Now I tested a version without Extraplanar Lens online, and I just want to ask:
How do you play it? I mean I was loosing the bad MU's still, but going the "usual" route didn't seem to improve those matches. And even further, I also lost some good MU's, too!
I am sure I miss something about how to play without going crazy via Lens, Jace and Eldrazis, but it seemed just like a weakened strategy.
Please give me some input, I just bought some cards (Oboro, Minamo etc.) but that feels like a waste of money now. Maybe you have some links for coverages, where the good lines of play are shown (hopefully with a decklist).
Now I tested a version without Extraplanar Lens online, and I just want to ask:
How do you play it? I mean I was loosing the bad MU's still, but going the "usual" route didn't seem to improve those matches. And even further, I also lost some good MU's, too!
I am sure I miss something about how to play without going crazy via Lens, Jace and Eldrazis, but it seemed just like a weakened strategy.
Please give me some input, I just bought some cards (Oboro, Minamo etc.) but that feels like a waste of money now. Maybe you have some links for coverages, where the good lines of play are shown (hopefully with a decklist).
Greetings
Bud, I put your list together on mtgo and tweaked it a bit and I am currently crushing with it. Opponents have no clue how to play around this thing and i usually start to go off by turn 4. Day's undoing is a massive upgrade in this deck from what it was before. Pretty much every opponent concedes when they realize I'm about to take 4 straight turns. Maybe we're on to something here...the only thing i'm iffy on is the leylines. I know they are a necessity, but if you ever don't have them in your opener and your hand is solid, they are literally uncastable and dead. So thinking that maybe the deck could use some white sources (via glacial fortress) just for the sideboard. The downside to this is that your lens won't affect those lands.
Also, I can't imagine playing this deck with lens. When that card lands, it's gg. It speeds up your clock IMMENSELY.
About the Leylines:
If you put like 3-4 lowcosted counterspells (either Swan Song or Spell Pierce) into your SB, Chalice of the Void is an acceptable replacement. On 1, it will stop every discard spell from Jund etc except for Kommand, and Gigadrowse circumvents it (by costing 1 mana more). Though it would be another target for Abrupt Decay, which is ok by pulling it off of a Dictate, but it's still more easily removed than a Leyline. Maybe test that a bit?
Greetings
PS: I would like to see your tweaked list. Mind to share it?
About the Leylines:
If you put like 3-4 lowcosted counterspells (either Swan Song or Spell Pierce) into your SB, Chalice of the Void is an acceptable replacement. On 1, it will stop every discard spell from Jund etc except for Kommand, and Gigadrowse circumvents it (by costing 1 mana more). Though it would be another target for Abrupt Decay, which is ok by pulling it off of a Dictate, but it's still more easily removed than a Leyline. Maybe test that a bit?
Greetings
PS: I would like to see your tweaked list. Mind to share it?
I think if you want a little more resiliency, you would have to splash white. This would open up the Narset plan and cards like Sphinx's revelation/wall of omens/path to exile and the ability to cast the leylines themselves. Chalices are quite good and I could test that in real life since i don't own any on mtgo and I aint forking out 40$ a piece haha.
My list is exactly like how you wanted to take yours. - 1 mastery + 1 day's undoing, -1 crypt +1 hurkyl's recall. I switched the mikokoro for the geier sanitarium.
I'm not super sure that Jace is necessary. he's nice to have but i've never really felt he was needed in any of the games i won with. Usually, by the time you have 5 cards in your graveyard, you're already winning. He would be my first cut. The vision though has been extraordinary here. Wouldn't have won many games without it.
2 Jaces seemed a bit redundant to me, yet. I also thought about cutting one, but especially in tight games, having a flashback on each spell for no additional mana was great.
Though splashing white is a bit stretching your luck I think, when you also want the Lens to be great. What I would perhaps change among the lands would be adding a 2nd Mikokoro or a Geier Sanitarium. They greatly improve the BGx MU.
2 Jaces seemed a bit redundant to me, yet. I also thought about cutting one, but especially in tight games, having a flashback on each spell for no additional mana was great.
Though splashing white is a bit stretching your luck I think, when you also want the Lens to be great. What I would perhaps change among the lands would be adding a 2nd Mikokoro or a Geier Sanitarium. They greatly improve the BGx MU.
Have fun!
