Hey guys, I'm currently getting into this archetype and after testing it a few times it really is a very interactive and fun deck to play. The high density of burn spells (to the face) and incidental life gain is something I really dig compared to other decks I play (Grixis Delver and a bit of URb Twin). I got a question about Geist though, is 3 really too few and 4 the number? In some match-ups he is obviously amazing but in some match-ups I'd rather have something else and it can get stuck in your hand when you have one on the field.
Also, what do people think about Blade Splicer? It's a pet card of mine and I think a single Splicer can be good. It's 4 power for 3 over 2 bodies, it has great synergy with Resto, resillent vs sacrifice, blocks Etched Champion and hold the fort well vs smaller creatures.
I think 4 is best because it's usually how you're winning games, but I'm also playing to 2 Elspeth's in the main, so I want to see both of those as much as possible.
Is it recommended to run copies of Serum Visions or Anticipate in the deck?
Anticipate is never worthwhile as the selection doesn't outweigh the fact you're paying 2 mana for it. If you were playing a Control deck, you might consider a cantrip like Think Twice as it can generate card advantage when you have excess mana. Anticipate doesn't generate any advantage, it just replaces itself.
Much the same with Serum Visions, it helps dig through the top of your deck but it wastes a mana you could be using on something else. It's not a bad card, it's just a better card in combo decks. If you are running a combo in the deck you might like it but otherwise I'd take something else like a counterspell or more removal.
Serum Visions is not brainstorm or ponder or even preordain but it is the next best thing and it should be run to control land drops and find cards. Playing without visions is a mistake.
I disagree. Serum Visions isn't strong enough to play, especially since it is sorcery speed. We have the advantage of being able to play almost entirely on our opponent's turn, and playing Visions takes away from that.
Sure - everyone is allowed to have an opinion - but the 'we are in instant speed deck (Geist, cough, cough)' doesn't invalidate the use of Visions - most ppl run it that play Geist - you are in the minority with that view point.
I agree with this. To expand, Serum Visions essentially replaces itself at the cost of mana meaning tempo early game. If you're running fetchlands you're shuffling your deck a lot so really you get to change your t2 draw and cycle. That's it out of 1 mana. 1 mana that could stop them playing a threat, or remove something, or deploy your own threat. Serum Visions is ideal when you need to find a combo, that's why Twin runs it, we're not Twin.
Other cantrips like Remand and Electrolyze are different as Electrolyze is removal or at worst damage to the face and Remand wastes however much mana they used to tap out for it while replacing itself. Serum Visions doesn't hurt your opponent, it just helps with consistency on the draw which is something combo values more than decks built around pure value cards. You can't argue with results but you can debate the merits as opposed to say... sitting on a Spell Pierce or Spell Snare.
On Blood Moon, I agree and I don't like it just to hose Titan. For that match up I like Torpor Orb as it also works well against the Elf combo and Twin. Aven Mindcensor is nice as well but less relevant without Pod around. One of the reasons I dislike Blood Moon is because it shuts off your Celestial Colonnades and I run more a Mid/Control deck not a pure Midrange deck.
I made a few tweaks based on the local meta for that day. The word was there was no Affinity in the room, but plenty of Infect, Burn, Twin, along with some GBx and Tron. I cut a Cryptic Command in favor of a main deck dispel, and changed a sideboard Shatterstorm to Spellskite.
I am not sure how many players there were, but it wasn't a large tournament. I was able to ID into top 8 after 5 rounds, one of which ended in a draw.
Round 1: BW Tokens (Win 2-1)
Don't remember much except that every game was a challenging, grindy affair. I won both with burn to the face through a Timely Reinforcements.
Round 2: Abzan (Draw)
Game one was incredibly close. I was at one life, and was smashing in with an Angel and Calique, generating tempo by tapping his team with Cryptic Command, but he top decked a Kitchen Finks to make the math not work in my favor. I won game two in Turns with a Keranos and Elspeth on the battlefield.
Round 3: Burn (Win 2-0)
Burn is a great match up. Geist got there game one. Game two I resolved a Kor Firewalker.
Round 4: RG Tron (Win 2-1)
Game one, we both mulled to 5, opponent took it. Game two, lost two Geists to Pyroclasms, but got there with burn and Clique/Angel. Game three Opponent made a crucial misplay that helped me seal the deal.
Round 5: Intentional Draw
I heard he was playing Ad Nauseum, so I was glad to not have to face him.
Top 8 R1: Abzan (Win 2-0)
Same opponent as before. Played Geist on three as I had another in hand. He Lilli'd it away, untapped, jammed Geist, bolted Lili. He played a Seige Rhino, I untapped path'd it, attacked. I don't remember the rest, but I know I won with Geist. Game two was grindy, I think I won with Geist and an Angel.
Top 8 R2: Jeskai Twin (Win 2-0)
It was a blue mirror.
Top 8 R3: RG Tron (Win 2-0)
He was slow to assemble tron in G1 and Geist did what Geist do. Game two I kept a hand of Angel, Bolt, Leak, lands. Slow, but I felt like it was good if he had the T3 Karn. Angel beats, and burn ended the game with the Classic Bolt snap Bolt.
Ended the day 6-0-2.
Some notes:
Serum Visions was awesome. I've played lists with and without it, and the lists with it run smoother, find the needed cards more often, and see sideboard cards more often without question. I will never go back to playing a Jeskai Midrange list without this card. In control, if you're running a think twice or two, 4 copies of electrolyze, and multiple cryptics, I can see not running it since you have a lot of two for ones, and ways to cantrip.
I am going to go on record and say that in the case of UWR Midrange, it is 100% a deck building mistake not to include the best form of deck manipulation that modern offers.
Thanks for the advice. Will be running serum vision in my deck since you are having great results with them.
If I had a dollar for every time someone says 'we are not twin we dont need to run serum visions' - it's simply not true. Plennty of legacy decks run ponder etc that are not combo decks. Visions is a great card - you are doing yourself a disservice by not running this card. I'm certain that people that say this have never actually played the card before in Geist.
Congrats to great nate - maybe a couple of negates in the board to help with combo? Pretty impressive that you were able to beat Tron (twice), Abzan and Tokens - seems like a nightmare gauntlet..
If I had a dollar for every time someone says 'we are not twin we dont need to run serum visions' - it's simply not true. Plennty of legacy decks run ponder etc that are not combo decks. Visions is a great card - you are doing yourself a disservice by not running this card. I'm certain that people that say this have never actually played the card before in Geist.
Congrats to great nate - maybe a couple of negates in the board to help with combo? Pretty impressive that you were able to beat Tron (twice), Abzan and Tokens - seems like a nightmare gauntlet..
Ponder is much better than Visions as you draw one of the top 3 cards, you don't just draw and then Scry. Ponder is valuable for it's selection and you've also got to realize when talking about Legacy that Force of Will is massive, Ponder isn't just a cantrip, it's a blue card that can be discarded as part of a counterspell. Legacy is a very different meta.
