I was playing against this guy who was using show and tell with cards like omniscience, emrakul, and griselbrand, and I lost the first game pretty horribly, wasn't at all prepared for it. Neither of us sideboarded, just went directly into a second match where I kept a hand that had some lands and a temporal adept, among other things with the thought that, "Even if he plays show and tell, I can vial in my adept and send it back to his hand, meaning only I benefit off of a spell he plays!" and that was pretty cool, because it worked! the third game I had a slow start, with only one land in my opening hand as well as a vial, a couple of stonybrook banneret's and a pair of lighthouse chronologists. I mean, this was a truly abysmal start, I don't know why I kept it, but I decided to heck with it. so a few turns down the road I've got a board state of 2 islands, 1 vial, 2 banneret's, and 2 chronologists, with a high tide in hand, but no real reason to play it, and I landed on a patron wizard. Patron wizard was nice in this matchup, since he had managed to get an omniscience online, and was using brainstorm and ponder to look for a fattie, but wasn't keeping lands. once he saw me resolve the patron, he knew even if he played emrakul, I could just tap my five wizards, and counter it no sweat! Needless to say he didn't stick around, just said a quick "Good game." and left. This is the best match against show and tell that I've ever had, no doubts. What are everyone else's thoughts on this decklist for mono-blue wizards?
Probably the weakest part of the deck in my opinion is the spell pierce or high tide, if I wanted to trim and put in something else, those would be the first to go.
New decklist is the same as the last, with the changes of -2 Keeper of the mind and -4 Mass Appeal as well as -2 High Tide, -2 Riptide Director, -2 Riptide Laboratory for the subtractions, and +2 Islands, +4 Ink Dissolver and +3 each of the Merfolk Thaumaturgist and Silvergill Douser
I had a cousin that played a deck like this. Curse Catcher can be a wizard that comes down early and can be sacked in a pinch. replacement for spell pierce. get another patron wizard in there. Aether Vial I believe is long considered a 4 or nothing card. There are plenty of other things to do to make it more consistant But its a start.
Further ideas perhaps? At this stage I'm just dinking around on MWS, but once I've got the deck tuned I might buy it IRL, depending on price. If I put the Vial at 4, I'd probably drop the high tide, since the one time I've had it it was a dead draw. I tried using cursecatcher, and it didn't really have the punch I wanted it to have, since more often than not they know it's there, so they'll just leave 1 mana open, and while it is a wizard, it's not a human, so it misses the synergy with Mass Appeal As for why Stonybrook is fine, but another mer wizard might not be, stony brook universally improves the casting cost of all my other wizards, except for the odd few that have no colorless cost like Patron, so I felt it was a bit too good not to include. Thoughts on the Arcanis?
I don't play U but these wizazards deserve a look:cursecatcher,silvergill adept,vendilion clique,sower of temptations and snapcaster mage(but,I think that snapcatsre requires another color).
You got too many fat critters(mana wise)and while it could work against slower combo,aggro decks would take you apart
Hmm. That's a valid concern, and I've noticed that I do on occasion have problems with it, but the nice thing about playing tribal is that when I run things like Stonybrook Banneret all of my creatures become 1-3 drops, which is where most legacy decks try to be anyways. my creatures might not be too terribly strong individually, but I was hoping that the crazy synergy might help to push it over the edge, for example graceful adept removes my hand size limitation, while Jushi Apprentice/Tomoya the Revealer can let me make an opponent draw half of his deck (Or more) and if I resolve Tomoya late game when he has 30 cards in his library, and I make him draw 31, then that's gg. Or I can plink at his life whenever it looks safe, and if he attacks with his monsters, I can hopefully soak the hit with a fully leveled Lighthouse Chronologist, or even declare blockers and bounce these creatures that would otherwise be dead with Riptide. Point is, that the 'high' casting cost of some of these dudes actually usually isn't that high once I'm in game trying to cast them. And you know what else an aggro deck would hate? Arcane Laboratory. They can only cast one creature per turn, and while they're stucking playing a mongoose or a goyf or whatever, I'm playing a venser to bounce whatever they played, and cheating in a few more creatures with vials.
