The changes I have from your list are the following:
-1 Thoughtseize/ +1 Inquisition
My meta is full of burn, where the life loss from TS combined with a low average CMC mean that IoK is better. I still have 2 more TS in the side that I board in for big mana decks.
-1 Fatal Push/ +1 Anguished Unmaking
I still carry 3 Fatal Push, but I find an all-purpose answer to be very useful in the main, too. The fact that it exiles instead of destroys (without giving free ramp) is also relevant vs multiple decks.
-1 Esper Charm/ +1 Blessed Alliance
Both provide modal utility, but having extra access to MB lifegain combined with removal proved to be useful. I have a second copy in the side that comes in vs burn and boggles.
-1 Elspeth/ +1 Gideon, AOZ
Both make tokens, but I feel Gideon is stronger in this shell thanks to his emblem anthem. Elspeth has Jump, but this deck seems to go wide rather than tall.
-1 Lingering Souls/ +1 Timely Reinforcements
This deck takes a few turns to get online, which means the ability to stabilize is vital. Timely adds lifegain to the deck, while still providing tokens. 4 Souls can get extremely cloggy (at least in my testing.
-1 Supreme Verdict -1 Land/ +2 Monastery Mentor
Mentor is another token producer that can get out of hand extremely quickly. The deck runs 9 1-CMC spells, which means that mentor easily produces tokens. Mentor also proccs off of Narset's rebound, which adds to the overall damage. In return, I dropped a verdict (since the deck is now slightly more creature-oriented) and the 24th land (Since the deck runs at a slightly lower curve in this configuration).
As to my land variations:
-1 Darkslick Shores -2 Ghost Quarter/ +2 Celestial Colonnade
The second Darkslick was dropped for a Mentor as previously mentioned, while the Ghost Quarters were dropped because I found that the extra game-ending power and colored mana of the Colonnades were more valueable. The GQs might move to the sideboard. I'm also considering dropping to 1 Colonnade and adding a Concealed Courtyard to facilitate T1 access to pain-free W/B.
I won't even bring up the side, as that is meta dependent. As such, there isn't anything that's a staple in every meta.
And in general, the day people stop trying to innovate a deck is the day the deck dies. Before saying that a build is bad, at least try it. In regards to my deck in particular, I fail to see how my changes make it more Draw+Go/Tempo. The changes keep it a tap-out deck, while focusing slightly more on tokens, less pain, and a lower CMC. It still proactive deploys threats while disrupting with spot removal and discard. I get that the deck is your baby, but that doesnt mean that others can't tweak it and try new variations.
These are fine changes! The word of advice was more in general, not specifically geared towards you. I apologize. Good job with the tweaks!
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@Thallax I wouldn't drop the 24th land if you are playing colonnade. Remember you need 6 land to activate it. Otherwise consider playing 4th Serum Visions
Elspeth + Jura / ManLand / Her own token / Geist /even Snapcaster is also very good
6 ETB tapped lands seems like a lot. Remember that you want to interact in the early game: Discard, Serum Vision, Esper Charm, Souls. That early interaction helps to stabilize and be able to drop a planeswalker on turn 4-5. I strongly recommend you that if you want to play colonnades cut two of the other manlands.
That been said, remember that manlands are weaker now that exists Fatal Push. Our deck is on low land count compared to draw-go decks, and I don't recommend Colonnade for us. We may not have enough lands to activate and protect it or to activate it at all.
Indeed. I shared that on the 3rd page. It was 1st place, but that's an early iteration of the deck. It's improved since then (refer to my list above) as it's a more optimal way to play ET and capitalizes on its proactive design and gameplan.
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Question regarding Sorin. Isn't Lord of Innistrad better than Solemn Visitor? The plus ability produces the 1/1 and the minus is an anthem like Gideon. Without any creatures in the field, the +1 makes a token, gets out of bolt range and pressure opponents with an ultimate. Has this been tested?
I think the most important part of Solemn Visitor is the lifelink it gives from the +1. T3 souls into T4 sorin is usually lights out for any sort of deck pressuring your life total. When it comes to dropping him on a clear board, im one to think that Lord of Innistrad is better. However, Solemn Visitor patches up some matchups that are more in need of help than Lord does.
