I am running more or less the stock list with Counterflux instead of Cryptic Command.
I have seen a lot of back forth on here regarding Cryptic. My opinion is that a midrange list running Geist should also run Cryptic Command. Cryptic synergizes with Geist in an big way. It allows the deck to switch into an aggressive role and become the "beatdown" when the time is appropriate. I think that is very important, and critical to winning with this deck. Often with Geist in play Cryptic Command is "tap your dudes, draw a card, deal six damage." Additionally, Cryptic is our strongest "mid-range" card, and our best for generating extra value, and getting a little bit ahead when we spent the first part of the game trading cards one for one with our opponent.
When/if Cryptic drops down to a reasonable price I will grab a couple for sure. In the meantime I will have to force Geist and Splicer damage through by quickly turning my opponents blockers sideways when he isn't looking. It's very effective.
When/if Cryptic drops down to a reasonable price I will grab a couple for sure. In the meantime I will have to force Geist and Splicer damage through by quickly turning my opponents blockers sideways when he isn't looking. It's very effective.
Haha! That it funny. Yeah, Cryptic is expensive and that sucks. I wish the cards weren't so expensive and that everyone could just play with the cards they wanted to.
Went 3-1 at FNM tonight. Mostly played home brews. I lost to a RDW with a splash of white. First game was very close. Second game I tapped out like a moron to activate Colonnade, killing his Goblin Guide, and he then resolved an Assemble the Legion. Yeah I had no answer for that pre-board and couldn't race it.
Geist and Blade Splicer in a 3/3 split went great. I don't know who was better...Geist on turn 3 could not be answered but Blade Splicer's synergy with Resto was great. I realized that Assemble the Legion could actually be good for the top end of my curve so I am going to try one in there. Electrolyze is going purely Sideboard for now. I played a couple games with the guy who won tonight after FNM was over. He was running Infect and I beat him 2-1. Electrolyze just neutered his deck, but was not good enough tonight to warrant MB.
Assemble the legion is something i have tried and is really just a cute card. It does nothing relavent for the first few turns, and then slowly starts to eat them. Thats about it though and its also very clunky. If you wish to have a 5 mana curve topper play thundermaw hellkite which is a surprisingly good card in some metas. Its blazingly fast and jams in there for the full 5 most often. It also hits small flyers which is very nice.
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Currently Playing:
Modern: RUGScapeshift[RUG...Occasionally with goyfs RUGTarmotwinRUG(RIP)
Legacy: UWxuwr miracles and stonebladeUWx
Commander: UWRShu Yun/Ruhan SmashUWR
Went 3-1 at FNM tonight. Mostly played home brews. I lost to a RDW with a splash of white. First game was very close. Second game I tapped out like a moron to activate Colonnade, killing his Goblin Guide, and he then resolved an Assemble the Legion. Yeah I had no answer for that pre-board and couldn't race it.
Geist and Blade Splicer in a 3/3 split went great. I don't know who was better...Geist on turn 3 could not be answered but Blade Splicer's synergy with Resto was great. I realized that Assemble the Legion could actually be good for the top end of my curve so I am going to try one in there. Electrolyze is going purely Sideboard for now. I played a couple games with the guy who won tonight after FNM was over. He was running Infect and I beat him 2-1. Electrolyze just neutered his deck, but was not good enough tonight to warrant MB.
If we had more Affinity or whatnot then maybe.
Assemble the Legion isn't worth it. As much as I love the card, Elspeth Knight-Errant, Hero of Bladehold, Brimaz, and several other cards are better token makers. As for 5 mana finishers, Gideon Jura is better.
Thanks guys. Yeah it was just a thought. I have a Gideon Jura sitting around gathering dust...as well as some Stormbreath Dragons. Stormbreath is one I am strongly considering because his pro-white just seems so relevant...
If I transition this to more Control-ish than I am going to run two Gideon's I think
EDIT: I think I'm going with Gideon. This way Ajani can have a buddy. Plus I don't need another 4/4 flyer for 5 when I have the Colonnades I guess.
Thanks guys. Yeah it was just a thought. I have a Gideon Jura sitting around gathering dust...as well as some Stormbreath Dragons. Stormbreath is one I am strongly considering because his pro-white just seems so relevant...
If I transition this to more Control-ish than I am going to run two Gideon's I think
Stormbreath Dragon is another good option. I'd also advise trying out Elspeth, Knight-Errant and Hero of Bladehold. Hero of Bladehold is just an amazing finisher at only 4 mana, while Elspeth is great for getting damage through.
