything. He had Tower, Mine, Forest all tapped on turn 3 to get the Power Plant. I kill him. In the next game, he mulled to 3! My hand durdled a bit too much with 2 more Devoted Druids drawn while he played Tron land, Tron land, pass. I was scared when he got Tron and he missed drawing a 4th land to play Ugin, which he said he had. I needed to hit on my Duskwatch Recruiter, which I did, and the game was over. The sad part was that I attacked first, so only Ballista kills him now instead of Ballista or Shalai. Lol. 2-0.
Round 2 vs. GB Midrange. He gets enough removal to slow me down, but I draw Postmortem Lunge when he needed me to miss for a turn, and kill him. In the next game, he does Inquisition of Kozilek my Devoted Druid, then Surgical Extraction. I am having a tough time with a Liliana of the Veil, but I Path to Exile his only threat. I got Tireless Tracker down and some clues, but it got killed after Field of Ruin, then Fatal Push. I eventually E Witness it back and play it on the same turn. But I end up not finding much down the road with 3 clues and draw steps while he gets the Tracker again and Scooze eats it, then he climbs back into this game. In the final game, I am close to comboing, but he literally draws enough removal each turn with Dismember, 2 Fatal Push, and a Maelstrom Pulse (sad!). I needed to literally draw a single Postmortem Lunge in these sideboarded games, but I sided out 2. Maybe that was wrong? I just didn't want to have "do nothing" cards in certain situations. I played more creature-centric sideboarded games; probably wrong. 1-2.
Round 3 vs. UR Breach? I didn't see anything but burn, Snaps, Remand, and Cryptic Command. In the first game, his turns went EoT Bolt, turn 2 Bolt, turn 3 Snap Bolt, turn 4 Snap Bolt. Then Cryptic Command into Remand and those dudes and a Vendilion Clique swung me for lethal. In the next game, I make a huge mistake by not fetching Temple Garden with my second land, which I had intended to do right up until the last moment when I got Forest instead. This prevented me from casting Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, but Burrenton Forge-Tender into Devoted Druid into Eidolon of Rhetoric and then finally Gideon to provide a clock, got me there pretty easily. I think the Eidolon devastated him, as he seemed pretty surprised as well. Then the Gid put him to the test. In the next game, I go Burrenton Forge-Tender into Devoted Druid again. He didn't find Red until turn 3 and goes for Abrade. I sacrifice the BfT and then combo him on turn 3. 2-1.
Round 4 vs. Bant Spirits. This should be a solid matchup, I would think. In game 1, I fail to cast something on my turn 2 since he had Spell Queller mana up. He cast Spell Queller anyway and got to work with it, a freshly cast Supreme Phantom, and a Noble Hierarch. While he was tapped out, I played Devoted Druid and Vizier of Remedies on my turn 3. The reason I did this is that he had 2 cards in hand and a draw step and with infinite mana, I can Chord of Calling (already in hand) for 100,000 to play around everything. I felt like his hand was full of Spell Queller and Collected Company as they usually are. Nope, he did Path to Exile on my Devoted Druid next turn and I couldn't put it into the graveyard. I had Postmortem Lunge, but it set me back to much and he added Drogskol Captain and Image to get me dead before I could recoup. I'm not sure if it was a punt or not. I was playing against what Bant Spirits usually has. I'm assuming they still play 3 Path to Exile, along with their 4 Collected Company and 3 Aether Vial, but Path hasn't come up as often recently. But...it happens again in game 2 and I can't recoup again. This time there was nothing I really could do. His clock was too quick and when he had 1 card left and his last draw for the turn, he came through with the second Path to Exile. It figured that my last few matches against Spirits didn't revolve around Path to Exile at all and then I lose to 3 of them. This game started like this, I Commune for Devoted Druid, but take off the turn to Walking Ballista his Noble Hierarch. He goes Vial, Wanderer on turn 2. I do turn 3 Knight of Autumn, busting the Aether Vial, then turn 4 was when the Paths started. Maybe I should have been more aggressive and cast the Devoted Druid earlier? 0-2.
