Managed to bust out a 5-0 in a competitive league on magic online with this list. Played against Boros aggro, GW Tokens, Abzan Midrange, and 2 esper control decks. Really liked Expansion//Explosion a lot. Card won me several game all on it's own, some I had no business winning.
Just a few questions.
How with that Mana base? 11 sources of white? Is it hard to cast your settles and and novas?
Why sabotage over ionize?
No Shivan fire? Are the Justice strikes really over performing that you'd want 4 of them?
Managed to bust out a 5-0 in a competitive league on magic online with this list. Played against Boros aggro, GW Tokens, Abzan Midrange, and 2 esper control decks. Really liked Expansion//Explosion a lot. Card won me several game all on it's own, some I had no business winning.
Just a few questions.
How with that Mana base? 11 sources of white? Is it hard to cast your settles and and novas?
Why sabotage over ionize?
No Shivan fire? Are the Justice strikes really over performing that you'd want 4 of them?
Throughout the league I did notice a need for a bit more white mana, probably gonna ditch the one of mountain for a clifftop retreat and one island for a plains. I didn't really ever have an issue with casting blue or red spells though. Sabotage is just a better card. I acknowledge Ionize is easier to cast, but surveil 1 is just amazing. As for justice strike, the card has been fantastic in everything that requires killing creatures.
I'm playing both Clarion and cannonade Captain. Expansion//Explosion was fantastic against everything that wasn't hyper aggro. It works great as a win con. I usually used the first two for utility, then either fireballed (or decked) my opponent with the third. Fire ball only really came up post board.
Managed to bust out a 5-0 in a competitive league on magic online with this list. Played against Boros aggro, GW Tokens, Abzan Midrange, and 2 esper control decks. Really liked Expansion//Explosion a lot. Card won me several game all on it's own, some I had no business winning.
Looks great! Nicely done, my friend. Anything particularly notable about the two matches against Esper we should know about?
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Post Ravnica Allegiance Type 2 - WUB Control
States '09: 14th place. Aiming for better next year.
States '10: 12th place. Aiming for better next year.
Against esper it usually ended with an explosion to deck them out. This came up in both game 1s of the esper match, and oddly enough, against tokens. If you save your counterspells for the fight over explosion, usually by the end of the match both players have so many lands in play that explosion for 8 on them to deck them out with like 3-4 counters as back up. Having them main deck means you functionally have more countermagic pre board then they do, and can recover from counter battles better. Against tokens, they had gained so much life that making them draw 21 cards to deck out was more effective then trying to kill them with damage (End of turn make him draw 10, your turn make him draw 11, deck out). He had the flipped land that pumps out 1/1s and an active orazca that kept finding lords and I was running out of sweepers to protect my walkers. Had the game kept going I would have lost. Against Abzan, I used expansion to copy a vraska's contempt on my teferi to exile his Vivian. I remember explosion killing something and drawing 4 cards after that, but I forgot what.
Even against the aggro deck I copied my own justice strike to kill two things on turn 4. It wasn't fantastic, but it was more useful than another random draw spell.
I might give shivan fire a try over seal away, mostly because Justice strike worked better as a catchall and seal away didn't synergize well with anything else in the deck (And left me open to enchantment removal). Shivan Fire with Expansion seems like a good way to make expansion//explosion better against aggro game 1.
I saw a very creative build of this that uses Expansion//Explosion and Azor’s Gateway. Basically stall and remove/counter threats until you flip the gateway and then do a massive Explosion for X = all you land + your life total. Seemed really powerful.
Well, my first thought is that it's a bit hard to tell what's going on here because there isn't any organization in your list. Aside from that, I think most of your choices are fine, though I think double Negate in the main is a bit ambitious. The solitary Shivan Fire also strikes me as a bit odd. Not really sure what decks you want Damping Sphere for out of the sideboard.
Overall, it seems fine, but there are certainly a few decisions you've made that I would pass on. That isn't to say they're wrong; just different.
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Post Ravnica Allegiance Type 2 - WUB Control
States '09: 14th place. Aiming for better next year.
States '10: 12th place. Aiming for better next year.
