MTG Salvation

.. is Faithless Looting viable in this deck? so one can discard additional copies of Blood Moon, lands, Jace or just cards not suited for the match-up like harvest pyre or electrolyze.. also the curve stops essentially at 4 so lands loose a looooot of value beyond that point, gladly digging for live cards.

Quote from mgoetze »

The curve does not stop at 4, Snapcaster Mage is a great 6-drop. I ran one Izzet Charm in my maindeck for a while and the looting mode of it was the one I used the least. Plus, there's Desolate Lighthouse.

Snapcaster Mage is a great card at 3 mana, at 4 mana, at 5 mana, at 6+ mana, and it starts losing value at more than 10 mana (sometimes he is even good at 2 mana).
Every card in the deck is castable with 4 lands, is what i should have written
Winner at SCG Louisville was also quite happy with Faithless Looting in a Blood Moon deck.

Ross's list from the open is looking real slick. Currently I'm on Jeskai control, but I've noticed a lot of people at my LGS running close to the same list. Do you all think a list like Ross's is well positioned against the meta, and not just against other control decks, because I'm considering switching up to it for a bit?

I've been messing with Blue Moon lately and absolutely adore it. I'm curious about some of the sideboard strategies though. Currently, I play four Young Pyromancer in the board because I shamelessly ripped a list off of mtgtop8 (don't remember which off the top of my head). What's the thought process behind that? Is it a normal sideboard inclusion?

I've seen TiTi out of the side, but typically YP has been a main deck inclusion. YP is a great win condition, and for that reason I rather make room for him in the main than dedicate 4 sideboard slots for him. What version of Blue Moon are you playing?

Ross Merrian made an article in SCG premium. Anyone can put here the lists he talks to we can see his ideas for the deck, please.

Quote from Teacher RL »

Ross Merrian made an article in SCG premium. Anyone can put here the lists he talks to we can see his ideas for the deck, please.

He posted an untested Grixis list. I don't think it's an improvement over straight UR.

Thanks a lot I will see it.

Quote from DJJediJeff »

Quote from Teacher RL »

Ross Merrian made an article in SCG premium. Anyone can put here the lists he talks to we can see his ideas for the deck, please.

He posted an untested Grixis list. I don't think it's an improvement over straight UR.

It's an interesting concept, I'd drop the tasigur and keep P&K, but it's effectively splashing black for kommand main & brutality + nihil in the side, whilst improving EE activations.

Hey guys, I took Kiki Moon to an SCG 1K last weekend was able to get 1st/2nd! (we didn't play it out).

Here's the list: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/1113424#paper
I picked up my 75 off Jungje Choi's top8 finish at SCG Milwaukee back in April and practiced my butt off with the deck and did pretty well at local events and FNM's. I only made a few changes from his list. My recollection of the rounds is pretty limited, it was a long day and now a week ago but I'll do my best.

Round One: I was seated against Jund, a matchup I feel pretty comfortable against. Handtrash was annoying game one, but he didn't see any combo pieces or blood moon until it was too late. He guessed I was on storm and then I drew into moon and locked him out of the game. Jace hit the field and I fateseal locked him, he didn't scoop until he saw the combo. Game 2 went about the same as the first, he didn't draw fetches or basics and was stuck with shocklands when the moon hit on turn 3.

Round Two: Elves, ugh. You can beat them with removal heavy hands but the games quickly get out of control. That's what happened game 1. Game 2 was pretty savage. I kept a hand with bolt, bolt, lavamancer and never let any of my opponents creatures stick to the field. Game 3 went back and forth, I had early removal and eliminated Ezuri the moment I saw him but I couldn't stop the mass of elves from overcoming my life total, shaman of the pack and EoT CoCo's were too much.

Round Three: 4 Color Pyro. I don't really remember these games but I could never get a blood moon to stick, he had abrupt decay and floated mana 3 different times! I did win 2-1 however.

Round Four: Tron. I hate tron. Game 1 was a tron game, he mulled to 6 and went Tower, Map, Power Plant. Then I lost soon after. Game's 2/3 are blurred for me but I landed blood moon in both games. He was able to get to 6-7 lands but could only cast one spell a turn and I chained remand's together and was able to control the field and win 2-1.

Round Five: Jeskai. I don't remember the first game that I won. Game two was unfortunate for my opponent, we drew our starting hands and another player noticed that he had dropped one of the cards from his deck on the floor. Judge call ensued and my opponent was forced to mulligan to 6. Blood moon kept him on 2 islands and 1 plains but his hand was full of blue cards and multiple cryptics when the game ended in my favor.

Round Six: ID against Skred, went to go get a sandwich and relax a bit.

Top 8: We chopped the prizes but decided to play everything out for the invites.

Quarterfinals: 4 Color Death's Shadow. I don't remember which game of the three it was but I made my first punt of the day while trying to bolt my opponent's death shadow that was a 3/3 with a fetch in play! I also miscalculated devotion on my Keranos (Kiki in play) and thought I could attack with it when I could not. Game 3 had a lot of viewers and I drew for turn then loothoused the combo when my opponent was tapped out for the win.

