Since I was expecting a very aggro field, I decided to cut a Thoughtseize for a Liliana, because it would probably perform better.
Sideboard explanations:
Mark of Asylum: This card is great. I basically side this in against any red or affinity deck (Ghirapur/Whipflare). Surgical Extraction: Very versatile card against a lot of decks and also an (un)expected grave hate. (I usually decide into this or Rest in Peace, but paired with Ghost Quarter and Tectonic Edge, I think Surgical is better.) Runed Halo: Last minute addition to help against Infect and some other more obscure matchups. Stony Silence: I don't event think we need this to beat affinity, but well...why not? It's also great against tron. Disenchant: Main target: Ensnaring Bridge, but also good against Blood Moon, affinity and some other stuff. Leyline of Sanctity: OK, probably too much. But since I always tend to lose against 8-rack in this LGS, I thought it'd be good. Also good against burn. Zealous Persecution: This card is very good, but I couldn't find space in the mainboard for it, so I put in the SB and side in when I had more stuff to take out than to take in. It's VERY good against affinity and infect.
Match 1: Abzan Hatebears (1-0) This guy is a good friend of mine, so we already knew exactly each other decks. He's running Eldrazi Displacer and Wasteland Strangler. Those cards generate a lot of value and are good against us.
I don't really remember exactly the plays, but I ended up beating him 2-1.
SB:
-2 Thoughtseize
+2 Disenchant
Match 2: 8-rack (1-1) This is my nemesis. I don't know why, but this match seems harder than Tron.
Game 1: Turn 5 Ensnaring Bridge and I gave up, since the only way to that away would be with Lili's ultimate, which was already on the grave.
Game 2: Turn 0 Leyline of Sanctity, Turn 2 Runed Halo naming Rack. Looking good. He promptly founds an Ensnaring Bridge and I can't find any Disenchant. Ended up losing to a single Shrieking Affliction
Lost 2-0
SB:
-1 Liliana
-2 Thoughtseize
-3 Inquisition of Kozilek
-2 Path to Exile
-1 Dismember
-1 Go for the Throat
-1 Murderous Cut
+4 Leyline of Sanctity
+2 Disenchant
+2 Surgical Extraction
+2 Runed Halo
+1 Zealous Persecution
Match 3: Affinity (2-1) Very good match for us.
Game 1: Turn 1 Inquisition on [/card]Master of Etherium[/card], Turn 2 Path his Steel Overseer, and he just can't keep up with the tokens.
Game 2: This game was interesting. He dropped an early ghirapur aether grid, when I only had an Auriok Champion in the field. I played an Intangible Virtue and some tokens after. That way, he had to invest a lot for killing a token (all of his artifacts in the field, atm). He Whipflare'd, but I quickly played another Spectral Procession and a Disenchant in his Aether Grid. I dropped a Sorin, and when he was almost dead, he played an Ensnaring Bridge. I knew I had another Disenchant so I wouldn't give up yet. I ended up -6 the Sorin, so there's wasn't much he could do. He doesn't find his another Aether Grid, and I didn't found my Disenchant, and the time was over.
Win (1-0).
SB:
-2 Thougthseize
-4 Inquisition of Kozilek
-1 Go for the Throat
+2 Stony Silence
+2 Mark of Asylum
+2 Disenchant
+1 Zealous Persecution
Match 4: Affinity (2-1-1)
This guy is a very good friend of mine, and after we made some calculations, if we split and win the next match we would both be locked for Top 4, so we just drew.
We played for fun and I beat him 2-1. (First game I wasn't able to cast any tokens, the other two were just like always).
Match 5: Blue Moon (3-1-1)
Game 1: First game I got him to 1 life, and he beat me with a top-decked Lightning Bolt.
Game 2: Mulled to 5, kept a hand with 1 land, 1 Intangible Virtue, 1 Bitterblossom, 1 Lingering Souls and 1 Spectral Procession.
Scry: Lingering Souls. To the bottom.
First draw: Land.
Second draw: Land.
VERY lucky. Beat him easily.
