2-0 Merfolk. Crashed in for 14 damage turn 3 after their slow start (flipped Thing, gut shot, two birds). Game 2, killed a lot of things and got there with big swings.
1-2 Jeskai Phoenix. I got duped into thinking it was Jeskai control after they strategically scooped early to overwhelming board on turn 3 or 4. Good on them, because it cost me game 2, where I kept a slow grindy hand on the draw while I get pummeled by two flipped Things after boarding out Lightning Axe... Game 3 was close, but his Lightning Helixes made the difference. Might be worth looking into... it looked really good and he 4-0'd by the end of the night.
2-0 GR Pump Aggro. Most of his stuff died to Bolt. I was able to race faster.
2-0 Mardu Pyromancer. Was playing a much heavier white commitment. Brought in Moon since he kept fetching nonbasics. Slowed him down without crippling him, but was enough to get there with recursive birds. Was not running Path, so all removal was "destroy" based. Between a single Island and Manamorphose, this deck can easily function with Moon.
Helix would be interesting, and they could bring in Path if needed as well in a UWR Version + all the side hate cards.
He was on a transformative sideboard plan. He had Monastery Mentor, Spell Queller, and Gideon AoZ. Very very interesting build. Wish I had the complete list.
I'm not sure it can be made even more aggressive at this point, its a Turn 3 deck. You could start to get crazy with Simian Spirit Guide, but I dont think the deck can handle that level of card disadvantage.
Sometimes it feels like UR Phoenix needs more lightning axes or something in the sideboard.
Going by mtggoldfish, it looks like the meta is switching gears and seeing more combo based decks to prey on Phoenix. I think we may see more fatal pushes, too.
Played Merfolk with this deck. Hilariously bad for them. Keep them at a slow tempo and then you can beat face with a Drake or a big Thing in the Ice.
I'm awaiting to see Ross' sideboard guide so I get a better idea on how to side things out.
I've noticed that I've been playing more fair decks on mtgo, possibly from the rise of this deck. Owning GDS and Izzet Phoenix seems like a nice thing to go back and forth with.
Hey, here is a merfolk player... Not true, sorry. Harbinger bounce easy your titi back to your hand after you spend a lot of your spells and merfolk trickster take away all of his abilitys if he wants to be safe, so no flip after spending spells if he vial or flash in at the right moment which is not easy. Trickster with flash or vial take away flying of Phoenix, so we can block him easy and new mistcallers prevent returning Phoenix back from grave. Advantage of Phoenix is because deck is new and a lot of players make mistake or keep bad hands... But they are learning. In my opinion it is even and our real problem is destruction spells and nut draws, not creatures of Phoenix decks. If you can bring fast 2-3 Phoenix we loose, if no mistcaller in play, if not we will win because we can control the game easy. Drake same... Bounce Harbinger or make it small with trickster and kill
I'm thrilled that Merfolk players are using Mistcaller. I was hilariously delighted to see my real life opponent play that as I lay a gigantic Goyf out with Traverse Shadow.
You're also just forgetting the shock cards Phoenix plays. The trickster never really bothered me.
And yeah, the bounce thing is real, it's why you kinda sculpt your hand, knowing well the Merfolk player will bounce it. I was also drawing so much removal in the 2x matches against Merfolk.
So I jammed this deck yesterday the entire time and I must admit that it is pretty good. The weaknesses have become obvious too though which begs the question? Do you really feel Crackling Drake is good? The card was irrelevant the entire day. I was never happy to see it.
I have seen a list going 6-1 in an MTGO Challenge that replaced the 2 Drakes with 2 additional Monastery Swiftspear so he has playset of them, Phoenix and Thing and that's it.
I feel that might be the direction to go. This deck has a lot of explosiveness but not that much staying power. Many decks can go over the top of what you are doing if you don't get moving. A 4 mana card in 18 land deck with no haste or protection from removal seems questionable for that. And against decks that don't pack much removal Im still happier seeing Things and Phoenixes instead.
I mean I also don't see the point of the Drakes. I mean flipping your Thing should clear the board while phoenix provide recurable poke.
I suppose the main point for both Drakes and Bedlam Reveler is really card draw although Reveler does have the benefit of not leaving when Thing In the Ice Flips which should allow you to swing for 10+ Damage. Make me wonder if note from Grixis Death Shadow would be interesting in using Temur Battle Rage.
