Won the 40 person Modern Cookie Qualifier with this List. - Tournament Report Below.
Round 1 / 2-0 Jund
Round 2 / 1-2 Affinity
Round 3 / 2-1 Eldrazi Tron
Round 4 / 2-0 Naya Burn
Round 5 / 2-0 Jeskai Control
Round 6 / 2-1 KCI Combo
Top 8
Round 1 / 2-0 Scapeshift
Round 2 / 2-0 Esper Death's Shadow
Round 3 / 2-1 Jeskai Control
Link to Store's Article. - http://mrniceguygames.wpengine.com/fulks-triumphs-with-eldrazi-and-bots/ -
Mr. Nice Guys Modern Cookie Qualifier Tournament Report!!!
By: Franklin Fulks
On a Tuesday about 2 months ago I went to my local game store for modern night and I was looking for something different and fun to play. As a avid affinity player I like tweaking with the deck to pushing it to its limits to find something new and interesting to play. I came up with the idea that day on my lunch break. I ended up looking at all the different Eldrazi Variants, which are basically just Thought-Knot Seer + Reality Smasher + Eldrazi Temple and ways to produce fast mana. Whether it be with Tron lands, mana dorks or Serum Powder to find Eldrazi Temple more aggressively. The one that awkwardly stands out the most is the Eldrazi & Taxes deck list which just casts the Eldrazis for 1 mana cheaper with Eldrazi Temple. That is when I came up with the idea of pairing the Eldrazis with my Robots. With the ability to get fast mana in affinity it turns out they are a perfect pair. Using Eldrazi Temple, Mox Opal and Springleaf Drum I have the ability to get bigger threats (Eldrazis) on the field quicker. This turns out to give my deck better match ups against Jund and Control decks that like to kill all our little robots.
Fast forward to the first iteration of the deck, this version was purely colorless. It played great and smooth and the main deck Chalice of the Void really threw people out of whack as they did not see it coming. There were some instances that I used Chalice of the Void to turn on Mox Opal turn 1 to be able to throw a Steel Overseer or Arcbound Ravager out. I could eat the Chalice of the Void later on if I needed to get some of my 0 drop creatures out. After two local modern nights going 4-0 and 3-0-1 and a amazing 6-3 Finish at SCG Indy I decided to move the Chalice of the Voids to the sideboard and side it in to really surprise people that I really need and want it against. The Eldrazi cards excelled winning me games that I would have otherwise lost to and blanking peoples sideboard choices. For example when you see Arcbound Ravager and friends + a Thought-Knot Seer in game 1 you can't just sideboard in all these artifact hate cards without taking into consideration that an eldrazi just killed you.
My favorite interaction so far with the deck was turn 2 Spellskite, turn 3 Reality Smasher, attack and opponent casts Path to Exile targeting my Reality Smasher. I triggered Spellskite to change the target to Spellskite. So would you like to discard a card to path this Spellskite? and if they can kill the Reality Smasher next turn they are down 4 cards already!
Maindeck
3x Reality Smasher
4x Thought-Knot Seer
2x Etched Champion
4x Arcbound Ravager
4x Cranial Plating
3x Steel Overseer
4x Vault Skirge
3x Signal Pest
2x Memnite
4x Springleaf Drum
4x Mox Opal
4x Ornithopter
4x Chalice of the Void
4x Eldrazi Temple
4x Inkmoth Nexus
4x Blinkmoth Nexus
4x Darksteel Citadel
1x Wastes
Sideboard
2x Ancient Grudge
2x Relic of Progenitus
2x Warping Wail
2x Spellskite
1x Grafdigger's Cage
1x Welding Jar
1x Sorceress Spyglass
2x Etched Champion
1x Crucible of Worlds
Moving on from the pure colorless version of the deck, I realized some matchups were more terrible than others and I wanted colored sideboard cards to fight back, but to fit the Eldrazi Temples into the deck I had to cut the colored lands. So I came up with the decision to take out Inkmoth Nexus' because since I was playing with Eldrazi I would rather have Blinkmoth Nexus for the damage output that Inkmoth Nexus doesn't have. I ended up redoing the sideboard to add the colored cards that I needed to help in the match ups I was having trouble with.
Here is the list I played last weekend.
