This is the guy I lost to at the end of the event.
I got kind of mana screwed so I couldn't give it a good showing but I'll write up something about the match. If you want to see my decklist that made it to the championship round you can check out my topic, 4-color control.
I am only able to give my perspective, since I was playing a control deck, these things might be a non-issue against aggro.
Archon of the Triumvirate and Hussar Patrol were absolute crap. Every time he dropped one of those I was able to get ahead in board position. I don't know if there are any better choices, but they were not that strong. Archon I can see being better in certain situations, but he took way too long to come out and it used up the entire manabase so it was a breath of relief for me.
He probably didn't use angel because it is an expensive card. Jayce is a bomb, and supreme verdict is good.
The main part that was frustrating to play against was the counterspells. He can drop a few early beaters and then counter anything too dangerous.
Sphinx's Revelation is underrated. It is not as good as Rakdos' return early game, but it becomes exponentially better the later the game gets. It will be a stable in all U/W control.
Azorius charms were pointless in our matchup, he only ever used them to draw cards.
That's about all I got. I CAN'T BELIEVE I LOST! Just kidding, they were some good games.
I got kind of mana screwed so I couldn't give it a good showing but I'll write up something about the match.
Yeah I was dubious of a 4 color deck working in this format.
Archon of the Triumvirate and Hussar Patrol were absolute crap. Every time he dropped one of those I was able to get ahead in board position. I don't know if there are any better choices, but they were not that strong.
I agree that the Patrol seemed weak, but I guess it can block all the 3/3 tokens for days. Haven't looked at gatherer yet to see the other options. There's that 3/3 flyer that unsummons a 2 cmc creature every time it attacks.
He probably didn't use angel because it is an expensive card. Jayce is a bomb, and supreme verdict is good.
Yeah Jace is pretty sick. I've only watched a handful of replays, but it looks like you want to play some sort of Jace based deck, or have access to dreadbore. I agree with your 5 rating on dreadbore.
Sphinx's Revelation is underrated. It is not as good as Rakdos' return early game, but it becomes exponentially better the later the game gets. It will be a stable in all U/W control.
Yeah im picking them up while they're cheap. I'm guessing block will influence the price a little bit. I don't think the card will be playable in modern. It competes with Blue Sun's Zenith which is a finisher as well as card advantage. The U/W decks are hard up for free spots, and USZ being so flexible is perfect for the deck.
Azorius charms were pointless in our matchup, he only ever used them to draw cards.
Yeah it seems like the worst of the charm cycle. And it competes with Dramatic Rescue.
I go over UWr, UW, and UWg control variants in my thread here. I definitely think that UW (or UWg if the format allows the time to develop your mana base) is going to be the best deck by a long shot. It has all the most powerful tools in one deck and Angel of Serenity is the best creature (best card, perhaps) in the format. Like Awjustaguy said Archon of the Triumvirate is bad. It's too slow in the aggro match ups and worthless in the control mirrors. Angel is good in both of these since if your opponent has no creatures to exile you can wait until you have two Angels and start the loop. As I discussed in my posts in the other thread, I believe this deck struggles against Slaughter Games which might be the reason he included more creatures, but I think that could be fixed by going UWg and adding Armada Wurm while staying a dedicated control deck.
The Daily Event deck lists aren't posted on Wizards yet but once that's up I plan to update both my Jund thread and my UW list to beat the expected metagame.
I definitely think that UW (or UWg if the format allows the time to develop your mana base) is going to be the best deck by a long shot.
I don't understand this reasoning, why do you think this? UW isn't bad and it will be competitive, but I don't see any deck pulling ahead by a long shot. I think UW has poor creatures and sub-par control options, but it is made up for with consistency and flexibility. They get access to some of the best cards (Jayce, Angel of Serenity), but honestly there is nothing in RTR that seems broken. Angel is powerful, but slaughter games takes care of that for control and she's too slow to rely on against aggro. Jayce is a good card but frankly he's overpriced. His ability (draw the best card out of your next 3 cards) is powerful but it's not broken and he's quite easy to deal with.
Frankly it seems to me that each color has a few great cards and a majority of underwhelming cards. I wouldn't be surprised if 5-color lamp control crops up as a competitor.
I don't understand this reasoning, why do you think this? UW isn't bad and it will be competitive, but I don't see any deck pulling ahead by a long shot. I think UW has poor creatures and sub-par control options, but it is made up for with consistency and flexibility. They get access to some of the best cards (Jayce, Angel of Serenity), but honestly there is nothing in RTR that seems broken. Angel is powerful, but slaughter games takes care of that for control and she's too slow to rely on against aggro. Jayce is a good card but frankly he's overpriced. His ability (draw the best card out of your next 3 cards) is powerful but it's not broken and he's quite easy to deal with.
Frankly it seems to me that each color has a few great cards and a majority of underwhelming cards. I wouldn't be surprised if 5-color lamp control crops up as a competitor.
I explain why I think UWx is the best deck in about 20 paragraphs in my thread. I'm watching the current RTR Constructed Daily on MTGO right now and all the top decks are Bant control. Rakdos is getting crushed and Selesnya Populate seems to be doing alright. UWx just has every tool it needs in every match up in the meta. Since this is a single block format right now there aren't a wide variety of threats to choose from but there are some broad answers. That means while your opponents are forced into using sub par threats you have powerful ways to deal with them. You say Angel of Serenity is too slow against Aggro but when you drop Jace or Supreme Verdict on turn 4 and then begin to stabilize with Sphinx's Revelation into Angel, it doesn't seem that hard. Sure Slaughter Games removes Angel but you still have Jace, Armada Wurm and Keyrunes to finish off your opponent. I guess we'll see who's right.
I explain why I think UWx is the best deck in about 20 paragraphs in my thread. I'm watching the current RTR Constructed Daily on MTGO right now and all the top decks are Bant control. Rakdos is getting crushed and Selesnya Populate seems to be doing alright. UWx just has every tool it needs in every match up in the meta. Since this is a single block format right now there aren't a wide variety of threats to choose from but there are some broad answers. That means while your opponents are forced into using sub par threats you have powerful ways to deal with them. You say Angel of Serenity is too slow against Aggro but when you drop Jace or Supreme Verdict on turn 4 and then begin to stabilize with Sphinx's Revelation into Angel, it doesn't seem that hard. Sure Slaughter Games removes Angel but you still have Jace, Armada Wurm and Keyrunes to finish off your opponent. I guess we'll see who's right.
Basically, I agree with you on this. UWx seems to be the deck to beat in Block at the moment and for the foreseeable future. More specifically UWG but I could also see UWR making a showing if the meta develops along lines that allow it but it seems the more "vulnerable" of the two to hate.
Here's why for those wondering. UWx runs along the same lines as traditional control decks, it has the things in block any control deck needs to survive: Life gain with Centaur Healer/Sphinx's Revelation, to get out of the "reachable" range of any burn. Board stabilizing effects in Jace and Supreme Verdict to put a stop to incoming damage early on when it matters. Card draw to dig for answers and stay ahead when the game goes long with Jace and Sphinx's Revelation. And finally big finishers that are hard to answer like Angel of Serenity and Armada Wurm. It even has access to 3 pretty decent counterspells; Syncopate, Cancel and Counterflux to put them ahead against any other control deck.
