@tilzinger: I'm not really suggesting Cancel. I didn't really make it clear I guess, lol. I also don't like Remand that much. I dunno. I cut Mana Leak entirely. I have a very experimental build that I'm going to test tomorrow that includes white.
I'm thinking boarding out creatures game 2 is probably a wise decision as my opponents will probably keep their removal in order to deal with the Nighthawks. This, of course, blanks their removal and puts them in a rough spot. I have no idea how this will play out but I will definitely post a report tomorrow night or Friday. I'm curious to see how Esper Charm works out. I've always loved that card in Cruel Control. Any feedback before tomorrow evening is appreciated, of course
White seems totally unnecessary. Leaning on just Spell Snares and Cryptics seems like a bad plan too.
@tilzinger: I'm not really suggesting Cancel. I didn't really make it clear I guess, lol. I also don't like Remand that much. I dunno. I cut Mana Leak entirely. I have a very experimental build that I'm going to test tomorrow that includes white.
I'm thinking boarding out creatures game 2 is probably a wise decision as my opponents will probably keep their removal in order to deal with the Nighthawks. This, of course, blanks their removal and puts them in a rough spot. I have no idea how this will play out but I will definitely post a report tomorrow night or Friday. I'm curious to see how Esper Charm works out. I've always loved that card in Cruel Control. Any feedback before tomorrow evening is appreciated, of course
Based on your mana base, you're better off running damnation instead of aotg, but even then you're a couple black sources short on casting it on t4
CC won't be getting cast on t4
Your turn one plays won't be cast on t1 consistently
ect
Vampire nighthawk? That card is completely modern unplayable.
The only white card I can justify in this list would be esper charm
@elMochaLatte, lol, I've been getting wrecked anyway.
Regardless, I'll revise the deck before going. I do appreciate the feedback, even if it sounds a little indignant And thanks for the article. I'll read through it and adjust accordingly. I may go with Telling Time over Think Twice and Magma Jet over Electrolyze (referring to a stock list, not my list) and include Esper Charm somehow. I think Esper Charm is really good and even if nothing else is worth splashing white for, I believe Esper Charm is. I like Wall of Omens a lot and may keep it just to test it. At the very least, it's an early blocker and cantrip. Also, I'll keep Wear/Tear in the sideboard for extra enchantment hate. I mentioned on the last page how problematic Hatebears is (three out of nine people at my LGS run Hatehears) and so I think the extra enchantment hate is necessary, even with a playset of Esper Charm.
What about the sideboard? Someone above mentioned Tron but nobody plays that here so I'm not going to allocate 4 slots in my sideboard to Sowing Salt.
If you're suggesting Cancel you might as well use Dissipate. Remand is the only other option really. While its more for a tempo deck, aren't we just buying time until we can cast Cruel anyway?
Based on some of the recent suggestions I've put together a build that I'm eager to try out. Of this list I have already tested the Hellkite and 4 Remands instead of Leaks and liked it a lot. Snapcaster + Remand = good. Like someone mentioned earlier I've been on the fence and a bit underwhelmed with Electrolyze lately. Its really hit or miss depending on the opposition. I never really knew what to replace it with until now (Magma Jet). I've played with Batterskull and Jace Beleran (2 of) and while they are both amazing in their own rights, I feel much more comfortable with the draw go style of this deck, which is why I went back to a Teachings build. Terminate is probably the one card left out that I would want to fit in somewhere.
Why I like where this is heading:
8 cheap instant direct damage spells
2 tutor-able alternate win conditions (Hellkite and Suffer the Past)
12 main deck counters
6 cards with scry (Condescend can masquerade as a preordain if need be. Good call, Valanarch)
I like the way your list looks. I'm not sold on teachings just yet but maybe Hellkite would change my mind. I'll pick one up and test him out.
I had a small debate with a guy about Electrolyze last night whenever I brought up the suggestion of using Magma Jet instead. He's a UWR player and is still pretty attached to Electrolyze. He has a point: getting a 3-for-1 can be pretty awesome. But I've been running a traditional UBR build for almost a year now and I have been able to get the 3-for-1 maybe twice. And I can't say that it won me the game either.
