BRGMy Deck(Modern): Bolts'n'Burns WMy other, WIP casual deck: Zero to Hero
Protection from Will-O'-the-Wisps, Ali-from-Cairos, and Uncle-Istvans
Legendary snow landwalk
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On the reserved list: Wizards won't remove it. Only we can. In other words: Play Modern, Pauper, or No-RL Eternal.
It seems like a weaker, less resiliant version of the Shape Anew decks. Also, Mishra's Bauble also seems a bit of a non-bo with Madcap Experiment and Gifts doesn't seem to do what the deck needs. Lets compare-
You need to resolve and protect both the Soulfire Grandmaster, and protect the Blightsteel Colossus once you resolve the Experiment. I've got 10 cards I can use to create combo targets, and 6 of them are good enough on their own to be included in a deck. I've got outs if I draw my Blightsteel. I don't strictly need the combo to win. I've got interaction should I need it, and should I lose the combo card, I can just Snapcaster it back. I've also got the Turn 4 win should I need it.
I don't think that using Madcap Experiment to cheat out a Blightsteel is a strong way to win off of that play, but if you are going to try and make it work here are some tips:
-Only include one artifact in your deck, your Blightsteel Colossus or Platinum Emperion.
-Soulfire Grandmaster is nice to have as a plan B, but you should probably have something harder to interact with like Angel's Grace or Intervention Pact as your plan A.
-Peer through the Depths is your friend even moreso than a traditional Shape Anew list, since the key combo pieces are sorceries and instants.
-Quicken might be worth considering, as a way to combo off at instant speed.
-Because your build is so all in on the combo, I would recommend something like Apostle's Blessing or Veil of Secrecy.
I was rocking a madcap intervention pact/hallow and fast mana/dig spells. It was an efficient turn 3-4 pop off but I was working with aetherflux reservoir. It unfortunately wasn't a consistent kill and even gaining up to 40 life wasn't good enough against a lot of modern decks. My thought was I could luck into a kill or cast enough spells the turn after to get above 50 but it wasn't working out for me. Especially against burn (moderns truest limiter, which is sad but that's another conversation).
Grandmaster and forgetender negate the experiment (which could be further dealt w/ by playing either of the platinum twins, but I like the idea of a turn 4 blightsteel)Reckoner, earthquake and all the burn help us survive long enough to get our combo (and act as a plan B) and looting digs for combo pieces/removal while also allowing us to pitch a drawn blightsteel back into our deck. Since our curve tops out at 4 and we are not a control deck in the go long sense I think 22 lands should be plenty. What do you guys think?
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My Decks:
UG Merfolk RG 8-Whack BWG Abzan midrange GRB Living End UWB Spirit Control
GU Kruphix's "Hug Assassin" RW Kalemne's "Play Fatties and Hope for the Best!" BUGW Atraxa's "All counters, all the time"
You can also add some Goblin Dark-Dwellers to the top-end to replay removal/burn spells or add the Nahiri+Emrakul package.
I would also add some Wall of Omens to survive the early game and draw cards.
I would see black as the 3rd colour, over blue. Discarding our opponent's Path to Exile or Mana Leak before we try to combo off seems pretty important. This way we only need 4 mana and hope that our opponent's last topdeck wasn't an answer to the combo, or a way to kill us because of the life loss. Liliana of the Veil and Collective Brutality are also interesting at discarding our own Blightsteel Colossus.
Black also gives us maindeckable hate for Ensnaring Bridge (aka Kolaghan's Command), and potential infect threats (Plague Stinger, Phyrexian Crusader). But that's a big stretch for now, even though it offers a pretty insane angle of deck building.
One other thing to consider is red might be the splashed colour in a BW shell, or a UW shell for those intrested.
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Pioneer - A bunch of stuff Modern - Humans Legacy - Grixis Phoenix / Death & Taxes
Here's a quick list I put up, no blightsteel since the emperion can counter the downside to madcap ex. Anyone know a way we can expand in this direction?
I was thinking of going to a more control-like build, in Grixis colors. I like Grixis because of the discard available. That discard can be used to set up and make sure that Madcap Experiment resolves, remove any removal for Emperion, and helps slow down more aggressive opponents while setting up for the Experiment. I also like Snapcaster and Vendilion Clique. Snapcaster seems like a no-brainer, but Clique can be used as another threat, help control the opp's hand before the Experiment, and can even be used to tuck the Emperion back into the deck if it's drawn.
