i've tested a bit shaman of the great hunt, and it's amazing... casting it on 3rd turn it's insame. Auto 4 slots for him.
What would you take out for him? Polukranos or Ashcloud Phoenix? His ability seems great with flyers but having both him and Polukranos makes the deck incredibly weak to Anger of the Gods.
The only things Lightning Strike kills that the 2-damage spells don't are Mantis Rider and Fleecemane Lion. Mantis Rider's been declining in popularity recently, and Lion isn't as big of a problem for us. I think the mana efficiency of Wild Slash is something that gives it an edge. Some times I want to go two-drop, removal spell on turn 3, or 3-drop, removal spell on turn 4. Also, it hedges against turbofog! Totally relevant, right? <_<
I guess another thing that Strike can do that Wild Slash and Magma Spray can't is take out a Seeker of the Way with Prowess backup. So, I do think there is some merit to playing Lightning Strike instead. However, I expect to see a lot less of that guy with Soulfire Grand Master around.
edit: Oh, it also kills a Monastery Swiftspear that has Prowess backup as well. So there is that to consider. I'm going to start with Wild Claw, I think, and if I hate it I'll switch back or drop it entirely. I used to run Strike but dropped it for Temur Charm.
So what do people think about the spoilers now that the full set is out? I don't think Temur got a whole lot of love compared to some other clans [aka Jeskai].
I will probably be playing some number of Magma Spray or Wild Slash in the main board to get rid of threats like Monastery Mentor and the Soul fire Grandmaster. If other people do the same then it might be worth just moving to a more midrange build to get rid of some of these 2-toughness creatures.
Shaman, Phoenix, and Yasova I want to be good but they all seem a bit too fragile. Still, i want to try them out. The Phoenix has resiliency and evasion so that is the most promising card to me. However it also requires the aggressive build to work properly, so I guess I will have to wait and see how the new meta shapes up.
So I am new to the deck and to the format. I am still building a deck and acquiring cards for Pod, but my meta is full of other Pod decks. What can I do to gain an edge in the mirror, and what is the general sideboard plan? Especially since I lack some big money cards like Linvala and Hierarch...I feel like I need a plan.
Obviously having both Pridemage and Sage maindeck is a start. I was also thinking a big, impossible to kill beater like Sigarda would help. It is either her or Lark for my third 5-drop spot and I am unsure how good Lark's recursion is in the mirror.
From my experience with Pod without infinite combos, if you don't have Linvala, you're screwed against Combo Pod. Stuff your sideboard and possibly maindeck with removal, board them in and take out weaker cards like Voice of Resurgence and Kitchen Finks, board in Aven Mindcensor, cross your fingers, add more Gavony Townships to your maindeck (I'd definitely run 3 if you anticipate a lot of Pod), and win that Township war.
I don't think the big, resilient guy is necessary against Pod, but evasive guys do help! Blood Baron of Vizkopa is a beating against current Junk Pod (Combo and No Combo) builds--it helps that he's immune to all our removal. I think mana dorks, Scavenging Ooze, Eternal Witness, Spellskite, Reclamation Sage, Melira, and Spike Feeder are the only guys who can block him in the current lists (but keep an eye out for all the other mono-green rogues). It's funny that Siege Rhino can't deal with him.
Well I was thinking Sigarda because of flying but Blood Baron seems like a fantastic idea. I think I'll try that out, thanks!
I definitely am putting some PTEs side. I am considering a Murderous Cut instead of a third 5-drop, LSV style (though I also plan on running the Angel combo). And definitely running 3 Townships
So I am new to the deck and to the format. I am still building a deck and acquiring cards for Pod, but my meta is full of other Pod decks. What can I do to gain an edge in the mirror, and what is the general sideboard plan? Especially since I lack some big money cards like Linvala and Hierarch...I feel like I need a plan.
This is tough because so many of the cards you need are also expensive. Linvala, Hierarch, Thoughtseize, these are all cards you need. My opinion is that if you lack these cards run more Siege Rhinos. From what you've said I would suggest a 4 Rhino setup. If you can't win with interaction just win with raw power.
I mean it's just Linvala, Hierarch, and Verdant Catacombs I'd be missing, and I expect them to be reprinted by MM2015 so no point in shelling out now. Those few cards are worth like a third of the entire deck's value. Everything else I have. In the meantime I am making do with Avacyn's Pilgrims, Wooded Foothills (not perfect mana but serviceable alongside Heath), and two Rhino + two Restos. My LGS allows proxies for some Modern events so it's even less of an issue but I would like some options for sanctioned tournies and the occasional Modern FNM.
