I think going up to 22 creatures and fitting two Exclusion Mage in there can make sense. I'm a little surprised to see so few Unsummon or Blink of an Eye running around, but I guess the 2/2 body is a relevant blocker in most matchups.
I agree that we want four flying two drops and I share your love for the sprite. Getting a surveil every turn is huge for us. I wouldn't go to the marauder unless I started seeing a lot more flying blockers running around.
Essence Scatter vs Spell Pierce is a meta call, I think. I will note that there are decks where Essence Scatter is just dead, while Spell Pierce usually has at least one or two available targets. Also that one is less than two. OTOH Essence Scatter is the only blue card designed to put a creature in the graveyard, which can be a nice effect to have available. Remember that either Essence Scatter or Spell Pierce is the third "counterspell" added to the deck after Wizard's Retort and Dive Down.
Yeah, this is totally a meta call.
I don't MB exclusion mage and do MB essence scatter because my meta is full of red aggro and I need better answers to GCW. Sorcery speed bounce is just dead when red has haste creatures and ETB abilities. I guess against monogreen stompy, bouncing Pelt Collector and champ blocking SLC is pretty solid play for 3 mana.
Arena is in a weird state right now. A lot of people still don’t have the best cards. The shuffler has a habit of spitting out 10 lands in a row. It’s just a strange place to try to playtest. Not to discount any successes you’ve had but take arena results less seriously than paper magic for the time being.
Deck is great and I'll probably play it at a GP in 1,5 weeks, but I'm trying to figure out how to improve the mono red/boros aggro match up, because that doesn't look too hot. I've boarded in Diamond Mares, but they seem kinda meh. Been thinking of bringing in Surge Mare as a blocker, not sure if that's good enough though.
How do you (try and) beat those decks?
Also, haven't had a chance to play against the mono white deck that's popping up here and there, any thoughts on that?
Welcome to the blue side!
Diamond Mare is indeed meh in my experience. Surge Mare is just a better anti-aggro tool. It can actually block your opponent's biggest guy, which is usually more life saved per turn than you will be able to earn with Diamond Mare. Also, while both often eat bolts the Diamond Mare will just die. The Surge Mare gets to block first. It also has random utility carrying Curious Obsession past green critters and swinging for four in extreme grind situations.
The white weenie matchup is tough but winnable. I got my second competitive league 5-0 with the deck today after playing white weenie twice. The basic idea is that you will have one designated attacker (early guy with Obsession or a Djinn). All of your other resources go into keeping yourself alive. I do mean all--I have used Dive Down as a combat trick just so I'll have an extra blocker available the next turn. If at all possible against mono-white you want to keep their three drops off the board. If they run History of Benalia into a spell pierce it usually means you have a fighting chance to win. If they land a Benalish Marshal then life gets tough. Merfolk Trickster is a big help slowing down their attacks or turning off abilities (e.g. to trade with Knight of Grace or turn off the Marshal pump).
All of our bounce tech and Surge Mare do work post board. I'll usually do something like -2 Dive Down, -3 Spell Pierce, -3 Nightveil Sprite, +1 Time of Ice, +2 Exclusion Mage, +3 Surge Mare, +2 Essence Scatter. They don't have a lot of targeted removal but they do have a little, so I keep a little protection in just in case. Time of Ice is fantastic as long as the game is somewhat competitive.
The more red they have the worse their creatures are but the more of a problem they present with spells. Keeping your creatures alive gets trickier and you have to look out for reach and for Experimental Frenzy. It's the same basic idea, though. Ideally one guy sends in while you use everything else to stay alive.
The aggro matchup is also where you will strongly consider jamming Djinn on turn three if you have multiples.
Great job on primer but one small error, Unsummon is not legal in Standard, that is probably the reason why no 5-0 list has it
Anyway, I always play blue beatdown decks in most formats so this deck, and Curious Obsession in particular, are my style.
I played mtgo Ptq 11 days ago, finished 6:3, 40th out of 256 people, if I remember correctly.
All 3 losses were to monored because my deck weren't equipped for it with Diamond and Surge and some of my starting hands should have been mull.
My tech was playing 4 Storm Fleet Aerialist main, adding early defense, offense and evasion with a risk to have 1/2 vanilla flyer sometimes. They earned their slots.
After Ptq my win pct was good, winning most matches except the ones with Niv-Mizzet. My plan is to have Metamorphic Alteration and equip CO-ed creature to have greater dragon or shrink their dragon, because dying with several counterspells in hand just because they played Niv is no longer funny.
The rest of meta is ok in my book, so this will be my deck until Merfolk support comes in next set.
Great job on primer but one small error, Unsummon is not legal in Standard, that is probably the reason why no 5-0 list has it
Whoops, good call. I mixed up Explorers of Ixalan and Rivals of Ixalan. Fixed in the Primer.
I've been happy enough with Blink of an Eye anyway.
Anyway, I always play blue beatdown decks in most formats so this deck, and Curious Obsession in particular, are my style.
I played mtgo Ptq 11 days ago, finished 6:3, 40th out of 256 people, if I remember correctly.
All 3 losses were to monored because my deck weren't equipped for it with Diamond and Surge and some of my starting hands should have been mull.
My tech was playing 4 Storm Fleet Aerialist main, adding early defense, offense and evasion with a risk to have 1/2 vanilla flyer sometimes. They earned their slots.
After Ptq my win pct was good, winning most matches except the ones with Niv-Mizzet. My plan is to have Metamorphic Alteration and equip CO-ed creature to have greater dragon or shrink their dragon, because dying with several counterspells in hand just because they played Niv is no longer funny.
The rest of meta is ok in my book, so this will be my deck until Merfolk support comes in next set.
I think there might be enough little beaters in standard to go full flyer beatdown. With enough pirates Siren Dreamcaller and Lookout's Dispersal start to look good.
Do you run the Aerialists over anything in particular? How many creatures have you been running?
Niv-Mizzet is a house. I've been able to slide by with Trickster and bounce. If I see much more of him I'm going to wedge in some Deep Freeze action. By turn six I think I'm ok paying three to deal with Niv-Mizzet forever.
What are the primary targets for Blink in this standard? I hate giving them card for just bouncing Niv.
I scoured Gatherer for all possible playable cards but there is not enough stuff for mono blue Pirates or Favorable Winds dudes that work together and there is also huge lack of artifacts for Zahid (to provide Tempest beef support), Artificer's Assistant fuel or Skilled Animator targets, which was dissapointing.
I like flash but 3 toughness on Dreamcaller is not for my deck when I stare down Wizard's Lightning, Lightning Strike, Justice Strike, while also not being easy for 20 lands. Current deck iteration is close to final optimal build, until next set, IMO.
Usual 4 MCH, 4 Stormtamer, 4 Trickster, 4 Djinn are mandatory. The rest I filled with 4 Aerialist, 2 Nightveil and 2 Exclusion, aka 24.
Someone has to carry the aura so I lean on more bodies than usual 20.
To make room I ditched Charts and Opts, not persuaded we have time for that in our tempo deck.
It is 50/50 between Deep Freeze and Waterknot. DF means Trickster or Exclusion become irrelevant (the same for Surge Mare until very late) on the ground and even worse if they are enchanted, Waterknot has different downsides. But Alteration could be a future 2-of in the main, either removal(ish) or making our dude into "hasty" Djinn that is already on the board.
What are the primary targets for Blink in this standard? I hate giving them card for just bouncing Niv.
I scoured Gatherer for all possible playable cards but there is not enough stuff for mono blue Pirates or Favorable Winds dudes that work together and there is also huge lack of artifacts for Zahid (to provide Tempest beef support), Artificer's Assistant fuel or Skilled Animator targets, which was dissapointing.
I like flash but 3 toughness on Dreamcaller is not for my deck when I stare down Wizard's Lightning, Lightning Strike, Justice Strike, while also not being easy for 20 lands. Current deck iteration is close to final optimal build, until next set, IMO.
Usual 4 MCH, 4 Stormtamer, 4 Trickster, 4 Djinn are mandatory. The rest I filled with 4 Aerialist, 2 Nightveil and 2 Exclusion, aka 24.
Someone has to carry the aura so I lean on more bodies than usual 20.
To make room I ditched Charts and Opts, not persuaded we have time for that in our tempo deck.
It is 50/50 between Deep Freeze and Waterknot. DF means Trickster or Exclusion become irrelevant (the same for Surge Mare until very late) on the ground and even worse if they are enchanted, Waterknot has different downsides. But Alteration could be a future 2-of in the main, either removal(ish) or making our dude into "hasty" Djinn that is already on the board.
Blink of an Eye mostly hits creatures. It gets some bonus utility against the white beatdown decks bouncing Conclave Tribunal or Ixalan's Binding. It's also an emergency out against planeswalkers, although between our flyers and countermagic that usually doesn't come up. The card draw can be pretty nice. It's not exactly exciting against Niv-Mizzet but it buys a turn at least.
