While only one of them made top 8 because of their draft records, the 4 best preforming standard decks of the Pro Tour were 2 different UW Flash variants with 4 each of Spell Queller and Selfless Spirit and the one in the top 8 had 3 Rattlechains as well. All of the other standard decks in the top 8 had worse records in the swiss than those 4. I would hardly call the archetype dead.
While none of them made top 8 because of their draft records, the 4 best preforming standard decks of the Pro Tour were 2 different UW Flash variants with 4 each of Spell Queller and Selfless Spirit. All of the standard decks in the top 8 had worse records in the swiss than those 4. I would hardly call the archetype dead.
The deck that made the top 8 played rattlechains. I've been playing that list creature wise with the exception of mausoleum wanderer for thraben inspector. I play 2 Gideon's and two always watching. I also play 4 coptors. I'm glad it finally got some recognition Bc it is a great deck. Most of all it's fun watching people guess what I have every turn when I have mana open. Especially after I have five lands
Glad to see more activity here and more people adopting the deck.
In my opinion there are three different builds to pilot with each one having a different feel, with each build stronger in certain matchups.
I am going to continue with my tempo aggro build with a lower land count but I can see the benefits of going into the more controlling version seen at the protour. As always I feel the metagame should decide which version you adopt.
Also the aggro build has an edge over the more controlling build, so keep that in mind when thinking about the mirror match.
Glad to see more activity here and more people adopting the deck.
In my opinion there are three different builds to pilot with each one having a different feel, with each build stronger in certain matchups.
I am going to continue with my tempo aggro build with a lower land count but I can see the benefits of going into the more controlling version seen at the protour. As always I feel the metagame should decide which version you adopt.
Also the aggro build has an edge over the more controlling build, so keep that in mind when thinking about the mirror match.
What does your current list look like?
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If MTG is a part of your life, the formats are like relationships:
Standard/Block = The on-again, off-again holiday fling
Modern/Vintage/Legacy = Stable, homely. A ***** after absence/misreading
Limited/Sealed = Heart breaking free spirit
Commander/Cube = Agreeable, needy and expensive
Pauper/Peasant = Sweet, kind, practical, but shy and boring
sideboard is still in the works, and I'd appreciate people contribution on that.
in my opinion mausoleum wanderer is a much better pilot than inspector, for two reasons. first of all it offers some sort of protection to the copter, by countering or at least delaying the removal. secondly, i've won few matches in my testing by flossing in a spirit or two just before damage to buff it. essence flux: it's pretty much a counter against spot removal. but not just that, it can "untap" and buff a spirit for a surprise block for example. always watching: i prefer it to gideon for 3 reasons: costs 1 less mana, gives vigilance which i find EXTREMELY relevant, and...cash lol elder deep-fiend: i know that avacyn is very powerful, BUT, she's very easy to kill. octopus-eldrazi big butt, makes it much harder to kill, its etb effect can really mess things up for your opponent and we can take profit from our creatures getting killed by sacrificing them in response. I'm thinking stuff that attracts lots of removal like spell queller and Gisela (which I absolutely ADORE).
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Huey, Dewey and Louie are always dressed in RUG. it is CLEARLY going to be the wedges block Pioneer: WURFaerie fires BRGDragons ModernBGElves WRBurn UR Fires Turns URGift Storm UG Twiddle Storm
4x Port Town
4x Prairie Stream
6x Island
8x Plains
Sideboard
3x Blessed Alliance
2x Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
2x Summary Dismissal
2x Negate
1x Declaration in Stone
1x Repel the Abominable
1x Westvale Abbey
1x Skywhalers Shot
1x Dispel
1x Niblis of Frost
I am expecting more control this coming Friday post Pro Tour, so I dropped the 3rd always watching for a mainboard negate.
if you look back at my reports I have played a lot of different match ups and had great success with this build. If you have a ton of aggro in your metagame I would shift to some of the more controlling lists like some of the Pro Tour lists.
Doc, Maus is a good card but Inspector is also amazingly strong. The cantrip along with the 2 toughness is extremely relevant with Liliana's running around. Also the counter aspect of Maus is surprisingly irrelevant most of the time.
I agree with Flux, it's amazing in this deck.
Always Watching seems to be matchup dependent, if you're going midrange Gideon is better, but the aggro versions can probably use Watching more.
This depends on the deck, if you're tempo or aggro then Deep Fiend can work great but mid range of control, Avacyn is too good to pass up.
It seems like your deck is much more midrange so I'd reccomend tossing in a single Bruna just for that potential lock.
"What kind of ability would say "counters black spells" on it? "If a Rigger you control would assemble a Contraption, it counters black spells instead"? "
-Mark Gottlieb
Thanks for your answer Fool. in most of my matches I've found myself usually attacking with a single copter, ending up adding spirits to the board only when needed. the aspect that i like mot about always watching it's the vigilance. i can tap spirt, attack with copter, they attack, i flash in another spirit: surprise! now copter blocks too! I see what you mean regarding maus or inspector. i guess I'll have to test a bit with both. at the moment i feel that flying and getting bigger are outweighing the cantrip.
I was thinking about putting a bruna in there but the thing is I can't really see myself getting to 7 lands, unless i go up to 25/26 and become a true midrange deck. I wonder if in that case it would be worth it to include 2 lancers of thalia to tutor her.
But here the question also become, if I have to make room for bruna and 2 more lands...what do i cut? the list seems pretty tight...
