MTG Salvation

Quote from Petros »

Hi guys, what do you think about playing BOTH Blade Splicer and Geist of Saint Traft in maindeck?

Nothing wrong with that. Geist is legendary, so going down to 2-3 is just fine. I like playing 2 Geists main now (+1 in the sideboard for combo and control), 3 Blade Splicers, 4 Restoration Angels, 4 Snapcasters and 1 Vendilion Clique.

So this is the list I'm at right now:



I'm going to a Modern SCG Open next weekend and I really want to refine the list as much as possible. I'm pretty dead set on the 4 Geist of Saint Traft, 4 Snapcaster Mage, 2 Vendilion Clique core. Restoration Angel and Thundermaw Hellkite are just strong creatures in general, especially vs Abzan. Ajani Vengeant has overperformed in every matchup I've been able to resolve it. 4 Lightning Bolt, 4 Path to Exile package is super strong for removal. 3 Lightning Helix because we have a burn gameplan and lifegain is important in some matchups. Spell Snare is just really strong these days vs all the very aggressive decks, as well as pesky 2 mana counterspells. 1 Cryptic Command for a catch-all as others have recommended has done me well. 4 Remand because it can be an insane tempo-move with a Geist of Saint Traft in play, or just something to do in the early game. Electrolyze is decently well-positioned in the meta right now, even with all of Abzan's big butts.

Concerns:
1) I'm currently on 3 Electrolyze because it's super strong against affinity and Lingering Souls, while also helping our EOT burn plan vs control decks. However, I've been thinking about adding in that 4th Lightning Helix somehow. Is 4 copies of Lightning Helix worth it? It's great against aggro and burn, but against the big abzan and even twin decks who are about 40% of the metagame as seen in GP Vancouver, it's hard to justify running more than 3. Still, opinions welcome all around.

2) I'm running both Stony Silence AND Engineered Explosives in the sideboard. I do like both cards very much and we honestly already have a decent affinity matchup, so my question is, is running both justified? They can be clunky at times if you've already dropped Stony Silence and need to EE for x = 2, but that has never happened to me yet and for those that it has, has it really been that bad? However, EE is strong in many match ups, not just affinity. So I will most likely keep EE. However, is having Stony Silence in the sideboard justified ALONG EE?

3) Honestly, not sure if Relic of Progenitus is worth it in the SB. Should we add in a Supreme Verdict? Anger of the Gods? More counterspells? Opinions wanted. I've found Celestial Purge has REALLY underperformed for me against Abzan, so I don't want to include that, even though I know it can be another answer for Blood Moon. The only legitimate replacements (in my opinion) are a 3rd Timely Reinforcements although that may be overkill, Negate which would help in the burn matchup and many others, a 2nd Counterflux as a super hard counter vs Twin or control, or Combust as an answer for Twin and even the white heavy Abzan decks. I want something broad enough that can come in against several matchups. Personally leaning towards that 2nd Negate or Counterflux, opinions welcome. (Another thought, maybe Spellskite?)

4) I'm running a 9th fetchland and Eiganjo Castle instead of a 3rd basic Island or any of the checklands like Sulfur Falls or Glacial Fortress. Eiganjo Castle has helped in some matches, and I do like having 9 fetches alongside the 4 Celestial Colonnade instead of the checklands because colonnade+checkland opening hand is annoyingly clunky. However, I would like other people's opinions on these manabase decisions.

The deck has come a long way since I started playing it (23 lands and 4 Serum Visions, lol). Really want to try to do well in the upcoming tournament so all suggestions are welcome! I'm pretty dead set on the majority of this deck and likely won't change the core, but I'll definitely consider any suggestions.

Quote from guyterto »

We are playing almost the same (check my last reply) and I also started with 4 Serum Visions months ago.
I would like to explain you why the diferences between our lists appeal to me.
- Hellkite althogh it's powerhouse against Abzan, it's weak against other pairings. I would play it in the sideboard in one of the two 5-drops slots.
- I really have to try -1 Helix +1 Ajani, but I'm afraid that I miss that Helix in early game against Infect or Affnity (the odds are really there).
- I feel Electrolyze to be underwhelming against Abzan, and in sideboard games 2EE come in to deal with Souls, so I don't know.
In my list I have the second Cryptic instead of the third Electrolyze, I found tapping their whole team+draw and then attack with everything to be more efective that kill two (potentially 2 out of 4) bloquers.
- I only run Stony Silence when Affiniy and Tron are both very played, not the case now.
- Relic is fine, but I like more one Anger of the Gods, I feel that we are a bit behind against Merfolks and Zoo in midgame.
- I'm leaning towards -1 Castle -1 Fetch, +1 Sulfur Falls +1 Glacial Fortress, I found that maintaining life total is more common than expected. I will later calculate the prob of having a 2 taplands in opening hand.