Metamorphic Alteration just feels too cute. The worst games for me with Niv-Mizzet are the ones where I'm dominating the board and holding two counterspells but just die to the dragon. Deep Freeze would let me keep rolling. If it's just anti-Niv-Mizzet tech then I feel like the CMC isn't a huge deal. The blocking could be annoying, for sure.
I agree that the current build is near optimal. I like it a lot. I just remember that last standard would see the occasional 5-0 from a pure Favorable Winds deck but everybody ignored it.
Tribunal has 3 types of targets: CO-ed creature, Djinn and random filler.
In the first case bringing back creature is irrelevant since CO is in the graveyard now, and they still have Tribunal to play again.
In the second we freed Djinn for one turn or saved it if we had mana.
Tribunaling filler creature is fine by me.
I guess they could target CO itself but we can't bring it back to a creature for a turn.
And that is all with 4 Dive Down and 4 Siren main and they will have their Oblivion Ring next turn.
Blinking planeswalker doesn't seem like relevant plan to me.
I played with Jilt, Repulse, Repeal and similar before, fun utility to have, just not sure it is necessary in this standard.
I just destroyed Golgari on mtgo, they played foil Ass Trophy on my CO-ed creature (the nerve some people have), DD to the rescue of course. Had to discard several cards on discard step after CO2 and CO3 enchanted the same MCH...
Tribunal has 3 types of targets: CO-ed creature, Djinn and random filler.
In the first case bringing back creature is irrelevant since CO is in the graveyard now, and they still have Tribunal to play again.
In the second we freed Djinn for one turn or saved it if we had mana.
Tribunaling filler creature is fine by me.
I guess they could target CO itself but we can't bring it back to a creature for a turn.
Usually it's an expensive Unsummon, sometimes you draw a card, occasionally it has extra utility.
With regard to the enchantments, sometimes things don't work out as planned. Having the option to end of turn bounce your tribunal, draw a card, untap, attack with the djinn, counter tribunal on the way back down can be a nice way to get your game back on track. Mostly it's there for that matchup to hit Benalish Marshal at instant speed, of course. Just, if the question is "do other modes come up" the answer is "yes, sometimes."
I just 4:1-ed standard mtgo league, Niv crushed me again, it is getting annoying.
4 Golgari decks at least accomplished what they came for: going to graveyard.
Niv problem will get special attention in the future.
Here's the tournament for my second competitive 5-0 with the deck. I did a turn by turn writeup of each game in the spoilers, I think they give a decent picture of how the control, aggro, and midrange matchups play out.
Keep seven: island, island, obsession, dive down, pierce, herald, stormtamer
My T1: island, stormtamer
Opp T1: overgrown tomb, tapped
My T2: draw pierce, play island, herald, attack with stormtamer
Opp T2: swamp, discovery, bins disinfo campaign and vraska's contempt
My T3: draw djinn, obsession herald, attack with all, draw opt
Opp T3: swamp, Golden Demise that I spell pierce
My T4: draw island, play the island, attack with all, draw obsession and play obsession
Opp T4: dead weight on stormtamer, overgrown tomb tapped; I opt end of turn, he trophies in response, I dive down; opt puts opt to the bottom and draws retort
My T5: draw dive down, attack with herald, draw obsession and djinn
Opp T5: discovery binning discovery
My T6: draw pierce, attack with herald, pierce his trophy, draw trickster and stormtamer, discard djinn to hand size
Opp T6: watery grave untapped (down to 5), disinformation campaign (I discard trickster)
My T7: draw opt, swing, draw stormtamer and djinn, pass and discard djinn and stormtamer to hand size
Opp T7: passes
My T8: draw herald, swing, spell pierce for dispersal, gg
Keep five: island, island, island, trickster, djinn
Scry retort to the top
Opp T1: swamp
My T1: draw retort, play island
Opp T2: overgrown tomb, tapped
My T2: draw djinn, play island
Opp T3: drowned catacombs, disinfo campaign (discard djinn), I flash in trickster eot
My T3: draw dive down, play island, swing
Opp T4: woodland cemetary
My T4: draw island, play island, swing, atrophy on trickster resolves, djinn
Opp T5: ritual of soot
This basically decided the game. I drew pretty well and fought it out, but I couldn't get over the hump. With the disinfo campaign going I felt I had to counter everything with surveil and it was just too much.
What I learned from this was that the opponent's whole deck was removal and card draw, with Nightveil Predators as his wincons and Find/Finality to recycle predators or sweep as needed.
I wound up conceding on Turn 32, but I was probably down to no outs after he played Find into double Nightveil Predator on turn 26.
Keep seven: island, island, island, essence scatter, negate, stormtamer, obsession
My T1: play island, stormtamer
Opp T1: overgrown tomb, tapped
My T2: draw obsession, play island, attack
Opp T2: forest
My T3: draw retort, play island, attack; eot opponent plays moment of craving, I use stormtamer's ability to deny the life gain
Opp T3: swamp
My T4: draw negate
Opp T4: drowned catacomb
My T5: draw dive down
Opp T5: draw-go
My T6: draw herald, play herald; eot opponent hits it with moment of craving
Opp T6: thought erasure, I negate
My T7: draw obsession (hand is 3x obsession, essence scatter, retort, negate, dive down)
Opp T7: woodland cemetary
My T8: draw island, play island
Opp T8: draw-go
My T9: draw island, play island
Opp T9: hinterland harbor, nightveil predator, I essence scatter
My T10: draw island, play island
Opp T10: disinformation campaign, I negate
My T11: draw island, play island (up to seven, I try to tell my deck that's enough)
Opp T11: swamp
My T12: draw djinn, play djinn; opponent eot trophies, I dive down, he trophies again, I let it go
Opp T12: draw-go
My T13: draw dive down
Opp T13: swamp
My T14: draw stormtamer, play stormtamer
Opp T14: thought erasure, I counter with stormtamer (really want to hold retort for now)
My T15: draw trickster, pass
Opp T15: overgrown tomb, tapped; I play trickster eot
My T16: draw island, island, obsession on trickster, opponent plays contempt, I dive down, he trophies, I retort; two more obsessions go on the trickster, who swings for five; I draw trickster, obsession, disdainful stroke
Opp T16: overgrown tomb untapped, find for nightveil predator, nightveil predator, I disdainful stroke it
My T17: draw island, island (up to 10), swing; draw stormtamer, herald, dive down; play stormtamer
Opp T17: find for predator, casts predator; I eot trickster
My T18: draw herald, swing with everybody, predator trades with big trickster, he's down to 5; play herald
Opp T18: thought erasure, I counter with stormtamer; golden demise, I play dive down on herald (opp at one card)
My T19: draw island, obsession on herald, swing for two, draw and play djinn
Opp T19: ritual of soot
My T20: draw dive down, play herald
Opp T20: cast down on herald, I dive down
My T21: draw essence scatter, swing for one (opp at two)
Opp T21: Nightveil Predator, I essence scatter
My T22: draw island, island, swing for one
Opp T22: watery grave, tapped
My T23: draw island, swing for one, gg
This was an insanely grindy matchup. For me it really illustrated how we don't mind the game going long just as long as there's no Niv-Mizzet coming down later.
I had to consciously remind myself that it was fine to play to win on turn twenty. As long as they don't have a card advantage engine going our average topdeck is just as good as theirs. Just keep the bombs off the table and keep sculpting the situation until you can land two hits in a row with Curious Obsession.
Also, don't spend your good counters lightly. It's fine to let a creature die if that's what you have to do to keep the counter shields up against whatever your opponent wants to do on their turn. Related point: don't commit to a Curious Obsession that will leave you completely tapped out even if you win the counter war. Wait until you know you can get the hit in and pass with untapped islands.
Round two: White weenie (2-1)
Keep seven on the draw: island, obsession, obsession, retort, stormtamer, trickster, djinn
This was a greedy keep. My thinking was that the hand could become insane very easily. If I don't draw islands I should be able to at least cycle one obsession. Still, greedy.
Opp T1: plains, skymarcher aspirant (me: uh-oh)
My T1: draw spell pierce, play island, stormtamer
Opp T2: plains, attacks, I take two
My T2: draw nightveil sprite, obsession on stormtamer, swing, draw island, play island
Opp T3: plains, Benalish Marshal, swing for three
My T3: draw stormtamer, attack, draw opt; opt shows an island, which I draw and play
Opp T4: beginning of combat I trickster on Marshal; opp attacks with skymarcher and I snap off the trade; post combat he plays plains and history of benalia
My T4: draw djinn, swing with stormtamer, draw island, play island and djinn
Opp T5: plains, history of benalia; I spell pierce just to make him tap out; no attacks
My T5: draw retort, obsession on stormtamer, swing with both (opp takes seven to go to 7), draw island and opt; play island, opt bottoms djinn and draws opt, play stormtamer and sprite
Opp T6: history ultimates, I double chump his attackers to survive at 5, opponent scoops
This was a very tempo game. Dig in and survive then get across the finish line just before you die.
