I've played Bant Approach on MTGO and I haven't been super impressed. It definitely puts as as more favored vs Grixis Midrange/ UBx Control, but I feel like those matchups are already good enough. Spring // Mind in particular is pretty poor vs Aggro decks. I've run into some problems with Mono-B aggro, so I added more 2-mana answers (Up to 4 end, . Even with them it's hard to deal with their one drops. Pretty much everything they do t1 has 2 power or effectively 2 power (attack for 1, drain for 1).
Bant approach is certainly quite a bit better in the mirror and vs Cycling.
I've played Bant Approach on MTGO and I haven't been super impressed. It definitely puts as as more favored vs Grixis Midrange/ UBx Control, but I feel like those matchups are already good enough. Spring // Mind in particular is pretty poor vs Aggro decks. I've run into some problems with Mono-B aggro, so I added more 2-mana answers (Up to 4 end, . Even with them it's hard to deal with their one drops. Pretty much everything they do t1 has 2 power or effectively 2 power (attack for 1, drain for 1).
Bant approach is certainly quite a bit better in the mirror and vs Cycling.
I've been testing it tonight and against aggro its difficult. Yeah Gift of Paradise helps out a little with the little life gain but if u don't have an answer quickly for those small creatures and the lords its gg. I'm thinking about testing Slaughter the Strong and see if that helps.
But I do have to admit its a lot of fun and having your opponents write what the hell is going on here is priceless.
Here is a list of the top 32 Standard PTQ decks. STANDARD PTQ. There is a lot of Grixis Midrange (a great matchup for us), a bunch of Rx Aggro decks (comes down to who has the better hand, in my experience) and 1 Esper Approach deck (#13). The list is pretty interesting because it looks like a UB control list that splashes white for Approach. Will have to do some testing.
As far as the ongoing discussion (please let's keep it a discussion instead of turning into 'my deck is better and you are stupid') it really comes down to personal preference. I played just about every version of Approach the last 4-5 months. I have done really well with each and have gotten crushed with all of them also. The Scarab God is one of the strongest cards in standard right now. I feel if you can run him, you should. That is one of the main reasons I am on Esper. But one of the guys at my LGS is on UW and top 4's almost every week. The Jeskai version is a lot of fun to play it feels like it is better against aggro decks. So just play what you want. /rant
For me, in the Esper version, when I started running 26 lands with 3 Fetid Pools and 3 Irrigated Farmland it really helped smooth out the mana base. Best case is to drop one of them on turn 1 tapped and you should be fine the rest of the game. At some point, you will be playing another tapped, but you can usually work around it. And I run 2 Field of Ruin in all my decks. There are too many Enchantment/Lands now, you have to have a way to get rid of them. In a control mirror, if I have a flipped Search and you don't, I feel like I am so far ahead.
As far as Nezahal, Primal Tide, I have not played many games with him yet but the ones I did, he ended them quickly. Not 100% sold on him but will keep testing.
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Modern
Currently Playing UW UW Control/Miracles R Skred Red
This is the deck that he was using and he completely dominated Grixis Control Deck he faced in his featured match.
What do you guys think?
Thanks for posting! That is an interesting Approach variant. Glad to see Baffling End get some play. I think it's a great addition to the UW Approach decks. From my perspective, it actually scales fine since so many decks have key early creatures like Longtusk Cub, Bomat Courier, Winding Constrictor which the opposition will have playsets of. And it can take out almost all the merfolk.
Here is a list of the top 32 Standard PTQ decks. STANDARD PTQ. There is a lot of Grixis Midrange (a great matchup for us), a bunch of Rx Aggro decks (comes down to who has the better hand, in my experience) and 1 Esper Approach deck (#13). The list is pretty interesting because it looks like a UB control list that splashes white for Approach. Will have to do some testing.
