Yes there is now.
Overwhelming splendor makes it a 1/1 with no abilities IIRC. They still get the turn if they hardcast Emrakul, but once resolved.....one/one, no abilities. Note that the cast triggers on a Ulamog can take the Enchantment out, though.
I would not drop suppression field- every deck has an activated ability almost.
I mean ok, vs Tron it does little, because stopping a t3 Karn from activating is only decent if you have removal for the Karn in hand, and that match is super hard- another big threat will be a long soon.If you play a bit of land disruption for those matches in the board then it can often stay in for game two where it suddenly gets better with the other hate cards like Blood Moon/CTD or Ghost 1/4/Spreading Seas. Hopefully you then lay an I win card- Starfield/Heliod or Bribery from the board or get Ideal off to get one.
But against any aggro deck with fetches (i.e. most of them) it timewalks them- develop land OR make a threat. Doubly true of Infect, where Nexus needs activating, although Infect is not played by most people due to Probe going, the card always was super effective against them if dropped early.
Affinity it hits plating activations, and ravager- enough to slow them down and trap them behind a Sphere of Safety.
Most control based in Grixis or Jeskai have planeswalkers and fetches, and combo decks like living end have enough fetches to make the card effective by itself if dropped early, whilst some combo e.g. Girshoalbrand - have kills that use activated abilities (boby-g+ grisselbrand's draw itself). This is true for Lightning Storm in Ad Nauseam and the Junk kills with Viscera seer.
Hatebear decks use Vial, and some other odd activated abilities of things like Swords, Manlands or Copter even in odd builds. It does hit Mistveil Plain's ability for recycling stuff, but post Ideal that is not relevant as we can't cast spells and can pay two/four etc.
Nodes is only super good with Heliod and some taxes, and to be honest I run Nodes/Heliod in Pillow-Fort, where the prison is stronger as you don't have Ideal and one shot cards like Form to worry about, and where Heliod synergises better- it survives a solitary Obliterate (which I sometimes run main), meaning I can get a win via a scoop when I obliterate the board. Devotion is less important to the Pillow-Fort decks, their curves are lower, Sphere and Ghostly are 4 ofs each. In ideal there are more moving parts to align, devotion is more important and Nodes as said above will not contribute tot hat in hand, and the companion piece Heliod is not as attractive a wincon as it is in straight pillow-fort-as we have Ideal to win matches.
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An Enduring Ideal deck made day two of the SCG Modern Open Syracuse. Would love to know the deck list. Was it ever on camera? I hope the pilot reports here.
Taking a look at the SCG Syracuse Day 2 meta game:
Affinity – 11
Grixis Death’s Shadow – 8
Eldrazi Tron – 6
Scapeshift – 6
Burn – 5
Merfolk – 4
U/R Gifts Storm – 4
Jeskai Control – 4
Abzan – 4
Counters Company – 3
Dredge – 2
G/B Tron – 2
Madcap Moon – 2
Living End – 2
Death and Taxes – 2
G/W Company – 2
U/W Control – 2
Ad Nauseam – 1
Slivers – 1
Four-Color Death’s Shadow – 1
Elves – 1
Amulet Titan – 1
U/W Thopter Foundry – 1
R/G Vengevine – 1
B/G Midrange – 1
B/W Smallpox – 1
B/W Eldrazi Taxes – 1
Enduring Ideal – 1
This would be great for EI! The top 5 (Affinity, Grixis Shadow, Eldrazi Tron, Scapshift, Burn) are all favorable match ups. Merfolk I am unsure about sinceI haven't tested it, but it feels like a good match up since they are creature based. Storm is another great matchup. Dredge and Living End also seem great. Really the only thing I wouldn't want to face are the 4 Jeskai Control, the 2 UW Control, 1 Elves, and GB Tron. The GB or Abzan stuff seems close since they can have a lot of Decay and Pulse effects. I would love to hear from the EI player about his list and what he played against Day 1 and 2.
Started playing this deck consistently after seeing it on a DotD on CF and I love it. Actually has a decent matchup against a good amount of the decks in the format! Pretty fun deck too tbh.
Below is the list I am currently running. Played about 22 matches with the deck so far(12-10 w/l record, small sample size I know) and currently issues I'm having is against UW control which is becoming popular again in local meta and to an extent modo where I've lost two matches to the deck and it feels like its a tough one to win initially.
And of course, normal Gx tron is difficult. Looking for some feedback to my list as I am testing as much as I can for a big modern event in my city this weekend. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Might be worth considering Keranos main deck with that manabase.....
I would also look at Faith's Fetters, a Confiscate Effect or Sphere over the second Copy Enchantment.
Cast out is decent too and the nonbo on with SF rarey comes up.
Surprised you only have one GA in the 75, but a lot of decks can't take enchantments out now easily.
For traditional Tron my favourite card from the board is Bribery in U. Sometimes just getting into it t5 with a early slow them card like stony just does it. Very narrow of course. Seas and GQs are Ok against them.
From there I find Stony Silence and Rule of Law/Eidolon effects to be very effective- the latter work really well because G tron has an awful lot of midgame cantrip effects/mana filters, and they get very stuck. Rule effects are good vs a couple of decks, I would consider one at least. Blood Moon is decent, but your manabase may not support it. You won't control them forever, so winning in the window is really important, I like the Starfield as a win con here, because sometimes just casting it gives you a huge strike from nowhere.
Control is hard, Boseiju is really decent, Obliterate is nasty from the board, totally unexpected too but it wrecks decks. Boil is ok, counters are OK, Silence is ok (although I think 2 should be the maximum) but there is no magic I win card beyond those two. Cast out is better than O ring against control decks.
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Enjoy. Eldra tron is better than "old tron".
I hope you meet some players who forget to fetch in response to S field. That always feels so good, as does pointing to SF whenever the affinity player tries to equip..........
You might want to look out for Bring to Light Scapeshift and Storm, they could be awkward if you don't get Intervention/Sanctity down as you don't run Rule of Law effects in the 75. Sanctity will do some work there though. Good luck, let us know how you did.
