Dies to Removal

ah freedom, youre blessed with the.. um... freedom of not being tied down by a favorite planeswalker.

I like your numbers and your SB. If you move some pillars over I think 4th VS is definitely top priority, perhaps 3rd elecktrickery next (if youre going to play it its really great in multiples). I wouldn't play 4 wolves (seeing two once in awhile is ok, seeing two often is bad) and 4th zealot is personal preference.


Also LP:
I think I found a better phrasing for why I like Firefist striker as a magic card. You said "bad players can beat it easily" but I don't know how true that it is. Bad players can play around it, but they lose valuable time against your deck. The tempo gain is HUGE. If, instead of dropping their creature thats just going to get run around, they have to use that turn to deal with JUST striker and then the NEXT turn they get to drop their
creature... they are set back an entire turn in my mind. And with the acceleration BTE gives to our tempo already setting htem BACK a turn is what really makes this deck...well fucking terrifying to play against.

I'm going to sleeve this up for FNM I'll post a report and thoughts.

Might not be able to get Domri in time ago the SB will be different but otherwise I'm using Fate's current list as a starting point

I think some other options to explore with my board are to either cut the Electrickerys entirely, keep 4 pillars SB, go up to 4 VStrength (any changes I make will be dedicated to finding room for a fourth copy of that card) and add a Zealot; play one Pillar main for a Mauler/Striker; or play 2 Pillars main for a Mauler and a Striker and adding Mauler/Striker as a one-of in the board, or maybe the 4th Ash Zealot.

I think some other options to explore with my board are to either cut the Electrickerys entirely, keep 4 pillars SB, go up to 4 VStrength (any changes I make will be dedicated to finding room for a fourth copy of that card) and add a Zealot;

This is where I'm at the moment with my SB. I think yours would look the same, right? I'm in the same situation as you, no Domris.

[deck]SB
4 Ash Zealot
4 Pillar of Flame
4 Volcanic Strength
3 Pyreheart Wolf[/deck]

play one Pillar main for a Mauler/Striker; or play 2 Pillars main for a Mauler and a Striker and adding Mauler/Striker as a one-of in the board, or maybe the 4th Ash Zealot.

I'm considering dropping one each of Lightning Mauler/Firefist Striker, and put two
Pillars MB. But what to put in the SB instead, that I don't know. So maybe I'll just keep it simple and run the above next time.

Fate, if you're cutting a few cards down to 3 MB (mauler, striker, pillar, hellrider), have you considered doing that for Reckoner? He's more of a roadblock for you as opposed to pure aggro and you have a couple turns to draw into him. Consider adding back a 4th copy of LM, FS, or Pillar MB and drop to 3 Reckoner MB. Maybe the 4th in the side, depending on space.

yeah I'm trying to find a way to fit 4 firefist back in...

cutting LM might be necessary.. but he's what made my deck so fast.

I just really don't like mb pillars

i can go 4 vs 4 zeaot 4 pillar... but then only 3 wolf OR 3 domri...

fffff CURSE YOU DOMRIII

yeah I'm trying to find a way to fit 4 firefist back in...

cutting LM might be necessary.. but he's what made my deck so fast.

I just really don't like mb pillars

i can go 4 vs 4 zeaot 4 pillar... but then only 3 wolf OR 3 domri...

fffff CURSE YOU DOMRIII

In my playing I found the sweet spot to be 4 spear 2 pillar MB. So maybe something like this?

[deck]
Creatures - 34
4 Stromkirk Noble
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Burning Tree Emissary
4 Lightning Mauler
4 Firefist Striker
4 Flinthoof Boar
4 Ghor-Clan Rampager
3 Boros Reckoner
3 Hellrider

Instants/Sorceries - 6
4 Searing Spear
2 Pillar of Flame

Land - 20
4 Stomping Ground
4 Rootbound Crag
2
Temple Garden
10 Mountain

Sideboard - 15
3 Domri Rade
2 Pillar of Flame
3 Volcanic Strength
4 Ash Zealot
3 Pyreheart Wolf
[/deck]

actually, fuck yeah. that's my version of this deck now. Very similar to where I was, but most of the changes are SB.

yeah Saito's list had 2 as well MB... Hmm cutting a reckoner... makes it easier to swap 3-3 with wolves in those match-ups... Reckoner does slow me down in match-ups where pillar is bad...

