This is this list I've been using, seems to wreck house. It's not uncommon for me to swing for lethal turn 4-5. Only thing it stutters on is if you meet a verdict/damnation/wrath on T4 its hard to get your footing back. Still playing around with a sideboard but a trinket mage package with pithing needle and the usual grave hate seems to work pretty good.
Modern: UUUBlue Man Group
Legacy: UWBMiracles
Edh: UUUThassa Control WWWHokori Stax GGGJolrael, Empress of Land Stompy BBBGriselbrand French List RBGShattergang(Super Villians) RWGHazezon Flicker UBRMarchesa Aggro URGMaelstom Wanderer (Maelstorm)
So this is my take on this archetype. Similar in aggression to the Standard variant but with some more value for Grand Architect.
Have you tested this or is it just theoretical? The problem I have with just porting over the standard version is that it is highly dependent on being an aggro deck. There is so much removal and high quality road blocks that I've found the deck plays better as an aggressive midrange/combo deck. Without Slate of Ancestry, you don't have the ability to combo through your deck. Now, to each his own, but I'm not sure if this is the best route to take.
This is this list I've been using, seems to wreck house. It's not uncommon for me to swing for lethal turn 4-5. Only thing it stutters on is if you meet a verdict/damnation/wrath on T4 its hard to get your footing back. Still playing around with a sideboard but a trinket mage package with pithing needle and the usual grave hate seems to work pretty good.
I might give Trinket Mage a try from my board. Besides Pithing Needle and Relic of Progenitus (and Aether Vial), what other 1 mana artifacts do you run?
I like what you are doing here, and it is quite cool. It is heavier on the wizard tribal aspect, so Voidmage is more consistent here. I am disappointed to only see one Voidmage though. What is your opinion on Thassa? Do you think that Wistful Selkie is better?
You have a lot of choices that I have been considering, such as Puresight Merrow over Kami. I do think that having some sort of removal spell would be good, so you don't lose to decks like Splintertwin: so either Snapback or Vapor Snag. I do agree with your assessment about getting blown out by Wrath effects, but that is part of the reason I like Snapback and Molten-tail Masticore. With Snapback I can bounce a Master of Waves or Grand Architect in response, and with Masticore it can regen (unless it is Wrath or Damnation) and then deal damage. Cavern of Souls does seem useful, since it can name Wizard, and work for 75% of your creatures. I would recommend running Cursecatcher over Judge's Familiar (I'll be making the switch as well), since Cursecatcher is a Wizard and they have virtually the same effect.
I tested my version in two small tournaments this week. I went 2-1 in both.
First tournament
round one: 2-1 vs infect. Game one my opponent mulls to five, infect mulligans very poorly but my opponent almost won but made a misplay. No sideboard change. Game two he just kills me fast. Game three i stabilize at high poison count and just spellstutter sprite + crystal shard lock him.
round two, 2-0 vs affinity. Game one i overwhelm my opponent with architect + master of waves. I side in annuls for game two. Game two my opponent is unlucky and draws few mana. Thorn of amethyst prevent him from playing his stuff and crystal shards of bouncing threats. The game go long by i grind him out
Round three, 1-2 vs mono green aggro (not devotion). Game one takes a long time, my opponent play big threats but i manage to survive with a low life total, bouncing my blockers with crystal shards. Then he draws ulvenwald tracker and start killing my blockers. Game two (no side) i win very quickly with lots of devotion and master of waves. There's like 1 minutes left on the clock as we proceed to game 3 and my opponent starts with experiment one into triple calonian tusker and rancor, killing me fast because i miss my third and fourth turn land drops.
Second tournament
round one vs living end, 2-0. A very good matchup, my taxing cards are very effective because they add one mana to the cascade spell and one mana to cascaded living end. Spellstutter sprite also counters living end, easy round, not much to say.
round two vs r/g tron 0-2. Game one goes long, i manage to control my opponent's first wurmcoils and karns but oblivion stone ruins my day. I side in 4 spreading seas for game 2. Game two i spreading seas a tron piece hoping for the best but it turns out my opponent had a natural tron + a map so he assembles tron turn 4. I manage to beat his first karn but he evetually draws emrakul. I pestermite + crystal shard lock the big guy for some time. I draw a tec edge and a spreading seas far too late, and again oblivion stone appears the turn before i would have done lethal. Then my opponent casts wurmcoil and i scoop, with no board and no cards in hand.
Round three vs mill, 2-1. Game one goes well, i overwhelm my opponent with aggro before he can mill me. Game two my opponent races me with milling. He surgical extract master of waves in response to my 4 counter vial activation, stripping me of my only hope and wins. Game three i spam the board with thorn of amethyst and counter lock stuff with sprite + crystal shard. He wins tons of life with crypt incursion and slows me down with ashioks but i eventually lock the board and beat face with flying 1/1s for the win.
I'm pretty satisfied with the deck, it has a good game against spells.dec but the creature matchups could be improved. This is why i'm adding a few vedalken shackles and more islands instead of conclaves to the deck.
