This deck felt really like a rough diamont, prepared for teh upcoming tasks the format is asking for.
It has some sort of disruption, Beaters and Value.
Especially Geist of Saint Traft felt great. It dodges a lot of removal, represents a fast clock and can come down as early as turn 2.
On the downside the matchup against Aggro-Decks decreases significantly.
Good work on the Jace lists, everyone. I will be testing some this weekend.
To everyone else dismissing Jace in this deck: The best midrange card ever printed was just unbanned, and is in the colors of our midrange deck. It would be very ignorant to just dismiss him without proper testing. And testing doesn't just include testing vs U/x jace control decks and BBE Jund, there are still other decks out there.
Finally, I think Vendilion Clique should see an uptick in play. It has good play patterns with and against Jace, and if you are including Jace in your lists, I assume you are slightly tweaking your manabase to make double blue easier, thus making Vendilion Clique easier to cast. I know one of the reasons I cut it before was because it's relatively hard to cast without manadorks.
Jace will see play in Bant Knightfall, but i'm tending to run it out of the sideboard simply because it's the best grind-walker this deck will have access to. I'm still on the train that Retreat to Corallhelm will stick in the deck - yesterday i won a game against Griselbrand-Combo, where i mulled down to 5 and just had a Birds of Paradise, Retreat and 3 lands. I couldn't afford to mull down further, so i kept.
In the end my enemy breached in a Worldspine Wurm, which i tapped down. Then the 3 5/5 trample tokens took me down to 3(!). Next turn i stabilized whereas i've scryed Path to exile on top. I drew it and had Tireless Tracker in game (already a 4/3). The first Token got tapped down by a fetchland (down to 2), the 2nd path'd and the third was blocked by tracker. Crack a Clue, damage and i'm down to 1.
I stabilized with Scavenging Ooze which i took off of Company. This game convinced my once more that Retreat is still fine. Combo and aggro will remain archetypes after the release of BBE and Jace - so we are nowhere in a dead spot.
Much worse for our deck is the vastly uptick in Bogles, Mardu Pyromancer and Griselbrand Combo. I fought all three in the last couple of weeks and it ws pretty tough.
Yes, i assume this deck does want to run 2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor in the sideboard.
It's the best possible grind-tool ever available to Bant, so why not run it?
Another note: If the meta shifts towards Jund, Grixis, Jeskai etc. Geist of Saint Traft will become more important to our arsenal - dodging removal, racing combo and control becomes more relevant than flexible answers and value-monsters.
Jace is just another 4-Mana Planeswalker against which Knightfall was soft to already - either it was Liliana, Gideon Jura or Jace, AoT.
Just the power-level increased, so i'm worried about nothing.
Surely players will run hot on Elf and Jace, but i don't believe it'll warp the meta as heavy as everbody expects - think of Death's Shadow.
Half a year everyone and his mother slammed Shadow's, but after then the Format adapted and nowadays it's not nearly as high presented as before.
i got some ideas that really catches me and i'm firmly believing, that these changes to the deck will bost it's power level.
First, let me introduce myself. I'm a Modern-Player for 4 1/2 years now. I've started with Modern goblins, followed the agressive path and came to Gruul Zoo, Naya 1-Drop Zoo to Burn. Then i've switched to Living End Combo and finally BW Eldrazi Processors. For now i'm grinding Bant Knightfall.
I've attended a lot of PPTQ's, PTQ's, local store tournaments, FNM's and recently won a 90 player modern tournament. I'm biased toward interactive Aggro / Tempo / Midrange strategies with heavy hitters. Currently Spell Queller, Collected Company and Knight of the Reliquary are my go-to threats and Bant is super-exciting, fun to play Wedge. RG SuperVengevine is another pet-deck of mine, which is super explosive and not-so-hard to pilote.
Here are my initial thoughts to the deck:
Before attending modern i've played Simic Blitz in RtR Standard with Cloudfin Raptor (there you got it). With my background in mind, i believe that the current iteration loads up on interaction wayyyyy too much.