I finish 2-2, which was a win from prizing. I actually haven't done too hot lately. I had prized at 3-1 or better every time my first 3 years here except 1 single time, most with random decks. But nowadays, the variance is just really hitting hard. I'm also not playing as spot on.
Legacy - Sneak Show, BR Reanimator, Miracles, UW Stoneblade
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/ Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander - Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build) (dead format for me)
Many feel the KCI banning will reduce the amount of artifact hate in the meta. As a result, previously suppressed artifact decks may rise again. Hardened Scales will be miserable and traditional Affinity is not much better. Wedging Linvala into the sideboard (also stops the new Vannifar decks) is the obvious solution, but what do we cut for her?
Also, I'm expecting a decrease in graveyard hate, so Postmortem Lunge may be better than ever.
Did you watch my match at 4 hours and 50 minutes? I wanted to get some feedback if I could. I got some feedback from my video of my match with Bogles and it really helped me as a player. I feel that with more feedback from videos like this, I can definitely improve as a player.
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/
Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander -
Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build)(dead format for me)Definitely bring in the Paths against burn. Unlike older lists running Finks we don`t have creatures which brickwall Swiftspear and both Eidolon/Lavamancer are a huge beating if left unchecked. The creatures are what beat you in that specific game since you were on a very big life cushion until the Swiftspears started beating you down. I see you aren`t running any Scooze but those can easily win the game for us, maybe not in that specific game but for example my most recent win v Burn was with a 9/9 scooze just gobbling up all the creatures he killed. Your last game was sad, 1 land and you`d have landed Shalai, given your dorks hexproof to then land Worship. I didn`t notice anything you could have done differently to be honest, the only thing you could`ve done was trying to hit the Dryad Arbor off Commune and taking 1 damage off the Canopy the turn you played Devoted Druid and left up the Canopy. You were in such a bad spot I think I would have risked it, but that wouldn`t have paid off since you Commune`d next turn and didn`t see the Arbor, still a line you could have taken. Oh and the attack with KoA was a bit ambitious but I get that you wanted to get in damage to find a path to victory.
You cannot find one because there still is none since the lists vary alot. Once Incubation/Incongruity is released and the ban announcement is made the 75 will likely be more refined so I'd wait until then.
That said, I did respond to a post earlier asking about sideboarding and gave some tips. Take a look here.
After playing Gideon Ally against midrange decks this weekend, I've come to the conclusion that he is for use against pure control (UW and UWR usually) and not for midrange. Given that midrange is significantly more common locally, I need to come up with a stellar replacement (especially after Tireless Tracker failed to suffice also).
Your original advice on sideboarding was very useful this weekend, but I was still consistently stumped on what to cut. For example, sideboarding against Burn requires a minimum of 5 sideboard cards, but optimally 8 in my current list. KCI requires 4 but optimally 10. The Phoenix matchup would like 10. Your advice helped me figure out 3-5 MD cards to trim for sideboard options, but I cannot find enough things to carve out of the maindeck to bring in a sufficient number of highly effective sideboard cards while managing to maintain consistency.
An interesting concept, but Chord is still very good in a lot of situations. I think maybe some number of Chords stay in the SB (with Communes MD, or Communes SB with Chords MD) to provide flexibility depending on the matchup.
Legacy: Strawberry Shortcake, Aggro Loam, DnT+b
Modern: Devoted Karn
Vintage: Survival
Against Burn I go -4 Chord, -1 Vizier, -1 Ballista for +2 Forge-Tender, +1 Knight of Autumn, +1 Scooze, +1 Spellskite +1 Selfless Spirit. It might be right to take out a Lunges or two but I'm not sure.
For KCI, I go -1 Lunge, -1 Rallier, -1 Ballista for +1 Spirit, +1 Pridemage, +1 Meddling Mage. My talented KCI buddy told me I shouldn't bring in gravehate.
Phoenix has been changing so much and a newer deck overall so it's hard for me to keep a consistent board plan. I go -1 Rallier, -1 Ballista, -2 Chord, +1 Skite, +2 BFT, +1 Selfless Spirit. I don't like Scooze or Cleric, Paths could be worth it. Proactive protection is important so we don't lose to Surgical.
