1 - Introduction
2 - Why Truth of the Orb?
3 - Card Choices
Artifacts
Creatures
Instants
Sorceries
Lands
Sideboard
4 - The Modern Matchups and Tips with Sideboarding (Updated 11/16/16)
5 - Strengths and Weaknesses
6 - Sample Deck
Introduction
Truth of the Orb is a WUB control and aggro in Esper colors that uses creatures that have really bad enter the battlefield triggers and we use cards to make them work for us. The deck utilizes the card Torpor Orb to allow us to play cards that are really good and getting rid of awful enter the battlefield triggers.
Why Truth of the Orb?
The question that many people wonder is why play a deck that can go horribly wrong for the pilot of the deck is because not that many people ever expect it. Modern right now is dominated by decks that everyone will anticipate like Infect, Jund, Affinty, Dredge and list goes on. Playing a deck that actually make your opponents think of what to do and how to sideboard.
Card Choices
Artifacts
Torpor Orb2 The main reason for the Orb part in the name of the deck. A really cheap artifact with mana cost is the key to how we win and can stop other pesky enter the battlefield triggers.
Creatures
Eater of Days4 This creature would normally never really play because of the negative enter the battlefield trigger but because of Torpor Orb this guy is amazing. A four mana creature with Flying and Trample that is a 9/8 is without a doubt impressive.
Hunted HorrorBB A two black mana creature that is a 7/7 with Trample is unbelievable. The negative enter the battlefield trigger is our opponent gets two 3/3 green Centaur token with protection from black. Normally this would be awful but thanks to Torpor Orb.
Hushwing Gryff2W This creature is our plan B if Torpor Orb doesn't work for us. The fact that this creature has Flash is amazing and can really throw off our opponent.
Inverter of Truth2BB This creature is the other half to how we got the name of the deck. Normally the negative enter the battlefield trigger would scare anyone to play this card by exiling all cards in our library facedown then shuffle all cards in our graveyard to become our new library. Thanks to Torpor Orb and Hushwing Gryff this creature is a fantastic 6/6 with Flying for four mana.
Dust Elemental2WW Another good creature that can help us win the game and most of all if something happens to our enter the battlefield trigger suppressor, we just don't loose the game.
Hunted Phantasm1UU A cheap costed creature that is unblockable and is a 4/6. The negative side is our opponent can get five 1/1 Red Goblin creatures in exchange.
Instants
Trickbind1U A very good option for us to stop bad enter the battlefield triggers incase our opponent gets rid of our Torpor Orb and best of all it has Split Second, one of the best abilities to spells in the game.
CountersquallUB I good counter spell that counters noncreature spells and also takes some life as well.
DispelU A very good counter spell that stops instants dead in their tracks.
Muddle the MixtureUU This card is a hero in our deck. It counters instants and sorceries which is already good enough but the reason why this card is so good in our deck is because it has Transmute. Transmute is really good because the converted manna cost of Torpor Orb is 2 so if you do not have it, this can search it up.
Path to ExileW The best removal spell in our colors, exiles a target creature and our opponent then may get a basic land onto the battlefield tapped.
Remand1U One of Moderns go to counter spells that can save us a turn or more.
Mana Leak1U A really good counter spell when an opponent doesn't have a lot of mana to pays the cost.
Hindering LightWU This can protect your creatures and Torpor Orbs with the plus side of drawing a card.
Spell SnareU A good counter that can stop problematic 2 drop spell by only costing U.
Spell PierceU A better Mana Leak in being able to play earlier and can really make a difference.
Sorceries
Serum VisionsU One of the best draw spell in Modern and helps us set up our next possible two turns by scrying.
Gitaxian Probe Another one of the best draw spells in Modern that can 0 mana by paying 2 life and view your opponents tend to see what is coming next.
Inquisition of KozilekB The ability to get rid of a potential problem with converted mana cost 3 of less from your opponents hand is really good.
ThoughtseizeB A slightly better ability to get rid of a potential problem by only paying an additional 2 life from your opponents hand is a little bit better than Inquisition of Kozilek.
Ancestral VisionsuspendU Essentially a Ancestral Recall but a bit slower, still an amazing one drop to draw three cards.
Painful Truths2B A good draw spell in black that can cost some life because we are a three color deck.
Lands
Godless Shrine - Fetchable Plains and Swamp. Pay 2 life to have it come in untapped.
Hallowed Fountain - Fetchable Plains and Island. Pay 2 life to have it come in untapped.
Watery Grave - Fetchable Island and Swamp. Pay 2 life to have it come in untapped.
Marsh Flats - Fetch land for Plains and Swamps type lands.
Flooded Strand - Fetch land for Plains and Island type lands.
Polluted Delta - Fetch land for Island and Swamp type lands.
Isolated Chapel - Buddy land for Plains and Swamp type lands. Comes in untapped if you have a Plains or Swamp.
Glacial Fortress - Buddy land for Plains and Island type lands. Comes in untapped if you have a Plains or Island.
Drowned Catacomb - Buddy land for Island and Swamp type lands. Comes in untapped if you have a Island or Swamp.
Shambling Vent - Creature land that taps for W and B which can be animated to become a 2/3 creature with Lifelink.
