Legacy - Sneak Show, BR Reanimator, Miracles, UW Stoneblade
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/ Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander - Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build) (dead format for me)
I've never personally played UW tron, but I play a very counter heavy version of Blade.
I got through my Fae matchups with Wrath of God doing some SERIOUS work. (Gets through shrouded scions.)
You NEED to counter the mistbind clique every game, and if you are playing your own vendilion cliques, it's like one-for-one removal. If you play plenty of removal and countermagic, then you are fine. otherwise it's a very uphill battle.
U/W tron, YOU are the beat down, and you need to apply plenty of early pressure, because they have a much better late game than we do. this is where you need hard countermagic, and Need to save your land destruction for their urza pieces.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Now Playing:
===============Casual============= WGMy Little Ponies
--------------------Modern----------------
Built: nothing
Working On: testing
Not sure if I'm doing it wrong/have a bad build/had bad luck...
But I'm actually really struggling with the Caw-Blade deck I've been tuning.
It's intended to have an eye towards encountering a fair amount of aggro hence the Finks maindeck still (plus the desire to have enough bodies for Moorland Haunt) but it just seems a bit...well, underwhelming:
Any thoughts where it's going wrong? It honestly feels like it's the underdog no matter which match-up as it doesn't put pressure when I'm trying to take the game to them...yet when in the control seat it feels like it can't actually stabilise or can't break out and go over the top?
This may be crap, but how do you think Pride of the Clouds would be in this deck. It's a gigantic beater in the air and could act as a uncounterable squadron hawk that cost 4. Maybe 1 or 2 for the deck?
Not sure if I'm doing it wrong/have a bad build/had bad luck...
But I'm actually really struggling with the Caw-Blade deck I've been tuning.
It's intended to have an eye towards encountering a fair amount of aggro hence the Finks maindeck still (plus the desire to have enough bodies for Moorland Haunt) but it just seems a bit...well, underwhelming:
Any thoughts where it's going wrong? It honestly feels like it's the underdog no matter which match-up as it doesn't put pressure when I'm trying to take the game to them...yet when in the control seat it feels like it can't actually stabilise or can't break out and go over the top?
What are you playing against? Your deck looks nearly identical to mine except I have 2 Vedalken Shackles maindeck, no Tec Edge, 2 Finks, and 2 Sword of Feast and Famine (no Light and Shadow or Mortarpod). Mortarpod is good vs. the mirror though. My SB is 2 Threads of Disloyalty (probably need something else), 1 Disenchant, 2 Dismember, 2 Sword of War and Peace, 1 Batterskull, 2 Wrath of God, 3 Relic of Progenitus, and 2 Kitchen Finks.
I feel pretty good about Splinter Twin and Jund.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Legacy - Sneak Show, BR Reanimator, Miracles, UW Stoneblade
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/ Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander - Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build) (dead format for me)
How does this deck beat the flame jab/liliana/life from the loam deck. It seems like a very bad matchup because of the hand disruption, reusable removal, and ancient grudges. Anyone care to elaborate? I'm thinking about picking up the Lingering Souls version and wanted some advice/help/info.
It's probably a naturally poor matchup. I would side in all of my GY hate though; in my case, Relic of Progenitus.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Legacy - Sneak Show, BR Reanimator, Miracles, UW Stoneblade
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/ Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander - Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build) (dead format for me)
I really like surgical extraction on the sideboard against loam/reanimator decks. I actually tested a bit against one of the new loam decks popping up this week. raven's crime and flame jab can be really tough, but I play a sun titan build of caw blade, and post-board he couldn't really do much to the titan when he dropped.
