Round 2 vs BW tokens
I make a misplay on my inquisition taking dismember (I only have Tasigur as my only threat) instead of spectral procession, he plays the procession + an anthem enchantment and beats me down.
I'm pretty sure spectral procession counts as a 6cmc spell and you can't IoK it.
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Modern
* Esper Draw-Go
* Tezzeret Whir
* Blue Tron
Round 2 vs BW tokens
I make a misplay on my inquisition taking dismember (I only have Tasigur as my only threat) instead of spectral procession, he plays the procession + an anthem enchantment and beats me down.
I'm pretty sure spectral procession counts as a 6cmc spell and you can't IoK it.
Hm, didn't know that, makes sense I guess. Thanks!
So I've turned the black into more of a splash and am now testing a more UWb list. Very early testing but its felt a lot better. Drawing more cards off bauble and probe seems more relevant than hitting opponent with discard and 0 cost means t3 mentor can be done with a straight face since we can get at least 1 prowess token out of it even if they have the bolt. And waiting to turn 4 can mean an easy 2 tokens even if tey have removal.
Report:
Note that sideboarding is from memory, and might be slightly off.
Round 1: Soul Sisters (2-0)
Game 1: He opened with two Soul Sisters. I opened with Lingering Souls. His turn 4 play was Ranger of Eos, finding two Serra Ascendants in his deck. I left up mana the following turn to Negate whatever was under his Windbrisk Heights, but when he attacked with all three of his creatures it turned out to be another Ranger of Eos, fetching a third Serra Ascendant and a Martyr of Sands. I traded my Souls tokens for his Soul Sisters, and he put one of his Ascendants in play. I Pathed it at the end of his turn, untapped, and Inquisitioned a second one out of his hand. The third one ran into a Murderous Cut. He landed a Spectral Procession and Honor of the Pure, but I flashbacked Lingering Souls and slammed a Tasigur and a Sorin. Once I landed a Mentor and Negated his Path to Exile, he scooped up his cards.
Game 2: He opened with Soul Sister turn 1, Ajani's Pridemate turn 2, Soul Sister and Serra Ascendant turn 3. I shrugged and cast Zealous Persecution pre-combat (card is nuts), then untapped and Pathed his Pridemate. He tried a Spectral Procession but when he tried to cast Honor of the Pure the following turn he ran into a second Zealous Persecution in response (card is nuts). When I stuck a Tasigur, he packed it in.
Round 2: Wannabe-Pod Abzan (2-0) - This guy top 8-ed
Game 1: I don't remember much about this game, it was quite long. Near the end the board state was something like: My Monastery Mentor, 4 or so Monks, and 6 or so Spirits versus his Thragtusk, Elemental Token (from Voice of Resurgence), Loxodon Smiter, and a few Spirit tokens. I swung out and cast several spells, pushing the unblocked creatures up to lethal damage (Prowess is powerful).
Game 2: I keep a 2-lander with 3 Think Twice, since I'm expecting a long grindy game. Opponent opens with Birds of Paradise, I open with Creeping Tar Pit. Opponent follows with Birds of Paradise, Scavenging Ooze, I play a fetch land. Turn 3 is weird, opponent plays a land, swings for 2 with Ooze, and passes. I crack a fetch end of turn, planning to Think Twice, but opponent uses Birds to cast a Chord of Calling for 2 in response, fetching Voice of Resurgence, so now Think Twice is off the table. I untap, draw, don't hit my third land, and elect to Path the Voice immediately rather than Think Twice hoping to hit a land, wincing at the ramp I am giving my opponent. My opponent untaps and casts Lingering Souls, which is fine with me because I untap and cast Zealous Persecution (card is nuts). I get down a Mentor when I hit three lands, he Paths me into my fourth land, which I use to cast another Mentor. He kills this one too, but I hit his Ooze with removal in response and now I have a Monk on an otherwise empty board. He untaps and plays KTK Sorin, minusing immediately for a Vampire. I get my fifth land, attack with my monk at Sorin. He is forced to block with the Vampire, and I cast and flashback a Think Twice to draw two cards and turn the block into a chump block (Prowess is powerful). He plays a Siege Rhino and pluses Sorin, I untap and kill the Rhino, then cast another Think Twice and kill his Sorin. This game goes on a while longer, but it ends with him at 12 and me attacking for 8 with Creeping Tar Pit, a Monk token, and Tasigur. He lets everything through, and Zealous Persecution does a Boros Charm impression to end it (card is nuts/Prowess is powerful).
Round 3: Tarmo Twin (2-0) - This guy also top 8-ed
Game 1: This game took a long time, and very little happened. I removed a lot of creatures and he bounced Tasigurs with Cryptic Commands. All around, it was a good time. I don't remember how I got there, but I eventually did.
Game 2: I played this game SUPER conservatively, largely because I wound up with two Tectonic Edges in play and was very limited on colored mana. There was a very long time where he was at 4 life and I was holding a Lingering Souls and a Tasigur and not casting anything. Why? The rest of my hand was Disenchant, Negate, Path to Exile, Snapcaster Mage. I had decided by that point that I would hold up 3 answers to the combo at all times, since it was basically the only way I could lose, and eventually we both drew enough lands that I could kill him with Creeping Tar Pit after he Cryptic Commanded my spirits pre-combat.
Round 4: U/R Twin (2-0) - This guy ALSO top 8-ed
Game 1: The last time I played this guy at a modern tournament, he was on Amulet Bloom and I was on Death and Taxes, so he had the short end of the stick and must have felt better when he sat down, since he was on U/R Twin this time. Unfortunately for him, I was also on a different deck, which again has a very favorable matchup against him. Game 1 went about as expected, I ripped apart his hand with discard spells, countered his Cryptic Command when he tried to bounce a Tasigur and draw, Tec Edged his Lighthouse, etc. Twin really struggles with this deck for the same reason it struggles against B/W tokens, our answers match up very well against their threats, and their answers match up very poorly against ours.
Game 2: I tend to play pretty conservatively against Twin post-board (see game 2 of round 3), but I actually somehow got a threat-heavy, disruption-light hand in the midgame and had to go for it. With Tasigur and 4 Spirits in play, as well as two Creeping Tar Pits and 5 other lands, and my opponent at 5 life, I announced my attack. My opponent flashes in Pestermite, which I allow, and taps Tasigur. I activate one of my Creeping Tar Pits, and announce my attack again. My opponent flashes in another Pestermite, his last card, and targets the Tar Pit I activated. I tap the Tar Pit he targeted for black mana and tap my remaining two lands (Island and Plains) to activate my second Tar Pit. My opponent scoops up his cards.
Round 5: Affinity (ID) - This guy also top 8-ed, obviously
I actually think I have a decent match against Affinity, especially with my sideboard plan:
However, the standings looked like I could double draw into top 8. Also, by this point I was at 24 straight hours without eating anything, so we fist bumped and went to a nearby deli and got sandwiches. Best round of the day.
Round 6: Tasigur Twin (ID) - This guy ALSO top 8-ed, clearly
I was the number two seed at this point and got paired against the number one seed, who was 5-0. At this point with tiebreakers I was basically locked for top 8 even with a loss, so perhaps I should've played it out and tried to claim top seed going into top 8, but I still wanted to rest up a little after the first four rounds, and also watch my friend play for top 8, so we shook hands and signed the slip and I got to rest for another round. Plus, I still wound up being third seed, so that was fine.
Quarterfinals: Sultai Delve (2-1)
Game 1: I got a weird draw that involved my mana base on turn 3 (and a few turns thereafter) being a Creeping Tar Pit and two Plains. He, on the other hand, Inquisitioned me on turn 1, taking a Path to Exile. I Thoughtseized him back and saw Goyf, Inquisition, Inquisition, Jace Architect of Thought, another land, and Spell Snare. Not having any good answers in my deck for Jace, I felt compelled to take it. He slammed the turn 2 Goyf and I shrugged, hoping to find a Path to Exile or Murderous Cut or Lingering Souls anywhere in the top several cards of my deck, since I was holding a Thought Scour and a Think Twice. That failed to happen until I was at 3 life, with that same awkward 3-land mana base. I topdecked another Thought Scour and cast it on myself with my sole black source, dumping a Lingering Souls into my graveyard. I crossed my fingers for the draw off Thought Scour and hit a Tectonic Edge. I played it and cast Monastery Mentor with my remaining 3 lands to chump block so I could untap and flashback Lingering Souls the following turn. He let Mentor resolve, but showed me Abrupt Decay and I lost a game for the first time in the tournament.
