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I attended SCG Regionals today in Denver. The format was modern, and I played Affinity.
Here's my list:
4 Darksteel Citadel
4 Blinkmoth Nexus
4 Inkmoth Nexus
3 Glimmervoid
1 Island
4 Mox Opal
4 Springleaf Drum
4 Galvanic Blast
4 Cranial Plating
1 Welding Jar
1 Ensoul Artifact
4 Arcbound Ravager
4 Ornithopter
4 Valut Skirge
4 Signal Pest
4 Steel Overseer
2 Memnite
2 Master of Etherium
2 Etched Champion
Sideboard:
2 Spellskite
2 Etched Champion
2 Blood Moon
2 Thoughtseize
2 Ancient Grudge
1 Spell Pierce
1 Stubborn Denial
1 Whipflare
1 Chalice of the Void
1 Relic of Progenitus
The turnout was 230 people, which was larger than expected, and we were slated for 9 rounds of swiss.
Round 1:
My opponent turn 1 Island, Serum Visions, leaves one on top. I go land, Memnite, Springleaf Drum, Signal Pest.
Turn 2, he miracles a Temporal Mastery! On my next turn I put Ensoul Artifact on Springleaf Drum and swing for 8. He plays nothing but islands, Exhaustions me, Boomerangs my Springleaf Drum (killing the Ensoul Artifact), and Time Warps himself over the next few turns. Eventually he drops some Howling Mines, but didn't have enough to stop my steady stream of pressure.
Game 2, he gets mana screwed.
1-0 vs Mono Blue Turns (!)
Round 2:
My opponent went turn 1 Grim Lavamancer. I rushed out of the gates with 0 cost artifacts and a Steel Overseer. He Bolted the Overseer ended up applying heavy pressure with a combination of burn and creatures, with Lavamancer shooting down my guys. That Lavamancer probably killed 4 creatures this game, and I draw Galvanic Blast a turn too late.
Game 2, I take him down to 4 life after he takes me to 3, go to galvanic blast him, and he Deflecting Palms it for the win.
1-1 vs Naya Burn
Round 3:
He was on storm and he failed to go off on his turn 4, but he grapeshots down my board. Luckily, I had a pair of Inkmoth Nexuses that got in for 8 thanks to a Signal Pest, and on my turn 5 I swung for the 10 infect with both of them.
Game 2 he got mana screwed I think, it was a short one.
2-1 vs Storm
Round 4:
My opponent was a guy from a local shop who I had just lost to couple days ago. I knew he was on Living End. Game 1 I totally smashed face and he conceded on turn 4.
Game 2, I board in Chalice and play it on my turn 2 for 0, preventing him from casting living end on his turn 3. Unfortunately, I had a slow hand other than that, just an Inkmoth, Blinkmoth, and a Steel Overseer. He blew up my Chalice with an Ingot Chewer, and I was forced to attack with a Cranial Plating'd Steel Overseer for 4, taking him down to 9 on my turn 4. This also allowed ferocious to be turned on for my Stubborn Denial. He went to Living End on his turn 5, but I countered it with Denial. He Ingot Chewered my Steel Overseer. On my turn 5 I play an artifact, equip Plating to Blinkmoth and take him down to 5. On his turn 6 he cycles creatures and passes. I go to attack on my next turn after playing some creature, and he Violent Outbursts during my attack step, killing everything except my Inkmoth, which was not turned on, but his Ingot Chewers killed my Plating. I lose to his attack.
Game 3 was a ridiculously close game, where I Spell Pierced his first Living End and got a Ravager out before his second Living End. I sac my board in response to Living End on turn 4, and proceed to navigate the attacks well enough to favorably trade thanks to Arcbound Ravager and Etched Champion. After 2 turns, all his creatures were dead and I had a 3/3 Etched Champion, an Inkmoth and a Blinkmoth, but I was at 2 life and he was at 10. I got him down to 6 but he was able to cascade for his 3rd and final Living End, and swing for the win because I didn't have enough blockers.
