Anyone who is playing the Tribal Flames list with Kird Ape, Nacatl and all the burn?
That build has been super popular lately and seems to be doing well at larger events. Not my cup of tea and I went running back to my rhinos after giving bbe a shot.
I'll be going to a 2/2 split of rhino/bbe in tribal zoo. Cascade into snap is weak, I'll be cutting snap for k command. Cascade into path is also not great, I'll be going from 4/2 path/helix split to 2/4 split. 2 extra helix offsets playing with 2 fewer rhinos.
With 2 k command I'd feel ok exploring alternatives to qasali. Lotus cobra comes to mind. Bringing in 2 cobras makes the one of bird unnecessary and I will swap it with a lavaman.
Lots of tinkering going on but I am excited to see how it goes. I think overall this version is less powerful than before but it could be worth giving up some raw power to be immune to blood moons thanks to cobras and bbe.
Tamiyo was interesting where everyone was afraid of it when it resolved and dedicated a lot of resources to get it off the field. Could probably just be rhinos 3-4. Lavamancer's were solid, especially when I played against humans. Sideboard was for local meta.
I love the lavaman, he absolutely is the kind of blue chip tier card that goes into this deck. I'm a bit of a snob so I won't play him unless I get a nice quality torment foil version but I absolutely would rock him over the birds if I had one.
As for the tamiyo, it does seem interesting and probably even good. The thing about 4 drops that aren't siege rhino is that.... well you could have had a siege rhino! It's like buying watches, yea you got a really great deal on that grand seiko, and yea it is a beautiful watch, but man, you could have gotten a ROOOOLEX!! Rhino is the rolex of four drops, hope this makes sense but probably not haha. I think I probably just love rhinos too much (and rolex but that is a whole other issue)
I've been away from Zoo for quite a while. What's the current consensus on the best build for Domain Zoo?
There aren't enough players talking about the deck to reach a consensus on the best build. For what it's worth I'll post my list. Now I ain't no big city mtg pro, just a humble fnm regular who enjoys siege rhino a bit too much. Having said that, this list has done me justice for years, requiring only slight sideboard tweaks as the meta evolved. I have been playing the same 60 since the twin era:
Anyone have any special cards they like to board in against Death & Taxes? I always feel like boarding in a ton of removal but have the feeling that we should be the aggressive deck instead of the controlling deck in the matchup with Naya Company.
I'm on tribal zoo with rhinos and geists so our strategies are at least similar although I am more vulnerable to ghost quarters. I don't have grim lavamancer in the sideboard but if I did I would expect him to earn his money back in this match. Qasali is a really flexible guy in this matchup as well given his ability to snipe golem tokens and vials. I do bring in 2 scoozies here because of his implications in a creature mirror.
In this match I am planning on killing arbiter's on sight but otherwise just have the thing I spend x mana on be bigger / better than the thing the other guy spends x mana on. Sometimes I get wisp+strangler wombo combo'd and lose but more often then not things are fine.
But I dislike the 4x Relic + 4x Dark-Dwellers, how do they work together?
Why 5 Sweeper main?
What is in your Sideboard?
I only have a handful of games in so please take my thoughts as initial impressions only. Most of my games have been vs grixis shadow.
I pop my relics asap to stop early delve so I didn't run into any issues with it nonboing with gdd. I found gdd to be a strong play capable of swinging games that I was losing. The worst case scenario is I blow up opponents graveyard shenanigans and gdd is just a 4/4 menace.
My curve is topheavy so i'm loading up on sweepers to get me there. Too inexperienced to know if 5 is too many but it seems ok so far. I find myself going pyroclasm + bolt to kill tasigur / gurmag quite often.
