I am thinking of playing a white splash for sideboard Hallowed Moonlight. Stops Counters Company, Goryo's Vengeance, Vengevines, and Living End, which are all strategies where we need a little help when the opponent makes big plays. I think it only works because I'm on Fauna Shaman, and I'm trying to unlock her full potential. With the toolbox approach I can find one of a few hosers out of the board to get more free wins. Kataki, Aven Mindcensor, Linvala (2WW is rough, might not play her..) Eidolon of Rhetoric, and Burrenton Forge-Tender all do a hell of a job in the matchups I need them for. The other good thing about this plan is that except for Scapeshift where I want both BFT and Mindcensor, I don't have to worry about playing more than one white spell a turn, so I don't have to be stressed about playing too many sources in an 18 land deck. Thoughts?
Have been toying with many ideas for the list, and will likely post a prototype once I get home from work today. But my plan has been generate mana rock > generate Neheb > give Neheb protection > Massive LD > keep the pain coming anyway because we're still pumping tons of mana
A sub-theme of the deck is to play mostly all the good cards from Kai Budde's Wildfire Red deck just for nostalgia lol. Just need to pick up my copy of Mishra's Helix and im set.
At least one of those mountains should be forest. Right now you completely get blown out by blood moon.
Also the black flier looks uncastable in your deck. I'd probably change that a little bit.
Still not seeing why there is no goyf in this build.
Seems weird to not be playing the formats best 2 beaters. Goyf and DS.
lol I seriously hope this isn't targeted toward my post
I think lists that are spreading themselves thin on colors in a deck playing under 20 lands are asking to play a turn slower, regardless of curve. You aren't getting a lot of coverage in your splashes based on how few lands you're expected to rely upon for the majority of your formative plays. The nifty part of JGM's list is that it could ignore GY hate, never get shorted on the mana it needed, and always dump its hand if it wanted to go the aggro route. Too many of these lists that are sprouting from this concept are ignoring the principles to its success. Take your list, for example, Clipper. You might as well be playing more efficient removal to back up what you've already got, cut Vengevine/Hollowed One/Neonate/some Cathartics, and play additional lands/Bedlam Reveler/maybe Young Pyromancer to round out your strategy. There is too much push and pull going on here, plenty of your creatures need to wait until Vengevine is a fair card to be played in tandem.
Case in point: the payoff for one of your contingency plans should align with the payoff with your main plan. This is why Dredge/Dredgevine lists of old had a hard time doing their work - if you cut out the graveyard aspect, any scenario where they put a serious clock on you were corner case situations, but the deck wasn't winning if it didn't attack or use its graveyard. Creatures that faltered without graveyards and ended up being too fair were shown to be too inconsistent, given how many opponents had a hoser at the ready.
I have been trying to gather a lot of data from matches to shore up spots that stonewalled the original concept. Here's the 75 I have so far:
Plenty of people have a poor opinion of Fauna, but in my testing she enables the most consistent lines. Being that we're a high-variance shell, it really helps to have what you want when you need it. Another thing I found was that having pump spells at a poor time would be my downfall. With the 3/2 Fauna-Rampager split over the 3-2 Become Immense/TBR split, we have as much gas as the prototype version, but without overextending. Moreover, it helps to have additional creatures to trigger discarded Vengevine copies instead of spells that have no way to put the game within reach if there's no body to target.
Flameblade Adept also ended up being a very explosive option, and a cheap one. It checks all the boxes we need it to. It feeds off of our sorceries, Shaman, Rampager, and Street Wraith plays, so when it is a good option so is Hollow One, which means the deck is going in more of the same direction. With Swiftspear, if she was good then Vengevine was bad, and vice versa.
I know MD Macabre seems loose, but there are plenty of ways to turn her into something better. If nothing else, it's one of 6 ways to ensure your Hollow One/Vengevine nut draw happens a turn sooner.
From the sideboard, Ingot Chewer is a no-brainer, as it helps trigger Vengevine (as good as Ancient Grudge is, that is where it falters)
I am testing Slaughter Games as there are plenty of decks who we can snipe with the card. Macabre is almost good enough against Goryo's Vengeance, but they usually have Through the Breach as backup. Combo decks can just go over the top of us if we haven't sufficiently raced them, so it helps to have a nail in the coffin against the likes of Ad Nauseum, Scapeshift, etc. Card also helps to deal with Wurmcoil and Anger of the Gods when we need to not just have our entire plan fall apart to them. EDIT: Upon further thought, I like Driven // Despair to help shore up our matchup vs non-creature strategies, but I still need to come up with the right number of anti-Anger of the Gods tech. Will try Driven x2 for now.
