Hello all, I have only posted on this thread a few times, but I really enjoy reading the content and keeping up with the latest news on this deck. I play the deck quite often. I was wondering why there doesn’t seem to be very many postings lately. I used to have a hard time keeping up with all of the posts in a day. Now, there only seems to be one post every few days. Where have all of the posts gone? I miss all of the great discussions.
It was PPTQ season and probably everybody is a little drained from it and not playing a lot of modern generally, plus a lot of things up in the air about this deck right now in the current meta.
I'd love to see some of the decklists being proposed. Fluffy mentions the option of going with less than 4 bridge in the main, and relying on phat dragons and sarkhan, fireblood. While Dazza proposes a similarly aggressive line, but uses legion warboss and scab-clan berserker instead. To form an opinion of either, I'd have to see the removal/ritual complements.
But, (4) ensnaring bridge is a bedrock play for Pyro Prison. I've dabbled with reduced counts over the years. The only way I think it could potentially be successful is with a Goblin Gun build where there are legitimately (20) creatures and eight of them are removal on-a-stick: Goblin Cratermaker / Goblin Chainwhirler. There is a slightly outdated decklist at the top of Page 156. [I took out purphoros/magus - few chandras are back in]
That build turns our matchups on their heads. Favorable/Unfavorable opponents get inverted. So, maybe there's some middle ground in there -- Maybe you guys are onto something??
This is the list Iv'e been playing. It feels good. Chancellor had been good suprisingly, but might be better as Hazoret or something else. I took out the Krenko and put an extra Chandra in, could see 4 Chandra's being ok too. Rabble/Warboss with a lord out, is a super fast clock.
I'd love to see some of the decklists being proposed. Fluffy mentions the option of going with less than 4 bridge in the main, and relying on phat dragons and sarkhan, fireblood. While Dazza proposes a similarly aggressive line, but uses legion warboss and scab-clan berserker instead. To form an opinion of either, I'd have to see the removal/ritual complements.
But, (4) ensnaring bridge is a bedrock play for Pyro Prison. I've dabbled with reduced counts over the years. The only way I think it could potentially be successful is with a Goblin Gun build where there are legitimately (20) creatures and eight of them are removal on-a-stick: Goblin Cratermaker / Goblin Chainwhirler. There is a slightly outdated decklist at the top of Page 156. [I took out purphoros/magus - few chandras are back in]
That build turns our matchups on their heads. Favorable/Unfavorable opponents get inverted. So, maybe there's some middle ground in there -- Maybe you guys are onto something??
Pyro Prison || MAXIMUMMagic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards
Power Locks (12)
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Blood Moon
4 Ensnaring Bridge
SIDEBOARD
1 Anger of the gods
2 Surgical extraction
2 Damping Matrix
1 Torpor Orb
1 Boil
1 Sorcerous Spyglass
3 Skab-clan bezerker
4 Eidolon, of the Great Revel
Ray this is what I have been currently running and so far it has gone well. My matchups against Tron and UW control have changed a lot and particularly against UW control I feel almost favored now. Also I have found Sarkhan is either a potential wincon or worst case he just helps filters draws. Dredge I have found a very tough matchup hence the 2 surgicals although I may go down a skab-clan for either a cage or swap surgicals and a skab-clan for 3 faerie macabre.
Dredge certainly is a *****er, Dazza. Gotta ask.....where are your Grafdigger's Cage(s)?? Also, you're going with only 1 Anger of the Gods [I run 4]. Ditch the surgicals and go in that direction first. Speaking of Anger, it has now replaced Slagstorm in my main deck which has freed up 2 slots in my sideboard. Why? Our bad matchups are harder hit by Anger, and I've got ways of filtering it away if I'm marching forward with a goblin horde. Read on...
Wiblo - you've been running Saffron's Goblin Prison, huh? The most compelling addition is Chancellor of the Tangle. Woah - MEGA Acceleration. Obviously, the drawback is later drawn Chancellors - totally dead draw, right. Well, I started to tool with the idea of using cards that are very, very narrow, BUT can be ditched later as a resource. My list of enablers - filter/scry/draw/loot/rummage:
Alrighty, so these cards are all decent on their own. AND, they can toss away a later drawn Tangle. But, what else can I also include in the main deck Game 1. NOTE: this idea dovetails with what Fluffy brought up in a previous post. I've also espoused this game theorizing in earlier posts: Catering your Main Deck list of cards to increase your chances of success against 'bad matchups' by selecting cards which normally appear in the Sideboard. Thus, the Sideboard or Pre-board deck. Although, the 3 elements of power lock suite now appear regularly in Tiered decklists, that wasn't the case when this thread launched. Time marches on - let's up our game.
Let's take it 1 step further. Examine the meta. Choose a spell which can have particularly calamitous results for the opponent [i]in game one[/i]. My choice: Witchbane Orb. Think about how many decks do not have artifact destruction in game 1, AND have very linear kill conditions that require 'targeting an opponent'. Storm, Ad Nauseam, Burn, KCI (EE excluded), Lantern Control, Liliana of the Veil, Conflagrate, Jace, the Mind Sculptor, Scapeshift.....tons of applications and when paired with an ensnaring bridge it can equal GG.
I did also try running a Damping Matrix in the main with less successful results, however the thinking can be sound when you come up against the right opponent like hardened scales affinity, G/W Vizier Combo, KCI, etc. etc. Again, the idea is to run very, very narrow cards which might hit with Crane Kick force or can be filtered away. Here's another one: main deck......Leyline of the Void. I know I don't have to rattle off the number of decks that would be devastated by that drop....friggen' precious.
Pyro Prison has been on the downswing with its success rate - evidenced by a lack of Top 8 results in premier events. Gotta adapt and overcome. What else can we try? Let's stoke that fire, kinfolk. Look at the mountain man in the mirror, and make that change.
Is chalice realy better as relics? Look at our meta, it seems maindeck playset of relics are much better. Lets move chalice in our side. People to often answers our chalice and cast after them their 1 drop spells, but relics can be used bevore it happens and if it happens you can sac and draw....cardadvantage
Hello Mountainfolk!
We do not have set of games to talk about, but more a perception of the format as we've shifted out of modern season and into a quieter time but with some very impactful cards coming out of Guilds of Ravnica. I always personally had high hopes for sets like these, and this one has delivered but has not left us without a toy or two to play with. I believe now is a perfect time to begin talking about February/March Modern versus Today's modern, and there is an interesting deck that "Disappeared" and is "Reappearing" which we are happy to see. So what is happening?
History
Back at the beginning of 2018, GDS, Humans, and Hollow One were the busted decks of the format. After a Pro Tour where we saw a seemingly "Random" deck dominate, and people talking about "How can drawing then randomly discarding be effective?" and "Are we Hearthstone now?" as the Memes poured in we sat quietly as the primary counter to the three main decks of the format. There were many others trying to do things but let us focus on these. We had Chalice on 1 for GDS, and we had Bridge for all three. We had Blood Moon for the excessively greedy Humans, and we felt these were actually our three best matchups. So why does this matter?
Today
Guilds of Ravnica has brought us many toys, and there are certainly a range of decks that we are poised against. As always many people ask "Is Blood Moon" good enough in a meta where lots of decks run it. Absolutely. Take a look at the top 8 from this weekends Challenge. You'll notice that we actually would prefer to have Blood Moon in for 5/8 as the full 4 of, and then for two of those perhaps a cut or so. The only deck that is a maybe to actually fully pull Blood Moon out for is Gifts Storm. Check, Blood Moon looking good (btw the Top 8 did not include Dredge, which is another matchup we want it in, and the title of this post).
