I've been running a single Mortuary Mire in my RB Roulette and have had some pretty great success. Nothing like getting a second chance at a Hollow One. I've even lived the dream a few times, playing a Mire and topping a HO then playing into a Burning Inquiry or Goblin Lore and actually getting to cast Hollow Man. I haven't played more than 10 matches as I've just built it a week ago. Didn't even have time to fish bowl before the first tourney and still went 4-0. Love this deck.
Oh, it's not optimal, no, but I count it as a spell, honestly. It'll most likely be coming out but worth testing. It's only one card. Etb tapped perms are no bueno, I agree.
At this point, I think the stock PT Rakdos Roulette list and the "slightly less than" variants are stable and sideboard configurations mirror optimum performance. Our biggest threat is Rest in Peace and the equally performing Rest in Peace. Luckily, we get to deal with that card proactively or retroactively. Does that mean Thoughtseize or Destructive Revelry?
It's Revelry. We're too fast. Let them hate early. We can capitalize the difference by their turn 2 or 3 play. Don't be swayed. Artifact hate is easy because of Ancient Grudge so Grafdigger's Cage and the like are irrelevant. And once Dominaria hits, expect to see a resurgence of Snapcaster Mage "trigtard" Surgical Extraction in certain decks. Mostly tempo/control u decks. Wizards. R/u wizards. 8 bolts can race us with blockers better than burn.
Has anyone tested Bedlam Reveler yet? Might pick up a couple and jam. Probably cut a couple fish to offset the delve mechanic because they are not wholly compatible together so fielding high numbers of either might bottleneck our game plan.
In the BR version Bedlam Reveler could work since you are lighter on creatures and have more room for instant and sorceries but I don't think you could run more than 1 or 2 copies without removing some other cards with Delve.
I keep liking the RG version better as Vengevine wins games out of nowhere and has some crazy busted openers that don't rely so much on Hollow One, here is my current build (I'm finally playing a full set of Lightning Bolt and mixed the non-perfect fetches to make the deck less vulnerable to narrow situations involving Pithing Needle):
I couldn't play too much online lately but I have a large Modern open on Saturday, I'll let you know how it performs. I have thought about Natural State as an alternate option instead of Destructive Revelry but I think Leyline of the Void is one of our main targets so I haven't even tried it but it could definitely be an option as it costs 1 less (although I have found out that usually if you have the answer, you don't have much action to go off that turn afterwards so maybe it's better to keep with Destructive Revelry)
I really hope it could work, because I have all 3 as well. Supposedly they say there is not enough synergy between Phoenix, and Bloodghast not being able to activate Vengevine. As long as your list contains ample resources to activate Vengevine from the graveyard, I think it's a great idea. I have been using the following list with great success lately online. Sorry, I am a noob and don't know how to list decks. I am sure this get's ripped apart, but it's filled with synergy and fun to play.
x4 Hollow One
x4 Vengevine
x2 Bloodghast
x3 Flamewake Phoenix
x4 Adepts
x4 Burning-Tee Emissary
x2 Bloodrage Brawler
x3 Noose Contrictor
x3 Vexing Devils (this swaps back in forth with Lightning Bolts, but I like that this helps trigger Vengevine, and more often than not hits for 4dmg anyway)
If you check my previous post, you'll see I decided to give up a few creatures to make room for 4 Lightning Bolt, I don't like Burning Inquiry so I won't be missing that spell and I still keep a high number of creatures (BTW, you don't play any Street Wraith in your list, I think that's a major mistake since it enables Hollow One from Faithless Looting although it might be due to budget reasons)
Thanks for the reply. I actually have the Wraiths, but I don't like the idea of having them just for 4 cards in my deck, I'll be it the namesake. I have plenty of cards in the list that allow me to discard, and at minimal mana. Burning Inquiry to me is more important than Street Wraith to be honest. Again, that's just my play style as I am sure there is math out there to prove me wrong. Wraiths are really only good for Hollow Ones, and you could argue Adepts technically. I would much rather have a card that impacts more than 4 cards in my deck, and keeps me from spending 2 life too boot. Good luck with your tournament! At least we agree on the Contrictors! Just landed a foil playset for less than $3 I think, haha.
Street Wraith is one of the best cards in the deck. It's one of the best cards in modern. It's like playing a 56 card deck. It increases the odds of seeing every other important card you want in deck, at a minimal cost of 2 life. In this deck, you're trying to race, so the life doesn't matter much except against affinity and burn. The synergy with Hollow One is not too be overlooked. You might have plenty of other discard effects, but none of them are free (from your hand).
Street Wraith enables turn 1 Hollow one, which can in turn enable early Phoenix or even Vengevine (if running him)
So how does the BR version beat Bogles? I get Engineered Explosives, but everything else seems pretty bad. LotV only gets to tick up when they have Leyline (and probably dies the next turn). Are we at the point where it should be splashing other green sideboard cards other than Ancient Grudge, or should it just hope to avoid the matchup?
I friend of mine who also played a green Hollow One list this weekend had 2 copies of Back to Nature in his sideboard just for that pairing, he doesn't play Destructive Revelry
It seems to me that with B/R Roulette, for any "bad matchups" like Bogles, or Humans or whatever, that you just hope to EXPLODE out of the gate and run them over before they stabilize. Winning the "long game" can be a bit much for any of these bad matchups, so you hope that Burning Inquiry helps your game plan, and hopefully mangles theirs.
