I play 3 Fields of Ruin in addition to Mikokoro, Inkmoth and Gemstone. The cost is that sometimes you don't have enough blue sources, but still 17 out of 23 lands
It helps against tron, colonnade, inkmoth nexus and so many other decks.
I want to apply the math and conclusions from the first article to your build. Specifically, 17 out of 23 lands being blue sources.
When does our ratio of blue sources count most? Two spells: Cryptic Command and Gigadrowse. The latter benefits from every land producing U, so it's tough to estimate how many sources we really want at any given time, except to say "all of them." Until they print a blue Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, we're going to have to live with playing magic like everyone else.
I think Cryptic Command gives us a clear-cut minimum: we want three blue sources by Turn 4. In other words, if I have Cryptic in my hand, I want to be able to cast it as soon as possible. Karsten tells us that if we have 22 blue-producing lands in our deck, we have a 90% chance of having UUU available to us on Turn 4 (on the play). Checking the math, you'll see that running five less sources cuts your odds by about 20%. That's a hell of a hit; 70% AFTER MULLIGANS is not overly-reliable.
What helps your odds?
First, Field of Ruin is, itself, a fetch land of sorts. The problem is, you have to invest mana to do it, and we're already counting on Dictate of Kruphix at the same mana slot, and we probably can't afford the opponent another "free turn." Have you found that disrupting their mana on T3 consistently buys you a turn?
Second, Serum Visions helps a LOT. By my math, you can count every copy of SV as 3/4 of a land. It's a rough estimate, based on the idea of playing it a turn BEFORE you need the land, allowing you to take into account the Scry.
Third, Remand, and our Mine effects. Each extra card drawn gives you about another 7% edge ... but you have to draw and play that card. Karsten suggests counting cantrip effects as 0.25 lands. (He doesn't mention Mine effects, because nobody is crazy enough to run those.)
So, assuming you run four Serum Visions and 4 Remand, you could make an argument that you're effectively running 17 + 3 + 1 = 21 blue sources, plus a bit of a bump for the mines and Field of Ruin. I think it's quite a risk, though. Thoughtseize and Spell Pierce can put quite a damper on those plans.
I'm curious, though. What led you to Field of Ruin? Which matchups do you like it, and why? What turn do you ideally find yourself activating it?
I don't think that you necessarily need UUU though on turn 3, I'd argue that just 2 blue sources is what we need...
Almost all of our games we want to be casting a Dictate on their end of turn.. not gigadrowsing their board down. And if they are super aggressive then you would most likely be digging for exhaustion instead.
That being said, I do like the math! I've often referred to that site for building EDH decks and in building three color modern decks. I just think that these lands offer enough utility
(except Field of Ruin. Im not convinced on that one yet)
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
UU"Brute force can sometimes kick down a locked door, but knowledge is a skeleton key"UU
Also, I hate to double post and I avoid it when I can but I always lose my train of thought
So I switched back to mono blue for a bit and have been testing with the mainboard Thing in the Ice and have found that going down the snapcaster mage and instead running Mission Briefing from Guilds is absolutely insane! Not only does it flip Thing quicker but the Surveil trigger is so good at digging in the early turns
I feel like it is almost consistent enough to cut down on the Part the Waterveil win condition
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
UU"Brute force can sometimes kick down a locked door, but knowledge is a skeleton key"UU
The only problem I have with the card is that there is never a time where field of ruin is better then what the deck is already doing.
Like if you're playing against an Inkmoth Nexus - gigadrowse/exhaustion/boomerang/path if you splash white/fatal push if you splash black
and vs tron we are already favored so we don't really need to dedicate additional hate cards in the way that a traditional control deck would need to
Like Grim Flayer says in his videos a lot, we only need to hit that "magical five mana" lol
So if one of our turns is spent hitting one of their lands then it needs to completely neutralize them for a turn in the process as our other forms of interaction do.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
UU"Brute force can sometimes kick down a locked door, but knowledge is a skeleton key"UU
Good post in regard to the math behind our land spread as well. I think a big reason to play Taking Turns over other, faster combo decks is our consistency, which allows us to run an enormous amount of interaction (relative to most combo decks), which in turn allows us to survive long enough to reach our combo threshold. So, if we're reducing our consistency (and therefore our ability to survive) in terms of the ability to produce U, perhaps we should ask ourselves: does this change merit such a trade-off?