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Huey, Dewey and Louie are always dressed in RUG. it is CLEARLY going to be the wedges block Pioneer: WURFaerie fires BRGDragons ModernBGElves WRBurn UR Fires Turns URGift Storm UG Twiddle Storm
So I've been working on this a lot, and I've gotten the deck to a pretty good spot, here's the list that I ran through the last league I played (going 4-1):
So as you can see I've lowered the curve a lot, which lets me cut on lands (but 22 lands is too few, needs 23).
Revolutionary rebuff is what this deck was missing. It counters avacyn and ishkana where these were just unbeatable if you didn't have a void shatter before. And instead of just playing a bunch of void shatters, this is a 2 mana answer to the majority of the format. We can especially leverage this because the rest of the deck is full of threats that hinder the opponent in some way. Obviously no one expects this too so it blows people out. I've beaten the mirror 4 times (one of which was against joey manner, the guy that top8'ed the pt with this strategy) since I went up to 4 rebuffs (and haven't lost a match to the mirror yet).
Ongoing investigation has been okay, it's super amazing if you are at parity or slightly behind to pull yourself ahead or if you are already ahead to cement your lead, but it's so bad if you are really behind, but I think that's true of most of the cards in the deck outside of reflector mage honestly.
authority is great against copters, they turn 2 copter then turn 3 play a creature and they aren't attacking until turn 4, and that's if you don't have a reflector mage or a counterspell. over all though, i'm not sure it really helps us against the decks that are harder to beat.
the other card that is kind of weird is captain's claws out of the board, it's there to be a trump against grixis control. I think our gameplan is already great in that matchup, so if you guys have other thoughts my ears are open, but this seals up the game super quickly.
I did test mausoleum wanderer in another version of this, and it kind of sucks. The problem is that there is a lack of instants and sorcerys that we don't already have an answer for. It's pretty good against control but the majority of the format is creature based. I did try a version that dropped the snares for nebelghast and played wanderers thinking that nebelghast would make the wanderers better, but that version feels a lot worse.
I also tested unsubstantiate, and man, it was horrible. It's bad because there's nothing you want to bounce since everything has an etb effect and some of the creatures you'd want to bounce (in the mirror at least, which is what I was trying to solve) can be flashed in, so then it just becomes remand that doesn't draw a card, which is unplayable.
I think this version handles the format pretty easily, I feel favored in almost every matchup.
I've been having issues against 3 decks:
G/B delirium, I only played against it once, and I feel like my draw was bad, so take that as you will, but ishkana is gross, and we can't beat it.
r/b zombies, this deck demolished my best draws. The matchup puts us in an awkward position where counterspells suck, but we have a hard time beating pariah, so we probably want them in some number, if only pariah cost 4 (never thought I'd want my opponent's bomb to cost less lol). What do you guys do to beat this deck? It feels almost unbeatable.
U/W control with linvalas, avacyns, gearhulks, planeswalkers, etc... I think I might be playing the matchup wrong. In the first few turns I try to get a copter and a creature out, then just play the flash game the rest of the time. It's possible that I need to keep playing threats at the risk of losing value, I'm not sure. Maybe fleetwheel cruiser would be good here?
Changes:
I want some declaration in stone for the r/b matchup, but I'm not confidant that that solves it.
I think it's best to cut the authority for the 23rd land, and I guess a declaration in stone.
Since I'm playing rebuff I have the void shatters just for gearhulk in the board, which seems like wasted space, I'm considering playing 2 more declarations over it, but, again, I'm not sure this is the answer to r/b.
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If MTG is a part of your life, the formats are like relationships:
Standard/Block = The on-again, off-again holiday fling
Modern/Vintage/Legacy = Stable, homely. A ***** after absence/misreading
Limited/Sealed = Heart breaking free spirit
Commander/Cube = Agreeable, needy and expensive
Pauper/Peasant = Sweet, kind, practical, but shy and boring
This is what I've been most recently testing. Some thoughts of my own:
3 Smuggler/ Avacyn because multiple of these guys can be a dud. Yes it is important to have them reliably on curve but I've been happy with 3. Also Selfless I just don't like at 4 and always feel better at 3.
Reflector seems stronger in this meta now so I'm actually happy to play him now. This deck can't play just draw-go now, so we have to adapt it to a more midrangey style of deck imo.
Thraben has been really awesome so far in testing. Maus was pretty good but it's irrelevant usually and with Copter, we are really using these guys to crew so losing the flying doesn't matter.
Stasis Snare is still really good. It does make the mana a little harder but we are really pushing more into white now so we just have to adjust the base accordingly.
Void Shatter is clunky sometimes but it's been a lifesaver when needed. I like Rebuff a lot too but it's good to have the non-conditional counters especially when we have to play the long game. Declaration in Stone has been interesting. It's kinda great and kinda not but there isn't much better than it. It serves it's purpose quite well. Essence Flux is absolutely incredible in this deck. It's relevant with every creature to some degree. I want to move up to 3 or maybe even 4 of these.
I'm a little torn on Watching. Sometimes it's great but some matches it's irrelevant so idk how many to play if any. I may try 2 main for now.
I really want Glimmer of Genius to be good, but it's just so hard to play at 4 mana. I often sb them out due to the speed of the meta so I think we may have to shelve this for now.
Westvale has been pretty decent and another wincon in the grindy games is nice.
I haven't tested Gideon any but I think he might be solid as a 1 or 2 of.
I kinda want to use Fumigate main board. I have Avacyn and Selfless to avoid wiping myself if needed and it just seems strong in general with so many creature decks. Authority of the Consuls seems like a strong sb card so I'll stick a couple in for gameday tomorrow.
