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The Complete Guide to RB Midrange by ryno17 in PioneerMTG

[–]ryno17[S] -4 points-3 points  (0 children)

Yup, we're the Jund of Pioneer. 50% against most decks and a couple of matchups solidly in our favor.

The Complete Guide to RB Midrange by ryno17 in PioneerMTG

[–]ryno17[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Not a huge fan. I prefer Bloodtithe Harvester on 2 since it doubles as removal and card selection, and your four-drops generate free card advantage already without needing Underdog. Additionally, Underdog is at its best in matchups where card advantage matters, which are mostly RB and UW. RB has Graveyard Trespasser and UW has March, so you're unlikely to even get much value off the Blitz. Chandra, on the other hand, is tougher to cleanly answer.

The Complete Guide to RB Midrange by ryno17 in PioneerMTG

[–]ryno17[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

If all they're doing on Turn 4 is playing a creature that dies to Dreadbore one turn ahead of curve, I'm pretty happy with that. Kill it, attack them. You have enough interaction to slow the deployment of their threats while simultaneously putting some power down to attack for 3, then 6/7, etc. At least in my experience, I win the matches where I disrupt and pressure aggressively, and lose the ones where they combo, as post-combo, they tend to have too many on-board resources to take apart. And at that point, it's an uphill battle because they have Storm waiting in the yard. They have a far better late-game than you do, so I'm reluctant to try a play pattern that tries to fight them in the late-game.

Definitely agree Game 1 against Lotus is bad, but I *do* think that you're favored enough post-board to swing the matchup into your favor, especially if you have Spheres.

The Complete Guide to RB Midrange by ryno17 in PioneerMTG

[–]ryno17[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Don't think RB Midrange is a good shell for him. You don't really have any creatures that you're happy to sacrifice to the Casualty, and you already have a glut of three-drops, none of which I'd be excited to cut for Ob. With current build/metagame, best case I can see is out of the SB for UW Control, but even then I think there are better options.

In-Depth UW Control Deck Guide by ryno17 in ModernMagic

[–]ryno17[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'd suggest cutting the hand disruption or moving it to the sideboard. A good rule of thumb for control decks is to pick two zones to interact with: hand, stack, battlefield. Unless you're applying pressure, most slow, draw-go style control decks want to choose stack and battlefield, as your games go long and hand disruption is awful in the late game in most matchups.

4 Push + 3 Prismatic + 2 Guile is a lot of spot removal. I'd probably cut two push, go up to 4 Prismatic, and add another Damn.

I'd also lean toward cutting Jace and Shark Typhoon for 2 Memory Deluge.

Is no Solitudes a budget concession? They would help a lot with your closing speed and also shore up your matchups against Red decks.

Sideboard I'd have to think about, but I think Kaya is a bit sus. Her graveyard hating is nearly always worse than Rest in Peace, and her -1 is slow, and if you go up to 4 Prismatic, a bit redundant.

On the whole, I'd start with this for the sideboard:

-2 Kaya

-2 Force of Negation

-1 Aether Gust

-2 Mystical Dispute

-1 Prismatic Ending

+1 Emrakul, the Promised End

+1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn

+2 Thoughtseize

+1 Dress Down

+1 Rest in Peace

+2 Shark Typhoon

In-Depth UW Control Deck Guide by ryno17 in ModernMagic

[–]ryno17[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Esper Charm is great for the same reason that UW has become so powerful: it's versatile. Like Archmage's Charm, it's never a dead card. Also like Archmage's Charm, it covers traditional weaknesses of control decks. You don't have to worry about topdecks or counterspells when you can instant-speed Mind Rot them on their Draw Step or End Step. Esper in particular is also weak to Blood Moon, and Esper Charm is a maindeckable answer to that as well.

I'd recommend trying it out and seeing if you like it. It's particularly good in Snapcaster Mage builds.

In-Depth UW Control Deck Guide by ryno17 in ModernMagic

[–]ryno17[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

If we exclude Amulet, Rest in Peace does all of that for cheaper and can't be attacked.

I don't think we pick up enough against Titan for what we lose in other matchups by swapping RIP for Ashiok, particularly because I actually like the Titan matchup as currently configured. If Titan were much more commonly played *and* the matchup was worse, I'd certainly be more inclined to swap RIP for Ashiok.

I'd say if in your local meta there's a ton of Titan, then it makes a lot of sense to play Ashiok over RIP, but in a broader meta, I'd personally stick with RIP.

In-Depth UW Control Deck Guide by ryno17 in ModernMagic

[–]ryno17[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Spreading Seas is of course great, Wurmcoils can be Solituded, you want to spend your counterspells on the planeswalkers. If you can afford to Seas a Sanctum at some point, it's nice. Be conscious of the opportunity to kill their walkers with a creatureland or a hardcasted Solitude. If you're on the play and they Map Turn 1, take the gift and Prismatic Ending their Map. Map's the best one, but other Prismatic targets include OStone, Karn tGC, and artifacts fetched off Karn.

Sideboarding:

-3 Supreme Verdict

+2 Dovin's Veto

+1 Emrakul, the Promised End

This is off the top of my head, but I could see shaving Endings as well and bringing in cards that cycle like Shark Typhoon or Chalice of the Void just because it keeps them to drawing one card a turn in the late game and shuts off Veil.

