Based on this, I'd put in the two Essence Scatter, 4 Moments, and 1 Contempt. Bontu's is there more for the really go wide decks. Take out 1 Tetz, 2 Search, 2 Lili, 1 Chupa, 1 Disallow.
For Manu, yes, I think Aetherborn is a better choice than Poisoner. Maybe go 3 Aetherborn, 2 Siphoner, if aggro is that much of a problem. If generic creature based decks come back, then Poisoner may be better. Not sure yet. Sweepers aren't efficient right now, so I wouldn't worry about that (Bontu's means you tap out, and potentially can't answer a later threat), and the deck is now more focussed on countering by killing, so let the threat land (unless you can't kill it), then destroy with Chupa, Craving, etc.
Really cool list! Liliana, Death's Majesty is one of my favourite cards in Standard and nice to see her getting some more play now. I've got a Nicol Bolas, God Pharaoh in my binder that I've been dying to play so I want to try Grixis Control first although I love the consistency you get from the UB builds.. Hard times choosing..
Saw this list online (credit to Nicholas Ailes) that looks really cool:
Want to try that although I don't like the 3rd Search for Azcanta, the Consign and the 3rd Supreme Will. Also no Disallow seems weird.. Any tips on how to change this list would be appreciated
If you want to play NicoB you can always go 2colour with 4 hubs and then Cast NB off the hubs. Wafo Tapa and some others did that at the Pt. Having said that, I actually feel the 2 red sweepers (sweltering suns and hour of devastation) are the best in the format. Specially HoD sine it catches planeswalkes and gets around indestructible, so UR with minimal black might be the control colors
If you want to play NicoB you can always go 2colour with 4 hubs and then Cast NB off the hubs. Wafo Tapa and some others did that at the Pt. Having said that, I actually feel the 2 red sweepers (sweltering suns and hour of devastation) are the best in the format. Specially HoD sine it catches planeswalkes and gets around indestructible, so UR with minimal black might be the control colors
True, have been thinking about that as well but I believe there are some really good spells when you add red. I'm really impressed with Magma Spray lately since my LGS is running a ton of Earthshaker Khenra. Rebuild the list to:
Any love for a 1-off fiery cannonade in the sb? Mono red builds run almost no pirates (except kari zev, but thats easy to remove with other spells). Sweeping the board at instant speed is great and can also be flashed back with hulk.
Also, I've been less and less impressed with harnessed lightning, and more and more impressed by magma spray. If you think about it, there are very few creatures that you want to spend a removal spell on that cannot be removed by magma spray (which besides the exile, it also is one cheaper). Virtuoso is better removed by sweltering suns, glory bringer can easily be countered, scarab god is better off vraska's contempted (or countered), constrictor can be removed with push... there are few creatures where harnessed lightning is the spell you actually want. Anyone else feeling like this? I still play it main deck for its versatility, but i find myself boarding it out very often.
Hi all. Took the grixis deck I posted before to 2 motto leagues. The only changes were -1 consign and -1 vona’s Hunger and+1 suns +1 hour of devastation. Went 2-3 twice, but the first league I punted bad to a red deck. Every neuron in my brain told me his last card in hand was a 3 damage burn spell but I got greedy with my pull from tomorrow and did not leave negate mana up ( I did not have it but the way he was playing he was clearly respecting the possibility). I played 5 of the 10 games to red and one exactly 1 despite having 7 1mana removals. I think life gain is a must, and while I think the deck has legs i’d Love to find space for 3 or 4 moment of craving. But I don’t want to get rid of the magma sprays that have been awesome vs khendra and scrounged.