A strong core consists of 28-30 Creatures (think of Merfolk, another Tempo-Shell) and between 8 to 12 interactive Spells (bear in mind: this is modern, not legacy!) To become a truly great deck Temur Zoo needs some more Creatures - and i got one for you that's fitting the bill
At first glance, it's not super-exciting. A 2/2 for GG that gets GG. Ok, the basic idea is to flood the board and present a reliable Turn 3 Kill. this is not so uncommon. I'll give you some scenarios where a T3 kill will be possible:
Scenario A:
Turn 1 - Raptor. Turn 2, fetch, Herbalists, 2x Narnam Renegade = 9 Power on board, swing for 2 = 18 life.
Turn 3 - Atarka's Command = Bolt (15 life) and pump, swing for 13 = 2 life.
Assuming your opponent has shocked once, he is dead.
Scenario B:
Turn 1 - Raptor. Turn 2, fetch, Herbalists, Strangleroot Geist, swing for 4 damage = 16 life.
Turn 3 - Atarka's Command, Bolt + pump. Swing for 9 + 3 damage = 4 life.
This isn't dead, but results in a T4 kill.
Scenario C:
Turn 1 - Experiment One. Turn 2 - fetch, Herbalists, E1 + Renegade = 9 power, swing for 3.
Turn 3- Command, Bolt and pump. Swing for 13 (!) damage, 16 damage total. Opponent is at 1 life now (if he didn't fetch).
The key card in all these scenarios is
The plan is to flood the board, evolve your creatures and pump for lethal (almost, back it up with Lightning Bolt).
For a more in-detail-sight, here are my oppinions about the maindeck:
Cut Pongify, Chart and Pierce. I know, they look terrific, but they don't advance your gameplan, neither your boardstate.
Add Atarka's Command - this one gives all the power to the explosive starts.
Added up, there shouldn't be more than 12 Instant / Sorceries that dilute your otherwise good gameplan. The synergy between Pong + Undying Creature X is sweet, but 8 is the perfect sweet spot (4 Lightning Bolt + Rapid Hybridization). When it doesn't come together, it's bad. Also leaving up U all the time to do some cute shenanigans lets you play completely off-curve - that is a weakness opponents tend to abuse.
Another upside of this change is the mana-requirements. Now we got only 8 U-Spells, which doesn't dilute our Landbase / let us pay too much life to get all teh colors we need.
The creature-suite looks good so far. Add Hidden Herbalists results in having 28 Creatures. I believe we got 1-2 Flex-Slots. I firmly believe Cards like Hooting Mandrills, Grim Lavamancer or teh good ol' Ghor-Clan Rampager as singleton gives us some kind of reach. Lavamancer can even ping Young Wolf, Mandrills trample over chump-blockers, Rampager too (and in addition is an ok midgame-hardcast Beater that evolves other creatures).
With these changes, teh manabase is easier and smoother. We have 8 U Spells, 8 R Spells and around 32 G Spells.
Start with 19 lands (no Dryad Arbor though) and fix slightly. The 3rd landdrop will be necessary sometimes, so maybe 20 is even better.
If you add 2 Rampager 20 Lands will be correct to be able to hardcast em.
Bonus Points
Now we have fixed the manabase and streamlined the deck, there's an opening that was a flaw beforehand: This deck could reliably board in Blood Moon. In grindy games you want to cut blue cards Cloudfin Raptor is super-bad against sth. like Abzan Midrange). As i'd tend to do so, Moon becomes a possible sideboard-plan.
Even Grixis (Control, Shadow, Delver) cannot overcome a once resolved Blood Moon. Because the Blue cards line up poorly against grind-stuff, they'll be boarded out. I'd like to play 2 Basic Forest to support this plan. If worse comes to worse, Lightning Bolt Geist to get a Revolt-trigger for Hidden Herbalists providing GG.
Midrange is propably the worst matchup for this deck (they got Discard, plenty of removal, Liliana, Lingering Souls) etc.). The plan is to further overload there removal. Kitchen Finks is the best card against removal. Also cards like Domri Rade or Nissa, steward of elements are ok'ish here.
Tormod's Crypt adds up to the synergy with Narnam Renegade and Herbalists for providing a Revolt-Trigger. I've played it very successful in Rg SuperVengevine against Storm-Combo. The other sideboard-cards could be Grudge, some counters (Pierce, Stubborn, Unified will, whatever) against Combo and maybe control.
