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Magic: The Gathering |OT3| Enchantment Under the Siege

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G

"God's Beard!"

Member
New deck update after another weekend of testing. My main opponents were Mono-Black Aggro, Rabble Red, GR Ramp and Mono-Green Devotion.

Grimace Abzan

Creatures(20):
  • 4x Elvish Mystic
  • 4x Sylvan Caryatid
  • 4x Fleecemane Lion
  • 4x Courser of Kruphix
  • 4x High Sentinels of Arashin

Spells(8):
  • 4x Thoughtseize
  • 4x Banishing Light

Planeswalkers(8):
  • 3x Sorin, Solemn Visitor
  • 2x Ajani, Mentor of Heroes
  • 3x Elspeth, Sun's Champion

Land(24):
  • 1x Mana Confluence
  • 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
  • 4x Sandsteppe Citadel
  • 4x Windswept Heath
  • 4x Llanowar Wastes
  • 1x Caves of Koilos
  • 1x Temple of Plenty
  • 2x Temple of Silence
  • 5x Forest
  • 1x Plains

Sideboard(15):
  • 4x Nyx-Fleece Ram
  • 4x Arbor Colossus
  • 4x Mistcutter Hydra
  • 2x Setessan Tactics
  • 1x Stain the Mind


The two biggest problems with the deck that kept coming up were a weakness to fliers and not being able to close out the game against bigger creatures. Swapping out Siege Rhinos for High Sentinels helped a ton with both problems. It does make us somewhat weaker to Mogis' Maurader, but we can deal with that. The Sentinels also survive an Elspeth minus which is huge. I cut the Nissas for an extra Elspeth and Sorin. Both have overperformed in this deck, so I made them the main planeswalkers. Also, being able to minus Sorin and buff the Vampire token with Ajani or High Sentinels to fight stormbreath decks isn't unthinkable.

As it turns out, Nissa and Genesis Hydra are better fits in the GR Ramp deck where they're allstars. Without the 12 accelerants + Xenagos they rot in our hand just often enough for me to cut them.

Matchup notes:
vs MBA - Game one is slightly in our favor, but actually becomes pretty even after sideboard. Extra discard + Master of the Feast coming in make the matchup closer than I expected. Games where we win are pretty dominating. Generally because of Sorin, or the Rhino/Sentinels.

vs Rabble Red - Frenzied Goblin is the goddamn devil. Slightly in Red's favor game one, massively in ours game 2+.

vs GR ramp - Stormbreath Dragon is absurd, and Genesis Hydra is a complete nightmare but otherwise the deck is actually pretty reasonable. I'd call it very slightly in our favor pre- and post-board. Crater's Claw is an ever-present threat, though.

vs Mono Green - This deck is effectively unbeatable without flyers, and my entire sideboard is basically dead here, except maybe Stain the Mind for Genesis Hydra/Chord and Setessan Tactics to kill a couple dorks and reduce devotion. Both of us are slower decks, but letting Green go crazy turn 6-9 is basically the death knell. This deck is the reason I swapped to High Sentinels. Banishing Lights are mediocre against mainboard tutorable Reclamation Sages, and Thoughtseize isn't so great when they have 4 Genesis Hydras to get Nyleas or Nissa or Polukranos which then gets a monstrous to 16 and sweep your entire board.

Bonus picture from testing - Elf Hell:

105QPOl.jpg
 
P

phazedplasma

Member
nyc is sold of of prereleases everywhere this weekend.

Managed to do a midnight one on friday.

Went 2-1-1 with Jeskai. Format seems pretty fun. Prowess is awesome.
 
A

Angry Grimace

Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
[QUOTE="God's Beard!";131088551]I got nothing cool other than the Sentinels, but my girlfriend got a foil Mantis Rider, a Savage Knuckleblade and a foil Crater's Claws -_-[/QUOTE]

I got a Delta and a Knuckleblade.
 
M

MjFrancis

Member
I played two back to back prereleases. Picked Mardu, got the Mardu Ascendancy seeded booster both times and while I did great the first prerelease, I stumbled hard on the second. Not only were my support packs weaker and rares off color, but I was just mentally fatigued by the end of it. Still had fun, pulled a Bloodstained Mire and a Flooded Strand. No Mythics.

Notable win: Turn 5 of game three, opponent's at three life, I have three attackers without evasion, she has three blockers, no one has cards in hand and I topdeck my Mardu Ascendancy. Hasty goblins for the win!
 
