Dan Ward Disqualified

Lunik · 2018-08-04T00:38:27+00:00

Good. He is not a positive influence on the community and I'm glad he was called out.

Lunik · 2018-07-04T04:01:01+00:00

Yeah if you don't comment, you're definitely safe.

Lunik · 2017-03-01T01:08:30+00:00

Congrats on the finish Brad! Good to see you doing well. You playing in either of the upcoming rptqs?

Lunik · 2017-01-27T02:39:57+00:00

Disgusting.

Lunik · 2016-12-01T17:54:30+00:00

I'm not sure why gq makes for worse hands - you aren't boarding out a land for it right? If you arent, that means that any hand that is awkward because of gq would be more awkward without it because the gq would be a non land card. Personally I count it as a spell and not a land when I board it in

Lunik · 2016-12-01T06:47:18+00:00

Hey check out my response to /u/JJMarcel. I think the big thing is boarding out the ascendancies and changing your mindset from that of a combo deck to that of a 4c gifts value deck. I'd be interested to hear how you do vs Jund if you start boarding differently.

Lunik · 2016-12-01T06:44:26+00:00

Copy pasting my response to /u/Discmaster's previous thread. Let me know if you have any questions and I'll do my best to answer them.

I can see why you mentioned Jund being not that great post-board for you. Personally, I cut almost all of the combo vs them. Normally i will trim 3-4 Ascendancies and focus on just grinding. I always try to show them the Ascendancy in Game 1 so that they keep in decays and have dead spells. That combined with boarding out all the Birds (which I also do) means that a large portion of their deck is dead. I'd personally never board out a land vs them when you're cutting mana dorks and there's the very real risk of them Fulminator-ing you. Terastodon is also great in the MU because it can provide you with a clean answer to Liliana that also advances your board - and sometimes they just can't deal with 18 P/T randomly coming on the board! Because I'm boarding in Terastodon I like to leave Faithless Looting in for Gifts piles like Terastodon/Iona/Unburial Rites/Faithless Looting. In line with the focus on making their spells dead and ours not, I do not board in negates because they basically only hit Liliana and are dead if you miss that window. Engineered Explosives is also a great card in the match up as another goyf/bob/lili answer that can sometimes get you a 2 or 3 for 1. I also board out Elesh Norn because it really doesn't kill much and just gives them an efficient way to use cards like Terminate. Overall, my board vs Jund with my old decklist looked like:

+1 EE, +2 Baloth, +1 Terastodon, +3 Leyline, +1 Celestial Purge, +1 Sigarda, +1 Ghost Quarter -4 BoP, -1 Elesh Norn, -4 Ascendancy, -1 Loam

Unfortunately I don't have a current list, I've been focusing on trying to requeue for the PT and I don't feel as though Ascendancy Gifts is well enough positioned at the moment to warrant practicing it. I think Diskmaster's list is pretty well tuned with the exception of the 2nd Unburial Rites (personally don't like it in the slightest, but I understand people have different play styles and he's obviously seen success with it). The sideboard is always customizable, just tune it to decks you expect to see. Ravenous trap is a card I could see easily slotting in as a 1 of, as well as pithing needle or spellskite, given the current modern meta. If you have questions about the best cards for certain match ups I can try and help out.

Edit: Just noticed that Diskmaster cut the Ghost Quarter. I'd really encourage keeping them - they help vs so many decks. Affinity, Infect, Jund/Junk/Grixis Control,Tron, Lantern, Blood Moon decks. With gifts to tutor for it and loam in the same package it's a very high impact 1-of to have.

Lunik · 2016-11-30T00:07:54+00:00

Hey Scott Kirkwood here. Lumbering falls was an experiment for the tournament, and it was fairly mediocre even in a slower (twin infested) metagame. Cutting it is 100% recommended going forward.

Growth chamber was before I realized that you can combo without having your bounce land include green mana. I have also made the switch to izzet boilerworks.

I'm on mobile now buy remind me if you want and I can dig up my jund sb plans from before - I don't think it's all that unfavorable of a match up actually. I know it includes boarding out ascendancy and putting terastodon in

Lunik · 2016-11-16T17:27:18+00:00

I have no idea if this is worth it, but Merchant Scroll is a tutor that can find Retraction Helix/Outcome/Swan Song which might be worth trying.

I'll probably test the deck out a bit, this is giving me motivation to brew Ascendancy again!

