Played my first local tourney yesterday with the Japanse deck standard. Replaced the remands with Serum Visions to keep the same number of cantrips. Replaced the disfigure and 1 slaughter pact with 2 Myth realized. Replaced 1 Spell Snare with a Negate. Sideboard was just some stuff I threw together, hoping for no burn matchups.
Won my first 3 matches against a discard deck (Creeping Tar pit was the star here), elves combo (Zealous Persecution won me a very easy victory G3) and a persist/undying creature deck (where i drew perfectly and finished both games victoriously and with ease).
Last game vs the Boros Bridge deck. Main deck: Anger of the gods, blood moon, wrath of god, ghostly prison and ensnaring bridge + 11 spot removal (path, bol, helix). I keep a rather slow hand and get locked out and beaten down by espleth tokens.
Second game I need to mull to 6 then I play discard t2 (see no blood moon), land my lingering souls t3 (I ned to get some pressure on the board fast) and get smacked by Blood Moon with no white (I could not fetch for it) and I'll never see it either (I had fetched for black and blue so I put up a little bit of resistance). Overall the matchup seems very, very poor for us. No maindecked creatures gives us tonnes of dead cards G1.
Odds are I'm coming up against this deck again in the future, what enchantment hosers do we have in our colors? (Finished 3rd btw)
Last game vs the Boros Bridge deck. Main deck: Anger of the gods, blood moon, wrath of god, ghostly prison and ensnaring bridge + 11 spot removal (path, bol, helix). I keep a rather slow hand and get locked out and beaten down by espleth tokens.
Second game I need to mull to 6 then I play discard t2 (see no blood moon), land my lingering souls t3 (I ned to get some pressure on the board fast) and get smacked by Blood Moon with no white (I could not fetch for it) and I'll never see it either (I had fetched for black and blue so I put up a little bit of resistance). Overall the matchup seems very, very poor for us. No maindecked creatures gives us tonnes of dead cards G1.
Odds are I'm coming up against this deck again in the future, what enchantment hosers do we have in our colors? (Finished 3rd btw)
Myth Realized and the manlands should be great in the matchup , just keep bridge off the board. Ghostly Prison shouldn't be a big problem if you are on the myth plan and blood moon also isn't a big problem if it doesn't lock you out. Your opponent seems to be playing more spot removal than usual though , most of the lists I've seen only run 4 helix. Discard is also tricky since most lists run some number of leylines main and the rest in the board , though if you didn't see it both games he might not have them or not boarded them in.
How was Myth Realized? Did you ever draw it? Did you typically draw it late-game or did you ever have it in your opening hand?
Myth realized was ok, but not great. I wanted to play 3 but only had 2. In the first game vs the discard deck it wasn't great even though I landed one early as he was playing 4 vapor snag. But at least it forced him to use snags (card disadvantage) on a cheap threat and gave me something to do with my mana when my hand was empty. I got an early one down vs Elves combo that pretty much held the fort against his 7/7 (the myth was 8/8 or something by then) allowing me to squeek out the win by flying over with spirits. Didn't see him in the third match. In my last match he turned up when the game was already decided. An early one there (or a Tasigur) would have been a very different game I guess.
Of the 6 games I won I closed out 3 with mentor and monks, 1 with spirits, 1 with Tasigur and 1 with Creeping Tar Pit as the main contributors. When a mentor sticked it was always decided. I see on Reddit people suggesting to play 3, I don't think that's a good idea.
Not sure whether to cut the Myths for more permission yet. I don't love the 2 mana counterspells as keeping those up in the turns that matter is hard, but dispel and spell snare are so narrow. Spell pierce might be the way to go but we aren't delver fast so this might become irrelevant pretty quickly. I don't really like remand even though it can be nuts with a mentor out (remand your own spell if need be). Negate or Countersquall (probably too greedy) still seem like cards you need to play to have a fighting chance against some decks. I'm going to test some more on Xmage.
Last game vs the Boros Bridge deck. Main deck: Anger of the gods, blood moon, wrath of god, ghostly prison and ensnaring bridge + 11 spot removal (path, bol, helix). I keep a rather slow hand and get locked out and beaten down by espleth tokens.
