Just saw the m15 spoilers. What do you guys think of Return to the Ranks? is it gonna be a good sideboard card choice?
What about Reclamation Sage? I think it's gonna replace Harmonic Sliver very well
The Sage is a strictly better Harmonic Sliver, that is clear. But I don't think that any other card spoiled so far is good. I could see Return to the Ranks replacing Chord, but I doubt it. Ob Nyxilis is a 6-drop beater, and that should be it. I would play Sun Titan first. But Chording for him in response to a fetch land would be so beautiful.
If you play Viscera Seer, then I think Pontiff. If not, Kataki. Honestly, I don't have any experince with another Pontiff on the board, but Kataki has been all that I wanted against Affinity for a very long time, so in a vacuum, I would say Kataki. Of course, if it's red Affinity, with 4 Galvanic Blast and Shrapnel Blast, then I'm not so sure. Those matchups were harder at the time they were popular, but I played Kataki anyway.
So this is a weird question to ask you Pod players but since Pod is likely to be THE deck this PTQ season. What decks give Pod a lot of trouble. How is the Tron match up? Merfolk? Storm? What deck is the worst for Pod? Any particular cards that really make Pod difficult to play. Say Turn 4 Sundering Titan is that back breaking?
The problem is not Sundering Titan. The problem is 4 Relic of Progenitus, 4 Oblivion Stone and 4 Pyroclasm. What breaks us against Tron is not the top end (if they play a Sundering Titan or Wurmcoil they are probably winning anyway), it's the capability to crush our board as early as turn 2.
Merfolk is pretty bad if they have a double lord draw and we don't have a removal spell right away. Storm is horrible unless we can Thoughtseize away something important and they fizzle, Decay their Ascension mid-combo or have Canonist/Eidolon. It was WAY worse when Seething Song was legal (I mean worse than Tron), but it's gotten a little easier now. Jund and U/W/R can be tough if you're not experienced with the deck, since you need to play very tight and can't make a lot of mistakes.
Burn can be dificult as well, and since it will see play everywhere due to availability it's nice to have a Kor Firewalker or something in the board for them.
Hi guys, I'm going to play Melira Pod at some PTQs this seasons and I need some tips. I posted my list below. I have some questions:
1) Im having doubts about Shriekmaw main deck. Would Restoration Angel or Phyrexian Metamorph be better?
2) I have Dismember in the sideboard, should they be path to exiles?
3) Could you guys tell me what do side out and what to side in for these matchups: Twin, UWR control, Jund, The Mirror.
Thanks in advance!
Shirekmaw is good against Jund, Twin (all kinds), Delver, Merfolk, Zoo and Pod. But it is a 5-drop so maybe you don't want that. RestoAngel and Metamorph have basically the same role in the deck: virtual card-advantage (reseting a persist dude, another ETB effect, etc) but Resto can save your guys from removal and Metamorph can turn into Pod. I'd say Resto is better against fair decks and Metamorph gainst combo decks. It's up to you.
Dismember and Path are basically the same, just don't play Dismember if there is lots of Zoo in your meta.
I've been using the Pod list with Spike Feeder and Archangel of Thune but I find myself having problems against Burn. Even with Kitchen Finks, I die before I can land any sort of significant life gains. Is there a magical card I could use in the sideboard to turn the tide in my favour?
Burrenton Forge-Tender can counter a burn spell and has applications in others matchups too. Maybe Kor Firewalker? I can't see them ever beating the card.
If I combo with Finks Melira Seer, is it OK if I just look at my entire deck while I move cards from the top to the bottom? (Because effectively, I could have scried the entire deck to the bottom then decided where I wanted to draw.) Or do I have to look only at one card at a time?
You should ask your oponent first. But most of the time, just see cards from the top of your deck quickly, to save time. When you find what you want, put them all in the back of the deck in the same order. Most people shouldn't have a problem with this if it's helping with the pacing of the game.
