Talisman taps for mana immediately on T2. If you have Serum/Push/Thoughtseize/various 1 cmc artifacts it's a big upside. I'm mostly off Talisman/Signet these days. Ideas unbound finds lands and moxen very efficiently, and 2 mana ramp 1 is a very lackluster play when our biggest card is a 4 mana planeswalker that can't always defend itself immediately. One of the other benefits of the artifact mana is weird colored SB cards (Abrupt Decay/Ghiraphur Aether Grid) and Mox Opal does this better.
Also off Inquisition for now (Just 1 in the SB). There are enough 4+ mana cards you potentially want to take that Thoughtseize is just the better card for the slot. Particularly things like T2 Delve Threats, TKS/Smasher, Planeswalkers, Cryptic, etc. Ideas unbound seems to find the combo/bridge/whir very quickly and the lifeloss is easily mitigated.
I would strongly recommend you MB Nihil Spellbomb over of Relic of Progenitus. There have been discussions of it in the past, but Relic is basically only better against Tarmgoyf who we are usually fine with being a 4/5 or whatever and not attacking through bridge. Screwing up Search for Azcanta, Academy Ruins, and exiling Swords are some of the various downsides. Nihil Spellbomb is occasionally activated for 0 mana if you are in a desperate situation (ex: storm player casting Past in Flames and we have 0 mana left). Finally, Nihil Spellbomb can turn into a thopter + life + card and be looped every turn with Academy Ruins (this comes up a surprising amount in grindy games). It's probably good enough to be a 2x in the deck.
On the topic of Darksteel Citadel from a day ago: I was playing 2 for a while. Back down to 1. I like 1 because I occasionally Whir for it, and then make it a 5/5 with Tezz. It's very rare that I need more than one indestructible 5/5. It might ultimately be right to play two for the mox opal benefit, but in my local meta I feel like I can win most matches as long as I make the deck very consistent.
I went down IOK and Serum for more ideas unbound, more baubles, one more land (I thought darksteel for more mox turning on and also to make into a 5/5), I changed Relic to Spellbomb, and I changed signet to talisman.
I left in Lillian and the chalices because I like them, and also because I spent the money on them so I feel like I should play them haha. But I still think that this looks much more streamlined. Is 3 of ideas unbound wrong? If so what should I cut to make it a 4 of?
Thanks again everyone!
@racing089 I am going to the New Jersey one, It is the closest one to me in New York. So I will miss you
I'll be going to regionals. (So I'll see racing089!) I think I'm going to go to with an esper ideas build, but one that utilizes 3x chalice of the void. I just am so wishy washy on the 1-drops in esper. Discard or serum visions are OK, but after playing grixis and jeskai online, looting is sweet, and even chromatic star has been quite nice in practice (but only to supplement bloodmoon). I would play jeskai, but esper has a much better burn/hollow one match with brutality and battle. Grixis would be an option, but it feels unsafe to leave home without enchantment removal.
One reason to play chalice is because I have them in paper and am curious as to how they play in the current meta. I'd appreciate anyone who's been running a chalice build to tell me how they fair. Do they help vs burn? How often do they matter against tron or storm? What matchups do you always board them out in? I've always considered chalice a poor modern card as we really only care about the 1-drops in the GDS and burn matchups. Path, push, etc are fairly meaningless to us. Also, should I run 4x opal instead of 3x to increase chances of turn 1 chalice? (I will be running no citadels, but 4 bauble, 1 jar, 1 crypt, 1 explosives). With 3 chalices and 3-4 opals, that's 13-14 potential 0-drops. I'm thinking 3 opals is probably still correct.
Very bizarre deck. Not sure what to make of it. It's almost like a Superfriends list with Bridge and discard to defend your PW. Witchbane no longer defends PWs from spell damage but it's a reasonable MB lock card.
