I went 3-1 last night at a Wednesday Night Modern event with about 30 people. Lost round 1 to Esper Death's Shadow. Won against Burn, some weird enchantment combo deck, and a CoCo Devoted Druid deck. I did see a lot of graveyard decks, mainly Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis. I changed my sideboard since to add 2 Teferi, 2 Rav trap, and 2 Surgicals, taking out artifact hate and Grafdigger's Cage. It's been too long since I've updated the side. lol. This is what I'm playing now.
Giver makes things unblockable most of the time. It's especially good if you can make something unblockable and still have a protection spell up. That's the reason for 4 Blossoming Defense and 4 Vines of Vastwood. Another cool interaction that I've discovered is that Giver of Runes can protect an Inkmoth Nexus from cards like Ghost Quarter, since lands are colorless.
White also has a lot of the best sideboard cards as well, so that really opens up things in that department.
I just played against Jund online. Won game 1. Game 2, I turn 1 hierarch, turn 2 agent and dismember his confidant. He assassins trophys the agent. Turn 3 I cast Geist of Saint Traft, Scale Up Noble Hierarch and smash in for 7. Distortion Strike on Geist finished out the game. It was awesome.
It sucks when you get your Blood Moon Inquisitioned away on the play after playing an Arbor Elf, but it is so satisfying to top deck another one and still be able to drop it on turn 2! My UB Control opponent instascooped. Lolz.
2. Should I drop down to 22 land, perhaps adding Courser there? The primer hints that 21-22 land, with 3 dual-types is appropriate. That would mean dropping to 2x Stomping Ground.
3. What's the game plan against GDS? I imagine a resolved Death's Shadow is still bad news.
4. The primer recommends Obstinate Baloth. Is that really fast enough against Burn? I see its use against Liliana of the Veil and Reality Smasher, but I think we win those matches anyway. Zoo and Burn look more dicey.
5. Are Roast and Return good options, or do you think a few of these ought to be changed?
6. My experience has been that Primeval Titan, Courser, and Tracker are absurd together. Is this interaction silly here, or is it sufficiently useful to be incorporated?
Welcome back to Ponza! It seems that the Primer needs to be updated. A lot has changed over recent months with the unbanning of BBE.
1.) Nobody really plays Bonfire anymore because it's a bad hit for Bloodbraid Elf
2.) Drop a Forest before you drop a Stomping Grounds. There are cards that you want RR for such as Molten Rain, Pia and Kiran Nalaar, and Inferno Titan.
3.) Blood Moon them. They play nothing but nonbasics most of the time. Beast Within is an option for removing their large threats.
4.) Kitchen Finks, Scavenging Ooze, Courser of Kruphix, and Trinisphere are good options against Burn.
5.) Once again, Beast Within is the removal card of choice. Some people play Lightning Bolt as well, since it's not a terrible hit off of BBE.
6.) Lots of people are playing 1 Courser and 4 Tracker. Tracker is really good for card advantage, which this deck never really had before. It's also nice to grow it and keep a Tarmogoyf from attacking.
Ponza beat Mardu Pyromancer, Ad Nauseam, and Living End to win the Modern Challenge. I'd say that's pretty impressive, considering the matchups! Congrats to SLAYDFTW!
Thanks for the tip, @Lord_darkview. I didn't know about the deckbuilder tool. Here's what I'm currently on. Gonna bring something pretty close to this at the Clash at the Cradle 2 tournament held by team MGG in a few weeks.
Both the winning deck and the 25th place deck by Drake Davis had 21 lands and 2 Birds. I personally like 22 lands and 1 Bird. I've seen it run both ways tho.
Ponza #1 seed going into the top 8 of SCG Dallas! Boom Baby!!!! Three decks made day 2 as well. That's probably a decent chunk of the day 1 Ponza players. We should start seeing bigger numbers the more it's played.
Round 1 vs. GB Tron (W 2-0). Easy matchup. Kill his lands, cast big stuff. I did get to ultimate Chandra in game 2 and cast dinky spells to kill him from 16 in one turn.
Round 2 vs. Jund (W 2-1). Had a turn 2 or 3 Blood Moon in each game. Lost game 2 to an early Tarmogoyf and he kept bolting my dudes when I tried to set up a double block. It was cool winning game 1 when he had 7 uncastable spells in hand tho.
Round 3 vs. Humans (L 1-2). Close matchup. Meddling Mage is really good. Won him games 1 and 3. He named Anger of the Gods in game 3 a turn before I could cast it, essentially deciding the game. I did get him in a Blood Moon and Pithing Needle lock in game 2, which was really fun.
Round 4 vs. Burn (W 2-1). I sideboarded out all of my rains and became GR good creatures with Blood Moon. Blood Moon is good because it shuts off at least 10 cards post in his deck Lightning Helix, Boros Charm, Path to Exile, Destructive Revelry. Won game one because of an early Ruric Thar. Game 2 was really close. He won through two Kitchen Finks, one Scavenging Ooze, and one Courser of Kruphix. Game 3, I had a massive board of big dudes and lifegain creatures and still 14 life.
I really liked how this deck ran and felt. Tireless Tracker is a superstar along with all of the other utility creatures. I'd honestly rather play the utility guys over the bigger bodied Tarmogoyf any day. Cascading into LD or good creatures feels great. I look forward to tweaking and perfecting this deck.
