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 Modern. It's WotC's solution to Eternal formats with obscence price tags to get into. There's a ton of dynamic decks, with Combo actually alive and well, along with plenty of powerful cards to handle combo, along with the 3 of the best 2-drops ever printed (Tarmogoyf, Dark Confidant and Snapcaster Mage). So what can I play? The full list is here, but basically it's "everything with the new face." (the exceptions being cards with the new face that haven't been printed since Eigth edition, like Tainted Field from the new Duel Deck or Judge Promos.) But what cards should I play? http://www.metamox.com/staples.php has a list of the top cards being played in Modern right now (also the other formats, but who cares about those?) Wait, that card is how much now? There's no getting around it, Modern is an expensive format, and unlike legacy you can't sneak wins and take 8th place using a $60 burn deck - the format is completely dependant on fetches and the big-money cards to win. Expect to drop in the neighborhood of $200-300 on a deck not counting its manabase, and another $500 on the manabase itself. On the upside, nothing in Modern is forbidden from being reprinted, and a new set (Modern Masters) is dropping in June to inject more cards into the system. Still, if previous reprints have taught us anything, it's that after an initial dip as the available stock expands, supply will far outstrip demand and prices will slingshot past their old highs. This is stupid, I don't wanna pay that much! That's not a question, Janet, but here's the thing: It's an eternal format, so once you buy your manabase, you're pretty much set, and you'll be able to trade out fetches/duals into decks with new pieces when you want to change things up. There's also several staples like Path to Exile that, while $20 for a playset of uncommons, are usable across several decks forever. And since the cards aren't really set to get cheaper any time soon, Modern is the safest place to keep your money this side of a Mox in terms of being able to cash out and buy a car/semester of classes a few years down the road. Where can I play Modern? Odds are your friendly local gaming store has Modern nights on a non-Friday night, like Wednesday. If not, ask about forming one. Modern is also ¼ of the tournament season. What are the decks to beat? The best decks right now are (feel free to chime in and tell me how wrong I am): -Jund, a BRG deck that costs north of $1000 right now based on two of the three cards listed in the first section ('Goyf and Bob), along with Thoughtseize, another stupidly powerful/expensive card. It is quite a good deck. - -America, a WUR (Red White and Blue, get it?) control deck that does... controlly stuff. Cryptic Command is your bus ticket on the 241 line to Valuetown. -Melira Pod, a dumb combo deck with Birthing Pod and Melira along with Murderous Redcap and a sac outlet that can turn into a dumb BG midrange deck games 2 and 3, so watch out. What are the Rogue Options? -Living End, a combo deck based around Cascading into dumb poo poo. -Scapeshift, a combo deck built around Scapeshift and Valakut. When I can watch hilariously awkward streams of a big Modern event? GP Portland is coming up in a few weeks; I'll be going along with my team. We're currently running an America Control deck, a Melira Pod deck and a rogue Hatebears deck up the flagpole to see what happens. Talk about all things Modern here! Shrecknet fucked around with this message at 21:41 on Apr 23, 2013 |
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Apr 22, 2013 04:53
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Reserved for GP Portland trip report
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Apr 22, 2013 04:54
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Theorycrafting: I expect Eggs to be a pretty big part of the Modern landscape, assuming the Banhammer doesn't hit Lotus Bloom. Some things I'm thinking about as sideboard answers: Disciple of the Vault Seal of Fire Rest in Peace Stony Silence The problem is many of these are susceptible to Echoing Truth, but if you had a full suite (so they couldn't hit more than 1 or 2), these could be good right? Also, how do goons feel about Delay? I think it's a really, really strong counter right now (especially vs control) because it's so cheap and splashable; it's like a Dispel that also hits other stuff sometimes too.
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Apr 22, 2013 04:59
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Tharizdun posted:Theorycrafting: I expect Eggs to be a pretty big part of the Modern landscape, assuming the Banhammer doesn't hit Lotus Bloom. Some things I'm thinking about as sideboard answers: Modern Second Sunrise is banned. Vintage Regrowth is unrestricted. Standard, Extended, Legacy No changes Welp  RIP Eggs, you had a good run.
