M.O.S.T. - Merieke, Opposition, (Survival), Tradewind Rider

[shaden]

Good morning everyone! I apologize for my low level English, I will try to make a small report regarding my experience at the main event legacy of the eternal weekend.
First of all I want to make a premise, the deck itself is really fun and as you will all have noticed looking at the enormous diversity between published lists (I really thank Pettdan for the archiving work and for keeping this discussion more active as possible) it allows you to diversify a lot of strategy based on your playing style and the metagame you predict.
There is no right or wrong list, rather there is the best list to use in a tournament with a certain metagame.

My choice was certainly wrong because it was made following my tastes, since in a historical moment in which the presence of combo decks (our most favorable match ups) is at an all-time low and the prevalence of tempo decks with bowmasters destroying us it literally, means that we should probably follow a different path for this moment.
Finally my time for playing is always few so my mistakes had a significant influence on the final result.
All this to say that there is always room for improvement so you should never give up 😉

So let's get to the tournament:
R1 Mono Black (with Karn, Dauthi, Opposition agent and Damnation)
Really unfavorable match up, I was advantaged by the fact that my opponent didn't know the deck so in G1 after a long waste of resources by both Griselbrand with 2 mothers managed to bring home the victory and in G2 it ended due to of time in a situation of substantial balance (if my opponent had made fewer mistakes he would certainly have won both games): 1-0
1-0

R2 Jund
Perhaps the worst match up existing for us (between lightning, waste, decay, trophy, Liliana, punishing fire, seize) Never really been in the game: 0-2
1-1

R3 4c control beans
G1 really lasts a long time but by dint of having an advantage with beans I run out of resources and manages to remove meddling which calls terminus and shortly thereafter it ends
G2 a magus of the moon at the right time leaves him with only mountains and wins alone
G3 the time is practically over and it ends in a draw, I decide to give it to him because he probably would have won...: 1-2
1-2

R4 Naya Depths
G1 I manage to block it with peacekeeper long enough to assemble the divining with + thassa's oracle combo.
G2 a fast 20/20 that I have no answer to in my hand kills me
G3 I want to try to win it so with mother active and a bird on the field considered her sejiri in the cemetery they make me feel calm but not knowing that she plays two I die since I had removed Vendilion from the main deck the night before, in addition to the error this game I could have played it much better, my fault: 1-2
1-3

R5 UB Scam
In G1 he wins very quickly with grief and trolls G2 I manage to revive a Griselbrand that he will have no way to remove in a short time G3 as in G1: 1-2
1-4

R6 Merfolks
It's been a long time since I played against them but it's always been a fairly favorable match up, but I played both games backwards: 0-2
1-5
Something went off in me, having finished very early I take some time to rest for a moment.
R7 Reanimator
The break did me good, I play 3 good games, in G1 I start very strong and I have no way to do anything, in the remaining 2 games I manage to get the better of it quite easily: 2-1
2-5

R8 Eldrazi
G1 starts with ancient tomb and chalice at 1, my hand with brainstorm and 2 hierarch (drawing bird immediately after) can really do little and I concede
G2 with kigh on autumn at T2 I slow him down and manage to reanimate Griselbrand in a short time
G3 fow protects me from chalice and a fast natural order for progenitus Wins in 2 turns: 2-1
3-5

R9 infect
G1 starts with earth and glistener elf, in turn 2 invigorated and berserk protected by daze on my fow they kill me (I could have block but I hoped to have at least one more turn)
G2 here I really lost because my mistakes, I manage to have an active fauna but wanting to try to win I don't go for peacekeeper and this costs me the game, he will close the next turn: 0-2
3-6

At this point I was really too tired to continue, 9 rounds with Most are just too many...

the list I played can be seen from the link published by Pettdan

I add some considerations that can be a starting point for discussion:
- Vial: I like them a lot but I'm still not convinced that they are suitable for the deck thus composed, for example post side I want to quickly get 4 mana for Natural Order or Minsc & Boo, it would be better to replace them are better mana dorks and/or GSZ
- Volrath's shapeshifter: I have NEVER transformed it into phage to close, it has occasionally useful to become atraxa/griselbrand for short periods of time, 2 I think are too many assuming I don't cut it completely...
- I would like an advantage engine with fauna and Squee would be perfect but it is not blue (fow requires at least 17/18 blue cards and we are at the limit) and it would mean adding another suboptimal without having active fauna in play

I hope it is useful to all of you and that perhaps it can lead to some food for thought 🙂

[ESG]

Thanks for the report, Shaden. Since you want Squee and care about the blue count, would you consider Master of Death (https://scryfall.com/card/mh2/205/master-of-death)?

