I'm listening, I know I'm here because I love talking about Bant
I sympathize with your inclination to try and return to the "core" Bant cards, but the unfortunate reality is that Bant lacks a true identity in Modern.
Legacy Bant, despite being a Tier 2 deck these days, still very much has a unique advantage other Blue goodstuff midrange decks like Esper Deathblade and Shardless BUG can't match: acceleration. With Hierarch and Green Sun's Zenith affording 6-8 turn 1 ramp spells, a Bant deck can leverage a mana advantage to disrupt the opponent with Wasteland/Daze or cast powerful spells like Jace, the Mind Sculptor better than any other Blue midrange deck.
Modern is obviously a totally different format, and is one where Bant doesn't offer that kind of unique advantage. There are plenty of good cards in Bant colors, but a Bant deck can never seem to become greater than the sum of its parts.
Noble Hierarch is a great aggressive card that is begging to be played with Geist, but we lack the removal options a WUR deck has to push him through. Tarmogoyf is another great Green card, but we're a much worse Tarmogoyf deck than Jund or Junk.
Access to Blue should theoretically give access to cantrips and permission, but Serum Visions is appallingly bad, and the permission available is expensive and/or narrow.
Basically, I'm not enthusiastic about Bant aggro-control in Modern. However, there are two cards in our shard that I am enthusiastic about playing: Gavony Township and Celestial Colonnade.
(As an aside, neither are great right now with all the Ghost Quarters around, BUT I'm confident Eldrazi will be hit by a banning at some point and we will see fewer Ghost Quarters)
Most of my brewing in Modern Bant has centered around ramp-oriented lists that can utilize these lands alongside big, stupid spells that are (hopefully) a pain for many Modern decks to deal with. I think the banning of Splinter Twin was a huge boon for this style of deck (tapping out for expensive spells and basically on only 4 Paths for efficient, instant-speed interaction), and that is what inspired me to come back to this archetype.
I may crash and burn miserably, but I am determined to try SOMETHING along these lines in paper soon.
There has been some speculation on Reddit and some other places about the possible creation of a new format, lets call it "unreserved", which would be an eternal format similar to Legacy except that all cards on the Reserved List would be banned.
...
a) Those who currently enjoy playing Legacy but are worried about its future outlook: Is this format something you'd be interested in if support for Legacy began to dwindle?
b) Those who do NOT play Legacy because of the high barrier created by dual lands, would you be interested in this format?
EDIT: Please do not discuss the Reserved List in this thread. There's an official thread for that, let's have this discussion assuming that the RL is here to stay.
As someone falling into the a) category, I would really dislike this format, primarily for the fact that painless manabases go away. That alone would have a huge impact on cards/strategies being played, one that I think is too limiting for an "Eternal" format and would bring it too close to Modern.
If Legacy were to hypothetically completely die, I would still probably prefer this format to Modern and would play it out of necessity. But its not something I want or would play over true Legacy.
that's why the results are so weird... so many missplays/suboptimal plays... they're any higher in level to certain good local LGS imo, apart from a couple of pros that save the day
shouldn't be even taken into consideration about meta imo, at least not anymore than a bunch of modo dailies are
This is more pronounced during the earlier rounds, but play usually tightens up later.
A potential alternative to playing lackluster Hexproof creatures in Worship is "going wide" with token producing cards, or cards that replace themselves, like Voice of Resurgence and Kitchen Finks. Nissa, Voice of Zendikar may even be worth trying.
If you're talking about going wide, maybe we could draft up some kind of Bant tokens build? I'm wondering if just cramming Worship and green into the already popular BW tokens deck for Abrupt Decay and Thrun would make a better deck but I like blue for Simic Charm and other counters to protect the enchantment.
Unfortunately, Blue doesn't have a lot to contribute to this straegy in terms of token makers (Talrand's Invocation?), so this direction might be better suited to a Junk deck.
I'm not saying that this deck is competitive, but I will say that it is a blast to play, and it can be explosive. I actually got the idea from a Modern Nexus article that mentioned an old Standard deck some of you may remember called Bant Crasher. Well, I updated it with the Modern card pool and put in a few games with it on Cockatrice. It's a direction I've just never considered going with Bant.
...
[/deck]
This is a cool idea. I think Stubborn Denial might be a nice addition.
So far eldrazi isn't so great against it i'll say 65/35 in favour. Leyline + Worship + Caryatid is Win against them and many other aggro decks that doesn't have permanent removal (ratchet bomb is slow). Sigarda and Geist with Spirit Mantle are great Win Cons. Control decks were the worst games.
