Hi everyone. I thought I'd share my hybrid Turns/Control list that I played at GP Calgary to a 10-5 finish and 52nd place. The deck was very good to me on Friday where I won a Last Chance Trial (4-0) to earn 2 byes and on Day 1 where I made it to 8-0 before the cut. I was riding high into Day 2, then I promptly lost 4 matches in a row crushing my dreams of a top 8 finish.
I've been working on this deck for off and on for about a year, but really dedicated myself to it in the last few months, with the rise of UR Phoenix decks. I've had good success locally (I top 4'ed a 4k open in Edmonton a few weeks back) and on MTGO (24-11 in comp leagues, still no 5-0). I could write pages about how the deck works, the other variations I've tried, the different match-ups, lines of play etc. But for now I'm just sharing my latest list.
Also, I want to say congrats to Daniel Wong on yet another great GP finish! I regret not saying hi when I saw you on Day 2. It's because of you that I ever sleeved up Time Warp in modern.
Right now though, with War of the Spark spoilers, I’m looking at trying out a full dictate/mine build using the new Jace walker. A lot of hate has been put on him, but with the crazy amount of draw power the dictate/mine build allows, I feel it might have the potential to be a quick and efficient way to close games. Any thoughts or constructive criticisms?
I think that the new Jace, Wielder of Mysteries is probably just worse than Jace, the Mind Sculptor in a typical Turns deck. Most of the time, if you've drawn your whole deck you've already won. The card is not particularly quick or efficient. Maybe there is some other build that uses the graveyard and/or aggressively self-mills that could take advantage of the new Jace. I'm just not sure what that deck would look like.
Yeah I definitely wasn’t planning to slap it into my actual build, but when I had run dictate/mine builds a while back before As Foretold, I would come dangerously close to decking myself. Figured it might be worth it to run new Jace as a two-of along with a JtMS in a pure dictate turns deck, and just aim for decking as the winCon, might speed up the clock a bit for the deck. I’m going to assume it’s a strictly worse build, but I think it’s at least worth brewing with maybe.
I’m going to assume it’s a strictly worse build, but I think it’s at least worth brewing with maybe.
Totally worth a shot, I never want to discourage brewing with a new card. The card is definitely powerful, it draws you an extra card every turn. My take is that the "win the game by decking yourself" plan is probably more trouble than it's worth. If you draw your whole deck it's pretty trivial to have some other way to win, in fact you probably need to have another way in case they can deal with the Jace. So the card would need to be doing something else in the mid-game, preferably something that another card doesn't already do better. Having said all that, playing JWOS alongside JTMS does sound really good.
Congrats on day 2 and cashing!
Timely reinforcements is interesting to have mainboard. How has it performed? I’ve loved it sideboard.
Thanks @JPoJohnson! Timely performs a lot like a sideboard card. Awesome sometimes, useless other times. Right now, it is at least useful in almost every matchup, particularly the poorer ones. Maindecking 1 Timely is pretty common in UW Control for this reason. Finding the Timely is basically the only way [for my deck] to beat burn in game 1 (Dredge too, to a lesser extent). Needing to gain 6 life (or 12 with snap) comes up surprisingly often. With so much card draw the deck is actually pretty good at finding 1-ofs. I actively want Timely versus burn, dredge, jund/rock and non-spirits creature decks. It is notably awful vs Tron, Artifact Prison, and Ad Nauseum.
I've also tried 1 Surgical Extraction main instead, which was again awesome sometimes, and really bad other times. I like the surgical vs phoenix, dredge, tron, scapeshift, and basically any deck named after a specific card. Overall, I found Surgical was a bit too narrow so I went with Timely for this event.
Any thoughts on using the new Teferi? Being able to combo off without worrying about counters and the ability to time warp at instant speed seem pretty good. And for just 3 mana nonetheless
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Huey, Dewey and Louie are always dressed in RUG. it is CLEARLY going to be the wedges block Pioneer: WURFaerie fires BRGDragons ModernBGElves WRBurn UR Fires Turns URGift Storm UG Twiddle Storm
Any thoughts on using the new Teferi? Being able to combo off without worrying about counters and the ability to time warp at instant speed seem pretty good. And for just 3 mana nonetheless
Teferi, Time Raveler seems great if it resolves vs control, but those matchups are typically pretty good for the Taking Turns deck anyway, no? Maybe it's also good against something like Grixis Death's Shadow, or maybe even Infect?
The opportunity cost is pretty low, since it's three mana and it can bounce something and draw a card the turn you play it. Being able to bounce stuff like Blood Moon, Pyromancer Ascension, Chalice of the Void, is potentially really useful. I am certainly excited to try it out.
