[Primer] PyroRed

[LP, of the Fires]

I played a bunch of games vs. Naya randomly one day. Matchup seems favorable. Granted, I had access to dragons. The key is keeping your life total high, and beating them with CA. Chandra is a savage if you can protect her.

[magicdownunder]

Which version of Naya Control? The recent version (click here) isn't favorable at all, I argue its is near impossible to win without drawing Dragons. They kinda make your entire ground force obsolete, whilst running one sided wraith effects against our [card]Chandra's Phoenix[/card].

@Keftenk, if your losing the aggro mirror try reading [ARTICLE] Playing as a Control Deck in the RDW Mirror, I'll admit sometimes you'll just lose to T3 god draws or multi-Boros Reckoner the MU is still in your favor most of the time.

@Texeven, not much I can say beside get Dragons for Naya Control, vs Gx Devotion however I reckon if your finding MonoU easier then Gx then you must be doing something really wrong in your SB'ing choices - can
you post what you've been doing?

[LP, of the Fires]

I was playing against a nay midrange deck with voices, smiters, and ghor-clans to clarify. Naya control matchup seems mostly terrible.

[magicdownunder]

With the increasing number of Golgari Charm seeing playing (regular 3x post-boards) I decided to re-included more creatures with */2 back into the list, I originally started the test with BtE but concluded that BtE is only worth running if you have 22 or more creatures in your deck.

Here is where I currently stand:

[deck=MDU's PyroDragon v2]Lands 23
11 Mountain
4 Mutavault
4 Sacred Foundry
4 Temple of Triumph

Creatures 20
2 Firedrinker Satyr
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Ash Zealot
4 Chandra's Phoenix
4 Young Pyromancer
2 StormBreath Dragon

Instants 10
4 Lightning Strike
3 Magma Jet
3 Shock

Others 7
3 Chained to the Rocks
2 Chandra, Pyromaster
2 Flames of the Firebrand

Sideboard 15
2 Mizzium Mortars
3 Boros Reckoner
3 Skullcrack
2 Boros Charm
2 Fanatic of Mogis
2 Last breath
1 Chained to the Rocks[/deck]

I have had thoughts about running +1x [card]
Pyrewild Shaman[/card] over -1x Young Pyromancer to improve control MUs and allow me to have an answer to hexproof creatures.

Here is video against Bg Devotion (new Bx sideboarding plan included):

PyroDragon Experiment (2-Man) + Commentary: G3 vs Bg Devotion

EDIT: Fixed the decklist

[vundo]

Yeah I really like Boros Charm and I was sad when the majority of this thread started trending away from it. Charm makes permanents indestructible so it also protect Chained to the Rocks from golgari charm / abrupt decay which is nice.

[RaidaTheBlade]

Just got back from fnm. Went 4-1 for second place. Full write-up in the morning when I'm not a zombie.

List:
[deck]PyroDragons[/deck]

[magicdownunder]

@RaidaTheBlade, Good result (yaaay more people are calling it PyroDragons now) shame you lost to Ux Devotion in the finals, since your not running FoM I would recommend cutting one Boros Charm for Rod of Ruin since its harder for you to close out games when your in pure control mode with only one finisher (so your more likely to see 2+ MoW).

When you do write your report can you include you SB'ing plan.

[LaZerBurn]

With the increasing number of Golgari Charm seeing playing (regular 3x post-boards) I decided to re-included more creatures with */2 back into the list, I originally started the test with BtE but concluded that BtE is only worth running if you have 22 or more creatures in your deck.

I have had thoughts about running +1x Pyrewild Shaman over -1x Young Pyromancer to improve control MUs and allow me to have an answer to hexproof creatures.

Did you hit BW Aggro with Profit/Loss yet?

[LP, of the Fires]

Yeah I really like Boros Charm and I was sad when the majority of this thread started trending away from it. Charm makes permanents indestructible so it also protect Chained to the Rocks from golgari charm / abrupt decay which is nice.