A

Angry Grimace

Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
[QUOTE="God's Beard!";131081690]New deck update after another weekend of testing. My main opponents were Mono-Black Aggro, Rabble Red, GR Ramp and Mono-Green Devotion.

Grimace Abzan

Creatures(20):
  • 4x Elvish Mystic
  • 4x Sylvan Caryatid
  • 4x Fleecemane Lion
  • 4x Courser of Kruphix
  • 4x High Sentinels of Arashin

Spells(8):
  • 4x Thoughtseize
  • 4x Banishing Light

Planeswalkers(8):
  • 3x Sorin, Solemn Visitor
  • 2x Ajani, Mentor of Heroes
  • 3x Elspeth, Sun's Champion

Land(24):
  • 1x Mana Confluence
  • 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
  • 4x Sandsteppe Citadel
  • 4x Windswept Heath
  • 4x Llanowar Wastes
  • 1x Caves of Koilos
  • 1x Temple of Plenty
  • 2x Temple of Silence
  • 5x Forest
  • 1x Plains

Sideboard(15):
  • 4x Nyx-Fleece Ram
  • 4x Arbor Colossus
  • 4x Mistcutter Hydra
  • 2x Setessan Tactics
  • 1x Stain the Mind


The two biggest problems with the deck that kept coming up were a weakness to fliers and not being able to close out the game against bigger creatures. Swapping out Siege Rhinos for High Sentinels helped a ton with both problems. It does make us somewhat weaker to Mogis' Maurader, but we can deal with that. The Sentinels also survive an Elspeth minus which is huge. I cut the Nissas for an extra Elspeth and Sorin. Both have overperformed in this deck, so I made them the main planeswalkers. Also, being able to minus Sorin and buff the Vampire token with Ajani or High Sentinels to fight stormbreath decks isn't unthinkable.

As it turns out, Nissa and Genesis Hydra are better fits in the GR Ramp deck where they're allstars. Without the 12 accelerants + Xenagos they rot in our hand just often enough for me to cut them.

Matchup notes:
vs MBA - Game one is slightly in our favor, but actually becomes pretty even after sideboard. Extra discard + Master of the Feast coming in make the matchup closer than I expected. Games where we win are pretty dominating. Generally because of Sorin, or the Rhino/Sentinels.

vs Rabble Red - Frenzied Goblin is the goddamn devil. Slightly in Red's favor game one, massively in ours game 2+.

vs GR ramp - Stormbreath Dragon is absurd, and Genesis Hydra is a complete nightmare but otherwise the deck is actually pretty reasonable. I'd call it very slightly in our favor pre- and post-board. Crater's Claw is an ever-present threat, though.

vs Mono Green - This deck is effectively unbeatable without flyers, and my entire sideboard is basically dead here, except maybe Stain the Mind for Genesis Hydra/Chord and Setessan Tactics to kill a couple dorks and reduce devotion. Both of us are slower decks, but letting Green go crazy turn 6-9 is basically the death knell. This deck is the reason I swapped to High Sentinels. Banishing Lights are mediocre against mainboard tutorable Reclamation Sages, and Thoughtseize isn't so great when they have 4 Genesis Hydras to get Nyleas or Nissa or Polukranos which then gets a monstrous to 16 and sweep your entire board.

Bonus picture from testing - Elf Hell:

105QPOl.jpg
[/QUOTE]

That's a lot of the sense I got from Nissa; I like her as a card, but she seems a little goodstuff in this deck since Sorin and Ajani seem like they actually have more synergy with what the deck tries to do.
 
O

OnPoint

Member
Random question:

I'm looking for a Modern legal card that lets you do the Vendillion Clique ability, but not the Clique itself. Anyone know of anything that does that?
 
O

OnPoint

Member
kirblar said:
Doesn't have them re-draw as a replacement. Not blue. Not instant speed. :p
Click to expand...

Right, sure, but I wanted it in black, and I didn't care that it drew a replacement. I want to be able to tuck a card from my hand back into my deck I never wanted to draw. This would be perfect for that.

Truthfully, I realize now it's a horrible idea.
 
K

Keru_Shiri

Member
Went Abazan for the midnight event and Mardu for the day event. Midnight event was just 4 rounds of swiss. 2-0'd every match. My best pull was a foil Sorin! Also got a Broodmate Roc, promo Butcher of the Horse, a Wooded Foothills and 2 Surraks over the weekend.