For me, that answer in regard to Gemstone Caverns and Mikokoro is a nailed-on yes. For Inkmoth, the answer is still yes, but a less emphatic one. Then we have cards like Radiant Fountain and Field of Ruin, for which the answer is yes, if the meta demands them.
I could see playing Fountain in a meta inundated by Burn and other linear aggro, and I could see playing Field in a meta overrun by Tron and Inkmoth decks--but, as you've demonstrated, these inclusions come at a real cost.
The only problem I have with the card is that there is never a time where field of ruin is better then what the deck is already doing.
Like if you're playing against an Inkmoth Nexus - gigadrowse/exhaustion/boomerang/path if you splash white/fatal push if you splash black
and vs tron we are already favored so we don't really need to dedicate additional hate cards in the way that a traditional control deck would need to
Like Grim Flayer says in his videos a lot, we only need to hit that "magical five mana" lol
So if one of our turns is spent hitting one of their lands then it needs to completely neutralize them for a turn in the process as our other forms of interaction do.
Five mana is magical, it's science!
I definitely agree that we're just naturally well positioned against the decks where Field shines.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
GB Golgari Midrange GB YouTube Channel, with deck techs, gameplay, analysis, spoiler reviews, and more!
So I have a couple updates on my list... I like to experiment with cards/changing things around a lot and keepin' it fresh haha
First;
I started running Oust over Path and can't believe I didn't make the switch sooner. Like in control path is fine but with this deck especially, allowing them access to additional mana is a problem. Plus Oust has been really good from my play testing at guaranteeing that they either have a dead draw in three turns or that they shuffle away a creature with a fetch.
Second;
I played around with echoing truth a little, and boomerang. I liked the clever "bounce ya land" plays but overall I definitely prefer Echoing Truth in that it isn't color restricted as heavily and it has the potential to bounce multiple threats... Plus (super small upside - but still relevant) it acts as a way to prevent decking in situations where there are too many mine effects since you can bounce all of your dictates back to hand.
Honestly, the way i've been playing the deck has been more about guaranteeing mine effects. I've now went up to 4x dictate, 3x howling mine, 1x ancestral and I have trimmed on cantrips. And my interaction has been: 2 Remand, 3 Gigadrowse, 1 Oust, 2 Echoing Truth, 2 Cryptic -- But I may end up going to 3 Remand and 1 Echoing Truth over time..
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
UU"Brute force can sometimes kick down a locked door, but knowledge is a skeleton key"UU
Yeah dude, Mission Briefing is the truth! The first time casting it on T4 of opponent’s upkeep allowed me to Surveil 2 and set up a TM miracle which was 2 deep and then Gigadrowse for 2. Dumping more cards into the graveyard helped my Azcanta flip earlier to aid in getting to 9 Awakening mana.
I too am running mono blue. Splitting between 2 Snaps and 2 MBs. I think MB has a great home in Turns.
So I have a couple updates on my list... I like to experiment with cards/changing things around a lot and keepin' it fresh haha
First;
I started running Oust over Path and can't believe I didn't make the switch sooner. Like in control path is fine but with this deck especially, allowing them access to additional mana is a problem. Plus Oust has been really good from my play testing at guaranteeing that they either have a dead draw in three turns or that they shuffle away a creature with a fetch.
Wouldn't Condemn be better or is it just situational? All our opponent creatures will be attacking us on G1 since we have at most snap to be a surprise blocker. I rarely see people holding back their meddling mage or eidolon.