Any suggestion? SB suggestions? was thinking about Stony Silence, Rest in peace...
Swords have always been clunky in Modern, and are particularly bad in a format rife with Kolaghan's Command. I would consider trying Spectral Flight instead.
For the sideboard you should have a method of protecting Worship against decks that are able to remove it, such as Negate, Hindering Light, or Simic Charm.
I agree with Raalic that Simic Charm is an underrated card. All three modes line up with the gameplan of a Bant aggro-control deck.
Speaking about "Bant Troll Worship" decks, I have a build idea myself, here it is:
[/deck]
I have yet to test as it is a rather expensive decklist to experiment with.
Wall of Denial can be a good option against Eldrazi and other aggro decks.
One problem with Worship-centric decks is they encourage you to play mediocre creatures like Troll Ascetic and Witchstalker (my draft has these too...). Thrun isn't a bad card, but seems obsolete with the demise of Twin, the matchup he was strongest in. Geist requires a specific shell to be really effective. Sigarda is actually very strong, but you can only play so many copies of a 5-mana Legend.
A potential alternative to playing lackluster Hexproof creatures in Worship is "going wide" with token producing cards, or cards that replace themselves, like Voice of Resurgence and Kitchen Finks. Nissa, Voice of Zendikar may even be worth trying.
Krister Mansson made Top 8 at last weekend's Scandanavian Legacy Open with some old-school Naya action. He wrote a tournament report in the Maverick thread on The Source if anyone is interested.
I haven't been playing much Modern recently but seeing the new lands spoiled got me hyped about Scapeshift again. I will definitely try cutting 1 basic Mountain for a Cinder Glade. An enemy colored printing of these lands would be even better.
I've thought about the new Jace and don't think he's bad per se, but turning on removal without getting value doesn't seem desirable.
I'm wondering, what is the matchup against the various Grixis decks like? Grixis seems like a nightmare combination of discard + counterspells, but I don't think I've seen a single Grixis list so far with discard.
Trample is very valuable with the equipment. So is double-strike. I'm debating if I wanna go back to Mirran Crusaders -- especially if BUG comes back into the mix. The other option is Siege Rhino, who is a goddamn tank of a 4/5.
Yes please, I'm itching to play Mirran Crusader in my Maverick deck again. Or even better, the super secret Great Sable Stag tech. But seriously, the Crusader is nuts in this deck in BGx metas, his only shortcomings are that he's WW and can't be zenithed.
On the subject of Delve-Dudes; I've been enamored by Hooting Mandrill's trample next to Jitte/SoFaI. Not enough to test it yet :p, but given that the only thing in legacy that has a big enough butt for the Mandrills is Goyf (which is only sometimes true, especially with equips involved) I think he may have the ability to close games against fair decks (and dodge CB) well enough to find a home in Maverick or Junk, curious if anyone here has used him/that interaction yet.
I'm not crazy about playing delve men in this deck, although I haven't tested any. Maverick is relatively poor at filling its own graveyard and several of your men (Knight, DRS, Scooze) are already fighting over food. Also, they can't be zenithed effectively (Mandrills) or at all (Tasigur).
I'm of the opinion that straight GW just doesn't cut it for competitive metas these days. The cost of splashing a third color is quite low, and the upside is very high. Just having two black sources and some Thoughtseize and Zealous Persecution as the only Black spells sideboard goes a long way in shoring up some of the inherent weaknesses of GW (no interaction in zones other than the battlefield, trouble with TNN/swarms of Elves/Elementals, etc.), for example. Another thing to keep in mind is receiving splash damage from Forked Bolt.meta by playing a pile of X/1s and GW really can't afford to play fewer than 12 maindeck.
Then again, if you look back a page or two pages you'll see that TMagpie put up a reasonable result with straight GW at an SCG Open, so maybe I' just talking out of my ass.