Game 2: This time I had the turn two beater, Thought Scouring into a turn two Tasigur into turn three disruption. He struggled to keep up for a while, but I Thoughtseized away his Damnation, leaving him with a removal suite that had no hope of matching up to Tasigur and Lingering Souls. He was also a little land light, and I used Tectonic Edge to destroy his fourth land twice, keeping him from ever really stabilizing.
Game 3: This one was a little longer. In the end, he drew about 12 lands and I drew about 6, but his deck didn't seem to have any of the cards that make you really want to get into that board state. Eventually, the fact that I had drawn about 6 more real cards than him got me there.
Semifinals: Wannabe-Pod Abzan (2-1) - Same opponent from round 2.
Game 1: This game was a nightmare. First of all, it went way long. Second, it involved a ton of back and forth which involved misplays all over the map from both of us as the game dragged on. He had quite a toolbox, including a weird interaction where he cast an Orzhov Pontiff, minusing my team. I responded with Zealous Persecution, killing the Pontiff and his Birds, and saving my tokens (card is nuts). Then he attacked with his Voice of Resurgence Elemental token, I blocked with a Spirit. When he pointed to his two creatures in play, I reminded him that Zealous Persecution was still giving all his creatures -1/-1 (card is nuts). I learned when he Chorded for Spike Feeder at the end of my turn that he runs the infinite life combo, he untapped and dropped Archangel of Thune but I Pathed it in response to the first Spike Feeder counter being removed. We just kept going, with me briefly seizing control after playing Sorin, but then misplaying and double blocking a creature with my only two blockers despite having Vault of the Archangel in play, letting another one get through and hit Sorin. Still, I had stabilized at a fairly high life total and we both had basically empty boards, but that's when things started to go sour. With his hand empty, I wound up drawing a couple of discard spells, a couple of useless fetch lands, and somehow no Creeping Tar Pits. My opponent, meanwhile got to Chord for Reivellark and also landed his Gavony Township, which I just completely forgot to kill with Tectonic Edge. I had a Murderous Cut in hand, but using it on a Reivellark is just a slow concession, so I waited to find another answer to Reivellark. When Lingering Souls came off the top of his deck I didn't really have a choice. Facing down his whole army, I topdecked a Think Twice, cast it and hit a Tar Pit, flashed it back and hit another Think Twice, and that one finally drew one of my two remaining Mentors. Oh well.
Game 2: My opponent had a fast opening, rushing straight into Birds into Lingering Souls into Gavony Township, and going the beatdown route by pumping his Spirits every turn. I, meanwhile, bought some time by using Timely Reinforcements for just the lifegain mode (I had a Monastery Mentor and my own Lingering Souls tokens in play), and cracking back to slowly lower his life total. He eventually swung out, I chump blocked with Spirit tokens. Noting that he was tapped out, I looked at my Mentor and two Monks, did some quick math, untapped, cast removal on his one blocker, cast a Think Twice, flashbacked Lingering Souls, and pointed out that my attackers, despite having a total base power of 4, were currently swinging for an exactly lethal 13 damage (Prowess is powerful).
Game 3: My opponent actually had a turn two Lingering Souls this game off of a Birds of Paradise. On my turn 3, with me at 17 life and him at 18, I cast Timely Reinforcements with my board empty. With it on the stack, I noticed that he had a fetchland in play, so I casually observed "This time I get both parts;" a reference to my casting it only for life in game 2. He shrugged glumly and I got my 6 life. When he cracked his fetch at the end of my turn I said "I was hoping you wouldn't notice that," and then explained the interaction with Timely Reinforcements. Normally I wouldn't try to put an opponent on tilt like that, but I could tell that we were both fading after the long day and the long match and I thought that a mental state advantage might wind up being far more important than a board state advantage. This all paid off a turn later, we traded swings, then I played a Monastery Mentor on my turn four and he Chorded end of turn, fetching Sin Collector. Glumly, I showed him my hand of Tasigur, Path to Exile, Zealous Persecution, Murderous Cut, and something else (Negate or Think Twice, I believe), and to my utter astonishment he picked Path. This made a little more sense when he untapped and killed the mentor, as I had no cards that I could cast to get a Monk token, but he nevertheless got totally blown out when I untapped and cast Zealous Persecution (card is nuts). Lacking a better option, he Pathed one of his own tokens trying to find a land. I let him have it, and immediately blew up his Gavony Township with Tectonic Edge when the land hit play. My tokens, still pumped with Zealous Persecution (card is nuts) hit him for 6, dropping him to 8, and post-combat I dropped Tasigur by delving all the cards I had just dumped into my yard. That was pretty much the turning point, the game dragged on for a few turns thereafter, but he never really got a foothold back into the game.
Finals - Split
My finals opponent was my round 3 opponent (I wound up beating my semifinals opponent and then my finals opponent in rounds 2 and 3 of the swiss, the fact that I had beaten 3 other people there already is one reason I felt really good heading into top 8). He was interested in the RPTQ invite and I certainly was not (since I don't have any time to really travel during the school year I am unlikely to be able to attend an RPTQ and I ABSOLUTELY couldn't attend a Pro Tour), so we rearranged the prizes for first and second and then I conceded. He got to walk away with an invite and a DTK fat pack, I walked away with a Revised Underground Sea and a DTK booster box.
Hello, I recently started playing Modern more competitively and find myself looking at this deck. Most of my experience is currently in control decks, however I have a preference for a more aggressive style of control that may fit with the playstyle for this deck. I don't actually have any of the Monastery Mentors for this deck yet, however I have done a bit of testing with proxies. I would like to ask for opinions on the decklist I intend to try at some local tournaments in the next few weeks.
I'm running Dralnu to top my curve and just to see if the ability to recur spells every turn is worth the investment. Probably not the best call, but there is actually very little burn in my meta. I am also running heavy on the tokens to counter a bit of the aggro.
I don't have much of a sideboard yet, but that isn't as big a worry for me right now. The biggest worry I see in my list is that it is light on board removal, but that may come from my control player tendencies.
I think Dralnu is a mistake. You can flashback spells, sure but unless you have a load of tokens, having to sac 3 things to a lightning bolt is counter productive. I think snaps are a better choice.
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Modern: UWR Breach, UWB Esper control
Legacy: UW RiP/Helm, UR Sneak and Show
Although it isn't quite the meteoric rise of Grixis Delver, Esper Midrange's rise has nonetheless been an impressive example of Modern innovation. From a handful of hyper-local finishes at Japanese events, the deck has now developed into real contender in both paper and on MTGO. It's just under 2% of the MTGO metagame and just over 1% of paper, which is at the low end of prerequisites for meeting tier 2 criteria. But the deck is very well-positioned right now and still boasts one of the best matchups against one of Modern's best decks (Twin). If this deck can just enjoy a few more successes at upcoming major paper events, I expect we will see Esper Mentor Midrange secure its position in tier 2 for some time to come.
Although it isn't quite the meteoric rise of Grixis Delver, Esper Midrange's rise has nonetheless been an impressive example of Modern innovation. From a handful of hyper-local finishes at Japanese events, the deck has now developed into real contender in both paper and on MTGO. It's just under 2% of the MTGO metagame and just over 1% of paper, which is at the low end of prerequisites for meeting tier 2 criteria. But the deck is very well-positioned right now and still boasts one of the best matchups against one of Modern's best decks (Twin). If this deck can just enjoy a few more successes at upcoming major paper events, I expect we will see Esper Mentor Midrange secure its position in tier 2 for some time to come.
It is very pleasant to see that the deck is making its way to the top Tiers. It's all thanks to you esper mages!! Hope we can keep up the good work and make this archetype stay at the top for good.We definitely can handle combo decks, and we're not bad positioned against BGx and Burn, so there's no reason to back out of Esper colors. The sky is the limit, we need more innovation to start crushing big events on regular basis!
