Eldrazi Green for Chinese Nationals

[Peter Dun]

well, with nationals coming up soon, and the new bannings, I've gone from being 100% certain that I have the right deck, to very very uncertain and even slightly nervous that the metagame will be unhelpful...

 

for reference, this is the deck I am playing now:

// Lands
    4 [ROE] Eldrazi Temple
    2 [ARC] Khalni Garden
    3 [WWK] Tectonic Edge
    2 [M11] Mystifying Maze
    14 [P2] Forest (3)
    1 [WWK] Eye of Ugin
    2 [SOM] Forest (2)                   <-- different art to test whether I want 2 or 4 khalni garden

// Creatures
    4 [M11] Primeval Titan
    2 [SOM] Wall of Tanglecord
    4 [ROE] Overgrown Battlement
    4 [ROE] Joraga Treespeaker
    1 [ROE] Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
    1 [ROE] Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
    1 [WWK] Avenger of Zendikar
    2 [NPH] Spellskite
    1 [MBS] Viridian Corrupter
    1 [M11] Fauna Shaman

// Spells
    4 [MBS] Green Sun's Zenith
    2 [ZEN] Summoning Trap
    3 [NPH] Beast Within
    2 [DDD] Garruk Wildspeaker

// Sideboard
SB: 1 [NPH] Spellskite
SB: 1 [M11] Fauna Shaman
SB: 1 [ZEN] Summoning Trap
SB: 1 [NPH] Beast Within
SB: 3 [M11] Obstinate Baloth
SB: 1 [NPH] Karn Liberated
SB: 3 [ROE] Vengevine
SB: 2 [MBS] Phyrexian Revoker
SB: 2 [NPH] Dismember

 

with the banning of stoneforge mystic, valakut surely must become the default best deck in t2, how would you attack such a deck, or such a metagame. I HEAVILY dislike valakut because you cannot really play zeniths as mana acceleration, however, with spellskites existing to stop act of aggression, I don't see how the deck loses easily any more, at least eldrazi green just sideboards into a  midrange green deck, with some number of karn (I won 21-24 packs at the NQ... can't remember, opening 3 karns and 1 batterskull, so I'm ok cost wise).

 

I would prefer not to splash black for the obvious memoricides, but I won't rule it out, even if it means I must play lotus cobras md... :S

 

so, some advice/feedback would be useful (even if you think you have little experience with the deck... just random thoughts even if they sound terrible would be welcome... I have no idea how to start).

 

My metagame thoughts are as follows:

1) Dismember will become more popular (ppl are only now understanding how good this card is for some reason). This is annoying, as it kills treespeaker for 1 mana. However, the ramping is less important than it was before because you don't need to race sword.

 

2) Koth will see a lot more play. Red decks are cheap, supposedly have a good valakut matchup (especially with act of aggression sb) and koth is by far the best card in the red deck. This means that at least 1 vengevine to tutor as an answer to koth is necessary. ulamog actually pretty good vs rdw, as they can't kill him (her? it?), and if they act, you easily have 5 permanents to sac (4 + 1 blocker) and then wipe their board over a couple of attacks. This means that I want 1 md viridian corruptor, and definately more sb for shrine.

 

3) Valakut will see more play. I have no idea what my solution is for this. This matchup is probably unfavourable for you as they can kill your mana acceleration with bolt, slagstorm etc., whereas you can't easily kill theirs. I want titans and karns for this matchup, but I don't know  how to make it heavily favoured. Maybe the 4th edge over 2nd maze is required md, but that will weaken the matchup vs mirran crusaders (especially if they sb in spellskites in the matchup).

 

4) Other assorted decks like UB control and twin will see more play. Both of these matchups are very very favoured, so not really concerned.

 

Cards under consideration:

1) Fauna Shaman. This card is already amazing, now, I think I want more.

2) Phyrexian metamorph. Can tutor it, makes a titan (too late) for 3 mana.

3) More dismembers/beast withins (the 2WW 3/4 flyer that shuts of activated abilities and fauna shaman will see more play).

4) More karns <-- this card is awesome :)

5) Terrastradon/avenger of zendikars/traps. Necessary vs valakut as the only cards that matter are titan + acceleration, terrastradon kills acceleration, trap gets you titans more consistantly (4 trap, 2 fauna shaman, 4 zenith, 4 titan) and avenger sometimes steals wins even if they get titan first (although your avengers are much worse than theirs)

6) All is dust....

 

Concerns

1) How to beat valakut?

2) How to hate on memoricide (not actually a huge concern), whether to play memoricide?

3) Whether to trade Karns (awesome!) for lotus cobra (bleh...) in pursuit of success (but not happiness)

4) What ppl will play in the new t2...

 

Little help? :)

[Charlie Grover]

Kiln fiend can probably be fine in a field full of dismembers. I figure you just overload on burn spells and run some apostles blessing/emerge's and surprise em a bit. Im looking at a boros list, so its not like you are al in on your kiln fiends for the kill anyway.

Also, I realyl like GW soul sisters now. The 2 ways of beating it (jace and sworded nexi) both just rotated, which means you should actually win when you go off (presuming you run some form of inevitability). Valakut doesnt have easy ways of disrupting it either. And its quite cheap! 

