I think Purge pulls its weight in the sideboard (I run 2x). Answers Lilli, black delve creatures, Rhino (or Bob if required) in BGx decks, answers Keranos/Blood Moon/Splinter Twin/Black delve creatures in Twin/Grixis Twin/Grixis Control decks.
I'm all in with Purge in the board. I was just mentioning it for comparison reasons as mainboard material, don't get me wrong! :P.
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In Lorwyn's brief evenings, the sun pauses at the horizon long enough for a certain species of violet to bloom with the fragrance of mischief.
Went 3-1 for 3rd place this afternoon at a small tournament. The loss feels like variance, but then again my last match the variance went in my favour. The list:
Grixis Twin 2-0
Very grindy matches. Wall of Omens did a ton of work getting value from Restos and surprisingly by blocking his Snapcaster Mages. I got to do some fun tricks like Remanding my spell to counter his remand, also protecting my Colonnade with a Resto from his Terminate. Dispel was great as well. It protected my Cryptic at one point. Games went long enough that we both drew about half our deck. Hard to remember every interaction, but Path was uniquely good, as I exiled his Exarchs and so Kolaghan's Command could not rebuy them. Green Devotion 2-0
His deck was full of ramp and some big green spells like Primeval Titan. Early threats were an issue, and at one point Wall of Omens came in handy to chump block to buy me time to setup a turn where I could counter bounce with Cryptic, followed by Remand on recast and then finally Cryptic to counter after I was able to untap and it was his next turn. Games would stablize and he would draw a bunch of ramp while I setup Resto aggro for the win. This match feels like it would be unwinnable almost for the ramp deck. Impact Tremors Goblins 0-2
Basically a standard legal goblin token deck with Impact tremors. It was almost funny how embarrassing it was to lose, but that's magic, so you shake hands and go to the next match. I don't feel bad about it, as it was just a string of bad luck and misplays and not a bad matchup. Mulled to 6 game 1, got stuck on 3 mana for a turn, and in general I think I made some play sequencing mistakes against his aggressive draw. Second game, mulled to 6 again and kept a hand with 4 land, Omens, and Leak. I think it was probably a loose keep. Either way, I drew a bunch of land and died to 8 goblin tokens. Pretty good day for my opponent, as I don't think he's probably ever done that well at modern, taking his budget standard deck to the finals of a small modern LGS tournament. lol Tron 2-0
Is one came down to him mulling to 4 on game 1 and only barely losing to my Resto burn aggro. Had I been on the draw, I would have lost. This is such a bad matchup lol. Stoney Silence more or less won me the game in game 2. It kept him off his maps and eggs, so it was turn 6-7 before he drew natural Tron rather than turn 3 through cycling and searching. This was crucial as it allowed me time to get Geist online despite missing my third land drop a couple turns. I fought through his Karn, and then a Sundering Titan destroying all but 1 of my lands for the win. I asked him if he had sided out Pyroclasm, and he had, which made the Geist good in a typically awkward matchup.
As far as Finks, I originally had a couple Timely Reinforcement, but now that I'm playing a full set of Resto, the body seems more valuable. Can help if we want to get aggressive too. The double white is a little bit annoying.
GreatNate, mind sharing your current list? It seems to me like the meta has shifted to Affinity+Abzan+Jund, meaning that Supreme Verdict is back up for consideration in the mainboard. Putting it in would probably mean sideboarding Geists, any thoughts on the idea?
1. 23 lands. I think this is wrong but I'm still going to try it out. Even with 23 lands I think I flood out more often than I would like, and the reason for having 3 celestial colonnade instead of 4 is that it's very annoying to draw lands that ETB tapped when it's a crucial land drop (as we all know). Again, probably wrong but I'll see how it goes after I actually take it to a tournament.
2. stormbreath dragon over thundermaw hellkite. I've always thought thundermaw hellkite is better because of the initial 1 extra guaranteed damage, but stormbreath dragon is much better at later stages of the game, so I'm deciding to test it out. Running 23 lands, I think thundermaw hellkite is better because ideally I need to hit 7 lands for stormbreath dragon to perform to its maximum potential but idk, will report back after a local tournament like I previously said.
