3 big mama Elspeth? and I thought I was crazy for playing 2. Running 5 land destruction in the form of 4 GQ + 1 Tec and having 4 Spreading Seas really made the deck have a good MU vs Eldrazi especially with Crucible of Worlds back up.
the only thing i cant figure out in the deck is the baneslayer angel in the SB.
maybe he expect opponents take out removal, and thats when he shines?
Baneslayer Angel is actually crazy good when it comes from the sideboard against match ups like Burn and Affinity. It's hard for them to deal with First Strike and Lifelink.
3 big mama Elspeth? and I thought I was crazy for playing 2. Running 5 land destruction in the form of 4 GQ + 1 Tec and having 4 Spreading Seas really made the deck have a good MU vs Eldrazi especially with Crucible of Worlds back up.
the only thing i cant figure out in the deck is the baneslayer angel in the SB.
maybe he expect opponents take out removal, and thats when he shines?
Baneslayer Angel is actually crazy good when it comes from the sideboard against match ups like Burn and Affinity. It's hard for them to deal with First Strike and Lifelink.
^this though. If you're able to connect with Baneslayer against those aggro matchups, even if it's just once, you most likely will win the game.
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So, I've been excited with the spoiler of Archangel Avacyn and I actually think she's gonna be great for the UWx shell, mostly straight UW since Finks, Wall, Resto and other cards are nearly immune to her flip effect. Also, she curves well with Resto, she does the same job that Colonnade does without tapping out, and most important, she has FLASH, that's her strenght.
I've been thinking to a decklist like this:
What do you guys think? Also, I've been thinking to 2x Eldrazi Displacers. With Ghost Quarters and Mystic Gates, activating him shouldn't be hard and its effect is huge with our deck. I could be wrong tho.
How has Venser been in your testing? He seems really fragile. Instead of displacer and venser what about Eerie Interlude? It blinks all of your creatures for max value at once.
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On mtgsalvation people don't want to discuss ideas, so I give people something else to discuss: my controversial opinions.
So, I've been excited with the spoiler of Archangel Avacyn and I actually think she's gonna be great for the UWx shell, mostly straight UW since Finks, Wall, Resto and other cards are nearly immune to her flip effect. Also, she curves well with Resto, she does the same job that Colonnade does without tapping out, and most important, she has FLASH, that's her strenght.
I've been thinking to a decklist like this:
What do you guys think? Also, I've been thinking to 2x Eldrazi Displacers. With Ghost Quarters and Mystic Gates, activating him shouldn't be hard and its effect is huge with our deck. I could be wrong tho.
How has Venser been in your testing? He seems really fragile. Instead of displacer and venser what about Eerie Interlude? It blinks all of your creatures for max value at once.
Well right now, Eerie Interlude is not legal yet
I took the idea from Neo7hinker and Venser performed really well in a more creatureful version. He does what Eerie Interlude does most of the times, but he also threats the ultimate, which is a direct wincon. I'll test it when SoI will be released, but I think Eerie Interlude is more for a pure midrange version. Other than 2-3 Resto Angels, 3-4 Walls and 3-4 Finks, we don't have much else generally and we rarely have more than 2 creatures on the battlefield. Venser also blinks lands (Temple of Enlightenment), Runed Halo, Detention Sphere, resets PWs if we need to. They're maybe small differences, but overall I think Venser is best suited for UW in general than Eerie Interlude.
I really think Archangel Avacyn is what UWx decks really need. Another finisher, at instant speed, which has two great abilities. Can't wait.
Can I just say - beautiful. Absolutely beautiful list. I came across it and immediately thought - "Omg. This is what my transition would be post-Eldrazi." Venser still has a home here, probably one of the best shells for him, but is a flexible spot. You just don't appreciate the value it generates in a deck like this until certain scenarios present themselves - like having to get through defense to win the game, which can be done with Venser's -1. My only difference here would be to bump Clique to 2. Also, Rev will be good as a 1 of as BGx decks pick up more play.
Are you part of my community? If not, please join. Nice job here. I now have a video discussing David's performance at the GP and our deck moving forward.
I'll also be at GP Charlotte. I was there last year playing my Esper Twix deck Ali Aintrazi featured in an article on TCG Player. It was designed to beat Twin, Bloom, and other combo decks and it did just that as I went 2-0 twice vs UR Twin and 2-0 vs Bloom. Unfortunately, I went 5-4 overall, but I'm back to redeem myself this year and feel confident as UW Midrange Control is my bread and butter.
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-Spreading Seas will still be good, but probably better out of the board. Tron will certainly be more popular after Eldrazi and one of my best gameplans vs Tron was T2 Seas, T3 Geist/Clique, T4 Clique/Resto/Elspeth, K-E or Ghost Quarter/Counter, etc.
-That being said, Geist of Saint Traft will be a viable SB option as a 2-3 of alongside Clique vs Tron/Combo. We'd swap out Finks for Geist.
-Cryptic Command will be fine at 2-3, and main deck Negate as a 1 of alongside Remand/Leak is a good option, too.
