@Starstorm, I'd recommend you try testing with Jace in your list on something like XMage or Cockatrice before you make that investment, as you're right it is a large one. I've played just about every blue control deck in the format so I had Jaces lying around already and decided to try him out. And while watcher for tomorrow certainly is a neat effect, I'm not much more aggressive than the normal build. The walls also give the card right away which is critical for keeping 2 landers with a wall (those usually work out). Also the walls block most things and the life you effectively gain from that in certain matchups is pretty great. If I were to run another card draw creature like Wall, it would be the Court Hussars which are fairly typical of UW builds, and they certainly wouldn't replace wall.
Dovin's Veto has been pretty darn good, actually. It, along with the Revokers, Clerics, and sometimes Gideon makes game 1 vs combo actually winnable, which is fairly impressive considering all of those cards are still great in non-combo matchups. Veto is such an upgrade over negate because being able to just hard "nope" a control player without them being able to retaliate is a great feeling. Force of Negation isn't sustainable in this deck as my blue card count is only 8. Not nearly enough to even support even a measly 1-2 FoN, let alone any additional copies. Even if you're not using it in those scenarios, just having that axis of interaction really protects your gameplan. We all know how annoying getting Sun Titan PtE'd is. Veto at least assists in that regard, which is fine in my book.
Lastly, second island is only useful when: I draw 2 Field of Ruins, a Jace, and no blue sources before turn 6 (since that's the earliest I could cast Jace using FoR islands), when I'm getting Field of Ruin'd to death and I need to cast a Jace, or when there's a Blood Moon out and [insert over-complicated scenario]. I think everyone gets the point lol
About the sideboard, Grafdigger's cage isn't just grave hate, it's hate for Neoform and coco decks too. The other thing is RIP stops all graveyard shenanigans on our side, whereas Grafdigger's cage still allows Sun Titan to bring back everything except for creatures. That means you can keep bringing back your Tormod's Crypts or Teferi. For example, I've had people play cage against me and have it not matter because bringing back PWs or even just a 6/6 with vigilance with no other text is still just good enough to beat people. Crucible comes in whenever the opponent is playing Field of Ruin, Tron, and sometimes it comes in against control decks that aren't running Fields, just because the value is really great. It's been relegated to the sb because while the card is a #WALUE machine, in a not-negligible number of matchups, it's not going to matter, and in some, it'll get you killed. In addition, it was hard to make space for the card. It and a single Detention Sphere were in the mainboard up until the final revision before I first took the deck for a spin, actually.
I do have a quick question for you, though. You said I have Hex Parasite in the side but that was someone else's list. You said you play it main. What matchups is it good against?
@coffeeortea27, I considered picking up some Ranger Captain of Eos for the deck, but whenever I'm tinkering with any Emeria build, I'm very hesitant to ever include Thraben Inspector. I don't see the card as having much inherent value to it and it usually takes away card slots from core cards that, while costing an additional mana or two, are much more useful to the gameplan. As for Ranger-Captain himself, I've only ever been a fan of Silence effects in combo decks who are looking to stifle interaction from the opponent. Trying to use this kind of effect during the opponent's upkeep is usually going to do nothing, unfortunately. Using some examples, the sac effect doesn't actually stop Scapeshift as they'll just play a Prime Time or any of their other creatures. Tron plays less creatures, but the same thing applies, and you have to be on the play in addition to hoping they don't have Wurmcoil or World Breaker for it to work. The big reason these decks play Ranger-Captain is because they're fetching up 1 mana 12/12s or it triggers their Thalia's Lieutenants twice while providing some card advantage. The sacrifice ability is just icing on the cake, usually. I'm also not convinced that playing Kami is a good idea, either. The only 1-drop that seems good enough in my opinion is Giver of Runes and I'm still not entirely sold on her. But hey, I'm hoping to be surprised, so if you make it work, we'd all love to hear about it. Now to finish, the card is gonna be awesome for MartyrProc, so I wish you luck with that one. I may even play that deck again sometime (UW with Sky Hussar of course).
@The Fluff, I didn't even realize you were the primer maintainer :D. I'm definitely cool with my report being on the primer, though I'm not sure how that one became the impetus for the new section. I'll tell you what, next time I get out for modern, I'll take notes and make a proper report for you guys.
Now I really want to play this list again and see what results I can put up, but my shop is doing prerelease on Friday so no Modern. There's a shop I could play at this evening, but I'm not sure I'll have time, sadly. I first put this specific list together not really expecting much, but it's blown me away a bit, and actually renewed my faith in modern a little bit, since I think we've all seen what the format has become these days. Hopefully this isn't just a flash in the pan and I can actually pump out some good records regularly, because I won't lie to you guys, curving creatures into Jace and putting the hurt on people is awesome and I hope to keep doing it for a while.
@The Fluff, I didn't even realize you were the primer maintainer :D. I'm definitely cool with my report being on the primer, though I'm not sure how that one became the impetus for the new section. I'll tell you what, next time I get out for modern, I'll take notes and make a proper report for you guys.
Ok, thanks for your contribution then.
We have to start with someone.. and I was impressed how calmly you seem to have handled the Phoenix matchup. That hyper aggressive deck is tough. Well, and as you can see.. the primer is made up of contributions by many people. I just thought having a section for member writeups will add more content.
I just noticed and found it funny that your signature says "Want to play a control deck in modern, but don't have jace or snaps?" and I come barging in toting my 3 Jace build all like "Jace is the way forward, my children"
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Esper Control
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Dreadstill
So, I've ran Brought Back through a few games on magic online and have some news on it. Fist of all it's not busted but it is good. Brought Back presents a lot of options, kinda like a Flickerwisp 5 - 7 in a way. However, just the fact that you may draw it does make you sequence your plays very differently. That, and I'm still unsure if you want sideboard it out against removal and discard heavy decks, like you do with Flickerwisp.
