Savagegaul - glad to hear of your success! I think you might guess where I'm going with this, (and I'm also curious about 2 specific cards in your list that I wont mention as to bias your respons) but what's been the worse performing/least impressive/most often sided-out card in the main?
I think Stony is questionable even against Merfolk, and they often run a few Smugglers Copter and sometimes bring in Relic.
Humans is going to get use out of 1 vial (the card, not activations) before they unload their hand, Stony is going to be a dead draw way too often. Absolute best case scenario is being on the play, opening with a Stony in hand, opponent keeping 2 vials and playing 1 out on turn 1 - you get a 2 for 1 thinking that you got a 1 for 1 (assuming opponent conceals the 2nd). I'd much rather just deal with whatever threat the vial brings in, then they just end up turning their vials into mana which is perfectly fine assuming we find and play 2 1cmc answers before a wrath effect. This is why I was messing around with 1 condemn and 1 oust in the main as well as a dismember in the board. I don't think all that is warranted anymore though, I think 1 additional 1cmc in the main and 1 additional 1cmc removal in the board, plus a settle the wreckage somewhere in the 75 should be enough to beat up on humans.
The 1 condemn main and 1 oust/dismember plus settle the wreckage has been plenty effective for me, I have yet to lose a game against humans (3 or 4 matches). A lot of people use blessed alliance in that condemn spot be it side or main, and it's wrong imo, you need to be able to target Mage or Booter on a key turn almost every single game.
Well, conversely, a smart Humans player won't attack Meddling Mage into Condemn unless it increases his clock which it rarely does. The problem is Vial is so good against us. Even if you do get to tap out for Verdict, they Vial in another creature EOT and follow up with a Mantis Rider...
They have to see the condemn first, it's very rare G1, almost no one plays it. It's also one of the reasons why I was testing Oust/Dismember out of the side, you can still pick it off even if it doesn't attack. It's also not usually just 1 Mage/Booter that is enough to keep you off your spells, they usually need 2 or more to be a problem, if they aren't attacking with 2 creatures, every turn that is decreasing the clock by a lot, and usually if you can pick 1 off it gives you the ability to kill the other one as well.
Vial whatever EOT into Mantis Rider is certainly a scary line, but not enough to warrant stony Silence imo. If you had spent turn 2 interacting rather than casting silence, you can probably afford to take an extra hit or two.
Savagegaul - glad to hear of your success! I think you might guess where I'm going with this, (and I'm also curious about 2 specific cards in your list that I wont mention as to bias your respons) but what's been the worse performing/least impressive/most often sided-out card in the main?
Thanks man!
You’re probably curious about the Crucible, and then maybe Rev or Alliance, I’d I had to guess. It’s really hard for me to say that anything at all has been performing poorly. Crucible does come out a fair amount of the time—when I need to be as fast as possible to survive, or when grave hate is going to be a major factor on either side of the table—but it has also been fantastic in certain matchups. The Ponza player, for instance, seemed ready to scoop as soon as it hit the table, and then did so once I resolved a permanent that could close out the game. Field of Ruin has arguably been my most effective card in the 75 thus far, and the value of Field recursion goes without saying. That said, I’m not wedded to Crucible, and will be keeping a close eye on how it plays.
Rev has been unequivocally great in my games. If/when I add the second Search, it won’t be in place of Rev—I’d rather shave a Jace or cut the Crucible. Blessed Alliance may be more of a meta call for me than most, but I love the card. Shadow, Ponza, Skred, Burn, and red-splashing decks with both aggro and burn elements like Pyromancer and Delver are all common opponents for me.
@Savagegaul - Crucible was one of the cards I was curious about, the other was 3rd cryptic that I'm fairly certain you were undecided about last time you posted a list. I think we discussed the possibility of cutting 2nd jace or 3rd cryptic just to get to 60 cards (which I still advise). I think it's telling that you factored the 2nd Jace and not your 3rd cryptic in your decision tree of a possible cut for 2nd Azcanta - it's good information for me because I'm on 2 Jace, 2 Cryptic most of the time.
Rev and Alliance are both playable cards in my estimation. I use to be really low on Rev, but that was before Field of Ruin, I think 1 is defensible now and I'm having my own decision dilemma about whether I want 3rd Search and/or 1st rev.
I use it in my Grixis Teachings deck and that card is absurd. I can imagine it being very good in a U/W shell too. The high cost on it is what pushes people away though.
In the primer on the first page I see that Torrential Gearhulk has a 5/5 rating, which is interesting. Does any modern UW build run it? I don't think I've ever seen it.
The primer is in desperate need of a makeover.
Gearhulk is a very powerful spell, but it's 6 mana. UW already has a really strong late game, and it lacks a good variety of spells for Gearhulk since it only hit's instants. Our most expensive instant is Cryptic Command, so for 6 mana you get a 5/6 plus a cryptic command, but you can also cryptic command for 6 mana with a snapcaster mage. Sure you only get a 2/1 body, but the flexibility of Snapcaster Mage is worth much more than the closing power of Gearhulk, especially since we have few targets for our Opponents removal, the body isn't even guaranteed to stick around.
Snapcaster on the hand can be cast for as little as 2 mana as a removal spell, or 3 mana as a body plus a removal spell or serum visions. It can also flashback Supreme verdict, which is often the card you want to flashback the most. So the short answer is that unless you already playing 4 Snapcaster, it is unlikely you want any gearhulks, and it pretty much established that we only really want 2 snapcasters, 3 at the most.
Most control decks run 24 or more lands, but I am testing the hypothesis that you don't need as many as you think. In fact, less lands appears to be better so far. For multiple reasons:
1) less lands than your opponent = more useful cards in your deck
2) less lands means you have more spells at any given time, on average
3) it's more efficient if you know how to tune your deck to stay on curve (yes, even control decks need to have a curve)
4) if you survive the early game, less lands later on means you will pull far ahead by only drawing lands you need (no mana floading mid to late game)
The only issue is surviving until late game. The solution is to add lower costing spells, cantrips, and survivability cards. This increases the likelihood that our deck will survive past turn 5. To this end, cards like Blessed Alliance, Path to Exile, and Serum Visions comes in. Most control decks already run those cards in some capacity, but you can add even more because of your low land count. I like to add 4 more cantrips. Opt is probably your first thought. But wait. There's a cantrip that you might be forgetting--one that is used in a tier 1 deck: [Relic of Progenitus]. This card might not seem like a great control card at first, but test it if you don't believe in its power. It automatically shuts down graveyard-based decks of many sorts, and hinders many strategies that benefit from the graveyard. It also helps you dig, which is needed to find answers sometimes. The ways it can be used to mess with opponents are numerous.