Could be more of a problem with the sort of people that play on magic workstation, but I love it when people see me play like one spell and say, "Sorry, too casual" and quit. If it's so casual, then you shouldn't have a problem beating it, right? RIGHT? this made me particularly frustrated, because this guy was using what I can only imagine was BUG (Started off the game with a fetchland to grab a Bayou) and on my third turn I was all set to play an Arcane Laboratory... How am I supposed to playtest this deck if people just quit when they see what I'm playing? I mean, I guess that's my bad for not using the same 10-15 decks as everyone else... my bad for not being a super serious netdecker who spends all day looking at top 8 results...
I would say you want to concentrate the deck a little more. Mass Apeal isn't the good. Maybe Brainstorm and fetches could help make better card selection. I would concentrate on Patron wizard in locking them out along with card draw and cheap wizards to have more Wiz than they have lands. There is creature kill Wiz with combined Silvergill Douser and Merfolk Thaumaturgist Cursecatcher is great because it is a first turn play. I really dislike Keeper of the mind in the list you have now but may be alright if you are unloading your hand faster than the opponent but that leads to over extending. Also a nonbo with arcane labratory. I like standstill and Vial and could be nice with A. Labratory.
I would say you want to concentrate the deck a little more. Mass Apeal isn't the good. Maybe Brainstorm and fetches could help make better card selection. I would concentrate on Patron wizard in locking them out along with card draw and cheap wizards to have more Wiz than they have lands. There is creature kill Wiz with combined Silvergill Douser and Merfolk Thaumaturgist Cursecatcher is great because it is a first turn play. I really dislike Keeper of the mind in the list you have now but may be alright if you are unloading your hand faster than the opponent but that leads to over extending. Also a nonbo with arcane labratory. I like standstill and Vial and could be nice with A. Labratory.
Alright, I think I'm seeing what you mean. If I take out the mass appeal, I could run any Wizard, rather than Human Wizards, right? Might look and see if I can find some cheaper wizards to play. This deck doesn't do so hot against RUG I found, tarmogoyf is just too damn undercosted.
yea I can see RUG being tough with the quick Creatures and Burn. Douser could extend your clock against them though. Back to Basics could be brutal against a lot of match ups. RUG tends to go on only a couple lands and so if you get them locked down that way could really slow them down. Also Back to Basics could help a ton with patron wizard being better if they don't have enough lands to tap to not have a spell countered. You could also go the rout of land denial with wasteland and stifle on fetches. I don't think you want to dilute the wizards to much though. What is the point of riptide lab? I'm only seeing Venser to abuse. V. Clique could be a decent win con as well as interaction with the opponent.
yea I can see RUG being tough with the quick Creatures and Burn. Douser could extend your clock against them though. Back to Basics could be brutal against a lot of match ups. RUG tends to go on only a couple lands and so if you get them locked down that way could really slow them down. Also Back to Basics could help a ton with patron wizard being better if they don't have enough lands to tap to not have a spell countered. You could also go the rout of land denial with wasteland and stifle on fetches. I don't think you want to dilute the wizards to much though. What is the point of riptide lab? I'm only seeing Venser to abuse. V. Clique could be a decent win con as well as interaction with the opponent.
Riptide Lab is there to help my dudes dodge burn if they need to, and I think back to basics might not be a bad idea if I run only islands. How do you feel about Ink Dissolver with the merfolk that I added?
