Hey guys, I am fairly new to Esper in modern and I was recently toying around with various builds for the last couple weeks. I didn't find this thread until today, so my deck seems to be a little different than many lists here. My original lists varied from a midrange token based build with Hero of Bladehold (this deck flopped HARD unsurprisingly) to a full on control build that are more like the lists that the primer talks about here (which I found to be strong, but slightly slow for my liking).
After tweaking and reworking a bunch, this is the list that I came up with. My deck is a little different, in that I run the mainboard token generation, which I find is a good way of putting on some pressure while still being fine with wrathing my own board (save flashback souls for post wrath). I also include in my sideboard, the tools to go on the beatdown with Geist and Tasigur.
Also I am considering running a gifts package with unburial rites, Iona, griselbrand, and elesh norn in the sideboard over geist and tasigur.
Here is my current list, I'd love to hear what you guys think and get some feedback on my take on Esper.
Just realized that Consume the Meek hits manlands. Which is a good addition to our removal package. At the first glance I think we need to have at least 2 in our 75.
You played JESUS?!?! I heard none of his guys stay in the graveyard, and once you think you have him beat he ALWAYS comes back to win within three turns. I like...WORSHIP him.
Just realized that Consume the Meek hits manlands. Which is a good addition to our removal package. At the first glance I think we need to have at least 2 in our 75.
Unfortunately the 5 mana kills as being more than a 1 of and I would only suggest that if you are running Mystical Teachings. The BB on turn 5 may not seem big at first but it would require you to add more black sources than the usual 12. The format is still pretty much a bolt meta so being as much 2 color as possible is a good thing since you can fetch for basics almost every turn without fearing color screw. My current list is only using black for esper charm and engineered explosives in the main. Sideboard all my black spells only require 1 black source I like the set up since you never find the need to shock yourself.
Consume the Meek is pretty good against affinity when you survive to cast it but I think 4 mana wraths are where we want to be right now. Due to lack of bolt you need that turn 4 board wipe to catch up on board.
Any suggestions to the main and side board for this list? Wondered if Dash Hopes is good enough as of 1 in the main.
I would suggest adding another draw spell main. With this deck you want to 2 for 1 as much as possible otherwise you are just better off playing Junk or some other kind of midrange deck. Think Twice is the best one in my opinion. You can also try teachings or going for a gifts theme if you do not like Think Twice.
I dont like the Sorin approach Sorani made.I dont wanna say it's bad i just think its not what i want to do here. I strongly feel that Lili is well positioned in a control deck since it smoothes the bad interaction between mana leak and path . If we draw them late , we just dump them with Lili. In my opinion u want to play as well some tasigur in the List since we dump a lot of cards with lili in the grave and can abuse its delve. with 1 mana casting cost we can easy play him with counter backup. I played very long uwr control and the card that annoyed me the most was bolt. in my eyes this actually beautiful spell doesnt kill anything relevant in modern ( goyf , deciver , wurmcoil , resto , etc ) . I was always happy if i could trade with a bird of paradies or something similar. I came to the conclusion that discard will do easier 1 for 1 trades as well as disrupting combo decks like pod. The price I play is , that i cant close out games as quickly as i could with uwr but since we are control anyway this shouldnt be our primal concern.
Cards I would like to fit in are 2-4 tasigut and mb some cheap draw ( 2 esper charm ) but not sure what we wanna cut. I am not sure but i think revelation is not as good as in uwr . Discard spells are useless if our opponent has 0 handcards
If you are going the lili route, should play tasigur in there as a 2 of. You should also play think twice to maximize and take advantage of the attrition based battle.
It also decreases tarmogoyf's ability in those attrition battles as well.
The reason that I'm thinking of cutting Think Twice is that between Esper Charm, the replacement cards in the form of Wall of Omens and also the Mystical Teachings that I'm running in the mainboard, it always feels like I could be doing something better than Think Twice.
Ignoring that my opponent is actually going to be doing stuff and that I may need to counter them, T2 can be a Wall of Omens on the field against any creature threats that they might have early, and nets me the same card that I would have gotten off Think Twice, then turn three I can hold up removal and counters the same as Think Twice, but instead of flashing back the card from the GY I just cast Esper Charm from my hand, getting one card more than the Think Twice. Then turn four I can hold up counters and removal and get through a Mystical Teachings, and I'd much rather be finding a specific card than just ripping one off the top and hoping for the best. That means that turn 4 I can make sure that I am 100% holding a WSZ, a Spinx's Rev, a Consume the Meek, Snappy etc, whatever I need for the match-up at hand, instead of maybe hopefully getting a good card off the top with Think Twice.
