"You know what really grinds my gears? Getting ground out of the game by a gigantic hulking Gear."
Been in an incurable torpor regarding Standard Magic ever since Sphinx's Revelation rotated and your dreams were crushed by a stampede of odd-toed ungulates? Been waiting for two years to play draw-go control and feel as confident in the strength of your deck as you are the depths of your intelligence?
Then have I got the deck for you!
Well, okay, it's not mine. As you might have heard, control is back. Sure, America lost to Grixis in the finals. It happens. I'm here to tell you, though, that if you want to pick up blue control this season and succeed with it, America is the choice for you.
Here's how we make it happen. The core is essential. The rest is customizable to your little heart's content. You counter spells that matter, kill creatures that sneak through the line, draw cards to pull ahead when your opponent has to take a turn off, and rinse-repeat until your opponent is exhausted of resources and you aren't. Then you live every nerd's dream: ride a giant mech to the finish line. MURICA! Hell yeah!
Quote from UWR CONTROL CORE »
Torrential Gearhulk: The whole reason for this deck's existence. American Control is, at its heart, seeking to maximize the power of Torrential Gearhulk. All he asks is that you play, hmm, I dunno, 20 instants. Probably more. Honestly, the more the merrier. In exchange, you get a split Shriekmaw / Mystic Snake / Mulldrifter with some SERIOUS firepower. Having a finisher that can double as board-impacting interaction that also generates card advantage when you haven't fully stabilized is a powerful, powerful thing. Take full advantage of that power, and the world is yours, my fellow Americans! Lists vary on the number to play. I recommend the full four. Glimmer of Genius: OK, so it's not Dig Through Time and it's not Sphinx's Revelation. By previous Standards, it's a little underpowered. But it'll more than get the job done for us in this deck, especially when we can flash it back on our opponent's end step after putting a 5/6 into play. Glimmer also produces a little boost of energy, which goes a long way given our next staple. Make no mistake, this is another key component of UWR's rise to power. Play four. Harnessed Lightning: Crazy flexible removal spell. You can do so much with this card. It tag-teams with Glimmer and Aether Hub to bring down one massive threat for only two mana and a card, at instant-speed... or maybe it facilitates bigger castings of itself later, by shooting a 1-2 toughness creature and banking energy. Banking energy to make Aether Hub continue to function as an untapped, pain-free triland is big game as it is. Play four. Void Shatter: Not particularly flashy, except with Torrential Gearhulk, but it'll do. Exiling spells is a relevant upside in this format. Play four. Anticipate: UWR Control, as an unfortunate consequence of playing expensive spells, needs to play a lot of lands to hit a lot of land drops. At the same time, though, you actually have to find your spells and filter through the lands. Anticipate is a little weak, but it's the best option we have, and it gets the job done. Play four.
Once you have those slots locked in, you'll need a few more counterspells and some removal. Here are your weapons.
Quote from UWR CONTROL AUXILIARY WEAPONS »
Stasis Snare: Tons of upside. Unconditional, exiling removal, instant-speed, 3 mana. It's limited by the fact that it can't be recast with Torrential Gearhulk, and its intensive mana cost. Particularly useful as a rare clean answer to an Emrakul. Quarantine Field: Stasis Snare's bigger, badder lil cousin. Sorcery-speed sucks, but multi-targeting, exiling removal that hits everything is huge game. Skywhaler's Shot: Much worse than Stasis Snare on card quality, but it's worthy to note that, as an instant, it can be recast with Gearhulk - one big advantage over Snare. Scry 1 is also a very strong tack-on to the card; incremental edges like that are how we win games. Immolating Glare: Conditional in a weird, alternative way. You need 2-mana removal, and this doesn't care how big the opposing creature is. This sets up a huge ambush with Gearhulk in the right spots and is often how you win games when you have to use Gearhulk to stabilize a game instead of closing out a game where you're already ahead. Doesn't line up very well against Smuggler's Copter, since it gives high-priority targets like Depala, Pilot Exemplar a chance to do something meaningful with immunity to Glare, and since Copter itself gets to loot before Glare can stop it. Still, it's hard to find good, instant-speed, 2-mana removal in Standard right now. This is a fine choice. Galvanic Bombardment: Arguably maindeckable, depends on the state of the format. But more than sweeper effects, this is your best anti-aggro tool. Control decks struggle with decks that play to board from turn 1 onwards; Bombardment gives you the chance to keep pace with them from the first turn. Blessed Alliance: Lifegain and removal in one card is sweet against aggro decks, but we're really here for the edict. Draw it against the GRx Pummeler deck and watch the fireworks. Also a very nice answer to the very pesky Lumbering Falls. Radiant Flames: Fantastic anti-aggro sweeper. Comes down early enough to clean up the mess before it hurts you too much. Only downside is that it can't be recast with Gearhulk, but honestly, do you need your 5/6 to also be a sweeper? Kozilek's Return: ...because if the answer is yes, we can play that game too. K-Return is fine just as an instant-speed Pyroclasm in this deck; people get too wrapped up in the absurd nonsense the card is capable of doing, and while UWR doesn't take advantage of all of K-Return's power, UWR can leverage it just fine. Fumigate: Wizards finally figured out how to print a good 5-mana sweeper guys! Significant lifegain stapled to a wrath is dirty. Descend upon the Sinful: An alternative to Fumigate, to be considered in metagames full of zombies, spirits, and flyingspaghettiOptimus Primes. Delirium is basically never online, but if it ever does happen, then the extra 4/4 is a quick clock.
But wait!! THERE'S MORE!!
Quote from UWR CONTROL COUNTER SUITE »
Negate: Handles a lot more spells than you'd expect. Everybody plays a real number of real targets. Try it out in the maindeck. Summary Dismissal: Weird card, and as with all weird cards, with weirdness comes utility. Stop Eldrazi Titans dead in their tracks, exile spells you can't counter, counter death triggers, cast triggers, etb triggers, whatever man. Use with discretion - in case of attempting to resolve a spell that matters, do not break glass. Ceremonious Rejection: Exactly what it says on the tin. One-mana hard counter to a variety of things: Aetherworks Marvel, Metalwork Colossus, even the Eldrazi and, notably, their Devoid-themed spells, like Void Shatter or Transgress the Mind. Dispel: Some people are foolish enough to fight you on the stack. Punish them. Overwhelming Denial: Some people really are foolish enough to fight you on the stack. Punish them.
Finally, here are some other threats you can consider playing.
Quote from UWR CONTROL LAGNIAPPE »
Archangel Avacyn: She's got everything you want. Dodges most damage-based removal in the format, provides a quick clock without compromising defenses, flies, and lets you hold up interaction. Great at ambushing people in combat, as well, if that's what you're in for. Linvala, the Preserver: Maybe even better than Torrential Gearhulk at stabilizing the board. Two flying blockers that at least trade with an unboosted Smuggler's Copter is big game against aggro decks, and the 5 life is the nail in the coffin of these decks, since so few of them have burn spells with which to limp across the finish line. Spell Queller: When people board out lots of spot removal, Spell Queller gets a lot closer to just being a counterspell stapled to a 2/3. Gideon, Ally of Zendikar: Planeswalkers in this format are a little hard to protect, but when your opponents aren't able to pressure them meaningfully well, they're very hard to actually answer if you can't gain traction on the battlefield. Gideon is the walker du jour for UWR Control when it comes to just getting them dead. Great in the control mirrors, great for closing out a game against combo decks, great for forcing the action against midrange decks. Just great basically everywhere, except for aggro decks. Dovin Baan: Not a win condition, Dovin is more of a bridge against aggro decks. You want to drop him in after a wrath, when your opponent only has one threat on board, and use his +1 to lock that threat down, while holding up Harnessed Lightning / Immolating Glare to protect yourself from haste threats. Once you've stabilized the board, start drawing cards and regaining life to get out of danger. Dovin isn't good against control or combo decks, so use him with this in mind; he's a stabilizing tool against aggro decks. Nahiri, the Harbinger:Hello! Every mode is fantastic. Murk a wide variety of permanents if you need to, filter your draw step if not. Usually she can "only" go get a Gearhulk... but hey, it goes back to your hand at EOT. It's not like Gearhulk has a good ETB effect or anything.... Chandra, Flamecaller: Probably made obsolete by Gearhulk, but Chandra is a much quicker clock, and doesn't require you to play K-Return for your closer to be able to sweep the board. Jace, Unraveler of Secrets: Card draw with a little selection on a plus, and a game-winning ultimate. Minus interacts with the board and has massive synergy with our boy Gearhulk. We can only play so many expensive sorcery-speed effects, but Jace is a good one. Sphinx of the Final Word: Control decks are on the rise, so it's possible you want access to this thing. Cast it with one counterspell backup and you're probably set. Just watch out for Summary Dismissal, which "counters" it through the can't-be-countered clause.
SAMPLE DECKLISTS
This section is for UWR lists that placed well at major events.
notes:
- I tried Nahiri over Dovin at first bc of card availability; I knew they didn't do the same thing, but didn't have Dovins, and I wanted to try Nahiri. After trying both, I think Nahiri is better in an open field and more powerful overall. Dovin is the one you want for aggressive decks, but Nahiri's filtering is such a big deal against combo and control decks, and her ult actually tries to win the game. Dovin's best "ult" is a series of -1.
- Playing less than four Gearhulk seemed wrong, and I didn't like Avacyn all that much once Romao made it famous. Avacyn out of control decks is sweet, because people tend to just assume you were holding up a counterspell instead of the Archangel, but Romao put the tech on the map, so now people are more aware of it.
- I don't like playing multiple maindeck copies of Summary Dismissal. Honestly I don't like multiple copies of Dismissal, period... but certainly not in the maindeck. I want more countermagic overall, too. I'm playing two Negate main and it's fine. Also moved up to four Void Shatter because that card seems like it should be a 4-of. I love it in this deck and wouldn't go any other way with it. Maybe play one Scatter to the Winds to mix it up, but I think I'd just always want a Void Shatter instead.
- I don't like maindeck Radiant Flames / K-Return. You need the white wraths, and once you have those, I think Galvanic Bombardment + those wraths is a good enough anti-aggro plan. Radiant Flames and K-Return would come out against literally everything but fast aggro decks, and there's just no reason to be preboarded for them to that extent.
- Speaking of the wraths: Descend upon the Sinful is a great card and probably better than Fumigate in this shell. It's more expensive, sure, but the exile upside matters so much. You circumvent indestructible effects, which are everywhere; and you stop any graveyard recursion shenanigans, which aren't everywhere yet, but remain an effective angle of attack against control decks. Prized Amalgam is actually a big problem for us, and Descend is the cleanest answer.
- I did some different things in the sideboard, partly as experimentation, but also because I believe this board is better-tuned for the post-PT world. I added Dispels and Blessed Alliances to fight the control mirrors and Bristling Hydra, which is (a) a problem for us and (b) picking up a lot of steam, being played in the boards of Aetherworks Marvel as well as in the maindeck of GRx Pummeler. I also tested one each of Sphinx of the Final Word and Overwhelming Denial, but I'm not sure that they're better than other options, like Jace or Spell Queller. And as previously noted, I think Galvanic Bombardment is a good enough postboard plan against aggro (and Blessed Alliance is a nice addition too, there) to not need small sweepers.
Went 3-1 in league tonight, but didn't play any notable 'meta decks' so to speak. Will keep tuning as the post-PT meta develops, but if you want to just pick up a list and go, I think this is a good place to be.
Our best creature at moment. The fat cousin of Snapcaster Mage surprised many people in this Pro Tour.
Clearly, looking at this list above, you can imagine how good it is. And trust me, when you play it, It'll look even better.
Let's take a quick look on pros and cons:
Pros:
He's body is significant - hard to deal with.
Good beater, pressuring opponents with a fast clock.
Good ETB (enter the battlefield) effect.
Good creature type (if delirium matters).
Flash makes it a good combat trick.
Cons:
Only gets instants spells.
Restrictive cost - Four copies may be too many.
Linvala, the Preserver
Another good etb effect.
The life gain is precious in some matchs and his ability is similar to thragtusk when It's get online.
She's have a good body and flying, which is relevant.
If you are playing Nahiri, the Harbinger, she can be even better, once you can tutor it.
Sphinx of the final word
Pretty good on mirror matches.
I'm not big fan of this one, but It might see some play if control become dominant.
Archangel Avacyn
Ok, I hate this card.
For me, It seems completely counter intuitive for her proposal.
Still, the boosted Serra Angel have a lot of fans.
She can surprise block a creature and pressure the opponent. With a lot of hotweels around as smuggler's copter, Archangel Avacyn proved to be an accurate choice by Carlos Romão.
Also, she can trade with Gideon, Ally of Zendikar right on spot, which is really important for us.
Still, as I said, I'm not a big fan of Avacyn, but should be considered.
Thing in the ice
Oh darn.. I hate this one too.
It have a decent body and relevant ability (when It's connect). It's a good block against aggro, the ability is relevant in the match and get us a fast clock. Usually is not a card that you want to draw along the game and require a lot of investment to flip it. Also, as control run a low count of creatures, our opponents removals gets a target.
Against linear decks like ramp or combo, It's a good option, since they don't have answers for it.