MVP was Abazan Falconer. One of the best ways to break up a stalemate in the Abazan mirror.
 
K

kirblar

Member
Keru_Shiri said:
Went Abazan for the midnight event and Mardu for the day event. Midnight event was just 4 rounds of swiss. 2-0'd every match. My best pull was a foil Sorin! Also got a Broodmate Roc, promo Butcher of the Horse, a Wooded Foothills and 2 Surraks over the weekend.

MVP was Abazan Falconer. One of the best ways to break up a stalemate in the Abazan mirror.
Click to expand...
That card is really busted. The lords powering up others instead of themselves seems like a giant mistake, at least in sealed play.
 
Y

y2dvd

Member
kirblar said:
That card is really busted. The lords powering up others instead of themselves seems like a giant mistake, at least in sealed play.
Click to expand...

It powers each creature you control with a +1/+1 counter, not to each other creature.

3 prereleases and hours upon hours of magic. I forget how long these damn things can last (5 1/2 hrs if you played all 4 rounds). I went 2-2, 2-1-1, & 3-0-1. So many defenders causing several games to go to turns, and they don't reprint a destroy target defender card lol.

I've seen all clans work so I can't say which was a clear winner. Sealed made it easy to run 4 colors. A lot were even getting away with 5 colors. Best play was in the final match where my opponent plays Empty the Pits, gets 6 2/2 zombies, gets overzealous and attacks into my army, thinking he could kill me even if I were able to block all that I could. Well he attacked into my face down creature that I did not hard cast the previous turn. I morph it to reveal Abzan Guide, block a zombie, and gain enough life to survive for the turn to swing back for the win! Morph makes combat so much fun lol.

I made my money back going by starcitygames prices. Got the notable following along with 12 prize packs that I'm saving to draft with friends:
2xRattleclaw Mystic - $10
Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker - $25
Wooded Foothills - $20
2xBloodstained Mire - $40
Utter End - $6
Savage Knuckleblade - $6

All in all Khans made for a more fun prerelease than I've had in awhile. Morph makes combat interesting, there are a lot of combat tricks and removals, mana fixing is rampant, the random promos were a great idea, and the clans seems pretty evened out. Khans already feels like a complete block.
 
F

f0rk

Member
It gets get way better when you have a way of placing counters outside of outlast. Armaments Corp and the green distribute 6 counters were clearly huge bombs that I wish I had. I went off once with the 5/7 untap and Abzan Charm but that's about it.
 
K

kirblar

Member
f0rk said:
It gets get way better when you have a way of placing counters outside of outlast. Armaments Corp and the green distribute 6 counters were clearly huge bombs that I was I had. I went off once with the 5/7 untap and Abzan Charm but that's about it.
Click to expand...
Oh yeah, Incremental Growth is in this set.

Why.
 
F

Frankie Williamson

Member
Played Mardu and stomped pretty hard with it almost going completely undefeated. My deck was pretty nuts. Funny thing is, my MVP was Mardu Warshrieker who played Mardu Ascendancy without having to skip out on a creature play in nearly every game I played. He was my boy. I had a pretty sick batch of low cost creatures, Zurgo Helmsmasher (my promo) and all the good burn and removal (Utter End, etc). But usually, once Zurgo showed up, it was over for them.

Raid is a wonderfully simple mechanic that just works.
 
U

ultron87

Member
Lol Kibler.

What's rotating stuff is everyone going to miss when it departs from Standard to solely compete in the wild frontier of eternal formats?

Very sad to see Supreme Verdict depart even though it led to some decks that were really miserable to play against. Playing with it was so nice. The security of the Verdict in your hand that you knew was going to resolve was very comforting in the wild world of uncertainty that is Magic constructed. I definitely got tired of playing that same control deck for 18 months, but it was enjoyable while it lasted. Don't know if I even want to try it again in 5 mana, counterable wrath world.

I'll miss Mana Bloom because it was G: draw a card, give creatures your opponents control -1/-1 in the constellation deck. Without that sticking around the deck becomes significantly looser.

Boros Reckoner was another nice guy to have on the field. Against the creature decks he'll almost always get you two cards at least unless they have non-damage removal. And a few Reckoners plus Nykthos led to some busted turns.

Probably a few more, which I'll think of later.

Things that should die forever and ever:

Aetherling and Bloodbaron of Vizkopa - Because it sure is fun not to interact with things.