Second game I need to mull to 6 then I play discard t2 (see no blood moon), land my lingering souls t3 (I ned to get some pressure on the board fast) and get smacked by Blood Moon with no white (I could not fetch for it) and I'll never see it either (I had fetched for black and blue so I put up a little bit of resistance). Overall the matchup seems very, very poor for us. No maindecked creatures gives us tonnes of dead cards G1.
Odds are I'm coming up against this deck again in the future, what enchantment hosers do we have in our colors? (Finished 3rd btw)
Myth Realized and the manlands should be great in the matchup , just keep bridge off the board. Ghostly Prison shouldn't be a big problem if you are on the myth plan and blood moon also isn't a big problem if it doesn't lock you out. Your opponent seems to be playing more spot removal than usual though , most of the lists I've seen only run 4 helix. Discard is also tricky since most lists run some number of leylines main and the rest in the board , though if you didn't see it both games he might not have them or not boarded them in.
His list was a bit unusual: he didn't run any chalices mainboard and the leylines were in the side as well. I did see one game 2, but it was pretty irrelevant by the time it landed.
@guineapirate - wow, turn down the fire there pal. It is tech, your thinking is too narrow. I'm wondering if the deck at 22 land can support it, period. Helps, fix mana sure (bloodmoon on the stack etc), it also helps vs RG Tron match up which is terrible. Destroys manlands, yada yada yada. An original thought, no... never said it was, I was merely asking for feedback. It also adds 2 cards to the GY for delve if you target your own land etc. I listed an example, no need to set it a blaze... not everyone is as smart as the almighty, or clearly as witty. Keep slugging away champ.
@Lueseto - I can't see Moorland Haunt helping out too much with only the ten main deck creatures. Also Im skeptical of raising the creature count, as it makes mentor less powerful.
Not sure whether to cut the Myths for more permission yet. I don't love the 2 mana counterspells as keeping those up in the turns that matter is hard, but dispel and spell snare are so narrow. Spell pierce might be the way to go but we aren't delver fast so this might become irrelevant pretty quickly. I don't really like remand even though it can be nuts with a mentor out (remand your own spell if need be). Negate or Countersquall (probably too greedy) still seem like cards you need to play to have a fighting chance against some decks. I'm going to test some more on Xmage.
I prefer thoughtseize/IoK over counterspells in this deck. They work better with both Mentor and Tasigur/Gurmag, as you will always be able to cast them to fill the grave or create monk tokens. And we have a lot of sorcery speed spells and creatures, so we will often not be able to keep countermana up. I have some counters in the sideboard for certain matchups, though.
@guineapirate - wow, turn down the fire there pal. It is tech, your thinking is too narrow. I'm wondering if the deck at 22 land can support it, period. Helps, fix mana sure (bloodmoon on the stack etc), it also helps vs RG Tron match up which is terrible. Destroys manlands, yada yada yada. An original thought, no... never said it was, I was merely asking for feedback. It also adds 2 cards to the GY for delve if you target your own land etc. I listed an example, no need to set it a blaze... not everyone is as smart as the almighty, or clearly as witty. Keep slugging away champ.
@Lueseto - I can't see Moorland Haunt helping out too much with only the ten main deck creatures. Also Im skeptical of raising the creature count, as it makes mentor less powerful.
srry if i sounded harsh. Anyway, the fixing ability of ghost quarter is more of a desperation mode for when you are mana srewed as it is a 2 for 1 (the bad kind of 2 for 1). It'S also a 2 for 1 when you target opposing lands, but can be worth it since the value of shutting down tron or killing a manland exceeds the value you lose by 2 for 1-ing yourself. What i mean is that i wouldnt ghost quarter myself for the sole purpose on fueling delve
Esper Midrange has enjoyed a lot of success since February. It has jumped from a 0% MTGO share to about 1.5% - 2% of the entire online scene. It has also scored a number of paper finishes, particularly in the Japanese scene. Although the deck still has a ways to go before it reaches tier 1 or tier 2 status, it has definitely proven itself as a viable contender in Modern. To keep up its development and honor its finishes, the thread is being bumped up to Developing Competitive where it can hopefully continue its journey to the top.
