Edit: I may end up waiting until next week to play in my next tournament. I have some other things that I'll have to take care of, so I may or may not end up wanting to play tomorrow night.
What are everybody's thoughts on Serra? Bant probably doesn't have room for another non-creature, but she feels like a powerful option for UW or Esper. Her Worship comes down a turn later than the enchantment, but it can't be removed. The angel feels very useful in the mirror, and the pump, while inferior to some of the other anthems available, is still very respectable.
What are everybody's thoughts on Serra? Bant probably doesn't have room for another non-creature, but she feels like a powerful option for UW or Esper. Her Worship comes down a turn later than the enchantment, but it can't be removed. The angel feels very useful in the mirror, and the pump, while inferior to some of the other anthems available, is still very respectable.
Haven't played any Esper builds (I should!) but I definitely can see a place for her in UW, especially since UW plays a much more tempo-focused and a slower game than Bant. I think the double white for Serra makes it difficult to include in Bant, or even consider it as a sideboard card.
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Current Modern Decks BG Elves // "He's back. And he brought his friends. And their friends." BG The Rock // "Dwayne Johnson approved." RU Izzet Phoenix // "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em." UGW Bant Spirits // "Super Ghost Bros." BUG Sultai Wildnerness Teachings // "How many turns did I just take again?" C Colorless Eldrazi // "Smash you."
What are everybody's thoughts on Serra? Bant probably doesn't have room for another non-creature, but she feels like a powerful option for UW or Esper. Her Worship comes down a turn later than the enchantment, but it can't be removed. The angel feels very useful in the mirror, and the pump, while inferior to some of the other anthems available, is still very respectable.
Haven't played any Esper builds (I should!) but I definitely can see a place for her in UW, especially since UW plays a much more tempo-focused and a slower game than Bant. I think the double white for Serra makes it difficult to include in Bant, or even consider it as a sideboard card.
giddeon, ally of zendikar already felt fineish sometimes, as there are decks that super struggle with a stream of 2/2s (like UW control). She feels like a strict upgrade. If she's not in danger of getting picked off too early from a bolt/gut shot you can stick a 4/4 out that can be a serious road block to things like bolt and Phoenix. After that it's just gravy. Her tokens also chew through colonnades very well.
I could see it panning out for the slower builds or post sideboard for grindier decks. Sucks she doesn't play well with GoST but oh well.
We had 11 players show up, and the tournament lasted 3 rounds due to my cousin getting a draw round 1 with his wacky Dubious Challenge brew.
Round 1: Dredge
During game 1 my opponent kept a super greedy 1-land hand that failed to draw a second.
-2 Curious Obsession +2 Rest in Peace
Game 2 was much more competitive than the first, with my opponent getting a couple of Narcomeoba and a Prized Amalgam off of a Cathartic Reunion, though I managed to stem the tide from the graveyard with a Remorseful Cleric. Despite a turn 1 Aether Vial my opponent was able to outpace me through the early turns until I managed to build a board. I very nearly stabilized at 3 life, but my opponent flipped a Creeping Chill before I was able to go in for lethal.
-2 Selfless Spirit +2 Blessed Alliance
At this point I just want to say that sideboarding is a skill at which I am not particularly adept. I often struggle to find expendable maindeck cards to accommodate my sideboard options, which results in some suboptimal choices.
Game 3 was brutally one-sided, in my favor. I kept a 1-land vial hand and enjoyed excellent topdecks throughout the game. I drew none of my hate cards, but my regular disruption (and multiple lords) was enough to keep my opponent off-balance the whole game. Every time I needed an answer, I had one.
Result: Win 2-1
Round 2: UR Drakes
In game 1 my opponent played so many cantrips. Just cantrip into cantrip into Snapcaster Mage casting a cantrip. His Search for Azcanta flipped and ate a Field of Ruin, but he didn't put up much resistance other than me using Remorseful Cleric is response to a pesky Pteramander.
-2 Curious Obsession -2 Selfless Spirit +2 Rest in Peace +2 Eidolon of Rhetoric
Game 2 proved much more difficult for me because my opponent actually found his removal. Also, Crackling Drake, Niv Mizzet, Parun, and Ral, Izzet Viceroy are all no Bueno for spirits. I managed to path the drake and trade off a stacked Mausoleum Wanderer for Niv, but my opponent removed all of my spirits and beat me down with a couple of Snapcaster Mages.
-2 Rest in Peace -2 Remorseful Cleric +2 Blessed Alliance +2 Disdainful Stroke
What was I thinking?
Game 3 was complicated by my sideboarding mishap in which I overcorrected for drakes and got blindsided by a pair of Pteramander. One ate a Path to Exile, but the other one seriously slowed me down. I had double Aether Vial this game, which saved my sideboard-inept bum. After smacking me for 5 with his salamander, my opponent tried to Anger of the Gods my lone Supreme Phantom. I responded by vialing in Drogskol Captain, but my opponent tried to snap-bolt my captain in response to the other vial activation. Fortunately, I had a Rattlechains that saved my captain, and a second captain off of vial let my team survive anger and counterattack for lethal the following turn.
