one card i totally forgot about is dive down card is bonkers for our game plan. I'm not sure how I can fit it in but in my version with so many guys that exile cards it seems like a must have. It will be in my 75 100%. I think I may cut the 2 spell quellers and add in 2 divedown. I can see massive insane blowouts too when they try to kill your guy during attacks or what not. There's just so much protection with that and spellskites. Here's the list I'll be testing in the meantime
Both are obviously very similar but both have a different hot take. The first is much more controlly and punishing but at the same time has a lot of dead duplicate cards. the second is more standard beatdown but has less interaction. I'm leaning towards the first build as it's like halfway between spirits and humans and can randomly just hose decks with bridge and unblockable fatties. I'm sure the numbers need tweaking and I haven't actually tried deputy out but he seems crazy good in this list. Especially since there are so many kill on sight creatures. That's also another weakness. 1 damnation and it's a blowout of the century. I plan to jam some games soon.
I love priest, the design, the ability everything but this is infinitely worse than path if your goal is to kill big creatures. It's not even guaranteed you will kill what you want assuming you have jumped through all the hoops to even activate the ability. As a unique effect for the deck I could see it as a 1 of maybe but NEVER over real removal.
Forgot an update last week but I went a sad 2-3 losing to dredge, merfolk and storm. I think I made some suboptimal choices vs the combo decks and certainly misplayed vs merfolk which punished me huge. Dredge is really scary with creeping chill. That card is so dumb. This FNM went much better and had a large 42 player turn out, I blame it on me forgetting my playmat last friday haha.
r1 mono W eldrazi taxes
These games weren't close at all. We have a little back and forth but my guys outclass his by a mile even though he has eldrazi. I just have so much more removal that answers everything.
1-0 (2-0)
r2 grixis DS
g1 he makes a strange block when he throws his 5/5 DS into my smasher at 8 life. I was fine with that obviously. I'm at 14. he then plays 2 gurmags. I play tracker draw some cards, find the removal I need and swing in for lethal. G2 he floods a bit holding up totally irrelevant counterspells like disdainful stroke and stubby D and I roll over him with goyfs and scooze.
2-0 (4-0)
r3 burn
g1 I get run over by cheap guys and forget to t1 fatal push thinking I could just do it t2 and still be fine. Not doing so put me far behind and eventually even farther when he boros charms to save his eidolon and then I'm in a really bad spot with a hand FULL of 1-3 drops. g2 was similar I eventually get locked under eidolon at 2 life and a smasher on the table but I didn't see kalitas, or obstinate or another smasher and obviously he found a spell after a couple turns.
2-1 (4-2)
r4 GB
g1 I just have the right removal and strip him of all his lilianas. g2 we had a long wonderful game of magic. It was probably the best game i've played in a long while. So much back and forth and at one point we had dueling scoozes, then stare downs, then advantages swapped back and forth, but tracker won me this game hands down with smashers. Tracker drew me like 10 cards literally. I eventually overwhelm him and he can't answer smasher with a couple goyfs. Such a good game.
3-1 (6-2)
r5 grixis as foretold
g1 he floods a lot after keeping a 5 land hand. g2 I just have a ton of answers and all he's doing is thoughtseizing me over and over to very little effect honestly. He gets to a point he's at like 12 life and just a couple of big guys after some discard and he's got nothing to stop them. I thought he was just on grixis control I never saw the as foretolds.
4-1 (8-2)
top 8: GB infect
I was really excited to play this match. g1 I get super lucky ripping assassin's trophy into fatal push back to back to stop his 2 inkmoth nexi. The trophy was huge as he went to become immense it for lethal. the next one was as I was at 6 poison but having the answer let my goyf and TKS easily cruise in for the win. g2 I just have more removal and liliana last hope killed or found me the guys I needed. I had a good hand and things lined up well. The match felt easy but I know it's not, if i miss on removal i know I can just immediately lose. Glad I didn't I guess
5-1 (10-2)
summary:
I never played a g3 all night which was very strange but I'm not going to complain. The deck felt great as always and certainly performed. I'm still debating some SB changes as I'm hoping to attend SCG Worcester next Saturday but I'm not sure I will be able to. I'm think I'm going to experience less midrange than in my meta. Basically more amulet/titan/spirits. I'm not sure there's much I can do to stop those matches honestly. I don't have a lot of experience vs those 3 decks but they all feel like really bad matchups when I have played them. Going to have to figure something out. GB has been doing well in my meta overall in a few different varieties of straight GB (normal, rockdrazi and infect) this week had those 3 decks in top 8. last week had 2 straight versions in top 8. There's a guy who top 8's with it almost every week. Almost everyone has been converted off jund for one reason or another.
Forgot an update last week but I went a sad 2-3 losing to dredge, merfolk and storm. I think I made some suboptimal choices vs the combo decks and certainly misplayed vs merfolk which punished me huge. Dredge is really scary with creeping chill. That card is so dumb. This FNM went much better and had a large 42 player turn out, I blame it on me forgetting my playmat last friday haha.
r1 mono W eldrazi taxes
These games weren't close at all. We have a little back and forth but my guys outclass his by a mile even though he has eldrazi. I just have so much more removal that answers everything.