I'm still working on creating my sideboard. Cards I am interested in so far are spitebellows (shadow/eldrazi) the fourth moon and magus of the moons(general mana base hate), dragons claw, sulfur elementals(souls/white vial decks), and more outpost siege(grind)
Idk if I need extra affinity hate or if the sweepers + gdd are already sufficient. I cant find my magus set so for now I'll be rocking fulminators. Here is the board I'll be testing:
Hello everyone! I loved playing RDW back in standard and just recently updated it for modern. It feels weird and awesome to play so many basics, 4 drops and 5 drops in modern. So far I'm having a blast with this deck:
I am taking my trusty tribal zoo to a 40 player pptq tomorrow. This is my first event that is larger than fnm. My goal is to top 8 and my expectation is to have a better sideboard after the event is said and done. Here is the deck I am taking:
Update: I went 3-3 and had a great time. The maindeck feels great. In fact, I think I might be making my deck worse when I sideboard. My new plan is to work on a hatebears sideboard. The idea is to minimize diluting my threat and burn suite by swapping qasalis and snappies for hatebears post board.
4-0 with the old trusty tribal zoo tonight. Siege rhinos abused a lot of people tonight!
2-0 vs 8rack
2-0 vs bg elves
2-1 vs naya burn
2-0 vs esper tokens (we split but played it out for fun)
I'm playing again tomorrow night. I will come back and edit this post with the results. Also congrats lugger, taking down eldrazi is never fun but at least trondrazi isn't as bad as bant imo.
Update: things didn't go my way at the second event. I went 1-2 vs burn, 1-2 vs abzan coco, and then I dropped. The siege rhino well was running pretty dry
In response to the rallier conversation, I think rallier is one of the higher power level cards that wotc has printed recently. I think he is on par with collected company for raw power and card advantage. He lets us have a 2 for 1 that only costs three mana instead of coco's four mana. If I was going to build a zoo deck that didn't have geist as the three drop, I would be playing 4 ralliers as the three drop and keep my curve as low to the ground as possible while maintaining busted landfall combos - basically rallier is always going to be insane if you have a steppe lynx or lotus cobra in play. Here is a rough idea of what I think a streamlined rallier zoo could looks like:
Probably sucks but who cares, modern is just for having fun.
Speaking of fun, I took the old tribal zoo out again tonight and got to sling plenty of siege rhinos on my path to 3-0. Games were vs 8 whack (2-0), Esper control (2-0), and vizier abzan coco (2-0). Lots of turn two geists which equals lots of free wins.
Taking the old trusty tribal zoo on a field trip tomorrow. New store, new meta, hopefully a Saturday full of fun modern games! I'll let yall know how it goes.
On another subject, that 4 mana path of wrath instant sweeper from ixalan is going to suck to play against next year.
Update on the event: We had 20 something people, I went 2-0 vs elves, 2-0 vs bg rock, 2-0 vs goblins, and then in the finals match I lost 1-2 to bant spirits. Game one we each went turn one noble, turn two geist hahaha. I won that one. Games two and three I had the turn two geist and he had the untap, cast phantasmal image copying my geist. Pretty funny I lost to my own deck but it was fun none the less. Had him dead to any topdecked version of bolt both of those games.
Well we have some sort of death shadow tribal zoo deck in top 8 GP Copenhagen. Looks super janky to me but obviously it was the right choice for this event:
He was 1-1 against grixis deaeth's shadow in the top 8, had opponent down to 4, but just kept drawing dead renegade ralliers and then died to lightning bolt!
I had some requests for how I sideboard so I am just doing a mini primer for my tribal zoo:
Tribal Zoo Mini Primer / Sideboard Guide
I tried to keep everything concise with one or two sentence descriptions.
Who am I?
I am a FNM/mtgo player who has been on the same tribal zoo deck since around September. I have been playing since 5th edition and got competitive around lorwyn.
What is Tribal Zoo?
Tribal Zoo is an aggressive, Naya midrange deck splashing blue and black that prefers to interact using direct damage sources rather than discard or permission. The mana base consists of fetch and shock lands to turn on tribal flames on turn three ideally.