@guineapirate - fair enough, it is an understandable 2for1 yes, and if you need to use it to fuel you're in a bad situation already. In testing it seems fine so far though, as a one of I mean. Was really nice against my opponents leon arbiter which got pathed right after I ghost quartered. Set him back into the dark ages, SUPER RARE OCCURRENCE. Anyway I think the deck could support 2 non basic, non colour slots in the 22. Im still not sold on Ghost Quarter, as after the first fetch, I'm often fetching for basics anyway. Maybe a Tectonic Edge is just better here, maybe I just expect to see more tron, or that I despise that deck hahaha. Mabye Tolaria West to search for Slaughter Pact.
I've been testing more cantrips (3 Gitaxian Probe, 1 Shadow of Doubt) over the permission (2 Remand, 2 Spell Snare), honestly cant even tell that the permission is gone. Rarely do I want to play on my opponents turn with monk out, as the tempo loss from prowess hurts. I think I'd rather just maximize my value and swing. I've seen people playing Fulminator Mages, what about Spreading Seas in the board?
Round 1
GW hatebears (2-1)
Games 1 and 3 were a bit grindy, but he had no answer for mentor and tasigur which eventually won the game. Game 2 he played three leonin arbiters and proceeded to ghost quarter all my lands. Timely and Apetite for brains were good here, game 3 I had the please of curving timely into sorin, my opponent exhausted all his resources taking down the sorin which allowed for tasigur and mentor to take over.
Round 2
Junk midrange (2-0)
Have tested this match up a lot and many times it feels like whoever gets the most out of their lingering souls wins. Mutavault shined here as a way to either protect tasigur/mentor from liliana edict or to allow you to kill a lily + cast a spell. This is a match zealous persecution has a chance to shine. G3 had an interesting moment where my opponent inquisitioned me discarded one of my two mentors and cast an explosives for 3, I killed him w/ souls tokens and snapcaster eventually.
Round 3
Affinity (2-1)
Fairly straightforward and boring match, I drew little interaction G1, then all of it game 2. Game 3 I curved discard into stony silence into menToR and made quick work of my opponent.
Round 4
Burn (0-2)
Game one my opponent had a fast swiftspear start back up by a turn 4 chandra which kept my tokens in check. Game 3 my opponent had 3 figures of destiny in play turn 2 and I was never able to stabilize. Saw no sideboard cards game 2.
Overall I loved the deck and it played very smoothly and the colorless mana of the mutavaults was never an issue.
I put the CoP:red and Apetite for brains in the sideboard since skred rer, Tron, and griselbrand reanimator are popular in my meta. The Azorious charm was a bit of a hedge against burn and a weird love I have for the card.
It's done pretty well. The games I've lost, I felt that I mostly had a pretty good shot at winning. There have been some burn matches that I just get rolled over, and I have had some land issues as well, either too many or too few. I'm pretty high on quicken. It has been pretty solid for the most part. I often get too greedy with it by holding it up to get value out of casting a sorcery at instant speed, but I need to just cantrip it someimes. I've been skeptical of Thought Scour in the past, but having played the deck a bit more (and finally buying 2 snaps to get a full set online) I am much more high on the card. Turn 2 Tasigur is sweet. The flex cards I have are serum visions and slaughter pact. I like both cards, but I've played a fair bit of junk, and think shaving down to a single slaughter pact would be better, and if I cut the serum visions then the value of quicken goes down a bit. I'm looking for some advice on what to fill in those spots. I had remand in there, but I wasn't crazy, but it could make a come back. I like having permission, but have felt that I want to be far more proactive game 1.