Result: Win 2-1
At this point I realized two things: one, that my Drogskol Captains were traveling in pairs, and, two, that I had not yet taken a mulligan.
Round 3: Elves
Elves is a touch-and-go matchup for Spirits, and this was on full display in game one. I had what must have been my fifth turn 1 vial of the night, but a surprisingly helpful presence here was Thalia, Guardian of Thraben. Normally, she's extremely ineffective against a deck comprised of mostly creatures and ramp, but here she kept my opponent's Chord of Calling to X=2 and kept his Collected Company within Mausoleum Wanderer range. My opponent groused about her the whole game, so she must have done something. I also pathed an Elvish Archdruid and hit his Ezuri, Renegade Leader with a Spell Queller, which allowed me to beat him down in the air.
-2 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben -2 Remorseful Cleric +2 Eidolon of Rhetoric +2 Damping Sphere
I didn't get any disruption in game 2, so my opponent's Devoted Druid, Ezuri, and Archdruid all went unanswered and killed me.
Game 3 was really strange. First of all, my opponent started out with no mana dorks, and he relied entirely on land for mana the whole game. Good ol' turn 1 vial showed up, but so did Damping Sphere. It's not exactly the best sort of hate for elves (my opponent visibly scoffed at it), but it won me the game. My opponent eventually played his first mana dork of the game, a Devoted Druid, and he followed it up the next turn with a Vizier of Remedies. I vialed in a Deputy of Detention to stop the infinite mana combo, but when my opponent went to tap his remaining three lands to cast an Elvish Archdruid, I kindly reminded him that it cost four mana. With his sole mana dork exiled without floating mana, my opponent fatally had to wait a turn. A Spell Queller, a couple of Drogskol Captains, and a Mausoleum Wanderer on his Chord of Calling later, I had my opponent dead to rights.
Result: 2-1
TOURNAMENT END
Result: 3-0
With lots of turn 1 vials, double drogskols, and zero mulligans in nine games, this is probably as much luck as I have ever had with this deck. I don't think the list needs too many changes, maybe just a third Thalia, some Seachrome Coasts, and replacing a couple of strokes with Unified Will in the sideboard.
Don't read too much into the sideboard of decks seeing play in small local metas. Stuff gets kind of wacky in those environments.
^^^ This. My sideboard for Merfolk and Spirits packs soooooooo much land/big mana hate because my LGS has like 3 Tron players and 2 Amulet players.
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Current Modern Decks BG Elves // "He's back. And he brought his friends. And their friends." BG The Rock // "Dwayne Johnson approved." RU Izzet Phoenix // "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em." UGW Bant Spirits // "Super Ghost Bros." BUG Sultai Wildnerness Teachings // "How many turns did I just take again?" C Colorless Eldrazi // "Smash you."
Incubation // Incongruity, what do people think of Incubation? Spirits wants to have a lot of lords and it helps find them. Run Reflector Mage and Deputy of Detention as the removal spells. In a crisis Incongruity can also function as a card.
I ve begun to test this jeskai list. It's really hard to say what's the correct number of bolts and the split with pte ( which must be played in my opinion), as much as the role of Eidolon otGR mainboard.
Light up the Stage is a bomb in the mid and late game, it really gave me the feeling i can keep up with UR Phoenix thanks to that, something I fail at with Esper, which is a better version against midrange when it comes to winning the topdeck war with no support from faithless looting and manipulation. LutS also can be used to dig for a card you need and is something you can do under bloodmoon, very sweet feature indeed.
Chandra is a bomb and Slayer's Stronghold is so good at pumping wanderer or simply racing your opponent or forcing an attacker through.
I'll have to test it quite a lot, it feels good for now, but switching from esper to jeskai makes me feel something is lacking, and it's possible that this thing is fatal push, which now is very well positioned because of thing in the ice. Also moving from a list with lingering Souls to one without them does feel bad... Splashing helps you understand the tribe and see the many angles, the weaknesses and its points of strenght.
Incubation // Incongruity, what do people think of Incubation? Spirits wants to have a lot of lords and it helps find them. Run Reflector Mage and Deputy of Detention as the removal spells. In a crisis Incongruity can also function as a card.
