I agree that Halo is good, been working nicely thus far (I have one in the side). Considering adding one more.
Tested versus UW Eldrazi yesterday and I'm a bit unsure how to really combat them. From the side they can add Disenchant and Stubborn Denial. The latter was a deciding factor in my matches - especially when you try to land a three - four cmc sideboard card on curve when they all ready is ahead on mana.
Thus I'm not sold on damping matrix against UW Eldrazi. I think something like Pithing Needle would be more impactful if you play on curve.
Hey everyone, first time posting here and recently picked up U/W control. This is a very good deck in a creature heavy meta but I noticed that it has a very unfavorable combo matchup. I run the "tap out" control version (no jace AND no counterspells) and it's pretty good against most aggro as wel as B/G/x variants but really struggles with combo like infect and coco. How do you guys address this? Do we just give them game one?
U/W eldrazi isn't really too much of a problem as it is slower than U/R and is soft to board wipes. Walls keep them at bay and wipes take care of blinking shenanigans and explosive starts. Thought-knot is a real problem but with so much card draw you can get at least two wipes in hand easy. If they slam two thought knots on you they probably deserve to win anyway. Heavy aggro/eldrazi metas can even warrant 4 MB board wipes.
Coco on the other hand is absolutely abysmal, nearly impossible to outrace them and they just rack up more value as the game goes longer.
The deck seems powerful, although I sometimes miss that extra reach UWR has. I feel useless against combo decks like Living End, Ad Nauseam, and specially Storm so I've cut the singleton Remand and added the Negate, although it seems risky with an aggro, creatureful meta. Ojutai is fantastic, with Minamo or Dispel up, he wins games by itself and it's also a great blocker. Same goes to Ojutai's Command. Doing counter/take my Wall back is a much better Cryptic, also it's good when you want to Snap something like PtE, doing counter-Snap-PtE or draw-Snap-PtE. At worst, it can double cycle or just cycle-gain life.
Still not totally sold on the Jaces, I don't think he's that scary.
I like this list. Why are you running pact of negation? Is it so you can tap out for Dragonlord?
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
On mtgsalvation people don't want to discuss ideas, so I give people something else to discuss: my controversial opinions.
Interesting, do you mind posting your list? Both pilots I playtested with are experienced with their respective decks and both top 8'd a 100-player tournament recently.
In my experience spreading seas + quarter usually slow them down before they get to swarm (w/drowner) and they end up with singular threats like smasher, TKS, and mimic which walls can slow them down so much. Wipes just 4 for 1 them and they're usually landless. They don't really main too many counters and disenchants come in from the board. I guess we'd have to test this MU more but I'm liking it so far. Will report how it goes after more testing.
Damping matrix is such sweet tech vs coco, I didn't see it before! Although they'd probably side in enchantment hate only rec sage can reliably deal with it. Maybe the bad MU is because my friend is a long time coco player but they outvalue if we don't shut down their board for good. They usually just cycle what's in their GY with e-wit and still have a board up with finks. Clique isn't really stellar for me vs them because the flying 3/1 body doesn't matter as much and they have much more inherent value in most of their cards that cycling away the combo is the best thing that it does. Our lists are definitely different but runed halo is something I'd like to add. Sunlance is also great tech but unfortunately my meta has Ad Naus and control players so it might not be the best thing to put in mainboard. (Unless you meant that those are your cards post board)
The deck seems powerful, although I sometimes miss that extra reach UWR has. I feel useless against combo decks like Living End, Ad Nauseam, and specially Storm so I've cut the singleton Remand and added the Negate, although it seems risky with an aggro, creatureful meta. Ojutai is fantastic, with Minamo or Dispel up, he wins games by itself and it's also a great blocker. Same goes to Ojutai's Command. Doing counter/take my Wall back is a much better Cryptic, also it's good when you want to Snap something like PtE, doing counter-Snap-PtE or draw-Snap-PtE. At worst, it can double cycle or just cycle-gain life.
Still not totally sold on the Jaces, I don't think he's that scary.
I like this list. Why are you running pact of negation? Is it so you can tap out for Dragonlord?
Pact is good, the Ojutai-Pact as backup is good, but Pact in general is good when you want to tap out for something and don't want to get Ad Nauseam, Company, Chord, and other big instant wincons or threats when you're tapped out. Also, it's an ok counterspell when you're above 5 mana in general. Also, tapping out for a huge Rev and countering those instants in response is so sweet.
Pretty weak to fast aggro decks tho.
Probably, the weakest card in the deck is Dismember since often the 4 life is really relevant, but since we don't have much beside PtE, it's a necessary evil. Still, I'm pretty sure a light red splash for Ajani and Bolts/Lyzes could be very good in the meta from April, hoping that Eye and/or Temple will get the axe.
Ah that makes sense. Why aren't you running spreading seas? It's generally a good tempo card and it's good at sniping manlands.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
On mtgsalvation people don't want to discuss ideas, so I give people something else to discuss: my controversial opinions.
The deck seems powerful, although I sometimes miss that extra reach UWR has. I feel useless against combo decks like Living End, Ad Nauseam, and specially Storm so I've cut the singleton Remand and added the Negate, although it seems risky with an aggro, creatureful meta. Ojutai is fantastic, with Minamo or Dispel up, he wins games by itself and it's also a great blocker. Same goes to Ojutai's Command. Doing counter/take my Wall back is a much better Cryptic, also it's good when you want to Snap something like PtE, doing counter-Snap-PtE or draw-Snap-PtE. At worst, it can double cycle or just cycle-gain life.
Still not totally sold on the Jaces, I don't think he's that scary.
I like this list. Why are you running pact of negation? Is it so you can tap out for Dragonlord?
Pact is good, the Ojutai-Pact as backup is good, but Pact in general is good when you want to tap out for something and don't want to get Ad Nauseam, Company, Chord, and other big instant wincons or threats when you're tapped out. Also, it's an ok counterspell when you're above 5 mana in general. Also, tapping out for a huge Rev and countering those instants in response is so sweet.
Pretty weak to fast aggro decks tho.
Probably, the weakest card in the deck is Dismember since often the 4 life is really relevant, but since we don't have much beside PtE, it's a necessary evil. Still, I'm pretty sure a light red splash for Ajani and Bolts/Lyzes could be very good in the meta from April, hoping that Eye and/or Temple will get the axe.
Ah that makes sense. Why aren't you running spreading seas? It's generally a good tempo card and it's good at sniping manlands.