Semifinals: Scapeshift. My opponent cast a pact game 1, I then remanded his Titan and cast a Pestermite EoT. I passed the turn and he forgot to pay his pact trigger (it was a long day at this point and I felt bad). Game 2 was a blood moon game. It stuck then I chain remanded his Primeval Titan 3 turns in a row while getting in the pestermite and exarch beats until I won.

Finals: Cheerios. We decided not to play it out. We are both from the place and wanted to get a head start on the 2 hour drive home so I scooped since he was the top seed.

Any questions about sideboard, card choices, or choice of combo? I really enjoy playing this deck and after about 3 years of playing modern I finally feel like I found "my" deck.

Thinking about playing again, it's between Blue Moon, Jeskai Control and UW control, but Blue Moon seems like the most appealing and fun to me. Looks like the current wincon of the deck is pretty much ult jace? I haven't looked at anything magic related in over 6 months until today.

Edit: OK I looked at more lists on MTGtop8 and seems like every one is fairly different, but I think I like Ross Merriam's the best at a glance.

You race them, with flash creatures and late their game with blood moon and remands. Sideboard Negates, Ceremony Rejections are very good in the matchup.

seems loose, even on the play. what are the 8 cards that you want to side out? hard to imagine not even 2 of them have more applications than hitting a hollow one on the stack.

Quote from Existenz »

Quote from tronix »

seems loose, even on the play. what are the 8 cards that you want to side out? hard to imagine not even 2 of them have more applications than hitting a hollow one on the stack.

I basically want to take out 4 Remand, 1 Spell Snare and 3 Blood Moon. I have made some more sideboard adjustments and I'm only one card off now (bringing in 2 Relic of Progenitus, 1 Abrade, 2 Roast and 2 Anger of the Gods) so I guess I should be fine.

i'd keep in a remand or spell snare before looking to a card like ceremonious rejection. snare has 6+ targets post board (technically 10 with bloodghast, but yeah), and remand can still be relevant against a land light deck playing delve threats and flashback spells (some hollow one decks even splash for souls). it also isnt uncommon to see them hardcast flamewake phoenix.

Quote from TheAller »

What are everyone's thoughts on these 4 issues:

* Desolate Lighthouse. Is this land really worth a slot? It seems harmless, I know. But it did happen to me a few times not to be able to cast a Cryptic because of it. On the other hand, after like close to a hundred games with the deck and several months playing it intermittently, I never got an advantage from playing this card. I did use the looting on a couple occasions (very rare), but it wasn't of much help. I mean this deck runs 7 to 8 cantrips. Do we really need more selection? I'm not sure this card is worth the clunkyness it occasionally creates and the mulligans it sometimes causes;

* Maindecking Keranos, God of Storms. So when Ross Merriam does something obviously you want to pay attention, recently he moved Keranos to the main. I'm not convinced, I feel in most MUs the card ranges from mediocre to bad. What does everybody think?

* Thing in the Ice. It seems like people are slowly appreciating what this card can do for the deck. More and more list either play 3 copies in the sideboard or straight in the maindeck. Ross himself now plays 3 sideboard copies. I wonder: why is it taking so much time, and what is actually causing most people to play 0 copies in the maindeck? To me, this card is a perfect fit for the deck. It provides a few things we need and we lack of: a finisher; pressure; a big creature; a defensive creature to survive early; a maindeck sweeper; a way to beat Bogles; a way to beat BR Hollow One. All of this not to mention the card naturally fits in the deck in terms of how easy it is to flip it with the stock cards we tend to play: a lot of cheap instant and sorceries among which 7-8 cantrips and 4 Remands. And if all of this is not enough, we live and play in a Bolt format rather than a Fatal Push format. I mean I really don't see WHY most people still shy away from this card, at least in terms of maindeck;

* Spell Snare. I have the feeling with Storm, Affinity and Jund seing less and less play, this card is getting worse right now. I know Jeskai is in a good moment and Snare is good vs Jeskai, but outside of that, the card doesn't seem to fit the meta very well. It's close to dead against a number of top decks. Even against Humans the card looks good but is actually bad (Cavern, Vial, Thalia). Are we sure we want to keep playing our 2 Snares?

1. Like was previously mentioned lighthouse is nuts in any midrange and control mirror. It was one of the best cards in the twin mirror. You just got unlucky that you drew your mountain, lighthouse and cryptic early.

2. I am testing keranos out. I was playing an old list with 3 Jaces, 2 Jaces and 1 keranos might be better. Jace is pretty sweet with keranos, but obviously that's a win more situation. In the non-combo versions of UR moon decks you want some number of win conditions and keranos is acceptable. But at 5 mana there are many other cards to consider.

3. Thing in the ice depends on how mana black decks you expect to face. Getting thoughtseized, Lili edicted, or fatal pushed is pretty brutal. Discard makes it hard to flip. Playing titi in your deck makes you vulnerable to Lili's edict. And having your 2 drop get countered by a one drop is bad in this tempoish deck. If you don't expect black decks, then titi fixes a lot of bad match ups. Though boggles can path your titi.