As far as the ongoing discussion (please let's keep it a discussion instead of turning into 'my deck is better and you are stupid') it really comes down to personal preference. I played just about every version of Approach the last 4-5 months. I have done really well with each and have gotten crushed with all of them also. The Scarab God is one of the strongest cards in standard right now. I feel if you can run him, you should. That is one of the main reasons I am on Esper. But one of the guys at my LGS is on UW and top 4's almost every week. The Jeskai version is a lot of fun to play it feels like it is better against aggro decks. So just play what you want. /rant
For me, in the Esper version, when I started running 26 lands with 3 Fetid Pools and 3 Irrigated Farmland it really helped smooth out the mana base. Best case is to drop one of them on turn 1 tapped and you should be fine the rest of the game. At some point, you will be playing another tapped, but you can usually work around it. And I run 2 Field of Ruin in all my decks. There are too many Enchantment/Lands now, you have to have a way to get rid of them. In a control mirror, if I have a flipped Search and you don't, I feel like I am so far ahead.
As far as Nezahal, Primal Tide, I have not played many games with him yet but the ones I did, he ended them quickly. Not 100% sold on him but will keep testing.
That #13 PTQ deck is pretty sweet. When I last played Esper I didn't have a mechanism to trigger revolt on Fatal Push so I didn't love that card. In this deck, Evolving Wilds can do that as well as find a Plains when it is time to Approach. 4 Approach of the Second Sun, 3 Field of Ruin, 3 Search for Azcanta and no reliance on sweepers. Bontu's Last Reckoning is in there but it looks like a card of last resort. There is a lot to like there.
Every time I think I'm decided I see a shiny new Esper build which makes me reconsider. . .
So, I had a big tourney yesterday 5 rounds, about 20+ people and I got rocked in the new standard format after the bannings. ROCKED I tells ya!!!
First of all out of the 5 rounds I played no less than 5 different decks, that's right, and none of them were Energy or R/x aggro (unless you count dinos) at all, but none with Hazoret in the deck.
So, I went 2-3 mostly because I made a huge mistake in the 2nd round and should have probably been 3-2 or better if I won that round. Did I play well, no, not really...did I struggle to win every single game against 5 different opponents and 5 different decks...yes, I did.
Here's a short recap of what happened:
1st Round - VS. R/B/U aggro control with counters, black removal, Rekindling Phoenix, Glorybringer etc... result 2-0
This is the only deck that I beat relatively easily both games, and I did it by casting Approach twice each game to win. The irony is that this type of deck aka. Grixis control actually won the tourney and another player went 5-0 with it. I obviously didn't get to play against him but I was wondering if my second round pairing would have been against him then I would've had a good chance to beat him and thus change the future and his win.
I can't say much about playing against this deck except that he didn't have enough threats, the ones he did have I countered and he couldn't deal with me casting Approach twice or trying to beat me before I do that since it's not really a true aggro deck.
This deck just rocked me hard and surprised me, he was basically running all ramp trying to get to 7 mana in like 4 turns or 5 turns and cast approach twice and to do that he ran mastermind's acquisition to get another approach from the deck or the sideboard. In the second game he hand enough mana to cast matermind's acquisition and approach both in the same turn and unfortunately I didn't have enough mana to counter the approach and lost, I had the counter in my hand but tapped out because of casting something and I thought he had no cards in hand but he had 1 card that he put on the table and covered with his hands so I couldn't see it. That card was the tutor which he used to get an approach and cast it to win the game.
He finished the tourney 3-2 so although his deck was lethal against me, he got rocked by some other people as well. As far as I can tell the deck doesn't run any creatures main deck.
3rd Round - VS - Mono Black aggro with ammit eternal, heart of kiran, duress etc... result 2-1
I managed to win the 3rd game against this fast deck by casting both Cast out and Baffling end in the same turn to take care of 2 of his creatures and put him in topdeck mode and I was able to Approach the next turn to gain 7 life and that gave me a couple of more turns to draw cards and be able to cast approach a second time to win the match. IT's a fast deck and if I didn't sideboard in the 2 Baffling Ends I would not have won the third game.
4th Round - VS - B/W Vampire tokens with legion's landing, radiant destiny, Mavrein fein etc... result 0-2
This deck also surprised me and in the first game I didn't draw my removal fast enough and he kept making tokens every turn after he flipped legion's landing and I just didn't know what to do to stop him, I wouldn't be able to get approach out twice before he beat me with the tokens.
In the second game I kept a 2 land hand and missed the next 2 land drops so I put down the 3rd land on the 5th turn while already facing a flipped Legion's landing and although I put up a fight he managed to duress me twice in the next few turns to take out my settle the wreckage first time, and fumigate the second time.
