What do you guys think of Surgical Extraction as graveyard hate? Good against Eternal Witness decks, Griselbrand decks, Emrakul decks, etc. I still use Stonecloaker, it's a bit slower but I like that it's repeatable. Probably gonna switch to surgical since I'm not running restos and walls anymore and with the Nahiri build I usually fewer lands out.
Extraction effects are always bad unless you can consistently get something into their graveyard and you extract from their hand too.
I was probably the biggest supporter of AV but I have cooled down on it as well. I still think it is a powerful card that is worth running but it is also incredibly slow in the current meta, so I'm on the fence
I don't get why people say it's slow in this meta. Are many of you getting killed before the fifth turn often? I can't remember more than maybe 4-5 games out of last 100 where I was dead so quick. The deck is all permission and removal plus lifegain. How are you guys dying so quickly?
If everything goes perfect and you get that turn 1 suspend then AV is unmatchably powerful in this deck. But if you have to suspend it turn 2 it becomes awkward as you can't hold up countermagic so you have to either delay your draw 3 to turn 7 or be shields down for a turn, and finally you essentially mulliganed until AV comes off suspend
AV is still draw 3 for U which is undeniably powerful but in a meta of burn, infect, affinity and merfolk you have to jump through a lot of hoops to get those cards. Nevertheless powerful, but a 7/10 instead of the 9/10 I thought it would be
I've been running Visions in a build where it's the top of the curve. It has a higher failure rate than planeswalkers, but it's also always a great effect. The 4-5 CMC planeswalkers are only situationally good, with the exception of Nahiri.
Visions lets you overload on cheap spells and play a Shardless Bug style game. I think people have just been misutilizing it, and slotting it in place of cards like Serum Visions. Ancestral Visions takes the place of cards like Sphinx's Revelation, not Serum Visions.
Thinking about swapping out p&k for cryptics and one resto for a clique. Hesitant about cutting the p&k due to the rise of infect currently and the extreme popularity of jund/abzan in my area
Thinking about swapping out p&k for cryptics and one resto for a clique. Hesitant about cutting the p&k due to the rise of infect currently and the extreme popularity of jund/abzan in my area
Thoughts?
I think your list is pretty greedy. You are trying to do a lot of different things. Nahiri Combo, Kiki Combo, and going long with AV.
I don't mind greed, but I think you have to accept that some of your draws are going to be fairly disjointed, which will decrease the consistency. Though I will say the raw power level is pretty high, which is something worth considering if you are expecting a slower metagame.
That being said I think I would drop the Ghost Quarter from your list and include another colored source. You don't have Scaling Tarns to fetch basics as much as you'd like, and your color requirements are strict. Maybe an untapped source like Seachrome Coast or an Arid Mesa if you can swing it.
On the note of your mana, since you are fetching shocks more often without tarns I would honestly consider dropping the Anger for another Lightning Helix. The lifegain will provide a buffer.
As for your sideboard I would get rid of the D-sphere and the Keranos. You have AV to fight the grindy matchups (not to mention other lategame plans) and D-sphere is way to vunerable nowadays (Abrupt Decay, Nahiri, etc, etc). IMO you should add another sweeper like Supreme Verdict or Engineering Explosives and maybe a Celestial Purge.
Good luck.
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Modern: UWGSnow-Bant Control BURGrixis Death's Shadow GWBCoCo Elves WCDeath and Taxes (sold)
Thinking about swapping out p&k for cryptics and one resto for a clique. Hesitant about cutting the p&k due to the rise of infect currently and the extreme popularity of jund/abzan in my area
Thoughts?
I think your list is pretty greedy. You are trying to do a lot of different things. Nahiri Combo, Kiki Combo, and going long with AV.
I don't mind greed, but I think you have to accept that some of your draws are going to be fairly disjointed, which will decrease the consistency. Though I will say the raw power level is pretty high, which is something worth considering if you are expecting a slower metagame.
That being said I think I would drop the Ghost Quarter from your list and include another colored source. You don't have Scaling Tarns to fetch basics as much as you'd like, and your color requirements are strict. Maybe an untapped source like Seachrome Coast or an Arid Mesa if you can swing it.
On the note of your mana, since you are fetching shocks more often without tarns I would honestly consider dropping the Anger for another Lightning Helix. The lifegain will provide a buffer.
As for your sideboard I would get rid of the D-sphere and the Keranos. You have AV to fight the grindy matchups (not to mention other lategame plans) and D-sphere is way to vunerable nowadays (Abrupt Decay, Nahiri, etc, etc). IMO you should add another sweeper like Supreme Verdict or Engineering Explosives and maybe a Celestial Purge.
Good luck.
Good point on the d sphere. EE added.
Its actually disjointed on purpose, because im not sure which direction i want to push the deck. This weekend is the trial that will let me know
Thinking about swapping out p&k for cryptics and one resto for a clique. Hesitant about cutting the p&k due to the rise of infect currently and the extreme popularity of jund/abzan in my area
Thoughts?
No serum visions, just 24lands, but a ton of cmc4++ spells, you'll face a lot of unplayable hands/ have issues finding ur land drops.
If you want to combine nahiri and kikki at least egt wall of omens, as they don't only improve resto, but also help to protect nahiri.
I'be been looking at several lists these past days and I had the chance to try the deck against Naya Zoo and a Melira company variant (which seems closer to Death and Taxes, running Aven Mindcensor MB etc.), and I think I found where the deck is kind of getting stuck: the 2 copies of Electrolyze I run MB. Since I'm on the full control plan I'll replace them with 2 anger of the gods and thinker with the usual counter magic and adding a fifth cantrip to not loose actual card draw/selection.
My decklist for the current meta. Gonna be playtesting with friends and heading to some tournaments later this week and next month, hopefully. I'm pretty happy with the mainboard right now, it's fairly consistent which is what I felt was lacking in a lot of my games. 25 lands definitely helps that we hit our land drops on time, 2 sweepers mainboard also helps the hyper aggro matchups game 1, like Zoo and Affinity which aren't always a lock. The first 13 cards in the sideboard are basically locked in, with Izzet Staticaster and Relic of Progenitus being my two flex spots. I could see replacing either one of them with an Engineered Explosives, but aside from that I think I like the current list. Regardless, I would love some opinions on the list.
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My decklist for the current meta. Gonna be playtesting with friends and heading to some tournaments later this week and next month, hopefully. I'm pretty happy with the mainboard right now, it's fairly consistent which is what I felt was lacking in a lot of my games. 25 lands definitely helps that we hit our land drops on time, 2 sweepers mainboard also helps the hyper aggro matchups game 1, like Zoo and Affinity which aren't always a lock. The first 13 cards in the sideboard are basically locked in, with Izzet Staticaster and Relic of Progenitus being my two flex spots. I could see replacing either one of them with an Engineered Explosives, but aside from that I think I like the current list. Regardless, I would love some opinions on the list.
In what situations do you usually bring Elspeth in?
I don't know that I agree that Resto is bad. I've won many games with UWr Geist off the back of Resto and her 3/4 body. Obviously it's a slightly different deck, but I still would say that the card is great.
I figured I may as well do a brief write-up after my FNM tonight. I've switched over to Nahiris, and it just feels like I'm not playing the same game as my opponents. I went 4-0, 8-0 in games. While a lot of the true "tryhards" are in GP Minneapolis for Standard, someone a while back asked how many people had actually tested out their decks, so I figured more write-ups can't hurt. Here's my list for starters:
Round 1: URw Storm (White splash out of the board for Wear//Tear)
Not much to say about this one. Both games I played aggressive Bolts and Snaps early, then held up countermagic. Serum Visions found the Bolts for his Goblin Electromancers, and he never even tried to combo off. Sometimes Storm just loses to itself.
Round 2: U Tron
Again, played aggressively at the end of his turns to force him to tap out, at which point I won a counter war to land Nahiri. I eventually ulted her, but by that time he had a Platinum Angel he threw under Emrakul. He sacced all his lands save 3 for Tron, and eventually fought through a couple Remands and Leaks to get down an Ugin to wipe an 8-counter Nahiri and some Snapcasters that had been turned sideways. However, he was low enough by that time that a Colonnade plus a Bolt finished him off.
In the second game, aggressive play and counterspells, plus a Wear//Tear found through Loothouse to kill a Batterskull, put him at 0 life with a Platinum Angel out. A Clique saw a Squelch in hand, which I baited out by going to accept the Colonnade trade with the Angel, then playing a Nahiri next turn to exile and win on the spot. He told me after he forgot that Nahiri's -2 was "tapped artifact (or creature)," so he thought that he may as well go for broke. He had Academy Ruins'd back the Batterskull, so next turn he was hoping to start gaining back life to not be at 0, thus was trying to end the game before I found an out. Fortunately for me, the card selection in the deck feel unreal, so I already had an answer.
