I think one factor we need to consider is that at the time of the twin banning, I would argue that we haven't seen the strongest version of the twin deck; The Grixis twin lists considerably differ from each other, some lists mainboard taisgur, some don't. other archetypes at the time generally differ by 4-5 card flex slots, while some Grixis Twin lists mainboard inquisition, some play Keranos, some play blood moon, some play 3 splinter twins etc..
i would compare this to banning Death's Shadow at the time when both Jund and Grixis shadow were re-developing after GP Vancouver.
(In summary, I feel the matchup numbers for Twin could be 3-5% more in twin's favor after another 3-4 months of tuning when the Grixis twin lists settle to near similar lists like Grixis delver or Grixis shadow)
Oh and someone correct me if I'm wrong, but didnt Control beat Twin? The issue was that it just lost to everything else?
Control is definitely favored game one. But the matchup significantly improves for twin post board. I;m not sure if twin becomes a favorite, but I personally would prefer to be on the grixis twin side post sideboard.
Would Twin as an overall strategy be more palatable to people if the deck no longer had the ability to tap your lands at the end of turn with Pestermite or Deceiver Exarch? Is the problem, not so much the Twin combo, but the fact that the two main creatures for it have the ability to cut you off of any way to respond to it?
I'm going to use Grixis Twin deck as the example. The issue with the Twin deck was the deck had a "strong" game plan against the entire field. The twin deck could reliably combo turn 4 and kill non-interactive decks (i.e. boggles) and use the tempo approach to fight interactive decks (i.e. Jund).
The deck posed several problems to the meta game:
1) The twin combo was extremely powerful, pretty much every blue based control decks (i.e. Grixis/ jeskai etc) would pretty much be required to play the twin combo. The only major advantage Grixis Control had over Grixis Twin was that Grixis Control was favored against Grixis twin.
Similarly, there really isn't a reason to play a deck that isn't twin; its like Miracles prior to Top banning, Miracles was the best deck and all the pros were dumping all their time tuning and practicing miracles instead of coming up with new decks.
I would go as far as to say that if Twin was never banned, people would most likely never invested all that time tuning Grixis Shadow into a tier 1 strategy.
2) Wizards couldn't really unban or print new blue based control cards or cards to help combo decks because these cards would automatically be added to twin.
However, I will include that the banning did come with some issue:
1) The Twin deck was favored against all the non-interactive decks and prior to the banning, non-interactive decks would struggle against either Jund/ Twin and the two decks together were effective at policing the linear modern format. The banning did completely break the format and eventually wizards needed to weaken both Infect and Dredge.
You basically want Burning Inquiry against faster decks where you need to race. It enables the most explosive starts but that itsn't that important against slower decks. Against slower grindy decks it becomes worse so boarding out at least some copies makes sense.
Should I bring in Stony Silence against Humans to stop Aether Vial , or is it a waste of space for that match up?
I played Esper Gifts before. I HAVE brought in stony silence against Merfolk to stop Relic and aether vial (slow them + protect my combo). I personally would not recommend stony silence against humans (maybe you can make the case for one stony if relic becomes human's primary source of grave hate).
Esper Gifts really wants (or needs?) to protect its graveyard. Can we say the same for Jeskai control?
Esper Gifts is the Unburial Rites - Elesh Norn combo deck. It is a graveyard reanimator combo deck at heart. Jeskai absolutely does not need to protect its graveyard, but relic can become annoying for a deck with 2-3 logic knots and 3-4 snapcaster mages, it can make sense to board in 1, but I would not recommend boarding in stony to stop just aether vial.
Should I bring in Stony Silence against Humans to stop Aether Vial , or is it a waste of space for that match up?
I played Esper Gifts before. I HAVE brought in stony silence against Merfolk to stop Relic and aether vial (slow them + protect my combo). I personally would not recommend stony silence against humans (maybe you can make the case for one stony if relic becomes human's primary source of grave hate).
Say a guy wanted to splash in his goblin 8 whack deck. Main board there will be 8 black pips in 8 black spells. I'll have a blue, white and green splash in my sideboard. Black comes out, one other goes in.
If I have 8-10 fetchland that are able to grab mountains, and one each of the shocklands for white black green and blue, would that be feasible? I guess my question is:
How many and of what shocklands should I have in my deck to consistently be able to fetch for the one of land that I'll need to cast my splash cards?
I'm just starting gifts storm. I';m wondering why Gifts lists have 3 grapeshots in the main, I recall the theory in legacy is to go light on win-cons and tutor them when necessary. Similarly, would anyone mainboard a single pyormancer's ascension/
Sorry for the extremely late response, but the answer to this question depends exclusive on the CMC and the color requirements of your cards your casting.
If you look closely pretty much every modern deck on mtgtop8 follows the math behind how many lands you need to consistently hit. Modern mana bases are designed with these priorities in mind (in this order):
1) Hit the required Color on the necessary turns (and number of land drops)
2) Take as little damage as possible. (i.e. playing fast lands/ check lands if possible)
3/4) Play around land hate (i.e. Blood Moon/ Field of Ruin) but this is mostly just means playing an extra basic here or there.