On the topic of cutting 1 drops and playing Chalice. I think Simian might even be reasonable in that shell. Would give much more consistent ways to T1 Chalice or T1 Sword of the meek for turning on an Opal etc. Hell, you could T1 Spyglass and strand multiple fetchlands from your opponent.
@zombeav I played the deck for a few months. I think it’s really cool if you’re a tight control player. It’s trading combo-y whir strategy for pound for pound opposing strategy devastation.
In my mind it’s the closest we can come to a Shota-style PW control deck.
When you lose it’s because your deck just sputters out or gives very unsmooth draws, but it’s quite good against creature strategies and combo decks from the jump.
I have more fun with the UR tez prison build because it gives me more control over my strategy, so if I lose I can reflect on my choices.
The downside is that when you win you utterly grind your opponent down, and it doesn’t ever feel like a clear win - so you will encounter a lot of very tilted opponents salting you which I didn’t love.
What's up everybody! I'm bringing Tez to regionals this weekend. Looking for help with the deck. I want to bring the most optimal build I'm comfortable playing. For me that's been the U/B deck with a green splash for Abrupt Decay. I went heavy on the mb hate cards with a sb that shores up my matchup against whatever deck I'm facing.
I've probably been back and forth with the sideboard and flex spots just as much as ya'll have so I was looking for feedback on my final decisions. Stuff like what's still good and what isn't in the current meta. What doesn't make sense or is less effective with cards currently not present in the deck. Most notably for my list is the removal of Serum Visions and the addition of Fatal Push. My initial instinct was to drop IoK but between Whir, Bauble, and Tez, I feel like there's enough tutor/card draw effect in the deck. Running the correct combination of Serum Visions, Collective Brutality, Inquisition of Kozilek and now Fatal Push is something I'm struggle with.
If this list calls for Serum Visions what should i drop and/or move to the sideboard?
I was expecting to see a lot of creature decks and then the last open was pretty heavy on the control decks. Humans still won so I'm not sure what to expect. Have I just watered down the deck though trying to cover all bases. Feedback is much appreciated. Thanks, everybody!
@psngr46n2 - I would go -1 Needle, +1 Foundry for sure. And myself, I think Battle at the Bridge is just overall more useful than fatal push in our build. It's so good against burn, and often times you're only spending 1-2 actual mana anyway. Other than that, looks solid.
The list that I'm taking to regionals is shaping up like this:
So there are a few things I am looking at.
1. No main-deck grave hate. I've recently been wondering why we auto-include grave hate for game one. Dredge and Living End are really beaten on the backs of thopter/sword and bridge. It's useful to have some grave hate against storm, but that really only slows them down for one turn. I'd rather just maindeck canonist, which hoses both storm and living much more, and is useful against countermagic as well.
2. Online vs Paper magic. Online, Altar of the Brood is a good sideboard card against some combo and control to win under a stony or whatnot game 2/3, and puts pressure on their decision making. But online, games go to a game 2 and 3 usually, whereas in paper magic, you can often just win 1-0. To that effect, I'm wondering if some ultra-defensive cards would be better suited for this role in a paper tournament. Like more Padeem, jars, skite, etc, so that you can just try to "not lose."
3. I expect a lot of Tron, sadly. I'm not willing to bend my whole build to have better game against Tron, but I am putting a few more SB cards in than I normally would. I wonder how good Disallow might be? Against Tron, I'm racing to the combo, but often times need to waste whirs on needle effects or sphere. A well-timed disallow on a O-Stone or Ulamog trigger could be the difference, while also offering something against combo and control, and storm triggers I guess.
@thenobodys don't overlook Metallic Rebuke as a counter option. I know it can't stifle like Disallow but it was great for me out of the sideboard as a hard counter for 1 blue. Purposely try to leave just the 1 blue open and your opponent will feel like he can safely play into anything only to be like WTF is that card? Stopped a Karn for me at a big event the other month and a Lily both of which would have been bad news had they hit the board.
