The key is indeed in Dig through Time and Treasure Cruise. If those are ever unbanned, or similar card selection that exiles the graveyard can be innovated or printed, that is when I will be most concerned with Inverter in Modern, because it is otherwise totally non-interactive. Ponza is a deck that can work, but it requires too many cards to line up for its plan to be consistent. If the individual cards are strong, however, it can become a very important safety valve on the format, which is likely why it appeared to be a metagame choice against Ramp. When a single Pillage or Mwonvuli Acid-moss can buy several turns against a popular subset of the format, the strategy is in a good position.
Where humans is concerned, the winning maindeck is extremely close to the version of the list that was running around when Lantern Control was a bigger part of the metagame. There is a minor upgrade in reach because Kessig Malcontents can steal an additional 5% of games against Emeria, as it was originally designed to do against Ensnaring Bridge, but the card requires overextending into sweepers, so typically it only hurts their chances unless specifically Settle the Wreckage is being set up. Reflector Mage, on the other hand, is almost always a losing bet. It is expensive, slow, weak, and a huge liability against the 2-mana ETB creatures specifically. It can sometimes push tempo, but almost never to any benefit if multiple blockers are available (which Emeria has a wealth of). On the whole, these 3-drops take up space in the opening hand and slow the games down, which is an advantage for Emeria that the increase in resilience just barely compensates for - but only if the draws line up such that that matters.
I will begin working on the Bant Snowblade write-up soon, and you can expect it to follow this post within the next few hours.
It's morning here, will check back again after lunch. Having a guide to beat snow would be nice, since it's one of the decks doing well right now. People have a good chance of encountering it in a tournament.
I know some of my choices are a bit unorthodox, but they've all performed pretty well in my testing.
if they worked well in your testing, then you're probably on the right track. As I said a few pages ago, there are several ways for this deck to be built. You can see even on the primer, we have 3 different sample builds there. Squadron Hawk + Sfm remind me of Caw Blade decks that were popular in standard years ago.
Anyway, if you want to add prince. you could trim a ranger captain and a wisp. This would have the effect also of giving you more turn 2 plays, making the deck a bit faster. Or you could just remove all wisp and add 4 prince in their place - this would be a good choice if fast aggro like Burn will be present in decent numbers in the tournament you are going to.
Absolutely. I think that this version of humans would still be among the best matchups for Emeria control. I have an aside for Saint Tobias, which you can skip if you like, and the Bant writeup comes below it with the title in bold.
Hello Saint Tobias, interesting list! I have always preferred the clean manabase enabled by the mono-white versions, but really feel the lack of blue and Court Hussar against breakout decks and combo; especially in the post-sideboard games. Regardless, I think that it is a quite defensible choice in local metagames, and you have created some compensation for the lack of card advantage with the Ranger-Captain of Eos/Thraben Inspector package being joined by Squadron Hawk.
If I could offer three strategic pieces of advice, though, I would first say that Giver of Runes and Sword of Fire and Ice both invest in your board state, while Wrath of God demolishes it. This is a very awkward tension to negotiate for optimal play in-game. I would either remove those two sorceries for two more Settle the Wreckage if you wanted to keep your board intact, or take out the two spells I mentioned for a third Stoneforge Mystic and a second Batterskull if you wanted to gain value while blowing it up. I think you may find that the Sword's protection makes it a better sideboard card in any case. The sweeper/blink effect dynamic is another difficult one to manage as well, so try to decide on which angles you wish to push.
(To illustrate a focused plan, the changes I suggest below should be considered with three copies of Charming Prince instead of the three-card Equipment package which would remain. Either that, or you could imagine they were a Selfless Spirit, a Sanctum Guardian, and a Bottle Gnomes, for the purposes of bringing up ways to "split the difference" when Wrath of God can no longer enable a full graveyard.)
Next, I think that a fourth Field of Ruin would be a massive upgrade to your manabase over the nineteenth Basic Plains. There are indeed circumstances where the opponent is on all Basics, but these are negligible compared to the value of the disruption against Tron, Scapeshift, and Amulet Titan. I would also consider either going up to three Emeria, the Sky Ruin, or replacing another Plains with a Mistveil Plains because of its synergy with Squadron Hawk and Stoneforge Mystic, but this would be putting in a third tapland, which may not be worth the tempo loss in your 2-drop heavy list. As it stands, though, I suspect your curve may be able to handle the addition of at least one of these - if not both.
Finally, the Generous Gift in your maindeck is a good catch-all, but it is extremely volatile and single-use at best. You may like the Stone Rain effect it provides more than the recommendations I am about to bring up, but I urge you to consider the fact that Emeria, the Sky Ruin rewards reuseable effects by virtue of its pull in the lategame. If this influence is not being built towards, then you are simply playing a monocoloured tapland in Modern. Not an appealing prospect, I should think. In any case, my replacements would be either the boring but Sun Titan-friendly Oblivion Ring, or the much more significantly Zombify-ed Cavalier of Dawn, which would also allow you to upgrade extra Wall of Omens or Clue tokens into a threat when things were going well. Intriguingly, it can also target itself with its ETB to provide a stream of Golems plus additional card advantage. This may be too cute, but could actually matter when combined with Bottle Gnomes, for instance.
Anyway, back to matchups for the title page Fluff. Here is the breakdown :
Bant Snowblade Bant Snowblade is a strategy currently gaining popularity, ever since the printing of Arcum's Astrolabe opened up an important new paradigm for fixing manabases in Modern. There exist several three and four-colour combinations of a similar shell possible, largely basing themselves in Blue and Green for Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath and Ice-fang Coatl, then adding white for board control and threats like Teferi, Hero of Dominaria or Stoneforge Mystic. Due to the wide selection of cards available to the strategy, however, every version is highly likely to display customization, and can therefore be difficult to plan against effectively. The lists are still relatively new as well, and are still refining themselves. Despite this variability there are a few general commonalities to their control plans, and Emeria, the Sky Ruin grants a marked advantage to the player with access to it in complex attrition battles, which this pairing can very often become.
As a slower defensive strategy in Modern, Bant Snowblade is an excellent home for Planeswalkers, but generally seems to use them as speed bumps to delay aggression for long enough to set itself up for a bigger push in the mid- to late-game. This is both positive and negative for Emeria control, since on the one hand the deck has access to Jace, the Mind Sculptor and multiple incarnations of Teferi, but on the other hand it is usually not very well prepared to protect them from pressure by cheap value creatures. The ultimate abilities on Jace and the larger of the Teferis are Bant Snowblade's trump to an active Emeria, the Sky Ruin, but they are often unable to prevent a back-and-forth war over their loyalty due to Emeria control making a more relevant boardstate in the early game. This is another significant edge, because while Bant must weigh its options on holding up countermagic versus committing a planeswalker, Emeria can simply continue tapping out for creatures every turn with the intention of pressuring future planeswalkers if they resolve.
As an extension of this fact, the games are often determined by the quality of the draws on both parts. Here again, Emeria control has a slight advantage, since the consistency of its draw steps is quite high and very good at ensuring deck velocity and a full hand well into the lategame, but this is paired with the disadvantage of a relatively flat power level. A Court Hussar is generally going to be a consistently good draw, for example, whether it is facing a topdecked Teferi, Time Raveler or a Force of Negation. This is excellent in the second case, but mediocre in the first. The upshot of these considerations, when Mana Leak and Path to Exile are thrown into the mix, is that the midgame is often reached with several creatures in play on Emeria's side, making pressure on Planeswalkers a given. The next important set of cards now begins to become noteworthy: the sweepers.
Regrettably, Emeria now has another disadvantage in that it contains more of these effects. These are very poor draws, on both sides, and typically irrelevant unless a planeswalker is threatening its ultimate. Using Settle the Wreckage to ramp is an important tactic to turn the card into a contributing piece here, but Supreme Verdict and Wrath of God have no such alternate mode. Their most useful function is likely to re-stock the graveyard if recursion targets are running low, which is a task better suited to Mortarpod in the first place. The presence of lifegain and copious removal on both sides makes winning through combat damage academic, and only a symptom of a losing battle and not the root cause; consecutive relevant draw steps. The key to the matchup lies in punishing Bant for every failure on this front. The most important feature of drawn-out topdeck wars here is that Emeria is perfectly happy to turn its copies of Path to Exile on itself, while Bant is sometimes forced to be the one spending a card providing its opponent with a Rampant Growth to protect its Planeswalkers.