Agreed, I'm on the boros charm train. Did you go to deals today? Was gonna go, but didn't know it was at 5 for whatever fucking reason. So just team sealed tomorrow, and whatever standard tourney they're having on Sunday.

[notap123]

[deck]Creature (21)
3x Ash Zealot
4x Chandra's Phoenix
4x Firedrinker Satyr
1x Pyrewild Shaman
4x Rakdos Cackler
2x Stormbreath Dragon
3x Young Pyromancer
Sorcery (1)
1x Flames of the Firebrand
Enchantment (2)
2x Chained to the Rocks
Land (23)
11x Mountain
4x Mutavault
4x Sacred Foundry
4x Temple of Triumph
Instant (11)
4x Lightning Strike
4x Magma Jet
3x Shock
Planeswalker (2)
2x Chandra, Pyromaster
Sideboard (15)
2x Boros Charm
3x Boros Reckoner
2x Chained to the Rocks
1x Fanatic of Mogis
2x Last Breath
2x Mizzium Mortars
3x Skullcrack[/deck]

Went to FNM with this. I didn't want to go down to 2 YP so I decided a 3x split for both YP and Ashley would suffice.

Round 1 GW something 2-0 brand new player w/o a sideboard

Round 2 Mono Black 2-1

Game 1 T1 Cackler T2 Cackler, Cackler. By T4 he is stuck on 2 lands and shows a hand with only
2 doomblades for removal.

SB -4 Cackler -4 FDS -1 Pyrewild Shaman +3 Skullcrack +2 Mortar +2 Chained to the Rocks +2 Reckoner

Game 2 Pretty standard back n forth but he eventually stabilizes with 2 Gary's and a Whip.

Game 3 More of the same though it took him 2 underworld connections to dig really hard for Gary. Had the a skullcrack to win.

Round 3 Mono Red Devotion 0-2

Variance got me hard both games.

Game 1 I was stuck on 2 lands and after 2 magma jets still nothing till turn 5.

SB -4 Cackler -4 FDS +3 Reckoner +2 Chains +2 Mortar +1 Fantic +2 Last Breath +1 Boros Charm

Game 2 I had hit my 5th land (scryland) with a dragon in hand and the next card a dragon the turn before he flooded the board with 2 Ashley and 3 1cc. I decided to take the chance seeing that I only had a Lightning Strike the whole game and tried to race (I had got some beats initially). Of course the one card was a Fanatic, I think I even called it on his turn when I decided to dome
him with LS. If the scryland was anything else I could have won with back to back dragons.

Top 8 GR Ramp 2-0

Game 1 Pinging mana dorks all day. I even got to pull off Pyrewild against a Carytid. By the time he ramped I had a chains in hand

SB -4 Cackler -4 FDS +2 Chains +2 Mortar +3 Reckoner +1 Fanatic

Game 2 More of the same. I literarly had a awnser for every dork he dropped and kept him off a big guy till I was in burn range.

Top 4 Homebrew BUG control 2-0

Game 1 I curved out with a lot of early beats

SB -4 Cackler -4 FDS +3 Skullcrack +3 Reckoner +2 Mortar
I wasn't sure what to bring in here but I figured he had at the very least whip, I saw a Specter and figured he splashed green for abrupt decay so I left the 2 other chains out.

Game 2 I honestly still had no idea what he was playing from game 1. He played a few removal spells so I put him on some kind of midrange so I boarded to mirror. The game ended up being more of
the same, lots of removal from both ends and me getting beats in with recurring phoenix. I think he did miss a land drop and it took him too long to get Jace online.

Final RWB Control 2-1

I loved this guy's deck. It played Baron and Stormbreath as the wincon with nonstop removal.

Game 1 He has an answer to everything making me go to topdeck.

SB -4 Cackler -4 FDS -3 Ashley -1 Pyrewild -1 Shock +everything but Last Breath

Game 2 He gets stuck on the wrong color fixes and 3 mana for a couple of turns and I take advantage.

Game 3 I literarly go to the dome with every piece of burn I have. He had 10+ lands and was digging for [card]Rakdos's Return[/card].