4x Glistener Elf
4x Blighted Agent
2x Ichorclaw Myr
4x Noble Hierarch
Spells
3x Blossoming Defense
4x Vines of Vastwood
1x Apostle's Blessing
4x Groundswell
4x Might of Old Krosa
4x Mutagenic Growth
4x Scale Up
1x Distortion Strike
2x Dismember
4x Inkmoth Nexus
2x Forest
2x Breeding Pool
1x Temple Garden
2x Pendelhaven
3x Windswept Heath
3x Wooded Foothills
1x Verdant Catacombs
1x Misty Rainforest
2x Spellskite
3x Geist of Saint Traft
1x Dissenter's Deliverance
1x Nature's Claim
2x Ravenous Trap
2x Spell Pierce
2x Surgical Extraction
2x Teferi, Time Raveler
White also has a lot of the best sideboard cards as well, so that really opens up things in that department.
4x Giver of Runes
4x Glistener Elf
4x Ichorclaw Myr
4x Noble Hierarch
Spells
1x Rancor
4x Blossoming Defense
2x Groundswell
4x Might of Old Krosa
4x Mutagenic Growth
2x Path to Exile
4x Vines of Vastwood
4x Scale Up
2x Forest
3x Temple Garden
2x Pendelhaven
4x Inkmoth Nexus
1x Misty Rainforest
1x Verdant Catacombs
3x Windswept Heath
3x Wooded Foothills
2x Spellskite
1x Viridian Corrupter
2x Leyline of Sanctity
3x Rest in Peace
1x Stony Silence
2x Nature's Claim
1x Dissenter's Deliverance
2x Path to Exile
1x Ravenous Trap
Welcome back to Ponza! It seems that the Primer needs to be updated. A lot has changed over recent months with the unbanning of BBE.
1.) Nobody really plays Bonfire anymore because it's a bad hit for Bloodbraid Elf
2.) Drop a Forest before you drop a Stomping Grounds. There are cards that you want RR for such as Molten Rain, Pia and Kiran Nalaar, and Inferno Titan.
3.) Blood Moon them. They play nothing but nonbasics most of the time. Beast Within is an option for removing their large threats.
4.) Kitchen Finks, Scavenging Ooze, Courser of Kruphix, and Trinisphere are good options against Burn.
5.) Once again, Beast Within is the removal card of choice. Some people play Lightning Bolt as well, since it's not a terrible hit off of BBE.
6.) Lots of people are playing 1 Courser and 4 Tracker. Tracker is really good for card advantage, which this deck never really had before. It's also nice to grow it and keep a Tarmogoyf from attacking.
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/mtgo-standings/modern-challenge-2018-03-18
1 Birds of Paradise
4 Arbor Elf
2 Pia and Kiran Nalaar
4 Tireless Tracker
4 Bloodbraid Elf
2 Stormbreath Dragon
2 Inferno Titan
Enchantment
4 Utopia Sprawl
4 Blood Moon
1 Courser of Kruphix
1 Kessig Wolf Run
4 Stomping Ground
3 Windswept Heath
4 Wooded Foothills
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Mountain
7 Forest
Sorcery
4 Stone Rain
4 Molten Rain
2 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
2 Scavenging Ooze
3 Kitchen Finks
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
2 Trinisphere
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Beast Within
2 Ancient Grudge
1 Shatterstorm
2 Anger of the Gods
Wonderful. The salt was real with this one. Congrats on your 4-0.
4x Arbor Elf
1x Birds of Paradise
4x Bloodbraid Elf
2x Courser of Kruphix
2x Inferno Titan
1x Ruric Thar, the Unbowed
3x Stormbreath Dragon
3x Tireless Tracker
Enchantments
4x Blood Moon
4x Utopia Sprawl
4x Molten Rain
4x Stone Rain
Planeswalkers
2x Chandra, Torch of Defiance
Lands
7x Forest
1x Mountain
1x Misty Rainforest
1x Verdant Catacombs
3x Windswept Heath
4x Wooded Foothills
1x Kessig Wolf Run
4x Stomping Ground
1x Grafdigger's Cage
1x Pithing Needle
3x Kitchen Finks
2x Scavenging Ooze
1x Thrun, the Last Troll
2x Ancient Grudge
2x Beast Within
2x Anger of the Gods
1x Shatterstorm
20-ish player FNM.
Round 1 vs. GB Tron (W 2-0). Easy matchup. Kill his lands, cast big stuff. I did get to ultimate Chandra in game 2 and cast dinky spells to kill him from 16 in one turn.
Round 2 vs. Jund (W 2-1). Had a turn 2 or 3 Blood Moon in each game. Lost game 2 to an early Tarmogoyf and he kept bolting my dudes when I tried to set up a double block. It was cool winning game 1 when he had 7 uncastable spells in hand tho.
Round 3 vs. Humans (L 1-2). Close matchup. Meddling Mage is really good. Won him games 1 and 3. He named Anger of the Gods in game 3 a turn before I could cast it, essentially deciding the game. I did get him in a Blood Moon and Pithing Needle lock in game 2, which was really fun.
Round 4 vs. Burn (W 2-1). I sideboarded out all of my rains and became GR good creatures with Blood Moon. Blood Moon is good because it shuts off at least 10 cards post in his deck Lightning Helix, Boros Charm, Path to Exile, Destructive Revelry. Won game one because of an early Ruric Thar. Game 2 was really close. He won through two Kitchen Finks, one Scavenging Ooze, and one Courser of Kruphix. Game 3, I had a massive board of big dudes and lifegain creatures and still 14 life.
I really liked how this deck ran and felt. Tireless Tracker is a superstar along with all of the other utility creatures. I'd honestly rather play the utility guys over the bigger bodied Tarmogoyf any day. Cascading into LD or good creatures feels great. I look forward to tweaking and perfecting this deck.