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Apr 22, 2013 05:01
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TheKingofSprings posted:Modern I was really hoping for a Bitterblossom unban, but thats perfectly fine too 
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Apr 22, 2013 05:03
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Okay then. I may have to play Modern in Las Vegas. What's the cheapest deck that is competitive and has the least chance of getting a staple card banned?
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Apr 22, 2013 05:06
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Affinity should clock in around 3-350. Infect and bogle might be a bit less but I'm unfamiliar with the lists. edit: both variants of tron are even cheaper apparently! JohnnyTreachery fucked around with this message at 05:38 on Apr 22, 2013 |
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Apr 22, 2013 05:09
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Are there usually Modern side events at non-Modern GPs? I'm going to be heading to GP Bangkok in June which is RTR Block Sealed, and I'd like to give Modern a spin. I've never been to a GP before, so I'm not sure what to expect or what to bring.
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Apr 22, 2013 05:11
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I'm a little disappointed they didn't unban anything, especially Preordain or Ponder. I hope they have some kind of new 1 CMC filtering in M13 around their level, even if it's not quite as good.
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Apr 22, 2013 05:14
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TheKingofSprings posted:Modern
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Apr 22, 2013 05:15
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Our long national Eggs nightmare is over! (I actually don't hate the deck, but I can understand where WOTC is coming from. It's just too long of a win con.) e: Considering the skyrocketing price of JTMS in Legacy, I have a feeling that I'm going to be selling them around GP Vegas to fund the purchase of some of the big-ticket Modern staples. Pinwiz11 fucked around with this message at 05:29 on Apr 22, 2013 |
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Apr 22, 2013 05:23
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Why does wizards hate fun? Nothing was wrong with eggs or storm, they weren't oppressive or doing anything harmful.
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Apr 22, 2013 05:31
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Are there any Modern Vampire decks? I have a Liliana playset and an Olivia I would like to keep using once they rotate out.
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Apr 22, 2013 05:43
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Vampire decks? No. But Liliana makes waves in some big decks like Jund and 4 colour Gifts, and she and Olivia are both playable in Jund. ...which has a roughly 1000$ price tag so that's probably out of the question.
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Apr 22, 2013 05:45
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R.I.P. Eggs, the best deck ever.
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Apr 22, 2013 05:45
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TheKingofSprings posted:Vampire decks? No. But Liliana makes waves in some big decks like Jund and 4 colour Gifts, and she and Olivia are both playable in Jund. Well I have blood crypts and overgrown tombs also but I do have camera equipment I rather buy.
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Apr 22, 2013 05:50
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Wadjamaloo posted:Why does wizards hate fun? Nothing was wrong with eggs or storm, they weren't oppressive or doing anything harmful. Eggs took 15 minute turns during extra time trying to win the game on their last possible turn. That's a lot of extra time.
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Apr 22, 2013 05:52
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 Am I dead yet? No. Am I dead yet? No. Am I dead yet? No. Am I dead yet? No. Am I dead yet? No. Am I dead yet? No. Am I dead yet? No. Am I dead yet? No. Am I dead yet? No. Am I dead yet? No.When Brian Kibler asks a judge to sit for him and watch his opponent go through an Eggs combo while he goes to the bathroom and returns with a snack because that's how long the combo takes to play out, you know the deck is a problem.
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Apr 22, 2013 06:17
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Star Man posted:
On the other hand that made me want to play Eggs even more.