Bottom line, deck played really well. The SB was not very well planned and some cards might have been mistakes. I never brought in Kefnet nor NicoB, so perhaps those are slots that can be cut. Also, I think i only brought in the SB abrade once (match 2) but most artifacts have a good impact upon ETB, so it felt underwhelming. Also, After much trying to build a decent deck w/out Scarab G and instead playing gy hate like silent gravestone or sorcerous spyglass I gave up. Card is just too good to not bring to the table. Finally, I loved my chandra's defeat. Twice I killed a chandra and twice i rummaged a land into a relevant spell. Niche card, but it definitely did what i expected of it.
Match 1: Grixis control (no siphoner or other creatures besides SG and Hulk)
won 2-1. Lost game 1 to some dead cards in hand. Game 2 and 3 the arch of orazca was an mvp and probably the reason i won. Also, bringing in all the countermagic is rel powerful. having access to 4 negate, 4 disallow, 4 essence scatter and 1 jace's defeat is great. He 2-for-1 himself a bunch by having to let me resolve a creature. One particular turn, he had to let SG revole and he cast contempt; i flashed back a hulk targeting a counterspell, he cast another contempt, i flashed back another hulk targeting a glimmer. I went up 5 cards in that turn alone. Not letting them resolve their things is a much better plan.
Match 2: vs RG monsters.
won 2-0. Game 2 carnage tyrant came down and even became 11/10 thanks to a Green hulk. He was held down by 2 hulks until scabby joined the part, reanimated a bunch of fliers (glory B and phoenix), for the win in the air. There was a RG aftermath card that makes you shuffle your yard into your library, and that card was a beating. Prevented me from flipping azcanta twice (and even "killed" a god by shuffling before the endstep trigger resolved). Was not enough to win him the game, but it was a real thorn in the side.
Match 3: vs UW monument.
Lost 0-2. Both games he dumped his hand and went real wide. It really came down to "do i draw my sweeper". Both games I didn't, but can easily see winning if I had. Perhaps 3 sweepers in the 75 is too little. He was also playing the 5/5 horse that makes indestructible horses, which made me miss my 2nd Hour of Devastation.
Match 4: vs. mono red.
Won 2-1. Compared to my previous league, the 3 moments of craving and the extra contempt in lieu of the 2nd Hour was great. The total 10 life you can gain (and more if you flash back a lifegain spell with hulk) made all the difference. Game 2 I was at 5 life and facing down a hell bent opponent with hazoret and an ahn-crop crasher that was due to untap his next turn. Topdecked my HoD and won from there. HoD is a deceptively powerful sweeper and, honestly, the only reason I keep R in the deck. All the red cards can, in one way or another, be replaced, but I have no clue of a sweeper that kills hazoret, chandra, creatures, and everything else that matters (except scarab god).
I play this list last night and got absolutely crushed by a mardu vehicles and B/R aggro deck. Both decks play scrapheap scrounger and Heart of Kiran and I just can't handle the scrapheap recurring back. Does anyone have any advise? I really don't want to splash for magma spray.
The best thing is to use scarb god's ability to exile the scrounger when their shields are down. Otherwise, you could try either sorcerous spyglass naming the scrounger, or crook of condemnation. I don't particularly like these plans because it involves 2-1 yourself to an extent (you spend 1 card to stop the recursion, and 1 card to stop the actual scrounger). Finally, you could try having some x/4s to block. These could include scarab God tokens or cards like shielded aether thief, contraband kingpin (kingpin might be better due to the life link).
I play this list last night and got absolutely crushed by a mardu vehicles and B/R aggro deck. Both decks play scrapheap scrounger and Heart of Kiran and I just can't handle the scrapheap recurring back. Does anyone have any advise? I really don't want to splash for magma spray.
You could run the 4th Vraska's Contempt. I can't go down from 4. If you're really desperate, and want help vs. Gift, there's Dispossess also. Extreme, but Scrounger is a big problem for us. I lost to it twice Saturday in a PPTQ, despite both players making errors, and me playing very well IMO.
Neither contempt nor harnessed are strictly better than disintegration. Contempt is more expensive (and harder on the manabase) whereas lightning can't kill toughness 3+x creatures (x being the energy reserve you already have). I think the problem is that once you are talking 3 mana you want a true catch all, and both disallow and contempt are more general.