-Because of our power level and the importance of turn 4-5 (i.e. Cryptic, Verdict, Resto, Avacyn, Gideon, etc.), I wouldn't mind cutting Colonnade to 3 as it's theoretically a T6 play anyway. We definitely want less CiPT lands.
-Cavern of Souls is going to be great tech vs the mirror, and other decks packing more counters post-Eldrazi, to jam in Resto/Avacyn, for example. We can even name Wizard here.
So, I've been excited with the spoiler of Archangel Avacyn and I actually think she's gonna be great for the UWx shell, mostly straight UW since Finks, Wall, Resto and other cards are nearly immune to her flip effect. Also, she curves well with Resto, she does the same job that Colonnade does without tapping out, and most important, she has FLASH, that's her strenght.
I've been thinking to a decklist like this:
What do you guys think? Also, I've been thinking to 2x Eldrazi Displacers. With Ghost Quarters and Mystic Gates, activating him shouldn't be hard and its effect is huge with our deck. I could be wrong tho.
How has Venser been in your testing? He seems really fragile. Instead of displacer and venser what about Eerie Interlude? It blinks all of your creatures for max value at once.
Well right now, Eerie Interlude is not legal yet
I took the idea from Neo7hinker and Venser performed really well in a more creatureful version. He does what Eerie Interlude does most of the times, but he also threats the ultimate, which is a direct wincon. I'll test it when SoI will be released, but I think Eerie Interlude is more for a pure midrange version. Other than 2-3 Resto Angels, 3-4 Walls and 3-4 Finks, we don't have much else generally and we rarely have more than 2 creatures on the battlefield. Venser also blinks lands (Temple of Enlightenment), Runed Halo, Detention Sphere, resets PWs if we need to. They're maybe small differences, but overall I think Venser is best suited for UW in general than Eerie Interlude.
I really think Archangel Avacyn is what UWx decks really need. Another finisher, at instant speed, which has two great abilities. Can't wait.
Hmm I may try it then. Archangel Avacyn is definitely a mainstay in this deck. I would pick it up preorder since it's around 20ish dollars and I don't expect it to stay at that price.
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I honestly think Archangel Avacyn is great for UW Control and currently it's going for 20$ ish pre order which is low but I will wait for it to decrease even more to something like 10$ ish then I will snatch a couple of copies.
I don't see Avacyn going down below $20 any time soon. She is going to be a major player in Standard, which will cause her price to skyrocket. Add to that her possible Modern playability and I see her being $40-50 easy. I preordered two copies of her today.
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Her price won't skyrocket. In fact, it will most probably decrease.
On the other hand, Thing in the Ice will get more expensive.
You'll see.
Has anybody here tested Reflector Mage in our deck? The card has shown up in the top 8 of GP Bologna..
Thing in the Ice is kinda overrated right now. It's a good card but it needs an entire deck built around it to really make it shine. It reminds me of the hype over myth realized
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Can I just say - beautiful. Absolutely beautiful list. I came across it and immediately thought - "Omg. This is what my transition would be post-Eldrazi." Venser still has a home here, probably one of the best shells for him, but is a flexible spot. You just don't appreciate the value it generates in a deck like this until certain scenarios present themselves - like having to get through defense to win the game, which can be done with Venser's -1. My only difference here would be to bump Clique to 2. Also, Rev will be good as a 1 of as BGx decks pick up more play.
Are you part of my community? If not, please join. Nice job here. I now have a video discussing David's performance at the GP and our deck moving forward.
I'll also be at GP Charlotte. I was there last year playing my Esper Twix deck Ali Aintrazi featured in an article on TCG Player. It was designed to beat Twin, Bloom, and other combo decks and it did just that as I went 2-0 twice vs UR Twin and 2-0 vs Bloom. Unfortunately, I went 5-4 overall, but I'm back to redeem myself this year and feel confident as UW Midrange Control is my bread and butter.
I love Clique and I always used to play 2 copies with Twin, but right now, the meta is swarmed with aggro decks and I hate seeing Clique against ANY of those decks. Elves, Boggles, Burn, Affinity, Zoo, BW variants, Company, also Eldrazi. Clique was good when the meta was Tron, Twin, BGx, Amulet and stuff, but right now....meh.
Same goes to Rev. I love when I can cast it for 3/4+ but if BGx will come back again, I honestly don't think it's gonna be good. Thoughtseize, IoK, Duress, Kommand, Liliana are powerhouses against durdling strategies and I rarely get to cast it against them. Tron also requires fast pressure and hate to play Rev. We prefer wraths and removals against aggro, and fast combo decks or control decks are very bad to play Rev against. For now, I've always played it but I'd like to try without it.
I'm continuosly playing more variants of UW right now. UW Control (Biava's style), UW Midrange (Finks, Titan, PWs), UW half and half (a certain number of counterspell but also a good beatdown plan), UW with a light R splash to improve my matchups against aggro decks (4 Bolts, 2 Lyze, Ajani Vengeant). I honestly love them all but overall I think the "half and half" version is the best. Playing Snapcasters, Resto Angels, Walls, Jaces and counters is overall a balanced choice and the only thing I missed was a bit more aggression. Avacyn does that wonderfully, that's why I'll may cut Finks for Jaces, I'll see.
