Sorry to hear life's been so hard lately... Hopefully it'll calm down soon for you.
1) The general consensus is that it made the deck too inconsistent, not to mention putting extra strain on the mana base and making it harder to get Bridge online. Focused mill strategies supplemented with Pyxis of Pandemonium provide all the answers we need and make Thopter/Sword unnecessary.
2) From what i heard, it was just too slow to be effective.
3) The standings page says he sits at #1041 with 12 points. I have no clue what that means.
Attempting to learn the ins and outs of this deck and eventually build it.. One question, when is it correct to mill yourself? Do you want to mill yourself blindly in search of a missing piece, or do you wait until you have Lantern out so that you can see your top card? Thanks in advance.
I didnt see an answer so my apologies if it was answered. Never blind mill yourself. There are no benefite
unless you have academy ruins out.
Sorry but this is wrong. Blind milling yourself does not affect the probabilities of drawing any cards in particular. But there is a benefit: once you hit ruins you have a larger graveyard to select from. So yes you should almost always blind mill.
I blind mill in a large number of cases. Academy Ruins is a thing, but so is the second ability of Codex Shredder, and i run a couple Noxious Revival as well. Blind milling helps me greatly because my build has a lot of recursion.
In addition, blind milling gives you valuable information about what you have left to draw. Sometimes you will blind mill a card you want, but think about it: The chance that the card you want is on top, or third from top, or even on bottom, is exactly the same. You could just as easily draw into it faster by miling yourself. The other advantage to blind milling is that you have lowered your library count and raised your certainty on the probability to draw any one card. Information is the most valuable asset this deck can have, and blind milling gives you a lot of that to work with. Also, if you mill your opponent blindly, you can learn about their deck too, although this sometimes backfires against things like Dredge and Snapcaster / Tiago.
If you want to beat Lantern in mono-black, you should be running as many sideboard cards against it as possible. Ratchet Bomb, Chalice of the Void, Surgical Extraction. Anything that does something. Sideboarding in only two cards of anything, even a spell that will win the game for you when it resolves, will not help. That one spell will be Thoughtseized, or Extracted, or milled. Bring in as much sideboard hate as you possibly can, and hope that you will be able to play at least one of those cards.
I really missed the consistency that this build offered, and i think i am going to stick with it for a while.
EDIT: By the way, Duskmantle, House of Shadow won me a game in the mirror, where all mill rocks, Lantern, and Academy Ruins had been pithed. I love that card.
Just had a tournament this afternoon. Went 3-3 which I am pleased about because I made major changes, haven't played it in a while and last few tournaments I've been 1-5. If interested in the games let me know
Yeah that's true. I'm pretty sure we usually can, though. I mean, we have Ancient Stirrings and Abrupt Decay, and those are much harder to cast on curve.
Unfortunately Gutshot can't jump start a Sun Droplet as paying life is not counted as taking damage
i meant you could spend a red to shoot yourself. It's a really minor thing, like the argument for running pain lands, and it's also not something I think I saw mentioned that can be done with Aether Grid. Granted, one mana and one card to gain a life is generally a terrible ROI, but it's more of a bonus than a primary incentive.
The hunt is on for a B/U/GPyroclasm! If only AEtherize was cheaper to cast.
I am running WUBRG colors, personally, and have no trouble with two Pyroclasm main, one side. My 1-1 Copperline Gorge / Darkslick Shores split and one-of Mana Confluence mainboard have treated me well, although i am starting to think that the Confluence can be replaced with a Shivan Reef or Reflecting Pool or something. I only have four lands that provide only C, and feel that i am flooded with color and could use some more utility in the land base.
Ancestral Visions, Thirst for Knowledge, Thoughtcast, Jori En, Ruin Diver, Ancient Stirrings, Sleight of Hand... Our opponents are drawing more than one card a turn, and the nature of these extra cards makes it hard for us to respond with the lantern lock. I find myself more and more wishing for a counterspell effect to take care of anything that may have slipped through. Visions is giving us a really hard time, and Thirst to a lesser extent due to the increase in Tezzerator and U Tron. I may fiddle around with some number of Counterflux for those really grindy matchups, and for combo (eat that, Storm!). UUR is an extremely prohibitive cost though... I may need to re-think my painlands. Muddle the Mixture looks good too, but appears equally prohibitive with its UU cost.