Here is the third video in my UWR Midrange Geist video series, sideboarding against Affinity. I plan on making one for all of the major decks, but it may take some time to cover them all as the videos take a while to prepare, record, edit, and post. I am working on the slides for Splinter Twin now, I am going to try to have it up before the end of the weekend.
Hi all,I'm a rather new Magic player and will like to ask for some advice.
just to ask. What matchups are USA mid range decks weak against in general and how do you think USA will fare against Bogle Deck or decks that actually mainboard blood moon for mana denial.
Do you guys think it is actually worth to main board Wear/ Tear or revoke existance to anti blood moon or destroy enchantments or artifacts purposes? Thank you for any advice in advance.
Blood Moon creates tears of sadness. Do not let it resolve! If you think there is a threat of this, be sure to fetch for basics.
As far as Wear // Tear... it depends on your meta. If you are finding in Game 1's that almost everytime you are wishing you had access to it, then I would work it in. Cryptic Command could also bounce the troublesome permanent and allow you to counter it the second time. I like Wear//Tear more than Revoke Existence more simply because it can 2 for 1 in some games.
USA has mixed matchups vs Bogles. Overall it can be quite scary to go against though. Their nuts hands are sometimes hard to handle. Celestial Flare works great against them if you see a lot of this deck.
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Current Decks:
Modern
Modern Warp / UR Control / UR Storm / Naya Breachshift / ElectroBalance
Legacy
Solidarity / Lands / Sneak and Show / Grixis Delver / Reanimator / Belcher / Storm / Dredge
I am running more or less the stock list with Counterflux instead of Cryptic Command.
I have seen a lot of back forth on here regarding Cryptic. My opinion is that a midrange list running Geist should also run Cryptic Command. Cryptic synergizes with Geist in an big way. It allows the deck to switch into an aggressive role and become the "beatdown" when the time is appropriate. I think that is very important, and critical to winning with this deck. Often with Geist in play Cryptic Command is "tap your dudes, draw a card, deal sixTEN damage." Additionally, Cryptic is our strongest "mid-range" card, our best for generating extra value, and getting a little bit ahead when we spent the first part of the game trading cards one for one with our opponent.
Fixed that, as usually this is the play that wins the game (Don't forget Colonnade is coming in hard too at this point!)
Joking aside, I think Cryptic is a 4 of easy in here. It allows you to play control when you need to, bounce un-answerable things, keep tempo via bounce/tap (or both), or of course old-faithful counter/draw.
EDIT: I guess if you're doing this T4, you're one mana off of swinging with Colonnade... my bad
Blood Moon creates tears of sadness. Do not let it resolve! If you think there is a threat of this, be sure to fetch for basics.
As far as Wear // Tear... it depends on your meta. If you are finding in Game 1's that almost everytime you are wishing you had access to it, then I would work it in. Cryptic Command could also bounce the troublesome permanent and allow you to counter it the second time. I like Wear//Tear more than Revoke Existence more simply because it can 2 for 1 in some games.
USA has mixed matchups vs Bogles. Overall it can be quite scary to go against though. Their nuts hands are sometimes hard to handle. Celestial Flare works great against them if you see a lot of this deck.
Does a pure USA control which is the tap, draw, go control deck fares better against Bogles? Will anger of the Gods or Pyroclasm fare better against Bogle decks as well? And btw, how do you links cards in this forum? So that I can link the cards just in case people want to see the cards abilities.. Thank you.
Totem Armor is the scary aspect of Bogles. There's not a really fantastic way of dealing with it beyond countering where you can and sweeping/wiping where you can before they land. The Celestial Flare can really take them down, but it's not super useful in most matches beyond that one. A lot of people just chalk it up as a loss since it's not a massively popular deck.
I personally think if you can sweep every chance you can and if you run wipes (like Supreme Verdict) and counter anything with Totem Armor, that's probably your best bet.
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Current Decks:
Modern
Modern Warp / UR Control / UR Storm / Naya Breachshift / ElectroBalance
Legacy
Solidarity / Lands / Sneak and Show / Grixis Delver / Reanimator / Belcher / Storm / Dredge
Any ideas what to board against pod? I boarded 2 sweepers and 2 stony silence but it wasnt enough ;( - I lost 2:0
The reality is that it's going to be a hard match-up, but you have a chance to win.
Anger of the Gods is good here because it deals with their persist creatures and hopefully kills two of their cards for one of yours. You might take out one or two Geist, but not all. Some people may take him out entirely, but I do not think that is correct because once you are both low on resources, Geist is a quick clock. When then the time comes to get aggressive, you will want to kill him quickly.
If you are bringing in 2 Stony and 2 Anger, I myself would cut 2 Geist and 2 Lightning Helix.
