[Primer] G/R Monsters

[Link]

hmmmmm I just can't get behind hyperramp. The idea is sound, if built around (mostly) ember swallower to hyper ramp into mana denial, but too many games have gone acceleration into "doom blade that thing" or not even having enough mana to monstrous it or having zero acceleration.

Back to ragehammer.

What makes my build different than the G/R monsters.

Well, screw ember swallower. I rather have Polukranos, Polis Crusher, and Deadbridge goliath any day.

Its a midrange build with some ramp elements, but really I just want to get value out of all of my cards. any my kind of value is the one that beats face.

The newest addition in testing is the "Kalonian" package. I found room for tuskers. I looked at my list and, counting GCR and Boon as combat tricks, and scavenge ooze as a late play, there was like 3 creatures that actually evolved gyre sage. He needed to come in. Not in place of BTE, but in
addition too (though I can see an argument for shaving BTE I am still reluctant.)

Kalonian hydra... I had forgotten about him for some reason, room sake I suppose. But this guy is a solid finisher remember? Pairs extremely well with gyre sage also. And dont forget the brokenness he has with the hammer itself.

Hydra is who I want vs. midrange meta. People are ready to deal with stormbreath, hes not impressive enough. Aint nobody know about hasted 8/8 tramplers.

Untap scavenge deadbridge goliath on something for even more lulz. I had a christmasland game where I could scavenge onto gyre sage, swing with hydra for the trigger, and had 13/14 gyre sage who I used to clan defiance for a billion.

There is tension for space though. I can't keep all the # of ghor-clans AND boon satyrs. My instinct is to never cut ghor-clan, but boon satyr smoothes the curve earlier. But they also work great together since if you suit up a hardcasted ghor-clan you have a 8/6 trampler.

Also I'm considering just going
3 chandras, 4 domris 0 xenagos MB. Chandra is insane at pushing damage through in midrange matches, and I can move xenagos to the SB for a strong card against control (and also hedge against pithing needles).

Lets take a look:
[deck]
4 Burning-Tree Emissary
4 Kalonian Tusker
2 Boon Satyr
2 Polukranos, World Eater
2 Ghor-Clan Rampager
4 Gyre Sage
2 Scavenging Ooze
4 Elvish Mystic
2 Kalonian Hydra
2 Deadbridge Goliath


24 Lands
4 Stomping Ground
7 Mountain
7 Forest
4 Temple of Abandon
1 Mutavault
1 Gruul Guildgate

7 Planeswalkers
4 Domri Rade
3 Chandra, Pyromaster

Noncreature
1 Clan Defiance
[/deck]

First thoughts are that its a bunch of 2-ofs in a midrange deck, and I really should just cut the BTE to max out on Boon Satyr and GCR. BTE have just never underperformed for me, BTE+Gyre sage has a sweet interaction, BTE+Domri fight, BTE into hammer, hell BTE+Tusker on T3 after a gyre sage lets me double evolve even more often.

Boon satyr is insane though, but do I really
need to be double ghor-clanning over things to finish games? I can bluff it for VCA half the time anyway...

Another thought I had was just how much this deck has to do on 4 cmc+ which is why I'd favor GCR over Boon satyr. I like being able to stay aggressive with a 2-land hand (I most often see and keep this), and BTE lets me do that while having a hand witha bunch of tricks and no board state don't do that.

I could cut the random clan defiance and go up to 3 GCR or boon satyr, especially now that I don't have Xenagos for those random "+1 xenagos, kill you" moments, even though that reach was something I really liked.

[Link]

for the SB I want to really take time to see what's weak in what match-ups.

Now that I have tuskers, gyre sage's are really bad against azo charm decks and unnecessary to leave in for early pressure.

-4 Gyre Sage

Also clan defiance is nice for reach or killing them after an elspeth, but I'm more afraid of sphinx's rev than elspeth to be honest (between hammer guild mages, polukranos, and GCR she can be dealt with). I'd actually leave it in if they haven't seen it, and take it out if they know about it.

-1 Clan Defiance

+3 Skarrg Guildmage
+1 Hammer of Purphoros
+1 Destructive Revelry (if you took out clan defiance, 1 or 2 for d-spheres is nice but dont load up too much).

Mistcutter is ok, but he's there mostly for UW Master of waves decks. He cant swing into elspeth and I always play in a way that forces them to tap out then I resolve a PW, so he's not neccessary to the plan.


SB: 1 Mistcutter
Hydra
SB: 2 Arbor Colossus
SB: 3 Skarrg Guildmage
SB: 1 Bow of Nylea
SB: 3 Shock
SB: 2 Nylea's Disciple
SB: 1 Hammer of Purphoros
SB: 2 Polis Crusher

Tbh I want to test more tonight against G/W. I have a problem with that MU, and I want to see how polis crusher compares to destructive revelry... I'll probably end up on the crushers just because its a mana sink and make their courages dead until they find a seles charm. And they have to seles charm a LOT of things

I almost want to fit in hunt the hunter to take out things on curve and get aggressive. I like it bettter than mortars because it can kill trostani and wurms and a fleecemane with unflinching. Yeah they still gain the life, but if I'm playing "control" and not making it a race, you eventually get ahead of them with a chandra or domri. Its also possible mortars is just better and using chandra +mortars as a way to clear 5/5s. Also overloading it is the best way to overcome board stalls created by voice tokens which ARE their
only real way of accruing card advantage.

Hun the hunter is better in their deck because they double on value from courage, so I might just fall back on mortars to fix this MU. There isnt enough room thuogh in the SB. I MIGHT move Skarrg guildmages MB over BTE... he's always solid even though he lacks synergy with other cards, I double I'll be unhappy to see him vs. a BTE. It frees up needed space in the SB to be able to have a plan vs. Control, G/W, mono red (you know you'll run into this so you can't hedge on space), and 3-color midrange.

[Link]

Had a great night, 3-1. Moved skarrg to the main over BTE for tonight

I didn't miss BTE... except against mono red where I lost and couldve caught back up maybe if I could dump my hand, but that MU is fixable with nylea's disciple shocks and bow anyway.

Also polis crusher >>>> reverly. Every goddamn time. Destroyed a whip, destroyed a d-sphere that had my chandra, was insaneeeeeeeeee.

I ran with this SB:
[deck]
4 Kalonian Tusker
2 Boon Satyr
2 Polukranos, World Eater
2 Ghor-Clan Rampager
4 Gyre Sage
3 Skarrg Guildmage
3 Scavenging Ooze
4 Elvish Mystic
2 Kalonian Hydra
2 Deadbridge Goliath


24 Lands
4 Stomping Ground
7 Mountain
7 Forest
4 Temple of Abandon
1 Mutavault
1 Gruul Guildgate

7 Planeswalkers
4 Domri Rade
3 Chandra, Pyromaster

1 Clan Defiance

SB:
1 Xenagos, Reveler
2 Polis Crusher
3 Shock
2 Hammer of Purphoros
1 Bow of Nylea
1 Time to feed
2 Nylea's
Disciple
2 Arbor Colossus
1 Mistcutter Hydra[/deck]

boarding was as follows (and honestly the kalonian hydras might just need to be Boon Satyrs but I faced ZERO midrange and G/W tonight, where hydra would've stomped.)

vs. U/W Control:
-4 Gyre Sage
-2 Kalonian Hydra
+2 Polis Crusher
+2 Hammer
+1 Xenagos
+1 Mistcutter Hydra

Simple and cleaaaaaaaaaaaaan. he misplayed his aetherling and just died to hammer. Hammer op (especially when see both and bait a counterspell with the first one).