Celestial Colonnade - Creature land that taps for W and U which can be animated to become a 4/4 creature with Flying and Vigilance.
Creeping Tar Pit - Creature land that taps for U and B which can be animated to become a 3/2 creature that cannot be blocked.
Concealed Courtyard - Fast land that taps for W and B that comes into play untapped if we control two or fewer lands.
Seachrome Coast - Fast land that taps for W and U that comes into play untapped if we control two or fewer lands.
Darkslick Shores - Fast land that taps for U and B that comes into play untapped if we control two or fewer lands.
Sideboard
CountersquallUB I good counter spell that counters noncreature spells and also takes some life as well.
Dismember1BB A really good removal spell that can only cost 1 mana with also paying 4 life.
DispelU A very good counter spell that stops instants dead in their tracks.
Grafdigger's Cage1 An extremely good artifact that can stop Dredge and other decks that uses the graveyard a lot.
Hurkyl's Recall1U At times where we really want to stop Affinity and hurt other decks that uses artifacts as well.
Path to ExileW The best removal spell in our colors, exiles a target creature and our opponent then may get a basic land onto the battlefield tapped.
Relic of Progenitus1 Another good card that really us against heavily graveyard based decks, and can even draw us a card as well.
Stony Silence1W A really good card against decks that uses activated abilities of artifacts, particularly Affinity.
Supreme Verdict1WWU An uncounterable field wipe spell, this card really helps us make the board less scary.
Timely Reinforcements2W A good spell for us if we are running low on creatures and/or life, can really make a difference if things are going south for us.
Inquisition of KozilekB The ability to get rid of a potential problem with converted mana cost 3 of less from your opponents hand is really good.
ThoughtseizeB A slightly better ability to get rid of a potential problem by only paying an additional 2 life from your opponents hand is a little bit better than Inquisition of Kozilek.
Dragon's Claw2 A really good artifact against decks that run a lot of red spells particularly against Burn.
Engineered ExplosivesX A really good card that can get rid of a lot of problems with the amount of charge counters on it.
Spell SnareU A good counter that can stop problematic 2 drop spell by only costing U.
Spellskite2 An amazing defense creature for us that can redirect potential problems away from the original target.
Surgical Extraction This can get rid of a problem in a graveyard and can potentially get rid of all copies in our opponent's deck.
Pithing Needle1 The ability to make certain cards with ability such as planeswalkers not able to work and be activated.
The Modern Matchups and Tips with Sideboarding (Updated 12/07/16)
This section will be about certain decks we may be in contact with at tournaments and also how we should consider sideboarding against those decks. The cards listed to sideboard are only options to think about with certain matchups and are not needed exactly but rather ideas for everyones own brew.
Affinity - All of our artifact hate comes in now. This matchup is gonna be hard but we have enough sideboard hate for them. Sideboarding - We need Hurkyl's Recall against a huge board of artifacts, Path to Exile against a really powerful artifact Creature that has Cranial Plating, Stony Silence because this enchantment really stops Affinity hard, Supreme Verdict against a huge board, Engineered Explosives can really stop those pesky zero/one/two drops easily, and Pithing Needle can stop some really bad activated abilities of artifacts.
Bant Eldrazi - This matchup should be a little bit easier than the other decks said above, but we do have some answers. Sideboarding - For this matchup we need Dismember for all the creatures they have, Path to Exile again another creature hate spell against them, Supreme Verdict to get rid of all those Eldrazi, Engineered Explosives can stop the Scion and other permanents up to 3 converted mana cost, Spellskite can stop some Paths against our creatures and Eldrazi Displacer, and finally Pithing Needle to stop some activated abilities of some Eldrazi.
Burn - This matchup is gonna be a race, who can do the damage first. They can't really burn our big creatures so they will burn our face. Sideboarding - For this matchup we will need Countersquall to counter some burns spells, Dispel to stop some instant speed burn spells, Path to Exile to stop some really annoying creatures like Eidolon of the Great Revel, Timely Reinforcements some life and possibly get some creatures, Dragon's Claw without a doubt really good in this matchup that essentially turns their 3 damage burn spells to a 2 damage damage because of the life gain, Spell Snare to stop really problematic two drop spells, and finally Spellskite to stop burn to our face.
Dredge - This deck will be interesting but we tend to out value them in the long run with some really big creatures. Should be a relatively easy matchup. Sideboarding - We will need some cards in this matchup like Dismember to stop some creatures to do damage to us, Grafdigger's Cage this card really stops our opponent dead in their tracks, Path to Exile to get rid of some creatures for good, Relic of Progenitus to really punish our opponent for Dredging, Supreme Verdict to clear the board if it gets full, Dragon's Claw because they a lot of red spells they play, and finally Surgical Extraction to permanently get rid of a creature from the game.
Infect - This will probably be our worst matchup by far, they are faster than us and answers some our stuff. The pure speed alone will be tough. Sideboarding - We will pretty much need all our counter spells in this matchup and creature removal starting with Countersquall to stop some pump spells, Dismember to get rid of problematic infect creatures, Dispel again to stop some pump spells, Path to Exile to exile some infect creatures, Supreme Verdict if we live long enough this might really slow down their board, Timely Reinforcements mainly to get some chump blockers, Engineered Explosives to possibly get rid of some infect creatures, Spellskite is really good in this matchup because it can get all the pump spells to slow down our opponent, Surgical Extraction to possibly exile all copies of a pump spell from our opponent's deck, and finally Pithing Needle to stop Inkmoth Nexus.