I have seen some lists running Rhinos in sideboard and I gotta say 4 Rhino is pretty tempting if I will be against other Pods a whole lot.
So I am new to the deck and to the format. I am still building a deck and acquiring cards for Pod, but my meta is full of other Pod decks. What can I do to gain an edge in the mirror, and what is the general sideboard plan? Especially since I lack some big money cards like Linvala and Hierarch...I feel like I need a plan.
Obviously having both Pridemage and Sage maindeck is a start. I was also thinking a big, impossible to kill beater like Sigarda would help. It is either her or Lark for my third 5-drop spot and I am unsure how good Lark's recursion is in the mirror.
Yeah I don't like the Shaman at all. The 2 toughness is awkward and it can't compete with other 4 drops, most notably Siege Rhino. Our other 4-mana creatures can.
The new Phoenix, on the other hand, seems awesome. I am not sure if it is worth dropping Boon Satyr and lowering the Ferocious density in the deck, but it seems promising. That is my main concern (plus the Boon Satyr bestow is still an awesome mana sink), but other than that it seems great. I kind of want to play both Phoenix and Boon Satyr but I think that would make the deck have too many 3-drops.
Flying Doomwake Giant with Hexproof... Hard for me to judge but I don't think UB control wants it, by T6 They hopefully have already cleared the board to stabilize and larger creatures won't get hit because control doesn't want to have too many dragons as finishers. It does have a big butt though.
Sure they do....it's a big dumb Hexproof blocker that's impossible to get rid of, that doesn't die when they cast Crux of Fate, and kills all of your opponent's Insect tokens, goblin tokens, and Mana dorks when it attacks.
The elemental looks like an insane CA engine :
- every ETB creature is instant speed
I don't know if it fits to Pod or anywhere in the competitive pool, but it's a very sexy card on paper.
Actually it's a nonbo with ETB. They enter as generic 2/2s and when you flip them over the abilities don't trigger because they aren't entering. They're already there, ust turning face up. The creatures Pod plays get a lot worse when you can't get the ETB effect off them, especially against midrange matches where you are looking to grind off advantage with them. The free 2/2s are card advantage, but still seem awkward at best.
Another reason why Goyf is unlikely. 6 planes were named. Not sets, but planes. Out of those planes, you have a total of 18 sets to dig from.
Eighteen.
Modern masters 2015 is supposed to have 249 cards. You're building a set of 249 from EIGHTEEN sets. If I were wizards, why then would I also decide to throw Goyf in there?
It just doesn't make sense.
In the announcement video they said early on it covers all sets from Mirrodin to New Phyrexia. They specifically mention other sets like the core sets that weren't in the original Modern Masters. There's no reason to only think they'll only stick to certain planes and not take things from all those sets.
I mean, I don't think I'd say that aggro decks are decreasing -- and that's where Claws is at it's worst since you're using your whole turn removing a creature. Untapping and casting Crater's Claws on a Goblin Rabblemaster doesn't really feel that good considering they can untap and continue the threat presentation with a Sorin or Butcher or whatever 4-drop Jeskai is currently running. Or, y'know, another Rabblemaster.
Against the "tempo" decks like Mardu and Jeskai, I have noticed that going under is usually the way to go and that Crater's Claws doesn't help us go under. They have just as efficent answers to our threats as we do theirs. Given that Crater's Claws is rarely more than x=7 with ferocious, I'd much rather have a board stabilizer or a threat.
Generally speaking, I want my cards to be good regardless of whether I have ferocious or not; Crater's Claws feels like a mana intensive waste when you don't have ferocious which is my reasoning for 3x.
There are, of course, situations where the board has stalled and it's lethal but I find many more situations where I draw too many Crater's Claws and not enough threats.
TL;DR -- Crater's Claws is a great topdeck but clunky when drawn in the opener since you want to be applying pressure before you start to fire off Claws.
Edit: I suppose if you're talking about using Crater's Claws as a 4x of in a Courser style Temur deck it's probably great, but then we're talking about different style decks.
No, I'm not....Kibler popularized 4x Claws in his list that these aggro versions are based on. You are correct that we want to deploy threats which is why I'I'd never spend the whole turn clawing a guy if I have a threat I can play. You want to play a threat to try to get Claws online so you can do two things next turn. We do want to play a tempo game too. Strike doesn't actually help you there either unless you want to play an elf or hold up your 1-of Denial OR if you do it on their turn instead of developing your own board.
Minor nitpick-Jeskai doesn't play black spells. You are thinking of Mardu. Mardu is typically more midrange/control but they are so versatile that they can also assume the aggro role. Claws is super important here because we have so few good ways to interact with a resolved Butcher of the Horde. Temur Charm rarely is profitable and strike does actual nothing.
