Piloted Harlan's Geist list, with minor tweaks:
-2 Electolyze
-1 Spell Snare
-1 Mana Leak
+1 Logic Knot
+1 Glimmer of Genius
+1 Steel of the Godhead (tech card that I've been testing)
+1 Vendillion Clique
I see his logic about Electrolyze complementing your 3dmg spell to finish off big Eldrazis (TKS, Drowner) and not get 2-for-1, but never did find myself lacking removal with snapcaster mage + PTE. I think the correct number is 2, just to clear off dorks/vizier/skyspawner/souls shennigans.
The Steel of Godhead gets your free wins if you stick a T3 GST into T4 Steel. The deck is pretty nice to pilot, and you always want to slam a T3 Geist, even though your behind on-board, especially if you have Cryptic in hand to race the opponent's team.
I'm not sure though about 4 Ceremonious Rejection in the SB, maybe it's a meta call since he expect a lot of Eldratron during that tournament. I'm still having trouble finding the correct sideboarding vs Bant Eldrazi, because they have Cavern.
I'm not sure though about 4 Ceremonious Rejection in the SB, maybe it's a meta call since he expect a lot of Eldratron during that tournament. I'm still having trouble finding the correct sideboarding vs Bant Eldrazi, because they have Cavern.
Probably because you are thinking about it in a very strange way. Why would your first thought be Bant Eldrazi? Rejection is great against Urzatron, Eldrazitron, Affinity, Lantern, and often Bant Eldrazi and Eldrazi and taxes. That's like saying RIP isn't good against Dredge because of Nature's claim. Sometimes your opponent has the foil to your foil. It's 4 out of 60. His deck is about 6% Caverns...
I would run Seeker of the Way over Glory-Bound Initiate in a spell heavy deck, and Young Pyromancer instead of Mentor in Modern, since you simply can't protect it (especially if your only Counterspell is Remand). Otherwise, it seems like a very interesting deck.
I am no expert but I don't think the deck seems all that consistent.
Last thing UWR wants to be doing is tapping out to play creatures that fold to all removal in the format right now, specially if they take time to setup like Monastery Mentor and Glory-Bound Initiate. Tapping out for Geist of Saint Traft is ok because he is a great beater, but the list is it running as two of. I don't know seems like that kind of deck that is great if Plan A works, but sort of folds if it doesn't.
Isochron Scepter is interesting tho, always nice to see that card making some tops.
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My decksies:
Modern:...........................UWR UWR Geist of Saint Traft UWR
Legacy:..............................UW UW Stoneblade UW
French Commander:...UW UW Geist of Saint Traft UW
Tiny Leaders:..................UW UW Geist of Saint Traft UW
Well boys, this card should absolute tilt for burn! Set it up with counterspell backup when you are at 5-8 life.
Flash it back later = )
It's going to be tilt for me too, I came here to ask for help.
I've have a very decent win rate with my list on not so "competitive" environments, FMN style and such. But I've been losing a lot, and I really mean ALOT against counter company. I used to find Melira and Abzan Company cake walk, but right now, with a build with even more removal I am just folding to all sorts of broken Companies, even when I have average to good hands. Another match-up that is giving me lots of trouble is Colorless Eldrazi Tron. Specially when they have nut hands.
Usually lose the either because I lack some gas in the end to get the last points of damage. Specially WHEN they chain the finks.
I am also getting slightly land secrewed.
So I am thinking of going down 1 remand down to two and 2 resto ration angels down to 0, to add 3 Ancestral Visions, since my only turn 1 play is Bolts and Grim Lavamancer if I sideboard him in.
Thoughts?
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My decksies:
Modern:...........................UWR UWR Geist of Saint Traft UWR
Legacy:..............................UW UW Stoneblade UW
French Commander:...UW UW Geist of Saint Traft UW
Tiny Leaders:..................UW UW Geist of Saint Traft UW
Well boys, this card should absolute tilt for burn! Set it up with counterspell backup when you are at 5-8 life.
Flash it back later = )
It's going to be tilt for me too, I came here to ask for help.
I've have a very decent win rate with my list on not so "competitive" environments, FMN style and such. But I've been losing a lot, and I really mean ALOT against counter company. I used to find Melira and Abzan Company cake walk, but right now, with a build with even more removal I am just folding to all sorts of broken Companies, even when I have average to good hands. Another match-up that is giving me lots of trouble is Colorless Eldrazi Tron. Specially when they have nut hands.