After some more thinking i decided i want to improve my aggro, so i'm adding 2x signal pest. I often find myself attacking with a bunch of 1/1s and 2/1s so pest can help finish the game faster. It also works well with ninjas and colorless lands. New list:
I'm also thinking of getting a one-of vendilion clique, she has nice stats, double blue devotion and with all the bounce i can get rid of annoying creatures for good.
Sorry for the bad typing but ipads suck for posting.
as far as cursecatchers go, i would run them if i had them. i run 2 other voidmages side as well. now the interesting parts, the selkies have completely overperfored in every way shape and form. they replace themselves, make master put 6 more power on the board with no help, and can counter things in a pinch with voidmage. in a devotion build, 4 off, no questions asked. casting one means nykthos is online too, which is a plus as well. thassa is good, but running 3 slates, 4 sages, and 4 selkies just make her seem slow if that makes any sense. one thing thats been super odd but very effective vs boardwipe.dec is... drum roll please.... orochi hatchery. yes, i said it. orochi hatchery can put incredible pressure on anyone who lets it resolve. it can be tutored for with trinket mage, be ramped into hard with architect, feeds monument and slate, and makes your board crazy unchecked.
Modern: UUUBlue Man Group
Legacy: UWBMiracles
Edh: UUUThassa Control WWWHokori Stax GGGJolrael, Empress of Land Stompy BBBGriselbrand French List RBGShattergang(Super Villians) RWGHazezon Flicker UBRMarchesa Aggro URGMaelstom Wanderer (Maelstorm)
Also about puresight merrow. Dear lord I love that fish. With architect out the amount of digging you can do is insane. It translates to:
Tap puresight merrow, get two artifact mana. Tap a blue, untap merrow, look at top card. If you don't want it, exile it. Rinse and repeat. He works as a filter and like an artifact mana caged sun for your islands.
If you really feel degenerate like I do sometimes, I'll side out a slate or two for Azami. He then turns every blue into scry 1 and draw a card
Modern: UUUBlue Man Group
Legacy: UWBMiracles
Edh: UUUThassa Control WWWHokori Stax GGGJolrael, Empress of Land Stompy BBBGriselbrand French List RBGShattergang(Super Villians) RWGHazezon Flicker UBRMarchesa Aggro URGMaelstom Wanderer (Maelstorm)
eventually you guys are going to have built merfolk, what makes a list like this actually better? What matchups that merfolk suffers from are you trying to resolve?
Wow, this thread became a lot more active recently. Awesome. I'll work on updating the primer inlight of recent posts.
@kaelfros: I really like what you have going there. The wizard tribal aspect really helps pull the deck around a specific theme. Unfortunately, the only wizard matters card that makes it worth it is Voidmage, but I do agree that it is worth pushing wizards whenever possible, since most good blue creatures are wizards.
That being said, I don't think the best blue wizard, Snapcaster Mage, belongs in this deck. The only spells you can flashback are Remand and Cryptic, which are both counterspells, which Voidmage can handle pretty well himself. So there should rarely be a time where you need both Voidmage and Cryptic/Remand. I would probably cut them for an extra Thassa and another Bident. I always enjoy having a Thassa out, but it gets annoying when you have both her and Kira on the field.
Also, why no Nykthos? I didn't know about Minamo, but it seems insane if combined with Nykthos. Also, I think Meddling mage would be a good sideboard card for you instead of Aetherling.
@theonecalledrune: I understand about iPads. I pretty much built the primer from my iPad, I know how rough it is. I was more of mentioning the Cursecatcher thing as a long term goal or if you had them available. I'm in a similar situation, so I don't know how quickly I'll be getting them. I was just recognizing that Cursecatcher is better for this deck than Judge's Familiar beause of Voidmage Prodigy.
@BatHickey: Not really. I've played Merfolk, I know the feel of Merfolk, and no, this is not merfolk. There appears to be two styles forming, which I completely support: the more aggro style that is similar to the Standard Variation but with the ability to play a greater variety of creatures (ie better creatures) and the more combo style that relies on abusing the interaction between Grand Architect and Master of Waves. Merfolk is either an aggro deck or a tempo deck; you may be focusing on the aggro aspect of this deck which is very reminiscent of merfolk. But the gameplan has different goals. If anything this deck is developing into wizard tribal.
So, I played at my LGS's modern tournament yesterday. I went 2-2. I lost vs Junk midange and Doran aggro, and I beat RG Tron and Mono-green Devotion. I was running the list that is posted in the OP.
Junk Midrange (1-2): I have played this guy several times and he is a really good player (he wound up making Top 4). I usually win, but he did make some changes to his deck that may have helped him out. In the match, he landed Torper Orb games 2 and 3, so that greatly aided him to victory.
Mono-green Devotion (2-0): Game 1, he leads with 3x Arbor Elf and Primal Commands one of my lands while tutoring. I do get out a Voidmage Prodigy, so I let him do his thing while I countered the really important cards. Eventually, he just ran out of gas and I was able to win with Voidmage beatdown. Game 2, I land a Pithing Needle turn 1 on Arbor Elf, and that was pretty much the game.