Visions is a good card, but it's a cantrip. It does what a cantrip does, which is that it replaces itself with an additional benefit which in the case of Serum Visions is scry 2. It also does that in your main phase, not during their turn. Tapping for it leaves you unable to cast counterspells, removal or flash in creatures on reaction, it's not like a spell you can do if that isn't necessary, you commit to it.
Hey GreatNate, awesome report. Nice to see you were able to beat down Tron, one of the matchups I'm more worried about. My questions are:
1) I see that maindeck Dispel was more of a meta call. Do you think in a more unknown meta that Spell Snare would be a fair switch for that? In general, what would you say are the flex spots for the deck?
2) How do you feel about Aven Mindcensor in the sideboard? Did you feel it made any impact on your results that day? In theory it seems good, but recently I've cut them from my maindeck and I'm not sure they even deserve another spot in my sideboard. Replacing them with more land-hate might be better, such as a second Crumble to Dust or some Molten Rain or the like. They would come in handy vs. Tron or Chord decks, although both run interaction such as Pyroclasm or Bolt/Path.
Great report as usual, thanks for your insight GreatNate and congratulations on your win!
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If I had a dollar for every time someone says 'we are not twin we dont need to run serum visions' - it's simply not true. Plennty of legacy decks run ponder etc that are not combo decks. Visions is a great card - you are doing yourself a disservice by not running this card. I'm certain that people that say this have never actually played the card before in Geist.
Congrats to great nate - maybe a couple of negates in the board to help with combo? Pretty impressive that you were able to beat Tron (twice), Abzan and Tokens - seems like a nightmare gauntlet..
Ponder is much better than Visions as you draw one of the top 3 cards, you don't just draw and then Scry. Ponder is valuable for it's selection and you've also got to realize when talking about Legacy that Force of Will is massive, Ponder isn't just a cantrip, it's a blue card that can be discarded as part of a counterspell. Legacy is a very different meta.
Visions is a good card, but it's a cantrip. It does what a cantrip does, which is that it replaces itself with an additional benefit which in the case of Serum Visions is scry 2. It also does that in your main phase, not during their turn. Tapping for it leaves you unable to cast counterspells, removal or flash in creatures on reaction, it's not like a spell you can do if that isn't necessary, you commit to it.
Ya - obviously there are large differences between Modern and Legacy - the point still stands that Visions is the best filtering card we have in modern and not playing it is a huge mistake - i'd prefer to let the numbers do the talking then inaccurate theory crafting.
If I had a dollar for every time someone says 'we are not twin we dont need to run serum visions' - it's simply not true. Plennty of legacy decks run ponder etc that are not combo decks. Visions is a great card - you are doing yourself a disservice by not running this card. I'm certain that people that say this have never actually played the card before in Geist.
Congrats to great nate - maybe a couple of negates in the board to help with combo? Pretty impressive that you were able to beat Tron (twice), Abzan and Tokens - seems like a nightmare gauntlet..
Ponder is much better than Visions as you draw one of the top 3 cards, you don't just draw and then Scry. Ponder is valuable for it's selection and you've also got to realize when talking about Legacy that Force of Will is massive, Ponder isn't just a cantrip, it's a blue card that can be discarded as part of a counterspell. Legacy is a very different meta.
Visions is a good card, but it's a cantrip. It does what a cantrip does, which is that it replaces itself with an additional benefit which in the case of Serum Visions is scry 2. It also does that in your main phase, not during their turn. Tapping for it leaves you unable to cast counterspells, removal or flash in creatures on reaction, it's not like a spell you can do if that isn't necessary, you commit to it.
Ya - obviously there are large differences between Modern and Legacy - the point still stands that Visions is the best filtering card we have in modern and not playing it is a huge mistake - i'd prefer to let the numbers do the talking then inaccurate theory crafting.
lol? Inaccurate theory crafting? Is that all you've got? Show me a solid Control deck that runs Serum Visions. Show me a proven, popular midrange deck that runs it? Jund / Junk don't and I know they're not Blue but they're the most enduring midrange decks in the format and they wouldn't run it if they could. Another tier one deck that is Blue is Merfolk and Merfolk never touches it, and it's not just because it wants to play Aether Vial t1 as that's one 15th of your deck so just under a 50% chance of being your opening 7 card hand. Statistically, since we're letting the numbers do the talking.
Serum Visions is popular because Twin is popular, pure and simple. Serum Visions is very good at assembling a Combo, that is where the filtering is most useful, it helps you keep dicey hands where you have your pieces but maybe not enough land, it also lets you dig to find your pieces. Serum Visions is very good at that. Midrange decks, successfully, tend to be built around pure value. It's not a combo deck, it's a deck full of a good stuff. If your deck is full of value, you don't need to dig, you can use the mana to cast your value spells, which in the case of UWR is removal or counterspells.
Most grixis control lists run serum visions, despite not having a combo to assemble. They are more reliant on delve than on lands, as compared to uwr, but the point still stands, digging to fix mana, to filter for threats/answers, etc, is worthwhile. I hope I do not need to find results to determine how proven grixis control is. While grixis control blurs the line between midrange and control, you did ask for either.
This even skips all of the decks running delver/young pyromancer/mentor because the midrange/control aspect of that is questionable. While its not a ton of results, certainly not the majority, there is still plenty of evidence here to suggest that serum visions is a playable card if you're just looking for a bit more consistency.
Is it better than telling time, ancticipate/think twice/other cantripping spells (electrolyze/remand/shadow of doubt)? Not absolutely, but its worth considering.
If I had a dollar for every time someone says 'we are not twin we dont need to run serum visions' - it's simply not true. Plennty of legacy decks run ponder etc that are not combo decks. Visions is a great card - you are doing yourself a disservice by not running this card. I'm certain that people that say this have never actually played the card before in Geist.
Congrats to great nate - maybe a couple of negates in the board to help with combo? Pretty impressive that you were able to beat Tron (twice), Abzan and Tokens - seems like a nightmare gauntlet..
Ponder is much better than Visions as you draw one of the top 3 cards, you don't just draw and then Scry. Ponder is valuable for it's selection and you've also got to realize when talking about Legacy that Force of Will is massive, Ponder isn't just a cantrip, it's a blue card that can be discarded as part of a counterspell. Legacy is a very different meta.
Visions is a good card, but it's a cantrip. It does what a cantrip does, which is that it replaces itself with an additional benefit which in the case of Serum Visions is scry 2. It also does that in your main phase, not during their turn. Tapping for it leaves you unable to cast counterspells, removal or flash in creatures on reaction, it's not like a spell you can do if that isn't necessary, you commit to it.
