I put it in for the Rebound trigger from Narset. And I don't really think Lingering is better or worse than Spectral. All how you play. + I had a lot of GY hate in this tournie. So that weighed it in favor of Spectral as well.
Lingering Souls plays beautifully with Narset. You still end up with six Spirit Tokens, but you also know you're going to get at least four even if you aren't able to bounce it off of Narset. It also always has a cost of 3, even if you can't pay entirely with W.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
“Modern has provided us a non-rotating format that is far more accessible than Legacy or Vintage, but still retains many of the qualities that people enjoy in those formats—such as a more stable metagame, the ability to play and tweak the same deck week after week, and simply a much more powerful card pool than Standard.”
- Sam Stoddard, “Developing Modern” (June 21, 2013) (by means of Sheridan Lardner, "Fixing Modern: Defining Format Mission (March 16, 2016))
Can you guys critique my decklist? Trying to break into Modern and I am tweaking an old Standard deck I had laying around. I have most of it assembled, but I am looking into buying the Hallowed Fountains, Flooded Strands, Restoration Angels and Batterskull. I know this isn't a budget forum, but I'm trying to avoid Snapcaster and Cryptic for now.
Also, what is the consensus on Temple of Enlightenment? Scry is always great, but we already are running 4x Colonnade and other ETBT lands.
Can you guys critique my decklist? Trying to break into Modern and I am tweaking an old Standard deck I had laying around. I have most of it assembled, but I am looking into buying the Hallowed Fountains, Flooded Strands, Restoration Angels and Batterskull. I know this isn't a budget forum, but I'm trying to avoid Snapcaster and Cryptic for now.
Also, what is the consensus on Temple of Enlightenment? Scry is always great, but we already are running 4x Colonnade and other ETBT lands.
Your list is quite unique. It definitely looks like you're building a Standard-style control deck with a Modern card-pool. If you want to do something more typical to UW control in Modern, there are plenty of lists to look at (and I can supply mine, which is more tap-out than most).
However, I don't think your deck is inherently bad. I actually was surprised at how reasonable it looked, considering how different it is. Some suggestions:
You're very top-heavy. Five mana and above is be considered very expensive in Modern (unless you're doing aggressive mana ramp, like using Tron lands). So you have means 9 cards that are "expensive." For reference, I run just a single Gideon and a single Baneslayer in my list, and sometimes I feel like that could be too much. In particular, I think that Venser is too cute.
You're built to beat mid-range creature-based decks (which is par-for-the-course for Standard, but atypical for Modern). I think that you need to tune more toward beating the super-fast decks (Affinity, Burn), and combo decks (Amulet, Twin, etc). The best way to solve this is more cheap counters and cheap removal--though cheap, good removal is hard to come by in straight UW. 4 Wraths may be too much as well, since they're practically dead in a lot of matchups. I think you'll struggle against control as well, since it looks like in general you'll drop one big threat per turn, which is easy for control to deal with. To solve that, you need instant-speed threats, cheap countermagic, and incremental card advantage (Think Twice, Esper Charm).
I noticed that you removed the Temples--I think this is correct. They're great if you can afford to have enough taplands, but I find that 4 Colonnades is about the most you can be comfortable running. I would not play the Conclave nor the Maze. I doubt you'll find yourself often needing to swing for 2 with a manland (though it helps against Liliana in particular), and generally Maze will be far too expensive to matter. Another thing with the lands is, I far prefer Ghost Quarter in UW control, just because Infect, Tron, and Amulet all demand that you kill their lands on turns 1-3, where you can't use Tectonic Edge. Many people disagree with me here, though.
Your sideboard is a good start. I don't think Oblivion Ring is necessary. Ratchet Bomb is generally too slow (Engineered Explosives can do the same thing faster). Consider Stony Silence (Affinity gets destroyed by it, Tron hates to see it), Spellskite (great against Bogles, Infect, and Twin), and Grafdigger's Cage (really only good against Collected Company and graveyard based decks, but Collected is growing in popularity a LOT). Also consider a 1-of Disenchant. It's nice to have, just because sometimes you'll hit a random deck running equipment, or Bitterblossom, etc, and having a miser Disenchant can be a lifesaver.
Your list is quite unique. It definitely looks like you're building a Standard-style control deck with a Modern card-pool. If you want to do something more typical to UW control in Modern, there are plenty of lists to look at (and I can supply mine, which is more tap-out than most).
However, I don't think your deck is inherently bad. I actually was surprised at how reasonable it looked, considering how different it is. Some suggestions:
You're very top-heavy. Five mana and above is be considered very expensive in Modern (unless you're doing aggressive mana ramp, like using Tron lands). So you have means 9 cards that are "expensive." For reference, I run just a single Gideon and a single Baneslayer in my list, and sometimes I feel like that could be too much. In particular, I think that Venser is too cute.