@ Mrs. Whittlebury:
Love seeing CoP in there. How has it worked out for you? I see the 0-2 from burn, but I feel like burn boils down to "draw specific cards or die"
Edit: Another joy of Thought Scour: It feels really good to see someone scry to the top with Serum Vision, and then you scour them
3 matches so far, grixis delver twice (that deck is really popular) and skred red. Dropped 1 game to a tasigur I just didn't have an answer for. Won all the rest. Won 4 games on the back of a big Myth. These decks have a lot of trouble with 4+ toughness creatures. Grixis has Terminate but I can drop more big threats quickly then they can draw them. Adding a third Tasigur has been great so far. You're really just chaining must-answer threats untill they crack.
Has anyone found a configuration that allows Geist to really shine? I tried jamming him into a few more permission heavy spells and felt like he just sat in my hand.
Has anyone found a configuration that allows Geist to really shine? I tried jamming him into a few more permission heavy spells and felt like he just sat in my hand.
I love Geist but I'm not sure this is the right shell for him. Geist really wants to be in a fast tempo deck with some burn to either clear blockers out of the way or to help with reach, since sometimes Geist just hits for 4 with the angel and dies. We're more grindy and long game oriented with stuff like Mentor and Tasigur.
Gonna try 3x Myth Realized for a bit to get a feel on the card. It seems like it would be great against the blue red decks that only have burn for removal since you can just wait for it to get huge and then use it to break the game open. Feels like it would be bad against BGx since abrupt decay can always just kill it but whatever, it'll be an easy card to sideboard out then I guess.
Has anyone found a configuration that allows Geist to really shine? I tried jamming him into a few more permission heavy spells and felt like he just sat in my hand.
I love Geist but I'm not sure this is the right shell for him. Geist really wants to be in a fast tempo deck with some burn to either clear blockers out of the way or to help with reach, since sometimes Geist just hits for 4 with the angel and dies. We're more grindy and long game oriented with stuff like Mentor and Tasigur.
Gonna try 3x Myth Realized for a bit to get a feel on the card. It seems like it would be great against the blue red decks that only have burn for removal since you can just wait for it to get huge and then use it to break the game open. Feels like it would be bad against BGx since abrupt decay can always just kill it but whatever, it'll be an easy card to sideboard out then I guess.
Myth Realized does die to Abrupt Decay for no value, but Monastery Mentor typically makes one Monk and dies when it goes up against Decay. I wouldn't board out MR against BGx because boarding it out makes your Mentors worse.
So I want to talk about a few things here and hear you advice on them.
1. I like to have ways to dig for cards.
That's what sets Blue decks apart from others. BG/x has no way to do that but they also don't need to because their cards are all very powerful on their own. We don't have quite that luxury so I prefer some way to find threats, answers and sideboard cards.
That being said I did throw in the 4 Anticipate solely for testing purposes. Im currently unsure about the numbers of them and if they shouldn't be replaced by Serum Visions since it's cheaper.
I just like that Anticipate is instant-speed and later in the game you get to cast the cards that you found right away and don't have to wait around for another turn. Could be the difference between life and death. Especially when searching for removal.
2. The permission spells in the main.
I currently have only 3 of them in the main and Im thinking about if they should be cut entirely. Obviously some things need to be interacted with on the stack and discard can only get you so far and doesn't protect against topdecks so I like it for that. But they don't play that well with Mentor and Narset for that matter so maybe I should keep the permission in the sideboard for matchups where it's really needed.
3. Myth Realized
I currently don't play them but I would like to actually. Im just not sure what to cut for them. Point 1 and 2 would be helpful in this I think.
And lastly as a Liliana fanboy I have to ask if somebody tested Liliana of the Veil in this deck yet?
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There's always stuff like Disenchant, Oblivion Ring, Detention Sphere, Utter End, Tempest of Light (only if you've got Bogles problems), Engineered Explosives (we can't make its X = 4), Fracturing Gust (totally expensive)...
How was Myth Realized? Did you ever draw it? Did you typically draw it late-game or did you ever have it in your opening hand?