Maindeck
Non-Creature (15)
3x Dismember
4x Mox Opal
4x Springleaf Drum
4x Cranial Plating
Creatures(28)
2 x Memnite
4 x Ornithopter
2 x Signal Pest
4 x Vault Skirge
2 x Steel Overseer
4 x Arcbound Ravager
3 x Etched Champion
4 x Thought-Knot Seer
3 x Reality Smasher
Lands (17)
4 x Blinkmoth Nexus
4 x Eldrazi Temple
4 x Darksteel Citadel
4 x Spire of Industry
1 x Wastes
Sideboard
1x Relic of Progenitus
1x Grafdigger’s Cage
3x Stubborn Denial
1x Ancient Grudge
1x Wear // Tear
1x Whipflare
3x Chalice of the Void
1x Blood Sun
1x Etched Champion
1x Ghirapur Aether Grid
The new list has a lot of changes since the very first decklist I had and I’m going to start with the main deck. First off, we added Dismember as are choice of creature interaction/removal over Galvanic blast for a couple of reasons. It can be cast for colorless mana which we have a bunch off and makes the creature weaker if it's bigger than a 5/5 allowing are guys to smash through it. And out of the board we can bring Chalice of the Void in and put it on one and keeps targeted creature removal.
The numbers on some of the creatures look a little wonky but these are what I play currently and they have been working really well.
Creatures:
2x Memnite
4x Ornithopter
These little guys are helping turn on Mox Opals and Springleaf Drums while being threats with Cranial Plating + Steel overseer/ Arcbound Ravager.
2x Signal Pest
2x Steel Overseer
These are probably the most awkward creatures in the deck before sideboard, but they allow us to keep some speed and consistency draws. Even though Steel Overseer is a nonbo with Eldrazis it presents a weird situation where if they kill it then they may not be able to kill the Thought-Knot Sneer/Reality Smasher?
Against Decks with Path to Exile it mostly reads Rampant Growth.
4x Vault Skirge
4x Arcbound Ravager
Vault Skirge is really good in this deck because he gives us ways to race other aggros decks and puts Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle out of reach for a turn with the lifegain.
Arcbound Ravager may be slightly weaker with the inclusion of the Eldrazis in the deck but he is still one of the best cards in the deck allowing us to steal wins out of nowhere.
3x Etched Champion
I started with Etched Champion in the colorless version as our "3 drop" being able to attack through ground blockers and dodge removal was very powerful. If we added back colored mana these could be some number of Master of Etherium. I like the Etched Champion main deck in most match ups in this meta game. One downfall of not having Master of Etherium is that we lose some explosive damage with are dorky little Ornithopters, Memnites, and Signal Pests.
4x Thought-Knot Seer
One of the big reasons I love this deck was because being able to produce a turn 2 or 3 Thought-Knot Seer. This gives us a huge advantage and allows us to steal the opponents best card against us at the moment or interrupting them from just gold fishing us back like most of the consistent modern decks want to do.
3x Reality Smasher
Since we already had the Eldrazi Temple for the Thought-Knot Seer we really needed another Eldrazi creature to consistently see 1 or 2 a game. This makes the change from stock affinity to Eldrazi n' Bots more worthwhile. Reality Smasher really pulls his weight with being a haste creature out of affinity with a form of protection and evasion! It's everything you never knew you wanted in your Affinity deck.
Note how Trample + Cranial Plating really puts damage out. That means no more chumping our big Master of Etherium with a random 1/1, time walking us practically.
Land Base:
x4 Blinkmoth Nexus
Being able to make lands threats is one of the stock affinity’s biggest strengths versus sweepers and decks that run tons of removal and keeps our threat / mana density up. This could be 4 Inkmoth nexus if desired but I wanted to keep the damage going instead of playing Eldrazi and firing up an Inkmoth Nexus for infect damage. Being able to pump itself also makes Blinkmoth Nexus situationally better.
4x Eldrazi Temple
This is the sole land for Eldrazi, otherwise it just feels like a worse Darksteel Citadel but this is the cost of playing Eldrazi, less man lands and artifacts.
4x Darksteel Citadel
This is mostly self explanatory. They power up our Mox Opals and Cranial Platings while being a snack for Arcbound Ravager.
4x Spire of Industry
More Colored Mana! With Wastes Mana! This is what we need to be competitive with a sideboard and pay for Cranial Plating’s instant speed ability to equip.