@pasngr46n2: Here is the list I plan to take to regionals. It is very similar to yours in that I cut the Serum Visions. @thenobodys I also decided the game 1 grave hate was unnecessary so I removed it. I liked having it as my out to Storm in game one so I might main deck a Grafdigger's Cage but we'll see.
I am trading the pushes in for more hand disruption. The only card I feel like I need to kill is a Thalia on curve. Hand disruption allows me to still grab Thalia while also being very good in most other games. In the sideboard I tried to split up my kill spells in the face of meddling mage. If you can't tell Humans is the match I am most concerned for and this is also why I am playing 2 EE in the main deck. However Jeskai is nearly a by so I am excited to see lots of it going around,
I am concerned I have a little too much in the sideboard for my favorable matchups. Namely the fair decks. I board in most of the artifact protection effects as well as JTMS and Padeem. Maybe I can cut JTMS and play something for the storm or Tron games? Any ideas?
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U/B Tezzeret Control
Sultai Midrange
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THanks racing089. I'm not missing the visions yet, save for maybe being able to keep a one land hand here and there. That's a bad habit anyway:D I'm too scared of burn and humans to mb Thoughtseize. I do kind of want one more Collective Brutality in the main though. I dropped it to add Witchbane Orb for a hopefully lifesaving Whir against Valakut decks. Which outside of that, i think we kinda just hope to combo first?!
I think you've pounted out the replacement for the flaying tendrils in my sideboard. Thanks, bud! Engineered Explosives is a card i've missed for quite sometime. It gets put on 2 against humans right? so we don't want to be casting too many of our crucial 2 drops against them until we get one on the field or is welding jar worked into the mix to save a foundry?
As for your worry on mb hate cards, you've got some spots that could open up if you feel you need it. I think your on the right track with moving Jace to the sb. Maybe second Welding Jar could go and/or -1 Thoughtsieze possibly? That's 2-3 spots right there whilst maintaining the integrity of the deck. Outside of Jund there isn't much artifact hate game one. Outside of the regular hate nothing comes to mind to add. I'd go with Relic/Spellbomb, one main Damping Sphere which shores up against both Tron and Storm matchups. But even with Damping Sphere game one still feels bad against Tron decks. Tron and Coco decks are the reason I mb 2x Pithing Needle. I've never found it to be useless game one. there was a time i had 2x main and 1x sb. lol maybe a little overkill but i was never disappointing to see them and my opponents always were! You'll be getting plenty of looks at your opponents hand with your list.
I'm second guessing the pushes in the main but when they're not there i wish i had them. Problematic combo creatures and scooze or goyf or just holding off an onslaught till i get my bridge in play. I've also died to Kataki more than once so i may be paranoid but in this meta i feel like I'm going to be happy with the 2 copies. I remember a matchup against storm that i had CBs in hand and they didn't do much against Baral's 3 toughness.
Either way i know I'll have fun cause this deck always keeps me on my toes and pushes me to be a better player. Best damn deck in Modern!
Hi, I've always liked the Thopter Foundry combo but couldn't find the right home for it, after reading some posts here, I think Tezzerator is the right place to go, this is the list I am playing now:
As you can see, I am giving up on Mox Opal and many other cheap artifacts and try to focus on ramping into the 4-mana planeswalkers, I've found Karn, Scion of Urza to be a great tool for this deck, it nets you cards in the long games and creates huge creatures whenever you need a clock or defence against aggro decks.
I might try the Mox Opal version but it doesn't look that much better so it's not very appealing for me as it forces you to play cards like Mishra's Bauble. What do you think of Karn? Yesterday I was playing on MODO and he helped me push fast against a Storm deck, forced him to chumpblock with Baral and he couldn't combo next turn but I guess it's not that likely that you can force them to chump. Let me know what you think
An important interaction with EE for humans matchup: EE checks any mana you spend to cast, so against Thalia you can cast it for “one” pay the Thalia tax and have it come out w two sunburst for 2 mana.