However, I ran with Esper Charm in the main and Telling Time over Think Twice and Magma Jet over Electrolyze last night and was pretty pleased with how much better my matchups were. Being able to filter the top of the deck is crucial. In my opinion, more crucial than just blind-drawing a single card. I am glad to see that you're coming to the same conclusion. Hopefully it plays out well.
Quick rundown of my matchups last night:
Against The Rock: 1-2
Against Junk: 2-0
Against UWR: 1-2
It was an interesting night. I have not previously played against Rock (though I have played against Jund) or Junk but I was pleased with how they played out. Basically every game was down to the wire and so close. My opponents and I were all in the single digits and within one or two points of each other by the end of each match. Batterskull was a serious VIP against Junk. I was playing the aggressive game, hitting him hard with Tar Pit. He was able to get two Darkblasts into his hand which shut down Tar Pit so we stalemated a few turns and he landed a very crucial late-game Knight of the Reliquary which threatened to put me out of the game. His board state was two tokens from Lingering Souls and Knight of the Reliquary. I landed Batterskull and had enough lands to block his Knight then bounce and replay Batterskull on my turn. We kept that up until time in the round and on the very last turn before it would be declared a draw, I ripped Snapcaster Mage off the top and was able to Snap-Jet for the win.
Another great moment was a turn 2 IoK against UWR during game 2. He brought in Crucible of Worlds and Tec Edge against me (which was somewhat surprising) and he had both in hand and I was able to strip Crucible from his hand and prevent myself from getting locked out.
Against Rock, I was definitely wishing for more Terminate or perhaps Damnation. Courser and Goyf are too beefy.
All in all, much more successful night than the past three or four. I had been out of the game for awhile and just kind of tinkering but I'm finally getting back into a groove and identifying my play errors when they happen, which is good. Hope everyone has a great FNM tonight!
Another great moment was a turn 2 IoK against UWR during game 2. He brought in Crucible of Worlds and Tec Edge against me (which was somewhat surprising) and he had both in hand and I was able to strip Crucible from his hand and prevent myself from getting locked out.
Not really surprising considering it completely locks control mages out of the game. It's a good sideboard tech that UWR players probably underutilize given the hard to find/expensive nature of Crucible.
I've been on UWR for a number of months however have been looking to make a move over here.
I like the builds with 4x Inquisition.
However, I've seen some pretty atrocious manabases. You might not get to Karsten's math, per EML's postings, but there are levels of frustration that I prefer to avoid.
I am looking at running 7 fetches (4x Tarns, 3x insert black fetch here), some number of buddy lands, and maybe a filter land or two. I also have a love for Reflecting Pool and speed lands which locks me out of some filers and buddies (so I guess I just trashed that idea within it's own sentence). Also, 2x Tarpit/2x Lavaclaw Reaches. I've seen some lists with something like 8 shocks, which is just wrong unless you're on a budget. I run 4x in UWR and 6x is probably where I'd max out here.
Edit: Also,since we don't have Helix, why hasn't the vivid, speed land, reflecting pool, filter tech been the go to mana base here? This deck can't afford to fetch-shock-untapped into bolt anyway.
Why don't people run Pyroclasm? It's cleans up 1-2 guys in the Affinity MU -- usually Signal Pest/Orinthopter derps which aren't always relevant but you can save the bolt for the manland. I've always liked it in at least the sideboard but have been MDing it in UWR in the past few months. Zoo isn't really a thing anymore so Affinity has the aggro target on it's back, in my opinion.
i run a pyroclasm effect in the form of volcanic fallout. some times the double red bites me in the butt, this is however fixed by being tutorable with teachings. in some matchups i put back in pyroclasm.
