Atarka Sligh

[LP, of the Fires]

Pia and Kia was by far the worst card in the deck when I played.

Rabblemaster is worth running because of how good it is with atarka's command.

I'll post the list I'm testing in a bit.

[dpaine88]

Chandra's parents are good with Command too and work great with Stoke.

Maybe just the 4th Stoke and 3rd Searing Blood is better.

Would love to see your list. Testing Jaspers tonight for a few hours vs mostly jeskai.

[LP, of the Fires]

[deck]1 Lightning Berserker
1 Zurgo Bellstriker
4 Monastery Swiftspear
4 Abbot of Keral Keep
4 Goblin Rabblemaster

4 Dragon Fodder

4 Exquisite Firecraft
2 Searing Blood
4 Lightning Strike
3 Wild Slash
4 Stoke the Flames
4 Atarka's Command

10 Mountain
2 Temple of Abandon
4 Mana Confluence
4 Wooded Foothills
1 Forest

3 Roast
3 Outpost Siege
2 Searing Blood
1 Hornet Nest
1 Arc Lightning
2 Destructive Revelry
3 Satyr Firedancer
[/deck]

[dpaine88]

Thanks man, I'm going to try those tweaks tonight as well.

[magicdownunder]

Max Greed!

[deck]Lands 20
1 Forest
2 Temple of Abandon
3 Mana Confluence
4 Wooded Foothills
10 Mountain

Creatures 12
4 Monastery Swiftspear
4 Abbot of Keral Keep
4 Goblin Rabblemaster

Support 4
4 Dragon Fodder

Burns 24
4 Exquisite Firecraft
4 Searing Blood
4 Lightning Strike
4 Wild Slash
4 Stoke the Flames
4 Atarka's Command

Sideboard 15
1 Hall of Triumph
2 Outpost Siege
2 Destructive Revelry
3 Hornet Nest
3 Arc Lightning
4 Roast[/deck]

Just wondering if anyone here still plays on MODO or not?

In regards to sideboards I think 2x Nest + 2x Rev is needed vs Heroic (its not a good MU).

[Jasper]

Jasper, how was the singleton Roast in your main board? Worth it instead of the Stoke? Assuming your logic was cutting a Stoke for a Roast.

Even Scout seems better than Valley Dasher...

The singleton Roast has been fine, given that the two largest decks in the paper format are Abzan and GR Devotion. Being able to answer a Rhino/Polukranos with a single card regardless of play or draw is huge game. 4th Stoke is worth testing, but less token makers means less convoking, and casting 1 spell per turn can sometimes end in a loss.

Chandra's parents are good with Command too and work great with Stoke.

Maybe just the 4th Stoke and 3rd Searing Blood is better.

Would love to see your list. Testing Jaspers tonight for a few hours vs mostly jeskai.

Let me know how the testing goes. I only played against Jeskai Aggro once, but it seemed like a fine matchup.


Testing the last version of the list against Abzan Control in 10 pre-board games, and 10 post-board games, alternating play/draw, ended up with 11 wins and 9 losses yesterday. Seems pretty play/draw dependent. Too close to 50% more my tastes.

Updated list, based on testing vs Abzan Control and GR Devotion:

[deck]
Creatures 13
4 Monastery Swiftspear
4 Abbot of Keral Keep
3 Goblin Rabblemaster
2 Pia and Kirin Nalaar

Spells 26
2 Dragon Fodder
3 Wild Slash
4 Searing Blood
4 Lightning Strike
4 Atarka's Command
4 Exquisite Firecraft
3 Stoke the Flames
1 Roast
1 Become Immense

Lands 21
4 Wooded Foothills
2 Mana Confluence
3 Temple of Abandon
11 Mountain
1 Forest

Sideboard 13
3 Roast
3 Satyr Firedancer
3 Outpost Siege
2 Destructive Revelry
1 Hornet Nest
1 Arc Lightning
[/deck]

The only change made is adding 2 Searing Blood to the main to make the playset, cutting 1 Outburst and 1 Fodder, and swapping a Temple for a Confluence. Tested 7 game 1's against Abzan Control, ending with a 5:2 W/L ratio. Quite impressive. This is the same player I tested against before, and I believe he only changed 1 card in the main. Obviously needs more testing to see if its variance.

