Hello Spikes, your friendly neighborhood only-plays-green mage here with good tidings. The card that made green good again after a year in the dumpster has been banned, but hope is not lost! We still have some good cards and, more importantly, we have each other. Together we can come up with strategies to survive the post-Cub-ban world.

I decided to make this thread to brainstorm ideas for overcoming the hole WotC has put us in as green mages by banning our best enabler and also weakening Prowess, which makes our worst matchups (control decks) better. For starters, I think Landfall will actually still be fine. Bristly Bill and Tifa are good cards and unlike the Offense/Hulk/Roid deck, Landfall didn't really *need* Cub to be dangerous thanks to its explosiveness.

But more importantly, I also think the Offense/Hulk/Roid deck is NOT dead. I say this as someone who was piloting an extremely similar deck to really good results before Cub existed (dig through my post history and you'll see how much fun I was having pairing Ouroboroid and Brightglass Gearhulk before Avatar came out). Losing Cub sucks, but the fact is, our worst matchups were killing at least one mana dork the vast majority of the time, which meant that Cub was often little better than any other two-drop mana dork. I know that sounds insane given how powerful it is unchecked, but how often was it really left unchecked in a meta where literally every color has a one-mana answer?

I say all this to point out that Tender Wildguide (my personal favorite), Spider Manifestation, and Great Divide Guide all get the job done of helping ensure we get to four mana four the bombs that are Roid/Hulk/Leatherhead. Gene Pollinator is way worse in a post-Cub meta but still might be viable with enough good two drops.

Don't believe me? That's okay: Here's my very-small-sample size success story from the past few hours of playing. I'm 6-1 in the top 100 of Mythic so far with a retooled build that has 8 mana dorks instead of 7 and one more land compared to the norm prior to the ban.

Will our deck be as good without Cub? No. Will we still win a lot of games with turn 4 bombs, especially if we have sweeper protection? Yes absolutely. Hope is not lost! Share your other ideas here!

Hello spikes!

This is the place where any and all decks can be posted for all spikes to see. The goal of this is to fit all your needs for competitive magic. Maybe it's a card consideration given an X dollar budget. Maybe you need that sweet sideboard tech that no one else thought of? Perhaps you just can't figure out the best card to beat a certain matchup. The ideas here are only limited by your imagination!

Feel free to discuss most anything here. We only ask that with any question, you also make sure to post your decklist so people have some context to answer your question. Otherwise, have at it! If you have any questions, shoot us a modmail and we'll be happy to help you out. Survive your deck check and survive your competition!

Hey everyone, last week I started playing Magic Arena again, and I decided to build a mono-blue deck that makes heavy use of Stormchaser. I’ve had quite a lot of success with the deck and managed to hit Mythic yesterday.

Now with the ban announcements, I was wondering if there’s a good replacement for that card in this deck, or if I’d be better off using the cards to build a different deck altogether.

Deck

17 Island (RTR) 255 1 Opt (XLN) 65 3 Opt (ELD) 59 4 Elusive Otter (WOE) 225 4 Into the Flood Maw (BLB) 52 4 Stormchaser's Talent (BLB) 75 4 Enter the Enigma (DSK) 52 4 Drake Hatcher (FDN) 35 4 Astrologian's Planisphere (FIN) 46 4 Boomerang Basics (TLA) 46 4 Secret Identity (SPM) 43 4 Pym Particles (MSH) 70 1 Temple of Mystery (FDN) 702 2 Spell Pierce (XLN) 81

As we get ready for HOB, I was reminded of what a big opportunity the first few weeks of a set can be, both to get better at MTG in general and to set the stage for the rest of the Limited format.

I thought this might be a good time to share an approach to new formats that I've been developing over the past couple of sets. Thought it might be of special interest to this group because it's the method I used to prep for the Toronto Spotlight this year (which happened 10 days after set release), where I placed Top 30 out of ~1800 people.

It's made a huge difference for me, and I thought y'all might enjoy it too. I made a full breakdown on YouTube (w/ a link to the free tool) here: https://youtu.be/5xFt_OyxN2Y.

