I was trying to think of a way to speed this deck up. So.. instant speed spell decks can leave lots of spells on the stack so that each trigger of Reservoir procs the max amount of health possible because they are essentially all being used at the same time.
Ex: Casting spells at sorcery speed will give you: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 (37 health) as opposed to instant speed that can remain on the stack: 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6 (36 health). That's quite a difference; only 6 spells are needed instead of 8!
So I thought, It's too bad we can't do this with our 0 cmc artifacts.. Oh wait.. We can!
Not to mention, Sigarda's aid is only 1cmc which works very nicely with a storm type deck. I apologize if this is common knowledge already but I didn't see it throughout this thread or a google search so I thought I would share. What do you guys think?
It actually may be worth consideration. It allows us to combo at instant speed which is actually a big deal. I could maybe see playing 2 off of 4 Prairie Stream and the Prisms. That and combat would suddenly become a nightmare for the opponent.
I have played against UW Flash 6 times today and got wildly different results on MTGO vs in paper. 3 on MTGO in a Standard Competitive League where I got trounced, and 3 in paper during FNM where I only lost one game with no discernable difference in the lists or their sideboard plans. Our FNM was 75% Control today and I went undefeated through the whole thing again today only losing 2 games through 7 matches and drawing the last round of swiss. There was one key change to my sideboard that I think helped the matchup tremendously. I added 2 Sphinx of the Final Word to the sideboard and it has been fantastic. I also started leaving Engulf the Shore in. There are several good players at my LGS, my finals opponent was 2nd at states for instance and 2 others placed just outside of invitations at RPTQs and we never hold 1Ks, but when one is within a couple hours, usually half of the top 8 is from our store. I beat Grixis, UR Spells, 3 UW Flash, Aetherworks Marvel, and another Mono Blue deck based around Metallurgic Summonings and Torrential Gearhulk. -$20 for the deck, -$5 X 2 for entry, $82 cash in prize money from this deck so far.
I hadn't played on there in a long time and i seem to get mana screwed/flooded a lot more on MTGO than on paper. After the first Competitive league, I played in a 2nd where I at least went 3-2, losing to 2 UW Flash decks, but I got flooded 2 games in the 1st match and stuck on lands game 2 and 3 in the 2nd match. The ones I beat were RW vehicles, UR Spells, and Aetherworks Marvel.
My friend and I have been playing this in real life and online. I had Sigarda's Aid in just to get value out of all the equipment. I had removed it because it ultimately didn't draw cards without Paradoxical Outcome, but what you just pointed out is sweet. We are also already playing UW because of one card.
This card is the real deal for the deck. It doesn't look like much until you play with it. In normal games, you use it to rebuy Prophetic Prisms and Glint-Nest Crane before you get to storm territory, but it really shines when you do get to storm territory. When you storm with this card it buys you two spells for 2 mana by picking up and replaying a cheerio. That alone is enough to make it worth playing and is a very powerful way to increase your storm count, but if you're light on gas and have a lot of lands you can also use two to pick up each other and play as many times as you have 2 mana.
Another card I tested a lot but have recently abandoned is Containment Membrane. I mention it because it was borderline playable before and Sigarda's Aid makes it better. It's defense in a deck that lacks for defense and you can pick it up with all your bounce spells (except Engulf! Nonbo!). It also costs 1 mana, which is pretty powerful given that while storming I often find myself unable to deploy all the 2 cmc cards I have and with 1 mana left over. Similarly, Imprisoned in the Moon is okay removal that bounces back to hand but better with Sigarda's Aid. Plus I like using that on my own Cranes to accelerate into Crush of Tentacles a turn ahead of time.
Game 1 fired off with no hiccups. Game 2 I got hit with a boarded Lost Legacy, but the deck still played surprisingly well since my opponent had trouble dealing with all the life gain. I ended up losing that game because I couldn't draw an answer for Chandra in time. Game 3 I boarded out the Paradoxical Outcomes just to see what would happen. Sure enough, my opponent whiffed a Lost Legacy and by the time he drew another one, I had a delerium'd Invasive Surgery ready to go. I ended up taking the match thanks to the life gain being so legit in this deck.
Just an interaction that went down last night that I thought I'd share.
The mechanic is quite nice, I hadn't thought of that. Some other combination I considered is going bant to include Oath of Nissa (This deck is all about digging). Oath helps with fixing lands, finds sigarda's aid, and can also grab creatures like glint/filigree/mechanic.