I'd probably go down to 2 domris for the full 4 VS, but otherwise I'm gonna try it out.


These freakin voices man, the only reason I even considered messing with my board. Ah well, no use complaining just have to adapt

yeah Saito's list had 2 as well MB... Hmm cutting a reckoner... makes it easier to swap 3-3 with wolves in those match-ups... Reckoner does slow me down in match-ups where pillar is bad...

I'd probably go down to 2 domris for the full 4 VS, but otherwise I'm gonna try it out.


These freakin voices man, the only reason I even considered messing with my board. Ah well, no use complaining just have to adapt

Voice of Resurgence or the voices in your head?

ff.... cut the pillars MB. Cut Domri's from the side, hope I don't regret it. He's just too narrow and not really in line with the deck's plan... he's just a good card.

Its like, "if they maybe have Azorius charms I'm playing Domri" If they answer Domri another way and he doesn't draw me cards? Horrible. I'm never using his pit fight either, so its really only for his ultimate and hoping his +1 gets me advantage.

I think Pyreheart will just be more all around useful and synergies well with what my deck wants already.

As for Pillars cut again, its really style. I don't like playing cards that are "well HOPEFULLY they have something to pillar and I have a pillar in my opener" because drawing a pillar is shit, and them not having a pillarable dude is shit. I want them to have pillars for me, and I want my deck as CONSISTENT as possible. Pillar isn't consistency, its an answer thats at worse
some bad reach. I rather have the land to curve out more nad the LM and Firefist back.

My first hand I opened after adding them back to my original 60 was amazing ONLY because of the temple garden in my hand making being the second land making it playable. My deck has spoken.


STREAMLINE GET

I think Pillar MB is a meta call. What archetypes do you expect to see the most of?

I'd expect some numbers of:

Mirror
Naya Blitz
Jund
UWR Flash
UWR Midrange
Esper Control
RDW
Bant Enchant
Bant Grow
Junk Rites

With Junk, Jund, Bant, UWR Flash, Mirror and Blitz likely seeing more representation.

I want pillar in everything except Bant Enchant, UWR Flash/Midrange, Esper Control, and maybe Junk unless I'm seeing dorks. So from that list it's a 50/50 or 60/40 call. Adjust depending on density of given archetypes.

I know you know this, it's not new, but sometimes we disregard things. Pillar is most often used to the dome or to clear an X/1 or X/2. But it can also be used after combat to clear a creature with damage assigned to it or redirected at a planeswalker. Those aren't in the majority but they aren't insignificant either.

It's completely up to you, your play style, what you want your
deck to do (you've mentioned consistency), and the meta.

I really do like having the 6 reach cards MB (4 spear, 2 pillar) - I've found that it doesn't harm consistency but really boosts resiliency.

To each their own.

EDIT: Of course, you've seen more success with the deck than I have so far, so I should be deferring to you on it!

that's what I said... and then I realized "the SIDEBAORD is for the meta!" I could do the same thing with Ash Zealot. Look at how many things in the meta zealot is good against:

[Insert list here]

But we already deduced earlier that Ash Zealot isn't what the MB wants. The MB wants: SHITTONS of creatures that can be played out fast (BTE+things BTE can play) into Hellrider+Spears for a finisher.

Pillar isn't a creature. Pillar isn't a finisher either. I don't care if pillar is good against literally every deck I expect I will face, I'm not playing it BECAUSE it is a reactive card.

Now yeah its a good card and has its uses.. it can function as a "third 1-drop" when you are on the draw against someone, it can help stave off nobles and shit in the mirror.... but I'll leave that to postboard games.

I don't know if I'm right, I don't know if "make a extremely
streamlined MB" is the right way to build aggro, but this is what I feel comfortable with. I want every card in my MB to do what I want it to do, when I want it to do it. I would almost rather play Mugging ffs MB over pillar if I wanted a card like that. And I'm definitely not ballsy enough to put mugging in my list right now.

Other than the fact that Pillar can be cast off of BTE and Zealot can't, I understand that.

