MTG Salvation

If a Spell has 2 targets, only 1 needs to be valid for the spell to resolve

For all the Blood Moon advocates. Do you adjust your manabase with more basics or just rely on cycling access to your couple of basics prior to slamming it? I already run a couple of basics for opposing blood moons (or Path to exile). I assume land cyclers are vital with this strat but it does require playing "lesser" cyclers than those we have available. I suppose it doesn't matter what you kill them with if you have shut them down. How many blood moons is enough to ensure topdecking one before they are able to get positioned to mess with your plans?

I play three basics, 2 swamp 1 forest. 4 catacombs 1 foothills 1 mire. 4 blackcleave, 3 grove 1 tomb 1 stomping 1 blood crypt (19 total). Post board my fetches only grab basics unless I already have them in hand. Swamp cycles everything except ceradon. Once you have blood moon, swamp + any land = all your mana required.

Agreed, sometimes six feels heavy. I played 8 originally, when the meta was faster, but I don’t feel that need right now.

Vs decks I want the moons, life loss doesn’t really matter very often

Anybody tried combining Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker combo in a living end deck?
I used to combine living end with Splinter twin combo before the ban, and it can really catch opponents off guard at times.

Interesting stats from the latest modern GP. And the conversion to 9-32 list

It certainly looks like a favorable field for LE with the exception of burn. Interesting to see the deck with the highest day 2 conversion fail to convert any to top 32 though.

Though the meta could easily shift to account for this pool similar to how grave hate fluctuates as a meta call.

I'm definitely shaving down the combo hate to just two lost legacy, keeping the 4 leylines is still fine (burn and some incidental combo hate). I'm also looking to convert the 4 architects of will to something else as goyf and bolts are more prevalent and that it also dies to push as well. Experimenting on what to replace it with, currently on 2/2 split of archfiend and deadshot minotaur. While I wasn't hot on archfiend in the GDS dominated meta, I think a shift to midrange meta can afford a 2 mana cycler that isn't looking for specific lands, i'm also testing it in conjunction with 2 mb shriekmaw to deal with early aggro creatures.

edit: how could I forget, the distinct lack of blue control decks, certainly very helpful us

Against Burn, Gnaw to the Bone might be a better choice compared to Brindle Boar. It's instant speed and you can cast them in response to opponent's Skullcrack.
Also, you should board out your Fulminator Mage too. There's really not much chance to cast it against burn.
Anyway, your sideboard options aren't really ideal against Burn matchups.
Probably you'll need to add in 1 more Shriekmaw and some enchantment removals against Rest in Peace. (I personally play Krosan Grip)

Honestly, none of the green life gain options (board, gnaw, spike) are slam dunks. I've experimented with all of them and the very fact that they're 3 mana is problematic as turn 3 is a critical turn where we'd like to sweep the board and instead have to waste it on playing one of these. Not to mention burn decks are playing anti-life gain cards in both MB and SB so not only is it a crapshoot if we draw it, but a crapshoot if it even works.

I've resigned to just jam 4 leylines. Yeah it's a dead draw any other time but when we have it, the odds of us winning are so much better than the green life gain cards plus it also incidentally hates out other decks like storm, valakut, lantern, etc. Dedicating slots to just one archetype isn't good sideboarding strategy and that's what the green life gain cards represent for us.

It'd be really helpful to know what your main is, Nash. I do like having as many shriekmaws, ssgs, and boars/etc. that you have in the list in the deck against burn.

Woo, Raver speaks the truth. I've been in the Leyline of Sanctity boat for a while. I realized its power after playing with it against lantern control. Against Burn now a' days I dedicate my sideboard slots to the Leyline as its good against multiple decks. I used to use brindle board and it was only good against just Burn. But that is just me though, I've come to value flexibilty over savage hosing cards in my SB.

For reference, here's what i'm currently experimenting with/running



Against burn i'd go something like

-2 faerie macabre
-3 beast withins

+4 leyline
+1 Shriekmaw

My thought process on not cutting street wraiths is that i'm aggressively mulling for leylines, some guy did the math and mulling to 5 produces very good odds of having at least one leyline in the opener so i'm playing the numbers and it's either boom or bust for me, very few hands are going to get me to keep it if it doesn't have leylines otherwise.

As for replacements in the sb, whatever you had for burn originally gets shaved for leylines, possible some anti-combo stuff (there's a lot of overlap with leyline)

Quote from KotNash0r »

Also kessig wolf run is quite interesting to force through some, also makes ifnir less clunky, i guess.

Ran a one-of ever since Eldrazi Winter, the downsides are paltry compared to the upside of just stealing games out of nowhere.

Are you cutting the beast withins since your burn opponents do not play RiP? or is it more like "if they're having it i wont win anyway"?

I cut beast withins because i'm assuming i'm going to have a leyline out, under those circumstances, even if they land a RiP, i'm just going to board wipe and hardcast creatures.

Interesting points you made especially the Shriekmaws main. Like stated above i test a lot against affinity so i'm always intrigued to not play it but maybe i should give it a try. I've just recently cut the 3rd trap because i usually only need one and tend to draw them in multiples if i play more than 2

I'm of the opinion that the upsides of shriekmaw main far outweight the downsides currently, think of all the decks that have creatures for shriekmaw to catch (and important ones at that) and compare that to decks that don't. Only time I wouldn't play it main in this current meta is if i'm going to a small local and familiar inbred meta.