If you don't want to play Titanshift, might I suggest Mono Green Tron? Probably not the best vs. Hate Bears, but does solidly vs. a good portion of that meta.
Adding red would be nice, doesn't it? Pyroclasm / Bolt takes care of Leonin Arbiter. The decks have the same core though.
Playing Modern for 4 1/2 years for now, i'm looking for a deck especially for FNM.
My local store is overcrowded with Midrange (Grixis, Junk, Jund), Control (UWx) and Aggro-stuff (Affinity, Hatebears,...).
Cards you already own
i own a complete Bant Knightfall, Affinity, Rg Vengevine and Dredge Deck.
On top i got some other staples (Eldrazi stuff, Fetch-/shocklands, Blood Moon, Thoughtseize, Chord, etc.)
Colors you like to play
Preferably anything that includes G. I'm willing to invest into Jund, Sultai or Naya Manabase (just missing Mesa's and Catacombs).
Style you like to play (control, combo, aggro, midrange, tempo, ramp, rogue)
I prefer to play Creature-centric decks with a couple of interaction (Queller, Thought-Knot Seer, Reflector Mage).
With this deck i want to instead go over the top. Maybe Ramp, combo or rogue (i'm willing to test promising brews because i'm really bored playing against this grind-decks).
My initial thoughts led me towards Gr Tron, Ponza, Tooth and Nail, Living End, Assault Loam and even Gr Eldrazi.
I'm willing to brew in Jund Colors (no Midrange though) with Ramp (Scapeshift?). I don't like Rg Scapeshift though (a pretty stupid deck imo). I played Living End 2 years ago, but don't want to come back to it because i have the feeling i left it behind
Life from the Loam is another pet-card of mine. Idk if Seismic Aussault is what i'm looking for (pretty unsure if this deck is barely playable). Another idea of mine is a deck with Emrakul. Izzet Tron, anything that includes Through the Breach.
Do you have any suggestions?
Level you want to play at, or aim to build up to (causal, fmn, ptq)
Although i'm grinding tournaments whenever i can, this deck is exclusively for FNM's. So don't hesitate to sugest sth. out-of-the-box crazy.
my last results with the deck has been pleasent so far.
I've decided to put Thalia, Heretic Cathar to the sideboard (it only enhances my game against decks i need to tempo out) and added the 3rd Scavenging Ooze to the main.
Due to the fact that i'm not super-experienced with the deck, i think i messed up some games because my gameplan was wrong. Here are my thoughts about certain Matchups that i'm not super confident with:
1. Merfolk
This Matchup is tough. Preboard i'm always hesitating about destroying Vial with my Qasali Pridemage because it hurts my more than his. The only exception is, if i see that my opponent is low on lands and relies heavily on having Vial.
The other problem is that i play Islands and after they gummed up the Board i can't do enough to stop the unblocked Merfolks. The Only chance is to combo them out early, because a single Path is not enough to stop him.
I board:
-2 Retreat
-2 Voice
-2 Tracker
-1 Courser
Postboard i try to stem the bleeding with some Lifegain and Reflectoring Lords. The single most best card on there side remains Vial because it let them play 2-3 Creatures per turn.
Staticcaster and Thalia are mediocre at best, but i got no clue what's better to stop there harassment.
2. Infect
This is tough because Bant has only few removal. Like against Merfolk, i board out Value-Creatures and try to outmaneuver them. Staticcaster is much better here, taking care of Noble Hierarch.
I try to interact with there pump-spells (Queller, unified will), but i'm super-shaky for leaving in the Combo. Thoughts on that Matchup?
3. Death and Taxes
This matchup is *****ty. They got easy outs against the Combo and once they start flickering there Dudes it gets difficult to win. I try to handle Vial because it allows them all the dirty tricks and try to assemble huge Knights or Oozes - they only have 4 Path to Exile and can't deal easily with huge creatures.
I try to be the control (and not the beatdown) here and therefore board into more midrange-alike territories. Reflector Mage is not super-great because they can vial there flicker-creatures in after they have been bounced.
spell queller is mediocre here because vialed Creatures cannot be countered. Thalia is here to prevent surprising block-/flicker-shenanigans that would otherwise kill me.