1-0 (2-0)
r2 grixis DS
g1 he makes a strange block when he throws his 5/5 DS into my smasher at 8 life. I was fine with that obviously. I'm at 14. he then plays 2 gurmags. I play tracker draw some cards, find the removal I need and swing in for lethal. G2 he floods a bit holding up totally irrelevant counterspells like disdainful stroke and stubby D and I roll over him with goyfs and scooze.
2-0 (4-0)
r3 burn
g1 I get run over by cheap guys and forget to t1 fatal push thinking I could just do it t2 and still be fine. Not doing so put me far behind and eventually even farther when he boros charms to save his eidolon and then I'm in a really bad spot with a hand FULL of 1-3 drops. g2 was similar I eventually get locked under eidolon at 2 life and a smasher on the table but I didn't see kalitas, or obstinate or another smasher and obviously he found a spell after a couple turns.
2-1 (4-2)
r4 GB
g1 I just have the right removal and strip him of all his lilianas. g2 we had a long wonderful game of magic. It was probably the best game i've played in a long while. So much back and forth and at one point we had dueling scoozes, then stare downs, then advantages swapped back and forth, but tracker won me this game hands down with smashers. Tracker drew me like 10 cards literally. I eventually overwhelm him and he can't answer smasher with a couple goyfs. Such a good game.
3-1 (6-2)
r5 grixis as foretold
g1 he floods a lot after keeping a 5 land hand. g2 I just have a ton of answers and all he's doing is thoughtseizing me over and over to very little effect honestly. He gets to a point he's at like 12 life and just a couple of big guys after some discard and he's got nothing to stop them. I thought he was just on grixis control I never saw the as foretolds.
4-1 (8-2)
top 8: GB infect
I was really excited to play this match. g1 I get super lucky ripping assassin's trophy into fatal push back to back to stop his 2 inkmoth nexi. The trophy was huge as he went to become immense it for lethal. the next one was as I was at 6 poison but having the answer let my goyf and TKS easily cruise in for the win. g2 I just have more removal and liliana last hope killed or found me the guys I needed. I had a good hand and things lined up well. The match felt easy but I know it's not, if i miss on removal i know I can just immediately lose. Glad I didn't I guess
5-1 (10-2)
summary:
I never played a g3 all night which was very strange but I'm not going to complain. The deck felt great as always and certainly performed. I'm still debating some SB changes as I'm hoping to attend SCG Worcester next Saturday but I'm not sure I will be able to. I'm think I'm going to experience less midrange than in my meta. Basically more amulet/titan/spirits. I'm not sure there's much I can do to stop those matches honestly. I don't have a lot of experience vs those 3 decks but they all feel like really bad matchups when I have played them. Going to have to figure something out. GB has been doing well in my meta overall in a few different varieties of straight GB (normal, rockdrazi and infect) this week had those 3 decks in top 8. last week had 2 straight versions in top 8. There's a guy who top 8's with it almost every week. Almost everyone has been converted off jund for one reason or another.
4 colors isn't too much especially with blood moon being on the low recently. However, both the enchantments do nothing on their own which is the problem. Doran is a huge threat on his own that enables your deck and can be fetched via multiple ways. it's very hard to cut him. An Arcades build may be a better way to go with this card. However, I could see having 2 of these as effects 9-10. it being at 3 mana is kind of rough. Blue does off an insane amount of ridiculously high toughness creatures for cheap. I've been looking into blue for a while now especially with the advent of the D sphere deputy.
Went 3-1 at FNM with rockdrazi and came in 9th No deck list changes. Played vs Rich Shay so that's always exciting. Also played a couple non tier decks although one was actually pretty scary.
r1 counters company
g1 stuck on 2 lands and die. g2 had a good start but he got out 2 trackers and a knight of the reliquary and I was on damnation or bust. didn't happen. I play against this player a lot and last week gave him some tips as my meta has a LOT of GBx. That definitely came back to bite me haha.
0-1
g2 storm
This was the Rich Shay Match. We go to 3 games and have a ver nerve wracking g3 with me at 3 life through a bunch of gobos. I had to dodge bolt for a few turns and managed to do so. I made some poor decisions and should have wiped the gobos immediately and that put me in a really bad spot. now I know.
1-1
g3 seismic assault/loam
THis was actually a very cool deck that's pretty scary. The loam engine with assault is gross. we went to 3 games but I managed to get there g3 with huge beats. Goyf gets huge in this match and the explosiveness of smasher is hard to deal with. Scooze was MVP though. I underestimated countryside crusher and he WRECKED me g2.
2-1
g4 mono black devotion
g1 I jusr roll over him pretty easily. g2 he plays an early obliterator and I have no way to answer it. g3 he bring in an absurd amount of SB cards and they were pretty bad. He gets stuck on 3 mana and I was able to kill him pretty easy as 1 card a turn from his side with no way to pump his dread shades or play obliterators worked out for me.
3-1
Went 3-1 at FNM with rockdrazi and came in 9th No deck list changes. I'll put it in spoiler tag so those who aren't interested can skip. Played vs Rich Shay so that's always exciting. Also played a couple non tier decks although one was actually pretty scary.
r1 counters company
g1 stuck on 2 lands and die. g2 had a good start but he got out 2 trackers and a knight of the reliquary and I was on damnation or bust. didn't happen. I play against this player a lot and last week gave him some tips as my meta has a LOT of GBx. That definitely came back to bite me haha.