R2 vs. Mono Black Aggro (homebrew. A worse version of our dos rakis imo, with MB thought seize)
Easy 2-0, chandra and monsters op, not much to say. Almost lost to grey merchant drain, but scavenging ooze got there.

Sided in polis crushers because I knew hed have whip. destroyed it ;D

R3 vs. Esper
G1 his jace revealed a thassa when he had elspeth out and he was able to unblockable a token in to keep domri off ultimate. was unreal (figure most stock lists wont have thassa main but w/e) Also I saw 4 gyre
sages this game, scryd one to the bottom. Not their best showing.


same boarding plan as against U/W. G2 was intersting but I cant remember what happened. got there with a hammer maybe. Actually guildmage went to town it was nice. he was just exactly dead after playing elspeth because I could give my 6 power trample!

G3 he missed his 4th land drop and I just crushed him with stuff.


R4 vs. horribad mono red.

This guy had nivmagus elementals and titans strength. but he got me g1 with Purphoros into Fanatic of Mogis....

I didnt side in bows like a derp. G2 he saw his "tech" awaken the ancients and I outraced it because lolu.

G3 I kept a slow hand, he had cackler, zealot, burn for my tusker. Then he played chandra's phoenix and I was very close to dead. He skullcracked me eot (I had gained life the turn before with disciple), and got me to 3 life. I drew dead and my next 3 cards were: shock, ??, shock.

Oh well. I didnt even try to educated him on the ways of red, because G2
he said "I keep" before I did, and then I mulliganed. He said "oh youre mulliganing? I will too" it was super shady. And he was like "technically blah blah" but I didnt give a shit.

Shoulda mulled deeper G3 to a hand with more early stuff.

R4 vs. U/W Control
I got this match-up on lock all day. I mean, against htis player I literaly always ultimate domri g1. Same thing here.

He played elspeth and I said "oh shit-" because I usually scoop, but then I saw domri at 6 counters and chandra.
I played two blockers, +1d chandra to kill a dude.

He killed his jace off, sphinxd for 1, didnt find the d-sphere.

Hue.

G2 boon satyr did work at keeping the pressure on. Hence why I should probably just go up to 4, but hydra is just too sexy against the mirror and midrange. Going to take it out for two more standard nights and see if he's worth keeping or not...

[Helios]

Deck looks sweet, Fate. Props for all the work you're doing in this thread.

[Link]

also I'm probably going to end up cutting the clan defiance for a hammer mb. add another time to feed in the hammer's place... maybe.

i forgot to explain that card but its for:
red obviously. Mitigates reckoner damage if you fight with a tusker.
MASTER OF WAVES. I have no outs to that and theres a guy runing the UB version... so I cant play polyK and force a verdict, he just eats a doom blade.

Fighting it with literally any card in my deck is a clean 1-1 answer Im willing to make.

ninja: thanks Helios. its been hard getting over pet card evaluations but also not just blindly following the card choices of decks that place... I think I'm just now starting to hit the sweet spot of something beautiful.

[LP, of the Fires]

I am delighted to see a deck running time to feed and nylea's disciple. Bad cards with fringe applications make me happy.

Speaking of bad cards, I was like, skarrg guildmage doesn't seem good enough.

Then I realized you can give PolyK trample. Kaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay.

Looking over the deck, I actually like it a lot. I'd cut a guildgmage for a boon satyr, but other then that, everything else looks sweet(minus kalonian hydra. I hate that card, even though it's good in your deck). I haven't read the other pages of the thread, but I'm assuming you have sound reasoning on your splits of cards in the main, and your side looks solid as well.

Grade: Solid A- deck probably doesn't need 7 mountains. 6/8 mountain/forest seems a lot better.

[Link]

yeah I mean Im not running Ember swallowers...

Maybe I cut one chandra from the main for a xenagos then I feel fine about not hitting double red?

Also how do you feel about the Clan Defiance?

I've burned people out randomly, and it does help me catch up against mono red if I can kill a phoenix and a zealot or something with it... (more than hammer would for sure).

Its just I don't have enough mana for points at in random turns. Its never "dead" in my hand because its always reach which is nice... The only thing I'm worried about is the opportunity cost. Hammer would make the MB hydras better

I'll have to tweak the boon satyr/guildmage numbers for sure, boon satyr is insane and guildmage is insane (I look at it as a 6 power for 2 mana usually), so we'll have to see.

[LP, of the Fires]

I like cutting the clan defiance. You aren't really a ramp deck anymore so it seems meh. If you still want a scaling affect, you could play like, mistcutter hydra or something. Probably just cutting it for a hammer and having an open slot in the board is better though.

How do you feel about gruul war chant in the board for the mirror? Seems like your type of card and it likely just wins you the game.

[Link]

I do love me some warchant and I was really excited to make it work.

I think its 100% viable in a BTE low curve gruul list like the one with Kait was making with reckoners and firedrinker satyrs over mystics. Lets you double your "lil dude" swarm

When I tried it out in this deck it just didnt affect the board enough. I much rather drop a 6/6 in the mirror (colossus) and say "whatup dragon?) Also Bow did work as an "attack creatures are impossible to block" effect as well, that works great with gyre sage.

[Link]

there were SOOOOOO many people on mono red tonight! And I got paired against the best one who made top8 at states R2. (R1 bye)

And I won!

G1 I was real far behind because I couldnt start attacking him because he had zealot and I was low and had GCR on defense, and I drew 7 lands. He slams firefist striker (he couldnt swing before then) and I rip a Chandra

oh baby

She zeros me the main deck hammer and he scoops.

G2: I made a bad. I didn't fix the mana base ala kincey's suggestion, and I ended up getting green starved with scavenging ooze out and couldnt stabilize. Gyre sage is definitely house because they HAVE to burn it. still 1-drop into magma jet gyre sage, lightning strike tusker +firefist anything else you play out is real hard to overcome.

I supopse I made slight misplay because T1 I shocked his cackler, when I should've known my hand couldnt beat a firefist striker. But having no double green out
when you draw Nylea's Disciple is pretty sad.

G3: I go aggressive and dump my hand on the field. He magma jets scooze over Skarrg guildmage. I play my 2nd ooze, shock a phoenix and scavenge it for value. He strikes that, but I'm fine with that trade. Chandra +1 a firefist again closes out that game because i just start going aggressive on him real early.



Vs. U/W she was undefeated at this store until I came. I drew with her though, because I refused to scoop G1 to elspeth (I made her -3 her, but had no follow up play to finish her off. I missed the 4 GCR here, as well as any haste creature ;P) polukranos couldnt get there and myguild mage got dissolved (even thuogh she had a ratcher bomb on 2 and I had a 3/4 gyre sage out!)