Blessed Alliance has been really good and I prefer it over Immolating Glare since it actually kills Hydras.
I also like a singleton Quarantine field, just for those really long matches where it can be an insta win.
I think I need to adjust the mana base a little and possibly stick in a single Meandering River even though tapped lands are bad.
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How can we truly be free, if we are held in the bondage of clothing?
"What kind of ability would say "counters black spells" on it? "If a Rigger you control would assemble a Contraption, it counters black spells instead"? "
-Mark Gottlieb
Will never go for specifics here, but the deck was a blast to play. Essence Flux was MVP all night, blinking Spell Queller, Mausoleum Wanderer, Reflector Mage, etc..You need to remember that this is a tempo deck. Always play draw/go game as much as possible, and let your opponent run through your counters, if they didn't, then drop a flash creature EOT.
The only time you want to tap out is playing copter when you are on the play on T2. You don't want to be playing copter T2 when on the draw, since you've be better bouncing/countering threats, and Queller them when they try to recast it. This will get you back the tempo you need, specially if you hit 4 lands, you can drop copter, and then hold up mana for Unsubstantiate/Negate, and as I have said Essence Flux blinking Queller to eat a better spell is just nuts.
I was playing BantCoCo before rotation and played Bant Midrange the 1st week of the new standard. I wasn't able to play last weekend due to a family event and I wasn't completely pleased with how Bant Midrange played out in my meta. So I took what I had card wise and what I felt played well in my meta and also looked to see what had good constructed results and ended up put together U/W Midrange, except I'm splashing G for Tamiyo and artifact removal out of the sideboard. Since the 1st week; R/W and R/B Vehicles was 1/2 the decks at the store.
My main deck is pretty much Steve's deck from the Pro-Tour except for the mana base; which is still a work in progress. Tonight was the 1st time I've played any games with the deck besides goldfishing. The store I go to only plays 3 rounds due to being in a mall that closes at 9pm. I ended up going 2-0-1 and just dropped 1 game.
Match 1 was against a U/R Emerge running Prized Amalgam and I ended up going 1-1 draw. He took game one as I ended up flooding out and didn't draw into anything that would slow him down. It didn't help that at the end of turn 3 he ended up getting 2 Amalgam's back from the yard that he discarded on turn 2 and I saw no removal. Game 2 I mulled down to 5 but kept a hand with 2 lands, copter, thraben inspector, and queller. I was able to go Inspector into Copter and drew my 3rd land to protect it from his removal. I started to chip down his life total and go him down to 7 before he stabilized by cleared the board with an emerged EDF and playing Return from the yard. I started to eat 5 damage a turn and he got me down to 2 before I was able to Snare his EDF and use Queller and counters to keep him from playing anything. With Queller getting in there for the last 7 damage. Game 3 I was able to get him down to 11 when turns were called and just wasn't able to finish him off.
Match 2 was against W/G Aggro and I won 2-0. Neither game was really competitive as I took a total of 4 damage in the two games. Copter with Queller protecting from his removal and helping to keep him from playing his planewalkers, meant that I was able to filter out my excess lands into threats or counters. He also had no way to deal with my flyers which sealed both games.
Match 3 was against Jeskai Tempo and I won 2-0. Game one he let get in multiple attacks with two copters while I was holding both queller and negate for protection and I rode the copters for the win. Game 2 I sided in more counters taking out the mages. Again I was able to get a copter online and used Queller, Selfless Spirit and Negate for backups. I Snared two of his threats and once he was tapped out; flash in Avacyn at the end of his turn and then played Gideon creating an emblem and attacked for lethal.
Overall for the 1st time playing the deck I was very happy. I plan on taking it to Gameday tomorrow. I'm still not sure how I want to set up the sideboard since the meta completely shifted from what was being played the 1st week to what was being played tonight at the store I play at.
Psy
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Currently Playing:
Jeskai Control:42-23-5 Elves: 44-31-3 Red-Aggro: 18-9-0 B/G Energy 21-6-0
Will never go for specifics here, but the deck was a blast to play. Essence Flux was MVP all night, blinking Spell Queller, Mausoleum Wanderer, Reflector Mage, etc..You need to remember that this is a tempo deck. Always play draw/go game as much as possible, and let your opponent run through your counters, if they didn't, then drop a flash creature EOT.
The only time you want to tap out is playing copter when you are on the play on T2. You don't want to be playing copter T2 when on the draw, since you've be better bouncing/countering threats, and Queller them when they try to recast it. This will get you back the tempo you need, specially if you hit 4 lands, you can drop copter, and then hold up mana for Unsubstantiate/Negate, and as I have said Essence Flux blinking Queller to eat a better spell is just nuts.
I was working on a version that had essence flux, I did only give it 2 matches of testing, it just never seemed all that great. obviously it looks horrible without a creature, but using it on a reflector mage at instant speed seems pretty sexy. maybe I need to give it another shot. Is it really 4-of worthy though? I was thinking like 2 or 3, probably going to start with 2.
Obviously you didn't face it, but I'm not sure how you can beat avacyn without stasis snare or even a real counterspell in game one. She either blocks everything, or (if you can get past her with nebelghast) they sac a selfless spirit and wipe your board. I tested with nebelghast and I found it hard to keep triggering him, and a lot of triggering happens on your main phase, so unless you have rattlechains out, you don't actually stop opposing creatures from racing you.
