Not playing 4 Snaps is incorrect. There are some lists in which 3 is perfectly fine, but they are far and few. Your's is not one of them.
De Sphere is mostly just a worse Electrolyze, and it's crazy to not play at least 2 of them. I'd be playing 3 in your list.
Mainboard Negate is very, very awkward. It puts you at the mercy of deck-choice, which is an outside factor. You should never put yourself at a potential disadvantage before the game even begins.
3 Spell Snare feels like too many. They help in counter wars, but there are just better options. I wouldn't like drawing them late, which will definitely happen due to the 2 Think Twice. What a lot of us do is play Shadow of Doubt instead of the 2nd Think Twice.
Also, fix the mana base. If you're allowed proxies, proxy fetches. You don't have the shocks in the right ratio, and it can be improved monumentally by playing 8+ fetches. Worth noting that GQ is better against the land decks than Tectonic Edge, and you can definitely play 2 of each in your list in its current form.
Onto the sideboard. Smash to Smithereens is a worse Wear/Tear. Why are you even playing it? You should just play 2 Stony. Hallowed Moonlight is also an amazing sideboard card against CoCo and Twin. The burn hate is all good. I'd be very tempted to run Rending Volley over Combust, but a 1-1 split could also work.
In UWR you always run 4 Snaps. Non-negotiable.
As for the choice of 'cantrips', I like Hallowed Moonlight a lot better than Shadow of Doubt. It pulls work in our tougher MU's, is easier to cast, and let's be honest here, our deck does not take advantage of the tempo from hitting an early fetch. We're going to go to turn 15, and they're going to have 8 lands in play regardless if we Shadow them on T2 :p. Personally, I view Moonlight like a 2 mana dismiss in the MU's where it's good, so I cut down on the more situational counters (I eliminated mana leak), and went with more board control in the MB. I run 2 Moonlight's and 2 Think Twice for my 2 mana 'draw' spells.
Same as you I feel like 2 Spell Snare's are the sweet spot. Volley is just a million times better than Combust imho.
The main difference between Combust and Rending Volley is that Combust hits Siege Rhino which might come up.
Jex- Undortunately I can't play proxies at a PPTQ, if I were able to get a few Arid Mesas and Scalding Tarns I definitely would, but unfortunately that isn't an option right now.
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Standard: UB Control
Modern: UWR Control
EDH: Ezuri, Renegade Leader
Titania, Protector of Argoth
Phelddagrif
Glissa, the Traitor
Rosheen Meanderer
I've been maindecking Clique forever. The information is definitely worth it. Some people feel really high and mighty when they Abrupt Decay it, but as if I care, I get to see your hand.
I'd keep a Relic sideboard. At professional events you will always run into random decks. It might be Dredge, Living End, the Anafenza CoCo combo, or Storm. You have to keep a relic for those matchups.
On the Kiki/Resto combo, you use it if you want to win matchups you shouldn't be winning. It's slow, and very clunky, but sometimes it can be very beneficial. The clunkiness is why I don't play it. It's just far too difficult to make it actually work efficiently, so I'd rather just grind them out. This opens me to another problem, but at least it's a gameplay problem, rather than a deck one.
It was really Great! Having Tasigur to play on Turn 5 with 1 mana was extreme. Being able to either hold mana up for counters, or activate tasigur, makes him a much better finisher than the clunky Gideons, Keranos, etc 5 mana finishers. I enjoyed playing this too! The black splash really didn't even hurt the man abase too much. I tried out the Reflecting Pool/Vivid lands, and they seem to work fine, my man abase doesn't even hurt me too bad. Please tell me what you think!
It was really Great! Having Tasigur to play on Turn 5 with 1 mana was extreme. Being able to either hold mana up for counters, or activate tasigur, makes him a much better finisher than the clunky Gideons, Keranos, etc 5 mana finishers. I enjoyed playing this too! The black splash really didn't even hurt the man abase too much. I tried out the Reflecting Pool/Vivid lands, and they seem to work fine, my man abase doesn't even hurt me too bad. Please tell me what you think!
Not playing 10 fetches, and playing the Pools and Vivids will definitely hurt you more than the 10 correct fetches (4 Strand, 4 Tarn, 2 Delta). You also have the wrong shocks. If you want 5 shocks, you want Steam Vents, Hallowed Fountain, Sacred Foundry, Watery Grave and Blood Crypt. If you want 6, up the Steam Vents to 2. You have a bad selection of basics, and Blood Moon will wreck you absolutely. 2 basic Islands are necessary for any control deck. I'd play 4 basics, at least 2 of which are Islands, and 1 of which is a Plains.
Your spell selection is pretty good. I like all your includes, but would probably tick down Souls to 2 for fear of clunkiness. Tasigur at 2 feels pretty solid. I may also take out an Anticipate, but having it at 2 is acceptable. Don't add more than that.
Not going to talk about the sideboard because it should always be changing for the meta.
