I'm playing a similar list. I have Jace, Vryn's Prodigy instead of Wharf Infiltrator, packing more removals instead of some PWs in order to exploit his flashback ability. Instant-speed discard is super relevant in my experience. I'm also playing a single utility land, currently Westvale Abbey, but Geier Reach Sanitarium is good as well.
How has Relentless Dead been in your experience? In mine, it's great when you're activating Voldaren Pariah with plenty of mana open, but it's underwhelming otherwhise. Even keeping that single black mana open is not trivial...
Garindan - I have read the last page of posts, and I really like your reasoning on card selection. A lot of the cards have been dismissed but people haven't tested them - so for me, kudos for trying new tech and sharing it!
I tried Scourge Devil last night in just 1 game. I misplayed instantly, thinking i could flash the ability from GY, but can't. Doh. So then i started to flame the card, thinking that it's not as tricky as it could be. Then I stopped and worked out the maths. I was up against Eldrazi, and they had path mana open. Rally would not beat path (as they had a few blockers), but Scourge would - since its an extra body and spreads the damage out. Had I not misplayed, I would have won that turn. I won eventually anyway, but the point is - scourge was decent.
I haven't tested Flame Jab, and at first glance, I'm not in love with it. I do run Lightning Axe as a 1-of in the main, and quite like it. I also have darkblast in the main - so I have 1 card that's an enabler, and 1 card that's relevant from GY. It works for me. However, the point about messing up combat is fairly relevant with Jab. I've often had to attack, then flashback looting to dredge darkblast to -1 something. That's really inefficient (4 mana to -1), and jab does that job better. I guess my thing with flame jab is that conflagerate is probably the better card on balance, and that card I don't feel fits into the deck.
I am going to test Scourge Devil, because it's amalgam triggers are pretty cool
Thank you so much, finally someone who is actually testing the cards! I'm glad you're liking Devils, if feel like it's slightly worse than Rally on the damage part (but very very close), but the fact that it's an Amalgam enabler puts it on top. I like playing 2, because I really want to push hard G1 and then they are the cards that come out in almost every match. Also think about Scourge vs Rally on an empty board (ours shouldn't be empty, but MD Anger of the Gods exists).
Regarding Flame Jab, I was really, really close to playing Lightning Axe instead, but I wanted to try it and I got rewarded. Most of the time, if they see it in our graveyard they won't block our Bloodghast with their x/3 value creature, so that we're pushing damage through spending 0 mana and 0 cards. Then when they find a permanent answer to our threats we're already building towards a huge Conflagrate, and at that point that extra 2 damage from Bloodghast matters a lot.
I agree it's very narrow and I would probably cut it for a multi-purpose enabler (something like Ligthning Axe), but I would rather play a 1-of that's good in the graveyard. Worm Harvest for some trolling? There's nothing that really satisfies me in that slot, maybe a 1-of good enabler is the best thing to improve consistency.
For bigger creatures u have Conflagrate, Dakblast is both removal for early creatures AND little help to start engine. Flame Jab looks very bad, why u want to play bad cards while we already rely on 1/1s and 2/1s? Other cards should be as synergistic as they can be, Flame Jab won't help.
Still, it won me games killing a couple of turn2 Scavenging Ooze G1 and messed with combat multiple times. Have you tried it?
I will probably replace it with something else, but for sure not with Darkblast. Lightning Axe could be nice as it's an enabler, but it does nothing while in GY.
I added Flame Jab because I wanted a 1-of removal or something similar, it won over Lightning Axe because it can be cast from the graveyard and the deck dredges really hard G1.
Darkblast seems to be much better at this. You can get it every turn you need it or instantly off a draw ability.
Sadly Darkblast doesn't kill 2-thoughness creatures (unless done in upkeep+mainphase, which needs double black mana which is really hard), G1 Scavenging Oozes are everywhere.