Ya - obviously there are large differences between Modern and Legacy - the point still stands that Visions is the best filtering card we have in modern and not playing it is a huge mistake - i'd prefer to let the numbers do the talking then inaccurate theory crafting.
lol? Inaccurate theory crafting? Is that all you've got? Show me a solid Control deck that runs Serum Visions. Show me a proven, popular midrange deck that runs it? Jund / Junk don't and I know they're not Blue but they're the most enduring midrange decks in the format and they wouldn't run it if they could. Another tier one deck that is Blue is Merfolk and Merfolk never touches it, and it's not just because it wants to play Aether Vial t1 as that's one 15th of your deck so just under a 50% chance of being your opening 7 card hand. Statistically, since we're letting the numbers do the talking.
Serum Visions is popular because Twin is popular, pure and simple. Serum Visions is very good at assembling a Combo, that is where the filtering is most useful, it helps you keep dicey hands where you have your pieces but maybe not enough land, it also lets you dig to find your pieces. Serum Visions is very good at that. Midrange decks, successfully, tend to be built around pure value. It's not a combo deck, it's a deck full of a good stuff. If your deck is full of value, you don't need to dig, you can use the mana to cast your value spells, which in the case of UWR is removal or counterspells.
Geist it not a control deck. Of course merfolk doesnt use it (every card is the same and it doesnt need to hit land drops and avoid flood like midrange decks do) - you are using straw man arguments. You are even stretching to 'Jund/Junk not using it' - I wont even comment on that line of argument.
Pure and simple you are just wrong - look at the successful UWR midrange Geist decks on mtg top 8 or whereever you like. Look at Great Nates list. Again you use the 'Twin' defence - that is so old and inaccurate..
If you dont like Serum Visions in the list - that's fine - but dont mislead others with your bizarre hate of the card..
If I had a dollar for every time someone says 'we are not twin we dont need to run serum visions' - it's simply not true. Plennty of legacy decks run ponder etc that are not combo decks. Visions is a great card - you are doing yourself a disservice by not running this card. I'm certain that people that say this have never actually played the card before in Geist.
Congrats to great nate - maybe a couple of negates in the board to help with combo? Pretty impressive that you were able to beat Tron (twice), Abzan and Tokens - seems like a nightmare gauntlet..
Ponder is much better than Visions as you draw one of the top 3 cards, you don't just draw and then Scry. Ponder is valuable for it's selection and you've also got to realize when talking about Legacy that Force of Will is massive, Ponder isn't just a cantrip, it's a blue card that can be discarded as part of a counterspell. Legacy is a very different meta.
Visions is a good card, but it's a cantrip. It does what a cantrip does, which is that it replaces itself with an additional benefit which in the case of Serum Visions is scry 2. It also does that in your main phase, not during their turn. Tapping for it leaves you unable to cast counterspells, removal or flash in creatures on reaction, it's not like a spell you can do if that isn't necessary, you commit to it.
Ya - obviously there are large differences between Modern and Legacy - the point still stands that Visions is the best filtering card we have in modern and not playing it is a huge mistake - i'd prefer to let the numbers do the talking then inaccurate theory crafting.
lol? Inaccurate theory crafting? Is that all you've got? Show me a solid Control deck that runs Serum Visions. Show me a proven, popular midrange deck that runs it? Jund / Junk don't and I know they're not Blue but they're the most enduring midrange decks in the format and they wouldn't run it if they could. Another tier one deck that is Blue is Merfolk and Merfolk never touches it, and it's not just because it wants to play Aether Vial t1 as that's one 15th of your deck so just under a 50% chance of being your opening 7 card hand. Statistically, since we're letting the numbers do the talking.
Serum Visions is popular because Twin is popular, pure and simple. Serum Visions is very good at assembling a Combo, that is where the filtering is most useful, it helps you keep dicey hands where you have your pieces but maybe not enough land, it also lets you dig to find your pieces. Serum Visions is very good at that. Midrange decks, successfully, tend to be built around pure value. It's not a combo deck, it's a deck full of a good stuff. If your deck is full of value, you don't need to dig, you can use the mana to cast your value spells, which in the case of UWR is removal or counterspells.
Geist it not a control deck. Of course merfolk doesnt use it (every card is the same and it doesnt need to hit land drops and avoid flood like midrange decks do) - you are using straw man arguments. You are even stretching to 'Jund/Junk not using it' - I wont even comment on that line of argument.
Pure and simple you are just wrong - look at the successful UWR midrange Geist decks on mtg top 8 or whereever you like. Look at Great Nates list. Again you use the 'Twin' defence - that is so old and inaccurate..
If you dont like Serum Visions in the list - that's fine - but dont mislead others with your bizarre hate of the card..
Let's look at the lists that have placed highly in GP and Pro Tour events only. We all agree that this is the highest level of play, correct? Ok. Let's also only look at lists that contain Geist and not other UWx lists.
Mtgtop8: http://mtgtop8.com/archetype?a=181&f=MO&meta=92
Click compare decks. Average number of serum visions per deck = 0.3.
Let's look closer. While we're at it, let's also look at the copies of Geist. A history of top 8 performances:
1. Pro Tour RTR, 10/21/2012, #5. 3 Geist, 0 Serum Visions. Jund-dominated meta (Deathrite + Bloodbraid Elf)
2. GP Chicago, 11/11/2012, #3. 3 Geist, 0 Serum Visions. Jund/Pod/Twin/Affinity/Tron meta, similar to today.
3. GP Bilbao, 1/20/2013, #1. 4 Geist, 0 Serum Visions.
Next era--after the banning of Bloodbraid Elf & Deathrite Shaman:
4. GP Portland, 5/12/2013, #5/8. 3 Geist, 0 Serum Visions.
5. GP Prague, 1/12/2014, #1 (Vjeran Horvat). 4 Geist, 0 Serum Visions.
6. Pro Tour Born of the Gods, 2/23/2014. 2 copies of UWR Geist were in the top 32. Each contain 2 Geists, 0 Serum Visions. (Shaun McLaren wins with UWR control, but that's a different list--0 Geist, 0 Serum Visions)
Then, since the banning of Birthing Pod, Geist has had a bit of a dry spell. The only top 32 performances I find were at GP Kobe (8/24/2014). There, one copy of Jeskai Geist places in the top 32 with 4 Geist and 1 Serum Visions. The other Jeskai midrange decks in the top 32 do not run Geist. Shohei Mita places in the top 4 using a list that basically swaps out Geists for 4 Blade Splicer, 0 Serum Visions (http://mtgtop8.com/event?e=8053&d=246406&f=MO). The other top 32 list runs Lightning Angel instead of Geist or Resto Angel.
Only one of these decks runs 1 Serum Visions. Just one.
Since then, Jeskai Geist has 0 Pro Tour or GP top 8's. However, we have excellent performances from many posters on this forum, some with Serum Visions and some without. From MTGGoldfish: http://www.mtggoldfish.com/archetype/modern-jeskai-control-23120#online. 24th at an SCG Open is amazing! How can that deck be dismissed as a "mistake"? 4 Geist, 0 Serum Visions.
A couple other lists have also experimented with Serum Visions to some success also. krazykirby4 has been putting up excellent results with 4 Geists, 2 Serum Visions: http://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/349250#online.
