First off thanks, I agree I feel fetches are great in combination with cards like Delver or Courser but its overstated for thinning.
Also as you stated I did make the cut for pain lands because i want to play TKS and Wail on curve and I'll quote what I've previously posted on the topic of the manabase. Obviously I upped GQ, cut the fetches and sea gate and you're right they've got merit for color fixing but blood moon doesn't hose this deck, unlike tron where its taking 4+ on average they're taking 1 possibly 2 extra .
Manabase:
Colorless matters and in order to cast Warping Wail and Seer and activate wreckage we're going to remake the base. As others have posted Frank Karsten article about constructing a manabase in order to hit colors at 90% probability on curve is huge. The manabase posted above in addition to map and relic acting as "fragile mana producers" & "cantrips" provides us with the following sources and (virtual sources). T1 you need 14 sources this base hits that and is at a virtual 16. T2 & we're at 10 and a virtual 12 below the recommended 13. T3 & same as before, below the recommended 12 at 10 but at a virtual 12. It may appear sacrilegious to cut the fetches down from 4-5 to 2 but adding Caves makes sure we can reliably cast Thought-Knot and Warping. The life lost from Caves is similar to that of a play set of fetches and is mitigated mid and late by vents. Having 3 MD Ghost Quarter brings your probability against tron to 31.5% in you're opening hand and 42.7% by T3. Sea Gate in my testing has been gas but if you're playing Timely in your sideboard I can see running Vault over Sea since you're giving up a fair amount of additional percentage points by not running it.
Ever since Matthew Dilks, who was kind enough to post earlier in this thread came in 10th at Cincinnati, I've been very impressed with MD skite, often its a wall early and mid and late its just additional protection for our giant threats against the fair decks against some of our trouble match ups its amazing, boggles, burn and infect and even scapeshift as well.
Thank you. 4 Tap lands can be a bit of a struggle but to be fair the one game is cost me is made up for the multiple games it won or stabilized me; 4 tap lands is right on par with Jund and some builds of Abzan, so I'll take the loss in the quarters for the wins it gave me through out the day. I can understand people cutting vents for fetches but with 23(25) virtual lands due to the redundancy of Eye & Urborg you will flood out and man lands are a nice way to hedge against that.
Yeah going back to when I first picked up the deck Surgical was MD and with twin gone and the rise of some broken strategies(hulk, shoal, ad nauseam, tron and infect) in addition to turning on blight herder and giving you info it has earned its place again MD. I played in FNM before the tournament and in four rounds played against tron twice losing in 3 and drawing in the other matches. GQ was great but I drew slaughter pact a number of times and i just kept thinking this should've been surgical. Also by bringing it MD it opens up a slot for pithing needle which is great again against tron naming Karn or eye depending on the state of the game.
first off thanks, The manabase felt great with out marsh flats. With caves/ghost quarter/Temples allow you to be on curve for TKS and Wail. Since we've got 3 MD vents flooding out isn't an issue and during the course of a game you're taking virtually the same amount of damage from your caves as you would from fetches + more shocks.
Warping Wail is the real deal and I too see it as a 2 of, maybe more meta dependent. I do still like Wasteland Strangler, especially in the current state of the meta with the shake up, In time i could see moving to Matter Reshaper if the format gets slower as some have predicted but for now I'll leave wasteland at 2. 4 Seers seems like overkill, I treat it like Clique, and at 2 along with 5 Discard spells it felt right.
Its one thing to talk a lot of hype about a deck its another to being to produce results so lets get into the thick of it. The staff, judges & commentators at mtg card market in Chicago were great hosts for their 2k modern event it was capped at 80 people and you can catch archive of the stream here. I foolishly didn't pre register and had to show up at 9:30 in the morning to put my name second on the wait list, only 2 or 3 people didn't show up to the event so I was fortunate enough to get to play. The rounds were executed sharply, awesome.
Just one simple change MD & SB from my previous list, I cut slaughter pact, its no longer needed with twin and bloom gone. MD Surgical does work, added 1 pithing needle as a great catch all in the SB.