I just wanted a payoff card instead of an enabler, plus without it I don't need black mana at all pre-sideboard. I want to dredge way harder than 3 G1, unless I'm building towards a huge Conflagrate. With Flame Jab, I can still Dredge 3 anyway with loam, then deal up to 3 damage instead of max 1 'damage' (of course, I have to spend more mana to deal more damage, but it's a non-issue when LftL is online).
Obviously Darkblast is huge in some matchups, but I prefer them in the sideboard. Flame Jab makes up for a nice 1-of card in the maindeck, it gets rid of any dork without wasting draws/dredges on it.
I don't like Scourge Devils unless your meta is extremely control heavy. Rally overall I think is a better choice. Also, why do you run Flame Jab?
With 3 or less creatures, Scourge Devil deals more damage. With 5 or more creatures, Rally the Peasants deals more damage.
This is not based on the number of attacking creatures, but on the number of creatures that connect, as most opponents have blockers, removals, or both, especially on the first 'big' attack. Scourge Devil adds a creature that has to be removed or blocked: it spreads the damage, so that it will be harder to prevent for your opponent, and pushing damage through is a key strategy of the deck.
Additionally, I prefer it over Rally the Peasants because it brings back Prized Amalgams, adding consistency to the deck. The fact that it's uncounterable in a side effect, but it already won me a couple games.
I added Flame Jab because I wanted a 1-of removal or something similar, it won over Lightning Axe because it can be cast from the graveyard and the deck dredges really hard G1. It kills dorks and things like Viscera Seer which are huge in my meta, plus it can solve a turn2 Scavenging Ooze if milled in the first couple dredges (or if it's in your starting hand, but Lightning Axe does that as well). Plus, it can mess with combat, as your opponent can no longer effectively block our 2/3 power creatures with 3/4 thoughness creatures.
This version is highly consistent, and building up to a 6-8 damage Conflagrate is the play that wins most games. I played Scourge Devil in order to have a faster race G1, and they're cards that always come out G2. The big plus over Rally the Paesants is that they bring Prized Amalgam back. Additionally, it's uncounterable.
I dropped a lot of games, probably due to my lack of experience with the deck. Still, this version felt very good and consistent, it can perform some huge plays on turn 2 or 3 and I was able to play around hate most of the time. I'm wondering if I should play a single Steam Vents that would have been useful in some games, maybe as a 20th land.
In my opinion, MonoU Tron is a low-Tier2 deck. It has just too many issues against basically any aggro deck, and at least 2 very good aggro decks are currently Tier1 (both very common and achieving good results in big events). And no, maindeck Chalice of the Void doesn't turn these matchups into positive MUs.
It's a good deck, and I feel confident playing against any popular strategy that isn't aggro. The meta is a key factor: if Jund, blue-based Control and Melira are common, U Tron can dominate. If decks like Affinty and Infect are common, we can tune the maindeck, but the deck could still be close to unplayable.
Additionally, it lacks the consistency needed to approach the Tier1.5 status. Things like having to take mulligans because your hand has no blue sources (or because it has too many 6+ drops) hurt our winrate too much at the competitive level.
It's still the deck I enjoy the most in this format, but I have to switch deck too many times because of an unfavorable meta (see the Eldrazi/Affinity/Infect meta some months ago).
How do you properly win with a slaver lock on MTGO, when you have 10-15min left, you've lost the first game, and there are exactly 0 weak spots in the opponent's deck?
He was playing Abzan Collected, he sided out the combo (no Viscera Seer or other sac outlets), he sided out Spellskite, he had basically no removal in his deck (=>he couldn't hurt himself in any way) and he drew into several Kitchen Finks/Voice of Resurgence. His board was a single Kitchen Finks. I had no board and a Dismember and lands in my hand.
What should I do here? Basically cast the first Mindslaver, look at his hands (which was like Finks-Voice-Courser-Chord) and then ignore the slaver until I have a board?
I messed up in this situation, I saw him only drawing additional gas and I misclicked at some point.
