Besides this, RUG has a real problem with removal and CA. Bolt is simply not a good removal spell in today's metagame (either it can only remove recurring creatures, doesn't kill most creatures (Drakes, Goyf, Hallow One, Anglers, Death Shadow,...) and those creatures it can kill, Push can also kill even without Revolt). Sure, Kozilek's Return is a decent sweeper, but against those decks where you really would want it (Spirits, Humans, Hardening Affinity, Devoted Druid,...) it is not even that good to begin with.
I simply see no reason at all to go RUG atm, since it offers so little to the deck. Bant looks straight up better than RUG and I do not really like Bant so far (dunno why, it somehow feels a little bit clunkier when playing it out).
Greetings,
Kathal
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What I play or have:
Modern/Legacy
either funpolice (Delver, Deathcloud, UW Control) or the fun decks (especially those ft. Griselbrand)
Besides this, RUG has a real problem with removal and CA. Bolt is simply not a good removal spell in today's metagame (either it can only remove recurring creatures, doesn't kill most creatures (Drakes, Goyf, Hallow One, Anglers, Death Shadow,...) and those creatures it can kill, Push can also kill even without Revolt). Sure, Kozilek's Return is a decent sweeper, but against those decks where you really would want it (Spirits, Humans, Hardening Affinity, Devoted Druid,...) it is not even that good to begin with.
I simply see no reason at all to go RUG atm, since it offers so little to the deck. Bant looks straight up better than RUG and I do not really like Bant so far (dunno why, it somehow feels a little bit clunkier when playing it out).
Greetings,
Kathal
I assume EDF is Elder Deep-Fiend; which is actually super sweet, but I'm running him in Bant - I see no reason to grab him in Temur.
(I agree there's no reason to move to Temur)
That said, Elder Deep-Feind has been good. He's a clock; another psuedo-timewalk effect; searchable off Mystical; can be bought back off Pulse of Murasa; just a lot of versatility in this shell.
Not 100% on him yet; but so far I've been more pleased than not. I rarely use emerge; 8 mana is not a lot in this deck anyways.
While I can see his value, I'm quite hesitant to add another high end drop into the deck, which I do not really want to cast in my endstep (aka abusing Wild Rec triggers). It is basically in the same slot as Nexus of Fate.
Though, he has a nice synergy with Eternal Witness and Pulse of Murasa
Greetings,
Kathal
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What I play or have:
Modern/Legacy
either funpolice (Delver, Deathcloud, UW Control) or the fun decks (especially those ft. Griselbrand)
Yes, payday! I'm renewing my manatraders account tonight and I'll finally be able to play this pile of glorious cards!
@Kathal,
Are you still running the same list? Any new innovations or tweaks? I'm planning on running the stock build for awhile but wanna keep other options in mind.
Yes elder deep fiend. The buy back off of koz return when you cast edf isn’t anything to overlook. With 6 land and a rec you have 7 damage worth of sweeping and leave behind a 5/6 threat. Sleeper seems plenty fine vs a lot of the format to me but I guess I could be wrong.
Could somebody pleas post a new link to the discord server?
Looking forward to building and playing this deck!
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Modern: Jund // Death's Shadow // Tron (Gx or Eldrazi) // UWx Control (just getting started)
Legacy: Grixis Delver // Czech Pile // GB Elves!
Pauper: A little bit of whatever I like.