I have had a promising results with it against control variants, and aggro, jumping from three mana to six mana for a surprise Sun Titan plus ramping two plains towards Emeria, the Sky Ruin is awesome. Also stalling for two turns with a Ranger-Captain of Eos and Kami of False Hope is great. Also a reminder, if you plan to recur Flickerwisp with Brought Back on your opponents turn, it's usually best to do so at the end of second main phase so as to have the permanent exiled in play for your turn.
Basically Brought Back is fragile but if you play right the ceiling can be very high and the floor is basically an instant speed single rampant growth anyway. Which given our deck, we would probably play anyway.
Anyway here's the decklist if anyone is interested
I'm still not sure if I want On Thin Ice, but I do like that it's a permanent and therefore recurable through Sun Titan. I also like that in the early game if I remove a must kill creature like Dark Confidant with it, I'm not ramping my opponent.
On a side note, I'm going to be trying my first modern challenge on magic online this Saturday so I'll try to put up a write up. Wish me luck!
So I had my first match where I drew two Brought Back, two fetchlands and an Emeria, the Sky Ruin. That game felt broken, I had emeria online by turn five and then a lock with Ranger-Captain of Eos and Kami of False Hope. I'm still not entirely sold on Brought Back in general but it's generally been good and can also be exceptional at times too.
One thing I feel I'm missing is more ways to interact planeswalkers outside of attacking them or a slow Blast Zone. Detention Sphere was always a great catch all, and will be missed. I'm thinking Devout Decree may be good or maybe Celestial Purge, I'd like to hit more than color specific walkers though. I've played Oblivion Ring type effects in the past but have never been too impressed with them in this archetype. Especially with cards like Blast Zone and Assassin's Trophy being prevalent in other 'fair decks'. Does anyone have any experience playing Cavalier of Dawn?
It's times like these that I wish On Thin Ice said creature or planeswalker.
I'm not particularly high on Brought Back as it seems like an extremely situational card.
If the plan is to ramp I'd rather splash green than hope to draw multiple fetchlands and wait to crack them.
Generous Gift is an interesting idea. I had completely overlooked that Beast Within had recently been color swapped. Could be good, I'll have to try it. Thanks!
My own experiences with a GW ramp focused build were not promising. Maybe it'll be different now, and could have been how I constructed my build in the first place. I always found myself petering out with a lot of lands but not much a board presence to show for it. I do like your Oath of Nissa idea, it should smooth out your draws. My problems with it were twofold. One, that you usually wanted to play it turn one which requires shocking and two, sometimes the card I needed was removal, which you can't grab off Oath of Nissa.
Eternal Witness always overpreformed for me in that build but GG can be rough. I would probably recommend 1 - 2 Winds of Abandon as you have enough ramp to overload consistently.
Also, you may need more than six basics total if you eke value out of Sakura tribe-elder to consistently turn on Emeria. Of course I was playing FoR with STE so maybe that's different.
I'll try to keep my write up for the modern challange updated as I go
Match 1
2 - 0
Grixis Control Game one
Thraben Inspector, Wall of Omens, Ranger-Captain of Eos and Sun Titan are too much for my opponents one for one
removal and discard. I take game one without my opponent casting a threat outside Snapcaster Mage.
Side in 8
1 Blasting Station
1 Lone Missionary
1 Sorcerous Spyglass
2 Gideon of the Trials
1 Ranger-Captain of Eos
2 Cleansing Nova
Side out 8
1 On Thin Ice
1 Kami of False Hope
2 Winds of Abandon
2 Flickerwisp
2 Wrath of God
Game two
My opponent is stuck on two lands for the first few turns and I'm durdling around because they've either discarded or killed everything. I start to flood out and my opponent draws multiple threats like Snapcaster, Mage Young Pyromancer, Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet and Kess, Disident Mage. Luckly Path to Exile, Blast Zone, and Wall of Omens are keeping them in check.
I have emeria online but my opponent has surgicaled both Sun Titan and Thraben Inspector with upkeep triggers on the stack. They eventually lose to a Cleansing Nova which clears their board and allows me to recur wall of omens to dig for action.
Match 2
2 - 0
Devoted Druid Combo
Game one
I kept a hand with a couple removal spells and crucible of worlds in my opener. I broke up my opponents combo with Path to Exile, which I never tapped out for. They collected companied three times in a row looping Eternal Witness and trying to play the fair game, but scooped to a blockers followed by a wrath plus then recursion for emeria.
Side in
1 Blast Zone
1 Sorcerous Spyglass
2 Cleansing Nova
Side out
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Kami of False Hope
1 Brought Back
1 Flickerwisp
Game two
So basically the same thing except a much longer game. Kept up Path to Exile once I drew it broke and up the combo with Sorcerous Spyglass. We largely just played a fair game and traded creatures until emeria was online. My opponent did set up Devoted Druid and Vizear of Remidies but I must have wrathed them five times over the course of our game. Notably using my health total a recourse, while taking beats from Voice of Resurgence and Kitchen Finks. I did this to wait until I had the mana for overload Winds of Abandon and hold up Path to Exile. They also got Scavenging Ooze online twice, but Blast Zone and Cleansing Nova took care of that problem. The game ended with a turn 18 Sun Titan to recur the
spyglass.
Match 3
2 - 1
Jund Game one
So game one it was all the usual suspects removal discard, scavenging ooze, planeswalkers like wren and six plus Liliana of the Veil. Brought Back was awesome, really screwed with my opponents Liliana edict and I won with Sun Titan.
