I've been on 8 reducers pretty since the beginning and I know some other people have been as well. Sure it sucks sometimes but the ability to just play one on turn two is incredibly powerful.
I've not been sold on anger/clasm right now but there are times where it's good. I wouldn't bother with shattering spree. It's worse than storm in 90%+ of games especially with affinity doing well right now. I'm not sure what I'm going to run at charlotte but we'll see how the meta shapes up over the next week.
As for the flex slots I personally don't like scroll at all. It's entirely too clunky in a deck that wins games on being incredibly efficient. Maybe in a slower meta with more BGx but not right now. Peer has been good to me and I'm going to give 2 Peer + SSG a shot tomorrow but I'm not sold of SSG.
I don't think EE is what we want to be doing. We want our protection cards to be cheap and EE costs 3 mana to kill a cage and 4 to kill Rip. Echoing truth kills tokens just as well and we really only need one turn with the hate off the table to win so I wouldn't bother.
Has anyone else tested much with Muller's board plan? I know I tested it right when probe got banned but didn't like it much, however that was before Jund shadow was big so my testing isn't that relevant now.
muller's board plan has been sweet, like the ability to make your opponent's relics and cages and such basically textless is SUPER powerful. also, the simian spirit guide has been the nuts for me, in fact i really want to test another one. something i've been testing is basically playing muller's list but cutting one electromancer for one apostle's blessing. i'll let you guys know how that feels.
just picked this deck up a few weeks ago and been loving it! i took martin's list from gp copenhagen to a first place finish (4-0) at a local modern tournament today. before i go into the tournament report, i will say that the dismembers were FANTASTIC and the simian spirit guide was the nut. anyways, here's the tournament report. i went with my good friend who was on rw death and taxes. i'm also
ROUND 1 (2-0) U TRON:
game one: my hand was solid and had a cantrip on turn one into a turn two cost reducer and my opponent didn't have relevant disruption and died on turn three. i didn't see any islandss or blue cards so i assumed he was on eldrazi tron and boarded accordingly
game two: i find out he's blue tron after he goes turn one tower into turn two island and this dismember in my hand is looking real bad. he bounces my electromancer for a few turns with various bounce effects and the electromancer finally sticks and he counters the ritual which would have let me go off. he untaps and assembles tron and plays wurmcoil and grafdigger's cage. my hand is manamorphose, dismember, manamorphose, grapeshot, ritual, past in flames. i draw for the turn and play baral and then i decide to attempt to find empty with manamorphose, and i did. i go manamorphose, ritual, dismember wurmcoil, grapeshot to deal 1 wurmcoil to finish it off and 4 to him. at the end of it i end up making 20 goblins and he doesn't have answer to the goblins and is dead on board
ROUND TWO (2-1) RW Death and Taxes
i really didn't want to have to play against him because thalia and leonin arbiter are super good against this deck and he was destroying me in testing, so i figured i was pretty dead
game one: he had an answer for every cost reducer alongside thalia and leonin arbiter and i just couldn't put anything together.
boarded out the remands and a gifts and a grapeshot and the two peer through depths for pyroclasm, dismembers, another empty, and the one of bolt.
game two: i don't really remember what happens, but i end up blowing him out with pyroclasm and proceed to untap and kill him
game three: he mulls to oblivion and has no relevant disruption and dies on turn four
ROUND THREE(2-0) Eldrazi Tron
game one: opponent mulls to five and despite a turn 3 thoughtknot seer he dies on turn four due to the help of simian spirit guides
game two: opponent mulls to six and plays a tron land and passes. i start off with turn one serum visions. next turn, he plays a second tron piece and passes. my hand has no more 1 cmc cantrips so i decide to cycle manamorphose to find either a ritual to go off with empty or a cost reducer. i find the cost reducer and play it. in response, he surgically extracts my manamorphoses. he untaps and plays the third tron land. i untap and am able to go off with empy and make 16 1/1s with him at 16 and still an electromancer on board. he untaps and plays a second tower and casts newlamog and exiles two lands. after this, my board is 1 land, 14 goblins, and an electromancer with him at 16. i have a dismember in hand. i untap and topdeck the second dismember to kill the ulamog and attack for exactsies
ROUND FOUR(2-0) ELdrazi Tron (AGAIN!)
me and him decide to split, but we play for the free entry for next time.
