So after playing with this list for another week or so I have continued to have a lot of success with it. I have made a few changes thought- swapped out 1 Cryptic for 1 Snapcaster, changed sideboard Keranos to a Sudden Shock, and changed dispel to spell pierce. This deck is so versatile its ridiculous. Having 3 ways of winning that all play well with each other is so much better than needing to draw Scapeshift at some point, as well as just being able to shift on 6 lands with omen in play.
I'm making my way through this forum and I apologize if this has been discussed before...
Would Loxodon Smiter be a better option in our board for the control match up? Baloth gains us life but the not being countered thing seems pretty sweet...and it is 3 mana to cast.
It would, if most of our control match-ups didn't pack more removal than relevant sideboard options. It's best to just keep the Baloths as the 4 life can get you out of tough spots verse Aggro and keep your Jund/Junk/Mardu opponents from just doing Liliana +1 until you have no choice but to top deck into a stream of lands then Scapeshift.
I'm making my way through this forum and I apologize if this has been discussed before...
Would Loxodon Smiter be a better option in our board for the control match up? Baloth gains us life but the not being countered thing seems pretty sweet...and it is 3 mana to cast.
You shouldn't be worried about the control matchups, those are already in our favor. All you need is a Dispel/Negate or two, maybe a one off Teferi/Boseiju/Clique, and you're all set.
I'm making my way through this forum and I apologize if this has been discussed before...
Would Loxodon Smiter be a better option in our board for the control match up? Baloth gains us life but the not being countered thing seems pretty sweet...and it is 3 mana to cast.
You shouldn't be worried about the control matchups, those are already in our favor. All you need is a Dispel/Negate or two, maybe a one off Teferi/Boseiju/Clique, and you're all set.
Are they? Wouldn't you need a hefty amount of counter magic to ensure Scapeshift goes through?
Are they? Wouldn't you need a hefty amount of counter magic to ensure Scapeshift goes through?
It is really not too bad. Control decks run Remand, Mana Leak, and Cryptic Command mostly. I usually wait as long as possible to play Scapeshift, like 8 lands and a counter in hand. So if they Remand, you just replay it. If they Leak it, you pay the extra. If they Cryptic, you counter back but then they usually do not have enough mana to counter your counter. We get ahead on lands so fast that we can fight through counter magic okay.
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Now Playing Modern RUBW Affinity BGR Midrange UWR Control RG Titan Shift RW Burn GW Bogles G Tron
I'm back testing my rug scapeshift I didn't play since early 2015 and to me it's a solid tier1 or tier1.5, not tier2.
Currently playing with firespouts, not sure why people keep playing the angers if these spells are most needed on turn3 against aggro decks and double red on t3 is like GOOD LUCK.
I'm back testing my rug scapeshift I didn't play since early 2015 and to me it's a solid tier1 or tier1.5, not tier2.
Currently playing with firespouts, not sure why people keep playing the angers if these spells are most needed on turn3 against aggro decks and double red on t3 is like GOOD LUCK.
I'm also back on the scapeshift train after a long break. I've found prismatic omen to be a welcome addition to the rug deck, whereas before it was a bit iffy. Now it works for the current metagame.
Regarding anger, it's an amazing card and has some useful utility because of the exile effect. This is probably why people go the extra mile to make it work. Personally I don't find it an issue (omen helps).
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Modern: G Tron, Vannifar, Jund, Druid/Vizier combo, Humans, Eldrazi Stompy (Serum Powder), Amulet, Grishoalbrand, Breach Titan, Turns, Eternal Command, As Foretold Living End, Elves, Cheerios, RUG Scapeshift
Are they? Wouldn't you need a hefty amount of counter magic to ensure Scapeshift goes through?
It is really not too bad. Control decks run Remand, Mana Leak, and Cryptic Command mostly. I usually wait as long as possible to play Scapeshift, like 8 lands and a counter in hand. So if they Remand, you just replay it. If they Leak it, you pay the extra. If they Cryptic, you counter back but then they usually do not have enough mana to counter your counter. We get ahead on lands so fast that we can fight through counter magic okay.