Because I already have 4x GQ
And because I'm in a break for now, I'm waiting for April since I can't enjoy myself playing MtG right now with all these busted Eldrazi decks. It's just boring.
Makes sense. Unfortunately I can't afford origins jace right now so I can't run the ojutai's command list.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
On mtgsalvation people don't want to discuss ideas, so I give people something else to discuss: my controversial opinions.
Actually just got back tonight from a GPT at my local shop, never posted a report on here but figured i'd give it a try. We had around 30 people I think and 4 rounds of swiss so not the biggest tourney or meaningful etc but still something to learn from, its a little long so i do applogize if its too much. I played the Jace/Ojutai's command list that I have tuned to my liking, heres the deck: http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/jace-uw-1/
R1: Temur Delver
I've played this guy before so I knew what he was on and generally feel like delver is a good matchup for us but goyf can definitely be an issue.
G1: neither of us mull, he keeps a threat light hand with only a stormchaser mage and a lot of counter spells and bolts, I take chip shots for a lot of turns and he bolts my jace and counters my snapcaster which would have gotten serum i believe. I eventually am able to resolve detention sphere through mana leak to get rid of his stormchaser, after that he gets a goyf into play since I'm tapped out. But the following turn he is running a little low on cards and I manage to ojutai's command my jace back at eot. Then on my turn flip jace and ojutai's command snapcaster back which gets visions which leads to a path for goyf and he is out of threats. He didn't draw the hottest this game, a few earlier goyfs or pyromancers woulda been game.
G2: This game he has T1 delver and i go colonnade pass, he doesn't hit luckily for me. I play wall of omens and he doesn't hit again, this happens for a third turn, he then plays a pyromancer attacks and bolts my wall. I get to ojutai's command it back and draw a card so basically draw 2 with a wall (not bad), I believe wall takes another bolt he gets another token or something and I get him with verdict, then I land a gideon and my tokens trade with his tarmogoyf he stuck for a few turns. I draw d sphere for goyf and have negate backup but he has double counterspell. The next turn I draw snap for a path or some removal and that does it.
R2: Eldrazi
Get Paired down here to a guy who I know is on UR eldrazi.
G1:I lose the roll which sucks but he doesn't open the fastest. He goes like turn 1 fetchland go. I go collonade go. Then he goes eye of ugin endless one for two and a vile agregate I believe. So this turn I have the option of playing wall of omens or passing with path up for tks/smasher and I pass with path up, he plays land + tks and I path in response. He sees my hand of now like ojutai's command, gideon, dismember, wall and some lands. He takes the dismember and the following turn I go wall pass. He plays a skyspwaner which is annoying but not the end of the world and i take a hit for 4 from the vile, he ingest a verdict which really sucked. I stick gideon next turn and make a dude and pass. I want to chump with my wall so my ojutai's has more value and I do so this turn on the vile. He ends up trading the endless one for 2 with my token which i felt was odd. Next turn I ojutai's command another vile aggregate and get my wall, i go down to like 6 from skyspawner and draw serum visions which lets me put a flip jace on top. I keep making tokens with gideon to prevent a possible top deck smasher from killing me. I flip jace and eventually durdle my way to victory from jace + gideon (deck takes a long time to win, tbh I also play not the fastest so it isn't a great combo -_-. I didn't go to time tonight tho so that was nice.)
G2: He draws pretty well with turn 2 tks but I have the dismember luckily and he takes my flip jace out of my hand over just like ojutai's command and a lone missionary/wall of omens. I play wall first before the missonary and draw into anothre missonary, he plays a 2nd tks next turn and takes my detention sphere which i also drew for turn i believe (maybe not tho can't remember this game that well) anyway I play out missonary take a hit for 4 he plays a vile and i play my other missonary and he attacks? I get to double block with missonarys and draw a card which is lit. I counter something with ojutais command and get the game to go long. A key turn comes when he hits me with a 3rd tks and sees i have big elspeth and snapcaster for like dismember/visions/command or something and he takes snap since I'm still a turn or two away from elspeth. I rip a supreme verdict which is unreal strong. He rips a 4th tks tho off the top lol and takes elsepth. I think i take a hit but play a flip jace and get value that way. I have enough lands to use my collonades now and get him to attack and animate and trade with his tks (idk if i woulda won this game if he just didn't attk with tks lol but i guess i was also under no pressure if he plays more conservative so who knows?) I get him to 5 he fetches eot to 4 and then draws drowner of hope. I draw cryptic command the next turn tho to deal with that and animate colo and kill him after a long hard game.
R3: R/G Tron
Ugh wtf. I don't think this version of UW can ever beat tron. we have no clock and little meaningful interaction. I feel like tron is really bad in this meta so i didnt much prepare for it or expect it.
G1: I keep some hand thats decent vs any creature deck with like snap dismember, jace and some lands. I see hes on tron when he goes first and goes tower map so I basically knew I lost right then lol. I end up drawing a mana leak and jam snap eot on my 2nd turn to provide a clock. The following turn i get to play visions and hold up mana leak which is cool. I scry a ghost quarter on top and some random thing on bottom. I mana leak karn the following turn and then the turn after i play jace and ghost quarter a tron piece so I'm like ok maybe just maybe we can do this. But I get pyroclasm'd and then he finds tron again and casts ugin so game.
G2: I side in like lone missonary to provide a clock lol also of course bring in the 2 mind censors the clique and the stony silences as well as the 1 negate. I'm on the play with turn 2 lone missonary and 2 mana leaks and a ghost quarter so it looks decent. I think i hit him down to 10 with missonary, mana leak a few things, gq him but eventually just fall to the inevitability of tron as i never really draw much else to increase the clock and counter spells vs ulamog isn't too great. So I get scraped 2-0 as I'd expect vs tron.
R4: Elves
This is a friend of mine Joey and we get deck checked at the start of the round. While this deck check is happening we check standings and see we are high enough up to just draw into top 8 so we just do that lol.
Top 8: Elves (Not the same guy)
Play vs a different elves guy who is a local and is pretty cool, I find out later his spicy tech is that he is running chord and craterhoof behemoth???