game one: he's on the play and leads off with temple. i play serum visions on turn one and scry both to the bottom i think. he plays a powerplant and plays chalice on one. i untap and play baral and proceed to kill him through the chalice
game two: he's on the play again and i have a slow but pretty reasonable seven card hand. has one land, a manamorphose, an electromancer, a shattering spree, and 3 cantrips. i find a land and more rituals and empty with the cantrips, and play electromancer on turn two. he goes turn three tks into turn four tks. on one of the turns he ends up surgically extracting manamorphose but i end up topdecking gifts with a hand full of rituals and i end up killing him with goblins
all in all, i technically went 3-0-1 but actually went 4-0. the deck felt solid, even obnoxious at times. the guide was great and martin's list felt solid even though i was a bit skeptical of it. i urge anyone reading this to give his list a shot!
if i'm playing a second empty in the main, am i cutting the second grapeshot for it?
i saw some interesting tech last night on a stream, andrew shrout (johnnyhotsauce on magic online) had pieces of the puzzle in his build. what do you guys think of that? it seems sweet to me tbh
hey everyone! just picked this deck up a few days ago and i'm really enjoying it. i did have a few questions about card choices and about the deck itself.
1) what's the consensus on the amount of cost reducers? i see lists run either 7-8 and i'm not sure what is better
2) what's the verdict on peer through depths and merchant scroll? is peer through depths better than merchant scroll? i'm currently playing 2 merchant scroll in my build and they've underperformed tbh. should i cut a remand and go down to two remand and cut the two scrolls for 3 peers?
3) i noticed people are playing the madcap experiment package in the board, is this any good?
sup guys! i just picked up some LEDs a few weeks ago and i'm having a hard time deciding between building this deck, or LED dredge. what do you think is better positioned?
so i'm almost done picking up the stuff for dredge (got my LEDs tonight) and i have a few questions. first of all, how do i know when to mulligan? do i preemptively side in nature's claims and chain of vapor and cards like that even if they didn't have artifacts/enchantments game one?
this is very true, before i picked up the pieces to this deck i played grixis with jace and everyone always asked me why i wasn't playing the hybrid version with twin and jace.
actually i'm on burkhart's list from gp pittsburgh, and i was curious as to why more recent lists shaved a snapcaster and added some mana leaks to the main as the deck ran fine without the counters in the main
just a question, i posted this in the blue jund primer but i've yet to get a response. why have the most recent grixis jace lists been playing 3 snapcasters? also, why are they playing mana leak now? the deck performed really well without counters in the main.
just picked up the cards for this deck, and i gotta say i LOVE this version of grixis compared to chapin's list with cryptic. just had a few questions. first of all, i see people cutting a fourth snapcaster to make room for 2 PKN. i have a hard time wrapping my head around this and it feels really incorrect to me. is playing the full four just bad? also, i see people are adding mana leak to the main. is there any reason why? the deck seems to run really well without them. (i'm playing burkhart's list from philly)
not really sure why people are advocating for a snapcaster mage ban. is the card really good? it definitely is, but just because a card is really good doesn't mean it needs to be banned. aside from fringe combo decks that don't use him, snapcaster for the most part is the major pay-off for playing blue. also, he's one of the reasons why modern has a decent "control deck" in grixis, whether or not you're also playing jace since snappy is a vital card in BOTH builds. furthermore, control decks already have a hard enough time existing in modern and i feel like giving snappy the ax more or less kills control.
i think cutting the clique for PKN is correct, as PKN has been superb for me so far. going down to one angler seems bad, but you can always try it i guess. how has jace aot been for you? i play a grave titan in that slot and i've been happy with it, but i'd also like to try jace
i'm sure that this was suggested before, but would painful truths be any good in a more controlling list like chapin's? it'd be a one of. the damage from the card itself might be too costly, but i feel like it could be good in theory
i tried the three pyromancers last night, and i made room for them by shaving an angler, a cryptic, and the remand. they have been AMAZING. in one of the games, young pyro was the reason i was able to beat choke and blood moon at the same time. also, is four terminates the right number? i've seen some people play three and some on four so i have no clue.
muller's board plan has been sweet, like the ability to make your opponent's relics and cages and such basically textless is SUPER powerful. also, the simian spirit guide has been the nuts for me, in fact i really want to test another one. something i've been testing is basically playing muller's list but cutting one electromancer for one apostle's blessing. i'll let you guys know how that feels.