Myth Realized and the manlands should be great in the matchup , just keep bridge off the board. Ghostly Prison shouldn't be a big problem if you are on the myth plan and blood moon also isn't a big problem if it doesn't lock you out. Your opponent seems to be playing more spot removal than usual though , most of the lists I've seen only run 4 helix. Discard is also tricky since most lists run some number of leylines main and the rest in the board , though if you didn't see it both games he might not have them or not boarded them in.
From the look of things I see 4 cards that could in theory be played in the deck. Note Im not saying that any of these cards are actually good.
Those cards are
Myth Realized
Anticipate
Narset Transcendent
Ojutai Exemplars
Thoughts? Cards that I missed?
You can definitely run it. I have seen a list online that did run it.
The problem I see with it is that according to the "stock list" our creatures are 4 Monastery Mentor, 4 Snapcaster Mage and 2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang. That's only 10 creatures so you won't have much fodder for it
Myth realized was ok, but not great. I wanted to play 3 but only had 2. In the first game vs the discard deck it wasn't great even though I landed one early as he was playing 4 vapor snag. But at least it forced him to use snags (card disadvantage) on a cheap threat and gave me something to do with my mana when my hand was empty. I got an early one down vs Elves combo that pretty much held the fort against his 7/7 (the myth was 8/8 or something by then) allowing me to squeek out the win by flying over with spirits. Didn't see him in the third match. In my last match he turned up when the game was already decided. An early one there (or a Tasigur) would have been a very different game I guess.
Of the 6 games I won I closed out 3 with mentor and monks, 1 with spirits, 1 with Tasigur and 1 with Creeping Tar Pit as the main contributors. When a mentor sticked it was always decided. I see on Reddit people suggesting to play 3, I don't think that's a good idea.
Not sure whether to cut the Myths for more permission yet. I don't love the 2 mana counterspells as keeping those up in the turns that matter is hard, but dispel and spell snare are so narrow. Spell pierce might be the way to go but we aren't delver fast so this might become irrelevant pretty quickly. I don't really like remand even though it can be nuts with a mentor out (remand your own spell if need be). Negate or Countersquall (probably too greedy) still seem like cards you need to play to have a fighting chance against some decks. I'm going to test some more on Xmage.
His list was a bit unusual: he didn't run any chalices mainboard and the leylines were in the side as well. I did see one game 2, but it was pretty irrelevant by the time it landed.
I'd second this. Vault + Lingering Souls has helped me stabilize more times than I can count.
@Lueseto - I can't see Moorland Haunt helping out too much with only the ten main deck creatures. Also Im skeptical of raising the creature count, as it makes mentor less powerful.
I prefer thoughtseize/IoK over counterspells in this deck. They work better with both Mentor and Tasigur/Gurmag, as you will always be able to cast them to fill the grave or create monk tokens. And we have a lot of sorcery speed spells and creatures, so we will often not be able to keep countermana up. I have some counters in the sideboard for certain matchups, though.
UWRUWR Delver/Lynx TempoUWR-------UWRUWR Midrange GeistUWR-------UWRUWR Nahiri ControlUWR-------UWRUWR SaheeliUWR
BGRJund / Jund ShadowBGR-------BGWAbzan / Abzan ShadowBGW
Commander (Leviathan/MTGO): UWGeist of Saint TraftUW
Esper Midrange has enjoyed a lot of success since February. It has jumped from a 0% MTGO share to about 1.5% - 2% of the entire online scene. It has also scored a number of paper finishes, particularly in the Japanese scene. Although the deck still has a ways to go before it reaches tier 1 or tier 2 status, it has definitely proven itself as a viable contender in Modern. To keep up its development and honor its finishes, the thread is being bumped up to Developing Competitive where it can hopefully continue its journey to the top.
For more information on the 4/6 forum update, you can check out the post in the Metagame Thread below:
http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/modern/566735-modern-metagame-breakdown-and-discussion-updated-4?comment=424
I've been testing more cantrips (3 Gitaxian Probe, 1 Shadow of Doubt) over the permission (2 Remand, 2 Spell Snare), honestly cant even tell that the permission is gone. Rarely do I want to play on my opponents turn with monk out, as the tempo loss from prowess hurts. I think I'd rather just maximize my value and swing. I've seen people playing Fulminator Mages, what about Spreading Seas in the board?
