Thanks for these pointers. I see that you are either on a GW build. I run a BG build. I only have Shaper's Sanctuary in my SB. I do plan to run an Abzan toolbox list (w/out the combo) but I want to work on my reps on my current build first.
I do understand taking out the combo elements on your deck vs DS, Jund and Abzan but is taking out Chord optimal? I mean, you want to get your silver bullets right?
It’s my 2nd time to bring the deck to a tournament. We had 52 players. I was expecting a heavy Tron, Eldrazi Tron and Burn meta so I’ve decided to go with the deck. I want to try Throne of the God-Pharaoh so I’ve decided to go with 61 cards. It only came up on the 6th round but it was a house.
Summary
RD 1 vs Burn (Boros) [2-1]
RD 2 vs Merfolk (Mono U) [2-1]
RD 3 vs Jund [0-2]
RD 4 vs Abzan [0-2]
RD 5 vs Amulet Titan [2-1]
RD 6 vs Titanshift [2-1]
Good for 12th place and packs. Was frustrated playing the BGx match ups and I was not expecting Jund. Will continue to get more reps.
Won a small 18 man tourney. 3-0 for the first 3 rounds against: Tron, Grixis Midrange and Eldrazi Tron. I would've faced Jund on the last round but the opponent was in a hurry so we split the prizes.
This build was aimed at Tron/big mana decks, Storm, aggro and graveyard based strategies like Dredge, excluding Snapcaster Mage decks.
Sorry for the delay....work
Here is my current list..it looks odd but it has been well tuned over a long period of time.
Please note it is not an Enduring Ideal list - I do run EI W/u, but for "pure" pillowfort I use RW. There is a thread for the Enduring Ideal cousins.
I run a lot of combos/semi combo synergies here, but most of the cards are worthy on their own.
A) The Nodes/Heliod lock is solid, but against PTE decks you need to be able to protect Heliod from Path and plenty of decks don't care about it. Nodes and Heliod are decent by themselves.
B) The unlife/form combo- this rarely comes up, as better players scoop game one when out of it. Form is there because Unlife is worthwhile by itself, and the form can win the game in short order if the board is locked down but there are lots of blockers- Unlife it has a big impact in a lot of the fast matches (unlike solemnity would).
C) Obliterate is a one card combo with Suppression Fields down against control decks, leaving them with zero permanetns and me with >10. Field stops them rebuilding mana, even if they have a few lands left in the library. Good players playing blue control know they will win the long game by keeping me off win cons. They commit to the board and if this card is cast late enough you leave them with zero permanents and no ability to counter for the next few turns, enabling you to slip a card down and win. It also combos with Heliod's indestructibility. The odd mana base is a concession to Obliterate, running garisons not only enables scry lands to be replayed it allows lands to go back to hand without opponents getting suspicious.
There are nonbos which make my version hard to play.
S Field is an MVP often, but it interacts with Heliod's and Luminarch activated ability poorly, as well as the cast out cycling.
Starfield and RIP main is a semi nonbo, but you can play starfield for its opalescence ability as well as its recur an enchantment ability. It is the card that needs the most care in the deck. Mistakes lose matches. You always need to know how you will win- against a tron list you need to win via a sudden animation using Starfield, for example.
Ghost Quarter and S field are nonbos too.
I use a lot of win cons- in my experience you can't get the "right" wincon for the deck. If you have 5cc wincons you won't cast them against most U decks. The obliterate and the Lumincarch are the wincons against control, one will be cast the other slips past counters. Playing SFN is suicidal against many decks running mass removal, for example. Very few cards are universally good. Running RIP main is really important for my money, lots of decks use the bin one way or the other, whether it be dies triggers or Snapcasters, or Goyfs, Flashback, Delve or such. When it is dead it is still a 2 cost enchantment.
The board is key- Eidolons are so useful in many matches, a blocker at 1/4 and Snapcaster irritant in some matches, it works great against bring to light versions of scapeshift, nerfs a bit of the ad nauseam combo, it slows tron and the ilk to a crawl it has won me lots of games by being the straw that breaks the camel's back. The number of times it is down and a key enchantment is animated but they need two spells to kill it is quite large. Blood moon, needles and stony are the only way to beat regular (non eldra) tron, Moon and Nyx is a nonbo, of course, Moon is unexpected by a lot of inexperienced players as they see the Shrine to Nyx, always be sure to mention it between games.
