I'm hoping to start contributing to this thread since it revolves around my favorite deck. As long as I can regularly go to local tournaments I'll be posting up with information as best as I can. My current deck list consists of:
LAND
3 Gemstone Mines
3 City of Brass
3 Darkslick Shores
2 Seachrome Coast
3 Temple of Deceit
2 Temple of Enlightenment
1 Graven Cairns
1 Dreadship Reef
SIDEBOARD
1 Slaughter Pact
1 Pact of Negation
2 Thoughtseize
2 Fatal Push
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Echoing Truth
2 Bontu's Last Reckoning
4 Leyline of Sanctity
Overall, a pretty standard Spoils/Fetchless mana build.
Today I ended up going 3-1-0 at the weekly modern event (which was much smaller than usual).
Match 1 - Affinity - Win
Game 1
My opponent was fairly new to Modern and didn't know how Ad Nauseam worked very well. I ended up being able to combo off before he was able to present a significant board state.
Game 2
I was able to Slaughter Pact a big swing and then Hurkyl's Recall the next turn to give me enough time to find the pieces I needed.
1-0
Match 2 - Mardu Pyromancer - Loss
Game 1
My opponent ended up not having any hand disruption and pinged me with some Lingering Souls tokens until I was at 6, at which point I was able to combo.
Game 2
I got Thoughtseized early on and then he was able to Surgical Extraction all of my Ad Nauseams which. I wasn't able to assemble a Lab Man kill and he ended up grinding me out.
Game 3
I had a Leyline of Sanctity in hand as well as Angel's Grace/Ad Naus, but also the Lightning Storm. I dropped Leyline and it kept him from disrupting me until he laid a Liliana of the Veil down which ended up eating away at my hand. He then laid his own Leyline of Sanctity down turning off my LS. Once he had this out, he Surgical'd my Spoils of the Vault away and ended up eventually ultimating Liliana. It ended up being a pretty rough matchup for me. My opponent was good, and I think I got some good insight into future Mardu matchups from him.
1-1
Match 3 - Bant Company Variant - Win
Game 1
My opponent was able to Spell Queller a T4 Lotus Bloom, but wasn't able to stop the combo a couple turns later after I fogged his attacks with Angel's Grace and ended up being able to combo.
Game 2
My opponent was able to build up enough of a board state that my life got low quickly. I had a Phyrexian Unlife out which got taken out by a Qasali Pridemage ending up in a game loss for me.
Game 3
I had a hand full of redundancy, eventually dropping a Phyrexian Unlife. In his end step I ended up casting an Ad Nauseam to bait what I thought would be a Spell Queller so I could go off on my turn. He ended up casting Collected Company in response into Qasali Pridemage destroying my Phyrexian Unlife, so I let my Ad Naus fizzle out. Going into my turn I was able to untap and freely cast Ad Nauseam/Angel's Grace.
2-1
Match 4 - U/W Spirits - Win
Game 1
My opponent didn't have a great understanding about how Ad Nauseam worked but was able to lay down a lot of power with Mausoleum Wanderer + Curious Obsession, 2 Selfless Spirits & a Supreme Phantom. I had cast Phyrexian Unlife which bought me a turn to all of the damage. I then cast an Ad Nauseam on his end step which got countered by Mausoleum Wanderer and was safely able to cast another Ad Nauseam on my turn.
Game 2
My opponent went down to 5 cards, laid a basic plains T1 and did not make another land drop. I got the rare T3 combo to wrap the day up.
3-1
Overall, I feel really good about how this deck performs and the disciplined sequencing that I am learning. I was impressed with Bontu's Last Reckoning over Damnation or Wrath of God as the main sweeper. The untapped lands didn't matter as much as I honestly thought they would have. I just picked up City of Brass and have found that the damage is negligible for the color fixing opportunities it presents.
Speaking of color fixing, has anybody else tried out Graven Cairns? I haven't used it much, but it allows me to use a SSG for the 2 black needed for Ad Nauseam, still presents the ability to use Pentad Prism T2 and gives me another opportunity to get 2 red if I have exiled too many SSGs off of a Spoils.
...and now Speaking of Spoils...I know people have a love or hate it approach. I generally hope that I only see 1 in a game and use it as a last resort. Otherwise it is good for cycling a scried card on my opponents end step (since we have many opportunities to see what's coming). I personally think it's only a viable option in the fetchless mana base due to the fact that you can make a somewhat informed decision based on what you have/haven't seen and how many cards you have dug through. I love a good risk, otherwise it wouldn't be the card for me.
