Dies to Removal

Got FNM tonight not sure what to expect metawise; I'm playing Z's pyroboros list in the primer but I"m not sure If i want to run the 4 peak eruptions. I'm not entirely sure what the meta's going to be like except I'm pretty sure there will be no master of waves, according to some people I've talked to. I'm probably just going to add another hammer at least, but I'm not sure what to do with the last 3 slots.

2 stormbreath 1 wear//tear?
2 skullcrack 1 wear//tear?

Hell I'm thinking about Aurelia's Fury as a one of or something crazy. Seems like it could be good as a mass falter and/or a way to prevent combat tricks when I'm going in for the kill. Plus it recurs phoenix.

I think Fury is good against the decks we already have cards for; I'd pick some number of Skullcrack / wear // tear / Peak Eruption.

thanks for the correction re: creature auras on Gods. Good to know!

23 lands isn't enough to get much out of Fury. Seismic stomp is a better mass falter if that's what you're going for right now. Traitorous instinct too.

I kind of want to try out -1 Chained +2 Instinct and open up another flex slot. Especially if I'm not expecting much midrange (also if most of the midrange decks are running Obzedat and such anyway). I really like Instinct.

Maybe a Wear/Tear and another Charm (or a one-of Skullcrack). Crack works better against Revelation, but an extra charm can let us overextend a bit more. Maybe even a one-of Glare of Heresy? I lost my one control match to Elspeth and it also deals with Obzedaddy.

Sorceries are not going to work on Obzedat.

I'm using Glare but it's more for the lifegain pieces you guys are designed to go under.

Oh fuck me it's a sorcery. Well never mind that then. I'm dumb.

If for some reason you're worried about a flurry of Obzedat, renounce gets it and it's unlikely they'll have another multicolored in play. It's ok but not amazing though.

Isn't renounce double W?

Nope, 1W.

It also hits Cackler and Reckoner though (the latter of which I do side in against some GW/BGW midrange decks).

In other news, I want to run with Instincts but it messes with my usual SB plan for midrange (-4 Satyr +2 Chained/Mortars, -4 Shock +4 Reckoner) since I don't know what other two cards to cut.

Control wouldn't mind two extra cards though (-2 Chained -2 Shock +2 Hammer +2 Charm). I might run Skullcrack (-2 Shock).

I can't decide and I have to leave in about an hour halp

The cacklers

Keep all 4 chained in, 2 mb, 2 sb, flex slots are 2 Skullcrack 1 Wear // Tear. 8 cards for aggro/midrange is plenty, crack shores up control and wear // tear + crack are both fine against devo black

Wait I have a really dumb or really good idea.

...

Blind Obedience.

Obzedat can't blink (well he can, but...), helps against Mono-Blue a bit, even comes in handy in fringe cases with the artifact part ([edit] nvm Whip is useless anyway!, UW Trading Post, etc.). Can be sided in against the aggro/midrange matchups, and gives us something to do with extra white mana late game.

[edit] not that it's the GREATEST idea against UW. even if they're running Post (delays a turn) or Elspeth.
[edit2] I also have yet to play against Mono-B Devotion and I'm not worried about it yet.

I might just try this if I can't find a Wear/Tear around my apartment (and I may be too lazy/cheap to buy one for like a quarter).

re: taking out Cacklers, so -8 one-drops and 2 Shock for the 10-piece package? could also work.

Cackler/Satyr are awful against midrange; too easily blanked.

Wait I have a really dumb or really good idea.

...

Blind Obedience.

Obzedat can't blink (well he can, but...), helps against Mono-Blue a bit, even comes in handy in fringe cases with the artifact part ([edit] nvm Whip is useless anyway!, UW Trading Post, etc.). Can be sided in against the aggro/midrange matchups, and gives us something to do with extra white mana late game.

[edit] not that it's the GREATEST idea against UW. even if they're running Post (delays a turn) or Elspeth.
[edit2] I also have yet to play against Mono-B Devotion and I'm not worried about it yet.

I might just try this if I can't find a Wear/Tear around my apartment (and I may be too lazy/cheap to buy one for like a quarter).

re: taking out Cacklers, so -8 one-drops and
2 Shock for the 10-piece package? could also work.

I was thinking about Obzedat just now and thought if the same card. I like BO a lot against Splinter Twin in Modern because it hoses all-in haste and tricky infinite combo decks that win in the red zone. It might get better as the white mana count goes up to take advantage of extort triggers (which are more valuable than they seem)

Imposing Sovereign yo.

The decks running Ghost Papi are also running too much removal to make Sovereign a real threat.