Thanks Jex, concerning the lands, I'm just running what I have, I will get Scalding Tarns if they are in Battle for Zendikar, but as of now, i don't want to drop 50$ on then all. And I thought out the shocks I would use to be compatible with the fetches I have, I did the math and such and believe I do have the right shocks for my build of it. As for anticipate, I added it because of all my different sideboard cards, and also this is my first time playing a 4 color deck, so I thought maybe the selection would be useful in finding the land colors I need, or the answers for a specific situation. The sideboard I kinda just threw together, because I finished it minutes before FNM started. I liking having 15 one ofs, especially with Mystical Teachings. Thank you!!!
Thanks Jex, concerning the lands, I'm just running what I have, I will get Scalding Tarns if they are in Battle for Zendikar, but as of now, i don't want to drop 50$ on then all. And I thought out the shocks I would use to be compatible with the fetches I have, I did the math and such and believe I do have the right shocks for my build of it. As for anticipate, I added it because of all my different sideboard cards, and also this is my first time playing a 4 color deck, so I thought maybe the selection would be useful in finding the land colors I need, or the answers for a specific situation. The sideboard I kinda just threw together, because I finished it minutes before FNM started. I liking having 15 one ofs, especially with Mystical Teachings. Thank you!!!
I can't imagine running more than 8 fetches. Even at 8, I end up running out of targets in protracted games against blue decks. Plus, the life loss is ridiculous if you crack 5 or 6 against Twin. Just think about it...
It's possible 6 is correct, but this deck has issues with red mana, so if you're running Tec Edges you're probably going to need at least 8. Too many Sulfur Falls and such and you'll end up with playing them as tap lands, early.
I ran UWR a long time ago (it was the second deck I built after Storm, a couple of years ago), and I'd slowly abandoned it as the metagame became unfavorable in my area. However, yesterday was a 1K PPTQ at a store where I was told the metagame was basically 4 decks: Merfolk, Company decks of various stripes, Grixis, and a smattering of twin. This sounded like an ideal metagame for UWR, so I rebuilt it for the tournament. Here's the list I played:
There's a couple odd choices here... The maindeck dispel is something I'd been liking in other decks recently. It's very rarely completely dead now, what with even creature decks running Collected Company. Logic Knot is a concession to the 4 maindeck Paths (trying to limit dead late-game topdecks). The Serum Visions and Think Twice was the same thing, ideally allowing for a lower land count. Finally, the Geist was an Ajani Vengeant before I last-minute audibled into the geist because I wanted something against combo decks and Twin. Onto the report!
Round 1: Bant Company
He was basically on GW splash blue for geist, though there might have been other blue cards I didn't see (unified will? Dispel?). Game one I draw 3 paths and I just kill everything he plays, eventually grinding out advantage with CCs.
SB: -1 Geist
- 1 Vendilion Clique
- 1 Remand
- 3 Mana Leak
- 1 Logic Knot
Game two, I mulligan to 6 and stumble, but a timely Anger of the gods exiles his board. He recovers with a Sigarda, Host of Herons, but I reply by slamming a wurmcoil, and since he sided out Paths, he can't answer it (I Snare a Qasali Pridemage in the process) and race him easily.
1-0
Round 2: Merfolk
Turn 1 Vial trumps my hand of mostly counterspells. I tread water with a bolt or two, but I just can't keep up, with a cursecatcher denying my electrolyze. I die fairly quickly.
+1 Gideon
+1 Wurmcoil Engine
+1 Hallowed Moonlight (for Master of Waves, which I saw and got crushed by game 1)
+1 Keranos
+1 Lighting Helix
+1 Supreme Verdict
+1 Anger of the gods
+1 Timely Reinforcements
+1 Wear // Tear (for potential monastery siege, Spellskite, and random value killing Spreading Seas or Aether Vial)
Game 2 and 3 go as expected in this matchup. He does get turn one vials both times, which gives him good early speed, but I bury him in spot removal and card advantage before stabilizing with a wurmcoil in game 2 and just killing him with colonnades game 3.
2-0
Round 3: Merfolk
This time the Merfolk player doesn't draw vials, and so my counterspells in game 1 are somewhat effective. He does make a mistake game 2, where he plays a Monastery Siege on Spell Pierce right before I wrathed away his board, and then he's out of gas and doesn't draw much for the rest of the game. Same SB as above.
3-0
Round 4: Amulet Bloom
I knew the guy I was playing against, and he was always on the deck, so I knew what to mulligan for. That said, I wasn't expecting a good run. We both mulligan to 6 game 1, which I expect favors me, and I Spell Snare his turn 3 summer bloom (without amulet). He eventually starts chaining titans, but 2 paths, a snapcaster and a dispel for the last Pact just take take care of them all, and then he's all out of gas.
+1 Gideon (better than the alternatives, though still not great)
+1 Clique
+1 Glen Elendra Archmage
+1 Negate
+1 Dispel
+1 Counterflux
+1 Wear // Tear
Game two we both just cantrip in the early turns. He goes for a big turn on turn 3 with pact of negation backup, but I have both a Leak and a Dispel and nothing happens. He eventually lands a titan with a Cavern, but I path it, dispel the next Summonner's pact, and tec Edge the cavern. Cryptic into Cryptic into Cryptic seals the game.
4-0
At this point in a tournament you could normally start drawing into top8, but apparently now judges advise that small tournaments that add on prizes to an invitation should award prizes with swiss standings, so I play on.