RG Tron (2-0): This usually feels like a bad matchup, but I got exceptionally lucky. Game 1 he had really good things to play off of Tron, but he took too long to get them out. Turn 3 I played Grand Architect into Phyrexian Metamorph into Phyrexian Metamorph with an Omenspeaker already out which gave me 13 power. So I went the aggro route to kill him. Game 2, I was able to Slate of Ancestry into Slate of Ancestry into a Mindslaver lock to kill him.
Doran Midrange (0-2): I have a bad matchup vs this guy, and the games played out that way. Game 1, I couldn't really get going and game 2, it was more of the same.
Got with some friends last night and ran the deck over and over. Started out a little rough, but once I took all the 6 drops out (except a lone wurmcoil engine) it started to win consistently. I found that using a lot of one and two drops and flooding the field for master of waves was more successful than bothering with slate of ancestory, nykthos, shrine to nyx, and all of the counters I was using. Has anyone else found that it's a better deck just keeping it simple with a ton of creatures, while using kira, great glass spinner and voidmage prodigy as natural counters? I'm down to not using any artifacts except the lone wurmcoil and two spellskite. Grand Architect seems to do enough without trying to abuse his artifact abilities. I do play solely casual however. This might not be the best strategy against other established decks, but against my friends' decks it worked best just to get as much U devotion out as possible then drop master and a phantasmal image back to back for the win.
For the people who don't follow mtgo DEs, retired grinder xMiMx came up with his own varient of the deck as a fun exercise and placed in 2 posted DEs. If you're on twitter, I'd suggest you follow him as well.
He placed with this and another time +1 sygg, -1 forked bolt.
I included Thassa as a creature considering what the board will look like 95% of the time she's played. Her scry ability (and Omenspeaker's) are really important as getting and playing a Master of Waves is essential to winning.
EDIT: changed it up, added Jace's Archivist and 2 nykthos.
I included Thassa as a creature considering what the board will look like 95% of the time she's played. Her scry ability (and Omenspeaker's) are really important as getting and playing a Master of Waves is essential to winning.
Why are you playing Nivmagus Elemental? You are running almost no instants or sorceries.
Why are you playing Nicmagus Elemental? You are running almost no instants or sorceries.
lack of cards that I own? I figure at the least they're elementals so they get a boost from master of waves. Was thinking of switching them out for a couple Jace's Archivist. I use up my hand quickly with so many small creatures, and can replenish via his ability, and he's a wizard to use w/ voidmage. Also get an extra U devotion. what do you think?
The lack of useful cards for this deck in BNG is diappointing. In some of the more aggro versions, Thassa's Rebuff may be worh considering, but I personally feel like Voidmage Prodigy or Mana Leak would be better.
@ SabresEdge: The reason you run Jace's Archivist is th reason I run Slate of Ancestry. In addition, I feel lik Slate is easier to use and protect and has the potential to draw more cards. While slate looks more expensive, Grand Architect facilitates the majority of the cost and allows it to be a key factor when he deck "goes off". Now, if you don't run them because you don't have them, I completely understand. I was just giving my 2 cents.
I do agree with your assement on not relying heavily on artifacts, though I feel like having 6-7 midcost artifacts is the best route to take, since hey are cheap enough that you can play hem naturally, but you can really start abusing them with Grand Architect. What I found is that the deck relies on different strategies in different matchps. Against midrange and aggro, it is very comboy; against control, it is very aggro; and against combo, it is very controlling.
I know that I haven't yet adjusted the primer to reflect the main two game strategies, but I'm still working on it. I expect to have the primer ready to go by the release of BNG.
The lack of useful cards for this deck in BNG is diappointing. In some of the more aggro versions, Thassa's Rebuff may be worh considering, but I personally feel like Voidmage Prodigy or Mana Leak would be better.
@ SabresEdge: The reason you run Jace's Archivist is th reason I run Slate of Ancestry. In addition, I feel lik Slate is easier to use and protect and has the potential to draw more cards. While slate looks more expensive, Grand Architect facilitates the majority of the cost and allows it to be a key factor when he deck "goes off". Now, if you don't run them because you don't have them, I completely understand. I was just giving my 2 cents.
I do agree with your assement on not relying heavily on artifacts, though I feel like having 6-7 midcost artifacts is the best route to take, since hey are cheap enough that you can play hem naturally, but you can really start abusing them with Grand Architect. What I found is that the deck relies on different strategies in different matchps. Against midrange and aggro, it is very comboy; against control, it is very aggro; and against combo, it is very controlling.
I know that I haven't yet adjusted the primer to reflect the main two game strategies, but I'm still working on it. I expect to have the primer ready to go by the release of BNG.
thanks for the info, artifacts definitely work great with grand architect, I just prefer to use blue cards to have the extra devotion for MoW and Nykthos. I may add a 2nd wurmcoil engine though, and free spellskites are always nice I found that 2 in the main deck with 2 sideboarded works best for me. Can't wait to see the updated primers, thanks for keeping this really fun deck idea going.
added a second wurmcoil engine and a fourth cyclonic rift, put both sleep in my sideboard for creature heavy decks. This deck has gotten more consistent wins than my B/W token deck, which is considered "established," not to mention it's a boat load of fun.