To be honest, I prefer this card in a U/R spells shell as Pierre Dagen played in this Pro Tour Kaladesh (Honolulu).
Clearly, I do not recommend this card, but It's an option. Note: The Pro Tour Kaladesh (Honolulu) winner, Shouta Yasooka used 4 copies on his Grixis Control list.
Spell Queller
Not a big fan of this guy for control builds. He's clearly good on tempo decks and I don't recommend in main deck, since control builds don't aim trade tempo for resources.
Still, It appeared as sideboard tech in Carlos Romão deck.
In a field with so many Aetherworks Marvel decks, spell queller showed us how powerful it can be for control.
If the deck can't answer it, It's basically a counterspell attached to a 2/3 flying body.
It's pretty good against decks that use cathartic reunion or tormenting voice as strategy, being a huge blowout too.
Nahiri, the Harbinger
There she is. My favorite card in the entire standard.
It was love at first sight.
Nahiri is awesome and don't see many play in standard. It seems to be a good option at moment, being capable to deal with a lot of threats present in this meta.
Let's take a deep look on her ability's. +2 - You may discard a card then draw a card.
First of all, +2 loyalty going to 6 loyalty in the same turn (considering his ultimate ability is on -8) it's a lot. It's hard to kill it right away (through the battlefield) and It put a good clock on our favor, mainly against combo or linear strats. Loot isn't the best ability for control, but at least is optional. We want to settle all land drops as possible, but in some game stages, cycle weak cards in match isn't bad. -2 - exile tapped creature, enchantment or tapped artifact
In a standard with grapple with the past, haunted dead, Liliana, the last hope and even more cards with good grave interaction, exile is pretty relevant (It also dodges avacyn ability). The problem is that creatures with vigilance such Archangel Avacyn or Sylvan Advocate can't be touched by her and tireless tracker or Ishkanah, Grafwidow can play around it. Also, after uses -2 It's become fragile by any manland in format. But the best thing on this ability, is the option to remove enchant and artifacts in g1. You can easily rip off that smuggler's copter of your sight even without the crew and deal with trouble enchants as stasis snare or quarantine field. -8 - get a creature from library, put it on play with haste and return it in end of turn
The ultimate is easy to reach (only three turns), It's a good clock for linear decks and gets a lot of value with etb creatures like torrential gearhulk or linvala, the preserver.
It's even good enough with emrakul, the promised end. Sure, you don't get the casting ability, but the swing for 13 and probably setting Emmy next turn, It's pretty game in most cases.
Nahiri put us in a good position, doing a lot for control. Cycle some cards with low value, conditional remove to some nonland permanents and an ultimate which accelerate the game for us.
I'm suspect to say, but I'm big fan of this card and I can't imagine a uwr build without it.
Dovin Baan
I didn't had sucess when I tested Dovin Bad, but he showed up in Carlos Romão list as 2 copies.
Nowadays, when a planeswalker is released, people ask themselves three questions. Does he protects himself? Does he generates some advantage in minus? Is his ult viable and/or game breaking?
Now you probably asking yourself - "But isn't this the core of all planeswalkers?"
And I'll give some examples of weak abilities that fill these roles.
Let's start with our mvp - Jace, the living Guildpact. Jace is so good that He's the best even when you compete to be the worst. Screw you, tibalt, the fiend-blooded.
So, let's think on this one first. I will not analyze this card for complete. But let take his minus as example. The ability is relevant, you can return any nonland permanent (including pw's) which is a good trick for blue, give us some tempo advantage and a card on board. It's a pretty good ability, but It's a high cost for a tempo play, which is bad when your behind on board. Situational abilities aren't bad at all, but in most cases, they make you feel that card isn't doing your job, because you can't get all your potential.
Another one to illustrate? Kiora, the Crashing Wave. This card protect itself, give some card advantage and ramp and have a fast ult which can steal games in a blink. Does it saw play? Almost nothing. To be honest, It helped Gerrard Fabiano to win a SCG with a solid Sultai Control deck.
And why this card didn't played? Mostly because the presence of hero's downfall in standard. The low loyalty count of Kiora didn't helped either. The truth is, is hard to find a solid archetype on UG to support this card. When you played it, you had the sensation that abilities wasn't enough to payoff the four mana investment. The same sensation when I play Dovin Baan.
I could keep talking about the lack of synergy in so many recent walkers - Sarkhan, the dragonspeaker, Narset transcendent, chandra, torch of defiance and Kiora, master of the depths, but I'll just move on and talk about Dovin.
Ok, so why did you showed us this cards?
Because Dovin is in the same category. He's not good enough to be straight four in any deck. He's completely situational.
With vehicles in metagame, a -3/-0 in sorcery speed to fog a creature isn't enough in mostly cases. They have so many low drops to crew a smuggler's copter and bash your face and I'm not even considering a needle spires or fleetwheel cruiser, which can trade with Dovin right away. For sure, He's the best answer to selfless spirit, which is a trouble card for control players, but I don't know if it is enough.
His minus is pretty bad, 2UW for a draw and 2 life is laughable, getting on range of any manland in format. If you are behind or in a close game, you don't want to pay 4 for draw a card, but It's common go for this line when you are getting pressured and have no options.
If you are stabilized or already winning, this card will probably cycle itself or just win-more. It's good in control mirrors, because is the best shot you have to draw more then one card in match and extract some valor of it.
The ultimate ability is weak. A static orb effect is perfect manageable, so much that Carlos Romão lost one of his games with Dovin ultimate in this finals of Pro Tour Kaladesh (Honolulu). Of course, isn't any player that can manage something like that, but isn't an ultimate that helps you when you are behind or guarantee a victory every match (even being a big step to a win).
When I playtested it, I felt as I had two all-in options. If you start to minus Dovin Baan, you won't to stop it. Because you want to get the more valor possible of it, like it was a Jace Beleren. And if you start to plus it, you won't to minus anymore, because you want to get your ultimate as soon as possible. You can't manage it to stay in board with safety. It's seems confusing now, but if you didn't tried it, I'll suggest you to try and see how it perform to you. And probably you will feel the same way as I'm trying to describe.
Jace, Unraveler of Secrets
This one here is ok.
You will probably doesn't want more then two in your 75's, but It generate some kind an advantage with an opt per turn and have a good starting loyalty. The minus is situational, we have a lot of ETB creatures in this standard so I don't think It's good positioned right now and the ultimate can seal the deal in control mirrors, midrange or combo matchups.
Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
I want this card out of standard so bad.
No doubt this one here is the best planeswalker in standard right now.
You need to be prepared to face it, at least by now.
For control players, he's an excellent sideboard to pressure controls and linear decks.
It's perfectly main deckable if you want to, but I don't like it on main.
Chandra, Flamecaller
People forgot about this one.
First of all, Chandra, torch of defiance isn't good on control decks. I could take this subject deeply, but It'll take so much time and effort for something that isn't relevant now.
Now let's start talking about Chandra, flamecaller.
She have a high cost and good abilities. She doesn't protect itself with the plus, which is your biggest disadvantage, but at least, she can easily wipe a board and put an opponent in a fast clock. She's good responding some planeswalkers too, since she can deal 6 dmg right away. The type of wheel of fortune ability never got my attention being useful in a control shell, but I can imagine some cases that it could be favorable.
It's pretty reasonable use it as 1 or 2 copies in 75's if you want to.
Here they are. The fuel responsible to move draw-go players.
Instant's are pretty important right now, considering you are running torrential gearhulk.
Let's take a look on this list and put some considerations on it.
Instants and Sorceries:
Tempo Cards
grip of the roil
It's cycle itself, tap a creature (covering the weakness in Nahiri, the Harbinger) locking it for a turn, helps to set up land drops and eventually a good wrath. It has surge as mechanic, which isn't that great, because you hardly will get a good valor of it.
Still, is a pretty playable card and can be considered.
sweep away
This is my pet card. I miss azorius charm so much, that I try to fit it in every deck I make.
The card is ok against Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, Bomat Courrier (you can respond the trigger of ability, making it exile itself) and against emerge strats. Also, it's not so bad against Marvelous Aetherworks on Ulamog, the ceaseless hunger (sure it's bad get some stuff exiled, but at least, you guarantee that It'll not be cast again through the Marvel). Anyway, with so many ETB's in field right now, perhaps cards like that aren't the most accurate choice.
The objective in play something like it, It's buying time to set land drops, develop your board and try to guarantee a safer late game.
Roil Spout
It's a sorcery and the cost is a bit restrictive. If paired with brain in a jar could get interesting, but It's to slow for it.
In a tappout control style deck, It could be an option. Awaken is an ok mechanic and we have Halimar tidecaller for get some valor in cards like that. I don't think this card is good enough, but It's here as option.
drag under
Ohhh man... first time i saw it, I could swear it was the new repulse, but SPOILER AHEAD - it's not.
Same thoughts as Roil Spout, It could be sweet with brain in a jar and cycle itself is good.
In overall? It's a weak card, which can get a little better in the right shell.
Spot Removals harnessed lightning
One of the best reasons to play uwr shell.
The card is great. If paired with energy generators as Aether Hub and Glimmer of Genius It's get even better.
It's an instant, flexible and can reach high toughness creatures along the game. The drawback is that only hit creatures, but is more then enough for us.
fiery temper
This one is good with discard outlets. It doesn't fit so well in control right now, considering we lost Jace, vryn's prodigy.
The cost is restrictive if not played by madness and the great advantage is the fact to hit players/pw's. Sadly for us, 3 damage isn't enough to deal with a planeswalker, so I don't see a good reason to play it right now.
incendiary flow
It's a sorcery lightning strike. The upside is exile a creature, which is a pretty relevant ability (already say that somewhere above) in this standard. The 3 damage in face can have your merit in some games, as taking down a -2 Liliana, the last hope or setting up a kill, but it's extreme situations that I'll not play around.
I don't think it's bad having it as 2-off depending on the field, but I'm not a big fan of this one for control.
galvanic bombardment
Good card overall. Low cost removal on creatures that deals 2 dmg (in first copy) is enough to deal with a lot of creatures in this standard. It can become food for Nahiri, the Harbinger and still get some valor and is good in cathartic reunion strats . Main problem here is when you face cards with 3 toughness, making the first copy a dead card.
It's not my favorite one, but it's not a bad card and it's perfectly playable.
immolating glare
One of the best instants removal in standard, just getting behind on murder and Unlicensed Disintegration .
The downside is have to use it on attack step, but at least, it deal with almost every creature in standard. Cards like spell queller, smuggler's copter and tireless tracker can perfectly play around it, that's the reason I'll not go straight four on this one, but It's a pretty decent card.
blessed alliance
Two of the three abilities are pretty useful for control mages. Gaining some life is precious in some match ups and sacrifice effect is a good way to deal with Emrakul, the promised end or Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger. Unfortunately, It's easy to play around it, moreover with manlands in this standard. But it's a good card and you can easily put it on main deck or sideboard, depending of your field.
stasis snare
The best instant white removal in standard. Get Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, big eldrazis or any creature you want.
I don't like to play with permanents because it gives so much valor to Nahiri, the harbinger or fragmentize effect's, leading me to a eventual blowout. Otherwise, if they don't have an answer to it, It's a incredible card.
quarantine field
With the same problem (in large scale) as stasis snare, this one is a good way to deal with trouble permanents, in most cases, planeswalkers and vehicles.
The rules here are the same as stasis, It will probably blowout the game, against you or on your favor. If you feel safe to take the risk, the card is a adjustable planar cleansing with exile effect, which is pretty sweet and can steal many games.
I don't recommend more then two in a deck due to it's restrictive cost.
Sweepers
Radiant Flames
The main reason to go for uwr. Best sweeper at low cost, being capable to surpass black and flaying tendrils - thanks to converge, the mechanic who permit us to cast it for three. In Pro Tour Kaladesh (Honolulu), this card was main deck in many controls, what was a great meta call by their pilots, since aggro decks would be a lot of attendance.
At worst, this card is an excellent sideboard to fight aggressive decks.
Nahiri's Wrath
I tried this card many times. I was using as a way to deal with planeswalkers, combined with take inventory and galvanic bombardment shell. It wasn't good, but was doing the job. It's not a good card, but in the right shell, the drawback can be less harmful.
Fumigate
For many, the best 5-mana wrath ever printed. Wipe the board and still gain life, is basically everything you can ask for.
The cost is high for this fast meta game (at least for now), which makes it a little prohibitive for various copies.
Sweepers don't get vehicles too, which isn't favorable for us.
I wouldn't took more then 2 copies in 75's, but it depends on your LGS/tourney metagame.
Descend upon the sinful
Probably the best sweeper in standard. The high cost makes it a lot prohibitive and depending on your shell, delirium isn't an easy task to achieve.
The exile effect is neat, but with the 4/4 angel, It's turn into a huge profit in your favor.
Draw Engines:
Anticipate
The Pro Tour Kaladesh (Honolulu) All Star. This one appeared in every deck with blue.
Control usually prefers to draw cards instead card selection, for obvious reasons.
Still, this one is a low cost and instant cantrip, which help us to find specific answers according to the course of game.
Take Inventory
The black sheep of Accumulated Knowledge family.
The card isn't bad, but it requires a certain build around. Being sorcery is a big downside for one draw in the first copy, however if combined with Cathartic Reunion or Nahiri's Wrath - or cards like that, it can do a good job.