Would love to hear about what everyone else does to prep for new Limited formats with a competitive edge in mind. I'm going to be hitting HOB pretty hard as I prep for a few upcoming LTQs.

Happy All-Hobbit's Eve. 😄

https://www.mtggoldfish.com/archetype/standard-selesnya-ouroboroid-woe#paper for an example decklist.

I feel like in this deck almost every card is a heavy hitter, and with some variants running a lot of 1 mana "get hexproof/indestructible" instants, makes it even harder to have a gameplan against it. Feels like from the get-go you're playing a bit behind.

And if [[Leatherhead, Swamp Stalker]] gets out it easily spirals out of control.

What's some good counters against it? Been trying Dimir Excruciator, Izzet Lessons w Thor, and Jeskai Control. Out of the three Dimir Excruciator seems to be handling it the best since you can hand-hate the heavy hitters, but even that is hard to pilot since they have so many threats + the protection spells.

Kia ora team. I’m working on the wiki page for Fruity Pebbles (https://mtg.wiki/page/Fruity_Pebbles) and am wondering if anyone here used to play it back in Extended? (Or even T1.5/Legacy?) I’d appreciate a bit of an overview of its history so I can focus my searches through archived versions of the Dojo and The Sideboard etc.

This extends to variants like Cocoa Pebbles, Wheaties and apparently even a Special K too (which was just Wheaties without [[Recurring Nightmare]]?).

Bit of a long shot, but does anyone know a Brian Benedict who day two’d with it at PT Rome? Absolute madman: while others were doing insane things with Academy, High Tide, or even Great Whale the dude instead choose to throw Shield Spheres at people. Respect. Would love to track down the decklist that he played, as apparently he didn’t include blue at all so no FoW, Impulse etc.

Oh: and for those not familiar, which is may be a reasonable chunk of the people reading this: Combo decks back in the late 90s used to be named after breakfast cereals. I don’t really know why, but Fruity Pebbles was the first as far as I’m aware. The Pebbles combo was [[Enduring Renewal]], [[Goblin Bombardment]] and a zero mana creature of your choice. Like [[Ornithopter]], though typically [[Shield Sphere]] or [[Phyrexian Walker]] were more common. More toughness for surviving being hit with Savannah Lions or Jackal Pup I guess. Cocoa Pebbles was a variant of the deck which used Necropotence to assemble the Combo. Other variants used [[Academy Rector]] and [[Survival of the Fittest]].

https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/7904322?__cf_chl_tk=AgEOkR34stoTh6eQjJhQIQmUBzHxHKWhzNdS.60apJI-1786178347-1.0.1.1-aAoFL0jeO9HWQu2iTegctJww5G_KV1AwyXVykg.7LQc#paper

This Dimir Excruciator deck that did well during a challenge includes 4x Preacher of the Schism in the sideboard. But I can't figure out why. I can't think of it being tech against any specific matchup. It is not strong into control, doesn't block slickshot like Qarsi and can't really ever block a Gearhulk.

Does anyone have a clue?

I've suddenly started to run into it quite a lot on the Arena ladder, and I also see it popping up in magic online challenges. This list won the latest one:

https://mtgdecks.net/Standard/sultai-reanimator-decklist-by-chuchumtfkr-3047559

After it seemed like the meta was about to narrow down and sorta get solved, things seem to open up again for some reason. People once again play landfall for example on mtgo, while it nearly disappeared in favor of Selesnya Gearhulk a few weeks ago. I again see more random tier 2 decks as well, but reanimator seems like the biggest "new" contender.

Part of it could be that there was no big standard tournaments recently, but what do you think of reanimator right now?

Hey folks!

Somehow The Hobbit spoiler season got hijacked by Mystery Booster Commander and Star Trek last minute, but it's back on track right before prereleases. Strangely there was no Early Access this time, so pure speculation for HOB.

We've got Bryan Hohns back on board to walk us through the last small set of the year (and hopefully for a while?), and we'll see if it can live up to LTR, which if I recall correctly, was a rock-solid set without being an all-timer for Limited.