I bring to you a deck based on these principles. A control deck that doesn't rely on the graveyard at all. A control deck that has a wide variety of threats, dense enough to put pressure on, yet few and far between enough to make room for control spells. With a sideboard that takes its greatest strength against any deck and multiples it, this deck is a menace to deal with. And it's all because it has 23 lands.
There’s a lot going on here that goes against traditional control methods, so we’re going to do a card-by-card analysis. But first, a preface: you’ll see there are almost no cards that inherently yield card advantage. No Sphinx’s Revelation, no Think Twice, no Wall of Omens blink package. But, this deck is actually based on card advantage. How can this be? It’s because card advantage doesn’t just mean drawing 2 cards, or 2-for-1ing someone with Cryptic Command. In other words, it doesn’t have to happen in one turn. Card advantage can be gained across multiple turns, as you force opponents to deal with things, and make unpleasant choices. while limiting their options. Card advantage is also about the usefulness of cards. If an opponent has 2 Snapcaster Mage in hand, but I have Rest in Peace or Relic of Progenitus in play, those mages are almost useless (just watch your life total!). By rendering cards useless, we gain card advantage.
The Cards: Relic of Progenitus and Rest in Peace
- cantrip
- grave hate
- helps against Tarmogoyf and Knight of the Reliquary
- helps against other control decks
- helps get back your Eternal Scourge Aetherling
- unkillable
- unblockable
- huge damage potential
- works well with Supreme Verdict
- don’t be afraid to play this with no mana to protect it. You have other threats. Eternal Scourge
- great blocker
- immense pressure against other control decks
- unkillable with Rest in Peace
- great with Elspeth, Knight-Errant Kefnet the Mindful
- Great with Supreme Verdict
- Raw card advantage
- huge damage potential, especially with Elspeth, Knight-Errant Oblivion Sower
- Step 1: kill lands with Field of Ruin
- Step 2: watch opponent use fetch lands
- Step 3: exile everything with Relic of Progenitus or Rest in Peace
- Step 4: Enjoy a lot of lands, and a 5/8 body
- Of course, great with Elspeth, Knight-Errant Detention Sphere
- Good answer to pesky permanents
- Fun to bounce with Cryptic Command to switch targets, or grab a duplicate after it’s cast. Leyline of Sanctity
- Don’t count on it being in your opener
- The goal here is to stop topdeck burn spells from killing you.
- Free wins are nice, but NOT the intended purpose of this card.
- This card ensures late game survival. Blessed Alliance
- Great against burn
- Good at dealing with man lands, or that one pesky creature that got past your wraths and targeted removal Cryptic Command
- Good at buying time
- Use it mid game as a tempo + card advantage play. Counter anything—anything turn 4, 5, or 6. It doesn’t matter what. What matters is the card advantage, and the tempo from them losing a turn.
- Useful for bouncing something end-of-turn.
- Useful for keeping you ahead when you already are ahead, as it soft-locks your opponent. Negate
- We deal with creatures just fine. What we need is an answer to everything else. Thhis is it. Path to Exile
- Great all-round removal spell.
- We actually want our opponents to get ahead of us on lands. This might make them over-extend. It’s best to have them cast everything and have nothing on hand, then for us to deal with everything on the field while gaining incremental advantages here and there Celestial Colonade
- great blocker
- solid attacker even without Elspeth, Knight-Errant
- vigilance allows for attack + hold mana up for something Field of Ruin
- Allows us to keep a hand with little to no color, because it itself is a color fixer
- deals with pesky lands like tron lands, man lands, and utility lands. Ghost Quarter
- our fifth kill land. It’s a bad card but we play it for consistency against tron and decks that run a lot of man lands. We need to be able to kill them all. Island and Plains
- High amount of basics get around Blood Moon. It also ensures we aren’t taking too much damage. Glacial Fortress
- Great color fixer land. Will almost always be untapped. Flooded Strand
- These could have been basics, but the ability to shuffle the deck is very important and should not be undervalued. What if you need something you put at the bottom with Serum Visions later in the game? Elspeth, Knight-Errant
- One of the best cards in the deck. Turns any creature into a fast clock
- Protects itself while ticking up.
- 2 + abilities
- Starting at 5 loyalty plus a defender means she is hard to kill
- At 4 mana she can let Gideon of the Trials swing for 7 damage on turn 4 if left unchallenged. Gideon of the Trials
- Forces opponent to overextend by nullifying their best damage dealer
- provides a fast clock with 4 power
- indestructible means no Fatal Push
- Emblem is very good, as we run multiple Gideon planeswalkers. Effectively gives you a second life total immune to poison.
- Great against poopstrats like mill and lantern control Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
- Comes down a turn after Gideon of the Trials to protect with a token and force further over-extending
- Swinging for 5 is a big deal.
- Emblem is great for our threats—lets Aetherling pump even more Serum Visions
- great all round cantrip
- lets you plan your turns Supreme Verdict
- uncounterable
- great against swarm strats like elves, humans, CoCo, and affinity to name some popular ones.
Sideboard: Grafdigger’s Cage
- dredge
- CoCo Kor Firewalker
- Burn Circle of Protection: Red
- Burn
- Affinity (They run grid….)
- Any deck that runs Lightning Bolt and other burn spells to gain reach Stony Silence
- Affinity
- Lantern
- Don’t bring this in against Aether Vial. It isn’t worth it. Dispel
- Destroy other control decks when they try to cast Cryptic Command
- CoCo
- Storm
- Burn Surgical Extraction
- Know what the hell you’re playing against and you can do some serious damage. I bring this in against many decks, including control and affinity. Wrath of God
- Supreme Verdict 5-6
- Great against elves
- Great against Blood Moon decks that restrict your blue mana.
OK Now for some tips on how to play
- You want to lay down a threat as fast as possible that will suvive til the next turn. A turn 3 gideon is good, so is kefnet. Elspeth and bigger Gideon are good too. To do this, use path to exile and boardwipes effectively. Mess with your opponent with graveyard hate, and scourge if you draw it.