Fortune's Favor
I used this card for a long time. That's no secret on it.
If the card that you want is in the face up pile, you take it. If the face up card isn't interesting, just go for the pile with more cards.
I like this one and I think is pretty underrated.
Glimmer of Genius
At first sight, I didn't liked this card. And honestly, I still don't.
I guess who played with Sphinx's Revelation will never get his heart comforted by another draws spells in standard season.
But I can't negate that card is solid. If you are running a pack with any of these cards - harnessed lightning, confiscation coup and deadlock trap or anything else that could take advantage of energy, glimmer becomes a 'must have' on your deck.
Scour the Laboratory
I like this one. It only payoffs if delirium is up, otherwise 4UU is too much for three draws, even if instant.
Sadly, isn't easy for us to reach delirium so easy in this colors, even with torrential gearhulk counting as 2-types.
But if you can make this work in a shell which get delirium without problem, this card have a huge payoff.
Counterspells:
void shatter
As expected, made a lot of success in the Pro Tour Kaladesh (Honolulu).
Already said so many times in this topic, how important exile effect is at moment. Also, this is the best 3-mana counterspell that we have access in this standard.
No surprises here. Do you want to run solid counterspells at it minimal cost? This is your card.
Remembering that counters are our best answers to planeswalkers, so It's really important try to save it for crucial moments.
Revolutionary Rebuff
I like this card. The drawback is huge in this standard, is probably bad positioned in meta and becomes useless during the game, but I run four in my deck.
It's the better answer for three mana walkers when you are on draw (at this point, you already notice that I hate planeswalkers) and can get a lot of opponents unprepared. I'll not try to convince you about this one here, but imo, worth the test.
Confirm Suspicious
This card is completely underrated and It's excellent as single counter on main deck.
Flashback it with the Gearhulk is a huge blowout and after I used it once, I never stopped (like the cardboard crack).
Failed Inspection
I like this one here. The possibility to cycle something in some points of game is interesting and counters are always welcome.
It's a reasonable card in some situations.
Ceremonious Rejection
Very well positioned card in meta. Remembering that it can counter devoid as Void Shatter cards too.
Very maindeckable and really good on side.
Summary Dismissal
Great against eldrazis and emerge. Also, It's really good against Aetherwork Marvelous if it land the board.
Very good on sideboard and can get some space on main deck depending on the field.
negate
Our best answers against planeswalkers and vehicles.
Basically the same as two above.
dispel
Good sideboard, everyone knows this one i guess.
As you can see, I don't have many artifacts or enchants to talk about.
I'll take some artifacts that I playtested during my time in this standard.
For the enchantment, I'll take just one card that is a solid sideboard option.
Let's take a quick look on it.
Artifacts
Brain in a jar
This card is just to slow for its proposal. It's a solid card to build around and be the centerpiece of your deck, but sorcery cards don't payoff when you don't have the jar. Even with the jar, you still need to put counters up using mana, which is a big downside.
Perpetual Timepiece
This card is here for people who have seen or played the great tech of Ivan Floch in Pro Tour Magic 2015 (Portland) with elixir of immortality, showing us how powerful it can be.
Going infinite is quite nice, but this card can't do the same of elixir.
I tried a brew with it,galvanic bombardment and take inventory and the performance was ok, but I still don't recommend.
Deadlock Trap
It's a good way to use the stocked energy, deal with eldrazis, selfless spirit and planeswalkers. Everything that can be a trouble for you, now can be responded. Uwr builds suffer a lot against pw's and this artifact put us on the fight again. It's not the type of card that you want to get four copies, but it works well as 2-off.
I recommend everyone to playtest it, was really surprising to me.
Dynavolt Tower
It was present on this Pro Tour Kaladesh (Honolulu) in some lists, including a top 8 list.
Seems to be a build around card, since it requires energy and/or instants and sorceries being played.
If you were able to complete those requirements, you can extract a lot of valor of it.
I didn't playtested this one, so I don't know what to say. It don't get my attention, but I'll try it sooner or later.
Enchantments Authority of the consuls
The sideboard card which made a lot of people get hyped. For who played with blind obedience, it seemed nothing new.
For me, both cards are weak. In blind obedience standard, we got a lot of creatures with haste and hard to deal with (Hello, chandra's phoenix and ash zealot) and it add some valor to it.
Now in standard, we don't have this kind of trouble and this card don't get vehicles, which is pretty bad. The life gain could be valuable and it makes this card not so bad in multiples. I don't think it's so bad at all, but isn't so well positioned right now.
It set up creatures from Nahiri, the harbinger -2 too, which is a nice synergy.
Lands:
I'll just take a quick look on manlands.
Aether Hub
Auto include in any deck with 3 colors, using energy or not.
Wandering Fumarole
A good manland for us. It can block well and trade with a lot of creatures if you want.
Beat something with four power is pretty good too.
Needle Spires
In my opnion, this one is the best manland in standard.
Double strike is sweet in both defense and attack. It can trade with creatures with 2 toughness without problems and It's a good beater to get planeswalkers. I'd include this in any uwr list with no doubt.
Matchups
I'll take some examples of Pro Tour Kaladesh (Honolulu) lists.
Remebering that those matchs depends entirely about your deck build.
I didn't played most of those match ups yet, so I'll tell what I imagine and eventually I'll updating it.
Azorius Aggro - UW
This is probably a hard match.
They have selfless spirit, rattlechains and spell queller (make sure to play around it as possible) to complicate our life.
They bring the 4-gideon pack as top of curve and avacyn, putting us in awkward spots with counterspells and removals.
Their stasis snare catch our hulks but we can get the etb value at least.
In g1, reflector mage is a card with no value for they and they are not so fast to pressure our life. They only can draw for thraben inspector and loot on smuggler's copter, which make the things relatively calm after stabilize the board state.
Boros Tokens - RW
A lot of low curve creatures that will swarm the board. Pia Nalaar is problematic and they bring Gideon, Ally of Zendikar in main deck.
Our advantage is that creatures that crew a Smuggler's Copter doesn't attack us, giving us more turns to develop our board. So It's interesting try save removals to vehicles.
I guess g1 is even. In pos board they'll bring more gideon's and we get radiant flames which is great in this match up.
RW Vehicles - RW
This is the one match I've already faced. I was playing a Nahiri's uwr version, so I was capable to deal with smuggler's copter pretty well, even getting hit by it twice. Nothing new in say that's Gideon, Ally of Zendikar was his beast threat, so I managed to play around it.
Usually they starts are not so explosive, then I could stabilize with some tranquility. Some matchs they have fleetwheel cruiser which is pretty good against us, taking down even a Nahiri with high loyalty in a turn.
Overall, I'd say that is a even match, that we don't have many troubles to deal with.
Marvelous Temur - RUG
Almost a bye, if played right.
We just need to find our counters before their find a Aetherworks Marvel and we'll be fine.
Pos board you can bring negates and Gideon to pressure his life.
Grixis Control - BRU
Seems pretty hard. They draw more cards then us, thanks to painful truths with almost no drawback and their removals are solid and can easily take down our hulks or manlands. We have some dead cards in this match up (as they do), but they compensate it with more draws.
In pos board, It seems pretty favorable to us (if you are bringing some Gideons), but can't say with precision.
This week we have Gameday and I'll report it eventually.
Why do you think that Nahiri's ult is game winning? It will only find you a Gearhulk.
Sure, in Game 1, Nahiri will help you to get rid of dead cards. But I think dovin is much more flexible.
I think your deck right now is strictly worse against aggro, than Ramos original list.
Have you watched Ramos semifinal? If not, DO IT NOW! He wins G1 by the insolent drawing of all 3 Radiant Flames within the first few turns.
If he had waited for turn 5, he would be dead after the fumigate, and he would have been absolutely unable to reach turn 6 for Descend upon the Sinful
Control mirrors come down to what I call the "one big turn." There's a passive phase where players set up, and an active phase where resources are exchanged left and right, and whatever's left standing at the end wins for the player controlling it. Usually the transition between phases is marked by one crucial turn, where both players have a hand mostly full of relevant spells for winning a big countermagic war. Assuming both players have drawn reasonably equally, the player who starts the fight usually loses.
Nahiri's ultimate is game-winning in a control mirror because it represents a large burst of relevant resource acquisition -- a win condition with which to end the game, and a card draw spell from your graveyard to continue sculpting your hand to win the one big fight -- without committing any mana. Your opponent either has to let you get this burst uncontested -- which makes you substantially more likely to win the big turn -- or start the big turn right away, committing mana first in the process. And remember, to get to that ult, you've been sculpting your hand with the +2, meaning that you're more likely to win the big turn when it comes.
I find Dovin to be less flexible than Nahiri. Dovin is exclusively useful against aggressive creature decks (where he is certainly better than Nahiri). His +1 and ult do essentially nothing in control mirrors -- you would think the untapping restriction matters more, but as Shota showed in the finals, you really only need access to all your mana for the one big turn. And Nahiri is more useful against combo decks, as she represents a clock as she filters your draw steps for countermagic. She also interacts with weird permanent types, which has some useful splash damage if the combo is based around artifacts or enchantments.
And yes, my list is definitely softer against aggro decks. It's possible that cutting both the smallball wraths and Dovin is a mistake. I tuned my list toward beating control and Aetherworks combo, both of which were the highlights of the PT and the decks that people are most likely to pick up for upcoming tournaments.
I currently have Carlos's list built, but like @scasseden has said I am not sure of Dovin. I do like the idea of running Nahiri, as all three of the modes are useful. How would the inclusion of a singleton Emrakul fit into a list that is running Nahiri? I know it's not ideal, but would a very large threat do anything for us or is it a waste of the space in the 60?
I don't think you want Emrakul. The cast trigger is circumvented, and you can't reshuffle it back into your deck like with old Emrakul. Gearhulk is the best target for a Nahiri ultimate (though I could see the argument for a Linvala in the side as another target.
You don't need Emrakul basically. I think more often than not you'll accidentally draw it and hate your life choices. Emrakul doesn't play well in the deck at all -- we don't play Evolving Wilds (and shouldn't), and while we technically have five card types that could go into the graveyard, two of them only exist on one playset of creatures (Gearhulk), and your Gearhulks shouldn't really be dying very often to fuel Emrakul. Our enchantments shouldn't be going to the yard either, generally speaking. Emrakul is often going to be a 10-mana spell after a Nahiri ult which is just too high.
Emrakul does end the game more immediately than a Gearhulk, but any sequence involving putting a Gearhulk into play from your library for free is game-winning, even if it doesn't put the opponent to zero right away. There's just too much advantage wrapped up into that play.
Like jar said, Linvala is a pretty reasonable alternative target in the 75 if you want something besides the Gearhulk. Otherwise just ult for a Hulk, you'll be way happier for it than you think you will.
Don't get me wrong, I understand that exile is important against the graveyard decks, against gearhulk, etc. But is it any worth making Ceremonious Rejection worse against you?
You don't need Emrakul basically. I think more often than not you'll accidentally draw it and hate your life choices. Emrakul doesn't play well in the deck at all -- we don't play Evolving Wilds (and shouldn't), and while we technically have five card types that could go into the graveyard, two of them only exist on one playset of creatures (Gearhulk), and your Gearhulks shouldn't really be dying very often to fuel Emrakul. Our enchantments shouldn't be going to the yard either, generally speaking. Emrakul is often going to be a 10-mana spell after a Nahiri ult which is just too high.
Emrakul does end the game more immediately than a Gearhulk, but any sequence involving putting a Gearhulk into play from your library for free is game-winning, even if it doesn't put the opponent to zero right away. There's just too much advantage wrapped up into that play.
Like jar said, Linvala is a pretty reasonable alternative target in the 75 if you want something besides the Gearhulk. Otherwise just ult for a Hulk, you'll be way happier for it than you think you will.
Understood. I've got Linvala in the SB right now.
Planning on running this at game day, just not sure if there are any changes we should make going into a more known meta now that things have started to shake out after PT. What does the sideboard plan for us look like against G/B delirium? That makes up a good portion of my local meta atm. I am on Carlos's exact 75 at the moment for reference.
I'll start talking about the match ups, then I'll talk about how some cards and deck performed.
2 Matchs against RG Aggro -RG
This deck really remembers the match against Infect in Modern.
First match was against a good player. He seems to be used to play it and know what lines take.
In the G2, my opponent wasn't so experienced with the deck, his decklist wasn't so refined and He doesn't seemed to know how to pilot it so well.
Anyways, both match was really favorable to me and I'd be glad to face a field with a lot of this deck.
Let's talk about the matchs:
Match 1 - G1
I started on play and open a hand with revolutionary rebuff, which is an easy keep in most matchs.
He did Voltaic Brawler on t2 and Revolutionary Rebuff was my only line. I took the risk and countered it.
In t3 he made a Electrostatic Pummeler and I draw another Revolutionary Rebuff. He made this shenanigans and hit me for 18 in t4 and I resolved a Glimmer of Genius, founding a Blessed Alliance. He attacked again on t5 and I blessed his Plummeler with power of love. He tapped for a Bristling Hydra which encounter the fate of my Revolutionary Rebuff.
