Pyrokinesis in the SB has been testing fine for me vs. little dude decks.
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Pyrokinesis in the SB has been testing fine for me vs. little dude decks.
I think I agree here. I ran Heretic MD this last weekend and while it wasn't ever game-breaking, it seemed like I would want Heretic in many more situations than I would want Shusher.Quote:
I have found that more often than not, I would like to have a heretic maindeck than the shusher that I usually run.
I went 3-1 to get to the Top 4 last weekend, only to lose the dice roll in my first round against storm-combo. He rolled first, getting a 5 from a 20-sided dice. I rolled after, and got a...2. Good ol' ANT, always reminds me to work on my die-rolling skills (of which I have none). Of course, having lost that roll, I ended up dropping that match 1-2, and missed out on the finals. Still, it was a good tournament, even though I had to play Brian and his cheating combo right up at the end.
I beat Cephalid Breakfast round 1, lost to Enchantress round 2 (long games), beat Aggro Loam in round 3, and beat BRG Dark Zoo in round 4.
This was the list:
10 Mountain
1 Foothills
4 Tomb
3 City
4 Mox
4 SSG
4 Magus
4 Recruiter
4 Painter
2 Jaya
2 Figure of Destiny
1 Heretic
3 Magma Jet
3 Top
7 Blast
4 Grindstone
SB
4 Trinisphere
3 Relic
3 Firespout
2 Shattering Spree
1 Shusher
2 Blood Moon
I never got to use the Firespouts out of the board (although drawing one against ANT in the last game would have helped wipe out the 16 goblin tokens he had created on turn 3/4), so I can't say how well they work yet. I personally don't like Pyrokinesis anymore because I don't want to give up a card to play it. I was even thinking about Arc Lightning as an underpowered alternative that would at least not create more card disadvantage. For now though, I'm taking the risks associated with blowing up your own dudes and keeping Firespout until it screws me really badly.
Nice suggestion on those Spouts Jeff. And good luck to you and Brian at GenCon!
I recently went 3-0 winning FNM the other night. I wanted to get a quick report and some thoughts while its still fresh in my mind, and I'll update with a decklist later as I have another event on Sunday.
Round 1 vs affinity
The first game I resolve the combo third turn for the win. Bolt was key here as I bought myself a turn by keeping cranial plating from getting insane and bashing my face. I sided out the Jayla Ballards and shusher to bring in 2 Shattering Spree and a Blood Moon(only thing I could think of as the cards I dropped are not so hot here). Game two saw me drop a second turn Magus and then a bolt to buy a tuyrn and a Shattering Spree to wipe his board. He never recovered and I had him locked out mana wise. A REB on thoughtcast sealed the match.
Round 2 vs UWb fish
Game one saw a first turn Magus and then a rather quick scoop. He did eventually get the basic swamp and resolved a Bob, but a bolt and some other dorks sealed the game. Game two was a long drawn out affair. I knew he had needles along with EE so I sided out all my Grindstones. Not sure if this is the right play but I felt comfortable since my guys were better than his guys and I ran more removal. That and Blood Moon would be so strong against him. The second game I keep a slow hand but i know he doesn't play a lot of pressure so I keep. For the longest time we trade threats but eventually a Bob sticks along with my Magus. His life total drops as he buries me in card advantage but I'm abale to fight throw it and eventually get a Recruiter into Figure. Since I had the lands his Daze was worthless and I beat down for the win. At some point I also resolved a Painter's Servent because I had REB backup to protect Figure.
Round 3 vs Merfolk wizards
Game one sees him Daze a first turn Figure but I'm able to puch through a Painter's Servent the second turn with SSG. From here he is way behind in tempo but I draw dead for a few turns then finally Grindstone for the win. Again I ditch the Grindstones and bring in Active Volcano. My thinking is that my guys are better than his and the removal makes it so he can't keep the lords around. This is alos another long affair as he manages to land a Standstill and I thought for sure I would lose to the CA he gained. But I was able to trade my removal since I know essentially had 16 spells to keep it close. magus was still good as it kept Mutavaults from being significant. eventually a Recruiter came into a Figure and i was able to put the match away. It is interesting to note that I lost two of the three games we played for fun afterwards. I know i miss played once but to be fair I was distracted watching the Braves lose to the Phillies on my phone(Apparently nobody likes it as you shout Fuck when little kids are around).