- know which creatures to kill with which answers. If you have a path to exile and they have a man land and a creature, use it on the man land as you can draw a verdict or d-sphere for the creature, or nullify it with a planeswalker or blocker of your own. However, the only other way to deal with man lands is your own land killer lands.
- Keep track of your threats. If you need a particular threat to win against a certain deck, don’t cast it until you’re sure it will survive. You only have 1-2 copies of your threats, and you CANNOT get them back. Remember, we do not use the graveyard at all.
What are your thoughts on this? Do you think 23 lands could work? I’d like to hear feedback on this.
"[...] I bring to you a deck based on these principles. A control deck that doesn't rely on the graveyard at all. A control deck that has a wide variety of threats, dense enough to put pressure on, yet few and far between enough to make room for control spells. With a sideboard that takes its greatest strength against any deck and multiples it, this deck is a menace to deal with. And it's all because it has 23 lands."
Interesting thinking, I don't hate the idea of trying to play a control deck with 1 RIP and 4 Relic in the main - there are tons of decks that are going to struggle against that game 1. I don't like giving up Search for Azcanta or Snapcaster though, imo those are some of the strongest cards in UW.
I do think there is a lot to take a critical look at here though, and although I didn't test the list, I have plenty of experience with the majority of the cards in the deck. With that in mind, I would say that you haven't actually lowered the curve, you've increased it. Most UW lists are only running 9 4cmc or more cards (1 Gideon, 1 Jace, 1 Rev, 3 Cryptic and 3 Verdict) whereas you are running 15. I have personally run the numbers on the mana base in various forms, you can search through this thread to find the maths if you like or just search through my posts in this thread but the point is I have spent many many hours thinking about the manabase and I think yours is roughly 2 sources of each color below being on the low end of functional. Again, I didn't run the numbers, but your deck actually runs less cantrips and filter (4 Relic, 4 Serum) than most UW decks(4 Seas, 4 Serum, 2 Wall and 2 Search for Azcanta).
I recommend adding 2 more U/W dual lands and 2 more cantrips by cutting at least 3 of the 4+cmc cards and something else. If you are really keen on keeping the land count low, you are unfortunately going to have to change quite a bit about this list. I understand the appeal of trying to play less lands, as you laid out, but keep in mind that most UW lists are running essentially 27 mana sources (25 land and 2 azcanta).
@Savagegaul- awesome results my man! Keep it up, enjoy hearing the success!
@jayjayhooks- the primer could definitely use a facelift, especially with the relatively new tech tech we've added to the deck (settle, Search, lil Giddy, etc.)
@methupmyass- I've also considered adding a torrential as a two or one of in this deck, but can't imagine dropping that kind of mana without significant upside. Right now my big mana slots are used for Elspeth and a Rev, which are both game changers for me. While gearhulk has a great advantage over snapcaster in terms of body, paying the full six mana to play a path or negate for free that can still be taken down by removal spell like path feels worse than with a snap. Snap seems more suited for this shell as it can help us survive the early game until our other wincons like Gideon come down. Snap + bounce is easier to play tactically than with the gearhulk
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Modern Decks: UWAzorius Titan ControlUW BWOrzhov ControlBW
I tweeted my decklist that I used to 5-0 three modern leagues in a row on MTGO and it got pretty popular. Ran it back (changing one glacial fortress to a mystic gate) to 10th place in the Modern Challenge on Saturday and 21st place in the MTGO PTQ.
In the PTQ, my matchups went
0-2 Humans. G1 lost to triple meddling mage. G2 lost to chalice of the void, wasnt expecting it.
2-0 Ad Nauseum. Ulted Gideon, collect wins.
2-1 Goblins(!). Lost game one before I could verdict. Won postboard games with gideons.
2-0 Mardu Pyromancer. Won a quick game one after double spreading seas + detention sphere hit two pyromancers. Game 2 landed rest in peace and won easily from there.
2-1 Lantern Control. Surprisingly never got to activate my azcanta. My opponent was proactive at needling it. If you get to activate search the matchup is pretty easy.
2-0 Grixis Deaths shadow. Runed Halo named Liliana preventing ultimate. Was able to keep ahead in card advantage through the +1s.
1-2 Jeskai Geist. Lost to the second geist in both matches I lost.(Guess thats why they only play 2!)
2-0 Scapeshift. Runed halo on valuket wins an unwinnable game 1 where I was super far behind. Game 2 won on mull to 5 with crucible and sea's.
2-1 Storm. Lost game one, postboard I have a tonne of anti-combo cards which pay off here. 9 basics mean I was easily able to play through my opponents blood moons.
Overall I think the deck has enough good matchups vs the tier one decks of the format that cements its position in the metagame.
@Savagegaul - Crucible was one of the cards I was curious about, the other was 3rd cryptic that I'm fairly certain you were undecided about last time you posted a list. I think we discussed the possibility of cutting 2nd jace or 3rd cryptic just to get to 60 cards (which I still advise). I think it's telling that you factored the 2nd Jace and not your 3rd cryptic in your decision tree of a possible cut for 2nd Azcanta - it's good information for me because I'm on 2 Jace, 2 Cryptic most of the time.
Rev and Alliance are both playable cards in my estimation. I use to be really low on Rev, but that was before Field of Ruin, I think 1 is defensible now and I'm having my own decision dilemma about whether I want 3rd Search and/or 1st rev.
Anyways, congrats and cheers!
Thank you!
The notion of playing just two Cryptics was actually something that hadn’t occurred to me until it was suggested here—and then I ended up running just two for my first tourney anyway, since the dude who was letting me borrow them couldn’t find a third. I haven’t had any experiences yet that make me want to trim the third Cryptic; it’s been a crucial cog in the wheel.
I did, however, shave a Jace to bring it down to 60 cards when playing at a different store a few days back. My results fell off compared to previous weeks, which is clearly empirical proof that the 61-card setup is superior. In all seriousness, my inexperience with the deck shone through here, specifically in regard to managing the time in the rounds.
Round 1 vs Eternal Command: I’d never faced this deck before. G1 was a hell of a grind. An early Crucible with a Field in the yard proved to be a huge value engine. Over time I shut him off green, which was probably a mistake, because he didn’t seem to need it for anything besides E-Witness/Goyf/Scooze, all of which he played through Vial anyway. Still, the Crucible value was real, and I battled through several Witness loops to stay alive for my planeswalkers to take over.