We did this after some discussion on the top decks in the format, which led to the revelation that Searing Blood is live in almost every matchup. Abzan Control plays Den Protector, and have added 2-3 Nissa's to the main. GR Devotion is playing dorks as always. UW Control and UB Control variants are running Thopter Spy Network and Hangarback Walker. It just makes sense to play 4 Searing Blood in the main right now.

3rd Temple seems absolutely fine.

This has freed up some sideboard room, and I'm not sure what changes I'll be testing tomorrow, but I'll be sure to post updates as the list evolves leading up to Saturday

Random notes from testing:
Boarding against Abzan Control, on the draw; -1 Become Immense, -3 Wild Slash, -2 Dragon Fodder, +3 Roast, +3 Outpost Siege. This has led to the best results thus far for me personally, but I'm open to suggestions. The Become Immense comes out because they bring in more spot removal and it's not worth getting blown out over. The Wild Slashes are kind of crap in this matchup. The Dragon Fodders just aren't that great here either. Roast is great vs Rhino/Tasigur, and the Siege is necessary to overwhelm them with CA while both players 1-for-1 in the turns pre-Elspeth.

[dpaine88]

Well I wiped the floor with Jeskai tonight. Any matchup that can't answer tokens and has plenty of x/2's seems really good for us.

The post board games where I had 4 Searing Blood in were a joke.

I was coming to same conclusion yesterday Jasper, there is legit no matchup where Searing Blood is bad.
Even if it isnt great, it lets you use 2 burn to kill something and still come out roughly equal.
And man..double Searing Blooding something feels so good. I remember double Blooding a Stormbreath to win States last year.

Man just 2 Token producers, does that hinder Command at all? It still seems fine as skullcrack and sometimes pump but are we missing out not running more tokens?


Big playtesting day for my Regionals group today. Hopefully I can give some better feedback.

[magicdownunder]

You can toss in Outburst MD - they're only "bad" vs Abzan and Ux Control on M2-3 when the sideboards come in (I don't really think its needed though).

[Purp]

looking forward to hearing your testing results dpaine.

[dpaine88]

So I tested Jaspers latest tonight and his other list last night.

First I just have to vent, the deck performed very well over about 30-40 games, however I was about to throw the deck out the window when in 55-65% of the games I hit my first SIX land drops(my first 7 or 8 on a couple occasions). I never kept any 5 land hands. I know its just variance and that probability is strongly against this happening in a 21 land deck but HOLY SHIT it is frustrating as hell.

Ok that out of the way, love the deck. My favorite thing in magic is to have your opponent do all this shit on their turn, then be like ok , End Step, Stike you, Command you, Untap, Stoke you GG. Brings a smile to my face =)

Ok alrighty now onto the deck itself.

- 4 Searing Blood felt good, except against my friends more typical creature/artifact-less control deck. Luckily these arent that popular right now.

- 4 Abbot - I'm not as sure. I've tested this card a bunch since Origins and he's been pretty good but really shines in a deck with more 1-drops I think. Maybe better off as a 2-of honestly as I wasnt a huge fan of having 2 in my opening hands. For a turn 4 play, I think Id rather cast Seige but maybe not.

- Pia and Kilar were meh....the 2/2 body didnt do a ton, and the Thopters were fine but it just didnt really do enough most of the time. I think Outpost Seige might be a better fit.

- Become Immense wasnt that great with only 2 token makers. This card is at its best with the full 8 token spells where one can easily sneak through.

- Likewise, Command wasnt nearly as good without tokens to fully take advantage of it. I was rarely able to attack with 2 or more creatures. It was skullcrack more often than not which is still plenty good but just not being maximized to full potential.

- With 4 Searing Blood and 4 Lightning Strike at the 2 mana spot- maybe Hordling is better than Dragon Fodder.


- Games with Swiftspear vs without Swiftspear were wildly different. I think I want the full 8 one-drops. 2 Zurgo, 2 Bezerker or possibly back to Denizen if more tokens are added.

[magicdownunder]

Thanks for the report Dpaine

I'm glad I'm not alone with my thoughts on Abbot, I'm currently still on my token heavy plan - the mana thing is definitely variance since I found myself stuck on 1 or 2 lands quite a lot with my 21 land list (which works out ok with 8 1-drops).