I feel like this is a ur deck splashing white for settle, teferi and either justice strike or seal away. Does that sound accurate?
If so I guess question would be are those cards effectively plugging holes of straight ur to make it worth the shakier mana base? And how shaky is the mana (my guess is its still pretty good with shocks and buddy lands so fairly low opportunity cost)
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Modern
* Esper Draw-Go
* Tezzeret Whir
* Blue Tron
I feel like this is a ur deck splashing white for settle, teferi and either justice strike or seal away. Does that sound accurate?
If so I guess question would be are those cards effectively plugging holes of straight ur to make it worth the shakier mana base? And how shaky is the mana (my guess is its still pretty good with shocks and buddy lands so fairly low opportunity cost)
Well, the deck is pretty customizable. Some people are playing it as a UW deck splashing for some red cards and others are playing it more of a UR deck splashing some white for Deafening Clarion, Teferi, and maybe one or two white wraths.
The mana has been pretty good for the most part, so long as you choose your lands appropriately for whichever way your deck leans. For example, the UWr decks play no Mountains, whereas some of the full-on three color decks might have one or even two depending on their commitment to cards like Niv-Mizzet or Explosion. I really haven't had too much issue at all, myself.
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Post Ravnica Allegiance Type 2 - WUB Control
States '09: 14th place. Aiming for better next year.
States '10: 12th place. Aiming for better next year.
This is the list i've been running on MTG Arena. I regularly go 4-5 wins on Competitive Constructed and most match-ups feel great. The roughest ones are Mono Red (obviously) and Golgari/Abzan Midrange decks. This list takes direct inspiration from the one that was posted earlier in this thread with a few differences.
I decided that Tezzeret was just too weak as the 1/1 flyers just don't win fast enough and his ultimate isn't useful enough for the 4 turns it takes to pump him up. I swapped him out for another deafening clarion as that card blows several match-ups out of the water.
I found the original land base quite adequate and that shivan fire is super good. The 3-3 split for the counter spells is also pretty good, although you could switch one for the other depending on your preferences without much issue.
Expansion//Explosion was surprisingly an over performer as its ability to shape-shift into most spells cast by both you and your opponent is very strong. Also in the case where all of your planeswalkers are destroyed you can use it as a win condition, just make sure you make them draw the cards as you usually wont have enough lands to one hit them until you have fewer cards in your deck than they have life. Against Esper Control/ UB Control i like to use it when they Thought Erasure me. My personal favorite is using it to copy Call to the Feast against those pesky vampire decks.
Overall this list feels very strong against most of the meta decks out there.
I feel like this is a ur deck splashing white for settle, teferi and either justice strike or seal away. Does that sound accurate?
If so I guess question would be are those cards effectively plugging holes of straight ur to make it worth the shakier mana base? And how shaky is the mana (my guess is its still pretty good with shocks and buddy lands so fairly low opportunity cost)
I played a straight UR deck at the beginning of the format and once it started to settle into a defined meta I switched to Jeskai and went more controlling and haven't looked back. Yes that is pretty much what is happening. I imagine if you looked at relevant creatures Doom Blade killed when it was in Standard and relevant creatures Justice Strike kills in this standard that Justice Strike would come out ahead. Seal Away isn't doing it for me for reasons that should be obvious when comparing it to Justice Strike. Settle is great but I run them SB and Nova main. The 3 damage from Clarion is much more relevant than the instant speed of Cannonade now that the format is what it is and on rare occasions the lifelink might save you. White also gives you a few better SB options, including ways to deal with resolved enchantments. The mana isn't much worse than straight UR honestly. I've had a few games where I played 5 taplands in a row or couldn't hit a colored mana when I really needed it, but same with UR and that's just variance most of the time, it's fine. The thing about Teferi is he's not replacing Ral they are complementing each other. Having two PW on the field is so much better than having just one which is why I run a 3/2 split instead of 4/1. Tocatli Honor Guard is promising vs. GB which is not a great matchup for UR, at least in my experience but there are many lists out there and I can't comment on them all. SB Lyra is another great reason to run white obviously.
