RW Combo-Prison

[Ertai87]

No, not "Combo/Prison", "Combo-prison". As in, a prison for combo decks. My local metagame is comprised almost entirely of Storm, Burn, Eldrazi, and Marit Lage (Lands/TurboDepths) with a splashing of RB Reanimator and a very very low quantity of Force of Will (in my last 16-ish-player event, there were 20 copies of Force of Will, myself representing 4 of them). Please keep that in mind when commenting: this is a deck to target a specific metagame, and I am not bringing this to an SCG Open or whatnot where "But this deck is trash against Delver and Sneak/Show" (which it is) is relevant. With that said, the list:

Creatures: (7)
2x Eternal Scourge
4x Simian Spirit Guide
1x Blightsteel Colossus

Enchantments: (15)
4x Leyline of Sanctity
4x Rest in Peace
4x Blood Moon
2x Porphyry Nodes
1x Nevermore

Artifacts: (6)
2x Pithing Needle
4x Lotus Petal

Planeswalkers: (5)
3x Nahiri, the Harbinger
2x Ajani Vengeant

Spells: (8)
3x Swords to Plowshares
3x Unexpectedly Absent
2x Enlightened Tutor

Land: (20)
7x Plains
1x Mountain
1x Plateau
4x Arid Mesa
1x Gemstone Caverns
1x Karakas
4x Ancient Tomb
1x City of Traitors

Sideboard: (15)
2x Eidolon of the Great Revel
3x Ethersworn Canonist
2x Thorn of Amethyst
1x Seal of Cleansing
2x Defense Grid
2x Ensnaring Bridge
1x Aegis of Honor
1x Circle of Flame
1x Stony Silence

1) I just noticed this list is 61 cards. I didn't realize this before, but I'm not sure what the cut is. Alright, we got that out of the way.

Basically, the common theme among all the decks in my metagame is that they are all very vulnerable to one or both of the cards Blood Moon and Leyline of Sanctity, so the plan is to accelerate and jam one or both of these 2 cards as fast as possible. Then once I have them under lockdown, I get to work ticking up Nahiri and/or Ajani to ultimate and jam BSC in their face until they die. Rest in Peace serves a similar purpose to the above, but hits a smaller sliver of the metagame; it also gives me hope against Storm in game 1, as my matchup against Storm in game 1 is likely atrocious, hence the 8 dedicated sideboard slots to that matchup alone.

To answer the obvious question: Why BSC over Emrakul? Because of Rest in Peace. The way Emrakul is worded, it will get exiled by Rest in Peace before its ability triggers so I can't get it back. However, BSC is a replacement effect rather than a trigger so I can keep recurring it with Nahiri even through a Rest in Peace (it's also not vulnerable to Surgical) and still get the one-shot-the-robot effect that I want from Emrakul (this is why BSC was chosen over Progenitus; Proggy is harder to block, but BSC kills in one hit while Progenitus requires more; also BSC is theoretically hardcastable).

Regarding the sideboard:

Eidolon - For Storm. They can't kill me as long as he's in play. Should probably be Pyrostatic Pillar I think, but that card is hard to find (not WotC doublespeak "hard to find" = "expensive", but actually hard to find).

Canonist - For Storm.

Thorn of Amethyst - For Storm primarily.

Seal of Cleansing - Hits Ratchet Bomb against Eldrazi and makes LED awkward for Storm to use. Also helps against Stoneblade (the most popular "fair deck" in my metagame).

Defense Grid - A hedge against Force of Will. As FoW decks go, my metagame has the most FoWs in 3+-color Delver and 3+-color Stoneblade decks which also can't ever beat a Blood Moon, so jamming a fast Grid followed by a fast Blood Moon before they can get Force online is my plan.

Ensnaring Bridge - Because Moat is almost $1000, serves mostly the same purpose. Comes in against Eldrazi to protect my planeswalkers. Is a bit of a nonbo with Nahiri. The plan there is to use Porphyry Nodes to wipe their board (with a Blood Moon out they can't easily replenish their board) while Ensnaring Bridge is keeping them from attacking, and once their board is empty, bounce Bridge with Unexpectedly Absent, ult Nahiri, and shoot them with one-shot.

Aegis of Honor - Because burn is a real thing in my meta and this card shits on their face.

Circle of Flame - This reject Magic Origins draft common is really good against exactly the card Empty the Warrens, which I expect Storm to bring in against me after they see maindeck Leyline of Sanctity.