He made it to the finals and he lost against the Grixis control deck which won the tourney, I saw the 3rd game only and in that game this token deck had nothing out except one Radiant Destiny and 2 Cast Outs for pretty much the whole game. I don't know how to beat this deck, or it may be because I had terrible draws both games that I am still shook up about this match-up
Round 5 - VS - R/G Dinos with all the good stuff including Ghalta and friends - Result 1-2
I won the first game by being able to just Essence Scatter his first 2 plays, then Supreme will the 3rd play and when he did get 2 dinos out I settled them and so I was able to cast approach twice before being overrun by hungry dinos. In the second game I kept a 3 land hand and 4 out of the next 5 draws were lands so due to the severe mana flood I got beat in a couple of turns by the dinos.
In the third game I just couldn't draw enough removal on time, I killed a few dinos but he kept casting them one after another and when I did have removal he got a Carnage Tyrant and gave it haste with Otepec guy and hit me for about 20 damage in one turn, I didn't have enough free mana to cast settle the wreckage so I lost. I don't think I should've lost this match up since dinos only have big creatures and haste, they don't really have combat tricks, burn or counters so it should be an easy game to win for a control deck but again sometimes things don't go your way.
Card that I tested and what I think about them:
1 Nezahal main deck - can't say anything because I didn't cast him at all in all the games, I drew him once I believe but didn't get to cast him to see if he is good or not.
1 Arch of Orazca main deck - I did get enough to Ascend in many games but never had the time to use the mana to actually use this card to draw cards, but I believe it is useful.
2 Baffling End (sideboard)- worked great against Mono Black aggro, would probably work against R/G dinos as well to get rid of the Otepec Huntmaster, Deathgorge Scavenger, and Drover of the mighty. Unfortunately I wasn't thinking straight so I didn't sideboard them in against the dino match-up so it's my bad but you definitely need them against dinos. The may also work against B/W tokens because they have a lot of 1 mana, 2 mana or 3 mana drops. I will be running 3 Baffling End in my sideboard from now on.
1 Flood of Recollection main deck - I drew it many times, but didn't get to cast it yet, I do still want to run one since it can get back so many different cards but by itself it does nothing so I discarded it very often to champion of wits or farm/market.
2 Crafty Cutpurse (sideboard)- these were to be run against God Pharaoh's Gift decks or the scarab god decks and I didn't face any of those decks yesterday so I didn't get to test them out but they should work in theory to steal one token from those decks which can possibly win you the game.
I also tried 2 spell pierce main deck instead of 2 negates and they didn't work out at all so I will go back to running negates main deck.
So, I will need to rework the main deck a bit and also the sideboard ahead of the new free standard season where everything seems to be working, and Energy and Mono red seem to be disappearing already at least in my LGS's meta.
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Approach seems excelent now in this brand new format. Yesterday I played in 32 man pptq, going all the way to the finals giving rptq slot to my teammate and splitting prizes without playing (because it's team rptq, so I will be going with him anyway).
3-1-1 (draw being intentional) in swiss, playing variety of matchups.
Vs UW cycling 2-0
Vs temur black planeswalkers 1-2
Vs Mono Red 2-0
Vs Mardu Vehicles 2-0
Round 5 ID
And then top8:
Quarters vs Mono Black aggro 2-0
Semis vs Esper Approach 2-1
Finals prize split
Notes about card choices:
Baffling End is amazing. I'm not going below 4 any time soon. Scrounger didn't feel like threat anymore.
Azor is way better than he seems. A lot of decks can't even kill him, and often one activation is game over.
Nezahal is a must one-of in sideboard. If you are not severely behind, you won't lose after casting this.
Arch of Orazca is very good 1-of. Search for Azcanta needs to go out vs Aggro, but Arch still gives free late game value if you and aggro both topdeck.
That #13 PTQ deck is pretty sweet. When I last played Esper I didn't have a mechanism to trigger revolt on Fatal Push so I didn't love that card. In this deck, Evolving Wilds can do that as well as find a Plains when it is time to Approach. 4 Approach of the Second Sun, 3 Field of Ruin, 3 Search for Azcanta and no reliance on sweepers. Bontu's Last Reckoning is in there but it looks like a card of last resort. There is a lot to like there.