I was hoping I would play against the Ux Devo guy for 1st place but the RWB control deck dismantled him. I can say that when I saw ashley it was never a dead card. The combat tricks were almost always relevant and even if she didn't stick it was one less removal to worry about when getting
up to Chandra and Dragon. There was a game where I couldn't curve into her but that still let me burn a creature end of turn into her T3.

[Keftenk]

With the increasing number of Golgari Charm seeing playing (regular 3x post-boards) I decided to re-included more creatures with */2 back into the list, I originally started the test with BtE but concluded that BtE is only worth running if you have 22 or more creatures in your deck.

Here is where I currently stand:

[deck=MDU's PyroDragon v2]Lands 23
11 Mountain
4 Mutavault
4 Sacred Foundry
4 Temple of Triumph

Creatures 20
2 Firedrinker Satyr
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Ash Zealot
4 Chandra's Phoenix
4 Young Pyromancer
2 StormBreath Dragon

Instants 10
4 Lightning Strike
3 Magma Jet
3 Shock

Others 7
3 Chained to the Rocks
2 Chandra, Pyromaster
2 Flames of the Firebrand

Sideboard 15
2 Mizzium
Mortars
3 Boros Reckoner
3 Skullcrack
2 Boros Charm
2 Fanatic of Mogis
2 Last breath
1 Chained to the Rocks[/deck]

I have had thoughts about running +1x Pyrewild Shaman over -1x Young Pyromancer to improve control MUs and allow me to have an answer to hexproof creatures.

Here is video against Bg Devotion (new Bx sideboarding plan included):

PyroDragon Experiment (2-Man) + Commentary: G3 vs Bg Devotion

EDIT: Fixed the decklist

Nice commentary! It's getting better!
Really interesting SB choice too and just for feedback, I enjoyed the explanation behind it. Myself? I'd love way more in depth explanations, but that's just because I'm a bit crazy like that. I don't expect that at all and you may just end up boring people. I also understand that this is a live recording, so taking forever to explain the cards choices, making
your opponent wait forever is kinda shitty. Good job though!

[Valdarith]

Sounds like some are having difficulty in white based midrange matches. Glare of Heresy?

[Jack]

I went 3-1 at FNM with this, beating U/B control, G/B midrange (which he said was designed to beat RDW) and Naya midrange (the kind with a fuckton of value creatures that should just beat our deck straight up, like Reckoner, Centaur Healer, Smiter, Stormbreath, Fleecemane, and the like. Actually, those games were somewhat remarkable, so I'll write something on them). I also lost to this RUG Mana Dorks & Planeswalkers homebrew. It played a lot of mana dorks (Elvish Mystic, Caryatid and that 2 drop sliver) to ramp into Primeval Bounty, Chandra, Xenagos and Jace. This is obviously a horrible matchup for us. In fact, the list that I posted earlier is wrong. That is what I have sleeved up now. At the time, I only had 1 dragon, and was using 1 less Ash Zealot and 1 more Shock. I had just bought the first dragon earlier that day, using the money I won
for placing in the back draft (random packs from across Magic's history, try to draft the worst deck possible, then decks are randomly distributed among the other drafters. Top 5 get prizes, along with the guy that drafted the deck that never won a match. I'll write more about it in the clan thread). Since it was Black Friday, everything in store was 25% off, so I also used my credit from FNM to get another $16.50 dragon. Value!

On the Naya midrange match:

My opponent, Cody, wins game 1 fairly easily, laying down a bunch of big creatures that I can't stop. I board out my 1 drops, 3 shocks and 1 Ash Zealot. Game 2 is funny. I keep a 1 land, 6 card hand. It has ash Zealot, Magma Jet, Reckoner and some forgettable stuff. Drop Mountain, pass, he drops a scryland, I drop a mutavault, pass, Magma Jet him on his end step, bottom 2 because they're not lands. I draw a land, play it, drop Ash and swing. He lays down a Reckoner. I draw Mountain and play my Reckoner, and he comments on how weird
Reckoner battles always are. I reply that the person who played his first usually has the upper hand, and he also has my creature to take out if one hits the other. He drops another Reckoner. Uh-oh. The game slows down for a bit, and I can't remember much, but here's what's written on my life pad for him:
18
16
10
I can't seem to remember perfectly how I got him down to 10. It may have been my Mutavault, Ash Zealot and something else. Anyway, when he's at 10 with 2 Reckoners, he Mortars my Reckoner. He has no creatures other than the Reckoners. I have a Phoenix and Magma Jet in hand. I figure that the best line of play starts with lowering his life total and seeing if Phoenix can get there.
6
He plays an untapped Temple Garden
4
Pass
Untap
Upkeep
Draw
Main
-Phoenix
Combat
Damage
-Magma Jet
2
0
In game 3, his own manabase beats him. We always talk about how all of these decks with somewhat unstable mana bases are bad because of this, and yet I never seem to see it in
practice. On the contrary, it is my own conservative mana base that always seems to fail me. Well, this time, luck was on my side, and I was very happy for it. Cody wasn't. Here's my life pad:
Me:
20
18
14
Cody:
20
18
16
12
8
3
1
Lays down a hand of 4 white cards upon 5 red/green-producing lands.
I had 3 Phoenixes at one point (12-8 life). He had a Stormbreath dragon, so only 2 could get through.

Another feel-good moment of the night:
The U/B control player plays Jace, Memory Adept and 0s me, milling 2 Phoenixes. I Lightning Strike him, bringing them to my hand, then Magma Jet Jace. On the next turn, I swing at Jace with a Phoenix.

[notap123]

Sounds like some are having difficulty in white based midrange matches. Glare of Heresy?

The meta would have to be packed with W/x aggro/midrange variants to to really make Glare worth it and even then our burn package suites that role fairly well.

[tkoman]

Took the following to FNM after a few tweaks after the GPT - bought a pack beforehand for good luck - pulled Stormbreath. Oh yeah - sweet dame fortune will not shit on me tonight . . . went 4-0

[deck]11 Mountain
4 Mutavault
4 Sacred Foundry
4 Temple of Triumph

Creatures:

4 Chandra's Phoenix
4 Firedrinker Satyr
4 Rakdos Cackler
3 Young Pyromancer
4 Ash Zealot
2 Stormbreath Dragon

Other Spells:

4 Lightning Strike
3 Shock
4 Magma Jet
2 Chandra, Pyromaster
2 Chained to the Rocks
1 Flames of the Firebrand

Sideboard:

4 Boros Reckoner
3 Skullcrack
2 Chained to the Rocks
2 Mizzium Mortars
2 Boros Charm
1 Rod of Ruin
1 Last Breath[/deck]

R1: Sometype of homebrewed G/W heroic. Nothing to see here - play small creature. Enchant small creature. Burn small enchanted creature. Swing back. 2-0

R2: U/W (very good pilot) - 2-1 - Game 1 played out
just as it should - early pressure, speed . . . gg. Game 2 sided out Chained, and YP$ for 3 skullcrack, 2 boros charm (these were recent editions - in for FoM). Fizzled land flood despite scrying several times, deck turned the Sphinx Corner, punted at Aetherling. G3 - brought him down to 11 life. Ashley out - swung - he had Ratchet bomb at two but didn't play it. Chandra ping 1 - double Boros Charm + Shock gg. Later he said he had no idea how I was playing or how much I could burn, otherwise he would have popped the bomb. I get a lot of that with this deck.

R3: B/w heroic - little surprised to see the deck make it that far, but it did. Little aggroish - G1 turn 5 win. G2 sided in the aggro package (Reckoner, MM et al) and nothing to say on that. gg 3-0

R4: Mono-B with blue splash - excellent pilot - 2-0 - G1 deck moved a little slow into Stormbreath - played DD - chained, hit, 2nd DD - chained - gg. Second game I boarded in Skullcrack and Boros Charm for little burn spells . Brought him down to
5 - he had already put out two Underworlds, and all - played Gary - right into Skullcrack. Looked right at me and said - I should have known. I forgot how bad that could be. gg". 4-0

I liked Boros Charm here - and will probably keep it in. Other consideration is that I still would like to fit in Pyrewild and probably will, but this list felt good. However, notably, no Esper or mono-U showed up which is really, really strange but, what the heck.

