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Durette posted:Oh, believe me. I will never win a FNM. I know most people don't believe this, but in my meta, FNM is more serious than a pro tour qualifier. It makes me a much better player to play there, but I was not born with the natural luck and/or have the years of skill required to compete at that level. The money third isn't the issue. Yeah, my FNM is similar, people take that poo poo seriously. I mean theres a few who go there knowing they will lose with a jank deck, but if you aren't running a deck with all the new staples by the time the set is legal to play you are faaaaaaaaaaaaaar behind the curve and will go 0-4 or 0-5. I see all the casual brews people post here and I always wonder what sort of environment actually allows them to play that with any actual expectation of success. edit-Thats not a dig at casual brews, they can be a lot of fun at a kitchen table setting, but even at an FNM level they just don't cut the mustard.
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Oct 21, 2013 14:00
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Speaking of... Is there some way I can adjust my Esper list to combat the abundance of RDW and Boros in my area? I feel they're the decks I never really stand a chance against. (My meta is about 50% red decks, 10% UWx control, 10% BWx midrange) Budget is pretty limitless except won't get Thoughtseize at the moment. Heard suggestions to: -Move Elspeth, Sun's Champion to sideboard (heard it's bad against aggro decks?) -Run Blind Obedience and/or Essence Scatter mainboard Alternatively, is it just a bad matchup nonetheless and I should just switch to Junk midrange (I've got a lot of the stuff needed for that)? Deck: Esper Control    //Lands 2 Azorius Guildgate 4 Godless Shrine 4 Hallowed Fountain 5 Island 2 Plains 3 Temple of Deceit 2 Temple of Silence 4 Watery Grave //Spells 4 Azorius Charm 3 Detention Sphere 3 Dissolve 2 Divination 3 Doom Blade 3 Hero's Downfall 3 Sphinx's Revelation 4 Supreme Verdict 1 Thoughtseize //Planeswalkers 2 Elspeth, Sun's Champion 4 Jace, Architect of Thought //Creatures 1 Obzedat, Ghost Council 1 Ętherling //Sideboard 3 Sin Collector 2 Yoked Ox 1 Ętherling 2 Blood Baron of Vizkopa 1 Last Breath 2 Far // Away 2 Negate 1 Detention Sphere 1 Gainsay  Display deck statistics
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Oct 21, 2013 14:14
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planedriver posted:Esper deck with monored/boros problems The big thing against the hyper aggressive decks is to lower your curve, essence scatter main is not a bad idea, nor is syncopate. Essentially trading out any of your 3 mana answers, specifically dissolve, for a 2 mana answer will do wonders. Dissolve is amazing, but I don't particularly like it in the monored or boros matchups. More doomblade/devour flesh/essence scatter is really what you need. Blind obedience isn't a bad card, I've always been underwhelmed by it, but I have a friend who swears on it, and incidental life gain is nothing to sneeze at against red. Essentially cut the dissolves for a 2 mana answer, however, Dissolve is so good against just about everything else, it may be worth having the bad matchup, its just a metagame call you will have to make.
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Oct 21, 2013 14:27
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GEMorris posted:Don't overextend, drop guys afterwords? You only need 4 power on the board before they have to wrath, play your anthems instead of a creature on turn 3. Playing aggro vs. control isn't rocket science. Maybe I'm just not seeing it, so do you maybe have a stream or some kind of tournament report so that I can see what you're talking about. You make it sound simple, and I could swear your one of the players in this board who actually places in tournaments, but I'm having trouble believing it's as carefree as your saying it is. Veyrall fucked around with this message at 14:34 on Oct 21, 2013 |
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Oct 21, 2013 14:30
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Elephant Ambush posted:Welp.
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Oct 21, 2013 14:46
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Elephant Ambush posted:I think you meant Temple Garden instead of Hallowed Fountain. Bloodrush is an activated ability, not a spell, so even it doesn't trigger heroic.
