Yea disfigure is good vs affinity. Dismember covers other bases. Not sure you want both in the board though.
Feed the clan is a good mix card. It's not solo: you have 2 finks as well. It's just more impactful against specifically burn, while finks works elsewhere.
Affinity is always a problem. Beating them takes work. Other matchups can be won on skill and tight play, but we fold to burn and affinity decks without a good sideboard plan and some lucky draws.
+1 Dismember
+1-2 Nihil Spellbomb or Grafdigger's Cage
or
1 Spellbomb, 1 Dismember and 1 Surgical Extraction?
Also considering to cut Curse of Death's Hold for a Zealous Persecution.
I would be real careful about cutting artifact hate. 3 Stony is a lot, but that number serves to make sure you can find one when it counts, early and often. Both Affinity and Lanterns fold to it, and you probably still bring in 1-3 against Thopters, depending on what you think they'll do postboard. Creeping Corrosion is a little less necessary, but I'd still keep it as a hail mary against all those decks, specifically Affinity.
People might think we have a "good" matchup against AFfinity because Souls, but we don't. We are still a dog anytime we draw a clunky hand or they have a fast start. Choose wisely.
I'm not sure why people are so obsessed with Graveyard hate right now. Are there really that many decks you are playing against that need the Sideboard space? Griselbrand and Living End are rarely played in my meta and on the national average, and aside from that I can't think of why you'd want GY hate at all. There are plenty of other decks where it's technically useful, but I think it's too low impact far too often to justify sideboard space. If anything, a single Surgical seems good against the combo decks while still hedging slightly against certain GY strategies, but I really wouldn't cut Artifact hate for GY hate unless your expected meta is upside down. You will see Affinity on average once or twice per tournament, if not more. You will see a single crazy combo/GY deck maybe once or less per tournament. I'd keep the Corrosion and Silences if I were you.
If you want space for other Sideboard cards (GY hate or anything else) in that list, I'd look at Feed the Clan, Painful Truths, and Disfigure as flex slots. Maybe EE too.
Cutting Curse for Persecution is fine. I'm still going to test Curse for now but it is slow. Persecution is the obvious replacement.
As for Ajani, Mentor of Heroes, he's great and all, but I think we have better ways to spend 5 mana in this deck on a threat (Sigarda). Ajani is just very slow and requires you to have another creature in play to use his first +1 properly. Finding threats is great, but I'd rather just have him BE the threat. Also, you can easily whiff on his second +1, which isn't ideal. I think he's a bit better in a deck that actually floods the board with dudes, rather than our 20/20/20 configuration.
@nawhillih, also here is another example, which we've been discussing.
Those are basically the stock lists, with a few variations. But if you invest in that core, you will have a Tier 1 deck. The variations in manlands isn't critical, I'd probably not run more than 1 Ghost Quarter right now, and yes you only really need 4 Liliana and a couple Sorin as planeswalkers( but you could always build your list to accommodate more of them).
Goyf is necessary to be Tier 1, but you can build Abzan without him too.
My logic for the Eternal Witness is that it allows me to garner card advantage by grabbing spells back. Ajani Mentor has actually been quite decent in testing, so I think he'll stay in the shell.
I've now played 13 matches, but I'm a bit inexperienced with GBx, and I think that has affected my results, as I'm 5-8 in matches with a 15-18 game record. I think that the 15-18 shows that the deck has potential, but it needs those last few pieces of tinkering to get it up to stuff.
My full record looks like this (deck/match record/match win %/game record/game win %)
I really need some help with the sideboard, and I'll consider somethings for the E Witness slot.
Yeah I think E-witness is good, but it strikes me as clunky with what you're trying to do. It's also clunky in regular Abzan, which is why we don't play it. If you had a few more spells that generate tokens, like say Spectral Procession or whatever, Witness might make some more sense, but I still think it's unnecessary.
Also I hate to point out the obvious, but where's the Tarmogoyfs? I realize it's a brew, but you still have enough of the classic BG/x shell to make me wonder why no Goyfs. He still presents the best early threat, which would allow you time to set up your late game engines. Also, sometimes they just win by themselves.
