Early Melira Pod Testing for GP Detroit

Initially, I did some testing without fetchlands. That led me to the conclusion that I needed fetchlands. Then, having acquired said fetchlands, and behold, I saw that they were good.

Now that that’s out of the way, my early testing may help you if you are less experienced, or force you to call me out for terribad-plans if you are more experienced. I welcome both. Here are some results from my early testing phase (including daily events and casual room matches):

vs. Bogles (one match)
Game 1: Lost, Game 2: Won, Game 3: Won. Result: 2-1
Spellskite was very important and killing Kor Spiritdancer is also top priority.

vs. U/R Splinter Twin (one match) and RUG Twin (one match)
Game 1: lost, Game 2: lost. Result: 0-2
Game 1: lost, Game 2: lost. Result: 0-2
Sideboarding Plan: +1 Linvala, +3 Duress, +2 Dismember, +1 Shriekmaw, +2 Decay.  -1 Pod, -1 Chord, -1 Archangel, -1 Spike Feeder, -1 Ooze, -1 Eos, -3 Deathrite.
In these matches, my mulligans are really what destroyed me. I guess it takes time for MTGO to warm up that shuffler. 🙂

vs. UWR Control (one match)
Game 1: won, Game 2: won. Result: 2-0
Sideboarding: +3 Duress, +1 Voice, +2 Lingering Souls. -3 Deathrite, -1 Spellskite, -1 Chord, -1 Pontiff.
This match was also uneventful, as my opponent got mana screwed in game two.

vs. Soul Sisters (ugh, one match)
Game 1: won, Game 2: won. Result: 2-0
Boarding: +2 Dismember, +1 Shriekmaw, +2 Decay. -1 Spellskite, -1 Ooze, -3 Deathrite.
Orzhov Pontiff single-handedly shut this guy down, he was an all-star.

vs. Affinity (two matches)
Game 1: lost, Game 2: lost. Result: 0-2
Game 1: lost, Game 2: won, Game 3: lost. Result: 1-2
Boarding: +1 voice of resurgence, +2 lingering souls, +2 dismember, +1 linvala, +2 abrupt decay, +1 harmonic sliver. -1 spellskite, -1 scavenging ooze, -1 metamorph, -1 shriekmaw, -1 birthing pod, -3 deathrite shaman, -1 chord of calling.
The first match was gross, as I forgot to sideboard. lolz, right? The second one was very close with me losing the turn I had the crack-back.

vs. Amulet of Vigor combo (one match)
Game 1: lost, Game 2: won, Game 3: lost. Result: 1-2
I had no idea how to play against this crazy deck. He rolled over me when I couldn’t disrupt him.

vs. UW Tron Gifts (one match)
Game 1: won, Game 2: lost, Game 3: lost. Result: 1-2
This matchup is bad bad bad for me. Not sure how to plan for it.

vs. BG Midrange (two matches)
Game 1: won, Game 2: won. Result: 2-0
Game 1: won, Game 2: won. Result: 2-0
I don’t remember much about the first one other than that it was easy.
The second was very hard-fought but I overcame a lot of his board presence to do exactly lethal one turn.

Part of playing this deck is to know when to attack, when to Pod, and when to just hold back. There were many times where I would want to Pod up an answer to something that I didn’t really need to answer. The temptation is there to simply shut down everything the opponent is doing, regardless of your own plan. This is sometimes good and sometimes a trap and knowing the difference means everything.

Going into beatdown mode is sometimes easy because you just chip in for damage here and there before activating Pod and sometimes hard because they might have resistance or creatures to attack you back.

This deck is very complex, and now that I have the completed deck I am going to test it extensively. Here’s my updated list:

 

Note: That should say “31 creatures”

What to Play in Modern?

Grand Prix Detroit is coming up in a few weeks.  I live in Metro Detroit.  It’s time to get serious.  I need a deck and there are a ton to choose from.

Here’s a checklist of things I’m looking for:

1. Something that can beat a wide variety of decks
2. Something that has more than one angle
3. Something that I’m sorta familiar with

The decks that meet these criteria aren’t exactly coming out of the woodwork.  But, I do have a few favorites:

Melira Pod, Jund, and Gruul Aggro.

Melira Pod seems to meet all three criteria and I have very fond memories of it. It would probably not take a ton of work for me to re-learn the matchups. It can combo or beat down, so I really like this option.

Jund is just a straight value deck. It really only attacks from one angle, but the cards are so dang powerful. Unfortunately for me, they are also so dang expensive. This is probably the most expensive deck there is (except for maybe Black/Green, which is basically the same deck).  I think I’ll pass on this one.’

Gruul Aggro has only one plan of attack: Attack.  I just can’t abide by this. It seems like all of the good decks are either combo, value, or control. Without a card like Wild Nacatl, I can’t see aggro beating out any combo decks or control decks.  And especially not something like Pod.

So, of the three decks that I could potentially play well with only two weeks prep time, Melira Pod seems like the best fit.

It’s time to go to work!!!