And that's all Paradox, Vondrack and me should create the #teamgeitbutwithcounters, anyone else interested?

Man idk, I love that T-Maw. Cryptic is just too mana intensive for me to run 2. Ajani literally wins me games, I recommend him. Keep down an Aether Vial, a Tectonic Edge, any manland, troublesome creatures above 4 toughness, just anything. I did, however, go down on Electrolyze to 2 copies and up Helix to 4. 2 vs 3 damage is actually relevant these days, especially if our plan is to burn. Plus life gain is nice vs burn/aggro.

I actually did take out Eiganjo Castle as I really wanted more blue and red sources. Sulfur Falls does just that. I can't justify adding Glacial Fortress though, I feel like we're already very heavy towards blue/white mana.

I agree, Stony Silence literally just lost me the game vs Affinity. Couldn't pop my Engineered Explosives and they didn't even need Cranial Plating. I'm definitely replacing the Stony Silence with something that can help vs Affinity but also something else. I've been thinking about Izzet Staticaster or Anger of the Gods. Not so much Anger as it's mana intensive and the games you want it, you don't want to lose so much life. Staticaster helps vs Affinity and Lingering Souls quite nicely, as well as BW tokens in general (as long as they're not buffed). The other remaining sideboard slot will likely go to Sower of Temptation. We need something strong to combat Abzan aside from the solid 5 drops, and I think that fills the role quite nicely.

I've tried Flashfreeze, and I find it far too narrow to be honest. Against Abzan, I don't always have the opportunity to counter everything. I want my answers to be proactive, not reactive so that if I topdeck it mid-late game in can still answer a Tarmogoyf or Siege Rhino.

Hi everyone.
Just some considerations:
- First, congratulations guyterto for your tournament participation good job, and if it wasn't against your friend you'ld probably had a 5-0 result (UR Delver usually is a good matchup for us)
- Regarding Stony Silence, it is awesome vs both Affinity and Tron. Usually on turn 2 is GG vs Affinity and it buys enough turns against Tron so we can ride to victory. Of course if we have it, we won't be able to use neither Batterskull nor EE, but, at least for me, it's a price i'm willing to pay. Of course this is only valid if Tron and Affinity are played, it doesn't seem the case right now.
- Flashfreeze is a good card, and a solid sideboard option. But which problematic cards would hit that Negate doesn't? I'm thinking only in 3 creatures in T1 decks: Goyf, Rhino and Primeval Titan. Problematic cards that Negate counters and Flashfreeze doesn't: Liliana, Karn, Souls, Hive Mind, Counterspells, Cranial Plating, Path to Exile, etc... For me, i rather have Negate in sb than Flashfreeze.
- I don't think Sulfur Elemental is where we want to go. It's quite weak on his own, without any form of inner protection (hexproof/shroud) and with 2 toughness will die in a battle to almost every creature in modern, it dies to every removal, and it only helps in killing spirit tokens. Izzet Staticaster is, imho, better, it kills the same spirit tokens from Abzan, it kills creatures from affinity, faerie tokens, snapcaster/pestermite from twin, and it's a 0/3, can potentially block goblin guide (and others) and survive.
- Never actually tested Elspeth, Sun's Champion, but her mana cost is a bit expensive - she's in the league of Wurmcoil Engine for instance. Yes, her abilities are pretty good, but looking at top decks that use 6++ CMC cards, we have Tron that generates a lot of mana with Urza's lands and Amulet Bloom, that can generate like 7 mana on turn 2. 5 lands is normal we can get to it, 6 lands could be a bit more problematic, and we can have a dead card in hand. But I may be wrong, this weekend, for instance, i played in a tournament against mirror, and my opponent just slammed an Akroma, Angel of Fury It was pretty cool lol lucky for me i had double bolt in hand, but he lost 1 card i lost 2... Akroma is like 8 mana xD.
- Sower of Temptation is tempting it escapes some removal (abrupt and liliana) and steals a creature. I would prefer if it had flash so we could steal an Emrakul but oh well, we can still use resto in her and steal Emrakul anyway

GP Vancouver, like i suspected after the PT, an increase of Twin decks and a decrease of Abzan, and this is good for us. Splinter Twin is a good matchup for us. Actually, looking at the 5 most played decks in day 2, we have Abzan, Twin, Affinity, Burn and Infect. Imho, only Abzan is bad for a standard UWR Midrange build (of course if infect, affinity or burn can simply get a turn 3 victory is difficult for any deck to deal with). So maybe we could start seeing UWR Decks putting some results in a near future

Best regards.