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Oct 21, 2013 14:58
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Elephant Ambush posted:I think you meant Temple Garden instead of Hallowed Fountain. As for the creatures: Fabled Hero's Heroic ability is a decoy, a red herring. That's not why you play him. You play him because he's a 2/2 with Double Strike for 3. THAT is what combos with the Spear and Ghor-Clan. Ghor-Clan is mandatory in all my decks that can use him. Polis Crusher is a meta-play, since he evades most non-damage removal, and gods. Fleecemane and Loxodon are hopefully self-explanatory, as is Burning-Tree. Skargg Guildmage is there to provide Trample, and something to do with your mana on turns when you can't or don't want to play something. And Legion Loyalist is a 1/1 with Haste who draws and eats removal like nobody's business, and occasionally gets to do his thing. Seriously, drat guy might as well read "R: Target player loses one removal spell".
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Oct 21, 2013 15:27
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kizudarake posted:If I'm building MURDERGOATS!, but am shy 2 mutavaults, what should I substitute? Run a build without them. 4 Blood Crypt 11 Mountain 2 Rakdos Guildgate 7 Swamp 3 Doom Blade 2 Dreadbore 3 Lightning Strike 4 Magma Jet 2 Rakdos's Return 4 Tymaret, the Murder King 4 Young Pyromancer 4 Molten Birth 4 Rakdos Keyrune 3 Purphoros, God of the Forge 3 Trading Post Sideboard: 2 Thoughtseize 3 Frostburn Weird 2 Mizzium Mortars 2 Rakdos Charm 3 Burning Earth 3 Slaughter Games I haven't tested it yet, so take my list with a grain of salt, but this is what I'm going to start from.
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Oct 21, 2013 15:27
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planedriver posted:Esper Honestly I think Dissolve, while powerful, is a little too slow. I'm a fan of Syncopate - people don't play around a Syncopate for 1 as much as they should, and exiling is relevant against Phoenix, Whip, etc.
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Oct 21, 2013 15:53
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Alright so I did a little research on GW midrange this morning and didn't see much out there. I see a bunch of GW aggro though. Lists with 12 1-drops, 4 Smiters, 4 Fleecemanes, 4 Selesnya Charms, and a few other things. That doesn't seem mid-range to me. Should I think about adding mana dorks and fatties like Poly and Kalonian Hydra? It seems like I should just sort of go green devotion and splash white for the Smiters, Fleecemanes, and Charms. I could even see splashing red instead of white or even in addition for some Domri Rades to speed up topdecking.
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Oct 21, 2013 15:56
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jassi007 posted:Run a build without them. I'm a special unique flower who is also building MURDERGOATS and yeah, this is the build I'm going with for now. Since I have no mutavaults. Interested to know how Magma Jet vs. Shock compares
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Oct 21, 2013 16:00
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Hey wanted to bring this up from a few pages back to say thanks for typing up your thoughts on the deck. I'm running something very similar, including the two mainboard Chandras. Unfortunately I haven't been able to play it yet aside from a week ago when I played down 2 reckoners and no Chandra. I still went 3-1 at FNM without those so I'm excited to play it with. Personally I like the 4 phoenix and play with a bit less burn. I'm not extremely experienced so I'm not sure if it's a good idea or not, but I'm playing with the idea of 4 mortars in the mainboard with only 3-4 player burn spells. I like the idea of being able to burn down any blockers (combined with the firefist strikers) to keep swinging through, but perhaps this is too weak to board wipes? Also I've got a single hammer sitting in the main deck as a bit of insurance that the longer the game goes the slightly less completely hosed I am. Thoughts on this? I'm not running Mutavault so maybe this is a decent substitution; though I'm seriously considering putting in the money to have 2 Mutavaults in here. But yeah, this deck is so nuts with that turn 4 crazy damage. I'm not the biggest fan of Burning-Tree Emissary but good lord it turns into a monster with this deck.