Side in
1 Blast Zone
1 Lone Missionary
1 Sorcerous Spyglass
2 Gideon of the Trials
1 Ranger-Captain of Eos
2 Cleansing Nova
Side out
1 Kami of False Hope
3 Remorseful Cleric
4 Flickerwisp
Game two
Similar to game one except more Nihil Spellbomb and Scavenging Ooze. I eventually maneuvered into a position where I was at six life with a Sun Titan an active emeria and a Wall of Omens. My opponent has two cards in hand. They Fatal Push my Wall of Omens and spin a Bloodbraid Elf into a Liliana of the veil to edict my Titan, then bolt me and I die to the hasty BB. To be fair they had to have exactly that, so codo's to my opponent for playing to their outs.
Game one
I was on the draw and my opponent got off to a quick start of double Arclight Phoenix turn two, I managed to path one and stay alive through a Kami of False Hope but didn't get a turn six to cast Sun Titan to start looping it.
Side in
1 Burrenton Forge-Tender
2 Lone Missionary
1 Remorseful Cleric
2 Gideon of the Trials
1 Ranger-Captain of Eos
1 Cleansing Nova
Side out
4 Brought Back
4 Wall of Omens
1 Crucible of Worlds
Game two
My opponent went onto the slower Saheeli, sublime artificer plan. I don't find a wrath effect or a Ranger-Captain of Eos for Kami of False Hope but I manage to stem the tide until I have enough plains for emeria. I'm trying to play fast because I'm hoping for a game three. I accidently f6 my turn and don't get crack the fetch needed for my two emeria's to trigger. Meaning I can't recur Lone Missionary and Remorseful Cleric. Sadly this mistake cost me the game.
Upon further consideration I probably should have swapped a Ghost Quarter for a Blast Zone while side boarding. This is because not only can I crank it to three for their walker but I can also just set it on two and wait for a TiTi.
Match 5
UW Control
1 - 2 Game one
I got there on the back of Thraben Inspector and Ranger-Captain of Eos, eventually set up emeria and locked them on upkeep.
Side in
1 Blast Zone
1 Remorseful Cleric
1 Sorcerous Spyglass
2 Gideon of the Trials
1 Ranger-Captain of Eos
2 Cleansing Nova
Side out
1 On Thin Ice
1 Kami of False Hope
2 Path to Exile
2 Winds of Abandon
2 Wrath of God
Game two
I got run over by multiple walkers, instant speed wraths, multiple Rest in Peace and Field of Ruin.
Game three
Fetchlands plus two Brought Back ramped me to an early emeria. I forced my opponent to blow their sweeper and then set back up with Ranger-Captain of Eos. I was so close to setting up the lock too but they found their Field of Ruin at the last possible moment. They topdecked a Rest in Peace the turn later, while I was flooding and that was the game.
Something I can take from that game is to use Brought Back as insurance against Field of Ruin. I usually just try to hold Emeria, the Sky Ruin until I have seven plains on the field. This is to maneuver around an opposing Field of Ruin if they play one. In this instance though, it may have been better to hold the Brought Back and not try to ramp with it.
Hindsight is 20/20 though, and they hadn't played a FoR yet so I considered it safe, but it's an interesting take from this.
Match 6
2 - 1
Hogaak Bridge Vine
Game one
Even with a Remorseful Cleric I still die turn three to altar milling.
Side in
1 Blast Zone
1 Remorseful Cleric
2 Stony Silence
1 Sorcerous Spyglass
2 Gideon of the Trials
1 Ranger-Captain of Eos
2 Cleansing Nova
Side out
1 Ghost Quarter
1 On Thin Ice
4 Flickerwisp
1 Crucible of Worlds
2 Wrath of God
2 Sun Titan
Game two
I get Remorseful Cleric, Sorcerous Spyglass and enough time to sac it with Brought Back mana up. That buys enough time until Sun Titan comes down and mops things up.
Game three
I mull into an early Remorseful Cleric and Ranger-Captain of Eos and sit on Blast Zone x 2. my opponent proceeds to do nothing, I'm assuming their hand is full of lands and artifact / enchantment removal. They eventually die to my anemic beats.
So Brought Back was awesome in this game, it caught my opponent by surprise and won me a match!
Also, if any of you know, is it correct to side in Damping Sphere against Hogaak Vine? I'm not sure but I don't usually side in DS against Phoenix and do all right. Please let me know your opinion.
Match 7
2 - 0
Hardened Scales Game one
This matchup went exactly how you would expect, I ramped myself into Winds of Abandon with Brought Back, wrathed their board, and then they died.
Side in
1 Blast Zone
2 Lone Missionary
2 Stony Silence
1 Sorcerous Spyglass
2 Gideon of the Trial
2 Cleansing Nova
Side out
1 Brought Back
3 Remorseful Cleric
4 Wall of Omens
2 Sun Titan
Match 8
1 - 2
Mono Blue Tron Game one
I kept a slow hand and accidently color fixed my opponent by using Field of Ruin their on natural tron. They played Karn, the Great Creator and Mycosinth Latic and I was locked.
Side in
1 Blast Zone
2 Stony Silence
1 Sorcerous Spyglass
2 Gideon of the Trials
1 Ranger-Captain of Eos
2 Cleansing Nova
Side out
1 On Thin Ice
1 Path to Exile
1 Kami of False Hope
4 Wall of Omens
2 Winds of Abandon
2 Wrath of God
Game two
I played three copies of Thraben Inspector, a Sorcerous Spyglass and ramped with Brought Back. My opponents hand was absolutely full of countermagic but an active emeria doesn't care about that.
Game three
The most unfortunate loss, I had a Stony Silence in play and their clock down to one minute. They had the Karn in play and Latice in hand but couldn't cast it because of Stony Silence. I had a recurring emeria, and would have won if not for a topdeck Cyclonic Rift.
Well there you have it folks! I went 5 - 3, placing 25th out of 177. I played against Grixis Control, Devoted Druid Combo, Jund, Hardended Scales, Hogaak Vine, UW Control, Mono Blue Tron, and UR Phoenix.