Round 5: Grishoalbrand
I'd heard of the deck, but never actually played against it. At the end of his turn 4, he has 4 mana up, and I decide to flashback my Think Twice. What could go wrong, right? He only has two mana... And then I died with my TT on the stack. Felt like a moron, cause I knew that could happen.
SB:-3 Lightning Bolt (I kept one in over the gideon I brought in against amulet because at least this kills the Necrotic Ooze they sometimes have, though that's a stretch... It's also a lava spike, which is sometimes relevant.)
-2 Lightning Helix
-1 Supreme Verdict
I win game two while he stumbles slightly and I draw out of my mulligan to 6 with a very good Serum isions that shows me a dispel and a Glen. I play the glen on turn 6 with double dispel backup, and then he just can't get through the shield. Game 3 I mulligan to 6 agin, and this time he has Boseiju for his Goryo's, and he just combo's in response to my Path on his griselbrand, and I die.
4-1
At this point my breakers are excellent, so if I win this last round I'll finish second!
Round 6: Tarmo Twin
He wins game one off two dispel-backed tarmogoyf. His countermagic is just more efficient then mine that game, and so I just can't keep up.
SB: -4 Bolt (I keep the two Helixes to win the bolt-snap-bolt game)
- 1 Supreme verdict (exposes you to the combo, and there are rarely more than 1 creature in play at any given time)
- 1 Cryptic Command (too clunky)
(no second V Clique because it's too weak to Electrolyze. The first is often decent to resolve a Keranos, but since they side out the combo it's all about the card advantage).
Game 2 I have the more efficient countermagic (I draw a dispel, a leak and a knot to his remand and Cryptic) and my Geist just kills him very quickly. Game three is interesting. it goes back and forth for a while, trading resources on the stack, and eventually I manage to land a Keranos, and then time is called. I'm not anywhere near dying, but he's at 9, so I start attacking with a colonnade. He thinks for a while, then taps his 4 untapped lands for a cryptic command to bounce it and draw a card. I reply with my own CC to counter his, and then he fetches... and realizes he does not have a blue source left in his deck for his dispel. He eats 4, and dies on the next turn to the colonnade while I drew additional countermagic.
5-1, good enough for 2nd after Swiss.
Quarters: Infect
He tells me he's inexperienced, and it shows... He's far too eager to cast his Might of Old Krosa without protection on his Nexi, and I just keep killing everything he plays and kill him with Snapcaster Beats.
+1 Gideon (if it resolves, you win 99% of the time)
+1 dispel
+1 V Clique
+1 Wear // Tear
+1 Lightning Helix
+1 Anger of the Gods
Path, path, bolt, snap-bolt, Helix (always on your own turn when possible), Leak your thing, slam a gideon when you're tapped out, GG. Relatively easy matchup (especialy since I didn't see a single Wild Defiance), compounded by a newbie opponent.
Semifinals: Tarmo Twin (same opponent as round 6)
As in the Swiss, he manages to tempo me out game one with goyfs. Game two and three I resolve Geist, he can't deal with them, and I just attack for 6 every turn. Knot was especially good here in the longer, protracted games where Leak falls off, especially after pathing goyfs. It's especially good to counter his proactive plays, because while he could just pay for leak, he had to fight over the knot, and then leak turned back on.
Finals: Amulet Bloom (same opponent as round 4)
Game 1 He mulligans to six and doesn't do much. I mulligan to 5 and keep a hand with a colonnade as it's only land, a serum vision, a dispel, a path and a cryptic. My turn 2 Visions doesn't draw me a land but finds me another colonnade and another Serum Visions, which I both play the turn after. I'm starting to get out of it, and then I die.
Game two he Mulls to 6. I clique him on his third draw step, taking away his Hive mind and leaving him with a bunch of lands (including a Tolaria West), an amulet in play and one in hand. He draws summer bloom, and I die.
Sad trombone.
Good tournament overall though. I like the list I played, including the random Geist, though I don't think it's optimal. The gideon seemed like it could be a good maindeck replacement. 24 lands felt like too few, even with the serum visions, though I liked playing them in general. Knot is decent, and I'd play it again. I think Dispel is fine in the maindeck, too. It's certainly a deck I'll keep in mind in the future; I had completely given up on it for a while.
Thanks Jex, concerning the lands, I'm just running what I have, I will get Scalding Tarns if they are in Battle for Zendikar, but as of now, i don't want to drop 50$ on then all. And I thought out the shocks I would use to be compatible with the fetches I have, I did the math and such and believe I do have the right shocks for my build of it. As for anticipate, I added it because of all my different sideboard cards, and also this is my first time playing a 4 color deck, so I thought maybe the selection would be useful in finding the land colors I need, or the answers for a specific situation. The sideboard I kinda just threw together, because I finished it minutes before FNM started. I liking having 15 one ofs, especially with Mystical Teachings. Thank you!!!
I can't imagine running more than 8 fetches. Even at 8, I end up running out of targets in protracted games against blue decks. Plus, the life loss is ridiculous if you crack 5 or 6 against Twin. Just think about it...
It's possible 6 is correct, but this deck has issues with red mana, so if you're running Tec Edges you're probably going to need at least 8. Too many Sulfur Falls and such and you'll end up with playing them as tap lands, early.
