What do you mean by draw spells though? In my mind, a draw spell is a card that can replace itself while increasing your hand size. Cantrips just replace themselves. Is Electrolyze part of your draw spells?
I just want to understand what youre saying because right now I dont know if "draw spells" reffera to the total of sphinx's, think twices, and cantrips, or, if you mean just the actual hand size increasing spells.
Right now, I have 2 Remands, 3 Cryptics, 3 Think Twice, 2 Sphinx's, 2 Shadows, and 3 Electrolyzes. Too much?
In modern there really aren't to many great draw spells. What's the best playable draw spell? Esper Charm? Not in our colors. Sphinx? Very expensive and dead in a lot of matchups. Maybe a 1 of.
That leaves only cards that replace themselves like Remand. Cantrips are a must to keep your hand full in this format and to keep you plopping down lands on curve.
I've been wondering about Shadow of Doubt for a long time. Jex, what matchups do you find it preferable in? I'm thinking it's great against: Tron, Bloom, Junk and Jund (high number of fetches), Scapeshift, and Chord based decks. Since that makes up a good deal of the current meta, it might be worth mainboarding as a flex spot. It looks bad against: Affinity, Merfolk, Elves, Infect, Living End, Burn, and Bogles. Since the later are already (mostly) decent matchups, I think it's worth improving our worst matchups with that flex spot.
Sniping fetches doesn't really appeal to me very much with shadow. Our deck really does not take advantage of tempo plays like that. Sure there are those insane starts of shadow and snapcaster that punish bad starts but generally I like think twice better as card advantage is everything. In an open meta i love think twice but if there is amulet and tron in your meta shadow could work.
Sniping fetches doesn't really appeal to me very much with shadow. Our deck really does not take advantage of tempo plays like that. Sure there are those insane starts of shadow and snapcaster that punish bad starts but generally I like think twice better as card advantage is everything. In an open meta i love think twice but if there is amulet and tron in your meta shadow could work.
Seriously? You snipe an aggro decks second or third land, and you've bought yourself at least 2 to 3 points of damage. That could be an entire turn AND you draw a card. Against combo, it's just amazing. They are super sensitive to being set behind. The fact that it hoses other decks is just gravy. That being said, I tend to change up my flex spots a lot just to keep things interesting, and I'm not particularly fond of the solid color casting cost.
I like the older style of this deck because otherwise I'd just play Esper so I can run Esper Charm. I actually really like the Esper deck that uses Murderous Cut, Tasigur and Souls. The Japanese have been running decks along those lines on very minimal lands, it's a pretty cool build. The only reason I see to play UWR is Bolt / Helix / Electrolyze and Keranos as a curve topper so really I'm trying to build around that. I suppose it's nice to have Crumble to Dust sideboard as well, that card is great against Tron.
Lugger. Originality is fantastic, but your deck is drastically different to the traditional UWR control to the point where I believe it loses it's identity. While Hangerback is a fantastic card, for example, and would go with this deck's slow, durdly theme and the fact we run 25 lands and tend to have 8 to 10 lands lategame, however, it enables commonly run removal spells (Pyroclasm, Cuts, Paths, Terminates) to suddenly be effective, while otherwise those spells would just sit in the enemy's hands.
The reason this deck has not changed much in recent years is because it did not need to.
There are plenty of other decks that changed as little as we did over the years. Look at Tron, for example.
Everything we run is still optimal. This is also because we run some of the most iconic and impactful cards in modern; when wizards designs a card with modern in mind, they design it with cards like Bolt, Path, and Cryptic in mind.
Hangarback is also borderline playable in modern outside of affinity. It's a 4 drop which dies really, really badly to Path. I prefer Lingering Souls over it by a long shot.
A good reason to run this deck is that it's incredibly rewarding for tight play. It has an extremely high skill cap, and rewards dedicated players very well. You can beat anything outside of Tron, with a fight albeit, but beat them nonetheless.
Sniping fetches doesn't really appeal to me very much with shadow. Our deck really does not take advantage of tempo plays like that. Sure there are those insane starts of shadow and snapcaster that punish bad starts but generally I like think twice better as card advantage is everything. In an open meta i love think twice but if there is amulet and tron in your meta shadow could work.
Seriously? You snipe an aggro decks second or third land, and you've bought yourself at least 2 to 3 points of damage. That could be an entire turn AND you draw a card. Against combo, it's just amazing. They are super sensitive to being set behind. The fact that it hoses other decks is just gravy. That being said, I tend to change up my flex spots a lot just to keep things interesting, and I'm not particularly fond of the solid color casting cost.
