Dies to Removal

This top 8'd at GPKC.

I like it.

[deck]
Lands (20)
4 Arid Mesa
4 Blackcleave Cliffs
2 Blood Crypt
1 Marsh Flats
2 Sacred Foundry
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Snow-Covered Mountain
1 Stomping Ground

Creatures (13)
3 Deathrite Shaman
4 Goblin Guide
2 Grim Lavamancer
4 Vexing Devil

Burn (27)
4 Boros Charm
4 Bump in the Night
4 Lava Spike
4 Lightning Bolt
1 Pillar of Flame
4 Rift Bolt
2 Searing Blaze
1 Shard Volley
3 Skullcrack


Sideboard
1 Flamebreak
1 Grafdigger's Cage
2 Hide // Seek
3 Rakdos Charm
2 Searing Blaze
1 Skullcrack
1 Spellskite
1 Torpor Orb
2 Volcanic Fallout
1 Wear // Tear[/deck]

I'd probably play Lightning Helix over VD, for obvious reasons.

But then again, he DID lose in Game 3 of T8 to color screw.

The tech on Hide //Seek is pretty cool.

Ugh. Just ripped off half the nail on my index finger after closing a pair of pneumatic grips on it. Fuck man, finger injuries bleed like a stuck pig.

You have never in your life had good news...

Your right. Just a string of bad luck for me. Ok, let's break that trend. On a positive note, got my bonus from work last Friday and had a great weekend with the family. Gotta love that money! Drank beer and watched fireworks on the 4th. Breakfast at Black
Bear Diner the following morning (fucking awesome!). And concluded my weekend by building some furniture and making sawdust. Now I need a weekend to recover from my weekend.

'afternoon, everyone. Looks like nothing much has changed around here: FoS members still getting banned from the cesspit of MTGS; redthirst's member still being enviously talked about; and FoS members still discussing card viability from the new set.

Good times.

Ill do an M14 review and brew session this weekend. Time to get back into writing anyway.

Disappointing weekend. Should have played Jund.

R/G agro finally failed me. 4/3, good enough for 38th place outside of the money.

Flooded both games round 1 against UWR player that top 8'd.

Round 2, got a game loss for a deck registration error. Wrote "stromkirk' instead of Stromkirk noble. BS. Won the first game vs. Jund, game two, I keep triple BTE, madcap, get miracle bonfire'd on turn 4 when my opponent has a nighthawk on board. I couldn't recover.

Win 3 in a row(against scrub decks admittedly), the lose to junk rites 1/2. Game 3, I mulled into a decent 5 on the draw and he was stuck on four lands, but he had 2 mana dorks and I had no removal. The game did get to a point where mizzium mortars overload would have done...something, but in the end I got crunched.

I win my last round against naya midrange which was my only interesting match of the day, but it wasn't worth anything and I was
thoroughly disgusted with the tournament.

Should have played Jund.

On the plus side, the 13 year old on our team had only one goal, and that was to be featured.

http://www.twitch.tv/mtgdeals/b/427179241 2:55 if you want to see a kid having a blast crushing on camera.

The worst thing about the tourney was that I had actually played with all of the teams decks, both sides of every matchup and I was winning the majority of games with everything. My team all should have had a good chance of top 8ing, but they each in turn misplayed themselves out of games. If I was playing one of there decks, I easily go undefeated in the tourney.

This sounds incredibly bitter/conceited/salty/petty, but I'm really upset about my performance, mostly because of how much I prepped for the tourney as otherwise it wouldn't be that big of a deal.

Sorry for raining on everyone's parade.

On a brighter note, I was
pretty happy to see Tyler Lytle top 16 another GP being the only player to place highly with a pure agro deck(gruul).

Anyway, casual Sledgehammer Red update, shifting a little more midrangey.