Come to think of it though, maybe I'm holding on to Pillar because of the old versions of this deck. Back when we were running Rancor we wanted something that cost only 1 red to cast off BTE if the green was used for Rancor. Pillar fit that slot perfectly in case we didn't have Stromkirk or Cackler. Now that Rancor isn't there and we've increased our 1R density with the inclusion of Firefist, that's not at all an argument for Pillar any longer.

Hmmm...

Pillar is so good in the mainboard:

Jund: Huntmaster, post combat kill Olivia.

Junk: All there mana guys ever, sin collector, voice of resurgence. Also exiling creatures so they can't be reanimated.

Mirror: Kills everything but boar, reckoner, and hellrider.

Anything agro. Kills everything but big champions and Medics. Can kill champ before it gets big.

Bant enchantments: Silverblade, fencing Ace, pilgrim. Killing pilgrim lets you steal wins.

Dead versus Merican Control and Esper control. The latter is a very favorable matchup so meh, the former is 55/45 for us or them depending on there version and if they can play multiple azorius charms. Postboard, domri rapes both decks either way.

At the LGS pillar also answers vorapede for whatever that's worth as I usually can't beat that card ever.

But seriously though, not playing pillar just means your playing a different deck and that's fine. The more agro
version has merits and to each his own.

I like the list with 3 Pillars main. I'll be bringing the 3-3 Mauler-Firefist split list since I'm expecting a lot of aggro in the field tomorrow. Last two WMCQ's here were won with aggro decks (Jund and Naya Blitz), so I'm expecting a lot will be trying that as well. I'm even considering 4 Pillars main and 1 Reckoner on the board but it lowers my threat density. Pillar is also going to be important for the inevitable Voice decks.

The best version for that meta sounds like it wants four pillar, 4 reckoner. A card I'm thinking about trimming is the 3rd hellrider and the 21st land for 2 more 2 drops. Would make the deck a bit more aggressive and increase your range of keepable hands.

I went 4-1 on FNM earlier though I have to admit 3 out of 5 rounds the decks were rogue-ish and I just rolled over them.

raspy said it perfectly, great angle.

bte into pillar rancor was HOUSE, but needed 3 cards and inconsistent. philosophy of fire, lm and firefist use ALL of bte mana. bte into just pillar is too lacklusree mb. I'm set on the 35 creature madness with the 4_4_4_3 sb of wolves zealotsvs and pillars

So I guess that means we're playing the same 75 now. Props to you for finding the will to drop Domri.

just stomped bant control without domri. wolves were beast as was LM against azocharms

fighting my way back up. sideboarded horribly against Aarons Naya Voice list g3 and kept a bad hand too. that mu is gonna give me trouble

Just had a really good match against Bant Control, the kind with tons of sweepers and Selesnya Charms. It was on Cockatrice, so I'm not sure how much my words count here, but he seemed to be a fairly capable player. Game 2 ended when he Sphinx's Rev'd for his library then Psychic Spiral'd me for all but 14 cards of mine, and I saw all 3 Hellriders (in a row, no less). I boarded in Ash Zealots and didn't see them for about 8 turns game 2, though I probably would have won if I would have seen them earlier. Then I crushed him game 3 on 3 lands with Noble, LM, BTE and a pair of GCR with Hellrider and Zealot sitting in my hand. This makes me wonder if Zealots are actually worth boarding in in that MU. It was a bit weird finding stuff to take out, since I wanted to bring in Wolves and take out Reckoners, leaving me with an extra card. Game 2 I think I took out a pair of Cacklers and a Striker, game 3 I put the Cacklers
back in for 2 more Strikers, since Striker was a very bad card for me (blocked by their Augur if you don't have 3 creatures) and I would be on the play again. Was I right here? I won, but that's because game 3 played out like most game 1s will. I feel like I should know how to do this match up right, as it's becoming more popular and the guys at my store love Bant Control.

I'm eagerly looking forward to Fate's write-up of SCG Baltimore and any matchup analyses.

Yesterday I participated in a $5k put on by a shop on the MA/RI border. My notes are at home and I'll write something up, but I didn't do very well. 7 rounds, went 3-4. Because there weren't many people there (69 participants, I ended up 42nd), I would have been in the money in the top 32 if I had pulled out my last round. It was Reanimator, and we went to game 3. I had him at 6 with a cleared board state and a spear and pillar in my hand. Top deck BTE. Dead. Top deck Rootbound Crag. THEN came the Ash Zealot, but by that point he had gained 10 life from tusks.