Basically, it's haiSOOOdesu's decklist he used to Top 4 an online PTQ recently. One card seems a little out of place. The Geist was put in originally because I don't have 4 Vendilion Cliques and used it in testing as a proxy. Turns out that, most of the time, it was actually really good as a 1 of. The Elspeth was originally a Mortapod, then a Sword of FaF. I didn't like 2 Mortapod, even though it's awesome with shackles, one is simply enough. Sword turned out to be mediocre, so it got cut. Elspeth only got the nod because it sped the clock up significantly when I was the aggressor or slow their clock down on defense. The bad news is Elspeth is definitely going to get cut for something else as she just didn't perform as well as expected. She was too clunky. Any suggestion's for that slot? I'm thinking Spell Pierce, Echoing Truth, Oblivion Ring, Into the Roil, Repeal or Gitaxian Probe.
I didn't end up changing his SB as it is about as perfect as it gets. Gut Shot was THE best card all day. Sooo many X/1's in this format that all need to die. Dispel is the only card that I feel comfortable changing and maybe 1 Finks....maybe. Even then Dispel would probably end up as Spell Pierce. Also considering Suppression Field as this deck isn't affected by it that much in game 2's and 3's since you typically take out all your artifacts.
As for the mana base, -1 Island +1 Plains. Blood Moon sucks when you know you'll never cast those two Finks in your opener vs. Burn/Boros...even though I still beat them regardless.
@HandwrittenHero : how are you playing this deck? Always be the control in your MU's except for Tron. Be patient and never tap out when your opponent will have 3 or more mana open for their turn. The 3rd turn is where decks can really punish you in this format. Also, be aware of obscure lines of play. An example would be my top 8 match game 2. I was playing against Tron. I had 5 lands and 2 Hawks pecking away at his life total. I had Path, Sun Titan, 2 Hawks,and a Snapcaster Mage in hand with Vendilion Clique in the bin. So at the end of his turn, I Path a Hawk fetching my 6th land, untap for my turn, draw a Mana Leak, and slam Titan bringing back V. Clique. Ballsy play but it was not only 'Techy' but the correct line if I was going to win. Still lost the match. Tron is tough when you don't draw a Tec Edge. All in all, it was a good day and Caw-Blade is sooo strong. My friends thought this deck was too 'fair' but most of the time you're opponents are losing against this deck until they actually win due to your strong creatures, CA, and the best counter-suite this format can offer.
The Bolts were all stars all day and I think are definitely worth including in the deck, the Tolaria West + toolbox was also very powerful, saved me against aggro-loam letting me fetch up the crypt to exile his yard before things got out of hand.
I'm not sure about the sword package and might move the swords to the sideboard and put the batterksull along with mortarpod to the main. The bribery was a last minute inclusion against an expectation of tron (which I never faced). I originally had Teferi's Moat in the spot for Jund, so I might switch back to that or Threads of Disloyalty.
The only deck I lost to in the swiss was Mono-U fairies, but it felt pretty even. Jund feels like a bad matchup so I want to work on improving it. It didn't help that he drew 4 discard effects + 3 bloodbraid elves in game 2.
All in all I'm really happy with the deck and intend to keep running it.
Basically, it's haiSOOOdesu's decklist he used to Top 4 an online PTQ recently. One card seems a little out of place. The Geist was put in originally because I don't have 4 Vendilion Cliques and used it in testing as a proxy. Turns out that, most of the time, it was actually really good as a 1 of. The Elspeth was originally a Mortapod, then a Sword of FaF. I didn't like 2 Mortapod, even though it's awesome with shackles, one is simply enough. Sword turned out to be mediocre, so it got cut. Elspeth only got the nod because it sped the clock up significantly when I was the aggressor or slow their clock down on defense. The bad news is Elspeth is definitely going to get cut for something else as she just didn't perform as well as expected. She was too clunky. Any suggestion's for that slot? I'm thinking Spell Pierce, Echoing Truth, Oblivion Ring, Into the Roil, Repeal or Gitaxian Probe.
I didn't end up changing his SB as it is about as perfect as it gets. Gut Shot was THE best card all day. Sooo many X/1's in this format that all need to die. Dispel is the only card that I feel comfortable changing and maybe 1 Finks....maybe. Even then Dispel would probably end up as Spell Pierce. Also considering Suppression Field as this deck isn't affected by it that much in game 2's and 3's since you typically take out all your artifacts.