I played around with this build a little bit. I liked it but I found myself missing the sweepers. With Baffling End the board is now in a better state so I am more resilient to a countered Settle the Wreckage or Fumigate. At least that is what I'm finding.
2. I feel the kitties are essential here to stabalize life. I basically follow the gameplan for #1 because that is what is available in my sideboard. And I'll apologize for continuing to promote the same card, but I really believe Baffling End helps here too. I think it is the UW version of Fatal Push. Enchantment speed but will take out another tier of creature unless they have Revolt triggered. . .
Approach seems excelent now in this brand new format. Yesterday I played in 32 man pptq, going all the way to the finals giving rptq slot to my teammate and splitting prizes without playing (because it's team rptq, so I will be going with him anyway).
3-1-1 (draw being intentional) in swiss, playing variety of matchups.
Vs UW cycling 2-0
Vs temur black planeswalkers 1-2
Vs Mono Red 2-0
Vs Mardu Vehicles 2-0
Round 5 ID
And then top8:
Quarters vs Mono Black aggro 2-0
Semis vs Esper Approach 2-1
Finals prize split
Notes about card choices:
Baffling End is amazing. I'm not going below 4 any time soon. Scrounger didn't feel like threat anymore.
Azor is way better than he seems. A lot of decks can't even kill him, and often one activation is game over.
Nezahal is a must one-of in sideboard. If you are not severely behind, you won't lose after casting this.
Arch of Orazca is very good 1-of. Search for Azcanta needs to go out vs Aggro, but Arch still gives free late game value if you and aggro both topdeck.
Thank you for posting! There have been several great Approach lists posted recently; this one might be my favorite. I like the addition of Hieroglyphic Illumination because it allows for the elimination of both Opt and Glimmer of Genius (at least in my deck). Freeing up 4 slots for something which affects board-state or advances Approach.
I've been keeping Search for Azcanta in v agro (keeping it uncast until graveyard is close to flip) so will use that 3rd colorless for a Field of Ruin.
2. I feel the kitties are essential here to stabalize life. I basically follow the gameplan for #1 because that is what is available in my sideboard. And I'll apologize for continuing to promote the same card, but I really believe Baffling End helps here too. I think it is the UW version of Fatal Push. Enchantment speed but will take out another tier of creature unless they have Revolt triggered. . .
In almost every list I run 2 Sunscourge Champion and 3 Regal Caracal, I bring in these 5 against any fast deck. The champs come down on turn 3, gain 2 life, then chump block. Comes back on turn 4, gains 4 and chumps again. I have found the cats are not very good by themselves. I really what to play 2 in a row. Or 1-2 Champs then a Cat. Some combination of those really helps most aggro matchups.
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Currently Playing UW UW Control/Miracles R Skred Red
Notes about card choices:
Baffling End is amazing. I'm not going below 4 any time soon. Scrounger didn't feel like threat anymore.
Azor is way better than he seems. A lot of decks can't even kill him, and often one activation is game over.
Nezahal is a must one-of in sideboard. If you are not severely behind, you won't lose after casting this.
Arch of Orazca is very good 1-of. Search for Azcanta needs to go out vs Aggro, but Arch still gives free late game value if you and aggro both topdeck.
Gratz on the nice results! And thanks for posting your list, it is very sweet.
Glad to hear about Azor, I have wanted to try him by not quite sure how good he is. I will definitely do some playtesting with him. Same with Nezahal.
I really hate suggesting making changes to a winning list but... I would suggest at least one Ixalan's Binding. It has done so much work for me against almost every deck. Just my 2 cents, your mileage my vary.
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Modern
Currently Playing UW UW Control/Miracles R Skred Red
UW Cycling is tough because they have a ton of counters and so much cycling to draw into whatever they need. What has worked best so far for me is don't let them resolve/keep their Abandoned Sarcophagus. Or run Savaging Grounds to wipe the graveyards. Allowing them to flash back everything thing in their yard is to much card advantage to overcome.
Silent Gravestone is a new card that could help also. Seems very solid but have not tested it yet.
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Modern
Currently Playing UW UW Control/Miracles R Skred Red
Approach seems excelent now in this brand new format. Yesterday I played in 32 man pptq, going all the way to the finals giving rptq slot to my teammate and splitting prizes without playing (because it's team rptq, so I will be going with him anyway).
