Do y’all think the new Teferi deserves a spot main deck?
I'm putting him in my main as a 2-of to test out as soon as it's available on mtgo. I also pre-ordered my physical copies because I do believe it is playable in modern UWx decks (also, and maybe more so, in legacy and standard, but that's beyond the scope here).
In addition to the floor literally being draw a card, the floor is debilitating vs midrange, control and combo.
Creature decks:bounce a creature, draw a card, trade for an attack step.
Control decks: turns off all counterspells
Combo decks: turns off their reactive elements (think vines of vastwood in response to path to exile or think pact of negation, or shutting down the ability to eot gifts ungiven)
It's also serviceable burn decks - not being able to bolt it during our turn saves extra tempo, taking skullcrack offline and not allowing them to overload our Mana and counters by saving spells to go off on our eot and again on their turn.
Against Pheonix its pretty mediocre but it has some value in negating their surgical in response to our surgical or our snaps as well as forces them to flip titi on their own turn and turns of their countermagic post board.
The only matches I can think where I won't be happy it's in my deck will probably be dredge, Tron and valakut...but it can still cycle for 3 Mana with really thin value in these matches as well.
Do y’all think the new Teferi deserves a spot main deck?
I'm putting him in my main as a 2-of to test out as soon as it's available on mtgo. I also pre-ordered my physical copies because I do believe it is playable in modern UWx decks (also, and maybe more so, in legacy and standard, but that's beyond the scope here).
In addition to the floor literally being draw a card, the floor is debilitating vs midrange, control and combo.
Creature decks:bounce a creature, draw a card, trade for an attack step.
Control decks: turns off all counterspells
Combo decks: turns off their reactive elements (think vines of vastwood in response to path to exile or think pact of negation, or shutting down the ability to eot gifts ungiven)
It's also serviceable burn decks - not being able to bolt it during our turn saves extra tempo, taking skullcrack offline and not allowing them to overload our Mana and counters by saving spells to go off on our eot and again on their turn.
Against Pheonix its pretty mediocre but it has some value in negating their surgical in response to our surgical or our snaps as well as forces them to flip titi on their own turn and turns of their countermagic post board.
The only matches I can think where I won't be happy it's in my deck will probably be dredge, Tron and valakut...but it can still cycle for 3 Mana with really thin value in these matches as well.
And what are you taking out?
Timely?
D-Sphere?
Snappy?
Clique?
Removal Spell #5?
Have?
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There's a lot of variability in the last 5 or so slots in UW which are often occupied by filler cards like snare, absorb , settle the wreckage, 1st and 2nd sphere, heiroglyphic, serum visions, ancestral visions, Gideon of the trials. It could easily replace some of those cards.
I'll probably start with slotting it right into a pretty typical shell and eventually test it with verdict over terminus, serum over opt. Extra ousts or other sorcerys if I can find something interesting without getting too off track (I have other pet ideas like going all in on tef3 with counterbalance and scry sorceries, but they don't look anything like typical UW so I don't think this is really the place to go into them).
Played U/W Miracle at GP Calgary this last weekend, and thought I would do a little tournament report. Started day one with two byes thanks to a last chance trial in which I got a bye in the last round.
Round 3 Izzet Phoenix Win 2-0 (3-0)
Played in the feature match area against Alex Majlaton. The match wasn't too exciting Jace floating two terminus both games was great.
Round 4 Naya Burn Win 2-1 (4-0)
Game one he was stuck with multiple Searing Blaze in hand. Game two Cindervines wrecked me. Game three my turn three Snapcaster Mage went all the way.
Round 5 Izzet Phoenix Loss 2-0 (4-1)
Don't remember much about this match except he had the nut draw both games.
Round 6 Amulet Titan Win 2-0 (5-1)
Game one he cast Pact of Negation on my Teferi, untaps and draws (whoops). Game two he casts Summoner's Pact on his turn to find a Titan. On my turn I cast Detention Sphere on his Coalition Relic, and he can't pay for Pact. After the match his told me he has only played the deck at a couple of FNM's.
Round 7 B/G Rock Win 2-0 (6-1)
This deck just can't beat a active Jace. They play so many lands they flood out with the fateseal. After this match I was locked for my first day two!
Round 8 Tron Loss 2-0 (6-2)
Game one kept a hand with a couple path's, a settle, a pair of cantrips and two lands; a great hand against most of the meta . He casts a turn three Karn Liberated (of course) and I don't draw any lands. Game two I Field of Ruin turns 3,4,5 and 6. He still gets tron on turn 7. I think I have the game locked down with a Teferi and a flipped Azcanta, but he casts Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger which got countered, but still left me unable to recover.