I briefly played a few a little while ago and wasn't satisfied with them. Aside from its obvious application as an "anti-blue" card, it has several interesting functions against combo, turning off Glimpse, Griselbrand activations, etc. I think overall it is in an awkward spot because there isn't really room in the maindeck since it isn't GSZ-able and there are just higher impact and more applicable sideboard cards. I think the meta has shifted such that they are better positioned now however, so its something I've thought about recently. I like that it can fit in an E-tutor package.
s3raphix:
Honestly, I am debating the need for Leyline of Sanctity. I feel that card may help me push past droves of burn and combo. The card hoses burn, as they have no clock outside of creatures to kill you (plus at some point you stabilize as they can't nuke all your men AND lethal you fast enough). The downside is that Leyline cuts into my thoughtseize/IoK/duress/Teeg/Canonist slots + don't disrupt Sneak/Show, Reanimator, Enchantress, Painter, etc that need [insert card]. That's where a dedicated discard trumps. If I really feared combo I suppose I could go with both leyline and discard, but it would be sacrificing my odds against swarm (Zp, Deluge, spot removal, priest) and control (armageddon, O-ring) due to less SB space. I really hate COP Red as I feel it's a waste of space.
Does't Leyline of Sanctity shut off Grindstone and Helm of Obedience kills? those abilities target a player. Still is no help against Sneak, Reanimator, and Elves, which are more numerous and quite troublesome though. Totally agree on Cop feeling like a waste of space but that's where I'm currently at right now. I've lost games against burn with Junk even after having Deathrite + Thalia + active Jitte so I feel like a real hoser card is needed for them.
Firewalker seems good and is probably also fine against UR Delver, but the advantage of Cop and the like is that you can tutor for them whereas you just have to hope to draw the Firewalker.
@s3raphix - I would be more worried about Enchantress and Charbelcher in the opening rounds than burn. We unfortunately have the toughest time against those fringe decks.
Is Belcher really worrisome? I ran into it once at an Open and rolled face. I think I had 10+ sideboard cards with textboxes against him. Not super familiar with the matchup though.
...
Eternal Witness is really needed. I lost games to everybody because I couldn't create card advantage beyond Sylvan Library. I had moments where GSZ on 3 for Witness would have gave me back the game and/or protected positive board-state. She may be the bullet I've been looking for. She can also fit into the QPM/Scooze "flex slots"
...
I played 1x Eternal Witness in the maindeck of a pure GW list at a small tournament a few months ago, pre KTK (I think I ended up 3-3-1?). It was never bad, but a little underwhelming if you couldn't cast what you regrowthed in the same turn.
___
I'd like to hear some input on how us less fortunate ones without byes are preparing to fight Burn at the GP. Is E-tutor for stuff like Circle of Protection: Red or Warmth worth it? Are Batterskull/Sword of Light and Shadow actually real cards against them? Could Kor Firewalker be a consideration?
@s3raphix:
That's a really interesting idea. I have been contemplating some of the things you experimented with. Scryb as a whole has been lackluster since we moved into 2014. I was hesitant to shave it out but as you mention, it does very little.
I've caught some slack recently from friends about playing 7 fetches instead of 8. How did 24 lands (feat. 8 fetch) work for you? Similarly, How were 2 black duals? Did opponents ever hold you off of black for SB cards? By Maverick's standards, 21 creatures (not counting dryad) is low. Did you find yourself durdling or scrambling to find threats?
*I'm not sure how I feel about Maverick for the GP. I may switch over to Rock, which has a larger "catch all" against a large field. I expect "oops I win" combo decks to run rampant --- decks I hate playing against with Mav.
I think 23 lands + Dark Depths is a good number. I was playing 3 black sources, 2 Bayou and 1 Scrubland. Didn't have any problems with black mana, but I didn't really face much mana denial. I made the deck in a bit of a hurry so I just jammed all 8 fetches but if I did it again I would probably play another basic or utility land in place of the 8th fetch.
Threat density felt reasonable to me. I often felt like my opponents had to come up with answers for what I was doing. I could see Scryb and Voice going in favor of more threatening things though.
I can understand your reservations about playing Maverick for the GP. My latest Junk list is definitely heading into Rock territory. Cutting Thalia from the maindeck is a slippery slope, with, Lili, souls, hymn etc. suddenly looking a lot more appealing. I've heard people lament the discard, Lili and Bob gang is "bad" right now, but those cards are so powerful I'm not sure I buy it. That being said I personally think Jund is the better Rock deck right now. Junk Rock is difficult to optimize because so many powerful cards are available, and lurking in the Rock thread on The Source for the last few weeks hasn't been encouraging.
Went to a small GPT yesterday (<30 people). Got 3rd but no byes.