Running this for FNM; just want to Top 8 and split because I have plans :S

[deck]
Creatures
4 Ash Zealot
4 Chandra's Phoenix
4 Firedrinker Satyr
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Young Pyromancer

Planeswalkers
3 Chandra, Pyromaster

Spells
2 Chained to the Rocks
4 Lightning Strike
4 Magma Jet
4 Shock

Lands
2 Mutavault
4 Sacred Foundry
4 Temple of Triumph
12 Mountain
1 Plains

Sideboard
1 Assemble the Legion
3 Boros Charm
4 Boros Reckoner
2 Chained to the Rocks
1 Hammer of Purphoros
2 Mizzium Mortars
2 Traitorous Instinct
[/DECK]

Pretty unfocussed sideboard apart from the usual inclusions; I just opted for broadly powerful cards that I would always be happy to draw in the matchups that they come in.

Just for the sake of it: I went 3-1 on FNM with a PyroRed and that lone 1-2 vs UW control has teached me that I don't really handle Jace properly.
Do you guys, attack him, burn him, ignore him?

Let's suppose you've got Ash Zealot, Phoenix, 2 mountains, Mutavault and he taps out on T4 to play Jace, what are your priorities?

What's in my hand? What's his lifetotal? Is one of his lands a mutavault?

Just for the sake of it: I went 3-1 on FNM with a PyroRed and that lone 1-2 vs UW control has teached me that I don't really handle Jace properly.
Do you guys, attack him, burn him, ignore him?

Let's suppose you've got Ash Zealot, Phoenix, 2 mountains, Mutavault and he taps out on T4 to play Jace, what are your priorities?

I'm going to assume that he +1'd Jace and I have burn in hand. I'll also assume that he's taken 6 damage, putting him at 14.

I would activate Mutavault and swing all 3 at Jace then shock him to finish him off. If I have a lightning strike, I'd swing with both and strike him to kill him. Jace is the card that buys them time by reducing our damage by 50% and getting him more cards. Without Jace to give them those
few extra cards, a lot of U/W decks have to go into top deck mode for a few turns which can really screw them over.

If you have burn, just swing 1 at Jace and the other 2 at your opponent. No bonus points for planeswalker overkill.

Jace is at 5 loyalty, Ashley and Bird only do 1 damage each because of Jace's +1. If I have shock, I need 3 creatures. If I have strike or fire, I need 2.

Ok, I thought Jacey Boy was at 4. Silly me!

Since he will reduce your overall damage, you will want to deal with Jace, especially on early stage. Unless your opponent health is at 6, and you have three 2/* and Lightning Strike.

I think I will remove Peak Eruption from the side. they have been under-performing in modo (Blowing up Stomping Ground won't stop Devo Green from ramping with all those mana producers they have.)

Could be usefull if someone still looks for additional white 'removal' - more of a tempo card.

I actually like that. Seismic Stomp doesn't do anything against Desecration Demon / Spectre; this would lock down both. +1 Yarpus.

I have my moments.

Played in FNM and it went quite well Finished the night 5-0 and 10-0 in matches.

[deck]
Creatures
4 Ash Zealot
4 Chandra's Phoenix
4 Firedrinker Satyr
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Young Pyromancer

Planeswalkers
3 Chandra, Pyromaster

Spells
2 Chained to the Rocks
4 Lightning Strike
4 Magma Jet
4 Shock

Lands
2 Mutavault
4 Sacred Foundry
4 Temple of Triumph
12 Mountain
1 Plains

Sideboard
3 Boros Charm
4 Boros Reckoner
2 Chained to the Rocks
2 Hammer of Purphoros
2 Mizzium Mortars
2 wear/tear
[/DECK]

Sideboard was like it was because i was expecting a lot of whip decks and control decks but i ended up playing only agro decks all night.

Match 1 G/B Midrange 2-0

Game 1 he keeps a 1 lander, gets stuck and dies at 2 mana.

Game 2 i didn't see anything so i didn't
sideboard. More of the same, he gets stuck at 3 mana and a steam roll over him.

Match 2 R/B agro 2-0

Game 1 was me burning his guys away and creating a bunch of tokens with YP and overwhelming him.

Game 2 was the standard anti agro package. game had minimal action till turn 3 with my hand of burn and phoenix and his of pure removal and 4 drops. He gets stuck at 3 mana for awhile as he uses his removal on my reckoners as i drew them and i get damage in with my 2 phoenix. he gets too low to recover and i burn him out.

Match 3 Devotion Red with heavy white splash

Game 1 he keeps a 1 lander on the play and pays for it as its a quick game

Game 2 he goes all in on the burn plan as he throws 2 boros charms 2 swings with a pheonix before i can chain it down and a lightning strike. that adds up to 4 life left so i messed up somewhere cause i was at 3. Basically it was a rush to kill him before he drew burn, ended up finishing him off the turn before he would have drawn boros charm #4.

