@RafiqEDH I suggest adding the 4th Verdict and either a Blessed Alliance, Detention Sphere, or Cast Out, or maybe a lil' Gideon? A 26th land would be nice too if you only play 25.
Your not the only person to suggest Lil Gideon, but i was also told that going up to 4 Walkers is probably to much whats are your thoughts?
Does D-sphere being a sorcery speed answer that is worse value then a Verdict and not a Sorcery speed threat like a walker, does this card not contradict what we are wanting to do in this deck?
As for Blessed Alliance this has been suggested a couple times but I do not fully understand why this would be what we want. We have alot of answers to creatures already in the form of Push, Path and Verdict, so i'm not understanding the benefit of adding in BA as well? Can you please elaborate it's usefulness for our deck?
Also, i have had others suggest that this type of deck "needs" to have 12+ ways of cantriping / drawing cards.. is this accurate would you say?
You have 12+ ways, unless you discount Cryptic. I can understand not counting Rev, as it's more a wincon than draw spell.
Blessed Alliance works MD as an answer to threats Push won't kill, typically Eldrazi and Titan, while giving you life gain against Burn and the ability to mess with the math of a Scapeshift player. I'm on a 1/1 split of Push and BA, but haven't put in enough rounds to tell you whether I like it or not.
And if you're not interested in the sorcery-speed catch-all, you might try Anguished Unmaking. I've had one in my MD and have really enjoyed being able to answer the random god or other difficult to deal with permanent. Having Alliance in the main helps with the life loss, too.
Blessed alliance messes with every deck trying to deal 20 damage in a short period of time - burn, zoo, fish, storm, Affinity, titanshift, and others im blanking on
It has the keyword sacrifice, which has been relevant for me against Ulamog, Thrun, Reality Smasher, Gideon, Emrakul, and a handful of other cards (boggles anyone??)
It has the ability to surprise the opponent with blockers, which has only ever been relevant one time for me (BSA was involved)
And all of that adds up to being a pretty great card for 1W
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Have you tested at all with Remand lately? I know we don't count it as a counterspell and rather a cantrip but does it actually help us vs any other cantrip option?
When I modify my deck, I run through all the options I think are viable and then break down which decks I would want or not want those particular cards. Essentially, I create a SB guide for each card I considered and tried to find the most powerful MD with the cards I sided out the least. Runed Halo was my number 1 choice as a card I was happy to see in ~90% of matchups. (I love that card!) Negate was next, followed by Remand. Essentially I'm happy to see Remand against decks that cast high CMC spells (Eldrazi/Titan/Tasigur) or haymaker spells early (LotV) to slow their roll and give me a chance to find a permanent answer, and against blue mirrors as additional fuel for counter wars (UW and UWR). I may be completely mid-siding, though, as it's been some time since I've played with Remand and I'm operating on old information.
I still don't know exactly how the matchups play out differently when you swap Esper Charms for burn spells, but I'm going to go our on a limb and say the creature matchups get better.
Torrential Gearhulk in a top 8 list is impressive. I don't plan on playing a 6-mana Mulldrifter, but maybe the card is fundamentally different in Modern...or maybe the guy got lucky and never drew it.
EDIT: Whoops, SCG top 8, not GP. That explains a lot, but it's a good finish, nonetheless.
I still don't know exactly how the matchups play out differently when you swap Esper Charms for burn spells, but I'm going to go our on a limb and say the creature matchups get better.
Torrential Gearhulk in a top 8 list is impressive. I don't plan on playing a 6-mana Mulldrifter, but maybe the card is fundamentally different in Modern...or maybe the guy got lucky and never drew it.
EDIT: Whoops, SCG top 8, not GP. That explains a lot, but it's a good finish, nonetheless.
Lightning Helix is the card you're thinking of. It single-handedly makes Jeskai better against aggro than Esper -- we still have Pushes and Alliances, but nothing packs the punch that Helix does against any aggro strategy. I really do think that Esper could be great if the bad aggro matchups were addressed. It's just been hard to fix, tbh.
Have you tested at all with Remand lately? I know we don't count it as a counterspell and rather a cantrip but does it actually help us vs any other cantrip option?
Remand is a unique cantrip in that it's value is highly variable. Are you Remanding anything that costs 3+ mana? Can they recast it? Are they playing counters? Remand can even be good against Burn when it's pointed at a 2-mana spell (ofc you side them out after G1), but it depends because Remand gets it's value from soft locking your opponent into casting nothing the turn Remand is played -- not a great card when you're already behind, but great on T2, great against control, living end, etc. My personal experience with it is that it's not for a super fast meta -- when you can Remand a Birthing Pod (or Eldritch Evolution lol) or Twin creature, it's very well positioned, but the most popular cards right now are 1 mana. I'd rather play Hallowed moonlight.
Have you tested at all with Remand lately? I know we don't count it as a counterspell and rather a cantrip but does it actually help us vs any other cantrip option?
I actually considered Moonlight and decided against it. The only top decks it's relevant against are Storm, CoCo, Junk, and Eldrazi & Taxes, whereas Remand does something against every deck, even if it's just eat up some mana.
@EsperShardmage Yes, but doing something is NOT the same as doing something relevant. Besides, Moonlight always at least cantripping whenever you want it to is "something". IMO Moonlight has a slightly lower floor but a much higher ceiling.
I think it's absolutely more relevant than Seas right now and it's definitely the next cantrip I'm going to try out. I didn't like Serum. Although Peek is somewhat tempting...
I have 2 slots open in my list, i'clve dropped Serum Visions and Gideon Jura in favour of 1 Sphinx and 1 Verdict. However I have been back and fourth with my testing, Gideon of the Trials, Remand, Blessed Alliance. I'm not sure which of these if any are correct. I like the idea of the Original list and what your trying to recreated shardmage with ha I g the additional cantrips (2 remand brings me to 10 card advantage / cantrip spells excluding Cryptic and Rev) and my meta ATM is more midrange ish with Spirits, Jund, 4c shadow, UW control. But I do have sown faster decks, Dredge, Burn, Grixis shadow so I can see where Remand is maybe not well suited as Annihilator said.. kinda stuck
Sounds like Blessed Alliance may be the card for you! Cheap removal against spirits that hits Geist, kills everything (except Bob, probably) out of Jund, kills opposing Gideons, kills Shadows and delve creatures, and helps with Burn.
@EsperShardmage I really wish Alliance had a Draw acard Option to it. I keep looking at it as now having 8 removal spells which removal spells don't necessarily disrupt the opponent and therefore see it as not why the deck wants XD. Maybe I'm looking at it wrong?
@Rafiq There's a reason the deck originally had 12 draw spells (Remand and Shadow with TT and EC). We need to keep digging for answers with how powerful the threats in Modern are. We've been getting more powerful answers, but it doesn't change that we win by running our opponents out of ways to win, which we have been moving away from, due to how much the format sped up.
I still don't know exactly how the matchups play out differently when you swap Esper Charms for burn spells, but I'm going to go our on a limb and say the creature matchups get better.
Torrential Gearhulk in a top 8 list is impressive. I don't plan on playing a 6-mana Mulldrifter, but maybe the card is fundamentally different in Modern...or maybe the guy got lucky and never drew it.
EDIT: Whoops, SCG top 8, not GP. That explains a lot, but it's a good finish, nonetheless.
I think that it's actually one of Sukenik's list, but I could be wrong. I'm considering playing an Academy Ruins in it TBH
EDIT: Yeah, here's a Sukenik list:Jeskai Control. There's only a 2-card difference, looks like Nikolich cut a Censor and a Rev for a Gearhulk and a Serum.
Your not the only person to suggest Lil Gideon, but i was also told that going up to 4 Walkers is probably to much whats are your thoughts?
Does D-sphere being a sorcery speed answer that is worse value then a Verdict and not a Sorcery speed threat like a walker, does this card not contradict what we are wanting to do in this deck?
As for Blessed Alliance this has been suggested a couple times but I do not fully understand why this would be what we want. We have alot of answers to creatures already in the form of Push, Path and Verdict, so i'm not understanding the benefit of adding in BA as well? Can you please elaborate it's usefulness for our deck?
Also, i have had others suggest that this type of deck "needs" to have 12+ ways of cantriping / drawing cards.. is this accurate would you say?
Blessed Alliance works MD as an answer to threats Push won't kill, typically Eldrazi and Titan, while giving you life gain against Burn and the ability to mess with the math of a Scapeshift player. I'm on a 1/1 split of Push and BA, but haven't put in enough rounds to tell you whether I like it or not.
And if you're not interested in the sorcery-speed catch-all, you might try Anguished Unmaking. I've had one in my MD and have really enjoyed being able to answer the random god or other difficult to deal with permanent. Having Alliance in the main helps with the life loss, too.
It has the keyword sacrifice, which has been relevant for me against Ulamog, Thrun, Reality Smasher, Gideon, Emrakul, and a handful of other cards (boggles anyone??)
It has the ability to surprise the opponent with blockers, which has only ever been relevant one time for me (BSA was involved)
And all of that adds up to being a pretty great card for 1W
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Feel free to PM me about Affinity decks in any format!
4 flooded strand
4 polluted delta
2 hallowed fountain
2 watery grave
3 island
1 plains
1 swamp
1 ghost quarter
1 Creeping Tar Pit
2 Glacial Fortress
1 godless shrine
1 Mystic Gate
4 path to exile
1 Blessed Alliance
3 supreme verdict
Permission:
4 cryptic command
2 logic knot
2 Negate
Card Draw:
4 esper charm
4 think twice
2 Remand
2 sphinx's revelation
3 Snapcaster Mage
Other:
1 White Sun's Zenith
2 Runed Halo
2 Vendilion Clique
1 Dispel
2 Fatal Push
1 Wrath of God
1 Anguished Unmaking
1 Blessed Alliance
1 Celestial Purge
1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
1 Rest In Peace
2 Stony Silence
2 Leyline of Sanctity
http://sales.starcitygames.com/deckdatabase/displaydeck.php?DeckID=115503
I still don't know exactly how the matchups play out differently when you swap Esper Charms for burn spells, but I'm going to go our on a limb and say the creature matchups get better.
Torrential Gearhulk in a top 8 list is impressive. I don't plan on playing a 6-mana Mulldrifter, but maybe the card is fundamentally different in Modern...or maybe the guy got lucky and never drew it.
EDIT: Whoops, SCG top 8, not GP. That explains a lot, but it's a good finish, nonetheless.
Lightning Helix is the card you're thinking of. It single-handedly makes Jeskai better against aggro than Esper -- we still have Pushes and Alliances, but nothing packs the punch that Helix does against any aggro strategy. I really do think that Esper could be great if the bad aggro matchups were addressed. It's just been hard to fix, tbh.
UWB Esper Draw-Go Control (clicky)
UW Azorius Control (clicky)
Currently pursuing a degree in Biochemistry.
EDH: I've decided I don't like multiplayer formats.
Remand is a unique cantrip in that it's value is highly variable. Are you Remanding anything that costs 3+ mana? Can they recast it? Are they playing counters? Remand can even be good against Burn when it's pointed at a 2-mana spell (ofc you side them out after G1), but it depends because Remand gets it's value from soft locking your opponent into casting nothing the turn Remand is played -- not a great card when you're already behind, but great on T2, great against control, living end, etc. My personal experience with it is that it's not for a super fast meta -- when you can Remand a Birthing Pod (or Eldritch Evolution lol) or Twin creature, it's very well positioned, but the most popular cards right now are 1 mana. I'd rather play Hallowed moonlight.
UWB Esper Draw-Go Control (clicky)
UW Azorius Control (clicky)
Currently pursuing a degree in Biochemistry.
EDH: I've decided I don't like multiplayer formats.
NPH. It shows more of what the card is doing, which is both more disturbing but also better.
UWB Esper Draw-Go Control (clicky)
UW Azorius Control (clicky)
Currently pursuing a degree in Biochemistry.
EDH: I've decided I don't like multiplayer formats.
I actually considered Moonlight and decided against it. The only top decks it's relevant against are Storm, CoCo, Junk, and Eldrazi & Taxes, whereas Remand does something against every deck, even if it's just eat up some mana.
UWB Esper Draw-Go Control (clicky)
UW Azorius Control (clicky)
Currently pursuing a degree in Biochemistry.
EDH: I've decided I don't like multiplayer formats.
I have 2 slots open in my list, i'clve dropped Serum Visions and Gideon Jura in favour of 1 Sphinx and 1 Verdict. However I have been back and fourth with my testing, Gideon of the Trials, Remand, Blessed Alliance. I'm not sure which of these if any are correct. I like the idea of the Original list and what your trying to recreated shardmage with ha I g the additional cantrips (2 remand brings me to 10 card advantage / cantrip spells excluding Cryptic and Rev) and my meta ATM is more midrange ish with Spirits, Jund, 4c shadow, UW control. But I do have sown faster decks, Dredge, Burn, Grixis shadow so I can see where Remand is maybe not well suited as Annihilator said.. kinda stuck
I think that it's actually one of Sukenik's list, but I could be wrong. I'm considering playing an Academy Ruins in it TBH
EDIT: Yeah, here's a Sukenik list:Jeskai Control. There's only a 2-card difference, looks like Nikolich cut a Censor and a Rev for a Gearhulk and a Serum.
UWR Control
BR Hollow One