Speaking of these, Detention Sphere is an important weapon both here and against Uro (who will die if ever released from it due to Escape's wording), and it is important to clear the way for it by baiting Force of Negation with Crucible of Worlds and Teferi, Hero of Dominaria. These cards are very strong against Bant when resolved, but less relevant to lose access to when setting up a Sun Titan to turn the corner. Their Ice-Fang Coatl is a moderate concern where the Giant's attacks are concerned, but the threat of it should not prevent attacks in most cases - its value will frequently pale in comparison to an extra recursion trigger. The other significan finisher in the matchup, Batterskull, should not be prioritized over Mortarpod to enable plays around their 1/1 deathtouching flier, or their copy of the lifelinking Germ. It also stands a much better chance of connecting meaningfully when drawn naturally as a surprise after the Mystic sets up a value target for redundant Paths (or an extra point of damage on a faltering Planeswalker). Pilgrim's Eye also shines in both these respects, and like Wall of Omens can eventually serve as fodder for the Mortarpod.
Crucible of Worlds bears more discussion, as it brings about the third phase of sub-battles in that it is tied to the ability to leverage Field of Ruin. Although Bant's manabase is built on Snow lands, they are typically well short of all the basics they need to keep themselves on certain double-colour combinations. Many Islands (up to 6) can be expected, but Ghost Quarter can be activated on a basic Plains or Forest to cut down their outs if the game begins to tilt in Emeria's favour. Likewise, any dual lands can be downgraded to basics while thinning the deck for Emeria and ticking up towards its namesake card. At some point, sometimes forced by pre-emptive strikes when setting up Emeria, the Sky Ruin, Bant will have to start using its own Field of Ruin to prevent recursion, and will swiftly begin to restrict its own plays in the face of opposing activations. No matter how tempting it may be, though, the presence of Cryptic Command should prevent any momentary illusions of removing Astrolabes with Detention Sphere. Unless tubocharged by a Titan or Crucible, mana disruption comes naturally, or not at all.
Post-sideboard, the most relevant upgrade is found in their useless Supreme Verdict turning into Ashiok, Dream Render, but the balance of the post-board games goes towards Emeria Control, which can remove its five sweepers for the Pithing Needle effects plus an Aura of Silence, and two Aven Mindcensor (or Glen Elendra Archmage). On top of this, three Path to Exile and a Pilgrim's Eye can be removed on the play to make room for three Remorseful Cleric as extra evasive pressure which disrupts Uro, plus the occasional Snapcaster Mage or Mystic Sanctuary. On the draw, one extra Path to Exile stays in and a second Pilgrim's Eye is removed instead to reduce the chances of Ashiok disrupting early sequencing. Apart from this specific extra wrinkle, the dynamics remain the same as pre-sideboard. Maintain pressure, and punish every Mana Leak, Path to Exile, and Force of Negation they left in, while working up to Emeria. As a final note, be cautious of Archmage's Charm on Germ tokens when declaring attackers. The Batterskull itself will still belong to you, but might suddenly find itself equipped to a very good blocker on the other side of the battlefield if you do not have three mana available to return it to your hand.
I think that is most of what I was able to tell in my three matches thus far. I hope it helps!
Slightly updated list. Tried cutting the Hawks in favor of Charming Prince and ended up really liking it. I ended up going 3/2 in my first league. Won against Red Prowess, Dredge, and Bant Snow, lost to Amulet Titan and Dredge a second time. Overall I'm pretty happy with the result! I like having the Charming Prince in there, but I miss the fourth Path To Exile, so I'll end up cutting something to have that in there. Other than that, I definitely want some more anti-dredge tech in the sideboard, cause that match felt rough. Winds Of Abandon and Settle the Wreckage were both game winning whenever I got to cast them , so I'm pretty happy with those. Are there any other cards I'm potentially missing?
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It's flavor-tastic
Sig made by Tiiratore. PM him if you want one.
Disappointing avatar made by Mirror Entity at Disappointing Signets Inc.
My Decks:
Modern:
(online)Enduring Ideal
(online)BUG
(paper)Mono White Control
Standard:
(paper) Whatever I can throw together
(online) UWR Control
we have a guide to play against Dredge in the Matchups and Sideboarding section of the primer.
It's newly updated and written by Gerant. You can try checking that out.
I gave a few thoughts on your list in the first section of my long post four entries above this one. I would recommend you take a look at it for recommendations, and I would be happy to discuss things if there is anything that you would like to talk about. Good luck in your next event!
Ah hey GerantDePhares, sorry about that, I didn't see your post! I think you have some good points for sure. I could have won against the Amulet Titan deck if I had drawn Field Of Ruin, and Generous Gift didn't perform too well either, I think it should probably be Oblivion Ring or something like that. I almost want to splash into blue, but I don't even know if it's worth it. I'd get access to stuff like Court Hussar and Dovin's Veto, but I think it might be fine just to stay with White for now.
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It's flavor-tastic
Sig made by Tiiratore. PM him if you want one.
Disappointing avatar made by Mirror Entity at Disappointing Signets Inc.
My Decks:
Modern:
(online)Enduring Ideal
(online)BUG
(paper)Mono White Control
Standard:
(paper) Whatever I can throw together
(online) UWR Control
It is still legitimate to play your version if you are enjoying it. That's part of the beauty of Magic; there are arguments for everything, and the variance factor built into the game should make your personal satisfaction with the cards you are playing the most important part of the experience.
That being said, this is a forum looking to optimize competitive advantages, and I do indeed feel that the blue splash is a necessary part of beating the current top tier of Modern consistently. I am more focused on deck construction and cohesive plans than most, so be aware that there are people who will have differing results and alternative conclusions from everything I have discovered over my decade-odd dedication to this shell. As a semi-professional for about three years in the early 2010's, though, I would put my name and reputation behind a recommendation for the following 75 as my most viable candidate for a Grand Prix level event right now; it is the latest version of the recommended list that my sideboard write-ups refer to on the homepage:
The third Aven Mindcensor in the sideboard is my current frontrunner in a flex slot which can alternatively be a third Celestial Purge, a second Lone Missionary, a Sorcerous Spyglass, a Glen Elendra Archmage, a Stonecloaker, or a Shadowspear depending on your preference and metagame. My choice is a response to the recent dominance of Ramp strategies. The only other card which has not been thoroughly put through its paces is the Forsake the Worldly, which offers a clean and versatile hedge against Gods, specifically Heliod, Sun-crowned. I have beaten the Walking Ballista combo twice without the exile effect, but the third time I faced it I drew a match that I was winning, and the lack of a solid answer to their Indestructible non-creature enchantment was a contributing factor to my disappointing miss on another top 8. The only problem with the card is that every removal spell for noncreature permanents is now a three-mana play, so this may soon return to being the classic Disenchant that has served me so well in multiple other matchups and sideboard plans.
This build walks an extremely fine line in the format, and takes weeks (if not months, or even years) of experience to master, but maintains the ability to gain percentage points against any matchup by playing as a unit. There are no auto-wins, and you will have to work for every game, but even its worst pairings are not auto-losses, and I feel that I have at least a chance to actually play Magic against every person who sits down across the table from me - no matter what strategy they are piloting. This trade-off of power for consistency is acceptable to me. If you feel motivated by legitimate, hard-fought victories as much as I do, I encourage you to try it out to see whether the same might be true for you.
If your list makes you happy, though, feel free to ignore all of this.
Thanks for doing so, but until I have more data the Forsake the Worldly is experimental and should go back to being a Disenchant.
And, just for the record, Aven Mindcensor is possibly the most difficult card to play in the whole deck (or are at least on par with Ghost Quarter). I would probably leave the two Glen Elendra Archmage and the Sorcerous Spyglass in their place as a starting point for people just looking to try out the list, because the Mindcensor tends to corrupt the deck's sequencing, and is easily brought in by mistake. I was eventually able to integrate them into coherent plans, but it took a lot of work to understand when and where I could reliably leverage their effect.
That being said, I do think that a plan against Ramp is necessary right now, so maybe a compromise would be just to put "3x Flex Slot" in their place in the sideboard, so that people could adapt the core of the list to their needs. Perhaps this is the best way to split the difference. I leave it up to you; if you think it is best to have the most competitive version up, regardless of complexity, I would just ask you to put the Disenchant back in over the Forsake the Worldly, and I would commit to answering any tactical questions as they came up.
I found another mono white emeria list that did well last year.
It is labelled as "white weenie", but if you look at the cards used.. it has Sun Titan, Wall of Omens, Flickerwisp, and a full playset of Emeria, the Sky Ruin.
What caught my attention is that it has a playset of suppression field maindeck. Maybe the deck owner has an idea of what he would face in the 31 person tournament?