Neither contempt nor harnessed are strictly better than disintegration. Contempt is more expensive (and harder on the manabase) whereas lightning can't kill toughness 3+x creatures (x being the energy reserve you already have). I think the problem is that once you are talking 3 mana you want a true catch all, and both disallow and contempt are more general.
Vraska's Contempt is also a clean answer to indestructible creatures, the new gods and Planeswalkers. All of those target types are extremely relevant.
I think counter magic sucks right now. The only counter spell that pulls its weight is Essence Scatter. The rest are too situational or just cost too much. This is the sole reason I refuse to take UBx to any tournament right now.
I think counter magic sucks right now. The only counter spell that pulls its weight is Essence Scatter. The rest are too situational or just cost too much. This is the sole reason I refuse to take UBx to any tournament right now.
I don't think counter magic sucks and I still think that U/B is a good control deck option. I'm trying out Aether Meltdown against scrounger and actually it has been pretty good so far.
You could run the 4th Vraska's Contempt. I can't go down from 4. If you're really desperate, and want help vs. Gift, there's Dispossess also. Extreme, but Scrounger is a big problem for us. I lost to it twice Saturday in a PPTQ, despite both players making errors, and me playing very well IMO.
I think counter magic sucks right now. The only counter spell that pulls its weight is Essence Scatter. The rest are too situational or just cost too much. This is the sole reason I refuse to take UBx to any tournament right now.
I don't think counter magic sucks and I still think that U/B is a good control deck option. I'm trying out Aether Meltdown against scrounger and actually it has been pretty good so far.
I don't like the meltdown plan. It turns on their removal spells (they can kill their scrounger and then get it back), is awkward with sweepers (again, it kills their srounger), and at that point you 2-for-1d yourself. Also, playing a 4 mana removal on a 2 mana creature seems like a bad idea. I think magma spray and Hour of Devastation are in a good place (hell, with the of mono red and RB aggro making 20% of the meta, I'd say fiery cannonade is a actually reasonable) but if you really don't want red, the best shot is to have GY hate. Kill the scrounger and exile it with cards like deadeye tracker, crook of condemnation or just play good blockers (which is iffy in a world of Khenra's and Ahn-crop crashers, but if you have enough blockers it might work).
EDIT: regarding countermagic, I think it doesn't suck, but it's worse than it was in the past. The 2 mana ounters (scatter and negate) are good, since every single deck will present good targets for a 3-1 or 3-2 split of scatter-negate: Gods, Gearhulks, Planeswalkers, azcantas... they all gain value as they ETB (or are very hard to remove for UBx control, like azcanta), so its better to counter than remove. The problem is that the 3 mana counters are not as good. The "cancle with upside" paradigm gave us some good options like dissolve and dissipate, but the upside of disallow is not as good. I'd still play at least 6 permsission spells (4 two mana, 2 disallow), but I agree that disallow is more a "necessary evil" type of card, rather than a card you are happy to play.
As for deck lists, I noticed that the top performing UB list at the SCG classic had 3 Chupas in the main, yet none of the lists published since then from MTGO (5-0s and PTQ) have any in the 75. Why do people think that is? Not worth it? Or just not seeing them show up due to the selectiveness of the MTGO lists?
The reason is that Vraska's Contempt is just better. I would max the number of those main deck before adding any Chupacabras even with Scarab God in mind.
I agree with Chaos: 4th vraska's > 1st Chupa Chups.
Went 3-2 on a league using a pile I post below. Won all my non mono-red matches quite convincingly (2-1 vs UG fish, 2-0 vs BG snek, 2-0 vs RWpath of mettle) , and lost my 2 mono red matches. I'm in this rut where I can easily tweak decks to beat R but then loose to bigger decks, or I tweak to beat other decks and loose to red!
