Basically, 4 flex slots in the main are what I am still considering. To make it totally streamlined, I would probably need:
1x Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
1x Fatal Push/Thoughtseize
2x (Token Generator)
So far, I still dont feel like removing Lili entirely from the deck, but I believe having a way to end the game (like Gideon) might be more relevant in multiple occasions. Cast out is a card I want to try, and is taking the spot of a push currently. With the creature-heavy meta, this might be the wrong choice, but wanted to try it first. For the 2 other slots, I need token generators. 13 generators is where I feel the deck works better, and LL and Spectral can be very good. I might go up to 3 Start//Finish, to compensate for the loss of the 3rd push (in favour of cast out), or even a 4th one, to make it even more stream-lined.
SB-wise, very simple strategy:
Against creatures: ZP + 2 Wrath, 2 Collective Brutalities (5 cards)
Against control and combo: 2 Collective Brutalities, 3 Surgical Extraction (5 cards)
Against GY: 2 Rip, 3 Surgical (5 cards)
Against Artifacts: 3 Stony, 2 Disenchant (5 cards)
Any variations of the above archetypes (which I think are the most typical ones) will yield SB techs which are combinations of the ones shown. Having (at least) 5 cards for any kind of matchup feels really powerful. Mainly thanks to collective brutality. What a card that is.
Guys, back from Stockholm. The GP was really bad in terms of results since I went 1-3 drop (might as well do some tourism). Won against KCI round 1 and then I got gotten by 8rack, elves, and modular. All of them super close matches. The deck didnt feel weak at all. But all the matches were the same: excellent job at disrupting initial turns, and couldnt deploy a menace afterwards, so they could rebuild.
The only thing I would change is the 1-of damping sphere. I am looking at a 3rd wrath effect (ZP could be a good option too) or something else like a mindcensor or similar.
Agreed on that. Also, after checking the spreadsheet, it seems runed halo is not very well positioned in the current meta.
PS: I have added some scaling based on how good or bad the MU is (last column). High numbers in the main mean that we take a high number of cards out in bad matchups (so basically they are dead game 1). High numbers in the SB mean that we use this card against bad matchups, so I guess they have more impact in the game. I have been quite conservative with win-rates.
Next step is to include the share of the meta that each deck represents.
Well, if they have nothing I can take in hand, at least that means no pact, which is probably what you wanna see (that and no tolaria west). The rest of the cards are slower, and killing the snake clearly makes them slower, allowing us to find some extra interaction.
If I draw it t5 is going to be horrible. But so will IoK, TS (if they get a baloth). That doesnt mean they are bad cards in the MU.
If they play t1 amulet, then we are screwed. But t1 amulet means t2 azusa into pact for titan (or directly titan) if they have 3 bounce lands. So we are screwed anyway I guess... We really wanna dodge that amulet, regardless of CB, or anything else.
What about runed halo? If we name titan? do they have a way to win? Other than rec sage for runed halo and titan after that?
Anyway, I guess my best bet is hope not to play against it. It is a super small portion of the metagame (I am jinxing myself right here)
However, discarding Pact from their hand is a LOT less efficinet than dealing with it in other ways. First up it's an instant, they can just cast it in respone if they want to. At that point your CB will likely just fizzle.
Killing their enablers is nice, but not necesary. If you spend your early turns on just that, you won't actually bother them that much. They don't need their enablers to combo. Sure, it'll slow them down by a turn or so (it will also slow you down), but getting their first Titan on 3 or on 5 doesn't matter as much vs a slow deck like ours.
Additionally, Sakura-Tribe Scout will usually activate in response to your removal anyway, so they get the land they wanted. With Asuza, the problem is that they drop 3 lands on the turn they play her, after that she's done her job. She'll be nice to have and make them more dangerous, as they can then do bounce shananigans with Radiant Fountain or Bojuka Bog etc. but the actual getting closer to 6 mana part is already done if you plan to remove her at sorcery speed.