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Oct 21, 2013 16:21
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Lonely Bridge posted:Hey wanted to bring this up from a few pages back to say thanks for typing up your thoughts on the deck. I'm running something very similar, including the two mainboard Chandras. Unfortunately I haven't been able to play it yet aside from a week ago when I played down 2 reckoners and no Chandra. I still went 3-1 at FNM without those so I'm excited to play it with. Personally I like the 4 phoenix and play with a bit less burn. I run a lot of red decks and I currently run 4 Lightning Strike and 4 Magma Jet in each, with 3 or 4 Mizzium Mortars in the sideboard. I only bust them out when someone plays toughness 4 creatures, usually siding out the Magma Jets for them. If they're running 3 toughness or less, don't bother with Mortars. Mainly they're for Kalonian Hydra, Archangel of Thune, Gray Merchant, or any of the other big toughness 4 threats/blockers. Burning-Tree Emissary is bonkers powerful. Learn to love her.
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Oct 21, 2013 16:26
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Elephant Ambush posted:Burning-Tree Emissary is bonkers powerful. Learn to love her. Yeah it's like.. I could play this Ash Zealot, or.. drop 2 BTE and a Lightning Strike/Firefist Striker. My only problem is the card advantage, which I feel like Chandra can make up for at least. Maybe I'm too concerned - this is aggro after all. I guess that mainboard Mortars is just from my feel at FNM but I think I'll keep them in the sideboard for now. I just came back to magic and have learned a bit from playing MTGO this past week. I'm facepalming at some of the crap I did at my last FNM (Lightning Strike on a Voice of Resurgence).
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Oct 21, 2013 16:32
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Lonely Bridge posted:Hey wanted to bring this up from a few pages back to say thanks for typing up your thoughts on the deck. I'm running something very similar, including the two mainboard Chandras. Unfortunately I haven't been able to play it yet aside from a week ago when I played down 2 reckoners and no Chandra. I still went 3-1 at FNM without those so I'm excited to play it with. Personally I like the 4 phoenix and play with a bit less burn. I've been playing this deck as well and I only seem to lose when I'm stuck on 3 mana. Magma Jet is also just loving awesome. Also can some of you better player than me compare and contrast this build vs the bigger red devotion build that runs Prospheros, Ember Swallowers, A few Shrine's to Nix and 4 Stormbreaths? mcmagic fucked around with this message at 16:41 on Oct 21, 2013 |
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Oct 21, 2013 16:33
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kizudarake posted:If I'm building MURDERGOATS!, but am shy 2 mutavaults, what should I substitute? Honestly, I don't like them in there. There's so much need for colored mana that, at least in my opinion, the colorless can hurt more than having another guy helps. Especially when that guy effectively costs 2 mana on offense, and 1 on defense. I'm assuming you have at least 24 lands without the Vaults, because if not, get more lands in there. Otherwise, Frostburn Weirds are great additions, more burn always helps too. I have 2 Underworld Cerberus (Cerberi?) in mine just so I can try to get some use out of one of my favorite cards of the set. He's a nice game ender if you Dreadbore him the turn after you play him and start re-casting your guys for a ton of Purphuros damage mid-game.