Sideboarding: -2 pierce, -2 opt, -2 sprite, -1 dive down, +1 time of ice, +2 essence scatter, +2 exclusion mage, +2 surge mare
Keep seven: island, island, island, pierce, dive down, retort, surge mare
Opp T1: plains, aspirant
My T1: draw herald, play island, herald
Opp T2: attack with aspirant, I trade; plains, knight of grace
My T2: draw herald, play island, herald
Opp T3: plains, benalish marshal, attack, I take 3 (where is the t3 history of benalia?)
My T3: draw retort, island, surge mare, attack with herald
Opp T4: plains, benalish marshal, attack with the team, mare blocks one, I take 4
My T4: draw obsession, obsession on herald, attack, draw island, play island
Opp T5: attack with the team, mare blocks, I take 8 down to 5; post combat plains, knight of grace, I retort it
My T5: draw exclusion mage; attack, draw island; play island, exclusion mage, bouncing marshal
Opp T6: marshal (I retort it), attack, mare blocks, I take 3 down to 2; post combat opponent plays plains and history of benalia to go hellbent
My T6: draw trickster, attack, draw island; play island, pass (opp at 13, me at 2)
Opp T7: dauntless bodyguard on marshal, attacks with all; trickster shuts off marshal, mare blocks knight of grace, trickster blocks knight token, exclusion mage chumps marshal; dive down saves the trickster and pumping surge mare takes out knight of grace
Opponent now has marshal, bodyguard, knight token, and history about to ultimate; I have mare, herald, and trickster; opponent is hellbent and I have a dead spell pierce in hand
My T7: draw djinn, attack with herald, draw island; island, djinn, go
Opp T8: history ultimates, opp plays dauntless bodyguard on marshal, attacks with the team; djinn trades with bodyguard, mare double pumps to trade with the token, and trickster chumps
My T8: draw mare, attack, draw opt, opt sends island to the bottom and draws island, I scoop
I could have stayed back with the herald to trade with his team, but I don't like my odds in a topdeck war when I'm at 2. If I find another blocker there I think I'm favored, but sometimes it doesn't work out.
Sideboard adjustment: -2 pierce, -1 dive down, +1 mare, +2 blink of an eye
Keep seven: island, island, trickster, surge mare, djinn, retort, obsession
My T1: play island
Opp T1: plains, hunted witness
My T2: draw island, play island
Opp T2: plains, knight of grace; I play eot trickster (opp played around by not attacking)
My T3: draw island, play island, djinn
Opp T3: plains, history of benalia (he did an excellent job playing around spell pierce all match)
My T4: draw sprite, obsession on djinn, swing, draw dive down, pass
Opp T4: attack with knight and knight token, trickster trades with token; postcombat legion's landing, skymarcher, I retort skymarcher, venerated loxodon
Opponent now has: 2/2 witness, 2/2 knight of grace, 4/4 loxodon, 3/3 knight token, 2/2 vampire token
I have: djinn with obsession
Life is Opp 10, me 18
My T5: draw Time of Ice, swing, draw Djinn, play Time of Ice to tap knight token
Opp T5: history ultimates, attacks me down to 6 (he's up to 12), flips adanto, plays knight of grace
My T6: draw obsession, Time of Ice hits loxodon; swing with djinn, draw island, play island, mare, sprite; opp makes a token
Opp T6: attacks with all; mare blocks knight of grace, sprite chumps knight of grace, I go to 1; post-combat knight of grace
My T7: Time of Ice ultimates and bounces his team (opp will have two attackers: knight of grace and new token); draw djinn, obsession djinn, swing, draw island, stormtamer; play island, djinn, stormtamer
Opp T7: scoops
Time of Ice really came up huge. I had to take a calculated risk that put me dead to a pump spell; absent a Marshal or Pride of Conquerors he was locked out once Time of Ice hit.
This match featured three close games against an opponent who knew what he was doing and who seemed to have some decent draws to work with. The lesson I took from it is to trust the deck and don't panic. If you can get an evasive guy going with curious obsession then you'll probably be able to gum up the ground and have a shot at winning the game. The lack of reach means that you can do the math and figure out what you need to do to survive, although you need to keep an eye on the possibility of a mass pump effect. Definitely not a matchup you can sleepwalk through.
Match three: Gruul Frenzy (2-0)
Keep seven: island, island, island, stormtamer, opt, trickster, retort
My T1: play island, stormtamer
Opp T1: forest, llanowar elves
My T2: draw retort, play island, swing
Opp T2: mountain, Wayward Swordtooth, I retort it
My T3: draw trickster, play island, attack
Opp T3: forest, kraul harpooner, I retort; second harpooner resolves--opp misclicks and doesn't kill stormtamer; opt puts sprite to the bottom and draws island
My T4: draw stormtamer, play island
Opp T4: treasure map, treasure map, attack; trickster trades with harpooner and second trickster comes down eot
My T5: draw herald, attack for 3 down to 15, play herald and stormtamer
I'm hellbent, opponent has two cards in hand; board is elf and two treasure maps against herald, 2x stormtamer, and trickster
Opp T5: upkeep 2x scry to bottom, rootbound crag, jadelight ranger; ranger bins a frenzy and draws a mountain
My T6: draw spell pierce, swing with the team, opponent takes it down to 10
Opp T6: upkeep 2x scry to bottom, mountain, Experimental Frenzy into a spell pierce, attacks with ranger
My T7: draw opt, opt into obsession and draw it, obsession on herald and swing with the team, draw herald
Opp T7: upkeep 2x scry to bottom, scoops
Clutch spell pierce draw really saved the day in this game. Not too much else to say. This was a rare no-djinn win against a non-control deck. Very nearly a no-djinn no obsession win.
Sideboard: -4 sprite, -2 opt, -2 spell pierce, +3 surge mare, +2 essence scatter, +2 disdainful stroke, +1 time of ice
Keep seven: island, island, island, dive down, essence scatter, spell pierce, obsession
Opp T1: rootbound crag
My T1: draw island, play island
Opp T2: forest
My T2: draw dive down, play island
Opp T3: forest, steel leaf champion, I essence scatter
My T3: draw surge mare, play island, surge mare
Opp T4: forest
My T4: draw island, play island, obsession on mare, attack; draw stormtamer, herald, discard stormtamer, play herald
Opp T5: mountain, swordtooth, forest
My T5: draw stormtamer, play island, attack, opp fiery cannonades, I spell pierce; draw wizard's retort, time of ice, discard stormtamer
Hand is now 2x dive down, retort, time of ice
Opp T6: harpooner (lol), ghalta, I retort the ghalta
My T6: draw retort, attack, draw island, trickster, discard dive down, play island
Opp T7: ghalta, I play trickster and retort; treasure map resolves
My T7: draw island, play island, attack, draw opt + island, discard island, play time of ice (swordtooth first)
Opp T8: harpooner, I opt, bottom herald and draw disdainful stroke
My T8: draw trickster, tap harpooner with ToI, attack with all; harpooner trades with trickster, double pump on mare hits opp to 5; draw obsession + stormtamer, discard obsession
Opp T9: scry, scoop
Surge Mare was an mvp in this one. Every turn I got to draw twice and then loot. Then once I had enough land in play it started hitting for five. Again, no djinn, no problem.
This matchup seems very favorable. They are trying to ramp into a big spell, while we play counterspells. As long as they don't hit a quick Carnage Tyrant we ought to be able to keep their bombs from landing.
Surge Mare coming in for Nightveil Sprite is mandatory in harpooner matchups. You might not want to bring in all four since only one can really attack at a time, but boy it makes harpooner look silly when you're giving them the business with Heralds and Mares.
Match four: White weenie (2-0)
Mulliganed a one lander.
Keep six: island, island, trickster, retort, dive down, spell pierce
Scry island to the bottom.
Opp T1: plains, witness
My T1: draw retort, play island
Opp T2: plains, knight of grace, attack
My T2: draw island, play island
Opp T3: attacks with all, I trickster and eat the witness; post combat remorseful cleric
My T3: draw obsession, play island, obsession on trickster, attack; opponent takes it and I draw opt
My plan here is to force the opponent to combo block the trickster; ideally I'll be able to use dive down for max value, but at the minimum it should clear the board a bit.
Opp T4: dauntless bodyguard (I retort it), skymarcher aspirant, attacks for four to knock me to 13
This seems crazy aggressive to me; he must really not like his chances of killing the trickster.
My T4: draw island, attack, draw stormtamer; play island, stormtamer
Opp T5: plains, history of benalia (I spell pierce); attacks with all, I block cleric and use dive down to save stormtamer; end of turn opt shows trickster, which I keep
At this point opponent has three plains, aspirant, knight of grace, and two cards in hand; I have four islands, trickster, obsession, and stormtamer in play, with retort and trickster in hand; life is 14 for opponent to 9 for me
My T5: draw spell pierce, attack with trickster, draw island, play island
Opp T6: plains, attacks with all; trickster comes down and trades with Knight, stormtamer trades with aspirant; post combat opp plays conclave tribunal, which I spell pierce
My T6: draw djinn, attack, draw opt, play djinn
Opp T7: history of benalia, I retort, opponent scoops
Game two: Opponent kept a one lander, got stuck on one land for a while then stuck on two and I just run him over.