This is at least the 10th iteration of the list I've configured since watching JGM's version. I hope I can find a good balance for the rest of the PPTQ season.
I personally prefer Academy Ruins. Against a control deck, which is where Cavern of Souls is good, it will stop them from countering your things; they can still remove them. Academy Ruins lets you keep getting back a threat that if they counter or remove, you can just put back on top of your library and try again next turn; it gives you a lot of longevity.
I have been able to shut down Counters Company from winning, then convoked a 5/5 Ballista to whittle their board down to nothing until the opponent scooped, thanks to Academy Ruins giving me topdeck Ballista every turn. Simply too good of a long game to pass up.
I've been having a lot of fun jamming this archetype after seeing the JGM version do decently well. My spin is a bit more in the creature-centric direction and so I've made considerable changes:
The problem I had with the usual version is that there was a push and pull between Monastery Swiftspear and Vengevine. One rewards you for playing creatures, one for playing non-creatures. It still had as many cheap creatures, but it wasn't helping against slower decks that were able to pick off what you pumped with Become Immense and the other pump spell.
Faerie Macabre has been insane in the maindeck, not only able to thwart opposing Vengevines but able to act as another ritual effect for our Hollow Ones.
The overall main piece to this list that gives it the kind of game it has is the Fauna Shaman tech. Makes all your very narrow sideboard slots that much better, while being able to act as our set up play. Where the JGM version has actual pump spells, this can fetch your Ghor-Clan for a game winning blow.
I'll elaborate on the list and provide a write-up on all the testing of multiple iterations. It's late and I need to catch up on work tomorrow.
As a final note, I can say I've been meaning to find the best ways of dealing with Anger of the Gods. My picks so far:
Welp, after RG Vengevine takes down an open I think I'll be moving back to maindeck 1x Trinket Mage/2x Aether Spellbomb/1x Relic of Progenitus package, at least for testing purposes
Knowing my metagame people will be on this list like flies on stink
How would you guys hedge for the UW control matchup? I don't know how to gain an advantage using SB strategies without coughing one away for other important modern strategies. Trying to find a good catch-all in the Unified Will slot and play something that helps against Supreme Verdict that isn't soft to cheap spot removal.
Btw nice work on the sig RR7_7RR. When I first started brewing this deck, before realizing the optimal build, I was doodling away looking to make custom mat artwork of the spells, having a narrative of them as a whole. I made a production plant where Etherium Sculptors worked on high standing platforms, and equipped Superions and Lupine Prototypes for action, using scraps picked by Glint Nest Cranes, navigating the premises with Smuggler's Copters (see attached for loose sketch)
I think if I can hunker down and take the project seriously, I would want to do a playmat with narrative illustration that invokes the core of the optimal build. I've always called the deck Blue Man Group, so it would be nice to just have all the Vedalken using Copters and/or Ballistas as percussion instruments lol. Any other ideas would be sweet
After testing and tournament, do you feel 4 Master is the right number?
I wouldn't cut more than one from the main. You want to be able to accelerate into a win and having extra lords is always the best way. I was silly to shoot it down. What opened my eyes was how it protected Golem against Bolt in the RG Titanshift matchup in testing. Having your tax effects stick on the board is crucial to your game one wins, and Master is the best at getting your Copters and Golems into a range where they can be very effective in combat, irrespective of whether he's a 2/2 or a 5/5+. My only gripe is that I have zero data with Master + Myr Battlesphere, which I think would be better in the main in some cases.
The most attention I would direct would go to the sideboard. Not 100% on my numbers and each card is heavily relied upon, especially when needing to consolidate tasks in the matchups they are relevant in (Ex: Kira and Sword against control/mid is a non-bo as sometimes you can't equip to your guys)
Round 1 vs GW Value Land Bears (Lawson Zandi)
Mull to 5 game one and get buried underneath triple Knight of the Reliquary/double Courser draw
Game two he ended up having to GQ his own basics just to get on board, and sputtered on low tempo
Game three he had mana issues again, and I assembled Architect + 4 other blue guys + Ballista + Collar
(1-0-0)
Round 2 vs UB Control (Bruce Brown)
Game one he just has low impact/non-action cards and I get off turn three Architect into Lodestone + Copter
Game two I get Lodestone + Thorn out by turn 4 and his plays become too awkward to keep up on board
(2-0-0)
Round 3 vs Grixis Shadow (Ivan Contreras)
Game one I get stuffed on lands or else I'd have an opening to run out turn 3 Architect into Lodestone and Copter.