Desolate Lighthouse seems like it belongs as well, so that we can ditch extra Experiments drawn after we've already got Emperion out.
The main concerns for the deck are decks that have access to artifact removal. Emperion essentially acts like Lantern Control's Ensnaring Bridge. Once it hits play, and stays in play, we win. We could just run 1 Emperion, but 2 allows us to still Experiment if we draw one, and allows us to get two into play if need be. I'm sure that it might be noticed that the manabase doesn't have much for fetches/shocks. That's because Emperion turns them off, so the fetches become dead cards and shocklands become taplands.
I included Keranos so that, post-Experiment, we can be sure to keep drawing business and put pressure on the opp while they are trying to answer Emperion (if they can). Even if they do find an answer, we should be ahead on the tempo-war.
The sideboard is aimed at answering the few threats that we really need to worry about if we get Emperion into play. Pyroclasm and Staticaster helps stop super aggressive decks until we get our Experiment. Rejection helps against Tron, Affinity, Grafdigger's Cage, and Lantern Control. Vandalblast helps against Affinity and Lantern Control. Platinum Angel helps stop Ad Nauseum, and helps against decks that might have some other secondary win condition. Mostly Ad Nauseum, though. Kolaghan's Command is for matchups like Burn, Affinity, and Lantern Control. Dispel and Remand are there to stay alive until Experiment, and then keep Emperion around long enough to get a good tempo swing while the opp is dealing with Emperion.
I have three Clique in the main because it's important to get as much damage in as possible while the opp is trying to deal with Emperion, and helps ensure that Experiment does happen. It's also great for tucking an Emperion to draw business and turning on Keranos.
The only cards we should be concerned with countering in the beginning are things like Liliana, discard, and removal for Emperion. Everything else should be okay. Thankfully, our discard also helps with that, so the discard is to set up, then Experiment, then use the counters to keep Emperion out for as long as possible while we put on a clock.
Could probably use some tweaking, but this is how I would start...if I could afford Cryptic Commands/Vendilion Clique/Snapcaster Mage
EDIT: Replaced Platinum Angel with Surgical Extraction. I realized that Surgical Extraction has more applications than Angel, as it can be used against Tron as well as Ad Nauseum, among other combo decks. However, if Infect, Affinity, and Ad Nauseum are big in your meta, I'd probably go with the Angel.
Not yet, just saw this thread and posted my opinion. I found the thread because of a conversation in the IRC channel, and I'd realized that I'd played against this deck with Lantern Control. I didn't play against the version I suggest above, but what appears to be a version of the OP's list.
EDIT: Was out mowing the lawn brainstorming, and I'd talked with some people in the channel and got some feedback from the Lantern thread. Consensus is that many decks will side heavily to stop the combo. This led me to thinking that it could be entirely viable to just side out the Emperions and Experiments entirely. This essentially turns us into Grixis Control (if you go with my build), and gives the opp dead cards that they may even try to mulligan into. Just a thought
What's the benefit of using Platinum Emperion over Platinum Angel? Is it just that the Emperion is more bolt-proof than the Angel? Or that even if the Emperion is removed, you're still at the same life total you were at before?
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What's the benefit of using Platinum Emperion over Platinum Angel? Is it just that the Emperion is more bolt-proof than the Angel? Or that even if the Emperion is removed, you're still at the same life total you were at before?
Correct: if Emperion dies, you're not at negative life, and decks like Jund will kill whatever you cheat in all the time.
The Emperion (and Angel) being vulnerable to artifact removal makes tapping out for the combo rather risky and stalling the game longer to have counter backup is not always easy against aggressive decks that try to kill you quickly.
After testing on cockatrice for some games I decided to cut: Stubborn Denial and Temur Battle Rage and added more removal and counterspells to the mainboard.
Here is the deck, is a kind of U/R Control deck with a combo finish:
Dies to fish, infect, death shadow, bant eldrazi, jund, jeskai, dredge, affinity and abzan.
And that's just the t1 decks.
This looks like a control list from several years ago.
If you want to fit it into a u/r shell, put it into blue moon. But blue moon allready fails in the current meta.
I would suggest at least jeskai (to have access to path) and a rework on your control suit.
You'll need at least snare, as it's the no1 modern counterspell, but even if you include snare be aware,
that counters are incredible bad in the current meta. You have 2 t1 decks that run caverns, abzan with lingering souls
and affinity, infect, burn and death shadow who hardly care about counterspells.