I'm trying to build a list very similar to this one, with a couple of little changes:

-1 Elspeth
-2 Cryptic Command
-1 Izzet Staticaster

+1 Jace AoT
+1 Valorous Stance
+1 Snapcaster Mage
+1 Keranos



I Think Stance is an auto inclusion because is dead vs Affinity and Burn but in all other matchups can kill something annoying. I Think Jace can help us drawing some fuel with his mini-fof ability. Keranos does the same giving us a bonus card when we hit land for the turn topdeck. I also like the split Splicer / Geist.
Not sure if trying Lingering Souls in SB playing 2 black sources md like #teamgeist idea. Maybe I'll try them after this version

So here's a question. I haven't been too happy with my deck lately. The local meta is Junk, Cruel Control, UWR Control, Burn, Zoo, Affinity, Scapeshift, Twin, and a lot of Bogles and U Tron, each are about 15% of the meta on their own. My deck has felt like it's not aggressive enough against control, particularly Cruel Control but it also feels like I'm not going big enough to trump the smaller decks. Basically, I'm not sure which way I should build, I'm already pretty aggressive but I could make it more so. This is what I'm currently on:



Any suggestions? Should I go bigger or smaller? Should I just change some card choices? Maybe the sideboard is becoming too reactive, which is a problem for a deck that's playing more proactive?

@Aazadan: Celestial Flare seems especially weak against Lingering Souls and some of the aggro decks like zoo and affinity. Does almost nothing vs cruel control and shapeshift. I can see it being good against your bogles matchup (maybe tron?) which I assume is why it's main, but seems more like sideboard material to me. Also your only hard counters being 2x Spell Snare main, and 1x Negate and 1x Counterflux side. Not sure if that's right. I'd imagine your combo matchup suffers a fair bit as a result, and would probably want additional hard counters in the side at the very least. I'd probably be looking at cutting Blood Moon and Vedalken Shackles to make room (can your manabase actually support these?). Probably also swap Smash to Smithereensfor another Stony Silence.

Quote from Nevel0 »

@Aazadan: Celestial Flare seems especially weak against Lingering Souls and some of the aggro decks like zoo and affinity. Does almost nothing vs cruel control and shapeshift. I can see it being good against your bogles matchup (maybe tron?) which I assume is why it's main, but seems more like sideboard material to me. Also your only hard counters being 2x Spell Snare main, and 1x Negate and 1x Counterflux side. Not sure if that's right. I'd imagine your combo matchup suffers a fair bit as a result, and would probably want additional hard counters in the side at the very least. I'd probably be looking at cutting Blood Moon and Vedalken Shackles to make room (can your manabase actually support these?). Probably also swap Smash to Smithereensfor another Stony Silence.

Flare is weak to Souls but it's good against other things like Eldrazi out of U Tron or Bogles. It has targets against just about everything other than Scapeshift and kills creatures that pass the bolt test. I could be convinced to use Engineered Explosives in it's place but due to Bogles I'm pretty sure I want one or the other MB. Just last week my first 3 out of 4 rounds were all against Bogles. It's too prevalent to rely on just the SB to get through the match. It's actually not a weak card against Zoo or Affinity either, because the other burn spells make Flare better giving you some selection on what you hit.

If I ran more counters, what would you suggest cutting? I've been liking the idea of tapping out for Geist (if there's no threat of an impending combo) and then just clearing the way for him. I am making the combo match a bit weaker but Twin/Scapeshift don't see much play (the same player plays both, and only one person is on it in 30 person tournaments) so I'm fine sacrificing those in exchange for better matchups elsewhere.

Blood Moon is something new I'm trying, it was previously Sowing Salt and I wasn't very happy with it. The deck operates fine under a Blood Moon as long as I use a couple fetches first and I don't try and cast Flare that game (that's usually the swap -Flare +Moon).