He discards relevant threat and stonewalls me with double Shadow at 6 life.
Game two I get ahead on board and land Lodestone + double Wanderer, he concedes
Game three I end up racing a Gurmag Angler with 7 power, he floods a bit and topdecks discard spells.
(3-0-0)
Round 4 vs Eldrazi Tron (Tyler Lindsey)
Game one I start on the play and just flood the board turn 3. Took him down with 4 life chunks thanks to quad fliers and a Throne
Game two he mulls to five but runs out TKS on 3 & 4 to keep parity, then races me but pulls ahead with Reshaper and Smasher
Game three came down to 1 life. I'm racing with double Wanderer, manland, and Kira while Master/Engineer muck up the ground. He's getting in with double TKS and I chump a few times with low impact creatures, before I land a copter and swing to pass. He attacks with Smasher, TKS, TKS, Reshaper. I'm at 10 and go to make a copter, go to blocks, put copter in front of Reshaper and an Engineer in front of TKS. After damage with only 2 mana up he extends the hand
(4-0-0)
Round 5 vs Mono-W Taxes (Aydin Kageler)
I get paired down so opponent refuses ID
Game one we get deckchecked and he incurs a loss from incorrect registration
Game two I lead with Wanderer, turn two Engineer > Scultpor > Copter, turn three Master into Lodestone, swing with Copter. He goes to attack with a Splicer token and forgets Master pumps Lodestone, after coughing up his only advantage on board and seeing me run out another two masters turn 5 he concedes
(5-0-0)
Round 6 ID
(5-0-1)
T8 vs Counter Company (Carl Hendrix)
Game one my 7 is 5 lands, a Throne and a Wurmcoil. 6 is no lands. 5 is Island/Nexus/Wanderer/Throne/Chief. I keep. Opened the game with a turn 3 Ballista to kill two birds and slow him a bit. Eventually clock him down to 4 life after he has cast two K Finks and a CoCo for a third and an E-Wit to grab CoCo. His turn before taking lethal, he Chords for Viscera Seer but doesn't even need to break his Finks open as he draws another Chord for Anafenza
Game two my 7 is mono islands and double engineer, 6 is copter/familiar/nexus/trip Islands so I keep and push an Island to the bottom. End up drawing two Islands to start the game and eventually wheeled into low impact creatures. Opponent had the stones so by then his board is developed with the infinite mana so even my topdeck cage can't stop his combo + double Abrupt Decay in hand.
Felt like I had a decent run but still struggling to see if I should have mulled another time in that second game. Defnitely have to go to the drawing board and see how I can gear up for the next run. Until then I guess :B
If opponent is taxed then so is Venser. 2 4-drops in 22 lands deck, costing at least 4 mana, is not ideal, when they cost 5-6 mana even less so.
We have Copters, manlands and tax effects so Verdict is less annoying than it could be.
Eldrazi Tron and Affinity are still popular decks and we need Rejections in the side (without those ETron is unbeatable), and being good against Tron and Lantern is a bonus.
Speaking of manlands, our mana base might be stretched with few more, like 2 Mutavaults or something. There are only 4 cards with UU in it, with plenty U sources. That could help against Explosives, Anger, Verdict, walkers and being creatures for Copter is nice.
If the opponent is taxed, that means we have at least an extra turn to procure enough lands to respond to their plays lol. Also, Venser doesnt care about Thorn.
Youre right about 22 lands being iffy, so I will test moving Collar to the main and playing Sea Gate Wreckage in its stead out of the board. I feel 15 Island/1 Cavern/1 A Ruins/1 Oboro main should be the configuration to help support Wreckage without hurting our tempo early game. Wreckage and a 23rd land help solve both the flooding problems, and the curving out problem doubly.
All this talk about extra nonblue lands is 100% wrong. We arent trying to whiff on getting turn 3 Architect mana. There are other more effective ways to keep parity with board wipes.