I wanted to play Punishing but the friend I was borrowing a Taiga and the Groves from needed them for the event. Up until I arrived on site I had resigned myself to playing the same 75 I piloted to a 2-5 finish at an SCG Open a few weeks ago (pretty similar to Warden's list), but on the spur of the moment I semi-audibled something a bit different:
Yes, there was a Swamp in my sideboard. Turned out I had left home with only 74 sleeves and lacking several cards I wanted for this new list in the binder I brought (3rd Abrupt Decay, 2x Loxodon Smiter). I made the poor decision of adding an unsleeved basic Swamp to the board in my haste to register.
I went 3-0 in the Swiss beating UR Delver, Shardless, UR Delver, and then double drew into Top 8. In the Top 8 I beat the same Shardless player, then lost to a (sweet) Esper Helm combo control deck. The other 5 decks in Top 8 were Deathblade, Miracles, Infect, Sneak/Show, and UR Delver. Meta was reasonably varied overall. There were 3 UR Delver players.
Just want to jot down some thoughts/conclusions:
- Tried out the 1x Voice from Nate Sturm's list since I really like the card and have a bunch sitting around. It was pretty solid overall. Against Shardless the Elemental got bigger than a Goyf and one of the delver players wouldn't attack into it with Swiftspear at one point, probably out of fear of the Elemental.
- I got the DD kill in two games. Never got mana screwed by drawing either half too early. I really like that having the combo means Knight is still relevant through a Rest In Peace.
- I never drew or zenithed for Scryb. DD kills were attained just by using Knight.
- People were casting Ancestral Recall against me all day weather it be Cruise or Vision, and it just didn't seem to matter. Some games my opponent even cast two and it still didn't matter. I don't know if I just got lucky or what. My friend playing Jund said that once his opponents started Cruising he felt way behind.
- Didn't want to play 4 Deathrite so went with 1 Bird over 1 Hierarch, and I can't honestly say that its worse. Even got it suited up with Fire & Ice one game.
- Moving both Teegs to the board felt fine. I board them out in almost every fair matchup, even Cruise ones, though that may not be correct.
- Abrupt decay is really good. Plow + Decay backed up by tutorable QPM felt super versatile.
- Thalia felt bad even in the sideboard. I think Canonist might just be better in that slot since I don't think Thalia does much against fair decks anyway.
- Mom is still very good.
I'm hoping to make it to a Win-a-Dual tourney next weekend with Punishing so I can figure out which Maverick deck to play at GPNJ.
I sympathize with your inclination to try and return to the "core" Bant cards, but the unfortunate reality is that Bant lacks a true identity in Modern.
Legacy Bant, despite being a Tier 2 deck these days, still very much has a unique advantage other Blue goodstuff midrange decks like Esper Deathblade and Shardless BUG can't match: acceleration. With Hierarch and Green Sun's Zenith affording 6-8 turn 1 ramp spells, a Bant deck can leverage a mana advantage to disrupt the opponent with Wasteland/Daze or cast powerful spells like Jace, the Mind Sculptor better than any other Blue midrange deck.
Modern is obviously a totally different format, and is one where Bant doesn't offer that kind of unique advantage. There are plenty of good cards in Bant colors, but a Bant deck can never seem to become greater than the sum of its parts.
Noble Hierarch is a great aggressive card that is begging to be played with Geist, but we lack the removal options a WUR deck has to push him through. Tarmogoyf is another great Green card, but we're a much worse Tarmogoyf deck than Jund or Junk.
Access to Blue should theoretically give access to cantrips and permission, but Serum Visions is appallingly bad, and the permission available is expensive and/or narrow.
Basically, I'm not enthusiastic about Bant aggro-control in Modern. However, there are two cards in our shard that I am enthusiastic about playing: Gavony Township and Celestial Colonnade.
(As an aside, neither are great right now with all the Ghost Quarters around, BUT I'm confident Eldrazi will be hit by a banning at some point and we will see fewer Ghost Quarters)
Most of my brewing in Modern Bant has centered around ramp-oriented lists that can utilize these lands alongside big, stupid spells that are (hopefully) a pain for many Modern decks to deal with. I think the banning of Splinter Twin was a huge boon for this style of deck (tapping out for expensive spells and basically on only 4 Paths for efficient, instant-speed interaction), and that is what inspired me to come back to this archetype.
I may crash and burn miserably, but I am determined to try SOMETHING along these lines in paper soon.
As someone falling into the a) category, I would really dislike this format, primarily for the fact that painless manabases go away. That alone would have a huge impact on cards/strategies being played, one that I think is too limiting for an "Eternal" format and would bring it too close to Modern.