Well, after siding in Dispel/Spell Pierce/etc. Game 2 it is not that difficult I think. But I believe control Decks have it much easier to counter us that us them. At least, I had a problem with a UB deck packing lots of countermagic. Or maybe it is simply that I did not know how to play the matchup?
Well, I have a couple of Dispel on the Side for the control matchup. Would you suggest adding Spell Snare too, or maining it, or is Dispel enough in your experience?
the sideboard is intended to deal with the trickiest matchups, and includes a few cards that are useful "catch-all" options.
hibernation - elves, infect, jund, random combo decks?
anger of the gods - affinity, elves, merfolk, delver, zoo etc.
creeping corrosion - affinity, lantern, random artifact decks
baloth - burn, jund, discard decks, grindy midrange decks sometimes?
gigadrowse - control, any blue decks, combo decks who have a "big turn" etc.
surrak dragonclaw - control, jund, grindy midrange decks
inferno titan - jund, anything that might side in hate for your combo, so potentially control, or the mirror.
anything else is just there for infect/zoo/jund/quick decks which scapeshift traditionally struggles with.
so far, i've won matches against every "tier" deck in modern, and have only had a little trouble with delver and Jund. everything else is pretty straightforward, and i've not lost a match yet to burn despite playing against die-hard burn players (who compete at GP level) at several stores.
cryptic is an all-star. remand is amazing on the play, and usually gets sided out on the draw (unless i'm playing against something like Tron).
regarding the 3:1 split of serum visions and sleight of hand, I found that the shuffling effects in the deck make visions a little worse (although still better than any of the 2-mana options) and sometimes you just have to dig hard for a winning topdeck that specific turn, which makes sleight the better choice for the late-game, and visions the better choice for the early game. in the coming weeks i might actually migrate completely over to sleight and drop visions altogether, but for the moment i'm finding a split completely playable and conditionally much better (for instance, drawing sleight on turn 8 against a Jund deck is much better than drawing visions, because you can dig deeper for a win that turn rather than having to wait).
also regarding explore; I wanted to replace Farseek, as it had been under-performing for me. in the late game, i might not want "just a land", so farseek became worse and worse at turns continued. on the flipside, explore starts explosively, and in the late-game can be more than just "get a land" and instead just digs you deeper into your deck towards a big win condition. the downside is costing 2, but in the late stages of the game you have mana to spare. in the early turns, explore is often just as good as farseek at getting you an extra land drop. in the late turns, you convert your topdecks into more digging for your wincon, which is realistically what you need. it's less one-dimensional and so far i've been really really appreciating having the card maindeck. it's outstanding.
the 3-3 split of titan/scapeshift
I found myself losing games to not being able to find a scapeshift, and I also found my opponents being able to change up their game plan or do something sneaky to make scapeshifts worse. as a result, (along with prismatic omen) i'm making my wincons more divergent, more flexible and harder to counter. I'm able to attack on multiple angles and opponents rarely know what to hold up in terms of reactive cards. mostly, i've just found having 6 wincons instead of 4 a huge benefit, because Titan has the added bonus of securing games against mild land destruction and against small threats. it's also a solid way to fight through Negate, Swan Song or Stubborn Denial which all see significant sideboard play in the wider modern scene.
prismatic omen - what a card. I wish i'd been playing it all along, but for reasons i don't understand, the traditional RUG lists stayed well away from omen and the community considered it taboo. well, how wrong we all were! I have won so many, countless games from just ramping into natural valakut triggers on 6 lands with an omen, and controlling a board state, killing planeswalkers, and providing an unstoppable mountain of damage and card quality from the top of my deck. omen turns every single card you draw into potential damage, once you have a valakut on the field. against Burn it improves the matchup by easily 20% because it gives you a quick and unstoppable way of dealing with threats on the ground and still lets you use your mana to deal with their spells at the same time. against slower grindier decks it just gives you insane inevitability, and in terms of the actual combo it can speed you up by as much as 2 or 3 turns, accounting for the extra time it can sometimes take to get that 7th land in play (or 8th, quite often).
anyway this list is by far the most resilient and generally-competitive deck i've had the pleasure of playing in modern, and i've played pretty much everything in modern since the format was created.
good times, people, good times. this is the real deal.