I beat UWR Control very handily, though. 2-0 and the guy was baffled how he lost. Domri, that's how. I rolled over him game 1. He boarded TONS of removal. I just pushed right through it, and was very happy to see Domri show up.

Here is the deck i brought for my local WMCQ

[deck]
Creatures [32]
4 Stromkirk Noble
3 Ash Zealot
4 Burning Tree Emissary
4 Lightning Mauler
4 Firefist Striker
4 Flinthoof Boar
3 Ghor-Clan Rampager
3 Boros Reckoner
3 Hellrider

Instants/Sorceries [6]
4 Searing Spear
3 Pillar of Flame

Land [21]
4 Stomping Ground
4 Rootbound Crag
2 Temple Garden
11 Mountain

Sideboard [15]
2 Domri Rade
1 Pillar of Flame
3 Volcanic Strength
1 Ash Zealot
3 Pyreheart Wolf
3 Legion Loyalist
2 Electrickery
[/deck]

Matchups:
Mono Red: 2-0
Jund: 2-0
Grixis Control: 1-2
Naya Blitz: 2-1
Reanimator: 2-0
Junk Tokens: 2-1
UWR Flash: 2-0
Junk Aristrocrats: 2-1
Immortal Servitude Combo: ID

Top 8
Naya Blitz: 0-2

I absolutely hated how Rakdos Crackler rots in my hand/feelings of 'OMG TOPDECKED A 2/2 VANILLA' as I try to apply battalion off [card]Firefist Striker[/card:
22hsb0ha] or pummelling my opponent hard with hasted creatures in top deck mode. (I go into top deck mode a lot and the addition of Ash Zealot main helped a lot in applying constant pressure) A mountain is added to compensate the added R requirement.

I will split how my matches go into 3 sections namely Aggro, Control and Midrange

1-> Aggro (Mono red, Naya Blitz)
Basically Ash Zealot on defence with hard casted Ghor-Clan Rampager is enough to hold the fort while noble does his work against Naya Blitz. As for mono red, he just cannot race me or trade profitably with the threat of bloodrush and kept losing in the damage race
SB = -3 Hellrider -1 Mountain -1 Searing Spear +1 Ash Zealot +1 Pillar of Flame +3 Volcanic Strength

2-> Control (Grixis, URW)
As usual control is a walk in the park although mainborded [card:
22hsb0ha]Magmaquake[/card] caught me off guard from Grixis to make me lose to him. Other than that, Gruul Stompy stomps control all day long. I also noticed that Ash Zealots really prevents Grixis from getting more CA from flashback until they deal with Ash Zealots
SB = -3 Pillar +2 Domri +1 Volcanic Strength(UWR) +1 Ash Zealot (Grixis)

3-> Midrange (Jund, Junk Aristocrats, Junk Tokens, Reanimator)
Here I will split into Jund and Reanimator together and the 2 Junk decks together
a) In Jund and Reanimator, Pyreheart Wolf after SB does work a plenty to ensure that I can close out the game after my initial onslaught which was extremely relevant in my games against them.
SB (Jund) -> -3 Ghor-Clan Rampager +3 Pyreheart Wolf
SB (Reanimator) -> -3 Boros Reckoner +3 Pyreheart Wolf
b) As you can see my losses before top 8 are from these 2 decks and a nutty nut nut draw from Naya Blitz. The Loxodon Smiter wall and Young wolf + [
card]Voice of Resurgence[/card] + Lingering Souls simply proved too much game 1.
SB (Junk Tokens) -3 Hellrider -3 Boros Reckoner -1 Mountain -1 Ash Zealot +3 Pyreheart Wolf +3 Legion Loyalist +2 Electrickery
here Pyreheart Wolf comes in for the loxodon and loyalist and electrickery for tokens
SB (Junk Aristocrats) -3 Ash Zealot -2 Searing Spear -1 Mountain +1 Pillar of Flame +3 Legion Loyalist +2 Electrickery
This deck is the real deal, it can dig itself from a losing position to a winning position, was extremely glad to delicate 5 slots to fight token strategies and I managed to pull through

I couldn't comment on the Immortal Servitude deck as I didn't get to play against him and he eventually won the entire event
As for my terrible loss in top 8 against Naya Blitz, deck decided to troll me by helping me mull to 3 after being analed with nut draw game 1.
7 cards - no land, 6 cards - no land, 5 cards- 4 lands, 4 cards - 4 lands, gg.com mull to 3 with rootbound crag, stromkirk noble and pillar of flame which obviously I cannot race a decent hand over at the other side
Oh well such is magic I guess

Your 5 card mull was incorrect.