As an aside, I'm simply metagaming for my LGS crowd in a 25mi radius as PPTQ season is underway. About 1/3 opponents are on either UW or Rw Prison, and 0% on Eldrazi Tron. Affinity isn't where you want counterspells anyway, because they're usually dead after turn 3.
I'm thinking of adding a copy or two of Echoing Truth to deal with problematic permanents like Stony Silence. It doesn't permanently deal with it but it's a catch all (bar manlands) and can be effective enough to let us get through next turn.
I've tried to accommodate all the issues the deck has with midrange/control/hate cards lately, and so I went to remedy things my own way. Here is the updated sideboard from the list in post #1008:
The 2-1 split of Venser/Unsubstantiate has been exceptionally good against mid and control. It deals damage, unlike any regular counterspell, and you can proactively play it if your opponent is burdened by tax effects, just to bounce a ETB-tapped land and timewalk them.
Not only that, but it deals with Supreme Verdict in an elegant way, because it helps your clock after you keep your board alive a turn. Other great applications are bouncing an Ancestral Vision when the opponent is taxed (so that they can't counter your Venser in response,) countering a Cryptic Command meant to tap your team and then using Venser to crew a Copter, bouncing Emrakul once Nahiri ultimates (lol) and just plain dealing with pesky interaction and hate cards (Stony Silence, Ensnaring Bridge, Leyline of Sanctity, etc.)
I'm just glad I am finally able to see my board plan and navigate it without using any dead cards. Venser being able to tempo an opponent who might be playing a beefier creature deck (Merfolk) makes it equal parts versatile and high-impact, something the deck sorely needed as it played mainly redundant guys with a few payoff spells, but weak disruption for the late game.
If I had to hedge only against combo/mid/control I would use Specter's Shroud. It's low to the ground and very efficient, so we can start to get in and disrupt a slower deck on turn 3 with counterspell backup.
In T4 played against a Sun and Moon pilot, flooded game 1, won game two with T1 Wanderer > T2 Engineer/Sculptor/Copter > T3 Lodestone, crew/swing with team > T4 Sword Equip, which put my Lodestone out of Anger range. Game three got ran down by T2 SSG exile/Goblin Rabblemaster > T3 Rabblemaster > T4 Declaration in Stone. Had Wurmcoil on my next turn but it would've been close either way.
A few notes and takeaways:
Shop didn't have an Oboro to pick up and mine is still on its way in the mail u__u
Saw a lot of green creature decks (non-Elf tribal) and control so that's why I decided on the direction I went. Feel that Wurmcoil is better at trading with a Qasali Pridemage and hoped to dodged all the Paths. The field ended up being UW, Jeskai, Naya Zoo, GW hatebears, Sun and Moon, Wr Puresteel Equipment, Bant Eldrazi, I forget the others.
Sword was insane in the field, won me a game singlehandedly. It can gain life vs Burn while also attritioning well vs control and midrange decks (gains you life a turn later than Harvester if you block with Harvester ASAP, but nonetheless...) Synergy with our 1CMC guys and Ballistas was putting in a lot of work for me.
Still torn on whether to roll with Wurmcoils or Battlespheres, there's really a give and take between those two choices that I think is a lot closer than meets the eye. Guess Wurmcoil is better in the blind.
Spellbomb overperformed as per usual. Double Time Walks an opponent that's trying to block with Colonnade, isn't just another dinky 2/2 when both players are trading on board, and was able to save my more important creatures from removal when I needed to just sap the opponent of their resources. Had also kept a copy in vs. Sun and Moon as it's an out to their Nahiri play while still giving action when they don't pull it off.
Wish I could play another Copter. I got flooded a lot more than usual, but variance is most likely to blame. Can't emphasize enough that it needs to be a 4-of.
I'm trying to see if Curiosity will work for me where other cards have failed in the midrange/control matchups. It just seems like you can run away with the lead and then comfortably drop back into the race and clean up the opponent after a board wipe.
I have been testing Myr Battlesphere with good results. It blocks Death's Shadow an extra four times, in fact choosing it was inspired by Tsuyoshi Ikeda's Spectral Procession tech to fight 20/20 Dark Depths tokens. On top of that, it doesn't just lose value if bounced, which has frustrated me when trying to stick a Wurmcoil Engine. Was able to steal games vs Flickerwisp that Wurmcoil would have floundered in. Extra bodies also means more Throne of the God-Pharaoh damage. Give it a try?