[Valdarith]

Sounds like some are having difficulty in white based midrange matches. Glare of Heresy?

The meta would have to be packed with W/x aggro/midrange variants to to really make Glare worth it and even then our burn package suites that role fairly well.

That's my point. Some people are reporting their meta to be really white heavy. Glare is a good answer to Loxodon Smiter, Voice of Resurgence, Boros Reckoner, Chained to the Rocks, Fiendslayer Paladin...

[dpaine88]

Glare is a good card.

Let's keep in mind that while MDU is great and has good opinions on just about everything, you wont be able to just apply it to your local FNM. For my magic online stuff, I pretty much exclusivly turn to Zem/MDU as they got that shit down. For your own FNM, you gotta just use your own informed opinion.

MDU plays online, so the meta is basically just all the good decks, and changes very very quickly.

FNM is always a mixed bag, every one is different and usually includes a lot of random decks. No one knows your FNM better than you.

If there is a lot of White in your meta, run Glare. Simple as that.

If theres a lot of control, keep running Ash Zealot.

IF theres a lot of Black, run 4 YP. etc etc

[montu]

Sounds like some are having difficulty in white based midrange matches. Glare of Heresy?

The meta would have to be packed with W/x aggro/midrange variants to to really make Glare worth it and even then our burn package suites that role fairly well.

That's my point. Some people are reporting their meta to be really white heavy. Glare is a good answer to Loxodon
Smiter, Voice of Resurgence, Boros Reckoner, Chained to the Rocks, Fiendslayer Paladin...

Definitely the case at my local FNM.

[LaZerBurn]

Glare is a good card.

Let's keep in mind that while MDU is great and has good opinions on just about everything, you wont be able to just apply it to your local FNM. For my magic online stuff, I pretty much exclusivly turn to Zem/MDU as they got that shit down. For your own FNM, you gotta just use your own informed opinion.

MDU plays online, so the meta is basically just all the good decks, and changes very very quickly.

FNM is always a mixed bag, every one is different and usually includes a lot of random decks. No one knows your FNM better than you.

If there is a lot of White in your meta, run Glare. Simple as that.

If theres a lot of control, keep running Ash Zealot.

IF theres a lot of Black, run 4 YP. etc etc

This
^^^ is spot on and should be in the primer in some form - apply what is relevant, discard what is not I think Bruce Lee said something like that

[Platypus]

PyroRed variant at GP Vienna: http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/a ... welcome#13

[RaidaTheBlade]

Alright, time for the write-up on yesterday's fnm
Posted the list yesterday, but I'll throw it up again

[deck]PyroDragons[/deck]

Alright, match 1 was vs Bobby with a Golgari Gorgon/Hydra homebrew.
- Game one wasn't much of anything as he mulled to 5 and then got landscrewed.
SB: (I put him on b/g control since I only saw 2 lands and 2 spells) -3 shock, -2 magma jet, +3 skullcrack. +2 aot.
Took
out the low impact burn, put in anti big creatures and anti-lifegain.
- Game two was just a quick aggro/burn death. Wasn't much to say.
1-0 (2-0)

Match 2 was vs Daniel running white weenie splash blue. It took me a bit to figure out what was going on cause at first he play a white land and dropped a soldier. But then he played a island and I got confused, lol.
- Anywho, game 1 I just burned out his stuff and slowly ate him alive.
SB: -4 cackler, -4 satyr, +3 Reckoner, +2 Mortars, +3 Charms
- Game 2 was pretty much second verse same as the first. Standard anti-aggro play.
2-0 (2-0)