Chalice - how we looking? I've been told time and time again "Chalice is too slow, terrible, bad in the format." What a lot of people are referencing here is that there are multiples of things like Abrade, Kolaghan's Command, ETB Creatures that Destroy Artifacts, etc floating around. Certainly this is true. What people don't realize is that Chalice is our delay of the game, like a blue deck runs a counter, our chalice actually stops some opponents from playing cards. During Bridgevine days I ran the numbers, a Chalice on 1 hit 22 cards (not including the playset of walking ballista and playset of hangerback walkers which are played on 0 for Bridge from Below shenangigans). Chalice may die, it may be a speed bump, but it certainly is fine in the format.
Bridge - are there enough creatures? Absolutely. Although some may be starting to pack main deck ways to deal with bridge 5/8 top 8 decks care about bridge, two of which historically struggle to have a maindeck answer. Ironically the many creatures makes 8 rabble look bad, so why are we playing it?
Why Play 8-Rabble?
I've been playing a variety of lists. I won't claim to really pick any for my own, until now. I know others have probably provided an 8-rabble list, I won't say it is anything stellar, however, my reasoning may be quite different then others, so here's the claim. Let us take the example of Humans or GDS. Both of these are "Slam Dunks" in the sense I would call them a heavy favorite in our direction. Both of these matchups tend to go our way, and even on the sideboard plan their number of cards for hate is not enough to overwhelm our cards that can lock them. In this, I will drop my chances game 1 with utility cards to have a more explosive package which actually can cost me games 1 against these decks. So what? Let's look at the other side of the spectrum, G-Tron and UW Control - These matchups are difficult game 1 in old lists. This is due to the nature of us being a 50/50 deck. With these decks I want all 3 games if need be, and we need to be good all 3 games. So the aggro package is almost all there. We bring in a touch more to strengthen Games 2/3 but the hope here is we're ahead by going into Game 2. As such the list below is slanted in favor of trying to win the bad matchups game 1 and rely on the good matchups being able to close them out games 2/3 if necessary. So the list below displays this.
Graveyard - Ravenous Trap
There are a variety of people who have named this card as good, but I'll give a shout out to Stickballruss particularly. I was playing with Leyline of the Void a lot, and seeing what other cards to bring in (from black) to deal with Dredge. We've actually found a more interesting card. Let's look at Hollow One, Dredge, and Storm. All bring in things like "Nature's Claim", "Wipe Away", "Ancient Grudge" - etc. These hit artifacts and enchantments. These are hitting our Blood Moons, Leyline of the Void, Grafdigger's Cages, etc. We must draw our threat, but we must have it stick. We have an awkward interaction sometimes with our Chalices also. So the question is "When do we care about the graveyard" and in many times it is when the graveyard is about to do something too far reaching. Ironically for all these decks, that usually results in a faithless looting, a gifts ungiven, a dredging of a large creature, or having ritualed out many times and about to past in flames. - These all drop 3+ cards into the graveyard, and this is where Ravenous Trap can be triggered.
Give it a shot. Or... check a clip out, and I'll let the idea marinate.
T0 Win - I mean... we play Gemstone, why not add another card especially one that plays out without spending mana at the right time. We can ritual out to our hearts content and STILl do this, even if we draw it.
Terrific post, Fluffy. Going with the 'Hard 8' on rabble, eh? I tried it, and moved quickly to 6 rabble. Maybe too quickly. I'll look into that thinking. Fair to note: I did not adopt the more traditional build when I tried it. Mine was less abrade/slagstorm and more goblin cratermaker/goblin chainwhirler. So, I like what you're doing here. More tried and true.
Excellent meta analysis. And, props to you and Russ for breaking Ravenous Trap (maybe others too). Again, on paper, it just does not look good. Seems like Grafdigger's Cage has way more 'reliable' applications. But, it's extremely fragile, and can conflict with a Chalice on 1. Your point about the correct time to execute an answer is inspired. I'll give it a whirl as well....6-CMC Black card in Pyro Prison. Ohhhhh, the humanity.
Yet, as I think about your 3 target decks: DREDGE // HOLLOW ONE // STORM. As far as storm goes, that's a pretty damned good matchup after sideboarding, right? And, my concern with Dredge and Hollow One is that we can get sneeeeeaked under a bridge pretty easily by Narcomoeba, Stinkweed Imp :: DREDGE// Flameblade Adept :: HOLLOW ONE. And, even an Empty the Warrens from Storm can be devastating with a dead ravenous in hand. Hmmmmm, as I look longingly upon a Grafdigger's Cage.
Today is a red letter day in the House that Red Built.
Fluffywolf mailed me a few of his signature pins: The FluffyMoon! My best gal immediately swooped in and tagged one to her purse (see pic). It's the latest in Pyro Prison Shwag! Also, he sent me a Guilds of Ravnica Masterpiece booster. Verrrrry Shiny - yet to be cracked.
This is all the result of a charity event that Mr. Wolf hosted on Twitch that raised hundreds and hundreds of dollars for a benefit for children in need of medical care - and, I won a raffle ticket. Actually, I think everybody who contributed a modest sum was mailed a prize.
The list above was the list I ended up taking to the event. The base list was designed by ElfKid who had a 5-0 comp league with his list. https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/1428945#paper
The design of the list seemed to lean on redundancy and aggression more so than powerful cards like Hazoret and Chandra. That appealed to me for legacy, maybe more so than modern, because explosive hands are not as punishable in legacy due to less removal and more reliance on cantrips. Also the deck has a lot less all in hands because we don’t need to all in on a 4 drop.
In the main deck the card that jumped out at me the most was the inclusion of walking ballista. This card is the perfect bridge card, no pun intended. Balista is almost always the best top deck late game, and is even fine in the early game. However, I would never keep a hand with this deck that plays ballista with nothing else to do the turn before or after.
The second important part about this list in the manabase, we went down on the top end however we went up a land, why you ask? Because nineteen lands in inconsistent for casting your four drops or trying to play two, three drops in a turn. We also included two copies of ramunap ruins because it helps make sure you can cast thought-knot seer out of the board.
Talking about the sideboard for the deck there were a lot of different tested cards. Cards like abrade and sulfur elemental were hugely popular in a lot of lists as well as scab-clan. These cards seemed okay but are match up dependant so we began looking into other options.
Cratermaker, my personal favorite card in this board, was an all star. The creature can come in against decks where we just want another dude, or come in for match ups where we want extra removal.
The second card I added that isn’t played much was Jitte. Jitte is a card that when talking to people seemed to be either well liked or completely hated. I feel the card gives you versatility that you want. Much like cratermaker you can bring the card in for match ups where you want removal but also in match ups where you need a faster clock. The card is one of the most versatile equipment in the game and can make even a goblin token a real threat.
My overall idea for the sideboard is to make the deck as versatile as possible. We don’t have a lot of card advantage engines so the cards we have need to have better blanket interactions outside of maybe faerie macabre that i believe you 100% need in the sideboard.
Now let's get into the event itself.
Round 1 miracles (local player assumed he was on UB Shadow)
Pregame he already knew what he was on, I assumed he was on shadow, had a rough seven with no lands and a rough six with no threats, kept a medium 5, played an early rabble because it was all I had. It made one token before eating a swords. Later he landed a mentor and closed the game out quickly, but not before seeing 2 snapcasters and a vendilion clique.
Sideboard plan was bring out bridge, bring out moon, and mom and pop. Bring in three cratermakers, two kozilek's return, 1 sulfur elemental, 1 Jitte, 2 thought-knot.
Game two and three the plan is to overwhelm them with 1-2 threats at a time and force them to answer them.