Between Elspeth, Gideon AoZ and Lingering Souls (and reboundinding / flashbacking) we have plenty of token production.
As The_Falconer said, we want Sorin to give all those creatures lifelink. You only want the 2/2 vampire if you are desperate for a blocker.
Lord of Innistrad would be better if you play a more defensive version of the deck, with a different set of walkers (like 2 Gideon Jura / 1 Sorin LoI / 3 Narset).
Last Tuesday I was playing against GW hatebears. I was in 2 life. I drawed Sorin, and he took me from there to 24 life in 2 turns (I had 8 spirit tokens, keeping 2 to block). That's how awesome Solemn Visitor is.
1x Anguished Unmaking
1x Blessed Alliance
1x Collective Brutality
2x Countersquall
1x Dispel
1x Elspeth, Sun's Champion
1x Engineered Explosives
3x Geist of Saint Traft
1x Jace, Architect of Thought
2x Surgical Extraction
1x Timely Reinforcements
How is this for a sideboard? Im not 100% on Jace AoT but my local meta is primarily midrange decks that run lingering souls and we have a few BW tokens running around
1x Anguished Unmaking
1x Blessed Alliance
1x Collective Brutality
2x Countersquall
1x Dispel
1x Elspeth, Sun's Champion
1x Engineered Explosives
3x Geist of Saint Traft
1x Jace, Architect of Thought
2x Surgical Extraction
1x Timely Reinforcements
How is this for a sideboard? Im not 100% on Jace AoT but my local meta is primarily midrange decks that run lingering souls and we have a few BW tokens running around
That looks really solid! Nice work. Consider BSA, too.
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She's still ~$15 on eBay. Just picked up a set as I think they'll go higher.
Sweet deck you guys have here, I've been looking into Esper for either gifts or draw-go but I really like these lists. Looking forward to giving it a go!
I've been building around Esper Delver and Midrange for a while, and I may put some brewing time into this shell. I keep trying to make an Esper Draw-Go that I can get behind, but the super low threat density always turns me off of it. Seems like this is a good starting place on a compromise. That, and I keep wanting to jam my Geist of Saint Trafts.
Question for you all: I know this is a tapout list, but what do you think of some number of Logic Knot? A control deck with this many cheap spells (and fetches of course) with no Tasigur or Angler seems like it could get a lot of use out of it. Of course it's questionable when you'd want to hold it up vs. tap out for something, but as a Delver player, I find that it's usually not hard to gauge that. Even less so when you're also running a discard suite. Is the discard suite enough to keep you off of really needing it (when combined with the removal and sideboard Negate/Countersquall)?
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Playing UX Mana Denial until Modern gets the answers it needs.
WUBRG Humans BRW Mardu Pyromancer UW UW "Control" UR Blue Moon
I've been building around Esper Delver and Midrange for a while, and I may put some brewing time into this shell. I keep trying to make an Esper Draw-Go that I can get behind, but the super low threat density always turns me off of it. Seems like this is a good starting place on a compromise. That, and I keep wanting to jam my Geist of Saint Trafts.
Question for you all: I know this is a tapout list, but what do you think of some number of Logic Knot? A control deck with this many cheap spells (and fetches of course) with no Tasigur or Angler seems like it could get a lot of use out of it. Of course it's questionable when you'd want to hold it up vs. tap out for something, but as a Delver player, I find that it's usually not hard to gauge that. Even less so when you're also running a discard suite. Is the discard suite enough to keep you off of really needing it (when combined with the removal and sideboard Negate/Countersquall)?
Current list plays 2 MD countersqualls. We use them to combat topdecks. It's less resource intensive than Logic Knot (delve mess with the graveyard and we use it very often). It's true that LK can hit creatures. But we can deal very easily with them, so we focus on hard countering the other stuff, specially planeswalkers
Been looking for a deck to settle on in Modern for over a year now. Tried a bunch of home brews and had some success but this list looks like some fun times. Going to start practicing with it soon on XMage.
Been looking for a deck to settle on in Modern for over a year now. Tried a bunch of home brews and had some success but this list looks like some fun times. Going to start practicing with it soon on XMage.
