So, I came in here the other day to see if anyone had any new sweet tech for Skred, since that's what I was going to take to a Face to Face Games tournament. Unfortunately, I was left to my own devices since there was nothing posted in the last few months. Since I had a good showing, I figured I would post my results and deck list here for anyone who wanted to get some recent info.
Card Choices... so first off, there is currently only one deck listed on mtgtop8.com for Skred, and that's where I had started. That deck ran 4 Karn, The Great Creator, but I quickly realized that Skred is not a good place for him without the Mycosynth Lattice lock. I did however note that many of my sideboard choices revolved around artifacts and having access to things like Ensnaring Bridge or Pithing Needle game 1 would not be a bad thing, so a single Great Creator was added.
I wanted to add a number of Koth the Hammer but in the end cut him as I didn't think he was good for this meta with Jund and Shadow being big players right now, and I don't know about anyone else, but I just can't stand losing a mountain to Fatal Push. So in the end, I cut him entirely, and decided to move to 3 Chandra, Torch Defiance. I was on the fence about Karn, Scion of Urza and had him as a 2-of for a bit, but decided to go with a single copy, and I don't think that's the wrong number. 2 would have been fine too.
I was quite happy with the creature suite that I had, though I could see pushing Glorybringer to the side or out of the 75 for a third Pia and Kiran Nalaar.
I usually run 23 lands in Skred, but I was actually quite happy with the 22... Mana issues were not too bad overall. As for the sideboard.... Not sure I would change anything. It was a big enough tool box for Karn, The Great Creator and there's something for most matchups to replace dead cards.
Okay, now onto the tournament... low turnout, so we only had 6 rounds (Winter conditions kept the numbers to around 56):
ROUND 1 - JUND won 2-1
Nothing overly exciting here. We both played well, but I just had too much burn to keep his threats at bay, including shrinking tarmagoyf with Relics and my hasty dragons beating down on his walkers and being out of reach of a lot of his removal. Didn't sideboard much here, just bringing in Sorcerous Spyglass and leaving Pithing Needle in the board for Karn. Same with siding in a single Bridge. Blood Moon is just so-so here, so I just left one in, siding the other two.
ROUND 2 - Heliod/Druid Combo won 2-0
I wasn't sure about this matchup, but it was one of the easiest of the day. Blood Moon did all the work game one, and game two even with a Kor Firewalker and a Thrun, The Last Troll on the board, I ran him down with a monstrous Stormbreath Dragon.
ROUND 3 - Infect lost 0-2
My only loss in the round-robin. Turn 3 kill for him on the play with Size Up and Might of Old Krosa, died to a single swing.
Game two, I made a play mistake as I killed the Inkmoth Nexus instead of the Glistener Elf with my Lightning Bolt while I had Wear // Tear in hand. On my turn I wiffed on my third land drop so was unable to kill the elf with Anger of the Gods. He killed my with his combo next turn.
ROUND 4 - Amulet Titan - Draw 1-1-1 Blood Moon did a mass amount of work here as I kept Dryad of the Ilysian Grove off the board, and his single forest couldn't get him there. Game two was pretty insane, and I almost got there, using Wear // Tear to kill his Dryad. But in the end it just wasn't enough. Game three we started with only 4 minutes left in the round. I had turn 1, and on his turn 4 he was one mana short to give haste to his Primeval Titan and get me for the full 20. This draw came in huge at the end of the day.
ROUND 5 - Storm won 2-0
There was a local guy that was a really good player that was on Storm all the time, and he played the deck to perfection. Played him a lot and rarely won regardless of what decks I played, including Skred. So I know how to play it and can easily see when my opponent is not making optimal plays, and this guy wasn't. He wasn't making mistakes per say, but he was allowing me to interact with his plan too much. He played it too much as he would going goldfish. His lack of experience with the deck allowed me to easily take the two games without ever being worried.
ROUND 6 - Mono White Hatebears won 2-1
Game one, I saw all 4 of his Thalia, Guardian of Thraben but still powered through winning on the back of a defensive Stormbreath Dragon and him scooping as I sat at 1 life. Game two, I saw two early Kor Firewalker and a Burrenton Forge-Tender and didn't really have a chance. Now, game three was pretty cool. So, after game one, we got deck-checked (my second time this tournament), so mid-way through the game, we started to gather a crowd. Now, knowing that the only card that could get me past all of this pro-red stuff was my Dead of Winter, I kept a hand of 5 mountains, DoW, and Arcum's Astrolabe. He did play an early Kor Firewalker as I drew a very few threats. I'll say that this is the only game where Scrying Sheets did work, and oh boy did they, drawing me two mountains and an Astrolabe as I was flooding out. Pia and Kiran Nalaar helped me keep the firewalker at bay until he played a second one. With a dominating board which also included Giver of Runes and a Ranger-Captain of Eos, I cast Dead of Winter. The crowd reaction around us did not help my opponent keep it under control. The guy was tilted and it was smooth sailing from there even as I kept drawing lands... Heard him talk to his buddies after lamenting on how was he supposed to know a mono red player would be packing DoW.... the play that got me to top8
I got into top8 in 8th place with 13 points on tiebreakers. My Amulet Titan opponent I drew with missed the cut, finishing 9th.
TOP 8 - vs #1 - JUND - won 2-0
Much like round 1, Jund wasn't particularly difficult. One of the reasons I thought of going with Skred is because of Jund and Shadow, so I wasn't too concerned. He played well, and helped me a little with flooding out in the second game, but he was on his heals all match. Plays like casting Inquisition of Kozilek while all I had was 2 dragons, 2 lands and a bolt I cast in response didn't help him either.
TOP 4 - vs #3 - Gruul Ramp - Lost 1-2
Game 1, he was on the play and hit me with a Glorybringer on turn 3 and another one on turn 4. Nope, did not win that one. Game 2, I had three big plays to get there. First was using Dead of Winter of sweep a huge board that included an activated Klothys, God of Destiny, I used Pithing Needle on his Chandra, Torch Defiance even though I had one in hand, and with Wurmcoil Engine out he tried to exile it by playing and sacrificing Chandra, Awakened Inferno to which I responded to Skred the Wurmcoil for 7 and get my two tokens as they won the game. Game 3, he put a ton of pressure on early, then I started to climb back, but he Bloodbraid Elf into another one thanks to Once Upon a Time and that second one found the bolt to end it.
All in all, I think I played pretty well. Maybe a couple of missteps, and I got lucky in certain places, but I never felt out of any matchups. People are not ready for the dragons, nor do they expect a DoW or Wurmcoil coming to play from a mono-red deck. Again, I don't think I would change much of the list. Seasoned Pyromancer also did a lot of work throughout the day as did Mom & Dad.
Anyway, sorry for the length of this post... was fun writing though
I run 23 lands with two Scrying Sheets and 3 Bastions. The bastions have been fantastic. I didn't realize how much this deck wanted to run Mutavault.