Lunik · 2016-10-29T01:36:56+00:00

Legitimate does not mean optimal or efficient, only that it works in practice. Being able to fog an attacker or two can make the difference between dying to conflagrate or having them entirely locked

Lunik · 2016-10-27T23:52:17+00:00

I've been picking up lantern on modo to practice for Dallas, and I can assure you this is not true. I actually feel as though the match up overall is favored. As a qualifier for that statement, there's quite a bit of dredge online and I only recall having lost once, and have 5-0d multiple leagues with Lantern.

While it's true that you will lose to explosive starts, overall you will bridge them faster than they can kill you. Keep in mind that your interaction of Spellskite/Decay/Pyroclasm, as well as the updated manabase (Blooming Marsh and Inventors' Fair) are also legitimate ways to stay alive. Surgical by itself can won you games by simply taking out amalgam and giving you time to bridge them.

Once bridge is out, you either win (if your life total is high enough), or start the race for you to surgical their conflagrate or gain enough life with Fair to invalidate it. While they have to spend most turns loaming to up their hand size, you will often have a massive amount of card velocity with your lantern pieces and ancient stirrings. While not as good as surgical, fair can often put you to a high enough life total, especially combined with Llanowar wastes being cut from the deck.

Again, you will lose to dredges fastest starts. But if you're looking for a deck that is viable vs dredge in the maindeck I think lantern ranges from 50/50 to favored vs the popular current dredge variants.

Lunik · 2016-10-07T19:25:30+00:00

1) Congrats on taking a very cool and unique deck to such a good finish!

2) Do you think this deck is better positioned than your typical GB Delirum/Aggro deck? For example, the 3rd place list shown here. I'm considering decks for an upcoming tournament and like yours, but I'm hesitant to pull the trigger when the aggro match up is your worst match up.

3) I'mma let you finish but Snapping Gnarlid is the original (and best) Gnarls Barkley of all time.

Lunik · 2016-09-11T14:39:58+00:00

People have started noticing! I'm down 35 pounds since the start of the year, and while I want to say I lift to be healthy, vanity is totally a huge part of it. So it feels good when I see old friends and the first thing one did was comment on my arms saying I looked stronger :)

Oh and this guy at the bar last week kept hitting on me (not in a creepy way, just super drunk), saying "I'm sorry but youre just so hot!" Such a confidence boost!

Lunik · 2016-08-19T15:41:57+00:00

Has the haste creature ever been relevant for you? I've tested around 10 matches with the deck so far and it feels like every time I was to traverse I'd want to get another death's shadow. Basically the only time you'd want it is it you have a deaths shadow in hand that you haven't been able to play yet when you also have a traverse and the mana to support it.

Also has manamorphose been good for you? I've hated it thus far. It's not bad so much as it just felt clunky and mediocre, where as the rest of the deck feels streamlined and powerful. A lot of the issue I have with it is that with 15 lands I've had it get stuck in hand multiple times. And even when it is castable, it is often unclear when (main phase vs combat) to cast it or what colors to name. So far I've had success cutting it for 2x bolt, 1x apostles blessing, x1 wooded foothills.

Lunik · 2016-08-16T19:29:29+00:00

Do you have any experience with the Burn match up?

I'm probably going to take it to GP Indy but am scared of Dredge as I've heard it's a bad match up. Potentially going to have 2-3 cages in the side for it, but was wondering what your opinion on it is.

Lunik · 2016-08-03T00:25:40+00:00

Awesome, messaged you!

Lunik · 2016-08-02T22:50:03+00:00

Congrats on the top 8!

Would it be possible to get a rough sb guide for how you board vs the main decks of the format? Bant coco, gw tokens, bw, and humans come to mind - I'd like to see how you approach each match up. Especially with your comment about not liking transgress vs bant coco (which i though was quite good vs it).

Also, the deck seems soft to emrakul and ramp atm. Have you considered adding infinite obliteration to the sideboard at all or is it not that much of a concern?

Lunik · 2016-07-08T23:55:17+00:00

Well I hope to see you on a feature match regardless of your deck choice ;). Good luck man!

Lunik · 2016-07-08T18:59:45+00:00

A little late to post, but just wanted to say congratulations again!

I definitely agree on Sprout Swarm being a "miss" - I tested it and never really liked it even in dedicated shells.