New Teferi seems really cool. Not sure if I will give him a slot though. Match ups I would want him in I already feel favored in, and don’t think he’s better then what I currently have. Worth checking out. The new Ral, storm conduit in a UR build looks really interesting imo. Might be a reason for me to try UR turns!
Went 2-2 Wednesday night at the LGS. Mono R Phoenix got me round 1. Lost to amulet titan r4. Had some interesting interactions with hive mind and turns. Learned I got to take turns first. Also when PTW awakens, he gets to awaken also. Beat grixis control, and an artifact prison style deck. New sideboard didn’t get a huge test drive, and bad beats against a couple tough match ups. Chocking this one up as 1 of those nights.
I figured that in AFT builds you would play some number of mission briefing to fill a flashback roll that snap gives but also synergize with the suspend spells. Seems like a powerful 1 of.
Congrats Daniel, awesome finish. Excited for the report.
Decided to finally try a color splash for my deck. 3 fetches, 2 shocks, and a basic plains. New SB, few old favs. What do you guys think?
2 Snapcaster Mage
2 Search for Azcanta
4 Dictate of Kruphix
3 Flooded Strand
2 Hallowed Fountain
1 Inkmoth Nexus
15 Island
1 Mikokoro, Center of the Sea
1 Plains
3 Gigadrowse
4 Remand
2 Cryptic Command
4 Serum Visions
3 Exhaustion
4 Time Warp
3 Part the Waterveil
4 Temporal Mastery
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
Sideboard (15)
3 Path to Exile
2 Rest in Peace
2 Spreading Seas
2 Engineered Explosives
2 Grafdigger's Cage
2 Dragon's Claw
2 Spellskite
Deck looks sweet! You definitely want to add more UW lands though. Frank Karsten recommends having 13 W lands to cast a 1W spell like Rest in Peace, for example. You get to cheat on that number a bit because you have Serum Visions, but it would still be a good idea to add about 5 more UW lands. I recommend Glacial Fortress and Prairie Stream, but you have lots of options. I also think Dragon's Claw isn't a great way to combat Burn, and would instead suggest Negate, Redirect, or Commandeer. If you're adamant about having an anti-burn artifact, I think Sun Droplet is the better option. One more thing to be aware of is the non-bo of Grafdigger's Cage and Snapcaster Mage.
Hey guys, new poster here, but longtime turns player. I’ve played UW my entire run, experimenting between dictate builds and As Foretold builds. My current, and longest lasting build is a hybrid between the two, with a huge success rate over the last year +, hoping to take it to a major event sometime this year. Right now though, with War of the Spark spoilers, I’m looking at trying out a full dictate/mine build using the new Jace walker. A lot of hate has been put on him, but with the crazy amount of draw power the dictate/mine build allows, I feel it might have the potential to be a quick and efficient way to close games. Any thoughts or constructive criticisms?
It's an interesting idea! I mentioned earlier that I'd envision such a deck having a lot of cantrips, a lower curve, a lot of Mine effects, and a focus on comboing fast without needing a wincon other than new Jace. I have my doubts as to the power level of this deck, but it certainly sounds fun!
Hi everyone. I thought I'd share my hybrid Turns/Control list that I played at GP Calgary to a 10-5 finish and 52nd place. The deck was very good to me on Friday where I won a Last Chance Trial (4-0) to earn 2 byes and on Day 1 where I made it to 8-0 before the cut. I was riding high into Day 2, then I promptly lost 4 matches in a row crushing my dreams of a top 8 finish.
I've been working on this deck for off and on for about a year, but really dedicated myself to it in the last few months, with the rise of UR Phoenix decks. I've had good success locally (I top 4'ed a 4k open in Edmonton a few weeks back) and on MTGO (24-11 in comp leagues, still no 5-0). I could write pages about how the deck works, the other variations I've tried, the different match-ups, lines of play etc. But for now I'm just sharing my latest list.
Also, I want to say congrats to Daniel Wong on yet another great GP finish! I regret not saying hi when I saw you on Day 2. It's because of you that I ever sleeved up Time Warp in modern.
Congrats on your finish and undefeated Day 1! Hopefully we'll get to meet at some other GP, it's always cool to see other people sleeving up Time Warps.
Any thoughts on using the new Teferi? Being able to combo off without worrying about counters and the ability to time warp at instant speed seem pretty good. And for just 3 mana nonetheless
Gigadrowse mostly solves the issue of counterspells, so I don't think we need another card that does that. And Instant speed Warping again sounds like a way to beat counterspells, which we already have. Still, it's great in a control-heavy meta, but that's just not what Modern as a whole looks like right now. I don't think Teferi's -3 is especially useful, but I could definitely be underestimating it.
