Recently a list popped up at a Hareruya Japanese PPTQ, and this list has been popping up on MODO and other sites. http://www.hareruyamtg.com/en/k/kD08073S/
It looks like a fairly interactive and blue-ey deck that we haven't seen in standard too recently so I gave it a go. It's also about $50 to buy everything on MODO.
The idea of the deck is pretty simple: You play flash creatures at your opponent's EOT and then ping them with a small stream of evasive fliers. Then the deck finishes off with Thunderbreak or Icefall regent. However, the deck is extremely good at tempo. Silumgar's Scorn is often counterspell, and Draconic Roar is an insane card by not only dealing 3 damage to the player on reveal, but killing standard 3 toughness boogeymen (reflector mage, sylvan advocate, bygone bishop etc)
Creatures Rattlechains: It does the job. Pretty good in multiples for free removal counterspells. Stratus Dancer I like this card in three situations: I'm playing against control, I wanna hit early with a 2/1 flier, or I've got five mana open. I think it has its place, but I don't think it is a 4x of. Dimensional Infiltrator: This one seems like it has the least upside, but the ability to exile and possibly return to hand has been useful in situations where you have plenty of mana (blocking a lifelinker and then activating it once or twice can stop them from gaining life, etc.) 4x Shivan reef isn't amazing but it does matter in some games. Silumgar's Sorcerer: I don't think this card is incredible, as I see 3cmc in an odd spot, and the ability sacs itself. It is a decent option to consider in an extremely creature heavy meta. Whirler Rogue: 4 power on 3 bodies is great, and granting evasion is sometimes good to sneak in more damage. The only minor synergy with Silumgar's Sorcerer imo (saccing the tokens)
The dragons: Core to the deck for the spells, and pretty good finishers. Thunderbreak almost always guarantees damage, and Icefall taps a fatty and makes your opponent waste a turn to kill it.
Instant/sorceries Draconic Roar: Probably the best burn spell in standard if you're playing with dragons Silumgar's Scorn Works as it should 80% of the game, but can be a whiff when your opponent has lots of mana and you've got no dragons. Void Shatter It does the job, but seems like a flex slot.
Sideboard Rending Volley Yes. Yes. Yes. 4x of Dispel A strong card, but I'm not a fan of it in this deck, since it has many counterspells and this deck can't easily deal with resolved enchantments and planeswalkers Negate Does the job against enchantments, planeswalkers and all other non-creatures. Tears of Valakut I think Rending Volley does a good job, but I'm a bit paranoid about Mindbreaker Demon so I keep it in. Roast Deals with crap like Kalitas, Vile Agregate, Goblin Dark-Dwellers, etc. Fevered Visions This is probably the most interesting card in the deck. It seems like it has no downside against most decks in standard.
After playing with the deck on MODO I've made a few changes:
+Been testing Fevered Visions mainboard. It's been doing well, drawing cheap spells EOT or helping turn the dragon spells online. I like the interaction to redirect damage to planeswalkers.
+Took out Dispel for Negate
+Cut some Silumgar's Sorcerers
+Cut some Stratus Dancers
+Testing out flex slot surge spells. Fall of the Titans seems good as maybe a 2x of, but the mana intensive element turns me away so I might cut it. Meanwhile, Overwhelming Denial seems amazing in this deck. I've been running it as a one of, but I might try it as a 2x of. In combination with the burn or flash fliers, it becomes very easy to cast for its surge cost.
+Pia and Kiran Nalaar over Whirler Rogue. I like the idea of burning more than unblockable, but I think either is fine so I'm testing it out.
+Trying Encase in Ice SB but not sure. It's good against red aggro decks since the kinda lack enchantment removal, but it doesnt seem like much of the meta. Don't particular like it on some of the few green creatures in standard, so I might just add a disperse or something (against Abbey, enchantments, etc.)
+Added one Highland Lake over a basic because being locked out of UU would suck.
Not sure how, but I got to play the mirror match! My deck is kind of similar but I think I kind of lawyered my way around counters with my own to come on top. 2-0
Match two: Vs mono white humams
Get to play against a "real" deck. Lots of one drops and Dragon Hunter is randomly relevant. Lost game 1, where he ends turn 2 with 3 one CMC humans. I end up with 3 active silumgar's scorn in hand which are OK but I need to kill/block. He doesn't attack after I have thunderbreak and Icefall tapping 2/2 Knight of the White Orchid (I think this was a mistake vs tapping Anointer of Champions. Since I tapped out to play Icefall, he plays Consul's Lieutenant followed by a brutal Thalia's Lieutenant which give his 6 other humans counters. I didn't pay attention and accidentally blocked Consul not realizing the anointer could give it +1 and first strike together, so I lose my dragon and have no outs.
won game 2 playing first with sideboard hate cards like roast and 4x rending volley. Game 3 I foolishly decided to keep (on the draw) a one land hand with rending volley and Draconic Roar. I get mana screwed and then they finish the round. 1-1
Match three: Vs Bant Coco
Got to play against the format's new boogeyman. Won game one on the draw. Game 2 I didnt have much removal (had sided in Encase in ice) so when they played Bounding Krasis I kept mana up, decided to counter Tireless Tracker. The following turn I got collected company'd (with a krasis untapping his one with Encase on Ice for another attack). I played Icefall regent, which is weak to Reflector mage unfortunately. The beatdown came in.
Game three is one-sided for most of the game, get him down to 4 life and I'm at 16. He's got a couple of creatures and plays reflector mage which I foolishly countered (had two counters but only 3 blue mana available). Then he follows up with Dromoka's Command to sac Fevered Visions and fight my infiltrator. I've got no more burn left and he is able to flash in two creatures and kill me. 1-2
Match four: UR(w) control
Looks very much like the UR control list going around with Jace, Lightning Axe, Fiery temper etc. except with a rougher mana base. With lots of counterspells and Fevered Visions I get there in 2. 2-2
Match five: Mardu control?
So game one was easy, fevered visions + steady stream of cheap threats vs Expensive kill spells. Game two, he gets mana screwed on two lands and I win. 3-2
What I learned:
I didn't want Pia and Kiran Nalaar often. They occupied this awkward spot where I could play two 2cmc spells at once and they died a little easily, and alongside dragons they ruined my curve if i drew too many. I'm gonna look either for an instant or try out Jori En, Ruin Diver as a cheap blocker with good upside.
Encase in Ice did jack against Bounding Kraisis, and with Abbey around I should probably avoid it altogether (roast instead, derp?)
Against most match-ups, Fevered Visions was gold. A free ping-2 that helped find land drops, turn online dragon spells and dig for counters is usually good. It felt very good vs control, but not as great against aggressive creature decks. The end step draw really matters, because a lot of decks just aren't optimized for that.
