MTG Salvation

Retooling a UW control deck to be more of an aggro deck - I just can't get into UW control no matter how hard I try

So, here is where I am currently:



Hopeful can be a turn 1 drop or late game pump.
Ditto for Flitterstep.
Spirit is a meta call - there is lots of card draw at our table - just not sure if it will inhibit Ryhstic?
Drogskol for obvious reasons.
Ditto for Geist.
Ghostblade was leaning more towards an enchant more-so than a hard cast critter, but either would work I think.
Luminous would keep filling the air with more spirits, and targets for encantments.


Figured Rhystic combined with Azami would jive pretty well, but I'm not completely sold on Azami at the moment..was considering upping the count of Luminous to 2 and dropped Azami to 1.

Now to just to get some recursion engine online..

Thoughts?

Quote from Xyx

Spirit of the Labyrinth will still let people draw up to one card on each other player's turn. It embarrasses Phyrexian Arena and Brainstorm but does nothing against Mind's Eye and very little against Rhystic Study.

Should be good to go then -

What are your thoughts on Azami and R. Study?


Would it be worthwile? or should I just cut Azami out entirely for 3x Luminous?

Tomorrow has never once impressed me personally. Maybe my standards for 6 drops are too high but I mean the body sucks and the effect isn't miraculous or anything.

I think that this deck needs Ethereal Armor to put on your Geists. Most of your critters are Enchantments and I mean Geist just get blocked by anything and killed. I get that you can Voltron him up but that's slow and vulnerable to Wraths.

Quote from Prid3

Tomorrow has never once impressed me personally. Maybe my standards for 6 drops are too high but I mean the body sucks and the effect isn't miraculous or anything.

I think that this deck needs Ethereal Armor to put on your Geists. Most of your critters are Enchantments and I mean Geist just get blocked by anything and killed. I get that you can Voltron him up but that's slow and vulnerable to Wraths.

Good point - I remember seeing Armor in the G/W Enchantress deck a while back, but it would seem I had forgotten it.

I mean, the effect seems 'cool' for Azami - Study draws lots of cards, and being able to cherry pick one out of 3 is pretty sweet, but I think it would fall by the wayside to cast something else..I had a couple laying around and that's the main reason I had them in the list.

Quote from TheKnave

I mean, the effect seems 'cool' for Azami - Study draws lots of cards, and being able to cherry pick one out of 3 is pretty sweet, but I think it would fall by the wayside to cast something else..I had a couple laying around and that's the main reason I had them in the list.

Mass card draw + card manipulation isn't a combo. It's a win-more waste of time. Why would you need to be choosy when quantity isn't an issue? How is minor quality upgrades going to drastically change anything? If you're in a position where it's turn 6 and people aren't paying for RS (for whatever reason) and you have a Tomorrow in play and you're not being pressured/punished for having a relatively weak board as a result then it doesn't actually matter what you draw. You were going to win that game regardless. What you need to concern yourself with are the games where you lose with 7 cards in hand because people correctly assessed your threat level and took you out while they still could.

Quote from Xyx

Are we talking about Tomorrow, Azami's Familiar or Azami, Lady of Scrolls here? Either way, I think they're both an ill fit for the deck.

The thing I want to slap on Geist of Saint Traft is Righteous Authority.

Interesting - not sure how to fit it into the current build though?

Quote from Prid3

Quote from TheKnave

I mean, the effect seems 'cool' for Azami - Study draws lots of cards, and being able to cherry pick one out of 3 is pretty sweet, but I think it would fall by the wayside to cast something else..I had a couple laying around and that's the main reason I had them in the list.

Mass card draw + card manipulation isn't a combo. It's a win-more waste of time. Why would you need to be choosy when quantity isn't an issue? How is minor quality upgrades going to drastically change anything? If you're in a position where it's turn 6 and people aren't paying for RS (for whatever reason) and you have a Tomorrow in play and you're not being pressured/punished for having a relatively weak board as a result then it doesn't actually matter what you draw. You were going to win that game regardless. What you need to concern yourself with are the games where you lose with 7 cards in hand because people correctly assessed your threat level and took you out while they still could.