Here's a stupid brew. Unlikely to be any good but there are some cool tools here.
Good luck with any of that.
no doubt no doubt. but honestly against aggro decks, its very unlikely im going to be spending the first few turns holding up mana so i can shadow of doubt a land. Ill be playing cards like bolt mana leak and helix. By the time casting a shadow of doubt is a good play they will most likely have the land they need since theyre made to function with little land. Granted this is not the case all the time, and id probably keep it in vs some naya nonsense.
Hangarback Walker works as a 2 drop in some decks but it's fairly iffy. It has weird Synergy with Dromoka's Command so you see it suggested in stuff like Knightfall. Path to Exile is definitely an arbiter in Modern but Path doesn't stop Finks or Wurmcoil or other cards it hates on getting played.
I like having Shadow becauase I want to specificaly hate on Tron.
What do you guys think about the new Gideon? He makes good blockers, clocks like no one's buisness, can survive a bolt and he even dodges Liliana and non-exile removal.
Im still not sure though because he's not as un-removable as Keranos, and he has no evasion.
Supreme Verdict, attack with Gideon. Thats a nice interaction.
Izzet Charm gets used. Wall of Omens used to get used when people still ran Resto Angels.
Azorius Charm is a card I like that I rarely ever see getting used. It REALLY punishes aggressive decks as I forces them to redraw as well as replay a card, that is it's strongest effect. Outside of that it's just overpriced / difficult costed draw a card which is why it gets overlooked. Azorius Charm is a card I could see in a number decks potentially.
Shoal is a bad card. Force of Will it aint. For one, you need to have the specific CMC of the card in your hand that you want to counter making it inflexible, you also may not want to get rid of that specific card. Then, providing you have that, you two for one them in their favour. You use two cards to stop them playing one card. Control decks place a premium on card advantage. If you intend to hard cast it you might as well use Logic Knot.
Peer Through Depths is okay as a cantrip and sees some play because of it. The selection nice if you really want to find a sweeper for example and the Instant speed is really nice. I see a couple of them ran alongside Think Twice in Esper Draw Go often enough. Think Twice is usually preferred for long-game control as it's two cards for one card and the split cost lets you draw a card while leaving mana open for something like a counterspell as opposed to a card that draws two but costs more. Because it's instant speed they flash it back in your endstep as well if you don't force them to tap out prior.
Izzet Charm is nice. It has the flexibility of a counterspell against a spell heavy deck and removal against one that's not. 2 damage isn't a lot but it does remove a number of things. I see it a lot in Grixis Delve because they also get use out of the Faithless Looting portion of it to power a Tasigur or Angler drop. In our deck it could be used to power Logic Knot potentially as a mana leak that stays more relevant late game. I dunno, it's something to think about.
Boomerang is a really odd card btw because unlike Vapor Snag it bounces any permanent, which includes land. It's a tempo card meaning it doesn't fit Control but it is slightly underused outside of that for essentially making people miss a turns land-drop while needing to re-shock themselves.
In control matchups you could take out leak and verdict. Against aggro take out remands. And against combo take out what is bad against their decks. Why do I think this could be playable because your opponent drops removal spells so he will go unintended and if he is let lose he could take over the game.
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This is my current deck minus the sideboard, I'm pretty happy with it.
4 Flooded Strand
4 Celestial Colonnade
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Steam Vent
2 Island
1 Mountain
1 Plains
4 Sulfur Falls
1 Desolate Lighthouse
2 Ghost Quarter
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Lighting Helix
4 Path to Exile
4 Remand
2 Mana Leak
2 Spell Snare
1 Supreme Verdict
1 Sphinx Revelation
4 Cryptic Command
1 Keranos, God of Storms
I just want to understand what youre saying because right now I dont know if "draw spells" reffera to the total of sphinx's, think twices, and cantrips, or, if you mean just the actual hand size increasing spells.
Right now, I have 2 Remands, 3 Cryptics, 3 Think Twice, 2 Sphinx's, 2 Shadows, and 3 Electrolyzes. Too much?
WUR Control
WB Tokens
That leaves only cards that replace themselves like Remand. Cantrips are a must to keep your hand full in this format and to keep you plopping down lands on curve.
I've been wondering about Shadow of Doubt for a long time. Jex, what matchups do you find it preferable in? I'm thinking it's great against: Tron, Bloom, Junk and Jund (high number of fetches), Scapeshift, and Chord based decks. Since that makes up a good deal of the current meta, it might be worth mainboarding as a flex spot. It looks bad against: Affinity, Merfolk, Elves, Infect, Living End, Burn, and Bogles. Since the later are already (mostly) decent matchups, I think it's worth improving our worst matchups with that flex spot.