Since she also enables planeswalkers, we can even include:
Notice her -2 goes great with Reservoir (artifact). Copy your Reservoir and suddenly we are triggering x2 for only 3 mana! I'm also loving anticipate in my deck, as it helps dig for whatever we currently need. Reservoir/Sigarda/Land/Paradox
You have nothing to do with energy, and IMO Glassblower's Puzzleknot is not worth running just for the scry. You can put in 1-2 Deadlock Traps or Harnessed Lightnings and be assured of their high power level, or even splash a 3rd color with Aether Hub. Also if you're playing Metalwork Colossus you can probably add a lot of consistency to the deck by adding the 3rd Colossus and some Sanctum of Ugins to give yourself another dimension of play. With 4 Prophetic Prism there is very little opportunity cost to the colorless land.
I went 0-3 with the mono blue version tonight at FNM. Feelsbadman!
Round 1 RW Vehicles: I just couldn't keep up with damage. I was dead by the time aetherflux came out.
Round 2 BW Vehicles: Same thing but I drew basically nothing but islands both games. I think i could have won this matchup but I punted and did some math wrong letting me die when I didn't need to...
Round 3 UW TITI Counterspells? : This guy was maindeck running spell quellers and every counterspell in the book. Even after boarding in 6 counterspells it wasn't nearly enough.
What I can say though is I had fun! I play modern pretty competitively so it was fun seeing people's faces when you drop a bone saw. I'll probably give it another run next week before shelving it.
I haven't played this deck a lot lately, but I ran it through an MTGO Competitive League this morning and went 3-2 losing to mana screw vs Mardu Vehicles and a very close match vs UW Flash where game 3, I was needing 1 more mana for Sphinx for a few turns and got it 1 turn too late where I could have comboed off the following turn. I beat RB Aggro, UW Flash, and Temur Energy. Notably, Temur Energy won a game by using Confiscation Coup on my 8/8 Token. They did it again game 3, but I had bought enough time I comboed off.
Yeah, Sram and Whir of Invention both add a lot of power and consistency to this deck. Whir even makes it possible to combo off turn 4 by using 4 artifacts to improvise out an Unquellable Reservoir EOT turn 3.
Inspiring Statuary: Causes your combo turn to be fast and require less 0-cost cards to go off with. Often makes your draw spells cost just U to cast. Not unusual to play 2-3 big spells in the same turn.
Baral's Expertise: Can be used offensively (picking up 0-cost cards) or defensively (Bouncing opponents creatures). The fact that it then casts Reservoir/Statuary/Glimmer/Outcome/Crane for free is icing on the cake.
Sram, Senior Edificer: Lets our 0-drops replace themselves. Insane if on the field after a paradoxical outcome. Not sure if 4 is right, but he has felt good everytime he's been in play.
Whir of Invention: Whoa, now this is the money card. Searches up Reservoir and Statuary at instant speed for UUU. Can in a pinch even search up a 2nd paradoxical outcome in the form of Torrential Gearhulk (though X=6 is a lot).
Inspiring Statuary: Causes your combo turn to be fast and require less 0-cost cards to go off with. Often makes your draw spells cost just U to cast. Not unusual to play 2-3 big spells in the same turn.
Baral's Expertise: Can be used offensively (picking up 0-cost cards) or defensively (Bouncing opponents creatures). The fact that it then casts Reservoir/Statuary/Glimmer/Outcome/Crane for free is icing on the cake.
Sram, Senior Edificer: Lets our 0-drops replace themselves. Insane if on the field after a paradoxical outcome. Not sure if 4 is right, but he has felt good everytime he's been in play.
Whir of Invention: Whoa, now this is the money card. Searches up Reservoir and Statuary at instant speed for UUU. Can in a pinch even search up a 2nd paradoxical outcome in the form of Torrential Gearhulk (though X=6 is a lot).
Why Glimmer over Engineer? From my testing its been UU draw 3 more often than not. And occasionally it can be turn 2 draw 3 into whir for reservoir turn 3...just silly IMO
Why Glimmer over Engineer? From my testing its been UU draw 3 more often than not. And occasionally it can be turn 2 draw 3 into whir for reservoir turn 3...just silly IMO
I've been testing both actually. Glimmer has helped with Aether Hub activations, as well as being able to be cast by Baral's Expertise, and Recast by Torrential Gearhulk. With a Statuary down it also represents a U scry2draw2 instead of UU draw3. Since we really want to hit things to cast with our draw spells, scry2draw2 can often feel better than draw3.