3. The 1 of's, jeskai charm and spell snare. I think a single jeskai charm definitely deserves a spot because it's flexible and actually good in quite a number of MU's. As for spell snare I've always hated it because it would always get stuck in my hand when my opp. never plays a 2 cmc spell and I'd never draw it when they do... BUT. When I do have it in hand and it does catch something, it's usually very good, so just trying out 1 copy for now.
The main thing I like about Jeskai Charm is that it can kill a 4 counter Liliana and the lifegain & global pump. What do you suggest I replace it with? I'll have a stronger opinion about it after this Friday when I play at my LGS' Modern tourney.
Yeah, the Delta and the Foothills are going to be replaced by Scalding Tarn soon, but the arid mesa certainly isn't for budget reasons 0_0
GreatNate, mind sharing your current list? It seems to me like the meta has shifted to Affinity+Abzan+Jund, meaning that Supreme Verdict is back up for consideration in the mainboard. Putting it in would probably mean sideboarding Geists, any thoughts on the idea?
I don't think I have anything to really add at this point. I have been testing 2 x Kitchen Finks over 2 x Kor Firewalker to help with the Jund Matchup.
I tested Jeskai Charm again since it's been awhile, and I don't recommend it. It has moments where it's good, but I think overall Electrolyze is just better.
If I could run more than 4 Electrolyze safely, I probably would. I think that Finks over Firewalkers is probably a good choice, because against Burn, we can sometimes outrace them.
First post on the forum, I have been reading it for a long time now.
Thanks to your different advices, and recent posts, I have moved from a more conventional build with Electrolyze, Vendilion Clique and 26 lands to the bellow deck including less lands, more removal and Thunderbreak Regent.
@Patousan it looks like no one responded, so I thought I'd weigh in. This looks like a fine list to test out. If you can get your hands on a couple Scalding Tarn that would probably be good for your mana. I do love Electrolyze and Vendilion Clique, though, so I would like to see them in here. Clique is a matter of preference, but I think Electrolyze is one of the best cards for the current meta with so many Snaps, YPs, Delvers, and Bobs running around. Maybe find a little room for Electrolyze by cutting a couple counterspells--10 counterspells seems like a lot, but I haven't tested with that many. I've only ever gone up to 8. I find that this deck usually wants to be proactive--Electrolyze can be cast even when it doesn't answer anything on board since you can just burn the opponent for a couple and dig a card deeper.
Haven't tested Young Pyromancer. It seems like decks with more cantrips are better set up to abuse that card. Exquisite Firecraft seems way too slow for Modern--3 mana for four damage at sorcery speed. 4 damage isn't great against the threats that Lightning Bolt can't answer. Those threats (Tasigur, Siege Rhino, Gurmag Angler, Tarmogoyf) usually have 5 toughness. If the plan is to burn the opponent for 4 with it, Boros Charm does that at just 2 mana.
I like running Elspeth, Knight Errant over Thunderbreak Regent in this list. The card's been great for me recently, especially in the grindier matchups. The soldier tokens are fine, and jumping Geist can be game-winning. Seems more synergistic with the deck than Thunderbreak Regent.
I've gone up to 4 Serum Visions and haven't regretted it. I've cut down to 23 lands with that. I think all lists should consider it. Others have been talking about running Serum Visions over the past few months, and I definitely agree after testing.
@Vegas10 The list looks good. Very similar to mine. I've been playing with 4 serum visions recently and have been happy. With 3-4, you can cut 2 lands since each serum visions draws you or scrys you a land most of the time. I'm interested in hearing how the Blood Moons work out. I've considered them.
Went 5-0 yesterday at a small local tournament with this. Played against Infect, Esper Control, Zoo, Soul Sisters, and Living End. It's a pretty stock build, except I'm running Supreme Verdict main instead of Cryptic, and I went with Anticipate instead of Visions. I understand the value of Visions, but I really like being able to Anticipate at instead speed and getting what I need at the moment instead of trying to set myself up. I'm enjoying Verdict mainboard as it's a way for the deck to stabilize when it's running behind, something that Cryptic can't really do.