I really feel like I had a good shot at a 7 - 1. My misplay is what cost me the game against UR Phoenix, that wouldn't have happened in paper magic. I also feel like my mono blue tron opponent somewhat lucky to draw into a 1 - 2 of Cyclonic Rift to bounce my Stony Silence just before they timed out.
Generous Gift is an interesting idea. I had completely overlooked that Beast Within had recently been color swapped. Could be good, I'll have to try it. Thanks!
My own experiences with a GW ramp focused build were not promising. Maybe it'll be different now, and could have been how I constructed my build in the first place. I always found myself petering out with a lot of lands but not much a board presence to show for it. I do like your Oath of Nissa idea, it should smooth out your draws. My problems with it were twofold. One, that you usually wanted to play it turn one which requires shocking and two, sometimes the card I needed was removal, which you can't grab off Oath of Nissa.
Eternal Witness always overpreformed for me in that build but GG can be rough. I would probably recommend 1 - 2 Winds of Abandon as you have enough ramp to overload consistently.
Also, you may need more than six basics total if you eke value out of Sakura tribe-elder to consistently turn on Emeria. Of course I was playing FoR with STE so maybe that's different.
I think if I was to revisit that archetype I would try something similar to this
Oath is really good in the deck and it is another thing for Rallier to get back besides GQ/Fetches and Wall/STE/R.Cleric.
It basically replaces Court Hussar from the UW version here, and does it pretty well.
Eternal Witness is really good and I tried playing it before but the GG cost is too rough most of the time so I switched back to Renegade Rallier.
Another option for this slot can be Tireless Tracker to generate card advantage.
I also want more basics for STE but the deck needs quite a bit of green mana so the fetches and dual-lands are hard to cut and there you're left with either trimming down a GQ or Emeria to 2x or just going back up to 24x lands and cutting a spell/creature.
I prefer GQ over FoR in this build mainly because of Renegade Rallier.
The card I don't see in you list's maindeck is Knight of Autumn which is probably one of the better benefits you get from the green splash.
I think that playing 4x is correct though you may want to keep 1-2x of them in the SB.
You can also use Ramunap Excavator over Crucible of Worlds.
I'm not impressed by Vivien's Arkbow but Evolutionary Leap is indeed a very good sac'-oulet and card (creature) advantage option though probably more of a SB card for grind-fests than a maindeck card.
I don't know if it is better than something like Nissa, Vital Force which I like to use as draw engine (you can ult' it very quickly). Vivien Reid could also be a pretty good option as the +1 is very good and the -3x while situational isn't terrible and the Ult' isn't too bad either.
I have two copies of Knight of Autumn in the sideboard. It may be a little hard to see though, especially if you're on mobile. Evolutionary Leap was always very powerful for me but I'm concerned about sinking multiple green mana into it. I've liked it before, but it can be clunky or awkward at times. Vivian Reed is interesting and maybe worth exploring, it never hurts to have another answer to graveyard hate in your 75.
I've haven't been all that impressed by Settle the Wreckage as of late. It always feels like it gets caught in my hand and even against recursive aggressive decks I find myself wishing it was a Wrath of God so that I could control when I popped it.
I didn't like Ramunup Excivator as much when I tested it in leu of Crucible of Worlds last time. I liked knowing that I could play a land drop each turn without worrying about it it dying to creature removal like Fatal Push.
So I have played some matches with the updated list and it feels pretty good so far, especially if you don't face combo decks too often as they are hard matchups without any form of countermagic or hand disruption
(so maybe Nevermore, Runed Halo/Gideon's Intervention or Eidolon of Rhetoric/Rule of Law are worth considering for the SB again).
The STE + Rallier hands ramp pretty fast and unless you flood out games go rather well.
I see no reason to switch over. Splitting the community is just bad in general. Wherever we are, ideally we want to all be in the same place, so we can have the most discussion and have less chance of our thread having dry spells. The best way to do that is to just stay here.
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Esper Control
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EDH
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Paradox Sisay
Legacy
LED Dredge
Dreadstill
I see no reason to switch over. Splitting the community is just bad in general. Wherever we are, ideally we want to all be in the same place, so we can have the most discussion and have less chance of our thread having dry spells. The best way to do that is to just stay here.
that's what I thought as well in the past days. However, we don't exactly know what's going to happen to this place once the new owners take over.
Let's consider Nexus as a "backup" place in case salvation suddenly becomes closed down. We can just stay here while things are fine, but if somehow things go south with the new management, it's good to have another place to go to.
Dovin's Veto has been pretty darn good, actually. It, along with the Revokers, Clerics, and sometimes Gideon makes game 1 vs combo actually winnable, which is fairly impressive considering all of those cards are still great in non-combo matchups. Veto is such an upgrade over negate because being able to just hard "nope" a control player without them being able to retaliate is a great feeling. Force of Negation isn't sustainable in this deck as my blue card count is only 8. Not nearly enough to even support even a measly 1-2 FoN, let alone any additional copies. Even if you're not using it in those scenarios, just having that axis of interaction really protects your gameplan. We all know how annoying getting Sun Titan PtE'd is. Veto at least assists in that regard, which is fine in my book.
Lastly, second island is only useful when: I draw 2 Field of Ruins, a Jace, and no blue sources before turn 6 (since that's the earliest I could cast Jace using FoR islands), when I'm getting Field of Ruin'd to death and I need to cast a Jace, or when there's a Blood Moon out and [insert over-complicated scenario]. I think everyone gets the point lol
About the sideboard, Grafdigger's cage isn't just grave hate, it's hate for Neoform and coco decks too. The other thing is RIP stops all graveyard shenanigans on our side, whereas Grafdigger's cage still allows Sun Titan to bring back everything except for creatures. That means you can keep bringing back your Tormod's Crypts or Teferi. For example, I've had people play cage against me and have it not matter because bringing back PWs or even just a 6/6 with vigilance with no other text is still just good enough to beat people. Crucible comes in whenever the opponent is playing Field of Ruin, Tron, and sometimes it comes in against control decks that aren't running Fields, just because the value is really great. It's been relegated to the sb because while the card is a #WALUE machine, in a not-negligible number of matchups, it's not going to matter, and in some, it'll get you killed. In addition, it was hard to make space for the card. It and a single Detention Sphere were in the mainboard up until the final revision before I first took the deck for a spin, actually.