@racing089 - With maindeck hand disruption, you're increasing your odds of resolving a thopter foundry. Because of this, and because of the meta, I really don't think JTMS is something you're going to be realistically spending mana on in a lot of your game 1 matches. Ours isn't really a deck that wants to keep their hand full of disruption to stay alive. Jace is useful against attrition decks, to be sure, but I'd say maybe that warrants only a 1-of in the board?
I think not main-decking a damping sphere is playing with fire, so I'd go -1 Jace, +1 Sphere. I'd also swap the push in the board for another decay, to put you up to 3 answers for stony. Also, I think a second needle in the board would be overall more useful than a second cage.
@Jmelanson - Metallic rebuke would be interesting. Keeping one blue open is fairly easy to be sure. Keeping 3 blue open for Disallow would also fall into our "keep whir mana open" gameplan. In your favor, though, I don't exactly feel like paying $6 per (untested) Disallow, so maybe I will go with a few rebukes.
Serum Visions - Two different effects, not really that comparable. I'm currently playing both.
Faithless Looting - I WISH faithless looting were blue, I really do. The effect is better than Ideas for what Ideas is trying to do early game, because it's a turn-1 play. I've thought about splashing red for looting, but that would be really tricky. Looting is also a much worse topdeck late game.
Here's why Ideas Unbound is worse than Serum Visions.
We play a toolbox deck that's typically looking for a specific card in the deck at any given point. We play our hands out very quickly, and are looking for specific cards, but generally aren't winning games on some card-advantage attrition war, especially in a deck with so much air designed to set up quickly ( opals, baubles, prisms ). We're finding specific pieces to lock them out, assemble a combo, or put on beats.
That being said; a scry is worth probably 90% of a draw in this deck. Serum Visions is basically U for "draw ~2.8 cards". You're proposing playing a card that draws 3 for UU. How awkward is it when you ideas into Tezz and don't have the mana ( or colored mana ) to cast it? I just don't see why I'd pay an extra blue for another .2 cards and have the awkward discard 3 at EOT.
That being said; a scry is worth probably 90% of a draw in this deck. Serum Visions is basically U for "draw ~2.8 cards". You're proposing playing a card that draws 3 for UU. How awkward is it when you ideas into Tezz and don't have the mana ( or colored mana ) to cast it? I just don't see why I'd pay an extra blue for another .2 cards and have the awkward discard 3 at EOT.
I think you overestimate the Scry effect, I agree that Serum Visions is a more desirable effect than Ideas Unbound because of card selection and the fact that you don't get card disadvantage. You could say it's almost as a Draw 3 when you scry both on the bottom but when you keep one on top that you were already going to draw you don't get that much value IMO (yeah, I know that if you want it on top you are doing well but it's still not a draw)
I think you overestimate the Scry effect, I agree that Serum Visions is a more desirable effect than Ideas Unbound because of card selection and the fact that you don't get card disadvantage. You could say it's almost as a Draw 3 when you scry both on the bottom but when you keep one on top that you were already going to draw you don't get that much value IMO (yeah, I know that if you want it on top you are doing well but it's still not a draw)
I may be overestimating, but we should at least frame the conversation in terms of what a scry 2 is worth in the deck. If I'm playing jeskai control, scry 2 is probably worth less than a card, because I care more about maintaining card-advantage generally than finding specific answers. In this deck it's leaned way more toward a draw > 2. I would say it's *at least* worth a draw 2 in this deck.
I'll also add that Ideas Unbound over Serum Visions is *going to* result in a lot more mulligans. 2 landers, even 1 landers with a bauble and an opal, or 5 mana hands all become *much* more keepable if you've got Serum Visions. None of those are assisted by Ideas Unbound because it's worse than taking a mulligan early game ( starting a card down to see a few more ).
