My list is 95% what everyone is running. There is a 4-5 card shift with the numbers of Become Immense, Mandrills, Bolt, and Thoughseize as I play around with what feels better. I am running Steppe Lynx at the moment BC while it does fizzle a bit, it can also have very high impact.
I tend to keep hands with ideally 2 creatures, 1-2 pumps and a can trip.
This is starting to get depressing. I was having fun playing this deck, but now I'm on a 3-17 (games, not matches) losing streak. If I don't get a turn 3 or 4 kill its near impossible to win it seems. Sam Black's article on SCG made it sound like this is the most powerful unknown deck. Granted I'm not at his playing level obviously, but I just keep getting steam rolled by people even when not making mistakes.
0 2 U Tron - Platinum Angel followed by Ugin. Stupid.
1 1 Affinity
1 2 Infect
1 2 GB Deathcloud
0 2 Mono red brew - G1 Magus of the Moon on T1. G2 Moltensteel Dragon and Wurmcoil Engine turns 5 and 6. WTF.
Hello all. New to this deck. Been lurking for a couple weeks. Building it out as my 2nd Modern deck b/c its fun to play, but I'm struggling with it. Can't seem to find a rhythm. I seem to punish myself too much sometimes and it bites me in the butt. I've been watching the Ari Lax videos and a Channel Fireball videos on the deck and they make it look so easy.
Here are all my stats over 35 "matches" with the deck so far on Cockatrice. 46% win rate in matches where at least 2 games are played. 45% win rate in games overall. Not so hot. 4 matches lost due to sheer bad play decisions or forgetting something, like a Bauble trigger or forgetting to play a Death's Shadow. I tend to make more play mistakes on Cockatrice b/c I'm just clicking fast and/or watching TV at the same time and not being really focused.
W L
2 0 UB Mill - Won G1 with 1 card in library
1 0 Jeskai Something?
2 1 W Midrange
2 0 UB Artifact Brew?
0 2 Bant Eldrazi
2 1 Jund - Miscalculated life G2 and couldn't pull it out.
0 1 Jeskai Control
1 2 Kiln Fiend - Mirror Match against an aggro pump deck
2 1 UB Mill
0 2 Grixis Control - Flooded hard both games. Didn't stand a chance.
1 2 Mardu Nahiri - Crackling Doom sucks
0 1 8 Whack
1 0 Blue Moon
0 1 UB Mill - MD Ensnaring Bridge locked me out
2 0 Junk
1 2 GR Ramp - Gah, valukut triggers. Shoulda won G3 but did not see a red mana source.
0 2 Jund
0 1 Jeskai Control
2 1 B Zombie brew
1 0 R Goblins
0 2 8 Rack -Discard was real. Lili kept me out of it both games.
2 1 Affinity
0 2 U Tron - G1 forgot about Ugin's +2 and put myself at 2 life to lose. G2 flooded out hard.
2 1 Blue Moon
2 0 UW Control - Some bad UW brew with scry lands
0 2 Melira Company - F'ing skite. Both games. Literally the only reason they won, had lethal pumps in hand
0 1 Melira Company - F'ing skite. Again.
1 2 Elves - G2 missed bauble trigger, which didn't get me to 2 lands fast enough for Pyroclasm. G3 Got greedy and didnt save Rage for trample over elves for lethal.
2 0 UB Mill
2 0 Elves
0 2 Bant Eldrazi - F&*king a. Tough deck.
0 2 Grixis Control - Messed up game 2. Didn't play Shadow on EOT like an idiot b/c clicking too fast. Had win next turn.
0 2 Mardu Nahiri - Tokens. So many tokens. G2 lost to Nahiri and Elspeth Didn't see Pyroclasm.
0 2 Merfolk
why don't you try playing 4 surgicals in your MD and report us back how it went. "less threats = chance to survive" way of thinking should apply in any MUs so I see no problem here.
I don't know about MD, but I am going to try 3 in the side along with the Molten Rains. I need to get some Boom//Bust. Its kind of a pet card of mine, and the only way I can be Lands in Legacy, so I've see the impact it can have many times.
eldrazi is probably tough to win regardless of what you play.