If Legacy were to hypothetically completely die, I would still probably prefer this format to Modern and would play it out of necessity. But its not something I want or would play over true Legacy.
This is more pronounced during the earlier rounds, but play usually tightens up later.
The Master ruling isn't necessarily the most intuitive, I think a lot of players would do the same thing.
Sure there is plenty of Eldrazi on camera so far, but I'm very curious to see how things break for Top8-16.
Unfortunately, Blue doesn't have a lot to contribute to this straegy in terms of token makers (Talrand's Invocation?), so this direction might be better suited to a Junk deck.
This is a cool idea. I think Stubborn Denial might be a nice addition.
Swords have always been clunky in Modern, and are particularly bad in a format rife with Kolaghan's Command. I would consider trying Spectral Flight instead.
For the sideboard you should have a method of protecting Worship against decks that are able to remove it, such as Negate, Hindering Light, or Simic Charm.
I agree with Raalic that Simic Charm is an underrated card. All three modes line up with the gameplan of a Bant aggro-control deck.
One problem with Worship-centric decks is they encourage you to play mediocre creatures like Troll Ascetic and Witchstalker (my draft has these too...). Thrun isn't a bad card, but seems obsolete with the demise of Twin, the matchup he was strongest in. Geist requires a specific shell to be really effective. Sigarda is actually very strong, but you can only play so many copies of a 5-mana Legend.
A potential alternative to playing lackluster Hexproof creatures in Worship is "going wide" with token producing cards, or cards that replace themselves, like Voice of Resurgence and Kitchen Finks. Nissa, Voice of Zendikar may even be worth trying.
I'm wondering why the old Stonehorn Dignitary + Venser the Sojourner tech isn't played in this deck.
Venser seems like a strong value engine in general. Is he just too slow/too much mana? Too hard to protect?
Krister Mansson made Top 8 at last weekend's Scandanavian Legacy Open with some old-school Naya action. He wrote a tournament report in the Maverick thread on The Source if anyone is interested.
I've thought about the new Jace and don't think he's bad per se, but turning on removal without getting value doesn't seem desirable.
I'm wondering, what is the matchup against the various Grixis decks like? Grixis seems like a nightmare combination of discard + counterspells, but I don't think I've seen a single Grixis list so far with discard.
Yes please, I'm itching to play Mirran Crusader in my Maverick deck again. Or even better, the super secret Great Sable Stag tech. But seriously, the Crusader is nuts in this deck in BGx metas, his only shortcomings are that he's WW and can't be zenithed.
I'm not crazy about playing delve men in this deck, although I haven't tested any. Maverick is relatively poor at filling its own graveyard and several of your men (Knight, DRS, Scooze) are already fighting over food. Also, they can't be zenithed effectively (Mandrills) or at all (Tasigur).
Then again, if you look back a page or two pages you'll see that TMagpie put up a reasonable result with straight GW at an SCG Open, so maybe I' just talking out of my ass.
I briefly played a few a little while ago and wasn't satisfied with them. Aside from its obvious application as an "anti-blue" card, it has several interesting functions against combo, turning off Glimpse, Griselbrand activations, etc. I think overall it is in an awkward spot because there isn't really room in the maindeck since it isn't GSZ-able and there are just higher impact and more applicable sideboard cards. I think the meta has shifted such that they are better positioned now however, so its something I've thought about recently. I like that it can fit in an E-tutor package.
Does't Leyline of Sanctity shut off Grindstone and Helm of Obedience kills? those abilities target a player. Still is no help against Sneak, Reanimator, and Elves, which are more numerous and quite troublesome though. Totally agree on Cop feeling like a waste of space but that's where I'm currently at right now. I've lost games against burn with Junk even after having Deathrite + Thalia + active Jitte so I feel like a real hoser card is needed for them.
Firewalker seems good and is probably also fine against UR Delver, but the advantage of Cop and the like is that you can tutor for them whereas you just have to hope to draw the Firewalker.
Is Belcher really worrisome? I ran into it once at an Open and rolled face. I think I had 10+ sideboard cards with textboxes against him. Not super familiar with the matchup though.
I played 1x Eternal Witness in the maindeck of a pure GW list at a small tournament a few months ago, pre KTK (I think I ended up 3-3-1?). It was never bad, but a little underwhelming if you couldn't cast what you regrowthed in the same turn.
___
I'd like to hear some input on how us less fortunate ones without byes are preparing to fight Burn at the GP. Is E-tutor for stuff like Circle of Protection: Red or Warmth worth it? Are Batterskull/Sword of Light and Shadow actually real cards against them? Could Kor Firewalker be a consideration?