It really looks as though this list has become the 'stock' list for the immediate future, following the desperate configurations we tried when Treasure Cruise was printed, and the utterly insane configurations we saw during the Eldrazi menace earlier this year. Not exactly a wild departure from the Shocktroopa list, with a maindeck Ugin, and TKS basically replacing Solemn Simulacrum as a much more reliably high impact card. As for sleeving it up for more competitive play, it seems like you're going to want to be running Chalice in the main; yeah, it's not always going to be relevant, but the matches against which is relevant are just too much of a game one blowout to not carry around in the mainboard.
Talisman was a sometimes contested card, though a mostly accepted staple, but it seems as though its days are officially over?
Yep, Chalice wins G1 hands down against Infect and a number of other popular decks, but I started playing more removal in paper because decks like Melira Company and Jund are really really big in my local meta, while Infect and Affinity are slowly decreasing. I'm mostly worried about the artifact count.
Talisman is still really good, and allows for more consistent hands. Don't forget that it could be huge even with Thought-Knot Seer, a couple of weeks ago I managed to top8 a local GPT with a 3 Talisman - 3 TKS configuration, and turn 3 TKS was the key play in several games.
The strange thing in the deck are the 4 maindeck removals, as I just swapped 2 Chalice of the Void for 2 Spatial Contortion. I absolutely want MD Dismember, as they hit a lot of things that Spatial Contortion don't (and 1 mana vs 2 is often huge), but it's impossibile to play 4 Dismember, so Spatial Contortions fill the set. I mainly wanted Chalice for Infect and Affinity, but Spatial Contortion is still good against them while not being awful against other tier 1 decks (Jund above all). Thought-Knot Seer is awesome in my experience, as it is the good attacker/blocker the deck needs while being highly distruptive, and I'm happier to tap out for him instead of Solemn Simulacrum. The only problem in my deck is the low artifact count, that makes Thirst For Knowledge slightly worse, but I can live with it.
These were my league matches:
UB Mill 2-0: not much trouble here.
Eldrazi Tron 0-2: a really bad matchup due to on-cast triggers. G1 he came out super fast with turn 3 Worldbreaker and I couldn't do a thing. G2 a was way ahead thanks to Chalice on 1 and 2 TKS, he is locked out with no Tron and a 3-turn clock but he topdecks the missing tron piece and Ulamog in 2 draw steps, ugh. He's at 6 and I have a Wurmcoil Engine, and I'm not dying thanks to Academy Ruins, but he draws into TKS and seals the deal.
WR Control 2-0: strange deck with plenty of wrath effects, bye.
Bogles 2-1: I lose the first one as my removals rot in my hand. G2 and G3 Chalice of the Void make it really easy.
GB Elves 2-1: G1 I have a fast tron with Ugin, easy scoop for him. G2 I'm ready for a Chalice on turn 2, but he plays his whole hand on turn 2 and starts beating. TKS is on blocking duty but he keeps drawing 2-mana elves and wins with a barely lethal attack. G3 Chalice into TKS into Ugin, gg.
Grixis Control 2-0: regular duty, plus he makes a couple mistakes here and there. Asks me for a friendly rematch and gets crushed anyway.
Loam Dredge 2-0: G1 he locks me out of tron with Ghost Quarter + Life from the Loam, but his pressure is low and when he manages to put 10 power on board I manage to play Platinum Angel. I defend him from a couple Conflagrate (the second one with a ten mana Spell Burst, with 10 Islands out lol) and he scoops. G2 is way easier, a Relic of Progenitus cuts most of his gas and Wurmcoil Engine goes to town.
Bogles 2-0: way easier this time, thanks to a G1 Ugin. G2 Chalice as usual but he has Seal of Primordium but I proceed to buy it back with Academy Ruins while beating with Wurmcoil. A lot easier than expected.
Skred 2-0: well, it's like a bye. I just let him resolve Blood Moon and counter his threats.
