Hey great showing and great post! I'm curious as to your Mulligan decisions, I'm still learning this version so any advice on mulls would be worth it's weight in gold. I play a simic Mana base with whirs but the majority of our decks overlap. thanks!
I've been a big fan of lingering souls for gds/h1.
Gds has too much interaction to rely on comboing, I enjoy playing the twin approach of keeping enough artifacts in play that they have to respect it but they have enough stub/creject that you'll never be able to force throughthe kci
Whir also shines as you can whir out the grid or coil while their gurmog is on the stack so stub is just a force spike
In the paper world, is it worth it to do the resiviour plan? Also is there a Sideboarding guide? I went through a few pages but failed to find. I built this and plan to make it my primary over tron until the tron hate dies down a little.
In the paper world, is it worth it to do the resiviour plan? Also is there a Sideboarding guide? I went through a few pages but failed to find. I built this and plan to make it my primary over tron until the tron hate dies down a little.
If you are on the Matt Nass version then heres some tips from him concerning the combo/sideboarding: https://www.channelfireball.com/articles/how-to-kci/. As far as aetherflux reservoir is concerned, I run it online as my wincon, but the pyrite loops are way superior in paper because they are interaction as well as card draw at any point before we combo off. Once we combo it doesnt matter how we win- we have infinite mana and draw the deck, so it makes sense to play a card that doubles as the win as well as helping us get to that point.
Hey guys! I don't own the deck but I have a lot of cards for it.. I've been thinking about starting to play it
Just a quick question though.. Since the deck gets a bit confusing
Can an opponent surgically extract Scrap Trawler or Myr Retriever with their trigger on the stack to break up the combo?
Thanks!
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UU"Brute force can sometimes kick down a locked door, but knowledge is a skeleton key"UU
Surgical Extraction is an excellent tool against us for that reason, if you suspect it never expose key pieces like Pyrite/Retriever/Trawler without building up your board to protect them. Buried Ruin is great, as well as having an extra KCI in play.
Surgical Extraction is an excellent tool against us for that reason, if you suspect it never expose key pieces like Pyrite/Retriever/Trawler without building up your board to protect them. Buried Ruin is great, as well as having an extra KCI in play.
Also, a Retriever alone is enough to dodge Surgical (as long as it's not the target)
Mulligan decisions are pretty straightforward for the most part. The deck requires certain pieces in play to win, so most hands should be evaluated first by "how fast can I make that happen." You usually want to have a hand that can put a KCI into play by turn 4, or at least have a gameplan to do so (multiple wellsprings, ramp, etc). Most hands that have a turn 1 active mopal (mopal, darksteel, egg) are pretty much snap keeps unless the rest of the hand does nothing. For hands that are slower but more redundant, we need to have interaction (ee or spellbomb) which is doubly important if you know your opponent is playing a creature-disruption based deck such as humans or burn.
Ideal starting hands
2-3 lands
Acceleration (mopal or mind stone)
Cantrips/dig (eggs, wellspring, stirrings)
A combo piece (kci or trawler)
Some hands from my Vegas tournament
OTD g3 versus humans
Mopal, EE, star, stirrings, spellbomb. (mull to 5, he kept 6)
I kept this hand on the draw because of a few things. If I hit a land, I can cast my hand turn 1 and have access to disruption and dig on top of that. If I hit another EE, I can stirrings into the land and at least present a bit of a fight. I have a scry, and minimum 2 drawsteps to find a relevant card.
OTD vs Grishoalbrand g2
Mopal, Citadel, Citadel, KCI, EE, Egg, Ichor
This hand is turn 1 opal active (acceleration), interaction with chalice of the void and leyline (EE), cantrips (egg/ichor) and combo piece (KCI). I snap kept this, and was rewarded with a 2nd mopal off the top into scrap trawler to kill my opponent on turn 2
OTD vs Unknown g1
Citadel, Ruin, Fair, Forest, Egg, Egg, Egg
On the draw I mulled this. While it may seem fine enough, I have 4 draws to hit combo pieces, acceleration, and potential interaction if needed. While it may seem fine, hands like this can be really loose if you fail to find in the top 4 cards or just draw more cantrips. Any thalia matchup and this hand is terrible, same thing with opposing combo decks.
Mulled into
Citadel, Egg, Opal, Wellspring, Mindstone, KCI
Keep, scry fair to the top. Win on turn 3
It may seem counter intuitive, but when saccing things to first start generating mana put as many rocks and wellsprings into play before you play trawler. If your opponent goes after it with the trigger on the stack, you are able to build up enough value to draw another and continue chaining. Surgical can sometimes put a damper on things, but if you have sequenced correctly with myr retriever, playing multiple trawlers, or have buried ruin in play its very difficult for the opponent to disrupt you. I have also been a fan of boarding in defense grid (and now silence) vs surgical decks to mess with their disruption. Postboard against extraction decks you should be bringing in alternative win-conditions as well.