Might put Brutal Expulsion in the side vs Coco - it "Vensers" coco or a X/3 and kills and x/2.
Igoing to ask you if its good to play with just basic lands for this deck plus 4x highland reef? Id like to play this deck but the shop doesnt have fumarole or reef... Do you have alternatives to those lands?
I'm curious as to how often you were able to keep their hand full with Fevered Visions. I run an exclusive Visions control deck focused on keeping their hand full, and still sometimes have to go all in to keep them at the 4 cards.
Also, I'm kinda scared of GB rites, and it's making me want to throw in 2 Yavimaya coasts for Radiant Flames. What do you think of the matchup? and Seasons Past control while we're at it. I'm not sure how good we are at racing in either direction
Do you think Clash of Wills has a spot in the sideboard vs aggro? Also, I feel like we should be taking a less flash/creature-centric approach and add more instants/sorceries so we can play Fiery Impulse
Igoing to ask you if its good to play with just basic lands for this deck plus 4x highland reef? Id like to play this deck but the shop doesnt have fumarole or reef... Do you have alternatives to those lands?
The deck seems pretty good in the meta right now, I would try to include some Fiery Impulse for all the white agrro decks, and Harbinger of the Tides seems like it would be a good fit here, instead of the Whirler Rogue maybe?
Paranoia is still getting to me (should i find room for Fiery temper/Impulse? Should i get extra card draw for the control matchup?) since i have no experience with the deck right now, hopefully i'll be able to sleeve this up for Game Day.
Sai said he had success with Visions in the main, though it's probably only 1.
Taking out both Dancers and a Visions (but putting Scorn back in) leaves only 2 slots. not sure if it's enough for Impulse because Roar is a fine burn card, plus Volley in the board. The exlposiveness of Humans is really keeping me from being willing to run less than three copies of Impulse. one more Denial -could- work since OP said he wanted to try two, while Tyrant of Valakut is mega cheap money-wise (and mana-wise with surge), provides extra reach, and is a dragon. That might push the curve a little too much, though. Grip of the Roil is another option that also nets us a card.
Well, I'm taking this to game day tomorrow, with the list in the OP, except with -1 Whirler Rogue, +1 Pia and Kiran. I'm running a 4 Fevered Visions, 4 Rending Volleys, 4 Negates, 2 Roasts, 1 Void Shatter sideboard.
I played the hariruya list almost card for card at game day and made it to the finals, losing to mono-white humans. That deck seems almost impossible to beat without a proper sideboard plan for it. I think splashing a few off-color painlands for radiant flames in the board might not be the worst for that matchup, since your 2/1 flashers aren't good against them anyway. My only changes before the event started was replacing two Stratus Dancers with Disperse for Westvale Abbey decks and to apply more tempo, as as well as removing the Void Shatter for a Scatter to the Winds. The awaken was actually relevant a few times. Fevered Visions was amazing all day, too. Would certainly consider mainboarding them in specific metas.
but the question is, if money isn't an issue, how much can we afford to splash without sacrificing out consistency? being mostly blue based does help, though.
I played at another gameday tournament today and actually won. Played 2 mono-white humans, GB Seasons Past control, ,esper control, GW CoCo, and mono-blue Brain in a Jar. My success against humans this time was partly in thanks to a new sideboard card I tried today: Goldnight Castigator. Not only was it good at blocking in the creature matchups, it was a good hasty threat for the control matchups. GB Seasons Past HAD to have an ultimate price to kill it, since Grasp of Darkness and Languish wouldn't be enough.
I played at another gameday tournament today and actually won. Played 2 mono-white humans, GB Seasons Past control, ,esper control, GW CoCo, and mono-blue Brain in a Jar. My success against humans this time was partly in thanks to a new sideboard card I tried today: Goldnight Castigator. Not only was it good at blocking in the creature matchups, it was a good hasty threat for the control matchups. GB Seasons Past HAD to have an ultimate price to kill it, since Grasp of Darkness and Languish wouldn't be enough.
@jeskaiplayer69 What does your full decklist look like? I would love to try it
I am currently having issues with the rites variation of decks. Anyone have any adjustments they have made to help the matchup? They get out too many creatures than I can deal with
Small report from reddit user makemagicdrumpfagain about this deck:
Here’s my report from Saturday’s PPTQ. A little precursor, I tested the deck all week as it seemed like it had a really strong g/w tokens and aristocrats matchup. The deck I didn’t get a chance to test against was humans, but I felt like there wouldn’t be many copies running around the PPTQ. which there weren’t. Only one, but we’ll get to that. It was 27 people, 5 rounds. So here is my list that I ran on Saturday:
6 Mountain
9 Island
1 Haven of the Spirit Dragon
1 Highland Lake
4 Shivan Reef
4 Wandering Fumarole
4 Dimensional Infiltrator
3 Icefall Regent
4 Rattlechains
4 Silumgar Sorcerer
4 Stratus Dancer
4 Thunderbreak Regent
4 Silumgar's Scorn
4 Draconic Roar
1 Void Shatter
1 Negate
1 Fiery Impulse
1 Jace, Unraveler of Secrets
SB:
2 Act of Treason
2 Disperse
1 Dispel
3 Fevered Visions
2 Negate
3 Rending Volley
2 Seismic Rupture
1 Chandra, Flamecaller
Round 1 vs G/U ramp: 2-1 This round was nerve wracking because my opponent is a known very good player. He was wearing his most recent Pro Tour shirt.This is the deck that tries to win with looping Part the Waterveil for extra turns and Crush of Tentacles as a wincon. Game 1 I basically just flew over him and countered the relevant spells like Crush. It was a slow game as he got a flipped jace and was keeping one of my flyers weak. He got me game 2 when I ran out of counter magic. He landed a crush that I couldn’t stop, with a follow up Waterveil with a flipped Jace. Game 3 went much like game 1 except quicker. Countered all the relevant spells. Chipped in damage with a flyer and countered his last ditch Nissa’s Revelation with a Chandra follow up for the kill.
Round 2 vs G/W Tokens: 2-1 Game 1 started as a damage race that my opponent was ahead on. He had a turn 2 Lambholdt Pacifist that flipped. I had 2 flyers and we both took each others life totals down to below ten. I got stuck on 3 lands and countered a Gideon. He followed up with another one I didn’t have a counter for, followed by Avacyn the next turn. Game 2 I curved out perfectly. Setting up a flyer on 2 and getting to 4 lands for full counter protection. He missed a land drop which put him too far behind. I roared his Advocate and countered the Dromoka’s Command that tried to save it. Deployed a Thunderbreak and it was over in 2 turns. Game 3 was scary. He got stuck on two lands again, but had 3 Advocates. I killed one, but the other two were racing my life total. I flooded out and was running out of gas. I managed to draw 3 dragons in a row. Deploying Icefall and two Thunderbreaks 3 consecutive turns. We traded a Thunderbreak for an Avacyn, but I had Haven so I got it right back, cast it, and attacked him down to 5. At this point he couldn’t target any of my dragons and I had too much damage coming at him the following turn including an available Fumerole. It was basically a win lock, which was fortunate since he had the Declaration in Stone.