Circuito WildWest 2019 Etapa 5 @ São Miguel do Oeste - Diogo Rickwardt - 7-21-19
Been away from the Modern scene for a while, playing Standard on MTGA. While it's been fun, the call of UW Emeria always finds me. Loaded up the deck, made a few adjustments and been running through a list online to get my feet wet again and relearn the metagame. I'll post my deck soon once I get my sideboard in place. Currently running a list similar to Fincown's posted list but also interested to try out @Gerant's Stoneforge list as well. Will be testing both throughout the week and looking forward to jumping back into Modern with my favorite deck!
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nice to see you back here. Oh, and if you're having problem with certain decks - you might like to check out the matchups and sideboarding section of the primer, we've updated most of the guides there.
Nice spotting, Fluff, deck names are sometimes misleading.
I have been trying to figure out what is going on here, but the problem is that the deck registration website is currently down so I cannot see the full tournament's statistics. Judging by the top 8 alone, then, I can only come to the same conclusion as you - the pilot must have metagamed mostly against people who he beat to keep out of the elimination rounds. I am not a huge fan of this strategy in Modern, or with control, and specifically not with Emeria looking at the sacrifices Diogo had to make (they appear to have left him very vulnerable to the rest of the top 8, and I am not surprised to see that he didn't make it out of the quarterfinals).
As it stands, the list is, to put it mildly, unfocused. Suppression Field is a powerful situational effect, but the conditions for its best use are strongly dictated by a reduced timeframe. I have a good deal of experience with the card from back when I just missed on the top 8 of GP Vancouver with Norin Sisters, while that deck was still viable (AKA before the printings of Wrenn and Six, Liliana, the last Hope, and most significantly Walking Ballista, while the Soul Warden effects could still spell auto-wins against the top tier of the metagame in both Burn and Splinter Twin). Every extra turn beyond the first three that you allow your opponent makes the card dramatically worse, since they will have a chance to crack their fetchlands and play around the tax by making natural land drops, so the effect is supported by shortening the game, which the card itself does not contribute to in the slightest. Emeria, the Sky Ruin does very little on that front either, and in fact rewards the opposite philosophy by passing the turn a minimum of eight times before having a chance to accrue value (barring acceleration).
In addition to this, Diogo was running four Field of Ruin, four Thraben Inspector, three Ranger-Captain of Eos, and a Mistveil Plains, so fully 20% of his deck's plays are negatively affected by the enchantment's symmetrical effect. Seeing as he chose to run FOUR of them, it must must mean that he had a truly single-minded focus on beating some as-yet mysterious strategy with it. It could have helped somewhat against the "Creatures Toolbox", I suppose, but would have been so much of a liability in so many other circumstances that I simply cannot fathom it having been worth it over something even moderately more useful like Sorcerous Spyglass - barring an attempt at specifically trying to stop activated abilities from lands or mana-producing artifacts? In that case I would run Pithing Needle or Phyrexian Revoker instead, unless I needed one draw step to interact with multiple different versions of such activated abilities at once. At this point the reasonable circumstances are starting to become extremely specific now, to the point of near-paranoia against a single rogue decklist, since I cannot think of a popular Modern deck that fits the bill.
What I assume happened before the top 8, then, is that Diogo played against a few fetchland manabases, plus maybe his as-yet-unnamed boogeyman, and happened to have a convenient trump card early a good portion of the time. This might have allowed him the chance to get set up with his synergies, and the power of the shell made up for the relatively poor quality of his average draw steps after that. There are other mysteries, however, the easiest to explain probably being the bluff factor behind specifically four copies of Snow-covered Plains alongside eleven normal ones. Four-of Emeria is also aggressive, but more justifiable in his mono-white shell. His two copies of Runed Halo are easier to take advantage of in mono-white, though, which is even more the case with the two Devout Lightcaster in his sideboard. After that, the singleton Grand Abolisher and Cataclysmic Gearhulk could be either overkill for his mysterious opponent, or more likely pet cards and/or part of favourable combination sequences of various kinds.
The final issue is with the 2-2-2-3 split of three-drops, where Kitchen Finks, Flickerwisp, Generous Gift, and Ranger-Captain of Eos are (quite frankly) fighting haphazardly for space and sequencing in a deck with no relevant library manipulation. If having access to these effects was important, maximizing the best one or two and running singletons of the rest would be a far more coherent solution. The same can be said for the 2-2 split of Wrath of God and Restoration Angel, both of which reward different types of plays, and massively complicate your "topdeck outs" calculations through encouraging sharply contrasting play patterns. With the two copies of Sun Titan there is a more reasonable curve-based argument, but the number of non-overlapping singletons, two-ofs, and three-packs split between the maindeck and sideboard, combined with situational enchantments and internal non-bos would have made mulligan decisions an extraordinarily difficult task. Finally, his graveyard interaction being limited to two Surgical Extraction might provide a clue as to his expected metagame; they are totally insufficient as a plan against any graveyard-based deck, and so such strategies must have been either absent or incredibly unlucky. These appear therefore to be more focus on some strange combo, to my eyes.
That's all I can tell until I get more information on the rest of the metagame, but I am eager to try solving the puzzle again if I do find anything else!
Good morning all! I had a question regarding the Teferi slot the UW versions are running these days. I love t3feri being a control player at heart but man is he expensive! Before I make the purchase of one, I wanted to get your thoughts on if/why he’s essential. I currently run 1 GotT in that slot and have always found him fantastic and would also consider Ranger in the slot as well if trying to halt combos from going off to mimic t3feris static effect. Would love to hear your thoughts on the three cards before I purchase.
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it's obvious you like the card.. even your avatar is Teferi. just kidding.
honestly, I have no experience using small t3feri in this deck. Gerant would be the one to fully answer your question.
well, but if you look on the positive side of things. T3feri is a strong walker that you can use on many other UW control decks, so getting one isn't really a waste of money.
It is an important question to ask, and I commend you for doing your research before making any purchases. Resisting impulse buys has been a very important skill to develop for the long-term as long as the game has existed. The answer to your question is complex, and will depend on your playstyle, preferences, and metagame. I will give you my impressions of its role to me, then the comparison you mentioned, and hopefully you will feel able to provide the necessary context to make your own decision afterwards.
To me, then, Teferi, Time Raveler is not an essential part of the deck, but fills an essential role. This may appear to be a bit of a paradox, but things become a little more clear if I say "three effects LIKE Tef3ri" are needed. There are a minimum of 3 and a maximum of 5 slots in the deck (as I play it) that must serve as answers to noncreature threats. This bare minimum is so that I can reliably have access to such an effect over the course of what I feel to be the average game length. If I am playing Emeria, the Sky Ruin, it is because I expect that average game length to be at least eight turns (and ideally more). The implication is that I am counting on eight draw steps, plus seven cards in the opening hand, and those combined will contain a minimum of three self-replacing creatures, and hopefully one Court Hussar, which means I will have usually seen from 18 to 21 cards (the fail case being 15, barring Mulligans) before Emeria triggers for the first time. Three answers to a more complex problem at this point in the starting 60 are required in order to consistently solve more intractable issues that may have been ignored while merely attempting to survive against creature-based pressure. The imperative to drag out the game to the point where this occurs means that any such answer needs to also have immediate applications when drawn against a typical aggressive curve. The newest Teferi checks all these important boxes, and can therefore be considered an option for the maindeck.
The responsibilities of his function explained, then, it becomes important to address why he displaced the previous slot, and then why as a singleton. The direct competition for his presence is the perennially reliable Detention Sphere, which he is identical to in both converted mana cost and specific colour requirements. When the newest option became available, I was playing three copies. I played four of the enchantment in a very early iteration of the deck, which was very quickly revealed to be too many, at which point I dropped to the three-of which I played successfully for five years or so, supplementing them with cheaper and less versatile answers (typically replacements for the Wrath of God and eventually the Settle the Wreckage) such as Spellskite and Runed Halo in faster metagames, when help was needed lower on the curve in order to make the games last to the point where Emeria, the Sky Ruin could begin to make a difference.
That context established, the release of War of the Spark opened up the ability to make direct comparisons between the two gold three-drops with an eye towards gameplay. My instinct was that the card might be at least a potential replacement to consider. I therefore spent my next few local tournaments taking a mental snapshot of the boardstate whenever I saw a Detention Sphere in an actual match, and asking myself if I would feel as if I was in a better position had the card been the Planeswalker instead. This was sometimes difficult to tell, since the card velocity and play patterns of the deck are both affected by managing loyalty, but the preliminary answer was that the effects were close to being on a par with one another. After two small tournaments, this process was no longer giving relevant new information, so the next thing was to stress-test the new option as aggressively as possible. Three copies of the card immediately proved to be too many for the metagame at the time, although the static ability is a true powerhouse in certain matchups to the point where I could see myself playing at least that many again someday. (I will state for the record here that not only Flash but Cascade, Suspend, and Rebound, in addition to spells exploiting priority-based stack tricks, are part of a set of plays that suffer horribly in the face of his "sorcery-speed" restriction.)