I do have a quick question for you, though. You said I have Hex Parasite in the side but that was someone else's list. You said you play it main. What matchups is it good against?
@coffeeortea27, I considered picking up some Ranger Captain of Eos for the deck, but whenever I'm tinkering with any Emeria build, I'm very hesitant to ever include Thraben Inspector. I don't see the card as having much inherent value to it and it usually takes away card slots from core cards that, while costing an additional mana or two, are much more useful to the gameplan. As for Ranger-Captain himself, I've only ever been a fan of Silence effects in combo decks who are looking to stifle interaction from the opponent. Trying to use this kind of effect during the opponent's upkeep is usually going to do nothing, unfortunately. Using some examples, the sac effect doesn't actually stop Scapeshift as they'll just play a Prime Time or any of their other creatures. Tron plays less creatures, but the same thing applies, and you have to be on the play in addition to hoping they don't have Wurmcoil or World Breaker for it to work. The big reason these decks play Ranger-Captain is because they're fetching up 1 mana 12/12s or it triggers their Thalia's Lieutenants twice while providing some card advantage. The sacrifice ability is just icing on the cake, usually. I'm also not convinced that playing Kami is a good idea, either. The only 1-drop that seems good enough in my opinion is Giver of Runes and I'm still not entirely sold on her. But hey, I'm hoping to be surprised, so if you make it work, we'd all love to hear about it. Now to finish, the card is gonna be awesome for MartyrProc, so I wish you luck with that one. I may even play that deck again sometime (UW with Sky Hussar of course).
@The Fluff, I didn't even realize you were the primer maintainer :D. I'm definitely cool with my report being on the primer, though I'm not sure how that one became the impetus for the new section. I'll tell you what, next time I get out for modern, I'll take notes and make a proper report for you guys.
Now I really want to play this list again and see what results I can put up, but my shop is doing prerelease on Friday so no Modern. There's a shop I could play at this evening, but I'm not sure I'll have time, sadly. I first put this specific list together not really expecting much, but it's blown me away a bit, and actually renewed my faith in modern a little bit, since I think we've all seen what the format has become these days. Hopefully this isn't just a flash in the pan and I can actually pump out some good records regularly, because I won't lie to you guys, curving creatures into Jace and putting the hurt on people is awesome and I hope to keep doing it for a while.
Modern
Esper Control
Emeria Titan
EDH
Child of Alara Lands.dec
Paradox Sisay
Legacy
LED Dredge
Dreadstill
Ok, thanks for your contribution then.
We have to start with someone.. and I was impressed how calmly you seem to have handled the Phoenix matchup. That hyper aggressive deck is tough. Well, and as you can see.. the primer is made up of contributions by many people. I just thought having a section for member writeups will add more content.
Nexus MTG News // Nexus - Magic Art Gallery // MTG Dual Land Color Ratios Analyzer // MTG Card Drawing Odds Calculator
Want to play a UW control deck in modern, but don't have jace or snaps?
Please come visit us at the Emeria Titan control thread
Modern
Esper Control
Emeria Titan
EDH
Child of Alara Lands.dec
Paradox Sisay
Legacy
LED Dredge
Dreadstill
and in the last few pages, others are also building their versions of the deck. Many ideas help develop things further.
Nexus MTG News // Nexus - Magic Art Gallery // MTG Dual Land Color Ratios Analyzer // MTG Card Drawing Odds Calculator
Want to play a UW control deck in modern, but don't have jace or snaps?
Please come visit us at the Emeria Titan control thread
I have had a promising results with it against control variants, and aggro, jumping from three mana to six mana for a surprise Sun Titan plus ramping two plains towards Emeria, the Sky Ruin is awesome. Also stalling for two turns with a Ranger-Captain of Eos and Kami of False Hope is great. Also a reminder, if you plan to recur Flickerwisp with Brought Back on your opponents turn, it's usually best to do so at the end of second main phase so as to have the permanent exiled in play for your turn.
Basically Brought Back is fragile but if you play right the ceiling can be very high and the floor is basically an instant speed single rampant growth anyway. Which given our deck, we would probably play anyway.
Anyway here's the decklist if anyone is interested
Maindeck: 60
Creature: 23
4 Thraben Inspector
1 Kami of False Hope
1 Lone Missionary
3 Remorseful Cleric
4 Wall of Omens
4 Flickerwisp
3 Ranger-Captain of Eos
3 Sun Titan
Instant//Sorcery: 11
4 Path to Exile
3 Brought Back
2 Winds of Abandon
2 Wrath of God
Enchantment: 1
1 On Thin Ice
Artifact: 1
1 Crucible of Worlds
Manabase: 24
3 Emeria, the Sky Ruin
4 Field of Ruin
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Arrid Mesa
1 Flooded Strand
1 Marsh Flats
3 Prismatic Vista
1 Windswept Heath
9 Snow-Covered Plains
Sideboard: 15
1 Blast Zone
1 Burrenton Forge-Tender
2 Lone Missionary
1 Remorseful Cleric
2 Stony Silence
2 Damping Sphere
1 Sorcerous Spyglass
2 Gideon of the Trials
1 Ranger-Captain of Eos
2 Cleansing Nova
I'm still not sure if I want On Thin Ice, but I do like that it's a permanent and therefore recurable through Sun Titan. I also like that in the early game if I remove a must kill creature like Dark Confidant with it, I'm not ramping my opponent.
On a side note, I'm going to be trying my first modern challenge on magic online this Saturday so I'll try to put up a write up. Wish me luck!
brought back is an interesting card indeed.