Round 3 vs G/R Ramp: 2-1 This match was over in about 10 minutes. Game 1 all he drew was ramp spells and lands. I think he cast 1 Dragonlord Atarka which I countered and best him with flyers and Fumeroles. Game 2 was nuts. He got me once with a Kozelek’s Return and then followed up with a Chandra. I followed up with a Chandra of my own and killed his Chandra. He played world breaker killing my one Fumerole which is unfortunate because it maybe could have won me the game. I play an Icefall Regent tapping down his World Breaker and start hitting with Chandra. I land a Thunderbreak and put him to 2 that turn with lethal on the board next turn. He rips the land he needed for Ulamog, triggers Return, wipes my dragons and exiles Chandra. I draw 2 more lands and die. That one irked me. Game 3 I deploy 2 Stratus Dancers unflipped and just start getting beats in leaving up counter magic for Return. After 3 turns of him not casting Return and seeming to get a little agitated with his draws, I EOT flash in a Rattlechains, not leaving up counter mana, assuming he didn’t have the Return by then. It was risky but worth it. By doing so it increased my clock to 2 turns and I had the Scorn for basically anything he could cast. He didn’t cast a single meaningful spell and I won.
Round 4-5: Shake hands and relax for a bit. Go into top 8 at 6th seed due to a bunch of weird draws and pair downs.
Top 8 Round 1 vs B/G Aristocrats: 2-0 My opponent keeps a one lander on 7!? I proceed to just steamroll over him with flyers and dragons. He finally does get to the point where in another turn he could have maybe flipped Westvale, but it was far too late at that point.Game 2 he plays Llanowar Wastes and 2 Westvale Abbey’s so with Rites or Loam Dryad, he’s somewhat locked on colors. I smartly killed both Loam Dryad’s to keep off colors and beat him down with flyers. He revealed his hand of 3 Sifter, 2 Coco so killing the Loam Dryad’s absolutely won me the game.
Top 8 Round 2 vs B/W Control: 2-0 Control is a great matchup it feels, especially the non blue control decks so can free roll counterspells. Pretty much name of the game is land an early flyer and protect against languish either with back-up flash flyers or counterspells. Which is exactly how game 1 went. When they are playing 5 mana Ob-Nixilis to kill your 2 mana creature, things are going well. Game 2 the beats were strong but we were trading blows with flyers and kill spells. I eventually ran down to 1 counterspell and had Thunderbreak and Icefall in hand. I play Thunderbreak and he plays Secure for 5 on his turn to avoid my counter magic. I attack and he flips Westvale on his turn and hit me. It gets him back up to 15 life, so I deploy Icefall tapping down his Ormendhal. I drew a land that turn to leave up Scorn mana. He attempts to ruinous path my Icefall paying 5 and taking 3 from Thunderbreak. I counter it. I hit him for 12 next turn with an activated Fumerole.
Top 8 Finals vs Monowhite Humans: 0-2 A little side note the person my opponent played previous was on G/B Season’s Past which should have been a bad match for him. Therefore if that player had beat the humans like he was supposed to, I wouldn’t have face this match, but alas. I knew this wasn’t going to be pretty and I needed a bit of luck. Luck I did not get. My opponent curves out about as perfect as you can with the deck. I had a reasonable hand, but when he’s playing 2+ creatures a turn and I can only play one, that trades down at best, there’s no real way to catch up. Game 2 I managed to get him to 9 and pick off a bunch of his guys with removal. He brought in the “big” package, which included Needle Spires, Gideon and Avacyn. All 3 of which he played against me, on curve.
I talked with my opponent and the couple guys still there about the matchup and we concluded it’s just bad and there might not be much you can do about it. Radiant Flames wouldn’t be effective and splashing a third color slows down the deck. Sometimes when you have such a bad matchup it’s not worth messing up your plan against the rest of the meta just to fix that matchup. In my opinion this deck is favored heavily against Rites/Aristocrats decks and Control, favored slightly against G/W Tokens, Ramp and Bant Coco. Which means it’s favored against most of the mets, except humans. That’s good enough for me.
Stray tips:
This deck is an aggro deck. Don’t be afraid to run out Stratus Dancer on 2 and chip away.
This deck is not a HYPER aggro deck. It is aggressive, but takes time and patience to protect and chip away.
This deck can become very aggressive. There are moments, maybe when your opponent taps out, missed land drops, etc., where you shift gears and rather that just protect your little guys you start slamming in dragons and really putting the clock on them. If they don’t have answers, you have a very fast clock.
Always lead with an Island to be able to Scorn on 2 if need be.
Going forward, I am changing the Jace into another Fiery Impulse. And I want to fit another Seismic Rupture in the board. However, it may again be a case of just accepting that humans is an abysmal matchup. This deck absolutely rocks and has the ability to go all the way at a PPTQ. Feel free to ask any more specific questions.
Small report from reddit user makemagicdrumpfagain about this deck:
Here’s my report from Saturday’s PPTQ. A little precursor, I tested the deck all week as it seemed like it had a really strong g/w tokens and aristocrats matchup. The deck I didn’t get a chance to test against was humans, but I felt like there wouldn’t be many copies running around the PPTQ. which there weren’t. Only one, but we’ll get to that. It was 27 people, 5 rounds. So here is my list that I ran on Saturday:
6 Mountain
9 Island
1 Haven of the Spirit Dragon
1 Highland Lake
4 Shivan Reef
4 Wandering Fumarole
4 Dimensional Infiltrator
3 Icefall Regent
4 Rattlechains
4 Silumgar Sorcerer
4 Stratus Dancer
4 Thunderbreak Regent
4 Silumgar's Scorn
4 Draconic Roar
1 Void Shatter
1 Negate
1 Fiery Impulse
1 Jace, Unraveler of Secrets
SB:
2 Act of Treason
2 Disperse
1 Dispel
3 Fevered Visions
2 Negate
3 Rending Volley
2 Seismic Rupture
1 Chandra, Flamecaller
Round 1 vs G/U ramp: 2-1 This round was nerve wracking because my opponent is a known very good player. He was wearing his most recent Pro Tour shirt.This is the deck that tries to win with looping Part the Waterveil for extra turns and Crush of Tentacles as a wincon. Game 1 I basically just flew over him and countered the relevant spells like Crush. It was a slow game as he got a flipped jace and was keeping one of my flyers weak. He got me game 2 when I ran out of counter magic. He landed a crush that I couldn’t stop, with a follow up Waterveil with a flipped Jace. Game 3 went much like game 1 except quicker. Countered all the relevant spells. Chipped in damage with a flyer and countered his last ditch Nissa’s Revelation with a Chandra follow up for the kill.