I'm hoping to start contributing to this thread since it revolves around my favorite deck. As long as I can regularly go to local tournaments I'll be posting up with information as best as I can. My current deck list consists of:
LAND
3 Gemstone Mines
3 City of Brass
3 Darkslick Shores
2 Seachrome Coast
3 Temple of Deceit
2 Temple of Enlightenment
1 Graven Cairns
1 Dreadship Reef
CREATURES
4 Simian Spirit Guide
1 Laboratory Maniac
ARTIFACTS
4 Lotus Blood
4 Pentad Prism
CANTRIPS
4 Serum Visions
4 Sleight of Hand
3 Spoils of the Vault
COMBO PIECES
4 Ad Nauseam
4 Angel's Grace
4 Phyrexian Unlife
OTHER
3 Pact of Negation
WIN-CON
1 Lightning Storm
SIDEBOARD
1 Slaughter Pact
1 Pact of Negation
2 Thoughtseize
2 Fatal Push
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Echoing Truth
2 Bontu's Last Reckoning
4 Leyline of Sanctity
Overall, a pretty standard Spoils/Fetchless mana build.
Today I ended up going 3-1-0 at the weekly modern event (which was much smaller than usual).
Match 1 - Affinity - Win
Game 1
My opponent was fairly new to Modern and didn't know how Ad Nauseam worked very well. I ended up being able to combo off before he was able to present a significant board state.
Game 2
I was able to Slaughter Pact a big swing and then Hurkyl's Recall the next turn to give me enough time to find the pieces I needed.
1-0
Match 2 - Mardu Pyromancer - Loss
Game 1
My opponent ended up not having any hand disruption and pinged me with some Lingering Souls tokens until I was at 6, at which point I was able to combo.
Game 2
I got Thoughtseized early on and then he was able to Surgical Extraction all of my Ad Nauseams which. I wasn't able to assemble a Lab Man kill and he ended up grinding me out.
Game 3
I had a Leyline of Sanctity in hand as well as Angel's Grace/Ad Naus, but also the Lightning Storm. I dropped Leyline and it kept him from disrupting me until he laid a Liliana of the Veil down which ended up eating away at my hand. He then laid his own Leyline of Sanctity down turning off my LS. Once he had this out, he Surgical'd my Spoils of the Vault away and ended up eventually ultimating Liliana. It ended up being a pretty rough matchup for me. My opponent was good, and I think I got some good insight into future Mardu matchups from him.
1-1
Match 3 - Bant Company Variant - Win
Game 1
My opponent was able to Spell Queller a T4 Lotus Bloom, but wasn't able to stop the combo a couple turns later after I fogged his attacks with Angel's Grace and ended up being able to combo.
Game 2
My opponent was able to build up enough of a board state that my life got low quickly. I had a Phyrexian Unlife out which got taken out by a Qasali Pridemage ending up in a game loss for me.
Game 3
I had a hand full of redundancy, eventually dropping a Phyrexian Unlife. In his end step I ended up casting an Ad Nauseam to bait what I thought would be a Spell Queller so I could go off on my turn. He ended up casting Collected Company in response into Qasali Pridemage destroying my Phyrexian Unlife, so I let my Ad Naus fizzle out. Going into my turn I was able to untap and freely cast Ad Nauseam/Angel's Grace.
2-1
Match 4 - U/W Spirits - Win
Game 1
My opponent didn't have a great understanding about how Ad Nauseam worked but was able to lay down a lot of power with Mausoleum Wanderer + Curious Obsession, 2 Selfless Spirits & a Supreme Phantom. I had cast Phyrexian Unlife which bought me a turn to all of the damage. I then cast an Ad Nauseam on his end step which got countered by Mausoleum Wanderer and was safely able to cast another Ad Nauseam on my turn.
Game 2
My opponent went down to 5 cards, laid a basic plains T1 and did not make another land drop. I got the rare T3 combo to wrap the day up.
3-1
Overall, I feel really good about how this deck performs and the disciplined sequencing that I am learning. I was impressed with Bontu's Last Reckoning over Damnation or Wrath of God as the main sweeper. The untapped lands didn't matter as much as I honestly thought they would have. I just picked up City of Brass and have found that the damage is negligible for the color fixing opportunities it presents.
Speaking of color fixing, has anybody else tried out Graven Cairns? I haven't used it much, but it allows me to use a SSG for the 2 black needed for Ad Nauseam, still presents the ability to use Pentad Prism T2 and gives me another opportunity to get 2 red if I have exiled too many SSGs off of a Spoils.
...and now Speaking of Spoils...I know people have a love or hate it approach. I generally hope that I only see 1 in a game and use it as a last resort. Otherwise it is good for cycling a scried card on my opponents end step (since we have many opportunities to see what's coming). I personally think it's only a viable option in the fetchless mana base due to the fact that you can make a somewhat informed decision based on what you have/haven't seen and how many cards you have dug through. I love a good risk, otherwise it wouldn't be the card for me.