Jund - This match will be a challenge for us because they have so much removal for our creatures and key cards in our hand. Sideboarding - For this matchup we will need Countersquall to stop some problems spells, Dismember to kill some Grim Flayers and Tarmogoyfs, Path to Exile is another answer for their creatures, Relic of Progenitus to keep Tarmogoyf small at times, Supreme Verdict to clean the board from problematic creatures, Timely Reinforcements to get some chump blockers and some life as well, Inquisition of Kozilek and Thoughtseize to get rid of some problematic cards for us, Engineered Explosives to get rid of those really good two drops our opponent have, Surgical Extraction to get rid of some really bad cards that our opponent have, and finally Pithing Needle to stop some plane walkers and potential creature/creature lands.
Matchup Against Tier 2 Decks
Abzan Company - Like the main Abzan deck in Tier 1 but this deck has a combo to win either by infinite life or infinite damage. This matchup will be about speed of who can get their board set up first and generally they will be a little bit faster than us. Sideboarding - This matchup we will need creature hate for sure. To start off with for sideboard the options Dismember to get rid of the small creatures they will have, Path to Exile will really help in getting rid of a problem for good, Supreme Verdict to get rid of big boards and stop some combo creatures setting up, Thoughtseize to slow down our opponent, and finally with help from our discard effects we can use Surgical Extraction to really get rid of some combo pieces.
Ad Nauseam - This matchup will be very hard for us to beat because they really don’t care about our creatures, they can win at instant speed by usually turn 4. We will be some disruption against them. Sideboarding -
Death and Taxes - This will be a difficult matchup for the most part but once we are set up with our creatures, we should have this game. Luckily we are a heavy creature based deck so Thalia, Guardian of Thraben. Sideboarding -
Death’s Shadow Zoo - Our opponent will be trying to swing some really big creatures at use by making them big for having low life total but we have big creatures too without intentionally making our life total low. This should be a fairly even match but we will have the advantage. Sideboarding -
GR and Gx Tron - This deck starts out low at first but they can get seven mana by turn 3 to cast Karn Liberated. We will want some counters for them and some removal for their problems. Sideboarding -
Grixis Delver - This will be a hard matchup because they are control with aggro. We are gonna need counters for them and answers for their creatures. Sideboarding -
Jeskai Harbinger - Our opponent is going to win by getting out Emrakul, the Aeons Torn with haste by good ol’ Nahiri, the Harbinger. This matchup will be difficult because of the counters and protection for Nahiri to do her job but we do have answers for her. Sideboarding -
Merfolk - This will be a hard matchup because they go wide and attack hard pretty quickly. We will need some creature disruption for them for sure. Sideboarding -
RG Breach - This will be very dependent of noncreature spells to go in for the kill but luckily we will have some answers for them. We should be favored in this matchup for sure. Sideboarding -
RG Titan Scapeshift - Another deck that really relies on noncreature spells as well but we will have some answers for them. This is slower than the Breach version of the deck but we should beat them down with our huge creatures. Sideboarding -
RUG Scapeshift - This deck archetype certainly takes up one fourth of the Tier 2 deck list but this version is different because is also used blue magic to protect their synergy. This deck will be harder for us but we will have some answers for them in sideboard. Sideboarding -
Zoo - Zoo is a rather interesting deck we may encounter but nonetheless we will have some answers. Zoo is in the colors Naya RGW and play a lot creatures to beat us down but are all able to be dealt with. Sideboarding -
The Strengths
Our deck has quite a few strengths in facing other decks. First and foremost we are playing blue which means we have disruption for our opponents and makes other people think more in what to do against us. Our creatures are big so just bolting them will not really get there and they have to waste a lot of cards to get rid of one creature by simply doing bolt effects.
The Weaknesses
No deck is perfect by nay means and we have some disadvantages with our deck. If we are casting our big creatures with the negative enter the battlefield trigger but are protected with Torpor Orb/Hushwing Gryff, our opponent can stop our safety net by destroying them in response to us casting our creatures. This is the biggest weakness our deck has when facing other people with removal.
#About the creature choices:
I think that there are better option than Inverter of Truth for the deck, like: Dust Elemental (difficult to cast without T.Orb/H.Gryf but at least it won't essentially lose you the game) and Hunted Phantasm (3-cmc is a pretty big upside).
*Other options can be: Treacherous Pit-Dweller and Demonlord of Ashmouth which resist non-exiling removal.
Spells:
#Languish can be good a sweeper (deals with most of the common creatures in the format) that doesn't kill our fatties
(and wipes out tokens created by Hunted Phantasm and Hunted Horror when you don't have T.Orb/H.Gryf).
Trickbind is really good and will definitely be another position option for this deck, and yes I know the risks with Torpor Orb with Eater of Days, dangerously but one of the reasons why this is fun to play, very stimulating deck.
