[Deck] Food Chain Combo

[Manipulato]

Hey guys,
today I played our locals and went 5-0 undefeated with the Ballista version. I played the normal Hausmann MD and changed the SB for my local meta which has lots of Elves, Burn & Death and Taxes.

Played the following list:

18 Creatures
4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Baleful Strix
4 Walking Ballista
3 Misthollow Griffin
2 Leovold, Emissary of Trest
1 Eternal Scourge

22 Spells
4 Food Chain
4 Abrupt Decay
4 Force of Will

4 Brainstorm
3 Ponder
3 Manipulate Fate

20 Lands
2 Underground Sea
2 Tropical Island
1 Bayou
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Verdant Catacombs
3 Polluted Delta
2 Island
1 Swamp
1 Forest

SIDEBOARD
3 Thoughtseize
2 Invasive Surgery
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Collective Brutality
2 Toxic Deluge
2 Grafdigger's Cage
2 Pithing Needle

Round 1: Slivers 2:0

Round 2: 4c Loam 2:1

Round 3: 12 Post 2:0

Round 4: Burn 2:0

Round 5: Burn 2:0

The burn MU's were super intensive and close, the 2 collective Brutality payed off in those games and gave me back lots of lifepoints & killed also dudes. It was also good vs 12 post where I could possibly discard him 2 cards if I wanted to.
I won a bit more than a half of the games via combo and Ballista felt very strong. I even killed 2 Primevil Titan + 1 Emrakul in one game with it
It also killed Eidolon + Lavamancer vs burn for example, great card for sure.
I kept the full combo in every MU and after talking to Marius Hausmann I only cut it vs combo decks like ANT, Sneak Show or Reanimator for example. After testing I can fully agree that this is correct for sure because we have so many cards to fight oposing hate and it also changes the way oponents play vs us, it's like Tarmo Twin back in the days of modern.

I would defenetely change my SB for bigger events and replace the Cages, Brutalitys & Invasive Surgerys with Mindbreak Trap/Flusterstorm & Diabolic Edict.

- Highlights were shooting down a Emrakul + 2 Primeval Titan with two infinite power Ballistas (He had Glacial Chasm in play so I couldnt kill him immediatly)

- Jump blocking a 20/20 Marit Large token with my Strixes and Griffins over 4-5 turns and then killing my op via Ballista combo

- Casting a 3/3 Ballista for 6 mana vs burn with a Eidolon in play and killed the Eidolon + a Grim Lavamancer (Won this game at 2 life via Griffin beatdown)

- Played a Collective Brutality with escalate 3 and drained my oponent for 6 life + killed his Lavamancer

- Won a game vs Slivers with 2 Toxic Deluge in hand without casting them the whole game and won via combo kill in the lategame. I also disrupted his whole hand with collective brutality before I resolved Food Chain


Greetings

[J.Black]

I'm wondering about a couple of Winter Orbs in the SB...... They really shouldn't hurt our gameplan too much and it's a real kick in the unmentionables for miracles. Do we think this match up needs any help?

[janchu88]

Since the curve is way higher than on the average decks playing Winter orb i dont think it's such a great idea... Recasting griffins under Winter orb pretty much hurts. Id much rather opt for null rod or pithing needle to hurt miracles from another angle (though that makes wear tear even better)

[Kaono]

Since the curve is way higher than on the average decks playing Winter orb i dont think it's such a great idea... Recasting griffins under Winter orb pretty much hurts. Id much rather opt for null rod or pithing needle to hurt miracles from another angle (though that makes wear tear even better)

Null Rod used to be a common sideboard card for this deck, but now that we're on the ballista plan I wouldn't recommend it. Vs Miracles we rely our BUG goodstuff shell and our Griffin recursion. Even if they Terminus, we can usually just Manip Fate them all back. Even Predict Miracles can't keep up with that grind.

[Manipulato]

Null Rod is very suboptimal because it shuts down our own Ballista plan, if someone plays the Emrakul/Empath version it´s reasonable.
I dont really think we have to bring in fringe cards like Orb to improve our miracles MU, it´s quite good anyways and only good vs this one deck. How said earlier the manacosts in this deck are way to high to have a good synergy with Orb, it would be only ok if we have Food Chain+Griffins out but even then we have to pay the full 4 mana in our mainphase to cast the Griffins if they resolve Terminus and we want to protect them via Food Chain. Wouldnt reccommend the card at all.
Playing more artifact based hate also make Wear//Tear so much better for them because they just can destroy Food Chain+Orb/Rod/Needle and 2 for 1 us.