The reason I prefer it over condemn is because it guarantees their draw is a waste (usually the turn before I go off.. Like being able to Oust turn 1 means they can't accelerate into anything..
Plus, game one they won't, but after they see condemn they will play safe in what they send in for attackers
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
UU"Brute force can sometimes kick down a locked door, but knowledge is a skeleton key"UU
My rounds were:
1st vs Amulett Titan - 2:0
First Game, I killed him with Gigadrowse and Exhaustion, because then he couldn't pay for his Summoner's Pact. Game two, I had Chalice on 0 and 1, then combo'ed.
2nd round vs Bant Spirits - 0:2
I lost both games to a lot of disruption backed on creatures - no chance of winning.
3rd round vs Ad Nauseam - 2:0
First game, a miracle'ed Mastery made me combo off a turn before my opponent could.
Game 2, I had a lot of disruption, then miracle'ed me into the driver's seat of a combo mirror and had just everything.
I finished 3rd place, and received 6 Boosters for it. Still a nice deck that catches many meta decks stone cold. But those new tribal midrange decks (read: Humans and Spirits - not Eldrazi) are giving me a lot of trouble. Though I never drew Thing in the Ice, which is probably huge in those MU's.
Hey congrats on third place! Always awesome
I've never seen Emrakul as a win condition before although looks pretty cool!
So against Bant Spirits, that is one of those decks that you really can't plan around too much.. you just have to hope on not getting matched up against it. Game 1 they already have interaction and then after side boarding it gets worse..
With Humans on the other hand, I've been playing against it a lot lately to practice and there is a way around it. I find that going mono blue helped me because I was wasting life on fetching and whatnot - and then Echoing Truth has been working really well.. Since a lot of their deck is just in redundancy it helps to be able to bounce multiple creatures and follow up with an Exhaustion. Although Aether Vial can be annoying. Other than that, I think it's like you said - it's all about flipping Thing in the Ice honestly
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
UU"Brute force can sometimes kick down a locked door, but knowledge is a skeleton key"UU
Yeah dude, Mission Briefing is the truth! The first time casting it on T4 of opponent’s upkeep allowed me to Surveil 2 and set up a TM miracle which was 2 deep and then Gigadrowse for 2. Dumping more cards into the graveyard helped my Azcanta flip earlier to aid in getting to 9 Awakening mana.
I too am running mono blue. Splitting between 2 Snaps and 2 MBs. I think MB has a great home in Turns.
Mission Briefing into Serum Visions is super digging! Surveil 2, draw a card, scry 2.
MBing Opt at opponent’s EOT is solid too.
Do you have a list? These are some fantastic synergies, but I'm curious as to what has been omitted in order to fit both Serums and Opts alongside a 2/2 Snap/MB split and some number of SfA.
My rounds were:
1st vs Amulett Titan - 2:0
First Game, I killed him with Gigadrowse and Exhaustion, because then he couldn't pay for his Summoner's Pact. Game two, I had Chalice on 0 and 1, then combo'ed.
2nd round vs Bant Spirits - 0:2
I lost both games to a lot of disruption backed on creatures - no chance of winning.
3rd round vs Ad Nauseam - 2:0
First game, a miracle'ed Mastery made me combo off a turn before my opponent could.
Game 2, I had a lot of disruption, then miracle'ed me into the driver's seat of a combo mirror and had just everything.
I finished 3rd place, and received 6 Boosters for it. Still a nice deck that catches many meta decks stone cold. But those new tribal midrange decks (read: Humans and Spirits - not Eldrazi) are giving me a lot of trouble. Though I never drew Thing in the Ice, which is probably huge in those MU's.
Greetings
Nice work!
I love how just about every mono-blue player brings their own spice to the sideboard. Swan Song is one I've seen before, but haven't got around to trying; Spellbomb and U Teferi are new ones as far as I've seen. Love it!