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One thing I feel I'm missing is more ways to interact planeswalkers outside of attacking them or a slow Blast Zone. Detention Sphere was always a great catch all, and will be missed. I'm thinking Devout Decree may be good or maybe Celestial Purge, I'd like to hit more than color specific walkers though. I've played Oblivion Ring type effects in the past but have never been too impressed with them in this archetype. Especially with cards like Blast Zone and Assassin's Trophy being prevalent in other 'fair decks'. Does anyone have any experience playing Cavalier of Dawn?
It's times like these that I wish On Thin Ice said creature or planeswalker.
The token is very easily dealt with by Flickerwisp or just blocked by Wall of Omens.
I'm not particularly high on Brought Back as it seems like an extremely situational card.
If the plan is to ramp I'd rather splash green than hope to draw multiple fetchlands and wait to crack them.
It can also play a copy of Primeval Titan to tutor for Emeria and got some options in the last couple of years like:
Oath of Nissa, Tireless Tracker, Nissa, Vital Force, Ramunap Excavator, Knight of Autumn, Wall of Blossoms and Collector Ouphe.
The problem with GW is the weaker interaction which pretty leaves you with only white cards to use as green has got pretty much nothing (especially now that we have Generous Gift over Beast Within).
Here is my old GW build BTW (ir probably requires quite a bit of updating as I haven't touched it for over a year):
4x Sakura-Tribe Elder
4x Wall of Omens
3x Renegade Rallier
4x Flickerwisp
4x Kitchen Finks
3x Sun Titan
1x Primeval Titan
Planeswalker (1)
1x Nissa, Vital Force
Enchantment (3)
3x Oath of Nissa
Instant (7)
4x Path to Exile
3x Beast Within
3x Wrath of God
Land (23)
3x Emeria, the Sky Ruin
4x Temple Garden
1x Canopy Vista
4x Windswept Heath
2x Flooded Strand
3x Ghost Quarter
5x Plains
1x Forest
2x Tormod's Crypt
2x Scavenging Ooze
2x Stony Silence
2x Banishing Light
2x Blessed Alliance
1x Wrath of God
2x Qasali Pridemage
1x Nissa, Vital Force
1x Elspeth, Sun's Champion
The changes I'm probably going to make are -
Maindeck:
-4x Kitchen Finks, -3x Beast Within, -1x Nissa, Vital Force
+4x Knight of Autumn, +3x Generous Gift, +1x Gideon of the Trials
Sideboard:
-2x Tormod's Crypt, -2x Blessed Alliance, -2x Qasali Pridemage, -2x Scavenging Ooze
+3x Remorseful Cleric, +1x Gideon of the Trials, +2x Kitchen Finks, +2x Damping Sphere
My own experiences with a GW ramp focused build were not promising. Maybe it'll be different now, and could have been how I constructed my build in the first place. I always found myself petering out with a lot of lands but not much a board presence to show for it. I do like your Oath of Nissa idea, it should smooth out your draws. My problems with it were twofold. One, that you usually wanted to play it turn one which requires shocking and two, sometimes the card I needed was removal, which you can't grab off Oath of Nissa.
Eternal Witness always overpreformed for me in that build but GG can be rough. I would probably recommend 1 - 2 Winds of Abandon as you have enough ramp to overload consistently.
Also, you may need more than six basics total if you eke value out of Sakura tribe-elder to consistently turn on Emeria. Of course I was playing FoR with STE so maybe that's different.
I could also see wanting Vivien's Arkbow or maybe an Evolutionary Leap.
I think if I was to revisit that archetype I would try something similar to this
Match 1
2 - 0
Grixis Control
Game one
Thraben Inspector, Wall of Omens, Ranger-Captain of Eos and Sun Titan are too much for my opponents one for one
removal and discard. I take game one without my opponent casting a threat outside Snapcaster Mage.
Side in 8
1 Blasting Station
1 Lone Missionary
1 Sorcerous Spyglass
2 Gideon of the Trials
1 Ranger-Captain of Eos
2 Cleansing Nova
Side out 8
1 On Thin Ice
1 Kami of False Hope
2 Winds of Abandon
2 Flickerwisp
2 Wrath of God
Game two
My opponent is stuck on two lands for the first few turns and I'm durdling around because they've either discarded or killed everything. I start to flood out and my opponent draws multiple threats like Snapcaster, Mage Young Pyromancer, Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet and Kess, Disident Mage. Luckly Path to Exile, Blast Zone, and Wall of Omens are keeping them in check.
I have emeria online but my opponent has surgicaled both Sun Titan and Thraben Inspector with upkeep triggers on the stack. They eventually lose to a Cleansing Nova which clears their board and allows me to recur wall of omens to dig for action.
Match 2
2 - 0
Devoted Druid Combo
Game one
I kept a hand with a couple removal spells and crucible of worlds in my opener. I broke up my opponents combo with Path to Exile, which I never tapped out for. They collected companied three times in a row looping Eternal Witness and trying to play the fair game, but scooped to a blockers followed by a wrath plus then recursion for emeria.
Side in
1 Blast Zone
1 Sorcerous Spyglass
2 Cleansing Nova
Side out
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Kami of False Hope
1 Brought Back
1 Flickerwisp
Game two
So basically the same thing except a much longer game. Kept up Path to Exile once I drew it broke and up the combo with Sorcerous Spyglass. We largely just played a fair game and traded creatures until emeria was online. My opponent did set up Devoted Druid and Vizear of Remidies but I must have wrathed them five times over the course of our game. Notably using my health total a recourse, while taking beats from Voice of Resurgence and Kitchen Finks. I did this to wait until I had the mana for overload Winds of Abandon and hold up Path to Exile. They also got Scavenging Ooze online twice, but Blast Zone and Cleansing Nova took care of that problem. The game ended with a turn 18 Sun Titan to recur the
spyglass.