I think if we are trying to just play an effective beater with good lategame potential, there's always Pride of the Clouds. It can punch for 3-4 in the air, while giving us insurance in the form of endless chump blockers in the mid-late if we haven't drawn another good payoff spell to dump mana into. This would mean taking damage from fetches/shocks, but I like the Bant Eldrazi method of dipping into painlands for Sea Gate Wreckage as a 1-of. It's the only cheap blue creature that can tap into Architect's ability while also playing decently on its own. I would try a full set of Judge's Familar and 3 Pride if I were going to yankee swap cards to replace a set of Masters as a spitball idea. I know it's going a bit deep, but it's a thought. Also makes a singleton Sky Hussar a thing if you just want a value critter for certain matchups.
I like a package of Trinket Mage + triple Aether Spellbomb. Gives us ways to fight creature based shells, bounces delve creatures after they heavily invest in them, and can always be a cheap cantrip if it doesn't give us the most effective lines game one (vs creatureless combo, control, etc)
Also, what are everyone's thoughts on Curiosity as a potential 1x-2x in the SB? It makes for a good trade-off when the opponent has to decide to kill either our Architects or a dinky flier that will eventually bury them in cards.
EDIT: o__o' I just realized Curiosity doesn't trigger from combat damage, but just any damage... wombo-combo with Walking Ballista. As an aside, I jammed Battlesphere in testing where Wurmcoil used to be, as tech against DS to help chump it an extra 4 times. See results in the screenshot below
A sub-theme of the deck is to play mostly all the good cards from Kai Budde's Wildfire Red deck just for nostalgia lol. Just need to pick up my copy of Mishra's Helix and im set.
lol I seriously hope this isn't targeted toward my post
Case in point: the payoff for one of your contingency plans should align with the payoff with your main plan. This is why Dredge/Dredgevine lists of old had a hard time doing their work - if you cut out the graveyard aspect, any scenario where they put a serious clock on you were corner case situations, but the deck wasn't winning if it didn't attack or use its graveyard. Creatures that faltered without graveyards and ended up being too fair were shown to be too inconsistent, given how many opponents had a hoser at the ready.
I have been trying to gather a lot of data from matches to shore up spots that stonewalled the original concept. Here's the 75 I have so far:
4x Hollow One
4x Goblin Guide
4x Flameblade Adept
4x Insolent Neonate
4x Street Wraith
3x Fauna Shaman
2x Faerie Macabre
2x Ghor-Clan Rampager
4x Faithless Looting
3x Cathartic Reunion
3x Arid Mesa
3x Wooded Foothills
3x Bloodstained Mire
4x Mountain
2x Stomping Ground
1x Blood Crypt
2x Copperline Gorge
2x Faerie Macabre
2x Ingot Chewer
1x Domri Rade
1x Greater Gargadon
1x Reclamation Sage
2x Driven // Despair
2x Feed the Clan
2x Roast
Plenty of people have a poor opinion of Fauna, but in my testing she enables the most consistent lines. Being that we're a high-variance shell, it really helps to have what you want when you need it. Another thing I found was that having pump spells at a poor time would be my downfall. With the 3/2 Fauna-Rampager split over the 3-2 Become Immense/TBR split, we have as much gas as the prototype version, but without overextending. Moreover, it helps to have additional creatures to trigger discarded Vengevine copies instead of spells that have no way to put the game within reach if there's no body to target.
Flameblade Adept also ended up being a very explosive option, and a cheap one. It checks all the boxes we need it to. It feeds off of our sorceries, Shaman, Rampager, and Street Wraith plays, so when it is a good option so is Hollow One, which means the deck is going in more of the same direction. With Swiftspear, if she was good then Vengevine was bad, and vice versa.
I know MD Macabre seems loose, but there are plenty of ways to turn her into something better. If nothing else, it's one of 6 ways to ensure your Hollow One/Vengevine nut draw happens a turn sooner.