Part of me wonders if I'm taking Ballista out too much. It is annoying when you can't win because you don't have WW.
Would you bring in a second Scooze if you had one?
What about Burrenton Forge Tender? It saves your combo and hate creatures from their Bolts and Galv Blasts. Though I suppose its kinda passive and can be totally dead.
Also, your buddy suggested ZERO graveyard hate?!? I find that a little hard to believe. I could understand a recommendation to skip Scavenging Ooze, as its activation cost forces you to make decisions between developing your board or being prepared to hate. But, for example, your list has a 1x Remorseful Cleric in the SB which seems perfect for that matchup.
Why not Scooze against Phoenix? It seems like it would be great. In addition to forcing the opponent to play their Phoenixes awkwardly, Scooze also matches unflipped TiTi after eating a few of our inevitably killed creatures.
I'm playing a 1-of Riftsweeper in my sideboard. Hasn't been necessary yet, but its sure been nice knowing I won't get completely screwed by Surgical or GY hate. Has anyone else considered this or had a significant number of losses to Surgical? I'm starting to wonder if its necessary or just a baby's blanket that makes me feel safe.
Are you taking Ballista out because it doesn't perform well in a given matchup if you draw it without the combo? Or are you taking it out because its an easy hate target? That latter concern is leading me to leave 1x Ballista and 1x Shalai in post-board in most matchups. And I agree that needing WW is obnoxious.
Legacy: Strawberry Shortcake, Aggro Loam, DnT+b
Modern: Devoted Karn
Vintage: Survival
For KCI, we should keep Lunge in before boarding in BFT given EE and the fact that you can't provide protection when your hand wants you to curve dork into Evo for Druid like Lunge does. They only have 5 ways to kill T2 Druid on the draw and 8-9 on the play so we're just looking to race them mostly, which isn't hard since I believe they take out Mind Stones for Bolt effects normally. For Crypt effects vs KCI, the reasoning is mostly that it's common for them to just not slow them down at all. I've found given that, Cleric is actually too narrow so I've replaced it in my list for a Gideon AoZ since I seem to face Jeskai and UW often.
RE: Scooze vs Phoenix, I don't know that I really care too much if they are recurring Phoenix, and it's easy for them to get them in play before I can even activate Scooze. A 3/2 haste flyer isn't that fast a clock and my plan currently isn't trying to beat them down. You could try and shave more of the combo and try attacking for wins, but TitI makes that difficult. Basically, I value Path more already — and don't bring it in — since it kills everything and most importantly I don't ever plan to Chord or Evolve for Scooze in the matchup so I don't know that Scooze being attached to a creature really matters outside it sometimes being the best creature in a Commune.
Not sure what I think about Riftsweeper since most removal + Surgical decks outside Phoenix we do have a real beatdown plan. It's pretty narrow in my eyes.
Yes, I take out Ballista when it on 1 or 2 doesn't kill anything meaningful, and now that I play Witness I have a way to get Shalai back if it dies.
Also, has anyone found a reliable SB card for midrange? We know Gideon AoZ is not impactful enough and Tireless Tracker gets shot too fast for it to provide any significant advantage. Mystic Enforcer looks good at first blush, but midrange is overflowing with graveyard hate these days. I wonder if, after Commune with Nature gets replaced in the MD with Incubation//Incongruity, maybe Commune with Nature could be a SB card vs midrange? Unfortunately it provides no card advantage, but it could help us recover our combo plans after disruption.
My research has turned up Sigarda, Host of Herons , which is hella spicy but CMC = 5 is rough. The same list also had SB Siege Rhinos. A guy that can block Tarmogoyf and live, combined with Gain 3 Life seems good enough vs midrange.
Legacy: Strawberry Shortcake, Aggro Loam, DnT+b
Modern: Devoted Karn
Vintage: Survival
Legacy: Strawberry Shortcake, Aggro Loam, DnT+b
Modern: Devoted Karn
Vintage: Survival
However, my board plan against Phoenix is decidedly risky since they have Surgical. However I do not see the beatdown plan as being a viable option against them since their threats fly and evacuate our board. Maybe we could try and board in Paths and prioritize using the back half of Incubation, but since they mainly just interact with removal instead of removal + discard or counters I'm happier trying to play around Surgical and not try and beat them down.