4. Burn
One reason that i've put back the 3rd Ooze is Burn. Preboard it's super-tough because the Blue-Splash does cost me 3 life a lot of times. I want to present a fast clock / stonewall Goblin Guide and try to Company into something relevant. Qasali Pridemage is great against Eidolon, Selfless Spirit prevents that my board gets decimated too fast and both serve as Scavenging Ooze fodder.
Boarding:
-2 voice of resurgence
-2 retreat
-2 tireless tracker
There's an argument for boarding in Unified Will, but i believe that if i'm behind onboard it's a dead card. Qasali Pridemage is debatable, but i had some situations where he chumped Goblin Guide and traded for Eidolon of the Great Revel.
5. Bogles
I'm super-confident that comboing them out is the only way to reliably win. Path to Exile has too few targets, so i aim to interact with them.
Boarding:
-2 Voice
-2 Tracker
-4 Path
+2 Unified Will
+2 Blessed Alliance
+2 Kitchen Finks
+1 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
+1 Reflector Mage
The case here is against Gideon, but it at least presents a clock that i'm certainly in need of. The rest ensures that i'm either stay alive (finks, Alliance) or interact with them (Will, Alliance).
The only 2 Creatures that can be handled are Kor Spiritdancer and a single Dryad Arbor, therefore i'm not willing to rely on Reflector Mage or Path.
7. Dredge
This becomes more popular at my local gamestore. I'm confident to win this Matchup because i have a lot of ways to interact with them.
Preboard they can rush out a quick win if i can't interact or stonewall them, but once there Conflagrate was matched by Queller i got game against them. They key in winning this Matchup is to prevent Conflag from dealing huge chunks of damage and stonewalling there creatures.
Prolongueing the game is what makes the game favorable for me. Postboard i try to stem early harassments and then establish a board they cannot overcome. Stinkweed Imp ist nasty because it blocks everybody to death. After i handle there first 2-3 threats and found some manasources Scavenging Ooze becomes the gamebreaker.
Staticcaster, Finks, Alliance and Reflector ensures that i can stabilize and gum up the board quickly. After that it becomes difficult for dredge to come back.
Summary
I hope that you got some ideas for the way i'm thinking and the way i evaluate those matchups. Criticism is welcome. Some Matchups i only face once in a while, others week in week out - part of the reason that i'm pretty confident in some matchups, uncertain in others.
how is Meddling Mage performing for you all?
I've switched it yesterday for 2 Voice of Resurgence because they had a low-ceiling impact on teh board.
Finally i came to the conclusion, that it's awkward to the manabase (This deck runs just 9 Fetchlands and has 7 lands that doesn't get White or Blue Mana) and it's impact was too low to be really be worth it. Is is good enough for the sideboard or do i just head for other Hatebears?
There's nothing that pushes this deck to teh front anymore.
Seriously, BW (non-budget) Tokens hasn't taken any results for more than a year.
This deck has far too many enemy's (fast-paced Combo Decks, Sweepers, Ramp-Strategies, etc.) to consider it a playable deck.
GP Lyon didn't line up too well whereas i got either outvalued badly, or out-comboed super-fast.
Today i've taken the following list to my local FNM:
2 flooded strand
4 misty rainforest
2 forest
1 plains
1 island
1 temple garden
1 breeding pool
1 hallowed fountain
1 botanical sanctum
1 horizon canopy
1 ghost quarter
1 sejiri steppe
1 gavony township
4 noble hierarch
3 voice of resurgence
3 scavenging ooze
2 qasali pridemage
2 meddling mage
3 reflector mage
2 geist of saint traft
4 knight of the reliquary
2 tireless tracker
4 path to exile
1 elspeth, knight-errant
This deck felt really like a rough diamont, prepared for teh upcoming tasks the format is asking for.
It has some sort of disruption, Beaters and Value.
Especially Geist of Saint Traft felt great. It dodges a lot of removal, represents a fast clock and can come down as early as turn 2.
On the downside the matchup against Aggro-Decks decreases significantly.
The one-of elspeth, knight-errant is for racing-situations, but can become a jace, the mind sculptor, with a second copy in the sideboard.