Round 9 8-Rack Win 2-1 (7-2)
He caught me off guard game one, couldn't do anything about it. Games two and three never went below six cards in hand thanks to Jace.
Round 10 Izzet Phoenix Win 2-1 (8-2)
Played against the guy who won the MCQ on the Friday. Game one went long, but he was eventually able to do his thing and I died. He side boarded out his bolts for games two and three, and couldn't beat my planeswalkers.
Round 11 Spirits 2-1 Win (9-2)
He never seen a single Collected Company in any of the games. In game three he flooded hard after I settled and played Baneslayer.
Round 12 Grixis Shadow Win 2-0 (10-2) Field of Ruin and a blind Terminus stole this match both games. In game two he fetched to four to shuffle a Jace fateseal to five, which left him dead to my Colannade.
Round 13 Storm Win 2-1 (11-2)
Easily my favorite match of the GP. Got paired up against someone who was 11-1-1. Game one went super long, and there was a while where all we did was draw, move to discard. Eventually she went off. Game two she went off early for a Empty the Warrens for eight. I Detention Sphere them away. She tried again the next turn, and I sphered the goblins away again, then cast surgical on her grapeshot, the cast Rest in Peace. I asked if she had anymore win-cons and she scooped a couple of turns later. Game three she kept a one lander, and didn't find a land for a few turns. I cast turn for Jace, and road him to victory.
Round 14 G/B Rock Win 2-0 (12-2)
My planeswalkers rolled over him, not much else to say.
Round 15 Dredge ID (12-2-1)
I was in fourth and got paired up against a 37 pointer. The top four tables all took the draw immediately. The only was I wasn't locked in the top 8 is if the storm played I played earlier won and my tie-breakers somehow plummeted. She lost her Round, and I was in.
Quarterfinals Izzet Phoenix Loss 2-0
Was fifth seed and played against the only person to go undefeated in the first 9 rounds. Game one he stomped me. Game two went long, I drew to many lands where any spell would have been great. He ran me out of counter spells and he got me with Lightning Bolt. He definitely out played me and I was scrambling the whole match.
Overall the deck felt great, but I think it needs more main deck answers to Phoenix.
Hey MiniMee314,
Thanks for the report. Amazing job! I seen your list when they posted the Top8 decks on CFB, and it is great to know you are apart of this Forum.
I had a few questions about your deck list... Just a few things to see where your thoughts are on card choices, especially after a great run at the GP.
1) You are only running 24 Lands instead of 25, most notably Going down to 3 Celestial Colonnade, why was that?
2) You are running 2 Serum Visions along side the Opt, are they preforming well for you? Looks like you took out the one land and a Timely Reinforcments to make room for them. Any regrets not having the Timely main?
3) Sideboard talk: Cataclysmic Gearhulk I have seen alot of people running this now, with Gabriel Nassif being big on this card. Any thoughts on not having access to it in your games?
4) Also See you was only running 1 Stony Silence that almost seemed scary to me!
5) Runed Halo is a card being talked about alot for Maindeck/Sideboard especially for the Phoenix decks. Do you wish you would have had it?
Sorry! I dont mean to be grilling you. LOL Just a few random questions. Thanks in advance!
1. I think I am playing enough card selection where 24 lands is good. Celestial Colonnade coming in to play tapped is a huge draw back. If we can get past the first six or seven turns at a healthy life total and a relatively clear board our chances of winning is high. Colonnade doesn't help with that. Also i'm not a big fan of using Colonnade as a win-con, I prefer to use it as a emergency blocker, and I will never protect it unless it being alive will either immediately win me the game or lose me the game.
2. Serum Visions have been good, card selection is great. Main deck timely is really only great against burn, and I chose to replace it with absorb which is even better against burn, because it doesn't give the burn player targets for Searing Blaze. Post board when they bring out Searing Blaze, Timely becomes much better.
3. I think Cataclysmic Gearhulk is underwhelming, but have never tried it personally. tapping five mana main phase for a partial wrath, only to have it killed next turn and the opponent having a creature ready to attack sounds bad.
4. The single Stony Silence was more of a meta call. It was probably crazy, but I didn't get punished for it. I didn't play an artifact deck in the Event.
5. I did consider playing Runed Halo main deck, but ended up playing a third Jace instead. I think shutting down a maximum of four cards in an opponents deck is to narrow of an effect, and dead in to many match-ups for the main deck.
In my experience, it's better than Opt because Visions lets you dig deeper and put Terminus on top.. with 3 Think Twice and 3 to 4 Visions you are more likely to hit Terminus on opponents turn than with 4 Opt which is just luck if you hit the sweeper.. I mean, it's much easier to set it up..
