I would cut Bring to Light down to 3. I have and it's just fine. It frees up some room in the deck.
I need to restream (Due to sound) it but I streamed a version of this on Momsbasementgamestreams on Twitch.
I found the toughest match ups to be control, mainly UW. My local meta is heavy with UW and it's because of the counters, and mana denial they have. What I ended up doing is cutting Inquistion, going with another Thought Erasure, and Castigate in their slots. Turn 1 I found you rather have a land come in play tapped or untapped for birds, and I rather have my discard have maximum value with the option of any card.
I need to test the new walkers Ajani and Nahiri. I will probably do that tonight at the local LGS. Maybe start with Ajani.
I highly recommend Eternal Witness main, as a 1 of. It allows you to reuse any of your 1 ofs,it's an amazing target for K.Command. I haven't seen list run it yet outside of mine but I can't speak enough to it.
Also let me know how the Niv down to 2 goes. I was considering the same thing but haven't made the change yet. Been making slow controlled changes for now to see if I can fix some match ups.
Just wanted to chime in. I played this deck at an FNM and streamed it ( momsbasementgames on twitch ) and the deck is surprisingly good. The list I streamed ran Growth Spiral x 2, Little Teferi x 2, 1 Eternal Witness. I cut 1 Helix, 1 Bring to Light, Domri x 2, 1 Safewright. In SB I cut a Rest in Peace for a Dovin's Veto.
So let me explain my choices, first off lets go with the easy one. I tried Growth Spiral, and I didn't like it. So that is removed and I'm adding back the 4th Helix and unsure about the other card ( might move Knight of Autumn into main )
The Teferi Time Raveler ( aka Little Teferi), when I first played the deck on paper I already made a change and removed Domri for 1 of Teferi. Teferi is just better than Domri, you don't run that many creatures, his minus is almost never relevant and this deck has a tough time against control heavy decks. Play 2 Teferi, it's better.
The Eternal Witness, so this card is great, it sets up a mini lock with Primal Command. It allows you to reuse your silver bullets, and gives you a strong card for Kolagan's Command. What I found was sometimes I would Unmoored Ego and want to do it again and have no real way to make that happen, or maybe another Helix or whatever the case. Eternal Witness solves that, the other thing is Kolagan's Command return a creature mode was like 98% irrelevant, and now it isn't. The other cool thing about Witness is it allows you to set up a mini-lock with Primal Command, time walk them, do it again and shuffle library. So in short play this card, it's great.
The Dovin's Veto in the sb is because this deck has problems against control, and other decks that can land Haymakers and I felt 2 Rest in Peace just aren't needed. You have ways to tutor for these pieces and you have 3 strong graveyard hate options.
I'll probably be streaming this deck again soon and will be making some changes. The ones I'm thinking about is moving countersquall into the sb, and putting castigate or another thought erasure main, and then running a copy of Bloodbraid Elf. I might also cut squall or use the space I added to the sb ( if I move in knight) to add vexing shusher. It will help verse counterspell decks.
I think this deck is good, not tier 1, but good and the main reason I play it is more so because it's a lot of fun.
I haven't played Titanshift for a while now. I tried to copy most of what I liked from the top 32 Modern Challenge list. It had 2 Growth Spasm, but I felt like I had enough ramp already, so I cut 1 for the Thragtusk. It had Bloodbraid Elf, so I assumed it's still good. I could play Hour of Promise over it to have more win conditions, but I often feel like I run into these odd Prison type decks where ramp and Scapeshift become dead really quickly. So I didn't want to make myself less prone to that. I felt like I had enough win cons already. I also wanted more game against Jeskai and UW Control.
What is your current list looking like?
The growth spasm is something im trying out. There is an excellent write up about the bbe growth spasm list on channelfireball. I guess the spasm is there to provide a blocker or a turn 4 titan with land drop for the turn.
It is also a card hit with BBE which adds value. Im going to test it some and see how it plays. Not entirely sure on BBE either but thats just at first galance.
I liked it the EE a lot. Testing out the deck on mtgo. Only running 2 Bomat. Unfortunately dont have collective brutalities so subbing them.
@Bradpt I think you should do a 2 and 2 split for Drogskol. Its worth it.
One probably I had with the deck is game 1 is lack of artifact and enchantmwnt removal. I might try 1 E.E. main at some point or some etb creature to target it.
Played this deck last night at FNM and had a blast. We get around 40 folks for our fnms and when playing people i quickly became that guy playing that deck. My record was 3-2 with the two losses being close.
