There seems like there's a lot of cool uncommons from the brawl arena stuff, I think they're all printed in paper too? Could be some knights synergy, anthem effect for mono color on an artifact.
Mana is definitely not refined or correct and there's some changes I'll be making for sure but a lot of the ideas in here felt very promising. Influence was strong with beck without dakmor which surprised me, it also pitches to force :P. Force lets you make a lot of bears and then pass and not get wrecked, salvage also decent for recurring bears especially along with some of your other draw spells. Narset is just an insane card. Never got to use Echo and I'd like a few ways to deal with permanents if they resolve. Tron was favorable but dredge was a nightmare, I should definitely have a bog main but the mana needs a lot of work.
Whats the updated most promising list(s)? I am in the discord and I have trouble finding what people are currently playing. I think this archetype has a lot of promise, just needs refining process to happen a la KCI.
I like the streamlined sideboard but why the lootings? Arent like two more cyclers in their place better?
Looting gives you better earlier draws letting you dump multiple cyclers into a more powerful turn 2/3. It also gets to be flashbacked later when you start getting flooded and need to dig for something specific.
I always find it curious that people have such a problem with combo decks on coverage but enjoy linear aggro matches. There's nothing that turns me off more but I see so few complaints. The meta feels like it's focused around this weird play pattern of throwing away your cards for vanilla beaters and hoping to kill your opponent before they can do anything and it's never really brought up as an issue. I was hoping maybe SFM could stem the tide of phoenix, dredge, hollow one, burn, to a lesser extent humans, spirits and affinity.
Yeah no problem, I played the deck at FNM friday and confirmed my suspicions that it will be great for my local meta. I'm playing Legacy in Toronto so I won't have a modern tourny until at least June, but as of now I'd run this back (probably change the board a bit).
On the note of SS, I think a bunch of decks would just run back to nature or more explosives. Honestly, didn't find explosives that hard to play through. With seals in after board in a ton of match ups anyway, I think don't know that SS would even survive long enough to give us trouble.
Started with 1 bye, finished an unimpressive 8-7. My match ups were very weird and not what I was hoping to play. Zero qualms with my deck choice and it performed well so I felt validated, but just drew some short straws.
Round 2 - Mirror (1-2)
Starting off on the draw in the mirror sucked. He smashed me, then I smashed him and then we both mulligan to 4 and 5 cards (I'm on four). His hand is great and mine is pretty middling. I manage to set up with some Seals and getting a Spirit Mantle on my arbor but he has a path and I lose.
1-1
Round 3 - Hollow One (2-0)
I think this was my fastest round of the day. Pretty standard Bogles hands and not enough resistance from my opponent to beat my nut draws. Not much else to say.
2-1
Round 4 - Merfolk (0-2)
Eight seas Merfolk to be exact. Game 1 I only find two lands until late in the game so the seas on one of my land really slows me down. Lucky, I flood on bogles to cast off of seas. Unluckily I flood on bogles. Game 2 I keep dancer, 2 lands, 2 seal, ethereal and another 1 mana aura. He goes Claim into Seas into Silvergill + claim. Two seal wasn't enough to let me play magic.
2-2
Round 5 - Tron (2-1)
By this point I'm feeling pretty down and then I find I am matched against tron. Game 1 I get pretty typically tronned on turn 4 with an Ugin crushing my life. Game 2 I have a fast Bogles hand before he can get off the ground. Game 3 I have a Stony and I slow him down a while, he takes a bit to to find tron and clear the stony, I clear karn and he ostones my board. I rebuild slightly and he puts down a TKS followed by a wurmcoil. I find a dancer and draw some more auras, load up and swing. He doesn't realize Rancor gives trample and blocks poorly. I got lucky to escape here but I think I was favored either way given his empty hand and awkward blocks even with wurm and a follow up stone.
3-2
Round 6 - Merfolk (2-1)
Merfolk again?! These games went somewhat more expected, I got merfolked out a game with seas and aggro. I bogles'd him out a game and then game 3 we mulled, he kept a sketchy one lander and my hand was great and it was over pretty quick.
4-2
Round 7 - RG Vine (2-1)
I'm unsure of if he's RG or Jund hollowvine game 1. I have a bogles hand but he does put up a lot of pressure; I still get there. Game 2 I have a 5/5 first striker, I'm chunking him and elect to attack into his creatures thinking I can set up lethal for next turn if I draw any aura. He untaps adds a couple creatures to the board, plays a bushwalker and kills me out of nowhere... oops. Game 3 he's on the aggressive and I try to defend. I set up with a spiritdancer and his attacks are awkward. I chain into a million auras, load it up and attack for 31 which deals exact lethal through all his blocks.
