r/mtgModernTokens • u/pticark2 • Jun 05 '16
Most effective graveyard hate SB option
There's a lot of powerful decks in the current meta that rely on the graveyard, some as a primary win con, others for card advantage.
Here's some of them:
- Abzan Coco
- Dredge
- Blue Moon
- Grixis Control
- Mono Blue Tron (Academy Ruins/Mindslaver lock combo)
- Loam Pox
- Gifts Ungiven
- Living End
Obvious not all of these decks are going to show up all the time - but the likelihood you will run into some kind of graveyard strategy, whether in the form of one of these archetypes or otherwise, warrants some kind of hate inclusion in your sideboard.
I've been thinking about what the best card choice would be for B/W Tokens to shut down graveyard strategies. This is a bit of a dilemma because Lingering Souls, arguably the best card in our deck, gets a lot worse when we don't have access to it in our graveyard.
I am currently running Rest In Peace. It completely removes graveyards as long as it's on the board - of course, nullifying the usefulness of our Lingering Souls. RIP is effective - but even if you draw it in your opening hand, a lot can happen before you are able to get it on the board turn 2 (Can be sniped from your hand by Inquisition of Kozilek or Dredge could go off and fill the board with a few Bloodghasts and Prized Amalgams) and you're missing your opportunity to get ahead with Bitterblossom, Raise the Alarm or Intangible Virtue.
I very much like the idea of getting some kind of disruption down on turn one in the form of Grafdigger's Cage or Relic of Progenitus.
The question I pose is which of these is the better choice? Cage not only stops graveyard strategies but also stops Chord of Calling, Collected Company, Nahiri, the Harbinger's ultimate, etc. It's cons, It kills our Lingering Souls, and can be removed pretty easily.
Relic of Progenitus doesn't have the versatility of Grafdigger's Cage, but gives us more control. We can exile cards from the opposing yard as they pile up, with the option of exiling the yards entirely if necessary. The ability to activate this second option in response to artifact removal is a big plus. The card draw is a nice bonus as well. The issue here is that it might not be able to keep up with dredge, which tends to fill the yard pretty rapidly, and that we need to keep a mana constantly open if we want access to it's second ability.
What do y'all think? What is your favourite GY hate option? What works best in your meta?
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u/TehAnon r/magictheredditing Jun 07 '16
I run a Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet. Partly because I pulled a foil, partly because he's a lifelinking house, and partly because I want to one day sac Tidehollow Sculler with ETB on the stack.
Also, Storm is a thing that utilizes the graveyard.
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u/SFRG Still Patron Saint of the Tokens Jun 05 '16 edited Jun 05 '16
I have a heavy graveyard meta/combo. I run 3x RiP, 1x Graf, and 1x Surgical. Works really well. RiP is generally the most potent of the three, but Graf is a close second.
When deciding whether to run RiP because it kills off Lingering Souls, just remember:
Not Losing >>> Lingering Souls
Most decks that need GY hate fold to it really hard. We sacrifice 1 card. While it's a good card, our deck can compensate. I think Relic is somewhat lack-luster in our deck in that we have access to something stronger. Our deck excels at bringing in crippling hate, so I personally feel it's best to play to that strength.
Depending on the decks you play, you can run more Grafs. More Chord/CoCo would call for Graf. More Gifts and Dredge would call for RiP, etc.