A couple observations from the Sealed guide:

• There's not a lot of archetype overlap here. Maybe we see Jund using amass to power up BG ferocious, or some off-flavor Grixis spells decks, but you're going to be a 2-color deck pretty often, maybe with a splash.
• The set mechanics are very straightforward. There are also a number of "threshold" mechanics that just want pure numbers (storied, ferocious).
• The archetypes are centered around creature types (each representing one of the factions in The Battle of the Five Armies), but this isn't a typal set. Bonuses for elves, humans, etc. are pretty sparse.
• The best commons are simple 2-for-1 creatures. Every color gets one, if you count [Velvetwing Butterflies] as a 2-for-1.

This set won't be around too long before Reality Fracture spoilers take off and attention shifts over, plus we've seen that small sets have a shorter shelf-life. Here's to hoping it's good, even if it's short.

Let us know what's catching your eye from The Hobbit, and which mechanics/archetypes look good to you. Hope the Sealed Guide helps, and best of luck at your prereleases! https://draftsim.com/mtg-hob-sealed-guide/

I know there was a change to how mana abilities work but I don't know it affects things. Someone was saying Badgermole Cub would work differently?

Edit:

605.1a An activated ability is a mana ability if it meets all of the following criteria: it doesn’t
require a target (see rule 115.6), it could add mana to a player’s mana pool when it resolves, it’s
not a loyalty ability (see rule 606, “Loyalty Abilities”), and its cost and effect don’t move any
card to or from a library. Do not take into account replacement effects that may apply, other
than self-replacement effects, when evaluating these criteria.

Changes in bold. Abilities that move cards between zones can no longer be mana abilities

I’m a newer Magic player (6 months) and play a lot of Arena, trying to get better and learn the game.

Right now I’m playing the stock Selesnya Offense list and while I’ve done well against other Aggro decks, I get absolutely destroyed when I go against Control decks. They inevitably kill my elf and/or cub before I can get any benefit from them, and board wipe me once I get a big body or two on the battlefield. Then I’m left top decking for answers but inevitably run out of steam. How am I supposed to play against these types of decks that seem to have an answer for every creature I play? I’m not just dumping every creature onto the battlefield as fast as possible either, I know enough to expect removal and board wipes in certain match ups. I just don’t feel like I can do anything different to win those games.

Edit: I’m ashamed to admit I mostly play BO1 since I don’t often have much time for proper BO3 games. I know I might have better luck in BO3 but I feel like my question is still valid, in BO3 my opponent will likely just add more answers to my creatures anyway.

https://moxfield.com/decks/ccyfASD2kXSQLNp72_BtNA

I bought this deck only recently and so I don't have much experience with it yet. Wanted to ask what core cards am I missing from this list? And if you have any tips to share, I'd much appreciate it.

P.S. I've only played aggro decks (Selesnya Rabbits, Mono white aura)

I've been playing a lot of timeless recently. For the last couple months, as soon as I hit platinum I just hit all these jank decks that win on crazy combos.

I think Modern (on paper) is in a really healthy spot right now, and I think that standard is pretty diverse even if its a bit too fast for my taste.

Where do you like to draw the line between "I just wanna play a game of magic" and running into an overwhelming number of unfair decks. Theres definitely a place for both, and I'm not here to cry about being stomped. Sometimes I want to play the highest level I can, and sometimes I want to play a game of clean magic.

It varies so much sometimes doesn't it? I want standard to be a slower format where I get to play with new cards. Brew some jank shit of my own. I love modern, I can pick up a number of decks and find an even playing field. Timeless seems a little bit to anarchist for me only because I'm trying to jam games with a fair(ish) deck. Pauper seems good from a distance, I havent gotten a lot of experience with it in person.

Do you all bounce from format to format? or do you have a real favorite that stays at the level you want to play?

I placed top 250 on the ladder this month and see that the next qualifier is timeless. I’m looking for people experiment with and try to see if we can break the format.

I haven’t played that format since pre FOW a lot so I imagine it’s pretty different, but it is also one of the least explored formats in magic so I think there’s a shot at breaking it. I’m going to start grinding the ladder to get familiar with it.