If you are cutting Goyf, I'm not sure you should also still be playing the Rhinos and Scoozes either necessarily. Rhino seems a little out of place, as you should be able to get more value from your planeswalkers in a true tokens shell. Sorin, Lord of Innistrad strikes me as a good 1-2 of as a way to produce emblems and still gain life, and I'm sure there are other tokens-related cards in the 4-drop slot that could jive better.
Anyway, sorry to ramble. It's a cool deck, but definitely different from the regular BGx shell. I think you still have one foot in classic Abzan, but one foot in the tokens camp, and I just wonder if you can find a more synergistic shell that's more fully devoted to tokens.
This list just placed at a random SCG event, and it's actually pretty interesting looking:
I was just last night thinking about Oath of Nissa and how powerful it could be in a Goyf deck. This build is basically exactly what I had in mind. I'm still not in love with Abzan Charm, but I'll have to test it. Aside from that, this list still has everything I want in an Abzan deck. I'm curious to see if Oath of Nissa ends up being good enough in general, as whiffing would be horrendous, but having 5/6 Goyfs sure is swell.
I've been working toward putting a list together that I'm calling Bitter Abzan. I have only gotten a match in thus far, but I'm looking for thoughts on the more token-oriented strategy as well as what Abzan really looks to sideboard. I want to find a slot for Anguished Unmaking somewhere in the 75, but I'm not sure yet.
Cool brew! It's a bit different from what the rest of us are doing here, but I do like the idea. I might consider a few changes though. Nissa doesn't seem that amazing, and The Eternal Witnesses and Ajani Mentor seem a little out of place. I think if you really want to do a full tokens theme, you should commit more fully to generating tokens and support them with cards like Intangible virtue or Sorin, Lord of Innistrad. But either way, it looks fun.
Based on my testing against Affinity, Liliana of the Veil is at her best in pressuring the opponent when we have spirit tokens out. The Affinity player either wastes a Galvanic Blast to prevent a second edict after and initial edict or forces a trade with their Inkmoth/Blinkmoth Nexus, Vault Skirge with our spirit tokens. As long as we prevent Etched Champion from entering the battlefield, we're good. He's the only reason that I'm leaving in my Inquisition of Kozileks.
I've been testing Engineered Explosives in place of Golgari Charm , I've been very impressed. It kills what Golgari Charm kills and spares our tokens. I will continue to test it and report.
My only comment on your list is that you might want to diversify your removal a little bit. 4 Decay and 4 Path seems a little clunky. Path is great, but ramping people is still not ideal for this deck, so I feel it should be used sparingly. We have so many options in black, so depending what your meta requires you could run Disfigure, Pact, or Dismember as the 4th path. Similarly, I feel like 4 Decay is a lot. But those are small gripes. If those numbers are working for you than no need to change it.
I do think EE is a great SB card in general, and probably covers just a couple more bases than Golgari Charm does. Ability to miss our own Spirits is nice, as is the extra insurance against stuff like Bogles and Fish. I generally consider my Damnation untouchable, but the 2nd/3rd sweeper to be less fixed. EE, Drown in Sorrow, Flaying Tendrils, Languish, or Golgari Charm all make a great 2nd option as your sweeper to cover different bases. Again, just choose based on what you expect.
I think Liliana can be fine against Affinity too, but you definitely don't want too many. Shaving one copy, especially on the draw, seems like a good idea if you can find something better to bring in.
I like discard against Affinity, as it's one of the few ways to stop a nut draw from killing you on turn 3. You also need something to start the curve, and without Lightning Bolt I think IoK is very helpful at giving us something to do early on against the faster decks. Sometimes it sucks when you draw the discard too late, or can't cast it at a relevant point, but I think it's worth it for having early interaction with them in most games. You gotta grow those goyfs somehow!