2-2 vs Living End
Round 5:
This round I went up against a fellow playing Elves who had a mediocre but insufficient draw in Game 1, including a Collected Company that only hit a single Elvish Mystic. In game 2, he went seriously ham, casting Collected Company into Elvish Archdruid / Reclamation Sage on turn 3. On turn 4 he was able to cast AND activate Ezuri, Renegade Leader and swing for 24. In game 3 he went Nettle Sentinel into Llanowar Elf x2, one of which I Galvanic Blasted, but from there on out he drew duds. He cast Collected Company into a single Elvish Mystic again! I was able to overwhelm him before he got any of his good cards.
3-2 vs Elves
Round 6:
This match was against Merfolk. I went turn 1 Darksteel Citadel and a Springleaf Drum with an Ornithopter, Signal Pest, and Memnite. Pretty good. Then I didn't draw lands. I had to play Cranial on turn 2, Arcbound Ravager (drawn) on turn 3, and finally on turn 4 I got to play a Master of Etherium with a Glimmervoid off the top. By then his board was very well developed. I held off chump blocking, so my Master of Etherium was an 8/8 and he couldn't attack into it without losing stuff. He had 4 creatures, two of which were lords, and I was at 3 life. He opted not to attack (which would have forced me to chump). On turn 5 I played my second Master of Etherium, and they were both 10/10s. He dropped another lord and attacked with everything, which included a Mutavult. I chumped 2 creatures, fed them to the Ravager, and ate the other 2. On my next turn I played another plating, Equipped both to my Signal Pest who I had managed not to chump block with, and swung in the air and on the ground for well over 20, even after he chumped one of my Masters.
I lost game 2 after getting Hurkyl's Recalled during my attack step on turn 3. Game 3 was a fairly one-sided affair, but I don't remember the details other than that I won and only took a single point of damage.
4-2 vs Merfolk
Round 7:
This round was the mirror match. My opponent was a very nice guy and we talked a lot about the matchup during the games and after. Game 1 I kept a no-land hand! Mox Opal, Ornithopter, Welding Jar, Springleaf Drum, Vault Skirge. On his turn 2, he threw an Ensoul Artifact on his Darksteel Citadel and beat in for 5. On my turn 2 I threw an Ensoul Artifact on Vault Skirge and swung in for 5, Lifelink. He ended up hitting me for 8 thanks to Vault Skirge, then 5 but I hit for 5, then 6 lifelink thanks to Steel Overseer. This left me at 15 life and him at 4. On his next turn, he was able to equip a Cranial Plating, kill my blocker with a Galvanic Blast, and swing for 11. He had a second Galvanic Blast that he aimed at the face, for exactly 15. Game two was fascinating. He boarded in Chalice of the Void, while I left mine out and just boarded in Ancient Grudge. I opened slow, with just a land and a Springleaf Drum. He opened land, Mox Opal, Ornithopter, Chalice for 0, Chalice for 1. WTF! Next turn I cast Arcbound Ravager, Vault Skrige. He then suited up his Ornithopter with an Ensoul Artifact and swung for 5. I dropped another Vault Skirge. He then suited up his Chalice for 1 with an Ensoul Artifact and swung for 10. Next turn I sacrificed all my artifacts to make my Vault Skirge a 6/6, in order to block and survive. But he topdecked an Arcbound Ravager and sacrified the one I blocked, preventing lifelink and securing the game.
4-3 vs Affinity, drop.
Overall it was a fun day. I really love modern. Although I'm terrified that Affinity will suffer the next ban. If it's Cranial Plating then it might survive (with Tempered Steel), but if it's Mox Opal then this deck will be dead. Luckily today at the Pro Tour, 6 of the 8 decks in the top 8 were new Eldrazi brews (http://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=11502&f=MO) so that might be more important for WotC to address. But of course, the other two were Affinity.
TL;DR - Magic is fun, even on average days.
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United States10378 Posts
damn that deflecting palm. ouch.
also damn eldrazis just taking over everything in the PT. did not expect that. expected at least 1 tron to get in and maybe a junk/jund deck... but 6??? yeah wizards, do something about that.