This is the list I've been testing so far. I moved the Engulfs to the sideboard to make room for now. It seems faster and more consistent than the version I was running before. Whir is fantastic in it. Adding white for Sram seems good, but I'm already trimming things I don't want to. I might end up splashing white for the sideboard. Sram should improve post board, Authority of the Consuls shuts down Saheeli combo and fast rush decks. Fumigate is also better without Copter running around and bouncing creatures doesn't do enough against the rush decks.
I think running mono blue with the payoff card being Engulf the shore is decent. But I think I would run Ornithopters so that you can potentially combo with it, also Inspiring Sanctuary seems too good to pass, tap 3 thopters, engulf for U then replay thopters for 4 Storm seems good. Don't think its necessary with full play set of Aetherflux Reservoir when we run Whir of Invention, Also I think Reverse Engineer outclasses Oath of Jace.
Sram seems good, but 2 toughness seems trivial for most decks to handle, so expect only getting one card of it, don't know if its worth splashing white just for him, also I don't like the amount of potential CiPT lands the deck has to run.
Metallic Rebuke is a powerhouse I wouldn't leave behind, its good to protect our combo, and can also be used in our combo to counter an equip or w/e for some sweet double trigger on Reservoir.
Red splash could also be interesting, but not for the cost reducer, but for Quicksmith Genius, but then again you can't play Engulf (and you probobly can splash him of fast land, aether hub and the new rainbow land)
The tools Aether Revolt brought to this deck is many and how people build it is gonna be interesting.
Sometimes I have 2 artifacts 3rd turn, but not always so I'd rather go for more consistency over power. Also, you need permanents to target with Paradoxical and Crush also gives it extra value.
Cutting down to 2 Reservoir makes it a lot easier for a deck with counters and removal to make it impossible to win. I would far rather have only the 1 Inspiring Sanctuary to tutor up and the 4 Aetherflux because you can win easily without Statuary. You can't win at all without Reservoir if they play anything that deals with the 7 creatures currently in my deck. Also, drawing multiples of Statuary is pretty bad.
Reverse Engineer and Rebuke both are very powerful, but making room for both them and more 0 drops doesn't seem easy. This would be my first draft of a version using Reverse Engineer. It gives up Crush and Glint-Nest in favor of speed and power trying to go off 4-5th turn every time. I'll give it a whirl in the morning.
Ex: Casting spells at sorcery speed will give you: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 (37 health) as opposed to instant speed that can remain on the stack: 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6 (36 health). That's quite a difference; only 6 spells are needed instead of 8!
So I thought, It's too bad we can't do this with our 0 cmc artifacts.. Oh wait.. We can!
Not to mention, Sigarda's aid is only 1cmc which works very nicely with a storm type deck. I apologize if this is common knowledge already but I didn't see it throughout this thread or a google search so I thought I would share. What do you guys think?
I have played against UW Flash 6 times today and got wildly different results on MTGO vs in paper. 3 on MTGO in a Standard Competitive League where I got trounced, and 3 in paper during FNM where I only lost one game with no discernable difference in the lists or their sideboard plans. Our FNM was 75% Control today and I went undefeated through the whole thing again today only losing 2 games through 7 matches and drawing the last round of swiss. There was one key change to my sideboard that I think helped the matchup tremendously. I added 2 Sphinx of the Final Word to the sideboard and it has been fantastic. I also started leaving Engulf the Shore in. There are several good players at my LGS, my finals opponent was 2nd at states for instance and 2 others placed just outside of invitations at RPTQs and we never hold 1Ks, but when one is within a couple hours, usually half of the top 8 is from our store. I beat Grixis, UR Spells, 3 UW Flash, Aetherworks Marvel, and another Mono Blue deck based around Metallurgic Summonings and Torrential Gearhulk. -$20 for the deck, -$5 X 2 for entry, $82 cash in prize money from this deck so far.
I hadn't played on there in a long time and i seem to get mana screwed/flooded a lot more on MTGO than on paper. After the first Competitive league, I played in a 2nd where I at least went 3-2, losing to 2 UW Flash decks, but I got flooded 2 games in the 1st match and stuck on lands game 2 and 3 in the 2nd match. The ones I beat were RW vehicles, UR Spells, and Aetherworks Marvel.