5-2
Round 8 - Affinity (2-0)
I guess it was meant to be because both my hands were nuts. I have the bogles nutter draws and although it didnt matter, my opponent did not realize gryff's boon gave flying and attacking with a plating wearing ornithopter into my first strike flier.
6-2
Round 9 - Etron (0-2)
Guess my luck ran out. I saw this guy beside me on round 2 of day 1 and knew he was on Etron. Game 1 I have a great hand but unfortunately have a dancer and not a bogle. Once I play the dancer, he realizes I'm bogles and plays chalice. I still cast a million on mana auras trying to find daybreak and spirit mantle but I can't get there before smasher kills me. Game 2 I mull to four and while I put up a good fight I can't quite get off the ground before Smasher crushes me again.
6-3
Round 10 - Mirror (0-2)
I'm against Calcano and I'm pretty sure it was 0-2, I don't think I got a game. Game 1 I'm actually not paying attention and watching the guy beside me get a game loss and Calcano is on the play..so I miss my leyline...oops. Spend the entire game calculating whether it would have killed him with my Ethereal Armor. Calculations put him at 1 life so phew. I die to dancer. Game 2 I die to dancer. What's new.
6-4
Round 11 - Storm (2-1)
Game 1 I build a big threat by turn four and present lethal. He tries to go off but can't quite get there. Game 2 I set up but he gets a ton of gobbos turn 3 and I do not manage to race. Game 3 he again makes gobbos but can't beat the daybreak. Didn't actually see any hate cards in the match up. Well, I hard cast a leyline that got remanded.
7-4
Round 12 - Tron (0-2)
It might have been 1-2, I can't remember if I got a game or I got close, he made a comment about losing but then won anyway. In between games he mentioned how he never finds Stony a big deal. I side in stony and play it on turn 2 on the play. He cast zero spells and nats turn 3 tron into Karn on a mulligan. No wonder he doesn't fear Stony
7-5
Round 13 - Humans (0-2)
By this point my heads pretty out of it despite needing the PWP pretty bad for my second bye. My opponent is very chatty and bubbly so it's a fun match. Game 1 I believe my draw is pretty middling against a good and disruptive humans draw. Game 2 I bring in a Seals because I hear humans is on Worship tech at the event. They also hit vials. I mull and find one, play it out and my hand is kind of slow. I fail to notice she's stuck on two lands and I let her gain board advantage before I pop my Seal on her vial (only because I drew a second). Likely the biggest misplay of the tournament that cost me this one.
7-6
Round 14 - GW Hatebears (0-2)
Once again, not sure if this is 0-2 or 1-2, my wins are quick so they're easily forgotten. He discusses having trouble with humans before the match so I think "oh maybe he's on a combo deck" and keep a mediocre dryad arbor leyline and umbras hand. Turns out he's on flickerwisps and GQs soooo yeah. Game 2 is very close, I can put him to one but I don't draw any evasive auras or anything to push a bit extra damage and he gets there. This felt like it should have been winnable.
7-7
Round 15 - GR Eldrazi (2-1)
Game 1 he has a mediocre draw and I actually do as well and the game goes on for a while but I eventually find a good aura and end it. Game 2 he has a good draw with a timely Kreturn and an Explosives and I lose. Game 3 I have a massive, non evasive dancer and he has chumps for days. I'm at nearly 300 by the time I find a spirit mantle.
8-7
Overall, I was happy with the deck choice and the day 2. I wish my match ups broke better for me but even still, had I played better and stayed focus it likely could have been a 10-5. I would definitely play the deck again. Tron gave me a lot of trouble and felt like the match up I wanted to see the least. Even with the Teegs in play, it didn't feel amazing. I want to give damping sphere a try. I apologize if there's any spelling errors, I'm pretty tired.
(Mostly just want to bump this thread up near the top.)
Does anyone plan on playing Bogles at the upcoming GP Hartford? If so, what's your list? What kind of meta do you expect? (I literally only know 1 person going and he's running Uw Turns.)