Jace will see play in Bant Knightfall, but i'm tending to run it out of the sideboard simply because it's the best grind-walker this deck will have access to. I'm still on the train that Retreat to Corallhelm will stick in the deck - yesterday i won a game against Griselbrand-Combo, where i mulled down to 5 and just had a Birds of Paradise, Retreat and 3 lands. I couldn't afford to mull down further, so i kept.
In the end my enemy breached in a Worldspine Wurm, which i tapped down. Then the 3 5/5 trample tokens took me down to 3(!). Next turn i stabilized whereas i've scryed Path to exile on top. I drew it and had Tireless Tracker in game (already a 4/3). The first Token got tapped down by a fetchland (down to 2), the 2nd path'd and the third was blocked by tracker. Crack a Clue, damage and i'm down to 1.
I stabilized with Scavenging Ooze which i took off of Company. This game convinced my once more that Retreat is still fine. Combo and aggro will remain archetypes after the release of BBE and Jace - so we are nowhere in a dead spot.
Much worse for our deck is the vastly uptick in Bogles, Mardu Pyromancer and Griselbrand Combo. I fought all three in the last couple of weeks and it ws pretty tough.
It's the best possible grind-tool ever available to Bant, so why not run it?
Another note: If the meta shifts towards Jund, Grixis, Jeskai etc. Geist of Saint Traft will become more important to our arsenal - dodging removal, racing combo and control becomes more relevant than flexible answers and value-monsters.
Jace is just another 4-Mana Planeswalker against which Knightfall was soft to already - either it was Liliana, Gideon Jura or Jace, AoT.
Just the power-level increased, so i'm worried about nothing.
Surely players will run hot on Elf and Jace, but i don't believe it'll warp the meta as heavy as everbody expects - think of Death's Shadow.
Half a year everyone and his mother slammed Shadow's, but after then the Format adapted and nowadays it's not nearly as high presented as before.
Temur Zoo adds Evasion (Cloudfin Raptor) and resilience (Undying Creatures + removal).
What do you cast with R?
i got some ideas that really catches me and i'm firmly believing, that these changes to the deck will bost it's power level.
First, let me introduce myself. I'm a Modern-Player for 4 1/2 years now. I've started with Modern goblins, followed the agressive path and came to Gruul Zoo, Naya 1-Drop Zoo to Burn. Then i've switched to Living End Combo and finally BW Eldrazi Processors. For now i'm grinding Bant Knightfall.
I've attended a lot of PPTQ's, PTQ's, local store tournaments, FNM's and recently won a 90 player modern tournament. I'm biased toward interactive Aggro / Tempo / Midrange strategies with heavy hitters. Currently Spell Queller, Collected Company and Knight of the Reliquary are my go-to threats and Bant is super-exciting, fun to play Wedge. RG SuperVengevine is another pet-deck of mine, which is super explosive and not-so-hard to pilote.
Here are my initial thoughts to the deck:
Before attending modern i've played Simic Blitz in RtR Standard with Cloudfin Raptor (there you got it). With my background in mind, i believe that the current iteration loads up on interaction wayyyyy too much.
A strong core consists of 28-30 Creatures (think of Merfolk, another Tempo-Shell) and between 8 to 12 interactive Spells (bear in mind: this is modern, not legacy!) To become a truly great deck Temur Zoo needs some more Creatures - and i got one for you that's fitting the bill
At first glance, it's not super-exciting. A 2/2 for GG that gets GG. Ok, the basic idea is to flood the board and present a reliable Turn 3 Kill. this is not so uncommon. I'll give you some scenarios where a T3 kill will be possible:
Scenario A:
Turn 1 - Raptor. Turn 2, fetch, Herbalists, 2x Narnam Renegade = 9 Power on board, swing for 2 = 18 life.
Turn 3 - Atarka's Command = Bolt (15 life) and pump, swing for 13 = 2 life.
Assuming your opponent has shocked once, he is dead.
Scenario B:
Turn 1 - Raptor. Turn 2, fetch, Herbalists, Strangleroot Geist, swing for 4 damage = 16 life.
Turn 3 - Atarka's Command, Bolt + pump. Swing for 9 + 3 damage = 4 life.
This isn't dead, but results in a T4 kill.
