I meant that being able to play a Summons into a Whacker was such a strong play, that I kept it in the deck for a long time. I don't think it's worth it anymore. I am running 8 whackers already, but I was playing to help with flooding out. I'm now looking at increasing the mana curve very slightly.
I agree completely. I added a third chieftain, and 3 Warren instigators. I found I was getting much more value out of Piledrivers and Chieftains than most people would have you believe.
So, I've been playing Devastating Summons for a while in this deck now, and I'm cutting it. I don't think it has a place in this deck. I haven't been able to generate any value out of it in almost 3 weeks of playing and I no longer think that the Whacker synergy is worth it. I'm cutting it for a third Chieftain, as I've found all I ever want to do is curve into a chieftain or Bushwhacker in this deck.
Has anyone has similar experiences?
On another note, I'm going to take a second look at Warren Instigator. I'd always disregarded it because the ability seems meh for the most part, but I think a 1/1 Double Striker is probably better than something we're running. Whether that's Mogg War Marshal, or Goblin Piledriver, I'm not sure.
Hey, I've been on 8whack for the last five months, playing Modo, and have finally decided to buy into a tier 1 deck. I was wondering what to expect out of burn. How stable has is been in the meta? Easy to play around hate cards?
I've played Naya Burn in Cockatrice and the deck makes sense to me. Is it the kind of deck like Affinity where you need to have a good amount of experience with it to play around the Hate?
Question for you guys, how do you approach the Ad Nauseam match up? It should be a decent match up for us, being a fast aggro deck and stuff, but I've never been able to win against the deck. Last FNM, I played against an Ad Nauseam player and I lost 0-2. We had some time left, so we ran two more games (once with and once without sideboard) and again I went 0-2. All the games were really close, but each time, Phyrexian Unlife or Darkness got me.
My sideboard strategy was: -3 Mogg War Marshal, + 1 Pithing Needle (naming Lightning Storm), + 2 Earwig Squad. I didn't draw either of those cards. Pithing Needle would've won me the game, because he sided out his Laboratory Maniac. So I guess it's just bad luck on my part?
It is not a good match. If he starts we have basically zero chance on winning unless he has a bad hand. He will combo on 4thturn and phyrexian unlife means he has exrta 10 life to start with.
I would advise against 1-of SB strategies. We have zero topdeck manipulation options, so you're rather unlikely to draw that. Though it seemed to have worked for you so who knows OTOH, if you can prowl an Earwig Squad on T3 and exile Lightning Storm and Lab Maniac, you've probably won the game. Then again, they may hold Pact of Negation, so there's that.
Sadly there's not enough room in the SB to dedicate to this match-up, especially because Ad Nauseam isn't played very often (though more often here in the Netherlands if I'm right). Anyway, I figured a 1-of Pithing Needle would be better than a Mogg War Marshal anyway, so why not use it then? Apparently, my opponent sided out the Lab Maniac as well (which I of course didn't know then). Earwig Squad seems great to me, but you need to have it in your hand and play three lands. So how do you usually play against Ad Nauseam? Any tips or suggestions?
I think you're approaching the matchup from the wrong way. You don't attack the combo with sideboard cards, you do it by forcing them to burn Angel's graces early and often. I've lost a couple games against them this way, but generally consider it to be a good matchup. That doesn't mean you'll always win, because they'll sometimes have the combo and Phyrexian Unlife too early for you to do anything about it.
I would not consider boarding in Ear-Wig Squad under any circumstances, and leave Pithing needle in the board too. It can be frustrating to lose like that, but it'll win you the most matches against Ad Nauseam.
I was boarding in 3 Smash, and 2 Skullcrack, which I came to realize is too much. At the time I was thinking more burn for after board wipes and answers to Wurmcoil, but I think siding 2 smash in for Mogg Fanatics would be better.
Thanks for the replies!
Edit: Spec.ops, I tried the Fetches in the last league, and holy what a difference. I'm really happy with the change, thanks!
I was boarding in 3 Smash, and 2 Skullcrack, which I came to realize is too much. At the time I was thinking more burn for after board wipes and answers to Wurmcoil, but I think siding 2 smash in for Mogg Fanatics would be better.
Thanks for the replies!
Edit: Spec.ops, I tried the Fetches in the last league, and holy what a difference. I'm really happy with the change, thanks!
