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https://magic.wizards.com/en/events/coverage/ptdom/27-24-decklists-2018-06-02
Not accounting for drafting records, if you look at the top 8 lists, we have 7 RB and 1 mono-red decks. Mind you we do have other decks placing high up as well, but in the top 20, 15 of the decks are either RB or mono-red.
If you think those are weird, take a look at the lists posted today. Sandwurm Convergence as a 3 of...
Mindset by Carol Dweck
Peak, which is mentioned in the article.
The Rise of Superman - Steven Kotler
Anything by Simon Sinek (also has some interesting TED talks)
If interested in mindfulness, check out Jon Kabat-Zinn
That should get you started. :)
(Source: MA in Sport & Performance Psychology; 8+ years of professional XP [sports, esports, military])
EDIT: also happy to answer any sport/performance psych questions
9-16 decks here:
https://magic.wizards.com/en/events/coverage/gpcop18/9-16-decklists-2018-06-10
UB Midrange seems like an interesting choice; I'm assuming its intended to have a good matchup against red though the 4 Siphoner seem soft to Chainwhirler.
Also note that the BW pilot lost a win-and-in to T8 due to a pretty big punt.
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/rptq-top-8-decklists/rotterdam-2017-11-19
It's the 2nd place one.
I don't know why the other person said it was a lie - seems like an interesting deck. Definitely the best smuggler's copter deck I've seen in modern.
This is not how WotC uses those abbreviations
You mean to say “2CMC” or “MM”, or just “RR.”
2CC is how you express an Eldrazi from the Kozilek brood requiring 2 generic and 2 colorless mana. A 2CC spell cannot be countered by Spell Snare because its CMC is 4, not 2. It would also be colorless.
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/news/unstable-faqawaslfaqpaftidawabiajtbt-2017-11-22
From the section for Ordinary Pony:
>Therefore, as Un-Rules Manager (with full blessing of the editing team),I'm officially changing Ordinary Pony's Oracle text to:
>When this creature enters the battlefield, you may exile target non-Horse creature you control that wasn't put onto the battlefield with this ability this turn, then return it to the battlefield under its owner's control.
You are overloaded on 2 and 3 drops. This deck does not have a game-ender like Hazoret, so it needs to be as fast as possible. I would cut the Ammits entirely, and probably trim the number of glint-sleeves as well. You want at least 8 1 drops, 10 or 12 is even better if you can get away with it. You also probably want at least a few copies of Walk the Plank in you main board. Being able to push through opposing blockers is critical and there are plenty of things that Fatal Push can't deal with. WtP also combos nicely with Bone Picker for a big tempo swing on turn 3.
As for sideboard, it depends on your local meta. If you expect a lot of Ramunap Red and Energy, Gifted Aetherborn is critical. Against control you are going to want Duress and Lost Legacy. Possibly some graveyard hate like Scavenger Grounds or Crook of Condemnation if you expect GpG.
For pptqs, I start here: https://magic.wizards.com/en/protour/preliminaryqualifiers
Hit the event I care about, look at the full list of pptq locations, then search for my state/country.
Wizard's store locator is pretty weak for finding events, though. I agree with you there.
This list seems pretty interesting, he is main decking [[commit//memory]] I guess for the flexibility commit has? The [[Territorial Allosaurus]]'s I don't understand, the card has felt pretty mediocre to me.
There are two versions of the decklist in Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa's article on the deck here. One is the decklist Andrea Mengucci played at the World Magic Cup (splashing black in the sideboard for Cartouche of Ambition), while the other uses cards that Sam Pardee tested because he disliked the black splash (mainly Rhonas's Last Stand and Prey Upon).
Last year, Myr Superion wasn't checking the type of mana spent, Wizards put out a warning anyone abusing it during the MOCS tourney running that weekend would have action taken against their account.
Nice, but I think it's already damaged/vandalized by people editing, so even if I make my own copy some of the formulas are wrong/missing. It would be awesome if you hosted the original excel file somewhere (I recommend https://mega.nz/) and posted a link here.
If you check round 14 standings right here:
https://magic.wizards.com/en/events/coverage/gpbir18-legacy/round-14-standings-2018-05-12
I am pretty sure his opponent, Bernardo Santos, played him into it. Santos is a very experienced player (6 PTs, some GP top8s) and he must know he was in with a draw.
Just counting: Top4 are already in. 7 to 10 play for 2 spots, and 11-12 play for another since they both have better standings than 6th.