You're built to beat mid-range creature-based decks (which is par-for-the-course for Standard, but atypical for Modern). I think that you need to tune more toward beating the super-fast decks (Affinity, Burn), and combo decks (Amulet, Twin, etc). The best way to solve this is more cheap counters and cheap removal--though cheap, good removal is hard to come by in straight UW. 4 Wraths may be too much as well, since they're practically dead in a lot of matchups. I think you'll struggle against control as well, since it looks like in general you'll drop one big threat per turn, which is easy for control to deal with. To solve that, you need instant-speed threats, cheap countermagic, and incremental card advantage (Think Twice, Esper Charm).
I noticed that you removed the Temples--I think this is correct. They're great if you can afford to have enough taplands, but I find that 4 Colonnades is about the most you can be comfortable running. I would not play the Conclave nor the Maze. I doubt you'll find yourself often needing to swing for 2 with a manland (though it helps against Liliana in particular), and generally Maze will be far too expensive to matter. Another thing with the lands is, I far prefer Ghost Quarter in UW control, just because Infect, Tron, and Amulet all demand that you kill their lands on turns 1-3, where you can't use Tectonic Edge. Many people disagree with me here, though.
Your sideboard is a good start. I don't think Oblivion Ring is necessary. Ratchet Bomb is generally too slow (Engineered Explosives can do the same thing faster). Consider Stony Silence (Affinity gets destroyed by it, Tron hates to see it), Spellskite (great against Bogles, Infect, and Twin), and Grafdigger's Cage (really only good against Collected Company and graveyard based decks, but Collected is growing in popularity a LOT). Also consider a 1-of Disenchant. It's nice to have, just because sometimes you'll hit a random deck running equipment, or Bitterblossom, etc, and having a miser Disenchant can be a lifesaver.
Thanks for all the help! I know the sideboard needed work (it was mostly placeholder), and you gave me a lot of good ideas! I was also feeling like the deck is a little slow, I know Venser is "cute" but he is a pet card that I really enjoy. I admit I'll probably have to cut him. This started as a Luminarch/Titan deck and has evolved but I would like to keep some sort of Sun Titan package.
As far as cheaper counters/removal, what do you suggest? Modern is really new to me so I could be missing some good ideas. What comes to mind is Spell Pierce, Spell Snare, Mana Tithe, Oust, Condemn, Into the Roil, and Cyclonic Rift, Which of these (if any, or others) would you suggest? Posting your list would also be very helpful; I'm not sure I have time to go through 30 pages.
Thanks for all the help! I know the sideboard needed work (it was mostly placeholder), and you gave me a lot of good ideas! I was also feeling like the deck is a little slow, I know Venser is "cute" but he is a pet card that I really enjoy. I admit I'll probably have to cut him. This started as a Luminarch/Titan deck and has evolved but I would like to keep some sort of Sun Titan package.
As far as cheaper counters/removal, what do you suggest? Modern is really new to me so I could be missing some good ideas. What comes to mind is Spell Pierce, Spell Snare, Mana Tithe, Oust, Condemn, Into the Roil, and Cyclonic Rift, Which of these (if any, or others) would you suggest? Posting your list would also be very helpful; I'm not sure I have time to go through 30 pages.
It has been performing extremely well--I find every matchup, except Tron, to be almost spot-on 50% (which I'm happy with--means I need to play for my wins, but they're always winnable). The Surgical Extraction needs to be something else, but it's a leftover from when I was running 3 Surgicals and a Ghost Quarter in the board in order to beat Tron (4 Quarters + Surgicals makes tron pretty easy).
For your early-game counters, Spell Snare is an absolute monster. Mana Leak is a card that many consider to be sub-par when you're playing Path to Exile, but I find that it still does its job well. Remand is very comparable to Mana Leak in these decks, but I find Leak to be better for my deck in particular. With fetches, you can consider Logic Knot, though I'd suggest going Esper if you're going that route (since you'll want ~8 fetches to support it, and Esper Charm is insanely good). I can't recommend Mana Tithe nor Spell Pierce in these kinds of decks, since they taper off in power even more than Mana Leak, and a control deck needs all of its late draws to be hard-hitting. Also, I like that you're running Condescend. I'm quite fond of that card--I think I may try one out.
For removal, after Path to Exile, everything gets much, much worse in our colors. If my metagame demanded another removal spell, I'd first play a Dismember, though never more than one. Condemn and Oust are okay. I think there's another comparable one, but I can't think of it right now... Azorius Charm is quite good. It allows you to delay against aggressive decks, while letting you just cycle against control (and lifelink can be useful in rare moments).