Round 3: GBw Elves
Both games played out how we hope, with removal for days followed by playing Nahiri on an empty board and ticking up a couple turns. Awkward spot game one when I drew Emrakul the turn I wanted to ult, but I had enough removal in hand that I could afford to wait a turn. Bit of a heart attack game 2 when I went for a turn 3 Anger of the Gods and he tapped Elvish Archdruid for Collected Company and only found a Shaman of the Pack and a dork to get me for 7. He told me after the game he was hoping to find Buurenton Forge-Tender, Dauntless Escort, or Grim Haruspex. Given the amount of spot removal I had in hand, next time I think I'll accept the card disadvantage and just Bolt the Archdruid end of turn.
Round 4: U/G Infect
Both games I did the thing where we let them hit us for 1 a turn and then we kill the creature end of turn until they try all-in on one creature and we kill it in response, or we run out of spot removal and then they just kill us. I got a bit lucky game 2, as I topdecked a Crumble to Dust for the Inkmoth Nexus the turn I had to let him know I had no spot removal. Again, both games ended when I ulted Nahiri after playing her on an empty board.
Summary:
The deck felt exactly like I've wanted Jeskai Control to be. I ended a couple games with the usual "flurry of bolts" after some Colonnade beats, but Nahiri solved the biggest issues I've always felt with the deck:
1. Tapping out feels bad: I often feel like I am forced to choose between leaving up mana for answers, or activating Colonnade in hopes I can end the game before they draw the right answers. I am punished when I make the wrong choice. With Nahiri, I only have to tap out once, and sometimes I don't even tap out, as she's only 4 mana.
2. Card selection: I never felt like I "drew the wrong half of my deck." While it felt like I always had the right topdecks, I know that's in part to 4x Serum Visions, 4x Nahiri, and 1x Desolate Lighthouse. Serum Visions into Nahiri +2 feels like the way I actually want Serum Visions to work- if the card I drew with Visions is bad, I get to pitch it for something else. A build-your-own Preordain that Wizards can't ban for enabling Storm or Twin makes me giddy.
3. Inevitability: "You win the game. Suspend 2- 2RW." That's literally what Nahiri felt like. Even when she wasn't, she was an overwhelming advantage that required an opponent's entire gameplan to shift. I know we've all had those games where the control lock was in place, and had the game still slip through our fingers. This was on top of the fact that I never even went into turns, which is always a relieving feeling. It's hard to understand the draw of not going to time until you finally have time to rest and grab a bite to eat in between rounds.
All in all, Nahiri was definitely MVP. She turned dead cards into cantrips, she removed creatures, she won me the game. I never felt bad seeing multiple, as I could scry or pitch them away. I can't see going below 4. The deck felt thinner than I'm used to due to all the filter effects, and while I usually had less land in play than normal, I felt fine running on 4 or 5 lands. At 6 mana I actively had the ability to prevent myself from flooding out and keep myself drawing gas to further my own strategy. My only thoughts on changes to make would perhaps be -1 Cascade Bluffs or Ghost Quarter/+1 Hallowed Fountain, or -1 Lightning Helix/+1 Electrolyze, but I was never in a situation where either would have mattered. I do know I didn't play against any of our more difficult matchups- would have been interesting to see if I could keep up with RG Tron, and Jund is one of my favorite skill-testing matches, regardless of who wins. I'll certainly keep playing this list, and if anything of note happens with those matchups I'll let you guys know.
Thanks for reading, sorry for the length. I didn't write down what I did for sideboarding but if you want to know, just ask and I'll try to remember.
Modern WU UWx Control variants RU Affinity
Commander WU Grand Arbiter Augustin IV- By "arbitration" I mean "no" WUB Ertai, the Corrupted- Solar Flare URG Riku of 2^n Reflections
My decklist for the current meta. Gonna be playtesting with friends and heading to some tournaments later this week and next month, hopefully. I'm pretty happy with the mainboard right now, it's fairly consistent which is what I felt was lacking in a lot of my games. 25 lands definitely helps that we hit our land drops on time, 2 sweepers mainboard also helps the hyper aggro matchups game 1, like Zoo and Affinity which aren't always a lock. The first 13 cards in the sideboard are basically locked in, with Izzet Staticaster and Relic of Progenitus being my two flex spots. I could see replacing either one of them with an Engineered Explosives, but aside from that I think I like the current list. Regardless, I would love some opinions on the list.
In what situations do you usually bring Elspeth in?
It's mostly for the grindy matchups. Jund has a big share of the metagame right now and a resolved Elspeth, Sun's Champion is usually game over against them. I'd bring it in against most midrange decks and other control decks. If you can force these threats to resolve, they can just take over a fair game of magic.
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Went 3-0 last night at FNM, and won a GPT today with the following list. There were some very slight alterations between the two lists (covered below) but it's a very similar deck. Lots of text below, I tried to break it into spoiler sections.
At the FNM I ran up against UWb Gifts Control, Wilted Abzan, Kiki Chord.
Maindeck Changes
Going into the GPT I switched out the 2 Timely Reinforcements, 1 Wrath of God, and 1 Anger of the Gods for 2 Lightning Helix and 2 Supreme Verdict respectively. I also switched out the one mainboard Vendilion Clique for an additional Mana Leak. I didn't feel that I wanted to have Timely in the maindeck as it felt very bad against a fair number of matchups. I also tend to have some Merfolk players and Grixis Delver in my metagame so I wanted the uncounterability of Supreme Verdict. Gerry stated somewhere (I think a deck tech?) that the importance of Timely was simply a huge advantage for being able to stabilize into casting Nahiri. Mana Leak overperformed for me so I felt I wanted to test another copy in place of the Vendilion Clique main. Additional Spot removal in the form of Lightning Helix felt like a nice way to gain back some of the aggressive potential lost by moving out the Vendilion Clique while also helping stabilize when you're against a truly aggressive deck.
Matchups/Comments Round One: Dredge 0-2
This is a match where it's very obvious we're lacking in true sideboard hate. The decklist is very similar to this one with the exception that instead of Shriekhorn my opponent was playing Burning Inquiry. Greater Gargadon makes trying to exile creatures like Bloodghast with Path to Exile or Anger of the Gods impossible. In game two my Anger of the Gods was removed with Burning Inquiry and at that point I had several draws to get another one or a Snapcaster but couldn't find anything until he was able to start generating 6+ zombies per Gargadon trigger. Round Two: Cruel Control 1-0-1
Game one I try to force my opponent to fight on his endstep by throwing my burn spells upstairs. He sinks to 5 before he is pressured enough to begin reacting. I make the mistake of casting a Nahiri with one blue backup for Spell Snare on a CMC 2 spell with my opponent on three untapped lands and one blue source (holding a land in hand I hope to pitch to Nahiri). He syncopates for two. I'm able to slam my second Nahiri from hand the following turn which he Dreadbores. I play my third one (I swear they travel together at times) and he double bolts it. We got back and forth for a while before I resolve two Ancestral Vision as I try to dig for outs to a Wurmcoil Engine which I choose to take one hit from and it ends my chance of rapidly burning him out. He is able to resolve a Cruel Ultimatum at one point and I am able to Mana Leak the second one I'm able to attrition him out and once his hand is fully empty and his bolts and Snapcasters are depleted, we topdeck. Celestial Colonnade is better than Creeping Tarpit in a race and I close it. Very long game one, amazing fun, and very swingy. I could have played more cautiously but I felt pretty safe to get on the aggressive. Post board I prepare for a typical control matchup. I Vendilion Clique to ensure the way is clear for Nahiri. It is once I take the Snapcaster from his hand (he had Remanded the Clique the turn prior). My Nahiri is met with Ashiok which fortunately doesn't take Emrakul with it's activation. I use my last mana to bolt the Ashiok. I untap and Snap Bolt while he's tapped low. I am out of relevant counters at this point and he is able to draw Dreadbore to deal with Nahiri. Not much else happens at this point, Ancestral is a powerhouse again, and I resolve two (one with a very minor fight) in the game. As we hit turns I have a Nahiri and 3 Negates in Hand. I play conservatively so as to not lose as I'd already won game one.
Round Three: Affinity 2-0
I know he's on affinity and keep a gorgeous hand which pans out very nicely. I Fetch+Shock to suspect Vision and follow up with three spot removal spells on his small creatures. He does get one big hit in for 10 with an Ornithopter and double Cranial Plating. I am able to untap, cast Ancestral, play Nahiri, exile the Ornithopter and the game is pretty easy from there. Game two is a lot more grindy, which seems strange for affinity. He is able to Tear my Stony Silence and follows it up with Grafdigger's Cage. I am able to get to a clear board but my opponent has metalcraft and Etched Champion as I draw into a parade of Nahiris. I exile a Blood Moon, a Ghirapur Aether Grid, and a Darksteel Citadel as I work towards finding my outs. I have to Helix to gain life to keep away from champion beats until I can draw in to a Supreme Verdict (the turn after he plays his second champion). From there I am able to keep start beating down with Colonnade and cross the finish line.