I don't know how'll the metagame will be with the new expansion and the Eldrazi busted deck nerfed, but right now, Ojutai's Command is insane and I won't stop saying that. Counter-Return Wall OTB is a much better Cryptic and is much better against aggro decks for the lifegain, differently from Cryptic. If the meta will remain creature focused, then Ojutai's Command will be great. If it won't, then Mana Leak (sigh) and Cryptic will remain the staples of choice.
Another note: Negate is, and always was, excellent to maindeck.
Thanks for the invite!
All reasonable points! Thanks for your in-depth response.
I personally think Clique can be 1-2, but I just prefer to as my gameplan will be focused on applying pressure over the top. I also see Tron and Living End being bigger players, which makes Clique even better.
I'm not a big fan of Rev, but do see it as a great top deck vs grindy match ups, especially vs BGx decks. It's sort of the card that brings the deck together for us, but Jace, AoT can do that too, minus 5+ mana investment and life gain - though +1 can save us vs Tokens. It's not a staple, but probably not wrong to play either.
Ojutai's Command and Jace, Vryn's Prodigy are strong options and worth testing. Good points there. I can even see running a split of both Commands. Verdict can still be at 3, but depending on the meta, 2 may be fine as well, with 3rd in board.
Lastly, Elspeth, K-E will continue to be one of our best threats, especially with more Flash creatures and Geist. She's also great with Finks as she can pump it as a 3/2 or 2/1 post-Verdict. BGx decks hate her, most noteably Liliana lol She's our best 'Sword' because she can't be Kozilek'd, harder to remove, is more versatile, she's amazing post-Verdict, and turns any of our creatures into clocks (except for Omens, but I'm not opposed to running Spellskite alongside Omens - I've done it before and worked very well - as it can be pumped with Elspeth and gives us more game-state practicality vs several decks where Omens is useless, like Infect, Bogles, Burn, etc. Vs these decks, you gain more value from stability than cantrip. I also wrote an article about utilizing Resto/Skite vs Ulamog 2.0. Let me know if you're interested).
After making a few appearances in the top 32 lists at a few locations what does it take for this deck to go up a tier? It appears to be doing better than our American control brethren.
After making a few appearances in the top 32 lists at a few locations what does it take for this deck to go up a tier? It appears to be doing better than our American control brethren.
Are you referring to the GP's? Which Top 32's are you referring to?
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So I am looking for some feedback and constructive criticism (I got my flame suit on). So I consider myself a UW Control or UW Midrange or UW Titan whatever you want to call it player. Here is my list:
I like this brew for various different reasons. I really like Aether Spellbomb a lot to either save my own Snapcaster or Resto before I Supreme Verdict. And like most of you, Im thinking about replacing Titan with the new SOI Avacyn.
I think this deck will be better when something from the Eldrazi deck gets banned.
Lastly, I only run 24 lands vice 25 as most UW builds run. I cut Colonade from 4 to 3. I really hate drawing multiple Colonades and I lothe lands that come into play tapped after turn 1.
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After making a few appearances in the top 32 lists at a few locations what does it take for this deck to go up a tier? It appears to be doing better than our American control brethren.
Are you referring to the GP's? Which Top 32's are you referring to?
Yeah, the GP events. #10 Detroit, #14 Bologna, #23 Melbourne. It even took #1 at an SCG IQ in both York and Kearny. It makes me proud seeing a control deck do so well in an environment full of aggro and combo decks.
After making a few appearances in the top 32 lists at a few locations what does it take for this deck to go up a tier? It appears to be doing better than our American control brethren.
Are you referring to the GP's? Which Top 32's are you referring to?
Yeah, the GP events. #10 Detroit, #14 Bologna, #23 Melbourne. It even took #1 at an SCG IQ in both York and Kearny. It makes me proud seeing a control deck do so well in an environment full of aggro and combo decks.
Indeed. Mine is closer to the one that placed 1st in York:
After making a few appearances in the top 32 lists at a few locations what does it take for this deck to go up a tier? It appears to be doing better than our American control brethren.
Are you referring to the GP's? Which Top 32's are you referring to?
Yeah, the GP events. #10 Detroit, #14 Bologna, #23 Melbourne. It even took #1 at an SCG IQ in both York and Kearny. It makes me proud seeing a control deck do so well in an environment full of aggro and combo decks.
Indeed. Mine is closer to the one that placed 1st in York:
Hey guys, I've been posting mostly in Neo7inker's UW facebook group where we've been brewing up a storm with this deck. I figured I'd pop in here and do a little write up on the deck.
Cards with an asterisk are cards that are currently on trial for playtesting to see how they do. I was having an issue with 1 or 2 surgical extractions eating up my threats so I diversified, moving the Geists to the board and adding Jace MA back in along with a trial Drogskol Reaver. I kind of like him better than Ojutai as a late-game finisher as he refills both of our resources while providing a faster clock, plus, with our mana rock package he's a turn 4-5-6 play, not t7.