Played this list to a 1-4 record.
Played Valakut. 0-2
Jund 0-2
Jund 0-2
Saheeli Rai Combo 1-2
Grixis Control 2-0
I really missed Sigil of the Empty Throne. I just couldn't seem to find the right card at the right time. Lots of mana, and no Enduring ideal, then no mana and draw too many win cons. Frustrating.
I took it to FNM and was much better with 3-0, vs Affinity, Boros Burn and some brew.
Mono White Pillow Fort feel more consistent to me. Will go back to that version.
A couple of notes: Obviously I need the 4th RW Temple and to drop 1 of the UW Temples. I just couldnt find it before the tourney. I dropped the Peace of Mind since the whole "If I draw Form of the Dragon, then I will discard it with Peace of Mind, then find Mistveil Plains and put it on the bottom to tutor up again" plan takes way too long. I figure, If I draw Form of the Dragon, then I will try to discard it to handsize when I have gone epic and already have Mistveil Plains ready OR I will just tutor up Heliod/Ascension and sit behind prisons and flood them with tokens. The great thing about that is that if you win G1 with Heliod or Ascension, then they still might not have any idea what your real plan is. So then why do I still run a mistveil plains? So that if I go against the Vizier combo and they get infinite life, and I establish the lock, I can win by milling them out and not milling myself out. So trimming one Mistveil Plains allowed me to fit in a one-of Boseiju, which I wanted since Control has been on the rise recently. So here goes:
Round 1: Merfolk W(2-1). Porphyry Nodes was MVP G1 and G3. Suppression Field slowed down his Aether Vial as well. Also Prisons just held him back all three games. He won G2 since he Echoing Truth my prisons and swung for 17. Ouch. Since he was tapping mana for his creatures (his vial was on lock down) he tapped out enough for me not to fear counter magic and slam the ideal.
Round 2: Burn w(2-0). Opening hand Leyline both games. Runed Halo naming Eidelon of the Great Revel. Nevermore naming Destructive Revelry. You get the picture.
Round 3: Living End W(2-0). G1: Suppression Field slows down his cyclers. He lands a living end with about 5 creatures into play. I have a prison so only 2 can attack and I have 2 Nodes, so he will lose them all in two turns (plus Halo naming the biggest threat: Desert Ceradon). I land the Ideal but have to get unlife first in order to survive his next attack and hope he doesn't have a beast within. Since he can't kill me on his turn, he spends all his mana cycling. Then I go get Form of the Dragon (misplay). Then he untaps and Beast Withins the Form of the Dragon. At this point, Nodes killed everything and I have unlife but no dragon. So I search up Dovescape and then Sphere of Safety and then Ascension. He saw the writing on the wall and scooped. G2: he keeps a one land hand and doesnt find a second one soon. I kept a weak hand and dont do anything for turns 1-3 (I only had two lands with nevermore and prison in hand). I draw Suppression Filed to slow down his cyclers and his newly draw fetch land (ouch), then I find land three and play Nevermore naming Beast within and then draw Rest In Peace. He scoops.
Round 4 Eldrazi Tron L(0-2). Normally this matchup goes well for me, but G1, he drew natural tron and cast All is Dust. G2 he curves out with a 1/1 balista, Matter reshaper, draws tron and is debating his play....he decides to slam two Smashers and beat me for 14. I have a halo to name Smasher, but I'm dead to the other creatures. He was hesitant due to wanting to play around Wrath of God, but went for it since he could still ballista me for 1 and see what he got from his reshaper.
Round 5 Storm W(2-0). Game 1 I play Halo naming Grapeshot. He goes through a long process of trying to mill me with thought scour and noxious revival it back to the top and repeat and give it flashback with past in flames. He mills about 16 cards before he fizzles. I asked him about the Warrens plan but apparently Storm only runs that SB now and 3 main board Grapeshot. G2 he does land Warrens for about 10 goblins. But Prison held them all back and I hit the Enduring Ideal soon after.
Round 6 G/W Hatebears ID(0-0) Both of us were 4-1 and were sitting at 5th and 7th place respectively. So the ID sealed the top 8 for us.
The metagame: I saw 1 Grixis Shadow in the middle tables, a couple merfolk at the middle tables, affinity and burn in the middle tables, but STORM showed up a lot. 4 storm players went 4-2 and one went 4-1-1 to make top 8 (he had a draw in round one so he had to basically win out). Also, a lot of tron decks, Eldrazi Tron mostly, but also some G variants I luckily dodged. A couple of Control decks (Jeskai and UW). Only two kooky decks caught my eye: the Ironworks combo deck (which finished in the middle) and a Mono blue flyers deck (we're talking Favorable Winds x4!!! Inspired by Saffron Olive apparently). He did have a sweet play in round 4 of the swiss where he was going to lose a game, so he cast Psionic Blast to force a draw and go to game 3 up 1-0-1 lol. So here's the top 8:
Eldrazi Tron(1) vs Jeskai Control(8)
Mono Blue Flyers(2) vs G/W Hatebears (7)
Eldrazi Tron(3) vs Storm (6)
Enduring Ideal (4) vs BW Eldrazi and Taxes (5)
Jeskai Control, G/W hatebears, and Eldrazi Tron won their matches.
My game: G1 I had double suppression field for his Vial, really slowed him down. Not an opening hand Leyline, but a T4 Leyline protected me from the Scullers and Thought Knot Seers he drew later (he didn't have them early). He did play Thalia, but I hit a Nodes and a Prison, enough time to hit the Ideal and get G1. G2 he starts with T2 Thought knot Seer and then has some Scullers to rip my hand apart (took Nodes and Halo and O-Ring). G3: I got the defenses up and hit the Ideal early with Nylthos. He proceeded to flood out reallllly bad so he couldn't disrupt anything I was doing. So I got it 2-1.
