It's pretty long, but very detailed and step-by-step guide on how to get it set up for repeated use without having to re-download card images.
I've also included a link to the Folder I uploaded to dropbox which has over 100 decks across Legacy/Pauper/Modern/Commander/Vintage/Tiny Leader.
I think part of Liliana's issue is that in Jund, they can cast all their cards and play all their lands, so being hellbent is not an issue.
We often have no-value herders stuck in hand, or removal we do want to save, or multiple fat expensive Eldrazi we just don't have the lands for yet.
Liliana -no cards in hand plan works a lot better with man lands too, cuz you're threatening them with Raging Ravine/Stirring Wildwood, but they have to discard their removal and your land isn't a creature-target yet.
This has been a ~30 page thread where most of those ideas were discussed and tried already.
If you want to try U/B chat with the ~90 page B/x eldrazi thread, they're still trying all sorts of different colors out.
I know a few of them are running U/B with Ashiok.
We can't and don't want to run BWUC Eldrazi.
I don't want to dedicate too much in the 75 to it, but I have an awful win rate vs. that deck, like 1-5 in matches.
We just durdle too much early game and their creature get in for a lot.
Strangler processing Rift bolt is great tech, but very rare.
Between vaults/shambling vent, I stil just can't seem to stabilize as everything is expensive.
Even TKS who rips out a nice card, will eventually block a guide/swift spear, and die.
Yeah it's a 2-for-1 but they're just back to bolting the face plan and we have no blockers again.
Do you think we should cut the Timely Reinforcements/Rest for the Way alltogether for more sweepers for aggro decks? I get that timely is good in random aggro sometimes, but its only temporary life if we can't find a way to deal with their threats, or can start activating repeatable lifegain (vault/shambling).
If you ask me what his deck was missing is eldrazi mimic. That guy is way under rated!
Eh I don't think BW is really trying to be aggressive.
Only 2 Reality Smashers makes that pretty clear.
I've tried the mimic in Mono black Eldrazi aggro and I kinda hated it. It was the only thing that died to bolt with no value and was a bad top deck later in the game.
I don't see any Eldrazi Displacer being run, why is that? Seems like it interacts favorably with many of our creatures. Is it simply because it doesn't pass the bolt test?
It only does anything with Strangler and TKS.
It doesn't really do anything on its own, & yes it dies to bolt when its cast getting no value.
Its mana intensive in a deck that already has a good top end.
Potentially blanks removal, or stops opposing creatures from attacking or whatever, but if I was behind I wouldn't really want this card, unless I just had like ~6 mana at that point.
Hello,
I played in the ATL classic today and I did not play a Celestial Colonnade. It is actually supposed to be a Celestial Purge. I plan to do a small write-up in the next couple of days, but if you have any questions, feel free to let me know.
Hey!
Congrats on the 13th place finish.
Looks like that was an aggressive field, at least in the top 16.
Others have said it was pretty diverse among the other ~160 players.
Any cards you would want to immediately change seeing that the meta is quite aggressive?...
Or was it not really that bad on the way up there?
Well, I posted this in the BW Eldrazi thread, but it seems relevant here too.
I'll just hide it under this spoiler to reduce spammmy-ness.
There was an SCG (Modern) Classic Tournament with OGW & Post Bans, here's the results: http://sales.starcitygames.com//deckdatabase/displaydeck.php?DeckID=97989 TL;DR No Tron in Top 16. Tons of Aggro. Merfolk, Burn, Zoo, Affinity.
Temur Delver got 1st, Jund got 2nd.
Still a small-ish tournament however, take results for what you will.
Reality Smasher must have done some decent blocking and some decent finishing of games to help carry this list to 13th in this aggro meta.
Sideboard looks pretty standard I guess, except for random Celestial Colonnade. I guess that was to hedge against any UWr Control decks that might've been present, and he can activate it after getting their blue mana with Sower, or maybe he didn't have a 15th card and just grabbed anything to fill the slot. Supposed to be Celestial Purge.
Not sure Eldrazi Displacer did anything for him, no idea. Flaying Tendrils was his sweeper of choice. It looks like it did some work here, costing only 3 instead of 4 like Damnation or Languish.
I think we should consider using Flaying Tendrils as the primary sweeper. It really does kill most of these aggro decks.
Unless there are 2 Merfolk lords out.
Costing only 3, you can cast it @ 4 mana vs Cursecatcher.