Main
-1 Disfigure
-1 Inquisition of kozilek
-4 Creeping Tar pit
+1 Zealous Persecution
+1 Azorious charm
+1 Plains
+3 Mutavault
Sideboard
-1 Curse of Death's Hold
-2 Negate
-2 Timely Reinforcements
+1 Disfigure
+2 Apetite for brains
+2 Circle of Protection: Red
Round 1
GW hatebears (2-1)
Games 1 and 3 were a bit grindy, but he had no answer for mentor and tasigur which eventually won the game. Game 2 he played three leonin arbiters and proceeded to ghost quarter all my lands. Timely and Apetite for brains were good here, game 3 I had the please of curving timely into sorin, my opponent exhausted all his resources taking down the sorin which allowed for tasigur and mentor to take over.
Round 2
Junk midrange (2-0)
Have tested this match up a lot and many times it feels like whoever gets the most out of their lingering souls wins. Mutavault shined here as a way to either protect tasigur/mentor from liliana edict or to allow you to kill a lily + cast a spell. This is a match zealous persecution has a chance to shine. G3 had an interesting moment where my opponent inquisitioned me discarded one of my two mentors and cast an explosives for 3, I killed him w/ souls tokens and snapcaster eventually.
Round 3
Affinity (2-1)
Fairly straightforward and boring match, I drew little interaction G1, then all of it game 2. Game 3 I curved discard into stony silence into menToR and made quick work of my opponent.
Round 4
Burn (0-2)
Game one my opponent had a fast swiftspear start back up by a turn 4 chandra which kept my tokens in check. Game 3 my opponent had 3 figures of destiny in play turn 2 and I was never able to stabilize. Saw no sideboard cards game 2.
Overall I loved the deck and it played very smoothly and the colorless mana of the mutavaults was never an issue.
I put the CoP:red and Apetite for brains in the sideboard since skred rer, Tron, and griselbrand reanimator are popular in my meta. The Azorious charm was a bit of a hedge against burn and a weird love I have for the card.
4 Monastery Mentor
4 Snapcaster Mage
2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
Instant/Sorcery 27
1 Disfigure
1 Murderous Cut
4 Path to Exile
2 Quicken
2 Slaughter Pact
4 Thought Scour
1 Zealous Persecution
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Lingering Souls
2 Serum Visions
3 Thoughtseize
3 Creeping Tar Pit
4 Flooded Strand
3 Island
1 Marsh Flats
1 Plains
4 Polluted Delta
1 Swamp
2 Godless Shrine
1 Watery Grave
2 Stony Silence
2 Celestial Purge
2 Disenchant
1 Flashfreeze
3 Negate
1 Zealous Persecution
1 Thoughtseize
3 Timely Reinforcements
It's done pretty well. The games I've lost, I felt that I mostly had a pretty good shot at winning. There have been some burn matches that I just get rolled over, and I have had some land issues as well, either too many or too few. I'm pretty high on quicken. It has been pretty solid for the most part. I often get too greedy with it by holding it up to get value out of casting a sorcery at instant speed, but I need to just cantrip it someimes. I've been skeptical of Thought Scour in the past, but having played the deck a bit more (and finally buying 2 snaps to get a full set online) I am much more high on the card. Turn 2 Tasigur is sweet. The flex cards I have are serum visions and slaughter pact. I like both cards, but I've played a fair bit of junk, and think shaving down to a single slaughter pact would be better, and if I cut the serum visions then the value of quicken goes down a bit. I'm looking for some advice on what to fill in those spots. I had remand in there, but I wasn't crazy, but it could make a come back. I like having permission, but have felt that I want to be far more proactive game 1.