Round Four: Jeskai Prowess
Game one is a gorgeous draw that lines up perfectly with her threats. We get to a pretty stalled out portion of the game where she no longer has threats in play so I live the dream of Helix + Bolt into untap, wait until she cracks fetch on my endstep to Bolt + Snap + Bolt her.
Game two is another similar type game, this time ending with Colonnade and Snapcaster. I side out 3 Nahiri and Emrakul thinking this matchup can be too fast for them to be relevant and am able to get a Nahiri up to 8, using the ultimate for a Snapcaster + Helix. Seems a lot less powerful that way, but it got the job done.
Round Five: UWb Gifts
I know I need to be aggressive in this matchup as eventually the Gifts graveyard recursion will be too much to overcome. I am on the play. I don't crack my fetch at the end of his second turn, instead waiting and wanting to play around Shadow of Doubt as he shocked to play a Watery Grave on turn two. I play a Desolate Lighthouse, pass it back, and as he plays his third land and passes back I crack. He uses Shadow of Doubt. I Mana Leak it. I rip the Island off the top and welcome Nahiri into the world. Quick game one for a control mirror. Game two I am able to suspend an Ancestral. He Cliques on turn three of my draw step and takes my Clique. I take three hits off of it. He uses a Remand on my Ancestral as it comes off suspend. I am able to cast Nahiri with backup and exile the Clique. I am able to tick up with some light permission and cast a Clique to see a hand that doesn't interact with what I'm doing before I am able to get to Emrakul.
Top 4: Affinity
I'm on the draw all top four as I am 4th on breakers. Ancestral into spot removal into Nahiri into Emrakul. I'm on two lands with infinite spot removal/serum vision until the Ancestral comes off and gets me the lands I need. Game two is a beating... Turn four kill through two removal spells and a Stony Silence (which gets Tear'd). Turn one Ravager into turn two Master of Etherium is rough. Especially when it is followed up by another Master. I am one white mana short from being able to Path and Helix to get through the turn but it isn't there. Game three is a lot more like game one. I am able to buy myself three turns of peace with a Stony Silence while taking one per turn from a memnite. He finds the Glimmervoid for the Tear and I end up being able to bait the play with double removal spell and him having no mana to transfer counters from the Ravager after I path it (after bolting the Memnite. Nahiri ultimate gets the concession.
Finals: Gb Elves
Game one I bolt a Heritage Druid and let him built up quite a board state as I have verdict in hand. He plucks away for a bit before casting an Elvish Archdruid which I let resolve and take the hit from 16 to 5. I untap and verdict. I play conservatively after this as he has cards in hand after playing an Elvish Mystic. I take two hits before bolting it on endstep. I'm then able to Nahiri with counter backup for his Chord/Collected Company which buys me enough time win.
Game two I'm able to keep Mana Leak live for quite some time, again playing around Collected Company as I try to get to Nahiri mana + backup. I'm able to do this, but getting there was odd. On one turn, he has open mana and a Vision had just resolved, I go to discard with his permission and bin a Spell Snare. He then tried to cast Collected Company--judge call, etc. He untaps and plays a mana dork and then casts Collected Company only leaving two up so I can Mana Leak it. I feel a bit badly about this one. Nahiri comes down the next turn and takes it from there.
Overall, I loved having access to Ancestral Vision. I feel this deck is really able to make good use of it and there are many games where it makes this deck better able to fight the opponent, either by refueling on removal spells against aggressive decks, or letting you have the card advantage you need to push a Nahiri through against more controlling decks. I don't know about playing four though. Being able to loot away excess ones is nice though.
23 lands worried me a lot at first, but I felt it was fine. I often play control lists with 26 lands (more traditional reactive UW or Esper + Sphinx's Revelation) I didn't miss many land drops and the two or three games where I missed one before my fourth were games I chose to take that risk given the ability of my hand to otherwise interact. It is important often to use those early Serum Visions to find land though. There were many turns I would leave uncracked fetchlands just to draw lands I had kept on top with Scry.
A lot of people shy away from Mana Leak in decks with Path to Exile. With 5 ways in the deck to loot excess ones away, I felt very good about having it as a bridge to get to my turn 3/4/5.
Against aggressive matchups, I was typically bringing in 2 Anger/2 Stony Silence (affinity) or 2 Timely Reinforcements and taking out the 3 Remands and 1 Ancestral Vision.
I was very, very happy with Lightning Helix. The life buffer it can provide, especially when cast with Snapcaster Mage's help feels very good. Two was good. I felt like I saw it a lot. One of the strange things about Helix is you often have to Fetch + Shock to be able to cast it early, so the upside early game isn't as great as once you hit turns 3/4. I was happy with two. I would consider a third.
I did not miss Electrolyze or Cryptic Command. Having Cryptic Command would have been a nice way to bounce Grafdigger's Cage, but otherwise didn't feel necessary.
I don't have a great answer for the Dredge deck. Having a bolt that you can cast on a Snapcaster to limit their Bridge from Below triggers could be helpful, but even then, the presence of Greater Gargadon makes nothing a guarantee. Rest in Peace is a clean answer, for sure, but also punishes us a fair bit for using it. Anyone got ideas?
I feel like the deck mulligans quite well. I felt like a lot of the mulligans were clearly correct and only had to mulligan to 5 once.
Regarding the Sideboard, everything was brought in except Celestial Purge. I wasn't incredibly impressed by Timely, but I didn't run into the matchups where it's great. Some of the reason I am hesitant about its use is that against matchups like Merfolk and Affinity, you're not able to use the tokens as blockers anyhow, which has always been a concern for me with the card.
Thanks for reading! I'd appreciate any feedback you've got.
Round 1: Mirror (2-0)
Was not expecting the mirror right out of the gate, but hey, it happens. Game 1 was a grind, but my 2 maindeck Ancestral Vision gave me a pretty good edge. I also hit Desolate Lighthouse fairly early, which is fantastic in the mirror. He landed a Nahiri that I couldn't answer, but when he used her -8 I tapped his Emrakul with a Cryptic and then bolted Nahiri off the table. I drew the game out until I could ultimate my own Nahiri, and countered his Cryptic when he tried to do the same. Logic Knot was fantastic.
Sideboarding
-1 Supreme Verdict
-1 Electrolyze
-2 Path to Exile
+2 Negate
+1 Crumble to Dust
+1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
Path isn't the most useful card in this matchup, but it answers Colonnades nicely, so I like keeping a few in. Crumble fills a similar role, and is basically just upgrading a path since they really only hit manlands anyways in the mirror. I don't remember much of g2, but it was a similar grind that ended with me swinging in with Emrakul for the win in turn 3 of extra turns.
Round 2: Jund (2-0)
He was playing a version of Jund that was running a lot more kill spells than the average list (multiple copies of Murderous Cut in addition to the usual Terminates, Abrupt Decays, and Dreadbores. Fortunately for me, that means he got stuck with a hand full of blanks. He played a Goyf, Olivia, and a Scavenging Ooze, which all immediately ate a removal spell. Liliana of the Veil fell prey to Logic Knot, which impressed me once again. I landed a Nahiri eventually and hit him for 15 shortly after.
Sideboarding
-1 Electrolyze
-1 Lightning Helix
+1 Wrath of God
+1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
I didn't see any Dark Confidant's game 1, so Electrolyze didn't feel too great to me. Game 2 was a bit more interesting, after exchanging removal spells and creatures for a few turns, I eventually land a Nahiri. I immediately +2 her, discarding Emrakul, which my opponent then exiles with Surgical Extraction. I hit several redundant copies of Nahiri, which was interesting since I couldn't really use her ultimate for much value (I could have grabbed Snapcaster Mage if necessary). Luckily I landed an Elspeth which quickly ran away with the game.
Round 3: Grixis Control (1-0)
My opponent seemed to be on a generally stock Grixis control list, though he was running 2 Anger of the Gods Main. He hit both game 1 which meant 2 dead cards for him. He also didn't hit any hand disruption, so I felt firmly in the driver's seat the whole game. He also made a few misplays, like casting Mana Leak with no followup into 3 open mana. Logic Knot proved to be quite good in this matchup, allowed me to exile a bunch of dead fetches from my grave before looting Emrakul away with a Lighthouse. I cast Logic Knot twice that game and both times it was great, it really impressed me. After about a 35-40 minute grindy game 1, I Emrakul'ed him out of the game.
Game 2 was similarly grindy. He played Thing in the Ice, which I didn't see at all game 1, so his list was definitely not a stock list. Personally, I'm not a fan of that card, it sat around for a few turns and then ate a path. He had Dreadbore for my Nahiri, and then Snap + Dreadbore for the second. The game went to turns, and with no winner I got the match 1-0.