I believe I am. Right now it's fairly stock. I'm thinking I want to run a cage over the third RIP in the board just to have a bit of diversity and something against coco. I'm also looking for ways to improved control. The deck isn't actually great (UW is decent) but it's one of the sketchier match ups and I seem to run in to it at GPs.
Represent us with Bogle pride.
Make sure you have 4 Spider Umbra and 3 Hyena Umbra. Make sure you land those. Try to keep something in the hand. Consider the Detention Sphere, then Supreme Verdict or EoT Cryptic Command an Umbra, then Supreme Verdict. Try to play around Settle the Wreckage and Blessed Alliance if you can. Play 1-2 Guttural Response if you want to hedge a little, but the card is atrocious in other matchups. It can really only be used here or other Cryptic Command matchups. I think the best plan at a GP is to try to dodge poor matchups or get luckier than them.
Yeah that's basically become my GP strategy. I've gravitated toward the more linear aggressive decks for various reasons. Bogles feels like it's in a really good spot right now. I typically like to tune lists, but I kind of think sticking with what's been winning seems like the correct call this time. Thanks for the tips.
(Mostly just want to bump this thread up near the top.)
Does anyone plan on playing Bogles at the upcoming GP Hartford? If so, what's your list? What kind of meta do you expect? (I literally only know 1 person going and he's running Uw Turns.)
I believe I am. Right now it's fairly stock. I'm thinking I want to run a cage over the third RIP in the board just to have a bit of diversity and something against coco. I'm also looking for ways to improved control. The deck isn't actually great (UW is decent) but it's one of the sketchier match ups and I seem to run in to it at GPs.
@daviusminimus thanks for your observations.
1. Even if I play Prism on turn 3, it's still giving you a turn 4 Titan/Mind. For the lands, I think the coloured lands are enough (I just cut GQ) and I didn't have problems with casting prism with 2 counters until now. Remember that Simian also help to fix that problem if needed.
2. The fact that the opponent brings artefact hate is not very relevant. The prism gives ramp spell redundancy, so even if the amulet or the prism becomes destroyed, is not a big deal since the opponent uses resources, mana and possibly turn to interact. I'm more concerned about decks like affinity and storm that are faster than us and also we don't have much interaction.
Articles on the use of Lotus Bloom are popping up (i.e. on ChannelFireball) and I think it is much worse than the prism. The Lotus need to be suspended on turn 1 in order to be 'effective' and give us a turn 4 Titan/Mind, while the Prism can be cast on turn 1, 2 or 3 giving the same result. I think more people should try it.
An important point should be done on Simian Spirit Guide. I think that we need to be very fast since a turn 5 Titan is no more a big deal in modern. We NEED to go off on turn 3 or 4 and SSG plays an important role in achieving that goal.
I had been testing Prism over Bloom and I preferred it to anything other than bloom on turn 1. Sometimes the bounce lands can line up awkward but I just find it more effective most of the time. Even bloom on 1 can be awkward versus remand decks. I threw out prism a couple weeks ago in the thread but it got buried quick so I'm glad to see someone else playing it. I think working on a version that makes prism work the best possible is a good route to go.
Yeah but I dont think that should be a reason to ban a card from Death's Shadow because its better than Jund, and same for Strom vs any other combo deck. The deck has clear weaknesses as show by it only being around 3-4% of the meta.
I see your point about it being dangerous, but Wizards has printed so many cards over the years to combat combo decks like Rule of Law effects, Sphere effects, etc. (And yeah, hand disruption is very good against the deck, that's the reason why GDS is its worst MU after Burn, and why GBx decks have always done good vs Storm in the past.)
The reason i said that it seems like you dont want Combo to be tier 1, is because, like Wizards, whenever a combo deck does become tier 1, it just gets banned, simple as that.
It has to satisfy the criterion of the "turn 4 rule" at the same time being resilient enough to battle through the other tier 1 decks that will either tear their hand apart or counter every spell it ever puts on the stack turns 1-3.
This makes me come to the conclusion that a tier 1 modern combo deck cannot exist unless it has the current power of the Storm deck. I think the current power of the storm deck is the healthiest power level any combo deck that has reached tier 1 in Modern has ever become. If it becomes more powerful due to a new printing, then ban it. But if the current power level becomes nerfed, then it will fall into the same catergory as Counters Company in tier 1.5ish or Ad Naus in solid tier 2.