Living End 2-1: very good matchup, but he wins an awesome G1. At some point, he has a suspendend Living End, and he needs to find Fulminator Mage or Beast Within to cut my tron and keep his Living End out of Condescend range, and he does, but meanwhile a Wurmcoil Engine was beating him down to 1. He brings back like 8 creatures, but he struggles to do lethal due to my Repeals and my Wurmcoil tokens threatening lethal. On the last possibile turn, I can untap with 7 mana, a Spatial Contortion and Oblivion Stone in hand, a Wurm token and him with 2 blockers, with a Thirst for Knowledge to dig for a Dismember or a Tron piece to either win or stall the game again (<30 cards in my deck). I fail to find anything in 4 cards, and this awesome game goes to him. G2 and G3 I crush him as usual, countering a key Living End with Spell Burst instead of Condescend/Remand to avoid Ricochet Trap.
I'm planning on playing another friendly League, then switching to competitive. However, I fear the meta switch, as I expect Affinity and Infect everywhere instead of decks like Elves and Bogles. Should I be prepared? What is the competitive Leagues meta in general?
Do you believe Jake misplayed in game 2, on the key turn (18:00 in the video)? I would have played it in a different way: let Tarmogoyf resolve, because it was clear that the opponent was not going to ultimate Liliana in that same turn, then Cyclonic Rift on Liliana in response to +1. Then you're under pressure, but you can keep the O-stone and discard the counter, or if the next draw is a blank you can still rebuy Simulacrum to chump Tarmogoyf the next turn, and start to ramp until you can get O-stone back. The game would have been highly dependent on both player's topdecks, but UTron is favored most of the time, and Jake had a huge life buffer to work with.
I don't know if my line is correct, but countering that Tarmogoyf clearly leads to a loss without involving an awesome topdeck on that last turn, unless I'm missing something.
Fine changes, but it's mostly personal preference. I would never play 2 Chalices over 2 Dismember MD, unless the meta is full of decks like Lantern and Storm (Infect? Dismember is still huge). I would run the fourth Remand over the first Snapcaster, unless the meta is heavy on aggro. I'm usually fine with a single Mindslaver, I want to avoid clunky hands at all costs, we have Thirst but having 2-3 big mana cards in the first 10 cards is not rare
OT article:
0 points for draws means that in case of a draw one player concedes. If both players are playing for prizes/byes, this means they are splitting (it's implicit). I think that this is the worst spot to be in, I really hate it when it happens, and there are obvious connections with bribery, resulting in a LOT of inexperienced players getting DQs, and opponents trying to have the other DQ'd so that there's no split. This would be really unhealthy for competitive Magic. It's even written in the article: "I think this is completely acceptable as long as nothing is being offered in exchange for the concession."
"Those are the kinds of back-alley deals that a lot of players are rallying against, and I do genuinely believe Magic would be a better game without them."
Really contradictory and messed up article in my opinion. Sadly, competitive Magic is not a fairytale, and not every competitive player is honest: this change would greatly increase splits and bribery, which is obviously bad in my opinion. However, I agree that IDs and concessions in draw matches are bad habits, but this is not the way to solve this issue.
Still 24 lands (not counting Eye) + 2 Talismans, so that siding them out isn't a big issue. Tutorable Ulamog for the late game (and SB Emrakul would be good against control), 3x TKS that come into play turn 3 if we have Talisman or Map. The rest is as usual, maybe I should swap Treasure Mage for the second Fabricate to get Batterskull.
Suggestions? I could still go back to my 'classic' version with 25 lands and MD Chalices.
Well this is going to sound biased but I think there are two groups: "nostalgic/oldschool" and the "open minded"
The oldschool guys just play what has been played for 3 years (or more) and very rarely change anything. Shoktroopa is the prime example for this, he doesn't really like Ugin, Chalice, Spatial Contortion or Thought Knot Seer. Whenever he tries the new cards because chat forces him he immediatly goes back because the oldschool list is what he enjoys and what he is most effective with. The "open minded" crowd tries different stuff and every now and then uncovers a gem and adapts it. For me some of these gems are: Chalice, 25 land, Ugin, Spatial Contortion and Thought Knot Seer.