The zoo decks were fast Zoo. Nacatl/Kird Ape/Experiment one/Burning Tree Emmissary. Sure Nacatl/Ape/Tarmogoyf can potentially survive Tendrils, but I don't think you get to 4 mana for big sweepers, especially on the draw.
Affinity. One of the lists is running only 1 Etched champion, but up to 3 Master of Etherium.
Either way, good lord look at all the aggro. Even in my very similar BW version, I'm considering mainboard sweepers or Timely Reinforcements.
Also, no matter how much I try to hedge against burn, I found that I'm like 1-5 vs. burn in matches.
EDIT: Assuming you read this, how are you going to be adjusting you 75 to accommodate for lots of Aggro, and specifically, the Temur Delver deck, which I'm sure many Twin players will switch to.
It runs 4 Remands ~3 Spell Pierce, ~3 Vapor Snag.
Lingering Souls is hard to land, removal is hard to land between snags & counter magic.
Other notes, people said there was LOTS of Eldrazi, decent amount of Tron, Ad Nauseum, & Scapeshift.
Obviously people were prepared for Tron/Eldrazi in sideboards.
There was an SCG (Modern) Classic Tournament with OGW & Post Bans, here's the results: http://sales.starcitygames.com//deckdatabase/displaydeck.php?DeckID=97989 TL;DR No Tron in Top 16. Tons of Aggro. Merfolk, Burn, Zoo, Affinity.
Temur Delver got 1st, Jund got 2nd.
Still a small-ish tournament however, take results for what you will.
Reality Smasher must have done some decent blocking and some decent finishing of games to help carry this list to 13th in this aggro meta.
Sideboard looks pretty standard I guess, except for random Celestial Colonnade. I guess that was to hedge against any UWr Control decks that might've been present, and he can activate it after getting their blue mana with Sower, or maybe he didn't have a 15th card and just grabbed anything to fill the slot. It was actually Celestial Purge.
Not sure Eldrazi Displacer did anything for him, no idea. Flaying Tendrils was his sweeper of choice. It looks like it did some work here, costing only 3 instead of 4 like Damnation or Languish.
I think we should consider using Flaying Tendrils as the primary sweeper. It really does kill most of these aggro decks.
Unless there are 2 Merfolk lords out.
Costing only 3, you can cast it @ 4 mana vs Cursecatcher.
The zoo decks were fast Zoo. Nacatl/Kird Ape/Experiment one/Burning Tree Emmissary. Sure Nacatl/Ape/Tarmogoyf can potentially survive Tendrils, but I don't think you get to 4 mana for big sweepers, especially on the draw.
Affinity. One of the lists is running only 1 Etched champion, but up to 3 Master of Etherium.
Either way, good lord look at all the aggro. Even in my very similar BW version, I'm considering mainboard sweepers or Timely Reinforcements.
Also, no matter how much I try to hedge against burn, I found that I'm like 1-5 vs. burn in matches.
I don't understand how Blood Moon doesn't hose this deck.
You can cast Blight Herder, Sower, & Relic with all mountains, that's about it. The decks that play blood moon are agressive, you need your removal online. Affinity, Delver-tempo, shape Anew Combo, Grixis Delve.
If you don't run fetches you can't reliably get basics to play around it. Colorless mana is completely hosed by Blood Moon as there's no way to get Wastes, and nobody is really gonna map on a Wastes, or bother running Wastes in the deck.
If your opponent plays blood moon, and you don't already have basics on the table, or fetches out ready to get basics, you can play Expedition Map to find a basic, then try to Disenchant the Blood Moon, but that's really the only line I see.
With all that being said, I really do miss my 2 Shambling Vents, after reading Beatox's report. I might cut a Ghost quarter for one or something. Tapped was never that big of an issue, with only 2 tapped lands.
The landbase seems a bit wonky though. I thought I wouldn't need the fetches but maybe I'll end up ordering a couple. I'm seriously considering removing the Bojuka though, it just hurts more than it helps me most of the time, or maybe I just have bad luck.
I also think I might be to low on spot removal, but I have no idea what to cut for it. I like the singleton All is Dust since it's easy to cast and can get me out of some very rough spots, especially in a deck that sometimes deliberately falls behind on the first few turns.
Any obvious flaws/possible improvements?
I don't want to be that guy, but I'll refer back to my deck for something that's been really consistent.