Re: Oust vs Condemn, they both seem fine but I'd probably lean toward Oust unless your deck operates at Instant speed more common than is normal for Turns. I sure wish I'd had access to something like Oust in SCG 'Cuse when my Human opponent's Teeg was locking me out, and he didn't risk the Teeg with a single attack.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
GB Golgari Midrange GB YouTube Channel, with deck techs, gameplay, analysis, spoiler reviews, and more!
So here are some explanations for my list:
-2 Extraplanar Lens & Emrakul:
The mana acceleration of the Lens makes it possible to go off on T4, and it improves Walk the Aeons a lot because sacrificing Islands is acceptable when each new one taps for UU (and Damping Sphere does nothing against that)
Then, through the mana acceleration, Emrakul turns into a strong wincon when you need just 8 Islands (or 7 and Mikokoro) with one Lens in play, or even 5 with both
-Flip Jace over Snapcaster or anything:
Baby Jace is just bonkers in this deck. I've written it before - he is the truth. Looting through your deck is great (see Azcanta), getting a Path to Exile is great, and the flipside wins the game in multiple ways.
-No Cryptic Command
I needed space for the 1-of Mind Sculptor, so I cut the last Cryptic for that. I never looked back - Brainstorming with Temporal Mastery is insane.
-Day's Undoing
Another card that I can just repeat to praise. You want it vs. discard-heavy decks at any time, you want it with 8 mana (hello, Lens) and a Time Warp, and it accidentaly hurts any GY-strategy.
-Just one Part the Waterveil
My list is somewhat stuck. I would perhaps even cut the last one for another Walk the Aeons now that Jace TMS is available.
-SB: No Leyline, but AEther Spellbomb, Swan Song and Teferi
I played Leylines before, but I prefer Chalice of the Void right now. KCI, Shadow decks and Burn are all present in my area, and there are more sometimes (like Ad Nauseam or Storm).
AEther Spellbomb was my choice because it can be a cantrip whenever you don't need to bounce (see Temporal Mastery) plus it presents an out, and thereby might trap my opponent into worse plays.
Swan Song is just the perfect counterspell in my opinion. Instants like Negate, Sorceries like Thoughtseize and Enchantments like Rule of Law all hard-countered for a small drawback that is annuled by any Jace PW is wonderful.
-Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
My last SB slot was vacant, and I chose this guy because usually, there is a worthy amount of UWx Control at any tournament here.
Greetings
PS: For Spirits, one could try Damping Matrix. Shuts off Mausoleum Wanderer and AEther Vial.
Hey Grim_Flayer, thank you for the welcome! I watched your YouTube video of Turn vs. Affinity and it was very solid. Great commentary and explanation of your thought process/choices. I plan on watching more!
This is my current deck list that is testing Mission Briefing. The card's Surveil 2 has performed well so far, allowing me to clear the chaff and dig to what I need. I'm not set on it, but it's always fun testing out new cards in Turns. The biggest weakness of this build is its lack of plays/interaction at the 2-drop slot in the main deck.
The 2 Gemstone Caverns are a page out of timewalkinonsunshine's UB build. This is my first time posting a deck list, and I apologize if it is formatted incorrectly. How do you link to a user's name when coding a comment?
Hey Grim_Flayer, thank you for the welcome! I watched your YouTube video of Turn vs. Affinity and it was very solid. Great commentary and explanation of your thought process/choices. I plan on watching more!
Thank you so much! It means a lot to hear that.
This is my current deck list that is testing Mission Briefing. The card's Surveil 2 has performed well so far, allowing me to clear the chaff and dig to what I need. I'm not set on it, but it's always fun testing out new cards in Turns. The biggest weakness of this build is its lack of plays/interaction at the 2-drop slot in the main deck.
The 2 Gemstone Caverns are a page out of timewalkinonsunshine's UB build. This is my first time posting a deck list, and I apologize if it is formatted incorrectly. How do you link to a user's name when coding a comment?
