I don't think the deck should be chocked full of combo pieces. Really it seems like the optimal way to play it is in a Little-kid Junk shell that also plays Chord of Calling. If you happen to flip a combo piece off of a CC then you can go "Oh hey, I have a chord in my hand and can grab the 3rd combo piece right now". That is the part where you can win out of nowhere. Other than that your game plan should be somewhere in between the full on midranged decks and full on aggro. Just outvalue your opponents and grind them out while threatening a combo kill at any point in time.
If you've read my latest posts in the "Look Ma, No Pod" thread, you'll find that I've lost heart about my current, combo-light "Melira Pod" Collected Company Abuse list. A list with 6 of each combo piece, 3 Chords, and 4 Collected Company that I mostly ripped from another poster (and gave credit to) ended up performing significantly better against combo and Affinity, better (but not even) against RG Tron, and about the same against Abzan/Twin/Burn/maybe UWR. The only deck that it performed significantly worse against that I've tested so far was Grixis Delver. It turns out that forcing the combo by Turn 4 is actually real right now, and with Finks/Anafenza/Township/CC, an aggro plan is actually feasible. (I've pulled a Chord, a CC, and a mana dork for 3 Commune with Nature in that list, as Commune should find a combo piece fairly reliably and rather quickly. Chord is rather bad in that list unless it's getting the last combo piece or a crucial hate bear.)
I played a few games with a list not focusing so much on the combo but more on the midrange plan instead (i.e. just a singleton of each Melira/Viscera/Cap). I was quite disappointed by Collected Company tbh. The point is that CC cast for free value during dead EOTs is always fine (unless you brick, which happened and was miserable); on the contrary, there are critical scenarios where you need to bank on your luck to get exactly what you need out of it, for example before blockers step or when trying to lucksack your missing combo piece(s) in response to a removal spell on, say, Melira.
This makes it a card that's not just difficult to play properly; it's also difficult to know what to "expect" out of it, since it implies a randomic factor. I fire it, expect to get some Finks/Voice/creatures providing value, I find Pontiff and Bop... It happened in different ways several times and led me to question the real strength of the card- or better: how to exploit it with the least margin of being lackluster.
I came to think that the ways CC lists in Azban colors are going to evolve is probably by going heavier on the 3-cards combo pieces, by playing four to eight copies of each, and leaving silver bullets just to solve locks/stop opponent's combo/protect your own one (Spellskite). Playing Restoration Angel and Siege Rhino, despites all they value they provide, lowers the statistical effectiveness of CC, and at this point I think it's just better to increase the odds of raw-dogging the combo pieces with each CC.
Alexander West published a bad example on Channelfireball. I say bad because he included Simian Spirit Guide and Greater Gargadon which have nothing to do with this deck. However, the rest is fine. I'd keep 4 CCs, 3 Chords and 4 disruption spells (Path/Decay), 5-6 sac outlets, 5 Meliras (1 Anafenza since she's useless and costs WW) and 4 Finks + 1 Redcap.
With such use, Company becomes very nice because you can go off from nowhere, for example in response to a Lightning Bolt on a Melira. You always threaten victory from four mana up. However, this implies that your midrange plan is going to be extremely poor. The combo itself is also not so hard to disrupt by removals fired at proper timings.
We'll see how it pans out, but as of now I'm skeptical about the deck becoming a big thing. CC is sadly miles away from Birthing Pod. Perhaps other people are going to realize this and play Congregation at Dawn to be sure about going off, but Congregation really sucks on its own.
From what I mentioned above, I also have a hunch that more all-in lists (that are both Collected Company- and Chord-heavy) will become more popular than grindy ones with fewer Chords and fewer combo pieces. I'm starting to think that we need special metagame pressures (like Delver becoming popular again) for grindy lists to become more popular.
I've had some pretty disappointing Collected Company flips, but I've found that even the disappointing ones subtly win games. I've ended up with Kitchen Finks + mana dork shockingly often, but Finks often pulls through long enough to let me cast a second CC. Netting only 1 creature can suck depending on what creature it is, and flipping 0 creatures definitely loses games. CC has been a random spinning wheel in all the decks I've tried it in, but its mean, median, and mode tend to deliver.
On what I presume that West article is about, Greater Gargadon is actually an infinite sac outlet (just keep saccing in response and never let the first time counter removal ability resolve until you want to stop going infinite)...that you can't flip with CC.
