You can play adakar wastes/cavern too to get the requisite number of colorless sources. Smasher won't be good enough as it can only be a 5 drop and we arent supporting it with other aggressive clocks, but TKS is super intriguing - it does a lot of things our deck wants to do in bad matchups. Would be interested in people's results with it.
Hey guys, new to this thread. I am a big fan of UW in modern and was considering building this deck or the UW tron deck. I was wondering what advantages this deck offers over UW Tron, and perhaps what UW Tron has over UW Control? Any candid answers would be really appreciated! Thanks in advance!
Hey guys, new to this thread. I am a big fan of UW in modern and was considering building this deck or the UW tron deck. I was wondering what advantages this deck offers over UW Tron, and perhaps what UW Tron has over UW Control? Any candid answers would be really appreciated! Thanks in advance!
One thing - with the amount of land destruction out there (or spreading seas) - Tron seems to have a pretty hard time assembling tron.
I formatted this into a decklist to make it easier for others to give feedback.
I've sold out of Eldrazi on MTGO and I'm thinking of building this instead. I really like the two color aspect and being able to run a set of GQ's seems like big game against the new, sleeker and lower to the ground Eldrazi lists. It should be able to buy enough time until you can get the sweepers online.
I like this list a lot, but you need to come down 3 cards. I'd personally go -1 Finks, -1 Shadow of Doubt, -1 Spreading Seas to start testing. Hopefully, other with more experience can give better feedback.
I have actually been testing some sideboard uses for a few of the new problem decks. I have not found much but I have found that Kataki, War's Wage Is a much better option for dealing with the current build of affinity than stony silence. Affinity decks are moving away right now from their artifact synergies that require activated abilities and more towards straight up master of Etherium Beatdown plan. The best move to take care of the current build of affinity may be to either split stony with kataki or just go full on kataki and add more board wipes. Also, I feel as though spell snare is poorly positioned right now. We need to be able to have better answers to certain decks while still being able to have a somewhat winnable matchup against the rest of the field.
Right now, I am testing some interesting bullets that may work well against aggro decks. I am thinking of adding one ghostly prison to the main deck and then also finding some more ways to stabilize in the mid game. I am also going to be working with calciform pools again and testing that out, as it will allow us a bit more mana efficiency.
The pt build was running 4 master of etherium, but we had not been seeing this prior, as such I'm not sure it will be what affinity moves towards. I would much rather shut down plating and ravager than allowing them to select and keep their crucial artifacts. The non-4 master version will have ways to kill kataki in galv blast and he dies to the wrath that we may still need to cast depending on what the board looks like. Stony is also much better against tron, ad naus, some of the eldrazi decks (map, relic) and arguably lantern.
The reasoning behind 26 lands--at least for me--is that you want to hit your land drops every turn so you can cast things like Baneslayer Angel or activate your Colonnade on time. Not to mention that we run 4 Ghost Quarter, so really the number is closer to 22.
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Hey guys! How are you doing?
Im new at this thread and i was looking here for a option to my UW emeria control. The new Eldrazi decks is OP against my poor creatures and after think too much about how i can improve the emeria to win against eldrazi, i see uw control decks doing 5-0 in magic online against eldrazis, basically.
And now, i come here to ask you all. Is a good deal chance some cards and play with the UW control? The 5-0 lists i see is using 4 snapcaster mage and here, at recent posts, people are not using at even one. Improve with snapcasters is the way or i can beat eldrazis without him?
Storm: This just felt bad from the start. Even with counters, we can't pressure so they can sculpt exactly what they need which is what happened G1. G2 I lost to a blood moon that I assumed I was resliant against but that was my mistake. Despite 8 basics, you can't actually fetch for them very well. So while I adjusted the mana base to protect against choke, it's far more exposed to blood moon that I anticipated.
Bring to Light Kiki: I added an extra verdict as I expected to play against chord decks more frequently and they paid off. Eventually just ground them out of the game with wraths and revelations. They'll try to chip away at you as it's their only way to win because there was no way he could combo and extending was very dangerous. Just keep an eye on your life total when taking those 1 and 2 point hits.
Naya Kiki: Same as above. Wraths just destroy them. I boarded into a single dispel and negate against chord of calling. Elspeth is also amazing as they have no way to remove it and it can end the game rather quickly. Be careful of revilark. It can catch them up in a hurry.