[deck]
4 Ash Zealot
4 Chandra's Phoenix
4 Firefist Striker *
4 Hellrider
4 Legion Loyalist *
2 Stonewright
4 Thundermaw Hellkite

1 Chandra, Pyromaster

4 Pillar of Flame
4 Searing Spear

21 Mountain
4 Mutavault

Sideboard
2 Chandra, Pyromaster
4 Flames of the Firebrand
4 Mizzium Mortars
1 Mountain
2 Stonewright
2 Zealous Conscripts[/deck]

* these could be any of Gore-House Chainwalker, Lightning Mauler or Firefist Striker and Legion Loyalist, Rakdos Cackler and Stromkirk Noble. I opted to go with the cards that are best in longer games and synergise better with all the haste (you're running 20+ haste creatures).

Chandra quickly approaches a one-sided Howling Mine in this deck which is kinda sweet, or she makes your removal package a little nastier post-board.

Ugh. Just ripped off half the nail on my index finger after closing a pair of pneumatic grips on it. Fuck man, finger injuries bleed like a stuck pig.

You have never in your life had good news...

Did you ever consider making a 2014 calendar with shots of your penis?

That would be the good news he needs.

He'd have to buy a wide angle lens first.

more like use google earth.

Anyway, casual Sledgehammer Red update, shifting a little more midrangey.

[deck]
4 Ash Zealot
4 Chandra's Phoenix
4 Firefist Striker *
4 Hellrider
4 Legion Loyalist *
2 Stonewright
4 Thundermaw Hellkite

1 Chandra, Pyromaster

4 Pillar of Flame
4 Searing Spear

21 Mountain
4 Mutavault

Sideboard
2 Chandra, Pyromaster
4 Flames of the Firebrand
4 Mizzium Mortars
1 Mountain
2 Stonewright
2 Zealous Conscripts[/deck]

* these could be any of Gore-House Chainwalker, Lightning Mauler or Firefist Striker and Legion Loyalist, Rakdos Cackler and Stromkirk Noble. I opted to go with the cards that are best in longer games and synergise better with all the haste (you're running 20+ haste creatures).

Chandra quickly approaches a one-sided
Howling Mine in this deck which is kinda sweet, or she makes your removal package a little nastier post-board.

The list I'm thinking of is kind of close.

Lands (24)
4 Mutavault
20 Mounains

Creatures (24)
4 Stromkirk Noble
4 Rakdos Cackler
2 Stonewright
4 Ash Zealot
4 Chandra's Pheonix
4 Hellrider
2 Thundermaw Hellkite

Spells (12)
4 Searing Spear
4 Pillar of Flame
4 Brimstone Volley

Sideboard (15)
3 Mizzium Mortars
3 Burning Earth
4 Flames of the Firebrand
2 Skullcrack
3 Mindsparker

I've kind of come full circle, back to the begining of RTR standard lol.

4 loyalists/firefist in a list with no other 1-drops and no BTE to get out a batallion just seems awkward. Hellrider without said 1-drops or pyreheart wolf seems off too =/

dunno much about sledgehammer so

Nice list Johnny. I'd shave a Volley for a Chandra, otherwise very nice.

4 loyalists/firefist in a list with no other 1-drops and no BTE to get out a batallion just seems awkward. Hellrider without said 1-drops or pyreheart wolf seems off too =/

dunno much about sledgehammer so

The list runs at least 20 haste creatures.

I mean I'm sure once you get two out its very easy to activate battalion "out of nowhere"

I'm just biased from BTE decks, where T3 batallion is pretty much a given. I just don't think that-given interaction and removal, the deck will be able to reliable activate battalion for value without 1-drops and BTE.

I mean just from the curve, at most you're looking at T4 battalions at the earliest, and that's if they don't touch your 2-drop or 3-drop. A battalion of Firefist, Phoenix, Hellrider seems pretty flimsy by T4?

4 hellkites with 4 loyalists by itself just seems off. Iunno, definitely like the look of Johnny's better with the chandra inclusion you reccomended (and possible more in the SB in place of Skullcrack since Chandra 0-ing a skullcrack doesn't seem particularly good at all.)