Isn't Molten Nursery an option as well? I mean a split with Grid on the sideboard. And it can be picked up by Stirrings.
I will play this deck on the weekend and keep you people posted.
After a fashion, yes. But until we reach peak meddling mage meta, we won't be playing this card.
The reason is pretty straightforward. When you drop your three mana enchantment on the third turn, you want it to impact the board immediately and potentially synergies with the cards you've already cast on turn 1 or 2. Grid does that, but nursery asks for you to also be able to combo off after casting your three mana enchantment. As such I'm not a fan of this alternative unless something super weird happens.
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Modern: G Tron, Vannifar, Jund, Druid/Vizier combo, Humans, Eldrazi Stompy (Serum Powder), Amulet, Grishoalbrand, Breach Titan, Turns, Eternal Command, As Foretold Living End, Elves, Cheerios, RUG Scapeshift
Howout Impact Tremors in exchange of the 2nd Pyrite? Some decks have main Leyline of Sanctity?
Not maindeck. Can't be sacced or recurred with kci/trawler so it's a dead card until you reach 100% combo
Sideboard, in a weird meta I can see that maybe being a thing although the correct response is usually to just draw your deck and cast engineered explosives on 4, or just cast nature's claim because against white decks you always bring it in to hit Stony silence.
So really I don't think you need the impact tremors although in a funsies kinda way it's a great casual piece of tech and very fun.
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Modern: G Tron, Vannifar, Jund, Druid/Vizier combo, Humans, Eldrazi Stompy (Serum Powder), Amulet, Grishoalbrand, Breach Titan, Turns, Eternal Command, As Foretold Living End, Elves, Cheerios, RUG Scapeshift
5th place in a PPTQ this weekend. Not a big event, 28 people I think. Played Nass' most recent list with the blue sideboard.
Round 1 Humans 2-0
Game 1 opponent kept an aggro hand with no disruption. I turn 3d him.
Game 2 He leads with vial, then follows with thalia and meddling mage. I end up playing Sai then casting EE on 2. Win the game off the back of 15 thopter tokens. Sai is a beast.
Round 2 UW Spirits 1-2
I get game 1 off of a quick combo when he taps out for threats instead of holding up a queller. Game 2 I mull to 5 and keep a 1 lander with 2 eggs and 2 KCI. It ends up real bad as I dont draw a land until its too late. Game 3 I let the previous game influence me and kept a hand with 4 lands, then drew 4 more en route to getting stomped.
Round 3 Grishoalbrand 2-1
A typical "2 ships passing in the night matchup. I'm on the play game 1 and while he stocks his yard he never finds a Goryos. I get him on turn 4. Game 2 he turn 2s me. Game 3 I play an egg then hold up negate for a couple turns. He taps out to dig on his turn 4 so I win on the next turn.
Round 4 Titanshift 2-0
I play Scapeshift as well, so while I havent played against KCI from the Scapeshift side of things I always assumed it was a great KCI matchup. Turned out I was right as game 1 I was just the faster combo deck. Game 2 I brought in negates as Im no worried about a titan so much. but Scapeshift will just win him the game. I mull to 5, but it was a really good 5- egg, citadel, mind stone, wellspring, buried ruin; Opal scried to top. He had a fast start with double ramps and got a titan off, but I was able to kill him the next turn.
Round 5 Storm 2-1
This match was against a very good storm player from my LGS, whom I have never beaten on KCI, although our games have gotten closer and closer as I have grown more familiar and comfortable with the deck. Broke through at the right time. I honestly dont remember too much about these games as they were some of the most intense I have played in a while. Game 1 was a non interactive win for me, but after we each sided in our interactive spells the games were insanely intense close affairs.
This was not my LGS, but my store brought a good group of player to this event and it showed. We took 7 of the top 8 spots in the event.