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In Lorwyn's brief evenings, the sun pauses at the horizon long enough for a certain species of violet to bloom with the fragrance of mischief.
I've been playing with this deck ever since the first results from Japan as my sole modern deck. I definitely agree with the promotion. The deck feels very well positioned right now, the beauty of your threats making your disruption into more threats is that the deck is extremely versatile. You can really adjust your deck to have game against whatever you want it to.
So after playing this deck at a few LGS modern nights I've really started to enjoy the deck greatly and have started to tune it to the meta. I've finished multiple times at X-1 usually losing to matchups that are either rough or just misplaying the deck in matchups that are close. Each week I've taken away a bunch of information and feedback on the deck as well and so far I've come to the following conclusions:
Blue permission is very weak. In most matchups I feel like I'm better off being proactive with discard and setting up my future turns and disrupting my opponents turns. Cutting down to 2 remand as my only main deck permission, mostly to cantrip and buy time to hit 3-4 mana to start committing to the board has been solid and then being able to use it to save important spells late game against U decks has been stellar. Cards like spellsnare and mana leak just never really did anything most of the time and I continually found myself cutting them for more specific answers postboard.
More creature based removal has been really good. Even against decks like scapeshift, I've used removal spells to activate prowess on my turn, rampant growth a creature in response to a removal spell with path, or even just cast, remand, cast on summoning sick token to close out games. Having a variable removal suite against decks like delver, BGx, twin, etc... has made those matchups feel very smooth as opposed to bad soft permission.
Serum Visions has been stellar, I originally put these in over my spell snares and cut a single thought scour to have a 3-3 split and I've been very happy with it. Between setting up good scours on myself, and keeping greedier hands, or digging for many of our 1-2 mana answers or look for threats when I'm in the position to turn the corner and start killing them. I don't think I could cut it.
Discard has continually been excellent for me game 1, and often times better postboard. Being able to see the opponents hand and force them to play the game you want and be able to play around what they have has been invaluable. Maybe it's cause most of the decks I've played have been things like twin, scapeshift, tron, BUG, and UWR, and discard is just strong against them (compared to say zoo, burn, merfolk), and have been much better than reactive permission, and even late game they become a prowess activation instead of being completely dead.
Sideboarding is really hard with this deck. I feel that a majority of the time my main deck is so tight against most of the meta that it has been really hard to figure out what to sideboard in and sideboard out. Outside of obvious inclusions and must have answers like Stony Silence, Timely Reinforcements, Spellskite, and disenchants, for decks like Burn and Affinity, I just can't figure out what is worth bringing out of the main deck that helps supplement matchups. Perhaps it's because my sideboard feels pretty anorexic power level wise and just needs to be tuned more. But things like removal, discard, and threats are just so broadly powerful that outside of very specific niche hate there isn't a lot out there that I feel makes a lot of matchups distinctly better or worth changing the main deck plan.
Here's my list for reference, feed back is appreciated.
Notable changes I wish to make to the deck is I want to find room for 2 Zealous Persecutions (either 1-1 main/side or 2 main) and more white sources, probably going to cut a Tarpit for a Marsh Flats.
Other than that I want to change the sideboard a bit. I feel like I have too many cards against twin which I feel like I don't need ever need, and not enough against something like Tron. I've been toying around the idea of putting in 3-4 Rain of Tears over things like Purges, Ashiok, and Curse. Though Ashiok has been stellar against tron scapeshift, and UWR.
My decklist is post 227 - basically no discard but 4x myth realized 4x probe 4x bauble. I made one last minute change -1 snapcaster +1 darkblast
Went 2-1-1 at a 15 player event for 5th place.
Round 1: 2-1 win vs BW tokens
G1: Dealt 10 through 2 instant speed raise the alarms for lethal (negate, slaughter pact pumping myths and monks)
G2: I slow-roll my engineered explosives by which I mean he IoK's them on turn 3. He gets honor into many tokens. I alpha him with path+pact but his 1 blocker is all he needs to survive at 2 life.
G3: He has a slow start - 2 spectral processions but only 2 white sources. T4 he casts sorin instead of spectral, I swing all at sorin then negate the spectral gg.
Round 2: 1-2 vs GR tron (guy who won 1st)
G1: he mulls to 5. Pyroclasm wipes my monk+2 tokens (probe+bauble power) but I have 2 myth realized out and my negate on his o-stone seals the deal.
G2: he plays natural t3 tron karn on the play (no tutors)... after nature's claiming my t1 myth... rather than cast lingering souls and get owned by karn anyways I scoop.
G3: pyroclasms my mentor+token, then all is dusts my 2 myth realized and I'm left with a flashed back lingering souls vs a karn. I play it out but at 8 life and a 15 counter karn it was over.
Round 3: 1-1-1 vs UWR control
G1: Long slog, he gets me to 4 life with geist/burn and my own shocks but I have an 8/8, 7/7 and 3/3 myth realized and some tokens. He paths and snapcaster-bolt blocks bolting me to 1, then has 2 turns to draw another burn spell and draws it on the last turn
G2: even longer. I had to get him to blow path, anger, explosives. Luckily I drew slaughter pact and knew he had 2 resto angels - when he finally casts one I pact it and then surgical it to get rid of the 2nd one in his hand. He runs out of gas and I win with 3mins left on clock. Draw
Round 4: 2-0 vs WRu twin
G1: myth realized, lingering souls, then remand+leak+negate his attempts to twin. Crash in with 4/4 myths and 4 souls tokens for gg.
G2: I had negate+pact+disenchant+celestial purge... he tried to twin twice, once with negate backup, didnt matter. Tasigur+2 souls tokens get there through his dumb wall of omens x2. Played around blood moon but i dont think he had it anyways.
Myth realized was good. Maindeck negate was good. Snapcaster was weak. Darkblast mattered in 0 matchups so was a bad maindeck call tonight but still seems good for the deck (easy prowess/myth/monk trigger).
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Modern
* Esper Draw-Go
* Tezzeret Whir
* Blue Tron
I tend to disagree with the choices of those who replace the reactive spells in the deck with more proactive ones. I think the beauty of this deck is that many of it's threats (Mentor, Snapcaster, Tasigur) reward you for being reactive by giving those reactive spells a proactive element.
I've only just picked up the deck but I wonder how useful thought scour really is. I understand that it powers out a turn 2 Tasigur at times, and helps fuel cut, but its a highly mediocre card outside of T2 Banana-Prince.
With that in mind, here's the list I'm running with:
I've only had 4 matches with the deck, but its been performing quite admirably; especially against Twin. Zealous Persecution is the nuts. Serum Visions churns out Tasigur slower, but with the swap to dismember from Cut, I think its fine. Especially considering that Serum Visions is so much better than Thought Scour except for Bananas and combat tricks.
I've been playing this deck for a few weeks now. Lately my magic skills have dropped to the ground (mostly due to the fact that I play super tired). Hence my experience with the deck has not been the best. I actually keep losing and losing and I can't figure why. Probably I am playing the deck wrongly or I can't understand its basic concepts, I don't know. I usually play Faeries or UWR control/midrange, and I though I should be able to manage this deck. Apparently I am awful and i can't. Anyway, I was playing a pretty stock list of the deck and i figured maybe I should tweak it to fit my playstyle more? What I found frustrating at times was the lack of counters so I though I'd try playing some. What do you think of this version?
Shouldn't we be running 4 Darkslick Shores? Maybe I'm missing something, but it enables both of our major turn 1 plays, discard or cantrip, and helps our burn matchup by making us shock and bolt ourselves less.
