Dies to Removal

I'm tempted to move back into using Atarka's Command after playing with a Nacatl version in paper locally.

What does your Nacatl version look like? I'm trying Wild Nacatls for the first time tomorrow at the FNM, so I'm a bit interested. I'm running a version without Copperline Gorges, which is a bit tough on the life total but I like what I've seen so far.

I'd keep.

I like your list, I'll probably try that one next Modern FNM.

I might have a third Scalding Tarn in the list, I can't remember right now. Anyway, that's all I have available red-wise so it'll have to do for now. 2x Lightning Helix are certainly an option, I'm not sure we have many other Burn players so it doesn't feel that necessary right now. Faerie Macabre might be ok I guess, Relic didn't feel like it did enough when I tried it so I'll probably just leave them at home in future and just try to race the Living End deck if I face it.

Edit: With fewer fetches one Searing Blood instead of the fourth Searing Blaze might be a good idea.

It's a great read, that's sure!

My current version:

[deck]
Land
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Wooded Foothills
2 Scalding Tarn
3 Sacred Foundry
3 Stomping Ground
4 Mountain

Creatures
4 Goblin Guide
4 Monastery Swiftspear
4 Eidolon of the Great Revel
2 Grim Lavamancer

Spells
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Lava Spike
4 Rift Bolt
4 Atarka's Command
4 Boros Charm
4 Searing Blaze
2 Skullcrack

Sideboard
2 Skullcrack
3 Kor Firewalker
2 Deflecting Palm
4 Destructive Revelry
2 Rending Volley
2 Relic of Progenitus
[/deck]

It's based on the 2nd place deck from the SCG Premier IQ in Milwaukee a few weeks back. I did some playtesting with it with a friend so it was already assembled for last week's FNM. Went 4-0 with it, but the opposition was weak this time. A few new faces, and I got a bit lucky in the pairings against a few returning players that haven't played in a while. Faced a RW Soul Sisters homebrew, Ad Nauseam combo, something Abzan colored, and some UW Tron deck. But I like the list so far, so I will continue with slight variations on it.

Some thoughts:

- I like Atarka's Command better since I realized that the damage don't target. Helps against Leylines.
- The Searing Blaze/Skullcrack split between main deck and sideboard could just as well be 3/3+1/1, or 2/4+2. Depends on what I feel the metagame is like. We have an aggro-centered meta game locally, so I wanted the Blazes more.
- I could change one of the Skullcracks to a Shard Volley, and a Searing Blaze a Searing Blood. Again, depends a bit on the meta.
- The Rending Volleys and Relic of Progenitus are flex slots, could be Path to Exile and Molten Rain instead. I did want to try the Relics against my friend's Living End, but I'm not sure they're needed. So I'll probably go with 2 Path to Exile and 2 Molten Rain next time. I could even try a few Volcanic Fallouts.

A Zoo list without Tarmogoyf, I like that.

So Atarka's Command in the main is more or less the way to go these days?

Right, I'm having serious doubts about running Grixis Delver at next weekend's WMCQ. Which means, I'm looking at Burn again.

What lists would you run against a wide metagame (I can expect all the tier 1 decks in greater quantities, and the rest in lower).

You win Bloom when your opponent doesn't pay for his Pact trigger...

I'm no expert. But waiting to play Eidolon until your hand is empty is certainly wrong, almost always.

It's better on the play than on the draw, so against some decks you might want to side out all of them or a few at least when on the draw.

Playing it turn 2 on the play is something you often want to do. You then force them to react to it. Most often by removing it and then they take 2 damage and waste a precious removal spell, or if they don't have removal they are forced to take more damage in order to find removal or just by playing their decks (playing Serum Visions, for instance, or everything Affinity plays). If they decide to bide their time, you can usually attack with it for some extra damage. You on the other hand can sandbag Bolts, play some land etc and wait until they remove it, and then throw what you got at them. Sometimes you can wait for the removal, throw some bolts and then drop a second Eidolon to replace the one they removed. Of course, sometimes you have to play spells with Eidolon on board, but 1-2 spells are usually ok.

