4 Lava Spike
4 Rift Bolt
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Searing Blaze
4 Forked Bolt (Brought in specifically for the 2/1 Eldrazi)
4 Electrolyze (Again, brought in for x/1 Eldrazi)
4 Remand
4 Flame Slash (Not my ideal choice I board this out against non-creature type stuff)
2 Keranos, God of Storms

4 Ensnaring Bridge
2 Welding Jar

6 Fetch lands
4 Steam vents
5 Mountain
1 Island
4 Ghost Quarter

Resolved bridge + welding jar = GG in 90% of games as their removal in the form of ratchet bomb can’t kill it fast enough for me to not draw to 20 burn.

Keep them off Eye of Ugin with Ghost Quarter.

Turn two Thought-knot is an issue. Especially when you are on the draw and it picks off ensnaring bridge. Hence flame slash.

Keranos does work. I’d consider dropping it to a one of and putting a singleton Mom and Pop Thopter Shop in though.

Anonymous,

It is clear that you do not understand. I wish you had something more to contribute to the discussion than spam. Ive spoken specifically to the narrative that ” if I don’t think Eldrazi needs to be banned then I don’t understand the fundamentals of MTG”. It is my opinion that differing opinion should not warrant a cry for firing someone. 🙂

I run an Abzan core with the 2 cost +1 entry trigger allies (Kazandu Blademaster, Hada Freeblade, Oran Rief Survivalist, and Bojuka Brigand). I use Harabaz Druid and Beast caller Savant as Mana Dorks with the upside that they trigger my allies, and Collected Company to speed things up.

I run 4 Chord of Calling mainboard, and run 1 of Kabira Evangel, Lantern Scout, Mirror Entity, Abzan Falconer, Ondu Cleric, and Zulaport Cutthroat, creating a pretty decent toolbox to deal with threats or swing in for the surprise victory.

I run inspiring calls, which are critical against decks with board wipes.

In the sideboard I run Return to the ranks, Path to Exile, Extra Ondu Clerics, and other creature cards to act as tools vs. specific decks/Problems (Pridemage, Scooze, Akoum Battlesinger, Hellraiser Goblin, Blood Artist)

The Lands are basics, Abzan Shocks and fetches, 4 ally encampments (sometimes surprisingly useful), and two Gavony Townships.

Against Eldrazi, it works really well, since they don’t interact much. Allies nut draws are not quite as quick as Eldrazi, (2 turn 1 mimics hardly ever happens, and TKS is not usually turn 2) but they go both wider and bigger. Turn one Hada Freeblade into an unanswered turn two Harabaz Druid/BeastCaller Savant really lets you unload your allies on turn three and Chord/Collected for the win by turn four or five, and seems to happen much more frequently. Ondu Cleric is one of the best cards against Eldrazi because it buys you time while you ramp your allies, and very quickly puts the game out of reach. Vs. Eldrazi, I sideboard two more in, replacing Cutthroat and Evangel.

I mostly play FNM, or with friends,so I haven’t played vs a lot of different people, (Haven’t played the colorless version, so chalice of the void for two could really hurt, with Chord for Qasali Pridemage being the decks only answer). Anyway, the deck is fun. It has some weakness against creature control decks, but I feel it is favored to win vs eldrazi.

Doing just this as we speak, data incoming. You are correct, I need evidence to back up my claims, keep an eye out for some Proof coming soon!

How do you know he hasn’t done any testing? It’s fine to have a different opinion, but don’t present your opinions as facts unless you know they are. This was kind of the sub-point of my article; it doesn’t move the discussion forward in any meaningful way. Thanks for the comment David!

I’ve been doing some testing and compiling some data, testing specifically Grixis Control against multiple Eldrazi variants. Keep an eye out for some evidence coming soon!

I disagree, where I come from they call that “quitting” 🙂

Thanks Jeramie! Eldrazi might actually be busted, but that doesn’t mean we should just give up. Since when do we flop down in the dirt and cry when the bully pushes us down? In my opinion, we shouldn’t cry “ban” until we’ve spent at least a few weeks with a deck dominating the top, and the immediate post-Pro Tour outcry was definitely unwarranted. A couple weeks from now, if Eldrazi is still dominating, then I think a calm ban discussion is warranted. Until then, I’m going to keep trying to beat it!

Preston, your points make sense, I should have done a better job framing my opinion, this would “probably” have helped those that disagreed with me understand that I do, in fact, know whats going on in the “real world”. Definitely a learning experience and one I will think about in the future!

Thanks Roland, glad you enjoyed the article! I’ll take all the heat the Internet has to give if it means there’s a dissenting voice to the “emergency ban” opinion. Maybe Eldrazi is too strong, but I’m not ready to give up playing Magic just yet.

I can understand your opinion, but why be pissed? It doesn’t make sense to me. Sure, Wizards has the “power” to get rid of it, but who says we need to stop playing Magic until April? I am of the firm opinion that Eldrazi can be beaten, we’re already seeing evidence of changes to archetypes happening, and I think it’s very possible we can discover a foil to Eldrazi without having to resort to bans. Even if I’m 100% wrong (and I very well could be) I don’t understand the anger over wanting to at least try.

All I’m advocating is that we continue to play Magic and think critically about the metagame. I don’t understand the backlash.

And i cant hear the ancient tomb comparisons anymore. Most of the cards in eldrazi versions wouldnt be played without the lands, they are (slightly) overcosted. Ancient tomb does not have the limitation to be used for overcosted cards only.

Completely disagree – you cannot just tune any deck to beat Eldrazi – again this smacks of no testing and not really understanding eldrazi. There is only 1 deck know of that can consistently beat eldrazi – Junk Combo/Chord/Company. All the other decks that ppl posit – including the laughable options that the Modern ‘GURU’ Trevor has put forward fall short – of course he hasnt tested them – but hey – he’s providing an ‘alternative view point’ ..

That’s a great idea. I think Trevor should take our fishy friends out for a spin and see how he does against Eldrazi (Magic Online is absolutely crawling with them, so joining any random league or 8-man virtually guarantees you’ll bump into them).

I like that line a lot

Or like t1 vial t2 curse catcher/sea’s claim.

Sea’s claim actually looks really solid over spreading seas. I know it cantrips and ultimately might be the better card, but I would also test out 4 claim/2 seas as a variant if 8 seems like too many. I don’t think a normal metagame would ever need that split, but it seems very strong against eldrazi to preempt a t3 smasher

Like others said, put some numbers to what you’re saying. Right now, you’re only stating possible theories, not evidence. Prove what you’re saying by recording several games against Eldrazi players who know what they’re doing, and show us an overall >50% win percentage against them.

If you are serious and are truly not taking the alternative view point for the sake of taking the alternative view point (which most readers can deduce) put your convictions out there – choose a 75 to play and record evidence of you beating UR eldrazi, colourless eldrazi and RG eldrazi – only then can we really take anything you say remotely seriously. Until then STFU!

Yeah man – jam those mana leaks and sweepers – you will surely take down eldrazi. Can you post evidence of this working – that would be great!