Semis vs Jeskai Control: I win G1 off the back of double suppression field locking down his fetch lands. I hit Nykthos AND Boseiju to get an uncounterable Ideal and steal G1. G2 he counters and casts Wear//Tear on literally everything and kills me with Gearhulk. G3: Really down to the wire. I Nevermore naming Cryptic and get a prison out. Start building devotion. But he again, Tears the Nevermore, Bounces the prison with cryptic. Too much tempo lost. He taps out for Elspeth. I tap out for Sphere of Safety. He taps out to attack me down to 6 or so life. I play some more enchantments to increase the tax it takes to attack, but then he Tears the Sphere of Safety and attacks for lethal. I had to pay 2 life to play more enchanments with Boseiju to go down to 2 life and he hit me for 2 exactly. Rough match. I also had 6 mana with a Boseiju: so close to hitting an uncounterable ideal.
The rest of the top 8: GW Hatebears beat Eldrazi Tron. So the finals were GW Hatebears and Jeskai Control. Not sure who won as I had to go at that time.
Anyways, overall very pleased obviously. I went 5-2 in matches that I actually played. The metagame seemed good for this deck and I got a lot of very favorable matchups. Not sure what changes to make, maybe 1 O-ring can come out but not sure for what. Also, the Sanctimony can probably come out since we are already well suited for Burn and Valakut decks. Not sure what to replace it with. Let me know what you guys think!
Fabulous reports, I want to play this or Pillow Fort at my local PPTQ this weekend, but the meta is lots of control, resolving key spells will be hard. Not sure if I will or not, I am out of practice.
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That is actually very interesting. I think this is more plausible than the Unlife + Solemnity combo. Because if you draw and play Axis of Mortality before Unlife or comboing off, then they are really disincentivized to attack you or bring your life total down at all. This also works well against Death Shadow decks, but really those have been on the decline from what I can tell. It does feel like it generally "Nonbos" with the whole theme of the deck: "Set up prisons and protection spells to prevent yourself from being damaged, then land an enchantment, then suddenly hope to take damage even after we played a bunch of spells that prevent that from happening." But it's worth some experimentation.
IMO the Solemnity thing should be a whole new spin on the deck, perhaps a UW deck with filtering (now that Opt will be legal, that might be a great option), Enchantment tutors and counterspells to protect the enchantments. But the Axis is a single card that can slide right into this mono-white shell much more easily, much like Overwhelming Splendor (although to me, Splendor is a win-more card and isn't necessary).
I think it would just be really funny using this alongside Phyrexian Unlife, once your opponent drops you to 0...you just win.
Don't know if it is more fitting in the pillow fort thread, but why not start here.
What do you think? Don't know if it is competitive, but just really cool in my book.
I think it is not better in Ideal or Pillow-Fort per se, but it is better in an Unlife/Solemnity list, which probably is more likely to be an Ideal build over straight PF. Just a hunch, a gut feeling. It does nothing to make hard games easier is the main issue. It may win the game straight if it is a full unlife build, but so does unlife/form. It is not much use on its own, but it could work well at some future point.
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Trouble is the cost- by the time we have 6 mana and an upkeep we are nearly in win the game territory any way- you would never fetch this post ideal. I think it needed to cost 4 or 5 and be used at End step.
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I can just about buy Lumincarch ascension a SField, that is ok because of when you activate ascension- very late game.
But Flooded strand should be nowhere near a 4 sf list.
I guess Dark Petition was an error in the list?
I think a valid question is why Tron? I can't see what you get 7 colorless mana t3 ? I would rather have Karn and play real tron. To cast ideal we need WW, so you are talking 4 or 5 lands still even if you hit tron, and then that is assuming nykthos mana for the 4 land option. Casting cards like Halo will be hard with Tron, I don't see the point unless you are going to include Emrakul-esque stuff and Nykthos+Tron him into play. The normal UW mana base with cards like search for azcanta or monastery siege plus the usual white suite should be enough to make a solid deck.
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I've been travelling for almost a year now, and pretty much off-line since I don't have a laptop with me, and it's pretty much painful for me to write on the phone.
Only wanted to bring a couple cards I've been testing on my latest builds to discussion.
First a card I'm bringing mostly against stuff with countermagic is war's toll, since tapping all their lands at once not only makes them choose between playing sth or leaving mana open for counterspells, but also grants us that they'll only counter one of our spells if we play our stuff in different main phases.
Also, it has great synergy with taxes like ghostly prison or suppression fields. If ghostly priaon is on the bf, they basically gotta choose between attacking or casting something, unless is instant or flash stuff. Then if we've fields out, they won't be able to crack a fetchland+attack, or activate anything+attack on the same turn.
Then I was wondering which gy hate tech is best for us. ashes of the abhorrent, rest in peace, wheel of sun and moon, grafdigger's cage or whatever you use.
Personally, I never liked RIP because if I happen to draw my FOTD, the mistveil plains plan won't work, therefore, my weapon of choice has always been grafdigger's cage since it's the widest answer and the cheapest CMC wise. Ashes of the abhorrent seems playable as well, since it grants devotion and some lifegain if you're playing porphyry nodes for instance, or trying to win thru combat damage.
I'm still in love with overwhelming splendor as well, but I still didn't find a time in which it was better to play that over FOTD or usual core-stuff. I guess it gets better with something like night of souls' betrayal out, but otherwise it feels just unnecessary. I'm trying it on a curses deck though, and it certainly gets better there with [c]curse of misfortunes[\c] online.
I'd like to read what you think about cast out, storage matrix, idyllic tutor, and the aforementioned cards, and which secondary wincons you prefer and why.
I was trying to see if we could take Enduring Ideal in another direction as far as ramp. I had to go away on a work call and I hadn't finished editing, so it was a very rough list looking in a couple different directions. I hadn't really come back to keep editing the list, but I havne't really come up with a good way to run Tron with Ideal.