If the decks play Logic Knot I think 10 is the right number of fetches. I play more basics than most lists, so I have more targets, and I also play 3 Finks in the SB so the lifeloss doesn't matter as much to me as being more blood moon proof. I do usually have a dead fetch by turn 17 or so in the control mirror, but that's ok since the lands become irrelevant when you have 11+ in play. They actually make good discard fodder for opponents K. Commands at that point though
9 Fetches, 2 Island, 2 Plains, 1 Mountain, 2 Hallowed Fountain, 1 Sacred Foundry, 1 Steam Vents, so 9 Fetch and 9 sources you can fetch up. That's about the right ratio, even with decks running 6 or 7 fetches they rarely have more than 1 or 2 more sources than fetches. Blood moon is such a PITA I'd rather play more fetches and hit my colors more consistently as the trade off to being slightly worse on turn 15+ of control games, and losing a few percentages in the burn MU (but fetching basics is usually fine enough anyways here). YMMV though.
If the decks play Logic Knot I think 10 is the right number of fetches. I play more basics than most lists, so I have more targets, and I also play 3 Finks in the SB so the lifeloss doesn't matter as much to me as being more blood moon proof. I do usually have a dead fetch by turn 17 or so in the control mirror, but that's ok since the lands become irrelevant when you have 11+ in play. They actually make good discard fodder for opponents K. Commands at that point though
9 Fetches, 2 Island, 2 Plains, 1 Mountain, 2 Hallowed Fountain, 1 Sacred Foundry, 1 Steam Vents, so 9 Fetch and 9 sources you can fetch up. That's about the right ratio, even with decks running 6 or 7 fetches they rarely have more than 1 or 2 more sources than fetches. Blood moon is such a PITA I'd rather play more fetches and hit my colors more consistently as the trade off to being slightly worse on turn 15+ of control games, and losing a few percentages in the burn MU (but fetching basics is usually fine enough anyways here). YMMV though.
Having less than 8 fetches is ridiculous. We play a 3+ colour deck, so we need to be able to fetch our basic islands, or we die against Blood Moon, and to bad mana. Also, you are not required to fetch, and you can certainly leave fetches uncracked. Sometimes the game can end with 2 uncracked fetches on my side, simply because I didn't need them, or was threatening to fetch basics. I do run 6 shocks and 4 basics, but even cutting out a basic mountain and going down to 9 fetchable sources seems pretty good. Playing more fetches means more consistent mana, and each fetch you have in your deck is another shockland that you want to see.
Blood Moon requires a basic plains, and hopefully a basic island if you have Negate in hand to go with the purge you managed to draw. Blood Moon isn't defeated by having 4 basics in your deck; you just have outs that way. There's no way to calculate this, but the number of times you died after taking the free Bolt to the face against the tempo decks that actually play Blood Moon is probably larger than the number of times being able to fetch the basic plains saved you.
Hi guys, now that I got the full Snapcaster Mage playset I was thinking about build UWR control, as the deck is not really bad positioned in my opinion, and I used to play it a bit during 2014.
I'm debating about removing the 3rd Electrolyze for the 4th Path to Exile, but in my meta there is a lot of affinity, delver, elves and coco, where deal 2 divided and draw is always a nice effect, and where not burn 2 draw seems decent. Also, replaced Batterskull from SB in favor of Baneslayer Angel, as she doesn't die from Kolaghan's Command, and first strike and flying seem relevant.
I'm also thinking about sneaking 1 Hallowed Moonlight into the SB.
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In Lorwyn's brief evenings, the sun pauses at the horizon long enough for a certain species of violet to bloom with the fragrance of mischief.
Electrolyze at 3 is good. Helix at 4 feels excessive, unless burn is very prevalent.
The Keranos mainboard looks excessive with the 3 Restos, so I'd probably sneak a V Clique in there instead.
Otherwise, looks solid. Adjust sideboard on a weekly basis.
I face UWR/Grixis/Rug delver or burn in about 40% of my matches. Twin in around 18% and a variation of aggro CoCo/Zoo/Elves in around 15%. The remaining 27% is a mix between BGx, Rogue decks, Scapeshift (in which helix chaining can be game winning) Living End, and Tron. There is no way I'll remove a single Helix out if my metagame keeps going the aggro direction.
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In Lorwyn's brief evenings, the sun pauses at the horizon long enough for a certain species of violet to bloom with the fragrance of mischief.
UUU Merfolk UUU "Above the waves you may be mighty indeed, but down here you belong to me."
-Empress Galina
UBR Cruel Control UBR "The essence of every world, every spell, and every thought is power. Nothing else matters, because nothing else exists."
-Nicol Bolas
Well fortunately for us, control decks tend to have a lot of mana
Ojutai's Command was very useful for me. Gaining life and getting a dead snap to block and flashback spells is Value City. One game I had enough mana to cast Ojutai's Command-->get Snap--->Cast Cryptic then Revelation for 9 next turn.
UUU Merfolk UUU "Above the waves you may be mighty indeed, but down here you belong to me."
-Empress Galina
UBR Cruel Control UBR "The essence of every world, every spell, and every thought is power. Nothing else matters, because nothing else exists."