Match 4
B/R Humans

Game 1 was much closer than i thought it was ganna be, purphorous + the necromancer is kind of annoying. I cant say i ever felt threatened to die but he got me a lot lower than i expected, overall easy win.

Game 2 Was the YP$ match, i ended up getting 3 on the field with 7 or 8 tokens and win the game easily

Match 5 G/W agro

I offer to draw it out but he refuses so we go to play, he mulligans to 6, looks at his hand and offers the draw, i refuse and he ends up going down to 4 and never plays a spell.

Game 2 was a mull to 6 while complaining about his land, i burn out his creatures and swing in with pheonix and reckoner. He cant hit his 4th land drop and dies. Even if he did, i don't think we would have fought through 2 reckoners and 2 phoenix with some burn.

I was happy with the deck obviously and i love the feeling of control i have over each game. Facing other red decks is not really a challenge outside a few matches online now. Had a group of people outside on a smoke break
talking about how to sideboard against my deck specifically. Felt good. Wish i got to play chandra more, only drew her once all night. When you win without your best card all night, the deck must be working though.

4-1 at FNM, for 3rd of 21. Only loss was 2-1 to blue devotion. Fullish report later, looks like I'm playing in Game Day tomorrow as well.

Went 3-1, lost to a black aggro deck. Made a play error and forgot reckoner can block a cackler when it has intimidate from mogis' marauder.

I'll never make that mistake again

FNM tonight, 32 attendees. 4-1 in Swiss, finished 1st in the Top8 round.

[deck]
Creatures
4 Ash Zealot
3 Chandra's Phoenix
4 Firedrinker Satyr
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Young Pyromancer
1 Boros Reckoner

Planeswalkers
3 Chandra, Pyromaster

Spells
2 Chained to the Rocks
4 Lightning Strike
4 Magma Jet
4 Shock

Lands
2 Mutavault
4 Sacred Foundry
4 Temple of Triumph
12 Mountain
1 Plains

Sideboard
2 Boros Charm
3 Boros Reckoner
2 Chained to the Rocks
1 Hammer of Purphoros
2 Mizzium Mortars
1 Traitorous Instinct
4 Peak Eruption[/deck]

* Let me note for starters that the intention was to run 4 Chandra's Phoenix in the MB and not 3 + 1 Boros Reckoner and then resulting in a Traitorous Instinct in the SB. I believe I lost one of my Phoenix's
I was freaking out right before the matches started, so I made this swap with ~5 minutes before starting. Tense...

I don't really have match up reports. I mostly would like to just share my appreciation to Zem, Helios, Hama, Yarpus, etc. and the rest of the community. You guys are fucking awesome and I believe by learning from all of you it has made me into a much more competent MTG player! I was more of a stalker last rotation with RakHammer and so forth, but opted out to play some control brews I was looking at. So, I've been reading afar for quite some time via MTGSalvation. This rotation though, it was time to bring back the color I loved! Thanks guys!

Here were my match ups:

Match 1: Bant Aggro Brew 2-0 (it was a very strange deck...)
Match 2: Junk 0-2 (We're just positioned so poorly versus this archetype...)
Match 3: Mono Green 2-1 (Nothing really special, Nylea's bow did work
on me in Games 2 and 3, but I was able to out last it in Game 3. I must say, that bow is troublesome...anyone else have issues with it?)
Match 4: UW Control 2-1 (The Hammer was a MVP)
Match 5: GR Midrange 2-1 (I was lucky, top decking 3 Chained to the Rocks and then seeing my opponent caught in a mana-flood on game 3)

Top8 Match 1: GR Midrange 2-1 (I top decked 3 Chained to the Rocks in Game 2 and still lost, lol. How? No idea. He main boarded Arbor Colossus, which was very interesting. However, Chandra, Pyromaster doesn't give a care in the world about it. Peak Eruption also was MVP in this match up)
Top8 Match 2: GR Midrange 2-0 (A lot easier to deal with, Chained to the Rocks MVP for sure as was Chandra, she's soooo good!)
Top8 Match 3: Blue Devotion 2-1 (I misplayed so bad in games 2 and 3, not using Chandra correctly, not swinging in when I wanted. I think I was just nervous and very worried about shutting off Thassa. My game plan was to snipe anything and everything that gave devotion as that
is what fuels not only Thassa, but MoW. It worked, it was a GREAT game plan. I held my Chains even for MoW. I think I was just focusing too much and made some bad miss plays that I was thankfully able to recover from though and end the game with a pretty incredible finish, spending 2 of Chandra's +1 abilities to just get enough damage in for lethal. Yes, I pinged from 1 Chandra, then replayed another Chandra for an additional ping. It was glorious! First time being in the finals for me in Standard, it was quite invigorating..)