Usually lose the either because I lack some gas in the end to get the last points of damage. Specially WHEN they chain the finks.
I am also getting slightly land secrewed.
So I am thinking of going down 1 remand down to two and 2 resto ration angels down to 0, to add 3 Ancestral Visions, since my only turn 1 play is Bolts and Grim Lavamancer if I sideboard him in.
Thoughts?
What's your list? Electrolyze is good against counter company. I side in 2 dispel to counter company/chord of calling. Also, Anger of the gods and Izzet staticaster is very good from the side. I Don't like remand that much against them because they can cast company your end step, then recast it in their main. Mana leak/Logic Knot/Negate/Dispel/Cryptic Command is better in those situations. Relic of Progenitus is good for keeping their eternal witnesses etc. in check.
I've recently started playing Wall of Omens in place of Serum visions, and liking it pretty good. Playing 4 Snapcasters, 4 Wall of Omens, 4 geists, 3 Restoration angel, 2 Clique. Been doing things like blocking deaths shadow with wall, and flashing in resto to draw a card and keep the wall alive. then crushing in with angel and geist. The wall is nice for neutralizing Matter Reshaper against Eldrazi Tron, so we don't need to kill it and give them a card or permanent. Blessed alliance and ceremonious rejection are nice answers to smasher and thought knot from the side. Cavern could be a problem, though, so we should have some land destruction as well. Supreme/Wrath from the side can also be very good against eldrazi tron.
Wall of Omens has really been helping against dredge too, another problem matchup.
I am playing a burn oriented version, I really don't want to play Wall of Omens because they force me to tap out on turn 2 and possible fetch untapped shocks. I am closing my first round of tests with the list posted on page 217. Over 46 Matches counting only decks listed in modern sections of MTGSalvation, finishing with 73,91% winrate. Most losses were against the mentioned decks. 33% winrate against Counters Company or similar decks and 25% against Eldrazi.
Definetly didn't like it trying out Ancestral Visions last night, even tho I played very few matches with it, the card just felt too slow for my game plan even when I played it early. Going to replace them with Serum Visions.
Remands helped me find extra burns/lands or occasionally dodging some counters by bouncing my other spells back to my hand. Unfortunatly I do end up sideboarding them out against most matches except Combo decks, which I haven't was paired against all that much.
Following your advice, I am replacing one of them (down to 2) with Electrolyze. It's extra removal against Company decks and it still gives card advantage. Unfortunatly Devoted Druid is still a 0/2 danger, I guess I will have to bolt it and Eletrolyze other creepers.
I removed Celestial Purge, which was helping alot against Deathshadow decks, because it hits every creature of theirs and answer Liliana in any given point in time. Not having faced many Lilianas in this current meta and having charms as a bad alternative for her and considering my current winrate against Grixis Deathshadow is 83% over 6 matches and 100% against all other variations for a total of 9 Deathshadow matches. I guess I can afford to lose that card even tho. But by removing it, I am literally dead against Blood Moon, Ajani Vengeants or Skred red Planeswalkers if I didn't drop a Geist early enough.
I removed Grim Lavamancer of the sideboard and Eidolon of Rhetoric aswell. These two removals along with Celestial Purge, were exchanged with Ceremonious Rejection.
The question now is, since I have 3 Ceremonious Rejection, is it still worth to keep the two stony silences on the sideboard? I mean Tron variants are usually Eldrazi Variants now, that means no O-Stones and all sorts of annoying on activation artifacts, which have been replaced by colorless aggressive creatures and chalice of the void. By doing so, I could re-insert Grim Lavamancer for Affinity/Company decks (even tho I found them slightly antisinergetic with my Snaps since I run only 8 Fetch Lands) along with Shatterstorm or Celestial Purge.
Waiting for more feedback to start statistically testing a round with the new list (below). One month and a half to tune it for GP.
Creatures:
4 Geist of Saint Traft
4 Snapcaster Mage
1 Vendilion Clique
1 Thundermaw Hellkite
Modern:...........................UWR UWR Geist of Saint Traft UWR
Legacy:..............................UW UW Stoneblade UW
French Commander:...UW UW Geist of Saint Traft UW
Tiny Leaders:..................UW UW Geist of Saint Traft UW
Why would you play 4 Boros Charm in a midrange deck? I don't think you always can expect to be on the aggro-burn plan here. Very often you're on defence, and then your Boros Charms will probably look pretty bad.