Try to play 2-3 catch-all removal in the 75. 1/2 Anguished Unmaking and Runed Halo split is the recommended option, but can also try Detention Sphere and keep Engineered Explosives.
Sorin is less consistent if you don't play 4 Lingering Souls. You can cut Batterskull or the 3rd Narset (which is flex) to put the 4th LS
Im new to this deck but it looks super fun, however I was wondering on the lack of at least remand? 2 countersquall is fine and all but is remand just to slow or something?
This deck is very proactively oriented, hence discard and removal over counterspells, for the mmost part.
Having to hold up mana is a lot less effective when your threats don't have flash, and discard spells are powerful in that they can take a huge range of threats for 1 mana.
Maybe a stupid question, but why does the sideboard not contain stony silences. I mean the affinity matchup looks ok, but it would improve it even more and the secret mode on stony is actually against tron, which does seem like a tough nut
Stony silence is not all that strong against tron.
The hard part about tron is that if you don't kill them fast enough, they'll start playing things you can't beat, ugin, karm, wurmcoil, etc.
Stony silence slows them down a little bit, sometimes, but its not as impactful as a lot of people make it out to be.
If you want splash damage for affinity, more removal and such is usually the go to. Against tron, more answers, or fast clocks is the plan. Extractions, discard, and geist of saint traft combine to do a lot more work than stony would.
Elspeth puts out 1/1s on her plus, which is quite strong, and being able to jump + pump creatures is pretty strong.
You don't want to load up on too many walkers of the same type, so having an elspeth in addition to sorins and gideons is nice.
On top of that, giving something +3/+3 can speed up your clock by a good margin. It turns snapcasters and spirits into real threats, and heaven forbid you ever pump gideon, germ tokens, or manlands.
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These are fine changes! The word of advice was more in general, not specifically geared towards you. I apologize. Good job with the tweaks!
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Tamiyo may compete with Narset for the card advantage, and the only card that synegyses with her in our deck is Gideon Jura with his -2.
Elspeth is good in the sideboard, but is meta dependent.
And Ashiok is good in matchups that we are already good against. The current list is more versatile without it.
Obviously everything is worth testing. What is not necessarily convenient in general meta may still work in yours.
Elspeth + Jura / ManLand / Her own token / Geist /even Snapcaster is also very good
6 ETB tapped lands seems like a lot. Remember that you want to interact in the early game: Discard, Serum Vision, Esper Charm, Souls. That early interaction helps to stabilize and be able to drop a planeswalker on turn 4-5. I strongly recommend you that if you want to play colonnades cut two of the other manlands.
That been said, remember that manlands are weaker now that exists Fatal Push. Our deck is on low land count compared to draw-go decks, and I don't recommend Colonnade for us. We may not have enough lands to activate and protect it or to activate it at all.
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/archetype/modern-esper-control-32873#paper
Indeed. I shared that on the 3rd page. It was 1st place, but that's an early iteration of the deck. It's improved since then (refer to my list above) as it's a more optimal way to play ET and capitalizes on its proactive design and gameplan.
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http://www.starcitygames.com/article/34376_Daily-Digest-Modern-Transcendent.html
Read comments in that article for my inputs and updated list post-Fatal Push.
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BGElvesBG and BUGNissa ElvesBUG Faithful Elfer since May 1st, 2015
Results: SCG IQ Top 8, Monthly Modern Masters Top 4
As The_Falconer said, we want Sorin to give all those creatures lifelink. You only want the 2/2 vampire if you are desperate for a blocker.
Lord of Innistrad would be better if you play a more defensive version of the deck, with a different set of walkers (like 2 Gideon Jura / 1 Sorin LoI / 3 Narset).
Last Tuesday I was playing against GW hatebears. I was in 2 life. I drawed Sorin, and he took me from there to 24 life in 2 turns (I had 8 spirit tokens, keeping 2 to block). That's how awesome Solemn Visitor is.
1x Blessed Alliance
1x Collective Brutality
2x Countersquall
1x Dispel
1x Elspeth, Sun's Champion
1x Engineered Explosives
3x Geist of Saint Traft
1x Jace, Architect of Thought
2x Surgical Extraction
1x Timely Reinforcements
How is this for a sideboard? Im not 100% on Jace AoT but my local meta is primarily midrange decks that run lingering souls and we have a few BW tokens running around
That looks really solid! Nice work. Consider BSA, too.
