the biggest problem of opalescence way for main kill is counter deck (around 60%) metagame have some counters.I prefer choose the way of creature can't be counter in main kill (with this creature, and leyline token powered around 10 damage each turn).
Hero of Bladehold pass over, bolt decay, counter... with leyline in battlefield, win life each turn if other green leyline in battlefield, with this all leyline is use for kill, the only big problem for me is we have no gestion card board :(, no disrupt, its very hard to find some free slot.
My meta has counters, but it probably has lots of anti-creature stuff and quite a few combo decks that can race a t1/2 Hero. Different metas produce different decks.....good luck with yours. I try to bait counters by Nevermore, and often win via RIP Helm.
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People with belligerent signatures are trying to compensate for something....
You could run a couple of each 2 Sanctum, Boseiju, man-lands, and yes Spirit of the Labyrinth is probably sideboard material, but if blue is the "only" thing that beats you, it should be mainboarded. It's a blue "answer" card.
SereneChaos has a valid point: you need answers.
Most decks sideboard a lot of A/E removal. Additionally, there are a lot of decks that are creature-less featuring ***. Enchantment-less featuring Back to Nature, and etc. The reason for this is to make have efficient board wipes that create card advantage. And to be able to tutor anything in your deck with the same tutor(for the most part).
You are flat out going to lose to green and/or white decks with a decent amount of A/E hate. How are you going to beat those decks if you mulligan to 4 cards to play your early opal... And then it sees Nature's Claim in response. Or Demystify. You might sneak by game one, but I assure you the other guy will sideboard and mulligan to stop you to take the match.
You already have a hard-time with blue decks.
Black discard also beats combo decks.
I like combo decks but if you need that many cards for the combo with no answers/disruption... What happens if your combo doesn't work? 3 4/4's on turn 2 is not that good of a combo for an elite hand.
I hope you will open-minded towards constructive criticism.
you need to choose if you want a fast deck with card adavantge and somes leyline or less leyline for enter in MD some disrupt.
if you play against counter deck you need a fast deck, because in turn 1 he have only 4 out (force of will).
all turn one for me in main RIP or supress fiel.
its true, i muligan to 6 cards 2/3 of time but less its very rare.
i try to test with only 16 leyline and more echantment 2CCM but its more slowly and you are more in danger with opponent deck.
the most difficulty is to have a regular hand for play but serum is bad!
the best performance in tournement its this version for the moment:
in local metagame
3 event 3 times second
20 to 35 guy in tournement but againt BG deck its hard
i win easier againt reanimator, sneak attack, miracle, Delver, death and taxes.
and againt all deck play fetch
its hard againt BUG,TT, elves, depends of start hand and luck
FORMAT : Legacy
4 [8E] City of Brass
4 [FUT] Horizon Canopy
4 [JOU] Mana Confluence
4 [US] Serra's Sanctum
4 [AL] Helm of Obedience
1 [US] Energy Field
2 [UD] Opalescence
3 [WL] Ancestral Knowledge
3 [RTR] Rest in Peace
3 [RAV] Suppression Field
4 [GP] Leyline of Lifeforce
4 [M11] Leyline of Sanctity
4 [M11] Leyline of Vitality
4 [GP] Leyline of the Meek
4 [M11] Leyline of the Void
4 [UL] Crop Rotation
4 [6E] Enlightened Tutor
I want to state the position clearly, because then we can construct ways to overcome the problems.
Leylines weaknesses are that we are trying to find 5 cards, plus a specific land, plus a specific enchantment, while, at the same time, avoiding a counter - particularly Force of Will.
Now, the 5 leylines is rather easy. That almost comes to us.
It is the finding the other cards that is hard. We have several options, including Crop Rotation.
What we are forgetting is, that with 7 of our lands tapping for a mana of any color, we have the entirety of Magic's 1 drops available to us.
Now I know that is a lot of cards to look through, and some may be of no use at all, but these are all the 1 drops we can possibly, maybe put to use. Some are amazing, like Spoils of the Vault and Spy Network.
Highly recommend replacing Crop Rotation with Spoils of the Vault.
Crop Rotation assumes you have Opalescence or a tutor. You have to mulligan until you have the correct hand. With Spoils of the Vault, you can have either Serra's Sanctum or Opalescence (or a tutor for it.) Just Spoils for the other card you need, and go off.
No. I had a freak 2 games where I spoiled myself to death, but the math says this will happen so rarely as to be an anomaly.