Round 4: Jund (ID)
With only 18 people in the tournament and 5 rounds of swiss, 3-0 was enough to double-draw into top 8. My opponent was on Jund, and agreed to the ID.
Round 5: Tron (ID)
Same sort of deal, my opponent was on Tron, and agreed to the ID (thank God, this is my absolute worst matchup).
Top 8: Grixis Control (1-2)
I got matched up with the same opponent from Round 3. I was 3rd seed going into top 8, so I was on the play. Opponent missed a land drop on turn 4, so attempted to Snapcaster + flashback Serum Visions. I Mana Leak'ed the Snapcaster figuring he was trying to hit lands, then untapped and slammed Nahiri. He didn't have an answer, and was met with a turn 7 Emrakul.
Sideboard was pretty much the same as before. Game 2 was a much longer grind than the first. After fighting over an Ancestral Vision on my turn, he untapped and played Molten Rain into Snap + Molten Rain hitting my two red sources (I had missed some land drops). It was crippling at first, but he didn't follow up with any aggression. The game went long enough that I looted away Emrakul to shuffle my grave back in and hand enough time to naturally re-draw the lands he destroyed. He also hit a Colonnade with a Crumble to Dust. Apparently he had a decent number of dead cards, so decided to bring in a bunch of land hate, which was a smart move. Eventually he played a Tasigur that I couldn't answer and finished me off with a bolt.
Sideboarding
-1 Lightning Helix
+1 Supreme Verdict
Having lost the last game to Tasigur and knowing he was still playing Thing in the Ice, I figured having 1 Supreme Verdict was more valuable than the second Helix. Unfortunately he hit a critical mass of discard spells, and used Snap to replay a few of them. We hit a critical turn where he had a Tasigur, Snap, and Creeping Tar Pit in play with 1 card in hand. I had 7 mana available and Elspeth, Negate, and Snap in hand. I had to deicide if it was worth waiting a turn to draw the 8th land so I could cast Elspeth with Negate backup, or try to slam the Elspeth that turn. I was at something like 14 life and didn't want to take 9 the next turn, so I jammed Elspeth, and ran into a Mana Leak. I'm not sure if that play was necessarily wrong, since if I held the Elspeth I would have gone to 5 that turn, then Tar Pit + Bolt, Snap, or Kcommand is enough to end the game. Plus I wasn't even guaranteed to hit my 8th land the following turn. Sometimes you just have to make them have it, and he had it
It was a bit of a bummer to lose to a guy who I had beat earlier in the tournament, but he was nice enough, and I was happy enough with meeting my goal of Top8. Was it the most competitive field? Of course not. The meta was really weird. No one was on Affinity, Burn, or Infect. There were 4 Jund, 4 Grixis Control, 3 Jeskai Control, 2 Tron, 1 Hatebears, 2 Kiki-Chord, 2 Abzan Company, and 1 guy on a weird Delver/Blue Moon deck. Definitely not your expected meta, it was super heavy on the midrange and control side, but I was really happy with how my deck played out.
Takeaways
I was really happy with my deck overall, here are some of the things I took away from my experience.
1. Nahiri is awesome
We all know this by now, but Nahiri really is an awesome wincon for Jeskai Control. The ability to stabilize and then slam a card that says "answer me or game over" is exactly what this deck wants. Do you sometimes draw a blank in Emrakul? Occasionally. But Nahiri is quite versatile, and turns the corner faster than our opponents can recover.
2. Lighthouse is a House
I already knew this card was great, but since the meta was so control/midrange oriented, Lighthouse shone pretty much every time I drew it. The ability on a land to ditch bad cards and dig for good ones is phenomenal. You're missing out if you're still not running this card.
3. Logic Knot is better than it looks
In my playing at FNM, one of the most feelbad things you can do with this deck is draw Emrakul, loot and discard him, and then shuffle all of your dead fetches back into the deck. That scenario has come up a lot more than I would have expected, so I wanted to run 1 card that would let me at least get rid of dead lands in case of Emrakul shuffles. Logic Knot was fantastic every time I drew and played it. I cast it for X=7 and X=10 during the day, both times only tapping 2 lands. I think either 1 Logic Knot or 1 Harvest Pyre makes the deck feel so much better, and right now I'm on the Logic Knot train. Try it out.
4. Sideboard still needs work
This is always the case, as no sideboard is perfect and needs to be constantly updated and adapted. However, with all of the midrange and control I felt I didn't have enough cards I wanted to bring in. Elspeth was great for the grindy matchups, but I'm unsure of whether I want her in or not. I generally like to run multiple copies of cards I really really want to draw in specific matchups, which you can see in my 3 Crumble to Dust in the side. Personally, I feel like we can only beat Tron if the game goes something like t2 Mana Leak, t3 Remand, t4 Crumble to Dust. However, I've heard is said that with all of the card selection (Serum Visions, Nahiri, Lighthouse), we are able to run more one-of side because we'll have an easier time finding them. I'm going to reassess my sideboard strategy and see if I would be better off running fewer duplicate copies in favor of having a more diverse sideboard.
Well, that's about it, hope you can make use of some of that Great Wall of text.
Is there a reason you run Fumarole over the 4th Colonnade?
It's kind of fringe, but it can attack a turn earlier than Colonnade, which is relevant against walkers, specifically Liliana.. I don't lose too much by running it, and it just offers another slightly diverse threat. Just a matter of personal preference.
So I still haven't converted to Nahiri. Partially because I don't own them, and don't have the ability to buy them at the moment, and also because I just don't really want to play that build of deck. I've had some success (and by some success, I mean I'm 6-1-1 across two weekly events from last week) with the following list.
Played this deck over the weekend with Darjeeling's changes to a 3-2 finish.
R1: Boggles (2-1).
Got a game loss for being late due to traffic. I don't see how Boggles is a real deck but whatever. Wrath effects and counters destroyed him.
R2: R/G Tron (1-2). G1 Turn 3 Wurmcoil and I draw the wrong half of my deck for turns, I am really starting to hate Serum Visions at this point. G2 I Crumble to Dust. G3 Turn 4 Karn after I remand his T3 attempt gets Remanded and then I clique to see 2 Ancient Stirrings and 2 Forests ... I lose that one.
R3: Burn (1-2).
G1 I draw 3 Serum Visions and the wrong half and die on turn 4. G2 he mulls to 5 and I win at 5 life drawing the wrong half but winning only because I keep playing Snaps his EOT. G3 I draw the wrong half. Never saw any Helixs or Timelys.
R4: Scapeshift (2-0).
G1 I counter and burn his face from 20. G2 He resolves Baloths and Inferno Titans with me drawing the wrong half of my deck. G3 I bait him into a Scapeshift which I Logic Knot tapping me out of U, he responds with Remand, I Ghost Quarter my land and Spell Snare the Remand. I resolve the Nahiri the next turn and win.
R5: Elf and Tron (2-0).
G1 I burn all of his ramp and land t4 Nahiri to destroy his ramp enchantments and draw cards. G2 I t4 Crumble and then Snap it back.
The whole day I was completely unimpressed with Serum Visions. It was horrible. Died with it in my hand several times as I had better things to do. The same with Remand. It only temporarily delayed the bomb that was coming but it did have nice synergies with Clique. Same with Electrolyze as it never killed anything and Helix was way more important. Same with main deck Anger of the Gods.
After playing this version of the deck I think this version of it sucks as it is a 50/50 deck. If you draw the wrong half you auto lose. I made 1 play mistake as I came back to MTG during the new Zendikar block and didn't realize that the red Eidolon was an ENCHANTMENT creature so I could have -2d Nahiri instead of +2ing and waiting for it to attack to tap it ...
I also wanted some type of life gain MD at all times so either Timely or Ajani NEEDS to be MD.
Atm I would rate this deck a 6/10. Not in love with it at all with its current construction and people are prepared for it and will be making may changes along the way but also trying the LD version with Chalice version.
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Extraction effects are always bad unless you can consistently get something into their graveyard and you extract from their hand too.
UWR Control
Legacy:
W D&T
If everything goes perfect and you get that turn 1 suspend then AV is unmatchably powerful in this deck. But if you have to suspend it turn 2 it becomes awkward as you can't hold up countermagic so you have to either delay your draw 3 to turn 7 or be shields down for a turn, and finally you essentially mulliganed until AV comes off suspend
AV is still draw 3 for U which is undeniably powerful but in a meta of burn, infect, affinity and merfolk you have to jump through a lot of hoops to get those cards. Nevertheless powerful, but a 7/10 instead of the 9/10 I thought it would be
Visions lets you overload on cheap spells and play a Shardless Bug style game. I think people have just been misutilizing it, and slotting it in place of cards like Serum Visions. Ancestral Visions takes the place of cards like Sphinx's Revelation, not Serum Visions.
http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/08-05-16-uwr/
Thinking about swapping out p&k for cryptics and one resto for a clique. Hesitant about cutting the p&k due to the rise of infect currently and the extreme popularity of jund/abzan in my area
Thoughts?