I dont know if I should increase the GCR count or just realize I scoop to elspeth sometimes. I definitely had a slow gyre sage dork hand that game (with no domri or chandra).

G2 I kill her with guildmages. Yeah baby yeah. She azo charmed a land I animated because I hadnt used domri, "making me whiff" but I'll take that any day since I can make another land and keep swinging with guild mage.
She used her mutavault to keep domri off ultimate, but that wasn't my game plan anyway (though its fine, I was on the beat down guildmage plan). Less mana for her to interact with my board and verdict, I hit her for 6 again.

Then I play polukranos into 7 mana, which is ALWAYS the right play in that situation I think, because it forces the dissolve and now she can't sphinx. Next turn I slam a land and animate a guildgate and a stomping ground 9for style points), swing 10 (I had 3 dorks out >_>b), she can't sphinx for enough.

Guildmage hooo!


Finals:
UWr vs. Me
G1 I get absolutely stomped. He has answers all the way up the curve into jace and sphinxs for like 7.

-4 gyre sage
-2 Deadbridge (he had chained to the rocks)

+1 Hammer
+1 Mistcutter Hydra
+1 Xenagos
+3 polis crusher (added another one of them to the board from the space the hammer was
in)


Mistcutter killed him both games post board, it was quite nice. Got to swing through an aetherling too. G3 I let myself get 4-1d with anger of the gods, then played chandra. then got out the crusher against blind obediance (for the cutter). He didnt have an answer, I crushed him and played a mistcutter for lethal against aetherling

Hue.

He sideboarded in negates to be fair because I convinced him I was on the "peak eruption destructive reverly" plan, so it was really just a sweet mindgame to finish off the night.

The only real decks I played were UW and MonoR, and I already felt comfortable there (UW still needs practice anytime though), but tomorrow at FNM there'll definitely be 0/3 plant mirrors.

And we'll see if I need to go for the peak eruptions plan (hint: no. plants will then be live and give him double red), or if Arbor Colossi are good enough.

we'll also see if I run into G/W and if polis crusher+PW package does enough work.

I can't go up to 3 boon satyrs
though. They are at an awkward point in the curve I feel like, and I much rather just be killing them with lands. Yeah against other midrange I probably want another trick more, but eh. I like to force those decks to deal with my 2/2 as well.

[Link]

damn it Kincey youve ruined EVERYTHING (in a good way)

I DO want to play Gruul Warchant

last night despite my success, I wasn't happy playing the build. It didn't mesh well with me.

I overhauled a shitton. "mono green" package out-Gyre sages out, tusker, hydra. ZTD in. BTE in with guild mage and ZTD to combo off. down to two mystics. Back to the full 4 rampagers (I missed you guys) and 4 boon satyrs.

I want to be the beat down everytime. I can't be durdling around with gyre sages vs. control. Other midrange decks? SMASH THROUGH THEM

WARCHANT ZUG ZUG AROUND THEM

(chandra +1 through them tehee)
RAAAAAAAAWR

I'll be back tonight with a list+report, because if I fall flat on my face I won't clog the thread with off-shoot builds. I just think BTE gets me ahead in the early game, and once they are forced on the back foot GCR and Boon Satyr carries me home. Awesome mana sinks fill the curve the rest
of the way. PW get me that extra angle...

I tried to build hyper ramp durdle... tried to build stompy splash red, but at my heart I just wanted to play gruul all along ;D

[Aodh]

Fate, Redthirst tells me that you and Nuwen are possibly brewing Dos Rakis; care to check out my post in the BR thread?

As far as your deck goes, stompy seems like the best option. Your deck can actually use Ghor-Clan Rampager, which is amazing against midrange, and you're still big enough to just wall aggro. I don't get to playtest a lot, but the idea seems great.

[Link]

we're trying to keep comments to a minimum because of states and I don't want it to really be on the radar (I don't think it will be but)

I watched the deck tech at work and was humbled at my deck building skills.

I felt like I was almost there, but then I went off the deep end with ZTD and BTE.

I was almost there with the gyre sage build, but they had experiment one over gyre and thats much better if you want to get aggressive. Aka helios' advice and I woulda been there.

I still don't like MB mortars and stormbreath dragon, thought hey are probably necessary interactions and finisher respectively (haste is a solid keyword so the dragon has that if nothing else going for it).

Though without dragons (skarrg guild mage because I REALLY want 10 2-drops that evolve experiment one) or mortars (moving them to the SB), and stealing the idea of ratchet bomb to more effectively play the &
quot;control" role in the GW match-up, we end up here:

[deck]Gruul Midrange[/deck]


I really want to fit in mutavault but 18 green for kalonian is perfect and 14 red for chandra is pushing it (I added a guildgate)

I also went down to 2 mystics because I feel like it increases the power level of the deck since you're not reliant on ramp as much and a bunch of experiment ones and mystic in hand is unplayable, but I could easily +2 mystic -1 chandra -1 hammer.


Hammer evolves late game experiment ones ofc so I'm pretty content with it.

[Link]

went 3-1 tonight (lost to nuwen ofc r1)

Beat Esper, Esper, Mirror!

The mirror match was interesting. G1 I was able to take advantage of him wanting to "overload mortars" or domri fight+mortars to deal with my fatties, so I liked how it played out.

I misplayed and learned G2, but G3 I just curved Deadbridge into Arbor Colossus.

He says to take out chandra in the mirror, whereas I sided out Xenagos hammer and guild mage (trample is relevant but the mana sink? Iunno.) The mirror feels like its about 5/5+s who can slam down the fattest fattie and be an aggressive position.

I had won G1 and G3 had a ex 1 scavenging ooze hand and he was just hoping anger of the gods would get there. Deadbridge into colossus after that is lights out.

Didnt get to play GW whihc is unfortunate because I wanted to test out polis crusher against them badly.

going to the raleigh classic tomorrow so lets hope

[Link]

I went 5-2-1 (really I went 6-2 but its a story) today at the SCG Classic, basically top 16 (since my breakers were insane)

I had good MUs most of the day, dodging G/W and Mirror, and I was able to crush some midrange/control decks like I had wanted too. And Skarrg guildmage STILL went to work on every control player in the room

One loss was actually BECAUSE I suicided my guildmage into a blood baron because I had huge experiment ones and a boon satyr (for some reaosn I thought hed block the experiment one and Id flash in evolve...), then he untapped, shocked and went to like 3 for elspeth. I couldn't give my shit trample and took WAY too long to find a GCR with 4 domris played out... Was some bad beats but I mismanaged my guildmage like hell. If I had swung with just experiment one and been patient or something there's no way elspeth woulda saved him there. Damn Mono Red player in me...

The other loss was to Bant
flash lifegain prophet of kruphix bs.... that decks just broken against ours, I dont think theres much fixing to be had. Burn everything they play on sight, hope to overload mortars at a relevant time? He had sphinxs rev too so there was shit all I can do.

[Link]

ooh man new technology inc courtesy of brad nelson:

[card]Flesh // Blood[/card] I so wish I had thought of this before states! I had two in the binder hiding behind abrupt decays because I figured it was a rare but I completely forget the creature clause!

This is everything I wanted in this deck. Its like ground assault which I wanted to make work but hitting land drops is hard, but it goes UPSTAIRS.