The only reason I don't play anything else over cruel ultimatum as a "big finisher" is because it doesn't matter what your matchup is when using it. Do you want to drop a nicol bolas against tron when they could possibly just drop a karn and exile him the next turn? A titan when uwr can just field wipe? Olivia when a combo deck doesn't care about her at all (or oven worse just getting pathed by a zoo deck)? Cruel ultimatum bypasses all of these situations and is more likely to not only get you out of a bind regardless of your opponent, but it disrupts them enough while putting you at a much better place than any other finisher would on average. Outside of thoughtseize and countermagic, ultimatum itself is the most difficult to interact with on the stack and on resolve. Control decks want to maximize their interactive options while minimizing their opponent's.
The other win cons
Burn: Between Lighting Bolt, Electrolyze, and possibly geth's verdict(if you're willing to optimize your mana base for it), they immediately threaten to impact your opponent's life total. At the same time they're great removal spells, which means they're really flexible in the formulation of your gameplan according to the matchup/situation. Once again opposing removal can't interact with them and they have an immediate impact on the board.
Snapcaster Beats: This guy in conjunction with burn is where the crazy card advantage/utility/flexibility is at. Opens up more options for you while restricting the options of your opponent. Between snapcaster beats with eot burn spells being flash backed (and add in the spot discard) is another reason why uw/x control decks shouldn't be winning against cruel control. They have to generally overextend into dealing with your pressure and tempo backed up by spot discard, opening up opportunities to land an ultimatum and basically win the game
Tar Pit Beats: Backed by spot discard/ultimatum to bypass removal while providing free reach and mana fixing, another card that's difficult to interact with in the right hands and furthers the gameplan.
In regards to frank karsten's article and the mana base, here is what I did with his information
14 t1 red sources for lightning bolt
14 t1 black sources for IOK
20 blue sources for cc (falls a little short but sunken ruins helps to up the consistency) on t4 and higher than 90% consistent for mana leak ect on t2
19 Black sources for t2 geth's verdict (falls short by one black source but helped by sunken ruins and urborg for higher consistency) and over 90% consistent with a t4 damnation
Why is this important?
Say you're up against a fast deck be it fair or unfair and you have a starting hand of drowned catacomb and a steam vents on the play. You're sitting on a hand of 2 IOKS and you're actually set back a turn in this regard since you can't play IOK on turn 1. Being able to otherwise play IOK on t1 with a fetch instead of a drowned catacomb is totally worth it and actually saves you life even if you have to burn yourself. Why? Because you just stripped them of their turn 1 play or their gameplan was significantly disrupted. If it were a wild nacatl you just saved yourself a couple turns of getting beat in the face by a 3/3, I value shocking myself for 1 or even 3 to prevent that from happening, this would also free up the option to hold my mana open for a t2 mana leak (otherwise I would have to choose between one or the other by t2, potentially making IOK a dead card). Situations similar to this are proverbial if you're not playing a consistent deck against a deck that's built to maximize their efficiency. You have to fight consistency with your own consistency in this format. You trade a little bit of your life total for flexibility which in the long run preserves your life total moreso since you're not falling behind to an increasingly out of control board presence that restricts your ability to play x.
Another reason why 7-8 fetches are useful is the ability to bypass blood moon. With consistent IOK mana, I can force them to discard it (while even gathering the proper information that I'm up against a blood moon deck, which is important) while fetching basics at the same time to disregard it (being able to fetch basics also plays a role in minimizing the damage taken when playing a greedy mana base)
Cruel ultimatum bypasses all of these situations and is more likely to not only get you out of a bind regardless of your opponent, but it disrupts them enough while putting you at a much better place than any other finisher would on average. Outside of thoughtseize and countermagic, ultimatum itself is the most difficult to interact with on the stack and on resolve. Control decks want to maximize their interactive options while minimizing their opponent's.
Its still counterable, just like any other spell. Its also sorcery speed. The reason I'm going with 2 alt win conditions/beat downs with flash (Bogardan Hellkite) or instant speed (Suffer the Past) is because I can cast them on opponents end step and if they happen to get countered then its not a total loss, and I'm not tapped out on their turn so they have free reign if either spell doesn't totally finish them off. I finished 1-2-3 at GP Minneapolis. Three draws because I just couldn't finish them off and ran out of time either because I wasn't drawing an Ultimatum or just couldn't punch through with Snapcaster or Tarpits. Yes, Tarpits are unblockable, but it also means using 4 mana on your turn to do so. So after that experience I can't rely on just Ultimatum as a finisher. Sometimes Snapcasters, Bolts, and Tarpits get me there, but not always.
