clayperce

Thinking about moving a Finks in for a Beast Within. Gives a lot of game against Aggro and matches up nicely against Beast Within tokens itself. Thoughts?

Also, with IXN nearing, the question is brought up again about Carnage Tyrant. I'm definitely running one, and am thinking about cutting either a Thragtusk or a Colossus for it. Still not sure, curious about your thoughts once again.

Hey Bovine073!
First, sorry I missed your earlier comment. Congrats on the 3-1! Also, sorry for never getting back to you on Tireless Tracker ... bottom line is I think Chameleon Colossus is still just a little better, but it's VERY close. Here's the list I tested and some match-up info: Tireless Ponza.

On Kitchen Finks though, I think the card is great in the abstract, but I don't personally like it much. Partly it's just meta call ... there's a little more Control than Aggro in my meta. But I think it's mostly just my personal play-style ... I'm ALWAYS happy to see him, but I'm sometimes unhappy to cast him ... it just seems to draw WAY more Atarka's Commands and Skullcracks from the other side of the table than I prefer :-(

Spijker ran 4x Finks in the main though, and while that's the only competitive deck I've ever seen that did, it's clearly a decent choice.

Yeah, I look forward to trying Carnage Tyrant too. I think it's totally a meta call on what to pull ... keep Colossus for a meta that's heavier on Black or Go-big and Thrag' for everything else. If you end up trying full Dinoponza though, keep Regisaur Alpha in mind too. I don't honestly think it's good enough. But it plays well with Colossus for sure! :-)

One final thought, in case you're not already aware: Moonbar started a subreddit for us over at r/PonzaMTG. It's a small but very active community ... would love you to drop by if you haven't already!

Draw well!

clayperce

Thanks for the input. I'll start doing some more testing with it.

The Dino Ponza was more of a joke but yeah it would be fun. It may be what finally gets me into Standard though! Very excited about lots of those cards.

Regarding the subreddit, I haven't been active on reddit as of late, perhaps I'll get back into it. Cheers!

How much work has Gut Shot put in for you on your side?

Burg+1

Actually a surprising amount! One of the things this deck likes seeing least on the other side of the table is a T1 birds or noble. This solves that problem. It's also great as (yet another) sideboard card against Affinity. ALso is incidentally very good against the D&T matchup, which is sometimes problematic. Same with Faeries. I've seen it do good work, and I plan on keeping it in the sideboard.

Bovine073,
Some thoughts, in no particular order ...

• I go back and forth on Kessig Wolf Run vs. adding another Fetch. I've certainly won games with Wolf Run plus a Bird or Elf. But I've also had to mul' due to Wolf Run in my opener. Before Tireless Tracker, Wolf run was definitely the better option IMO. With 3x Trackers though, I'm not so sure ...
• Another Land option is to go to 22 and drop a Bird. +1 Land means extra Clues, plus Lands don't die to removal/Birds do. Though of course, Birds can chump block Flyers/Lands can't.
• I'm sure it's just a playstyle thing, but I'm not personally a fan of a bunch of 1-ofs (unless a deck also has a bunch of tutors). They're of course amazing when we need them and actually draw them. But I really dislike drawing the wrong side of my deck. For example, I run 2x Chameleon Colossus and 2x Obstinate Baloth in my 75 like you do. But I play with 2x Colossus in the main and 2x Baloth in the side, rather than a 1-1 split.
• I've found Huntmaster of the Fells to be superb in grindy matchups, but underwhelming everywhere else.

Good luck (and skill) with the new deck!!!