As a rule it is worthwhile considering the deck as a sphere of safety deck- as such any t0/2 enchantment is never truly dead if the opponent wins by attacking. S Field is almost universally good- everything from an inkmoth activation, a ravager sac, to a fetchland activation or lightning storm suffers under it, Halo is often good too, but even when dead you are normally better getting them down because a single sphere and ghostly can often put that last damage out of reach. Speed is not the issue in the early turns- you should hit an enchantment t2, 3. Everynow and then a t4 sphere would save where a t5 would not, but it is rare.
Obliterate is a house against Control. For now I have settled on a Mono White build with Entreat the Angels and Sigil of the Empty Throne as win cons.
I am building an Elf deck and I am leaning towards the GB build because I do not have Horizon Canopies for the GW version. I just bought a set of Cavern of Souls (first print) and I am waiting for the reprint of Horizon Canopy before I buy them. Are they necessary on the GW build?
I totally understand how Avalanche Riders leaves a bad impression of Timewalking yourself. But in defense of the card, you ideally play it if the opponent has only one land in play. If your opponent does not play any land on his/her turn then it's fine to pay the Echo cost in my opinion.
I do not treat him as a creature foremost but just a land destruction spell. If I play him when the opponent has more than one land then that means I've run out of land destruction spells or in need of a blocker.
@VampireChild85 - Thanks for the heads up on the GDD. If I do add them they'd be a couple and I'd think hard which cards need to go.
I don't know about the lands to be honest as it seemed it hits the spot for me, I might go up to 19 and cut the Roiling Terrain if I do increase my land count. I actually told my friend that Roiling Terrain was cute but he did manage to kill an opponent with it(!). I wouldn't cut the Vines (this should have been Creeping Mold) as they've saved me a lot of times with their flexibility.
I know the BOPs are useless in essence of attacking the opponent unless you have a Kessig Wolf Run but doesn't it add to a guaranteed T2 land destruction if it is in your opening hand?
I thought of adding a Goblin Dark-Dwellers but I can't find any copy so we were stuck on the original list.
In defense of Acidic Slime I'd agree that it's just a 2/2 along with Avalanche Riders but it's usually a slow beater once it comes down, as when it usually comes down the opponent is out of lands and no creatures. The only removal spell that can remove it is Path to Exile. You can argue Lightning Bolt as well but that's on the decline. But how many one mana removal spell does an opponent have? 6-8 would be ideal if they are in Esper, Dimir, Jeskai and Boros colors and based on experience these two (Acidic Slime and Avalanche Riders) have already taken their fair share of opponent damage when they are the only creature aside from the dorks on the board. There were even times when my friend played that he is beating the opponent with the Arbor Elves. I also value its Deathtouch ability as Death's Shadow decks can play a creature for one mana and AS stops them and it can't by hit by Fatal Push.
Grove of the Burnwillows is just a borrowed strategy against Death's Shadow decks since I don't run Beast Within. I might remove because I might run Blood Moon in the side.
Here's a decklist my friend used last weekend for a PPTQ. It is unconventional and probably controversial but he almost piloted it to a Top 8 PPTQ (38 Players).
I lent him the deck to which he tweaked for his play style. His record was 3-2-1 but he could've gone 4-1-1 and possibly dominate the Top 8 and winning the tournament but due to confusion on the tournament prize structure he decided to have a concession with his last round opponent. I am part to blame as I did not brief him on the stakes and I left during round 5 as he thought after the swiss rounds that the tourney is over and the top 8 players are the winners. FYI, this is only his second Modern tournament (he rarely plays Modern as he plays Pauper) and was not familiar on how the tournament works.
We had a Draw for Round 1 as we were paired with another late competitor so I am left wondering of the possibilities had we arrived on time.