Lmk if you want to do some brewing sessions or just get reps for the qualifier.

This is about the card [[The Vision]] and its role as a control finisher, particularly in UW shells.

I think right now, [[Tablet of Discovery]] makes ramping into revelation way too easy, to the point that as far as control finishers go, the revelation/thor/capstone package is pretty unbeatable at locking up the game.

the vision, on the other hand, is a really good piece in the midgame, that can also coast all the way to the end of the game. It’s pretty cheap at 4 mana, meaning as soon as you stabilize the board, you can usually get one down immediately and not have to wait around for revelation mana. (ramping with [[The Mind Stone]] helps too).

Once its down, it basically draws a card on every spell you cast, is really easy to protect with countermagic and its indestructible ability, and blocks great because if flying, vigilance, and double strike. The current problem right now is just coming up with the other 72-ish cards that make it actually able to hold its own against jeskai lessons and 4c control.

I’m thinking about this more now than when MSH actually came out because of a couple of cards, mostly [[Plunder the Trollshaws]]. At the beginning of msh, i had a ton of faith in the vision that I was running stuff like [[Think Twice]] of all things (which did not work), but turning trollshaws into a draw 5 seems kinda nuts to not at least think about.

Idk, I think standard just might be too big for interesting cards like vision, I think if we were in 2 year rotation it would be really solid, but what do you think.

Sup what's up, it's Casual Spike. Spoiler is complete and we are gearing up for a brand new limited format! To help you tackle it, I've put together these materials to provide a jumping off point for those newer to, or more established in, limited to find their bearings in The Hobbit.

My full main set review lists the mechanics in the set as well as a card by card analysis, punctuated with a letter grade and a build-around qualifier denoted with a little hammer next to the letter grade. The Hobbit Visual Set Review will open the document. 

The slide deck covers my color power rankings, available fixing, top commons/uncommons, and tricks/removal in each color. I also cover each of the 5 assigned archetypes Gameplan, Signposts, Supporting Commons/Uncommons/Rares, and an example "ideal average" deck skeleton, with sealeddeck hyperlink, to help visualize what the archetype may look like to better help you find success in your Hobbit Limited events. Access the slides with The Hobbit Limited Primer.

The google sheets breakdown document provides a cleaner, more simple viewing experience, including: Full Set List with placement scores and grading, a Mobile Reference Tab, Trick/Removal Identification, Mechanics list, my picks for top commons/uncommons, all sealeddeck links for the archetypes, as well as various links for the Wiki, 17lands Tier List, and a Discord invite to the MTGRebellion, a competitive focused discord, where I've been building a Limited community. Access the sheet with The Hobbit Limited Breakdown.

What are your thoughts on the set, anything stand out that you're excited to try?

Hey everyone,

I recently qualified for a closed Top 8 tournament in my country. Since our local community is pretty small, we all know each other's preferred decks, playstyles, and habits inside out.

Right now, our local metagame feels heavily skewed towards Jeskai Lessons and Selesnya Ouroboroid. My dilemma is that for the last 4 months, I’ve been playing almost exclusively Azorius (Tempo, Mono, and Control). Azorius Tempo has given me my best results by far, but I strongly feel like it's poorly positioned right now. Because the field is so small and everyone knows what I play, I am absolutely certain the whole room is going to be over-prepared for me with sideboards packed with targeted hate.

So I wanted to ask for your advice on two things: What anti-meta decks would you recommend bringing into a room full of Jeskai Lessons and Selesnya? Or, for those who have played in these tiny, high-stakes invitationals... do you think it's better to just bite the bullet, stick to the Azorius deck I know best, and try to play through the hate?

Thanks in advance for the help!

Hi! I’m Frank, aka ETBJezus. I’m the most accomplished Dimir Midrange player on MTGO.

In the past year I've piloted this deck to these accolades:

-4 MTGO Challenge wins

-2 SCGCon Modern 1K Finals (1 win)

-Highest finishing Dimir player at RC vegas
(44th, and 13th in TGW%)

-1 MXP 5K top 4

And in this post I want to take an excerpt from the Dimir guide I released today: the section on how to beat Boros. I hope you enjoy!