Surprising because I haven't seen that done in Modern; only in Legacy. Not to say that it hasn't happened in Modern, just that I haven't seen it. It also wasn't a common thing whenever I ran UWR. Also, it's worth noting that there are only two control decks in our meta: mine and his, lol.
I ran Pyroclasm for awhile but have opted for Anger of the Gods instead. Pyroclasm is a fine card, though. I just wanted a little bit of a better sweeper than Pyroclasm and I really can't afford Damnations so Anger is where it's at for me! I also really like Consume the Meek for the instant speed but Anger basically hits the same creatures Consume the Meek does and it doesn't cost as much to cast.
Filter lands have been included in the list but I'm not sure why Reflecting Pool hasn't. As I've been pondering changes to make to Cruel Control, I've been wondering why we don't run any gold lands. elMochaLatte really knows his stuff; maybe he has some insight that I'm missing.
i dont think urborg is really necessary here, since I never had problem resolving an Ultimatum due to mana issue. and i've cut my land count to 25 and it still works pretty well. the land spot went to a MD batterskull.
this is what I'm currently running:
Urborg necessary for cruel ultimatum? It helps but it's not a necessity no, I was talking about consistently hitting a t1 IOK and a t2 Geth's verdict while also being consistent with the other spells in the early game
o i c where u r getting at now, i decided not to pack geth's verdict maybe that's y im rarely short on black mana. for me early turns r all about double red and tripple blue for AoTG and cryptic, but I do love the instant speed on volcanic fallout though, relevant in the faeries/affinity MU, would u prefer fallout over AotG?
Never needed aotg or fallout for faeries, just let them burn themselves out while you electrolyze and keep their tokens from getting out of hand. When they overextend to overcome your disruption by tapping out then you play cruel ultimatum
Based on some of the recent suggestions I've put together a build that I'm eager to try out. Of this list I have already tested the Hellkite and 4 Remands instead of Leaks and liked it a lot. Snapcaster + Remand = good. Like someone mentioned earlier I've been on the fence and a bit underwhelmed with Electrolyze lately. Its really hit or miss depending on the opposition. I never really knew what to replace it with until now (Magma Jet). I've played with Batterskull and Jace Beleran (2 of) and while they are both amazing in their own rights, I feel much more comfortable with the draw go style of this deck, which is why I went back to a Teachings build. Terminate is probably the one card left out that I would want to fit in somewhere.
Why I like where this is heading:
8 cheap instant direct damage spells
2 tutor-able alternate win conditions (Hellkite and Suffer the Past)
12 main deck counters
6 cards with scry (Condescend can masquerade as a preordain if need be. Good call, Valanarch)
Hey everyone, been lurking for a bit here. Don't have a decklist for you, but I run Mystical Teachings.
Just a thought, I've been looking at the UWR Control decks and some have the Kiki/Resto combo in them. Has any one thought of using Exarch/Twin? With Teachings, you can tutor up Deceiver Exarch. Could be more cute than useful, or maybe as a sideboard tactic to catch people by surprise. 1/4 isn't bad at blocking either.
Sorry if it's been discussed before, I just had this idea today and thought I would see where people stand.
In that case you might as well remove cruel ultimatum and just run a grixis twin deck, which I have thought about doing. Teachings, IoK, thoughtsieze, and terminate are key cards that UR twin doesn't run.
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White seems totally unnecessary. Leaning on just Spell Snares and Cryptics seems like a bad plan too.
That mana base is pretty bad, you won't be able to stay on curve/will be time-walking yourself at least once every match due to not meeting the mana intensity requirements of your spells. Check this article out http://www.channelfireball.com/articles/frank-analysis-how-many-colored-mana-sources-do-you-need-to-consistently-cast-your-spells/
Based on your mana base, you're better off running damnation instead of aotg, but even then you're a couple black sources short on casting it on t4
CC won't be getting cast on t4
Your turn one plays won't be cast on t1 consistently
ect
Vampire nighthawk? That card is completely modern unplayable.