Round 2 vs G/W Tokens: 2-1 Game 1 started as a damage race that my opponent was ahead on. He had a turn 2 Lambholdt Pacifist that flipped. I had 2 flyers and we both took each others life totals down to below ten. I got stuck on 3 lands and countered a Gideon. He followed up with another one I didn’t have a counter for, followed by Avacyn the next turn. Game 2 I curved out perfectly. Setting up a flyer on 2 and getting to 4 lands for full counter protection. He missed a land drop which put him too far behind. I roared his Advocate and countered the Dromoka’s Command that tried to save it. Deployed a Thunderbreak and it was over in 2 turns. Game 3 was scary. He got stuck on two lands again, but had 3 Advocates. I killed one, but the other two were racing my life total. I flooded out and was running out of gas. I managed to draw 3 dragons in a row. Deploying Icefall and two Thunderbreaks 3 consecutive turns. We traded a Thunderbreak for an Avacyn, but I had Haven so I got it right back, cast it, and attacked him down to 5. At this point he couldn’t target any of my dragons and I had too much damage coming at him the following turn including an available Fumerole. It was basically a win lock, which was fortunate since he had the Declaration in Stone.
Round 3 vs G/R Ramp: 2-1 This match was over in about 10 minutes. Game 1 all he drew was ramp spells and lands. I think he cast 1 Dragonlord Atarka which I countered and best him with flyers and Fumeroles. Game 2 was nuts. He got me once with a Kozelek’s Return and then followed up with a Chandra. I followed up with a Chandra of my own and killed his Chandra. He played world breaker killing my one Fumerole which is unfortunate because it maybe could have won me the game. I play an Icefall Regent tapping down his World Breaker and start hitting with Chandra. I land a Thunderbreak and put him to 2 that turn with lethal on the board next turn. He rips the land he needed for Ulamog, triggers Return, wipes my dragons and exiles Chandra. I draw 2 more lands and die. That one irked me. Game 3 I deploy 2 Stratus Dancers unflipped and just start getting beats in leaving up counter magic for Return. After 3 turns of him not casting Return and seeming to get a little agitated with his draws, I EOT flash in a Rattlechains, not leaving up counter mana, assuming he didn’t have the Return by then. It was risky but worth it. By doing so it increased my clock to 2 turns and I had the Scorn for basically anything he could cast. He didn’t cast a single meaningful spell and I won.
Round 4-5: Shake hands and relax for a bit. Go into top 8 at 6th seed due to a bunch of weird draws and pair downs.
Top 8 Round 1 vs B/G Aristocrats: 2-0 My opponent keeps a one lander on 7!? I proceed to just steamroll over him with flyers and dragons. He finally does get to the point where in another turn he could have maybe flipped Westvale, but it was far too late at that point.Game 2 he plays Llanowar Wastes and 2 Westvale Abbey’s so with Rites or Loam Dryad, he’s somewhat locked on colors. I smartly killed both Loam Dryad’s to keep off colors and beat him down with flyers. He revealed his hand of 3 Sifter, 2 Coco so killing the Loam Dryad’s absolutely won me the game.
Top 8 Round 2 vs B/W Control: 2-0 Control is a great matchup it feels, especially the non blue control decks so can free roll counterspells. Pretty much name of the game is land an early flyer and protect against languish either with back-up flash flyers or counterspells. Which is exactly how game 1 went. When they are playing 5 mana Ob-Nixilis to kill your 2 mana creature, things are going well. Game 2 the beats were strong but we were trading blows with flyers and kill spells. I eventually ran down to 1 counterspell and had Thunderbreak and Icefall in hand. I play Thunderbreak and he plays Secure for 5 on his turn to avoid my counter magic. I attack and he flips Westvale on his turn and hit me. It gets him back up to 15 life, so I deploy Icefall tapping down his Ormendhal. I drew a land that turn to leave up Scorn mana. He attempts to ruinous path my Icefall paying 5 and taking 3 from Thunderbreak. I counter it. I hit him for 12 next turn with an activated Fumerole.
Top 8 Finals vs Monowhite Humans: 0-2 A little side note the person my opponent played previous was on G/B Season’s Past which should have been a bad match for him. Therefore if that player had beat the humans like he was supposed to, I wouldn’t have face this match, but alas. I knew this wasn’t going to be pretty and I needed a bit of luck. Luck I did not get. My opponent curves out about as perfect as you can with the deck. I had a reasonable hand, but when he’s playing 2+ creatures a turn and I can only play one, that trades down at best, there’s no real way to catch up. Game 2 I managed to get him to 9 and pick off a bunch of his guys with removal. He brought in the “big” package, which included Needle Spires, Gideon and Avacyn. All 3 of which he played against me, on curve.
I talked with my opponent and the couple guys still there about the matchup and we concluded it’s just bad and there might not be much you can do about it. Radiant Flames wouldn’t be effective and splashing a third color slows down the deck. Sometimes when you have such a bad matchup it’s not worth messing up your plan against the rest of the meta just to fix that matchup. In my opinion this deck is favored heavily against Rites/Aristocrats decks and Control, favored slightly against G/W Tokens, Ramp and Bant Coco. Which means it’s favored against most of the mets, except humans. That’s good enough for me.
Stray tips:
This deck is an aggro deck. Don’t be afraid to run out Stratus Dancer on 2 and chip away.
This deck is not a HYPER aggro deck. It is aggressive, but takes time and patience to protect and chip away.
This deck can become very aggressive. There are moments, maybe when your opponent taps out, missed land drops, etc., where you shift gears and rather that just protect your little guys you start slamming in dragons and really putting the clock on them. If they don’t have answers, you have a very fast clock.
Always lead with an Island to be able to Scorn on 2 if need be.
Going forward, I am changing the Jace into another Fiery Impulse. And I want to fit another Seismic Rupture in the board. However, it may again be a case of just accepting that humans is an abysmal matchup. This deck absolutely rocks and has the ability to go all the way at a PPTQ. Feel free to ask any more specific questions.
I have been looking for a different deck from my usual decks, and with this tourney report and the fact it seem you had a lot of fun with this deck, I am going to go ahead and build this deck. This looks amazing
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Went 2-2 at the FNM yesterday. The deck ran pretty well but i made some mistakes since i haven't tested it too much and ignorance about the other lists. With this deck it's super important to choose right which spell you're going to counter.
It has a clear difference in power level between the 2/1's and the 4 power creatures so it has this weird stage where your opponent starts building his field and you're hitting for 2 or 4. So, to get through that moment we've counters and removal, and the late game will depend a lot on how you did manage your resources in that stage.