Following your advice, I am replacing one of them (down to 2) with Electrolyze. It's extra removal against Company decks and it still gives card advantage. Unfortunatly Devoted Druid is still a 0/2 danger, I guess I will have to bolt it and Eletrolyze other creepers.
You can kill 2 toughness creatures with Electrolyze, if that's what you meant. You can direct the 2 damage to a player or to one or two creatures.
Boros charm is a recent card I've tryed out and I quiet honestly like it.
It protects my geist from sweepers and allows for safer trades. Won me quite a few games tbh (I mean it) and it kills many planeswalkers with ease. The alternatives are not good in this meta Cryptic Command is slow and Restoration Angels haven't been great either.
I also though Boros Charm wouldn't be great either, but my build which worked for years was failing massively, I tryed a few other cards based on lists I saw doing well recently and they didn't work out for me. I tryed one just for fun, upped to two and then I realized I actually wanted to draw that card more often, went I upped to four. Which I admit, might be slightly overkill. However, I don't regret it too much. In a world where you are facing decks with card advantage while running multiple sweepers you can't afford to beat them in the control/grind plan because you will end up losing. If your geist dies to Supreme Verdicts in which are uncounterable and UW is running 3 to 4 right now, if you don't have enough reach it's end of the line for you.
Against the remaining decks your faced with cheap creatures that either kill you fast, in which case you need to be able to race, enter more burn.
Or your facing efficient creatures from decks such has death shadow, that can kill you and control you at the same time, meaning you have a really small window of opportunity of winning the game.
Boros charm helped in all of those departments and I won't cut it. I am having trouble with two particular match ups, in one of them (counter company) truth be told, boros is useless, but I can sideboard it out.
Regarding electrolyze, yes I know it can kill two thoughness creatures, but at that point you are no longer doing two for one which is the main reason to run the card, however, since I can bolt Devoted Druids, I can save electrolyze for Nobles, Witnesses, Viziers and other creepers the deck has. It will also help against Affinity if I do go down on Stony Silences. So the suggestion was pretty good. I might cut on Charm, just one, to up on it, or possibly another card.
In my opinion the true midrange version of geist, is not good right now, in fact, most midrange decks regardless of color are not doing great (jund, wilted abzan and others). I am making an option of sacrificing versatily to make my aggressive gameplan viable as often as possible. Figuring out the right numbers to beat Counters Company will surelly make me an happier person, since Eldrazi Tron should be a hard matchup either ways.
So basically I am looking for input on how to beat CC or boht CC and Eldrazi, without deviating too much from my current build, since it's been particulary ok to good on the remaining matchups.
Modern:...........................UWR UWR Geist of Saint Traft UWR
Legacy:..............................UW UW Stoneblade UW
French Commander:...UW UW Geist of Saint Traft UW
Tiny Leaders:..................UW UW Geist of Saint Traft UW
...
So basically I am looking for input on how to beat CC or boht CC and Eldrazi, without deviating too much from my current build, since it's been particulary ok to good on the remaining matchups.
If you are that desperate against company decks just play 4 grafigger cage or rip. Pillar of Flame might be handy since it exiles creatures rather than sending them to the gy, specially against finks. 4 Spreading seas should do it for Eldrazi.
But then you probably are screwing yourself against the rest.
Regarding electrolyze, yes I know it can kill two thoughness creatures, but at that point you are no longer doing two for one which is the main reason to run the card,
Yes, you are doing two for one when your electrolyze kill one card and draw you one card. If you kill i.e. two noble hierarchs, you are doing three for one.
Well boys, this card should absolute tilt for burn! Set it up with counterspell backup when you are at 5-8 life.
Flash it back later = )
It's going to be tilt for me too, I came here to ask for help.
I've have a very decent win rate with my list on not so "competitive" environments, FMN style and such. But I've been losing a lot, and I really mean ALOT against counter company. I used to find Melira and Abzan Company cake walk, but right now, with a build with even more removal I am just folding to all sorts of broken Companies, even when I have average to good hands. Another match-up that is giving me lots of trouble is Colorless Eldrazi Tron. Specially when they have nut hands.
Usually lose the either because I lack some gas in the end to get the last points of damage. Specially WHEN they chain the finks.
I am also getting slightly land secrewed.