Your sideboard is pretty interesting, what are your board plans? I'm especially interested in the repel the abominable, and the westvale abbey.
EDIT: Just noticed that this is VirtuosoNeophyte's list. I'm interested in your response as well
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If MTG is a part of your life, the formats are like relationships:
Standard/Block = The on-again, off-again holiday fling
Modern/Vintage/Legacy = Stable, homely. A ***** after absence/misreading
Limited/Sealed = Heart breaking free spirit
Commander/Cube = Agreeable, needy and expensive
Pauper/Peasant = Sweet, kind, practical, but shy and boring
I'm back on board. Tried running with the Cloud guy on account of living in a control-heavy meta. A creature that draws 2 cards is what I want. Worked very well against the UR spells decks I faced. Along with Thraben and Smuggler's, I had no difficulty running out of gas, unlike last season. After that, I beat a Metalwork deck, but I won just because of better draws, and finally a RW vehicles deck. I think the deck needs to shore up defenses because of how that played out. What's the best cards to bring in against that deck?
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Current Awesome Deck: UWAll-In GiftsWU Consistent, Resiliant, and way overpowered, making multiple 4/4s per turn.
GB Electric Dreams BG Deal 20 in one shot, or discard their hand?
GWUFree Stuff MidrangeUWG Slowly bury the opponent with more threats and answers than they can handle.
I'm not sure why are you having problem with Avacyn, you just basically reserve your Unsubstantiate to counter/delay her, while beating in the air. The Herald is MVP in mirror match. Add in 2 summary dismissal and 1 skywhalers shot on the side for additional counters to Avacyn. The 22-land pure tempo version usually outraces the more controlling version of spirits with Avacyn.
Went 3-1 and ended up 6th at Game Day. I ended up winning against R/B Copter 2-0; R/G Energy 2-0; and Jeskai Control 2-0. The match I punted was in the 2nd round and against a Marvel deck. I never saw any of my counters or spell quellers either game and flooded out game 2. Overall very pleased with how the deck is playing in the current meta at the store I play at.
Psy
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Currently Playing:
Jeskai Control:42-23-5 Elves: 44-31-3 Red-Aggro: 18-9-0 B/G Energy 21-6-0
I'm not sure why are you having problem with Avacyn, you just basically reserve your Unsubstantiate to counter/delay her, while beating in the air. The Herald is MVP in mirror match. Add in 2 summary dismissal and 1 skywhalers shot on the side for additional counters to Avacyn. The 22-land pure tempo version usually outraces the more controlling version of spirits with Avacyn.
you're right, I played pretty much what you have except -2 negate, -3 unsubstantiated, +4 rebuff, +1 herald.
It's really strong, I think we need the 23rd land though. I keep having to throw back hands with just one land or two tapped lands.
Right now I'm testing out -4 reflector mage, (putting them in the board), -1 rebuff (artifact decks are on the rise for some reason, played against 4 or 5 marvel decks and 2 or 3 colossus decks today), +1 always watching (freakin glint-nest crane is a pain), +1 island, +3 bygone bishop. I actually completely forgot about the bishop, I think 3 is possibly too many, but I just want to see how it performs first. so far I've played 2 matches (both against r/g agro, so he got boarded out) and in one game I got 2 clues off of him. I'm not sure we need reflector mage in the main now, since control is getting bigger, and for some reason the combo decks are coming back, aside from the g/r decks I have only seen 2 or 3 agro decks in 15 matches in mtgo leagues.
I also have 4 ceremonious rejection in the board now.
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If MTG is a part of your life, the formats are like relationships:
Standard/Block = The on-again, off-again holiday fling
Modern/Vintage/Legacy = Stable, homely. A ***** after absence/misreading
Limited/Sealed = Heart breaking free spirit
Commander/Cube = Agreeable, needy and expensive
Pauper/Peasant = Sweet, kind, practical, but shy and boring
"What kind of ability would say "counters black spells" on it? "If a Rigger you control would assemble a Contraption, it counters black spells instead"? "
-Mark Gottlieb
So it looks like currently "Spirits" as we've had it just doesn't work, but the strategy itself still somewhat exists. I think I'm going to continue to move away from this deck for now, but it's good to see that some people are having success with similar. I also figure if this keeps up, this style of deck will get a spot in the Established decks (if it hasn't already).
"What kind of ability would say "counters black spells" on it? "If a Rigger you control would assemble a Contraption, it counters black spells instead"? "
-Mark Gottlieb
Yeah, I still agree that Spirits is no longer a good deck. U/W Midrange/Flash however has been successful so I'm focusing on that now.
The deck list the majority played for u/w spirits is the white blue flash deck being played now except thraben took mausoleum wanderers spot. Selfless spirit Rattlechains reflector mage spell queller avacyn and gideon were all played before. I still play wanderer over thraben inspector. Mausoleum wanderer grows. And I use it to counter spells on the first few turns. With smugglers coptor smoothing out my deck I don't feel the need for one extra clue. Plus the evasion is nice
Yes I'm speaking as to what we were working on in the forums here. We have primarily focused on Spirits decks using Wanderers, Nebelgast Heralds and such without Gideon and Reflector sometimes. It was much more of a "tribal" deck where we could play Draw-Go the majority of the game. That deck is no longer good at this time imo, but the updated midrange-style W/U flash seems to be pretty strong currently, so that's what we need to focus on now.