Can you guys post your winrate against burn? I feel it's 85% favoured for the burn player. I know there's a video of FTZZ winning against burn with a pulse in his opening hand, but in reality the matchup rarely plays out that way. My personal experience is that this deck is way too clunky to survive long enough to teach into lifegain if you don't draw your lifegain naturally. And even if you survive the first 4 turns, looping cryptics also often doesn't really seal the deal for you because you can't counter their bolts AND tap their creatures with cryptic at the same time (smart burn players attack first, cast spells later), and you don't have many ways of ending the game quickly, so after playing a few cryptics you're often still dead.
the #1 reason i saw to play rug was the ability to run invert//invent and expansion // explosion. the former is basically a more expensive version of teachings, but is really neat if you run merchant scroll, and the latter is a slot-in over blue sun's zenith. another neat piece of tech is research // development which is a nice way to close out the game with tokens and turns, gain card advantage, or tutor in silver bullets, but is weak to the fact that it gives your opponent a choice. still, i found the lack of teachings to be a huge weakness to the BUGX lists.
i've been running a bant + black list, only using only 1 watery grave for teachings flashback. the main point of it is to be able to run glittering wish as a flexible way to find the answers you need.
First they came for the Cantrips, and I didn't speak up, because I wasn't a Cantrip.
Then they came for the Artifacts, and I didn't speak up, because I was an Instant.
Then they came for the Rituals, and I didn't speak up, because I wasn't really a Ritual.
Then they came for me, and by that time there was no one left to speak up for me.
Problem is creeping tar pit is imo by far the best creature land to close out games. I think it’s hard to go wrong with any combination and a lot of it depends on your meta and how the matchups line up. I made small changes but I’ll post my list less messy in a second.
Edit: if On bant I wonder if a narset build is possible.
@JochemW, I have the same experiences, concerning Burn. I can almost turn the corner, but if they draw half-decent, they win game one. I have been doing much better in postboard games, with another Pulse of Murasa and two Life Goes On in the side, along with a fourth Fatal Push in the side (I play three in the main).
So, played the same 75 as I posted early today at a local tournament.
Round 1 vs Amulet Titan: 0-1 [0-2]
Game 1 I misplay hard by not utilising Cryptic good enough in that match-up. He tutored a Cavern up via Tolaria, named Titan attacked me low and a Balista (again with the Cavern) killed me than.
Game 2 I had a hand which I should have mulliganed drew poorly afterwards and lost again to mediocre beats (Trinket Mage killed me basically). Bought a lot of time with Cryptics and bouncing their taplands, but when you do not draw any pay off cards (and no Reclamation either in both games) it becomes nigh impossible to win.
Round 2 vs Hardening Scales 1-1 [2-0]
Game 1 he went for an greedy all in to kill me, I had the Decay and the Echoing Decay to wipe his board. Set-up several Nexus, drew a boatload of cards and than won via a big BSZ.
Game 2 I had Fracturing Gust into Consume the Meek, 'nugh said.
Game 1 was a slug fest but I died to his beats since I was again not able to find any reasonable pay off card (so no Teachings, Hiro or BSZ). Sucks, but nothing I can do.
Game 2 was a slugfest. I had the mana advanatage even though he had two Vials (he was stuck on 3 lands). Abusing Wild Rec with Teachings netted me with a clean board on his side and a full stocked hand for me. He shortly conceded afterwards.
Game 3 was mediocre beats from him, it went to time, I cleaned his board, I had 8 power on the battle field but had no turn anymore to win.
Round 4 vs UW Control 2-1-1 (2-0)
Game 1 we played draw and go, I resolved a Wild Rec when he had 2 mana open and was able to pull back, since he was able to cast a Jace on his turn. After a boatload of turns of trading resources (he had the advantage at the beginning due to a three turn Jace BS, two Hiro and a two turn Teferi), but after a second Wild Rec into a big BSZ I was able to pull ahead and he conceded.
Game 2 was nonsensical. I kept a land with 5 lands + 2 Growth Spiral and had 6 lands on turn 4. Since I beat him down via Snapcasters, he was forced to D-Sphere them (two of them). I Decayed, got two triggers doubled Growth Spiral again and than he basically lost. No way he can recover from that.
Overall 2-1-1 where I should have won the drawn game and against Amulet RNG happened.