@ Mrs. Whittlebury:
Love seeing CoP in there. How has it worked out for you? I see the 0-2 from burn, but I feel like burn boils down to "draw specific cards or die"
Edit: Another joy of Thought Scour: It feels really good to see someone scry to the top with Serum Vision, and then you scour them
Legacy: UW RiP/Helm, UR Sneak and Show
4 Monastery Mentor
4 Snapcaster Mage
3 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
Instant/Sorcery 23
2 Murderous Cut
4 Path to Exile
1 Slaughter Pact
4 Thought Scour
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Lingering Souls
2 Serum Visions
2 Thoughtseize
1 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
Enchantments 3
3 Myth Realized
Lands 22
2 Creeping Tar Pit
4 Flooded Strand
2 Island
1 Marsh Flats
2 Plains
4 Polluted Delta
1 Swamp
2 Godless Shrine
1 Watery Grave
2 Hallowed Fountain
1 Darkslick Shores
1 Seachrome Coast
3 matches so far, grixis delver twice (that deck is really popular) and skred red. Dropped 1 game to a tasigur I just didn't have an answer for. Won all the rest. Won 4 games on the back of a big Myth. These decks have a lot of trouble with 4+ toughness creatures. Grixis has Terminate but I can drop more big threats quickly then they can draw them. Adding a third Tasigur has been great so far. You're really just chaining must-answer threats untill they crack.
I love Geist but I'm not sure this is the right shell for him. Geist really wants to be in a fast tempo deck with some burn to either clear blockers out of the way or to help with reach, since sometimes Geist just hits for 4 with the angel and dies. We're more grindy and long game oriented with stuff like Mentor and Tasigur.
Gonna try 3x Myth Realized for a bit to get a feel on the card. It seems like it would be great against the blue red decks that only have burn for removal since you can just wait for it to get huge and then use it to break the game open. Feels like it would be bad against BGx since abrupt decay can always just kill it but whatever, it'll be an easy card to sideboard out then I guess.
Myth Realized does die to Abrupt Decay for no value, but Monastery Mentor typically makes one Monk and dies when it goes up against Decay. I wouldn't board out MR against BGx because boarding it out makes your Mentors worse.
4 Monastery Mentor
4 Snapcaster Mage
2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
Spells (26)
4 Path to Exile
4 Lingering Souls
4 Thought Scour
4 Anticipate
1 Spell Snare
2 Mana Leak
1 Slaughter Pact
4 Inquistion of Kozilek
1 Thoughtseize
1 Murderous Cut
1 Narset Transcendent
Lands (23)
4 Creeping Tarpit
4 Flooded Strand
1 Godless Shrine
1 Hallowed Fountain
2 Island
1 Marsh Flats
1 Plains
4 Polluted Delta
1 Seachrome Coast
1 Swamp
1 Vault of the Archangel
2 Watery Grave
1 Celestial Purge
1 Disenchant
2 Timely Reinforcements
2 Stony Silence
1 Dispel
1 Flashfreeze
1 Deathmark
1 Thoughtseize
1 Curse of Death's Hold
1 Zealous Persecution
2 Countersquall
1 Batterskull
So I want to talk about a few things here and hear you advice on them.
1. I like to have ways to dig for cards.
That's what sets Blue decks apart from others. BG/x has no way to do that but they also don't need to because their cards are all very powerful on their own. We don't have quite that luxury so I prefer some way to find threats, answers and sideboard cards.
That being said I did throw in the 4 Anticipate solely for testing purposes. Im currently unsure about the numbers of them and if they shouldn't be replaced by Serum Visions since it's cheaper.
I just like that Anticipate is instant-speed and later in the game you get to cast the cards that you found right away and don't have to wait around for another turn. Could be the difference between life and death. Especially when searching for removal.
2. The permission spells in the main.
I currently have only 3 of them in the main and Im thinking about if they should be cut entirely. Obviously some things need to be interacted with on the stack and discard can only get you so far and doesn't protect against topdecks so I like it for that. But they don't play that well with Mentor and Narset for that matter so maybe I should keep the permission in the sideboard for matchups where it's really needed.
3. Myth Realized
I currently don't play them but I would like to actually. Im just not sure what to cut for them. Point 1 and 2 would be helpful in this I think.
And lastly as a Liliana fanboy I have to ask if somebody tested Liliana of the Veil in this deck yet?