New Teferi seems really cool. Not sure if I will give him a slot though. Match ups I would want him in I already feel favored in, and don’t think he’s better then what I currently have. Worth checking out. The new Ral, storm conduit in a UR build looks really interesting imo. Might be a reason for me to try UR turns!
Went 2-2 Wednesday night at the LGS. Mono R Phoenix got me round 1. Lost to amulet titan r4. Had some interesting interactions with hive mind and turns. Learned I got to take turns first. Also when PTW awakens, he gets to awaken also. Beat grixis control, and an artifact prison style deck. New sideboard didn’t get a huge test drive, and bad beats against a couple tough match ups. Chocking this one up as 1 of those nights.
New Ral is interesting, but probably a worse 4-mana Walker than Jace the Mind Sculptor or Chandra Torch of Defiance. Ral's -2 is super sweet, but he can't protect himself like Jace and Chandra can, and his +2 isn't actual card advantage like Jace's +0 or Chandra's +1 to exile. Also, those are some interesting Hive Mind interactions that I definitely haven't thought about. Good to know!
I figured that in AFT builds you would play some number of mission briefing to fill a flashback roll that snap gives but also synergize with the suspend spells. Seems like a powerful 1 of.
Mission Briefing is reasonable, but the 2/1 body on Snapcaster Mage is in my opinion generally better than the Surveil 2 from Mission Briefing. The interaction with suspend spells is very cool though. I suppose @Magus_of_Farts can speak more to why Briefing isn't in the deck.
Why Gelectrode and Crackling Drake in the SB? If there's a reason pages back, I'm down to check it out!
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Legacy - Sneak Show, BR Reanimator, Miracles, UW Stoneblade
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/ Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander - Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build) (dead format for me)
Why Gelectrode and Crackling Drake in the SB? If there's a reason pages back, I'm down to check it out!
Gelectrode is mainly for Humans and Spirits. It deals with Thalia and Mausoleum Wanderer quite nicely, and with help from any Instants or Sorceries, it can take down other problematic cards like Drogskol Captain, Meddling Mage, Kitesail Freebooter, or Gaddock Teeg. It also happens to be ok against Vendilion Clique and Teferi out of UW Control and is another threat against Whir Prison, but those matchups are already good and that's not the reason to have Gelectrode in the board. Crackling Drake is primarily for Jund or Death's Shadow-style decks where the games tend to involve trading resources. Crackling Drake is a fantastic topdeck in that scenario. It replaces itself, so even in the worst case of getting Liliana edicted, you still got some value out of it. In the best case, it kills your opponent in one or two hits. It's also usually a reasonable blocker against many of the creatures in Humans, Spirits, Phoenix, Burn, etc.
I figured that in AFT builds you would play some number of mission briefing to fill a flashback roll that snap gives but also synergize with the suspend spells. Seems like a powerful 1 of.
Mission Briefing is probably good, but I certainly wouldn't cut a Snapcaster for it. Honestly, I'd probably add a 4th Snapcaster before the first Briefing. Snap just does so much: it chumps or trades off, pressures opposing planeswalkers, it gets bounced by Jace or Cryptic or Thing, and it attacks for the win.
Finding a second Ancestral after you've resolved As Foretold is usually not too hard with all the cantrips and Tolaria West. And needing access to a 5th Ancestral doesn't come up very often. I may try Briefing for a league or two, see if there is more to it than meets the eye. I will say that Briefing plays better against Surgical Extraction, so that is something to keep in mind.
Found the card of my dreams,porphyry nodes, and the card of my nightmares,choke, over the weekend. Been at the lgs a lot over the weekend. Lost to GDS a lot. Why couldn’t it stay dead? Beat spirits for the first time.
This is where we sit now, and I’m really enjoying it. I’ve added more white sources main, and tweaked the sideboard. The porphyry nodes have been great. Debating going up to 4. Feels like the answer I’ve been looking for with humans, spirits, goblins. Well, goblins is still rough, but I feel like I have a chance. Getting choked out twice on t3 today hurt my soul. Might need to find a good way to handle thought. Is there something that exiles artifacts and enchantments in UW?
@TimeWalkin thanks for the advice on the lands. I enjoyed reading your report, and your insight on Sideboarding helped me a lot.
@JPo thanks. Act of authority isn’t bad because problem doesn’t return if it gets blown up. detention sphere sounded good, but any deck running choke will probably have abrupt decay or assassins trophy. WW casting cost might be a little high for me. I’m probably to low on white sources as is.