I used to have a few tapped lands & no fetches.
I kept losing games to Blood Moon & Kiki-Chord's/Collected Zoo's Magus of the Moon. Fetches + Maps have made blood WAY less of a problem. A real issue is Affinity with Blood Moon. You will lose if they Blood Moon + have a good draw and you don't have Stony Silence on the table.
Fetches also make Rest for the Weary more reliable, if you're running that. I switch to Timely reinforcements which can help in random aggro mathcups or any redX deck w/ creatures.
Personally I went down to 2x Oblivion Sower. I found that I often play catchup in this deck because we have a bunch of slow tapout cards, that require specific setup & sequencing with an awkward mana base. Oblivion Sower sat in my hand making my opening 7 real bad in many cases.
This deck usually isn't the one with the good hand. Your opponent usually has that. Modern is mostly linear now, so your opponent is gonna have like HAND(Land, land, threat, threat, threat, removal, other) or (land, land, land, Serum Visions, Removal, discard/removal, Combo Piece). You want your deck to be able to stumble through turns 1-4 in your bad draws by setting up for Herder/Strangler turns, or Lingering souls turns. Your great draws are way less frequent because (EYE, Ugin, Temple, Herder)...still requires an early process.
With 3 eye, you'll get plenty of Eye + Temple = turn 2 TKS. That opening happens fairly frequently, but it doesn't win the game the way your linear opponent's decks will.
If you're looking for simple spot removal swap, try:
-1 or -2 Oblivion Sower
+1 Go for the Throat or +1 Doom Blade.
Although you have All is Dust, which synergizes with less spot removal and more ramp.
I've also found the Oblivion Ring pretty consistent to help exile if you're short on process effects. It happens to hit Finks/Voice as Path #5 where exile does matter. Hits Cranial Plating, Tsagur, Ensnaring Bridge, Blood Moon too. ANTI-synergy with All is Dust.
5 discard +3 TKS = 8 discard effects. I never liked to go above 7, even in Jund/Abzan. Drop a IoK or Thoughtseize if you're looking for another cut.
Sideboard looks solid.
I diversify my answers up a bit to keep opponent guessing, but that's a preference.
What are the Ratchet Bombs for?
I've also updated my list. This is more traditional list we're used to, but I'm lowering the number of Sowers.
With midrange almost gone, and Delver/Kiki-Chord/Abzan Coco as the only things I've honestly seen come take its place, Sower is needed less as a ground blocker and Newlamog-mana generator.
Sower is a card that makes me mulligan in this already (somewhat) inconsistent deck. Using cards like Map/Relic/Claws you're spending your turns setting up, but you don't affect the board.
Blight Herder is still the best card to me, and I want to rely on consistently processing for him to win the game.
Lingering Souls is the other best card.
I win most my games with those 2 cards, and way less of tutoring/casting Ulamog.
This format has certainly sped up (post bans/OGW) and I've been accommodating to keep up with it...Valuing early removal and faster more consistent plays.
Living the Turn 3/4 Sower dream isn't something I care much about now. For me, this has simply become my new Abzan grindy deck.
Sure it lacks card advantage or many manlands, but it attacks from a lot of angles, many 2-for-1's, & has game against combo & aggro. The innevitable Ulamog doesn't hurt too much except when you draw him.
I've started seeing more and more Delver decks, and they just get free wins if your hand is even slightly clunky.
They also get free wins from Blood Moon.
Kiki-Chord decks also have a Magus of the Moon they're tutoring for now. Yeah you can kill it, but there's are all reasons I've started pushing the manabase towards Fetchlands.
Trying out the 1 Tendo Ice Bridge over 1 Caves of Koilos, as I think it will pretty often be enabled by Urborg to keep its counter, and I really value the life Caves of Koilos gives away.
Seems like some others are starting to see the value in Matter Reshaper.
I'm really starting to like him.
I went down -1 Bojuka Bog. It's got nice utility and has enabled some plays but added +1 Scrabbling Claws to accomodate for processing.
No mainboard Sweepers for me. If I fell that far behind, I don't want to rely on drawing an expensive 7 drop (even if it's more like a 4/5/6 cost) to recover. If I fell behind it's probably because my hand is filled with Sowers/Ulamog/Non-process Blight Herders.
Somebody else mentioned trying Oblivion Ring and I honestly support it. It's just a universal removal spell that kill random Blood Moon/creatures/Ensnaring Bridge.