As for the Pyromancer, I'm not sure about running the full playset. If you do, that means mom and pop Nalaar are probably getting cut, and I don't think I'm ready to do that. While I'm loving the Pyro, there are times where I don't want to ditch any of the cards in my hand, so it can be tricky to play. I'm currently liking the 2 count of Pyro. I feel he's not strong enough to be a win condition, but adds tons of value, and along with the Relics and Stones that cycle, and Chandra, he helps make the deck consistent.
Another card I'm looking to keep an eye on is Chandra's Regulator that just got spoiled today. The rummage ability is yet another way to be consistent (though I think I would cut a relic and/or stone to make room) and the Triggered ability can just be game winning. If I add this one in there, I think the new 6cmc Chandra would have to be at least a one of in the deck and maybe a second in the side. But just along side Torch, it would allow her to take down multiple creatures at once or even one fully grown Goyf.
I think it's fun that Skred is getting some new toys recently.
Is this one better? Helps getting Chandra, Torch of Defiance's ultimate rather quickly, but is it too slow spending 3 mana just to rush the process?
Also, just to note, I have been testing Seasoned Pyromancer, and he's the real deal in this deck. He's helped me win through floods, replaces dead cards (I once pitched two Blood Moons against a mono red deck). I've topped him in a top deck war and it was amazing. I'm currently running two, and I feel that's a good number right now.
As for Frostwalk Bastion, that is another superb edition... it's felt so nice swinging in with that guy, and the fact that he becomes an artifact creature is not meaningless if you are running Karn, Scion of Urza, which I've also been testing in a more artifact focused build.
Everyone loves mom and pops one stop thopter shop!
Haha!
5 sweepers seem like a lot. I'd be interested to see your list. I honestly don't think we're that bad in the current meta. I think we line up well with some of the most played cards. Looking at all of 2019 results so far on mtgtop8.com, the top nonland used cards are: Lightning Bolt - PKN, Scourge, Stormbreath, Koth and his 4/4 mountain, and even Seasoned Pyromancer all beat it or leave something behind. Faithless Looting - Main deck Relics. Serum Visions - We are a slower deck, so this just gives us more time. Snapcaster Mage - Bolt, Skred, Anger, Relic, Abrade. Opt - See visions Fatal Push - PKN, Stormbreath, Scourge... And here is the main reason I shy away from Koth at times. A pushed mountain can be so devastating. Too bad his +1 is not "up to one target mountain" if you just want to plus him without making a manland. Path to Exile - The same trio of PNK, Stormbreath and Scourge. Walking Ballista - Depends on the scale, but bolt, skred, and Chandra can get him, Abrade... they will always get their value out of him, so it's tough for any deck to handle cleanly. Ancient Stirrings - See visions Thoughtseize - Is what is Inquisition of Kozilek - We have quite a few important pieces this doesn't hit, but still, see thoughtseize Manamorphose - Boo Thought Scour - Relic Noble Hierarch - see Snapcaster Cryptic Command - Hurts Aether Vial - Abrade main. Arclight Phoenix - Relic Dismember - Stormbreath is the one guy who really doesn't like this one. Thing in the Ice - Skred, Chandra, Koth's 4/4 mountain, Glorybringer if you run him (I do like a 2/1 split with 2 Stormbreaths and one Bringer) Surgical Extraction - Diverse threats, so I don't care what they take here unless it rips another one or two from my hand.
All the non basic lands - Blood Moon.
You can't be prepared for absolutely everything, but I think Skred is in a decent spot, especially if you play a more reactive game. While I think there's a spot for Karn, I feel this may not be the right time. He almost feels like a worse Koth, and when he works really well, he's almost a win more. For right now, I'm still on the Chandra train for this meta. That she can kill stuff like Thing in the Ice, give you ramp and card advantage while also having a ridiculous ultimate, not to mention that she can kill someone behind a leyline and bridge given enough time is fantastic. And she's the reason I run bridge in my side.
Also, now with Pillage as an option, the sideboard can do even more. I don't know, man, I really think the deck is in a good spot. I've been on Racks (8 or 10, take your pick) for the last little while, but I'm totally excited to get back into Skred. Also, as an aside, I love this deck like I love Racks for a simple reason... no fetches. Searching your library and shuffling in 3-5 times a game if not more can get tiring in a long tournament, and I appreciate that Skred just slaps down basics (well, mostly just basics) all day long
I'm surprised that you cut PKN if you are running Karn, seeing that they bring two artifacts with them to pump up the Karn tokens.
Have you ever tried cutting some number of Koth? I'm currently running 4 Chandras and two Koths, and I've also done well in tournaments where I run zero Koths. His power is so time specific, that I'm either amazed at his power or crying because he was my top deck in a dire need of something to get me back in a games I'm behind, and as I said in previous posts, I think of Skred as more of a control deck, and Koth is not a control walker. So, honestly if Karn is in the deck, I would suggest trying a 2/2 split with Koth and PNK at the very least.
I think the snow golem sounds very interesting if you are running Karn as your main walker. I think right now, it's all about trying random things and seeing how they play out. I'll be tempted to try two colours for either Dead of Winter or Marit lage's Slumber (how fun and bad does that card seem?)
Pyromancer does seem good. Is the fact that he gets hit by anger just not good enough? I havent found a creature that ive really liked angering into or one that doesnt have some downside with relic. Were really pretty good in all the matches where he shines though. we can anger away the creatures we planned on chumping and were good in the long game. We can chose to go to bigger creatures like hazoret, or extra walkers like karn. The one thing pyromancer does is give us a filter at a fairly crucial turn in the game. I dont mean to keep talking him up but ive really enjoyed karn scion of urza in skred for the draw or creature. He can sort of flex our hand a bit. I just think we want to spend t 3 mooning,pillaging,angering, or hope we have a mind stone to slam a walker. He is good but im not sure I will really test him as im still happy with karn and dont think he fits with our core values of mainboard relic and anger and big t3 slams
I've tried Karn a little, I think it comes to personal preference. With him, Koth and Chandra, Torch of Defiance, that's three different options at 4cmc. What's your Planeswalker split? I lean more towards Chandra as I like the control aspect of the deck, and while Koth is the most explosive, he's also the worse of all three when behind which is where I put most of my stock in a control deck.
And that's the reason why I really like the Pyromancer. He seems like an incredible top deck in an attrition fight. I don't think he wants to be your three drop unless you really need him to be. I think you're more likely to discard Anger than to play after he's on the board. Pia and Kiran Nalaar have been an all-star for me in so many games, and yet, a 2/2 and two 1/1s that all die to Anger. I know they are very different, and I think that's the issue for Pyromancer, is he to be an aggressive 4 power for 3 early in game, or is he more of a late game grounded Mulldrifter? The cool thing about him is I think he can be both. He can also play great defense in a pinch. Being able to get 1/1s out of dead cards is great. Personally I play with Eternal Scourge since I lean towards more #s of Chandra, so he's also a good card to pitch as you will eventually get him back with a Relic.