You can cut 2 Geist and replace them with Stony Silence because you are going to start the game out playing the control roll, so having 4 isn't as important. Cut 2 Lightning Helix and replace them with Anger of the Gods. That is basically trading out two removal spells that don't effectively deal with Kitchen Finks and Voice of Resurgence for ones that do.
If you have an Anger and a Mana Leak in hand, you might try holding up to see if he attempts to resolve a pod. If you leak it, he may begin trying to commit more resources to the board after that, which gives you an opportunity to get more value from Anger of the Gods. Also be aware, some lists run Thrun.
It's going to be a difficult match. Remember Magic is a game of variance, so even if you board correctly and play correctly, you might still lose.
Fixed that, as usually this is the play that wins the game (Don't forget Colonnade is coming in hard too at this point!)
Joking aside, I think Cryptic is a 4 of easy in here. It allows you to play control when you need to, bounce un-answerable things, keep tempo via bounce/tap (or both), or of course old-faithful counter/draw.
EDIT: I guess if you're doing this T4, you're one mana off of swinging with Colonnade... my bad
Swinging with Colonade+Geist is living the dream haha! I like 4 Cryptic, but I also like 3 Cryptic and 1 Hellkite. I think at the end of the day, considering the variety of match-ups etc... It's impossible to say which of the many deck configurations is strictly best. I think as long as you're sticking to the main shell, tweaking the numbers to fit your meta and personal preference is the way to go.
Totem Armor is the scary aspect of Bogles. There's not a really fantastic way of dealing with it beyond countering where you can and sweeping/wiping where you can before they land. The Celestial Flare can really take them down, but it's not super useful in most matches beyond that one. A lot of people just chalk it up as a loss since it's not a massively popular deck.
I personally think if you can sweep every chance you can and if you run wipes (like Supreme Verdict) and counter anything with Totem Armor, that's probably your best bet.
I personally think if you can sweep every chance you can and if you run wipes (like Supreme Verdict) and counter anything with Totem Armor, that's probably your best bet. [/quote]
I think our most versatile way to deal with Bogles is probably Runed Halo. It can also have applications against other decks/cards. It kind of deals with Thrun the Last Troll for example.
If there is a lot of Bogles in your meta, you can also consider at a more dedicated hate card like Tempest of Light. It can clearly blow out Bogles, but it's utility against other decks is more narrow.
I've been having successes with ratchet bomb combined with sweepers and batterskull. All I do is counter is Daybreak coronet, ethereal armor, it makes their clock way too slow and their creatures too weak. If you do that they lose gas really fast and your sweepers become really effective.
When/if Cryptic drops down to a reasonable price I will grab a couple for sure. In the meantime I will have to force Geist and Splicer damage through by quickly turning my opponents blockers sideways when he isn't looking. It's very effective.
Haha! That it funny. Yeah, Cryptic is expensive and that sucks. I wish the cards weren't so expensive and that everyone could just play with the cards they wanted to.
I am working on some Youtube videos for this purpose as we speak. I don't have them up yet, but check this link and they should be there soon.
http://bit.ly/1eZQbHt
Geist and Blade Splicer in a 3/3 split went great. I don't know who was better...Geist on turn 3 could not be answered but Blade Splicer's synergy with Resto was great. I realized that Assemble the Legion could actually be good for the top end of my curve so I am going to try one in there. Electrolyze is going purely Sideboard for now. I played a couple games with the guy who won tonight after FNM was over. He was running Infect and I beat him 2-1. Electrolyze just neutered his deck, but was not good enough tonight to warrant MB.
If we had more Affinity or whatnot then maybe.
Modern:
RUGScapeshift[RUG...Occasionally with goyfs
RUGTarmotwinRUG(RIP)
Legacy:
UWxuwr miracles and stonebladeUWx
Commander:
UWRShu Yun/Ruhan SmashUWR
Assemble the Legion isn't worth it. As much as I love the card, Elspeth Knight-Errant, Hero of Bladehold, Brimaz, and several other cards are better token makers. As for 5 mana finishers, Gideon Jura is better.
Storm Crow is strictly worse than Seacoast Drake.
If I transition this to more Control-ish than I am going to run two Gideon's I think
EDIT: I think I'm going with Gideon. This way Ajani can have a buddy. Plus I don't need another 4/4 flyer for 5 when I have the Colonnades I guess.
Stormbreath Dragon is another good option. I'd also advise trying out Elspeth, Knight-Errant and Hero of Bladehold. Hero of Bladehold is just an amazing finisher at only 4 mana, while Elspeth is great for getting damage through.