This list looks great. I combed over it a few times, and, while I agree that it lacks interaction at the 2-drop slot, there don't appear to be any glaring instances of cards which could be cut to make way for Remand. The 11th turn spell and the Search would be a tad extraneous in a list like mine, but in your build with Opts and Briefings they seem strong. The list is cohesive and synergistic. That said, Remand is a strong performer for me, so after losses I'd ask myself whether Remand could have been a realistic difference-maker. Otherwise, keep at it and let us know how Briefing continues to play!
@zcowan I like your latest list as well. How have Things been performing in the maindeck? Are they eating a lot of removal G1 from BGx and UWx decks?
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
GB Golgari Midrange GB YouTube Channel, with deck techs, gameplay, analysis, spoiler reviews, and more!
So this may be wrong in practice, but I actually don't deploy Thing in the Ice until I am in my combo.. since it is only 2 mana to cast and flips so easily in the build, I wait until the coast is clear with a gigaadrowse or remand mana plus time warp effect/exhaustion. It has been very similar to waiting on Part the Waterveil but a lot more consistent
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
UU"Brute force can sometimes kick down a locked door, but knowledge is a skeleton key"UU
Yeah I've also been seeing a lot of graveyard/dredge style decks.. I'm glad the days of Mardu Pyromancer are slowing down because that has been my most difficult matchup
And yeah, Thing in the Ice is incredible against those decks because it bounces the creatures to their hand so they can't recur them from the graveyard
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
UU"Brute force can sometimes kick down a locked door, but knowledge is a skeleton key"UU
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Subscribed. Looking forward to checking it out!
I like all of these lands, but we need to consider the math. In case you haven't, check out the following from Frank Karsten:
https://www.channelfireball.com/articles/frank-analysis-how-many-colored-mana-sources-do-you-need-to-consistently-cast-your-spells/
https://www.channelfireball.com/articles/how-many-lands-do-you-need-to-consistently-hit-your-land-drops/
These articles really cut to the core of mana-base math. I find them fascinating, and I look to them every time I build or evaluate a deck. It's must-read material for any magic player.
I want to apply the math and conclusions from the first article to your build. Specifically, 17 out of 23 lands being blue sources.
When does our ratio of blue sources count most? Two spells: Cryptic Command and Gigadrowse. The latter benefits from every land producing U, so it's tough to estimate how many sources we really want at any given time, except to say "all of them." Until they print a blue Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, we're going to have to live with playing magic like everyone else.
I think Cryptic Command gives us a clear-cut minimum: we want three blue sources by Turn 4. In other words, if I have Cryptic in my hand, I want to be able to cast it as soon as possible. Karsten tells us that if we have 22 blue-producing lands in our deck, we have a 90% chance of having UUU available to us on Turn 4 (on the play). Checking the math, you'll see that running five less sources cuts your odds by about 20%. That's a hell of a hit; 70% AFTER MULLIGANS is not overly-reliable.
What helps your odds?
First, Field of Ruin is, itself, a fetch land of sorts. The problem is, you have to invest mana to do it, and we're already counting on Dictate of Kruphix at the same mana slot, and we probably can't afford the opponent another "free turn." Have you found that disrupting their mana on T3 consistently buys you a turn?
Second, Serum Visions helps a LOT. By my math, you can count every copy of SV as 3/4 of a land. It's a rough estimate, based on the idea of playing it a turn BEFORE you need the land, allowing you to take into account the Scry.
Third, Remand, and our Mine effects. Each extra card drawn gives you about another 7% edge ... but you have to draw and play that card. Karsten suggests counting cantrip effects as 0.25 lands. (He doesn't mention Mine effects, because nobody is crazy enough to run those.)
So, assuming you run four Serum Visions and 4 Remand, you could make an argument that you're effectively running 17 + 3 + 1 = 21 blue sources, plus a bit of a bump for the mines and Field of Ruin. I think it's quite a risk, though. Thoughtseize and Spell Pierce can put quite a damper on those plans.