I 100% see that Think Twice can be better than Wall of Omens in that it's instant speed and it gets you that second card once it's in the graveyard, but with Mystical Teachings in the main and the option of having Resto for maximum value out of Wall of Omens, it just seems like you have better stuff to be doing than Think Twice.
Would something like 2 Mystical Teachings in the main and Wall of Omens over Think Twice be acceptable? Or is there simply no greater sin than cutting that sweet flash-backable card draw?
It's not that it's incorrect to run wall of omens, but you have to be aware--against affinity, it means you're tapping out on the turn they're most likely to attempt to resolve cranial plating or ravager, the two most important cards in the matchup, and it doesn't block animated lands. Against zoo, it either blocks a little guy, or it eats a removal spell and you're still taking damage instead of casting a removal spell or a counter. Against combo, it just means you're tapping out on dangerous turns. It's at its best in the midrange attrition matchups, but those are the MU's we sideboard cards like batterskull and baneslayer against, sorcery-speed tap-out answers. It's just not strong enough against the field at large to be maindeckable when casting it involves mainphase mana. That is the litteral only reason I'm not running kiora or tamiyo as 1-ofs for example, purely because they can't be cast at instant speed, ever.
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Primary Decks:
Modern: Esper Draw-Go
Legacy: RUG Lands
EDH: Sidisi turn-3 storm
The reason that I'm thinking of cutting Think Twice is that between Esper Charm, the replacement cards in the form of Wall of Omens and also the Mystical Teachings that I'm running in the mainboard, it always feels like I could be doing something better than Think Twice.
Ignoring that my opponent is actually going to be doing stuff and that I may need to counter them, T2 can be a Wall of Omens on the field against any creature threats that they might have early, and nets me the same card that I would have gotten off Think Twice, then turn three I can hold up removal and counters the same as Think Twice, but instead of flashing back the card from the GY I just cast Esper Charm from my hand, getting one card more than the Think Twice. Then turn four I can hold up counters and removal and get through a Mystical Teachings, and I'd much rather be finding a specific card than just ripping one off the top and hoping for the best. That means that turn 4 I can make sure that I am 100% holding a WSZ, a Spinx's Rev, a Consume the Meek, Snappy etc, whatever I need for the match-up at hand, instead of maybe hopefully getting a good card off the top with Think Twice.
I 100% see that Think Twice can be better than Wall of Omens in that it's instant speed and it gets you that second card once it's in the graveyard, but with Mystical Teachings in the main and the option of having Resto for maximum value out of Wall of Omens, it just seems like you have better stuff to be doing than Think Twice.
Would something like 2 Mystical Teachings in the main and Wall of Omens over Think Twice be acceptable? Or is there simply no greater sin than cutting that sweet flash-backable card draw?
Your deck is better situated of not using think twice. Mana Leak + Think twice is the usual suspects of 2 mana EoT spells that people group together. Think twice if they do nothing, mana leak if they do something. You have the form of 3 spell snares. Which is better with wall since you can leave 1 mana open for a 2 CMC spell, or logic knot. Which is a better scaling spell late game. I would just cut teachings in general and put in more cryptics. Cryptic is not only a cantrip, but it can also be a tempo play or counter or stall. Something that mystical teachings does not give despite the advantage that this spell could give you. Bouncing a land when they are behind is just better.
The reason that I'm thinking of cutting Think Twice is that between Esper Charm, the replacement cards in the form of Wall of Omens and also the Mystical Teachings that I'm running in the mainboard, it always feels like I could be doing something better than Think Twice.
Ignoring that my opponent is actually going to be doing stuff and that I may need to counter them, T2 can be a Wall of Omens on the field against any creature threats that they might have early, and nets me the same card that I would have gotten off Think Twice, then turn three I can hold up removal and counters the same as Think Twice, but instead of flashing back the card from the GY I just cast Esper Charm from my hand, getting one card more than the Think Twice. Then turn four I can hold up counters and removal and get through a Mystical Teachings, and I'd much rather be finding a specific card than just ripping one off the top and hoping for the best. That means that turn 4 I can make sure that I am 100% holding a WSZ, a Spinx's Rev, a Consume the Meek, Snappy etc, whatever I need for the match-up at hand, instead of maybe hopefully getting a good card off the top with Think Twice.