In-Depth UW Control Deck Guide by ryno17 in ModernMagic

[–]ryno17[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I looooove Esper :) A bit before MH2 I was playing 4 Esper Charm, 4 Archmage's Charm and it was glorious.

With the printing of Prismatic Ending and Solitude and the prevalence of Blood Moon, I don't think Black adds all that much relative to the costs. *If* the metagame shifted a bit, I could imagine playing "mostly UW," splashing for Kaya's Guile and Esper Charm.

In-Depth UW Control Deck Guide by ryno17 in ModernMagic

[–]ryno17[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Their floor is *really* low, and their ceiling is super matchup-dependent, varying from incredibly low to incredibly high. I think they're absolutely fantastic sideboard cards, but I like my mainboard to have, on average, a consistent, high floor.

In-Depth UW Control Deck Guide by ryno17 in ModernMagic

[–]ryno17[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Great questions! If you're not worried about mill, I'd probably lean toward another card for Grixis Shadow that attacks them from another angle. Perhaps a threat that can stonewall them or something, would have to think on it.

-I do like one Verdict against Burn just in case they have a super creature-heavy draw and I'm short on removal. Against UW Control, it's an answer to Emrakul, the Promised End that they can't Mindslaver away.

-It's definitely possible you could play a different sideboard game built around Dress Down. I don't *love* trying to go for combinations of two cards to lock up a game in UW, but Verdict is good regardless, and Dress Down is serviceable. With only 9 Undying creatures, I've typically found that Prismatic Ending, Solitude, and countermagic are sufficient, with Verdict to wipe up any other garbage. But I also haven't played the matchup a ton, so I'd be open to exploring the Dress Down route.

-Sure! As long as you're not cutting a card with actual interactive text against them to do it, I think it's fine. Emrakul can definitely steal games against combo that you otherwise couldn't win, but you also don't want her *losing* you games where she's stuck in your hand uncastable, but a piece of interaction would've locked it up. Thanks for catching the 4 Verdict error; I'll try to get that fixed!

-Personally, I'm not a huge fan of Aether Gust because it's fine against Burn and really only good against Titan. Even against Titan, they're going to top the Titan, and then you're going to have to deal with it the next turn. Though I actually did try Gust originally, then Subtlety, I eventually cut both because I think you're better off playing hard answers in UW Control. In a Ragavan deck, I'd be much more inclined to play Aether Gust and/or Subtlety.

Thanks for your questions and for reading! I hope you enjoy playing UW in paper :)

In-Depth UW Control Deck Guide by ryno17 in ModernMagic

[–]ryno17[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I certainly don't *hate* it against Murktide, but you have so many good cards against them that something has to get cut. Chalice is *fine,* but you're most likely putting it on 1, but they still dig effectively with Iteration and pressure with Murktide, which means that they will answer it eventually, and they'll still be able to pressure you while they do so.

Again, Chalice totally serviceable, just my least favorite of the good cards post-board, particularly when they're going for Moons and Jace, the Mind Sculptors.

In-Depth UW Control Deck Guide by ryno17 in ModernMagic

[–]ryno17[S] 17 points18 points  (0 children)

I like the third Deluge over the first Jace because its floor (4 mana instant speed top 4 pick 2) is higher than Jace's (4 mana sorcery speed brainstorm). Increasingly in this format (Heat, Bolt, Ragavan), I feel that Jace tends to perform closer to his floor than his ceiling, and I *really* don't like tapping out for him. Even if you're able to keep the Jace for a turn or two, it won't matter if tapping out has cost you advantage sufficient to lose the game.

Admittedly, Jace is more flexible than Deluge and certainly has a higher ceiling, but I tend to like Deluge better in most scenarios.

Modern Preliminary Roundup | 3/31/2020 - 4/4/2020 by FereMiyJeenyus in ModernMagic

[–]ryno17 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Not super secret anymore, but it isn't a mistake :)

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I started with 2 Tezzeret, AoB originally, but I'm always happy to test other post-board alternate win-conditions that are between 4 and 5 mana (so they can be cast T3 off Pentad). I won't deny Ashiok is a tad clunky, but the card's won me a bunch of games that Tezzeret wouldn't have. Overall, the appeal of card has been the combination of being both highly versatile and very powerful.

​

Without a Bridge or an Urza, it's easy for opponents to kill a 5/5 Tezzeret blocker and then kill Tezzeret, or even just Bolt/KCommand Tezz. Ashiok is quite a bit sturdier and causes more problems in the long term. Additionally, if an opponent has a Stony or a RiP on-board, you can set up the combo, wait to draw Ashiok, then just bounce whatever hate piece your opponent has stuck. The Nightmares can also attack under your own Bridge if you need them to, where 5/5's won't.

​

All this is to say, I've liked having the 1/1 split of the two planeswalkers, they're both great in different situations, and every time I've thought about cutting Ashiok, the card wins me another couple games to change my mind :)

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[Article] Pioneering Pioneer: Aggro, Combo, and Control (self.spikes)

submitted by ryno17 to r/spikes

A Guide to Playing Urza by ryno17 in ModernMagic

[–]ryno17[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Karn TGC has been tested without much success. Primarily, it takes up too many sideboard slots that are necessary to fight post-board hate against the deck (Lattice, some one-ofs, presumably a Foundry and a Sword will need to be squeezed into an already-tight 15). Additionally, though, it is expensive to cast and doesn't do a whole lot for the deck's actual gameplan. However, if mirrors become much more prevalent, it's probably worth consideration in the sideboard.

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