Usually, the players do a top 8 split. A guy from my FNM told me that at SCG Opens, only twice in their history has there NOT been a top 8 split. I know for sure once it was myself in Los Angeles because I felt I had a good chance to win 1st
well then the fnm guy was wrong. there wasnt a top 8 split at this event, and i know for sure in addition to your LA event there was another where there was no split (which i ended up winning so it all worked out i guess)
as an aside... unless you are a pro vs 7 idiots, isnt it a huge mistake to turn down the split? 750 for everyone vs you need to get to the finals to surpass that if its no split
purge isn't that devastating IMO. I mean, yeah it shuts down recurring gravecrawler or messenger, but it is essentially just a doom blade effect.
timely isnt too big a deal either, actually them having 1/1 tokens sometimes is an asset with the right blood artist/mortarpod setup
thragtusk is tough.
but the card that is a total freaking house is surgical extraction. while purge kills 1 guy, and you can battle through, sometimes its hard to win if they kill ALL your crawlers or messengers (or blood artists in some games).
i win many games cause people use purge instead of surgical
So, after a lackluster effort with ub this past weekend (tbh it wasnt THAT bad; 4-3, one game to coinflip mirror when he drew better, and 2 losses to rogue decks that i didnt actually have the cards to beat) and seeing my friends use br and do ok but eventually succumb to its running out of gas issue, i got thinking. we have seen some wb zombies lists but they didnt fare that great.
what about green?
Rancor on gravecrawler? garruk relentless doing all sorts of crazy things for you? beast within?
the mana would be dicey for sure, 4 woodland cemetary 4 evolvingwilds 1 forest, but idk is the plan terrible or ok?
like the lines you can take with garruk are pretty good. beast within is a solid removal and also potentially a live the dream card to blow up your own messenger in response to an o-ring or something
people laugh at me for playing basically a m11 limited combo, but i now maindeck 2 act of aggression and 2 bloodthrone vampire. i have gone 8-0 between yesterday and fnm so far, beating 4 thragtusk decks along the way.
a 3rd sb act isnt unreasonable. you have really 7 sacrifice outlets (3 mortarpod, 2 bloodthrone vampire, 2 killing wave for 0). whats great about this little kid combo is that they always swing out when they play thragtusk, so when you steal him he immediately can get in for 5 to undo the lifegain.
other option would be memoricide. i had then sb friday but cut them for saturday. in theory, its great, as it can nab thragtusk, as well as two miracles that are powerful against us, terminus and bonfire of the damned.
can't decide if i like vapor snag over ponder. kind of want a couple sign in blood maybe, idk. snag is stronger in a nut draw scenario, but the games are often grindy and ponder shows its value there.
though i will admit snag to get two more uses out of a messenger seems quite good.
regarding Brad Eier's list, i can't seem to pick up any (3x pod deck 1x wr human deck 1x weird aggro GW deck with primordial hydra, 1x chandra+ sorins vengeance thing) (matches, i got some g1 wins) wins with it on MWS, i suspect i'm playing it wrong :/. any general tips? i'm impressed by mortarpod's interactions, blood artist's utility in general, but this deck seems to be put down by any bigger creature threat ><
should this deck not be running go for the throat instead of geth's verdict? :/, targetting irritating creatures seems FAR more valuable than 1 dmg, as this it's not like this is RDW of last block, where you could depend on killing opps before biggies came into play, and it's not like it has enough removal to kill everything but one creature consistently.
New-ish to standard (coming in from legacy), and i know it must be a good deck, i just cant seem to beat any of the decks i played (4x pod, 1x WR human aggro)
also, i understand what most of the cards are for, but what comes out vs. what decks? (regarding the sb)
rg aggro, wolf run, wr humans, pod, delver...
keep playing it, it just takes some time to figure out. i went 2-2 at fnm a bunch with it before breaking through to win the scg.
most games follow a pretty basic formula- get them to around 10 quickly, then they stabilize, so you frantically search for some sort of combo kill with killing wave/mortarpod/blood artist/messenger.