I keep eyeballing crackleburr as a way to abuse the daylights out of architect, but at the end of the day i think its just better to keep the shenanigans to a minimum and either go straight aggro, pump out a wurmcoil, or just slate yourself so far ahead your opponent cannot recover. One of the things ive found out playing and tuning this deck is that the if you activate a slate for 4 or more, you will just win, and if you drop an eldrazi monument, you will win right there on the spot 99% of the time. Im currently running 2 monuments, 2 slates, 3 metamorphs main as my architect targets, and wurmcoils are sided for burn/aggro. Also 4 voidmages are a must, cannot stress how many games that I've won off of just locking someone out forever.
Modern: UUUBlue Man Group
Legacy: UWBMiracles
Edh: UUUThassa Control WWWHokori Stax GGGJolrael, Empress of Land Stompy BBBGriselbrand French List RBGShattergang(Super Villians) RWGHazezon Flicker UBRMarchesa Aggro URGMaelstom Wanderer (Maelstorm)
I know it was talked about briefly earlier in the thread, but does anyone think it's worth it to use a 1 or 2 of Akroma's Memorial, seeing that I use a creature heavy version of this deck? I would imagine I should at least have it sideboard?
i played with 1memorial side, and 1 main. From all the matches i've played, eldrazi monument is undoubtedly better. you often win on the spot from the anthem/flying, while the indestructibility is hardly irrelevant, like blocking a wurmcoil forever with a cursecatcher, which i've done until i could stabilize. The sacrifice effect is hardly noticeable once you hit a master of waves as well.
Modern: UUUBlue Man Group
Legacy: UWBMiracles
Edh: UUUThassa Control WWWHokori Stax GGGJolrael, Empress of Land Stompy BBBGriselbrand French List RBGShattergang(Super Villians) RWGHazezon Flicker UBRMarchesa Aggro URGMaelstom Wanderer (Maelstorm)
I keep eyeballing crackleburr as a way to abuse the daylights out of architect, but at the end of the day i think its just better to keep the shenanigans to a minimum and either go straight aggro, pump out a wurmcoil, or just slate yourself so far ahead your opponent cannot recover. One of the things ive found out playing and tuning this deck is that the if you activate a slate for 4 or more, you will just win, and if you drop an eldrazi monument, you will win right there on the spot 99% of the time. Im currently running 2 monuments, 2 slates, 3 metamorphs main as my architect targets, and wurmcoils are sided for burn/aggro. Also 4 voidmages are a must, cannot stress how many games that I've won off of just locking someone out forever.
I think this is a great analysis of for how to run this deck. Even though it has intriguing shenanigan cards, it works best when you focus on doing one of the two really powerful things that it can do: being really aggro or pumping out artifacts. I prefer the version that builds off of Slate of Ancestry and other cheap artifacts, since it can sometimes fall back to an aggro plan, but the focused aggro deck does have some advantages, mainly in being slightly more consistent, though a little less explosive and worse late-game. I also agree with your point on Voidmage Prodigy. As I play more and more with the deck, the more Voidmage shows how valuable it is in the deck; and even though the ability isn't great in multiples, consistently having the ability available has been invaluable. I also think that Aether Vial needs to be a 4-of because it plays so well with our Voidmage Prodigies.
The original reason for running Akroma's Memorial was to give the deck a card it could eventually draw into with Slate of Ancestry to win the game on the turn you combo out. I cut it because I found Molten-tail Masticore to do that same thing but was easier to play with and it is occassionaly good as a solid body like Thrun. Eldrazi Monument is a good card for tnis deck; I don't run it because I had a few too many clunky cards without Grand Architect for my liking, but it was always good whenever I could play it.
I am still working on getting the primer together. I've just been a little busy and I wanted to make sure the decks I put there performed well. Speaking of which, theonecalleddrune, do you mind posting an updated decklist?
This is what i've had the most success with. Notably i would add another misty and clique if i had them. I usually side out wurmcoils vs control and side in kira and another monument, vs any grave based deck i side in trinket mages and relics/grafdiggers, vs tron i side in my own mindslaver/pithing needles. The deck works well, i just feel we need a monoblue version of elvish visionary to make the deck just rock. Hopefully if they do print one it will cost UU
Modern: UUUBlue Man Group
Legacy: UWBMiracles
Edh: UUUThassa Control WWWHokori Stax GGGJolrael, Empress of Land Stompy BBBGriselbrand French List RBGShattergang(Super Villians) RWGHazezon Flicker UBRMarchesa Aggro URGMaelstom Wanderer (Maelstorm)
This very well might be overthinking it, but is blightsteel colossus feasible as a one-of in this creature heavy deck with grand architect?? thassa would easily make him unblockable, which is insta-win.
