Uneventful evening for the most part. Reminded me that even with 8 cantrips, you can still just draw poorly. The most egregious was a game 2 against Elves. I had opening hand of Bolt, Magma Spray, Opt, Opt, Cryptic, Island, Island. I tanked for a long while before deciding to keep (right decision???). Long story short, I end up casting both Opts, a Serum Visions, and a Remand before drawing a red source (a shockland). After losing, I show my opponent the cards I had to scry to the bottom while looking for a red source: Izzet Staticaster, Anger of the Gods, Electrolyze, Lightning Bolt. Pretty much sums up my night. Finished 2-2, with my last round loss coming from triple discard into double Goyf against Jund. Handily beat Titanshift, even through double Platinum Emperion game 2 (endless wave of tapping/blocking/cryptic with Blood Moon up, until landing combo and he conceded), and had very interesting match against GR bloodrush aggro (lots of interesting stack manipulation).
Might have to give UB Shadow/Delver a go next week...
So here's a question. Assuming I go back up to 4 Opt, dropping 1 Search, should I keep that one Search, or go up to THREE Jace? I've not bothered to run more than 2 in any deck, but at that point I'm reaching super high levels of potential consistency, with 4 x Opt, Serum, Remand, Snaps, Thing, and then 3 Jace.
Anyone tried that when running a more Control build?
So here's a question. Assuming I go back up to 4 Opt, dropping 1 Search, should I keep that one Search, or go up to THREE Jace? I've not bothered to run more than 2 in any deck, but at that point I'm reaching super high levels of potential consistency, with 4 x Opt, Serum, Remand, Snaps, Thing, and then 3 Jace.
Anyone tried that when running a more Control build?
Jace alone isn't good in a lot of matchups. I would never run 3 unless I'm also running at least 2 Teferi.
Am I wrong in going down to 22 lands when I have 4 Cryptic/2 Jace and leaning on them pretty heavy? I have felt constrained the last few games in digging for land, when I would rather be digging for answers.
Went well. UWR 2-1 and UWR 2-0, Esper Thoptersword 2-0, Infect 2-1, loss to Dragon Stompy 1-2, 2-1 some random "Donate bad thing" Jank, and an Eldrazi and Taxes deck that I just demolished when they had a stumble.
Still flooded once, but this is fine. :]
EDIT: This is what I'm settling in on, feels great.
I've been on TiTi for awhile now and I'm really getting into a funk with it. I'm not sure what I want to play, my main contenders are UW control or GDS, but I'm not at a point where I want to pull the trigger on either one. I'm planning on playing UR wizards at FNM this week, but beyond that I'm not sure. I haven't given the AV-Pyro version a try yet, maybe I should give that one a shot. I'm just tired of feeling like I'm playing a subpar deck
I dont feel its sub-par. I dont think its a knock em down Tier 1 deck, but it has game against most. AV-Pyro is going to be great if Jund/Junk take off, and every version of our deck beats UW most of the time.
We have some good, and some bad match ups, thats all.
I dont feel its sub-par. I dont think its a knock em down Tier 1 deck, but it has game against most. AV-Pyro is going to be great if Jund/Junk take off, and every version of our deck beats UW most of the time.
We have some good, and some bad match ups, thats all.
Yea, you're probably right, I guess I"m just itching to play a Tier 1 deck, which is funny because I despise mirror matches, which obviously will increase if I were to go for a T1 deck. TiTi just seems to eat removal so much of the time and then I'm stuck trying to find a finisher while I slowly die. I should try pyro, as I only need to pick up a few copies of AV and I'm good. Are you still running your same list?
On my other PC right now, but I recommend going back a few pages and checking BloodRabit's Pyromancer build, it played something close (I think) this afternoon and it went better than my earlier Thing only games (ran into a few BGx and needed to go wide).
a) You definitely don’t want the full set of Remand without playing Blood Moon. The plus of Remand, other than being great in the blue mirror, is to ‘ramp’ into Moon, not letting the opponent recast his spells, or to dig for a combo you don’t run. Here, hard counters such as Logic Knot and Snare are preferable.
b) Not playing 3-4 Field of Ruin in that shell is simply wrong. Try them, and you’all change your mind in a few games.
c) Not running Thing, you should have a better sb plan vs graveyard decks.