What's the plan vs Humans? Is it worth mainboarding Shriekmaw now since it's so popular? 2 Beast Within doesn't seem enough for 4(sometimes 8 with Image) Meddling Mage.

Anger or Bontu's out of the SB is an option as well but I don't like going that route.

Humans is a bit of a pain in the ass for me, i'm on 3 shriekmaw with 2/1 split mb/sb with humans very much in mind and i've got an anger as well.

Personally I think anger is quite good, they'd have to name it separately with mage and unlike cascading into LE, it won't cost 5 with Thalia out, anger will only cost 4. That extra turn for land can be quite critical in this matchup. Plus it does have other incidental applications for matchups that are popular in the meta like dredge, dredge variants, affinity, and even hollow one can get blown out with their recursive creatures.

Quote from Raver »

For reference, here's what i'm currently experimenting with/running

Dimian's DeckMagic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards
4 Street Wraith 4 Fulminator Mage 3 Simian Spirit Guide 2 Faerie Macabre 4 Desert Cerodon 4 Horror of the Broken Lands 2 Deadshot minotaur 2 Archfiend of ifnir 2 shriekmaw 4 Violent Outburst 3 Beast Within 3 Demonic Dread 3 Living End 1 Kari Zev's Expertise	4 Blackcleave Cliffs 1 Copperline Gorge 1 Overgrown Tomb 1 Stomping Ground 1 Blood Crypt 1 Swamp 1 Forest 1 mountain 1 Godless Shrine 1 Kessig Wolf Run 1 Blooming Marsh 4 Verdant Catacombs 1 Bloodstain mire	SB 1 Faerie Macabre 1 Anger of the gods 3 Ingot Chewer 1 Shriekmaw 3 Ricochet Trap 4 Leyline of Sanctity 2 Lost legacy

May I ask why you are running Deadshot Minotaur instead of Monstrous Carabid? I think Minotaur is worse than Carabid if LE resolves and puts Shriekmaw and Minotaur to battlefield and Shriekmaw has to target a non-black creature.

Anyway I like your idea with having Shriekmaw in mainboard right now when current meta is heavy on humans and storm.

Quote from Dimian »

May I ask why you are running Deadshot Minotaur instead of Monstrous Carabid? I think Minotaur is worse than Carabid if LE resolves and puts Shriekmaw and Minotaur to battlefield and Shriekmaw has to target a non-black creature.

Anyway I like your idea with having Shriekmaw in mainboard right now when current meta is heavy on humans and storm.

Never was a fan of monstrous carabid, was the first creature to be cut when the new cyclers came out. I value the flexibility of being able to block or not attack over the extra point in power and even last meta when I was still on architects so the extra point in power and toughness.

With etb interactions, I generally wouldn't run out a shriekmaw without a target and rarely use it on a token where a resulting LE would force me to kill my own creatures. In all my time playing the deck, the issue has come up maybe once? It's easy to avoid otherwise.

Frankly i'm more concerned with deadshot shooting faerie, but i'm on archfiend so there's a potential outlet for that etb.

Hey guys, I’ve been over at the Jund thread for awhile now, figured I’d stop in and see what’s shakin’.

Do we have a champion out there right now representing and advocating for us? I value all the grinders’ experiences and observations and whatnot, but it’d be nice if we had our own Duke in our corner or some SCG articles to mull over. Anyone know any good streams/videos?

Is there any kind of consensus right now on what the deck should look like? All the lists lately have been running so many Archfiends. It’s such a bad cycler. Can someone tell me why it’s a four-of in so many list? I’m guessing it’s for our secondary game plan, which is hardcasting fatties? The format has slowed down a bit so I can see where he can be considered more applicable than before. Macabre seems a little worse and Fulminator a little better than before. I think I’d run a 2/4 split of them now. Before the unban and meta shift I was running 4/3.

On Grove of the Burnwillows, I like the card a lot. What’s the right call? Two, three, or four copies?

I put the deck down for awhile because I love Jund and had to take advantage of getting BBE back, but by now I’ve gotten quite a few tournaments in with it and I’d like to start shaking things up at my LGS and running LE again, albeit intermittently.

I’m trying to find some opinions or someone I can take as an authority on the matter to help me build this deck again for the new meta.

I'd say our LE advocate is PVDDR, he's probably the most well versed with the deck in the pro scene and heavily implied to have tested it extensively at various points.

Hi guys, veteran modern grinder, new to living end! I’m 8 wins from 13 in comp rel games and probs taking the deck to gp Sydney in2 weeks. Just wanted to throw my hat in the ring on the leyline vs boar discussion. Leyline. Every time. I mulled to 3 against burn and kept 2 living end and a leyline. He turn 2 cast rip and I still won easily. That’s real hot stuff. I sided out faerie Macabre and arch fiend in the match

Thanks for the responses, guys. I had just started getting comfortable and decently proficient (very proficient for me!) when I put LE down, so I’m excited to start running it again. I think this is where I would like to start, moving forward:



As far as the SB goes, I’m kind of perplexed. Is everyone really condoning Leyline right now? I just recently acquired 4x of them for the Bogles deck I just put together. I wanted a deck I could pilot if I was whisky-drunk on a Friday night. You put the things on your dudes and turn them sideways, unless you have a Coronet and then you don’t have to turn them sideways. All half-joking aside, four slots is quite the commitment for a SB card. Let me take a crack at a SB with Leyline and maybe y’all could help me with it:



Whadaya think? Any advice is greatly appreciated, as always. I’m pretty stoked about running LE again.