2 Creeping Tar Pit
4 Polluted Delta
4 Flooded Strand
2 Island
1 Watery Grave
1 Plains
1 Swamp
1 Godless Shrine
2 Hallowed Fountain
1 Vault of the Archangel
4 Monastery Mentor
4 Snapcaster Mage
2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
4 Thought Scour
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Lingering Souls
4 Path to Exile
1 Spell Snare
2 Murderous Cut
2 Mana Leak
1 Remand
4 Darkslick Shores
1 Slaughter Pact
1 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
2 Thoughtseize
1 Zealous Persecution
SB: 1 Flashfreeze
SB: 2 Stony Silence
SB: 2 Celestial Purge
SB: 3 Timely Reinforcements
SB: 1 Kor Firewalker
SB: 1 Countersquall
SB: 2 Rain of Tears
SB: 1 Batterskull
SB: 1 Wrath of God
This is the deck I'm using right now, and yes of course getting a Darkslick Shores late isn't the best, but for the most part this deck doesn't feel like it needs a ton of mana at once, even in the lategame. Our most expensive spell is Tasigur, and he isn't really very expensive in reality. I think a good comparison is Jund, they always play 4 Blackcleave Cliffs because it enables their turn 1 plays, and I'm starting to lean that way as well.
I've been playing this deck for a few weeks now. Lately my magic skills have dropped to the ground (mostly due to the fact that I play super tired). Hence my experience with the deck has not been the best. I actually keep losing and losing and I can't figure why. Probably I am playing the deck wrongly or I can't understand its basic concepts, I don't know. I usually play Faeries or UWR control/midrange, and I though I should be able to manage this deck. Apparently I am awful and i can't. Anyway, I was playing a pretty stock list of the deck and i figured maybe I should tweak it to fit my playstyle more? What I found frustrating at times was the lack of counters so I though I'd try playing some. What do you think of this version?
As a Fae/UWR lover, I can imagine that you're trying to play a conservative game, when the deck tries to be a bit more proactive than the ones you mentioned. Mentor will reward you more if you play a proactive game rather than reactive, it will still be good in the right situation to hold cards and resources to respond/play EoT, but more likely (and especially in the kill turn) you will want to cast 3+ spells in your own turn.
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In Lorwyn's brief evenings, the sun pauses at the horizon long enough for a certain species of violet to bloom with the fragrance of mischief.
I've only just picked up the deck but I wonder how useful thought scour really is. I understand that it powers out a turn 2 Tasigur at times, and helps fuel cut, but its a highly mediocre card outside of T2 Banana-Prince.
With that in mind, here's the list I'm running with:
I've only had 4 matches with the deck, but its been performing quite admirably; especially against Twin. Zealous Persecution is the nuts. Serum Visions churns out Tasigur slower, but with the swap to dismember from Cut, I think its fine. Especially considering that Serum Visions is so much better than Thought Scour except for Bananas and combat tricks.
Careful with that analysis of Serum Visions--another benefit of Thought Scour over Serum Visions is that Thought Scour can mill copies of Lingering Souls. Milling Souls has saved my butt quite a few times.
It's also nice to have an instant-speed cantrip to pump Monastery Mentor and Prowess Monks, to Flashback with Tiago when times are sleepy, and to cast on Twin's EOT after leaving up 1 mana to hold up/bluff removal. Serum Visions is a slow sorcery in comparison.
Shouldn't we be running 4 Darkslick Shores? Maybe I'm missing something, but it enables both of our major turn 1 plays, discard or cantrip, and helps our burn matchup by making us shock and bolt ourselves less.
2 Creeping Tar Pit
4 Polluted Delta
4 Flooded Strand
2 Island
1 Watery Grave
1 Plains
1 Swamp
1 Godless Shrine
2 Hallowed Fountain
1 Vault of the Archangel
4 Monastery Mentor
4 Snapcaster Mage
2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
4 Thought Scour
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Lingering Souls
4 Path to Exile
1 Spell Snare
2 Murderous Cut
2 Mana Leak
1 Remand
4 Darkslick Shores
1 Slaughter Pact
1 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
2 Thoughtseize
1 Zealous Persecution
SB: 1 Flashfreeze
SB: 2 Stony Silence
SB: 2 Celestial Purge
SB: 3 Timely Reinforcements
SB: 1 Kor Firewalker
SB: 1 Countersquall
SB: 2 Rain of Tears
SB: 1 Batterskull
SB: 1 Wrath of God
This is the deck I'm using right now, and yes of course getting a Darkslick Shores late isn't the best, but for the most part this deck doesn't feel like it needs a ton of mana at once, even in the lategame. Our most expensive spell is Tasigur, and he isn't really very expensive in reality. I think a good comparison is Jund, they always play 4 Blackcleave Cliffs because it enables their turn 1 plays, and I'm starting to lean that way as well.
With 4 Delve cards (2 of them being Murderous Cut, which you will Flashback at some point), even with Thought Scour, I'd err on the side of more fetches. That would be part of why Darkslick Shores and Seachrome Coast don't tend to take up 4 slots in this deck--that and people normally playing more manlands than you...and people normally playing 22 lands instead of 23 (which I don't get whenever those guys play 2 4-drops).
Careful with that analysis of Serum Visions--another benefit of Thought Scour over Serum Visions is that Thought Scour can mill copies of Lingering Souls. Milling Souls has saved my butt quite a few times.
It's also nice to have an instant-speed cantrip to pump Monastery Mentor and Prowess Monks, to Flashback with Tiago when times are sleepy, and to cast on Twin's EOT after leaving up 1 mana to hold up/bluff removal. Serum Visions is a slow sorcery in comparison.
Whelp, just had a my reply eaten by MTGS. So I'll just go over the synopsis. Thoughtscour has a ~15% to mill at least one souls T2/T3 in any given game where you've seen none, not something that I'd put into its favor. It also only increases your chance to see souls (over Visions, disregarding Scry) is ~10%. And if you do hit the 15% mill chance, its reward is a 1 mana reduction but only one usage; its useful, certainly but not something that would make me pick it over visions.
The mana efficency against combo/control isn't something that, again, would make me want it over Visions. Consider that Twin will typically only place Twin on a creature if it can protect it from our removal and/or counter magic. That means that you'll generally want to remove the flasher on your EoT, where their mana is most constrained. This is, of course, disregarding the common event where Twin takes out the combo in favor of grind-cards like Jace/Keranos and board sweeps.
The combat trick, to me, is the most useless "perk" of thoughtscour. In my opinion, any competent opponent won't block a prowess creature where a single instant makes the combat math terrible for them. So I don't see much of a difference between an in-combat thought scour and a first main Vision. It could, perhaps, protect an already buffed mentor from a bolt but your opponent would have had to let the first prowess trigger resolve (or you have another instant in hand) for that to matter.
My major thing about visions is that it allows for more hands to be kept. A 1-land hand, with mostly our 1 cmc instants, is eminently keepable with visions, probably not so much with thought scour.
But I could be wrong. Maybe 4 5/6cmc delve spells necessitates the thought scours in order to cast them comfortably. As I said, I'm only a few matches into this deck, there remains much to be seen.
Hey guys, I'm currently playing Merfolk, UwTron, RWNorin and Deadguy Ale in Modern. I'm thinking about going from Ale to this deck, as it seems close (midrange with BW...) but maybe better as it gets more results.
I've got few questions so, and I apologize if they were already answered two thousand times^^
1) I see some list playing a playset of Snapcaster and some others just 1 or 2. How much is he mandatory in this deck? (as I don't own them and don't plan to buy them soon, already too much stuff to get with MM2015 and fetches^^). Could he be replaced by Bob, as Snapcaster work a bit like card draw on a stick too?
2)What's happening with the delver lists? I don't see them having results. Are they simply less strong or just getting less love?
Thank you guys for you answers.
PS: Sorry my English isn't really good, not my first language^^
Snapcaster is nuts in this deck. Most lists are typically running 28 instants and sorceries, with roughly half being 1cmc. If the standard of Mister Tiago is bolt snapbolt, then path snap-path is nearly as good. Against control decks, flashing back your cantrip or discard is also fantastic. He could, maybe, be replaced by Bob but Bob runs afoul of bolt, where Tiago does not.
Delver has moved onto Grixis Delver, which is more roboust on the threats. Attacking on 2 threat axis (Delver/Pyro and Tasigur) can be a nightmare for certain decks. Scapeshift has a miserable time attempting to deal with Pyro tokens, Delver flips, and Tasigur. Not to mention all of its run on what seems to be a fairly efficient engine.