UWRjeskai nahiri UWR
UBRgrixis titi UBR
UBRgrixis delverUBR
UR ur kikimite UR
EDH
RUG Riku of Two Reflections RUG
UBR Marchesa, the Black Rose UBR
UBRGYidris, Maelstrom Wielder UBRG
UBRJeleva, Nephalia's ScourgeUBR
I think your list is pretty greedy. You are trying to do a lot of different things. Nahiri Combo, Kiki Combo, and going long with AV.
I don't mind greed, but I think you have to accept that some of your draws are going to be fairly disjointed, which will decrease the consistency. Though I will say the raw power level is pretty high, which is something worth considering if you are expecting a slower metagame.
That being said I think I would drop the Ghost Quarter from your list and include another colored source. You don't have Scaling Tarns to fetch basics as much as you'd like, and your color requirements are strict. Maybe an untapped source like Seachrome Coast or an Arid Mesa if you can swing it.
On the note of your mana, since you are fetching shocks more often without tarns I would honestly consider dropping the Anger for another Lightning Helix. The lifegain will provide a buffer.
As for your sideboard I would get rid of the D-sphere and the Keranos. You have AV to fight the grindy matchups (not to mention other lategame plans) and D-sphere is way to vunerable nowadays (Abrupt Decay, Nahiri, etc, etc). IMO you should add another sweeper like Supreme Verdict or Engineering Explosives and maybe a Celestial Purge.
Good luck.
UWGSnow-Bant Control
BURGrixis Death's Shadow
GWBCoCo Elves
WCDeath and Taxes(sold)Good point on the d sphere. EE added.
Its actually disjointed on purpose, because im not sure which direction i want to push the deck. This weekend is the trial that will let me know
UWRjeskai nahiri UWR
UBRgrixis titi UBR
UBRgrixis delverUBR
UR ur kikimite UR
EDH
RUG Riku of Two Reflections RUG
UBR Marchesa, the Black Rose UBR
UBRGYidris, Maelstrom Wielder UBRG
UBRJeleva, Nephalia's ScourgeUBR
I prefer AV to SV
UWRjeskai nahiri UWR
UBRgrixis titi UBR
UBRgrixis delverUBR
UR ur kikimite UR
EDH
RUG Riku of Two Reflections RUG
UBR Marchesa, the Black Rose UBR
UBRGYidris, Maelstrom Wielder UBRG
UBRJeleva, Nephalia's ScourgeUBR
3x Celestial Colonnade
4x Flooded Strand
1x Ghost Quarter
1x Hallowed Fountain
4x Island
1x Mountain
1x Plains
1x Sacred Foundry
2x Steam Vents
2x Sulfur Falls
4x Wooded Foothills
Planeswalker 4
4x Nahiri, the Harbinger
2x Cryptic Command
4x Lightning Bolt
3x Lightning Helix
1x Logic Knot
4x Path to Exile
4x Remand
2x Spell Snare
Sorcery 7
2x Anger of the Gods
4x Serum Visions
1x Sleight of Hand
Creature 5
1x Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
4x Snapcaster Mage
1x Crumble to Dust
1x Dispel
1x Engineered Explosives
2x Kozilek's Return
2x Molten Rain
2x Negate
1x Relic of Progenitus
1x Spellskite
1x Supreme Verdict
1x Vendilion Clique
2x Wear // Tear
I plan to swap the 2 anger's for Kozilek's Return in the face of Burrenton Forge-Tender and Etched Champion. Also I could swap the Logic Knot for an Izzet Charm but I want at least a hard counter.
4 Snapcaster Mage
1 Vendilion Clique
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
Sorcery (6):
4 Serum Visions
1 Anger of the Gods
1 Supreme Verdict
Instants (19):
2 Remand
2 Mana Leak
2 Spell Snare
2 Lightning Helix
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Path to Exile
1 Electrolyze
2 Cryptic Command
4 Nahiri, the Harbinger
Lands (25):
4 Celestial Colonnade
4 Flooded Strand
4 Scalding Tarn
1 Arid Mesa
2 Steam Vents
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Sacred Foundry
2 Island
1 Plains
1 Mountain
1 Sulfur Falls
1 Glacial Fortress
1 Desolate Lighthouse
1 Ghost Quarter
2 Crumble to Dust
2 Stony Silence
2 Timely Reinforcements
1 Anger of the Gods
1 Wrath of God
1 Dispel
2 Negate
1 Vendilion Clique
1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Izzet Staticaster
My decklist for the current meta. Gonna be playtesting with friends and heading to some tournaments later this week and next month, hopefully. I'm pretty happy with the mainboard right now, it's fairly consistent which is what I felt was lacking in a lot of my games. 25 lands definitely helps that we hit our land drops on time, 2 sweepers mainboard also helps the hyper aggro matchups game 1, like Zoo and Affinity which aren't always a lock. The first 13 cards in the sideboard are basically locked in, with Izzet Staticaster and Relic of Progenitus being my two flex spots. I could see replacing either one of them with an Engineered Explosives, but aside from that I think I like the current list. Regardless, I would love some opinions on the list.
Round 1 vs bogles 1-2
Lost game 3 because i didnt have uuu for cryptic
Round 2 vs living end 2-1
Rip ftw, kiki combo at 2 life game 1
Round 3 vs grixis delver
Nahiri too strong for delver to handle
Round 4 vs abzan 0-2
Flooded game 1, screwed game 2
Round 5 vs burn 1-2
He drew more bolts than i drew helix
Round 6 vs burn 2-1
I drew more helix than he drew bolts
Round 7 vs affinity 2-1
Mainboard ethersworn canonist messed me up g1, win game two and three without stony silence or nahiri
Overall, kiki resto plan was for sure weak, resto just isn't a good creature anymore i guess. Going to try thing in the ice instead tomorrow
Cryptic did a great job reminding me why i hate Cryptic in uwr. Those are gone
UWRjeskai nahiri UWR
UBRgrixis titi UBR
UBRgrixis delverUBR
UR ur kikimite UR
EDH
RUG Riku of Two Reflections RUG
UBR Marchesa, the Black Rose UBR
UBRGYidris, Maelstrom Wielder UBRG
UBRJeleva, Nephalia's ScourgeUBR
UW Control
UWR Geist
UWR Control
1x Cascade Bluffs
4x Celestial Colonnade
1x Sacred Foundry
4x Scalding Tarn
2x Steam Vents
1x Desolate Lighthouse
1x Plains
1x Mountain
4x Flooded Strand
1x Ghost Quarter
1x Hallowed Fountain
3x Island
Creature (6)
1x Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
4x Snapcaster Mage
1x Vendilion Clique
4x Nahiri, the Harbinger
Instant (21)
2x Remand
4x Lightning Bolt
3x Lightning Helix
1x Logic Knot
2x Mana Leak
2x Cryptic Command
2x Spell Snare
4x Path to Exile
1x Electrolyze
Sorcery (5)
4x Serum Visions
1x Anger of the Gods
1x Celestial Purge
1x Counterflux
2x Crumble to Dust
1x Dispel
1x Engineered Explosives
1x Negate
1x Relic of Progenitus
2x Stony Silence
1x Supreme Verdict
1x Timely Reinforcements
1x Vendilion Clique
1x Wear / Tear
1x Wrath of God
Link to deck @ TappedOut.net
Round 1: URw Storm (White splash out of the board for Wear//Tear)
Not much to say about this one. Both games I played aggressive Bolts and Snaps early, then held up countermagic. Serum Visions found the Bolts for his Goblin Electromancers, and he never even tried to combo off. Sometimes Storm just loses to itself.
Round 2: U Tron
Again, played aggressively at the end of his turns to force him to tap out, at which point I won a counter war to land Nahiri. I eventually ulted her, but by that time he had a Platinum Angel he threw under Emrakul. He sacced all his lands save 3 for Tron, and eventually fought through a couple Remands and Leaks to get down an Ugin to wipe an 8-counter Nahiri and some Snapcasters that had been turned sideways. However, he was low enough by that time that a Colonnade plus a Bolt finished him off.
In the second game, aggressive play and counterspells, plus a Wear//Tear found through Loothouse to kill a Batterskull, put him at 0 life with a Platinum Angel out. A Clique saw a Squelch in hand, which I baited out by going to accept the Colonnade trade with the Angel, then playing a Nahiri next turn to exile and win on the spot. He told me after he forgot that Nahiri's -2 was "tapped artifact (or creature)," so he thought that he may as well go for broke. He had Academy Ruins'd back the Batterskull, so next turn he was hoping to start gaining back life to not be at 0, thus was trying to end the game before I found an out. Fortunately for me, the card selection in the deck feel unreal, so I already had an answer.