Pack Rat - Pack Rat.
 
F

Firemind

Member
Young Pyromancer. Even though I never got to play it in standard, the power level is undeniable. Not sure if it belongs with the big four, but I suppose I can still play it in Modern.

BTE, even though it's a terrible topdeck.

But most of all, Chandra's Phoenix. I don't think the new phoenix can fill the void. Should have had haste at least. :(
 
Y

y2dvd

Member
A 4/1 flying haste would be pretty dirty if it also still had it's dying morph ability. Maybe if it was a 3/1 instead.
 
Z

Zocano

Member
I liked Pack Rat ):

But yah it was quite a mess of a card.

I will continue to find fun Whip of Erebos targets. My fav <3

I will one day get another fun B/G zombies-esque deck.

Lastly, I will not miss Blood Baron. Screw him and everything he stood for. I liked playing mono black but for different reasons than just sheer efficiency (Whip + Rat was my favorite part of teh deck). Then people learned about Blood Baron and B/W decks just became the absolute workst.
 
A

Angry Grimace

Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
I think this is what I'll sleeve up once I get the Khans cards I need.

//Lands

2 Caves of Koilos
3 Forest
3 Llanowar Wastes
2 Mana Confluence
4 Plains
2 Sandsteppe Citadel
2 Swamp
2 Temple of Plenty
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Windswept Heath

//Creatures

2 Anafenza the Foremost
1 Brimaz, King of Oreskos
4 Courser of Kruphix
4 Fleecemane Lion
2 High Sentinels of Arashin
4 Siege Rhino
4 Sylvan Caryatid

//Planeswalkers

2 Ajani, Mentor of Heroes
2 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
2 Elspeth, Sun's Champion

//Spells

2 Banishing Light
2 Murderous Cut
4 Thoughtseize

//Sideboard

SB: 2 Hero's Downfall
SB: 2 Abzan Charm
SB: 3 Nyx-Fleece Ram
SB: 1 Garruk, Apex Predator
SB: 2 Drown in Sorrow
SB: 2 Erase
SB: 3 Mistcutter Hydra

Feel free to criticize on the lands, I just put random lands in since I don't really know how to pick out the correct split with 10 billion duals and trilands, etc.

I had Polukranos in for a while, but I feel like High Sentinels is simply the better card for the deck, especially with Ajani in the deck. I have Garruk in the SB because I think Planeswalkers are going to be huge in this particular standard and he eats them as his first plus.
 
H

Haly

One day I realized that sadness is just another word for not enough coffee.
You're going to get blown the fuck out by Mardu aggro if you play 8 scrylands.

I learned this lesson the hard way during my Cockatrice games with Negator.
 
A

Angry Grimace

Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
Firemind said:
I'm pretty sure every midrange deck wants at least 8 scry lands.
Click to expand...

Its the part of deckbuilding I hate, so the advice is welcome. In fact, feel free to link to some kind of resource on picking lands.

Haly said:
You're going to get blown the fuck out by Mardu aggro if you play 8 scrylands.

I learned this lesson the hard way during my Cockatrice games with Negator.
Click to expand...

I'm a little personally biased towards fastlands even with a life cost because the deck has a lot of incidental lifegain with Sorin, Rhino, Courser, Sheep out of the board, etc. (although the 4 Confluence is an error, I thought I changed that to 2).
 
A

Angry Grimace

Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
phazedplasma said:
Can't wait to see all these STD decks this weekend
Click to expand...

How do people manage to even gets the parts of the deck the first weekend? Do preorders show up early or something? Or does everyone just pre-order from their LGS and have them ready to go?
 
G

"God's Beard!"

Member
Man, I really want a list for the Ram + Wingmate Roc deck floating around. I keep brainstorming but I feel like I'm missing something.


Firemind said:
I'm pretty sure every midrange deck wants at least 8 scry lands.
Click to expand...

Actually the opposite. Around 6-7 come into play tapped lands between temples and trilands is my limit because you have very high mana cards. You don't need temples as much as before in courser decks because of the fetchlands shuffling cards away. the whole point of playing midrange is having tons of powerful cards to draw into, so card selection isn't 100% required. 8-12 is more of a control thing because they need to keep drawing their 2-4 mana answers while hitting land drops and don't actually spend a bunch of mana until they turn the corner and try to win.
 