So why are all the TKS lists playing 25 lands? Because the people who made the switch to 25 lands are the same kind of people who tried and made the switch to "EldraziTron".
In my experience 25 lands just works better than 23. And for me Thought Knot Seer is working really well in the deck list. I think most people of the open minded crowd feel the same.
I tried to go back to 23 lands but it just doesn't work anymore for me, it feels obsolete and inferior, I see no point in playing it. But the type of deck list that works for me might not work for you because playstyles differ.
Still you gotta keep in mind that my winrate is nowhere near Shoktroopas.
I'm on the 'open minded' side of this, but really all I do is adapt to the local (or online) metagame, which includes things like removing Talismans and Batterskull when Jund and Grixis were big and switching to another deck when Affinity and Infect were everywhere.
I've played every version of the deck, excluding the 'full Eldrazi' one. Now, thinking abuot adding TKS, the thing that strikes me is that he's really good earlygame and marginal to really bad lategame. Additionally, playing him a turn before is huge, given that turn 4 is a critical turn for modern. The thing that strikes me is: why such 'open-minded' players never tried the Talisman version with TKS? Am I missing something?
Hey guys! I'm a long-time UTron player, and I took a long break due to meta issues (affinity and infect everywhere).
I'm willing to prepare the deck for the next FNM, and I would like to try the Eldrazi package (2-3 Thought-Knot Seer, 1 Ulamog, 1 Eye of Ugin).
I searched for similar lists, but I realised most of them run 0 Talismans/Signet. I figured that turn 3 Seer would be really good, just like the good old turn 3 Solemn Simulacrum (for different purposes). What is the reasoning behind this choice? Am I somehow wrong?
How has Relentless Dead been in your experience? In mine, it's great when you're activating Voldaren Pariah with plenty of mana open, but it's underwhelming otherwhise. Even keeping that single black mana open is not trivial...
Additionaly, what do you have in your SB?
Thank you so much, finally someone who is actually testing the cards! I'm glad you're liking Devils, if feel like it's slightly worse than Rally on the damage part (but very very close), but the fact that it's an Amalgam enabler puts it on top. I like playing 2, because I really want to push hard G1 and then they are the cards that come out in almost every match. Also think about Scourge vs Rally on an empty board (ours shouldn't be empty, but MD Anger of the Gods exists).
Regarding Flame Jab, I was really, really close to playing Lightning Axe instead, but I wanted to try it and I got rewarded. Most of the time, if they see it in our graveyard they won't block our Bloodghast with their x/3 value creature, so that we're pushing damage through spending 0 mana and 0 cards. Then when they find a permanent answer to our threats we're already building towards a huge Conflagrate, and at that point that extra 2 damage from Bloodghast matters a lot.
I agree it's very narrow and I would probably cut it for a multi-purpose enabler (something like Ligthning Axe), but I would rather play a 1-of that's good in the graveyard. Worm Harvest for some trolling? There's nothing that really satisfies me in that slot, maybe a 1-of good enabler is the best thing to improve consistency.
Still, it won me games killing a couple of turn2 Scavenging Ooze G1 and messed with combat multiple times. Have you tried it?
I will probably replace it with something else, but for sure not with Darkblast. Lightning Axe could be nice as it's an enabler, but it does nothing while in GY.
Sadly Darkblast doesn't kill 2-thoughness creatures (unless done in upkeep+mainphase, which needs double black mana which is really hard), G1 Scavenging Oozes are everywhere.
I just wanted a payoff card instead of an enabler, plus without it I don't need black mana at all pre-sideboard. I want to dredge way harder than 3 G1, unless I'm building towards a huge Conflagrate. With Flame Jab, I can still Dredge 3 anyway with loam, then deal up to 3 damage instead of max 1 'damage' (of course, I have to spend more mana to deal more damage, but it's a non-issue when LftL is online).
Obviously Darkblast is huge in some matchups, but I prefer them in the sideboard. Flame Jab makes up for a nice 1-of card in the maindeck, it gets rid of any dork without wasting draws/dredges on it.