From the sideboard, Ingot Chewer is a no-brainer, as it helps trigger Vengevine (as good as Ancient Grudge is, that is where it falters)
I am testing Slaughter Games as there are plenty of decks who we can snipe with the card. Macabre is almost good enough against Goryo's Vengeance, but they usually have Through the Breach as backup. Combo decks can just go over the top of us if we haven't sufficiently raced them, so it helps to have a nail in the coffin against the likes of Ad Nauseum, Scapeshift, etc. Card also helps to deal with Wurmcoil and Anger of the Gods when we need to not just have our entire plan fall apart to them. EDIT: Upon further thought, I like Driven // Despair to help shore up our matchup vs non-creature strategies, but I still need to come up with the right number of anti-Anger of the Gods tech. Will try Driven x2 for now.
This is at least the 10th iteration of the list I've configured since watching JGM's version. I hope I can find a good balance for the rest of the PPTQ season.
I have been able to shut down Counters Company from winning, then convoked a 5/5 Ballista to whittle their board down to nothing until the opponent scooped, thanks to Academy Ruins giving me topdeck Ballista every turn. Simply too good of a long game to pass up.
4x Goblin Guide
4x Insolent Neonate
4x Hollow One
4x Vengevine
3x Fauna Shaman
4x Street Wraith
4x Faerie Macabre
1x Ghor-Clan Rampager
4x Faithless Looting
3x Cathartic Reunion
3x Wooded Foothills
3x Bloodstained Mire
3x Arid Mesa
2x Copperline Gorge
3x Stomping Ground
4x Mountain
1x Heroic Intervention
1x Greater Gargadon
1x Grim Lavamancer
2x Ingot Chewer
2x Reclamation Sage
1x Phyrexian Revoker
2x Feed the Clan
2x Lightning Axe
1x Domri Rade
2x Arc Trail
The problem I had with the usual version is that there was a push and pull between Monastery Swiftspear and Vengevine. One rewards you for playing creatures, one for playing non-creatures. It still had as many cheap creatures, but it wasn't helping against slower decks that were able to pick off what you pumped with Become Immense and the other pump spell.
Faerie Macabre has been insane in the maindeck, not only able to thwart opposing Vengevines but able to act as another ritual effect for our Hollow Ones.
The overall main piece to this list that gives it the kind of game it has is the Fauna Shaman tech. Makes all your very narrow sideboard slots that much better, while being able to act as our set up play. Where the JGM version has actual pump spells, this can fetch your Ghor-Clan for a game winning blow.
I'll elaborate on the list and provide a write-up on all the testing of multiple iterations. It's late and I need to catch up on work tomorrow.
As a final note, I can say I've been meaning to find the best ways of dealing with Anger of the Gods. My picks so far:
Heroic Intervention
Greater Gargadon
Jinxed Idol
Gluttonous Slime
Any other considerations would be greatly appreciated, even if they're bullets for Fauna Shaman
Knowing my metagame people will be on this list like flies on stink
Btw nice work on the sig RR7_7RR. When I first started brewing this deck, before realizing the optimal build, I was doodling away looking to make custom mat artwork of the spells, having a narrative of them as a whole. I made a production plant where Etherium Sculptors worked on high standing platforms, and equipped Superions and Lupine Prototypes for action, using scraps picked by Glint Nest Cranes, navigating the premises with Smuggler's Copters (see attached for loose sketch)
I think if I can hunker down and take the project seriously, I would want to do a playmat with narrative illustration that invokes the core of the optimal build. I've always called the deck Blue Man Group, so it would be nice to just have all the Vedalken using Copters and/or Ballistas as percussion instruments lol. Any other ideas would be sweet
I wouldn't cut more than one from the main. You want to be able to accelerate into a win and having extra lords is always the best way. I was silly to shoot it down. What opened my eyes was how it protected Golem against Bolt in the RG Titanshift matchup in testing. Having your tax effects stick on the board is crucial to your game one wins, and Master is the best at getting your Copters and Golems into a range where they can be very effective in combat, irrespective of whether he's a 2/2 or a 5/5+. My only gripe is that I have zero data with Master + Myr Battlesphere, which I think would be better in the main in some cases.