Thoughts:
This deck really does top deck great. I can't remember playing a deck in which your cards are just so much stroinger than your counterpart. I am still not comfortable with the combo matchup but it is so rare and I still think Pyrokinesis belongs in the board so Trinisphere will have to sit the bench. I can't imagine playing without Lightning Bolt. Never was it a dead draw and it really does kill so many creatures in the format. I did drop the Tops this time and I didn't miss them. Shusher was underwhelming but I still like to know I can flip off some shitty Countertop deck game one if I want. I'll post again Sunday with my next event results and a decklist.
Congrats on the finish, and I do agree that it sucks when the braves lose. :frown:
-Chris-
sroncor1, did you play with Hollywood's list?
So I ended up splitting in the top going 4-0-1 on the day. The decklist is really close to Hollywood's except I have kept the Vexing Shusher in the main.
Deck
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Imperial Recruiter
4 Figure of Destiny
4 Painter's Servent
4 SSG
4 Magus of the Moon
1 Viashino heretic
1 Vexing Shusher
2 jaya Ballard
4 Grindstone
4 REB
3 Pyroblast
3 Chrome Mox
4 Ancient Tomb
4 City of Traitors
10 Mountains
Side
4 Blood Moon
4 Active Volcano
3 Shattering Spree
4 Pyrokinesis
Round 1 vs sceptor chant
I drop a first turn Magus and he procedes to drop a second turn chant with Boomerang. he bounces my lands for a bit while I beat for two a turn. He fires a magus but I drop another one the next turn and then use SSG to drop a Recruiter into a Painter's Servent. Looing at my notes a bolt may have been thrown at his face but his life slowly drops to 0. For game 2 I take out the bolts and side in Blood Moon and drop the Shusher and 1 Jaya Ballard for the 2 Shattering Spree. I stick a first turn Figure and slowly start to beat. A second turn Magus is hit with a Lightning Helix, but I follow it up with Blood Moon and a Painter's Servent after that. The next turn after the Servent he tries to drop another sceptor but I have the REB and the round is over thanks to the beats.
1-0 (2-0)
Round 2 vs Rock
Game one I lose the die role and resolve a 1st turn Magus. He decides to scoop as the Scrubland he has in play doesn't have a STP to go with it. I side much the same way i did first round by taking out the bolts and bring in the Blood Moons. On my first turn I drop a Grindstone. My second turn Magus eats a STP. He then drops a Doran and my hand is really light with only a REB as relavent. Luckily I draw the Painter's Servent and the match is over.
2-0 (4-0)
Round 3 vs Painter Servent
We both decide to draw so that we can play some type four as it has been a while since I have gotten to play with these guys from back home. His version does not run Imperial Recruiters so it also doesn't have the tutor tragetsI know he uses Magma Jets but not sure what else he plays. Either way it doesn't matter as the mirror is boring and taking out akroma with a Chaos orb is so much better.
2-0-1 (4-0)
Round 4 vs Dreadstill
Game 1 I again lose the diee role. My notes are lacking but I think I had an early Magus dazed and then he got a third turn Dreadnought. My life total drops very quickly after that. I know I had like 3 REB effects in hand but I was tapped out when he did Dreadnought/Stifle. I guess maybe I shouldn't have tapped out like i did but I was hoping to lock him off of blue. For game 2 out go the bolts along with Jaya Ballard for the Active volcano and Shattering Spree. I figured Jaya wouldn't really help with the Dreadnoughts and I wanted cheap removal. I would have loved to board in the Blood Moon, but I was at a lost of what to remove. But thinking back no, maybe the Figures are sort of not needed here. He runs so few threats, I just need a few dorks and more answers and semi lock piece maybe? Game 2 saw him FoW mt Chrome Mox and a stifle and then a Trickbind of the Grindstone, but the third time was the charm as I comboed him out on turn 5. Game 3 I dropped a first turn Painter's Sevent with a Chrome Mox imprinting SSG. he goes to FoW and I say REB and he resolves. Second turn I drop the Grindstone and he again has Trickbind. My next turn is the end of the game.