Given the results, it doesn't seem like a complete "mistake" not to run Serum Visions just because it's a good cantrip and card selection tool. When this deck was at its absolute best, it did not run Serum Visions.
I play UW Miracles in Legacy, and Brainstorm and Ponder are absolutely INSANE there. Serum Visions is nowhere close, as others have stated here. It's not an auto-include, but it is a fine card to try out. I have attempted Geist with 4 Serum Visions. At first I thought it was fine, but it is a serious tempo loss to be using up 1 mana for the card selection & cantrip. I have been fine with zero and am now trying out 1. 1-2 Serum Visions also adds "draw a card" to late-game Snapcasters, which is nice. We don't need to Serum Visions early. We don't have a specific plan on whether to go aggro or control until we see what the opponent does. Twin has a specific gameplan that gives them a goal with a turn 1 Serum Visions. Grixis can turn 1 Serum Visions because (a) it fuels Tasigur/Gurmag Angler and (b) they do not have the ability to play the aggressor as well as us, making their role is better defined from turn 1. Our plan develops as we determine our role. Turn 1, laying down a Celestial Colonnade to get that tapland out of the way seems like the best play. Serum Visions can be fantastic mid-to-late game when we figure out what we're playing against. When we figure out we're playing against burn of affinity, it's pretty obvious we want answers, but we will wait until turn 3 to get them so that we can answer their early game threats. (Or you will die...) If we're playing against Twin, then grab some countermagic and threats. But don't do so at the cost of tapping out, or you may die. If you are playing against Tron, then get threats out asap. When playing against Abzan/Jund, get the burn or path to exile that you need to get out of the jam you're in. Serum Visions is good, but it's better not to get an opening hand clogged with Serum Visions when our role isn't so well-defined on turn 1. I can see anywhere from zero to some number of Serum Visions being fine, but 4-of may be too many. People have had Pro Tour-level success with zero when this deck was best, so just remember that before dismissing someone's thoughts about Serum Visions.
Thank you if you took the time to read all of that.
And also from that info, people historically had success with 3-4 Geist. The meta's different now, and some successful UWR midrange lists include other creatures like Monastery Mentor or Lightning Angel in an effort to place better. Maybe some of those decklists will end up being a consistently better version of UWR midrange. Keep an open mind--the result might be something that gets this deck out of the GP/PT slump it's in.
In the meantime, just enjoy the deck knowing that no other deck in the modern format can play SUCH a broad range of aggro and control. (Not even Delver.) We run counterspells and all of the best answers (except Thoughtseize/Inquisition), and we can also burn the opponent down to 0 faster than any of the other midrange strategies.
Loving this debate on serum visions although I prefer more of a tempo build of Geist, so I typically favour 0 serum visions since I'd rather play 4 remand, 4 electrolyte. .. I think if your making a more control build with this deck visions could make sense. However something must be boarded out and I'm not sure what I'd cut other than manaleak to make room.
That says I think everyone in the forum agrees serum visions sucks compared to cards like ponder, but that's not really the point. The question should be: if you aren't using serum visions can you see yourself taking out your weakest cards and swapping them for a few copies of that card? Of not that build is not for you.
Just wondering, has anyone on the forum experimented with multiple copies of threads of disloyalty, perhaps in the main board? We see UWR control using it as a 1 of in the sideboard, but with Geist sometimes being small has trouble staying alive, can we not threads their big guys and win that way?
Grixis runs Visions for the same reason it runs Thoughtscour, it likes to cast spells to drop Delve fatties. It's just fuel. The best delve fuel is stuff that replaces itself... cantrips.
It doesn't really matter whether you're playing Control or Tempo, you're not gaining either playing Serum Visions. It doesn't generate card advantage, it just replaces itself, all it does is help you skim the top of your deck but it costs mana. That effect is very powerful when you're digging, outside of that you should probably just build a more consistent deck.
For the record, I don't hate Serum Visions are some people tried to imply. There is nothing to hate about it, it just fills a very specific role which is digging through the top of your deck. It doesn't interact with your opponent, it doesn't stop them doing what they want or create any kind of offence, it's essentially wasting your time if you already have threats to play.
Im sorry if I got a bit heated with my arguments - I need to ignore people more often. Anyway I'd say 2-3x Visions is the sweet spot - we dont need 4 that is for sure.
Just wondering, has anyone on the forum experimented with multiple copies of threads of disloyalty, perhaps in the main board? We see UWR control using it as a 1 of in the sideboard, but with Geist sometimes being small has trouble staying alive, can we not threads their big guys and win that way?
I remember people (including me) were running Sower of Temptation a while back when Abzan was at its high point, and that card was pretty sweet. Really tilted opponents hard since Abzan could never answer it. Threads basically does the same thing while only costing 3, but it can't hit Siege Rhino or Tasigur. (Goyfs and Scoozes seem like good enough targets.) Threads doesn't die to Bolt vs. Jund or RUG Twin like Sower would, but it does die to Abrupt Decay. Still, opponents would probably side those out against UWR, so it's probably more durable than a Sower as an unexpected board option. Threads probably gets more play in UWR control because the opponent will DEFINITELY board out dead Abrupt Decays against that deck. I think it was on the UWR control list that won PT Born of the Gods, and it looked really sick there. Seems like it'd be great here also, especially if you don't show any targets like V-Clique for Abrupt Decay in Game 1. I'd try it out if I had a copy of the card.
Im sorry if I got a bit heated with my arguments - I need to ignore people more often. Anyway I'd say 2-3x Visions is the sweet spot - we dont need 4 that is for sure.
I did mess around a bit with 1 copy of Serum Visions in my more aggressive deck this weekend, and it was useful mid-to-late game when I had spare mana. It was basically mana flood insurance. I only saw it vs. Affinity and Merfolk, so I was casting it late and scrying lands and counterspells to the bottom. The deck does have a lot of redundancy in its non-land cards, but it is nice later just to make sure you're drawing gas. Snap into Serum Visions is also nice if you can afford it that late, but the sorcery speed really hurts. When I had Snapcaster, I noticed I'd rather just be Snapping back removal, Remands for tempo, Electrolyzes (especially vs Affinity), or burn to the face to close things out. I never wanted to cast the Serum Visions early because I would've had to shock in a land or hold onto my tapped Colonnade until later, which would have set me back. I also wanted my 1 and 2 mana spells open during my opponent's turn. The only time I wanted to tap out against those decks was when I was either casting Geist to put a clock on them.