WGb hate bears: Just get out of the early game Thalia's and strip mines (arbiter/GQ) and we're fine. Wraths are brutal vs them. This deck had a little black for siege rhino, but they're nothing to worry about.
Naya Kiki: Same as all the other Kiki decks. Just hit your land drops and let them extend into your wraths.
BR Eldrazi (big): I wasn't quite sure about this one. Even with all the GQs, Tec edges, and spreading seas, they still have inevitability. Eventually they'll draw an eye with 7 mana up to get ulamaog. Elspeth helped her as it let me turn the corner quickly when I felt I was ahead. I recal mana leaking his turn three thought knot, and on my fourth turn, spreading seas drawing into another seas was brutal for him. his temple/eye draw was now double island.
Elves: I underestimated this match a bit. He came out fast and killed me before I could wrath. Collected company is something that keeps them in the game. He cast four of them in our last game, but wraths always keep them from going too wide which let Gideon clean up
Naya Kiki: Same as all the others. Revilark played a huge role here. Between this match and the Eldrazi matches, I kinda feel like another disdainful stroke in the board
Merfolk: He kept a cavern, triple vial on the draw hand. Missed land drops for four turns and I was able to d-sphere all three of his vials and he couldn't catch up. G2 I got him to scoop on turn 5 after a resolved Gideon
Affinity: His version had Master of etheriums which is far better vs the list. I didn't draw any wraths in both our games and he even killed me through a stony silence with Master of Etheriums providing the bulk of the damage.
Changes:
- Think Twice I think could be something else or at least trimmed in numbers. perhaps -2 for +2 remand. All it really does is help us with our land drops and being able to get some tempo and interaction early isn't bad with remand.
- Mindcensor was useless. Probably cut it for another disdainful stroke
- I might cut the engineered explosives for another wrath or maybe fracturing gust. Only being able to hit for 2 makes me want it only vs hyperagressive decks. Something to think about.
- Gideon and Elspeth were nothing but awesome at all times. I dont think I'd play Elspeth main, but I felt as if I was bringing it in all the time.
- Revelation is my least favorite card in the deck, but I understand it's purpose which is to just psudo-end the game. It tends to glut the deck up with 4drops. Same thing with snapcaster. Important role players that I don't think I'd want to cut or add any number.
- Finks are good vs the matches they're good against, but awful vs the field imo. Maybe some swapping of cards main and board, but I'm not 100% sure about that either. I don't want to cut too many which would impact the burn/GR/naya aggro decks and then have an adverse affect on the sideboard. It's tough to say when looking at the 75 card deck.
Total record since the twin bans with it between regionals and the local Level Up Cup is: 13-4
This is just the quick and dirty report. I can provide more details as needed.
My version mitigates flood well with all the revs, think twices, and tectonic edges. I'm very much towards the draw go end of the spectrum so I've liked having 26, but could certainly see 25 in the more creature centric versions.
I've been working on the decklist that 5-0'ed a league. It's basically a UW superfriends deck with very little counter magic and maximum haymakers.
I have heavily modified the deck and once I'm satisfied with it will post the list. I've not yet played it in a competitive way but have been doing solidly against tier decks in the mtgo practice room.
The main draw to it is 4x ghost quarter 4x spreading seas maindeck as well as a huge number of wraths and removal for eldrazi (elspeth, gideon). It feels like the eldrazi match is positive unless they have a blistering turn 3 kill draw (I'm 5-1 only lost to the UR version). If you untap on turn 4 with 6 life it feels quite hard to lose. I've also got to imagine affinity is positive though I've only played it once (1-0).
Some of the pulls of the deck -
8 maindeck land hate cards to attack eldrazi and tron
stony silence for lantern/affinity
maindeck timely for burn/zoo
4 supreme verdicts for merfolk
jace, elspeth and gideon to take over the game against GBx
rest in peace for graveyard shenanigans
colonnade as a win con is at an all time poor position with all these ghost quarters, blood moons, spreading seas and dismembers running around. Walkers provide a massively different attack angle that people are not properly prepared for.
Downsides -
Deck has so many enchantments between seas and Dsphere + 7 walkers that snapcaster just isn't great so you can't really justify running more than 1 or 2
It's a slow tap out deck. You can't win at instant speed at all so other control decks will be hard to beat (and you have very limited counter magic)
Combo matchup is not great. Again since you have to tap out for your win cons you can just die when they untap.