So, I'm pretty sure I know the answer to the next question, but I was hoping to get some thread feedback to cement it. I'm coming to learn that I'm way too passive against Tron and I keep not mulling slow hands against them. I just lost the last match of a Friendly league to Tron where G2 & G3 I got them down to 1 life before then stabilized and won.
In a traditional 8whack build, do you keep these hands against Tron Game 2/3?
@KeithsGenome: Shared Animosity gets brought up every now and again. I've never tried it, personally but many people seemed to have success with it and it seems better suited to your Rakdos deck than most. You may find it's hard for people to analyze the deck as it's much different than what most people play here. It looks decent on paper, to me and I can't think of any serious suggestions right now. Why not take it to Modern Night and bring back a report of how it went down? Then you've got a solid list of weaknesses/strengths and more specific questions to ask the thread. Hope it works well, it honestly looks like a blast.
I'd maybe suggest dropping an Animosity for a 19th land, and find a place to squeeze in 2 more Grenades. I would play 10 of the damn things if they'd let me....
Thanks for the reply! I do play Modo, so I just traded some cards for 8 fetches, and I'll try that out. At least it could set me up to try some splashes out.
I'm really interested in Bomat Courier, but Copter looks overhyped. Not saying I'm going to right, but at $10 preorder right now, I'm willing to be wrong and pay a premium for a card that I know will be good.
Yeah, I've already got some GY hate. I'm looking into saving up for some Blood Moons, though. That really seems like the ticket. Mostly, I want to know how people play around the deck? When do you play around counters? When do you jam them?
So, I have a question for the thread. How many lands do you run? How often do you flood out? Do you typically find yourself drawing more than 5 lands in a game?
For the last month, it feels like I've been flooding out constantly. My last league, I had flooded out (6-10 lands each game) for 4 of 5 rounds. A similar story has been haunting me all month. I know it could be a stretch of bad luck, but I'm wondering if that's not just the normal pace of our deck? Does anyone else have this problem?
I'm currently running 19 lands and 1 Devastating Summons, but for most of September, I was on 18 and 1 Summons.
EDit: Can I also ask for some help in beating Grixis? What is the general game plan? I'm really struggling against that deck.
Hey all, I wanted to say that this player Mashmalovsky has put up two 5-0 competitive finishes with an 8whack list in the last week or so. Just wanted to let people know. I'd shied away from Blood Moon because of the cost, but I'm thinking I need to just go for it. I'll be taking the list through a few leagues to try it out.
In other news, I managed to beat RW Soul Sisters for the first time! By timing them out! They had 49 life on turn 4 or 5, and I figured my only out was that they timed out, so I just played defensively and they burnt up their clock. Not a real strategy, just thought it was funny. It was especially surprising as I kept a 1 lander, I thought would be amazing if it made it, but didn't see a second land for 7 turns on the draw.
Yeah, which is why it's a charm. It's Grenades 5-8 while also giving us versatility against sweepers. I've played enough games where I need to play around Anger of the gods because my hand is slow that I know how important it is to have access to things that can answer sweepers, or have extra burn. Boros charm does both of those things. I don't ever plan on holding it up just in case, but there are lots of decks that will pack all manner of sweepers and we want more reach for those matchups. We also sometimes just need to make everything indestructible post blocks to clear a board and get in next turn. The charm cycle's strength is that they're all pretty strong modes (for most charms), but the versatility gives you so much play.
Gruul is another good option that I think is worth trying out. My pain issue is that we need a tiny bit more reach to close games out. Gruul and Boros both seem to give us those.
I'd like to go into some critical thinking and ask everyone honestly:
1) Why are goblins not tier one. What's stopping them from becoming more of a force?
2) What can we do about that?
It's between burn, affinity and zoo. And it's generally worse than those. The dudes go wide, but are smaller than Zoo guys and don't go wide as fast as affinity. It also doesn't have a boost like Cranial plating or evasion like etched champ. The deck also doesn't have as much direct damage as Burn lists. It's a fun deck, but folds pretty hard to board wipes. You need the nuts to beat a lot of decks.
The only think that Goblins does better than other linear aggro decks is having Goblin Grenade. I almost feel that the right way to go is not fully tribal, but rather tribal enough to be able to support grenade adequately.
I agree with this completely. Which is a reason I really want Boros Charms. They're close enough to Grenades, and they save our dudes from sweepers.