Game 3: This game was very hard. I was very lucky to draw all my Lingering Souls and 3 Spectral Processions. So I'd just cast a Lingering Souls, wait for him to wipe it, replay it from the grave, play another...
We went to 5-turn. On turn 5 (mine), he was at 7 life, I had on board 3 tokens and a Intangible Virtue. Topdeck Sorin, Solemn Visitor for the win.
SB:
-3 Path to Exile
-1 Dismember
-1 Go for the Throat
-1 Murderous Cut
+2 Mark of Asylum
+2 Disenchant
+2 Surgical Extraction
Top 4: It was me against my friend playing Affinity, we decided not to play.
Finals (Grixis Delver): Very very easy match for us.
Game 1 and 2 were just: Remove his threats (Delvers, Anglers, Tasigurs) and beat him with a few tokens. Wait for a board wipe and play more tokens.
SB:
-2 Thoughtseize
+2 Mark of Asylum
There was a guy playing Eldrazi there, but he played very badly and ended up dropping out. Anyway, I think we're still a good deck and capable of beating any deck with enough effort
Nice analysis/mini-article!
The thing is, if we're wasting 4 slots of our sideboard to Leyline of Sanctity, do we really need the 3 Timely Reinforcements? Because burn already runs a lot of "can't gain life this turn", so instead of those 3 slots I'd rather run something like Dispel, Shadow of Doubt and Baneslayer Angel which can be useful against other matches.
I wonder tho...If we're using Shadow of Doubt to stop Eye of Ugin, Expedition Map, Sylvan Scrying, Fetches...Wouldn't make more sense run Squelch instead? It's easier to cast and can stop even things like a Griselbrand activation, an oblivion stone activation...
Trickbind is way better, but it doesn't give us a draw
EDIT: You can't really stop arcbound ravager sacrificing itself lol
That's a good example of how atrocious this matchup is, lol. "I board in RIP so that if they have 15 mana, Eye of Ugin, and get a free extra turn and I have both Cryptic Command and Supreme Verdict in hand, I can stop them from doing it again".
LOL
EDIT: I use the same sideboarding against Tron that I do against Scapeshift, Ad Naseum, Living Death, Amulet, Lantern...Basically if my creature removal is bad, I've got a "faeries" package I can bring in to become a UWx Flash deck. That's what I like about the sideboard creatures; they're so damn universal.
Hi, I've been reading this thread for a month or more, and I'm really interested in it (already started getting some cards and playtesting in xmage).
I wonder what's our best and worst matchups.
I know that being a reactive deck we don't have "auto-wins", but wee probably have matchups that are worse than others.
How we do against Tron or Jund?
I'm new to the forum, but I've been on the deck for a few months now in paper. Worst matchups are definitely Tron, followed by Burn. Both just have incredible inevitability.
Jund is actually one of the best matchups we have, since the only cards they have that actually matter are Lili, Huntmaster and man-lands. Everything else is a dead removal/discard spell, dies to removal, or eats a counterspell. Casting any X-spell for 3+ is almost certainly a win, especially Zenith. Special mention goes to Dark Confidant for catching them back up to us if we don't have the answer for it.
Despite what the primer says, I've found Abzan to be a harder matchup than Jund mainly because of Lingering Souls. They also have less reliance on 2 drops (most lists don't play Dark Confidant anymore), and Siege Rhino will still take a chunk out of our life total even if you kill it immediately. Still, not a bad matchup -- prolly 55-45 in our favor.
Thank you for the response! I'll try to think about matchups and sideboarding and will post here soon.
Hi, I've been reading this thread for a month or more, and I'm really interested in it (already started getting some cards and playtesting in xmage).
I wonder what's our best and worst matchups.
I know that being a reactive deck we don't have "auto-wins", but wee probably have matchups that are worse than others.
I don't really think we lose too much using 2-4 Leylines in our sideboard. It's good against BGx, 8Rack (it's a thing in my meta ), new Eldrazi deck, Burn...
I wouldn't mind using 2 Ghost Quarters main.
Against Merfolk, Ghostly Prison is probably a good answer.