RD1 VS Enduring Ideal deck 1-0 2-0
Not much to say his deck wasn't really equipped to beat me
RD2 Vs Grixis Faires 2-0 2-1
Game 1 I thought he was Twin as I only Saw Pestermite, and Lavamancer won game
Game 2 he drop T2 Bitterblossom, protects with spellstutter
Game 3 I roll him hyper agro Geist in Resto Draw with burn
Rd3 Vs Zoo (Doug Rice finished 6th) 1-2 2-1
Lost game one to triple Boros charm had him next turn
Game 2 I keep board clear early ride T3 gesit T4 resto to save it from Eidolon for win
Game 3 I had to mull kept a bit risky hand and got beat
Rd4 Vs Jund 2-0 3-1
Beat him easy Game 1 and 2, I got geists and he never got Lilly
Rd5 Vs Abzan Company (Logan Mize Finished 2nd) 1-2 3-2
Beat him in as long game 1
he values me out game 2 and I draw a lot of land
game 3 I mull to 6 get stuck on 2 land for too long, he gets chord witness going that I can't stop
Rd6 vs Grixis Twin 1-2 3-3
Game 1 he gets pretty lucky, long game he is able to kolaghans for exarch, and 2 to my geist token plus bolt it, and block he has no cards, he rips twin off the top, I have him dead with geist if he doesn't rip had 4 in deck with about 30 cards left, it happens
Game 2 I get him\
Game 3 he was able to combo out, after ripping my counter spells out with 3 discard spells, I was ahead on board
Dropped after that, again the deck is very competitive, I def could have won against zoo, and really should have beat twin but sometimes it gets lucky, the company deck feels like a tough matchup, really hurt I never drew my sidboarded Pyroclasms, but you have to play both the combo and the value of cards like company and chord very tough to do, especially with skites in te deck as well.
Game 2, on play. Turn 3 Geist races him very quickly, not alot to say about this one, he didn't have natural Tron and basically died on his turn 4.
Game 3, on draw. Opponent mulls to 5, keeps a one-lander with alot of dig but fails to find more than one tron piece in addition to his one Grove of the Burnwillows. Meanwhile, a turn 3 Snap-Bolt into turn 4 Resto Angel beat him to death.
Round 2: 4c Gifts, 2-0
Game 1, on play. My opponent casts literally three spells this game; turn one Inquisition of Kozilek takes my Geist of Saint Traft, turn two Abrupt Decay kills the Snapcaster I dropped as a beatstick EoT, turn four we do the same song and dance. Restoration Angel and Colonnade beat him dead as he draws naught but lands.
Sideboard: I correctly put him on Gifts here due to seeing four colors of mana from his lands. I board for a grindy game.
Game 1, on play. Turn 3 Geist gets there backed by some removal and a Restoration Angel. My opponent goes for combo, but at 4 life, decides to Spell Snare my Lightning Helix in response to his Deceiver Exarch. This allows me to Remand his Splinter Twin and crack back for the win.
Sideboard: I hate Cryptic Command against any deck with Remand and Dispel, so they're a clear cut here. I'm not sure about the straight UR deck's board plan against us, but I anticipated him to go the Control route. This was only half true.
Game 2, on draw. A long, drawn out game with my opponent dropping a turn 4 Blood Moon into my 3 non-basics threatens to be over quickly but a topdecked Island lets me keep casting spells, and finding my one Plains a couple turns later lets me cast two Restoration Angels. It also helps that I draw three of my Bolts for his creatures. Eventually I Celestial Purge the Blood Moon and find myself with 5 power of creatures (3 of which is Restoration Angel) against a 6-health opponent with a Pestermite and two Snapcasters in play. I have two Colonnades, but only enough mana to activate one. I initiate a counter war on his upkeep over Path to Exile on his Pestermite, which ends in basically a tie. The Pestermite lives but he's tapped low; however, he has an Exarch to tap my Angel, and decides (correctly) to not play around a burn spell and take a Colonnade to the face. He untaps, and has two Splinter Twins, leaving my Path on the first target looking pretty sad.
Game 3, on play. I keep an aggressive, burn-heavy hand and quickly get my opponent to three off of burn, Snapcaster beats and a Vendilion Clique. At three, he starts chaining Cryptics. During a lethal attack, he Cryptics to tap my team, I ghost quarter my own land for a blue source to Dispel it, he top decked a Dispel back of his own that turn. However, two turns later I top deck back with a Lightning Bolt, and he taps out to Snapcaster Cryptic. I kill him in response.