And in the control mirrors decks like grixis have the stronger cards (manlands, anger, collonade, av)
What should I cut for 2x Spell Snare, 1x Mana Leak and 1x Cryptic Command ?
I already pack quite a few removal spells in the maindeck with: 2x Anger, 4x L.Bolt, 2x F.Slash and 2x Izzet.C so it should help with the aggresive decks and there is even more in the SB and Snapcaster to reuse them.
I don't think that PtE is that necessary here to splash White.
Also, is adding Academy Ruins (to bring back a destroyed Golem) a good idea ?
Maybe I need to add Vendilion Clique as another way to close the game or disrupt combo decks or get rid of a Platinum Emperion that gets stuck in hand. Jace, Vryn's Prodigy also seems to fit the deck as more ways to reuse spells and stall.
you might be on to something with a list like that. You might need more rituals though.
if you splashed green for heartbeat of spring instead of rituals you can then turn 4 cast hive mind.
green mana ramp doesn't have to be heartbeat, but basically with it you can be at 3 lands and cast what everything in the deck.
Heartbeat makes Hivemind+Pact obsolete. With only 2 different Pacts there will be a fair amount of decks that will have no problem to pay them. The other half will likely control/kill you before. Madcap Experiment needs a solid deck to be based on, not an all in concept.
got a point there.
All the same though, Green ramp effects are really the only way to speed into 6 mana, Since Madcap makes it impossible to run artifact mana ramp. rituals will be just too flimsy.
1. See Beyond and Burst lightning are not playable in modern.
They most certainly are. See Beyond was printed in Rise of the Eldrazi and Burst Lightning is from Zendikar.
You missunderstood me there ;), I didn't mean to talk about legality, but in terms of power level both cards are unplayable.
If you want a second cantrip use ether thought scour (fuils jace) Or sleight of hand (most efficient cantrips), or anticipate
if you need something @instant speed.
Burst Lightning might not belong in this deck but See Beyond does and is great at exactly what you want it to do. So that would make it very playable. Just because a card doesn't slot into the only decks you've heard of (netdecks) doesn't mean it's bad. Norin the Wary is like the most "unplayable" card ever but is played because he works with certain other cards.
I would think we'd want to be on ramp effects that thin the land out of the deck to optimize the draws since we dig for combo pieces.
nothing that says it wouldn't work.
so 8 cards that turn off madcap's possible "kill you"
wincons we can go back and forth on this in this thread for sometime.
blightsteel colossus - needs more cards for combo dedication, body has some built in protection, has trample, can end games quickly! platinum emperion - requires less cards for combo dedication, doesn't have trample, body has no built in protection other than its 8/8 size, ends the game on a slow clock pending game situation. platinum angel - requires less card for combo dedication, may leave you at negative life, 4/4 body may be vulnerable, has flying, slow game ending clock.
This deck is an odd combination of all-in and not all-in--I play 8 ways to cheat out Emperion and am therefore forced to maindeck 3 Emperions, and loads of the maindeck creatures were selected primarily to support Emperion, but the deck's actually been decent in match-ups where one or even two Emperions can't save me, such as Infect, Scapeshift, some Ad Nauseam, and Jund.
While built to only consistently cheat out 2 Emperions per game, I've had several games where I played 3 Emperions in the same game (often at least one was hardcast).
In pre-board testing so far, I've been creaming Bant Eldrazi and Merfolk, and the combo match-ups are surprisingly good. The Affinity and Burn match-ups are also pretty good, and Infect generally flops after I resolve one removal spell (which leads to chaining removal spells and jamming Whirler Rogue in front of their stuff). Suicide Zoo is fast and bulky enough to be one of the more troublesome aggro decks (although they can't beat a resolved Emperion pre-board), and Dredge has a frighteningly consistent clock (as long as I stick two Emperions or an Emperion and a Glen Elendra Archmage, I win, but they usually kill a lone Emperion with Conflagrate and alpha strike for lethal in the same turn). The RG Tron match-up is more even than you'd think pre-board. The Jund match-up is close to even with this configuration (although this deck hates Gonti, Lord of Luxury). I need more testing with the Melira Company match-up because I have a feeling both decks are misplaying in this match-up right now. This deck is in fairly big trouble against UWR Nahiri.