I've played a couple games where she's sweet and a couple games where she stinks. I'm not convinced that she's bad, but I haven' been able to put in much testing. If you're interested in trying her out against a few decks, let me know and we play some games via cockatrice.
Hmm , actually I still can not decide to make a BW Tokens or Bx Eldrazi, have some cards to BW Tokens but Bx Eldrazi seems deck with great potential.
About Liliana of Veil any suggestion for an alternative card?
You don't really NEED Liliana. It's a good card, but recently I started playing without any in my 75. The reason is that my meta has almost no control decks. She's great against Splinter Twin, but I just prefer to run more removal instead, which can also be useful against other aggro decks.
Other than hexproof auras, I think Duress is an OK substitute for Liliana in most matchups where you want her.
That list looks really interesting, I really want to try it, but I have no Bob's yet Would you recommend something to replace it, or you think it is just that good?
4 Spectral Procession
4 Lingering Souls
4 Bitterblossom
2 Timely Reinforcements
3 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
Creatures
1 Auriok Champion
Removal
4 Path to Exile
1 Murderous Cut
1 Go for the Throat
1 Dismember
Enchantment
4 Intangible Virtue
4 Windswept Heath
1 Tectonic Edge
4 Godless Shrine
1 Swamp
1 Ghost Quarter
3 Isolated Chapel
1 Fetid Heath
4 Marsh Flats
3 Plains
1 Vault of the Archangel
1 Shambling Vent
2 Mark of Asylum
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Runed Halo
2 Stony Silence
2 Disenchant
4 Leyline of Sanctity
1 Zealous Persecution
Since I was expecting a very aggro field, I decided to cut a Thoughtseize for a Liliana, because it would probably perform better.
Sideboard explanations:
Mark of Asylum: This card is great. I basically side this in against any red or affinity deck (Ghirapur/Whipflare).
Surgical Extraction: Very versatile card against a lot of decks and also an (un)expected grave hate. (I usually decide into this or Rest in Peace, but paired with Ghost Quarter and Tectonic Edge, I think Surgical is better.)
Runed Halo: Last minute addition to help against Infect and some other more obscure matchups.
Stony Silence: I don't event think we need this to beat affinity, but well...why not? It's also great against tron.
Disenchant: Main target: Ensnaring Bridge, but also good against Blood Moon, affinity and some other stuff.
Leyline of Sanctity: OK, probably too much. But since I always tend to lose against 8-rack in this LGS, I thought it'd be good. Also good against burn.
Zealous Persecution: This card is very good, but I couldn't find space in the mainboard for it, so I put in the SB and side in when I had more stuff to take out than to take in. It's VERY good against affinity and infect.
Match 1: Abzan Hatebears (1-0)
This guy is a good friend of mine, so we already knew exactly each other decks. He's running Eldrazi Displacer and Wasteland Strangler. Those cards generate a lot of value and are good against us.
I don't really remember exactly the plays, but I ended up beating him 2-1.
SB:
-2 Thoughtseize
+2 Disenchant
Match 2: 8-rack (1-1)
This is my nemesis. I don't know why, but this match seems harder than Tron.
Game 1: Turn 5 Ensnaring Bridge and I gave up, since the only way to that away would be with Lili's ultimate, which was already on the grave.
Game 2: Turn 0 Leyline of Sanctity, Turn 2 Runed Halo naming Rack. Looking good. He promptly founds an Ensnaring Bridge and I can't find any Disenchant. Ended up losing to a single Shrieking Affliction
Lost 2-0
SB:
-1 Liliana
-2 Thoughtseize
-3 Inquisition of Kozilek
-2 Path to Exile
-1 Dismember
-1 Go for the Throat
-1 Murderous Cut
+4 Leyline of Sanctity
+2 Disenchant
+2 Surgical Extraction
+2 Runed Halo
+1 Zealous Persecution
Match 3: Affinity (2-1)
Very good match for us.
Game 1: Turn 1 Inquisition on [/card]Master of Etherium[/card], Turn 2 Path his Steel Overseer, and he just can't keep up with the tokens.