Yeah, Baneslayer is a good 1-of curve topper if you really want to mess people up in grindier matchups (and hope they run out of removal), but it's not ideal against Burn. You'd still keep it in against Burn, but you wouldn't expect it to be relevant in most games. Either they crush us very quickly or we find a way to stabilize and then shut them out with a single Goyf or similar threat. Baneslayer would probably buy you a critical turn in like 30% of games, but the rest of the time it's going to be way too slow, and you'll have a better time casting Rhino or resolving another threat early while leaving up removal.
I'm still having trouble fitting in all the 3-drops and discard I want, while still debating the 25th land slot. I can't imagine finding room for something like Baneslayer at the moment in the maindeck. But it is still a helluva card. Sigarda strikes me as a better mirror-breaker in the board though.
Anyway, deck is finally sleeved. It's basically the list I referenced a few pages back with some very minor tweaks. I'll be playing it much more often starting next week, due to a shift in my schedule.
You also want to have discard into Goyf into Liliana as often as possible, as well as options for Scooze and Tasigur. Discard basically plays well with all of the rest of our deck. 6 is minimum. 8 can be excessive but called for in the right meta. 7 seems like the ideal starting point. Test your list and go from there.
Both of those cards are fine, and have their place in certain metas, but right now they aren't necessarily ideal.
Voice of Resurgence is good if you're expecting the mirror, or a lot of grindy decks, but it can be extremely underwhelming in many other matchups. In many cases, it's just a 2/2 that dies to spells our other creatures don't; part of the appeal of this deck is that none of our threats can be profitably bolted or Kommanded. Yes, we get a token, but the point is that Voice isn't always a must-answer threat.
Voice also really strains the mana. Basically, if you're playing voice, you're incentivized to play a few Birds of Paradise, up the number of Gavony Townships, and swing more toward "Little Kid" Abzan. Which is a great way to fight the mirror, but has a lot of weaknesses to other parts of the meta.
Similar story with Courser: it's good against certain archetypes, but it's slow and clunky against others. We have a crowded 3-drop slot as it is, and unless you expect a lot of grindy matchups, it's tough to justify squeezing it in over the many other options we already are interested in. Also, I really think Tasigur just embarrases Courser in most ways at this point.
If you're playing a Bob deck and want powerful permanents that are cheaper than Tasigur or Rhino for curve purposes, Courser is worth a good look. And if the mirror becomes popular like it was last year, or if you like G/W-based decks, Voice or Resurgence is a good card to build with. But at the moment, I think both of them are a little outclassed by the more streamlined options.
@docp3584 I think it really depends on the specific Scapeshift deck you are facing and what you expect from them. And again, even if I do expect done creatures, I'd rather leave in a split of path/pact/pulse rather than just paths. Ramping them = not good.
2 in the top 32 is actually a good thing. It means we still have the element of surprise!
I don't love path against Scapeshift since it Ramps them, but sometimes it's a necessary evil. I'd probably keep only 1-2 copies unless I'm sure they have something scary. Pulse can stay in as a better catch all, and if you run slaughter pact that's probably a better option too.
Memoricide is as good as it gets for combo "extraction" hate, but I would only run it if those above listed decks are all over your meta. The 7th/8th discard spell, 4th Liliana, and 1st surgical extraction seem better than the 1st memoricide to me but I could be wrong. Depends on your preferences too. Slaughter games is definitely an upgrade, and even that card can be underwhelming at times.
I like Surgical in other matchups as well. Against Grishoalbrand, just swiping all of their demons from their whole deck takes half their win cons away from them. Extracting a finks while an unsuspecting Abzan Company player is trying to combo off is so good.
Looking at the board, how is Curse of Deaths Hold? Isnt it a little slow vs. Matchups that it is really good in? 5 mana is kind of a lot. Isnt a second Damnation just better?
Ps: thanks for the long and thoughtful advice
So basically, you see a lot of combo it sounds like. I rarely run into decks like Ad Naus, Griselbrand, or STorm etc. at all. It's like one every 10 matches. But if you are seeing those types of decks more frequently, I can see having a pair of Surgicals alongside 7-8 discard spells (and probably the 4th lili).