So I am thinking of going down 1 remand down to two and 2 resto ration angels down to 0, to add 3 Ancestral Visions, since my only turn 1 play is Bolts and Grim Lavamancer if I sideboard him in.
Thoughts?
It's very list dependent. I couldn't say for sure without seeing what cards you are using.
Go with Spell Queller instead of Geist: he can counter a company or a TKS and he can attack through the air (which Geist often can't in these matchups). Bring in Molten Rain and/or Crumble to Dust in the sideboard against Eldrazi Tron (or is it too slow).
I am playing a burn oriented version, I really don't want to play Wall of Omens because they force me to tap out on turn 2 and possible fetch untapped shocks. I am closing my first round of tests with the list posted on page 217. Over 46 Matches counting only decks listed in modern sections of MTGSalvation, finishing with 73,91% winrate. Most losses were against the mentioned decks. 33% winrate against Counters Company or similar decks and 25% against Eldrazi.
Definetly didn't like it trying out Ancestral Visions last night, even tho I played very few matches with it, the card just felt too slow for my game plan even when I played it early. Going to replace them with Serum Visions.
Remands helped me find extra burns/lands or occasionally dodging some counters by bouncing my other spells back to my hand. Unfortunatly I do end up sideboarding them out against most matches except Combo decks, which I haven't was paired against all that much.
Following your advice, I am replacing one of them (down to 2) with Electrolyze. It's extra removal against Company decks and it still gives card advantage. Unfortunatly Devoted Druid is still a 0/2 danger, I guess I will have to bolt it and Eletrolyze other creepers.
I removed Celestial Purge, which was helping alot against Deathshadow decks, because it hits every creature of theirs and answer Liliana in any given point in time. Not having faced many Lilianas in this current meta and having charms as a bad alternative for her and considering my current winrate against Grixis Deathshadow is 83% over 6 matches and 100% against all other variations for a total of 9 Deathshadow matches. I guess I can afford to lose that card even tho. But by removing it, I am literally dead against Blood Moon, Ajani Vengeants or Skred red Planeswalkers if I didn't drop a Geist early enough.
I removed Grim Lavamancer of the sideboard and Eidolon of Rhetoric aswell. These two removals along with Celestial Purge, were exchanged with Ceremonious Rejection.
The question now is, since I have 3 Ceremonious Rejection, is it still worth to keep the two stony silences on the sideboard? I mean Tron variants are usually Eldrazi Variants now, that means no O-Stones and all sorts of annoying on activation artifacts, which have been replaced by colorless aggressive creatures and chalice of the void. By doing so, I could re-insert Grim Lavamancer for Affinity/Company decks (even tho I found them slightly antisinergetic with my Snaps since I run only 8 Fetch Lands) along with Shatterstorm or Celestial Purge.
Waiting for more feedback to start statistically testing a round with the new list (below). One month and a half to tune it for GP.
Creatures:
4 Geist of Saint Traft
4 Snapcaster Mage
1 Vendilion Clique
1 Thundermaw Hellkite
You're complaining about decks having their nut hand and you not being able to beat them. That's going to happen sometimes. I can't tell you the last time I lost to Abzan Company. Play 4 Spreading Seas in your sideboard if you want to beat Eldrazi Tron, their manabase is abysmal. Seas is great in the format right now anyway.
I am playing a burn oriented version, I really don't want to play Wall of Omens because they force me to tap out on turn 2 and possible fetch untapped shocks. I am closing my first round of tests with the list posted on page 217. Over 46 Matches counting only decks listed in modern sections of MTGSalvation, finishing with 73,91% winrate. Most losses were against the mentioned decks. 33% winrate against Counters Company or similar decks and 25% against Eldrazi.
Definetly didn't like it trying out Ancestral Visions last night, even tho I played very few matches with it, the card just felt too slow for my game plan even when I played it early. Going to replace them with Serum Visions.
Remands helped me find extra burns/lands or occasionally dodging some counters by bouncing my other spells back to my hand. Unfortunatly I do end up sideboarding them out against most matches except Combo decks, which I haven't was paired against all that much.
Following your advice, I am replacing one of them (down to 2) with Electrolyze. It's extra removal against Company decks and it still gives card advantage. Unfortunatly Devoted Druid is still a 0/2 danger, I guess I will have to bolt it and Eletrolyze other creepers.