Shackles works well, the deck has enough Islands to pretty reliably steal up to 4 power creatures. That's all I need.

So here's the list I'm taking to FNM this Friday. Not quite sure where the meta is at the moment but I've prepared myself for Abzan with the lingering souls/ valorous stance setup.
Valorous stance seems like it is highly under rated at the moment, let's geist attack through goyfs, nacatl etc and kills the big boys (tasigur, rhino, big gofys) even opposing angels.
I was running batterskull mainboard and a 3rd cryptic but decided to take Bskull to the side and do away with the 3rd cryptic for 2 copies of Spell snare. Snares get geist through T4 when we are scared of leaks/remands control match ups and hits alot of relevant cards. I feel like thundermaw is a great top end with all the lingering souls running around too.
Not sure if I'll need some GY hate in the sideboard or if I stick to the board I've got, need some help there, maybe a relic or two?
Also not sure if they black splash for lingering souls is too greedy but I'll only be using it in decks that don't really go after my mana base.
Anyways let me know what you think, any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

@Howzy: I agree with Batterskull in the side. Solid card to swap with Thundermaw vs burn, but not fun to glut on 5 drops game 1. Vs an unknown field, especially FNM, I'd recommend 1-2 sideboard slots for graveyard hate so you are not cold to the brews. Relic is a nice option as it cycles. You could potentially cut a Kor Firewalker since you already have Batterskull (and 4x helix main) against burn. I don't know if Lingering Souls is worth it. Good at protecting Geist from Liliana, but 3x sideboard slots is a lot. The deck is not really geared to be grindy like the control version so souls feels out of place to me. I might be wrong.

My most recent build is somewhat similar. I've gone back to having Thundermaw Hellkite main. It's so good against Lingering Souls. Though, I have a weakness for the 3-of to make room for extra spicy 1-of effects.

Thanks for the reply,
I think i will go ahead and cut a firewalker for a relic, Bskull and 1 walker plus Helix and snapcasters seems like a pretty safe line against burn.

I am eager to try lingering souls out, it might not be great but has potential to catch the opponent off guard in game 2, rather than slamming a geist and hoping they dont liana and ruin your day in the abzan MU.
3 slots is a lot but I feel like I'd just be going up in numbers of my other SB cards otherwise, keranos feels more at home in the control lists, I don't really want sweepers as it seems contrary to our gameplan and I don't want to go too permission heavy as it waters down the desired line of the deck, plus geist already has hexproof.

I appreciate the response and I'll make that change for the relic, however I'm going to jam the lingering souls and see how it plays.
I'll let you guys know how it plays out tomorrow night.

Taking this list to a SCG Open on Saturday.


SB might change 1-2 cards before then but right now this is where I'm at. Looking forward to competing and I'll let you all know how I do once it's over and my analysis of it all.

Ran my list at an 18 person FNM last night. Did pretty alright 4-0, though only one matchup was Tier 1.

Deck:
Round 1 Living End (2-1): Round 2 Splinter Twin (2-0): Round 3 White Weenie Tokens (2-0): Round 4 BRw Infect Brew (2-0):

Wrap-up:
While I did play a skilled twin player, my other matches were random decks. I think avoiding the junk and bogles deck was lucky. I didn't play the Affinity player either, as he lost a match early on, but with that deck I feel confident in the post-board games where I can bring in 4x hate cards. Despite the result, I think the normal meta at a tournament would be very difficult, give how prevailant Junk is currently. Liliana is probably the worst card for us to play against. Not to mention lingering souls (though thundermaw helps a little with this).

I think it's definitely important to have some number of sweepers and decent number of counters main and side to be able to transition to a more traditional control deck. Relic seems important to have access to as well. I was very happy to have them vs living end. I'm not sure if Keranos belongs given he's meant for the BGx style decks and Thundermaw is likely to stay in vs a lingering souls deck. However, he does have flex use for any opposing control decks. Otherwise, I like where the deck is currently.

You can only tune an archetype so far before it becomes inbred. The matchup vs Abzan is rough. Afterall, why do you think that deck is popular?

I like where my build is currently. In other words, I think it has enough game to have a chance in that matchup without making my other matchups bad.

If you want to beat Abzan, though, you might be better off dropping blue and just play burn. I want to play UWR, but I'm not going to say it's the best deck right now.