Your deck is getting incredibly close to my mono-red-manabase version. I run Burning-Tree Emissary over Hooting Mandrills but otherwise our creature lineup is identical and, like you, I don't play any of the random discards. The only real difference in our approaches is the answer to the question "Is playing Izzet Charm and Hooting Mandrills worth the much-more-expensive-and-much-more-Moon-vulnerable manabase?" For me, for the time being, I've gone no, and as much as I'd love to play Izzet Charm and one of the Delve fatties, it's never passed my budget-and-vulnerability test and I stay Mountains-only.
When playing 3+ color aggro or fastcombo, I do love Gemstone Mines (I opt against on control, midrange, and slower combo). I'd stick with them in your build, and maybe even up their count a bit. Better reliable access to off-color mana could even open you up to better off-color sideboard bullets, like Blessed Alliance as a bullet-against-Bogles.
The blue splash is really interesting. Maybe Stubborn Denial and/or Chart a Course could be useful is splashing blue. A non-creature package looking like:
Izzet Charm appears to have nice versatility but this isn't a mid-range or control deck. Who knows, I could be wrong. In many ways it seems Superior to Chart a Course.
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Regarding Simian spirit guide: I think only reason to run him maindeck is if you run maindeck Blood Moon. In an older version of my list I would swap out maindeck bolts for 2/2 split of Moon & SSG. If I expected Tron, UW, and Eldrazi I would main the moons. But if I expected affinity, GW, or BGx I would main the bolts.
It's also a great SB card to hit Emrakul with after they cheat it into play.
I'm glad you did well but TBH a mono color etb tapped land is not what the deck wants.
I keep liking the RG version better as Vengevine wins games out of nowhere and has some crazy busted openers that don't rely so much on Hollow One, here is my current build (I'm finally playing a full set of Lightning Bolt and mixed the non-perfect fetches to make the deck less vulnerable to narrow situations involving Pithing Needle):
4 Faithless Looting
4 Goblin Lore
4 Street Wraith
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Lightning Axe
Castable creatures (25)
4 Flameblade Adept
3 Insolent Neonate
3 Noose Constrictor
3 Hooting Mandrills
4 Hollow One
4 Vengevine
4 Flamewake Phoenix
4 Wooded Foothills
2 Bloodstained Mire
1 Arid Mesa
1 Scalding Tarn
3 Stomping Ground
2 Copperline Gorge
3 Mountain
1 Forest
3 Ancient Grudge
2 Destructive Revelry
2 Squee, Goblin Nabob
2 Blood Moon
2 Tormod's Crypt
2 Gnaw to the Bone
1 Heroic Intervention
1 Barrage of Boulders
I couldn't play too much online lately but I have a large Modern open on Saturday, I'll let you know how it performs. I have thought about Natural State as an alternate option instead of Destructive Revelry but I think Leyline of the Void is one of our main targets so I haven't even tried it but it could definitely be an option as it costs 1 less (although I have found out that usually if you have the answer, you don't have much action to go off that turn afterwards so maybe it's better to keep with Destructive Revelry)
x4 Hollow One
x4 Vengevine
x2 Bloodghast
x3 Flamewake Phoenix
x4 Adepts
x4 Burning-Tee Emissary
x2 Bloodrage Brawler
x3 Noose Contrictor
x3 Vexing Devils (this swaps back in forth with Lightning Bolts, but I like that this helps trigger Vengevine, and more often than not hits for 4dmg anyway)
x4 Faithless Looting
x4 Goblin Lore
x4 Burning Inquiry
x2 Lightning Axe
x17 Mana (still collecting, have Wooded Foothills right now)
Vengevine forces you to play more creatures but the reward is great
Bloodghast is more flexible but way less powerful
If you prefer the good spells such as Lightning Bolt and Collective Brutality, you give up on Vengevine and take Bloodghast
If you prefer to play Vengevine, it forces you to play creature cards that are usually worse than Lightning Bolt such as Insolent Neonate, which is usually a great Vengevine enabler
If you check my previous post, you'll see I decided to give up a few creatures to make room for 4 Lightning Bolt, I don't like Burning Inquiry so I won't be missing that spell and I still keep a high number of creatures (BTW, you don't play any Street Wraith in your list, I think that's a major mistake since it enables Hollow One from Faithless Looting although it might be due to budget reasons)
Street Wraith enables turn 1 Hollow one, which can in turn enable early Phoenix or even Vengevine (if running him)
Draft My Cube!
When playing 3+ color aggro or fastcombo, I do love Gemstone Mines (I opt against on control, midrange, and slower combo). I'd stick with them in your build, and maybe even up their count a bit. Better reliable access to off-color mana could even open you up to better off-color sideboard bullets, like Blessed Alliance as a bullet-against-Bogles.
Izzet Charm appears to have nice versatility but this isn't a mid-range or control deck. Who knows, I could be wrong. In many ways it seems Superior to Chart a Course.
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Regarding Simian spirit guide: I think only reason to run him maindeck is if you run maindeck Blood Moon. In an older version of my list I would swap out maindeck bolts for 2/2 split of Moon & SSG. If I expected Tron, UW, and Eldrazi I would main the moons. But if I expected affinity, GW, or BGx I would main the bolts.
Draft My Cube!