3-0-1(6-1)
Top 4
I'm the top seed going in and get repaired against the Rock deck from before. Again I lose the die roll. I use Chrome Mox and Ancient Tomb to resolve a Magus. He has a Swamp so he plays it out but his life total slowly drops helped by some thoughtseizing, but it ends in 6 turns. I side out the bolts and bring in the Blood Moons and go on to game 2. My first two Magus are removed with STP and this really hurt as I had to burn through City of Traitors to make the play. Eventually I land a Blood Moon and he has a goyf. a Recruiter into a Figure stops the attack and I slowly wait till i get up to 6 mana sources and the match is over quickly.
4-0-1(8-1)
Split the finals, it was a goblin deck though so I'm not sure how that woudl have gone.
Lightning Bolt is still great even though I sided it out a lot. Moon effects are just too good not to run 8 I think. Even when you seem behind the deck finds a way to power through as some of our top decks are just so strong and a cheap 2 card combo backed up with solid disruption really ruins people's days. Hollywood was right that Active Volcano is amazing. I'm still not sure how it stacks up vs. other combo decks.
@Hollywood-Are you still playing in the DC area?
Is someone testing a gamble-welder version that allow to tutoring, to play artifacts from graveyard with a welder in place and combo with the painter in graveyard?
Card to replace could be:
OUT
-2 Sensei's Top
-1 Grindstone
-1/2 Reb
-1 Jaya
-4 Mountain
IN
+3 Gamble
+2/3 Welder
+4 Great Furnace
I think a few people have tried the gamble/welder split and have since abandoned it. I tried it and while it does allow you to tutor up the combo I always found it at best ok. But that is just my experience. Although I would not cut any blast effects to force it in the deck. I'm only running seven now and I wish I could fit more. I use to run top but really without fetchlands it to is underpowered and right now I doubt there is any reason to open the deck up to nonbasic hate. That really is one of the strongest aspects of the deck and I win as many games with Magus as I do any other way. Don't get me wrong, the combo is fantastic, but winning with Magus and Figure happen just as often and it gives the deck so much flexibility. Also if you run the tutor package you mentioned, it becomes more difficult o side out the grindstones and win through beatdown and board control as you are making the maindeck more reliant on the combo. Just my two cents.
I was playing a build with 1-2 Welders and 1-2 Gambles for a while and it worked pretty well. I went away from it because Gamble was too inconsistent, and Figure of Destiny turned out to be a better way to handle the rise of Zoo. Figure is actually just an all-around awesome addition to the deck that addresses some of the old weaknesses (having all fragile creatures, lacking a finisher, etc), and can use the excess mana that this deck creates to win games pretty quickly without depending at all on Painter. That said, Welders do some pretty cool tricks and a lucky Gamble won several games for me. The build I was using did not use artifact lands, and I kept 3 Tops. I still like Tops in this deck anyways, but especially with Welder, it seems like a must.