A fucking burn spell that scales with your fat creatures (and ghor-claned ones of course) and can hit creatures OR players?

SIGN ME UP

[Yarpus]

[deck]4 Elvish Mystic
4 Experiment One
4 Burning-Tree Emissary
4 Gyre Sage
2 Skarrg Guildmage
4 Polukranos
4 Stormbreath Dragon
4 Ruric Thar, the Unbowed

4 Domri Rade
2 Clan Defiance

4 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
4 Stomping Ground
4 Temple of Abandon
10 Forest
2 Mountain[/deck]

I think this is the exact place where you want to be. Feel free to swap Clan Defiance for Blood. (and get 1-2 shocklands to have the mere possibility of casting Flesh). Deck can just combo out with Nykthos which makes it very explosive - still, it should be able to grind out games. Domri is a beast here.

[Link]

id sub out experiment one for sylvan caryatid if I was going hyper ramp, which would also provide the black sources for flesh if needed.

Clan Defiance is pretty sweet with all the mana since it doesnt require a big creature, and this decks weakness looks like not being able to win without the big guys (aka blood is win more)

Theres no Ghor-Clan+Blood combo which is where I really want to be at tbh. If I'm going to ramp Mihara's build. Im watching the deck tech now and all his choices are pretty solid, with Nylea for trample and a good mana sink. Garruk also belongs in a big mana build

im trying to find a balance with some ramp and some smash

maybe I should just be on an "all-in" devotion combo deck, but I like have different angles of attack.

Ghor-Clan+Blood to randomly 16 someone has been intense. I'm back to using Zhur-Taa druid to get them low enough for the combo as well.

So there's a ramp
combo and a smash combo >_>b

I also think its polis crusher's time to shine. Maindeck. 4-of in the 75. Yeah I'm serious. Pro-gods? Fuck your cute shit up? Trample over your reckoner?

Yeah baby.

I'm not running nyktthos, just straight gruul cards. The G/R beatdown with experiment one was nice and all and could curve and win some games.... but tusker is just so hard no the mana and I could never really steal games out of nowhere which is what these devotion decks do.

I also want to have solid threat density vs. all these goddamn thoughtseize decks. Which is why ill probably end up siding out some bloods versus those decks so it doesnt get stuck in my hand for Ruric Thar (or just sweet planeswalkers?)

[deck]4 Elvish Mystic
4 Zhur-Taa Druid
4 Scavenging Ooze
4 Burning-Tree Emissary
4 Ghor-Clan Rampager
4 Boon Satyr
2 Polukranos, World Eater
2 Polis Crusher

1 Mutavault
4 Stomping Ground
4 Temple of Abandon
9 Forest
6 Mountain

4 Domri Rade
4 Flesh // Blood

SB: 3
Wasteland Viper
SB: 2 Polis Crusher
SB: 4 Skarrg Guildmage
SB: 2 Hammer of Purphoros
SB: 1 Chandra, Pyromaster
SB: 1 Xenagos, the Reveler
SB: 2 Magma Jet
[/deck]


SB isn't quite cleaned up. Wasteland viper and magma jet for mono red, but Im eschewing disciple of nylea. I have better 4-drops to be playnig and lifegain isntl all that good against them

the problem is closing out the game once you stabilize the ground. If you havent stabilized the ground, a 3/3 and 2 life does shitall.

So I want wastelands and magma jets into close out the game with huge dude.

I need to find room for arbor colossus hot damn.... I'm loathe to cut guildmages though, but that's probably where I'd shave some numbers.
I also need mistcutter hydras o_O

maybe the hammer isn't where I want to be at. I love its potential but Ive been running into blind obediance technology and just elspeth as roadblocks.

[Link]

or maybe I just want gruul warchant to get through desecration demon decks

>__________>b

[Yarpus]

Zhur-Taa is too cute. Gyre Goyf is the way to go.
Consider SB Gruul Charm, if meta will be full of Devotion Blue - you can wreck that double Nightveil Specters and other shitty fliers.
Your SB looks very, very weird. It's a mess. Skarrgs are imo just better Scavenging Oozes at the moment. Hammers are not for your deck. Wasteland Viper could be a cute 1-off.
Get some actual responses to decks. Mistcutter Hydras, Destructive Revelries, Fade into Antiquity?, Anger of the Gods/Flames of the Firebrand. Things to counter the meta you will have to face.
Nykthos is too powerfull for you. You can play decent RG Aggro/Midrange with mana sinks. Random Nykthos drop means that suddenly you win because you do something redencolous.
Oh, and actually Arbor Collosi seems to be pretty damn playable.

[Link]

I'm reluctant to go back to gyre goyf, it was just so depressign vs. esper. I'm trying to make something that does somethin consistently

Nykthos is still hard for a dual colored deck. I mean, yeah "randomly" i'll have BTE and 2 colored sources and a Nykthos and just get out a T2-T3 hydra, and then monstroust it for a bunch, but more often I'm just going to be sitting with shit in my hand I can't play because Nykthos wasn't a Red or Green source.

I'm not a hyper ramp deck, so again, I'm not gonna throw nykthos in there to just randomly "go off' when I don't have much that "goes off". If you try to do too many things with a deck (value, aggression, control, combo) you end up falling on your face.

Wasteland Viper is my removal package with 8 "Fight" effects between domri and blood. Being able to take out an opposing polukranos or arbor colossus is where its at these days. It
also at eats a burn spell out of mono red and gives me a T1 play, and also fights reckoner while hopefully not 2-1ing myself

I've never liked anger in these lists. If I were to run it I'd need a better late game with Ruric Thar or Stormbreath.

I don't like "responding" to decks, I just like attacking from different angles.

Another thing about gyre sage is its slow, and the manideck is trying to be as explosive as possible. Gyre sage is a value creature that takes time to set-up, I'm trying to win before my opponent can setup their gods and shit.


If they get destroyed from 16 life by bloodrush+blood, THEY are going to be responding to ME with their sb plan, so I'll just ask different questions.

PW and Skarrg guildmage are much different questions for control, they wreck some nerds.

I'm thinking Clan Defiance is better than Gruul charm against mono blue. Yeah you can wreck nightveil specter draws, OR you can potentially 3-1 them if they are running Jace.

-2 Skarrg
Guildmage
-2 Hammer of Purphoros

+2 Clan Defiance
+2 Arbor Colossus

I think too many people are prepared for mistcutter. You dont lose to mono blue because you cant mistcutter them, you die to a horde of elemental tokens because you didnt keep their devotion in check. Clan Defiance seems like sweet removal with my ramp they may or may not interact with to 2-1 a specter and a tidebinder mage and swing the tempo in my favor.

[Yarpus]

If MonoU matchup is still the issue, consider Electrickery. I know, it looks like a trash for you - but it deals with their shitty weenie x/1 creatures and MoW tokens (not MoW himself sadly).
Btw, why you're not playing R-dominant deck? Satyrs and Cacklers for early pressure, while you still have access to the funsy toys like Rampager. Hum?

[Link]

I tried, and temple of abandon is just meh.

The R/W decks seem to get away with it because of the POWAH of boros charm.