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Apr 22, 2013 06:22
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I'm not sure if this is cool with everyone, but can we try to get a list of people on MTGO who play Modern, along with their deck(s) of choice, and try to get some awesome Modern action going? failing that, we can write about our decks and our matchups as specialists. MODO: BigBoswell - Budget Living End
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Apr 22, 2013 07:35
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The store I go to are gonna start running FNMs in May, and the plans for now is to make them a 1/3 split between Standard and Modern. This was made, as far as I know, mostly because none of the other stores in town plan on ever running a Modern FNM, plus the fact that most of the people who come to the store tend to like modern as a format. I'm really looking forward to it, mostly because I finally built 99.5% of my Living End deck and have been itching to play it outside of casual games with random people.
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Apr 22, 2013 08:30
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Rather than just listing the top 3 decks, it might be best to list the general archetypes as they exist now and discuss each in a post as the thread goes along. Descriptions would include core cards, how they play match ups, how they side vs. other archetypes and so on. Maybe even a price tag since some of them aren't cheap. Jund American control Melira pod Kiki jiki combo Affinity Infect Delver Rg tron Mono red aggro Etc. You get the idea.
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Apr 22, 2013 13:03
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Molybdenum posted:Rather than just listing the top 3 decks, it might be best to list the general archetypes as they exist now and discuss each in a post as the thread goes along. Descriptions would include core cards, how they play match ups, how they side vs. other archetypes and so on. Maybe even a price tag since some of them aren't cheap. Seconding this. I rarely run into the top decks exactly because they are so expensive. But there are plenty of decks that rely on specific mechanics to look out for/or run. Infect Gifts (WURMCOILWURMCOILWURMCOIL) Urzatron
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Apr 22, 2013 13:20
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So is this the place for discussion on new Modern brews or is that still for the brewhaus?
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Apr 22, 2013 13:40
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BizarroAzrael posted:So is this the place for discussion on new Modern brews or is that still for the brewhaus? I don't know how everyone else feels, but I'd be fine discussing brews here. I love Modern! Right now I have Infect and Melira-Pod built with the plan of transitioning into Kiki-Pod once I get Groves, Thickets, and Resto Angels. Really like Pod, it was my favorite card when it was legal in Standard. I don't have a deck built on MODO, but might look at slowly getting one. How expensive are fetches online?
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Apr 22, 2013 16:23
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Can't they just print a better eventual wincon for eggs? Also I think putting up brews would be good. We can probably organize the list by archetypes too. Combo, aggro, aggro-control, etc.
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Apr 22, 2013 19:43
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Now that Eggs (Best Deck Ever) is done, what's another relatively inexpensive combo deck in Modern? I need a new thing to build while sobbing over the shattered remains of Eggs.
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Apr 22, 2013 19:51
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Dickeye posted:Now that Eggs (Best Deck Ever) is done, what's another relatively inexpensive combo deck in Modern? I need a new thing to build while sobbing over the shattered remains of Eggs. Melira Pod's a decent deck and it's not too pricy to my knowledge.
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Apr 22, 2013 19:53
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Dickeye posted:Now that Eggs (Best Deck Ever) is done, what's another relatively inexpensive combo deck in Modern? I need a new thing to build while sobbing over the shattered remains of Eggs. Living End is a pretty fun deck that can do work. If I ever get to stop taking tests, I'll try and post some information about it.
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Apr 22, 2013 20:03
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Dickeye posted:Now that Eggs (Best Deck Ever) is done, what's another relatively inexpensive combo deck in Modern? I need a new thing to build while sobbing over the shattered remains of Eggs. Blood Artist + Blind Obedience + Sanguine Bond + Exquisite Blood That's what I'm running and I freaking love it. Cost me about $60 irl and substantially less online.
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Apr 22, 2013 20:06
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Durette posted:Blood Artist + Blind Obedience + Sanguine Bond + Exquisite Blood Please show me your decklist so that I can totally not steal it. Shadow225 posted:Living End is a pretty fun deck that can do work. If I ever get to stop taking tests, I'll try and post some information about it. Also this.
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Apr 22, 2013 20:11
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I would love to see that decklist too. Also, another recommendation for Living End. That deck is very fun to play. I feel more fun than it has any right to be.
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Apr 22, 2013 20:16
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If people post or PM me links to decks/primers, I'll include them in the OP.