Deck felt good but sometimes I missed drawing more gas, which happened quite often in the last few games, need to look deeper into it (just cantripping is rarely enough). Also, something like Secure the Waste or Explosion would have been nice, since the BSZ was kinda clunky more often than not. Problem is: Wrong colours :/
Hence, I will try Bant next, just need to ponder about what midgame CA I want.
Edit says: Just found Fall of the Titans, better win spell than Explosion, cause it can be used as a Removal spell and as a winspell for a low amount of mana.
Greetings,
Kathal
PS: The only reason, why I would go into R is, cause of Firemind's Foresight which should win the game in the next turn, if you are able to cast it.
I really don’t think the red is hard to add at all and return has just been amazing! I went 4-1 today beating grixis shadow, green divotion, grixis titi (idk what else was with it because it wasn’t close) and hardened scales affinity. My lose was to an 8 rack brew and game three I couldn’t put race all the wrench minds.
I think the card you might really be missing is search for azcanta. It’s just so powerful in these decks when you want to dig for the cards you actually want not just more draws. Another odd choice I made was alhamerts archive and oh man is that card gas when it’s online! I t3’d wilderness and t4’d archive and I think that’s the most fun I’ve had in a long time. Im testing it more to see if it’s just win more but the fact that after you play it you untap with one of many spells that cantrip it just pays for itself extremely fast.
The biggest innovation/difference in this list is the full-blown use of Hieroglyphic Illumination instead of Opt. How much does Opt's additional card filtering help right now?
This would mean that only Fatal push and Spell Snare would take a hit. To Push there are some alternatives like Dismember and Cast Down, Spell Snare on the other hand is very specific and might be one of the first things you want to cut in some matchups anyways.
Is Chalice too cute or can it help in enough matchups ( GDS, UR Phoenix..)
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My decks:
Competetive: Lantern Control, MonoR Phoenix, Dredge
Meta-Dependant: Modern Cheeri0s, Esper Spirits, Wilderness Teachings , Modern Elves, All-in Death's Shadow, Aristocrats, BW Death&Taxes
Fun own projects: Spireside Industries, UB Scrapyard, Thundercat Worship, Dirty Kitten, RB Rock, Eternal Toolbox
I actually feel like Cast Down is exceptionally good in the meta right now; so there might be some merit to the Chalice plan.
When I have some downtime I'll draw up a list and throw it into a friendly league and see how it feels; probably tomorrow evening.
No opts make snapcaster worse. But I like the chalice idea. You could probably play 1 dismember over a push or something. If you play 4x chalice would you play thirst for knowledge instead of illumination, or just put chalice in the board? Chalice main sounds spicy, but then what do you do if you have remand or growth spiral?
The blue tron list that got 8th place in that mtgo challenge was playing 4x chalice main. However that list has slightly fewer 2 cmc cards than these bug lists.
I've been playing around too with a few chalice decks last week. Goldfished a few different brews a bit, but found it significantly more clunky than with one-drops, especially because you don't have spirit guides for a T1 2 drop play (I even tried 2 gemstone caverns, but that card hurts your manabase more than it helps in this deck). being able to cycle your 4 Illumination is also significantly worse than being able to play 8 opt + push/path. My conclusion was that it does not wreck enough decks to be worth being a worse deck against all other decks. But if anybody reaches a different conclusion I'd love to hear it, because I like lock-style decks.
Ok, I'm trying to solve the issue this deck has that often you have a reclamation out, but are nonetheless unable to close the game within a few turns. This is an issue against decks like burn and storm that kill you even if you keep cryptic up, but also in a lot of situations where opponent has an amount of resilient threats on board, which often happens against spirits, hardened scales, dredge, hollow one, etc. In these situations durdling around with zenith for 2 or 3, or looping nexus or a few cryptics without being able to kill him in the meantime often leads to losing the game after all, plus not having enough time left to squeeze out two wins, so you draw the match at best.