If you do this with Inverter of Truth you can win with Relic of Progenitus removing cards from the grave so they will have nothing to shuffle. Relic of Progenitus main deck is very strong against jund/dredge and some other decks.
You can follow the main plan of Torpor Orb and do the Endless Whispers as your secondary win condition if the game goes longer or they stuck you with things like Ensnaring Bridge.
Has anyone scene this deck performing at tournaments? I saw it played once or twice around my area. I am just curious if people are playing anything like this deck.
It's been a while since I posted for this thread I made and I finally brought this deck into the spotlight at Modern tournament. First and foremost, here is the deck right now:
The original list had cards I simply had to change (Gitaxian Probe being the main one). That being said, this is how it went this time at the tournament...
Modern FNM 2-16-18
Deck played: Truth of the Orb
Round 1 - Free Win Red - I'm honestly amazing I beat Free Win Red, I figured that is an un-winable matchup. My creatures just managed to get there.
Game 1 - Win
===sideboard tech===
===taken in: 2 x Countersquall, 2 x Engineered Explosives, 1 x Hurkyl’s Recall, 1 x Spellskite
===taken out: 1 x Dust Elemental, 2 x Languish, 2 x Path to Exile, 1 x Thirst of Knowledge
Game 2 - Win
===sideboard tech===
===taken in: N/A
===taken out: N/A
Game 3 - N/A
Round 2 - Jund - My most hated deck in Modern, can't stand this deck. Nonetheless, I wanted to try and beat it. This matchup, they just had all the answers before I could manage to even set of a board state.
Game 1 - Loss
===sideboard tech===
===taken in: 1 x Countersquall, 2 x Path to Exile, 1 x Spellskite, 1 x Supreme Verdict, 1 x Timely Reinforcements
===taken out: 1 x Dust Elemental, 1 x Inverted of Truth, 1 x Serum Visions, 2 x Thirst for Knowledge, 1 x Trickbind
Game 2 - Loss
===sideboard tech===
===taken in: N/A
===taken out: N/A
Game 3 - N/A
Round 3 - R/G Tron - I figured that this matchup will honestly be who gets set up first. Game 1, I managed to outspend them by having huge creatures get in before they could do anything about it. The others were close, but they got there before I set up a board state before they got Tron.
Game 1 - Win
===sideboard tech===
===taken in: 2 x Countersquall, 2 x Stony Silence
===taken out: 2 x Languish, 2 x Thirst for Knowledge
Game 2 - Loss
===sideboard tech===
===taken in: N/A
===taken out: N/A
Game 3 - Loss
Round 4 - W/G Value Town - This deck is ETB trigger heavy and I managed to deny them to get there. Game 1 I messed up and forgot their was a Torpor Orb on the battlefield and they forgot too and they get a Path to Exile from their graveyard to get beat me before I could do it. Aside from that, this was a rather easy matchup.
Game 1 - Loss
===sideboard tech===
===taken in: 2 x Engineered Explosives, 1 x Grafdigger’s Cage, 2 x Path to Exile, 1 x Supreme Verdict, 1 x Timely Reinforcements
===taken out: 1 x Dust Elemental, 2 x inverter of Truth, 1 x Serum Visions, 2 x Thirst for Knowledge, 1 x Hunted Phantasm
Game 2 - Win
===sideboard tech===
===taken in: N/A
===taken out: N/A
Game 3 - Win
Round 5 - Abzan - Same of Jund in a way, essentially "removal.deck". I'm glad I got one game in a belt, the others, they just got there.
Game 1 - Win
===sideboard tech===
===taken in: 2 x Countersquall, 2 x Engineered Explosives, 1 x Grafdigger’s Cage, 1 x Relic of Progenitus
===taken out: 1 x Dust Elemental, 1 x Hunted Phantasm, 1 x Inverter of Truth, 2 x Thirst for Knowledge, 1 x Trickbind
Game 2 - Loss
===sideboard tech===
===taken in: N/A
===taken out: N/A
Game 3 - Loss
Tournament Standings - 11th out of 20
Here is what I get from playing this and honestly seeing how the meta is right now, ETB triggers (Enter the Battlefield) on creatures is huge right now in Modern. Denying an opponent to take advantage of these effects to the point that shuts down many decks, makes using this deck more viable.
Even though I didn't have a winning record, the deck was fun and my opponent didn't have honestly any idea to honestly to do against it because it is so odd.
1 - Introduction
2 - Why Truth of the Orb?
3 - Card Choices
5 - Strengths and Weaknesses
6 - Sample Deck
Truth of the Orb is a WUB control and aggro in Esper colors that uses creatures that have really bad enter the battlefield triggers and we use cards to make them work for us. The deck utilizes the card Torpor Orb to allow us to play cards that are really good and getting rid of awful enter the battlefield triggers.
The question that many people wonder is why play a deck that can go horribly wrong for the pilot of the deck is because not that many people ever expect it. Modern right now is dominated by decks that everyone will anticipate like Infect, Jund, Affinty, Dredge and list goes on. Playing a deck that actually make your opponents think of what to do and how to sideboard.