If 5th and 6th draw, 5th gets in and 6th is most probably out, to 9th.
The ID was a mistake, but hindsight and all... I also feel bad for him.
“Starting with this set (Ixalan), all planeswalkers past, present, and future will have the supertype legendary. They will also be subject to the "legend rule." The "planeswalker uniqueness rule" is going away. What does this mean? In short, everything that's true about legendary permanents will now be true about legendary planeswalkers. Also note that this does not mean legendary planeswalkers can be your Commander unless an ability says so.” From https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/feature/ixalan-mechanics
There is an extended deadline for late submissions which is January 5th.
It's in the pdf here: https://magic.wizards.com/en/events/protour/teamseries
"If a team's late application is approved, that team will be added to the Pro Tour Team Series competition for the 2017-2018 season starting with Pro Tour Rivals of Ixalan in Bilbao, Spain February 2-4, 2018. The deadline for all late applications is January 5, 2018."
The one at the bottom there is my current list (except I've replaced the 2nd Aether Hub with another swamp). Sideboard is still a work in progress but the main deck has been working well.
Just looked it up. https://magic.wizards.com/en/events/event-types/store-championship
The official page says 25th-31st yet the store championship can only be on the weekend?
I think this is the tournament you're referring to. Sam Black was reportedly the one who got 1st place:
> winner got to drive away in a Toyota FJ Cruiser or pocket a cool $20,000 in cash
There is a version of esper which runs board wipes, they cut black and instead run seal away, settle, fumigate.
Check the decks which top 8d the last GP. https://magic.wizards.com/en/events/coverage/gpcop18/top-8-decklists-2018-06-10
Other decks in the format... you can find green aggro decks doing well (llanowar elves, steel leaf champion, and blossoming defense) , and there are GB constrictor decks doing well, to name a few. http://mtgtop8.com/format?f=ST
You can bring any two people as your teammates, they don't have to also be qualified (Source: https://magic.wizards.com/en/events/instoreplay/rptq25a). If you don't have friends that play Magic or a local game store, I'm sure you can find two willing participants on this forum or the MagicTCG reddit.
Have the same doubt about which approach delivers more. Here follows the 8-0 MBC list from Birmingham; https://magic.wizards.com/en/events/coverage/gpbir18-standard/8-0-players-grand-prix-birmingham-standard-2018-05-13
This is in the Decklist Changes section of the report!
> My plan was to run a list nearly identical to the mainboard above, but with Path to Exile instead of Fatal Push and a 3rd Snapcaster Mage instead of Collective Brutality (and UW lands instead of their corresponding UB lands). The sideboard would then have 2x Rest in Peace, 2x Stony Silence, 2x Timely Reinforcements, and 1x a creature (either Vendilion Clique or Geist of Saint Traft) instead of the black cards and Hurkyl's Recall.
Snapback and Commandeer are pretty good, Commandeer especially. I recommend giving it a try! Just be aware that Commandeer is bugged on Magic Online (or at least it was as of the March 22 bug blog), so that's not the best testing ground.
EDIT: Full list
Mine Effects 2x Howling Mine 4x Dictate of Kruphix 2x Jace, the Mind Sculptor
Time Walks 4x Time Warp 2x Part the Waterveil 3x Temporal Mastery
Almost Time Walks 4x Gigadrowse 3x Exhaustion
Other Spells 4x Serum Visions 2x Path to Exile 1x Snapback 3x Snapcaster Mage 2x Cryptic Comand 1x Commandeer
Lands 1x Scalding Tarn 1x Misty Rainforest 1x Polluted Delta 1x Flooded Strand 6x Island 3x Snow-Covered Island 1x Hallowed Fountain 2x Prairie Stream 3x Glacial Fortress 1x Temple of Enlightenment 1x Mikokoro, Center of the Sea 2x Gemstone Caverns
Sideboard 2x Rest in Peace 2x Stony Silence 2x Timely Reinforcements 3x Chalice of the Void 2x Engineered Explosives 1x Commandeer 1x (a creature, either Geist of Saint Traft or Vendilion Clique) 2x Thing in the Ice
I haven't heard about this. Details/link?
Edit: I think I've found what you're referring to:
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/news/dominaria-comprehensive-rules-changes-2018-04-13
> One of the Dominaria changes was saying that spells can't be countered, dropping "by spells and abilities." This means that spells that fizzle* shouldn't actually be countered anymore—they just go to their owner's graveyard and don't resolve, but they don't use the keyword action of "counter" to do so. This is a nonfunctional change with the exception of one weirdo: Multani's Presence.