In my experience, it's better than Opt because Visions lets you dig deeper and put Terminus on top.. with 3 Think Twice and 3 to 4 Visions you are more likely to hit Terminus on opponents turn than with 4 Opt which is just luck if you hit the sweeper.. I mean, it's much easier to set it up..
The problem with SV is that you might draw Terminus on your turn and then you can't cast it.
Think Twice digs exactly the same as Opt, but is more expensive in exchange for a card. I would rather pay 1 mana and have the scry option to get another chance at hitting Terminus on my opponents turn, rather than have 2 takes over 2 turns which would cost me 5 mana. Overall, Opt is just better at hitting Terminus.
Hello guys,
First of all I don´t know if this is the right place to post this, but the budget section is a bit dead right now.
I was interested on a budget UW control, I know it´s pretty hard but it´s my favourite archetype =D
Hello guys,
First of all I don´t know if this is the right place to post this, but the budget section is a bit dead right now.
I was interested on a budget UW control, I know it´s pretty hard but it´s my favourite archetype =D
The mana base is a bit clanky but it´s all I can afford. What´s ur opinion about this budget?
Yeah I don’t think this is the right place but whatever I’ll give me two cents on the deck anyway.
I think torrential gearhulk seems too expensive main deck mana wise. If you are looking for snap caster replacements I’d suggest mission briefing. It’s almost the exact same thing. Or you could forgo the graveyard altogether and pack Relic of Progenitus, which has been a topic of debate recently, along with maybe thirst for knowledge and talisman.Obviously no JtMS means no terminus but I think that supreme verdict is just better than settle a lot of the time, maybe 3-2 or 4-1 should be the split. Maybe play some number of baby jace too. Your a bit light on win cons without clique and collanade or jtms and Teferi. Last thing is that ojutais command does a pretty good cryptic command impersonation on a budget. Sometimes it’s even better, (against burn). Seems like a good start to us control!
Depends what you mean by need, that's why budget discussions are tough. I would say all UW control lists need colonnade and you disagree based on budget.
So do you need Minamo? Well it definitely makes ojutai better, but I would spend money on colonnade before Minamo.
If you do decide to go ojutai, give blessed alliance a shot. It works as both removal and protection.
I don't look at hedging with this deck in terms of needing to focus on Tier 0 then Tier 1 then Tier 1.5 and so on, in terms of what to prioritize beating. I look to the decks that have at least 3-5% metagame representation, and then prioritize which of these put us in the most pressure binding situations possible so that I don't lose for free. I make sure not to put myself soft to Burn, Amulet Titan, Spirits etc. at the cost of maybe tweaking the deck for the top 5 archetypes out there. The only exception to this rule is maindeck Surgical, which helps in spades with all but a few of the top 10 decks in the format. That said, 4x Serum Visions and 2x Search for Azcanta really help to weed past the singletons in the main that might be bricks in certain corner cases.
I'm on Disallow to have insurance against Amulet, Storm, Modular/Hangarback Walker trigger, Dredge (single use), etc. and to fight Selfless Spirit activations when trying to clear the board with Supreme Verdict. Basically this card applies in places where Logic Knot might whiff or otherwise be dead to us, and with all the focus on graveyard hate, Logic Knot ends up being better served as a much more reliable three drop than a risky two drop which might not even pan out to our favor.
I'm not on Angels because I feel that 4x Serum and 1-2x Search (based on how you sideboard) is reliable at finding your two card punch of Snapcaster + Timely in matchups like Burn where your life total is a premium. Otherwise, I feel that Cataclysmic Gearhulk puts in a great amount of work when reach is not involved, and consolidates as an out to the Lantern/Prison style decks of the format as well.
Based on the dozen or so iterations of UW I have crafted to play in solo matches and leagues the past week, this one has the most sound and consistent gameplay. I need some suggestions here considering how I'm new to the modern metagame of late with limited play time
My main suggestion would be to cut a snapcaster or find room for a pair or more of Opt. Opt makes snapcaster much more flexible and without it we often have to make a tough decision on whether or not to mainphase a snap-serum. Snap-serum is a fine play and probably under valued overall but snap-opt is much better when facing opposing planeswalkers or ambushing an x/2 or less.
I think disallow is probably not optimal either, but it's not egregious. Ghost quarter is pretty ugly as well; we aren't really trying to color screw anyone anymore.
My suggestion would either be to find room for opts via -1 ghost quarter -1 disallow +2 opt (24 land is ok with 4 serum, 2 opt, 2 Azcanta and a remand).
Or -1 snapcaster + 1 heiroglyphic illumination/ancestral vision (with only 2 Jace and cutting a snap means you probably need something else that will provide card advantage).
The only other comment I have would be that it seems you are undervaluing Angels outside of the burn match; it's very good against go-wide decks (including dredge) and Pheonix.