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Also off Inquisition for now (Just 1 in the SB). There are enough 4+ mana cards you potentially want to take that Thoughtseize is just the better card for the slot. Particularly things like T2 Delve Threats, TKS/Smasher, Planeswalkers, Cryptic, etc. Ideas unbound seems to find the combo/bridge/whir very quickly and the lifeloss is easily mitigated.
I would strongly recommend you MB Nihil Spellbomb over of Relic of Progenitus. There have been discussions of it in the past, but Relic is basically only better against Tarmgoyf who we are usually fine with being a 4/5 or whatever and not attacking through bridge. Screwing up Search for Azcanta, Academy Ruins, and exiling Swords are some of the various downsides. Nihil Spellbomb is occasionally activated for 0 mana if you are in a desperate situation (ex: storm player casting Past in Flames and we have 0 mana left). Finally, Nihil Spellbomb can turn into a thopter + life + card and be looped every turn with Academy Ruins (this comes up a surprising amount in grindy games). It's probably good enough to be a 2x in the deck.
3 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
3 Ideas Unbound
4 Whir of Invention
2 Chalice of the Void
4 Mishra's Bauble
3 Mox Opal
2 Welding Jar
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Damping Sphere
3 Sword of the Meek
2 Talisman of Dominance
4 Thopter Foundry
1 Time Sieve
3 Ensnaring Bridge
1 Academy Ruins
1 Breeding Pool
4 Darkslick Shores
2 Darksteel Citadel
1 Glimmervoid
1 Inventors' Fair
2 Island
4 Polluted Delta
2 Spire of Industry
1 Swamp
2 Watery Grave
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Battle at the Bridge
1 Extirpate
2 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Pithing Needle
2 Thoughtseize
2 Abrupt Decay
1 Damping Sphere
1 Damnation
2 Mechanized Production
1 Padeem, Consul of Innovation
75 Cards Total
I went down IOK and Serum for more ideas unbound, more baubles, one more land (I thought darksteel for more mox turning on and also to make into a 5/5), I changed Relic to Spellbomb, and I changed signet to talisman.
I left in Lillian and the chalices because I like them, and also because I spent the money on them so I feel like I should play them haha. But I still think that this looks much more streamlined. Is 3 of ideas unbound wrong? If so what should I cut to make it a 4 of?
Thanks again everyone!
@racing089 I am going to the New Jersey one, It is the closest one to me in New York. So I will miss you
U/B Faeries
U/B Tezzerator
One reason to play chalice is because I have them in paper and am curious as to how they play in the current meta. I'd appreciate anyone who's been running a chalice build to tell me how they fair. Do they help vs burn? How often do they matter against tron or storm? What matchups do you always board them out in? I've always considered chalice a poor modern card as we really only care about the 1-drops in the GDS and burn matchups. Path, push, etc are fairly meaningless to us. Also, should I run 4x opal instead of 3x to increase chances of turn 1 chalice? (I will be running no citadels, but 4 bauble, 1 jar, 1 crypt, 1 explosives). With 3 chalices and 3-4 opals, that's 13-14 potential 0-drops. I'm thinking 3 opals is probably still correct.
I came across this Grixis list on goldfish. This guy has 5-0’d a couple leagues today. Interesting that there’s no Whir or thopter combo.
1 Blood Crypt
4 Collective Brutality
3 Damnation
1 Darksteel Citadel
4 Ensnaring Bridge
1 Ghost Quarter
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Inventors' Fair
1 Island
4 Liliana of the Veil
3 Marsh Flats
2 Pithing Needle
4 Polluted Delta
3 Relic of Progenitus
1 Search for Azcanta
1 Spire of Industry
4 Swamp
2 Talisman of Dominance
4 Temple of Deceit
2 Tezzeret the Seeker
4 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
2 Thoughtseize
1 Walking Ballista
1 Watery Grave
1 Witchbane Orb
1 Crumble to Dust
1 Damnation
1 Damping Matrix
1 Damping Sphere
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Night of Souls' Betrayal
1 Ratchet Bomb
1 Relic of Progenitus
3 Slaughter Games
1 Sorcerous Spyglass
1 The Rack
1 Welding Jar
Link: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/archetype/modern-ubr-50959#paper
On the topic of cutting 1 drops and playing Chalice. I think Simian might even be reasonable in that shell. Would give much more consistent ways to T1 Chalice or T1 Sword of the meek for turning on an Opal etc. Hell, you could T1 Spyglass and strand multiple fetchlands from your opponent.