With 3 or less creatures, Scourge Devil deals more damage. With 5 or more creatures, Rally the Peasants deals more damage.
This is not based on the number of attacking creatures, but on the number of creatures that connect, as most opponents have blockers, removals, or both, especially on the first 'big' attack. Scourge Devil adds a creature that has to be removed or blocked: it spreads the damage, so that it will be harder to prevent for your opponent, and pushing damage through is a key strategy of the deck.
Additionally, I prefer it over Rally the Peasants because it brings back Prized Amalgams, adding consistency to the deck. The fact that it's uncounterable in a side effect, but it already won me a couple games.
I added Flame Jab because I wanted a 1-of removal or something similar, it won over Lightning Axe because it can be cast from the graveyard and the deck dredges really hard G1. It kills dorks and things like Viscera Seer which are huge in my meta, plus it can solve a turn2 Scavenging Ooze if milled in the first couple dredges (or if it's in your starting hand, but Lightning Axe does that as well). Plus, it can mess with combat, as your opponent can no longer effectively block our 2/3 power creatures with 3/4 thoughness creatures.
4 Golgari Grave-Troll
4 Stinkweed Imp
4 Bloodghast
4 Prized Amalgam
4 Narcomoeba
2 Scourge Devil
3 Conflagrate
3 Life from the Loam
4 Faithless Looting
4 Tormenting Voice
1 Flame Jab
3 Copperline Gorge
3 Bloodstained Mire
2 Dakmor Salvage
2 Stomping Ground
2 Blood Crypt
4 Wooded Foothills
2 Mountain
1 Forest
3 Ancient Grudge
2 Thoughtseize
2 Abrupt Decay
1 Memory's Journey
1 Bojuka Bog
2 Gnaw to the Bone
2 Darkblast
This version is highly consistent, and building up to a 6-8 damage Conflagrate is the play that wins most games. I played Scourge Devil in order to have a faster race G1, and they're cards that always come out G2. The big plus over Rally the Paesants is that they bring Prized Amalgam back. Additionally, it's uncounterable.
I dropped a lot of games, probably due to my lack of experience with the deck. Still, this version felt very good and consistent, it can perform some huge plays on turn 2 or 3 and I was able to play around hate most of the time. I'm wondering if I should play a single Steam Vents that would have been useful in some games, maybe as a 20th land.
It's a good deck, and I feel confident playing against any popular strategy that isn't aggro. The meta is a key factor: if Jund, blue-based Control and Melira are common, U Tron can dominate. If decks like Affinty and Infect are common, we can tune the maindeck, but the deck could still be close to unplayable.
Additionally, it lacks the consistency needed to approach the Tier1.5 status. Things like having to take mulligans because your hand has no blue sources (or because it has too many 6+ drops) hurt our winrate too much at the competitive level.
It's still the deck I enjoy the most in this format, but I have to switch deck too many times because of an unfavorable meta (see the Eldrazi/Affinity/Infect meta some months ago).
He was playing Abzan Collected, he sided out the combo (no Viscera Seer or other sac outlets), he sided out Spellskite, he had basically no removal in his deck (=>he couldn't hurt himself in any way) and he drew into several Kitchen Finks/Voice of Resurgence. His board was a single Kitchen Finks. I had no board and a Dismember and lands in my hand.
What should I do here? Basically cast the first Mindslaver, look at his hands (which was like Finks-Voice-Courser-Chord) and then ignore the slaver until I have a board?
I messed up in this situation, I saw him only drawing additional gas and I misclicked at some point.
Yep, Chalice wins G1 hands down against Infect and a number of other popular decks, but I started playing more removal in paper because decks like Melira Company and Jund are really really big in my local meta, while Infect and Affinity are slowly decreasing. I'm mostly worried about the artifact count.
Talisman is still really good, and allows for more consistent hands. Don't forget that it could be huge even with Thought-Knot Seer, a couple of weeks ago I managed to top8 a local GPT with a 3 Talisman - 3 TKS configuration, and turn 3 TKS was the key play in several games.