The deck looks like a pile, and it partially is, because it was an experiment. I simply went to mtggoldfish, looked at the metagame staples list, and made the first 70 cards by just mimicking the # played of the relevant control cards in the top-50 dominant cards. The idea was inspired by Frank Karsten's "average deck" idea. I have to say, I thought it would play out much much worse than it did. I even beat Paul Rietzl in the BG match The only problem is that I felt light on card draw; a couple of times I was at the mercy of topdecks, and I hate that feeling. Chaining card draw spells together is where I want to be.
I agree with Chaos: 4th vraska's > 1st Chupa Chups.
Went 3-2 on a league using a pile I post below. Won all my non mono-red matches quite convincingly (2-1 vs UG fish, 2-0 vs BG snek, 2-0 vs RWpath of mettle) , and lost my 2 mono red matches. I'm in this rut where I can easily tweak decks to beat R but then loose to bigger decks, or I tweak to beat other decks and loose to red!
The deck looks like a pile, and it partially is, because it was an experiment. I simply went to mtggoldfish, looked at the metagame staples list, and made the first 70 cards by just mimicking the # played of the relevant control cards in the top-50 dominant cards. The idea was inspired by Frank Karsten's "average deck" idea. I have to say, I thought it would play out much much worse than it did. I even beat Paul Rietzl in the BG match The only problem is that I felt light on card draw; a couple of times I was at the mercy of topdecks, and I hate that feeling. Chaining card draw spells together is where I want to be.
IMHO, you're losing to red because you aren't maxed out on Moment Of Craving and Vraska's Contempt. The life gain from these removal spells is very important in these matches. Post-board, I am on 4 Moment, 4 Contempt, and 2 Essence Extraction. Of course, this is an advantage of UB over Grixis, but I think that's how you beat red right now.
Yeah, I've been thinking about going 4xContempt. What holds me back is that paying 4 mana for a 1:1 trade seems loose, specially vs a deck where they have 8-10 4 drops. If you think of the card as a 2:1 that reads "exile a creature, counter target shock" then perhaps it's less loose... I'll try it out today or tomorrow... Another plan I've been thinking about is either playing a The Locust god to make an army of blockers (Wafo tapa style) or trying to bring back dynavolt tower as a way to up our x-for-1 trade count (yes, abrade is a thing, but if you play 4 towers and 3 hulks you'll be really taxing their abrades, and even if they abrade the tower, as long as you killed a creature before you are still a card up). Actually, as I'm writing this, the tower plan seems deece...
Yeah, I've been thinking about going 4xContempt. What holds me back is that paying 4 mana for a 1:1 trade seems loose, specially vs a deck where they have 8-10 4 drops. If you think of the card as a 2:1 that reads "exile a creature, counter target shock" then perhaps it's less loose... I'll try it out today or tomorrow... Another plan I've been thinking about is either playing a The Locust god to make an army of blockers (Wafo tapa style) or trying to bring back dynavolt tower as a way to up our x-for-1 trade count (yes, abrade is a thing, but if you play 4 towers and 3 hulks you'll be really taxing their abrades, and even if they abrade the tower, as long as you killed a creature before you are still a card up). Actually, as I'm writing this, the tower plan seems deece...
"Loose" it is not. Keeping Magma Spray in a deck in an attempt to 2-for-1 yourself to drop a Scarab God is "loose." Vraska's Contempt at worst is slow.
I just love that you think a fourth Vraska's Contempt is "loose" but adding a Locust God seems like a fine idea.
Release to the Wind is the interesting card here... Value and protection for your own stuff, and an interesting tempo play if needed. Four Gearhulk seems heavy as well...
This second one, as someone on another site put it "looks like a good control deck once you remove the Master/Swindle shenanigans." Vraska and Bolas on the splash make this look heavily geared to fight mid-range lists. The single Censor caught my eye as well...