I've been playing this deck for a few weeks now. Lately my magic skills have dropped to the ground (mostly due to the fact that I play super tired). Hence my experience with the deck has not been the best. I actually keep losing and losing and I can't figure why. Probably I am playing the deck wrongly or I can't understand its basic concepts, I don't know. I usually play Faeries or UWR control/midrange, and I though I should be able to manage this deck. Apparently I am awful and i can't. Anyway, I was playing a pretty stock list of the deck and i figured maybe I should tweak it to fit my playstyle more? What I found frustrating at times was the lack of counters so I though I'd try playing some. What do you think of this version?
As a Fae/UWR lover, I can imagine that you're trying to play a conservative game, when the deck tries to be a bit more proactive than the ones you mentioned. Mentor will reward you more if you play a proactive game rather than reactive, it will still be good in the right situation to hold cards and resources to respond/play EoT, but more likely (and especially in the kill turn) you will want to cast 3+ spells in your own turn.
Yeah, I am probably playing way too conservative. To be real, I feel weak without counters. But I have a hard time adjusting to the game plan, which I am not sure what it is exactly. That's why I though I could try and include more counters and have the ability to play more reactive wherever I need.
I'm pretty sure spectral procession counts as a 6cmc spell and you can't IoK it.
* Esper Draw-Go
* Tezzeret Whir
* Blue Tron
Hm, didn't know that, makes sense I guess. Thanks!
4 myth realized
4 monastery mentor
4 lingering souls
2 tasigur, the golden fang
2 snapcaster mage
Cycling (12)
4 mishra's bauble
4 gitaxian probe
4 thought scour
Disruption (11)
2 path to exile
2 murderous cut
1 slaughter pact
2 mana leak
2 negate
1 remand
1 spell snare
4 polluted delta
2 marsh flats
2 flooded strand
2 hallowed fountain
1 watery grave
1 godless shrine
2 plains
2 island
2 swamp
2 seachrome coast
1 ghost quarter
4 timely reinforcements
2 engineered explosives
2 celestial purge
2 disenchant
2 surgical extraction
1 nihil spellbomb
1 hibernation
1 torpor orb
* Esper Draw-Go
* Tezzeret Whir
* Blue Tron
Played in a 50-ish person PPTQ over the weekend. Here's the list I brought:
4 Flooded Strand
4 Polluted Delta
3 Creeping Tar Pit
3 Tectonic Edge
1 Vault of the Archangel
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Godless Shrine
1 Watery Grave
2 Plains
1 Island
2 Swamp
Creatures:
4 Monastery Mentor
1 Snapcaster Mage
2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
4 Path to Exile
4 Lingering Souls
4 Thought Scour
1 Mana Leak
2 Negate
4 Think Twice
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Thoughtseize
3 Murderous Cut
1 Zealous Persecution
1 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
1 Tectonic Edge
2 Disenchant
2 Stony Silence
4 Timely Reinforcements
1 Negate
2 Thoughtseize
2 Zealous Persecution
1 Utter End
Report:
Note that sideboarding is from memory, and might be slightly off.
Round 1: Soul Sisters (2-0)
Game 1: He opened with two Soul Sisters. I opened with Lingering Souls. His turn 4 play was Ranger of Eos, finding two Serra Ascendants in his deck. I left up mana the following turn to Negate whatever was under his Windbrisk Heights, but when he attacked with all three of his creatures it turned out to be another Ranger of Eos, fetching a third Serra Ascendant and a Martyr of Sands. I traded my Souls tokens for his Soul Sisters, and he put one of his Ascendants in play. I Pathed it at the end of his turn, untapped, and Inquisitioned a second one out of his hand. The third one ran into a Murderous Cut. He landed a Spectral Procession and Honor of the Pure, but I flashbacked Lingering Souls and slammed a Tasigur and a Sorin. Once I landed a Mentor and Negated his Path to Exile, he scooped up his cards.
Sideboard:
In: 2 Zealous Persecution, 1 Utter End, 2 Disenchant, 1 Negate, 1 Tectonic Edge
Out: 4 Inquisition of Kozilek, 2 Thoughtseize, 1 Creeping Tar Pit
Game 2: He opened with Soul Sister turn 1, Ajani's Pridemate turn 2, Soul Sister and Serra Ascendant turn 3. I shrugged and cast Zealous Persecution pre-combat (card is nuts), then untapped and Pathed his Pridemate. He tried a Spectral Procession but when he tried to cast Honor of the Pure the following turn he ran into a second Zealous Persecution in response (card is nuts). When I stuck a Tasigur, he packed it in.
Round 2: Wannabe-Pod Abzan (2-0) - This guy top 8-ed
Game 1: I don't remember much about this game, it was quite long. Near the end the board state was something like: My Monastery Mentor, 4 or so Monks, and 6 or so Spirits versus his Thragtusk, Elemental Token (from Voice of Resurgence), Loxodon Smiter, and a few Spirit tokens. I swung out and cast several spells, pushing the unblocked creatures up to lethal damage (Prowess is powerful).
Sideboard:
In: 1 Utter End, 2 Zealous Persecution, 4 Timely Reinforcements, 1 Tectonic Edge
Out: 2 Thoughtseize, 4 Inquisition of Kozilek, 2 Thought Scour
Game 2: I keep a 2-lander with 3 Think Twice, since I'm expecting a long grindy game. Opponent opens with Birds of Paradise, I open with Creeping Tar Pit. Opponent follows with Birds of Paradise, Scavenging Ooze, I play a fetch land. Turn 3 is weird, opponent plays a land, swings for 2 with Ooze, and passes. I crack a fetch end of turn, planning to Think Twice, but opponent uses Birds to cast a Chord of Calling for 2 in response, fetching Voice of Resurgence, so now Think Twice is off the table. I untap, draw, don't hit my third land, and elect to Path the Voice immediately rather than Think Twice hoping to hit a land, wincing at the ramp I am giving my opponent. My opponent untaps and casts Lingering Souls, which is fine with me because I untap and cast Zealous Persecution (card is nuts). I get down a Mentor when I hit three lands, he Paths me into my fourth land, which I use to cast another Mentor. He kills this one too, but I hit his Ooze with removal in response and now I have a Monk on an otherwise empty board. He untaps and plays KTK Sorin, minusing immediately for a Vampire. I get my fifth land, attack with my monk at Sorin. He is forced to block with the Vampire, and I cast and flashback a Think Twice to draw two cards and turn the block into a chump block (Prowess is powerful). He plays a Siege Rhino and pluses Sorin, I untap and kill the Rhino, then cast another Think Twice and kill his Sorin. This game goes on a while longer, but it ends with him at 12 and me attacking for 8 with Creeping Tar Pit, a Monk token, and Tasigur. He lets everything through, and Zealous Persecution does a Boros Charm impression to end it (card is nuts/Prowess is powerful).
Round 3: Tarmo Twin (2-0) - This guy also top 8-ed
Game 1: This game took a long time, and very little happened. I removed a lot of creatures and he bounced Tasigurs with Cryptic Commands. All around, it was a good time. I don't remember how I got there, but I eventually did.
Sideboard:
In: 1 Utter End, 2 Disenchant, 1 Negate, 2 Thoughtseize
Out: 4 Thought Scour, 2 Lingering Souls
Game 2: I played this game SUPER conservatively, largely because I wound up with two Tectonic Edges in play and was very limited on colored mana. There was a very long time where he was at 4 life and I was holding a Lingering Souls and a Tasigur and not casting anything. Why? The rest of my hand was Disenchant, Negate, Path to Exile, Snapcaster Mage. I had decided by that point that I would hold up 3 answers to the combo at all times, since it was basically the only way I could lose, and eventually we both drew enough lands that I could kill him with Creeping Tar Pit after he Cryptic Commanded my spirits pre-combat.
Round 4: U/R Twin (2-0) - This guy ALSO top 8-ed
Game 1: The last time I played this guy at a modern tournament, he was on Amulet Bloom and I was on Death and Taxes, so he had the short end of the stick and must have felt better when he sat down, since he was on U/R Twin this time. Unfortunately for him, I was also on a different deck, which again has a very favorable matchup against him. Game 1 went about as expected, I ripped apart his hand with discard spells, countered his Cryptic Command when he tried to bounce a Tasigur and draw, Tec Edged his Lighthouse, etc. Twin really struggles with this deck for the same reason it struggles against B/W tokens, our answers match up very well against their threats, and their answers match up very poorly against ours.