I tried it with a green splash in my otherwise UW deck (I highly doubt it can compete for Bant's limited noncreature slots), but I wasn't too impressed. The front half was decent, though not spectacular, when it grabbed a creature and horrible when it whiffed and/or bottomed an important noncreature card (usually both, when it happened). Spirits is not a deck that can afford to spend much time spinning its wheels, especially on its own turn, so Commune with Nature is best swapped for a card that actually does something. The back end is an extremely clunky piece of removal that can't be cast quick enough for the format's fastest threats, and a frequently winmore one at that. If you aren't already in a position to beat down in the air or deal with a moderately sized token, that 3/3 Frog Lizard can present a real threat. Then there were all the times I got stuck on one or two lands, in which case neither half was particularly helpful. They went out for Curious Obsession, which takes the 3 toughness creatures out of bolt range and generates much-needed card advantage.
When it bottoms a non creature card is not really a problem from a probabilaty perspective.
Whiffing is, but even coco can whif. 21 lands. 3 vial, 3 incubation, 4 coco leaves you with 29 creatures. I am gonne try it out.
I mean, sure, but whiffing is a risk worth taking when the hit is good. Collected Company is spectacular when it hits, often to game-winning effect. Incubation's hits aren't much to write home about because they don't affect the board state, and they often give your opponent information in a deck that has a lot to gain from the element of surprise. Oftentimes the result is just that you've spent one or two mana on your own turn just to cycle a card away for a creature, which simply isn't worth the chance of card disadvantage.
You can go ahead and try the card out. I already did, and it was alright in a deck where every card has to be great. That's where my perspective comes from. Incubation // Incongruity was always the first card that got sided out between games, which was a dead giveaway for me that it wasn't good enough.
EDIT: Oh crap, I just realized you're taking out friggin' Path to Exile for this. That won't end well. Incongruity puts too much pressure on your other creatures to function as a reliable piece of removal. Hitting that Frog Lizard with Reflector Mage effectively means you just spent two pieces of disruption on one target, which is a horrible rate.
So I'm normally a Bant Spirits player with some experience with UW, my LGS has a lot of big mana decks like Amulet and Tron, as well as some Phoenix decks and tribal. I'm looking for a a different take on Spirits, since Bant is starting to feel a bit stale. Can someone give me recommendations/describe the play styles of the new color splashes? Curious about Jeskai and Esper Spirits, mainly.
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Current Modern Decks BG Elves // "He's back. And he brought his friends. And their friends." BG The Rock // "Dwayne Johnson approved." RU Izzet Phoenix // "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em." UGW Bant Spirits // "Super Ghost Bros." BUG Sultai Wildnerness Teachings // "How many turns did I just take again?" C Colorless Eldrazi // "Smash you."
So I'm normally a Bant Spirits player with some experience with UW, my LGS has a lot of big mana decks like Amulet and Tron, as well as some Phoenix decks and tribal. I'm looking for a a different take on Spirits, since Bant is starting to feel a bit stale. Can someone give me recommendations/describe the play styles of the new color splashes? Curious about Jeskai and Esper Spirits, mainly.
While StreexIT knows more about how well those variants play, the main draws for each splash are Light Up the Stage, burn, and Eidolon of the Great Revel for Jeskai and Fatal Push and Lingering Souls for Esper, though I once saw an enterprising individual who tried Bloodghast. While the Jeskai additions would give you more play against Phoenix, neither really gives you and edge versus big mana decks. In my experience, UW has the best big-mana matchups because the 2 color manabase lets me run Field of Ruin.
I think the question you've got to ask yourself is what am I getting from splashing that colour.
As far as I see, red gives you reach with bolts and Eidolon (sideboard card in my opinion: it's weird because you'd want it mainboard against phoenix, control and whirl prison, but the meta is also made of dredge, burn, humans, so you would rather not run the risk of drawing it in G1 where it's useless. Not to mention you have to fetch and lose life becasue you might need the double red for eidolon... you can see the implications of its presence mainboard ), and some decent card selection/advantage with Light up the Stage. This last card isn't easy to handle , it demands you to know which card of your sideboard are you able to cast if revealed and how bad it is not to be able to do so, to plan your land drops and sequence it correctly to maximize its effect, prioritizing it over the cards you've got in your hand or vice versa. You have to understand what's your position in the game and what type of effects are you looking for.
Sideboard options with red are Chandra, Torch of Defiance and Alpine Moon, they have both impressed me and I've been looking for more of these types of effects. Alpine moon specifically deals with big mana and Valakut, it curves out perfectly, it's non mana intensive, it allows you to keep playing your game without screwing you colours like Blood Moon does.
I've also tested Blood Sun, which is very interesting because it cycles itself and shuts down animable lands, field of ruins (not to be underestimated, leaving them with colourless mana can hurt) and azcanta. It's a very ok card against control and midrange, some matchups the jeskai version is not as well positioned against as Esper is. Midrange in particular is a very bad one because goyfs are boltproof almost always, oozes also slip quickly out of control, and so does raging ravine.