From what I can tell, this is not going to functionally change anything, cards that fizzle will still go to the yard, but just will not show on a check for "countered" spells.
Abilities that fizzle will just kind of...not happen? ....weird
Judges' time is valuable. An L2 isn't going to travel out for some PC time and free pizza, as nice as it sounds. There's travel costs and such included. Often judges will ask for compensation based on either the amount of players or number of rounds (where in limited, deckbuilding is considered a round by itself).
If you just want advice from seasoned judges without them running the event, feel free to take advantage of the Judge rule chat: http://chat.magicjudges.org/mtgrules/. Although I would advise that for larger events with a heavy payout that you enlist the help of a vetted L1 or a local L2. If you don't know anyone, ask your regional coordinator to be put in contact with local judges: https://magic.wizards.com/en/content/judge-regional-coordinators
Then why don't you start with looking at some online decklist, try to get a sense of the meta:
https://magic.wizards.com/en/content/deck-lists-magic-online-products-game-info
You can look at some twitch playthroughs or channelfireball of some interesting decks that you see.
IMO, modern is a format that rewards you for knowing your deck and the format more so than choosing the right deck, since statistically it seems many vastly different decks can compete and do well.
I did some fuzz testing on my shuffles with a simple program, and found that pretty much any reasonable mash shuffle is pretty much uniformly random after 7 mashes. Some code, for the interested. The only important part is that you want to make sure you're not leaving part of the deck at one of the ends un-shuffled by never mashing that part. I've seen many opponents do this by mistake without realizing it, even including a couple experienced players who were judges:
Deck: |||||||||||||||||||||||| Cut: ||||||||||||| <cut> ||||||||||| Lift: ||||||||||| ||||||||||||| Mash: ||a|| <||||||||||||||||> ||b|| <- unmashed portions a and b at each end Repeat This: ||||<- |||||||||||||||||| ->|| Those little block of cards at either end still remain unshuffled if none of the mashes fully overlapped
How to avoid it? Make sure that your mashes "pull" the lifted portion all the way over the end of the unlifted portion of cards for each mash, so that unmashed portions don't remain the same between mashes.
You could try podcast addicst: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bambuna.podcastaddict&hl=en_GB
It's been my default app for podcasts for a few years and not had any issues with it.
It also does have a timer, so if like me you find podcasts helpful to fall asleep to, you can set them to turn off after 15 minutes.
I've been playing something close to this 8-0 list from GP Birmingham: https://magic.wizards.com/en/events/coverage/gpbir18-standard/8-0-players-grand-prix-birmingham-standard-2018-05-13
-1 Josu, -1 Torment of Hailfire, -2 Azor's Gateway, +2 The Eldest Reborn, +2 Treasure Map. Sideboard is different as well. I have more Eldest Reborn there.
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/level-one/level-one-full-course-2015-10-05
Hall of Famer Reid Duke's in depth guide to higher level magic strategy. Widely applicable in a lot of different ways.
Yeah really looking forward to trying it out. FWIW, there was a recent MTGO 5-0 with very similar builds. Some slightly different card choices (think main differences are Push, Tezzeret, maindeck, no Voids, no Dockhand).
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2jrrlc3EpP3UmdYbGh0ODRrRDA/edit?usp=sharing
Journey Prerelease - 4-0
Cards that are significantly better here than in aggro: Scryfish, Returned Phalanx, Shipwreck Singer (insane anywhere), Pin to the Earth, Dissolve, 6 mana draw spell.
Cards that would have been significantly better in aggro: Cloaked Sired, Sudden Storm, Whitewater Naiads
Good luck!
Thanks for your comment! Honestly, I do not think good uncommons can really qualify as bombs in a format with so many high quality rares. Vanguard, Chupacabra, and PoC are all strong cards and of course I am thankful for just playing the game, I would never be that guy who blames limited results solely based on what I open, but it does get old watching everyone open double on color mythic packs (foil+regular). On that note, let's all take a look at the winning draft deck from this weekends online PTQ:
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/mtgo-standings/sealed-xln-block-ptq-2018-04-01
>You should wait for the next b&r announcement, honestly
FYI, WOTC said they probably won't ban until the NEXT next announcement.