There's a certain class of player who despises combo decks being good because they feel like they didnt get to play magic when they lose to them. I've never been able to grasp how it feels better to die to aggro at the same speeds but c'est la vie. People who state things like Ad Naus being the combo decks they want in the format are simply saying (like you pointed out) they don't want tier 1 combo. Ad naus is neither fast enough nor resilient enough to be a viable top tier deck. Maybe I'm wrong to, but I don't put ramp decks like tron or shift in the same category as a combo deck like storm (even though wizards often equates combo with ramp). Either way, shift isn't a good deck and currently Tron and Storm are the only "combo" decks that are top tier, with storm being the only traditional combo deck. You look down to tier 2 and below and you see things like Ad Naus and Shoal and Amulet that are missing speed, resiliency or consistency to be competitive. Killing storm isn't going to magically make other combo decks more playable. Killing storm is killing combo because the speed and disruption of decks like Shadow and Humans are working wonders holding down combo (including storm).Honestly, it seems to me that people complaining about storm have never piloted the deck versus something like shadow or humans.
I responded to you, which is weird because I agreed with everything you said...so I guess I'm really responding to the guy you originally quoted.
(I'm not saying that I'm not biased.) That article is so extremely biased. I'm pretty sure if you ask Brian Demars if Battle Box is the best, he'd say yes. There's just so many ways that the ratings can go in his article, depending on who's deciding the points.
Besides, I thought that people here didn't think Brian Demars had credibility. Maybe that was with my own playgroup? I always discuss what Brian Demars says because he's a Modern enthusiast, has played quite a few decks, and does a lot of articles. Last time when Storm was "doing it," he ranked Titanshift as Tier 3...and I agreed...at the time. Come to think of it, I think it was my own play group and not HERE where Brian Demars was discredited. "What has he accomplished in the past few years?" My response - infinitely more than you.
While there's never value in entirely disregarding any content, I think you should watch some of Demars video content. He's a medium grinder that spiked some stuff in the past, but when you analyze his gameplay it's pretty clear he has no idea what he's talking about most of the time. If I'm ranking content producers, he's very, very close to the bottom. This doesn't mean you should never read his articles or he he doesn't sometimes have good ideas, but as with everything, you should read with scrutiny.
Has anyone tried pentad prism instead of bloom. Can sometimes be difficult to cast, I will admit, especially with all the taplands, but it doesn't have to be found and played on turn 1 like bloom to be effective. It also interacts a bit more favorably than bloom with an amulet (obviously if you have an amulet, you're in good shape) but you can end up with amulet into pentad into turn 3 titan draws, which an amulet/bloom hand can't give you.
Jeskai is straight-up amazing against Humans, not sure what turns the tide there, but Mark of Asylum seems very good on the play. On the draw it might not be too likely to resolve, especially in a G3-type situation where they saw it in G2.
I don't agree here. I haven't played alot of games with the vial list, but I beat a friend, who happens to be an experienced Jeskai tempo player, quite a few times yesterday. Cavern and/or Vial are crucial here and make shure to cast Thalia asap. Cage from te side to make snapcasyer chains impossible.
I'd say aggressive mulligans are sometimes needed here.
To quote his words: "Humans is a terrible matchup, you have cards that render 30% of my deck useless and taxes the rest, I can never keep up with your threats."
This is the opposite from what is said here so in reality it should be an even matchup. Maybe because he has a little more keepable hands, i guess the chances are more 40/60.
This is how I felt testing for the rptq as well. Jeskai did awful in my initial tests (I was on humans) and them I played jeskai versus a fellow humans player while prepping and it performed a bit better. He had just picked up humans and I had experience in the match up already. Basically jeskai needs quellers or quite a few removal spells with snaps to win. My tournament record versus it has been positive as well. Feels quite even, but could go much worse if they ever push their board slots to win the match up. Honesty, opposing popular opinion, I do not think Jeskai is a good deck and I'm very surprised by its popularity.
This is what I've been playing around with lately. Mana base definitely needs refinement and there's just some many directions I want to go I dont really know what to do. There's some really power synergies and just the basic eldrazi engine wins games quickly. The backdoor combo is where I think decks like this should be, rather than focusing on going all in. I mostly just struggle to set up versus discard or fast aggressive starts from decks. No collected company hurts and maybe I should just not focus 4 and 5 drops and play a coco variant. I think some cards like Glen Elendra could go to the board in favor of another TKS (started with four originally) but I did want to reduce my dependency on colorless mana but holy turn 2 TKS is good haha.