If I play CB t2, I am killing the snake (without activation) and taking the pact (they wont have the mana to pay for it). Agreed azusa is a pain in the ass once she lands, but, well... that is life. (Trick here: if they play a bounce land as first azusa-land, you can kill her in response to the trigger of the bounce land. Lands entering the battlefield dont stack, but this effect does. This way you prevent them from playing the 2nd and 3rd extra land. Same is true for radiant fountain and any other land triggering something).
IDK, clearly I dont have your experience with the MU, but still feels like CB could be good.
I have updated a bit the sheet, to evaluate which cards have the best performance across the meta. I try to determine which cards are consistently good in the main, i.e., independently of the MU, and which are not as robust mainboard inclusions. For the SB, I try to determine which are the cards we make more use of, not based on the number we run, but on the MUs they are good against.
These results are list-specific, but you can extract your own conclusions by substituting your list in the spreadsheet.
MOST ROBUST MAINBOARD CARDS:
Lingering souls (surprise), Gideon, Intangible virtue, Start//finish.
LESS ROBUST MAINBOARD CARDS:
Fatal Push, collective brutality, Legions landing, Liliana of the veil. (Well, those are our flex spots, so I guess it makes a lot of sense)
MOST USED SB CARDS:
Wraths, Pithing needle, Extraction
LEAST USED SB CARDS:
Stony Silence, Damping sphere, Rest in Peace, Blessed Alliance
Worst cards in the main are basically our flexspots. It makes sense that they are so, because they are basically meta calls, and will depend on the MU. This means that the core of the deck has been very well established. Kind of surprised to see Start//Finish up there. I knew the card was great, but the math is unexpectedly favourable for the card.
Even if Stony Silence is the card we use the least of our SB. I still think it is correct to use 3 copies, because we need it early in the game, and when it works, it works good. Surprised to see Pithing needle so high. If I were to substitute a card, I might replace a damping sphere for another needle. Still have a couple days to think about this.
I have been thinking about the MU and I got to some conclusions. Let me know what you think:
- Pithing needle on tolaria west seems insane. Turns their best land into their worse. We could also name the snake, ballista, zakama, or EE, for instance. I have seen lists that run Ugin!
- Brutality is also very good I would say. Kills are their enablers AND lets us take a pact from their hand. ALso takes all the additional wraths they bring in post-board. I think is a true nightmare for them. Can even take a spell pierce!!
(note that with these two, we have disabled their main 2 engines. If they draw explosives or the creature they need anyway, then gg)
- Not sure we want so many surgical effects. While they are good combined with discard are good, maybe 3 is too much.
- I agree that disenchant is a bit too narrow. I prefer to rely on discard t1 rather than disenchant. If they play the amulet t1 on the play, disenchant might be too late anyway.
- Damping sphere is good against them. full stop.
I think the strategy I would follow is:
OUT: 3 fatal push, 1 Legions landing. The latter being not too bad, but still worse than the SB cards we are using.
IN: 1 pithing needle, 1 damping sphere, 2 surgical extractions
Dude, that is great! thanks a lot. I think I have only played once against this deck. I remember they played a pact in response to my Lili +1, fetched a baloth and put it into play. Op was proud and thought he had taken over the game with that play. I played damping sphere as continuation, and when he tried to pay for the pact, he discovered one of his lands was a dual. 3 lands in total = no mana for pact. GGs. Salt was everywhere
I am working on a SB guide for my list. I have all the most relevant MUs sorted in columns and the strategy reflected in the table. If I am missing some relevant deck in the modern scene, tip me off please Link:
Currently, draw/play has not been taken into account, as I dont think it really matters that much. I would appreciate commets on that point.
The last column on the right tells how many times a certain card is switched out/in (notice that cards with more copies in the deck will show higher numbers here, but might be taken out in less MUs. I should probably weigh that somehow). I can infer how relevant a certain SB card is, and which cards in my main are weaker to the current meta. I would also appreciate some opinions on that.
Finally, and actually most importantly, let me know what do you think about the strategies for each MUs. Most of them are clear, but, well, criticism is always welcome. I would LOVE TO HAVE SOME FEEDBACK on the strategies before GP Stockholm (this weekend)
Feel free to take the spreadsheet as template for your own decks, but dont expect anything too fancy.