0-1
g2 storm
This was the Rich Shay Match. We go to 3 games and have a ver nerve wracking g3 with me at 3 life through a bunch of gobos. I had to dodge bolt for a few turns and managed to do so. I made some poor decisions and should have wiped the gobos immediately and that put me in a really bad spot. now I know.
1-1
g3 seismic assault/loam
THis was actually a very cool deck that's pretty scary. The loam engine with assault is gross. we went to 3 games but I managed to get there g3 with huge beats. Goyf gets huge in this match and the explosiveness of smasher is hard to deal with. Scooze was MVP though. I underestimated countryside crusher and he WRECKED me g2.
2-1
g4 mono black devotion
g1 I jusr roll over him pretty easily. g2 he plays an early obliterator and I have no way to answer it. g3 he bring in an absurd amount of SB cards and they were pretty bad. He gets stuck on 3 mana and I was able to kill him pretty easy as 1 card a turn from his side with no way to pump his dread shades or play obliterators worked out for me.
3-1
@NosferatuRed I sent you an extensive message to that but I'll TL;DR it here:
It is at it's heart a GB deck. There's not a ton of difference except My top end is bigger and it's a little slower on average. It still suffers from many of the problems GB normally has except reality smasher is so unbelievably amazing and gets you out of certain and sometimes numerous situations other things wouldn't. I trade out fast discard for a slower discard on a stick for instance. The mana base is worse comparatively, but 3 FoR main certainly help more than in normal GB. I lose out on some manlands though which this version needs more of but just can't fit. So therefore, the deck is much softer to land destruction than GB. This version has better matchups vs some decks (control and tron) but also worse matchups elsewhere (fast aggro and jund). This deck is also slightly less of a dog to the wrong half problem. Rarely are my cards just dead draws late and teh threats are generally huge and hard to answer. That can also be a negative when you draw all the top end and stuck on 3 lands. Assassin's trophy has both simultaneously made this deck much better and worse depending on the meta.
I am unable to attend most big events, although I have made a couple and have been putting up good results. Is this better than GB? Probably not, but it attacks on a unique angle that a lot of decks have trouble with. I think it's better personally but that means nothing. I've been off straight GB for a while so I don't have the experience to say. I think it's a meta dependent list too. If yours has a lot of fast aggro and spirits or heavy Land destruction decks I would probably play GB over this. Otherwise I would choose this 100% of the time.
I wouldn't knock disfigure it's actually a very solid card. It's definitely more well rounded than deathmark is. However is it the right tool for the job? If you need speed than 100% disfigure. However, as a 1 of against specific archetypes you most likely wont see it till mid-late game where it can kill things like powered up scoozes, champion of parishes, some spirits, etc. Disfigure as a combat trick can also be pretty huge and essentially kill things it otherwise couldn't. More often than not, disfigure is the better card.
Another top 8 in the books for me at our 40 person FNM. Same list I've been on, Rockdrazi, no changes
r1 sultai midrange
g1 I just completely bury him. These matches seem to be whomever gets the first tracker wins. G2 he gets tracker and then I get buried. g3 I keep a hand with 2 eldrazi temples and 3 tks and 2 stone uncastable cards. I kept because it's a neat hand that never happens but I knew it was risky, if I never draw another land I just can't cast anything. WEELLLL that's exactly what happened. literally never drew a 3rd land and he was able to come back.
0-1
r2 hardened scales
both games were pretty easy now that I have a bit more experience in how the deck plays. Flaying tendrils MVP but with the right draws this deck is really scary. It has such awesome grind to it.
1-1
r3 UR wildfire
total brew but he had a bunch of land destroy and what not like blood moons and frost titans. It was kinda like skred red in a way, semi prisony but much worse. smushers put in work as did assassin's trophy.
2-1
r4 rock
we trade a LOT of resources and much back and forth. Honestly they were very fun games but my threats usually line up much better in these GBx mirrors. I beat him in 2 with goys and scoozes and trackers. just good ol fashioned magic.
3-1
r5 counters company
g1 i Just totally bury him with removal and hard beats and smusher to finish him off. g2 I get totally buried under his tracker/knight of reliquary combo. those 2 cards play very nicely together. g3 we have a mega long game. At one point i cast flaying tendrils and like 6 for 2 him (had to lose a treetop to trade with a courser) Eventually I get out kalitas and then a scooze who got monstrous and he ran out of answers.
4-1
top 8: jund
I was happy to play this as in general my threats line up and in my experience I would say I'm favored albeit slightly. However jund did jund things and his removal lined up perfectly and BBE's only hit gas despite so many potentially bad flips, was a close game tho. g2 I keep a 2 colored lands with 2 scoozes and a push but largely medium hand. I debated mulling looking for either more early game or more lands and probably should have but who wants to mull in an attrition matchup where every card counts. I eventually get to my 3rd land but that was it and just drew all my top end. Only playing 1 card a turn for 6-7 turns obviously is not going to beat jund.