1x Waste (Basic Slot)
This slot is the hardest for me to figure out what I want to do with. I am currently rocking a Waste to be able to cast Eldrazis if I get Blood Mooned because it that situation it locks out all of our Eldrazi. But there is also an argument that it could be a swamp to pay for Cranial Plating and Dismember or a Mountain for our sideboard cards.
Tournament
Round 1 - Got paired up against Jund.
Game 1
The first game was over in seconds, I won the die roll and snapped my 7 while my opponent mulliganed to 6.
I dropped Eldrazi Temple, Springleaf Drum, Ornithopter, Vault Skirge, Mox Opal and Signal Pest and passed the turn.
He drops Raging Ravine tapped and passes back.
I drew a Memnite for turn, played it, tapped Springleaf Drum and Memnite, Mox Opal, Eldrazi Temple to play Thought-Knot Seer and exile Terminate from their hand.
His hand contained: Dark Confidant, Liliana of the Veil, Scavenging Ooze, Blackcleave Cliffs and Verdant Catacombs.
I attacked for 3 and passed the turn back.
He slammed Blackcleave Cliffs and Dark Confidant and passes the turn back.
I drew Blinkmoth Nexus and threw it down and attacked.
Dark Confidant flipped a couple lands and he just is dead to my creatures on board.
Game 2
He seemed a little confused side boarding and we shuffle up and I keep a greedy 7 and he mulligans to 6 again.
He starts with a Blackcleave Cliffs and passes.
I draw for the turn and my hand consists of Eldrazi Temple, Eldrazi Temple, Darksteel Citadel, Mox Opal, Vault Skirge,Etched Champion and Reality Smasher.
My draw for the turn was Arcbound Ravager.
I drop Eldrazi Temple, Mox Opal and Vault Skirge. He Fatal Pushes Vault Skirge on my end step.
He draws for turn and goes Verdant Catacombs and fetches for a Forest to play Dark Confidant and passes the turn back.
I draw Cranial Plating for the turn and drop Eldrazi Temple and Arcbound Ravager and pass back.
He ends up flipping Bloodstained Mire off Dark Confidant and plays Raging Ravine tapped and plays Scavenging Ooze and passes back.
I draw Dismember for turn and play Darksteel Citadel and play Reality Smasher and attack, he takes the hit (my hand contains Etched Champion, Cranial Plating and Dismember). Mox opal is active to leave open Dismember if needed.
He flips Tarmogoyf with Dark Confidant and drops Tarmogoyf, Bloodstained Mire and passes back, I take my chance and Dismember the Tarmogoyf.
I draw Blinkmoth Nexus for the turn and play it. I tap 2 Eldrazi Temples for Cranial Plating and tap Darksteel Citadel to equip it to Reality Smasher and attack and pass the turn. He eats my Vault Skirge at the end of my turn and fetches Stomping Ground tapped.
He flips Anger the Gods off Dark Confidant plays a fetch and grabs a Swamp and Kolaghan Commands my Cranial Plating and deals 2 to my Arcbound Ravager. I eat my Cranial Plating and Darksteel Citadel with my Arcbound Ravager.
On my turn I draw my card for turn and animate Blinkmoth Nexus, load up Arcbound Ravager and move the counters to Blinkmoth Nexus for lethal.
How I Sideboarded for Round 1
In
3x Stubborn Denial
1x Etched Champion
1x Relic of Progenitus
Out
2x Signal Pest
2x Steel Overseer
1x Arcbound Ravager
So in this match up they are geared to beat stock Affinity and catching them off guard is a huge advantage for us. We are mainly looking to slim down on going to wide.
Trying not to run into an Anger of the Gods and make Kolaghan's Command weaker. Cutting Steel Overseers and Signal Pests plays along the not going to wide route.
While cutting 1 Arcbound Ravager might be wrong I would rather have the 0 drop creatures powering out our Springleaf Drums and Mox Opals for the bigger threats.
Relic of Progenitus makes those Tarmogoyfs smaller so our Eldrazis can punch through, otherwise we could have a huge board stall where we are attacking for 2-4 in the air while the ground is all gummed up.
The Stubborn Denials are MVPs with the Eldrazis and Cranial Plating and snagging 1 piece of their interaction could cause them to not find the right answer a 2nd time.
Siding in the 4th Etched Champion is up to the consistency of being able to see this guy to the max amount.
Round 2- Affinity
I go to sit down and unfold my playmat and get my boogie board out and start shuffling and my opponent lays down this RK Post Affinity Playmat (Hot).