It's kind of interesting to see the role of Serum Visions in other decks. If any of you have friends that play Twin, try playing that deck just for fun. In that deck, you'll notice you scry stuff to the bottom of your deck nonstop until you assemble the combo with backup counterspells. That deck can't win with aggression like UWR midrange, making their "answer" and tempo cards look pretty silly without Splinter Twin. That's why the deck churns through cards harder than anything else in modern (other than Storm). We don't need to churn through cards so desperately--in UWR midrange, you're usually happy leaving stuff on top of your library early in the game and usually only scry to the bottom when casting it late game when you're flooding out or digging for a Path to Exile, which is the only really non-redundant spell we run. The burn cards can just go upstairs when you no longer need answers. Our threats are fine to have early. Our opponent will either be scared by Geist or will have to answer it. Either way, they either have to hurry up and do something, which we are happy with. We run so many threats that we'll almost definitely hit something naturally. Colonnade counts. Grixis control wants the Serum Visions as a random cantrip to fill the yard, and they also want to dig toward more specific answers. Their answers go as dead as or dead-er than Mana Leak late game. (Thoughtseize and Inquisition feel worthless late, so they run into the problem of both mana flooding and discard spell-flooding.) They also run fewer threats, so they have to scry toward them. We'll almost definitely hit a couple with so many Geists/Cliques/Restos/Colonnades. Also, Grixis Control can stabilize the board when they stick a giant threat, so make up for the Serum Visions tempo loss that way. They've also started running Jace, Vryn's Prodigy, which can go cast Serum Visions for no mana. Snap-Serum Visions is a weak 3-mana play. (Also, Jace is easier for them to flip over with all the Thought Scours. If a version of UWR midrange ran Thought Scour, then I could see Jace being great in UWR also. Maybe that deck would also run Monastery Mentor to extract more value from Thought Scour... it seems like Serum Visions would be an instant 4-of with both Monastery Mentor and Jace.)
I don't know if being a control deck is enough of a reason that Serum Visions is absolutely necessary: even Yuuya Watanabe (an incredible player) didn't run Serum Visions in his UW control list at the World Championships (http://mtgtop8.com/event?e=10388&d=259479). The deck had redundant answers and other cantrips. In that deck, Serum Visions would have been an excellent cantrip and card selection tool, but it's replaceable: Wall of Omens, Remand, and Electrolyze (for us) can do some of that cantripping. In more controlling UWR strategies, Wall of Omens feels like it might be pretty good at least as a 1-of. It adds "draw a card" to Restos while having the added benefit of holding down the fort a while get to the later-game Cryptics and wrath effects.
Even post-board, I think it's only really necessary and useful to dig for sideboard cards in a couple matchups. A lot of our sideboard cards are just nice to have but not truly essential.
Here are my views about digging for cards in each matchup:
Affinity--we can totally beat them without sideboard cards. We basically run mono-removal. Flash flyers are even removal since no creature has more than 1-2 toughness. We can't afford to tap low early, though. Shocking in lands is often correct just to leave mana open.
Burn--main deck Lightning Helix is awesome, and everything else is a great answer card or clock. We board out all of our dead cards there anyway, so most of what we draw is nice anyway. Tapping low is bad early.
Merfolk, other aggro decks--same. Maybe vs. Merfolk it's nice to have a Wear//Tear for their Aether Vial, but if you have to dig for it, you won't cast it till at least turn 2, which means they already get value from it.
Tron--Stony Silence, Blood Moon, Molten Rain, and Crumble to Dust have to be cast on curve to be good, or you'll have wasted time setting up that you should have used either burning the opponent or casting a threat. Geist isn't our only threat--we also have Snaps, Restos, and Cliques. Also, Geist dies to Pyroclasm, so if you're digging for him and he gets killed by Pyroclasm, it's sad to have wasted all that tempo setting up something that got killed. Better to have tons of redundancy.
Amulet/Eldrazi--these just seem like horrid matchups where even our sideboard cards aren't amazing. Digging for a Blood Moon seems ok, but you only get one or two chances to Serum Visions to find it. If Blood Moon doesn't land turn 3, it's probably over.
Infect--everything's good, no need to scry. Don't misplay, and you'll win 80% of the time. You also need to use up all of your mana being proactive against their creatures and pump spells so that they don't randomly kill you.
Boggles--what a disaster. Maybe this is where it's nice to have the scry toward Wear//Tear or Cryptic Command, but it's not a popular deck.
BGx--it's definitely nice to scry toward Paths and Celestial Purges here, so scrying is good.
Twin--pretty favorable for us without digging for answers. Our deck is basically all answers, disruption, and scary threats they can't do anything about.
Scrying for us is about turns 4-5 and beyond, when we're all done shuffling our deck from fetching. In those lategame situations, cantripping off of Remand or Electrolyze generally seems fine. Running 1-2 Serum Visions seems like good flood insurance, which Colonnade also provides. We probably run the mana hungriest deck in the format other than the UWR control lists with Cryptics & Sphinx's Rev and Amulet Bloom, which cheats lands into play all the time anyway.
tldr: The primary role of Serum Visions in UWR midrange is to avoid mana flood and to draw gas mid-to-late game, though it helps in a limited number of matchups (not all) to dig for appropriate answers. It's a great role player for these purposes, but I don't think it's the only reasonable card to achieve those goals.
As something I said earlier, the most successful midrange decks in the entire history of Modern are Jund and Junk. Neither of them are Blue and both of them are based around one simple principle, card value. Not $ (though often the two are one and the same) but the individual power level of the cards in the deck. How much of an impact each individual card has. They are decks full of good stuff.
Jeskai midrange is different, it doesn't have hand hate and it doesn't have Goyf. What it does have is blue counterspells and it has both Burn and Path. It also has great Blue and Blue/White creatures like Clique and Geist. Ultimately I feel the principles should remain mostly the same. It's about building a high powered deck of the best UWR cards printed or it's about playing a midranged version of Jeskai control (less land, not based around Sphinx Rev).
If you want to use a deck full of cantrips instead of power cards, why not play Twin... You can play Jeskai Twin. You can run 3-4 copies of Path in Twin, you can run White sideboard hate, you can run Celestial Colonnade as an alternate win-con to the combo. If your deck plan is just cycle, drop Geist, play some removal, why not cycle, drop Exarch, and win outright?
I would understand that serum visions are not needed in UWR Control. However I would lean to running serum visions in UWR Midrange. The reason UWR Midrange deck doesn't play the long game, there is the need to end the game quicker than control decks. If you are running 4x Remands and couples of Cryptic Commands than replaces itself, you can choose not to run visions. In my believe the meta has changed to more aggressive meta with burn, affinity, infect, Naya company and bloom being tier 1 and tier 2 decks tend to end the game fast. Therefore it's better to switch to 4x lightning helix, 4x path to exile and the usual 4x Lightning bolt. Remand has less impact against aggro decks, cryptic command could be too late sometimes. Electrolyze is still good for maybe 2 copies. I feel that cards that replaces itself are not as impactful as before against the current aggressive meta. You could lose gas in the middle of the game if you run more removals. Thus for decks that wish to jam 4x helix, path and mana leak, serum visions are good to setup the play. While for decks prefer to run remands instead of mana leak, electrolyze and cryptic commands, serum visions are not needed. It really depends your style of play. I would recommend running more removals due to the demand of the current meta.