Greetings
Ok so in my last league this is what happened:
2-0 vs R/G Breach
2-1 vs 8 whack (the loss occurred when I mulliganed to oblivion looking for a leyline only to realize that they hadn't registered in when I submitted so...ya)
2-0 vs Soul sisters
2-0 vs R/B Eldrazi
1-2 vs Grixis Delver
All four matches felt pretty easy until Grixis. This is an extremely hard matchup simply because they play TONS of counters (the version I played anyways). I kid you not, at some point he countered 5 straight spells of mine. All the while they beat you down with T1 Delvers (they always have T1 delver).
After this particularly difficult match, I realize that the control matchup is probably crap with this current build. So i'm going to test Defense Grids/Teferi in the sideboard (since teferi is hard to interact with). I haven't faced dredge so never brought the crypts in and at any rate, I do question their inclusion. So that's what I cut to make space.
I also never brought in the Ulamog and not sure what this is for either. Maybe you can enlighten me hinterwelter?
Grixis Delver is definitely a hard time, lost to that in a last chance trial in Lille. But I think additional SB stuff can improve that MU, because they usually also get their hilarious amount of counters from the SB.
And Ulamog is for winning against infinite life without an Inkmoth. Though Jace can do the same, I liked to have at least 2 targets for Coax (there was an All Is Dust before, too). Otherwise, if you want to cut Ulamog, you could also put big E in the Main and free up 2 SB slots.
2-0 vs R/G Breach
2-1 vs 8 whack (the loss occurred when I mulliganed to oblivion looking for a leyline only to realize that they hadn't registered in when I submitted so...ya)
2-0 vs Soul sisters
2-0 vs R/B Eldrazi
1-2 vs Grixis Delver
All four matches felt pretty easy until Grixis. This is an extremely hard matchup simply because they play TONS of counters (the version I played anyways). I kid you not, at some point he countered 5 straight spells of mine. All the while they beat you down with T1 Delvers (they always have T1 delver).
After this particularly difficult match, I realize that the control matchup is probably crap with this current build. So i'm going to test Defense Grids/Teferi in the sideboard (since teferi is hard to interact with). I haven't faced dredge so never brought the crypts in and at any rate, I do question their inclusion. So that's what I cut to make space.
I also never brought in the Ulamog and not sure what this is for either. Maybe you can enlighten me hinterwelter?
??? The control matchup is this deck's best matchup. Delver, more of a tempo deck, is one of the only blue based deck that runs counterspells that is even slightly difficult to deal with. Putting in hard control hate cards in your sideboard for just this matchup when we generally wipe the floor with every other blue based control deck seems liks a waste of slots. If I may ask, what did you sideboard in against them?
Also, if I may ask you and hinterwelter, is Coax from the Blind Eternities really worth it now that you've dropped All is Dust from side? Seems better to just run Emrakul mainboard, and give yourself 2 more sideboard slots at this point. If you really want a mainboard out against infinite life, it seems better to run the singleton Inkmoth Nexus mainboard, and technically, if you use Emrakul to reshuffle, you have the very painful mill out ala Mikokoro if you really had to. Also, I've said it before, but not a fan of Aether spellbomb here either. I feel that a instant speed bounce such as Echoing Truth or Boomerang is a superior choice here. Yes, you get the ability to draw a card with spellbomb, but if you are using it for the bounce effect, it either lets your opponent know to play around it, or it forces you to bounce at sorcery speed. A good example actually is against Grixis Delver, where the instant speed really matters on a bounce spell.
Honestly feel like bounce spells are currently undervalued in this deck by a lot of the posters here. Boomerang, Unsubstantiate, and/or Echoing Truth are VERY good in this deck
??? The control matchup is this deck's best matchup. Delver, more of a tempo deck, is one of the only blue based deck that runs counterspells that is even slightly difficult to deal with. Putting in hard control hate cards in your sideboard for just this matchup when we generally wipe the floor with every other blue based control deck seems liks a waste of slots. If I may ask, what did you sideboard in against them?
Also, if I may ask you and hinterwelter, is Coax from the Blind Eternities really worth it now that you've dropped All is Dust from side? Seems better to just run Emrakul mainboard, and give yourself 2 more sideboard slots at this point. If you really want a mainboard out against infinite life, it seems better to run the singleton Inkmoth Nexus mainboard, and technically, if you use Emrakul to reshuffle, you have the very painful mill out ala Mikokoro if you really had to. Also, I've said it before, but not a fan of Aether spellbomb here either. I feel that a instant speed bounce such as Echoing Truth or Boomerang is a superior choice here. Yes, you get the ability to draw a card with spellbomb, but if you are using it for the bounce effect, it either lets your opponent know to play around it, or it forces you to bounce at sorcery speed. A good example actually is against Grixis Delver, where the instant speed really matters on a bounce spell.