4-2
I run 24 lands and got stuck on lands in very important games. Variance is always a thing and at 24 lands I guess I'll be prone to screw more than flood. Better mull decisions would have helped for sure but they were reasonable 7's against grindy decks. I only had to mull once for real vs Rock throughout the night and I will be more wary of this in the future. Overall I played pretty well and didn't make any obvious mistakes so I can't complain.
Another top 8 in the books for me at our 40 person FNM. Same list I've been on, Rockdrazi, no changes
r1 sultai midrange
g1 I just completely bury him. These matches seem to be whomever gets the first tracker wins. G2 he gets tracker and then I get buried. g3 I keep a hand with 2 eldrazi temples and 3 tks and 2 stone uncastable cards. I kept because it's a neat hand that never happens but I knew it was risky, if I never draw another land I just can't cast anything. WEELLLL that's exactly what happened. literally never drew a 3rd land and he was able to come back.
0-1
r2 hardened scales
both games were pretty easy now that I have a bit more experience in how the deck plays. Flaying tendrils MVP but with the right draws this deck is really scary. It has such awesome grind to it.
1-1
r3 UR wildfire
total brew but he had a bunch of land destroy and what not like blood moons and frost titans. It was kinda like skred red in a way, semi prisony but much worse. smushers put in work as did assassin's trophy.
2-1
r4 rock
we trade a LOT of resources and much back and forth. Honestly they were very fun games but my threats usually line up much better in these GBx mirrors. I beat him in 2 with goys and scoozes and trackers. just good ol fashioned magic.
3-1
r5 counters company
g1 i Just totally bury him with removal and hard beats and smusher to finish him off. g2 I get totally buried under his tracker/knight of reliquary combo. those 2 cards play very nicely together. g3 we have a mega long game. At one point i cast flaying tendrils and like 6 for 2 him (had to lose a treetop to trade with a courser) Eventually I get out kalitas and then a scooze who got monstrous and he ran out of answers.
4-1
top 8: jund
I was happy to play this as in general my threats line up and in my experience I would say I'm favored albeit slightly. However jund did jund things and his removal lined up perfectly and BBE's only hit gas despite so many potentially bad flips, was a close game tho. g2 I keep a 2 colored lands with 2 scoozes and a push but largely medium hand. I debated mulling looking for either more early game or more lands and probably should have but who wants to mull in an attrition matchup where every card counts. I eventually get to my 3rd land but that was it and just drew all my top end. Only playing 1 card a turn for 6-7 turns obviously is not going to beat jund.
4-2
I run 24 lands and got stuck on lands in very important games. Variance is always a thing and at 24 lands I guess I'll be prone to screw more than flood. Better mull decisions would have helped for sure but they were reasonable 7's against grindy decks. I only had to mull once for real vs Rock throughout the night and I will be more wary of this in the future. Overall I played pretty well and didn't make any obvious mistakes so I can't complain.
r1 storm
g1 I miss land drops for 5 turns and die on t8 when he has a single card in hand, past in flames and I am stuck on 3 lands with lethal next turn. I missed my 3rd land for a while and never hit my 4th with a TKS in hand..brutal. g2 we have a good game and he tries to go off through some disruption. basically he double manamorphose, no cards in hand and flips into an empty the warrens, of course, and I don't see any of my wraths or pulses...We play a few extra games for fun and they actually went a lot more like I thought they would...aka, I slaughter him mercilessly. That's magic for ya, sometimes variance is on your side, sometimes not.
0-1
r2 metalwork colossus combo
this deck despite it being jank is actually very resilient. It's similar to KCI but instead of a really stupid and BS combo it just poops out artifacts and recurs colossus. g1 I would say it's like a 80-20 or better in his favor. g2 my SB cards get me there and in g3 he losses to his deck. Draws lots of lands and useless cards like nature's claims.
1-1
r3 burn
fun turn with me having 2 4/5 goyfs a liliana TLH on 2 loyalty, him at 15 and me at 2 life. I'm trying to think how on earth I can deal 15 in 1 turn. So i know that minusing lili makes them 5/6 so I start with that, flipping a reality smasher and well, i take that, cast and smush for 15 hahaha oh man totally stole that game. I LOVE smasher. g2 he just gets TOTALLY run over i don't think i dropped below 10 health. brutality into discard and fast beats. GG
2-1
r4 hardened scales
I win in 3 very hard games. I could not believe how hard this deck was to play against. he just has so much value and his guys get so huge almost everything is must answer. To be honest I think i only won because he played poorly. He missed a lot of triggers of various sorts. I need to play against this more, I think I could have made better choices too along the way. I know how the deck plays but not having reps against it I know I played suboptimally. Even with huge goyfs and scoozes I always felt behind.
3-1
Came in 9th missing out on breakers. We had 31 people which means we were 1 short of having 5 rounds. 4 rounds really sucks especially at 31 people. What can you do. Sadly no top 8 means no more modern for me but got to play cube so I guess it's fine
@pzbw7z it's actually kind of both. I did mention it for humans and spirits where it is fine vs both of those but I hoping it would basically shut down creatures entering with counters like ballista/ravager/walker, etc. but I guess it's not to be.