Match 3 was vs Adam running RDW. I sorta knew what he was running going into it cause I saw him playing next to me briefly, though I didn't pay TOO much attention e.e
- Game 1 I burned him out and then beat him down. Chandra did work.
SB: -4 cackler, -4 satyr, +3 reckoner, +2 mortars. +3 charms
- Game 2 went really grindy, as he apparently decided to sideboard out his one drops too… He barely beat me by about 2
turns, thanks to the hammer of purphoros and land flood.
- Game 3 went much more normally, chandra did work again, and I just burned him out and ate him alive with phoenixes and a dragon.
3-0 (2-1)

Match 4 was vs Steven playing Maze's End. Fourth tournament in a row where I've faced maze's end decks… And the chances aren't that good to meet them e.e
- Game 1 was a nail-biter, and I won it on my turn when he had 9 gates and a me ready to untap. I swung in, forcing him to use up some mana and a prevent combat damage spell, then ultied my chandra that was on 7, and hit a strike, killing him. Turns out he had a rift in hand that he meant to use on chandra, but had forgotten to keep track of her counters. Oops.
SB: -4 chained, -2 mortars, +3 skullcrack, +3 boros charm
- Game 2 was real over and done. He verdicted on his turn 5 (tapped lands ), but I had left up charm mana and indestructibled my things. Then I just
swung in to his taped-out state and then shocked him.
4-0 (2-0)

Match 5 was vs Tim playing mono-u devotion. (Wasn't his deck, but meh)
- Game 1 went about as can be expected. I got close to stabilizing, but he got me.
SB: -4 cackler, -4 satyr, +2 last breath, +2 mortars, +2 charm, +2 reckoner. (I kept the reckoners, which I know you've stopped doing MDU, cause I had a good feeling he wasn't running domesticate, cause I know the guy who actually owns this deck. Turned out I was right)
- Game 2 went even closer, with some crazyness happening on both sides. He played 3 MoW in a row, and I had a chandra into 2 overloaded mortars in a row. It was silly. He still managed to get me though, cause I never saw a single chained or last breath.
4-1 (0-2)

When tiebreakers were calculated, I had second, as is to be expected. I was fairly happy with it.

Oh, and I played a test game vs a weird rdw build that was running awaken the ancients and wild ricochet o.o I don't really need to write a full write-up
on that game, just know it went to a quick 2-0 in my favor.

[LaZerBurn]

Well done Raida, good to see all your planning worked out for you

[magicdownunder]

@dpaine88, excellent post - I just wanted to add the MODO meta is also great if your preparing for any given large event as well.

Did you hit BW Aggro with Profit/Loss yet?

I have, I believe that will be a 2-Man MODO or FNM only deck - since it more designed to stomp on other aggressive then anything else.

PyroDragon Experiment (2-Man) + Commentary: G4 vs Wb Aggro (this is a two day old video so I haven't started on fixing my board plans yet)

@RaidaTheBlade, any thoughts on the Rod comment I posted earlier?

@notap123, thoughts on Shaman, is he really better then the forth Ash or YP$?

@All - I haven't updated the primer in awhile since no one
posted any large event winning, if you want me to add something let me know (etc: Valdarith's PyroBurn, FNM reports and/or Z's CFB link)

[zemanjaski]

Been really busy of late, so some notes:
- testing legacy for the invitational. Will play PyroDragons for the standard portion. Probably UB control for legacy (wrecks UWR and Show and Tell);
- well done Raida!
- listen to dpaine88 guys, he's tier three for a reason;
- like, subscribe and comment on MDU's videos!! Now!!

New CFB article coming soon

[RaidaTheBlade]

Thanks for the congrats And yeah Lazer, it feels really good to finally have my hands on the r/w manabase and be piloting this build after so long of theorizing and then ahving to go with teh mono red e.e


@MDU, yeah I gave it some thought, but I honestly adore charm in so many matchups. I could drop a charm for it, but I feel like charm is so handy in so many other matchups that it might cause more harm then good overall. I am going to an iq on the 7th though, and there i do plan on switching the acts to fanatics. I wanna keep my mortars mainboard though, because they just do so much work, and handle what chained doesn't.

Fanatic always does feel like a bit of a trap though e.e He comes in vs any grindy matchup, si? Esper, U/W, mono-blue... what else?