Round 4: Grixis Delver. Intentional draw. We play a game for fun, me on the play. My turn 3 Geist just barely gets there when I'm at 1, after he chose not to block Geist with Tasigur the turn before, playing around Bolt (which then goes to his face instead).
Overall, I'm very happy with this deck. First time playing it (though I've played Geist before, he's been strictly a sideboard creature). Maybe I got lucky with the matchups, but he felt like the best card in my deck even when I had three in hand against Tron.
Twin is one of our best match-ups, Geist is an all star and I wouldn't side it out. Jamming Geist on 3 when you are on the play is nearly ALWAYS correct. If they don't have remand, it's likely GG. You are correct in my opinion to side out the Cryptics, I do. Against Twin we really want to try to be the aggressors when possible, and get in fights at the end of their turn to try and resolve a Geist. Geist is a great benefit for us, because in the match-up they are trying to safely land a 5cmc threat (Keranos/Teferi), while we are trying to land a Geist. It's much easier for us, and Geist is even more powerful than Keranos in the matchup.
Game 2, on play. Turn 3 Geist races him very quickly, not alot to say about this one, he didn't have natural Tron and basically died on his turn 4.
Game 3, on draw. Opponent mulls to 5, keeps a one-lander with alot of dig but fails to find more than one tron piece in addition to his one Grove of the Burnwillows. Meanwhile, a turn 3 Snap-Bolt into turn 4 Resto Angel beat him to death.
Round 2: 4c Gifts, 2-0
Game 1, on play. My opponent casts literally three spells this game; turn one Inquisition of Kozilek takes my Geist of Saint Traft, turn two Abrupt Decay kills the Snapcaster I dropped as a beatstick EoT, turn four we do the same song and dance. Restoration Angel and Colonnade beat him dead as he draws naught but lands.
Sideboard: I correctly put him on Gifts here due to seeing four colors of mana from his lands. I board for a grindy game.
Game 1, on play. Turn 3 Geist gets there backed by some removal and a Restoration Angel. My opponent goes for combo, but at 4 life, decides to Spell Snare my Lightning Helix in response to his Deceiver Exarch. This allows me to Remand his Splinter Twin and crack back for the win.
Sideboard: I hate Cryptic Command against any deck with Remand and Dispel, so they're a clear cut here. I'm not sure about the straight UR deck's board plan against us, but I anticipated him to go the Control route. This was only half true.
Game 2, on draw. A long, drawn out game with my opponent dropping a turn 4 Blood Moon into my 3 non-basics threatens to be over quickly but a topdecked Island lets me keep casting spells, and finding my one Plains a couple turns later lets me cast two Restoration Angels. It also helps that I draw three of my Bolts for his creatures. Eventually I Celestial Purge the Blood Moon and find myself with 5 power of creatures (3 of which is Restoration Angel) against a 6-health opponent with a Pestermite and two Snapcasters in play. I have two Colonnades, but only enough mana to activate one. I initiate a counter war on his upkeep over Path to Exile on his Pestermite, which ends in basically a tie. The Pestermite lives but he's tapped low; however, he has an Exarch to tap my Angel, and decides (correctly) to not play around a burn spell and take a Colonnade to the face. He untaps, and has two Splinter Twins, leaving my Path on the first target looking pretty sad.
Game 3, on play. I keep an aggressive, burn-heavy hand and quickly get my opponent to three off of burn, Snapcaster beats and a Vendilion Clique. At three, he starts chaining Cryptics. During a lethal attack, he Cryptics to tap my team, I ghost quarter my own land for a blue source to Dispel it, he top decked a Dispel back of his own that turn. However, two turns later I top deck back with a Lightning Bolt, and he taps out to Snapcaster Cryptic. I kill him in response.
Round 4: Grixis Delver. Intentional draw. We play a game for fun, me on the play. My turn 3 Geist just barely gets there when I'm at 1, after he chose not to block Geist with Tasigur the turn before, playing around Bolt (which then goes to his face instead).