4 noble hierarch
4 treefolk harbinger
4 kitesail freebooter
4 spellskite
3 tetsuko umezawa, fugitive
4 deputy of detention
4 doran, the siege tower
spells
4 aether vial
3 assault formation
3 ensnaring bridge
2 dive down
1 blooming marsh
1 botanical sanctum
2 razorverge thicket
3 windswept heath
3 misty rainforest
1 breeding pool
1 overgrown tomb
1 hallowed fountain
1 temple garden
1 watery grave
2 plains
2 forest
1 island
1 murmoring bosk
4 noble hierarch
4 treefolk harbinger
4 kitesail freebooter
4 spellskite
2 tetsuko umezawa, fugitive
4 deputy of detention
4 doran, the siege tower
2 spell queller
4 aether vial
3 assault formation
3 ensnaring bridge
lands
1 blooming marsh
1 botanical sanctum
2 razorverge thicket
3 windswept heath
3 misty rainforest
1 breeding pool
1 overgrown tomb
1 hallowed fountain
1 temple garden
1 watery grave
2 plains
2 forest
1 island
1 murmoring bosk
1 gavony township
4 noble hierarch
4 treefolk harbinger
3 nyx-fleece ram
4 spellskite
3 tetsuko umezawa, fugitive
4 deputy of detention
4 doran, the siege tower
1 courser of kruphix
2 reflector mage
4 collected company
4 assault formation
lands
2 botanical sanctum
2 razorverge thicket
3 windswept heath
4 misty rainforest
1 breeding pool
1 overgrown tomb
1 hallowed fountain
1 temple garden
1 watery grave
2 plains
2 forest
1 island
1 murmoring bosk
1 gavony township
Both are obviously very similar but both have a different hot take. The first is much more controlly and punishing but at the same time has a lot of dead duplicate cards. the second is more standard beatdown but has less interaction. I'm leaning towards the first build as it's like halfway between spirits and humans and can randomly just hose decks with bridge and unblockable fatties. I'm sure the numbers need tweaking and I haven't actually tried deputy out but he seems crazy good in this list. Especially since there are so many kill on sight creatures. That's also another weakness. 1 damnation and it's a blowout of the century. I plan to jam some games soon.
3 scavenging ooze
4 tarmogoyf
3 tireless tracker
4 thought-knot seer
3 reality smasher
spells
2 inquisition of kozilek
2 thoughtseize
4 fatal push
4 oath of nissa
3 assassin's trophy
1 maelstrom pulse
2 liliana of the veil
1 liliana, the last hope
2 llanowar wastes
1 Blooming marsh
4 verdant catacombs
1 overgrown tomb
3 swamp
2 forest
1 twilight mire
2 treetop village
1 hissing quagmire
4 eldrazi temple
3 field of ruin
3 surgical extraction
1 flaying tendrils
1 damnation
3 collective brutality
1 maelstrom pulse
1 Obstinate baloth
1 Kalitas, traitor of ghet
1 reclamation sage
1 fulminator mage
1 golgari charm
1 damping sphere
r1 mono W eldrazi taxes
These games weren't close at all. We have a little back and forth but my guys outclass his by a mile even though he has eldrazi. I just have so much more removal that answers everything.
1-0 (2-0)
r2 grixis DS
g1 he makes a strange block when he throws his 5/5 DS into my smasher at 8 life. I was fine with that obviously. I'm at 14. he then plays 2 gurmags. I play tracker draw some cards, find the removal I need and swing in for lethal. G2 he floods a bit holding up totally irrelevant counterspells like disdainful stroke and stubby D and I roll over him with goyfs and scooze.
2-0 (4-0)
r3 burn
g1 I get run over by cheap guys and forget to t1 fatal push thinking I could just do it t2 and still be fine. Not doing so put me far behind and eventually even farther when he boros charms to save his eidolon and then I'm in a really bad spot with a hand FULL of 1-3 drops. g2 was similar I eventually get locked under eidolon at 2 life and a smasher on the table but I didn't see kalitas, or obstinate or another smasher and obviously he found a spell after a couple turns.
2-1 (4-2)
r4 GB
g1 I just have the right removal and strip him of all his lilianas. g2 we had a long wonderful game of magic. It was probably the best game i've played in a long while. So much back and forth and at one point we had dueling scoozes, then stare downs, then advantages swapped back and forth, but tracker won me this game hands down with smashers. Tracker drew me like 10 cards literally. I eventually overwhelm him and he can't answer smasher with a couple goyfs. Such a good game.
3-1 (6-2)
r5 grixis as foretold
g1 he floods a lot after keeping a 5 land hand. g2 I just have a ton of answers and all he's doing is thoughtseizing me over and over to very little effect honestly. He gets to a point he's at like 12 life and just a couple of big guys after some discard and he's got nothing to stop them. I thought he was just on grixis control I never saw the as foretolds.