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Modern Tallowisp Spirits - A Modern Tallowisp Deck UW
Eldrazi Ninjas - Summoning Octopus Jutsu YYYYAAAHHHH!
STANDARD
Naban Wizards
Sweet deck you guys have here, I've been looking into Esper for either gifts or draw-go but I really like these lists. Looking forward to giving it a go!
A player from my community finished 5-0 and it's now on MTGGoldfish!
Living End: 2-0
Grixis Control: 2-1
Grixis Control: 2-1
Ad Naus: 2-0
Jund: 2-1
Core & Flex Design Guide:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1u6IgVzXBFD3g_sGhGCMBqbqEjaETxYar0f2p-GzdBf0
Without a doubt, more to come.
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MU Analysis: ET vs GW/RG Tron
https://docs.google.com/document/d/14i5FqU6gJ2NNYLitrzwDBHj5ST7KDENsyxQ7ryYKZtE
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Question for you all: I know this is a tapout list, but what do you think of some number of Logic Knot? A control deck with this many cheap spells (and fetches of course) with no Tasigur or Angler seems like it could get a lot of use out of it. Of course it's questionable when you'd want to hold it up vs. tap out for something, but as a Delver player, I find that it's usually not hard to gauge that. Even less so when you're also running a discard suite. Is the discard suite enough to keep you off of really needing it (when combined with the removal and sideboard Negate/Countersquall)?
WUBRG Humans
BRW Mardu Pyromancer
UW UW "Control"
UR Blue Moon
Current list plays 2 MD countersqualls. We use them to combat topdecks. It's less resource intensive than Logic Knot (delve mess with the graveyard and we use it very often). It's true that LK can hit creatures. But we can deal very easily with them, so we focus on hard countering the other stuff, specially planeswalkers
My current list:
1 Concealed Courtyard
2 Darkslick Shores
4 Flooded Strand
4 Polluted Delta
1 Watery Grave
2 Godless Shrine
1 Hallowed Fountain
2 Ghost Quarter
1 Creeping Tar Pit
1 Shambling Vent
2 Island
2 Plains
1 Swamp
Creatures:
3 Snapcaster Mage
3 Fatal Push
3 Path to Exile
3 Thoughtseize
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Serum Visions
2 Countersquall
4 Esper Charm
3 Lingering Souls
2 Supreme Verdict
1 Batterskull
3 Narset Transcendent
1 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
1 Gideon Jura
1 Baneslayer Angel
2 Blessed Alliance
2 Collective Brutality
1 Countersquall
1 Disenchant
1 Engineered Explosives
3 Geist of Saint Traft
3 Surgical Extraction
1 Timely Reinforcements
One Thoughtseize and one Collective Brutality has been swapped to sideboard
Try to play 2-3 catch-all removal in the 75. 1/2 Anguished Unmaking and Runed Halo split is the recommended option, but can also try Detention Sphere and keep Engineered Explosives.
Sorin is less consistent if you don't play 4 Lingering Souls. You can cut Batterskull or the 3rd Narset (which is flex) to put the 4th LS
Having to hold up mana is a lot less effective when your threats don't have flash, and discard spells are powerful in that they can take a huge range of threats for 1 mana.
The hard part about tron is that if you don't kill them fast enough, they'll start playing things you can't beat, ugin, karm, wurmcoil, etc.
Stony silence slows them down a little bit, sometimes, but its not as impactful as a lot of people make it out to be.
If you want splash damage for affinity, more removal and such is usually the go to. Against tron, more answers, or fast clocks is the plan. Extractions, discard, and geist of saint traft combine to do a lot more work than stony would.
Elspeth puts out 1/1s on her plus, which is quite strong, and being able to jump + pump creatures is pretty strong.
You don't want to load up on too many walkers of the same type, so having an elspeth in addition to sorins and gideons is nice.
On top of that, giving something +3/+3 can speed up your clock by a good margin. It turns snapcasters and spirits into real threats, and heaven forbid you ever pump gideon, germ tokens, or manlands.