Non-Creature Spells (8):
4x Path to Exile
4x Collected Company
Lands (21):
4x Windswept Heath
4x Flooded Strand
4x Cavern of Souls
1x Sacred Foundry
1x Breeding Pool
3x Plains
3x Forest
1x Island
Side Deck:
2x Fragmentise
2x Riders of Gavony
2x Meddling Mage
2x Celestial Purge
2x Lantern Scout
2x Mayor of Avabruck
1x Spellskite
1x Melira, Sylvok Outcast
1x Dromoka's Command
2-0 against Bant Eldrazi.
I won the dice roll and went first game 1. We both had amazing openings.
Turn 2 Thought Knot Seer was scary, but after turn 1 champion of the parish, having to choose between collected company, reflector mage, and Thalia's lieutenant was not a nice decision. He made me discard reflector mage, Thalia's lieutenant buffed Champion of the parish, I allowed him to attack, a few times, but collected company into double Thalia's lieutenants followed by a champion of the parish into another reflector mage and skyship plunderer created a wall wide enough that even drowners of hope weren't enough to get through, and spread out enough that even engineered explosives wouldn't cripple it. Eldrazi displacer was extremely awkward for him.
Game 2 was much less of a crushing victory. I didn't draw Riders of Gavony or Collected Company. However, I didn't lose right away either. Buffed Skyship Plunderer was scary enough to draw removal, and Champion of the Parish and Thalia's Lieutenant grew out of control. Three drowners of hope made closing it out without dying myself a bit tricky, but I got there.
0-2 against Through the Breach Combo
My opponent got his combo on turn 3 in both games. I had never seen anything like it, so I didn't realise that I needed to hold up mana for Path to Exile on the Primordial.
Game 2 I drew my meddling mage, but named the titan instead of through the breach. This was just classic inexperience (I only started playing modern last week). I do feel that I might be better sideboarding repel the abominable or more lantern scouts against this matchup though. Even with that horrible mistake, I still managed to get him down to 7 life. Drawing into either lantern scout or not throwing due to misunderstanding Through the Breach would have won me it.
1-0 against Soul Sisters
I should have been playing against burn, but she dropped. After 15 minutes, one of the other players talked to the judge about his missing opponent, and was told that his opponent dropped as well, so we just played each other for fun while we waited for the placings.
Turn 1: Soul Warden
Turn 1: Pass
Turn 2: Pass
Turn 2: Champion of the Parish, Noble Hierarch
Turn 3: Spectral Procession
Turn 3: Mantis Rider, attack, triple blocked by spirit tokens for mutual destruction
Turn 4: Serra Ascendant, Path to Exile Champion of the Parish
Turn 4: Collected Company: Mantis Rider and Eternal Witness (The dream!), return collected company to hand
Turn 5: Path to Exile Mantis Rider
Turn 5: Collected Company: Double Thalia's Lieutenants, Collected Company: Champion of the Parish, Thalia's Lieutenant
To be brief, he didn't draw any of his ways to turn lifegain into something that effects the board state other than eventually activating his Serra Ascendant. He lost the board hard, made the mistake of attacking with his Serra Ascendant leaving him completely open to taking 20 damage on the next turn, bringing her crashing down to earth again, and even if he had saved her to block, I had reflector mage in hand.
After we finished that game, due to starting late to give our opponents plenty of time to show up, placings were made, we got our prizes, and the night ended.
I no longer fear the Eldrazi enough that I feel the need to side deck Riders of Gavony.
I played horribly against the combo deck simply due to inexperience with the archetype, but the first step might be to sideboard some Repel the Abominables, or go back to side decking Mana Leak.
Unsurprisingly, strong creature presence beats Soul Sisters if they don't get an early pridemate while I have no Path to Exile or Reflector Mage.
I can't say either way whether or not Avacyn's Pilgrim was helpful. I never actually drew into it or pulled it with Collected Company.
I went:
2-1 vs Bant Eldrazi (Lost dice roll)
2-1 vs G/W Tron (Won dice roll)
2-1 vs Grixis Delver (Lost dice roll)
Eldrazi was a difficult match. I sided in the riders of Gavony, but didn't draw into it. In the end, I lost game 1, won game 2 by just out tempoing my opponent with strong humans + bouncing a reality smasher with reflector mage. It looked like I was going to lose game 3 as well, but I got lucky with a double mantis rider Collected Company that swung it in my favour.
G/W Tron was pretty straightforward. I won turn 4 with an explosive start while he had trouble drawing into his lands and spent a lot of mana on searches. On game 2, I drew a slow start on the draw and got board cleared by an early Ugin. Game 3, he had the lands that he needed in his opening hand, but I started with Champion of the Parish, drew Thalia and played her on curve, delaying his third land. On turn 4 I played meddling mage, calling Ugin the Spirit Dragon, then won on turn 5.