pod is never an easy matchup, huntmaster is very strong against the deck. always try to kill their mana birds. you usually win the game if they just try to play a million strangleroot geists, but if they go a little bigger it can be tough. i have positive win % vs pod but its not x-0 so it is something ub can lose to. they have no card draw though so i mean, kill a bird make them play a bunch of lands then a pod etc, they maybe cant present as many threats. if they start podding, use your images on their guys if needed- many a game has been won by the zombies copying a zealous conscripts
go for the throat is a fine card, but verdict is useful vs hexproof guys. you can almost always trigger tragic slip so those are basically go for the throats. plus the life loss on verdict is useful if you have blood artist out to make them really feel it.
against like all the aggro decks fume spitter is a house. from the detroit list i almost always cut 2 bloodline keeper then maybe a diregraf ghoul or something. the high priest is fine but beware the pod decks as they can clone him sometimes and lead to nightmare board states.
you cant beat wolfrun so sb wont matter. vs wr humans you want all the creature hate. kill their early guys and make them play off the top. they have some explosive lines of play with the hate soulbond guy so keep that in mind. overall against many aggro iterations, blood artist is really a beast. if they kill him, they have no removal for your attackers. if they dont kill him, combat is always a losing proposition for them.
new cards- duress is possible, its a good card. i am thinking memoricide for thragtusk or terminus as you cant really beat those cards. i am thnking about 2-3 blood artist and a 2nd act of aggression main deck, to have that steal/sac angle be a more realistic scenario.
Does anybody know the sideboarding in this? I understand the appetite for brains, but the undying evil and high priest, im just lost.
Hey there,
given that I was the one to use the deck for the win last week, perhaps I can shed some light on some general SB plans.
Appetite for brains is really useful against white based control decks. Your main target is Gideon, since that guy is an absolute house. However, sometimes you are able to hit a sun titan or terminus, which can be useful as well. Simply seeing their hand is also valuable in itself, to sculpt a proper gameplan. Apart from that, depending on what type of wolf run people are using, it can be useful there too. I didn't play vs wolf run in the open, but many lists seem to be cutting green sun's zenith for more titans, so appetite gains value in that matchup. i forget if i brought them in against the frites deck- they potentially could be good i think depending on who draws what when.
undying evil, is kind of sketchy. after the event mr. marlow facebook friended me so i asked him about it, he said he was using it against board sweeps. while this maybe makes some sense, i have two issues with the plan- first, against bonfire decks, you are already bringing in so many other cards that there isnt room to put this in. second, against white decks, terminus trumps undying evil. I think vs assorted creature decks, i would occasionally side 1 in on the day, but IMO these are probably the weakest spot in the sb. possibly, replace with ratchet bombs?
the fume spitters seemed to come in all the time. it is another answer to delver turn 1, and it kills mana birds. that said, because they have limited usefulness vs control decks, i think the SB is the proper place to keep them.
nihil spellbomb is for graveyard decks. obviously strong vs frites, sun titan/image decks. i usually brought them in against delver, though it's possible that was not correct. my thought was that you shut down moorland haunt and snapcaster re-buys, which is very good. plus, at worst it draws a card, to help you find answers to geist quicker.
skirsdag high priest is for creature decks. be careful, as vs rug pod mine got copied and combat got awkward. and certainly it does force you to extend some, which could be bad if they get a bonfire. that said, you have so many ways to trigger the morbid and enough cheap guys that making the 5/5 is a reasonable expectation in many games.
steel sabotage i brought in against batterskulls. i didnt face much sword of f/f, but you need answers for it. sword of w/p isnt as bad since you can use your removal, so i usually don't bring it in there. killing golem tokens isn't unreasonable either. i actually won one game by bouncing a mortarpod back to hand to re-cast it later for another point of damage.
if there are more specific questions feel free to ask. as for what to cut, NEVER cut ponders! i was testing this deck at fnm, and was treating ponder like we used to treat probe in illusions, ie, 4 cards you can cut for real spells after each g1. you need ponders to get to your action.
generally, bloodline keepers, the act, and various numbers of diregraf ghouls got cut to add sb cards in. geth's verdict gets cut against decks that flood the board with creatures. i don't think you ever want to cut all 4 ghouls, as you need a critical mass of zombies to ensure consistent gravecrawler re-buys.
i am really interested by this card... i've seen him here and there in a few ub decks, but i think maybe there could be a deck where he is even more useful
anyone have ideas how to utilize him well?
so far i can think of...