I'm curious, though. What led you to Field of Ruin? Which matchups do you like it, and why? What turn do you ideally find yourself activating it?
Almost all of our games we want to be casting a Dictate on their end of turn.. not gigadrowsing their board down. And if they are super aggressive then you would most likely be digging for exhaustion instead.
That being said, I do like the math! I've often referred to that site for building EDH decks and in building three color modern decks. I just think that these lands offer enough utility
(except Field of Ruin. Im not convinced on that one yet)
So I switched back to mono blue for a bit and have been testing with the mainboard Thing in the Ice and have found that going down the snapcaster mage and instead running Mission Briefing from Guilds is absolutely insane! Not only does it flip Thing quicker but the Surveil trigger is so good at digging in the early turns
I feel like it is almost consistent enough to cut down on the Part the Waterveil win condition
The only problem I have with the card is that there is never a time where field of ruin is better then what the deck is already doing.
Like if you're playing against an Inkmoth Nexus - gigadrowse/exhaustion/boomerang/path if you splash white/fatal push if you splash black
and vs tron we are already favored so we don't really need to dedicate additional hate cards in the way that a traditional control deck would need to
Like Grim Flayer says in his videos a lot, we only need to hit that "magical five mana" lol
So if one of our turns is spent hitting one of their lands then it needs to completely neutralize them for a turn in the process as our other forms of interaction do.
Thanks a ton, it means a lot!
Good post in regard to the math behind our land spread as well. I think a big reason to play Taking Turns over other, faster combo decks is our consistency, which allows us to run an enormous amount of interaction (relative to most combo decks), which in turn allows us to survive long enough to reach our combo threshold. So, if we're reducing our consistency (and therefore our ability to survive) in terms of the ability to produce U, perhaps we should ask ourselves: does this change merit such a trade-off?
For me, that answer in regard to Gemstone Caverns and Mikokoro is a nailed-on yes. For Inkmoth, the answer is still yes, but a less emphatic one. Then we have cards like Radiant Fountain and Field of Ruin, for which the answer is yes, if the meta demands them.
I could see playing Fountain in a meta inundated by Burn and other linear aggro, and I could see playing Field in a meta overrun by Tron and Inkmoth decks--but, as you've demonstrated, these inclusions come at a real cost.
Five mana is magical, it's science!
I definitely agree that we're just naturally well positioned against the decks where Field shines.
YouTube Channel, with deck techs, gameplay, analysis, spoiler reviews, and more!
First;
I started running Oust over Path and can't believe I didn't make the switch sooner. Like in control path is fine but with this deck especially, allowing them access to additional mana is a problem. Plus Oust has been really good from my play testing at guaranteeing that they either have a dead draw in three turns or that they shuffle away a creature with a fetch.
Second;
I played around with echoing truth a little, and boomerang. I liked the clever "bounce ya land" plays but overall I definitely prefer Echoing Truth in that it isn't color restricted as heavily and it has the potential to bounce multiple threats... Plus (super small upside - but still relevant) it acts as a way to prevent decking in situations where there are too many mine effects since you can bounce all of your dictates back to hand.
Honestly, the way i've been playing the deck has been more about guaranteeing mine effects. I've now went up to 4x dictate, 3x howling mine, 1x ancestral and I have trimmed on cantrips. And my interaction has been: 2 Remand, 3 Gigadrowse, 1 Oust, 2 Echoing Truth, 2 Cryptic -- But I may end up going to 3 Remand and 1 Echoing Truth over time..
I too am running mono blue. Splitting between 2 Snaps and 2 MBs. I think MB has a great home in Turns.
MBing Opt at opponent’s EOT is solid too.
Im at 2 currently with 3 serum visions
Thinking about tweaking the numbers around to run mainboard Thing permanently now lol
Wouldn't Condemn be better or is it just situational? All our opponent creatures will be attacking us on G1 since we have at most snap to be a surprise blocker. I rarely see people holding back their meddling mage or eidolon.