As for the mana base, -1 Island +1 Plains. Blood Moon sucks when you know you'll never cast those two Finks in your opener vs. Burn/Boros...even though I still beat them regardless.
@HandwrittenHero : how are you playing this deck? Always be the control in your MU's except for Tron. Be patient and never tap out when your opponent will have 3 or more mana open for their turn. The 3rd turn is where decks can really punish you in this format. Also, be aware of obscure lines of play. An example would be my top 8 match game 2. I was playing against Tron. I had 5 lands and 2 Hawks pecking away at his life total. I had Path, Sun Titan, 2 Hawks,and a Snapcaster Mage in hand with Vendilion Clique in the bin. So at the end of his turn, I Path a Hawk fetching my 6th land, untap for my turn, draw a Mana Leak, and slam Titan bringing back V. Clique. Ballsy play but it was not only 'Techy' but the correct line if I was going to win. Still lost the match. Tron is tough when you don't draw a Tec Edge. All in all, it was a good day and Caw-Blade is sooo strong. My friends thought this deck was too 'fair' but most of the time you're opponents are losing against this deck until they actually win due to your strong creatures, CA, and the best counter-suite this format can offer.
Congrats on your result...obviously there's a few of you out who are able to get results so I'm well aware there's a fault either with my piloting or my particular list rather than me calling the deck bad ;-)
Control role is where I've tried to be but so far I've felt thoroughly out-thwarted or outclassed. Two examples:
Faeries I'm putting down as good pilot on their side, inexperience on mine...but suffice to say they had more counters and used winning a counter war as a platform to win. As much as I was determined to let them make the first move, Mutavault alone was a better clock than I could begin to press so things got out of hand.
Affinity if they were obliging enough to play into spell pierce then it was happy days and they might run out of gas. The issue was when they could drop a signal pest and a few 0 drops to force me to act. I'm familiar enough with the affinity side of this match as well, which probably influenced my play, but it felt like they had a more than reasonable chance of playing around my spell snare to open me up or could keep jamming 2 drops until I didn't have the answer (4 Steel Overseer, 4 Cranial Plating, 4 Arcbound Ravager).
I probably need to mess around with my deck a lot more, but I certainly don't have the time to build the experience needed to PTQ with it in a week's time (busy job :-( ). The worry was that when I did stabilise it felt as though I was a bricked draw or two away from them just taking back over.
Fae is pretty tough if your opponent is good with it. It ultimately comes down to a Shackle war. Early Hawks can get there sometimes as well. Your V. Cliques are probably going to be used as removal for theirs and always try to counter Mistbind Clique. Try to go to the late game as Snappy and Hawks will get you there. Its easier said than done, sadly as Fae and Tron are our worst MU's by a mile.
As for Affinity, I think your must counters are Cranial Plating and Etched Champion. Plating will ultimately just one shot kill you and Champion will grind you down. If both hit the field you're just screwed, obviously. Affinity is actually pretty good for us, but there is so many versions that you must know which one you're playing against.
Experience is definitely the key to success with Caw. If you've played Caw during Standard then I highly recommend sticking with the deck as it will reward you. Also, looking at the list you posted, try taking out the Remands and replacing them with Mana Leaks. I dislike Swords in this deck because the efficiency of the removal in this format makes equipping a liability. Another thing to note, always side out your artifacts (Notable exceptions are the Mirror, Faeries, and other Shackle dominating MU's). Your opponent will always be packing Grudges or Disenchants which will be dead draws.
Sideboard
2 Disenchant
2 Wrath of God
2 Dispel
4 Kitchen Finks
2 Leyline of Sanctity
1 Sword of War And Peace
2 Relic of Prog.
The Elspeth's helped the Tron matchup a fair amount by upping the pressure I was able to apply, but got boarded out for almost everything else, mortarpod is sooo good and it is silly with v. shackles.