I lost game 1 against Grixis when I drew nothing but a few 1 drops that kept dying to lightning bolt/fatal push/terminate + an overload of non-fetch lands + a renegade rallier while my opponent quickly summoned a Tassigur. On game 2, I managed to play threats faster than he could remove them with them and overwhelmed him. Game 3 was looking like game 1 did in the beginning, but this time when he tapped out to play fast 5/5 delve creatures, I had a reflector mage in hand the first time, and a collected company into double champion of the parish the second time. It ended in a race where Lyev Sky Knight stopped his blocker while my other creatures ended the game. Game 1 was totally my fault for not mulliganing.
Findings:
Renegade Rallier was close to dead in both games that I drew it, but both times that I drew it were games in which I didn't draw any fetch lands (Game 1 vs Eldrazi, Game 2 vs Grixis). It might be a sign that 8 fetches aren't enough to reliably trigger him. Perhaps replacing some of the basic lands with Arid Mesas would help if I were willing to pay for them.
Skyship Plunderer never did anything particularly amazing. He got through an attack that I otherwise wouldn't have been able to make against Eldrazi, but I'm not sure that the 2 damage was what won the game. It might be that Lyev Skyknight, Path to Exile, Thalia Heretic Cathar, and Reflector Mage are enough to get around blockers.
Both Thalias did much better than I expected them to, I might increase the count of them.
I didn't draw the Skyknight often, but when I did, it proved excellent when racing, detaining a larger blocker against both Tron and Grixis and allowing me to seal the game.
Lightning Bolt vulnerability was less of a problem than expected. The entire deck is boltable, and with Noble Hierarch, Champion of the Parish, and Thalia's Lieutenant being so threatening if unanswered, they usually acted as lightning rods that drew removal before the Sky Knight or Mantis Rider entered the field, and Mantis Rider usually got in a hit anyway as most of the time I happened to play him on a turn that my opponent was tapped out on.
I would absolutely never cut Mantis Rider, Reflector Mage, or Collected Company. They're the main sources of tempo swings that I needed in order to outrace when on the draw.
Disclaimer: I only got into Magic during Eldritch Moon, and this is the first modern deck that I've built and it was my first modern set of games against actual competitive decks. I know my sideboard is pretty awful, I'm working on getting some better options, but I wanted to give it a try with what I had (I focused on getting my main deck cards first).
1
Creatures (31):
1CMC (10)
4x Noble Hierarch
4x Champion of the Parish
2x Avacyn's Pilgrim
2CMC (10)
4x Skyship Plunderer
4x Thalia's Lieutenant
2x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
3CMC (11)
4x Reflector Mage
4x Mantis Rider
2x Eternal Witness
1x Fiend Hunter
Non-Creature Spells (8):
4x Path to Exile
4x Collected Company
Lands (21):
4x Windswept Heath
4x Flooded Strand
4x Cavern of Souls
1x Sacred Foundry
1x Breeding Pool
3x Plains
3x Forest
1x Island
Side Deck:
2x Fragmentise
2x Riders of Gavony
2x Meddling Mage
2x Celestial Purge
2x Lantern Scout
2x Mayor of Avabruck
1x Spellskite
1x Melira, Sylvok Outcast
1x Dromoka's Command
2-0 against Bant Eldrazi.
I won the dice roll and went first game 1. We both had amazing openings.
Turn 2 Thought Knot Seer was scary, but after turn 1 champion of the parish, having to choose between collected company, reflector mage, and Thalia's lieutenant was not a nice decision. He made me discard reflector mage, Thalia's lieutenant buffed Champion of the parish, I allowed him to attack, a few times, but collected company into double Thalia's lieutenants followed by a champion of the parish into another reflector mage and skyship plunderer created a wall wide enough that even drowners of hope weren't enough to get through, and spread out enough that even engineered explosives wouldn't cripple it. Eldrazi displacer was extremely awkward for him.
Game 2 was much less of a crushing victory. I didn't draw Riders of Gavony or Collected Company. However, I didn't lose right away either. Buffed Skyship Plunderer was scary enough to draw removal, and Champion of the Parish and Thalia's Lieutenant grew out of control. Three drowners of hope made closing it out without dying myself a bit tricky, but I got there.
0-2 against Through the Breach Combo
My opponent got his combo on turn 3 in both games. I had never seen anything like it, so I didn't realise that I needed to hold up mana for Path to Exile on the Primordial.
Game 2 I drew my meddling mage, but named the titan instead of through the breach. This was just classic inexperience (I only started playing modern last week). I do feel that I might be better sideboarding repel the abominable or more lantern scouts against this matchup though. Even with that horrible mistake, I still managed to get him down to 7 life. Drawing into either lantern scout or not throwing due to misunderstanding Through the Breach would have won me it.
1-0 against Soul Sisters
Turn 1: Pass
Turn 2: Pass
Turn 2: Champion of the Parish, Noble Hierarch
Turn 3: Spectral Procession
Turn 3: Mantis Rider, attack, triple blocked by spirit tokens for mutual destruction
Turn 4: Serra Ascendant, Path to Exile Champion of the Parish
Turn 4: Collected Company: Mantis Rider and Eternal Witness (The dream!), return collected company to hand
Turn 5: Path to Exile Mantis Rider
Turn 5: Collected Company: Double Thalia's Lieutenants, Collected Company: Champion of the Parish, Thalia's Lieutenant
To be brief, he didn't draw any of his ways to turn lifegain into something that effects the board state other than eventually activating his Serra Ascendant. He lost the board hard, made the mistake of attacking with his Serra Ascendant leaving him completely open to taking 20 damage on the next turn, bringing her crashing down to earth again, and even if he had saved her to block, I had reflector mage in hand.