I've been really enjoying the 4 Serum Visions and 2 Impulse, just because it lets us skimp on one land (only 25), it lets us find the right answers (we don't have a lot of redundancy in good countermagic nor removal, so we need to dig for it sometimes), and once we're on 6+ lands, we can filter through and find our win conditions rather than lands.
One thing to note is that, though half the deck can cycle, the only true "draw" is Jace, Architect of Thought. This is a conscious decision--modern is fast, and it's quite difficult to spend time drawing cards. There's nothing wrong with just trading 1-for-1 (or getting natural 2-for-1's via Snapcaster or Wall of Omens) and drop bigger things than the opponent (Baneslayer Angel and Gideon Jura are bigger than pretty much anything anyone can do outside of combos that just kill you).
Also, I took another look at your manabase, and would suggest you cut 1-2 Seachrome Coast. It's great to not lose life early, but you're going to draw one as your 4th land right when you MUST wrath on turn 4, and you're going to kick yourself.
Can you guys critique my decklist? Trying to break into Modern and I am tweaking an old Standard deck I had laying around. I have most of it assembled, but I am looking into buying the Hallowed Fountains, Flooded Strands, Restoration Angels and Batterskull. I know this isn't a budget forum, but I'm trying to avoid Snapcaster and Cryptic for now.
Also, what is the consensus on Temple of Enlightenment? Scry is always great, but we already are running 4x Colonnade and other ETBT lands.
I'd probably make the following changes until you can get Snapcasters and Cryptics
I really like condemn, so much in fact that I am now running a 3/3 split between it and path (wich might be wrong but i've been liking it so far). In most cases i find that attcking creatures are a problem and giving the opponent life is far less problematic than giving them mana.
I probably would switch to a 2/4 split. Condemn definitely is strong, but not working against utility creatures and combo creatures hurts a lot.
I'd also recommend anyone to play 1-2 copies of calciform pools. I find that it's an absolute mvp in the control mirrors and quite decent vs midrange. Granted, vs aggro it's pretty terrible, but as long as it only takes up 1-2 slots in your 60 that' not too big of a deal imo
Are you running them instead of Tectonic Edge or Ghost Quarter?
Could I get a bit of help? Been scouring this thread for a while to make a decent semi-competitive deck around Miracle tokens... Could I get some input?
Trial runs it is doing very well. I need a GOOD SB tho for the tough matches. Thinking of having 3 Negates and 3 Timely Reinforcements.
You definitely need more lands--if you're trying to play cards like Entreat, Elspeth, and Cryptic, you need to be hitting your land drops. I would look at going up to 25-26 with a list like this. Also consider Mystic Gate so that you can cast both Procession and Cryptic with relative ease. And look at 2-3 Ghost Quarter or Tectonic Edge (I know this makes triple white/triple blue difficult, but Quarter/Edge are great against almost every deck in the format). You're running a lot of fetchlands--more than I think is necessary for straight UW. Alternatively, you could add a couple of Watery Graves and splash black for Lingering Souls.
I would recommend 4 Paths every time. I don't think you have enough tokens to warrant Intangible Virtue. It's great with effects like Souls, Procession, or Raise the Alarm, but if you are making tokens with Entreat or Elspeth, you're probably already winning and don't need the anthem effect.
It seems like a fun deck. I think that with some work, it could be decently competitive at local tournaments as well.
Personally intangible virtue in this list just seems like a win more card to be honest. It should be replaced with cards that help you miracle or add to the deck like Noxious Revival, Counterbalance, Crystal Ball, Thassa, God of the Sea. I would also take out Spectral Procession and just add in Terminus personally so you are a full miracle deck.
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.
I really like condemn, so much in fact that I am now running a 3/3 split between it and path (wich might be wrong but i've been liking it so far). In most cases i find that attcking creatures are a problem and giving the opponent life is far less problematic than giving them mana.
I probably would switch to a 2/4 split. Condemn definitely is strong, but not working against utility creatures and combo creatures hurts a lot.
I'd also recommend anyone to play 1-2 copies of calciform pools. I find that it's an absolute mvp in the control mirrors and quite decent vs midrange. Granted, vs aggro it's pretty terrible, but as long as it only takes up 1-2 slots in your 60 that' not too big of a deal imo
Are you running them instead of Tectonic Edge or Ghost Quarter?
Valanarch do you feel like you are running well on only 24 lands? 25-26 seems to be the norm, but your curve is a bit lower perhaps. I just worry about not hitting that 6th land considering Colonnade is a key finisher in many scenarios. Also, I'm a fan of Tectonic Edge but I see a lot of people using Ghost Quarter instead. Is there a reason for this? It seems like the basic land is a larger downside to me, but I am a newcomer to the format. Thanks for your input!