This guy might be my favorite:
// 1 Artifact
1 Teferi's Puzzle Box
// 4 Enchantment
4 Ayula's Influence
// 10 Instant
4 Force of Negation
2 Spell Pierce
4 Growth Spiral
// 26 Land
2 Field of Ruin
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Academy Ruins
2 Tranquil Thicket
2 Lonely Sandbar
2 Dakmor Salvage
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Snow-Covered Forest
2 Snow-Covered Island
3 Breeding Pool
2 Flooded Grove
1 Blast Zone
1 Treetop Village
1 Prismatic Vista
4 Narset, Parter of Veils
2 Tamiyo, Collector of Tales
// 13 Sorcery
3 Beck // Call
4 Life from the Loam
2 Echo of Eons
4 Serum Visions
Mana is definitely not refined or correct and there's some changes I'll be making for sure but a lot of the ideas in here felt very promising. Influence was strong with beck without dakmor which surprised me, it also pitches to force :P. Force lets you make a lot of bears and then pass and not get wrecked, salvage also decent for recurring bears especially along with some of your other draw spells. Narset is just an insane card. Never got to use Echo and I'd like a few ways to deal with permanents if they resolve. Tron was favorable but dredge was a nightmare, I should definitely have a bog main but the mana needs a lot of work.
Looting gives you better earlier draws letting you dump multiple cyclers into a more powerful turn 2/3. It also gets to be flashbacked later when you start getting flooded and need to dig for something specific.
On the note of SS, I think a bunch of decks would just run back to nature or more explosives. Honestly, didn't find explosives that hard to play through. With seals in after board in a ton of match ups anyway, I think don't know that SS would even survive long enough to give us trouble.
1 Dryad Arbor
4 Ethereal Armor
1 Forest
4 Gladecover Scout
2 Gryff's Boon
4 Horizon Canopy
2 Hyena Umbra
4 Kor Spiritdancer
4 Leyline of Sanctity
1 Misty Rainforest
2 Path to Exile
1 Plains
4 Rancor
4 Razorverge Thicket
4 Slippery Bogle
4 Spider Umbra
2 Spirit Mantle
3 Temple Garden
1 Verdant Catacombs
4 Windswept Heath
3 Gaddock Teeg
1 Grafdigger's Cage
2 Path to Exile
2 Rest in Peace
3 Seal of Primordium
1 Spirit Link
3 Stony Silence
Started with 1 bye, finished an unimpressive 8-7. My match ups were very weird and not what I was hoping to play. Zero qualms with my deck choice and it performed well so I felt validated, but just drew some short straws.
Starting off on the draw in the mirror sucked. He smashed me, then I smashed him and then we both mulligan to 4 and 5 cards (I'm on four). His hand is great and mine is pretty middling. I manage to set up with some Seals and getting a Spirit Mantle on my arbor but he has a path and I lose.
1-1
Round 3 - Hollow One (2-0)
I think this was my fastest round of the day. Pretty standard Bogles hands and not enough resistance from my opponent to beat my nut draws. Not much else to say.
2-1
Round 4 - Merfolk (0-2)
Eight seas Merfolk to be exact. Game 1 I only find two lands until late in the game so the seas on one of my land really slows me down. Lucky, I flood on bogles to cast off of seas. Unluckily I flood on bogles. Game 2 I keep dancer, 2 lands, 2 seal, ethereal and another 1 mana aura. He goes Claim into Seas into Silvergill + claim. Two seal wasn't enough to let me play magic.
2-2
Round 5 - Tron (2-1)
By this point I'm feeling pretty down and then I find I am matched against tron. Game 1 I get pretty typically tronned on turn 4 with an Ugin crushing my life. Game 2 I have a fast Bogles hand before he can get off the ground. Game 3 I have a Stony and I slow him down a while, he takes a bit to to find tron and clear the stony, I clear karn and he ostones my board. I rebuild slightly and he puts down a TKS followed by a wurmcoil. I find a dancer and draw some more auras, load up and swing. He doesn't realize Rancor gives trample and blocks poorly. I got lucky to escape here but I think I was favored either way given his empty hand and awkward blocks even with wurm and a follow up stone.
3-2
Round 6 - Merfolk (2-1)
Merfolk again?! These games went somewhat more expected, I got merfolked out a game with seas and aggro. I bogles'd him out a game and then game 3 we mulled, he kept a sketchy one lander and my hand was great and it was over pretty quick.