I will try to summarise my main points for/against spectral:
PROS Spectral:
- 3 mana = 3 tokens, great value
- tokens fly
- spectral into sorin is nuts
PROS Start:
- INSTANT SPEED is huuuuuuuge! Board-wipe? ok. EOT, Start. Attack for 4 with my virtue. players really dont expect this. We play all our other tokens at sorcery speed, so this option, includes another thing that opponents need to consider in their turn. This (I repeat) is HUUUUGE!
- 1 more mana for a removal spell that takes on (very close to) ANY creature in modern? Any day of the week. I cant count the number of creatures I have killed with finish.
- No problems with GQ. This allows our game to be soooo much more consistent when running colorless lands in our hand. GQ is a key card in my deck, I consider.
Also, vigilance in the tokens is, quite often, relevant (more than I had expected). I guess echoing truth effects get worse if we diversify our tokens (never had to face this problem, though). I see the power of spectral, dont get me wrong, but since I play Start/Finish I have felt a very significant improvement in the deck. We can talk all day long, but I guess it is a matter of feelings, and probably which shell are you running. More aggresive versions will be favoured by spectral, and more controllish versions by Start.
Hi guys, yesterday I took part in a PPTQ event. Short report of the rounds:
31 people, 5 rounds. In the signature you will find a link to the list.
Round 1: 2-1 against Jund
This matchup is really good. He played really well turn 2 but they struggle a lot jsut to get close to winning. Nevertheless, Jund is a very real deck, and we need to play tight to actually be on the lead.
IN: 2 Wraths
OUT: 2 Collective Brutality
Round 2: 2-1 against BW Superfriends
This deck tries to be a tokens deck, but based on PW, way more than us. They play a lot of sweepers (main and postboard), and even a Cleansing Nova that wrecked all my enchantments game 1. Still, if you wanna get grindy, it is hard to out-grind tokens.
IN: 2 Pithing Needle, 1 Wrath of God + 1 Damnation
Round 3: 1-2 against RG prison/dragons/ponza
Not sure about how to name the deck. Game 1 he caught me under the Blood Moon. I had a plains so I could do things, but then he managed to get me bad. Game 2 was simple superb. Disrupt, assemble tokens, pathpathpath, disenchant moon, attack for 12 in the air. GG. The guy was very impressed. Game 3 turned into a grind fest, which all the tournament ended up watching for fun (as it was the last match to finish). Amazing game full of ups and downs. I got to a critical point where I had Liliana of the Veil and Gideon, ally of zendikar on the table and active. protected by 3 tokens, while they had 1 creature. They topdecked a BBE into Fiery Justice dealing 4 damage to the tokens (killing them) and one to Gideon, who was at 4. Then they attacked with 2 BBE and killed both my PW and leave my board empty. Totally reversed the game there. Had they drawn a land, I would have won the match, easy. I could kill their creatures and their chandra thanks to Bitterblossom, but then I spent 5 turns attacking with my Shambling vent, and drawing lands. Only needed a token generator, but the gods of magic didnt give it to me. A pity to line 6 lands on a row after all the thing happening in the matchup, but, well, ***** happens.
IN: 2 Disenchant
OUT: 2 Legion´s Landing
Round 4: 0-2 against Hollow One
The guy told me that it was gonna be a good matchup for me. I disagreed deeply, and apparently I wasnt too far from the truth. He trampled over my poor tokens. Didnt see any SB in game 2. I made a mistake playing a tapped land when I needed it untapped, and made things worse. I am not sure I could have won by doing what I wanted to, but it would have been closer, for sure. First time playing against Hollow One though, so I took some notes:
- We need to mulligan a bit more aggresively to find GY hate. A good tokens hand is most of the times not enough, because they dont care about our
early disruption.
- Always pay attention to beginning of combat: the phoenixes are a thing.
- Control the big hitters, then their small ones, and lastly their GY (as a rule of thumb, but if you have a clear chance to take on the GY, go for
it).
I will be practicing a bit this MUs, which are unfortunately not common in my LGS.