If you cannot find the card you needed in the top 20, then you were likely doomed anyway - you just saved yourself the time and stress of having to play it out. Spoils just says pay the life to skip X number of turns it takes to find what you want 1 card at a time - stupid useful when you draw a tutor or Opalescence, but no Sanctum and considering the fact that once you find it, the game is probably over, so your life total is meaningless.
Taking Crop Rotation out for Spoils of the vault means Tree of Tales is no longer needed. I like the Nevermore plan.
Clearly, the biggest obstacle to winning T1 or 2 is Force of Will and Daze. Stopping those 2 cards is key, what with the predominance of Blue. Nevermore can work - but that is a turn gone, and we have to decide between Daze and FoW. Guess wrong, and you likely lose.
Need something that can withstand both of those. Urim's Chant/Silence is great. You may draw out their counter. But if you do this, you had best win before giving them another draw and turn. Still not optimal.
But looking at Trinisphere, this is also a solid T1 play if you do not have 4 Leylines, or need to Spoils for the missing piece. You are rather assured of getting 3 Leylines in opening 7. Trinisphere is a solid T1 play. Trinisphere does affect us as well, though - something to keep in mind. Your tutors are going to cost 3, regardless.
And that brings me to the last option, the one that only affects your opponent, is cheaper than Trinisphere, and actually matches it in increasing cost, or beats it. Welcome Defense Grid. We do not play cards on the opponents turn, but he is likely to attempt to cast on ours. Defense Grid adds 3 to the cost, Trinisphere only increases it to 3. Trinisphere costs 3, Defense Grid costs 2. It will fish out a counter for sure, leaving them vulnerable if they do not have another in hand or on the draw. Most importantsly, either Trinisphere of Defense Grid will completely shut down disruption for at least 2 turns, providing for that vital window to find your pieces and go off.
Now go find room for 4 Defense Grid! It can replace Suppression Field, if you fear blue counters more than fetchlands and the like.
One could even argue that with our current set up, it replaces Serum Powder, but I doubt it.
So, I thought I would give this deck a spin with the new London Mulligan rules and boy is it still bad. Fun though! I used this ancient thread to help guide me and here is what I can add to the next intrepid adventurer that falls into this trap.
Spoils of the Vault killed me twice in three rounds from 20 life looking for a 4-of. Ouch.
Rampage of the Clans is a option for the green decks. It destroys all enchantments and artifacts and gives the controller a 3/3 for each one destroyed. Not as deadly as Opalescence, but still very good.
Leyline of Combustion is a small update to this deck. Although at a first glance it seems that it doesn't fit in a deck alongside Leyline of Sanctity, this new Leyline allows to punish a little your opponent for using Wasteland and single removals towards your enchantement.
My meta has counters, but it probably has lots of anti-creature stuff and quite a few combo decks that can race a t1/2 Hero. Different metas produce different decks.....good luck with yours. I try to bait counters by Nevermore, and often win via RIP Helm.
SereneChaos has a valid point: you need answers.
Most decks sideboard a lot of A/E removal. Additionally, there are a lot of decks that are creature-less featuring ***. Enchantment-less featuring Back to Nature, and etc. The reason for this is to make have efficient board wipes that create card advantage. And to be able to tutor anything in your deck with the same tutor(for the most part).
You are flat out going to lose to green and/or white decks with a decent amount of A/E hate. How are you going to beat those decks if you mulligan to 4 cards to play your early opal... And then it sees Nature's Claim in response. Or Demystify. You might sneak by game one, but I assure you the other guy will sideboard and mulligan to stop you to take the match.
You already have a hard-time with blue decks.
Black discard also beats combo decks.
I like combo decks but if you need that many cards for the combo with no answers/disruption... What happens if your combo doesn't work? 3 4/4's on turn 2 is not that good of a combo for an elite hand.
I hope you will open-minded towards constructive criticism.
if you play against counter deck you need a fast deck, because in turn 1 he have only 4 out (force of will).
all turn one for me in main RIP or supress fiel.
its true, i muligan to 6 cards 2/3 of time but less its very rare.
i try to test with only 16 leyline and more echantment 2CCM but its more slowly and you are more in danger with opponent deck.
the most difficulty is to have a regular hand for play but serum is bad!
in local metagame
3 event 3 times second
20 to 35 guy in tournement but againt BG deck its hard
i win easier againt reanimator, sneak attack, miracle, Delver, death and taxes.
and againt all deck play fetch
its hard againt BUG,TT, elves, depends of start hand and luck
FORMAT : Legacy
4 [8E] City of Brass
4 [FUT] Horizon Canopy
4 [JOU] Mana Confluence
4 [US] Serra's Sanctum
4 [AL] Helm of Obedience
1 [US] Energy Field
2 [UD] Opalescence
3 [WL] Ancestral Knowledge
3 [RTR] Rest in Peace
3 [RAV] Suppression Field
4 [GP] Leyline of Lifeforce
4 [M11] Leyline of Sanctity
4 [M11] Leyline of Vitality
4 [GP] Leyline of the Meek
4 [M11] Leyline of the Void
4 [UL] Crop Rotation
4 [6E] Enlightened Tutor
Leylines weaknesses are that we are trying to find 5 cards, plus a specific land, plus a specific enchantment, while, at the same time, avoiding a counter - particularly Force of Will.