Game two my opponent kept his seven, I resolved a turn one rabble, my rabble on two got countered and he swords my first rabblemaster. I resolved a third rabble on three and it went unanswered cleaning the game up quickly.
Game three I mulled to six keeping a very strong hand with the option of turn one and two rabble or turn two thought-knot. I talked it over with our modern player who thought the correct line was the rabble on one rabble on two, my opponent mulled to five this game. personally I felt thought-knot was better but we ended up drawing a magus turn 1 so decided the magus into rabble plan was better due to my opponent not having a fetch in play and only having 1 blue mana. Our magus kept him off the white as we wanted, however my first rabble got countered. I later resolved a second magus and a Jitte and still had a rabble in hand for a safe way to the finish.
Round 1 record, 1-0 (2-1) this match up feels favored prison 60-40
Round 2 (more locals no idea what they are on due to being edh players.)
Game one I kept a very strong six, resolving a rabble on turn one and a rabble on turn two. Only seeing a fetchland and a scrubland i assumed my opponent was on reanimator? Sure let's go with that.
Sideboard plan for reanimator is either kill them quick or try to get behind a bridge. Just make sure you have a plan in your hand. Sb out all seven moons including magus as moon is not the greatest against them. Brought in four mecrebe, two thought-knot, and one spyglass.
Game two he had a thoughtseize on into another discard spell on turn 1 and reanimated a iona on turn 2 naming red, our hand was sub par but we had a bridge so we played it out. Two turns later he reanimated his tidespout and bounced my bridge. Sad days.
Game three was sad. We misplayed turn one by playing our chalice into his Chancellor of the Annex he showed me pregame, I ended up throwing this game because of this due to him having four more pieces of interaction, i conceded on turn seven when i had drawn zero threats and a total of nine lands. Kinda a sad game but not one to tear us down.
Record after round 2, 1-1 (1-2) this matchup feels kinda rough, most likely 45-55 not in our favor.
Round 3 (not a local player, very friendly, one of the nicest people i played all weekend.)
Pregame my modern player noticed a card from my opponent's deck and whispered to me that it might be infect. Much like modern infect the matchup is a wonderful for our list so it was exciting.
Game one i mulled to six keeping a strong blood moon hand. He landed a few threats we resolved a moon and eventually a bridge when we were at seven poison. Such a close game thankfully we got under our bridge.
Sideboarding is interesting we get a lot of things and for once i take out seven of the eight rabbles. I brought in the abrade, three cratermakers, one jitte, two kozilek’s return.
Game two we mulled to five keeping a very weak five with a blood moon on turn one so maybe we get lucky off it. Sadly he countered our moon. We managed to play a cratermaker that gave us a good blocker for a few turns before he drew inkmoth. We got to 7 poison before resolving Mom and Pop sadly he drew the beserk to kill us.
Game three we kept a strong seven and resolved a bridge into our last remaining warboss in the deck. He didn’t have an answer for the warboss and we were safe behind our bridge with our chalice on one.
Record after round 3, 2-1 (2-1) match up is great my opponent told me his notes for our match up said worst match up hope to dodge. We went out to smoke together and when we came back we couldn’t comment on the game that was going on letting our standard player win game three.
Round 4 (opponent was very loud and talkative, we talked about modern and both had an idea the other might be on combo.)
Game one I kept a very strong opening hand. Landed an early rabble that he answered while he was at about 5, later he cheated into play a griselbrand to block, however three rabblemaster effects were to strong for the sneak and show start.
Sideboarding plan for this match up is take out six moons leaving one magus. Bring in three cratermakers, one spyglass, two thought-knot.
Game two went exactly the same as game one cept he had a force on my second rabble. We resolved a trinisphere on turn three and felt safe to win the game off our rabbles since we had a bridge in hand for a show and tell.
Record after round 4, 3-1 (2-0) yay we beat our second worst match up.
Round 5 (our modern player spotted another card from my opponents 75 so we put him on turbo depths)
Kept a good seven, turn 1 rabble turn 2 rabble. Opponent didn't cast a spell just played 2 lands that definitely put him on turbo depths.
Sideboard plan is aggressive and moon chalice is very medium so I changed 2 out for a spyglass and our good ok faithful jitte, maybe we can snag a hex mage or get a good clock idk just felt right.
Game two mulled to 5 kept an aggressive hand however no moon died on turn 3 to a 20/20 sad day.
Game three we had a good seven turn 1 rabble plus a magus on two seems good. We play rabble, opponent takes the bait assuming he can't beat the rabble and abrades it off an elvish spirit guide. Played magus on two ran away with the game. After my opponent made a comment on how he should have seen the magus coming with how aggressive I mullagain the deck.
Record after round 5, 4-1 (2-1) this matchup is super easy. Blood moon and bridge both make game one free and they don't get more basics game two. 65-35
Round 6 last round for our team sadly (my opponent gave me no inkling of a deck and my modern seat saw nothing in the blind sadly)
Kept a great seven had a turn one chalice on 1 locking my opponent out of his hand. Followed up with two back to back rabble closing game one out. He seemed salty so we used this to continue to salt him out.
Sideboard plan same as round two. Moons out mecrabes thought-knots and spyglass in.
Game two we played tightly landed a turn one bridge turn two moon. He decayed my chalice in response to a thought-knot taking his other decay from his hand. He assassin's trophied my thought-knot and tried to exhumed his Iona, responded with discarding mecrabe hitting both his threats and got a free 2/2. We ended up winning the game with a bridge chalice on one and two and a rabble in play. Great end to the day and a great end to my run.
Final record after round 6, 5-1 (2-0) this matchup as said earlier feels poor but when we have interaction its normally game breaking for us.
Overall I loved my list and would have loved to have a deeper run however our modern player was on a really rough streak with his elf deck going 1-5 and our standard player not quite having the reps in with his list I had hoped. Thanks for the read and hope everyone found this helpful.
Hey all, Modern player here with some Skred experience; really enjoyed the control aspect of that deck so I decided to move here for a bit and see what happens. Here's my preliminary list:
Current Modern Decks BG Elves // "He's back. And he brought his friends. And their friends." BG The Rock // "Dwayne Johnson approved." RU Izzet Phoenix // "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em." UGW Bant Spirits // "Super Ghost Bros." BUG Sultai Wildnerness Teachings // "How many turns did I just take again?" C Colorless Eldrazi // "Smash you."
I think I'm going to try out the 8-Rabble that Fluffy posted. Seems I can get the cards I don't have for around $20 total so it's not a huge investment lol.
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Decks: Modern:
Pyro Prison
Sun and Moon
Eldrazi Stompy
Welcome to Jokerstyle and ZigurotPrime! I'm sure your Skred chops will serve you well in transferring over to Pyro Prison, Joker. I like the build - Sarkhan + Glorybringer will wreck, but no Avaricious lovin'? Heh. If I had any suggestions, it would be load more anger of the gods into the sideboard. Otherwise, looks tight.
@ZigurotPrime - Fluffy's list is very sound. Speaking of lists, I thought I would post up a few versions that I've been running in the MODO laboratory. They vary in Goblin type/count, Eidolon Main or Side, Filter/Dig cards, and Ritual count. I've offered up all of these styles before, but here are the most up to date versions of my Pyro Prison decks.
Pyro Prison Carousel
My Current Tournament Deck: 8 Rabble -- It's a balanced assemblage with no real surprise cards. The 1 Goblin Cratermaker is an outlier; a step slower than abrade, but I like the removal-on-a-stick. And, the block/shock stack when attacked by 2 creatures. Of course, killing TKS and Tronwalkers are a nice touch. Witchbane Orb is the pre-emptive strike against decks which do not have artifact removal in game 1, and rely upon non-creature damage to win (combo) or non-creature damage/effects for extra reach (bolt/conflagrate/lavamancer/liliana/ballista/scapeshift/lightning storm/lantern/jace/grapeshot). Besides, Witchbane has always been my 16th Sideboard card, and this way I can include it in the 75.