Scenario C:
Turn 1 - Experiment One. Turn 2 - fetch, Herbalists, E1 + Renegade = 9 power, swing for 3.
Turn 3- Command, Bolt and pump. Swing for 13 (!) damage, 16 damage total. Opponent is at 1 life now (if he didn't fetch).
The key card in all these scenarios is
The plan is to flood the board, evolve your creatures and pump for lethal (almost, back it up with Lightning Bolt).
For a more in-detail-sight, here are my oppinions about the maindeck:
Cut Pongify, Chart and Pierce. I know, they look terrific, but they don't advance your gameplan, neither your boardstate.
Add Atarka's Command - this one gives all the power to the explosive starts.
Added up, there shouldn't be more than 12 Instant / Sorceries that dilute your otherwise good gameplan. The synergy between Pong + Undying Creature X is sweet, but 8 is the perfect sweet spot (4 Lightning Bolt + Rapid Hybridization). When it doesn't come together, it's bad. Also leaving up U all the time to do some cute shenanigans lets you play completely off-curve - that is a weakness opponents tend to abuse.
Another upside of this change is the mana-requirements. Now we got only 8 U-Spells, which doesn't dilute our Landbase / let us pay too much life to get all teh colors we need.
The creature-suite looks good so far. Add Hidden Herbalists results in having 28 Creatures. I believe we got 1-2 Flex-Slots. I firmly believe Cards like Hooting Mandrills, Grim Lavamancer or teh good ol' Ghor-Clan Rampager as singleton gives us some kind of reach. Lavamancer can even ping Young Wolf, Mandrills trample over chump-blockers, Rampager too (and in addition is an ok midgame-hardcast Beater that evolves other creatures).
With these changes, teh manabase is easier and smoother. We have 8 U Spells, 8 R Spells and around 32 G Spells.
Start with 19 lands (no Dryad Arbor though) and fix slightly. The 3rd landdrop will be necessary sometimes, so maybe 20 is even better.
If you add 2 Rampager 20 Lands will be correct to be able to hardcast em.
Bonus Points
Now we have fixed the manabase and streamlined the deck, there's an opening that was a flaw beforehand: This deck could reliably board in Blood Moon. In grindy games you want to cut blue cards Cloudfin Raptor is super-bad against sth. like Abzan Midrange). As i'd tend to do so, Moon becomes a possible sideboard-plan.
Even Grixis (Control, Shadow, Delver) cannot overcome a once resolved Blood Moon. Because the Blue cards line up poorly against grind-stuff, they'll be boarded out. I'd like to play 2 Basic Forest to support this plan. If worse comes to worse, Lightning Bolt Geist to get a Revolt-trigger for Hidden Herbalists providing GG.
Midrange is propably the worst matchup for this deck (they got Discard, plenty of removal, Liliana, Lingering Souls) etc.). The plan is to further overload there removal. Kitchen Finks is the best card against removal. Also cards like Domri Rade or Nissa, steward of elements are ok'ish here.
Tormod's Crypt adds up to the synergy with Narnam Renegade and Herbalists for providing a Revolt-Trigger. I've played it very successful in Rg SuperVengevine against Storm-Combo. The other sideboard-cards could be Grudge, some counters (Pierce, Stubborn, Unified will, whatever) against Combo and maybe control.
the deck
This is my initial idea:
4 Misty RAinforest
4 Wooded Foothills
3 Windswept Heath
2 Botanical Sanctum
2 Stomping Ground
1 Copperline Gorge
2 Forest
1 Breeding Pool
4 Experiment One
4 Cloudfin Raptor
4 Young Wolf
4 Hidden Herbalists
4 Strangleroot Geist
3 Avatar of the Resolute
4 Narnam Renegade
1 Ghor-Clan Rampager
1 Grim Lavamancer
4 Rapid Hybridization
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Atarka's Command
Rampager and Lavamancer are Flex-Slots, there could also be other stuff here (Flinthoof Boar, Mandrills, Fanatic of Xenagos etc.)
Adding red would be nice, doesn't it? Pyroclasm / Bolt takes care of Leonin Arbiter. The decks have the same core though.
