I saw a GR Tron list playing him in his sideboard at a PTQ this weekend. It doesn't seem too bad against all the blue decks that seem to be running around, and gives at least 1 more turn against red/other aggro decks.
Things that helped me Top 4:
You cannot keep hands (that have more then 5 cards) that do not have a turn 1 Bogle and some sort of enchantment to put on him the next turn. Keen Sense lets you cheat a lot with this rule by drawing you into good enchantments. 4 land, Ethereal Armor, Bogle and Keen Sense is a great hand to keep. Never, ever expect to actually enchant a Noble or Spiritdancer in a game and connect with it. It's modern, unless your opponent is playing combo, they have removal.
You can enchant your opponents creatures with Spirit Mantle. If Splintertwin gets cute on your upkeep with a flashed Exarch, enchant it with Spirit Mantle and shut off his combo.
When playing against black decks, they will have a turn 3 Lilliana. Either play a second Bogle or have a fetchland sitting back so you don't have to sac your enchanted creature.
It might not seem obvious, but bring in Nature's Claim(/or other enchantment hate you can cast for G) against Mono-red and other decks that might conceivably play Blood Moon. And fetch your Forest at your earliest convenience, making sure you can still cast Daybreak Coronet when you need to. Do this because you will quickly lose to a Blood Moon.
Any deck that plays Lightning Bolt or Inquisition/Thoughseize/Lilliana are good decks to bring in Leylines for. Even UWR Control.
Suppression Field shuts down a lot of decks effects. Deathrite Shaman, Planeswalkers, and deceiver exarchs enchanted with Splintertwin are some good examples. Very good sideboard card.
UU is too color heavy. Even though we have great mana bases right now we have 0 fixing in the deck. Needing GG, UU, BB, and any combination in between isn't a good design. You should focus on a 1 color being your pillar. If BB is your pillar victim of the night is usable. If GG is your pillar strangleroot and wolfir avenger is where you want to go. Aetherize can be used over sleep for only a single U and make your opponent recast everything.
I was mostly asking because I saw that kamWise was playing Sleep in his sideboard. The "stock" list that won the grinder/got 10th has 2 downpours in its sideboard.
That is the list I've been running on MODO with a lot of success. It is very similar to the list that did well in London a few weeks ago. Rapid Hybridization is one of the best removal spells in the format right now in my opinion, so for those who haven't used it: don't knock it until you try it. Synergies well with all the undying shenanigans and can be a very useful combat trick in many situations with Young wolf, Strangleroot Geist, and Experiment One. But let's not forget why it is so good here; it destroys any creature we can't deal with for just one island's worth of mana. In a nutshell, 3/3s are manageable while some creatures just aren't. Spell Rupture will always be in the list since the creature base is large and resilient enough to make it valuable. With that being said, I have been the most comfortable and have had the best results with the creature base I listed. Delver just isn't worth trying to make good, at least not with green. RWU maybe, but not here. Using Dimir Charm to set up a t3 3/2 flyer is not good. The hardest match for this list is undoubtedly Jund midrange. Though I feel the odds are more in our favor post-sideboard, g1 feels nearly unwinnable, especially on the draw. Their virtual card advantage outclasses ours and their spells affect the board more greatly than ours do. Appetite for Brains is an absolute workhorse against them, but without some form of countermagic throughout the game it's just not enough. What deck(s) are you guys getting not-so-good results against?
If anyone has any questions regarding match-ups or wants assessments on any card choices in the list I'll be more than happy to discuss them with you
How has Young Wolf been performing for you? He just seems so lackluster to me that I've been afraid to try him.
I also wonder why you aren't playing 4-ofs of creatures like Experiment One, Duskmantle Seer and the Guildmage, which have all performed amazingly for me.
What made you decide to cut the Garruk's from the sideboard? Relentless worked great against the creature decks, and especially Huntmaster decks. And saccing a Strangleroot Geist to fetch a Snapcaster with countermagic in the graveyard is quite satisfying.
Sleep seems much better then Downpour, I'll have to try that.
Did you find Dimir Charm not performing well enough for you?
Notable things to point out in the decks is the guildmages synergy with undying creatures- GU allows you to not only draw a card but also keep your Strangleroot Geist around for a bit longer.