3/4) Provide extra utility, i.e. field of ruin/ creature lands if possible to add more value/ answers to the deck.
Roughly the number of lands you play is this:
1) If you need to consistently cast 4 cost spell on turn 4 (i.e. Blood Braid Elf/ Cryptic Command) you want to aim for 24-25
2) If you're an aggro deck that can operate on 2-3 lands, i.e. burn, you play 20.
You can roughly cut a land for every 3 can trips you play etc.
However, I think the cost of repackaging loose packs to factory sealed quality are too high for an individual or an organization to undertake.
1) State of Modern Thread
2) Twin Unban/Ban Argument forum?
i would compare this to banning Death's Shadow at the time when both Jund and Grixis shadow were re-developing after GP Vancouver.
(In summary, I feel the matchup numbers for Twin could be 3-5% more in twin's favor after another 3-4 months of tuning when the Grixis twin lists settle to near similar lists like Grixis delver or Grixis shadow)
Control is definitely favored game one. But the matchup significantly improves for twin post board. I;m not sure if twin becomes a favorite, but I personally would prefer to be on the grixis twin side post sideboard.
I'm going to use Grixis Twin deck as the example. The issue with the Twin deck was the deck had a "strong" game plan against the entire field. The twin deck could reliably combo turn 4 and kill non-interactive decks (i.e. boggles) and use the tempo approach to fight interactive decks (i.e. Jund).
The deck posed several problems to the meta game:
1) The twin combo was extremely powerful, pretty much every blue based control decks (i.e. Grixis/ jeskai etc) would pretty much be required to play the twin combo. The only major advantage Grixis Control had over Grixis Twin was that Grixis Control was favored against Grixis twin.
Similarly, there really isn't a reason to play a deck that isn't twin; its like Miracles prior to Top banning, Miracles was the best deck and all the pros were dumping all their time tuning and practicing miracles instead of coming up with new decks.
I would go as far as to say that if Twin was never banned, people would most likely never invested all that time tuning Grixis Shadow into a tier 1 strategy.
2) Wizards couldn't really unban or print new blue based control cards or cards to help combo decks because these cards would automatically be added to twin.
However, I will include that the banning did come with some issue:
1) The Twin deck was favored against all the non-interactive decks and prior to the banning, non-interactive decks would struggle against either Jund/ Twin and the two decks together were effective at policing the linear modern format. The banning did completely break the format and eventually wizards needed to weaken both Infect and Dredge.
https://www.channelfireball.com/articles/a-guide-to-black-red-hollow-one-in-modern/
I see him recommending boarding out against Grixis shadow but not Jund.
I;ve noticed in the rivals quarter finals, Reid Duke who was on Abzan against BR hollowed one his opponent still had the burning
Esper Gifts is the Unburial Rites - Elesh Norn combo deck. It is a graveyard reanimator combo deck at heart. Jeskai absolutely does not need to protect its graveyard, but relic can become annoying for a deck with 2-3 logic knots and 3-4 snapcaster mages, it can make sense to board in 1, but I would not recommend boarding in stony to stop just aether vial.
I played Esper Gifts before. I HAVE brought in stony silence against Merfolk to stop Relic and aether vial (slow them + protect my combo). I personally would not recommend stony silence against humans (maybe you can make the case for one stony if relic becomes human's primary source of grave hate).
8 is a bit on the lower end. (https://www.channelfireball.com/articles/frank-analysis-how-many-colored-mana-sources-do-you-need-to-consistently-cast-your-spells/) you need roughly 14 black sources if you want to consistently turn 1, and 12 if you want to consistently turn 2.
However, I have noticed the standard Mono White human lists that splash reckless bushwhackers have around 8-9 red sources, (http://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=13253&d=277759&f=ST)
I'm guessing this is the "best" the deck can do as it really needs to bushwhaker to help fight languished based control decks?
My answer for 8 fetch is that is on the low end, my inclination is I would not recommend it.
https://www.channelfireball.com/articles/how-many-lands-do-you-need-to-consistently-hit-your-land-drops/
If you look closely pretty much every modern deck on mtgtop8 follows the math behind how many lands you need to consistently hit. Modern mana bases are designed with these priorities in mind (in this order):
1) Hit the required Color on the necessary turns (and number of land drops)
2) Take as little damage as possible. (i.e. playing fast lands/ check lands if possible)
3/4) Play around land hate (i.e. Blood Moon/ Field of Ruin) but this is mostly just means playing an extra basic here or there.
3/4) Provide extra utility, i.e. field of ruin/ creature lands if possible to add more value/ answers to the deck.
Roughly the number of lands you play is this:
1) If you need to consistently cast 4 cost spell on turn 4 (i.e. Blood Braid Elf/ Cryptic Command) you want to aim for 24-25
2) If you're an aggro deck that can operate on 2-3 lands, i.e. burn, you play 20.
You can roughly cut a land for every 3 can trips you play etc.