After that, the game stabilized, He drew a lot of lands and I found counters/gearhulks to everything He tried to do andNahiri, the Harbinger called Emmy Spaghetti to destroy his plane.
Game 2
I went to 6 cards and kept a slow hand and a Revolutionary Rebuff. He made a Voltaic Brawler in his t2, He was on play so my counter was useless. He bashed me for four dmg every turn without being greedy. I managed to find Harnessed Lightning but I knew that would face a blossoming defense, so I wait for another removal. When I was in 8 life, I found a Quarantine Field and missplayed like a boss. I Harnessed Lightining his brawler, He went for blossoming defense and I said ok. Then I put my Quarantine Field targeting his brawler and He said ok. Then I noticed that blossoming defense is until end of turn and knew I'd be dead next turn.
I was tapped out, so his just came for Larger than Life and I scooped.
Even if I didn't had missplayed, I was under a lot of pressure and I don't know if I had chances. But after my play, I lost all the chances for sure hehe.
Game 3
Got a Harnessed Lightning on my starting hand and kept it. He made a turn 2 Longtusk Cub and I removed it right away. His hand was probably slow and He played around my Revolutionary Rebuff. I don't remember exactly what happened, but we trade some resources, my Blessed Alliance took out his hydra, Nahiri exiled a creature and when she was in 8 loyalty, I gearhulked a counter for his next spell.
After that, I called Emmy and put my Needle Spires and Torrential Gearhulk to beat his face, going for gg.
Results: 2-1 - uwr control
Match 2
He was on a midrange oriented version of the deck (probably the Shaun MacLaren version), since He got tireless tracker and servant of the conduit.
Game 1
I was on play and oppened a hand fulled of counters. Countered everything He tried to do on curve and on turn 6 I made a torrential gearhulk on Confirm Suspicions, creating me a lot of advantage along the game. In some point, he didn't have so many energy to his bristling hydra and my gearhulk was capable to trade it. Eventually, I made Nahiri, the harbinger and miss spaghetti sealed the deal.
Game 2
He got an agressive start with servant of the conduit, Lathnu Hellion (which got bolted) and tireless tracker on his turn 4, getting 2 clues. I drew a lot of Nahiris and used her as removal/bait to preserve some life points. When he was with a servants and a tracker I fumigate the board, gaining some life. Along the game, He managed to put a servant, tracker and a hydra on the board and I drew a Linvala, the preserver which made an angel and was able to chump block the hydra, left just the token behind.
He missed the land drop, so his tracker was just 4/3 and He didn't have removals to deal with the token. After that, He made another servant and passed.
Next turn, He resolved to attack with everything and I was happy to trade the token for tracker. In next turn he attacked with 2 servants and didn't saw my needle spire, which killed one of his servants. After that in his next turn, He attacked again with servant and I put my manland to block, He pumped it up for a 5/5, killing my land. On my turn, I settle a Nahiri, the Harbinger exiling his last creature and pass. He didn't draw another creature in that turn and Nahiri start to be more and more loyal to me and We brought spaghetti to the party, winning the match.
Results: 2-0 uwr control
Next match, I was going for a control mirror against the list which got the PT.
Grixis Control - RUB
I don't remember everything here because the match was long, but I'll talk about some points that I can remember.
Game 1
He was on play and made a Thing in the ice on turn two. I killed it with harnessed lightning. In his turn 4, He tried to Painful Truths and I countered it with Revolutionary Rebuff. In his turn 5, He made another poop in the ice and I figured He had a counter to protect it, so I tried to bait his counter with a Glimmer of Genius in pass and He let it resolve. On my turn, I tried to bolt the ice cream creature and He countered it. We trade some draws, He resolved a Glimmer of Genius and at some point I tried to make a nahiri, the Harbinger without a counter backup. He countered my Nahiri with a Torrential Gearhulk and put his poop on ice on one counter.
I was with Emrakul, the promised end in hand since the beginning of the game and I was afraid to try it and get countered, since it was my biggest chance to win the match. I tried to bait and outsmart with a Fumigate, He used galvanic bombardment on his own thing in the ice flipping it and returning titan to his hand. In his turn he activated the manland and hit me for 11 and give me the green light for emmy spaghetti. I used it, mindslaved his turn killing the ice cream crap and his manland. He did another draw and scoop.
Game 2
Basically the same history. He set a thing in the ice on turn 2 and I don't know what He put on sideboard (probably Jace, negate and transgress) but those cards didn't show up. I set a Nahiri, the harbinger with counterspell backup and when I called Emmy was gg. I see on your hand a lot of removals spells, so I imagine that He think I was playing a version with spell queller.
Results: 2-0 uwr control
Next one was against Boros Dwarves.
Boros Dwarves -RW
Game 1
First game I got stucked on three lands. Get some removal to the first Smuggler's Copter but when He land Gideon on turn 4 I conceded.
Game 2
He started to swarn the board, I traded my bolt on Smuggler's Copter and on turn 5 I used one radiant flames killing three creatures with a negate backup for Gideon, Ally of Zendikar who tried to show up but got stopped.
After my board stabilized, I used a hulk to get more creatures and eventually got the win.
Game 3
He started going wild, flooding the board with Pia Nalaar on t3 which made me waste a Radiant Flames without many valor and He set up a Gideon, Ally of Zendikar on t4. Lucky I had a Quarantine Field on my hand, taking off Gideon and token in same turn.
He was using few copies of an artifact (which I don't remember the name) which gives draw and discard if a creature attack and you pay one.
In the beginning, He could sculpt the hand a little with this card, but along the game I was capable to deal with every creature He played and won by calling Mom Spaghetti.
Results: 2-1 uwr control
last game report, was against a gw aggro, i guess.
I was pretty unlucky in two games, but the match is tough anyways.
GW Aggro - GW
Game 1
I was on play and kept a two land hand and didn't draw another one until turn 4, when He settle Gideon, Ally of Zendikar and I scooped.
Game 2
I didn't see many of his deck, just a Thraben Inspector, Smuggler's Copter and Gideon, Ally of Zendikar what made me get some negate and Ceremonious Rejection (Ceremonious was a bad call of my part) and took off my radiant flames cuz I'm clearly dumb. I started to get pressured by three thraben inspector and lost some land drops, get stucked in three for a time. When He got 6 lands, He put a Sylvan Advocate on play, followed by a Gideon, Ally of Zendikar. In his next turn, I was low and was obligated to use Quarantine Field. I opted to play around Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, so I used it for one (four mana) and let 2 manas up for negate. He tried to make a Gideon and I countered it.
Next turn He came with Nissa, Vital Force which is clearly a broken card and a threat in the same level as Gideon, if not worst. I did a Torrential Gearhulk to chump block a land and try to kill Nissa with my manland, but He made an Archangel Avacyn. The board state was 2 thraben and Avacyn for him and a Gearhulk on my side. I chumped the land and passed, with a blessed alliance on hand and seven life.
I attacked his Nissa, Vital Force and He blocked with something, don't remember what happened exactly. In his turn, He attacked me with Nissa's Land, Avacyn and 2 thraben, I paid blessing alliance for sac creature and untap my hulk - and that's was the highlight missplay.
SoArchangel Avacyn hit me for four and flipped in end of turn, giving the three lethal damage and winning the game.
Results: 2-0 GW Aggro
Final Considerations:
Well, I did many missplays and took some dumb lines in some games, but I ended pretty satisfied with the deck.
I missed a third copy of Torrential Gearhulk (basically is a card that I always want to draw, but never want in my starting hand) and in some games, I felt as four Nahiri, the Harbinger being too much, but I'll keep it as four, at least for now. My wraths didn't showed up as I would have like them to, probably I'll add an extra copy of Fumigate in my sideboard.
My side was pretty weak in many games. I didn't want to keep some cards, but I didn't want to bring anything else. Three Ceremonious Rejection was definitely too much (If you are not facing the bad artifact decks as Aetherworks Marvel and some sort of it).
The two main deck blessed alliance was really good in some cases, but I'll probably move it to side and substitute it for an Immolating Glare. Gideon, Ally of Zendikar wasn't very useful and I'll probably cut it.
I don't know exactly what I am going to do with my sideboard, but I know that it isn't good yet.
About main deck, I fell it solid, but I'm considering move my land drops to 27. I didn't get some hard matchs that appeared in PT and I think I had the advantage in most match ups. In control mirrors, It proved to be really good. I played against another uwr control that I didn't report (because nothing interesting happened). After a big spells turn, I cast Nahiri, leading me to Emmy and victory. I won the two matchs by 2-0 without difficult (not being cocky, I just think that my deck is favorable in this match).
I'd like to try this deck against more aggressive strats and see how it perform.
I will play it on FNM this week and see how It will work. I play in the same store as Carlos Romão and He's going to play this FNM, so probably (and I hope so) It'll be a very competitive one with a lot of good decks and players.
is saheeli rai not a card that could be played in this deck? I would think that making a copy of the gearhulk with it's ETB effect worthwhile, or are there just not enough creatures/artifacts?
Don't get me wrong, I understand that exile is important against the graveyard decks, against gearhulk, etc. But is it any worth making Ceremonious Rejection worse against you?
Buddy @ LGS also had this idea. I prefer the the exile over getting a 3/3 creature land. so much 3 damage removal and you will be down a land(personally)
For this weekend gameday, i am going to run a version of the Jeskie control list, Without Avacyns and include Thing in the Ice, 1 Nahiri.4
Don't get me wrong, I understand that exile is important against the graveyard decks, against gearhulk, etc. But is it any worth making Ceremonious Rejection worse against you?
Buddy @ LGS also had this idea. I prefer the the exile over getting a 3/3 creature land. so much 3 damage removal and you will be down a land(personally)
For this weekend gameday, i am going to run a version of the Jeskie control list, Without Avacyns and include Thing in the Ice, 1 Nahiri.4
is saheeli rai not a card that could be played in this deck? I would think that making a copy of the gearhulk with it's ETB effect worthwhile, or are there just not enough creatures/artifacts?
No, it just doesn't do anything. If you're in a position to copy a Gearhulk that means it's already turn 7, and you've untapped with it on board. That's usually already a winning position. If she did something to help protect you, I might get more on board, but the other modes are pretty mediocre. I don't think it's worth tapping 3 mana main phase or a card in our deck.
If you want a planeswalker, consider Nahiri, Jace, Gideon, Dovin, or Big Chandra.
This is the list I am going to run for the Game Day Weekend events. I altered the Pro Tour deck to fit what I will be facing at my LGS, i may alter it a little bit once I see what is played Friday at FNM. I also have a good Jund list that has been doing very well to.
When I was watching the pro tour, i honestly thought a lot of the games were lost because of Thing in the Ice and the Jeskei deck runs more instant/sorcery. I thought it was an auto include
So the graveyard recursion decks are killing me. Getting a Gideon down can help do some chump blocking, but it seems the only thing that can beat this deck is more creatures. Removal (even exile abilities) seem worthless.
Started out with a bunch of losses but starting to turn the corner and have won seven of the last ten.
I also struggle with Colossus Decks. Have lost four from four. Trying to ignore caravan's and hedron archive's and ecountering/exiling only the Colossus got me to a longer game but still a loss. Interested to know if anyone has found a way to make this matchup more favorable?
Sideboard is definitely a work in progress. I don't have anything from graveyard shenanigans and have found the Grixis Graveyard deck troublesome to. Not sure how to make face for Descend Upon the Sinful in the board or if that will even swing the matchup that much.
So the graveyard recursion decks are killing me. Getting a Gideon down can help do some chump blocking, but it seems the only thing that can beat this deck is more creatures. Removal (even exile abilities) seem worthless.
I had issues with these decks as well. Summary Dismissal is your BEST friend in this case. Negate and counter all their draw spells. I went 50/50 against these types of decks.
This deck is a W/U shell with splash for red. I thought about removing the red and including B instead. Transgress the mind and Lost Legacy are amazing pickups. I also like you get Anguished Unmaking as another good Exile effect. Could also sideboard Kalitas VS graveyard decks.
I will be trying an Esper deck at game day #2(that or modify my Jeskei deck first)
So many cards were irrelevant in the meta I played in. Radiant, Alliance, Summary and Immolating were pretty much all dead cards. Sure, it worked for Carlos, but I may as well have not gone with this deck and stayed home playing Magic Duels o.0
Is the deck list I took to game day after seeing what everyone was playing for FNM. The deck performed amazing, I hit the cards I needed to stop every deck right away. Going into these Gameday event, I was nervous about playing the graveyard decks, after sideboard i felt so much better VS these decks. Every graveyard deck i played, they won game 1, then i followed up with winning the following 2 games. It seemed most of my LGS pro players all brought B/G delirium decks and did really well.
Conclusion for this weekend:
I am going to keep this deck around, however I am going to swap to my Jund or B/G delirium lists.
Three colour mana bases aren't super consistent at the moment. Late game it becomes less of an issue, but it can be tough to sometimes have all your colours when you need them early.
Private Mod Note
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Modern Decks UWAzorius ControlUW GWRBKiki-ChordGWRB
mana gets real bad with shards though is the problem
I have also heard this a few times this weekend, what does this mean?
Shards references the Shards of Alara tricolor tribes, which we now use to reference the cycle of tricolor combinations that fuse two allied color pairs. Bant (GWU), Esper (WUB), etc.