Overall, I'm very happy with this deck. First time playing it (though I've played Geist before, he's been strictly a sideboard creature). Maybe I got lucky with the matchups, but he felt like the best card in my deck even when I had three in hand against Tron.
Twin is one of our best match-ups, Geist is an all star and I wouldn't side it out. Jamming Geist on 3 when you are on the play is nearly ALWAYS correct. If they don't have remand, it's likely GG. You are correct in my opinion to side out the Cryptics, I do. Against Twin we really want to try to be the aggressors when possible, and get in fights at the end of their turn to try and resolve a Geist. Geist is a great benefit for us, because in the match-up they are trying to safely land a 5cmc threat (Keranos/Teferi), while we are trying to land a Geist. It's much easier for us, and Geist is even more powerful than Keranos in the matchup.
Agreed, GreatNate. Anyone who isn't convinced should find someone who plays a Twin deck and swap decks for play testing. It is incredibly had to Twin against UWR as long as the UWR player leaves some mana up to interact. The Twin player has to try playing our game worse than us, which is just hilarious. Exarch and Pestermite don't present great clocks--they have to randomly win off a Blood Moon, which is easy enough to play around.
T3 on the play vs Twin, always jam Geist. You're baiting out a counterspell if nothing else. If you have clique, you can also draw step clique them, then T4 Geist, which is even better and feels awesome no matter how it turns out.
T3 on the draw vs Twin, I am slightly cautious. This matchup is hard to lose, and I think tapping out T3 there gives them one of their few ways to win. I usually wait a bit to pick a spot a couple turns later.
@vegas10 nice tournament report. Wouldn't feel too bad about collected company, that one is hard in my experience also. anger of the gods helps in that one if its the kitchen finks/voice of resurgence version.
No mention of blood moon--did you board it in? Did you just not draw it?
I'm all in with Purge in the board. I was just mentioning it for comparison reasons as mainboard material, don't get me wrong! :P.
4 Snapcaster Mage
4 Wall of Omens
1 Vendilion Clique
4 Restoration Angel
Spells (22)
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Path to Exile
1 Shadow of Doubt
2 Lightning Helix
2 Remand
3 Mana Leak
1 Sphinx's Revelation
2 Electrolyze
3 Cryptic Command
1 Desolate Lighthouse
1 Mountain
1 Plains
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Sulfur Falls
2 Ghost Quarter
2 Hallowed Fountain
2 Steam Vents
3 Celestial Colonnade
3 Island
4 Flooded Strand
4 Scalding Tarn
1 Dispel
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Wear // Tear
2 Celestial Purge
2 Stony Silence
1 Anger of the Gods
2 Kitchen Finks
3 Geist of Saint Traft
1 Shatterstorm
1 Supreme Verdict
Grixis Twin 2-0
Very grindy matches. Wall of Omens did a ton of work getting value from Restos and surprisingly by blocking his Snapcaster Mages. I got to do some fun tricks like Remanding my spell to counter his remand, also protecting my Colonnade with a Resto from his Terminate. Dispel was great as well. It protected my Cryptic at one point. Games went long enough that we both drew about half our deck. Hard to remember every interaction, but Path was uniquely good, as I exiled his Exarchs and so Kolaghan's Command could not rebuy them.
Green Devotion 2-0
His deck was full of ramp and some big green spells like Primeval Titan. Early threats were an issue, and at one point Wall of Omens came in handy to chump block to buy me time to setup a turn where I could counter bounce with Cryptic, followed by Remand on recast and then finally Cryptic to counter after I was able to untap and it was his next turn. Games would stablize and he would draw a bunch of ramp while I setup Resto aggro for the win. This match feels like it would be unwinnable almost for the ramp deck.