Since the static ability was now safely filed under "metagame-dependent", the Planeswalker's two activated abilities were what now required closer scrutiny. The positive aspects of them were that they A) provided excellent attrition and tempo by replacing the card invested while delaying and distracting opposing creatures, B) could be threatened even on the empty boards where Detention Sphere is often irrelevant, C) had direct synergy with the sweepers. The third option never relevantly occurred, and in fact has yet to be significant in my experience, although I once had a case where it might have been my only out to a Lumbering Falls with an overabundance of mana to activate it multiple times, and the threat of a surprise sweeper has made the odd opponent hesitate on their plays. The second point was a real bonus to me, and the first was clearly a very powerful option to have access to. The problem was focused down to his minus ability. The bounce effect is restricted in two fundamental categories. First and foremost, it does not deal with a problem long-term, only forestalling it to a future turn (typically the very next one). For a deck trying to play the game with the understanding that it will have more options than the opponent in the lategame, affording them an extra option in the future is a significant concern. Second, and only slightly less significant, is that there is a category of permanent which it cannot interact with at all - Planeswalkers. This is an increasingly significant portion of Modern's average boardstates, and being able to bounce one's own ETB effects for advantage while suppressing instant-speed interaction only barely makes up for this important loss of function.
My next step was then to try two Teferi, Time Raveler alongside a single Detention Sphere, and the results were far more encouraging. Having even one permanent solution to corner-case scenarios like a Jace, the Mind Sculptor or Nahiri, the Harbinger about to ultimate - or something more esoteric like a rogue maindeck Rest in Peace - relieved a huge mental load, and more importantly gave something to dig for with the Planeswalker's card draw effect on the occasions where its bounce ability was not very impressive. The synergy between the two cards was also notable, where opponents needed to play differently to pressure the Planeswalker, which encouraged potential 2-for-1 exchanges with "the Azorius Maelstrom Pulse" in the same way it did with sweepers. When the two cards were drawn together, there was also a very strong interaction available which imitated a slow version of the Flickerwisp ETB trigger, notably without exposing either of the pair to real blowout interactions. A direct comparison of the strengths of both revealed somewhat unsurprisingly that Detention Sphere was better against strategies and threats that went "wide", and Teferi, Time Raveler could sometimes be much better against operational sequences that tried to build up and force through a single "tall" threat. I enjoyed this 2-1 configuration for a while, and would have only minor objections to it at the moment.
The objections I do have, however, are enough to affect its position in the hierarchy of "how many of this effect do I want". Above all other concerns on this axis is the fact that Pithing Needle can potentially become more than a best-case 1-for-2 if an opponent brings it in to deal with some other random ability. I gladly accept, and even welcome, the fact that they brought in the Artifact and might conceivably name him before I am able to activate the single bounce ability which would guarantee tangible value from his presence, because on the intangibles front the static ability will still be a thorn in their side while its loyalty will likely soak up damage. This becomes an unacceptable sacrifice to make if I must also open myself up to a second dead draw step in the meantime. My next quibble with the card is to note that it often ends up in the graveyard very easily as a consequence of its low loyalty after an immediate Repulse activation. This exposes additional copies in hand to a value-added Surgical Extraction. As a common feature of desperation sideboard plans, both of these targeted 1-mana disruption cards are almost always fighting a losing battle against the Emeria, the Sky Ruin brand of attrition, and I am loath to give up even the faintest edge against cards which are frequently a sign of crushing positional weakness.
Eventually, on the balance of things (as I said to someone else who asked a less detailed version of the same question) I came to the conclusion that I was relatively happy drawing either card in the early game, with a mild albeit consistent preference towards the Enchantment when my typical game progression was considered on the whole, but happiest of all when I drew one of each. As a final push to my current build, the games where Teferi, Time Raveler was truly backbreaking were generally slower matchups where I would have extra time to find him or cheat him into play with Sun Titan, and once on the battlefield his presence could be relied upon more than a single copy of Detention Sphere could when considering common sideboard cards. When considered as a sort of holistic tightrope act, these minor factors have led me to my current construction, and though I feel I am always prepared to go back to three Detention Sphere with little regret on a monthly basis, I have found the 2-1 split to be very effective. The variety of effects has been beneficial overall, and having at least one of each card generally provides much better versatility to Sun Titan and can sometimes serve as a worry-free bridge to the lategame by resetting Court Hussar to be cast for UUU when the board is stable. My final verdict is that one copy has overall been a serious upgrade, but does not represent an indispensable effect.
I think that covers everything I need to say in order to assess your potential replacements. On the whole, then, Gideon of the Trials is a true contender in functionality. Being somewhat like a more expensive Runed Halo that can't preempt a hasty or spell-based threat, but compensates in certain circumstances with his emblem, he brings more value long-term. Set side-by-side against Teferi, Time Raveler, there is a legitimate argument to be had. Although I would be far less likely to want to draw multiple copies of him, Gideon is at least a speed bump for lethal haste creatures in a topdeck war, and can interact with degenerate "I win" combos such as Thassa's Oracle or Laboratory Maniac, and so I think his emblem's importance should be compared directly to the metagame value of Teferi's static ability. Outside of this, he is also mono-white, which affects the average amount of manabase damage taken against Burn, where he is also a much stronger card in general. The pressure he provides is a unique role he can play which I think must be compared to Teferi's bounce spell plus card advantage, where he suffers slightly on the balance since Emeria is normally not concerned with pressuring opponents. On the other hand, his damage-prevention effect is a clear frontrunner by forcing opponents into overextending, and has the edge over the far more speculative advantage of a potential impending Rout.
When it comes to Ranger-Captain of Eos, the matter is much more cut-and-dried. Based on my testing, the card requires far too much for what it provides to this strategy. It displaces one of the most important spots of the curve, and requires deckbuilding sacrifices which disrupt smooth sequencing even when included, and the activated ability requires throwing away a good portion of the advantage he represents as a clock against the combo decks he would otherwise be most useful against. I cannot see myself recommending a singleton of it in isolation to a deck that has no targets for its ETB effect to boot, and I am firmly convinced that until either there is a better attrition 1-drop available to white than Thraben Inspector, or the sacrifice ability can spell a winning advantage against a meaningful percentage of Modern, I do not want it anywhere near the maindeck of Emeria control as I understand it. There is a discussion to be had over whether, in combination with maindeck Mistveil Plains and sideboarded copies of both Hope of Ghirapur and Kami of False Hope, two or three of the card could provide sufficient coverage against a large enough swath of the Metagame to be worth a transformational plan, but this is as far as I am willing to entertain him any longer pending new developments.
I had a lengthy discussion with Marinojuk about the card against Tron, where he has had success which he attributes directly to play patterns it enables. I believe he was running a four-of, though, and so he may have to be called upon to explain its value to his own results in a more aggressive version of Emeria, but I have not heard from him in several months now. I sadly cannot personally vouch for its effectiveness there, nor anywhere else for that matter. Here is the transcript of the last place we had left the discussion, which can be found in its entirety on page 67 of this thread:
We are playing a deck running Wall of Omens, and there are cards that are being included in the maindeck on the justification they help some small amount against spell-based combo decks. This is a trap. Emeria rewards consistent attrition, and spending 6 mana to draw a card through getting a Thraben Inspector (which is already only possible by shoehorning aggressive creatures into slots which are critical for setting up stabilizing plays) does not strike me as the best way to emphasize that fact. In particular, losing the percentage points against Jund and the like is too much of a cost for me to be interested in the benefit that Ranger-Captain brings. If we are not demolishing midrange, why are we playing this tapland that rewards seven basics to be in play in a colour with little to no acceleration? There is nothing I have yet found in the Human Soldier that improves on the Ghost Quarter lock as our main pre-sideboard strategy, especially since it does not beat them on its own, and cannot even interact with a turn 3 combo on the play, which means we are still fighting an uphill battle strategically against the draws they want to maximize. Since we cannot avoid relying on corner cases to justify a maindeck inclusion, I choose to embrace that fact so as not to throw good money after bad.