Overall the deck felt great, but I think it needs more main deck answers to Phoenix.
@MiniMee314
First of, great result and congrats on your run this tournament.
I'm curious about something, you were running all of these cards 2x Detention Sphere, 1x Settle the Wreckage & 4x Terminus yet you still think you need more main deck answers to Phoenix?
Torrential Gearhulk is an amazing finisher against combo decks. It fails as a standalone win-con against Control decks, but it remains a solid value play in this scenario, nonetheless. Now, take Prison for example. Their defensive means are EE, Bridge, Chalice, and Pithing Needle/Sorcerous Spyglass, all of which fail against Gearhulk with the exception of Bridge, which I can now focus on dealing with. Gearhulk cannot be dispatched by a simple Walking Ballista, Baral, Lightning Bolt, and Grapeshot making it a much stickier threat than Snapcaster Mage, or Vendilion Clique in the respective matchups. Gearhulk also trumps Trons sideboard plan of boarding in midrange powerhouses like Thragtusk and Thought-Knot Seer, which would have been very difficult to deal with otherwise, or at least difficult to sideboard against.
Vedalken Shackles has a couple of predators that make it look silly, namely Kolaghan’s Command. Luckily Kolaghan’s Command is at an all-time low. Vedalken Shackles is essentially how I plan to win against Phoenix, Jeskai’s Snapcaster Mage, Humans, Merfolk, maybe even Dredge. I think Shackles is better than a huge lifelinker, which would have been my second choice to stop recursive threats, simply because it only costs 3 mana to set it up, and once it is in play, you can activate it at your convenience. Snapcaster Mages suffers being grounded making him only a 1-for-1 against Phoenix given that a PtE is in the graveyard, but Shackles is always an immediate 2-for-1. I started with 1 Shackles, and now I’m at 3, because it has been performing so well. I also appreciate that it can be fetched by Search for Azcanta.
Glimmer of Genius essentially ‘enables’ Cryptic Command and Torrential Gearhulk. One of Cryptic Commands weaknesses is that its mode to improve one’s position in case the opponent decides not to do anything is rather poor (bounce, draw in a draw, go stalemate), and this is where Glimmer chimes in. Also, I want my control deck to actually have a draw-engine. It was a delight seeing Sukenik running 4 Hieroglyphic Illumination in his Jeskai deck, nonetheless, I think Glimmer of Genius is better. The reason is essentially this: If I spend four mana doing nothing, I at least want to get there the following turn; Glimmer of Genius is calculated risk.
Censor gives the deck a critical mass of early-game interaction without over committing on interaction, which would have been just bad deck building or what I would call over metagaming. Censor’s default mode for turns 2-4 is countering, past that I most often just cycle it.
We can only run 1 Negate max, the disadvantage of missing out on creatures is real. As long as actual counterspell is not reprinted Logic Knot is far and away the best counterspell we have access to, I always run 2-3 depending on the deck’s ability to dump cards into the graveyard. Cards like Negate, Remand, Absorb look great on paper, but Logic Know is much better, even though it looks so inelegant and unaesthetic compared to actual counterspell.
Another observation: 3-mana spells work poorly with ETB tapped lands, whereas 2-mana spells work just fine. The problem is, if I need to tap out on turn 2 to play my counterspell and on turn 3 to play my 3-mana spell, I only have turn 1 left to get my tapped land into play. This leads to unnecessary fetch-shocking.
EDIT: Maybe I should add a couple of words regarding my mana curve, which looks completely ridiculously at first glance. This deck is build under the assumption that turn 2 Censor (or any counterspell/PtE), and turn 4 Verdict/Cryptic is good enough to win games in Modern. The fact is, on the play this is pretty much always the case, and on the draw, the rate is still acceptable. The way I see it: One big difference between Modern and Legacy is that global effects like Cryptic Command and Verdict are much better in Modern, because there are no such cards like Daze. So playing exactly one card per turn is good enough if that card is called Cryptic Command, Verdict, Gearhulk, Shackles. There is no need to double spell.
I'm putting him in my main as a 2-of to test out as soon as it's available on mtgo. I also pre-ordered my physical copies because I do believe it is playable in modern UWx decks (also, and maybe more so, in legacy and standard, but that's beyond the scope here).
In addition to the floor literally being draw a card, the floor is debilitating vs midrange, control and combo.
Creature decks:bounce a creature, draw a card, trade for an attack step.
Control decks: turns off all counterspells
Combo decks: turns off their reactive elements (think vines of vastwood in response to path to exile or think pact of negation, or shutting down the ability to eot gifts ungiven)
It's also serviceable burn decks - not being able to bolt it during our turn saves extra tempo, taking skullcrack offline and not allowing them to overload our Mana and counters by saving spells to go off on our eot and again on their turn.