G2 my opponent slammed a T2 Goyf, I untapped and cast a Rest In Peace, then my opponent resolved a Geist. I had a Blessed Alliance (but no wrath) in hand, and my opponent was smart enough to attack with the 0/1 Goyf alongside Geist, closing out the game quickly. G3 is where my inexperience with managing time kicked in. We went to turns and the game ended with me at 19 life with both Gideons down and a handful of interaction, and my opponent at 2 life with an empty board. If I had been paying attention to the clock, I could have hit the gas a little earlier. Oh well, draw it is.
Round 2 vs Zubera Tribal. This is one of the jankiest strategies enabled by the printing of Unclaimed Territory. The idea is that they assemble all of the Zuberas (who grant various advantages upon death for each Zubera that died this turn) alongside sac outlets like Viscera Seer and Bloodthrone Vampire, with cards like Grisly Salavge, Return to the Ranks, and Rally the Ancestors for recursion. This actually seems pretty tough for us to beat G1. Their weak 1/2s still pressure our board; our wraths advance their game plan; they can blank Paths by sacking for Scry and/or Zubera triggers. I lost a long G1 and mulled to 4 on G2. Rekt.
Round 3 vs Jeskai Control: Pretty much the last deck I wanted to see, but G1 went my way. I was able to answer Quellers and Geists, eventually forcing through a Search, which turned he tide while I stood at 7 life. Late in the game, my Rev for 7 on his end step forced him to blow his counter, which allowed me to untap and slam both Gideons while holding up Negate. GG.
Sadly, I was on the receiving end of nut draws post-side. G2 he played T3 and T4 Geists, both of which I countered, having failed to find a wrath off my my 2x Serum opener. I had no answer for his T5 Keranos (which I didn’t think was a very common inclusion anymore), and he took over the game. G3, with an eye on the clock, I kept a hand that could feasibly get as quick of a win as UW can manage: Colonnade, Island, Fountain, Path, Mana Leak, Gideon OTT, Verdict. His own Mana Leak on my Gideon set that plan back, and then he resolved a T6 Keranos with Dispel to counter my Negate. The clock ran out and we went to turns on my next turn, and for his next three draw steps he showed me either a Bolt or a Helix, did three to me with Keranos, then hit me with the spell. I couldn’t find any counters (or another Gideon for emblem) and went from 18 to 0 over those three turns. Feels bad man.
Round 4 vs Boros Burn: His T1 Goblin Guide on the play got in for a lot of damage over the course of the game and didn’t even have the decency to hit a single land drop for me! Quite unlucky. My T2 Wall got handled by Guide + Searing Blaze, and from there he found too many Boros Charms for me to beat.
G2 I locked him out of W mana with Seas + Field long enough to take over, winning through Gideon Jura with a Colonnade assist. G3 I kept a two-lander with a Wall and a fistful of counters, which lines up perfectly with what he played. Midgame I resolved a Search while he was in topdeck mode, and then he flooded out, but my Search kept whiffing or finding me more counters, and it took an unusually long time to find a wincon—but we got there.
Round 5 vs UW Control: This had been a grueling night for both of us, and we had to laugh at getting the control mirror to end all control mirrors in the final round. G1 hinged around some Gideon-on-Gideon violence in which I was able to prevail thanks to Alliance and D-Sphere. G2, the turning point game around T8 or so, when I flashed in a Clique on my opponent’s end step and baited the all-out counter war. Clique did not resolve, but I untapped and slammed Jura and Search uncontested, and from there it was only a matter of time.
2-2-1 comprised my worst results so far. My fatal flaw was failing to manage the time in each round: my draw vs Eternal Command could and should have been a win if I’d been watching the clock; my loss vs Jeskai could have been a draw if I hadn’t tried to force the early win in G3 and had instead respected the possibility, however remote, of the rapid Keranos+Burn wincon. I’m also sure I misplayed against the Zubera deck because I had no idea what was going on for a while, lol.
As far as the clock is concerned, I find the most useful strategy to be establishing short cuts verbally with your opponent as early as possible and not spending an inordinate amount of time shuffling. Also, shuffle your opponents deck as little as possible while still ensuring you aren't being cheated, at regular REL I usually just cut. If you can save 20 seconds shuffling your opponents deck, times that by 5 times a game per player and that works out to like 10 minutes or shuffling per round for a 3 game match. This number can be reduced if you spend the time shuffling while also verbally declaring actions.
Another strategy is to have a sideboard strategy worked out before entering the tournament. Sometimes this doesn't help because your opponent still takes forever, but if you finish before them they usually feel inclined to speed up. Same thing goes with your pace of play, you and your opponent will find a middle ground pace of play, humans have a tendency for mimicry and you will strike a negotiation subconsciously about what speed is acceptable, so if you have easy decision to make, don't bluff dilemmas because you're setting bad precedent for the pace of play. Play as fast as you think you can do without sacrificing quality of play.
I tried out this deck for the first time at FNM this week, ended up 2-1-1. Got a draw with a really slow Jeskai player when I got greedy game 1 and died because of it, and I easily won game 2 but time was called. Beat a random home brew, and then Affinity. Lost in the "finals" to Ad Nauseam.
I am looking for some tips and tricks on how to play and sideboard versus the Ad Nauseam matchup please, I felt lucky to win even one game, and I think it was because my opponent screwed up. I'm using a 75 very close to the one Awesomesauce uses. Thanks in advance.
As far as the clock is concerned, I find the most useful strategy to be establishing short cuts verbally with your opponent as early as possible and not spending an inordinate amount of time shuffling. Also, shuffle your opponents deck as little as possible while still ensuring you aren't being cheated, at regular REL I usually just cut. If you can save 20 seconds shuffling your opponents deck, times that by 5 times a game per player and that works out to like 10 minutes or shuffling per round for a 3 game match. This number can be reduced if you spend the time shuffling while also verbally declaring actions.
Another strategy is to have a sideboard strategy worked out before entering the tournament. Sometimes this doesn't help because your opponent still takes forever, but if you finish before them they usually feel inclined to speed up. Same thing goes with your pace of play, you and your opponent will find a middle ground pace of play, humans have a tendency for mimicry and you will strike a negotiation subconsciously about what speed is acceptable, so if you have easy decision to make, don't bluff dilemmas because you're setting bad precedent for the pace of play. Play as fast as you think you can do without sacrificing quality of play.