Round 3: GBw Elves
Both games played out how we hope, with removal for days followed by playing Nahiri on an empty board and ticking up a couple turns. Awkward spot game one when I drew Emrakul the turn I wanted to ult, but I had enough removal in hand that I could afford to wait a turn. Bit of a heart attack game 2 when I went for a turn 3 Anger of the Gods and he tapped Elvish Archdruid for Collected Company and only found a Shaman of the Pack and a dork to get me for 7. He told me after the game he was hoping to find Buurenton Forge-Tender, Dauntless Escort, or Grim Haruspex. Given the amount of spot removal I had in hand, next time I think I'll accept the card disadvantage and just Bolt the Archdruid end of turn.
Round 4: U/G Infect
Both games I did the thing where we let them hit us for 1 a turn and then we kill the creature end of turn until they try all-in on one creature and we kill it in response, or we run out of spot removal and then they just kill us. I got a bit lucky game 2, as I topdecked a Crumble to Dust for the Inkmoth Nexus the turn I had to let him know I had no spot removal. Again, both games ended when I ulted Nahiri after playing her on an empty board.
Summary:
The deck felt exactly like I've wanted Jeskai Control to be. I ended a couple games with the usual "flurry of bolts" after some Colonnade beats, but Nahiri solved the biggest issues I've always felt with the deck:
1. Tapping out feels bad: I often feel like I am forced to choose between leaving up mana for answers, or activating Colonnade in hopes I can end the game before they draw the right answers. I am punished when I make the wrong choice. With Nahiri, I only have to tap out once, and sometimes I don't even tap out, as she's only 4 mana.
2. Card selection: I never felt like I "drew the wrong half of my deck." While it felt like I always had the right topdecks, I know that's in part to 4x Serum Visions, 4x Nahiri, and 1x Desolate Lighthouse. Serum Visions into Nahiri +2 feels like the way I actually want Serum Visions to work- if the card I drew with Visions is bad, I get to pitch it for something else. A build-your-own Preordain that Wizards can't ban for enabling Storm or Twin makes me giddy.
3. Inevitability: "You win the game. Suspend 2- 2RW." That's literally what Nahiri felt like. Even when she wasn't, she was an overwhelming advantage that required an opponent's entire gameplan to shift. I know we've all had those games where the control lock was in place, and had the game still slip through our fingers. This was on top of the fact that I never even went into turns, which is always a relieving feeling. It's hard to understand the draw of not going to time until you finally have time to rest and grab a bite to eat in between rounds.
All in all, Nahiri was definitely MVP. She turned dead cards into cantrips, she removed creatures, she won me the game. I never felt bad seeing multiple, as I could scry or pitch them away. I can't see going below 4. The deck felt thinner than I'm used to due to all the filter effects, and while I usually had less land in play than normal, I felt fine running on 4 or 5 lands. At 6 mana I actively had the ability to prevent myself from flooding out and keep myself drawing gas to further my own strategy. My only thoughts on changes to make would perhaps be -1 Cascade Bluffs or Ghost Quarter/+1 Hallowed Fountain, or -1 Lightning Helix/+1 Electrolyze, but I was never in a situation where either would have mattered. I do know I didn't play against any of our more difficult matchups- would have been interesting to see if I could keep up with RG Tron, and Jund is one of my favorite skill-testing matches, regardless of who wins. I'll certainly keep playing this list, and if anything of note happens with those matchups I'll let you guys know.
Thanks for reading, sorry for the length. I didn't write down what I did for sideboarding but if you want to know, just ask and I'll try to remember.
WU UWx Control variants
RU Affinity
Commander
WU Grand Arbiter Augustin IV- By "arbitration" I mean "no"
WUB Ertai, the Corrupted- Solar Flare
URG Riku of 2^n Reflections
It's mostly for the grindy matchups. Jund has a big share of the metagame right now and a resolved Elspeth, Sun's Champion is usually game over against them. I'd bring it in against most midrange decks and other control decks. If you can force these threats to resolve, they can just take over a fair game of magic.
GPT List
3 Celestial Colonnade
4 Flooded Strand
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Steam Vents
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Hallowed Fountain
2 Sulfur Falls
1 Mystic Gate
1 Desolate Lighthouse
1 Plains
2 Island
1 Mountain
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
4 Snapcaster Mage
Planeswalkers (4)
4 Nahiri, the Harbinger
Removal (12)
4 Path to Exile
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Lightning Helix
2 Supreme Verdict
Permission (9)
3 Spell Snare
3 Remand
3 Mana Leak
Card Advantage/Quality (7)
3 Ancestral Vision
4 Serum Visions
2 Anger of the Gods
2 Stony Silence
2 Crumble to Dust
2 Vendilion Clique
2 Timely Reinforcements
1 Celestial Purge
1 Dispel
3 Negate
My original maindeck 60 for the FNM was nearly identical to Gerry Thompson's list from the Grand Prix. There was a three card difference in that I ran -2 Arid Mesa for +1 Celestial Colonnade and +1 Island. I also changed the maindeck Ghost Quarter for a Desolate Lighthouse. The sideboard I ran at the FNM was different. See below.
2 Negate
2 Celestial Purge
1 Hallowed Moonlight
2 Aven Mindcensor
1 Dispel
2 Stony Silence
2 Crumble to Dust
1 Vendilion Clique
2 Anger of the Gods
At the FNM I ran up against UWb Gifts Control, Wilted Abzan, Kiki Chord.
Maindeck Changes
Going into the GPT I switched out the 2 Timely Reinforcements, 1 Wrath of God, and 1 Anger of the Gods for 2 Lightning Helix and 2 Supreme Verdict respectively. I also switched out the one mainboard Vendilion Clique for an additional Mana Leak. I didn't feel that I wanted to have Timely in the maindeck as it felt very bad against a fair number of matchups. I also tend to have some Merfolk players and Grixis Delver in my metagame so I wanted the uncounterability of Supreme Verdict. Gerry stated somewhere (I think a deck tech?) that the importance of Timely was simply a huge advantage for being able to stabilize into casting Nahiri. Mana Leak overperformed for me so I felt I wanted to test another copy in place of the Vendilion Clique main. Additional Spot removal in the form of Lightning Helix felt like a nice way to gain back some of the aggressive potential lost by moving out the Vendilion Clique while also helping stabilize when you're against a truly aggressive deck.
Round One: Dredge 0-2
This is a match where it's very obvious we're lacking in true sideboard hate. The decklist is very similar to this one with the exception that instead of Shriekhorn my opponent was playing Burning Inquiry. Greater Gargadon makes trying to exile creatures like Bloodghast with Path to Exile or Anger of the Gods impossible. In game two my Anger of the Gods was removed with Burning Inquiry and at that point I had several draws to get another one or a Snapcaster but couldn't find anything until he was able to start generating 6+ zombies per Gargadon trigger.
Round Two: Cruel Control 1-0-1
I know he's on affinity and keep a gorgeous hand which pans out very nicely. I Fetch+Shock to suspect Vision and follow up with three spot removal spells on his small creatures. He does get one big hit in for 10 with an Ornithopter and double Cranial Plating. I am able to untap, cast Ancestral, play Nahiri, exile the Ornithopter and the game is pretty easy from there. Game two is a lot more grindy, which seems strange for affinity. He is able to Tear my Stony Silence and follows it up with Grafdigger's Cage. I am able to get to a clear board but my opponent has metalcraft and Etched Champion as I draw into a parade of Nahiris. I exile a Blood Moon, a Ghirapur Aether Grid, and a Darksteel Citadel as I work towards finding my outs. I have to Helix to gain life to keep away from champion beats until I can draw in to a Supreme Verdict (the turn after he plays his second champion). From there I am able to keep start beating down with Colonnade and cross the finish line.
Round Four: Jeskai Prowess
Game one is a gorgeous draw that lines up perfectly with her threats. We get to a pretty stalled out portion of the game where she no longer has threats in play so I live the dream of Helix + Bolt into untap, wait until she cracks fetch on my endstep to Bolt + Snap + Bolt her.
Game two is another similar type game, this time ending with Colonnade and Snapcaster. I side out 3 Nahiri and Emrakul thinking this matchup can be too fast for them to be relevant and am able to get a Nahiri up to 8, using the ultimate for a Snapcaster + Helix. Seems a lot less powerful that way, but it got the job done.
Round Five: UWb Gifts
I know I need to be aggressive in this matchup as eventually the Gifts graveyard recursion will be too much to overcome. I am on the play. I don't crack my fetch at the end of his second turn, instead waiting and wanting to play around Shadow of Doubt as he shocked to play a Watery Grave on turn two. I play a Desolate Lighthouse, pass it back, and as he plays his third land and passes back I crack. He uses Shadow of Doubt. I Mana Leak it. I rip the Island off the top and welcome Nahiri into the world. Quick game one for a control mirror. Game two I am able to suspend an Ancestral. He Cliques on turn three of my draw step and takes my Clique. I take three hits off of it. He uses a Remand on my Ancestral as it comes off suspend. I am able to cast Nahiri with backup and exile the Clique. I am able to tick up with some light permission and cast a Clique to see a hand that doesn't interact with what I'm doing before I am able to get to Emrakul.