Apologies as I don't have the sideboard as he made the list on the fly. We initially talked about adding Blood Moon at the sideboard before the event but I guess he forgot and was pressured listing the deck and adjusting the sideboard.
I watched a couple of his games and I can tell that he can pilot the deck better had he had reps from it. This was the first time he used the deck by the way.
Acidic Slime - Was added because of the 2-in-1 effect without the drawback of Avalanche Riders. It was a great card against Death's Shadow due to Deathtouch.
Chandra, Pyromaster - This would have been Chandra, Torch of Defiance but due to budgetary reasons I had to settle with this.
Cinder Glade - This could've been the 4th Stompy Ground but I don't have it. I'd rather change it to a Forest as it is bad in an opening hand.
Windswept Heath - This was supposed to be 3 only and Wooded Foothills should be 4 instead.
I'm going to give this a try as we both feel the normal land destruction count on accepted Ponza lists are not enough. I'll see if I can borrow a Chandra, TOD but if not then I'll stick with the Pyromaster. The sideboard is a work in progress and there's a big chance that it will include Blood Moons.
I might go to 4 Acidic Slimes and cut the 2 Reclaiming Vines.
I like Abrade as it can hit an artifact because Affinity is slightly favored against us. If I'm able to get a set before the weekend, then the Lightning Bolts will be replaced.
I just wanted to take advantage of the land as I plan to test a list without Blood Moon. I guess it would be a good fit if you remove against the meta if you're not using Blood Moon. I plan to use 2 copies.
:-D I think that is a very rare situation though. Once you know that your opponent is on DS you can drop Grove early and use it so your opponent can gain life. This will delay DS at least.
My, I'm very impressed with this! A lot of research effort was put in! Who else could it be but Lim-Dûl? There were a lot of cards where he was referenced during the early days of Magic and yet we only see one card with his appearance. Talk about being a master manipulator behind the shadows.
I will play this deck on the weekend and keep you people posted.
I do understand taking out the combo elements on your deck vs DS, Jund and Abzan but is taking out Chord optimal? I mean, you want to get your silver bullets right?
For the Jund and Abzan match-ups:
Out: 3x Elvish Visionary, 1x Throne of the God-Pharaoh and 1x Llanowar Elves
In: 3x Shaper's Sanctuary and 2x Scavenging Ooze
Summary
RD 1 vs Burn (Boros) [2-1]
RD 2 vs Merfolk (Mono U) [2-1]
RD 3 vs Jund [0-2]
RD 4 vs Abzan [0-2]
RD 5 vs Amulet Titan [2-1]
RD 6 vs Titanshift [2-1]
Good for 12th place and packs. Was frustrated playing the BGx match ups and I was not expecting Jund. Will continue to get more reps.
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/visual/874535
This build was aimed at Tron/big mana decks, Storm, aggro and graveyard based strategies like Dredge, excluding Snapcaster Mage decks.
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/visual/867554
Obliterate is a house against Control. For now I have settled on a Mono White build with Entreat the Angels and Sigil of the Empty Throne as win cons.
Any basic tips you can give in playing GB? TIA!
It's fine as I'll have more time to complete my missing pieces and there's a saving grace as there is a Modern event tomorrow.
I do not treat him as a creature foremost but just a land destruction spell. If I play him when the opponent has more than one land then that means I've run out of land destruction spells or in need of a blocker.
@VampireChild85 - Thanks for the heads up on the GDD. If I do add them they'd be a couple and I'd think hard which cards need to go.
I don't know about the lands to be honest as it seemed it hits the spot for me, I might go up to 19 and cut the Roiling Terrain if I do increase my land count. I actually told my friend that Roiling Terrain was cute but he did manage to kill an opponent with it(!). I wouldn't cut the Vines (this should have been Creeping Mold) as they've saved me a lot of times with their flexibility.
I know the BOPs are useless in essence of attacking the opponent unless you have a Kessig Wolf Run but doesn't it add to a guaranteed T2 land destruction if it is in your opening hand?
I thought of adding a Goblin Dark-Dwellers but I can't find any copy so we were stuck on the original list.