Cheers
Great advice. I’m already doing some of that, but consciously assuming the role of pace-setter is definitely something to work on—if anything, I tend to do the opposite.
As of a couple days ago, SCG has a series up of Gerry Thompson playing UW. He ran with the 15-0 list mentioned above but made a few tweaks, and the tweaks didn’t really pay off (he played 2x Spell Snare main and they rotted in his hand more often than not, for instance). No Rev also meant that in matches where his Searches were boarded out or tough to get online, he didn’t have the proper density of late-game payoff cards, or so it seemed to me.
@savagegaul - thanks for the GerryT synopsis, I watched him do the deck tech but haven't had time to watch the games. His logic was sound for the changes but practice is often so different from theory, as is the case with spell snare and I'm fairly confident going below 8 basics with only 2 fetchable duals is suboptimal with 4 field and 4 strand, but pretty minor issue there. I love Spell Snare, and I think the meta hasn't been this good for it in a long time, but I still don't think it's good enough for main deck inclusion. I don't normally like cards like snare in the side, but I think right now 2 copies in the side is totally reasonable.
Yep, I winced when he explained why he was cutting the third Plains. Eight basics looks like a lot, so his instinct is completely understandable, but this deck proves to its pilots in a hurry how important that critical mass of basic lands is.
I agree with you: Snare is a maindeck or bust card at heart, but right now the meta is so split between fast, efficient spells and big-mana decks that Snare in the side isn’t unreasonable at all. Along those lines, I’ve had a lot of success running a Flashfreeze in the side, which isn’t a very popular choice, but has proved extremely useful for me thus far.
This would be a time-consuming project, but I wonder what the results would be if we collectively drew up a list of every realistic sideboard option (capped at 40 or 50 cards, let’s say), and went through the tier lists to see which cards could come in for any given matchup. Would we end up with something identical to the usual sideboards, or would cards like Spell Snare and Flashfreeze come in across more matchups than some of the current stalwarts?
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
I think Stony is questionable even against Merfolk, and they often run a few Smugglers Copter and sometimes bring in Relic.
Humans is going to get use out of 1 vial (the card, not activations) before they unload their hand, Stony is going to be a dead draw way too often. Absolute best case scenario is being on the play, opening with a Stony in hand, opponent keeping 2 vials and playing 1 out on turn 1 - you get a 2 for 1 thinking that you got a 1 for 1 (assuming opponent conceals the 2nd). I'd much rather just deal with whatever threat the vial brings in, then they just end up turning their vials into mana which is perfectly fine assuming we find and play 2 1cmc answers before a wrath effect. This is why I was messing around with 1 condemn and 1 oust in the main as well as a dismember in the board. I don't think all that is warranted anymore though, I think 1 additional 1cmc in the main and 1 additional 1cmc removal in the board, plus a settle the wreckage somewhere in the 75 should be enough to beat up on humans.
The 1 condemn main and 1 oust/dismember plus settle the wreckage has been plenty effective for me, I have yet to lose a game against humans (3 or 4 matches). A lot of people use blessed alliance in that condemn spot be it side or main, and it's wrong imo, you need to be able to target Mage or Booter on a key turn almost every single game.
They have to see the condemn first, it's very rare G1, almost no one plays it. It's also one of the reasons why I was testing Oust/Dismember out of the side, you can still pick it off even if it doesn't attack. It's also not usually just 1 Mage/Booter that is enough to keep you off your spells, they usually need 2 or more to be a problem, if they aren't attacking with 2 creatures, every turn that is decreasing the clock by a lot, and usually if you can pick 1 off it gives you the ability to kill the other one as well.
Vial whatever EOT into Mantis Rider is certainly a scary line, but not enough to warrant stony Silence imo. If you had spent turn 2 interacting rather than casting silence, you can probably afford to take an extra hit or two.
Thanks man!
You’re probably curious about the Crucible, and then maybe Rev or Alliance, I’d I had to guess. It’s really hard for me to say that anything at all has been performing poorly. Crucible does come out a fair amount of the time—when I need to be as fast as possible to survive, or when grave hate is going to be a major factor on either side of the table—but it has also been fantastic in certain matchups. The Ponza player, for instance, seemed ready to scoop as soon as it hit the table, and then did so once I resolved a permanent that could close out the game. Field of Ruin has arguably been my most effective card in the 75 thus far, and the value of Field recursion goes without saying. That said, I’m not wedded to Crucible, and will be keeping a close eye on how it plays.
Rev has been unequivocally great in my games. If/when I add the second Search, it won’t be in place of Rev—I’d rather shave a Jace or cut the Crucible. Blessed Alliance may be more of a meta call for me than most, but I love the card. Shadow, Ponza, Skred, Burn, and red-splashing decks with both aggro and burn elements like Pyromancer and Delver are all common opponents for me.
Rev and Alliance are both playable cards in my estimation. I use to be really low on Rev, but that was before Field of Ruin, I think 1 is defensible now and I'm having my own decision dilemma about whether I want 3rd Search and/or 1st rev.
Anyways, congrats and cheers!
The primer is in desperate need of a makeover.
Gearhulk is a very powerful spell, but it's 6 mana. UW already has a really strong late game, and it lacks a good variety of spells for Gearhulk since it only hit's instants. Our most expensive instant is Cryptic Command, so for 6 mana you get a 5/6 plus a cryptic command, but you can also cryptic command for 6 mana with a snapcaster mage. Sure you only get a 2/1 body, but the flexibility of Snapcaster Mage is worth much more than the closing power of Gearhulk, especially since we have few targets for our Opponents removal, the body isn't even guaranteed to stick around.
Snapcaster on the hand can be cast for as little as 2 mana as a removal spell, or 3 mana as a body plus a removal spell or serum visions. It can also flashback Supreme verdict, which is often the card you want to flashback the most. So the short answer is that unless you already playing 4 Snapcaster, it is unlikely you want any gearhulks, and it pretty much established that we only really want 2 snapcasters, 3 at the most.