Ive been playing a tonne of jeskai on arena and liking the wafotapa build with 4 opt and 4 revitalize. Biggest issue is tapping low for a clarion only to untap facing something as bad or worse. Ie wipe an elf and jadelight and opponent drops a doom whisperer or vraska.
Other issues are adanto vanguard being unkillable and the eldest reborn being a blowout if they resolve it. Ive also had niv miz kiled by chupacabra which feels horrid. I put all my non-clarion wraths in the board as they were just too bad too often.
I play 3 syncopates. Two mana counterspell is valuable and exiling chem insight or a golgari reanimate target is quite good. 4 sabotage 1 negate 1 essence scatter 1 d stroke round up my counters.
Unclear to me if nezahl is better than a second niv miz at this point.
Ral has been pretty lousy all told. Feels like a bad teferi most of the time but I guess some diversity is good for your walkers.
2 drakes. Could see playing more, doubt id play less. The cheap cantrips help make them relevant when you need them and in a grindfest they can easily two-shot people from full health.
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Modern
* Esper Draw-Go
* Tezzeret Whir
* Blue Tron
I have been playing a version with Sarkhan, Fireblood on MTGA. I am liking it so far, he does a lot of looting which is nice. I have gotten him to ult a crazy amount of times. When reading Gerry Thompson's Top 10 most Standard Underrated Cards, I was not shocked to see Sarkhan in the top 5. Niv-Mizzet, Parun is an insanely powerful finisher and Sarkhan plays really well with him. I am not sure what a final form of a list would look like, but I feel like it is absolutely a sleeper combo in the format. Especially if it can be paired well enough with Teferi, Hero of Dominaria.
As for Ral, Izzet Viceroy, the card is pretty powerful. I think the reason most find it underwhelming is that it competes heavily with Teferi and that alone is probably enough of a reason why it isn't worth running. I like the idea of it being a board options, but pretty sure there are just better options there as well.
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STANDARD|UW Control MODERN| UBG Midrange PAUPER| UG Fog COMMANDER| UBG The Mimeoplasm
How many sarkhan and niv would you run? I definitely appreciate chemisters insight turning my garbage into real cards so I could imagine sarkhan doing the same. I play a very draw go list so I wouldnt be jamming him before turn six most of the time, unsure how much that helps or hurts the cause.
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Modern
* Esper Draw-Go
* Tezzeret Whir
* Blue Tron
Current flex spots are really the blink and the 3rd drake. But this is a pretty well rounded maindeck for a meta of red burn, golgari midrange, other control decks, and RW/GW benalia decks from what I've seen.
Syncopate does a LOT of work as a turn 2 counterspell, and most of the games I lose are because the opponent gets too much out early forcing me to clarion and then they throw down a planeswalker. It's also good for exiling stuff so golgari cant recur it, and countering a turn 4 chemisters insight on your end step while leaving 2 up so you can (maybe) stop them if they tap out for a teferi.
I'm not sure whether I prefer a 1/1 split of Niv and Nezahl or the 2 Niv. Niv seems better vs creature decks, as he can machine gun down a board, but vs control they can just get off a justice strike or teferi and end him quickly. Nezahl is just the opposite, gets chumped by 2/2s or beaten by fliers, or they force an exile and then resolve stuff while he's out. Vs slow decks it doesnt matter he gets there eventually (usually) but if you're on the back foot he may not be enough in some situations since he disapears as a blocker when you exile.
My favourite move ever was slamming a niv, getting into a counter war over it 2 turns later, losing it but drawing a nezahl, and then dropping nezahl with like 10 cards in hand
Ive been running one dream eater (instead of blink of an eye) and really liking it. I think theres a general question of how many 5-6 drops the deck can support, and then you optimize around that. Im currently at 3 teferi 2 niv 1 dream eater and 1 explosion sort of counts.
Trying one sarkhan fireblood so far he hasnt made a difference either way. I like the idea of another win condition vs control but sarkhan is such a blank vs aggro.