The only white card I can justify in this list would be esper charm
Sorry, but honestly you're just gonna get wrecked
Regardless, I'll revise the deck before going. I do appreciate the feedback, even if it sounds a little indignant And thanks for the article. I'll read through it and adjust accordingly. I may go with Telling Time over Think Twice and Magma Jet over Electrolyze (referring to a stock list, not my list) and include Esper Charm somehow. I think Esper Charm is really good and even if nothing else is worth splashing white for, I believe Esper Charm is. I like Wall of Omens a lot and may keep it just to test it. At the very least, it's an early blocker and cantrip. Also, I'll keep Wear/Tear in the sideboard for extra enchantment hate. I mentioned on the last page how problematic Hatebears is (three out of nine people at my LGS run Hatehears) and so I think the extra enchantment hate is necessary, even with a playset of Esper Charm.
What about the sideboard? Someone above mentioned Tron but nobody plays that here so I'm not going to allocate 4 slots in my sideboard to Sowing Salt.
GBW Nic-Fit GBW
UBRWG Dredge UBRWG
Modern:
R RDW R
UBW Esper Control UBW
EDH:
BG Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord BG
Dissolve is better than Dissipate and Counterflux is better than both of them. And Condescend is much better than Remand in Control decks.
Storm Crow is strictly worse than Seacoast Drake.
Why I like where this is heading:
1 Bogardan Hellkite
3 Snapcaster Mage
Instants (25)
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Magma Jet
4 Remand
3 Cryptic Command
3 Spell Snare
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Condescend
2 Mystical Teachings
1 Suffer the Past
1 Geth's Verdict
1 Consume the Meek
Sorceries (7)
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 Thoughtseize
1 Damnation
2 Cruel Ultimatum
2 Blood Crypt
2 Creeping Tar Pit
2 Dragonskull Summit
1 Drowned Catacomb
4 Island
1 Molten Slagheap
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Steam Vents
2 Sulfur Falls
2 Swamp
2 Watery Grave
2 Duress
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Combust
2 Rakdos Charm
2 Shadow of Doubt
2 Spellskite
2 Anger of the Gods
2 Counterflux
1 Hero's Downfall
I had a small debate with a guy about Electrolyze last night whenever I brought up the suggestion of using Magma Jet instead. He's a UWR player and is still pretty attached to Electrolyze. He has a point: getting a 3-for-1 can be pretty awesome. But I've been running a traditional UBR build for almost a year now and I have been able to get the 3-for-1 maybe twice. And I can't say that it won me the game either.
However, I ran with Esper Charm in the main and Telling Time over Think Twice and Magma Jet over Electrolyze last night and was pretty pleased with how much better my matchups were. Being able to filter the top of the deck is crucial. In my opinion, more crucial than just blind-drawing a single card. I am glad to see that you're coming to the same conclusion. Hopefully it plays out well.
Quick rundown of my matchups last night:
Against The Rock: 1-2
Against Junk: 2-0
Against UWR: 1-2
It was an interesting night. I have not previously played against Rock (though I have played against Jund) or Junk but I was pleased with how they played out. Basically every game was down to the wire and so close. My opponents and I were all in the single digits and within one or two points of each other by the end of each match. Batterskull was a serious VIP against Junk. I was playing the aggressive game, hitting him hard with Tar Pit. He was able to get two Darkblasts into his hand which shut down Tar Pit so we stalemated a few turns and he landed a very crucial late-game Knight of the Reliquary which threatened to put me out of the game. His board state was two tokens from Lingering Souls and Knight of the Reliquary. I landed Batterskull and had enough lands to block his Knight then bounce and replay Batterskull on my turn. We kept that up until time in the round and on the very last turn before it would be declared a draw, I ripped Snapcaster Mage off the top and was able to Snap-Jet for the win.