G1: I'm on the play which is huge in this matchup, I mana leak the first archdruid and have a wall out to block so things are looking amazing. I even stick a gideon turn 4 and start making tokens while he plays out some like dwynens elites and stuff. I think on his turn 5 or 6 he goes absoloutely off with like heritage druids and nettle sentinels and nykthos, He has enough mana to collected company, witness and get it back and then play it again. his two cocos get him ezuri and hella dudes so he can regen all his stuff on his board to protect from verdict. Luckily I have snapcaster for path at end of turn for ezuri, he responds by chording for spellskite and making me path that. But in doing so he uses a lot of his elves and can't tap them to add 3 anymore and regen stuff which lets me verdict all his things on the following turn and win easily. Apparently I should have died because he could get craterhoof off chord or something that turn and just didn't see it until it was too late. Idk but I was happy to pick up g1. I think i would have certainly lost had he either A. Killed me somehow or B. played conservative and held back the chord + coco from witness in hand.
G2: He starts hot with a buncha mana dorks and an archdruid, I path the archdruid and get a jace into play. I have verdict but am light on mana, I end up getting stuck on 3 lands for quite a few turns and he develops a huge board which has no "lords" per say but still threatens lethal quite soon. I draw snapcaster and have the easiest most standard line ever of snapcaster blocking something and then pathing my own snap to get the 4th land and verdict and probably just win. I am a dumb ass and do all this combat math and determine if i block his nettle sentinel and path the other 1 i will live to see 2 draw steps instead of 1 (when in reality i didn't need any draws! just path the snap and win lol.) so I do that and brick on both drawsteps and lose as I deserve to. I guess we each punted a game to the other so it evens out? Not good play here and I was kinda tilted I had to settle down for g3.
G3: I open solid with like 2x path, ojutais command, wall of omens, and 3 lands. I lead on colonade and cycle wall which blocks his worse creatures. I have path for lords so i'm feeling decent but he has a turn 3 or 4 choke which makes this game super interesting and really hard really fast. I opened colonade two islands and a plains so half my lands are being threatened by choke at this point. I draw mana leak and keep that up using my 2 reusable lands but I'm taking 3 a turn from his 1/1 guys hitting me while wall blocks the biggest guy a 2/2 each turn. This continues for a while and i draw a hallowed fountain which i sandbag as i don't wanna put it into play tapped. I get fortunate and hit 2 flooded strands to get plains and then the biggest card of all: mystic gate!!! the absoloute best land in the deck vs choke most likely since it means u can fetch plains and still cast ***** like cryptic. I end up drawing jace, keeping his lords off the table/countering collected company and eventually finding a d sphere for choke. After i get choke off the board i'm able to freely use my mana and start looping jace + ojutai's command for sick value. I wrath him to oblivion and win a slow grindy match with colonnade.
Top 4: Jund
Jund is a matchup I've typically struggled a lot with mostly I feel due to deckbuilding. I always build my decks to have a lot of early interaction as I feel most of the time if the game goes long we just win vs ***** like burn and don't actually need to be playing these haymakers that are so good vs a midrange deck like jund. So in a way my past builds have been the "smaller" deck if u will. This deck however has the jace/ojutais interaction which is amazing and actually can answer liliana 1 for 1 with d sphere so i feel better about it.
G1: he opens discard into confidant but I top a path luckily lol and then snap the path (he didn't take snap since it had no good targets) to get a 2nd confidant. He lands liliana and gets the game to his liliana on 4 with no cards in hand vs my 5 lands 2 of which are colonnade so I can draw land and kill lili and then we are both top decking. Instead I draw gideon for turn and windmill him lol my opp draws 2 inquisitions in a row and I draw a land and am able to take it easily with colo + gideon.
G2: This game was ultra interesting and if this report wasn't so long already i'd elaborate more. Essentially i have a 2 lander on the draw but a buncha good stuff and wall to cycle so i keep it. I get land screwed for like 2 turns but have dismember for confidant so i'm not getting run over. He sticks lili, i have the choice to discard some 4 cmc spells, detention sphere or big elspeth. I decide that jund can't beat elspeth so i'll wait to see if i can't hope to stick her at some point and discard an excess verdict. I top deck serum visions into a land and scry two more lands to the top!! Super lucky here lmao but anyway i keep holding onto elsepth and play the whole game so that i can resolve her. even cryptic a thoughseize and bounce a raging ravine so that i didn't have to use my ghost quarter which woulda taken me to 4 lands. I stick elspeth and she takes it home. Glad i had her in the board.
Finals: Tron again
G1: my opp mulls to 6 and keeps what has to be one of the worst 6s i've seen. Like leads on ghost quarter go. Idk what is going on. He plays grove next turn and then stirrings which gets 1 piece so i'm like ok maybe this was reasonable? idk. He has another stirrings i mana leak it. I stick gideon. He sticks o stone. I d sphere the stone and crack. He gets tron somehow like raw maybe over the next two turns and karns my ass good so if i can't win that one idk what one i can win.
G2: I keep a hand with disenchant for a map, 2 lands, lone missonary and mind censor and clique for clock/disruption. Never draw the 3rd land and end up getting ulamog'd on turn 4 for absoloute game.
So I lost to probably my worst matchup twice which is whatever. Overall I think the deck is pretty good has lots of strong interactions but also just takes a long time to win so I really need to play faster with it which probably comes with practice. If you have questions bout the list or deck or suggestions they are all appreciated thanks!
The list is obviously pretty anti-Eldrazi and especially anti-UW Eldrazi. MU with Colorless, UR and RG Eldrazi must be something like 58-42, while MU vs UW is close to 50-50 now. I really don't see how you can have a better MU with UW than with Colorless or the other variations.
Company MU is 55-45 I would say and Infect is slightly negative.
I am more and more a believer on Runed Halo, the more I test it, the more I like it. Gone up to 3 maindeck.
Runed halo does make sense, it gives you games from Ad Naus and combo decks, will definitely try to fit that in. Why Baneslayer Angel over Sun Titan as a finisher? I guess baneslayer comes down faster but titan is better versus dismember which most eldrazi variants run anyway. List looks good and will definitely try out matrix and halos.
Just curious but when do you board out runed halos?
The list is obviously pretty anti-Eldrazi and especially anti-UW Eldrazi. MU with Colorless, UR and RG Eldrazi must be something like 58-42, while MU vs UW is close to 50-50 now. I really don't see how you can have a better MU with UW than with Colorless or the other variations.
Company MU is 55-45 I would say and Infect is slightly negative.
I am more and more a believer on Runed Halo, the more I test it, the more I like it. Gone up to 3 maindeck.
No Leyline of Sanctity for the burn matches or handhate?
This versatile deck is designed to stabilize between turns 2-5, clear the board, and recover with value and pressure through various angles. Post-board, it can transition into a more reactive gameplan vs Combo.
