So, I was watching mono-blue prison over on SCG (link).
It looks like a pretty fun deck. However, as I watched the games on, a few things kept bothering me. Whenever he'd cast Day's Undoing, it never seemed like he got as much value as I think he should've gotten for each subsequent cast. Even deep into the the game, he'd get 2-4 land in hand. It also seemed like his opponents didn't lose value from the casts. Creatures and spells just went right back to the hand. I set out to make the deck a little better, so casts of Days Undoing, instead of giving me a new chance to win, actually put me closer to winning.
So first I had to address the land problem. In his videos, he only has 22 lands, but they still flood his hand after a Day's Undoing. It seemed no matter how late in the game it was, he wasn't able to thin his lands out enough so he could get a new hand free of lands. The best way to do this, in my opinion, was to add a little ramp. I settled on Ruin in Their Wake and 1 Wastes because it was low cmc while still being able to put lands directly in play. Also, as a sorcery, it still gives scry triggers off of Jace's Sanctum. I thought about adding in more, like Explosive Vegetation and ramping up to Part the Waterveil quickly, but then I felt I'd be left with the opposite problem of having a ton of lands in hand, having tons of dead ramp cards in hand. Having 4 seems like a good number to start with as a way to thin the deck of lands while not flooding myself with them when the library is exhausted of basic lands.
Next, I needed to address how to make sure I'm getting more value from Day's Undoing than my opponents. The method I settled on is Exile. If cards are exiled, then they don't get shuffled back in. As multiple Day's Undoings get cast, my opponents new hands will have less meaningful cards through attrition. So, I traded Engulf the Shore for Descend upon the Sinful. Clash of Wills is replaced with Spell Shrivel. Etc etc. I also opted for MD Pacifisms (Imprisoned in the Moon and Suppression Bonds) instead of MD bounce. I feel holding creatures until they can be swept with Descend is an adequate strategy instead of targeted bouncing followed by mass bouncing and hoping you have a Days Undoing to wipe them from the opponent's hand (while hoping they don't just get more in the next 7 cards). I particularly like the versatility of those cards for not ONLY hitting creatures.
Otherwise, the deck plays the same as in the video.
Having access to 4 Wastes for Ruin in Their Wake is just not enough to be able to consistently cast it on turn 2 for much value, so I'd recommend either going up to 4 Evolving Wilds and 4-7 Wastes, or cutting the package altogether. Likewise, 6 white sources (3 evolving wilds 3 plains) might not enough to reliably cast Descend Upon The Sinful on curve, so I'd recommend adding more white or cutting the Descent (8-9 sources should be enough?) I could be wrong about this; the anticipates and other draw spells might be enough to find white if you need it. A small issue is Spell Shriveldoesn't count as a blue spell for Prism Ring, which is the most important card in the deck, so I'd recommend going back to 4 Clash of Wills.
All in all, I think that the mono blue prison deck basically does what it does decently well, even if it sometimes flood. After all, every deck sometimes floods, even Delver in Legacy which sometimes plays as few as 18 lands. I'm not so sure that adding green for ramp is worth it. In any case, best of luck!
I don't worry so much about ramping in this deck. The bigger concern is using the draw spells to constantly hit my land drops. The Ruin in Their Wakes are used to thin the lands out as the game progresses, making the Days Undoings more effective. Typically, it would go first Ruin grabs a Wastes, then subsequent Wastes just pull lands out of the deck.
I haven't really considered the need to hit Descend on a curve, but that's a good point. I'll add more white.
I'm comfortable having Spell Shrivel as a colorless spell. I feel that thinning my opponent's decks of good cards making Days Undoing less effective for them is better.
One thing I think the deck needs is some bounce. I'm thinking Unsubstantiate should be added to the deck, probably in place of main deck Imprisoned in the Moon.
It's not that I'm worried about the deck flooding so much as just how the flooding gets worse as the game goes on. Since you can only play 1 land per turn, each time you cast Days Undoing, your chances of drawing up more and more lands increases because you'll either have lands in hand, scry them away, or simply don't choose them when casting Anticipate or Nagging Thoughts. Multiple times while watching his matches he cast Days and got 4-5 Lands in hand. If he were able to thin his deck and get 1-2 lands in hand with Days more consistently, it would simply be a stronger deck. Granted, the land base I threw together is less consistent than 22 Islands, but I feel like it's a tunable mana base, and when tuned, a stronger deck.