I 100% see that Think Twice can be better than Wall of Omens in that it's instant speed and it gets you that second card once it's in the graveyard, but with Mystical Teachings in the main and the option of having Resto for maximum value out of Wall of Omens, it just seems like you have better stuff to be doing than Think Twice.
Would something like 2 Mystical Teachings in the main and Wall of Omens over Think Twice be acceptable? Or is there simply no greater sin than cutting that sweet flash-backable card draw?
The only deck that wall of omens does anything against is zoo and there it can be argued if you expect nothing but zoo then just run more removal. Against most of the meta playing a wall is telling them to be greedy and the extra card from think twice is actually a huge deal against everything but zoo. The format is grindy so quantity>quality which means draw 2 is better than tutoring. Restoration Angel is a sweet card but it is better in a true snapcaster deck which this is not. When Mclaren played uwr kiki the wall was good because zoo was everywhere and the angel shenanigans were not expected. I have even seen most uwr Kiki list cut down to one wall after that tournament.
Edit: I would also say that if you are running teachings just drop think twice and omens and commit to it go 3 teachings and then add strong bullets like mainboard celestial purge, an edict, consume the meek, and maybe a lifegain spel. With 5hat configuration I would suggest cutting down to 2 cryptics due to needing a lot of white/and less high cmc cards. I would suggest at least 3 snapcasters in an a teachings build since you want to be able to flashback those bullets.
3 remands is a tad excessive in the sense that it's a lot of remands, but it's actually in the middle of the cantrip grounds. The original wafo list ran four cantrips (2/2 remand/shadow of doubt) and most people still run between 2 and 4 cantrips, with those that run more cantrips generally in the 25 land category and the lower cantrip counts usually running 26 lands. Remand has the disadvantage of being relatively dead if your opponent doesn't give you the chance to cycle it, which means it's a tempo play sitting in your hand when you maybe need to be digging for other answers.
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Primary Decks:
Modern: Esper Draw-Go
Legacy: RUG Lands
EDH: Sidisi turn-3 storm
3 remands is a tad excessive in the sense that it's a lot of remands, but it's actually in the middle of the cantrip grounds. The original wafo list ran four cantrips (2/2 remand/shadow of doubt) and most people still run between 2 and 4 cantrips, with those that run more cantrips generally in the 25 land category and the lower cantrip counts usually running 26 lands. Remand has the disadvantage of being relatively dead if your opponent doesn't give you the chance to cycle it, which means it's a tempo play sitting in your hand when you maybe need to be digging for other answers.
Cool thnx, so i could prob cut 1 Remand for another think twice since I am on the 26 lands version.
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Standard : What is Stand-tart
Modern : Huh?
EDH : UBGW Thrasios / Tymna Combo UBGW // GRW Mayael Big Stuff GRW // GU Edric Timewalkers GU
Deathmark is amazing card right now. It kills Siege Rhino, Goyf, and everything but Geist that zoo runs. Engineered Explosives helps quite a bit against boggles, zoo, affinity, and empty the warrens. Batterskull is probably the best stone wall in the format only being bad against affinity due to lack of flying and first strike. I am not running any lifegain since I believe burn is beatable with countermagic into big lifelink guy and revelations. Boggles and Tron are the hardest matches but boggles is beatable if you draw engineered explosives for the enchantments. Thoughts and criticisms are much appreciated.
Deathmark is amazing card right now. It kills Siege Rhino, Goyf, and everything but Geist that zoo runs. Engineered Explosives helps quite a bit against boggles, zoo, affinity, and empty the warrens. Batterskull is probably the best stone wall in the format only being bad against affinity due to lack of flying and first strike. I am not running any lifegain since I believe burn is beatable with countermagic into big lifelink guy and revelations. Boggles and Tron are the hardest matches but boggles is beatable if you draw engineered explosives for the enchantments. Thoughts and criticisms are much appreciated.
