On June 10 2013 15:00 Ryan307 wrote: So after grinding countless hours of RTR block drafts (and cracking a voice of resurgence, woo!) I have finally decided I have a big enough cardpool to play some Modern Constructed. I'm pretty new to the format (I've played almost exclusively limited since kamigawa-ish), and I was looking for some advice.
I built mono blue tron because it looks like fun to play, and I'm running the following list:
Where I'm completely lost is what to sideboard, I have no idea what to cut or side in for most matchups. If anyone could offer some feedback it would be greatly appreciated.
The decks I've been facing consistently: Jund Splinter Twin Infect Combo Pod Combo RUW Control Red Deck Wins White Weenie Lifegain
Again, any feedback would be greatly appreciated!
You're in luck because I actually play Mono-U Tron. I'll assume you already have a basic idea how to play the deck in and of itself so I won't bore you with that.
The first thing I'm going to say is that I don't like the sideboard in that deck but I can see why those cards are in there... Each to their own I suppose. I personally alternate between shoktroopa's build and tsuru's build (as an aside, shoktropa was the first architect of the Modern Mono-U Tron build). If you're still trying out the deck, I'd go with shoktroopa's build. The one you're using has some, uh, interesting choices. (The 1-of Karn for random GR Tron style Turn 3 Karn is hilarious, but impractical. Why do you not even have any Blue Mana by turn 3 anyway??)
Not having Platinum anywhere in your 75 let alone your main deck is wrong. 100% wrong. It's your saving grace against Burn/RDW and Infect. It's one of the few cards that stabilises any position against them and is a wall that they have to deal with before they can finally get around to killing you. It also stops anyone from combo'ing off on you because they need to find an out to it before they can go off which buys you time if need be. While less vital, not having Oblivion Stone anywhere in the 75 is also weird. It's a colourless Akroma's Wrath.
I am going to give sideboard and match up advice assuming you're using shoktroopa's build.
Against really aggro decks, you cut 2x Thirst for Knowledge, and 1x Mindslaver for Dismembers and another Wurmcoil. If you're on the draw, you can cut Remands for more Dismembers because on the draw you'd rather kill things than wait a turn to take damage and then counter their play (at which point, they've likely dumped their hand and starting to Bolt you, and Remanding a Bolt against RDW is not the most exciting play to say the least...) If they're super small weenie heavy cutting Remand/Spell Burst is okay for Spellskite depending. You can also cut Sundering Titan as well, but just having something with a big rear that sits there is hard to say no to. WW Lifegain is very similar except you probably do want to cut the Titan against most of those builds.
For Pod, you cut 2x Sad Robots, 2xTalisman, 1x Mindslaver and 1x Wurmcoil for Dismember and Squelch. You can bring in Spell Pierce and cut a Treasure Mage and a Mindslaver depending if you're on the Draw and the exact Pod Deck. Remember you can Squelch a Pod activation which can be hilarious. Remember that sacrificing a creature is part of the activation cost because it's before the colon so they basically sacrifice something for nothing. Kill/bounce mana dorks, keep out-tempoing them and you just go bigger. Then Slaver lock them or something.
Tri-colour midrange/control it really depends on their build and what you see Game 1... Jund and UWR are probably two really flexible lists but virtually everything is good depending on what exactly you need the most. Spreading Seas kills Jund's manabase (esp if you keep killing their mana dorks), Relic stops any deck that relies on the Graveyard (like Gifts decks), etc. One thing though is that against the Wafo-Tapa UWR decks you have more mana than them, produce more mana than them, and you do bigger things. This one is probably one of the better matchups on your list I think. Also, Sundering Titan is like a one-sided Armageddon on a stick.
Alternative sideboard options for your meta include Chalice of the Void (set to 1 it wrecks WW Lifegain and Infect on the play and they have almost no outs for it), Pithing Needle (always good in general), Steel Hellkite (one of the cooler pieces of tech from tsuru's build) and Ratchet Bomb (which is just good in general). If you're really worried about Splinter Twin, and if people play Kiki Pod a lot instead of Melira Pod then Torpor Orb and Negates aren't bad either.
Seriously thank you so much for this, this is so insanely helpful and is exactly what I was looking for.
Also, Judicator, I really like your analysis of micronesia's sealed play. I think it would be pretty cool if some video's get posted here and we as a community could go over each others plays and help one another get better at this awesome game.
Also micronesia, if I saw you hesitating in real life on turn 4, I would have played much more aggressively than I normally would have. I would have put you on a 4 drops plus 3 drops simply because you weren't ever playing 2 spells in a turn for next few turns. That means combat almost will never be in your favor if you don't have blue mana up.