I've been discussing aspects of this this deck for the past couple of weeks, explaining why it's one of the best gameplans with UWx vs Eldrazi (based on my knowledge and experience), and why tapout is the way to go for UWx Midrange/Control while creature-based decks dominate the format; but it's also one of the most versatile, resilient, and adaptive decks I've played since 2011-2012, when I played a deck very similar to this one vs Caw-Blade, Valakut, and Eldrazi.
Note: I'm currently playing without Spreading Seas as I've found it better vs Tron than Eldrazi. Though it's still a fine card vs non-Blue decks, as well as Infect/Affinity (Inkmoth Nexus).
This versatile deck is designed to stabilize between turns 2-5, clear the board, and recover with value and pressure through various angles. Post-board, it can transition into a more reactive gameplan vs Combo.
I've been discussing aspects of this this deck for the past couple of weeks, explaining why it's one of the best gameplans with UWx vs Eldrazi (based on my knowledge and experience), and why tapout is the way to go for UWx Midrange/Control while creature-based decks dominate the format; but it's also one of the most versatile, resilient, and adaptive decks I've played since 2011-2012, when I played a deck very similar to this one vs Caw-Blade, Valakut, and Eldrazi.
Note: I'm currently playing without Spreading Seas as I've found it better vs Tron than Eldrazi. Though it's still a fine card vs non-Blue decks, as well as Infect/Affinity (Inkmoth Nexus).
I like this "midrange" version, I've tried it for hours and I think it's great against midrange, aggro, and generally fair decks. The problem is, and that seemed obvious, combo. UW is already pretyy vulnerable to that, but without counters it's almost impossible. Tron is also a major problem for that reason. How do you play against these decks?
Thanks for testing it. Yes, it's been fantastic vs those types of decks. It has inevitability.
As for Tron and Combo, the deck has 8 total counters + Glen Elendra Archmage and Clique/Resto/Image (copying Clique/Resto) for pressure. Don't forget, Image can also copy Glen, which can be back-breaking vs combo. That's the gameplan vs them, but Runed Halo can also come in vs Nauseam and Scapeshift (naming Lightning Storm and Valakut, respectively). Spheres are good vs Karn/Ugin/Wurmcoil/Ulamog (if you don't have Path). I was actually running 2 more counters in the side (to make it a total of 11 with Glen). You can also add 2-3 Spreading Seas back to the mix if you're concerned about Tron. Geist of Saint Traft is strong vs it, too. The deck is very flexible.
A deck like this also doesn't want more than 1-2 Snapcaster Mage in the 75.
Neo, I follow your facebook page. Is there any reason why there are no Spell snare in the 75? Or are you just tailoring your deck for the current meta? We know that post April we won't have as many Eldrazi decks running around. So I guess what I'm saying is in the future, could you see yourself switching out the Mana Leak for Remand or Spell snare? I like the idea of Remand in your type of list, as its a really good tempo card.
Neo, I follow your facebook page. Is there any reason why there are no Spell snare in the 75? Or are you just tailoring your deck for the current meta? We know that post April we won't have as many Eldrazi decks running around. So I guess what I'm saying is in the future, could you see yourself switching out the Mana Leak for Remand or Spell snare? I like the idea of Remand in your type of list, as its a really good tempo card.
Spell Snare is a great counter, and I'd probably play it over Leak. Leak is currently the main deck's weakest link. This deck can feasibly play 6 counters -
2 Spell Snare
2 Remand
2 Cryptic Command
Or any combination of the 3.
Good suggestion.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
I'm the founder and community manager of the following pages on Facebook:
MTG Modern - Competitive: UWx Midrange/Control
Facebook.com/ModernUWxControl
MTG Modern - Competitive: UWx Midrange/Control Community
Facebook.com/Groups/MTGModernUWx
I'm also an Admin for one of the premier Modern communities on Facebook:
This versatile deck is designed to stabilize between turns 2-5, clear the board, and recover with value and pressure through various angles. Post-board, it can transition into a more reactive gameplan vs Combo.
I've been discussing aspects of this this deck for the past couple of weeks, explaining why it's one of the best gameplans with UWx vs Eldrazi (based on my knowledge and experience), and why tapout is the way to go for UWx Midrange/Control while creature-based decks dominate the format; but it's also one of the most versatile, resilient, and adaptive decks I've played since 2011-2012, when I played a deck very similar to this one vs Caw-Blade, Valakut, and Eldrazi.
Note: I'm currently playing without Spreading Seas as I've found it better vs Tron than Eldrazi. Though it's still a fine card vs non-Blue decks, as well as Infect/Affinity (Inkmoth Nexus).
I like this "midrange" version, I've tried it for hours and I think it's great against midrange, aggro, and generally fair decks. The problem is, and that seemed obvious, combo. UW is already pretyy vulnerable to that, but without counters it's almost impossible. Tron is also a major problem for that reason. How do you play against these decks?
Thanks for testing it. Yes, it's been fantastic vs those types of decks. It has inevitability.
As for Tron and Combo, the deck has 8 total counters + Glen Elendra Archmage and Clique/Resto/Image (copying Clique/Resto) for pressure. Don't forget, Image can also copy Glen, which can be back-breaking vs combo. That's the gameplan vs them, but Runed Halo can also come in vs Nauseam and Scapeshift (naming Lightning Storm and Valakut, respectively). Spheres are good vs Karn/Ugin/Wurmcoil/Ulamog (if you don't have Path). I was actually running 2 more counters in the side (to make it a total of 11 with Glen). You can also add 2-3 Spreading Seas back to the mix if you're concerned about Tron. Geist of Saint Traft is strong vs it, too. The deck is very flexible.
A deck like this also doesn't want more than 1-2 Snapcaster Mage in the 75.
Yeah I tried the Snapcasters (two) and they seemed horrible. They're good in a more controlling version like mine. Good deck overall anyway, keep on with the good work!
Thank you! A ton of work went into it, especially fine tuning the consistency of its post-Verdict gameplan and finding that balance between being good vs Aggro/Midrange/Combo.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
I'm the founder and community manager of the following pages on Facebook:
MTG Modern - Competitive: UWx Midrange/Control
Facebook.com/ModernUWxControl
MTG Modern - Competitive: UWx Midrange/Control Community
Facebook.com/Groups/MTGModernUWx
I'm also an Admin for one of the premier Modern communities on Facebook:
Runed halo does make sense, it gives you games from Ad Naus and combo decks, will definitely try to fit that in. Why Baneslayer Angel over Sun Titan as a finisher? I guess baneslayer comes down faster but titan is better versus dismember which most eldrazi variants run anyway. List looks good and will definitely try out matrix and halos.