I dropped azcanta for sarkhan as I figure its similar - card selection that turns into a win condition. Just an army of dragons is more actual win than drowning your opponent in cards while bottoming all your creatures
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Modern
* Esper Draw-Go
* Tezzeret Whir
* Blue Tron
I've been searching for the best control deck since Guilds release and currently playing Jeskai although I'm not yet sure if this is the best deck that can be made.. My current list:
Still in doubt if the mana will hold up against the more aggressive decks that see play in my area.. Also trying out Radical Idea because I have no clue what else to play.. Perhaps Seal Away is better against Adanto Vanguard which seems to be pretty hard to beat with Jeskai Control.
Radical idea is fine. Opt and revitalize also work.
Adanto vanguard is a problem but crackling drake solves it and you can always bounce and counter.
I dont understand essence scatter. you have lots of counterspells for big creatures and scatter is bad in the mirror while not helping much vs burn. I would rather play justice strike or lightning strike to kill stuff that got out while my counters were down.
Ionize is just worse than sabotage in control.
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Modern
* Esper Draw-Go
* Tezzeret Whir
* Blue Tron
Radical idea is fine. Opt and revitalize also work.
Adanto vanguard is a problem but crackling drake solves it and you can always bounce and counter.
I dont understand essence scatter. you have lots of counterspells for big creatures and scatter is bad in the mirror while not helping much vs burn. I would rather play justice strike or lightning strike to kill stuff that got out while my counters were down.
Ionize is just worse than sabotage in control.
I really like revitalize as it helps shore up the aggro match up and can let you leave up your blue sources for counter magic if you don't have many available. The ionize vs sabotage debate is a tough one. The uu is tough but the surveil is awesome while ionize send easier to cast the 2 damage can be negligible
yes, Sabotage is a better card, but its more taxing on the mana and thus, less reliable to cast at times. Im fine with the argument that running either or both is correct.
BUT, I think that builds running Strike + Explosion + Niv could be better off with Ionize, where the 2 dmg might be a bit more important
Think I'm mostly struggling against the super fast decks that require nothing but History to resolve.. So that's tokens and RW weenies with Heroic Reinforcements. Revitalise might be OK but it feels like such a bad card..
I have been liking the split in counterspells as with Niv and Explosion Ionize does earn a spot.
Question: How many Deafening Clarion and Cleansing Nova? Been doubting between 3-2 and 4-2.
Think I'm mostly struggling against the super fast decks that require nothing but History to resolve.. So that's tokens and RW weenies with Heroic Reinforcements. Revitalise might be OK but it feels like such a bad card..
I have been liking the split in counterspells as with Niv and Explosion Ionize does earn a spot.
Question: How many Deafening Clarion and Cleansing Nova? Been doubting between 3-2 and 4-2.
I run 3 Clarion + 2 Nova with 2 Settle in the side. Id strongly advise leaving Settle in the SB vs GW Tokens though
I play 3 clarion 1 settle main atm but I’ll likely change settle to Nova or something else altogether.
Benalia is a good example of why syncopate is good. If they resolve it and you don’t have a clarion it is very bad news - syncopate increases greatly the odds you can deal with it. Syncopate is only really bad in the very late game but that’s where we win vs most decks anyways.
I play two niv one explosion and have never seen a game where ionize damage would have helped. I play 24 lands with only 7 non blue sources and 7 early game canttips to dig for blue if needed. Rarely have an issue casting sabotage.
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Modern
* Esper Draw-Go
* Tezzeret Whir
* Blue Tron
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Just a few questions.
How with that Mana base? 11 sources of white? Is it hard to cast your settles and and novas?
Why sabotage over ionize?
No Shivan fire? Are the Justice strikes really over performing that you'd want 4 of them?
Throughout the league I did notice a need for a bit more white mana, probably gonna ditch the one of mountain for a clifftop retreat and one island for a plains. I didn't really ever have an issue with casting blue or red spells though. Sabotage is just a better card. I acknowledge Ionize is easier to cast, but surveil 1 is just amazing. As for justice strike, the card has been fantastic in everything that requires killing creatures.
I'm playing both Clarion and cannonade Captain. Expansion//Explosion was fantastic against everything that wasn't hyper aggro. It works great as a win con. I usually used the first two for utility, then either fireballed (or decked) my opponent with the third. Fire ball only really came up post board.