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Hey-hey-hey, Affinity in the house. :D
And wow, 6/8 of the top 8 were Eldrazi? That seems nuts, to my knowledge they have a poor matchup vs. the traditional Tier 1 modern decks (Burn, Affinity, and I think Tron?) so thats surprising. Guess it was just due to sheer popularity?
And I'd feel moderately confident in Affinity's nerf-safety, while not IMPOSSIBLE, I think the deck doesn't do the things they banned Twin for, namely that it doesn't win as much, its not a combo that just sticks in every UR deck, pretty much requires U to be paired with R, and it's got a shit ton of hate that can keep it in check.
So fret not, Affinity is probably safe, and at least if its NOT safe, they'd probably go the route of printing better hate cards before banning our Mox Opals, or Cranial Platings, or Arcbound Ravagers!
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On February 07 2016 16:55 Zambrah wrote:
Hey-hey-hey, Affinity in the house. :D
And wow, 6/8 of the top 8 were Eldrazi? That seems nuts, to my knowledge they have a poor matchup vs. the traditional Tier 1 modern decks (Burn, Affinity, and I think Tron?) so thats surprising. Guess it was just due to sheer popularity?
And I'd feel moderately confident in Affinity's nerf-safety, while not IMPOSSIBLE, I think the deck doesn't do the things they banned Twin for, namely that it doesn't win as much, its not a combo that just sticks in every UR deck, pretty much requires U to be paired with R, and it's got a shit ton of hate that can keep it in check.
So fret not, Affinity is probably safe, and at least if its NOT safe, they'd probably go the route of printing better hate cards before banning our Mox Opals, or Cranial Platings, or Arcbound Ravagers!
The Eldrazi decks in the top 8 were different from the previous Bx iterations of the Eldrazi deck. There's a colorless version, a UR version and a BUG version. It's hard to judge since sideboards weren't ready for those decks but with turn 2 Thought-Knot Seers and Reality-Smashers they look like they have a positive match-up against all those decks.
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Positive against Affinity and Burn? I'd need to really see some matches before I could judge, but I can MAYBE see an Eldrazi Aggro deck be 50/50 with burn, but I gotta feel that Affinity has the upperhand, it's explosive and their interaction seems minimal in the aggro variety, do they really put out a better clock than Affinity?
I think going forward Ensnaring Bridge will be a staple side board card, which sucks because its so damn expensive. :d
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United States47024 Posts
Affinity and Burn made up a combined 25%+ of the field both days. The deck doesn't get to 80% winrate over the course of the event by tanking against the 2 most popular decks in the format.
The deck is deceptively good against Burn in part because unlike every other deck in the format, it doesn't do a bunch of damage to itself from its lands. That already buys it time against Burn (since they have to actually do 20 and not the ~15 they do against most other decks), and basically any Temple/Eye draw lets you dump your hand fast enough to threaten them.
IIRC Affinity isn't so great a matchup for the UR version (it actually does lean heavily on its sideboard to win it--as is the case with most decks facing Affinity) but it still does have game.
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The deck is still fairly new, I'm going to wait a little and see where sideboards shuffle out to decide whether or not I feel good as Affinity against them, but as of now I don't feel terrible being Affinity vs. these Eldrazi decks, now as almost any other deck, yeah, I'd feel terrible, which is funny because Eldrazi is really going to annihilate (heh) the diversity that the Twin ban was supposed to enable.
It's super fast, it fucks graveyards (hurray for the Grixis deck I've been building :|), it's got inevitability, I'm not sure what REALLY deals with it other than Affinity atm, but I think if I were to go into a game day with a list I think it'd still probably be Affinity?
I'd probably be packing Ensnaring Bridges, though.
Also, I'll call a ban on Eye of Ugin sometime between March and July, the deck is going to strangle out the non-hyper linear decks and I bet WotC is going to feel really stupid for printing Reality Smasher.