Match 3
2 - 1
Jund
Game one
So game one it was all the usual suspects removal discard, scavenging ooze, planeswalkers like wren and six plus Liliana of the Veil. Brought Back was awesome, really screwed with my opponents Liliana edict and I won with Sun Titan.
Side in
1 Blast Zone
1 Lone Missionary
1 Sorcerous Spyglass
2 Gideon of the Trials
1 Ranger-Captain of Eos
2 Cleansing Nova
Side out
1 Kami of False Hope
3 Remorseful Cleric
4 Flickerwisp
Game two
Similar to game one except more Nihil Spellbomb and Scavenging Ooze. I eventually maneuvered into a position where I was at six life with a Sun Titan an active emeria and a Wall of Omens. My opponent has two cards in hand. They Fatal Push my Wall of Omens and spin a Bloodbraid Elf into a Liliana of the veil to edict my Titan, then bolt me and I die to the hasty BB. To be fair they had to have exactly that, so codo's to my opponent for playing to their outs.
Game three
Very similar to the previous games, Brought Back was amazing and Crucible of Worlds did work, even through their Wren and Six.
Match 4
0 - 2
UR Phoenix
Game one
I was on the draw and my opponent got off to a quick start of double Arclight Phoenix turn two, I managed to path one and stay alive through a Kami of False Hope but didn't get a turn six to cast Sun Titan to start looping it.
Side in
1 Burrenton Forge-Tender
2 Lone Missionary
1 Remorseful Cleric
2 Gideon of the Trials
1 Ranger-Captain of Eos
1 Cleansing Nova
Side out
4 Brought Back
4 Wall of Omens
1 Crucible of Worlds
Game two
My opponent went onto the slower Saheeli, sublime artificer plan. I don't find a wrath effect or a Ranger-Captain of Eos for Kami of False Hope but I manage to stem the tide until I have enough plains for emeria. I'm trying to play fast because I'm hoping for a game three. I accidently f6 my turn and don't get crack the fetch needed for my two emeria's to trigger. Meaning I can't recur Lone Missionary and Remorseful Cleric. Sadly this mistake cost me the game.
Upon further consideration I probably should have swapped a Ghost Quarter for a Blast Zone while side boarding. This is because not only can I crank it to three for their walker but I can also just set it on two and wait for a TiTi.
Match 5
UW Control
1 - 2
Game one
I got there on the back of Thraben Inspector and Ranger-Captain of Eos, eventually set up emeria and locked them on upkeep.
Side in
1 Blast Zone
1 Remorseful Cleric
1 Sorcerous Spyglass
2 Gideon of the Trials
1 Ranger-Captain of Eos
2 Cleansing Nova
Side out
1 On Thin Ice
1 Kami of False Hope
2 Path to Exile
2 Winds of Abandon
2 Wrath of God
Game two
I got run over by multiple walkers, instant speed wraths, multiple Rest in Peace and Field of Ruin.
Game three
Fetchlands plus two Brought Back ramped me to an early emeria. I forced my opponent to blow their sweeper and then set back up with Ranger-Captain of Eos. I was so close to setting up the lock too but they found their Field of Ruin at the last possible moment. They topdecked a Rest in Peace the turn later, while I was flooding and that was the game.
Something I can take from that game is to use Brought Back as insurance against Field of Ruin. I usually just try to hold Emeria, the Sky Ruin until I have seven plains on the field. This is to maneuver around an opposing Field of Ruin if they play one. In this instance though, it may have been better to hold the Brought Back and not try to ramp with it.
Hindsight is 20/20 though, and they hadn't played a FoR yet so I considered it safe, but it's an interesting take from this.
Match 6
2 - 1
Hogaak Bridge Vine
Game one
Even with a Remorseful Cleric I still die turn three to altar milling.
Side in
1 Blast Zone
1 Remorseful Cleric
2 Stony Silence
1 Sorcerous Spyglass
2 Gideon of the Trials
1 Ranger-Captain of Eos
2 Cleansing Nova
Side out
1 Ghost Quarter
1 On Thin Ice
4 Flickerwisp
1 Crucible of Worlds
2 Wrath of God
2 Sun Titan
Game two
I get Remorseful Cleric, Sorcerous Spyglass and enough time to sac it with Brought Back mana up. That buys enough time until Sun Titan comes down and mops things up.
Game three
I mull into an early Remorseful Cleric and Ranger-Captain of Eos and sit on Blast Zone x 2. my opponent proceeds to do nothing, I'm assuming their hand is full of lands and artifact / enchantment removal. They eventually die to my anemic beats.
So Brought Back was awesome in this game, it caught my opponent by surprise and won me a match!
Also, if any of you know, is it correct to side in Damping Sphere against Hogaak Vine? I'm not sure but I don't usually side in DS against Phoenix and do all right. Please let me know your opinion.
Match 7
2 - 0
Hardened Scales
Game one
This matchup went exactly how you would expect, I ramped myself into Winds of Abandon with Brought Back, wrathed their board, and then they died.
Side in
1 Blast Zone
2 Lone Missionary
2 Stony Silence
1 Sorcerous Spyglass
2 Gideon of the Trial
2 Cleansing Nova
Side out
1 Brought Back
3 Remorseful Cleric
4 Wall of Omens
2 Sun Titan
Game two
Similar to game one except they had a Nature's Claim for my Stony Silence and a Leyline of the Void in their opener. Luckly, leyline didn't actually matter all that much because Cleansing Nova. They scared me a little with a giant Walking Ballista off the top but it died to a Flickerwisp and they died soon after.
Match 8
1 - 2
Mono Blue Tron
Game one
I kept a slow hand and accidently color fixed my opponent by using Field of Ruin their on natural tron. They played Karn, the Great Creator and Mycosinth Latic and I was locked.