Another great moment was a turn 2 IoK against UWR during game 2. He brought in Crucible of Worlds and Tec Edge against me (which was somewhat surprising) and he had both in hand and I was able to strip Crucible from his hand and prevent myself from getting locked out.
Against Rock, I was definitely wishing for more Terminate or perhaps Damnation. Courser and Goyf are too beefy.
All in all, much more successful night than the past three or four. I had been out of the game for awhile and just kind of tinkering but I'm finally getting back into a groove and identifying my play errors when they happen, which is good. Hope everyone has a great FNM tonight!
GBW Nic-Fit GBW
UBRWG Dredge UBRWG
Modern:
R RDW R
UBW Esper Control UBW
EDH:
BG Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord BG
Not really surprising considering it completely locks control mages out of the game. It's a good sideboard tech that UWR players probably underutilize given the hard to find/expensive nature of Crucible.
I've been on UWR for a number of months however have been looking to make a move over here.
I like the builds with 4x Inquisition.
However, I've seen some pretty atrocious manabases. You might not get to Karsten's math, per EML's postings, but there are levels of frustration that I prefer to avoid.
I am looking at running 7 fetches (4x Tarns, 3x insert black fetch here), some number of buddy lands, and maybe a filter land or two. I also have a love for Reflecting Pool and speed lands which locks me out of some filers and buddies (so I guess I just trashed that idea within it's own sentence). Also, 2x Tarpit/2x Lavaclaw Reaches. I've seen some lists with something like 8 shocks, which is just wrong unless you're on a budget. I run 4x in UWR and 6x is probably where I'd max out here.
Edit: Also,since we don't have Helix, why hasn't the vivid, speed land, reflecting pool, filter tech been the go to mana base here? This deck can't afford to fetch-shock-untapped into bolt anyway.
Why don't people run Pyroclasm? It's cleans up 1-2 guys in the Affinity MU -- usually Signal Pest/Orinthopter derps which aren't always relevant but you can save the bolt for the manland. I've always liked it in at least the sideboard but have been MDing it in UWR in the past few months. Zoo isn't really a thing anymore so Affinity has the aggro target on it's back, in my opinion.
The other win cons
Burn: Between Lighting Bolt, Electrolyze, and possibly geth's verdict(if you're willing to optimize your mana base for it), they immediately threaten to impact your opponent's life total. At the same time they're great removal spells, which means they're really flexible in the formulation of your gameplan according to the matchup/situation. Once again opposing removal can't interact with them and they have an immediate impact on the board.
Snapcaster Beats: This guy in conjunction with burn is where the crazy card advantage/utility/flexibility is at. Opens up more options for you while restricting the options of your opponent. Between snapcaster beats with eot burn spells being flash backed (and add in the spot discard) is another reason why uw/x control decks shouldn't be winning against cruel control. They have to generally overextend into dealing with your pressure and tempo backed up by spot discard, opening up opportunities to land an ultimatum and basically win the game
Tar Pit Beats: Backed by spot discard/ultimatum to bypass removal while providing free reach and mana fixing, another card that's difficult to interact with in the right hands and furthers the gameplan.
In regards to frank karsten's article and the mana base, here is what I did with his information
4 Creeping Tar Pit
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Marsh Flats
4 Steam Vents
1 Blood Crypt
1 Watery Grave
1 Sunken Ruins
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
3 Swamp
2 Island
1 Mountatin
14 t1 red sources for lightning bolt
14 t1 black sources for IOK
20 blue sources for cc (falls a little short but sunken ruins helps to up the consistency) on t4 and higher than 90% consistent for mana leak ect on t2
19 Black sources for t2 geth's verdict (falls short by one black source but helped by sunken ruins and urborg for higher consistency) and over 90% consistent with a t4 damnation
Why is this important?