[pettdan]

Thanks for the report, Shaden! Very nice to read and share your experience! About the list, I wouldn't dare bringing a combo based on x/1s to a big tournament (with Bowmasters in the format), like for example Volrath's Shapeshifter, but the card has a lot of potential so I was extra curious to see how it went.

Anyway, I'm considering what to try now, here are couple of options. I recently got (on MTGO) a Fiend Artisan and Cradle, Mox Diamonds and Fury and Grief are cheap on MTGO, two Bowmasters, so we'll see if I get around to playing a little. I actually spend my evening time trying to learn Python, Django (web development framework) and Javascrip now, also dipping into machine learning, so we'll see how that goes.

Potential directions to test:

- GSZ, Titania, Safekeeper, KotR, Cradle. Seems like this direction could go Abzan with Wastelands.
- Fury, Lagrella, Omnath, maybe Fable. This is the direction I was taking earlier this year, before Fury went to 50 tix.
- Flame of Anor, Snapcaster Mage. These fit with the above version, but could also be run in a more dedicated list with many instants and Snapcasters.
- Food Chain, Grief, Bowmasters OR Questing Druid. I was trying this around January this year, iirc. Seemed nice.
- Aluren. It's always been a smooth inclusion for a combo element, but now with Bowmasters there's a wincon that's very easy to include.
- Leovold, Delighthed Halfling, Ertai, maybe Cavern.
- Beanstalk MOST.
- Enchantment MOST with perhaps Beanstalk, certainly with Abundant Growth and Setessan champion, Fable. This is more likely to be a Nic Fit deck. Nice with Recurring Nightmare too.
- Humans: Talia's Lieutenant, Graymond (a.k.a. Rich). Lets you run Caverns which can be pretty good.

[FTW]

Oooh, Shaden representing at the Eternal Weekend and getting a mention in the stream. Unfortunately the force was not with them on this day.

https://mtgdecks.net/Legacy/five-col...shaden-1805919

16 X/1s. Ouch.

According to MTGGoldfish, 4 of the top 8 decks have 4x Bowmasters. OP could have been punished even more if not playing in the losing bracket.

How would you modify the 1-mana slot to be more resilient in this meta?
Would you play Giver of Runes instead of Mother? Ramp like Utopia Sprawl instead of Birds? Play Grief scam and Bowmasters yourself? Not play combos that need X/1s?

Edit: Have you ever considered playing Hushbringer + Phyrexian Dreadnought? Is that compatible with any Vial MOST build? Hushbringer hates on Bowmasters, Initiative, Grief, Thassa combos, Yorion control.... most of the format. It does limit your own build options though. You could back it up with other non-ETB hatebears like Meddling Mage, Thalia, Teeg, Collector Ouphe...

[pettdan]

How would you modify the 1-mana slot to be more resilient in this meta?
Would you play Giver of Runes instead of Mother? Ramp like Utopia Sprawl instead of Birds? Play Grief scam and Bowmasters yourself? Not play combos that need X/1s?

Playing your own Bowmasters seems like a valid approach, I've seen comments from Esper Vial that they are usually better at leveraging Bowmasters than other decks. I typically run Abundant Growth as a CMC 1-slot, and I'm curious if it's bad against Bowmasters. Depending on how bad it is, I'm considering replacing (edit: a few) copies with Delighted Halfling, though it pushes you into a legends and planeswalkers build.

If I was playing a creature combo like with Volrath's Shapeshifter, I might be testing a mix of Mother and Giver, with more weight on mother.

Edit: adding to that reply, after reading your question another time, yes I also would consider playing Scam. I was playing 2 Grief and 2 Animate Dead in testing around January-February, iirc, this year, and it felt pretty good, that was before the Scam trend had started, at least I wasn't aware, so it was a small package back then (Jeff Lin was trying something like that in Esper Vial and it seemed nice so I also wanted to try it)

Edit: Have you ever considered playing Hushbringer + Phyrexian Dreadnought? Is that compatible with any Vial MOST build? Hushbringer hates on Bowmasters, Initiative, Grief, Thassa combos, Yorion control.... most of the format. It does limit your own build options though. You could back it up with other non-ETB hatebears like Meddling Mage, Thalia, Teeg, Collector Ouphe...

Yes I've been thinking about Hushbringer and Dreadnought in an Abzan build, since there's a bunch of relevant creatures without etbs there, kind of pushes you into a Maverick style build but I'd keep vials. Seems like it could be worth trying again now. I'm also considering, and more recently too, a similar build with Death's Shadow instead of Dreadnought. Also Varolz, the Scar-Striped is great with both of them.

Edit: btw, Vickas used to experiment with Lazav and Dreadnought, you can find his lists linked in the primer, here's the latest one: https://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/...=1#post1081213