Hitting Finks only works if they don't have a copy in play. I mean, yeah it stops part of their combo, but depending on what you are responding to (Chord or Company), they can often still find something to make your day miserable. Melira is more likely to grind us out than combo off, which makes cards like Surgical (potentially just a 1-for-0) not always ideal.
Anyway, if you're fighting one or more actual combo decks (Storm, Ad Naus, Grisel, Scape, etc) per event, Surgical makes sense. I still think you want the 3rd Scooze main and the Finkses in the board though. Finks is hella bad against combo, while Scooze makes a lot of them crumble.
I haven't tested that board fully yet, but Curse is a bit different than Damnation. I think that slot is a big flex spot for sure. However, Curse is very good in a few key scenarios. First, it shuts down ThopterSword, which is likely it's main purpose. And while expensive, it also completely destroys Infect. It's decent to possibly amazing against Affinity, and does work elsewhere too (Namely in the mirror and vs. any actual token strategy). Also amazing against Melira. So it's pretty versatile, despite its high cost. The difference between it and a sweeper is huge though. Damnation clears the board and buys you time, but at a cost to your own development. Curse locks them out of X/1s for the rest of the game, and makes all their other creatures smaller to boot. So yeah, worth testing for sure. Your mileage may vary. In a combo meta, Curse is an easy cut.
As for Timely vs. Feed the Clan, I think right now it's definitely Feed, alongside a couple Finks. Feed is cheaper (2 mana is huge in this mana hungry deck), instant speed, and gaining the extra 4 is actually way better than a few blockers in most cases. We already have blockers for days, but upfront lifegain is critical to beating Burn. It doesn't hurt against Zoo type decks either. Basically, I'd rather have the silver bullet for Burn, than get blown out by a single Skullcrack effect. Finks is a nice backup though because it's still a body and still can gain life a second time around. If Burn is really an issue for you, 2 Feed the Clan is probably correct.
I originally swore by Timely because 3 dudes and 6 life is no joke. However, sorcery speed is absolutely terrible. The worst feeling in the world is playing timely turn 3 only to get skullcracked in response. Good burn players will play around timely very easily. In contrast, if they tap out for a burn spell, playing feed the clan for 10 is pretty much game over.
Hmm if you think 2 ooze + 3 yard hate in the side is too much, do you have any suggestions as to other sideboard options? I originallt toyed with Gideon, Ally of Zendikar and I never needed him in grindy matchups. I figured I would rather reserve that slot for matchups that I need help in.
Surgical has been lights out for me since it strips their whole deck. Discarding key combo card + surgical is so good, I like 2 copies.
I personally like 2 finks and 2 ooze main. Finks is so good in grindy matchups and aggressive matchups. I dont mind the 3rd ooze in the side though. Do you suggest Scavenging Ooze to fill the last slot? Or should I fill that slot with another card that isnt gy related?
On Surgical, are you talking about specifically against Ad Nauseam? Or are there other decks where you find it to be that good?
I understand that Discard into Surgical can be powerful, but Surgical by itself is very underwhelming to me in many cases, and even paired with discard you often aren't going to snag the exact right piece to shut down their deck. IF you do, than you've probably just won on the spot, but often they have redundant combo pieces, or you simply whiff. Ad Naus is one of the few combo decks that can't really win without Lightning Storm or the Namesake card, with I guess Scapeshift technically having a lot of trouble sans namesake too. But Scape now generally plays Bring to Light and Shift, so you've have to snag one of their 3 copies of Shift with Thoughtseize and also have the Surgical to shut them off completely. Basically, against those 2 decks, you need to draw exactly Thoughtseize and Surgical in your opening 8-9 cards, and hope that they have the namesake in hand with no way to protect it. Not sure what the odds are on that, but they are relatively low.
Meanwhile, Scooze is just a powerhouse in any situation where the graveyards are relevant. It just doesn't quite solve your Ad Naus and Scapeshift problem. I personally would just play more discard for those matchups instead of the Surgicals. At the very least, I'd probably play 1 Surgical max.