4-2
Round 7 - RG Vine (2-1)
I'm unsure of if he's RG or Jund hollowvine game 1. I have a bogles hand but he does put up a lot of pressure; I still get there. Game 2 I have a 5/5 first striker, I'm chunking him and elect to attack into his creatures thinking I can set up lethal for next turn if I draw any aura. He untaps adds a couple creatures to the board, plays a bushwalker and kills me out of nowhere... oops. Game 3 he's on the aggressive and I try to defend. I set up with a spiritdancer and his attacks are awkward. I chain into a million auras, load it up and attack for 31 which deals exact lethal through all his blocks.
5-2
Round 8 - Affinity (2-0)
I guess it was meant to be because both my hands were nuts. I have the bogles nutter draws and although it didnt matter, my opponent did not realize gryff's boon gave flying and attacking with a plating wearing ornithopter into my first strike flier.
6-2
Round 9 - Etron (0-2)
Guess my luck ran out. I saw this guy beside me on round 2 of day 1 and knew he was on Etron. Game 1 I have a great hand but unfortunately have a dancer and not a bogle. Once I play the dancer, he realizes I'm bogles and plays chalice. I still cast a million on mana auras trying to find daybreak and spirit mantle but I can't get there before smasher kills me. Game 2 I mull to four and while I put up a good fight I can't quite get off the ground before Smasher crushes me again.
6-3
Round 10 - Mirror (0-2)
I'm against Calcano and I'm pretty sure it was 0-2, I don't think I got a game. Game 1 I'm actually not paying attention and watching the guy beside me get a game loss and Calcano is on the play..so I miss my leyline...oops. Spend the entire game calculating whether it would have killed him with my Ethereal Armor. Calculations put him at 1 life so phew. I die to dancer. Game 2 I die to dancer. What's new.
6-4
Round 11 - Storm (2-1)
Game 1 I build a big threat by turn four and present lethal. He tries to go off but can't quite get there. Game 2 I set up but he gets a ton of gobbos turn 3 and I do not manage to race. Game 3 he again makes gobbos but can't beat the daybreak. Didn't actually see any hate cards in the match up. Well, I hard cast a leyline that got remanded.
7-4
Round 12 - Tron (0-2)
It might have been 1-2, I can't remember if I got a game or I got close, he made a comment about losing but then won anyway. In between games he mentioned how he never finds Stony a big deal. I side in stony and play it on turn 2 on the play. He cast zero spells and nats turn 3 tron into Karn on a mulligan. No wonder he doesn't fear Stony
7-5
Round 13 - Humans (0-2)
By this point my heads pretty out of it despite needing the PWP pretty bad for my second bye. My opponent is very chatty and bubbly so it's a fun match. Game 1 I believe my draw is pretty middling against a good and disruptive humans draw. Game 2 I bring in a Seals because I hear humans is on Worship tech at the event. They also hit vials. I mull and find one, play it out and my hand is kind of slow. I fail to notice she's stuck on two lands and I let her gain board advantage before I pop my Seal on her vial (only because I drew a second). Likely the biggest misplay of the tournament that cost me this one.
7-6
Round 14 - GW Hatebears (0-2)
Once again, not sure if this is 0-2 or 1-2, my wins are quick so they're easily forgotten. He discusses having trouble with humans before the match so I think "oh maybe he's on a combo deck" and keep a mediocre dryad arbor leyline and umbras hand. Turns out he's on flickerwisps and GQs soooo yeah. Game 2 is very close, I can put him to one but I don't draw any evasive auras or anything to push a bit extra damage and he gets there. This felt like it should have been winnable.
7-7
Round 15 - GR Eldrazi (2-1)
Game 1 he has a mediocre draw and I actually do as well and the game goes on for a while but I eventually find a good aura and end it. Game 2 he has a good draw with a timely Kreturn and an Explosives and I lose. Game 3 I have a massive, non evasive dancer and he has chumps for days. I'm at nearly 300 by the time I find a spirit mantle.
8-7
Overall, I was happy with the deck choice and the day 2. I wish my match ups broke better for me but even still, had I played better and stayed focus it likely could have been a 10-5. I would definitely play the deck again. Tron gave me a lot of trouble and felt like the match up I wanted to see the least. Even with the Teegs in play, it didn't feel amazing. I want to give damping sphere a try. I apologize if there's any spelling errors, I'm pretty tired.