Rnd 1 vs. Jake - Jeskai Control, win the roll.
Game 1: we both mull to 6, I disrupt his hand, and cast herder he lets the process trigger resolve then attempts to mana leak, i sac the scions in resp and have a 4/5. Herder and Vents go the distance with beats.
Game 2: I stick a crucible on 3 and eventually get him under a GQ lock, other highlights of this game include me warping wail a bribery and killing him with his own Celestial Colonnade and Ulamog for lethal.
2-0, 1-0
Rnd 2 vs. Justin - Burn, lose the roll.
Game 1: T2 i get to process a suspended rift bolt and kill a guide with strangler and surgical a bolt taking one from his hand, nearly turn the corner but he top decks a burn spell before i can close it out.
Game 2: Similar situation I'm nearly stabilized just need to fade 1 draw step before i get my vents online, it doesn't happen.
0-2, 1-1
Rnd 3 vs. Dominic - Living End, win the roll
Game 1: I keep a low curve(greedy) 1 land hand with relic and map, eventually I get there, warping wail creates a scion and he goes for living end forgetting scion can be sac'd to blow up the relic, it doesn't end well.
Game 2: relic again puts in work, he ignot chewers the first, but there is a second in hand. Lingering souls puts in work.
2-0, 2-1
Rnd 4 vs. Arthur - Jund, win the roll.
Game 1: Mull to 6, Pia and Kiran do work against me and I feel like I'm asleep at the wheel making misplays, focus.
Game 2: Opponent mulls to 6, Early disruption even though I cut most of the discard and I curve out.
Game 3: I keep a hand with lands and spells, T1 he IoKs me and takes my relic, T1 i draw and play map and we're off the races. you can see the whole game here, it was broken up into three parts. part 1. part 2. part 3. During that match he pyroclasm's me and i sac my scions in resp the reason i didn't grab ulamog with eye in that case was because I thought he might have another thoughtseize, so i grabbed sower.
2-1, 3-1
Rnd 5 vs. Kyle - Grixis Delver, lose the roll.
Game 1: He is able to power out an early angler its welcomed by Path, Souls and relic do work.
Game 2: Super close, hes at 1 life i'm at 5, with 2 spirits and vents available, he thoughtscours into electrolyze into terminate, take it in stride.
Game 3: This is a grind fest, but you know whats a grindy card? lingering souls, game goes to turns and on my last turn 8 souls go over the top for the win.
2-1, 4-1
Rnd 6 vs. Jack – Boggles, lose the roll.
Game 1: I’m in the dark and I get steam rolled by a 6/6 pro creature trample boggle.
Game 2: Spellskite in the opener, I GQ his Horizon Canopy and the surgical it (there are only so many dead cards you can take out against them) to turn on blight herder. Blight beats close it out.
Game 3: Spellskite, discard , disenchant and ratchet bomb. I’m down to 8 before I’m able to stablize with ratchet bomb, he gets his rancor back and plays the Kor, goes to target it and I Path in resp. herder and sower team up with skite back up and we close it out.
2-1, 5-1
At this point standings are posted and I’m currently in 7th with 15 points and solid breakers, but there is someone with 13 points and amazing breakers that threaten to kick out one of the two other players with 15 points. My opponent is one of those so I’m not afforded the opportunity to draw in to the top 8.
Rnd 7 vs. Yichao – Affinity, lose the roll.
Game 1: Mull to 5, He has the nut draw, my t3 souls aren’t fast enough its over before it really ever began.
Game 2: T2 stony silence, and man land beats with disruption finish it.
Game 3: he has a strong open, but t2 I disenchant one of his man lands, T3 I cast flaying tendrils he opts to put a counter on hangarback walker, sure but its exiled. Herder and sower tag team to close it out.
2-1, 6-1
After the 7 rounds of swiss I’m first place the top 8 consists of the following in order: BW Eldrazi, Ajundi, Infect, UR Delver, Affinity, Naya Company, Burn & Ad Nauseam. I Personally feel the Ad Nauseam match up isn’t bad by any stretch especially with 7 MD ways to interact with their hand in 3 IoK, 2 TS & 3 TKS, and the ability to interact favorably with lotus. My only loss is in top 8 as well.