The curve is really high. There's 14 or 15? 4+ cmc cards so opening hands can certainly look very clunky.
I've been working on the decklist that 5-0'ed a league. It's basically a UW superfriends deck with very little counter magic and maximum haymakers.
I have heavily modified the deck and once I'm satisfied with it will post the list. I've not yet played it in a competitive way but have been doing solidly against tier decks in the mtgo practice room.
The main draw to it is 4x ghost quarter 4x spreading seas maindeck as well as a huge number of wraths and removal for eldrazi (elspeth, gideon). It feels like the eldrazi match is positive unless they have a blistering turn 3 kill draw (I'm 5-1 only lost to the UR version). If you untap on turn 4 with 6 life it feels quite hard to lose. I've also got to imagine affinity is positive though I've only played it once (1-0).
Some of the pulls of the deck -
8 maindeck land hate cards to attack eldrazi and tron
stony silence for lantern/affinity
maindeck timely for burn/zoo
4 supreme verdicts for merfolk
jace, elspeth and gideon to take over the game against GBx
rest in peace for graveyard shenanigans
colonnade as a win con is at an all time poor position with all these ghost quarters, blood moons, spreading seas and dismembers running around. Walkers provide a massively different attack angle that people are not properly prepared for.
Downsides -
Deck has so many enchantments between seas and Dsphere + 7 walkers that snapcaster just isn't great so you can't really justify running more than 1 or 2
It's a slow tap out deck. You can't win at instant speed at all so other control decks will be hard to beat (and you have very limited counter magic)
Combo matchup is not great. Again since you have to tap out for your win cons you can just die when they untap.
The curve is really high. There's 14 or 15? 4+ cmc cards so opening hands can certainly look very clunky.
Where is this sweet sounding list you are speaking about?
It was before the PT however it feels like the list was made with the eldrazi match in mind (completely avoiding graveyard + plenty of sweepers and land hate).
Just to be clear it's not my decklist, I've simply taken that 75 as a base to build my own deck.
Personally I like this list a lot http://www.mtggoldfish.com/archetype/modern-uw-control-23331#paper , it 5-0'ed a league 9 Feb. It have some resemblance to my own list and I agree with most of the card choices. Surgical Extraction in the side is spicy, and I'm going to test those out instead of my Mindcensors.
Personally I like this list a lot http://www.mtggoldfish.com/archetype/modern-uw-control-23331#paper , it 5-0'ed a league 9 Feb. It have some resemblance to my own list and I agree with most of the card choices. Surgical Extraction in the side is spicy, and I'm going to test those out instead of my Mindcensors.
I proxied up the Channel Fireball Colorless Eldrazi list and have spend the past two days jamming game after game against it. I focused on that one because, if you look at all the recent top 8s online, that has been the most represented variant of the Eldrazi deck. Also, I figured that my gameplan against colorless will probably be the same against UR or RG or whatever variant they spit at me, unless they stick to the Processor version.
In any case, this is the list I've settled on after two days of testing. The Eldrazi matchup is still unfavorable, but Game 1 is only 60-40 in their favor (based on the results of 15 game 1s). Haven't done a lot of sideboard testing as of yet, so I can't speak for the sideboard numbers.
The Eldrazi deck is powerful, and explosive, but it can have some really weird draws. It's a deck that you want to aggressively mulligan with, and sometimes it mulligans so much that it winds up losing to itself. Sometimes you just draw these random useless Simian Spirit Guides and your opponent deals with your board and you just sit there durdling away.
Our game plan is simple: survive until Turn 4. Supreme Verdict is the key card here, and if we are able to cast that, in most cases we should be able to turn the corner. We want interaction and ways to stall, but ways that do not get stopped by a Turn 1 Chalice.
It fills the role of Lingering Souls in the link above without splashing for black. It's worse against Affinity because you can't block most, if any, of their dudes with the tokens, but gaining six life is nothing to sneeze it. That's one whole hit from a Reality Smasher you can tank now. Three 1/1s are good fodder to throw under Eldrazi Mimic or Thought-Knot Seer. It just gives you extra time to cast that wrath.
Spreading Seas can disrupt their curve if you cast it on their Eye of Ugin or Eldrazi Temple. Late game it can shut off their man lands, which can be annoying to deal with otherwise (at least three of the games I lost were due to Eldrazi grinding me out in the late game with their lands).