I guess Ghost Quarter helps against decks that can pose great threat to us with their lands before they hit the fourth one. Blinkmoth Nexus and the Urzatron lands can bouth cause serious trouble with just 3 lands in play.
I pulled my Mutavaults and brought in Quarter and Edge, but it didn't work as well for me, so I switched back. When the endgame starts at 4, the deck just can't afford to keep blowing up its own mana.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
“Modern has provided us a non-rotating format that is far more accessible than Legacy or Vintage, but still retains many of the qualities that people enjoy in those formats—such as a more stable metagame, the ability to play and tweak the same deck week after week, and simply a much more powerful card pool than Standard.”
- Sam Stoddard, “Developing Modern” (June 21, 2013) (by means of Sheridan Lardner, "Fixing Modern: Defining Format Mission (March 16, 2016))
Thoughts:
1) Jace, AOT was amazing against Collected Company. Quite happy with him on the list
2) Elspeth Sun's Champion was clunky, but the expression of your opponent when you land them is that of incredulous. Same for Baneslayer.
3) White Sun Zenith was surprisingly useful. thought at times, WWW can be a pain to get.
4) Unsure about the think twice, could possibly be an Anticipate instead
What is our gameplan against infect? I just tested the matchup, and it is definitely not favorable. I don't own Spellskites yet, but I plan on siding two once I do. Just wondering if anyone else has had the same issue.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Modern Decks: UW UW Control | BWU Esper Control | U Ninja Bear Delver
Commander Decks: UWG Roon, Blink 182 UWG
GRW Marath, Will of the Homies GRW BUR Nicol Bolas, Multiversal Tyrant BUR RGB Prossh, Part of a Balanced Breakfast RGB
"You cannot judge me. I am Justice itself." -Tyrael
I've never played against infect using UW Control, but I guess our most important cards in this matchup are Tectonic Edge/Ghost Quarter for their Blinkmoth Nexus and Path to Exile/Oust for their other creatures. However they will most likely play around our removals and hold a Vines of Vastwood as backup. So, in some situations, it might be better to cast the removal during your turn. Also, some cheap blockers like Wall of Omens and Snapcaster Mage wouldn't hurt (not very helpful against Blighted Agent though).
----------------------
Concerning Think Twice vs. Anticipate I'm very unsure too. I've played 2 TTs, then 2 Anticipate, then 2 of each and now I moved back to 2 TTs. It does feel great to cast an Anticipate during your opponent's EOT, but it doesn't really produce card advantage. The filtering it provides might be useful
Yeah, the one game I did win against the guy involved a lot of pressure with Tech edge and careful use of removal, but it was still an uphill battle all game. The matchup is definitely terrible, so I guess I just pray not to face it? That just feels so bad though.
Regardless, I'll keep testing. Skite in the board should probably help, and maybe Gideon will as well. Also might bump my tec edge count to three if absolutely necessary.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Modern Decks: UW UW Control | BWU Esper Control | U Ninja Bear Delver
Commander Decks: UWG Roon, Blink 182 UWG
GRW Marath, Will of the Homies GRW BUR Nicol Bolas, Multiversal Tyrant BUR RGB Prossh, Part of a Balanced Breakfast RGB
"You cannot judge me. I am Justice itself." -Tyrael
If you can afford it, I feel like you should definitely be running Snapcaster Mage in some capacity, probably at 2 or 3 copies. You have too many good instants to flash back to not be running him.
I would also recommend you try Jace, Architect of Thought as at least a one-of, as he serves as a solid source of card advantage as well as a solid answer to Lingering souls.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Modern Decks: UW UW Control | BWU Esper Control | U Ninja Bear Delver
Commander Decks: UWG Roon, Blink 182 UWG
GRW Marath, Will of the Homies GRW BUR Nicol Bolas, Multiversal Tyrant BUR RGB Prossh, Part of a Balanced Breakfast RGB
"You cannot judge me. I am Justice itself." -Tyrael
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
- Sam Stoddard, “Developing Modern” (June 21, 2013) (by means of Sheridan Lardner, "Fixing Modern: Defining Format Mission (March 16, 2016))
How to Use Spoiler Tags
Starting Over: The Origins of the Mulligan Rule
Practical Approach to Slow Play
THE Guide to Aggro, Part 2: SWARM and TOOLBOX
THE Guide to Aggro, Part 3
THE Guide to Aggro, Part 4
These videos are by MTG Salvation Moderator Lantern!