Add to this the fact that aggro, the traditional enemy of control is missing some big pieces of their toolkit. Most notably a lack of good 1 and 2 drops as well as some substantial "reach" cards, such as strong equipment and burn and you have a meta where a control deck (especially with a strong walker like Jace on its side) can thrive.
There may be a few other decks that crop up in the meta in the long term but I haven't seen or found anything that has a really favorable win percentage against the current Bant lists. Maybe I'm wrong and there will be. I honestly hope that's the case because right now this is looking like a 1-2 maybe 3 deck format at most.
Basically, I agree with you on this. UWx seems to be the deck to beat in Block at the moment and for the foreseeable future. More specifically UWG but I could also see UWR making a showing if the meta develops along lines that allow it but it seems the more "vulnerable" of the two to hate.
Here's why for those wondering. UWx runs along the same lines as traditional control decks, it has the things in block any control deck needs to survive: Life gain with Centaur Healer/Sphinx's Revelation, to get out of the "reachable" range of any burn. Board stabilizing effects in Jace and Supreme Verdict to put a stop to incoming damage early on when it matters. Card draw to dig for answers and stay ahead when the game goes long with Jace and Sphinx's Revelation. And finally big finishers that are hard to answer like Angel of Serenity and Armada Wurm. It even has access to 3 pretty decent counterspells; Syncopate, Cancel and Counterflux to put them ahead against any other control deck.
Add to this the fact that aggro, the traditional enemy of control is missing some big pieces of their toolkit. Most notably a lack of good 1 and 2 drops as well as some substantial "reach" cards, such as strong equipment and burn and you have a meta where a control deck (especially with a strong walker like Jace on its side) can thrive.
There may be a few other decks that crop up in the meta in the long term but I haven't seen or found anything that has a really favorable win percentage against the current Bant lists. Maybe I'm wrong and there will be. I honestly hope that's the case because right now this is looking like a 1-2 maybe 3 deck format at most.
Perfectly stated. I think the only thing that will keep these decks in check are nut draws from Rakdos players and the price of the deck (280-350 depending on the version).
I've been watching all of the replays from the dailies and one thing that seems interesting is that UWR has a big edge in the mirror because Counterflux cannot be countered. In the UWx mirrors without red whoever resolves Jace, Architect of Thought , or a Sphinx's Revelation pretty much wins so there's usually a counter war over one of those 2 cards, but against UWR they can always stop their opponents spells or make sure that theirs resolves. I Initially started the format with UWR in mind but liked the idea of ramping to Angel of Serenity quickly and consistently to stop the aggro decks, but if the meta turns to control mirrors then maybe UWR is the way to go.
Judging from the decks I play in the meta, no one has any idea what they're doing. UWx is fine, but I have a 75% win ratio against it with rakdos aggro. Selesnya decks are still being played by complete idiots that have no idea how to deckbuild. Half the rakdos aggro decks still use Rakdos guildgate. I have yet to see an even half-decent jund deck, and the one I've created now has beaten uwg in every single matchup. We haven't even seen a 5 color control deck, which will be totally possible and easily viable with such easy access to manafixing.
Oh, and also, sideboards have yet to even begin to form. Slaughter games entirely wrecks UWx. Exile sphinx's, exile jace / serenity, and then they durdle around for the rest of the game. No one is even bringing artifact hate which would hose the decklists that use many keyrunes.
I'm not saying this to put anyone down or to be arrogant, I'm saying it because with the way the game is right now I think it's absolutely silly to think the best deck has already been created. The meta will constantly change, trust me on this, and you will be seeing new things every day for the next couple of weeks, so give it some time.
I updated the OP with the actual decklist that won.
Is it worth the inconsistency with the green splash to get armada wurm, centaur healer and loxodon smiter? You're playing double blue, double green and triple white cards. You also want g/w on turn 3 for centaur healer. A deck that 3-1'd that daily played 4 Gatecreeper Vine in his bant deck, which seems miserable. It's basically draw a land and gain 2-4 life. Is Chromatic lantern better? If you play 4 lanterns would it be better to just play 4-5 colors?
I think Lyev Skyknight is perfectly playable in a u/w or u/w/x deck.
What about playing a bunch of detain cards into Jace into Azor's Elocutors, into Palisade Giant, into angel of serenity into winning X turns later? Is that too cute? Who can break that lock besides the mirror? I guess the Elocutors are garbage on their own. I haven't played palisade giant, but it seems like it'd be okay in a control deck. The giant protects jace from everything except vraska and dreadbore.
Perfectly stated. I think the only thing that will keep these decks in check are nut draws from Rakdos players and the price of the deck (280-350 depending on the version).
I've been watching all of the replays from the dailies and one thing that seems interesting is that UWR has a big edge in the mirror because Counterflux cannot be countered. In the UWx mirrors without red whoever resolves Jace, Architect of Thought , or a Sphinx's Revelation pretty much wins so there's usually a counter war over one of those 2 cards, but against UWR they can always stop their opponents spells or make sure that theirs resolves. I Initially started the format with UWR in mind but liked the idea of ramping to Angel of Serenity quickly and consistently to stop the aggro decks, but if the meta turns to control mirrors then maybe UWR is the way to go.
Yeah, Counterflux gives a big edge to UWR in the control matchups. Being able to counter a bomb or a Jace with no chance of them countering back can be huge. Just being able to be an extra counterspell on top of Syncopate and Cancel is an advantage itself.
While I agree that Rakdos can and does win against the control lists out there it does have the problem of limited reach. Rakdos' Return and Annihilating Fire/Explosive Impact aren't as good as Devil's Play and Brimstone Volley were in the Boros decks of ISD Block at finishing an opponent. Also, Rakdos lacks a strong or consistent one drop, something like Gravecrawler/Diregraf Ghoul or Champion of the Parish. The Bant control decks also have strong defenses against the early Rakdos rush with Centaur Healer usually main deck and Loxodon Smiter post board. Slaughter Games does do wonders but it's kind of narrow, so you have to be able to eliminate the other threats they can throw out with removal, like a Jund control style deck would do, or throw multiple Slaughter Games at them. Also, again the Bant lists play multiple threats in Angel of Serenity, Armada Wurm, Jace and Supreme Verdict.
I updated the OP with the actual decklist that won.
Is it worth the inconsistency with the green splash to get armada wurm, centaur healer and loxodon smiter? You're playing double blue, double green and triple white cards. You also want g/w on turn 3 for centaur healer. A deck that 3-1'd that daily played 4 Gatecreeper Vine in his bant deck, which seems miserable. It's basically draw a land and gain 2-4 life. Is Chromatic lantern better? If you play 4 lanterns would it be better to just play 4-5 colors?
I think Lyev Skyknight is perfectly playable in a u/w or u/w/x deck.
What about playing a bunch of detain cards into Jace into Azor's Elocutors, into Palisade Giant, into angel of serenity into winning X turns later? Is that too cute? Who can break that lock besides the mirror? I guess the Elocutors are garbage on their own. I haven't played palisade giant, but it seems like it'd be okay in a control deck. The giant protects jace from everything except vraska and dreadbore.