My local store is overcrowded with Midrange (Grixis, Junk, Jund), Control (UWx) and Aggro-stuff (Affinity, Hatebears,...).
Cards you already own
i own a complete Bant Knightfall, Affinity, Rg Vengevine and Dredge Deck.
On top i got some other staples (Eldrazi stuff, Fetch-/shocklands, Blood Moon, Thoughtseize, Chord, etc.)
Colors you like to play
Preferably anything that includes G. I'm willing to invest into Jund, Sultai or Naya Manabase (just missing Mesa's and Catacombs).
Style you like to play (control, combo, aggro, midrange, tempo, ramp, rogue)
I prefer to play Creature-centric decks with a couple of interaction (Queller, Thought-Knot Seer, Reflector Mage).
With this deck i want to instead go over the top. Maybe Ramp, combo or rogue (i'm willing to test promising brews because i'm really bored playing against this grind-decks).
My initial thoughts led me towards Gr Tron, Ponza, Tooth and Nail, Living End, Assault Loam and even Gr Eldrazi.
I'm willing to brew in Jund Colors (no Midrange though) with Ramp (Scapeshift?). I don't like Rg Scapeshift though (a pretty stupid deck imo). I played Living End 2 years ago, but don't want to come back to it because i have the feeling i left it behind
Life from the Loam is another pet-card of mine. Idk if Seismic Aussault is what i'm looking for (pretty unsure if this deck is barely playable). Another idea of mine is a deck with Emrakul. Izzet Tron, anything that includes Through the Breach.
Do you have any suggestions?
Level you want to play at, or aim to build up to (causal, fmn, ptq)
Although i'm grinding tournaments whenever i can, this deck is exclusively for FNM's. So don't hesitate to sugest sth. out-of-the-box crazy.
So how would you board against DnT?
On another note, i've placed 1st in a 90 player tournament last sunday with a 6-0-1 record.
my last results with the deck has been pleasent so far.
I've decided to put Thalia, Heretic Cathar to the sideboard (it only enhances my game against decks i need to tempo out) and added the 3rd Scavenging Ooze to the main.
This is what i've settled on for now:
4 misty rainforest
1 flooded strand
1 breeding pool
1 botanical sanctum
1 stomping ground
1 hallowed fountain
1 temple garden
1 ghost quarter
1 kessig wolf run
1 gavony township
1 horizon canopy
3 forest
1 plains
4 birds of paradise
2 voice of resurgence
3 scavenging ooze
2 qasali pridemage
2 selfless spirit
4 knight of the reliquary
4 spell queller
2 tireless tracker
1 courser of kruphix
2 retreat to coralhelm
4 collected company
4 path to exile
3 reflector mage
2 kitchen finks
2 blessed alliance
2 unified will
2 stony silence
1 izzet staticcaster
1 eidolon of rhetoric
1 gideon, ally of zendikar
1 thalia, heretic cathar
Due to the fact that i'm not super-experienced with the deck, i think i messed up some games because my gameplan was wrong. Here are my thoughts about certain Matchups that i'm not super confident with:
1. Merfolk
This Matchup is tough. Preboard i'm always hesitating about destroying Vial with my Qasali Pridemage because it hurts my more than his. The only exception is, if i see that my opponent is low on lands and relies heavily on having Vial.
The other problem is that i play Islands and after they gummed up the Board i can't do enough to stop the unblocked Merfolks. The Only chance is to combo them out early, because a single Path is not enough to stop him.
I board:
-2 Retreat
-2 Voice
-2 Tracker
-1 Courser
+2 Blessed Alliance
+3 Reflector Mage
+1 Thalia, Heretic Cathar
+1 Izzet Staticcaster
Postboard i try to stem the bleeding with some Lifegain and Reflectoring Lords. The single most best card on there side remains Vial because it let them play 2-3 Creatures per turn.
Staticcaster and Thalia are mediocre at best, but i got no clue what's better to stop there harassment.
2. Infect
This is tough because Bant has only few removal. Like against Merfolk, i board out Value-Creatures and try to outmaneuver them. Staticcaster is much better here, taking care of Noble Hierarch.
I try to interact with there pump-spells (Queller, unified will), but i'm super-shaky for leaving in the Combo. Thoughts on that Matchup?