I've found that Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit is miles better than Melira against any deck not named Infect. Her Bolster subtly wins games when I'm not comboing off, she actually refreshes Persist (so I can be even more reckless with my Persist dudes), she swings for 3 damage on Turn 3 surprisingly often, and she turns Collected Company into a legitimate combat trick (that turns my X/2 into an X/3 that no longer trades with their 2/2-, even off lousy flips). I'd go for a 3-Anafenza, 2-Melira split if I want 5 "Melira"s.
Based on my inability to have Collected Company and Chord in my hand at the same time (heck, I once had 3 CC's and no Chords in hand by Turn 3), I think Congregation at Dawn is subpar and worse than Chord in Melira CC Combo. I also tend to fire off CC ASAP and/or around counterspells, so attempting to save it to make Congregation at Dawn good will be futile.
I won a local Modern event (four round with cut to top 8) on a combo focused Collected Company list and can give the following observation:
Chord of Calling seems terrible in the deck. It forces you to run weird defensive cards like Wall of Roots that aren't good when you aren't playing actual Pod.
Fauna Shaman is the nut.
Combing on turn four is quite consistent.
I only dropped one game all day and it was to Burn. He was on the play and had t1 goblin guide, t2 guide and Swiftspear, t3 molten rain. I won the match by combo killing him on turn four game one and grinding him out game three.
So a friend of mine won a PPTQ with this deck (not sure if he's active here), going unbeaten in the swiss portion (44 man), and only dropping 1 game vs Storm in the finals. Deck is real I guess.
The match that he lost was on a mull to 3.. so yea that's not even realistic.
It sounds like there's a tournament report or tournament results for that win--can you give me a link to either of those, please (unless you personally attended it and/or knew the guy and therefore you know this stuff even though nothing may have been published)? I'd love to read it!
That seems like a pretty solid list (and result). I am still weary about the inclusion of things like Garza's Assassin. What is the opinion on going full midranged like the Zoo deck that that top 8'd the SCG IQ. Just running huge threats like Loxodon Smiter and Knight of the Reliquary will put tons of pressure on the opponent, then pair that with things like Anafenza and you have a combo that isn't entirely bad but is also able to lay down the beats very fast. It will up the consistency, and have a slight toolbox with KotR.
A list got 2nd in a 209 player event. You can see it here. I'm a fan of the the way the deck is built and hope it can spark more discussion. I kinda viewed it as 29 creatures in game 1 to power out CC's, but like Twin it can take them out (take out Twin that is) for games 2 and 3 to just play the beatdown plan and play a bunch of removal.
here is my version :
Lands
1 [RAV] Overgrown Tomb
1 [ZEN] Marsh Flats
1 [GTC] Godless Shrine
4 [KTK] Windswept Heath
3 [ZEN] Verdant Catacombs
3 [A] Forest (1)
1 [ISD] Gavony Township
3 [SOM] Razorverge Thicket
1 [RAV] Temple Garden
1 [IN] Swamp (4)
1 [SHM] Wooded Bastion
1 [A] Plains (2)
1 [DKA] Vault of the Archangel
// Creatures
1 [NPH] Spellskite
1 [M14] Scavenging Ooze
2 [DTK] Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit
4 [FNM] Kitchen Finks
4 [R] Birds of Paradise
1 [M11] Viscera Seer
1 [NPH] Melira, Sylvok Outcast
2 [CMD] Eternal Witness
1 [SHM] Murderous Redcap
2 [DGM] Voice of Resurgence ( want to run more , is great against delver in all its variants, and with mindcensor is a pain in the ass)
2 [CFX] Noble Hierarch
3 [FUT] Aven Mindcensor (on paper is a good pick, i got lucky though, i cast it on turn 2 a lot of times in response to fetch land, overall is a great beater with anafenza , is a good hate card and is ok vs mirror, maybe running aorzhov main deck and livala and an extra seer would be better)
3 [M11] Fauna Shaman (this is THE card, against mass removal you cast it after and , search for revilark and you are on board again, also if you put finks and shaman with a good collective is almost game)
1 [MOR] Reveillark (this is good but maybe could be something different, maybe angel / feeder)
3 [MMA] Tidehollow Sculler (this is the slot i am not so shure about, sometimes is great, sometimes is absolut crap, but if you draw it on late game is good food to shaman)
// Spells
2 [RTR] Abrupt Decay ( i want to run more , ooze is a huge problem and this card is solid vs liliana, affinity and twin.