From the looks of it, it looks like Counterspell with upside if you have a non-Tarmogoyf in play, mostly because any creature you bounce with it effectively draws you a card (or has an effect worth a card) when it ETB.
My considerations: Dimir Charm, Frilled Oculus and Ripscale Predator.
I'm not sure how much Dimir Charm actually answers. If its as small as I'm worried it is, I'd go with either Oculus or Predator. I wonder how good the 6/5 with the "2+ blockers" clause will be. It seems decent in an 18 land Gruul deck. Additionally, no one is going to be chomping at the bit to take any green cards in this pack, so I can be reasonably certain to be getting green from the left.
Ripscale Predator is my pick, hoping to snag a green or white card on the wheel.
I'd love to play this in a Grixis shell with Rakdos's Return, Cyclonic Rift and some number of Dimir and Rakdos Keyrunes. Add in Barter in Blood, Bat Bob, and a pile of control cards. Here's to a new 1 mana discard spell that's better then Appetite or Duress!
picked up my playset of daybreak coronet's today for $5ea so i think i will be putting this deck together. seems fun enough to me!
as far as people saying it is pretty fragile to sacrifice effects like liliana, what about putting Tajuru Preserver in the board..maybe even a few aspect of mongoose to make removal completely dead.
thoughts?
Just jam 4 Leyline of Sanctity in the board. The sacrifice effects right now all target a player. It also stops turn 1 discard (which you lose to) and burn (which isn't a bad matchup anyway).
Only card I'm not a huge fan of is Ray of Revelation, and it might be coming out come the PTQ this Saturday for better Tron hate if I don't see a lot of this deck sleeved up that day. Not sure what that card might be though.
Remember, the more enchantment based answers you play, the better, because that makes Ethereal Armor hit for that much more. Every little bit counts when you're trying to kill someone before they stabilize.
I don't see Domri doing much in Standard, mostly because I don't see a 50% creature deck being all that good in standard. The card is good, but he requires a proper deck to be constructed with him in mind, and right now I don't see that deck surviving in this Standard format now or a Standard format to come for that matter.
I do think that he'll find a home somewhere in Modern, like Zoo, especially because the few spells you play (Bolt, Path, Helix) are generally stronger then any standard counterpart. That and fetches allowing a shuffle after seeing your top card is worth some (small) amount of value.
Domri and Ozzy are the only really, truly amazing cards I've seen so far.
4 Horizon Canopy
6 Green Fetchlands
4 Razorverge Thicket
3 Temple Garden
1 Forest
1 Dryad Arbor
Creatures
4 Slippery Bogle
4 Gladecover Scout
3 Kor Spiritdancer
2 Noble Hierarch
4 Daybreak Coronet
4 Ethereal Armor
4 Hyena Umbra
2 Spider Umbra
2 Keen Sense
4 Spirit Mantle
4 Rancor
Spells
4 Path to Exile
2 Rest in Peace
4 Leyline of Sanctity
2 Dismember
2 Suppression Field
3 Stony Silence
2 Nature's Claim
Things that helped me Top 4:
You cannot keep hands (that have more then 5 cards) that do not have a turn 1 Bogle and some sort of enchantment to put on him the next turn. Keen Sense lets you cheat a lot with this rule by drawing you into good enchantments. 4 land, Ethereal Armor, Bogle and Keen Sense is a great hand to keep. Never, ever expect to actually enchant a Noble or Spiritdancer in a game and connect with it. It's modern, unless your opponent is playing combo, they have removal.
You can enchant your opponents creatures with Spirit Mantle. If Splintertwin gets cute on your upkeep with a flashed Exarch, enchant it with Spirit Mantle and shut off his combo.
When playing against black decks, they will have a turn 3 Lilliana. Either play a second Bogle or have a fetchland sitting back so you don't have to sac your enchanted creature.
It might not seem obvious, but bring in Nature's Claim(/or other enchantment hate you can cast for G) against Mono-red and other decks that might conceivably play Blood Moon. And fetch your Forest at your earliest convenience, making sure you can still cast Daybreak Coronet when you need to. Do this because you will quickly lose to a Blood Moon.
Any deck that plays Lightning Bolt or Inquisition/Thoughseize/Lilliana are good decks to bring in Leylines for. Even UWR Control.
Suppression Field shuts down a lot of decks effects. Deathrite Shaman, Planeswalkers, and deceiver exarchs enchanted with Splintertwin are some good examples. Very good sideboard card.