Depending on the nonland card in hand, I'm inclined to agree.

I don't think that even matters honestly. Going to 4 in such a low land count deck is asking for trouble. After 6 your mindset has to change from "looking for a good hand" to "can play a game, even if poorly".

You have to ask yourself why you are more willing to keep a 1-lander on 5 than 6. Since you already have 4 lands in hand, you should have a lower chance of flooding.

SCG Baltimore

35-4-21 List with LM and Striker main. Final Sb was as mentioned:
[deck]
4 Pillar of Flame
4 Ash Zealots
4 Volcanic Strength
3 Pyreheart Wolf[/deck]


Round 1 vs. Naya Aggro
I lose the dice roll, but I proceed to stomp over his defense with a stromkirk noble and double GCR hand. Knowing his list, I board in Ash Zealots to fight off Vocies and Strangleroot geists, and board in Volcanic Strength to go around his creatures.

-4 LM
-4 Cacklers
-3 Hellrider
-1 Temple garden

+Zealots
+Pillars
+VS

This deck is hard to beat on the draw. I also didn't board correctly, and just got run over by advent of the wurms, reckoners, and smiters. He also had mortars and just flat out kept the pressure on.

+4 Cacklers
-4 Firefist striker (mistake)
G3 not only do I keep a TERRIBLE 1 lander at my 7 with 3 1-drops that immediately got outclassed, but I
realized my boarding strategy was bad.

Ash Zealots were useless on the play. I didn't even see a single strangleroot geist anyway. The PROBLEM in this match-up is their better value creatures, the ANSWER is firefist striker AND pyreheart. If you make him have to have TWO value creatures to block one of our swarmy guys, that's the only way to keep up.

EDIT: Ash Zealots may be better than Cacklers on the play, just because they won't die to geists or dryad militants and can be hasted out for batallion. I was also biased because I was stuck on 1 land and obviously couldn't play the two ash zealots in my hand fast enough when I did hit my land drop. Boarding out all 8 1-drops for pillars and wolves is probably where I'm going to start next time.

IN THE FUTURE:
I would not board in VS, they are only running 8 mountains in the lists anyay. This guy had perfect mana games 2 and 3 btw, but I won't complain about that, but neither games did he even have mountains out.
Pyreheart wolf would do serious work here, and you can't dilute your deck plan of swarm and finish. I'd keep the hellriders in on the play and just treat them as a strict midrange deck that you need pillars for because of their early drop Dryad militants, experiment ones, and Voices. I think if I had not boarded poorly and mulled better, this match-up is playable. (I also never tested this list since I've been out of town since SCG Dallas).

Round 2 vs. Bant Control
This guy. Before I look at my first 7, I accidentaly flip my topcard over, and go oops. He calls a judge over, has them give me a warning for looking at extra fuckin cards... W/e. I go through this game with my serious face on and call out every single phase, trigger, mana, etc. I proceed to stomp the fuck out of him both games. Not a match-up people should be having too many troubles with. He thought scoured himself G1 and flipped over a MB Loxodon Smiter, so I figured he was Bant midrangey instead of full bant
control, so I leave in strikers instead of ash zealots.

SB:
-3 Boros Reckoner (awkward)
+3 Pyreheart Wolf


Round 3 vs. UWr Control
Another lesson I learned in boarding. I win G1 through normal curving out and smashing. He boards in a bunch of pillars and verdicts, for the draw I board:
-4 Stromkirk Noble
-3 Firefist Striker
+4 Ash Zealots
+3 Pyreheart Wolf

Lose G2, and on to G3 I.... board out Reckoners. I thought they would be too slow, and I wanted nobles back in and to curve out with the. This turned out to be a BRUTAL mistake.