I removed Celestial Purge, which was helping alot against Deathshadow decks, because it hits every creature of theirs and answer Liliana in any given point in time. Not having faced many Lilianas in this current meta and having charms as a bad alternative for her and considering my current winrate against Grixis Deathshadow is 83% over 6 matches and 100% against all other variations for a total of 9 Deathshadow matches. I guess I can afford to lose that card even tho. But by removing it, I am literally dead against Blood Moon, Ajani Vengeants or Skred red Planeswalkers if I didn't drop a Geist early enough.
I removed Grim Lavamancer of the sideboard and Eidolon of Rhetoric aswell. These two removals along with Celestial Purge, were exchanged with Ceremonious Rejection.
The question now is, since I have 3 Ceremonious Rejection, is it still worth to keep the two stony silences on the sideboard? I mean Tron variants are usually Eldrazi Variants now, that means no O-Stones and all sorts of annoying on activation artifacts, which have been replaced by colorless aggressive creatures and chalice of the void. By doing so, I could re-insert Grim Lavamancer for Affinity/Company decks (even tho I found them slightly antisinergetic with my Snaps since I run only 8 Fetch Lands) along with Shatterstorm or Celestial Purge.
Waiting for more feedback to start statistically testing a round with the new list (below). One month and a half to tune it for GP.
Creatures:
4 Geist of Saint Traft
4 Snapcaster Mage
1 Vendilion Clique
1 Thundermaw Hellkite
You're complaining about decks having their nut hand and you not being able to beat them. That's going to happen sometimes. I can't tell you the last time I lost to Abzan Company. Play 4 Spreading Seas in your sideboard if you want to beat Eldrazi Tron, their manabase is abysmal. Seas is great in the format right now anyway.
I wouldn't recommend Spreading Seas in the sideboard. If you want to beat Eldrazi Tron dump the Crumbles and molten rains and run Ceremonious Rejection. It can counter any of their spells, even a T1 Map. And cheap to flashback. I've had much more success against Tron/Eldrazi, Lantern, affinity since adding copies of this card in the sideboard.
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-2 Electolyze
-1 Spell Snare
-1 Mana Leak
+1 Logic Knot
+1 Glimmer of Genius
+1 Steel of the Godhead (tech card that I've been testing)
+1 Vendillion Clique
I see his logic about Electrolyze complementing your 3dmg spell to finish off big Eldrazis (TKS, Drowner) and not get 2-for-1, but never did find myself lacking removal with snapcaster mage + PTE. I think the correct number is 2, just to clear off dorks/vizier/skyspawner/souls shennigans.
The Steel of Godhead gets your free wins if you stick a T3 GST into T4 Steel. The deck is pretty nice to pilot, and you always want to slam a T3 Geist, even though your behind on-board, especially if you have Cryptic in hand to race the opponent's team.
I'm not sure though about 4 Ceremonious Rejection in the SB, maybe it's a meta call since he expect a lot of Eldratron during that tournament. I'm still having trouble finding the correct sideboarding vs Bant Eldrazi, because they have Cavern.
Probably because you are thinking about it in a very strange way. Why would your first thought be Bant Eldrazi? Rejection is great against Urzatron, Eldrazitron, Affinity, Lantern, and often Bant Eldrazi and Eldrazi and taxes. That's like saying RIP isn't good against Dredge because of Nature's claim. Sometimes your opponent has the foil to your foil. It's 4 out of 60. His deck is about 6% Caverns...
https://mtgdecks.net/Modern/wur-traft-decklist-by-takase-ryousuke-692430
2 Geist of Saint Traft
4 Glory-Bound Initiate
1 Lightning Angel
1 Monastery Mentor
3 Restoration Angel
4 Snapcaster Mage
Artifact (1)
1 Isochron Scepter
Instants/sorceries (22)
2 Cryptic Command
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Lightning Helix
4 Path to Exile
4 Remand
4 Serum Visions
4 Arid Mesa
2 Celestial Colonnade
4 Flooded Strand
1 Glacial Fortress
2 Hallowed Fountain
1 Island
1 Mountain
1 Plains
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Seachrome Coast
1 Spirebluff Canal
2 Steam Vents
1 Anger of the Gods
1 Ceremonious Rejection
1 Counterflux
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Monastery Mentor
2 Negate
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Rest in Peace
1 Stony Silence
1 Supreme Verdict
1 Surgical Extraction
2 Wear/Tear
1 Wrath of God
Glory-Bound Initiate made top 8 in Esper midrange in GP Kobe. Can it be glorious in jeskai midrange too?