Shards mana, as compared to 'wedge' mana (referring to the Khans of Tarkir tricolor tribes, which form a 'wedge' on the color wheel depicted on the back of MTG cards), is worse because the allied dual lands are worse than the enemy dual lands. The allied dual lands need a heavy number of basic lands to function at full capacity. You need a lot of Plains and Island to reveal to Port Town, etc.
This restricts your ability to play any land that doesn't have a basic subtype, because you really need a lot of them. The main problem is that this includes the reveal lands themselves -- you can't realistically play a large number of both of them without cutting every other land without a basic subtype from your deck. The consequence of this is that you cannot count on having all three of your colors available early in the game, and you're still very limited in what other lands you can play (you basically can't play more than six or so copies of Aether Hub, any manland, and any fastland).
But even then the reveal lands don't come into play untapped with high reliability. So you essentially give up some freedom over the spells you play and reliability with your colors to go from a wedge like Jeskai to a shard like Esper. Outside of a light splash for cards that you don't need in the earlygame, I don't recommend it.
Private Mod Note
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Standard: GW ~ Angels ~ WG
Modern: RBW ~ Shadowmancer ~ WBR
Legacy: BUG ~ Shadow Delver ~ GUB
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"Wizards hates blue!"
"Draw-go is dead!"
Oh yeah? Say hello to my bigly friend.
"You know what really grinds my gears? Getting ground out of the game by a gigantic hulking Gear."
Been in an incurable torpor regarding Standard Magic ever since Sphinx's Revelation rotated and your dreams were crushed by a stampede of odd-toed ungulates? Been waiting for two years to play draw-go control and feel as confident in the strength of your deck as you are the depths of your intelligence?
Then have I got the deck for you!
Well, okay, it's not mine. As you might have heard, control is back. Sure, America lost to Grixis in the finals. It happens. I'm here to tell you, though, that if you want to pick up blue control this season and succeed with it, America is the choice for you.
Here's how we make it happen. The core is essential. The rest is customizable to your little heart's content. You counter spells that matter, kill creatures that sneak through the line, draw cards to pull ahead when your opponent has to take a turn off, and rinse-repeat until your opponent is exhausted of resources and you aren't. Then you live every nerd's dream: ride a giant mech to the finish line. MURICA! Hell yeah!
Once you have those slots locked in, you'll need a few more counterspells and some removal. Here are your weapons.
But wait!! THERE'S MORE!!
Finally, here are some other threats you can consider playing.
SAMPLE DECKLISTS
This section is for UWR lists that placed well at major events.
3 Torrential Gearhulk
2 Archangel Avacyn
Planeswalkers (2)
2 Dovin Baan
Enchantments (2)
1 Quarantine Field
1 Stasis Snare
Instants (20)
3 Void Shatter
2 Summary Dismissal
4 Harnessed Lightning
3 Immolating Glare
1 Blessed Alliance
4 Glimmer of Genius
3 Anticipate
3 Radiant Flames
2 Fumigate
Lands (26)
4 Wandering Fumarole
4 Port Town
3 Inspiring Vantage
1 Spirebluff Canal
4 Aether Hub
4 Island
6 Plains
3 Ceremonious Rejection
1 Blessed Alliance
3 Negate
3 Spell Queller
3 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
1 Fumigate
1 Linvala, the Preserver
GW ~ Angels ~ WG
Modern:
RBW ~ Shadowmancer ~ WBR
Legacy:
BUG ~ Shadow Delver ~ GUB
4 Torrential Gearhulk
Planeswalkers (2)
2 Nahiri, the Harbinger
Enchantments (2)
1 Stasis Snare
1 Quarantine Field
Instants (22)
4 Void Shatter
2 Negate
1 Summary Dismissal
4 Harnessed Lightning
2 Immolating Glare
4 Glimmer of Genius
4 Anticipate
1 Blessed Alliance
1 Fumigate
2 Descend upon the Sinful
Lands (27)
4 Wandering Fumarole
3 Inspiring Vantage
2 Spirebluff Canal
4 Aether Hub
4 Port Town
6 Plains
4 Island
4 Galvanic Bombardment
2 Blessed Alliance
2 Dispel
2 Ceremonious Rejection
3 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
1 Overwhelming Denial
1 Sphinx of the Final Word
notes:
- I tried Nahiri over Dovin at first bc of card availability; I knew they didn't do the same thing, but didn't have Dovins, and I wanted to try Nahiri. After trying both, I think Nahiri is better in an open field and more powerful overall. Dovin is the one you want for aggressive decks, but Nahiri's filtering is such a big deal against combo and control decks, and her ult actually tries to win the game. Dovin's best "ult" is a series of -1.
- Playing less than four Gearhulk seemed wrong, and I didn't like Avacyn all that much once Romao made it famous. Avacyn out of control decks is sweet, because people tend to just assume you were holding up a counterspell instead of the Archangel, but Romao put the tech on the map, so now people are more aware of it.
- I don't like playing multiple maindeck copies of Summary Dismissal. Honestly I don't like multiple copies of Dismissal, period... but certainly not in the maindeck. I want more countermagic overall, too. I'm playing two Negate main and it's fine. Also moved up to four Void Shatter because that card seems like it should be a 4-of. I love it in this deck and wouldn't go any other way with it. Maybe play one Scatter to the Winds to mix it up, but I think I'd just always want a Void Shatter instead.
- I don't like maindeck Radiant Flames / K-Return. You need the white wraths, and once you have those, I think Galvanic Bombardment + those wraths is a good enough anti-aggro plan. Radiant Flames and K-Return would come out against literally everything but fast aggro decks, and there's just no reason to be preboarded for them to that extent.
- Speaking of the wraths: Descend upon the Sinful is a great card and probably better than Fumigate in this shell. It's more expensive, sure, but the exile upside matters so much. You circumvent indestructible effects, which are everywhere; and you stop any graveyard recursion shenanigans, which aren't everywhere yet, but remain an effective angle of attack against control decks. Prized Amalgam is actually a big problem for us, and Descend is the cleanest answer.
- I did some different things in the sideboard, partly as experimentation, but also because I believe this board is better-tuned for the post-PT world. I added Dispels and Blessed Alliances to fight the control mirrors and Bristling Hydra, which is (a) a problem for us and (b) picking up a lot of steam, being played in the boards of Aetherworks Marvel as well as in the maindeck of GRx Pummeler. I also tested one each of Sphinx of the Final Word and Overwhelming Denial, but I'm not sure that they're better than other options, like Jace or Spell Queller. And as previously noted, I think Galvanic Bombardment is a good enough postboard plan against aggro (and Blessed Alliance is a nice addition too, there) to not need small sweepers.
Went 3-1 in league tonight, but didn't play any notable 'meta decks' so to speak. Will keep tuning as the post-PT meta develops, but if you want to just pick up a list and go, I think this is a good place to be.
GW ~ Angels ~ WG
Modern:
RBW ~ Shadowmancer ~ WBR
Legacy:
BUG ~ Shadow Delver ~ GUB
I'll post some considerations here about cards and archetypes, if you don't mind.
I'll start with the uwr control decklists of Pro Tour Kaladesh (Honolulu):
Decklists:
4 Aether Hub
3 Inspiring Vantage
4 Island
6 Plains
4 Port Town
1 Spirebluff Canal
4 Wandering Fumarole
5 CREATURES
2 Archangel Avacyn
3 Torrential Gearhulk
25 INSTANTS and SORC.
3 Anticipate
1 Blessed Alliance
2 Fumigate
4 Glimmer of Genius
4 Harnessed Lightning
3 Immolating Glare
3 Radiant Flames
2 Summary Dismissal
3 Void Shatter
2 Dovin Baan
1 Quarantine Field
1 Stasis Snare
1 Blessed Alliance
3 Ceremonious Rejection
1 Fumigate
3 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
1 Linvala, the Preserver
3 Negate
3 Spell Queller
4 Aether Hub
4 Inspiring Vantage
7 Island
1 Mountain
1 Needle Spires
4 Spirebluff Canal
4 Wandering Fumarole
4 CREATURES
4 Torrential Gearhulk
26 INSTANTS and SORC.
4 Anticipate
4 Galvanic Bombardment
4 Glimmer of Genius
4 Harnessed Lightning
2 Incendiary Flow
2 Negate
2 Radiant Flames
4 Void Shatter
3 Dynavolt Tower
2 Nahiri, the Harbinger
1 Dispel
2 Incendiary Flow
1 Needle Spires
2 Negate
4 Spell Queller
2 Summary Dismissal
3 Weaver of Lightning
3 Aether Hub
2 Inspiring Vantage
4 Island
1 Mountain
2 Needle Spires
3 Plains
2 Port Town
4 Prairie Stream
3 Spirebluff Canal
2 Wandering Fumarole
4 CREATURES
1 Linvala, the Preserver
3 Torrential Gearhulk
2 Anticipate
2 Confirm Suspicions
2 Glimmer of Genius
4 Harnessed Lightning
2 Immolating Glare
2 Negate
3 Radiant Flames
2 Summary Dismissal
3 Void Shatter
8 OTHER SPELLS
2 Authority of the Consuls
1 Chandra, Flamecaller
3 Nahiri, the Harbinger
2 Stasis Snare
1 Authority of the Consuls
2 Blessed Alliance
1 Chandra, Flamecaller
2 Descend upon the Sinful
1 Fragmentize
1 Fumigate
1 Linvala, the Preserver
2 Negate
2 Quarantine Field
2 Summary Dismissal
Note: In this Pro Tour, we got four decks with 27 points tying for first place.
Now I'll take a deep look on each card that I've playtested and tell how I think about their.
I separated it on topics, to make it easier to find the information that you want.
Card Choices:
Torrential Gearhulk
Our best creature at moment. The fat cousin of Snapcaster Mage surprised many people in this Pro Tour.
Clearly, looking at this list above, you can imagine how good it is. And trust me, when you play it, It'll look even better.
Let's take a quick look on pros and cons:
Cons:
Linvala, the Preserver
Another good etb effect.
The life gain is precious in some matchs and his ability is similar to thragtusk when It's get online.
She's have a good body and flying, which is relevant.
If you are playing Nahiri, the Harbinger, she can be even better, once you can tutor it.
Sphinx of the final word
Pretty good on mirror matches.
I'm not big fan of this one, but It might see some play if control become dominant.
Archangel Avacyn
Ok, I hate this card.
For me, It seems completely counter intuitive for her proposal.
Still, the boosted Serra Angel have a lot of fans.
She can surprise block a creature and pressure the opponent. With a lot of hotweels around as smuggler's copter, Archangel Avacyn proved to be an accurate choice by Carlos Romão.
Also, she can trade with Gideon, Ally of Zendikar right on spot, which is really important for us.
Still, as I said, I'm not a big fan of Avacyn, but should be considered.
Thing in the ice
Oh darn.. I hate this one too.
It have a decent body and relevant ability (when It's connect). It's a good block against aggro, the ability is relevant in the match and get us a fast clock. Usually is not a card that you want to draw along the game and require a lot of investment to flip it. Also, as control run a low count of creatures, our opponents removals gets a target.
Against linear decks like ramp or combo, It's a good option, since they don't have answers for it.
To be honest, I prefer this card in a U/R spells shell as Pierre Dagen played in this Pro Tour Kaladesh (Honolulu).
Clearly, I do not recommend this card, but It's an option.
Note: The Pro Tour Kaladesh (Honolulu) winner, Shouta Yasooka used 4 copies on his Grixis Control list.
Spell Queller
Not a big fan of this guy for control builds. He's clearly good on tempo decks and I don't recommend in main deck, since control builds don't aim trade tempo for resources.
Still, It appeared as sideboard tech in Carlos Romão deck.
In a field with so many Aetherworks Marvel decks, spell queller showed us how powerful it can be for control.
If the deck can't answer it, It's basically a counterspell attached to a 2/3 flying body.
It's pretty good against decks that use cathartic reunion or tormenting voice as strategy, being a huge blowout too.
Nahiri, the Harbinger
There she is. My favorite card in the entire standard.
It was love at first sight.
Nahiri is awesome and don't see many play in standard. It seems to be a good option at moment, being capable to deal with a lot of threats present in this meta.
Let's take a deep look on her ability's.
+2 - You may discard a card then draw a card.
First of all, +2 loyalty going to 6 loyalty in the same turn (considering his ultimate ability is on -8) it's a lot. It's hard to kill it right away (through the battlefield) and It put a good clock on our favor, mainly against combo or linear strats. Loot isn't the best ability for control, but at least is optional. We want to settle all land drops as possible, but in some game stages, cycle weak cards in match isn't bad.
-2 - exile tapped creature, enchantment or tapped artifact
In a standard with grapple with the past, haunted dead, Liliana, the last hope and even more cards with good grave interaction, exile is pretty relevant (It also dodges avacyn ability). The problem is that creatures with vigilance such Archangel Avacyn or Sylvan Advocate can't be touched by her and tireless tracker or Ishkanah, Grafwidow can play around it. Also, after uses -2 It's become fragile by any manland in format. But the best thing on this ability, is the option to remove enchant and artifacts in g1. You can easily rip off that smuggler's copter of your sight even without the crew and deal with trouble enchants as stasis snare or quarantine field.