I love Sw convergence, I run it in Nyx Fit in Legacy. Splendor, Living plane and Curse of Death's Hold is a lock and a half, but sometimes fetching in Convergence on its own over Splendor just does more, especially where already attached Equipment is about. It stops a massive Griselbrand or puts pressure on the board. Modern is a different format, but the idea of fetching it in is legitimate in both formats because the card is both pressure, win con and defense. I have one in the seventy five plus options in Ideal, but I have not decided on main or side as I have not played much Modern these past three/four months.
Not a fan of Binding, and I use Confiscate as I am blue any way Haze has not made my deck either.
Well, certainly we've plenty of options at 4CMC now. I'm not sure which one is the best though. We've Gideon's intervention which not only works as a nevermore, but is also great against non-permanent stuff like burn instants, grapeshot, lightning storm, etc but has the downside of not stopping planeswalkers like karn, or, well pretty much anything besides damage. And that's when ixalan's binding and/or cast out are better choices. The second nonboes with sup fields though.
So for that spot on the mana curve, I'd pick Gideon's intervention in a creature and/or combo decks like storm/ad nauseam/burn meta, and I'd use cast out/ixalan's binding on a midrange/tron/etc meta.
As for storage matrix, I'd really like to play that card on a totally different build including stuff like authority of the Consuls/blind obedience, war's toll and taxes. That would probably increase the efficiency against creature-based decks, so the sideboard should be directed to noncreature stuff and combo decks.
In case anyone missed it, Shayne Morris got 3rd at the SCG Classic in Roanoke (and previously had top 16 at a different classic IIRC). Personally, I don't like his build, but then again he appears to be consistently putting up good finishes at large events like this (and I have no experience with his list, so who am I to critique). Some pros of his list are:
1)Being able to just cast Form of the Dragon so he can win if he draws it and doesn't have to rely on resolving Enduring Ideal.
2)Small percentage of games that can have a "oops, I win" T2 or T3 Blood Moon.
3)Silence out of the SB for control. Basically Silence is a "must counter" since if they don't counter it, we can resolve Ideal.
4)Resilience to removal. If they blow up a Dragon or Unlife, then he has extra copies. No need for dinky alternate win cons (like Heliod or Ascension that I run).
Just thought I'd share.
EDIT: Woops, thanks Talionis, I meant to include the decklist.
I like the idea of playing Weathered Wayfarer to find Nythos, Shrine to Nyx. I also think since we have ramp, playing a single Elesh Norn is a good idea. It also makes a good Emeria, the Sky Ruin target if games drag on. Elesh Norn is powerful enough to end a game in more than a few matchups. So I don't mind ramping into it.
I run red in Pillow Fort straight up prison, and U in Enduring Ideal. I can't see me dropping Search for Azcanta, and the blue permanent nicking enchantments from the main and Bribery, Seas etc. from the board just to go into a decent cantrip that stops Nykthos being Quartered. It also switches off Mistveil Plains' ability, so I will stick with U for E Ideal at the moment.
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I have just written out the list of its cousin in Pillow Fort,the non E Ideal enchantment list, I will write out the list tomorrow as dinner calls.
In answer to your question, not really much synergy, mainly digging really. Popping enchantments in the bin is ok when you can recycle them if you go off later- with Mistveil Plains they can come back, so I can filter aggressively to pop wincons to the bin if I need to stabilise. I use Starfield, so there is some synergy with Search- good stuff to the bin makes for decent reanimation targets. I also use the cycling Lay Claim and Cast out, which works well to suddenly hit the trigger on Search.
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Here is my list. I have tended to play the R splash in Pillow fort, and have played the straight pillow fort version without the ideals more of late. You can see the stickied primer for my latest list there.
The deck uses search better than a straight pillow fort because it has so many high cc cards you do not want to see. The Mistveil plains can recycle most things. The cycling cards can go into the bin and be reanimated, the odd Azorius chancery helps get the odd extra scry. CIP tapped or colorless issues with the Nykthos can be a pain early on.
I think the deck has two disadvantages over the straight pillow fort decks.
Firstly the mana curve is always going to be hard as you need major impact cards to fetch off ideal. Ideal is dead early, as are other cards. Avoiding drawing a Form or Dovescape early is massive, hence the two search. Popping stuff in the bin is great with a Starfield, of course.
You end up with fewer win cons than straight prison, and less of a prison. A straight enchantment prison deck can run cards like Rest in Peace main deck even, and can run full compliments of Suppression Field, if that is what is needed. It can also indulge on curve cards like Heliod and Nodes, which are nice combos that can sometimes win the game and nearly always contribute towards control of the game when cast. There is no space in my list for them, because as an Ideal target Heliod and Nodes are way worse than Overwhelming Splendour or Dovescape, two cards that nearly always come via Ideal, and we need to have slots for the Ideals. The nature of the casting costs mean the mana base is a bit dodgier, and Mistveil is to me an essential in a Ideal build for getting stuff back into the library if needed, and Temples are essential too, giving more CIP tapped than I would like. Ghost quarter is a no no, so whereas a Pillow Fort straight may run 2-3 Ghost Quarters, I can't here- a Nykthos/GQ opening hand is always going back without a Leyline.
You do get a much more powerful lock, and once Dovescape Resolves mass enchantment kill is no longer scary, plus the fetchinto play aspect can rescue a game in the balance forever with the right search.
I have run Bridge based versions of the deck before, but suffered one too many blowouts.
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Overwhelming splendor makes it a 1/1 with no abilities IIRC. They still get the turn if they hardcast Emrakul, but once resolved.....one/one, no abilities. Note that the cast triggers on a Ulamog can take the Enchantment out, though.
I would not drop suppression field- every deck has an activated ability almost.
I mean ok, vs Tron it does little, because stopping a t3 Karn from activating is only decent if you have removal for the Karn in hand, and that match is super hard- another big threat will be a long soon.If you play a bit of land disruption for those matches in the board then it can often stay in for game two where it suddenly gets better with the other hate cards like Blood Moon/CTD or Ghost 1/4/Spreading Seas. Hopefully you then lay an I win card- Starfield/Heliod or Bribery from the board or get Ideal off to get one.