Is this deck still playable without Celestial Colonnade and Arid mesa? The deck looks fun, but i have not had the chance to pick them up yet since im coming from playing UR Twin.

You could probably substitute Flooded Strand. Might even be better. When fetching basics you'd generally be going for islands and then the plains to play around a blood moon. The basic mountain is only really there for the times you need an untapped red but don't want to take the extra pain.

Colonnade on the other hand is a significant loss. It makes siding into a control build (cutting Geists) much more viable. You could probably manage, as many games end with snap, resto, and burn anyway. Going long in a grindy match is where it comes in handy.

Played a local tournament this weekend 7 rounds with no top 8 so tiebreakers were pretty important. What I played was fairly similar to what I posted a page back but there were a couple changes so I'll repost it.



My notes were pretty bad so I have to go off my memory here. I've been trying to make it a habit to take better notes but lately I've been slacking.

Round 1 - Sligh
This was a pretty new player, and was basically on the "red cards I own" deck. Game 1 involved me stabilizing at 12 life and then getting in with Colonnade while a hand of Spell Snares and Paths kept him from establishing a board.

My sideboard was +2 Spellskite, +2 Timely Reinforcements, +1 Celestial Purge, +1 Batterskull for -3 Remand, -1 Explosives, -1 Mindcensor -1 Flare.

Game 2 saw me mulligan to 4 card hand of Snapcaster, Lightning Helix, Scalding Tarn, Hallowed Fountain. I basically drew perfect from that point on getting the virtual 2 for 1 on Helix and then followed with a Snap/Helix. I ended up stabilizing at 4 by landing a Batterskull.

1-0 (2-0)

Round 2 - 4C Zoo
This guy was on everything except for blue cards. Game 1 saw me mulligan to a blind keep on the play of 5: Scalding Tarn, Flooded Strand, Geist, Geist, Celestial Flare. Yet again I draw well hitting my third land and then a string of removal. Over the next few turns I hit my other Flare, 2 Paths, a Snapcaster and another land. My opponent used 2 Loxodon Smiters and then 2 Siege Rhinos which ate all my removal. Then another Smiter came down and I swung Geist into a suicide attack. He blocked with his Smiter and ate 4 from the angel going to 5. I misplay here and use my Electrolyze to kill his Smiter but he used a Gavony Township I forgot about to survive it. The Magic gods take pity on me though and give me a Snapcaster to flashback Flare, followed by a Clique to draw step Clique him taking a freshly drawn Thragtusk out of his hand and I win after a 30 minute G1.

My sideboard was pretty uneventful, -1 Explosives +1 Combust.

Game 2 goes much quicker as my opponent Helixes a couple times but is completely unable to deal with a Geist and Bolt, Snap, Bolt.

2-0 (4-0)

Round 3 - Scapeshift
Scapeshift is always a close match and these were no different. In game 1 I again goto 5 after an initial 7 of Path, Path, Flare, Explosives, Tarn, Mystic Gate, Colonnade and then a landless 6. The 5 wasn't anything great, and I was forced to reduce my life total and race. My opponent ended up having Savage Knuckleblade in game 1 and took a significant chunk out of my life total. Fortunately I hit a Geist on curve and backed by Bolt+Snapcaster I was able to kill him after dropping myself to 3 life.

I sideboard -3 Remand (I later realized this was a mistake), -1 Path, -1 Explosives, -2 Spell Snare for +1 Negate, +1 Counterflux, +2 Timely Reinforcements, +2 Spellskite. I chose to not use Blood Moon which could have been wrong.

In game 2 we go back and forth and I get him to 6 while I'm at 19. He plays a Courser of Kruphix and then Scapeshifts me for 18 dropping me to 1 while he goes up to 13 and is facing down a Snapcaster+Geist on board. I Timely Reinfocements to 7, Play Mindcensor, then Path his Courser and he hits a Mountain dropping me to 4 and then swing Geist+Snap for 8 dropping him to 5. He untaps and plays another Scapeshift, on card #4 it hits 1 of the 2 Mountains remaining in his deck (out of about 35 cards) and he takes it.

In game 3 I land a Geist and start hitting him. On turn 7 I'm at 1 life having once again eaten an 18 point Scapeshift. I topdeck a basic land which lets me activate my Colonnade and hit him for an exact 10.