Although how do Temur Battle Rage and Bedlam Reveler go together if I only have Bedlam and I can cast Temur Battle Rage do I get the Ferocious trigger? I suck at rules.
I mean I also don't see the point of the Drakes. I mean flipping your Thing should clear the board while phoenix provide recurable poke.
I suppose the main point for both Drakes and Bedlam Reveler is really card draw although Reveler does have the benefit of not leaving when Thing In the Ice Flips which should allow you to swing for 10+ Damage. Make me wonder if note from Grixis Death Shadow would be interesting in using Temur Battle Rage.
Although how do Temur Battle Rage and Bedlam Reveler go together if I only have Bedlam and I can cast Temur Battle Rage do I get the Ferocious trigger? I suck at rules.
Yes you should get Ferocious since Battle Rage checks on resolution and the Prowess trigger resolves first
Thanks then yeah I am thinking of trying some Temur Battle Rages in my build to try to finish things faster.
What do you think about Bedlam Reveler? I don't see the point in Drake myself. The super specific color payment does it no favors either if you ask me, along with 4 CMC and no protection. Bedlam does the card draw better as well if you ask me. But mainly my issue its a nobo with flipping Thing In the Ice. I mean Bedlam stays, Arclight presumably you want it to recur after the flip, and monastery swiftspear is cheap enough to recast if you don't have enough damage on the board or if you want to hold something back if you expect a wipe coming.
Thanks then yeah I am thinking of trying some Temur Battle Rages in my build to try to finish things faster.
What do you think about Bedlam Reveler? I don't see the point in Drake myself. The super specific color payment does it no favors either if you ask me, along with 4 CMC and no protection. Bedlam does the card draw better as well if you ask me. But mainly my issue its a nobo with flipping Thing In the Ice. I mean Bedlam stays, Arclight presumably you want it to recur after the flip, and monastery swiftspear is cheap enough to recast if you don't have enough damage on the board or if you want to hold something back if you expect a wipe coming.
I have thought about Bedlam Reveler too but I haven't tried it yet. The upside is obviously extremely good but Im worried that it would make graveyard hate better against the deck. After board I have pretty much always faced grave hate but in it's current form the deck doesn't fold to it but you won't be able to hardcast a Bedlam Reveler in this deck when you face that.
The reason for Crackling Drake is to have a must answer threat: "You have 1 turn to deal with it before I attack for lethal." It's there for grindy matchups. Yes, it is not very good in aggro or combo matchups, but we have scrys and loots to get rid of it in those games.
Bedlam Reveler is good, but it is not evasive, makes us more vulnerable against Graveyard hate, and we have card draws aplenty, so we are not as often hellbent as the mono-red version.
At the moment, I'm using 3 Monastery Swiftspear and 2 Crackling Drake, though I have not had the opportunity to try that configuration yet. It is quite possible, with Modern being so fast these days, that the correct number is 4x and 0x (or a couple in the sideboard).
3x Ravenous Trap
2x Blood Moon
1x Alpine Moon
2x Eidolon of the Great Revel
2x Rampaging Ferocidon
1x Unstable footing
2x Pyroclasm
2x Shattering Spree
4x Arclight Phoenix
1x Bedlam Reveler
2x Crackling Drake
3x Monastery Swiftspear
4x Thing in the Ice
Instant (19)
1x Fiery Temper
2x Gut Shot
2x Lightning Axe
4x Lightning Bolt
4x Manamorphose
4x Opt
2x Thought Scour
1x Chart a Course
4x Faithless Looting
4x Serum Visions
Land (18)
2x Island
2x Mountain
3x Polluted Delta
4x Scalding Tarn
4x Spirebluff Canal
3x Steam Vents
2x Abrade
2x Anger of the Gods
2x Blood Moon
1x Dispel
1x Dragon's Claw
1x Firemind's Research
1x Magma Spray
1x Ral, Izzet Viceroy
2x Spell Pierce
2x Surgical Extraction
2-0 Merfolk. Crashed in for 14 damage turn 3 after their slow start (flipped Thing, gut shot, two birds). Game 2, killed a lot of things and got there with big swings.
1-2 Jeskai Phoenix. I got duped into thinking it was Jeskai control after they strategically scooped early to overwhelming board on turn 3 or 4. Good on them, because it cost me game 2, where I kept a slow grindy hand on the draw while I get pummeled by two flipped Things after boarding out Lightning Axe... Game 3 was close, but his Lightning Helixes made the difference. Might be worth looking into... it looked really good and he 4-0'd by the end of the night.