UWRUWR Delver/Lynx TempoUWR-------UWRUWR Midrange GeistUWR-------UWRUWR Nahiri ControlUWR-------UWRUWR SaheeliUWR
BGRJund / Jund ShadowBGR-------BGWAbzan / Abzan ShadowBGW
Commander (Leviathan/MTGO): UWGeist of Saint TraftUW
WBC Eldrazi & Taxes CBW
UR Keep on Cantripin' (UR Phoenix) RU
WU Surprise! It's not UW Control! (UW Midrange) UW
BG The Rock, Straight BG
U Mono-Blue Fish U
RBW Mardu Pyromancer BWR
RG Rabble! Rabble! (GR Blood Moon Aggro) GR
Legacy
W Death & Taxes W
Last thing UWR wants to be doing is tapping out to play creatures that fold to all removal in the format right now, specially if they take time to setup like Monastery Mentor and Glory-Bound Initiate. Tapping out for Geist of Saint Traft is ok because he is a great beater, but the list is it running as two of. I don't know seems like that kind of deck that is great if Plan A works, but sort of folds if it doesn't.
Isochron Scepter is interesting tho, always nice to see that card making some tops.
Legacy:..............................UW UW Stoneblade UW
French Commander:...UW UW Geist of Saint Traft UW
Tiny Leaders:..................UW UW Geist of Saint Traft UW
4 Spell Queller
4 Serum Visions
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Path to Exile
4 Logic Knot
4 Lightning Helix
4 Electrolyze
4 Cryptic Command
4 Celestial Colonnade
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Flooded Strand
1 Steam Vents
2 Hallowed Fountain
1 Sacred Foundry
2 Island
1 Mountain
1 Plains
1 Dispel
1 Izzet Staticastor
3 Spreading Seas
2 Runed Halo
2 Disdainful Stroke
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Negate
1 Wear // Tear
2 Vendilion Clique
I need to try out this all 4-of type of build sometime.
Well boys, this card should absolute tilt for burn! Set it up with counterspell backup when you are at 5-8 life.
Flash it back later = )
It's going to be tilt for me too, I came here to ask for help.
I've have a very decent win rate with my list on not so "competitive" environments, FMN style and such. But I've been losing a lot, and I really mean ALOT against counter company. I used to find Melira and Abzan Company cake walk, but right now, with a build with even more removal I am just folding to all sorts of broken Companies, even when I have average to good hands. Another match-up that is giving me lots of trouble is Colorless Eldrazi Tron. Specially when they have nut hands.
Usually lose the either because I lack some gas in the end to get the last points of damage. Specially WHEN they chain the finks.
I am also getting slightly land secrewed.
So I am thinking of going down 1 remand down to two and 2 resto ration angels down to 0, to add 3 Ancestral Visions, since my only turn 1 play is Bolts and Grim Lavamancer if I sideboard him in.
Thoughts?
Legacy:..............................UW UW Stoneblade UW
French Commander:...UW UW Geist of Saint Traft UW
Tiny Leaders:..................UW UW Geist of Saint Traft UW
What's your list? Electrolyze is good against counter company. I side in 2 dispel to counter company/chord of calling. Also, Anger of the gods and Izzet staticaster is very good from the side. I Don't like remand that much against them because they can cast company your end step, then recast it in their main. Mana leak/Logic Knot/Negate/Dispel/Cryptic Command is better in those situations. Relic of Progenitus is good for keeping their eternal witnesses etc. in check.
I've recently started playing Wall of Omens in place of Serum visions, and liking it pretty good. Playing 4 Snapcasters, 4 Wall of Omens, 4 geists, 3 Restoration angel, 2 Clique. Been doing things like blocking deaths shadow with wall, and flashing in resto to draw a card and keep the wall alive. then crushing in with angel and geist. The wall is nice for neutralizing Matter Reshaper against Eldrazi Tron, so we don't need to kill it and give them a card or permanent. Blessed alliance and ceremonious rejection are nice answers to smasher and thought knot from the side. Cavern could be a problem, though, so we should have some land destruction as well. Supreme/Wrath from the side can also be very good against eldrazi tron.
Wall of Omens has really been helping against dredge too, another problem matchup.