Impact Tremors Goblins 0-2
Basically a standard legal goblin token deck with Impact tremors. It was almost funny how embarrassing it was to lose, but that's magic, so you shake hands and go to the next match. I don't feel bad about it, as it was just a string of bad luck and misplays and not a bad matchup. Mulled to 6 game 1, got stuck on 3 mana for a turn, and in general I think I made some play sequencing mistakes against his aggressive draw. Second game, mulled to 6 again and kept a hand with 4 land, Omens, and Leak. I think it was probably a loose keep. Either way, I drew a bunch of land and died to 8 goblin tokens. Pretty good day for my opponent, as I don't think he's probably ever done that well at modern, taking his budget standard deck to the finals of a small modern LGS tournament. lol
Tron 2-0
Is one came down to him mulling to 4 on game 1 and only barely losing to my Resto burn aggro. Had I been on the draw, I would have lost. This is such a bad matchup lol. Stoney Silence more or less won me the game in game 2. It kept him off his maps and eggs, so it was turn 6-7 before he drew natural Tron rather than turn 3 through cycling and searching. This was crucial as it allowed me time to get Geist online despite missing my third land drop a couple turns. I fought through his Karn, and then a Sundering Titan destroying all but 1 of my lands for the win. I asked him if he had sided out Pyroclasm, and he had, which made the Geist good in a typically awkward matchup.
Edit: Some formatting.
Modern: R Skred -- WBG Melira Co -- URW Nahiri Control
Legacy: R Mono Red Burn -- UWB Stoneblade
Commander: R Krenko, Mob Boss -- WUBRG Scion of the Ur-Dragon -- WUBRG Maze’s End
Other: R No Rares Red (Standard) -- URC Izzet Tron (Pauper)
I always want to try out Ojutai, but I always end up cutting him for 'better' cards. Has anyone had success with him lately?
UWR Control
Legacy:
W D&T
Modern: R Skred -- WBG Melira Co -- URW Nahiri Control
Legacy: R Mono Red Burn -- UWB Stoneblade
Commander: R Krenko, Mob Boss -- WUBRG Scion of the Ur-Dragon -- WUBRG Maze’s End
Other: R No Rares Red (Standard) -- URC Izzet Tron (Pauper)
What do you think of my list? Comments and feedback appreciated.
4 Geist of saint traft
4 snapcaster mage
3 restoration angel
2 vendilion clique
1 stormbreath dragon
spells (23)
2 cryptic command
2 electrolyze
1 Jeskai Charm
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Lightning Helix
2 Mana Leak
4 Path to Exile
2 Remand
1 Spell Snare
3 serum visions
2 Arid Mesa
3 Celestial Colonnade
1 Eiganjo Castle
4 Flooded Strand
2 Ghost Quarter
1 Hallowed Fountain
2 Island
1 Mountain
1 Plains
1 Polluted Delta
1 Sacred Foundry
2 Steam Vents
1 Sulfur Falls
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Anger of the Gods
2 Aven Mindcensor
1 Celestial Purge
1 Counterflux
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Keranos, God of Storms
1 Negate
1 Rest in Peace
2 Stony Silence
1 Supreme Verdict
2 Wear / Tear
1 Wrath of God
Some personal comments:
1. 23 lands. I think this is wrong but I'm still going to try it out. Even with 23 lands I think I flood out more often than I would like, and the reason for having 3 celestial colonnade instead of 4 is that it's very annoying to draw lands that ETB tapped when it's a crucial land drop (as we all know). Again, probably wrong but I'll see how it goes after I actually take it to a tournament.
2. stormbreath dragon over thundermaw hellkite. I've always thought thundermaw hellkite is better because of the initial 1 extra guaranteed damage, but stormbreath dragon is much better at later stages of the game, so I'm deciding to test it out. Running 23 lands, I think thundermaw hellkite is better because ideally I need to hit 7 lands for stormbreath dragon to perform to its maximum potential but idk, will report back after a local tournament like I previously said.
3. The 1 of's, jeskai charm and spell snare. I think a single jeskai charm definitely deserves a spot because it's flexible and actually good in quite a number of MU's. As for spell snare I've always hated it because it would always get stuck in my hand when my opp. never plays a 2 cmc spell and I'd never draw it when they do... BUT. When I do have it in hand and it does catch something, it's usually very good, so just trying out 1 copy for now.
Thanks guys!
Also, I assume the random fetches other than Strand are budget?
Modern: R Skred -- WBG Melira Co -- URW Nahiri Control
Legacy: R Mono Red Burn -- UWB Stoneblade
Commander: R Krenko, Mob Boss -- WUBRG Scion of the Ur-Dragon -- WUBRG Maze’s End
Other: R No Rares Red (Standard) -- URC Izzet Tron (Pauper)
Yeah, the Delta and the Foothills are going to be replaced by Scalding Tarn soon, but the arid mesa certainly isn't for budget reasons 0_0
I suppose Arid Mesa is fine. I prefer for all my fetches to be able to get Islands.
