Greetings folks! Stephen here with another entry on my modern nonsense of Cheerios or Puresteel Storm. I played in another 4 round event this past night, and I wanted to continue to share my thoughts about the list, the matches that I've played, and how I want to move forward with it.
For starters, let us begin with the list:
Cheerios:
4 Kite Shield
4 Accorder's Shield
1 Sigil of Distinction
4 Bone Saw
4 Paradise Mantle
4 Spidersilk Net
4 Mox Opal
3 Retract
4 Noxious Revival
4 Muddle the Mixture
4 Puresteel Paladin
1 Grapeshot
1 Echoing Truth
3 Erayo, Soratami Ascendant
1 Plains
2 Mystic Gate
3 Hallowed Fountain
2 Flooded Strand
2 Polluted Delta
2 Glimmervoid
3 Gemstone Mine
Sideboard:
4 Salvage Titan
4 Silence
4 Angel's Grace
3 Gut Shot
For those of you keeping track, some of the number have indeed changed. I cut one of the Noxious Revival for a 15th land, and I cut all the Turn Aside for Erayo. Flipping Erayo turn 2 has brought many games to a screeching halt, and since all you have to draw at that point is either a Paladin or a Retract to start your combo over, it isn't too devastating to us, while putting some people off. Also, some lists like Amulet Bloom and Splinter Twin are so all in on the number of spells that they need to cast that the extra mana necessary isn't likely to appear too fast.
Round 1: Vs Grixis Twin
He starts off with a fetch and shock to 17 and a Serum Visions, which put me on Twin. I simply played a tap land and passed. He plays a second tap land and passes, and here I decide to go for it. Second land Paladin, and we get a storm count of 14 but cannot find the Mox Opal to kill him turn 2. Paladin dies when he untaps and he assembles the Twin. I bring in Silence, I think? I can't remember, haha. Anywho, my second opener has 2 Erayo in it, so I decide to see just how effective Erayo is here. The first Erayo gets Bolted when I go for the flip, so sad face. The second one does flip, and the game, like I mentioned earlier, ground to a halt. My hand wasn't too good at this moment, but he actually couldn't cast any spells. He began to move to discard as the spells in his hand just began to pile up. Eventually, he found enough cheap spells and the Pestermite to take me out.
This matchup has proven to be rough, as they have almost infinite interaction with us. While sad, I think Silence may just be the only card we can really bring in, as we can't dilute the deck too far. However, most game one matches against Twin, they tap out in the early turns allowing us the chance to go for it.
Round 2: Vs Affinity
This was a great matchup where we both basically press F6 when it isn't our turn. Game one, I fizzle on turns 2 and 3, and the Robots roll right on over to my side of the table and very swiftly put me at a negative life total. I expect Leylines of the board, so I bring in the Salvage Titans. Game two I decide to play and keep, and sure enough, the Leyline is there. I go turn one land pass, and he begins to assemble some Robots. My turn two is a long ass turn. Paladin into equipment into Opal into Retract, Noxious Revival the Retract to continue the loop, and continue until I find all 4 Mox Opals, which means I have storm count in the 30s or so, float UURR with my opals, cast Echoing Truth on the Leyline and Grapeshot for the kill. Yes, that's a turn 2 kill through Leyline. Game three he is on the play and starts with most of his hand in play, but no leyline. I simply play a land and pass. He attacks me down to 17(?) and dumps most of the rest of his hand into play and passes, and I untap and kill him. I end up having to burn two Opals mid combo to play a second Puresteel Paladin with 2 shields left, but it was worth it to pin another win on turn 2.
Affinity has one very good burn spell, Galvanic Blast, that will turn the Paladin into crispy critter. Beware of this.
Round 3: Semblance Anvil Combo
To be honest, I didn't see this coming. We were both surprised that someone else is running Transmute cards(ban Ponder and Preordain, but give us perfect tutors? wtf is balance? jkjk) His goal is to use Heartless Summoning or Semblance Anvil to cast fun stuff like Myr Superion, but his plan is to cast Myr Retriever to die to get back and cast Myr Retriever to build up the storm count or, get this, the Gravestorm Count (!?!?!) and either Grapeshot or Bitter Ordeal for the win. I loved his idea, and we were off to the races. Game one, I go for the Erayo flip, but it eats removal. To be honest, I didn't think he was playing any, haha. So, basically nothing happens for a good long while as he doesn't have but half the pieces necessary, and then I find the Puresteel Paladin, and once I find out he has nothing to stop me with, we end the game. Game two we bring in the Salvage Titan, as it was a thing that doesn't die to the only removal spell he played last game. So, he starts with a Altar of the Brood (another combo in that deck? talk about redundancy, and McDonalds, cause I'm lovin' both right now) and begins to mill me out. While he doesn't assemble the combo here, he does mill everything except lands. I draw enough lands to start hard casting Salvage Titans and giving them equipment, which end up attacking him to death. We had a blast this match, and I look forward to seeing what that list has in store for the future.
Round 4: Skred Red
Let's be real, this wasn't even a match. I keep a one lander on the draw with Paladin and plenty of goods to go for it, and he taps out on turn one for a Pyrite Spellbomb and I don't draw a mana source. Paladin dies when I get to a land. Game two, Blood Moon. Done.
This could potentially be the worst matchup of all time. The deck is nothing but burn and Blood Moon effects, which are good as hell against this list. I am going to incorporate more basic lands into the list, as I feel that Blood Moon only stopped me because my second land was a dual. His turn two Blood Moons could have been beaten, but I did not foresee Blood Moon ever seeing play like this, heh heh.
Moving forward, I am confident that this deck can surprise the shit out of people due to having a combo that is exceptionally fast and very consistent. I want to bring more basic lands into the list to combat Blood Moon, as that was just plain savage, haha. I want to have some other game against decks like Twin, but I feel that Silence and being faster are the tools that I need to leverage to the max.
Turn two kills in modern, I'm going for it. Wish me luck everybody. Thanks for reading. :)
-Stephen D.
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