Now, the 5 leylines is rather easy. That almost comes to us.
It is the finding the other cards that is hard. We have several options, including Crop Rotation.
What we are forgetting is, that with 7 of our lands tapping for a mana of any color, we have the entirety of Magic's 1 drops available to us.
Here are some 1 mana instants, sorceries, artifacts and enchantments I have found:
Noxious Revival, Oath of Nissa, Peek, Pithing Needle, Ponder, Portent, Preordain, Brainstorm, Quiet Purity, Demystify, Erase, Expedition Map, Gitaxian Probe, Index, Mana Tithe, Natural Selection, Natural State, Nature's Claim, Authority of the Consuls, Autumn's veil, Burst of Energy, Argivian Find, Reach Through Mists, Read the Runes, Reciprocate, Red Elemental Blast, Renegade Map, Rescue, Retraced Image, Sensei's Divining Top, Serum Visions, Silence, Simplify, Sleight of Hand, Sorcerous Sight, Spoils of the Vault, Spy Network, Stifle, Surgical Extraction, Wear // Tear, Telepathy, Terrarion, Tithe, Traverse the Ulvenwald, Twiddle, Urban Burgeoning, Vessel of Nascency, Visions, Wax // Wane and Wild Growth.
Now I know that is a lot of cards to look through, and some may be of no use at all, but these are all the 1 drops we can possibly, maybe put to use. Some are amazing, like Spoils of the Vault and Spy Network.
On the 0 cmc end, there is not so many options.
Chrome Mox, Lotus Petal, Mishra's Bauble.
Crop Rotation assumes you have Opalescence or a tutor. You have to mulligan until you have the correct hand. With Spoils of the Vault, you can have either Serra's Sanctum or Opalescence (or a tutor for it.) Just Spoils for the other card you need, and go off.
Less mulligans, and that means more Leylines.
If you cannot find the card you needed in the top 20, then you were likely doomed anyway - you just saved yourself the time and stress of having to play it out. Spoils just says pay the life to skip X number of turns it takes to find what you want 1 card at a time - stupid useful when you draw a tutor or Opalescence, but no Sanctum and considering the fact that once you find it, the game is probably over, so your life total is meaningless.
Taking Crop Rotation out for Spoils of the vault means Tree of Tales is no longer needed. I like the Nevermore plan.
Clearly, the biggest obstacle to winning T1 or 2 is Force of Will and Daze. Stopping those 2 cards is key, what with the predominance of Blue. Nevermore can work - but that is a turn gone, and we have to decide between Daze and FoW. Guess wrong, and you likely lose.
Need something that can withstand both of those. Urim's Chant/Silence is great. You may draw out their counter. But if you do this, you had best win before giving them another draw and turn. Still not optimal.
But looking at Trinisphere, this is also a solid T1 play if you do not have 4 Leylines, or need to Spoils for the missing piece. You are rather assured of getting 3 Leylines in opening 7. Trinisphere is a solid T1 play. Trinisphere does affect us as well, though - something to keep in mind. Your tutors are going to cost 3, regardless.
And that brings me to the last option, the one that only affects your opponent, is cheaper than Trinisphere, and actually matches it in increasing cost, or beats it. Welcome Defense Grid. We do not play cards on the opponents turn, but he is likely to attempt to cast on ours. Defense Grid adds 3 to the cost, Trinisphere only increases it to 3. Trinisphere costs 3, Defense Grid costs 2. It will fish out a counter for sure, leaving them vulnerable if they do not have another in hand or on the draw. Most importantsly, either Trinisphere of Defense Grid will completely shut down disruption for at least 2 turns, providing for that vital window to find your pieces and go off.
Now go find room for 4 Defense Grid! It can replace Suppression Field, if you fear blue counters more than fetchlands and the like.
One could even argue that with our current set up, it replaces Serum Powder, but I doubt it.
Godspeed to anyone trying to weather this storm.