The Voice -- This deck incorporates a trick used in my 1K winning deck from a year and a half ago: (3) Tormenting Voice. Also, 2 Sarkhan provide for filter assistance. The removal cards and chandra count are slightly slimmed in count. Hazoret count is increased because...well, she is a god. This deck is a little less mid-rangey, and opts to find the silver bullet cards faster. If I could squeeze in a 61st card, it would definitely be a 3rd Anger.
Goblin Gun -- This is a greedy deck. It attempts to get by without the necessary underpinnings of 4 bridge and multiple removal spells. Instead, it tries to overwhelm with creatures, ala a Gatling Gun or Goblin' Gun. Like any deck, with the right matchup this can crush. BUT, to think that I can 'out creature' a creature deck is foolhardy. 4 Bridges are a must in Pyro Prison. Note: I do really like Pia and Kiran Nalaar in this build.
Trash Dragons -- No Littering? Ain't nobody got time for that! This deck is pretty far from 'green'. Red is rummage, scry, loot, discard, and exile. This deck runs hard ritual counts and a very high 4-cmc ramp since those cards are the most impactful - note the use of Z. Void in the land count. This deck is terrific at locating and deploying threats at a high expense of card economy. That can be excellent against unfair decks, but terrible against counterspell or fair decks since they will punish you for being light on threats. Nonetheless, this might be the most fun deck to pilot.
@raystack I have actually been thinking about the cratermaker for exactly the reasons you stated. I knew it was a good card the moment I got it at the prerelease for GRN and was trying to figure out what I could move around to make it fit, so that list works really well. I'm relatively new to the format though so I didn't even know about witchbane until reading about it on this thread lol. Seems really good for burn and decks that run Leylines.
@eriksdungeon Wouldn't experimental frenzy be a better play in this deck with all of the accelerators to keep it going? You can always get rid of it for 4 mana if you're trying to keep a low hand count for bridge.
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Decks: Modern:
Pyro Prison
Sun and Moon
Eldrazi Stompy
I knew I was against UB Faeries. I am also on the draw. I knew a quick threat would mean a huge upper hand to me. Everything inside me was screaming Mulligan because this is such a risky hand but I just couldn't help but think that Chandra is a house even on turn 3 or 4 let alone turn 1. 'But if you play Chandra turn 1, add two mana and play Chalice on 1 it might be enough to just take the game,' I thought to myself. But I also might never be able to play another spell after I make that decision. Would it really be enough?
"I'll keep."
Oh God. We're in this now. Opponent plays Island, go.
Raystack I see you guys are really high on Legion Warboss from the new set. I'm still running this list: Dragon Stompy. I was testing Avaricious Dragon for a bit but it is definitely a flex spot. Might be worth going down 2 Dragons and up 2 Warboss in that list you think? Or is the new card not really performing?
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My current modern paper decks with current match records since 02/01/17:
Mountainfolk - Let's do an analysis of the SCG Baltimore meta game, and see how we are panning out. I'm asked frequently on stream 'how is Mono Red Prison (Pyro Prison) positioned in the meta?" The difficult thing with answering this is after saying either yay or nay I am then am asked about a particular matchup, and ironically the 'particular matchup' question seems to always be a different deck. So modern is diverse, but we are a percentages deck, so how are we looking?
Keep in mind analysis like this was done at the beginning of the year on the percentages of our lock pieces and their impact on the meta. During that time for example Grixis Death Shadow was about "Aggro Death Shadow" and attempted to pump and drill out everything on CMC 1. They've since added Gurmag Angler, K-Commands, and other cards that are not so hampered by Chalice on 1. Onto the listing:
[Good] 62 (43.7%) - Defined as a matchup that should be favorable
[50/50] 29 (20.4%) - Defined as a matchup that is likely to go 1 and 1 based on who is on the draw (leaving G1 up to who's on draw and 'if you have the right half of deck in the hand')
[Poor] 51 (35.9%) - Defined as a matchup that we likely lose in a Best of 3.
[Total] 142
Skia_AoP asks about Legion Warboss. What I've recently proposed in the discord and will note it here is that can we 'make our poor matchups' better G1 in the event we hit the matchup lottery and find ourselves across from them. Stickballruss will tell you that Warboss is just bad in the matchpus its bad in... which I'll say is true for any card. So what are we looking at? Luckily the individual on reddit has helped us by keeping the decks in largest to smallest. What do we have:
[50/50] Tron – 13
[Poor] KCI – 11
Both of these matchups would favor Legion Warboss in. Having more in Game 1 and starting there leans us more likely to draw threats, close the game out, and not lose to G1.
[Good] Bant Spirits – 14
[Good] Humans – 9
Both of these matchups are awful for Warboss and Rabblemaster. That being said our lock pieces are extremely strong I am tending towards favoring 'losing G1 to bring in more powerful hate cards G2 and G3' and put my percentage points towards the other two decks.
This same logic can be applied and evaluated across your local meta. So is Pyro Prison bad? YES! - We're only good against 43% of the meta! No! - We're only bad to 35% of the meta!
The real answer? My local meta is "All Jund" is Pyro Prison great? No... sorry, it is tough, but what can you do? You can play a list tuned for Jund. Play spellskite, play a welding jar if you like, be pre-boarded, heck locally you may keep Chalice completely out and go for eidolons. This is what I encourage a lot of people to do. I know this is not the 'pretty side' of magic, but this is also part of this deck.
If your local meta is all spirits... I'd probably put Torpor Orb in the main. "But its bad against ____" ... yes and you're hedging your bet because you just told me you have 6 Spirit players and 1 human at your local FNM of 20 people. You just main decked a answer to 1/3 of the field, I'm good with that blind on G1.
This is how we evalute the game. Right now I'd put Pyro Prison a bit of an underdog as "Red is King" in Modern at the moment. Does this mean drop Blood Moon? Take a look at decks 1,2,3,4,5,8,9,10,11 <<< I want blood moon (For those not wanting to scroll up, Bant Spirits, Tron, KCI, Humans, Infect, Burn, Jund, Jeskai Control, Grixis Death's Shadow).
Just some thoughts =)
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It was PPTQ season and probably everybody is a little drained from it and not playing a lot of modern generally, plus a lot of things up in the air about this deck right now in the current meta.
But, (4) ensnaring bridge is a bedrock play for Pyro Prison. I've dabbled with reduced counts over the years. The only way I think it could potentially be successful is with a Goblin Gun build where there are legitimately (20) creatures and eight of them are removal on-a-stick: Goblin Cratermaker / Goblin Chainwhirler. There is a slightly outdated decklist at the top of Page 156. [I took out purphoros/magus - few chandras are back in]
That build turns our matchups on their heads. Favorable/Unfavorable opponents get inverted. So, maybe there's some middle ground in there -- Maybe you guys are onto something??
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/articles/instant-deck-tech-goblin-prison-modern
This is the list Iv'e been playing. It feels good. Chancellor had been good suprisingly, but might be better as Hazoret or something else. I took out the Krenko and put an extra Chandra in, could see 4 Chandra's being ok too. Rabble/Warboss with a lord out, is a super fast clock.
Pyro Prison || MAXIMUMMagic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards
Power Locks (12)
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Blood Moon
4 Ensnaring Bridge
Creatures (8)
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
3 Legion Warboss
1 Hazoret the Fervent
Planeswalkers (6)
4 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
2 Sarkhan
Accelerators (9)
4 Simian Spirit Guide
4 Desperate Ritual
1 Pyretic Ritual
Removal (4)
2 Anger of the gods
2 Abrade
Lands (21)
13 Mountains
3 Gemstone Caverns
3 Ramunap Ruins
1 Sacvenger Grounds
SIDEBOARD
1 Anger of the gods
2 Surgical extraction
2 Damping Matrix
1 Torpor Orb
1 Boil
1 Sorcerous Spyglass
3 Skab-clan bezerker
4 Eidolon, of the Great Revel
Ray this is what I have been currently running and so far it has gone well. My matchups against Tron and UW control have changed a lot and particularly against UW control I feel almost favored now. Also I have found Sarkhan is either a potential wincon or worst case he just helps filters draws. Dredge I have found a very tough matchup hence the 2 surgicals although I may go down a skab-clan for either a cage or swap surgicals and a skab-clan for 3 faerie macabre.
Wiblo - you've been running Saffron's Goblin Prison, huh? The most compelling addition is Chancellor of the Tangle. Woah - MEGA Acceleration. Obviously, the drawback is later drawn Chancellors - totally dead draw, right. Well, I started to tool with the idea of using cards that are very, very narrow, BUT can be ditched later as a resource. My list of enablers - filter/scry/draw/loot/rummage:
Let's take it 1 step further. Examine the meta. Choose a spell which can have particularly calamitous results for the opponent [i]in game one[/i]. My choice: Witchbane Orb. Think about how many decks do not have artifact destruction in game 1, AND have very linear kill conditions that require 'targeting an opponent'. Storm, Ad Nauseam, Burn, KCI (EE excluded), Lantern Control, Liliana of the Veil, Conflagrate, Jace, the Mind Sculptor, Scapeshift.....tons of applications and when paired with an ensnaring bridge it can equal GG.
I did also try running a Damping Matrix in the main with less successful results, however the thinking can be sound when you come up against the right opponent like hardened scales affinity, G/W Vizier Combo, KCI, etc. etc. Again, the idea is to run very, very narrow cards which might hit with Crane Kick force or can be filtered away. Here's another one: main deck......Leyline of the Void. I know I don't have to rattle off the number of decks that would be devastated by that drop....friggen' precious.
Pyro Prison has been on the downswing with its success rate - evidenced by a lack of Top 8 results in premier events. Gotta adapt and overcome. What else can we try? Let's stoke that fire, kinfolk. Look at the mountain man in the mirror, and make that change.
Hello Mountainfolk!
We do not have set of games to talk about, but more a perception of the format as we've shifted out of modern season and into a quieter time but with some very impactful cards coming out of Guilds of Ravnica. I always personally had high hopes for sets like these, and this one has delivered but has not left us without a toy or two to play with. I believe now is a perfect time to begin talking about February/March Modern versus Today's modern, and there is an interesting deck that "Disappeared" and is "Reappearing" which we are happy to see. So what is happening?
History
Back at the beginning of 2018, GDS, Humans, and Hollow One were the busted decks of the format. After a Pro Tour where we saw a seemingly "Random" deck dominate, and people talking about "How can drawing then randomly discarding be effective?" and "Are we Hearthstone now?" as the Memes poured in we sat quietly as the primary counter to the three main decks of the format. There were many others trying to do things but let us focus on these. We had Chalice on 1 for GDS, and we had Bridge for all three. We had Blood Moon for the excessively greedy Humans, and we felt these were actually our three best matchups. So why does this matter?
Today
Guilds of Ravnica has brought us many toys, and there are certainly a range of decks that we are poised against. As always many people ask "Is Blood Moon" good enough in a meta where lots of decks run it. Absolutely. Take a look at the top 8 from this weekends Challenge. You'll notice that we actually would prefer to have Blood Moon in for 5/8 as the full 4 of, and then for two of those perhaps a cut or so. The only deck that is a maybe to actually fully pull Blood Moon out for is Gifts Storm. Check, Blood Moon looking good (btw the Top 8 did not include Dredge, which is another matchup we want it in, and the title of this post).
Chalice - how we looking? I've been told time and time again "Chalice is too slow, terrible, bad in the format." What a lot of people are referencing here is that there are multiples of things like Abrade, Kolaghan's Command, ETB Creatures that Destroy Artifacts, etc floating around. Certainly this is true. What people don't realize is that Chalice is our delay of the game, like a blue deck runs a counter, our chalice actually stops some opponents from playing cards. During Bridgevine days I ran the numbers, a Chalice on 1 hit 22 cards (not including the playset of walking ballista and playset of hangerback walkers which are played on 0 for Bridge from Below shenangigans). Chalice may die, it may be a speed bump, but it certainly is fine in the format.
Bridge - are there enough creatures? Absolutely. Although some may be starting to pack main deck ways to deal with bridge 5/8 top 8 decks care about bridge, two of which historically struggle to have a maindeck answer. Ironically the many creatures makes 8 rabble look bad, so why are we playing it?
Why Play 8-Rabble?
I've been playing a variety of lists. I won't claim to really pick any for my own, until now. I know others have probably provided an 8-rabble list, I won't say it is anything stellar, however, my reasoning may be quite different then others, so here's the claim. Let us take the example of Humans or GDS. Both of these are "Slam Dunks" in the sense I would call them a heavy favorite in our direction. Both of these matchups tend to go our way, and even on the sideboard plan their number of cards for hate is not enough to overwhelm our cards that can lock them. In this, I will drop my chances game 1 with utility cards to have a more explosive package which actually can cost me games 1 against these decks. So what? Let's look at the other side of the spectrum, G-Tron and UW Control - These matchups are difficult game 1 in old lists. This is due to the nature of us being a 50/50 deck. With these decks I want all 3 games if need be, and we need to be good all 3 games. So the aggro package is almost all there. We bring in a touch more to strengthen Games 2/3 but the hope here is we're ahead by going into Game 2. As such the list below is slanted in favor of trying to win the bad matchups game 1 and rely on the good matchups being able to close them out games 2/3 if necessary. So the list below displays this.
Graveyard - Ravenous Trap
There are a variety of people who have named this card as good, but I'll give a shout out to Stickballruss particularly. I was playing with Leyline of the Void a lot, and seeing what other cards to bring in (from black) to deal with Dredge. We've actually found a more interesting card. Let's look at Hollow One, Dredge, and Storm. All bring in things like "Nature's Claim", "Wipe Away", "Ancient Grudge" - etc. These hit artifacts and enchantments. These are hitting our Blood Moons, Leyline of the Void, Grafdigger's Cages, etc. We must draw our threat, but we must have it stick. We have an awkward interaction sometimes with our Chalices also. So the question is "When do we care about the graveyard" and in many times it is when the graveyard is about to do something too far reaching. Ironically for all these decks, that usually results in a faithless looting, a gifts ungiven, a dredging of a large creature, or having ritualed out many times and about to past in flames. - These all drop 3+ cards into the graveyard, and this is where Ravenous Trap can be triggered.
Give it a shot. Or... check a clip out, and I'll let the idea marinate.
https://clips.twitch.tv/InexpensiveSarcasticCormorantPMSTwin
4 Blood Moon
4 Ensnaring Bridge
4 Chalice of the Void
Low End Win Con:
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
4 Legion Warboss
4 Desperate Ritual
1 Pyretic Ritual
4 Simian Spirit Guid
High End Finishers:
4 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
1 Hazoret the Fervent
1 Avaricious Dragon
2 Abrade
2 Slagstorm
Mana:
3 Gemstone Caverns
1 Scavenger Grounds
1 Mutavault
16 Mountain
4 Anger of the Gods
3 Eidolon of the Great Revel
1 Abrade
1 Damping Matrix
2 Torpor Orb
1 Grafdigger's Cage
Recent Modern Challenge 11/11 (Top 32)
Excellent meta analysis. And, props to you and Russ for breaking Ravenous Trap (maybe others too). Again, on paper, it just does not look good. Seems like Grafdigger's Cage has way more 'reliable' applications. But, it's extremely fragile, and can conflict with a Chalice on 1. Your point about the correct time to execute an answer is inspired. I'll give it a whirl as well....6-CMC Black card in Pyro Prison. Ohhhhh, the humanity.
Yet, as I think about your 3 target decks: DREDGE // HOLLOW ONE // STORM. As far as storm goes, that's a pretty damned good matchup after sideboarding, right? And, my concern with Dredge and Hollow One is that we can get sneeeeeaked under a bridge pretty easily by Narcomoeba, Stinkweed Imp :: DREDGE// Flameblade Adept :: HOLLOW ONE. And, even an Empty the Warrens from Storm can be devastating with a dead ravenous in hand. Hmmmmm, as I look longingly upon a Grafdigger's Cage.
That clip of Evaros is hilarious!
Fluffywolf mailed me a few of his signature pins: The FluffyMoon! My best gal immediately swooped in and tagged one to her purse (see pic). It's the latest in Pyro Prison Shwag! Also, he sent me a Guilds of Ravnica Masterpiece booster. Verrrrry Shiny - yet to be cracked.
This is all the result of a charity event that Mr. Wolf hosted on Twitch that raised hundreds and hundreds of dollars for a benefit for children in need of medical care - and, I won a raffle ticket. Actually, I think everybody who contributed a modest sum was mailed a prize.
So, a hearty backslap to the 'Ambassador'. Thx!!!
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/1480035#paper
The list above was the list I ended up taking to the event. The base list was designed by ElfKid who had a 5-0 comp league with his list. https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/1428945#paper
The design of the list seemed to lean on redundancy and aggression more so than powerful cards like Hazoret and Chandra. That appealed to me for legacy, maybe more so than modern, because explosive hands are not as punishable in legacy due to less removal and more reliance on cantrips. Also the deck has a lot less all in hands because we don’t need to all in on a 4 drop.
In the main deck the card that jumped out at me the most was the inclusion of walking ballista. This card is the perfect bridge card, no pun intended. Balista is almost always the best top deck late game, and is even fine in the early game. However, I would never keep a hand with this deck that plays ballista with nothing else to do the turn before or after.
The second important part about this list in the manabase, we went down on the top end however we went up a land, why you ask? Because nineteen lands in inconsistent for casting your four drops or trying to play two, three drops in a turn. We also included two copies of ramunap ruins because it helps make sure you can cast thought-knot seer out of the board.
Talking about the sideboard for the deck there were a lot of different tested cards. Cards like abrade and sulfur elemental were hugely popular in a lot of lists as well as scab-clan. These cards seemed okay but are match up dependant so we began looking into other options.
Cratermaker, my personal favorite card in this board, was an all star. The creature can come in against decks where we just want another dude, or come in for match ups where we want extra removal.
The second card I added that isn’t played much was Jitte. Jitte is a card that when talking to people seemed to be either well liked or completely hated. I feel the card gives you versatility that you want. Much like cratermaker you can bring the card in for match ups where you want removal but also in match ups where you need a faster clock. The card is one of the most versatile equipment in the game and can make even a goblin token a real threat.
My overall idea for the sideboard is to make the deck as versatile as possible. We don’t have a lot of card advantage engines so the cards we have need to have better blanket interactions outside of maybe faerie macabre that i believe you 100% need in the sideboard.
Now let's get into the event itself.
Round 1 miracles (local player assumed he was on UB Shadow)
Pregame he already knew what he was on, I assumed he was on shadow, had a rough seven with no lands and a rough six with no threats, kept a medium 5, played an early rabble because it was all I had. It made one token before eating a swords. Later he landed a mentor and closed the game out quickly, but not before seeing 2 snapcasters and a vendilion clique.
Sideboard plan was bring out bridge, bring out moon, and mom and pop. Bring in three cratermakers, two kozilek's return, 1 sulfur elemental, 1 Jitte, 2 thought-knot.
Game two and three the plan is to overwhelm them with 1-2 threats at a time and force them to answer them.
Game two my opponent kept his seven, I resolved a turn one rabble, my rabble on two got countered and he swords my first rabblemaster. I resolved a third rabble on three and it went unanswered cleaning the game up quickly.
Game three I mulled to six keeping a very strong hand with the option of turn one and two rabble or turn two thought-knot. I talked it over with our modern player who thought the correct line was the rabble on one rabble on two, my opponent mulled to five this game. personally I felt thought-knot was better but we ended up drawing a magus turn 1 so decided the magus into rabble plan was better due to my opponent not having a fetch in play and only having 1 blue mana. Our magus kept him off the white as we wanted, however my first rabble got countered. I later resolved a second magus and a Jitte and still had a rabble in hand for a safe way to the finish.
Round 1 record, 1-0 (2-1) this match up feels favored prison 60-40
Round 2 (more locals no idea what they are on due to being edh players.)
Game one I kept a very strong six, resolving a rabble on turn one and a rabble on turn two. Only seeing a fetchland and a scrubland i assumed my opponent was on reanimator? Sure let's go with that.
Sideboard plan for reanimator is either kill them quick or try to get behind a bridge. Just make sure you have a plan in your hand. Sb out all seven moons including magus as moon is not the greatest against them. Brought in four mecrebe, two thought-knot, and one spyglass.
Game two he had a thoughtseize on into another discard spell on turn 1 and reanimated a iona on turn 2 naming red, our hand was sub par but we had a bridge so we played it out. Two turns later he reanimated his tidespout and bounced my bridge. Sad days.
Game three was sad. We misplayed turn one by playing our chalice into his Chancellor of the Annex he showed me pregame, I ended up throwing this game because of this due to him having four more pieces of interaction, i conceded on turn seven when i had drawn zero threats and a total of nine lands. Kinda a sad game but not one to tear us down.
Record after round 2, 1-1 (1-2) this matchup feels kinda rough, most likely 45-55 not in our favor.
Round 3 (not a local player, very friendly, one of the nicest people i played all weekend.)
Pregame my modern player noticed a card from my opponent's deck and whispered to me that it might be infect. Much like modern infect the matchup is a wonderful for our list so it was exciting.
Game one i mulled to six keeping a strong blood moon hand. He landed a few threats we resolved a moon and eventually a bridge when we were at seven poison. Such a close game thankfully we got under our bridge.
Sideboarding is interesting we get a lot of things and for once i take out seven of the eight rabbles. I brought in the abrade, three cratermakers, one jitte, two kozilek’s return.
Game two we mulled to five keeping a very weak five with a blood moon on turn one so maybe we get lucky off it. Sadly he countered our moon. We managed to play a cratermaker that gave us a good blocker for a few turns before he drew inkmoth. We got to 7 poison before resolving Mom and Pop sadly he drew the beserk to kill us.
Game three we kept a strong seven and resolved a bridge into our last remaining warboss in the deck. He didn’t have an answer for the warboss and we were safe behind our bridge with our chalice on one.
Record after round 3, 2-1 (2-1) match up is great my opponent told me his notes for our match up said worst match up hope to dodge. We went out to smoke together and when we came back we couldn’t comment on the game that was going on letting our standard player win game three.
Round 4 (opponent was very loud and talkative, we talked about modern and both had an idea the other might be on combo.)
Game one I kept a very strong opening hand. Landed an early rabble that he answered while he was at about 5, later he cheated into play a griselbrand to block, however three rabblemaster effects were to strong for the sneak and show start.