The fixing in RTR is much more supportive of triple color decks than previous Blocks, with both Guildgates and Shocklands it's not too difficult to get the mana you need when you need it. Most of the powerful early game cards you'll be playing don't require a huge amount of any one color except maybe Jace but you'll probably hope to be stabilized somewhat before you let him hit the board, unless you really need to search for an answer with his -2. As for Gatecreeper Vine and Chromatic Lantern, they're both dead draws later in the game and drawing multiples of either early isn't the best. Keyrunes are your best bet for fixing as they can block and attack as well as helping to fix your mana and accelerate out a threat a turn or two earlier.
Lyev Skynight is playable but it also dies to a lot more than say a Centaur Healer or a Loxodon Smiter would, so it's worse on the defense but better on the offense and in a control type deck for a three drop creature, you'll want something more defensive. Detain though can be good, some lists play Inaction Injunction in the sideboard for a little bit of a delay and it cycles which is an advantage. Elocutors is just too slow, it gives them 5 turns to draw an answer or something that goes over the top of it and trying to get it and Palisade Giant out to combo is too unreliable to really work.
So I just built this deck. Frostburn Weird is better than the hussar.
Just playing in the practice room so far. Tons of people are playing slaughter games, some main deck. So I suggest diversifying threats. Currently i'm running a 3/1 split of angel and archon.
Out of the blackness and stench of the engulfing swamp emerged a shimmering figure. Only the splattered armor and ichor-stained sword hinted at the unfathomable evil the knight had just laid waste.
25 lands + 3 keyrunes seem like enough mana. I have more white symbols that blue symbols so that's why there's the 9/8 basic land split. Keyrunes are amazing in this format since there is not much good instant removal.
I like the creature suite so far. Frostburn Weird is deceptively good. Blocks early drops all day and can swing for 4. Lyev Skyknight is something to do with your mana early. It also helps you when you're on the draw and your opponent plays a keyrune on turn 3. It helps you not get that far behind on tempo. Plus when it dies you have something to get back with angel. It can trade if needed.
I'm not to sure about the high end creatures. I'm just too worried about slaughter games so I don't have 4 Angels. Plus the high end is really awkward to have in your opening hand. Not having a bunch of 4 ofs really hurts Sphinx's ability, but he's mainly there for his body and evasion. The ability is a bonus. Isperia, Supreme Judge's toughness is too low to play it as it gets Mizzium Mortars'd and Augur spree'd to death. You don't want your high end to get 1 for 1'd so easily. Sadly there are no good hexproof/shroud creatures.
4 Jace is a no brainer, that card is stupid good.
I didn't think azorius charm was good when I was building this deck and watching people play it. I was wrong. It's everything you want in your 2 mana spell. It cycles when you need something or it's unsummon + opponent skips his drawstep. It competes with dramatic rescue. But I think the skip draw step + option to draw a card is better than the 2 life on rescue. It's garbage in control mirrors, but it can let you keep a 2 land hand (if you can cast it).
Supreme Verdict, Detention Sphere, and Sphinx's Revelation are obvious inclusions. Revelation while extremely good is clunky in your opener, so there's only 3. Verdict might not be good in some match ups so there's only 3. I've had people slaughter games my detention spheres before. But playing 4 might be correct, it's clearly good.
Cyclonic rift is good vs tokens and helps vs rakdos. Plus it's a blow out when you overload it. The regular effect isn't that good most of the time, and I already have a lot of high end so there's only 1. Plus I already have wraths for 4 mana. I have 3 more rifts in the board for the tokens match up. Cancel is fine, I didn't really like syncopate when playing with it. If there's a ton of aggro decks syncopate might be better.
Sideboard is still a work in progress. At one point I had 2 Keening Apparitions, but I never sided them in. I don't think there are that many good enchantments to destroy. I don't think this deck is really looking for 1 for 1s. You can always play around detention spheres.
Psychic Spiral is pretty sweet in control mirrors. However stuff doesn't really die in control mirrors because of exile effects, lack of creatures and dspheres, so it'll take 30 turns to fill your graveyard before you can mill them out. I'm not sure if 1 or 2 are correct.
Sphinx comes in vs slaughter games decks. Taking the place of a Jace or an Angel.
I haven't won anything in 4 dailies, and i hit 2-2 once. Which is unfortunate too since i'm winning ~75% of matches in the practice room. Granted the people in the practice room are more likely to over extend into wraths and don't have all the mythics. I did win the only 2 man i entered (don't really like playing those since they're bad EV). I'll play a couple more dailies and if I don't 3-1, i'll probably sell the deck.
So far psychic spiral hasn't been that good. The problem with it is that very few cards go into your graveyard. Jace, syncopate, angel of serenity, detention sphere, cyclonic rift, they don't help your fill your graveyard in control mirrors. So you don't get to play it until turn 40. I wanted to play 2 in case the first one gets countered. But I think you're better off just playing 1 and using counter back up, though I guess that's bad vs counterflux decks. But they'll probably burn through them before turn 40. I'm not too sure on how to solve that problem, maybe just draw too many cards with sphinx's revelation and discard lands.
However I won one game with it. I would have won a second game with it but I ran out of time, I needed 5 more seconds. It's unfortunate that you lose the match when your clock runs out despite you being up 1-0.
I like my list so far. The only card that under performs is Sphinx of the Chimes. Though that's probably because I only run 1, my deck doesn't have that many 4 ofs, and the time you cast him there aren't that many cards you want to bin to draw 4. The only thing you'd really want to discard would be azorius charms or frostburn weirds. Also it doesn't help that when I cast him he just gets blown up by selesnya charm. I haven't drawn him much vs other decks. Archon of the triumvirate is actually a legit card in the format because of that charm. Most good selesnya players save their charm to kill jace or to kill you. They're going to have the charm in their hand on turn 6+ when you play your fatty.
Sadly there aren't that many robust 5-6 drops for blue/white. There's Isperia, but I don't like that she dies to mizzium mortars. There's also Azor's Elocutors, but that seems too slow. You give them too many turns to find a supreme verdict.
UWR looks interesting because it has better 5-6 drops, in Mercurial Chemister , hypersonic dragon, and niv-mizzet. Chemister is a must answer threat, and niv-mizzet is a great top deck when you have 10 lands in play, as opposed to angel of serenity. However I don't know if the mana base of UWR is good enough vs the aggro match ups.
Dramatic Rescue is great vs rakdos aggro, the life gain is very relevant. You don't need that many cyclonic rifts, I only side them in vs selesnya. The deck 2 for 1s selesnya all day so having 3 rifts is fine.
Rest in peace is something i'm going to try vs the golgari deck. I'm not sure if it's good. But these games can go pretty long, and taking out their graveyard resource seems pretty good. Golgari also sides in needle for jace, so i usually side 1-2 out which gives me less card selection/advantage, which makes the game go longer. They can just sit back with a deathrite shaman and shock you to death. That card can hit you for 6-8 damage, which is pretty good for such a minimal investment. Rest in peace also shuts off jarad which can be a problem late game, and of course scavenge.