I am kinda interested in how your testing with zealots has been going, as I
could see maybe going 2 satyr, 3 zealot, and dropping either a chained or a jet... Though now that I can finally use chained, I am very loathe to go down any ;P

[Jack]

Fanatic is there to compliment Reckoner; simple as that. He's part of your transformation plan.

[magicdownunder]

@RaidaTheBlade, Freedom is correct. Please for the love of mountains don't bring in FoM against UW and Esper, FoM is only for the Gx and Ux MUs sure that sounds limited but in any given large events they will most likely be the 1st and 4th most common MUs.

In regards to your SB plan, vs BG, Shock is good for dealing with early Oozes and manadorks, Charm is weak vs Wx Weenies, Charm is also fairly weak vs Red unless they're running sweepers while everything else is A-OK.

EDIT: I forgot to mention I dislike aot vs Gx decks, since its usually just a 3cc spell which kills walls or Dorks.

[Jack]

Off-topic: I'd just like to add that I love what we have here. In a format that seems stupid at times, it's great to have a deck that you love to play and know like the back of your hand. I also love the sense of teamwork we have here, with Z and MDU promoting each other's bodies fo work, and how much of a community effort this has become. I created this thread so that myself and other redbros knew how to play their deck better at states, and it's gotten so huge from here, showing up at the top ranks of SCG opens, GPs and all types of MTGO tourneys in mass numbers. The sheer amount of development that has gone into a deck that I just though was well-positioned against what I expected at States (look at z's match-up guide and see how neither blue or black devotion are present) has always amazed me.

[RaidaTheBlade]

Alright, well let's say I go:
[deck]PyroDragons[/deck]

What is my sideboard plan vs mono-u?
The cards I want to bring in are 2 mortars, 2 last breath, 1 rod, and then 3 reckoners, though you were talking about not boarding them in in your video, and 2 fom.
Thats 5 for sure cards, and then the 3 recks and 2 foms.
The easy to remove cards are 4 cackler and 4 satyr.

So do I skip the reckoners, or do I try and find something to remove for them?
MDU's point on domestication seems valid, but they not only enable mogis, but are also our best blocker here (besides maybe mutavault ;P).

[magicdownunder]

You could cut 2x YP$ since they almost never attack during this MU and can only block very few creatures (since everything flies or is unblockable).

I've grown sick of being blown out by domestication since they run Jace, Architect of Thought and Thassa, God of the Sea which mean they're bound to draw them. That said the PROS have moved away from domestication as of late, Boros Reckoner is looking rather solid again.

[Guttler]

What is my sideboard plan vs mono-u?
The cards I want to bring in are 2 mortars, 2 last breath, 1 rod, and then 3 reckoners, though you were talking about not boarding them in in your video, and 2 fom.
Thats 5 for sure cards, and then the 3 recks and 2 foms.
The easy to remove cards are 4 cackler and 4 satyr.

So do I skip the reckoners, or do I try and find something to remove for them? MDU's point on domestication seems valid, but they not only enable mogis, but are also our best blocker here (besides maybe mutavault ;P).

The other easy to cut card against them is YP. The 1/1's don't really do much against a deck that can fly over them or make there few ground attackers unblockable. YP also gets hosed by Jace.

[Jack]

Raida: I'd take out the 1 drops, a YP$ and a Shock for the ten that you mentioned. You're already VERY preboarded against them, though, so the last 2 cuts don't matter too much. I fight (and win) against that deck with 2 mortars and no Last Breath in game 2, same as you have for game 1.

[magicdownunder]

Raida: I'd take out the 1 drops, a YP$ and a Shock for the ten that you mentioned. You're already VERY preboarded against them, though, so the last 2 cuts don't matter too much. I fight (and win) against that deck with 2 mortars and no Last Breath in game 2, same as you have for game 1.

You can't cut Shock against them, Ux Devotion is one of the few MU where I would love to have 4x Shocks mainly because Judge's Familiar is such a pain in the rear end - YP$ outside of the 1 drops are your worst card vs Ux Devotion.