Jeskai in general is a bit faster than UW, but I wouldn't call it an aggro version... I'd rather call it a tempo version with reach. I've seen some lists running lots of burn spells, I think they are a liability: Timely Reinforcements or any effect of that kind (lighting helix in jeskai control aswell) is going to hit your plan too hard. I like having a minor burn plan, I don't feel comfortable relying too much on them. The damage has still to be dealt via creatures, and creatures are still the backbone of the deck, because they provide interactions and more damage on the long run.
This splash misses a piece and a flexible removal at the moment, something in the form of grim lavamancer, it requires 4+ drawing engines because it's easy to run out of gas and Light up the Stage is a 3of at most in my opinion. I'll stay away from MtGO for a while, but I'd test 3LutS and 2 Obsessions in addition to one or two Boros Charms, if I had the opportunity; my purpose would be to shoot their face or protect the card advantage engine from being removed.
I'm not giving this version too much credit at the moment, dredge and Phoenix both made Bolt weaker in the meta ( interesting to see Scapeshift running flame slash now to deal with thing in the ice and drakes), it really feels sub optimal every time you face one of these deck or a tarmogoyf. There will be better times to splash red.
Esper is the most defensive version but it's peculiar because it's able to turn from controlling to racing very fast thanks to Lingering Souls. Fatal Push and Souls are the reasons to splash black, these are two huge upgrades to the UW colours, they really make the difference. Splashing black means efficient removals to deal with aggro and a good curve topper, Souls, to race back or keep the pressure going against slower decks.
It is a bit weaker against Amulet and Eldrazi, because you're losing the 4x PtE and Nebelgast Herald/Deputy, depending which tempo plan you like most in UW. Other than that, I think is much more versatile and it's way better at taking one or the other role, depending on who's your opponent.
Sideboard choices are pretty much the same as UW, Countersquall is amazing, but I've haven't found anything else appealing... Unmoored Ego is one turn too slow, tried to make it work but I ended up cutting it every time.
Esper is so solid in the first 60s that you won't need anything fancy in the remaining fifteen, this is my conclusion. Also, I'm loving Collective Brutality because it means extra removals or extra disruption , versatile cards perfectly fill your flexible slots.
I'm not sure what type of card might realistically being printed to improve this version ( having a form of reach would be awesome), it suffers Aura Hexproof, big mana and stuff like dredge because it's not fast enough or because you have no mainboard answers to their plan, and phoenix just because they dig their deck so much that you get overwhelmed by the number of their threats. To be honest, this is the problem these decks are causing to the format, something every fair deck is having a hard time to deal with, when they draw 40 cards by the time you have drawn 20, there's not much you can do. Nonetheless, I think Esper has a 50-50 matchup against them, my report sheet says so far 7 wins and 7 losses against UR, and 5 wins and 3 losses against the mono red phoenix version. Some of these losses have been caused by blood moon, because yeah, why wouldn't you want to screw your opponent's mana in addition to drawing twice their cards and reanimating fliers for free?
I ve heard of Chalice of the Void in UW side, this explains pretty much the situation at the moment.
Let's wait for war of the spark and hope for some creative spirit to be released, I most welcome experiments like Pestilent Spirit.
In the mean time, I'll write down some new paragraphs so we can update the primer.
I played Esper Spirits last night and went 2-1 coming in 2nd. I was able to beat Golgari Midrange 2-0 and then Death and Taxes 2-0. In the final round I went 1-2 against Izzet Phoenix.
All in all I felt pretty good, but I think it may be worth running Surgical Extraction in the sideboard for this deck or even in place of Collective Brutality mainboard. I think that would help against MUs against Phoenix decks and Dredge. Also I have been wondering about running Thoughtseize mainboard. I do like Collective Brutality but I would say about half the time I run into it it does not do anything. The other half of the time it is either great of moderate. I know there has been discussion on Thoughtseize in the past but what is everyone thinking now? Also, what are the thoughts on Surgical Extraction in the main or side? Lastly, and thoughts or suggestions on my main or sideboard in general would be greatly appreciated.
Thoughtseize is still a tempo negative card and it always will be. Fatal Push is sucha good upgrade because it can be tempo neutral or positive, this is the type of cards this decks need to work.
I like the split 1 deputy - 1 detention sphere by the way, because phoenix decks can't deal with the enchantment and there's no way for them to get back the stuff I steal them. The reason why I felt this change necessary was originally torpor orb, it shuts Deputy down and you have no way to remove the bridge when they are your only answers to it.
Edit: I may end up waiting until next week to play in my next tournament. I have some other things that I'll have to take care of, so I may or may not end up wanting to play tomorrow night.
Haven't played any Esper builds (I should!) but I definitely can see a place for her in UW, especially since UW plays a much more tempo-focused and a slower game than Bant. I think the double white for Serra makes it difficult to include in Bant, or even consider it as a sideboard card.
BG Elves // "He's back. And he brought his friends. And their friends."
BG The Rock // "Dwayne Johnson approved."