3-1-1 (draw being intentional) in swiss, playing variety of matchups.
Vs UW cycling 2-0
Vs temur black planeswalkers 1-2
Vs Mono Red 2-0
Vs Mardu Vehicles 2-0
Round 5 ID
And then top8:
Quarters vs Mono Black aggro 2-0
Semis vs Esper Approach 2-1
Finals prize split
Notes about card choices:
Baffling End is amazing. I'm not going below 4 any time soon. Scrounger didn't feel like threat anymore.
Azor is way better than he seems. A lot of decks can't even kill him, and often one activation is game over.
Nezahal is a must one-of in sideboard. If you are not severely behind, you won't lose after casting this.
Arch of Orazca is very good 1-of. Search for Azcanta needs to go out vs Aggro, but Arch still gives free late game value if you and aggro both topdeck.
Fantastic result, it's great to have another person prove that straight Azorius U/W Approach is alive and well and can win tourneys.
Also great that another person thinks Baffling End is good enough to be main decked, I played a couple in the sideboard but I will be playing 3 main deck from now on, if I'm paired against a deck with low creatures or control I can always discard them to Champion of wits. I also like Arch of Orazca although I never got the chance to use it to draw cards during my games. Also interested in how Illuminations have worked for you instead of Glimmer, I can see your deck is running low on card draw but I guess late game if you get Azor to stick you can suddenly fill your hand with cards.
AS for the sideboard I will be testing a creature heavy sideboard again, as I did a few month ago when I was winning a lot of games and will be looking at:
I really liked it when the deck turned aggro but still having some counterspells and I usually keep 2 Approach main deck even after the creature heavy sideboard so I can win out of nowhere, I tend to side out the Fumigates x3 and the card draw cards like Glimmer x3, and Supreme Will x2 and Search for Azcanta x2.
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Quick question, What do you guys prefer Cast Out or Ixalan Binding or both in this new format? I've been running 2/2 and I kinda like Ixalan Binding better. I understand that with Cast Out I also get that extra card draw when I don't need it, but with Ixalan Binding, if it sticks (which it does like a good 70% of the time) it messes up my opponent so bad for example if my opponent cast Scarab God or Silphoner or Drake Haven or any critical card in my opponents arsenal with ixalan binding it stops it completely and disrupts to a point that they get to behind and can't come back.
I treat this deck specifically as "SearchForAzcanta.dec", and thus I just don't think any Glimmers ar necessary. Between hard cast Illuminations, Supreme Will impulse mode, and all cycling cards it is quite easy to find either Search or Arch, both of which will provide all card advantage this deck needs. And in case of early Search, you just bin every Hieroglyphic you find, where as Glimmers just sit there. Also, since I'm not running Gearhulks main, there is even less incentive to play Glimmer. And for ultra late game scenarios, Azor can be treated like card advantage spell as well - one activation is usually game over.
On top of all that, Approach does not even need to play like traditional control all the time. Even without any card advantage source, sometimes you just go Approach turn 7, supreme will + cycling whatever on turn 8 and then Approach on turn 9.
And about Ixalan's Binding:
If i had to choose one, I will always play cast out, simply because of instant speed. It just feels too good to hold up 4 mana, see my opponent attack with like 4 power instaed of full 11 (not willing to get Hazoret Settled), letting it in and then Casting Out their Hazoret/planeswalker in their end step. If you also happen to draw Fumigate, you can full on blow out remaining creatures.
That being said, I was on edge on playing additional Bindings anyway. I think I want like 2 Bindings in sideboard (in addition to 4 Cast Outs), simply because most decks try to overflow your planeswalker removal and exile in games 2 and 3. Thanks for reassurance, now I will 100% try them there.
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It looked beautiful, not sure how it would perform against a more aggressive deck, but totally crushed on camera.
Is there a decklist? My google resulted in his UW builds from October.
Spells (20)
2 Essence Scatter
3 Settle the Wreckage
3 Fumigate
4 Hour of Promise
4 Approach of the Second Sun
4 Spring // Mind
3 Thaumatic Compass
3 Baffling End
2 Search for Azcanta
2 Gift of Paradise
2 Cast Out
3 Ixalan's Binding
3 Botanical Sanctum
2 Desert of the Indomitable
2 Forest
1 Hashep Oasis
4 Ipnu Rivulet
4 Irrigated Farmland
1 Island
2 Plains
1 Scavenger Grounds
1 Shefet Dunes
3 Sunpetal Grove
1 Baffling End
2 Jace's Defeat
3 Negate
2 Desert's Hold
4 Regal Caracal
2 Carnage Tyrant
This is the deck that he was using and he completely dominated Grixis Control Deck he faced in his featured match.