Hey everyone. So ive been playing this deck a lot lately with fairly decent results. Ill post my list sometime this weekend. I don't know if it's been mentioned yet, but hibernation seems like a really strong sideboard card against pod, boggles and some nacatl decks. Just saying
Standard Mardu Midrange Modern 4 Colour Delver, Naya Midrange CommanderSidisi 1v1, Sliver Overlord, Intet the Dreamer, Mayael the Anima (shameless plug http://youtu.be/4zu4QRvGSo8)
Alright, so lets say your commander is Riku of Two Reflections. Combo commander, to be sure, but lets push this into the realm of absurd. You cast Palinchron and do your Riku thing to make infinite mana because we're going to need it. Forget about your extra Palinchron tokens. A million flying 4/5s is boring. So now you cast Enter the Infinite, because drawing your deck is important. Follow it up with a Obstinate Familiar because not decking yourself is equally important. Laboratory Maniac could work here too, but we're gonna go some more levels deep. Cast a Greater Good because we want a tasteful sac outlet. Follow this up with Parallel Lives, Doubling Season,Copy Enchantment, Clever Impersonator, Mycosynth Latice, Phyrexian Metamorph, and Copy Artifact giving you 6 double token effects. Here's where it gets fun now. Cast a Reef Worm. Sac it to greater good and get 256 Fish, which you sac to get 65,536 whales, which you sac to get 16,777,216 Krakens. Are we done yet? Nope! Cast Thromok the Insatiable, devouring all your krakens to make a 281,474,976,710,656/281,474,976,710,656 Thromok. Where do we go from here though? Let your opponent cast Death Mutation on him! Why, that's 7.20575940x10^16 tokens! Good thing we have Body Double to make another Thromok the Insatiable who will be a 5.19229686x10^33/5.19229686x10^33! Seems big enough, but not for us! Since we're red anyways, lets cast a Furnace of Rath, Dictate of the Twin Gods, and a Fire Servant! Now it's time to Fling your guy, dealing a spicy 4.15383749x10^34 damage to your opponent. To put that in perspective, there are an estimated 3x10^23 stars in the known universe. You dealt more damage than there are stars. That'll give your opponent something to think about. PROTIP: Dodge Spellskite decks
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
4 grand architect
4 master of waves
4 puresight merrow
4 sage of epityr
4 wistful selkie
3 phyrexian metamorph
2 wurmcoil engine
1 voidmage prodigy
3 slate of ancestry
2 eldrazi monument
3 misty rainforest
4 cavern of souls
3 nykthos, shrine to nyx
1 academy ruins
10 islands
This is this list I've been using, seems to wreck house. It's not uncommon for me to swing for lethal turn 4-5. Only thing it stutters on is if you meet a verdict/damnation/wrath on T4 its hard to get your footing back. Still playing around with a sideboard but a trinket mage package with pithing needle and the usual grave hate seems to work pretty good.
Draft it Here!
UUUBlue Man Group
Legacy:
UWBMiracles
Edh:
UUUThassa Control
WWWHokori Stax
GGGJolrael, Empress of Land Stompy
BBBGriselbrand French List
RBGShattergang(Super Villians)
RWGHazezon Flicker
UBRMarchesa Aggro
URGMaelstom Wanderer (Maelstorm)
Have you tested this or is it just theoretical? The problem I have with just porting over the standard version is that it is highly dependent on being an aggro deck. There is so much removal and high quality road blocks that I've found the deck plays better as an aggressive midrange/combo deck. Without Slate of Ancestry, you don't have the ability to combo through your deck. Now, to each his own, but I'm not sure if this is the best route to take.
I might give Trinket Mage a try from my board. Besides Pithing Needle and Relic of Progenitus (and Aether Vial), what other 1 mana artifacts do you run?
I like what you are doing here, and it is quite cool. It is heavier on the wizard tribal aspect, so Voidmage is more consistent here. I am disappointed to only see one Voidmage though. What is your opinion on Thassa? Do you think that Wistful Selkie is better?
You have a lot of choices that I have been considering, such as Puresight Merrow over Kami. I do think that having some sort of removal spell would be good, so you don't lose to decks like Splintertwin: so either Snapback or Vapor Snag. I do agree with your assessment about getting blown out by Wrath effects, but that is part of the reason I like Snapback and Molten-tail Masticore. With Snapback I can bounce a Master of Waves or Grand Architect in response, and with Masticore it can regen (unless it is Wrath or Damnation) and then deal damage. Cavern of Souls does seem useful, since it can name Wizard, and work for 75% of your creatures. I would recommend running Cursecatcher over Judge's Familiar (I'll be making the switch as well), since Cursecatcher is a Wizard and they have virtually the same effect.