I'll add my two cents here again.
I don't think serum visions is that good. Once you start playing delvers/prowess creatures it becomes a lot better, but some faster builds with giests and snaps may still benefit from serum visions.
Its not a fantastic card, but its clearly not unplayable, and I don't think it should be completely dismissed. Some decks will benefit from think twice or more electrolyzes or what not more than serum visions, but there are a lot of different ways to build jeskai.
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I agree with this. To expand, Serum Visions essentially replaces itself at the cost of mana meaning tempo early game. If you're running fetchlands you're shuffling your deck a lot so really you get to change your t2 draw and cycle. That's it out of 1 mana. 1 mana that could stop them playing a threat, or remove something, or deploy your own threat. Serum Visions is ideal when you need to find a combo, that's why Twin runs it, we're not Twin.
Other cantrips like Remand and Electrolyze are different as Electrolyze is removal or at worst damage to the face and Remand wastes however much mana they used to tap out for it while replacing itself. Serum Visions doesn't hurt your opponent, it just helps with consistency on the draw which is something combo values more than decks built around pure value cards. You can't argue with results but you can debate the merits as opposed to say... sitting on a Spell Pierce or Spell Snare.
On Blood Moon, I agree and I don't like it just to hose Titan. For that match up I like Torpor Orb as it also works well against the Elf combo and Twin. Aven Mindcensor is nice as well but less relevant without Pod around. One of the reasons I dislike Blood Moon is because it shuts off your Celestial Colonnades and I run more a Mid/Control deck not a pure Midrange deck.
Thanks for the advice. Will be running serum vision in my deck since you are having great results with them.
Congrats to great nate - maybe a couple of negates in the board to help with combo? Pretty impressive that you were able to beat Tron (twice), Abzan and Tokens - seems like a nightmare gauntlet..
Bant Eldrazi
UW Control
U Merfolk
Legacy
Merfolk
UR Delver
Ponder is much better than Visions as you draw one of the top 3 cards, you don't just draw and then Scry. Ponder is valuable for it's selection and you've also got to realize when talking about Legacy that Force of Will is massive, Ponder isn't just a cantrip, it's a blue card that can be discarded as part of a counterspell. Legacy is a very different meta.
Visions is a good card, but it's a cantrip. It does what a cantrip does, which is that it replaces itself with an additional benefit which in the case of Serum Visions is scry 2. It also does that in your main phase, not during their turn. Tapping for it leaves you unable to cast counterspells, removal or flash in creatures on reaction, it's not like a spell you can do if that isn't necessary, you commit to it.
1) I see that maindeck Dispel was more of a meta call. Do you think in a more unknown meta that Spell Snare would be a fair switch for that? In general, what would you say are the flex spots for the deck?
2) How do you feel about Aven Mindcensor in the sideboard? Did you feel it made any impact on your results that day? In theory it seems good, but recently I've cut them from my maindeck and I'm not sure they even deserve another spot in my sideboard. Replacing them with more land-hate might be better, such as a second Crumble to Dust or some Molten Rain or the like. They would come in handy vs. Tron or Chord decks, although both run interaction such as Pyroclasm or Bolt/Path.
3) Would you play a 4th Serum Visions? Is running 3 only because it can be a clunker with our 4 copies of Celestial Colonnade?
Great report as usual, thanks for your insight GreatNate and congratulations on your win!
Ya - obviously there are large differences between Modern and Legacy - the point still stands that Visions is the best filtering card we have in modern and not playing it is a huge mistake - i'd prefer to let the numbers do the talking then inaccurate theory crafting.
Bant Eldrazi
UW Control
U Merfolk
Legacy
Merfolk
UR Delver
lol? Inaccurate theory crafting? Is that all you've got? Show me a solid Control deck that runs Serum Visions. Show me a proven, popular midrange deck that runs it? Jund / Junk don't and I know they're not Blue but they're the most enduring midrange decks in the format and they wouldn't run it if they could. Another tier one deck that is Blue is Merfolk and Merfolk never touches it, and it's not just because it wants to play Aether Vial t1 as that's one 15th of your deck so just under a 50% chance of being your opening 7 card hand. Statistically, since we're letting the numbers do the talking.
Serum Visions is popular because Twin is popular, pure and simple. Serum Visions is very good at assembling a Combo, that is where the filtering is most useful, it helps you keep dicey hands where you have your pieces but maybe not enough land, it also lets you dig to find your pieces. Serum Visions is very good at that. Midrange decks, successfully, tend to be built around pure value. It's not a combo deck, it's a deck full of a good stuff. If your deck is full of value, you don't need to dig, you can use the mana to cast your value spells, which in the case of UWR is removal or counterspells.
Beyond that, in UWR, pulled straight from mtgtop8, we have: http://mtgtop8.com/event?e=11253&d=263915&f=MO
certainly not the hardest of control, but 3 cryptic commands a rev, combined with no delvers/swiftspears/etc means this deck is fairly slow.
http://mtgtop8.com/event?e=11066&d=263008&f=MO heres another one, while perhaps more aggressive than the last still feels solidly "midrange" to me.
This ones esper, but its in a similar vein http://mtgtop8.com/event?e=10613&d=260721&f=MO its fairly slow, and aims to get some handle on the game before beating down.
Another esper, http://mtgtop8.com/event?e=10553&d=260376&f=MO but again, midrangey. Its a gifts deck, and turn 4 is generally the pivotal turn, which feels pretty midrange to me. Another result with a similar deck http://mtgtop8.com/event?e=10554&d=260377&f=MO
http://mtgtop8.com/event?e=11051&d=262869&f=MO while digging for blood moon might be an I-win type card in and of itself, blue moon still plays out like a control deck, and here we are with serum visions.
This even skips all of the decks running delver/young pyromancer/mentor because the midrange/control aspect of that is questionable. While its not a ton of results, certainly not the majority, there is still plenty of evidence here to suggest that serum visions is a playable card if you're just looking for a bit more consistency.
Is it better than telling time, ancticipate/think twice/other cantripping spells (electrolyze/remand/shadow of doubt)? Not absolutely, but its worth considering.
Geist it not a control deck. Of course merfolk doesnt use it (every card is the same and it doesnt need to hit land drops and avoid flood like midrange decks do) - you are using straw man arguments. You are even stretching to 'Jund/Junk not using it' - I wont even comment on that line of argument.
Pure and simple you are just wrong - look at the successful UWR midrange Geist decks on mtg top 8 or whereever you like. Look at Great Nates list. Again you use the 'Twin' defence - that is so old and inaccurate..
If you dont like Serum Visions in the list - that's fine - but dont mislead others with your bizarre hate of the card..
Bant Eldrazi
UW Control
U Merfolk
Legacy
Merfolk
UR Delver
Let's look at the lists that have placed highly in GP and Pro Tour events only. We all agree that this is the highest level of play, correct? Ok. Let's also only look at lists that contain Geist and not other UWx lists.