>given the current healthy state of the format and the upcoming Modern Pro Tour, we plan to wait for the results of Pro Tour Rivals of Ixalan to evaluate any potential changes for the format. We anticipate making an announcement in February after the results from that tournament come in.
>Speaking of which, we do not anticipate making any changes to Modern with the January 15 announcement. We're sensitive to the timing of that announcement relative to the Pro Tour, and only would make a change if it were very clearly needed. Given the current state of the format, we believe that will be extremely unlikely.
I'm on the same spot as you mate. I've seen top 8 lists from GP Portland https://magic.wizards.com/en/events/coverage/gppor17/top-8-decklists-2017-11-19
And one does run Harsh mentor on main but the other doesnt. Also, I'm still doubtful about Ferocidon on main.
Yes, they offer PPTQs that are 300 play points or 30 tix ($30) to enter. They offer Modern, Standard and Limited PPTQs that then give entry to RPTQs if I'm not mistaken. Information can be found here: https://magic.wizards.com/en/content/magic-online-pro-tour-qualifiers
Also to note, it's relatively cheaper to get Standard decks on MTGO, and SIGNIFICANTLY cheaper to buy into some modern decks.
The signups for the pptq events start ~1 week before the event. There's a bunch of youtube tutorials on how to work MTGO, and if you do use it, I'd suggest starting with a bunch of free-to-play "tournament ready" constructed matches to get a feel for the MTGO mechanics.
One thing to keep an eye on especially when you're first starting is to be careful jamming the "Yield to end of turn" hotkey. I've missed a number of attack steps because of this...
I'm not the best person to answer this, but I'll do my best. So to start, there are two broad types of tournaments. Open, which anyone can enter, and Invitationals, which, well, require an invitation. I'm definitely going to miss some tournaments here, but here are some examples.
Grand Prix Day One- Open, generally between 500-2000 Grand Prix Day Two- Invitational, invitation earned by performance on Day One. An invitation comes with a 6-3 or better record.
Pro Tour- Invitational, there are many ways to qualify, such as winning a Pro Tour Qualifier, being Top 8 at a Grand Prix, etc.
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/beyond-basics/how-play-pro-tour-2017-05-11
Nationals- Invitational, I completely forget how to get an invitation.
Magic World Championship- Invitational, I think it's the 20 players with the highest number of Pro Points, the Grand Prix Champion, the Magic Online Champion, the previous Pro Tour Champion, and one other Champion.
Take none of this as fact and double check everything
I'm not sure what the current "best" article is for understanding card advantage (this one is okay), but this is strictly a card disadvantage thing: even if this card just said "Gain one energy and drain your opponent for three life" it wouldn't be played.
In a BR aggro deck, you'd almost certainly want to play cards like Lightning Strike, Shock, Abrade, Unlicensed Disintegration, and Fatal Push ahead of Gonti's Machinations. Why? Well, you're going to play some aggressive creatures, say Scrapheap Scrounger, and in terms of hitting your opponent for 3, you're much better off trading a spell for your opponent's creature and getting in with your Scrounger (because you get to trade 1:1).
Gaining three in an aggro deck generally shouldn't make the difference -- if you're playing offense (and you usually will be), your life total is unlikely to matter. If you're playing defense, giving up a card is too expensive -- you'd rather gain the three by killing their creature who is hitting you for three than gain it by starting the game at 23-17.
It isn't really about being "dead" or "conditional" -- giving up a whole card at no cost to your opponent is just way too expensive.
Something that has been a really valuable source for me is the locator tool on the wizards site: http://locator.wizards.com/
It's good for finding stores relatively close to you where there may be events for things like PPTQ's that you may of not known about. On the topic of PPTQ's, there is also a list of upcoming PPTQ's for each pro tour.
https://magic.wizards.com/en/protour/preliminaryqualifiers
The qualifiers for Ixalan and Rivals of Ixalan are over, however the qualifiers for Dominaria are just now starting. Even if you don't think it's likely that you'll get first place and qualify for the pro tour event, you still get valuable experience from playing in these, IMO.
This list was not built by me. Here: https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/mtgo-standings/standard-ptq-2017-08-13
2nd place.
Authority of the Consuls is good against a metagame full of Mono Red and Jeskai God Pharaoh's Gift. Occasionally against RG vs. that 4/4 turn 3 hasty creature.