But against any aggro deck with fetches (i.e. most of them) it timewalks them- develop land OR make a threat. Doubly true of Infect, where Nexus needs activating, although Infect is not played by most people due to Probe going, the card always was super effective against them if dropped early.
Affinity it hits plating activations, and ravager- enough to slow them down and trap them behind a Sphere of Safety.
Most control based in Grixis or Jeskai have planeswalkers and fetches, and combo decks like living end have enough fetches to make the card effective by itself if dropped early, whilst some combo e.g. Girshoalbrand - have kills that use activated abilities (boby-g+ grisselbrand's draw itself). This is true for Lightning Storm in Ad Nauseam and the Junk kills with Viscera seer.
Hatebear decks use Vial, and some other odd activated abilities of things like Swords, Manlands or Copter even in odd builds. It does hit Mistveil Plain's ability for recycling stuff, but post Ideal that is not relevant as we can't cast spells and can pay two/four etc.
Nodes is only super good with Heliod and some taxes, and to be honest I run Nodes/Heliod in Pillow-Fort, where the prison is stronger as you don't have Ideal and one shot cards like Form to worry about, and where Heliod synergises better- it survives a solitary Obliterate (which I sometimes run main), meaning I can get a win via a scoop when I obliterate the board. Devotion is less important to the Pillow-Fort decks, their curves are lower, Sphere and Ghostly are 4 ofs each. In ideal there are more moving parts to align, devotion is more important and Nodes as said above will not contribute tot hat in hand, and the companion piece Heliod is not as attractive a wincon as it is in straight pillow-fort-as we have Ideal to win matches.
This would be great for EI! The top 5 (Affinity, Grixis Shadow, Eldrazi Tron, Scapshift, Burn) are all favorable match ups. Merfolk I am unsure about sinceI haven't tested it, but it feels like a good match up since they are creature based. Storm is another great matchup. Dredge and Living End also seem great. Really the only thing I wouldn't want to face are the 4 Jeskai Control, the 2 UW Control, 1 Elves, and GB Tron. The GB or Abzan stuff seems close since they can have a lot of Decay and Pulse effects. I would love to hear from the EI player about his list and what he played against Day 1 and 2.
Below is the list I am currently running. Played about 22 matches with the deck so far(12-10 w/l record, small sample size I know) and currently issues I'm having is against UW control which is becoming popular again in local meta and to an extent modo where I've lost two matches to the deck and it feels like its a tough one to win initially.
And of course, normal Gx tron is difficult. Looking for some feedback to my list as I am testing as much as I can for a big modern event in my city this weekend. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
1 Ensnaring Bridge
2 Lotus Bloom
1 Assemble the Legion
2 Copy Enchantment
1 Dovescape
4 Enduring Ideal
1 Form of the Dragon
4 Ghostly Prison
2 Journey to Nowhere
4 Leyline of Sanctity
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Overwhelming Splendor
1 Phyrexian Unlife
3 Porphyry Nodes
4 Runed Halo
3 Suppression Field
9 Plains
4 Temple of Enlightenment
4 Temple of Triumph
4 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
2 Mistveil Plains
1 Island
1 Greater Auramancy
1 Obliterate
1 Oblivion Ring
2 Rest in Peace
3 Silence
3 Spreading Seas
2 Stony Silence
1 Story Circle
I would also look at Faith's Fetters, a Confiscate Effect or Sphere over the second Copy Enchantment.
Cast out is decent too and the nonbo on with SF rarey comes up.
Surprised you only have one GA in the 75, but a lot of decks can't take enchantments out now easily.
For traditional Tron my favourite card from the board is Bribery in U. Sometimes just getting into it t5 with a early slow them card like stony just does it. Very narrow of course. Seas and GQs are Ok against them.
From there I find Stony Silence and Rule of Law/Eidolon effects to be very effective- the latter work really well because G tron has an awful lot of midgame cantrip effects/mana filters, and they get very stuck. Rule effects are good vs a couple of decks, I would consider one at least. Blood Moon is decent, but your manabase may not support it. You won't control them forever, so winning in the window is really important, I like the Starfield as a win con here, because sometimes just casting it gives you a huge strike from nowhere.
Control is hard, Boseiju is really decent, Obliterate is nasty from the board, totally unexpected too but it wrecks decks. Boil is ok, counters are OK, Silence is ok (although I think 2 should be the maximum) but there is no magic I win card beyond those two. Cast out is better than O ring against control decks.
2x Mistval Plains
4x Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
3x Temple of Triumph
2x Boseiju, who shelters all
7x Plains
4x Enduring Ideal
2x Entreat Angels
1x Ensnaring Bridge
1x Form of the Dragon
1x Overwhelming Splendor
1x Heliod, God of the Sun
1x Peace of Mind
4x Ghostly Prison
4x Porphyry Node
4x Leyline of Sanctity
4x Suppression Field
1x Solemnity
2x Phyrexian Unlife
1x Oblivion Ring
1x Sphere of Saftey
2x Gideon's Intervention
2x Rune Halo
1x Greater Auramency
1x Dovescape
2x Stoney Silence
2x Aura of Silence
2x Defence Grid
2x Wrath of god
3x Ensnaring Bridge
2x Sacred Ground
1x Reverence
I hope you meet some players who forget to fetch in response to S field. That always feels so good, as does pointing to SF whenever the affinity player tries to equip..........
You might want to look out for Bring to Light Scapeshift and Storm, they could be awkward if you don't get Intervention/Sanctity down as you don't run Rule of Law effects in the 75. Sanctity will do some work there though. Good luck, let us know how you did.
Played this list to a 1-4 record.
Played Valakut. 0-2
Jund 0-2
Jund 0-2
Saheeli Rai Combo 1-2
Grixis Control 2-0
I really missed Sigil of the Empty Throne. I just couldn't seem to find the right card at the right time. Lots of mana, and no Enduring ideal, then no mana and draw too many win cons. Frustrating.
