I miss playing against Pod.
Modern forum
Posted on March 29, 2015, 12:54 p.m. by APPLE01DOJ
Wish Pod was around still. Loved playing against the deck. I never felt the deck was oppressive but one of the more exciting match ups. Had such a wide variety of options and ways to win. Can't help but feel like the influx of Burn & Delver and lack of BGx at the time made it seem stronger than it was. Who else misses this deck? Stupid Siege Rhino!
FAMOUSWATERMELON says... #3
You miss getting beat over and over by the same fricking deck? I really don't.
March 29, 2015 1:05 p.m.
GlistenerAgent says... #4
I kinda liked playing against Pod too. Especially since it was a good matchup.
March 29, 2015 1:05 p.m.
selesvyaloverer8 says... #5
my pod matchup and my delver matchups were fine i miss them.
March 29, 2015 1:12 p.m.
I liked pod from a design perspective but disliked its relative level of power. I think I stand at a healthy middle ground.
March 29, 2015 1:12 p.m.
Serendipitous_Hummingbird says... #7
I miss pod about as much as I miss DRS. In other words, I'm just pissed I didn't get rid of my foil copy before it got the axe in modern.
March 29, 2015 1:15 p.m.
As a Delver player, I hated playing against the deck. It was my worst match up.
Playing any other deck though, I enjoyed it. It was always a challenge, and I liked that.
March 29, 2015 1:57 p.m.
Hated that deck. So hard to beat the Kitchen Finks with burn....
March 29, 2015 2:58 p.m.
APPLE01DOJ says... #10
Not going to lie... Every post I read by a Burn or Delver player complaining makes me smile inside. Haha :D
March 29, 2015 3:01 p.m.
aeonstoremyliver says... #11
I played Pod. I also play RDW/Burn. Pod was a blast to play and play against. I'm hoping it'll get unbanned one day.
March 29, 2015 3:11 p.m.
GlistenerAgent says... #13
But remember the pre-Siege Rhino Pod days. Now those were incredible games.
I also take all the credit for convincing every single Pod player at my store that Siege Rhino is gas when they all thought it sucked.
March 29, 2015 4:16 p.m.
JakeHarlow says... #14
Pre-Rhino it was pretty fine. But it just got stupid quick when that card dropped.
March 29, 2015 4:53 p.m.
Pod before Rhino was pretty nice. Once Rhino came, everything went to shit and we had a deck that won 5/12 GP's (making it to the top 8 of most, if not all, of those). I think it's a cool card and I've always liked it, but I'm glad to see it go.
March 29, 2015 4:53 p.m.
GlistenerAgent says... #16
Well, the 5/12 included GPs back to Brian Liu at Richmond a year ago. You're right that Siege Rhino was the breaker.
March 29, 2015 4:55 p.m.
As a living end player that runs 4 ingot chewers in the main, I miss pod.
Playing before I built the deck was a nightmare though.
March 29, 2015 5:15 p.m.
wwhitegoldd says... #18
I agree with APPLE01DOJ that "the influx of Burn & Delver and lack of BGx" made pod seem stronger. However, I believe that the reason pod became sooo broken right before it got banned was because of siege rhino. Before rhino, pod was a combo deck that if given the right circumstances could win by beat down just like twin. And also like twin if you sideboard a few cards i.e. Combust/Rending Volley/Torpor Orb (for twin) and Ancient Grudge and Anger of the Gods (and a few others I can't think of right now)(for pod) u can stop the core of the deck and beat it. After rhino, pod had a whole new element. You didn't just have to worry about the pod and the combo, you had to worry about the pod, the combo, and the 4/5 trample that had great synergy with resto and was quite hard to get rid of. This whole new element made it so anger was almost pointless and made pod's worst match up (jund) a hell of a lot better. It also made it so non pod players would have to devote most of there side board for ONE DECK. Because of this people just weren't devoting enough sideboard space for pod which is another reason pod was doing so well.
I'd also be interested in seeing what would happen if pod was unbanned with bloom titan in the meta. It seems that it would be a fairly even match up which means pod might not do so well at events.