Top 8 Jeskai Control 1-2
I got game one after eating up his hard counters with a couple KCIs and an EE on 5(!) to try to kill Teferi. Resolved a KCI the turn after that and was able to combo off. I bring in 3 Sai, 3 negates, and 4 claims. In hindsight Im pretty sure I over boarded but im not sure what not to bring in. Maybe fewer claims? Game 2 He has a counter for every KCI then ends up ulting Teferi on the back of 2 dampening spheres. I play a few more turns then concede. Game 3 I am able to sneak Sai out early, and end up with 5 thopters before he finds a way to deal with Sai. This very nearly wins me the game as i get him to 3. By the time he kills them all I have a pyrite and Trawler on board, 2 claims in hand, and am otherwise top decking. He Wear Tears the Trawler, So I pyrite in response then return pyrite with the trawler trigger. He activates collonade and attacks with it and a snap for exactly lethal, so i claim my own citadel, wich he dispels, then try it again. Another dispel. Oh well.
Sai is awesome in this deck. I think I was lucky in not facing any Stonys or even any Graveyard hate. This deck is a blast to play and I'm so glad I made the switch to it, even if it does eat a ban in a few months (although I dont think it should... hopefully).
if it isnt out already i would name ironworks as that is the engine especially because you dont care about EE recursion. Tawler would be the second target. ancient grudges should be allstars here though as they delay turns and honestly thats what you need to do. its just a counting game for you and the kci player.
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Tooth & Nail........Grishoalbrand....Living Dominance....Tezzerator.........Vannifar Pod
My Decks that have been BANNED
DRS Jund | Kiki-Pod | Bloom Titan | Splinter Twin | KCI
Im trying to hedge into this deck, but for now I want to make a more budget friendly deck without mopal and EE. In place of their slots I'm running 4x Mishra's Baubl and 2-3x Everflowing Chalice. Without Mopa, is it possible to do the spellbomb loop? Or should I use self-replicator instead, which is obviously worse but works without Mopal.
I have done a hell of a lot of testing, and I am making eggs instead. KCI lacks explosiveness without mox, and the eggs deck is jankier and more consistent.
EDIT: More consistent than non mox KCI that is
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Gds has too much interaction to rely on comboing, I enjoy playing the twin approach of keeping enough artifacts in play that they have to respect it but they have enough stub/creject that you'll never be able to force throughthe kci
Whir also shines as you can whir out the grid or coil while their gurmog is on the stack so stub is just a force spike
Bauble and bridge are also great in this match
Just a quick question though.. Since the deck gets a bit confusing
Can an opponent surgically extract Scrap Trawler or Myr Retriever with their trigger on the stack to break up the combo?
Thanks!
Tooth & Nail........Grishoalbrand....Living Dominance....Tezzerator.........Vannifar Pod
My Decks that have been BANNED
DRS Jund | Kiki-Pod | Bloom Titan | Splinter Twin | KCI
Also, a Retriever alone is enough to dodge Surgical (as long as it's not the target)
Affinity
GR Eggs GR
UR Storm UR
BR Hollow One BR
WUR Cheerios WUR
G Mono-Green Control G
Ideal starting hands
2-3 lands
Acceleration (mopal or mind stone)
Cantrips/dig (eggs, wellspring, stirrings)
A combo piece (kci or trawler)
Some hands from my Vegas tournament
OTD g3 versus humans
Mopal, EE, star, stirrings, spellbomb. (mull to 5, he kept 6)
I kept this hand on the draw because of a few things. If I hit a land, I can cast my hand turn 1 and have access to disruption and dig on top of that. If I hit another EE, I can stirrings into the land and at least present a bit of a fight. I have a scry, and minimum 2 drawsteps to find a relevant card.
OTD vs Grishoalbrand g2
Mopal, Citadel, Citadel, KCI, EE, Egg, Ichor
This hand is turn 1 opal active (acceleration), interaction with chalice of the void and leyline (EE), cantrips (egg/ichor) and combo piece (KCI). I snap kept this, and was rewarded with a 2nd mopal off the top into scrap trawler to kill my opponent on turn 2
OTD vs Unknown g1
Citadel, Ruin, Fair, Forest, Egg, Egg, Egg
On the draw I mulled this. While it may seem fine enough, I have 4 draws to hit combo pieces, acceleration, and potential interaction if needed. While it may seem fine, hands like this can be really loose if you fail to find in the top 4 cards or just draw more cantrips. Any thalia matchup and this hand is terrible, same thing with opposing combo decks.
Mulled into
Citadel, Egg, Opal, Wellspring, Mindstone, KCI
Keep, scry fair to the top. Win on turn 3
It may seem counter intuitive, but when saccing things to first start generating mana put as many rocks and wellsprings into play before you play trawler. If your opponent goes after it with the trigger on the stack, you are able to build up enough value to draw another and continue chaining. Surgical can sometimes put a damper on things, but if you have sequenced correctly with myr retriever, playing multiple trawlers, or have buried ruin in play its very difficult for the opponent to disrupt you. I have also been a fan of boarding in defense grid (and now silence) vs surgical decks to mess with their disruption. Postboard against extraction decks you should be bringing in alternative win-conditions as well.