1 [M15] Chord of Calling
4 [DTK] Collected Company
i had other list that had the spike feeder/angel combo and instead of running tidehollow i ran sin collector, with the list that had angel/feeder i made a top 8 on a 100+ event , i lost because i am an idiot in combat , but i am working on that, i lost to twin , i decided to combo instead of attacking with a good army of vocice token and a lot of bolstered cretures , and i lost an important turn because that bad choice, this deck is very , vert skill intensive. I love the deck because i love aluren and this is a modern version of aluren (nerfed of course), my approach is kinda beatdown/hate bear with combo. The main problem i had with the deck is chord of calling, in my other version i ran a single fauna shaman and that gave a lot of constant wins, so i prefer 1 chord(chord is good but you want it as a bullet , having 2 in hand sucks , shaman is far better with revilark and in mid / late game). I had succes resolving mindscensor on turn 2 , and he is a good beater with anafenza and hierach. Overall i think the deck is a good option vs the meta. I hope to hear your comments on my version . Tnx a lot and good luck with melira company to all of you =). Pd , sorry for my english
If you've read my latest posts in the "Look Ma, No Pod" thread, you'll find that I've lost heart about my current, combo-light "Melira Pod" Collected Company Abuse list. A list with 6 of each combo piece, 3 Chords, and 4 Collected Company that I mostly ripped from another poster (and gave credit to) ended up performing significantly better against combo and Affinity, better (but not even) against RG Tron, and about the same against Abzan/Twin/Burn/maybe UWR. The only deck that it performed significantly worse against that I've tested so far was Grixis Delver. It turns out that forcing the combo by Turn 4 is actually real right now, and with Finks/Anafenza/Township/CC, an aggro plan is actually feasible. (I've pulled a Chord, a CC, and a mana dork for 3 Commune with Nature in that list, as Commune should find a combo piece fairly reliably and rather quickly. Chord is rather bad in that list unless it's getting the last combo piece or a crucial hate bear.)
From what I mentioned above, I also have a hunch that more all-in lists (that are both Collected Company- and Chord-heavy) will become more popular than grindy ones with fewer Chords and fewer combo pieces. I'm starting to think that we need special metagame pressures (like Delver becoming popular again) for grindy lists to become more popular.
I've had some pretty disappointing Collected Company flips, but I've found that even the disappointing ones subtly win games. I've ended up with Kitchen Finks + mana dork shockingly often, but Finks often pulls through long enough to let me cast a second CC. Netting only 1 creature can suck depending on what creature it is, and flipping 0 creatures definitely loses games. CC has been a random spinning wheel in all the decks I've tried it in, but its mean, median, and mode tend to deliver.
On what I presume that West article is about, Greater Gargadon is actually an infinite sac outlet (just keep saccing in response and never let the first time counter removal ability resolve until you want to stop going infinite)...that you can't flip with CC.
I've found that Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit is miles better than Melira against any deck not named Infect. Her Bolster subtly wins games when I'm not comboing off, she actually refreshes Persist (so I can be even more reckless with my Persist dudes), she swings for 3 damage on Turn 3 surprisingly often, and she turns Collected Company into a legitimate combat trick (that turns my X/2 into an X/3 that no longer trades with their 2/2-, even off lousy flips). I'd go for a 3-Anafenza, 2-Melira split if I want 5 "Melira"s.
Based on my inability to have Collected Company and Chord in my hand at the same time (heck, I once had 3 CC's and no Chords in hand by Turn 3), I think Congregation at Dawn is subpar and worse than Chord in Melira CC Combo. I also tend to fire off CC ASAP and/or around counterspells, so attempting to save it to make Congregation at Dawn good will be futile.
On a partially unrelated note, Jeff Szablak just Top 8'd today's SCG Richmond Modern Premier IQ with Medium Collected Company Naya Zoo, and he reports that Collected Company was always amazing and won him several games. Collected Company may not precisely be Birthing Pod, but it has a ton of its own strengths, and it's a powerful card in multiple shells.
I won a local Modern event (four round with cut to top 8) on a combo focused Collected Company list and can give the following observation:
Chord of Calling seems terrible in the deck. It forces you to run weird defensive cards like Wall of Roots that aren't good when you aren't playing actual Pod.
Fauna Shaman is the nut.
Combing on turn four is quite consistent.