Storm Crow is strictly worse than Seacoast Drake.
http://bit.ly/1ltnlXl
Anger of the Gods
UWRUWR Delver/Lynx TempoUWR-------UWRUWR Midrange GeistUWR-------UWRUWR Nahiri ControlUWR-------UWRUWR SaheeliUWR
BGRJund / Jund ShadowBGR-------BGWAbzan / Abzan ShadowBGW
Commander (Leviathan/MTGO): UWGeist of Saint TraftUW
just to ask. What matchups are USA mid range decks weak against in general and how do you think USA will fare against Bogle Deck or decks that actually mainboard blood moon for mana denial.
Do you guys think it is actually worth to main board Wear/ Tear or revoke existance to anti blood moon or destroy enchantments or artifacts purposes? Thank you for any advice in advance.
As far as Wear // Tear... it depends on your meta. If you are finding in Game 1's that almost everytime you are wishing you had access to it, then I would work it in. Cryptic Command could also bounce the troublesome permanent and allow you to counter it the second time. I like Wear//Tear more than Revoke Existence more simply because it can 2 for 1 in some games.
USA has mixed matchups vs Bogles. Overall it can be quite scary to go against though. Their nuts hands are sometimes hard to handle. Celestial Flare works great against them if you see a lot of this deck.
Modern Warp / UR Control / UR Storm / Naya Breachshift / ElectroBalance
Solidarity / Lands / Sneak and Show / Grixis Delver / Reanimator / Belcher / Storm / Dredge
Fixed that, as usually this is the play that wins the game (Don't forget Colonnade is coming in hard too at this point!)
Joking aside, I think Cryptic is a 4 of easy in here. It allows you to play control when you need to, bounce un-answerable things, keep tempo via bounce/tap (or both), or of course old-faithful counter/draw.
EDIT: I guess if you're doing this T4, you're one mana off of swinging with Colonnade... my bad
Does a pure USA control which is the tap, draw, go control deck fares better against Bogles? Will anger of the Gods or Pyroclasm fare better against Bogle decks as well? And btw, how do you links cards in this forum? So that I can link the cards just in case people want to see the cards abilities.. Thank you.
I personally think if you can sweep every chance you can and if you run wipes (like Supreme Verdict) and counter anything with Totem Armor, that's probably your best bet.
Modern Warp / UR Control / UR Storm / Naya Breachshift / ElectroBalance
Solidarity / Lands / Sneak and Show / Grixis Delver / Reanimator / Belcher / Storm / Dredge
decks playing:
none
The reality is that it's going to be a hard match-up, but you have a chance to win.
Anger of the Gods is good here because it deals with their persist creatures and hopefully kills two of their cards for one of yours. You might take out one or two Geist, but not all. Some people may take him out entirely, but I do not think that is correct because once you are both low on resources, Geist is a quick clock. When then the time comes to get aggressive, you will want to kill him quickly.
If you are bringing in 2 Stony and 2 Anger, I myself would cut 2 Geist and 2 Lightning Helix.
You can cut 2 Geist and replace them with Stony Silence because you are going to start the game out playing the control roll, so having 4 isn't as important. Cut 2 Lightning Helix and replace them with Anger of the Gods. That is basically trading out two removal spells that don't effectively deal with Kitchen Finks and Voice of Resurgence for ones that do.
If you have an Anger and a Mana Leak in hand, you might try holding up to see if he attempts to resolve a pod. If you leak it, he may begin trying to commit more resources to the board after that, which gives you an opportunity to get more value from Anger of the Gods. Also be aware, some lists run Thrun.
It's going to be a difficult match. Remember Magic is a game of variance, so even if you board correctly and play correctly, you might still lose.
Swinging with Colonade+Geist is living the dream haha! I like 4 Cryptic, but I also like 3 Cryptic and 1 Hellkite. I think at the end of the day, considering the variety of match-ups etc... It's impossible to say which of the many deck configurations is strictly best. I think as long as you're sticking to the main shell, tweaking the numbers to fit your meta and personal preference is the way to go.
I personally think if you can sweep every chance you can and if you run wipes (like Supreme Verdict) and counter anything with Totem Armor, that's probably your best bet. [/quote]
I think our most versatile way to deal with Bogles is probably Runed Halo. It can also have applications against other decks/cards. It kind of deals with Thrun the Last Troll for example.
If there is a lot of Bogles in your meta, you can also consider at a more dedicated hate card like Tempest of Light. It can clearly blow out Bogles, but it's utility against other decks is more narrow.
GWBoglesGW///URDelverUR WVial-knightsW