Thoughts?
4x Lightning Bolt
2x Lightning Helix
4x Serum Visions
2x Mana Leak
1x Electrolyze
3x Path to Exile
1x Sphinx's Revelation
Creatures: (9)
2x Snapcaster Mage
2x Pia and Kiran Nalaar
2x Spellskite
2x Hangarback Walker
1x Solemn Simulacrum
1x Tezzeret the Seeker
Enchantments: (3)
3x Thopter Spy Network
Artifacts: (5)
3x Talisman of Progress
1x Wurmcoil Engine
1x Mishra's Bauble
Lands: (25)
4x Darksteel Citadel
2x Celestial Colonnade
2x Steam Vents
1x Hallowed Fountain
1x Sacred Foundry
2x Island
2x Plains
1x Mountain
1x Glacial Fortress
4x Scalding Tarn
4x Flooded Strand
1x Blinkmoth Nexus
You guys do realize it's no longer 2013, right?
Here's a stupid brew. Unlikely to be any good but there are some cool tools here.
Seriously? You snipe an aggro decks second or third land, and you've bought yourself at least 2 to 3 points of damage. That could be an entire turn AND you draw a card. Against combo, it's just amazing. They are super sensitive to being set behind. The fact that it hoses other decks is just gravy. That being said, I tend to change up my flex spots a lot just to keep things interesting, and I'm not particularly fond of the solid color casting cost.
Good luck with any of that.
The reason this deck has not changed much in recent years is because it did not need to.
There are plenty of other decks that changed as little as we did over the years. Look at Tron, for example.
Everything we run is still optimal. This is also because we run some of the most iconic and impactful cards in modern; when wizards designs a card with modern in mind, they design it with cards like Bolt, Path, and Cryptic in mind.
Thus, the deck is still highly relevant.
WUR Control
WB Tokens
A good reason to run this deck is that it's incredibly rewarding for tight play. It has an extremely high skill cap, and rewards dedicated players very well. You can beat anything outside of Tron, with a fight albeit, but beat them nonetheless.
UWR Control
Legacy:
W D&T
no doubt no doubt. but honestly against aggro decks, its very unlikely im going to be spending the first few turns holding up mana so i can shadow of doubt a land. Ill be playing cards like bolt mana leak and helix. By the time casting a shadow of doubt is a good play they will most likely have the land they need since theyre made to function with little land. Granted this is not the case all the time, and id probably keep it in vs some naya nonsense.
UWR Control
Legacy:
W D&T
What do you guys think about the new Gideon? He makes good blockers, clocks like no one's buisness, can survive a bolt and he even dodges Liliana and non-exile removal.
Im still not sure though because he's not as un-removable as Keranos, and he has no evasion.
Supreme Verdict, attack with Gideon. Thats a nice interaction.
WUR Control
WB Tokens
Azorius Charm
Boomerang
Disrupting Shoal
Izzet Charm
Muddle the Mixture
Peer Through Depths
Wall of Omens
Thoughts.
Azorius Charm is a card I like that I rarely ever see getting used. It REALLY punishes aggressive decks as I forces them to redraw as well as replay a card, that is it's strongest effect. Outside of that it's just overpriced / difficult costed draw a card which is why it gets overlooked. Azorius Charm is a card I could see in a number decks potentially.
Shoal is a bad card. Force of Will it aint. For one, you need to have the specific CMC of the card in your hand that you want to counter making it inflexible, you also may not want to get rid of that specific card. Then, providing you have that, you two for one them in their favour. You use two cards to stop them playing one card. Control decks place a premium on card advantage. If you intend to hard cast it you might as well use Logic Knot.
Peer Through Depths is okay as a cantrip and sees some play because of it. The selection nice if you really want to find a sweeper for example and the Instant speed is really nice. I see a couple of them ran alongside Think Twice in Esper Draw Go often enough. Think Twice is usually preferred for long-game control as it's two cards for one card and the split cost lets you draw a card while leaving mana open for something like a counterspell as opposed to a card that draws two but costs more. Because it's instant speed they flash it back in your endstep as well if you don't force them to tap out prior.
Boomerang is a really odd card btw because unlike Vapor Snag it bounces any permanent, which includes land. It's a tempo card meaning it doesn't fit Control but it is slightly underused outside of that for essentially making people miss a turns land-drop while needing to re-shock themselves.
What matchup are you bringing them in against and what would you take out?