"What kind of ability would say "counters black spells" on it? "If a Rigger you control would assemble a Contraption, it counters black spells instead"? "
-Mark Gottlieb
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Modern: UW Spirits
The deck that made the top 8 played rattlechains. I've been playing that list creature wise with the exception of mausoleum wanderer for thraben inspector. I play 2 Gideon's and two always watching. I also play 4 coptors. I'm glad it finally got some recognition Bc it is a great deck. Most of all it's fun watching people guess what I have every turn when I have mana open. Especially after I have five lands
In my opinion there are three different builds to pilot with each one having a different feel, with each build stronger in certain matchups.
I am going to continue with my tempo aggro build with a lower land count but I can see the benefits of going into the more controlling version seen at the protour. As always I feel the metagame should decide which version you adopt.
Also the aggro build has an edge over the more controlling build, so keep that in mind when thinking about the mirror match.
What does your current list look like?
Standard/Block = The on-again, off-again holiday fling
Modern/Vintage/Legacy = Stable, homely. A ***** after absence/misreading
Limited/Sealed = Heart breaking free spirit
Commander/Cube = Agreeable, needy and expensive
Pauper/Peasant = Sweet, kind, practical, but shy and boring
First the list:
1 archangel avacyn
2 elder deep-fiend
3 gisela, the broken blade
4 mausoleum wanderer
4 rattlechains
4 selfless spirit
4 spell queller
1 thalia, heretic cathar
3 stasis snare
3 essence flux
8 plains
8 islands
4 port town
4 prairie stream
sideboard is still in the works, and I'd appreciate people contribution on that.
in my opinion mausoleum wanderer is a much better pilot than inspector, for two reasons. first of all it offers some sort of protection to the copter, by countering or at least delaying the removal. secondly, i've won few matches in my testing by flossing in a spirit or two just before damage to buff it.
essence flux: it's pretty much a counter against spot removal. but not just that, it can "untap" and buff a spirit for a surprise block for example.
always watching: i prefer it to gideon for 3 reasons: costs 1 less mana, gives vigilance which i find EXTREMELY relevant, and...cash lol
elder deep-fiend: i know that avacyn is very powerful, BUT, she's very easy to kill. octopus-eldrazi big butt, makes it much harder to kill, its etb effect can really mess things up for your opponent and we can take profit from our creatures getting killed by sacrificing them in response. I'm thinking stuff that attracts lots of removal like spell queller and Gisela (which I absolutely ADORE).
Pioneer: WURFaerie fires BRGDragons
ModernBGElves WRBurn UR Fires Turns URGift Storm UG Twiddle Storm
4x Mausoleum Wanderer
4x Rattlechains
4x Selfless Spirits
4x Smuggler's Copter
4x Spell Queller
4x Nebelhelm Ghast
4x Reflector Mage
4x Essence Flux
3x Unsubstantiate
2x Always Watching
1x Negate
22 Lands
4x Port Town
4x Prairie Stream
6x Island
8x Plains
Sideboard
3x Blessed Alliance
2x Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
2x Summary Dismissal
2x Negate
1x Declaration in Stone
1x Repel the Abominable
1x Westvale Abbey
1x Skywhalers Shot
1x Dispel
1x Niblis of Frost
I am expecting more control this coming Friday post Pro Tour, so I dropped the 3rd always watching for a mainboard negate.
if you look back at my reports I have played a lot of different match ups and had great success with this build. If you have a ton of aggro in your metagame I would shift to some of the more controlling lists like some of the Pro Tour lists.
I agree with Flux, it's amazing in this deck.
Always Watching seems to be matchup dependent, if you're going midrange Gideon is better, but the aggro versions can probably use Watching more.
This depends on the deck, if you're tempo or aggro then Deep Fiend can work great but mid range of control, Avacyn is too good to pass up.
It seems like your deck is much more midrange so I'd reccomend tossing in a single Bruna just for that potential lock.
Current Decks
Standard / Type 2
BRMidrange
"What kind of ability would say "counters black spells" on it? "If a Rigger you control would assemble a Contraption, it counters black spells instead"? "
-Mark Gottlieb
i think you can go either aggro w Always watching or Avacyn for a better end game and higher curve.
Here's my list:
4x Prairie Streams
4x Port Town
8x Plains
4x Island
Creatures - 25
4x Expedition Envoy
2x Mausoleum Wanderer
3x Reflector Mage
4x Selfless Spirit
4x Spell Queller
4x Thalia's Lieutenant
4x Thraben Inspector
2x Declaration in Stone
2x Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
4x Always Watching
2x Stasis Snare
2x Anticipate
3x Negate
1x Stasis Snare
1x Collective Effort
1x Planar Outburst
2x Repel the Abominable
2x Ceremonious Rejection
1x Void Shatter
3x Aerial Responder
2x Fragmentize
2x Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
I was thinking about putting a bruna in there but the thing is I can't really see myself getting to 7 lands, unless i go up to 25/26 and become a true midrange deck. I wonder if in that case it would be worth it to include 2 lancers of thalia to tutor her.
But here the question also become, if I have to make room for bruna and 2 more lands...what do i cut? the list seems pretty tight...
Pioneer: WURFaerie fires BRGDragons
ModernBGElves WRBurn UR Fires Turns URGift Storm UG Twiddle Storm
4 port town
4 prairie stream
7 island
7 plains
Creatures: 20
4 thraben inspector
4 rattlechains
4 selfless spirit
4 reflector mage
4 spell queller
2 authority of the consuls
4 smuggler's copter
4 revolutionary rebuff
2 ongoing investigation
4 stasis snare
2 always watching
2 fragmentize
1 dispel
1 ceremonious rejection
4 blessed alliance
1 negate
1 captain's claws
3 aerial responders
2 void shatter
So as you can see I've lowered the curve a lot, which lets me cut on lands (but 22 lands is too few, needs 23).