I would still have curse catcher over dissolver. Dissolver does nothing for you other than up the wizard count. To me I would want them all to do something as well. If I were to do a list with some of your twist it would be something like this:
4x Cursecatcher
4x Silvergill Douser
3x Merfolk Thaumaturgist
2x Jushi
2x Temporal Adept
1x Venser
1x Azami
2x Riptide Director
2-3x Stonybrook Baneret
4x Brainstorm (if you have fetches) Ponder if no fetches
(4x Standstill)
(4x Ather Vile) Both all or nothing
2-3x Arcane Laboratory
4x Patron Wizard
2x Teferi
4x Lighthouse Chronologist
I would still have curse catcher over dissolver. Dissolver does nothing for you other than up the wizard count. To me I would want them all to do something as well. If I were to do a list with some of your twist it would be something like this:
4x Cursecatcher
4x Silvergill Douser
3x Merfolk Thaumaturgist
2x Jushi
2x Temporal Adept
1x Venser
1x Azami
2x Riptide Director
2-3x Stonybrook Baneret
4x Brainstorm (if you have fetches) Ponder if no fetches
(4x Standstill)
(4x Ather Vile) Both all or nothing
2-3x Arcane Laboratory
4x Patron Wizard
2x Teferi
4x Lighthouse Chronologist
The reason for Ink Dissolver is because half my deck shared a type with it, so it's a reliable-ish 3 mill per turn. and it's also a gigantic target so that they're killing it rather than something important like a jushi, or a patron. cursecatcher is something I'd like to avoid because he doesn't do a whole lot for the deck overall except up the wizard count. Sac a wizard to counter a spell unless the controller pays 1? what if they pay the 1 then? I'm down a wizard, and my board position has just worsened, in addition to having fewer wizards to proc patron and riptide off of.
milling for 3 on your turn just isn't anything. but Id say test it out and see what you think and say what you think of it.
The reason that CC is so important is that it is a first turn play and is a wizard and you can sac it in a pinch. right now you only have vile for a first turn play and it can't be used until turn three. just not a ton of action in the first couple of turns. you have a ton of two drops. you want a proper curve and figure out lines of play that you can do. vile into standstill is just good but if you don't have that then standstill is a bit dead unless you have a good board position. Force of will might not be a bad addition to MWS but to expensive for real life imo
milling for 3 on your turn just isn't anything. but Id say test it out and see what you think and say what you think of it.
The reason that CC is so important is that it is a first turn play and is a wizard and you can sac it in a pinch. right now you only have vile for a first turn play and it can't be used until turn three. just not a ton of action in the first couple of turns. you have a ton of two drops. you want a proper curve and figure out lines of play that you can do. vile into standstill is just good but if you don't have that then standstill is a bit dead unless you have a good board position. Force of will might not be a bad addition to MWS but to expensive for real life imo
Alright, so I can safely say that the way the deck is running right now either isn't up to par with all the craziness running around on MWS, or else it just really sucks. Still tweaking trying to find a good balancing point.
One problem I absolutely never ran into before I added all these merfolk and screwed with stuff was that I never had a problem with not having cards in hand. Opponents running discard? Keeper of the mind will pick you up again! Got a bunch of creatures through vial, but hardly and hand advantage? All those wizards that are also humans feed into Mass appeal to turn one card into 9 with only 3 mana! and I can then be almost assured of vialing in more wizards to cement my board, or to hardcast one of the bigger dudes. I'm gonna see if I can't revert back to Human Wizards and figure out where it went wrong.
I think you're trying to go a bit too casual and not competitive. I think you should focus on streamlining the deck giving it the best chance it has to win and out tempo the opponent. I'd personally try out a merfolk type shell, something like:
I think you're trying to go a bit too casual and not competitive. I think you should focus on streamlining the deck giving it the best chance it has to win and out tempo the opponent. I'd personally try out a merfolk type shell, something like:
Alright, If I wanted to move away from mono blue, it'd probably be for blue white, because of cards like meddling mage and aven mindcensor, as well as the white spot removal for goyf's and delvers. I've found that running at least a couple of immortality elixirs gives some measure of recursion, and if one of my threats get's milled or something I can bring it back.
As it stands now, I'm using the original decklist that I had in combination with nykthos, captain of the mists, and illusionist's bracers as well as intruder alarm to potentially make an infinite mana/draw loop. and I might put in the odd singleton laboratory maniac for another win con
I think that if there was a format like legacy, where people can play older cards, but where we didn't have just a couple of archetypes that completely wreck everything (Storm, Combo, any of about 15 or 18 others) I'd be a happy camper. I just want to play my wizard deck without the realization that I'll lose pretty much every time. I mean, I want to at least have a chance, you know? Not saying these people can't run their elf decks, or pox or whatever else floats their boat, just.. a separate format that's a little more casual friendly.
