Dies to Removal

Tonight was probably the best draft I've ever had. My LGS just switched to no redistribtion of rares and we were complaining about.
But tonight some new players came and I was explaining that if you pull a flipping card you must reveal for example "OMG DANG DAT FOIL SEXY BABE CHANDRA"
Then I managed to get a foil Abbot from pack 2.
Finished with a RB draft to 3-0 easily. I do think its the best archetype of the format but time will confirm.

IM so excited right now uh.

Dunno about that, in Poland every draft is like that. You re-draft from a rares and foils after the drafts based on your standings (3-0 gets 1st and 3rd pick). That way you dont concentrate on rare drafting but on building the most optimal deck.

Yes it used to be like that then they switched to rare pick. Now they have something like 50%+ more people coming and many are new players.
Newbies prefer this system as they don't feel robbed at each draft by our group of good players. It's great for them and for the LGS business so I won't blame it.
Both systems have their pros and cons and it mainly depends on who is playing at the draft.

So Ham, got some ham challenge questions.
1) does it count of I complete it accidentally? You just realize out of the blue you have met the requirements.

2) what's the policy on performance enhancing substances? Because SSRIs are very good for this.

3) if this becomes controversial I formally submit the nickname "spankgate".

So Ham, got some ham challenge questions.
1) does it count of I complete it accidentally? You just realize out of the blue you have met the requirements.

2) what's the policy on performance enhancing substances? Because SSRIs are very good for this.

3) if this becomes controversial I formally submit the nickname "spankgate".

1- I'll allow it!

2- what kind of performance are you enhancing?

3- I welcome our new controversial spankgate overlords

I'm going to be streaming my Hearthstone legend matches from next week, will be at twitch.tv/zemanjaski. Will post more info in a few days when I've confirmed the details.

SSRIs reduce your libido significantly as a very common side effect. I'm still in it, and it'll probably be a while till I break, just because I feel zero temptation.

So, Mardu just won the French Nationals.

I call it "oh no you mardidn't".

I watched the top8 (as long as they could stream it with phone connection...) and a part from famous Wafo Tapa there were so much missplays each games. I was so disappointed.

And the TO is not so good so we will probably get the Top8 list maybe after the ProTour.

Hey redthirst.

How does a reaver clean its spear?

Runs it through the Wash.

WOTC is no longer sponsoring VSL

Only for this year.

I can only fathom its because the venders were upset players received God accounts

Or the exhausting costs of providing foil sets of Vintage Masters

Actually it's a "budget" issue.

thats actually hilarious

I need substantive comments from the peanut gallery.

I have a Modern PPTQ in two weeks. I've narrowed my choices down to Grixis Control or Jeskai Control. I have played a lot of Grixis Delver so I have experience with Grixis in general, but no experience at all attacking with Colonnades. In an open meta with slightly more Affinity than average, what would you choose and why?

Example of Jeskai:

http://vincentadinolfi.com/post/1251830 ... nite-combo

Example of Grixis:

http://magic.wizards.com/en/events/cove ... 2015-06-14

Play Grixis.

Definitely Grixis but a more standard list. There's some really cool ideas in Chapin's list that I'd love to try out, but they won't work out in your Affinity meta (eg: 4 Cryptic).

I'd play Grixis. The recent addition of Kolaghan's Command helps you against Affinity, the win conditions are faster, and you can play to the board with cheap removal instead of leaning on B- grade counterspells.

Grixis can't lose to Affinity

Thanks guys. I'm leaning toward Grixis myself, though I do love flashing in Resto Angels and throwing around Lightning Helix.

If I did play control, it would be similar to Chapin's list, but without all 4 Cryptic and one less land. I think something between his list and Delver is what I want. I don't want to be playing Delver in a meta with more Affinity than usual. The local meta is actually fairly aggressive, but the outsiders that will come to this event may normalize it a bit.

My only reservation is how bad Grixis is against CoCo, and spikes at my LGS have an unhealthy fascination with that card.

Here's what I'm thinking for Grixis.

[deck]
Creatures (10)
4 snapcaster mage
1 vendilion clique
2 tasigur, the golden fang
3 gurmag angler

Spells (30)
4 serum visions
4 thought scour
4 lightning bolt
1 dispel
2 spell snare
1 shadow of doubt
4 terminate
2 mana leak
3 remand
2 kolaghan's command
1 electrolyze
2 cryptic command

Lands (20)
4 polluted delta
4 scalding tarn
2 watery grave
2 steam vents
1 blood crypt
1 sulfur falls
1 darkslick shores
3 island
1 swamp
1 mountain

Sideboard (15)
3 dispel
1 engineered explosives
2 nihil spellbomb
1 vandalblast
1 shadow of doubt
1 negate
1 flashfreeze
1 spellskite
1 izzet staticaster
2 blood moon
1 keranos, god of storms
[/deck]

Chapin did a podcast a while back about his grixis deck and he mentioned that the CoCo matchup was basically unwinnable and for that reason, he suggested adding cards like anger of the gods, damnation, and magma spray to the board.