In general I like your list, it's not far off my own. mainboard you're +2 EE where I have a clique and a leyline, and then I have BSZ over wrath (quite possible I would change that for a large event, lots of ETW storm locally though so it's still a 3 mana wrath there) and a shadow of doubt over a think twice (scapeshift heavy meta). I question two things about your mana base--first off, do you really find that 7 fetches isn't too many? I frequently ran into the problem when testing 7 that the lifeloss wasn't worth the fixing, and eventually cut one, and would cut more except for logic knot. Second question--why no creeping tar pit? It's generally pretty good at pressuring planeswalkers and is excellent as a quick (er) clock in game 1's against tron. Second point, why no basic swamp? The ability to cast esper charm off of basics under a blood moon is huge against decks that bring in blood moons.
My feeling with shadow of doubt is that it is best served in the mainboard, or not at all, because it is very narrow against scapeshift pretty much exclusively at the moment, sans some more obscure combo decks, and there's more targeted combo hate that you could be running to deal with scapeshift as well (I like surgical extraction, as it hits jeskai ascendancy if anyone still tries to run that deck, it hits vengevine which every johnny player is trying to break right now, and it hits scapeshift and other combo decks by giving you a good look at what they're capable of and how you can beat them, while stripping a relevant combo piece from their deck entirely. I also like duress over thoughtseize as the lifeloss isn't irrelevant, and it means you have more options to bring in against burn, delver, and other decks where your countermagic is weak but life totals are relevant.
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Yes, I am a local area mod. WELP. GOOD LIFE CHANGES ALL HAPPEN AT ONCE AND SOME ARE MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE
Primary Decks:
Modern: Esper Draw-Go
Legacy: RUG Lands
EDH: Sidisi turn-3 storm
I have no idea why nobody runs Terminus in the shells with 4 Think Twice. Yes, it's bad in your opening 7. Yes, it's a bad draw turn 1. Afterwards, it's much better.
Deathmark is amazing card right now. It kills Siege Rhino, Goyf, and everything but Geist that zoo runs. Engineered Explosives helps quite a bit against boggles, zoo, affinity, and empty the warrens. Batterskull is probably the best stone wall in the format only being bad against affinity due to lack of flying and first strike. I am not running any lifegain since I believe burn is beatable with countermagic into big lifelink guy and revelations. Boggles and Tron are the hardest matches but boggles is beatable if you draw engineered explosives for the enchantments. Thoughts and criticisms are much appreciated.
In general I like your list, it's not far off my own. mainboard you're +2 EE where I have a clique and a leyline, and then I have BSZ over wrath (quite possible I would change that for a large event, lots of ETW storm locally though so it's still a 3 mana wrath there) and a shadow of doubt over a think twice (scapeshift heavy meta). I question two things about your mana base--first off, do you really find that 7 fetches isn't too many? I frequently ran into the problem when testing 7 that the lifeloss wasn't worth the fixing, and eventually cut one, and would cut more except for logic knot. Second question--why no creeping tar pit? It's generally pretty good at pressuring planeswalkers and is excellent as a quick (er) clock in game 1's against tron. Second point, why no basic swamp? The ability to cast esper charm off of basics under a blood moon is huge against decks that bring in blood moons.
My feeling with shadow of doubt is that it is best served in the mainboard, or not at all, because it is very narrow against scapeshift pretty much exclusively at the moment, sans some more obscure combo decks, and there's more targeted combo hate that you could be running to deal with scapeshift as well (I like surgical extraction, as it hits jeskai ascendancy if anyone still tries to run that deck, it hits vengevine which every johnny player is trying to break right now, and it hits scapeshift and other combo decks by giving you a good look at what they're capable of and how you can beat them, while stripping a relevant combo piece from their deck entirely. I also like duress over thoughtseize as the lifeloss isn't irrelevant, and it means you have more options to bring in against burn, delver, and other decks where your countermagic is weak but life totals are relevant.
The Shadow of Doubts are mainly because I needed two more slots for scapeshift but you are right they are probably better off being more counter magic or other form of combo hate. I do not run Tarpit since I want the full set of Colonnade due to its big body and flying making it good as a blocker in the very late game and more than 4 come into play tapped lands is pretty risky. 7 fetchlands have been good to me while 8 felt like too many and 6 like too few. Basic swamp might be needed if blood moon is a big thing yes but without moon the swamp seems sub optimal in a base uw list. I never bring in targeted discard against decks like burn or delver since those cards are actually worse against linear decks than countermagic since you never cancel out a turn. The only reason for thoughtseize though is for boggles since they run so few creatures you sometimes just win by just discarding their hexproof guy turn one often forces them to find another one. I actually want a third thoughtseize but I do not know what to cut. Maybe the Shadow of Doubts come out for an extra thoughtseize and a V. Clique?