I think golgari is a tough deck to beat. They have haste creatures which can throw you off guard, Lotleth troll can beat supreme verdict. Vraska is hard to deal with. Abrupt decay laughs at detention sphere. And they have reach with jarad and deathrite shaman.
I'm virtually undefeated against Rakdos, G/W decks and in the mirror. To this date I only lost a match to G/W and once to mirror, both were results of horrible mulligans.
Bad news is, Grixis Control with Counterflux, Rakdos's Return, Slaughter Games (the real, crippling targets are Jace and Sphinx's Revelations) and the persistent Golgari. Golgari I'd say 40-60, Grixis is 30-70 at best.
A friend of mine comments that the deck's difficulty is 20 on the scale of 10 since I almost always 'win' with keyrune beatdown. I actually find it rather easy - you just play to survive, then start chaining revelations, then at some point you'll have a billion mana and cancel up on an empty board and just win from there.
SB is a flux as I try to figure out the best way to make use of it.
I know it's a bit weird that I'm not playing fat finishers in the maindeck, and it's not due budget reasons (I do play full jaces anyway). It's just that, in mid-late game when I can actually cast angel, I can start casting big revelations already and I really rather just sit back and enjoy the ride instead of gambling on a 7 drop that's vulnerable to Selesnya Charm and Aerial Predation. I like Lyevs, they're inexpensive, they're relevant in control mirrors, they kill walkers with ease and are just as real a finisher as a 5 power flier that's conviniently immune to selesnya charm.
I'm more or less convinced I'll be locked into playing this - maybe, maybe a few angels in the md, and I probably should get a few in the sb for Golgari.
Hit me up with your ideas and opinions, since block is like a deal few actually care about and I'd love to discuss it with players invested in it especially for the upcoming mocs.
I tried out rest in peace in the practice room vs 2 golgari decks. It drew abrupt decay both times, so i'm guessing it's good? The sad thing is that you can't play it till they have stuff in their graveyard, otherwise you get no value when they abrupt decay it, so they might get a slitherhead counter while you are actually able to cast rest in peace.
But yeah it virtually blanks 10-12 cards in their deck. Slitherhead is a 1/1, deathrite is a 1/2, and jarad is a 2/2.
I'm virtually undefeated against Rakdos, G/W decks and in the mirror. To this date I only lost a match to G/W and once to mirror, both were results of horrible mulligans.
Bad news is, Grixis Control with Counterflux, Rakdos's Return, Slaughter Games (the real, crippling targets are Jace and Sphinx's Revelations) and the persistent Golgari. Golgari I'd say 40-60, Grixis is 30-70 at best.
A friend of mine comments that the deck's difficulty is 20 on the scale of 10 since I almost always 'win' with keyrune beatdown. I actually find it rather easy - you just play to survive, then start chaining revelations, then at some point you'll have a billion mana and cancel up on an empty board and just win from there.
SB is a flux as I try to figure out the best way to make use of it.
I know it's a bit weird that I'm not playing fat finishers in the maindeck, and it's not due budget reasons (I do play full jaces anyway). It's just that, in mid-late game when I can actually cast angel, I can start casting big revelations already and I really rather just sit back and enjoy the ride instead of gambling on a 7 drop that's vulnerable to Selesnya Charm and Aerial Predation. I like Lyevs, they're inexpensive, they're relevant in control mirrors, they kill walkers with ease and are just as real a finisher as a 5 power flier that's conviniently immune to selesnya charm.
I'm more or less convinced I'll be locked into playing this - maybe, maybe a few angels in the md, and I probably should get a few in the sb for Golgari.
Hit me up with your ideas and opinions, since block is like a deal few actually care about and I'd love to discuss it with players invested in it especially for the upcoming mocs.
Nighthavk_
Don't you think with your 8 powerful card draw/card selection spells, and 4 cycling spells that you should run more 1 and 2 ofs? Also playing less 4 ofs makes you less vulnerable to slaughter games.
Aerial Predation isn't that big of a problem since you can always get your angel back with another angel. Selesyna charm on the other hand, yeah is pretty annoying. That's why Archon of the Triumvirate is semi playable. But you're heavily favored vs selesyna anyways, so them 1 for 1ing you isn't that big of a deal. Also these big flyers are good against golgari. They can't kill them unless they have Vraska the Unseen or aerial predation. Plus 5/6 creatures block all of theirs unless they use scavenge or there's a jarad.
What match up do you bring in sundering growth? I haven't really liked it. It's mostly a 1 for 1. Sure you can get a jace back from a d-sphere, but if they're d-sphere-ing your jace aren't you already winning? And you can get back 2 keyrunes from blowing up a d-sphere but you probably shouldn't have played into that. It blows up pithing needle in some match ups, but I usually side out my jace's when I suspect they might bring in needle. It hits other key runes, but i don't find those that threatening.
Currently, our team is cooperating on getting a solid deck in for MOCS. This thus requires a different approach. Suffice to say, I'm ignoring Slaughter Games for the time being, since there are two decks that run it - Grixis [unbeatable] and Rakdos [very easy anyway].
I'm getting some angels in md and some in the sb. List is in a flux currently.
I tried out Sundering Growth but yeah, haven't really liked it. It'd have been different had I any tokens to populate, alas, I don't.
The control mirrors are pretty boring. Though I guess that's true for most formats playing land go.
Also playing 4 sphinx's revelation is correct because you want to chain them. It's the best card in block. Slaughter games be damned.
Is sphinx of the chimes and psychic spiral a legit combo? I just drew my whole deck then milled my opponent out on his upkeep for the exact amount on turn 23.
Maybe sphinx of the chimes is better than angel? But then that requires you to play psychic spiral in your main deck.
I think it might be worth trying to win games on a turn in the mid 20s as opposed to the mid 40s.
So I've been playing this deck between the 2mans and the tournament practice room, as I had the majority of the cards from bant control in standard. It's waaay more entertaining than endless thragtusk wars. And as such, I'm playing Golgari a lot... which is certainly winnable, but requires very specific draws, and even the slightest stumble on mana or card quality sets this deck on the backfoot.
My biggest problem is the ever present Lotleth trolls. Deathrites don't bother me much, I can handle the manglers and whatever bigger dudes they run (Demons, Jarad's, deadbridge). I can usually end up getting rid of a lotleth either by charming it followed with a counter, or sphere it. Wrath never works, and they pack plenty of enchantment hate to get their guy back. Has anyone got any alternatives to the troll?
I've thought of a few alternatives, from hover barriers to soul tithe or paralyzing grasp, but Decay hits them all, and they typically bring in golgari charms to help fight spheres... which makes two of those three not so good. Maybe Hussar Patrol?
So I've been playing this deck between the 2mans and the tournament practice room, as I had the majority of the cards from bant control in standard. It's waaay more entertaining than endless thragtusk wars.
Have you played the control mirrors? It's jace/sphinx's revelation wars. And there's so little room for creativity in the sideboard.