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Apr 22, 2013 20:16
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Travis Woo is posting about combo elves on Facebook. Do you guys think beck//call is enough to make it work? I really love playing combo, but I hate kiki-twin. I like the combo decks where the entire deck is some crazy sort of engine, not just A card plus B card = win.
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Apr 22, 2013 20:21
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This was the first Living End decklist I found, what do people think of it: Combo 4 Violent Outburst 3 Demonic Dread 3 Living End Cycling Creatures 4 Monstrous Carabid 3 Jungle Weaver 3 Ridge Rannet 4 Street Wraith 4 Deadshot Minotaur 2 Valley Rannet Utility Creatures 1 Faerie Macabre 2 Ingot Chewer 3 Shriekmaw 4 Fulminator Mage Lands 3 Mountain 4 Copperline Gorge 3 Blackcleave Cliffs 3 Forest 3 Swamp 1 Graven Cairns 3 Forbidden Orchard Sideboard 1 Avalanche Riders 2 Faerie Macabre 2 Ingot Chewer 2 Beast Within 1 Shriekmaw 4 Krosan Grip 3 Ricochet Trap
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Apr 22, 2013 20:28
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Melira Pod Primer That Living End deck looks sweet. Might be the next deck I build. Edit: Looking at the mana base for that LE deck, it would benefit greatly from shocks and fetches. ScarletBrother fucked around with this message at 20:34 on Apr 22, 2013 |
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Apr 22, 2013 20:32
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I questioned Durette about that deck in the main thread, so I dug up the link. I've only played across from Living End, and that does look interesting and fun. I'm still new to Modern and don't get to play often, though my LGS has been doing occasional Modern FNMs these last few months, I think it's the third next week. I've been playing Affinity, which I think may have fallen out of favor of late, but I can't saw why, but it was fairly inexpensive, being re-purposed from a Standard deck, and I think you might be able to do without the Blinkmoth Nexuses and Arcbound Ravagers. Looking forward, I'm putting together a Goblin tribal deck which I'm hoping will be as punchy as Affinity but harder to hate, and I'd like to experiment with some weird ideas that have come to me. I'm not sure if it would be putting too much in one place, but I'd like to do something with Painter's Servant that turns every card, spell and permanent Black, then exploit stuff that targets black (Celestial Purge) or let me make an informed color pick (Oona) or lets me generally make an oppressive board state (Teysa, Orzhov Scion being able to exile anyone over and over, Iona stopping them casting anything at all) I'm also considering exploiting death triggers with Blood Artist or possibly Bitter Ordeal. Specifically bring Crypt Champion into play, have him bring up a Phantasmal Image which copies him and creates and infinite loop. If I have an artist out I win, if I have Teysa and Servant out I get infinite Spirits, if I cast Bitter Ordeal after I win. Helpfully Crypt Champion can also fetch Teysa, aritst or Painter's Servant from the grave. I think this all works with self-mill and reanimation via Unburial Rites, so one last thing I'm considering is Plunge into Darkness with plenty of creatures out, or a depleted library, exile all but one card with the second ability and win off of a Laboratory Maniac. I'm still trying to finalize a list, maybe I'm not explaining it well and maybe it's going to be too crowded, but I would like to see what I can do with this.