-8 - get a creature from library, put it on play with haste and return it in end of turn
The ultimate is easy to reach (only three turns), It's a good clock for linear decks and gets a lot of value with etb creatures like torrential gearhulk or linvala, the preserver.
It's even good enough with emrakul, the promised end. Sure, you don't get the casting ability, but the swing for 13 and probably setting Emmy next turn, It's pretty game in most cases.
Nahiri put us in a good position, doing a lot for control. Cycle some cards with low value, conditional remove to some nonland permanents and an ultimate which accelerate the game for us.
I'm suspect to say, but I'm big fan of this card and I can't imagine a uwr build without it.
Dovin Baan
I didn't had sucess when I tested Dovin Bad, but he showed up in Carlos Romão list as 2 copies.
Nowadays, when a planeswalker is released, people ask themselves three questions. Does he protects himself? Does he generates some advantage in minus? Is his ult viable and/or game breaking?
Now you probably asking yourself - "But isn't this the core of all planeswalkers?"
And I'll give some examples of weak abilities that fill these roles.
Let's start with our mvp - Jace, the living Guildpact. Jace is so good that He's the best even when you compete to be the worst. Screw you, tibalt, the fiend-blooded.
So, let's think on this one first. I will not analyze this card for complete. But let take his minus as example. The ability is relevant, you can return any nonland permanent (including pw's) which is a good trick for blue, give us some tempo advantage and a card on board. It's a pretty good ability, but It's a high cost for a tempo play, which is bad when your behind on board. Situational abilities aren't bad at all, but in most cases, they make you feel that card isn't doing your job, because you can't get all your potential.
Another one to illustrate? Kiora, the Crashing Wave. This card protect itself, give some card advantage and ramp and have a fast ult which can steal games in a blink. Does it saw play? Almost nothing. To be honest, It helped Gerrard Fabiano to win a SCG with a solid Sultai Control deck.
And why this card didn't played? Mostly because the presence of hero's downfall in standard. The low loyalty count of Kiora didn't helped either. The truth is, is hard to find a solid archetype on UG to support this card. When you played it, you had the sensation that abilities wasn't enough to payoff the four mana investment. The same sensation when I play Dovin Baan.
I could keep talking about the lack of synergy in so many recent walkers - Sarkhan, the dragonspeaker, Narset transcendent, chandra, torch of defiance and Kiora, master of the depths, but I'll just move on and talk about Dovin.
Ok, so why did you showed us this cards?
Because Dovin is in the same category. He's not good enough to be straight four in any deck. He's completely situational.
With vehicles in metagame, a -3/-0 in sorcery speed to fog a creature isn't enough in mostly cases. They have so many low drops to crew a smuggler's copter and bash your face and I'm not even considering a needle spires or fleetwheel cruiser, which can trade with Dovin right away. For sure, He's the best answer to selfless spirit, which is a trouble card for control players, but I don't know if it is enough.
His minus is pretty bad, 2UW for a draw and 2 life is laughable, getting on range of any manland in format. If you are behind or in a close game, you don't want to pay 4 for draw a card, but It's common go for this line when you are getting pressured and have no options.
If you are stabilized or already winning, this card will probably cycle itself or just win-more. It's good in control mirrors, because is the best shot you have to draw more then one card in match and extract some valor of it.
The ultimate ability is weak. A static orb effect is perfect manageable, so much that Carlos Romão lost one of his games with Dovin ultimate in this finals of Pro Tour Kaladesh (Honolulu). Of course, isn't any player that can manage something like that, but isn't an ultimate that helps you when you are behind or guarantee a victory every match (even being a big step to a win).
When I playtested it, I felt as I had two all-in options. If you start to minus Dovin Baan, you won't to stop it. Because you want to get the more valor possible of it, like it was a Jace Beleren. And if you start to plus it, you won't to minus anymore, because you want to get your ultimate as soon as possible. You can't manage it to stay in board with safety. It's seems confusing now, but if you didn't tried it, I'll suggest you to try and see how it perform to you. And probably you will feel the same way as I'm trying to describe.
Jace, Unraveler of Secrets
This one here is ok.
You will probably doesn't want more then two in your 75's, but It generate some kind an advantage with an opt per turn and have a good starting loyalty. The minus is situational, we have a lot of ETB creatures in this standard so I don't think It's good positioned right now and the ultimate can seal the deal in control mirrors, midrange or combo matchups.
Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
I want this card out of standard so bad.
No doubt this one here is the best planeswalker in standard right now.
You need to be prepared to face it, at least by now.
For control players, he's an excellent sideboard to pressure controls and linear decks.
It's perfectly main deckable if you want to, but I don't like it on main.
Chandra, Flamecaller
People forgot about this one.
First of all, Chandra, torch of defiance isn't good on control decks. I could take this subject deeply, but It'll take so much time and effort for something that isn't relevant now.
Now let's start talking about Chandra, flamecaller.
She have a high cost and good abilities. She doesn't protect itself with the plus, which is your biggest disadvantage, but at least, she can easily wipe a board and put an opponent in a fast clock. She's good responding some planeswalkers too, since she can deal 6 dmg right away. The type of wheel of fortune ability never got my attention being useful in a control shell, but I can imagine some cases that it could be favorable.
It's pretty reasonable use it as 1 or 2 copies in 75's if you want to.
Here they are. The fuel responsible to move draw-go players.
Instant's are pretty important right now, considering you are running torrential gearhulk.
Let's take a look on this list and put some considerations on it.
Instants and Sorceries:
grip of the roil
It's cycle itself, tap a creature (covering the weakness in Nahiri, the Harbinger) locking it for a turn, helps to set up land drops and eventually a good wrath. It has surge as mechanic, which isn't that great, because you hardly will get a good valor of it.
Still, is a pretty playable card and can be considered.
sweep away
This is my pet card. I miss azorius charm so much, that I try to fit it in every deck I make.
The card is ok against Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, Bomat Courrier (you can respond the trigger of ability, making it exile itself) and against emerge strats. Also, it's not so bad against Marvelous Aetherworks on Ulamog, the ceaseless hunger (sure it's bad get some stuff exiled, but at least, you guarantee that It'll not be cast again through the Marvel). Anyway, with so many ETB's in field right now, perhaps cards like that aren't the most accurate choice.
The objective in play something like it, It's buying time to set land drops, develop your board and try to guarantee a safer late game.
Roil Spout
It's a sorcery and the cost is a bit restrictive. If paired with brain in a jar could get interesting, but It's to slow for it.
In a tappout control style deck, It could be an option. Awaken is an ok mechanic and we have Halimar tidecaller for get some valor in cards like that. I don't think this card is good enough, but It's here as option.
drag under
Ohhh man... first time i saw it, I could swear it was the new repulse, but SPOILER AHEAD - it's not.
Same thoughts as Roil Spout, It could be sweet with brain in a jar and cycle itself is good.
In overall? It's a weak card, which can get a little better in the right shell.
harnessed lightning
One of the best reasons to play uwr shell.
The card is great. If paired with energy generators as Aether Hub and Glimmer of Genius It's get even better.
It's an instant, flexible and can reach high toughness creatures along the game. The drawback is that only hit creatures, but is more then enough for us.
fiery temper
This one is good with discard outlets. It doesn't fit so well in control right now, considering we lost Jace, vryn's prodigy.
The cost is restrictive if not played by madness and the great advantage is the fact to hit players/pw's. Sadly for us, 3 damage isn't enough to deal with a planeswalker, so I don't see a good reason to play it right now.
incendiary flow
It's a sorcery lightning strike. The upside is exile a creature, which is a pretty relevant ability (already say that somewhere above) in this standard. The 3 damage in face can have your merit in some games, as taking down a -2 Liliana, the last hope or setting up a kill, but it's extreme situations that I'll not play around.
I don't think it's bad having it as 2-off depending on the field, but I'm not a big fan of this one for control.
galvanic bombardment
Good card overall. Low cost removal on creatures that deals 2 dmg (in first copy) is enough to deal with a lot of creatures in this standard. It can become food for Nahiri, the Harbinger and still get some valor and is good in cathartic reunion strats . Main problem here is when you face cards with 3 toughness, making the first copy a dead card.
It's not my favorite one, but it's not a bad card and it's perfectly playable.
immolating glare
One of the best instants removal in standard, just getting behind on murder and Unlicensed Disintegration .
The downside is have to use it on attack step, but at least, it deal with almost every creature in standard. Cards like spell queller, smuggler's copter and tireless tracker can perfectly play around it, that's the reason I'll not go straight four on this one, but It's a pretty decent card.
blessed alliance
Two of the three abilities are pretty useful for control mages. Gaining some life is precious in some match ups and sacrifice effect is a good way to deal with Emrakul, the promised end or Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger. Unfortunately, It's easy to play around it, moreover with manlands in this standard. But it's a good card and you can easily put it on main deck or sideboard, depending of your field.
stasis snare
The best instant white removal in standard. Get Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, big eldrazis or any creature you want.
I don't like to play with permanents because it gives so much valor to Nahiri, the harbinger or fragmentize effect's, leading me to a eventual blowout. Otherwise, if they don't have an answer to it, It's a incredible card.
quarantine field
With the same problem (in large scale) as stasis snare, this one is a good way to deal with trouble permanents, in most cases, planeswalkers and vehicles.
The rules here are the same as stasis, It will probably blowout the game, against you or on your favor. If you feel safe to take the risk, the card is a adjustable planar cleansing with exile effect, which is pretty sweet and can steal many games.
I don't recommend more then two in a deck due to it's restrictive cost.
Radiant Flames
The main reason to go for uwr. Best sweeper at low cost, being capable to surpass black and flaying tendrils - thanks to converge, the mechanic who permit us to cast it for three. In Pro Tour Kaladesh (Honolulu), this card was main deck in many controls, what was a great meta call by their pilots, since aggro decks would be a lot of attendance.
At worst, this card is an excellent sideboard to fight aggressive decks.
Nahiri's Wrath
I tried this card many times. I was using as a way to deal with planeswalkers, combined with take inventory and galvanic bombardment shell. It wasn't good, but was doing the job. It's not a good card, but in the right shell, the drawback can be less harmful.
Fumigate
For many, the best 5-mana wrath ever printed. Wipe the board and still gain life, is basically everything you can ask for.
The cost is high for this fast meta game (at least for now), which makes it a little prohibitive for various copies.
Sweepers don't get vehicles too, which isn't favorable for us.
I wouldn't took more then 2 copies in 75's, but it depends on your LGS/tourney metagame.
Descend upon the sinful
Probably the best sweeper in standard. The high cost makes it a lot prohibitive and depending on your shell, delirium isn't an easy task to achieve.
The exile effect is neat, but with the 4/4 angel, It's turn into a huge profit in your favor.
Anticipate
The Pro Tour Kaladesh (Honolulu) All Star. This one appeared in every deck with blue.
Control usually prefers to draw cards instead card selection, for obvious reasons.
Still, this one is a low cost and instant cantrip, which help us to find specific answers according to the course of game.
Take Inventory
The black sheep of Accumulated Knowledge family.
The card isn't bad, but it requires a certain build around. Being sorcery is a big downside for one draw in the first copy, however if combined with Cathartic Reunion or Nahiri's Wrath - or cards like that, it can do a good job.
Fortune's Favor
I used this card for a long time. That's no secret on it.
If the card that you want is in the face up pile, you take it. If the face up card isn't interesting, just go for the pile with more cards.
I like this one and I think is pretty underrated.
Glimmer of Genius
At first sight, I didn't liked this card. And honestly, I still don't.
I guess who played with Sphinx's Revelation will never get his heart comforted by another draws spells in standard season.
But I can't negate that card is solid. If you are running a pack with any of these cards - harnessed lightning, confiscation coup and deadlock trap or anything else that could take advantage of energy, glimmer becomes a 'must have' on your deck.
Scour the Laboratory
I like this one. It only payoffs if delirium is up, otherwise 4UU is too much for three draws, even if instant.
Sadly, isn't easy for us to reach delirium so easy in this colors, even with torrential gearhulk counting as 2-types.
But if you can make this work in a shell which get delirium without problem, this card have a huge payoff.
void shatter
As expected, made a lot of success in the Pro Tour Kaladesh (Honolulu).
Already said so many times in this topic, how important exile effect is at moment. Also, this is the best 3-mana counterspell that we have access in this standard.
No surprises here. Do you want to run solid counterspells at it minimal cost? This is your card.
Remembering that counters are our best answers to planeswalkers, so It's really important try to save it for crucial moments.
Revolutionary Rebuff
I like this card. The drawback is huge in this standard, is probably bad positioned in meta and becomes useless during the game, but I run four in my deck.
It's the better answer for three mana walkers when you are on draw (at this point, you already notice that I hate planeswalkers) and can get a lot of opponents unprepared. I'll not try to convince you about this one here, but imo, worth the test.
Confirm Suspicious
This card is completely underrated and It's excellent as single counter on main deck.
Flashback it with the Gearhulk is a huge blowout and after I used it once, I never stopped (like the cardboard crack).
Failed Inspection
I like this one here. The possibility to cycle something in some points of game is interesting and counters are always welcome.
It's a reasonable card in some situations.