Quarter Finals vs. Keith – Ad Nauseam, elect to be on the play.
Game 1: Hes at 9 I’ve been tearing apart his hand and have lethal on board hes left to the mercy of his top decks, he casts angel’s grace and we’re on to game 2.
Game 2: Mull to 6, Keep the following with my opponent on the fence if hes going to mull (I feel hes deciding if a ok hand with leyline will be good enough, and I was right) : Urborg, Thoughtseize, Surgical, Map, Disenchant & wasteland. Scry leaving vents on the top. I need to draw non come into play tap land by T3 or else its over. Its over. Had I drawn any non tap land I could’ve disenchanted his leyline, thought seized his ad nauseam and extracted it. Them the breaks.
I just want to say warping wail was the MVP of the day, stopped a bribery, exiled cliques/snapcasters/bobs/robots/delvers
Great tournament overall, all of my opponents were gracious and I really appreciated that. Left with some cash in my pocket so I feel great after possibly not being able to play due to the cap; lesson learned pre register!! If you’re in Chicagoland they’ve got another 2k coming up at the end of February and MTGcardmarket are great hosts.
The ban is what it is. Tron isn't a horrible match up, a challenge sure but not horrible, just means possibly upping GQ to 4 MD to combat that puts you over 50% by turn 3. Wurmcoil is answered cleanly in this build with Path. Its Karn that is the issue, and even a resolved Karn isn't instascoop. With this announcement though Warping Wail might loses a little bit of its luster since Snap, Deceiver Exarch and Skite made up 3 of the top 10 most played creatures in the format. Affinty, Burn, Infect and Boggles will likely steadily rise to combat tron so I still think MD spellskite will go a long way. The fear against twin was them having both blood moon and the combo but with the combo gone while still having Maps, it might be correct to now run a full playset of Caves and move beyond fetches.
Very excited this deck got bumped up to Tier two, just as excited to see one of the thorns in this decks side get banned(amulet), sadly twin was a good match up for us.
There is a cost to cutting basic lands, especially now where ghost quarter is in a lot of decks, you want to have some resistance to GQ, PtE and have the ability to both draw and fetch them with map post blood moon. Blood moon isn't back breaking against this deck like bloom or tron because our threats come down earlier and are often colorless but it still slows us down a bit. You should keep in mind this deck plays in a similar style to pre ban jund with BBE with tron level threats. Tron is moving to two basics in the current meta because of the amount of GQ and PtE we should respect that and adjust accordingly 3-4 feels right and insulates us from GQ and PtE.
Have you tested seagate? this is a midrange deck that grinds, you will often be left card less, sea gate is gas. Vault is a great card but its better suited if you're going to include Timely in the board. 3 MD GQ means the probability of having it on T3 against tron is nearly 43% thats not taking into account map activations, bumping GQ to 4 MD your probability goes up to nearly 10% to me it isn't worth adding additional GQ for that match up in particular when Sea gate (or vault) would be better served in that spot.
I disagree with you on Tendrills, You shouldn't be brining this card in against decks like Zoo, its there from tokens, elves and merfolk. Shambling Vents is what gives this deck a fair match up against Zoo and Burn, from reading your comments I have a hard time believing you've actually tested this list or cards out extensively, if you haven't thats fine, but you're theory crafting. I strongly encourage you to go and watch Magus or Watchwolf's streams because they're playing incredibly similar lists and consistently putting up results with cards you've brought into question.
As for EE over Ratchet bomb, in what world are you getting EE to 3? more often you're playing EE for sunburst 0 and best case scenario if need be sacing on 2, bomb fufills the same role with offering much more upside., the only difference is if you're sunbursting for 1 and sacing on 2, your a turn behind with bomb; but again upside, I make that trade off everyday and twice on sunday. EE is a great cards but ratchet bomb is better suited in this deck for its utility and upside.