Artifacts
Creatures
Hunted Horror BB A two black mana creature that is a 7/7 with Trample is unbelievable. The negative enter the battlefield trigger is our opponent gets two 3/3 green Centaur token with protection from black. Normally this would be awful but thanks to Torpor Orb.
Hushwing Gryff 2W This creature is our plan B if Torpor Orb doesn't work for us. The fact that this creature has Flash is amazing and can really throw off our opponent.
Inverter of Truth 2BB This creature is the other half to how we got the name of the deck. Normally the negative enter the battlefield trigger would scare anyone to play this card by exiling all cards in our library facedown then shuffle all cards in our graveyard to become our new library. Thanks to Torpor Orb and Hushwing Gryff this creature is a fantastic 6/6 with Flying for four mana.
Dust Elemental 2WW Another good creature that can help us win the game and most of all if something happens to our enter the battlefield trigger suppressor, we just don't loose the game.
Hunted Phantasm 1UU A cheap costed creature that is unblockable and is a 4/6. The negative side is our opponent can get five 1/1 Red Goblin creatures in exchange.
Instants
Countersquall UB I good counter spell that counters noncreature spells and also takes some life as well.
Dispel U A very good counter spell that stops instants dead in their tracks.
Muddle the Mixture UU This card is a hero in our deck. It counters instants and sorceries which is already good enough but the reason why this card is so good in our deck is because it has Transmute. Transmute is really good because the converted manna cost of Torpor Orb is 2 so if you do not have it, this can search it up.
Path to Exile W The best removal spell in our colors, exiles a target creature and our opponent then may get a basic land onto the battlefield tapped.
Remand 1U One of Moderns go to counter spells that can save us a turn or more.
Mana Leak 1U A really good counter spell when an opponent doesn't have a lot of mana to pays the cost.
Hindering Light WU This can protect your creatures and Torpor Orbs with the plus side of drawing a card.
Spell Snare U A good counter that can stop problematic 2 drop spell by only costing U.
Spell Pierce U A better Mana Leak in being able to play earlier and can really make a difference.
Sorceries
Gitaxian Probe Another one of the best draw spells in Modern that can 0 mana by paying 2 life and view your opponents tend to see what is coming next.
Inquisition of Kozilek B The ability to get rid of a potential problem with converted mana cost 3 of less from your opponents hand is really good.
Thoughtseize B A slightly better ability to get rid of a potential problem by only paying an additional 2 life from your opponents hand is a little bit better than Inquisition of Kozilek.
Ancestral Vision suspend U Essentially a Ancestral Recall but a bit slower, still an amazing one drop to draw three cards.
Painful Truths 2B A good draw spell in black that can cost some life because we are a three color deck.
Lands
Hallowed Fountain - Fetchable Plains and Island. Pay 2 life to have it come in untapped.
Watery Grave - Fetchable Island and Swamp. Pay 2 life to have it come in untapped.
Marsh Flats - Fetch land for Plains and Swamps type lands.
Flooded Strand - Fetch land for Plains and Island type lands.
Polluted Delta - Fetch land for Island and Swamp type lands.
Isolated Chapel - Buddy land for Plains and Swamp type lands. Comes in untapped if you have a Plains or Swamp.
Glacial Fortress - Buddy land for Plains and Island type lands. Comes in untapped if you have a Plains or Island.
Drowned Catacomb - Buddy land for Island and Swamp type lands. Comes in untapped if you have a Island or Swamp.
Shambling Vent - Creature land that taps for W and B which can be animated to become a 2/3 creature with Lifelink.
Celestial Colonnade - Creature land that taps for W and U which can be animated to become a 4/4 creature with Flying and Vigilance.
Creeping Tar Pit - Creature land that taps for U and B which can be animated to become a 3/2 creature that cannot be blocked.
Concealed Courtyard - Fast land that taps for W and B that comes into play untapped if we control two or fewer lands.
Seachrome Coast - Fast land that taps for W and U that comes into play untapped if we control two or fewer lands.
Darkslick Shores - Fast land that taps for U and B that comes into play untapped if we control two or fewer lands.
Sideboard
Dismember 1BB A really good removal spell that can only cost 1 mana with also paying 4 life.
Dispel U A very good counter spell that stops instants dead in their tracks.
Grafdigger's Cage 1 An extremely good artifact that can stop Dredge and other decks that uses the graveyard a lot.
Hurkyl's Recall 1U At times where we really want to stop Affinity and hurt other decks that uses artifacts as well.
Path to Exile W The best removal spell in our colors, exiles a target creature and our opponent then may get a basic land onto the battlefield tapped.
Relic of Progenitus 1 Another good card that really us against heavily graveyard based decks, and can even draw us a card as well.
Stony Silence 1W A really good card against decks that uses activated abilities of artifacts, particularly Affinity.
Supreme Verdict 1WWU An uncounterable field wipe spell, this card really helps us make the board less scary.
Timely Reinforcements 2W A good spell for us if we are running low on creatures and/or life, can really make a difference if things are going south for us.
Inquisition of Kozilek B The ability to get rid of a potential problem with converted mana cost 3 of less from your opponents hand is really good.
Thoughtseize B A slightly better ability to get rid of a potential problem by only paying an additional 2 life from your opponents hand is a little bit better than Inquisition of Kozilek.