But without flinthoof boar (or any haste), R/g sligh isn't at all what it used to be. I tried it, trust me, and Domri rade and firedrinker satyr just dont belong in the same 75.

Clan Defiance has been proving everything I dreamed of against master of waves. If you can ramp out a 2-1 before they hit master and crush their devotiion, its gg. Comes a lot earlier than overloaded mortars and you really only need x=2 or 3

I also hit jace for a 3-1 in a few games, pretty sweet

[Link]

I've decided that just playing mutavaults is probably superior to Skarrg guildmage, sadly.

Going back to Gruul stompy version:

[deck]2 Nylea, God of the Hunt
4 Boon Satyr
2 Polukranos, World Eater
4 Elvish Mystic
2 Deadbridge Goliath
4 Burning-Tree Emissary
4 Kalonian Tusker
2 Kalonian Hydra
4 Experiment One

1 Gruul Guildgate
4 Mutavault
4 Stomping Ground
2 Mountain
9 Forest
4 Temple of Abandon


1 Clan Defiance
2 Flesh // Blood

4 Domri Rade
1 Xenagos, the Reveler


SB: 2 Mistcutter Hydra
SB: 3 Scavenging ooze
SB: 3 Mizzium Mortars
SB: 1 Destructive Revelry
SB: 2 Polis Crusher
SB: 2 Arbor Colossus
SB: 1 Clan Defiance
SB: 1 Chandra, Pyromaster
[/deck]

[Link]

this should probably be updated now that a "beatdown Gruul" deck took second place at a GP!

[deck="Jon Stern's RG Beats"]

10 Forest
6 Mountain
4 Stomping Ground
4 Temple of Abandon
24 lands

4 Boon Satyr
4 Elvish Mystic
4 Kalonian Tusker
2 Mistcutter Hydra
4 Polukranos, World Eater
2 Scavenging Ooze
4 Stormbreath Dragon
3 Sylvan Caryatid
27 creatures

3 Mizzium Mortars
3 other spells

4 Domri Rade
2 Xenagos, the Reveler
6 planeswalkers

Sideboard
2 Arbor Colossus
1 Burning Earth
2 Fade into Antiquity
2 Mistcutter Hydra
2 Plummet
1 Ratchet Bomb
1 Ruric Thar, the Unbowed
2 Shock
2 Time to Feed[/deck]

Looks pretty sweet, what can I say? I still like the Flesh // Blood over mortars, but this way allows for more SB room (for... plummet? I mean good metagame read but still feels gross).

I also saw him SB in fade to antiquity in that game he
almost lost to esper if not for those sweet rips, so there's definitely room for improvement

[Link]

I still love this fucking deck btw.

I was able to to 20 in one turn to Nuwen facing an unstoppable board state (chandra,+YP$ with 3 tokens out and Tymaret in hand and I was at 5 life).

I rip a GCR, swing with my scavenging ooze (who is a 5/5) bloodrush, scavenge, 10/10+Blood 20 you?


This is my current list with arbor colossus while I trade for more stormbreaths (who honestly I sometimes don't even have double red to cast and I MUCH rather have more green every turn because of ooze). He also shits on nightveil spectre/CP/Demon which see a lot fo play whereas stormbreath I'd have to hold back which always feels bad. I can go from stabilizing to dealing 20 in one turn with arbor colossus vs. having to swing with stormbreath and having a more vulnerable "1-hit kill" combo (4 toughness dude) Also Flesh//Blood to scavenge a colossus onto something is LOLGEEGEE feelings.

I also am down to 2 caryatids. I
still am not a fan of the card, but 6 pieces of ramp just seems to be the sweet spot (like last season with Kibler Gruul) and it shores up the mono red MU a lot. PLUS having 4 plants+Blood is SUPER awkward and if you run 4 plants just run the mortars over blood (And play a different version of this deck)

[deck]BLOOD HAMMER[/deck]

SB Plans:

Vs. Mono Black:
-4 Domri Rade (I honestly just do not have time to fight
most of their shit, and him cantripping before eating a downfall or whiffing always feels bad. I want early pressure and answers to whip as well as late game staying power here)

+2 Destructive Revelry (Underworld is actually a huge problem)
+1 Skullcrack GRUUL SMASH
+1 Mistcutter Hydra

Its possible I should respect spectre over their enchantments and put in mortars, but I honestly don't. If they are swinging at me its fine, and spectre only trades with boon satyr and just gets crushed by everything else, so I could give less of a shit about answering it. Whip of erebos and drawing one of their OWN cards each turn (UC) is much more threatening to me than a three mana 2/3


vs. Mono U:
-4 Domri Rade (not pro-active enough again, always dies to fliers)
-1 Xenagos, the reveler (not impactful enough)
-1 Chandra, Pyromaster
-1 Stormbreath Dragon (rather just play miscutter or arbor colossus at this mana)
-2 Flesh//Blood (combo is weak to hybridization and bounce, which they are DEF going to save
it for if you blow them out g1)


+3 Mistcutter Hydra
+2 Armed // Dangerous (NEW COMBOZ WITH MISCUTTER HYDRAS??Z?)
+2 Mizzium Mortars
+2 Flames of the Firebrand

Just go for the X-1s with Mortars and flames and mop them up with an armed mistcutter hydra. Polis crusher can swing past Thassa in a ground stall too.

MoW is a problem which is why you want to take as aggressive lines as yuo can, either aggressively killing their devotion (Mortars that weird over playing a tusker or boon satyr), and hope you can set them far behind with a gruul charm or be able to alpha through a MoW if you've gotten them low.

I tried time to feed but it was too mana inefficient. It answered 1 master but then I would die to other things because I was never caught up to them. I just rely on Polukranos+Killing them+Overloaded mortars


vs. Esper:
-2 Arbor Colossus
-2 Scavenging Ooze (I like early pressure but multiples aren't usually powerful enough for me)
-1 Flesh//Blood (unless you put them on blood barons
which is fair)

+2 Destructive Reverly
+2/3 Mistcutter Hydra

if I'm on the play I might leave out mistcutters for the scoozes just to run them over by curving out (very reasonable. Tuskers and Boon Satyrs are just so good). I usually SB on the fly depending on my control opponent.

vs. Mono R:
-1 Stormbreath dragon (obv cause obv. Maybe a mistake because you do need to win through reckoner and stormbreath is better than arbor colossus in a vacuum)
-3 Boon Satyr

+3 Wasteland Viper
+1 Armed // Dangerous


I'll do more MUs later but those are the big ones.