Second, and more importantly, I have an official retraction to make. My experiences must have been outliers with the card, and so when you say that you are happy to face Tron I will keep my promise and apologize for my error. I will still choose not to include the creature in my build because of its effects on the curve in addition to the arguments I presented above, but the value of the card is clearly high enough to you that I must accept your sincerity. To be clear, then, I am reversing my position outright on the strength of your recommendations, and going forward we are treating the following statement as true in this thread: "The presence of Ranger-Captain of Eos in the maindeck turns Tron into a favourable matchup for Emeria control". Are there any caveats as to numbers or card support you would like to add to that phrase, or would you say that it can stand on its own as a blanket statement?
Please let me know if you have any objections or clarifications to make!
I believe that I have given you all the information I can to help you with your possible purchase. If your best judgement still leaves you on the fence with regards to your competitive intentions for tournament play, I would always be willing to talk through potential implications with you here.
The key is indeed in Dig through Time and Treasure Cruise. If those are ever unbanned, or similar card selection that exiles the graveyard can be innovated or printed, that is when I will be most concerned with Inverter in Modern, because it is otherwise totally non-interactive. Ponza is a deck that can work, but it requires too many cards to line up for its plan to be consistent. If the individual cards are strong, however, it can become a very important safety valve on the format, which is likely why it appeared to be a metagame choice against Ramp. When a single Pillage or Mwonvuli Acid-moss can buy several turns against a popular subset of the format, the strategy is in a good position.
Where humans is concerned, the winning maindeck is extremely close to the version of the list that was running around when Lantern Control was a bigger part of the metagame. There is a minor upgrade in reach because Kessig Malcontents can steal an additional 5% of games against Emeria, as it was originally designed to do against Ensnaring Bridge, but the card requires overextending into sweepers, so typically it only hurts their chances unless specifically Settle the Wreckage is being set up. Reflector Mage, on the other hand, is almost always a losing bet. It is expensive, slow, weak, and a huge liability against the 2-mana ETB creatures specifically. It can sometimes push tempo, but almost never to any benefit if multiple blockers are available (which Emeria has a wealth of). On the whole, these 3-drops take up space in the opening hand and slow the games down, which is an advantage for Emeria that the increase in resilience just barely compensates for - but only if the draws line up such that that matters.
I will begin working on the Bant Snowblade write-up soon, and you can expect it to follow this post within the next few hours.
I see, so we can beat that Humans list after all.
It's morning here, will check back again after lunch. Having a guide to beat snow would be nice, since it's one of the decks doing well right now. People have a good chance of encountering it in a tournament.
if they worked well in your testing, then you're probably on the right track. As I said a few pages ago, there are several ways for this deck to be built. You can see even on the primer, we have 3 different sample builds there. Squadron Hawk + Sfm remind me of Caw Blade decks that were popular in standard years ago.
Anyway, if you want to add prince. you could trim a ranger captain and a wisp. This would have the effect also of giving you more turn 2 plays, making the deck a bit faster. Or you could just remove all wisp and add 4 prince in their place - this would be a good choice if fast aggro like Burn will be present in decent numbers in the tournament you are going to.
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Absolutely. I think that this version of humans would still be among the best matchups for Emeria control. I have an aside for Saint Tobias, which you can skip if you like, and the Bant writeup comes below it with the title in bold.
Hello Saint Tobias, interesting list! I have always preferred the clean manabase enabled by the mono-white versions, but really feel the lack of blue and Court Hussar against breakout decks and combo; especially in the post-sideboard games. Regardless, I think that it is a quite defensible choice in local metagames, and you have created some compensation for the lack of card advantage with the Ranger-Captain of Eos/Thraben Inspector package being joined by Squadron Hawk.
If I could offer three strategic pieces of advice, though, I would first say that Giver of Runes and Sword of Fire and Ice both invest in your board state, while Wrath of God demolishes it. This is a very awkward tension to negotiate for optimal play in-game. I would either remove those two sorceries for two more Settle the Wreckage if you wanted to keep your board intact, or take out the two spells I mentioned for a third Stoneforge Mystic and a second Batterskull if you wanted to gain value while blowing it up. I think you may find that the Sword's protection makes it a better sideboard card in any case. The sweeper/blink effect dynamic is another difficult one to manage as well, so try to decide on which angles you wish to push.
(To illustrate a focused plan, the changes I suggest below should be considered with three copies of Charming Prince instead of the three-card Equipment package which would remain. Either that, or you could imagine they were a Selfless Spirit, a Sanctum Guardian, and a Bottle Gnomes, for the purposes of bringing up ways to "split the difference" when Wrath of God can no longer enable a full graveyard.)
Next, I think that a fourth Field of Ruin would be a massive upgrade to your manabase over the nineteenth Basic Plains. There are indeed circumstances where the opponent is on all Basics, but these are negligible compared to the value of the disruption against Tron, Scapeshift, and Amulet Titan. I would also consider either going up to three Emeria, the Sky Ruin, or replacing another Plains with a Mistveil Plains because of its synergy with Squadron Hawk and Stoneforge Mystic, but this would be putting in a third tapland, which may not be worth the tempo loss in your 2-drop heavy list. As it stands, though, I suspect your curve may be able to handle the addition of at least one of these - if not both.
Finally, the Generous Gift in your maindeck is a good catch-all, but it is extremely volatile and single-use at best. You may like the Stone Rain effect it provides more than the recommendations I am about to bring up, but I urge you to consider the fact that Emeria, the Sky Ruin rewards reuseable effects by virtue of its pull in the lategame. If this influence is not being built towards, then you are simply playing a monocoloured tapland in Modern. Not an appealing prospect, I should think. In any case, my replacements would be either the boring but Sun Titan-friendly Oblivion Ring, or the much more significantly Zombify-ed Cavalier of Dawn, which would also allow you to upgrade extra Wall of Omens or Clue tokens into a threat when things were going well. Intriguingly, it can also target itself with its ETB to provide a stream of Golems plus additional card advantage. This may be too cute, but could actually matter when combined with Bottle Gnomes, for instance.
Where your sideboard is concerned, I have been a big fan of both Burrenton Forge-Tender and Hope of Ghirapur when I know that I can get access to them with Ranger-Captain of Eos, often as a straight substitution where Kami of False Hope is lacklustre. Space for the 1/1 targets would be made by trimming Lone Missionary, assuming more lifegain in the maindeck (such as Charming Prince). With Mox Opal banned, I also think that your Stony Silences could become 2 Phyrexian Revoker and a third Spyglass with little loss of coverage, preventing Clue and other Artifact non-bos.
Anyway, back to matchups for the title page Fluff. Here is the breakdown :
Bant Snowblade Bant Snowblade is a strategy currently gaining popularity, ever since the printing of Arcum's Astrolabe opened up an important new paradigm for fixing manabases in Modern. There exist several three and four-colour combinations of a similar shell possible, largely basing themselves in Blue and Green for Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath and Ice-fang Coatl, then adding white for board control and threats like Teferi, Hero of Dominaria or Stoneforge Mystic. Due to the wide selection of cards available to the strategy, however, every version is highly likely to display customization, and can therefore be difficult to plan against effectively. The lists are still relatively new as well, and are still refining themselves. Despite this variability there are a few general commonalities to their control plans, and Emeria, the Sky Ruin grants a marked advantage to the player with access to it in complex attrition battles, which this pairing can very often become.
As a slower defensive strategy in Modern, Bant Snowblade is an excellent home for Planeswalkers, but generally seems to use them as speed bumps to delay aggression for long enough to set itself up for a bigger push in the mid- to late-game. This is both positive and negative for Emeria control, since on the one hand the deck has access to Jace, the Mind Sculptor and multiple incarnations of Teferi, but on the other hand it is usually not very well prepared to protect them from pressure by cheap value creatures. The ultimate abilities on Jace and the larger of the Teferis are Bant Snowblade's trump to an active Emeria, the Sky Ruin, but they are often unable to prevent a back-and-forth war over their loyalty due to Emeria control making a more relevant boardstate in the early game. This is another significant edge, because while Bant must weigh its options on holding up countermagic versus committing a planeswalker, Emeria can simply continue tapping out for creatures every turn with the intention of pressuring future planeswalkers if they resolve.
As an extension of this fact, the games are often determined by the quality of the draws on both parts. Here again, Emeria control has a slight advantage, since the consistency of its draw steps is quite high and very good at ensuring deck velocity and a full hand well into the lategame, but this is paired with the disadvantage of a relatively flat power level. A Court Hussar is generally going to be a consistently good draw, for example, whether it is facing a topdecked Teferi, Time Raveler or a Force of Negation. This is excellent in the second case, but mediocre in the first. The upshot of these considerations, when Mana Leak and Path to Exile are thrown into the mix, is that the midgame is often reached with several creatures in play on Emeria's side, making pressure on Planeswalkers a given. The next important set of cards now begins to become noteworthy: the sweepers.