2-0 Mardu
2-0 Burn
2-0 U Control
1-2 Tezzerator
1-2 RG Bushwacker
I made some slight changes to the last 5-0 list. I cut a salvage for a grapple. Then 2 sideboard changes. I cut a thoughtseize for duress and an abrupt decay for engineered explosives.
I did some studying prior to the deck and been reading the forum and decided these were solid changes. I see folks talking about pryoclasm and anger but i would recommend EE. It gives some flex into what you can bring it in against and most aggressive decks then to play multiple creatures of the same cc. Merfolk, Humans, Boggles etc. It also allows for a blood moon answer in addition to what you normally bring in.
One thing I might change is cutting a bromat courier for the 4th salvage or another graple. I found myself siding them out most games. I do however like the card and 2 might be the right number.
I will normally bring Chewers in against Merfolk due to the fact they bring in relics and have vials as targets. Yet when looking at humans they have no artifacts besides Vial but Vial is a big gain for them.
I would more than likely cut Street Wraith for Chewers due to the fact of how much damage Humans put on the table.
To go back to our previous discussion, the fact that the deck marginally improves against hate is largely irrelevant. Living End is a bad topdeck whether hate is involved or not. I also do not see the correlation between cutting Living End and trimming a Simian Spirit Guide. The two seem mutually exclusive, and the number of SSG in your list should have way more to do with how fast you need to be to be competitive, not how many Living Ends you are running.
Honestly, I think the 2 Living End main is something that can have success over a specific meta, but it will almos always be correct to run 3. And when something is almost always correct, EV logic dictates that you should always make the decision likel to be right most often rather than searching for the times where going unconventional is slightly better.
Check out the video I posted. The thought of removing a simian and living end is because running one less living end means you are more in on your plan B which is casting creatures. If you are on that game plan then have a card that accelerate does seem to be a need. That's the correlation that is drawn in the video. Which I can see that point of view. Now does that mean SSG is dependent on Living End? No. It's meta dependent and used for speed.
As far as margins and card selection. You are right a percent here or there won't matter much....until it does. Everyone is trying to optimize there deck to give them the best win rate they can. I think the two LE's are environment specific and seem to be working out well for jundilion but that might not be the case for everyone.
I have a new tournament result to share. This is from a local 1K Modern tournament with 21 entrants. Low due to SCG Baltimore, but everyone who entered is a Modern grinder playing tier decks. Basically a PPTQ for $1000 in prizes.
I have been away from Modern for a while but got in some practice online in the few days before the tournament and sleeved up the following:
I made 2 major maindeck changes from my 7-2 deck at SCG Philadelphia. I went up to 3 Archfiend of Ifnir, and I added back the 19th land. Small changes, as it meant I cut 1 Beast Within, and I removed a few spells from my sideboard and pushed the 4th copy of Faerie Macabre and Fulminator Mage to the board.
Round 1, I faced Affinity and Archfiend was awesome, as I was able to cycle post Living End to kill his Signal Pest before it could receive Arcbound Ravager counters. In Game 2, he had the turn 2 Rest in Peace lined up, but never found colored mana. Instead he played a Steel Overseer, which I answered with an Ingot Chewer, before going off the next turn after he activate an Inkmoth Nexus.
Round 2, I faced Ponza. In game 1 when I cycled at the end of his first turn, he laughed and said his keep was horrible. A few turns later, I cascaded into 16 power and won in short order. I have played Ponza at FNM numerous times, so I knew to just hold my basics and play fetches and leave them uncracked. I managed to stay not mana screwed, but I got very flooded and ended up losing to a Huntmaster of the Fells. In game 3, I cycled an early Horror and left up Outburst on turn 2. He had an Arbor Elf, played a Stomping Ground and then a Blood Moon. I responded with Outburst to kill his mana dork and get back just my Horror. I followed that up with a Fulminator Mage on his nonbasic Mountain, and he missed his next land drop. I had plenty of cyclers in hand, so I won in a few turns pumping up my Horror.
Round 3, I faced Burn, and it was a good ol' fashioned race. In game 1 he ended up playing a Goblin Guide on 1, Swiftspear plus Lava Spike on 2, and then on 3 he played 2 more Guides. Foruntately, I had the Violent Outbust to blow him out and get a clean 4 for 1, plus add my own 4 creatures to the field and kill him in one shot. For game 2, I brought in my anti-burn package of... nothing. Well, I did bring in my 2 Shriekmaw, and I was able to get his turn 2 Eidolon with the Maw. He mulled to 5, so I really felt good, though I did win with just a turn to spare. This matchup is definitely unfavorable, but it's not nearly as bad as when we used to play a lot more 2 mana cyclers or 3 power Minotaurs. I think the best plan is just to race or dodge it.