I took it to FNM and was much better with 3-0, vs Affinity, Boros Burn and some brew.
Mono White Pillow Fort feel more consistent to me. Will go back to that version.
Here's the deck that I ran:
12 Plains
4 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
3 Temple of Triumph
3 Temple of Enlightenment
1 Mistveil Plains
1 Boseiju, Who Shelters All
Enchantments (32)
4 Porphyry Nodes
4 Runed Halo
4 Suppression Field
1 Luminarch Ascension
4 Ghostly Prison
3 Banishing Light
3 Oblivion Ring
1 Phyrexian Unlife
4 Leyline of Sanctity
1 Heliod, God of the Sun
1 Sphere of Safety
1 Dovescape
1 Form of the Dragon
4 Enduring Ideal
2 Rest in Peace
2 Sanctimony
4 Stony Silence
4 Nevermore
2 Aura of Silence
1 Rule of Law
A couple of notes: Obviously I need the 4th RW Temple and to drop 1 of the UW Temples. I just couldnt find it before the tourney. I dropped the Peace of Mind since the whole "If I draw Form of the Dragon, then I will discard it with Peace of Mind, then find Mistveil Plains and put it on the bottom to tutor up again" plan takes way too long. I figure, If I draw Form of the Dragon, then I will try to discard it to handsize when I have gone epic and already have Mistveil Plains ready OR I will just tutor up Heliod/Ascension and sit behind prisons and flood them with tokens. The great thing about that is that if you win G1 with Heliod or Ascension, then they still might not have any idea what your real plan is. So then why do I still run a mistveil plains? So that if I go against the Vizier combo and they get infinite life, and I establish the lock, I can win by milling them out and not milling myself out. So trimming one Mistveil Plains allowed me to fit in a one-of Boseiju, which I wanted since Control has been on the rise recently. So here goes:
Round 1: Merfolk W(2-1). Porphyry Nodes was MVP G1 and G3. Suppression Field slowed down his Aether Vial as well. Also Prisons just held him back all three games. He won G2 since he Echoing Truth my prisons and swung for 17. Ouch. Since he was tapping mana for his creatures (his vial was on lock down) he tapped out enough for me not to fear counter magic and slam the ideal.
Round 2: Burn w(2-0). Opening hand Leyline both games. Runed Halo naming Eidelon of the Great Revel. Nevermore naming Destructive Revelry. You get the picture.
Round 3: Living End W(2-0). G1: Suppression Field slows down his cyclers. He lands a living end with about 5 creatures into play. I have a prison so only 2 can attack and I have 2 Nodes, so he will lose them all in two turns (plus Halo naming the biggest threat: Desert Ceradon). I land the Ideal but have to get unlife first in order to survive his next attack and hope he doesn't have a beast within. Since he can't kill me on his turn, he spends all his mana cycling. Then I go get Form of the Dragon (misplay). Then he untaps and Beast Withins the Form of the Dragon. At this point, Nodes killed everything and I have unlife but no dragon. So I search up Dovescape and then Sphere of Safety and then Ascension. He saw the writing on the wall and scooped. G2: he keeps a one land hand and doesnt find a second one soon. I kept a weak hand and dont do anything for turns 1-3 (I only had two lands with nevermore and prison in hand). I draw Suppression Filed to slow down his cyclers and his newly draw fetch land (ouch), then I find land three and play Nevermore naming Beast within and then draw Rest In Peace. He scoops.
Round 4 Eldrazi Tron L(0-2). Normally this matchup goes well for me, but G1, he drew natural tron and cast All is Dust. G2 he curves out with a 1/1 balista, Matter reshaper, draws tron and is debating his play....he decides to slam two Smashers and beat me for 14. I have a halo to name Smasher, but I'm dead to the other creatures. He was hesitant due to wanting to play around Wrath of God, but went for it since he could still ballista me for 1 and see what he got from his reshaper.
Round 5 Storm W(2-0). Game 1 I play Halo naming Grapeshot. He goes through a long process of trying to mill me with thought scour and noxious revival it back to the top and repeat and give it flashback with past in flames. He mills about 16 cards before he fizzles. I asked him about the Warrens plan but apparently Storm only runs that SB now and 3 main board Grapeshot. G2 he does land Warrens for about 10 goblins. But Prison held them all back and I hit the Enduring Ideal soon after.
Round 6 G/W Hatebears ID(0-0) Both of us were 4-1 and were sitting at 5th and 7th place respectively. So the ID sealed the top 8 for us.
The metagame: I saw 1 Grixis Shadow in the middle tables, a couple merfolk at the middle tables, affinity and burn in the middle tables, but STORM showed up a lot. 4 storm players went 4-2 and one went 4-1-1 to make top 8 (he had a draw in round one so he had to basically win out). Also, a lot of tron decks, Eldrazi Tron mostly, but also some G variants I luckily dodged. A couple of Control decks (Jeskai and UW). Only two kooky decks caught my eye: the Ironworks combo deck (which finished in the middle) and a Mono blue flyers deck (we're talking Favorable Winds x4!!! Inspired by Saffron Olive apparently). He did have a sweet play in round 4 of the swiss where he was going to lose a game, so he cast Psionic Blast to force a draw and go to game 3 up 1-0-1 lol. So here's the top 8:
Eldrazi Tron(1) vs Jeskai Control(8)
Mono Blue Flyers(2) vs G/W Hatebears (7)
Eldrazi Tron(3) vs Storm (6)
Enduring Ideal (4) vs BW Eldrazi and Taxes (5)
Jeskai Control, G/W hatebears, and Eldrazi Tron won their matches.