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United States47024 Posts
On February 07 2016 18:47 Zambrah wrote:
It's super fast, it fucks graveyards (hurray for the Grixis deck I've been building :|), it's got inevitability, I'm not sure what REALLY deals with it other than Affinity atm, but I think if I were to go into a game day with a list I think it'd still probably be Affinity?
Have you looked at the PT lists? This was true of the pre-Oath versions with 4 maindeck Relic + processors, but that's not the most successful version of the deck at the Pro Tour.
These versions are nothing like the Bx lists that were popping up pre-Oath (which, yes, did have bad matchups against Affinity/Burn/Tron). Essentially the only cards the CFB and East-West-Bowl versions of the deck share with those are the 8 Eldrazi lands (and some Bx lists pre-Oath weren't even running the full 8). Everything else is totally new.
Frank Lepore's version is closer to the old Bx Core, but only insofar as it runs maindeck Relics and low-drop processors. It's still playing the same fast mana aggro game as the other versions and doesn't dilute its gameplan with the midrangey hand disruption/removal or expensive Eldrazi (e.g. Oblivion Sower, Ulamog).
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On February 07 2016 18:50 TheYango wrote:Show nested quote +On February 07 2016 18:47 Zambrah wrote:
It's super fast, it fucks graveyards (hurray for the Grixis deck I've been building :|), it's got inevitability, I'm not sure what REALLY deals with it other than Affinity atm, but I think if I were to go into a game day with a list I think it'd still probably be Affinity?
Have you looked at the PT lists? This was true of the pre-Oath versions with 4 maindeck Relic + processors, but that's not the most successful version of the deck at the Pro Tour. These versions are nothing like the Bx lists that were popping up pre-Oath (which, yes, did have bad matchups against Affinity/Burn/Tron). Essentially the only cards the CFB and East-West-Bowl versions of the deck share with those are the 8 Eldrazi lands (and some Bx lists pre-Oath weren't even running the full 8). Frank Lepore's version is closer to the old Bx Core, but only insofar as it runs maindeck Relics and low-drop processors. It's still playing the same fast mana aggro game as the other versions and doesn't dilute its gameplan with the midrangey hand disruption/removal or expensive Eldrazi (e.g. Oblivion Sower, Ulamog).
I'm counting it as a collective archetype that relies on the Eldrazi Temple/Eye of Ugin/Urborg nonsense to pump out OP shit early, at least with regards to comparing it with overall format diversity, I doubt WotC is going to see Bx, UR, etc. etc. Eldrazi as separate archetypes that may indicate a healthy format diversity.
EDIT: Affinity sideboard Painter's Servant mayhaps, lol.
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Eldrazi has a theoretical turn 2 win, which I think is indicative of its power level.
T1: Eye of Ugin, Eldrazi Mimic x3
T2: Eldrazi Temple, Exile SSG, Reality Smasher, swing 20.
While affinity has a lot of ways to win on turn 3, there's nothing like this to win on turn 2.
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I think whats even more damning for Eldrazi is that not only is this theoretical turn 2 powerful, the deck that houses it doesn't even really need that kind of start to be REALLY powerful, its a lot like Twin where the threat of twin was really scary but the deck was also just really good and consistently strong.
I see a future devoid (heh) of Eldrazi Temples.
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United States10378 Posts
On February 08 2016 05:04 Meta wrote:
Eldrazi has a theoretical turn 2 win, which I think is indicative of its power level.
T1: Eye of Ugin, Eldrazi Mimic x3
T2: Eldrazi Temple, Exile SSG, Reality Smasher, swing 20.
While affinity has a lot of ways to win on turn 3, there's nothing like this to win on turn 2.
ok so who in wizards thought this was going to be a good idea in modern =.= do they even deck test or pay attention to modern? it feels like almost every new set they release creates more busted shit in modern and ultimately leads to more and more bans. DRS and BBE were due to RTR coming in (and RTR really changed the modern format a ton), KTR made pod get banned via the Rhino. I'm fully expecting to see more bans coming in their next rotation of bans that are going to hit some more shit.