Anyway, I think this will be fun to try and figure out. Also, how many Frostwalk Bastion to run? It sucks that Blood Moon will thaw the life out of him, but I am definitely going to try 2 or 3.
Haven't posted in here for a while, but I'll be honest, Dead of Winter has got me really excited, not to mention Seasoned Pyromancer.
I think that Prismatic Vista is a great card for snow-land wielding mages, especially as a dual coloured deck. The problem before was that playing two colours, you had to play some number of dual lands. Now, you don't as you have 8 copies of Bloodstained Mire that can always fetch the right land you need (well, as long as you play BR :)). Also, Arcum's Astrolabe allows you to filter without spending a card to do it, and upping your snow count.
Alpine Guide while it has an amazing art, I don't think is what we really need. I can see maybe playing him if you are running a 2-3 colour version, and you run one or two shock lands to grab with him then sac a basic when he dies, but even then, removing snow-permanents seems bad.
As for the Pyromancer, I think he's great even if you exile him from the graveyard before using him. I think he allows you to run 4x Blood Moon as the extra copies are just fuel for him. Also, he's a great top deck. Divination that also drops a 2/2? Yes please.
Anyway, I can't wait to see what people come up with. If DoW and Vista allows you to go RB, does that open the door to a more Rakdos control with access to all the hand disruption? Are Pyromancer and the Bastion strong enough to keep pushing mono red for consistency (and like someone said, mono-red is great because we don't hurt ourselves with our mana). Anyway, this set has me excited.
I know it's variance playing a joke on me but it is still frustrating to play with.
Been there bud. All or nothing for me. It was actually a running joke at my LGS at one point. Though, I prefer floods over not drawing lands. I'll always opt for more land than not.
In a meta filled with unfair decks that cheat out far-too-big creatures (GDS, Hollow One, Breach-combo), spell-based combo (Storm), it's not as good.
I think the deck is overall very solid, and you will always see things like fish, jund, junk, and creature based decks. Through the Breach is actually the reason I initially decided to add Ensnaring Bridge to the sideboard, and it has been relevant in that matchup, and has come up big in others. I think while Skred as is at its core is a good deck and seems to put up a fight against the majority of decks, even the unfair ones.
But I don't disagree with what you said. That's why I am leaning on possibly cutting my two Chandra, Pyromaster for a single main deck Bridge and hazoret the fervent. I think Skred could easily switch gears when needed to become a prison deck, winning on the back of Koth/Chandra sitting behind Blood Moon and Bridge. And as I mentioned in my report, what I really like about the deck is that I feel like I always have an out to play to, regardless of the situation.
Hey man, welcome back to magic. Always nice to hear someone working themselves out of a rough life patch.
One thing to remember when looking at Skred is that it's a control deck. Running Magma Jets instead of Mind Stone, you're cutting away the control player's main weapon: Mana. As I posted above, I lost to burn that drew two lands during the game. This deck can't do that. In your Mind Stone-less list, you are running 10 4-drops and 2 5-drops with 22 lands, 4 scry-2 cards and 6 planeswalkers that allow you to ramp which are all 4-drops and 4 relics to cycle. And the walkers, you would rather not rely on them for their mana abilities.
The last thing I want is to be stuck on 3 mana with this deck. The tournament I just played, I didn't once get mana screwed because of the deck. I got stuck in one game because two stones got Maelstrom Pulsed and I couldn't find a third land (had a third stone to get me to 3 lands). I've played a variety of control decks in my day, and the most important thing when piloting a control deck is to have access to a lot of mana. And the beauty of the stones instead of running 27 lands is that it helps ramp and mitigates the flooding as you can replace them later. They are a beautiful card, and are worth far more than a 2-damage-scry-2.
As for the fork bolt, I would never include it in my 75. We don't need 10 1-cmc burn spells. Abrade is much better here with it's choice of shatter or 3 damage to creature. If you don't want Abrade, find a 2-drop that better suits you. (Keep stones and run two magma jets... I had that on modo for a bit and it was okay)
A question about the relics. I love any deck that can run these puppies main deck, but is 4 the right number? I was happy with my 3 main, but I also run two cages in the side.
Thanks TexasGoyf. Chandra's ultimate is just as good as Koth's. I've closed out games with her ult on many occasions. It can actually be faster than Koth's, so behind the Bridge, it really doesn't matter who you run.
I agree with the storm matchup. I was actually unimpressed with Rabblemasters out of the side yesterday as well, not sure I want to keep them. Maybe I'll either move Koth in there, or have Koth replace Pyromasters as planeswalker #5 and #6 in the main. I actually tried Scab-Clan Berserker on modo and may actually move to that route instead of the goblin for the next tournament.
ROUND 1 – JUND
Game 1 – The day started out a little rough. I kept a two land two stone hand, and after playing the second one on turn 3, he Maelstrom Plused them and left me on 3 lands for the rest of the game with two skreds in hand facing down a 6/7 Goyf who ultimately did 17 damage.
Game 2 – Possibly my best game of the tournament. He played Blood Braid Elf into a Liliana, The Last Hope who he used to -2 which found him a Dark Confidant on the mill. While I had some spot removal, I decided to ignore BBE, and killed all of his more dangerous threats as they hit the board. Two turns after his BFF, he played Liliana of the Veil and made us discard. On an empty board on my side, I was facing two Lilianas at 4 loyalty each and a BBE. I drew a Stormbreath Dragon who took out Veil, and then kept Last Hope at bay until I monstrous’ed to finish her off and win the game in two swings. BBE ended up doing 15 damage, but that is all he did as we both drew a little heavy on lands.
Game 3 – I held off a 2 Goyf/Bob board early as I found 4 Chandras (2 of each) and all three PnKN who ended up finishing the game by sac’ing two dudes and then bolt.
1-0
ROUND 2 – BURN
Game 1 – My opponent drew all gas and won with only 2 lands in play. I Had no chance. I felt I was close to stabilizing, but he drew too many 3 damage spells.
Game 2 – I was proud of the deck on this one, as it shows its resiliency. I ended up having to mulligan to 4 cards. My hand was 2 lands, Chandra ToD and Anger. He played spell after spell, with his first creature being Eidelon. I played Chandra to take him out. I tried to dig for one of my Dragon’s claws (which the first one was 24 cards away once the game was over), but all I found were PnKN, and he just kept top decking spells instead of creatures. In the end, he was out of gas with no cards in hand, he was at 11 and I had a Chandra, with PnKN and 4 Thopters on the board. Had he run into just a couple more creatures or lands, the mull to 4 could have had a chance.
1-1
ROUND 3 – ELVES
Game 1 – I drew a ton of spot removal to keep his board at bay and won with a Stormbreath Dragon.