A happy reminder that sometimes the opponent stumbles and you get free wins.
Match five: Gruul Dinosaur frenzy
Mulligan a one lander.
Keep six: island, island, opt, stormtamer, pierce, dive down
Scry trickster on top.
My T1: play island, stormtamer
Opp T1: forest
My T2: draw trickster, play island, attack
Opp T2: rootbound crag, treasure map, I trickster
Possible I should have spell pierced, but I want to pressure and I kind of want to save the pierce for the experimental frenzy I expect him to play.
My T3: draw obsession, obsession on sprite, swing with both; draw herald
Opp T3: forest, swordtooth, mountain
I tap out to opt eot, find and keep an island; this doesn't feel like a deck that plays shock to me. It's possible I shouldn't have risked it.
My T4: draw island, play island, swing (opp to 11), draw stormtamer, play herald, stormtamer; opp scrys eot to the bottom
Opp T4: forest, regisaur alpha (surprised the hell out of me), attacks for 3 with the token.
He's still one permanent short of the city's blessing so the swordtooth is stuck.
My T5: draw stormtamer, play island, attack with herald and stormtamers, draw retort, play stormtamer
Opp T5: branchwalker (I retort), attack with token, I take it to 14
My T6: draw obsession, suit up stormtamer, attack with 2x stormtamer plus herald to knock opp to 2, draw 2xisland, play island; eot opp scrys to the bottom
This was a mistake. I should have suited up the herald. I had a lot of protection but he still could have had a harpooner and made my life difficult.
Opp T6: upkeep scry to the bottom, flips map, casts carnage tyrant and swings with the team; trickster chumps swordtooth, siren chumps alpha, I go to 4, gg
Sideboard: -4 sprite, -3 spell pierce, -2 dive down, -2 opt; +4 surge mare, +2 exclusion mage, +2 essence scatter, +2 disdainful stroke, +1 time of ice
Keep seven: island, island, island, stormtamer, surge mare, trickster, disdainful stroke
Opp T1: mountain
My T1: draw dive down, play island, stormtamer
Opp T2: forest, lava coil on stormtamer
My T2: draw dive down, play island, surge mare
Opp T3: forest, thunderherd migration for a mountain
My T3: draw island, play island
Opp T4: forest, llanowar elves, llanowar elves; I eot a trickster
My T4: draw island, play island, attack with trickster and mare, pump mare, draw island, discard island; opponent EOT fiery cannonades, I let it go.
Not sure why he ran the elves out there if he was going to cannonade.
Opponent has five lands with one card in hand. I have surge mare and four islands in play; in hand I have disdainful stroke, 2x dive down, and island; Life total is 20 for me to 16 for opponent.
Opp T5: experimental frenzy, I disdainful stroke it, llanowar elf
My T5: draw island, attack with mare and pump it, draw retort, discard island, play island
Opp T6: thunderherd migration, swing with elf
Opponent starts getting salty in chat about my "perfect draws." I think it's sort of a fair complaint re: the first game, but in the second game he's played one relevant spell that I countered and also cannonaded two of his own elves, so whatever. Opponent is also ready to concede at this point, but honestly I'm still nervous about running carnage tyrants.
My T6: draw stormtamer, swing and pump with surge mare, draw herald, discard dive down
Opp T7: Commune with dinosaurs, finds a mountain, concedes.
I probably should have countered the commune just to ward off potential carnage tyrant action.
This was the rare game with no curious obsession and no tempest djinn that was still an easy win. Surge Mare gives green decks fits and countermagic is good against people relying on 4+ mana bombs to win.
Control decks beat ramp decks. It was true when my Force of Nature was eating a Mana Drain. It was true back when they were vapor snagging my wolf run target. It's still true today. Everybody on mono blue should hope and pray that Gruul Frenzy takes over the standard metagame.
I like the Golgari matchup, but it was refreshing to play a Golgari-free tournament. I find dodging the red aggro decks really helps my 5-0 chances. I think we're helped a lot right now by Golgari hating red aggro and Niv-Mizzet out of the meta.
I think there might be enough little beaters in standard to go full flyer beatdown. With enough pirates Siren Dreamcaller and Lookout's Dispersal start to look good.
I've been looking into flyers and have a few decks I've brewed up. Though they have strayed a little from the tempo style. May have to make a separate thread for flyers.
"To keep things 100, anything I state is an opinion and not intended to be a fact. Any and all suggestions I give are a 100% opinion. If you need further clarification take the conversation to a PM. I am not in the business of assuming things. I'm only interested in 1 business and that business serves 2 things, Cold L's and Hot Dub's."
That deck seems underpowered. Thief of Sanity is cool and all, but in the time it takes to snowball into a big advantage (assuming it doesn't whiff) a Tempest Djinn just ends the game. The djinn can fight it out in the air and it dodges at least some removal (moment of craving/shock/bolt). When a 2/2 is the beefiest creature in your deck you're going to have trouble if things ever go off script.
It's also kind of funny to go into black and play Deep Freeze.
That deck seems underpowered. Thief of Sanity is cool and all, but in the time it takes to snowball into a big advantage (assuming it doesn't whiff) a Tempest Djinn just ends the game. The djinn can fight it out in the air and it dodges at least some removal (moment of craving/shock/bolt). When a 2/2 is the beefiest creature in your deck you're going to have trouble if things ever go off script.
It's also kind of funny to go into black and play Deep Freeze.
Dunno, gotta experiment and take the good with the bad and the bad with the ugly.
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It handles Niv for 1 turn and then dies a horrible death. It also dies to Chainyboi and we have less lib manipulation.
I don't think Marauder is worth it.
Hey, guys. IBTG, here. Been quite some time since I entered back into the fray of competitive standard magic, in my day it was called type 2 haha. That said, I have a few ptq top 8's, a neutral ground/your move games top 8, and was even Standard strategist of the year in like 2003 when this site was still called MTGnews lol. There was a time, I used to know how to play this game competently, or thats what I keep telling myself. Hey, 4-0ed my fist draft back so... cant be all bad lol.
After about 2 weeks of testing I have come up with some insight:
I mulligan pretty aggressively with this deck. You want to see a one drop and a curiosity in your opening hand. Without curiosity this deck ..feelsbadman..
I run warkite marauder as a 2 of, MD. Im not OMG huge on him, the effect isnt hugely relevant the majority of the time. That said, every now and again, I pull out a win because the opposing player blocks incorrectly when they have a conditionally pumped creature and marauder removes their ability. Probably shouldnt be running a spell that is only cashing in when your opponent misplays haha. This slot is definitely negotiable, where other guys are running opt (meh) and exclusion mage (also, in my testing, meh).
It took me about 2 hours of playing this to realize that if your opponent resolves an early threat (specifically of the green persuasion that is undercosted and is has a high p/t, steel leaf for example, ferrox etc, you are up a creek without a paddle. It turns the game into a race that you are pretty ill equipped to deal with. This is where the bounce or the time of ice enchantment comes in. Exclusion mage is just not getting me there. Sure, bounce and then counter if a problem threat resolves,right? But that is not at all what this deck wants to be doing. I feel like you are often making plays that arent ideal to deal with these baddies, often losing tempo and card advantage. Id give my right eye for an unsummon, or even a repulse. Sadly, I cant have either and after going through the rest of the legal cards, I realized there is nothing that I really want out there that fits the curve and actually provides me with the desired effect. Blink isnt terrible, its probably the closest.
After determining the inherent flaw, I decided that a splash was necessary. Most "fish" decks of years prior had a tendency to splash red or white, for burn reach, or meddling mage. I personally think white has some stellar options for sideboarding, so I went in that direction. I totally get this waters your djinn down, slightly. I just havent found myself in a position where 1 or 2 points would be the huge of a deal, incrementally over the next few turns.
When everything is said and done:
20 land, 4 of which are glacial fortress and 2 meandering river.
4 conclave tribunal main deck. Yes, maindeck. Its a terror, a shatter, a mystify etc. It deals with anything and everything. This is the sort of versatility we need. It also convokes which, in a situation where the board is a cluttered, you can remove a threat and double spell turn 4 pretty easily. Tempo.
Sideboarding we get more options: you can run seal away, ixalans binding, I personally roll with settle the wreckage.
I will post my list just as soon as I get back to my computer, but until then, I hope you found something useful in this post.
You can have Repulse wannabe in Crashing Tide, but only 8 Merfolk to enable it.
Neutering Djinn with splash is one thing but double white for Wreckage will not work in this deck.
I mulligan pretty aggressively with this deck. You want to see a one drop and a curiosity in your opening hand. Without curiosity this deck ..feelsbadman..
...
After determining the inherent flaw, I decided that a splash was necessary. Most "fish" decks of years prior had a tendency to splash red or white, for burn reach, or meddling mage. I personally think white has some stellar options for sideboarding, so I went in that direction. I totally get this waters your djinn down, slightly. I just havent found myself in a position where 1 or 2 points would be the huge of a deal, incrementally over the next few turns.