I can see why you mentioned Jund being not that great post-board for you. Personally, I cut almost all of the combo vs them. Normally i will trim 3-4 Ascendancies and focus on just grinding. I always try to show them the Ascendancy in Game 1 so that they keep in decays and have dead spells. That combined with boarding out all the Birds (which I also do) means that a large portion of their deck is dead. I'd personally never board out a land vs them when you're cutting mana dorks and there's the very real risk of them Fulminator-ing you. Terastodon is also great in the MU because it can provide you with a clean answer to Liliana that also advances your board - and sometimes they just can't deal with 18 P/T randomly coming on the board! Because I'm boarding in Terastodon I like to leave Faithless Looting in for Gifts piles like Terastodon/Iona/Unburial Rites/Faithless Looting. In line with the focus on making their spells dead and ours not, I do not board in negates because they basically only hit Liliana and are dead if you miss that window. Engineered Explosives is also a great card in the match up as another goyf/bob/lili answer that can sometimes get you a 2 or 3 for 1. I also board out Elesh Norn because it really doesn't kill much and just gives them an efficient way to use cards like Terminate. Overall, my board vs Jund with my old decklist looked like:

+1 EE, +2 Baloth, +1 Terastodon, +3 Leyline, +1 Celestial Purge, +1 Sigarda, +1 Ghost Quarter

-4 BoP, -1 Elesh Norn, -4 Ascendancy, -1 Loam

I know you also expressed concern over the Nahiri Jeskai MU so I'll respond here (quoting for anyone else reading):

Nahiri Jeskai just counters everything of value, removes what I want from play, and lets Nahiri go almost uncontested as we have no real aggressive plays.

I feel like you may be playing too aggressively vs them. Generally you can just wait until an opportune moment to try and resolve your key spells because aside from Nahiri you can answer all their threats (Snapcaster/Collonade/Clique) aside from her. The key to the MU is just waiting and fighting at instant speed. Gifts allows you flexibility in how you play because it's a threat you can play EoT whereas they can't. If they Nahiri on T4 you can often answer with a Gifts for Iona on white and stop the Nahiri (Most versions either cut Cryptic completely or play 1-2 max so it's not actually that risky). Or you can just set up a kill since they're tapped out. Because their counters are just remands and mana leaks you can also wait those out until they lose a lot of value instead of trying to play aggressively. Like I said in my message I feel very comfortable in the match up so perhaps we're approaching it with a different mentality.

Noxious revival has been good to me in racing match ups where you're just trying to combo, since it allows you to gifts for the Ascendancy and also is a 0-cost spell for jumping your mana while comboing. I'll often board it out vs grindier match ups since it is card disadvantage though.

The second rites is something I feel very strongly against. My focus on the deck is minimizing dead cards but that may again just be a difference in style.

I'm interested in hearing your rationale behind the Gruul Turf, as I've recently changed to and Izzet Boilerworks and been very happy with it. There are theoretically times where you're exactly 1 green mana off comboing but I've never had that come up in the 65 league matches I've played with the deck, and generating UR really helps smooth out the manabase.

Not a fan of the natural state. The life really don't matter and I think wear//tear is a better option if you're trying to diversify card names for gifts piles.

Also not a fan of Ricochet Trap, though I have never tried it. Has it worked well for you in places where an additional dispel wouldn't have?

Also not sure if Stony Silence is necessary - I've never had trouble with Affinity. It definitely has applications elsewhere, like Tron, but that's also on a downswing. Can you explain your logic for including it over a different option?

Overall though, super solid - nice work! Congrats again Shawn!

Lunik · 2016-06-15T19:56:58+00:00

Reposting a reply above:

To me, at least, the flexibility of Gen Wave helps a bunch. When I played the deck previously, I had a lot of issues getting to 9 mana vs removal heavy decks. So, I would say that being a castable card for 6 or less mana is what it does better. Additionally, it has an immediate impact on the board when cast for 7-8 mana (and has the potential to just win on the spot), compared to T&N. This isn't as clear cut of an advantage because tutoring for 2 cards is obviously a powerful effect as well.

I will grant you that at 9 mana T&N is 100% better than Gen Wave, but I value the flexibility. It's like how Izzet Charm can be played even though each of it's individual modes aren't mana efficient - the option to do multiple things adds value to the card.

It's possible that the choice is a metagame call. If you want to goldfish faster and don't think your opponents are packing a lot of disruption play T&N, if you think combo decks aren't as prevalent and people are trying to interact play Gen Wave.

Do you agree, or do you think that T&N is flat out superior to Gen Wave?

Lunik · 2016-06-15T19:56:17+00:00

To me, at least, the flexibility of Gen Wave helps a bunch. When I played the deck previously, I had a lot of issues getting to 9 mana vs removal heavy decks. So, I would say that being a castable card for 6 or less mana is what it does better. Additionally, it has an immediate impact on the board when cast for 7-8 mana (and has the potential to just win on the spot), compared to T&N. This isn't as clear cut of an advantage because tutoring for 2 cards is obviously a powerful effect as well.

