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”

Grand Prix Detroit Preparation: Modern with Melira Pod

Grand Prix Detroit takes place on September 14^th and 15^th.  There are only a few weeks left to find a deck, learn how to play it effectively, and acquire the cards.  Let the journey begin!

In my last post, I decided that Melira Pod was the best deck for me to play because of my prior experience with the deck, its ability to beat a wide swath of decks in whatever metagame shows up to the GP, and how it attacks from more than one angle.

The internet has been a bit short on articles about Modern lately, which I expect to ramp up as we get closer to the event. Adam Yurchick just wrote a nice little article about Melira Pod: “Modern Mastery – Melira Pod.” There are a few other articles posted in the last few days that are probably worth checking out: “Modern at a Glance” by Nassim Ketita and “Analysis of Modern in the MOCS” by Jarvis Yu.

The best articles prior to this week have almost exclusively come from Ari Lax. Start with the awesome “Modern Cheat Sheet,” then check out “Kiki Pod in BBQ Town,” and finally “Modern Metagame Levels.” I have really enjoyed Ari’s work on the Modern format and expect that he will put out at least one more relevant article before the Grand Prix.

Having done a fair amount of research on both Modern and Melira Pod, I feel like I have come to a decent decklist as a starting point. This list takes into account various recent lists and good finishes with the deck:

Sadly, most of the testing that I’ll do with the deck will be an inferior version that I built online with what I had available. It is without fetchlands and without Thoughtseize. Not having the fetches makes Deathrite Shaman strictly worse, but I haven’t felt like I’ve lost a lot by replacing Thoughtseize with Duress. Perhaps someone could enlighten me as to why you need to spend $120 for four cards when Duress seems to do what you need it to? There must be some crazy creature out there that you can’t nab with Duress, right?

So the next phase of my process will be learning how to play the deck. I’ll do this over the next few weeks (mostly on MTGO) while I try to acquire some key paper cards. If I can’t find fetches by the Grand Prix, I’ll likely be rocking a deck with fewer Deathrite Shamans and… GASP!! … basic lands.