[PirateKing]

So my younger brother is asking to get into Legacy and I quiz him on what kind of deck he'd want to play and it's settled on Food Chain. So I'm reading through the thread to get a good idea of decklists to pilfer, last I saw the deck, it was a Tidespout Tyrant deck, Walking Ballista really turned this around. It seems the main deck is pretty well established at this point, the flirtations with Trinket Mage are over, they only real differences I've seen are number of Leovolds and a fun-of Silvan Library. Sideboards seem all over the place however, which makes sense I guess, you're open to really tailor the side to face the anticipated meta. What are the most unwelcome cards to come across from your opponent? I understand that we're too slow against faster combo decks, and tend to shift into a controlling midrange deck with medium beats. But are there things that don't get caught in the Abrupt Decay net that I should anticipate and formulate an answer to?

Played a Collective Brutality with escalate 3 and drained my oponent for 6 life + killed his Lavamancer
I also disrupted his whole hand with collective brutality before I resolved Food Chain

In this report, am I understanding that you were casting Collective Brutality and choosing a mode multiple times? Because that's not how the card works. Or were you casting multiple copies somehow.

Thanks

[Manipulato]

So my younger brother is asking to get into Legacy and I quiz him on what kind of deck he'd want to play and it's settled on Food Chain. So I'm reading through the thread to get a good idea of decklists to pilfer, last I saw the deck, it was a Tidespout Tyrant deck, Walking Ballista really turned this around. It seems the main deck is pretty well established at this point, the flirtations with Trinket Mage are over, they only real differences I've seen are number of Leovolds and a fun-of Silvan Library. Sideboards seem all over the place however, which makes sense I guess, you're open to really tailor the side to face the anticipated meta. What are the most unwelcome cards to come across from your opponent? I understand that we're too slow against faster combo decks, and tend to shift into a controlling midrange deck with medium beats. But are there things that don't get caught in the Abrupt Decay net that I should anticipate and formulate an answer to?


In this report, am I understanding that you were casting Collective Brutality and choosing a mode multiple times? Because that's not how the card works. Or were you casting multiple copies somehow.

Thanks

Shame on me I really should read my cards, I played the card for the first time and didnt recognized the "beyond the first mode " sentence. Well I was already wondering why it sees so few play xD Thx for pointing it out! Luckily I only drew it this one time and wasnt able to "cheat" my oponents at other situations ^^

[Julian23]

Figured you guys might be interested in this: Food Chain Primer & MKM Milan Winner Report – by Marius Hausmann

[Manroe]

Has anyone tried some number of Spellskite in the SB? Seems like a reasonable piece of protection for both the combo and Leovold.

Sent from my ONEPLUS A3000 using Tapatalk

[deaded]

Figured you guys might be interested in this: Food Chain Primer & MKM Milan Winner Report – by Marius Hausmann

Thanks for having Marius guest author! This article is going to be very helpful for anyone looking to get into the deck or modify it for their unique meta.

[Jakobian1010]

Has anyone tried some number of Spellskite in the SB? Seems like a reasonable piece of protection for both the combo and Leovold.

Sent from my ONEPLUS A3000 using Tapatalk

I have played 2 misdirection in the main, or 1 main/1 sideboard split before, and it was always a good card in my hand. It gave me an out for abrupt decay, and I feel amazing pitching griffins to it all day.

[heat_wave]

Has anyone tried some number of Spellskite in the SB? Seems like a reasonable piece of protection for both the combo and Leovold.

Sent from my ONEPLUS A3000 using Tapatalk

With Leovold in play, does redirecting removal from him to Spellskite trigger Leovold for more draw? That's sweet. Still, Spellskite doesn't do that much and the space is already quite tight.
I used to run Misdirection in the DTT/TC era, but abandoned it later for some reason.

I don't agree that Trinket Mage branch is hopeless, though. There is not much downside to playing Trinkets, and they give flexibility both in maindeck and sideboard options.

[Manroe]

With Leovold in play, does redirecting removal from him to Spellskite trigger Leovold for more draw? That's sweet. Still, Spellskite doesn't do that much and the space is already quite tight.
I used to run Misdirection in the DTT/TC era, but abandoned it later for some reason.

I don't agree that Trinket Mage branch is hopeless, though. There is not much downside to playing Trinkets, and they give flexibility both in maindeck and sideboard options.