I agree completely. I added a third chieftain, and 3 Warren instigators. I found I was getting much more value out of Piledrivers and Chieftains than most people would have you believe.
Has anyone has similar experiences?
On another note, I'm going to take a second look at Warren Instigator. I'd always disregarded it because the ability seems meh for the most part, but I think a 1/1 Double Striker is probably better than something we're running. Whether that's Mogg War Marshal, or Goblin Piledriver, I'm not sure.
I've played Naya Burn in Cockatrice and the deck makes sense to me. Is it the kind of deck like Affinity where you need to have a good amount of experience with it to play around the Hate?
I think you're approaching the matchup from the wrong way. You don't attack the combo with sideboard cards, you do it by forcing them to burn Angel's graces early and often. I've lost a couple games against them this way, but generally consider it to be a good matchup. That doesn't mean you'll always win, because they'll sometimes have the combo and Phyrexian Unlife too early for you to do anything about it.
I would not consider boarding in Ear-Wig Squad under any circumstances, and leave Pithing needle in the board too. It can be frustrating to lose like that, but it'll win you the most matches against Ad Nauseam.
That's how I roll.
Edit: I'm counting 60 cards. 32 Creatures, 19 Land, 9 Spells
4 Goblin Guide
4 Goblin Bushwhacker
4 Foundry Street Denizen
4 Legion Loyalist
3 Mogg Fanatic
3 Goblin Piledriver
4 Mogg War Marshal
4 Reckless Bushwhacker
2 Goblin Chieftain
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Goblin Grenade
1 Devastating Summons
Lands
11 Mountain
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Bloodstained Mire
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Dragon's Claw
2 Forked Bolt
3 Smash to Smithereens
1 Tormod's Crypt
2 Magma Spray
2 Skullcrack
1 Searing Blaze
I was boarding in 3 Smash, and 2 Skullcrack, which I came to realize is too much. At the time I was thinking more burn for after board wipes and answers to Wurmcoil, but I think siding 2 smash in for Mogg Fanatics would be better.
Thanks for the replies!
Edit: Spec.ops, I tried the Fetches in the last league, and holy what a difference. I'm really happy with the change, thanks!
In a traditional 8whack build, do you keep these hands against Tron Game 2/3?
@KeithsGenome: Shared Animosity gets brought up every now and again. I've never tried it, personally but many people seemed to have success with it and it seems better suited to your Rakdos deck than most. You may find it's hard for people to analyze the deck as it's much different than what most people play here. It looks decent on paper, to me and I can't think of any serious suggestions right now. Why not take it to Modern Night and bring back a report of how it went down? Then you've got a solid list of weaknesses/strengths and more specific questions to ask the thread. Hope it works well, it honestly looks like a blast.
I'd maybe suggest dropping an Animosity for a 19th land, and find a place to squeeze in 2 more Grenades. I would play 10 of the damn things if they'd let me....
I'm really interested in Bomat Courier, but Copter looks overhyped. Not saying I'm going to right, but at $10 preorder right now, I'm willing to be wrong and pay a premium for a card that I know will be good.
Yeah, I've already got some GY hate. I'm looking into saving up for some Blood Moons, though. That really seems like the ticket. Mostly, I want to know how people play around the deck? When do you play around counters? When do you jam them?
For the last month, it feels like I've been flooding out constantly. My last league, I had flooded out (6-10 lands each game) for 4 of 5 rounds. A similar story has been haunting me all month. I know it could be a stretch of bad luck, but I'm wondering if that's not just the normal pace of our deck? Does anyone else have this problem?
I'm currently running 19 lands and 1 Devastating Summons, but for most of September, I was on 18 and 1 Summons.
EDit: Can I also ask for some help in beating Grixis? What is the general game plan? I'm really struggling against that deck.
In other news, I managed to beat RW Soul Sisters for the first time! By timing them out! They had 49 life on turn 4 or 5, and I figured my only out was that they timed out, so I just played defensively and they burnt up their clock. Not a real strategy, just thought it was funny. It was especially surprising as I kept a 1 lander, I thought would be amazing if it made it, but didn't see a second land for 7 turns on the draw.
Gruul is another good option that I think is worth trying out. My pain issue is that we need a tiny bit more reach to close games out. Gruul and Boros both seem to give us those.
I agree with this completely. Which is a reason I really want Boros Charms. They're close enough to Grenades, and they save our dudes from sweepers.