1) less lands than your opponent = more useful cards in your deck
2) less lands means you have more spells at any given time, on average
3) it's more efficient if you know how to tune your deck to stay on curve (yes, even control decks need to have a curve)
4) if you survive the early game, less lands later on means you will pull far ahead by only drawing lands you need (no mana floading mid to late game)
The only issue is surviving until late game. The solution is to add lower costing spells, cantrips, and survivability cards. This increases the likelihood that our deck will survive past turn 5. To this end, cards like Blessed Alliance, Path to Exile, and Serum Visions comes in. Most control decks already run those cards in some capacity, but you can add even more because of your low land count. I like to add 4 more cantrips. Opt is probably your first thought. But wait. There's a cantrip that you might be forgetting--one that is used in a tier 1 deck: [Relic of Progenitus]. This card might not seem like a great control card at first, but test it if you don't believe in its power. It automatically shuts down graveyard-based decks of many sorts, and hinders many strategies that benefit from the graveyard. It also helps you dig, which is needed to find answers sometimes. The ways it can be used to mess with opponents are numerous.
I bring to you a deck based on these principles. A control deck that doesn't rely on the graveyard at all. A control deck that has a wide variety of threats, dense enough to put pressure on, yet few and far between enough to make room for control spells. With a sideboard that takes its greatest strength against any deck and multiples it, this deck is a menace to deal with. And it's all because it has 23 lands.
Artifact(4)
4 Relic of Progenitus
Creature(5)
1 Kefnet the Mindful
1 Aetherling
1 Eternal Scourge
2 Oblivion Sower
Enchantment (4)
2 Detention Sphere
1 Rest in Peace
1 Leyline of Sanctity
Instant (11)
4 Path to Exile
1 Blessed Alliance
4 Cryptic Command
2 Negate
Land (23)
4 Field of Ruin
4 Flooded Strand
1 Celestial Colonnade
3 Plains
6 Island
1 Ghost Quarter
4 Glacial Fortress
2 Gideon of the Trials
2 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
1 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
Sorcery (8)
4 Serum Visions
4 Supreme Verdict
Artifact (2)
2 Grafdigger's Cage
Creature (4)
4 Kor Firewalker
Enchantment (2)
1 Stony Silence
1 Circle of Protection: Red
Instant (5)
3 Dispel
2 Surgical Extraction
Sorcery (2)
2 Wrath of God
There’s a lot going on here that goes against traditional control methods, so we’re going to do a card-by-card analysis. But first, a preface: you’ll see there are almost no cards that inherently yield card advantage. No Sphinx’s Revelation, no Think Twice, no Wall of Omens blink package. But, this deck is actually based on card advantage. How can this be? It’s because card advantage doesn’t just mean drawing 2 cards, or 2-for-1ing someone with Cryptic Command. In other words, it doesn’t have to happen in one turn. Card advantage can be gained across multiple turns, as you force opponents to deal with things, and make unpleasant choices. while limiting their options. Card advantage is also about the usefulness of cards. If an opponent has 2 Snapcaster Mage in hand, but I have Rest in Peace or Relic of Progenitus in play, those mages are almost useless (just watch your life total!). By rendering cards useless, we gain card advantage.
The Cards:
Relic of Progenitus and Rest in Peace
- cantrip
- grave hate
- helps against Tarmogoyf and Knight of the Reliquary
- helps against other control decks
- helps get back your Eternal Scourge
Aetherling
- unkillable
- unblockable
- huge damage potential
- works well with Supreme Verdict
- don’t be afraid to play this with no mana to protect it. You have other threats.
Eternal Scourge
- great blocker
- immense pressure against other control decks
- unkillable with Rest in Peace
- great with Elspeth, Knight-Errant
Kefnet the Mindful
- Great with Supreme Verdict
- Raw card advantage
- huge damage potential, especially with Elspeth, Knight-Errant
Oblivion Sower
- Step 1: kill lands with Field of Ruin
- Step 2: watch opponent use fetch lands
- Step 3: exile everything with Relic of Progenitus or Rest in Peace
- Step 4: Enjoy a lot of lands, and a 5/8 body
- Of course, great with Elspeth, Knight-Errant
Detention Sphere
- Good answer to pesky permanents
- Fun to bounce with Cryptic Command to switch targets, or grab a duplicate after it’s cast.
Leyline of Sanctity
- Don’t count on it being in your opener
- The goal here is to stop topdeck burn spells from killing you.
- Free wins are nice, but NOT the intended purpose of this card.
- This card ensures late game survival.
Blessed Alliance
- Great against burn
- Good at dealing with man lands, or that one pesky creature that got past your wraths and targeted removal
Cryptic Command
- Good at buying time
- Use it mid game as a tempo + card advantage play. Counter anything—anything turn 4, 5, or 6. It doesn’t matter what. What matters is the card advantage, and the tempo from them losing a turn.
- Useful for bouncing something end-of-turn.
- Useful for keeping you ahead when you already are ahead, as it soft-locks your opponent.
Negate
- We deal with creatures just fine. What we need is an answer to everything else. Thhis is it.
Path to Exile
- Great all-round removal spell.
- We actually want our opponents to get ahead of us on lands. This might make them over-extend. It’s best to have them cast everything and have nothing on hand, then for us to deal with everything on the field while gaining incremental advantages here and there
Celestial Colonade
- great blocker
- solid attacker even without Elspeth, Knight-Errant
- vigilance allows for attack + hold mana up for something
Field of Ruin
- Allows us to keep a hand with little to no color, because it itself is a color fixer
- deals with pesky lands like tron lands, man lands, and utility lands.
Ghost Quarter
- our fifth kill land. It’s a bad card but we play it for consistency against tron and decks that run a lot of man lands. We need to be able to kill them all.
Island and Plains
- High amount of basics get around Blood Moon. It also ensures we aren’t taking too much damage.
Glacial Fortress
- Great color fixer land. Will almost always be untapped.
Flooded Strand
- These could have been basics, but the ability to shuffle the deck is very important and should not be undervalued. What if you need something you put at the bottom with Serum Visions later in the game?
Elspeth, Knight-Errant
- One of the best cards in the deck. Turns any creature into a fast clock
- Protects itself while ticking up.
- 2 + abilities
- Starting at 5 loyalty plus a defender means she is hard to kill
- At 4 mana she can let Gideon of the Trials swing for 7 damage on turn 4 if left unchallenged.
Gideon of the Trials
- Forces opponent to overextend by nullifying their best damage dealer
- provides a fast clock with 4 power
- indestructible means no Fatal Push
- Emblem is very good, as we run multiple Gideon planeswalkers. Effectively gives you a second life total immune to poison.
- Great against poopstrats like mill and lantern control
Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
- Comes down a turn after Gideon of the Trials to protect with a token and force further over-extending
- Swinging for 5 is a big deal.