On June 12 2013 06:08 Judicator wrote: Also micronesia, if I saw you hesitating in real life on turn 4, I would have played much more aggressively than I normally would have. I would have put you on a 4 drops plus 3 drops simply because unless you drew another island. That means combat almost will never be in your favor if you don't have blue mana up.
Can you explain what this means? You keep using language I need to learn but don't know.
I saw in your video that hesitated on turn 4 to think for a few seconds. So that puts me on alert for what kind of situation you are in. 3 drops mean cards that cost 3 mana, typically "dropped" on the field on turn 3. So a 2 drop would be a 2 mana costing creature/permanent. So I would try to put you in a miserable position, like your opponent did where I would be shortening the game so you can't draw your possible outs (like outs in hold'em poker).
Edit:
That's not to say you shouldn't stop and think on important turns.
Fair enough. Hopefully my decision making will get quicker as I play more.
Here is game 2:
Pregame - I am going first. My starting hand has two plains and two swamps. I will be able to get out dutiful thrull immediately, and I also have debt to deathless which is a very useful card later in the game (although not now), and a 3 mana flash creature that I plan to try to use to wipe out his attacker, if possible. I will get to draw another card before I have to play anything so I decide to stay. He mulligans once.
Round 1 - me - I play a plains and then put out the dutiful thrull.
Round 1 - him - He plays a mountain and ends his turn.
Round 2 - me - I draw Mirko. I play a swamp and swing for 1.
Round 2 - him - He plays a forest and a zhur-taa druid.
Round 3 - me - I draw an Orzhov Charm. I play a swamp (more useful than plains since the thrull uses swamp to regenerate) and then decide to use the charm to kill the druid. There is nothing else I can do (except just attack, but he obviously won't defend given that I can regenerate) with the cards I have, and it will slow his mana down. Also, using the charm to kill someone with 1 toughness is much better than a stronger creature, although I am losing the ability to use it later to bring a small creature back from the graveyard (I don't think there's any reason why I will need it to bring one of my creatures back to my hand). It may have been smarter to just swing for 1 and just waste the mana this turn.
Round 3 - him - He plays an island and puts out a Frostburn Weird. It looks like I will need to keep a black mana available to regenerate the thrull when blocking. With hindsight, leaving the druid alive might have allowed me to wait until he pumps the weird and then kill it with the charm once the weird is maxed out, dealing me only one damage. Of course there wasn't much chance for me to know this opportunity would come up.
Round 4 - me - I play a plains, so now my mana is BBWW. I don't have any blue mana so the only thing I can do is cast sunspire griffin.
Round 4 - him - He plays a mountain, brining his mana to RRGU. He doesn't bother attacking since it's obvious I can block it easily.
Round 5 - me - I draw a cloudfin raptor. I'm starting to wish I hadn't relied so much on getting lucky with blue mana. I swing for 2 unsuccessfully; he uses aerial predation, which kills my flier (although not mirko at least who I should be able to play soon) and gives him two life. Now I'm at 19 and he is at 20.
Round 5 - him - All he does is play an island. He has 3 cards in hand as of the end of his turn.
Round 6 - me - I draw syncopate, which is currently useless to me. There is nothing I can do this turn.
Round 6 - him - He plays a forest, but that's all he does. However, he has 6 mana available for next turn (and possibly on more if he plays a land).
Round 7 - me - I draw a runewing, so once again I can't do anything. I now have 6 cards in hand.
Round 7 - him - He plays an Ivy Lane Denizen.
Round 8 - me - I draw a swamp and play it. I still can't do anything.
Round 8 - him - He plays an izzet cluestone, and then sacrifices it to draw a card. He swings with both creatures. I block the Ivy Lane Denizen, although it doesn't really matter which I block. He beefs the other one up to 2/3, deals 2 damage, and I regenerate the thrull. I am now at 17 to his 20.
Round 9 - me - I draw an island. Snap play! I now have WWBBBU. He just used up his anti-flier removal, so I figure I'll give Mirko a shot. The alternative would be either to try to flash-block his attack next turn with the Hussar Patrol, put out a flier, or prepare to counter his next spell.
Round 9 - him - He uses fused Turn and Burn on Mirko, killing him. He swings, which I block/regenerate; I take 2 damage regardless of which guy I block, bringing me to 15.