How do you play him?

Not playing Eidolon seems like crazy talk to me. Eidolon together with Swiftspear made this deck tier 1.

I would be very interested in a report as well. Some thoughts I like to hear your opinion on:

- Did you miss Atarka's Command at all?
- Flame Javelin and Torpor Orb.
- Any changes to the deck you'd make in retrospect?
- You lost out to Elves (the winner) in the Top 8. Would any sweepers in the SB have helped?

Congrats! Good job!

Awesome! Good luck!

I wouldn't cut Blaze either in the mirror match.

I'm looking forward to reading about your testing results Platypus!!

Don't hold your breath. I have really limited opportunities to playtest and even less to play in tournaments atm.

Gurmag Angler could work as well, but without Thought Scours for instance to really get it out early I'm not sure if it's the best option. Tasigur has the ability as well as a bonus. But a 2 Tasigur/1 Angler split?

After this weekend's 3-4 result, I'm really interested in testing a Tasigur version.

So I'm currently on this slightly tweaked (SB only) deck from my last Modern event (the one I won):

[deck=Platy's Burn]Land (20)
12 Red Fetches
4 Mountain
3 Sacred Foundry
1 Stomping Ground

Creatures (14)
4 Monastery Swiftspear
4 Eidolon of the Great Revel
4 Goblin Guide
2 Grim Lavamancer

Spells (26)
4 Lava Spike
4 Rift Bolt
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Boros Charm
4 Searing Blaze
4 Skullcrack
2 Lightning Helix

Sideboard
2 Rending Volley
2 Deflecting Palm
3 Kor Firewalker
2 Path to Exile
4 Destructive Revelry
2 Molten Rain
[/deck]

I've decided to go without Atarka's Command, mostly because I haven't played with it and any possible gains will be negated by my probably poor decision making with it. I'm pretty set on the maindeck, except for the ratios of Skullcrack, Searing Blaze, and Lightning Helix. I'm thinking about swapping the Helixes or Helix/Blaze for two Flame Javelins, but I don't know. The sideboard feels ok, but I'm still not sure about Molten Rain. I'm thinking about Pyrite Spellbombs instead.

I've noticed when looking at stats on MTG Goldfish that Burn isn't doing so well right now. Whether that is because it's being hated out or everybody forcing Atarka's Command, I don't know.

I'll probably have a decklist up tonight or tomorrow...

I'm going to a bigger Modern event on Saturday. The question is: Atarka's Command or no? I have zero plays behind me with Atarka version, not that I think it matters much. Metagame will probably be heavy on Twin, Burn and Junk/Collected Company, Grixis Delver might be popular as well, and Affinity to a lesser degree, the rest is 1-2 decks each of everything else in Modern.

I get the feeling from what I've read that the Atarka versions aren't strictly better than the RW splash green for Revelry versions.

Any thoughts on trolling with 1-2 Become Immense?

Amen.

I agree, Lavaman is quite necessary. It's very hard to get to stick, because people fear it a lot more than Goblin Guide and try to remove it ASAP. I'm even tempted to put a third one in the SB against the aforementioned decks.

Congrats! I love the deck, although I'm not fully convinced of that single Zurgo. But I'm not opposed to trying it either.

I totally understand the concern for PtE, but it's such a silver bullet it's hard to let go of it. Deflecting Palm is great against Infect and Bogles, so if you're going to face those you definitely want a couple.

How important do you feel the Deflecting Palms are? Those could easily become Rending Volleys.

That one looks really solid.

Go down to 17...

I wouldn't go with 18 lands either. 19 maybe, because 20 sometimes felt like too much.

I probably overestimated the early turn kills possibilities and rushed my plays. I had only played against the deck a year ago (same tournament) but I had UR Storm then. Turn 3 combo kill and turn 2 ritualed out Blood Moon won that match.