I would really like to get a consistent sideboarding guide going. Everyone's running slightly different 75's, that's cool, but our sideboards are similar and I'm always curious when to side in wierd cards like Surgical, or how many disenchants/stony silence and what do you take it more importantly?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYxBtAdNltc
It's pretty long, but very detailed and step-by-step guide on how to get it set up for repeated use without having to re-download card images.
I've also included a link to the Folder I uploaded to dropbox which has over 100 decks across Legacy/Pauper/Modern/Commander/Vintage/Tiny Leader.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/bq27ut4l4u5p1on/MTG XMAGE Decks.zip?dl=0
We'll get lumped in with those decks when people make comparisons. Oh well.
Not sure how are our matchup does vs. them.
Chalice on 1 is horrific for us. Discard, Relics, Path's all die.
I also expect metagame to respond, and RW Land destruction or Ensnaring Bridge decks to attack the Eldrazi.
Also gonna be a lot of death's Shadow decks coming to an FNM near you.
Here's my guess at a main deck.
4 Cavern of Souls
4 Eldrazi Temple
4 Eye of Ugin
3 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Ghost Quarter
3 Corrupted Crossroads
1 Island
1 Swamp
Creatures (28)
4 Drowner of Hope
4 Blight Herder
4 Wasteland Strangler
4 Eldrazi Mimic
4 Matter Reshaper
4 Thought-Knot Seer
4 Reality Smasher
4 Relic of Progenitus
1 Scrabbling Claws
3 Dismember
We often have no-value herders stuck in hand, or removal we do want to save, or multiple fat expensive Eldrazi we just don't have the lands for yet.
Liliana -no cards in hand plan works a lot better with man lands too, cuz you're threatening them with Raging Ravine/Stirring Wildwood, but they have to discard their removal and your land isn't a creature-target yet.
This has been a ~30 page thread where most of those ideas were discussed and tried already.
If you want to try U/B chat with the ~90 page B/x eldrazi thread, they're still trying all sorts of different colors out.
I know a few of them are running U/B with Ashiok.
We can't and don't want to run BWUC Eldrazi.
I don't want to dedicate too much in the 75 to it, but I have an awful win rate vs. that deck, like 1-5 in matches.
We just durdle too much early game and their creature get in for a lot.
Strangler processing Rift bolt is great tech, but very rare.
Between vaults/shambling vent, I stil just can't seem to stabilize as everything is expensive.
Even TKS who rips out a nice card, will eventually block a guide/swift spear, and die.
Yeah it's a 2-for-1 but they're just back to bolting the face plan and we have no blockers again.
Do you think we should cut the Timely Reinforcements/Rest for the Way alltogether for more sweepers for aggro decks? I get that timely is good in random aggro sometimes, but its only temporary life if we can't find a way to deal with their threats, or can start activating repeatable lifegain (vault/shambling).
Eh I don't think BW is really trying to be aggressive.
Only 2 Reality Smashers makes that pretty clear.
I've tried the mimic in Mono black Eldrazi aggro and I kinda hated it. It was the only thing that died to bolt with no value and was a bad top deck later in the game.
He's also pretty bad at blocking.
Weird bug posted twice.
It only does anything with Strangler and TKS.
It doesn't really do anything on its own, & yes it dies to bolt when its cast getting no value.
Its mana intensive in a deck that already has a good top end.
Potentially blanks removal, or stops opposing creatures from attacking or whatever, but if I was behind I wouldn't really want this card, unless I just had like ~6 mana at that point.
Hey!
Congrats on the 13th place finish.
Looks like that was an aggressive field, at least in the top 16.
Others have said it was pretty diverse among the other ~160 players.
Any cards you would want to immediately change seeing that the meta is quite aggressive?...
Or was it not really that bad on the way up there?
I'll just hide it under this spoiler to reduce spammmy-ness.
There was an SCG (Modern) Classic Tournament with OGW & Post Bans, here's the results:
http://sales.starcitygames.com//deckdatabase/displaydeck.php?DeckID=97989
TL;DR No Tron in Top 16. Tons of Aggro. Merfolk, Burn, Zoo, Affinity.
Temur Delver got 1st, Jund got 2nd.
Still a small-ish tournament however, take results for what you will.
BW Eldrazi made it to 13th place. List is below.
