MTG Salvation

Hi guys! I've been surfing the internet for some follow up on this

https://www.mtggoldfish.com/articles/budget-magic-91-31-tix-modern-ur-summonings

I really liked the deck and the videos shows it can be competitive and fun.

The base of the deck is a UR shell with lots of instants and sorceries and Summonings as the finisher.

I think the deck has potential and would like to have some discussion over. Post any ideas that you like and we will discuss it.

For starters I think Think Twice can be slotted in the Desperate Ravings place. TT gives you the same amount of CA for the same mana and you don't have to discard anything to it.

Any feedback will be appreciated.

The deck is indeed rather interesting but resolving a 5 mana enchantment can be rather challenging in this format so I don't know competitive this deck can really be.

Anyway, here are some cards that I think may work in this deck:
Condescend, Spell Burst, Thirst for Knowledge, Epiphany at the Drownyard/Steam Augury, Blue Sun's Zenith, Careful Consideration, Peer Through Depths, Pieces of the Puzzle, Gridlock, Icy Blast, Epic Experiment, Repeal, Displacement Wave, Reverse Engineer, Baral's Expertise, Metallic Rebuke, Curious Homunculus.

Here is my idea for this deck:

Thanks for the feedback D90Dennis14! I just want to remind you that this is the budget subforum so no Tarns for us :'(. I like you suggestions and I have tried many of them myself. The one that definitely has legs here is Condescend, counter+scry and X in the cost is tailor made for this deck. I think your list is pretty good. The one thing you are lacking is a card advantage spell like Ravings or TT. You have too many 1 for 1s and will run out of gas eventually I think.

Replaced Tarn with Khans' fetches

I have Careful Consideration for card draw.

I don't like Desperate Ravings because of the random discard so at first I wanted to use Thirst for Knowledge (one of the better Instant speed draw spells) but CC seems a bit better (though I'm not sure if it is worth the extra mana as 4-mana is rather expensive for a draw spell).

Other Instant speed options can be Steam Augury or the functional reprint Epiphany at the Drownyard which can be cast for a higher mana cost.

Another finisher option can be Devil's Play.

Yeah I also tried to slot Thirst at first but I founded that without artifacts it's just selection and that is not what is needed. At the moment I'm trying Glimmer of Genius, it's a little slow but is always a 2-for-1 and can dig 4 cards deep. Epiphany seems good, going to try it as a 1-of. I think the bigger problem for the deck are creatures with 5 toughness or more, like Goyf or Tasigur, since you need to rush your Summonings to be able to block them or have to spend 2 spells on them. Going to try Harvest Pyre as a 1-of to diversify the removal suit.

I replaced Mizzium Mortars with Roast to deal with big ground creatures and Flame Slash in the SB if I need to kill flyers (like Resto).

Harvest Pyre seems good but with Logic Knot and Temporal Trespass already in the deck it seems overly taxing on the GY.
Another flexible removal option can be Turn // Burn.

Another decent instant speed draw option can be Cerebral Vortex if you don't mind shocking yourself.
I prefer Thirst for Knowledge (or Careful Consideration) as it diggs deeper and filling the GY is also part of the plan of casting big "delve" spells.

Some other options I thought about are miracle cards like: Temporal Mastery and Thunderous Wrath which work great with Summonings and aren't bad without it (unless you have them in the opening hand or as your first draw).

I really like Cerebral Vortex I will try it. I'm currently testing an artifact package for Thirst. My list is this:




I'm not sure if the artifacts really fit here. The idea of having Thirst live sometimes is really good to me. Some feedback on this would be much appreciated.

The miracles seems good but without deck manipulation I am afraid to have them stuck in hand way too much.

#You dropped Temporal Trespass ?
It seems really hard to win without it as Logic Knot is a reactive spell and is often used before resolving M.Summonings.
#Some more alternative finishers can be: Rise from the Tides or (a "surged") Crush of Tentacles.

#The artifacts seem counterproductive here as even if you get to discard less cards to Thirst you still have more dead draws in your deck by including them in the first place.
One artifact that seems playable here is Vedalken Shackles but it requires a decent Island count in the deck
(Batterskull is also good but rather difficult to cast in a 22x lands deck).

#Even as: "draw 3, discard 2" Thirst for Knowledge seems good enough and is probably a good middle ground between Desperate Ravings and Careful Consideration.

#After playing some games with the deck I begin to think that 22x lands might not be enough as I often get stuck on mana and struggle to cast M.Summonings let alone do it with counter backup.
Adding a land might be the way to go maybe over the 1x-of Izzet Charm.

#Mana Leak has also been rather dissapoing so far if drawn late or just played around when opponents notice that don't do anything and pass the turn with my mana open for counters.
I'm not sure what the best replacement can be: more Condescend (or Spell Burst/Syncopate), Spell Snare, Deprive, Disallow/Dissolve/Counterflux, Overwhelming Denial or Cryptic Command.

#Another card I want to try is Spite of Mogis instead of Roast as it scales as the game goes on and the Scry is good (but is weaker early on).
Though in the late game it is probably not better than Turn // Burn which is also more flexible and has some niche uses against creatures with LtB abilities you want to turn off (Wurmcoil, Finks, Voice).

Might a good idea to revisit this deck now after some of the new printings.

We've got Pull from Tomorrow as a powerful finisher and card draw spell and also Tragic Lesson as (sort of) an instant speed Divination which can potentially replace Thirst for Knowledge or be a less painful Cerebral Vortex.
I also like Supreme Will as card selection that doubles as a counterspell.

As a cheap efficient option to deal with big creatures that Lightning Bolt/Electrolyze isn't good against I've found Spontaneous Mutation
which can be pretty good and scales well in this deck as we're filling the GY.

There is also the new Entrancing Melody which seems interesting as a more flexibale Threads of Disloyalty, though it is probably more of a SB card.
A similar card is Kefnet's Last Word but the drawback seems too big for it to be playable.

What do you think ?