And I say "I hope you’re on Burn" he Grins
Game 1
He keeps his 7 and I mulliganed to 6, keeping Eldrazi Temple, Reality Smasher, Ornithopter, Darksteel Citadel, Mox Opal and Steel Overseer!
He goes turn 1 Blinkmoth Nexus, Springleaf Drum, Memnite and Signal Pest and pass.
I draw for turn and draw another Eldrazi Temple, play Darksteel Citadel, Mox Opal, Ornithopter, and Steel Overseer and pass back.
He untaps and plays Darksteel Citadel and Steel Overseer. He tapped Springleaf Drum plus Steel Overseer to Galvanic Blast my Steel Overseer and attack for 2 with Memnite and Signal Pest and pass back.
I draw Spire of Industry and play Eldrazi Temple and pass back (Spire of Industry, Eldrazi Temple and Reality Smasher in my hand compared to his 1).
He draws and plays Vault Skirge paying 2 life and taps Springleaf Drum and Vault Skirge and Darksteel Citadel to drop Cranial Plating. He activates Steel Overseer and attacks for 4 with Memnite and Signal Pest.
I scoop up and move to game 2 after drawing a land.
Game 2
He mulligans to 6 and I keep my 7 (Ancient Grudge, Mox Opal, Chalice of the Void, Darksteel Citadel, Steel Overseer, Eldrazi Temple and Thought-Knot Seer).
Play Darksteel Citadel, Mox Opal and play Chalice of the Void on 0 and play Steel Overseer and pass.
He goes Blinkmoth Nexus and Springleaf Drum and passes back.
I draw Ornithopter for the turn and play Eldrazi Temple and Thought-Knot Seer and take his Master of Etherium (the rest of his hand was Ornithopter, Mox Opal, Arcbound Ravager and Vault Skirge) and pass back.
He goes Spire of Industry into Arcbound Ravager and then taps Springleaf Drum plus Arcbound Ravager and plays Vault Skirge and passes back (his hand is Mox Opals and Ornithopter).
End of turn I activate Steelover Seer to make it a 2/2.
I draw Arcbound Ravager and Ancient Grudge his Arcbound Ravager and attack with Thought-Knot Seer and he scoops.
Game 3
He chose to draw and says "I think the extra card makes a huge difference in the mirror match". We both keep our 7s.
Mine is Blinkmoth Nexus, Eldrazi Temple, Darksteel Citadel, Vault Skirge, Cranial Plating, Reality Smasher and Ancient Grudge.
I go Eldrazi Temple and Vault Skirge and pass with 5 cards in hand.
he Draws then plays Blink, Drum, Thopter, Vault Skirge and passes with 4 cards in hand.
I draw Ornithopter for the turn and play Blinkmoth Nexus, Ornithopter and Cranial Plating and pass back (with Reality Smasher, Darksteel Citadel and Ancient Grudge in hand).
He draws and plays Spire of Industry, taps Spire of Industry, Blinkmoth Nexus and Springleaf Drum and Ornithopter to play a Master of Etherium and attack with Vault Skirge and has 2 cards in hand and passes back.
I draw Memnite and play it and Darksteel Citadel and equip Vault Skirge with Cranial Plating and pass the turn (Ancient Grudge in hand).
He draws and Ancient Grudges my Cranial Plating and attacks with Master of Etherium, Vault Skirge and Ornithopter
I draw Eldrazi Temple for the turn and play Reality Smasher and pass then scoop on his turn to lethal Cranial Plating plus Vault Skirge.
How I Sided for Round 2 - On the Play
In
3x Chalice of the Void
1x Ancient Grudge
1x Wear// Tear
1x Ghirapur AEther Grid
Out
2x Signal Pest
3x Dismember
1x Reality Smasher
Chalice of the Void - Only good when we are on the play in the match up and it can win the match all on its own by giving us time.
Ancient Grudge - Best card in the mirror match, being able to 2-1 them and take there best 2 cards really gives us an advantage.
Wear//Tear - Most of the time just a Shatter for their best card but in the mirror match you can also hit opposing Ghirapur AEther Grids with it.
Ghirapur AEther Grid - First person to land a Ghirapur AEther Grid in the matchup most likely will win, because being able to shoot all the opposing players small guys and man lands is huge!