Gruul on battalions if you have a BTE in hand (so 1 in 2 games) and your opponent has no removal, so it isn't much difference. I did provide non-battalion options under the list (you did read the entire post right?). Firefist is in the deck to give you an alternate turn 2 play, Lessing the drawback on including the full 4 Mutavault; but it can be any 1R card; I like Firefist to help protect Hellrider; in a version with more early drops Shortcutter is worth consideration. Loyalist can likewise be any other 1 drop, and it need not necessarily be a 4/2 split. I'm just trying to emphasise card quality; this deck has very few poor draws as the game goes on (really only Firefist in some board states; Loyalist at least is a hasted creature and every other creature you have is VERY good).

To clarify, this is NOT a turn 4 kill deck.

Nice list Johnny. I'd shave a Volley for a Chandra, otherwise very nice.

Unless I crack a Chandra, I'm going to wait and see how it turns out. I'm still not conviced it is good.

I was right about Gideon, Orzhov Charm and Merciless Eviction, but this time I hope I'm wrong. I want her to be playable.

I'll let other people take the risk of forking over the money and they can tell me if she's good in a month or so.

The construction and play style of a Sledgehammer deck is very different from a Gruul deck, so it's important not to apply the same critical turn and board presence philosophy.

Nice list Johnny. I'd shave a Volley for a Chandra, otherwise very nice.

Unless I crack a Chandra, I'm going to wait and see how it turns out. I'm still not conviced it is good.

I was right about Gideon, Orzhov Charm and Merciless Eviction, but this time I hope I'm wrong. I want her to be playable.

I'll let other people take the risk of forking over the money and they can tell me if she's good in a month or so.

Orzhov Charm is good and I don't recall anyone ever thinking Merciless Eviction was good, so you're like 50%

But that's ok. I punted on Domri.

Chandra is good though.

Deck doesn't look like it beats any aggressive farseek deck(Jund agro, naya agro). I'd think the other agro decks can just win by going into there top end faster and dominate once they're there because there threats are mostly out of reds removal range(turn3/4 dragon, advent admittedly soft to legion loyalist of all things). I simply think the green decks win the thundermaw battle. The fact that they can clog boards makes there spell lands twice as valuable then our man-land. In the early game, we have advantage which hopefully we convert through wins by being able to apply enough pressure to keep them from turning the corner, but in my experience even with gruul agro, this is harder said then done.

Control matchup seems awesome though and UWR is very much a deck.

Orzhov charm is something more then fringe playable but not much more.

I should add I was completely wrong about blind obedience.

I still don't know how I feel about that card.

I do. Strictly unplayable. I should dig up the thread on MTGS where everyone told me it would make aggro unplayable.

Son, you're not butthurt, you're buttdevastated!

I'd just like to add here that I always thought Dega midrange is shit, just like its loudest advocate on another site.

After playing with it for a couple of weeks and trying the various "this is so awesome!" builds, my conclusion is that... it's shit.

I liked Dega reanimator because Faithless Looting gives you consistency; the straight midrange deck is just a worse version of Jund IMO.

After trying to talk myself into playing it for a week, I've decided that it's powerful, but too inconsistent for me personally to play. I'll also add that it won a 5k this past weekend. It's basically a more powerful, laughably less consistent Jund deck.

I want to like Dega midrange but it's like my friend said when I showed him my list. The deck just looks weird. No really powerful cards to play beyond Blood Baron. It's like a goodstuff deck without as much goodstuff.

I'm thinking Baron is going to find his place after M14 hits...there are interesting options in both Orzhov and Junk colors.

Does anyone else see Sanguine Bond being potentially busted in this lifegain-heavy meta? Having it in play in Junk Rites seems damn scary as it would give them abusable reach...but even funnier to me is the thought of playing Sanguine Bond into Crypt Incursion against Rites after they fill the GY. 30-40 point life swings would be utterly realistic. In fact, the combo would be pretty strong in any removal-heavy deck given the emphasis on creatures in the meta.