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Oct 21, 2013 16:45
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mcmagic posted:I've been playing this deck as well and I only seem to lose when I'm stuck on 3 mana. Magma Jet is also just loving awesome. I play that build. I started with RDW and evolved it. My current list. 2 Boros Guildgate 13 Mountain 2 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx 4 Sacred Foundry 4 Temple of Triumph 4 Ash Zealot 4 Frostburn Weird 4 Magma Jet 2 Mizzium Mortars 4 Boros Reckoner 4 Chandra's Phoenix 2 Hammer of Purphoros 2 Chandra, Pyromaster 3 Fanatic of Mogis 2 Purphoros, God of the Forge 4 Stormbreath Dragon Sideboard: 3 Chained to the Rocks 2 Pithing Needle 3 Wear // Tear 3 Glare of Heresy 2 Mizzium Mortars 2 Act of Treason I went 3-2 on gameday. MonoB and BW midrange with loving Alm's Beast and Vizkopa Guildmage beat me. I 1-2'd monoB and 0-2 BW. I'm not sure if some of it was draw, me as a player, how I sideboarded, or if creatures power 4 or greater are just a real bastard for this deck. I think it is some combo of each. To be truthful I had 2 assemble the legion in the side instead of 2 Pithing Needle, I think that was a mistake. I also missed a few scry triggers, and I'm not sure I pay enough attention to the interaction of Phoenix and casting a spell to recur it. I think it is overall a strong deck. Anytime I would get a Stormbreath or a Purphoros out, I would win. I may add a 3rd purphoros, not sure what I'd be cutting. I'm also not sold on Frostburn weird. Against agro he is fantastic. Against decks that are going over him or smashing with 6/6 dudes, he's so bad. I feel like he's a better SB card, but I'm not sure what to maindeck in his place. The devotion is so powerful. Maybe Burning-tree? Early game its a body, on turn 3+ you can often just chain poo poo into play and take the opponent by surprise. Also I'd run 4 shrine to nykthos if I had them, just cutting the 2 boros guildgates. I had 2 plains in there, still on the fence about that as well. Having 6 taplands seems bad, but having 2 plains and no maindeck white poo poo seems also bad. I really need the other 2 shrines.
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Oct 21, 2013 16:47
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legoman727 posted:I've been running Selesnya aggro since rotation, and the results have been drat impressive. I rarely drop matches with this, and it's already taken me a box tourney and a game day. Could really use some advice on the sideboard, namely what to replace the Gods with. They're just filler. Glare is good, I'd look into 2-4 Mistcutter Hydra (your primary weapon against mono U and Uxy control 2 Trostani, Selesnya's Voice (if R or W aggro is big in your area) 4 Unflinching Courage (aggro and midrange) 1-3 Ajani, Caller of Pride (other control, I favor 2 in the main over Gods willing but ymmv) And in the main get more land (23 minimum, take Craig Wescoe's manabase and add/adjust Mutavaults to your liking) and get the full 4 Boon Satyr, since it's way better than Smiter in most matchups.
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Oct 21, 2013 17:30
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jassi007 posted:I play that build. I started with RDW and evolved it. My current list. Thats a shitload of land for my liking. Though I've been playing 21 and find myself manascrewed sometimes. Also, what if you draw a Nykthos and a Temple or a Guildgate opening had, you pretty much have to go to 6 right?
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Oct 21, 2013 17:38
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WBR midrange is a really fun deck to play, but its not exactly a cheap deck and you will hate your mana base on occasion. If you enjoy getting to kill everything and attack with Blood Barons and Desecration Demons its the deck for you though.
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Oct 21, 2013 17:51
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Also getting off a big Rakdos' Return is the best feeling.
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Oct 21, 2013 17:56
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mcmagic posted:Thats a shitload of land for my liking. Though I've been playing 21 and find myself manascrewed sometimes. Also, what if you draw a Nykthos and a Temple or a Guildgate opening had, you pretty much have to go to 6 right? Right you can keep a temple, a mountain and a tapland. Like I said I didn't actually run the guildgates, I had 2 plains. Drawming them in my opener sucked though, except if i had mountain, mountain, plains then I could keep. It does run a lot of lands, but we really really need 5 on 5 as much as possible. This deck can't win without a 4 drop and a 5 drop. All the early poo poo is to hold the other guy off basically. You could possibly cut to 24 lands but I think you can't go below that. You really need the Nykthos's. Story about how crazy they were. I had a game where I had devotion 10 on board. No obviously I stuck that many permanents I'm probably going to win, but for fun I tap to get 10 red. Cast a 2 and a 3 drop, now I have devotion 15, 5 mana floating. Drop a 2nd Nykthos, pay 2, tap it for 15, floating 18, pump purphoros 6 times to give my team +6/0 swing. i was laughing my rear end off. When in standard do you tap for 25 mana in 1 turn?
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Oct 21, 2013 17:57
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Now I just have to sell my soul or my foil deathrite shaman for the purphoros'.