Threats Wild Nacatl Consistently a 3/3 for one mana. Tarmogoyf 2/3 to 4/5 for two mana most of the time. Geist of Saint Traft insane three drop threat. Keeping board clear for geist is usually the easiest way to win with this deck. Siege Rhino 4/5 trampling snapcaster mage that always hits lightning helix... lol ok maybe not but pretty god damn close. The lifegain is pure gold on this four drop threat.
Removal Tribal Flames1R sorcery: Deal 5 damage to target creature or player. Lightning Bolt a mini tribal flames but at instant speed. Lightning Helix Easy way to gain 3 life is very good plus it comes with a bolt. Path to Exile Unconditional exile in a deck full of direct damage is useful.
Flex Noble Hierarch Forms megatron with geist. Birds of Paradise Wotc don't let you play 5 noble hierarch. Qasali Pridemage Incredible activated ability for undercosted exalted beatdowns Snapcaster Mage Flexible card that can catch opponents off guard.
Lands
Naya fetches make it easy to fetch the right lands to play the cards on curve.
Seven shocks, all with at least one naya color. two sources of blue and two sources of black.
It makes more sense to talk about the sideboard cards in the matchups section.
I went somewhat unconventional with my sideboard. This decks main weaknesses can be overcome by playing well and drawing the right cards. An overlooked benefit of 5 colors is the amount of flexibility in the main 60 which allows me to dedicate my sideboard to cards that can hose particular players in my fnm. I kept the same SB for mtgo and it has worked out so I just went with it.
Matches
(Burn)
Out:
4 Geist of Saint Traft This thing is a nuclear missile and I am looking for a medic
3 Path to Exile Burn doesn't play many creatures and none of them require an exile effect to remove.
In:
3 Leyline of Sanctity free wins, great to hard cast too.
2 Ajani Vengeant Takes me to 8 helix effects in the deck.
2 Negate It's basically a lifegain spell and an answer for reflecting palm.
(Death's Shadow Jund)
Out:
4 Noble Hierarch Ramp isn't as important as reach. I want to build a wide board so I can attack + burn spell to end the game in one turn.
1 Birds of Paradise
In:
3 Leyline of Sanctity free wins sometimes, gains value each time opponent draws dead spells.
2 Ajani Vengeant Not a hoser here, just a solid 4 drop with reach.
(Dredge)
Out:
2 Qasali Pridemage No targets, need room so I'm cutting the least efficient threat.
2 Snapcaster Mage Doesn't work with cage.
1 Path to Exile It's not super useful here. I'm still interested in exiling prized amalgam so I keep 3 in.
In:
3 Grafdigger's Cage They can beat it but it is a significant speedbump. This match is just a race and whoever stumbles will lose.
2 Negate This one can stop the early game cathartic reunion or the late game conflagrate.
(Junk)
Out:
4 Noble Hierarch I want every card to be land removal or threat
1 Birds of Paradise
In:
3 Leyline of Sanctity Shuts off a large portion of their interaction.
2 Ajani Vengeant Not a hoser here, just a solid 4 drop threat that can interact with creatures and manlands.
(Eldrazi Tron)
Out:
2 Lightning Helix The lifegain is not super useful here. Paying two mana for a bolt isn't worths.
4 Lightning Bolt I need removal and bolt doesn't do that here.
1 Snapcaster Mage I am cutting a lot of spells here so going down to 1 feels ok.
In:
3 Stony Silence Turns off map and usually some other artifacts in their deck (hangarback walker / walking ballista / spellskite)
2 Ajani Vengeant +1 is an answer for Reality Smasher. Builds towards powerful ult.
2 Destructive Revelry More answers for chalice of the void.
(Storm)
Out:
4 Siege Rhino I want to be low and nimble in this match so I cut the 4 drops.
2 Snapcaster Mage Cut for above reason as well as the presence of cage.
2 Qasali Pridemage No targets to hit, cutting the least efficient threat.
In:
3 Leyline of Sanctity This one shuts down gifts ungiven and grapeshot.
3 Grafdigger's Cage Stops past in flames.
2 Negate Stops manamorphose, gifts ungiven, and remand.
(Affinity)
Out:
4 Geist of Saint Traft Nacatl and Goyf are enough of a board to do the job here. The rest of the cards I draw I want immediate action.