Just curious but when do you board out runed halos?
Actually as for now I never found myself boarding them out. Since I started playing them I only met decks that get hurt by Halo. But I could think of examples where it's not very good. One is Tron. Another one is the mirror. Another one is maybe Death and Taxes/GW Hatebears. Just some examples that came to my mind while writing.
In general Halo is either a removal card against aggro/midrange, or an anti-combo card.
Baneslayer is better than Sun Titan vs aggro, including Eldrazi. Also, comes down one turn earlier and flies. The Dismember argument doesn't convince me. Eldrazi runs Path as well and Sun Titan will also die to Dismember during combat. The lifelink is crucial against Eldrazi (among other decks). Unanswered Baneslayer just runs away with the game.
I don't own any Runed Halo's currently to I've been expiramenting using Meddling mage, since they have similar effects. You just have to be careful of removal.
I love Meddling Mage, it's one of those cards I wish I could use. But the truth is, no...the effect isn't similar. Halo is far better.
Mage is a better effect on the play.
The effects are similar in that they both shut down a single card, but one is more proactive, the other is reactive. Mage Shuts down the card before it enters, Halo can shut it down if it is in play. For this reason Halo is more Versatile. But if the card is in the opponents hand and they can't remove mage, mage is better.
Halo is also useless against countermagic.
And various cards that might wreck you without targeting you, like Living end. But that's if they don't have the beast within.
However, Mage can't stop something already in play, unless it's by blocking. It is also MUCH easier to remove.
This versatile deck is designed to stabilize between turns 2-5, clear the board, and recover with value and pressure through various angles. Post-board, it can transition into a more reactive gameplan vs Combo.
I've been discussing aspects of this this deck for the past couple of weeks, explaining why it's one of the best gameplans with UWx vs Eldrazi (based on my knowledge and experience), and why tapout is the way to go for UWx Midrange/Control while creature-based decks dominate the format; but it's also one of the most versatile, resilient, and adaptive decks I've played since 2011-2012, when I played a deck very similar to this one vs Caw-Blade, Valakut, and Eldrazi.
Note: I'm currently playing without Spreading Seas as I've found it better vs Tron than Eldrazi. Though it's still a fine card vs non-Blue decks, as well as Infect/Affinity (Inkmoth Nexus).
Like your list, have you tested Reflector Mage? Can be great answer for eldrazi, can be abusable with venser, resto and titan, also, what about some numbers of Ojutai's Command? may be great with the walls and specially with Phantasmal Image, dont you think?
I'll be testing something like this as soon as possible.
Reflector Mage seems interesting in this shell. I agree that it has synergy and potential.
I think Oj Command is fine and worth incorporating, but I can't justify it over Cryptic. I'd run it alongside or out of the board.
Negate is just a little better vs combo at any stage in the game plus it's easier to win counter wars with. So with 2 x negate and 2x V. Clique he just doesn't "lose" game 1 without a fight to combo. Also negating a removal spell is nice when we want to start racing. We don't care as much giving the opposing player permissions for creatures since the deck is built to handle creatures without counters.
With all the Aggro decks running around it feels a bit dead to me
Other decks still exist. Our shell alone matches up well with aggro (omens, finks, path, seas, 4 wraths) we don't need to devote every card in the deck to it. Aggro decks still run non creature spells too.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Tested versus UW Eldrazi yesterday and I'm a bit unsure how to really combat them. From the side they can add Disenchant and Stubborn Denial. The latter was a deciding factor in my matches - especially when you try to land a three - four cmc sideboard card on curve when they all ready is ahead on mana.
Thus I'm not sold on damping matrix against UW Eldrazi. I think something like Pithing Needle would be more impactful if you play on curve.
U/W eldrazi isn't really too much of a problem as it is slower than U/R and is soft to board wipes. Walls keep them at bay and wipes take care of blinking shenanigans and explosive starts. Thought-knot is a real problem but with so much card draw you can get at least two wipes in hand easy. If they slam two thought knots on you they probably deserve to win anyway. Heavy aggro/eldrazi metas can even warrant 4 MB board wipes.
Coco on the other hand is absolutely abysmal, nearly impossible to outrace them and they just rack up more value as the game goes longer.
I like this list. Why are you running pact of negation? Is it so you can tap out for Dragonlord?
Decks I'm playing in Modern right now:
URB Grixis Reveler (http://www.mtgvault.com/supast4r7/decks/modern-grixis-reveler/)
UB Faeries (http://www.mtgvault.com/supast4r7/decks/ub-fae-2/)
UW Azorious Control (http://www.mtgvault.com/supast4r7/decks/modern-ojutai-control-2/)
In my experience spreading seas + quarter usually slow them down before they get to swarm (w/drowner) and they end up with singular threats like smasher, TKS, and mimic which walls can slow them down so much. Wipes just 4 for 1 them and they're usually landless. They don't really main too many counters and disenchants come in from the board. I guess we'd have to test this MU more but I'm liking it so far. Will report how it goes after more testing.
Damping matrix is such sweet tech vs coco, I didn't see it before! Although they'd probably side in enchantment hate only rec sage can reliably deal with it. Maybe the bad MU is because my friend is a long time coco player but they outvalue if we don't shut down their board for good. They usually just cycle what's in their GY with e-wit and still have a board up with finks. Clique isn't really stellar for me vs them because the flying 3/1 body doesn't matter as much and they have much more inherent value in most of their cards that cycling away the combo is the best thing that it does. Our lists are definitely different but runed halo is something I'd like to add. Sunlance is also great tech but unfortunately my meta has Ad Naus and control players so it might not be the best thing to put in mainboard. (Unless you meant that those are your cards post board)
Here's my list for comparison:
4 Wall of Omens
4 Kitchen Finks
3 Restoration Angel
2 Vendilion Clique
1 Sun Titan
Instants:
4 Path to Exile
3 Spell Snare
3 Cryptic Command
Enchantments:
3 Spreading Seas
2 Detention Sphere
3 Supreme Verdict
Planeswalkers:
2 Gideon Jura
Lands:
4 Flooded Strand
4 Ghost Quarter
4 Celestial Colonnade
4 Island
4 Plains
3 Hallowed Fountain
1 Mystic Gate
1 Prairie Stream
1 Glacial Fortress
1 Ensnaring Bridge
1 Dispel
1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
2 Engineered Explosives
1 Surgical Extraction
2 Kor Firewalker
2 Negate
2 Spellskite
2 Stony Silence
1 Timely Reinforcements
http://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/372173#paper
Ah that makes sense. Why aren't you running spreading seas? It's generally a good tempo card and it's good at sniping manlands.