My biggest problem is the ever present Lotleth trolls. Deathrites don't bother me much, I can handle the manglers and whatever bigger dudes they run (Demons, Jarad's, deadbridge). I can usually end up getting rid of a lotleth either by charming it followed with a counter, or sphere it. Wrath never works, and they pack plenty of enchantment hate to get their guy back. Has anyone got any alternatives to the troll?
I've thought of a few alternatives, from hover barriers to soul tithe or paralyzing grasp, but Decay hits them all, and they typically bring in golgari charms to help fight spheres... which makes two of those three not so good. Maybe Hussar Patrol?
I've been playing frostburn weird in the main deck and it's surprisingly solid. It's 2 mana. It blocks most ground creatures, and can even trade with them. It protects jace. It can swing for 4. And since it's 2 mana you don't care if it gets removed.
You can try to detain the troll with a skynight then wrath. It's a 2 for 1 but sometimes it's the only option and sometimes they don't regen in response.
If you don't want to play an early blocker the best bet is to just buy time till you can trump it with bigger creatures.
I sure haven't gotten to play the mirror. Everyone's playing golgari. I don't think I'd mind it though, I use to kinda enjoy the caw-blade mirrors. Control is what I feel most comfortable playing, and this is the first deck since caw-blade that I really enjoy playing.
I'll give the weird a shot. He seems like he'd work great.Now, I just have to find room for it...
I just started playing RTR Block today, after playing Pauper and Planeswalker formats for a year for budgetary reasons. Then I noticed I had about $250 in old MTGO cards, sold them all, and went all-in on a RTR Block deck.
So I bought the deck on MTGO—lock, stock, and barrel. It was NOT a cheap deck! And I have been playing non-stop for the last day.
This is not an easy deck to play—it seems easy (and is versus some match-ups), but the control mirrors and the Jund battle are very tough.
One thing I didn’t understand was the massive commitment to counter magic (and mediocre counter magic, at that) in the SB. Then I played my fist control mirror—eye-opener! All that typically matters are counters, Jace, Revelations, and any milling or graveyard recycling cards. In fact, my first three control mirrors were aborted when they just quit as soon as they saw I was on control as well (playing in the TP room). I couldn’t fathom why—control mirrors can be fun. Then I actually played one in RTR block; now I understand.
U/W is particularly vulnerable to three- and four-color control decks as we can’t usually punish them for their clunky mana. So they get their superior card quality for free. But now I understand Zwischenzug’s SB plan. We even things up because due to their slower mana, the three- and four-color control decks have to devote more SB room to dealing with faster decks. We can afford the ‘total control’ SB package that they can’t.
However, I’m still pretty unclear on SBing—even vs. control, I’m not sure what comes out. In fact, I’d appreciate SB advice vs. most matchups.
Here's the deck list
3 Azorius Guildgate
4 Hallowed Fountain
8 Island
9 Plains
Creatures 14
3 Archon of the Triumvirate
4 Azorius Arrester
3 Hussar Patrol
4 Lyev Skyknight
3 Azorius Charm
3 Detention Sphere
3 Dramatic Rescue
4 Inaction Injunction
4 Jace, Architect of Thought
2 Sphinx's Revelation
3 Supreme Verdict
1 Azorius Charm
3 Azor's Elocutors
1 Detention Sphere
2 Dispel
1 Dramatic Rescue
3 Keening Apparition
1 Supreme Verdict
3 Syncopate
The sideboard would have more counters and removal.
The gist is you try to buy time till you can set up a huge sphinx's revelation or you try to tempo them out and race them with Lyev Skyknights.
The guy had Archon of the Triumvirate over Angel of Serenity. And he had some Azorius Charms. Not sure if Azorius Charm is any good.
I'm not sure about angel vs archon. Angel has a better ability, but it dies to ultimate price. So maybe that's why the guy had archon?
I got kind of mana screwed so I couldn't give it a good showing but I'll write up something about the match. If you want to see my decklist that made it to the championship round you can check out my topic, 4-color control.
I am only able to give my perspective, since I was playing a control deck, these things might be a non-issue against aggro.
Archon of the Triumvirate and Hussar Patrol were absolute crap. Every time he dropped one of those I was able to get ahead in board position. I don't know if there are any better choices, but they were not that strong. Archon I can see being better in certain situations, but he took way too long to come out and it used up the entire manabase so it was a breath of relief for me.
He probably didn't use angel because it is an expensive card. Jayce is a bomb, and supreme verdict is good.
The main part that was frustrating to play against was the counterspells. He can drop a few early beaters and then counter anything too dangerous.
Sphinx's Revelation is underrated. It is not as good as Rakdos' return early game, but it becomes exponentially better the later the game gets. It will be a stable in all U/W control.
Azorius charms were pointless in our matchup, he only ever used them to draw cards.
That's about all I got. I CAN'T BELIEVE I LOST! Just kidding, they were some good games.
Yeah I was dubious of a 4 color deck working in this format.
I agree that the Patrol seemed weak, but I guess it can block all the 3/3 tokens for days. Haven't looked at gatherer yet to see the other options. There's that 3/3 flyer that unsummons a 2 cmc creature every time it attacks.
Yeah Jace is pretty sick. I've only watched a handful of replays, but it looks like you want to play some sort of Jace based deck, or have access to dreadbore. I agree with your 5 rating on dreadbore.
Yeah im picking them up while they're cheap. I'm guessing block will influence the price a little bit. I don't think the card will be playable in modern. It competes with Blue Sun's Zenith which is a finisher as well as card advantage. The U/W decks are hard up for free spots, and USZ being so flexible is perfect for the deck.
Yeah it seems like the worst of the charm cycle. And it competes with Dramatic Rescue.
The Daily Event deck lists aren't posted on Wizards yet but once that's up I plan to update both my Jund thread and my UW list to beat the expected metagame.
I don't understand this reasoning, why do you think this? UW isn't bad and it will be competitive, but I don't see any deck pulling ahead by a long shot. I think UW has poor creatures and sub-par control options, but it is made up for with consistency and flexibility. They get access to some of the best cards (Jayce, Angel of Serenity), but honestly there is nothing in RTR that seems broken. Angel is powerful, but slaughter games takes care of that for control and she's too slow to rely on against aggro. Jayce is a good card but frankly he's overpriced. His ability (draw the best card out of your next 3 cards) is powerful but it's not broken and he's quite easy to deal with.
Frankly it seems to me that each color has a few great cards and a majority of underwhelming cards. I wouldn't be surprised if 5-color lamp control crops up as a competitor.
I explain why I think UWx is the best deck in about 20 paragraphs in my thread. I'm watching the current RTR Constructed Daily on MTGO right now and all the top decks are Bant control. Rakdos is getting crushed and Selesnya Populate seems to be doing alright. UWx just has every tool it needs in every match up in the meta. Since this is a single block format right now there aren't a wide variety of threats to choose from but there are some broad answers. That means while your opponents are forced into using sub par threats you have powerful ways to deal with them. You say Angel of Serenity is too slow against Aggro but when you drop Jace or Supreme Verdict on turn 4 and then begin to stabilize with Sphinx's Revelation into Angel, it doesn't seem that hard. Sure Slaughter Games removes Angel but you still have Jace, Armada Wurm and Keyrunes to finish off your opponent. I guess we'll see who's right.