Two weird solutions that I brewed up are:
1. Panglacial wurm.
Between fetches and teachings, casting this thing during your end step (from your library, card advantage!) is a breeze as soon as turn 4 with enough mana left open to remand/logic knot something during opponent's turn.
2. Switching Nexus, Zenith and one Cryptic for a Worldspine Wurm, Through the Breach and a Summoner's pact.
Together with teachings this means you have a deck with effectively 5x through the breach and 6x worldspine wurm. So as long as you have one half of the combo in hand, this is a very consistent turn 4 combo that only takes 3 spots in your deck.
I'm going to test one of those solutions during two paper tournaments this weekend. Which one should I test?
I feel that panglacial wurm only taking one slot is much better than the other route. Both get blown by Path anyway, and it lets you keep Zenith in which imo is a great card in this deck. I’d go with that but I don’t feel like it’s an “I win” button as opponents might have high life totals and a pretty good board in the situations you described. It kind of encourages you to go on a couple extra turns with nexus, but then you’ll need a billion mana... not in love with the ideas
I am sticking to my Whir of Invention route. Sometimes I just Whir for a Torrential Gearhulk to have a beater out, my other big Whir Target has become Panoptic Mirror, as it can imprint stuff depending on your mana and can go infinite with the Nexus. I play at least two Nexi to be sure I don't lose my only extra turn spell.
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My decks:
Competetive: Lantern Control, MonoR Phoenix, Dredge
Meta-Dependant: Modern Cheeri0s, Esper Spirits, Wilderness Teachings , Modern Elves, All-in Death's Shadow, Aristocrats, BW Death&Taxes
Fun own projects: Spireside Industries, UB Scrapyard, Thundercat Worship, Dirty Kitten, RB Rock, Eternal Toolbox
I am wondering, why do these decks only run 3 wildernes reclamation? Would not 4 be better? It cas so much card draw, having 2 in hand does not seem that bad.
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I have dyslexia, no I am not going to spell check for you, yes you have to live with the horrors of it.
I am wondering, why do these decks only run 3 wildernes reclamation? Would not 4 be better? It cas so much card draw, having 2 in hand does not seem that bad.
I've actually been asking the opposite question: why don't these lists run 2 Wilderness Reclamation instead? Several times, I've had WR on the battlefield and no mana sinks of any kind to take advantage of it, thus making WR a dead card for the time being. And yes, I've tended to lose those games.
Tapping out for WR gets increasingly risky post-board and against blue decks, anyway.
Additionally, I've never felt the need to have 3 WRs on the battlefield at once. 2 is already plenty and to the win-more side.
I understand that one of them gets boarded out quite often. That being said, the card is the most broken in the deck and what allows all the nonsense, so you wanna draw it. Playing rec t3 or t4 really puts you ahead and brings you into the realm of the unfair. Yet it’s true that you need gas to take advantage of it, so I guess 3 is just the sweet spot.
Remember that playing teachings was never good in modern: it’s the mana from reclamation that makes it good.
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Besides this, RUG has a real problem with removal and CA. Bolt is simply not a good removal spell in today's metagame (either it can only remove recurring creatures, doesn't kill most creatures (Drakes, Goyf, Hallow One, Anglers, Death Shadow,...) and those creatures it can kill, Push can also kill even without Revolt). Sure, Kozilek's Return is a decent sweeper, but against those decks where you really would want it (Spirits, Humans, Hardening Affinity, Devoted Druid,...) it is not even that good to begin with.
I simply see no reason at all to go RUG atm, since it offers so little to the deck. Bant looks straight up better than RUG and I do not really like Bant so far (dunno why, it somehow feels a little bit clunkier when playing it out).
Greetings,
Kathal
Modern/Legacy
either funpolice (Delver, Deathcloud, UW Control) or the fun decks (especially those ft. Griselbrand)
I assume EDF is Elder Deep-Fiend; which is actually super sweet, but I'm running him in Bant - I see no reason to grab him in Temur.