And just out of curiosity...am I the only one who finds Blood Bairn damned creepy?

So it's Monday Night Modern MM pack grinders, and I lent my usual deck (Real Steel) to my friend for GPKC. All of my Tarmogoyfs were also with him since he took my Legacy deck with him too.

That being said, I just took AIR and put Stormblood Berserkers and Lightning Bolts in it. No regrets, I went 7-1. I punted one match to Storm, getting him to 1 after bolting his Electromancer instead of him earlier into the game.

[deck]Modern AIR[/deck]

I wastelanded so many people with those Ghost Quarters. I do not regret simply skipping Mutavault. My sideboard is super sketchy and all-around pretty bad but I was in a hurry so I just went "Okay this kills pod, this is good against rug, blood moon is hysterical, whatever fuck it g2g." Shrines are apparently just as good in Modern as they were in Standard, though.

I should add I was completely wrong about blind obedience.

I still think it hoses flashy-flashy decks.

So it's Monday Night Modern MM pack grinders, and I lent my usual deck (Real Steel) to my friend for GPKC. All of my Tarmogoyfs were also with him since he took my Legacy deck with him too.

That being said, I just took AIR and put Stormblood Berserkers and Lightning Bolts in it. No regrets, I went 7-1. I punted one match to Storm, getting him to 1 after bolting his Electromancer instead of him earlier into the game.

[deck]Modern AIR[/deck]

I wastelanded so many people with those Ghost Quarters. I do not regret simply skipping Mutavault. My sideboard is super sketchy and all-around pretty bad but I was in a hurry so I just went "Okay this kills pod, this is good against rug, blood moon is hysterical, whatever fuck it g2g." Shrines are apparently just as good in Modern as they were in Standard, though.

I'm surprised you didn't put Goblin Guide in there. Denying them the land draw?

Mmmm, makes me want to look at Kuldotha Rebirth style decks...

Devastating Summons you're the best.

I didn't play Goblin Guide because there were already too many 1drops that synergized better with the list, although I think maybe Stromkirk Noble could get the boot for Guide. It's close. Goblin Bushwhacker was also something I considered over Signal Pest. I'd have to mess around with it.

Loyalist definitely felt more relevant that GG would have though, card was really good vs. Jund. I got a guy REALLY hard one game when he left back a Raging Ravine that was a 5/5 to block and then turn around and kill me, Loyalist gg'd the shit out of him.

Mmmm, makes me want to look at Kuldotha Rebirth style decks...

I originally considered playing something like K.Red until I realized that fucker also had my Mox Opals.

Your list needed Goblin Bushwhacker IMO.

Anyway

[deck]
4 Goblin Bushwhacker
4 Goblin Guide
4 Memnite
4 Ornithopter
4 Signal Pest
4 Vault Skirge

4 Galvanic Blast
4 Kuldotha Rebirth
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Shrapnel Blast

4 Mox Opal

4 Darksteel Citadel
14 Mountain[/deck]

No testing or theory-crafting, just going with my gut.

My Kuldotha Red :

[Deck]
4 Memnite
4 Ornithopter
4 Vault Skirge
4 Signal Pest
4 Myr Servitor
4 Goblin Guide
4 Goblin Bushwhackers

4 Kuldotha Rebirth
4 Goblin Grenade
4 Shrapnel Blast

4 Mox Opal

4 Darksteel Citadel
4 Teetering Peaks
8 Mountain

Sideboard
3 Sylvok Lifestaff
4 Smash to Smithereens
4 Arc Trail
4 Hellspark Elemental
[/deck]

Your list needed Goblin Bushwhacker IMO.

I think so as well. Stromkirk Noble was always really mediocre unless it was turning on Stormblood Berserker.

Bushwhacker is just a very powerful card.

He's like a baby Hellrider.

How is babby Hellrider formed?