It’s for different reasons. V contempt is a 1-1 answer that can’t close the game, locust god can. Suppose you stabilize the board. Perhaps you draw some answers, some card draw spells and it is smooth sailing. But consider how you loose from a stable board position. You stabilize at a low life (say, 5) but don’t have a threat, so we play draw go a couple of turns, and you flood out. In the meanwhile he top decks a couple haste creatures,or perhaps some burn... game over. If I topdeck a V contempt in those situations, I can kill a dude and maybe gain some life, but it’s not inevitable that I win (specially if he topdecks burn and you contempt rots in hand] If I have a Locust G I can mitigate the flood with his ability AND close the game before he gets his top deck. For reference, in today’s article Soorani advocates very strongly for virtuoso precisely for how good an army of 1/1s can be at stabilizing and closing the game vs a deck like the current versions of red, and does not advocate for 4 contempt’s. Maybe the card I picked is the wrong one and virtuoso is just better (though I hate how fragile he is at just 3 toughness) but I don’t think the plan of adding an extra post board finisher/card advantage engine that mitigates late game flood and affects the board is necessarily worse than a 1 for 1 trade that costs 4 mana and gains you less life than a lightning strike.
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Really cool list! Liliana, Death's Majesty is one of my favourite cards in Standard and nice to see her getting some more play now. I've got a Nicol Bolas, God Pharaoh in my binder that I've been dying to play so I want to try Grixis Control first although I love the consistency you get from the UB builds.. Hard times choosing..
Saw this list online (credit to Nicholas Ailes) that looks really cool:
2 The Scarab God
3 Torrential Gearhulk
Planeswalkers
1 Liliana, Death's Majesty
1 Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh
Enchantments
3 Search for Azcanta
Spells
2 Abrade
2 Consign // Oblivion
2 Cut // Ribbons
1 Essence Scatter
4 Fatal Push
3 Glimmer of Genius
2 Harnessed Lightning
3 Supreme Will
1 Sweltering Suns
3 Vraska's Contempt
1 Aether Hub
2 Canyon Slough
2 Dragonskull Summit
3 Drowned Catacomb
2 Evolving Wilds
3 Fetid Pools
2 Field of Ruin
1 Hour of Devastation
3 Island
3 Mountain
4 Spirebluff Canal
1 Swamp
1 Abrade
2 Chandra's Defeat
2 Duress
2 Glorybringer
1 Gonti, Lord of Luxury
1 Metallurgic Summonings
2 Moment of Craving
3 Negate
1 River's Rebuke
Want to try that although I don't like the 3rd Search for Azcanta, the Consign and the 3rd Supreme Will. Also no Disallow seems weird.. Any tips on how to change this list would be appreciated
True, have been thinking about that as well but I believe there are some really good spells when you add red. I'm really impressed with Magma Spray lately since my LGS is running a ton of Earthshaker Khenra. Rebuild the list to:
2 The Scarab God
3 Torrential Gearhulk
Planeswalkers
1 Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh
Enchantments
2 Search for Azcanta
Spells
3 Fatal Push
2 Magma Spray
2 Abrade
3 Censor
2 Essence Scatter
4 Harnessed Lightning
3 Disallow
1 Supreme Will
1 Sweltering Suns
3 Glimmer of Genius
2 Vraska's Contempt
1 Hour of Devastation
4 Aether Hub
2 Canyon Slough
2 Dragonskull Summit
4 Drowned Catacomb
3 Fetid Pools
3 Island
2 Mountain
4 Spirebluff Canal
1 Swamp
Also, I've been less and less impressed with harnessed lightning, and more and more impressed by magma spray. If you think about it, there are very few creatures that you want to spend a removal spell on that cannot be removed by magma spray (which besides the exile, it also is one cheaper). Virtuoso is better removed by sweltering suns, glory bringer can easily be countered, scarab god is better off vraska's contempted (or countered), constrictor can be removed with push... there are few creatures where harnessed lightning is the spell you actually want. Anyone else feeling like this? I still play it main deck for its versatility, but i find myself boarding it out very often.