Mtgtop8: http://mtgtop8.com/archetype?a=181&f=MO&meta=92
Click compare decks. Average number of serum visions per deck = 0.3.
Let's look closer. While we're at it, let's also look at the copies of Geist. A history of top 8 performances:
1. Pro Tour RTR, 10/21/2012, #5. 3 Geist, 0 Serum Visions. Jund-dominated meta (Deathrite + Bloodbraid Elf)
2. GP Chicago, 11/11/2012, #3. 3 Geist, 0 Serum Visions. Jund/Pod/Twin/Affinity/Tron meta, similar to today.
3. GP Bilbao, 1/20/2013, #1. 4 Geist, 0 Serum Visions.
Next era--after the banning of Bloodbraid Elf & Deathrite Shaman:
4. GP Portland, 5/12/2013, #5/8. 3 Geist, 0 Serum Visions.
5. GP Prague, 1/12/2014, #1 (Vjeran Horvat). 4 Geist, 0 Serum Visions.
6. Pro Tour Born of the Gods, 2/23/2014. 2 copies of UWR Geist were in the top 32. Each contain 2 Geists, 0 Serum Visions. (Shaun McLaren wins with UWR control, but that's a different list--0 Geist, 0 Serum Visions)
Then, since the banning of Birthing Pod, Geist has had a bit of a dry spell. The only top 32 performances I find were at GP Kobe (8/24/2014). There, one copy of Jeskai Geist places in the top 32 with 4 Geist and 1 Serum Visions. The other Jeskai midrange decks in the top 32 do not run Geist. Shohei Mita places in the top 4 using a list that basically swaps out Geists for 4 Blade Splicer, 0 Serum Visions (http://mtgtop8.com/event?e=8053&d=246406&f=MO). The other top 32 list runs Lightning Angel instead of Geist or Resto Angel.
Only one of these decks runs 1 Serum Visions. Just one.
Since then, Jeskai Geist has 0 Pro Tour or GP top 8's. However, we have excellent performances from many posters on this forum, some with Serum Visions and some without. From MTGGoldfish: http://www.mtggoldfish.com/archetype/modern-jeskai-control-23120#online. 24th at an SCG Open is amazing! How can that deck be dismissed as a "mistake"? 4 Geist, 0 Serum Visions.
A couple other lists have also experimented with Serum Visions to some success also. krazykirby4 has been putting up excellent results with 4 Geists, 2 Serum Visions: http://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/349250#online.
Given the results, it doesn't seem like a complete "mistake" not to run Serum Visions just because it's a good cantrip and card selection tool. When this deck was at its absolute best, it did not run Serum Visions.
I play UW Miracles in Legacy, and Brainstorm and Ponder are absolutely INSANE there. Serum Visions is nowhere close, as others have stated here. It's not an auto-include, but it is a fine card to try out. I have attempted Geist with 4 Serum Visions. At first I thought it was fine, but it is a serious tempo loss to be using up 1 mana for the card selection & cantrip. I have been fine with zero and am now trying out 1. 1-2 Serum Visions also adds "draw a card" to late-game Snapcasters, which is nice. We don't need to Serum Visions early. We don't have a specific plan on whether to go aggro or control until we see what the opponent does. Twin has a specific gameplan that gives them a goal with a turn 1 Serum Visions. Grixis can turn 1 Serum Visions because (a) it fuels Tasigur/Gurmag Angler and (b) they do not have the ability to play the aggressor as well as us, making their role is better defined from turn 1. Our plan develops as we determine our role. Turn 1, laying down a Celestial Colonnade to get that tapland out of the way seems like the best play. Serum Visions can be fantastic mid-to-late game when we figure out what we're playing against. When we figure out we're playing against burn of affinity, it's pretty obvious we want answers, but we will wait until turn 3 to get them so that we can answer their early game threats. (Or you will die...) If we're playing against Twin, then grab some countermagic and threats. But don't do so at the cost of tapping out, or you may die. If you are playing against Tron, then get threats out asap. When playing against Abzan/Jund, get the burn or path to exile that you need to get out of the jam you're in. Serum Visions is good, but it's better not to get an opening hand clogged with Serum Visions when our role isn't so well-defined on turn 1. I can see anywhere from zero to some number of Serum Visions being fine, but 4-of may be too many. People have had Pro Tour-level success with zero when this deck was best, so just remember that before dismissing someone's thoughts about Serum Visions.
Thank you if you took the time to read all of that.
In the meantime, just enjoy the deck knowing that no other deck in the modern format can play SUCH a broad range of aggro and control. (Not even Delver.) We run counterspells and all of the best answers (except Thoughtseize/Inquisition), and we can also burn the opponent down to 0 faster than any of the other midrange strategies.
That says I think everyone in the forum agrees serum visions sucks compared to cards like ponder, but that's not really the point. The question should be: if you aren't using serum visions can you see yourself taking out your weakest cards and swapping them for a few copies of that card? Of not that build is not for you.
GWBoglesGW///URDelverUR WVial-knightsW
GWBoglesGW///URDelverUR WVial-knightsW
It doesn't really matter whether you're playing Control or Tempo, you're not gaining either playing Serum Visions. It doesn't generate card advantage, it just replaces itself, all it does is help you skim the top of your deck but it costs mana. That effect is very powerful when you're digging, outside of that you should probably just build a more consistent deck.
For the record, I don't hate Serum Visions are some people tried to imply. There is nothing to hate about it, it just fills a very specific role which is digging through the top of your deck. It doesn't interact with your opponent, it doesn't stop them doing what they want or create any kind of offence, it's essentially wasting your time if you already have threats to play.
Bant Eldrazi
UW Control
U Merfolk
Legacy
Merfolk
UR Delver
I remember people (including me) were running Sower of Temptation a while back when Abzan was at its high point, and that card was pretty sweet. Really tilted opponents hard since Abzan could never answer it. Threads basically does the same thing while only costing 3, but it can't hit Siege Rhino or Tasigur. (Goyfs and Scoozes seem like good enough targets.) Threads doesn't die to Bolt vs. Jund or RUG Twin like Sower would, but it does die to Abrupt Decay. Still, opponents would probably side those out against UWR, so it's probably more durable than a Sower as an unexpected board option. Threads probably gets more play in UWR control because the opponent will DEFINITELY board out dead Abrupt Decays against that deck. I think it was on the UWR control list that won PT Born of the Gods, and it looked really sick there. Seems like it'd be great here also, especially if you don't show any targets like V-Clique for Abrupt Decay in Game 1. I'd try it out if I had a copy of the card.