How I Sided for Round 2- For the Draw (He let me play first game 3)
Out
3x Chalice of the Void
In
3x Dismember
The reasoning for this is we just want more ways to kill his guys and Chalice of the Void feels a lot worse when you can stop them from opening up with Memnites, Ornithopters, and Mox Opals, and stopping them from powering up Springleaf Drums and turn one 2 drops.
Round 3 - Eldrazi Tron
Game 1
I sit down to a fellow Affinity Group Player Chris Chichy, he switched sides for the event and was on Eldrazi Tron instead of Affinity.
We both keep greedy 7s, he was on the play and Warping Wails my Signal Pest and Steel Overseer the turn they come down. I draw an Arcbound Ravager and then he plays End Bringer and slowly grinds me out of the game with card advantage.
Game 2
I'm on the play and keep a hand with Cranial Plating and Ancient Grudge with small dudes plus Vault Skirge.
I drop the Vault Skirge turn 1 with a Memnite and pass the turn.
He drops Expedition map and passes it back to me.
I draw and play land plus Springleaf Drum, tap Springleaf Drum and Memnite to Ancient Grudge his Expedition Map and smack him for 1 with Vault Skirge and he plays a 2nd land and passes back.
I play Cranial Plating, equip and smack him and he misses a 3rd land drop and scoops by the next turn.
Game 3
I'm on the draw and I keep my 7 and he mulligans to 6.
I have a pretty fast start and he falls behind with no Tron or Eldrazi Temple to power out dudes He Warping Wails one of my threats and scoops to my Thought-Knot Seer.
How I Sided for Round 3
In
x3 Stubborn Denial
x1 Ancient Grudge
x1 Wear//Tear
Out
x3 Etched Champion
x2 Signal Pest
The matchup can come to a board stall since we both play Eldrazi creatures but otherwise we are flying over the Eldrazis and only worried about Dismember/Walking Ballista.
x3 Stubborn Denials - we want to stop them from killing are board when we apply pressure, they can only answer with a kill spell.
x1 Ancient Grudge - Comes in handy at killing their various artifacts. They are strictly better than Etched Champion in the matchup.
x1 Wear// Tear - Just another Shatter effect. See Above.
Round 4 - Naya Burn
I get up to go and look at the pairings and I see I'm at the same table I just played at last round. I go to the table and start unpacking my stuff, my friend is sitting to my feft at Table 11 playing his terrible G/R Ponza deck. So we are bsing until my opponent shows up and we introduce ourselves and shuffle up and roll the dice. I w the die roll and keep my 7, he also keeps his 7.
Game 1
I keep an alright 7. My hand consists of Mox Opal, Springleaf Drum, Spire of Industry, Memnite, Vault Skirge, Thought-Knot Seer and Blinkmoth Nexus.
I lead off with Mox Opal, Springleaf Drum, Blinkmoth Nexus, Memnite and Vault Skirge. I pass the turn with Spire of Industry and Thought-Knot Seer left in my hand.
My opponent draws and plays a Inspiring Vantage and bolts my Vault Skirge and passes back to me.
I draw an Arcbound Ravager for turn and play a land and tap Memnite and Springleaf Drum to play Thought-Knot Seer and take his Lighting Helix leaving him with multiple burn spells that can go to the face and a Eidolon of the Great Revel.
He goes and plays a land and Eidolon of the Great Revel and passes back.
I draw a land and play Arcbound Ravager and start attacking with Thought-Knot Seer. He doesn’t block and draws for 2 turns and dies to Arcbound Ravager and Thought-Knot Seer with me at 7 life.
Game 2
He is on the play and I keep my 7 which consists of Vault Skirge, Blinkmoth Nexus, Thought-Knot Seer, Springleaf Drum, Chalice of the Void, Eldrazi Temple and Arcbound Ravager. He leads with a fast land and suspends Rift Bolt and passes.
I draw Spire of Industry, play Blinkmoth Nexus, Springleaf Drum and pass (6 in hand: Chalice of the Void, Eldrazi Temple, Arcbound Ravager, Thought-Knot Seer, Vault Skirge and Spire of Industry)
He shoots Rift Bolt at my face and plays an untapped land and passes back.
I draw Reality Smasher and play Eldrazi Temple and Vault Skirge and taps Springleaf Drum and Vault Skirge for a Chalice of the Void on 1 and pass. He end of turn Boros Charms me and draws and plays a fetchland and passes back.