Modern: UW Spirits
This card is the real deal for the deck. It doesn't look like much until you play with it. In normal games, you use it to rebuy Prophetic Prisms and Glint-Nest Crane before you get to storm territory, but it really shines when you do get to storm territory. When you storm with this card it buys you two spells for 2 mana by picking up and replaying a cheerio. That alone is enough to make it worth playing and is a very powerful way to increase your storm count, but if you're light on gas and have a lot of lands you can also use two to pick up each other and play as many times as you have 2 mana.
4 Paradoxical Outcome
4 Crush of Tentacles
1 Engulf the Shore
1 Negate
4 Aviary Mechanic
2 Sigarda's Aid
4 Bone Saw
4 Cathar's Shield
4 Prophetic Prism
Another card I tested a lot but have recently abandoned is Containment Membrane. I mention it because it was borderline playable before and Sigarda's Aid makes it better. It's defense in a deck that lacks for defense and you can pick it up with all your bounce spells (except Engulf! Nonbo!). It also costs 1 mana, which is pretty powerful given that while storming I often find myself unable to deploy all the 2 cmc cards I have and with 1 mana left over. Similarly, Imprisoned in the Moon is okay removal that bounces back to hand but better with Sigarda's Aid. Plus I like using that on my own Cranes to accelerate into Crush of Tentacles a turn ahead of time.
Just an interaction that went down last night that I thought I'd share.
Since she also enables planeswalkers, we can even include:
Notice her -2 goes great with Reservoir (artifact). Copy your Reservoir and suddenly we are triggering x2 for only 3 mana! I'm also loving anticipate in my deck, as it helps dig for whatever we currently need. Reservoir/Sigarda/Land/Paradox
Modern: UW Spirits
4 Glint Nest Crane
4 Foundry Inspector
4 Herald of Kozilek
2 Metalwork Colossus
Spells
4 Pradoxical Outcome
4 Negate
Artifacts
4 Prophetic Prism
4 Metalspinner's Puzzleknot
4 Glassblower's Puzzleknot
4 Aetherflux Reservoir
4 Spirebluff Canal
9 Island
8 Mountain
1 Inventor's Fair
4 Molten Nursery
4 Nettle Drone
4 Woodweaver's Puzzleknot
3 Dispel
any suggestions?
Round 1 RW Vehicles: I just couldn't keep up with damage. I was dead by the time aetherflux came out.
Round 2 BW Vehicles: Same thing but I drew basically nothing but islands both games. I think i could have won this matchup but I punted and did some math wrong letting me die when I didn't need to...
Round 3 UW TITI Counterspells? : This guy was maindeck running spell quellers and every counterspell in the book. Even after boarding in 6 counterspells it wasn't nearly enough.
What I can say though is I had fun! I play modern pretty competitively so it was fun seeing people's faces when you drop a bone saw. I'll probably give it another run next week before shelving it.
Thanks for all the help in the thread
WUEmeria ControlUW
WUGifts TronUW
RGWNaya BurnWGR
RGTronGR
GUInfectUG
HAffinityH
4 Paradoxical Outcome
4 Aetherflux Reservoir
4 Glint-Nest Crane
4 Foundry Inspector
4 Prophetic Prism
10 Island
2 Inventors' Fair
4 Metalspinner's Puzzleknot
2 Hedron Archive
4 Sanctum of Ugin
1 Geier Reach Sanitarium
1 Sea Gate Wreckage
4 Herald of Kozilek
2 Panharmonicon
4 Metalwork Colossus
4 Aether Hub
4 Spatial Contortion
4 Spell Shrivel
2 Panharmonicon
4 Woodweaver's Puzzleknot
Modern: UW Spirits
WUEmeria ControlUW
WUGifts TronUW
RGWNaya BurnWGR
RGTronGR
GUInfectUG
HAffinityH
Modern: UW Spirits
Those 3 cards are good, but the first 2 is awesome
4x Aether Hub
10x Island
4x Port Town
4x Prairie Stream
Creatures
4x Glint-Nest Crane
4x Sram, Senior Edificer
1x Torrential Gearhulk
3x Metallic Rebuke
4x Paradoxical Outcome
3x Glimmer of Genius
2x Baral's Expertise
4x Whir of Invention
4x Bone Saw
4x Cathar's Shield
3x Inspiring Statuary
2x Aetherflux Reservoir
AER Cards I've really liked so far:
Inspiring Statuary: Causes your combo turn to be fast and require less 0-cost cards to go off with. Often makes your draw spells cost just U to cast. Not unusual to play 2-3 big spells in the same turn.