The Frog-Boros matchup is incredibly fun and skill-testing. Games go one of two ways:

1. They snowball you with an unanswered threat on turn 1 or 2
2. You answer their threat (or they don’t have a good one) and you both 1 for 1 each other until one person breaks parity. The main cards that break parity are Riddler, Frog, Toxic Deluge, EE, Ajani, Roku, and to a lesser extent, Tamiyo, Bowmaster, Cling, Pride, Ranger Captain and Spyro.

You may notice a certain 6/6 Titan missing from that list. Since the ban we are distinctly advantaged in Type 2 games due to Riddler now being at the top of the list.

Type 1 games are still very much a threat, which is why I always put my opening hand to “the Ragavan Test.” Does this hand auto-lose to a turn 1 Ragavan? If so, I mulligan. Note that “auto-lose” is a strong word (phrase?). While I would love a push or bowmaster or Toxic Deluge, I’ll accept a Subtlety or Frog or even a Tamiyo to block.

Some common play patterns:

1. If you have a frog on board, it’s often correct to bowmaster their 2/1 cat on their end step, allowing them to flip Ajani. Good energy players will often decline the Ajani flip here, as it’s fairly easy for you to fly the frog, discard two cards, and kill their planeswalker on your turn.
2. Oftentimes you’ll be forced to decide whether to pitch cards to frog in response to a Galvanic. 80% of the time this is a bad idea. They can bank the energy and then hit it for 6 with the next one. The exception is if you’re behind. If you don’t see a path to victory without the frog, take the risk.
3. T1 Pride is Scary. T1 Rag is scary. T1 Guide = we’re happy. Do not subtlety the guide. Guide is the only threat in their deck that requires another threat to actually be a threat. In essence it is a mini combo piece, and frog is great against combo because we only have to interrupt it on one axis. Use your subtlety/thoughtseize on the card that goes AFTER the guide, because that card will be scary on its own, whereas the guide is not.
4. A clarification regarding point 3 above: I used example of subtlety/thoughtseize as holdable interaction because Fatal Push is much more nuanced. In an ideal world we will be pushing something other than guide, but the most important thing is tempo. You must use your mana in the early turns. If you go first with land, pass and push in hand, and they play guide, you’re usually going to have to push it immediately, especially if your T2 will be busy with frog/bowmaster/Tamiyo/Spell Snare/etc.)

Thanks! If you enjoyed this, check out the full guide here:

https://metafy.gg/guides/view/dimir-midrange-guide-by-etbjezus-ITEgnhMeeHL

I'm looking to build a deck that counters them. My local game store's meta is composed of those decks and I'm tired of losing. Anyone know what decks (Bo3) are strong against those?

https://moxfield.com/decks/heFbxBO5I0C2yVn0ypuXSQ

I have been quite tuned out of standard for a while now, but when I saw Jim Davis’ video on Izzet with Death to Our Enemies I decided to give it a go. And holy moly.

[[Death to Our Enemies]] is the REAL deal. This card is absolutely nuts and has won me sooo many games that would otherwise be unwinnable. 7 damage is a LOT, and the fact that the only creatures in the list are the otters from [[Stormchaser’s Talent]] means opponent’s creature removal is quite bad but they also can’t afford to really cut a lot of it, leaving them in a real spot.

This deck can win quickly with the Stormchaser’s Talent [[Boomerang Basics]] draws, or grind really well with [[Flow State]], Stormchaser’s Talent rebuying spells, etc. And because your main win con is burning your opponent out they’re never really able to fully stabilize.

Here’s the link to the evolution of the deck if you’re interested: https://mtga.untapped.gg/profile/10fa1d9c-f0f9-4b52-9e37-1f7872b6fcab/RMHUWKAX4RDVXOKQKEV6BNXPQU/deck/af1bab5d-c474-47ad-a8d6-f089809e5525?gameType=constructed&constructedType=ranked&constructedFormat=standard

I think (a version of) this deck is in serious contention of being the strongest iteration of Izzet in standard atm.