I haven't rewatched those games from the finals yet, but yeah I know I probably made several mistakes in them. Fatigue errors, most likely, and I was very unfamiliar with this matchup.

Feature videos!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ep9qZZo-8Dg - Round 5 against UR Twin, starts around 1:35:00.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5UUErOZnqM - Third game in the quarter-finals, against GW Hatebears, starts around 39:00 (Bad mistake from me on his second turn...).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWiwC0Zo8Wc - Finals, second game.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kd3HJFsUC0k - Finals, third game.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsaKw-XEEII - Finals, third game, trigger mistake.

I didn't mind the single one I had in the SB either. You only board it in against the decks you know have small creatures anyway (Affinity, Mirror, GW Hatebears maybe, Delver, Merfolk).

I can't comment on Atarka's Command, because I haven't tried them yet. But I'd definitely go with white instead of black. There's no way Bump is better than Boros Charm and/or Lightning Helix. And Murderous Cut than Path to Exile in the SB. I wouldn't go with 4 Spellbombs either. If you have the cards for white, go with that instead.

Looks like a good starting point, if you add a card to the maindeck...

Updated my report with the metagame, and the top 8 decks.

Sounds like you played the quarter finals Affinity match perfectly.

Also, regarding that Bloom match, if he had a Leyline out, you shouldn't have been able to play Searing Blazes because you have to target a player and a creature.

Yeah, you're right about that. Forgot the exact wording on it when I wrote that.

I remember even less details than usual from my matches, but I might as well list them. I haven't seen a list of the decks in the event yet, but it was quite varied.

Match 1: UR Storm.

I won the first game quickly, got out an early Eidolon. I saw the lands and some cantrips, before he scooped at 10 life. So didn't know what I was facing which made sideboarding a shot in the dark. I expected some sort of UWR control so I took in the Combust and a couple of Revelries (in case of Dragon's Claw). An early Ascension hit the table, but he couldn't combo out before I removed it and that sealed the deal. 2-0

Match 2: Affinity

Good local player who has played Affinity since forever and can play the deck well blindfolded. I fully expected to lose this match. We won one game each, and in the third he had enough board presence to put me down to 1 life (with no cards in hand) in an all out attack when he himself was at 1. So I was basically forced to topdeck for the win. And I drew a Lightning Bolt. 2-1

Match 3: Junk

I don't remember much details from this one, won it 2-0.

So by now I realized that I had to focus and stay calm, so I started a routine of listening to music (Death Hawks - Black Acid http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_L3yxnSdM34) instead of mingling/watching matches, and some fresh air, between matches. To find my own personal space and empty my mind.

Match 4: Some BR homebrew

I don't really know what this was. Had some discard (IoK), burn of course, Liliana of the Veil, good Chandra, saw a discarded Confidant, but I saw no really good win conditions. Won it 2-0 without much trouble.

Match 5: Twin

Feature match, they had a continous stream going throughout the event. Didn't know what I was facing after game one, saw some cantrips and removal, nothing definite. Second game went nowhere for him either. I had to ask him after the match was over what he was playing, so a very fast 2-0 win.

We were only two players with a 5-0 result, so:

Match 6-7: IDs into the top 8. I finished second in the swiss standings.

In the morning before the event I never expected to get to the top 8, so I really didn't care at all how it went after this. I would've been fine with losing in the quarter-finals. So I could play without any pressure at all, I had already outdone what I set out to do.

Quarter-final: GW Hatebears

Second really hard match. I won the first game, lost the second to a turn 2 Kor Firewalker. Game 3 I kept a maybe questionable hand, but it had a PtE and I really didn't want to risk facing another early Firewalker. The game went back and forth for a while, he got out a couple of Voices and an Ooze out and I was again facing a situation where I had to topdeck a win, and I did. 2-1.