Later:

vs. WW or Boros Weenies
-2 Arbor Colossus (they don't have fliers, he costs 5 mana)
+2 Flames of the Firebrand
-2 Domri Rade (can't kill pantheon, can sometimes just be dead if you NEED to remove something)
+2 Mizzium Mortars

possible destructive revelry although I can just sit for the late game with planeswalkers and polis crusher the spear (he cant be destroyed by it either), you really just need to stay healthy
though because they play ajani and can combo out of nowhere. I like going aggressive because they don't have any instant speed answers to "20 you, lolool)

vs. G/R devotion

-1 Stormbreath Draon
-1 Chandra, Pyromaster
-1 Xenagos, Reveler

+:
Really you just have to go way under them. I pretty underprepare for the mirror because I feel it can be based bothon strength of hand or just on skill. I don't feel like squeezing hunt the hunter in just yet but its obviously the best place to start. Flames to keep them off ramp on the play (too slow on the draw), and just be as aggressive as possible and finish them with Armed or Blood

[Link]

SB:
+armed//dangerous over gruul charm for more beats against mono blue
-1 Mizzium Mortars
-2 Hammer, awful on the mana base, ragehammer or not =/ Plus mistcutter hydra and hammer are at a bit of a cross-purpose, also the fact that it doesn't immediately apply pressure against esper which I'm not a fan of
+1 Skullcrack, because it was between this and bow of nylea and I figured what do I want against mono black/random shit and I REALLY just want to skullcrack someone out of fuckin nowhere with what they think is a midrange deck, like esper setting up perfect revs or some shit.
+2 FotF, just because I really don't feel like losing to WW, not that its a bad MU, I just like me some 2-1s

MB:
-1 Flesh//Blood
+1 Chandra, Pyromaster



because maybe sometimes my combos just too cute and I have two bloods in hand with nothing on board, and chandra is house all the time. I'd play a 2nd xenagos if I could, but chandra'
s always just as good and even better against htose soldier of the pantheon punks

[Link]

Another facelift to the deck in time for FNM.

I think I'm cutting the tombs and the blood. I punted the shit out of a game against Mono U because I suck at math, but I don't think plays through all the time so the combination of his Spectre taking a forest (which I wouldve obv played and gone for it), and me having shocked myself TWICE already made me hesistate and not shock for a Mistcutter Hydra for x=5. The next turn, even though I called his hand stone cold (double master of waves, rapid hybridization), I was 1 point short of lethal even though shocking myself didn't leave me dead on board to double masters pumped since I had two blockers.

Thinking more about it, the shocks just aren't worth it. I could just cut the shocks and rely on Caryatids to fuse it, but I'm wondering why I have it in the first place. The combo kill is pretty cute, but I've satisfied that need with Armed//Dangerous in the SB. It also just
sits straight dead in your hand against 1-1 removal decks (as I also found out last night), whereas a clan defiance at least goes "BOOM BABY" and makes use of all y our flood better than the fusion of flesh//blood. 3-1ing mono U is still where I want to be as well.

ANYWAY

I think Kincey better show up in this thread, as we have things to discuss. I want a utility land, and since I've gone down the witchstalker route, Nykthos seems pretty sweet. I also got my full Poly K, and am going back to clan defiance after dropping Blood, so the insane mana randomly would be super awesome. Rogue's passage is another option I'm actually considering.. (don't hate):


[deck]Ragehammer[/deck]



First things:

Sylvan Caryatid: don't I hate this card? Yeah. But my meta is just way too damn full of Mono U aggro, I just need more consistent ramp that cant be tidebinder mage, because its all about getting polukranos out on T3 and mistcutters for 5 or 6 mana. I'm honestly considering going up to 3 just because the ramp is that important, and even against control its fine to get out a 4 cmc threat under counterspells and force them to start tapping out on their turn for it.

But if your meta isnt 80% Mono U, Skarrg guildmage is a great subsitute (He's in my SB before I'd even touch Ruric Thar, to sub in for plants on the draw)" Especially since I'm running only 2 dragons here, so your 5-drops are a bit light (just the 2 stormbreath and 2 bestowed boon satyr). He'll force interaction from Mono B and Esper, and just shits all over them. Giving stuff trample is pretty sweet too, especially with the full boat
of Polukranos again.



Witchstalker: Didn't get to use him to much against the mon U decks (did get a counter off a rapid hybridization though), but he did want I wanted to when I came down. He's also house as shit against Mono Red and mono Black obviously is where I want him. I like him a bit more than boon satyr these days.

Numbers: that's a lot of 1-ofs Fate....: Yeah it is. the numbers aren't as solid as I'd like them, but its due to my collection. Ideally you'd have more xenagos, though I really don't think 4 dragons is necessary, even against esper. I do like the Xenagos/Chandra split, because chandra just rapes WW and it lets me get out my trifecta of superfriends against control and they literally can't do anything. My deck is threat dense so Chandra's 0 is always money too. The scooze and witchstalker and caryatid numbers are just based on how often I want to see them, which isn't always.

I ALWAYS want to see:
Elves, best t1 play
Poly K, awesome threat awesome. I've come
around on this guy and he's so important against WW, mono U, and mono r. he's super relevant even if deadbridge is a better "value" creature imo.
Ghor-Clan, because this is fucking gruul son.
Tusker, just a solid beater and what sets us apart from other monster decks
Domri, cause gruul.

[Link]

Went 4-1 at a SCG Open Trial to 2nd place, dropped a match to mono red due to a misboarding perhaps or just weak hands.

Will do a full report in the morning maybe?

Ran the 75 above, ran this SB:
[deck]SB[/deck]

After playing in the meta I'd change this up about the SB:
-1 guildmage +1 shock (maybe mortars)
I forgot to do this before the event, when my friend lent me a nykthos (I originally had 24 lands, 3 caryatid mb), so I should've gone down a guildmage since he swaps in with the plant. I want another mortars against mono red too because of the game I lost (or a shock or something).
-1 Skullcrack +1 Ranger's guile. I might do this. Thing is, theres a lot of G/W in my meta apparently, so ranger's guile protects the "combo"
of armed//dangerous which is how I get them. Stormbreath itself is usually lights out though, so maybe skullcrack for fogs (thats what I thought a guy had but then I realized he didn't SB), as a miser to maze's ends (not that its a bad MU) or just still against mono black. Although guile isn't that bad against mono B either, I feel like skullcrack is a bit more impactful because they ALWAYS swing with their demon when its life gain turn and if you take that out you give yourself a huge opening. So probably not, haven't skullcracked a fuck yet, etc.]

Never needed polis crusher, though I side him in against mono red because I need to win through reckoner and 7/7 tramplers will get there. I also want to be more proactive against Mono B rather than reactively reverlying them OR just having a dead card. Yeah revelry hits pithing needle, but I'm never really on the PW plan against control because I just want to beat their face in (my luck they see nykthos G1 and name garruk lolollol) and not slow down for
revelry when I can play that. Also Naya control might show up and chained to the rocks look silly if I bait mortars.

Flames is fine, against Mono R, against WW (didn't see), against master of waves sometimes.

As for the MB, I think rogue's passage might just be better. It lets you get through damage in the mirror when they can just chump with dorks they draw off garruk until they find some bullshit. Its also decent against G/W and master of waves (those times you know they have a rapid hybridization to chump your mistcutter but you dont have a ghor-clan or anything).

Speaking of hybridization.... hell maybe I want shock just for that epic play "hybridize my dude" "nah shock it, no chump for you."

[Yarpus]

- How was Armed // Dangerous?
- I'd say drop Ooze. But that's just me. Earlier he could be called a true valuetown, but now? He has some value against Mono Red but it's not crazy either.
- Wasn't 4 Domri too fucking extreme?
- Warrior's Lesson. Am I bad for ever considering it? 1-mana Divination is pretty sweet.