Strong disagree. I think you are badly underselling Tempest Djinn. Turn four djinn into swinging three times while everything else plays defense will win a lot of games. A second turn Steel-Leaf Champion is nearly unbeatable but anything else we have a fighting shot at tempoing out.
The deck mulligans well because of the nut draw but I think aggressively mulliganing for the nut draw costs you percentage points. It's fine even if the Djinn and Obsession don't show until turn four or five (which, of course, the opts and nightveil sprites make more likely). You should be winning your fair share of games even when you don't get the nuts.
Splashing white will cost you all of the games that you otherwise would have won with near-exactsies the turn before you died. In other words, a good chunk of your tempo wins. I also suspect you will lose more games because of the taplands than you will win because of the splash. Especially if you're trying to cast double white spells off of six white sources.
There is something to be said about playing theoretical magic. None of my play testing results have indicated either of what you gentleman have said. To each their own though.
Double white is only two spells out of the board, against situations which, as Jacob pointed out, are otherwise auto losses for this deck. Seems somewhat reasonable, especially between all the card drawing and surveiling. Single white gets you conclave, which is another out for an otherwise unwinnable situation as just mono U.
As for Djinn, in what matchups is your djinn going unchecked like that though? The whole djinn goes the distance plan doesnt happen for me very often. Every relevant deck in the format has multiple answers to that strategy.
There is something to be said about playing theoretical magic. None of my play testing results have indicated either of what you gentleman have said. To each their own though.
Double white is only two spells out of the board, against situations which, as Jacob pointed out, are otherwise auto losses for this deck. Seems somewhat reasonable, especially between all the card drawing and surveiling. Single white gets you conclave, which is another out for an otherwise unwinnable situation as just mono U.
As for Djinn, in what matchups is your djinn going unchecked like that though? The whole djinn goes the distance plan doesnt happen for me very often. Every relevant deck in the format has multiple answers to that strategy.
As I have said in this thread, I personally have two competitive league 5-0 finishes with the deck. The same deck that has been putting a 5-0 finish up in every WotC release since rotation. The same deck with a top 8 in the SCG classic. Sure, theoretical magic.
If you drop Djinn on turn four with Dive Down and/or Stormtamer and/or Spell Pierce available, you should be able to fend off their attempts to deal with it. If you drop Djinn on turn three with no protection then you will lose a lot of games.
"To keep things 100, anything I state is an opinion and not intended to be a fact. Any and all suggestions I give are a 100% opinion. If you need further clarification take the conversation to a PM. I am not in the business of assuming things. I'm only interested in 1 business and that business serves 2 things, Cold L's and Hot Dub's."
There is something to be said about playing theoretical magic. None of my play testing results have indicated either of what you gentleman have said. To each their own though.
Double white is only two spells out of the board, against situations which, as Jacob pointed out, are otherwise auto losses for this deck. Seems somewhat reasonable, especially between all the card drawing and surveiling. Single white gets you conclave, which is another out for an otherwise unwinnable situation as just mono U.
As for Djinn, in what matchups is your djinn going unchecked like that though? The whole djinn goes the distance plan doesnt happen for me very often. Every relevant deck in the format has multiple answers to that strategy.
As I have said in this thread, I personally have two competitive league 5-0 finishes with the deck. The same deck that has been putting a 5-0 finish up in every WotC release since rotation. The same deck with a top 8 in the SCG classic. Sure, theoretical magic.
If you drop Djinn on turn four with Dive Down and/or Stormtamer and/or Spell Pierce available, you should be able to fend off their attempts to deal with it. If you drop Djinn on turn three with no protection then you will lose a lot of games.
I agree. I'd have a hard time justifying white in this particular build. This deck has many answers, but it does have it's weaknesses against Red and Green but that is expected.
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Our deck is built to have Djinn go to distance; Dive Down, Pierce, Stormtamer and Retort make that relatively doable, and we don't lack library manipulation or draw to find those cards.
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Yeah, this is totally a meta call.
I don't MB exclusion mage and do MB essence scatter because my meta is full of red aggro and I need better answers to GCW. Sorcery speed bounce is just dead when red has haste creatures and ETB abilities. I guess against monogreen stompy, bouncing Pelt Collector and champ blocking SLC is pretty solid play for 3 mana.
BGU Control
R Aggro
Standard - For Fun
BG Auras
Welcome to the blue side!
Diamond Mare is indeed meh in my experience. Surge Mare is just a better anti-aggro tool. It can actually block your opponent's biggest guy, which is usually more life saved per turn than you will be able to earn with Diamond Mare. Also, while both often eat bolts the Diamond Mare will just die. The Surge Mare gets to block first. It also has random utility carrying Curious Obsession past green critters and swinging for four in extreme grind situations.
The white weenie matchup is tough but winnable. I got my second competitive league 5-0 with the deck today after playing white weenie twice. The basic idea is that you will have one designated attacker (early guy with Obsession or a Djinn). All of your other resources go into keeping yourself alive. I do mean all--I have used Dive Down as a combat trick just so I'll have an extra blocker available the next turn. If at all possible against mono-white you want to keep their three drops off the board. If they run History of Benalia into a spell pierce it usually means you have a fighting chance to win. If they land a Benalish Marshal then life gets tough. Merfolk Trickster is a big help slowing down their attacks or turning off abilities (e.g. to trade with Knight of Grace or turn off the Marshal pump).
All of our bounce tech and Surge Mare do work post board. I'll usually do something like -2 Dive Down, -3 Spell Pierce, -3 Nightveil Sprite, +1 Time of Ice, +2 Exclusion Mage, +3 Surge Mare, +2 Essence Scatter. They don't have a lot of targeted removal but they do have a little, so I keep a little protection in just in case. Time of Ice is fantastic as long as the game is somewhat competitive.
The more red they have the worse their creatures are but the more of a problem they present with spells. Keeping your creatures alive gets trickier and you have to look out for reach and for Experimental Frenzy. It's the same basic idea, though. Ideally one guy sends in while you use everything else to stay alive.
The aggro matchup is also where you will strongly consider jamming Djinn on turn three if you have multiples.
Anyway, I always play blue beatdown decks in most formats so this deck, and Curious Obsession in particular, are my style.
I played mtgo Ptq 11 days ago, finished 6:3, 40th out of 256 people, if I remember correctly.
All 3 losses were to monored because my deck weren't equipped for it with Diamond and Surge and some of my starting hands should have been mull.
My tech was playing 4 Storm Fleet Aerialist main, adding early defense, offense and evasion with a risk to have 1/2 vanilla flyer sometimes. They earned their slots.
After Ptq my win pct was good, winning most matches except the ones with Niv-Mizzet. My plan is to have Metamorphic Alteration and equip CO-ed creature to have greater dragon or shrink their dragon, because dying with several counterspells in hand just because they played Niv is no longer funny.
The rest of meta is ok in my book, so this will be my deck until Merfolk support comes in next set.
Whoops, good call. I mixed up Explorers of Ixalan and Rivals of Ixalan. Fixed in the Primer.
I've been happy enough with Blink of an Eye anyway.
I think there might be enough little beaters in standard to go full flyer beatdown. With enough pirates Siren Dreamcaller and Lookout's Dispersal start to look good.
Do you run the Aerialists over anything in particular? How many creatures have you been running?
Niv-Mizzet is a house. I've been able to slide by with Trickster and bounce. If I see much more of him I'm going to wedge in some Deep Freeze action. By turn six I think I'm ok paying three to deal with Niv-Mizzet forever.
I scoured Gatherer for all possible playable cards but there is not enough stuff for mono blue Pirates or Favorable Winds dudes that work together and there is also huge lack of artifacts for Zahid (to provide Tempest beef support), Artificer's Assistant fuel or Skilled Animator targets, which was dissapointing.
I like flash but 3 toughness on Dreamcaller is not for my deck when I stare down Wizard's Lightning, Lightning Strike, Justice Strike, while also not being easy for 20 lands. Current deck iteration is close to final optimal build, until next set, IMO.
Usual 4 MCH, 4 Stormtamer, 4 Trickster, 4 Djinn are mandatory. The rest I filled with 4 Aerialist, 2 Nightveil and 2 Exclusion, aka 24.
Someone has to carry the aura so I lean on more bodies than usual 20.
To make room I ditched Charts and Opts, not persuaded we have time for that in our tempo deck.
It is 50/50 between Deep Freeze and Waterknot. DF means Trickster or Exclusion become irrelevant (the same for Surge Mare until very late) on the ground and even worse if they are enchanted, Waterknot has different downsides. But Alteration could be a future 2-of in the main, either removal(ish) or making our dude into "hasty" Djinn that is already on the board.
Blink of an Eye mostly hits creatures. It gets some bonus utility against the white beatdown decks bouncing Conclave Tribunal or Ixalan's Binding. It's also an emergency out against planeswalkers, although between our flyers and countermagic that usually doesn't come up. The card draw can be pretty nice. It's not exactly exciting against Niv-Mizzet but it buys a turn at least.