I was able to intentionally draw twice and end the Swiss rounds as the top overall seed in the top 8. I played the same Ponza deck, and this time I put on a clinic. His best chance to beat me was in game 2 when he curved turn 1 Arbor Elf into turn 2 Scavenging Ooze and ate a dude. But Shriekmaw bailed me out again, and from there I was the assertive one. he got some value from a Huntmaster of the Fells, though I really blew him out when he passed on his turn to flip his Huntmaster in attempt to kill my Shriekmaw, but I responded to the transform trigger with Beast Within. I eventually won by hardcasting an Archfiend and then cycling away multiple creatures to wipe his board and then attack for lethal.
The top 4 all agreed to a clean split of the remaining $600 prize pool, so I left with $150 and an undefeated record. I was happy to leave to save the time, though I think I was favored against R/G Tron in the semis, and would have played the winner of Jund/Eldrazi Tron in the finals.
Top 8 in order:
Living End
Eldrazi Tron
Jund
Burn (R3 opp)
R/G Tron
Ponza
Burn
Ponza (R2 opp)
Top 4:
Living End
Eldrazi Tron
Jund
R/G Tron
Think I'm in the same boat in terms of anti-burn. I don't know if it's worth even worrying about. How has blood moon been performing for you? I've been in the Riders group for a while since it gives me some game against other decks. Is the moon worth it?
Also Archfiend is great against Affinity. It solve the problem with them ravaging in response to wipe their board. The fiend just kills everything. I have in games just living end that back and won the game by using my cyclers as removal
I'm very wary of a 2 Living End build. I suppose that against a heavy creature meta, it doesn't seem bad, but against U/W, Jeskai, Bant spirits, Merfolk, etc., you really need to have that 3rd Living End. Maybe it's a metagame call, but as a longtime player of the deck, I honestly can't see an argument for this being a new normal.
I'm leary of it as well but it's worth playing a few games and finding out first hand. I use to think when SSG first came on the scene it wasn't good. I didn't understand at the time why it was included but after testing it and seeing the benefits first hand my mind was changed.
Aside from adding in one additional card, what other benefit do you see?
So pros is you have 2 copies meaning less of a chance to draw one. For heavy graveyard hate you have less dead cards. Also you play one less simian guide, now you can play one less with 3 in the deck but seems more common when you only have 2 LE.
The cons are as all of us are already mentioning.....if you draw one you are in a bad spot. Also I have been in situations others have mentioned where you go Violent Outburst end of turn, then demonic dread your turn when playing vs control. You can't do this as safely in the 2 LE build.
I'm however strongly considering a dead//gone in sb. I think playing that in the 4th shriekmaw spot is a good choice. Against humans who can meddling mage naming shriekmaw it gives you some flex. It also can come in those matchups where beast within just feels bad. Like you don't want to beast within Goblin Guide, but Dead//Gone is a good choice.
As far as Thragtusk....I'm not sure on this card. My game plan against midrange is combo, make them deal with creatures then combo again to refill the board. I have been in spots hard casting creatures too but usually those midrange matches play swamps and a street wraith can go a long way. So playing tusk seems clunky to me.
I'm very wary of a 2 Living End build. I suppose that against a heavy creature meta, it doesn't seem bad, but against U/W, Jeskai, Bant spirits, Merfolk, etc., you really need to have that 3rd Living End. Maybe it's a metagame call, but as a longtime player of the deck, I honestly can't see an argument for this being a new normal.
I'm leary of it as well but it's worth playing a few games and finding out first hand. I use to think when SSG first came on the scene it wasn't good. I didn't understand at the time why it was included but after testing it and seeing the benefits first hand my mind was changed.
I'm testing out the 2 living end list. I watched a video on the why behind it and it's worth testing.
However I haven't liked the Thragtusk in the sb. I get these are for midrange and grindy matches but to me one big living end followed by another when creatures get low tends to work just as well. I use to run a Kessig in the main that allowed me to get through those grindy blocks
I like a one of K. Command in sb. I removed a chewer for a copy and it seems good.