Honestly feel like bounce spells are currently undervalued in this deck by a lot of the posters here. Boomerang, Unsubstantiate, and/or Echoing Truth are VERY good in this deck
hinterwelters list is 'only' running 2 Gigadrowses main; Extraplanar Lens and the 'low' control count should make those matchups worse. I also feel that Howling Mine is way better than Ancestral Vision in the control matchups; We always have the edge due to Gigadrowse.
Now that we are at it; Delver might be the worst matchup this deck has, straight after Burn. I blame it as a curse, but I think that I am 0-10 in matches against delver (0-2 after TC bannings, still terrible matchup). It is not much different from Merfolk.
Feel that Merfolk is still worse. Cursecatcher is extremely hard to play through. I've personally had mixed results against Delver, though it certainly is one of the harder matchups. Think it really depends on the variant, though.
I don't have much experience against Delver, but Control decks are an easy MU for me. I played 2 times against UW, once against UWR Nahiri and won all three rounds 2-0. The third Gigadrowse in the SB, as well as Swan Song are good options, though the MB already is a hard obstacle for them.
I like Coax still more because it is either Emrakul, Ulamog or both (if that would ever be necessary). I should probably test it without Ulamog and put Emrakul main for more SB options.
About AEther Spellbomb, I must say that I like it a lot. My problem with Boomerang, Echoing Truth and the like is that they won't cycle, especially when they're dead cards. And Infect or any creature combo can't really stall around it, because that's when AEther Spellbomb is a 1-mana Time Warp. And if I am sure to go off next turn (or draw one during my extra turns), cycling it away is a really really good addition.
2-0 vs R/G Breach
2-1 vs 8 whack (the loss occurred when I mulliganed to oblivion looking for a leyline only to realize that they hadn't registered in when I submitted so...ya)
2-0 vs Soul sisters
2-0 vs R/B Eldrazi
1-2 vs Grixis Delver
All four matches felt pretty easy until Grixis. This is an extremely hard matchup simply because they play TONS of counters (the version I played anyways). I kid you not, at some point he countered 5 straight spells of mine. All the while they beat you down with T1 Delvers (they always have T1 delver).
After this particularly difficult match, I realize that the control matchup is probably crap with this current build. So i'm going to test Defense Grids/Teferi in the sideboard (since teferi is hard to interact with). I haven't faced dredge so never brought the crypts in and at any rate, I do question their inclusion. So that's what I cut to make space.
I also never brought in the Ulamog and not sure what this is for either. Maybe you can enlighten me hinterwelter?
??? The control matchup is this deck's best matchup. Delver, more of a tempo deck, is one of the only blue based deck that runs counterspells that is even slightly difficult to deal with. Putting in hard control hate cards in your sideboard for just this matchup when we generally wipe the floor with every other blue based control deck seems liks a waste of slots. If I may ask, what did you sideboard in against them?
Also, if I may ask you and hinterwelter, is Coax from the Blind Eternities really worth it now that you've dropped All is Dust from side? Seems better to just run Emrakul mainboard, and give yourself 2 more sideboard slots at this point. If you really want a mainboard out against infinite life, it seems better to run the singleton Inkmoth Nexus mainboard, and technically, if you use Emrakul to reshuffle, you have the very painful mill out ala Mikokoro if you really had to. Also, I've said it before, but not a fan of Aether spellbomb here either. I feel that a instant speed bounce such as Echoing Truth or Boomerang is a superior choice here. Yes, you get the ability to draw a card with spellbomb, but if you are using it for the bounce effect, it either lets your opponent know to play around it, or it forces you to bounce at sorcery speed. A good example actually is against Grixis Delver, where the instant speed really matters on a bounce spell.
Honestly feel like bounce spells are currently undervalued in this deck by a lot of the posters here. Boomerang, Unsubstantiate, and/or Echoing Truth are VERY good in this deck
1) I sided in the spellbombs (which actually led to my win) and the gigadrowse. I couldn't figure out what to cut to bring in the additional swan songs but i am unsure i'd want to do that in the first place.
2) I absolutely do not ever want to draw Emrakul. Also, it's a personal thing for me, but since he's a miser, I'm guaranteed to draw him in the first 3 turns. Just seems to happen all the time when I was playing Mardu Nahiri.