Perhaps more of a reason to run Damnation.
Why not more love for Surgical Extraction? It has a ton of utility... nuke a Tron or Eldrazi land on turn 2 or 3 with Boom//Bust, Molten Rain, or Fulminator. Remove the rest of the copies from the game for 2 life. Terminate the first Reality Smasher, then remove the other 3 from the deck for basically free. Less threats = chance to survive.
And Karn? 2dmg to Karn doesn't do squat, and Nahiri starts at 6. Killing Lili after someone -2 her is easy. Dreadbore is straight up the cheapest way to deal with all PW. I'd rather avoid a 4-6 mana investment to Bolt Snap Bolt or whatever other combination of cards to kill a PW. I'd rather do something more pro-active with that mana.
Early Karns beat you regardless. Good luck having the appropriate BR mana around after he nukes your land.
Nahiri doesn't effect the board and can be bounced before her ult. Pretty easily tbh.
I'd be more concerned about Abzan CoCo and Merfolk than walkers. This "walkers are sooo good right now" obsession won't do much for your lists and likely just make them worse.
I don't think anyone is advocating piling a bunch of Dreadbore's in your MD, but adding at least 1 to your SB to help deal with problem cards (that are obviously on the rise) seems like a smart thing to do. Kalitas handles CoCo, so does AotG out of the board, and AotG usually handles Merfolk pretty well unless they Swan Song it.
Kolaghan's Command does a pile of things. One of them being that it's insane vs. Liliana (the actual best walker in modern). I've killed lots and lots of Lillys with this card.
It also is better than Dreadbore in a variety of circumstances that aren't the issue at hand but worth mentioning.
And Karn? 2dmg to Karn doesn't do squat, and Nahiri starts at 6. Killing Lili after someone -2 her is easy. Dreadbore is straight up the cheapest way to deal with all PW. I'd rather avoid a 4-6 mana investment to Bolt Snap Bolt or whatever other combination of cards to kill a PW. I'd rather do something more pro-active with that mana.
Last time I checked Kommand didn't kill PWs. Variance can already be bad enough. I'd rather not rely it to find a combination of cards to deal with a PW. Thats horrible card efficiency. And sometimes you just don't have a counter when you need it.
An uptick in PWs in the meta means we have to adapt. If you want to keep wasting bolts to keep a PW in check but not ever actually kill it, keep doing that. Thats a fine game plan.
So with Nahiri on the rise, is it time to start packing more Dreadbores in the side?
Also, has anyone tried running Duress instead of IoK? I have 3 IoK in the MD right now, and given how good the deck handles creatures with spot removal (and I'm running 1 AotG main) and stone walling with Kalitas and Tasigur... Duress just seems like a better option. It takes everything, and more, that IoK would take. Thoughtseize obviously hits everything, but the life loss is a drag.
http://magicgatheringstrat.com/2015/05/linear-primers-suicide-zoo-part-1/
http://magicgatheringstrat.com/2015/06/linear-primers-suicide-zoo-part-2/
Some videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xya2p47oask&noredirect=1
http://www.channelfireball.com/videos/channel-karsten-modern-suicide-zoo/
http://www.mtgcoverage.com/deck.php?id=422
http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/article.asp?ID=12376
I tend to keep hands with ideally 2 creatures, 1-2 pumps and a can trip.
1 1 Affinity
1 2 Infect
1 2 GB Deathcloud
0 2 Mono red brew - G1 Magus of the Moon on T1. G2 Moltensteel Dragon and Wurmcoil Engine turns 5 and 6. WTF.
Losing streak continues. Have not won a single game against U Tron or Bant Eldrazi yet.
Here are all my stats over 35 "matches" with the deck so far on Cockatrice. 46% win rate in matches where at least 2 games are played. 45% win rate in games overall. Not so hot. 4 matches lost due to sheer bad play decisions or forgetting something, like a Bauble trigger or forgetting to play a Death's Shadow. I tend to make more play mistakes on Cockatrice b/c I'm just clicking fast and/or watching TV at the same time and not being really focused.