First of all, NO stranglers in my build. I do not think this card is as good people think it is. Honestly, if I wanted to -3/-3 something, I'd run bile blight which can 2-5 for 1 things sometimes. I also don't run enough exile effects in the deck. When I tried him, he simply was a 2-3 mana for 3/2 body in the early game. I dropped my 3 I had in the main for: Damnation, Go for the Throat, and a 2nd Ruin Processor.
1. The manabase is a bit clunky, any suggestions to make it less clunky? I did mull alot due to seeing hands of consisting of: GQ and Temple, Plains and Temple, Eye and Plains or 1 landers even.
2. Any sweet anti-tron tech people want to share? I would like to make my MU better but I don't feel GQ's and discard are enough.
Your color balance is super-low to cast B and W spells early. You need many dual sources and few mono-W or B (or C!). Post-Oath, Caves of Koilos will a mandatory 4-of. I agree that Strangler is too conditional and I run 3 MB Spellskites, which are such a surprise, and so strong (fetch off Eye!).
For Tron (and Scapeshift it should be added) I have warped my board to have 2x Map and 3x Surgical Extraction but no Celestial Purge. (This set-up drew me a match post-board vs. Scapeshift after GQing and Extracting his Valakut in G2.) Ghost Quarter is not enough by itself, you need Extraction, because the land decks are too consistent. Map will also help with Blood Moon-type effects where Quarter would not.
For sweepers I am considering Languish over Damnation but own only the latter; the rhino, the Banana King and the zombie fish are still a thing, so I don't know.
I wouldn't go so far as to say that Caves will need to be a 4 of. It'll be in the lists for sure but if you've read Frank Karsten "How Many Colored Mana Sources Do You Need to Consistently Cast Your Spells?" article you should be money. Below is my list that I'll be playing in a 2k a day after oath drops.
This deck has 14 , a virtual 16 when you factor in relic and map, 14 being the magic number for 90% turn 1 black source for disruption. Also it has both 10 & sources 12 with map and relic, which puts it right on curve for T3 souls and slightly below for T2 warping wail and path.
Creatures:
I think splitting wasteland and thought-knot makes sense because of seer's upside and ability to come down on the same turn as wasteland, also because they're likely competing for the same spot. Herder and Sower are 1A & 1B in this deck but adding MD Spellskite makes a lot of sense in shoring up some of our challenging match ups while reinforcing others, I prefer going wide and coming down earlier so cutting 1 Sower makes sense to me.
Spells:
I already professed my love of Izzet charm. I think Warping Wail will provide a ton of utility in this deck and Go for the throat often felt as the flex spot in this deck. Being able to exile the majority of moderns most played creatures, in addition to stoping scapeshift/wrath/scrying/pyroclasm and having lili edict protection or a chump and EOT acceleration into sower or Ulamog screams MD.
Manabase:
Colorless matters and in order to cast Warping Wail and Seer and activate wreckage we're going to remake the base. As others have posted Frank Karsten article about constructing a manabase in order to hit colors at 90% probability on curve is huge. The manabase posted above in addition to map and relic acting as "fragile mana producers" & "cantrips" provides us with the following sources and (virtual sources). T1 you need 14 sources this base hits that and is at a virtual 16. T2 & we're at 10 and a virtual 12 below the recommended 13. T3 & same as before, below the recommended 12 at 10 but at a virtual 12. It may appear sacrilegious to cut the fetches down from 4-5 to 2 but adding Caves makes sure we can reliably cast Thought-Knot and Warping. The life lost from Caves is similar to that of a play set of fetches and is mitigated mid and late by vents. Having 3 MD Ghost Quarter brings your probability against tron to 31.5% in you're opening hand and 42.7% by T3. Sea Gate in my testing has been gas but if you're playing Timely in your sideboard I can see running Vault over Sea since you're giving up a fair amount of additional percentage points by not running it.