4-1 (8-2)
top 8: GB infect
I was really excited to play this match. g1 I get super lucky ripping assassin's trophy into fatal push back to back to stop his 2 inkmoth nexi. The trophy was huge as he went to become immense it for lethal. the next one was as I was at 6 poison but having the answer let my goyf and TKS easily cruise in for the win. g2 I just have more removal and liliana last hope killed or found me the guys I needed. I had a good hand and things lined up well. The match felt easy but I know it's not, if i miss on removal i know I can just immediately lose. Glad I didn't I guess
5-1 (10-2)
summary:
I never played a g3 all night which was very strange but I'm not going to complain. The deck felt great as always and certainly performed. I'm still debating some SB changes as I'm hoping to attend SCG Worcester next Saturday but I'm not sure I will be able to. I'm think I'm going to experience less midrange than in my meta. Basically more amulet/titan/spirits. I'm not sure there's much I can do to stop those matches honestly. I don't have a lot of experience vs those 3 decks but they all feel like really bad matchups when I have played them. Going to have to figure something out. GB has been doing well in my meta overall in a few different varieties of straight GB (normal, rockdrazi and infect) this week had those 3 decks in top 8. last week had 2 straight versions in top 8. There's a guy who top 8's with it almost every week. Almost everyone has been converted off jund for one reason or another.
3 scavenging ooze
4 tarmogoyf
3 tireless tracker
4 thought-knot seer
3 reality smasher
spells
2 inquisition of kozilek
2 thoughtseize
4 fatal push
4 oath of nissa
3 assassin's trophy
1 maelstrom pulse
2 liliana of the veil
1 liliana, the last hope
2 llanowar wastes
1 Blooming marsh
4 verdant catacombs
1 overgrown tomb
3 swamp
2 forest
1 twilight mire
2 treetop village
1 hissing quagmire
4 eldrazi temple
3 field of ruin
3 surgical extraction
1 flaying tendrils
1 damnation
3 collective brutality
1 maelstrom pulse
1 Obstinate baloth
1 Kalitas, traitor of ghet
1 reclamation sage
1 fulminator mage
1 golgari charm
1 damping sphere
r1 mono W eldrazi taxes
These games weren't close at all. We have a little back and forth but my guys outclass his by a mile even though he has eldrazi. I just have so much more removal that answers everything.
1-0 (2-0)
r2 grixis DS
g1 he makes a strange block when he throws his 5/5 DS into my smasher at 8 life. I was fine with that obviously. I'm at 14. he then plays 2 gurmags. I play tracker draw some cards, find the removal I need and swing in for lethal. G2 he floods a bit holding up totally irrelevant counterspells like disdainful stroke and stubby D and I roll over him with goyfs and scooze.
2-0 (4-0)
r3 burn
g1 I get run over by cheap guys and forget to t1 fatal push thinking I could just do it t2 and still be fine. Not doing so put me far behind and eventually even farther when he boros charms to save his eidolon and then I'm in a really bad spot with a hand FULL of 1-3 drops. g2 was similar I eventually get locked under eidolon at 2 life and a smasher on the table but I didn't see kalitas, or obstinate or another smasher and obviously he found a spell after a couple turns.
2-1 (4-2)
r4 GB
g1 I just have the right removal and strip him of all his lilianas. g2 we had a long wonderful game of magic. It was probably the best game i've played in a long while. So much back and forth and at one point we had dueling scoozes, then stare downs, then advantages swapped back and forth, but tracker won me this game hands down with smashers. Tracker drew me like 10 cards literally. I eventually overwhelm him and he can't answer smasher with a couple goyfs. Such a good game.
3-1 (6-2)
r5 grixis as foretold
g1 he floods a lot after keeping a 5 land hand. g2 I just have a ton of answers and all he's doing is thoughtseizing me over and over to very little effect honestly. He gets to a point he's at like 12 life and just a couple of big guys after some discard and he's got nothing to stop them. I thought he was just on grixis control I never saw the as foretolds.
4-1 (8-2)
top 8: GB infect
I was really excited to play this match. g1 I get super lucky ripping assassin's trophy into fatal push back to back to stop his 2 inkmoth nexi. The trophy was huge as he went to become immense it for lethal. the next one was as I was at 6 poison but having the answer let my goyf and TKS easily cruise in for the win. g2 I just have more removal and liliana last hope killed or found me the guys I needed. I had a good hand and things lined up well. The match felt easy but I know it's not, if i miss on removal i know I can just immediately lose. Glad I didn't I guess
5-1 (10-2)
summary:
I never played a g3 all night which was very strange but I'm not going to complain. The deck felt great as always and certainly performed. I'm still debating some SB changes as I'm hoping to attend SCG Worcester next Saturday but I'm not sure I will be able to. I'm think I'm going to experience less midrange than in my meta. Basically more amulet/titan/spirits. I'm not sure there's much I can do to stop those matches honestly. I don't have a lot of experience vs those 3 decks but they all feel like really bad matchups when I have played them. Going to have to figure something out. GB has been doing well in my meta overall in a few different varieties of straight GB (normal, rockdrazi and infect) this week had those 3 decks in top 8. last week had 2 straight versions in top 8. There's a guy who top 8's with it almost every week. Almost everyone has been converted off jund for one reason or another.
r1 counters company
g1 stuck on 2 lands and die. g2 had a good start but he got out 2 trackers and a knight of the reliquary and I was on damnation or bust. didn't happen. I play against this player a lot and last week gave him some tips as my meta has a LOT of GBx. That definitely came back to bite me haha.