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Apr 22, 2013 20:34
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Dickeye posted:Please show me your decklist so that I can totally not steal it. This is a bit old, I tried to update from memory but know I'm missing some things. I'll have to update once I get home (no MTG at work). Current cost = $83.32 (you probably already have most of the Standard cards) Deck: Picpoul Blanc   //Main 2 Bojuka Bog 4 Godless Shrine 2 Orzhov Guildgate 8 Plains 8 Swamp 3 Soul Warden 2 Blind Obedience 3 Blood Artist 2 Devour Flesh 2 Lingering Souls 2 Lone Missionary 2 Hideous End 2 Murder 2 Recumbent Bliss 2 Survival Cache 2 Vampire Nighthawk 2 Windborn Muse 3 Exquisite Blood 2 Mutilate 3 Sanguine Bond 2 Erase //Sideboard 4 Holy Day 2 Elixer of Life 2 Gather the Townsfolk 1 Intangible Virtue 2 Mutilate 3 Immortal Servitude 1 Ranger of Eos  Display deck statisticsCouple points: - You're rarely going to get the full Blood/Bond combo to go off. Best to pick one and run with it depending on what's in your hand. - Save your life-gaining spells/creatures until near the end. After Sanguine Bond is out, THEN push your Recumbent Bliss, Lone Missionary, Mutilate tokens, etc. - Bojuka Bog = the forgotten graveyard hate. This card makes second main phase the happiest time of the turn. - Soul Warden on turn one is a must. Save Windborne Muse for hands that over-reach on mana. - This will lose to Infect 100% of the time, also has some issues with Urza if it drags out long enough.
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Apr 22, 2013 20:44
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MTG Salvation has a pretty good Primer on Living End. The list you posted is fine, though there's some stuff I'd change. - I think running all 4 demonic dreads is a must. You must draw a cascade spell, or else your deck doesn't do poo poo. - Ridge Rannet is fine, though Jungle Weaver is generally accepted to be the better 2 mana cycler, due to his higher toughness. Same with Valley Rannet. The 3 toughness makes it way too fragile. I personally run only one, along with 4 Pale Recluses (I don't have any fulminators, which is why I run more cyclers. Even if I had the fulminator mages, I'd still prefer the Pale Recluse to the Valley Rannet. - There's almost constant debate on maindeck Ingot Chewers. I feel like it's a waste of a slot keeping it maindeck, but there's good arguments for having one or two in there anyway. I think this is an entirely meta-dependent choice. Shriekmaws have no place maindeck though. They're a sideboard card, since against certain matches they are simply a dead card in your hand that you can't even cycle for another card. - Faerie Macabre is good. Real good. I run 2 maindeck, and am seriously considering scrapping the Jund Charm and some random cycler and running just a full 4. It does make a bit of anti-synergy with the Deadshot Minotaur, but whatever. - Graven Cairns is probably a bad choice for the deck. I've tried filter lands, and the problem with them is that they do not allow you to produce colored mana on turn on, and you should be able to always cycle on turn one if possible. Copperline gorges and blackcleave cliffs are best for that, with fetches and shocks filling the rest. If you run the Pale Recluses a single Temple Garden is usually a good idea too, just so you can cast them if it comes to it. - 3 Forbidden Orchard feels like asking for trouble. While it's really not that good of a card, most people use Dryad Arbor for their Demonic Dread enabler, since it can be fetched at instant speed by a Verdant Catacombs, or you can cycle for it in a pinch. Either that or just run a one-of Orchard. - Beast Withins are usually played a straight 4-of in the main. I can see maybe switching them to sideboard depending on the meta, but they are your universal answer to everything and anything your opponent does, and they are always useful to help cripple an opponent who has mana problems (if they miss a land drop it's usually a good idea to take out one of their lands with a beast within just to make sure they won't be doing much any time soon). - Avalanche Riders are another story. I run 2 main board, due to the aforementioned lack of Fulminator Mages, but they cost 4 and as such are not all that impressive. Like Ingot Chewers, there's a lot of debates going on from time to time on where the Riders should be, or if they should even be played at all. - Some sort of life-gain might be useful in the sideboard, since a lot of aggro decks can actually outrace you if you don't have a perfect draw or opening hand. Classic choices are Gnaw to the Bone and Brindle Boar, though I've seen Timely Reinforcements (with the lists that run a big heavier white in their mana base) and some guy on the salvation thread actually sides out his Living ends for Heroes Reunion as a form of super-secret tech (so much for it being secret). - A card that sees some play is Architects of Will. Most decks don't bother running blue to actaully cast them, so they are just used as more 1 mana cyclers. I run two, and They have usually been pretty good, since once you cascade and they get on the board they can help make sure your opponent won't draw an answer immediately after you combo off. (or at least warn you that they will) Jesus, this turned into a bigass wall of text. Hope any of this is useful to anyone.