-Nicol Bolas
Ojutai's Command is easily a better choice than Jeskai Charm, but I wouldn't run either. Testing a single Ojutai's Command is probably not awful, but there are far better choices than Jeskai Charm. It doesn't do enough to warrant the cost.
It's a very weird meta-call mainboard, which I don't agree with. Moonlight is definitely fine, because it cycles, but the numbers of burn-counterspells-utility are all wrong.
I finally got my 4x Snapcaster Mage's Still trying to see the best deck to play with them. I'm thinking about either this deck or grixis control.
Has anyone who has tried both give me feedback regarding those decks?
Grixis is much better able to grind with the snapcaster-kolaghan's command-cryptic command engine. UWR is much better at actually burying someone in raw card advantage. If you like the idea of rebuying snapcaster a billion times as plan A with plan B being a quick fatty + blood moon, play grixis. Play UWR if you want to play a more dedicated hard control with more specific answers and sideboard gameplans.
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Primary Decks:
Modern: Esper Draw-Go
Legacy: RUG Lands
EDH: Sidisi turn-3 storm
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The main difference between Combust and Rending Volley is that Combust hits Siege Rhino which might come up.
Jex- Undortunately I can't play proxies at a PPTQ, if I were able to get a few Arid Mesas and Scalding Tarns I definitely would, but unfortunately that isn't an option right now.
Modern: UWR Control
EDH: Ezuri, Renegade Leader
Titania, Protector of Argoth
Phelddagrif
Glissa, the Traitor
Rosheen Meanderer
RIP Jimmy foREVer
I'd keep a Relic sideboard. At professional events you will always run into random decks. It might be Dredge, Living End, the Anafenza CoCo combo, or Storm. You have to keep a relic for those matchups.
On the Kiki/Resto combo, you use it if you want to win matchups you shouldn't be winning. It's slow, and very clunky, but sometimes it can be very beneficial. The clunkiness is why I don't play it. It's just far too difficult to make it actually work efficiently, so I'd rather just grind them out. This opens me to another problem, but at least it's a gameplay problem, rather than a deck one.
UWR Control
Legacy:
W D&T
Here is the list I played.
4 Celestial Colonnade
4 Flooded Strand
2 Polluted Delta
2 Bloodstained Mire
2 Watery Grave
2 Steam Vents
1 Hallowed Fountain
3 Reflecting Pool
2 Vivid Creek
1 Island
1 Plains
Creatures
4 Snapcaster Mage
2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
3 Mana Leak
3 Remand
2 Anticipate
4 Path to Exile
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Lightning Helix
2 Cryptic Command
2 Electrolyze
2 Esper Charm
2 Spell Snare
1 Crackling Doom
Sorcery
3 Lingering Souls
1 Crackling Doom
1 Mystical Teachings
1 Sphinx's Revelation
1 Counterflux
1 Negate
1 Dispel
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Gideon Jura
1 Jace, Architect of Thought
1 Spellskite
1 Rakdos Charm
1 Wear // Tear
1 Lingering Souls
1 Zealous Persecution
1 Pithing Needle
It was really Great! Having Tasigur to play on Turn 5 with 1 mana was extreme. Being able to either hold mana up for counters, or activate tasigur, makes him a much better finisher than the clunky Gideons, Keranos, etc 5 mana finishers. I enjoyed playing this too! The black splash really didn't even hurt the man abase too much. I tried out the Reflecting Pool/Vivid lands, and they seem to work fine, my man abase doesn't even hurt me too bad. Please tell me what you think!
Not playing 10 fetches, and playing the Pools and Vivids will definitely hurt you more than the 10 correct fetches (4 Strand, 4 Tarn, 2 Delta). You also have the wrong shocks. If you want 5 shocks, you want Steam Vents, Hallowed Fountain, Sacred Foundry, Watery Grave and Blood Crypt. If you want 6, up the Steam Vents to 2. You have a bad selection of basics, and Blood Moon will wreck you absolutely. 2 basic Islands are necessary for any control deck. I'd play 4 basics, at least 2 of which are Islands, and 1 of which is a Plains.
Your spell selection is pretty good. I like all your includes, but would probably tick down Souls to 2 for fear of clunkiness. Tasigur at 2 feels pretty solid. I may also take out an Anticipate, but having it at 2 is acceptable. Don't add more than that.
Not going to talk about the sideboard because it should always be changing for the meta.
UWR Control
Legacy:
W D&T
I can't imagine running more than 8 fetches. Even at 8, I end up running out of targets in protracted games against blue decks. Plus, the life loss is ridiculous if you crack 5 or 6 against Twin. Just think about it...
It's possible 6 is correct, but this deck has issues with red mana, so if you're running Tec Edges you're probably going to need at least 8. Too many Sulfur Falls and such and you'll end up with playing them as tap lands, early.