Basically, I agree with you on this. UWx seems to be the deck to beat in Block at the moment and for the foreseeable future. More specifically UWG but I could also see UWR making a showing if the meta develops along lines that allow it but it seems the more "vulnerable" of the two to hate.
Here's why for those wondering. UWx runs along the same lines as traditional control decks, it has the things in block any control deck needs to survive: Life gain with Centaur Healer/Sphinx's Revelation, to get out of the "reachable" range of any burn. Board stabilizing effects in Jace and Supreme Verdict to put a stop to incoming damage early on when it matters. Card draw to dig for answers and stay ahead when the game goes long with Jace and Sphinx's Revelation. And finally big finishers that are hard to answer like Angel of Serenity and Armada Wurm. It even has access to 3 pretty decent counterspells; Syncopate, Cancel and Counterflux to put them ahead against any other control deck.
Add to this the fact that aggro, the traditional enemy of control is missing some big pieces of their toolkit. Most notably a lack of good 1 and 2 drops as well as some substantial "reach" cards, such as strong equipment and burn and you have a meta where a control deck (especially with a strong walker like Jace on its side) can thrive.
There may be a few other decks that crop up in the meta in the long term but I haven't seen or found anything that has a really favorable win percentage against the current Bant lists. Maybe I'm wrong and there will be. I honestly hope that's the case because right now this is looking like a 1-2 maybe 3 deck format at most.
Perfectly stated. I think the only thing that will keep these decks in check are nut draws from Rakdos players and the price of the deck (280-350 depending on the version).
I've been watching all of the replays from the dailies and one thing that seems interesting is that UWR has a big edge in the mirror because Counterflux cannot be countered. In the UWx mirrors without red whoever resolves Jace, Architect of Thought , or a Sphinx's Revelation pretty much wins so there's usually a counter war over one of those 2 cards, but against UWR they can always stop their opponents spells or make sure that theirs resolves. I Initially started the format with UWR in mind but liked the idea of ramping to Angel of Serenity quickly and consistently to stop the aggro decks, but if the meta turns to control mirrors then maybe UWR is the way to go.
Oh, and also, sideboards have yet to even begin to form. Slaughter games entirely wrecks UWx. Exile sphinx's, exile jace / serenity, and then they durdle around for the rest of the game. No one is even bringing artifact hate which would hose the decklists that use many keyrunes.
I'm not saying this to put anyone down or to be arrogant, I'm saying it because with the way the game is right now I think it's absolutely silly to think the best deck has already been created. The meta will constantly change, trust me on this, and you will be seeing new things every day for the next couple of weeks, so give it some time.
Is it worth the inconsistency with the green splash to get armada wurm, centaur healer and loxodon smiter? You're playing double blue, double green and triple white cards. You also want g/w on turn 3 for centaur healer. A deck that 3-1'd that daily played 4 Gatecreeper Vine in his bant deck, which seems miserable. It's basically draw a land and gain 2-4 life. Is Chromatic lantern better? If you play 4 lanterns would it be better to just play 4-5 colors?
I think Lyev Skyknight is perfectly playable in a u/w or u/w/x deck.
What about playing a bunch of detain cards into Jace into Azor's Elocutors, into Palisade Giant, into angel of serenity into winning X turns later? Is that too cute? Who can break that lock besides the mirror? I guess the Elocutors are garbage on their own. I haven't played palisade giant, but it seems like it'd be okay in a control deck. The giant protects jace from everything except vraska and dreadbore.
Yeah, Counterflux gives a big edge to UWR in the control matchups. Being able to counter a bomb or a Jace with no chance of them countering back can be huge. Just being able to be an extra counterspell on top of Syncopate and Cancel is an advantage itself.
While I agree that Rakdos can and does win against the control lists out there it does have the problem of limited reach. Rakdos' Return and Annihilating Fire/Explosive Impact aren't as good as Devil's Play and Brimstone Volley were in the Boros decks of ISD Block at finishing an opponent. Also, Rakdos lacks a strong or consistent one drop, something like Gravecrawler/Diregraf Ghoul or Champion of the Parish. The Bant control decks also have strong defenses against the early Rakdos rush with Centaur Healer usually main deck and Loxodon Smiter post board. Slaughter Games does do wonders but it's kind of narrow, so you have to be able to eliminate the other threats they can throw out with removal, like a Jund control style deck would do, or throw multiple Slaughter Games at them. Also, again the Bant lists play multiple threats in Angel of Serenity, Armada Wurm, Jace and Supreme Verdict.
The fixing in RTR is much more supportive of triple color decks than previous Blocks, with both Guildgates and Shocklands it's not too difficult to get the mana you need when you need it. Most of the powerful early game cards you'll be playing don't require a huge amount of any one color except maybe Jace but you'll probably hope to be stabilized somewhat before you let him hit the board, unless you really need to search for an answer with his -2. As for Gatecreeper Vine and Chromatic Lantern, they're both dead draws later in the game and drawing multiples of either early isn't the best. Keyrunes are your best bet for fixing as they can block and attack as well as helping to fix your mana and accelerate out a threat a turn or two earlier.
Lyev Skynight is playable but it also dies to a lot more than say a Centaur Healer or a Loxodon Smiter would, so it's worse on the defense but better on the offense and in a control type deck for a three drop creature, you'll want something more defensive. Detain though can be good, some lists play Inaction Injunction in the sideboard for a little bit of a delay and it cycles which is an advantage. Elocutors is just too slow, it gives them 5 turns to draw an answer or something that goes over the top of it and trying to get it and Palisade Giant out to combo is too unreliable to really work.
Hope that's of some help.
Just playing in the practice room so far. Tons of people are playing slaughter games, some main deck. So I suggest diversifying threats. Currently i'm running a 3/1 split of angel and archon.
joelbartlett (4-0)
RTR Block Constructed Daily #4453003 on 10/17/2012
4 Hallowed Fountain
8 Island
9 Plains
3 Archon of the Triumvirate
4 Azorius Arrester
3 Hussar Patrol
4 Lyev Skyknight
3 Detention Sphere
3 Dramatic Rescue
4 Inaction Injunction
4 Jace, Architect of Thought
2 Sphinx's Revelation
3 Supreme Verdict
1 Azorius Charm
3 Azor's Elocutors
1 Detention Sphere
2 Dispel
1 Dramatic Rescue
3 Keening Apparition
1 Supreme Verdict
3 Syncopate
4 Azorius Guildgate
4 Hallowed Fountain
9 Plains
8 Island
Creatures 12
3 Frostburn Weird
4 Lyev Skyknight
1 Sphinx of the Chimes
3 Angel of Serenity
1 Archon of the Triumvirate
4 Jace, Architect of Thought
Keyrunes 3
3 Azorius Keyrune
Spells/Enchantments 16
3 Azorius Charm
1 Cyclonic Rift
3 Supreme Verdict
3 Sphinx's Revelation
3 Detention Sphere
2 Cancel
1 Syncopate
1 Supreme Verdict
1 Detention Sphere
3 Cyclonic Rift
2 Cancel
2 Dispel
1 Sphinx of the Chimes
2 Psychic Spiral
1 Frostburn Weird
1 Azorius Charm
25 lands + 3 keyrunes seem like enough mana. I have more white symbols that blue symbols so that's why there's the 9/8 basic land split. Keyrunes are amazing in this format since there is not much good instant removal.