Ceremonious Rejection
Very well positioned card in meta. Remembering that it can counter devoid as Void Shatter cards too.
Very maindeckable and really good on side.
Summary Dismissal
Great against eldrazis and emerge. Also, It's really good against Aetherwork Marvelous if it land the board.
Very good on sideboard and can get some space on main deck depending on the field.
negate
Our best answers against planeswalkers and vehicles.
Basically the same as two above.
dispel
Good sideboard, everyone knows this one i guess.
Enchantments and Artifacts:
Enchantments and Artifacts
I already talked about stasis snare and quarantine field in Spot Removals, if you are asking where are they.
As you can see, I don't have many artifacts or enchants to talk about.
I'll take some artifacts that I playtested during my time in this standard.
For the enchantment, I'll take just one card that is a solid sideboard option.
Let's take a quick look on it.
Artifacts
Brain in a jar
This card is just to slow for its proposal. It's a solid card to build around and be the centerpiece of your deck, but sorcery cards don't payoff when you don't have the jar. Even with the jar, you still need to put counters up using mana, which is a big downside.
Perpetual Timepiece
This card is here for people who have seen or played the great tech of Ivan Floch in Pro Tour Magic 2015 (Portland) with elixir of immortality, showing us how powerful it can be.
Going infinite is quite nice, but this card can't do the same of elixir.
I tried a brew with it,galvanic bombardment and take inventory and the performance was ok, but I still don't recommend.
Deadlock Trap
It's a good way to use the stocked energy, deal with eldrazis, selfless spirit and planeswalkers. Everything that can be a trouble for you, now can be responded. Uwr builds suffer a lot against pw's and this artifact put us on the fight again. It's not the type of card that you want to get four copies, but it works well as 2-off.
I recommend everyone to playtest it, was really surprising to me.
Dynavolt Tower
It was present on this Pro Tour Kaladesh (Honolulu) in some lists, including a top 8 list.
Seems to be a build around card, since it requires energy and/or instants and sorceries being played.
If you were able to complete those requirements, you can extract a lot of valor of it.
I didn't playtested this one, so I don't know what to say. It don't get my attention, but I'll try it sooner or later.
Enchantments
Authority of the consuls
The sideboard card which made a lot of people get hyped. For who played with blind obedience, it seemed nothing new.
For me, both cards are weak. In blind obedience standard, we got a lot of creatures with haste and hard to deal with (Hello, chandra's phoenix and ash zealot) and it add some valor to it.
Now in standard, we don't have this kind of trouble and this card don't get vehicles, which is pretty bad. The life gain could be valuable and it makes this card not so bad in multiples. I don't think it's so bad at all, but isn't so well positioned right now.
It set up creatures from Nahiri, the harbinger -2 too, which is a nice synergy.
Lands:
I'll just take a quick look on manlands.
Aether Hub
Auto include in any deck with 3 colors, using energy or not.
Wandering Fumarole
A good manland for us. It can block well and trade with a lot of creatures if you want.
Beat something with four power is pretty good too.
Needle Spires
In my opnion, this one is the best manland in standard.
Double strike is sweet in both defense and attack. It can trade with creatures with 2 toughness without problems and It's a good beater to get planeswalkers. I'd include this in any uwr list with no doubt.
Matchups
I'll take some examples of Pro Tour Kaladesh (Honolulu) lists.
Remebering that those matchs depends entirely about your deck build.
I didn't played most of those match ups yet, so I'll tell what I imagine and eventually I'll updating it.
This is probably a hard match.
They have selfless spirit, rattlechains and spell queller (make sure to play around it as possible) to complicate our life.
They bring the 4-gideon pack as top of curve and avacyn, putting us in awkward spots with counterspells and removals.
Their stasis snare catch our hulks but we can get the etb value at least.
In g1, reflector mage is a card with no value for they and they are not so fast to pressure our life. They only can draw for thraben inspector and loot on smuggler's copter, which make the things relatively calm after stabilize the board state.
A lot of low curve creatures that will swarm the board. Pia Nalaar is problematic and they bring Gideon, Ally of Zendikar in main deck.
Our advantage is that creatures that crew a Smuggler's Copter doesn't attack us, giving us more turns to develop our board. So It's interesting try save removals to vehicles.
I guess g1 is even. In pos board they'll bring more gideon's and we get radiant flames which is great in this match up.
This is the one match I've already faced. I was playing a Nahiri's uwr version, so I was capable to deal with smuggler's copter pretty well, even getting hit by it twice. Nothing new in say that's Gideon, Ally of Zendikar was his beast threat, so I managed to play around it.
Usually they starts are not so explosive, then I could stabilize with some tranquility. Some matchs they have fleetwheel cruiser which is pretty good against us, taking down even a Nahiri with high loyalty in a turn.
Overall, I'd say that is a even match, that we don't have many troubles to deal with.
Almost a bye, if played right.
We just need to find our counters before their find a Aetherworks Marvel and we'll be fine.
Pos board you can bring negates and Gideon to pressure his life.
Seems pretty hard. They draw more cards then us, thanks to painful truths with almost no drawback and their removals are solid and can easily take down our hulks or manlands. We have some dead cards in this match up (as they do), but they compensate it with more draws.
In pos board, It seems pretty favorable to us (if you are bringing some Gideons), but can't say with precision.
This week we have Gameday and I'll report it eventually.
Control mirrors come down to what I call the "one big turn." There's a passive phase where players set up, and an active phase where resources are exchanged left and right, and whatever's left standing at the end wins for the player controlling it. Usually the transition between phases is marked by one crucial turn, where both players have a hand mostly full of relevant spells for winning a big countermagic war. Assuming both players have drawn reasonably equally, the player who starts the fight usually loses.
Nahiri's ultimate is game-winning in a control mirror because it represents a large burst of relevant resource acquisition -- a win condition with which to end the game, and a card draw spell from your graveyard to continue sculpting your hand to win the one big fight -- without committing any mana. Your opponent either has to let you get this burst uncontested -- which makes you substantially more likely to win the big turn -- or start the big turn right away, committing mana first in the process. And remember, to get to that ult, you've been sculpting your hand with the +2, meaning that you're more likely to win the big turn when it comes.
I find Dovin to be less flexible than Nahiri. Dovin is exclusively useful against aggressive creature decks (where he is certainly better than Nahiri). His +1 and ult do essentially nothing in control mirrors -- you would think the untapping restriction matters more, but as Shota showed in the finals, you really only need access to all your mana for the one big turn. And Nahiri is more useful against combo decks, as she represents a clock as she filters your draw steps for countermagic. She also interacts with weird permanent types, which has some useful splash damage if the combo is based around artifacts or enchantments.
And yes, my list is definitely softer against aggro decks. It's possible that cutting both the smallball wraths and Dovin is a mistake. I tuned my list toward beating control and Aetherworks combo, both of which were the highlights of the PT and the decks that people are most likely to pick up for upcoming tournaments.
GW ~ Angels ~ WG
Modern:
RBW ~ Shadowmancer ~ WBR
Legacy:
BUG ~ Shadow Delver ~ GUB
UR Blue-Red Control
Modern:
UBR Grixis Control
UWR Jeskai Control
Emrakul does end the game more immediately than a Gearhulk, but any sequence involving putting a Gearhulk into play from your library for free is game-winning, even if it doesn't put the opponent to zero right away. There's just too much advantage wrapped up into that play.
Like jar said, Linvala is a pretty reasonable alternative target in the 75 if you want something besides the Gearhulk. Otherwise just ult for a Hulk, you'll be way happier for it than you think you will.
GW ~ Angels ~ WG
Modern:
RBW ~ Shadowmancer ~ WBR
Legacy:
BUG ~ Shadow Delver ~ GUB
Don't get me wrong, I understand that exile is important against the graveyard decks, against gearhulk, etc. But is it any worth making Ceremonious Rejection worse against you?
MOD::symw::symu::symb: Gifts
LEG::symg::symb: Infect
Youtube Channel
Understood. I've got Linvala in the SB right now.
Planning on running this at game day, just not sure if there are any changes we should make going into a more known meta now that things have started to shake out after PT. What does the sideboard plan for us look like against G/B delirium? That makes up a good portion of my local meta atm. I am on Carlos's exact 75 at the moment for reference.
I'm testing a uwr control build for Gameday this weekend in my LGS and I'm expecting a field more dedicated to aggro/midrange decks.
First, I'll start wih my list.
4 Aether Hub
3 Inspiring Vantage
4 Island
6 Plains
4 Port Town
1 Spirebluff Canal
2 Wandering Fumarole
2 Needle Spires
4 CREATURES
2 Torrential Gearhulk
1 Linvala, the Preserver
1 Emrakul, the Promised End
24 INSTANTS and SORC.
3 Anticipate
2 Blessed Alliance
2 Fumigate
1 Descend upon the sinful
4 Glimmer of Genius
4 Harnessed Lightning
1 Radiant Flames
2 Failed Inspection
4 Revolutionary Rebuff
1 Confirm Suspicions
4 Nahiri, the Harbinger
1 Quarantine Field
1 Stasis Snare
1 Blessed Alliance
3 Ceremonious Rejection
2 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
2 Negate
2 radiant flames
2 fragmentize
1 Coax from the blind eternities
1 Jace, the unraveler of secrets
1 Quarantine field
I'll start talking about the match ups, then I'll talk about how some cards and deck performed.
2 Matchs against RG Aggro - RG
This deck really remembers the match against Infect in Modern.
First match was against a good player. He seems to be used to play it and know what lines take.
In the G2, my opponent wasn't so experienced with the deck, his decklist wasn't so refined and He doesn't seemed to know how to pilot it so well.
Anyways, both match was really favorable to me and I'd be glad to face a field with a lot of this deck.
Let's talk about the matchs:
Match 1 - G1
I started on play and open a hand with revolutionary rebuff, which is an easy keep in most matchs.
He did Voltaic Brawler on t2 and Revolutionary Rebuff was my only line. I took the risk and countered it.
In t3 he made a Electrostatic Pummeler and I draw another Revolutionary Rebuff. He made this shenanigans and hit me for 18 in t4 and I resolved a Glimmer of Genius, founding a Blessed Alliance. He attacked again on t5 and I blessed his Plummeler with power of love. He tapped for a Bristling Hydra which encounter the fate of my Revolutionary Rebuff.
After that, the game stabilized, He drew a lot of lands and I found counters/gearhulks to everything He tried to do andNahiri, the Harbinger called Emmy Spaghetti to destroy his plane.
Game 2
I went to 6 cards and kept a slow hand and a Revolutionary Rebuff. He made a Voltaic Brawler in his t2, He was on play so my counter was useless. He bashed me for four dmg every turn without being greedy. I managed to find Harnessed Lightning but I knew that would face a blossoming defense, so I wait for another removal. When I was in 8 life, I found a Quarantine Field and missplayed like a boss. I Harnessed Lightining his brawler, He went for blossoming defense and I said ok. Then I put my Quarantine Field targeting his brawler and He said ok. Then I noticed that blossoming defense is until end of turn and knew I'd be dead next turn.
I was tapped out, so his just came for Larger than Life and I scooped.
Even if I didn't had missplayed, I was under a lot of pressure and I don't know if I had chances. But after my play, I lost all the chances for sure hehe.
Game 3
Got a Harnessed Lightning on my starting hand and kept it. He made a turn 2 Longtusk Cub and I removed it right away. His hand was probably slow and He played around my Revolutionary Rebuff. I don't remember exactly what happened, but we trade some resources, my Blessed Alliance took out his hydra, Nahiri exiled a creature and when she was in 8 loyalty, I gearhulked a counter for his next spell.
After that, I called Emmy and put my Needle Spires and Torrential Gearhulk to beat his face, going for gg.
Results: 2-1 - uwr control
Match 2
He was on a midrange oriented version of the deck (probably the Shaun MacLaren version), since He got tireless tracker and servant of the conduit.
Game 1
I was on play and oppened a hand fulled of counters. Countered everything He tried to do on curve and on turn 6 I made a torrential gearhulk on Confirm Suspicions, creating me a lot of advantage along the game. In some point, he didn't have so many energy to his bristling hydra and my gearhulk was capable to trade it. Eventually, I made Nahiri, the harbinger and miss spaghetti sealed the deal.
Game 2
He got an agressive start with servant of the conduit, Lathnu Hellion (which got bolted) and tireless tracker on his turn 4, getting 2 clues. I drew a lot of Nahiris and used her as removal/bait to preserve some life points. When he was with a servants and a tracker I fumigate the board, gaining some life. Along the game, He managed to put a servant, tracker and a hydra on the board and I drew a Linvala, the preserver which made an angel and was able to chump block the hydra, left just the token behind.
He missed the land drop, so his tracker was just 4/3 and He didn't have removals to deal with the token. After that, He made another servant and passed.
Next turn, He resolved to attack with everything and I was happy to trade the token for tracker. In next turn he attacked with 2 servants and didn't saw my needle spire, which killed one of his servants. After that in his next turn, He attacked again with servant and I put my manland to block, He pumped it up for a 5/5, killing my land. On my turn, I settle a Nahiri, the Harbinger exiling his last creature and pass. He didn't draw another creature in that turn and Nahiri start to be more and more loyal to me and We brought spaghetti to the party, winning the match.
