MTG Salvation

Quote from Narvuntien »

Well I am trying to play UR Dynavolt tower, but I hate it.

Dynavolt tower is too slow and harnessed lightning (Which doesn't go to the face) and 4 glimmer of genious a bunch more lands some counterspells because its a slow deck now and 4 Torrential Gearhulk. At which point it is a completely different deck that plays completely differently.

Well, yeah. At that point, it plays more like a traditional control deck. You answer or counter their threats while doing incidental damage before you can land a creature and kill them with it.

Replace Fevered Visions with Dynavolt Tower and put Harnessed Lightning in the main for the vehicles match. It helps immensely. Also think about Lightning Weaver since it kills so many of their creatures and dodges Push.

I think that the URx Thermo decks have enough choices that it'll stay competitive for a while. Right now, the current builds are not well-positioned because of the influx of aggro everywhere. Fevered Visions, in particular, helps low to the ground aggro more than it hurts them. The deck just doesn't do well against swarms of aggro creatures, and Copter is a problem. Three toughness is now the magic number.

With that in mind, I'd think that Weaver of Lightning deserves a shot at main deck status. He has reach to block the Copter, and he gives that crucial power boost to the first Galvanic Bombardment to kill things. He also kills servos and thopters quite effectively. Thing in the Ice is objectively more powerful, but it can't block flying.

I also think that Unsubstantiate is highly underrated since it can temporarily stop almost anything. Returning a Copter to someone's hand is a big deal since it doesn't have haste, and they've tapped down potential blockers to Crew it.

Quote from Narvuntien »

I don't own any Aether Hub either, I have a quadrillion evolving wilds so for the moment I put a few of those in and I have just been goldfishing all weekend, (I ended up not going to the GPT but I will likely head to standard on Tuesday),
getting blue hasn't been that hard, but I am not sure how the ETB tapped lands will effect my ablity to win games though.

I can't imagine playing the deck without blue, Fevered visions is the reason it works at all.

Adding to the list of werid card availbility I own 3-4 thing in the ice and about 2 stormchaser mage. Because I hated the BFZ block and enjoyed Shadows addtiontally people bring rares to trade but never uncommons. The people at the SCG tournament are going with Stormchasers from what I have seen.

Emphasis mine.

Smuggler's Copters are everywhere, so Stormchaser Mage is the better choice since it can block it with even just one spell. Galvanic Bombardment + Stormchaser will destroy the Copter.

I'm wondering if Dynavolt Tower is worth considering. Throw in some of the energy cards like Harnessed Lightning or even Thriving Turtle, and that might be an engine worth considering.

This plays nice with Saheeli Rai. Flash it in at the end of their turn, cast something, then on your turn -2 Saheeli to get another cast trigger and a hasty 5/6 to go along with your current 5/6.

And I'd imagine that this plus Engulf the Shore or even Unsubstantiate would be a rather powerful tempo play.

Goodbye, Dust Stalker. We hardly knew ye.

Right. More lands are obviously better. I've seen comments to the effect of wanting to hold lands to draw off of Collective Defiance. That seems like a mistake. Playing those lands also means they aren't lost when a Reveler comes out to play.

Quote from Ponger »

The deck tops out at 5 mana. Not 3.

No. You can escalate Collective Defiance twice, but its base CMC is three.

The difficulty with going more sorcery-speed burn is that it doesn't really play well with what the rest of the deck is trying to do. It can be quite powerful, sure, but it's more inconsistent. Our creatures function when we cast spells, so it doesn't really matter what the spell does. Thermo-Alchemist, Stormchaser, and Reveler don't care if you're casting Collective Defiance, Galvanic Bombardment, or Anticipate. If you're not casting more spells, then you're not utilizing them to their fullest.

Personally, I think the deck is more Tempo Burn than anything else. The Burn is there to complement what the rest of the deck is doing, not supplant it. My version is a bit unconventional, but it works for me.



Card Choices
I run fewer lands since I run more draw/filtering. The deck tops out at 3 CMC -- except for Reveler, of course -- and I don't want to get clogged with lands. I will also play every land that comes into my hand, except when I want to bluff. If I'm drawing more, then I want to be casting more. Chaining spells together gets you more triggers for the creatures.

The creatures are the main kill conditions. Stormchaser is great for his haste and evasion, getting in and chipping away for damage. He's also a pretty good blocker. Jori is card draw. Cast Jori, then cast another spell, draw a card. Reveler is big and mean, drawing into more gas as needed, and killing on the ground.

Unsubstantiate and Grip of the Roil are tempo spells. For two mana, you get to delay a creature. Kalitas got ya down? Tap him down or return him to their hand. That extra turn you get may just be what you need to win. Unsubstantiate can also hit spells, and it works with Visions by putting that card back into their hand. Wait for them to tap out for a spell, then Unsubstantiate it. Tada. They just wasted their mana resources, and you got a trigger for your creatures.