I like the creature suite so far. Frostburn Weird is deceptively good. Blocks early drops all day and can swing for 4. Lyev Skyknight is something to do with your mana early. It also helps you when you're on the draw and your opponent plays a keyrune on turn 3. It helps you not get that far behind on tempo. Plus when it dies you have something to get back with angel. It can trade if needed.
I'm not to sure about the high end creatures. I'm just too worried about slaughter games so I don't have 4 Angels. Plus the high end is really awkward to have in your opening hand. Not having a bunch of 4 ofs really hurts Sphinx's ability, but he's mainly there for his body and evasion. The ability is a bonus. Isperia, Supreme Judge's toughness is too low to play it as it gets Mizzium Mortars'd and Augur spree'd to death. You don't want your high end to get 1 for 1'd so easily. Sadly there are no good hexproof/shroud creatures.
4 Jace is a no brainer, that card is stupid good.
I didn't think azorius charm was good when I was building this deck and watching people play it. I was wrong. It's everything you want in your 2 mana spell. It cycles when you need something or it's unsummon + opponent skips his drawstep. It competes with dramatic rescue. But I think the skip draw step + option to draw a card is better than the 2 life on rescue. It's garbage in control mirrors, but it can let you keep a 2 land hand (if you can cast it).
Supreme Verdict, Detention Sphere, and Sphinx's Revelation are obvious inclusions. Revelation while extremely good is clunky in your opener, so there's only 3. Verdict might not be good in some match ups so there's only 3. I've had people slaughter games my detention spheres before. But playing 4 might be correct, it's clearly good.
Cyclonic rift is good vs tokens and helps vs rakdos. Plus it's a blow out when you overload it. The regular effect isn't that good most of the time, and I already have a lot of high end so there's only 1. Plus I already have wraths for 4 mana. I have 3 more rifts in the board for the tokens match up. Cancel is fine, I didn't really like syncopate when playing with it. If there's a ton of aggro decks syncopate might be better.
Sideboard is still a work in progress. At one point I had 2 Keening Apparitions, but I never sided them in. I don't think there are that many good enchantments to destroy. I don't think this deck is really looking for 1 for 1s. You can always play around detention spheres.
Psychic Spiral is pretty sweet in control mirrors. However stuff doesn't really die in control mirrors because of exile effects, lack of creatures and dspheres, so it'll take 30 turns to fill your graveyard before you can mill them out. I'm not sure if 1 or 2 are correct.
Sphinx comes in vs slaughter games decks. Taking the place of a Jace or an Angel.
I'm not sure how good dispel is since there aren't that many good targets:
Sphinx's Revelation
Rootborn Defenses
Cyclonic Rift
Cancel
Syncopate
Various removal spells
Charms
There are 46 instants in the set, and countering the ones I listed don't matter half the time since you can usually ignore it if it's a 1 for 1.
You mind if I ask you whats your name on modo?? Would like to have someone for talking and even testing rtr block (this format is so fun!!)
Also, how has been psychic spiral for you in the mirror???
This beautifull signature is from Argetlam at verdant flame studios Ty man I'm your biggest fan!
I only have this deck to play.
I haven't won anything in 4 dailies, and i hit 2-2 once. Which is unfortunate too since i'm winning ~75% of matches in the practice room. Granted the people in the practice room are more likely to over extend into wraths and don't have all the mythics. I did win the only 2 man i entered (don't really like playing those since they're bad EV). I'll play a couple more dailies and if I don't 3-1, i'll probably sell the deck.
So far psychic spiral hasn't been that good. The problem with it is that very few cards go into your graveyard. Jace, syncopate, angel of serenity, detention sphere, cyclonic rift, they don't help your fill your graveyard in control mirrors. So you don't get to play it until turn 40. I wanted to play 2 in case the first one gets countered. But I think you're better off just playing 1 and using counter back up, though I guess that's bad vs counterflux decks. But they'll probably burn through them before turn 40. I'm not too sure on how to solve that problem, maybe just draw too many cards with sphinx's revelation and discard lands.
However I won one game with it. I would have won a second game with it but I ran out of time, I needed 5 more seconds. It's unfortunate that you lose the match when your clock runs out despite you being up 1-0.
I like my list so far. The only card that under performs is Sphinx of the Chimes. Though that's probably because I only run 1, my deck doesn't have that many 4 ofs, and the time you cast him there aren't that many cards you want to bin to draw 4. The only thing you'd really want to discard would be azorius charms or frostburn weirds. Also it doesn't help that when I cast him he just gets blown up by selesnya charm. I haven't drawn him much vs other decks. Archon of the triumvirate is actually a legit card in the format because of that charm. Most good selesnya players save their charm to kill jace or to kill you. They're going to have the charm in their hand on turn 6+ when you play your fatty.
Sadly there aren't that many robust 5-6 drops for blue/white. There's Isperia, but I don't like that she dies to mizzium mortars. There's also Azor's Elocutors, but that seems too slow. You give them too many turns to find a supreme verdict.
UWR looks interesting because it has better 5-6 drops, in Mercurial Chemister , hypersonic dragon, and niv-mizzet. Chemister is a must answer threat, and niv-mizzet is a great top deck when you have 10 lands in play, as opposed to angel of serenity. However I don't know if the mana base of UWR is good enough vs the aggro match ups.
I changed my sideboard up a bit
1 Supreme Verdict
1 Detention Sphere
2 Cyclonic Rift
2 Cancel
2 Dispel
1 Sphinx of the Chimes
1 Psychic Spiral
1 Frostburn Weird
2 Dramatic Rescue
2 Rest in Peace
Dramatic Rescue is great vs rakdos aggro, the life gain is very relevant. You don't need that many cyclonic rifts, I only side them in vs selesnya. The deck 2 for 1s selesnya all day so having 3 rifts is fine.
Rest in peace is something i'm going to try vs the golgari deck. I'm not sure if it's good. But these games can go pretty long, and taking out their graveyard resource seems pretty good. Golgari also sides in needle for jace, so i usually side 1-2 out which gives me less card selection/advantage, which makes the game go longer. They can just sit back with a deathrite shaman and shock you to death. That card can hit you for 6-8 damage, which is pretty good for such a minimal investment. Rest in peace also shuts off jarad which can be a problem late game, and of course scavenge.
I think golgari is a tough deck to beat. They have haste creatures which can throw you off guard, Lotleth troll can beat supreme verdict. Vraska is hard to deal with. Abrupt decay laughs at detention sphere. And they have reach with jarad and deathrite shaman.