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Modern: G Tron, Vannifar, Jund, Druid/Vizier combo, Humans, Eldrazi Stompy (Serum Powder), Amulet, Grishoalbrand, Breach Titan, Turns, Eternal Command, As Foretold Living End, Elves, Cheerios, RUG Scapeshift
I am running a very similar list and so far the only deck I consistently have trouble with is infect. I am running 4 bolts main and a spellskite and sudden shock in the side and its still a super rough matchup. At my lgs in the last 4 modern events I am 14-2-2, with the 2 draws being a 1st place split, once with a friend and the other time with a guy who never normally got to the top table. I did beat infect a couple times getting to this record though. The majority of my playtime is on mtgo and I feel favored against almost everyone.
I am running a very similar list and so far the only deck I consistently have trouble with is infect. I am running 4 bolts main and a spellskite and sudden shock in the side and its still a super rough matchup. At my lgs in the last 4 modern events I am 14-2-2, with the 2 draws being a 1st place split, once with a friend and the other time with a guy who never normally got to the top table. I did beat infect a couple times getting to this record though. The majority of my playtime is on mtgo and I feel favored against almost everyone.
right, I have similar feelings. it feels very favoured right now.
the sideboard can be tweaked to include some anti-infect cards. I tend to prefer electrolyze to bolt, as it draws a card (relevant) but Izzet Charm is also good, as is Sudden Shock
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Modern: G Tron, Vannifar, Jund, Druid/Vizier combo, Humans, Eldrazi Stompy (Serum Powder), Amulet, Grishoalbrand, Breach Titan, Turns, Eternal Command, As Foretold Living End, Elves, Cheerios, RUG Scapeshift
So, how do I start this? Well, I originally started with the more common black splash with only two Swamps (Watery Grave and a basic Swamp) in the deck, and only the one-of Slaughter Games in the Sideboard. I played a few hundred games with it and found the black splash to be weak in my meta as only one or two people actually played decks where it was relevant and I normally beat them anyways due to a better understanding of the match-up, and what role our decks played in the game. I was plagued by Infect, Zoo, and Burn variants and D&T was always a horrible game to try and beat due to the low removal package most BTL lists run, so in light of my bad match-ups I switch the Watery Grave and Swamp for a Hallowed Fountain and Plains and so began my journey into the white splash. At first, the splash wasn't so bad packing 2 Wear/Tear and a single Timely Reinforcements, but as time went on, I felt that that wasn't quite enough, my win percents went up vs Affinity, which was already good to begin with, and the one week someone decided to play Worship made for an easier game, but the match-ups I originally splashed for weren't going anywhere, while my Jeskai Control list actually stood a decent chance verse the aforementioned match-ups. So I cut my Anticipates and a few other things I can't remember in favor of Lightning Bolts, Lightning Helixs, and Izzet Charm. And after only a couple match-ups verse the problematic decks I noticed that I wasn't as hard-pressed verse those decks. The sideboard Leyline of Sanctitys were just so I could hedge the now slightly worse match-up I have verse heavy hand control decks like Jund and co. while serving as the coup de grâce for Burn in Game 2 if they didn't bring in their full playset of Destructive Revelry (Naya/Gruul) or Wear/Tear (Boros, I've seen it once, but don't know if it's common in that build or even how many they use) which is plentiful on MTGO and occasionally my shop. I've forgone using Supreme Verdict as I hope to Remand/Cryptic Command bounce anything the midrange decks are doing, and Anger is usually enough to take out decks that try to go wide. Also, as a side note I have burned out an Esper Draw-Go deck once using an early turn two Sakura-Tribe Elder and an amount of burn that I drew into due to having to sit back and play the waiting game with them. So there's that as a plus to running the 6 burn spells I do run. Anyone have some questions, constructive criticism, etc? I do believe that my brewing prowess is at it's wits end attempting to do this solo with my own biased opinion and I'd like to see if there's something I'm missing.
I play 2 Bolts, 2 Elcetrolyze, 2 Izzet Charm and 1 Anger of the Gods in the mainboard to have removal G1. Lightning helix is a cool idea however i dont know how consistently i will have the white mana acess early in the game. I personaly like to have some enchantment removal in the sideboard.