Metamorphic Alteration just feels too cute. The worst games for me with Niv-Mizzet are the ones where I'm dominating the board and holding two counterspells but just die to the dragon. Deep Freeze would let me keep rolling. If it's just anti-Niv-Mizzet tech then I feel like the CMC isn't a huge deal. The blocking could be annoying, for sure.
I agree that the current build is near optimal. I like it a lot. I just remember that last standard would see the occasional 5-0 from a pure Favorable Winds deck but everybody ignored it.
In the first case bringing back creature is irrelevant since CO is in the graveyard now, and they still have Tribunal to play again.
In the second we freed Djinn for one turn or saved it if we had mana.
Tribunaling filler creature is fine by me.
I guess they could target CO itself but we can't bring it back to a creature for a turn.
And that is all with 4 Dive Down and 4 Siren main and they will have their Oblivion Ring next turn.
Blinking planeswalker doesn't seem like relevant plan to me.
I played with Jilt, Repulse, Repeal and similar before, fun utility to have, just not sure it is necessary in this standard.
I just destroyed Golgari on mtgo, they played foil Ass Trophy on my CO-ed creature (the nerve some people have), DD to the rescue of course. Had to discard several cards on discard step after CO2 and CO3 enchanted the same MCH...
With regard to the enchantments, sometimes things don't work out as planned. Having the option to end of turn bounce your tribunal, draw a card, untap, attack with the djinn, counter tribunal on the way back down can be a nice way to get your game back on track. Mostly it's there for that matchup to hit Benalish Marshal at instant speed, of course. Just, if the question is "do other modes come up" the answer is "yes, sometimes."
4 Golgari decks at least accomplished what they came for: going to graveyard.
Niv problem will get special attention in the future.
Same list as last time.
4 Mist-cloaked Herald
4 Siren Stormtamer
4 Nightveil Sprite
4 Merfolk Trickster
4 Tempest Djinn
4 Opt
4 Dive Down
4 Spell Pierce
4 Wizard's Retort
4 Surge Mare
2 Negate
2 Essence Scatter
2 Disdainful Stroke
2 Blink of an Eye
2 Exclusion Mage
1 Time of Ice
Match one: Sultai Control (2-1)
My T1: island, stormtamer
Opp T1: overgrown tomb, tapped
My T2: draw pierce, play island, herald, attack with stormtamer
Opp T2: swamp, discovery, bins disinfo campaign and vraska's contempt
My T3: draw djinn, obsession herald, attack with all, draw opt
Opp T3: swamp, Golden Demise that I spell pierce
My T4: draw island, play the island, attack with all, draw obsession and play obsession
Opp T4: dead weight on stormtamer, overgrown tomb tapped; I opt end of turn, he trophies in response, I dive down; opt puts opt to the bottom and draws retort
My T5: draw dive down, attack with herald, draw obsession and djinn
Opp T5: discovery binning discovery
My T6: draw pierce, attack with herald, pierce his trophy, draw trickster and stormtamer, discard djinn to hand size
Opp T6: watery grave untapped (down to 5), disinformation campaign (I discard trickster)
My T7: draw opt, swing, draw stormtamer and djinn, pass and discard djinn and stormtamer to hand size
Opp T7: passes
My T8: draw herald, swing, spell pierce for dispersal, gg
Sideboard: -2 sprite, -2 opt, +2 negate, +2 disdainful stroke
Keep five: island, island, island, trickster, djinn
Scry retort to the top
Opp T1: swamp
My T1: draw retort, play island
Opp T2: overgrown tomb, tapped
My T2: draw djinn, play island
Opp T3: drowned catacombs, disinfo campaign (discard djinn), I flash in trickster eot
My T3: draw dive down, play island, swing
Opp T4: woodland cemetary
My T4: draw island, play island, swing, atrophy on trickster resolves, djinn
Opp T5: ritual of soot
This basically decided the game. I drew pretty well and fought it out, but I couldn't get over the hump. With the disinfo campaign going I felt I had to counter everything with surveil and it was just too much.
What I learned from this was that the opponent's whole deck was removal and card draw, with Nightveil Predators as his wincons and Find/Finality to recycle predators or sweep as needed.
I wound up conceding on Turn 32, but I was probably down to no outs after he played Find into double Nightveil Predator on turn 26.
Sideboard adjustment: -2 pierce, +2 essence scatter
My T1: play island, stormtamer
Opp T1: overgrown tomb, tapped
My T2: draw obsession, play island, attack
Opp T2: forest
My T3: draw retort, play island, attack; eot opponent plays moment of craving, I use stormtamer's ability to deny the life gain
Opp T3: swamp
My T4: draw negate
Opp T4: drowned catacomb
My T5: draw dive down
Opp T5: draw-go
My T6: draw herald, play herald; eot opponent hits it with moment of craving
Opp T6: thought erasure, I negate
My T7: draw obsession (hand is 3x obsession, essence scatter, retort, negate, dive down)
Opp T7: woodland cemetary
My T8: draw island, play island
Opp T8: draw-go
My T9: draw island, play island
Opp T9: hinterland harbor, nightveil predator, I essence scatter
My T10: draw island, play island
Opp T10: disinformation campaign, I negate
My T11: draw island, play island (up to seven, I try to tell my deck that's enough)
Opp T11: swamp
My T12: draw djinn, play djinn; opponent eot trophies, I dive down, he trophies again, I let it go
Opp T12: draw-go
My T13: draw dive down
Opp T13: swamp
My T14: draw stormtamer, play stormtamer
Opp T14: thought erasure, I counter with stormtamer (really want to hold retort for now)
My T15: draw trickster, pass
Opp T15: overgrown tomb, tapped; I play trickster eot
My T16: draw island, island, obsession on trickster, opponent plays contempt, I dive down, he trophies, I retort; two more obsessions go on the trickster, who swings for five; I draw trickster, obsession, disdainful stroke
Opp T16: overgrown tomb untapped, find for nightveil predator, nightveil predator, I disdainful stroke it
My T17: draw island, island (up to 10), swing; draw stormtamer, herald, dive down; play stormtamer
Opp T17: find for predator, casts predator; I eot trickster
My T18: draw herald, swing with everybody, predator trades with big trickster, he's down to 5; play herald
Opp T18: thought erasure, I counter with stormtamer; golden demise, I play dive down on herald (opp at one card)
My T19: draw island, obsession on herald, swing for two, draw and play djinn
Opp T19: ritual of soot
My T20: draw dive down, play herald
Opp T20: cast down on herald, I dive down
My T21: draw essence scatter, swing for one (opp at two)
Opp T21: Nightveil Predator, I essence scatter
My T22: draw island, island, swing for one
Opp T22: watery grave, tapped
My T23: draw island, swing for one, gg
This was an insanely grindy matchup. For me it really illustrated how we don't mind the game going long just as long as there's no Niv-Mizzet coming down later.
I had to consciously remind myself that it was fine to play to win on turn twenty. As long as they don't have a card advantage engine going our average topdeck is just as good as theirs. Just keep the bombs off the table and keep sculpting the situation until you can land two hits in a row with Curious Obsession.
Also, don't spend your good counters lightly. It's fine to let a creature die if that's what you have to do to keep the counter shields up against whatever your opponent wants to do on their turn. Related point: don't commit to a Curious Obsession that will leave you completely tapped out even if you win the counter war. Wait until you know you can get the hit in and pass with untapped islands.
Round two: White weenie (2-1)
This was a greedy keep. My thinking was that the hand could become insane very easily. If I don't draw islands I should be able to at least cycle one obsession. Still, greedy.
Opp T1: plains, skymarcher aspirant (me: uh-oh)
My T1: draw spell pierce, play island, stormtamer
Opp T2: plains, attacks, I take two
My T2: draw nightveil sprite, obsession on stormtamer, swing, draw island, play island
Opp T3: plains, Benalish Marshal, swing for three
My T3: draw stormtamer, attack, draw opt; opt shows an island, which I draw and play
Opp T4: beginning of combat I trickster on Marshal; opp attacks with skymarcher and I snap off the trade; post combat he plays plains and history of benalia
My T4: draw djinn, swing with stormtamer, draw island, play island and djinn
Opp T5: plains, history of benalia; I spell pierce just to make him tap out; no attacks
My T5: draw retort, obsession on stormtamer, swing with both (opp takes seven to go to 7), draw island and opt; play island, opt bottoms djinn and draws opt, play stormtamer and sprite
Opp T6: history ultimates, I double chump his attackers to survive at 5, opponent scoops
This was a very tempo game. Dig in and survive then get across the finish line just before you die.
Sideboarding: -2 pierce, -2 opt, -2 sprite, -1 dive down, +1 time of ice, +2 essence scatter, +2 exclusion mage, +2 surge mare
Opp T1: plains, aspirant
My T1: draw herald, play island, herald
Opp T2: attack with aspirant, I trade; plains, knight of grace
My T2: draw herald, play island, herald
Opp T3: plains, benalish marshal, attack, I take 3 (where is the t3 history of benalia?)