Decks I'm playing in Modern right now:
URB Grixis Reveler (http://www.mtgvault.com/supast4r7/decks/modern-grixis-reveler/)
UB Faeries (http://www.mtgvault.com/supast4r7/decks/ub-fae-2/)
UW Azorious Control (http://www.mtgvault.com/supast4r7/decks/modern-ojutai-control-2/)
Makes sense. Unfortunately I can't afford origins jace right now
Decks I'm playing in Modern right now:
URB Grixis Reveler (http://www.mtgvault.com/supast4r7/decks/modern-grixis-reveler/)
UB Faeries (http://www.mtgvault.com/supast4r7/decks/ub-fae-2/)
UW Azorious Control (http://www.mtgvault.com/supast4r7/decks/modern-ojutai-control-2/)
R1: Temur Delver
I've played this guy before so I knew what he was on and generally feel like delver is a good matchup for us but goyf can definitely be an issue.
G1: neither of us mull, he keeps a threat light hand with only a stormchaser mage and a lot of counter spells and bolts, I take chip shots for a lot of turns and he bolts my jace and counters my snapcaster which would have gotten serum i believe. I eventually am able to resolve detention sphere through mana leak to get rid of his stormchaser, after that he gets a goyf into play since I'm tapped out. But the following turn he is running a little low on cards and I manage to ojutai's command my jace back at eot. Then on my turn flip jace and ojutai's command snapcaster back which gets visions which leads to a path for goyf and he is out of threats. He didn't draw the hottest this game, a few earlier goyfs or pyromancers woulda been game.
G2: This game he has T1 delver and i go colonnade pass, he doesn't hit luckily for me. I play wall of omens and he doesn't hit again, this happens for a third turn, he then plays a pyromancer attacks and bolts my wall. I get to ojutai's command it back and draw a card so basically draw 2 with a wall (not bad), I believe wall takes another bolt he gets another token or something and I get him with verdict, then I land a gideon and my tokens trade with his tarmogoyf he stuck for a few turns. I draw d sphere for goyf and have negate backup but he has double counterspell. The next turn I draw snap for a path or some removal and that does it.
R2: Eldrazi
Get Paired down here to a guy who I know is on UR eldrazi.
G1:I lose the roll which sucks but he doesn't open the fastest. He goes like turn 1 fetchland go. I go collonade go. Then he goes eye of ugin endless one for two and a vile agregate I believe. So this turn I have the option of playing wall of omens or passing with path up for tks/smasher and I pass with path up, he plays land + tks and I path in response. He sees my hand of now like ojutai's command, gideon, dismember, wall and some lands. He takes the dismember and the following turn I go wall pass. He plays a skyspwaner which is annoying but not the end of the world and i take a hit for 4 from the vile, he ingest a verdict which really sucked. I stick gideon next turn and make a dude and pass. I want to chump with my wall so my ojutai's has more value and I do so this turn on the vile. He ends up trading the endless one for 2 with my token which i felt was odd. Next turn I ojutai's command another vile aggregate and get my wall, i go down to like 6 from skyspawner and draw serum visions which lets me put a flip jace on top. I keep making tokens with gideon to prevent a possible top deck smasher from killing me. I flip jace and eventually durdle my way to victory from jace + gideon (deck takes a long time to win, tbh I also play not the fastest so it isn't a great combo -_-. I didn't go to time tonight tho so that was nice.)
G2: He draws pretty well with turn 2 tks but I have the dismember luckily and he takes my flip jace out of my hand over just like ojutai's command and a lone missionary/wall of omens. I play wall first before the missonary and draw into anothre missonary, he plays a 2nd tks next turn and takes my detention sphere which i also drew for turn i believe (maybe not tho can't remember this game that well) anyway I play out missonary take a hit for 4 he plays a vile and i play my other missonary and he attacks? I get to double block with missonarys and draw a card which is lit. I counter something with ojutais command and get the game to go long. A key turn comes when he hits me with a 3rd tks and sees i have big elspeth and snapcaster for like dismember/visions/command or something and he takes snap since I'm still a turn or two away from elspeth. I rip a supreme verdict which is unreal strong. He rips a 4th tks tho off the top lol and takes elsepth. I think i take a hit but play a flip jace and get value that way. I have enough lands to use my collonades now and get him to attack and animate and trade with his tks (idk if i woulda won this game if he just didn't attk with tks lol but i guess i was also under no pressure if he plays more conservative so who knows?) I get him to 5 he fetches eot to 4 and then draws drowner of hope. I draw cryptic command the next turn tho to deal with that and animate colo and kill him after a long hard game.
R3: R/G Tron
Ugh wtf. I don't think this version of UW can ever beat tron. we have no clock and little meaningful interaction. I feel like tron is really bad in this meta so i didnt much prepare for it or expect it.
G1: I keep some hand thats decent vs any creature deck with like snap dismember, jace and some lands. I see hes on tron when he goes first and goes tower map so I basically knew I lost right then lol. I end up drawing a mana leak and jam snap eot on my 2nd turn to provide a clock. The following turn i get to play visions and hold up mana leak which is cool. I scry a ghost quarter on top and some random thing on bottom. I mana leak karn the following turn and then the turn after i play jace and ghost quarter a tron piece so I'm like ok maybe just maybe we can do this. But I get pyroclasm'd and then he finds tron again and casts ugin so game.
G2: I side in like lone missonary to provide a clock lol also of course bring in the 2 mind censors the clique and the stony silences as well as the 1 negate. I'm on the play with turn 2 lone missonary and 2 mana leaks and a ghost quarter so it looks decent. I think i hit him down to 10 with missonary, mana leak a few things, gq him but eventually just fall to the inevitability of tron as i never really draw much else to increase the clock and counter spells vs ulamog isn't too great. So I get scraped 2-0 as I'd expect vs tron.
R4: Elves
This is a friend of mine Joey and we get deck checked at the start of the round. While this deck check is happening we check standings and see we are high enough up to just draw into top 8 so we just do that lol.
Top 8: Elves (Not the same guy)
Play vs a different elves guy who is a local and is pretty cool, I find out later his spicy tech is that he is running chord and craterhoof behemoth???