Top 4: Affinity
I'm on the draw all top four as I am 4th on breakers. Ancestral into spot removal into Nahiri into Emrakul. I'm on two lands with infinite spot removal/serum vision until the Ancestral comes off and gets me the lands I need. Game two is a beating... Turn four kill through two removal spells and a Stony Silence (which gets Tear'd). Turn one Ravager into turn two Master of Etherium is rough. Especially when it is followed up by another Master. I am one white mana short from being able to Path and Helix to get through the turn but it isn't there. Game three is a lot more like game one. I am able to buy myself three turns of peace with a Stony Silence while taking one per turn from a memnite. He finds the Glimmervoid for the Tear and I end up being able to bait the play with double removal spell and him having no mana to transfer counters from the Ravager after I path it (after bolting the Memnite. Nahiri ultimate gets the concession.
Finals: Gb Elves
Game one I bolt a Heritage Druid and let him built up quite a board state as I have verdict in hand. He plucks away for a bit before casting an Elvish Archdruid which I let resolve and take the hit from 16 to 5. I untap and verdict. I play conservatively after this as he has cards in hand after playing an Elvish Mystic. I take two hits before bolting it on endstep. I'm then able to Nahiri with counter backup for his Chord/Collected Company which buys me enough time win.
Game two I'm able to keep Mana Leak live for quite some time, again playing around Collected Company as I try to get to Nahiri mana + backup. I'm able to do this, but getting there was odd. On one turn, he has open mana and a Vision had just resolved, I go to discard with his permission and bin a Spell Snare. He then tried to cast Collected Company--judge call, etc. He untaps and plays a mana dork and then casts Collected Company only leaving two up so I can Mana Leak it. I feel a bit badly about this one. Nahiri comes down the next turn and takes it from there.
Overall, I loved having access to Ancestral Vision. I feel this deck is really able to make good use of it and there are many games where it makes this deck better able to fight the opponent, either by refueling on removal spells against aggressive decks, or letting you have the card advantage you need to push a Nahiri through against more controlling decks. I don't know about playing four though. Being able to loot away excess ones is nice though.
23 lands worried me a lot at first, but I felt it was fine. I often play control lists with 26 lands (more traditional reactive UW or Esper + Sphinx's Revelation) I didn't miss many land drops and the two or three games where I missed one before my fourth were games I chose to take that risk given the ability of my hand to otherwise interact. It is important often to use those early Serum Visions to find land though. There were many turns I would leave uncracked fetchlands just to draw lands I had kept on top with Scry.
A lot of people shy away from Mana Leak in decks with Path to Exile. With 5 ways in the deck to loot excess ones away, I felt very good about having it as a bridge to get to my turn 3/4/5.
Against aggressive matchups, I was typically bringing in 2 Anger/2 Stony Silence (affinity) or 2 Timely Reinforcements and taking out the 3 Remands and 1 Ancestral Vision.
I was very, very happy with Lightning Helix. The life buffer it can provide, especially when cast with Snapcaster Mage's help feels very good. Two was good. I felt like I saw it a lot. One of the strange things about Helix is you often have to Fetch + Shock to be able to cast it early, so the upside early game isn't as great as once you hit turns 3/4. I was happy with two. I would consider a third.
I did not miss Electrolyze or Cryptic Command. Having Cryptic Command would have been a nice way to bounce Grafdigger's Cage, but otherwise didn't feel necessary.
I don't have a great answer for the Dredge deck. Having a bolt that you can cast on a Snapcaster to limit their Bridge from Below triggers could be helpful, but even then, the presence of Greater Gargadon makes nothing a guarantee. Rest in Peace is a clean answer, for sure, but also punishes us a fair bit for using it. Anyone got ideas?
I feel like the deck mulligans quite well. I felt like a lot of the mulligans were clearly correct and only had to mulligan to 5 once.
Regarding the Sideboard, everything was brought in except Celestial Purge. I wasn't incredibly impressed by Timely, but I didn't run into the matchups where it's great. Some of the reason I am hesitant about its use is that against matchups like Merfolk and Affinity, you're not able to use the tokens as blockers anyhow, which has always been a concern for me with the card.
Thanks for reading! I'd appreciate any feedback you've got.
Played Jeskai Narhiri, figured I could do a short tournament write-up.
Here's my decklist:
4x Snapcaster Mage
1x Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
Planeswalkers
4x Nahiri, the Harbinger
Instants
4x Lightning Bolt
3x Lightning Helix
4x Path to Exile
3x Mana Leak
2x Remand
2x Cryptic Command
1x Logic Knot
1x Electrolyze
Sorceries
4x Serum Visions
2x Ancestral Vision
1x Supreme Verdict
4x Scalding Tarn
4x Flooded Strand
1x Arid Mesa
3x Celestial Colonnade
1x Wandering Fumarole
2x Steam Vents
2x Hallowed Fountain
1x Sacred Foundry
1x Sulfur Falls
1x Desolate Lighthouse
2x Island
1x Plains
1x Mountain
1x Engineered Explosives
2x Wear/Tear
2x Negate
2x Stony Silence
2x Anger of the Gods
1x Izzet Staticaster
3x Crumble to Dust
1x Wrath of God
1x Elspeth, Sun's Champion
Round 1: Mirror (2-0)
Was not expecting the mirror right out of the gate, but hey, it happens. Game 1 was a grind, but my 2 maindeck Ancestral Vision gave me a pretty good edge. I also hit Desolate Lighthouse fairly early, which is fantastic in the mirror. He landed a Nahiri that I couldn't answer, but when he used her -8 I tapped his Emrakul with a Cryptic and then bolted Nahiri off the table. I drew the game out until I could ultimate my own Nahiri, and countered his Cryptic when he tried to do the same. Logic Knot was fantastic.
Sideboarding
-1 Supreme Verdict
-1 Electrolyze
-2 Path to Exile
+2 Negate
+1 Crumble to Dust
+1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
Path isn't the most useful card in this matchup, but it answers Colonnades nicely, so I like keeping a few in. Crumble fills a similar role, and is basically just upgrading a path since they really only hit manlands anyways in the mirror. I don't remember much of g2, but it was a similar grind that ended with me swinging in with Emrakul for the win in turn 3 of extra turns.
Round 2: Jund (2-0)
He was playing a version of Jund that was running a lot more kill spells than the average list (multiple copies of Murderous Cut in addition to the usual Terminates, Abrupt Decays, and Dreadbores. Fortunately for me, that means he got stuck with a hand full of blanks. He played a Goyf, Olivia, and a Scavenging Ooze, which all immediately ate a removal spell. Liliana of the Veil fell prey to Logic Knot, which impressed me once again. I landed a Nahiri eventually and hit him for 15 shortly after.
Sideboarding
-1 Electrolyze
-1 Lightning Helix
+1 Wrath of God
+1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
I didn't see any Dark Confidant's game 1, so Electrolyze didn't feel too great to me. Game 2 was a bit more interesting, after exchanging removal spells and creatures for a few turns, I eventually land a Nahiri. I immediately +2 her, discarding Emrakul, which my opponent then exiles with Surgical Extraction. I hit several redundant copies of Nahiri, which was interesting since I couldn't really use her ultimate for much value (I could have grabbed Snapcaster Mage if necessary). Luckily I landed an Elspeth which quickly ran away with the game.
Round 3: Grixis Control (1-0)
My opponent seemed to be on a generally stock Grixis control list, though he was running 2 Anger of the Gods Main. He hit both game 1 which meant 2 dead cards for him. He also didn't hit any hand disruption, so I felt firmly in the driver's seat the whole game. He also made a few misplays, like casting Mana Leak with no followup into 3 open mana. Logic Knot proved to be quite good in this matchup, allowed me to exile a bunch of dead fetches from my grave before looting Emrakul away with a Lighthouse. I cast Logic Knot twice that game and both times it was great, it really impressed me. After about a 35-40 minute grindy game 1, I Emrakul'ed him out of the game.
Sideboarding
-1 Electrolyze
-1 Lightning Helix
-1 Supreme Verdict
+2 Negate
+1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
Game 2 was similarly grindy. He played Thing in the Ice, which I didn't see at all game 1, so his list was definitely not a stock list. Personally, I'm not a fan of that card, it sat around for a few turns and then ate a path. He had Dreadbore for my Nahiri, and then Snap + Dreadbore for the second. The game went to turns, and with no winner I got the match 1-0.