I had gotten him to 5. I drew a 5th land instead of a single more gas on a crucial turn I could've killed him (I got him into a situation where if he snapcaster+Speared my cackler and I had bloodrush he'd lose, but if I had a spear and he just took the damage he was dead). That's fine, so we go into top mode for a bit...

He gets two augurs on the field. I draw two nobles... We stalemate for a few turns, and he eventually uses the
azo charms from the augur to draw a card because he doesn't need to azo charm my nobles that can't swing anyway. If I had reckoners and he had been forced to burn the azo charms, I would've eventually forced the 5 damage through. Taking Reckoners out against a deck with red removal turned out to be a huge mistake, since of course they are bringing in pillars which, between pillars, augurs, and azo charms makes nobles a HORRIBLE card against them. They are ok on the play and curving out perfectly, but with UWr it ALWAYS seems to get down to inches, and having a better quality card like reckoner (who they can only kill with verdict unlike esper) is MUCH more important than nobles.

Now I"m 1-2 and things look sour, but I proceed to win 5 rounds in a row from there.

Round 4 vs. GW Aggro
Not much to say here.
Strength: Powerful creatures
Weakness: No removal, no tempo acceleration.

Exploit their weakness with BTE, don't change much to your deck at all. Didn't even
have pillars for G3, just ran around him with pyreheart wolves and hellrider.

Round 5 vs. FABIANO GERARD GRIXIS CONTROL
This match is amazing and in caps because.... HOLY SHIT.

SO: We start out with Fabiant drawing 7 and daring me "so lets keep without looking at 7 shall we?" I bitch out, I don't want to lose another game and be definitely out of placing. I end up mulling to 5 and lose!

THEN: He goes "want to throw in our entire sideboard and take out 15 random cards?" I think about it, but realize how shit pillars and VS would be and decline. He says "well I'm going to do it." Let's me take out FIFTEEN of his cards and random facedown, lands or not lands, and throws in his board. Holy shit the balls on this guy are too huge to comprehend.

-4 Firefist striker
-4 Nobles
-1 Temple Garden

+4 Ash Zealots
+3 Pyreheart Wolf
+2 VS

G2 I get him through his superfriends and removal suite. Reckoners were a real house that he didn't have
answer too and got there.

BUT THERES FREAKIN MORE:
G3 He sideboards for real, he means business. He 1-1s me for awhile, then we go topdeck mode for a bit. He has nephalia drownyard milling me for a few turns while I bash him with some reckoners (I get 3 out at once this game).

Then. THEN HE ASKS ME HOW MANY CREATURES ARE IN MY GRAVEYARD I go "...no way,... you have .... crypt incursioN!?!?!?!" He laughs. "I got it." I have THIRTEEN creatues in my GY. He far and aways to get another one in, then agains FOURTY TWO LIFE. He overloards a mizzium mortars and takes 8 from my two reckoners, doesn't give a shit.

BUT THEN

I get hellrider out. Hellrider starts going to fucking town. He's milling me still, and we're playing real fast. He misplays by not boucning his own snapcaster with far and away so he can recast crypt bullshit. He starts flooding out and gets on tilt. HELLRIDER BECOMES HELLRIDER AND TWO CACKLERS. Hellrider is getting there! I start hitting him for like 10-12 a
turn. His last play was to drownyard himself before scooping and wanting to get something to meet. I'll never forget this match!

Round 5 vs. ????
I honestly... what the hell did I play against this round? Sorry. It wasn't an aggro mirror because those usually keep me on my toes enough to remember, I think I just steamrolled a bant player. Yeah that was it, beause my friends had just showed up to watch me. The best part about this match was he thought scoured to mill ME (lolu) and then untapped, shocked himself to go to 4 life, and verdicted. My next card? HEllrider.

Boy was he made.


Round 6 vs. Junk Tokens
Almost forgot about this guy because I played two junk rites after him and this MU was a pretty easy 2-0 for me. He didn't see any lingering souls, which is the only real problem card imo, and I just ran around his centaurs and advent tokens with Firefist.