Against Pheonix its pretty mediocre but it has some value in negating their surgical in response to our surgical or our snaps as well as forces them to flip titi on their own turn and turns of their countermagic post board.
The only matches I can think where I won't be happy it's in my deck will probably be dredge, Tron and valakut...but it can still cycle for 3 Mana with really thin value in these matches as well.
And what are you taking out?
Timely?
D-Sphere?
Snappy?
Clique?
Removal Spell #5?
Have?
I'll probably start with slotting it right into a pretty typical shell and eventually test it with verdict over terminus, serum over opt. Extra ousts or other sorcerys if I can find something interesting without getting too off track (I have other pet ideas like going all in on tef3 with counterbalance and scry sorceries, but they don't look anything like typical UW so I don't think this is really the place to go into them).
6 Island
2 Plains
2 Hallowed Fountain
3 Glacial Fortress
4 Flooded Strand
4 Field of Ruin
3 Celestial Colonnade
Creatures
3 Snapcaster Mage
Spells
3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
2 Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
2 Serum Visions
4 Opt
4 Path to Exile
1 Condemn
1 Spell Snare
1 Negate
1 Logic Knot
1 Mana Leak
1 Search for Azcanta
1 Absorb
2 Detention Sphere
1 Hieroglyphic Illumination
3 Cryptic Command
1 Settle the Wreckage
4 Terminus
2 Dispel
1 Negate
2 Celestial Purge
2 Rest in Peace
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Stony Silence
2 Timely Reinforcements
1 Settle the Wreckage
1 Lyra Dawnbringer
1 Baneslayer Angel
Played U/W Miracle at GP Calgary this last weekend, and thought I would do a little tournament report. Started day one with two byes thanks to a last chance trial in which I got a bye in the last round.
Round 3 Izzet Phoenix Win 2-0 (3-0)
Played in the feature match area against Alex Majlaton. The match wasn't too exciting Jace floating two terminus both games was great.
Round 4 Naya Burn Win 2-1 (4-0)
Game one he was stuck with multiple Searing Blaze in hand. Game two Cindervines wrecked me. Game three my turn three Snapcaster Mage went all the way.
Round 5 Izzet Phoenix Loss 2-0 (4-1)
Don't remember much about this match except he had the nut draw both games.
Round 6 Amulet Titan Win 2-0 (5-1)
Game one he cast Pact of Negation on my Teferi, untaps and draws (whoops). Game two he casts Summoner's Pact on his turn to find a Titan. On my turn I cast Detention Sphere on his Coalition Relic, and he can't pay for Pact. After the match his told me he has only played the deck at a couple of FNM's.
Round 7 B/G Rock Win 2-0 (6-1)
This deck just can't beat a active Jace. They play so many lands they flood out with the fateseal. After this match I was locked for my first day two!
Round 8 Tron Loss 2-0 (6-2)
Game one kept a hand with a couple path's, a settle, a pair of cantrips and two lands; a great hand against most of the meta . He casts a turn three Karn Liberated (of course) and I don't draw any lands. Game two I Field of Ruin turns 3,4,5 and 6. He still gets tron on turn 7. I think I have the game locked down with a Teferi and a flipped Azcanta, but he casts Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger which got countered, but still left me unable to recover.
Round 9 8-Rack Win 2-1 (7-2)
He caught me off guard game one, couldn't do anything about it. Games two and three never went below six cards in hand thanks to Jace.
Round 10 Izzet Phoenix Win 2-1 (8-2)
Played against the guy who won the MCQ on the Friday. Game one went long, but he was eventually able to do his thing and I died. He side boarded out his bolts for games two and three, and couldn't beat my planeswalkers.
Round 11 Spirits 2-1 Win (9-2)
He never seen a single Collected Company in any of the games. In game three he flooded hard after I settled and played Baneslayer.
Round 12 Grixis Shadow Win 2-0 (10-2)
Field of Ruin and a blind Terminus stole this match both games. In game two he fetched to four to shuffle a Jace fateseal to five, which left him dead to my Colannade.
Round 13 Storm Win 2-1 (11-2)
Easily my favorite match of the GP. Got paired up against someone who was 11-1-1. Game one went super long, and there was a while where all we did was draw, move to discard. Eventually she went off. Game two she went off early for a Empty the Warrens for eight. I Detention Sphere them away. She tried again the next turn, and I sphered the goblins away again, then cast surgical on her grapeshot, the cast Rest in Peace. I asked if she had anymore win-cons and she scooped a couple of turns later. Game three she kept a one lander, and didn't find a land for a few turns. I cast turn for Jace, and road him to victory.