I'll tweak the counter numbers. I really dont like Field of Ruin. I know its great. I know its powerful, and I know its important...but I just dont like it, or am not used to it? I'll work on that.
I for sure have issues without Thing, I just swapped Pyro for Thing and went to town and played for the most part. :]
1. I was against the UR prison deck, with Chalice. I cast him and turned off the chalice.
2. A control mirror, all was going well we were fairly even, I cast him, and could hear the gears turning in his head before he conceded after staring at the card for a good 30 seconds.
3. Ad Naus. Those Pact of Negation looking pretty bad against Dispel now...
I'm under no illusions that its a great, or even good, card, but its pretty high on trolling value right now. :]
I've been playing with the Kiki combo lately and I actually think it's well positioned. UW Control has trouble dealing with both the combo and Blood Moon. All of the aggressive decks like Bant Spirits and Humans, which tend to be complicated MUs for a purely control shell, fall into positive territory with the combo. They only play very few cards that can interact with the combo. The only thing that has frustrated me while playing this deck after having played a lot of Jeskai in the last months is the Burn MU. It's really THAT bad. But anyway, I think in a world of UW Control, Bant Spirits, Humans and Bridgevines, Kiki-Jiki has its merit. The tappers do work in most of these MUs.
I have been successful against BGx with Kiki Mite by tapping their dudes to buy time and then attacking for chip shot damage and bolt-snap-bolt. It's not pretty or consistent, but it's not nearly 20-80. I don't think I ever attempt to resolve a spell on my own turn, unless trying to slam a Kiki for the win (usually with Remand backup). Then after board, you become UR Jace/Keranos/Moon and hope to get there on the backs of those cards.
Although not totally awful, I would play Breach Moon against those decks any day every day. Over about 20 or so matches, I am undefeated (matches) against all black based midrange and blue based control with Breach, but can get overrun by quick aggro decks and occasional Tron not caring about Moon, as well as random fringe nonsense like Tezz Thopter Sword.
I'm still at a loss of what I want to play, as I absolutely cannot stand the fair versions with Thing or Pyro. You garner exactly zero respect from opponents who know they can tap out and do whatever they want to you with no real consequence. The few times I did play a Thing/Pyro build, I got sighs of relief every time someone saw me resolve one. Like: "Oh, I don't have to worry about dying? Sweet. Here's 4 things you need to deal with or lose."
I'm currently back on Breach Moon. Though even a successful turn 5 Breach isn't good enough sometimes, and that's really depressing.
The ability to punish at instant speed is simply not there anymore. Turn 5+ is plainly too slow. Just how it is. Taking a more control/midrange approach is far more flexible I feel.
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May go down to 1 and add an opt, or may drop it not sure. 22 lands didn't burn me.
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Might have to give UB Shadow/Delver a go next week...
UR ....... WUBR ........... WB ............. RGW ........ UBR ....... WUB .... BGU
Spells / Blink & Combo / Token Grind / Dino Tribal / Draw Cards / Zombies / Reanimate
Anyone tried that when running a more Control build?
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Jace alone isn't good in a lot of matchups. I would never run 3 unless I'm also running at least 2 Teferi.
UR ....... WUBR ........... WB ............. RGW ........ UBR ....... WUB .... BGU
Spells / Blink & Combo / Token Grind / Dino Tribal / Draw Cards / Zombies / Reanimate
UWx, KCI, Tron (online its like fleas...) and Humans.
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Still flooded once, but this is fine. :]
EDIT: This is what I'm settling in on, feels great.
3 Steam Vents
4 Scalding Tarn
6 Island
1 Mountain
4 Polluted Delta
3 Sulfur Falls
1 Desolate Lighthouse
//Cantrip
4 Opt
4 Serum Visions
//Removal
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Abrade
2 Electrolyze
4 Remand
4 Cryptic Command
1 Logic Knot
//Creature
4 Snapcaster Mage
4 Thing in the Ice
1 Vendilion Clique
//Moon
2 Blood Moon
//Jace
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
2 Dispel
2 Spell Snare
1 Negate
2 Alpine Moon
2 Damping Sphere
2 Roast
3 Anger of the Gods
1 Vendilion Clique
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Otherwise I've been on the same deck as above for over a week, thats unheard of for me.