I ran UWR a long time ago (it was the second deck I built after Storm, a couple of years ago), and I'd slowly abandoned it as the metagame became unfavorable in my area. However, yesterday was a 1K PPTQ at a store where I was told the metagame was basically 4 decks: Merfolk, Company decks of various stripes, Grixis, and a smattering of twin. This sounded like an ideal metagame for UWR, so I rebuilt it for the tournament. Here's the list I played:
3 Islands
1 Mountain
1 Plains
1 Seachrome Coast
2 Sulfur Falls
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Steam Vents
1 Sacred Foundry
3 Flooded Strand
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Celestial Colonnade
1 Tectonic Edge
1 Desolate Lighthouse
Removal
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Path to Exile
2 Lightning Helix
3 Electrolyze
1 Supreme Verdict
2 Spell Snare
1 Dispel
3 Mana Leak
1 Logic Knot
1 Remand
4 Cryptic Command
Draw
2 Serum Visions
2 Think Twice
Creatures
4 Snapcaster Mage
1 Vendilion Clique
1 Geist of Saint Traft
2 Timely Reinforcements
1 Lightning Helix
1 Anger of the Gods
1 Supreme Verdict
1 Wear // Tear
1 Counterflux
1 Dispel
1 Negate
1 Glen-Elendra Archmage
1 Vendilion Clique
1 Hallowed Moonlight
1 Keranos, God of Storms
1 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Gideon Jura
There's a couple odd choices here... The maindeck dispel is something I'd been liking in other decks recently. It's very rarely completely dead now, what with even creature decks running Collected Company. Logic Knot is a concession to the 4 maindeck Paths (trying to limit dead late-game topdecks). The Serum Visions and Think Twice was the same thing, ideally allowing for a lower land count. Finally, the Geist was an Ajani Vengeant before I last-minute audibled into the geist because I wanted something against combo decks and Twin. Onto the report!
Round 1: Bant Company
He was basically on GW splash blue for geist, though there might have been other blue cards I didn't see (unified will? Dispel?). Game one I draw 3 paths and I just kill everything he plays, eventually grinding out advantage with CCs.
SB: -1 Geist
- 1 Vendilion Clique
- 1 Remand
- 3 Mana Leak
- 1 Logic Knot
+1 Gideon
+1 Wurmcoil Engine
+1 Hallowed Moonlight
+1 Keranos
+1 Lighting Helix
+1 Supreme Verdict
+1 Anger of the gods
Game two, I mulligan to 6 and stumble, but a timely Anger of the gods exiles his board. He recovers with a Sigarda, Host of Herons, but I reply by slamming a wurmcoil, and since he sided out Paths, he can't answer it (I Snare a Qasali Pridemage in the process) and race him easily.
1-0
Round 2: Merfolk
Turn 1 Vial trumps my hand of mostly counterspells. I tread water with a bolt or two, but I just can't keep up, with a cursecatcher denying my electrolyze. I die fairly quickly.
SB:-1 Geist
- 1 Cryptic Command
- 1 Dispel
- 1 Spell Snare
- 1 Remand
- 3 Mana Leak
- 1 Logic Knot
+1 Gideon
+1 Wurmcoil Engine
+1 Hallowed Moonlight (for Master of Waves, which I saw and got crushed by game 1)
+1 Keranos
+1 Lighting Helix
+1 Supreme Verdict
+1 Anger of the gods
+1 Timely Reinforcements
+1 Wear // Tear (for potential monastery siege, Spellskite, and random value killing Spreading Seas or Aether Vial)
Game 2 and 3 go as expected in this matchup. He does get turn one vials both times, which gives him good early speed, but I bury him in spot removal and card advantage before stabilizing with a wurmcoil in game 2 and just killing him with colonnades game 3.
2-0
Round 3: Merfolk
This time the Merfolk player doesn't draw vials, and so my counterspells in game 1 are somewhat effective. He does make a mistake game 2, where he plays a Monastery Siege on Spell Pierce right before I wrathed away his board, and then he's out of gas and doesn't draw much for the rest of the game. Same SB as above.
3-0
Round 4: Amulet Bloom
I knew the guy I was playing against, and he was always on the deck, so I knew what to mulligan for. That said, I wasn't expecting a good run. We both mulligan to 6 game 1, which I expect favors me, and I Spell Snare his turn 3 summer bloom (without amulet). He eventually starts chaining titans, but 2 paths, a snapcaster and a dispel for the last Pact just take take care of them all, and then he's all out of gas.
SB: -4 Lightning Bolt
-2 Lightning Helix
-1 Supreme Verdict
+1 Gideon (better than the alternatives, though still not great)
+1 Clique
+1 Glen Elendra Archmage
+1 Negate
+1 Dispel
+1 Counterflux
+1 Wear // Tear
Game two we both just cantrip in the early turns. He goes for a big turn on turn 3 with pact of negation backup, but I have both a Leak and a Dispel and nothing happens. He eventually lands a titan with a Cavern, but I path it, dispel the next Summonner's pact, and tec Edge the cavern. Cryptic into Cryptic into Cryptic seals the game.
4-0
At this point in a tournament you could normally start drawing into top8, but apparently now judges advise that small tournaments that add on prizes to an invitation should award prizes with swiss standings, so I play on.
Round 5: Grishoalbrand
I'd heard of the deck, but never actually played against it. At the end of his turn 4, he has 4 mana up, and I decide to flashback my Think Twice. What could go wrong, right? He only has two mana... And then I died with my TT on the stack. Felt like a moron, cause I knew that could happen.
SB:-3 Lightning Bolt (I kept one in over the gideon I brought in against amulet because at least this kills the Necrotic Ooze they sometimes have, though that's a stretch... It's also a lava spike, which is sometimes relevant.)