I'll be playing the deck Sunday in an event in Rockville, MD. The other day I was playing against goblins and I think I won around 40 percent of the games. Granted these were all preboard, but I do not know if pyrokinesis is enough to swing the match in my favor. Maybe advice on how to approach the matchup also. Its just been so long since I have seen goblins and now I think there will be a few goblins Sunday and I hate to roll over to them, sort of like what happens with Zoo. Thanks
Well this is too late for this weekend, but my thought is to go with Firespout in the SB, and make sure you have 1 Viashino Heretic somewhere and maybe a few Shattering Sprees. I say this as someone who uses Tops though, which helps recover from a boardsweep. But if you have a full clip of Figures, all you have to do is get one to 4/4 and Firespout away everything else.Quote:
I'll be playing the deck Sunday in an event in Rockville, MD. The other day I was playing against goblins and I think I won around 40 percent of the games. Granted these were all preboard, but I do not know if pyrokinesis is enough to swing the match in my favor. Maybe advice on how to approach the matchup also. Its just been so long since I have seen goblins and now I think there will be a few goblins Sunday and I hate to roll over to them, sort of like what happens with Zoo. Thanks
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So I ended up going 2-3. Not much to really report. I made some misplays and lost to a janky fish type deck dying to 3 Serra Avengers and 4 blast effects in hand. I managed to beat zoo but do not think pyrokinesis belongs in the board any more. Blood moon was a house in that matchup. I'm going to put Trinisphere back in the board. I managed to beat dredge and I guess that matchup is better than I thought. Even though I didn't do that great I still think people should be using 4 bolts maindeck as they are almost never dead and they saved my ass more than once. Med school is kicking up now so I don't know how much I will get to play but good luck to everyone.
After trying Dreadstill last weekend, I played the deck I know best today in a small tournament. My list was:
10 Mountain
1 Foothills
4 Tomb
3 City
4 Mox
4 SSG
4 Magus
4 Recruiter
4 Servant
2 Jaya
2 Figure
1 Heretic
4 Magma Jet
2 Top
7 Blast
4 Grindstone
SB
4 Trinisphere
3 Relic
3 Firespout
2 Blood Moon
2 Shattering Spree
1 Shusher
I beat WG Stax in round 1, lost to Ultimate Walker in round 2, and beat BGW Rock-ish Control in round 3 to make top 4. I won in a rematch with Ultimate Walker and then decided to split with Countertop in the finals.
This manabase has treated me well for several tournaments now. Especially with Figures in there, the swapping of 1 colorless land for another red source seems to make sense in the deck. And as always, the Tops and Jets smoothed out draws at crucial times.
The Ultimate Walker build that my friend was playing used Lightning Helix and Volcanic Fallouts, so Magus was much less effective than I expected he'd be. I really wanted a third Moon in the board against everyone today except Stax. What to take out though? Even though he can be life-saving, I could see replacing Shusher with another Moon, or I could use one of the Firespout slots. I guess it's a matter of equalizing bad match-ups or strengthening decent ones.
I am going to have to necro this thread to see if anyone has done anything with this deck lately. Does this card serve any purpose at all?
Goblin Ruinblaster 2R
Creature - Goblin Shaman
Kicker R - (You may pay an additional as you cast this spell.)
Haste
When Goblin Ruinblaster enters the battlefield, if it was kicked, destroy target nonbasic land.
2/1
Seems like it has potential as a tutor-able creature with an ability that may be relevant.
-Chris-
I do not see why we would want the card though. If we wanted targeted land removal wouldn't Dwarvin Miner just be better. I think between Magus and Blood Moon you are set with the LD package. Unless you are thinking about complimenting it and being able to kill basics. But at that point wouldn't it just be better to either tutor up Figure and beat face or get Jaya and lock them out. It isn't a bad card but I don't see how it makes the deck any better.
Yeah, Ruinblaster shouldn't get in over any of the existing cards. Like sroncor1 said, it's redundant mana denial and is going to be inferior to Magus almost every time.
I played last Sunday with IP in a 10-man tourney and went 2-1, losing to URW Walker and beating UR Fish and Affinity. I didn't get into top 4 though. I'll be playing it again this weekend.
@sroncor, Hollywood - I'm in the DC area. Would any of you happen to play at Dream Wizards in rockville?
Yeah I play at Dreamwizards when I get the chance. A couple weeks ago I played in an FNM tourny and went 3-0 with the same list except I put Trinisphere in the board. I beat countertop, merfolk, and MBC. Nothing really to report except MBC may be the easiest deck for us to beat as I can't even think of one card they have that is relavent to us. The deck just seems like complete ass to me.
I figured I would give this deck a bump. Is anyone playing it and if so what have there results been? Or is this a situation where the deck has basically just evolved to a point where not much changes?