So, yea! I just wanted to extend my appreciation to you guys! I'm by no means terrible, but not great. However, reading your strategies and card discussions have really helped me a lot I think. These articles that go up are life savers! Just my input, Chandra is ridiculous in Standard. Chained to the Rocks is absurd with so much aggro, and that Hammer is devastating to control. All things we knew, right? Just wanted to reinforce it! Sadly, I would probably say Young Pyromancer was
the most under performing card for me. I found myself NEEDING to burn crap off the field without even having a YP out, but often in my hand waiting to be played. Is this a problem anyone else has? I really want to watch some of your streams Zem, to see exactly how you evade some threats and utilize YP.

My proudest moment would probably have been reading the Mono Green deck, knowing exactly what he was drawing and playing. Able to react and snipe correct devotion giving creatures with accuracy!

Thanks again guys!!

What's in my hand? What's his lifetotal? Is one of his lands a mutavault?

Life points: 24 - 14
He is tapped out, Jace is at 5.
No Mutavaults.

I don't recall my hand, but how would your hand dictates your next moves?
This is getting interesting.

Just for the sake of saying it: I ended up losing lots of tempo against 3 Jace, then he resolves Elspeth, then I die with him at 4.
I'm thinking that ignoring Jace altogether is wrong, yet I find killing him really "costly".

I hate playing magic AND having to think what I'm doing

Hello all, you can thank Z for my interest in this forum as well, I keep an eye on his playtesting to make up for my own lack thereof, and that brought me here.
I'll be playing a green splash of the Pyrored decklist for gameday tomorrow/today, as soon as I go to sleep.

[deck]Creature (20)
4x Firedrinker Satyr
4x Rakdos Cackler
4x Young Pyromancer
4x Ash Zealot
4x Chandra's Phoenix

Planeswalker (3)
3x Chandra, Pyromaster

Instant (14)
2x Annihilating Fire
4x Lightning Strike
4x Magma Jet
4x Shock

Land (23)
17x Mountain
4x Stomping Grounds
2x Mutavault

Sideboard (15)
4x Boros Reckoner
4x Mizzium Mortars
2x Mistcutter Hydra
2x Skullcrack
2x Armed // Dangerous
1x Hammer of Purphoros[/deck]

Against aggro I side out one drops for reckoners/mortars
Against midrange I side out one drops and two burn spells for reckoners, mortars, and Armed//Dangerous. My gameplan is to play this over a threaten
effect, intending to cast dangerous on a Boros Reckoner, and turn a midrange decks defense into direct damage while allowing my remaining creatures to go unblocked.
Against control I side out shocks/fires for skullcrack, hammer, and Mistcutter Hydra. My LGS is control heavy, and MoW is being played by a few people so I hope to blow them out with this card.

Wish me luck, and thanks for always sharing the fruits of your labors Z. I was glad I was not the only one skeptical of Fanatic, I rarely feel good winning a game by goldfishing my opponent, and that card is only good when you are doing just that.

@ Keftenk - Well done on your win! I echo everything you have to say about the guys here; the strategy, card discussion and general insights are really helpful! Good banter too Thanks guys!

@ Kahmos - I assume you mistyped your land there as Mistcutter is poor with no green sources

Well done guys! Way to represent red!

I was glad I was not the only one skeptical of Fanatic, I rarely feel good winning a game by goldfishing my opponent, and that card is only good when you are doing just that.

If you think that card is only good when goldfishing, you're doing it all wrong.

you can thank Z for my interest in this forum as well, I keep an eye on his playtesting to make up for my own lack thereof

Oh, well that explains it.

Khaos — The RDW thread on Sally is infested with people proclaiming that Fanatic is a staple in Red builds right now. Anyone foolish enough to not be using it can't possibly hope to win. Kahmos is of the opposite opinion.

Kahmos — I was wondering when you'd show up here.

Khaos — The RDW thread on Sally is infested with people proclaiming that Fanatic is a staple in Red builds right now. Anyone foolish enough to not be using it can't possibly hope to win. Kahmos is of the opposite opinion.

There are two types of people when it comes to Fanatic of Mogis. One camp believes it's the second coming of Hellrider and the other camp thinks it is complete shit. After having played my ass off with that card, I'm just really sick of hearing both opinions. Especially from people that don't have the courtesy of sharing actual play results.