I am more of a standard player but really like this deck. My LGS is getting a bit more into modern and I'd like to play this deck, but don't want to drop a ton of money on lands. I have all of the lands except the fetches (I own like 1 Marsh Flats lol). Would it be alright to play without those, or are they really needed? Since Deathrite Shaman is banned I'd imagine they aren't as needed (but still very good obviously).
Overall I don't want to drop to much money on the deck. I have most of the creatures. Whats the most essential stuff in the deck to really make it work overall? (eg a budget melira pod). This may not be the best place to discuss this but I figured I'd ask those who have experience with the deck itself.
I'm just listing the expensive stuff
Get 4 Pod, 4 Finks, 4 Birds, shock lands, Linvala, and some Voices first.
Then 4 Thoughtseize, 2-3 Abrupt Decay, 2-3 Chords.
From this on just get the remaining cards one at a time. Fetches and Hierarchs are not really necessary but essencial to optimize the deck.
Well, I am unsure if it would be mainboard or sideboard as a strat for some decks. It nerfs some traditional combo lines, but who knows... maybe Melira will be relegated to fighting Infect only.
If you take out Melira from the deck then you can only combo with Archangel since they'll never let the creature come back. So you'll basically lose the combo route while hoping that the oponent can't take advantage of your "do nothing on my own" 3-drop. Any card that can't affect the game alone needs to be really good and sinergistic with the deck, and we have enough of those cards as it is (Pod/Chord/Gavony). I don't know, maybe he is the nuts, but I'm very very sceptical.
Going back in thread, I'd really like to build this deck too, but my money is a bit low so I surely won't afford Fetches and some other staples (Noble Hierarch, Linvala, Keeper of Silence and Voice of Resurgence). What are the best ways to replace them in your opinion? I'll probably replace the Hierarch with Arbor Elf and/or Wall of Roots, and I was thinking of a 1x Restoration Angel instead of Linvala (same CC, nice effect and strong beater), but I really don't know how to replace Voice to aid the beatdown strategy. Is Scavenging Ooze worth more than 1x?
You could focus a lot more on the combo, since that would mean playing with more Wall of Roots, Meliras and Viscera Seers. Fetches are not REALLY necessary, they just are the best lands you could play when combined with shocks, period. Linvala is irreplaceable since no other card does what she does.
1. What are the flexible slots in this list? I would like to squeeze 1 Scavenging Ooze and the Orzhov Pontiff in the maindeck.
2. In which games do I bring in the Realm Razer? I supose I should also bring in the Shriekmaw for a shortcut with Birthing Pod, right?
Thanks in advance!
Realm Razer is mainly for R/G Tron, since it's the only reasonable way we have to stop them from crushing us without even trying. Since Tron is nowhere to be seen, I believe it's reasonable not to play it.
Sigarda and Thrun do the same thing (provide a "unkillable" threat). Thrun is better against control, and Sigarda is better against Black. I would play just one of them.
Is your meta full of Lilianas or Zoo? Sigarda + 2 baloths seems too much, even if you see Liiana every match.
Metamorph's slot is as flex as it can get. Personally I don't like it anymore, but some people still play him. I would cut it for ScavOoze/Pontiff. Don't cut Meliras and Seers, because you play 4 Wall of Roots so it should be easier to combo out with Chords. Melira is less dead if you can search for the combo faster and more consistently.
But most importantly, if you have access to a 4th Thoughtseize, play it. It's by far the best card in the SB, useful in more matchups that I can remember.
Is Noble Hierarch a must-run, stock creature for Melira Pod?
With the banning of Deathrite, many pod players picked up Noble Hierarch and slotted her in as the defacto DRS replacement. The ability to tap for green AND white alone definitely puts her ahead of other dorks to the point that Llanowar Elves, Avacyn's Pilgrim, and friends can be at best considered a budget replacement (barring any possible shennanigans with the dude that untaps forests but I'm unaware of anything that doesn't extend out too far into durdle territory). The exalted trigger is just icing on the cake and makes for some nice Kitchen Finks or Shriekmaw beats, especially in conjunction with Gavony Township or Qasali Pridemage. It would seem that she fills the shoes of DRS as best as possible when it comes to a 1 cmc mana dork that has additional utility and will hold that "best dork" spot unless something new is printed.