If you think about it, this game is marketed as a fun, friendly game to play with your friends, right? Then you sit down to actually play a game of it, and all that creativity you put into an original brew doesn't matter for jack because the other guy is running whatever happened to win the last tournament he read up on. Standard Constructed is this way, Modern is, and so is Legacy. And tbh, I'm sick of it. I'm tired of Affinity dumping their entire hand on turn one, and swinging with a cranial plating'ed etched champion, or whatever. I'm tired of U/R Splinter Twin. And it's not even because I lose every time, it's because functionally, it's the same deck I just played! I mean, the most recent fun match of magic I had was against a WUG Mirari Wake deck that was running 8 wrath effects and a whole bunch of other neat tech. I lost the match, but I had fun because it was a unique experience, it wasn't the type of deck where I can read the name of every card in the deck, and without looking them up tell you what they do. That's what Magic should be about, and I don't know what happened that it went from a game designed to teach basic math skills to what it is now, but somebody Muddled the Mixture
don't get to down on it. It is really based on who you are playing with like you said at the beginning. If you are trying to play standard/modern/legacy then yes most people will want to "win" which isn't at all about having fun or being creative. I play competitive casual. I only to to pre-releases and play EDH with a good group of friends. But MTG is all about how you want to play and having people that like to play the way you play. I was on MWS for about a year and only played a buddy. It's good for you to try ideas think of your own and win/lose your pants off. but understanding why and learning from the experiences are what make for better games as well. One of the great things about MTG is people have options to play anything they want. So "storm" is an option and cool. you should prepare for it, and affinity and etc. You know this isn't a game of solitare. If there are certain cards you want to play then do it, find a deck to build with it and get it done. go back to the drawing board that is also part of the fun is solving the problems and exploring new avenues. Keep going you'll do just fine.
don't get to down on it. It is really based on who you are playing with like you said at the beginning. If you are trying to play standard/modern/legacy then yes most people will want to "win" which isn't at all about having fun or being creative. I play competitive casual. I only to to pre-releases and play EDH with a good group of friends. But MTG is all about how you want to play and having people that like to play the way you play. I was on MWS for about a year and only played a buddy. It's good for you to try ideas think of your own and win/lose your pants off. but understanding why and learning from the experiences are what make for better games as well. One of the great things about MTG is people have options to play anything they want. So "storm" is an option and cool. you should prepare for it, and affinity and etc. You know this isn't a game of solitare. If there are certain cards you want to play then do it, find a deck to build with it and get it done. go back to the drawing board that is also part of the fun is solving the problems and exploring new avenues. Keep going you'll do just fine.
I totally get what you're saying, and as I said before, I'm all for people playing what they want. I just want people to play a deck because they like the interaction, because something about it catches their interest, not just because some big-name won a pro tour with it... you picking up what I'm putting down? I have kind of a tendency to flip flop around and fiddle with different decks, and I've got a Naya Midrange for Modern that uses Amulet of Vigor to play a full set of Boros Garrison, Selesnya Sanctuary, and Gruul Turf. I'll be the first to say it's not too terribly competetive, but it's a lot of fun to play, and it puts up a fight at least with it's 2 copies each of Ruric Thar, Gisela, and Aurelia on top of a small pile of value cards such as Reckoner, Fleecemane, and Huntmaster of the Fells. it even runs the odd boros charm and unflinching courage, because if you can give a reckoner indestructability and lifelink, you can proceed to obtain infinite life, screw all that birthing pod melira kitchen finks, What are the best value Red/White/Green Cards to run in Naya midrange for finishers? I hear a lot of talk about Thundermaw Hellkite, but I don't see it.
