MTG Salvation

It takes quite an amount of time to maintain and manage these threads. I appreciate it!

Quote from Piney_Tinecones »

BRGLooks like Jund made a pretty good showing at Regionals!GRB

Two of the winning list are running less than 24 lands: 23 and 22 respectively.

Hmm... I don't think I'll leave home with less than 24, especially with 22 lands and 2 Trackers!

I'll try with a 4th Bolt and 1 Decay, thanks all!

@SchofieldSays: Indeed it was a great moment! I coming back to the game after 6 years. When I left Jund was a powerhouse and I never thought that someday I would be able to sleeve it up

@Jund Em In: Kalitas is at the moment an experiment. I like it for the reasons Delver mention

@FlyingDelver: I have two Spellbomb on the side, I'll start from there and see how it goes.

It's more a Scry 1 effect than anything else. Its activation cost is quite too high to be flipped effectively. Of course, that doesn't mean that you should never activate it.

Quote from Juulvand »

In competitive events, you are not allowed to look at electronic devices, however you are allowed to look at a set of notes in between matches. (Including during sideboarding) So you can print the sideboard guide if it isn't too long (not more than a page or two) and refer to that in between matches. (This is explained in detail in section 11 of the tournament rules: http://www.wizards.com/contentresources/wizards/wpn/main/documents/magic_the_gathering_tournament_rules_pdf1.pdf )

Thanks for the clarification, that's good to know! My last GP was back in 2000 (first GP in Argentina) and after that I had to quit the game for financial reasons. I'm getting back after 17 years, lot has changed!

You can check Caleb Scherer's sideboarding notes. He is a well known streamer and Storm player.

Thank you both, you were really helpful. Appreciate it!

Here's a visual spoiler that is easier to navigate: https://imgur.com/a/ZcaAe

Quote from Crimson Lancer »

...it is still much more affected by variance than many other Modern decks, but after all of that, I can pull some pretty disgusting stuff off.

Like this?

Quote from Lantern »

So my suggestion would be Option 2- Make a sticky thread that has all Decks in it, with a short overview on the deck in it.

I link this approach, even if there is 3 pages of proven decks you still have a one-stop for checking out what's out there.

Looking for what staples to pick up first? This is a guide for someone trying to collect the modern format from scratch. Here I go over the basic staple cards, the cards used in a couple decks here and there, and the cards that are sometimes used / mostly used in a single archetype.




If you have any suggestions / questions / comments feel free to send me a PM!

How many lands do I want?
Depends on what kind of deck you're playing. Midrange (Pod, Jund) plays about 24. Control plays about 27.

How many shock / fetch / basic lands do I want?
Fetches: About 8. Decide which colors you REALLY need on turn 1. Play 4 copies of the fetch that can grab a basic land of that color.
Shocks: About 1-2 of each. You don't need to play a lot of them, your fetches can get them out on demand.
Basics: About 1 of each. You need these in case your creature gets Pathed or your land gets Ghost Quartered. Oh, and Blood Moon too.

What's the value (color wise) of the shock / fetch lands?
Fetches are your most important lands. With the proper shocks, you can get almost every color combination on demand.
For example, in a UWR deck, Arid Mesa can only fetch Mountains or Plains, but it can get you Hallowed Fountain or Steam Vents, both blue sources.

What are the odds of getting color screwed?
That needs some calculation. A good way to avoid this would be to skew your mana base towards being able to cast your 1-drops on turn 1. Jund plays a lot of black 1-drops (Deathrite Shaman, discard spells), so it has more lands that can generate B on turn 1, like Blackcleave Cliffs. Pod plays mana dorks, so it needs G on turn 1. Thus it uses Razorverge Thicket and Grove of the Burnwillows.

What are the odds of hitting all my land drops?
It depends on the number of lands you play. You can find this information with a little Googling.
Fetches alter the odds slightly every time you crack one.

Should I run filter lands or not?
Only if you have a spell which has a heavy requirement in one color (e.g. Liliana of the Veil, 1BB or Cryptic Command, 1UUU.)

How does check / fast / tap lands affect my mana producing ability?
Fastlands are the best options, because they ETB untapped on the turns that matter - the early ones. Unfortunately they only provide allied colors.
Checklands are almost unplayed. They ETB tapped on turn 1. Between fetches, shocks, basics and fastlands, you have enough to complete your mana base.
Taplands: which ones are you referring to? Examples?

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You can look at a lot of tournament-winning decklists and see how their mana bases are constructed. Goldfishing those decks helps you understand their mana bases too.