Plus, game one they won't, but after they see condemn they will play safe in what they send in for attackers
I played a small local event today, with following list:
22 Snow-covered Island
1 Mikokoro, Center of the Sea
[Draw]
4 Ancestral Vision
4 Serum Visions
1 Day's Undoing
4 Dictate of Kruphix
[Interaction]
3 Gigadrowse
3 Remand
3 Exhaustion
2 Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
[Combo]
2 Extraplanar Lens
4 Time Warp
1 Walk the Aeons
1 Part the Waterveil
4 Temporal Mastery
3 Chalice of the Void
2 AEther Spellbomb
3 Swan Song
2 Hurkyl's Recall
2 Thing in the Ice
1 Hibernation
1 Day's Undoing
1 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
My rounds were:
1st vs Amulett Titan - 2:0
First Game, I killed him with Gigadrowse and Exhaustion, because then he couldn't pay for his Summoner's Pact. Game two, I had Chalice on 0 and 1, then combo'ed.
2nd round vs Bant Spirits - 0:2
I lost both games to a lot of disruption backed on creatures - no chance of winning.
3rd round vs Ad Nauseam - 2:0
First game, a miracle'ed Mastery made me combo off a turn before my opponent could.
Game 2, I had a lot of disruption, then miracle'ed me into the driver's seat of a combo mirror and had just everything.
I finished 3rd place, and received 6 Boosters for it. Still a nice deck that catches many meta decks stone cold. But those new tribal midrange decks (read: Humans and Spirits - not Eldrazi) are giving me a lot of trouble. Though I never drew Thing in the Ice, which is probably huge in those MU's.
Greetings
I've never seen Emrakul as a win condition before although looks pretty cool!
So against Bant Spirits, that is one of those decks that you really can't plan around too much.. you just have to hope on not getting matched up against it. Game 1 they already have interaction and then after side boarding it gets worse..
With Humans on the other hand, I've been playing against it a lot lately to practice and there is a way around it. I find that going mono blue helped me because I was wasting life on fetching and whatnot - and then Echoing Truth has been working really well.. Since a lot of their deck is just in redundancy it helps to be able to bounce multiple creatures and follow up with an Exhaustion. Although Aether Vial can be annoying. Other than that, I think it's like you said - it's all about flipping Thing in the Ice honestly
Hi, welcome to the forum/thread!
Do you have a list? These are some fantastic synergies, but I'm curious as to what has been omitted in order to fit both Serums and Opts alongside a 2/2 Snap/MB split and some number of SfA.
Nice work!
I love how just about every mono-blue player brings their own spice to the sideboard. Swan Song is one I've seen before, but haven't got around to trying; Spellbomb and U Teferi are new ones as far as I've seen. Love it!
Re: Oust vs Condemn, they both seem fine but I'd probably lean toward Oust unless your deck operates at Instant speed more common than is normal for Turns. I sure wish I'd had access to something like Oust in SCG 'Cuse when my Human opponent's Teeg was locking me out, and he didn't risk the Teeg with a single attack.
YouTube Channel, with deck techs, gameplay, analysis, spoiler reviews, and more!
-2 Extraplanar Lens & Emrakul:
The mana acceleration of the Lens makes it possible to go off on T4, and it improves Walk the Aeons a lot because sacrificing Islands is acceptable when each new one taps for UU (and Damping Sphere does nothing against that)
Then, through the mana acceleration, Emrakul turns into a strong wincon when you need just 8 Islands (or 7 and Mikokoro) with one Lens in play, or even 5 with both
-Flip Jace over Snapcaster or anything:
Baby Jace is just bonkers in this deck. I've written it before - he is the truth. Looting through your deck is great (see Azcanta), getting a Path to Exile is great, and the flipside wins the game in multiple ways.
-No Cryptic Command
I needed space for the 1-of Mind Sculptor, so I cut the last Cryptic for that. I never looked back - Brainstorming with Temporal Mastery is insane.