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Apr 22, 2013 20:47
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Sure, I guess I'll go ahead and faux-primer this. Here's my current decklist. I still tinker with it here and there. Living End Deck: Living End    //Spells 3 Living End 3 Beast Within 4 Demonic Dread 4 Violent Outburst 2 Gnaw to the Bone 2 Jund Charm //Creatures 2 Architects of Will 4 Street Wraith 4 Monstrous Carabid 4 Deadshot Minotaur 2 Valley Rannet 2 Pale Recluse 2 Jungle Weaver 2 Avalanche Riders //Land 1 Dryad Arbor 2 Blackcleave Cliffs 1 Copperline Gorge 3 Dragonskull Summit 4 Rootbound Crag 2 Swamp 2 Mountain 4 Forest //Sideboard 2 Faerie Macabre 4 Leyline of the Void 2 Brindle Boar 3 Ricochet Trap 4 Ingot Chewer Display deck statisticsLiving End is a combo deck originally crafted Travis Woo. The basic focus is to cycle creatures into the graveyard and cascade into a Living End to plop them all onto the battlefield. This is a really fun T2 deck that can snag games from pretty much any creature based deck. Control matches are tough, but winnable. I personally have only played against the Eggs combo, which is now presumably dead, so I can't comment on that. Core of the Deck: As stated above, the goal of the deck is to hit Living End. We prefer to hit it with the two cascade spells Violent Outburst and Demonic Dread. Both are 3cc spells while Living End is a 0cc spell, which means that we have to be creative with how we build the deck. No spells of 1cc or 2cc are allowed. Our trick is to hit Living End with the cascade spells, instantly casting it, rather than waiting for the suspend. Violent Outburst is the better card, as it is an instant, so we can cast it at the end of our opponent's turn, or during a combat phase, or after they pump their infect creature, etc. Demonic Dread is less efficient, as it is a sorcery, and you need a target. These targets are provided for us by our opponents having creatures in play, playing Dryad Arbor, or playing Beast Within on something. If worst comes to worst, you can simply suspend Living End, and watch as your opponents misplay around it. Cyclers: So, we play 4 of Monstrous Carabid, Deadshot Minotaur, and Street Wraith. Monstrous Carabid and Deadshot Minotaur are 1 mana cyclers with casting costs in our colors, so we can cast them if need be. Street Wraith is a 2 life cycler in our colors, which is awesome. We play 4 of each because they are the backbone of the deck. Cycling both allows us to fill the graveyard and get to our cascade/Living End spells quicker. Note: be careful with cycling Street Wraiths against certain decks as the life loss can quickly lose you a game. Architects of Will is a one mana cycler, but if you absolutely need to cast it, you can't because it is blue. Also, it only has 3 toughness, which is the bane of Valley Rannet below. That's probably why you don't see many of them. I'm playing 2 because I want to be more consistent, and the effect once it hits the field can win the game by keeping the opponent off wraths for a few turns. Next, you have Jungle Weaver, which is a 2 colorless mana cycler. This guy is beefy with reach, and will lock down a game a surprising amount of the time once he hits the field. You won't see him as a 4-of in lists because 2 mana is a lot for just cycling, but he is powerful and will shut down pretty much any flier. Lastly, we have the land cyclers Pale Recluse and Valley Rannet. You'll notice that we're only playing around 20 land, which is a bit low. So, we need some dudes to go fetch land for us. Honestly, if you can afford all of the shocks, Pale Recluse is the card you want to be running. He's a 4/5 Reach that can fetch any Forest/X Shockland or Dryad Arbor, so he fixes your mana and is a respectable body. Valley Rannet can fetch any mountain or forest, but his 3 toughness makes him weak to most creatures, Bolt, Lightning Helix, and yeah you get the point. I only run him because I don't have Shocks, and I need the consistency. Other Awesome Creatures: 1st up is Fulminator Mage, which I don't have only because he is expensive. The deck originally used land destruction as a means to slow decks