[dpaine88]

[deck]
Creatures/Tokens
2 Zurgo Bellstriker
2 Lightning Berserker
4 Monastery Swiftspear
2 Abbot of Keral Keep
3 Goblin Rabblemaster
2 Dragon Fodder

Burn
3 Wild Slash
4 Searing Blood
4 Lightning Strike
4 Atarka's Command
4 Exquisite Firecraft
4 Stoke the Flames
1 Become Immense

Lands (21)
4 Wooded Foothills
3 Mana Confluence
2 Temple of Abandon
11 Mountain
1 Forest
[/deck]

This is what I'm thinking, but could cut the 21st land and the Become Immense for 2 more Fodder or Outburst.

[LP, of the Fires]

I'd still want 4 abbot, but this list looks very good. Like...VERY VERY GOOD.

[Pedros]

I will test LP list today. Need to prepare for 2GP and 2 Wmcq.

Probably will also buy in on mtgo to prepare there as well, so comments incoming!

[dpaine88]

Thanks LP.

Are you guys basically playing Abbot in the Outpost Seige spot?


Seige is a bit better going long obviously but they both give you a card in the short term. Seige is better after 2 turns. Abbot is a lot more flexible as it won't rot in your hand, gives you a turn 2 play if necessary and can save you if stuck on lands. Often times Abbot is a 4 or 5 drop just like Seige.

[dpaine88]

@MDU are you playing the heavy token version because of the red-heavy online meta? Or because you believe it's the best in the abstract.

Wanted to throw out a few things I've seen floating around. A Jeskai burn deck I saw on reddit with 4 Stoke, Firecraft and charm. Really maxing out on 4 damage spells and jace, mantis n soulfire. Kinda interesting but probably too clunky.

Also I saw the same guy top8 two Super IQ with a Atarka Goblins build splashing Shivan Reef for Treasure Cruise/Days undoing.

Could be interesting since running mana confluence already and would only run 2 Cruise.

[Purp]

You guys are crazy for running more than 2 confluences

I think you shod keep 4 abbot. It's honestLy such a powerful turn two play that most of the time I don't care what gets exiled. I find myself jamming it on three a lot in hopes to hit a land, if I do I can dash in a berserker which feels so good. And if I whiff, I know I'm one card closer to hitting a land drop.

I don't think Become Immense is actually good. If you cut it and add the 3rd berserker you'd have the list I have been playing for a week. It's like you said, the games you have a 1 drop are so drastically different than the games you don't

Are you guys control players adapting the thopter styles? Mine are a lot more jace focused. MDU, what are control decks online looking like?

[Purp]

[deck]

Creatures (14)

1 Zurgo Bellstriker
2 Lightning Berserker
4 Monastery Swiftspear
4 Abbot of Keral Keep
3 Goblin Rabblemaster

Spells (25)

3 Wild Slash
2 Dragon Fodder
4 Atarka's Command
4 Lightning Strike
4 Searing Blood
4 Exquisite Firecraft
4 Stoke the Flames

Lands (21)

1 Forest
2 Mana Confluence
3 Temple of Abandon
4 Wooded Foothills
11 Mountain

Sideboard (15)

2 Destructive Revelry
3 Satyr Firedancer
4 Roast
2 Arc Lightning
2 Hornet Nest
2 Outpost Siege
[/deck]

Did 20 goldfish hands.

16 hands I would keep, 14 of them containing a 1 drop.
2 mulligans that contained no 1 drop.
2 mulligans that contained a 1 drop.
3/4 mulls to 6 contained a keepable 6 with a 1 drop.

[NotARobot]

Have you guys been testing with the mull scry rule? I'm pretty sure it's going live after the pt this weekend

[Purp]

We have randomly tested it, it sure make mulling better. I think it will go into effect as well. However it doesn't influence my decision to mull 7 card hands. I pretty much mull every 1 land hand I don't care how many 1 drops it has.

[dauntless268]

Purp, I've seen a rather varied mix of control on Magic online decks, including Esper Dragons and creatureless ones.

I agree that Swiftspear is a better Goblin Guide in this deck, but how good is Berserker as a 1 drop? It gets effectively blocked by tokens, Wayfinder and Walker, so as much as I'd like 8 1-drops, I'm not sure about him.

[Purp]

I find that often if I am forced to cast a berserker on turn 1, chances are I will be able to kill their 2 drop

[Purp]

How would you guys sb vs abzan rally?

[Jamie]

Went 4-1 in mtgo PPTQ with what I could cobble together with my collection and 20tix. 0 confluence, 1 rabble. My destructive revelrys were smashtosmithereens instead. Otherwise it was purp's list a few posts up.