Say you're up against a fast deck be it fair or unfair and you have a starting hand of drowned catacomb and a steam vents on the play. You're sitting on a hand of 2 IOKS and you're actually set back a turn in this regard since you can't play IOK on turn 1. Being able to otherwise play IOK on t1 with a fetch instead of a drowned catacomb is totally worth it and actually saves you life even if you have to burn yourself. Why? Because you just stripped them of their turn 1 play or their gameplan was significantly disrupted. If it were a wild nacatl you just saved yourself a couple turns of getting beat in the face by a 3/3, I value shocking myself for 1 or even 3 to prevent that from happening, this would also free up the option to hold my mana open for a t2 mana leak (otherwise I would have to choose between one or the other by t2, potentially making IOK a dead card). Situations similar to this are proverbial if you're not playing a consistent deck against a deck that's built to maximize their efficiency. You have to fight consistency with your own consistency in this format. You trade a little bit of your life total for flexibility which in the long run preserves your life total moreso since you're not falling behind to an increasingly out of control board presence that restricts your ability to play x.
Another reason why 7-8 fetches are useful is the ability to bypass blood moon. With consistent IOK mana, I can force them to discard it (while even gathering the proper information that I'm up against a blood moon deck, which is important) while fetching basics at the same time to disregard it (being able to fetch basics also plays a role in minimizing the damage taken when playing a greedy mana base)
Its still counterable, just like any other spell. Its also sorcery speed. The reason I'm going with 2 alt win conditions/beat downs with flash (Bogardan Hellkite) or instant speed (Suffer the Past) is because I can cast them on opponents end step and if they happen to get countered then its not a total loss, and I'm not tapped out on their turn so they have free reign if either spell doesn't totally finish them off. I finished 1-2-3 at GP Minneapolis. Three draws because I just couldn't finish them off and ran out of time either because I wasn't drawing an Ultimatum or just couldn't punch through with Snapcaster or Tarpits. Yes, Tarpits are unblockable, but it also means using 4 mana on your turn to do so. So after that experience I can't rely on just Ultimatum as a finisher. Sometimes Snapcasters, Bolts, and Tarpits get me there, but not always.
Surprising because I haven't seen that done in Modern; only in Legacy. Not to say that it hasn't happened in Modern, just that I haven't seen it. It also wasn't a common thing whenever I ran UWR. Also, it's worth noting that there are only two control decks in our meta: mine and his, lol.
I ran Pyroclasm for awhile but have opted for Anger of the Gods instead. Pyroclasm is a fine card, though. I just wanted a little bit of a better sweeper than Pyroclasm and I really can't afford Damnations so Anger is where it's at for me! I also really like Consume the Meek for the instant speed but Anger basically hits the same creatures Consume the Meek does and it doesn't cost as much to cast.
Filter lands have been included in the list but I'm not sure why Reflecting Pool hasn't. As I've been pondering changes to make to Cruel Control, I've been wondering why we don't run any gold lands. elMochaLatte really knows his stuff; maybe he has some insight that I'm missing.
GBW Nic-Fit GBW
UBRWG Dredge UBRWG
Modern:
R RDW R
UBW Esper Control UBW
EDH:
BG Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord BG
this is what I'm currently running:
UBRGrixis ControlUBR | URPhoenixUR | UWMiraclesUW |GBRJundGBR | UBFaeriesUB | UBWAd NauseumUBW |GBRWBlueless ShadowGBRW |
MTGA
UBRGrixis ControlUBR | UTempoU
UBRGrixis ControlUBR | URPhoenixUR | UWMiraclesUW |GBRJundGBR | UBFaeriesUB | UBWAd NauseumUBW |GBRWBlueless ShadowGBRW |
MTGA
UBRGrixis ControlUBR | UTempoU
Thanks for the Magma Jet suggestion! I think that I will try that out in Blue Moon.
Storm Crow is strictly worse than Seacoast Drake.
Grows with the game and when it dies, it spreads 1/1.
Just a thought, I've been looking at the UWR Control decks and some have the Kiki/Resto combo in them. Has any one thought of using Exarch/Twin? With Teachings, you can tutor up Deceiver Exarch. Could be more cute than useful, or maybe as a sideboard tactic to catch people by surprise. 1/4 isn't bad at blocking either.
Sorry if it's been discussed before, I just had this idea today and thought I would see where people stand.
P.S: Some good discussions going on here