4 Urza's Tower
4 Urza's Power Plant
4 Urza's Mine
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Academy Ruins
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Treasure Mage
2 Thought-Knot Seer
2 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Platinum Angel
1 Sundering Titan
1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
4 Thirst for Knowledge
4 Remand
4 Condescend
3 Repeal
4 Expedition Map
1 Spell Burst
2 Spatial Contortion
2 Dismember
1 Oblivion Stone
1 Fabricate
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Spellskite
1 Pithing Needle
3 Chalice of the Void
2 Spatial Contortion
1 Thought-Knot Seer
2 Negate
2 Squelch
The strange thing in the deck are the 4 maindeck removals, as I just swapped 2 Chalice of the Void for 2 Spatial Contortion. I absolutely want MD Dismember, as they hit a lot of things that Spatial Contortion don't (and 1 mana vs 2 is often huge), but it's impossibile to play 4 Dismember, so Spatial Contortions fill the set. I mainly wanted Chalice for Infect and Affinity, but Spatial Contortion is still good against them while not being awful against other tier 1 decks (Jund above all).
Thought-Knot Seer is awesome in my experience, as it is the good attacker/blocker the deck needs while being highly distruptive, and I'm happier to tap out for him instead of Solemn Simulacrum. The only problem in my deck is the low artifact count, that makes Thirst For Knowledge slightly worse, but I can live with it.
These were my league matches:
UB Mill 2-0: not much trouble here.
Eldrazi Tron 0-2: a really bad matchup due to on-cast triggers. G1 he came out super fast with turn 3 Worldbreaker and I couldn't do a thing. G2 a was way ahead thanks to Chalice on 1 and 2 TKS, he is locked out with no Tron and a 3-turn clock but he topdecks the missing tron piece and Ulamog in 2 draw steps, ugh. He's at 6 and I have a Wurmcoil Engine, and I'm not dying thanks to Academy Ruins, but he draws into TKS and seals the deal.
WR Control 2-0: strange deck with plenty of wrath effects, bye.
Bogles 2-1: I lose the first one as my removals rot in my hand. G2 and G3 Chalice of the Void make it really easy.
GB Elves 2-1: G1 I have a fast tron with Ugin, easy scoop for him. G2 I'm ready for a Chalice on turn 2, but he plays his whole hand on turn 2 and starts beating. TKS is on blocking duty but he keeps drawing 2-mana elves and wins with a barely lethal attack. G3 Chalice into TKS into Ugin, gg.
Grixis Control 2-0: regular duty, plus he makes a couple mistakes here and there. Asks me for a friendly rematch and gets crushed anyway.
Loam Dredge 2-0: G1 he locks me out of tron with Ghost Quarter + Life from the Loam, but his pressure is low and when he manages to put 10 power on board I manage to play Platinum Angel. I defend him from a couple Conflagrate (the second one with a ten mana Spell Burst, with 10 Islands out lol) and he scoops. G2 is way easier, a Relic of Progenitus cuts most of his gas and Wurmcoil Engine goes to town.
Bogles 2-0: way easier this time, thanks to a G1 Ugin. G2 Chalice as usual but he has Seal of Primordium but I proceed to buy it back with Academy Ruins while beating with Wurmcoil. A lot easier than expected.
Skred 2-0: well, it's like a bye. I just let him resolve Blood Moon and counter his threats.
Living End 2-1: very good matchup, but he wins an awesome G1. At some point, he has a suspendend Living End, and he needs to find Fulminator Mage or Beast Within to cut my tron and keep his Living End out of Condescend range, and he does, but meanwhile a Wurmcoil Engine was beating him down to 1. He brings back like 8 creatures, but he struggles to do lethal due to my Repeals and my Wurmcoil tokens threatening lethal. On the last possibile turn, I can untap with 7 mana, a Spatial Contortion and Oblivion Stone in hand, a Wurm token and him with 2 blockers, with a Thirst for Knowledge to dig for a Dismember or a Tron piece to either win or stall the game again (<30 cards in my deck). I fail to find anything in 4 cards, and this awesome game goes to him. G2 and G3 I crush him as usual, countering a key Living End with Spell Burst instead of Condescend/Remand to avoid Ricochet Trap.