2 0 UB Mill - Won G1 with 1 card in library
1 0 Jeskai Something?
2 1 W Midrange
2 0 UB Artifact Brew?
0 2 Bant Eldrazi
2 1 Jund - Miscalculated life G2 and couldn't pull it out.
0 1 Jeskai Control
1 2 Kiln Fiend - Mirror Match against an aggro pump deck
2 1 UB Mill
0 2 Grixis Control - Flooded hard both games. Didn't stand a chance.
1 2 Mardu Nahiri - Crackling Doom sucks
0 1 8 Whack
1 0 Blue Moon
0 1 UB Mill - MD Ensnaring Bridge locked me out
2 0 Junk
1 2 GR Ramp - Gah, valukut triggers. Shoulda won G3 but did not see a red mana source.
0 2 Jund
0 1 Jeskai Control
2 1 B Zombie brew
1 0 R Goblins
0 2 8 Rack -Discard was real. Lili kept me out of it both games.
2 1 Affinity
0 2 U Tron - G1 forgot about Ugin's +2 and put myself at 2 life to lose. G2 flooded out hard.
2 1 Blue Moon
2 0 UW Control - Some bad UW brew with scry lands
0 2 Melira Company - F'ing skite. Both games. Literally the only reason they won, had lethal pumps in hand
0 1 Melira Company - F'ing skite. Again.
1 2 Elves - G2 missed bauble trigger, which didn't get me to 2 lands fast enough for Pyroclasm. G3 Got greedy and didnt save Rage for trample over elves for lethal.
2 0 UB Mill
2 0 Elves
0 2 Bant Eldrazi - F&*king a. Tough deck.
0 2 Grixis Control - Messed up game 2. Didn't play Shadow on EOT like an idiot b/c clicking too fast. Had win next turn.
0 2 Mardu Nahiri - Tokens. So many tokens. G2 lost to Nahiri and Elspeth
0 2 Merfolk
I don't know about MD, but I am going to try 3 in the side along with the Molten Rains. I need to get some Boom//Bust. Its kind of a pet card of mine, and the only way I can be Lands in Legacy, so I've see the impact it can have many times.
Perhaps more of a reason to run Damnation.
Why not more love for Surgical Extraction? It has a ton of utility... nuke a Tron or Eldrazi land on turn 2 or 3 with Boom//Bust, Molten Rain, or Fulminator. Remove the rest of the copies from the game for 2 life. Terminate the first Reality Smasher, then remove the other 3 from the deck for basically free. Less threats = chance to survive.
I don't think anyone is advocating piling a bunch of Dreadbore's in your MD, but adding at least 1 to your SB to help deal with problem cards (that are obviously on the rise) seems like a smart thing to do. Kalitas handles CoCo, so does AotG out of the board, and AotG usually handles Merfolk pretty well unless they Swan Song it.
And Karn? 2dmg to Karn doesn't do squat, and Nahiri starts at 6. Killing Lili after someone -2 her is easy. Dreadbore is straight up the cheapest way to deal with all PW. I'd rather avoid a 4-6 mana investment to Bolt Snap Bolt or whatever other combination of cards to kill a PW. I'd rather do something more pro-active with that mana.
Last time I checked Kommand didn't kill PWs. Variance can already be bad enough. I'd rather not rely it to find a combination of cards to deal with a PW. Thats horrible card efficiency. And sometimes you just don't have a counter when you need it.
An uptick in PWs in the meta means we have to adapt. If you want to keep wasting bolts to keep a PW in check but not ever actually kill it, keep doing that. Thats a fine game plan.
Honestly, I didn't quite understand the appeal of the card until this was cleared up. Thanks.
Also, has anyone tried running Duress instead of IoK? I have 3 IoK in the MD right now, and given how good the deck handles creatures with spot removal (and I'm running 1 AotG main) and stone walling with Kalitas and Tasigur... Duress just seems like a better option. It takes everything, and more, that IoK would take. Thoughtseize obviously hits everything, but the life loss is a drag.
Nihil Spellbomb?