-Day's Undoing
Another card that I can just repeat to praise. You want it vs. discard-heavy decks at any time, you want it with 8 mana (hello, Lens) and a Time Warp, and it accidentaly hurts any GY-strategy.
-Just one Part the Waterveil
My list is somewhat stuck. I would perhaps even cut the last one for another Walk the Aeons now that Jace TMS is available.
-SB: No Leyline, but AEther Spellbomb, Swan Song and Teferi
I played Leylines before, but I prefer Chalice of the Void right now. KCI, Shadow decks and Burn are all present in my area, and there are more sometimes (like Ad Nauseam or Storm).
AEther Spellbomb was my choice because it can be a cantrip whenever you don't need to bounce (see Temporal Mastery) plus it presents an out, and thereby might trap my opponent into worse plays.
Swan Song is just the perfect counterspell in my opinion. Instants like Negate, Sorceries like Thoughtseize and Enchantments like Rule of Law all hard-countered for a small drawback that is annuled by any Jace PW is wonderful.
-Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
My last SB slot was vacant, and I chose this guy because usually, there is a worthy amount of UWx Control at any tournament here.
Greetings
PS: For Spirits, one could try Damping Matrix. Shuts off Mausoleum Wanderer and AEther Vial.
So my new list as of current is at 61 and I think it works fine
Im running:
3 Thing in the Ice
Spells (36)
4 Serum Visions
2 Opt
3 Mission Briefing
2 Remand
2 Cryptic Command
3 Gigadrowse
1 Echoing Truth
3 Exhaustion
4 Dictate of Kruphix
3 Howling Mine
4 Time Warp
3 Temporal Mastery
2 Part the Waterveil
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Geier Reach Sanitarium
1 Mikokoro, Center of the Sea
1 Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
19 Islands
And it has been the nuts!
This is my current deck list that is testing Mission Briefing. The card's Surveil 2 has performed well so far, allowing me to clear the chaff and dig to what I need. I'm not set on it, but it's always fun testing out new cards in Turns. The biggest weakness of this build is its lack of plays/interaction at the 2-drop slot in the main deck.
The 2 Gemstone Caverns are a page out of timewalkinonsunshine's UB build. This is my first time posting a deck list, and I apologize if it is formatted incorrectly. How do you link to a user's name when coding a comment?
17 Island
2 Gemstone Caverns
1 Mikokoro, Center of the Sea
1 Minamo, School at Water’s Edge
1 Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
Creatures (2)
2 Snapcaster Mage
Mines (8)
2 Howling Mine
4 Dictate of Kruphix
1 Search for Azcanta
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
Turns (11)
3 Part the Waterveil
4 Temporal Mastery
4 Time Warp
2 Cryptic Command
4 Gigadrowse
2 Mission Briefing
2 Opt
Sorceries (7)
3 Exhaustion
4 Serum Visions
3 Chalice of the Void
1 Commandeer
2 Damping Sphere
2 Echoing Truth
2 Surgical Extraction
3 Thing in the Ice
Thank you so much! It means a lot to hear that.
This list looks great. I combed over it a few times, and, while I agree that it lacks interaction at the 2-drop slot, there don't appear to be any glaring instances of cards which could be cut to make way for Remand. The 11th turn spell and the Search would be a tad extraneous in a list like mine, but in your build with Opts and Briefings they seem strong. The list is cohesive and synergistic. That said, Remand is a strong performer for me, so after losses I'd ask myself whether Remand could have been a realistic difference-maker. Otherwise, keep at it and let us know how Briefing continues to play!
@zcowan I like your latest list as well. How have Things been performing in the maindeck? Are they eating a lot of removal G1 from BGx and UWx decks?
YouTube Channel, with deck techs, gameplay, analysis, spoiler reviews, and more!
And yeah, Thing in the Ice is incredible against those decks because it bounces the creatures to their hand so they can't recur them from the graveyard