1 Siege Rhino Cutting a four drop lowers the curve slightly.
In:
3 Stony Silence Free Wins
2 Destructive Revelry Great removal spell here.
That build has been super popular lately and seems to be doing well at larger events. Not my cup of tea and I went running back to my rhinos after giving bbe a shot.
With 2 k command I'd feel ok exploring alternatives to qasali. Lotus cobra comes to mind. Bringing in 2 cobras makes the one of bird unnecessary and I will swap it with a lavaman.
Lots of tinkering going on but I am excited to see how it goes. I think overall this version is less powerful than before but it could be worth giving up some raw power to be immune to blood moons thanks to cobras and bbe.
4x Windswept Heath
4x Wooded Foothills
4x Arid Mesa
1x Blood Crypt
1x Forest
1x Hallowed Fountain
1x Marsh Flats
1x Overgrown Tomb
1x Sacred Foundry
1x Steam Vents
1x Stomping Ground
1x Temple Garden
4x Wild Nacatl
4x Tarmogoyf
4x Geist of Saint Traft
2x Bloodbraid Elf
2x Siege Rhino
4x Noble Hierarch
1x Grim Lavamancer
2x Lotus Cobra
4x Lightning Bolt
4x Lightning Helix
2x Path to Exile
2x Kolaghan's Command
Sorcery (4)
4x Tribal Flames
I love the lavaman, he absolutely is the kind of blue chip tier card that goes into this deck. I'm a bit of a snob so I won't play him unless I get a nice quality torment foil version but I absolutely would rock him over the birds if I had one.
As for the tamiyo, it does seem interesting and probably even good. The thing about 4 drops that aren't siege rhino is that.... well you could have had a siege rhino! It's like buying watches, yea you got a really great deal on that grand seiko, and yea it is a beautiful watch, but man, you could have gotten a ROOOOLEX!! Rhino is the rolex of four drops, hope this makes sense but probably not haha. I think I probably just love rhinos too much (and rolex but that is a whole other issue)
There aren't enough players talking about the deck to reach a consensus on the best build. For what it's worth I'll post my list. Now I ain't no big city mtg pro, just a humble fnm regular who enjoys siege rhino a bit too much. Having said that, this list has done me justice for years, requiring only slight sideboard tweaks as the meta evolved. I have been playing the same 60 since the twin era:
4x Arid Mesa
1x Blood Crypt
1x Forest
1x Hallowed Fountain
1x Marsh Flats
1x Overgrown Tomb
1x Sacred Foundry
1x Steam Vents
1x Stomping Ground
1x Temple Garden
4x Windswept Heath
4x Wooded Foothills
1x Birds of Paradise
4x Noble Hierarch
4x Wild Nacatl
2x Qasali Pridemage
2x Snapcaster Mage
4x Tarmogoyf
4x Geist of Saint Traft
4x Siege Rhino
Sorcery (4)
4x Tribal Flames
Instant (10)
4x Lightning Bolt
4x Path to Exile
2x Lightning Helix
2x Destructive Revelry
2x Gaddock Teeg
2x Negate
2x Scavenging Ooze
2x Stony Silence
2x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
3x Leyline of Sanctity
I'm on tribal zoo with rhinos and geists so our strategies are at least similar although I am more vulnerable to ghost quarters. I don't have grim lavamancer in the sideboard but if I did I would expect him to earn his money back in this match. Qasali is a really flexible guy in this matchup as well given his ability to snipe golem tokens and vials. I do bring in 2 scoozies here because of his implications in a creature mirror.
In this match I am planning on killing arbiter's on sight but otherwise just have the thing I spend x mana on be bigger / better than the thing the other guy spends x mana on. Sometimes I get wisp+strangler wombo combo'd and lose but more often then not things are fine.