Those were cut to two and three respectively to hedge against Crumble to Dust and allow me a third Mountain to have in case someone tries to meta my deck and Ghost Quarters to throw me off a lethal Scapeshift, which has allowed me to go off a handful of times right before I die to D&T and Jund when they started packing GQs. As for T1 green, I'll agree having 10 ways to get and make green on T1 is a slight bit problematic, but I've found that I can afford to wait a turn for my other 3 sources to turn online, though I've yet to have many problems hitting triple blue with 13 hits in my deck, in addition to the 8 basic land search effects in the deck. I'll admit though, I do miss having the extra blue source occasionally when I get a hand with Mountain + Flooded Grove, which happens, but I accept it would only happen slightly less of the time if I had the extra Steam Vent, so I live with that choice. I'll also admit it should be 4 Steam Vents and 2 Mountains instead of what it is currently, but I personally like the fact I can have a painless green source late game in case my opponent is trying to keep me off green, or another painless red source if I've been lucky enough to not draw another red source and not need to fetch for it the whole game.
I've been playing with the Helix a bit and I've appreciated the extra time resolving one has given me verse Burn, normally acting as an OP post counter recovering a full bolt and killing a creature, and due to playing 3 white sources it's given me the ability to draw into them some of the time only fetching for it when I have a Helix in hand and need to use it relatively soon. Having Hunting Wilds being able to get a Temple Garden has been relevant as well in getting the White source I need.
As for enchantment removal I find my one Engineered Explosives is the only one I can afford to play, though Cryptic Command does a good enough job verse most Enchantments the deck cares about. As for Bogles, I accept it as a bad match-up as I barely see it, though if I did I'd imagine either Back to Nature or Paraselene would find it's way in somewhere.
I have found there have been many times that I have a Bring to light in hand and there isnt a good choice to be had. Sometimes its I havent assembled enough lands for scapeshift or i need a sweeper but im short a color for the damnation. SO to the question. Where do i move around cards to fir in the Anger of the gods main board and move in maybe some anticipate or similar effects to try and dig deeper. Izzet charm is doing OK but its a dead card to cycle if you have just it in hand. I might be looking for Think twice as well. I've had hunting wilds be a crazy trump card by casting it one turn then BTL for scapeshift the next turn but sometimes its just a dead draw. I think i need to cut back 1 Cryptic command, 1 Bring to light and maybe one Izzet charm. This leaves me 3 flex spots. I also have gathered I need an answer to Liliana of the Veil that gets around the hand denial they have. I think I want a Beast within main board for any time a planeswalker sticks.
Any ideas how to sculpt this would be appreciated
Sideboard wise I know i need a Crucible of Worlds Glen Elendra has been my least useful card so far so I think thats just a straight move or in place of the anger
I've play an Anger plus Verdict MD since I picked up the deck. I pack a second Anger in the SB for the appropriate matchups, but the potential t3 boardwipe + tutorable boardwipe on 3 colors is too valuable when fast aggro is our worst matchup.
Worldly counsel is something I've been messing around with. When it works, it friggin' works, but sometimes it's just not what I want in the deck. It finds the BtL/Shift/boardwipe/interaction piece, but it is not one of those pieces directly and that's a liability with how fast the format still is.
I dropped my Hunting Wilds for a Kodama's Reach since you can cast it on less colors and a turn earlier if you draw into it. Honestly we should be going for the combo kill as often as we can, and alternate wincons are for postboard games.
If you play the black splash, Maelstrom Pulse is the go-to. If you're playing white, then your options are narrower. Needle, Celestial Purge, and Beast Within are really our only options.
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If the bar isn't bending, then you are just pretending.
Yeah I really don't see the advantage of hunting wilds to kodamas reach. You need your 4th colour for hunting wilds whereas kodamas can be found with UGR BTL
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So after playing with this list for another week or so I have continued to have a lot of success with it. I have made a few changes thought- swapped out 1 Cryptic for 1 Snapcaster, changed sideboard Keranos to a Sudden Shock, and changed dispel to spell pierce. This deck is so versatile its ridiculous. Having 3 ways of winning that all play well with each other is so much better than needing to draw Scapeshift at some point, as well as just being able to shift on 6 lands with omen in play.