First tournament
round one: 2-1 vs infect. Game one my opponent mulls to five, infect mulligans very poorly but my opponent almost won but made a misplay. No sideboard change. Game two he just kills me fast. Game three i stabilize at high poison count and just spellstutter sprite + crystal shard lock him.
round two, 2-0 vs affinity. Game one i overwhelm my opponent with architect + master of waves. I side in annuls for game two. Game two my opponent is unlucky and draws few mana. Thorn of amethyst prevent him from playing his stuff and crystal shards of bouncing threats. The game go long by i grind him out
Round three, 1-2 vs mono green aggro (not devotion). Game one takes a long time, my opponent play big threats but i manage to survive with a low life total, bouncing my blockers with crystal shards. Then he draws ulvenwald tracker and start killing my blockers. Game two (no side) i win very quickly with lots of devotion and master of waves. There's like 1 minutes left on the clock as we proceed to game 3 and my opponent starts with experiment one into triple calonian tusker and rancor, killing me fast because i miss my third and fourth turn land drops.
Second tournament
round one vs living end, 2-0. A very good matchup, my taxing cards are very effective because they add one mana to the cascade spell and one mana to cascaded living end. Spellstutter sprite also counters living end, easy round, not much to say.
round two vs r/g tron 0-2. Game one goes long, i manage to control my opponent's first wurmcoils and karns but oblivion stone ruins my day. I side in 4 spreading seas for game 2. Game two i spreading seas a tron piece hoping for the best but it turns out my opponent had a natural tron + a map so he assembles tron turn 4. I manage to beat his first karn but he evetually draws emrakul. I pestermite + crystal shard lock the big guy for some time. I draw a tec edge and a spreading seas far too late, and again oblivion stone appears the turn before i would have done lethal. Then my opponent casts wurmcoil and i scoop, with no board and no cards in hand.
Round three vs mill, 2-1. Game one goes well, i overwhelm my opponent with aggro before he can mill me. Game two my opponent races me with milling. He surgical extract master of waves in response to my 4 counter vial activation, stripping me of my only hope and wins. Game three i spam the board with thorn of amethyst and counter lock stuff with sprite + crystal shard. He wins tons of life with crypt incursion and slows me down with ashioks but i eventually lock the board and beat face with flying 1/1s for the win.
I'm pretty satisfied with the deck, it has a good game against spells.dec but the creature matchups could be improved. This is why i'm adding a few vedalken shackles and more islands instead of conclaves to the deck.
My current list:
2 faerie impostor
4 judge's familiar
4 spellstutter sprite
4 grand architect
2 mistblade shinobi
2 pestermite
1 thassa, god of the sea
1 phyrexian metamorph
2 master of waves
2 lodestone golem
1 venser, shaper savant
2 ninja of the deep hours
4 aether vial
3 thorn of amethyst
2 crystal shard
2 vedalken shackles
lands: 22
4 mutavault
4 tectonic edge
14 island
4 pithing needle
4 spreading seas
4 steel sabotage
2 trinket mage
1 grafdigger's cage
EDIT: new sideboard added, steel sabotage because we need an answer to torpor orb game 2.
2 signal pest
2 faerie impostor
4 judge's familiar
4 spellstutter sprite
4 grand architect
2 mistblade shinobi
2 pestermite
1 thassa, god of the sea
1 phyrexian metamorph
2 master of waves
2 lodestone golem
1 venser, shaper savant
4 aether vial
3 thorn of amethyst
2 crystal shard
2 vedalken shackles
lands: 22
4 mutavault
4 tectonic edge
14 island
4 pithing needle
4 spreading seas
4 steel sabotage
2 trinket mage
1 grafdigger's cage
I'm also thinking of getting a one-of vendilion clique, she has nice stats, double blue devotion and with all the bounce i can get rid of annoying creatures for good.
as far as cursecatchers go, i would run them if i had them. i run 2 other voidmages side as well. now the interesting parts, the selkies have completely overperfored in every way shape and form. they replace themselves, make master put 6 more power on the board with no help, and can counter things in a pinch with voidmage. in a devotion build, 4 off, no questions asked. casting one means nykthos is online too, which is a plus as well. thassa is good, but running 3 slates, 4 sages, and 4 selkies just make her seem slow if that makes any sense. one thing thats been super odd but very effective vs boardwipe.dec is... drum roll please.... orochi hatchery. yes, i said it. orochi hatchery can put incredible pressure on anyone who lets it resolve. it can be tutored for with trinket mage, be ramped into hard with architect, feeds monument and slate, and makes your board crazy unchecked.
Draft it Here!
UUUBlue Man Group
Legacy:
UWBMiracles
Edh:
UUUThassa Control
WWWHokori Stax
GGGJolrael, Empress of Land Stompy
BBBGriselbrand French List
RBGShattergang(Super Villians)
RWGHazezon Flicker
UBRMarchesa Aggro
URGMaelstom Wanderer (Maelstorm)
Tap puresight merrow, get two artifact mana. Tap a blue, untap merrow, look at top card. If you don't want it, exile it. Rinse and repeat. He works as a filter and like an artifact mana caged sun for your islands.
If you really feel degenerate like I do sometimes, I'll side out a slate or two for Azami. He then turns every blue into scry 1 and draw a card
Draft it Here!