My T3: draw retort, island, surge mare, attack with herald
Opp T4: plains, benalish marshal, attack with the team, mare blocks one, I take 4
My T4: draw obsession, obsession on herald, attack, draw island, play island
Opp T5: attack with the team, mare blocks, I take 8 down to 5; post combat plains, knight of grace, I retort it
My T5: draw exclusion mage; attack, draw island; play island, exclusion mage, bouncing marshal
Opp T6: marshal (I retort it), attack, mare blocks, I take 3 down to 2; post combat opponent plays plains and history of benalia to go hellbent
My T6: draw trickster, attack, draw island; play island, pass (opp at 13, me at 2)
Opp T7: dauntless bodyguard on marshal, attacks with all; trickster shuts off marshal, mare blocks knight of grace, trickster blocks knight token, exclusion mage chumps marshal; dive down saves the trickster and pumping surge mare takes out knight of grace
Opponent now has marshal, bodyguard, knight token, and history about to ultimate; I have mare, herald, and trickster; opponent is hellbent and I have a dead spell pierce in hand
My T7: draw djinn, attack with herald, draw island; island, djinn, go
Opp T8: history ultimates, opp plays dauntless bodyguard on marshal, attacks with the team; djinn trades with bodyguard, mare double pumps to trade with the token, and trickster chumps
My T8: draw mare, attack, draw opt, opt sends island to the bottom and draws island, I scoop
I could have stayed back with the herald to trade with his team, but I don't like my odds in a topdeck war when I'm at 2. If I find another blocker there I think I'm favored, but sometimes it doesn't work out.
Sideboard adjustment: -2 pierce, -1 dive down, +1 mare, +2 blink of an eye
My T1: play island
Opp T1: plains, hunted witness
My T2: draw island, play island
Opp T2: plains, knight of grace; I play eot trickster (opp played around by not attacking)
My T3: draw island, play island, djinn
Opp T3: plains, history of benalia (he did an excellent job playing around spell pierce all match)
My T4: draw sprite, obsession on djinn, swing, draw dive down, pass
Opp T4: attack with knight and knight token, trickster trades with token; postcombat legion's landing, skymarcher, I retort skymarcher, venerated loxodon
Opponent now has: 2/2 witness, 2/2 knight of grace, 4/4 loxodon, 3/3 knight token, 2/2 vampire token
I have: djinn with obsession
Life is Opp 10, me 18
My T5: draw Time of Ice, swing, draw Djinn, play Time of Ice to tap knight token
Opp T5: history ultimates, attacks me down to 6 (he's up to 12), flips adanto, plays knight of grace
My T6: draw obsession, Time of Ice hits loxodon; swing with djinn, draw island, play island, mare, sprite; opp makes a token
Opp T6: attacks with all; mare blocks knight of grace, sprite chumps knight of grace, I go to 1; post-combat knight of grace
My T7: Time of Ice ultimates and bounces his team (opp will have two attackers: knight of grace and new token); draw djinn, obsession djinn, swing, draw island, stormtamer; play island, djinn, stormtamer
Opp T7: scoops
Time of Ice really came up huge. I had to take a calculated risk that put me dead to a pump spell; absent a Marshal or Pride of Conquerors he was locked out once Time of Ice hit.
This match featured three close games against an opponent who knew what he was doing and who seemed to have some decent draws to work with. The lesson I took from it is to trust the deck and don't panic. If you can get an evasive guy going with curious obsession then you'll probably be able to gum up the ground and have a shot at winning the game. The lack of reach means that you can do the math and figure out what you need to do to survive, although you need to keep an eye on the possibility of a mass pump effect. Definitely not a matchup you can sleepwalk through.
Match three: Gruul Frenzy (2-0)
My T1: play island, stormtamer
Opp T1: forest, llanowar elves
My T2: draw retort, play island, swing
Opp T2: mountain, Wayward Swordtooth, I retort it
My T3: draw trickster, play island, attack
Opp T3: forest, kraul harpooner, I retort; second harpooner resolves--opp misclicks and doesn't kill stormtamer; opt puts sprite to the bottom and draws island
My T4: draw stormtamer, play island
Opp T4: treasure map, treasure map, attack; trickster trades with harpooner and second trickster comes down eot
My T5: draw herald, attack for 3 down to 15, play herald and stormtamer
I'm hellbent, opponent has two cards in hand; board is elf and two treasure maps against herald, 2x stormtamer, and trickster
Opp T5: upkeep 2x scry to bottom, rootbound crag, jadelight ranger; ranger bins a frenzy and draws a mountain
My T6: draw spell pierce, swing with the team, opponent takes it down to 10
Opp T6: upkeep 2x scry to bottom, mountain, Experimental Frenzy into a spell pierce, attacks with ranger
My T7: draw opt, opt into obsession and draw it, obsession on herald and swing with the team, draw herald
Opp T7: upkeep 2x scry to bottom, scoops
Clutch spell pierce draw really saved the day in this game. Not too much else to say. This was a rare no-djinn win against a non-control deck. Very nearly a no-djinn no obsession win.
Sideboard: -4 sprite, -2 opt, -2 spell pierce, +3 surge mare, +2 essence scatter, +2 disdainful stroke, +1 time of ice
Opp T1: rootbound crag
My T1: draw island, play island
Opp T2: forest
My T2: draw dive down, play island
Opp T3: forest, steel leaf champion, I essence scatter
My T3: draw surge mare, play island, surge mare
Opp T4: forest
My T4: draw island, play island, obsession on mare, attack; draw stormtamer, herald, discard stormtamer, play herald
Opp T5: mountain, swordtooth, forest
My T5: draw stormtamer, play island, attack, opp fiery cannonades, I spell pierce; draw wizard's retort, time of ice, discard stormtamer
Hand is now 2x dive down, retort, time of ice
Opp T6: harpooner (lol), ghalta, I retort the ghalta
My T6: draw retort, attack, draw island, trickster, discard dive down, play island
Opp T7: ghalta, I play trickster and retort; treasure map resolves
My T7: draw island, play island, attack, draw opt + island, discard island, play time of ice (swordtooth first)
Opp T8: harpooner, I opt, bottom herald and draw disdainful stroke
My T8: draw trickster, tap harpooner with ToI, attack with all; harpooner trades with trickster, double pump on mare hits opp to 5; draw obsession + stormtamer, discard obsession
Opp T9: scry, scoop
Surge Mare was an mvp in this one. Every turn I got to draw twice and then loot. Then once I had enough land in play it started hitting for five. Again, no djinn, no problem.
This matchup seems very favorable. They are trying to ramp into a big spell, while we play counterspells. As long as they don't hit a quick Carnage Tyrant we ought to be able to keep their bombs from landing.
Surge Mare coming in for Nightveil Sprite is mandatory in harpooner matchups. You might not want to bring in all four since only one can really attack at a time, but boy it makes harpooner look silly when you're giving them the business with Heralds and Mares.
Match four: White weenie (2-0)
Keep six: island, island, trickster, retort, dive down, spell pierce
Scry island to the bottom.
Opp T1: plains, witness
My T1: draw retort, play island
Opp T2: plains, knight of grace, attack
My T2: draw island, play island
Opp T3: attacks with all, I trickster and eat the witness; post combat remorseful cleric
My T3: draw obsession, play island, obsession on trickster, attack; opponent takes it and I draw opt
My plan here is to force the opponent to combo block the trickster; ideally I'll be able to use dive down for max value, but at the minimum it should clear the board a bit.
Opp T4: dauntless bodyguard (I retort it), skymarcher aspirant, attacks for four to knock me to 13
This seems crazy aggressive to me; he must really not like his chances of killing the trickster.
My T4: draw island, attack, draw stormtamer; play island, stormtamer
Opp T5: plains, history of benalia (I spell pierce); attacks with all, I block cleric and use dive down to save stormtamer; end of turn opt shows trickster, which I keep
At this point opponent has three plains, aspirant, knight of grace, and two cards in hand; I have four islands, trickster, obsession, and stormtamer in play, with retort and trickster in hand; life is 14 for opponent to 9 for me
My T5: draw spell pierce, attack with trickster, draw island, play island
Opp T6: plains, attacks with all; trickster comes down and trades with Knight, stormtamer trades with aspirant; post combat opp plays conclave tribunal, which I spell pierce
My T6: draw djinn, attack, draw opt, play djinn
Opp T7: history of benalia, I retort, opponent scoops
Game two: Opponent kept a one lander, got stuck on one land for a while then stuck on two and I just run him over.
A happy reminder that sometimes the opponent stumbles and you get free wins.
Match five: Gruul Dinosaur frenzy
Keep six: island, island, opt, stormtamer, pierce, dive down
Scry trickster on top.
My T1: play island, stormtamer
Opp T1: forest
My T2: draw trickster, play island, attack
Opp T2: rootbound crag, treasure map, I trickster
Possible I should have spell pierced, but I want to pressure and I kind of want to save the pierce for the experimental frenzy I expect him to play.