Introduction to Tempo
Controlling Tempo
Elements of Tempo
Roadblocks to Tempo
How Not To Build A Deck - Tempo
Learn How To Sideboard, Dammit!
Mulligan's Island
The Art of the Mulligan
The Art of the Mulligan: Eight Case Studies
Fundamentals: The Mulligan
Some Mulligan Exercises
A Mulligan Is Worth Three Cards
The Mulligan Debate
Common Sense: The Art of the Mulligan
Who's The Beatdown?
3 Caves of Koilos
3 Eldrazi Temple
2 Fetid Heath
3 Godless Shrine
4 Ghost Quarter
3 Plains
3 Shambling Vent
2 Tectonic Edge
Artifacts (4):
4 Æther Vial
4 Path to Exile
Creatures (29):
3 Aven Mindcensor
3 Eldrazi Displacer
3 Fiend Hunter
4 Flickerwisp
4 Serra Avenger
3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
3 Thought-Knot Seer
3 Tidehollow Sculler
3 Wasteland Strangler
3 Chalice of the Void
2 Dismember
2 Oblivion Ring
2 Rest in Peace
3 Stony Silence
3 Surgical Extraction
3 Flooded Strand
6 Island
3 Polluted Delta
3 Steam Vents
3 Sulfur Falls
Creatures (16):
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Monastery Swiftspear
4 Snapcaster Mage
4 Stormchaser Mage
2 Gut Shot
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Mutagenic Growth
3 Spell Pierce
3 Twisted Image
3 Vapor Snag
Sorceries (8):
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Serum Visions
2 Ancient Grudge
2 Blood Moon
2 Dispel
1 Forked Bolt
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Repeal
2 Roast
1 Spell Snare
2 Spellskite
1 Vapor Snag
4 Bloodstained Mire
1 Clifftop Retreat
1 Copperline Gorge
5 Mountain
3 Sacred Foundry
2 Stomping Ground
4 Wooded Foothills
Creatures (14):
4 Eidolon of the Great Revel
4 Goblin Guide
2 Grim Lavamancer
4 Monastery Swiftspear
4 Atarka's Command
4 Boros Charm
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Lightning Helix
3 Searing Blaze
Sorceries (8):
4 Lava Spike
4 Rift Bolt
2 Deflecting Palm
4 Destructive Revelry
2 Kor Firewalker
2 Path to Exile
2 Rending Volley
3 Skullcrack
19 Forest
3 Treetop Village
Creatures (24):
4 Avatar of the Resolute
4 Dryad Militant
2 Dungrove Elder
4 Experiment One
4 Leatherback Baloth
2 Scavenging Ooze
4 Strangleroot Geist
4 Rancor
Instants (10):
3 Aspect of Hydra
4 Vines of Vastwood
3 Dismember
2 Choke
2 Gut Shot
2 Deglamer
2 Feed the Clan
2 Oxidize
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Skylasher
1 Unravel the Æther
4x Celestial Colonnade
1x Faerie Conclave
4x Flooded Strand
2x Glacial Fortress
2x Hallowed Fountain
2x Island
1x Mystifying Maze
3x Plains
3x Seachrome Coast
4x Tectonic Edge
Instant (11)
4x Condescend
4x Path to Exile
1x Sphinx's Revelation
2x Think Twice
2x Restoration Angel
2x Sun Titan
4x Wall of Omens
1x Wurmcoil Engine
Planeswalker (7)
2x Gideon Jura
1x Jace, Architect of Thought
2x Jace Beleren
2x Venser, the Sojourner
Artifact (2)
1x Aether Spellbomb
1x Batterskull
Sorcery (3)
3x Supreme Verdict
Enchantment (2)
2x Detention Sphere
3x Ratchet Bomb
3x Celestial Purge
3x Oblivion Ring
3x Relic of Progenitus
3x Kor Firewalker
Can you guys critique my decklist? Trying to break into Modern and I am tweaking an old Standard deck I had laying around. I have most of it assembled, but I am looking into buying the Hallowed Fountains, Flooded Strands, Restoration Angels and Batterskull. I know this isn't a budget forum, but I'm trying to avoid Snapcaster and Cryptic for now.
Also, what is the consensus on Temple of Enlightenment? Scry is always great, but we already are running 4x Colonnade and other ETBT lands.
Certified Rules Advisor
Your list is quite unique. It definitely looks like you're building a Standard-style control deck with a Modern card-pool. If you want to do something more typical to UW control in Modern, there are plenty of lists to look at (and I can supply mine, which is more tap-out than most).