I was mostly asking because I saw that kamWise was playing Sleep in his sideboard. The "stock" list that won the grinder/got 10th has 2 downpours in its sideboard.
How has Young Wolf been performing for you? He just seems so lackluster to me that I've been afraid to try him.
I also wonder why you aren't playing 4-ofs of creatures like Experiment One, Duskmantle Seer and the Guildmage, which have all performed amazingly for me.
What made you decide to cut the Garruk's from the sideboard? Relentless worked great against the creature decks, and especially Huntmaster decks. And saccing a Strangleroot Geist to fetch a Snapcaster with countermagic in the graveyard is quite satisfying.
Sleep seems much better then Downpour, I'll have to try that.
Did you find Dimir Charm not performing well enough for you?
4 Dreg Mangler
3 Duskmantle Seer
3 Experiment One
2 Snapcaster Mage
4 Strangleroot Geist
4 Young Wolf
4 Zameck Guildmage
Lands (23)
3 Forest
4 Breeding Pool
2 Drowned Catacomb
4 Hinterland Harbor
4 Overgrown Tomb
2 Watery Grave
4 Woodland Cemetery
4 Rancor
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Dimir Charm
2 Simic Charm
3 Spell Rupture
1 Ultimate Price
1 Unsummon
2 Deathrite Shaman
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Aetherize
1 Dimir Charm
2 Dispel
2 Downpour
2 Garruk Relentless
1 Garruk, Primal Hunter
3 Duress
It's the same 60 card maindeck with small differences in the sideboard as this deck...
4 Breeding Pool
2 Drowned Catacomb
3 Forest
4 Hinterland Harbor
4 Overgrown Tomb
2 Watery Grave
4 Woodland Cemetery
Creatures (24)
4 Dreg Mangler
3 Duskmantle Seer
3 Experiment One
2 Snapcaster Mage
4 Strangleroot Geist
4 Young Wolf
4 Zameck Guildmage
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Dimir Charm
4 Rancor
2 Simic Charm
3 Spell Rupture
1 Ultimate Price
1 Unsummon
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Aetherize
2 Appetite for Brains
2 Deathrite Shaman
1 Dimir Charm
2 Dispel
2 Downpour
2 Garruk Relentless
1 Garruk, Primal Hunter
1 Snapcaster Mage
...which won a grinder at GP: London.
Notable things to point out in the decks is the guildmages synergy with undying creatures- GU allows you to not only draw a card but also keep your Strangleroot Geist around for a bit longer.
What does this forum think about these lists?
From the looks of it, it looks like Counterspell with upside if you have a non-Tarmogoyf in play, mostly because any creature you bounce with it effectively draws you a card (or has an effect worth a card) when it ETB.
This combo lets you bounce a thing each turn and make your opponent discard something as well.
I'm not sure how much Dimir Charm actually answers. If its as small as I'm worried it is, I'd go with either Oculus or Predator. I wonder how good the 6/5 with the "2+ blockers" clause will be. It seems decent in an 18 land Gruul deck. Additionally, no one is going to be chomping at the bit to take any green cards in this pack, so I can be reasonably certain to be getting green from the left.
Ripscale Predator is my pick, hoping to snag a green or white card on the wheel.
Just jam 4 Leyline of Sanctity in the board. The sacrifice effects right now all target a player. It also stops turn 1 discard (which you lose to) and burn (which isn't a bad matchup anyway).
Here's the board I'm using now.
2 Rule of Law
2 Ray of Revelation
2 Rest in Peace
3 Stony Silence
2 Dismember
Only card I'm not a huge fan of is Ray of Revelation, and it might be coming out come the PTQ this Saturday for better Tron hate if I don't see a lot of this deck sleeved up that day. Not sure what that card might be though.
Remember, the more enchantment based answers you play, the better, because that makes Ethereal Armor hit for that much more. Every little bit counts when you're trying to kill someone before they stabilize.
I do think that he'll find a home somewhere in Modern, like Zoo, especially because the few spells you play (Bolt, Path, Helix) are generally stronger then any standard counterpart. That and fetches allowing a shuffle after seeing your top card is worth some (small) amount of value.
Domri and Ozzy are the only really, truly amazing cards I've seen so far.