I'm tweaking it for another PTQ in Fargo, so any tip critiques whatnot are appreciated.
Fae is pretty tough if your opponent is good with it. It ultimately comes down to a Shackle war. Early Hawks can get there sometimes as well. Your V. Cliques are probably going to be used as removal for theirs and always try to counter Mistbind Clique. Try to go to the late game as Snappy and Hawks will get you there. Its easier said than done, sadly as Fae and Tron are our worst MU's by a mile.
As for Affinity, I think your must counters are Cranial Plating and Etched Champion. Plating will ultimately just one shot kill you and Champion will grind you down. If both hit the field you're just screwed, obviously. Affinity is actually pretty good for us, but there is so many versions that you must know which one you're playing against.
I believe Faeries is probably a little less than 50/50 for us. If we can resolve Hawks and/or Jace Beleren (of course), it helps a bunch. However, sometimes they can just aggro us to death with Cliques and Scion of Oona. Vedalken Shackles is tough because theirs are better than ours. I would mainboard a Disenchant if we really fear this matchup. I am 3-1 in this matchup so far (mostly due to good draws in 3 of those matches).
Affinity seems pretty poor for us. I played a game where I Spell Snare Cranial Plating 3 times only to get 3 Galvanic Blasts to the face while at 12 life and 3 artifacts in play for him. They are just too quick and have burn as backup. You must draw Spell Snares at the right times (early). I am 0-2 so far in matches here.
The player who won the Costa Mesa PTQ with Splinter Twin was my opponent in Round 4 at San Diego a few weeks ago, with my Caw Blade beating him to go to 4-0 at the time (finished 0-1-2 to miss the top 8 though). He is a really good player but I feel confident vs. Splinter Twin. I also feel confident vs. Jund (although they can have god draws) even though 2 of those Jund players in San Diego took mind numbing time playing, causing me 2 ties instead of wins, knocking me from top 8 contention.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Legacy - Sneak Show, BR Reanimator, Miracles, UW Stoneblade
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/ Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander - Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build) (dead format for me)
So, this is a deck that i would like to try out on the next PTQ.
But i dont know if I should replace Grim Lavamancer for something else because it doesnt work well with snapcaster....
I believe Faeries is probably a little less than 50/50 for us. If we can resolve Hawks and/or Jace Beleren (of course), it helps a bunch. However, sometimes they can just aggro us to death with Cliques and Scion of Oona. Vedalken Shackles is tough because theirs are better than ours. I would mainboard a Disenchant if we really fear this matchup. I am 3-1 in this matchup so far (mostly due to good draws in 3 of those matches).
Affinity seems pretty poor for us. I played a game where I Spell Snare Cranial Plating 3 times only to get 3 Galvanic Blasts to the face while at 12 life and 3 artifacts in play for him. They are just too quick and have burn as backup. You must draw Spell Snares at the right times (early). I am 0-2 so far in matches here.
The player who won the Costa Mesa PTQ with Splinter Twin was my opponent in Round 4 at San Diego a few weeks ago, with my Caw Blade beating him to go to 4-0 at the time (finished 0-1-2 to miss the top 8 though). He is a really good player but I feel confident vs. Splinter Twin. I also feel confident vs. Jund (although they can have god draws) even though 2 of those Jund players in San Diego took mind numbing time playing, causing me 2 ties instead of wins, knocking me from top 8 contention.
Having the extra removal in Bolt really changes the affinity matchup to be pretty favorable (as well as the MD explosives). The extra removal is really worth giving a try.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Currently Playing
T2
:symw::symb::symu:Spirits:symw::symb::symu:
Modern
:symu::symr::symw:Caw:symu::symr::symw:
Why not try a red splash build for bolts, helix and Ajani V? You could cut the hawks since you have so much removal. Ajani can make Tron a better matchup, and combined with Elspeth you'd have a lot of CA and late game. Swords should be cut too since you're cutting hawks.