One thing I have considered is running a one of Damping Sphere in the sideboard a good plan for Tron. I know it doesn't meet the 3 cc threshold but does it do enough work to win you the game just by harding casting. Something I'm going to test. I think that these types of plans are better suited for the build with 2 LE where there is less to remove main.
Thanks. I been looking at decklist and see that and tusk a lot. To me tusk is ok but against control or mid-range I think I rather play avalanche riders. Had to get to the mid-game with no lands and it's good against other decks. Or for life gain it would be gnaw to the bone.
Dead//Gone is one I might play 1 of in the side. I do think it's for diversity if anything. That's the only thing I can really think it would be used for. It's not that great of a card.
I'm a long time living end player, been playing it since almost the start of modern. I did have some questions for the group and hope to get some other fellow players insight to these cards. I notice that sideboards more recently have been playing cards like
Dead//Gone, Thragtusk, and Kolagan's Command
The Kolagan's Command makes sense for those matches you side out a demonic dread due to lack of creature targets. It has some nice utility and flex.
I'm however curious on what kind of matches and uses folks are using Dead//Gone and Thragtusk.
To me the life gain from tusk seems too slow for those decks you want life gain in.
I need to restream (Due to sound) it but I streamed a version of this on Momsbasementgamestreams on Twitch.
I found the toughest match ups to be control, mainly UW. My local meta is heavy with UW and it's because of the counters, and mana denial they have. What I ended up doing is cutting Inquistion, going with another Thought Erasure, and Castigate in their slots. Turn 1 I found you rather have a land come in play tapped or untapped for birds, and I rather have my discard have maximum value with the option of any card.
I need to test the new walkers Ajani and Nahiri. I will probably do that tonight at the local LGS. Maybe start with Ajani.
I highly recommend Eternal Witness main, as a 1 of. It allows you to reuse any of your 1 ofs,it's an amazing target for K.Command. I haven't seen list run it yet outside of mine but I can't speak enough to it.
Also let me know how the Niv down to 2 goes. I was considering the same thing but haven't made the change yet. Been making slow controlled changes for now to see if I can fix some match ups.
So let me explain my choices, first off lets go with the easy one. I tried Growth Spiral, and I didn't like it. So that is removed and I'm adding back the 4th Helix and unsure about the other card ( might move Knight of Autumn into main )
The Teferi Time Raveler ( aka Little Teferi), when I first played the deck on paper I already made a change and removed Domri for 1 of Teferi. Teferi is just better than Domri, you don't run that many creatures, his minus is almost never relevant and this deck has a tough time against control heavy decks. Play 2 Teferi, it's better.
The Eternal Witness, so this card is great, it sets up a mini lock with Primal Command. It allows you to reuse your silver bullets, and gives you a strong card for Kolagan's Command. What I found was sometimes I would Unmoored Ego and want to do it again and have no real way to make that happen, or maybe another Helix or whatever the case. Eternal Witness solves that, the other thing is Kolagan's Command return a creature mode was like 98% irrelevant, and now it isn't. The other cool thing about Witness is it allows you to set up a mini-lock with Primal Command, time walk them, do it again and shuffle library. So in short play this card, it's great.
The Dovin's Veto in the sb is because this deck has problems against control, and other decks that can land Haymakers and I felt 2 Rest in Peace just aren't needed. You have ways to tutor for these pieces and you have 3 strong graveyard hate options.
I'll probably be streaming this deck again soon and will be making some changes. The ones I'm thinking about is moving countersquall into the sb, and putting castigate or another thought erasure main, and then running a copy of Bloodbraid Elf. I might also cut squall or use the space I added to the sb ( if I move in knight) to add vexing shusher. It will help verse counterspell decks.
I think this deck is good, not tier 1, but good and the main reason I play it is more so because it's a lot of fun.
The growth spasm is something im trying out. There is an excellent write up about the bbe growth spasm list on channelfireball. I guess the spasm is there to provide a blocker or a turn 4 titan with land drop for the turn.
It is also a card hit with BBE which adds value. Im going to test it some and see how it plays. Not entirely sure on BBE either but thats just at first galance.
@Bradpt I think you should do a 2 and 2 split for Drogskol. Its worth it.
One probably I had with the deck is game 1 is lack of artifact and enchantmwnt removal. I might try 1 E.E. main at some point or some etb creature to target it.
2-0 Mardu
2-0 Burn
2-0 U Control
1-2 Tezzerator
1-2 RG Bushwacker
I made some slight changes to the last 5-0 list. I cut a salvage for a grapple. Then 2 sideboard changes. I cut a thoughtseize for duress and an abrupt decay for engineered explosives.