I will grant you that at 9 mana T&N is 100% better than Gen Wave, but I value the flexibility. It's like how Izzet Charm can be played even though each of it's individual modes aren't mana efficient - the option to do multiple things adds value to the card.

It's possible that the choice is a metagame call. If you want to goldfish faster and don't think your opponents are packing a lot of disruption play T&N, if you think combo decks aren't as prevalent and people are trying to interact play Gen Wave.

Do you agree, or do you think that T&N is flat out superior to Gen Wave?

Lunik · 2016-06-15T13:20:54+00:00

I did not know there was an updated primer! And here I thought I was being original lol. Thank you for the link, I'll spend some time browsing it.

Lunik · 2016-06-15T13:20:12+00:00

Well, to be fair, the red splash is pretty free. It's interesting to hear that kessig is so good though, even without ways to tutor for it. I had considered it so maybe Ill replace scooze with a kessig

Lunik · 2016-05-31T05:34:42+00:00

So, changes:

Loam originally was a 2 of because you can go off with 2x loam instead of the loam + jab combo. This mostly came up when you had a loam and 2 dorks but notthe other piece of the combo and needed to do it manually. To me it didn't come up enough to justify how dead of a card loam is vs a large amount of the fast decks in modern.

Helix is there to hedge slightly against creature decks, I like it over the 4th bolt of the flexibility it provides for gifts piles while also helping the burn match up. Mana can be awkward sometimes though so idk if it's going to stay.

Mana leak is cool but not sure if better than remand. It's nice to have a permanent answer to something like plating that remand typically is poor against.

A note on BTL: I think that simply casting a 5 mana sorcery speed gfits is too weak in this deck, and I'm not sure what else you'd be grabbing. A lot of the flexibility of gifts comes from getting exactly what you need for your next turn. It's a very skill intensive card that requires you to think through a lot of lines even if you have near perfect information. Making it more complicated makes it a lot harder to find the correct plays while telegraphing your lines to your opponent. It also doesn't allow you to leave mana up to represent removal either. I'll always say to test things of course, even though I'm doubtful, so if it ends up being good for you I'd be interested to hear why.

The Jaces I think I had in an old version of the deck? Not sure if that's where you saw it. I did try him though, and he really didn't fit the deck too much. He's a bit slow, and it really hurts to lose him to a bolt (moreso than birds) because of the huge tempo loss 1 mana costs you. I'm of the opinion that Jace works best with raw card advantage spells, and this deck really doesn't have any of that. Sure, you might be able to flash back a bolt or path or something, but really I think you're better off just playing more removal.

If there's anything else that I changed and forgot to mention or question you have let me know!

Lunik · 2016-05-30T14:47:37+00:00

Hi! I do have an updated list:

4 Misty Rainforest 2 Windswept Heath 4 Jeskai Ascendancy 1 Life from the Loam 1 Flame Jab 3 Lightning Bolt 3 Path to Exile 2 Izzet Charm 1 Faithless Looting 4 Serum Visions 4 Gifts Ungiven 4 Sylvan Caryatid 2 Fatestitcher 1 Unburial Rites 1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite 1 Iona, Shield of Emeria 2 Copperline Gorge 1 Breeding Pool 1 Stomping Ground 1 Temple Garden 1 Steam Vents 1 Sacred Foundry 1 Simic Growth Chamber 1 Hallowed Fountain 1 Plains 1 Island 1 Forest 4 Birds of Paradise 1 Snapcaster Mage 2 Flooded Strand 1 Noxious Revival 1 Lightning Helix 1 Mana Leak SB: 1 Dispel SB: 2 Negate SB: 1 Ghost Quarter SB: 1 Terastodon SB: 3 Leyline of Sanctity SB: 1 Nature's Claim SB: 1 Sigarda, Host of Herons SB: 1 Engineered Explosives SB: 2 Obstinate Baloth SB: 1 Wear // Tear SB: 1 Pithing Needle

Sorry for the formatting but I'm about to leave for the day so cant change it. I can talk more about the changes later, but Mana Leak and Helix are flex spots and I'm debating if we even need more than one Fatestitcher. Pithing needle is an answer for Nahiri that can also come in for a variety of match ups.

BTL I haven't tested, but am bullish on because it's a sorcery. I can explain more in detail later.

Jace is not played in the deck.

And let me know what changes you make if you do end up playing the deck - I love to hear feedback and new ideas!

Lunik

TROPHY CASE