Decklist http://sales.starcitygames.com//deckdatabase/displaydeck.php?DeckID=97989
4 Blight Herder
2 Oblivion Sower
2 Reality Smasher
4 Thought-Knot Seer
4 Wasteland Strangler
1 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
Spells (18)
4 Relic of Progenitus
1 Dismember
1 Go for the Throat
4 Path to Exile
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Lingering Souls
2 Thoughtseize
1 Plains
2 Swamp
2 Caves of Koilos
4 Eldrazi Temple
3 Ghost Quarter
3 Godless Shrine
3 Marsh Flats
1 Shambling Vent
1 Vault of the Archangel
3 Eye of Ugin
2 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
2 Spellskite
1 Eldrazi Displacer
2 Stony Silence
2 Disenchant
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Flaying Tendrils
2 Timely Reinforcements
1 All Is Dust
1 Celestial Purge
Seems pretty standard to many of the BW lists.
Full 4 TKS
Only 2 Oblivion Sower
+2 Reality Smasher
0 Matter Reshaper
3 Lingering Souls
Reality Smasher must have done some decent blocking and some decent finishing of games to help carry this list to 13th in this aggro meta.
Sideboard looks pretty standard I guess,
except for random Celestial Colonnade. I guess that was to hedge against any UWr Control decks that might've been present, and he can activate it after getting their blue mana with Sower, or maybe he didn't have a 15th card and just grabbed anything to fill the slot.Supposed to be Celestial Purge.Not sure Eldrazi Displacer did anything for him, no idea.
Flaying Tendrils was his sweeper of choice. It looks like it did some work here, costing only 3 instead of 4 like Damnation or Languish.
I think we should consider using Flaying Tendrils as the primary sweeper. It really does kill most of these aggro decks.
Unless there are 2 Merfolk lords out.
Costing only 3, you can cast it @ 4 mana vs Cursecatcher.
The zoo decks were fast Zoo. Nacatl/Kird Ape/Experiment one/Burning Tree Emmissary. Sure Nacatl/Ape/Tarmogoyf can potentially survive Tendrils, but I don't think you get to 4 mana for big sweepers, especially on the draw.
Affinity. One of the lists is running only 1 Etched champion, but up to 3 Master of Etherium.
Either way, good lord look at all the aggro. Even in my very similar BW version, I'm considering mainboard sweepers or Timely Reinforcements.
Also, no matter how much I try to hedge against burn, I found that I'm like 1-5 vs. burn in matches.
EDIT: Assuming you read this, how are you going to be adjusting you 75 to accommodate for lots of Aggro, and specifically, the Temur Delver deck, which I'm sure many Twin players will switch to.
It runs 4 Remands ~3 Spell Pierce, ~3 Vapor Snag.
Lingering Souls is hard to land, removal is hard to land between snags & counter magic.
Other notes, people said there was LOTS of Eldrazi, decent amount of Tron, Ad Nauseum, & Scapeshift.
Obviously people were prepared for Tron/Eldrazi in sideboards.
http://sales.starcitygames.com//deckdatabase/displaydeck.php?DeckID=97989
TL;DR No Tron in Top 16. Tons of Aggro. Merfolk, Burn, Zoo, Affinity.
Temur Delver got 1st, Jund got 2nd.
Still a small-ish tournament however, take results for what you will.
BW Eldrazi made it to 13th place. List is below.
Decklist http://sales.starcitygames.com//deckdatabase/displaydeck.php?DeckID=97989
4 Blight Herder
2 Oblivion Sower
2 Reality Smasher
4 Thought-Knot Seer
4 Wasteland Strangler
1 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
Spells (18)
4 Relic of Progenitus
1 Dismember
1 Go for the Throat
4 Path to Exile
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Lingering Souls
2 Thoughtseize
1 Plains
2 Swamp
2 Caves of Koilos
4 Eldrazi Temple
3 Ghost Quarter
3 Godless Shrine
3 Marsh Flats
1 Shambling Vent
1 Vault of the Archangel
3 Eye of Ugin
2 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
2 Spellskite
1 Eldrazi Displacer
2 Stony Silence
2 Disenchant
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Flaying Tendrils
2 Timely Reinforcements
1 All Is Dust
1 Celestial Purge
Seems pretty standard to many of the BW lists.
