Nimble Obstructionist Vs Tale's End
Modern Deck Help forum
Posted on Oct. 24, 2022, 11:04 a.m. by Icbrgr
I've been attending my LGS for Modern and am starting to identify some decks to watch out for and am considering some sideboard options.
- Living End
- Tron
- Affinity
- Goblins
- Swans
- Tokens
- Prowess/tempo (two different players running this deck)
Im seeing a trend of creature focused strategies with a beatdown or activated/triggered abilities resulting in them winning.
So this week I think I am gonna try running a Jeskai Control build loaded with removal/wipes/sweepers for the Mainboard... but im looking for being able to interact/prevent triggers/abilities... I'm currently stuck between Pithing Needle, Tale's End and Nimble Obstructionist.
I would appreciate any thoughts on this decklist and any advise/pointers for the potential matchups i've been noticing.
Ancient Way Control
Modern
SCORE: 11 | 7 COMMENTS | 911 VIEWS | IN 2 FOLDERS
Dead_Blue_ says... #3
Just mentioning Squelch as another option. Personally I’ve ran Nimble Obstructionist and been quite happy with it but it’s strength shines when you can reoccur it
October 24, 2022 1:10 p.m.
How would you go about recurring obstructionist? I have another jeskai deck that's more creature focused and would be curious how that could be accomplished.
October 24, 2022 2:30 p.m.
Dead_Blue_ says... #5
This was what I ran it in Kefnet The Mindful and keep in mind this was long before Narset, Parter of Veils or Modern Horizons 2 existed.
But basically you start with Leyline of the Void and play the control game plan exiling all your opponents spells until you get a Kefnet the Mindful into play and cast a Day's Undoing. You get everything back as well as Kefnet online. Nimble Obstructionist hits fetches as well as any work around the opponent may have to disrupt your plan.
Trouble is games would often go too long
October 24, 2022 2:55 p.m.
wallisface says... #6
My vote is Pithing Needle all the way. There’s a reason that card is a common occurrence in sideboards while the others are unheard of
October 24, 2022 3 p.m.
I think my only reservation about Pithing Needle is that its covering Activated abilities only... im seeing a lot of triggered abilities too which is why Tale's End in particular caught my interest....Nimble Obstructionist is expensive.... but the utility of also just being a 3/1 flash flyer to apply pressure is also appealing but probably just jank.
idk maybe less is more and going with Pithing Needle would do me the best.
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goblins: name Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker/Conspicuous Snoop
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tron: name Expedition Map/Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
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affinity: name Cranial Plating
idk I need to study the decks more to learn how to use Pithing Needle for its best effect.
October 24, 2022 3:37 p.m.
wallisface says... #9
Some sideboard thoughts in general against those decks you listed, and keeping in your colours:
- Living End: Rest in Peace.
- Tron: Damping Sphere. This card is also incidentally alright versus LivingEnd and Prowess also.
- Affinity: Fracturing Gust or Hurkyl's Recall
- Goblins: your mainboard already looks well positioned against this deck. I think Pithing Needle would be good here however.
- Swans: imo you shouldn’t need to have sideboard cards specifically to combat this deck
- Tokens: more board wipes? Not sure this deck poses much of a threat to you though?
- Prowess/tempo: killspells? Not sure how this is an issue at all with your current mainboard?
October 24, 2022 6:42 p.m. Edited.
wallisface says... #11
Something worth noting is that if you’re having trouble against all of these matchups, that your deck probably needs to consider a change to its mainboard, and not just sideboard adjustments.
Ideally you want your mainboard to feel comfortably positioned against at least half of the meta - if you’re always relying on sideboard cards to scrape you through then you’ve positioned yourself to fight an uphill battle. Modern has changed a lot over the past few years, and sideboard cards don’t represent the “silver bullets” they once were. If you’re deck is consistently losing games pre-sideboard, its probably an indicator of a mainboard overhaul.
October 24, 2022 9:06 p.m. Edited.
This decklist is untested at the LGS... I have been playing some decks there for the past few weeks just to get a feel for what's being played there and the vibe of the store and such (also shaking off the cobwebs from a long hiatus of in person paper magic)... This jeskai control list is a deck ive been builing/playing casually for awhile and I have hopes that it can perform decent at this store....
I originally was running Rest in Peace for living end but didnt like the symetrical GY exile because of my own reliance of the GY but i suppose when it come to confirming that Living end exist in the store i suppose i should probably put it make in over maybe Narset, Parter of Veils or Prismatic Ending because they seem to be the least helpful... i always hear great things about both but i find them kinda underwhelming... although i know Chalice of the Void gets played there too and prismatice helps get rid of it but im not even sure how bad chalice would hurt me.
October 24, 2022 9:47 p.m.
Just wanted to follow up here stating how Tale's End performed tonight.... i faced the guy who was running Living End last week but this week he was playing Crashing Footfalls.
I lost both games....
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game 1: My mainboard just isn't suited against this deck; tried to dig through the deck to find Settle the Wreckage but got hit with Mystical Dispute/Force of Negation and just died to rhinos.
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game 2: I mulligan then mulligan again down to 5 and panic kept an "Ify" hand at best... he opened Gemstone Caverns and slammed down an early Blood Moon and it was just G.G.
soooooo there was like 40 min left in the round and we played some exhibition games.... Tale's End was able to interact and stop some cascade shenanigans...but in the end Violent Outburst is just one heck of a card when played on your end step and you just look at your Force of Negation with sadness....
I placed 6th tonight out of 10 players... got clobbered by affinity and rhinos but decimated Burn and humans.
October 28, 2022 12:07 a.m.
wallisface says... #14
I think the big issue with using Tale's End against a cascade ability, is that the LivingEnd/Rhinos spells is still in their deck. If instead, you counter-magic for the LivingEnd/Rhinos, then you not only waste their cascade, but you also start burning through their limited payoff cards.
October 28, 2022 12:47 a.m.
your not wrong.... however this player just felt unbeatable to me lol... he had no issues with curb stomping me over and over in exhibition....whether I was able to stop a cascade or even just Force of Negation the Crashing Footfalls itself it just seemed he would be able to rinse and repeat the very next turn or turn after... and somehow usually had an answer for any of my plays to boot.
October 28, 2022 12:58 a.m.
wallisface says... #16
Yeah there's probably a lot of things in play there:
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Your opponent is playing a deck with is an established, finely-tuned, tier-1 deck. It's going to be really powerful. In comparison, your deck is a homebrew, with a sizable-chunk of cards that aren't really considered "competitively" viable. It will mean that in these kind of matchups it might very-well feel like a "David vs Goliath" situation.
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Your opponent has probably been playing a lot more magic that you have lately (as I think I remember at some point you saying you'd just started going back to your LGS recently?). There are a lot of tricky and non-obvious interactions in magic, and it might be the case that your opponent is just spotting better-lines and playing-around what you're doing better. I can say from my own LGS, that we have a few players with exceptionally fine-tuned decks, but which cost themselves games though suboptimal play (I've made my own share of mistakes). I'm not sure whether this is a factor at all - but you might find your deck starts performing better just as you start playing it more.
October 28, 2022 1:09 a.m.
wallisface says... #18
On point #1, if you want to work through fine-tuning one of your decks, feel free to reach out.
On point #2, it's just a case of playing/suffering through a lot more games. I remember getting completely hosed for a long time when first going to my LGS, and then years later being able to pretty regularly come first with a near-identical decklist. The learning curve is a long one, but feels super rewarding when things start "clicking".
shadow63 says... #2
I'd go with pihthing needle
October 24, 2022 11:51 a.m.