Side in
1 Blast Zone
2 Stony Silence
1 Sorcerous Spyglass
2 Gideon of the Trials
1 Ranger-Captain of Eos
2 Cleansing Nova
Side out
1 On Thin Ice
1 Path to Exile
1 Kami of False Hope
4 Wall of Omens
2 Winds of Abandon
2 Wrath of God
Game two
I played three copies of Thraben Inspector, a Sorcerous Spyglass and ramped with Brought Back. My opponents hand was absolutely full of countermagic but an active emeria doesn't care about that.
Game three
The most unfortunate loss, I had a Stony Silence in play and their clock down to one minute. They had the Karn in play and Latice in hand but couldn't cast it because of Stony Silence. I had a recurring emeria, and would have won if not for a topdeck Cyclonic Rift.
Well there you have it folks! I went 5 - 3, placing 25th out of 177. I played against Grixis Control, Devoted Druid Combo, Jund, Hardended Scales, Hogaak Vine, UW Control, Mono Blue Tron, and UR Phoenix.
I really feel like I had a good shot at a 7 - 1. My misplay is what cost me the game against UR Phoenix, that wouldn't have happened in paper magic. I also feel like my mono blue tron opponent somewhat lucky to draw into a 1 - 2 of Cyclonic Rift to bounce my Stony Silence just before they timed out.
Oath is really good in the deck and it is another thing for Rallier to get back besides GQ/Fetches and Wall/STE/R.Cleric.
It basically replaces Court Hussar from the UW version here, and does it pretty well.
Eternal Witness is really good and I tried playing it before but the GG cost is too rough most of the time so I switched back to Renegade Rallier.
Another option for this slot can be Tireless Tracker to generate card advantage.
I prefer the flexibility of Banishing Light/Generous Gift to the "overload" of Winds of Abandon.
And an extra sweeper besides Wrath I can see maybe running a copy of Settle the Wreckage.
I also want more basics for STE but the deck needs quite a bit of green mana so the fetches and dual-lands are hard to cut and there you're left with either trimming down a GQ or Emeria to 2x or just going back up to 24x lands and cutting a spell/creature.
I prefer GQ over FoR in this build mainly because of Renegade Rallier.
The card I don't see in you list's maindeck is Knight of Autumn which is probably one of the better benefits you get from the green splash.
I think that playing 4x is correct though you may want to keep 1-2x of them in the SB.
You can also use Ramunap Excavator over Crucible of Worlds.
I'm not impressed by Vivien's Arkbow but Evolutionary Leap is indeed a very good sac'-oulet and card (creature) advantage option though probably more of a SB card for grind-fests than a maindeck card.
I don't know if it is better than something like Nissa, Vital Force which I like to use as draw engine (you can ult' it very quickly).
Vivien Reid could also be a pretty good option as the +1 is very good and the -3x while situational isn't terrible and the Ult' isn't too bad either.
I've haven't been all that impressed by Settle the Wreckage as of late. It always feels like it gets caught in my hand and even against recursive aggressive decks I find myself wishing it was a Wrath of God so that I could control when I popped it.
I didn't like Ramunup Excivator as much when I tested it in leu of Crucible of Worlds last time. I liked knowing that I could play a land drop each turn without worrying about it it dying to creature removal like Fatal Push.
I can see your argument about Generous Gift versus Winds of Abandon. I do think that they do very different things but flexibility of Generous Gift can be nice.
I think I'll give the list another spin tomorrow and see how it does, thanks for the advice!
thanks for the informative report on modern challenge. Linked your writeup to the primer.
with the added knowledge from your report. Cleansing Nova added to card choices.
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Want to play a UW control deck in modern, but don't have jace or snaps?
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https://www.mtgnexus.com/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=192&p=392#p_top8
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Want to play a UW control deck in modern, but don't have jace or snaps?
Please come visit us at the Emeria Titan control thread
So I have played some matches with the updated list and it feels pretty good so far, especially if you don't face combo decks too often as they are hard matchups without any form of countermagic or hand disruption
(so maybe Nevermore, Runed Halo/Gideon's Intervention or Eidolon of Rhetoric/Rule of Law are worth considering for the SB again).
The STE + Rallier hands ramp pretty fast and unless you flood out games go rather well.
Here is my updated list:
4x Sakura-Tribe Elder
4x Wall of Omens
3x Renegade Rallier
4x Flickerwisp
4x Knight of Autumn
3x Sun Titan
1x Primeval Titan
Planeswalker (1)
1x Gideon of the Trials
Enchantment (3)
3x Oath of Nissa
Instant (7)
4x Path to Exile
3x Generous Gift
3x Wrath of God
Land (23)
3x Emeria, the Sky Ruin
4x Temple Garden
1x Canopy Vista
4x Windswept Heath
2x Flooded Strand
3x Ghost Quarter
5x Plains
1x Forest
3x Remorseful Cleric
2x Stony Silence
2x Damping Sphere
2x Banishing Light
2x Kitchen Finks
1x Wrath of God
1x Gideon of the Trials
1x Vivien Reid
1x Elspeth, Sun's Champion
I'm still not really sure about the SB but the maindeck seems decent so far.
UWTitan ControlWU
UWPolymorph TokensWU
CUWUW TronWUC
Modern
Esper Control
Emeria Titan
EDH
Child of Alara Lands.dec
Paradox Sisay
Legacy
LED Dredge
Dreadstill
I agree.
that's what I thought as well in the past days. However, we don't exactly know what's going to happen to this place once the new owners take over.
Let's consider Nexus as a "backup" place in case salvation suddenly becomes closed down. We can just stay here while things are fine, but if somehow things go south with the new management, it's good to have another place to go to.
Nexus MTG News // Nexus - Magic Art Gallery // MTG Dual Land Color Ratios Analyzer // MTG Card Drawing Odds Calculator
Want to play a UW control deck in modern, but don't have jace or snaps?
Please come visit us at the Emeria Titan control thread