4 Soulfire Grand Master
1 Blightsteel Colossus
4 Gifts Ungiven
3 Lightning Bolt
4 Street Wraith
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Steam Vents
4 Sacred Foundry
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Arid Mesa
What do you think?
WMy other, WIP casual deck: Zero to Hero
Protection from Will-O'-the-Wisps, Ali-from-Cairos, and Uncle-Istvans
Legendary snow landwalk
---------------------------------------
On the reserved list: Wizards won't remove it. Only we can. In other words: Play Modern, Pauper, or No-RL Eternal.
20 lands
4 Inkmoth Nexus
1 Desolate Lighthouse
Creatures 10
3 Snapcaster Mage
4 Thopter Engineer
2 Pia and Kiran Nalaar
1 Blightsteel Colossus
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Serum Visions
2 Dispel
2 Spell Snare
2 Vapor Snag
2 Peer through the Depths
3 Logic Knot
2 Izzet Charm
4 Shape Anew
You need to resolve and protect both the Soulfire Grandmaster, and protect the Blightsteel Colossus once you resolve the Experiment. I've got 10 cards I can use to create combo targets, and 6 of them are good enough on their own to be included in a deck. I've got outs if I draw my Blightsteel. I don't strictly need the combo to win. I've got interaction should I need it, and should I lose the combo card, I can just Snapcaster it back. I've also got the Turn 4 win should I need it.
I don't think that using Madcap Experiment to cheat out a Blightsteel is a strong way to win off of that play, but if you are going to try and make it work here are some tips:
-Only include one artifact in your deck, your Blightsteel Colossus or Platinum Emperion.
-Soulfire Grandmaster is nice to have as a plan B, but you should probably have something harder to interact with like Angel's Grace or Intervention Pact as your plan A.
-Peer through the Depths is your friend even moreso than a traditional Shape Anew list, since the key combo pieces are sorceries and instants.
-Quicken might be worth considering, as a way to combo off at instant speed.
-Because your build is so all in on the combo, I would recommend something like Apostle's Blessing or Veil of Secrecy.
4 Lightning Helix
4 Soulfire Grandmaster
4 Burrenton Forge tender
4 Boros Reckoner
3 Earthquake
4 Madcap Experiment
1 Blightsteel Colossus
3 path to exile
3 Apostle’s Blessing
4 Faithless Looting
4 Sacred Foundry
4 Arid Mesa
2 Needle Spire
3 Mountain
3 Plains
2 Ghost Quarter
Grandmaster and forgetender negate the experiment (which could be further dealt w/ by playing either of the platinum twins, but I like the idea of a turn 4 blightsteel)Reckoner, earthquake and all the burn help us survive long enough to get our combo (and act as a plan B) and looting digs for combo pieces/removal while also allowing us to pitch a drawn blightsteel back into our deck. Since our curve tops out at 4 and we are not a control deck in the go long sense I think 22 lands should be plenty. What do you guys think?
RG 8-Whack
BWG Abzan midrange
GRB Living End
UWB Spirit Control
GU Kruphix's "Hug Assassin"
RW Kalemne's "Play Fatties and Hope for the Best!"
BUGW Atraxa's "All counters, all the time"
It seems pretty good.
Maybe Blasphemous Act can be used over Earthquake as a sweeper/alternate win-con, 3x will probably be too much but 1-2x is probably fine.
Another option to use to negate the the damage from Madcap Experiment can be Pariah which will also remove a creature while resolving a Blightsteel Colossus.
You can also add some Goblin Dark-Dwellers to the top-end to replay removal/burn spells or add the Nahiri+Emrakul package.
I would also add some Wall of Omens to survive the early game and draw cards.
Black also gives us maindeckable hate for Ensnaring Bridge (aka Kolaghan's Command), and potential infect threats (Plague Stinger, Phyrexian Crusader). But that's a big stretch for now, even though it offers a pretty insane angle of deck building.
One other thing to consider is red might be the splashed colour in a BW shell, or a UW shell for those intrested.
UR Niv-Mizzet, The Firemind
WUR Narset's Coinflip Casino
Modern
UB Mill
2x Platinum emperion
4x serum visions
4x Remand
4x Gitaxian Probe
2x Not of this world
4x wooded foothills
4x steam vents
4x Island
4x mountain
UR Niv-Mizzet, The Firemind
WUR Narset's Coinflip Casino
Modern
UB Mill
Snapcaster Mage seems like an obvious inclusion as well and maybe Peer through Depths as well.