I ran a Dismember over Condemn because I wanted a kill spell that's not shut off by a Chalice on 1. It also deals with Reality Smasher. We have enough life gain in the deck that the life loss should be negligible. Detention Sphere got bumped up to three as well as a way to deal with some wide board-states, as well as being able to answer a Reality Smasher without discarding a card.
There's only four counters main now, which means that we're even closer to that midrange edge than before. Spell Snare is largely a dead card in the Eldrazi matchup, hence being cut to 2, however you can easily add one or two to the main by shaving a Timely or Sphere. I have a third in my side for Affinity, Jund, Infect, Merfolk, etc. Cryptic Command is at 2 as well because, while strong, it's prohibitive and it doesn't actually deal with their board. It's just a four mana Fog.
The four main deck counters means we are largely dead to combo game 1, which I found out last night against Grishoalbrand. I still managed to force it to 3, but I couldn't draw any of my sideboard hate in that last game. Also beat Affinity and Abzan CoCo, and lost to Affinity. That last lost should've been a win, but I punted and kept an awful hand with no interaction till turn 3, and I died before I could cast my Verdict.
Based off of last night's testing, I think I'm okay with the direction the deck is right now. I may shave something like Detention Sphere for a Vendilion Clique though, just to give me an extra piece of disruption.
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Hey guys, how do you think this deck is positioned right now? I think it could be the perfect deck for combatting the linear meta.
I tested the list from here: http://modernnexus.com/on-banning-and-beating-eldrazi/ (a mix between the more control-y lists and some of the more blink-y lists) on cockatrice and it felt very strong -- only feeling weak to other control decks which are dying anyways. But it had a good burn, tron, eldrazi, and even b/w dnt matchup. It's pretty cheap so I'm seriously considering buying into it.
I'm convinced that this deck is strong right now. With strong answers to the linear meta as you said, it combats all the other strategies effectively. There are a few difficult matchups, but I think we have some of the best tools; Wall-Finks-Resto vs aggressive decks, Detention Sphere vs Reality Smasher, Verdict vs any aggro deck (with the wall package forcing over extension), countermagic where needed (combo), resilient mana base (keep blood moon in mind and don't get blown out), strong sideboard cards (too many to fit them all in!).
The deck demands practice, getting to know how small changes affect how the deck plays, how to play vs particular strategies/decks, how good Spell Snare actually is. It feels truly amazing to cast Shadow of Doubt into GQ/Path. You get very different builds doing very different things, from draw go to tap out. Tech cards like SoD, Ghostly Prison, and many others can be main deck for particular metas.
I'm on UWR midrange right now because I've missed it, but I believe this is the deck I would take to a large event tomorrow (GP, Regionals or qualifier)
while UW control have somewhat "good" current eldrazi match up (coloress, UR), the eldrazis can adapt, the Gx deck with 4 ancient string and 4 world breaker is a pain to deal with.
so, UW control is in fact a good metacall right now, but meta can adapt to it pretty quickly.
Hello all! New poster to the thread. I'm looking to play control in Modern, and my endeavors in Esper are lacklister to say the least. Thus, I am moving into UW. However, I see a LOT of very different looking deck lists, which leaves me with two questions
1. Can I see a generic looking UW control decklist? A lot of the lists I've seen are more midrangey
2. I just love playing Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir. Can I slot him in here?
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Hello all! New poster to the thread. I'm looking to play control in Modern, and my endeavors in Esper are lacklister to say the least. Thus, I am moving into UW. However, I see a LOT of very different looking deck lists, which leaves me with two questions
1. Can I see a generic looking UW control decklist? A lot of the lists I've seen are more midrangey
2. I just love playing Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir. Can I slot him in here?
1-I think you (and many others) confuse control with draw go, draw go is a type of control but not all control is draw-go. While it may seems midrange, they are control, finks, wall of omens, snap, resto angel all almost always at least 2x1, and they are good to stall the board (allowing board control), and finish the game after a supreme verdict or command tap or planeswalker ultimates. If you want to play creatureless control or something like that, look elsewhere.
rule of thumb:UWx midrange have geist, UWx control have supreme verdict maindeck.