(I agree there's no reason to move to Temur)
That said, Elder Deep-Feind has been good. He's a clock; another psuedo-timewalk effect; searchable off Mystical; can be bought back off Pulse of Murasa; just a lot of versatility in this shell.
Not 100% on him yet; but so far I've been more pleased than not. I rarely use emerge; 8 mana is not a lot in this deck anyways.
Though, he has a nice synergy with Eternal Witness and Pulse of Murasa
Greetings,
Kathal
Modern/Legacy
either funpolice (Delver, Deathcloud, UW Control) or the fun decks (especially those ft. Griselbrand)
@Kathal,
Are you still running the same list? Any new innovations or tweaks? I'm planning on running the stock build for awhile but wanna keep other options in mind.
Thanks!
I’ll add my current list
1 Blue Sun's Zenith
2 Breeding Pool
1 Creeping Tar Pit
4 Cryptic Command
1 Elder Deep-Fiend
1 Electrolyze
1 Expansion/Explosion
1 Forest
4 Growth Spiral
2 Hinterland Harbor
4 Island
1 Kolaghan's Command
1 Kozilek's Return
4 Misty Rainforest
3 Mystical Teachings
1 Nexus of Fate
4 Opt
2 Polluted Delta
2 Pulse of Murasa
4 Remand
2 Search for Azcanta
3 Snapcaster Mage
2 Steam Vents
2 Sulfur Falls
1 Swamp
2 Watery Grave
3 Wilderness Reclamation
2 Ceremonious Rejection
1 Crypt Incursion
2 Dispel
1 Essence Scatter
1 Harvest Pyre
1 Life Goes On
2 Natural State
1 Nimble Obstructionist
1 Shadow of Doubt
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Vendilion Clique
Looking forward to building and playing this deck!
Legacy: Grixis Delver // Czech Pile // GB Elves!
Pauper: A little bit of whatever I like.
What's your experience here?
i've been running a bant + black list, only using only 1 watery grave for teachings flashback. the main point of it is to be able to run glittering wish as a flexible way to find the answers you need.
2 Breeding Pool
2 Celestial Colonnade
1 Field of Ruin
3 Flooded Strand
2 Forest
2 Hallowed Fountain
4 Island
2 Misty Rainforest
3 Plains
1 Temple Garden
1 Watery Grave
2 Windswept Heath
Instant
2 Path to Exile
3 Opt
1 Spell Snare
3 Remand
4 Growth Spiral
2 Settle the Wreckage
1 Chemister's Insight
3 Mystical Teachings
2 Cryptic Command
1 Nexus of Fate
1 Emergency Powers
1 Logic Knot
1 March of the Multitudes
3 Glittering Wish
1 Wargate
Creature
3 Snapcaster Mage
Planeswalker
1 Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
Enchantment
3 Wilderness Reclamation
1 Glare of Heresy
3 Leyline of Sanctity
2 Dispel
1 Negate
1 Detention Sphere
1 Supreme Verdict
1 Emergency Powers
1 Sundering Growth
1 Wheel of Sun and Moon
1 March of the Multitudes
1 Bring to Light
1 Wargate
Edit: if On bant I wonder if a narset build is possible.
1 Elder Deep-Fiend
3 Snapcaster Mage
1 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
Enchantment (5)
2 Search for Azcanta
3 Wilderness Reclamation
Instant (26)
1 Blue Sun's Zenith
4 Cryptic Command
1 Electrolyze
1 Expansion // Explosion
4 Growth Spiral
1 Kolaghan's Command
2 Kozilek's Return
2 Mystical Teachings
1 Nexus of Fate
3 Opt
1 Pulse of Murasa
4 Remand
1 Whispers of the Muse
1 Alhammarret's Archive
Land (23)
2 Breeding Pool
1 Creeping Tar Pit
1 Forest
2 Hinterland Harbor
4 Island
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Polluted Delta
2 Steam Vents
2 Sulfur Falls
1 Swamp
2 Watery Grave
1 Abrade
1 Ancient Grudge
2 Ceremonious Rejection
1 Crypt Incursion
1 Combust
2 Dispel
1 Life Goes On
1 Natural State
1 Nimble Obstructionist
1 Shadow of Doubt
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Vendilion Clique
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
I'm newer to Discord, so I'm not entirely sure this will work, but try this:
Https://discord.gg/4dYNxKF
Round 1 vs Amulet Titan: 0-1 [0-2]
Game 1 I misplay hard by not utilising Cryptic good enough in that match-up. He tutored a Cavern up via Tolaria, named Titan attacked me low and a Balista (again with the Cavern) killed me than.