Speaking of our rocks, I really want to take a moment to talk about how sweet having a mana-rock package is. Right now I'm using 3 types of rocks, the Keyrune is a trial to see about adding a cheap threat, that also let's us cast our 5+ drops a turn early. It may just be better as a coalition relic or two, but it's the 2 drop rocks that really shine. We can play them out, hold open path and untap on 3 with a verdict. The 1 of mindstone is for late game cantriping.
Can you tell I've been craving a bit more draw in the deck? That's also why I've got MA and Monastery Siege. I like MA better than AoT because while he doesn't dig as deep when he lands, he draws more consistently if our opponent can't answer him. Yes, AoT shuts down souls and slows down agro, but gideon and verdict do the same already. MA throws the hands vs Lantern control, ad nauseum, and other random decks that can't handle losing 10 + cards from their library, let alone a 5 turn mill clock.
Our other new toy is the hilarious Monastery Siege, which I think is brilliant game one. It turns all our opponents bolts and atarka's commands and such into heavy mana investments, really slowing their game plan down to our speed. Game 2 we take out all our enchants to turn their D revs into a dead draw (although it's kind of funny turning a DRev into a 4 drop) Late game we can drop it and dig for whatever we need, pitching extra mana leaks and rocks to it doesn't really hurt us. Though it is yet another point towards wanting a pair of Snapcasters main, something I don't currently own.
Terminus as a one of seemed too good to not at least try out, call it the 61st card if you like instead of the serum visions (which offers the ever spicey set up of t3 visions with 2 mana and a mind stone open, response to opponents combat crack mindstone, Terminus.) if you like. I like the odds of randomly hitting it as a mainboard card rather than never seeing it out of the board. I enjoy a bit of chaos in my brews. I was on a wrath of god main, but I think I like terminus better as it recycles our limited number of our boys while clearing their entire board, regardless of regen, hexproof, indo. We can always hard cast it late game, or put it on top with that new madness brainstorm spell if it's real.
The rest of the mainboard is fairly standard for the Tapout Beat-Down style / RtR block constructed deck you guys are calling Half & Half. I was on R/G tron but sold into the Kozilek's Return / pre-eldrazi hype and have been brewing this thing ever since. 25 lands feels like the right number, I've been practicing against fish a bunch, and we can really play the 'haha no islands' game really well, forcing them to waste resources trying to turn on island walk while we sphere, path and verdict their fry lords down.
The Sideboard is what it is. The batterskull was main and is currently holding on to the Sideboard, but may end up slipping out of the deck all together. The 2 disenchants might become wear/tear by swapping a Prairie Stream for a sacred foundry. Which continues the beg the Snapcaster plan..
Overwhelming Denial is another mainboard card that slipped to the side. I really like it vs ad nauseum and other pact decks, as it says, no, absolutely not. And it's sweet as an actual Counterspell when paired with a path or negate or something.
I feel like we have a super strong gameplan vs a fair number of the current field.
Eldrazi can't handle our consistent removal paired with GQ for their eye of ugin. I don't think it's worth it to give them back a land early game, it only slows them down a turn, but turning off their tutor before they get enough lands is great at closing out the game once you've crushed their early onslaught. The look on a drazi player's face when he Thought-Knots and sees 2 verdicts is priceless.
Fish is another very winnable match for us as well. We don't even really need anything out of the board to beat them. 4 verdicts, 4 paths, gideon and Elspeth are just too much for them to handle. They always complain that they flood out vs me, but 4 paths and going super late will do that to a deck with no filter that's used to winning t3 or bust.
I have not gotten to practice the burn, zoo pr 8-whack matches much, but I believe we are favored pretty well. If they're creature heavy we get value slam our verdicts, otherwise we have a fair amount of life gain and control, especially game 2 and 3.
Ad Nauseum is difficult, especially game one with so little counter magic. We can counter/sphere their early rocks and hope to race them, especially if we gain a ton of life, but if they've got mainboard pacts our mana leaks and cryptic just aren't enough.
Game 2 and 3 we can bring in all the life gain and disenchants and try and race the heck out of them. They can only do a maximum of 50 damage with no lands in play so we may very well be able to out race them. Especially if jace happens to hit some key pieces.
I have not gotten to test living end yet, but they're still just a creature deck. I think we can out value and eventually out race them.
Infect and boggles should both be fairly winnable, no iteration of this deck that I've played so far has had much of an issue with them. All the verdicts means they have to overextend super hard vs our value town deck. Porphyry Nodes is a lot of fun against them, but isn't currently in our 76.
Tron can be hard. G1 we've got to keep them off t3 Karning us to death by either playing early ghost quarters or having leak/t3 cryptic open when they untap and slam the 3rd piece. We also have to be fast enough that they never get Emrakul online.
G 2 and 3 we bring in some racing man's and some negates, we'd also bring in stony silences if we had them. All of their creature threats die to verdict or path. If we had surgical extractions we could try and wombo them with Jace.