Semi-final: Affinity

I felt more confident against this opponent than my match 2 opponent, maybe because I didn't know him before. He seemed to be a bit more nervous than me about being in the semi-final as well. We won one game each. In the third I got a good hand (double Lavamancers for instance), but he got out a good board position as well. Removed creatures that needed to be removed (Vault Skirge), and sandbagged some Bolts. When he was at 7 I removed a Steel Overseer with a Revelry and he made the mistake of not sacrificing it to his Ravager in order to fizzle the spell and damage. So I could finish him with two Bolts on my next turn. 2-1

Final: Amulet Bloom

This was a matchup I hadn't given much thought, so I didn't feel very confident about it. But hey, second place was perfectly fine for me anyway! Game 1 I won quickly, he couldn't find the combo. Game two went better for him and I think he got out a Leyline of Sanctity at some point so I was forced to do creature damage and from Searing Blazes. At one point I didn't attack with my Lavamancer, I thought of some other line of play and messed up my plays somehow. Shortly afterwards I realized I've made a mistake, I could have won if I had attacked with it. So it was down to the third game. I fought bravely against three(!) Thragtusks (only one could be responded to with a Skullcrack). I was losing the game so badly. Then he Summoner's Pacted out a Titan. I just went through the motions in my turn, I mean I had basically lost already some turns ago. Then he drew his card for the turn, without putting the Pact trigger on the stack and paying for the Pact. Whoops, I won! 2-1.

The decklist felt really great for this event. It might have been nice to have one Shard Volley in there instead of the fourth Searing Blaze, but then again, I liked having 4 Blazes and 1 Searing Blood against Affinity. Searing Blood was a third Lightning Helix for a long while, but when I thought about the matchups where I'd side it in (Mirror and Affinity) I realized I wanted the damage instead of the life gain.

Decks in the tournament:

8 Burn
7 Junk
5 UR Twin
4 Amulet Bloom
4 BW Tokens
3 Grixis Twin
3 GW Hatebears
3 MonoG Beats
3 BUG
2 Bogle
2 Affinity
2 Infect
2 Merfolk
2 Bant
2 UR Delver
2 Grixis Control
2 Esper Control
2 Ad Nauseam
1 GR TRON
1 UW TRON
1 BW Control
1 Black Moon
1 UR Storm
1 UWR Kiki-Angel
1 Jund
1 Simic Beats
1 RW Prison
1 4c Gifts
1 Living End
1 Mardu Control
1 Scapeshift

Top 8 decks:
1st: Burn
2nd: Amulet Bloom
3rd-4th: Infect, Affinity
5th-8th: Junk, GW Hatebears, UR Twin, Bogle

Congrats platypus! What was the event? Did you buy power 9 with your winnings?

We don't get events of that size around here...

It was a bigger event called Modern Champs that the local organizer started doing last year, which they plan to organize each spring. The idea is to have a Modern event with decent price support to try to gather people from around the country. By bigger I mean 71 participants, so it can't really be compared to any bigger events in the US for example. But by comparison, our three WMCQs had 70-90 participants each last autumn. The pricepool was 1000€ total in products and store credit, mostly distributed to the top 8 (9-16 got 4 boosters each). I got 100€ store credit, a box of DTK, a Duel Deck Antology set, a Modern Event deck, and a trophy. So in the grand scheme of things, nothing big, mostly bragging rights. But on a personal level the win meant a lot to me, since the best I've done so far is a second place on the M14 Game Day. I've felt like I've stagnated in Magic, and never been getting any better. But now I know I can make it all the way in a tournament and it's like I've finally improved as a player.

Thanks! I should've won in game two already, but I didn't notice a lethal attack.

He forgot to pay for Summoner's Pact in the third game. So yay! I won!

Sounds like some high level play!

Well, that's the kind of errors you make after playing for ten hours, with too little real food. I made a few errors in some of the earlier matches, but overall I played well.

Thanks! I should've won in game two already, but I didn't notice a lethal attack.