1. r/b vampires (but isnt olivia just better as a 4 drop?)
2. u/b blade (with him serving the "emeria angel" role from caw blade)
3. tokens (but he is competing with her of bladehold at 4)
what about black white tokens? you have reasonable cards at every drop: doomed traveler, mortarpod/intangible virtue, blade splicer/midnight haunting, bloodline keeper/moan of the unhallowed/hero of bladehold, elspeth, grave titan
i was going to build this last night actually, but one problem that stopped me in my tracks was ratchet bomb. more than day of judgment, the sun titan + ratchet bomb that is in a decent number of solar flare types is worrisome. g/w tokens gets away with it cause it is actually less tokens and more stuff like pilgrim and crusaders.
but there are some powerful plays a b/w tokens deck can do, so it intrigues me
well then the fnm guy was wrong. there wasnt a top 8 split at this event, and i know for sure in addition to your LA event there was another where there was no split (which i ended up winning so it all worked out i guess)
as an aside... unless you are a pro vs 7 idiots, isnt it a huge mistake to turn down the split? 750 for everyone vs you need to get to the finals to surpass that if its no split
timely isnt too big a deal either, actually them having 1/1 tokens sometimes is an asset with the right blood artist/mortarpod setup
thragtusk is tough.
but the card that is a total freaking house is surgical extraction. while purge kills 1 guy, and you can battle through, sometimes its hard to win if they kill ALL your crawlers or messengers (or blood artists in some games).
i win many games cause people use purge instead of surgical
what about green?
Rancor on gravecrawler? garruk relentless doing all sorts of crazy things for you? beast within?
the mana would be dicey for sure, 4 woodland cemetary 4 evolvingwilds 1 forest, but idk is the plan terrible or ok?
like the lines you can take with garruk are pretty good. beast within is a solid removal and also potentially a live the dream card to blow up your own messenger in response to an o-ring or something
i actually added 2 bloodthrone to supplement the pods. they are different enough cards that i feel its worth using them both
a 3rd sb act isnt unreasonable. you have really 7 sacrifice outlets (3 mortarpod, 2 bloodthrone vampire, 2 killing wave for 0). whats great about this little kid combo is that they always swing out when they play thragtusk, so when you steal him he immediately can get in for 5 to undo the lifegain.
other option would be memoricide. i had then sb friday but cut them for saturday. in theory, its great, as it can nab thragtusk, as well as two miracles that are powerful against us, terminus and bonfire of the damned.
however, it is just very slow and stuff
well, image on messenger isnt bad either lol
so... what are you cutting to make room for ponder AND snags? i think there are at most 6 slots i can find, and i want 4 of each tbh
though i will admit snag to get two more uses out of a messenger seems quite good.
this brings up an interesting decision- what one should i go to?
keep playing it, it just takes some time to figure out. i went 2-2 at fnm a bunch with it before breaking through to win the scg.
most games follow a pretty basic formula- get them to around 10 quickly, then they stabilize, so you frantically search for some sort of combo kill with killing wave/mortarpod/blood artist/messenger.
pod is never an easy matchup, huntmaster is very strong against the deck. always try to kill their mana birds. you usually win the game if they just try to play a million strangleroot geists, but if they go a little bigger it can be tough. i have positive win % vs pod but its not x-0 so it is something ub can lose to. they have no card draw though so i mean, kill a bird make them play a bunch of lands then a pod etc, they maybe cant present as many threats. if they start podding, use your images on their guys if needed- many a game has been won by the zombies copying a zealous conscripts
go for the throat is a fine card, but verdict is useful vs hexproof guys. you can almost always trigger tragic slip so those are basically go for the throats. plus the life loss on verdict is useful if you have blood artist out to make them really feel it.
against like all the aggro decks fume spitter is a house. from the detroit list i almost always cut 2 bloodline keeper then maybe a diregraf ghoul or something. the high priest is fine but beware the pod decks as they can clone him sometimes and lead to nightmare board states.
you cant beat wolfrun so sb wont matter. vs wr humans you want all the creature hate. kill their early guys and make them play off the top. they have some explosive lines of play with the hate soulbond guy so keep that in mind. overall against many aggro iterations, blood artist is really a beast. if they kill him, they have no removal for your attackers. if they dont kill him, combat is always a losing proposition for them.
new cards- duress is possible, its a good card. i am thinking memoricide for thragtusk or terminus as you cant really beat those cards. i am thnking about 2-3 blood artist and a 2nd act of aggression main deck, to have that steal/sac angle be a more realistic scenario.