3) Most matchups are in our favours. Grixis is absolutely not. Thus, I want to hedge against a deck that is popular and powerful. To me, it makes sense to have slots for it. These cards, although not critical, are also good vs other random matchups where they play a heavy control route. Plus, Teferi is a beat stick haha.
1) I sided in the spellbombs (which actually led to my win) and the gigadrowse. I couldn't figure out what to cut to bring in the additional swan songs but i am unsure i'd want to do that in the first place.
2) I absolutely do not ever want to draw Emrakul. Also, it's a personal thing for me, but since he's a miser, I'm guaranteed to draw him in the first 3 turns. Just seems to happen all the time when I was playing Mardu Nahiri.
3) Most matchups are in our favours. Grixis is absolutely not. Thus, I want to hedge against a deck that is popular and powerful. To me, it makes sense to have slots for it. These cards, although not critical, are also good vs other random matchups where they play a heavy control route. Plus, Teferi is a beat stick haha.
2) You can say that, but how is drawing Coax from the Blind Eternities any different than drawing an Emrakul? Most of the time, you're using it to get Emrakul anyways.
There is one difference:
Discarding either Emrakul or Coax to Jace.
Emrakul reshuffles your GY -> flipping Jace takes longer
Discarding Coax -> harmless, most opponents won't see it coming via flashback by Jace
PS: Jace, Vryn's Prodigy is the best card in the deck. Getting him flipped is almost GG, Jace, Telepath Unbound does everything we need:
+1 reduces the damage from opposing creatures, and only one activation makes Jace a double-snapcaster on Time Warp, Exhaustion etc pp
-3 is the reason to play Jace. He flashbacks "for free" instead of adding 1U to the mana cost of a Time Warp
-9 is an alternate Win-Condition. Though necessary only in very rare occasions, he wins the game through infinite life, for example
He is the perfect PW/Creature for this deck in my oppinion. Early on, he is a Merfolk Looter to dig deeper / get the Miracle happening. When he flips, you are in a very good position.
Greetings
PPS: The synergy between Walk the Aeons, especially the Buyback, and Jace, Vryn's Prodigy is hilarious. Three (3, troi, tres, drei, !!!) extra turns out of one card wins games.
So after playing Abzan, I have to say...I actually really really hate the leyline in this deck. If you don't have it in your opener, mulling to oblivion in the hopes of getting it is usually gg. Because if you don't, you're always guaranteed to get thoughtseize/inquisition on T1. And having less cards to start the game is is usually enough to lose the game (they have so many incidental main deck hate...). It's just a nightmare. Seriously guys. The leyline just leaves me feeling really awful. Especially if you have a great opener without it. Shipping it just so you an hope to have the card...yuck.
Annnnd scapeshift it the same damn thing. I REALLY don't want to side in the leyline. But I have no choice. And that matchup is stupid hard without it. Pretty frustrating actually.
I'm sorry to deny this, but Jace just gives normal flashback for the usual mana cost of the spell (except something like Force of Will). The synergy is that paying the Buyback for Walk the Aeons fills your Graveyard, so it's easy to flip Jace during the extra turn. Then you recast it from your hand, use Jace's +1, then you flashback Walk the Aeons via Jace. That's how you get 3 extra turns out of one card. But you can't return Walk the Aeons to your hand if you flashback it (no matter if it's Snappy or Jace) because Flashback also says: "exile [spell] when it resolves" even if it would return to your hand.
Greetings
Edit: we should probably ask a Judge about it. I am not sure about the exact rules, but what I described above is what I heard from a Level 2 Judge.
Edited 2nd time: Mishichi is probably right about it. So Walk the Aeons is just more hilarious that I thought.
Walk the Aeons goes to the hand with the -3, if buybacked.
Also, Abzan is hard with the 'newer' lists not running any real backup plan for them; 9 Mines mainboard is the 'efficient' way to battle them, supposively AV can work aswell. Sadly, this is not a thing in most metas. Can not get it all.
The abzan lists running the grim flayers are MUCH faster at clocking you than any of the previous lists. They generally go T1 discard, T2 flayer, T3 liliana and then follow it up with stuff like ooze, lingering souls etc. It's incredibly difficult to fight this. I played a list without exhaustions in it and forget about it. You have to fight WAY harder to win games. That card is a must for this deck.
Hey all. Just got back from FNM. I tweaked my build a bit, and it proved to be much better than I had anticipated. I ended up getting top 4 of 26 people.I say that's pretty good for my first FNM with turns.