Finks main is a meta call, but I'd rather them in the Sideboard. It's a very awkward card in many cases, and it really gluts up our already busy 3-slot. He's good against Burn, Zoo, and most grindy matchups, but not necessary in a lot of matchups. Souls should be our focus in game 1. The synergy with Liliana and being able to go wide is really big. Also, we need as many 2-drops as possible. 3 Scooze is certainly a lot, but it seems correct right now. I'd really recommend pushing the clunky Finkses to the board, especially if you're seeing so much combo.
Bob, along with 7 maindeck discard spells (with 1-2 more in the board, surgicals included) and probably 4 Liliana is a good core to start with if you are facing a lot of combo. But if you're trying to cover all bases, I'd really look at Craig Krempels list that I posted a link to above. For easy reference though, here's the list written out:
So I have been getting my butt handed to by Living End, Scapeshift, and Ad Nauseum in MTG leagues. I have been consistently going 3-2 and 4-1 but I would like to shore up my matchups vs. Those decks if I could. My current board is this
I was thinking of adding either Scavenging Ooze (I have 2 main) or Nihil Spellbomb but they do nothing vs. Living End and Scapeshift. But is 3 copies of graveyard hate in the board too much? Ooze is good but Spellbomb is better vs LEnd and Grixis but bad against thopter combo. Another option would be a second copy of Damnation that can be brought in vs. Living End, but also something like Elves and Merdolk. But then 3 wraths in the board too much also?
Is there a silver bullet that I am missing? Or should I go for the solid Spellbomb/ Ooze?
I honestly just like the 3rd Scooze main. Surgical is mediocre and I don't love the one time use on spellbomb either. Scooze is very good against LE as long as you get it early. Damnation helps there too. Spellbomb isn't great and surgical is terrible.
Against ad naus the bomb and extraction might be better but I think discard into Lili is your best line anyway. The other spells don't do much. Same goes for Scapeshift. Scooze is just so good in general, I'd rather max out on those first before adding the lesser options. If you want a fourth GY hate slot though, I'd probably play spellbomb.
Feed the clan is a good mix card. It's not solo: you have 2 finks as well. It's just more impactful against specifically burn, while finks works elsewhere.
Affinity is always a problem. Beating them takes work. Other matchups can be won on skill and tight play, but we fold to burn and affinity decks without a good sideboard plan and some lucky draws.
I would be real careful about cutting artifact hate. 3 Stony is a lot, but that number serves to make sure you can find one when it counts, early and often. Both Affinity and Lanterns fold to it, and you probably still bring in 1-3 against Thopters, depending on what you think they'll do postboard. Creeping Corrosion is a little less necessary, but I'd still keep it as a hail mary against all those decks, specifically Affinity.
People might think we have a "good" matchup against AFfinity because Souls, but we don't. We are still a dog anytime we draw a clunky hand or they have a fast start. Choose wisely.
I'm not sure why people are so obsessed with Graveyard hate right now. Are there really that many decks you are playing against that need the Sideboard space? Griselbrand and Living End are rarely played in my meta and on the national average, and aside from that I can't think of why you'd want GY hate at all. There are plenty of other decks where it's technically useful, but I think it's too low impact far too often to justify sideboard space. If anything, a single Surgical seems good against the combo decks while still hedging slightly against certain GY strategies, but I really wouldn't cut Artifact hate for GY hate unless your expected meta is upside down. You will see Affinity on average once or twice per tournament, if not more. You will see a single crazy combo/GY deck maybe once or less per tournament. I'd keep the Corrosion and Silences if I were you.
If you want space for other Sideboard cards (GY hate or anything else) in that list, I'd look at Feed the Clan, Painful Truths, and Disfigure as flex slots. Maybe EE too.
Cutting Curse for Persecution is fine. I'm still going to test Curse for now but it is slow. Persecution is the obvious replacement.