3. Death and Taxes
This matchup is *****ty. They got easy outs against the Combo and once they start flickering there Dudes it gets difficult to win. I try to handle Vial because it allows them all the dirty tricks and try to assemble huge Knights or Oozes - they only have 4 Path to Exile and can't deal easily with huge creatures.
boarding:
-2 Retreat
-2 Queller
-2 Voice
+2 Blessed Alliance
+2 Kitchen Finks
+1 Izzet Staticcaster
+1 Thalia
I try to be the control (and not the beatdown) here and therefore board into more midrange-alike territories. Reflector Mage is not super-great because they can vial there flicker-creatures in after they have been bounced.
Qasali Pridemage is important here for taking away Vial and reserving food for Scavenging Ooze. There biggest threat is Restoration Angel that puts up a real clock on me.
spell queller is mediocre here because vialed Creatures cannot be countered. Thalia is here to prevent surprising block-/flicker-shenanigans that would otherwise kill me.
4. Burn
One reason that i've put back the 3rd Ooze is Burn. Preboard it's super-tough because the Blue-Splash does cost me 3 life a lot of times. I want to present a fast clock / stonewall Goblin Guide and try to Company into something relevant. Qasali Pridemage is great against Eidolon, Selfless Spirit prevents that my board gets decimated too fast and both serve as Scavenging Ooze fodder.
Boarding:
-2 voice of resurgence
-2 retreat
-2 tireless tracker
+2 blessed alliance
+2 kitchen finks
+2 reflector mage
There's an argument for boarding in Unified Will, but i believe that if i'm behind onboard it's a dead card. Qasali Pridemage is debatable, but i had some situations where he chumped Goblin Guide and traded for Eidolon of the Great Revel.
5. Bogles
I'm super-confident that comboing them out is the only way to reliably win.
Path to Exile has too few targets, so i aim to interact with them.
Boarding:
-2 Voice
-2 Tracker
-4 Path
+2 Unified Will
+2 Blessed Alliance
+2 Kitchen Finks
+1 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
+1 Reflector Mage
The case here is against Gideon, but it at least presents a clock that i'm certainly in need of. The rest ensures that i'm either stay alive (finks, Alliance) or interact with them (Will, Alliance).
The only 2 Creatures that can be handled are Kor Spiritdancer and a single Dryad Arbor, therefore i'm not willing to rely on Reflector Mage or Path.
7. Dredge
This becomes more popular at my local gamestore. I'm confident to win this Matchup because i have a lot of ways to interact with them.
Boarding:
-2 retreat
-2 Pridemage
-2 Voice
-2 tracker
+2 alliance
+2 finks
+3 reflector
+1 Staticcaster
Preboard they can rush out a quick win if i can't interact or stonewall them, but once there Conflagrate was matched by Queller i got game against them. They key in winning this Matchup is to prevent Conflag from dealing huge chunks of damage and stonewalling there creatures.
Prolongueing the game is what makes the game favorable for me. Postboard i try to stem early harassments and then establish a board they cannot overcome. Stinkweed Imp ist nasty because it blocks everybody to death. After i handle there first 2-3 threats and found some manasources Scavenging Ooze becomes the gamebreaker.
Staticcaster, Finks, Alliance and Reflector ensures that i can stabilize and gum up the board quickly. After that it becomes difficult for dredge to come back.
Summary
I hope that you got some ideas for the way i'm thinking and the way i evaluate those matchups. Criticism is welcome. Some Matchups i only face once in a while, others week in week out - part of the reason that i'm pretty confident in some matchups, uncertain in others.
how is Meddling Mage performing for you all?
I've switched it yesterday for 2 Voice of Resurgence because they had a low-ceiling impact on teh board.
Finally i came to the conclusion, that it's awkward to the manabase (This deck runs just 9 Fetchlands and has 7 lands that doesn't get White or Blue Mana) and it's impact was too low to be really be worth it. Is is good enough for the sideboard or do i just head for other Hatebears?
Seriously, BW (non-budget) Tokens hasn't taken any results for more than a year.
This deck has far too many enemy's (fast-paced Combo Decks, Sweepers, Ramp-Strategies, etc.) to consider it a playable deck.