This guy was running a homebrew of Rakdos Vampires. He took game one because I drew nothing but islands, and couldn't get to my defenses before he out-clocked me. Games 2 and 3 were a breeze, an early Dictate, followed by Lens led to my combo.
Round 2: Dredge 2-0 W
Game one he had me down to 4 life when I got the combo going. I had spent several turns trying to slow him down with Cryptic, Exhaustion, Gigadrowse. He was a cool guy, and we had a good time. Game two he got mana screwed, drawing too many lands.
Round 3: Naya burn 2-1 W
All three games he starts out with double goblin guide, but they net me lands each swing. Game one he has me down to 1 life, but is tapped out when I combo out, and scoops when I drop Emrakul. He gets me game 2, burn did what burn does. Game three I hold onto a sided negate, which stopped his bolt when I attempted to gigadrowse him. He scoops.
Round 4: Ad Nauseum 2-1 W
I take game one. Not much to say about this game, other than my Clique took his Pact of Negation, and I outplayed his Angel's Grace by... taking extra turns! Thassa killed him. Game 2 he pact of negation's my answer to his Ad Nauseum, which I Negate, which he Pact of Negations... GG. Game three was really interesting though. I was holding double Cryptic Command and double Negate in my hand sometime into the game, and know he has his combo. He knows I've got counterspells, and we're just standing off. I'm careful to leave enough mana open to counter at least 3 times, (8 mana) while taking turns. He lets me go, because he can't afford to counter my turns, and then let his combo get countered. So I get both my Lens out, and have 11 or so lands out, and I finally see a gigadrowse, he attempts to combo off in response, and I show him my hand (7 counterspells), and he scoops.
Top 8: Vs. Infect 2-0 W
Game 1 he mulls to 5, and just doesn't have the juice he needed to win through gigadrowse and exhaustion. Game 2 Vapor Snag stops him flat in his tracks after he pumped for lethal.
Top 4: Boros Burn 1-2 L
He takes game one with a super fast hand. I'm dead after taking 3 turns (on his fourth). Game two I win with 2 life left. Game three I was one mana short of winning. If I had gotten one more mana, or had a Time Warp in my hand, I would have combo'd off. But I was stuck with a Part the Waterveil...
Thoughts:
Extraplanar Lens is amazing. It sped up the deck so much, and I'm super glad I added it. It was the sole reason I beat Ad Nauseum, and saved me in so many matches. It made me able to cast turn spells on turn 4, and that's huge. Huge.
I think I might need more Mine effects in here, I worried about not seeing Dictate enough.
Jace, Vryn's Prodigy - when it went off, it went off. There were no games when, if I didn't had it, I would have lost, but I won because of it. It seemed to under-perform for me. Maybe I just need to give it more time.
Thassa was great, and a wonderful win-con. I was able to defend against attacks by flashing in a Dictate, to turn her into a creature for a surprise block. The scry was helpful, and she has a great damage output. But I might consider taking her out, and trying without her.
Clique was hit or miss today. Every time I cast her, she'd immediately eat a burn spell or a counter. I can see myself taking her out as well. I won a game against dredge because of her though.
Day's Undoing was wonderful about 50% of the time. Half the time I loved it, half the time, it was dead. I dunno how I feel about it. It's great in grindy matchups, but I didn't have many of those today, it was mostly all aggro.
Ancestral Vision was... meh. Again, I think it's better in grindier matches, but today there was just too much aggro for it to be useful.
I love temporal mastery, but it does kinda have a bad habit of showing up when I have 2 lands and no kruphix out... I don't want to take it out, because the miracle saves games. It really does. Hmm.
I'm very pleased with how the deck ran though, it seemed to work well. I'd like more defense though... a blue fog would be nice... I may consider Propaganda or something like that to stop attacks.
So yeah!