Dragon's Claw 2 A really good artifact against decks that run a lot of red spells particularly against Burn.
Engineered Explosives X A really good card that can get rid of a lot of problems with the amount of charge counters on it.
Spell Snare U A good counter that can stop problematic 2 drop spell by only costing U.
Spellskite 2 An amazing defense creature for us that can redirect potential problems away from the original target.
Surgical Extraction This can get rid of a problem in a graveyard and can potentially get rid of all copies in our opponent's deck.
Pithing Needle 1 The ability to make certain cards with ability such as planeswalkers not able to work and be activated.
Matchup Against Tier 1 Decks
Sideboarding - Bring in some counter spells, Spellskite for stoping some Paths, Supreme Verdict against a big board, and possibly Relic of Progenitus against Tarmogoyf
Affinity - All of our artifact hate comes in now. This matchup is gonna be hard but we have enough sideboard hate for them.
Sideboarding - We need Hurkyl's Recall against a huge board of artifacts, Path to Exile against a really powerful artifact Creature that has Cranial Plating, Stony Silence because this enchantment really stops Affinity hard, Supreme Verdict against a huge board, Engineered Explosives can really stop those pesky zero/one/two drops easily, and Pithing Needle can stop some really bad activated abilities of artifacts.
Bant Eldrazi - This matchup should be a little bit easier than the other decks said above, but we do have some answers.
Sideboarding - For this matchup we need Dismember for all the creatures they have, Path to Exile again another creature hate spell against them, Supreme Verdict to get rid of all those Eldrazi, Engineered Explosives can stop the Scion and other permanents up to 3 converted mana cost, Spellskite can stop some Paths against our creatures and Eldrazi Displacer, and finally Pithing Needle to stop some activated abilities of some Eldrazi.
Burn - This matchup is gonna be a race, who can do the damage first. They can't really burn our big creatures so they will burn our face.
Sideboarding - For this matchup we will need Countersquall to counter some burns spells, Dispel to stop some instant speed burn spells, Path to Exile to stop some really annoying creatures like Eidolon of the Great Revel, Timely Reinforcements some life and possibly get some creatures, Dragon's Claw without a doubt really good in this matchup that essentially turns their 3 damage burn spells to a 2 damage damage because of the life gain, Spell Snare to stop really problematic two drop spells, and finally Spellskite to stop burn to our face.
Dredge - This deck will be interesting but we tend to out value them in the long run with some really big creatures. Should be a relatively easy matchup.
Sideboarding - We will need some cards in this matchup like Dismember to stop some creatures to do damage to us, Grafdigger's Cage this card really stops our opponent dead in their tracks, Path to Exile to get rid of some creatures for good, Relic of Progenitus to really punish our opponent for Dredging, Supreme Verdict to clear the board if it gets full, Dragon's Claw because they a lot of red spells they play, and finally Surgical Extraction to permanently get rid of a creature from the game.
Infect - This will probably be our worst matchup by far, they are faster than us and answers some our stuff. The pure speed alone will be tough.
Sideboarding - We will pretty much need all our counter spells in this matchup and creature removal starting with Countersquall to stop some pump spells, Dismember to get rid of problematic infect creatures, Dispel again to stop some pump spells, Path to Exile to exile some infect creatures, Supreme Verdict if we live long enough this might really slow down their board, Timely Reinforcements mainly to get some chump blockers, Engineered Explosives to possibly get rid of some infect creatures, Spellskite is really good in this matchup because it can get all the pump spells to slow down our opponent, Surgical Extraction to possibly exile all copies of a pump spell from our opponent's deck, and finally Pithing Needle to stop Inkmoth Nexus.
Jund - This match will be a challenge for us because they have so much removal for our creatures and key cards in our hand.
Sideboarding - For this matchup we will need Countersquall to stop some problems spells, Dismember to kill some Grim Flayers and Tarmogoyfs, Path to Exile is another answer for their creatures, Relic of Progenitus to keep Tarmogoyf small at times, Supreme Verdict to clean the board from problematic creatures, Timely Reinforcements to get some chump blockers and some life as well, Inquisition of Kozilek and Thoughtseize to get rid of some problematic cards for us, Engineered Explosives to get rid of those really good two drops our opponent have, Surgical Extraction to get rid of some really bad cards that our opponent have, and finally Pithing Needle to stop some plane walkers and potential creature/creature lands.
Matchup Against Tier 2 Decks
Sideboarding - This matchup we will need creature hate for sure. To start off with for sideboard the options Dismember to get rid of the small creatures they will have, Path to Exile will really help in getting rid of a problem for good, Supreme Verdict to get rid of big boards and stop some combo creatures setting up, Thoughtseize to slow down our opponent, and finally with help from our discard effects we can use Surgical Extraction to really get rid of some combo pieces.
Ad Nauseam - This matchup will be very hard for us to beat because they really don’t care about our creatures, they can win at instant speed by usually turn 4. We will be some disruption against them.
Sideboarding -
Death and Taxes - This will be a difficult matchup for the most part but once we are set up with our creatures, we should have this game. Luckily we are a heavy creature based deck so Thalia, Guardian of Thraben.