I have no idea why nobody runs Terminus in the shells with 4 Think Twice. Yes, it's bad in your opening 7. Yes, it's a bad draw turn 1. Afterwards, it's much better.
It is a worse Hallowed Burial without the 1 mana cost being guaranteed if top was legal everyone would play Terminus. 4 mana board wipes are just the better options in this format and the only reason to run Hallowed Burial effects would be if Boggles and Vengevine strategies becoming prevalent.
Congrats to welcome_addiction for the performance and for a solid list.
sounds reasonable, I just caution you that the life loss adds up, and duress is in fact reasonable against burn for example, in that it helps you strip things like skullcrack and flames of the blood hand that they might otherwise use to force through a win. Also, I like leyline for a lot of matchups, it can be quite powerful. I'm not suggesting you cut colonnade, rather cut a drowned catacombs for a tarpit. it keeps the mana balance the same, and the reality is we play our lands tapped a lot anyway. Trust me, you don't lose a lot by adding a tar pit over a drowned catacomb.
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Yes, I am a local area mod. WELP. GOOD LIFE CHANGES ALL HAPPEN AT ONCE AND SOME ARE MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE
Primary Decks:
Modern: Esper Draw-Go
Legacy: RUG Lands
EDH: Sidisi turn-3 storm
I think you guys should look at Meloku the Clouded Mirror. He's out of Bolt range and Decay range, shuts down attacks and leaves something behind when he dies.
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After tweaking and reworking a bunch, this is the list that I came up with. My deck is a little different, in that I run the mainboard token generation, which I find is a good way of putting on some pressure while still being fine with wrathing my own board (save flashback souls for post wrath). I also include in my sideboard, the tools to go on the beatdown with Geist and Tasigur.
Also I am considering running a gifts package with unburial rites, Iona, griselbrand, and elesh norn in the sideboard over geist and tasigur.
Here is my current list, I'd love to hear what you guys think and get some feedback on my take on Esper.
3x Snapcaster Mage
2x Vendilion Clique
Planeswalker (2)
1x Elspeth, Sun's Champion
1x Tamiyo, the Moon Sage (surprisingly good IMO)
Instant (19)
2x Cryptic Command
4x Esper Charm
2x Logic Knot
2x Mana Leak
1x Murderous Cut
4x Path to Exile
2x Spell Snare
2x Sphinx's Revelation
Sorcery (8)
4x Lingering Souls
2x Thoughtseize
2x Wrath of God
1x Batterskull
Land (25)
3x Celestial Colonnade
4x Flooded Strand
2x Godless Shrine
2x Hallowed Fountain
2x Island
2x Plains
4x Polluted Delta
1x Swamp
3x Tectonic Edge
1x Vault of the Archangel
1x Watery Grave
3x Geist of Saint Traft
2x Go for the Throat
2x Inquisition of Kozilek
2x Spell Pierce
2x Stony Silence
1x Supreme Verdict
1x Sword of Feast and Famine
2x Tasigur, the Golden Fang
Modern : RGTitanshiftGR / UGWKnightfallWGU
My 180 Modern Bordered Only Cube
Unfortunately the 5 mana kills as being more than a 1 of and I would only suggest that if you are running Mystical Teachings. The BB on turn 5 may not seem big at first but it would require you to add more black sources than the usual 12. The format is still pretty much a bolt meta so being as much 2 color as possible is a good thing since you can fetch for basics almost every turn without fearing color screw. My current list is only using black for esper charm and engineered explosives in the main. Sideboard all my black spells only require 1 black source I like the set up since you never find the need to shock yourself.
Consume the Meek is pretty good against affinity when you survive to cast it but I think 4 mana wraths are where we want to be right now. Due to lack of bolt you need that turn 4 board wipe to catch up on board.
I would suggest adding another draw spell main. With this deck you want to 2 for 1 as much as possible otherwise you are just better off playing Junk or some other kind of midrange deck. Think Twice is the best one in my opinion. You can also try teachings or going for a gifts theme if you do not like Think Twice.