Faced grixis control (won), G/B Seasons (won), U/W Humans (lost) and 4c Aristocrats (lost).
Against aristocrats i put him down to 3 before he was able to out-grind me, so i'm including some exquisite firecrafts in the SB to squeeze those last points of damage that are so necessary in the grindier match-ups
Overall very happy with the deck, thunderbreak is still a powerhouse.
Overall the deck did very well, and it felt really really good to play.
Match Report
Round 1 - 4 Color Rites (Won 2-0) - Yeah My opponent both games was put on his heels really fast as I was able to resolve two quick flash fliers (Rattle chain and Dimensional Infiltrator) The rest of the game I just started countering his threats (1 Reflector Mage, 1 Collective Company) and I was able to finish him off with a double draconic roar on two elvish visionaries. Game 2 I bated him into casting an early collective company by flashing in a non exploited silumgar sorceror. He revealed a displacer and a recruiter. My turn 4 I cast Thunderbreak regent. his turn 5 he just has a catacomb sifter and I am able to swing for 8 and double roar two of his creatures.
Round 2 - 4 color rites (lost 0-2) - This match stresses the importance of keeping an opening hand with at least one flash flyer against rites. You need to put early pressure against this deck. I didn't and both games lost turn 5, 1 turn before I had lethal. I kept slowish hands with no burn. Opponent combos both games turn 5.
Round 3 - Esper Dragons (won 2-0) - I had a feeling this deck would prey on control decks which luckily 7 decks out of the 10 here today were control decks. This deck, against control does not even have to cast the bigger dragons, just make sure you have one in hand to get full value out of roar and scorn. I won both games off the back of cheap flyers and counter magic, and was able to finish him off with roars because he animated his lifegain land to gain life. Exquisite firecraft put in a lot of work as well. One this match without taking a point of damage and felt in control the whole time.
Round 4 - Grixis Control ( won 2-0) - This match up was rinse and repeat from what happened the last round. Only difference was my opponent was mana screwed game 1 and I countered an early read the bones which set him back two turns. He was at 4 game one when he cast a Dragonload Silumgar to take my Thunderbreak regent, but I top decked an exquisite firecraft. Game 2 was the opposite where he was mana flooded and drew no real threats.
I finished in second place and I had a great time playing the deck. The deck fits my play style in that I like keeping people on they're heels. The only change I am going to make is putting the singleton negate and expulsion from the main into the side and putting in the extra Firecrafts. The firecrafts basically a guaranteed 4 damage to the face and as a previous poster stated a lot of time you just need to finish off your opponent with 2 or 3 damage.
About the Jace, I never played a match up where I needed it. It still warrants more testing but as of right now I am keeping it in the mainboard over Stratus Dancer.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Some call it a Habit, Cardboard Crack Addict
Tried to pull away, but now I'm Back At it
Love is Emphatic, cards need to be played
Hailing from the BA, accumulating CA"
Yea, those are MTG Bars. What can I say, I am a dork
Nice report. I've the same problem with Jace, still cannot test him enough.
I've included more negates since the meta is getting really heavy in PW in my LGS, and i've been really considering to cut off icefall. Most of the times i've tapped out to cast him, then he gets killed (Toughness 3 is pretty vulnerable) and the opponent's creature untaps and you lost your turn doing nothing. I've tried to cast him with counterspell backup but that's 7 mana, and by that time you wanna be closing up the game. I'm seriously considering splashing black for kolagan, but we've a lot of double red and double blue mana costs.
I've looked it up and there is not, belltoll dragon is 6 mana for a 3/3 hexproof, so with languish around is pretty unplayable. That's why i thought splashing black for Kolaghan, it's instant pressure, languish-proof, makes some opponents cards unplayable (or hace to pay 10 life), and still allows to use scorn and roar. But manybe is too hard on the mana base.
I've looked it up and there is not, belltoll dragon is 6 mana for a 3/3 hexproof, so with languish around is pretty unplayable. That's why i thought splashing black for Kolaghan, it's instant pressure, languish-proof, makes some opponents cards unplayable (or hace to pay 10 life), and still allows to use scorn and roar. But manybe is too hard on the mana base.
It warrants testing, but I would rather splash white for Ojutai. You can also use Reflector Mage, and sideboard option of Declaration in Stone.
I personally love the Icefall Regent as I use it as tempo play more than anything.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Some call it a Habit, Cardboard Crack Addict
Tried to pull away, but now I'm Back At it
Love is Emphatic, cards need to be played
Hailing from the BA, accumulating CA"
Yea, those are MTG Bars. What can I say, I am a dork
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It looks like a fairly interactive and blue-ey deck that we haven't seen in standard too recently so I gave it a go. It's also about $50 to buy everything on MODO.
4x Rattlechains
4x Stratus Dancer
4x Silumgar's Sorcerer
4x Icefall Regent
4x Thunderbreak Regent
2x Whirler Rogue
4x Draconic Roar
1x Void Shatter
4x Wandering Fumarole
4x Shivan Reef
9x Island
7x Mountain
1x Highland Lake
4x Fevered Visions
4x Rending Volley
2x Dispel
2x Tears of Valakut
2x Negate
1x Roast
The idea of the deck is pretty simple: You play flash creatures at your opponent's EOT and then ping them with a small stream of evasive fliers. Then the deck finishes off with Thunderbreak or Icefall regent. However, the deck is extremely good at tempo. Silumgar's Scorn is often counterspell, and Draconic Roar is an insane card by not only dealing 3 damage to the player on reveal, but killing standard 3 toughness boogeymen (reflector mage, sylvan advocate, bygone bishop etc)
Creatures
Rattlechains: It does the job. Pretty good in multiples for free removal counterspells.
Stratus Dancer I like this card in three situations: I'm playing against control, I wanna hit early with a 2/1 flier, or I've got five mana open. I think it has its place, but I don't think it is a 4x of.
Dimensional Infiltrator: This one seems like it has the least upside, but the ability to exile and possibly return to hand has been useful in situations where you have plenty of mana (blocking a lifelinker and then activating it once or twice can stop them from gaining life, etc.) 4x Shivan reef isn't amazing but it does matter in some games.
Silumgar's Sorcerer: I don't think this card is incredible, as I see 3cmc in an odd spot, and the ability sacs itself. It is a decent option to consider in an extremely creature heavy meta.
Whirler Rogue: 4 power on 3 bodies is great, and granting evasion is sometimes good to sneak in more damage. The only minor synergy with Silumgar's Sorcerer imo (saccing the tokens)
The dragons: Core to the deck for the spells, and pretty good finishers. Thunderbreak almost always guarantees damage, and Icefall taps a fatty and makes your opponent waste a turn to kill it.