Full 4 TKS
Only 2 Oblivion Sower
+2 Reality Smasher
0 Matter Reshaper
3 Lingering Souls
Reality Smasher must have done some decent blocking and some decent finishing of games to help carry this list to 13th in this aggro meta.
Sideboard looks pretty standard I guess,
except for random Celestial Colonnade. I guess that was to hedge against any UWr Control decks that might've been present, and he can activate it after getting their blue mana with Sower, or maybe he didn't have a 15th card and just grabbed anything to fill the slot.It was actually Celestial Purge.Not sure Eldrazi Displacer did anything for him, no idea.
Flaying Tendrils was his sweeper of choice. It looks like it did some work here, costing only 3 instead of 4 like Damnation or Languish.
I think we should consider using Flaying Tendrils as the primary sweeper. It really does kill most of these aggro decks.
Unless there are 2 Merfolk lords out.
Costing only 3, you can cast it @ 4 mana vs Cursecatcher.
The zoo decks were fast Zoo. Nacatl/Kird Ape/Experiment one/Burning Tree Emmissary. Sure Nacatl/Ape/Tarmogoyf can potentially survive Tendrils, but I don't think you get to 4 mana for big sweepers, especially on the draw.
Affinity. One of the lists is running only 1 Etched champion, but up to 3 Master of Etherium.
Either way, good lord look at all the aggro. Even in my very similar BW version, I'm considering mainboard sweepers or Timely Reinforcements.
Also, no matter how much I try to hedge against burn, I found that I'm like 1-5 vs. burn in matches.
You can cast Blight Herder, Sower, & Relic with all mountains, that's about it. The decks that play blood moon are agressive, you need your removal online. Affinity, Delver-tempo, shape Anew Combo, Grixis Delve.
If you don't run fetches you can't reliably get basics to play around it. Colorless mana is completely hosed by Blood Moon as there's no way to get Wastes, and nobody is really gonna map on a Wastes, or bother running Wastes in the deck.
If your opponent plays blood moon, and you don't already have basics on the table, or fetches out ready to get basics, you can play Expedition Map to find a basic, then try to Disenchant the Blood Moon, but that's really the only line I see.
With all that being said, I really do miss my 2 Shambling Vents, after reading Beatox's report. I might cut a Ghost quarter for one or something. Tapped was never that big of an issue, with only 2 tapped lands.
I don't want to be that guy, but I'll refer back to my deck for something that's been really consistent.
4x Blight Herder
2x Matter Reshaper
2x Oblivion Sower
3x Thought-Knot Seer
1x Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
4x Wasteland Strangler
Other Spells (14)
4x Path to Exile
1x Go for the Throat
1x Oblivion Ring
3x Inquisition of Kozilek
1x Thoughtseize
4x Lingering Souls
Artifact (6)
2x Expedition Map
4x Relic of Progenitus
1x Oblivion Ring
1x Caves of Koilos
4x Eldrazi Temple
2x Eye of Ugin
3x Ghost Quarter
2x Godless Shrine
4x Marsh Flats
2x Plains
1x Swamp
2x Tendo Ice Bridge
2x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1x Vault of the Archangel
1x Damnation
2x Disenchant
1x Dismember
1x Engineered Explosives
1x Ghost Quarter
1x Languish
2x Memoricide
2x Stony Silence
2x Surgical Extraction
2x Timely Reinforcements
I used to have a few tapped lands & no fetches.
I kept losing games to Blood Moon & Kiki-Chord's/Collected Zoo's Magus of the Moon. Fetches + Maps have made blood WAY less of a problem. A real issue is Affinity with Blood Moon. You will lose if they Blood Moon + have a good draw and you don't have Stony Silence on the table.
Fetches also make Rest for the Weary more reliable, if you're running that. I switch to Timely reinforcements which can help in random aggro mathcups or any redX deck w/ creatures.
Personally I went down to 2x Oblivion Sower. I found that I often play catchup in this deck because we have a bunch of slow tapout cards, that require specific setup & sequencing with an awkward mana base. Oblivion Sower sat in my hand making my opening 7 real bad in many cases.
This deck usually isn't the one with the good hand. Your opponent usually has that. Modern is mostly linear now, so your opponent is gonna have like HAND(Land, land, threat, threat, threat, removal, other) or (land, land, land, Serum Visions, Removal, discard/removal, Combo Piece). You want your deck to be able to stumble through turns 1-4 in your bad draws by setting up for Herder/Strangler turns, or Lingering souls turns. Your great draws are way less frequent because (EYE, Ugin, Temple, Herder)...still requires an early process.