Sideboard:
In: 1 Utter End, 2 Disenchant, 1 Negate, 2 Thoughtseize
Out: 4 Thought Scour, 2 Lingering Souls
Game 2: I tend to play pretty conservatively against Twin post-board (see game 2 of round 3), but I actually somehow got a threat-heavy, disruption-light hand in the midgame and had to go for it. With Tasigur and 4 Spirits in play, as well as two Creeping Tar Pits and 5 other lands, and my opponent at 5 life, I announced my attack. My opponent flashes in Pestermite, which I allow, and taps Tasigur. I activate one of my Creeping Tar Pits, and announce my attack again. My opponent flashes in another Pestermite, his last card, and targets the Tar Pit I activated. I tap the Tar Pit he targeted for black mana and tap my remaining two lands (Island and Plains) to activate my second Tar Pit. My opponent scoops up his cards.
Round 5: Affinity (ID) - This guy also top 8-ed, obviously
I actually think I have a decent match against Affinity, especially with my sideboard plan:
In: 4x Timely Reinforcements, 2x Zealous Persecution, 2x Disenchant, 2x Stony Silence, 1x Utter End, 1x Tectonic Edge
Out: 4x Think Twice, 2x Negate, 4x Inquisition of Kozilek, 2x Thoughtseize
However, the standings looked like I could double draw into top 8. Also, by this point I was at 24 straight hours without eating anything, so we fist bumped and went to a nearby deli and got sandwiches. Best round of the day.
Round 6: Tasigur Twin (ID) - This guy ALSO top 8-ed, clearly
I was the number two seed at this point and got paired against the number one seed, who was 5-0. At this point with tiebreakers I was basically locked for top 8 even with a loss, so perhaps I should've played it out and tried to claim top seed going into top 8, but I still wanted to rest up a little after the first four rounds, and also watch my friend play for top 8, so we shook hands and signed the slip and I got to rest for another round. Plus, I still wound up being third seed, so that was fine.
Quarterfinals: Sultai Delve (2-1)
Game 1: I got a weird draw that involved my mana base on turn 3 (and a few turns thereafter) being a Creeping Tar Pit and two Plains. He, on the other hand, Inquisitioned me on turn 1, taking a Path to Exile. I Thoughtseized him back and saw Goyf, Inquisition, Inquisition, Jace Architect of Thought, another land, and Spell Snare. Not having any good answers in my deck for Jace, I felt compelled to take it. He slammed the turn 2 Goyf and I shrugged, hoping to find a Path to Exile or Murderous Cut or Lingering Souls anywhere in the top several cards of my deck, since I was holding a Thought Scour and a Think Twice. That failed to happen until I was at 3 life, with that same awkward 3-land mana base. I topdecked another Thought Scour and cast it on myself with my sole black source, dumping a Lingering Souls into my graveyard. I crossed my fingers for the draw off Thought Scour and hit a Tectonic Edge. I played it and cast Monastery Mentor with my remaining 3 lands to chump block so I could untap and flashback Lingering Souls the following turn. He let Mentor resolve, but showed me Abrupt Decay and I lost a game for the first time in the tournament.
In: 2 Thoughtseize, 1 Negate
Out: 2 Thought Scour, 1 Zealous Persecution
Game 2: This time I had the turn two beater, Thought Scouring into a turn two Tasigur into turn three disruption. He struggled to keep up for a while, but I Thoughtseized away his Damnation, leaving him with a removal suite that had no hope of matching up to Tasigur and Lingering Souls. He was also a little land light, and I used Tectonic Edge to destroy his fourth land twice, keeping him from ever really stabilizing.
Game 3: This one was a little longer. In the end, he drew about 12 lands and I drew about 6, but his deck didn't seem to have any of the cards that make you really want to get into that board state. Eventually, the fact that I had drawn about 6 more real cards than him got me there.
Semifinals: Wannabe-Pod Abzan (2-1) - Same opponent from round 2.
Game 1: This game was a nightmare. First of all, it went way long. Second, it involved a ton of back and forth which involved misplays all over the map from both of us as the game dragged on. He had quite a toolbox, including a weird interaction where he cast an Orzhov Pontiff, minusing my team. I responded with Zealous Persecution, killing the Pontiff and his Birds, and saving my tokens (card is nuts). Then he attacked with his Voice of Resurgence Elemental token, I blocked with a Spirit. When he pointed to his two creatures in play, I reminded him that Zealous Persecution was still giving all his creatures -1/-1 (card is nuts). I learned when he Chorded for Spike Feeder at the end of my turn that he runs the infinite life combo, he untapped and dropped Archangel of Thune but I Pathed it in response to the first Spike Feeder counter being removed. We just kept going, with me briefly seizing control after playing Sorin, but then misplaying and double blocking a creature with my only two blockers despite having Vault of the Archangel in play, letting another one get through and hit Sorin. Still, I had stabilized at a fairly high life total and we both had basically empty boards, but that's when things started to go sour. With his hand empty, I wound up drawing a couple of discard spells, a couple of useless fetch lands, and somehow no Creeping Tar Pits. My opponent, meanwhile got to Chord for Reivellark and also landed his Gavony Township, which I just completely forgot to kill with Tectonic Edge. I had a Murderous Cut in hand, but using it on a Reivellark is just a slow concession, so I waited to find another answer to Reivellark. When Lingering Souls came off the top of his deck I didn't really have a choice. Facing down his whole army, I topdecked a Think Twice, cast it and hit a Tar Pit, flashed it back and hit another Think Twice, and that one finally drew one of my two remaining Mentors. Oh well.
Sideboard:
In: 1 Utter End, 2 Zealous Persecution, 4 Timely Reinforcements, 1 Tectonic Edge
Out: 2 Thoughtseize, 4 Inquisition of Kozilek, 2 Thought Scour
Game 2: My opponent had a fast opening, rushing straight into Birds into Lingering Souls into Gavony Township, and going the beatdown route by pumping his Spirits every turn. I, meanwhile, bought some time by using Timely Reinforcements for just the lifegain mode (I had a Monastery Mentor and my own Lingering Souls tokens in play), and cracking back to slowly lower his life total. He eventually swung out, I chump blocked with Spirit tokens. Noting that he was tapped out, I looked at my Mentor and two Monks, did some quick math, untapped, cast removal on his one blocker, cast a Think Twice, flashbacked Lingering Souls, and pointed out that my attackers, despite having a total base power of 4, were currently swinging for an exactly lethal 13 damage (Prowess is powerful).
Game 3: My opponent actually had a turn two Lingering Souls this game off of a Birds of Paradise. On my turn 3, with me at 17 life and him at 18, I cast Timely Reinforcements with my board empty. With it on the stack, I noticed that he had a fetchland in play, so I casually observed "This time I get both parts;" a reference to my casting it only for life in game 2. He shrugged glumly and I got my 6 life. When he cracked his fetch at the end of my turn I said "I was hoping you wouldn't notice that," and then explained the interaction with Timely Reinforcements. Normally I wouldn't try to put an opponent on tilt like that, but I could tell that we were both fading after the long day and the long match and I thought that a mental state advantage might wind up being far more important than a board state advantage. This all paid off a turn later, we traded swings, then I played a Monastery Mentor on my turn four and he Chorded end of turn, fetching Sin Collector. Glumly, I showed him my hand of Tasigur, Path to Exile, Zealous Persecution, Murderous Cut, and something else (Negate or Think Twice, I believe), and to my utter astonishment he picked Path. This made a little more sense when he untapped and killed the mentor, as I had no cards that I could cast to get a Monk token, but he nevertheless got totally blown out when I untapped and cast Zealous Persecution (card is nuts). Lacking a better option, he Pathed one of his own tokens trying to find a land. I let him have it, and immediately blew up his Gavony Township with Tectonic Edge when the land hit play. My tokens, still pumped with Zealous Persecution (card is nuts) hit him for 6, dropping him to 8, and post-combat I dropped Tasigur by delving all the cards I had just dumped into my yard. That was pretty much the turning point, the game dragged on for a few turns thereafter, but he never really got a foothold back into the game.