Round 14 G/B Rock Win 2-0 (12-2)
My planeswalkers rolled over him, not much else to say.
Round 15 Dredge ID (12-2-1)
I was in fourth and got paired up against a 37 pointer. The top four tables all took the draw immediately. The only was I wasn't locked in the top 8 is if the storm played I played earlier won and my tie-breakers somehow plummeted. She lost her Round, and I was in.
Quarterfinals Izzet Phoenix Loss 2-0
Was fifth seed and played against the only person to go undefeated in the first 9 rounds. Game one he stomped me. Game two went long, I drew to many lands where any spell would have been great. He ran me out of counter spells and he got me with Lightning Bolt. He definitely out played me and I was scrambling the whole match.
Overall the deck felt great, but I think it needs more main deck answers to Phoenix.
Thanks for the report. Amazing job! I seen your list when they posted the Top8 decks on CFB, and it is great to know you are apart of this Forum.
I had a few questions about your deck list... Just a few things to see where your thoughts are on card choices, especially after a great run at the GP.
1) You are only running 24 Lands instead of 25, most notably Going down to 3 Celestial Colonnade, why was that?
2) You are running 2 Serum Visions along side the Opt, are they preforming well for you? Looks like you took out the one land and a Timely Reinforcments to make room for them. Any regrets not having the Timely main?
3) Sideboard talk: Cataclysmic Gearhulk I have seen alot of people running this now, with Gabriel Nassif being big on this card. Any thoughts on not having access to it in your games?
4) Also See you was only running 1 Stony Silence that almost seemed scary to me!
5) Runed Halo is a card being talked about alot for Maindeck/Sideboard especially for the Phoenix decks. Do you wish you would have had it?
Sorry! I dont mean to be grilling you. LOL Just a few random questions. Thanks in advance!
Again great job at the GP!
1. I think I am playing enough card selection where 24 lands is good. Celestial Colonnade coming in to play tapped is a huge draw back. If we can get past the first six or seven turns at a healthy life total and a relatively clear board our chances of winning is high. Colonnade doesn't help with that. Also i'm not a big fan of using Colonnade as a win-con, I prefer to use it as a emergency blocker, and I will never protect it unless it being alive will either immediately win me the game or lose me the game.
2. Serum Visions have been good, card selection is great. Main deck timely is really only great against burn, and I chose to replace it with absorb which is even better against burn, because it doesn't give the burn player targets for Searing Blaze. Post board when they bring out Searing Blaze, Timely becomes much better.
3. I think Cataclysmic Gearhulk is underwhelming, but have never tried it personally. tapping five mana main phase for a partial wrath, only to have it killed next turn and the opponent having a creature ready to attack sounds bad.
4. The single Stony Silence was more of a meta call. It was probably crazy, but I didn't get punished for it. I didn't play an artifact deck in the Event.
5. I did consider playing Runed Halo main deck, but ended up playing a third Jace instead. I think shutting down a maximum of four cards in an opponents deck is to narrow of an effect, and dead in to many match-ups for the main deck.
In my experience, it's better than Opt because Visions lets you dig deeper and put Terminus on top.. with 3 Think Twice and 3 to 4 Visions you are more likely to hit Terminus on opponents turn than with 4 Opt which is just luck if you hit the sweeper.. I mean, it's much easier to set it up..
Think Twice digs exactly the same as Opt, but is more expensive in exchange for a card. I would rather pay 1 mana and have the scry option to get another chance at hitting Terminus on my opponents turn, rather than have 2 takes over 2 turns which would cost me 5 mana. Overall, Opt is just better at hitting Terminus.
UB Faeries (15-6-0)
UWR Control (10-5-1)/Kiki Control/Midrange/Harbinger
UBR Cruel Control (6-4-0)/Grixis Control/Delver/Blue Jund
UWB Control/Mentor
UW Miracles/Control (currently active, 14-2-0)
BW Eldrazi & Taxes
RW Burn (9-1-0)
I do (academic) research on video games and archaeology! You can check out my open access book here: https://www.sidestone.com/books/the-interactive-past
First of all I don´t know if this is the right place to post this, but the budget section is a bit dead right now.
I was interested on a budget UW control, I know it´s pretty hard but it´s my favourite archetype =D
3x Wall of Omens
2x Torrential Gearhulk
Planeswalker (4)
1x Jace Beleren
1x Gideon Jura
2x Gideon of the Trials
Removal (11)
1x Condemn
4x Path to Exile
2x Settle the Wreckage
2x Supreme Verdict
2x Detention Sphere
2x Negate
2x Mana Leak
1x Spell Snare
1x Logic Knot
1x Absorb
Draw (7)
4x Opt
3x Hieroglyphic Illumination
Others (2)
1x Timely Reinforcements
1x Warrant//Warden
4x Irrigated Farmland
4x Port Town
2x Faerie Conclave
4x Field of Ruin
1x Ghost Quarters
6x Island
4x Plains
The mana base is a bit clanky but it´s all I can afford. What´s ur opinion about this budget?