Regrettably, Emeria now has another disadvantage in that it contains more of these effects. These are very poor draws, on both sides, and typically irrelevant unless a planeswalker is threatening its ultimate. Using Settle the Wreckage to ramp is an important tactic to turn the card into a contributing piece here, but Supreme Verdict and Wrath of God have no such alternate mode. Their most useful function is likely to re-stock the graveyard if recursion targets are running low, which is a task better suited to Mortarpod in the first place. The presence of lifegain and copious removal on both sides makes winning through combat damage academic, and only a symptom of a losing battle and not the root cause; consecutive relevant draw steps. The key to the matchup lies in punishing Bant for every failure on this front. The most important feature of drawn-out topdeck wars here is that Emeria is perfectly happy to turn its copies of Path to Exile on itself, while Bant is sometimes forced to be the one spending a card providing its opponent with a Rampant Growth to protect its Planeswalkers.
Speaking of these, Detention Sphere is an important weapon both here and against Uro (who will die if ever released from it due to Escape's wording), and it is important to clear the way for it by baiting Force of Negation with Crucible of Worlds and Teferi, Hero of Dominaria. These cards are very strong against Bant when resolved, but less relevant to lose access to when setting up a Sun Titan to turn the corner. Their Ice-Fang Coatl is a moderate concern where the Giant's attacks are concerned, but the threat of it should not prevent attacks in most cases - its value will frequently pale in comparison to an extra recursion trigger. The other significan finisher in the matchup, Batterskull, should not be prioritized over Mortarpod to enable plays around their 1/1 deathtouching flier, or their copy of the lifelinking Germ. It also stands a much better chance of connecting meaningfully when drawn naturally as a surprise after the Mystic sets up a value target for redundant Paths (or an extra point of damage on a faltering Planeswalker). Pilgrim's Eye also shines in both these respects, and like Wall of Omens can eventually serve as fodder for the Mortarpod.
Crucible of Worlds bears more discussion, as it brings about the third phase of sub-battles in that it is tied to the ability to leverage Field of Ruin. Although Bant's manabase is built on Snow lands, they are typically well short of all the basics they need to keep themselves on certain double-colour combinations. Many Islands (up to 6) can be expected, but Ghost Quarter can be activated on a basic Plains or Forest to cut down their outs if the game begins to tilt in Emeria's favour. Likewise, any dual lands can be downgraded to basics while thinning the deck for Emeria and ticking up towards its namesake card. At some point, sometimes forced by pre-emptive strikes when setting up Emeria, the Sky Ruin, Bant will have to start using its own Field of Ruin to prevent recursion, and will swiftly begin to restrict its own plays in the face of opposing activations. No matter how tempting it may be, though, the presence of Cryptic Command should prevent any momentary illusions of removing Astrolabes with Detention Sphere. Unless tubocharged by a Titan or Crucible, mana disruption comes naturally, or not at all.
Post-sideboard, the most relevant upgrade is found in their useless Supreme Verdict turning into Ashiok, Dream Render, but the balance of the post-board games goes towards Emeria Control, which can remove its five sweepers for the Pithing Needle effects plus an Aura of Silence, and two Aven Mindcensor (or Glen Elendra Archmage). On top of this, three Path to Exile and a Pilgrim's Eye can be removed on the play to make room for three Remorseful Cleric as extra evasive pressure which disrupts Uro, plus the occasional Snapcaster Mage or Mystic Sanctuary. On the draw, one extra Path to Exile stays in and a second Pilgrim's Eye is removed instead to reduce the chances of Ashiok disrupting early sequencing. Apart from this specific extra wrinkle, the dynamics remain the same as pre-sideboard. Maintain pressure, and punish every Mana Leak, Path to Exile, and Force of Negation they left in, while working up to Emeria. As a final note, be cautious of Archmage's Charm on Germ tokens when declaring attackers. The Batterskull itself will still belong to you, but might suddenly find itself equipped to a very good blocker on the other side of the battlefield if you do not have three mana available to return it to your hand.
I think that is most of what I was able to tell in my three matches thus far. I hope it helps!
Bant Snowblade added to matchups section. It's below the Burn guide.
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Want to play a UW control deck in modern, but don't have jace or snaps?
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Slightly updated list. Tried cutting the Hawks in favor of Charming Prince and ended up really liking it. I ended up going 3/2 in my first league. Won against Red Prowess, Dredge, and Bant Snow, lost to Amulet Titan and Dredge a second time. Overall I'm pretty happy with the result! I like having the Charming Prince in there, but I miss the fourth Path To Exile, so I'll end up cutting something to have that in there. Other than that, I definitely want some more anti-dredge tech in the sideboard, cause that match felt rough. Winds Of Abandon and Settle the Wreckage were both game winning whenever I got to cast them , so I'm pretty happy with those. Are there any other cards I'm potentially missing?
Modern:
(online)Enduring Ideal
(online)BUG
(paper)Mono White Control
Standard:
(paper) Whatever I can throw together
(online) UWR Control
Legacy:
(paper)The Gate
(paper)Dream Halls
we have a guide to play against Dredge in the Matchups and Sideboarding section of the primer.
It's newly updated and written by Gerant. You can try checking that out.
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I gave a few thoughts on your list in the first section of my long post four entries above this one. I would recommend you take a look at it for recommendations, and I would be happy to discuss things if there is anything that you would like to talk about. Good luck in your next event!
-Stéphane
Modern:
(online)Enduring Ideal
(online)BUG
(paper)Mono White Control
Standard:
(paper) Whatever I can throw together
(online) UWR Control
Legacy:
(paper)The Gate
(paper)Dream Halls
It is still legitimate to play your version if you are enjoying it. That's part of the beauty of Magic; there are arguments for everything, and the variance factor built into the game should make your personal satisfaction with the cards you are playing the most important part of the experience.
That being said, this is a forum looking to optimize competitive advantages, and I do indeed feel that the blue splash is a necessary part of beating the current top tier of Modern consistently. I am more focused on deck construction and cohesive plans than most, so be aware that there are people who will have differing results and alternative conclusions from everything I have discovered over my decade-odd dedication to this shell. As a semi-professional for about three years in the early 2010's, though, I would put my name and reputation behind a recommendation for the following 75 as my most viable candidate for a Grand Prix level event right now; it is the latest version of the recommended list that my sideboard write-ups refer to on the homepage:
4 Stoneforge Mystic
4 Pilgrim's Eye
3 Court Hussar
1 Teferi, Time Raveler
2 Batterskull
3 Sun Titan
3 Mortarpod
2 Detention Sphere
1 Crucible of Worlds
3 Supreme Verdict
1 Wrath of God
1 Settle the Wreckage
4 Path to Exile
7 Plains
3 Field of Ruin
2 Ghost Quarter
1 Prairie Stream
1 Island
1 Mistveil Plains
4 Flooded Strand
2 Hallowed Fountain
3 Remorseful Cleric
3 Aven Mindcensor
1 Lone Missionary
1 Lavinia, Azorius Renegade
2 Pithing Needle
2 Celestial Purge
1 Blessed Alliance
1 Forsake the Worldly
1 Aura of Silence
The third Aven Mindcensor in the sideboard is my current frontrunner in a flex slot which can alternatively be a third Celestial Purge, a second Lone Missionary, a Sorcerous Spyglass, a Glen Elendra Archmage, a Stonecloaker, or a Shadowspear depending on your preference and metagame. My choice is a response to the recent dominance of Ramp strategies. The only other card which has not been thoroughly put through its paces is the Forsake the Worldly, which offers a clean and versatile hedge against Gods, specifically Heliod, Sun-crowned. I have beaten the Walking Ballista combo twice without the exile effect, but the third time I faced it I drew a match that I was winning, and the lack of a solid answer to their Indestructible non-creature enchantment was a contributing factor to my disappointing miss on another top 8. The only problem with the card is that every removal spell for noncreature permanents is now a three-mana play, so this may soon return to being the classic Disenchant that has served me so well in multiple other matchups and sideboard plans.
This build walks an extremely fine line in the format, and takes weeks (if not months, or even years) of experience to master, but maintains the ability to gain percentage points against any matchup by playing as a unit. There are no auto-wins, and you will have to work for every game, but even its worst pairings are not auto-losses, and I feel that I have at least a chance to actually play Magic against every person who sits down across the table from me - no matter what strategy they are piloting. This trade-off of power for consistency is acceptable to me. If you feel motivated by legitimate, hard-fought victories as much as I do, I encourage you to try it out to see whether the same might be true for you.
If your list makes you happy, though, feel free to ignore all of this.