The most attention I would direct would go to the sideboard. Not 100% on my numbers and each card is heavily relied upon, especially when needing to consolidate tasks in the matchups they are relevant in (Ex: Kira and Sword against control/mid is a non-bo as sometimes you can't equip to your guys)
3x Judge's Familiar
4x Chief Engineer
4x Etherium Sculptor
4x Grand Architect
4x Master of Etherium
4x Walking Ballista
4x Lodestone Golem
1x Wurmcoil Engine
2x Throne of the God-Pharaoh
4x Blinkmoth Nexus
1x Academy Ruins
1x Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
16x Island
2x Thorn of Amethyst
2x Dismember
2x Unified Will
2x Relic of Progenitus
2x Trinket Mage
1x Grafdigger's Cage
1x Wurmcoil Engine
1x Kira, Great Glass-Spinner
1x Basilisk Collar
1x Pithing Needle
Round 1 vs GW Value Land Bears (Lawson Zandi)
Mull to 5 game one and get buried underneath triple Knight of the Reliquary/double Courser draw
Game two he ended up having to GQ his own basics just to get on board, and sputtered on low tempo
Game three he had mana issues again, and I assembled Architect + 4 other blue guys + Ballista + Collar
(1-0-0)
Round 2 vs UB Control (Bruce Brown)
Game one he just has low impact/non-action cards and I get off turn three Architect into Lodestone + Copter
Game two I get Lodestone + Thorn out by turn 4 and his plays become too awkward to keep up on board
(2-0-0)
Round 3 vs Grixis Shadow (Ivan Contreras)
Game one I get stuffed on lands or else I'd have an opening to run out turn 3 Architect into Lodestone and Copter.
He discards relevant threat and stonewalls me with double Shadow at 6 life.
Game two I get ahead on board and land Lodestone + double Wanderer, he concedes
Game three I end up racing a Gurmag Angler with 7 power, he floods a bit and topdecks discard spells.
(3-0-0)
Round 4 vs Eldrazi Tron (Tyler Lindsey)
Game one I start on the play and just flood the board turn 3. Took him down with 4 life chunks thanks to quad fliers and a Throne
Game two he mulls to five but runs out TKS on 3 & 4 to keep parity, then races me but pulls ahead with Reshaper and Smasher
Game three came down to 1 life. I'm racing with double Wanderer, manland, and Kira while Master/Engineer muck up the ground. He's getting in with double TKS and I chump a few times with low impact creatures, before I land a copter and swing to pass. He attacks with Smasher, TKS, TKS, Reshaper. I'm at 10 and go to make a copter, go to blocks, put copter in front of Reshaper and an Engineer in front of TKS. After damage with only 2 mana up he extends the hand
(4-0-0)
Round 5 vs Mono-W Taxes (Aydin Kageler)
I get paired down so opponent refuses ID
Game one we get deckchecked and he incurs a loss from incorrect registration
Game two I lead with Wanderer, turn two Engineer > Scultpor > Copter, turn three Master into Lodestone, swing with Copter. He goes to attack with a Splicer token and forgets Master pumps Lodestone, after coughing up his only advantage on board and seeing me run out another two masters turn 5 he concedes
(5-0-0)
Round 6 ID
(5-0-1)
T8 vs Counter Company (Carl Hendrix)
Game one my 7 is 5 lands, a Throne and a Wurmcoil. 6 is no lands. 5 is Island/Nexus/Wanderer/Throne/Chief. I keep. Opened the game with a turn 3 Ballista to kill two birds and slow him a bit. Eventually clock him down to 4 life after he has cast two K Finks and a CoCo for a third and an E-Wit to grab CoCo. His turn before taking lethal, he Chords for Viscera Seer but doesn't even need to break his Finks open as he draws another Chord for Anafenza
Game two my 7 is mono islands and double engineer, 6 is copter/familiar/nexus/trip Islands so I keep and push an Island to the bottom. End up drawing two Islands to start the game and eventually wheeled into low impact creatures. Opponent had the stones so by then his board is developed with the infinite mana so even my topdeck cage can't stop his combo + double Abrupt Decay in hand.
Felt like I had a decent run but still struggling to see if I should have mulled another time in that second game. Defnitely have to go to the drawing board and see how I can gear up for the next run. Until then I guess :B
If the opponent is taxed, that means we have at least an extra turn to procure enough lands to respond to their plays lol. Also, Venser doesnt care about Thorn.
Youre right about 22 lands being iffy, so I will test moving Collar to the main and playing Sea Gate Wreckage in its stead out of the board. I feel 15 Island/1 Cavern/1 A Ruins/1 Oboro main should be the configuration to help support Wreckage without hurting our tempo early game. Wreckage and a 23rd land help solve both the flooding problems, and the curving out problem doubly.
