Eldrazi & Taxes
Modern
2 COMMENTS | 1258 VIEWS
3-0, 5 players tournament. —June 13, 2017
The deck performed admirably well tonight, despite the low attendance. I managed to win against the 2 decks which beat my previous mono-white Eldrazi and Taxes build (Elves and Merfolks). While Wide strategies are still unfavorable, adding black really upped my removal count.
The Matches
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2-1 against Elves. Bob gained me game one by allowing me to draw a ton of gas (lands actually, but the other card drawn was gas most turns). Leonin Arbiter and Thalia, Guardian of Thraben allowed me to black his potentially game winning Chord of Calling. Game 2, Elves did what elves do. Game 3, I started with Arbiter, and he started on Nettle Sentinel and Elvish Visionary with 2 lands, one of them generating colorless. I decided to take a chance and Ghost Quarter his green-producing land, and it won me the game: he never drew another land.
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2-0 against Boros Tokens. A brew with Monastery Mentor, Young Pyromancer and Outpost Siege. He nearly got me game 1, but he lost by keeping tokens back to defend. Game 2, I managed to mana screw him and he never recovered.
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2-1 against Fish. I got game one thanks to Wasteland Strangler killing his lords when I needed it. Game 2 was Lords galore: he had 4 on the boardat the same time at one point. Game 3 he mulled to 5 and drew mostly lands, while I kept a one lander and a vial. I was worried at first, but I managed to out-value him with Strangler, Flickerwisp and Orzhov Pontiff.
The White/Red Death & Taxes deck was considered for a while, based on Craig Wesco's article but ultimately I rejected it, simply because Harsh Mentor is just not that good. Yes, you Shock when they fetch, but that's about the limit of its abilities in most match-ups. It doesn't even hit elves, since it doesn't hit mana abilities! Compare it to Tidehollow Sculler, which is a discard spell with legs, or Wasteland Strangler, which is a removal spell with legs and you'll see why Harsh Mentor doesn't hold up.
I would love to play a good Boros D&T deck at some point, but Harsh Mentor is just not good enough to move from a Black to a Red Splash.
As for Eidolon of the Great Revel, I'm not putting a creature in a deck that runs 8 or so colorless source (even mono-white D&T has trouble with , and red would be a splash).
costrander3689 says... #1
A consideration would be to set your sideboard up to either splash red, or straight up replace black with it. Would give you access to cards like Eidolon of the Great Revel, Harsh Mentor, Lightning Bolt.
Or leaving it WB and sideboarding more Gabe disruption that you can alternate based on the game.
June 9, 2017 6:48 a.m.