3-0 (6-1)

Round 4 - UWR Control
Game 1 is pretty uneventful, my opponent decided to play hard control and I mostly knew his list from a conversation before the event. I land a Geist but it forces a Verdict, I get in a few chip shots here and there with Snapcasters and Colonnades and win the game with a Lightning Bolt in response to my opponent tapping out for a EoT Revelation.

My sideboard is -1 Mindcensor, -3 Remand, -3 Path, for +1 Explosives, +1 Negate, +1 Combust, +1 Counterflux, +1 Batterskull, +2 Blood Moon.

In game 2 I don't get there and scoop to an Ajani ultimate followed by a Revelation for 7.

In game 3 I bring the Remands back in for the Blood Moons and an Electrolyze.

My Geist eats a Remand and he plays his own but I Explosives to kill it after eating some damage and then replay my Geist with Negate backup. It swings and he tries to block with a Colonnade but that gets Combusted. Geist swings again on the following turn and gets through another Colonnade thanks to Snap/Combust. On the next turn facing lethal my opponent Rev's into some life, Paths the Angel and drops Batterskull. We go back and forth for a couple turns with an Explosives killing the germ on his Batterskull but my opponent is dead to a topdecked Bolt. Having no other choice he picks up his Batterskull and I clique since I have a window where he can't Cryptic. I take the Batterskull, learn the Cryptic I was playing around was just a bluff, and then kill him on my next combat step.

4-0 (8-2)

Round 5 - Bogles
The Bogles players locally all know I'm on MB Celestial Flare these days, but they don't yet know about the Explosives. In game 1 my opponent gets a successful read that I have a Flare and slows his assault significantly in order to play around it. He first tries a Dryad Arbor but that eats a Bolt, then a Spiritdancer eats an Electrolyze. Eventually having no other options my opponent suits his Bogle up enough to be a threat and decides to make me have it. I do but he's able to rebuild and drops me to 5 with a 5 power Spirit Mantled Bogle on his side. At this point he's at 6 facing down a Geist and it's my turn to make him have it. He has the Path and drops to 4. He untaps and swings but I had been holding a Snapcaster all game. Like always Tiago comes through in a pinch and flashbacks my Celestial Flare to end the game.

I sideboard +2 Spellskite, +1 Engineered Explosives, +1 Negate, +1 Counterflux for -2 Path to Exile, -2 Electrolyze, -1 Aven Mindcensor.

Game 2 is incredibly screwed up, I repeat my very common mistake of leaving in Remand on the draw and see a hand of Colonnade, Colonnade, Flare, Remand, Remand, Bolt, Snapcaster. My opponent chooses to goto 6 and I keep. This was horrible keep on my part (so don't repeat my mistake!) but I kept on the strength of Flare in this match combined with knowing that Bogles mulligans rather poorly. At 6 cards my opponent tanks. He goes to 5 and then to 4. As near as I can tell he kept Leyline of Sanctity+3 lands. The game begins with Leyline and a fetch into Dryad Arbor. I miss my third land drop for awhile and end up having to discard Flare, Bolt, and Helix to hand size but my Remands prevent the Dryad Arbor from becoming scary. After an absurd number of turns with neither I or my opponent doing anything meaningful thanks to Remand, Remand, Snap/Remand, and an eventual Path for the Arbor once it has a Spirit Mantle and Coronet the damage from my Snapcaster begins to add up. I don't quite remember how this match ended as I didn't annotate life totals but my opponent went 18, 16, 15 (fetch), 10, 2, dead. I do remember that the turn before the game ended I landed a Spellskite which ate a Nature's Claim that my opponent originally wanted to use on his Leyline to live for another turn.

5-0 (10-2)

Round 6 - Burn
This match is a blur, so many of the cards just look the same when trying to remember what happened when. The big plays in game 1 are that we each landed 2 Lightning Helixes. I kept up the pressure using Restoration Angels and some bolts of my own. At the end of my opponents final turn I had a Restoration Angel on board with him having nothing, while I was at 3 life and he was at 7. I had two cards in hand, while my opponent had 1 that I figured was a land. At EoT I flash in a Clique and target myself bottoming a land. It draws me a card deeper and I'm able to untap, topdeck a bolt, swing 6, and then finish him off. The topdeck gods are fickle, but it sure does feel good when they're on your side.