In my mind it’s the closest we can come to a Shota-style PW control deck.
When you lose it’s because your deck just sputters out or gives very unsmooth draws, but it’s quite good against creature strategies and combo decks from the jump.
I have more fun with the UR tez prison build because it gives me more control over my strategy, so if I lose I can reflect on my choices.
The downside is that when you win you utterly grind your opponent down, and it doesn’t ever feel like a clear win - so you will encounter a lot of very tilted opponents salting you which I didn’t love.
I've probably been back and forth with the sideboard and flex spots just as much as ya'll have so I was looking for feedback on my final decisions. Stuff like what's still good and what isn't in the current meta. What doesn't make sense or is less effective with cards currently not present in the deck. Most notably for my list is the removal of Serum Visions and the addition of Fatal Push. My initial instinct was to drop IoK but between Whir, Bauble, and Tez, I feel like there's enough tutor/card draw effect in the deck. Running the correct combination of Serum Visions, Collective Brutality, Inquisition of Kozilek and now Fatal Push is something I'm struggle with.
In the sideboard, should I run a Bontu's Last Reckoning over the Flaying Tendrils or a second Damnation. Flaying Tendrils comes in against creature decks but is it still effective against today's creature decks?
If this list calls for Serum Visions what should i drop and/or move to the sideboard?
I was expecting to see a lot of creature decks and then the last open was pretty heavy on the control decks. Humans still won so I'm not sure what to expect. Have I just watered down the deck though trying to cover all bases. Feedback is much appreciated. Thanks, everybody!
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Fatal Push
4 Whir of Invention
3 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
4 Mishra's Bauble
3 Mox Opal
3 Pentad Prism
3 Ensnaring Bridge
3 Thopter Foundry
2 Sword of the Meek
1 Time Sieve
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Welding Jar
2 Pithing Needle
1 Damping Sphere
1 Witchbane Orb
3 Spire of Industry
2 Island
4 Polluted Delta
1 Swamp
2 Watery Grave
1 Breeding Pool
1 Inventors' Fair
1 Academy Ruins
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Welding Jar
1 Relic of Progenitus
2 Thoughtseize
1 Damping Sphere
2 Ensoul Artifact
1 Ethersworn Canonist
2 Abrupt Decay
1 Maelstrom Pulse
1 Flaying Tendrils
1 Damnation
1 Padeem, Consul of Innovation
1 Herald of Anguish
The list that I'm taking to regionals is shaping up like this:
4 Mishra's Bauble
4 Mox Opal
2 Welding Jar
1 Engineered Explosives
3 Chalice of the Void
4 Thopter Foundry
4 Sword of the Meek
1 Time Sieve
1 Damping Sphere
1 Sorcerous Spyglass
1 Ethersworn Canonist
2 Ensnaring Bridge
Intstants/Sorceries: 11
4 Ideas Unbound
2 Collective Brutality
4 Whir of Invention
1 Lingering Souls
1 Search for Azcanta
Lands: 20
4 Polluted Delta
2 Flooded Strand
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Watery Grave
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Glacial Fortress
4 Island
1 Swamp
4 Darkslick Shores:
3 Detention Sphere
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Altar of the Brood
1 Lost Legacy
1 Collective Brutality
2 Battle at the Bridge
2 Padeem, Consul of Innovation
1 Phyrexian Revoker
2 Disallow
So there are a few things I am looking at.