Revolutionary rebuff is what this deck was missing. It counters avacyn and ishkana where these were just unbeatable if you didn't have a void shatter before. And instead of just playing a bunch of void shatters, this is a 2 mana answer to the majority of the format. We can especially leverage this because the rest of the deck is full of threats that hinder the opponent in some way. Obviously no one expects this too so it blows people out. I've beaten the mirror 4 times (one of which was against joey manner, the guy that top8'ed the pt with this strategy) since I went up to 4 rebuffs (and haven't lost a match to the mirror yet).
Ongoing investigation has been okay, it's super amazing if you are at parity or slightly behind to pull yourself ahead or if you are already ahead to cement your lead, but it's so bad if you are really behind, but I think that's true of most of the cards in the deck outside of reflector mage honestly.
authority is great against copters, they turn 2 copter then turn 3 play a creature and they aren't attacking until turn 4, and that's if you don't have a reflector mage or a counterspell. over all though, i'm not sure it really helps us against the decks that are harder to beat.
the other card that is kind of weird is captain's claws out of the board, it's there to be a trump against grixis control. I think our gameplan is already great in that matchup, so if you guys have other thoughts my ears are open, but this seals up the game super quickly.
I did test mausoleum wanderer in another version of this, and it kind of sucks. The problem is that there is a lack of instants and sorcerys that we don't already have an answer for. It's pretty good against control but the majority of the format is creature based. I did try a version that dropped the snares for nebelghast and played wanderers thinking that nebelghast would make the wanderers better, but that version feels a lot worse.
I also tested unsubstantiate, and man, it was horrible. It's bad because there's nothing you want to bounce since everything has an etb effect and some of the creatures you'd want to bounce (in the mirror at least, which is what I was trying to solve) can be flashed in, so then it just becomes remand that doesn't draw a card, which is unplayable.
I think this version handles the format pretty easily, I feel favored in almost every matchup.
I've been having issues against 3 decks:
G/B delirium, I only played against it once, and I feel like my draw was bad, so take that as you will, but ishkana is gross, and we can't beat it.
r/b zombies, this deck demolished my best draws. The matchup puts us in an awkward position where counterspells suck, but we have a hard time beating pariah, so we probably want them in some number, if only pariah cost 4 (never thought I'd want my opponent's bomb to cost less lol). What do you guys do to beat this deck? It feels almost unbeatable.
U/W control with linvalas, avacyns, gearhulks, planeswalkers, etc... I think I might be playing the matchup wrong. In the first few turns I try to get a copter and a creature out, then just play the flash game the rest of the time. It's possible that I need to keep playing threats at the risk of losing value, I'm not sure. Maybe fleetwheel cruiser would be good here?
Changes:
I want some declaration in stone for the r/b matchup, but I'm not confidant that that solves it.
I think it's best to cut the authority for the 23rd land, and I guess a declaration in stone.
Since I'm playing rebuff I have the void shatters just for gearhulk in the board, which seems like wasted space, I'm considering playing 2 more declarations over it, but, again, I'm not sure this is the answer to r/b.
Standard/Block = The on-again, off-again holiday fling
Modern/Vintage/Legacy = Stable, homely. A ***** after absence/misreading
Limited/Sealed = Heart breaking free spirit
Commander/Cube = Agreeable, needy and expensive
Pauper/Peasant = Sweet, kind, practical, but shy and boring
3 Smuggler's Copter
4 Thraben Inspector
3 Archangel Avacyn
3 Reflector Mage
2 Rattlechains
4 Spell Queller
3 Selfless Spirit
Non-Creatures:
2 Essence Flux
1 Negate
2 Stasis Snare
3 Revolutionary Rebuff
1 Declaration in Stone
2 Void Shatter
2 Glimmer of Genius
1 Always Watching
4 Prairie Stream
4 Port Town
6 Island
7 Plains
1 Aether Hub
2 Westvale Abbey
Side:
1 Summary Dismissal
3 Blessed Alliance
3 Ceremonious Rejection
2 Fragmentize
1 Always Watching
1 Negate
1 Declaration in Stone
2 Fumigate
1 Quarantine Field
This is what I've been most recently testing. Some thoughts of my own:
3 Smuggler/ Avacyn because multiple of these guys can be a dud. Yes it is important to have them reliably on curve but I've been happy with 3. Also Selfless I just don't like at 4 and always feel better at 3.
Reflector seems stronger in this meta now so I'm actually happy to play him now. This deck can't play just draw-go now, so we have to adapt it to a more midrangey style of deck imo.
Thraben has been really awesome so far in testing. Maus was pretty good but it's irrelevant usually and with Copter, we are really using these guys to crew so losing the flying doesn't matter.
Stasis Snare is still really good. It does make the mana a little harder but we are really pushing more into white now so we just have to adjust the base accordingly.
Void Shatter is clunky sometimes but it's been a lifesaver when needed. I like Rebuff a lot too but it's good to have the non-conditional counters especially when we have to play the long game.
Declaration in Stone has been interesting. It's kinda great and kinda not but there isn't much better than it. It serves it's purpose quite well.
Essence Flux is absolutely incredible in this deck. It's relevant with every creature to some degree. I want to move up to 3 or maybe even 4 of these.