To all those delver and burn players out there. Being happy about pod being banned simply because it was a bad match up for you is stupid. It'd be like twin players being happy that ghoyf and thoughtseize where banned even though it might not be good for the meta. While I will admit pod did get very good after rhino, I believe that if Wizards unbans pod and bans rhino pod can go back to being a fun interactive combo deck that's not a one sided game.
based on what i said above, if Wizards prints a 2
4/4 flying when ____ enters the battlefield it deals 2 damge to target creature or player, draw a card. would twin get banned? (I know the formatting is probably wrong, I don't care! You get the point.)
March 29, 2015 7:07 p.m.
JexInfinite says... #19
I liked playing against delver, because that was a much more balanced deck that people adapted to.
March 29, 2015 7:30 p.m.
Dalektable says... #20
I absolutely loved playing against pod. The games were far from unwinnable, and every match against it was a challenge but a very interssting one.
March 29, 2015 7:36 p.m.
wwhitegoldd says... #21
You liked playing against delver instead of against pod? What do you play? I'm not saying that playing against pod was better. I think they are the same.
March 29, 2015 7:37 p.m.
wwhitegoldd says... #22
When anybody says they love or hate playing against pod are they talking about post or pre rhino pod. There is a HUGE difference
March 29, 2015 7:43 p.m.
selesvyaloverer8 says... #23
no twin wouldnt get banned cuz of that b/c twin would rather just play Vendilion Clique. Second, pod got banned b/c it was impossible to build a better creature deck and b/c it would only get better as better creatures were printed and so it would put a crunch on them printing better creatures. Along with the fact that it had started to win a lot meant that they would just ban it before it went all BBE+DRS Jund.
March 29, 2015 9:09 p.m.
I think Delver was more of a menace to the modern meta than Pod before it ended. But that's my perspective, as a Pod player...
March 30, 2015 9:44 a.m.
wwhitegoldd says... #25
selesvyaloverer8, yes, pod would get better as better creatures are printed, however with out rhino the core of the deck would be the same. Therefor the strategy to beat it would be the same. people would also start playing decks that beat pod such as jund or american control with sweepers and maybe a couple anger main board. Pod itself is a great example. when treasure cruise was first printed my local meta was 40% delver but when people started to realize that pod was the best deck to beat delver everybody started to play pod and the number of delver decks diminished to ~15%. After that rhino was the reason pod was so oppressive. because it added a whole new angle.
I wish people had stopped complaining about how oppressive pod was and instead had been creative and come up with a way to deal with it. maybe then it wouldn't have been banned. You don't need to wait for the pros to do something. net decking isn't the only way to win.
March 30, 2015 1:11 p.m.
WOT!!!!! POD WAS BEEN BANNED!!!
(moment of silence as I check on my card search sites)
HALI FREAKIN LUYAH
I HATED THAT DECK, OH THE RAGE AND HATRED AND @(!>>>....
sorry, venting my joy:
(imagine teh rest in all caps)
when did that happen? Holy crap. I was considering getting back into magic but remembering kiki infinite loop pod decks was very discouraging. BUT hearing this totally got me back into magic 100%. That deck was absolutely oppressive in deck building and fabricating new strategies. It limited the meta immensely. I still strongly disagree with many of their bannings like Deathrite Shaman. Often I would say "ban the #@$ing kikki jiki that limits strategy rather than deathrite which provokes strategy."
So they missed on the banning dart board a bit, but at least kiki-pod decks are gone. Pod gave strategy while kiki removed, but at leasy kiki is slowed down a lot -- Haluluyah!
I am happy. So happy. Praises to the people who banned pod. I still would have preferred banning kikijiki as that would completely remove the infinite loop. but removal of pod really makes the loop harder to manage and thus slightly more fair.
that was redundant:::: redundant joy!!
March 30, 2015 4 p.m.
nickiru, well, now the meta is filled with Splinter Twin (Worse than Kikki) and Junk decks..... That is not that good either....
March 30, 2015 4:21 p.m.
I don't fear junk, that's just a fair/good deck. I promote decks like that.
Splinter twin can go die in a hole, but rather than dealing with two very different kiki decks (pod and control) its just the control variant (i am speaking generally.)