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The deck would probably be a little less broken if it wasn't doing the whole Simian Spirit Guide/Chalice of the Void bullshit to turn off early plays in their entirety.
Even without that though, the decks are still real strong.
They might honestly have to do an emergency ban if the Eldrazi decks do GPs what they've done to the Pro Tour.
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On February 08 2016 07:34 Zambrah wrote:
The deck would probably be a little less broken if it wasn't doing the whole Simian Spirit Guide/Chalice of the Void bullshit to turn off early plays in their entirety.
Even without that though, the decks are still real strong.
They might honestly have to do an emergency ban if the Eldrazi decks do GPs what they've done to the Pro Tour.
I doubt we'll see an emergency ban. Wizards will probably wait to see if anyone can find a good solution to the Eldrazi deck, and then wait some more before banning anything. If anything I expect no ban when SoI is released either.
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If it does what its done to the Pro Tour to the next few GPs I dont think they'll have much of a choice, at that point there'll be some serious problems in Modern due to Eldrazi. I hope things like Ensnaring Bridge are enough to curb them a little but only time will tell!
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On February 08 2016 08:26 Zambrah wrote:
If it does what its done to the Pro Tour to the next few GPs I dont think they'll have much of a choice, at that point there'll be some serious problems in Modern due to Eldrazi. I hope things like Ensnaring Bridge are enough to curb them a little but only time will tell!
There's 3 modern GPs in a month. I feel like we'll have a pretty good idea of whether the Eldrazi deck will be banned during the next banned list announcement once they are over.
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I fully agree, I think that the results are going to be pretty brutal though, even if Eldrazi isnt AS dominant, I get the feeling the only other deck that will be able to survive is Affinity, and maybe Lantern (big maybe) and I think that sort of meta-anti-diversity is going to require probably an Eye of Ugin ban, or an Eldrazi Temple ban if they like where Tron is.
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United States47024 Posts
Personally I think Eye is the piece that should go. Even in Tron, it's not giving them % against the fast decks that make their lives miserable in the current metagame. It only pushes them over the top against the midrange and control decks that people aren't playing right now and where it doesn't need that % to be advantaged to begin with.
If they want to make up some % in Tron, then it should be somewhere where it gives them game against faster decks. Balancing the deck around Eye being in it just keeps the deck as lopsided as it is now where it has inevitability against every midrange/control deck and in exchange has almost no game against the fast aggro decks. That's not a healthy place for the deck to be even if it's win %s work out overall.
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On February 08 2016 11:26 TheYango wrote:
Personally I think Eye is the piece that should go. Even in Tron, it's not giving them % against the fast decks that make their lives miserable in the current metagame. It only pushes them over the top against the midrange and control decks that people aren't playing right now and where it doesn't need that % to be advantaged to begin with.
If they want to make up some % in Tron, then it should be somewhere where it gives them game against faster decks. Balancing the deck around Eye being in it just keeps the deck as lopsided as it is now where it has inevitability against every midrange/control deck and in exchange has almost no game against the fast aggro decks. That's not a healthy place for the deck to be even if it's win %s work out overall.
Same. Eye is also a more degenerate card than Eldrazi Temple. And I don't think that Wizards is going to shed any tears over Tron's winrate dropping a little.
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Thats where I'm at, I have no love for Tron and hopefully a weaker Tron will let some more controlling strategies take hold (I know, pipe dream. :D)
I dont think Eye can survive while it regularly generates 2 - 6 mana in a turn plus upside if you get to the point where you can activate it. While Eldrazi Temple would enable a turn 2 TKS compared to an Eye, I think the possibility of a crazy Endless One/Eldrazi Mimic start off of Eye is more combo-BS-like than WotC may be comfortable with within the Eldrazi shell.
Hopefully Eldrazi goes away and they do some work to make control-ier decks better, I'm serious dying to get this Grixis deck going. Or an Esper deck. Just something that doesn't jam people in the face and pray to dodge hate. 
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EPT