Game 2 I had a hand which I should have mulliganed drew poorly afterwards and lost again to mediocre beats (Trinket Mage killed me basically). Bought a lot of time with Cryptics and bouncing their taplands, but when you do not draw any pay off cards (and no Reclamation either in both games) it becomes nigh impossible to win.
Round 2 vs Hardening Scales 1-1 [2-0]
Game 1 he went for an greedy all in to kill me, I had the Decay and the Echoing Decay to wipe his board. Set-up several Nexus, drew a boatload of cards and than won via a big BSZ.
Game 2 I had Fracturing Gust into Consume the Meek, 'nugh said.
Round 3 vs UR Snappy + Dare Devil + Phantasmal Image + Pestermite + Aether Vial + Kiki Jiki... 1-1-1 (1-1-1)
Game 1 was a slug fest but I died to his beats since I was again not able to find any reasonable pay off card (so no Teachings, Hiro or BSZ). Sucks, but nothing I can do.
Game 2 was a slugfest. I had the mana advanatage even though he had two Vials (he was stuck on 3 lands). Abusing Wild Rec with Teachings netted me with a clean board on his side and a full stocked hand for me. He shortly conceded afterwards.
Game 3 was mediocre beats from him, it went to time, I cleaned his board, I had 8 power on the battle field but had no turn anymore to win.
Round 4 vs UW Control 2-1-1 (2-0)
Game 1 we played draw and go, I resolved a Wild Rec when he had 2 mana open and was able to pull back, since he was able to cast a Jace on his turn. After a boatload of turns of trading resources (he had the advantage at the beginning due to a three turn Jace BS, two Hiro and a two turn Teferi), but after a second Wild Rec into a big BSZ I was able to pull ahead and he conceded.
Game 2 was nonsensical. I kept a land with 5 lands + 2 Growth Spiral and had 6 lands on turn 4. Since I beat him down via Snapcasters, he was forced to D-Sphere them (two of them). I Decayed, got two triggers doubled Growth Spiral again and than he basically lost. No way he can recover from that.
Overall 2-1-1 where I should have won the drawn game and against Amulet RNG happened.
Deck felt good but sometimes I missed drawing more gas, which happened quite often in the last few games, need to look deeper into it (just cantripping is rarely enough). Also, something like Secure the Waste or Explosion would have been nice, since the BSZ was kinda clunky more often than not. Problem is: Wrong colours :/
Hence, I will try Bant next, just need to ponder about what midgame CA I want.
Edit says: Just found Fall of the Titans, better win spell than Explosion, cause it can be used as a Removal spell and as a winspell for a low amount of mana.
Greetings,
Kathal
PS: The only reason, why I would go into R is, cause of Firemind's Foresight which should win the game in the next turn, if you are able to cast it.
Modern/Legacy
either funpolice (Delver, Deathcloud, UW Control) or the fun decks (especially those ft. Griselbrand)
I think the card you might really be missing is search for azcanta. It’s just so powerful in these decks when you want to dig for the cards you actually want not just more draws. Another odd choice I made was alhamerts archive and oh man is that card gas when it’s online! I t3’d wilderness and t4’d archive and I think that’s the most fun I’ve had in a long time. Im testing it more to see if it’s just win more but the fact that after you play it you untap with one of many spells that cantrip it just pays for itself extremely fast.