Sideboarding -
Death’s Shadow Zoo - Our opponent will be trying to swing some really big creatures at use by making them big for having low life total but we have big creatures too without intentionally making our life total low. This should be a fairly even match but we will have the advantage.
Sideboarding -
GR and Gx Tron - This deck starts out low at first but they can get seven mana by turn 3 to cast Karn Liberated. We will want some counters for them and some removal for their problems.
Sideboarding -
Grixis Delver - This will be a hard matchup because they are control with aggro. We are gonna need counters for them and answers for their creatures.
Sideboarding -
Jeskai Harbinger - Our opponent is going to win by getting out Emrakul, the Aeons Torn with haste by good ol’ Nahiri, the Harbinger. This matchup will be difficult because of the counters and protection for Nahiri to do her job but we do have answers for her.
Sideboarding -
Merfolk - This will be a hard matchup because they go wide and attack hard pretty quickly. We will need some creature disruption for them for sure.
Sideboarding -
RG Breach - This will be very dependent of noncreature spells to go in for the kill but luckily we will have some answers for them. We should be favored in this matchup for sure.
Sideboarding -
RG Titan Scapeshift - Another deck that really relies on noncreature spells as well but we will have some answers for them. This is slower than the Breach version of the deck but we should beat them down with our huge creatures.
Sideboarding -
RUG Scapeshift - This deck archetype certainly takes up one fourth of the Tier 2 deck list but this version is different because is also used blue magic to protect their synergy. This deck will be harder for us but we will have some answers for them in sideboard.
Sideboarding -
Zoo - Zoo is a rather interesting deck we may encounter but nonetheless we will have some answers. Zoo is in the colors Naya RGW and play a lot creatures to beat us down but are all able to be dealt with.
Sideboarding -
Matchup Against Tier 3 Decks
The Strengths
Our deck has quite a few strengths in facing other decks. First and foremost we are playing blue which means we have disruption for our opponents and makes other people think more in what to do against us. Our creatures are big so just bolting them will not really get there and they have to waste a lot of cards to get rid of one creature by simply doing bolt effects.
The Weaknesses
No deck is perfect by nay means and we have some disadvantages with our deck. If we are casting our big creatures with the negative enter the battlefield trigger but are protected with Torpor Orb/Hushwing Gryff, our opponent can stop our safety net by destroying them in response to us casting our creatures. This is the biggest weakness our deck has when facing other people with removal.
4x Torpor Orb
Creatures (18)
2x Dust Elemental
4x Eater of Days
4x Hunted Horror
4x Hushwing Gryff
4x Inverter of Truth
Instant (9)
3x Muddle the Mixture
2x Path to Exile
2x Remand
2x Trickbind
2x Gitaxian Probe
4x Serum Visions
Lands (23)
3x Darkslick Shores
2x Godless Shrine
1x Hallowed Fountain
2x Island
4x Marsh Flats
1x Plains
4x Polluted Delta
3x Swamp
3x Watery Grave
2x Countersquall
1x Dispel
2x Engineered Explosives
2x Grafdigger's Cage
1x Hurkyl's Recall
2x Path to Exile
1x Spellskite
2x Stony Silence
1x Supreme Verdict
1x Timely Reinforcements
http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/modern/deck-creation-modern/558848-torpor-beef
#About the creature choices:
I think that there are better option than Inverter of Truth for the deck, like:
Dust Elemental (difficult to cast without T.Orb/H.Gryf but at least it won't essentially lose you the game) and Hunted Phantasm (3-cmc is a pretty big upside).
*Other options can be: Treacherous Pit-Dweller and Demonlord of Ashmouth which resist non-exiling removal.
Spells:
#Languish can be good a sweeper (deals with most of the common creatures in the format) that doesn't kill our fatties
(and wipes out tokens created by Hunted Phantasm and Hunted Horror when you don't have T.Orb/H.Gryf).
#Thirst for Knowledge can be a good option to draw cards and filter out redundant copies of Torpor Orb (or Eater of Days).
The newly spoiled Disallow is much better.
Have you got a sample decklist ?
I would go with something like this:
4x Hunted Horror
4x Hushwing Gryff
4x Hunted Phantasm
4x Eater of Days
2x Dust Elemental
Instant (8)
4x Path to Exile
4x Muddle the Mixture
Sorcery (8)
4x Serum Visions (or Thirst for Knowledge)
4x Languish
Artifact (4)
4x Torpor Orb
Land (22)
4x Flooded Strand
4x Polluted Delta
2x Hallowed Fountain
2x Godless Shrine
2x Watery Grave
1x Drowned Catacomb
1x Isolated Chapel
1x Sunken Ruins
1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
2x Island
1x Plains
1x Swamp
2x Blessed Alliance
2x Detention Sphere
1x Kira, Great Glass-Spinner
2x Pithing Needle
2x Rest in Peace
2x Stony Silence
4x Thoughtseize
I mean you keep playing with the Torpor Orb tech but at some point of the game you play Endless Whispers.
Earlier you suspend a Greater Gargadon. So after you play your Endless Whispers you sac your Torpor Orb and your creature that could be Inverter of Truth and/or Eater of Days.