Yeah that's basically become my GP strategy. I've gravitated toward the more linear aggressive decks for various reasons. Bogles feels like it's in a really good spot right now. I typically like to tune lists, but I kind of think sticking with what's been winning seems like the correct call this time. Thanks for the tips.
I believe I am. Right now it's fairly stock. I'm thinking I want to run a cage over the third RIP in the board just to have a bit of diversity and something against coco. I'm also looking for ways to improved control. The deck isn't actually great (UW is decent) but it's one of the sketchier match ups and I seem to run in to it at GPs.
I had been testing Prism over Bloom and I preferred it to anything other than bloom on turn 1. Sometimes the bounce lands can line up awkward but I just find it more effective most of the time. Even bloom on 1 can be awkward versus remand decks. I threw out prism a couple weeks ago in the thread but it got buried quick so I'm glad to see someone else playing it. I think working on a version that makes prism work the best possible is a good route to go.
There's a certain class of player who despises combo decks being good because they feel like they didnt get to play magic when they lose to them. I've never been able to grasp how it feels better to die to aggro at the same speeds but c'est la vie. People who state things like Ad Naus being the combo decks they want in the format are simply saying (like you pointed out) they don't want tier 1 combo. Ad naus is neither fast enough nor resilient enough to be a viable top tier deck. Maybe I'm wrong to, but I don't put ramp decks like tron or shift in the same category as a combo deck like storm (even though wizards often equates combo with ramp). Either way, shift isn't a good deck and currently Tron and Storm are the only "combo" decks that are top tier, with storm being the only traditional combo deck. You look down to tier 2 and below and you see things like Ad Naus and Shoal and Amulet that are missing speed, resiliency or consistency to be competitive. Killing storm isn't going to magically make other combo decks more playable. Killing storm is killing combo because the speed and disruption of decks like Shadow and Humans are working wonders holding down combo (including storm).Honestly, it seems to me that people complaining about storm have never piloted the deck versus something like shadow or humans.
I responded to you, which is weird because I agreed with everything you said...so I guess I'm really responding to the guy you originally quoted.
While there's never value in entirely disregarding any content, I think you should watch some of Demars video content. He's a medium grinder that spiked some stuff in the past, but when you analyze his gameplay it's pretty clear he has no idea what he's talking about most of the time. If I'm ranking content producers, he's very, very close to the bottom. This doesn't mean you should never read his articles or he he doesn't sometimes have good ideas, but as with everything, you should read with scrutiny.
This is how I felt testing for the rptq as well. Jeskai did awful in my initial tests (I was on humans) and them I played jeskai versus a fellow humans player while prepping and it performed a bit better. He had just picked up humans and I had experience in the match up already. Basically jeskai needs quellers or quite a few removal spells with snaps to win. My tournament record versus it has been positive as well. Feels quite even, but could go much worse if they ever push their board slots to win the match up. Honesty, opposing popular opinion, I do not think Jeskai is a good deck and I'm very surprised by its popularity.
// 28 Creature
4 Eldrazi Displacer
1 Eternal Witness
1 Renegade Rallier
2 Kitchen Finks
3 Duskwatch Recruiter
3 Voice of Resurgence
4 Noble Hierarch
1 Birds of Paradise
1 Eyeless Watcher
1 Drowner of Hope
2 Thought-Knot Seer
1 Reveillark
1 Cloudblazer
1 Reflector Mage
1 Glen Elendra Archmage
1 Elvish Visionary
3 Training Grounds
// 3 Instant
3 Chord of Calling
// 23 Land
3 Cavern of Souls
2 Brushland
3 Yavimaya Coast
4 Eldrazi Temple
4 Windswept Heath
1 Plains
1 Forest
2 Temple Garden
1 Breeding Pool
2 Misty Rainforest
3 Eldritch Evolution
This is what I've been playing around with lately. Mana base definitely needs refinement and there's just some many directions I want to go I dont really know what to do. There's some really power synergies and just the basic eldrazi engine wins games quickly. The backdoor combo is where I think decks like this should be, rather than focusing on going all in. I mostly just struggle to set up versus discard or fast aggressive starts from decks. No collected company hurts and maybe I should just not focus 4 and 5 drops and play a coco variant. I think some cards like Glen Elendra could go to the board in favor of another TKS (started with four originally) but I did want to reduce my dependency on colorless mana but holy turn 2 TKS is good haha.