IN: 3 Extractions, 1 Rest in Peace, 1 Wrath of God, 1 Blessed alliance (next time I will leave the alliace out for the other wrath.
OUT: 2 Liliana of the veil, 3 Thoughtseize, 1 Collective Brutality
Round 5: 2-1 against burn
I think that with the new inclusion of Legion´s Landing and the 3rd Sorin, Solemn Visitor the MU has become much better for me. Game 2 he won on the classical burn outrage against a kind of meh hand I had. The other games felt really good and I was able to gain a ton of life with 1/1 lifelinkers. He never really had a chance, especially when I Iok away his Ensnaring Bridge
IN: 2 Blessed Alliance, 2 Disenchant
OUT: 3 Bitterblossom, 1 Thoughtseize
Finally, 3-2. It could have easily been a 4-1, but variance didnt want to (it felt very bad to lose to this guy, because he was very annoying).
I am very happy with how the deck performed and the one thing I am still thinking about for GP Stockholm are the 2 slots I dedicate in SB for Blessed Alliance. Sure they grant an edge against Death´s shadow, infect, eldrazi, or bogles. The first 2 are already excellent MUs anyway, and the two latter are not so played anymore. Burn feels like we dont really need those slots so badly. I am thiking about boarding something else instead in there. Something that can maybe help us with the new explosive decks appearing in modern: Hardened scales (the 1st and 2nd positions in the swiss were for this deck).
Ideas? I am considering:
- Zealous Persecution, for thopters, GY recurrent creatures, spirits...
- Runed Halo, for valakut and similar combos
- Ghostly Prison could be awesome against all these decks.
Any tips on the SB or in general are appreciated. If you guys have any experience with the new emerging decks in modern, I would also appreciate that.
Heeeeyyy!!! nice to see such a good result with a so similar list. I truly believe is the best implementation of tokens so far. Of course, I might be biased for how cool I consider myself
Jokes apart, congrats for the final! As a brief comment, and although it turned out super fine for you, I believe that, considering the amoount of UW control decks around, pithing is a must have in the SB. If your local meta doesnt match that, then I would be okay removing it. Also Engineered explosives sees play in many different decks. I thing I will be packing a couple in my SB for Stockholm.
2-1 against BW superfriends
A more PW-based version of our deck. I grindy games, we are the best.
IN: Pithing needle
OUT: Lilianas
2-1 against Jund
No sideboard. Game 2, he could take over after I mulliganed and he stuck a Lili, the last hope. Otherwise easy.
1-2 against 4C shadow
This is usually a very good matchup. But the draws were just not great. I drew many lands and 1 token generator in one of the games... Crazy. I guess ***** happens sometimes.
IN: Blessed alliance, RiP
OUT: collective brutality, 1 legions landing
1-2 against knightfall creatures
deck featuring knight of the reliquary, Collected company and so on. Game one I resisted with BB but couldnt find a lifegain source to take over the game. Game two I made him discard very heavy and couldnt keep up. Game 3 I made a dumb mistake by not playing tokens and hoping to draw a land next turn for damnation. I had a bit of bad luck, but I definitely should have chumped while I could.
IN: Damnation, Wrath, 1 Pithing, 1 Surgical
OUT: Lilis, Legions Landing
After the match, i should have brought a disenchant or 2 instead of the needle and/or the surgical because of Worship.
Not really happy about the results. But I feel deaths shadow is definitely one of our best matchups, hands down. Was just bad luck. CoCo decks are sometimes too explosive for us if we dont stop them quickly. Leasons learnt, and keep going
2-1 against BW superfriends
A more PW-based version of our deck. I grindy games, we are the best.
IN: Pithing needle
OUT: Lilianas
2-1 against Jund
No sideboard. Game 2, he could take over after I mulliganed and he stuck a Lili, the last hope. Otherwise easy.
1-2 against 4C shadow
This is usually a very good matchup. But the draws were just not great. I drew many lands and 1 token generator in one of the games... Crazy. I guess ***** happens sometimes.