I only have a handful of games in so please take my thoughts as initial impressions only. Most of my games have been vs grixis shadow.
I pop my relics asap to stop early delve so I didn't run into any issues with it nonboing with gdd. I found gdd to be a strong play capable of swinging games that I was losing. The worst case scenario is I blow up opponents graveyard shenanigans and gdd is just a 4/4 menace.
My curve is topheavy so i'm loading up on sweepers to get me there. Too inexperienced to know if 5 is too many but it seems ok so far. I find myself going pyroclasm + bolt to kill tasigur / gurmag quite often.
I'm still working on creating my sideboard. Cards I am interested in so far are spitebellows (shadow/eldrazi) the fourth moon and magus of the moons(general mana base hate), dragons claw, sulfur elementals(souls/white vial decks), and more outpost siege(grind)
Idk if I need extra affinity hate or if the sweepers + gdd are already sufficient. I cant find my magus set so for now I'll be rocking fulminators. Here is the board I'll be testing:
4x Lightning Bolt
4x Skred
Artifact (7)
3x Mind Stone
4x Relic of Progenitus
4x Koth of the Hammer
Sorcery (5)
3x Anger of the Gods
2x Pyroclasm
Creature (8)
4x Goblin Dark-Dwellers
4x Stormbreath Dragon
3x Blood Moon
1x Outpost Siege
Land (24)
4x Scrying Sheets
20x Snow-Covered Mountain
4x Windswept Heath
4x Wooded Foothills
4x Arid Mesa
1x Marsh Flats
1x Stomping Ground
1x Temple Garden
1x Sacred Foundry
1x Steam Vents
1x Hallowed Fountain
1x Overgrown Tomb
1x Blood Crypt
1x Forest
4x Noble Hierarch
1x Birds of Paradise
4x Wild Nacatl
4x Tarmogoyf
4x Geist of Saint Traft
4x Siege Rhino
2x Qasali Pridemage
2x Snapcaster Mage
Sorcery (4)
4x Tribal Flames
Instant (10)
4x Path to Exile
4x Lightning Bolt
2x Lightning Helix
3x Leyline of Sanctity
3x Rest in Peace
3x Stony Silence
2x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
2x Destructive Revelry
2x Negate
Update: I went 3-3 and had a great time. The maindeck feels great. In fact, I think I might be making my deck worse when I sideboard. My new plan is to work on a hatebears sideboard. The idea is to minimize diluting my threat and burn suite by swapping qasalis and snappies for hatebears post board.
Proposed Hatebear Sideboard for Tribal Zoo:
2-0 vs 8rack
2-0 vs bg elves
2-1 vs naya burn
2-0 vs esper tokens (we split but played it out for fun)
I'm playing again tomorrow night. I will come back and edit this post with the results. Also congrats lugger, taking down eldrazi is never fun but at least trondrazi isn't as bad as bant imo.
Update: things didn't go my way at the second event. I went 1-2 vs burn, 1-2 vs abzan coco, and then I dropped. The siege rhino well was running pretty dry
4x Windswept Heath
3x Wooded Foothills
3x Arid Mesa
1x Sacred Foundry
1x Stomping Ground
1x Temple Garden
1x Forest
1x Plains
2x Treetop Village
Creature (32)
4x Steppe Lynx
4x Wild Nacatl
4x Experiment One
4x Goblin Guide
4x Kird Ape
4x Loam Lion
4x Lotus Cobra
4x Renegade Rallier
4x Lightning Bolt
4x Path to Exile
4x Windswept Heath
3x Wooded Foothills
3x Arid Mesa
4x Horizon Canopy
1x Sacred Foundry
1x Stomping Ground
1x Temple Garden
1x Forest
1x Mountain
1x Plains
4x Loam Lion
4x Savannah Lions
4x Scythe Tiger
4x Steppe Lynx
4x Wild Nacatl
4x Qasali Pridemage
4x Fleecemane Lion
3x pride sovereign
2x Brimaz, King of Oreskos
4x Lightning Bolt
3x Path to Exile
Probably sucks but who cares, modern is just for having fun.