The sideboard plan was -1 Explosives, -3 Remand, -2 Electrolyze, +2 Timely Reinforcements, +1 Negate, +1 Celestial Purge, +2 Spellskite

In game 2 I just couldn't stick anything. My opponent played all 4 Goblin Guides in this game by turn 3. I managed to deal with all of them by using Path, Snap/Path, and a defensive Geist but the damage was done and I was finished off by a Lava Spike/Skullcrack volley.

I didn't change the plan for game 3, against most decks I would bring Remand back in on the play but Remand just isn't that great against Burn. I mulligan to 5 and keep it although it's land light. My opponent has another creature heavy draw with double Guide and a Swiftspear. This time the Guide is on my side and over the first three turns he draws me four lands more than pulling me out of the mulligan. With some help from the Guide I pull off a Bolt/Snap/Bolt. I make something of an odd block from my opponents side of the table using the Bolts to kill the Guides and then chumped my opponents 2/3 Swiftspear with Snapcaster giving him 1 creature to my 0. My opponent asked me about this but his question was answered when I untapped into a full value Timely Reinforcements for 6 life+3 guys which brought me to a comfortable 14. From there my opponent could do little and I took the match.

6-0 (12-3)

Round 7 - Scapeshift
Game 1 started off excellent for me, I only took a single point off of my mana and got a Helix+Snap Helix going all the way up to 25 life with my opponent down to 14 and me having part of a clock in play. Things slowed down from here though, threw a Bolt at my opponents face and an Electrolyze somehow got through as well. Backed by this burn my opponent was dropped all the way to 2 life with his back to the wall. He went for an 18 point Scapeshift nuking my Snapcaster and throwing 15 at my face bringing me to 10. I had no followup and my opponent untapped, played a Snapcaster of his own on Scapeshift and hit me for another 9 bringing me to 1. I still had no play and that completes the story of how Scapeshift killed me with combat damage.

My sideboard was
+1 Negate, +1 Counterflux, +2 Timely Reinforcements, +2 Spellskite, -4 Path to Exile, -2 Celestial Flare

In game 2 I get a Timely from 16 to 22 life then a Helix to 25 and force a Geist through a Cryptic on the next turn. The Geist runs away with the game and ties things up.

Then we get to game 3. I curve absolutely perfect getting to Spell Snare my opponents Sakura Tribe Elder, Remand the Search for Tomorrow, and then play Geist. Facing lethal my opponent plays the Cryptic fog game for a few turns which allows him to build to 7 lands, and this time I'm below 18 as a consequence of making my mana work on the Spell Snare/Remand early in the game. After Geist draws out the Snap/Cryptic that my opponent was hoping would get him to lethal I play my Spellskite with several blue mana untapped. That proves to be enough disruption and I win the event.

7-0 (14-4)



Overall I did decent despite numerous misplays, some of which I managed to recount but I'm still not quite happy with where the deck is. My tuning for the local meta, particularly Bogles which is normally a bad matchup seems to be effective but I feel like the deck is leaning way too hard on Geist. The games where I have Geist don't even feel like I'm playing the same deck as the games without it and I don't like having such a reliance on a single card. On the other hand I have liked the plan of landing my threats and then using removal to clear a path rather than trying to play a reactive game of countering and then putting my own cards down. Basically, I think I'm looking for another solid threat in the 3-4 CMC range. With my heavy removal plan using Restoration Angel to protect Geist comes up extremely rarely and I find that it often times sits in my hand because 4 mana for 3 power just hasn't been a good enough rate. Actually, the truth is I'm rarely even blinking Clique or Snapcaster either.

So, if anyone has gotten this far in the post... are there any suggestions in place of Restoration Angel? The obvious swap to me is for a dragon but I don't want a 5 mana dragon when Colonnade is already 5, so I would prefer to stick to some sort of high impact 4 drop.

Quote from moondemon88 »

Is this deck still playable without Celestial Colonnade and Arid mesa? The deck looks fun, but i have not had the chance to pick them up yet since im coming from playing UR Twin.

You don't need Arid Mesa, Flooded Strand is better and as a bonus to your wallet it's cheaper. Thanks to the allied fetches if you choose to run any Arid Mesa's at all they're your 9th+ fetch so you probably don't want that many in the first place. Tarns on the other hand are very much needed. Colonnade is pretty much required too, without them you're just too threat light at ~13-14 creatures and no real card draw to find them.

Hero of bladehold Or lightning angel maybe ?

Thundermaw and Ajani Vengeant have consistently overperformed for me. Could swap out for them. Resto has generally just been Snapcaster 5-6 for me.