RU Izzet Phoenix // "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em."
UGW Bant Spirits // "Super Ghost Bros."
BUG Sultai Wildnerness Teachings // "How many turns did I just take again?"
C Colorless Eldrazi // "Smash you."
giddeon, ally of zendikar already felt fineish sometimes, as there are decks that super struggle with a stream of 2/2s (like UW control). She feels like a strict upgrade. If she's not in danger of getting picked off too early from a bolt/gut shot you can stick a 4/4 out that can be a serious road block to things like bolt and Phoenix. After that it's just gravy. Her tokens also chew through colonnades very well.
I could see it panning out for the slower builds or post sideboard for grindier decks. Sucks she doesn't play well with GoST but oh well.
4 Mausoleum Wanderer
4 Rattlechains
4 Selfless Spirit
4 Supreme Phantom
2 Remorseful Cleric
2 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
4 Drogskol Captain
4 Spell Queller
2 Deputy of Detention
Non-Creatures
4 Aether Vial
4 Path to Exile
2 Curious Obsession
3 Polluted Delta
2 Windswept Heath
2 Flooded Strand
1 Misty Rainforest
2 Hallowed Fountain
2 Field of Ruin
1 Moorland Haunt
1 Cavern of Souls
3 Island
3 Plains
4 Disdainful Stroke
2 Rest in Peace
2 Stony Silence
2 Blessed Alliance
2 Eidolon of Rhetoric
2 Damping Sphere
1 Nebelghast Herald
We had 11 players show up, and the tournament lasted 3 rounds due to my cousin getting a draw round 1 with his wacky Dubious Challenge brew.
Round 1: Dredge
During game 1 my opponent kept a super greedy 1-land hand that failed to draw a second.
-2 Curious Obsession +2 Rest in Peace
Game 2 was much more competitive than the first, with my opponent getting a couple of Narcomeoba and a Prized Amalgam off of a Cathartic Reunion, though I managed to stem the tide from the graveyard with a Remorseful Cleric. Despite a turn 1 Aether Vial my opponent was able to outpace me through the early turns until I managed to build a board. I very nearly stabilized at 3 life, but my opponent flipped a Creeping Chill before I was able to go in for lethal.
-2 Selfless Spirit +2 Blessed Alliance
At this point I just want to say that sideboarding is a skill at which I am not particularly adept. I often struggle to find expendable maindeck cards to accommodate my sideboard options, which results in some suboptimal choices.
Game 3 was brutally one-sided, in my favor. I kept a 1-land vial hand and enjoyed excellent topdecks throughout the game. I drew none of my hate cards, but my regular disruption (and multiple lords) was enough to keep my opponent off-balance the whole game. Every time I needed an answer, I had one.
Result: Win 2-1
Round 2: UR Drakes
In game 1 my opponent played so many cantrips. Just cantrip into cantrip into Snapcaster Mage casting a cantrip. His Search for Azcanta flipped and ate a Field of Ruin, but he didn't put up much resistance other than me using Remorseful Cleric is response to a pesky Pteramander.
-2 Curious Obsession -2 Selfless Spirit +2 Rest in Peace +2 Eidolon of Rhetoric
Game 2 proved much more difficult for me because my opponent actually found his removal. Also, Crackling Drake, Niv Mizzet, Parun, and Ral, Izzet Viceroy are all no Bueno for spirits. I managed to path the drake and trade off a stacked Mausoleum Wanderer for Niv, but my opponent removed all of my spirits and beat me down with a couple of Snapcaster Mages.
-2 Rest in Peace -2 Remorseful Cleric +2 Blessed Alliance +2 Disdainful Stroke
What was I thinking?
Game 3 was complicated by my sideboarding mishap in which I overcorrected for drakes and got blindsided by a pair of Pteramander. One ate a Path to Exile, but the other one seriously slowed me down. I had double Aether Vial this game, which saved my sideboard-inept bum. After smacking me for 5 with his salamander, my opponent tried to Anger of the Gods my lone Supreme Phantom. I responded by vialing in Drogskol Captain, but my opponent tried to snap-bolt my captain in response to the other vial activation. Fortunately, I had a Rattlechains that saved my captain, and a second captain off of vial let my team survive anger and counterattack for lethal the following turn.
Result: Win 2-1
At this point I realized two things: one, that my Drogskol Captains were traveling in pairs, and, two, that I had not yet taken a mulligan.
Round 3: Elves
Elves is a touch-and-go matchup for Spirits, and this was on full display in game one. I had what must have been my fifth turn 1 vial of the night, but a surprisingly helpful presence here was Thalia, Guardian of Thraben. Normally, she's extremely ineffective against a deck comprised of mostly creatures and ramp, but here she kept my opponent's Chord of Calling to X=2 and kept his Collected Company within Mausoleum Wanderer range. My opponent groused about her the whole game, so she must have done something. I also pathed an Elvish Archdruid and hit his Ezuri, Renegade Leader with a Spell Queller, which allowed me to beat him down in the air.