However, I don't think your deck is inherently bad. I actually was surprised at how reasonable it looked, considering how different it is. Some suggestions:
Thanks for all the help! I know the sideboard needed work (it was mostly placeholder), and you gave me a lot of good ideas! I was also feeling like the deck is a little slow, I know Venser is "cute" but he is a pet card that I really enjoy. I admit I'll probably have to cut him. This started as a Luminarch/Titan deck and has evolved but I would like to keep some sort of Sun Titan package.
As far as cheaper counters/removal, what do you suggest? Modern is really new to me so I could be missing some good ideas. What comes to mind is Spell Pierce, Spell Snare, Mana Tithe, Oust, Condemn, Into the Roil, and Cyclonic Rift, Which of these (if any, or others) would you suggest? Posting your list would also be very helpful; I'm not sure I have time to go through 30 pages.
Certified Rules Advisor
Here's my list:
3 Restoration Angel
3 Snapcaster Mage
2 Wall of Omens
2 Kitchen Finks
1 Vendilion Clique
1 Baneslayer Angel
Instants
4 Path to Exile
2 Cryptic Command
2 Spell Snare
4 Mana Leak
2 Anticipate
Sorceries
2 Supreme Verdict
4 Serum Visions
2 Jace, Architect of Thought
1 Gideon Jura
Lands
4 Flooded Strand
2 Plains
4 Island
1 Polluted Delta
1 Mystic Gate
1 Seachrome Coast
4 Celestial Colonnade
2 Glacial Fortress
3 Ghost Quarter
3 Hallowed Fountain
2 Stony Silence
2 Timely Reinforcements
2 Spellskite
2 Celestial Purge
1 Wrath of God
1 Disenchant
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Surgical Extraction
It has been performing extremely well--I find every matchup, except Tron, to be almost spot-on 50% (which I'm happy with--means I need to play for my wins, but they're always winnable). The Surgical Extraction needs to be something else, but it's a leftover from when I was running 3 Surgicals and a Ghost Quarter in the board in order to beat Tron (4 Quarters + Surgicals makes tron pretty easy).
For your early-game counters, Spell Snare is an absolute monster. Mana Leak is a card that many consider to be sub-par when you're playing Path to Exile, but I find that it still does its job well. Remand is very comparable to Mana Leak in these decks, but I find Leak to be better for my deck in particular. With fetches, you can consider Logic Knot, though I'd suggest going Esper if you're going that route (since you'll want ~8 fetches to support it, and Esper Charm is insanely good). I can't recommend Mana Tithe nor Spell Pierce in these kinds of decks, since they taper off in power even more than Mana Leak, and a control deck needs all of its late draws to be hard-hitting. Also, I like that you're running Condescend. I'm quite fond of that card--I think I may try one out.
For removal, after Path to Exile, everything gets much, much worse in our colors. If my metagame demanded another removal spell, I'd first play a Dismember, though never more than one. Condemn and Oust are okay. I think there's another comparable one, but I can't think of it right now... Azorius Charm is quite good. It allows you to delay against aggressive decks, while letting you just cycle against control (and lifelink can be useful in rare moments).
I've been really enjoying the 4 Serum Visions and 2 Impulse, just because it lets us skimp on one land (only 25), it lets us find the right answers (we don't have a lot of redundancy in good countermagic nor removal, so we need to dig for it sometimes), and once we're on 6+ lands, we can filter through and find our win conditions rather than lands.
One thing to note is that, though half the deck can cycle, the only true "draw" is Jace, Architect of Thought. This is a conscious decision--modern is fast, and it's quite difficult to spend time drawing cards. There's nothing wrong with just trading 1-for-1 (or getting natural 2-for-1's via Snapcaster or Wall of Omens) and drop bigger things than the opponent (Baneslayer Angel and Gideon Jura are bigger than pretty much anything anyone can do outside of combos that just kill you).
Also, I took another look at your manabase, and would suggest you cut 1-2 Seachrome Coast. It's great to not lose life early, but you're going to draw one as your 4th land right when you MUST wrath on turn 4, and you're going to kick yourself.
I'd probably make the following changes until you can get Snapcasters and Cryptics
-2 Vensers
-2 Jace Berelen
-2 Sun Titan
-1 Batterskull
-1 Wurmcoil Engine
-1 Aether Spellbomb
-2 Think Twice
+2 Anticipate
+4 Mana Leak
+1 Gideon Jura
+2 Restoration Angel
+2 Spell Snare
The sideboard could also use a lot of work, but that is meta-dependent. This is my current UW Control deck.
3 Snapcaster Mage
3 Anticipate
3 Condemn
4 Condescend
4 Cryptic Command
4 Mana :eak
4 Path to Exile
3 Spell Snare
3 Gideon Jura
3 Supreme Verdict
4 Celestial Colonnade
4 Flooded Strand
4 Ghost Quarter
2 Hallowed Fountain
4 Island
3 Mystic Gate
3 Plains
4 Spellskite
4 Leyline of Sanctity
3 Stony Silence
4 TImely Reinforcements
Storm Crow is strictly worse than Seacoast Drake.