Yeah I don’t think this is the right place but whatever I’ll give me two cents on the deck anyway.
I think torrential gearhulk seems too expensive main deck mana wise. If you are looking for snap caster replacements I’d suggest mission briefing. It’s almost the exact same thing. Or you could forgo the graveyard altogether and pack Relic of Progenitus, which has been a topic of debate recently, along with maybe thirst for knowledge and talisman.Obviously no JtMS means no terminus but I think that supreme verdict is just better than settle a lot of the time, maybe 3-2 or 4-1 should be the split. Maybe play some number of baby jace too. Your a bit light on win cons without clique and collanade or jtms and Teferi. Last thing is that ojutais command does a pretty good cryptic command impersonation on a budget. Sometimes it’s even better, (against burn). Seems like a good start to us control!
What kind of wincons should I bring to the deck? I was thinking about Elspeth but I´m not rly sure.
So do you need Minamo? Well it definitely makes ojutai better, but I would spend money on colonnade before Minamo.
If you do decide to go ojutai, give blessed alliance a shot. It works as both removal and protection.
My list and the reasoning behind the card choices:
1 Vendilion Clique
4 Serum Visions
2 Search for Azcanta
4 Path to Exile
1 Condemn
1 Surgical Extraction
1 Spell Snare
2 Negate
1 Remand
1 Disallow
1 Timely Reinforcements
2 Detention Sphere
3 Cryptic Command
3 Supreme Verdict
1 Gideon of the Trials
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
2 Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
4 Field of Ruin
1 Ghost Quarter
4 Flooded Strand
2 Hallowed Fountain
2 Glacial Fortress
6 Island
2 Plains
2 Rest in Peace
2 Stony Silence
2 Dispel
1 Negate
1 Disdainful Stroke
1 Ceremonious Rejection
1 Vendilion Clique
1 Timely Reinforcements
2 Celestial Purge
2 Cataclysmic Gearhulk
I don't look at hedging with this deck in terms of needing to focus on Tier 0 then Tier 1 then Tier 1.5 and so on, in terms of what to prioritize beating. I look to the decks that have at least 3-5% metagame representation, and then prioritize which of these put us in the most pressure binding situations possible so that I don't lose for free. I make sure not to put myself soft to Burn, Amulet Titan, Spirits etc. at the cost of maybe tweaking the deck for the top 5 archetypes out there. The only exception to this rule is maindeck Surgical, which helps in spades with all but a few of the top 10 decks in the format. That said, 4x Serum Visions and 2x Search for Azcanta really help to weed past the singletons in the main that might be bricks in certain corner cases.
I'm on Disallow to have insurance against Amulet, Storm, Modular/Hangarback Walker trigger, Dredge (single use), etc. and to fight Selfless Spirit activations when trying to clear the board with Supreme Verdict. Basically this card applies in places where Logic Knot might whiff or otherwise be dead to us, and with all the focus on graveyard hate, Logic Knot ends up being better served as a much more reliable three drop than a risky two drop which might not even pan out to our favor.
I'm not on Angels because I feel that 4x Serum and 1-2x Search (based on how you sideboard) is reliable at finding your two card punch of Snapcaster + Timely in matchups like Burn where your life total is a premium. Otherwise, I feel that Cataclysmic Gearhulk puts in a great amount of work when reach is not involved, and consolidates as an out to the Lantern/Prison style decks of the format as well.
Based on the dozen or so iterations of UW I have crafted to play in solo matches and leagues the past week, this one has the most sound and consistent gameplay. I need some suggestions here considering how I'm new to the modern metagame of late with limited play time
I think disallow is probably not optimal either, but it's not egregious. Ghost quarter is pretty ugly as well; we aren't really trying to color screw anyone anymore.
My suggestion would either be to find room for opts via -1 ghost quarter -1 disallow +2 opt (24 land is ok with 4 serum, 2 opt, 2 Azcanta and a remand).
Or -1 snapcaster + 1 heiroglyphic illumination/ancestral vision (with only 2 Jace and cutting a snap means you probably need something else that will provide card advantage).
The only other comment I have would be that it seems you are undervaluing Angels outside of the burn match; it's very good against go-wide decks (including dredge) and Pheonix.
First of, great result and congrats on your run this tournament.
I'm curious about something, you were running all of these cards 2x Detention Sphere, 1x Settle the Wreckage & 4x Terminus yet you still think you need more main deck answers to Phoenix?