1. No main-deck grave hate. I've recently been wondering why we auto-include grave hate for game one. Dredge and Living End are really beaten on the backs of thopter/sword and bridge. It's useful to have some grave hate against storm, but that really only slows them down for one turn. I'd rather just maindeck canonist, which hoses both storm and living much more, and is useful against countermagic as well.
2. Online vs Paper magic. Online, Altar of the Brood is a good sideboard card against some combo and control to win under a stony or whatnot game 2/3, and puts pressure on their decision making. But online, games go to a game 2 and 3 usually, whereas in paper magic, you can often just win 1-0. To that effect, I'm wondering if some ultra-defensive cards would be better suited for this role in a paper tournament. Like more Padeem, jars, skite, etc, so that you can just try to "not lose."
3. I expect a lot of Tron, sadly. I'm not willing to bend my whole build to have better game against Tron, but I am putting a few more SB cards in than I normally would. I wonder how good Disallow might be? Against Tron, I'm racing to the combo, but often times need to waste whirs on needle effects or sphere. A well-timed disallow on a O-Stone or Ulamog trigger could be the difference, while also offering something against combo and control, and storm triggers I guess.
I am trading the pushes in for more hand disruption. The only card I feel like I need to kill is a Thalia on curve. Hand disruption allows me to still grab Thalia while also being very good in most other games. In the sideboard I tried to split up my kill spells in the face of meddling mage. If you can't tell Humans is the match I am most concerned for and this is also why I am playing 2 EE in the main deck. However Jeskai is nearly a by so I am excited to see lots of it going around,
1 Academy Ruins
1 Breeding Pool
4 Darkslick Shores
1 Darksteel Citadel
1 Flooded Strand
2 Island
2 Misty Rainforest
1 Polluted Delta
1 Scalding Tarn
4 Spire of Industry
1 Swamp
3 Watery Grave
Spells:
2 Collective Brutality
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
3 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
3 Thoughtseize
4 Whir of Invention
2 Engineered Explosives
3 Ensnaring Bridge
4 Mishra's Bauble
4 Mox Opal
1 Pithing Needle
2 Sword of the Meek
4 Thopter Foundry
2 Welding Jar
2 Abrupt Decay
1 Battle at the Bridge
1 Damnation
2 Damping Sphere
1 Fatal Push
2 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Padeem, Consul of Innovation
1 Pithing Needle
1 Spellskite
1 Welding Jar
1 Witchbane Orb
I am concerned I have a little too much in the sideboard for my favorable matchups. Namely the fair decks. I board in most of the artifact protection effects as well as JTMS and Padeem. Maybe I can cut JTMS and play something for the storm or Tron games? Any ideas?
Sultai Midrange
Anything Innovative
I think you've pounted out the replacement for the flaying tendrils in my sideboard. Thanks, bud! Engineered Explosives is a card i've missed for quite sometime. It gets put on 2 against humans right? so we don't want to be casting too many of our crucial 2 drops against them until we get one on the field or is welding jar worked into the mix to save a foundry?
As for your worry on mb hate cards, you've got some spots that could open up if you feel you need it. I think your on the right track with moving Jace to the sb. Maybe second Welding Jar could go and/or -1 Thoughtsieze possibly? That's 2-3 spots right there whilst maintaining the integrity of the deck. Outside of Jund there isn't much artifact hate game one. Outside of the regular hate nothing comes to mind to add. I'd go with Relic/Spellbomb, one main Damping Sphere which shores up against both Tron and Storm matchups. But even with Damping Sphere game one still feels bad against Tron decks. Tron and Coco decks are the reason I mb 2x Pithing Needle. I've never found it to be useless game one. there was a time i had 2x main and 1x sb. lol maybe a little overkill but i was never disappointing to see them and my opponents always were! You'll be getting plenty of looks at your opponents hand with your list.