Game 2 – Kept a 2 land, 3 Anger hand. Found both Scourges and proceeded to win on the 2x 3/3 beatdown. Flooded out a little and finished with 9 lands. 3 Angers is good against Elves
2-1
ROUND 4 – UW SPIRITS
Game 1 – There was a funny interaction on this one. He has two non-basics and a Windsept Heath. I play Blood Moon. He cracks his fetch and drops an Island. I point out that he can’t do that, he apologizes for his misplay and gets a Plains (not intentional, he was actually a really nice guy). He’s now sad that he doesn’t have his blue source. I pass the turn, and he proceeds to top deck an Island. He had a nice board that I swept away with Anger and then followed up with the Stormbreath beatdown as he looked helplessly at his path.
Game 2 – Anger of the Gods was once again an all-star. Drew into two of them and had Chandra, ToD do the majority of the heavy lifting.
3-1
ROUND 5 – STORM
Game 1 – I drew into one relic to made the game go long, but he went off eventually. Had him at 8
Game 2 – Kept a sketchy hand, but I had two relics, but of course he found is Empty the Warrens and made 14 goblins on t3, and I was stuck on 2 lands. I really hate storm.
3-2
ROUND 6 – PONZA
Game 1 – I played first and he had a slow start, so my Blood Moon turn three turned out to be a dud play as he played Magus of the Moon on his turn. He never found a relevant threat, so Chandra ToD and PnKN won the game easily.
Game 2 – This was another good showing of the deck’s resiliency. I had a bolt, so was sad when he played sprawl on turn 1. On his T2 he stone rain’ed my land, and then Mwonvuli Acid-Moss’ed my second land on his T3. On his turn 4 he BBE into Stone Rain. I took beats from BBE for a few turns, but I was able to stick two lands, play a mind stone and then dropped an Ensnaring Bridge. I was at 10. His elf hit me one more time to put me to 9. Behind the bridge I stabilized, playing out all of my threats. I even got to 7 mana to monstrous Stormbreath (for one damage on his draw step) while 5 mountains resided in my graveyard. The final play was PnKN eating the bridge and Stormbreath finishing the game.
4-2
ROUND 7 – BOGGLES
Game 1 – We both mull’ed to 6, and he kept a 2 leyline hand. He drew into two lands which quickly became mountains and he was unable to play spells as Stormbreath once again cleaned things up.
Game 2 - He quickly got three boggles on the board, and his big one with two rancors were kept at bay with an Ensnaring bridge. I had PnKN and he thought about blocking with his 5/1 but didn’t. He top decked Fate Seal to blow up the bridge and win.
Game 3 – He hit me once on turn 2 for 5 before I laid down the bridge and built up a board. I eventually found the second bridge and played that too. His boys were getting really big. With Chandra Pyromaster, I was digging for my Ratchet Bomb as 90% of his board was 1 CMC. In the end with the help of a few Chandra pings and PnKN eating some thopters and the bridges on the last turn, I got him to zero. He was super sour and a poor sport about losing. It made winning against boggles that much sweeter.
5-2
At the end of the day, I finished 13th out of 94, missing top8 by a point. Still was in the prizes so it was a good day.
Thoughts:
-Stormbreath is an all-star. Never am I sad to draw him or cast him. I only drew Glorybringer once or twice during the day, so still not sure about him. I don’t think a 2/1 spill with Stormbreath is wrong.
-PnKN is also an all-star. I decided not to run my 1-of Walking Balista, deciding to go with three PnKNs instead. I do not regret the decision.
-Anger of the Gods. While the versatility to cycle Sweltering Suns is nice, I don't think it's as valuable as the exile clause on Anger. When my opponent follows the sweep with a Scavenging Ooze without creatures to make him grow, allowing me to bolt it was relevant. That and with dredge/hollow one/etc decks around, it's all value. Never once did I look at my Anger and thought "I wish I could cycle this".
-Chandra, Pyromaster. I’m not sure about her. She was unimpressive on the day and I ended up siding her out on a few matchups. Not sure what to replace her with as she did do some work in some games. I think she’s very matchup dependant.
-Bridge in the side board is great. Every time I decide to bring it in, it is relevant. I’ve had them in my board since the start and I would never take them out now, especially after that Boggles win.
-Two things I love about the deck. 1) Not taking damage from your lands. 2) Not having to search/shuffle your library every turn.
-I hate storm. It’s a stupid deck, and I must face it at least once every tournament. </tiny rant>
-I was happy with my list overall. Abrades did a bit of work, and I would keep them as a 2-of as there were a few Hollow One decks running around. I loved that I felt like I always had an out to play to. As for the discussion about moving away from the Stones. Not a chance for me. They were great for me all day. I did not mind running 27 mana sources. Again, this is a control deck that doesn’t mind getting to 7 mana to monstrous Stormbreath or to activate PnKN multiple times a turn.
As to the chandra/koth split and dropping mindstone I think people don't utilize koth's -2 as much as they should. I've sand bagged him a turn then drop him and use his minus to drop a pnkn or board wipe to stabilize it works well just remember we are a CONTROL deck and need to play as such
This is the reason why I opt to play 4 Chandra ToD instead of Koth, because she is a better control walker than Koth. Her +1 add RR ability is not to be underestimated. When I first played Skred I was quite surprised at how much it played a control game and I find the draw you get from the Chandras has more overall value than the power Koth offers.
I play reanimator in legacy, and I don't run the petals. I see now that this is the same type of thing when it comes to Koth/Chandra. Most players like the raw power of cards. I tend to lean towards consistency. The power of running petals in reanimator can give you some insane turn 1 plays. A petal-less version will not have that raw power, but is overall more consistent by giving you more room for draw spells, discard, removal, etc. For Skred, nothing beats an unanswered T3 Koth on an empty board. It's just pure power. It's power Chandra can't remotely touch on the same empty board on T3. However, her value at every stage of the game is high, while never insane. Koth has insane highs and rock bottom lows. I've always leaned towards consistency over unstable power. I guess that's why I eventually dropped Koth and now run 6 Chandras.
I'm actually rather curious about your list, DarthFrog. I've thought about Kothless Skred in the past but never put a list together. Do you mind sharing it?
My list keeps changing here and there, but here is the list as I remember it in the last solo tourney I played (finished one win away from top 8 due to a horrible play mistake on my part where I took action before realizing I had not placed my PnKN thopter tokens and my opp did not allow me to backtrack which cost me the match against a favourable matchup)
Sideboard had a few of the usual including the 4th Blood Moon, but also contained two Ensnaring Bridge which won me a couple of games.
I agree with you in a way with Magma Jet, but because this deck is conrol, I like the 27 mana sources. I found the two damage was not enough to make a real impact. I've since switched to 2 Abrades as I find the ability to kill an Aether Vial on turn 2 when they keep a one land one vial hand are free wins. That it doesn't hit players sucks, but the ability to Lightning Strike or Shatter on one card is pretty sweet. I'm heading to a tournament this coming weekend and will be running Glorybringer and dropping a PnKN. Been testing it online and find he's come through on a number of occasions, but still not 100% sold on it. Same goes for Walking Balista. I've liked him enough to keep one around, but he would be an easy cut if a better T2 threat was to come around.
I'll post my final deck list and results post tournament.