As far as I've found, yes. Spellskite becomes the target of the original spell, then you draw. Also, apparently with two spellskites you can bounce the spell for draw! I'd think that this most likely will just stop anything from being cast that targets unless 100% crucial.

Sent from my ONEPLUS A3000 using Tapatalk

[JackaBo]

Came second in a small GPTQ on sunday. Lost the finals versus bant blade. I think I'm going down to 3 strix, no more eldrazi and Leovolds need to be dealt with othervice strix doesnt draw cards anyway.


Skickat från min iPhone med Tapatalk

[Kaono]

Came second in a small GPTQ on sunday. Lost the finals versus bant blade. I think I'm going down to 3 strix, no more eldrazi and Leovolds need to be dealt with othervice strix doesnt draw cards anyway.


Skickat från min iPhone med Tapatalk

Strix is also great vs Delver, Goyf, Angler, Serra Avenger, chumping Griselbrand, buying a turn vs Marit Lage and so much more. I wouldn't cut it.

[hofzge]

1x Bayou
1x Forest
1x Island
4x Misty Rainforest
3x Polluted Delta
1x Swamp
2x Tropical Island
2x Underground Sea
4x Verdant Catacombs
3x Manipulate Fate
3x Ponder
4x Baleful Strix
4x Deathrite Shaman
1x Eternal Scourge
3x Leovold, Emissary of Trest
3x Misthollow Griffin
4x Walking Ballista
4x Abrupt Decay
4x Brainstorm
4x Force of Will
4x Food Chain

Sideboard (15)
2x Carpet of Flowers
1x Collective Brutality
2x Fatal Push
2x Golgari Charm
2x Mindbreak Trap
3x Surgical Extraction
3x Thoughtseize

Another week in Copenhagen and another 4:1. This time I played Sneak and Show (0:2), Burn (2:1), Maverick (2:1) Sneak and Show/Omnitell (2:1) and Burn (2:1).

[FZA]

Hello folks,

Recently, I've been on a mission to explore various lesser-played BUG archetypes (compared with Team America/Shardless) and thought about Food Chain.

Could someone who is experienced with the deck maybe give a quick rundown on how this deck compares to BUG Aluren, in what ways it's better or worse, and in what matchups is Food Chain better off in than Aluren and vice versa?

Also, in my limited testing of Food Chain, I've struggled with the Grixis Delver matchup. People seem to believe that this is one of the most favorable matchups for Food Chain, so I assume I am not approaching it correctly. My plan is to try and outvalue them with Manipulate Fate and Griffins, but I get tempo'd out and killed before that can happen. In particular, with only Strix and Abrupt Decay as removal, it's been difficult to contain their wide array of threats (Delver, Angler, TNN, Pyro). What is the correct approach in this matchup and how do you sideboard?

[Manroe]

So just a quick note, I went 3-1 at my local legacy tonight and even had a turn two kill with FoW backup! I am missing my fourth ballista and I will admit the one off trinket mage was fantastic tonight. Might keep it this way. The deck just feels like pure gas to me all the time.

Sent from my ONEPLUS A3000 using Tapatalk

[JackaBo]

Strix is also great vs Delver, Goyf, Angler, Serra Avenger, chumping Griselbrand, buying a turn vs Marit Lage and so much more. I wouldn't cut it.

Yeah I'm thinking bout going down from 4 to 3 in favor of spot removal, not cutting strix entirely. Strix is great versus dumb beaters. Removal is great versus utility guys. IMO there's less and less dumb beaters around.
Although a strix can be good against goyf it can also be a liability. I'd rather decay a goyf on turn 2 than risking strix getting dazed.


Skickat från min iPhone med Tapatalk

[Manipulato]

So just a quick note, I went 3-1 at my local legacy tonight and even had a turn two kill with FoW backup! I am missing my fourth ballista and I will admit the one off trinket mage was fantastic tonight. Might keep it this way. The deck just feels like pure gas to me all the time.

Sent from my ONEPLUS A3000 using Tapatalk

Gratz, but I dont think a T2 kill is possible! T1 Shaman->T2 land drop + Food Chain will not do it, even if you exile the shaman into the Food Chain you only get 2 mana not 3, so even if you have Ballista+Scourge in hand you are 1 mana short. A T3 kill is the earliest thing the deck can do.
You get the converted manacost +1 and the converted manacost are 1, maybe you get confused because of the Shaman hybrid mana of B/G?
Or did you face a Show and Tell deck which droped you a Food Chain for free into play?