Hey there,
given that I was the one to use the deck for the win last week, perhaps I can shed some light on some general SB plans.
Appetite for brains is really useful against white based control decks. Your main target is Gideon, since that guy is an absolute house. However, sometimes you are able to hit a sun titan or terminus, which can be useful as well. Simply seeing their hand is also valuable in itself, to sculpt a proper gameplan. Apart from that, depending on what type of wolf run people are using, it can be useful there too. I didn't play vs wolf run in the open, but many lists seem to be cutting green sun's zenith for more titans, so appetite gains value in that matchup. i forget if i brought them in against the frites deck- they potentially could be good i think depending on who draws what when.
undying evil, is kind of sketchy. after the event mr. marlow facebook friended me so i asked him about it, he said he was using it against board sweeps. while this maybe makes some sense, i have two issues with the plan- first, against bonfire decks, you are already bringing in so many other cards that there isnt room to put this in. second, against white decks, terminus trumps undying evil. I think vs assorted creature decks, i would occasionally side 1 in on the day, but IMO these are probably the weakest spot in the sb. possibly, replace with ratchet bombs?
the fume spitters seemed to come in all the time. it is another answer to delver turn 1, and it kills mana birds. that said, because they have limited usefulness vs control decks, i think the SB is the proper place to keep them.
nihil spellbomb is for graveyard decks. obviously strong vs frites, sun titan/image decks. i usually brought them in against delver, though it's possible that was not correct. my thought was that you shut down moorland haunt and snapcaster re-buys, which is very good. plus, at worst it draws a card, to help you find answers to geist quicker.
skirsdag high priest is for creature decks. be careful, as vs rug pod mine got copied and combat got awkward. and certainly it does force you to extend some, which could be bad if they get a bonfire. that said, you have so many ways to trigger the morbid and enough cheap guys that making the 5/5 is a reasonable expectation in many games.
steel sabotage i brought in against batterskulls. i didnt face much sword of f/f, but you need answers for it. sword of w/p isnt as bad since you can use your removal, so i usually don't bring it in there. killing golem tokens isn't unreasonable either. i actually won one game by bouncing a mortarpod back to hand to re-cast it later for another point of damage.
if there are more specific questions feel free to ask. as for what to cut, NEVER cut ponders! i was testing this deck at fnm, and was treating ponder like we used to treat probe in illusions, ie, 4 cards you can cut for real spells after each g1. you need ponders to get to your action.
generally, bloodline keepers, the act, and various numbers of diregraf ghouls got cut to add sb cards in. geth's verdict gets cut against decks that flood the board with creatures. i don't think you ever want to cut all 4 ghouls, as you need a critical mass of zombies to ensure consistent gravecrawler re-buys.
i want to play this at fnm and gameday, got it built, but i'd like to see what he cuts g2 and 3 to add stuff for
"hey is it true, ptq's are store level events next year?"
they said:
yes, starting with the next ptq qualifying season, they will be store level events.
they also said it had already been announced, but i havent seen the official announcement yet
anyone have ideas how to utilize him well?
so far i can think of...
1. r/b vampires (but isnt olivia just better as a 4 drop?)
2. u/b blade (with him serving the "emeria angel" role from caw blade)
3. tokens (but he is competing with her of bladehold at 4)
any other ideas?
i was going to build this last night actually, but one problem that stopped me in my tracks was ratchet bomb. more than day of judgment, the sun titan + ratchet bomb that is in a decent number of solar flare types is worrisome. g/w tokens gets away with it cause it is actually less tokens and more stuff like pilgrim and crusaders.
but there are some powerful plays a b/w tokens deck can do, so it intrigues me