Finals - Split
My finals opponent was my round 3 opponent (I wound up beating my semifinals opponent and then my finals opponent in rounds 2 and 3 of the swiss, the fact that I had beaten 3 other people there already is one reason I felt really good heading into top 8). He was interested in the RPTQ invite and I certainly was not (since I don't have any time to really travel during the school year I am unlikely to be able to attend an RPTQ and I ABSOLUTELY couldn't attend a Pro Tour), so we rearranged the prizes for first and second and then I conceded. He got to walk away with an invite and a DTK fat pack, I walked away with a Revised Underground Sea and a DTK booster box.
4 Monastery Mentor
2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
1 Dralnu, Lich Lord
Disruption/Control
4 Mana Leak
4 Thoughtseize
3 Path to Exile
2 Smother
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Lingering Souls
2 Spectral Procession
Card Advantage
4 Thought Scour
3 Think Twice
Other Spells
2 Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
2 Zealous Persecution
Land
3 Creeping Tar Pit
2 Seachrome Coast
1 Darkslick Shores
2 Godless Shrine
1 Hallowed Fountain
4 Polluted Delta
1 Vault of the Archangel
2 Windbrisk Heights
2 Swamp
1 Plains
2 Island
I'm running Dralnu to top my curve and just to see if the ability to recur spells every turn is worth the investment. Probably not the best call, but there is actually very little burn in my meta. I am also running heavy on the tokens to counter a bit of the aggro.
I don't have much of a sideboard yet, but that isn't as big a worry for me right now. The biggest worry I see in my list is that it is light on board removal, but that may come from my control player tendencies.
Advice would be very much appreciated.
Legacy: UW RiP/Helm, UR Sneak and Show
Although it isn't quite the meteoric rise of Grixis Delver, Esper Midrange's rise has nonetheless been an impressive example of Modern innovation. From a handful of hyper-local finishes at Japanese events, the deck has now developed into real contender in both paper and on MTGO. It's just under 2% of the MTGO metagame and just over 1% of paper, which is at the low end of prerequisites for meeting tier 2 criteria. But the deck is very well-positioned right now and still boasts one of the best matchups against one of Modern's best decks (Twin). If this deck can just enjoy a few more successes at upcoming major paper events, I expect we will see Esper Mentor Midrange secure its position in tier 2 for some time to come.
To read more on the metagame update or see the broader metagame context, check out my summary post below:
http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/modern/566735-modern-metagame-breakdown-and-discussion-updated-4?comment=505
As someone who is looking to turn my UW control deck into mentor, this makes me excited.
Decks I'm playing in Modern right now:
URB Grixis Reveler (http://www.mtgvault.com/supast4r7/decks/modern-grixis-reveler/)
UB Faeries (http://www.mtgvault.com/supast4r7/decks/ub-fae-2/)
UW Azorious Control (http://www.mtgvault.com/supast4r7/decks/modern-ojutai-control-2/)
Blue permission is very weak. In most matchups I feel like I'm better off being proactive with discard and setting up my future turns and disrupting my opponents turns. Cutting down to 2 remand as my only main deck permission, mostly to cantrip and buy time to hit 3-4 mana to start committing to the board has been solid and then being able to use it to save important spells late game against U decks has been stellar. Cards like spellsnare and mana leak just never really did anything most of the time and I continually found myself cutting them for more specific answers postboard.
More creature based removal has been really good. Even against decks like scapeshift, I've used removal spells to activate prowess on my turn, rampant growth a creature in response to a removal spell with path, or even just cast, remand, cast on summoning sick token to close out games. Having a variable removal suite against decks like delver, BGx, twin, etc... has made those matchups feel very smooth as opposed to bad soft permission.
Serum Visions has been stellar, I originally put these in over my spell snares and cut a single thought scour to have a 3-3 split and I've been very happy with it. Between setting up good scours on myself, and keeping greedier hands, or digging for many of our 1-2 mana answers or look for threats when I'm in the position to turn the corner and start killing them. I don't think I could cut it.
Discard has continually been excellent for me game 1, and often times better postboard. Being able to see the opponents hand and force them to play the game you want and be able to play around what they have has been invaluable. Maybe it's cause most of the decks I've played have been things like twin, scapeshift, tron, BUG, and UWR, and discard is just strong against them (compared to say zoo, burn, merfolk), and have been much better than reactive permission, and even late game they become a prowess activation instead of being completely dead.
Sideboarding is really hard with this deck. I feel that a majority of the time my main deck is so tight against most of the meta that it has been really hard to figure out what to sideboard in and sideboard out. Outside of obvious inclusions and must have answers like Stony Silence, Timely Reinforcements, Spellskite, and disenchants, for decks like Burn and Affinity, I just can't figure out what is worth bringing out of the main deck that helps supplement matchups. Perhaps it's because my sideboard feels pretty anorexic power level wise and just needs to be tuned more. But things like removal, discard, and threats are just so broadly powerful that outside of very specific niche hate there isn't a lot out there that I feel makes a lot of matchups distinctly better or worth changing the main deck plan.
Here's my list for reference, feed back is appreciated.
4 Monastery Mentor
4 Snapcaster Mage
2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
Spells (28)
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Lingering Souls
3 Serum Visions
2 Thoughtseize
3 Thought Scour
2 Slaughter Pact
2 Murderous Cut
4 Path to Exile
1 Disfigure
2 Remand
1 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
4 Creeping Tar Pit
4 Flooded Strand
1 Godless Shrine
2 Hallowed Fountain
2 Island
1 Plains
4 Polluted Delta
1 Swamp
1 Vault of the Archangel
2 Watery Grave
1 Curse of Death's Hold
1 Thoughtseize
2 Celestial Purge
2 Negate
2 Stony Silence
3 Timely Reinforcements
1 Spellskite
2 Disenchant
1 Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
Notable changes I wish to make to the deck is I want to find room for 2 Zealous Persecutions (either 1-1 main/side or 2 main) and more white sources, probably going to cut a Tarpit for a Marsh Flats.
Other than that I want to change the sideboard a bit. I feel like I have too many cards against twin which I feel like I don't need ever need, and not enough against something like Tron. I've been toying around the idea of putting in 3-4 Rain of Tears over things like Purges, Ashiok, and Curse. Though Ashiok has been stellar against tron scapeshift, and UWR.
Went 2-1-1 at a 15 player event for 5th place.
Round 1: 2-1 win vs BW tokens
G1: Dealt 10 through 2 instant speed raise the alarms for lethal (negate, slaughter pact pumping myths and monks)
G2: I slow-roll my engineered explosives by which I mean he IoK's them on turn 3. He gets honor into many tokens. I alpha him with path+pact but his 1 blocker is all he needs to survive at 2 life.
G3: He has a slow start - 2 spectral processions but only 2 white sources. T4 he casts sorin instead of spectral, I swing all at sorin then negate the spectral gg.
Round 2: 1-2 vs GR tron (guy who won 1st)
G1: he mulls to 5. Pyroclasm wipes my monk+2 tokens (probe+bauble power) but I have 2 myth realized out and my negate on his o-stone seals the deal.
G2: he plays natural t3 tron karn on the play (no tutors)... after nature's claiming my t1 myth... rather than cast lingering souls and get owned by karn anyways I scoop.
G3: pyroclasms my mentor+token, then all is dusts my 2 myth realized and I'm left with a flashed back lingering souls vs a karn. I play it out but at 8 life and a 15 counter karn it was over.
Round 3: 1-1-1 vs UWR control
G1: Long slog, he gets me to 4 life with geist/burn and my own shocks but I have an 8/8, 7/7 and 3/3 myth realized and some tokens. He paths and snapcaster-bolt blocks bolting me to 1, then has 2 turns to draw another burn spell and draws it on the last turn
G2: even longer. I had to get him to blow path, anger, explosives. Luckily I drew slaughter pact and knew he had 2 resto angels - when he finally casts one I pact it and then surgical it to get rid of the 2nd one in his hand. He runs out of gas and I win with 3mins left on clock. Draw
Round 4: 2-0 vs WRu twin
G1: myth realized, lingering souls, then remand+leak+negate his attempts to twin. Crash in with 4/4 myths and 4 souls tokens for gg.