IN: Blessed alliance, RiP
OUT: collective brutality, 1 legions landing
1-2 against knightfall creatures
deck featuring knight of the reliquary, Collected company and so on. Game one I resisted with BB but couldnt find a lifegain source to take over the game. Game two I made him discard very heavy and couldnt keep up. Game 3 I made a dumb mistake by not playing tokens and hoping to draw a land next turn for damnation. I had a bit of bad luck, but I definitely should have chumped while I could.
IN: Damnation, Wrath, 1 Pithing, 1 Surgical
OUT: Lilis, Legions Landing
After the match, i should have brought a disenchant or 2 instead of the needle and/or the surgical because of Worship.
Not really happy about the results. But I feel deaths shadow is definitely one of our best matchups, hands down. Was just bad luck. CoCo decks are sometimes too explosive for us if we dont stop them quickly. Leasons learnt, and keep going
4x Lingering Souls
2x Start
1x Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
4x Intangible Virtue
3x Sorin, Solemn Visitor
3x Inquisition of Kozilek
3x Thoughtseize
2x Collective Brutality
2x Fatal Push
4x Path to Exile
1x Liliana of the Veil
1x Cast Out
1x Legion's Landing
1x Spectral Procession
2x Godless Shrine
4x Concealed Courtyard
4x Marsh Flats
2x Plains
1x Polluted Delta
3x Shambling Vent
2x Swamp
1x Vault of the Archangel
2x Windswept Heath
2x Collective Brutality
2x Disenchant
3x Stony Silence
2x Rest in Peace
3x Surgical Extraction
1x Zealous Persecution
1x Wrath of God
1x Damnation
Basically, 4 flex slots in the main are what I am still considering. To make it totally streamlined, I would probably need:
1x Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
1x Fatal Push/Thoughtseize
2x (Token Generator)
So far, I still dont feel like removing Lili entirely from the deck, but I believe having a way to end the game (like Gideon) might be more relevant in multiple occasions. Cast out is a card I want to try, and is taking the spot of a push currently. With the creature-heavy meta, this might be the wrong choice, but wanted to try it first. For the 2 other slots, I need token generators. 13 generators is where I feel the deck works better, and LL and Spectral can be very good. I might go up to 3 Start//Finish, to compensate for the loss of the 3rd push (in favour of cast out), or even a 4th one, to make it even more stream-lined.
SB-wise, very simple strategy:
Against creatures: ZP + 2 Wrath, 2 Collective Brutalities (5 cards)
Against control and combo: 2 Collective Brutalities, 3 Surgical Extraction (5 cards)
Against GY: 2 Rip, 3 Surgical (5 cards)
Against Artifacts: 3 Stony, 2 Disenchant (5 cards)
Any variations of the above archetypes (which I think are the most typical ones) will yield SB techs which are combinations of the ones shown. Having (at least) 5 cards for any kind of matchup feels really powerful. Mainly thanks to collective brutality. What a card that is.
Thoughts are very much welcome! Thanks
The only thing I would change is the 1-of damping sphere. I am looking at a 3rd wrath effect (ZP could be a good option too) or something else like a mindcensor or similar.
PS: I have added some scaling based on how good or bad the MU is (last column). High numbers in the main mean that we take a high number of cards out in bad matchups (so basically they are dead game 1). High numbers in the SB mean that we use this card against bad matchups, so I guess they have more impact in the game. I have been quite conservative with win-rates.
Next step is to include the share of the meta that each deck represents.
If I draw it t5 is going to be horrible. But so will IoK, TS (if they get a baloth). That doesnt mean they are bad cards in the MU.
If they play t1 amulet, then we are screwed. But t1 amulet means t2 azusa into pact for titan (or directly titan) if they have 3 bounce lands. So we are screwed anyway I guess... We really wanna dodge that amulet, regardless of CB, or anything else.
What about runed halo? If we name titan? do they have a way to win? Other than rec sage for runed halo and titan after that?