RBUGrixis ControlUBR
GUSimic MerfolkUG
WUUW ControlUW
RBUGrixis ControlUBR
BUUB MillUB
Colorless Eldrazi Tron
WRBurnRW
GUSimic MerfolkUG
UMono U TurnsU
WGGenesis Wave EnchantressGW
4 Celestial Colonnade
4 Flooded Strand
3 Scalding Tarn
6 Island
1 Plains
4 Field of Ruins
4 Hallowed Fountain
Draw: 10
4 Glimmer of Genius
4 Censor
2 Search for Azcanta
4 Cryptic Command
4 Supreme Verdict
4 Torrential Gearhulk
3 Vedalken Shackles
Velocity: 9
4 Path to Exile
3 Logic Knot
1 Negate
1 Spell Snare
4 Ravenous Trap
3 Timely Reinforcements
2 Return to Dust
2 Stony Silence
2 Dispel
1 Condemn
1 Negate
Torrential Gearhulk is an amazing finisher against combo decks. It fails as a standalone win-con against Control decks, but it remains a solid value play in this scenario, nonetheless. Now, take Prison for example. Their defensive means are EE, Bridge, Chalice, and Pithing Needle/Sorcerous Spyglass, all of which fail against Gearhulk with the exception of Bridge, which I can now focus on dealing with. Gearhulk cannot be dispatched by a simple Walking Ballista, Baral, Lightning Bolt, and Grapeshot making it a much stickier threat than Snapcaster Mage, or Vendilion Clique in the respective matchups. Gearhulk also trumps Trons sideboard plan of boarding in midrange powerhouses like Thragtusk and Thought-Knot Seer, which would have been very difficult to deal with otherwise, or at least difficult to sideboard against.
Vedalken Shackles has a couple of predators that make it look silly, namely Kolaghan’s Command. Luckily Kolaghan’s Command is at an all-time low. Vedalken Shackles is essentially how I plan to win against Phoenix, Jeskai’s Snapcaster Mage, Humans, Merfolk, maybe even Dredge. I think Shackles is better than a huge lifelinker, which would have been my second choice to stop recursive threats, simply because it only costs 3 mana to set it up, and once it is in play, you can activate it at your convenience. Snapcaster Mages suffers being grounded making him only a 1-for-1 against Phoenix given that a PtE is in the graveyard, but Shackles is always an immediate 2-for-1. I started with 1 Shackles, and now I’m at 3, because it has been performing so well. I also appreciate that it can be fetched by Search for Azcanta.
Glimmer of Genius essentially ‘enables’ Cryptic Command and Torrential Gearhulk. One of Cryptic Commands weaknesses is that its mode to improve one’s position in case the opponent decides not to do anything is rather poor (bounce, draw in a draw, go stalemate), and this is where Glimmer chimes in. Also, I want my control deck to actually have a draw-engine. It was a delight seeing Sukenik running 4 Hieroglyphic Illumination in his Jeskai deck, nonetheless, I think Glimmer of Genius is better. The reason is essentially this: If I spend four mana doing nothing, I at least want to get there the following turn; Glimmer of Genius is calculated risk.
Censor gives the deck a critical mass of early-game interaction without over committing on interaction, which would have been just bad deck building or what I would call over metagaming. Censor’s default mode for turns 2-4 is countering, past that I most often just cycle it.
We can only run 1 Negate max, the disadvantage of missing out on creatures is real. As long as actual counterspell is not reprinted Logic Knot is far and away the best counterspell we have access to, I always run 2-3 depending on the deck’s ability to dump cards into the graveyard. Cards like Negate, Remand, Absorb look great on paper, but Logic Know is much better, even though it looks so inelegant and unaesthetic compared to actual counterspell.
Another observation: 3-mana spells work poorly with ETB tapped lands, whereas 2-mana spells work just fine. The problem is, if I need to tap out on turn 2 to play my counterspell and on turn 3 to play my 3-mana spell, I only have turn 1 left to get my tapped land into play. This leads to unnecessary fetch-shocking.
EDIT: Maybe I should add a couple of words regarding my mana curve, which looks completely ridiculously at first glance. This deck is build under the assumption that turn 2 Censor (or any counterspell/PtE), and turn 4 Verdict/Cryptic is good enough to win games in Modern. The fact is, on the play this is pretty much always the case, and on the draw, the rate is still acceptable. The way I see it: One big difference between Modern and Legacy is that global effects like Cryptic Command and Verdict are much better in Modern, because there are no such cards like Daze. So playing exactly one card per turn is good enough if that card is called Cryptic Command, Verdict, Gearhulk, Shackles. There is no need to double spell.