As for Koth, he still lives in the deck. People see snow-covered mountains and they play around the Koth probabilities that never come around. I had a few people ask me curiously if I run him as they don't see him in three games, but see two different Chandras
First, let's just start with the 75 I registered:
3 Seasoned Pyromancer
2 Pia and Kiran Nalaar
2 Stormbreath Dragon
1 Glorybringer
Planeswalkers
3 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
1 Karn, Scion of Urza
1 Karn, The Great Creator
Spells
4 Skred
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Anger of the Gods
4 Arcum's Astrolabe
4 Relic of Progenitus
4 Mind Stone
Enchantments
3 Blood Moon
Lands
17 Snow-Covered Mountain
3 Frostwalk Bastion
2 Scrying Sheets
1 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Chandra, Awakened Inferno
1 Dead of Winter
2 Wear // Tear
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Pithing Needle
1 Sorcerous Spyglass
2 Damping Sphere
3 Dragon's Claw
2 Ensnaring Bridge
Card Choices... so first off, there is currently only one deck listed on mtgtop8.com for Skred, and that's where I had started. That deck ran 4 Karn, The Great Creator, but I quickly realized that Skred is not a good place for him without the Mycosynth Lattice lock. I did however note that many of my sideboard choices revolved around artifacts and having access to things like Ensnaring Bridge or Pithing Needle game 1 would not be a bad thing, so a single Great Creator was added.
I wanted to add a number of Koth the Hammer but in the end cut him as I didn't think he was good for this meta with Jund and Shadow being big players right now, and I don't know about anyone else, but I just can't stand losing a mountain to Fatal Push. So in the end, I cut him entirely, and decided to move to 3 Chandra, Torch Defiance. I was on the fence about Karn, Scion of Urza and had him as a 2-of for a bit, but decided to go with a single copy, and I don't think that's the wrong number. 2 would have been fine too.
I was quite happy with the creature suite that I had, though I could see pushing Glorybringer to the side or out of the 75 for a third Pia and Kiran Nalaar.
I usually run 23 lands in Skred, but I was actually quite happy with the 22... Mana issues were not too bad overall. As for the sideboard.... Not sure I would change anything. It was a big enough tool box for Karn, The Great Creator and there's something for most matchups to replace dead cards.
Okay, now onto the tournament... low turnout, so we only had 6 rounds (Winter conditions kept the numbers to around 56):
ROUND 1 - JUND won 2-1
Nothing overly exciting here. We both played well, but I just had too much burn to keep his threats at bay, including shrinking tarmagoyf with Relics and my hasty dragons beating down on his walkers and being out of reach of a lot of his removal. Didn't sideboard much here, just bringing in Sorcerous Spyglass and leaving Pithing Needle in the board for Karn. Same with siding in a single Bridge. Blood Moon is just so-so here, so I just left one in, siding the other two.
ROUND 2 - Heliod/Druid Combo won 2-0
I wasn't sure about this matchup, but it was one of the easiest of the day. Blood Moon did all the work game one, and game two even with a Kor Firewalker and a Thrun, The Last Troll on the board, I ran him down with a monstrous Stormbreath Dragon.
ROUND 3 - Infect lost 0-2
My only loss in the round-robin. Turn 3 kill for him on the play with Size Up and Might of Old Krosa, died to a single swing.
Game two, I made a play mistake as I killed the Inkmoth Nexus instead of the Glistener Elf with my Lightning Bolt while I had Wear // Tear in hand. On my turn I wiffed on my third land drop so was unable to kill the elf with Anger of the Gods. He killed my with his combo next turn.
ROUND 4 - Amulet Titan - Draw 1-1-1
Blood Moon did a mass amount of work here as I kept Dryad of the Ilysian Grove off the board, and his single forest couldn't get him there. Game two was pretty insane, and I almost got there, using Wear // Tear to kill his Dryad. But in the end it just wasn't enough. Game three we started with only 4 minutes left in the round. I had turn 1, and on his turn 4 he was one mana short to give haste to his Primeval Titan and get me for the full 20. This draw came in huge at the end of the day.
ROUND 5 - Storm won 2-0
There was a local guy that was a really good player that was on Storm all the time, and he played the deck to perfection. Played him a lot and rarely won regardless of what decks I played, including Skred. So I know how to play it and can easily see when my opponent is not making optimal plays, and this guy wasn't. He wasn't making mistakes per say, but he was allowing me to interact with his plan too much. He played it too much as he would going goldfish. His lack of experience with the deck allowed me to easily take the two games without ever being worried.
ROUND 6 - Mono White Hatebears won 2-1
Game one, I saw all 4 of his Thalia, Guardian of Thraben but still powered through winning on the back of a defensive Stormbreath Dragon and him scooping as I sat at 1 life. Game two, I saw two early Kor Firewalker and a Burrenton Forge-Tender and didn't really have a chance. Now, game three was pretty cool. So, after game one, we got deck-checked (my second time this tournament), so mid-way through the game, we started to gather a crowd. Now, knowing that the only card that could get me past all of this pro-red stuff was my Dead of Winter, I kept a hand of 5 mountains, DoW, and Arcum's Astrolabe. He did play an early Kor Firewalker as I drew a very few threats. I'll say that this is the only game where Scrying Sheets did work, and oh boy did they, drawing me two mountains and an Astrolabe as I was flooding out. Pia and Kiran Nalaar helped me keep the firewalker at bay until he played a second one. With a dominating board which also included Giver of Runes and a Ranger-Captain of Eos, I cast Dead of Winter. The crowd reaction around us did not help my opponent keep it under control. The guy was tilted and it was smooth sailing from there even as I kept drawing lands... Heard him talk to his buddies after lamenting on how was he supposed to know a mono red player would be packing DoW.... the play that got me to top8
I got into top8 in 8th place with 13 points on tiebreakers. My Amulet Titan opponent I drew with missed the cut, finishing 9th.
TOP 8 - vs #1 - JUND - won 2-0
Much like round 1, Jund wasn't particularly difficult. One of the reasons I thought of going with Skred is because of Jund and Shadow, so I wasn't too concerned. He played well, and helped me a little with flooding out in the second game, but he was on his heals all match. Plays like casting Inquisition of Kozilek while all I had was 2 dragons, 2 lands and a bolt I cast in response didn't help him either.
TOP 4 - vs #3 - Gruul Ramp - Lost 1-2
Game 1, he was on the play and hit me with a Glorybringer on turn 3 and another one on turn 4. Nope, did not win that one. Game 2, I had three big plays to get there. First was using Dead of Winter of sweep a huge board that included an activated Klothys, God of Destiny, I used Pithing Needle on his Chandra, Torch Defiance even though I had one in hand, and with Wurmcoil Engine out he tried to exile it by playing and sacrificing Chandra, Awakened Inferno to which I responded to Skred the Wurmcoil for 7 and get my two tokens as they won the game. Game 3, he put a ton of pressure on early, then I started to climb back, but he Bloodbraid Elf into another one thanks to Once Upon a Time and that second one found the bolt to end it.