I wrote a writeup but it's basically just "I'm bad and lost round1 to rw tokens with dictate of heliod because it was literally my first time with the deck and I don't know how to mulligan a 1lander" or that I didn't believe dpaine on how easy vs. jeskai mid was... but I went 2-0 2-0 in rounds 4 and 5 against the deck. There were some close calls and some lucky topdecks but I got there.

0-2 vs rw tokens. got thrashed
2-0 vs mono red. Thrashed him.
2-1 vs mono green devotion. Thrashed him.
2-0 vs jeskai mid. thrashed him
2-0 vs jeskai mid. thrashed him

I guess I qualified for some tournament or something but I'm playing in one of scg's 5ks this weekend so I won't play that event even though its free.

[Jamie]

Uh yeah 4 abbot is way correct I don't understand the argument for less than 4. 4 blood was great and was never punished for it. I never went to combat with my 1of rabble and the times I keep rabble postboard are the times I like my turn3 commands to get my damage in because I have lethal burn in hand. Lightning B was never useful.

[Purp]

Did you ever have a turn 1 where your only 1 drop was a berserker? I could see it being a 2 zurgo /1 berserker split.

How were the two dragon fodders?

What was your SB strategies for the matchups? Looks like you don't even need to SB for jeskai (assuming you had what I posted)

Nice job on the finish

[NotARobot]

I don't sideboard much for rally, just make sure to bring in your firedancers. They really shut down any deck running collected company, and are insane in combination with searing bloods.

[jsilv]

How would you guys sb vs abzan rally?

Mono Red smashes Rally game one, basically the only way you can lose is if they get a ton of value off a Lili or you suicide attack your squad into Resto Angel (AKA: Company). G2/3 can be real if they have Arashin Cleric / Order and Hornet Nest. If they stall for a while, they can value rally into a new hand + some life and from there it's nearly impossible to come back unless you have active Siege. With that said, you can still tee off on them just the same in most games bc the mana is garbage and they often have to take 3-5 points off their lands unless they start with Sandsteppe.

Do not offer trades if you can help it, the main way the deck wins is by making sure you can't attack effectively. Unless your hand is all four-point burn and that's how you plan on winning, it's very dangerous to just go jamming into 4-5 open mana.

[Purp]

Good tips josh. Hopefully I can get some games against rally tonight at my store. Haven't seen you on here in a while, you going to be at the PT this year?

[Jamie]

Did you ever have a turn 1 where your only 1 drop was a berserker? I could see it being a 2 zurgo /1 berserker split.

How were the two dragon fodders?

What was your SB strategies for the matchups? Looks like you don't even need to SB for jeskai (assuming you had what I posted)

Nice job on the finish

I played zurgo as a 1drop once but never had a lightningBerz when I didn't have a swiftie I wanted to play. So I never played one turn1.

I played 4 dragonfodders because I was down 2 cards since i had only 1 rabblemaster. It was my turn2 play basically every game I had one. But against the one arashin cleric I saw in round5 obviously I didn't really attack with them until I had a good command turn.

against jeskai, I know they bring in clerics and anger, and board out rabbles and a few jaces. They try desperately to gain life off of soulfire and OJcommand (returning soulfire or clerics) until you're out of gas or they resolve elspeth. I brought in arcs and outpostsieges. Took out rabble zurgo and shaved 2 copies of exquisite. Even though it cant be countered any time they could counter it, I value the instant speed more.
That's the only matchup I actually knew what to bring in.

[Pedros]

Played ~7 games (3 pre 4 post) vs Esper Dragons (winning 2 pre and 3 post board games).
Firecraft is real, as well as 1 drops. Goblin tokens were also nice, as they overloads bie blights (most of the time hey have to kill your 1drop with it).

Also played ~6 games (3 pre and 3 post board) vs abzan rally. won 2 preboard and all 3post board. Goblin Firedancer just bows this deck up, I even won vs 3 raptors (hopefully he didnt have an morph), however I could just use atarkas command as 2 removal spells while doing 3 to face.

Deck seems real. I loved Abbot, never cast him turn 2 thou - didnt have need, I always had removal/tapland and 1 drop/fodder to cast.

Not a fan of Rabblemasters - never got them rolling, however there isnt anything better...