G2: I had negate+pact+disenchant+celestial purge... he tried to twin twice, once with negate backup, didnt matter. Tasigur+2 souls tokens get there through his dumb wall of omens x2. Played around blood moon but i dont think he had it anyways.
Myth realized was good. Maindeck negate was good. Snapcaster was weak. Darkblast mattered in 0 matchups so was a bad maindeck call tonight but still seems good for the deck (easy prowess/myth/monk trigger).
* Esper Draw-Go
* Tezzeret Whir
* Blue Tron
With that in mind, here's the list I'm running with:
3 Creeping Tar Pit
4 Flooded Strand
4 Polluted Delta
2 Godless Shrine
2 Watery Grave
2 Hallowed Fountain
2 Plains
2 Swamp
1 Island
Planeswalker (1)
1 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
Creatures (9)
3 Snapcaster Mage
4 Monastery Mentor
2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
2 Remand
2 Dismember
1 Murderous Cut
4 Path to Exile
2 Spell Snare
2 Zealous Persecution
1 Slaughter Pact
Sorcery (14)
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Thoughtseize
4 Lingering Souls
4 Serum Visions
2 Thoughtseize
1 Spellskite
2 Nyx-Fleece Ram
1 Kitchen Finks
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Blood Baron of Vizkokpa
1 Flash Freeze
1 Celestial Purge
1 Murderous Cut
1 Negate
1 Dispel
1 Disenchant
I've only had 4 matches with the deck, but its been performing quite admirably; especially against Twin. Zealous Persecution is the nuts. Serum Visions churns out Tasigur slower, but with the swap to dismember from Cut, I think its fine. Especially considering that Serum Visions is so much better than Thought Scour except for Bananas and combat tricks.
4 Creeping Tar Pit
4 Flooded Strand
4 Polluted Delta
1 Godless Shrine
2 Watery Grave
1 Hallowed Fountain
2 Plains
1 Swamp
2 Island
1 Vault of the Archangel
1 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
Creatures
3 Snapcaster Mage
4 Monastery Mentor
2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
Instants
2 Remand
1 Dismember
1 Disfigure
1 Murderous Cut
4 Path to Exile
1 Spell Snare
1 Zealous Persecution
1 Slaughter Pact
3 Mana Leak
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Thoughtseize
4 Lingering Souls
3 Serum Visions / 3 Thought Scour
UB Faeries (15-6-0)
UWR Control (10-5-1)/Kiki Control/Midrange/Harbinger
UBR Cruel Control (6-4-0)/Grixis Control/Delver/Blue Jund
UWB Control/Mentor
UW Miracles/Control (currently active, 14-2-0)
BW Eldrazi & Taxes
RW Burn (9-1-0)
I do (academic) research on video games and archaeology! You can check out my open access book here: https://www.sidestone.com/books/the-interactive-past
2 Creeping Tar Pit
4 Polluted Delta
4 Flooded Strand
2 Island
1 Watery Grave
1 Plains
1 Swamp
1 Godless Shrine
2 Hallowed Fountain
1 Vault of the Archangel
4 Monastery Mentor
4 Snapcaster Mage
2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
4 Thought Scour
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Lingering Souls
4 Path to Exile
1 Spell Snare
2 Murderous Cut
2 Mana Leak
1 Remand
4 Darkslick Shores
1 Slaughter Pact
1 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
2 Thoughtseize
1 Zealous Persecution
SB: 1 Flashfreeze
SB: 2 Stony Silence
SB: 2 Celestial Purge
SB: 3 Timely Reinforcements
SB: 1 Kor Firewalker
SB: 1 Countersquall
SB: 2 Rain of Tears
SB: 1 Batterskull
SB: 1 Wrath of God
This is the deck I'm using right now, and yes of course getting a Darkslick Shores late isn't the best, but for the most part this deck doesn't feel like it needs a ton of mana at once, even in the lategame. Our most expensive spell is Tasigur, and he isn't really very expensive in reality. I think a good comparison is Jund, they always play 4 Blackcleave Cliffs because it enables their turn 1 plays, and I'm starting to lean that way as well.
As a Fae/UWR lover, I can imagine that you're trying to play a conservative game, when the deck tries to be a bit more proactive than the ones you mentioned. Mentor will reward you more if you play a proactive game rather than reactive, it will still be good in the right situation to hold cards and resources to respond/play EoT, but more likely (and especially in the kill turn) you will want to cast 3+ spells in your own turn.
Careful with that analysis of Serum Visions--another benefit of Thought Scour over Serum Visions is that Thought Scour can mill copies of Lingering Souls. Milling Souls has saved my butt quite a few times.
It's also nice to have an instant-speed cantrip to pump Monastery Mentor and Prowess Monks, to Flashback with Tiago when times are sleepy, and to cast on Twin's EOT after leaving up 1 mana to hold up/bluff removal. Serum Visions is a slow sorcery in comparison.
With 4 Delve cards (2 of them being Murderous Cut, which you will Flashback at some point), even with Thought Scour, I'd err on the side of more fetches. That would be part of why Darkslick Shores and Seachrome Coast don't tend to take up 4 slots in this deck--that and people normally playing more manlands than you...and people normally playing 22 lands instead of 23 (which I don't get whenever those guys play 2 4-drops).
Whelp, just had a my reply eaten by MTGS. So I'll just go over the synopsis. Thoughtscour has a ~15% to mill at least one souls T2/T3 in any given game where you've seen none, not something that I'd put into its favor. It also only increases your chance to see souls (over Visions, disregarding Scry) is ~10%. And if you do hit the 15% mill chance, its reward is a 1 mana reduction but only one usage; its useful, certainly but not something that would make me pick it over visions.
The mana efficency against combo/control isn't something that, again, would make me want it over Visions. Consider that Twin will typically only place Twin on a creature if it can protect it from our removal and/or counter magic. That means that you'll generally want to remove the flasher on your EoT, where their mana is most constrained. This is, of course, disregarding the common event where Twin takes out the combo in favor of grind-cards like Jace/Keranos and board sweeps.
The combat trick, to me, is the most useless "perk" of thoughtscour. In my opinion, any competent opponent won't block a prowess creature where a single instant makes the combat math terrible for them. So I don't see much of a difference between an in-combat thought scour and a first main Vision. It could, perhaps, protect an already buffed mentor from a bolt but your opponent would have had to let the first prowess trigger resolve (or you have another instant in hand) for that to matter.
My major thing about visions is that it allows for more hands to be kept. A 1-land hand, with mostly our 1 cmc instants, is eminently keepable with visions, probably not so much with thought scour.
But I could be wrong. Maybe 4 5/6cmc delve spells necessitates the thought scours in order to cast them comfortably. As I said, I'm only a few matches into this deck, there remains much to be seen.
Snapcaster is nuts in this deck. Most lists are typically running 28 instants and sorceries, with roughly half being 1cmc. If the standard of Mister Tiago is bolt snapbolt, then path snap-path is nearly as good. Against control decks, flashing back your cantrip or discard is also fantastic. He could, maybe, be replaced by Bob but Bob runs afoul of bolt, where Tiago does not.
Delver has moved onto Grixis Delver, which is more roboust on the threats. Attacking on 2 threat axis (Delver/Pyro and Tasigur) can be a nightmare for certain decks. Scapeshift has a miserable time attempting to deal with Pyro tokens, Delver flips, and Tasigur. Not to mention all of its run on what seems to be a fairly efficient engine.
UB Faeries (15-6-0)
UWR Control (10-5-1)/Kiki Control/Midrange/Harbinger
UBR Cruel Control (6-4-0)/Grixis Control/Delver/Blue Jund
UWB Control/Mentor
UW Miracles/Control (currently active, 14-2-0)
BW Eldrazi & Taxes
RW Burn (9-1-0)
I do (academic) research on video games and archaeology! You can check out my open access book here: https://www.sidestone.com/books/the-interactive-past