you should probably make a new thread for a naya discussion. Back to Wizards. I just want to say the reason I don't like Mass appeal is because is leads you to over extend. by dumping your hand and if/when you get wrathed then its a do nothing card. But if you want Mass appeal in the deck then you should go humans and then that would be maybe a little more U/W aggroish but could also be fun. you just need to decide which way the U deck is going. Is it wizards? Humans? Control/tempo/aggro? So which direction would you like to go?
you should probably make a new thread for a naya discussion. Back to Wizards. I just want to say the reason I don't like Mass appeal is because is leads you to over extend. by dumping your hand and if/when you get wrathed then its a do nothing card. But if you want Mass appeal in the deck then you should go humans and then that would be maybe a little more U/W aggroish but could also be fun. you just need to decide which way the U deck is going. Is it wizards? Humans? Control/tempo/aggro? So which direction would you like to go?
You've got a good point, but usually by the time I'm casting Mass Appeal and "Over-Extending" I've already gone infinite with Azami, or Arcanis, or Captain of the Mists and Nykthos. Did you know that Intruder Alarm is fantastic for this deck?
I can believe it. I like Intruder alarm, imperious perfect and any mana dork.
Also you said it yourself with mass appeal. your are already winning when you cast mass appeal so why not replace it with something that helps you win instead of a win more card? It does seem like you are going more combo then? which Ponder is normally prefered in those types of decks. Also intruder alarm works against the Arcane Lab soft lock you talked about at first.
Okay so I have created probably 10 different versions of Wizard tribal. I still don't have an end-all of wizards decks but here is my current favorite variant.
The idea is simple, play cards that promote card advantage, one of blue's strengths.
Get your tempo started, dig for cards, then drop a Jace to permanently keep them back on tempo.
Again, this is not an unbeatable deck by any means, but its very fun and utilizes mono-Blue's strength.
I can believe it. I like Intruder alarm, imperious perfect and any mana dork.
Also you said it yourself with mass appeal. your are already winning when you cast mass appeal so why not replace it with something that helps you win instead of a win more card? It does seem like you are going more combo then? which Ponder is normally prefered in those types of decks. Also intruder alarm works against the Arcane Lab soft lock you talked about at first.
You might've noticed the Graceful Adepts, there's a subtheme in the list of drawing as many cards as possible, because what wizard worth his staff doesn't have his spellbook memorized, alphabetized, and encoded? this works to my benefit in two big ways, one, is that if I need an answer for a situation, all of those one-of's and two-of's are more likely to come up if I draw more cards, and with a card like Tomoya the revealer, (The flipped form of jushi, an unassuming 2 cost 1/2) all of those cards I just drew are also cards that the opponent drew. And you know what? In a format like legacy, other people like to run draw-power. and what happens when they draw cards? those cards aren't in their decks... which means that when they try to draw that nonexistent card in their library, a SBA occurs that says, "You've been milled!" and they lose. all in all, it's all upsides for me, and a very real downside for them, not to mention it's a fantastic way to come back if your opponent is trying to wreck your hand with cards like hymn to tourach. and if you're worried about potentially milling yourself before the opponent is, well you can run things like a one-of elixir of immortality to reset your grave, or do that, draw all of those cards, and now with 40 some cards in your hand, activate Tomoya. Bonus points if you've got an illusionist's bracers on her, and you make them draw twice as much as you have in your hand. the perfect board state would Tomoya, Illus. Bracers, a graceful adept, and five islands, with roughly 30 or 40 cards in hand. Of course, this becomes more likely if you've played Arcanis and Azami, as well as Intruder alarm and wizards to draw off of Azami. Oh, and hey, what's that? you've got a lighthouse chronologist? and he's at level 7? so you get two turns for every one of your opponent's? well, doesn't that just make my job a walk in the park. this is a deck that lives and dies on going all in, and protecting the board with Patron Wizard to tax any spells they try to play. Because the primary source of counters is a tax effect, matchups against tron are less than ideal. Took your advice and went ahead and made a post about my Naya list in the proper place.