Sideboarding plan for this match up is take out six moons leaving one magus. Bring in three cratermakers, one spyglass, two thought-knot.
Game two went exactly the same as game one cept he had a force on my second rabble. We resolved a trinisphere on turn three and felt safe to win the game off our rabbles since we had a bridge in hand for a show and tell.
Record after round 4, 3-1 (2-0) yay we beat our second worst match up.
Round 5 (our modern player spotted another card from my opponents 75 so we put him on turbo depths)
Kept a good seven, turn 1 rabble turn 2 rabble. Opponent didn't cast a spell just played 2 lands that definitely put him on turbo depths.
Sideboard plan is aggressive and moon chalice is very medium so I changed 2 out for a spyglass and our good ok faithful jitte, maybe we can snag a hex mage or get a good clock idk just felt right.
Game two mulled to 5 kept an aggressive hand however no moon died on turn 3 to a 20/20 sad day.
Game three we had a good seven turn 1 rabble plus a magus on two seems good. We play rabble, opponent takes the bait assuming he can't beat the rabble and abrades it off an elvish spirit guide. Played magus on two ran away with the game. After my opponent made a comment on how he should have seen the magus coming with how aggressive I mullagain the deck.
Record after round 5, 4-1 (2-1) this matchup is super easy. Blood moon and bridge both make game one free and they don't get more basics game two. 65-35
Round 6 last round for our team sadly (my opponent gave me no inkling of a deck and my modern seat saw nothing in the blind sadly)
Kept a great seven had a turn one chalice on 1 locking my opponent out of his hand. Followed up with two back to back rabble closing game one out. He seemed salty so we used this to continue to salt him out.
Sideboard plan same as round two. Moons out mecrabes thought-knots and spyglass in.
Game two we played tightly landed a turn one bridge turn two moon. He decayed my chalice in response to a thought-knot taking his other decay from his hand. He assassin's trophied my thought-knot and tried to exhumed his Iona, responded with discarding mecrabe hitting both his threats and got a free 2/2. We ended up winning the game with a bridge chalice on one and two and a rabble in play. Great end to the day and a great end to my run.
Final record after round 6, 5-1 (2-0) this matchup as said earlier feels poor but when we have interaction its normally game breaking for us.
Overall I loved my list and would have loved to have a deeper run however our modern player was on a really rough streak with his elf deck going 1-5 and our standard player not quite having the reps in with his list I had hoped. Thanks for the read and hope everyone found this helpful.
2 Glorybringer
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
1 Magus of the Moon
2 Pia and Kiran Nalaar
4 Simian Spirit Guide
Lands
3 Gemstone Caverns
1 Mutavault
2 Ramunap Ruins
1 Scavenger Grounds
14 Snow-Covered Mountain
4 Blood Moon
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Ensnaring Bridge
Other
1 Anger of the Gods
4 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
4 Desperate Ritual
2 Pyretic Ritual
2 Sarkhan, Fireblood
1 Slagstorm
2 Anger of the Gods
2 Damping Matrix
2 Damping Sphere
3 Eidolon of the Great Revel
2 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Shattering Spree
2 Sorcerous Spyglass
1 Torpor Orb
BG Elves // "He's back. And he brought his friends. And their friends."
BG The Rock // "Dwayne Johnson approved."
RU Izzet Phoenix // "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em."
UGW Bant Spirits // "Super Ghost Bros."
BUG Sultai Wildnerness Teachings // "How many turns did I just take again?"
C Colorless Eldrazi // "Smash you."
Modern:
Pyro Prison
Sun and Moon
Eldrazi Stompy
@ZigurotPrime - Fluffy's list is very sound. Speaking of lists, I thought I would post up a few versions that I've been running in the MODO laboratory. They vary in Goblin type/count, Eidolon Main or Side, Filter/Dig cards, and Ritual count. I've offered up all of these styles before, but here are the most up to date versions of my Pyro Prison decks.
My Current Tournament Deck: 8 Rabble -- It's a balanced assemblage with no real surprise cards. The 1 Goblin Cratermaker is an outlier; a step slower than abrade, but I like the removal-on-a-stick. And, the block/shock stack when attacked by 2 creatures. Of course, killing TKS and Tronwalkers are a nice touch. Witchbane Orb is the pre-emptive strike against decks which do not have artifact removal in game 1, and rely upon non-creature damage to win (combo) or non-creature damage/effects for extra reach (bolt/conflagrate/lavamancer/liliana/ballista/scapeshift/lightning storm/lantern/jace/grapeshot). Besides, Witchbane has always been my 16th Sideboard card, and this way I can include it in the 75.
4 Ensnaring Bridge
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Blood Moon
1 Witchbane Orb
Creatures (10)
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
4 Legion Warboss
1 Goblin Cratermaker
1 Hazoret the Fervent
Planeswalkers (4)
4 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
1 Abrade
1 Slagstorm
1 Anger of the Gods
Accelerators (9)
4 Simian Spirit Guide
4 Desperate Ritual
1 Pyretic Ritual
Lands (21)
15 Mountains
3 Gemstone Caverns
2 Ramunap Ruins
1 Scavenger Grounds
3 Eidolon of the Great Revel
3 Anger of the Gods
2 Damping Matrix
2 Torpor Orb
2 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Sorcerous Spyglass
1 Abrade
1 Hazoret the Fervent
The Voice -- This deck incorporates a trick used in my 1K winning deck from a year and a half ago: (3) Tormenting Voice. Also, 2 Sarkhan provide for filter assistance. The removal cards and chandra count are slightly slimmed in count. Hazoret count is increased because...well, she is a god. This deck is a little less mid-rangey, and opts to find the silver bullet cards faster. If I could squeeze in a 61st card, it would definitely be a 3rd Anger.
4 Ensnaring Bridge
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Blood Moon
1 Witchbane Orb
Creatures (6)
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
2 Hazoret the Fervent
Planeswalkers (5)
3 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
2 Sarkhan, Fireblood
Removal (3)
1 Abrade
2 Anger of the Gods
4 Simian Spirit Guide
4 Desperate Ritual
1 Pyretic Ritual
3 Tormenting Voice
Lands (21)
14 Mountains
3 Gemstone Caverns
2 Ramunap Ruins
1 Scavenger Grounds
1 Mutavault
3 Eidolon of the Great Revel
2 Anger of the Gods
2 Damping Matrix
2 Torpor Orb
2 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Sorcerous Spyglass
1 Abrade
1 Hazoret the Fervent
1 Ravenous Trap
Goblin Gun -- This is a greedy deck. It attempts to get by without the necessary underpinnings of 4 bridge and multiple removal spells. Instead, it tries to overwhelm with creatures, ala a Gatling Gun or Goblin' Gun. Like any deck, with the right matchup this can crush. BUT, to think that I can 'out creature' a creature deck is foolhardy. 4 Bridges are a must in Pyro Prison. Note: I do really like Pia and Kiran Nalaar in this build.
2 Ensnaring Bridge
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Blood Moon
Creatures (17)
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
3 Legion Warboss
2 Goblin Chainwhirler
4 Eidolon of the Great Revel
1 Pia and Kiran Nalaar
1 Magus of the Moon
2 Hazoret the Fervent
2 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
Removal (2)
2 Anger of the Gods
Accelerators (8)
4 Simian Spirit Guide
4 Desperate Ritual
Lands (21)
15 Mountains
3 Gemstone Caverns
3 Ramunap Ruins
2 Ensnaring Bridge
1 Anger of the Gods
2 Damping Matrix
2 Torpor Orb
3 Grafdigger's Cage
2 Molten Rain
1 Ravenous Trap
1 Sorcerous Spyglass
1 Bonfire of the Damned
Trash Dragons -- No Littering? Ain't nobody got time for that! This deck is pretty far from 'green'. Red is rummage, scry, loot, discard, and exile. This deck runs hard ritual counts and a very high 4-cmc ramp since those cards are the most impactful - note the use of Z. Void in the land count. This deck is terrific at locating and deploying threats at a high expense of card economy. That can be excellent against unfair decks, but terrible against counterspell or fair decks since they will punish you for being light on threats. Nonetheless, this might be the most fun deck to pilot.