Maybe use Temur Battle Rage/Distortion Strike as the win-con with the Golem (or Slip through Space over Gitaxian Probe) ?
You would probably want Lightning Bolt and Anger of the Gods to deal with creatures.
4x Scalding Tarn
2x Flooded Strand
1x Bloodstained Mire
4x Steam Vents
4x Spirebluff Canal
2x Sulfur Falls
3x Island
2x Mountain
1x Wandering Fumarole
1x Desolate Lighthouse
2x Platinum Emperion
4x Snapcaster Mage
Instant (20)
2x Cryptic Command
2x Izzet Charm
4x Lightning Bolt
2x Mana Leak
2x Peer Through Depths
4x Remand
2x Stubborn Denial
2x Temur Battle Rage
2x Anger of the Gods
4x Madcap Experiment
4x Serum Visions
Not sure sure whether the top end should be Cryptic Command or Goblin Dark-Dwellers.
Desolate Lighthouse seems like it belongs as well, so that we can ditch extra Experiments drawn after we've already got Emperion out.
Here's the list I'd probably test:
4 Serum Visions
4 Madcap Experiment
3 Thoughtseize
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 See Beyond
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Cryptic Command
1 Dispel
Creatures (12):
3 Vendilion Clique
4 Snapcaster Mage
2 Platinum Emperion
2 Goblin Dark-Dwellers
1 Keranos, God of Storms
Land (24):
2 Desolate Lighthouse
1 Sulfur Falls
1 Drowned Catacomb
1 Dragonskull Summit
1 Blackcleave Cliffs
1 Polluted Delta
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Spirebluff Canal
2 Creeping Tar Pit
3 Darkslick Shores
2 Steam Vents
2 Watery Grave
1 Swamp
1 Mountain
2 Island
1 Blood Crypt
1 Pyroclasm
2 Dispel
1 Izzet Staticaster
2 Kolaghan's Command
3 Ceremonius Rejection
2 Vandalblast
2 Remand
2 Surgical Extraction
The main concerns for the deck are decks that have access to artifact removal. Emperion essentially acts like Lantern Control's Ensnaring Bridge. Once it hits play, and stays in play, we win. We could just run 1 Emperion, but 2 allows us to still Experiment if we draw one, and allows us to get two into play if need be. I'm sure that it might be noticed that the manabase doesn't have much for fetches/shocks. That's because Emperion turns them off, so the fetches become dead cards and shocklands become taplands.
I included Keranos so that, post-Experiment, we can be sure to keep drawing business and put pressure on the opp while they are trying to answer Emperion (if they can). Even if they do find an answer, we should be ahead on the tempo-war.
The sideboard is aimed at answering the few threats that we really need to worry about if we get Emperion into play. Pyroclasm and Staticaster helps stop super aggressive decks until we get our Experiment. Rejection helps against Tron, Affinity, Grafdigger's Cage, and Lantern Control. Vandalblast helps against Affinity and Lantern Control. Platinum Angel helps stop Ad Nauseum, and helps against decks that might have some other secondary win condition. Mostly Ad Nauseum, though. Kolaghan's Command is for matchups like Burn, Affinity, and Lantern Control. Dispel and Remand are there to stay alive until Experiment, and then keep Emperion around long enough to get a good tempo swing while the opp is dealing with Emperion.
I have three Clique in the main because it's important to get as much damage in as possible while the opp is trying to deal with Emperion, and helps ensure that Experiment does happen. It's also great for tucking an Emperion to draw business and turning on Keranos.
The only cards we should be concerned with countering in the beginning are things like Liliana, discard, and removal for Emperion. Everything else should be okay. Thankfully, our discard also helps with that, so the discard is to set up, then Experiment, then use the counters to keep Emperion out for as long as possible while we put on a clock.
Could probably use some tweaking, but this is how I would start...if I could afford Cryptic Commands/Vendilion Clique/Snapcaster Mage
EDIT: Replaced Platinum Angel with Surgical Extraction. I realized that Surgical Extraction has more applications than Angel, as it can be used against Tron as well as Ad Nauseum, among other combo decks. However, if Infect, Affinity, and Ad Nauseum are big in your meta, I'd probably go with the Angel.
Lantern Control
(with videos)
Uc Tron
Netdecking explained
Netdecking explained, Part 2
On speculators and counterfeits
On Interaction
Every single competitive deck in existence is designed to limit the opponent's ability to interact in a meaningful way.