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4 Riptide Laboratory
16 Island
Creatures
2 Jushi Apprentice/Tomoya the Revealer
1 Arcanis the Omnipotent
3 Patron Wizard
2 Riptide Director
4 Stonybrook Banneret
4 Lighthouse Chronologist
2 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
2 Temporal Adept
2 Keeper of the Mind
2 Graceful Adept
1 Venser, Shaper Savant
1 Azami, Lady of Scrolls
4 Mass Appeal
3 Arcane Laboratory (This paired with Patron Wizard or Temporal Adept can result in a soft-lock that is quite effective)
3 Spell Pierce
3 Standstill
2 Aether Vial
2 High Tide
Probably the weakest part of the deck in my opinion is the spell pierce or high tide, if I wanted to trim and put in something else, those would be the first to go.
New decklist is the same as the last, with the changes of -2 Keeper of the mind and -4 Mass Appeal as well as -2 High Tide, -2 Riptide Director, -2 Riptide Laboratory for the subtractions, and +2 Islands, +4 Ink Dissolver and +3 each of the Merfolk Thaumaturgist and Silvergill Douser
http://www.mtgsalvation.com/trading-post/details/360-bitterblossom-and-mistbind-clique-looking-to-trade
Play in a Merfolk shell. Would find lists but mobile is weird.
WGURBLands!WGURB
WGUInfectWGU
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Hmm. That's a valid concern, and I've noticed that I do on occasion have problems with it, but the nice thing about playing tribal is that when I run things like Stonybrook Banneret all of my creatures become 1-3 drops, which is where most legacy decks try to be anyways. my creatures might not be too terribly strong individually, but I was hoping that the crazy synergy might help to push it over the edge, for example graceful adept removes my hand size limitation, while Jushi Apprentice/Tomoya the Revealer can let me make an opponent draw half of his deck (Or more) and if I resolve Tomoya late game when he has 30 cards in his library, and I make him draw 31, then that's gg. Or I can plink at his life whenever it looks safe, and if he attacks with his monsters, I can hopefully soak the hit with a fully leveled Lighthouse Chronologist, or even declare blockers and bounce these creatures that would otherwise be dead with Riptide. Point is, that the 'high' casting cost of some of these dudes actually usually isn't that high once I'm in game trying to cast them. And you know what else an aggro deck would hate? Arcane Laboratory. They can only cast one creature per turn, and while they're stucking playing a mongoose or a goyf or whatever, I'm playing a venser to bounce whatever they played, and cheating in a few more creatures with vials.
http://www.mtgsalvation.com/trading-post/details/360-bitterblossom-and-mistbind-clique-looking-to-trade
Alright, I think I'm seeing what you mean. If I take out the mass appeal, I could run any Wizard, rather than Human Wizards, right? Might look and see if I can find some cheaper wizards to play. This deck doesn't do so hot against RUG I found, tarmogoyf is just too damn undercosted.
http://www.mtgsalvation.com/trading-post/details/360-bitterblossom-and-mistbind-clique-looking-to-trade
Riptide Lab is there to help my dudes dodge burn if they need to, and I think back to basics might not be a bad idea if I run only islands. How do you feel about Ink Dissolver with the merfolk that I added?
4x Cursecatcher
4x Silvergill Douser
3x Merfolk Thaumaturgist
2x Jushi
2x Temporal Adept
1x Venser
1x Azami
2x Riptide Director
2-3x Stonybrook Baneret
4x Brainstorm (if you have fetches) Ponder if no fetches
(4x Standstill)
(4x Ather Vile) Both all or nothing
2-3x Arcane Laboratory
4x Patron Wizard
2x Teferi
4x Lighthouse Chronologist
http://www.mtgsalvation.com/trading-post/details/360-bitterblossom-and-mistbind-clique-looking-to-trade
The reason for Ink Dissolver is because half my deck shared a type with it, so it's a reliable-ish 3 mill per turn. and it's also a gigantic target so that they're killing it rather than something important like a jushi, or a patron. cursecatcher is something I'd like to avoid because he doesn't do a whole lot for the deck overall except up the wizard count. Sac a wizard to counter a spell unless the controller pays 1? what if they pay the 1 then? I'm down a wizard, and my board position has just worsened, in addition to having fewer wizards to proc patron and riptide off of.