My question isn't along the lines of "what's the best 1cmc dork" as the case for Hierarch in that role is rock solid. I'm more interested in knowing if there are avenues other than the 7x 1cmc dork standard? Giving up the consistency of a Turn 3 Pod/Finks potential is pretty huge, is there anything worthy of consideration?
You could play something similar to the older lists, with 4 Wall of Roots and maybe 4 Chords to abuse them. Just focus more on comboing than grinding the game out, since you'll have less "resources" both in mana and in attrition power if you don't play Hierarch.
I mean, I want to play pod, I will build it, I just own more of living end, so its more sensible for me to get that built first, particularly as modern is very very undersupported around here. There's a couple of TO's trying to start, but atm getting 1 3-round modern event a month is a stretch.
When I started playing Modern (around 2 years ago) there was no one in my store that was interested in playing, but I builted Pod anyway. Then I convinced the store owner to put up some proxy Modern tournament, just for fun. Not a lot of people showed up, but some guys got excited and bought a lot of Modern staples that day (needless to say the store owner was very happy). This eventually led to where we are now, with a 30 people Modern FNM a month. The proxy thing was a great idea, maybe you could try to do that at your store.
He bolted the hierarch T1, T2 held open a mana leak but bolted the bird instead, I got stuck on lands and he Pestermite tapped my Temple Garden, picked up a land but he Clique'd me and buried the Pontiff. I got a bird out and played Linvala finally but he beat me to death with Clique and Pestermite with repeated Exarchs and Mites tapping down Linvala. Was really sad
Your hand was great, but his hand had all the answers he needed. There wasn't much you could do, the double Bolt in particular were backbreaking.
Sigarda is not meant for Tron, she is there for Jund/Rock/UWR because they need a board sweeper to kill her and she can end the game quickly. If you're relying on her to beat Tron you will have an unpleasant surprise when they Karn you out or beat you with a 15/15 unkillable flying spaghetti.
I was afraid of that, of the fact that without Ports and Wasteland it wouldn't be D&T. Anyway, thanks for the help guys! You helped me save a lot of money
What about fall out? I cant run more pillar effects, just cant. nor anger, but I can run a pyro effect.
If you're going to run some pyro effect just for Pod then make it Pyroclasm. It's cheap and gets the job done. If you want to use it against other matchups too, then Volcanic Fallout might be better.
The Sage is a strictly better Harmonic Sliver, that is clear. But I don't think that any other card spoiled so far is good. I could see Return to the Ranks replacing Chord, but I doubt it. Ob Nyxilis is a 6-drop beater, and that should be it. I would play Sun Titan first. But Chording for him in response to a fetch land would be so beautiful.
The problem is not Sundering Titan. The problem is 4 Relic of Progenitus, 4 Oblivion Stone and 4 Pyroclasm. What breaks us against Tron is not the top end (if they play a Sundering Titan or Wurmcoil they are probably winning anyway), it's the capability to crush our board as early as turn 2.
Merfolk is pretty bad if they have a double lord draw and we don't have a removal spell right away. Storm is horrible unless we can Thoughtseize away something important and they fizzle, Decay their Ascension mid-combo or have Canonist/Eidolon. It was WAY worse when Seething Song was legal (I mean worse than Tron), but it's gotten a little easier now. Jund and U/W/R can be tough if you're not experienced with the deck, since you need to play very tight and can't make a lot of mistakes.
Burn can be dificult as well, and since it will see play everywhere due to availability it's nice to have a Kor Firewalker or something in the board for them.
Shirekmaw is good against Jund, Twin (all kinds), Delver, Merfolk, Zoo and Pod. But it is a 5-drop so maybe you don't want that. RestoAngel and Metamorph have basically the same role in the deck: virtual card-advantage (reseting a persist dude, another ETB effect, etc) but Resto can save your guys from removal and Metamorph can turn into Pod. I'd say Resto is better against fair decks and Metamorph gainst combo decks. It's up to you.