-2 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben -2 Remorseful Cleric +2 Eidolon of Rhetoric +2 Damping Sphere
I didn't get any disruption in game 2, so my opponent's Devoted Druid, Ezuri, and Archdruid all went unanswered and killed me.
Game 3 was really strange. First of all, my opponent started out with no mana dorks, and he relied entirely on land for mana the whole game. Good ol' turn 1 vial showed up, but so did Damping Sphere. It's not exactly the best sort of hate for elves (my opponent visibly scoffed at it), but it won me the game. My opponent eventually played his first mana dork of the game, a Devoted Druid, and he followed it up the next turn with a Vizier of Remedies. I vialed in a Deputy of Detention to stop the infinite mana combo, but when my opponent went to tap his remaining three lands to cast an Elvish Archdruid, I kindly reminded him that it cost four mana. With his sole mana dork exiled without floating mana, my opponent fatally had to wait a turn. A Spell Queller, a couple of Drogskol Captains, and a Mausoleum Wanderer on his Chord of Calling later, I had my opponent dead to rights.
Result: 2-1
TOURNAMENT END
Result: 3-0
With lots of turn 1 vials, double drogskols, and zero mulligans in nine games, this is probably as much luck as I have ever had with this deck. I don't think the list needs too many changes, maybe just a third Thalia, some Seachrome Coasts, and replacing a couple of strokes with Unified Will in the sideboard.
Legacy: Merfolk U; Shadow UB; Eldrazi Stompy C
Pauper: Delver U
Vintage: Merfolk U
Primers:
^^^ This. My sideboard for Merfolk and Spirits packs soooooooo much land/big mana hate because my LGS has like 3 Tron players and 2 Amulet players.
BG Elves // "He's back. And he brought his friends. And their friends."
BG The Rock // "Dwayne Johnson approved."
RU Izzet Phoenix // "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em."
UGW Bant Spirits // "Super Ghost Bros."
BUG Sultai Wildnerness Teachings // "How many turns did I just take again?"
C Colorless Eldrazi // "Smash you."
I mean, two are going out for Unified Will once I get them. It's not like I'm pretending to have an optimized build here.
Incubation // Incongruity
Light up the Stage is a bomb in the mid and late game, it really gave me the feeling i can keep up with UR Phoenix thanks to that, something I fail at with Esper, which is a better version against midrange when it comes to winning the topdeck war with no support from faithless looting and manipulation. LutS also can be used to dig for a card you need and is something you can do under bloodmoon, very sweet feature indeed.
Chandra is a bomb and Slayer's Stronghold is so good at pumping wanderer or simply racing your opponent or forcing an attacker through.
I'll have to test it quite a lot, it feels good for now, but switching from esper to jeskai makes me feel something is lacking, and it's possible that this thing is fatal push, which now is very well positioned because of thing in the ice. Also moving from a list with lingering Souls to one without them does feel bad... Splashing helps you understand the tribe and see the many angles, the weaknesses and its points of strenght.
Whatever, here's my current list
4 Mausoleum Wanderer
4 Selfless Spirit
4 Rattlechains
4 Supreme Phantom
4 Spell Queller
4 Drogskol Captain
Spells: 15
4 Aether Vial
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Path to Exile
4 Light up the Stage
1 Favorable Winds
4 Flooded Strand
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Hallowed Fountain
1 Steam Vents
1 Sacred Foundry
3 Spirebluff Canal
1 Inspiring vantage
1 Island
1 Plains
1 Mountain
1 Slayers' Stronghold
1 Cavern of Souls
2 Stony Silence
2 Rest In Peace
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Negate
1 Unified Will
1 Alpine Moon
2 Eidolon of the Great Revel
1 Eidolon of Rhetoric
1 Deputy of Detention
1 Worship
1 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
1 Jace, the mind Sculptor
I tried it with a green splash in my otherwise UW deck (I highly doubt it can compete for Bant's limited noncreature slots), but I wasn't too impressed. The front half was decent, though not spectacular, when it grabbed a creature and horrible when it whiffed and/or bottomed an important noncreature card (usually both, when it happened). Spirits is not a deck that can afford to spend much time spinning its wheels, especially on its own turn, so Commune with Nature is best swapped for a card that actually does something. The back end is an extremely clunky piece of removal that can't be cast quick enough for the format's fastest threats, and a frequently winmore one at that. If you aren't already in a position to beat down in the air or deal with a moderately sized token, that 3/3 Frog Lizard can present a real threat. Then there were all the times I got stuck on one or two lands, in which case neither half was particularly helpful. They went out for Curious Obsession, which takes the 3 toughness creatures out of bolt range and generates much-needed card advantage.