If you do this with Inverter of Truth you can win with Relic of Progenitus removing cards from the grave so they will have nothing to shuffle. Relic of Progenitus main deck is very strong against jund/dredge and some other decks.
If you do this with Eater of Days you can bounce it back with Vapor Snag. Something like that you could with Hunted Horror/Hunted Phantasm and get the tokens for you.
You can follow the main plan of Torpor Orb and do the Endless Whispers as your secondary win condition if the game goes longer or they stuck you with things like Ensnaring Bridge.
4x Torpor Orb
Creatures (18):
1x Dust Elemental
4x Eater of Days
4x Hunted Horror
1x Hunted Phantasm
4x Hushwing Gryff
4x Inverter of Truth
Instant (9):
2x Mana Leak
2x Muddle the Mixture
2x Path to Exile
2x Thirst for Knowledge
1x Trickbind
3x Concealed Courtyard
1x Godless Shrine
2x Hallowed Fountain
2x Island
4x Marsh Flats
1x Plains
4x Polluted Delta
3x Swamp
3x Watery Grave
Sorceries (6):
2x Languish
4x Serum Visions
2x Countersquall
1x Dispel
2x Engineered Explosives
1x Grafdigger's Cage
1x Hurkyl's Recall
2x Path to Exile
1x Relic of Progenitus
1x Spellskite
2x Stony Silence
1x Supreme Verdict
1x Timely Reinforcements
The original list had cards I simply had to change (Gitaxian Probe being the main one). That being said, this is how it went this time at the tournament...
Modern FNM 2-16-18
Deck played: Truth of the Orb
Round 1 - Free Win Red - I'm honestly amazing I beat Free Win Red, I figured that is an un-winable matchup. My creatures just managed to get there.
Game 1 - Win
===sideboard tech===
===taken in: 2 x Countersquall, 2 x Engineered Explosives, 1 x Hurkyl’s Recall, 1 x Spellskite
===taken out: 1 x Dust Elemental, 2 x Languish, 2 x Path to Exile, 1 x Thirst of Knowledge
Game 2 - Win
===sideboard tech===
===taken in: N/A
===taken out: N/A
Game 3 - N/A
Round 2 - Jund - My most hated deck in Modern, can't stand this deck. Nonetheless, I wanted to try and beat it. This matchup, they just had all the answers before I could manage to even set of a board state.
Game 1 - Loss
===sideboard tech===
===taken in: 1 x Countersquall, 2 x Path to Exile, 1 x Spellskite, 1 x Supreme Verdict, 1 x Timely Reinforcements
===taken out: 1 x Dust Elemental, 1 x Inverted of Truth, 1 x Serum Visions, 2 x Thirst for Knowledge, 1 x Trickbind
Game 2 - Loss
===sideboard tech===
===taken in: N/A
===taken out: N/A
Game 3 - N/A
Round 3 - R/G Tron - I figured that this matchup will honestly be who gets set up first. Game 1, I managed to outspend them by having huge creatures get in before they could do anything about it. The others were close, but they got there before I set up a board state before they got Tron.
Game 1 - Win
===sideboard tech===
===taken in: 2 x Countersquall, 2 x Stony Silence
===taken out: 2 x Languish, 2 x Thirst for Knowledge
Game 2 - Loss
===sideboard tech===
===taken in: N/A
===taken out: N/A
Game 3 - Loss
Round 4 - W/G Value Town - This deck is ETB trigger heavy and I managed to deny them to get there. Game 1 I messed up and forgot their was a Torpor Orb on the battlefield and they forgot too and they get a Path to Exile from their graveyard to get beat me before I could do it. Aside from that, this was a rather easy matchup.
Game 1 - Loss
===sideboard tech===
===taken in: 2 x Engineered Explosives, 1 x Grafdigger’s Cage, 2 x Path to Exile, 1 x Supreme Verdict, 1 x Timely Reinforcements
===taken out: 1 x Dust Elemental, 2 x inverter of Truth, 1 x Serum Visions, 2 x Thirst for Knowledge, 1 x Hunted Phantasm
Game 2 - Win
===sideboard tech===
===taken in: N/A
===taken out: N/A
Game 3 - Win
Round 5 - Abzan - Same of Jund in a way, essentially "removal.deck". I'm glad I got one game in a belt, the others, they just got there.
Game 1 - Win
===sideboard tech===
===taken in: 2 x Countersquall, 2 x Engineered Explosives, 1 x Grafdigger’s Cage, 1 x Relic of Progenitus
===taken out: 1 x Dust Elemental, 1 x Hunted Phantasm, 1 x Inverter of Truth, 2 x Thirst for Knowledge, 1 x Trickbind
Game 2 - Loss
===sideboard tech===
===taken in: N/A
===taken out: N/A
Game 3 - Loss
Tournament Standings - 11th out of 20
Here is what I get from playing this and honestly seeing how the meta is right now, ETB triggers (Enter the Battlefield) on creatures is huge right now in Modern. Denying an opponent to take advantage of these effects to the point that shuts down many decks, makes using this deck more viable.
Even though I didn't have a winning record, the deck was fun and my opponent didn't have honestly any idea to honestly to do against it because it is so odd.