My game: G1 I had double suppression field for his Vial, really slowed him down. Not an opening hand Leyline, but a T4 Leyline protected me from the Scullers and Thought Knot Seers he drew later (he didn't have them early). He did play Thalia, but I hit a Nodes and a Prison, enough time to hit the Ideal and get G1. G2 he starts with T2 Thought knot Seer and then has some Scullers to rip my hand apart (took Nodes and Halo and O-Ring). G3: I got the defenses up and hit the Ideal early with Nylthos. He proceeded to flood out reallllly bad so he couldn't disrupt anything I was doing. So I got it 2-1.
Semis vs Jeskai Control: I win G1 off the back of double suppression field locking down his fetch lands. I hit Nykthos AND Boseiju to get an uncounterable Ideal and steal G1. G2 he counters and casts Wear//Tear on literally everything and kills me with Gearhulk. G3: Really down to the wire. I Nevermore naming Cryptic and get a prison out. Start building devotion. But he again, Tears the Nevermore, Bounces the prison with cryptic. Too much tempo lost. He taps out for Elspeth. I tap out for Sphere of Safety. He taps out to attack me down to 6 or so life. I play some more enchantments to increase the tax it takes to attack, but then he Tears the Sphere of Safety and attacks for lethal. I had to pay 2 life to play more enchanments with Boseiju to go down to 2 life and he hit me for 2 exactly. Rough match. I also had 6 mana with a Boseiju: so close to hitting an uncounterable ideal.
The rest of the top 8: GW Hatebears beat Eldrazi Tron. So the finals were GW Hatebears and Jeskai Control. Not sure who won as I had to go at that time.
Anyways, overall very pleased obviously. I went 5-2 in matches that I actually played. The metagame seemed good for this deck and I got a lot of very favorable matchups. Not sure what changes to make, maybe 1 O-ring can come out but not sure for what. Also, the Sanctimony can probably come out since we are already well suited for Burn and Valakut decks. Not sure what to replace it with. Let me know what you guys think!
IMO the Solemnity thing should be a whole new spin on the deck, perhaps a UW deck with filtering (now that Opt will be legal, that might be a great option), Enchantment tutors and counterspells to protect the enchantments. But the Axis is a single card that can slide right into this mono-white shell much more easily, much like Overwhelming Splendor (although to me, Splendor is a win-more card and isn't necessary).
Other notable spoilers: Ashes of the Abhorrent seems like a nice SB option, but honestly not as good as RIP. Ixalan's Binding could have some utility, like Gideon's Intervention
I think it is not better in Ideal or Pillow-Fort per se, but it is better in an Unlife/Solemnity list, which probably is more likely to be an Ideal build over straight PF. Just a hunch, a gut feeling. It does nothing to make hard games easier is the main issue. It may win the game straight if it is a full unlife build, but so does unlife/form. It is not much use on its own, but it could work well at some future point.
2 Hallowed Fountain
4 Flooded Strand
2 Plains
4 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
4 Urza's Tower
4 Urza's Power Plant
4 Urza's Mine
1 Mistveil Plains
1 Boseiju, Who Shelters All
Enchantments (32)
4 Porphyry Nodes
4 Runed Halo
4 Suppression Field
1 Luminarch Ascension
4 Ghostly Prison
3 Banishing Light
3 Oblivion Ring
1 Phyrexian Unlife
4 Leyline of Sanctity
1 Heliod, God of the Sun
1 Sphere of Safety
1 Dovescape
1 Form of the Dragon
4 Enduring Ideal
4 Dark Petition
4 Peer through Depths
4 Pieces of the Puzzle
2 Rest in Peace
2 Sanctimony
4 Stony Silence
4 Nevermore
2 Aura of Silence
1 Rule of Law
But Flooded strand should be nowhere near a 4 sf list.
I guess Dark Petition was an error in the list?
I think a valid question is why Tron? I can't see what you get 7 colorless mana t3 ? I would rather have Karn and play real tron. To cast ideal we need WW, so you are talking 4 or 5 lands still even if you hit tron, and then that is assuming nykthos mana for the 4 land option. Casting cards like Halo will be hard with Tron, I don't see the point unless you are going to include Emrakul-esque stuff and Nykthos+Tron him into play. The normal UW mana base with cards like search for azcanta or monastery siege plus the usual white suite should be enough to make a solid deck.
Only wanted to bring a couple cards I've been testing on my latest builds to discussion.
First a card I'm bringing mostly against stuff with countermagic is war's toll, since tapping all their lands at once not only makes them choose between playing sth or leaving mana open for counterspells, but also grants us that they'll only counter one of our spells if we play our stuff in different main phases.
Also, it has great synergy with taxes like ghostly prison or suppression fields. If ghostly priaon is on the bf, they basically gotta choose between attacking or casting something, unless is instant or flash stuff. Then if we've fields out, they won't be able to crack a fetchland+attack, or activate anything+attack on the same turn.
Then I was wondering which gy hate tech is best for us. ashes of the abhorrent, rest in peace, wheel of sun and moon, grafdigger's cage or whatever you use.
Personally, I never liked RIP because if I happen to draw my FOTD, the mistveil plains plan won't work, therefore, my weapon of choice has always been grafdigger's cage since it's the widest answer and the cheapest CMC wise. Ashes of the abhorrent seems playable as well, since it grants devotion and some lifegain if you're playing porphyry nodes for instance, or trying to win thru combat damage.
I'm still in love with overwhelming splendor as well, but I still didn't find a time in which it was better to play that over FOTD or usual core-stuff. I guess it gets better with something like night of souls' betrayal out, but otherwise it feels just unnecessary. I'm trying it on a curses deck though, and it certainly gets better there with [c]curse of misfortunes[\c] online.
I'd like to read what you think about cast out, storage matrix, idyllic tutor, and the aforementioned cards, and which secondary wincons you prefer and why.
Cheers.
Sst.
Not a fan of Binding, and I use Confiscate as I am blue any way Haze has not made my deck either.
So for that spot on the mana curve, I'd pick Gideon's intervention in a creature and/or combo decks like storm/ad nauseam/burn meta, and I'd use cast out/ixalan's binding on a midrange/tron/etc meta.