UUUBlue Man Group
Legacy:
UWBMiracles
Edh:
UUUThassa Control
WWWHokori Stax
GGGJolrael, Empress of Land Stompy
BBBGriselbrand French List
RBGShattergang(Super Villians)
RWGHazezon Flicker
UBRMarchesa Aggro
URGMaelstom Wanderer (Maelstorm)
@kaelfros: I really like what you have going there. The wizard tribal aspect really helps pull the deck around a specific theme. Unfortunately, the only wizard matters card that makes it worth it is Voidmage, but I do agree that it is worth pushing wizards whenever possible, since most good blue creatures are wizards.
That being said, I don't think the best blue wizard, Snapcaster Mage, belongs in this deck. The only spells you can flashback are Remand and Cryptic, which are both counterspells, which Voidmage can handle pretty well himself. So there should rarely be a time where you need both Voidmage and Cryptic/Remand. I would probably cut them for an extra Thassa and another Bident. I always enjoy having a Thassa out, but it gets annoying when you have both her and Kira on the field.
Also, why no Nykthos? I didn't know about Minamo, but it seems insane if combined with Nykthos. Also, I think Meddling mage would be a good sideboard card for you instead of Aetherling.
@theonecalledrune: I understand about iPads. I pretty much built the primer from my iPad, I know how rough it is. I was more of mentioning the Cursecatcher thing as a long term goal or if you had them available. I'm in a similar situation, so I don't know how quickly I'll be getting them. I was just recognizing that Cursecatcher is better for this deck than Judge's Familiar beause of Voidmage Prodigy.
@BatHickey: Not really. I've played Merfolk, I know the feel of Merfolk, and no, this is not merfolk. There appears to be two styles forming, which I completely support: the more aggro style that is similar to the Standard Variation but with the ability to play a greater variety of creatures (ie better creatures) and the more combo style that relies on abusing the interaction between Grand Architect and Master of Waves. Merfolk is either an aggro deck or a tempo deck; you may be focusing on the aggro aspect of this deck which is very reminiscent of merfolk. But the gameplan has different goals. If anything this deck is developing into wizard tribal.
Junk Midrange (1-2): I have played this guy several times and he is a really good player (he wound up making Top 4). I usually win, but he did make some changes to his deck that may have helped him out. In the match, he landed Torper Orb games 2 and 3, so that greatly aided him to victory.
Mono-green Devotion (2-0): Game 1, he leads with 3x Arbor Elf and Primal Commands one of my lands while tutoring. I do get out a Voidmage Prodigy, so I let him do his thing while I countered the really important cards. Eventually, he just ran out of gas and I was able to win with Voidmage beatdown. Game 2, I land a Pithing Needle turn 1 on Arbor Elf, and that was pretty much the game.
RG Tron (2-0): This usually feels like a bad matchup, but I got exceptionally lucky. Game 1 he had really good things to play off of Tron, but he took too long to get them out. Turn 3 I played Grand Architect into Phyrexian Metamorph into Phyrexian Metamorph with an Omenspeaker already out which gave me 13 power. So I went the aggro route to kill him. Game 2, I was able to Slate of Ancestry into Slate of Ancestry into a Mindslaver lock to kill him.
Doran Midrange (0-2): I have a bad matchup vs this guy, and the games played out that way. Game 1, I couldn't really get going and game 2, it was more of the same.
He placed with this and another time +1 sygg, -1 forked bolt.
4 Cursecatcher
4 Coralhelm Commander
3 Silvergill Adept
4 Grand Architect
2 Kira, Great Glass-Spinner
4 Master of Waves
2 Wurmcoil Engine
Spells:15
4 AEther Vial
1 Forked Bolt
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Izzet Charm
4 Spreading Seas
11 Island
2 Mutavault
4 Shivan Reef
4 Steam Vents
2 Sulfur Falls
1 Swan Song
3 Vandalblast
2 Deprive
3 Pyroclasm
2 Spellskite
3 Blood Moon
1 Wurmcoil Engine
3 Judge's Familiar
4 Sage of Epityr
4 Omenspeaker
3 Phantasmal Image
4 Voidmage Prodigy
2 Jace's Archivist
2 Kira, Great Glass-Spinner
2 Spellskite
4 Grand Architect
2 Thassa, God of the Sea
4 Master of Waves
1 Wurmcoil Engine
2 Sleep
3 Cyclonic Rift
Lands: 20
18: Island
2 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
I included Thassa as a creature considering what the board will look like 95% of the time she's played. Her scry ability (and Omenspeaker's) are really important as getting and playing a Master of Waves is essential to winning.
EDIT: changed it up, added Jace's Archivist and 2 nykthos.
Why are you playing Nivmagus Elemental? You are running almost no instants or sorceries.
Storm Crow is strictly worse than Seacoast Drake.
lack of cards that I own? I figure at the least they're elementals so they get a boost from master of waves. Was thinking of switching them out for a couple Jace's Archivist. I use up my hand quickly with so many small creatures, and can replenish via his ability, and he's a wizard to use w/ voidmage. Also get an extra U devotion. what do you think?