-2 Lightning Helix
-1 Supreme Verdict
+1 Clique
+1 Glen Elendra Archmage
+1 Negate
+1 Dispel
+1 Counterflux
+1 Wear // Tear
I win game two while he stumbles slightly and I draw out of my mulligan to 6 with a very good Serum isions that shows me a dispel and a Glen. I play the glen on turn 6 with double dispel backup, and then he just can't get through the shield. Game 3 I mulligan to 6 agin, and this time he has Boseiju for his Goryo's, and he just combo's in response to my Path on his griselbrand, and I die.
4-1
At this point my breakers are excellent, so if I win this last round I'll finish second!
Round 6: Tarmo Twin
He wins game one off two dispel-backed tarmogoyf. His countermagic is just more efficient then mine that game, and so I just can't keep up.
SB: -4 Bolt (I keep the two Helixes to win the bolt-snap-bolt game)
- 1 Supreme verdict (exposes you to the combo, and there are rarely more than 1 creature in play at any given time)
- 1 Cryptic Command (too clunky)
+1 Glen
+1 Negate
+1 Dispel
+1 Counterflux
+1 Gideon
+1 Keranos
(no second V Clique because it's too weak to Electrolyze. The first is often decent to resolve a Keranos, but since they side out the combo it's all about the card advantage).
Game 2 I have the more efficient countermagic (I draw a dispel, a leak and a knot to his remand and Cryptic) and my Geist just kills him very quickly. Game three is interesting. it goes back and forth for a while, trading resources on the stack, and eventually I manage to land a Keranos, and then time is called. I'm not anywhere near dying, but he's at 9, so I start attacking with a colonnade. He thinks for a while, then taps his 4 untapped lands for a cryptic command to bounce it and draw a card. I reply with my own CC to counter his, and then he fetches... and realizes he does not have a blue source left in his deck for his dispel. He eats 4, and dies on the next turn to the colonnade while I drew additional countermagic.
5-1, good enough for 2nd after Swiss.
Quarters: Infect
He tells me he's inexperienced, and it shows... He's far too eager to cast his Might of Old Krosa without protection on his Nexi, and I just keep killing everything he plays and kill him with Snapcaster Beats.
SB: -1 electrolyze
-1 Supreme Verdict
-1 Geist
-1 Cryptic
-1 Logic Knot
-1 Remand
+1 Gideon (if it resolves, you win 99% of the time)
+1 dispel
+1 V Clique
+1 Wear // Tear
+1 Lightning Helix
+1 Anger of the Gods
Path, path, bolt, snap-bolt, Helix (always on your own turn when possible), Leak your thing, slam a gideon when you're tapped out, GG. Relatively easy matchup (especialy since I didn't see a single Wild Defiance), compounded by a newbie opponent.
Semifinals: Tarmo Twin (same opponent as round 6)
As in the Swiss, he manages to tempo me out game one with goyfs. Game two and three I resolve Geist, he can't deal with them, and I just attack for 6 every turn. Knot was especially good here in the longer, protracted games where Leak falls off, especially after pathing goyfs. It's especially good to counter his proactive plays, because while he could just pay for leak, he had to fight over the knot, and then leak turned back on.
Finals: Amulet Bloom (same opponent as round 4)
Game 1 He mulligans to six and doesn't do much. I mulligan to 5 and keep a hand with a colonnade as it's only land, a serum vision, a dispel, a path and a cryptic. My turn 2 Visions doesn't draw me a land but finds me another colonnade and another Serum Visions, which I both play the turn after. I'm starting to get out of it, and then I die.
Game two he Mulls to 6. I clique him on his third draw step, taking away his Hive mind and leaving him with a bunch of lands (including a Tolaria West), an amulet in play and one in hand. He draws summer bloom, and I die.
Sad trombone.
Good tournament overall though. I like the list I played, including the random Geist, though I don't think it's optimal. The gideon seemed like it could be a good maindeck replacement. 24 lands felt like too few, even with the serum visions, though I liked playing them in general. Knot is decent, and I'd play it again. I think Dispel is fine in the maindeck, too. It's certainly a deck I'll keep in mind in the future; I had completely given up on it for a while.
If the decks play Logic Knot I think 10 is the right number of fetches. I play more basics than most lists, so I have more targets, and I also play 3 Finks in the SB so the lifeloss doesn't matter as much to me as being more blood moon proof. I do usually have a dead fetch by turn 17 or so in the control mirror, but that's ok since the lands become irrelevant when you have 11+ in play. They actually make good discard fodder for opponents K. Commands at that point though
9 Fetches, 2 Island, 2 Plains, 1 Mountain, 2 Hallowed Fountain, 1 Sacred Foundry, 1 Steam Vents, so 9 Fetch and 9 sources you can fetch up. That's about the right ratio, even with decks running 6 or 7 fetches they rarely have more than 1 or 2 more sources than fetches. Blood moon is such a PITA I'd rather play more fetches and hit my colors more consistently as the trade off to being slightly worse on turn 15+ of control games, and losing a few percentages in the burn MU (but fetching basics is usually fine enough anyways here). YMMV though.
