I don't think Dismember is a good fit in Valakut. In the main, it really is only effective against the exarch-twin combo while being worse than bolt against aggro. Even in the side, you have better options against that deck. I'm also not much a fan of Harrow given the popularity of Caw-Blade, so I'd trade those out for Cultivate or something. The only other thing I'd switch in your main is a mountain for another expanse/wilds. So basically, -2 Dismember , -2 Harrow , -1 Mountain, +1 Expanse, +2 Ramp Spells, +2 Other things (more fatties, maybe 1 zenith, or something).
Your side is actually pretty good, but I still maintain the idea that Dismember isn't an ideal hate card on the twin decks when you could run Combust . Overall, though, it's actually really close to my list that I'm running and I think you're covering all your bases well. Albeit, I also run one less simulacrum and a couple of Inferno Titans , but I like most of the list sans Dismember , which is really mediocre here as removal against anything but twin. Best of luck to you and I hope that helped!
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Yea, the dismember was something I never really felt comfortable playing, but I also never had a twin match-up at the PTQ I went to. I went 9 rounds at a PTQ without ever playing Twin or Caw and have no idea how the match up works in real play.
IN case anyone is wondering I went 5-3 losing in Round 1 to Night Shift because I had nothing to do against consistent turn 4 Persecutors followed up by T5 Gideon. Went 5-0 for the next 5 rounds winning against Caw-Junk Pod-Mono Black Good Stuff-Vamps-Valakut and then lost to Caw piloted by AJ Sacher in Round 7 and U/ B Control in Round 8 before I dropped.
I decided to main deck one of my revenges and an additional GSZ after kicking out the dismembers for Combust. I ended up running 3 Combust in the board and never faced a deck where I felt it was the best choice to side in. Sacher's Caw match up was won on the back of double Emeria Angel and me getting a slow start where Game 2 was won excluvisely on the back of me getting caught on 2 lands and a battlement and whiffing on my third T5 Summoning Trap. I ended up keeping a hand with a Titan, 2 Traps, 2 Land, an Explore, and a Battlement, drew in Trap-Titan-Solem-Land-Titan. Ended up having my Solemn leaked and slammed 3 traps, first got flashfreezed, second nabbed me a Gaea's Revenge, third whiffed and brought him down to 8, unfortunately his follow up turn was Sun Titan bringing back Phantasmal Image copying my Revenge then swinging and me sitting with a Combust in the hand and no way to get that 1 extra point of damage I needed in.
Overall, I had a really good time and will definitely miss playing this deck after rotation. It may not be the hardest deck to pilot but when I was sitting playing the mono-black deck I had to really think about how to handle that Phyrexian Obliterator with minimal impact and it ended up working in my favor after sacrificing 6 permanents on a P. Titan block
Combust is insurance against the Exarch-Twin matchup, which I'm pretty sure is Valakut's worst matchup. I'm kind of surprised that you weren't paired against it all given that SCG's coverage made it out to be a popular choice for that tournament. I'm glad to hear it mostly worked out, though; if you're going to be knocked out of contention for top 8, at least it was by a really good player.
On a lesser note, I took Valakut to FNM on Friday. I went 4-1-1 in the main rounds (yeah, we had 6 rounds because of having 34 people). In top 8, I get paired against the one Exarch-Twin in the top 8 of the tourney. Yeah, of course I would get my worst matchup again. I lose in 3 games, winning one because my trap gave me an Avenger of Zendikar and because I had a Nature's Claim the turn he needed to combo off and kill me. The other games weren't really close. That's three FNMs in a row where I top 8 and get knocked out of top 4 by bizarre bad luck or being paired against a horrible matchup (last time it was my mono red against Caw-Blade, super). My friends tell me not to complain, but what's the use making top 8 if all you get is a pity booster pack?
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It is possible that getting in to the loser's bracket round 2 and progressing with a loss right off the bat kept me from seeing Twin but I never faced it. I am surprised that I have gone to 2 major events in the last month and faced at least 12 different decks in 16 matches played.
And you're right about losing out on Top 8. I don't feel so bad when it is an actual pro, because he is a REALLY good player.
