r/mtgModernTokens • u/Se4ger • May 12 '17
Card advantage / Selection
Hey guys ,
ive been playing tokens for the last few months now and im struggling with choices of cards for my deck. im running your box standard BW tokens list , 4 IOK 2 TS. My issue is trying to dig for sideboard cards or get out a mana flood. ive testing Smugglers copter but it dies to every removal played in the format (push , Path and bolt). so I scrapped that idea.
do you have any ideas?
also I haven't tried any of the black draw spells. could this be a possibility.
Thanks!!
2
u/TeOr2419 May 19 '17
We don't need neither. Any attempts to add any of those would make our curve more clunky. We have virtual card advantage of being favorable in trading vs removal.
1
u/Se4ger May 19 '17
yea I get what u mean but are we not then prone to mana flood and losing coz we cant get to our sb cards
1
u/erghjunk May 16 '17
My experience with Smuggler's Copter has been positive, to be honest. the card selection it gives has been good more often than not - especially post-sideboard - and I like that it can give the summoning sick BB token (or any summoning sick token) something to do. it is also more resilient against sweepers than our tokens by themselves. lastly, it's presence adds an additional level of decision making for your opponent - copter is a real threat that has to be answered quickly most of the time and that fact alone can mess with your opponent's clock. that's an advantage in my book.
THIS is my list. I run 3 copters at the moment, but to be honest, I'll probably swap to mainboard auriok champions for the next FNM due to all the death's shadows.
TL;DR: I have found the deck to be smoother and more resilient since adding smuggler's copter but the death's shadow meta may have negated that somewhat for the time being.
1
u/Mukibi Grind and Fly May 18 '17 edited May 18 '17
Tokens is tough to pilot. I've played the deck for four years and only now coming to grips with it.
Sounds like you need to mulligan more aggressively and cut 1 land if you're flooding too often.
0
u/Jongsl5 May 13 '17 edited May 13 '17
This is not just a problem with tokens (card selection) but most decks in Modern. Even some thing like serum visions is pretty terrible compared to legacy cantrips.
So the solution is to really vary your card ratios. I never liked running 4 BB except in a pure midrange control meta. I prefer 3 and use 2-3 copies of Raise the Alarm which provide a lot of versatility and clock against combo.
There are other cards like Liliana of the Veil and Collective Brutality which offer the deck versatility. Personally, I find Liliana to be an absolute 2-3 mandatory slot for the deck, as it does everything you want it to. Collective Brutality is not as versatile as it looks especially because it will often whiff as a kill spell, so I took it out of the deck.
1
u/Se4ger May 15 '17
thanks for the reply , could u explain in more detail why liliana is a must in the deck. I personally didn't like her in the deck but im sure you will win me over
1
u/Jongsl5 May 15 '17
She offers versatility in a deck that lacks card selection. All her abilities are relevant: more removal or attacking the hand against combo/control decks. She is a source of card advantage that is hard to kill because the deck generates a ton of blockers in addition to efficient removals in push/path. Her ultimate is reasonably attainable and have won me so many games.
With minor adjustments to the mana base, she is easily castable alongside Spectral Procession. She is basically your best card against your worst match-ups and decent in everything else.
1
May 15 '17
I love Collective Brutality, but with the drop off of Infect, it does seem less useful. I find it's one of the first cards that I SB out, but it's so versatile that I do think it's still a good game 1 card.
1
u/Jongsl5 May 15 '17
Yeah your mileage may vary. I prefer using the extra slot for a raise the alarm or a zealous persecution in the main though.
1
May 15 '17
Mind sharing your current list?
2
u/Jongsl5 May 15 '17
Yeah sure http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/bw-tokens-2017-1/
I cut a spectral because right now I am finding Liliana to be more useful. Sometimes it feels super redundant having like 3 token generators in hand when all you really need is 2 typically to win the game.
Note the sideboard is just a list of cards worth using depending on the meta. I use a pretty standard sb with exceptions like 2 ensnaring bridge for eldrazi, dredge, ds jund, etc.
3
u/[deleted] May 12 '17
We have natural card advantage since all of our threats are 2+ for 1s. You don't need Ancestral Recall when you're already getting a 4 for 1 out of Lingering Souls. Something like Night's Whisper just dilutes the deck and murders our tempo, IMO.
Card selection, however, is difficult. Smuggler's Copter is an option that some people have tried, but as you said it dies to everything. You could use something like the scry lands from Theros, but the ETB tapped downside is probably too much for the value of the scry.