All this talk about extra nonblue lands is 100% wrong. We arent trying to whiff on getting turn 3 Architect mana. There are other more effective ways to keep parity with board wipes.
As an aside, I'm simply metagaming for my LGS crowd in a 25mi radius as PPTQ season is underway. About 1/3 opponents are on either UW or Rw Prison, and 0% on Eldrazi Tron. Affinity isn't where you want counterspells anyway, because they're usually dead after turn 3.
I've tried to accommodate all the issues the deck has with midrange/control/hate cards lately, and so I went to remedy things my own way. Here is the updated sideboard from the list in post #1008:
The 2-1 split of Venser/Unsubstantiate has been exceptionally good against mid and control. It deals damage, unlike any regular counterspell, and you can proactively play it if your opponent is burdened by tax effects, just to bounce a ETB-tapped land and timewalk them.
Not only that, but it deals with Supreme Verdict in an elegant way, because it helps your clock after you keep your board alive a turn. Other great applications are bouncing an Ancestral Vision when the opponent is taxed (so that they can't counter your Venser in response,) countering a Cryptic Command meant to tap your team and then using Venser to crew a Copter, bouncing Emrakul once Nahiri ultimates (lol) and just plain dealing with pesky interaction and hate cards (Stony Silence, Ensnaring Bridge, Leyline of Sanctity, etc.)
I'm just glad I am finally able to see my board plan and navigate it without using any dead cards. Venser being able to tempo an opponent who might be playing a beefier creature deck (Merfolk) makes it equal parts versatile and high-impact, something the deck sorely needed as it played mainly redundant guys with a few payoff spells, but weak disruption for the late game.
If I had to hedge only against combo/mid/control I would use Specter's Shroud. It's low to the ground and very efficient, so we can start to get in and disrupt a slower deck on turn 3 with counterspell backup.
3 Judge's Familiar
4 Chief Engineer
4 Etherium Sculptor
4 Grand Architect
4 Lodestone Golem
4 Walking Ballista
1 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Trinket Mage
4 Smuggler's Copter
2 Throne of the God-Pharaoh
3 Aether Spellbomb
4 Blinkmoth Nexus
1 Academy Ruins
17 Island
2 Dismember
2 Thorn of Amethyst
2 Relic of Progenitus
1 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Unsubstantiate
1 Unified Will
1 Sword of Light and Shadow
1 Basilisk Collar
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Pithing Needle
1 Kira, Great Glass Spinner
In T4 played against a Sun and Moon pilot, flooded game 1, won game two with T1 Wanderer > T2 Engineer/Sculptor/Copter > T3 Lodestone, crew/swing with team > T4 Sword Equip, which put my Lodestone out of Anger range. Game three got ran down by T2 SSG exile/Goblin Rabblemaster > T3 Rabblemaster > T4 Declaration in Stone. Had Wurmcoil on my next turn but it would've been close either way.
A few notes and takeaways:
I like a package of Trinket Mage + triple Aether Spellbomb. Gives us ways to fight creature based shells, bounces delve creatures after they heavily invest in them, and can always be a cheap cantrip if it doesn't give us the most effective lines game one (vs creatureless combo, control, etc)
Also, what are everyone's thoughts on Curiosity as a potential 1x-2x in the SB? It makes for a good trade-off when the opponent has to decide to kill either our Architects or a dinky flier that will eventually bury them in cards.
EDIT: o__o' I just realized Curiosity doesn't trigger from combat damage, but just any damage... wombo-combo with Walking Ballista. As an aside, I jammed Battlesphere in testing where Wurmcoil used to be, as tech against DS to help chump it an extra 4 times. See results in the screenshot below
First draft of the list:
3 Judge's Familiar
4 Chief Engineer
4 Etherium Sculptor
4 Grand Architect
4 Lodestone Golem
4 Walking Ballista
1 Trinket Mage
1 Myr Battlesphere
3 Aether Spellbomb
2 Throne of the God-Pharaoh
4 Blinkmoth Nexus
1 Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
1 Academy Ruins
16 Island
1 Aethersphere Harvester
1 Basilisk Collar
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Pithing Needle
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Thorn of Amethyst
1 Trinket Mage
2 Curiosity
2 Ceremonious Rejection
1 Dismember
1 Unified Will