The reason that CC is so important is that it is a first turn play and is a wizard and you can sac it in a pinch. right now you only have vile for a first turn play and it can't be used until turn three. just not a ton of action in the first couple of turns. you have a ton of two drops. you want a proper curve and figure out lines of play that you can do. vile into standstill is just good but if you don't have that then standstill is a bit dead unless you have a good board position. Force of will might not be a bad addition to MWS but to expensive for real life imo
http://www.mtgsalvation.com/trading-post/details/360-bitterblossom-and-mistbind-clique-looking-to-trade
Alright, so I can safely say that the way the deck is running right now either isn't up to par with all the craziness running around on MWS, or else it just really sucks. Still tweaking trying to find a good balancing point.
One problem I absolutely never ran into before I added all these merfolk and screwed with stuff was that I never had a problem with not having cards in hand. Opponents running discard? Keeper of the mind will pick you up again! Got a bunch of creatures through vial, but hardly and hand advantage? All those wizards that are also humans feed into Mass appeal to turn one card into 9 with only 3 mana! and I can then be almost assured of vialing in more wizards to cement my board, or to hardcast one of the bigger dudes. I'm gonna see if I can't revert back to Human Wizards and figure out where it went wrong.
4x Cursecatcher
4x Sage of Epityr
3x Spellstutter Sprite
3x Vendilion Clique
4x Patron Wizard
1x Venser, Shaper Savant
1x Sower of Temptation
1x Azami, Lady of Scrolls
4x Aether Vial
4x Force of Will
3x Daze
4x Brainstorm
Land: 22
4x Scalding Tarn
4x Flooded Strand
10x Island
2x Cavern of Souls
3x Mutavault
Something like that... I know there was a high-placing mono blue wizards list a while back, also some with splashes for cards like:
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Alright, If I wanted to move away from mono blue, it'd probably be for blue white, because of cards like meddling mage and aven mindcensor, as well as the white spot removal for goyf's and delvers. I've found that running at least a couple of immortality elixirs gives some measure of recursion, and if one of my threats get's milled or something I can bring it back.
As it stands now, I'm using the original decklist that I had in combination with nykthos, captain of the mists, and illusionist's bracers as well as intruder alarm to potentially make an infinite mana/draw loop. and I might put in the odd singleton laboratory maniac for another win con
If you think about it, this game is marketed as a fun, friendly game to play with your friends, right? Then you sit down to actually play a game of it, and all that creativity you put into an original brew doesn't matter for jack because the other guy is running whatever happened to win the last tournament he read up on. Standard Constructed is this way, Modern is, and so is Legacy. And tbh, I'm sick of it. I'm tired of Affinity dumping their entire hand on turn one, and swinging with a cranial plating'ed etched champion, or whatever. I'm tired of U/R Splinter Twin. And it's not even because I lose every time, it's because functionally, it's the same deck I just played! I mean, the most recent fun match of magic I had was against a WUG Mirari Wake deck that was running 8 wrath effects and a whole bunch of other neat tech. I lost the match, but I had fun because it was a unique experience, it wasn't the type of deck where I can read the name of every card in the deck, and without looking them up tell you what they do. That's what Magic should be about, and I don't know what happened that it went from a game designed to teach basic math skills to what it is now, but somebody Muddled the Mixture
http://www.mtgsalvation.com/trading-post/details/360-bitterblossom-and-mistbind-clique-looking-to-trade
I totally get what you're saying, and as I said before, I'm all for people playing what they want. I just want people to play a deck because they like the interaction, because something about it catches their interest, not just because some big-name won a pro tour with it... you picking up what I'm putting down? I have kind of a tendency to flip flop around and fiddle with different decks, and I've got a Naya Midrange for Modern that uses Amulet of Vigor to play a full set of Boros Garrison, Selesnya Sanctuary, and Gruul Turf. I'll be the first to say it's not too terribly competetive, but it's a lot of fun to play, and it puts up a fight at least with it's 2 copies each of Ruric Thar, Gisela, and Aurelia on top of a small pile of value cards such as Reckoner, Fleecemane, and Huntmaster of the Fells. it even runs the odd boros charm and unflinching courage, because if you can give a reckoner indestructability and lifelink, you can proceed to obtain infinite life, screw all that birthing pod melira kitchen finks, What are the best value Red/White/Green Cards to run in Naya midrange for finishers? I hear a lot of talk about Thundermaw Hellkite, but I don't see it.