Modern: R Skred -- WBG Melira Co -- URW Nahiri Control
Legacy: R Mono Red Burn -- UWB Stoneblade
Commander: R Krenko, Mob Boss -- WUBRG Scion of the Ur-Dragon -- WUBRG Maze’s End
Other: R No Rares Red (Standard) -- URC Izzet Tron (Pauper)
I don't think I have anything to really add at this point. I have been testing 2 x Kitchen Finks over 2 x Kor Firewalker to help with the Jund Matchup.
I tested Jeskai Charm again since it's been awhile, and I don't recommend it. It has moments where it's good, but I think overall Electrolyze is just better.
UWR Control
Legacy:
W D&T
@Patousan it looks like no one responded, so I thought I'd weigh in. This looks like a fine list to test out. If you can get your hands on a couple Scalding Tarn that would probably be good for your mana. I do love Electrolyze and Vendilion Clique, though, so I would like to see them in here. Clique is a matter of preference, but I think Electrolyze is one of the best cards for the current meta with so many Snaps, YPs, Delvers, and Bobs running around. Maybe find a little room for Electrolyze by cutting a couple counterspells--10 counterspells seems like a lot, but I haven't tested with that many. I've only ever gone up to 8. I find that this deck usually wants to be proactive--Electrolyze can be cast even when it doesn't answer anything on board since you can just burn the opponent for a couple and dig a card deeper.
Haven't tested Young Pyromancer. It seems like decks with more cantrips are better set up to abuse that card.
Exquisite Firecraft seems way too slow for Modern--3 mana for four damage at sorcery speed. 4 damage isn't great against the threats that Lightning Bolt can't answer. Those threats (Tasigur, Siege Rhino, Gurmag Angler, Tarmogoyf) usually have 5 toughness. If the plan is to burn the opponent for 4 with it, Boros Charm does that at just 2 mana.
I like running Elspeth, Knight Errant over Thunderbreak Regent in this list. The card's been great for me recently, especially in the grindier matchups. The soldier tokens are fine, and jumping Geist can be game-winning. Seems more synergistic with the deck than Thunderbreak Regent.
I've gone up to 4 Serum Visions and haven't regretted it. I've cut down to 23 lands with that. I think all lists should consider it. Others have been talking about running Serum Visions over the past few months, and I definitely agree after testing.
3x Scalding Tarn
3x Flooded Strand
2x Arid Mesa
4x Celestial Colonnade
2x Tectonic Edge
2x Island
1x Plains
1x Mountain
2x Steam Vents
1x Hallowed Fountain
1x Sacred Foundry
1x Eijano Castle
2x Sulfur Falls
3x Geist of St. Traft
3x Restoration Angel
2x Vendilion Clique
4x Lightning Bolt
4x Path to Exile
3x Lightning Helix
2x Electrolyze
2x Spell Snare
2x Remand
2x Cryptic Command
2x Mana Leak
3x Serum Vision
2x Relic of Progenitus
1x Keranos, God of Storms
2x Wear/Tear
1x Negate
2x Dispel
2x Pyroclasm
1x Supreme Verdict
2x Blood Moon
@Vegas10 The list looks good. Very similar to mine. I've been playing with 4 serum visions recently and have been happy. With 3-4, you can cut 2 lands since each serum visions draws you or scrys you a land most of the time. I'm interested in hearing how the Blood Moons work out. I've considered them.