I will play this deck on the weekend and keep you people posted.
After a fashion, yes. But until we reach peak meddling mage meta, we won't be playing this card.
The reason is pretty straightforward. When you drop your three mana enchantment on the third turn, you want it to impact the board immediately and potentially synergies with the cards you've already cast on turn 1 or 2. Grid does that, but nursery asks for you to also be able to combo off after casting your three mana enchantment. As such I'm not a fan of this alternative unless something super weird happens.
Not maindeck. Can't be sacced or recurred with kci/trawler so it's a dead card until you reach 100% combo
Sideboard, in a weird meta I can see that maybe being a thing although the correct response is usually to just draw your deck and cast engineered explosives on 4, or just cast nature's claim because against white decks you always bring it in to hit Stony silence.
So really I don't think you need the impact tremors although in a funsies kinda way it's a great casual piece of tech and very fun.
Round 1 Humans 2-0
Game 1 opponent kept an aggro hand with no disruption. I turn 3d him.
Game 2 He leads with vial, then follows with thalia and meddling mage. I end up playing Sai then casting EE on 2. Win the game off the back of 15 thopter tokens. Sai is a beast.
Round 2 UW Spirits 1-2
I get game 1 off of a quick combo when he taps out for threats instead of holding up a queller. Game 2 I mull to 5 and keep a 1 lander with 2 eggs and 2 KCI. It ends up real bad as I dont draw a land until its too late. Game 3 I let the previous game influence me and kept a hand with 4 lands, then drew 4 more en route to getting stomped.
Round 3 Grishoalbrand 2-1
A typical "2 ships passing in the night matchup. I'm on the play game 1 and while he stocks his yard he never finds a Goryos. I get him on turn 4. Game 2 he turn 2s me. Game 3 I play an egg then hold up negate for a couple turns. He taps out to dig on his turn 4 so I win on the next turn.
Round 4 Titanshift 2-0
I play Scapeshift as well, so while I havent played against KCI from the Scapeshift side of things I always assumed it was a great KCI matchup. Turned out I was right as game 1 I was just the faster combo deck. Game 2 I brought in negates as Im no worried about a titan so much. but Scapeshift will just win him the game. I mull to 5, but it was a really good 5- egg, citadel, mind stone, wellspring, buried ruin; Opal scried to top. He had a fast start with double ramps and got a titan off, but I was able to kill him the next turn.
Round 5 Storm 2-1
This match was against a very good storm player from my LGS, whom I have never beaten on KCI, although our games have gotten closer and closer as I have grown more familiar and comfortable with the deck. Broke through at the right time. I honestly dont remember too much about these games as they were some of the most intense I have played in a while. Game 1 was a non interactive win for me, but after we each sided in our interactive spells the games were insanely intense close affairs.
This was not my LGS, but my store brought a good group of player to this event and it showed. We took 7 of the top 8 spots in the event.
Top 8 Jeskai Control 1-2
I got game one after eating up his hard counters with a couple KCIs and an EE on 5(!) to try to kill Teferi. Resolved a KCI the turn after that and was able to combo off. I bring in 3 Sai, 3 negates, and 4 claims. In hindsight Im pretty sure I over boarded but im not sure what not to bring in. Maybe fewer claims? Game 2 He has a counter for every KCI then ends up ulting Teferi on the back of 2 dampening spheres. I play a few more turns then concede. Game 3 I am able to sneak Sai out early, and end up with 5 thopters before he finds a way to deal with Sai. This very nearly wins me the game as i get him to 3. By the time he kills them all I have a pyrite and Trawler on board, 2 claims in hand, and am otherwise top decking. He Wear Tears the Trawler, So I pyrite in response then return pyrite with the trawler trigger. He activates collonade and attacks with it and a snap for exactly lethal, so i claim my own citadel, wich he dispels, then try it again. Another dispel. Oh well.
Sai is awesome in this deck. I think I was lucky in not facing any Stonys or even any Graveyard hate. This deck is a blast to play and I'm so glad I made the switch to it, even if it does eat a ban in a few months (although I dont think it should... hopefully).
Tooth & Nail........Grishoalbrand....Living Dominance....Tezzerator.........Vannifar Pod
My Decks that have been BANNED
DRS Jund | Kiki-Pod | Bloom Titan | Splinter Twin | KCI
Modern:
Pyro Prison
Sun and Moon
Eldrazi Stompy
EDIT: More consistent than non mox KCI that is