- Emblem is great for our threats—lets Aetherling pump even more
Serum Visions
- great all round cantrip
- lets you plan your turns
Supreme Verdict
- uncounterable
- great against swarm strats like elves, humans, CoCo, and affinity to name some popular ones.
Sideboard:
Grafdigger’s Cage
- dredge
- CoCo
Kor Firewalker
- Burn
Circle of Protection: Red
- Burn
- Affinity (They run grid….)
- Any deck that runs Lightning Bolt and other burn spells to gain reach
Stony Silence
- Affinity
- Lantern
- Don’t bring this in against Aether Vial. It isn’t worth it.
Dispel
- Destroy other control decks when they try to cast Cryptic Command
- CoCo
- Storm
- Burn
Surgical Extraction
- Know what the hell you’re playing against and you can do some serious damage. I bring this in against many decks, including control and affinity.
Wrath of God
- Supreme Verdict 5-6
- Great against elves
- Great against Blood Moon decks that restrict your blue mana.
OK Now for some tips on how to play
- You want to lay down a threat as fast as possible that will suvive til the next turn. A turn 3 gideon is good, so is kefnet. Elspeth and bigger Gideon are good too. To do this, use path to exile and boardwipes effectively. Mess with your opponent with graveyard hate, and scourge if you draw it.
- know which creatures to kill with which answers. If you have a path to exile and they have a man land and a creature, use it on the man land as you can draw a verdict or d-sphere for the creature, or nullify it with a planeswalker or blocker of your own. However, the only other way to deal with man lands is your own land killer lands.
- Keep track of your threats. If you need a particular threat to win against a certain deck, don’t cast it until you’re sure it will survive. You only have 1-2 copies of your threats, and you CANNOT get them back. Remember, we do not use the graveyard at all.
What are your thoughts on this? Do you think 23 lands could work? I’d like to hear feedback on this.
Interesting thinking, I don't hate the idea of trying to play a control deck with 1 RIP and 4 Relic in the main - there are tons of decks that are going to struggle against that game 1. I don't like giving up Search for Azcanta or Snapcaster though, imo those are some of the strongest cards in UW.
I do think there is a lot to take a critical look at here though, and although I didn't test the list, I have plenty of experience with the majority of the cards in the deck. With that in mind, I would say that you haven't actually lowered the curve, you've increased it. Most UW lists are only running 9 4cmc or more cards (1 Gideon, 1 Jace, 1 Rev, 3 Cryptic and 3 Verdict) whereas you are running 15. I have personally run the numbers on the mana base in various forms, you can search through this thread to find the maths if you like or just search through my posts in this thread but the point is I have spent many many hours thinking about the manabase and I think yours is roughly 2 sources of each color below being on the low end of functional. Again, I didn't run the numbers, but your deck actually runs less cantrips and filter (4 Relic, 4 Serum) than most UW decks(4 Seas, 4 Serum, 2 Wall and 2 Search for Azcanta).
I recommend adding 2 more U/W dual lands and 2 more cantrips by cutting at least 3 of the 4+cmc cards and something else. If you are really keen on keeping the land count low, you are unfortunately going to have to change quite a bit about this list. I understand the appeal of trying to play less lands, as you laid out, but keep in mind that most UW lists are running essentially 27 mana sources (25 land and 2 azcanta).
Hope this helps, cheers!
@jayjayhooks- the primer could definitely use a facelift, especially with the relatively new tech tech we've added to the deck (settle, Search, lil Giddy, etc.)
@methupmyass- I've also considered adding a torrential as a two or one of in this deck, but can't imagine dropping that kind of mana without significant upside. Right now my big mana slots are used for Elspeth and a Rev, which are both game changers for me. While gearhulk has a great advantage over snapcaster in terms of body, paying the full six mana to play a path or negate for free that can still be taken down by removal spell like path feels worse than with a snap. Snap seems more suited for this shell as it can help us survive the early game until our other wincons like Gideon come down. Snap + bounce is easier to play tactically than with the gearhulk
UWAzorius Titan ControlUW
BWOrzhov ControlBW
In the PTQ, my matchups went
0-2 Humans. G1 lost to triple meddling mage. G2 lost to chalice of the void, wasnt expecting it.
2-0 Ad Nauseum. Ulted Gideon, collect wins.
2-1 Goblins(!). Lost game one before I could verdict. Won postboard games with gideons.
2-0 Mardu Pyromancer. Won a quick game one after double spreading seas + detention sphere hit two pyromancers. Game 2 landed rest in peace and won easily from there.
2-1 Lantern Control. Surprisingly never got to activate my azcanta. My opponent was proactive at needling it. If you get to activate search the matchup is pretty easy.
2-0 Grixis Deaths shadow. Runed Halo named Liliana preventing ultimate. Was able to keep ahead in card advantage through the +1s.
1-2 Jeskai Geist. Lost to the second geist in both matches I lost.(Guess thats why they only play 2!)
2-0 Scapeshift. Runed halo on valuket wins an unwinnable game 1 where I was super far behind. Game 2 won on mull to 5 with crucible and sea's.
2-1 Storm. Lost game one, postboard I have a tonne of anti-combo cards which pay off here. 9 basics mean I was easily able to play through my opponents blood moons.
Overall I think the deck has enough good matchups vs the tier one decks of the format that cements its position in the metagame.
@awesomesauce: congrats on the nice run of form. I love the Spell Snare and Halo in the main. What’s the logic behind the single Wall of Omens?
Thank you!
The notion of playing just two Cryptics was actually something that hadn’t occurred to me until it was suggested here—and then I ended up running just two for my first tourney anyway, since the dude who was letting me borrow them couldn’t find a third. I haven’t had any experiences yet that make me want to trim the third Cryptic; it’s been a crucial cog in the wheel.
I did, however, shave a Jace to bring it down to 60 cards when playing at a different store a few days back. My results fell off compared to previous weeks, which is clearly empirical proof that the 61-card setup is superior. In all seriousness, my inexperience with the deck shone through here, specifically in regard to managing the time in the rounds.
Round 1 vs Eternal Command: I’d never faced this deck before. G1 was a hell of a grind. An early Crucible with a Field in the yard proved to be a huge value engine. Over time I shut him off green, which was probably a mistake, because he didn’t seem to need it for anything besides E-Witness/Goyf/Scooze, all of which he played through Vial anyway. Still, the Crucible value was real, and I battled through several Witness loops to stay alive for my planeswalkers to take over.