One of my goals with this post was to create a plan for this deck and Sideboard in particular. What I have in mind is the following: This deck uses the Gideon, Queller and Negate vs control. Regal Caracal its 'ok' on the play against control. Against decks that use black you need to win with alternatives ... hence the Regal Caracal and Gideon. Against Mono Red I think Regal Caracal and Spell Queller are good. (Mono Red take removal after sideboarding and if they spend the 3 damage on Queller instead of giving us that damage it's time we won to get to the 4-5 turn where we want to be.
I'm traveling but I'll try to answer everyone. The idea is to discuss this deck, what is good and bad, matchups, what we want on the deck and what does not make sense on the deck, it is important to have a solution, because to say that this or that is wrong and not give a solution We have not evolved. Best Regards and ty for the reply
The link may have been edited out of the article. Here it is: https://www.twitch.tv/arglive/v/52813680
Gideon is a little more proactive than Kalitas, but I see where you're going. I'd say test it out to be sure. Also, I would not cut a Den Protector.
There's a link in the beginning of the article to a past report with Abzan. I think it goes a little more in depth on some of the card choices.
Sure! http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/01-08-14-bw-tokens/ that's the deck, I am considering replacing the go for the throat for a dismember main due to the low ammount of twin around my area, but by all means keep it in if you see that allot since it dodges spelskite. The following list is the sideboard notes, i set them up so you mash in your whole sideboard and bring out just the cards under the right matchup. https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_u49LKburqZWUpZV1piVGxuSmM/edit?usp=sharing
I sleeved up and decktested 5c superfriends after it was posted on mtggoldfish. I streamed the first game I played against my friends Jank Bant deck and we had some fun. I'm not sure how competitive it could be, but it was fun getting the friends out and trying to figure out lines.
I'm assuming that this (it's the last deck in Week 13 for Play Designs... well done on the direct links, WotC) is the deck you're talking about. I can't get to Tapped Out from here, so this the list from WotC's article in text format:
1 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar 4 Martyr of Sands 4 Ranger of Eos 3 Serra Ascendant 4 Squadron Hawk 4 Thraben Inspector 1 Archangel Avacyn 1 Walking Ballista 2 Wrath of God 2 Proclamation of Rebirth 1 Day of Judgment 4 Path to Exile 1 Leyline of Sanctity 2 Cast Out 1 Oblivion Ring 1 Emeria, the Sky Ruin 4 Field of Ruin 4 Ghost Quarter 12 Plains 1 Mistveil Plains 2 Flagstones of Trokair 1 Cavern of Souls
1 Archangel Avacyn 1 Wrath of God 2 Relic of Progenitus 1 Burrenton Forge-Tender 2 Rest in Peace 2 Stony Silence 2 Crucible of Worlds 1 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben 1 Kataki, War's Wage 1 Patrician's Scorn 1 Blessed Alliance
The only use I could see for it as a 2-of would be as a target for your own Ghost Quarter or as a rare combo with Crucible. They may have gone down to 2 because the card is pretty bad against Blood Moon and even though it's mono-white the deck has 13 non-basics and no fetches. It looks like a pretty young brew to me, too. It's still in testing and that might be part of it. It might be in just to test it or maybe it's been tuned down to 2 from testing.
I updated the top post with Vods for both days full, here's a direct link to the finals!
Finals Match: Kellen Pastore (Mono-W Humans) vs. Jim Davis (Bant Company)
4 Torrential Gearhulk
2 Fumigate
3 Blink of an Eye
1 Commit // Memory
4 Disallow
4 Hieroglyphic Illumination
4 Settle the Wreckage
4 Cast Out
4 Seal Away
2 Search for Azcanta
2 Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
3 Field of Ruin
4 Glacial Fortress
2 Ipnu Rivulet
4 Irrigated Farmland
6 Island
7 Plains
Sideboard:
3 Authority of the Consuls
2 Forsake the Worldly
1 Jace's Defeat
3 Lyra Dawnbringer
4 Negate
1 Nezahal, Primal Tide
1 Sorcerous Spyglass
This is what was posted on the 23. I couldn't find anything more recent. There is the 26th lists but they feel a little "looser" to me for some reason.
Card selection in green for creatures/lands is primary in green and straight card draw is secondary in the color pie. No, it’s not a major break.
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/making-magic/mechanical-color-pie-2017-2017-06-05
I've gone x-2 in three different RPTQs with between 53-79 people and was top 16 every time. Regardless of attendance, top 16 does not get an automatic invite to the next RPTQ (https://magic.wizards.com/en/events/instoreplay/rptqrix).
That said, in a paper event OP could likely have drawn into top 8 the last round.