With 3 eye, you'll get plenty of Eye + Temple = turn 2 TKS. That opening happens fairly frequently, but it doesn't win the game the way your linear opponent's decks will.
If you're looking for simple spot removal swap, try:
-1 or -2 Oblivion Sower
+1 Go for the Throat or +1 Doom Blade.
Although you have All is Dust, which synergizes with less spot removal and more ramp.
I've also found the Oblivion Ring pretty consistent to help exile if you're short on process effects. It happens to hit Finks/Voice as Path #5 where exile does matter. Hits Cranial Plating, Tsagur, Ensnaring Bridge, Blood Moon too. ANTI-synergy with All is Dust.
5 discard +3 TKS = 8 discard effects. I never liked to go above 7, even in Jund/Abzan. Drop a IoK or Thoughtseize if you're looking for another cut.
Sideboard looks solid.
I diversify my answers up a bit to keep opponent guessing, but that's a preference.
What are the Ratchet Bombs for?
With midrange almost gone, and Delver/Kiki-Chord/Abzan Coco as the only things I've honestly seen come take its place, Sower is needed less as a ground blocker and Newlamog-mana generator.
Sower is a card that makes me mulligan in this already (somewhat) inconsistent deck. Using cards like Map/Relic/Claws you're spending your turns setting up, but you don't affect the board.
Blight Herder is still the best card to me, and I want to rely on consistently processing for him to win the game.
Lingering Souls is the other best card.
I win most my games with those 2 cards, and way less of tutoring/casting Ulamog.
This format has certainly sped up (post bans/OGW) and I've been accommodating to keep up with it...Valuing early removal and faster more consistent plays.
Living the Turn 3/4 Sower dream isn't something I care much about now. For me, this has simply become my new Abzan grindy deck.
Sure it lacks card advantage or many manlands, but it attacks from a lot of angles, many 2-for-1's, & has game against combo & aggro. The innevitable Ulamog doesn't hurt too much except when you draw him.
I've started seeing more and more Delver decks, and they just get free wins if your hand is even slightly clunky.
They also get free wins from Blood Moon.
Kiki-Chord decks also have a Magus of the Moon they're tutoring for now. Yeah you can kill it, but there's are all reasons I've started pushing the manabase towards Fetchlands.
4x Blight Herder
2x Matter Reshaper
2x Oblivion Sower
3x Thought-Knot Seer
1x Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
4x Wasteland Strangler
Instant (5)
4x Path to Exile
1x Slaughter Pact
Sorcery (8)
3x Inquisition of Kozilek
4x Lingering Souls
1x Thoughtseize
Artifact (7)
2x Expedition Map
4x Relic of Progenitus
1x Scrabbling Claws
3x Caves of Koilos
4x Eldrazi Temple
2x Eye of Ugin
2x Ghost Quarter
2x Godless Shrine
3x Marsh Flats
2x Plains
1x Shambling Vent
1x Swamp
1x Tendo Ice Bridge
2x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1x Vault of the Archangel
2x Disenchant
1x Dismember
1x Duress
1x Ghost Quarter
2x Languish
1x Memoricide
2x Stony Silence
2x Surgical Extraction
3x Timely Reinforcements
Trying out the 1 Tendo Ice Bridge over 1 Caves of Koilos, as I think it will pretty often be enabled by Urborg to keep its counter, and I really value the life Caves of Koilos gives away.
Seems like some others are starting to see the value in Matter Reshaper.
I'm really starting to like him.
I went down -1 Bojuka Bog. It's got nice utility and has enabled some plays but added +1 Scrabbling Claws to accomodate for processing.
No mainboard Sweepers for me. If I fell that far behind, I don't want to rely on drawing an expensive 7 drop (even if it's more like a 4/5/6 cost) to recover. If I fell behind it's probably because my hand is filled with Sowers/Ulamog/Non-process Blight Herders.
Somebody else mentioned trying Oblivion Ring and I honestly support it. It's just a universal removal spell that kill random Blood Moon/creatures/Ensnaring Bridge.
I would really like to get a consistent sideboarding guide going. Everyone's running slightly different 75's, that's cool, but our sideboards are similar and I'm always curious when to side in wierd cards like Surgical, or how many disenchants/stony silence and what do you take it more importantly?