All in all, I think I played pretty well. Maybe a couple of missteps, and I got lucky in certain places, but I never felt out of any matchups. People are not ready for the dragons, nor do they expect a DoW or Wurmcoil coming to play from a mono-red deck. Again, I don't think I would change much of the list. Seasoned Pyromancer also did a lot of work throughout the day as did Mom & Dad.
Anyway, sorry for the length of this post... was fun writing though
As for the Pyromancer, I'm not sure about running the full playset. If you do, that means mom and pop Nalaar are probably getting cut, and I don't think I'm ready to do that. While I'm loving the Pyro, there are times where I don't want to ditch any of the cards in my hand, so it can be tricky to play. I'm currently liking the 2 count of Pyro. I feel he's not strong enough to be a win condition, but adds tons of value, and along with the Relics and Stones that cycle, and Chandra, he helps make the deck consistent.
Another card I'm looking to keep an eye on is Chandra's Regulator that just got spoiled today. The rummage ability is yet another way to be consistent (though I think I would cut a relic and/or stone to make room) and the Triggered ability can just be game winning. If I add this one in there, I think the new 6cmc Chandra would have to be at least a one of in the deck and maybe a second in the side. But just along side Torch, it would allow her to take down multiple creatures at once or even one fully grown Goyf.
I think it's fun that Skred is getting some new toys recently.
Is this one better? Helps getting Chandra, Torch of Defiance's ultimate rather quickly, but is it too slow spending 3 mana just to rush the process?
Also, just to note, I have been testing Seasoned Pyromancer, and he's the real deal in this deck. He's helped me win through floods, replaces dead cards (I once pitched two Blood Moons against a mono red deck). I've topped him in a top deck war and it was amazing. I'm currently running two, and I feel that's a good number right now.
As for Frostwalk Bastion, that is another superb edition... it's felt so nice swinging in with that guy, and the fact that he becomes an artifact creature is not meaningless if you are running Karn, Scion of Urza, which I've also been testing in a more artifact focused build.
Haha!
5 sweepers seem like a lot. I'd be interested to see your list. I honestly don't think we're that bad in the current meta. I think we line up well with some of the most played cards. Looking at all of 2019 results so far on mtgtop8.com, the top nonland used cards are:
Lightning Bolt - PKN, Scourge, Stormbreath, Koth and his 4/4 mountain, and even Seasoned Pyromancer all beat it or leave something behind.
Faithless Looting - Main deck Relics.
Serum Visions - We are a slower deck, so this just gives us more time.
Snapcaster Mage - Bolt, Skred, Anger, Relic, Abrade.
Opt - See visions
Fatal Push - PKN, Stormbreath, Scourge... And here is the main reason I shy away from Koth at times. A pushed mountain can be so devastating. Too bad his +1 is not "up to one target mountain" if you just want to plus him without making a manland.
Path to Exile - The same trio of PNK, Stormbreath and Scourge.
Walking Ballista - Depends on the scale, but bolt, skred, and Chandra can get him, Abrade... they will always get their value out of him, so it's tough for any deck to handle cleanly.
Ancient Stirrings - See visions
Thoughtseize - Is what is
Inquisition of Kozilek - We have quite a few important pieces this doesn't hit, but still, see thoughtseize
Manamorphose - Boo
Thought Scour - Relic
Noble Hierarch - see Snapcaster
Cryptic Command - Hurts
Aether Vial - Abrade main.
Arclight Phoenix - Relic
Dismember - Stormbreath is the one guy who really doesn't like this one.
Thing in the Ice - Skred, Chandra, Koth's 4/4 mountain, Glorybringer if you run him (I do like a 2/1 split with 2 Stormbreaths and one Bringer)
Surgical Extraction - Diverse threats, so I don't care what they take here unless it rips another one or two from my hand.
All the non basic lands - Blood Moon.
You can't be prepared for absolutely everything, but I think Skred is in a decent spot, especially if you play a more reactive game. While I think there's a spot for Karn, I feel this may not be the right time. He almost feels like a worse Koth, and when he works really well, he's almost a win more. For right now, I'm still on the Chandra train for this meta. That she can kill stuff like Thing in the Ice, give you ramp and card advantage while also having a ridiculous ultimate, not to mention that she can kill someone behind a leyline and bridge given enough time is fantastic. And she's the reason I run bridge in my side.
Also, now with Pillage as an option, the sideboard can do even more. I don't know, man, I really think the deck is in a good spot. I've been on Racks (8 or 10, take your pick) for the last little while, but I'm totally excited to get back into Skred. Also, as an aside, I love this deck like I love Racks for a simple reason... no fetches. Searching your library and shuffling in 3-5 times a game if not more can get tiring in a long tournament, and I appreciate that Skred just slaps down basics (well, mostly just basics) all day long
Have you ever tried cutting some number of Koth? I'm currently running 4 Chandras and two Koths, and I've also done well in tournaments where I run zero Koths. His power is so time specific, that I'm either amazed at his power or crying because he was my top deck in a dire need of something to get me back in a games I'm behind, and as I said in previous posts, I think of Skred as more of a control deck, and Koth is not a control walker. So, honestly if Karn is in the deck, I would suggest trying a 2/2 split with Koth and PNK at the very least.
I think the snow golem sounds very interesting if you are running Karn as your main walker. I think right now, it's all about trying random things and seeing how they play out. I'll be tempted to try two colours for either Dead of Winter or Marit lage's Slumber (how fun and bad does that card seem?)
I've tried Karn a little, I think it comes to personal preference. With him, Koth and Chandra, Torch of Defiance, that's three different options at 4cmc. What's your Planeswalker split? I lean more towards Chandra as I like the control aspect of the deck, and while Koth is the most explosive, he's also the worse of all three when behind which is where I put most of my stock in a control deck.
And that's the reason why I really like the Pyromancer. He seems like an incredible top deck in an attrition fight. I don't think he wants to be your three drop unless you really need him to be. I think you're more likely to discard Anger than to play after he's on the board. Pia and Kiran Nalaar have been an all-star for me in so many games, and yet, a 2/2 and two 1/1s that all die to Anger. I know they are very different, and I think that's the issue for Pyromancer, is he to be an aggressive 4 power for 3 early in game, or is he more of a late game grounded Mulldrifter? The cool thing about him is I think he can be both. He can also play great defense in a pinch. Being able to get 1/1s out of dead cards is great. Personally I play with Eternal Scourge since I lean towards more #s of Chandra, so he's also a good card to pitch as you will eventually get him back with a Relic.
Anyway, I think this will be fun to try and figure out. Also, how many Frostwalk Bastion to run? It sucks that Blood Moon will thaw the life out of him, but I am definitely going to try 2 or 3.