0-1
g2 storm
This was the Rich Shay Match. We go to 3 games and have a ver nerve wracking g3 with me at 3 life through a bunch of gobos. I had to dodge bolt for a few turns and managed to do so. I made some poor decisions and should have wiped the gobos immediately and that put me in a really bad spot. now I know.
1-1
g3 seismic assault/loam
THis was actually a very cool deck that's pretty scary. The loam engine with assault is gross. we went to 3 games but I managed to get there g3 with huge beats. Goyf gets huge in this match and the explosiveness of smasher is hard to deal with. Scooze was MVP though. I underestimated countryside crusher and he WRECKED me g2.
2-1
g4 mono black devotion
g1 I jusr roll over him pretty easily. g2 he plays an early obliterator and I have no way to answer it. g3 he bring in an absurd amount of SB cards and they were pretty bad. He gets stuck on 3 mana and I was able to kill him pretty easy as 1 card a turn from his side with no way to pump his dread shades or play obliterators worked out for me.
3-1
r1 counters company
g1 stuck on 2 lands and die. g2 had a good start but he got out 2 trackers and a knight of the reliquary and I was on damnation or bust. didn't happen. I play against this player a lot and last week gave him some tips as my meta has a LOT of GBx. That definitely came back to bite me haha.
0-1
g2 storm
This was the Rich Shay Match. We go to 3 games and have a ver nerve wracking g3 with me at 3 life through a bunch of gobos. I had to dodge bolt for a few turns and managed to do so. I made some poor decisions and should have wiped the gobos immediately and that put me in a really bad spot. now I know.
1-1
g3 seismic assault/loam
THis was actually a very cool deck that's pretty scary. The loam engine with assault is gross. we went to 3 games but I managed to get there g3 with huge beats. Goyf gets huge in this match and the explosiveness of smasher is hard to deal with. Scooze was MVP though. I underestimated countryside crusher and he WRECKED me g2.
2-1
g4 mono black devotion
g1 I jusr roll over him pretty easily. g2 he plays an early obliterator and I have no way to answer it. g3 he bring in an absurd amount of SB cards and they were pretty bad. He gets stuck on 3 mana and I was able to kill him pretty easy as 1 card a turn from his side with no way to pump his dread shades or play obliterators worked out for me.
3-1
It is at it's heart a GB deck. There's not a ton of difference except My top end is bigger and it's a little slower on average. It still suffers from many of the problems GB normally has except reality smasher is so unbelievably amazing and gets you out of certain and sometimes numerous situations other things wouldn't. I trade out fast discard for a slower discard on a stick for instance. The mana base is worse comparatively, but 3 FoR main certainly help more than in normal GB. I lose out on some manlands though which this version needs more of but just can't fit. So therefore, the deck is much softer to land destruction than GB. This version has better matchups vs some decks (control and tron) but also worse matchups elsewhere (fast aggro and jund). This deck is also slightly less of a dog to the wrong half problem. Rarely are my cards just dead draws late and teh threats are generally huge and hard to answer. That can also be a negative when you draw all the top end and stuck on 3 lands. Assassin's trophy has both simultaneously made this deck much better and worse depending on the meta.
I am unable to attend most big events, although I have made a couple and have been putting up good results. Is this better than GB? Probably not, but it attacks on a unique angle that a lot of decks have trouble with. I think it's better personally but that means nothing. I've been off straight GB for a while so I don't have the experience to say. I think it's a meta dependent list too. If yours has a lot of fast aggro and spirits or heavy Land destruction decks I would probably play GB over this. Otherwise I would choose this 100% of the time.
r1 sultai midrange
g1 I just completely bury him. These matches seem to be whomever gets the first tracker wins. G2 he gets tracker and then I get buried. g3 I keep a hand with 2 eldrazi temples and 3 tks and 2 stone uncastable cards. I kept because it's a neat hand that never happens but I knew it was risky, if I never draw another land I just can't cast anything. WEELLLL that's exactly what happened. literally never drew a 3rd land and he was able to come back.
0-1
r2 hardened scales
both games were pretty easy now that I have a bit more experience in how the deck plays. Flaying tendrils MVP but with the right draws this deck is really scary. It has such awesome grind to it.
1-1
r3 UR wildfire
total brew but he had a bunch of land destroy and what not like blood moons and frost titans. It was kinda like skred red in a way, semi prisony but much worse. smushers put in work as did assassin's trophy.
2-1
r4 rock
we trade a LOT of resources and much back and forth. Honestly they were very fun games but my threats usually line up much better in these GBx mirrors. I beat him in 2 with goys and scoozes and trackers. just good ol fashioned magic.
3-1
r5 counters company
g1 i Just totally bury him with removal and hard beats and smusher to finish him off. g2 I get totally buried under his tracker/knight of reliquary combo. those 2 cards play very nicely together. g3 we have a mega long game. At one point i cast flaying tendrils and like 6 for 2 him (had to lose a treetop to trade with a courser) Eventually I get out kalitas and then a scooze who got monstrous and he ran out of answers.