4 Hallowed Fountain
4 Azorius Guildgate
7 Plains
3 Lyev Skyknight
4 Cancel
4 Syncopate
4 Azorius Keyrune
4 Azorius Charm
4 Sphinx's Revelation
4 Detention Sphere
4 Supreme Verdict
4 Jace, Architect of Thought
1 Psychic Spiral
1 Lyev Skyknight
2 Sundering Growth
2 Archon of the Triumvirate
4 Dispel
3 Cyclonic Rift
2 Rest in Peace
I'm virtually undefeated against Rakdos, G/W decks and in the mirror. To this date I only lost a match to G/W and once to mirror, both were results of horrible mulligans.
Bad news is, Grixis Control with Counterflux, Rakdos's Return, Slaughter Games (the real, crippling targets are Jace and Sphinx's Revelations) and the persistent Golgari. Golgari I'd say 40-60, Grixis is 30-70 at best.
A friend of mine comments that the deck's difficulty is 20 on the scale of 10 since I almost always 'win' with keyrune beatdown. I actually find it rather easy - you just play to survive, then start chaining revelations, then at some point you'll have a billion mana and cancel up on an empty board and just win from there.
SB is a flux as I try to figure out the best way to make use of it.
I know it's a bit weird that I'm not playing fat finishers in the maindeck, and it's not due budget reasons (I do play full jaces anyway). It's just that, in mid-late game when I can actually cast angel, I can start casting big revelations already and I really rather just sit back and enjoy the ride instead of gambling on a 7 drop that's vulnerable to Selesnya Charm and Aerial Predation. I like Lyevs, they're inexpensive, they're relevant in control mirrors, they kill walkers with ease and are just as real a finisher as a 5 power flier that's conviniently immune to selesnya charm.
I'm more or less convinced I'll be locked into playing this - maybe, maybe a few angels in the md, and I probably should get a few in the sb for Golgari.
Hit me up with your ideas and opinions, since block is like a deal few actually care about and I'd love to discuss it with players invested in it especially for the upcoming mocs.
Nighthavk_
www.twitter.com/DKSakar
But yeah it virtually blanks 10-12 cards in their deck. Slitherhead is a 1/1, deathrite is a 1/2, and jarad is a 2/2.
So it seems good? Maybe i'll find out in a daily.
Don't you think with your 8 powerful card draw/card selection spells, and 4 cycling spells that you should run more 1 and 2 ofs? Also playing less 4 ofs makes you less vulnerable to slaughter games.
Aerial Predation isn't that big of a problem since you can always get your angel back with another angel. Selesyna charm on the other hand, yeah is pretty annoying. That's why Archon of the Triumvirate is semi playable. But you're heavily favored vs selesyna anyways, so them 1 for 1ing you isn't that big of a deal. Also these big flyers are good against golgari. They can't kill them unless they have Vraska the Unseen or aerial predation. Plus 5/6 creatures block all of theirs unless they use scavenge or there's a jarad.
What match up do you bring in sundering growth? I haven't really liked it. It's mostly a 1 for 1. Sure you can get a jace back from a d-sphere, but if they're d-sphere-ing your jace aren't you already winning? And you can get back 2 keyrunes from blowing up a d-sphere but you probably shouldn't have played into that. It blows up pithing needle in some match ups, but I usually side out my jace's when I suspect they might bring in needle. It hits other key runes, but i don't find those that threatening.
I'm getting some angels in md and some in the sb. List is in a flux currently.
I tried out Sundering Growth but yeah, haven't really liked it. It'd have been different had I any tokens to populate, alas, I don't.
www.twitter.com/DKSakar
Also playing 4 sphinx's revelation is correct because you want to chain them. It's the best card in block. Slaughter games be damned.
Is sphinx of the chimes and psychic spiral a legit combo? I just drew my whole deck then milled my opponent out on his upkeep for the exact amount on turn 23.
Maybe sphinx of the chimes is better than angel? But then that requires you to play psychic spiral in your main deck.
I think it might be worth trying to win games on a turn in the mid 20s as opposed to the mid 40s.
My biggest problem is the ever present Lotleth trolls. Deathrites don't bother me much, I can handle the manglers and whatever bigger dudes they run (Demons, Jarad's, deadbridge). I can usually end up getting rid of a lotleth either by charming it followed with a counter, or sphere it. Wrath never works, and they pack plenty of enchantment hate to get their guy back. Has anyone got any alternatives to the troll?
I've thought of a few alternatives, from hover barriers to soul tithe or paralyzing grasp, but Decay hits them all, and they typically bring in golgari charms to help fight spheres... which makes two of those three not so good. Maybe Hussar Patrol?
Have you played the control mirrors? It's jace/sphinx's revelation wars. And there's so little room for creativity in the sideboard.
I've been playing frostburn weird in the main deck and it's surprisingly solid. It's 2 mana. It blocks most ground creatures, and can even trade with them. It protects jace. It can swing for 4. And since it's 2 mana you don't care if it gets removed.
You can try to detain the troll with a skynight then wrath. It's a 2 for 1 but sometimes it's the only option and sometimes they don't regen in response.
If you don't want to play an early blocker the best bet is to just buy time till you can trump it with bigger creatures.
I'll give the weird a shot. He seems like he'd work great.Now, I just have to find room for it...
I have played SOM and ISD Block--and a guy I always followed was Zwischenzug (https://www.wizards.com/Magic/Digital/MagicOnlineTourn.aspx?x=mtg/digital/magiconline/tourn/4557159). This guy is a merciless MTGO grinder who is focused on winning and EV. He grinds Block for MOCS points, and has since SOM. You want to know what is winning, you look him up.
So I found that, yes, he was grinding RTR block too. And he had just 4-0ed a DE with:
4 Hallowed Fountain
4 Azorius Guildgate
7 Plains
4 Lyev Skyknight
4 Angel of Serenity
4 Azorius Keyrune
4 Azorius Charm
4 Sphinx's Revelation
4 Detention Sphere
4 Jace, Architect of Thought
2 Cyclonic Rift
4 Supreme Verdict
1 Sundering Growth
4 Dispel
1 Cancel
4 Syncopate
1 Keening Apparition
So I bought the deck on MTGO—lock, stock, and barrel. It was NOT a cheap deck! And I have been playing non-stop for the last day.
This is not an easy deck to play—it seems easy (and is versus some match-ups), but the control mirrors and the Jund battle are very tough.
One thing I didn’t understand was the massive commitment to counter magic (and mediocre counter magic, at that) in the SB. Then I played my fist control mirror—eye-opener! All that typically matters are counters, Jace, Revelations, and any milling or graveyard recycling cards. In fact, my first three control mirrors were aborted when they just quit as soon as they saw I was on control as well (playing in the TP room). I couldn’t fathom why—control mirrors can be fun. Then I actually played one in RTR block; now I understand.
U/W is particularly vulnerable to three- and four-color control decks as we can’t usually punish them for their clunky mana. So they get their superior card quality for free. But now I understand Zwischenzug’s SB plan. We even things up because due to their slower mana, the three- and four-color control decks have to devote more SB room to dealing with faster decks. We can afford the ‘total control’ SB package that they can’t.
However, I’m still pretty unclear on SBing—even vs. control, I’m not sure what comes out. In fact, I’d appreciate SB advice vs. most matchups.