Sideboard:
I don't think Timely or Rest is the wrong call, it just comes down to additional deck construction(vault) and play preference. I believe you should be playing one of ratchet bomb or EE, if the plan is to take out tokens both options activate on T2, I like the upside ratchet gives you since you often can't sunburst for 3 unless you have two basics and a moon is out or you've taken an additional basic with Sower. Flaying Tendrils is an upgrade over drown and answers a lot of decks cleanly. Memorcide is great against the mirror/Tron/Amulet/Scapeshift/Ad etc. Surgical comes in against similar decks as Memorcide. Matt and others discussion and usage of crucible was spot on, its great against Tron/Amulet but also against mid range decks trying to molten or fulminator you out, also GBx should be removing their Decays against you SB.
An early creature that doesn't require any setup, draws a card when it dies with the chance of cheating something into play or ramping a land for you. Note that it's a may effect, so you can choose to draw a Strangler instead of putting it directly into play if it's revealed. If you reveal a relic, map, strangler, another copy of itself, or even a land, it comes into play.
This card seems absolutely phenomenal, easily earns a spot in the main board. Gives us something to play early, trades very favorably, can easily ramp us mana, or just gives us a card back.
I think it could be good for an aggro variant, but not worth the slot in a grindy variant like BW.
I agree I think it makes the cut in mono or BR aggressive build of eldrazi but its going to compete with Strangler & Thought-Knot Seer in the BW version.
Let me ask this, what "big things" do we need to kill mid game? the majority of this deck is at parity or outclasses the competition handily. After reading and seeing PhReSHTinGZ handle the largest open in history to the tune of a 10th place finish I feel confident we can move beyond Go For the Throat and open those slots up to other options. I've always loved versatility, Izzet Charm is one of my favorite cards of all time and this "charm" offers a lot of it.
For me it's partially the quantity of kill spells in the deck that it aids and yes, even if our stuff does outclass other midrangyish creatures, sometimes it's still nice to be able to kill away a blocker so you can get in more damage and close the game out quicker. Key thing to note about GFtT is that it can't be redirected to spellskite while both Path and Eldrazi Charm can. That is a bigger deal when trying to kill off a combo creature in Twin and Abzan CoCo as examples. It's great against Affinity (which we already have a decent time with given Lingering Souls, Stony Silence and the like), but I am unsold that it will be a staple in the main deck as of yet. It is very versatile so it does have that going for it.
Thats fair, I just see the ability to stop a crumble / molten as very nice insurance or ramp into a t3 sower when we don't have three sol lands / no land drop as a huge advantage, plus turning on processing is always nice. Again it'll have to tested extensively but I think it'll make the cut MD.
Let me ask this, what "big things" do we need to kill mid game? the majority of this deck is at parity or outclasses the competition handily. After reading and seeing PhReSHTinGZ handle the largest open in history to the tune of a 10th place finish I feel confident we can move beyond Go For the Throat and open those slots up to other options. I've always loved versatility, Izzet Charm is one of my favorite cards of all time and this "charm" offers a lot of it.
I must say I'm a fan of the new "eldrazi charm" Warping Wail, puts in a lot of work early against the majority of moderns top creatures: Spellskite, Snapcaster, a reduced Goyf, Hierarch, Exarch/Pestermite, Bob & Swiftspear. It can help with a chump or ramping, and provides a solid answer late against Scapeshift/Scrying/***. I like it and can see myself replacing GFtT with two of these possibly.
Also as you stated I did make the cut for pain lands because i want to play TKS and Wail on curve and I'll quote what I've previously posted on the topic of the manabase. Obviously I upped GQ, cut the fetches and sea gate and you're right they've got merit for color fixing but blood moon doesn't hose this deck, unlike tron where its taking 4+
Ever since Matthew Dilks, who was kind enough to post earlier in this thread came in 10th at Cincinnati, I've been very impressed with MD skite, often its a wall early and mid and late its just additional protection for our giant threats against the fair decks against some of our trouble match ups its amazing, boggles, burn and infect and even scapeshift as well.
Yeah going back to when I first picked up the deck Surgical was MD and with twin gone and the rise of some broken strategies(hulk, shoal, ad nauseam, tron and infect) in addition to turning on blight herder and giving you info it has earned its place again MD. I played in FNM before the tournament and in four rounds played against tron twice losing in 3 and drawing in the other matches. GQ was great but I drew slaughter pact a number of times and i just kept thinking this should've been surgical. Also by bringing it MD it opens up a slot for pithing needle which is great again against tron naming Karn or eye depending on the state of the game.