GBx decks can be the bane of us. Early hand shred plus Lili with no Snapcaster can put a quick squirting on us. If we live through that however we have a pretty good late game compared to theirs. We ARE the UW Jund deck after all. Sphering a threat to make them overextend into a verdict and waste resources finding an abrupt decay is fun. Olivia Volderan main can be hard to deal with. Post board we get to take out all our decay targets and really up our overall threat count/ top deck war-winning cards. We can definitely out value them at their own game.. I like keeping land heavy hands vs these decks because it's fun to let them TS away something irrelevant and top deck all our sorcery speed beat down goodies.
So how many of you guys stream UW Control/Midrange matches and how many of you know people who stream UW Control/Midange matches? I think it would be a good idea if someone would make a list of people who stream and such.
So how many of you guys stream UW Control/Midrange matches and how many of you know people who stream UW Control/Midange matches? I think it would be a good idea if someone would make a list of people who stream and such.
Id be happy to start streaming if the interest is there. Looks like the deck is really picking up in popularity recently, I've been playing a relatively similar version for about a year.
So how many of you guys stream UW Control/Midrange matches and how many of you know people who stream UW Control/Midange matches? I think it would be a good idea if someone would make a list of people who stream and such.
Id be happy to start streaming if the interest is there. Looks like the deck is really picking up in popularity recently, I've been playing a relatively similar version for about a year.
I'd watch you stream UW, and I'm pretty sure a bunch of other people would too
Hi guys, I am new to this forum but am interested in playing UW Control, transitioning from Gifts Tron. A quick question, why is Gideon Jura played over the cheaper Gideon, Ally of Zendikar? Thanks in advance.
Hi guys, I am new to this forum but am interested in playing UW Control, transitioning from Gifts Tron. A quick question, why is Gideon Jura played over the cheaper Gideon, Ally of Zendikar? Thanks in advance.
For me personally, it's because Gideon Jura is stellar against aggro. Being able to Fog turn after turn is a great way to stall for time. He's also a good clock, better than Gideon, Ally of Zendikar is. Ally allows us to go wide, which is nice, but not even the midrange versions care about that. All the U/W Control lists--whether Draw-Go or Midrange/Bad Jund--want the game to go longer, while Ally promotes a more aggressive shell. I'd much rather top-deck Jura when I'm on the defensive than Ally.
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Modern UWUW Control/Midrange/Bad JundUW WUBRGHumansWUBRG BGMidrangeBG
So how many of you guys stream UW Control/Midrange matches and how many of you know people who stream UW Control/Midange matches? I think it would be a good idea if someone would make a list of people who stream and such.
Id be happy to start streaming if the interest is there. Looks like the deck is really picking up in popularity recently, I've been playing a relatively similar version for about a year.
That would be great. It would be good to increase this deck's popularity.
Hi guys, I am new to this forum but am interested in playing UW Control, transitioning from Gifts Tron. A quick question, why is Gideon Jura played over the cheaper Gideon, Ally of Zendikar? Thanks in advance.
Gideon Jura can kill creatures and also allows you to stall the board while you're under pressure plus it can create be a huge problem for Infect but that doesn't mean that Gideon, Ally of Zendikar is bad in anyway. The Ally can still finish off games as it is a must answer threat. Ally can create a huge board presence while also pump all your team with his emblem and I think that it's a fine choice for a midrange version that runs 15 creatures. How would you like a 4/3 Kitchen Finks or a 5/5 Colonnade? Overall it is a Plansewalker that can be dropped on turn 4 which is a problem for the opponent. It all comes down to testing and deck design.
Baneslayer Angel is actually crazy good when it comes from the sideboard against match ups like Burn and Affinity. It's hard for them to deal with First Strike and Lifelink.
RBUGrixis ControlUBR
GUSimic MerfolkUG
WUUW ControlUW
RBUGrixis ControlUBR
BUUB MillUB
Colorless Eldrazi Tron
WRBurnRW
GUSimic MerfolkUG
UMono U TurnsU
WGGenesis Wave EnchantressGW
^this though. If you're able to connect with Baneslayer against those aggro matchups, even if it's just once, you most likely will win the game.
GWSelvala and the Return to HumanityGW
UWDragonlord Ojutai, Control's Elder DragonUW
UBGTasigur, the God-Pharaoh's Gift to EDHUBG
UBRNicol Bolas and his Super
friendsPawnsUBRModern
UWUW Control/Midrange/Bad JundUW
WUBRGHumansWUBRG
BGMidrangeBG
How has Venser been in your testing? He seems really fragile. Instead of displacer and venser what about Eerie Interlude? It blinks all of your creatures for max value at once.
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/)
Can I just say - beautiful. Absolutely beautiful list. I came across it and immediately thought - "Omg. This is what my transition would be post-Eldrazi." Venser still has a home here, probably one of the best shells for him, but is a flexible spot. You just don't appreciate the value it generates in a deck like this until certain scenarios present themselves - like having to get through defense to win the game, which can be done with Venser's -1. My only difference here would be to bump Clique to 2. Also, Rev will be good as a 1 of as BGx decks pick up more play.