Record number of exclamation points on SCG homepage: 71 (6 January, 2018)
"I don't want to believe, I want to know."
-Carl Sagan
EDIT: Was out mowing the lawn brainstorming, and I'd talked with some people in the channel and got some feedback from the Lantern thread. Consensus is that many decks will side heavily to stop the combo. This led me to thinking that it could be entirely viable to just side out the Emperions and Experiments entirely. This essentially turns us into Grixis Control (if you go with my build), and gives the opp dead cards that they may even try to mulligan into. Just a thought
Lantern Control
(with videos)
Uc Tron
Netdecking explained
Netdecking explained, Part 2
On speculators and counterfeits
On Interaction
Every single competitive deck in existence is designed to limit the opponent's ability to interact in a meaningful way.
Record number of exclamation points on SCG homepage: 71 (6 January, 2018)
"I don't want to believe, I want to know."
-Carl Sagan
MODERN – LANTERN (aka Fateseal or Barbershop)
Primer – Subreddit – Facebook – Decklist – Gameplay
Thnkr's Content: Gameplay – Datasheet
Each eye sees a different possibility for tomorrow.
CWUBBCCCCCCCBGBGBGCCCCCCCGGURC
Correct: if Emperion dies, you're not at negative life, and decks like Jund will kill whatever you cheat in all the time.
Emperion having 8 power instead of 4 also helps.
After testing on cockatrice for some games I decided to cut: Stubborn Denial and Temur Battle Rage and added more removal and counterspells to the mainboard.
Here is the deck, is a kind of U/R Control deck with a combo finish:
4x Scalding Tarn
2x Flooded Strand
4x Steam Vents
4x Spirebluff Canal
2x Sulfur Falls
3x Island
2x Mountain
1x Wandering Fumarole
1x Desolate Lighthouse
Creature (6)
2x Platinum Emperion
4x Snapcaster Mage
3x Cryptic Command
2x Izzet Charm
4x Lightning Bolt
4x Mana Leak
2x Peer Through Depths
4x Remand
Sorcery (10)
2x Flame Slash
2x Anger of the Gods
4x Madcap Experiment
4x Serum Visions
3x Goblin Dark-Dwellers
1x Pia and Kiran Nalaar
1x Keranos, God of Storms
2x Spell Snare
1x Anger of the Gods
1x Pyroclasm
1x Electrolyze
2x Negate
2x Sudden Shock
1x Grim Lavamancer
What do you think ?
you can run red white lock down and play Nahiri, the harbinger as the back up kill condition.
madcap grixis, platinum emperion just looks like really bad grixis!
What should I cut for 2x Spell Snare, 1x Mana Leak and 1x Cryptic Command ?
I already pack quite a few removal spells in the maindeck with: 2x Anger, 4x L.Bolt, 2x F.Slash and 2x Izzet.C so it should help with the aggresive decks and there is even more in the SB and Snapcaster to reuse them.
I don't think that PtE is that necessary here to splash White.
Also, is adding Academy Ruins (to bring back a destroyed Golem) a good idea ?
Maybe I need to add Vendilion Clique as another way to close the game or disrupt combo decks or get rid of a Platinum Emperion that gets stuck in hand.
Jace, Vryn's Prodigy also seems to fit the deck as more ways to reuse spells and stall.
How would you build the deck ?
is just a 4 mana: shuffle everything, draw 7 , 20 life?
the opponent can interact?
What kind of setup cards (for Jace) do you mean ? Thought Scour ? (only Grixis seem to play it)
I also think that Burst Lightning is a bad card but surprisingly enough some recent "Blue Moon" and "UR Kiki" decks play it:
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/archetype/modern-ur-28852
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/467160
http://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=13566&d=279835
http://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=13473&d=279210
http://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=13235&d=277618
you might be on to something with a list like that. You might need more rituals though.
if you splashed green for heartbeat of spring instead of rituals you can then turn 4 cast hive mind.
green mana ramp doesn't have to be heartbeat, but basically with it you can be at 3 lands and cast what everything in the deck.
They most certainly are. See Beyond was printed in Rise of the Eldrazi and Burst Lightning is from Zendikar.
got a point there.
All the same though, Green ramp effects are really the only way to speed into 6 mana, Since Madcap makes it impossible to run artifact mana ramp. rituals will be just too flimsy.