Now for the deck
1 Spellskite
2 Wasteland Strangler
2 Thought-Knot Seer
4 Blight Herder
3 Oblivion Sower
1 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
Instant (7)
4 Path to Exile
2 Warping Wail
1 Surgical Extraction
Sorcery (9)
4 Lingering Souls
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Thoughtseize
4 Relic of Progenitus
2 Expedition Map
Lands (25)
2 Godless Shrine
4 Eldrazi Temple
2 Eye of Ugin
2 Swamp
1 Plains
4 Ghost Quarter
2 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
3 Shambling Vent
1 Bojuka Bog
4 Caves of Koilos
3 Rest for the Weary
2 Stony Silence
2 Disenchant
2 Celestial Purge
1 Surgical Extraction
1 Ratchet Bomb
1 Flaying Tendrils
1 Memoricide
1 Crucible of worlds
1 pithing needle
Just one simple change MD & SB from my previous list, I cut slaughter pact, its no longer needed with twin and bloom gone. MD Surgical does work, added 1 pithing needle as a great catch all in the SB.
Rnd 1 vs. Jake - Jeskai Control, win the roll.
Game 1: we both mull to 6, I disrupt his hand, and cast herder he lets the process trigger resolve then attempts to mana leak, i sac the scions in resp and have a 4/5. Herder and Vents go the distance with beats.
Game 2: I stick a crucible on 3 and eventually get him under a GQ lock, other highlights of this game include me warping wail a bribery and killing him with his own Celestial Colonnade and Ulamog for lethal.
2-0, 1-0
Rnd 2 vs. Justin - Burn, lose the roll.
Game 1: T2 i get to process a suspended rift bolt and kill a guide with strangler and surgical a bolt taking one from his hand, nearly turn the corner but he top decks a burn spell before i can close it out.
Game 2: Similar situation I'm nearly stabilized just need to fade 1 draw step before i get my vents online, it doesn't happen.
0-2, 1-1
Rnd 3 vs. Dominic - Living End, win the roll
Game 1: I keep a low curve(greedy) 1 land hand with relic and map, eventually I get there, warping wail creates a scion and he goes for living end forgetting scion can be sac'd to blow up the relic, it doesn't end well.
Game 2: relic again puts in work, he ignot chewers the first, but there is a second in hand. Lingering souls puts in work.
2-0, 2-1
Rnd 4 vs. Arthur - Jund, win the roll.
Game 1: Mull to 6, Pia and Kiran do work against me and I feel like I'm asleep at the wheel making misplays, focus.
Game 2: Opponent mulls to 6, Early disruption even though I cut most of the discard and I curve out.
Game 3: I keep a hand with lands and spells, T1 he IoKs me and takes my relic, T1 i draw and play map and we're off the races. you can see the whole game here, it was broken up into three parts. part 1. part 2. part 3. During that match he pyroclasm's me and i sac my scions in resp the reason i didn't grab ulamog with eye in that case was because I thought he might have another thoughtseize, so i grabbed sower.
2-1, 3-1
Rnd 5 vs. Kyle - Grixis Delver, lose the roll.
Game 1: He is able to power out an early angler its welcomed by Path, Souls and relic do work.
Game 2: Super close, hes at 1 life i'm at 5, with 2 spirits and vents available, he thoughtscours into electrolyze into terminate, take it in stride.
Game 3: This is a grind fest, but you know whats a grindy card? lingering souls, game goes to turns and on my last turn 8 souls go over the top for the win.
2-1, 4-1
Rnd 6 vs. Jack – Boggles, lose the roll.
Game 1: I’m in the dark and I get steam rolled by a 6/6 pro creature trample boggle.
Game 2: Spellskite in the opener, I GQ his Horizon Canopy and the surgical it (there are only so many dead cards you can take out against them) to turn on blight herder. Blight beats close it out.