Whiffing is, but even coco can whif. 21 lands. 3 vial, 3 incubation, 4 coco leaves you with 29 creatures. I am gonne try it out.
I mean, sure, but whiffing is a risk worth taking when the hit is good. Collected Company is spectacular when it hits, often to game-winning effect. Incubation's hits aren't much to write home about because they don't affect the board state, and they often give your opponent information in a deck that has a lot to gain from the element of surprise. Oftentimes the result is just that you've spent one or two mana on your own turn just to cycle a card away for a creature, which simply isn't worth the chance of card disadvantage.
You can go ahead and try the card out. I already did, and it was alright in a deck where every card has to be great. That's where my perspective comes from. Incubation // Incongruity was always the first card that got sided out between games, which was a dead giveaway for me that it wasn't good enough.
EDIT: Oh crap, I just realized you're taking out friggin' Path to Exile for this. That won't end well. Incongruity puts too much pressure on your other creatures to function as a reliable piece of removal. Hitting that Frog Lizard with Reflector Mage effectively means you just spent two pieces of disruption on one target, which is a horrible rate.
BG Elves // "He's back. And he brought his friends. And their friends."
BG The Rock // "Dwayne Johnson approved."
RU Izzet Phoenix // "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em."
UGW Bant Spirits // "Super Ghost Bros."
BUG Sultai Wildnerness Teachings // "How many turns did I just take again?"
C Colorless Eldrazi // "Smash you."
While StreexIT knows more about how well those variants play, the main draws for each splash are Light Up the Stage, burn, and Eidolon of the Great Revel for Jeskai and Fatal Push and Lingering Souls for Esper, though I once saw an enterprising individual who tried Bloodghast. While the Jeskai additions would give you more play against Phoenix, neither really gives you and edge versus big mana decks. In my experience, UW has the best big-mana matchups because the 2 color manabase lets me run Field of Ruin.
As far as I see, red gives you reach with bolts and Eidolon (sideboard card in my opinion: it's weird because you'd want it mainboard against phoenix, control and whirl prison, but the meta is also made of dredge, burn, humans, so you would rather not run the risk of drawing it in G1 where it's useless. Not to mention you have to fetch and lose life becasue you might need the double red for eidolon... you can see the implications of its presence mainboard ), and some decent card selection/advantage with Light up the Stage. This last card isn't easy to handle , it demands you to know which card of your sideboard are you able to cast if revealed and how bad it is not to be able to do so, to plan your land drops and sequence it correctly to maximize its effect, prioritizing it over the cards you've got in your hand or vice versa. You have to understand what's your position in the game and what type of effects are you looking for.
Sideboard options with red are Chandra, Torch of Defiance and Alpine Moon, they have both impressed me and I've been looking for more of these types of effects. Alpine moon specifically deals with big mana and Valakut, it curves out perfectly, it's non mana intensive, it allows you to keep playing your game without screwing you colours like Blood Moon does.
I've also tested Blood Sun, which is very interesting because it cycles itself and shuts down animable lands, field of ruins (not to be underestimated, leaving them with colourless mana can hurt) and azcanta. It's a very ok card against control and midrange, some matchups the jeskai version is not as well positioned against as Esper is. Midrange in particular is a very bad one because goyfs are boltproof almost always, oozes also slip quickly out of control, and so does raging ravine.
Jeskai in general is a bit faster than UW, but I wouldn't call it an aggro version... I'd rather call it a tempo version with reach. I've seen some lists running lots of burn spells, I think they are a liability: Timely Reinforcements or any effect of that kind (lighting helix in jeskai control aswell) is going to hit your plan too hard. I like having a minor burn plan, I don't feel comfortable relying too much on them. The damage has still to be dealt via creatures, and creatures are still the backbone of the deck, because they provide interactions and more damage on the long run.
This splash misses a piece and a flexible removal at the moment, something in the form of grim lavamancer, it requires 4+ drawing engines because it's easy to run out of gas and Light up the Stage is a 3of at most in my opinion. I'll stay away from MtGO for a while, but I'd test 3LutS and 2 Obsessions in addition to one or two Boros Charms, if I had the opportunity; my purpose would be to shoot their face or protect the card advantage engine from being removed.
I'm not giving this version too much credit at the moment, dredge and Phoenix both made Bolt weaker in the meta ( interesting to see Scapeshift running flame slash now to deal with thing in the ice and drakes), it really feels sub optimal every time you face one of these deck or a tarmogoyf. There will be better times to splash red.
Esper is the most defensive version but it's peculiar because it's able to turn from controlling to racing very fast thanks to Lingering Souls. Fatal Push and Souls are the reasons to splash black, these are two huge upgrades to the UW colours, they really make the difference. Splashing black means efficient removals to deal with aggro and a good curve topper, Souls, to race back or keep the pressure going against slower decks.
