Thunderkin's Kin
Modern*
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This is not an Aggro Deck — 3-1 —Aug. 12, 2019
I'm more and more finding out that the 8-Ball reanimator deck is in essence a mid-range deck, or at least seems like it gets a lot more consistency with that style of play. The Chandras plus Collective Brutality have given this deck a lot of legs. Knowing when to run out the Thunderkin vs. the Balls vs. Unearth and not just eat a bunch of removal means the deck both needs options for what to do when you know opp is sitting on a Path to Exile and still be able to swing the turn three kills. Seasoned Pyromancer and Chandra, Acolyte of Flame have been super helpful in either building a board presence or being able to present reasonable threats that aren't the primary focus of the deck—smashing with Skelemental.
So apparently this was combo night because it really felt like I spent a lot of time waiting to see if my opp got to their combo pieces. First match was against Azorius control, and honestly I just got there quick enough to get through the Paths and had Chandra+Unearth get my Balls to punch through several times. Second match was against two really brutal hands of Affinity—first I got hit with 10 points of infect in one turn with the opponent on 1 life, and the second game I had Rakdos Charm in hand but didn't draw any black sources, which was really rough.
Third match, against the Devoted Druid/Vizier of Remedies I had a pretty quick first game where I just hit all the Balls early and didn't get to see too much of the opp's deck, so I wasn't totally sure how to sideboard. I took out Lili and the CoBrus and the unearths for the elemental lords and that was totally wrong and I ended up a little too slow and unable to stop the Eladamri's Calls into all the Devoted Druid pieces and got drowned out by the infinite mana. But the third game was all midrange balance and popping in for some Skelemental discard and Bolt/CoBru removals, with Chandra to just grind away all the combo pieces.
Fourth match was against Ad Nauseam, and I was totally unprepared. I crushed the first two turns with the one-two-three punch combo of Looting ditch Skelemental, Thunderkin revive Skelemental, and opp scooped after that, so I wasn't sure at all what I was facing other than seeing some blue and white lands. Next game I got absolutely blistered by the Ad Nauseum combo, and I had opp to like 10 but it was definitely not enough. The third game I started out with 3 lands, 3 Balls, and CoBru, and said hey, if I can make it far enough to get these going I have a shot. Opp saw so many cards, was able to get out a Grave Titan on the Lotus Bloom, which I immediately double-bolted down (lucky, I know!). Chandra was able to take care of the two zombies with flashbacked spells, and then opp had to use Angel's Grace to stop from dying on some Ball swings. Opp's last hand I was just hanging on the edge of my seat, but they didn't draw any more Grace and couldn't keep digging with Ad Nauseam, and I finished them up on the next turn for a wonderful 3-1 finish.
I'll have to think more about adding some hand disruption. I'm seeing a lot of lists run Dreadhorde Arcanist to fish out more spell value, and typically they're running Inquisition of Kozilek in addition to Thoughtseize in the main, so that could be a route that I take, but I'm feeling comfortable that I'm coming close to a list that has a bit more consistency. That's definitely the deck's most glaring failing, so I think shoring up the disruption side of things to help carry the deck into the middle game while still being able to pop in for six damage is the key to longevity for 8-Ball.
tl:dr First—Azorius control (W) Second—Affinity (L) Third—Devoted Druid combo (W) Fourth—Ad nauseam (W)