I played this list at a local tournament last night and went 2-2. There are a few cards I still need for the deck (Namely Grove of the Burnwillows) as well as some more practice with it, but all in all it felt very solid to me despite the lackluster record.
Match 1: Nahiri Jeskai (2-0 Win)
The first game I won by playing four Reality Smashers to keep running over his Nahiris immediately after he played them. He put up a fair fight but eventually I had more threats than he had answers. (1-0)
The second game I brought in the Relic of Progenitus to keep him from using Snapcaster Mage to flashback his removal spells. I had two Relics in my opening hand and things went fairly smoothly from there. (2-0)
Match 2: Doran Formation (0-2 Loss)
I had never seen this deck before, so you can imagine my surprise when he played Tower Defense in response to my Kozilek's Return during combat and killed me. Ouch. (0-1)
I brought in Warping Wails in game two in hopes of picking off his 0/x creatures, but failed to draw them. Even if I had what removal I did draw got redirected to his Spellskites. Ouch again. (0-2)
Match 3: Naya Burn (2-1 Win)
Game one I was able to get creatures on the board early and Thought-Knot Seered him twice to take his best burn cards. Soon after I play Kozliek's Return to blow up his creatures and swing for lethal. (1-0)
Game two was brutal. I brought in the Feed the Clans and never drew them. Not that I had much time to do so as I was dead by turn 5. (1-1)
Game three was close. I stabilized the board with Thought-Knot Seers and Endless Ones, But I was left at a precarious life total of 4. I play Kozilek's Return to attack for lethal and he makes the mistake of targeting me with Lightning Helix in response instead of my damaged Thought-Knot Seer. But as the Thought-Knot Seer lived, the attack was still lethal. (2-1)
Match 4: Affinity (1-2 Loss)
Kozilek's Return was the MVP of game one, destroying the first wave of artifacts before Steal Overseer could buff them out of range, and then the second wave after I cast a turn 5 World Breaker. My opponent conceded after World Breaker came down. (1-0)
I brought in the Ancient Grudges for games two and three, but was run over both times regardless. Turns out Affinity is a pretty good deck! I think this matchup is actually reasonable, given that Ghost Quarter prevents them from using Inkmoth Nexus and Ancient Grudge is so strong. So it goes.
In conclusion, I think the deck is good. Maybe even great given some more practice and refinements. The cards I don't like at the moment are Talisman of Impulse (I'm thinking of cutting one or two) and Sanctum of Ugin. (I think Tomb of the Spirit Dragon might be better) Definitely will be hanging out on this forum to see what your guys' iterations of the deck look like.
Cheers!
Nice report and welcome to the forums!
As for your Affinity game, I can see losing those matches when they just have godhands but other than that we should be winning like 70-30 I'd predict. You have access to: 4 Kozilek's Return, 4 Lightning Bolt, 3 Ancient Grudge, 2 Nature's Claim, and 2 Warping Wail. That's 15 cards that completely destroy all their threats and every card they can play. Etched Champion can be blocked by our creatures, Ghost Quarter kills their manlands, and World Breaker can exile anything they play (assuming you keep it in post-board). The deck is geared to beat it, the amount of hate for this matcup is insane. Alas Affinity can sneak out wins sometime.
Thinking about it more, I think you're right about the Affinity matchup. I guess I'll attribute the loss mostly to my unfamiliarity with the deck for now, but I imagine I'll run into it again soon enough and I can try and get a better feel for how the matchup plays out.
As far as the lands go, I think both Kessig Wolf Run and Raging Ravine are good upgrades to the land base, albeit as one-ofs. Still, thanks for the idea!
On the subject of lands, do you have any thoughts on Sylvan Scrying? I've noticed a lot of other lists running it (presumably to find Eldrazi Temple) but it looks very slow to me. What do you think?
I played this list at a local tournament last night and went 2-2. There are a few cards I still need for the deck (Namely Grove of the Burnwillows) as well as some more practice with it, but all in all it felt very solid to me despite the lackluster record.