Having less than 8 fetches is ridiculous. We play a 3+ colour deck, so we need to be able to fetch our basic islands, or we die against Blood Moon, and to bad mana. Also, you are not required to fetch, and you can certainly leave fetches uncracked. Sometimes the game can end with 2 uncracked fetches on my side, simply because I didn't need them, or was threatening to fetch basics. I do run 6 shocks and 4 basics, but even cutting out a basic mountain and going down to 9 fetchable sources seems pretty good. Playing more fetches means more consistent mana, and each fetch you have in your deck is another shockland that you want to see.
UWR Control
Legacy:
W D&T
Here's what I've put together:
3x Path to Exile
4x Lightning Bolt
2x Spell Snare
CMC2 (13):
3x Mana Leak
2x Remand
4x Lightning Helix
4x Snapcaster Mage
CMC3 (4):
3x Electrolyze
1x Sphinx's Revelation
CMC4 (8):
3x Restoration Angel
1x Wrath of God
1x Supreme Verdict
1x Ajani Vengeant
2x Cryptic Command
1x Keranos, God of Storms
Lands (25):
4x Celestial Colonnade
4x Scalding Tarn
4x Flooded Strand
2x Steam Vents
2x Hallowed Fountain
1x Sacred Foundry
2x Tectonic Edge
1x Ghost Quarter
3x Island
1x Mountain
1x Plains
1x Dispel
2x Wear // Tear
1x Kor Firewalker
2x Rest in Peace
2x Negate
1x Counterflux
2x Molten Rain
1x Sowing Salt
1x Supreme Verdict
1x Baneslayer Angel
I'm debating about removing the 3rd Electrolyze for the 4th Path to Exile, but in my meta there is a lot of affinity, delver, elves and coco, where deal 2 divided and draw is always a nice effect, and where not burn 2 draw seems decent. Also, replaced Batterskull from SB in favor of Baneslayer Angel, as she doesn't die from Kolaghan's Command, and first strike and flying seem relevant.
I'm also thinking about sneaking 1 Hallowed Moonlight into the SB.
The Keranos mainboard looks excessive with the 3 Restos, so I'd probably sneak a V Clique in there instead.
Otherwise, looks solid. Adjust sideboard on a weekly basis.
UWR Control
Legacy:
W D&T
I face UWR/Grixis/Rug delver or burn in about 40% of my matches. Twin in around 18% and a variation of aggro CoCo/Zoo/Elves in around 15%. The remaining 27% is a mix between BGx, Rogue decks, Scapeshift (in which helix chaining can be game winning) Living End, and Tron. There is no way I'll remove a single Helix out if my metagame keeps going the aggro direction.
UWR Control
Legacy:
W D&T
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Flooded Strand
4 Celestial Colonnade
3 Island
2 Ghost Quarter
2 Steam Vents
2 Hallowed Fountain
2 Sulfur Falls
1 Plains
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Mountain
Creatures
4 Snapcaster Mage
4 Cryptic Command
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Lightning Helix
2 Hallowed Moonlight
2 Path to Exile
2 Spell Snare
2 Remand
2 Electrolyze
2 Jeskai Charm
2 Supreme Verdict
2 Ojutai's Command
2 Sphinx's Revelation
1 Anger of the Gods
1 Wrath of God
1 Assemble the Legion
1 Dragonlord Ojutai
1 Keranos, God of Storms
2 Dispel
2 Negate
2 Celestial Purge
2 Wear // Tear
2 Counterflux
Jeskai Charm was very good today, Hallowed Moonlight was subpar. Ojutai's Command was excellent and allowed me to recur dead Snaps for mega value. All the inherent life gain made it difficult for affinity and burn to finish me before I stabilized. Dragonlord Ojutai and Keranos, God of Storms took over the games I cast them in.
Level 2 in progress...
UUU Merfolk UUU
"Above the waves you may be mighty indeed, but down here you belong to me."
-Empress Galina
UBR Cruel Control UBR
"The essence of every world, every spell, and every thought is power. Nothing else matters, because nothing else exists."
-Nicol Bolas
Ojutai's Command was very useful for me. Gaining life and getting a dead snap to block and flashback spells is Value City. One game I had enough mana to cast Ojutai's Command-->get Snap--->Cast Cryptic then Revelation for 9 next turn.
You can read my tournament report here: http://mind-over-magic.com/tournament-report-monday-night-modern-10-august-2015/
Level 2 in progress...
UUU Merfolk UUU
"Above the waves you may be mighty indeed, but down here you belong to me."
-Empress Galina
UBR Cruel Control UBR
"The essence of every world, every spell, and every thought is power. Nothing else matters, because nothing else exists."
-Nicol Bolas
It's a very weird meta-call mainboard, which I don't agree with. Moonlight is definitely fine, because it cycles, but the numbers of burn-counterspells-utility are all wrong.
UWR Control
Legacy:
W D&T
Has anyone who has tried both give me feedback regarding those decks?
Thanks
Yes, I am a local area mod.WELP. GOOD LIFE CHANGES ALL HAPPEN AT ONCE AND SOME ARE MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVEPrimary Decks:
Modern: Esper Draw-Go
Legacy: RUG Lands
EDH: Sidisi turn-3 storm