1 Arch of Orazca
3 mountain
2 canyon slough
2 dragonskull summit
4 drowned catacomb
1 fetid pools
6 island
4 spirebluff canal
4 aether hub
Card Draw (13)
3 search for azcanta
1 azor's gateway
4 glimmer of genius
4 Torrential gearhulk
1 pull from tomorrow
1 duress
2 magma spray
1 fatal push
3 essence scatter
1 negate
2 moment of craving
1 abrade
1 harnessed lightning
3 disallow
2 vraska's contempt
2 The Scarab God
1 Hour of Devastation
1 chandra's defeat
1 essence scatter
1 jace's defeat
3 negate
1 moment of craving
1 abrade
1 harnessed lightning
1 kefnet the mindful
1 disallow
2 sweltering suns
1 nezahal, primal tide
1 nicol bolas, god-pharaoh
Bottom line, deck played really well. The SB was not very well planned and some cards might have been mistakes. I never brought in Kefnet nor NicoB, so perhaps those are slots that can be cut. Also, I think i only brought in the SB abrade once (match 2) but most artifacts have a good impact upon ETB, so it felt underwhelming. Also, After much trying to build a decent deck w/out Scarab G and instead playing gy hate like silent gravestone or sorcerous spyglass I gave up. Card is just too good to not bring to the table. Finally, I loved my chandra's defeat. Twice I killed a chandra and twice i rummaged a land into a relevant spell. Niche card, but it definitely did what i expected of it.
Match 1: Grixis control (no siphoner or other creatures besides SG and Hulk)
won 2-1. Lost game 1 to some dead cards in hand. Game 2 and 3 the arch of orazca was an mvp and probably the reason i won. Also, bringing in all the countermagic is rel powerful. having access to 4 negate, 4 disallow, 4 essence scatter and 1 jace's defeat is great. He 2-for-1 himself a bunch by having to let me resolve a creature. One particular turn, he had to let SG revole and he cast contempt; i flashed back a hulk targeting a counterspell, he cast another contempt, i flashed back another hulk targeting a glimmer. I went up 5 cards in that turn alone. Not letting them resolve their things is a much better plan.
Match 2: vs RG monsters.
won 2-0. Game 2 carnage tyrant came down and even became 11/10 thanks to a Green hulk. He was held down by 2 hulks until scabby joined the part, reanimated a bunch of fliers (glory B and phoenix), for the win in the air. There was a RG aftermath card that makes you shuffle your yard into your library, and that card was a beating. Prevented me from flipping azcanta twice (and even "killed" a god by shuffling before the endstep trigger resolved). Was not enough to win him the game, but it was a real thorn in the side.
Match 3: vs UW monument.
Lost 0-2. Both games he dumped his hand and went real wide. It really came down to "do i draw my sweeper". Both games I didn't, but can easily see winning if I had. Perhaps 3 sweepers in the 75 is too little. He was also playing the 5/5 horse that makes indestructible horses, which made me miss my 2nd Hour of Devastation.
Match 4: vs. mono red.
Won 2-1. Compared to my previous league, the 3 moments of craving and the extra contempt in lieu of the 2nd Hour was great. The total 10 life you can gain (and more if you flash back a lifegain spell with hulk) made all the difference. Game 2 I was at 5 life and facing down a hell bent opponent with hazoret and an ahn-crop crasher that was due to untap his next turn. Topdecked my HoD and won from there. HoD is a deceptively powerful sweeper and, honestly, the only reason I keep R in the deck. All the red cards can, in one way or another, be replaced, but I have no clue of a sweeper that kills hazoret, chandra, creatures, and everything else that matters (except scarab god).