Clique into Ajani/Elspeth is going to win a lot of games.
Why not try a red splash build for bolts, helix and Ajani V? You could cut the hawks since you have so much removal. Ajani can make Tron a better matchup, and combined with Elspeth you'd have a lot of CA and late game. Swords should be cut too since you're cutting hawks.
Clique into Ajani/Elspeth is going to win a lot of games.
I've found the red splash really helps a lot of the match ups, the extra removal is pretty valuable. I haven't had an opportunity to test AJ but I suspect he could be really powerful, though I don't think the deck really wants to tap out on T4 for him.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Currently Playing
T2
:symw::symb::symu:Spirits:symw::symb::symu:
Modern
:symu::symr::symw:Caw:symu::symr::symw:
What do you all think of Glorious Anthem out of the sideboard when you need to apply forms of board pressure?
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Decks I have in my bag of tricks- Needless to say, someone who wants to play will probably have a deck UB/x Faeries UR Storm XURWB Affinity G Elves UW control
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Also UW Tron seems like a tough matchup.
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/
Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander -
Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build)(dead format for me)I've never personally played UW tron, but I play a very counter heavy version of Blade.
I got through my Fae matchups with Wrath of God doing some SERIOUS work. (Gets through shrouded scions.)
You NEED to counter the mistbind clique every game, and if you are playing your own vendilion cliques, it's like one-for-one removal. If you play plenty of removal and countermagic, then you are fine. otherwise it's a very uphill battle.
U/W tron, YOU are the beat down, and you need to apply plenty of early pressure, because they have a much better late game than we do. this is where you need hard countermagic, and Need to save your land destruction for their urza pieces.
WG My Little Ponies
--------------------Modern----------------
Built: nothing
Working On: testing
But I'm actually really struggling with the Caw-Blade deck I've been tuning.
It's intended to have an eye towards encountering a fair amount of aggro hence the Finks maindeck still (plus the desire to have enough bodies for Moorland Haunt) but it just seems a bit...well, underwhelming:
3 Scalding Tarn
3 Hallowed Fountain
4 Seachrome Coast
2 Celestial Colonnade
4 Island
2 Plains
3 Tectonic Edge
2 Blinkmoth Nexus
2 Moorland Haunt
4 Squadron Hawk
4 Snapcaster Mage
3 Kitchen Finks
3 Vendilion Clique
4 Remand
3 Cryptic Command
3 Spell Snare
2 Spell Pierce
1 Steelshaper's Gift
1 Mortarpod
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Sword of Light and Shadow
2 Jace Beleren
1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
2 Dispel
2 Disenchant
1 Wrath of God
2 Engineered Explosives
2 Vedalken Shackles
1 Sword of War and Peace
1 Batterskull
1 Tectonic Edge
Any thoughts where it's going wrong? It honestly feels like it's the underdog no matter which match-up as it doesn't put pressure when I'm trying to take the game to them...yet when in the control seat it feels like it can't actually stabilise or can't break out and go over the top?
Inkfox Aesthetics by Xen
I have plenty of fetches, and if I run crucible, I would probably run some tectonic edge's also.
What do you guys think?
What are you playing against? Your deck looks nearly identical to mine except I have 2 Vedalken Shackles maindeck, no Tec Edge, 2 Finks, and 2 Sword of Feast and Famine (no Light and Shadow or Mortarpod). Mortarpod is good vs. the mirror though. My SB is 2 Threads of Disloyalty (probably need something else), 1 Disenchant, 2 Dismember, 2 Sword of War and Peace, 1 Batterskull, 2 Wrath of God, 3 Relic of Progenitus, and 2 Kitchen Finks.
I feel pretty good about Splinter Twin and Jund.