G2:
+3 Pyreheart Wolf
+4 Ash Zealots

-4 LM (so... bad against lingering souls..
.)
-4 Stromkirk Noble (slowslowslow)

Not sure what else I boarded out/in, maybe only 3 LM out. You see why I'd like 4 wolves now yes? More on that in later MUs.

G2 I blocked a wurm with a reckoner... to only realize that i'd only be able to redirect 3 because those fuckin things have trample. 3 was enough though and I outraced with hellrider dps.

Round 7 vs. Junk Rites
Oh man. Was it round 7? I think so, I think this is the man that crushed my dreams. G1 I blitz over him with spears for fiend hunters and a good band of raiders.

-3 LM
+3 Pyreheart

I honestly don't remember boardin in pillars. I'm seriously considering cutting down a pillar for the 4th wolf. If I had seen a 4th wolf G2, I would've steamrolled him 2-0. As it was he got one thragtusk too many online, and when he showed me resto angel I probably scooped. He got just one too many thrags to stabilize him and I couldn't run around them.

I did board in pillars after this, I took out some GCR and
Reckoners I think?

G3
THIS FUCKING GAME:
We both mulligan to 5. I think I got him if I have ANYTHING playable, and I crack a hand of Rakdos Cackler, Firefist, Reckoner, 2 land. I grin.

I go cackler. He goes land. I go swing, firefist. He plays Voice. I bloodrush striker over it (mistake, should've traded and BRushed over the token). He playS TWO mana dorks This is that one single time the entire tournament where elcktrickery would've been needed and SUPER relevant. I can't swing into the 3/3 token, so play reckoner and pass. He plays T4 thragtusk.... Fuck me.

BUT NO WAIT, the turn after that he grisly salvages and flips over:
Unburial Rites
UNBURIAL Rites
THRAGTUSK
RESTORATION ANGEL
X:X?XA?S? LAND?

I can't make this shit up. I can't make up a fucking junk nut draw after mull to 5. Now I'm X-fucking-3.

BUT I PLAY ON.


Round omitted
I blank again. I think all I could see was red, and I smashed the hell out of someone. Maybe it
was Esper. It wasn;t junk again, it wasn't aggro, wasn't bant hexproof, wasn't UWr, was probably just Esper or Bant Control again.

Round 9 vs. 4-color Control
Aka the greed machine. Saw this guy playing next to me earlier because he had Pokemon to determine who went first. I choose YOU flipped a bulbasaur, flipped a squirtle for him. LEAF BEATS WATER GO.

Stomp him G1.

G2 pyreheart wolves and the PERFECT draw. I get him to verdict 2 creatures and a wolf, holding back a 2 zealots and a hellrider in hand. I throw down Hellrider, which hits for SEVEN (thank you wolf). He throws down thragtusk that can't block lololol. I throw down too ash zealots, extend hand.

Round 10 vs.... JUNK RITES REMATCH
G1: Lightning mauler pulls his weight here. its a close game, and he's starting to stabilize. He swings with one thragtusk and keeps another one back, thinking he needs to start killing me I guess. I drop a LM+Rakdos cackler (was stuck on 3 mana I think)
, and its enough for exactly lethal thanks to reckoner.

Definitely didn't board in pillars for this guy. I remember explicitly saying to myself (he might have voice he might not, I don't give a fuck).

-4 Stromkirks
-3 LM
+4 Ash Zealots
+3 Pyreheart (would want 4 here too)

This game I misplay a bit. I have two hellriders and am stuck on 3 land all game, but its fine. Pyreheart is going to town and I have a spear in hand. Now I misplay by throwing down an ash zealot to alpha in, when he has a dork and voice or something on defense. he doesn't block and takes it all. He was at 5 mana. He untaps plays a land, Angel of serenity. I should've speared the dork instead of ash zealot, because then I could alpha in for TWO turns (and it'd be lethal if I hit the 4th land easy) before AoS came down (which I knew he had because of cavern of souls naming it).

But I topdeck another wolf and was glad to see him. I rebuild my army, he doesn't see a single unburial rites for the AoS in his yard, and starts
flooding. I STILL didn't hit that 4th land, and literally killed him with topdeck creatures and the spear I had held back. I baited him into swinging with his angel because I had a reckoner down too and he didn't want to give me back all my shit, so I was able to swing freely with pyreheart against his lone thragtusk on D.