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Oct 21, 2013 18:02
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Zoness posted:Honestly I think Dissolve, while powerful, is a little too slow. Ugh your right, I miss the days of Mana Leak so hard right now. If there was one card I could make be in standard from now until the end of days, it would be mana leak. All these three mana counterspells are just not good enough when you get 4/4's with upside at 3 mana, and 3/3's that can become hexproof and indestructable at 2 mana. Not to mention how many things red decks can puke out at 1-2 mana.
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Oct 21, 2013 18:33
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To continue MURDERGOATS! chat, I don't have any Rakdos's Returns, and while they're in the mail, I've been wondering how you guys feel about running Stormbreath Dragons in their place. Seems like it's minimally worse, but I'm hardly what I'd consider good at brewing.
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Oct 21, 2013 18:34
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Eleeleth posted:To continue MURDERGOATS! chat, I don't have any Rakdos's Returns, and while they're in the mail, I've been wondering how you guys feel about running Stormbreath Dragons in their place. Seems like it's minimally worse, but I'm hardly what I'd consider good at brewing. Its a big dumb beatstick mythic that can win games out of nowhere and punishes players who like to keep cards in there hands. It will be good.
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Oct 21, 2013 18:38
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Eleeleth posted:To continue MURDERGOATS! chat, I don't have any Rakdos's Returns, and while they're in the mail, I've been wondering how you guys feel about running Stormbreath Dragons in their place. Seems like it's minimally worse, but I'm hardly what I'd consider good at brewing. I moved both Returns to the side in favor of the fourth copies of lightning strike and rakdos keyrune. Running Stormbreath in place is a fine idea. Mutavault is a completely optional card, I run it in paper to be able to apply early game one pressure to the control decks in my FNM meta/mana sink when I have nothing else. The variant I have on Modo doesn't run any.
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Oct 21, 2013 18:51
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kizudarake posted:Now I just have to sell my soul or my foil deathrite shaman for the purphoros'. tcgmid is $16. They've been going down down down. They sure are fun though. One match I had, I had a grip full of threats but was playing mono-B (not the one I lost to) So I played purphoros first. Then every turn I'd play 1 or 2 creatures. he kept removing them, but taking 2 every time. I got 6 or 8 dmg off Purphoros before I got a creature to stick, but at that point our life totals were so disadvantaged I was able to race his D.Demon to the win.
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Oct 21, 2013 18:57
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jassi007 posted:I play that build. I started with RDW and evolved it. My current list. Yeah. That is a whooooole lotta land. 23 should be enough, so just take out the two Guildgates. Or if you're really concerned, turn them into Mountains. Why do you run dual lands, anyway? You have no white cards outside of Wear//Tear and Chained which you could find easy replacements for (i.e. more Mizzium Mortars). The deck will live not being able to exile creatures and destroy enchantments if you can grant it better consistency. Oh, and if you're looking for a RR creature that is more aggressive than Frostburn Weird, might I suggest Rakdos Shredfreak? 2/1 is kind of small, but he has haste at least! (Or you could just run BTE since she gives you ridiculous Nykthos ramping.) AlternateNu fucked around with this message at 19:10 on Oct 21, 2013 |
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Oct 21, 2013 19:06
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Are the Theros lands a good idea with aggro?
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Oct 21, 2013 19:12
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Baron Porkface posted:Are the Theros lands a good idea with aggro? Yes because you can plan your curve around the land entering tapped and you're only playing 4 lands total that have to enter tapped. vvv W/G aggro lists play 2-4 Selesnya Guildgates. They'd play scrylands if they had the choice. To clarify - I assume the idea is that you're playing them in an aggro list that is 2-color and is already playing 4 of the shockland for that color combination. Zoness fucked around with this message at 19:19 on Oct 21, 2013 |
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Oct 21, 2013 19:14
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Baron Porkface posted:Are the Theros lands a good idea with aggro? Probably not, it depends on the deck. There was a windows with Shocklands, buddy-lands, Cavern of Souls Champion of the Parish and lightning mauler where 3-color 20-land aggro was a thing, but right now if you want an actual aggro deck you're probably mono red and if any of your lands aren't mountains they're Mutavaults. You've got Magma Jet and Chandra for digging.