If you are going the lili route, should play tasigur in there as a 2 of. You should also play think twice to maximize and take advantage of the attrition based battle.
It also decreases tarmogoyf's ability in those attrition battles as well.
Ignoring that my opponent is actually going to be doing stuff and that I may need to counter them, T2 can be a Wall of Omens on the field against any creature threats that they might have early, and nets me the same card that I would have gotten off Think Twice, then turn three I can hold up removal and counters the same as Think Twice, but instead of flashing back the card from the GY I just cast Esper Charm from my hand, getting one card more than the Think Twice. Then turn four I can hold up counters and removal and get through a Mystical Teachings, and I'd much rather be finding a specific card than just ripping one off the top and hoping for the best. That means that turn 4 I can make sure that I am 100% holding a WSZ, a Spinx's Rev, a Consume the Meek, Snappy etc, whatever I need for the match-up at hand, instead of maybe hopefully getting a good card off the top with Think Twice.
I 100% see that Think Twice can be better than Wall of Omens in that it's instant speed and it gets you that second card once it's in the graveyard, but with Mystical Teachings in the main and the option of having Resto for maximum value out of Wall of Omens, it just seems like you have better stuff to be doing than Think Twice.
Would something like 2 Mystical Teachings in the main and Wall of Omens over Think Twice be acceptable? Or is there simply no greater sin than cutting that sweet flash-backable card draw?
WUB-Esper Control-WUB
UUU-Merfolk-UUU
It's probably pretty obvious that I'm a big fan of blue.
Yes, I am a local area mod.WELP. GOOD LIFE CHANGES ALL HAPPEN AT ONCE AND SOME ARE MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVEPrimary Decks:
Modern: Esper Draw-Go
Legacy: RUG Lands
EDH: Sidisi turn-3 storm
Your deck is better situated of not using think twice. Mana Leak + Think twice is the usual suspects of 2 mana EoT spells that people group together. Think twice if they do nothing, mana leak if they do something. You have the form of 3 spell snares. Which is better with wall since you can leave 1 mana open for a 2 CMC spell, or logic knot. Which is a better scaling spell late game. I would just cut teachings in general and put in more cryptics. Cryptic is not only a cantrip, but it can also be a tempo play or counter or stall. Something that mystical teachings does not give despite the advantage that this spell could give you. Bouncing a land when they are behind is just better.
The only deck that wall of omens does anything against is zoo and there it can be argued if you expect nothing but zoo then just run more removal. Against most of the meta playing a wall is telling them to be greedy and the extra card from think twice is actually a huge deal against everything but zoo. The format is grindy so quantity>quality which means draw 2 is better than tutoring. Restoration Angel is a sweet card but it is better in a true snapcaster deck which this is not. When Mclaren played uwr kiki the wall was good because zoo was everywhere and the angel shenanigans were not expected. I have even seen most uwr Kiki list cut down to one wall after that tournament.
Edit: I would also say that if you are running teachings just drop think twice and omens and commit to it go 3 teachings and then add strong bullets like mainboard celestial purge, an edict, consume the meek, and maybe a lifegain spel. With 5hat configuration I would suggest cutting down to 2 cryptics due to needing a lot of white/and less high cmc cards. I would suggest at least 3 snapcasters in an a teachings build since you want to be able to flashback those bullets.
Modern : Huh?
EDH : UBGW Thrasios / Tymna Combo UBGW // GRW Mayael Big Stuff GRW // GU Edric Timewalkers GU
Yes, I am a local area mod.WELP. GOOD LIFE CHANGES ALL HAPPEN AT ONCE AND SOME ARE MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVEPrimary Decks:
Modern: Esper Draw-Go
Legacy: RUG Lands
EDH: Sidisi turn-3 storm
Cool thnx, so i could prob cut 1 Remand for another think twice since I am on the 26 lands version.
Modern : Huh?
