My argument for Driven//Despair would be two matchups that you left out: Tron and Valakut. Despair is winning me many games (and matches) here where Thoughtseize would a) not be available to me (not in opening hand) and b) not be impactful enough. Card advantage doesn't win the game here, but an extra turn does.
@Sodek
Can you explain your 1-of Thoughtseize in the sideboard? I play your list 74/75 with Driven//Despair in the Thoughtseize slot. I think, in terms of impact and reliability, that Driven//Despair is superior as a 1-of.
I haven't seen any recent discussions on this, but has anyone considered a version with SSGs and Flame of Keld for accelerated Cathartic Reunion/Flame of Keld starts?
Get to brewing with Flame of Keld Loam!! I would love to see four Flame Jabs for 12 at something, or four Molten Vortex triggers for 16 at something; Seismic Assault and Life from the Loam on turn 4 would surely spell death even for a Soul Sisters opponent.
But yeah, unfortunately Flamewake Phoenix and Conflagrate (even if you did use the former) are not enough incentives to use Flame of Keld.
I am no one to challenge a PTQ winner, but I have my reasons for thinking that Mogg Fanatic is better than Fanatical Firebrand. Firebrand has haste, and so in many instances, he gets to start off with one damage greater than Fanatic. But Fanatic can always make up for the lost damage by sacrificing to itself after combat damage. There are other instances where Mogg Fanatic is a strict upgrade:
1) Any of your 8 Bushwhacker effects on the same turn as Fanatic
2) Removal in between tapping attackers and combat damage
3) Big Thalia
4) A sweeper when your creatures are all tapped
5) A lifelinking blocker such as Slippery Bogle or Wurmcoil Engine (whether it is blocking the Fanatic itself or any x/1)
6) In conjunction with Grim Lavamancer to push the last bit of damage through - ie you attacked with the Goblin, and then at the end of opp's turn you want to sacrifice the Goblin to have 2 cards in graveyard to activate Grim Lavamancer.
7) Attacking into a 1/1 Champion of the Parish and still being able to kill it in response to its trigger.
These are instances off the top of my head that I experienced in three consecutive 3-2 leagues. I am happy with a 60% winrate and hope to continue it, but I thought I'd vocalize my opinion on that change and ask for feedback.
If I were anyone important at Wizards, I would look at the flashbacked Faithless Looting the turn before Matt Nass won game 3 of the semifinals and Karn and Oblivion Stone doing absolutely nothing in the game Matt Nass won in the finals, shrug, and move on. Eggs is fine, and opponents' bad decisions against it hold no bearing on its ban-worthiness.
Sodek- without neonates can we add more darkblast for thugs? I think shriekhorn is = neonate + thug, and when darkblast is good, it is important to have it early.
Fairly favored against the first three. E-tron is even to slightly favored, but they can have some busted draws against you. You are awesome against TKS but 2 reality smashers will beat you. In the past and depending on the player they may have up to 10 pieces against you post side. Learn to fetch and Loam well versus Merfolk.
I just don't think you should be playing Leylines. It is too demanding to sideboard Leylines in addition to anti-gravehate cards (which graveyard combo decks have). You could, in theory, sideboard in the 8 cards to do so, but then your deck is diluted, and having a solid, consistent combo plan with cards to counteract gravehate is the most profitable strategy in the long run.
I did not mean to take an oppositional tone in my parenthetical note. I had not read a single post in this thread before I posted and, like I said, did not expect there to be a debate. I saw a post on reddit where some folks said that the bird was the word, and I had the cards for the bulk of the deck’s price on modo.
I have moved to 3/3 between visions and the bird, and I followed the first league up with a 3-2, 4-1, and 2-3. I have grown not to like leyline and want to try adding more noxious revival (1 main, 1 side) and some other alternatives to discard that also fight removal: ranks or postmortem lunge.
For what it’s worth, attacking with the bird won me two games in a match versus humans with meddling mage on grapeshot and hordes of blockers in one league last night. Now, I get that you may want to ask whether vigilant sram and paladin would have won anyway, finally getting through their chumps, and—-maybe so.
Unfortunately (but largely due to time constraints and not being ready for this to be under as much scrutiny), I did not get data on potential fizzles that would have resulted from being unable to scry before each draw, but my hunch is "high."
Can you explain your 1-of Thoughtseize in the sideboard? I play your list 74/75 with Driven//Despair in the Thoughtseize slot. I think, in terms of impact and reliability, that Driven//Despair is superior as a 1-of.
But yeah, unfortunately Flamewake Phoenix and Conflagrate (even if you did use the former) are not enough incentives to use Flame of Keld.
1) Any of your 8 Bushwhacker effects on the same turn as Fanatic
2) Removal in between tapping attackers and combat damage
3) Big Thalia
4) A sweeper when your creatures are all tapped
5) A lifelinking blocker such as Slippery Bogle or Wurmcoil Engine (whether it is blocking the Fanatic itself or any x/1)
6) In conjunction with Grim Lavamancer to push the last bit of damage through - ie you attacked with the Goblin, and then at the end of opp's turn you want to sacrifice the Goblin to have 2 cards in graveyard to activate Grim Lavamancer.
7) Attacking into a 1/1 Champion of the Parish and still being able to kill it in response to its trigger.
These are instances off the top of my head that I experienced in three consecutive 3-2 leagues. I am happy with a 60% winrate and hope to continue it, but I thought I'd vocalize my opinion on that change and ask for feedback.
I have moved to 3/3 between visions and the bird, and I followed the first league up with a 3-2, 4-1, and 2-3. I have grown not to like leyline and want to try adding more noxious revival (1 main, 1 side) and some other alternatives to discard that also fight removal: ranks or postmortem lunge.
For what it’s worth, attacking with the bird won me two games in a match versus humans with meddling mage on grapeshot and hordes of blockers in one league last night. Now, I get that you may want to ask whether vigilant sram and paladin would have won anyway, finally getting through their chumps, and—-maybe so.
A Bird plus an Engine never let me down in these five matches.
A Bird chipped in for six damage with Bone Saws to help me beat Tron in another match (since that league) after Retract got Surgical Extraction'd.