My T3: draw obsession, obsession on sprite, swing with both; draw herald
Opp T3: forest, swordtooth, mountain
I tap out to opt eot, find and keep an island; this doesn't feel like a deck that plays shock to me. It's possible I shouldn't have risked it.
My T4: draw island, play island, swing (opp to 11), draw stormtamer, play herald, stormtamer; opp scrys eot to the bottom
Opp T4: forest, regisaur alpha (surprised the hell out of me), attacks for 3 with the token.
He's still one permanent short of the city's blessing so the swordtooth is stuck.
My T5: draw stormtamer, play island, attack with herald and stormtamers, draw retort, play stormtamer
Opp T5: branchwalker (I retort), attack with token, I take it to 14
My T6: draw obsession, suit up stormtamer, attack with 2x stormtamer plus herald to knock opp to 2, draw 2xisland, play island; eot opp scrys to the bottom
This was a mistake. I should have suited up the herald. I had a lot of protection but he still could have had a harpooner and made my life difficult.
Opp T6: upkeep scry to the bottom, flips map, casts carnage tyrant and swings with the team; trickster chumps swordtooth, siren chumps alpha, I go to 4, gg
Sideboard: -4 sprite, -3 spell pierce, -2 dive down, -2 opt; +4 surge mare, +2 exclusion mage, +2 essence scatter, +2 disdainful stroke, +1 time of ice
Opp T1: mountain
My T1: draw dive down, play island, stormtamer
Opp T2: forest, lava coil on stormtamer
My T2: draw dive down, play island, surge mare
Opp T3: forest, thunderherd migration for a mountain
My T3: draw island, play island
Opp T4: forest, llanowar elves, llanowar elves; I eot a trickster
My T4: draw island, play island, attack with trickster and mare, pump mare, draw island, discard island; opponent EOT fiery cannonades, I let it go.
Not sure why he ran the elves out there if he was going to cannonade.
Opponent has five lands with one card in hand. I have surge mare and four islands in play; in hand I have disdainful stroke, 2x dive down, and island; Life total is 20 for me to 16 for opponent.
Opp T5: experimental frenzy, I disdainful stroke it, llanowar elf
My T5: draw island, attack with mare and pump it, draw retort, discard island, play island
Opp T6: thunderherd migration, swing with elf
Opponent starts getting salty in chat about my "perfect draws." I think it's sort of a fair complaint re: the first game, but in the second game he's played one relevant spell that I countered and also cannonaded two of his own elves, so whatever. Opponent is also ready to concede at this point, but honestly I'm still nervous about running carnage tyrants.
My T6: draw stormtamer, swing and pump with surge mare, draw herald, discard dive down
Opp T7: Commune with dinosaurs, finds a mountain, concedes.
I probably should have countered the commune just to ward off potential carnage tyrant action.
This was the rare game with no curious obsession and no tempest djinn that was still an easy win. Surge Mare gives green decks fits and countermagic is good against people relying on 4+ mana bombs to win.
Control decks beat ramp decks. It was true when my Force of Nature was eating a Mana Drain. It was true back when they were vapor snagging my wolf run target. It's still true today. Everybody on mono blue should hope and pray that Gruul Frenzy takes over the standard metagame.
I like the Golgari matchup, but it was refreshing to play a Golgari-free tournament. I find dodging the red aggro decks really helps my 5-0 chances. I think we're helped a lot right now by Golgari hating red aggro and Niv-Mizzet out of the meta.
I've been looking into flyers and have a few decks I've brewed up. Though they have strayed a little from the tempo style. May have to make a separate thread for flyers.
I know I've done
izzet wizards flyers
RW flyers
Mono-U flyers
UW flyers
matter of fact saw this deck using Thief of Sanity
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDgJEZ-XSvg
-Stay Frosty
That deck seems underpowered. Thief of Sanity is cool and all, but in the time it takes to snowball into a big advantage (assuming it doesn't whiff) a Tempest Djinn just ends the game. The djinn can fight it out in the air and it dodges at least some removal (moment of craving/shock/bolt). When a 2/2 is the beefiest creature in your deck you're going to have trouble if things ever go off script.
It's also kind of funny to go into black and play Deep Freeze.
Dunno, gotta experiment and take the good with the bad and the bad with the ugly.
-Stay Frosty
I don't think Marauder is worth it.
After about 2 weeks of testing I have come up with some insight:
I mulligan pretty aggressively with this deck. You want to see a one drop and a curiosity in your opening hand. Without curiosity this deck ..feelsbadman..
I run warkite marauder as a 2 of, MD. Im not OMG huge on him, the effect isnt hugely relevant the majority of the time. That said, every now and again, I pull out a win because the opposing player blocks incorrectly when they have a conditionally pumped creature and marauder removes their ability. Probably shouldnt be running a spell that is only cashing in when your opponent misplays haha. This slot is definitely negotiable, where other guys are running opt (meh) and exclusion mage (also, in my testing, meh).
It took me about 2 hours of playing this to realize that if your opponent resolves an early threat (specifically of the green persuasion that is undercosted and is has a high p/t, steel leaf for example, ferrox etc, you are up a creek without a paddle. It turns the game into a race that you are pretty ill equipped to deal with. This is where the bounce or the time of ice enchantment comes in. Exclusion mage is just not getting me there. Sure, bounce and then counter if a problem threat resolves,right? But that is not at all what this deck wants to be doing. I feel like you are often making plays that arent ideal to deal with these baddies, often losing tempo and card advantage. Id give my right eye for an unsummon, or even a repulse. Sadly, I cant have either and after going through the rest of the legal cards, I realized there is nothing that I really want out there that fits the curve and actually provides me with the desired effect. Blink isnt terrible, its probably the closest.
After determining the inherent flaw, I decided that a splash was necessary. Most "fish" decks of years prior had a tendency to splash red or white, for burn reach, or meddling mage. I personally think white has some stellar options for sideboarding, so I went in that direction. I totally get this waters your djinn down, slightly. I just havent found myself in a position where 1 or 2 points would be the huge of a deal, incrementally over the next few turns.
When everything is said and done:
20 land, 4 of which are glacial fortress and 2 meandering river.
4 conclave tribunal main deck. Yes, maindeck. Its a terror, a shatter, a mystify etc. It deals with anything and everything. This is the sort of versatility we need. It also convokes which, in a situation where the board is a cluttered, you can remove a threat and double spell turn 4 pretty easily. Tempo.
Sideboarding we get more options: you can run seal away, ixalans binding, I personally roll with settle the wreckage.
I will post my list just as soon as I get back to my computer, but until then, I hope you found something useful in this post.
You can have Repulse wannabe in Crashing Tide, but only 8 Merfolk to enable it.
Neutering Djinn with splash is one thing but double white for Wreckage will not work in this deck.
Strong disagree. I think you are badly underselling Tempest Djinn. Turn four djinn into swinging three times while everything else plays defense will win a lot of games. A second turn Steel-Leaf Champion is nearly unbeatable but anything else we have a fighting shot at tempoing out.
The deck mulligans well because of the nut draw but I think aggressively mulliganing for the nut draw costs you percentage points. It's fine even if the Djinn and Obsession don't show until turn four or five (which, of course, the opts and nightveil sprites make more likely). You should be winning your fair share of games even when you don't get the nuts.
Splashing white will cost you all of the games that you otherwise would have won with near-exactsies the turn before you died. In other words, a good chunk of your tempo wins. I also suspect you will lose more games because of the taplands than you will win because of the splash. Especially if you're trying to cast double white spells off of six white sources.
Double white is only two spells out of the board, against situations which, as Jacob pointed out, are otherwise auto losses for this deck. Seems somewhat reasonable, especially between all the card drawing and surveiling. Single white gets you conclave, which is another out for an otherwise unwinnable situation as just mono U.
As for Djinn, in what matchups is your djinn going unchecked like that though? The whole djinn goes the distance plan doesnt happen for me very often. Every relevant deck in the format has multiple answers to that strategy.
As I have said in this thread, I personally have two competitive league 5-0 finishes with the deck. The same deck that has been putting a 5-0 finish up in every WotC release since rotation. The same deck with a top 8 in the SCG classic. Sure, theoretical magic.
If you drop Djinn on turn four with Dive Down and/or Stormtamer and/or Spell Pierce available, you should be able to fend off their attempts to deal with it. If you drop Djinn on turn three with no protection then you will lose a lot of games.
21 Island
Creatures (22)
2 Warkite Marauder
2 Exclusion Mage
4 Merfolk Trickster
4 Mist-cloaked Herald
2 Nightveil Sprite
4 Siren Stormtamer
4 Tempest Djinn
4 Curious Obsession
2 Chart a Course
2 Dive Down
3 Essence Scatter
2 Spell Pierce
4 Wizard's Retort
3 Diamond Mare
1 Dive Down
3 Syncopate
2 Sleep
3 Negate
2 Disdainful Stroke
-Stay Frosty
I agree. I'd have a hard time justifying white in this particular build. This deck has many answers, but it does have it's weaknesses against Red and Green but that is expected.
-Stay Frosty