Speaking of fun, I took the old tribal zoo out again tonight and got to sling plenty of siege rhinos on my path to 3-0. Games were vs 8 whack (2-0), Esper control (2-0), and vizier abzan coco (2-0). Lots of turn two geists which equals lots of free wins.
On another subject, that 4 mana path of wrath instant sweeper from ixalan is going to suck to play against next year.
Update on the event: We had 20 something people, I went 2-0 vs elves, 2-0 vs bg rock, 2-0 vs goblins, and then in the finals match I lost 1-2 to bant spirits. Game one we each went turn one noble, turn two geist hahaha. I won that one. Games two and three I had the turn two geist and he had the untap, cast phantasmal image copying my geist. Pretty funny I lost to my own deck but it was fun none the less. Had him dead to any topdecked version of bolt both of those games.
Wins were vs jund, burn, 8rack, eldrazitron, revolt zoo, junk, infect. Lost to kci and jund.
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Death's Shadow
4 Wild Nacatl
4 Monastery Swiftspear
4 Street Wraith
2 Ghor-Clan Rampager
2 Renegade Rallier
2 Grim Flayer
Sorcery (4)
4 Tribal Flames
Instant (9)
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Mutagenic Growth
3 Temur Battle Rage
4 Mishra's Bauble
Land (17)
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Stomping Ground
1 Temple Garden
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Blood Crypt
1 Steam Vents
4 Arid Mesa
4 Wooded Foothills
3 Bloodstained Mire
2 Renegade Rallier
1 Dismember
2 Ancient Grudge
2 Seal of Primordium
4 Thoughtseize
1 Forest
1 Liliana, the Last Hope
2 Ratchet Bomb
He was 1-1 against grixis deaeth's shadow in the top 8, had opponent down to 4, but just kept drawing dead renegade ralliers and then died to lightning bolt!
Tribal Zoo Mini Primer / Sideboard Guide
I tried to keep everything concise with one or two sentence descriptions.
Who am I?
I am a FNM/mtgo player who has been on the same tribal zoo deck since around September. I have been playing since 5th edition and got competitive around lorwyn.
What is Tribal Zoo?
Tribal Zoo is an aggressive, Naya midrange deck splashing blue and black that prefers to interact using direct damage sources rather than discard or permission. The mana base consists of fetch and shock lands to turn on tribal flames on turn three ideally.
Threats
Wild Nacatl Consistently a 3/3 for one mana.
Tarmogoyf 2/3 to 4/5 for two mana most of the time.
Geist of Saint Traft insane three drop threat. Keeping board clear for geist is usually the easiest way to win with this deck.
Siege Rhino 4/5 trampling snapcaster mage that always hits lightning helix... lol ok maybe not but pretty god damn close. The lifegain is pure gold on this four drop threat.
Removal
Tribal Flames 1R sorcery: Deal 5 damage to target creature or player.
Lightning Bolt a mini tribal flames but at instant speed.
Lightning Helix Easy way to gain 3 life is very good plus it comes with a bolt.
Path to Exile Unconditional exile in a deck full of direct damage is useful.
Flex
Noble Hierarch Forms megatron with geist.
Birds of Paradise Wotc don't let you play 5 noble hierarch.
Qasali Pridemage Incredible activated ability for undercosted exalted beatdowns
Snapcaster Mage Flexible card that can catch opponents off guard.
Lands
Naya fetches make it easy to fetch the right lands to play the cards on curve.
Seven shocks, all with at least one naya color. two sources of blue and two sources of black.
It makes more sense to talk about the sideboard cards in the matchups section.
Strengths: Races well, removes creatures and planeswalkers well, redundant core of threats.
Weakness: eldrazi, lingering souls, burn damage, supreme verdict, ugin, blood moon.