2- well you can, but i think is a terrible choice in the deck right now. Teferi works wonder in something like UW scepter silence look, but you will have to made the deck yourself :P, also some people play teferi in twin (or other creature based) combo. But in traditional control teferi dont do much (you are much better playing gideon, ojutai, jace sphinx or other finisher in that spot)
Hello all! New poster to the thread. I'm looking to play control in Modern, and my endeavors in Esper are lacklister to say the least. Thus, I am moving into UW. However, I see a LOT of very different looking deck lists, which leaves me with two questions
1. Can I see a generic looking UW control decklist? A lot of the lists I've seen are more midrangey
2. I just love playing Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir. Can I slot him in here?
1-I think you (and many others) confuse control with draw go, draw go is a type of control but not all control is draw-go. While it may seems midrange, they are control, finks, wall of omens, snap, resto angel all almost always at least 2x1, and they are good to stall the board (allowing board control), and finish the game after a supreme verdict or command tap or planeswalker ultimates. If you want to play creatureless control or something like that, look elsewhere.
rule of thumb:UWx midrange have geist, UWx control have supreme verdict maindeck.
2- well you can, but i think is a terrible choice in the deck right now. Teferi works wonder in something like UW scepter silence look, but you will have to made the deck yourself :P, also some people play teferi in twin (or other creature based) combo. But in traditional control teferi dont do much (you are much better playing gideon, ojutai, jace sphinx or other finisher in that spot)
I know the difference between Draw-Go and Tapout, and I am familiar with both of them. My issue was seeing Geist, which felt weird because many players would just slam him turn three and start swinging. Your explanation makes much more sense now.
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Negate almost always has some target, is strong vs combo decks/burn and can protect jace and ojutai so it doesn't seem too bad. I wonder why arashin cleric over lone missonary in the side tho. I'd imagine u just would rather have 2 power to trade with things and gain 1 extra life. Not sure if im missing something tho.
Edit: oops somehow didn't reply to the comment about negate i guess, my bad. I like that jace list's look i feel like there isn't too much early game stuff tho which concerns me a bit.
One thing - with the amount of land destruction out there (or spreading seas) - Tron seems to have a pretty hard time assembling tron.
Bant Eldrazi
UW Control
U Merfolk
Legacy
Merfolk
UR Delver
I've sold out of Eldrazi on MTGO and I'm thinking of building this instead. I really like the two color aspect and being able to run a set of GQ's seems like big game against the new, sleeker and lower to the ground Eldrazi lists. It should be able to buy enough time until you can get the sweepers online.
I like this list a lot, but you need to come down 3 cards. I'd personally go -1 Finks, -1 Shadow of Doubt, -1 Spreading Seas to start testing. Hopefully, other with more experience can give better feedback.
4 Flooded Strand
4 Ghost Quarter
4 Celestial Callonnade
4 Island
4 Plains
2 Hallowed Fountain
2 Glacial Fortress
1 BLighted Cataract
//Creatures
4 Wall of Omens
4 Kitchen Finks
3 Restoration Angel
2 Vendilion Clique
1 Sun Titan
1 Gideon Jura
1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
//Spells
4 Path to Exile
3 Spell Snare
3 Cryptic Command
3 Spreading Seas
3 Supreme Verdict
2 Detention Sphere
2 Shadow of Doubt
2 Dispel
2 Negate
2 Stony Silance
2 Timely Reinforcement
2 Hallowed Moonlight
2 Rest in Peace
2 Spellskite
1 Ghostly Prison
Right now, I am testing some interesting bullets that may work well against aggro decks. I am thinking of adding one ghostly prison to the main deck and then also finding some more ways to stabilize in the mid game. I am also going to be working with calciform pools again and testing that out, as it will allow us a bit more mana efficiency.
Mono Blue Control (Modern) BlUE
The pt build was running 4 master of etherium, but we had not been seeing this prior, as such I'm not sure it will be what affinity moves towards. I would much rather shut down plating and ravager than allowing them to select and keep their crucial artifacts. The non-4 master version will have ways to kill kataki in galv blast and he dies to the wrath that we may still need to cast depending on what the board looks like. Stony is also much better against tron, ad naus, some of the eldrazi decks (map, relic) and arguably lantern.
GWSelvala and the Return to HumanityGW
UWDragonlord Ojutai, Control's Elder DragonUW
UBGTasigur, the God-Pharaoh's Gift to EDHUBG
UBRNicol Bolas and his Super
friendsPawnsUBRModern
UWUW Control/Midrange/Bad JundUW
WUBRGHumansWUBRG
BGMidrangeBG
Im new at this thread and i was looking here for a option to my UW emeria control. The new Eldrazi decks is OP against my poor creatures and after think too much about how i can improve the emeria to win against eldrazi, i see uw control decks doing 5-0 in magic online against eldrazis, basically.
And now, i come here to ask you all. Is a good deal chance some cards and play with the UW control? The 5-0 lists i see is using 4 snapcaster mage and here, at recent posts, people are not using at even one. Improve with snapcasters is the way or i can beat eldrazis without him?
Thanks for now.
http://sales.starcitygames.com//deckdatabase/displaydeck.php?DeckID=98565
8-1 Swiss
Lost to Affinity in quarter finals
Storm: This just felt bad from the start. Even with counters, we can't pressure so they can sculpt exactly what they need which is what happened G1. G2 I lost to a blood moon that I assumed I was resliant against but that was my mistake. Despite 8 basics, you can't actually fetch for them very well. So while I adjusted the mana base to protect against choke, it's far more exposed to blood moon that I anticipated.
Bring to Light Kiki: I added an extra verdict as I expected to play against chord decks more frequently and they paid off. Eventually just ground them out of the game with wraths and revelations. They'll try to chip away at you as it's their only way to win because there was no way he could combo and extending was very dangerous. Just keep an eye on your life total when taking those 1 and 2 point hits.
Naya Kiki: Same as above. Wraths just destroy them. I boarded into a single dispel and negate against chord of calling. Elspeth is also amazing as they have no way to remove it and it can end the game rather quickly. Be careful of revilark. It can catch them up in a hurry.
WGb hate bears: Just get out of the early game Thalia's and strip mines (arbiter/GQ) and we're fine. Wraths are brutal vs them. This deck had a little black for siege rhino, but they're nothing to worry about.
Naya Kiki: Same as all the other Kiki decks. Just hit your land drops and let them extend into your wraths.
BR Eldrazi (big): I wasn't quite sure about this one. Even with all the GQs, Tec edges, and spreading seas, they still have inevitability. Eventually they'll draw an eye with 7 mana up to get ulamaog. Elspeth helped her as it let me turn the corner quickly when I felt I was ahead. I recal mana leaking his turn three thought knot, and on my fourth turn, spreading seas drawing into another seas was brutal for him. his temple/eye draw was now double island.
Elves: I underestimated this match a bit. He came out fast and killed me before I could wrath. Collected company is something that keeps them in the game. He cast four of them in our last game, but wraths always keep them from going too wide which let Gideon clean up
Naya Kiki: Same as all the others. Revilark played a huge role here. Between this match and the Eldrazi matches, I kinda feel like another disdainful stroke in the board
Merfolk: He kept a cavern, triple vial on the draw hand. Missed land drops for four turns and I was able to d-sphere all three of his vials and he couldn't catch up. G2 I got him to scoop on turn 5 after a resolved Gideon
Affinity: His version had Master of etheriums which is far better vs the list. I didn't draw any wraths in both our games and he even killed me through a stony silence with Master of Etheriums providing the bulk of the damage.
Changes:
- Think Twice I think could be something else or at least trimmed in numbers. perhaps -2 for +2 remand. All it really does is help us with our land drops and being able to get some tempo and interaction early isn't bad with remand.
- Mindcensor was useless. Probably cut it for another disdainful stroke
- I might cut the engineered explosives for another wrath or maybe fracturing gust. Only being able to hit for 2 makes me want it only vs hyperagressive decks. Something to think about.
- Gideon and Elspeth were nothing but awesome at all times. I dont think I'd play Elspeth main, but I felt as if I was bringing it in all the time.
- Revelation is my least favorite card in the deck, but I understand it's purpose which is to just psudo-end the game. It tends to glut the deck up with 4drops. Same thing with snapcaster. Important role players that I don't think I'd want to cut or add any number.
- Finks are good vs the matches they're good against, but awful vs the field imo. Maybe some swapping of cards main and board, but I'm not 100% sure about that either. I don't want to cut too many which would impact the burn/GR/naya aggro decks and then have an adverse affect on the sideboard. It's tough to say when looking at the 75 card deck.
Total record since the twin bans with it between regionals and the local Level Up Cup is: 13-4
This is just the quick and dirty report. I can provide more details as needed.
I have heavily modified the deck and once I'm satisfied with it will post the list. I've not yet played it in a competitive way but have been doing solidly against tier decks in the mtgo practice room.
The main draw to it is 4x ghost quarter 4x spreading seas maindeck as well as a huge number of wraths and removal for eldrazi (elspeth, gideon). It feels like the eldrazi match is positive unless they have a blistering turn 3 kill draw (I'm 5-1 only lost to the UR version). If you untap on turn 4 with 6 life it feels quite hard to lose. I've also got to imagine affinity is positive though I've only played it once (1-0).
Some of the pulls of the deck -
8 maindeck land hate cards to attack eldrazi and tron
stony silence for lantern/affinity
maindeck timely for burn/zoo
4 supreme verdicts for merfolk
jace, elspeth and gideon to take over the game against GBx
rest in peace for graveyard shenanigans
colonnade as a win con is at an all time poor position with all these ghost quarters, blood moons, spreading seas and dismembers running around. Walkers provide a massively different attack angle that people are not properly prepared for.
Downsides -
Deck has so many enchantments between seas and Dsphere + 7 walkers that snapcaster just isn't great so you can't really justify running more than 1 or 2
It's a slow tap out deck. You can't win at instant speed at all so other control decks will be hard to beat (and you have very limited counter magic)
Combo matchup is not great. Again since you have to tap out for your win cons you can just die when they untap.
The curve is really high. There's 14 or 15? 4+ cmc cards so opening hands can certainly look very clunky.
Where is this sweet sounding list you are speaking about?
It was before the PT however it feels like the list was made with the eldrazi match in mind (completely avoiding graveyard + plenty of sweepers and land hate).
Just to be clear it's not my decklist, I've simply taken that 75 as a base to build my own deck.
I actually based my updated UW list off of that:
4 Kitchen Finks
3 Restoration Angel
1 Baneslayer Angel
4 Path to Exile
2 Spell Snare
1 Dismember
2 Spreading Seas
3 Timely Reinforcements
3 Detention Sphere
4 Supreme Verdict
2 Cryptic Command
1 Gideon Jura
4 Celestial Colonnade
4 Ghost Quarter
4 Island
3 Plains
2 Temple of Enlightenment
2 Hallowed Fountain
1 Mystic Gate
1 Polluted Delta
1 Windswept Heath
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Runed Halo
2 Stony Silence
2 Negate
2 Dispel
2 Ghostly Prison
1 Vendilion Clique
1 Spell Snare
1 Condemn
I proxied up the Channel Fireball Colorless Eldrazi list and have spend the past two days jamming game after game against it. I focused on that one because, if you look at all the recent top 8s online, that has been the most represented variant of the Eldrazi deck. Also, I figured that my gameplan against colorless will probably be the same against UR or RG or whatever variant they spit at me, unless they stick to the Processor version.
In any case, this is the list I've settled on after two days of testing. The Eldrazi matchup is still unfavorable, but Game 1 is only 60-40 in their favor (based on the results of 15 game 1s). Haven't done a lot of sideboard testing as of yet, so I can't speak for the sideboard numbers.
The Eldrazi deck is powerful, and explosive, but it can have some really weird draws. It's a deck that you want to aggressively mulligan with, and sometimes it mulligans so much that it winds up losing to itself. Sometimes you just draw these random useless Simian Spirit Guides and your opponent deals with your board and you just sit there durdling away.
Our game plan is simple: survive until Turn 4. Supreme Verdict is the key card here, and if we are able to cast that, in most cases we should be able to turn the corner. We want interaction and ways to stall, but ways that do not get stopped by a Turn 1 Chalice.
Enter Timely Reinforcements.
It fills the role of Lingering Souls in the link above without splashing for black. It's worse against Affinity because you can't block most, if any, of their dudes with the tokens, but gaining six life is nothing to sneeze it. That's one whole hit from a Reality Smasher you can tank now. Three 1/1s are good fodder to throw under Eldrazi Mimic or Thought-Knot Seer. It just gives you extra time to cast that wrath.
Spreading Seas can disrupt their curve if you cast it on their Eye of Ugin or Eldrazi Temple. Late game it can shut off their man lands, which can be annoying to deal with otherwise (at least three of the games I lost were due to Eldrazi grinding me out in the late game with their lands).
I ran a Dismember over Condemn because I wanted a kill spell that's not shut off by a Chalice on 1. It also deals with Reality Smasher. We have enough life gain in the deck that the life loss should be negligible. Detention Sphere got bumped up to three as well as a way to deal with some wide board-states, as well as being able to answer a Reality Smasher without discarding a card.
There's only four counters main now, which means that we're even closer to that midrange edge than before. Spell Snare is largely a dead card in the Eldrazi matchup, hence being cut to 2, however you can easily add one or two to the main by shaving a Timely or Sphere. I have a third in my side for Affinity, Jund, Infect, Merfolk, etc. Cryptic Command is at 2 as well because, while strong, it's prohibitive and it doesn't actually deal with their board. It's just a four mana Fog.
The four main deck counters means we are largely dead to combo game 1, which I found out last night against Grishoalbrand. I still managed to force it to 3, but I couldn't draw any of my sideboard hate in that last game. Also beat Affinity and Abzan CoCo, and lost to Affinity. That last lost should've been a win, but I punted and kept an awful hand with no interaction till turn 3, and I died before I could cast my Verdict.
Based off of last night's testing, I think I'm okay with the direction the deck is right now. I may shave something like Detention Sphere for a Vendilion Clique though, just to give me an extra piece of disruption.
GWSelvala and the Return to HumanityGW
UWDragonlord Ojutai, Control's Elder DragonUW
UBGTasigur, the God-Pharaoh's Gift to EDHUBG
UBRNicol Bolas and his Super
friendsPawnsUBRModern
UWUW Control/Midrange/Bad JundUW
WUBRGHumansWUBRG
BGMidrangeBG
I tested the list from here: http://modernnexus.com/on-banning-and-beating-eldrazi/ (a mix between the more control-y lists and some of the more blink-y lists) on cockatrice and it felt very strong -- only feeling weak to other control decks which are dying anyways. But it had a good burn, tron, eldrazi, and even b/w dnt matchup. It's pretty cheap so I'm seriously considering buying into it.
Modern
UBR Grixis Control
U Merfolk
Pauper
U Mono U Delver
Ancestral Visions is freed
The deck demands practice, getting to know how small changes affect how the deck plays, how to play vs particular strategies/decks, how good Spell Snare actually is. It feels truly amazing to cast Shadow of Doubt into GQ/Path. You get very different builds doing very different things, from draw go to tap out. Tech cards like SoD, Ghostly Prison, and many others can be main deck for particular metas.
I'm on UWR midrange right now because I've missed it, but I believe this is the deck I would take to a large event tomorrow (GP, Regionals or qualifier)
so, UW control is in fact a good metacall right now, but meta can adapt to it pretty quickly.
1. Can I see a generic looking UW control decklist? A lot of the lists I've seen are more midrangey
2. I just love playing Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir. Can I slot him in here?
1-I think you (and many others) confuse control with draw go, draw go is a type of control but not all control is draw-go. While it may seems midrange, they are control, finks, wall of omens, snap, resto angel all almost always at least 2x1, and they are good to stall the board (allowing board control), and finish the game after a supreme verdict or command tap or planeswalker ultimates. If you want to play creatureless control or something like that, look elsewhere.
rule of thumb:UWx midrange have geist, UWx control have supreme verdict maindeck.
2- well you can, but i think is a terrible choice in the deck right now. Teferi works wonder in something like UW scepter silence look, but you will have to made the deck yourself :P, also some people play teferi in twin (or other creature based) combo. But in traditional control teferi dont do much (you are much better playing gideon, ojutai, jace sphinx or other finisher in that spot)
I'm confused about the pair of Negate main deck. Maybe he wants to protect Jace and Ojutai that bad?
RBUGrixis ControlUBR
GUSimic MerfolkUG
WUUW ControlUW
RBUGrixis ControlUBR
BUUB MillUB
Colorless Eldrazi Tron
WRBurnRW
GUSimic MerfolkUG
UMono U TurnsU
WGGenesis Wave EnchantressGW
pretty meh in this meta.
i think hard counter like negate, remove soul or dispel are better.
Edit: oops somehow didn't reply to the comment about negate i guess, my bad. I like that jace list's look i feel like there isn't too much early game stuff tho which concerns me a bit.