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/
Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander -
Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build)(dead format for me)Here's the plan so far:
4 snapcaster mage
1 vendilion clique
4 spell snare
4 mana leak
1 remand
4 path to exile
2 cryptic command
2 spell pierce
1 sword of fire and ice
1 sword of feast and famine
1 mortarpod
4 lingering souls
1 steelshapers gift
1 adarkar wastes
1 celestial colonade
2 creeping tarpit
2 tectonic edge
4 glacial fortress
1 godless shrine
1 hallowed fountain
1 watery grave
5 island
4 marsh flats
2 misty rainforest
2 plains
Obviously I'm missing some stuff, but what do you guys think?
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/
Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander -
Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build)(dead format for me)TRADES
4x Squadron Hawk
4x Snapcaster Mage
3x Vendilion Clique
1x Geist of Saint Traft
21-Other Spells
4x Cryptic Command
3x Mana Leak
4x Spell Snare
4x Path to Exile
1x Mortapod
2x Vedalken Shackles
2x Jace Beleren
1x Elspeth, Knight-Errant
4x Tectonic Edge
3x Celestial Colonnade
4x Seachrome Coast
6x Island
2x Plains
3x Hallowed Fountain
3x Scalding Tarn
1x Marsh Flats
4x Kitchen Finks
1x Sun Titan
1x Relic of Progenitus
1x Surgical Extraction
2x Gut Shot
2x Disenchant
2x Dispel
2x Wrath of God
Basically, it's haiSOOOdesu's decklist he used to Top 4 an online PTQ recently. One card seems a little out of place. The Geist was put in originally because I don't have 4 Vendilion Cliques and used it in testing as a proxy. Turns out that, most of the time, it was actually really good as a 1 of. The Elspeth was originally a Mortapod, then a Sword of FaF. I didn't like 2 Mortapod, even though it's awesome with shackles, one is simply enough. Sword turned out to be mediocre, so it got cut. Elspeth only got the nod because it sped the clock up significantly when I was the aggressor or slow their clock down on defense. The bad news is Elspeth is definitely going to get cut for something else as she just didn't perform as well as expected. She was too clunky. Any suggestion's for that slot? I'm thinking Spell Pierce, Echoing Truth, Oblivion Ring, Into the Roil, Repeal or Gitaxian Probe.
I didn't end up changing his SB as it is about as perfect as it gets. Gut Shot was THE best card all day. Sooo many X/1's in this format that all need to die. Dispel is the only card that I feel comfortable changing and maybe 1 Finks....maybe. Even then Dispel would probably end up as Spell Pierce. Also considering Suppression Field as this deck isn't affected by it that much in game 2's and 3's since you typically take out all your artifacts.
As for the mana base, -1 Island +1 Plains. Blood Moon sucks when you know you'll never cast those two Finks in your opener vs. Burn/Boros...even though I still beat them regardless.
@HandwrittenHero : how are you playing this deck? Always be the control in your MU's except for Tron. Be patient and never tap out when your opponent will have 3 or more mana open for their turn. The 3rd turn is where decks can really punish you in this format. Also, be aware of obscure lines of play. An example would be my top 8 match game 2. I was playing against Tron. I had 5 lands and 2 Hawks pecking away at his life total. I had Path, Sun Titan, 2 Hawks,and a Snapcaster Mage in hand with Vendilion Clique in the bin. So at the end of his turn, I Path a Hawk fetching my 6th land, untap for my turn, draw a Mana Leak, and slam Titan bringing back V. Clique. Ballsy play but it was not only 'Techy' but the correct line if I was going to win. Still lost the match. Tron is tough when you don't draw a Tec Edge. All in all, it was a good day and Caw-Blade is sooo strong. My friends thought this deck was too 'fair' but most of the time you're opponents are losing against this deck until they actually win due to your strong creatures, CA, and the best counter-suite this format can offer.