I draw a land and play Thought-Knot Seer (he Lightning Helixes me in response). I get to see his Hand of 1 Lightning Bolt he just drew and Atarka's Command along with Skull Crack
I end up taking the Skull Crack and pass back to him and he draws and passes back. I get Cranial Plating and equip it to Vault Skirge and attack and in response he Atarka's Commands me.
He draws for his turn and shows a Goblin Guide, Lightning Bolt and land and ends up scooping.
How I Sided for Round 4
In
x3 Chalice of the Void
x1 Etched Champion
Out
x3 Dismember
x1 Reality Smasher
x3 Chalice of the Void - Chalice of the Void on 1 or 2 in the matchup can lock them out of spells and it puts more pressure on their artifact removal while slowing down their pace of play so we can beat them down with Eldrazis that they can’t deal with and possibly have no sideboard answer for.
x1 Etched Champion - Lowering our curve by cutting the Reality Smasher for the 4th Etched Champion is great and allows us to block all of their ground guys while we are presenting a threat that can’t be easily dealt with.
Round 5 - Jeskai Jace Control
After what felt like forever the next round to start and pairings are posted, I look and I finally moved up to table 8 after being at table 10 for the past 2 rounds.
Game 1
I sit down at the table and I win the die roll and keep an okay 7 with (Springleaf Drum, Blinkmoth Nexus, Spire of Industry, Arcbound Ravager, Signal Pest, Thought-Knot Seer and Etched Champion). My opponent keeps his 7.
I start with Blinkmoth Nexus and Springleaf Drum and pass with 5 cards in my hand.
He draws and plays Flooded Strand and passes with 7 cards in hand.
I draw Darksteel Citadel, play it and Arcbound Ravager, tap it plus Springleaf Drum for Signal Pest and pass with 3 cards in hand. End of turn he fetches and shocks himself to Lightning Bolt my Arcbound Ravager and modular onto Signal Pest.
He draws and plays a tapped Celestial Colonnade and passes back with 7 cards in hand.
I draw Cranial Plating and play Spire of Industry and tap Signal Pest plus Springleaf Drum and 3 lands for Thought-Knot Seer. I take Path of Exile and pass.
He draws and plays a fetchland and Lightning Helixs the Signal Pest and passes.
I draw Memnite and play Cranial Plating and equip it to Thought-Knot Seer and attack.
He blanks a couple more draws and eventually dies to Etched Champion in my hand.
Game 2
He is on the play after he finishes siding in a billion cards and mulligans to 6. He starts off with Serum Visions into turn 2 Stony Silence but I had a Chalice on 1 and then Thought-Knot Seer on 3 taking Lightning Helix. We end up sitting there for a few turns while he could not answer the Thought-Knot Seer with the Chalice of the Void on 1 and died.
How I Sided for Round 5
In
x3 Chalice of the Void
x1 Etched Champion
x1 Wear//Tear
x1 Ghirapur AEther Grid
Out
x3 Dismember
x2 Signal Pest
x1 Steel Overseer
x3 Chalice of the Void - In this matchup most of their removal is on 1 and also some number of cantrips and can be very restrictive to what they do in the game unless they waste a Disenchant or Shatter effect on it and not one of my dudes.
x1 Etched Champion - if we don't have Chalice of the Void we most likely have metalcraft and an Etched Champion attacking for 2 in this matchup is enough pressure to kill them.
x1 Wear//Tear - Although I don't expect any artifacts from them besides maybe Engineered Explosives this is mainly to hit Stoney Silence.
x1 Ghirapur AEther Grid - Can win very grindy slow games if they manage to kill all of our creatures we have plenty of dorky random artifacts laying around to gun them down.
x3 Dismember - We could leave this in to kill Gideon + Celestial Colonnade but I would rather be more aggressive and not be holding a removal spell until that happens.
x2 Signal Pest - Our creatures are not going to be able to swarm as effectively and we really want all of our dudes to have some form of power.
x1 Steel Overseer - Going along with the swarm less plan, he is slow but we don't mind keeping 1 as it will get Path of Exiled or Lightning Bolted or kill them if left unchecked.
Round 6 - KCI Combo
At this point I am 4-1 going into round 6 so I should be able to draw into Top 8 but when I look at the pairings and see that I am at Table 4 with a pair down because he had a bye, I have to play it out.
Game 1
I win the die roll and keep an semi-decent 7. My opponent also keeps his opening 7.
I go land, Vault Skirge and pass.