Anyway, I guess my best bet is hope not to play against it. It is a super small portion of the metagame (I am jinxing myself right here)
If I play CB t2, I am killing the snake (without activation) and taking the pact (they wont have the mana to pay for it). Agreed azusa is a pain in the ass once she lands, but, well... that is life. (Trick here: if they play a bounce land as first azusa-land, you can kill her in response to the trigger of the bounce land. Lands entering the battlefield dont stack, but this effect does. This way you prevent them from playing the 2nd and 3rd extra land. Same is true for radiant fountain and any other land triggering something).
IDK, clearly I dont have your experience with the MU, but still feels like CB could be good.
These results are list-specific, but you can extract your own conclusions by substituting your list in the spreadsheet.
MOST ROBUST MAINBOARD CARDS:
Lingering souls (surprise), Gideon, Intangible virtue, Start//finish.
LESS ROBUST MAINBOARD CARDS:
Fatal Push, collective brutality, Legions landing, Liliana of the veil. (Well, those are our flex spots, so I guess it makes a lot of sense)
MOST USED SB CARDS:
Wraths, Pithing needle, Extraction
LEAST USED SB CARDS:
Stony Silence, Damping sphere, Rest in Peace, Blessed Alliance
Worst cards in the main are basically our flexspots. It makes sense that they are so, because they are basically meta calls, and will depend on the MU. This means that the core of the deck has been very well established. Kind of surprised to see Start//Finish up there. I knew the card was great, but the math is unexpectedly favourable for the card.
Even if Stony Silence is the card we use the least of our SB. I still think it is correct to use 3 copies, because we need it early in the game, and when it works, it works good. Surprised to see Pithing needle so high. If I were to substitute a card, I might replace a damping sphere for another needle. Still have a couple days to think about this.
How about you guys? surprised?
- Pithing needle on tolaria west seems insane. Turns their best land into their worse. We could also name the snake, ballista, zakama, or EE, for instance. I have seen lists that run Ugin!
- Brutality is also very good I would say. Kills are their enablers AND lets us take a pact from their hand. ALso takes all the additional wraths they bring in post-board. I think is a true nightmare for them. Can even take a spell pierce!!
(note that with these two, we have disabled their main 2 engines. If they draw explosives or the creature they need anyway, then gg)
- Not sure we want so many surgical effects. While they are good combined with discard are good, maybe 3 is too much.
- I agree that disenchant is a bit too narrow. I prefer to rely on discard t1 rather than disenchant. If they play the amulet t1 on the play, disenchant might be too late anyway.
- Damping sphere is good against them. full stop.
I think the strategy I would follow is:
OUT: 3 fatal push, 1 Legions landing. The latter being not too bad, but still worse than the SB cards we are using.
IN: 1 pithing needle, 1 damping sphere, 2 surgical extractions
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1D2_R_PZ5mumJMGYIpTEozUFFJ99DlhRDpWg8Z-rj0Gk/edit?usp=sharing (I hope it works)
Currently, draw/play has not been taken into account, as I dont think it really matters that much. I would appreciate commets on that point.
The last column on the right tells how many times a certain card is switched out/in (notice that cards with more copies in the deck will show higher numbers here, but might be taken out in less MUs. I should probably weigh that somehow). I can infer how relevant a certain SB card is, and which cards in my main are weaker to the current meta. I would also appreciate some opinions on that.
Finally, and actually most importantly, let me know what do you think about the strategies for each MUs. Most of them are clear, but, well, criticism is always welcome. I would LOVE TO HAVE SOME FEEDBACK on the strategies before GP Stockholm (this weekend)
Feel free to take the spreadsheet as template for your own decks, but dont expect anything too fancy.
Thanks a lot guys!
PROS Spectral:
- 3 mana = 3 tokens, great value
- tokens fly
- spectral into sorin is nuts
PROS Start:
- INSTANT SPEED is huuuuuuuge! Board-wipe? ok. EOT, Start. Attack for 4 with my virtue. players really dont expect this. We play all our other tokens at sorcery speed, so this option, includes another thing that opponents need to consider in their turn. This (I repeat) is HUUUUGE!
- 1 more mana for a removal spell that takes on (very close to) ANY creature in modern? Any day of the week. I cant count the number of creatures I have killed with finish.