4 Ensnaring Bridge
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Blood Moon
1 Witchbane Orb
Creatures (6)
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
1 Avaricious Dragon
1 Hazoret the Fervent
Planeswalkers (6)
4 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
2 Sarkhan, Fireblood
1 Abrade
2 Anger of the Gods
Accelerators (11)
4 Simian Spirit Guide
4 Desperate Ritual
2 Pyretic Ritual
1 Faithless Looting
Lands (21)
15 Mountains
3 Gemstone Caverns
3 Zhalfirin Void
3 Eidolon of the Great Revel
2 Anger of the Gods
2 Damping Matrix
2 Torpor Orb
2 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Sorcerous Spyglass
1 Abrade
1 Spellskite
1 Hazoret the Fervent
@eriksdungeon Wouldn't experimental frenzy be a better play in this deck with all of the accelerators to keep it going? You can always get rid of it for 4 mana if you're trying to keep a low hand count for bridge.
Modern:
Pyro Prison
Sun and Moon
Eldrazi Stompy
I knew I was against UB Faeries. I am also on the draw. I knew a quick threat would mean a huge upper hand to me. Everything inside me was screaming Mulligan because this is such a risky hand but I just couldn't help but think that Chandra is a house even on turn 3 or 4 let alone turn 1. 'But if you play Chandra turn 1, add two mana and play Chalice on 1 it might be enough to just take the game,' I thought to myself. But I also might never be able to play another spell after I make that decision. Would it really be enough?
"I'll keep."
Oh God. We're in this now. Opponent plays Island, go.
Mountain, tap, Exile Spirit Guide, Ritual, Exile Spirit Guide, Chandra, Torch of Defiance. Resolves. +1, add two red, Chalice of the Void on 1.
Spell Snare.
*****. Now Chandra better be enough. Chalice just got snared. Opponent plays a land, taps, plays a small threat. Go.
I don't draw a land. I come to terms that I won't see another land the rest of this game. I have to win with what I have. I drew Sarkhan, Fireblood.
+1 Chandra (to 6), add two red, Abrade your threat, go.
Opponent plays land, go.
I don't draw a land.
+1 Chandra (to 7), add two red, tap Mountain, play Sarkhan, Fireblood.
Mana Leak.
No Sarkhan for me... Opponent draws. Doesn't draw a way to prevent Chandra's ult. Scoops.
Sigh of relief. Chandra just stole that damn game. Also, I apparently enjoy taking unnecessary risks that lead to extremely stressful games.
Dragon Stompy - R 11-6-0
Ponza - RG 8-4-0
Tron - BG 1-2-0
Naya Burn - WRG 2-4-0
Spirits - UW2-2-0
Dragons - R
Dragon Stompy - R 11-6-0
Ponza - RG 8-4-0
Tron - BG 1-2-0
Naya Burn - WRG 2-4-0
Spirits - UW2-2-0
Dragons - R
Keep in mind analysis like this was done at the beginning of the year on the percentages of our lock pieces and their impact on the meta. During that time for example Grixis Death Shadow was about "Aggro Death Shadow" and attempted to pump and drill out everything on CMC 1. They've since added Gurmag Angler, K-Commands, and other cards that are not so hampered by Chalice on 1. Onto the listing:
Reference: https://www.reddit.com/r/ModernMagic/comments/a2fibe/scg_baltimore_open_day_2_metagame_breakdown/
[Good] 62 (43.7%) - Defined as a matchup that should be favorable
[50/50] 29 (20.4%) - Defined as a matchup that is likely to go 1 and 1 based on who is on the draw (leaving G1 up to who's on draw and 'if you have the right half of deck in the hand')
[Poor] 51 (35.9%) - Defined as a matchup that we likely lose in a Best of 3.
[Total] 142
[Good] Bant Spirits – 14
[50/50] Tron – 13
[Poor] KCI – 11
[Good] Humans – 9
[Good] Infect – 9
[Poor] Hardened Scales – 9
[Poor] UR Arclight Phoenix – 8
[50/50] Burn – 7
[Poor] Jund – 5
[Good] Jeskai Control – 5
[Good] Grixis Death’s Shadow – 4
[50/50] Hollow One – 4
[Poor] Dredge – 4
[Poor] BG Midrange – 3
[Poor] UW Control – 3
[Good] Storm – 3
[Good] Runaway Red – 3
[Poor] Colorless Eldrazi – 3
[Good] Bogles – 3
[Good] Titan Shift – 2
[Good] Amulet Titan – 2
[Poor] Counters Company – 2
[Good] Martyr Proc – 2
[Good] Elves – 2
[50/50] Mardu Pyromancer – 2
[50/50] Mono-Red Hollow One (Arclight One) – 1
[50/50] Mono-Red Phoenix – 1
[Good] UW Spirits – 1
[Good] Grixis Whir – 1
[Poor] Titan Breach – 1
[50/50] Jeskai Saheeli – 1
[Good] Slivers – 1
[Good] Allies – 1
[Poor] Jund Death’s Shadow – 1
[Poor] GW Company – 1
Skia_AoP asks about Legion Warboss. What I've recently proposed in the discord and will note it here is that can we 'make our poor matchups' better G1 in the event we hit the matchup lottery and find ourselves across from them. Stickballruss will tell you that Warboss is just bad in the matchpus its bad in... which I'll say is true for any card. So what are we looking at? Luckily the individual on reddit has helped us by keeping the decks in largest to smallest. What do we have:
[50/50] Tron – 13
[Poor] KCI – 11
Both of these matchups would favor Legion Warboss in. Having more in Game 1 and starting there leans us more likely to draw threats, close the game out, and not lose to G1.
[Good] Bant Spirits – 14
[Good] Humans – 9
Both of these matchups are awful for Warboss and Rabblemaster. That being said our lock pieces are extremely strong I am tending towards favoring 'losing G1 to bring in more powerful hate cards G2 and G3' and put my percentage points towards the other two decks.
This same logic can be applied and evaluated across your local meta. So is Pyro Prison bad?
YES! - We're only good against 43% of the meta!
No! - We're only bad to 35% of the meta!
The real answer? My local meta is "All Jund" is Pyro Prison great? No... sorry, it is tough, but what can you do? You can play a list tuned for Jund. Play spellskite, play a welding jar if you like, be pre-boarded, heck locally you may keep Chalice completely out and go for eidolons. This is what I encourage a lot of people to do. I know this is not the 'pretty side' of magic, but this is also part of this deck.
If your local meta is all spirits... I'd probably put Torpor Orb in the main. "But its bad against ____" ... yes and you're hedging your bet because you just told me you have 6 Spirit players and 1 human at your local FNM of 20 people. You just main decked a answer to 1/3 of the field, I'm good with that blind on G1.
This is how we evalute the game. Right now I'd put Pyro Prison a bit of an underdog as "Red is King" in Modern at the moment. Does this mean drop Blood Moon? Take a look at decks 1,2,3,4,5,8,9,10,11 <<< I want blood moon (For those not wanting to scroll up, Bant Spirits, Tron, KCI, Humans, Infect, Burn, Jund, Jeskai Control, Grixis Death's Shadow).
Just some thoughts =)