I think my topdecks were pyreheart, reckoner, boarr. He eventually double blocks with thragtusk and angel... the boar. Next turn I spear him to 1 life and he can't block reckoner, gg.


Was it enough? APPARENTLY NOT. I got 66th.... wasn't even that devastated to be honest. Shrugged it off, and traded for Nuwen's Thundermaw hellkites and aristocards so she can start coming to standard events with me with Dos Rakis. So it wasn't all for nothing at least.

Moving forward:
Going to try out different things with Pyrehearts, less pillars, domri again (I did lose to UWr, but I think I would've had him if I had boarded smarter.) And going to HEAVILY test Naya Aggro this coming week
and get back to you guys on breaking that match-up, because its definitely going to be the next big thing alongside Junkocrats (which is a good reason to keep all the pillars sadly).

So the only real piece of insight I have for TLDR are these:
-Pyrehearts definitely need to be seen as often as possible in relevant MUs. I also believe they are the key to beating the new Naya Aggro
-Naya aggro's only weakness is a slightly less consistent mana base and an inanility to flood the board. To beat this, we need to be abusing BTE harder with LM AND firefist, and using pyreheart to outnumber them. Its definitely a hard MU, but there's nothing that can't be smashed

Great report and should really be helpful moving forward.

On my side I just completed a MODO daily ending up 3-1 beating on Jund Mid, 2 RG slighs, and losing to mono red in the last round. I was running the same 35-4-21 and sideboard. I can't say much since most of my MU earlier is aggro and siding out Hellriders for VS in those matches really helps a lot.

Naya Aggro really isn't something you can fight like a traditional agro mirror since your guys aren't actually trading with theirs. You have to "play past them" by pillaring there guys, and racing with minimal blocking/trading going on so, yes, I'd say pyreheart and striker are the way to go.

Still advocating maindeck pillar.

Mortars is hit and miss, though I think it's won me more games than it's lost and I've never found I'd rather want a 2-drop dude in it's slot(Can probably be the fourth pillar).

@Fabiano, I do that in testing all the time. I'll slam my 7 face down on the table and keep, then dare my opponents to put money on the match. Nobody ever goes for it since I always draw the nuts when I do this.

I've also boarded. Looked at my board. Realized something still in my board is better then literal anything in my deck and have taken a card out randomly in tourney. Cause you need to cast
pyreheart wolf(or whatever).

Another great write-up, Fate. That Grixis player sounded like a fun guy. Or arrogant prick. Can't decide.

Fabiano? Both simultaneously.

Your 5 card mull was incorrect.

the non land card is a searing spear and I did peek into the top 3 cards after declaring my intention to mulligan, it was land land pillar of flame

Your 5 card mull was incorrect.

the non land card is a searing spear and I did peek into the top 3 cards after declaring my intention to mulligan, it was land land pillar of flame

I would have mulliganed a 4 land + Searing Spear hand in an instant with this deck. I've tried similar hands myself with it and it's too risky. You might as well put your hope at getting a two land + two early threats hand.

yeah 4 land and a noncreature is barely playable. I suppose you can hope to topdeck threats that will get them into spear range... but I've gone to 4 before and won because the 4-hander had a threat. On the play I'd probably definitely mull a 4-land+spear

Tough call. I'd probably mull hoping to get land, 1 drop and any two other cards.

It's still not theoretically correct.

I don't know. 4 lands and spear doesn't beat anything. So I think the theory doesn't match the practice. Your 4 is probably really bad, but as is, you can't play a game of magic with much shot of winning. The cost/benefit ratio of mulling is actually pretty decent since you aren't losing much.

Basically 5%(made up low number) chance of winning with 5 lands+spear.

You basically need higher odds of mulling to a hand that has good "outs" to being playable. Basically any creature CMC 2 or less and any non-temple garden land is better then that 5, because at least that 2+random hand has a plan.

If you already have 4 lands, everything in your deck is live. If you mull into a likely 1 lander, the same is not true; if you get stuck on 1 or 2 land a reasonable amount of your draws are unplsyae anyway, further reducing the effective size if your hand. You're also playing a 2 colour deck that can be prone to mana-colour issues; a further mulligan grossly exaggerates that as well.