4x Snapcaster Mage
3x Vendillion Clique
3x Spell Snare
4x Mana Leak
4x Lightning Bolt
4x Path to Exile
2x Jace Beleran
1x Engineered Explosives
1x Sword of Feast and Famine
1x Sword of War and Peace
3x Spell Snare
3x Cryptic Command
1x Steelshaper's Gift
1x Arid Mesa
2x Celestial Colonade
2x Hallowed Fountain
3x Island
2x Moorland Haunt
1x Pendlehaven
1x Plains
1x Sacred Foundry
4x Scalding Tarn
3x Seachrome Coast
1x Steam Vents
2x Tectonic Edge
1x Tolaria West
1x Tormod's Crypt
1x Relic of Progenitus
2x Combust
2x Disenchant
1x Mortarpod
3x Timely Reinforcements
2x Wrath of God
1x Batterskull
2x Bribery
The Bolts were all stars all day and I think are definitely worth including in the deck, the Tolaria West + toolbox was also very powerful, saved me against aggro-loam letting me fetch up the crypt to exile his yard before things got out of hand.
I'm not sure about the sword package and might move the swords to the sideboard and put the batterksull along with mortarpod to the main. The bribery was a last minute inclusion against an expectation of tron (which I never faced). I originally had Teferi's Moat in the spot for Jund, so I might switch back to that or Threads of Disloyalty.
The only deck I lost to in the swiss was Mono-U fairies, but it felt pretty even. Jund feels like a bad matchup so I want to work on improving it. It didn't help that he drew 4 discard effects + 3 bloodbraid elves in game 2.
All in all I'm really happy with the deck and intend to keep running it.
T2
:symw::symb::symu:Spirits:symw::symb::symu:
Modern
:symu::symr::symw:Caw:symu::symr::symw:
Congrats on your result...obviously there's a few of you out who are able to get results so I'm well aware there's a fault either with my piloting or my particular list rather than me calling the deck bad ;-)
Control role is where I've tried to be but so far I've felt thoroughly out-thwarted or outclassed. Two examples:
Faeries I'm putting down as good pilot on their side, inexperience on mine...but suffice to say they had more counters and used winning a counter war as a platform to win. As much as I was determined to let them make the first move, Mutavault alone was a better clock than I could begin to press so things got out of hand.
Affinity if they were obliging enough to play into spell pierce then it was happy days and they might run out of gas. The issue was when they could drop a signal pest and a few 0 drops to force me to act. I'm familiar enough with the affinity side of this match as well, which probably influenced my play, but it felt like they had a more than reasonable chance of playing around my spell snare to open me up or could keep jamming 2 drops until I didn't have the answer (4 Steel Overseer, 4 Cranial Plating, 4 Arcbound Ravager).
I probably need to mess around with my deck a lot more, but I certainly don't have the time to build the experience needed to PTQ with it in a week's time (busy job :-( ). The worry was that when I did stabilise it felt as though I was a bricked draw or two away from them just taking back over.
Inkfox Aesthetics by Xen
As for Affinity, I think your must counters are Cranial Plating and Etched Champion. Plating will ultimately just one shot kill you and Champion will grind you down. If both hit the field you're just screwed, obviously. Affinity is actually pretty good for us, but there is so many versions that you must know which one you're playing against.
Experience is definitely the key to success with Caw. If you've played Caw during Standard then I highly recommend sticking with the deck as it will reward you. Also, looking at the list you posted, try taking out the Remands and replacing them with Mana Leaks. I dislike Swords in this deck because the efficiency of the removal in this format makes equipping a liability. Another thing to note, always side out your artifacts (Notable exceptions are the Mirror, Faeries, and other Shackle dominating MU's). Your opponent will always be packing Grudges or Disenchants which will be dead draws.