It is a bit weaker against Amulet and Eldrazi, because you're losing the 4x PtE and Nebelgast Herald/Deputy, depending which tempo plan you like most in UW. Other than that, I think is much more versatile and it's way better at taking one or the other role, depending on who's your opponent.
Sideboard choices are pretty much the same as UW, Countersquall is amazing, but I've haven't found anything else appealing... Unmoored Ego is one turn too slow, tried to make it work but I ended up cutting it every time.
Esper is so solid in the first 60s that you won't need anything fancy in the remaining fifteen, this is my conclusion. Also, I'm loving Collective Brutality because it means extra removals or extra disruption , versatile cards perfectly fill your flexible slots.
I'm not sure what type of card might realistically being printed to improve this version ( having a form of reach would be awesome), it suffers Aura Hexproof, big mana and stuff like dredge because it's not fast enough or because you have no mainboard answers to their plan, and phoenix just because they dig their deck so much that you get overwhelmed by the number of their threats. To be honest, this is the problem these decks are causing to the format, something every fair deck is having a hard time to deal with, when they draw 40 cards by the time you have drawn 20, there's not much you can do. Nonetheless, I think Esper has a 50-50 matchup against them, my report sheet says so far 7 wins and 7 losses against UR, and 5 wins and 3 losses against the mono red phoenix version. Some of these losses have been caused by blood moon, because yeah, why wouldn't you want to screw your opponent's mana in addition to drawing twice their cards and reanimating fliers for free?
I ve heard of Chalice of the Void in UW side, this explains pretty much the situation at the moment.
Let's wait for war of the spark and hope for some creative spirit to be released, I most welcome experiments like Pestilent Spirit.
In the mean time, I'll write down some new paragraphs so we can update the primer.
Here is the list that I played.
4 Drogskol Captain
4 Mausoleum Wanderer
4 Rattlechains
4 Selfless Spirit
4 Spell Queller
4 Supreme Phantom
Land: 21
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Creeping Tar Pit
2 Darkslick Shores
4 Flooded Strand
1 Godless Shrine
2 Hallowed Fountain
1 Island
1 Plains
4 Polluted Delta
2 Seachrome Coast
1 Swamp
1 Watery Grave
3 Fatal Push
3 Path to Exile
Sorcery: 5
2 Collective Brutality
3 Lingering Souls
Enchantment: 1
1 Curious Obsession
Artifact: 4
4 Aether Vial
1 Damping Sphere
1 Path to Exile
1 Collective Brutality
2 Eidolon of Rhetoric
2 Countersquall
2 Rest in Peace
2 Deputy of Detention
3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
I would like some help with side-boarding but here is what I ended up doing.
In Round 1 against Golgari Midrange I won pretty easily so I just took out Curious Obsession for one Countersquall
In Round 2 it was very close. In game 1 he got me down to 2 life and then I flew over the top for the win. I did not know how to side against him but I ended up bringing in Path to Exile and Collective Brutality and taking out Curious Obsession and one Lingering Souls. In Game 2 I Pushed 2 Noble Hierarchs then landed a Rattlechains turn 3. Then he landed a Flickerwisp and on turn 4 I played Collective Brutality discarding Lingering Souls making him discard a Path and putting -2/-2 on his Flickerwisp. After that I flashed back Lingering Souls played a Lord and killed him.
In Round 3 he was just to fast and lost game 1. I took out 4 Aether Vial, Curious Obsession, 3 Lingering Souls, and 3 Fatal Push and brought in Damping Sphere, Path to Exile, Collective Brutality, 2 Eidolon of Rhetoric, Countersquall, 2 Rest in Peace, 3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben.
Game 2 I brought down a Damping Sphere and then a Rest in Peace and won.
Game 3 I tried to land Thalia, Guardian of Thraben but she got the bolt, then I tried to land Damping Sphere and that got Spell Pierced. Then I could not draw any removal and he overran me with Thing in the Ice.
All in all I felt pretty good, but I think it may be worth running Surgical Extraction in the sideboard for this deck or even in place of Collective Brutality mainboard. I think that would help against MUs against Phoenix decks and Dredge. Also I have been wondering about running Thoughtseize mainboard. I do like Collective Brutality but I would say about half the time I run into it it does not do anything. The other half of the time it is either great of moderate. I know there has been discussion on Thoughtseize in the past but what is everyone thinking now? Also, what are the thoughts on Surgical Extraction in the main or side? Lastly, and thoughts or suggestions on my main or sideboard in general would be greatly appreciated.
I like the split 1 deputy - 1 detention sphere by the way, because phoenix decks can't deal with the enchantment and there's no way for them to get back the stuff I steal them. The reason why I felt this change necessary was originally torpor orb, it shuts Deputy down and you have no way to remove the bridge when they are your only answers to it.