He draws and goes land plays Chromatic Star and Mox Opal and passes
I draw my own Mox Opal and play Darksteel Citadel and tap out to play and equip Vault Skirge to Cranial Plating and attack.
He plays more baubles and passes back.
I play Steel Overseer and a land, fire up Blinkmoth Nexus and attack with Vault Skirge with Cranial Plating and Blinkmoth Nexus.
He cracks some baubles and finds some 3 drop guy that allows him to start his combo and passes.
It goes back and forth until the Vault Skirge and Cranial Plating is to much for him to handle and he dies.
Game 2
I kept a slow hand on the draw and he kept his starting 7. He starts off the first couple turns just playing baubles and cycling cards. I end up not being able to put enough pressure on to kill him
and he combos off on turn 4.
Game 3
I'm on the play and I keep my starting 7 and he does the same. Turn 1 I play Eldrazi Temple and Vault Skirge and pass to him.
He draws and plays a land, Chromatic Star and Mox Opal and passes.
I draw and play Memnite for turn and throw down Blinkmoth Nexus and attack with Vault Skirge.
He draws and plays a land and plays Ichor Wellspring and taps Mox Opal for Ancient Stirrings and takes Mishra's Bauble and plays it.
I draw Eldrazi Temple, play it then tap my other Eldrazi Temple and Blinkmoth Nexus for 5 mana to play Reality Smasher. I go to combat and attack with Memnite, Vault Skirge and Reality Smasher for 7 putting him to 12 and pass the turn.
He cycles off the star looking for a Krark-Clan Ironworks and misses, he plays another Ichor Wellspring and Chromatic Star and passes back to me.
I draw Reality Smasher off the top and cast it to attack for 12 with Reality Smasher, Reality Smasher, Memnite and Vault Skirge.
How I Sided for Round 6
In
x3 Chalice of the Void
x1 Ancient Grudge
x1 Wear//Tear
Out
x2 Signal Pest
x2 Steel Overseer
x1 Arcbound Ravager
This matchup was kinda tricky because I had only played it a couple times before and it never did anything and died to my stock Affinity list.
So with this list I knew going into it I only wanted to kill them fast as possible and sideboarding was a little rough.
x3 Chalice of Void - I brought this in because I believe it can interrupt the loop on 0s and the 2nd copy goes on 1. The main reason that the first copy does not go on 1 is because we want to shut off the 3 main deck Engineered Explosives and Mox Opals.
1x Grudge - This is used to disrupt them.
1x Wear//Tear - More disruption to their artifacts.
Cutting the Signal Pest, Steel Overseer and 1 Arcbound Ravager seemed like the best thing to do so far but I don’t know if I want to change those to other cards in the main deck.
Top 8!
Quarter Finals! - Scapeshift
I made it into the Top 8 at the highest seed so I get to be on the play on every game 1!
Game 1
I keep a double Eldrazi Temple, Thought-Knot Seer hand with some dorky artifacts.
He keeps his starting 7.
The Thought-Knot Seer comes down on turn 2 taking a Hour of Promise from his hand and leaving him with multiple Farseeks, Sakura Tribe Elders and lands.
He ends up succumbing to the pressure of my dorky artifacts and Eldrazis and dies by turn 5.
Game 2
He chooses to be on the play and we both end up keeping our starting 7s.
He goes Tapped Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle and passes the turn
I lead with Springleaf Drum, Mox Opal, Vault Skirge, Spire of Industry and Ornithopter and pass back
He plays one of his ramp spells and passes back.
I play Darksteel Citadel and Cranial Plating and equip it to Vault Skirge and send him to the face.
He plays one of his 2 mana ramp spells and passes back to me.
I draw Eldrazi Temple for turn and play Thought-Knot Seer and he tries to Lightning Bolt in response on Vault Skirge.
In response to that I tap Ornithopter and Springleaf Drum to Stubborn Denial his Lightning Bolt.
He goes to his turn and Sweltering Suns me and passes back.
I equip Thought-Knot Seer with Cranial Plating and swing!
He finds no combo pieces and just ramps and plays Sakura Tribe Elder.
I draw Dismember and force him to sacrifice Sakura Tribe Elder attack with Thought-Knot Seer and kill him that turn. He couldn't deal with all the pressure and disruption I had.