I think 23 lands + Dark Depths is a good number. I was playing 3 black sources, 2 Bayou and 1 Scrubland. Didn't have any problems with black mana, but I didn't really face much mana denial. I made the deck in a bit of a hurry so I just jammed all 8 fetches but if I did it again I would probably play another basic or utility land in place of the 8th fetch.
Threat density felt reasonable to me. I often felt like my opponents had to come up with answers for what I was doing. I could see Scryb and Voice going in favor of more threatening things though.
I can understand your reservations about playing Maverick for the GP. My latest Junk list is definitely heading into Rock territory. Cutting Thalia from the maindeck is a slippery slope, with, Lili, souls, hymn etc. suddenly looking a lot more appealing. I've heard people lament the discard, Lili and Bob gang is "bad" right now, but those cards are so powerful I'm not sure I buy it. That being said I personally think Jund is the better Rock deck right now. Junk Rock is difficult to optimize because so many powerful cards are available, and lurking in the Rock thread on The Source for the last few weeks hasn't been encouraging.
I wanted to play Punishing but the friend I was borrowing a Taiga and the Groves from needed them for the event. Up until I arrived on site I had resigned myself to playing the same 75 I piloted to a 2-5 finish at an SCG Open a few weeks ago (pretty similar to Warden's list), but on the spur of the moment I semi-audibled something a bit different:
4 Windswept heath
4 Verdant catacombs
2 Bayou
2 Savannah
1 Scrubland
1 Forest
1 Plains
4 Wasteland
1 Dryad Arbor
1 Karakas
1 Horizon Canopy
1 Thespian's Stage
1 Dark Depths
Creature (21)
4 Mother of Runes
3 Deathrite Shaman
1 Birds of Paradise
3 Stoneforge Mystic
3 Qasali Pridemage
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Scryb Ranger
1 Voice of Resurgence
4 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Green Sun's Zenith
4 Swords to Plowshares
2 Abrupt Decay
1 Sylvan Library
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Batterskull
2 Gaddock Teeg
2 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Krosan Grip
3 Thoughtseize
1 Duress
2 Zealous Persecution
1 Toxic Deluge
1 Swamp
Yes, there was a Swamp in my sideboard. Turned out I had left home with only 74 sleeves and lacking several cards I wanted for this new list in the binder I brought (3rd Abrupt Decay, 2x Loxodon Smiter). I made the poor decision of adding an unsleeved basic Swamp to the board in my haste to register.
I went 3-0 in the Swiss beating UR Delver, Shardless, UR Delver, and then double drew into Top 8. In the Top 8 I beat the same Shardless player, then lost to a (sweet) Esper Helm combo control deck. The other 5 decks in Top 8 were Deathblade, Miracles, Infect, Sneak/Show, and UR Delver. Meta was reasonably varied overall. There were 3 UR Delver players.
Just want to jot down some thoughts/conclusions:
- Tried out the 1x Voice from Nate Sturm's list since I really like the card and have a bunch sitting around. It was pretty solid overall. Against Shardless the Elemental got bigger than a Goyf and one of the delver players wouldn't attack into it with Swiftspear at one point, probably out of fear of the Elemental.
- I got the DD kill in two games. Never got mana screwed by drawing either half too early. I really like that having the combo means Knight is still relevant through a Rest In Peace.
- I never drew or zenithed for Scryb. DD kills were attained just by using Knight.
- People were casting Ancestral Recall against me all day weather it be Cruise or Vision, and it just didn't seem to matter. Some games my opponent even cast two and it still didn't matter. I don't know if I just got lucky or what. My friend playing Jund said that once his opponents started Cruising he felt way behind.
- Didn't want to play 4 Deathrite so went with 1 Bird over 1 Hierarch, and I can't honestly say that its worse. Even got it suited up with Fire & Ice one game.
- Moving both Teegs to the board felt fine. I board them out in almost every fair matchup, even Cruise ones, though that may not be correct.
- Abrupt decay is really good. Plow + Decay backed up by tutorable QPM felt super versatile.
- Thalia felt bad even in the sideboard. I think Canonist might just be better in that slot since I don't think Thalia does much against fair decks anyway.
- Mom is still very good.
I'm hoping to make it to a Win-a-Dual tourney next weekend with Punishing so I can figure out which Maverick deck to play at GPNJ.