I probably would switch to a 2/4 split. Condemn definitely is strong, but not working against utility creatures and combo creatures hurts a lot.
Are you running them instead of Tectonic Edge or Ghost Quarter?
Storm Crow is strictly worse than Seacoast Drake.
Personally intangible virtue in this list just seems like a win more card to be honest. It should be replaced with cards that help you miracle or add to the deck like Noxious Revival, Counterbalance, Crystal Ball, Thassa, God of the Sea. I would also take out Spectral Procession and just add in Terminus personally so you are a full miracle deck.
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/)
2 Restoration Angel
4 Snapcaster Mage
4 Serum Visions
4 Terminus
3 Condescend
3 Cryptic Command
1 Dragonlord's Prerogative
2 Path to Exile
3 Remand
1 Sphinx's Revelation
3 Telling Time
4 Mind Stone
1 Breeding Pool
4 Celestial Colonnade
4 Flooded Strand
1 Hallowed Fountain
6 Island
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Mystic Gate
2 Plains
2 Tectonic Edge
1 Windswept Heath
2 Celestial Purge
1 Disenchant
2 Dispel
1 Hallowed Burial
2 Kitchen Finks
1 Kor Firewalker
1 Rest for the Weary
1 Rest in Peace
2 Stony Silence
One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
| Ad Nauseam
| Infect
Big Johnny.
One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
Valanarch do you feel like you are running well on only 24 lands? 25-26 seems to be the norm, but your curve is a bit lower perhaps. I just worry about not hitting that 6th land considering Colonnade is a key finisher in many scenarios. Also, I'm a fan of Tectonic Edge but I see a lot of people using Ghost Quarter instead. Is there a reason for this? It seems like the basic land is a larger downside to me, but I am a newcomer to the format. Thanks for your input!
Certified Rules Advisor
Commander: WUBRG Superfriends, GW Rhys Tokens, WUBRG Scion of the Ur-Dragon
Kitchen Table (now that's real Magic): WUBRG Domain, GU Biovisionary, UB Korlash Grandeur, UW Merfolk Mill
- Sam Stoddard, “Developing Modern” (June 21, 2013) (by means of Sheridan Lardner, "Fixing Modern: Defining Format Mission (March 16, 2016))
How to Use Spoiler Tags
Starting Over: The Origins of the Mulligan Rule
Practical Approach to Slow Play
THE Guide to Aggro, Part 2: SWARM and TOOLBOX
THE Guide to Aggro, Part 3
THE Guide to Aggro, Part 4
These videos are by MTG Salvation Moderator Lantern!
Introduction to Tempo
Controlling Tempo
Elements of Tempo
Roadblocks to Tempo
How Not To Build A Deck - Tempo
Learn How To Sideboard, Dammit!
Mulligan's Island
The Art of the Mulligan
The Art of the Mulligan: Eight Case Studies
Fundamentals: The Mulligan
Some Mulligan Exercises
A Mulligan Is Worth Three Cards
The Mulligan Debate
Common Sense: The Art of the Mulligan
Who's The Beatdown?