UWRUWR Delver/Lynx TempoUWR-------UWRUWR Midrange GeistUWR-------UWRUWR Nahiri ControlUWR-------UWRUWR SaheeliUWR
BGRJund / Jund ShadowBGR-------BGWAbzan / Abzan ShadowBGW
Commander (Leviathan/MTGO): UWGeist of Saint TraftUW
Definetly didn't like it trying out Ancestral Visions last night, even tho I played very few matches with it, the card just felt too slow for my game plan even when I played it early. Going to replace them with Serum Visions.
Remands helped me find extra burns/lands or occasionally dodging some counters by bouncing my other spells back to my hand. Unfortunatly I do end up sideboarding them out against most matches except Combo decks, which I haven't was paired against all that much.
Following your advice, I am replacing one of them (down to 2) with Electrolyze. It's extra removal against Company decks and it still gives card advantage. Unfortunatly Devoted Druid is still a 0/2 danger, I guess I will have to bolt it and Eletrolyze other creepers.
I removed Celestial Purge, which was helping alot against Deathshadow decks, because it hits every creature of theirs and answer Liliana in any given point in time. Not having faced many Lilianas in this current meta and having charms as a bad alternative for her and considering my current winrate against Grixis Deathshadow is 83% over 6 matches and 100% against all other variations for a total of 9 Deathshadow matches. I guess I can afford to lose that card even tho. But by removing it, I am literally dead against Blood Moon, Ajani Vengeants or Skred red Planeswalkers if I didn't drop a Geist early enough.
I removed Grim Lavamancer of the sideboard and Eidolon of Rhetoric aswell. These two removals along with Celestial Purge, were exchanged with Ceremonious Rejection.
The question now is, since I have 3 Ceremonious Rejection, is it still worth to keep the two stony silences on the sideboard? I mean Tron variants are usually Eldrazi Variants now, that means no O-Stones and all sorts of annoying on activation artifacts, which have been replaced by colorless aggressive creatures and chalice of the void. By doing so, I could re-insert Grim Lavamancer for Affinity/Company decks (even tho I found them slightly antisinergetic with my Snaps since I run only 8 Fetch Lands) along with Shatterstorm or Celestial Purge.
Waiting for more feedback to start statistically testing a round with the new list (below). One month and a half to tune it for GP.
Creatures:
4 Geist of Saint Traft
4 Snapcaster Mage
1 Vendilion Clique
1 Thundermaw Hellkite
Spells:
2 Remand
4 Boros Charm
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Lightning Helix
2 Mana Leak
1 Electrolyze
4 Path to Exile
2 Spell Snare
3 Serum Visions
Lands:
1 Arid Mesa
4 Celestial Colonnade
1 Eiganjo Castle
4 Flooded Strand
2 Ghost Quarter
1 Sulfur Falls
1 Hallowed Fountain
2 Island
1 Mountain
1 Plains
1 Sacred Foundry
3 Scalding Tarn
2 Steam Vents
Sideboard:
2 Engineered Explosives
1 Izzet Staticaster
2 Relic of Progenitus
1 Grim Lavamancer
3 Ceremonious Rejection
2 Blessed Alliance
1 Shatterstorm
1 Counterflux
1 Anger of the Gods
1 Supreme Verdict
Legacy:..............................UW UW Stoneblade UW
French Commander:...UW UW Geist of Saint Traft UW
Tiny Leaders:..................UW UW Geist of Saint Traft UW
UWRUWR Delver/Lynx TempoUWR-------UWRUWR Midrange GeistUWR-------UWRUWR Nahiri ControlUWR-------UWRUWR SaheeliUWR
BGRJund / Jund ShadowBGR-------BGWAbzan / Abzan ShadowBGW
Commander (Leviathan/MTGO): UWGeist of Saint TraftUW
You can kill 2 toughness creatures with Electrolyze, if that's what you meant. You can direct the 2 damage to a player or to one or two creatures.
UWRUWR Delver/Lynx TempoUWR-------UWRUWR Midrange GeistUWR-------UWRUWR Nahiri ControlUWR-------UWRUWR SaheeliUWR
BGRJund / Jund ShadowBGR-------BGWAbzan / Abzan ShadowBGW
Commander (Leviathan/MTGO): UWGeist of Saint TraftUW
It protects my geist from sweepers and allows for safer trades. Won me quite a few games tbh (I mean it) and it kills many planeswalkers with ease. The alternatives are not good in this meta Cryptic Command is slow and Restoration Angels haven't been great either.