G2 my opponent slammed a T2 Goyf, I untapped and cast a Rest In Peace, then my opponent resolved a Geist. I had a Blessed Alliance (but no wrath) in hand, and my opponent was smart enough to attack with the 0/1 Goyf alongside Geist, closing out the game quickly. G3 is where my inexperience with managing time kicked in. We went to turns and the game ended with me at 19 life with both Gideons down and a handful of interaction, and my opponent at 2 life with an empty board. If I had been paying attention to the clock, I could have hit the gas a little earlier. Oh well, draw it is.
Round 2 vs Zubera Tribal. This is one of the jankiest strategies enabled by the printing of Unclaimed Territory. The idea is that they assemble all of the Zuberas (who grant various advantages upon death for each Zubera that died this turn) alongside sac outlets like Viscera Seer and Bloodthrone Vampire, with cards like Grisly Salavge, Return to the Ranks, and Rally the Ancestors for recursion. This actually seems pretty tough for us to beat G1. Their weak 1/2s still pressure our board; our wraths advance their game plan; they can blank Paths by sacking for Scry and/or Zubera triggers. I lost a long G1 and mulled to 4 on G2. Rekt.
Round 3 vs Jeskai Control: Pretty much the last deck I wanted to see, but G1 went my way. I was able to answer Quellers and Geists, eventually forcing through a Search, which turned he tide while I stood at 7 life. Late in the game, my Rev for 7 on his end step forced him to blow his counter, which allowed me to untap and slam both Gideons while holding up Negate. GG.
Sadly, I was on the receiving end of nut draws post-side. G2 he played T3 and T4 Geists, both of which I countered, having failed to find a wrath off my my 2x Serum opener. I had no answer for his T5 Keranos (which I didn’t think was a very common inclusion anymore), and he took over the game. G3, with an eye on the clock, I kept a hand that could feasibly get as quick of a win as UW can manage: Colonnade, Island, Fountain, Path, Mana Leak, Gideon OTT, Verdict. His own Mana Leak on my Gideon set that plan back, and then he resolved a T6 Keranos with Dispel to counter my Negate. The clock ran out and we went to turns on my next turn, and for his next three draw steps he showed me either a Bolt or a Helix, did three to me with Keranos, then hit me with the spell. I couldn’t find any counters (or another Gideon for emblem) and went from 18 to 0 over those three turns. Feels bad man.
Round 4 vs Boros Burn: His T1 Goblin Guide on the play got in for a lot of damage over the course of the game and didn’t even have the decency to hit a single land drop for me! Quite unlucky. My T2 Wall got handled by Guide + Searing Blaze, and from there he found too many Boros Charms for me to beat.
G2 I locked him out of W mana with Seas + Field long enough to take over, winning through Gideon Jura with a Colonnade assist. G3 I kept a two-lander with a Wall and a fistful of counters, which lines up perfectly with what he played. Midgame I resolved a Search while he was in topdeck mode, and then he flooded out, but my Search kept whiffing or finding me more counters, and it took an unusually long time to find a wincon—but we got there.
Round 5 vs UW Control: This had been a grueling night for both of us, and we had to laugh at getting the control mirror to end all control mirrors in the final round. G1 hinged around some Gideon-on-Gideon violence in which I was able to prevail thanks to Alliance and D-Sphere. G2, the turning point game around T8 or so, when I flashed in a Clique on my opponent’s end step and baited the all-out counter war. Clique did not resolve, but I untapped and slammed Jura and Search uncontested, and from there it was only a matter of time.
2-2-1 comprised my worst results so far. My fatal flaw was failing to manage the time in each round: my draw vs Eternal Command could and should have been a win if I’d been watching the clock; my loss vs Jeskai could have been a draw if I hadn’t tried to force the early win in G3 and had instead respected the possibility, however remote, of the rapid Keranos+Burn wincon. I’m also sure I misplayed against the Zubera deck because I had no idea what was going on for a while, lol.
Any tips on clock management?
As far as the clock is concerned, I find the most useful strategy to be establishing short cuts verbally with your opponent as early as possible and not spending an inordinate amount of time shuffling. Also, shuffle your opponents deck as little as possible while still ensuring you aren't being cheated, at regular REL I usually just cut. If you can save 20 seconds shuffling your opponents deck, times that by 5 times a game per player and that works out to like 10 minutes or shuffling per round for a 3 game match. This number can be reduced if you spend the time shuffling while also verbally declaring actions.
Another strategy is to have a sideboard strategy worked out before entering the tournament. Sometimes this doesn't help because your opponent still takes forever, but if you finish before them they usually feel inclined to speed up. Same thing goes with your pace of play, you and your opponent will find a middle ground pace of play, humans have a tendency for mimicry and you will strike a negotiation subconsciously about what speed is acceptable, so if you have easy decision to make, don't bluff dilemmas because you're setting bad precedent for the pace of play. Play as fast as you think you can do without sacrificing quality of play.
Cheers
I am looking for some tips and tricks on how to play and sideboard versus the Ad Nauseam matchup please, I felt lucky to win even one game, and I think it was because my opponent screwed up. I'm using a 75 very close to the one Awesomesauce uses. Thanks in advance.
Great advice. I’m already doing some of that, but consciously assuming the role of pace-setter is definitely something to work on—if anything, I tend to do the opposite.
As of a couple days ago, SCG has a series up of Gerry Thompson playing UW. He ran with the 15-0 list mentioned above but made a few tweaks, and the tweaks didn’t really pay off (he played 2x Spell Snare main and they rotted in his hand more often than not, for instance). No Rev also meant that in matches where his Searches were boarded out or tough to get online, he didn’t have the proper density of late-game payoff cards, or so it seemed to me.
I agree with you: Snare is a maindeck or bust card at heart, but right now the meta is so split between fast, efficient spells and big-mana decks that Snare in the side isn’t unreasonable at all. Along those lines, I’ve had a lot of success running a Flashfreeze in the side, which isn’t a very popular choice, but has proved extremely useful for me thus far.
This would be a time-consuming project, but I wonder what the results would be if we collectively drew up a list of every realistic sideboard option (capped at 40 or 50 cards, let’s say), and went through the tier lists to see which cards could come in for any given matchup. Would we end up with something identical to the usual sideboards, or would cards like Spell Snare and Flashfreeze come in across more matchups than some of the current stalwarts?