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Oct 21, 2013 19:15
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So I've been fiddling with brewing a Modern deck, and this is what I've eventually come up with. Deck: Maze Run Ramp   //Lands 4 Arid Mesa 1 Breeding Pool 1 Cathedral of War 1 Forest 2 Ghost Quarter 2 Kessig Wolf Run 1 Mountain 4 Scalding Tarn 3 Steam Vents 4 Stomping Ground //Spells 2 Into the Roil  3 Koth of the Hammer  4 Mana Leak 4 Remand 3 Ęther Vial //Creatures 4 Burning-Tree Emissary  2 Grim Lavamancer 3 Lotus Cobra 4 Noble Hierarch 2 Primeval Titan  4 Ruric Thar, the Unbowed 2 Scryb Ranger //Sideboard 2 Ancient Grudge 4 Leyline of Sanctity 3 Pyroclasm 2 Relic of Progenitus 2 Spellskite 2 Vexing Shusher Display deck statisticsSo far, it actually works really well about three-quarters of the time. The goal is to get Ruric-Thar or Primeval Titan out turn 3, and there are many ways to do that, from Lotus Cobra shenanigans (even sometimes ghost-quartering your own land) to Koth accel, Scryb Ranger, or AEther vialing in a Burning Tree Emissary for two free mana. The problem is that it overextends in order to do this, and if you land Ruric-Thar turn 3 and they take six damage to kill it, you're kind of boned. It is still hilarious, though, especially if you Remand a doom blade or something and dare them to pay another six life. I realize the singleton Cathedral of War is a bit strange. Obviously I intend to fetch it up with Prime Time, but I'm sure there's a better choice in there somewhere. Sideboard is a bit wonky, I really don't think the Vexing Shusher has a place at all. Cutting one Noble Hierarch and one Scryb Ranger is probably the next step, but I'm not sure what to replace them with. Probably one more Primeval Titan is a good idea. Maybe a lightning bolt or two for early game stall, if I don't land a big drop turn 3? On another note, I didn't realize how powerful Koth is. He didn't do much for me in standard, but holy crap, he's won me a ton of games with this stupid deck just on his first two abilities alone.
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Oct 21, 2013 19:24
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Hobojim posted:So I've been fiddling with brewing a Modern deck, and this is what I've eventually come up with. I have a Modern Storm deck on MTGO if you want to test that matchup (as a proxy for combo in general). I know I'm pretty much completely kold to Ruric Thar but I'm kind of curious how quickly you can get your engine online. I have raid until 12PM EST Mon-Thurs but am down for some matches after that. (Also should probably go in the Eternal thread).
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Oct 21, 2013 19:28
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Hey guys. Came from the Mana Deprived Super Series 2K Saskatoon yesterday where I took it all down with RDW. Write-up on matches actually went up here last night, but I thought I'd post my updated deck-list here, explain some of my thought process and 'boarding options! Deck: Red Deck Wins Best Deck Ever //Land 19 Mountain 2 Mutavault //Creatures 4 Rakdos Cackler 4 Burning-Tree Emissary 4 Firefist Striker 4 Ash Zealot 4 Boros Reckoner 4 Chandra's Phoenix 4 Fanatic of Mogis //Spells 4 Lightning Strike 4 Magma Jet 2 Shock //Planeswalkers 1 Chandra, Pyromaster //Sideboard 4 Mizzium Mortars 2 Hammer of Purphoros 3 Burning Earth 3 Ratchet Bomb 2 Skullcrack 1 Chandra, Pyromaster Display deck statisticsNotable changes between this list and the previous one I posted: Main Deck +1 Chandra's Phoenix, -1 Chandra, Pyromaster: After some consideration and testing, I determined that the 2/2 evasive haste body was better game 1 against pretty much every match-up than Chandra ended up being, which isn't to say she wasn't amazing since she was. Often the body on the board was more important in the long run. +2 Mutavault, -2 Mountain: This was a change I toyed around with a bunch, first trying 1-and-1 before going up to 2-and-2. Overall I'm very happy with how it turned out, and Mutavault was almost never an opportunity cost. In fact, I found Mutavault actually opens up the hands you can keep! Normally, 4 Moutains in hand with anything is risky, since running into lands means you're not putting on the gas, but 3 Mountains/Mutavault often mean I could drop Mutavault T1 and start swinging on T2 until/unless I made better drops. Sideboard +1 Chandra, Pyromaster, +1 Ratchet Bomb, -2 