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
MODERN GBCombo ElvesBG UExtra TurnsU UWCheeriosWU
EDH RGURiku of Two ReflectionsRGU (Combo / Creature Toolbox) BWKarlov of the Ghost CouncilWB (Control / Aggro) GWSelvala, Explorer ReturnedWG (Goodstuff) RUWNarset, Enlightened MasterWUR (Superfriends)
*Facepalm* Yeah. You're right, haha. I must have been tired after getting home late last night
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
MODERN GBCombo ElvesBG UExtra TurnsU UWCheeriosWU
EDH RGURiku of Two ReflectionsRGU (Combo / Creature Toolbox) BWKarlov of the Ghost CouncilWB (Control / Aggro) GWSelvala, Explorer ReturnedWG (Goodstuff) RUWNarset, Enlightened MasterWUR (Superfriends)
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
You need more ptw and drawings imho
URW PillowFort Stasis (costruction)
modern:
U Taking Turns combo
pauper:
UB Servitor Control
xenob8 : you know you are going to have a bad time when opponent starts with snow covered island
Bud, I put your list together on mtgo and tweaked it a bit and I am currently crushing with it. Opponents have no clue how to play around this thing and i usually start to go off by turn 4. Day's undoing is a massive upgrade in this deck from what it was before. Pretty much every opponent concedes when they realize I'm about to take 4 straight turns. Maybe we're on to something here...the only thing i'm iffy on is the leylines. I know they are a necessity, but if you ever don't have them in your opener and your hand is solid, they are literally uncastable and dead. So thinking that maybe the deck could use some white sources (via glacial fortress) just for the sideboard. The downside to this is that your lens won't affect those lands.
Also, I can't imagine playing this deck with lens. When that card lands, it's gg. It speeds up your clock IMMENSELY.
If you put like 3-4 lowcosted counterspells (either Swan Song or Spell Pierce) into your SB, Chalice of the Void is an acceptable replacement. On 1, it will stop every discard spell from Jund etc except for Kommand, and Gigadrowse circumvents it (by costing 1 mana more). Though it would be another target for Abrupt Decay, which is ok by pulling it off of a Dictate, but it's still more easily removed than a Leyline. Maybe test that a bit?
Greetings
PS: I would like to see your tweaked list. Mind to share it?
I think if you want a little more resiliency, you would have to splash white. This would open up the Narset plan and cards like Sphinx's revelation/wall of omens/path to exile and the ability to cast the leylines themselves. Chalices are quite good and I could test that in real life since i don't own any on mtgo and I aint forking out 40$ a piece haha.
My list is exactly like how you wanted to take yours. - 1 mastery + 1 day's undoing, -1 crypt +1 hurkyl's recall. I switched the mikokoro for the geier sanitarium.
I'm not super sure that Jace is necessary. he's nice to have but i've never really felt he was needed in any of the games i won with. Usually, by the time you have 5 cards in your graveyard, you're already winning. He would be my first cut. The vision though has been extraordinary here. Wouldn't have won many games without it.
Though splashing white is a bit stretching your luck I think, when you also want the Lens to be great. What I would perhaps change among the lands would be adding a 2nd Mikokoro or a Geier Sanitarium. They greatly improve the BGx MU.
Have fun!
Greetings
Ok so in my last league this is what happened:
2-0 vs R/G Breach
2-1 vs 8 whack (the loss occurred when I mulliganed to oblivion looking for a leyline only to realize that they hadn't registered in when I submitted so...ya)
2-0 vs Soul sisters
2-0 vs R/B Eldrazi
1-2 vs Grixis Delver
All four matches felt pretty easy until Grixis. This is an extremely hard matchup simply because they play TONS of counters (the version I played anyways). I kid you not, at some point he countered 5 straight spells of mine. All the while they beat you down with T1 Delvers (they always have T1 delver).
After this particularly difficult match, I realize that the control matchup is probably crap with this current build. So i'm going to test Defense Grids/Teferi in the sideboard (since teferi is hard to interact with). I haven't faced dredge so never brought the crypts in and at any rate, I do question their inclusion. So that's what I cut to make space.
I also never brought in the Ulamog and not sure what this is for either. Maybe you can enlighten me hinterwelter?
And Ulamog is for winning against infinite life without an Inkmoth. Though Jace can do the same, I liked to have at least 2 targets for Coax (there was an All Is Dust before, too). Otherwise, if you want to cut Ulamog, you could also put big E in the Main and free up 2 SB slots.
Greetings
Also, if I may ask you and hinterwelter, is Coax from the Blind Eternities really worth it now that you've dropped All is Dust from side? Seems better to just run Emrakul mainboard, and give yourself 2 more sideboard slots at this point. If you really want a mainboard out against infinite life, it seems better to run the singleton Inkmoth Nexus mainboard, and technically, if you use Emrakul to reshuffle, you have the very painful mill out ala Mikokoro if you really had to. Also, I've said it before, but not a fan of Aether spellbomb here either. I feel that a instant speed bounce such as Echoing Truth or Boomerang is a superior choice here. Yes, you get the ability to draw a card with spellbomb, but if you are using it for the bounce effect, it either lets your opponent know to play around it, or it forces you to bounce at sorcery speed. A good example actually is against Grixis Delver, where the instant speed really matters on a bounce spell.