Round 10 - me - I draw pilfered plans. I can put out one creature now, or do a small debt to deathless, or perhaps use pilfered plans. I decide not to do anything so I have the option either to counter his next spell or flash block with Hussar Patrol
Round 10 - him - He swings. I flash out hussar patrol before assigning blockers. I block the weird with the thrull, and the Ivy Lane with the Hussar; nobody dies. He was saving all of his mana when he attacked, so I may have been better off not flashing out he Hussar Patrol and then countering his next spell. However, this would have backfired if he didn't end up casting a spell, and perhaps saved his mana solely for beefing up the weird. This is one of those hindsight situations, as he follows up the blocked attack by playing a ruination wurm. Of course, if I knew he was preparing a big spell I would have eaten two damage, delayed the Hussar Patrol, and countered it... but there was no way to know. He puts the free +1/+1 counter from Ivy's ability on to the weird.
Round 11 - me - I draw a sphere of safety. Debt to Deathless still isn't worth using, Cloudfin Raptor by itself won't accomplish anything, saving mana to counter will probably result in me taking more damage, and might not be useful, and sphere of safety by itself won't slow him down much and I'll start taking damage next turn. I use pilfered plans and draw a dimir guildgate and a paralyzing grasp. I play the gate and that's all I can do.
Round 11 - him - He casts Alive, getting a 3/3 centaur, and putting the counter on to Ivy Lane Denizen. He swings with Ivy, Weird, and ruination wurm. I block the wurm with the thrull, and the Ivy with the Hussar. He beefs up the Weird and I take 3, bringing me to 12.
Round 12 - me - I draw a swamp and play it. I decide my objective is to stop him from swinging with so many strong creatures, and so I use paralyzing grasp on the ruination wurm. I put out runewing, figuring it will help me draw another card when I block with him. The alterantive was to put out the cloudfin raptor or save mana and prepare for a counter with syncopate. Putting a sphere of safety out would require him to pay two mana per attacking creature, but I would lose my thrull next turn due to needing to use up all of my mana.
Round 12 - him - He plays a plains, leading me to believe he now has all the mana he needs. He puts out an armored wolf rider, and puts the extra counter on to the weird. He swings with the weird, the ivy, and the centaur. I have one swamp untapped to regenerate the thrull. I block the weird with the thrull, the ivy with runewing who will die, and the centaur with the hussar patrol, then regenerate the thrull. I draw an island as a result of the exchange but take no damage.
Round 13 - me - I draw immortal servitude and play an island. If I use debt to deathless, I can bring my health up 8 or 10 points (depending if I save a mana for the regenerate), and bring him down to 12 or 10. However, that will just delay the inevitable. Sphere of safety won't be that helpful since he has twice as many attacker as I have blockers, and plenty of mana. Saving mana to counter his next spell is a possibility, but he can honestly just keep swinging now and I will die even if I counter spell after spell. Cloudfin raptor by itself won't be useful. I check my gravyard to see which creatures are in my graveyard that I can return to the battlefield. I'm in quite the pickle so I decide to go with the one card that has the chance to turn this around: Mirko. I pay 8 mana and mirko returns to the battlefield. One hit with Mirko will probably end the game, and he has no defense against flying. He does however have 3 (soon to be 4) cards in his hand. In my second main stage I play and island and the cloudfin raptor. I figure with 3 or 4 blockers I can keep myself alive one more turn at least to swing with Mirko. It might have been smarter to use debt to deathless, but the health I gained would be quickly taken by him again, and I really don't think it's possible for me to bring his health to 0... my only chance remaining is to mill him.
Round 13 - him - He swings with his four creatures. I block all of them but the centaur because I don't want to risk losing mirko, figuring I will take 3 damage, losing the thrull and raptor (I have no mana for regenerate). He then casts Warleader's helix, dealing 4 damage to Mirko and killing him. I still take 3 damage, bringing me to 9, but I'm pretty screwed now. He also puts out lobber crew.
Round 14 - me - I draw then play a plains. I can now do a debt to deathless for x=6, which will cut his health in half and bring me up to 21, but I will still lose given the board and the cards in my hand. He only has 1 card in hand. I put a sphere of safety to try and buy time.
Round 14 - him - he swings with four creatures (not lobber crew obviously) and pays the necessary 8 mana to get through my shield. I can't prevent taking sufficient damage to kill me. I could have delayed this by playing debt to deathless instead of sphere of safety, but the result would have been the same, although 1 turn later.
Analysis: The thing I really wish I could go back and try is putting out the sphere of safety on round 13 instead of 14. This would have made it more difficult for him to eventually use Warleader's Helix to kill my Mirko. I felt extremely pressured to get my chance of winning out on to the board with my health decreasing so rapidly. Other than that, my main problem was that I was mana screwed in the mid game. This deck I've built seems to have great potential but is just really risky, and I've been punished twice in a row for it.