As for Ajani, Mentor of Heroes, he's great and all, but I think we have better ways to spend 5 mana in this deck on a threat (Sigarda). Ajani is just very slow and requires you to have another creature in play to use his first +1 properly. Finding threats is great, but I'd rather just have him BE the threat. Also, you can easily whiff on his second +1, which isn't ideal. I think he's a bit better in a deck that actually floods the board with dudes, rather than our 20/20/20 configuration.
@nawhillih, also here is another example, which we've been discussing.
http://sales.starcitygames.com//deckdatabase/displaydeck.php?DeckID=101053
Those are basically the stock lists, with a few variations. But if you invest in that core, you will have a Tier 1 deck. The variations in manlands isn't critical, I'd probably not run more than 1 Ghost Quarter right now, and yes you only really need 4 Liliana and a couple Sorin as planeswalkers( but you could always build your list to accommodate more of them).
Goyf is necessary to be Tier 1, but you can build Abzan without him too.
Yeah I think E-witness is good, but it strikes me as clunky with what you're trying to do. It's also clunky in regular Abzan, which is why we don't play it. If you had a few more spells that generate tokens, like say Spectral Procession or whatever, Witness might make some more sense, but I still think it's unnecessary.
Also I hate to point out the obvious, but where's the Tarmogoyfs? I realize it's a brew, but you still have enough of the classic BG/x shell to make me wonder why no Goyfs. He still presents the best early threat, which would allow you time to set up your late game engines. Also, sometimes they just win by themselves.
If you are cutting Goyf, I'm not sure you should also still be playing the Rhinos and Scoozes either necessarily. Rhino seems a little out of place, as you should be able to get more value from your planeswalkers in a true tokens shell. Sorin, Lord of Innistrad strikes me as a good 1-2 of as a way to produce emblems and still gain life, and I'm sure there are other tokens-related cards in the 4-drop slot that could jive better.
Anyway, sorry to ramble. It's a cool deck, but definitely different from the regular BGx shell. I think you still have one foot in classic Abzan, but one foot in the tokens camp, and I just wonder if you can find a more synergistic shell that's more fully devoted to tokens.
This list just placed at a random SCG event, and it's actually pretty interesting looking:
http://sales.starcitygames.com//deckdatabase/displaydeck.php?DeckID=102657
I was just last night thinking about Oath of Nissa and how powerful it could be in a Goyf deck. This build is basically exactly what I had in mind. I'm still not in love with Abzan Charm, but I'll have to test it. Aside from that, this list still has everything I want in an Abzan deck. I'm curious to see if Oath of Nissa ends up being good enough in general, as whiffing would be horrendous, but having 5/6 Goyfs sure is swell.
Cool brew! It's a bit different from what the rest of us are doing here, but I do like the idea. I might consider a few changes though. Nissa doesn't seem that amazing, and The Eternal Witnesses and Ajani Mentor seem a little out of place. I think if you really want to do a full tokens theme, you should commit more fully to generating tokens and support them with cards like Intangible virtue or Sorin, Lord of Innistrad. But either way, it looks fun.
My only comment on your list is that you might want to diversify your removal a little bit. 4 Decay and 4 Path seems a little clunky. Path is great, but ramping people is still not ideal for this deck, so I feel it should be used sparingly. We have so many options in black, so depending what your meta requires you could run Disfigure, Pact, or Dismember as the 4th path. Similarly, I feel like 4 Decay is a lot. But those are small gripes. If those numbers are working for you than no need to change it.
I do think EE is a great SB card in general, and probably covers just a couple more bases than Golgari Charm does. Ability to miss our own Spirits is nice, as is the extra insurance against stuff like Bogles and Fish. I generally consider my Damnation untouchable, but the 2nd/3rd sweeper to be less fixed. EE, Drown in Sorrow, Flaying Tendrils, Languish, or Golgari Charm all make a great 2nd option as your sweeper to cover different bases. Again, just choose based on what you expect.
I think Liliana can be fine against Affinity too, but you definitely don't want too many. Shaving one copy, especially on the draw, seems like a good idea if you can find something better to bring in.