I'm second guessing the pushes in the main but when they're not there i wish i had them. Problematic combo creatures and scooze or goyf or just holding off an onslaught till i get my bridge in play. I've also died to Kataki more than once so i may be paranoid but in this meta i feel like I'm going to be happy with the 2 copies. I remember a matchup against storm that i had CBs in hand and they didn't do much against Baral's 3 toughness.
Either way i know I'll have fun cause this deck always keeps me on my toes and pushes me to be a better player. Best damn deck in Modern!
1 Darksteel Citadel
1 Inventors' Fair
1 Academy Ruins
4 Polluted Delta
4 Darkslick Shores
1 Breeding Pool
3 Watery Grave
3 Island
1 Swamp
3 Field of Ruin
Spells
3 Thoughtseize
4 Serum Visions
1 Pithing Needle
3 Sword of the Meek
4 Thopter Foundry
4 Talisman of Dominance
2 Talisman of Progress
2 Thirst for Knowledge
4 Whir of Invention
1 Ensnaring Bridge
4 Karn, Scion of Urza
4 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
2 Damnation
1 Welding Jar
2 Engineered Explosives
1 Nihil Spellbomb
2 Grafdigger's Cage
2 Damping Sphere
2 Abrupt Decay
1 Time Sieve
1 Spellskite
1 Ratchet Bomb
1 Cyclonic Rift
1 Padeem, Consul of Innovation
As you can see, I am giving up on Mox Opal and many other cheap artifacts and try to focus on ramping into the 4-mana planeswalkers, I've found Karn, Scion of Urza to be a great tool for this deck, it nets you cards in the long games and creates huge creatures whenever you need a clock or defence against aggro decks.
I might try the Mox Opal version but it doesn't look that much better so it's not very appealing for me as it forces you to play cards like Mishra's Bauble. What do you think of Karn? Yesterday I was playing on MODO and he helped me push fast against a Storm deck, forced him to chumpblock with Baral and he couldn't combo next turn but I guess it's not that likely that you can force them to chump. Let me know what you think
I think not main-decking a damping sphere is playing with fire, so I'd go -1 Jace, +1 Sphere. I'd also swap the push in the board for another decay, to put you up to 3 answers for stony. Also, I think a second needle in the board would be overall more useful than a second cage.
@Jmelanson - Metallic rebuke would be interesting. Keeping one blue open is fairly easy to be sure. Keeping 3 blue open for Disallow would also fall into our "keep whir mana open" gameplan. In your favor, though, I don't exactly feel like paying $6 per (untested) Disallow, so maybe I will go with a few rebukes.
Here's why Ideas Unbound is worse than Serum Visions.
We play a toolbox deck that's typically looking for a specific card in the deck at any given point. We play our hands out very quickly, and are looking for specific cards, but generally aren't winning games on some card-advantage attrition war, especially in a deck with so much air designed to set up quickly ( opals, baubles, prisms ). We're finding specific pieces to lock them out, assemble a combo, or put on beats.
That being said; a scry is worth probably 90% of a draw in this deck. Serum Visions is basically U for "draw ~2.8 cards". You're proposing playing a card that draws 3 for UU. How awkward is it when you ideas into Tezz and don't have the mana ( or colored mana ) to cast it? I just don't see why I'd pay an extra blue for another .2 cards and have the awkward discard 3 at EOT.
I think you overestimate the Scry effect, I agree that Serum Visions is a more desirable effect than Ideas Unbound because of card selection and the fact that you don't get card disadvantage. You could say it's almost as a Draw 3 when you scry both on the bottom but when you keep one on top that you were already going to draw you don't get that much value IMO (yeah, I know that if you want it on top you are doing well but it's still not a draw)
I may be overestimating, but we should at least frame the conversation in terms of what a scry 2 is worth in the deck. If I'm playing jeskai control, scry 2 is probably worth less than a card, because I care more about maintaining card-advantage generally than finding specific answers. In this deck it's leaned way more toward a draw > 2. I would say it's *at least* worth a draw 2 in this deck.