[Link]

No on warrior's lesson, yes you should feel bad (but should still stay strong and suggest htings because that's the only way to brew).

Armed//Dangerous fucking killed people like I expected it too. It turned the "fair" Mu of G/W into, "armed my stormbreath, bloodrush, lol u? You have HOW many advents and seles charms? thats cute." Board wipes Mono U, laughs at master of waves, double striking mistcutters also kill people bro, trumps the "mirror" because they dont interact at instant speed and can do shit all when I combo off, etc.

-Possibly, but its goddamn Domri and playing him on T2 is still as strong as it gets, and he's the most relevant PW in the mirror which I'm gonna run into a lot. I could shave 1 for another stormbreath possibly.

-Mono Red was my worst MU, and people play nylea's disciple on TOP of ooze just to try and fix it, so no way in hell can I drop him. Also is value
town as a late game threat still (control runs out of answers and you eat all the shit they did? VALUE), shits on Whip of erebos shenanigins, is decent in any creature MU that's gone later, and is just... He's just good goddamnt. Bloodrush+scavenge too. I think I made a 20/20 ooze with armed, scavenge, and blood rush, you can't do that surprise shit with just any 2-drop.

[Link]

SCG Open Trial

R1 vs. G/R devotion

---

G1 he just has a bunch of dorks and dies to stormbreath dragon. That's his weakness, my strength is punishing those hands.

Ran into the mirror which as I said I was least prepared for, so didn't board smoothly. I think I took out Witchstalkers for Armed//Dangerous and Gruul Charm, then took out the Chandra Xenagos for Mortars and something for a flames of the firebrand.

G2 he T3 Garruks me and I lose.

G3 I T2 Domri rade, keep seeing armed//dangerous on top. He's garruking and doing cute stuff, while I'm threatening rampager with my mystic to get him to 18. Then I play out the rampager, and armed it the next turn, he doesn't block and goes to 8. He has to use his polukranos now to kill domri, so he's tapped low and has a scooze out to (1 creature dead, the elf he killed with monstrous)
. I untap, Armed my rampager again, gruul charm. Extend hand hue. I got lucky but I could've had a more aggressive opener (didn't play a guy until rampager) or any number of hands, I realized the key was just to beat the shit out of him.. C-C-C-C COMBO

R2 vs. Daniel with B/G Aggro

---

Kibler-esque deck. G1 I draw into all 4 domris and he keeps wasting time hitting them with a lifebane zombie. Whereas some poly K eats a doom bladeThen I draw scavenging ooze and he doesn't have an answer for it. I fight the lifebane and win my way up from there.

-2 Svlvan Cayratid
-2 Domri Rade
-2 Polukranos
+2 Polis crusher in case he's on whip.
+1 Flames of the Firebrand
+3 Skarrg Guildmage

G2 I see Chandra and drawing 2 a turn is nice. He's racing me with deadbridge goliath (since I chump the first attack then put chandra up to 6), then I eventually get two mystics out to "chump" boon satyr the one blocking deadbridge goliath=gee
gee.

R3 vs. Cam with Mono Red

---

I use up good luck G1 where I see caryatid into witchstalker into Scooze and domri... it was gross.

-2 Polukranos (mistake in retrospect?)
-2 Stormbreath Dragon
-2 Boon Satyr
-2 Domri Rade

+2 Mortars
+1 Flames
+2 Polis Crusher
+1 Gruul Charm (for random chandra's phoenix hands or winning the game out of nowhere)
+2 Skarrg Guildmage

G2 I just get run over by a fast hand, he burns out my threats and I just can't stabilize.

G3 I have lands, Skarrg guildmage, scavenging ooze, gruul charm. He has a fast draw and like 8 power on the board when the game ended. My charm 1-1d a phoenix, but if it had been mortars I would've been able to overload it and stabilize a lot easier. Can't have it all I guess.

I think taking out polukranos was a mistake. The gruul charm proved too situational, and it if I had had poly K in that last game things might've been all different. Turns out when playing
monsters, you just need to yknow play monsters. Plus red MUs are always flooded (6 lands+) so monstrosity is defintiely value. Both polis crusher and poly K can fit, and I just need to rely on my curve to survive early.

R4 vs. Steve with G/W Aggro

---

G1 I mulligan and just get run over by advent of the wurm after he has a decent start.

Plan here is just to combo the shit out of them np.

-3 Witchstalker (mistake because he plays selescharms? its just a 3/3 for 3 where they get 3/3s for 2.)
-2 Domri Rade

+2 Mizzium Motars
+2 Armed//Dangerous
+1 Gruul Charm

G2 we trade a few guys and I get out a 5/5 scavenging ooze. I keep taking blows from a soldier but don't care, I mortars a fleecemane, he plays smiter, I boon satyr block. He keeps racing because he's afraid of ghor-clan, but then I armed and ghor-clan because he's forced to block with his board, but he still goes to 1. He complains he didnt have enough mana for advent+rootborn &#
40;lol 8 mana want), He's left with just a soldier and a rootborn after that, and I clan defiance him for the win cause why not.

G3 I scry see a stormbreath leave it there, ramp that guy out and beat him. He has a shit ton of power on board and I'm at 8 (he was mad because he didn't curve out with a guildgate as his 2nd land so couldnt evolve experiment 1), and I'm able to combo off for 18 damage with him having an advent EoT and 2 seles charms to push through hyper lethal.

he was pretty salty, but I guess pro-white combos will do that to you ;D

R5 vs. Sam with G/R Devotion

---

Same boarding plan as in R1. This guy tried to get me to draw but that would've left me way out of top 4, he knew it too. See clan thread for more details on asshatery. He was undefeated before I got to him, so its a shame I didn't get 1st place for this win.

G1: T4 Garruk, scoop.

G2: I get ahead of him on board with a 7/7 polukranos. I have domris in
hand to remove anything he plays, he's basically locked out. I overload a mortars when he drops a scooze and dude and finish off his 6 counter domri. I draw into ghor-clan and have 2-3 domris in hand (I think 3) to fight literally anything he plays because 7/7 when you're ahead on tempo is huge in this MU (at least when you have domris in hand).

G3, he mulls to 5 but actually has a decent 5. I snapkeep two temple of abandons, mystic, and two ghor-clan rampagers, and a mountain or something. I all I need is something to combo it with. I draw into polukranos and stormbreath. I lead with poly K in case he has mortars, but he has xenagos instead. Now I go with a turn late stormbreath, get him to 16, he +1 xenagos gets out a ruric thar! (like I said he had a decent 5). I rip the land I need to monstrous stormbreath, get him to 5 life (he shocked for something).

He could've stabilized if I didn't have the double ghor-clan. He had nykthos as one of h is 3 lands,
xenagos, scavenging ooze, caryatid, and played a polukranos with the xenagos +1. On my turn he monstrous polukranos to kill my dork, eats it with scooze, and goes to 6 (bloodrush over ruric thar is only 5 damage). I show him the second GCR and he calls me a slowroll.

I say if he had plummet, I'd need him to tap out for it then bloodrush over the polukranos in response to the plummet (he blocked my 5/5 with his 5/5 poly K), and monstrous it for x=1 to get a 10 power polu K over his 5 toughness guy. No reason to double ghor-clan when you only needed one for him to react. Though he would've scavenging my stormbreath and I'd lose anyway, so the safer play was bloodrushing polyK if I was playing around plummet anyway in retrospect.