2-0 GR Pump Aggro. Most of his stuff died to Bolt. I was able to race faster.
2-0 Mardu Pyromancer. Was playing a much heavier white commitment. Brought in Moon since he kept fetching nonbasics. Slowed him down without crippling him, but was enough to get there with recursive birds. Was not running Path, so all removal was "destroy" based. Between a single Island and Manamorphose, this deck can easily function with Moon.
UR ....... WUBR ........... WB ............. RGW ........ UBR ....... WUB .... BGU
Spells / Blink & Combo / Token Grind / Dino Tribal / Draw Cards / Zombies / Reanimate
Spirits
UR ....... WUBR ........... WB ............. RGW ........ UBR ....... WUB .... BGU
Spells / Blink & Combo / Token Grind / Dino Tribal / Draw Cards / Zombies / Reanimate
Here is Ross Merriam’s cantrip guide. Enjoy!
Spirits
Going by mtggoldfish, it looks like the meta is switching gears and seeing more combo based decks to prey on Phoenix. I think we may see more fatal pushes, too.
Played Merfolk with this deck. Hilariously bad for them. Keep them at a slow tempo and then you can beat face with a Drake or a big Thing in the Ice.
I'm awaiting to see Ross' sideboard guide so I get a better idea on how to side things out.
I've noticed that I've been playing more fair decks on mtgo, possibly from the rise of this deck. Owning GDS and Izzet Phoenix seems like a nice thing to go back and forth with.
You're also just forgetting the shock cards Phoenix plays. The trickster never really bothered me.
And yeah, the bounce thing is real, it's why you kinda sculpt your hand, knowing well the Merfolk player will bounce it. I was also drawing so much removal in the 2x matches against Merfolk.
I have seen a list going 6-1 in an MTGO Challenge that replaced the 2 Drakes with 2 additional Monastery Swiftspear so he has playset of them, Phoenix and Thing and that's it.
I feel that might be the direction to go. This deck has a lot of explosiveness but not that much staying power. Many decks can go over the top of what you are doing if you don't get moving. A 4 mana card in 18 land deck with no haste or protection from removal seems questionable for that. And against decks that don't pack much removal Im still happier seeing Things and Phoenixes instead.
I suppose the main point for both Drakes and Bedlam Reveler is really card draw although Reveler does have the benefit of not leaving when Thing In the Ice Flips which should allow you to swing for 10+ Damage. Make me wonder if note from Grixis Death Shadow would be interesting in using Temur Battle Rage.
Although how do Temur Battle Rage and Bedlam Reveler go together if I only have Bedlam and I can cast Temur Battle Rage do I get the Ferocious trigger? I suck at rules.
Yes you should get Ferocious since Battle Rage checks on resolution and the Prowess trigger resolves first
What do you think about Bedlam Reveler? I don't see the point in Drake myself. The super specific color payment does it no favors either if you ask me, along with 4 CMC and no protection. Bedlam does the card draw better as well if you ask me. But mainly my issue its a nobo with flipping Thing In the Ice. I mean Bedlam stays, Arclight presumably you want it to recur after the flip, and monastery swiftspear is cheap enough to recast if you don't have enough damage on the board or if you want to hold something back if you expect a wipe coming.
I have thought about Bedlam Reveler too but I haven't tried it yet. The upside is obviously extremely good but Im worried that it would make graveyard hate better against the deck. After board I have pretty much always faced grave hate but in it's current form the deck doesn't fold to it but you won't be able to hardcast a Bedlam Reveler in this deck when you face that.
Bedlam Reveler is good, but it is not evasive, makes us more vulnerable against Graveyard hate, and we have card draws aplenty, so we are not as often hellbent as the mono-red version.
At the moment, I'm using 3 Monastery Swiftspear and 2 Crackling Drake, though I have not had the opportunity to try that configuration yet. It is quite possible, with Modern being so fast these days, that the correct number is 4x and 0x (or a couple in the sideboard).
WBC Eldrazi & Taxes CBW
UR Keep on Cantripin' (UR Phoenix) RU
WU Surprise! It's not UW Control! (UW Midrange) UW
BG The Rock, Straight BG
U Mono-Blue Fish U
RBW Mardu Pyromancer BWR
RG Rabble! Rabble! (GR Blood Moon Aggro) GR
Legacy
W Death & Taxes W
Thanks for your explanation on why they are included.