Game 3: Spellskite, discard , disenchant and ratchet bomb. I’m down to 8 before I’m able to stablize with ratchet bomb, he gets his rancor back and plays the Kor, goes to target it and I Path in resp. herder and sower team up with skite back up and we close it out.
2-1, 5-1
At this point standings are posted and I’m currently in 7th with 15 points and solid breakers, but there is someone with 13 points and amazing breakers that threaten to kick out one of the two other players with 15 points. My opponent is one of those so I’m not afforded the opportunity to draw in to the top 8.
Rnd 7 vs. Yichao – Affinity, lose the roll.
Game 1: Mull to 5, He has the nut draw, my t3 souls aren’t fast enough its over before it really ever began.
Game 2: T2 stony silence, and man land beats with disruption finish it.
Game 3: he has a strong open, but t2 I disenchant one of his man lands, T3 I cast flaying tendrils he opts to put a counter on hangarback walker, sure but its exiled. Herder and sower tag team to close it out.
2-1, 6-1
After the 7 rounds of swiss I’m first place the top 8 consists of the following in order: BW Eldrazi, Ajundi, Infect, UR Delver, Affinity, Naya Company, Burn & Ad Nauseam. I Personally feel the Ad Nauseam match up isn’t bad by any stretch especially with 7 MD ways to interact with their hand in 3 IoK, 2 TS & 3 TKS, and the ability to interact favorably with lotus. My only loss is in top 8 as well.
Quarter Finals vs. Keith – Ad Nauseam, elect to be on the play.
Game 1: Hes at 9 I’ve been tearing apart his hand and have lethal on board hes left to the mercy of his top decks, he casts angel’s grace and we’re on to game 2.
Game 2: Mull to 6, Keep the following with my opponent on the fence if hes going to mull (I feel hes deciding if a ok hand with leyline will be good enough, and I was right) : Urborg, Thoughtseize, Surgical, Map, Disenchant & wasteland. Scry leaving vents on the top. I need to draw non come into play tap land by T3 or else its over. Its over. Had I drawn any non tap land I could’ve disenchanted his leyline, thought seized his ad nauseam and extracted it. Them the breaks.
I just want to say warping wail was the MVP of the day, stopped a bribery, exiled cliques/snapcasters/bobs/robots/delvers
Great tournament overall, all of my opponents were gracious and I really appreciated that. Left with some cash in my pocket so I feel great after possibly not being able to play due to the cap; lesson learned pre register!! If you’re in Chicagoland they’ve got another 2k coming up at the end of February and MTGcardmarket are great hosts.
Have you tested seagate? this is a midrange deck that grinds, you will often be left card less, sea gate is gas. Vault is a great card but its better suited if you're going to include Timely in the board. 3 MD GQ means the probability of having it on T3 against tron is nearly 43% thats not taking into account map activations, bumping GQ to 4 MD your probability goes up to nearly 10% to me it isn't worth adding additional GQ for that match up in particular when Sea gate (or vault) would be better served in that spot.
I disagree with you on Tendrills, You shouldn't be brining this card in against decks like Zoo, its there from tokens, elves and merfolk. Shambling Vents is what gives this deck a fair match up against Zoo and Burn, from reading your comments I have a hard time believing you've actually tested this list or cards out extensively, if you haven't thats fine, but you're theory crafting. I strongly encourage you to go and watch Magus or Watchwolf's streams because they're playing incredibly similar lists and consistently putting up results with cards you've brought into question.
As for EE over Ratchet bomb, in what world are you getting EE to 3? more often you're playing EE for sunburst 0 and best case scenario if need be sacing on 2, bomb fufills the same role with offering much more upside., the only difference is if you're sunbursting for 1 and sacing on 2, your a turn behind with bomb; but again upside, I make that trade off everyday and twice on sunday. EE is a great cards but ratchet bomb is better suited in this deck for its utility and upside.
I wouldn't go so far as to say that Caves will need to be a 4 of. It'll be in the lists for sure but if you've read Frank Karsten "How Many Colored Mana Sources Do You Need to Consistently Cast Your Spells?" article you should be money. Below is my list that I'll be playing in a 2k a day after oath drops.