4-1
top 8: jund
I was happy to play this as in general my threats line up and in my experience I would say I'm favored albeit slightly. However jund did jund things and his removal lined up perfectly and BBE's only hit gas despite so many potentially bad flips, was a close game tho. g2 I keep a 2 colored lands with 2 scoozes and a push but largely medium hand. I debated mulling looking for either more early game or more lands and probably should have but who wants to mull in an attrition matchup where every card counts. I eventually get to my 3rd land but that was it and just drew all my top end. Only playing 1 card a turn for 6-7 turns obviously is not going to beat jund.
4-2
I run 24 lands and got stuck on lands in very important games. Variance is always a thing and at 24 lands I guess I'll be prone to screw more than flood. Better mull decisions would have helped for sure but they were reasonable 7's against grindy decks. I only had to mull once for real vs Rock throughout the night and I will be more wary of this in the future. Overall I played pretty well and didn't make any obvious mistakes so I can't complain.
r1 sultai midrange
g1 I just completely bury him. These matches seem to be whomever gets the first tracker wins. G2 he gets tracker and then I get buried. g3 I keep a hand with 2 eldrazi temples and 3 tks and 2 stone uncastable cards. I kept because it's a neat hand that never happens but I knew it was risky, if I never draw another land I just can't cast anything. WEELLLL that's exactly what happened. literally never drew a 3rd land and he was able to come back.
0-1
r2 hardened scales
both games were pretty easy now that I have a bit more experience in how the deck plays. Flaying tendrils MVP but with the right draws this deck is really scary. It has such awesome grind to it.
1-1
r3 UR wildfire
total brew but he had a bunch of land destroy and what not like blood moons and frost titans. It was kinda like skred red in a way, semi prisony but much worse. smushers put in work as did assassin's trophy.
2-1
r4 rock
we trade a LOT of resources and much back and forth. Honestly they were very fun games but my threats usually line up much better in these GBx mirrors. I beat him in 2 with goys and scoozes and trackers. just good ol fashioned magic.
3-1
r5 counters company
g1 i Just totally bury him with removal and hard beats and smusher to finish him off. g2 I get totally buried under his tracker/knight of reliquary combo. those 2 cards play very nicely together. g3 we have a mega long game. At one point i cast flaying tendrils and like 6 for 2 him (had to lose a treetop to trade with a courser) Eventually I get out kalitas and then a scooze who got monstrous and he ran out of answers.
4-1
top 8: jund
I was happy to play this as in general my threats line up and in my experience I would say I'm favored albeit slightly. However jund did jund things and his removal lined up perfectly and BBE's only hit gas despite so many potentially bad flips, was a close game tho. g2 I keep a 2 colored lands with 2 scoozes and a push but largely medium hand. I debated mulling looking for either more early game or more lands and probably should have but who wants to mull in an attrition matchup where every card counts. I eventually get to my 3rd land but that was it and just drew all my top end. Only playing 1 card a turn for 6-7 turns obviously is not going to beat jund.
4-2
I run 24 lands and got stuck on lands in very important games. Variance is always a thing and at 24 lands I guess I'll be prone to screw more than flood. Better mull decisions would have helped for sure but they were reasonable 7's against grindy decks. I only had to mull once for real vs Rock throughout the night and I will be more wary of this in the future. Overall I played pretty well and didn't make any obvious mistakes so I can't complain.
r1 storm
g1 I miss land drops for 5 turns and die on t8 when he has a single card in hand, past in flames and I am stuck on 3 lands with lethal next turn. I missed my 3rd land for a while and never hit my 4th with a TKS in hand..brutal. g2 we have a good game and he tries to go off through some disruption. basically he double manamorphose, no cards in hand and flips into an empty the warrens, of course, and I don't see any of my wraths or pulses...We play a few extra games for fun and they actually went a lot more like I thought they would...aka, I slaughter him mercilessly. That's magic for ya, sometimes variance is on your side, sometimes not.
0-1
r2 metalwork colossus combo
this deck despite it being jank is actually very resilient. It's similar to KCI but instead of a really stupid and BS combo it just poops out artifacts and recurs colossus. g1 I would say it's like a 80-20 or better in his favor. g2 my SB cards get me there and in g3 he losses to his deck. Draws lots of lands and useless cards like nature's claims.
1-1
r3 burn
fun turn with me having 2 4/5 goyfs a liliana TLH on 2 loyalty, him at 15 and me at 2 life. I'm trying to think how on earth I can deal 15 in 1 turn. So i know that minusing lili makes them 5/6 so I start with that, flipping a reality smasher and well, i take that, cast and smush for 15 hahaha oh man totally stole that game. I LOVE smasher. g2 he just gets TOTALLY run over i don't think i dropped below 10 health. brutality into discard and fast beats. GG
2-1
r4 hardened scales
I win in 3 very hard games. I could not believe how hard this deck was to play against. he just has so much value and his guys get so huge almost everything is must answer. To be honest I think i only won because he played poorly. He missed a lot of triggers of various sorts. I need to play against this more, I think I could have made better choices too along the way. I know how the deck plays but not having reps against it I know I played suboptimally. Even with huge goyfs and scoozes I always felt behind.
3-1
Came in 9th missing out on breakers. We had 31 people which means we were 1 short of having 5 rounds. 4 rounds really sucks especially at 31 people. What can you do. Sadly no top 8 means no more modern for me but got to play cube so I guess it's fine