4 sakura-tribe elder
3 platinum angel
4 hive mind
4 madcap experiment
4 intervention pact
4 serum visions
4 peer through depths
2 gitaxian probe
20 land fetches/shocks/basics
Burst Lightning might not belong in this deck but See Beyond does and is great at exactly what you want it to do. So that would make it very playable. Just because a card doesn't slot into the only decks you've heard of (netdecks) doesn't mean it's bad. Norin the Wary is like the most "unplayable" card ever but is played because he works with certain other cards.
I would think we'd want to be on ramp effects that thin the land out of the deck to optimize the draws since we dig for combo pieces.
nothing that says it wouldn't work.
trying to figure out how to squeeze angel's grace into the list. I'd still like to put a blightsteel colossus in here some how.
another piece floating around is Congregation at Dawn.
end of turn 3, cast congregation, turn 4 play madcap for minimal life loss!
----------------------
put together a random shell of the deck, without hive mind, really felt like the deck needed hive mind in certain match ups.
In the random pile I made I ran pieces of the puzzle, it dug very nicely, accumulating both madcap experiment and intervention pact in multiple games.
some random cards I put in to go with the pacts and allow ME to work were, worship, phyrexian unlife my basic combo set up was:
2 blightsteel colossus
4 madcap experiment
4 intervention pact
2 worship
2 [c]phyrexian unlife[c]
so 8 cards that turn off madcap's possible "kill you"
wincons we can go back and forth on this in this thread for sometime.
blightsteel colossus - needs more cards for combo dedication, body has some built in protection, has trample, can end games quickly!
platinum emperion - requires less cards for combo dedication, doesn't have trample, body has no built in protection other than its 8/8 size, ends the game on a slow clock pending game situation.
platinum angel - requires less card for combo dedication, may leave you at negative life, 4/4 body may be vulnerable, has flying, slow game ending clock.
2 Botanical Sanctum
1 Flooded Grove
1 Grove of the Burnwillows
1 Lumbering Falls
1 Gavony Township
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Windswept Heath
3 Wooded Foothills
1 Temple Garden
1 Stomping Ground
1 Breeding Pool
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Steam Vents
1 Forest
1 Plains
1 Island
1 Mountain
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Noble Hierarch
2 Sylvan Caryatid
3 Platinum Emperion
3 Vendilion Clique
1 Scavenging Ooze
2 Eternal Witness
1 Glen Elendra Archmage
2 Whirler Rogue
1 Qasali Pridemage
Spells
4 Madcap Experiment
4 Bring to Light
2 See Beyond
2 Path to Exile
1 Lightning Bolt
1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
1 Eidolon of Rhetoric
1 Keranos, God of Storms
1 Selfless Spirit
1 Obstinate Baloth
1 Izzet Staticaster
1 Melira, Sylvok Outcast
1 Loaming Shaman
1 Crumble to Dust
1 Fiery Justice
1 Slaughter Games
1 Shatterstorm
1 Nature's Claim
1 Stony Silence
1 Negate
I have further details in http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/modern/deck-creation-modern/757479-8-madcap-emperions.
This deck is an odd combination of all-in and not all-in--I play 8 ways to cheat out Emperion and am therefore forced to maindeck 3 Emperions, and loads of the maindeck creatures were selected primarily to support Emperion, but the deck's actually been decent in match-ups where one or even two Emperions can't save me, such as Infect, Scapeshift, some Ad Nauseam, and Jund.
While built to only consistently cheat out 2 Emperions per game, I've had several games where I played 3 Emperions in the same game (often at least one was hardcast).
In pre-board testing so far, I've been creaming Bant Eldrazi and Merfolk, and the combo match-ups are surprisingly good. The Affinity and Burn match-ups are also pretty good, and Infect generally flops after I resolve one removal spell (which leads to chaining removal spells and jamming Whirler Rogue in front of their stuff). Suicide Zoo is fast and bulky enough to be one of the more troublesome aggro decks (although they can't beat a resolved Emperion pre-board), and Dredge has a frighteningly consistent clock (as long as I stick two Emperions or an Emperion and a Glen Elendra Archmage, I win, but they usually kill a lone Emperion with Conflagrate and alpha strike for lethal in the same turn). The RG Tron match-up is more even than you'd think pre-board. The Jund match-up is close to even with this configuration (although this deck hates Gonti, Lord of Luxury). I need more testing with the Melira Company match-up because I have a feeling both decks are misplaying in this match-up right now. This deck is in fairly big trouble against UWR Nahiri.