In defense of Acidic Slime I'd agree that it's just a 2/2 along with Avalanche Riders but it's usually a slow beater once it comes down, as when it usually comes down the opponent is out of lands and no creatures. The only removal spell that can remove it is Path to Exile. You can argue Lightning Bolt as well but that's on the decline. But how many one mana removal spell does an opponent have? 6-8 would be ideal if they are in Esper, Dimir, Jeskai and Boros colors and based on experience these two (Acidic Slime and Avalanche Riders) have already taken their fair share of opponent damage when they are the only creature aside from the dorks on the board. There were even times when my friend played that he is beating the opponent with the Arbor Elves. I also value its Deathtouch ability as Death's Shadow decks can play a creature for one mana and AS stops them and it can't by hit by Fatal Push.
Grove of the Burnwillows is just a borrowed strategy against Death's Shadow decks since I don't run Beast Within. I might remove because I might run Blood Moon in the side.
I lent him the deck to which he tweaked for his play style. His record was 3-2-1 but he could've gone 4-1-1 and possibly dominate the Top 8 and winning the tournament but due to confusion on the tournament prize structure he decided to have a concession with his last round opponent. I am part to blame as I did not brief him on the stakes and I left during round 5 as he thought after the swiss rounds that the tourney is over and the top 8 players are the winners. FYI, this is only his second Modern tournament (he rarely plays Modern as he plays Pauper) and was not familiar on how the tournament works.
We had a Draw for Round 1 as we were paired with another late competitor so I am left wondering of the possibilities had we arrived on time.
This was the decklist:
2x Acidic Slime
4x Arbor Elf
4x Avalanche Riders
2x Birds of Paradise
2x Inferno Titan
Enchantments (4)
4x Utopia Sprawl
Instants (4)
4x Lightning Bolt
1x Crumble to Dust
3x Mizzium Mortars
4x Molten Rain
4x Mwonvuli Acid-Moss
2x Reclaiming Vines
1x Roiling Terrain
4x Stone Rain
1x Chandra, Pyromaster
Lands
1x Cinder Glade
4x Forest
1x Grove of the Burnwillows
2x Mountain
3x Stomping Ground
4x Windswept Heath
3x Wooded Foothills
Apologies as I don't have the sideboard as he made the list on the fly. We initially talked about adding Blood Moon at the sideboard before the event but I guess he forgot and was pressured listing the deck and adjusting the sideboard.
I watched a couple of his games and I can tell that he can pilot the deck better had he had reps from it. This was the first time he used the deck by the way.
Acidic Slime - Was added because of the 2-in-1 effect without the drawback of Avalanche Riders. It was a great card against Death's Shadow due to Deathtouch.
Chandra, Pyromaster - This would have been Chandra, Torch of Defiance but due to budgetary reasons I had to settle with this.
Cinder Glade - This could've been the 4th Stompy Ground but I don't have it. I'd rather change it to a Forest as it is bad in an opening hand.
Windswept Heath - This was supposed to be 3 only and Wooded Foothills should be 4 instead.
I plan to play this weekend with an updated list:
2x Acidic Slime
4x Arbor Elf
4x Avalanche Riders
2x Birds of Paradise
2x Inferno Titan
Enchantments (4)
4x Utopia Sprawl
Instants (4)
4x Lightning Bolt
1x Crumble to Dust
3x Mizzium Mortars
4x Molten Rain
4x Mwonvuli Acid-Moss
2x Reclaiming Vines
1x Roiling Terrain
4x Stone Rain
1x Chandra, Torch of Defiance
Lands (18)
5x Forest
1x Grove of the Burnwillows
2x Mountain
3x Stomping Ground
3x Windswept Heath
4x Wooded Foothills
I'm going to give this a try as we both feel the normal land destruction count on accepted Ponza lists are not enough. I'll see if I can borrow a Chandra, TOD but if not then I'll stick with the Pyromaster. The sideboard is a work in progress and there's a big chance that it will include Blood Moons.
I might go to 4 Acidic Slimes and cut the 2 Reclaiming Vines.
I like Abrade as it can hit an artifact because Affinity is slightly favored against us. If I'm able to get a set before the weekend, then the Lightning Bolts will be replaced.