Instant/sorceries
Draconic Roar: Probably the best burn spell in standard if you're playing with dragons
Silumgar's Scorn Works as it should 80% of the game, but can be a whiff when your opponent has lots of mana and you've got no dragons.
Void Shatter It does the job, but seems like a flex slot.
Sideboard
Rending Volley Yes. Yes. Yes. 4x of
Dispel A strong card, but I'm not a fan of it in this deck, since it has many counterspells and this deck can't easily deal with resolved enchantments and planeswalkers
Negate Does the job against enchantments, planeswalkers and all other non-creatures.
Tears of Valakut I think Rending Volley does a good job, but I'm a bit paranoid about Mindbreaker Demon so I keep it in.
Roast Deals with crap like Kalitas, Vile Agregate, Goblin Dark-Dwellers, etc.
Fevered Visions This is probably the most interesting card in the deck. It seems like it has no downside against most decks in standard.
After playing with the deck on MODO I've made a few changes:
+Been testing Fevered Visions mainboard. It's been doing well, drawing cheap spells EOT or helping turn the dragon spells online. I like the interaction to redirect damage to planeswalkers.
+Took out Dispel for Negate
+Cut some Silumgar's Sorcerers
+Cut some Stratus Dancers
+Testing out flex slot surge spells. Fall of the Titans seems good as maybe a 2x of, but the mana intensive element turns me away so I might cut it. Meanwhile, Overwhelming Denial seems amazing in this deck. I've been running it as a one of, but I might try it as a 2x of. In combination with the burn or flash fliers, it becomes very easy to cast for its surge cost.
+Pia and Kiran Nalaar over Whirler Rogue. I like the idea of burning more than unblockable, but I think either is fine so I'm testing it out.
+Trying Encase in Ice SB but not sure. It's good against red aggro decks since the kinda lack enchantment removal, but it doesnt seem like much of the meta. Don't particular like it on some of the few green creatures in standard, so I might just add a disperse or something (against Abbey, enchantments, etc.)
+Added one Highland Lake over a basic because being locked out of UU would suck.
Match one: Mirror match
Not sure how, but I got to play the mirror match! My deck is kind of similar but I think I kind of lawyered my way around counters with my own to come on top. 2-0
Match two: Vs mono white humams
Get to play against a "real" deck. Lots of one drops and Dragon Hunter is randomly relevant. Lost game 1, where he ends turn 2 with 3 one CMC humans. I end up with 3 active silumgar's scorn in hand which are OK but I need to kill/block. He doesn't attack after I have thunderbreak and Icefall tapping 2/2 Knight of the White Orchid (I think this was a mistake vs tapping Anointer of Champions. Since I tapped out to play Icefall, he plays Consul's Lieutenant followed by a brutal Thalia's Lieutenant which give his 6 other humans counters. I didn't pay attention and accidentally blocked Consul not realizing the anointer could give it +1 and first strike together, so I lose my dragon and have no outs.
won game 2 playing first with sideboard hate cards like roast and 4x rending volley. Game 3 I foolishly decided to keep (on the draw) a one land hand with rending volley and Draconic Roar. I get mana screwed and then they finish the round. 1-1
Match three: Vs Bant Coco
Got to play against the format's new boogeyman. Won game one on the draw. Game 2 I didnt have much removal (had sided in Encase in ice) so when they played Bounding Krasis I kept mana up, decided to counter Tireless Tracker. The following turn I got collected company'd (with a krasis untapping his one with Encase on Ice for another attack). I played Icefall regent, which is weak to Reflector mage unfortunately. The beatdown came in.
Game three is one-sided for most of the game, get him down to 4 life and I'm at 16. He's got a couple of creatures and plays reflector mage which I foolishly countered (had two counters but only 3 blue mana available). Then he follows up with Dromoka's Command to sac Fevered Visions and fight my infiltrator. I've got no more burn left and he is able to flash in two creatures and kill me. 1-2
Match four: UR(w) control
Looks very much like the UR control list going around with Jace, Lightning Axe, Fiery temper etc. except with a rougher mana base. With lots of counterspells and Fevered Visions I get there in 2. 2-2
Match five: Mardu control?
So game one was easy, fevered visions + steady stream of cheap threats vs Expensive kill spells. Game two, he gets mana screwed on two lands and I win. 3-2
What I learned:
I didn't want Pia and Kiran Nalaar often. They occupied this awkward spot where I could play two 2cmc spells at once and they died a little easily, and alongside dragons they ruined my curve if i drew too many. I'm gonna look either for an instant or try out Jori En, Ruin Diver as a cheap blocker with good upside.
Encase in Ice did jack against Bounding Kraisis, and with Abbey around I should probably avoid it altogether (roast instead, derp?)
Against most match-ups, Fevered Visions was gold. A free ping-2 that helped find land drops, turn online dragon spells and dig for counters is usually good. It felt very good vs control, but not as great against aggressive creature decks. The end step draw really matters, because a lot of decks just aren't optimized for that.
Might put Brutal Expulsion in the side vs Coco - it "Vensers" coco or a X/3 and kills and x/2.
Standard: Larkblue's Competitive Mono Red Aggro
Also, I'm kinda scared of GB rites, and it's making me want to throw in 2 Yavimaya coasts for Radiant Flames. What do you think of the matchup? and Seasons Past control while we're at it. I'm not sure how good we are at racing in either direction
Do you think Clash of Wills has a spot in the sideboard vs aggro? Also, I feel like we should be taking a less flash/creature-centric approach and add more instants/sorceries so we can play Fiery Impulse
I think your best bet is Evolving Wilds or even Warped Landscape if you care about the colorless mana
enchanting Witchstalker with Raised by Wolves
The matchups look really promising based on your casual play and I think it's great for the current aggro/ramp meta...
Standard: Larkblue's Competitive Mono Red Aggro
2 Stratus Dancer
4 Rattlechains
4 Dimensional Infiltrator
2 Silumgar's Sorcerer
4 Thunderbreak Regent
2 Whirler Rogue
4 Icefall Regent
Noncreatures
4 Draconic Roar
3 Silumgar's Scorn
2 Negate
1 Void Shatter
2 Fevered Visions
1 Overwhelming Denial
8 Island
7 Mountain
4 Fumarole
4 Shivan Reef
2 Highland Lake
4 Rending Volley
2 Fevered Visions
2 Negate
2 Tears of Valakut
2 Brutal Expulsion
2 Roast
1 Silumgar Sorcerer
-2 Silumgar Sorcerer, +1 to the board
-1 Silumgar's Scorn
-2 Stratus Dancer
+2 Negate
+2 Fevered Visions
+1 Overwhelming Denial
SB:
-2 Dispel
-2 Fevered visions (to main)
+2 Brutal Expulsion
+1 Roast
+1 Silumgar Sorcerer (from main)
Paranoia is still getting to me (should i find room for Fiery temper/Impulse? Should i get extra card draw for the control matchup?) since i have no experience with the deck right now, hopefully i'll be able to sleeve this up for Game Day.
enchanting Witchstalker with Raised by Wolves
Stratus Dancer seems like the weak point of the deck.