4. Snare is a meta call.

These are all meta calls except removing light house is considered sacreligious.

Quote from Binoui »

Some cool lists from SCG events last weekend, including this one :

https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/1131528#paper

11 creatures main deck with 3 TiTi, 2 keranos and 2 clique
Black splash for Kcommand and 1 cast down main and sideboard collective brutality and dreadbore
I'm actually pretty intrigued by this, having access to planeswalker removal is cool against all the jaces/teferis

I plan to test this out with some minor tweaks. I feel like you don't want too many delve spells trying to add in K-command. I feel like the harvest pyre could be cut for a cast down, but then that makes blood moon slightly worse when you don't fetch a black source.

Also I think that list is supposed to have the titis in the side to make the numbers work it is currently 63 cards main and 12 side.

Quote from Binoui »

Some cool lists from SCG events last weekend, including this one :

https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/1131528#paper

11 creatures main deck with 3 TiTi, 2 keranos and 2 clique
Black splash for Kcommand and 1 cast down main and sideboard collective brutality and dreadbore
I'm actually pretty intrigued by this, having access to planeswalker removal is cool against all the jaces/teferis

I was just looking at this list while browsing possible builds for Vegas, let me know if you happen to try this because I'm thoroughly interested by this list and will be trying it. Also noticed it has a 12 card sideboard, so there is some obvious room for improvement there.

Quote from tweedls »

Quote from Binoui »

Some cool lists from SCG events last weekend, including this one :

https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/1131528#paper

11 creatures main deck with 3 TiTi, 2 keranos and 2 clique
Black splash for Kcommand and 1 cast down main and sideboard collective brutality and dreadbore
I'm actually pretty intrigued by this, having access to planeswalker removal is cool against all the jaces/teferis

I was just looking at this list while browsing possible builds for Vegas, let me know if you happen to try this because I'm thoroughly interested by this list and will be trying it. Also noticed it has a 12 card sideboard, so there is some obvious room for improvement there.

The 3 thing in the ice should be in the sideboard as there are 63 cards in the main.

Quote from TheAller »

Quote from rickster_ »

1. Like was previously mentioned lighthouse is nuts in any midrange and control mirror. It was one of the best cards in the twin mirror. You just got unlucky that you drew your mountain, lighthouse and cryptic early.

2. I am testing keranos out. I was playing an old list with 3 Jaces, 2 Jaces and 1 keranos might be better. Jace is pretty sweet with keranos, but obviously that's a win more situation. In the non-combo versions of UR moon decks you want some number of win conditions and keranos is acceptable. But at 5 mana there are many other cards to consider.

3. Thing in the ice depends on how mana black decks you expect to face. Getting thoughtseized, Lili edicted, or fatal pushed is pretty brutal. Discard makes it hard to flip. Playing titi in your deck makes you vulnerable to Lili's edict. And having your 2 drop get countered by a one drop is bad in this tempoish deck. If you don't expect black decks, then titi fixes a lot of bad match ups. Though boggles can path your titi.

4. Snare is a meta call.

These are all meta calls except removing light house is considered sacreligious.

1. Roger.

2. But the thing for me is I'm playing 2x Jace to start with. So going down to just 1 seems out of question to me (see list posted above).

3. Isn't that true for Vendilion Clique as well? And I mean many cards have varying impact in different MUs, think of Remand for instance. Plus, what decks are you actually thinking of specifically? 'Cause Jund plays more bolts than pushes. If you know your opponent might cast Liliana you just don't cast your Titi on turn 2. There's no need to rush it. Or maybe you set up a trap where you go turn 2 TiTi, they play Lily, and you Moon them.

4. Could you develop a little bit? In what meta would you play it, when would you cut it and how many copies would you play right now?

2. For your list with TiTi you probably don't want a 5 drop, especially one that doesn't trigger TiTi.

3. The popular cards that wreck clique are lingering souls, and electrolyze. K-command also wrecks clique but K-command wrecks a lot of cards. Clique protects itself vs Liliana by bottoming it. It also helps you kill Liliana unlike TiTi. Other than those couple of cards clique is average to amazing. Clique is a more consistent card.

4. You want snare vs storm, affinity and burn. Match ups where you are being taxed on mana in the first few turns. It's also good vs rock decks, hitting their powerful 2 drops (Bob, goyf, ooze, flayer), but rock is on the decline. Snare is fine vs snapcaster decks, but if snapcaster resolves, blue decks can recoup that card advantage, with the new walkers or Azcanta. Snare is also good vs scapeshift but that's probably a favorable match up. So you really want it vs storm, affinity, burn and rock decks. It's good against vs snapcaster and scapeshift decks, but you're fine without snare vs those decks.

*Emerges out of the shadows*

What's the right number of JTMS in this deck? I've been playing one but I don't know how I feel about it.