Game 2: This game was interesting. He dropped an early ghirapur aether grid, when I only had an Auriok Champion in the field. I played an Intangible Virtue and some tokens after. That way, he had to invest a lot for killing a token (all of his artifacts in the field, atm). He Whipflare'd, but I quickly played another Spectral Procession and a Disenchant in his Aether Grid. I dropped a Sorin, and when he was almost dead, he played an Ensnaring Bridge. I knew I had another Disenchant so I wouldn't give up yet. I ended up -6 the Sorin, so there's wasn't much he could do. He doesn't find his another Aether Grid, and I didn't found my Disenchant, and the time was over.
Win (1-0).
SB:
-2 Thougthseize
-4 Inquisition of Kozilek
-1 Go for the Throat
+2 Stony Silence
+2 Mark of Asylum
+2 Disenchant
+1 Zealous Persecution
Match 4: Affinity (2-1-1)
This guy is a very good friend of mine, and after we made some calculations, if we split and win the next match we would both be locked for Top 4, so we just drew.
We played for fun and I beat him 2-1. (First game I wasn't able to cast any tokens, the other two were just like always).
Match 5: Blue Moon (3-1-1)
Game 1: First game I got him to 1 life, and he beat me with a top-decked Lightning Bolt.
Game 2: Mulled to 5, kept a hand with 1 land, 1 Intangible Virtue, 1 Bitterblossom, 1 Lingering Souls and 1 Spectral Procession.
Scry: Lingering Souls. To the bottom.
First draw: Land.
Second draw: Land.
VERY lucky. Beat him easily.
Game 3: This game was very hard. I was very lucky to draw all my Lingering Souls and 3 Spectral Processions. So I'd just cast a Lingering Souls, wait for him to wipe it, replay it from the grave, play another...
We went to 5-turn. On turn 5 (mine), he was at 7 life, I had on board 3 tokens and a Intangible Virtue. Topdeck Sorin, Solemn Visitor for the win.
SB:
-3 Path to Exile
-1 Dismember
-1 Go for the Throat
-1 Murderous Cut
+2 Mark of Asylum
+2 Disenchant
+2 Surgical Extraction
Top 4:
It was me against my friend playing Affinity, we decided not to play.
Finals (Grixis Delver):
Very very easy match for us.
Game 1 and 2 were just: Remove his threats (Delvers, Anglers, Tasigurs) and beat him with a few tokens. Wait for a board wipe and play more tokens.
SB:
-2 Thoughtseize
+2 Mark of Asylum
There was a guy playing Eldrazi there, but he played very badly and ended up dropping out. Anyway, I think we're still a good deck and capable of beating any deck with enough effort
When I'm playing against Zoo and other creature based decks, I tend to keep hands like:
2 lands, 2 IoK, 1 Intangible Virtue, 2 Removal
Do you guys think that's correct? Sometimes it works wonders, sometimes that one token spell never come.
Nice analysis/mini-article!
The thing is, if we're wasting 4 slots of our sideboard to Leyline of Sanctity, do we really need the 3 Timely Reinforcements? Because burn already runs a lot of "can't gain life this turn", so instead of those 3 slots I'd rather run something like Dispel, Shadow of Doubt and Baneslayer Angel which can be useful against other matches.
Trickbind is way better, but it doesn't give us a draw
EDIT: You can't really stop arcbound ravager sacrificing itself lol
Would you mind sharing your list?
Thank you for the response!
I wonder what's our best and worst matchups.
I know that being a reactive deck we don't have "auto-wins", but wee probably have matchups that are worse than others.
How we do against Tron or Jund?
I wouldn't mind using 2 Ghost Quarters main.
Against Merfolk, Ghostly Prison is probably a good answer.
You don't really NEED Liliana. It's a good card, but recently I started playing without any in my 75. The reason is that my meta has almost no control decks. She's great against Splinter Twin, but I just prefer to run more removal instead, which can also be useful against other aggro decks.
Other than hexproof auras, I think Duress is an OK substitute for Liliana in most matchups where you want her.
Hey! Congratulations on your result!
That list looks really interesting, I really want to try it, but I have no Bob's yet