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We have some good, and some bad match ups, thats all.
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Yea, you're probably right, I guess I"m just itching to play a Tier 1 deck, which is funny because I despise mirror matches, which obviously will increase if I were to go for a T1 deck. TiTi just seems to eat removal so much of the time and then I'm stuck trying to find a finisher while I slowly die. I should try pyro, as I only need to pick up a few copies of AV and I'm good. Are you still running your same list?
Edit* I miss my combo kill
4 Flooded Strand
4 Scalding Tarn
6 Island
1 Mountain
3 Steam Vents
3 Sulfur Falls
1 Desolate Lighthouse
//Cantrip
4 Opt
4 Serum Visions
//Removal
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Electrolyze
2 Abrade
4 Remand
4 Cryptic Command
1 Logic Knot
//Creature
4 Snapcaster Mage
4 Thing in the Ice
1 Vendilion Clique
//Search
2 Search for Azcanta
//Jace
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
3 Anger of the Gods
1 Vendilion Clique
1 Negate
2 Dispel
2 Damping Sphere
2 Spell Snare
2 Roast
2 Alpine Moon
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EDIT: Messing around with this.
4 Flooded Strand
4 Scalding Tarn
6 Island
1 Mountain
3 Steam Vents
3 Sulfur Falls
1 Desolate Lighthouse
//Draw
4 Opt
2 Serum Visions
2 Peek
3 Ancestral Vision
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Abrade
2 Electrolyze
//Counter
2 Spell Snare
4 Remand
4 Cryptic Command
1 Logic Knot
//Creature
4 Snapcaster Mage
4 Young Pyromancer
3 Anger of the Gods
1 Sphinx of the Final Word
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
2 Dispel
2 Damping Sphere
1 Spell Snare
2 Roast
2 Blood Moon
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UR ....... WUBR ........... WB ............. RGW ........ UBR ....... WUB .... BGU
Spells / Blink & Combo / Token Grind / Dino Tribal / Draw Cards / Zombies / Reanimate
I'll tweak the counter numbers. I really dont like Field of Ruin. I know its great. I know its powerful, and I know its important...but I just dont like it, or am not used to it? I'll work on that.
I for sure have issues without Thing, I just swapped Pyro for Thing and went to town and played for the most part. :]
I actually had 3 really funny games with Sphinx of the Final Word.
1. I was against the UR prison deck, with Chalice. I cast him and turned off the chalice.
2. A control mirror, all was going well we were fairly even, I cast him, and could hear the gears turning in his head before he conceded after staring at the card for a good 30 seconds.
3. Ad Naus. Those Pact of Negation looking pretty bad against Dispel now...
I'm under no illusions that its a great, or even good, card, but its pretty high on trolling value right now. :]
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Have you played it much against Jund/Junk?
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Although not totally awful, I would play Breach Moon against those decks any day every day. Over about 20 or so matches, I am undefeated (matches) against all black based midrange and blue based control with Breach, but can get overrun by quick aggro decks and occasional Tron not caring about Moon, as well as random fringe nonsense like Tezz Thopter Sword.
I'm still at a loss of what I want to play, as I absolutely cannot stand the fair versions with Thing or Pyro. You garner exactly zero respect from opponents who know they can tap out and do whatever they want to you with no real consequence. The few times I did play a Thing/Pyro build, I got sighs of relief every time someone saw me resolve one. Like: "Oh, I don't have to worry about dying? Sweet. Here's 4 things you need to deal with or lose."
I'm currently back on Breach Moon. Though even a successful turn 5 Breach isn't good enough sometimes, and that's really depressing.
UR ....... WUBR ........... WB ............. RGW ........ UBR ....... WUB .... BGU
Spells / Blink & Combo / Token Grind / Dino Tribal / Draw Cards / Zombies / Reanimate
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