I think that Prismatic Vista is a great card for snow-land wielding mages, especially as a dual coloured deck. The problem before was that playing two colours, you had to play some number of dual lands. Now, you don't as you have 8 copies of Bloodstained Mire that can always fetch the right land you need (well, as long as you play BR :)). Also, Arcum's Astrolabe allows you to filter without spending a card to do it, and upping your snow count.
Alpine Guide while it has an amazing art, I don't think is what we really need. I can see maybe playing him if you are running a 2-3 colour version, and you run one or two shock lands to grab with him then sac a basic when he dies, but even then, removing snow-permanents seems bad.
Frostwalk Bastion. I love this guy too.
As for the Pyromancer, I think he's great even if you exile him from the graveyard before using him. I think he allows you to run 4x Blood Moon as the extra copies are just fuel for him. Also, he's a great top deck. Divination that also drops a 2/2? Yes please.
Anyway, I can't wait to see what people come up with. If DoW and Vista allows you to go RB, does that open the door to a more Rakdos control with access to all the hand disruption? Are Pyromancer and the Bastion strong enough to keep pushing mono red for consistency (and like someone said, mono-red is great because we don't hurt ourselves with our mana). Anyway, this set has me excited.
Been there bud. All or nothing for me. It was actually a running joke at my LGS at one point. Though, I prefer floods over not drawing lands. I'll always opt for more land than not.
I think the deck is overall very solid, and you will always see things like fish, jund, junk, and creature based decks. Through the Breach is actually the reason I initially decided to add Ensnaring Bridge to the sideboard, and it has been relevant in that matchup, and has come up big in others. I think while Skred as is at its core is a good deck and seems to put up a fight against the majority of decks, even the unfair ones.
But I don't disagree with what you said. That's why I am leaning on possibly cutting my two Chandra, Pyromaster for a single main deck Bridge and hazoret the fervent. I think Skred could easily switch gears when needed to become a prison deck, winning on the back of Koth/Chandra sitting behind Blood Moon and Bridge. And as I mentioned in my report, what I really like about the deck is that I feel like I always have an out to play to, regardless of the situation.
Hey man, welcome back to magic. Always nice to hear someone working themselves out of a rough life patch.
One thing to remember when looking at Skred is that it's a control deck. Running Magma Jets instead of Mind Stone, you're cutting away the control player's main weapon: Mana. As I posted above, I lost to burn that drew two lands during the game. This deck can't do that. In your Mind Stone-less list, you are running 10 4-drops and 2 5-drops with 22 lands, 4 scry-2 cards and 6 planeswalkers that allow you to ramp which are all 4-drops and 4 relics to cycle. And the walkers, you would rather not rely on them for their mana abilities.
The last thing I want is to be stuck on 3 mana with this deck. The tournament I just played, I didn't once get mana screwed because of the deck. I got stuck in one game because two stones got Maelstrom Pulsed and I couldn't find a third land (had a third stone to get me to 3 lands). I've played a variety of control decks in my day, and the most important thing when piloting a control deck is to have access to a lot of mana. And the beauty of the stones instead of running 27 lands is that it helps ramp and mitigates the flooding as you can replace them later. They are a beautiful card, and are worth far more than a 2-damage-scry-2.
As for the fork bolt, I would never include it in my 75. We don't need 10 1-cmc burn spells. Abrade is much better here with it's choice of shatter or 3 damage to creature. If you don't want Abrade, find a 2-drop that better suits you. (Keep stones and run two magma jets... I had that on modo for a bit and it was okay)
A question about the relics. I love any deck that can run these puppies main deck, but is 4 the right number? I was happy with my 3 main, but I also run two cages in the side.
I agree with the storm matchup. I was actually unimpressed with Rabblemasters out of the side yesterday as well, not sure I want to keep them. Maybe I'll either move Koth in there, or have Koth replace Pyromasters as planeswalker #5 and #6 in the main. I actually tried Scab-Clan Berserker on modo and may actually move to that route instead of the goblin for the next tournament.
Here is the list
3 Pia and Kiran Nalaar
2 Stormbreath Dragon
2 Eternal Scourge
1 Glorybringer
4 Skred
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Abrade
3 Anger of the Gods
3 Blood Moon
2 Chandra, Pyromaster
4 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
4 Mind Stone
3 Relic of Progenitus
2 Scrying Sheets
21 Snow-Covered Mountain
3 Dragon's Claw
2 Ensnaring Bridge
2 Goblin Rabblemaster
2 Grafdigger's Cage
2 Mindbreak Trap
2 Ratchet Bomb
1 Shatterstorm
ROUND 1 – JUND
Game 1 – The day started out a little rough. I kept a two land two stone hand, and after playing the second one on turn 3, he Maelstrom Plused them and left me on 3 lands for the rest of the game with two skreds in hand facing down a 6/7 Goyf who ultimately did 17 damage.
Game 2 – Possibly my best game of the tournament. He played Blood Braid Elf into a Liliana, The Last Hope who he used to -2 which found him a Dark Confidant on the mill. While I had some spot removal, I decided to ignore BBE, and killed all of his more dangerous threats as they hit the board. Two turns after his BFF, he played Liliana of the Veil and made us discard. On an empty board on my side, I was facing two Lilianas at 4 loyalty each and a BBE. I drew a Stormbreath Dragon who took out Veil, and then kept Last Hope at bay until I monstrous’ed to finish her off and win the game in two swings. BBE ended up doing 15 damage, but that is all he did as we both drew a little heavy on lands.
Game 3 – I held off a 2 Goyf/Bob board early as I found 4 Chandras (2 of each) and all three PnKN who ended up finishing the game by sac’ing two dudes and then bolt.
1-0
ROUND 2 – BURN
Game 1 – My opponent drew all gas and won with only 2 lands in play. I Had no chance. I felt I was close to stabilizing, but he drew too many 3 damage spells.
Game 2 – I was proud of the deck on this one, as it shows its resiliency. I ended up having to mulligan to 4 cards. My hand was 2 lands, Chandra ToD and Anger. He played spell after spell, with his first creature being Eidelon. I played Chandra to take him out. I tried to dig for one of my Dragon’s claws (which the first one was 24 cards away once the game was over), but all I found were PnKN, and he just kept top decking spells instead of creatures. In the end, he was out of gas with no cards in hand, he was at 11 and I had a Chandra, with PnKN and 4 Thopters on the board. Had he run into just a couple more creatures or lands, the mull to 4 could have had a chance.
1-1
ROUND 3 – ELVES
Game 1 – I drew a ton of spot removal to keep his board at bay and won with a Stormbreath Dragon.
Game 2 – Kept a 2 land, 3 Anger hand. Found both Scourges and proceeded to win on the 2x 3/3 beatdown. Flooded out a little and finished with 9 lands. 3 Angers is good against Elves
2-1
ROUND 4 – UW SPIRITS
Game 1 – There was a funny interaction on this one. He has two non-basics and a Windsept Heath. I play Blood Moon. He cracks his fetch and drops an Island. I point out that he can’t do that, he apologizes for his misplay and gets a Plains (not intentional, he was actually a really nice guy). He’s now sad that he doesn’t have his blue source. I pass the turn, and he proceeds to top deck an Island. He had a nice board that I swept away with Anger and then followed up with the Stormbreath beatdown as he looked helplessly at his path.