[Tom Reeve]

This is my super-ultra-rough first draft of a Wu Tempered Steel list. I can also see trying out a Wb version with some numbers of Dispatch/Dismember/Duress as the disruptive cards. Duress over Inquisition and Despise because it can hit Day of Judgment, it can also hit Ascension, Splinter Twin, unfortunately against Valakut it can only hit the ramp spells rather than the Titans, which pushes me a little more towards the Wu build. If Thoughtseize were available I'd like the Wb direction more I'm sure. Revoker may not be quite as versatile as it was when it could name Jace, Stoneforge, Batterskull or Swords, but there are still planeswalkers around, it can still name Deceiver Exarch, it can still name Fauna Shaman and Birthing Pod, and so on. Also possible there isn't enough blue mana, and that with the likely resurgence of RDW you should just abandon War Zone for more Fortresses or something.

 

4 Memnite
4 Vault Skirge
4 Signal Pest
4 Glint Hawk Idol
4 Phyrexian Revoker
4 Steel Overseer
3 Porcelain Legionnaire

3 Mox Opal
2 Shrine of Loyal Legions

4 Tempered Steel
4 Dispatch
3 Mana Leak

4 Seachrome Coast
2 Glacial Fortress
1 Inkmoth Nexus
8 Plains
2 Contested War Zone

[Tom Reeve]

The other option I guess is to try to build the maindeck to be more resilient to Day and more consistent (more Shrines/Nexus, for example, or a Chimeric Mass or two) and put Leaks or Pierces in the sideboard. Sideboard almost certainly wants Spellskites for a start, Pierces/Leaks or discard depending on splash. Torpor Orb isn't bad against Valakut or Twin, but it's a lot narrower now. Due Respect can be a straight Time Walk against a lot of decks, including Valakut and Twin.

 

Oh, and I guess I probably want a singleton Ajani Goldmane in there somewhere if Day mitigation is the order of the day, as it lets you present a much quicker clock from a couple of small creatures, while being able to rebuild more quickly after a Day (and the interaction with Steel Overseer is a nice bonus.)

[Tom Reeve]

Second draft - Etched Champion seems like a good man. Bumped up the count on Shrine and Nexus to toughen the deck up against Day, going for a more consistent aggro plan game 1, with Revoker and Dispatch to slow down the combo decks.

 

4 Memnite
4 Vault Skirge
4 Signal Pest
4 Glint Hawk Idol
4 Phyrexian Revoker
4 Steel Overseer
4 Etched Champion

3 Mox Opal
3 Shrine of Loyal Legions

4 Tempered Steel
4 Dispatch
1 Ajani Goldmane

8 Plains
4 Seachrome Coast
2 Glacial Fortress
3 Inkmoth Nexus

[Peter Dun]

revoker can also name overgrown battlement and green/white quest

[Peter Dun]

I like ajani in this list

Tom Reeve said:

Second draft - Etched Champion seems like a good man. Bumped up the count on Shrine and Nexus to toughen the deck up against Day, going for a more consistent aggro plan game 1, with Revoker and Dispatch to slow down the combo decks.

 

4 Memnite
4 Vault Skirge
4 Signal Pest
4 Glint Hawk Idol
4 Phyrexian Revoker
4 Steel Overseer
4 Etched Champion

3 Mox Opal
3 Shrine of Loyal Legions

4 Tempered Steel
4 Dispatch
1 Ajani Goldmane

8 Plains
4 Seachrome Coast
2 Glacial Fortress
3 Inkmoth Nexus

[Mark Walker]

So would you play a SB like:
4 Mana leak
4 spellskite
3 Torpor orb
2 Chimeric mass

2 Due respect

Tom Reeve said:

The other option I guess is to try to build the maindeck to be more resilient to Day and more consistent (more Shrines/Nexus, for example, or a Chimeric Mass or two) and put Leaks or Pierces in the sideboard. Sideboard almost certainly wants Spellskites for a start, Pierces/Leaks or discard depending on splash. Torpor Orb isn't bad against Valakut or Twin, but it's a lot narrower now. Due Respect can be a straight Time Walk against a lot of decks, including Valakut and Twin.

 

Oh, and I guess I probably want a singleton Ajani Goldmane in there somewhere if Day mitigation is the order of the day, as it lets you present a much quicker clock from a couple of small creatures, while being able to rebuild more quickly after a Day (and the interaction with Steel Overseer is a nice bonus.)

[Peter Dun]

would anyone be interested in a live feed on DT from Chinese nats this Saturday (and maybe Sunday)?

[Dan Barrett]

Via ustream or similar? - that would be awesome, and I can definitely get the link out there!

Peter Dun said:

would anyone be interested in a live feed on DT from Chinese nats this Saturday (and maybe Sunday)?

[Peter Dun]

was thinking text, but I can use weibo (chinese twitter), not sure if ustream works in China, let me test options

[Daniel Royde]

Yes, very muchly.

[Dan Barrett]

ANything would be good, just be sure to post link(s) on here so we see it - is it this weekend?

 

Also, you got a shout-out and today's GerryT article:

 

 

"Dv8r is a player I respect, despite never seeing him play a game. He's just a dude I see typically piloting solid versions of good decks, so it's very telling to see him with Eldrazi Green.

I'm not sure how he got to the numbers he did, but I'm not about to try and describe the intricacies of this one, but I'll say that I always liked boarding a second Eye of Ugin for decks with Tectonic Edge."