ROUND 1 (2-0) U TRON:
game one: my hand was solid and had a cantrip on turn one into a turn two cost reducer and my opponent didn't have relevant disruption and died on turn three. i didn't see any islandss or blue cards so i assumed he was on eldrazi tron and boarded accordingly
game two: i find out he's blue tron after he goes turn one tower into turn two island and this dismember in my hand is looking real bad. he bounces my electromancer for a few turns with various bounce effects and the electromancer finally sticks and he counters the ritual which would have let me go off. he untaps and assembles tron and plays wurmcoil and grafdigger's cage. my hand is manamorphose, dismember, manamorphose, grapeshot, ritual, past in flames. i draw for the turn and play baral and then i decide to attempt to find empty with manamorphose, and i did. i go manamorphose, ritual, dismember wurmcoil, grapeshot to deal 1 wurmcoil to finish it off and 4 to him. at the end of it i end up making 20 goblins and he doesn't have answer to the goblins and is dead on board
ROUND TWO (2-1) RW Death and Taxes
i really didn't want to have to play against him because thalia and leonin arbiter are super good against this deck and he was destroying me in testing, so i figured i was pretty dead
game one: he had an answer for every cost reducer alongside thalia and leonin arbiter and i just couldn't put anything together.
boarded out the remands and a gifts and a grapeshot and the two peer through depths for pyroclasm, dismembers, another empty, and the one of bolt.
game two: i don't really remember what happens, but i end up blowing him out with pyroclasm and proceed to untap and kill him
game three: he mulls to oblivion and has no relevant disruption and dies on turn four
ROUND THREE(2-0) Eldrazi Tron
game one: opponent mulls to five and despite a turn 3 thoughtknot seer he dies on turn four due to the help of simian spirit guides
game two: opponent mulls to six and plays a tron land and passes. i start off with turn one serum visions. next turn, he plays a second tron piece and passes. my hand has no more 1 cmc cantrips so i decide to cycle manamorphose to find either a ritual to go off with empty or a cost reducer. i find the cost reducer and play it. in response, he surgically extracts my manamorphoses. he untaps and plays the third tron land. i untap and am able to go off with empy and make 16 1/1s with him at 16 and still an electromancer on board. he untaps and plays a second tower and casts newlamog and exiles two lands. after this, my board is 1 land, 14 goblins, and an electromancer with him at 16. i have a dismember in hand. i untap and topdeck the second dismember to kill the ulamog and attack for exactsies
ROUND FOUR(2-0) ELdrazi Tron (AGAIN!)
me and him decide to split, but we play for the free entry for next time.
game one: he's on the play and leads off with temple. i play serum visions on turn one and scry both to the bottom i think. he plays a powerplant and plays chalice on one. i untap and play baral and proceed to kill him through the chalice
game two: he's on the play again and i have a slow but pretty reasonable seven card hand. has one land, a manamorphose, an electromancer, a shattering spree, and 3 cantrips. i find a land and more rituals and empty with the cantrips, and play electromancer on turn two. he goes turn three tks into turn four tks. on one of the turns he ends up surgically extracting manamorphose but i end up topdecking gifts with a hand full of rituals and i end up killing him with goblins
all in all, i technically went 3-0-1 but actually went 4-0. the deck felt solid, even obnoxious at times. the guide was great and martin's list felt solid even though i was a bit skeptical of it. i urge anyone reading this to give his list a shot!
i saw some interesting tech last night on a stream, andrew shrout (johnnyhotsauce on magic online) had pieces of the puzzle in his build. what do you guys think of that? it seems sweet to me tbh
1) what's the consensus on the amount of cost reducers? i see lists run either 7-8 and i'm not sure what is better
2) what's the verdict on peer through depths and merchant scroll? is peer through depths better than merchant scroll? i'm currently playing 2 merchant scroll in my build and they've underperformed tbh. should i cut a remand and go down to two remand and cut the two scrolls for 3 peers?
3) i noticed people are playing the madcap experiment package in the board, is this any good?
thanks!
4 Snapcaster Mage
2 Gurmag Angler
2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
1 Pia and Kiran Nalaar
Instants(24)
3 Cryptic Command
2 Spell Snare
2 Dispel
2 Mana Leak
4 Thought Scour
3 Kolaghan's Command
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Terminate
4 Serum Visions
1 Rise // Fall
Lands(22)
4 Polluted Delta
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Creeping Tar Pit
2 Sulfur Falls
3 Island
1 Swamp
1 Mountain
2 Steam Vents
2 Watery Grave
1 Blood Crypt
3 Fulminator Mage
1 Izzet Staticaster
1 Engineered Explosives
2 Anger of the Gods
1 Languish
2 Dispel
1 Countersquall
1 Negate
1 Flashfreeze
1 Keranos, God of Storms
1 Grave Titan