C Long Live Eldrazi C
Looks great! Nicely done, my friend. Anything particularly notable about the two matches against Esper we should know about?
States '09: 14th place. Aiming for better next year.
States '10: 12th place. Aiming for better next year.
Idaho State Champ: 2011
States '12: 5th place.
Even against the aggro deck I copied my own justice strike to kill two things on turn 4. It wasn't fantastic, but it was more useful than another random draw spell.
I might give shivan fire a try over seal away, mostly because Justice strike worked better as a catchall and seal away didn't synergize well with anything else in the deck (And left me open to enchantment removal). Shivan Fire with Expansion seems like a good way to make expansion//explosion better against aggro game 1.
2 Expansion/Explosion
4 Sacred Foundry
1 Ral, Izzet Viceroy
1 Niv-Mizzet, Parun
3 Ionize
2 Lava Coil
2 Mission Briefing
3 Chemister's Insight
1 Cleansing Nova
4 Clifftop Retreat
3 Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
1 Shivan Fire
2 Field of Ruin
2 Island
2 Plains
4 Glacial Fortress
2 Sulfur Falls
4 Steam Vents
3 Lightning Strike
4 Anticipate
1 Essence Scatter
2 Ixalan's Binding
2 Settle the Wreckage
2 Search for Azcanta
2 Negate
2 Sorcerous Spyglass
2 Rekindling Phoenix
1 Silent Gravestone
2 History of Benalia
1 Invoke the Divine
2 Damping Sphere
1 Cleansing Nova
2 Deafening Clarion
1 Niv-Mizzet, Parun
Well, my first thought is that it's a bit hard to tell what's going on here because there isn't any organization in your list. Aside from that, I think most of your choices are fine, though I think double Negate in the main is a bit ambitious. The solitary Shivan Fire also strikes me as a bit odd. Not really sure what decks you want Damping Sphere for out of the sideboard.
Overall, it seems fine, but there are certainly a few decisions you've made that I would pass on. That isn't to say they're wrong; just different.
States '09: 14th place. Aiming for better next year.
States '10: 12th place. Aiming for better next year.
Idaho State Champ: 2011
States '12: 5th place.
If so I guess question would be are those cards effectively plugging holes of straight ur to make it worth the shakier mana base? And how shaky is the mana (my guess is its still pretty good with shocks and buddy lands so fairly low opportunity cost)
* Esper Draw-Go
* Tezzeret Whir
* Blue Tron
Well, the deck is pretty customizable. Some people are playing it as a UW deck splashing for some red cards and others are playing it more of a UR deck splashing some white for Deafening Clarion, Teferi, and maybe one or two white wraths.
The mana has been pretty good for the most part, so long as you choose your lands appropriately for whichever way your deck leans. For example, the UWr decks play no Mountains, whereas some of the full-on three color decks might have one or even two depending on their commitment to cards like Niv-Mizzet or Explosion. I really haven't had too much issue at all, myself.
States '09: 14th place. Aiming for better next year.
States '10: 12th place. Aiming for better next year.
Idaho State Champ: 2011
States '12: 5th place.
2 Search for Azcanta
Land
4 Glacial Fortress
3 Clifftop Retreat
4 Sulfur Falls
4 Sacred Foundry
4 Steam Vents
3 Plains
3 Island
1 Mountain
Instant
3 Settle the Wreckage
1 Negate
1 Blink of an Eye
3 Opt
4 Shivan Fire
3 Sinister Sabotage
3 Ionize
3 Chemister's Insight
1 Expansion // Explosion
2 Justice Strike
2 Deafening Clarion
1 Lava Coil
Planeswalker
3 Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
2 Ral, Izzet Viceroy
4 Legion Warboss
1 Shalai, Voice of Plenty
3 Lyra Dawnbringer
1 Ixalan's Binding
1 Settle the Wreckage
3 Negate
1 Cleansing Nova
1 Deafening Clarion
I decided that Tezzeret was just too weak as the 1/1 flyers just don't win fast enough and his ultimate isn't useful enough for the 4 turns it takes to pump him up. I swapped him out for another deafening clarion as that card blows several match-ups out of the water.