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It looks like a pretty fun deck. However, as I watched the games on, a few things kept bothering me. Whenever he'd cast Day's Undoing, it never seemed like he got as much value as I think he should've gotten for each subsequent cast. Even deep into the the game, he'd get 2-4 land in hand. It also seemed like his opponents didn't lose value from the casts. Creatures and spells just went right back to the hand. I set out to make the deck a little better, so casts of Days Undoing, instead of giving me a new chance to win, actually put me closer to winning.
3 Day's Undoing
2 Descend Upon the Sinful
2 Nagging Thoughts
3 Part the Waterveil
4 Ruin in their Wake
4 Take Inventory
4 Anticipate
4 Spell Shrivel
Enchantments 9
4 Imprisoned in the Moon
3 Jace's Sanctum
2 Suppression Bonds
Artifacts 3
3 Prism Ring
3 Evolving Wilds
3 Forest
6 Island
2 Lumbering Falls
3 Plains
1 Wastes
4 Yavimaya Coast
So first I had to address the land problem. In his videos, he only has 22 lands, but they still flood his hand after a Day's Undoing. It seemed no matter how late in the game it was, he wasn't able to thin his lands out enough so he could get a new hand free of lands. The best way to do this, in my opinion, was to add a little ramp. I settled on Ruin in Their Wake and 1 Wastes because it was low cmc while still being able to put lands directly in play. Also, as a sorcery, it still gives scry triggers off of Jace's Sanctum. I thought about adding in more, like Explosive Vegetation and ramping up to Part the Waterveil quickly, but then I felt I'd be left with the opposite problem of having a ton of lands in hand, having tons of dead ramp cards in hand. Having 4 seems like a good number to start with as a way to thin the deck of lands while not flooding myself with them when the library is exhausted of basic lands.
Next, I needed to address how to make sure I'm getting more value from Day's Undoing than my opponents. The method I settled on is Exile. If cards are exiled, then they don't get shuffled back in. As multiple Day's Undoings get cast, my opponents new hands will have less meaningful cards through attrition. So, I traded Engulf the Shore for Descend upon the Sinful. Clash of Wills is replaced with Spell Shrivel. Etc etc. I also opted for MD Pacifisms (Imprisoned in the Moon and Suppression Bonds) instead of MD bounce. I feel holding creatures until they can be swept with Descend is an adequate strategy instead of targeted bouncing followed by mass bouncing and hoping you have a Days Undoing to wipe them from the opponent's hand (while hoping they don't just get more in the next 7 cards). I particularly like the versatility of those cards for not ONLY hitting creatures.
Otherwise, the deck plays the same as in the video.
Having access to 4 Wastes for Ruin in Their Wake is just not enough to be able to consistently cast it on turn 2 for much value, so I'd recommend either going up to 4 Evolving Wilds and 4-7 Wastes, or cutting the package altogether. Likewise, 6 white sources (3 evolving wilds 3 plains) might not enough to reliably cast Descend Upon The Sinful on curve, so I'd recommend adding more white or cutting the Descent (8-9 sources should be enough?) I could be wrong about this; the anticipates and other draw spells might be enough to find white if you need it. A small issue is Spell Shriveldoesn't count as a blue spell for Prism Ring, which is the most important card in the deck, so I'd recommend going back to 4 Clash of Wills.
All in all, I think that the mono blue prison deck basically does what it does decently well, even if it sometimes flood. After all, every deck sometimes floods, even Delver in Legacy which sometimes plays as few as 18 lands. I'm not so sure that adding green for ramp is worth it. In any case, best of luck!
Standard Budget Decks Link:
http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/standard-type-2/budget-standard/752237-clownstabbers-budget-decks
I haven't really considered the need to hit Descend on a curve, but that's a good point. I'll add more white.
I'm comfortable having Spell Shrivel as a colorless spell. I feel that thinning my opponent's decks of good cards making Days Undoing less effective for them is better.
One thing I think the deck needs is some bounce. I'm thinking Unsubstantiate should be added to the deck, probably in place of main deck Imprisoned in the Moon.
It's not that I'm worried about the deck flooding so much as just how the flooding gets worse as the game goes on. Since you can only play 1 land per turn, each time you cast Days Undoing, your chances of drawing up more and more lands increases because you'll either have lands in hand, scry them away, or simply don't choose them when casting Anticipate or Nagging Thoughts. Multiple times while watching his matches he cast Days and got 4-5 Lands in hand. If he were able to thin his deck and get 1-2 lands in hand with Days more consistently, it would simply be a stronger deck. Granted, the land base I threw together is less consistent than 22 Islands, but I feel like it's a tunable mana base, and when tuned, a stronger deck.