Thank you for the advice. I really appreciate it. Actually I usually side in Path to Exile vs. Burn with other decks. I just felt like I was siding in too many cards if I had done so, which is fine. I do realize that after sideboard, I don't need to be a Combo deck; I just need to be a deck that doesn't lose to Burn. At this moment, I do in fact feel like that was the correct call. On one of those Commune with Natures, I considered taking Birds of Paradise because I feel my opponent wouldn't have killed that quite as quickly as a Devoted Druid. That is why I tanked for a while, but in the end I felt like Devoted Druid was THAT much better than Birds of Paradise, so I have to take a chance with it.
Yeah, the attack was to find a path to victory and a single non creature spell next turn makes the Swiftspear a 2/3 anyway. Sometimes I wish I could gain 2 life with the Knight of Autumn and put one +1/+1 counter, but that would make it even more busted.
*Now I feel badly because my sideboard plan wasn't the best. I guess that happens occasionally when sideboarding on the fly.
**Regarding Linvala, Keeper of Silence, yes my main reason for keeping it in is Hardened Scales. It shuts them the **** down. Being able to put it in vs. mirrors, semi mirrors, and Elves is enough for me to keep her. I think I've just had wins against Scales a lot recently because of her, mostly by Eldritch Evolution into her. I have, in the past, found Linvala, to not be useful enough in other versions of "Company" decks.
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/
Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander -
Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build)(dead format for me)Funnily enough I got surgical'ed twice in those games and I ended up winning both, once against the Izzet Phoenix I drew against but won the second game, and the second time was against a Mardu player who surgical'ed me twice just to lose to the beatdown plan as well, so I don't believe it's a good card against us since we have a more reliable plan B than most other combo decks. This is exactly it, against decks like Burn which have such a high density of interaction my plan is just to take as little damage as possible, trade redundant creatures off whenever presented with the opportunity and then land either a Shalai which turns off their Searing Blaze effects or one of the two Ooze and get it out of Bolt range right away. It's fine to "overboard" in these matchups in my opinion, it reminds me of the sideboard plan Storm applies against decks such as Grixis DS where they board out basically all mana dorks and try to win in a completely different fashion without removing their abillity to combo off if presented with the opportunity.
Iirc my sideboarding v Burn was:
+2 Burrenton, +3 Path, +2 Scavenging Ooze, +1 Knight of Autumn
On the play
- 1 E Witness, - 1 Duskwatch Recruiter (the most redundant combo piece), -2 Eldritch Evolution, -4 Postmortem Lunge
On the draw
- 1 E Witness, 1 Duskwatch Recruiter, -2 Chord of Calling, -4 Postmortem Lunge
The switch of Chord/Eldritch Evo otp and on the draw might seem odd but I think the logic I applied is fine.
After sideboarding we have a total of 10 1cc creatures so, especially on the play, our Chords for x=1+ are actually live often, you can also Chord for x=0 if you're stuck with multiples in hand to get a Dryad Arbor.
Crucially, Chords, beside Shalai, are the only cards which get around Eidolon dealing us damage, and since my gameplan is often trading whenever possible/beneficial I don't really like Eldritch Evolution that much since it's card disadvantage, except to get Shalai, to get an Ooze late game or to combo off if the Burn player is stumbling.
On the draw Chords get worse and we are a card up so the drawback of Eldritch Evolution gets slightly mitigated. Also, if the opponent goes turn 1 Guide into turn 2 Eidolon we are likely forced to turn our 1-Drop into Knight of Autumn to present a possible trade for Guide and get Eidolon off the table.
Either way, I think in this matchup we are favored on the play and on the backfoot on the draw due to Eidolon/Chord and just Burn doing what it does.