G1: I'm on the play which is huge in this matchup, I mana leak the first archdruid and have a wall out to block so things are looking amazing. I even stick a gideon turn 4 and start making tokens while he plays out some like dwynens elites and stuff. I think on his turn 5 or 6 he goes absoloutely off with like heritage druids and nettle sentinels and nykthos, He has enough mana to collected company, witness and get it back and then play it again. his two cocos get him ezuri and hella dudes so he can regen all his stuff on his board to protect from verdict. Luckily I have snapcaster for path at end of turn for ezuri, he responds by chording for spellskite and making me path that. But in doing so he uses a lot of his elves and can't tap them to add 3 anymore and regen stuff which lets me verdict all his things on the following turn and win easily. Apparently I should have died because he could get craterhoof off chord or something that turn and just didn't see it until it was too late. Idk but I was happy to pick up g1. I think i would have certainly lost had he either A. Killed me somehow or B. played conservative and held back the chord + coco from witness in hand.
G2: He starts hot with a buncha mana dorks and an archdruid, I path the archdruid and get a jace into play. I have verdict but am light on mana, I end up getting stuck on 3 lands for quite a few turns and he develops a huge board which has no "lords" per say but still threatens lethal quite soon. I draw snapcaster and have the easiest most standard line ever of snapcaster blocking something and then pathing my own snap to get the 4th land and verdict and probably just win. I am a dumb ass and do all this combat math and determine if i block his nettle sentinel and path the other 1 i will live to see 2 draw steps instead of 1 (when in reality i didn't need any draws! just path the snap and win lol.) so I do that and brick on both drawsteps and lose as I deserve to. I guess we each punted a game to the other so it evens out? Not good play here and I was kinda tilted I had to settle down for g3.
G3: I open solid with like 2x path, ojutais command, wall of omens, and 3 lands. I lead on colonade and cycle wall which blocks his worse creatures. I have path for lords so i'm feeling decent but he has a turn 3 or 4 choke which makes this game super interesting and really hard really fast. I opened colonade two islands and a plains so half my lands are being threatened by choke at this point. I draw mana leak and keep that up using my 2 reusable lands but I'm taking 3 a turn from his 1/1 guys hitting me while wall blocks the biggest guy a 2/2 each turn. This continues for a while and i draw a hallowed fountain which i sandbag as i don't wanna put it into play tapped. I get fortunate and hit 2 flooded strands to get plains and then the biggest card of all: mystic gate!!! the absoloute best land in the deck vs choke most likely since it means u can fetch plains and still cast ***** like cryptic. I end up drawing jace, keeping his lords off the table/countering collected company and eventually finding a d sphere for choke. After i get choke off the board i'm able to freely use my mana and start looping jace + ojutai's command for sick value. I wrath him to oblivion and win a slow grindy match with colonnade.
Top 4: Jund
Jund is a matchup I've typically struggled a lot with mostly I feel due to deckbuilding. I always build my decks to have a lot of early interaction as I feel most of the time if the game goes long we just win vs ***** like burn and don't actually need to be playing these haymakers that are so good vs a midrange deck like jund. So in a way my past builds have been the "smaller" deck if u will. This deck however has the jace/ojutais interaction which is amazing and actually can answer liliana 1 for 1 with d sphere so i feel better about it.
G1: he opens discard into confidant but I top a path luckily lol and then snap the path (he didn't take snap since it had no good targets) to get a 2nd confidant. He lands liliana and gets the game to his liliana on 4 with no cards in hand vs my 5 lands 2 of which are colonnade so I can draw land and kill lili and then we are both top decking. Instead I draw gideon for turn and windmill him lol my opp draws 2 inquisitions in a row and I draw a land and am able to take it easily with colo + gideon.
G2: This game was ultra interesting and if this report wasn't so long already i'd elaborate more. Essentially i have a 2 lander on the draw but a buncha good stuff and wall to cycle so i keep it. I get land screwed for like 2 turns but have dismember for confidant so i'm not getting run over. He sticks lili, i have the choice to discard some 4 cmc spells, detention sphere or big elspeth. I decide that jund can't beat elspeth so i'll wait to see if i can't hope to stick her at some point and discard an excess verdict. I top deck serum visions into a land and scry two more lands to the top!! Super lucky here lmao but anyway i keep holding onto elsepth and play the whole game so that i can resolve her. even cryptic a thoughseize and bounce a raging ravine so that i didn't have to use my ghost quarter which woulda taken me to 4 lands. I stick elspeth and she takes it home. Glad i had her in the board.
Finals: Tron again
G1: my opp mulls to 6 and keeps what has to be one of the worst 6s i've seen. Like leads on ghost quarter go. Idk what is going on. He plays grove next turn and then stirrings which gets 1 piece so i'm like ok maybe this was reasonable? idk. He has another stirrings i mana leak it. I stick gideon. He sticks o stone. I d sphere the stone and crack. He gets tron somehow like raw maybe over the next two turns and karns my ass good so if i can't win that one idk what one i can win.
G2: I keep a hand with disenchant for a map, 2 lands, lone missonary and mind censor and clique for clock/disruption. Never draw the 3rd land and end up getting ulamog'd on turn 4 for absoloute game.
So I lost to probably my worst matchup twice which is whatever. Overall I think the deck is pretty good has lots of strong interactions but also just takes a long time to win so I really need to play faster with it which probably comes with practice. If you have questions bout the list or deck or suggestions they are all appreciated thanks!
http://www.mtgdecks.net/decks/view/604315
Seems like Phantasmal Image has put up results
Decks I'm playing in Modern right now:
URB Grixis Reveler (http://www.mtgvault.com/supast4r7/decks/modern-grixis-reveler/)
UB Faeries (http://www.mtgvault.com/supast4r7/decks/ub-fae-2/)
UW Azorious Control (http://www.mtgvault.com/supast4r7/decks/modern-ojutai-control-2/)
Just curious but when do you board out runed halos?
No Leyline of Sanctity for the burn matches or handhate?
Which UW builds still run that? Burn isn't really a bad MU with walls and finks all around and BGx decks are on the decline as well.
I've been discussing aspects of this this deck for the past couple of weeks, explaining why it's one of the best gameplans with UWx vs Eldrazi (based on my knowledge and experience), and why tapout is the way to go for UWx Midrange/Control while creature-based decks dominate the format; but it's also one of the most versatile, resilient, and adaptive decks I've played since 2011-2012, when I played a deck very similar to this one vs Caw-Blade, Valakut, and Eldrazi.
Note: I'm currently playing without Spreading Seas as I've found it better vs Tron than Eldrazi. Though it's still a fine card vs non-Blue decks, as well as Infect/Affinity (Inkmoth Nexus).
Stay tuned for updates!