@ SabresEdge: The reason you run Jace's Archivist is th reason I run Slate of Ancestry. In addition, I feel lik Slate is easier to use and protect and has the potential to draw more cards. While slate looks more expensive, Grand Architect facilitates the majority of the cost and allows it to be a key factor when he deck "goes off". Now, if you don't run them because you don't have them, I completely understand. I was just giving my 2 cents.
I do agree with your assement on not relying heavily on artifacts, though I feel like having 6-7 midcost artifacts is the best route to take, since hey are cheap enough that you can play hem naturally, but you can really start abusing them with Grand Architect. What I found is that the deck relies on different strategies in different matchps. Against midrange and aggro, it is very comboy; against control, it is very aggro; and against combo, it is very controlling.
I know that I haven't yet adjusted the primer to reflect the main two game strategies, but I'm still working on it. I expect to have the primer ready to go by the release of BNG.
Pioneer:UR Pheonix
Modern:U Mono U Tron
EDH
GB Glissa, the traitor: Army of Cans
UW Dragonlord Ojutai: Dragonlord NOjutai
UWGDerevi, Empyrial Tactician "you cannot fight the storm"
R Zirilan of the claw. The solution to every problem is dragons
UB Etrata, the Silencer Cloning assassination
Peasant cube: Cards I own
thanks for the info, artifacts definitely work great with grand architect, I just prefer to use blue cards to have the extra devotion for MoW and Nykthos. I may add a 2nd wurmcoil engine though, and free spellskites are always nice I found that 2 in the main deck with 2 sideboarded works best for me. Can't wait to see the updated primers, thanks for keeping this really fun deck idea going.
Draft it Here!
UUUBlue Man Group
Legacy:
UWBMiracles
Edh:
UUUThassa Control
WWWHokori Stax
GGGJolrael, Empress of Land Stompy
BBBGriselbrand French List
RBGShattergang(Super Villians)
RWGHazezon Flicker
UBRMarchesa Aggro
URGMaelstom Wanderer (Maelstorm)
Draft it Here!
UUUBlue Man Group
Legacy:
UWBMiracles
Edh:
UUUThassa Control
WWWHokori Stax
GGGJolrael, Empress of Land Stompy
BBBGriselbrand French List
RBGShattergang(Super Villians)
RWGHazezon Flicker
UBRMarchesa Aggro
URGMaelstom Wanderer (Maelstorm)
I think this is a great analysis of for how to run this deck. Even though it has intriguing shenanigan cards, it works best when you focus on doing one of the two really powerful things that it can do: being really aggro or pumping out artifacts. I prefer the version that builds off of Slate of Ancestry and other cheap artifacts, since it can sometimes fall back to an aggro plan, but the focused aggro deck does have some advantages, mainly in being slightly more consistent, though a little less explosive and worse late-game. I also agree with your point on Voidmage Prodigy. As I play more and more with the deck, the more Voidmage shows how valuable it is in the deck; and even though the ability isn't great in multiples, consistently having the ability available has been invaluable. I also think that Aether Vial needs to be a 4-of because it plays so well with our Voidmage Prodigies.
The original reason for running Akroma's Memorial was to give the deck a card it could eventually draw into with Slate of Ancestry to win the game on the turn you combo out. I cut it because I found Molten-tail Masticore to do that same thing but was easier to play with and it is occassionaly good as a solid body like Thrun. Eldrazi Monument is a good card for tnis deck; I don't run it because I had a few too many clunky cards without Grand Architect for my liking, but it was always good whenever I could play it.
I am still working on getting the primer together. I've just been a little busy and I wanted to make sure the decks I put there performed well. Speaking of which, theonecalleddrune, do you mind posting an updated decklist?
4 sage of epityr
4 cursecatcher
4 voidmage prodigy
3 spellstutter sprite
1 vendilion clique
4 grand architect
4 master of waves
3 phyrexian metamorph
3 slate of ancestry
2 eldrazi monument
2 wurmcoil engine
4 cavern of souls
3 misty rainforest
3 nykthos, shrine to nyx
1 academy ruins
11 island
This is what i've had the most success with. Notably i would add another misty and clique if i had them. I usually side out wurmcoils vs control and side in kira and another monument, vs any grave based deck i side in trinket mages and relics/grafdiggers, vs tron i side in my own mindslaver/pithing needles. The deck works well, i just feel we need a monoblue version of elvish visionary to make the deck just rock. Hopefully if they do print one it will cost UU
Draft it Here!
UUUBlue Man Group
Legacy:
UWBMiracles
Edh:
UUUThassa Control
WWWHokori Stax
GGGJolrael, Empress of Land Stompy
BBBGriselbrand French List
RBGShattergang(Super Villians)
RWGHazezon Flicker
UBRMarchesa Aggro
URGMaelstom Wanderer (Maelstorm)
Standard Mardu Midrange
Modern 4 Colour Delver, Naya Midrange
CommanderSidisi 1v1, Sliver Overlord, Intet the Dreamer, Mayael the Anima (shameless plug http://youtu.be/4zu4QRvGSo8)