Stony Silence - Catchall for Ratchet Bomb, Lion's Eye Diamond, and equipment from Stoneblade. Is awkward with Lotus Petal but hopefully that won't come up.

Thoughts?

[Von]

You're running 4 rips main so why not helm?

[Ertai87]

You're running 4 rips main so why not helm?

Card availability (again, not WotC "card availability = this card is too expensive", but I don't know where to buy one in my area).

[JackaBo]

You're running 4 rips main so why not helm?

I second that.


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[Ertai87]

Played this deck last week at my local. Of course the one week I bring it, all the fair deck players showed up. I played against, in order, Monogreen 12post, Topless Miracles, Nic Fit, and the bye. I almost won rounds 1 and 3, getting down the lock, but they were able to break it before I could seal the deal. I think adding a Helm would help the deck immensely, but none of my LGSes have one in stock (and being Canadian, shipping from SCG or whatever is expensive). I'll keep my eyes out for one, because the deck really needs it.

[Stuart]

Cool deck! I'll also throw in on the Helm recommendation.

Also, remember: Porphyry Nodes destroys, so it can't kill Marit Lage. Maybe a 4th Plow or 1st Path to Exile would be better?

[Gollus]

Looks nice, i used to play Mighty Quinn with a red splash.

From my experience i would recommend playing Helm for sure.
And maybe consider Council's Judgment over Unexpectedly Absent. It gets rid of permanents permanently ;) even TNN.
Also Pyroclasm has been nice against all the small creatures, Delver, Drs, Pyromancer, Tokens, Elves, DnT,......

How is the Leyline main playing out? i would see it more in the sideboard even when focusing your meta.

And you play 4 Petals and 4 SSG with the SOL lands just for Bloodmoon? Isn't that too much a lot of the time?

And whats the lonely Gemstone Cavern for?

[Ertai87]

Oh wow there's actually some new activity here.


Looks nice, i used to play Mighty Quinn with a red splash.

From my experience i would recommend playing Helm for sure.
And maybe consider Council's Judgment over Unexpectedly Absent. It gets rid of permanents permanently ;) even TNN.
Also Pyroclasm has been nice against all the small creatures, Delver, Drs, Pyromancer, Tokens, Elves, DnT,......

Nobody plays any of those cards in my meta. There is literally zero copies of Delver or Pyromancer, the only tokens are from Empty the Warrens and Marit Lage. DnT shows up once in a blue moon but almost never. One guy used to play Elves but he plays Czech Pile now, and is also the only person playing DRS or TNN. My meta is really weird. As a slice, this is a rough approximation of my metagame last night where I played this deck:

2x Dragon Stompy
1x 12post
1x Czech Pile
1x Sneak/Show
1x TPS
1x ANT *
1x Tinfins
1x Miracles
1x Burn
1x Infect
1x BR Reanimator *
1x Eldrazi
Xx Lands
Me

* = I don't actually know if these players played these decks, but they usually do so I'm assuming.

I don't know how many lands players there were. I know there was at least 1 but I also know at least 1 of the people who usually plays Lands was not (he played TPS). My guess is roughly 2 lands players.


How is the Leyline main playing out? i would see it more in the sideboard even when focusing your meta.

My meta shifted a bit, so not as well as it used to. When I originally built the deck, Tendrils of Agony and Burn were everywhere, plus lands which can't win the game through a Leyline and a Surgical on Dark Depths (they can blow up the Leyline, but that's their only out). It was worth the maindeck slot at the time, but after running the deck again last night I'm thinking of moving them to the SB.


And you play 4 Petals and 4 SSG with the SOL lands just for Bloodmoon? Isn't that too much a lot of the time?

Also Nahiri and hardcasting Leyline if you want big stuff, but casting Rest in Peace on turn 1 against Lands isn't the literal worst. But mainly accelerating Blood Moon, yes. Getting an accelerated Blood Moon (or other 3-mana lock piece e.g. Ensnaring Bridge or Defense Grid out of the board) is like 90% of how this deck wins.


And whats the lonely Gemstone Cavern for?

Mise. It's a land utility slot but I don't think there are any more utility lands I want. It's probably better than the nth basic because it allows another way to get an accelerated Blood Moon. Think of it less as land #20 and more as Lotus Petal #9. It's better than Chrome Mox because it isn't a dead draw off the top, doesn't require a colored card to make mana, and can't be countered.