Good luck with whatever you decide,
-Stéphane
I have updated your sample decklist in the primer to the one you recently posted.
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Want to play a UW control deck in modern, but don't have jace or snaps?
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Thanks for doing so, but until I have more data the Forsake the Worldly is experimental and should go back to being a Disenchant.
And, just for the record, Aven Mindcensor is possibly the most difficult card to play in the whole deck (or are at least on par with Ghost Quarter). I would probably leave the two Glen Elendra Archmage and the Sorcerous Spyglass in their place as a starting point for people just looking to try out the list, because the Mindcensor tends to corrupt the deck's sequencing, and is easily brought in by mistake. I was eventually able to integrate them into coherent plans, but it took a lot of work to understand when and where I could reliably leverage their effect.
That being said, I do think that a plan against Ramp is necessary right now, so maybe a compromise would be just to put "3x Flex Slot" in their place in the sideboard, so that people could adapt the core of the list to their needs. Perhaps this is the best way to split the difference. I leave it up to you; if you think it is best to have the most competitive version up, regardless of complexity, I would just ask you to put the Disenchant back in over the Forsake the Worldly, and I would commit to answering any tactical questions as they came up.
However, I think we should keep the Aven Mindcensors there. Amulet Titan is a super strong deck, and it's tough to beat without the aven.
A little sad there would probably be no large tournaments while this covid problem is around..
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It is labelled as "white weenie", but if you look at the cards used.. it has Sun Titan, Wall of Omens, Flickerwisp, and a full playset of Emeria, the Sky Ruin.
What caught my attention is that it has a playset of suppression field maindeck. Maybe the deck owner has an idea of what he would face in the 31 person tournament?
Circuito WildWest 2019 Etapa 5 @ São Miguel do Oeste - Diogo Rickwardt - 7-21-19
https://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=22573&d=353868&f=MO
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Want to play a UW control deck in modern, but don't have jace or snaps?
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UWAzorius Titan ControlUW
BWOrzhov ControlBW
nice to see you back here. Oh, and if you're having problem with certain decks - you might like to check out the matchups and sideboarding section of the primer, we've updated most of the guides there.
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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
I have been trying to figure out what is going on here, but the problem is that the deck registration website is currently down so I cannot see the full tournament's statistics. Judging by the top 8 alone, then, I can only come to the same conclusion as you - the pilot must have metagamed mostly against people who he beat to keep out of the elimination rounds. I am not a huge fan of this strategy in Modern, or with control, and specifically not with Emeria looking at the sacrifices Diogo had to make (they appear to have left him very vulnerable to the rest of the top 8, and I am not surprised to see that he didn't make it out of the quarterfinals).
As it stands, the list is, to put it mildly, unfocused. Suppression Field is a powerful situational effect, but the conditions for its best use are strongly dictated by a reduced timeframe. I have a good deal of experience with the card from back when I just missed on the top 8 of GP Vancouver with Norin Sisters, while that deck was still viable (AKA before the printings of Wrenn and Six, Liliana, the last Hope, and most significantly Walking Ballista, while the Soul Warden effects could still spell auto-wins against the top tier of the metagame in both Burn and Splinter Twin). Every extra turn beyond the first three that you allow your opponent makes the card dramatically worse, since they will have a chance to crack their fetchlands and play around the tax by making natural land drops, so the effect is supported by shortening the game, which the card itself does not contribute to in the slightest. Emeria, the Sky Ruin does very little on that front either, and in fact rewards the opposite philosophy by passing the turn a minimum of eight times before having a chance to accrue value (barring acceleration).
In addition to this, Diogo was running four Field of Ruin, four Thraben Inspector, three Ranger-Captain of Eos, and a Mistveil Plains, so fully 20% of his deck's plays are negatively affected by the enchantment's symmetrical effect. Seeing as he chose to run FOUR of them, it must must mean that he had a truly single-minded focus on beating some as-yet mysterious strategy with it. It could have helped somewhat against the "Creatures Toolbox", I suppose, but would have been so much of a liability in so many other circumstances that I simply cannot fathom it having been worth it over something even moderately more useful like Sorcerous Spyglass - barring an attempt at specifically trying to stop activated abilities from lands or mana-producing artifacts? In that case I would run Pithing Needle or Phyrexian Revoker instead, unless I needed one draw step to interact with multiple different versions of such activated abilities at once. At this point the reasonable circumstances are starting to become extremely specific now, to the point of near-paranoia against a single rogue decklist, since I cannot think of a popular Modern deck that fits the bill.
What I assume happened before the top 8, then, is that Diogo played against a few fetchland manabases, plus maybe his as-yet-unnamed boogeyman, and happened to have a convenient trump card early a good portion of the time. This might have allowed him the chance to get set up with his synergies, and the power of the shell made up for the relatively poor quality of his average draw steps after that. There are other mysteries, however, the easiest to explain probably being the bluff factor behind specifically four copies of Snow-covered Plains alongside eleven normal ones. Four-of Emeria is also aggressive, but more justifiable in his mono-white shell. His two copies of Runed Halo are easier to take advantage of in mono-white, though, which is even more the case with the two Devout Lightcaster in his sideboard. After that, the singleton Grand Abolisher and Cataclysmic Gearhulk could be either overkill for his mysterious opponent, or more likely pet cards and/or part of favourable combination sequences of various kinds.
The final issue is with the 2-2-2-3 split of three-drops, where Kitchen Finks, Flickerwisp, Generous Gift, and Ranger-Captain of Eos are (quite frankly) fighting haphazardly for space and sequencing in a deck with no relevant library manipulation. If having access to these effects was important, maximizing the best one or two and running singletons of the rest would be a far more coherent solution. The same can be said for the 2-2 split of Wrath of God and Restoration Angel, both of which reward different types of plays, and massively complicate your "topdeck outs" calculations through encouraging sharply contrasting play patterns. With the two copies of Sun Titan there is a more reasonable curve-based argument, but the number of non-overlapping singletons, two-ofs, and three-packs split between the maindeck and sideboard, combined with situational enchantments and internal non-bos would have made mulligan decisions an extraordinarily difficult task. Finally, his graveyard interaction being limited to two Surgical Extraction might provide a clue as to his expected metagame; they are totally insufficient as a plan against any graveyard-based deck, and so such strategies must have been either absent or incredibly unlucky. These appear therefore to be more focus on some strange combo, to my eyes.
That's all I can tell until I get more information on the rest of the metagame, but I am eager to try solving the puzzle again if I do find anything else!
looks like there's plenty of aggro and snow.
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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
UWAzorius Titan ControlUW
BWOrzhov ControlBW
honestly, I have no experience using small t3feri in this deck. Gerant would be the one to fully answer your question.
well, but if you look on the positive side of things. T3feri is a strong walker that you can use on many other UW control decks, so getting one isn't really a waste of money.
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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
It is an important question to ask, and I commend you for doing your research before making any purchases. Resisting impulse buys has been a very important skill to develop for the long-term as long as the game has existed. The answer to your question is complex, and will depend on your playstyle, preferences, and metagame. I will give you my impressions of its role to me, then the comparison you mentioned, and hopefully you will feel able to provide the necessary context to make your own decision afterwards.
To me, then, Teferi, Time Raveler is not an essential part of the deck, but fills an essential role. This may appear to be a bit of a paradox, but things become a little more clear if I say "three effects LIKE Tef3ri" are needed. There are a minimum of 3 and a maximum of 5 slots in the deck (as I play it) that must serve as answers to noncreature threats. This bare minimum is so that I can reliably have access to such an effect over the course of what I feel to be the average game length. If I am playing Emeria, the Sky Ruin, it is because I expect that average game length to be at least eight turns (and ideally more). The implication is that I am counting on eight draw steps, plus seven cards in the opening hand, and those combined will contain a minimum of three self-replacing creatures, and hopefully one Court Hussar, which means I will have usually seen from 18 to 21 cards (the fail case being 15, barring Mulligans) before Emeria triggers for the first time. Three answers to a more complex problem at this point in the starting 60 are required in order to consistently solve more intractable issues that may have been ignored while merely attempting to survive against creature-based pressure. The imperative to drag out the game to the point where this occurs means that any such answer needs to also have immediate applications when drawn against a typical aggressive curve. The newest Teferi checks all these important boxes, and can therefore be considered an option for the maindeck.