Electrickery: Electrickery and Ratchetbomb were both in there to try to answer tokens from Blue Deck Wins, since I was certain I'd run into a ton of them. However, I ended up running the extra 'Bomb since it blew up tokens at any point (in the case of Master->Master), but also because it gave me some flexibility to play against other token decks like Selesnya if I needed to. The other Electrickery came out for Chandra, who I found to be an absolute machine in control match-ups and definitely wanted to draw. Having said all that, typical sideboards went like this: vs. Control: -2 Shock, -1 Fanatic of Mogis, +2 Skullcrack, +1 Chandra, Pyromaster. In this match-up Shock just doesn't do anything great for you, since there's no X/2 guys to hit with it an you end up just doming for 2 with it. Subbing in for Skullcrack to get another 3 damage in was great, PLUS the fact that it shutdown lifegain was actually a game-winner more than once. Bringing in Chandra over one Fanatic was actually to compensate for the all-too-often opportunity cost trade-off: I couldn't reliably guarantee tons of dudes on board when I brought Fanatic down, and 4 mana for a 4/2 + 1 damage seemed weak when I could use 4 mana for 1 damage that afterwards becomes +1 card a turn. In practice, though, this deck won every single Game 1 against control (minus one bad decision game you can see in the writeup) so your side-board is just there to compensate for the extra removal they'll bring in, and life-gain they'll try to sneak on you. vs. RG Monsters: -1 Chandra, -2 Shock, -1 Magma Jet, +4 Mizzium Mortars. While Mortars' sorcery speed means I can't use it as a combat trick to mess with my opponent's combat math, it still ended up being another way to kill most dudes on their board, which was equally important. Even barring that, it allowed me to run my small guys into Polukranoses and Arbos Colossuses and then Mortars them Main 2 which ended up causing more than a few groans on my opponents end. vs. Aggro (not Master of Waves): -1 Chandra, -1 Fanatic, -1 Magma Jet, +3 Ratchet Bomb on the draw; -1 Chandra, -1 Fanatic, +2 Mortars on the play. I actually didn't run into this match-up at all, since among the more-than-50 people there were exactly two mono-red decks: me and a red devotion guy who like a lot of RG monster decks only got going with T2 BTE+BTE+Nykthos plays. The idea here is to forego some 4-drops that might not get to matter in favor of Ratchet Bomb for board wiping. This was always a careful sideboard option that I only ran on the draw, since I would try to balance my life-total and card advantage with a Bomb if I got one in my hand early. On the play the bombs came back out for burn, which worked out better to keep my opponent's board clean. vs. Aggro - Master of Waves: -1 Chandra, -4 Magma Jet, -2 Shock, +2 Mizzium Mortars, +2 Skullcrack, +3 Ratchet Bomb. In this aggro match-up I still remove Chandra since fliers get in to keep her under control, but I kept in Fanatic since my opponent would often avoid trades to keep up Blue Devotion for an eventual Master drop. Taking out Jets and Shocks was relevant since they just can't touch the opponent's board, save Tidebinder (who was a glorified pacifism that doesn't stop me from building devotion). Ratchet Bombs came in for token control, and in practice ended up actually letting me blow up an opposing board of Weirds and Tidebinders. The most interesting side board play I like here is 2 Skullcrack in for 2 Jets. Often, the damage prevention clause on this guy is overlooked, and swinging into a Master of Waves with Red guys almost always results in Master at least blocking something, which meant Skullcrack could come out and be a hero. This only works once during the match-up, though, so after you do it you're better of siding into more Mortars to kill Spectres and Weirds. Having said all that, there were definitely some cards I was totally underwhelmed with in my Sideboard that I'd like to have replaced with other stuff. 