After we finished that game, due to starting late to give our opponents plenty of time to show up, placings were made, we got our prizes, and the night ended.
I no longer fear the Eldrazi enough that I feel the need to side deck Riders of Gavony.
I played horribly against the combo deck simply due to inexperience with the archetype, but the first step might be to sideboard some Repel the Abominables, or go back to side decking Mana Leak.
Unsurprisingly, strong creature presence beats Soul Sisters if they don't get an early pridemate while I have no Path to Exile or Reflector Mage.
I can't say either way whether or not Avacyn's Pilgrim was helpful. I never actually drew into it or pulled it with Collected Company.
1
Spells:
4x Champion of the Parish
4x Noble Hierarch
4x Thalia's Lieutenant
3x Skyship Plunderer
1x Mayor of Avabruk
2x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
1x Thalia, Heretic Cathar
2x Lyev Skyknight
2x Renegade Rallier
4x Reflector Mage
4x Mantis Rider
4x Path to Exile
4x Collected Company
Lands:
4x Cavern of Souls
4x Flooded Strand
4x Windswept Heath
1x Breeding Pool
1x Sacred Foundry
3x Plains
3x Forest
1x Island
Sideboard:
- 3x Mana Leaks
- 1x Remand
- 1x Riders of Gavony
- 3x Soul Warden
- 4x Dromoka's Command
- 2x Meddling Mage
- 1x Archangel Avacyn
I went:
2-1 vs Bant Eldrazi (Lost dice roll)
2-1 vs G/W Tron (Won dice roll)
2-1 vs Grixis Delver (Lost dice roll)
Eldrazi was a difficult match. I sided in the riders of Gavony, but didn't draw into it. In the end, I lost game 1, won game 2 by just out tempoing my opponent with strong humans + bouncing a reality smasher with reflector mage. It looked like I was going to lose game 3 as well, but I got lucky with a double mantis rider Collected Company that swung it in my favour.
G/W Tron was pretty straightforward. I won turn 4 with an explosive start while he had trouble drawing into his lands and spent a lot of mana on searches. On game 2, I drew a slow start on the draw and got board cleared by an early Ugin. Game 3, he had the lands that he needed in his opening hand, but I started with Champion of the Parish, drew Thalia and played her on curve, delaying his third land. On turn 4 I played meddling mage, calling Ugin the Spirit Dragon, then won on turn 5.
I lost game 1 against Grixis when I drew nothing but a few 1 drops that kept dying to lightning bolt/fatal push/terminate + an overload of non-fetch lands + a renegade rallier while my opponent quickly summoned a Tassigur. On game 2, I managed to play threats faster than he could remove them with them and overwhelmed him. Game 3 was looking like game 1 did in the beginning, but this time when he tapped out to play fast 5/5 delve creatures, I had a reflector mage in hand the first time, and a collected company into double champion of the parish the second time. It ended in a race where Lyev Sky Knight stopped his blocker while my other creatures ended the game. Game 1 was totally my fault for not mulliganing.
Findings:
Renegade Rallier was close to dead in both games that I drew it, but both times that I drew it were games in which I didn't draw any fetch lands (Game 1 vs Eldrazi, Game 2 vs Grixis). It might be a sign that 8 fetches aren't enough to reliably trigger him. Perhaps replacing some of the basic lands with Arid Mesas would help if I were willing to pay for them.
Skyship Plunderer never did anything particularly amazing. He got through an attack that I otherwise wouldn't have been able to make against Eldrazi, but I'm not sure that the 2 damage was what won the game. It might be that Lyev Skyknight, Path to Exile, Thalia Heretic Cathar, and Reflector Mage are enough to get around blockers.
Both Thalias did much better than I expected them to, I might increase the count of them.
I didn't draw the Skyknight often, but when I did, it proved excellent when racing, detaining a larger blocker against both Tron and Grixis and allowing me to seal the game.
Lightning Bolt vulnerability was less of a problem than expected. The entire deck is boltable, and with Noble Hierarch, Champion of the Parish, and Thalia's Lieutenant being so threatening if unanswered, they usually acted as lightning rods that drew removal before the Sky Knight or Mantis Rider entered the field, and Mantis Rider usually got in a hit anyway as most of the time I happened to play him on a turn that my opponent was tapped out on.
I would absolutely never cut Mantis Rider, Reflector Mage, or Collected Company. They're the main sources of tempo swings that I needed in order to outrace when on the draw.
Disclaimer: I only got into Magic during Eldritch Moon, and this is the first modern deck that I've built and it was my first modern set of games against actual competitive decks. I know my sideboard is pretty awful, I'm working on getting some better options, but I wanted to give it a try with what I had (I focused on getting my main deck cards first).