I did mess around a bit with 1 copy of Serum Visions in my more aggressive deck this weekend, and it was useful mid-to-late game when I had spare mana. It was basically mana flood insurance. I only saw it vs. Affinity and Merfolk, so I was casting it late and scrying lands and counterspells to the bottom. The deck does have a lot of redundancy in its non-land cards, but it is nice later just to make sure you're drawing gas. Snap into Serum Visions is also nice if you can afford it that late, but the sorcery speed really hurts. When I had Snapcaster, I noticed I'd rather just be Snapping back removal, Remands for tempo, Electrolyzes (especially vs Affinity), or burn to the face to close things out. I never wanted to cast the Serum Visions early because I would've had to shock in a land or hold onto my tapped Colonnade until later, which would have set me back. I also wanted my 1 and 2 mana spells open during my opponent's turn. The only time I wanted to tap out against those decks was when I was either casting Geist to put a clock on them.
It's kind of interesting to see the role of Serum Visions in other decks. If any of you have friends that play Twin, try playing that deck just for fun. In that deck, you'll notice you scry stuff to the bottom of your deck nonstop until you assemble the combo with backup counterspells. That deck can't win with aggression like UWR midrange, making their "answer" and tempo cards look pretty silly without Splinter Twin. That's why the deck churns through cards harder than anything else in modern (other than Storm). We don't need to churn through cards so desperately--in UWR midrange, you're usually happy leaving stuff on top of your library early in the game and usually only scry to the bottom when casting it late game when you're flooding out or digging for a Path to Exile, which is the only really non-redundant spell we run. The burn cards can just go upstairs when you no longer need answers. Our threats are fine to have early. Our opponent will either be scared by Geist or will have to answer it. Either way, they either have to hurry up and do something, which we are happy with. We run so many threats that we'll almost definitely hit something naturally. Colonnade counts. Grixis control wants the Serum Visions as a random cantrip to fill the yard, and they also want to dig toward more specific answers. Their answers go as dead as or dead-er than Mana Leak late game. (Thoughtseize and Inquisition feel worthless late, so they run into the problem of both mana flooding and discard spell-flooding.) They also run fewer threats, so they have to scry toward them. We'll almost definitely hit a couple with so many Geists/Cliques/Restos/Colonnades. Also, Grixis Control can stabilize the board when they stick a giant threat, so make up for the Serum Visions tempo loss that way. They've also started running Jace, Vryn's Prodigy, which can go cast Serum Visions for no mana. Snap-Serum Visions is a weak 3-mana play. (Also, Jace is easier for them to flip over with all the Thought Scours. If a version of UWR midrange ran Thought Scour, then I could see Jace being great in UWR also. Maybe that deck would also run Monastery Mentor to extract more value from Thought Scour... it seems like Serum Visions would be an instant 4-of with both Monastery Mentor and Jace.)
I don't know if being a control deck is enough of a reason that Serum Visions is absolutely necessary: even Yuuya Watanabe (an incredible player) didn't run Serum Visions in his UW control list at the World Championships (http://mtgtop8.com/event?e=10388&d=259479). The deck had redundant answers and other cantrips. In that deck, Serum Visions would have been an excellent cantrip and card selection tool, but it's replaceable: Wall of Omens, Remand, and Electrolyze (for us) can do some of that cantripping. In more controlling UWR strategies, Wall of Omens feels like it might be pretty good at least as a 1-of. It adds "draw a card" to Restos while having the added benefit of holding down the fort a while get to the later-game Cryptics and wrath effects.
Even post-board, I think it's only really necessary and useful to dig for sideboard cards in a couple matchups. A lot of our sideboard cards are just nice to have but not truly essential.
Here are my views about digging for cards in each matchup:
Affinity--we can totally beat them without sideboard cards. We basically run mono-removal. Flash flyers are even removal since no creature has more than 1-2 toughness. We can't afford to tap low early, though. Shocking in lands is often correct just to leave mana open.
Burn--main deck Lightning Helix is awesome, and everything else is a great answer card or clock. We board out all of our dead cards there anyway, so most of what we draw is nice anyway. Tapping low is bad early.
Merfolk, other aggro decks--same. Maybe vs. Merfolk it's nice to have a Wear//Tear for their Aether Vial, but if you have to dig for it, you won't cast it till at least turn 2, which means they already get value from it.
Tron--Stony Silence, Blood Moon, Molten Rain, and Crumble to Dust have to be cast on curve to be good, or you'll have wasted time setting up that you should have used either burning the opponent or casting a threat. Geist isn't our only threat--we also have Snaps, Restos, and Cliques. Also, Geist dies to Pyroclasm, so if you're digging for him and he gets killed by Pyroclasm, it's sad to have wasted all that tempo setting up something that got killed. Better to have tons of redundancy.
Amulet/Eldrazi--these just seem like horrid matchups where even our sideboard cards aren't amazing. Digging for a Blood Moon seems ok, but you only get one or two chances to Serum Visions to find it. If Blood Moon doesn't land turn 3, it's probably over.
Infect--everything's good, no need to scry. Don't misplay, and you'll win 80% of the time. You also need to use up all of your mana being proactive against their creatures and pump spells so that they don't randomly kill you.
Boggles--what a disaster. Maybe this is where it's nice to have the scry toward Wear//Tear or Cryptic Command, but it's not a popular deck.
BGx--it's definitely nice to scry toward Paths and Celestial Purges here, so scrying is good.
Twin--pretty favorable for us without digging for answers. Our deck is basically all answers, disruption, and scary threats they can't do anything about.
Scrying for us is about turns 4-5 and beyond, when we're all done shuffling our deck from fetching. In those lategame situations, cantripping off of Remand or Electrolyze generally seems fine. Running 1-2 Serum Visions seems like good flood insurance, which Colonnade also provides. We probably run the mana hungriest deck in the format other than the UWR control lists with Cryptics & Sphinx's Rev and Amulet Bloom, which cheats lands into play all the time anyway.
tldr: The primary role of Serum Visions in UWR midrange is to avoid mana flood and to draw gas mid-to-late game, though it helps in a limited number of matchups (not all) to dig for appropriate answers. It's a great role player for these purposes, but I don't think it's the only reasonable card to achieve those goals.
Jeskai midrange is different, it doesn't have hand hate and it doesn't have Goyf. What it does have is blue counterspells and it has both Burn and Path. It also has great Blue and Blue/White creatures like Clique and Geist. Ultimately I feel the principles should remain mostly the same. It's about building a high powered deck of the best UWR cards printed or it's about playing a midranged version of Jeskai control (less land, not based around Sphinx Rev).
If you want to use a deck full of cantrips instead of power cards, why not play Twin... You can play Jeskai Twin. You can run 3-4 copies of Path in Twin, you can run White sideboard hate, you can run Celestial Colonnade as an alternate win-con to the combo. If your deck plan is just cycle, drop Geist, play some removal, why not cycle, drop Exarch, and win outright?
I don't think serum visions is that good. Once you start playing delvers/prowess creatures it becomes a lot better, but some faster builds with giests and snaps may still benefit from serum visions.
Its not a fantastic card, but its clearly not unplayable, and I don't think it should be completely dismissed. Some decks will benefit from think twice or more electrolyzes or what not more than serum visions, but there are a lot of different ways to build jeskai.