As for storage matrix, I'd really like to play that card on a totally different build including stuff like authority of the Consuls/blind obedience, war's toll and taxes. That would probably increase the efficiency against creature-based decks, so the sideboard should be directed to noncreature stuff and combo decks.
Cheers.
Sst
1)Being able to just cast Form of the Dragon so he can win if he draws it and doesn't have to rely on resolving Enduring Ideal.
2)Small percentage of games that can have a "oops, I win" T2 or T3 Blood Moon.
3)Silence out of the SB for control. Basically Silence is a "must counter" since if they don't counter it, we can resolve Ideal.
4)Resilience to removal. If they blow up a Dragon or Unlife, then he has extra copies. No need for dinky alternate win cons (like Heliod or Ascension that I run).
Just thought I'd share.
EDIT: Woops, thanks Talionis, I meant to include the decklist.
2 Simian Spirit Guide
1 Idyllic Tutor
4 Enduring Ideal
4 Lotus Bloom
4 Runed Halo
4 Suppression Field
2 Blood Moon
4 Ghostly Prison
1 Oblivion Ring
3 Phyrexian Unlife
4 Leyline of Sanctity
1 Sphere of Safety
1 Dovescape
2 Form of the Dragon
1 Overwhelming Splendor
4 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
11 Plains
2 Rugged Prairie
1 Sacred Foundry
4 Temple of Triumph
1 Boseiju, Who Shelters All
3 Silence
1 Defense Grid
2 Greater Auramancy
2 Rest in Peace
2 Stony Silence
2 Ensnaring Bridge
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Story Circle
I like the idea of playing Weathered Wayfarer to find Nythos, Shrine to Nyx. I also think since we have ramp, playing a single Elesh Norn is a good idea. It also makes a good Emeria, the Sky Ruin target if games drag on. Elesh Norn is powerful enough to end a game in more than a few matchups. So I don't mind ramping into it.
4 Weathered Wayfinder
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1 Idyllic Tutor
4 Enduring Ideal
4 Lotus Bloom
4 Runed Halo
4 Suppression Field
1 Peace of Mind
4 Ghostly Prison
1 Oblivion Ring
3 Phyrexian Unlife
4 Leyline of Sanctity
1 Sphere of Safety
1 Dovescape
1 Form of the Dragon
1 Overwhelming Splendor
4 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
11 Plains
4 Field of Ruin
1 Saltcrusted Steppe
1 Calciform Pools
1 Emeria, the Sky Ruin
1 Boseiju, Who Shelters All
1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
3 Silence
1 Defense Grid
2 Greater Auramancy
2 Rest in Peace
2 Stony Silence
2 Ensnaring Bridge
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Story Circle
In answer to your question, not really much synergy, mainly digging really. Popping enchantments in the bin is ok when you can recycle them if you go off later- with Mistveil Plains they can come back, so I can filter aggressively to pop wincons to the bin if I need to stabilise. I use Starfield, so there is some synergy with Search- good stuff to the bin makes for decent reanimation targets. I also use the cycling Lay Claim and Cast out, which works well to suddenly hit the trigger on Search.
3 suppression field
2 greater auramancy
2 search for azcanta
4 ghostly prison
1 phyrexian unlife
1 detention sphere
4 leyline of sanctity
1 cast out
1 starfield of nyx
4 sphere of safety
1 dovescape
4 enduring ideal
1 overwhelming splendour
1 form of the dragon
1 boseiju, who shelters all
4 temple of enlightenment
5 plains
1 island
4 adarkar wastes
4 nykthos shrine to nyx
1 azorius chancery
2 mistveil plains
3 hallowed fountain
1 supreme verdict (utility for critter decks)
1 boseiju, who shelters all (control)
3 spreading seas (trons)
2 bribery (normal tron, reanimator)
4 stony silence (affinity, ad nauseam combo, normal tron)
1 eidolon of rhetoric (storm, snapcaster control, some hatebear, most burn decks as it blocks, boggles)
1 pithing needle (or rhetoric 2 according to meta, needle for superfiends decks, especially Nahiri ones, reanimator with Boby-G/Grisselbrand)
1 grafdigger's cage ( reanimator, chord decks)
1 blessed alliance (boggles, burn, reanimator/breach)
The deck uses search better than a straight pillow fort because it has so many high cc cards you do not want to see. The Mistveil plains can recycle most things. The cycling cards can go into the bin and be reanimated, the odd Azorius chancery helps get the odd extra scry. CIP tapped or colorless issues with the Nykthos can be a pain early on.
I think the deck has two disadvantages over the straight pillow fort decks.
Firstly the mana curve is always going to be hard as you need major impact cards to fetch off ideal. Ideal is dead early, as are other cards. Avoiding drawing a Form or Dovescape early is massive, hence the two search. Popping stuff in the bin is great with a Starfield, of course.
You end up with fewer win cons than straight prison, and less of a prison. A straight enchantment prison deck can run cards like Rest in Peace main deck even, and can run full compliments of Suppression Field, if that is what is needed. It can also indulge on curve cards like Heliod and Nodes, which are nice combos that can sometimes win the game and nearly always contribute towards control of the game when cast. There is no space in my list for them, because as an Ideal target Heliod and Nodes are way worse than Overwhelming Splendour or Dovescape, two cards that nearly always come via Ideal, and we need to have slots for the Ideals. The nature of the casting costs mean the mana base is a bit dodgier, and Mistveil is to me an essential in a Ideal build for getting stuff back into the library if needed, and Temples are essential too, giving more CIP tapped than I would like. Ghost quarter is a no no, so whereas a Pillow Fort straight may run 2-3 Ghost Quarters, I can't here- a Nykthos/GQ opening hand is always going back without a Leyline.
You do get a much more powerful lock, and once Dovescape Resolves mass enchantment kill is no longer scary, plus the fetchinto play aspect can rescue a game in the balance forever with the right search.
I have run Bridge based versions of the deck before, but suffered one too many blowouts.