1 Spellskite
2 Wasteland Strangler
2 Thought-Knot Seer
4 Blight Herder
3 Oblivion Sower
1 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
Instant (7)
4 Path to Exile
2 Warping Wail
1 Slaughter Pact
Sorcery (9)
4 Lingering Souls
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 Thoughtseize
Artifacts (6)
4 Relic of Progenitus
2 Expedition Map
2 Marsh Flats
2 Godless Shrine
4 Eldrazi Temple
2 Eye of Ugin
2 Swamp
1 Plains
3 Ghost Quarter
2 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
3 Shambling Vent
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Sea Gate Wreckage
2 Caves of Koilos
3 Rest for the Weary
2 Stony Silence
2 Disenchant
2 Celestial Purge
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Ratchet Bomb
1 Flaying Tendrils
1 Memoricide
1 Crucible of worlds
This deck has 14
1 Spellskite
2 Wasteland Strangler
2 Thought-Knot Seer
4 Blight Herder
3 Oblivion Sower
1 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
Instant (7)
4 Path to Exile
2 Warping Wail
1 Slaughter Pact
Sorcery (9)
4 Lingering Souls
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 Thoughtseize
Artifacts (6)
4 Relic of Progenitus
2 Expedition Map
2 Marsh Flats
2 Godless Shrine
4 Eldrazi Temple
2 Eye of Ugin
2 Swamp
1 Plains
3 Ghost Quarter
2 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
3 Shambling Vent
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Sea Gate Wreckage
2 Caves of Koilos
3 Rest for the Weary
2 Stony Silence
2 Disenchant
2 Celestial Purge
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Ratchet Bomb
1 Flaying Tendrils
1 Memoricide
1 Crucible of worlds
Creatures:
I think splitting wasteland and thought-knot makes sense because of seer's upside and ability to come down on the same turn as wasteland, also because they're likely competing for the same spot. Herder and Sower are 1A & 1B in this deck but adding MD Spellskite makes a lot of sense in shoring up some of our challenging match ups while reinforcing others, I prefer going wide and coming down earlier so cutting 1 Sower makes sense to me.
Spells:
I already professed my love of Izzet charm. I think Warping Wail will provide a ton of utility in this deck and Go for the throat often felt as the flex spot in this deck. Being able to exile the majority of moderns most played creatures, in addition to stoping scapeshift/wrath/scrying/pyroclasm and having lili edict protection or a chump and EOT acceleration into sower or Ulamog screams MD.
Manabase:
Colorless matters and in order to cast Warping Wail and Seer and activate wreckage we're going to remake the base. As others have posted Frank Karsten article about constructing a manabase in order to hit colors at 90% probability on curve is huge. The manabase posted above in addition to map and relic acting as "fragile mana producers" & "cantrips" provides us with the following sources and (virtual sources). T1
Sideboard:
I don't think Timely or Rest is the wrong call, it just comes down to additional deck construction(vault) and play preference. I believe you should be playing one of ratchet bomb or EE, if the plan is to take out tokens both options activate on T2, I like the upside ratchet gives you since you often can't sunburst for 3 unless you have two basics and a moon is out or you've taken an additional basic with Sower. Flaying Tendrils is an upgrade over drown and answers a lot of decks cleanly. Memorcide is great against the mirror/Tron/Amulet/Scapeshift/Ad etc. Surgical comes in against similar decks as Memorcide. Matt and others discussion and usage of crucible was spot on, its great against Tron/Amulet but also against mid range decks trying to molten or fulminator you out, also GBx should be removing their Decays against you SB.
I agree I think it makes the cut in mono or BR aggressive build of eldrazi but its going to compete with Strangler & Thought-Knot Seer in the BW version.
Thats fair, I just see the ability to stop a crumble / molten as very nice insurance or ramp into a t3 sower when we don't have three sol lands / no land drop as a huge advantage, plus turning on processing is always nice. Again it'll have to tested extensively but I think it'll make the cut MD.