Would Loxodon Smiter be a better option in our board for the control match up? Baloth gains us life but the not being countered thing seems pretty sweet...and it is 3 mana to cast.
You shouldn't be worried about the control matchups, those are already in our favor. All you need is a Dispel/Negate or two, maybe a one off Teferi/Boseiju/Clique, and you're all set.
Are they? Wouldn't you need a hefty amount of counter magic to ensure Scapeshift goes through?
It is really not too bad. Control decks run Remand, Mana Leak, and Cryptic Command mostly. I usually wait as long as possible to play Scapeshift, like 8 lands and a counter in hand. So if they Remand, you just replay it. If they Leak it, you pay the extra. If they Cryptic, you counter back but then they usually do not have enough mana to counter your counter. We get ahead on lands so fast that we can fight through counter magic okay.
Modern
RUBW Affinity
BGR Midrange
UWR Control
RG Titan Shift
RW Burn
GW Bogles
G Tron
Currently playing with firespouts, not sure why people keep playing the angers if these spells are most needed on turn3 against aggro decks and double red on t3 is like GOOD LUCK.
I'm also back on the scapeshift train after a long break. I've found prismatic omen to be a welcome addition to the rug deck, whereas before it was a bit iffy. Now it works for the current metagame.
Regarding anger, it's an amazing card and has some useful utility because of the exile effect. This is probably why people go the extra mile to make it work. Personally I don't find it an issue (omen helps).
Pulse seems like a good burn sb card, although I'm only playing 3 baloths cos they are good against both burn and liliana.
Also, is it worth mainbording Crumble to Dust main if my meta has 40% tron and scapeshift players per week?
Well, after siding in Dispel/Spell Pierce/etc. Game 2 it is not that difficult I think. But I believe control Decks have it much easier to counter us that us them. At least, I had a problem with a UB deck packing lots of countermagic. Or maybe it is simply that I did not know how to play the matchup?
here's the list. short discussion after:
4x search for tomorrow
3x explore
4x prismatic omen
3x scapeshift
3x primeval titan
4x cryptic command
4x remand
2x electrolyze
3x serum visions
1x sleight of hand
4x steam vents
4x stomping ground
1x cinder glade
1x mountain
1x breeding pool
1x flooded grove
4x misty rainforest
3x island
2x forest
2x dispel
2x anger of the gods
2x creeping corrosion
1x engineered explosives
3x obstinate baloth
1x surrak dragonclaw
1x inferno titan
1x hibernation
2x gigadrowse
the sideboard is intended to deal with the trickiest matchups, and includes a few cards that are useful "catch-all" options.
hibernation - elves, infect, jund, random combo decks?
anger of the gods - affinity, elves, merfolk, delver, zoo etc.
creeping corrosion - affinity, lantern, random artifact decks
baloth - burn, jund, discard decks, grindy midrange decks sometimes?
gigadrowse - control, any blue decks, combo decks who have a "big turn" etc.
surrak dragonclaw - control, jund, grindy midrange decks
inferno titan - jund, anything that might side in hate for your combo, so potentially control, or the mirror.
anything else is just there for infect/zoo/jund/quick decks which scapeshift traditionally struggles with.
so far, i've won matches against every "tier" deck in modern, and have only had a little trouble with delver and Jund. everything else is pretty straightforward, and i've not lost a match yet to burn despite playing against die-hard burn players (who compete at GP level) at several stores.
cryptic is an all-star. remand is amazing on the play, and usually gets sided out on the draw (unless i'm playing against something like Tron).
regarding the 3:1 split of serum visions and sleight of hand, I found that the shuffling effects in the deck make visions a little worse (although still better than any of the 2-mana options) and sometimes you just have to dig hard for a winning topdeck that specific turn, which makes sleight the better choice for the late-game, and visions the better choice for the early game. in the coming weeks i might actually migrate completely over to sleight and drop visions altogether, but for the moment i'm finding a split completely playable and conditionally much better (for instance, drawing sleight on turn 8 against a Jund deck is much better than drawing visions, because you can dig deeper for a win that turn rather than having to wait).