I also though Boros Charm wouldn't be great either, but my build which worked for years was failing massively, I tryed a few other cards based on lists I saw doing well recently and they didn't work out for me. I tryed one just for fun, upped to two and then I realized I actually wanted to draw that card more often, went I upped to four. Which I admit, might be slightly overkill. However, I don't regret it too much. In a world where you are facing decks with card advantage while running multiple sweepers you can't afford to beat them in the control/grind plan because you will end up losing. If your geist dies to Supreme Verdicts in which are uncounterable and UW is running 3 to 4 right now, if you don't have enough reach it's end of the line for you.
Against the remaining decks your faced with cheap creatures that either kill you fast, in which case you need to be able to race, enter more burn.
Or your facing efficient creatures from decks such has death shadow, that can kill you and control you at the same time, meaning you have a really small window of opportunity of winning the game.
Boros charm helped in all of those departments and I won't cut it. I am having trouble with two particular match ups, in one of them (counter company) truth be told, boros is useless, but I can sideboard it out.
Regarding electrolyze, yes I know it can kill two thoughness creatures, but at that point you are no longer doing two for one which is the main reason to run the card, however, since I can bolt Devoted Druids, I can save electrolyze for Nobles, Witnesses, Viziers and other creepers the deck has. It will also help against Affinity if I do go down on Stony Silences. So the suggestion was pretty good. I might cut on Charm, just one, to up on it, or possibly another card.
In my opinion the true midrange version of geist, is not good right now, in fact, most midrange decks regardless of color are not doing great (jund, wilted abzan and others). I am making an option of sacrificing versatily to make my aggressive gameplan viable as often as possible. Figuring out the right numbers to beat Counters Company will surelly make me an happier person, since Eldrazi Tron should be a hard matchup either ways.
So basically I am looking for input on how to beat CC or boht CC and Eldrazi, without deviating too much from my current build, since it's been particulary ok to good on the remaining matchups.
Legacy:..............................UW UW Stoneblade UW
French Commander:...UW UW Geist of Saint Traft UW
Tiny Leaders:..................UW UW Geist of Saint Traft UW
If you are that desperate against company decks just play 4 grafigger cage or rip. Pillar of Flame might be handy since it exiles creatures rather than sending them to the gy, specially against finks. 4 Spreading seas should do it for Eldrazi.
But then you probably are screwing yourself against the rest.
Yes, you are doing two for one when your electrolyze kill one card and draw you one card. If you kill i.e. two noble hierarchs, you are doing three for one.
UWRUWR Delver/Lynx TempoUWR-------UWRUWR Midrange GeistUWR-------UWRUWR Nahiri ControlUWR-------UWRUWR SaheeliUWR
BGRJund / Jund ShadowBGR-------BGWAbzan / Abzan ShadowBGW
Commander (Leviathan/MTGO): UWGeist of Saint TraftUW
It's very list dependent. I couldn't say for sure without seeing what cards you are using.
WBC Eldrazi & Taxes CBW
UR Keep on Cantripin' (UR Phoenix) RU
WU Surprise! It's not UW Control! (UW Midrange) UW
BG The Rock, Straight BG
U Mono-Blue Fish U
RBW Mardu Pyromancer BWR
RG Rabble! Rabble! (GR Blood Moon Aggro) GR
Legacy
W Death & Taxes W
You're complaining about decks having their nut hand and you not being able to beat them. That's going to happen sometimes. I can't tell you the last time I lost to Abzan Company. Play 4 Spreading Seas in your sideboard if you want to beat Eldrazi Tron, their manabase is abysmal. Seas is great in the format right now anyway.
UW Control
UWR Geist
UWR Control
UWRUWR Delver/Lynx TempoUWR-------UWRUWR Midrange GeistUWR-------UWRUWR Nahiri ControlUWR-------UWRUWR SaheeliUWR
BGRJund / Jund ShadowBGR-------BGWAbzan / Abzan ShadowBGW
Commander (Leviathan/MTGO): UWGeist of Saint TraftUW
I wouldn't recommend Spreading Seas in the sideboard. If you want to beat Eldrazi Tron dump the Crumbles and molten rains and run Ceremonious Rejection. It can counter any of their spells, even a T1 Map. And cheap to flashback. I've had much more success against Tron/Eldrazi, Lantern, affinity since adding copies of this card in the sideboard.