3 Burning Earth: This card looks amazing against Esper Control on paper, but in practice it almost always ended up only sneaking in 1 or 2 damage, after I'd pulled stuff like Chandra/Fanatic/Shock out to get it in. It was extremely weak, since control could play around it as much as possible, and most control decks had more than one way to gain life back. Moving forward, I'd definitely turn at least two of these into Skullcracks, and the other into another Ratchet Bomb. 2 Hammer of Purphorus: Man I loved this card when I was gold-fishing originally, and thought it would be dope. Turns out it was just poo poo that looked good. Hammer coming in against control never ever provided me any significant advantage, and when I wanted to be keeping 4 mana up to make sure I could drop Chandra and Fanatic, this card was actually a liability. I think in the actual control match-up, this slot would better be suited to a pair of Gore-House Chainwalkers, since they replace Shocks very well and play very nice with Burning-Tree Emissary. All in all, though, the deck plays extraordinarily smooth and consistent, and that was what mattered more during the event. There are almost no hands this deck can keep - even against control keeping 3 Mountain, Mutavault, Reckoner, Fanatic, Chandra turned into a big W. Obviously that draw is worse with another Mountain and no 'Vault, but I never took a mulligan the entire night (though if you read my match-specific writeup there was definitely one I should have!), and despite losing most of my dice rolls and drawing first I still managed to win a lot of first round matches before sideboards came in, and even then did a lot of 2-0 games. The hardest part of playing this deck is managing what you can afford to give up in swings that will lead to trades, since Fanatic can lead to some extremely lopsided blow-outs - yesterday he managed to bomb for 10+ on a few occasions, and on even more I managed back-to-back Fanatics for 5 then 6. He is definitely one of the strongest cards in the deck, since by T4 you can already have 6-9 red devotion on board. Beyond it's great performance, it's also incredibly fun to play. Plus, with all the guys - even the 7 I met in top 8 - laughing at RDW as something that just got lucky, it was super satisfying to see the absolutely Shocked looked on faces when I took them all down. 
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Oct 21, 2013 19:32
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I want to build a RGU deck that runs Hammer of Purphoros, Zhur-Taa Druid, Elite Arcanist and Triton Tactics which can sideboard out to be a normal RG beats deck.
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Oct 21, 2013 19:45
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I don't think Skullcrack gets around protection from red. I thought all damage was reduced to 0, not prevented, and that's an important difference.
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Oct 21, 2013 19:49
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Elephant Ambush posted:I don't think Skullcrack gets around protection from red. I thought all damage was reduced to 0, not prevented, and that's an important difference. Skullcrack will remove the damage clause of protection but not the targetability or blocking parts. Once they declare Master of Waves as a blocker, you can skullcrack and it's a total wipeout. You can also skullcrack yourself if your opponent is somehow hexproof (not relevant any more but witchbane orb used to exist). Also I don't think there is an actual functional difference between "reducing" damage and "preventing" it. Zoness fucked around with this message at 19:57 on Oct 21, 2013 |
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Oct 21, 2013 19:54
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MrBling posted:WBR midrange is a really fun deck to play, but its not exactly a cheap deck and you will hate your mana base on occasion. I miss playing in standard, even if theros seems sort of boring compared to how things were before. Having 2/3 fewer sets around will do that I guess. Is there any consensus on firefist vs chainwalker in red based aggro? Elephant Ambush posted:I don't think Skullcrack gets around protection from red. I thought all damage was reduced to 0, not prevented, and that's an important difference.
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Oct 21, 2013 19:54
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| # ? Jun 8, 2024 12:53 |
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Elephant Ambush posted:I don't think Skullcrack gets around protection from red. I thought all damage was reduced to 0, not prevented, and that's an important difference. "Reduced to zero" isn't even a wording that's used on damage prevention cards anymore.
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Oct 21, 2013 19:59
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