Ah, I was looking for something like Revoke Existence, but couldn't find it, good call.
The only thing that I like about Act of Authority it is has that 2 for 1 potential. They have to answer it to play a second or it pulls a second card out of their hand in order to continue on in their strategy. Revoke Existence is probably the card you're wanting here though.
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Current Decks:
Modern
Modern Warp / UR Control / UR Storm / Naya Breachshift / ElectroBalance
Legacy
Solidarity / Lands / Sneak and Show / Grixis Delver / Reanimator / Belcher / Storm / Dredge
@Timewalkingonsunshine
what's your opinion on the new ral zarek in the UR build? copying timewarp, or copying bolt for 8 damage, or transforming gigadrowse in a fireball all seem pretty good
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Huey, Dewey and Louie are always dressed in RUG. it is CLEARLY going to be the wedges block Pioneer: WURFaerie fires BRGDragons ModernBGElves WRBurn UR Fires Turns URGift Storm UG Twiddle Storm
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4x Ancestral Vision
4x Serum Visions
4x As Foretold
1x Exhaustion
1x Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
3x Time Warp
1x Timely Reinforcements
2x Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1x Living End
1x Engineered Explosives
Instant Speed (16)
3x Cryptic Command
4x Opt
4x Path to Exile
1x Remand
3x Snapcaster Mage
1x Spell Snare
4x Field of Ruin
4x Flooded Strand
2x Glacial Fortress
1x Hallowed Fountain
7x Island
1x Mikokoro, Center of the Sea
1x Plains
2x Tolaria West
1x Dispel
1x Negate
1x Spell Pierce
1x Spell Snare
2x Stony Silence
2x Surgical Extraction
3x Terminus
2x Thing in the Ice
1x Timely Reinforcements
1x Circle of Protection: Red
I've been working on this deck for off and on for about a year, but really dedicated myself to it in the last few months, with the rise of UR Phoenix decks. I've had good success locally (I top 4'ed a 4k open in Edmonton a few weeks back) and on MTGO (24-11 in comp leagues, still no 5-0). I could write pages about how the deck works, the other variations I've tried, the different match-ups, lines of play etc. But for now I'm just sharing my latest list.
Also, I want to say congrats to Daniel Wong on yet another great GP finish! I regret not saying hi when I saw you on Day 2. It's because of you that I ever sleeved up Time Warp in modern.
Timely reinforcements is interesting to have mainboard. How has it performed? I’ve loved it sideboard.
Modern Warp / UR Control / UR Storm / Naya Breachshift / ElectroBalance
Solidarity / Lands / Sneak and Show / Grixis Delver / Reanimator / Belcher / Storm / Dredge
Thanks @JPoJohnson! Timely performs a lot like a sideboard card. Awesome sometimes, useless other times. Right now, it is at least useful in almost every matchup, particularly the poorer ones. Maindecking 1 Timely is pretty common in UW Control for this reason. Finding the Timely is basically the only way [for my deck] to beat burn in game 1 (Dredge too, to a lesser extent). Needing to gain 6 life (or 12 with snap) comes up surprisingly often. With so much card draw the deck is actually pretty good at finding 1-ofs. I actively want Timely versus burn, dredge, jund/rock and non-spirits creature decks. It is notably awful vs Tron, Artifact Prison, and Ad Nauseum.
I've also tried 1 Surgical Extraction main instead, which was again awesome sometimes, and really bad other times. I like the surgical vs phoenix, dredge, tron, scapeshift, and basically any deck named after a specific card. Overall, I found Surgical was a bit too narrow so I went with Timely for this event.
Other more universally useful cards I've tried in that slot and liked include Search for Azcanta, Mana Leak or another copy of Remand, Cryptic Command, Exhaustion or Tolaria West.
Pioneer: WURFaerie fires BRGDragons
ModernBGElves WRBurn UR Fires Turns URGift Storm UG Twiddle Storm
The opportunity cost is pretty low, since it's three mana and it can bounce something and draw a card the turn you play it. Being able to bounce stuff like Blood Moon, Pyromancer Ascension, Chalice of the Void, is potentially really useful. I am certainly excited to try it out.
Went 2-2 Wednesday night at the LGS. Mono R Phoenix got me round 1. Lost to amulet titan r4. Had some interesting interactions with hive mind and turns. Learned I got to take turns first. Also when PTW awakens, he gets to awaken also. Beat grixis control, and an artifact prison style deck. New sideboard didn’t get a huge test drive, and bad beats against a couple tough match ups. Chocking this one up as 1 of those nights.