1 Field of Ruin
2 Creeping Tar Pit
1 Drowned Catacomb
1 Flooded Grove
2 Hinterland Harbor
2 Misty Rainforest
4 Polluted Delta
1 Verdant Catacombs
3 Breeding Pool
2 Watery Grave
4 Island
1 Forest
1 Swamp
Creatures
3 Snapcaster Mage
3 Wilderness Reclamation
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Assassin's Trophy
1 Blue Sun's Zenith
4 Cryptic Command
1 Devour Flesh
2 Fatal Push
4 Growth Spiral
4 Hieroglyphic Illumination
1 Logic Knot
3 Mystical Teachings
1 Nexus of Fate
1 Pulse of Murasa
4 Remand
1 Spell Snare
2 Fatal Push
1 Ceremonious Rejection
1 Consume the Meek
2 Dispel
1 Echoing Decay
1 Fracturing Gust
1 Hero's Downfall
2 Life Goes On
2 Ravenous Trap
1 Surgical Extraction
1 Unravel the Aether
The biggest innovation/difference in this list is the full-blown use of Hieroglyphic Illumination instead of Opt. How much does Opt's additional card filtering help right now?
This would mean that only Fatal push and Spell Snare would take a hit. To Push there are some alternatives like Dismember and Cast Down, Spell Snare on the other hand is very specific and might be one of the first things you want to cut in some matchups anyways.
Is Chalice too cute or can it help in enough matchups ( GDS, UR Phoenix..)
Competetive: Lantern Control, MonoR Phoenix, Dredge
Meta-Dependant: Modern Cheeri0s, Esper Spirits, Wilderness Teachings , Modern Elves, All-in Death's Shadow, Aristocrats, BW Death&Taxes
Fun own projects: Spireside Industries, UB Scrapyard, Thundercat Worship, Dirty Kitten, RB Rock, Eternal Toolbox
When I have some downtime I'll draw up a list and throw it into a friendly league and see how it feels; probably tomorrow evening.
Conceptually, I like it a lot
The blue tron list that got 8th place in that mtgo challenge was playing 4x chalice main. However that list has slightly fewer 2 cmc cards than these bug lists.
Two weird solutions that I brewed up are:
1. Panglacial wurm.
Between fetches and teachings, casting this thing during your end step (from your library, card advantage!) is a breeze as soon as turn 4 with enough mana left open to remand/logic knot something during opponent's turn.
2. Switching Nexus, Zenith and one Cryptic for a Worldspine Wurm, Through the Breach and a Summoner's pact.
Together with teachings this means you have a deck with effectively 5x through the breach and 6x worldspine wurm. So as long as you have one half of the combo in hand, this is a very consistent turn 4 combo that only takes 3 spots in your deck.
I'm going to test one of those solutions during two paper tournaments this weekend. Which one should I test?
Competetive: Lantern Control, MonoR Phoenix, Dredge
Meta-Dependant: Modern Cheeri0s, Esper Spirits, Wilderness Teachings , Modern Elves, All-in Death's Shadow, Aristocrats, BW Death&Taxes
Fun own projects: Spireside Industries, UB Scrapyard, Thundercat Worship, Dirty Kitten, RB Rock, Eternal Toolbox
I've actually been asking the opposite question: why don't these lists run 2 Wilderness Reclamation instead? Several times, I've had WR on the battlefield and no mana sinks of any kind to take advantage of it, thus making WR a dead card for the time being. And yes, I've tended to lose those games.
Tapping out for WR gets increasingly risky post-board and against blue decks, anyway.
Additionally, I've never felt the need to have 3 WRs on the battlefield at once. 2 is already plenty and to the win-more side.
Remember that playing teachings was never good in modern: it’s the mana from reclamation that makes it good.