Board out sphere of safety is a better idea, that card is just terrible in general. Your play seems fine for the most part, there isn't anything too far out there, your card evaluation and deck construction needs work.
I'm not good enough to analyze this the say way Judicator does, but the big things that hit me were when you blocked with hussar patrol and runewing, and let runewing die. I would have double blocked the ivy street denizen, runewing still dies, you take 3, but a creature is gone, and one that buffs dudes at that. Also, that immortal servitude was at a bad time. That turn should have been land, cloudfin, sphere, mana open for syncopate. Next turn give yourself a cushion with Debt (you know he has a helix in his deck from last game, and down to 8 cards he probably has it), try to make him burn it on you, THEN drop your finisher.
Makes sense. Thanks for the advice guys. Another similarity between magic and sc: playing it isn't enough; you need to actively read and discuss it to get significantly better. I'm also discussing these games with a friend I have who plays magic, so hopefully between there and here I will learn enough to play better and possibly even do well in some of these sealed deck tourneys.
I haven't looked through the videos yet thoroughly, but that double block opportunity was there for the taking.
Also playing that Izzet Blitz deck Woo posted since its the I hate standard right now for me. Made a few modifications, can't really tell if its worth it.
It's pretty fun, the deck definitely needs Delvers though, that rob-you-of-a-game feeling is definitely there. Beat multiple decks now sitting at 5 life in a race. Guttersnipe does not disappoint. I have beaten all the aggro decks, but I feel the need for a dispel.
Edit: micronesia, no need to type out every single play, people will comment on questionable plays if they actually look at them, if not, fuck them. If you got questions about a certain point, we all can discuss it, if you're not sure where to start, that's fine too.
On June 11 2013 21:21 Judicator wrote: @Shotcoder:
Those decks dont exist because RUG cant close games out with it being either a few points of damage short or a few cards short, just one of those 40/60 matchup decks. Grixis theres no point to running in any variation, your aggro builds are just worse than the aggro builds out there as blue does nothing for you, the control just means your worse than both esper and bant and probably lower than BUG since your aetherling lines are just worse and thoughtflare is worse than urban evolution.
Really? I thought having access to Huntsmaster, Niv Mizzet, Aetherling, and Thragtusk would help you out so much at least on the creature front. That doesnt even show up with your amazing Voice match up thanks to Pillar and Annihilating Fire. I can see why your other control match-ups would be gross(as in bad) but I feel like you would rofl stomp creature match-ups.
There's no reason to run Niv Mizzet, that's just a worse version Aetherling. Second, that deck tops out at the high end. If you are thinking of the old RUG decks from Zendikar days, good luck. There's no Jace/Preordain to smooth out your draws, otherwise you are just playing a RG-Wolfrun deck that's playing Blue for limited value. That deck just has problems finishing games, it's not a in-vacuum thing you are thinking of, if you put too much top end, then you risk losing pressure. All the RUG builds are midrange plays.
Primespeaker is again, why are you in RUG and not Bant colors at this point? The red really isn't justified in one and the blue isn't in the other. So why even use RUG? Like whatever road you want to take with the deck is just a crappier version of either Bant Control or a crappier version of Jund.
I can't word what I want to say correctly. I'll try and think of a way to do it and come back. But you're comparing it to other control decks when I feel that's a completely false way to do it since the deck is obviously different. I'll be back, gimme awhile to think of the proper wording.
What you are trying to do with the deck, you can do in other decks and be more effective. I am comparing them to other decks on a goal basis. The color combination isnt worth it.
So I've got two decks that I'm enjoying so far, a Mono-B Vamps and a Dimir mill deck. I'd like to run something pure aggro, maybe RB burn or Gruul or Mono-G elves. Any suggestions for a RAWR SMASH deck?
On June 12 2013 22:31 Crownlol wrote: So I've got two decks that I'm enjoying so far, a Mono-B Vamps and a Dimir mill deck. I'd like to run something pure aggro, maybe RB burn or Gruul or Mono-G elves. Any suggestions for a RAWR SMASH deck?
Gruul is the best relatively cheap smash deck out there at the moment (Naya is the pricey version). Just off the top of my head something like:
As a starting point, then you can get nasty with going the bigger route (cut some 1s for Gyre Sage and Silverheart/Thundermaw/etc.) or just all-in on the faster route with Rancor and the like.
After today's extra long downtime (which isn't even over yet) there are going to be free events, but you must use the beta client to login (until tomorrow).
EPT
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