And it's just me; in my are it seems like people are moving away from decks strikes are good against like aggro. And even again't some decks like Heroic, strike has been awkward for me. Claws can at least scale up when you need it.
Edit: I don't want to come off as "Kibler played 4 so it must be good" but he did say he was most often using it for x=0. To me that says it is a card that gets better when you are on the beatdown plan since you will already have strong guys out.
Well Claws for x=0 or 1 is pretty great and in the early/mid game, dropping a Ferocious creature then doing that is a great way to gain tempo. I usually want to see it once or twice during a game. Once to burn away an early threat and again later to either burn them for game or clear out something I can't fight well with Temur Charm. I've also stopped running Lightning Strike because it feels like I side it out against everything but Jeskai and the increasingly rare other aggro decks, so the 4th Claws is more worthwhile. Since you have Sarkhan for additional removal you probably don't need to value it as highly. Main decked spell package is 4/3/3/ of Claws/Charm/Denial currently.
I mean, it just feels like I frequently get into the situation where I go "I can't get any more damage through but I can Claws for lethal" and that alone makes me want it as a 4 of.
Wow, you are going down in Mana (-1 Land, -4 Elvish Mystic) and go up in Mana Curve (Dragon) Sorry but I dont feel that is right.
In addition, in my games, Elvish Mystic was great. It was either a mana boost for Rabble or Knuckle, or an additional beater for 1.
I run 3 elves and 2 dragons main with 23 land. It is fine. I am not sure why that deck even is running 24 land and 6 dorks when it's curve tops out at only 4 4-drops and 2 boon Satyr that can be bestowed. I just don't like elf against control since it is a bad topdeck. Acceleration is not as good against their sweepers, counters, and removal, and if you are attacking with it you aren't playing spells, and the few damage is rarely relevant. Yeah, turn 2 knuckleblade is strong when you get to untap with it but when they can untapped and s-field or banishing light it it's not as good. For that reason I think having Knuckleblade with Denial backup is better.
I guess looking at the list I see it only has 2 Rattle claw, which is a big difference. I have 4, and they are still good since they ramp, fix, and beat for 2.
I like having access to both Stroke and Denial since we are fast bit not fast enough to get under control and midrange's big stuff. So you have denial for counters and strokes for their sweepers and finishers and Resolute Archangel. I tend to have to get involved in counter wars to protect threats and keep them off finishers against UW especially.
Well yeah but then if you have another dragon, Knuckleblade, or burn you can kill Elspeth.
I usually side out my elves since they don't do a whole lot in that matchup. I side out burn too, mainly strikes when I ran them since they don't do much. This list seems to be heavier in the burn plan so I guess it's ok. I think Polukranos is too good to side out because he is a huge threat. Looking at that list I would probably go:
-4 elf
-3 strike
-1 bow
-1 stoke
-1 scry land
How did you board against UW control? That seems like the exact matchup you want those sideboard cards in. Except for the mountain, not really sure what's up with that.
What would you take out for him? Polukranos or Ashcloud Phoenix? His ability seems great with flyers but having both him and Polukranos makes the deck incredibly weak to Anger of the Gods.
I guess another thing that Strike can do that Wild Slash and Magma Spray can't is take out a Seeker of the Way with Prowess backup. So, I do think there is some merit to playing Lightning Strike instead. However, I expect to see a lot less of that guy with Soulfire Grand Master around.
edit: Oh, it also kills a Monastery Swiftspear that has Prowess backup as well. So there is that to consider. I'm going to start with Wild Claw, I think, and if I hate it I'll switch back or drop it entirely. I used to run Strike but dropped it for Temur Charm.
I will probably be playing some number of Magma Spray or Wild Slash in the main board to get rid of threats like Monastery Mentor and the Soul fire Grandmaster. If other people do the same then it might be worth just moving to a more midrange build to get rid of some of these 2-toughness creatures.
Shaman, Phoenix, and Yasova I want to be good but they all seem a bit too fragile. Still, i want to try them out. The Phoenix has resiliency and evasion so that is the most promising card to me. However it also requires the aggressive build to work properly, so I guess I will have to wait and see how the new meta shapes up.
Well I was thinking Sigarda because of flying but Blood Baron seems like a fantastic idea. I think I'll try that out, thanks!