Here is the list:
2 The Scarab God
3 Torrential Gearhulk
Spell:
3 Censor
4 Essence Scatter
4 Disallow
3 Hieroglyphic Illumination
2 Glimmer of Genius
4 Fatal Push
2 Essence Extraction
3 Vraska's Contempt
1 Consign//Oblivion
1 Commit//Memory
2 Search for Azcanta
4 Drowned Catacomb
4 Fetid Pools
4 Aether Hub
2 Field of ruin
2 Ipnu Rivulet
1 Ifnir Deadlands
4 Island
5 Swamp
1 Bontu's Last Reckoning
1 Essance Extraction
3 Negate
3 Duress
1 Gonti, Lord of Luxury
3 Gifted Aetherborn
2 Deadeye Tracker
1 Lost Legacy
You could run the 4th Vraska's Contempt. I can't go down from 4. If you're really desperate, and want help vs. Gift, there's Dispossess also. Extreme, but Scrounger is a big problem for us. I lost to it twice Saturday in a PPTQ, despite both players making errors, and me playing very well IMO.
Vraska's Contempt is also a clean answer to indestructible creatures, the new gods and Planeswalkers. All of those target types are extremely relevant.
That's why I switched to Grixis Control, Magma Spray is a really good and clean answer to Scrapheap Scrounger and it hits most of the played explore creatures, Earthshaker Khenra and Champion of Wits. I was playing 2 main with 4 Harnessed Lightning but I'm now running a 3-3 split.
I don't like the meltdown plan. It turns on their removal spells (they can kill their scrounger and then get it back), is awkward with sweepers (again, it kills their srounger), and at that point you 2-for-1d yourself. Also, playing a 4 mana removal on a 2 mana creature seems like a bad idea. I think magma spray and Hour of Devastation are in a good place (hell, with the of mono red and RB aggro making 20% of the meta, I'd say fiery cannonade is a actually reasonable) but if you really don't want red, the best shot is to have GY hate. Kill the scrounger and exile it with cards like deadeye tracker, crook of condemnation or just play good blockers (which is iffy in a world of Khenra's and Ahn-crop crashers, but if you have enough blockers it might work).
EDIT: regarding countermagic, I think it doesn't suck, but it's worse than it was in the past. The 2 mana ounters (scatter and negate) are good, since every single deck will present good targets for a 3-1 or 3-2 split of scatter-negate: Gods, Gearhulks, Planeswalkers, azcantas... they all gain value as they ETB (or are very hard to remove for UBx control, like azcanta), so its better to counter than remove. The problem is that the 3 mana counters are not as good. The "cancle with upside" paradigm gave us some good options like dissolve and dissipate, but the upside of disallow is not as good. I'd still play at least 6 permsission spells (4 two mana, 2 disallow), but I agree that disallow is more a "necessary evil" type of card, rather than a card you are happy to play.
As for deck lists, I noticed that the top performing UB list at the SCG classic had 3 Chupas in the main, yet none of the lists published since then from MTGO (5-0s and PTQ) have any in the 75. Why do people think that is? Not worth it? Or just not seeing them show up due to the selectiveness of the MTGO lists?
This is what I'm running out this weekend.
3 Ravenous Chupacabra
2 The Scarab God
3 Torrential Gearhulk
Planeswalkers (2)
2 Liliana, Death's Majesty
Spells (23)
4 Fatal Push
2 Essence Scatter
2 Moment of Craving
1 Negate
3 Disallow
1 Reaver Ambush
2 Supreme Will
4 Glimmer of Genius
3 Vraska's Contempt
1 Consign // Oblivion
2 Search for Azcanta
Lands (25)
4 Aether Hub
4 Drowned Catacomb
4 Fetid Pools
2 Field of Ruin
5 Island
6 Swamp
1 Arch of Orazca
1 Deadeye Tracker
3 Duress
3 Gifted Aetherborn
2 Negate
1 Reaver Ambush
2 Gonti, Lord of Luxury
1 Yahenni's Expertise
1 Tetzimoc, Primal Death
Went 3-2 on a league using a pile I post below. Won all my non mono-red matches quite convincingly (2-1 vs UG fish, 2-0 vs BG snek, 2-0 vs RW path of mettle) , and lost my 2 mono red matches. I'm in this rut where I can easily tweak decks to beat R but then loose to bigger decks, or I tweak to beat other decks and loose to red!