I found the original land base quite adequate and that shivan fire is super good. The 3-3 split for the counter spells is also pretty good, although you could switch one for the other depending on your preferences without much issue.
Expansion//Explosion was surprisingly an over performer as its ability to shape-shift into most spells cast by both you and your opponent is very strong. Also in the case where all of your planeswalkers are destroyed you can use it as a win condition, just make sure you make them draw the cards as you usually wont have enough lands to one hit them until you have fewer cards in your deck than they have life. Against Esper Control/ UB Control i like to use it when they Thought Erasure me. My personal favorite is using it to copy Call to the Feast against those pesky vampire decks.
Overall this list feels very strong against most of the meta decks out there.
I played a straight UR deck at the beginning of the format and once it started to settle into a defined meta I switched to Jeskai and went more controlling and haven't looked back. Yes that is pretty much what is happening. I imagine if you looked at relevant creatures Doom Blade killed when it was in Standard and relevant creatures Justice Strike kills in this standard that Justice Strike would come out ahead. Seal Away isn't doing it for me for reasons that should be obvious when comparing it to Justice Strike. Settle is great but I run them SB and Nova main. The 3 damage from Clarion is much more relevant than the instant speed of Cannonade now that the format is what it is and on rare occasions the lifelink might save you. White also gives you a few better SB options, including ways to deal with resolved enchantments. The mana isn't much worse than straight UR honestly. I've had a few games where I played 5 taplands in a row or couldn't hit a colored mana when I really needed it, but same with UR and that's just variance most of the time, it's fine. The thing about Teferi is he's not replacing Ral they are complementing each other. Having two PW on the field is so much better than having just one which is why I run a 3/2 split instead of 4/1. Tocatli Honor Guard is promising vs. GB which is not a great matchup for UR, at least in my experience but there are many lists out there and I can't comment on them all. SB Lyra is another great reason to run white obviously.
Other issues are adanto vanguard being unkillable and the eldest reborn being a blowout if they resolve it. Ive also had niv miz kiled by chupacabra which feels horrid. I put all my non-clarion wraths in the board as they were just too bad too often.
I play 3 syncopates. Two mana counterspell is valuable and exiling chem insight or a golgari reanimate target is quite good. 4 sabotage 1 negate 1 essence scatter 1 d stroke round up my counters.
Unclear to me if nezahl is better than a second niv miz at this point.
Ral has been pretty lousy all told. Feels like a bad teferi most of the time but I guess some diversity is good for your walkers.
2 drakes. Could see playing more, doubt id play less. The cheap cantrips help make them relevant when you need them and in a grindfest they can easily two-shot people from full health.
* Esper Draw-Go
* Tezzeret Whir
* Blue Tron
As for Ral, Izzet Viceroy, the card is pretty powerful. I think the reason most find it underwhelming is that it competes heavily with Teferi and that alone is probably enough of a reason why it isn't worth running. I like the idea of it being a board options, but pretty sure there are just better options there as well.
STANDARD|UW Control MODERN| UBG Midrange PAUPER| UG Fog COMMANDER| UBG The Mimeoplasm
* Esper Draw-Go
* Tezzeret Whir
* Blue Tron
3 Crackling Drake
2 Niv-Mizzet, Parun
Planeswalkers (3)
3 Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
Cantrips (12)
4 Opt
3 Revitalize
3 Chemister's Insight
1 Search for Azcanta
1 Expansion
4 Sinister Sabotage
3 Syncopate
1 Essence Scatter
1 Negate
1 Disdainful Stroke
Removal (6)
3 Deafening Clarion
1 Justice Strike
1 Lightning Strike
1 Blink of an Eye
4 Steam Vents
3 Sacred Foundry
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Sulfur Falls
3 Clifftop Retreat
5 Island
1 Mountain
Current flex spots are really the blink and the 3rd drake. But this is a pretty well rounded maindeck for a meta of red burn, golgari midrange, other control decks, and RW/GW benalia decks from what I've seen.