I do agree you can beat Ux Devotion with Just 4x Chains, its most likely easier with more devoted hate.

[RaidaTheBlade]

Alright, I do like the sound of -2 yp. I love yp, but the points make sense.

And honestly, with my decklist, I don't feel like u-devo should be as rough a matchup as it is ;-;
Dunno if I'm unlucky, or if it's really just that bad of a matchup statistically...

[Jack]

Luck has a lot to do with it. Sometimes, we can play game 1 like we play game 2 because we just see the right cards. However, they have more "right cards" than we do.

[Helios]

Good work folks - totally agree with the sentiment freedom, it's a beautiful thing going here. I'll be back in action in t minus 1 week. So ready to play!

[Jack]

To tell you the truth, between Modern every other week at FNM, a weird local Standard meta (although it is catching up to what people play online now that people are beginning to acquire more Theros cards) and stuff to do for school/fun brews in other formats to test instead, I haven't gotten to test much against Mono Black Devotion. Could someone help set me straight on card evaluations for this matchup?
My thoughts:
On their deck in general: Here, unlike with blue devotion, their devotion count usually comes from noncreature permanents, which we cannot remove.
FotF: I'm a bit back-and-forth on my opinion of this card. On the one hand, he takes out Specter, Lifebane or 2 Pack Rats. On the other hand, it's a bit worse in game 1 when they have Grey Merchant (most versions that I've played against board it out vs. RDW. Do most players do this?). It's also a sorcery.
Mortars: Mine are all in the board, so I
should keep that in mind for card evaluations. They don't play too many creatures, but the ones that they do play in game 2 are pretty good, so trading 1:1 is good for us.
Chained to the Rocks: I know I like it here. The question is whether I want to bring in 2 more for game 2 or stick with the 2 in the main. I think this is better than Mortars (unless they have Ratchet Bomb. Today, Mono Blue taught me that lesson the hard way by unchaining 2 Master of Waves when he already had Thassa and Frostburn).
Skullcrack: some lists have Whip of Erebos, and keep it in for the aggro matchup. I know Owen's list didn't, so that might decrease the number of lists that do, but it's still a factor, and I want Skullcrack to help fight it. Anyway, it's better than Shock.
Shock: This kills Pack Rat and Lifebane, but is otherwise ineffective.
Chandra, Pyromaster: She's great if she lives. Really, really great. I try to protect her very, very well, unless I can see that they have Hero's Downfall (if they'
re not trying to kill her on sight, they have it, or something else that can bring you to zero life).
Chandra's Phoenix: This card is so damn good, especially here. Does anyone have a spare promo version (buy a box, I think)? I've been looking for a fourth for a while now.
Ash Zealot: She's still in my main deck, and I like her here.
Act of Treason: Is this even any good here? My beef with this is that you can rarely steal a Demon and expect to deal damage with it.
Stormbreath Dragon: This card is also good. It's not as good as Phoenix, since it doesn't recur and it gets worse as the game goes on (they accumulating a large hand after 1-2 Underworld Connections (can we start calling this UConn?), increasing their chances of having removal).
Young Pyromancer: Always save the best for last! This card is very, very key against them.

Well, I guess I knew more than I thought!

Rough boarding plan for me:
-2 Shock, -2 FotF, +2 Skullcrack +2 Act of Treason/Chained (or possibly just -2 Shock +2
Skullcrack)

[Helios]

I don't disagree with most of what you said, but mono black is one of the matchups where I actually love flames. It hits double Pack Rat, which has been really key for me.

[Jack]

Alright. Working with the following sideboard, what would you want to bring in?
[deck]
2 Act of Treason
4 Boros Reckoner
2 Chained to the Rocks
2 Fanatic of Mogis
2 Mizzium Mortars
1 Rod of Ruin
2 Skullcrack
[/deck]

[Helios]

Chained, Mortars, Skullcrack. I'd take out Dragons and Shocks. Granted I haven't played with Dragons against black yet, but they seem bad.