I'm a little torn on Watching. Sometimes it's great but some matches it's irrelevant so idk how many to play if any. I may try 2 main for now.
I really want Glimmer of Genius to be good, but it's just so hard to play at 4 mana. I often sb them out due to the speed of the meta so I think we may have to shelve this for now.
Westvale has been pretty decent and another wincon in the grindy games is nice.
I haven't tested Gideon any but I think he might be solid as a 1 or 2 of.
I kinda want to use Fumigate main board. I have Avacyn and Selfless to avoid wiping myself if needed and it just seems strong in general with so many creature decks.
Authority of the Consuls seems like a strong sb card so I'll stick a couple in for gameday tomorrow.
Blessed Alliance has been really good and I prefer it over Immolating Glare since it actually kills Hydras.
I also like a singleton Quarantine field, just for those really long matches where it can be an insta win.
I think I need to adjust the mana base a little and possibly stick in a single Meandering River even though tapped lands are bad.
Current Decks
Standard / Type 2
BRMidrange
"What kind of ability would say "counters black spells" on it? "If a Rigger you control would assemble a Contraption, it counters black spells instead"? "
-Mark Gottlieb
-1 Nebelgast Herald
+1 Negate
4x Mausoleum Wanderer
4x Rattlechains
4x Selfless Spirits
4x Smuggler's Copter
4x Spell Queller
3x Nebelgast Herald
4x Reflector Mage
4x Essence Flux
3x Unsubstantiate
2x Always Watching
2x Negate
22 Lands
4x Port Town
4x Prairie Stream
6x Island
8x Plains
Sideboard
3x Blessed Alliance
2x Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
2x Summary Dismissal
2x Ceremonious Rejection
1x Declaration in Stone
1x Repel the Abominable
1x Westvale Abbey
1x Skywhalers Shot
1x Dispel
1x Niblis of Frost
1st round RW Vehicles - 2-1
2nd round GB Delirium - 2-1
3rd round Aetherworks Temur - 2-0
4th round Grixis Control - 2-1
Will never go for specifics here, but the deck was a blast to play. Essence Flux was MVP all night, blinking Spell Queller, Mausoleum Wanderer, Reflector Mage, etc..You need to remember that this is a tempo deck. Always play draw/go game as much as possible, and let your opponent run through your counters, if they didn't, then drop a flash creature EOT.
The only time you want to tap out is playing copter when you are on the play on T2. You don't want to be playing copter T2 when on the draw, since you've be better bouncing/countering threats, and Queller them when they try to recast it. This will get you back the tempo you need, specially if you hit 4 lands, you can drop copter, and then hold up mana for Unsubstantiate/Negate, and as I have said Essence Flux blinking Queller to eat a better spell is just nuts.
My main deck is pretty much Steve's deck from the Pro-Tour except for the mana base; which is still a work in progress. Tonight was the 1st time I've played any games with the deck besides goldfishing. The store I go to only plays 3 rounds due to being in a mall that closes at 9pm. I ended up going 2-0-1 and just dropped 1 game.
Match 1 was against a U/R Emerge running Prized Amalgam and I ended up going 1-1 draw. He took game one as I ended up flooding out and didn't draw into anything that would slow him down. It didn't help that at the end of turn 3 he ended up getting 2 Amalgam's back from the yard that he discarded on turn 2 and I saw no removal. Game 2 I mulled down to 5 but kept a hand with 2 lands, copter, thraben inspector, and queller. I was able to go Inspector into Copter and drew my 3rd land to protect it from his removal. I started to chip down his life total and go him down to 7 before he stabilized by cleared the board with an emerged EDF and playing Return from the yard. I started to eat 5 damage a turn and he got me down to 2 before I was able to Snare his EDF and use Queller and counters to keep him from playing anything. With Queller getting in there for the last 7 damage. Game 3 I was able to get him down to 11 when turns were called and just wasn't able to finish him off.
Match 2 was against W/G Aggro and I won 2-0. Neither game was really competitive as I took a total of 4 damage in the two games. Copter with Queller protecting from his removal and helping to keep him from playing his planewalkers, meant that I was able to filter out my excess lands into threats or counters. He also had no way to deal with my flyers which sealed both games.
Match 3 was against Jeskai Tempo and I won 2-0. Game one he let get in multiple attacks with two copters while I was holding both queller and negate for protection and I rode the copters for the win. Game 2 I sided in more counters taking out the mages. Again I was able to get a copter online and used Queller, Selfless Spirit and Negate for backups. I Snared two of his threats and once he was tapped out; flash in Avacyn at the end of his turn and then played Gideon creating an emblem and attacked for lethal.
Overall for the 1st time playing the deck I was very happy. I plan on taking it to Gameday tomorrow. I'm still not sure how I want to set up the sideboard since the meta completely shifted from what was being played the 1st week to what was being played tonight at the store I play at.
Psy
Jeskai Control:42-23-5
Elves: 44-31-3
Red-Aggro: 18-9-0
B/G Energy 21-6-0
Previous Played:
G/r Ramp:125-72-3 - Bant CoCo:64-24-2 - Jeskai Saheeli: 62-25-4 - Mono Green Eldrazi: 22-11-2
Bant Aggro: 51-27-6 - U/W/g Midrange: 47-24-1 - Bant: 4-3-0
I was working on a version that had essence flux, I did only give it 2 matches of testing, it just never seemed all that great. obviously it looks horrible without a creature, but using it on a reflector mage at instant speed seems pretty sexy. maybe I need to give it another shot. Is it really 4-of worthy though? I was thinking like 2 or 3, probably going to start with 2.