also regarding explore; I wanted to replace Farseek, as it had been under-performing for me. in the late game, i might not want "just a land", so farseek became worse and worse at turns continued. on the flipside, explore starts explosively, and in the late-game can be more than just "get a land" and instead just digs you deeper into your deck towards a big win condition. the downside is costing 2, but in the late stages of the game you have mana to spare. in the early turns, explore is often just as good as farseek at getting you an extra land drop. in the late turns, you convert your topdecks into more digging for your wincon, which is realistically what you need. it's less one-dimensional and so far i've been really really appreciating having the card maindeck. it's outstanding.
the 3-3 split of titan/scapeshift
I found myself losing games to not being able to find a scapeshift, and I also found my opponents being able to change up their game plan or do something sneaky to make scapeshifts worse. as a result, (along with prismatic omen) i'm making my wincons more divergent, more flexible and harder to counter. I'm able to attack on multiple angles and opponents rarely know what to hold up in terms of reactive cards. mostly, i've just found having 6 wincons instead of 4 a huge benefit, because Titan has the added bonus of securing games against mild land destruction and against small threats. it's also a solid way to fight through Negate, Swan Song or Stubborn Denial which all see significant sideboard play in the wider modern scene.
prismatic omen - what a card. I wish i'd been playing it all along, but for reasons i don't understand, the traditional RUG lists stayed well away from omen and the community considered it taboo. well, how wrong we all were! I have won so many, countless games from just ramping into natural valakut triggers on 6 lands with an omen, and controlling a board state, killing planeswalkers, and providing an unstoppable mountain of damage and card quality from the top of my deck. omen turns every single card you draw into potential damage, once you have a valakut on the field. against Burn it improves the matchup by easily 20% because it gives you a quick and unstoppable way of dealing with threats on the ground and still lets you use your mana to deal with their spells at the same time. against slower grindier decks it just gives you insane inevitability, and in terms of the actual combo it can speed you up by as much as 2 or 3 turns, accounting for the extra time it can sometimes take to get that 7th land in play (or 8th, quite often).
anyway this list is by far the most resilient and generally-competitive deck i've had the pleasure of playing in modern, and i've played pretty much everything in modern since the format was created.
good times, people, good times. this is the real deal.
right, I have similar feelings. it feels very favoured right now.
the sideboard can be tweaked to include some anti-infect cards. I tend to prefer electrolyze to bolt, as it draws a card (relevant) but Izzet Charm is also good, as is Sudden Shock
1 Snapcaster Mage
1 Dispel
3 Lightning Bolt
4 Remand
2 Izzet Charm
2 Lightning Helix
4 Search for Tomorrow
1 Anger of the Gods
1 Hunting Wilds
1 Electrolyze
4 Cryptic Command
2 Scapeshift
4 Bring to Light
4 Misty Rainforest
1 Breeding Pool
3 Steam Vents
2 Stomping Ground
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Temple Garden
2 Cinder Glade
1 Flooded Grove
3 Island
2 Forest
3 Mountain
1 Plains
2 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
1 Dispel
1 Negate
3 Obstinate Baloth
1 Shatterstorm
1 Spellskite
1 Izzet Staticaster
1 Timely Reinforcements
3 Leyline of Sanctity
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Anger of the Gods
So, how do I start this? Well, I originally started with the more common black splash with only two Swamps (Watery Grave and a basic Swamp) in the deck, and only the one-of Slaughter Games in the Sideboard. I played a few hundred games with it and found the black splash to be weak in my meta as only one or two people actually played decks where it was relevant and I normally beat them anyways due to a better understanding of the match-up, and what role our decks played in the game. I was plagued by Infect, Zoo, and Burn variants and D&T was always a horrible game to try and beat due to the low removal package most BTL lists run, so in light of my bad match-ups I switch the Watery Grave and Swamp for a Hallowed Fountain and Plains and so began my journey into the white splash. At first, the splash wasn't so bad packing 2 Wear/Tear and a single Timely Reinforcements, but as time went on, I felt that that wasn't quite enough, my win percents went up vs Affinity, which was already good to