Game 2 – Anger of the Gods was once again an all-star. Drew into two of them and had Chandra, ToD do the majority of the heavy lifting.
3-1
ROUND 5 – STORM
Game 1 – I drew into one relic to made the game go long, but he went off eventually. Had him at 8
Game 2 – Kept a sketchy hand, but I had two relics, but of course he found is Empty the Warrens and made 14 goblins on t3, and I was stuck on 2 lands. I really hate storm.
3-2
ROUND 6 – PONZA
Game 1 – I played first and he had a slow start, so my Blood Moon turn three turned out to be a dud play as he played Magus of the Moon on his turn. He never found a relevant threat, so Chandra ToD and PnKN won the game easily.
Game 2 – This was another good showing of the deck’s resiliency. I had a bolt, so was sad when he played sprawl on turn 1. On his T2 he stone rain’ed my land, and then Mwonvuli Acid-Moss’ed my second land on his T3. On his turn 4 he BBE into Stone Rain. I took beats from BBE for a few turns, but I was able to stick two lands, play a mind stone and then dropped an Ensnaring Bridge. I was at 10. His elf hit me one more time to put me to 9. Behind the bridge I stabilized, playing out all of my threats. I even got to 7 mana to monstrous Stormbreath (for one damage on his draw step) while 5 mountains resided in my graveyard. The final play was PnKN eating the bridge and Stormbreath finishing the game.
4-2
ROUND 7 – BOGGLES
Game 1 – We both mull’ed to 6, and he kept a 2 leyline hand. He drew into two lands which quickly became mountains and he was unable to play spells as Stormbreath once again cleaned things up.
Game 2 - He quickly got three boggles on the board, and his big one with two rancors were kept at bay with an Ensnaring bridge. I had PnKN and he thought about blocking with his 5/1 but didn’t. He top decked Fate Seal to blow up the bridge and win.
Game 3 – He hit me once on turn 2 for 5 before I laid down the bridge and built up a board. I eventually found the second bridge and played that too. His boys were getting really big. With Chandra Pyromaster, I was digging for my Ratchet Bomb as 90% of his board was 1 CMC. In the end with the help of a few Chandra pings and PnKN eating some thopters and the bridges on the last turn, I got him to zero. He was super sour and a poor sport about losing. It made winning against boggles that much sweeter.
5-2
At the end of the day, I finished 13th out of 94, missing top8 by a point. Still was in the prizes so it was a good day.
Thoughts:
-Stormbreath is an all-star. Never am I sad to draw him or cast him. I only drew Glorybringer once or twice during the day, so still not sure about him. I don’t think a 2/1 spill with Stormbreath is wrong.
-PnKN is also an all-star. I decided not to run my 1-of Walking Balista, deciding to go with three PnKNs instead. I do not regret the decision.
-Anger of the Gods. While the versatility to cycle Sweltering Suns is nice, I don't think it's as valuable as the exile clause on Anger. When my opponent follows the sweep with a Scavenging Ooze without creatures to make him grow, allowing me to bolt it was relevant. That and with dredge/hollow one/etc decks around, it's all value. Never once did I look at my Anger and thought "I wish I could cycle this".
-Chandra, Pyromaster. I’m not sure about her. She was unimpressive on the day and I ended up siding her out on a few matchups. Not sure what to replace her with as she did do some work in some games. I think she’s very matchup dependant.
-Bridge in the side board is great. Every time I decide to bring it in, it is relevant. I’ve had them in my board since the start and I would never take them out now, especially after that Boggles win.
-Two things I love about the deck. 1) Not taking damage from your lands. 2) Not having to search/shuffle your library every turn.
-I hate storm. It’s a stupid deck, and I must face it at least once every tournament. </tiny rant>
-I was happy with my list overall. Abrades did a bit of work, and I would keep them as a 2-of as there were a few Hollow One decks running around. I loved that I felt like I always had an out to play to. As for the discussion about moving away from the Stones. Not a chance for me. They were great for me all day. I did not mind running 27 mana sources. Again, this is a control deck that doesn’t mind getting to 7 mana to monstrous Stormbreath or to activate PnKN multiple times a turn.
What sweepers are you using?
This is the reason why I opt to play 4 Chandra ToD instead of Koth, because she is a better control walker than Koth. Her +1 add RR ability is not to be underestimated. When I first played Skred I was quite surprised at how much it played a control game and I find the draw you get from the Chandras has more overall value than the power Koth offers.
I play reanimator in legacy, and I don't run the petals. I see now that this is the same type of thing when it comes to Koth/Chandra. Most players like the raw power of cards. I tend to lean towards consistency. The power of running petals in reanimator can give you some insane turn 1 plays. A petal-less version will not have that raw power, but is overall more consistent by giving you more room for draw spells, discard, removal, etc. For Skred, nothing beats an unanswered T3 Koth on an empty board. It's just pure power. It's power Chandra can't remotely touch on the same empty board on T3. However, her value at every stage of the game is high, while never insane. Koth has insane highs and rock bottom lows. I've always leaned towards consistency over unstable power. I guess that's why I eventually dropped Koth and now run 6 Chandras.
My list keeps changing here and there, but here is the list as I remember it in the last solo tourney I played (finished one win away from top 8 due to a horrible play mistake on my part where I took action before realizing I had not placed my PnKN thopter tokens and my opp did not allow me to backtrack which cost me the match against a favourable matchup)
1 Magma Jet
3 Anger of the Gods
3 Blood Moon
2 Chandra, Pyromaster
4 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
3 Lightning Bolt
4 Mind Stone
4 Relic of Progenitus
4 Skred
2 Eternal Scourge
2 Stormbreath Dragon
3 Pia and Kiran Nalaar
1 Walking Ballista
2 Scrying Sheets
21 Snow-Covered Mountain
Sideboard had a few of the usual including the 4th Blood Moon, but also contained two Ensnaring Bridge which won me a couple of games.
I agree with you in a way with Magma Jet, but because this deck is conrol, I like the 27 mana sources. I found the two damage was not enough to make a real impact. I've since switched to 2 Abrades as I find the ability to kill an Aether Vial on turn 2 when they keep a one land one vial hand are free wins. That it doesn't hit players sucks, but the ability to Lightning Strike or Shatter on one card is pretty sweet. I'm heading to a tournament this coming weekend and will be running Glorybringer and dropping a PnKN. Been testing it online and find he's come through on a number of occasions, but still not 100% sold on it. Same goes for Walking Balista. I've liked him enough to keep one around, but he would be an easy cut if a better T2 threat was to come around.
I'll post my final deck list and results post tournament.
As for Koth, he still lives in the deck. People see snow-covered mountains and they play around the Koth probabilities that never come around. I had a few people ask me curiously if I run him as they don't see him in three games, but see two different Chandras