I only dropped one game all day and it was to Burn. He was on the play and had t1 goblin guide, t2 guide and Swiftspear, t3 molten rain. I won the match by combo killing him on turn four game one and grinding him out game three.
I stream Modern events semi-regularly at http://www.twitch.tv/nezeru
It sounds like there's a tournament report or tournament results for that win--can you give me a link to either of those, please (unless you personally attended it and/or knew the guy and therefore you know this stuff even though nothing may have been published)? I'd love to read it!
MTGO/MTGA: Tyclone
My Primers ~ GWx Vizier Company ~ Knightfall ~ RG Eldrazi ~ Green's Sun's Zenith
More Brews ~ Modern Four Horsemen ~ Gitrog Dredge
MTGO/MTGA: Tyclone
My Primers ~ GWx Vizier Company ~ Knightfall ~ RG Eldrazi ~ Green's Sun's Zenith
More Brews ~ Modern Four Horsemen ~ Gitrog Dredge
Lands
1 [RAV] Overgrown Tomb
1 [ZEN] Marsh Flats
1 [GTC] Godless Shrine
4 [KTK] Windswept Heath
3 [ZEN] Verdant Catacombs
3 [A] Forest (1)
1 [ISD] Gavony Township
3 [SOM] Razorverge Thicket
1 [RAV] Temple Garden
1 [IN] Swamp (4)
1 [SHM] Wooded Bastion
1 [A] Plains (2)
1 [DKA] Vault of the Archangel
// Creatures
1 [NPH] Spellskite
1 [M14] Scavenging Ooze
2 [DTK] Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit
4 [FNM] Kitchen Finks
4 [R] Birds of Paradise
1 [M11] Viscera Seer
1 [NPH] Melira, Sylvok Outcast
2 [CMD] Eternal Witness
1 [SHM] Murderous Redcap
2 [DGM] Voice of Resurgence ( want to run more , is great against delver in all its variants, and with mindcensor is a pain in the ass)
2 [CFX] Noble Hierarch
3 [FUT] Aven Mindcensor (on paper is a good pick, i got lucky though, i cast it on turn 2 a lot of times in response to fetch land, overall is a great beater with anafenza , is a good hate card and is ok vs mirror, maybe running aorzhov main deck and livala and an extra seer would be better)
3 [M11] Fauna Shaman (this is THE card, against mass removal you cast it after and , search for revilark and you are on board again, also if you put finks and shaman with a good collective is almost game)
1 [MOR] Reveillark (this is good but maybe could be something different, maybe angel / feeder)
3 [MMA] Tidehollow Sculler (this is the slot i am not so shure about, sometimes is great, sometimes is absolut crap, but if you draw it on late game is good food to shaman)
// Spells
2 [RTR] Abrupt Decay ( i want to run more , ooze is a huge problem and this card is solid vs liliana, affinity and twin.
1 [M15] Chord of Calling
4 [DTK] Collected Company
// Sideboard
SB: 1 [NPH] Spellskite
SB: 3 [WWK] Kor Firewalker
SB: 1 [MMA] Kataki, War's Wage
SB: 1 [JOU] Eidolon of Rhetoric
SB: 1 [ARB] Qasali Pridemage
SB: 2 [THS] Thoughtseize
SB: 1 [M15] Stain the Mind
SB: 1 [GP] Orzhov Pontiff
SB: 1 [ROE] Linvala, Keeper of Silence
SB: 3 [SHM] Fulminator Mage
i had other list that had the spike feeder/angel combo and instead of running tidehollow i ran sin collector, with the list that had angel/feeder i made a top 8 on a 100+ event , i lost because i am an idiot in combat , but i am working on that, i lost to twin , i decided to combo instead of attacking with a good army of vocice token and a lot of bolstered cretures , and i lost an important turn because that bad choice, this deck is very , vert skill intensive. I love the deck because i love aluren and this is a modern version of aluren (nerfed of course), my approach is kinda beatdown/hate bear with combo. The main problem i had with the deck is chord of calling, in my other version i ran a single fauna shaman and that gave a lot of constant wins, so i prefer 1 chord(chord is good but you want it as a bullet , having 2 in hand sucks , shaman is far better with revilark and in mid / late game). I had succes resolving mindscensor on turn 2 , and he is a good beater with anafenza and hierach. Overall i think the deck is a good option vs the meta. I hope to hear your comments on my version . Tnx a lot and good luck with melira company to all of you =). Pd , sorry for my english
http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/modern/developing-competitive-modern/605889-junk-company