It seems like AcademyRuins leaves in the Lunges v Burn which is good when the opponent has a hand with little interaction, but my instinct is to board them out due to the obvious life loss. Especially if they see the card game one a savvy Burn player will not expose himself to getting combo'ed if he has the option. I have definitely not tested the matchup enough to know what is exactly correct though, I'm just giving my opinion Yeah, the attack seemed odd to me at first but it is because our gameplans against Burn differ a bit. You want to mantain your creatures on board since you are playing 2 Worships, and I want to gobble up as much damage as possible since I have 2 Ooze. Iirc (I'm at work, can't confirm unfortunately :P) the opponent had a Rift Bolt suspended so I thought to myself, if you don't attack there are two things which might go in your favor. The first one is that he kills your KoA instead of the dork to force through damage, the second one, and this is more relevant to my gameplan, is that the Knight might possibly be preventing 3+ damage from a Swiftspear (due to the additional prowess trigger from the Rift Bolt) instead of future 2 damage. Once I saw your Worship I definitely thought you made the right call though.
Edit: Note that the Sideboarding I did vs Burn is specific for my Sideboard plan, If I have a Kor Firewalker in the SB for example then the 4 Eldritch Evolution would definitely always stay in, but I just don't have such a bomb in my 15 to justify leaving in all 4.
Our beatdown plan is a joke. 12 0 power creatures and nothing is over 2 power except a couple shalai and a few flipped duskwatches. Also most of our creatures are really bad on their own.
GBRJund Elves
GWDevoted Elves
WDeath & Taxes
GWUBRHumans
EDH:
GTitania, Protector of Argoth
After Sideboarding it gets quite a bit better though, with everything from Scoozes to Trackers and Gideon, and in long games the value Duskwatch provides is also very good.
You can always add some Gavony Township if you feel like you're forced to go the beatdown plan too often, it's a very real wincon with the amount of dorks we play and sinergizes well with Devoted Druid.
I'll be the first to agree our game one beatdown plan is all but nonexistent. Yet another reason I don't like sideboard guides (: Not only do I honestly not have the reps in against Burn to really say for certain how I'll board everytime, but there's many ways to think about how to position yourself in the matchup.
This is good to know. Funnily enough, it is completely counter to other sage advice in this thread:
This contrast makes me wonder if we just found a dividing line in our matchups and the easiest way to guide sideboarding: distinguish which matchups we would rather under-sideboard and rely more on the consistency and speed of the combo game plan vs matchups where we should heavily sideboard and focus less on winning (by whatever means) quickly.
Legacy: Strawberry Shortcake, Aggro Loam, DnT+b
Modern: Devoted Karn
Vintage: Survival
I like Gideon. Maybe thragtusk? Siege rhino could be good, but looking for more value cards for m/u. I’ve been trying 1 Viven Reed. It’s decent, but would like more suggestions.
Nissa, Vital Force is well known for filling this kind of role, but I haven't tried her. Also at 5cmc is Sigarda, Host of Herons who has the added bonus of shutting off Liliana of the Veil's -2 (and All is Dust, if you see that a lot). Thragtusk also looks good, but again with that 5cmc.
I wonder if there are any good options with blue, seeing as the blue splash will almost certainly be the new standard when RNA drops. Brainstorming: Nissa, Steward of Elements, Dovin Baan, Jace, the Mind Sculptor
Legacy: Strawberry Shortcake, Aggro Loam, DnT+b
Modern: Devoted Karn
Vintage: Survival
Legacy: Strawberry Shortcake, Aggro Loam, DnT+b
Modern: Devoted Karn
Vintage: Survival
Round 1 vs. Tron. I play against the guy I drive to FNM each week (that I go). We just got done splitting a 6 game "series" of PreModern before this match. In game 1 after a mull, I turn 3 him. He played a Forest on turn 2 and did Sylvan Scrying, so I knew there was very little that would impede me, if anything. He had Tower, Mine, Forest all tapped on turn 3 to get the Power Plant. I kill him. In the next game, he mulled to 3! My hand durdled a bit too much with 2 more Devoted Druids drawn while he played Tron land, Tron land, pass. I was scared when he got Tron and he missed drawing a 4th land to play Ugin, which he said he had. I needed to hit on my Duskwatch Recruiter, which I did, and the game was over. The sad part was that I attacked first, so only Ballista kills him now instead of Ballista or Shalai. Lol. 2-0.