How I Sided for Quarterfinals
In
x3 Stubborn Denial
x1 Blood Sun
Out
x2 Steel Overseer
x2 Signal Pest
x3 Stubborn Denial - I have played this match up multiple times up to this point and have always had so much trouble killing them since I'm playing a slower game than the stock Affinity list. Primeval Titan likes to eat our Eldrazis for dinner and puts us in very awkward board stalls.
With the Dismember I added for this event it helped beat the guys and hold back my Eldrazis.
x1 Blood Sun - I had a flex slot and I really wanted to hedge vs Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle but this card was never drawn and really should probably should be another card.
Semi Finals! - Esper Death's Shadow / Lingering Souls
Going in to the match up I had no idea how the matchup was going to be.
Game 1
I played first and we both kept our opening 7s. He knows I am on Affinity and I know he is on some Death Shadow variant.
My hand had double Cranial Plating, Darksteel Citadel, Blinkmoth Nexus, Etched Champion, Ornithopter and Mox Opal.
I led with Mox Opal, Ornithopter, Darksteel Citadel and Cranial Plating.
He leads with a fetchland and shocks himself to play Serum Visions and passes back.
I drop Blinkmoth Nexus and cast Etched Champion and pass back.
He plays Inquisition of Kozilek and takes my 2nd Cranial Plating and sees my Thought-Knot Seer
Within the next 3 turns I kill him with Etched Champion with Cranial Plating as he digs for a way to remove it.
Game 2
He is on the play I keep my 7 and he ends up mulliganing to 5.
My hand contains 2 lands, Cranial Plating, Ornithopter, Chalice of the Void, Arcbound Ravager and Vault Skirge.
He open with Thoughtseize and takes my Cranial Plating.
He never ends up drawing enough interaction and dies to my Cranial Plating and the pressure from all my dudes.
How I Sided for Semi Finals
In
x3 Chalice of the Void
x1 Relic of Progenitus
x1 Etched Champion
Out
x2 Signal Pest
x2 Steel Overseer
x1 Reality Smasher
x3 Chalice of the Void - From experience from playing versus other Death Shadow decks Chalice of the Void really hoses them and forces him to Thoughtseize it or kill it in otherways if he wants to have any interaction in the game.
x1 Relic of Progenitus - Nonbo with Chalice of the Void but if I draw Chalice of the Void and it's active I'm probably already in a good spot, this just helps slow his delve threats / fight snapcasters
x1 Etched Champion - Great versus targeted removal and a gummed up board with colored creatures everywhere.
Finals! - Jeskai Control!
Game 1
We both keep our opening 7s he ends up killing all my threats by turn 4-5 and locks me out of the game then kills me over the next 5 Turns with Celestial Colonnade.
Game 2
We both kept our 7s, he pretty much does the same thing as game 1 but I have him down to 2 life, he Spell Quellers a Thought-Knot Seer and I pass.
He keeps it back and leaves mana open and passes back. My field has Memnite, Ornithopter (with a hat) and another Memnite.
I go to combat with double black mana up and 3 dudes versus his with Cranial Plating for lethal and he bolts the Ornithopter and I try to Stubborn Denial it he Spell Quellers it. Ornithopter ends up dying.
He moves to blockers phase and blocks 1 Memnite with Spell Queller. I am holding up Stubborn Denial and I move Cranial Plating to one of the unblocked guys and he didn't have an answer. (He definitely should have won with his grip full of kill spells but forgot to play around Cranial Plating instant speed equip.
Game 3
We shuffle up and we both keep our opening 7s.
I turn 2 Thought-Knot Seer taking a Path of Exile leaving him with a Lightning Helix, Search for Azcanta and a bunch of lands.
He gets mana flooded and eventually reaches over and shakes my hand. WE WON!
How I Sided for the Finals
In
x3 Stubborn Denial
x1 Etched Champion
x1 Wear//Tear
x1 Ghirapur AEther Grid
Out
x3 Dismember
x2 Signal Pest
x1 Steel Overseer
I ended up siding very differently versus him than I did versus the Jeskai Control list in the swiss rounds and I probably should have just stuck with the original play because I was on the back foot the entire match and stole the win from his mistakes and terrible draws game 3.
Chalice of the Void is a lot better versus this deck than the Stubborn Denials were in my opinion.
Winner! - Eldrazi N' Bots
On a serious note I got very lucky throughout the day and won a lot of matchups I thought would be hard for me but here I am sitting in the winner’s circle.
Over the last two months I have been doing fairly well with this pile of cards. The main question is where do i go from here?