1 Arch of Orazca
4 Aether hub
3 canyon slough
3 fetid pools
4 dragonskull summit
4 drowned catacomb
4 spirebluff canal
1 mountain
1 island
1 swamp
Spells (34)
1 duress
1 fatal push
2 magma spray
4 censor
2 essence scatter
1 negate
2 search for azcanta
2 abrade
4 harnessed lightning
2 supreme will
3 disallow
3 glimmer of genius
3 Vraska's contempt
2 The Scarab God
2 Torrential Gearhulk
2 duress
2 fatal push
2 chandra's defeat
2 deadeye tracker
2 negate
2 moment of craving
1 Angrath, the flame-chained
1 hour of devastation
1 nicol bolas, god-pharoh
The deck looks like a pile, and it partially is, because it was an experiment. I simply went to mtggoldfish, looked at the metagame staples list, and made the first 70 cards by just mimicking the # played of the relevant control cards in the top-50 dominant cards. The idea was inspired by Frank Karsten's "average deck" idea. I have to say, I thought it would play out much much worse than it did. I even beat Paul Rietzl in the BG match The only problem is that I felt light on card draw; a couple of times I was at the mercy of topdecks, and I hate that feeling. Chaining card draw spells together is where I want to be.
IMHO, you're losing to red because you aren't maxed out on Moment Of Craving and Vraska's Contempt. The life gain from these removal spells is very important in these matches. Post-board, I am on 4 Moment, 4 Contempt, and 2 Essence Extraction. Of course, this is an advantage of UB over Grixis, but I think that's how you beat red right now.
"Loose" it is not. Keeping Magma Spray in a deck in an attempt to 2-for-1 yourself to drop a Scarab God is "loose." Vraska's Contempt at worst is slow.
I just love that you think a fourth Vraska's Contempt is "loose" but adding a Locust God seems like a fine idea.
2 The Scarab God
4 Torrential Gearhulk
Instant [27]
4 Censor
4 Disallow
4 Essence Scatter
4 Fatal Push
2 Glimmer of Genius
2 Hieroglyphic Illumination
2 Moment of Craving
1 Negate
1 Release to the Wind
3 Vraska's Contempt
2 Search for Azcanta
Land [25]
4 Drowned Catacomb
2 Evolving Wilds
4 Fetid Pools
2 Field of Ruin
6 Island
7 Swamp
1 Bontu's Last Reckoning
1 Deadeye Tracker
3 Duress
4 Gifted Aetherborn
2 Moment of Craving
3 Negate
1 Vraska's Contempt
2 Marionette Master
2 The Scarab God
2 Torrential Gearhulk
Artifact [2]
2 Treasure Map
Instant [20]
1 Censor
1 Consign/Oblivion
1 Disallow
4 Fatal Push
3 Hieroglyphic Illumination
2 Moment of Craving
1 Pull from Tomorrow
2 Spell Swindle
3 Supreme Will
2 Vraska's Contempt
2 Doomfall
2 Yahenni's Expertise
Enchantment [2]
2 Search for Azcanta
Planeswalker [1]
1 Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh
Land [25]
4 Aether Hub
1 Arch of Orazca
4 Drowned Catacomb
2 Evolving Wilds
3 Fetid Pools
2 Field of Ruin
4 Island
5 Swamp
1 Crook of Condemnation
2 Essence Scatter
3 Gifted Aetherborn
3 Glint-Sleeve Siphoner
1 Gonti, Lord of Luxury
2 Negate
1 River's Rebuke
1 Vraska's Contempt
1 Vraska, Relic Seeker