4 Hawks
4 Snapcasters
4 V. Clique
2 Elspeth, Knight
4 Cryptic
3 Leak
3 Snare
4 Path
2 v. shackles
1 Steelshaper's Gift
1 Mortarpod
1 Batterskull
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
3 Collenade
1 Moorland Haunt
3 Tec. Edge
1 Mystic Gate
2 Hallowed Fountains
4 Seachrome Coast
6 Islands
2 Plains
1 Arid Mesa
3 x/U Fetchs
Sideboard
2 Disenchant
2 Wrath of God
2 Dispel
4 Kitchen Finks
2 Leyline of Sanctity
1 Sword of War And Peace
2 Relic of Prog.
The Elspeth's helped the Tron matchup a fair amount by upping the pressure I was able to apply, but got boarded out for almost everything else, mortarpod is sooo good and it is silly with v. shackles.
I'm tweaking it for another PTQ in Fargo, so any tip critiques whatnot are appreciated.
Forever Dreaming.
I believe Faeries is probably a little less than 50/50 for us. If we can resolve Hawks and/or Jace Beleren (of course), it helps a bunch. However, sometimes they can just aggro us to death with Cliques and Scion of Oona. Vedalken Shackles is tough because theirs are better than ours. I would mainboard a Disenchant if we really fear this matchup. I am 3-1 in this matchup so far (mostly due to good draws in 3 of those matches).
Affinity seems pretty poor for us. I played a game where I Spell Snare Cranial Plating 3 times only to get 3 Galvanic Blasts to the face while at 12 life and 3 artifacts in play for him. They are just too quick and have burn as backup. You must draw Spell Snares at the right times (early). I am 0-2 so far in matches here.
The player who won the Costa Mesa PTQ with Splinter Twin was my opponent in Round 4 at San Diego a few weeks ago, with my Caw Blade beating him to go to 4-0 at the time (finished 0-1-2 to miss the top 8 though). He is a really good player but I feel confident vs. Splinter Twin. I also feel confident vs. Jund (although they can have god draws) even though 2 of those Jund players in San Diego took mind numbing time playing, causing me 2 ties instead of wins, knocking me from top 8 contention.
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/
Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander -
Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build)(dead format for me)4x snapcaster mage
3x geist of saint taft
2x Grim Lavamancer
2x Vendilion Clique
1x Sword of Fire and Ice
1x Sword of War and Peace
4x Lightning Helix
4x Lightning bolt
4x Path to exile
4x Serum Visions
4x Mana Leak
2x Arid Mesa
2x Scalding Tarn
2x Hallowed Fountain
2x Steam Vents
2x Sacred Foundry
2x Mountain
2x Plains
2x Island
1x Watery Grave
2x Celestial Collonade
4x Seachrome coast
2x Threads of disloyalty
4x Gifts ungiven
1x iona
1x Unburial rites
3x Kataki, war's wage
2x Disenchant
So, this is a deck that i would like to try out on the next PTQ.
But i dont know if I should replace Grim Lavamancer for something else because it doesnt work well with snapcaster....
Thank you for Heroes of the Plane Studios for this awesome sig.
Legacy:
Shardlessless BUG (active)
Shardless BUG (retired)
UW Stoneblade (retired)
Maveric (retired)
Thopters (retired)
Dark Horizons (retired)
Dreadstill (retired)
Armageddon Staxx (retired)
- You think it is over, but Ibraman has just begun...
- When it rains, women get wet.
Having the extra removal in Bolt really changes the affinity matchup to be pretty favorable (as well as the MD explosives). The extra removal is really worth giving a try.
T2
:symw::symb::symu:Spirits:symw::symb::symu:
Modern
:symu::symr::symw:Caw:symu::symr::symw:
Clique into Ajani/Elspeth is going to win a lot of games.
I've found the red splash really helps a lot of the match ups, the extra removal is pretty valuable. I haven't had an opportunity to test AJ but I suspect he could be really powerful, though I don't think the deck really wants to tap out on T4 for him.
T2
:symw::symb::symu:Spirits:symw::symb::symu:
Modern
:symu::symr::symw:Caw:symu::symr::symw:
UB/x Faeries
UR Storm
XURWB Affinity
G Elves
UW control