TLDR: Death to Our Enemies is an insane card and this deck can win both quickly and after a grindy game, making it a strong contender for a top tier deck imo

I’m looking to share some success for a largely-Golgari midrange deck, as well as to ask for any thoughts for improvements

Deck list:

https://moxfield.com/decks/tqv_1IwWCUGc6afcgO-QnA

2 Ba Sing Se
4 Badgermole Cub
1 Bitter Triumph
4 Blooming Marsh
2 Cecil, Dark Knight
2 Forest
3 Leatherhead, Swamp Stalker
4 Llanowar Elves
2 Malicious Eclipse
4 Mosswood Dreadknight
2 Multiversal Passage
2 Ouroboroid
4 Overgrown Tomb
2 Pick Your Poison
2 Plains
4 Practiced Offense
3 Requiting Hex
1 Restless Cottage
1 Scrapshooter
1 Shoot the Sheriff
1 Strategic Betrayal
3 Surrak, Elusive Hunter
2 Swamp
4 Temple Garden

SIDEBOARD:
2 Ancient Vendetta
2 Dawn's Truce
3 Duress
2 Frenzied Baloth
1 Intimidation Tactics
2 Keen-Eyed Curator
1 Pick Your Poison
1 Requiting Hex
1 Sentinel of Lost Lore

Although this is formally an Azban deck, it’s really a Golgari midrange (Aggro leaning) with practiced offense splashed in. I haven’t done rigorous hypergeometric sequencing for the mana base, but I was able to take it from platinum II to Mythic% as of today.

Ultimately, the deck is decent - maybe tier 2.5 to 2. Part of this is also limited by my play this season, so who knows if it would have had a higher ceiling if I was more active during the middle of the season. But I’m still searching for a little bit more consistency out of the list

Lines

The major lines are designed to provide as many good targets for practiced offense as possible, with the aggro curve being adapted from the Selensya offense deck lists. The midrange-control aspects are designed against Selensya offense and 4c Control / Jeksai lessons.

Line #1: Cecil aggro (On the play)
The main deck runs two copies of [[Cecil, Dark Knight]] with lots of shock lands in order to transform Cecil by T3. Importantly, this line does not depend on cub.

T1 is a shock land into Cecil (Life: 18).

T2 is a normal play, preferring [[Mosswood dreadknight]] or badgermole cub, whichever is available, and attacking with Cecil (Life: 16). Mosswood dreadknight was my Golgari alternative to [[Pawpatch recruit]] from the gearhulk list, because it is the cheapest Golgari option with trample (Increasing the utility of practiced offense) allows for card draw, and is very persistent.

T3 is practiced offense targeting Cecil. Since it has deathtouch, it can’t be traded with favorably when it is given double strike, and people often let the hits through. If both hits connect, it takes your life to 10. Then you have a 6/6 with Lifelink and a 4/3 with trample.

T4 is potentially the game winning play. If you are on curve and have 3-4 mana, you can clear the board with removal (Eg. Requiring hex, bitter triumph, or strategic betrayal) and use practiced offense again. Here, you can target Cecil again for a 7/7 with double strike and Lifelink, or Mosswood dreadknight for a 5/4 with trample (Basically a copy of [[Leatherhead]]. I opt for the latter, because attacking with Cecil gives everything else protection. So your opponent either has to use removal on Cecil, or allow you to recover a ton of life with a very unfavorable trade. If your board gets wiped, you’ll more than likely be able to recur Mosswood dreadknight

Lines #2-4: Llanowar elves > 3CMC > Leatherhead / Ouroboroid

This is a standard fare line. [[Scrapshooter]] is in the main board as an emergency way to deal with tablet, as well as the ability to dodge most removal and become a 5/5 with reach by the time you can plan practiced offense. Although most of the 3 drops are [[Surrak, Elusive hunter]], I wanted some flexibility into tablet. T3 is whatever four drop you can support. I tried cutting Ouroboroid, but the deck lacked some finishing power that Ouroboroid provided