begin with, and the one week someone decided to play Worship made for an easier game, but the match-ups I originally splashed for weren't going anywhere, while my Jeskai Control list actually stood a decent chance verse the aforementioned match-ups. So I cut my Anticipates and a few other things I can't remember in favor of Lightning Bolts, Lightning Helixs, and Izzet Charm. And after only a couple match-ups verse the problematic decks I noticed that I wasn't as hard-pressed verse those decks. The sideboard Leyline of Sanctitys were just so I could hedge the now slightly worse match-up I have verse heavy hand control decks like Jund and co. while serving as the coup de grâce for Burn in Game 2 if they didn't bring in their full playset of Destructive Revelry (Naya/Gruul) or Wear/Tear (Boros, I've seen it once, but don't know if it's common in that build or even how many they use) which is plentiful on MTGO and occasionally my shop. I've forgone using Supreme Verdict as I hope to Remand/Cryptic Command bounce anything the midrange decks are doing, and Anger is usually enough to take out decks that try to go wide. Also, as a side note I have burned out an Esper Draw-Go deck once using an early turn two Sakura-Tribe Elder and an amount of burn that I drew into due to having to sit back and play the waiting game with them. So there's that as a plus to running the 6 burn spells I do run. Anyone have some questions, constructive criticism, etc? I do believe that my brewing prowess is at it's wits end attempting to do this solo with my own biased opinion and I'd like to see if there's something I'm missing.
Those were cut to two and three respectively to hedge against Crumble to Dust and allow me a third Mountain to have in case someone tries to meta my deck and Ghost Quarters to throw me off a lethal Scapeshift, which has allowed me to go off a handful of times right before I die to D&T and Jund when they started packing GQs. As for T1 green, I'll agree having 10 ways to get and make green on T1 is a slight bit problematic, but I've found that I can afford to wait a turn for my other 3 sources to turn online, though I've yet to have many problems hitting triple blue with 13 hits in my deck, in addition to the 8 basic land search effects in the deck. I'll admit though, I do miss having the extra blue source occasionally when I get a hand with Mountain + Flooded Grove, which happens, but I accept it would only happen slightly less of the time if I had the extra Steam Vent, so I live with that choice. I'll also admit it should be 4 Steam Vents and 2 Mountains instead of what it is currently, but I personally like the fact I can have a painless green source late game in case my opponent is trying to keep me off green, or another painless red source if I've been lucky enough to not draw another red source and not need to fetch for it the whole game.
I've been playing with the Helix a bit and I've appreciated the extra time resolving one has given me verse Burn, normally acting as an OP post counter recovering a full bolt and killing a creature, and due to playing 3 white sources it's given me the ability to draw into them some of the time only fetching for it when I have a Helix in hand and need to use it relatively soon. Having Hunting Wilds being able to get a Temple Garden has been relevant as well in getting the White source I need.
As for enchantment removal I find my one Engineered Explosives is the only one I can afford to play, though Cryptic Command does a good enough job verse most Enchantments the deck cares about. As for Bogles, I accept it as a bad match-up as I barely see it, though if I did I'd imagine either Back to Nature or Paraselene would find it's way in somewhere.
Any ideas how to sculpt this would be appreciated
Sideboard wise I know i need a Crucible of Worlds Glen Elendra has been my least useful card so far so I think thats just a straight move or in place of the anger
Standard- Esper Control
Commander- Mishra, Artificer Prodigy
Intet, the Dreamer
Jhoira of the Ghitu
Worldly counsel is something I've been messing around with. When it works, it friggin' works, but sometimes it's just not what I want in the deck. It finds the BtL/Shift/boardwipe/interaction piece, but it is not one of those pieces directly and that's a liability with how fast the format still is.
I dropped my Hunting Wilds for a Kodama's Reach since you can cast it on less colors and a turn earlier if you draw into it. Honestly we should be going for the combo kill as often as we can, and alternate wincons are for postboard games.
If you play the black splash, Maelstrom Pulse is the go-to. If you're playing white, then your options are narrower. Needle, Celestial Purge, and Beast Within are really our only options.