Syncopate does a LOT of work as a turn 2 counterspell, and most of the games I lose are because the opponent gets too much out early forcing me to clarion and then they throw down a planeswalker. It's also good for exiling stuff so golgari cant recur it, and countering a turn 4 chemisters insight on your end step while leaving 2 up so you can (maybe) stop them if they tap out for a teferi.
I'm not sure whether I prefer a 1/1 split of Niv and Nezahl or the 2 Niv. Niv seems better vs creature decks, as he can machine gun down a board, but vs control they can just get off a justice strike or teferi and end him quickly. Nezahl is just the opposite, gets chumped by 2/2s or beaten by fliers, or they force an exile and then resolve stuff while he's out. Vs slow decks it doesnt matter he gets there eventually (usually) but if you're on the back foot he may not be enough in some situations since he disapears as a blocker when you exile.
My favourite move ever was slamming a niv, getting into a counter war over it 2 turns later, losing it but drawing a nezahl, and then dropping nezahl with like 10 cards in hand
* Esper Draw-Go
* Tezzeret Whir
* Blue Tron
Ive been running one dream eater (instead of blink of an eye) and really liking it. I think theres a general question of how many 5-6 drops the deck can support, and then you optimize around that. Im currently at 3 teferi 2 niv 1 dream eater and 1 explosion sort of counts.
Trying one sarkhan fireblood so far he hasnt made a difference either way. I like the idea of another win condition vs control but sarkhan is such a blank vs aggro.
I dropped azcanta for sarkhan as I figure its similar - card selection that turns into a win condition. Just an army of dragons is more actual win than drowning your opponent in cards while bottoming all your creatures
* Esper Draw-Go
* Tezzeret Whir
* Blue Tron
2 Niv-Mizzet, Parun
Planeswalkers
1 Ral, Izzet Viceroy
3 Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
Spells
2 Syncopate
2 Blink of an Eye
2 Essence Scatter
3 Justice Strike
2 Radical Idea
3 Deafening Clarion
2 Ionize
2 Sinister Sabotage
4 Chemister's Insight
2 Cleansing Nova
2 Expansion // Explosion
2 Search for Azcanta
Lands
3 Clifftop Retreat
1 Field of Ruin
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Sacred Foundry
4 Steam Vents
4 Sulfur Falls
3 Island
2 Mountain
1 Plains
Still in doubt if the mana will hold up against the more aggressive decks that see play in my area.. Also trying out Radical Idea because I have no clue what else to play.. Perhaps Seal Away is better against Adanto Vanguard which seems to be pretty hard to beat with Jeskai Control.
If you have any tips they are more than welcome
Adanto vanguard is a problem but crackling drake solves it and you can always bounce and counter.
I dont understand essence scatter. you have lots of counterspells for big creatures and scatter is bad in the mirror while not helping much vs burn. I would rather play justice strike or lightning strike to kill stuff that got out while my counters were down.
Ionize is just worse than sabotage in control.
* Esper Draw-Go
* Tezzeret Whir
* Blue Tron
I really like revitalize as it helps shore up the aggro match up and can let you leave up your blue sources for counter magic if you don't have many available. The ionize vs sabotage debate is a tough one. The uu is tough but the surveil is awesome while ionize send easier to cast the 2 damage can be negligible
yes, Sabotage is a better card, but its more taxing on the mana and thus, less reliable to cast at times. Im fine with the argument that running either or both is correct.
BUT, I think that builds running Strike + Explosion + Niv could be better off with Ionize, where the 2 dmg might be a bit more important
I have been liking the split in counterspells as with Niv and Explosion Ionize does earn a spot.
Question: How many Deafening Clarion and Cleansing Nova? Been doubting between 3-2 and 4-2.
Benalia is a good example of why syncopate is good. If they resolve it and you don’t have a clarion it is very bad news - syncopate increases greatly the odds you can deal with it. Syncopate is only really bad in the very late game but that’s where we win vs most decks anyways.
I play two niv one explosion and have never seen a game where ionize damage would have helped. I play 24 lands with only 7 non blue sources and 7 early game canttips to dig for blue if needed. Rarely have an issue casting sabotage.
* Esper Draw-Go
* Tezzeret Whir
* Blue Tron