Are you part of my community? If not, please join. Nice job here. I now have a video discussing David's performance at the GP and our deck moving forward.
I'll also be at GP Charlotte. I was there last year playing my Esper Twix deck Ali Aintrazi featured in an article on TCG Player. It was designed to beat Twin, Bloom, and other combo decks and it did just that as I went 2-0 twice vs UR Twin and 2-0 vs Bloom. Unfortunately, I went 5-4 overall, but I'm back to redeem myself this year and feel confident as UW Midrange Control is my bread and butter.
MTG Modern - Competitive: UWx Midrange/Control
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I'm also an Admin for one of the premier Modern communities on Facebook:
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-Spreading Seas will still be good, but probably better out of the board. Tron will certainly be more popular after Eldrazi and one of my best gameplans vs Tron was T2 Seas, T3 Geist/Clique, T4 Clique/Resto/Elspeth, K-E or Ghost Quarter/Counter, etc.
-That being said, Geist of Saint Traft will be a viable SB option as a 2-3 of alongside Clique vs Tron/Combo. We'd swap out Finks for Geist.
-Cryptic Command will be fine at 2-3, and main deck Negate as a 1 of alongside Remand/Leak is a good option, too.
-Because of our power level and the importance of turn 4-5 (i.e. Cryptic, Verdict, Resto, Avacyn, Gideon, etc.), I wouldn't mind cutting Colonnade to 3 as it's theoretically a T6 play anyway. We definitely want less CiPT lands.
-Cavern of Souls is going to be great tech vs the mirror, and other decks packing more counters post-Eldrazi, to jam in Resto/Avacyn, for example. We can even name Wizard here.
MTG Modern - Competitive: UWx Midrange/Control
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MTG Modern - Competitive: UWx Midrange/Control Community
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Hmm I may try it then. Archangel Avacyn is definitely a mainstay in this deck. I would pick it up preorder since it's around 20ish dollars and I don't expect it to stay at that price.
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/)
RBUGrixis ControlUBR
GUSimic MerfolkUG
WUUW ControlUW
RBUGrixis ControlUBR
BUUB MillUB
Colorless Eldrazi Tron
WRBurnRW
GUSimic MerfolkUG
UMono U TurnsU
WGGenesis Wave EnchantressGW
GWSelvala and the Return to HumanityGW
UWDragonlord Ojutai, Control's Elder DragonUW
UBGTasigur, the God-Pharaoh's Gift to EDHUBG
UBRNicol Bolas and his Super
friendsPawnsUBRModern
UWUW Control/Midrange/Bad JundUW
WUBRGHumansWUBRG
BGMidrangeBG
thing in the ice is great, but as a rare (not mythic) it will not increase price a lot.
the moment you play reflector mage, you should head to UWx midrange
Thing in the Ice is kinda overrated right now. It's a good card but it needs an entire deck built around it to really make it shine. It reminds me of the hype over myth realized
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/)
All reasonable points! Thanks for your in-depth response.
I personally think Clique can be 1-2, but I just prefer to as my gameplan will be focused on applying pressure over the top. I also see Tron and Living End being bigger players, which makes Clique even better.
I'm not a big fan of Rev, but do see it as a great top deck vs grindy match ups, especially vs BGx decks. It's sort of the card that brings the deck together for us, but Jace, AoT can do that too, minus 5+ mana investment and life gain - though +1 can save us vs Tokens. It's not a staple, but probably not wrong to play either.
Ojutai's Command and Jace, Vryn's Prodigy are strong options and worth testing. Good points there. I can even see running a split of both Commands. Verdict can still be at 3, but depending on the meta, 2 may be fine as well, with 3rd in board.
Lastly, Elspeth, K-E will continue to be one of our best threats, especially with more Flash creatures and Geist. She's also great with Finks as she can pump it as a 3/2 or 2/1 post-Verdict. BGx decks hate her, most noteably Liliana lol She's our best 'Sword' because she can't be Kozilek'd, harder to remove, is more versatile, she's amazing post-Verdict, and turns any of our creatures into clocks (except for Omens, but I'm not opposed to running Spellskite alongside Omens - I've done it before and worked very well - as it can be pumped with Elspeth and gives us more game-state practicality vs several decks where Omens is useless, like Infect, Bogles, Burn, etc. Vs these decks, you gain more value from stability than cantrip. I also wrote an article about utilizing Resto/Skite vs Ulamog 2.0. Let me know if you're interested).
MTG Modern - Competitive: UWx Midrange/Control
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MTG Modern - Competitive: UWx Midrange/Control Community
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Magic the Gathering: Modern Meta Masters
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Are you referring to the GP's? Which Top 32's are you referring to?
MTG Modern - Competitive: UWx Midrange/Control
Facebook.com/ModernUWxControl
MTG Modern - Competitive: UWx Midrange/Control Community
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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/
http://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/376794#paper
I like this brew for various different reasons. I really like Aether Spellbomb a lot to either save my own Snapcaster or Resto before I Supreme Verdict. And like most of you, Im thinking about replacing Titan with the new SOI Avacyn.