The responsibilities of his function explained, then, it becomes important to address why he displaced the previous slot, and then why as a singleton. The direct competition for his presence is the perennially reliable Detention Sphere, which he is identical to in both converted mana cost and specific colour requirements. When the newest option became available, I was playing three copies. I played four of the enchantment in a very early iteration of the deck, which was very quickly revealed to be too many, at which point I dropped to the three-of which I played successfully for five years or so, supplementing them with cheaper and less versatile answers (typically replacements for the Wrath of God and eventually the Settle the Wreckage) such as Spellskite and Runed Halo in faster metagames, when help was needed lower on the curve in order to make the games last to the point where Emeria, the Sky Ruin could begin to make a difference.
That context established, the release of War of the Spark opened up the ability to make direct comparisons between the two gold three-drops with an eye towards gameplay. My instinct was that the card might be at least a potential replacement to consider. I therefore spent my next few local tournaments taking a mental snapshot of the boardstate whenever I saw a Detention Sphere in an actual match, and asking myself if I would feel as if I was in a better position had the card been the Planeswalker instead. This was sometimes difficult to tell, since the card velocity and play patterns of the deck are both affected by managing loyalty, but the preliminary answer was that the effects were close to being on a par with one another. After two small tournaments, this process was no longer giving relevant new information, so the next thing was to stress-test the new option as aggressively as possible. Three copies of the card immediately proved to be too many for the metagame at the time, although the static ability is a true powerhouse in certain matchups to the point where I could see myself playing at least that many again someday. (I will state for the record here that not only Flash but Cascade, Suspend, and Rebound, in addition to spells exploiting priority-based stack tricks, are part of a set of plays that suffer horribly in the face of his "sorcery-speed" restriction.)
Since the static ability was now safely filed under "metagame-dependent", the Planeswalker's two activated abilities were what now required closer scrutiny. The positive aspects of them were that they A) provided excellent attrition and tempo by replacing the card invested while delaying and distracting opposing creatures, B) could be threatened even on the empty boards where Detention Sphere is often irrelevant, C) had direct synergy with the sweepers. The third option never relevantly occurred, and in fact has yet to be significant in my experience, although I once had a case where it might have been my only out to a Lumbering Falls with an overabundance of mana to activate it multiple times, and the threat of a surprise sweeper has made the odd opponent hesitate on their plays. The second point was a real bonus to me, and the first was clearly a very powerful option to have access to. The problem was focused down to his minus ability. The bounce effect is restricted in two fundamental categories. First and foremost, it does not deal with a problem long-term, only forestalling it to a future turn (typically the very next one). For a deck trying to play the game with the understanding that it will have more options than the opponent in the lategame, affording them an extra option in the future is a significant concern. Second, and only slightly less significant, is that there is a category of permanent which it cannot interact with at all - Planeswalkers. This is an increasingly significant portion of Modern's average boardstates, and being able to bounce one's own ETB effects for advantage while suppressing instant-speed interaction only barely makes up for this important loss of function.
My next step was then to try two Teferi, Time Raveler alongside a single Detention Sphere, and the results were far more encouraging. Having even one permanent solution to corner-case scenarios like a Jace, the Mind Sculptor or Nahiri, the Harbinger about to ultimate - or something more esoteric like a rogue maindeck Rest in Peace - relieved a huge mental load, and more importantly gave something to dig for with the Planeswalker's card draw effect on the occasions where its bounce ability was not very impressive. The synergy between the two cards was also notable, where opponents needed to play differently to pressure the Planeswalker, which encouraged potential 2-for-1 exchanges with "the Azorius Maelstrom Pulse" in the same way it did with sweepers. When the two cards were drawn together, there was also a very strong interaction available which imitated a slow version of the Flickerwisp ETB trigger, notably without exposing either of the pair to real blowout interactions. A direct comparison of the strengths of both revealed somewhat unsurprisingly that Detention Sphere was better against strategies and threats that went "wide", and Teferi, Time Raveler could sometimes be much better against operational sequences that tried to build up and force through a single "tall" threat. I enjoyed this 2-1 configuration for a while, and would have only minor objections to it at the moment.
The objections I do have, however, are enough to affect its position in the hierarchy of "how many of this effect do I want". Above all other concerns on this axis is the fact that Pithing Needle can potentially become more than a best-case 1-for-2 if an opponent brings it in to deal with some other random ability. I gladly accept, and even welcome, the fact that they brought in the Artifact and might conceivably name him before I am able to activate the single bounce ability which would guarantee tangible value from his presence, because on the intangibles front the static ability will still be a thorn in their side while its loyalty will likely soak up damage. This becomes an unacceptable sacrifice to make if I must also open myself up to a second dead draw step in the meantime. My next quibble with the card is to note that it often ends up in the graveyard very easily as a consequence of its low loyalty after an immediate Repulse activation. This exposes additional copies in hand to a value-added Surgical Extraction. As a common feature of desperation sideboard plans, both of these targeted 1-mana disruption cards are almost always fighting a losing battle against the Emeria, the Sky Ruin brand of attrition, and I am loath to give up even the faintest edge against cards which are frequently a sign of crushing positional weakness.
Eventually, on the balance of things (as I said to someone else who asked a less detailed version of the same question) I came to the conclusion that I was relatively happy drawing either card in the early game, with a mild albeit consistent preference towards the Enchantment when my typical game progression was considered on the whole, but happiest of all when I drew one of each. As a final push to my current build, the games where Teferi, Time Raveler was truly backbreaking were generally slower matchups where I would have extra time to find him or cheat him into play with Sun Titan, and once on the battlefield his presence could be relied upon more than a single copy of Detention Sphere could when considering common sideboard cards. When considered as a sort of holistic tightrope act, these minor factors have led me to my current construction, and though I feel I am always prepared to go back to three Detention Sphere with little regret on a monthly basis, I have found the 2-1 split to be very effective. The variety of effects has been beneficial overall, and having at least one of each card generally provides much better versatility to Sun Titan and can sometimes serve as a worry-free bridge to the lategame by resetting Court Hussar to be cast for UUU when the board is stable. My final verdict is that one copy has overall been a serious upgrade, but does not represent an indispensable effect.
I think that covers everything I need to say in order to assess your potential replacements. On the whole, then, Gideon of the Trials is a true contender in functionality. Being somewhat like a more expensive Runed Halo that can't preempt a hasty or spell-based threat, but compensates in certain circumstances with his emblem, he brings more value long-term. Set side-by-side against Teferi, Time Raveler, there is a legitimate argument to be had. Although I would be far less likely to want to draw multiple copies of him, Gideon is at least a speed bump for lethal haste creatures in a topdeck war, and can interact with degenerate "I win" combos such as Thassa's Oracle or Laboratory Maniac, and so I think his emblem's importance should be compared directly to the metagame value of Teferi's static ability. Outside of this, he is also mono-white, which affects the average amount of manabase damage taken against Burn, where he is also a much stronger card in general. The pressure he provides is a unique role he can play which I think must be compared to Teferi's bounce spell plus card advantage, where he suffers slightly on the balance since Emeria is normally not concerned with pressuring opponents. On the other hand, his damage-prevention effect is a clear frontrunner by forcing opponents into overextending, and has the edge over the far more speculative advantage of a potential impending Rout.
When it comes to Ranger-Captain of Eos, the matter is much more cut-and-dried. Based on my testing, the card requires far too much for what it provides to this strategy. It displaces one of the most important spots of the curve, and requires deckbuilding sacrifices which disrupt smooth sequencing even when included, and the activated ability requires throwing away a good portion of the advantage he represents as a clock against the combo decks he would otherwise be most useful against. I cannot see myself recommending a singleton of it in isolation to a deck that has no targets for its ETB effect to boot, and I am firmly convinced that until either there is a better attrition 1-drop available to white than Thraben Inspector, or the sacrifice ability can spell a winning advantage against a meaningful percentage of Modern, I do not want it anywhere near the maindeck of Emeria control as I understand it. There is a discussion to be had over whether, in combination with maindeck Mistveil Plains and sideboarded copies of both Hope of Ghirapur and Kami of False Hope, two or three of the card could provide sufficient coverage against a large enough swath of the Metagame to be worth a transformational plan, but this is as far as I am willing to entertain him any longer pending new developments.
I had a lengthy discussion with Marinojuk about the card against Tron, where he has had success which he attributes directly to play patterns it enables. I believe he was running a four-of, though, and so he may have to be called upon to explain its value to his own results in a more aggressive version of Emeria, but I have not heard from him in several months now. I sadly cannot personally vouch for its effectiveness there, nor anywhere else for that matter. Here is the transcript of the last place we had left the discussion, which can be found in its entirety on page 67 of this thread:
I believe that I have given you all the information I can to help you with your possible purchase. If your best judgement still leaves you on the fence with regards to your competitive intentions for tournament play, I would always be willing to talk through potential implications with you here.
Wishing you all the best,
-Stéphane Gerard