I like discard against Affinity, as it's one of the few ways to stop a nut draw from killing you on turn 3. You also need something to start the curve, and without Lightning Bolt I think IoK is very helpful at giving us something to do early on against the faster decks. Sometimes it sucks when you draw the discard too late, or can't cast it at a relevant point, but I think it's worth it for having early interaction with them in most games. You gotta grow those goyfs somehow!
I'm still having trouble fitting in all the 3-drops and discard I want, while still debating the 25th land slot. I can't imagine finding room for something like Baneslayer at the moment in the maindeck. But it is still a helluva card. Sigarda strikes me as a better mirror-breaker in the board though.
Anyway, deck is finally sleeved. It's basically the list I referenced a few pages back with some very minor tweaks. I'll be playing it much more often starting next week, due to a shift in my schedule.
Both of those cards are fine, and have their place in certain metas, but right now they aren't necessarily ideal.
Voice of Resurgence is good if you're expecting the mirror, or a lot of grindy decks, but it can be extremely underwhelming in many other matchups. In many cases, it's just a 2/2 that dies to spells our other creatures don't; part of the appeal of this deck is that none of our threats can be profitably bolted or Kommanded. Yes, we get a token, but the point is that Voice isn't always a must-answer threat.
Voice also really strains the mana. Basically, if you're playing voice, you're incentivized to play a few Birds of Paradise, up the number of Gavony Townships, and swing more toward "Little Kid" Abzan. Which is a great way to fight the mirror, but has a lot of weaknesses to other parts of the meta.
Similar story with Courser: it's good against certain archetypes, but it's slow and clunky against others. We have a crowded 3-drop slot as it is, and unless you expect a lot of grindy matchups, it's tough to justify squeezing it in over the many other options we already are interested in. Also, I really think Tasigur just embarrases Courser in most ways at this point.
If you're playing a Bob deck and want powerful permanents that are cheaper than Tasigur or Rhino for curve purposes, Courser is worth a good look. And if the mirror becomes popular like it was last year, or if you like G/W-based decks, Voice or Resurgence is a good card to build with. But at the moment, I think both of them are a little outclassed by the more streamlined options.
2 in the top 32 is actually a good thing. It means we still have the element of surprise!
Memoricide is as good as it gets for combo "extraction" hate, but I would only run it if those above listed decks are all over your meta. The 7th/8th discard spell, 4th Liliana, and 1st surgical extraction seem better than the 1st memoricide to me but I could be wrong. Depends on your preferences too. Slaughter games is definitely an upgrade, and even that card can be underwhelming at times.
So basically, you see a lot of combo it sounds like. I rarely run into decks like Ad Naus, Griselbrand, or STorm etc. at all. It's like one every 10 matches. But if you are seeing those types of decks more frequently, I can see having a pair of Surgicals alongside 7-8 discard spells (and probably the 4th lili).
Hitting Finks only works if they don't have a copy in play. I mean, yeah it stops part of their combo, but depending on what you are responding to (Chord or Company), they can often still find something to make your day miserable. Melira is more likely to grind us out than combo off, which makes cards like Surgical (potentially just a 1-for-0) not always ideal.
Anyway, if you're fighting one or more actual combo decks (Storm, Ad Naus, Grisel, Scape, etc) per event, Surgical makes sense. I still think you want the 3rd Scooze main and the Finkses in the board though. Finks is hella bad against combo, while Scooze makes a lot of them crumble.
I haven't tested that board fully yet, but Curse is a bit different than Damnation. I think that slot is a big flex spot for sure. However, Curse is very good in a few key scenarios. First, it shuts down ThopterSword, which is likely it's main purpose. And while expensive, it also completely destroys Infect. It's decent to possibly amazing against Affinity, and does work elsewhere too (Namely in the mirror and vs. any actual token strategy). Also amazing against Melira. So it's pretty versatile, despite its high cost. The difference between it and a sweeper is huge though. Damnation clears the board and buys you time, but at a cost to your own development. Curse locks them out of X/1s for the rest of the game, and makes all their other creatures smaller to boot. So yeah, worth testing for sure. Your mileage may vary. In a combo meta, Curse is an easy cut.