- No problems with GQ. This allows our game to be soooo much more consistent when running colorless lands in our hand. GQ is a key card in my deck, I consider.
Also, vigilance in the tokens is, quite often, relevant (more than I had expected). I guess echoing truth effects get worse if we diversify our tokens (never had to face this problem, though). I see the power of spectral, dont get me wrong, but since I play Start/Finish I have felt a very significant improvement in the deck. We can talk all day long, but I guess it is a matter of feelings, and probably which shell are you running. More aggresive versions will be favoured by spectral, and more controllish versions by Start.
31 people, 5 rounds. In the signature you will find a link to the list.
Round 1: 2-1 against Jund
This matchup is really good. He played really well turn 2 but they struggle a lot jsut to get close to winning. Nevertheless, Jund is a very real deck, and we need to play tight to actually be on the lead.
IN: 2 Wraths
OUT: 2 Collective Brutality
Round 2: 2-1 against BW Superfriends
This deck tries to be a tokens deck, but based on PW, way more than us. They play a lot of sweepers (main and postboard), and even a Cleansing Nova that wrecked all my enchantments game 1. Still, if you wanna get grindy, it is hard to out-grind tokens.
IN: 2 Pithing Needle, 1 Wrath of God + 1 Damnation
Round 3: 1-2 against RG prison/dragons/ponza
Not sure about how to name the deck. Game 1 he caught me under the Blood Moon. I had a plains so I could do things, but then he managed to get me bad. Game 2 was simple superb. Disrupt, assemble tokens, pathpathpath, disenchant moon, attack for 12 in the air. GG. The guy was very impressed. Game 3 turned into a grind fest, which all the tournament ended up watching for fun (as it was the last match to finish). Amazing game full of ups and downs. I got to a critical point where I had Liliana of the Veil and Gideon, ally of zendikar on the table and active. protected by 3 tokens, while they had 1 creature. They topdecked a BBE into Fiery Justice dealing 4 damage to the tokens (killing them) and one to Gideon, who was at 4. Then they attacked with 2 BBE and killed both my PW and leave my board empty. Totally reversed the game there. Had they drawn a land, I would have won the match, easy. I could kill their creatures and their chandra thanks to Bitterblossom, but then I spent 5 turns attacking with my Shambling vent, and drawing lands. Only needed a token generator, but the gods of magic didnt give it to me. A pity to line 6 lands on a row after all the thing happening in the matchup, but, well, ***** happens.
IN: 2 Disenchant
OUT: 2 Legion´s Landing
Round 4: 0-2 against Hollow One
The guy told me that it was gonna be a good matchup for me. I disagreed deeply, and apparently I wasnt too far from the truth. He trampled over my poor tokens. Didnt see any SB in game 2. I made a mistake playing a tapped land when I needed it untapped, and made things worse. I am not sure I could have won by doing what I wanted to, but it would have been closer, for sure. First time playing against Hollow One though, so I took some notes:
- We need to mulligan a bit more aggresively to find GY hate. A good tokens hand is most of the times not enough, because they dont care about our
early disruption.
- Always pay attention to beginning of combat: the phoenixes are a thing.
- Control the big hitters, then their small ones, and lastly their GY (as a rule of thumb, but if you have a clear chance to take on the GY, go for
it).
I will be practicing a bit this MUs, which are unfortunately not common in my LGS.
IN: 3 Extractions, 1 Rest in Peace, 1 Wrath of God, 1 Blessed alliance (next time I will leave the alliace out for the other wrath.
OUT: 2 Liliana of the veil, 3 Thoughtseize, 1 Collective Brutality
Round 5: 2-1 against burn
I think that with the new inclusion of Legion´s Landing and the 3rd Sorin, Solemn Visitor the MU has become much better for me. Game 2 he won on the classical burn outrage against a kind of meh hand I had. The other games felt really good and I was able to gain a ton of life with 1/1 lifelinkers. He never really had a chance, especially when I Iok away his Ensnaring Bridge
IN: 2 Blessed Alliance, 2 Disenchant
OUT: 3 Bitterblossom, 1 Thoughtseize
Finally, 3-2. It could have easily been a 4-1, but variance didnt want to (it felt very bad to lose to this guy, because he was very annoying).