Deck looks sweet! You definitely want to add more UW lands though. Frank Karsten recommends having 13 W lands to cast a 1W spell like Rest in Peace, for example. You get to cheat on that number a bit because you have Serum Visions, but it would still be a good idea to add about 5 more UW lands. I recommend Glacial Fortress and Prairie Stream, but you have lots of options. I also think Dragon's Claw isn't a great way to combat Burn, and would instead suggest Negate, Redirect, or Commandeer. If you're adamant about having an anti-burn artifact, I think Sun Droplet is the better option. One more thing to be aware of is the non-bo of Grafdigger's Cage and Snapcaster Mage.
It's an interesting idea! I mentioned earlier that I'd envision such a deck having a lot of cantrips, a lower curve, a lot of Mine effects, and a focus on comboing fast without needing a wincon other than new Jace. I have my doubts as to the power level of this deck, but it certainly sounds fun!
Congrats on your finish and undefeated Day 1! Hopefully we'll get to meet at some other GP, it's always cool to see other people sleeving up Time Warps.
Gigadrowse mostly solves the issue of counterspells, so I don't think we need another card that does that. And Instant speed Warping again sounds like a way to beat counterspells, which we already have. Still, it's great in a control-heavy meta, but that's just not what Modern as a whole looks like right now. I don't think Teferi's -3 is especially useful, but I could definitely be underestimating it.
New Ral is interesting, but probably a worse 4-mana Walker than Jace the Mind Sculptor or Chandra Torch of Defiance. Ral's -2 is super sweet, but he can't protect himself like Jace and Chandra can, and his +2 isn't actual card advantage like Jace's +0 or Chandra's +1 to exile. Also, those are some interesting Hive Mind interactions that I definitely haven't thought about. Good to know!
Mission Briefing is reasonable, but the 2/1 body on Snapcaster Mage is in my opinion generally better than the Surveil 2 from Mission Briefing. The interaction with suspend spells is very cool though. I suppose @Magus_of_Farts can speak more to why Briefing isn't in the deck.
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/
Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander -
Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build)(dead format for me)Finding a second Ancestral after you've resolved As Foretold is usually not too hard with all the cantrips and Tolaria West. And needing access to a 5th Ancestral doesn't come up very often. I may try Briefing for a league or two, see if there is more to it than meets the eye. I will say that Briefing plays better against Surgical Extraction, so that is something to keep in mind.
2 Search for Azcanta
4 Dictate of Kruphix
3 Flooded Strand
3 Glacial Fortress
2 Hallowed Fountain
1 Inkmoth Nexus
11 Island
1 Mikokoro, Center of the Sea
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Prairie Stream
3 Gigadrowse
4 Remand
2 Cryptic Command
4 Serum Visions
3 Exhaustion
4 Time Warp
3 Part the Waterveil
4 Temporal Mastery
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
2 Rest in Peace
2 Engineered Explosives
2 Spellskite
3 Path to Exile
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Timely Reinforcements
This is where we sit now, and I’m really enjoying it. I’ve added more white sources main, and tweaked the sideboard. The porphyry nodes have been great. Debating going up to 4. Feels like the answer I’ve been looking for with humans, spirits, goblins. Well, goblins is still rough, but I feel like I have a chance. Getting choked out twice on t3 today hurt my soul. Might need to find a good way to handle thought. Is there something that exiles artifacts and enchantments in UW?
@TimeWalkin thanks for the advice on the lands. I enjoyed reading your report, and your insight on Sideboarding helped me a lot.
Modern Warp / UR Control / UR Storm / Naya Breachshift / ElectroBalance
Solidarity / Lands / Sneak and Show / Grixis Delver / Reanimator / Belcher / Storm / Dredge
I'm tinkering with Porphyry Nodes and Kefnet the Mindful but I didn't find the good mix yet.
The only thing that I like about Act of Authority it is has that 2 for 1 potential. They have to answer it to play a second or it pulls a second card out of their hand in order to continue on in their strategy. Revoke Existence is probably the card you're wanting here though.
Modern Warp / UR Control / UR Storm / Naya Breachshift / ElectroBalance
Solidarity / Lands / Sneak and Show / Grixis Delver / Reanimator / Belcher / Storm / Dredge
Vintage >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Legacy
what's your opinion on the new ral zarek in the UR build? copying timewarp, or copying bolt for 8 damage, or transforming gigadrowse in a fireball all seem pretty good
Pioneer: WURFaerie fires BRGDragons
ModernBGElves WRBurn UR Fires Turns URGift Storm UG Twiddle Storm