Round 4: Jund (ID)
With only 18 people in the tournament and 5 rounds of swiss, 3-0 was enough to double-draw into top 8. My opponent was on Jund, and agreed to the ID.
Round 5: Tron (ID)
Same sort of deal, my opponent was on Tron, and agreed to the ID (thank God, this is my absolute worst matchup).
Top 8: Grixis Control (1-2)
I got matched up with the same opponent from Round 3. I was 3rd seed going into top 8, so I was on the play. Opponent missed a land drop on turn 4, so attempted to Snapcaster + flashback Serum Visions. I Mana Leak'ed the Snapcaster figuring he was trying to hit lands, then untapped and slammed Nahiri. He didn't have an answer, and was met with a turn 7 Emrakul.
Sideboarding
-1 Electrolyze
-1 Lightning Helix
-1 Supreme Verdict
+2 Negate
+1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
Sideboard was pretty much the same as before. Game 2 was a much longer grind than the first. After fighting over an Ancestral Vision on my turn, he untapped and played Molten Rain into Snap + Molten Rain hitting my two red sources (I had missed some land drops). It was crippling at first, but he didn't follow up with any aggression. The game went long enough that I looted away Emrakul to shuffle my grave back in and hand enough time to naturally re-draw the lands he destroyed. He also hit a Colonnade with a Crumble to Dust. Apparently he had a decent number of dead cards, so decided to bring in a bunch of land hate, which was a smart move. Eventually he played a Tasigur that I couldn't answer and finished me off with a bolt.
Sideboarding
-1 Lightning Helix
+1 Supreme Verdict
Having lost the last game to Tasigur and knowing he was still playing Thing in the Ice, I figured having 1 Supreme Verdict was more valuable than the second Helix. Unfortunately he hit a critical mass of discard spells, and used Snap to replay a few of them. We hit a critical turn where he had a Tasigur, Snap, and Creeping Tar Pit in play with 1 card in hand. I had 7 mana available and Elspeth, Negate, and Snap in hand. I had to deicide if it was worth waiting a turn to draw the 8th land so I could cast Elspeth with Negate backup, or try to slam the Elspeth that turn. I was at something like 14 life and didn't want to take 9 the next turn, so I jammed Elspeth, and ran into a Mana Leak. I'm not sure if that play was necessarily wrong, since if I held the Elspeth I would have gone to 5 that turn, then Tar Pit + Bolt, Snap, or Kcommand is enough to end the game. Plus I wasn't even guaranteed to hit my 8th land the following turn. Sometimes you just have to make them have it, and he had it
It was a bit of a bummer to lose to a guy who I had beat earlier in the tournament, but he was nice enough, and I was happy enough with meeting my goal of Top8. Was it the most competitive field? Of course not. The meta was really weird. No one was on Affinity, Burn, or Infect. There were 4 Jund, 4 Grixis Control, 3 Jeskai Control, 2 Tron, 1 Hatebears, 2 Kiki-Chord, 2 Abzan Company, and 1 guy on a weird Delver/Blue Moon deck. Definitely not your expected meta, it was super heavy on the midrange and control side, but I was really happy with how my deck played out.
Takeaways
I was really happy with my deck overall, here are some of the things I took away from my experience.
1. Nahiri is awesome
We all know this by now, but Nahiri really is an awesome wincon for Jeskai Control. The ability to stabilize and then slam a card that says "answer me or game over" is exactly what this deck wants. Do you sometimes draw a blank in Emrakul? Occasionally. But Nahiri is quite versatile, and turns the corner faster than our opponents can recover.
2. Lighthouse is a House
I already knew this card was great, but since the meta was so control/midrange oriented, Lighthouse shone pretty much every time I drew it. The ability on a land to ditch bad cards and dig for good ones is phenomenal. You're missing out if you're still not running this card.
3. Logic Knot is better than it looks
In my playing at FNM, one of the most feelbad things you can do with this deck is draw Emrakul, loot and discard him, and then shuffle all of your dead fetches back into the deck. That scenario has come up a lot more than I would have expected, so I wanted to run 1 card that would let me at least get rid of dead lands in case of Emrakul shuffles. Logic Knot was fantastic every time I drew and played it. I cast it for X=7 and X=10 during the day, both times only tapping 2 lands. I think either 1 Logic Knot or 1 Harvest Pyre makes the deck feel so much better, and right now I'm on the Logic Knot train. Try it out.
4. Sideboard still needs work
This is always the case, as no sideboard is perfect and needs to be constantly updated and adapted. However, with all of the midrange and control I felt I didn't have enough cards I wanted to bring in. Elspeth was great for the grindy matchups, but I'm unsure of whether I want her in or not. I generally like to run multiple copies of cards I really really want to draw in specific matchups, which you can see in my 3 Crumble to Dust in the side. Personally, I feel like we can only beat Tron if the game goes something like t2 Mana Leak, t3 Remand, t4 Crumble to Dust. However, I've heard is said that with all of the card selection (Serum Visions, Nahiri, Lighthouse), we are able to run more one-of side because we'll have an easier time finding them. I'm going to reassess my sideboard strategy and see if I would be better off running fewer duplicate copies in favor of having a more diverse sideboard.
Well, that's about it, hope you can make use of some of that Great Wall of text.
UR ....... WUBR ........... WB ............. RGW ........ UBR ....... WUB .... BGU
Spells / Blink & Combo / Token Grind / Dino Tribal / Draw Cards / Zombies / Reanimate
It's kind of fringe, but it can attack a turn earlier than Colonnade, which is relevant against walkers, specifically Liliana.. I don't lose too much by running it, and it just offers another slightly diverse threat. Just a matter of personal preference.
4x Snapcaster Mage
1x Vendilion Clique
Instants and Sorceries:
4x Lightning Bolt
4x Path to Exile
2x Spell Snare
4x Remand
2x Mana Leak
3x Lightning Helix
2x Electrolyze
2x Cryptic Command
1x Supreme Verdict
2x Sphinx's Revelation
Planeswalkers:
2x Ajani Vengeant
1x Gideon Jura
4x Scalding Tarn
4x Flooded Strand
2x Hallowed Fountain
2x Steam Vents
1x Sacred foundry
2x Island
1x Plains
1x Mountain
4x Celestial Colonnade
1x Sulfur Falls
1x Mystic Gate
2x Tectonic Edge
1x Desolate Lighthouse
1x Elspeth, Sun's Champion
2x Geist of Saint Traft
2x Wear//Tear
2x Negate
1x Dispel
1x Timely Reinforcements
1x Detention Sphere
1x Stony Silence
1x Engineered Explosives
1x Izzet Staticaster
1x Anger of the Gods
1x Wrath of God
Thoughts?
UW Control
UWR Geist
UWR Control
R1: Boggles (2-1).
Got a game loss for being late due to traffic. I don't see how Boggles is a real deck but whatever. Wrath effects and counters destroyed him.
R2: R/G Tron (1-2). G1 Turn 3 Wurmcoil and I draw the wrong half of my deck for turns, I am really starting to hate Serum Visions at this point. G2 I Crumble to Dust. G3 Turn 4 Karn after I remand his T3 attempt gets Remanded and then I clique to see 2 Ancient Stirrings and 2 Forests ... I lose that one.
R3: Burn (1-2).
G1 I draw 3 Serum Visions and the wrong half and die on turn 4. G2 he mulls to 5 and I win at 5 life drawing the wrong half but winning only because I keep playing Snaps his EOT. G3 I draw the wrong half. Never saw any Helixs or Timelys.
R4: Scapeshift (2-0).
G1 I counter and burn his face from 20. G2 He resolves Baloths and Inferno Titans with me drawing the wrong half of my deck. G3 I bait him into a Scapeshift which I Logic Knot tapping me out of U, he responds with Remand, I Ghost Quarter my land and Spell Snare the Remand. I resolve the Nahiri the next turn and win.
R5: Elf and Tron (2-0).
G1 I burn all of his ramp and land t4 Nahiri to destroy his ramp enchantments and draw cards. G2 I t4 Crumble and then Snap it back.
The whole day I was completely unimpressed with Serum Visions. It was horrible. Died with it in my hand several times as I had better things to do. The same with Remand. It only temporarily delayed the bomb that was coming but it did have nice synergies with Clique. Same with Electrolyze as it never killed anything and Helix was way more important. Same with main deck Anger of the Gods.
After playing this version of the deck I think this version of it sucks as it is a 50/50 deck. If you draw the wrong half you auto lose. I made 1 play mistake as I came back to MTG during the new Zendikar block and didn't realize that the red Eidolon was an ENCHANTMENT creature so I could have -2d Nahiri instead of +2ing and waiting for it to attack to tap it ...
I also wanted some type of life gain MD at all times so either Timely or Ajani NEEDS to be MD.
Atm I would rate this deck a 6/10. Not in love with it at all with its current construction and people are prepared for it and will be making may changes along the way but also trying the LD version with Chalice version.