I can attest that resolved Voice of resurgence and kitchen finks respectively where mostly impossible to deal with.

He also said the deck needs a 21st land.

I can see running Anger in the board for sure. Is the 21st land necessary if you're not running 4 Cryptic like he was? Was this the Top Level Podcast or a different podcast?

Top level.

I recall listening to that podcast. I reviewed it and he mentioned a few things:

1) Keranos and Batterskull were unnecessary.
2) He wanted more against CoCo.
3) Spellskite was actually bad vs Burn and Twin.
4) He would have dropped a Cryptic for a 22nd land because he had a lot of Tar Pit + land hands that were slow.

For #4, I think not running Tar Pit and only two Cryptic makes 20 land acceptable. I don't know how much is gained from two Tar Pit vs two fewer lands.

There is currently no Grixis Control thread in the Modern section. Shall I make one or post discussion in the Grixis Delver thread? Are the two similar enough to discuss in one thread?

New thread

Val, Gerry T posted a decent article on Modern Grixis today on SCG Premium. You should check it out.

I was all over it at 11 AM Eastern, 10 AM Central.

I don't understand why he thinks Grixis Control is a dog to Grixis Twin. Everyone else feels the opposite, especially Chapin.

Yeah I saw your comment on the article right after I posted here.

The unseen comment is the most relevant

Tested this today at the LGS vs Grixis Twin.

[deck]
Creatures (10)
4 snapcaster mage
1 vendilion clique
2 tasigur, the golden fang
3 gurmag angler

Spells (29)
4 serum visions
4 thought scour
4 lightning bolt
1 dispel
2 spell snare
1 shadow of doubt
4 terminate
2 mana leak
2 remand
2 kolaghan's command
1 electrolyze
2 cryptic command

Lands (21)
4 polluted delta
4 scalding tarn
2 watery grave
2 steam vents
2 sulfur falls
2 creeping tar pit
3 island
1 swamp
1 mountain

Sideboard (15)
2 dispel
1 engineered explosives
2 nihil spellbomb
1 negate
1 flashfreeze
1 spellskite
1 izzet staticaster
2 blood moon
3 anger of the gods
1 keranos, god of storms
[/deck]

I don't know where GerryT gets the idea that Twin is favored in this matchup because I feel like it's VERY hard to lose as the Grixis Control player. I do think the matchup is slightly more difficult if the Twin player is playing three IoK like Gerry is, so I think it's a combination of that and him being better than his opponents that has jaded his opinion.

General thoughts on my decklist:

1) LOVE the singleton Shadow of Doubt. It's a lot like Splinter Twin in that once people know you're running it, they go to ridiculous lengths to play around it, so it's good at times when you don't even have it. And when you get someone with it, you GET EM.

2) Vendilion Clique felt really good here. Hand information is always nice to have and it gives the deck another evasive threat. You can also get it back with Kolaghan's Command, but it's obviously nowhere as good as getting back Snapcaster Mage.

3) Two Cryptic Command felt like plenty. In fact I'd say any more than that vs Twin is a liability, but it's probably really nice to have three vs other fair nonblue decks.

4) I didn't test the sideboard, but I'm not sure of a couple of choices. Should I be running Leyline of the Void over Nihil Spellbomb? Leyline is nowhere near as good when you don't draw it, but it probably makes the mirror unlosable if it's in your opener. Spellbomb seems better vs unfair graveyard-based decks since you can draw into it though. Also, Fulminator Mage or Blood Moon? Obviously looping Fulminator with Kolaghan's Command is nutter butters, but, y'know, Blood Moon...

5) Should I be running three Kolaghan's Command or is that too greedy? If I ran a third I'd take out Electrolyze. I feel like the mirror in game one could come down to who resolves more Kolaghan's Command.

6) Similarly, it feels like Remand is a real mirror-breaker. Remanding a Tasigur is just the best thing ever, as is Remanding your own spell in response to Cryptic Command.

Dies to Removal died to removal.

I've been reliving my childhood as my three year old twin boys are really into old-school TMNT.

Dies to Removal died to removal.

everything we built!

There is currently no Grixis Control thread in the Modern section. Shall I make one or post discussion in the Grixis Delver thread? Are the two similar enough to discuss in one thread?

New thread. Lots of similar card choices, but different enough to warrant a new thread.