EDH : UBGW Thrasios / Tymna Combo UBGW // GRW Mayael Big Stuff GRW // GU Edric Timewalkers GU
never run dash hopes in control. Never EVER
2 Snapcaster Mage
Artifacts: 2
2 Engineered Explosives
Sorceries: 3
2 Supreme Verdict
1 Wrath of God
Instants: 27
4 Esper Charm
4 Think Twice
2 Sphinx's Revelation
4 Cryptic Command
4 Spell Snare
2 Logic Knot
2 Remand
4 Path to Exile
1 White Sun's Zenith
4 Celestial Colonnade
4 Flooded Strand
2 Polluted Delta
1 Marsh Flats
2 Hallowed Fountain
2 Watery Grave
1 Godless Shrine
1 Mystic Gate
2 Drowned Catacomb
2 Plains
3 Island
2 Tectonic Edge
2 Stony Silence
2 Thoughtseize
3 Deathmark
2 Negate
1 Celestial Purge
2 Batterskull
1 Disenchant
2 Shadow of Doubt
Deathmark is amazing card right now. It kills Siege Rhino, Goyf, and everything but Geist that zoo runs. Engineered Explosives helps quite a bit against boggles, zoo, affinity, and empty the warrens. Batterskull is probably the best stone wall in the format only being bad against affinity due to lack of flying and first strike. I am not running any lifegain since I believe burn is beatable with countermagic into big lifelink guy and revelations. Boggles and Tron are the hardest matches but boggles is beatable if you draw engineered explosives for the enchantments. Thoughts and criticisms are much appreciated.
In general I like your list, it's not far off my own. mainboard you're +2 EE where I have a clique and a leyline, and then I have BSZ over wrath (quite possible I would change that for a large event, lots of ETW storm locally though so it's still a 3 mana wrath there) and a shadow of doubt over a think twice (scapeshift heavy meta). I question two things about your mana base--first off, do you really find that 7 fetches isn't too many? I frequently ran into the problem when testing 7 that the lifeloss wasn't worth the fixing, and eventually cut one, and would cut more except for logic knot. Second question--why no creeping tar pit? It's generally pretty good at pressuring planeswalkers and is excellent as a quick (er) clock in game 1's against tron. Second point, why no basic swamp? The ability to cast esper charm off of basics under a blood moon is huge against decks that bring in blood moons.
My feeling with shadow of doubt is that it is best served in the mainboard, or not at all, because it is very narrow against scapeshift pretty much exclusively at the moment, sans some more obscure combo decks, and there's more targeted combo hate that you could be running to deal with scapeshift as well (I like surgical extraction, as it hits jeskai ascendancy if anyone still tries to run that deck, it hits vengevine which every johnny player is trying to break right now, and it hits scapeshift and other combo decks by giving you a good look at what they're capable of and how you can beat them, while stripping a relevant combo piece from their deck entirely. I also like duress over thoughtseize as the lifeloss isn't irrelevant, and it means you have more options to bring in against burn, delver, and other decks where your countermagic is weak but life totals are relevant.
Yes, I am a local area mod.WELP. GOOD LIFE CHANGES ALL HAPPEN AT ONCE AND SOME ARE MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVEPrimary Decks:
Modern: Esper Draw-Go
Legacy: RUG Lands
EDH: Sidisi turn-3 storm
The Shadow of Doubts are mainly because I needed two more slots for scapeshift but you are right they are probably better off being more counter magic or other form of combo hate. I do not run Tarpit since I want the full set of Colonnade due to its big body and flying making it good as a blocker in the very late game and more than 4 come into play tapped lands is pretty risky. 7 fetchlands have been good to me while 8 felt like too many and 6 like too few. Basic swamp might be needed if blood moon is a big thing yes but without moon the swamp seems sub optimal in a base uw list. I never bring in targeted discard against decks like burn or delver since those cards are actually worse against linear decks than countermagic since you never cancel out a turn. The only reason for thoughtseize though is for boggles since they run so few creatures you sometimes just win by just discarding their hexproof guy turn one often forces them to find another one. I actually want a third thoughtseize but I do not know what to cut. Maybe the Shadow of Doubts come out for an extra thoughtseize and a V. Clique?
It is a worse Hallowed Burial without the 1 mana cost being guaranteed if top was legal everyone would play Terminus. 4 mana board wipes are just the better options in this format and the only reason to run Hallowed Burial effects would be if Boggles and Vengevine strategies becoming prevalent.
Congrats to welcome_addiction for the performance and for a solid list.
Yes, I am a local area mod.WELP. GOOD LIFE CHANGES ALL HAPPEN AT ONCE AND SOME ARE MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVEPrimary Decks:
Modern: Esper Draw-Go
Legacy: RUG Lands
EDH: Sidisi turn-3 storm