Anticipate, Grip of the Roil, Jori En, and Fevered Visions are the draw. Anticipate can often dig to find you what you need. It's instant speed, so you can use it on the opponent's turn, getting another Alchemist trigger. At the end of their turn, tap Alchemist, cast Anticipate, untap Alchemist, and then tap him again for another point of damage. It's even more disgusting with two Alchemists in play. Grip delays a creature and draws a card, often drawing into more spells, which allows for more triggers. Jori's there as an experiment, but she seems promising. I really don't need to say more about Fevered Visions.

Galvanic Bombardment and Lightning Axe are there to kill problem creatures. Don't forget that you can suicide Stormchaser into a 4-toughness creature to kill it after throwing a Bombardment at it.

Incendiary Flow, Fiery Temper and Collective Defiance are both creature kill and go-to-the-face burn, and they're very good at it. Flow is there to get rid of things you don't want to see again and again. I almost never cast Defiance for the full five. I'm not as interested in the discard/draw as I am in being able to burn things with it. The option is there, however.

I don't have a decent sideboard yet, but Dispel and Negate should be there. I'm also a fan of Compelling Deterrence since it can temporarily get rid of problem planeswalkers, enchantments, or anything else.

Is it perfect, no, but it seems to work for me.

How many instants do you have that you can play on their turn? Playing with the deck, I've noticed that I like a good mix of Instants and Sorceries. Most of the burn versions tend to more sorceries, but the instants allow for more tempo tricks.

Unsubstantiate is a very good card for tempo plays, especially since it resets creatures like Kalitas and deals with Ormendahl, Profane Prince quote nicely. (Watch them crumble after they sack their board to Abbey just to have their Prince returned to their hand.) If you can prevent those chunks of lifegain, then you can usually beat them. Unsubstantiate will also allow you to stop something like Collective Defiance.

I think it's a mistake to not be running some kind of card draw or filtering since you can often just start chaining spells together for more Alchemist triggers / Prowess triggers / or Thing counters. I like Anticipate to dig for more stuff. For that reason, I'll almost always put lands into play when I have them. More lands = more spells to be cast.

Quote from VulpineShine »

I don't like it in madness decks, because all the madness costs are high except Fiery Temper, so tacking on an extra 2 mana just makes cards like Voldaren Pariah come into play too late. If you somehow discarded the cards at the beginning of your next upkeep it would be a lot better.

That is not a good way to evaluate the card. It's not making Pariah worse. Instead, you're gaining more effects. For five mana, you're getting a creature out of it, stripping a card out of their hand, shrinking a dude, or draining them for life.

Brutality plus Alms of the Vein and Fiery Temper reads 1BBR: Strip a card, shrink a dude, drain 5 life, and deal three burn damage. That's an insane amount of value.

If you go hellbent with Brutality and Bloodhall Priest, then you can use the -2/-2 to shrink a dude then use the Priest trigger to deal two more damage, killing up to a four toughness creature.

Here's my take on BR Madness vamps. It completely eschews the 1-drops for more powerful creatures and spells. The power of Madness is that it cheats at putting things out at instant speed, so it's important to have a good mix.

I'm trying out Senseless Rage as a good way to increase the power and toughness of the smaller creatures, and it can ambush stuff at instant speed with a discard outlet. The Collective Brutality + Alms of the Vein synergy is particularly strong.

I went with a 2/2 split between Asylum Visitor and Stromkirk Occultist because the Visitor is great when hellbent, but the Occultist is a stronger attacker with Stromkirk Condemned. And their Madness costs of 1B and 1R, respectfully, help speed things up, which is important.

If she sticks, [/card]Olivia, Mobilized for War[/card] is a monster, especially with Bloodhall Priest.

No sideboard yet since I'm still messing around with it. I'd imagine some amount of Transgress the Mind, more kill spells like Incendiary Flow, Savage Alliance, or even Radiant Flames for weenie swarms. I'm toying with putting Distended Mindbender in there for some shenanigans.

You, sir, are an inspiration. The UR Prowess/Visions deck is a thing of beauty.

Thank you for your hard work and dedication to keeping this thread going.

Magical christmasland thinking does not a deck make. Madcap + Cackler commits two cards to the board for 5 damage, which is all the pressure you'll need for turn two play.

With that being said, there may be situations where Thunderous Might could be useful, like on an Ash Zealot or Boros Reckoner to power through opposing monsters, but that's fairly niche since those cards are good on their own.

He'll be nuts in a R/W burn-centered list with Boros Charm and Warleader's Helix. Four damage to the dome with a free Mortars slapped on? Yes, please.

Now as to whether that deck will be viable or not ...