This way I can focus on a sideboard for just one deck type. I tend to beat everything but pod and if I try alter my decks to fight pod than I become weak towards everything else. With pod gone I can develop more strategies as well.
(just ban kiki) (sigh)
March 30, 2015 4:26 p.m.
APPLE01DOJ says... #30
Kiki Pod was only one variation of the deck. Anyway the point of the thread isn't about if WoTC was right or wrong about banning pod, it's about reminiscing on good games. ;)
I agree though the Meta as a whole probably should have been SBing and mana basing a bit better... I mean they did give us a flashable Torpor Orb right before Siege Rhino ... And the best anti Delver tools should have been on SBs already... Chalice of the Void Engineered Explosives Ratchet Bomb etc
March 30, 2015 5:13 p.m.
jandrobard says... #31
You enjoyed playing against pod? No accounting for taste...
March 30, 2015 5:17 p.m.
APPLE01DOJ says... #33
Yes I did enjoy it. I play Smallpox which does quite well against Pod. Not saying I haven't lost to Kiki & Angel but I've lost to that combo in a twin build as well...
March 30, 2015 6:21 p.m.
I dont miss Pod.. but I do miss the flavor of its existence pre Rhino.. I hate that freaking rhino..
Course my opinion is null since its was a good matchup for me. :3
I dont mind Twin, kinda feel like abzan is pushing me twards having to consider playing burn.. especially as fast as ceji3 burnt me out. o.o
March 30, 2015 6:49 p.m.
Lol burn is love, burn is life. Unless they ban Lightning Bolt, it should stay at the top, which is why i chose burn. It should almost always be competitive.
March 30, 2015 7:12 p.m.
i also like throwing lightning bolts at people. I feel like such a wizard.
March 30, 2015 7:17 p.m.
APPLE01DOJ says... #37
I don't play burn but I test my decks against it constantly. (Paper) If u know the match up and how to pilot your deck correctly Burn is almost always a winnable match. However if your deck has any hiccups burn will expose them right away. Plus yea T3 wins are an awesome feeling.
March 30, 2015 7:22 p.m.
Death_The_Kid says... #39
I actually got into modern a tad late, I was going to bring a Grixis Delver deck to an FNM however Cruise and Pod were banned before I finished my deck so my Grixis Delver is now a weird mutated aborted control/Delver shell...oh and I had to redo my sideboard since pod was gone. I actually wanted to play against it. Well one less threat to worry about.
March 31, 2015 4:12 a.m.
APPLE01DOJ, I probably would need to pilot a deck more capable of handling it, or massively change my sideboard for it..
My deck is built to give Rock varients a harder time.. so I doubt I can have both. :(
March 31, 2015 4:18 a.m.
wwhitegoldd says... #41
nickiru, I don't know why you are so ecstatic that pod was banned so kiki pod won't be so oppresive (which it wasn't. if you look at grand prixs pod won 5/12, only one of those was kiki and most, if not all of the time pod top 8'd a grand prix it was rhino or melira). Pod was banned because of the W/B/G version whether it be melira or rhino pod. Kiki pod was the less played, worse version of pod. although I imagine it was more fun to pilot.
March 31, 2015 10:39 a.m.
That's fine.
I am a strange player. I can combat every pod style just fine, it was simply kiki pod that just somehow had this ability to beat me. This is more of a personal thing (although me and my pile of buddies who also play magic were ecstatic about it.) There was something just overpowered about kiki pod, we always thought of it as the better version rather than the worst; but it depends on play style. I tend to play much different than other people so where you think kiki pod was the worse end of the pod decks and the others are better, I think the complete opposite.
even if the deck didn't win much (or at all), its like land destruction. If your doing great in a grand prix beating everyone's net deck and then all of the sudden lando comes up, even though land destruction arguably won't ever win, it still is threatening and so out of the ordinary most decks can't cope with it on first try and thus lose. Likewise, kiki pod is just the one stupid deck that doesn't win but breaks peoples knees who are about to win.
Hard to explain, we can just leave it that I had an irrational hatred for that deck and em happy its gone. (WOOOO, (disco ball, dancing))
ChiefBell says... #2
I don't
March 29, 2015 1 p.m.