2 Phantasmal Image
4 Wall of Omens
4 Kitchen Finks
2 Vendilion Clique
3 Restoration Angel
1 Sun Titan
Planeswalkers (5)
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
2 Gideon Jura
1 Venser, the Sojourner
1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
Enchantments (3)
3 Detention Sphere
4 Path to Exile
2 Mana Leak
2 Cryptic Command
3 Supreme Verdict
Lands (25)
4 Celestial Colonnade
4 Flooded Strand
4 Ghost Quarter
3 Glacial Fortress
2 Hallowed Fountain
3 Island
2 Mystic Gate
3 Plains
2 Dispel
1 Disenchant
2 Negate
2 Runed Halo
2 Stony Silence
1 Vendilion Clique
1 Glen Elendra Archmage
1 Jace, Architect of Thought
1 Wrath of God
1 Batterskull
1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
MTG Modern - Competitive: UWx Midrange/Control
Facebook.com/ModernUWxControl
MTG Modern - Competitive: UWx Midrange/Control Community
Facebook.com/Groups/MTGModernUWx
I'm also an Admin for one of the premier Modern communities on Facebook:
Magic the Gathering: Modern Meta Masters
https://www.facebook.com/groups/ModernMetaMasters/
Thanks for testing it. Yes, it's been fantastic vs those types of decks. It has inevitability.
As for Tron and Combo, the deck has 8 total counters + Glen Elendra Archmage and Clique/Resto/Image (copying Clique/Resto) for pressure. Don't forget, Image can also copy Glen, which can be back-breaking vs combo. That's the gameplan vs them, but Runed Halo can also come in vs Nauseam and Scapeshift (naming Lightning Storm and Valakut, respectively). Spheres are good vs Karn/Ugin/Wurmcoil/Ulamog (if you don't have Path). I was actually running 2 more counters in the side (to make it a total of 11 with Glen). You can also add 2-3 Spreading Seas back to the mix if you're concerned about Tron. Geist of Saint Traft is strong vs it, too. The deck is very flexible.
A deck like this also doesn't want more than 1-2 Snapcaster Mage in the 75.
MTG Modern - Competitive: UWx Midrange/Control
Facebook.com/ModernUWxControl
MTG Modern - Competitive: UWx Midrange/Control Community
Facebook.com/Groups/MTGModernUWx
I'm also an Admin for one of the premier Modern communities on Facebook:
Magic the Gathering: Modern Meta Masters
https://www.facebook.com/groups/ModernMetaMasters/
Spell Snare is a great counter, and I'd probably play it over Leak. Leak is currently the main deck's weakest link. This deck can feasibly play 6 counters -
2 Spell Snare
2 Remand
2 Cryptic Command
Or any combination of the 3.
Good suggestion.
MTG Modern - Competitive: UWx Midrange/Control
Facebook.com/ModernUWxControl
MTG Modern - Competitive: UWx Midrange/Control Community
Facebook.com/Groups/MTGModernUWx
I'm also an Admin for one of the premier Modern communities on Facebook:
Magic the Gathering: Modern Meta Masters
https://www.facebook.com/groups/ModernMetaMasters/
Thank you! A ton of work went into it, especially fine tuning the consistency of its post-Verdict gameplan and finding that balance between being good vs Aggro/Midrange/Combo.
MTG Modern - Competitive: UWx Midrange/Control
Facebook.com/ModernUWxControl
MTG Modern - Competitive: UWx Midrange/Control Community
Facebook.com/Groups/MTGModernUWx
I'm also an Admin for one of the premier Modern communities on Facebook:
Magic the Gathering: Modern Meta Masters
https://www.facebook.com/groups/ModernMetaMasters/
I don't own any Runed Halo's currently to I've been expiramenting using Meddling mage, since they have similar effects. You just have to be careful of removal.
Mage is a better effect on the play.
The effects are similar in that they both shut down a single card, but one is more proactive, the other is reactive. Mage Shuts down the card before it enters, Halo can shut it down if it is in play. For this reason Halo is more Versatile. But if the card is in the opponents hand and they can't remove mage, mage is better.
Halo is also useless against countermagic.
And various cards that might wreck you without targeting you, like Living end. But that's if they don't have the beast within.
However, Mage can't stop something already in play, unless it's by blocking. It is also MUCH easier to remove.
Reflector Mage seems interesting in this shell. I agree that it has synergy and potential.
I think Oj Command is fine and worth incorporating, but I can't justify it over Cryptic. I'd run it alongside or out of the board.
Here is my update:
2 Phantasmal Image
4 Wall of Omens
4 Kitchen Finks
2 Vendilion Clique
3 Restoration Angel
1 Sun Titan
Planeswalkers (5)
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
2 Gideon Jura
1 Venser, the Sojourner
1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
Enchantments (3)
3 Detention Sphere
4 Path to Exile
2 Negate
2 Cryptic Command
3 Supreme Verdict
Lands (25)
4 Celestial Colonnade
4 Flooded Strand
4 Ghost Quarter
3 Glacial Fortress
2 Hallowed Fountain
3 Island
2 Mystic Gate
3 Plains
2 Dispel
2 Negate
2 Runed Halo
2 Spellskite
2 Stony Silence
1 Vendilion Clique
1 Glen Elendra Archmage
1 Supreme Verdict
1 Batterskull
1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
Main:
-2 Mana Leak (weakest link)
+2 Negate
Sideboard:
-1 Disenchant
-1 Jace, Architect of Thought
-1 Wrath of God
+2 Spellskite
+1 Supreme Verdict
I was also in a podcast tonight for Card Knock Life discussing this deck and how to tackle Eldrazi. I'll share that soon after it's out.
MTG Modern - Competitive: UWx Midrange/Control
Facebook.com/ModernUWxControl
MTG Modern - Competitive: UWx Midrange/Control Community
Facebook.com/Groups/MTGModernUWx
I'm also an Admin for one of the premier Modern communities on Facebook:
Magic the Gathering: Modern Meta Masters
https://www.facebook.com/groups/ModernMetaMasters/
Negate is just a little better vs combo at any stage in the game plus it's easier to win counter wars with. So with 2 x negate and 2x V. Clique he just doesn't "lose" game 1 without a fight to combo. Also negating a removal spell is nice when we want to start racing. We don't care as much giving the opposing player permissions for creatures since the deck is built to handle creatures without counters.
Other decks still exist. Our shell alone matches up well with aggro (omens, finks, path, seas, 4 wraths) we don't need to devote every card in the deck to it. Aggro decks still run non creature spells too.