Dismember and Path are basically the same, just don't play Dismember if there is lots of Zoo in your meta.
Burrenton Forge-Tender can counter a burn spell and has applications in others matchups too. Maybe Kor Firewalker? I can't see them ever beating the card.
You should ask your oponent first. But most of the time, just see cards from the top of your deck quickly, to save time. When you find what you want, put them all in the back of the deck in the same order. Most people shouldn't have a problem with this if it's helping with the pacing of the game.
I'm just listing the expensive stuff
Get 4 Pod, 4 Finks, 4 Birds, shock lands, Linvala, and some Voices first.
Then 4 Thoughtseize, 2-3 Abrupt Decay, 2-3 Chords.
From this on just get the remaining cards one at a time. Fetches and Hierarchs are not really necessary but essencial to optimize the deck.
A budget manabase was discussed some pages back.
If you take out Melira from the deck then you can only combo with Archangel since they'll never let the creature come back. So you'll basically lose the combo route while hoping that the oponent can't take advantage of your "do nothing on my own" 3-drop. Any card that can't affect the game alone needs to be really good and sinergistic with the deck, and we have enough of those cards as it is (Pod/Chord/Gavony). I don't know, maybe he is the nuts, but I'm very very sceptical.
You could focus a lot more on the combo, since that would mean playing with more Wall of Roots, Meliras and Viscera Seers. Fetches are not REALLY necessary, they just are the best lands you could play when combined with shocks, period. Linvala is irreplaceable since no other card does what she does.
I would start with something like this:
3 Godless Shrine
4 Overgrown Tomb
2 Sunpetal Grove
3 Woodgrown Cemetery
4 Razorverge Thicket
3 basics
4 Birds of Paradise
1 Avacyn's Pilgrim
3 Wall of Roots
3 Melira, Sylvok Outcast
3 Viscera Seer
4 Kitchen Finks
2 Murderous Redcap
1 Spike Feeder
1 Archangel of Thune
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Harmonic Sliver
1 Ranger of Eos
1 Reveilark
1 Eternal Witness
1 Spellskite
4 Birthing Pod
3 Chord of Calling (4?)
Realm Razer is mainly for R/G Tron, since it's the only reasonable way we have to stop them from crushing us without even trying. Since Tron is nowhere to be seen, I believe it's reasonable not to play it.
Sigarda and Thrun do the same thing (provide a "unkillable" threat). Thrun is better against control, and Sigarda is better against Black. I would play just one of them.
Is your meta full of Lilianas or Zoo? Sigarda + 2 baloths seems too much, even if you see Liiana every match.
Metamorph's slot is as flex as it can get. Personally I don't like it anymore, but some people still play him. I would cut it for ScavOoze/Pontiff. Don't cut Meliras and Seers, because you play 4 Wall of Roots so it should be easier to combo out with Chords. Melira is less dead if you can search for the combo faster and more consistently.
But most importantly, if you have access to a 4th Thoughtseize, play it. It's by far the best card in the SB, useful in more matchups that I can remember.
You could play something similar to the older lists, with 4 Wall of Roots and maybe 4 Chords to abuse them. Just focus more on comboing than grinding the game out, since you'll have less "resources" both in mana and in attrition power if you don't play Hierarch.
When I started playing Modern (around 2 years ago) there was no one in my store that was interested in playing, but I builted Pod anyway. Then I convinced the store owner to put up some proxy Modern tournament, just for fun. Not a lot of people showed up, but some guys got excited and bought a lot of Modern staples that day (needless to say the store owner was very happy). This eventually led to where we are now, with a 30 people Modern FNM a month. The proxy thing was a great idea, maybe you could try to do that at your store.
Your hand was great, but his hand had all the answers he needed. There wasn't much you could do, the double Bolt in particular were backbreaking.
If you're going to run some pyro effect just for Pod then make it Pyroclasm. It's cheap and gets the job done. If you want to use it against other matchups too, then Volcanic Fallout might be better.