Valid argument -

I wasn't trying to claim it was a combo I was actively trying to use or anything, so that may be my mistake for not wording things properly. When I started retooling my UW deck I happened across Tomorrow (a Spirit), and ever since RS was suggested to me some time back I try to fit it into any deck where I play blue. I was just commenting on the fact that being able to brainstorm each time I would draw a card was a pretty handy thing. Granted, I'd be using him for the ability and not so much as a body to beat with - that's all, really.

Huh. Now I want this to be an Auras deck with Lone Revenant, Spirit Mantle, Spirit Loop, Hyena Umbra, Ethereal Armor, etc. Could even add Eidolon of Countless Battles. Hell you can easily justify adding anything from Propaganda to Oblivion Ring to Ephara, God of the Polis aswell. Ascended Lawmage or even Slippery Bogle. Yeah I'd basically windmill slam an Auras deck. I love punishing people for playing do-nothing decks without Wraths. I'll basically find any excuse to play a deck with 4x Ethereal Armor and some form of lifelink. Oh man, toss in Heliod, God of the Sun for Vigilance? And more Enchantments? Yeah. The all Hexproof/Indestructible/Enchantment deck with Eth Armor and lifelink. It's so good.

The day Daybreak Coronet stops being $300.00 is the day everyone in my meta is forced to play Wraths.

Quote from Prid3

Huh. Now I want this to be an Auras deck with Lone Revenant, Spirit Mantle, Spirit Loop, Hyena Umbra, Ethereal Armor, etc. Could even add Eidolon of Countless Battles. Hell you can easily justify adding anything from Propaganda to Oblivion Ring to Ephara, God of the Polis aswell. Ascended Lawmage or even Slippery Bogle. Yeah I'd basically windmill slam an Auras deck. I love punishing people for playing do-nothing decks without Wraths. I'll basically find any excuse to play a deck with 4x Ethereal Armor and some form of lifelink. Oh man, toss in Heliod, God of the Sun for Vigilance? And more Enchantments? Yeah. The all Hexproof/Indestructible/Enchantment deck with Eth Armor and lifelink. It's so good.

The day Daybreak Coronet stops being $300.00 is the day everyone in my meta is forced to play Wraths.

Hmm..I do have a couple Bruna, Light of Alabaster's sitting in my binders..that could be a distinct possibility. And not that it matters, but the Lawmage is in the UW deck at the moment.

An enchantment deck while still having a little spirit tribal/theme mixed in.

I'm intrigued..(and by seeing a friend whip out a UW spirit deck last night further sways my liking towards a UW aura deck.)

Wait why isn't Tallowisp in this deck again O.O? Seems legit!

Hmm..good question, haha.

Let me think about morphing this thing into more of a UW spirit/enchant deck - I'll try and post an updated decklist soon.

Also working on UW spirits/aura. Steel of the Godhead is a beast for this, especially if you already run some multicolored dudes like GosT and Drogskol Reaver.

Updated decklist:



A bit of a change - dropped most of the UW Spirit "Tribal" feel for a UW Enchantment deck -

Just not sure if I have the correct number of things going on here.. It's weird running a UW deck without a overarching 'control' feel to it, but this looks like it may be a fun deck to field.

I used to play Bruna in my own UW aura deck, but she were just too slow. Here what my current build looks like, if it can help you:



Aquaous form is better than I initially thought for my build. Flickering ward and spiritdançer is huge when you have some spare W.

Academy resercher and arcanum wings cheats conscription into play for turn 3 or 4 beating (sage + arcanum t2 = conscription beating t3).

Since this is really similar to something I was going to make, I figured I'd post it here rather than make a new thread. What do you think about this as a budget way to keep the UW spirits theme? Hunted Phantasm is basically there as a budget alternative to Geist. I'm not so sure about Hopeful Eidolon. This deck has pretty much nothing going on in the 1-drop slot but I'm not sure they would be better than Propaganda or some similar effect.

I built a very similar deck a while back: my MVP Curve Topper was Sovereigns of Lost Alara

It was something along the lines of: