Out of that list, only Tezzeret gives you a +1 cards on his +. Requirement is you have to run a mono artifact deck.
EDIT: Relevant statement, since it points out how people fail to evaluate planeswalker abilities correctly. That's how they can roll in the hype trains on new sets without buyer's remorse setting in.
I mean, I will say that Tez is pretty consistently card draw. Look at it like this--it's the same thing as giving scapeshift a free peer through depths every turn. It doesn't miss often enough for that to be a relevant consideration, and if it does miss it's a really good thing it did, otherwise the game was over anyway.
The rest of them though... Well, baby Elspeth practically draws cards. any planeswalker that pops out a token while going up in loyalty is one I consider to be drawing cards, so sorin lord of innistrad also fits.
anguished unmaking has a gameday promo that I intend to acquire two of. Probably this means I'll have to get my hands dirty with standard cards. Ugh. There's a shop 20 minutes from me that has maybe a dozen players with any regularity and the competitive level is such that I can generally take a draft deck and jam a few extra lands and spells in and 3-1, so if I actually bother to sleeve up a real deck making top 8 should be a cakewalk.
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Yes, I am a local area mod. WELP. GOOD LIFE CHANGES ALL HAPPEN AT ONCE AND SOME ARE MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE
Primary Decks:
Modern: Esper Draw-Go
Legacy: RUG Lands
EDH: Sidisi turn-3 storm
anguished unmaking has a gameday promo that I intend to acquire two of. Probably this means I'll have to get my hands dirty with standard cards. Ugh. There's a shop 20 minutes from me that has maybe a dozen players with any regularity and the competitive level is such that I can generally take a draft deck and jam a few extra lands and spells in and 3-1, so if I actually bother to sleeve up a real deck making top 8 should be a cakewalk.
I intend to get 2 as well, but given the cost of making a standard deck it's probably just cheaper to buy the 2 promos...especially since GP Toronto is that weekend and I'll probably be playing modern or legacy side events there instead. On the other hand, being a standard GP..will make game days easier to win I guess, although most stores are running it on Sunday, which should work well enough.
"He plays in a walk in humidor so keep his foils from bending. He once kept an all land hand just to know what it felt like to be mana flooded. He uses power nine for ante. He is the most interesting magic playing in the world." Old man, "I don't always tap basic lands for mana, but when i do, I tap Gurus."
I mean, I don't play standard, like at all if I can avoid it. But, I am paying my way through school by dealing on the secondary market--mostly flipping standard cards. I have everything available if I want it. I flipped 25k over (in inventory) in this last fiscal year, for a good chunk of profit--thanks, $41 buylist on crucible of worlds, I had 30 of you @$5 that I dumped at the GP. Play for the long game, play mtg finance for the long game, invest for the long game, plan for retirement for the long game... we control players do it as a way of life =)
I'll probably jam some kind of b/r or mono r agro with a bunch of combat tricks and laugh. Local shop is NOT competitive. They look at my progress on foiling esper, and think the deck is too expensive to ever consider getting even in non-pimp form. I've never taken my lands list to this shop, they don't even dream of legacy over there.
Anyways, my testing is pointing to anguished unmaking as a 1 or 2 of in the 75 initially, probably a 1/1 split or just 1 in the board.
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Yes, I am a local area mod. WELP. GOOD LIFE CHANGES ALL HAPPEN AT ONCE AND SOME ARE MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE
Primary Decks:
Modern: Esper Draw-Go
Legacy: RUG Lands
EDH: Sidisi turn-3 storm
I'll probably jam 2 anguished unmaking in my board and take out the d-sphere and disenchant, with the possibility of running 1 main. I could see going up to 3 in my meta because there can be a lot of random non aggressive stuff that needs generic answers - lantern, taking turns, tron, etc.
Has anyone considered a third logic knot in the main?
Usually I'm casting it for X=1 and I'm finding I need more hard counters and early interaction. Many U decks in modern run 4 mana leak and obviously it's not a viable option for us, unlike UR/Grixis builds. As much as I like Think Twice it definitely seems like at least a couple copies should be early interaction in the current metagame. How modern shapes up after the ban/restricted announcement will determine where I go with esper. You can certainly draw the wrong half of your deck extremely often with this build of esper, if I have ~2 of the correct spells that interact favorably early I'm usually fine, but the metagame is soo fast that durdling isn't quite possible. Additionally, with Esper Charm alone we have more card advantage than most control decks in modern. Because we don't establish an early clock and we have 0 reach we're almost forced into winning through card advantage alone?
UWR has helix, bolt, ajani, electrolyze, parents, etc and can win through burn.
Grixis has kommand and terminate along with the powerful UR spells..and they can run 4 leaks.
Esper has........Esper Charm? It's great but it gives us one game plan and one game plan only.
No other control deck runs think twice because they want every spell to interact with the opponent or setup their gameplan (if it's creature based).
I have the entire deck foiled out and I love it, my only gripe with Esper is there's no color specific tools that put it over the top of, say UWR. Unmaking is something I guess, but I have a feeling the 3 life will be a little too harsh.
I even like shadow of doubt over think twice because it's versatile and it's often "Destroy Target Land, Draw a card UU" or "Counter target spell (or half a spell in some cases), draw a card UU". I totally understand think twice is card advantage, but it's particularly brutal to have a hand full of Rev/Charm/Think Twice, and you're hoping to draw into interaction, but you never do. Then you just fall over and die against a lot of decks. I've had my deck let me down far too often in these situations...
Has anyone considered a third logic knot in the main?
Usually I'm casting it for X=1 and I'm finding I need more hard counters and early interaction. Many U decks in modern run 4 mana leak and obviously it's not a viable option for us, unlike UR/Grixis builds. As much as I like Think Twice it definitely seems like at least a couple copies should be early interaction in the current metagame. How modern shapes up after the ban/restricted announcement will determine where I go with esper. You can certainly draw the wrong half of your deck extremely often with this build of esper, if I have ~2 of the correct spells that interact favorably early I'm usually fine, but the metagame is soo fast that durdling isn't quite possible. Additionally, with Esper Charm alone we have more card advantage than most control decks in modern. Because we don't establish an early clock and we have 0 reach we're almost forced into winning through card advantage alone?
UWR has helix, bolt, ajani, electrolyze, parents, etc and can win through burn.
Grixis has kommand and terminate along with the powerful UR spells..and they can run 4 leaks.
Esper has........Esper Charm? It's great but it gives us one game plan and one game plan only.
No other control deck runs think twice because they want every spell to interact with the opponent or setup their gameplan (if it's creature based).
I have the entire deck foiled out and I love it, my only gripe with Esper is there's no color specific tools that put it over the top of, say UWR. Unmaking is something I guess, but I have a feeling the 3 life will be a little too harsh.
I even like shadow of doubt over think twice because it's versatile and it's often "Destroy Target Land, Draw a card UU" or "Counter target spell (or half a spell in some cases), draw a card UU". I totally understand think twice is card advantage, but it's particularly brutal to have a hand full of Rev/Charm/Think Twice, and you're hoping to draw into interaction, but you never do. Then you just fall over and die against a lot of decks. I've had my deck let me down far too often in these situations...
It sounds to me like you need to play tighter. If you're low on answers, you need to think about what is most obnoxios and hold answers for it. Counter what matters, and little else. If it's literally killing you, then answer it. Otherwise, just draw cards. If the opponent can gas you out to the point when you're nothing but air, maybe you need to mind rot more with Esper Charm. One you have no business, then Charm to draw.
I'm talking about fundamental problems with the deck, I play fine.
Esper isn't putting up results because it lacks strong early interaction, versatility, and consistency. We win the long game obviously but we lack generalized answers to threats and we have too much do-nothing durdle cards. I guess that's just a fault in control as a whole in modern, though other variants have more consistent spells.
Modern is just too fast, and I don't see it getting slower post ban. Our best aggro matchups involve us hitting spell snare and it actually mattering, lol. Or like, zoo decks.
Control is supposed to beat combo too but we're only favored against like, living end and scapeshift.
I'm talking about fundamental problems with the deck, I play fine.
Esper isn't putting up results because it lacks strong early interaction, versatility, and consistency. We win the long game obviously but we lack generalized answers to threats and we have too much do-nothing durdle cards. I guess that's just a fault in control as a whole in modern, though other variants have more consistent spells.
Modern is just too fast, and I don't see it getting slower post ban. Our best aggro matchups involve us hitting spell snare and it actually mattering, lol. Or like, zoo decks.
Control is supposed to beat combo too but we're only favored against like, living end and scapeshift.
I ran Mana Leak for a while, but ended up moving it to the sideboard. You want to run that before additional copies of Logic Knot. And Mana Leak, even straight Counterspell, isn't "universal cheap interaction" in a format where half the decks are piles of 1 and 2 drops. The wrong half of your deck in an aggro matchup is Mana Leak or Logic Knot. That's why I cut it and put back the full set of Spell Snare. I ended up cutting Spell Snare copies for Condemn, but that's 1-mana removal in the matchups where it's good.
Think Twice, Esper Charm, and the most efficient disruption to weave in between them. I still think that's the core of the deck. I'd cut the 26th land before Think Twices, something I've been on the fence about doing.
I'm on 4 copies of spell snare as well and it's either amazing (affinity, jund, company) or absolutely awful. When 3 mana spells (lili, moon, stuff that matters) slip through before you're on cryptic and you have no logic knot it really hurts. Especially now with eldrazi winter in full effect, if you're not dead by turn 4 it's totally wrath or bust.
If you don't have the right answers a lot of times you just die. Ofc you want straight removal vs 1 drop aggro, but when you sit down to play you have no idea that's what they're on. So typically you have to get lucky and draw at least 1-2 spells that interact with their list, especially when you die turn 2-4 now through interaction and have no time to durdle.
That's why wall of omens is looking more and more appealing (almost always is gain some amount of life or prevent death +draw a card), it buys time and often you have no real permission on turn 2 anyway (if you're running a list of no remands and only 2 logic knot).
Has anyone considered a third logic knot in the main?
Usually I'm casting it for X=1 and I'm finding I need more hard counters and early interaction. Many U decks in modern run 4 mana leak and obviously it's not a viable option for us, unlike UR/Grixis builds. As much as I like Think Twice it definitely seems like at least a couple copies should be early interaction in the current metagame. How modern shapes up after the ban/restricted announcement will determine where I go with esper. You can certainly draw the wrong half of your deck extremely often with this build of esper, if I have ~2 of the correct spells that interact favorably early I'm usually fine, but the metagame is soo fast that durdling isn't quite possible. Additionally, with Esper Charm alone we have more card advantage than most control decks in modern. Because we don't establish an early clock and we have 0 reach we're almost forced into winning through card advantage alone?
UWR has helix, bolt, ajani, electrolyze, parents, etc and can win through burn.
Grixis has kommand and terminate along with the powerful UR spells..and they can run 4 leaks.
Esper has........Esper Charm? It's great but it gives us one game plan and one game plan only.
No other control deck runs think twice because they want every spell to interact with the opponent or setup their gameplan (if it's creature based).
I have the entire deck foiled out and I love it, my only gripe with Esper is there's no color specific tools that put it over the top of, say UWR. Unmaking is something I guess, but I have a feeling the 3 life will be a little too harsh.
I even like shadow of doubt over think twice because it's versatile and it's often "Destroy Target Land, Draw a card UU" or "Counter target spell (or half a spell in some cases), draw a card UU". I totally understand think twice is card advantage, but it's particularly brutal to have a hand full of Rev/Charm/Think Twice, and you're hoping to draw into interaction, but you never do. Then you just fall over and die against a lot of decks. I've had my deck let me down far too often in these situations...
I'm talking about fundamental problems with the deck, I play fine.
Never say this. We can all improve, whether you're looking to or not.
Consider condescend or negate or remand over a third logic knot, though.
I would rather play more wraths (flaying tendrills is also quite powerful, in some metas), and force a long game, than drastically change the core given any amount of choice in the matter.
Sure, if your entire playgroup is eldrazi, you're gonna have to make some changes, but in anything close to a balanced meta, well, the core is core for a reason.
Finally made it out to an event again tonight. 2-1. Happy with my performance, unhappy with my result. I correctly called the metagame that night as burn-heavy and upped to 3 leyline main, only 1 runed halo. I beat burn 2-0 in round one (game two leyline in the opener, baneslayer on turn 5 after two spell snares and a path easymode, game one was a nailbiter resolving leyline at 2 life with a snapcaster up against an open board. Managed to close it out).
Round 2, got paired against some kind of random wall deck with phenax, god of deception as the primary win con! Needless to say, easy 2-0 victory.
Round 3 I got paired against jund, I knew it was jund, and I declined to ID with him. I then proceeded to smash him in game one, like we typically do. Game two, I had a leyline, lands, and spells. Kept it, he hit a turn three painful truths that I couldn't stop, and then we proceeded to trade resources. Eventually, we were topdecking with no hands and no manlands. He draws five spells. I draw 3 lands and 2 think twice, that find me four additional lands, and I die. Game three, on the play, I again have a reasonable hand. He again has the nuts and it goes into a long grind. Eventually, I have him topdecking at 6 life to my 5, and I'm holding a rev and a cryptic. He draws a land, I rev for six, I hit all lands/excess leylines/snapcaster mages (after he's scavenging ooze'd away my entire yard), and he proceeds to rip bob, into Olivia + finks, into goyf + pulse.
Tonight was not my night. I got destroyed in that match against jund by my own deck--there's no reason we should lose games that get to that kind of stable point except variance. Three mainboard leylines was a good call, my swap back to RIP over extractions was also spot-on. I definitely also am happy with the glacial fortress over the 3rd quarter at the moment.
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Yes, I am a local area mod. WELP. GOOD LIFE CHANGES ALL HAPPEN AT ONCE AND SOME ARE MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE
Primary Decks:
Modern: Esper Draw-Go
Legacy: RUG Lands
EDH: Sidisi turn-3 storm
The deck can't really support a third logic knot. I mean sure you can run it, but a condescend or remand would almost be strictly better. And yes uwr doesn't run think twice, but the deck also has barely any card advantage and constantly loses to top decks in the late game which is why I moved over to esper. I've never had a problem running think twice against affinity or zoo or even burn. Control does have the issue of no versatile options which is why so many of us bemoan the fact that our countermagic selections in general is just awful which has always been the versatile answer spot for the deck in the history of the archetype.
Our biggest issue really is the lack of good filtering in our colors. No ponder, no preordain etc which makes us lose to the "drawing the wrong half" way more than any other reason. Serum visions isn't that great because we fetch so much and always will to make the mana base work and it only gives us selection Next Turn, not Right Now which is why it's so much worse than preordain. Sadly there isn't anything on the banned list that we can realistically expect to come off that would help us in ways that we need help. And by that of course I mean JTMS but that's just never going to happen. AV is nice, but not needed, we can't really just cram the thopter sword combo in our deck if that comes off without completely morphing into something else, so we just need reprints.
My problem with any aggressive deck has never been "damn I'm too slow" it's been crap I drew 3 cryptics and a logic knot against affinity. I drew 2 verdicts and a D sphere against burn and never found counter magic fast enough for anything to matter. Or look at all of this awesome removal I have against strom... Those are the problems and they aren't easily solved with such a wide format we have to prepare for. And it's also the reason that we do very well locally when we know the meta but less so at large events when it could be anything, even a boat.
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And on that day, Garfield said unto the world "Go ye forth and durdle!"
Honestly, part of this issue can be assuaged with cards like dimir charm. We're only a couple of good ones (maybe two in our colors?) away from having an excellent toolbox of modal countermagic/removal. Really, if they would just reprint dromar's charm we're probably be there, straight up.
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Yes, I am a local area mod. WELP. GOOD LIFE CHANGES ALL HAPPEN AT ONCE AND SOME ARE MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE
Primary Decks:
Modern: Esper Draw-Go
Legacy: RUG Lands
EDH: Sidisi turn-3 storm
Honestly, part of this issue can be assuaged with cards like dimir charm. We're only a couple of good ones (maybe two in our colors?) away from having an excellent toolbox of modal countermagic/removal. Really, if they would just reprint dromar's charm we're probably be there, straight up.
I wouldn't agree with dimir charm mostly because there aren't enough relevant sorceries to stop, but when treasure cruise was a thing the card was amazing. The filter effect is only OK without a host of flashback cards or enough graveyard synergies to make the card disadvantage worth it. But dromar's charm I've been praying and hoping for a reprint for AGES! Seriously, check the "reprints plox" thread. It gives us a good counter spell, gives us the extra MD life gain we've been wanting, and has a somewhat relevant removal mode as well. I mean seriously, it's literally everything the deck wants without being even close to OP with the added bonus of being just fine or even 'meh' in any standard format. The only thing really holding it back from a reprint is the name Dromar meaning it would take a very weird set to be considered for a reprint. But blargle I wants it!
In all honesty on the subject of reprints, I can come up with at least a dozen off the top of my head that would help us out a ton while being completely safe to reprint.
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And on that day, Garfield said unto the world "Go ye forth and durdle!"
I've always been a huge fan of straight up UW control, but losing the extra draw spell in esper charm is too big of a hit for me. Also the fact that esper charm can be interactive instead of pure durdle is another large pull. But I've been tinkering with a UW list using ancestral vision just in case it is finally unleashed and it is hawt. As for jace AoT I've always been on the fence abotu him and my decision always comes down to how much goys and bolts I can expect. Goyf just brute forces it's way through the + and bolt gets rid of him after a single - for one mana making it hard to counter. I don't mind UW, but right now I just feel that esper is better with more CA and access to souls and seize in the side when needed.
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And on that day, Garfield said unto the world "Go ye forth and durdle!"
Has anyone tried the following cantrips in the flex slots?
Azorius Charm I've been running one of this. I like that it doubles as a Condemn/TimeWalk-type effect if I need that. The lifelink isn't the most irrelevant thing.
Whispers of the Muse Speaking of irrelevant effects, this card is interesting. For 1 mana, it does nothing. I've seen [Peek] run before. And what are these cantrip slots but just a draw more-often-than-not? The 6 mana effect is interesting. How often will that be relevant? Once in every 50 games? Less?
Truth or Tale I saw this card for the first time yesterday. Your opponent chooses what you get. That sounds bad. But for 2 mana, as a 1 of? I could see this. Turn 2, you play this. A Path would be ideal. You flip over a Path, 2 lands, a Snare, a Charm, separate the piles 2-3 - they either give you what you need, or you're going up in card advantage. This is, of course, bad when you're digging for one specific thing in a do-or-die situation, which is why I wouldn't suggest more than 1. You aren't getting exactly what you want, like Peer through Depths or Forbidden Alchemy would give. You're not whiffing or binning WSZ or Snaps here. Again, you're not getting what you exactly want. But - Just pure card number mid game? It doesn't seem difficult to force situations like "You either give me this 1 for 3/4, or I'll take this Verdict/Rev/WSZ." I want to try it.
Truth or Tale doesn't do what you think it does. You choose one card from the chosen pile. Not nearly as good.
I'm going to be taking the following list to Modern tonight, I'll let you know how it goes:
The changes:
-2x Condemn --> +2x Runed Halo: This is because Halo seems to be a better removal spell, and isn't dead almost ever.
-1x Remand --> +1x Logic Knot: Testing more Knots, because I realized I never actually have. Hopefully it'll be great so I can play more virtual Counterspells in my deck.
-1x Mystic Gate, -1x Ghost Quarter --> +1x Glacial Fortress, +1x Polluted Delta: +1 fetch to power up the Logic Knots, and adding a non-colorless source since I need WW for Runed Halo.
Edit: Oh, and -1x Batterskull --> +1x Elspeth, Sun's Champion: because Elspeth is more impactful and doesn't get brick walled against Goyf/Drazi. It also just flat-out wins the game on resolution against some decks, like Abzan Co, Boggles (barring Rancor), and BGx (barring Maelstrom Pulse. Finally, when going into "draw-you-out" mode (which I've been playing around with since amalek introduced me to it), 'Speth makes flying creatures irrelevant with her ult.
EDIT: Relevant statement, since it points out how people fail to evaluate planeswalker abilities correctly. That's how they can roll in the hype trains on new sets without buyer's remorse setting in.
The rest of them though... Well, baby Elspeth practically draws cards. any planeswalker that pops out a token while going up in loyalty is one I consider to be drawing cards, so sorin lord of innistrad also fits.
anguished unmaking has a gameday promo that I intend to acquire two of. Probably this means I'll have to get my hands dirty with standard cards. Ugh. There's a shop 20 minutes from me that has maybe a dozen players with any regularity and the competitive level is such that I can generally take a draft deck and jam a few extra lands and spells in and 3-1, so if I actually bother to sleeve up a real deck making top 8 should be a cakewalk.
Yes, I am a local area mod.WELP. GOOD LIFE CHANGES ALL HAPPEN AT ONCE AND SOME ARE MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVEPrimary Decks:
Modern: Esper Draw-Go
Legacy: RUG Lands
EDH: Sidisi turn-3 storm
I intend to get 2 as well, but given the cost of making a standard deck it's probably just cheaper to buy the 2 promos...especially since GP Toronto is that weekend and I'll probably be playing modern or legacy side events there instead. On the other hand, being a standard GP..will make game days easier to win I guess, although most stores are running it on Sunday, which should work well enough.
I'll probably jam some kind of b/r or mono r agro with a bunch of combat tricks and laugh. Local shop is NOT competitive. They look at my progress on foiling esper, and think the deck is too expensive to ever consider getting even in non-pimp form. I've never taken my lands list to this shop, they don't even dream of legacy over there.
Anyways, my testing is pointing to anguished unmaking as a 1 or 2 of in the 75 initially, probably a 1/1 split or just 1 in the board.
Yes, I am a local area mod.WELP. GOOD LIFE CHANGES ALL HAPPEN AT ONCE AND SOME ARE MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVEPrimary Decks:
Modern: Esper Draw-Go
Legacy: RUG Lands
EDH: Sidisi turn-3 storm
Has anyone considered a third logic knot in the main?
Usually I'm casting it for X=1 and I'm finding I need more hard counters and early interaction. Many U decks in modern run 4 mana leak and obviously it's not a viable option for us, unlike UR/Grixis builds. As much as I like Think Twice it definitely seems like at least a couple copies should be early interaction in the current metagame. How modern shapes up after the ban/restricted announcement will determine where I go with esper. You can certainly draw the wrong half of your deck extremely often with this build of esper, if I have ~2 of the correct spells that interact favorably early I'm usually fine, but the metagame is soo fast that durdling isn't quite possible. Additionally, with Esper Charm alone we have more card advantage than most control decks in modern. Because we don't establish an early clock and we have 0 reach we're almost forced into winning through card advantage alone?
UWR has helix, bolt, ajani, electrolyze, parents, etc and can win through burn.
Grixis has kommand and terminate along with the powerful UR spells..and they can run 4 leaks.
Esper has........Esper Charm? It's great but it gives us one game plan and one game plan only.
No other control deck runs think twice because they want every spell to interact with the opponent or setup their gameplan (if it's creature based).
I have the entire deck foiled out and I love it, my only gripe with Esper is there's no color specific tools that put it over the top of, say UWR. Unmaking is something I guess, but I have a feeling the 3 life will be a little too harsh.
I even like shadow of doubt over think twice because it's versatile and it's often "Destroy Target Land, Draw a card UU" or "Counter target spell (or half a spell in some cases), draw a card UU". I totally understand think twice is card advantage, but it's particularly brutal to have a hand full of Rev/Charm/Think Twice, and you're hoping to draw into interaction, but you never do. Then you just fall over and die against a lot of decks. I've had my deck let me down far too often in these situations...
It sounds to me like you need to play tighter. If you're low on answers, you need to think about what is most obnoxios and hold answers for it. Counter what matters, and little else. If it's literally killing you, then answer it. Otherwise, just draw cards. If the opponent can gas you out to the point when you're nothing but air, maybe you need to mind rot more with Esper Charm. One you have no business, then Charm to draw.
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.
Esper isn't putting up results because it lacks strong early interaction, versatility, and consistency. We win the long game obviously but we lack generalized answers to threats and we have too much do-nothing durdle cards. I guess that's just a fault in control as a whole in modern, though other variants have more consistent spells.
Modern is just too fast, and I don't see it getting slower post ban. Our best aggro matchups involve us hitting spell snare and it actually mattering, lol. Or like, zoo decks.
Control is supposed to beat combo too but we're only favored against like, living end and scapeshift.
I ran Mana Leak for a while, but ended up moving it to the sideboard. You want to run that before additional copies of Logic Knot. And Mana Leak, even straight Counterspell, isn't "universal cheap interaction" in a format where half the decks are piles of 1 and 2 drops. The wrong half of your deck in an aggro matchup is Mana Leak or Logic Knot. That's why I cut it and put back the full set of Spell Snare. I ended up cutting Spell Snare copies for Condemn, but that's 1-mana removal in the matchups where it's good.
Think Twice, Esper Charm, and the most efficient disruption to weave in between them. I still think that's the core of the deck. I'd cut the 26th land before Think Twices, something I've been on the fence about doing.
If you don't have the right answers a lot of times you just die. Ofc you want straight removal vs 1 drop aggro, but when you sit down to play you have no idea that's what they're on. So typically you have to get lucky and draw at least 1-2 spells that interact with their list, especially when you die turn 2-4 now through interaction and have no time to durdle.
That's why wall of omens is looking more and more appealing (almost always is gain some amount of life or prevent death +draw a card), it buys time and often you have no real permission on turn 2 anyway (if you're running a list of no remands and only 2 logic knot).
I know what you mean, especially given the heavy amounts of aggro in the current metagame. I've cut Think Twice for Wall of Omens and White Sun's Zenith for a pair of Gideon Jura.
I like the Think Twice + White Sun's Zenith package against metas full of Midrange, but right now there is just to much aggro for me to justify playing cards like Think Twice and White Sun's Zenith.
WUBR [url=http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/06-04-17-ad-nauseam/]Ad Nauseam WUBR
Never say this. We can all improve, whether you're looking to or not.
Consider condescend or negate or remand over a third logic knot, though.
I would rather play more wraths (flaying tendrills is also quite powerful, in some metas), and force a long game, than drastically change the core given any amount of choice in the matter.
Sure, if your entire playgroup is eldrazi, you're gonna have to make some changes, but in anything close to a balanced meta, well, the core is core for a reason.
Round 2, got paired against some kind of random wall deck with phenax, god of deception as the primary win con! Needless to say, easy 2-0 victory.
Round 3 I got paired against jund, I knew it was jund, and I declined to ID with him. I then proceeded to smash him in game one, like we typically do. Game two, I had a leyline, lands, and spells. Kept it, he hit a turn three painful truths that I couldn't stop, and then we proceeded to trade resources. Eventually, we were topdecking with no hands and no manlands. He draws five spells. I draw 3 lands and 2 think twice, that find me four additional lands, and I die. Game three, on the play, I again have a reasonable hand. He again has the nuts and it goes into a long grind. Eventually, I have him topdecking at 6 life to my 5, and I'm holding a rev and a cryptic. He draws a land, I rev for six, I hit all lands/excess leylines/snapcaster mages (after he's scavenging ooze'd away my entire yard), and he proceeds to rip bob, into Olivia + finks, into goyf + pulse.
Tonight was not my night. I got destroyed in that match against jund by my own deck--there's no reason we should lose games that get to that kind of stable point except variance. Three mainboard leylines was a good call, my swap back to RIP over extractions was also spot-on. I definitely also am happy with the glacial fortress over the 3rd quarter at the moment.
Yes, I am a local area mod.WELP. GOOD LIFE CHANGES ALL HAPPEN AT ONCE AND SOME ARE MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVEPrimary Decks:
Modern: Esper Draw-Go
Legacy: RUG Lands
EDH: Sidisi turn-3 storm
Our biggest issue really is the lack of good filtering in our colors. No ponder, no preordain etc which makes us lose to the "drawing the wrong half" way more than any other reason. Serum visions isn't that great because we fetch so much and always will to make the mana base work and it only gives us selection Next Turn, not Right Now which is why it's so much worse than preordain. Sadly there isn't anything on the banned list that we can realistically expect to come off that would help us in ways that we need help. And by that of course I mean JTMS but that's just never going to happen. AV is nice, but not needed, we can't really just cram the thopter sword combo in our deck if that comes off without completely morphing into something else, so we just need reprints.
My problem with any aggressive deck has never been "damn I'm too slow" it's been crap I drew 3 cryptics and a logic knot against affinity. I drew 2 verdicts and a D sphere against burn and never found counter magic fast enough for anything to matter. Or look at all of this awesome removal I have against strom... Those are the problems and they aren't easily solved with such a wide format we have to prepare for. And it's also the reason that we do very well locally when we know the meta but less so at large events when it could be anything, even a boat.
Yes, I am a local area mod.WELP. GOOD LIFE CHANGES ALL HAPPEN AT ONCE AND SOME ARE MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVEPrimary Decks:
Modern: Esper Draw-Go
Legacy: RUG Lands
EDH: Sidisi turn-3 storm
I wouldn't agree with dimir charm mostly because there aren't enough relevant sorceries to stop, but when treasure cruise was a thing the card was amazing. The filter effect is only OK without a host of flashback cards or enough graveyard synergies to make the card disadvantage worth it. But dromar's charm I've been praying and hoping for a reprint for AGES! Seriously, check the "reprints plox" thread. It gives us a good counter spell, gives us the extra MD life gain we've been wanting, and has a somewhat relevant removal mode as well. I mean seriously, it's literally everything the deck wants without being even close to OP with the added bonus of being just fine or even 'meh' in any standard format. The only thing really holding it back from a reprint is the name Dromar meaning it would take a very weird set to be considered for a reprint. But blargle I wants it!
In all honesty on the subject of reprints, I can come up with at least a dozen off the top of my head that would help us out a ton while being completely safe to reprint.
Modern - Esper Draw-Go (Best finish - 12-3, 45th at GP Charlotte 2015), Jeskai Control, UR Breach Moon
Truth or Tale doesn't do what you think it does. You choose one card from the chosen pile. Not nearly as good.
I'm going to be taking the following list to Modern tonight, I'll let you know how it goes:
4x Celestial Colonnade
2x Ghost Quarter
1x Glacial Fortress
1x Drowned Catacomb
4x Flooded Strand
4x Polluted Delta
2x Hallowed Fountain
2x Watery Grave
1x Godless Shrine
2x Island
2x Plains
1x Swamp
1x White Sun's Zenith
1x Elspeth, Sun's Champion
Removal (9):
4x Path to Exile
2x Runed Halo
3x Supreme Verdict
Counters (11):
3x Spell Snare
3x Logic Knot
1x Remand
4x Cryptic Command
4x think Twice
2x Snapcaster Mage
4x Esper Charm
2x Sphinx's Revelation
The changes:
-2x Condemn --> +2x Runed Halo: This is because Halo seems to be a better removal spell, and isn't dead almost ever.
-1x Remand --> +1x Logic Knot: Testing more Knots, because I realized I never actually have. Hopefully it'll be great so I can play more virtual Counterspells in my deck.
-1x Mystic Gate, -1x Ghost Quarter --> +1x Glacial Fortress, +1x Polluted Delta: +1 fetch to power up the Logic Knots, and adding a non-colorless source since I need WW for Runed Halo.
Edit: Oh, and -1x Batterskull --> +1x Elspeth, Sun's Champion: because Elspeth is more impactful and doesn't get brick walled against Goyf/Drazi. It also just flat-out wins the game on resolution against some decks, like Abzan Co, Boggles (barring Rancor), and BGx (barring Maelstrom Pulse. Finally, when going into "draw-you-out" mode (which I've been playing around with since amalek introduced me to it), 'Speth makes flying creatures irrelevant with her ult.
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.