Results: 2-0 uwr control
Next match, I was going for a control mirror against the list which got the PT.
Grixis Control - RUB
I don't remember everything here because the match was long, but I'll talk about some points that I can remember.
He was on play and made a Thing in the ice on turn two. I killed it with harnessed lightning. In his turn 4, He tried to Painful Truths and I countered it with Revolutionary Rebuff. In his turn 5, He made another poop in the ice and I figured He had a counter to protect it, so I tried to bait his counter with a Glimmer of Genius in pass and He let it resolve. On my turn, I tried to bolt the ice cream creature and He countered it. We trade some draws, He resolved a Glimmer of Genius and at some point I tried to make a nahiri, the Harbinger without a counter backup. He countered my Nahiri with a Torrential Gearhulk and put his poop on ice on one counter.
I was with Emrakul, the promised end in hand since the beginning of the game and I was afraid to try it and get countered, since it was my biggest chance to win the match. I tried to bait and outsmart with a Fumigate, He used galvanic bombardment on his own thing in the ice flipping it and returning titan to his hand. In his turn he activated the manland and hit me for 11 and give me the green light for emmy spaghetti. I used it, mindslaved his turn killing the ice cream crap and his manland. He did another draw and scoop.
Game 2
Basically the same history. He set a thing in the ice on turn 2 and I don't know what He put on sideboard (probably Jace, negate and transgress) but those cards didn't show up. I set a Nahiri, the harbinger with counterspell backup and when I called Emmy was gg. I see on your hand a lot of removals spells, so I imagine that He think I was playing a version with spell queller.
Results: 2-0 uwr control
Next one was against Boros Dwarves.
Boros Dwarves - RW
Game 1
First game I got stucked on three lands. Get some removal to the first Smuggler's Copter but when He land Gideon on turn 4 I conceded.
Game 2
He started to swarn the board, I traded my bolt on Smuggler's Copter and on turn 5 I used one radiant flames killing three creatures with a negate backup for Gideon, Ally of Zendikar who tried to show up but got stopped.
After my board stabilized, I used a hulk to get more creatures and eventually got the win.
Game 3
He started going wild, flooding the board with Pia Nalaar on t3 which made me waste a Radiant Flames without many valor and He set up a Gideon, Ally of Zendikar on t4. Lucky I had a Quarantine Field on my hand, taking off Gideon and token in same turn.
He was using few copies of an artifact (which I don't remember the name) which gives draw and discard if a creature attack and you pay one.
In the beginning, He could sculpt the hand a little with this card, but along the game I was capable to deal with every creature He played and won by calling Mom Spaghetti.
Results: 2-1 uwr control
last game report, was against a gw aggro, i guess.
I was pretty unlucky in two games, but the match is tough anyways.
GW Aggro - GW
Game 1
I was on play and kept a two land hand and didn't draw another one until turn 4, when He settle Gideon, Ally of Zendikar and I scooped.
Game 2
I didn't see many of his deck, just a Thraben Inspector, Smuggler's Copter and Gideon, Ally of Zendikar what made me get some negate and Ceremonious Rejection (Ceremonious was a bad call of my part) and took off my radiant flames cuz I'm clearly dumb. I started to get pressured by three thraben inspector and lost some land drops, get stucked in three for a time. When He got 6 lands, He put a Sylvan Advocate on play, followed by a Gideon, Ally of Zendikar. In his next turn, I was low and was obligated to use Quarantine Field. I opted to play around Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, so I used it for one (four mana) and let 2 manas up for negate. He tried to make a Gideon and I countered it.
Next turn He came with Nissa, Vital Force which is clearly a broken card and a threat in the same level as Gideon, if not worst. I did a Torrential Gearhulk to chump block a land and try to kill Nissa with my manland, but He made an Archangel Avacyn. The board state was 2 thraben and Avacyn for him and a Gearhulk on my side. I chumped the land and passed, with a blessed alliance on hand and seven life.
I attacked his Nissa, Vital Force and He blocked with something, don't remember what happened exactly. In his turn, He attacked me with Nissa's Land, Avacyn and 2 thraben, I paid blessing alliance for sac creature and untap my hulk - and that's was the highlight missplay.
SoArchangel Avacyn hit me for four and flipped in end of turn, giving the three lethal damage and winning the game.
Results: 2-0 GW Aggro
Final Considerations:
Well, I did many missplays and took some dumb lines in some games, but I ended pretty satisfied with the deck.
I missed a third copy of Torrential Gearhulk (basically is a card that I always want to draw, but never want in my starting hand) and in some games, I felt as four Nahiri, the Harbinger being too much, but I'll keep it as four, at least for now. My wraths didn't showed up as I would have like them to, probably I'll add an extra copy of Fumigate in my sideboard.
My side was pretty weak in many games. I didn't want to keep some cards, but I didn't want to bring anything else. Three Ceremonious Rejection was definitely too much (If you are not facing the bad artifact decks as Aetherworks Marvel and some sort of it).
The two main deck blessed alliance was really good in some cases, but I'll probably move it to side and substitute it for an Immolating Glare. Gideon, Ally of Zendikar wasn't very useful and I'll probably cut it.
I don't know exactly what I am going to do with my sideboard, but I know that it isn't good yet.
About main deck, I fell it solid, but I'm considering move my land drops to 27. I didn't get some hard matchs that appeared in PT and I think I had the advantage in most match ups. In control mirrors, It proved to be really good. I played against another uwr control that I didn't report (because nothing interesting happened). After a big spells turn, I cast Nahiri, leading me to Emmy and victory. I won the two matchs by 2-0 without difficult (not being cocky, I just think that my deck is favorable in this match).
I'd like to try this deck against more aggressive strats and see how it perform.
I will play it on FNM this week and see how It will work. I play in the same store as Carlos Romão and He's going to play this FNM, so probably (and I hope so) It'll be a very competitive one with a lot of good decks and players.
Buddy @ LGS also had this idea. I prefer the the exile over getting a 3/3 creature land. so much 3 damage removal and you will be down a land(personally)
For this weekend gameday, i am going to run a version of the Jeskie control list, Without Avacyns and include Thing in the Ice, 1 Nahiri.4
Care to share list you will use?
No, it just doesn't do anything. If you're in a position to copy a Gearhulk that means it's already turn 7, and you've untapped with it on board. That's usually already a winning position. If she did something to help protect you, I might get more on board, but the other modes are pretty mediocre. I don't think it's worth tapping 3 mana main phase or a card in our deck.
If you want a planeswalker, consider Nahiri, Jace, Gideon, Dovin, or Big Chandra.
UR Blue-Red Control
Modern:
UBR Grixis Control
UWR Jeskai Control
4 Thing in the Ice
3 Torrential Gearhulk
Planeswalker(3)
2 Dovin Baan
1 Nahiri, the Harbinger
Enchantment(2)
1 Quarantine Field
1 Stasis Snare
Instant(19)
2 Summary Dismissal
3 Void Shatter
2 Immolating Glare
1 Blessed Alliance
4 Glimmer of Genius
4 Harnessed Lightning
3 Anticipate
3 Radiant Flames
Land(26)
4 Wandering Fumarole
3 Inspiring Vantage
2 Spirebluff Canal
4 Port Town
4 Aether Hub
5 Plains
4 Island
2 Negate
2 Dispel
3 Ceremonious Rejection
1 Fumigate
1 Stasis Snare
1 Blessed Alliance
2 Spell Queller
3 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
This is the list I am going to run for the Game Day Weekend events. I altered the Pro Tour deck to fit what I will be facing at my LGS, i may alter it a little bit once I see what is played Friday at FNM. I also have a good Jund list that has been doing very well to.
When I was watching the pro tour, i honestly thought a lot of the games were lost because of Thing in the Ice and the Jeskei deck runs more instant/sorcery. I thought it was an auto include
4 Aether Hub
3 Inspiring Vantage
5 Island
5 Plains
4 Port Town
1 Spirebluff Canal
4 Wandering Fumarole
Instants and Sorceries
2 Blessed Alliance
1 Immolating Glare
4 Anticipate
2 Negate
4 Harnessed lightning
4 Void Shatter
2 Radiant Flames
4 Glimmer of Genius
1 Summary Dismissal
1 Stasis Snare
1 Quarantine Field
Planeswalkers
2 Nahiri the Harbinger
Creatures
3 Torrential Gearhulk
1 Needle Spires
1 Ceremonious Rejection
1 Dispel
2 Declaration in Stone
1 Negate
2 Radiant Flames
3 Spell Queller
2 Gideon Ally of Zendikar
1 Summary Dismissal
1 Linvala the Preserver
Started out with a bunch of losses but starting to turn the corner and have won seven of the last ten.
I also struggle with Colossus Decks. Have lost four from four. Trying to ignore caravan's and hedron archive's and ecountering/exiling only the Colossus got me to a longer game but still a loss. Interested to know if anyone has found a way to make this matchup more favorable?
Sideboard is definitely a work in progress. I don't have anything from graveyard shenanigans and have found the Grixis Graveyard deck troublesome to. Not sure how to make face for Descend Upon the Sinful in the board or if that will even swing the matchup that much.
I had issues with these decks as well. Summary Dismissal is your BEST friend in this case. Negate and counter all their draw spells. I went 50/50 against these types of decks.
This deck is a W/U shell with splash for red. I thought about removing the red and including B instead. Transgress the mind and Lost Legacy are amazing pickups. I also like you get Anguished Unmaking as another good Exile effect. Could also sideboard Kalitas VS graveyard decks.
I will be trying an Esper deck at game day #2(that or modify my Jeskei deck first)
GW ~ Angels ~ WG
Modern:
RBW ~ Shadowmancer ~ WBR
Legacy:
BUG ~ Shadow Delver ~ GUB
3 Inspiring Vantage
4 Island
6 Plains
4 Port Town
1 Spirebluff Canal
4 Wandering Fumarole
3 Torrential Gearhulk
3 Anticipate
1 Blessed Alliance
2 Fumigate
4 Glimmer of Genius
4 Harnessed Lightning
3 Immolating Glare
3 Radiant Flames
2 Summary Dismissal
3 Void Shatter
1 Quarantine Field
1 Stasis Snare
So many cards were irrelevant in the meta I played in. Radiant, Alliance, Summary and Immolating were pretty much all dead cards. Sure, it worked for Carlos, but I may as well have not gone with this deck and stayed home playing Magic Duels o.0
3 Thing in the Ice
3 Torrential Gearhulk
2 Combustible Gearhulk
Planeswalker(2)
2 Nahiri, the Harbinger
Enchantment(2)
1 Quarantine Field
1 Stasis Snare
Instant(20)
3 Void Shatter
2 Negate
2 Immolating Glare
1 Blessed Alliance
4 Glimmer of Genius
4 Harnessed Lightning
4 Anticipate
2 Radiant Flames
Land(26)
4 Wandering Fumarole
3 Inspiring Vantage
2 Spirebluff Canal
4 Port Town
4 Aether Hub
5 Plains
4 Island
2 Summary Dismissal
2 Dispel
2 Ceremonious Rejection
1 Authority of the Consuls
1 Fumigate
1 Stasis Snare
1 Blessed Alliance
2 Spell Queller
3 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
Is the deck list I took to game day after seeing what everyone was playing for FNM. The deck performed amazing, I hit the cards I needed to stop every deck right away. Going into these Gameday event, I was nervous about playing the graveyard decks, after sideboard i felt so much better VS these decks. Every graveyard deck i played, they won game 1, then i followed up with winning the following 2 games. It seemed most of my LGS pro players all brought B/G delirium decks and did really well.
Conclusion for this weekend:
I am going to keep this deck around, however I am going to swap to my Jund or B/G delirium lists.
I have also heard this a few times this weekend, what does this mean?
UWAzorius ControlUW
GWRBKiki-ChordGWRB
Legacy Decks
WDeath and TaxesW
Pauper Decks
UDelverU
WURBGAffinityWURBG
GBTortexGB
Shards references the Shards of Alara tricolor tribes, which we now use to reference the cycle of tricolor combinations that fuse two allied color pairs. Bant (GWU), Esper (WUB), etc.
Shards mana, as compared to 'wedge' mana (referring to the Khans of Tarkir tricolor tribes, which form a 'wedge' on the color wheel depicted on the back of MTG cards), is worse because the allied dual lands are worse than the enemy dual lands. The allied dual lands need a heavy number of basic lands to function at full capacity. You need a lot of Plains and Island to reveal to Port Town, etc.
This restricts your ability to play any land that doesn't have a basic subtype, because you really need a lot of them. The main problem is that this includes the reveal lands themselves -- you can't realistically play a large number of both of them without cutting every other land without a basic subtype from your deck. The consequence of this is that you cannot count on having all three of your colors available early in the game, and you're still very limited in what other lands you can play (you basically can't play more than six or so copies of Aether Hub, any manland, and any fastland).
But even then the reveal lands don't come into play untapped with high reliability. So you essentially give up some freedom over the spells you play and reliability with your colors to go from a wedge like Jeskai to a shard like Esper. Outside of a light splash for cards that you don't need in the earlygame, I don't recommend it.
GW ~ Angels ~ WG
Modern:
RBW ~ Shadowmancer ~ WBR
Legacy:
BUG ~ Shadow Delver ~ GUB