http://www.mtgsalvation.com/trading-post/details/360-bitterblossom-and-mistbind-clique-looking-to-trade
You've got a good point, but usually by the time I'm casting Mass Appeal and "Over-Extending" I've already gone infinite with Azami, or Arcanis, or Captain of the Mists and Nykthos. Did you know that Intruder Alarm is fantastic for this deck?
Also you said it yourself with mass appeal. your are already winning when you cast mass appeal so why not replace it with something that helps you win instead of a win more card? It does seem like you are going more combo then? which Ponder is normally prefered in those types of decks. Also intruder alarm works against the Arcane Lab soft lock you talked about at first.
http://www.mtgsalvation.com/trading-post/details/360-bitterblossom-and-mistbind-clique-looking-to-trade
The idea is simple, play cards that promote card advantage, one of blue's strengths.
4 Dakra Mystic
4 Snapcaster Mage
2 Patron Wizard
4 Wistful Selkie
4 Aether Adept
4 Remand
4 Force of Will
2 Into the Roil
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
4 Wasteland
6 Fetch
10 Island
Cursecatcher can replace Dakra Mystic. Voidmage Prodigy can replace Patron Wizard. Memnarch can replace Jace, the Mind Sculptor. Mana Leak, Spell Pierce, Stifle or Rune Snag replaces Force of Will. Withdraw replaces Into the Roil and does it well vs aggro.
Get your tempo started, dig for cards, then drop a Jace to permanently keep them back on tempo.
Again, this is not an unbeatable deck by any means, but its very fun and utilizes mono-Blue's strength.
You might've noticed the Graceful Adepts, there's a subtheme in the list of drawing as many cards as possible, because what wizard worth his staff doesn't have his spellbook memorized, alphabetized, and encoded? this works to my benefit in two big ways, one, is that if I need an answer for a situation, all of those one-of's and two-of's are more likely to come up if I draw more cards, and with a card like Tomoya the revealer, (The flipped form of jushi, an unassuming 2 cost 1/2) all of those cards I just drew are also cards that the opponent drew. And you know what? In a format like legacy, other people like to run draw-power. and what happens when they draw cards? those cards aren't in their decks... which means that when they try to draw that nonexistent card in their library, a SBA occurs that says, "You've been milled!" and they lose. all in all, it's all upsides for me, and a very real downside for them, not to mention it's a fantastic way to come back if your opponent is trying to wreck your hand with cards like hymn to tourach. and if you're worried about potentially milling yourself before the opponent is, well you can run things like a one-of elixir of immortality to reset your grave, or do that, draw all of those cards, and now with 40 some cards in your hand, activate Tomoya. Bonus points if you've got an illusionist's bracers on her, and you make them draw twice as much as you have in your hand. the perfect board state would Tomoya, Illus. Bracers, a graceful adept, and five islands, with roughly 30 or 40 cards in hand. Of course, this becomes more likely if you've played Arcanis and Azami, as well as Intruder alarm and wizards to draw off of Azami. Oh, and hey, what's that? you've got a lighthouse chronologist? and he's at level 7? so you get two turns for every one of your opponent's? well, doesn't that just make my job a walk in the park. this is a deck that lives and dies on going all in, and protecting the board with Patron Wizard to tax any spells they try to play. Because the primary source of counters is a tax effect, matchups against tron are less than ideal. Took your advice and went ahead and made a post about my Naya list in the proper place.