Round 2 vs. GB Midrange. He gets enough removal to slow me down, but I draw Postmortem Lunge when he needed me to miss for a turn, and kill him. In the next game, he does Inquisition of Kozilek my Devoted Druid, then Surgical Extraction. I am having a tough time with a Liliana of the Veil, but I Path to Exile his only threat. I got Tireless Tracker down and some clues, but it got killed after Field of Ruin, then Fatal Push. I eventually E Witness it back and play it on the same turn. But I end up not finding much down the road with 3 clues and draw steps while he gets the Tracker again and Scooze eats it, then he climbs back into this game. In the final game, I am close to comboing, but he literally draws enough removal each turn with Dismember, 2 Fatal Push, and a Maelstrom Pulse (sad!). I needed to literally draw a single Postmortem Lunge in these sideboarded games, but I sided out 2. Maybe that was wrong? I just didn't want to have "do nothing" cards in certain situations. I played more creature-centric sideboarded games; probably wrong. 1-2.
Round 3 vs. UR Breach? I didn't see anything but burn, Snaps, Remand, and Cryptic Command. In the first game, his turns went EoT Bolt, turn 2 Bolt, turn 3 Snap Bolt, turn 4 Snap Bolt. Then Cryptic Command into Remand and those dudes and a Vendilion Clique swung me for lethal. In the next game, I make a huge mistake by not fetching Temple Garden with my second land, which I had intended to do right up until the last moment when I got Forest instead. This prevented me from casting Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, but Burrenton Forge-Tender into Devoted Druid into Eidolon of Rhetoric and then finally Gideon to provide a clock, got me there pretty easily. I think the Eidolon devastated him, as he seemed pretty surprised as well. Then the Gid put him to the test. In the next game, I go Burrenton Forge-Tender into Devoted Druid again. He didn't find Red until turn 3 and goes for Abrade. I sacrifice the BfT and then combo him on turn 3. 2-1.
Round 4 vs. Bant Spirits. This should be a solid matchup, I would think. In game 1, I fail to cast something on my turn 2 since he had Spell Queller mana up. He cast Spell Queller anyway and got to work with it, a freshly cast Supreme Phantom, and a Noble Hierarch. While he was tapped out, I played Devoted Druid and Vizier of Remedies on my turn 3. The reason I did this is that he had 2 cards in hand and a draw step and with infinite mana, I can Chord of Calling (already in hand) for 100,000 to play around everything. I felt like his hand was full of Spell Queller and Collected Company as they usually are. Nope, he did Path to Exile on my Devoted Druid next turn and I couldn't put it into the graveyard. I had Postmortem Lunge, but it set me back to much and he added Drogskol Captain and Image to get me dead before I could recoup. I'm not sure if it was a punt or not. I was playing against what Bant Spirits usually has. I'm assuming they still play 3 Path to Exile, along with their 4 Collected Company and 3 Aether Vial, but Path hasn't come up as often recently. But...it happens again in game 2 and I can't recoup again. This time there was nothing I really could do. His clock was too quick and when he had 1 card left and his last draw for the turn, he came through with the second Path to Exile. It figured that my last few matches against Spirits didn't revolve around Path to Exile at all and then I lose to 3 of them. This game started like this, I Commune for Devoted Druid, but take off the turn to Walking Ballista his Noble Hierarch. He goes Vial, Wanderer on turn 2. I do turn 3 Knight of Autumn, busting the Aether Vial, then turn 4 was when the Paths started. Maybe I should have been more aggressive and cast the Devoted Druid earlier? 0-2.
I finish 2-2, which was a win from prizing. I actually haven't done too hot lately. I had prized at 3-1 or better every time my first 3 years here except 1 single time, most with random decks. But nowadays, the variance is just really hitting hard. I'm also not playing as spot on.
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/
Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander -
Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build)(dead format for me)Also, I'm expecting a decrease in graveyard hate, so Postmortem Lunge may be better than ever.
Legacy: Strawberry Shortcake, Aggro Loam, DnT+b
Modern: Devoted Karn
Vintage: Survival