[Link]

Gonna try adn fit in some hunt the hunter's probably, see if its even necessary.

It helps me kill creatures that outclass me (G/W) while also get in damage. That way I can keep in witchstalker and tusker against G/W and not feel dumb.

its another pumpspell for armed//dangerous to combo with.

Cutting that 3rd guildmage and a skullcrack....testing esper it just isnt all that hard to deal with, nor that very big in the meta game. Going to test Mono Bwith skullcrack some more first.

[Link]

4-1 last night, definitely needed to not be lazy and find some shocks in the commons pile.


Zero control around, fought mono red twice, nuwen (red/black), then mono black twice. Was perfectly symmetrical.

First mono red player jumped ship from mono black...lets just say he sided out mad cap skills against me cause scared/new to red.

2nd mono red is the one I lost to last week.... G3 he T2 madcap skills and I basically just had to scoop (need more shocks yo.)

Im about to just jam 3 nylea's disciples in there but I know thats not how my deck works and shock is just way better.

[Link]

also I've been very impressed with rogue's passage by the way.

You wouldn't think it was all that great, but unblockable is just so huge in this meta. From the devotion decks chump blocks for days (either BTE+100 dorks to stall time for garruk or MoW bs) to desecration demon to "LOLUELSPETH" (my personal favorite), its just been complete goddamn house every time I'm able to activate it.

Nykthos really only shines randomly in midrange MUs and board stalls.... and thats just not how my ragehamer wants to play. You want to bluff GCR at every damn opportunity and continue to trade board state for damage. Polukranos more often reads to me "5 mana, make my guy a 7/7" than any of the other value shit he can do with nykthos.

Rogue's passage lets my poly K still get in AFTER he's huge, which has been much better than just sometimes making him REALLY huge.

[Link]

I scrubbed out like a boss last night. Had lethal over two turns but missed it (required bloodrushing a GCR over no blockers, then untapping and clan defiancing).

Didn't tap my mana correctly against G/W where I was super far ahead on board but at 2 life, I could've domri fought and mortars a 3/3 experiment one to make certain I couldn't lose (he had fog into gift of orzhova, I read the fog correctly but didn't think hard enough about what I'd lose to so I didnt leave red mana open to mortars like a dumbass)

Hunt the hunter won me a mirror match though, and was pretty sweet against G/W (he god's willinged in response, but that would've been use for a lethal swing if he had it on his turn).


I'm getting real tired of Tusker tbh though.... not being able to actually cast him is SUPER gross.

I added the third stormbreath, so I'm considering

-4 Tusker
+1 Stormbreath
+1 Boon Satyr
+2 Skarrg Guildmage

-
1 Gruul guildgate
+1 Sylvan (up to 3)

so then id be at 24 land again

[Link]

I mean tuskers are HOUSE against mono black but if you can't cast him on T2 with these mountains he's just so gross.

Possibly adding Ruric Thar back to the SB for mono black because its the only MU I'm not comfortable with.

Also probably going back to Flesh//Blood, with more stormrbeaths and top end the Clan Defiance isnt as appealing as it would be in a hyper mana G/R devotion list. Its better than Blood against mono black, but even then fusing Flesh//blood to make an 8/8 rampager is pretty awesome when it goes late and they have merchants and demons and shit out.

[deck]28 Creatures
4 Elvish Mystic
3 Sylvan Caryatid
3 Boon Satyr
3 Scavenging Ooze
4 Ghor-Clan Rampager
4 Polukranos, World-Eater
3 Stormbreath Dragon
1 Ruric Thar, the Unbowed

24 Lands
7 Forest
6 Mountain
2 Overgrown Tomb
4 Stomping Ground
4 Temple of Abandon
1 Rogue's Passage

8 Noncreature
4 Domri Rade
1 Xenagos, the Reveler
1
Chandra, Pyromaster
2 Flesh// Blood


SB:
2 Hunt the Hunter
3 Mistcutter Hydra
2 Armed // Dangerous
1 Shock
1 Flames of the Firebrand
2 Mizzium Mortars
1 Gruul Charm
2 Polis Crusher
1 Ruric thar, the Unbowed[/deck]


Mono U is an easy swap:
-3 Stormbreath
+3 Mistcutter

-6 Planeswalkers
+2 Mortars
+1 Shock
+1 Flames of the Firebrand
+2 Armed//Dangerous


Mono black:
-2 Flesh//Blood
+1 Ruric Thar, the Unbowed
+1 Mistcutter Hydra


Mono Red:
-2 Stormbreath
-2 Domri Rade
+1 Flames
+1 Shock
+2 Mortars

I like ruric thar vs. mono red because he actually can win the game with vigilance. Yeah reckoner sucks.


No I couldn't find room for Skarrg guildmage, I decided ruric thar main instead as well as the 2 bloods. Rogue's passage hopefully is enough for the declinign # of elspeth players (GCR is still house there too so its not as bad as youd think)

its definitely harder to stick planeswalkers and threats though without tuskers =/
The control MU is definitely more
rough because you don't have 1 or 2 drops that pressure them enough to tap out (this is why guildmage is the shit). If control is more prevalent in your meta than G/R devotion, just:

-2 Hunt the hunter
-1 Gruul Charm
+3 Skarrg guildmage.

Swap them in for caryatids and watch the magic. Mystic into guildmage into swing for 6 is a beautiful thing

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tried an old variant without plants or dragons, tuskers and 2x hydra instead with less mountains.

Beat UW without dragons (skarrg guildmage got in for 6 and ate a dshere ;D), so it really made me wonder if dragons was worth 6 mountains and playing plants...


against everything except boros and GW, I think no.

And tuskers do their own work against WW and boros...

Hydra closes out games better against mono u and can swing into DD.


ofc the greedy way out is 18 green for tusker AND dragons but the deck mulligans too poorly to get away with it even if it should be enough. Every hand with two mountains was an auto mull...it got old.

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I went with this list:

[deck]
29 Creatures
4 Elvish Mystic
4 Kalonian Tusker
4 Boon Satyr
3 Witchstalker
4 Scavenging Ooze
4 Ghor-Clan Rampager
4 Polukranos, World-Eater
2 Kalonian Hydra

24 Lands
9 Forest
4 Mountain
2 Overgrown Tomb
4 Stomping Ground
4 Temple of Abandon
1 Rogue's Passage

7 Noncreature
4 Domri Rade
1 Xenagos, the Reveler
2 Flesh// Blood[/deck]

might be changing it up to the 10 forest 5 mountain, 1 gruul guildgate dragon mode.... after thinking more dragon is better against those hard MUs that you just dont want to fold to: random blood baron decks, G/W, etc. While I dont think dragon is all that great against black and blue.... he's not terrible either. plus being able to stormbreath, then bloodrush blood the next turn means dragon is a 2 turn kill just the same as hydra just less obviously so....

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I think I broke it. Fuck witcbstalker, doesnt do shit against anyone and doesn't fix actual problem with kono black MU. decent against mono red but if they are on madcap skills its i useless