Obviously you didn't face it, but I'm not sure how you can beat avacyn without stasis snare or even a real counterspell in game one. She either blocks everything, or (if you can get past her with nebelghast) they sac a selfless spirit and wipe your board. I tested with nebelghast and I found it hard to keep triggering him, and a lot of triggering happens on your main phase, so unless you have rattlechains out, you don't actually stop opposing creatures from racing you.
Your sideboard is pretty interesting, what are your board plans? I'm especially interested in the repel the abominable, and the westvale abbey.
EDIT: Just noticed that this is VirtuosoNeophyte's list. I'm interested in your response as well
Standard/Block = The on-again, off-again holiday fling
Modern/Vintage/Legacy = Stable, homely. A ***** after absence/misreading
Limited/Sealed = Heart breaking free spirit
Commander/Cube = Agreeable, needy and expensive
Pauper/Peasant = Sweet, kind, practical, but shy and boring
GB Electric Dreams BG Deal 20 in one shot, or discard their hand?
GWU Free Stuff Midrange UWG Slowly bury the opponent with more threats and answers than they can handle.
My greatest hits:
GURFate Reforged Temur Ascendancy COMBORUG
GUDragons of Tarkir Whisperwood Forever UG
Per the TheBeardedFool-
3 Smuggler's Copter
4 Thraben Inspector
3 Archangel Avacyn
4 Reflector Mage
2 Rattlechains
4 Spell Queller
4 Selfless Spirit
2 Cloudblazer
Non-Creatures:
1 Stasis Snare
1 Revolutionary Rebuff
1 Declaration in Stone
1 Void Shatter
1 Gideon
1 Always Watching
4 Prairie Stream
4 Port Town
6 Island
8 Plains
2 Aether Hub
Side:
2 Ceremonious Rejection
2 Always Watching
2 Negate
1 Declaration in Stone
2 authority of the consuls
1 Thalia
2 skysovereign consul flagship
2 Fumigate
1 Quarantine Field
1: BRU Torential Control 0-2
2: RGU electrostatic energy 2-0
3: BR aggro: 2-0
4: colossus: 2-0
T4: BRU gerarhulk again: 2-0
T2: BRU midrange brew: 2-0.
GB Electric Dreams BG Deal 20 in one shot, or discard their hand?
GWU Free Stuff Midrange UWG Slowly bury the opponent with more threats and answers than they can handle.
My greatest hits:
GURFate Reforged Temur Ascendancy COMBORUG
GUDragons of Tarkir Whisperwood Forever UG
Psy
Jeskai Control:42-23-5
Elves: 44-31-3
Red-Aggro: 18-9-0
B/G Energy 21-6-0
Previous Played:
G/r Ramp:125-72-3 - Bant CoCo:64-24-2 - Jeskai Saheeli: 62-25-4 - Mono Green Eldrazi: 22-11-2
Bant Aggro: 51-27-6 - U/W/g Midrange: 47-24-1 - Bant: 4-3-0
you're right, I played pretty much what you have except -2 negate, -3 unsubstantiated, +4 rebuff, +1 herald.
It's really strong, I think we need the 23rd land though. I keep having to throw back hands with just one land or two tapped lands.
Right now I'm testing out -4 reflector mage, (putting them in the board), -1 rebuff (artifact decks are on the rise for some reason, played against 4 or 5 marvel decks and 2 or 3 colossus decks today), +1 always watching (freakin glint-nest crane is a pain), +1 island, +3 bygone bishop. I actually completely forgot about the bishop, I think 3 is possibly too many, but I just want to see how it performs first. so far I've played 2 matches (both against r/g agro, so he got boarded out) and in one game I got 2 clues off of him. I'm not sure we need reflector mage in the main now, since control is getting bigger, and for some reason the combo decks are coming back, aside from the g/r decks I have only seen 2 or 3 agro decks in 15 matches in mtgo leagues.
I also have 4 ceremonious rejection in the board now.
Standard/Block = The on-again, off-again holiday fling
Modern/Vintage/Legacy = Stable, homely. A ***** after absence/misreading
Limited/Sealed = Heart breaking free spirit
Commander/Cube = Agreeable, needy and expensive
Pauper/Peasant = Sweet, kind, practical, but shy and boring
I ended up 2nd in Game Day with a similar list only losing 2 rounds, 1 to Jeskai and 1 to Mono Blue Colossus.
Current Decks
Standard / Type 2
BRMidrange
"What kind of ability would say "counters black spells" on it? "If a Rigger you control would assemble a Contraption, it counters black spells instead"? "
-Mark Gottlieb
Current Decks
Standard / Type 2
BRMidrange
"What kind of ability would say "counters black spells" on it? "If a Rigger you control would assemble a Contraption, it counters black spells instead"? "
-Mark Gottlieb
The deck list the majority played for u/w spirits is the white blue flash deck being played now except thraben took mausoleum wanderers spot. Selfless spirit Rattlechains reflector mage spell queller avacyn and gideon were all played before. I still play wanderer over thraben inspector. Mausoleum wanderer grows. And I use it to counter spells on the first few turns. With smugglers coptor smoothing out my deck I don't feel the need for one extra clue. Plus the evasion is nice
Current Decks
Standard / Type 2
BRMidrange
"What kind of ability would say "counters black spells" on it? "If a Rigger you control would assemble a Contraption, it counters black spells instead"? "
-Mark Gottlieb