down enough to force the combo through, and this was our ace in the hole. If you can afford him, run him. Otherwise, the deck can still win, but it won't be as powerful. Along with that theme, Avalanche Riders is the closet thing to Fulminator Mage we've got. You're able to shut a lot of decks down by popping a land or two, so we can do work, but I'm honestly trying to decide how much I like him. He's probably even more awesome in conjunction with Fulminator Mage, but I'm not sure. Next, we have Faerie Macabre. Sometimes, we have to kill creatures. This chick allows us to keep those creatures off board once they hit the bin, which is awesome. Also, it can shut down Snapcaster targets, Gifts targets, Reanimator targets, etc. It's a solid card, but it has anti-synergy with Deadshot Minotaur, and it doesn't actively push us closer to cascading, so I keep mine in the SB. I may come back to them MD, but we'll see. Some people play Ingot Chewer MD, but that's a meta call. For an all around deck, I keep mine in the SB because it could be a dead card, and again, it isn't pushing me closer to cascading. I'm probably missing stuff here, but oh well. Other Spells: Beast Within is our answer to everything. Troublesome creatures? Manlands? Opponents missing land drops? Artifacts and Enchantments? Everything. You don't care about giving them a beast, because it'll pop once we hit Living End. One of my favorite plays is to Beast Within a land on the end of their turn, and they have to either let it hit or use a counterspell, and that opens us up to combo freely on their turn, potentially putting them down a land. Worst case scenario, you can hit your own land to push through a final bit of damage or give yourself a Demonic Dread target. Jund Charm is a pretty awesome swiss army knife for us. Sometimes a Pyroclasm is what we need to survive for a bit. The main function is to exile their GY, either to clear the way for our Living End, or to deny them GY shenanigans like Snapcaster, Rites, etc. The 2 +1/+1 counters is also relevant for screwing combat math and pushing through the last bit of damage. In my list, you'll see Gnaw to the Bone, which I picked up from some random MTGO daily. Since we just cycle for the first 2-3 turns, we are really soft to quick aggro decks like Affinity or RDW. Gnaw allows us to stabilize, and then combo after they've emptied their hands. They're still risky games, but it's a nice tool to have just in case. Land: Optimal lists use the Jund colored Shocks, and 4 Verdant Catacombs with the Jund colored Scars fastlands and a Dryad Arbor. You need to be able to produce colored mana as soon as you make a land drop, as we are very color dependent. The Dryad Arbor is useful to bring in as a blocker, or more importantly, a target for Demonic Dread on an empty board. The Verdant Catacombs fetches pretty much anything we need, including the Dryad Arbor. The fastlands allow us to make our first 3 turns even more consistent, and the Shocks are obvious. A lot of people run Temple Gardens to hardcast Pale Recluse and maybe Leyline of Sanctity from the board, which is fine. Some people run a Raging Ravine or a Kessig Wolfrun, which I haven't tested because I already run a suboptimal mana base. Sideboard: Our SB is wildly dependent on the meta. I could probably take a few pages and go over all of the SB options, but I don't feel like taking that time. So, I'll explain my SB, and leave you with the reminder that your spells must cost 3 or more, so that you still hit your Living End on cascade. 4 Leyline of the Void - Gifts, Eggs, anything that depends on the graveyard 2 Faerie Macabre - More help with the GY hate, since if they go off, I probably lose the game 4 Ingot Chewer - Stops artifact based GY hate and Affinity 3 Ricochet Trap - Stops countermagic for a bit I may add more to this later like the matchups I've seen, and how to beat Living End, but I think this is enough for now. Let me know if you have any questions. Tharizdun, you can link this post in the OP if you feel confident in it.
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Apr 22, 2013 22:12
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