I am going to test a one-of Taigam's Scheming in place of a Stirrings. I love how strong it could be, especially with my deck looking more colorful by the moment.
The hype is real, people. Maybe this could even start its own spinoff deck...?
1) The general consensus is that it made the deck too inconsistent, not to mention putting extra strain on the mana base and making it harder to get Bridge online. Focused mill strategies supplemented with Pyxis of Pandemonium provide all the answers we need and make Thopter/Sword unnecessary.
2) From what i heard, it was just too slow to be effective.
3) The standings page says he sits at #1041 with 12 points. I have no clue what that means.
I blind mill in a large number of cases. Academy Ruins is a thing, but so is the second ability of Codex Shredder, and i run a couple Noxious Revival as well. Blind milling helps me greatly because my build has a lot of recursion.
In addition, blind milling gives you valuable information about what you have left to draw. Sometimes you will blind mill a card you want, but think about it: The chance that the card you want is on top, or third from top, or even on bottom, is exactly the same. You could just as easily draw into it faster by miling yourself. The other advantage to blind milling is that you have lowered your library count and raised your certainty on the probability to draw any one card. Information is the most valuable asset this deck can have, and blind milling gives you a lot of that to work with. Also, if you mill your opponent blindly, you can learn about their deck too, although this sometimes backfires against things like Dredge and Snapcaster / Tiago.
Also, use Quiet Disrepair over Sun Droplet. Seriously! I run three of those, three Leyline, three Welding Jar side. Makes burn a lot easier.
4 Lantern of Insight
4 Codex Shredder
3 Ghoulcaller's Bell
2 Pyxis of Pandemonium
4 Ensnaring Bridge
3 Pithing Needle
Lands
3 Mox Opal
2 Academy Ruins
1 Copperline Gorge
4 Llanowar Wastes
4 Glimmervoid
1 Duskmantle, House of Shadow
1 Swamp
1 Forest
1 Tendo Ice Bridge
1 Sea Gate Wreckage
1 Darksteel Citadel
3 Thoughtseize
3 Surgical Extraction
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Abrupt Decay
4 Ancient Stirrings
1 Ghirapur AEther Grid
1 Infernal Tutor
2 Pyroclasm
1 Spellskite
1 Abrupt Decay
3 Welding Jar
3 Quiet Disrepair
1 Extirpate
1 Pyroclasm
3 Leyline of Sanctity
2 Grafdigger's Cage
I really missed the consistency that this build offered, and i think i am going to stick with it for a while.
EDIT: By the way, Duskmantle, House of Shadow won me a game in the mirror, where all mill rocks, Lantern, and Academy Ruins had been pithed. I love that card.
Definitely interested!
Quiet Disrepair is better than Sun Droplet anyways.
I am running WUBRG colors, personally, and have no trouble with two Pyroclasm main, one side. My 1-1 Copperline Gorge / Darkslick Shores split and one-of Mana Confluence mainboard have treated me well, although i am starting to think that the Confluence can be replaced with a Shivan Reef or Reflecting Pool or something. I only have four lands that provide only C, and feel that i am flooded with color and could use some more utility in the land base.
Ancestral Visions, Thirst for Knowledge, Thoughtcast, Jori En, Ruin Diver, Ancient Stirrings, Sleight of Hand... Our opponents are drawing more than one card a turn, and the nature of these extra cards makes it hard for us to respond with the lantern lock. I find myself more and more wishing for a counterspell effect to take care of anything that may have slipped through. Visions is giving us a really hard time, and Thirst to a lesser extent due to the increase in Tezzerator and U Tron. I may fiddle around with some number of Counterflux for those really grindy matchups, and for combo (eat that, Storm!). UUR is an extremely prohibitive cost though... I may need to re-think my painlands. Muddle the Mixture looks good too, but appears equally prohibitive with its UU cost.
I am going to test a one-of Taigam's Scheming in place of a Stirrings. I love how strong it could be, especially with my deck looking more colorful by the moment.