K

keeblerdrow

Member
One of the local judges, and someone I thought to be a friend, posted a link to the banned/restricted updates with the comment "Nykthos banned in standard now?! What?!"

My pupils narrowed and I got a bit panicky. I have two post rotation decks that lean on it.
 
A

Angry Grimace

Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
[QUOTE="God's Beard!";131190737]Man, I really want a list for the Ram + Wingmate Roc deck floating around. I keep brainstorming but I feel like I'm missing something.




Actually the opposite. Around 6-7 come into play tapped lands between temples and trilands is my limit because you have very high mana cards. You don't need temples as much as before in courser decks because of the fetchlands shuffling cards away. the whole point of playing midrange is having tons of powerful cards to draw into, so card selection isn't 100% required. 8-12 is more of a control thing because they need to keep drawing their 2-4 mana answers while hitting land drops and don't actually spend a bunch of mana until they turn the corner and try to win.[/QUOTE]

Ripping a temple on turn 6 when you have Elspeth in your hand and no other lands feels bad man. Not to mention this particular deck is pretty stacked with efficient creatures and good Planeswalkers that Ajani MOH can help you draw into.
 
D

duxstar

Member
So I've been testing my Abzan Aggro/Midrangy deck and Still think the cards that are being undervalued are Rakshasha Deathdealer and Abzan Falconer.

Rakshasha swings through Courser, Enables Ferocious and stops removal on turn 3 with 2 mana open, if you turn 1 elvish mystic and turn 2 rakshasha you can swing on turn 3 with a 4/4 threat and leave up regeneration or threaten the pump and create board presence. Really answers a lot of the key cards I expect to see coming in the new standard.

In a deck that is using Abzan Charm and Ascendancy the Falconer Is a must have, a turn 4 ascendancy on a board with Anafenza, Fleecemane and Rakshasha into a falconer is ridiculous alone, and as long as it's on the board your charms and Ascendancys all become "target creatureS gain flying"

In a deck that's already running counters matters there's a lot of things I've found to be synergies
 
F

Firemind

Member
Haly said:
You're going to get blown the fuck out by Mardu aggro if you play 8 scrylands.

I learned this lesson the hard way during my Cockatrice games with Negator.
Click to expand...
I'm fairly sure Mardu isn't as explosive and consistent in a BTE-less format. Jund Monsters/Planeswalkers was just fine playing 10 scry lands. Though enemy shards have trilands, so disregard my previous assessment. ^^

Angry Grimace said:
Its the part of deckbuilding I hate, so the advice is welcome. In fact, feel free to link to some kind of resource on picking lands.
Click to expand...
Ally shards with green in them probably want 8 fetches to abuse courser flips, but enemy shards only have 4 fetches. Thankfully, the trilands make up for it with much better fixing. I'd use this as a baseline and change accordingly after testing.

Enemy shard:
4 trilands
4 fetch lands
6 scry lands
4 pain lands
8 basics

Ally shard
8 fetch lands
10 scry lands
2/0 painlands
6/8 basics
 
A

Angry Grimace

Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
duxstar said:
So I've been testing my Abzan Aggro/Midrangy deck and Still think the cards that are being undervalued are Rakshasha Deathdealer and Abzan Falconer.

Rakshasha swings through Courser, Enables Ferocious and stops removal on turn 3 with 2 mana open, if you turn 1 elvish mystic and turn 2 rakshasha you can swing on turn 3 with a 4/4 threat and leave up regeneration or threaten the pump and create board presence. Really answers a lot of the key cards I expect to see coming in the new standard.

In a deck that is using Abzan Charm and Ascendancy the Falconer Is a must have, a turn 4 ascendancy on a board with Anafenza, Fleecemane and Rakshasha into a falconer is ridiculous alone, and as long as it's on the board your charms and Ascendancys all become "target creatureS gain flying"

In a deck that's already running counters matters there's a lot of things I've found to be synergies
Click to expand...

Rakshasa requires a mana sink every turn to be good; Fleecemane requires it once and becomes very hard to kill once it does. I think Falconer is worse than High Sentinels too, because its a completely dependent card. High Sentinels is worth 3W by itself, but Falconer doesn't really do anything for a couple of turns or with help. The same three drop spot has Brimaz and Anafenza.
 
K

Kerrinck

Member
This may seem like a super obvious question but how do you guys organize your cards? Binders?
Ever since I got back into Modern and Standard, I keep getting more and more cards and I suck at organizing them.
 
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