Match 1: Nahiri Jeskai (2-0 Win)
The first game I won by playing four Reality Smashers to keep running over his Nahiris immediately after he played them. He put up a fair fight but eventually I had more threats than he had answers. (1-0)
The second game I brought in the Relic of Progenitus to keep him from using Snapcaster Mage to flashback his removal spells. I had two Relics in my opening hand and things went fairly smoothly from there. (2-0)
Match 2: Doran Formation (0-2 Loss)
I had never seen this deck before, so you can imagine my surprise when he played Tower Defense in response to my Kozilek's Return during combat and killed me. Ouch. (0-1)
I brought in Warping Wails in game two in hopes of picking off his 0/x creatures, but failed to draw them. Even if I had what removal I did draw got redirected to his Spellskites. Ouch again. (0-2)
Match 3: Naya Burn (2-1 Win)
Game one I was able to get creatures on the board early and Thought-Knot Seered him twice to take his best burn cards. Soon after I play Kozliek's Return to blow up his creatures and swing for lethal. (1-0)
Game two was brutal. I brought in the Feed the Clans and never drew them. Not that I had much time to do so as I was dead by turn 5. (1-1)
Game three was close. I stabilized the board with Thought-Knot Seers and Endless Ones, But I was left at a precarious life total of 4. I play Kozilek's Return to attack for lethal and he makes the mistake of targeting me with Lightning Helix in response instead of my damaged Thought-Knot Seer. But as the Thought-Knot Seer lived, the attack was still lethal. (2-1)
Match 4: Affinity (1-2 Loss)
Kozilek's Return was the MVP of game one, destroying the first wave of artifacts before Steal Overseer could buff them out of range, and then the second wave after I cast a turn 5 World Breaker. My opponent conceded after World Breaker came down. (1-0)
I brought in the Ancient Grudges for games two and three, but was run over both times regardless. Turns out Affinity is a pretty good deck! I think this matchup is actually reasonable, given that Ghost Quarter prevents them from using Inkmoth Nexus and Ancient Grudge is so strong. So it goes.
In conclusion, I think the deck is good. Maybe even great given some more practice and refinements. The cards I don't like at the moment are Talisman of Impulse (I'm thinking of cutting one or two) and Sanctum of Ugin. (I think Tomb of the Spirit Dragon might be better) Definitely will be hanging out on this forum to see what your guys' iterations of the deck look like.
Thinking about it more, I think you're right about the Affinity matchup. I guess I'll attribute the loss mostly to my unfamiliarity with the deck for now, but I imagine I'll run into it again soon enough and I can try and get a better feel for how the matchup plays out.
As far as the lands go, I think both Kessig Wolf Run and Raging Ravine are good upgrades to the land base, albeit as one-ofs. Still, thanks for the idea!
On the subject of lands, do you have any thoughts on Sylvan Scrying? I've noticed a lot of other lists running it (presumably to find Eldrazi Temple) but it looks very slow to me. What do you think?
2x Dismember
4x Eldrazi Temple
4x Endless One
5x Forest
4x Ghost Quarter
4x Karplusan Forest
4x Kozilek's Return
4x Lightning Bolt
3x Matter Reshaper
3x Mountain
4x Reality Smasher
3x Sanctum of Ugin
4x Talisman of Impulse
4x Thought-Knot Seer
1x Wastes
3x World Breaker
3x Ancient Grudge
1x Dismember
2x Feed the Clan
2x Nature's Claim
4x Relic of Progenitus
2x Warping Wail
1x World Breaker
Match 1: Nahiri Jeskai (2-0 Win)
The first game I won by playing four Reality Smashers to keep running over his Nahiris immediately after he played them. He put up a fair fight but eventually I had more threats than he had answers. (1-0)
The second game I brought in the Relic of Progenitus to keep him from using Snapcaster Mage to flashback his removal spells. I had two Relics in my opening hand and things went fairly smoothly from there. (2-0)
Match 2: Doran Formation (0-2 Loss)
I had never seen this deck before, so you can imagine my surprise when he played Tower Defense in response to my Kozilek's Return during combat and killed me. Ouch. (0-1)
I brought in Warping Wails in game two in hopes of picking off his 0/x creatures, but failed to draw them. Even if I had what removal I did draw got redirected to his Spellskites. Ouch again. (0-2)
Match 3: Naya Burn (2-1 Win)
Game one I was able to get creatures on the board early and Thought-Knot Seered him twice to take his best burn cards. Soon after I play Kozliek's Return to blow up his creatures and swing for lethal. (1-0)
Game two was brutal. I brought in the Feed the Clans and never drew them. Not that I had much time to do so as I was dead by turn 5. (1-1)
Game three was close. I stabilized the board with Thought-Knot Seers and Endless Ones, But I was left at a precarious life total of 4. I play Kozilek's Return to attack for lethal and he makes the mistake of targeting me with Lightning Helix in response instead of my damaged Thought-Knot Seer. But as the Thought-Knot Seer lived, the attack was still lethal. (2-1)
Match 4: Affinity (1-2 Loss)
Kozilek's Return was the MVP of game one, destroying the first wave of artifacts before Steal Overseer could buff them out of range, and then the second wave after I cast a turn 5 World Breaker. My opponent conceded after World Breaker came down. (1-0)
I brought in the Ancient Grudges for games two and three, but was run over both times regardless. Turns out Affinity is a pretty good deck! I think this matchup is actually reasonable, given that Ghost Quarter prevents them from using Inkmoth Nexus and Ancient Grudge is so strong. So it goes.
In conclusion, I think the deck is good. Maybe even great given some more practice and refinements. The cards I don't like at the moment are Talisman of Impulse (I'm thinking of cutting one or two) and Sanctum of Ugin. (I think Tomb of the Spirit Dragon might be better) Definitely will be hanging out on this forum to see what your guys' iterations of the deck look like.
Cheers!