[dauntless268]

Purp, wouldn't Firedancer or Eidolon (if we have it) be a reasonable SB Choice against Rally decks?

On The Control MU, I noticed most of you have dropped Eidolon from your board. Against real control decks, it looks like you would have very few cards to bring in (in your list Purp, you would almost be forced to Side in Arc Lightning just to get rid of your Searing Bloods... )

On Firedancer... Isn't there some tension between this card and Roast when you SB against eg RG Devotion?

[LaZerBurn]

[deck=LaZer's Atarka]
Creatures ~ 11
3 Zurgo Bellstriker
4 Taylor
4 FSD

Goblins ~ 8
4 Fodder
4 Outburst

Burn ~ 20
4 Wild Slash
1 Searing Blood
4 Lightning Strike
4 Atarka's Command
3 Exquisite Firecraft
4 Stoke the Flames

Lands ~ 21
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Mana Confluence
1 Temple of Abandon
11 Mountain
1 Forest

SB ~ 15
4 Eidolon
4 Roast
3 Searing Blood
1 Equisite Firecraft
3 Satyr Firedancer
[/deck]

This is where I'm at, it's only 4 cards away from my pre Origins list. Added a land because I find myself wanting to hit 3 land consistently and kept stalling with 20. Put in Firecraft because it's great Tested Abbot and was underwhelmed to say the least. The numbers here might need a few tweaks here and there and I'm certain that any number of variations ~ Rabble, Heelcutter, Lightning Berserker ~ will work too because I've played them

I really really want Firedancer to work but Hornet Nest might be better.

Still only playing on MTGO too. Meta is a bit all over on there at the moment as far as I can tell with all manner of crazy brews

[dpaine88]

Did you ever have a turn 1 where your only 1 drop was a berserker? I could see it being a 2 zurgo /1 berserker split.

I prefer the 2 Zurgo 1 Berserker. A lot of times you are tapping out to kill their threat , especially on the draw, and if you are doing that it means you normally dont have mana to pump Bezerker and attacking for 1 doesnt do a whole ton. I felt that way sometimes with Foundry Street as well. If I was killing your guy he just attacked for 1 and sucked.

Not a fan of Rabblemasters - never got them rolling, however there isnt anything better...

I kinda agree. Rabble seems so good but he just hasnt done much for me in this deck. Wonder if Outburst is just better than Rabble in the deck. Arguably better with Command/Stoke and strong vs Removal but lower upside. Also triggers Prowess, which is pretty big when running 8 prowess creatures.

[LP, of the Fires]

RE rabble, I find myself regularly messing with the numbers, but I always keep some number in the deck because routinely there are situations that occur where you just play a rabblemaster and it wins the game.

[Purp]

2-2 tonight beating gb elves and bant heroic (feature match - ill post VoD later) lost to UB Thopter Control (feature ill post VoD later) and atarka red

Deck feels good. hornets nest was great vs heroic. UB control seems good, i lost late in game 3 due to some crazy mana confluence draws. Destructive revelry was great in this matchup, lost to a tasigur in g2. g3 was iffy mana confluence draws and its possible I missed a winning line.

I ran 3 confluence and 2 temples...def cost me vs mono red. Going to run 2 confluence and 3 temples tomorrow.

The mirror match is what scares me. Not sure what I can do to shore it up... LP any thoughts on my list to help shore up the mono red matchup? Maybe I can cut the 3rd firedancer?

Rabble was good vs heroic and control, bad elsewhere. Might cut a 3rd rabble for a 3rd dragon fodder. It's also possible I want twin bolt or anger instead of arc lightning.

edit: http://www.twitch.tv/thewastelandgaming/b/680942822 heroic match (really good match imo) starts around 1:00:00, and the UB control match is around 1:50:00. would love feedback on the control match..would you have kept my opener?

[LP, of the Fires]

if you worried about mono-red, cards that are great there include:

Arc lightinging

Twin Bolt

Scouring Sands

1 burn spells(magma spray, wild slash, fiery conclusion)

And in the maindeck, you can add more token makers.

[Purp]

what do you think twin bolt, vs arc lightning, vs anger?

[LP, of the Fires]

I like arc lightning the most because it clears outburst tokens and you can bring it in vs. control.

That and in a pinch it can kill a rabblemaster and a token.

[Purp]

after watching the vod, i see how i misplay at the end vs control. oh well! gotta learn somehow