3 Caves of Koilos
3 Eldrazi Temple
2 Fetid Heath
3 Godless Shrine
4 Ghost Quarter
3 Plains
3 Shambling Vent
2 Tectonic Edge
Artifacts (4):
4 Æther Vial
4 Path to Exile
Creatures (29):
3 Aven Mindcensor
3 Eldrazi Displacer
3 Fiend Hunter
4 Flickerwisp
4 Serra Avenger
3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
3 Thought-Knot Seer
3 Tidehollow Sculler
3 Wasteland Strangler
3 Chalice of the Void
2 Dismember
2 Oblivion Ring
2 Rest in Peace
3 Stony Silence
3 Surgical Extraction
3 Flooded Strand
6 Island
3 Polluted Delta
3 Steam Vents
3 Sulfur Falls
Creatures (16):
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Monastery Swiftspear
4 Snapcaster Mage
4 Stormchaser Mage
2 Gut Shot
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Mutagenic Growth
3 Spell Pierce
3 Twisted Image
3 Vapor Snag
Sorceries (8):
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Serum Visions
2 Ancient Grudge
2 Blood Moon
2 Dispel
1 Forked Bolt
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Repeal
2 Roast
1 Spell Snare
2 Spellskite
1 Vapor Snag
4 Bloodstained Mire
1 Clifftop Retreat
1 Copperline Gorge
5 Mountain
3 Sacred Foundry
2 Stomping Ground
4 Wooded Foothills
Creatures (14):
4 Eidolon of the Great Revel
4 Goblin Guide
2 Grim Lavamancer
4 Monastery Swiftspear
4 Atarka's Command
4 Boros Charm
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Lightning Helix
3 Searing Blaze
Sorceries (8):
4 Lava Spike
4 Rift Bolt
2 Deflecting Palm
4 Destructive Revelry
2 Kor Firewalker
2 Path to Exile
2 Rending Volley
3 Skullcrack
19 Forest
3 Treetop Village
Creatures (24):
4 Avatar of the Resolute
4 Dryad Militant
2 Dungrove Elder
4 Experiment One
4 Leatherback Baloth
2 Scavenging Ooze
4 Strangleroot Geist
4 Rancor
Instants (10):
3 Aspect of Hydra
4 Vines of Vastwood
3 Dismember
2 Choke
2 Gut Shot
2 Deglamer
2 Feed the Clan
2 Oxidize
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Skylasher
1 Unravel the Æther
1) Grixis Twin 2-1
2) 8 Rack 2-1
3) Collected Company 2-0
and won a MM15 booster (which opened me a...... Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder)
4x Celestial Colonnade
4x Flooded Strand
3x Hallowed Fountain
1x Glacial Fortress
1x Mystic Gate
1x Calciform Pools
6x Island
2x Plains
3x Tectonic Edge
Creatures - 8
3x Snapcaster Mage
2x Restoration Angel
2x Vendilion Clique
1x Baneslayer Angel
1x Jace, Architect of thought
1x Elspeth. Sun's Champion
Spells - 25
3x Spell Snare
3x Remand
4x Mana Leak
3x Cryptic Command
4x Path to Exile
2x Supreme Verdict
1x Wrath of God
2x Think Twice
2x Sphinx's Revelations
1x White Sun Zenith
1x Dispel
1x Negate
2x Celestial Purge
1x Spellskite
3x Geist of St Traft
2x Stony Silence
2x Kor Firewalker
2x Timely Reinforcements
1x Jace, Architect of Thought
Thoughts:
1) Jace, AOT was amazing against Collected Company. Quite happy with him on the list
2) Elspeth Sun's Champion was clunky, but the expression of your opponent when you land them is that of incredulous. Same for Baneslayer.
3) White Sun Zenith was surprisingly useful. thought at times, WWW can be a pain to get.
4) Unsure about the think twice, could possibly be an Anticipate instead
UW UW Control | BWU Esper Control | U Ninja Bear Delver
UWG Roon, Blink 182 UWG
BUR Nicol Bolas, Multiversal Tyrant BUR
RGB Prossh, Part of a Balanced Breakfast RGB
----------------------
Concerning Think Twice vs. Anticipate I'm very unsure too. I've played 2 TTs, then 2 Anticipate, then 2 of each and now I moved back to 2 TTs. It does feel great to cast an Anticipate during your opponent's EOT, but it doesn't really produce card advantage. The filtering it provides might be useful
Commander: WUBRG Superfriends, GW Rhys Tokens, WUBRG Scion of the Ur-Dragon
Kitchen Table (now that's real Magic): WUBRG Domain, GU Biovisionary, UB Korlash Grandeur, UW Merfolk Mill
Regardless, I'll keep testing. Skite in the board should probably help, and maybe Gideon will as well. Also might bump my tec edge count to three if absolutely necessary.
UW UW Control | BWU Esper Control | U Ninja Bear Delver
UWG Roon, Blink 182 UWG
BUR Nicol Bolas, Multiversal Tyrant BUR
RGB Prossh, Part of a Balanced Breakfast RGB
3x Anticipate
2x Azorius Charm
1x Logic Knot
4x Path to Exile
3x Remand
4x Rune Snag
3x Spell Snare
1x Sphinx's Revelation
2x Kitchen Finks
3x Restoration Angel
1x Vendilion Clique
3x Wall of Omens
3x Celestial Colonnade
4x Flooded Strand
4x Glacial Fortress
4x Hallowed Fountain
3x Island
1x Mystic Gate
4x Plains
2x Tectonic Edge
1x Wrath of God
1x Gideon Jura
Sorry for the crappy formatting, thats my first time doing it.
I would also recommend you try Jace, Architect of Thought as at least a one-of, as he serves as a solid source of card advantage as well as a solid answer to Lingering souls.
UW UW Control | BWU Esper Control | U Ninja Bear Delver
UWG Roon, Blink 182 UWG
BUR Nicol Bolas, Multiversal Tyrant BUR
RGB Prossh, Part of a Balanced Breakfast RGB