Taking out both Dancers and a Visions (but putting Scorn back in) leaves only 2 slots. not sure if it's enough for Impulse because Roar is a fine burn card, plus Volley in the board. The exlposiveness of Humans is really keeping me from being willing to run less than three copies of Impulse. one more Denial -could- work since OP said he wanted to try two, while Tyrant of Valakut is mega cheap money-wise (and mana-wise with surge), provides extra reach, and is a dragon. That might push the curve a little too much, though. Grip of the Roil is another option that also nets us a card.
enchanting Witchstalker with Raised by Wolves
I'll let you know how it goes.
but the question is, if money isn't an issue, how much can we afford to splash without sacrificing out consistency? being mostly blue based does help, though.
enchanting Witchstalker with Raised by Wolves
@jeskaiplayer69 What does your full decklist look like? I would love to try it
Here’s my report from Saturday’s PPTQ. A little precursor, I tested the deck all week as it seemed like it had a really strong g/w tokens and aristocrats matchup. The deck I didn’t get a chance to test against was humans, but I felt like there wouldn’t be many copies running around the PPTQ. which there weren’t. Only one, but we’ll get to that. It was 27 people, 5 rounds. So here is my list that I ran on Saturday:
6 Mountain
9 Island
1 Haven of the Spirit Dragon
1 Highland Lake
4 Shivan Reef
4 Wandering Fumarole
4 Dimensional Infiltrator
3 Icefall Regent
4 Rattlechains
4 Silumgar Sorcerer
4 Stratus Dancer
4 Thunderbreak Regent
4 Silumgar's Scorn
4 Draconic Roar
1 Void Shatter
1 Negate
1 Fiery Impulse
1 Jace, Unraveler of Secrets
SB:
2 Act of Treason
2 Disperse
1 Dispel
3 Fevered Visions
2 Negate
3 Rending Volley
2 Seismic Rupture
1 Chandra, Flamecaller
Round 1 vs G/U ramp: 2-1 This round was nerve wracking because my opponent is a known very good player. He was wearing his most recent Pro Tour shirt.This is the deck that tries to win with looping Part the Waterveil for extra turns and Crush of Tentacles as a wincon. Game 1 I basically just flew over him and countered the relevant spells like Crush. It was a slow game as he got a flipped jace and was keeping one of my flyers weak. He got me game 2 when I ran out of counter magic. He landed a crush that I couldn’t stop, with a follow up Waterveil with a flipped Jace. Game 3 went much like game 1 except quicker. Countered all the relevant spells. Chipped in damage with a flyer and countered his last ditch Nissa’s Revelation with a Chandra follow up for the kill.
Round 2 vs G/W Tokens: 2-1 Game 1 started as a damage race that my opponent was ahead on. He had a turn 2 Lambholdt Pacifist that flipped. I had 2 flyers and we both took each others life totals down to below ten. I got stuck on 3 lands and countered a Gideon. He followed up with another one I didn’t have a counter for, followed by Avacyn the next turn. Game 2 I curved out perfectly. Setting up a flyer on 2 and getting to 4 lands for full counter protection. He missed a land drop which put him too far behind. I roared his Advocate and countered the Dromoka’s Command that tried to save it. Deployed a Thunderbreak and it was over in 2 turns. Game 3 was scary. He got stuck on two lands again, but had 3 Advocates. I killed one, but the other two were racing my life total. I flooded out and was running out of gas. I managed to draw 3 dragons in a row. Deploying Icefall and two Thunderbreaks 3 consecutive turns. We traded a Thunderbreak for an Avacyn, but I had Haven so I got it right back, cast it, and attacked him down to 5. At this point he couldn’t target any of my dragons and I had too much damage coming at him the following turn including an available Fumerole. It was basically a win lock, which was fortunate since he had the Declaration in Stone.
Round 3 vs G/R Ramp: 2-1 This match was over in about 10 minutes. Game 1 all he drew was ramp spells and lands. I think he cast 1 Dragonlord Atarka which I countered and best him with flyers and Fumeroles. Game 2 was nuts. He got me once with a Kozelek’s Return and then followed up with a Chandra. I followed up with a Chandra of my own and killed his Chandra. He played world breaker killing my one Fumerole which is unfortunate because it maybe could have won me the game. I play an Icefall Regent tapping down his World Breaker and start hitting with Chandra. I land a Thunderbreak and put him to 2 that turn with lethal on the board next turn. He rips the land he needed for Ulamog, triggers Return, wipes my dragons and exiles Chandra. I draw 2 more lands and die. That one irked me. Game 3 I deploy 2 Stratus Dancers unflipped and just start getting beats in leaving up counter magic for Return. After 3 turns of him not casting Return and seeming to get a little agitated with his draws, I EOT flash in a Rattlechains, not leaving up counter mana, assuming he didn’t have the Return by then. It was risky but worth it. By doing so it increased my clock to 2 turns and I had the Scorn for basically anything he could cast. He didn’t cast a single meaningful spell and I won.
Round 4-5: Shake hands and relax for a bit. Go into top 8 at 6th seed due to a bunch of weird draws and pair downs.
Top 8 Round 1 vs B/G Aristocrats: 2-0 My opponent keeps a one lander on 7!? I proceed to just steamroll over him with flyers and dragons. He finally does get to the point where in another turn he could have maybe flipped Westvale, but it was far too late at that point.Game 2 he plays Llanowar Wastes and 2 Westvale Abbey’s so with Rites or Loam Dryad, he’s somewhat locked on colors. I smartly killed both Loam Dryad’s to keep off colors and beat him down with flyers. He revealed his hand of 3 Sifter, 2 Coco so killing the Loam Dryad’s absolutely won me the game.
Top 8 Round 2 vs B/W Control: 2-0 Control is a great matchup it feels, especially the non blue control decks so can free roll counterspells. Pretty much name of the game is land an early flyer and protect against languish either with back-up flash flyers or counterspells. Which is exactly how game 1 went. When they are playing 5 mana Ob-Nixilis to kill your 2 mana creature, things are going well. Game 2 the beats were strong but we were trading blows with flyers and kill spells. I eventually ran down to 1 counterspell and had Thunderbreak and Icefall in hand. I play Thunderbreak and he plays Secure for 5 on his turn to avoid my counter magic. I attack and he flips Westvale on his turn and hit me. It gets him back up to 15 life, so I deploy Icefall tapping down his Ormendhal. I drew a land that turn to leave up Scorn mana. He attempts to ruinous path my Icefall paying 5 and taking 3 from Thunderbreak. I counter it. I hit him for 12 next turn with an activated Fumerole.