I am very happy with how the deck performed and the one thing I am still thinking about for GP Stockholm are the 2 slots I dedicate in SB for Blessed Alliance. Sure they grant an edge against Death´s shadow, infect, eldrazi, or bogles. The first 2 are already excellent MUs anyway, and the two latter are not so played anymore. Burn feels like we dont really need those slots so badly. I am thiking about boarding something else instead in there. Something that can maybe help us with the new explosive decks appearing in modern: Hardened scales (the 1st and 2nd positions in the swiss were for this deck).
Ideas? I am considering:
- Zealous Persecution, for thopters, GY recurrent creatures, spirits...
- Runed Halo, for valakut and similar combos
- Ghostly Prison could be awesome against all these decks.
Any tips on the SB or in general are appreciated. If you guys have any experience with the new emerging decks in modern, I would also appreciate that.
THANKS!!!
Jokes apart, congrats for the final! As a brief comment, and although it turned out super fine for you, I believe that, considering the amoount of UW control decks around, pithing is a must have in the SB. If your local meta doesnt match that, then I would be okay removing it. Also Engineered explosives sees play in many different decks. I thing I will be packing a couple in my SB for Stockholm.
EDIT: ah! and Walking ballistas!
2-1 against BW superfriends
A more PW-based version of our deck. I grindy games, we are the best.
IN: Pithing needle
OUT: Lilianas
2-1 against Jund
No sideboard. Game 2, he could take over after I mulliganed and he stuck a Lili, the last hope. Otherwise easy.
1-2 against 4C shadow
This is usually a very good matchup. But the draws were just not great. I drew many lands and 1 token generator in one of the games... Crazy. I guess ***** happens sometimes.
IN: Blessed alliance, RiP
OUT: collective brutality, 1 legions landing
1-2 against knightfall creatures
deck featuring knight of the reliquary, Collected company and so on. Game one I resisted with BB but couldnt find a lifegain source to take over the game. Game two I made him discard very heavy and couldnt keep up. Game 3 I made a dumb mistake by not playing tokens and hoping to draw a land next turn for damnation. I had a bit of bad luck, but I definitely should have chumped while I could.
IN: Damnation, Wrath, 1 Pithing, 1 Surgical
OUT: Lilis, Legions Landing
After the match, i should have brought a disenchant or 2 instead of the needle and/or the surgical because of Worship.
Not really happy about the results. But I feel deaths shadow is definitely one of our best matchups, hands down. Was just bad luck. CoCo decks are sometimes too explosive for us if we dont stop them quickly. Leasons learnt, and keep going
2-1 against BW superfriends
A more PW-based version of our deck. I grindy games, we are the best.
IN: Pithing needle
OUT: Lilianas
2-1 against Jund
No sideboard. Game 2, he could take over after I mulliganed and he stuck a Lili, the last hope. Otherwise easy.
1-2 against 4C shadow
This is usually a very good matchup. But the draws were just not great. I drew many lands and 1 token generator in one of the games... Crazy. I guess ***** happens sometimes.
IN: Blessed alliance, RiP
OUT: collective brutality, 1 legions landing
1-2 against knightfall creatures
deck featuring knight of the reliquary, Collected company and so on. Game one I resisted with BB but couldnt find a lifegain source to take over the game. Game two I made him discard very heavy and couldnt keep up. Game 3 I made a dumb mistake by not playing tokens and hoping to draw a land next turn for damnation. I had a bit of bad luck, but I definitely should have chumped while I could.
IN: Damnation, Wrath, 1 Pithing, 1 Surgical
OUT: Lilis, Legions Landing
After the match, i should have brought a disenchant or 2 instead of the needle and/or the surgical because of Worship.
Not really happy about the results. But I feel deaths shadow is definitely one of our best matchups, hands down. Was just bad luck. CoCo decks are sometimes too explosive for us if we dont stop them quickly. Leasons learnt, and keep going