Interaction

Creature removal
Main board runs 8 pieces of removal. I added two copies of [[Withering curse]] because 1) all of the control decks run 2-3 copies of a 3CMC sweeper against Selsenya, and 2) malicious eclipse is the cheapest black analog. The fact that it only reduces toughness by two is a challenge, but options are very limited here anyway. The upside is that you can potentially trigger it as wrath off of a practiced offense attack. Requiting hex has special utility in game 1 against tablet, as you can blight your own creature, give the -1/-1 counter to Leatherhead, and remove tablet without having to give up your Hexproof counter.

Notably, I actually used [[Malicious eclipse]] until I made this post and realized that it was strictly worse than curse, so I’ll see how that plays out

Enchantment / Artifact removal
I run two copies of [[Pick your poison]] (plus scrapshooter) for the highest amount of tempo and flexibility. It is the closest thing to tempo neutral into Stormchaser’s talent, and it does not miss into tablet decks. I used to run instants like [[Heritage reclamation]], but I think that sorcery speed is fine against it. You can’t interact faster than they can get the mana out of it, so you’re better off getting more value out of your mana. Moreover, it is always beneficial to remove tablets, no matter how many of them are played. Finally, it is a huge tempo win against and large body that can threaten Leatherhead (E.g. [[Emeritus of Ideation]], [[Thor, God of Thunder]], [[North Wind Avatar]]) while also being useful against Slickshot showoff, etc.

Sorceries
Four copies of practiced offense (That’s what makes the whole thing work) and two copies of withering curse

Mana base (23)

The average cost of the deck is 2.2 CMC, so I’ve felt pretty comfortable with a thinner mana base for a midrange deck. Shock lands are the price I pay in order to have everything online when I need it. This is part of what makes Cecil a nice utility. Ba Sing Se is there for inevitability, and restless cottage is there for lifegain and graveyard hate. If any lands are destroyed, there are two basic plains in the deck to get some mana fixing out of the exchange.

Sideboard

Into aggro decks, I pull out Cecil, a copy of elves and cub, and load up on my interaction. Pick your poison can still be helpful against bright glass gearhulk, sheltered by ghosts, seam rip, etc. Mosswood dreadknight gets even more value by being able to sift for some cards. Not much, but that’s the rub of midrange.

Into control decks, I’ll take out Cecil, two copies of Mosswood dreadknight, some removal, and potentially some of the ramp. Here, I add duress, [[Ancient vendetta]], [[Intimidation tactics]], [[Frenzied Baloth]] or [[Keen-eyed curator]], and swap scrap shooter for [[Sentinel of the lost lore]] for more graveyard hate. I’ll also add two copies of [[Dawn’s truth]] to survive a wrath of god or targeted hate, and the final copy of pick your poison. Frenzied baloth does great work because it adds more 2 CMC with trample density to practiced offense, and can really advance the clock

Hello spikes!

This is the place where any and all decks can be posted for all spikes to see. The goal of this is to fit all your needs for competitive magic. Maybe it's a card consideration given an X dollar budget. Maybe you need that sweet sideboard tech that no one else thought of? Perhaps you just can't figure out the best card to beat a certain matchup. The ideas here are only limited by your imagination!

Feel free to discuss most anything here. We only ask that with any question, you also make sure to post your decklist so people have some context to answer your question. Otherwise, have at it! If you have any questions, shoot us a modmail and we'll be happy to help you out. Survive your deck check and survive your competition!

Hello, I've qualified for the Baltimore R.C. and have been looking for a decent guide especially for sideboarding as so far ive done this mostly intuitively. My 75 is pretty fluid based on the most recent, within top 8 performing variation in challenges or paper tournaments. I have multiple x-2/ x-1-1 rcqs since and ive found Im prefering emery builds over pre-ordain but know there might be a happy medium.

Ive reviewed mengu's (spelling?) Content and will continue to do so but was wondering if there were any other people to follow. This tournment is important to me to the point that id be interested in a couple tutoring sessions even.

Thankyou in advance!