Top 8 Finals vs Monowhite Humans: 0-2 A little side note the person my opponent played previous was on G/B Season’s Past which should have been a bad match for him. Therefore if that player had beat the humans like he was supposed to, I wouldn’t have face this match, but alas. I knew this wasn’t going to be pretty and I needed a bit of luck. Luck I did not get. My opponent curves out about as perfect as you can with the deck. I had a reasonable hand, but when he’s playing 2+ creatures a turn and I can only play one, that trades down at best, there’s no real way to catch up. Game 2 I managed to get him to 9 and pick off a bunch of his guys with removal. He brought in the “big” package, which included Needle Spires, Gideon and Avacyn. All 3 of which he played against me, on curve.
I talked with my opponent and the couple guys still there about the matchup and we concluded it’s just bad and there might not be much you can do about it. Radiant Flames wouldn’t be effective and splashing a third color slows down the deck. Sometimes when you have such a bad matchup it’s not worth messing up your plan against the rest of the meta just to fix that matchup. In my opinion this deck is favored heavily against Rites/Aristocrats decks and Control, favored slightly against G/W Tokens, Ramp and Bant Coco. Which means it’s favored against most of the mets, except humans. That’s good enough for me.
Stray tips:
This deck is an aggro deck. Don’t be afraid to run out Stratus Dancer on 2 and chip away.
This deck is not a HYPER aggro deck. It is aggressive, but takes time and patience to protect and chip away.
This deck can become very aggressive. There are moments, maybe when your opponent taps out, missed land drops, etc., where you shift gears and rather that just protect your little guys you start slamming in dragons and really putting the clock on them. If they don’t have answers, you have a very fast clock.
Always lead with an Island to be able to Scorn on 2 if need be.
Going forward, I am changing the Jace into another Fiery Impulse. And I want to fit another Seismic Rupture in the board. However, it may again be a case of just accepting that humans is an abysmal matchup. This deck absolutely rocks and has the ability to go all the way at a PPTQ. Feel free to ask any more specific questions.
I have been looking for a different deck from my usual decks, and with this tourney report and the fact it seem you had a lot of fun with this deck, I am going to go ahead and build this deck. This looks amazing
Tried to pull away, but now I'm Back At it
Love is Emphatic, cards need to be played
Hailing from the BA, accumulating CA"
It has a clear difference in power level between the 2/1's and the 4 power creatures so it has this weird stage where your opponent starts building his field and you're hitting for 2 or 4. So, to get through that moment we've counters and removal, and the late game will depend a lot on how you did manage your resources in that stage.
Faced grixis control (won), G/B Seasons (won), U/W Humans (lost) and 4c Aristocrats (lost).
Against aristocrats i put him down to 3 before he was able to out-grind me, so i'm including some exquisite firecrafts in the SB to squeeze those last points of damage that are so necessary in the grindier match-ups
Overall very happy with the deck, thunderbreak is still a powerhouse.
4 Dimensional Infiltrator
4 Rattlechains
4 Silumgar Sorceror
4 Thunderbreak Regent
4 Icefall Regent
Spells (16)
4 Silumgar's Scorn
4 Draconic Roar
2 Void Shatter
2 Exquisite Firecraft
1 Negate
1 Brutal Expulsion
2 Jace, Unraveler of Secrets
4 Wandering Fumarole
4 Shivan Reef
9 Island
7 Mountain
1 Negate
2 Dispel
2 Act of Treason
2 Tears of Valakut
1 Seismic Rupture
2 Exquisite Firecraft
2 Disperse
Overall the deck did very well, and it felt really really good to play.
Match Report
Round 1 - 4 Color Rites (Won 2-0) - Yeah My opponent both games was put on his heels really fast as I was able to resolve two quick flash fliers (Rattle chain and Dimensional Infiltrator) The rest of the game I just started countering his threats (1 Reflector Mage, 1 Collective Company) and I was able to finish him off with a double draconic roar on two elvish visionaries. Game 2 I bated him into casting an early collective company by flashing in a non exploited silumgar sorceror. He revealed a displacer and a recruiter. My turn 4 I cast Thunderbreak regent. his turn 5 he just has a catacomb sifter and I am able to swing for 8 and double roar two of his creatures.
Round 2 - 4 color rites (lost 0-2) - This match stresses the importance of keeping an opening hand with at least one flash flyer against rites. You need to put early pressure against this deck. I didn't and both games lost turn 5, 1 turn before I had lethal. I kept slowish hands with no burn. Opponent combos both games turn 5.
Round 3 - Esper Dragons (won 2-0) - I had a feeling this deck would prey on control decks which luckily 7 decks out of the 10 here today were control decks. This deck, against control does not even have to cast the bigger dragons, just make sure you have one in hand to get full value out of roar and scorn. I won both games off the back of cheap flyers and counter magic, and was able to finish him off with roars because he animated his lifegain land to gain life. Exquisite firecraft put in a lot of work as well. One this match without taking a point of damage and felt in control the whole time.
Round 4 - Grixis Control ( won 2-0) - This match up was rinse and repeat from what happened the last round. Only difference was my opponent was mana screwed game 1 and I countered an early read the bones which set him back two turns. He was at 4 game one when he cast a Dragonload Silumgar to take my Thunderbreak regent, but I top decked an exquisite firecraft. Game 2 was the opposite where he was mana flooded and drew no real threats.
I finished in second place and I had a great time playing the deck. The deck fits my play style in that I like keeping people on they're heels. The only change I am going to make is putting the singleton negate and expulsion from the main into the side and putting in the extra Firecrafts. The firecrafts basically a guaranteed 4 damage to the face and as a previous poster stated a lot of time you just need to finish off your opponent with 2 or 3 damage.
About the Jace, I never played a match up where I needed it. It still warrants more testing but as of right now I am keeping it in the mainboard over Stratus Dancer.
Tried to pull away, but now I'm Back At it
Love is Emphatic, cards need to be played
Hailing from the BA, accumulating CA"
I've included more negates since the meta is getting really heavy in PW in my LGS, and i've been really considering to cut off icefall. Most of the times i've tapped out to cast him, then he gets killed (Toughness 3 is pretty vulnerable) and the opponent's creature untaps and you lost your turn doing nothing. I've tried to cast him with counterspell backup but that's 7 mana, and by that time you wanna be closing up the game. I'm seriously considering splashing black for kolagan, but we've a lot of double red and double blue mana costs.
It warrants testing, but I would rather splash white for Ojutai. You can also use Reflector Mage, and sideboard option of Declaration in Stone.
I personally love the Icefall Regent as I use it as tempo play more than anything.
Tried to pull away, but now I'm Back At it
Love is Emphatic, cards need to be played
Hailing from the BA, accumulating CA"