I'm planning on playing another friendly League, then switching to competitive. However, I fear the meta switch, as I expect Affinity and Infect everywhere instead of decks like Elves and Bogles. Should I be prepared? What is the competitive Leagues meta in general?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ne2LQpVy6Bg
Do you believe Jake misplayed in game 2, on the key turn (18:00 in the video)? I would have played it in a different way: let Tarmogoyf resolve, because it was clear that the opponent was not going to ultimate Liliana in that same turn, then Cyclonic Rift on Liliana in response to +1. Then you're under pressure, but you can keep the O-stone and discard the counter, or if the next draw is a blank you can still rebuy Simulacrum to chump Tarmogoyf the next turn, and start to ramp until you can get O-stone back. The game would have been highly dependent on both player's topdecks, but UTron is favored most of the time, and Jake had a huge life buffer to work with.
I don't know if my line is correct, but countering that Tarmogoyf clearly leads to a loss without involving an awesome topdeck on that last turn, unless I'm missing something.
What do you think?
OT article:
"I think this is completely acceptable as long as nothing is being offered in exchange for the concession."
"Those are the kinds of back-alley deals that a lot of players are rallying against, and I do genuinely believe Magic would be a better game without them."
Really contradictory and messed up article in my opinion. Sadly, competitive Magic is not a fairytale, and not every competitive player is honest: this change would greatly increase splits and bribery, which is obviously bad in my opinion. However, I agree that IDs and concessions in draw matches are bad habits, but this is not the way to solve this issue.
4 Urza's Power Plant
4 Urza's Tower
9 Island
1 Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
1 Academy Ruins
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Eye of Ugin
3 Thought-Knot Seer
1 Ulamog, The Ceaseless Hunger
1 Treasure Mage
1 Batterskull
1 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Platinum Angel
1 Sundering Titan
1 Mindslaver
1 Oblivion Stone
3 Remand
3 Repeal
1 Cyclonic Rift
1 Fabricate
4 Thirst for Knowledge
2 Talisman of Dominance
4 Expedition Map
2 Dismember
1 Relic of Progenitus
3 Chalice of the Void
2 Spellskite
1 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
1 Hurkyl's Recall
2 Negate
2 Squelch
1 Dismember
1 Spatial Contortion
Still 24 lands (not counting Eye) + 2 Talismans, so that siding them out isn't a big issue. Tutorable Ulamog for the late game (and SB Emrakul would be good against control), 3x TKS that come into play turn 3 if we have Talisman or Map. The rest is as usual, maybe I should swap Treasure Mage for the second Fabricate to get Batterskull.
Suggestions? I could still go back to my 'classic' version with 25 lands and MD Chalices.
I'm on the 'open minded' side of this, but really all I do is adapt to the local (or online) metagame, which includes things like removing Talismans and Batterskull when Jund and Grixis were big and switching to another deck when Affinity and Infect were everywhere.
I've played every version of the deck, excluding the 'full Eldrazi' one. Now, thinking abuot adding TKS, the thing that strikes me is that he's really good earlygame and marginal to really bad lategame. Additionally, playing him a turn before is huge, given that turn 4 is a critical turn for modern. The thing that strikes me is: why such 'open-minded' players never tried the Talisman version with TKS? Am I missing something?
I'm willing to prepare the deck for the next FNM, and I would like to try the Eldrazi package (2-3 Thought-Knot Seer, 1 Ulamog, 1 Eye of Ugin).
I searched for similar lists, but I realised most of them run 0 Talismans/Signet. I figured that turn 3 Seer would be really good, just like the good old turn 3 Solemn Simulacrum (for different purposes). What is the reasoning behind this choice? Am I somehow wrong?
I'll post my list later