I did some studying prior to the deck and been reading the forum and decided these were solid changes. I see folks talking about pryoclasm and anger but i would recommend EE. It gives some flex into what you can bring it in against and most aggressive decks then to play multiple creatures of the same cc. Merfolk, Humans, Boggles etc. It also allows for a blood moon answer in addition to what you normally bring in.
One thing I might change is cutting a bromat courier for the 4th salvage or another graple. I found myself siding them out most games. I do however like the card and 2 might be the right number.
Do you bring in ignot chewers against Humans?
I will normally bring Chewers in against Merfolk due to the fact they bring in relics and have vials as targets. Yet when looking at humans they have no artifacts besides Vial but Vial is a big gain for them.
I would more than likely cut Street Wraith for Chewers due to the fact of how much damage Humans put on the table.
Thoughts?
Check out the video I posted. The thought of removing a simian and living end is because running one less living end means you are more in on your plan B which is casting creatures. If you are on that game plan then have a card that accelerate does seem to be a need. That's the correlation that is drawn in the video. Which I can see that point of view. Now does that mean SSG is dependent on Living End? No. It's meta dependent and used for speed.
As far as margins and card selection. You are right a percent here or there won't matter much....until it does. Everyone is trying to optimize there deck to give them the best win rate they can. I think the two LE's are environment specific and seem to be working out well for jundilion but that might not be the case for everyone.
Think I'm in the same boat in terms of anti-burn. I don't know if it's worth even worrying about. How has blood moon been performing for you? I've been in the Riders group for a while since it gives me some game against other decks. Is the moon worth it?
Also Archfiend is great against Affinity. It solve the problem with them ravaging in response to wipe their board. The fiend just kills everything. I have in games just living end that back and won the game by using my cyclers as removal
So pros is you have 2 copies meaning less of a chance to draw one. For heavy graveyard hate you have less dead cards. Also you play one less simian guide, now you can play one less with 3 in the deck but seems more common when you only have 2 LE.
The cons are as all of us are already mentioning.....if you draw one you are in a bad spot. Also I have been in situations others have mentioned where you go Violent Outburst end of turn, then demonic dread your turn when playing vs control. You can't do this as safely in the 2 LE build.
I'm however strongly considering a dead//gone in sb. I think playing that in the 4th shriekmaw spot is a good choice. Against humans who can meddling mage naming shriekmaw it gives you some flex. It also can come in those matchups where beast within just feels bad. Like you don't want to beast within Goblin Guide, but Dead//Gone is a good choice.
As far as Thragtusk....I'm not sure on this card. My game plan against midrange is combo, make them deal with creatures then combo again to refill the board. I have been in spots hard casting creatures too but usually those midrange matches play swamps and a street wraith can go a long way. So playing tusk seems clunky to me.
I'm leary of it as well but it's worth playing a few games and finding out first hand. I use to think when SSG first came on the scene it wasn't good. I didn't understand at the time why it was included but after testing it and seeing the benefits first hand my mind was changed.
I'm not entirely sure on the play level of this guy but the points made can make sense in some ways. He is using jundilion's 7-0 list.
However I haven't liked the Thragtusk in the sb. I get these are for midrange and grindy matches but to me one big living end followed by another when creatures get low tends to work just as well. I use to run a Kessig in the main that allowed me to get through those grindy blocks
I like a one of K. Command in sb. I removed a chewer for a copy and it seems good.
One thing I have considered is running a one of Damping Sphere in the sideboard a good plan for Tron. I know it doesn't meet the 3 cc threshold but does it do enough work to win you the game just by harding casting. Something I'm going to test. I think that these types of plans are better suited for the build with 2 LE where there is less to remove main.
Dead//Gone is one I might play 1 of in the side. I do think it's for diversity if anything. That's the only thing I can really think it would be used for. It's not that great of a card.
I'm a long time living end player, been playing it since almost the start of modern. I did have some questions for the group and hope to get some other fellow players insight to these cards. I notice that sideboards more recently have been playing cards like
Dead//Gone, Thragtusk, and Kolagan's Command
The Kolagan's Command makes sense for those matches you side out a demonic dread due to lack of creature targets. It has some nice utility and flex.
I'm however curious on what kind of matches and uses folks are using Dead//Gone and Thragtusk.
To me the life gain from tusk seems too slow for those decks you want life gain in.
Thoughts?