4x Arid Mesa
4x Windswept Heath
4x Wooded Foothills
1x Marsh Flats
1x Blood Crypt
1x Hallowed Fountain
1x Overgrown Tomb
1x Sacred Foundry
1x Steam Vents
1x Stomping Ground
1x Temple Garden
1x Forest
4x Noble Hierarch
1x Birds of Paradise
4x Wild Nacatl
4x Tarmogoyf
4x Geist of Saint Traft
4x Siege Rhino
2x Qasali Pridemage
2x Snapcaster Mage
Sorcery (4)
4x Tribal Flames
Instant (10)
4x Path to Exile
4x Lightning Bolt
2x Lightning Helix
3x Stony Silence
3x Grafdigger's Cage
3x Leyline of Sanctity
2x Ajani Vengeant
2x Destructive Revelry
2x Negate
I went somewhat unconventional with my sideboard. This decks main weaknesses can be overcome by playing well and drawing the right cards. An overlooked benefit of 5 colors is the amount of flexibility in the main 60 which allows me to dedicate my sideboard to cards that can hose particular players in my fnm. I kept the same SB for mtgo and it has worked out so I just went with it.
Matches
(Burn)
Out:
4 Geist of Saint Traft This thing is a nuclear missile and I am looking for a medic
3 Path to Exile Burn doesn't play many creatures and none of them require an exile effect to remove.
In:
3 Leyline of Sanctity free wins, great to hard cast too.
2 Ajani Vengeant Takes me to 8 helix effects in the deck.
2 Negate It's basically a lifegain spell and an answer for reflecting palm.
(Death's Shadow Jund)
Out:
4 Noble Hierarch Ramp isn't as important as reach. I want to build a wide board so I can attack + burn spell to end the game in one turn.
1 Birds of Paradise
In:
3 Leyline of Sanctity free wins sometimes, gains value each time opponent draws dead spells.
2 Ajani Vengeant Not a hoser here, just a solid 4 drop with reach.
(Dredge)
Out:
2 Qasali Pridemage No targets, need room so I'm cutting the least efficient threat.
2 Snapcaster Mage Doesn't work with cage.
1 Path to Exile It's not super useful here. I'm still interested in exiling prized amalgam so I keep 3 in.
In:
3 Grafdigger's Cage They can beat it but it is a significant speedbump. This match is just a race and whoever stumbles will lose.
2 Negate This one can stop the early game cathartic reunion or the late game conflagrate.
(Junk)
Out:
4 Noble Hierarch I want every card to be land removal or threat
1 Birds of Paradise
In:
3 Leyline of Sanctity Shuts off a large portion of their interaction.
2 Ajani Vengeant Not a hoser here, just a solid 4 drop threat that can interact with creatures and manlands.
(Eldrazi Tron)
Out:
2 Lightning Helix The lifegain is not super useful here. Paying two mana for a bolt isn't worths.
4 Lightning Bolt I need removal and bolt doesn't do that here.
1 Snapcaster Mage I am cutting a lot of spells here so going down to 1 feels ok.
In:
3 Stony Silence Turns off map and usually some other artifacts in their deck (hangarback walker / walking ballista / spellskite)
2 Ajani Vengeant +1 is an answer for Reality Smasher. Builds towards powerful ult.
2 Destructive Revelry More answers for chalice of the void.
(Storm)
Out:
4 Siege Rhino I want to be low and nimble in this match so I cut the 4 drops.
2 Snapcaster Mage Cut for above reason as well as the presence of cage.
2 Qasali Pridemage No targets to hit, cutting the least efficient threat.
In:
3 Leyline of Sanctity This one shuts down gifts ungiven and grapeshot.
3 Grafdigger's Cage Stops past in flames.
2 Negate Stops manamorphose, gifts ungiven, and remand.
(Affinity)
Out:
4 Geist of Saint Traft Nacatl and Goyf are enough of a board to do the job here. The rest of the cards I draw I want immediate action.
1 Siege Rhino Cutting a four drop lowers the curve slightly.
In:
3 Stony Silence Free Wins
2 Destructive Revelry Great removal spell here.