Baral's Expertise: Can be used offensively (picking up 0-cost cards) or defensively (Bouncing opponents creatures). The fact that it then casts Reservoir/Statuary/Glimmer/Outcome/Crane for free is icing on the cake.
Metallic Rebuke: U mana leak
Sram, Senior Edificer: Lets our 0-drops replace themselves. Insane if on the field after a paradoxical outcome. Not sure if 4 is right, but he has felt good everytime he's been in play.
Whir of Invention: Whoa, now this is the money card. Searches up Reservoir and Statuary at instant speed for UUU. Can in a pinch even search up a 2nd paradoxical outcome in the form of Torrential Gearhulk (though X=6 is a lot).
Why Glimmer over Engineer? From my testing its been UU draw 3 more often than not. And occasionally it can be turn 2 draw 3 into whir for reservoir turn 3...just silly IMO
I've been testing both actually. Glimmer has helped with Aether Hub activations, as well as being able to be cast by Baral's Expertise, and Recast by Torrential Gearhulk. With a Statuary down it also represents a U scry2draw2 instead of UU draw3. Since we really want to hit things to cast with our draw spells, scry2draw2 can often feel better than draw3.
1 Torrential Gearhulk
4 Bone Saw
4 Cathar's Shield
3 Prophetic Prism
1 Inspiring Sanctuary
4 Aetherflux Reservoir
2 Oath of Jace
4 Whir of Invention
4 Paradoxical Outcome
3 Crush of Tentacles
21 Island
Modern: UW Spirits
Sram seems good, but 2 toughness seems trivial for most decks to handle, so expect only getting one card of it, don't know if its worth splashing white just for him, also I don't like the amount of potential CiPT lands the deck has to run.
Metallic Rebuke is a powerhouse I wouldn't leave behind, its good to protect our combo, and can also be used in our combo to counter an equip or w/e for some sweet double trigger on Reservoir.
Baral's Expertise is very sweet when combined with inspiring sanctuary, but to include it you have to run glimmer of genius over Reverse Engineer.
Red splash could also be interesting, but not for the cost reducer, but for Quicksmith Genius, but then again you can't play Engulf (and you probobly can splash him of fast land, aether hub and the new rainbow land)
The tools Aether Revolt brought to this deck is many and how people build it is gonna be interesting.
Id that!
Trade with me, h:Alters and EdhFoils:)
Cards I have altered
Cutting down to 2 Reservoir makes it a lot easier for a deck with counters and removal to make it impossible to win. I would far rather have only the 1 Inspiring Sanctuary to tutor up and the 4 Aetherflux because you can win easily without Statuary. You can't win at all without Reservoir if they play anything that deals with the 7 creatures currently in my deck. Also, drawing multiples of Statuary is pretty bad.
Modern: UW Spirits
4 Bone Saw
4 Cathar's Shield
4 Prophetic Prism
4 Aetherflux Reservoir
1 Torrential Gearhulk
4 Whir of Innovation
4 Paradoxical Outcome
4 Reverse Engineer
1 Inventor's Fair
Modern: UW Spirits
4 Trophy Mage
2 Ornithopter
1 Torrential Gearhulk
PERMISSION SPELLS (12)
3 Engulf the Shore
1 Anguish Unmaking
3 Metallic Rebuke
2 Disallow
1 Negate
1 Overwhelming Denial
1 Confirm Suspicions
ENABLER (8)
4 Paradoxical Outcome
3 Whir of Invention
1 Seasons Past
2 Hedron Archive
2 Cryptolith Fragment
1 Magnifying Glass
ARTIFACT COMBO (5)
3 Pacification Array
1 Aether Flux Reservoir
1 Paradox Engine
1 Decoction Module
1 Inventor’s Fair
2 Aether Hub
2 Prairie Stream
2 Sunken Hollow
15 Island
2 Dispel
2 Baral’s Expertise
1 Heroic Intervention
1 Fortuitous Find
1 Efficient Construction
1 Aegis Automaton
1 Fragmentize
1 Ironwright's Cleansing
1 Lost Legacy
1 Anguish Unmaking
2 Appetite for the Unnatural
Would be interested in some development in non-sram ideas.
This Toolbox-esqe Control Combo not only can reliably go infinite by turn 7, but can do it while disrupting your opponent's tempo.