Honestly feel like bounce spells are currently undervalued in this deck by a lot of the posters here. Boomerang, Unsubstantiate, and/or Echoing Truth are VERY good in this deck
Commander
U Tetsuko Umezawa, Fugitive
RG Zilortha, Strength Incarnate
WB Amalia Benavides Aguirre
Commander
U Tetsuko Umezawa, Fugitive
RG Zilortha, Strength Incarnate
WB Amalia Benavides Aguirre
I like Coax still more because it is either Emrakul, Ulamog or both (if that would ever be necessary). I should probably test it without Ulamog and put Emrakul main for more SB options.
About AEther Spellbomb, I must say that I like it a lot. My problem with Boomerang, Echoing Truth and the like is that they won't cycle, especially when they're dead cards. And Infect or any creature combo can't really stall around it, because that's when AEther Spellbomb is a 1-mana Time Warp. And if I am sure to go off next turn (or draw one during my extra turns), cycling it away is a really really good addition.
Greetings
1) I sided in the spellbombs (which actually led to my win) and the gigadrowse. I couldn't figure out what to cut to bring in the additional swan songs but i am unsure i'd want to do that in the first place.
2) I absolutely do not ever want to draw Emrakul. Also, it's a personal thing for me, but since he's a miser, I'm guaranteed to draw him in the first 3 turns. Just seems to happen all the time when I was playing Mardu Nahiri.
3) Most matchups are in our favours. Grixis is absolutely not. Thus, I want to hedge against a deck that is popular and powerful. To me, it makes sense to have slots for it. These cards, although not critical, are also good vs other random matchups where they play a heavy control route. Plus, Teferi is a beat stick haha.
Commander
U Tetsuko Umezawa, Fugitive
RG Zilortha, Strength Incarnate
WB Amalia Benavides Aguirre
Discarding either Emrakul or Coax to Jace.
Emrakul reshuffles your GY -> flipping Jace takes longer
Discarding Coax -> harmless, most opponents won't see it coming via flashback by Jace
PS: Jace, Vryn's Prodigy is the best card in the deck. Getting him flipped is almost GG, Jace, Telepath Unbound does everything we need:
+1 reduces the damage from opposing creatures, and only one activation makes Jace a double-snapcaster on Time Warp, Exhaustion etc pp
-3 is the reason to play Jace. He flashbacks "for free" instead of adding 1U to the mana cost of a Time Warp
-9 is an alternate Win-Condition. Though necessary only in very rare occasions, he wins the game through infinite life, for example
He is the perfect PW/Creature for this deck in my oppinion. Early on, he is a Merfolk Looter to dig deeper / get the Miracle happening. When he flips, you are in a very good position.
Greetings
PPS: The synergy between Walk the Aeons, especially the Buyback, and Jace, Vryn's Prodigy is hilarious. Three (3, troi, tres, drei, !!!) extra turns out of one card wins games.
Annnnd scapeshift it the same damn thing. I REALLY don't want to side in the leyline. But I have no choice. And that matchup is stupid hard without it. Pretty frustrating actually.
Greetings
Edit: we should probably ask a Judge about it. I am not sure about the exact rules, but what I described above is what I heard from a Level 2 Judge.
Edited 2nd time: Mishichi is probably right about it. So Walk the Aeons is just more hilarious that I thought.
The abzan lists running the grim flayers are MUCH faster at clocking you than any of the previous lists. They generally go T1 discard, T2 flayer, T3 liliana and then follow it up with stuff like ooze, lingering souls etc. It's incredibly difficult to fight this. I played a list without exhaustions in it and forget about it. You have to fight WAY harder to win games. That card is a must for this deck.
Here's my list.
4 Time Warp
4 Temporal Mastery
2 Part the Waterveil
2 Walk the Aeons
Mines
4 Dictate of Kruphix
2 Ancestral Vision
1 Day's Undoing
3 Serum Visions
3 Gigadrowse
3 Exhaustion
2 Cryptic Command
3 Remand
Other
2 Extraplanar Lens
1 Coax from the Blind Eternities
1 Vendillion Clique
1 Thassa, God of the Sea
1 Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
22 Snow-Covered Island
1 Mikokoro, Center of the Sea
Round 1: Rakdos Vampire Aggro 2-1 W
This guy was running a homebrew of Rakdos Vampires. He took game one because I drew nothing but islands, and couldn't get to my defenses before he out-clocked me. Games 2 and 3 were a breeze, an early Dictate, followed by Lens led to my combo.