I think this deck will be better when something from the Eldrazi deck gets banned.
Lastly, I only run 24 lands vice 25 as most UW builds run. I cut Colonade from 4 to 3. I really hate drawing multiple Colonades and I lothe lands that come into play tapped after turn 1.
Best Standard of all time was "Scars/12/Innistrad"
Fav Cards of all time: Geist of Saint Traft; Kaalia of the Vast
Indeed. Mine is closer to the one that placed 1st in York:
http://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/360109#paper
This is Midrange Control.
MTG Modern - Competitive: UWx Midrange/Control
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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/
The IQ Kearny winner, Tony Fuda, is a local at my shop. He's a very good player.
MTG Modern - Competitive: UWx Midrange/Control
Facebook.com/ModernUWxControl
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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/
3 Wall of Omens
3 Kitchen Finks
2 Restoration Angel
1 Jace, Memory Adept
2 Gideon Jura
2 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
1 Drogskol Reaver *
Non-Mans 22
1 Serum Visions
4 Path to Exile
2 Mana Leak
1 Mind Stone
2 Talisman of Progress
1 Azorius Keyrune *
1 Monastery Siege *
2 Detention Sphere
4 Supreme Verdict
2 Cryptic Command
1 Sphinx's Revelation
1 Terminus *
3 Plains
2 Island
2 Prarie Stream
2 Hallowed Fountain
1 Windswept Heath
4 Flooded Strand
1 Glacial Fortress
2 Mystic Gate
4 Celestial Colonnade
3 Ghost Quarter
1 Tectonic Edge
1 Fracturing Gust *
2 Disenchant
1 Overwhelming Denial
3 Negate
1 Dispel
1 Spell Pierce *
1 Rest in Peace
1 Batterskull *
1 Baneslayer Angel
1 Glen Elandra Archmage
2 Geist of Saint Traft
Cards with an asterisk are cards that are currently on trial for playtesting to see how they do. I was having an issue with 1 or 2 surgical extractions eating up my threats so I diversified, moving the Geists to the board and adding Jace MA back in along with a trial Drogskol Reaver. I kind of like him better than Ojutai as a late-game finisher as he refills both of our resources while providing a faster clock, plus, with our mana rock package he's a turn 4-5-6 play, not t7.
Speaking of our rocks, I really want to take a moment to talk about how sweet having a mana-rock package is. Right now I'm using 3 types of rocks, the Keyrune is a trial to see about adding a cheap threat, that also let's us cast our 5+ drops a turn early. It may just be better as a coalition relic or two, but it's the 2 drop rocks that really shine. We can play them out, hold open path and untap on 3 with a verdict. The 1 of mindstone is for late game cantriping.
Can you tell I've been craving a bit more draw in the deck? That's also why I've got MA and Monastery Siege. I like MA better than AoT because while he doesn't dig as deep when he lands, he draws more consistently if our opponent can't answer him. Yes, AoT shuts down souls and slows down agro, but gideon and verdict do the same already. MA throws the hands vs Lantern control, ad nauseum, and other random decks that can't handle losing 10 + cards from their library, let alone a 5 turn mill clock.
Our other new toy is the hilarious Monastery Siege, which I think is brilliant game one. It turns all our opponents bolts and atarka's commands and such into heavy mana investments, really slowing their game plan down to our speed. Game 2 we take out all our enchants to turn their D revs into a dead draw (although it's kind of funny turning a DRev into a 4 drop) Late game we can drop it and dig for whatever we need, pitching extra mana leaks and rocks to it doesn't really hurt us. Though it is yet another point towards wanting a pair of Snapcasters main, something I don't currently own.
Terminus as a one of seemed too good to not at least try out, call it the 61st card if you like instead of the serum visions (which offers the ever spicey set up of t3 visions with 2 mana and a mind stone open, response to opponents combat crack mindstone, Terminus.) if you like. I like the odds of randomly hitting it as a mainboard card rather than never seeing it out of the board. I enjoy a bit of chaos in my brews. I was on a wrath of god main, but I think I like terminus better as it recycles our limited number of our boys while clearing their entire board, regardless of regen, hexproof, indo. We can always hard cast it late game, or put it on top with that new madness brainstorm spell if it's real.
The rest of the mainboard is fairly standard for the Tapout Beat-Down style / RtR block constructed deck you guys are calling Half & Half. I was on R/G tron but sold into the Kozilek's Return / pre-eldrazi hype and have been brewing this thing ever since. 25 lands feels like the right number, I've been practicing against fish a bunch, and we can really play the 'haha no islands' game really well, forcing them to waste resources trying to turn on island walk while we sphere, path and verdict their fry lords down.
The Sideboard is what it is. The batterskull was main and is currently holding on to the Sideboard, but may end up slipping out of the deck all together. The 2 disenchants might become wear/tear by swapping a Prairie Stream for a sacred foundry. Which continues the beg the Snapcaster plan..
Overwhelming Denial is another mainboard card that slipped to the side. I really like it vs ad nauseum and other pact decks, as it says, no, absolutely not. And it's sweet as an actual Counterspell when paired with a path or negate or something.