As for Timely vs. Feed the Clan, I think right now it's definitely Feed, alongside a couple Finks. Feed is cheaper (2 mana is huge in this mana hungry deck), instant speed, and gaining the extra 4 is actually way better than a few blockers in most cases. We already have blockers for days, but upfront lifegain is critical to beating Burn. It doesn't hurt against Zoo type decks either. Basically, I'd rather have the silver bullet for Burn, than get blown out by a single Skullcrack effect. Finks is a nice backup though because it's still a body and still can gain life a second time around. If Burn is really an issue for you, 2 Feed the Clan is probably correct.
On Surgical, are you talking about specifically against Ad Nauseam? Or are there other decks where you find it to be that good?
I understand that Discard into Surgical can be powerful, but Surgical by itself is very underwhelming to me in many cases, and even paired with discard you often aren't going to snag the exact right piece to shut down their deck. IF you do, than you've probably just won on the spot, but often they have redundant combo pieces, or you simply whiff. Ad Naus is one of the few combo decks that can't really win without Lightning Storm or the Namesake card, with I guess Scapeshift technically having a lot of trouble sans namesake too. But Scape now generally plays Bring to Light and Shift, so you've have to snag one of their 3 copies of Shift with Thoughtseize and also have the Surgical to shut them off completely. Basically, against those 2 decks, you need to draw exactly Thoughtseize and Surgical in your opening 8-9 cards, and hope that they have the namesake in hand with no way to protect it. Not sure what the odds are on that, but they are relatively low.
Meanwhile, Scooze is just a powerhouse in any situation where the graveyards are relevant. It just doesn't quite solve your Ad Naus and Scapeshift problem. I personally would just play more discard for those matchups instead of the Surgicals. At the very least, I'd probably play 1 Surgical max.
Finks main is a meta call, but I'd rather them in the Sideboard. It's a very awkward card in many cases, and it really gluts up our already busy 3-slot. He's good against Burn, Zoo, and most grindy matchups, but not necessary in a lot of matchups. Souls should be our focus in game 1. The synergy with Liliana and being able to go wide is really big. Also, we need as many 2-drops as possible. 3 Scooze is certainly a lot, but it seems correct right now. I'd really recommend pushing the clunky Finkses to the board, especially if you're seeing so much combo.
Bob, along with 7 maindeck discard spells (with 1-2 more in the board, surgicals included) and probably 4 Liliana is a good core to start with if you are facing a lot of combo. But if you're trying to cover all bases, I'd really look at Craig Krempels list that I posted a link to above. For easy reference though, here's the list written out:
1 Forest
1 Gavony Township
1 Godless Shrine
1 Hissing Quagmire
4 Marsh Flats
2 Overgrown Tomb
1 Plains
2 Shambling Vent
1 Stirring Wildwood
2 Swamp
1 Temple Garden
1 Twilight Mire
4 Verdant Catacombs
2 Windswept Heath
3 Scavenging Ooze
3 Siege Rhino
4 Tarmogoyf
2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
21 SPELLS
3 Abrupt Decay
1 Disfigure
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Lingering Souls
1 Maelstrom Pulse
2 Painful Truths
3 Path to Exile
3 Thoughtseize
3 Liliana of the Veil
1 Creeping Corrosion
1 Curse of Death's Hold
1 Damnation
1 Disfigure
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Feed the Clan
2 Fulminator Mage
2 Kitchen Finks
1 Painful Truths
3 Stony Silence
1 Surgical Extraction
I honestly just like the 3rd Scooze main. Surgical is mediocre and I don't love the one time use on spellbomb either. Scooze is very good against LE as long as you get it early. Damnation helps there too. Spellbomb isn't great and surgical is terrible.
Against ad naus the bomb and extraction might be better but I think discard into Lili is your best line anyway. The other spells don't do much. Same goes for Scapeshift. Scooze is just so good in general, I'd rather max out on those first before adding the lesser options. If you want a fourth GY hate slot though, I'd probably play spellbomb.