I definitely am putting some PTEs side. I am considering a Murderous Cut instead of a third 5-drop, LSV style (though I also plan on running the Angel combo). And definitely running 3 Townships
I mean it's just Linvala, Hierarch, and Verdant Catacombs I'd be missing, and I expect them to be reprinted by MM2015 so no point in shelling out now. Those few cards are worth like a third of the entire deck's value. Everything else I have. In the meantime I am making do with Avacyn's Pilgrims, Wooded Foothills (not perfect mana but serviceable alongside Heath), and two Rhino + two Restos. My LGS allows proxies for some Modern events so it's even less of an issue but I would like some options for sanctioned tournies and the occasional Modern FNM.
I have seen some lists running Rhinos in sideboard and I gotta say 4 Rhino is pretty tempting if I will be against other Pods a whole lot.
Obviously having both Pridemage and Sage maindeck is a start. I was also thinking a big, impossible to kill beater like Sigarda would help. It is either her or Lark for my third 5-drop spot and I am unsure how good Lark's recursion is in the mirror.
The new Phoenix, on the other hand, seems awesome. I am not sure if it is worth dropping Boon Satyr and lowering the Ferocious density in the deck, but it seems promising. That is my main concern (plus the Boon Satyr bestow is still an awesome mana sink), but other than that it seems great. I kind of want to play both Phoenix and Boon Satyr but I think that would make the deck have too many 3-drops.
Sure they do....it's a big dumb Hexproof blocker that's impossible to get rid of, that doesn't die when they cast Crux of Fate, and kills all of your opponent's Insect tokens, goblin tokens, and Mana dorks when it attacks.
Actually it's a nonbo with ETB. They enter as generic 2/2s and when you flip them over the abilities don't trigger because they aren't entering. They're already there, ust turning face up. The creatures Pod plays get a lot worse when you can't get the ETB effect off them, especially against midrange matches where you are looking to grind off advantage with them. The free 2/2s are card advantage, but still seem awkward at best.
In the announcement video they said early on it covers all sets from Mirrodin to New Phyrexia. They specifically mention other sets like the core sets that weren't in the original Modern Masters. There's no reason to only think they'll only stick to certain planes and not take things from all those sets.
No, I'm not....Kibler popularized 4x Claws in his list that these aggro versions are based on. You are correct that we want to deploy threats which is why I'I'd never spend the whole turn clawing a guy if I have a threat I can play. You want to play a threat to try to get Claws online so you can do two things next turn. We do want to play a tempo game too. Strike doesn't actually help you there either unless you want to play an elf or hold up your 1-of Denial OR if you do it on their turn instead of developing your own board.
Minor nitpick-Jeskai doesn't play black spells. You are thinking of Mardu. Mardu is typically more midrange/control but they are so versatile that they can also assume the aggro role. Claws is super important here because we have so few good ways to interact with a resolved Butcher of the Horde. Temur Charm rarely is profitable and strike does actual nothing.
And it's just me; in my are it seems like people are moving away from decks strikes are good against like aggro. And even again't some decks like Heroic, strike has been awkward for me. Claws can at least scale up when you need it.
Edit: I don't want to come off as "Kibler played 4 so it must be good" but he did say he was most often using it for x=0. To me that says it is a card that gets better when you are on the beatdown plan since you will already have strong guys out.
I mean, it just feels like I frequently get into the situation where I go "I can't get any more damage through but I can Claws for lethal" and that alone makes me want it as a 4 of.
I run 3 elves and 2 dragons main with 23 land. It is fine. I am not sure why that deck even is running 24 land and 6 dorks when it's curve tops out at only 4 4-drops and 2 boon Satyr that can be bestowed. I just don't like elf against control since it is a bad topdeck. Acceleration is not as good against their sweepers, counters, and removal, and if you are attacking with it you aren't playing spells, and the few damage is rarely relevant. Yeah, turn 2 knuckleblade is strong when you get to untap with it but when they can untapped and s-field or banishing light it it's not as good. For that reason I think having Knuckleblade with Denial backup is better.
I guess looking at the list I see it only has 2 Rattle claw, which is a big difference. I have 4, and they are still good since they ramp, fix, and beat for 2.
I like having access to both Stroke and Denial since we are fast bit not fast enough to get under control and midrange's big stuff. So you have denial for counters and strokes for their sweepers and finishers and Resolute Archangel. I tend to have to get involved in counter wars to protect threats and keep them off finishers against UW especially.
I usually side out my elves since they don't do a whole lot in that matchup. I side out burn too, mainly strikes when I ran them since they don't do much. This list seems to be heavier in the burn plan so I guess it's ok. I think Polukranos is too good to side out because he is a huge threat. Looking at that list I would probably go:
-4 elf
-3 strike
-1 bow
-1 stoke
-1 scry land
+3 revelry
+3 stroke
+2 denial
+2 dragon
But that is just me.