4 Snapcaster Mage
4 Geist of Saint Traft
2 Vendilion Clique
3 Restoration Angel
Spells
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Path to Exile
4 Lightning Helix
3 Mana Leak
2 Anticipate
2 Remand
2 Electroylyze
2 Supreme Verdict
4 Celestial Colonnade
4 Flooded Strand
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Island
1 Plains
1 Mountain
2 Steam Vents
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Sacred Foundry
2 Ghost Quarter
1 Eiganjo Castle
1 Sulfur Falls
2 Wear // Tear
2 Kor Firewalker
2 Engineered Explosives
2 Anger of the Gods
1 Celestial Purge
1 Keranos, God of Storms
1 Izzet Staticaster
1 Dispel
1 Negate
1 Spellskite
1 Valorous Stance
Went 5-0 yesterday at a small local tournament with this. Played against Infect, Esper Control, Zoo, Soul Sisters, and Living End. It's a pretty stock build, except I'm running Supreme Verdict main instead of Cryptic, and I went with Anticipate instead of Visions. I understand the value of Visions, but I really like being able to Anticipate at instead speed and getting what I need at the moment instead of trying to set myself up. I'm enjoying Verdict mainboard as it's a way for the deck to stabilize when it's running behind, something that Cryptic can't really do.
Commander
U Tetsuko Umezawa, Fugitive
RG Zilortha, Strength Incarnate
WB Amalia Benavides Aguirre
RD1 VS Enduring Ideal deck 1-0 2-0
Not much to say his deck wasn't really equipped to beat me
RD2 Vs Grixis Faires 2-0 2-1
Game 1 I thought he was Twin as I only Saw Pestermite, and Lavamancer won game
Game 2 he drop T2 Bitterblossom, protects with spellstutter
Game 3 I roll him hyper agro Geist in Resto Draw with burn
Rd3 Vs Zoo (Doug Rice finished 6th) 1-2 2-1
Lost game one to triple Boros charm had him next turn
Game 2 I keep board clear early ride T3 gesit T4 resto to save it from Eidolon for win
Game 3 I had to mull kept a bit risky hand and got beat
Rd4 Vs Jund 2-0 3-1
Beat him easy Game 1 and 2, I got geists and he never got Lilly
Rd5 Vs Abzan Company (Logan Mize Finished 2nd) 1-2 3-2
Beat him in as long game 1
he values me out game 2 and I draw a lot of land
game 3 I mull to 6 get stuck on 2 land for too long, he gets chord witness going that I can't stop
Rd6 vs Grixis Twin 1-2 3-3
Game 1 he gets pretty lucky, long game he is able to kolaghans for exarch, and 2 to my geist token plus bolt it, and block he has no cards, he rips twin off the top, I have him dead with geist if he doesn't rip had 4 in deck with about 30 cards left, it happens
Game 2 I get him\
Game 3 he was able to combo out, after ripping my counter spells out with 3 discard spells, I was ahead on board
Dropped after that, again the deck is very competitive, I def could have won against zoo, and really should have beat twin but sometimes it gets lucky, the company deck feels like a tough matchup, really hurt I never drew my sidboarded Pyroclasms, but you have to play both the combo and the value of cards like company and chord very tough to do, especially with skites in te deck as well.
Twin is one of our best match-ups, Geist is an all star and I wouldn't side it out. Jamming Geist on 3 when you are on the play is nearly ALWAYS correct. If they don't have remand, it's likely GG. You are correct in my opinion to side out the Cryptics, I do. Against Twin we really want to try to be the aggressors when possible, and get in fights at the end of their turn to try and resolve a Geist. Geist is a great benefit for us, because in the match-up they are trying to safely land a 5cmc threat (Keranos/Teferi), while we are trying to land a Geist. It's much easier for us, and Geist is even more powerful than Keranos in the matchup.
Agreed, GreatNate. Anyone who isn't convinced should find someone who plays a Twin deck and swap decks for play testing. It is incredibly had to Twin against UWR as long as the UWR player leaves some mana up to interact. The Twin player has to try playing our game worse than us, which is just hilarious. Exarch and Pestermite don't present great clocks--they have to randomly win off a Blood Moon, which is easy enough to play around.
T3 on the play vs Twin, always jam Geist. You're baiting out a counterspell if nothing else. If you have clique, you can also draw step clique them, then T4 Geist, which is even better and feels awesome no matter how it turns out.
T3 on the draw vs Twin, I am slightly cautious. This matchup is hard to lose, and I think tapping out T3 there gives them one of their few ways to win. I usually wait a bit to pick a spot a couple turns later.
No mention of blood moon--did you board it in? Did you just not draw it?
How has elspeth worked out? Aven mindcensor? On the fence with those.