Round 2: Dredge 2-0 W
Game one he had me down to 4 life when I got the combo going. I had spent several turns trying to slow him down with Cryptic, Exhaustion, Gigadrowse. He was a cool guy, and we had a good time. Game two he got mana screwed, drawing too many lands.
Round 3: Naya burn 2-1 W
All three games he starts out with double goblin guide, but they net me lands each swing. Game one he has me down to 1 life, but is tapped out when I combo out, and scoops when I drop Emrakul. He gets me game 2, burn did what burn does. Game three I hold onto a sided negate, which stopped his bolt when I attempted to gigadrowse him. He scoops.
Round 4: Ad Nauseum 2-1 W
I take game one. Not much to say about this game, other than my Clique took his Pact of Negation, and I outplayed his Angel's Grace by... taking extra turns! Thassa killed him. Game 2 he pact of negation's my answer to his Ad Nauseum, which I Negate, which he Pact of Negations... GG. Game three was really interesting though. I was holding double Cryptic Command and double Negate in my hand sometime into the game, and know he has his combo. He knows I've got counterspells, and we're just standing off. I'm careful to leave enough mana open to counter at least 3 times, (8 mana) while taking turns. He lets me go, because he can't afford to counter my turns, and then let his combo get countered. So I get both my Lens out, and have 11 or so lands out, and I finally see a gigadrowse, he attempts to combo off in response, and I show him my hand (7 counterspells), and he scoops.
Top 8: Vs. Infect 2-0 W
Game 1 he mulls to 5, and just doesn't have the juice he needed to win through gigadrowse and exhaustion. Game 2 Vapor Snag stops him flat in his tracks after he pumped for lethal.
Top 4: Boros Burn 1-2 L
He takes game one with a super fast hand. I'm dead after taking 3 turns (on his fourth). Game two I win with 2 life left. Game three I was one mana short of winning. If I had gotten one more mana, or had a Time Warp in my hand, I would have combo'd off. But I was stuck with a Part the Waterveil...
Thoughts:
Extraplanar Lens is amazing. It sped up the deck so much, and I'm super glad I added it. It was the sole reason I beat Ad Nauseum, and saved me in so many matches. It made me able to cast turn spells on turn 4, and that's huge. Huge.
I think I might need more Mine effects in here, I worried about not seeing Dictate enough.
Jace, Vryn's Prodigy - when it went off, it went off. There were no games when, if I didn't had it, I would have lost, but I won because of it. It seemed to under-perform for me. Maybe I just need to give it more time.
Thassa was great, and a wonderful win-con. I was able to defend against attacks by flashing in a Dictate, to turn her into a creature for a surprise block. The scry was helpful, and she has a great damage output. But I might consider taking her out, and trying without her.
Clique was hit or miss today. Every time I cast her, she'd immediately eat a burn spell or a counter. I can see myself taking her out as well. I won a game against dredge because of her though.
Day's Undoing was wonderful about 50% of the time. Half the time I loved it, half the time, it was dead. I dunno how I feel about it. It's great in grindy matchups, but I didn't have many of those today, it was mostly all aggro.
Ancestral Vision was... meh. Again, I think it's better in grindier matches, but today there was just too much aggro for it to be useful.
I love temporal mastery, but it does kinda have a bad habit of showing up when I have 2 lands and no kruphix out... I don't want to take it out, because the miracle saves games. It really does. Hmm.
I'm very pleased with how the deck ran though, it seemed to work well. I'd like more defense though... a blue fog would be nice... I may consider Propaganda or something like that to stop attacks.
So yeah!
MODERN
GBCombo ElvesBG
UExtra TurnsU
UWCheeriosWU
EDH
RGURiku of Two ReflectionsRGU (Combo / Creature Toolbox)
BWKarlov of the Ghost CouncilWB (Control / Aggro)
GWSelvala, Explorer ReturnedWG (Goodstuff)
RUWNarset, Enlightened MasterWUR (Superfriends)
MODERN
GBCombo ElvesBG
UExtra TurnsU
UWCheeriosWU
EDH
RGURiku of Two ReflectionsRGU (Combo / Creature Toolbox)
BWKarlov of the Ghost CouncilWB (Control / Aggro)
GWSelvala, Explorer ReturnedWG (Goodstuff)
RUWNarset, Enlightened MasterWUR (Superfriends)