I feel like we have a super strong gameplan vs a fair number of the current field.
Eldrazi can't handle our consistent removal paired with GQ for their eye of ugin. I don't think it's worth it to give them back a land early game, it only slows them down a turn, but turning off their tutor before they get enough lands is great at closing out the game once you've crushed their early onslaught. The look on a drazi player's face when he Thought-Knots and sees 2 verdicts is priceless.
Fish is another very winnable match for us as well. We don't even really need anything out of the board to beat them. 4 verdicts, 4 paths, gideon and Elspeth are just too much for them to handle. They always complain that they flood out vs me, but 4 paths and going super late will do that to a deck with no filter that's used to winning t3 or bust.
I have not gotten to practice the burn, zoo pr 8-whack matches much, but I believe we are favored pretty well. If they're creature heavy we get value slam our verdicts, otherwise we have a fair amount of life gain and control, especially game 2 and 3.
Ad Nauseum is difficult, especially game one with so little counter magic. We can counter/sphere their early rocks and hope to race them, especially if we gain a ton of life, but if they've got mainboard pacts our mana leaks and cryptic just aren't enough.
Game 2 and 3 we can bring in all the life gain and disenchants and try and race the heck out of them. They can only do a maximum of 50 damage with no lands in play so we may very well be able to out race them. Especially if jace happens to hit some key pieces.
I have not gotten to test living end yet, but they're still just a creature deck. I think we can out value and eventually out race them.
Infect and boggles should both be fairly winnable, no iteration of this deck that I've played so far has had much of an issue with them. All the verdicts means they have to overextend super hard vs our value town deck. Porphyry Nodes is a lot of fun against them, but isn't currently in our 76.
Tron can be hard. G1 we've got to keep them off t3 Karning us to death by either playing early ghost quarters or having leak/t3 cryptic open when they untap and slam the 3rd piece. We also have to be fast enough that they never get Emrakul online.
G 2 and 3 we bring in some racing man's and some negates, we'd also bring in stony silences if we had them. All of their creature threats die to verdict or path. If we had surgical extractions we could try and wombo them with Jace.
GBx decks can be the bane of us. Early hand shred plus Lili with no Snapcaster can put a quick squirting on us. If we live through that however we have a pretty good late game compared to theirs. We ARE the UW Jund deck after all. Sphering a threat to make them overextend into a verdict and waste resources finding an abrupt decay is fun. Olivia Volderan main can be hard to deal with. Post board we get to take out all our decay targets and really up our overall threat count/ top deck war-winning cards. We can definitely out value them at their own game.. I like keeping land heavy hands vs these decks because it's fun to let them TS away something irrelevant and top deck all our sorcery speed beat down goodies.
Thoughts?
RBUGrixis ControlUBR
GUSimic MerfolkUG
WUUW ControlUW
RBUGrixis ControlUBR
BUUB MillUB
Colorless Eldrazi Tron
WRBurnRW
GUSimic MerfolkUG
UMono U TurnsU
WGGenesis Wave EnchantressGW
Id be happy to start streaming if the interest is there. Looks like the deck is really picking up in popularity recently, I've been playing a relatively similar version for about a year.
I'd watch you stream UW, and I'm pretty sure a bunch of other people would too
For me personally, it's because Gideon Jura is stellar against aggro. Being able to Fog turn after turn is a great way to stall for time. He's also a good clock, better than Gideon, Ally of Zendikar is. Ally allows us to go wide, which is nice, but not even the midrange versions care about that. All the U/W Control lists--whether Draw-Go or Midrange/Bad Jund--want the game to go longer, while Ally promotes a more aggressive shell. I'd much rather top-deck Jura when I'm on the defensive than Ally.
GWSelvala and the Return to HumanityGW
UWDragonlord Ojutai, Control's Elder DragonUW
UBGTasigur, the God-Pharaoh's Gift to EDHUBG
UBRNicol Bolas and his Super
friendsPawnsUBRModern
UWUW Control/Midrange/Bad JundUW
WUBRGHumansWUBRG
BGMidrangeBG
That would be great. It would be good to increase this deck's popularity.
Gideon Jura can kill creatures and also allows you to stall the board while you're under pressure plus it can create be a huge problem for Infect but that doesn't mean that Gideon, Ally of Zendikar is bad in anyway. The Ally can still finish off games as it is a must answer threat. Ally can create a huge board presence while also pump all your team with his emblem and I think that it's a fine choice for a midrange version that runs 15 creatures. How would you like a 4/3 Kitchen Finks or a 5/5 Colonnade? Overall it is a Plansewalker that can be dropped on turn 4 which is a problem for the opponent. It all comes down to testing and deck design.
RBUGrixis ControlUBR
GUSimic MerfolkUG
WUUW ControlUW
RBUGrixis ControlUBR
BUUB MillUB
Colorless Eldrazi Tron
WRBurnRW
GUSimic MerfolkUG
UMono U TurnsU
WGGenesis Wave EnchantressGW