Bontu's Last Reckoning works if you have indestructible creatures of your own, in addition to vehicles / screapheap / dread wanderer. In the collection of 21-23 Point Pro Tour decklists the only Mono-Black Aggro deck ran 3 Yahenni and 1 Bontu the Glorified to go along with its Bontu's Last Reckoning, as that can in theory smash the Energy/Sultai plan to bits. Food for thought.
https://snipboard.io/nD16mP.jpg This is my current deck ( https://snipboard.io/xzrT4E.jpg this is the sideboard)
My thought process is that I could removal situationaly brutal cards for the angel package (e.g. stuff like chevill, intervention, polukranos and apparattion for cards like the hexproof sac angel, the lord angel or either of the pretty brutal 2for1 angel enchantments) so each of my removal cards also comes with a body (and my lifegain also comes with threats). Chevill and intervention are kinda brutal vs gruul, but kinda sucky vs blue based control decks.
For my more abzan goodstuff list I plan on removing polukranos, apparation and possibly intervention for Kaya and Sarulf and probably the hexproof angel so that a lot of my threats are also removal.
I like forward to hearing how you feel about my idea.
Updated your sheet with a nice graph (.xlsx)
http://www.filedropper.com/collectedcompany
Might do some calcs for probability of collected company in hand on turn 4, with the number of < 3cmc drops in hand, for a bit more of a 'proper' idea.
I based mine heavily on Huey Jensen's world champion list
https://magic.wizards.com/en/events/coverage/2017WC/top-4-decklists-2017-10-07
Swapping one of the essence scatter in the main with Supreme will in the sideboard.
-2 appetite of the unnatural, -1 aethersphere harvester, - 1 negate
+1 jace's defeat, + 1 Slice in twain, + 2 Deathgorge Scavenger
Jace's defeat hits torrential gearhulk/scarab god in certain control matchups, worth losing out on 1 negate imo
Slice in twain instead of 2 appetites just a personal preference/local meta(don't find the health and reduced cost useful vs draw)
2 deathgorge for graveyard hate, I like this for scarab god decks and GPG, The loss of harvester vs Ramunap red isn't as bad as deathgorge is a threat that gains me life.
The last time I saw Hulk in the side in a temur list was the PGO lists at Worlds. When they sided in the THulks they also sided in 4 Negates, 1 Supreme Will and a Glimmer of Genius against control. Other targets in their side were Abrada, Chandra's Defeat and Appetite for the Unnatural.
Basically in order for THulk to really be good you need to transform your sideboard around it. Other Temur lists once had it in main but they had a lot more non-creature spells at instant speed. Currently we don't see much control so it's not a big problem. I honestly don't know what matchup you would want him in. In your case however specifically in the mirror I would only side Magma Spray and Scatter out on the draw, leave in Abrade. The more instant targets the better. You can side out more Whirlers because they're probably your worst creature in the mirror. I'd rather want to sink my energy into cub or hydra or be able to ramp with Servant than get a few thopters. In this matchup you want to get bigger first so denying the cub to get big with Abrade is good and sometimes even using an abrade on your endstep for that hydra is a good deal to be able to hit it with harnessed lightning.
Turns out Yahenni was in at least two of the stories:
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/magic-story/born-aether-2016-09-21
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/magic-story/dead-night-2016-11-30
You seem to be missing the whole point. People aren't hiding their decklists, WotC is. They only publish 5 list per day instead of just all of the lists that 5-0.
From https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/magic-digital/magic-digital-next-update-2017-06-13 (June 13), I would infer that MTGO will continue as it is now for a long time.
The article says
"Magic Online is in an exciting spot as we celebrate the program's fifteenth anniversary! In the program's fifteenth year, you're already seeing some of our work with the early release of Amonkhet (one of our most successful set releases ever), the events celebrating the game's fifteen years, and updates to our popular challenge series. Magic Online continues to innovate, and we have more exciting news coming down the pipeline."
I am not very worried about MTGO going away.
http://www.channelfireball.com/articles/cards-not-decks-the-new-standard/
Joel Larsson goes over all tower decks there. I'm using that list with a few changes in the sideboard. The deck was also spotlighted at the last GP:
https://magic.wizards.com/en/events/coverage/gputr17/gp-utrecht-2017-day-one-summary-2017-02-25
I've been working on this modern deck since last summer, slowly changing it. Currently, I think it's about as optimized as I can get it. running it at a PRQ this weekend.