It appears that Tiago is so good at what he does, he's appeared in at least half the Top 8 Modern decklists of the 2011 World Championships. And they're all Counter-Cat or Tribal Flames Zoo decks.
Just how good is he in the 3+ colour apotheosis of Sligh, Zoo?
It appears that Tiago is so good at what he does, he's appeared in at least half the Top 8 Modern decklists of the 2011 World Championships. And they're all Counter-Cat or Tribal Flames Zoo decks.
Just how good is he in the 3+ colour apotheosis of Sligh, Zoo?
Well to be honest the list I saw ran just one. That being said its a good 1 of if you have the room. I mean your possibly running 4 path and 4 bolt which makes him really good.
My biggest problem with snapcaster in zoo is that punishing zoo is actually the best form of zoo right now with all of the aggro mirrors, and I don't think I would run snappy in punishing zoo.
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In life all we can do is try to make things better. Sitting lost in old ways and fearing change only makes us outdated and ignorant.
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Millions of innocent men, women and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined and imprisoned; yet we have not advanced one inch towards uniformity.
Zoo already runs both bolt and path, which are probably the best cards to play alongside snapcaster in modern. It's a very powerful addition to the deck that adds both reach and threat density at the same time. The only question in my mind is how many copies to run.
In a deck that historically uses up all its early turns playing beaters and burn, snapcaster is a card you don't want to see until later, generally. Personally, I think one or two is probably plenty enough that you should see it in the mid to late game when it might matter and the extra card advantage could steal you the game.
I do think that any number of them if fine, though, it's really up to the pilot. I'm going to start testing the lists that ran 4 for starters, since I already know the card is good, and I want to see what issues there are running the full playset. It is likely I will cut down to 3 or maybe even 2, since they are obviously better a bit later in the game, as Weltkrieg pointed out. Running Spell Pierce in Zoo seems very appealing as well, since we often have trouble interacting with our opponents after the first few turns, and this card stays live well into turn 5 against most "bigger" decks. People won't expect it yet either, and they will often run right into it with their better plays. Snapcaster helps justify the Blue Splash we were already running for Tribal Flames, and even though I love Bob, I'm actually a bit more excited about Tiago right now. Now if only I could get my hands on a playset.
I'll test with some Snapcaster lists and see how it shakes out, but my hunch is that he is going to be the new cornerstone of Zoo lists that want access to counterspells and card advantage. Sayonara "CounterCat", Konnichiwa "SnapZoo"!
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MODERN RGB Jund BGR WGB Junk/Abzan Company WGB
LEGACY RUGB Delver GURB
EDH UW Geist of Saint Traft Aggro-Control WU RUG Riku of Two Reflections Combo GUR BBB Skithiryx Control BB
Actually, the Snapcaster versions of Zoo that weren't Tribal did fairly badly, at a 46.55% win rate. By far it had the most matches played, at 174 compared to Basic Naya Zoo's second most (66 matches). Admittedly, though, some 4-2 and 5-1 lists used Tiago, especially combined with Tribal Flames. (It's like every format wants to turn Tiago into Bogardan Hellkite--first Standard with its Brimstone Volley...)
Actually, the Snapcaster versions of Zoo that weren't Tribal did fairly badly, at a 46.55% win rate. By far it had the most matches played, at 174 compared to Basic Naya Zoo's second most (66 matches). Admittedly, though, some 4-2 and 5-1 lists used Tiago, especially combined with Tribal Flames. (It's like every format wants to turn Tiago into Bogardan Hellkite--first Standard with its Brimstone Volley...)
Burn spells are the only spells that have a high power level anymore. I mean lighting bolt was the staple control removal the whole time it was standard lol.
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In life all we can do is try to make things better. Sitting lost in old ways and fearing change only makes us outdated and ignorant.
Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding.
Albert Einstein
Millions of innocent men, women and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined and imprisoned; yet we have not advanced one inch towards uniformity.
Currently testing snapcaster zoo with congregation at dawn and a singleton bloodbraid elf. So far the package gives tremendous amounts of reach for the 4ish card slots it requires.
The stats may not have favored Tiago that strongly at Worlds, but maybe that's just because TeamChannelFireball wasn't on their A game. Either way, I think the strategy is still very strong.
After some initial playtesting tonight, I like the pressure the deck provides, but we still have to build an actual gauntlet before I can really get a feel for the deck. Never Snapcaster'ed a Tribal Flames, but turns out drawing them naturally in multiples works just as well too. My initial reaction is that 4 Snapcasters is probably unnecessary, and I will probably settle on 2-3. Also, so far I like the 2x Spell Pierce in the maindeck.
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MODERN RGB Jund BGR WGB Junk/Abzan Company WGB
LEGACY RUGB Delver GURB
EDH UW Geist of Saint Traft Aggro-Control WU RUG Riku of Two Reflections Combo GUR BBB Skithiryx Control BB
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Just how good is he in the 3+ colour apotheosis of Sligh, Zoo?
Well to be honest the list I saw ran just one. That being said its a good 1 of if you have the room. I mean your possibly running 4 path and 4 bolt which makes him really good.
My biggest problem with snapcaster in zoo is that punishing zoo is actually the best form of zoo right now with all of the aggro mirrors, and I don't think I would run snappy in punishing zoo.
Albert Einstein
Thomas Jefferson
Credit to DolZero for this awesome sig!
http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/eventcoverage/worlds11/topmod (CTRL+F for Snapcaster and hit Next a bunch to see my point)
I do think that any number of them if fine, though, it's really up to the pilot. I'm going to start testing the lists that ran 4 for starters, since I already know the card is good, and I want to see what issues there are running the full playset. It is likely I will cut down to 3 or maybe even 2, since they are obviously better a bit later in the game, as Weltkrieg pointed out. Running Spell Pierce in Zoo seems very appealing as well, since we often have trouble interacting with our opponents after the first few turns, and this card stays live well into turn 5 against most "bigger" decks. People won't expect it yet either, and they will often run right into it with their better plays. Snapcaster helps justify the Blue Splash we were already running for Tribal Flames, and even though I love Bob, I'm actually a bit more excited about Tiago right now. Now if only I could get my hands on a playset.
I'll test with some Snapcaster lists and see how it shakes out, but my hunch is that he is going to be the new cornerstone of Zoo lists that want access to counterspells and card advantage. Sayonara "CounterCat", Konnichiwa "SnapZoo"!
RGB Jund BGR
WGB Junk/Abzan Company WGB
LEGACY
RUGB Delver GURB
EDH
UW Geist of Saint Traft Aggro-Control WU
RUG Riku of Two Reflections Combo GUR
BBB Skithiryx Control BB
Burn spells are the only spells that have a high power level anymore. I mean lighting bolt was the staple control removal the whole time it was standard lol.
Albert Einstein
Thomas Jefferson
After some initial playtesting tonight, I like the pressure the deck provides, but we still have to build an actual gauntlet before I can really get a feel for the deck. Never Snapcaster'ed a Tribal Flames, but turns out drawing them naturally in multiples works just as well too. My initial reaction is that 4 Snapcasters is probably unnecessary, and I will probably settle on 2-3. Also, so far I like the 2x Spell Pierce in the maindeck.
RGB Jund BGR
WGB Junk/Abzan Company WGB
LEGACY
RUGB Delver GURB
EDH
UW Geist of Saint Traft Aggro-Control WU
RUG Riku of Two Reflections Combo GUR
BBB Skithiryx Control BB