What do you guys think?
Bant approach is certainly quite a bit better in the mirror and vs Cycling.
I've been testing it tonight and against aggro its difficult. Yeah Gift of Paradise helps out a little with the little life gain but if u don't have an answer quickly for those small creatures and the lords its gg. I'm thinking about testing Slaughter the Strong and see if that helps.
But I do have to admit its a lot of fun and having your opponents write what the hell is going on here is priceless.
As far as the ongoing discussion (please let's keep it a discussion instead of turning into 'my deck is better and you are stupid') it really comes down to personal preference. I played just about every version of Approach the last 4-5 months. I have done really well with each and have gotten crushed with all of them also. The Scarab God is one of the strongest cards in standard right now. I feel if you can run him, you should. That is one of the main reasons I am on Esper. But one of the guys at my LGS is on UW and top 4's almost every week. The Jeskai version is a lot of fun to play it feels like it is better against aggro decks. So just play what you want. /rant
For me, in the Esper version, when I started running 26 lands with 3 Fetid Pools and 3 Irrigated Farmland it really helped smooth out the mana base. Best case is to drop one of them on turn 1 tapped and you should be fine the rest of the game. At some point, you will be playing another tapped, but you can usually work around it. And I run 2 Field of Ruin in all my decks. There are too many Enchantment/Lands now, you have to have a way to get rid of them. In a control mirror, if I have a flipped Search and you don't, I feel like I am so far ahead.
As far as Nezahal, Primal Tide, I have not played many games with him yet but the ones I did, he ended them quickly. Not 100% sold on him but will keep testing.
Modern
Currently Playing
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R Skred Red
Retired
BU Faeries
RGW Naya Burn
BW B/W Tokens
Thanks for posting! That is an interesting Approach variant. Glad to see Baffling End get some play. I think it's a great addition to the UW Approach decks. From my perspective, it actually scales fine since so many decks have key early creatures like Longtusk Cub, Bomat Courier, Winding Constrictor which the opposition will have playsets of. And it can take out almost all the merfolk.
That #13 PTQ deck is pretty sweet. When I last played Esper I didn't have a mechanism to trigger revolt on Fatal Push so I didn't love that card. In this deck, Evolving Wilds can do that as well as find a Plains when it is time to Approach. 4 Approach of the Second Sun, 3 Field of Ruin, 3 Search for Azcanta and no reliance on sweepers. Bontu's Last Reckoning is in there but it looks like a card of last resort. There is a lot to like there.
Every time I think I'm decided I see a shiny new Esper build which makes me reconsider. . .
Thanks for pointing this one out as well!
Consistently winning game 1.
But game 2... what are your sideboard plans against
1. Black with Duress
2. Agro?
First of all out of the 5 rounds I played no less than 5 different decks, that's right, and none of them were Energy or R/x aggro (unless you count dinos) at all, but none with Hazoret in the deck.
So, I went 2-3 mostly because I made a huge mistake in the 2nd round and should have probably been 3-2 or better if I won that round. Did I play well, no, not really...did I struggle to win every single game against 5 different opponents and 5 different decks...yes, I did.
Here's a short recap of what happened:
1st Round - VS. R/B/U aggro control with counters, black removal, Rekindling Phoenix, Glorybringer etc... result 2-0
This is the only deck that I beat relatively easily both games, and I did it by casting Approach twice each game to win. The irony is that this type of deck aka. Grixis control actually won the tourney and another player went 5-0 with it. I obviously didn't get to play against him but I was wondering if my second round pairing would have been against him then I would've had a good chance to beat him and thus change the future and his win.
I can't say much about playing against this deck except that he didn't have enough threats, the ones he did have I countered and he couldn't deal with me casting Approach twice or trying to beat me before I do that since it's not really a true aggro deck.
2nd Round - VS. G/W/B Ramp Approach with mana ramp and mastermind's acquisition- result 0-2
This deck just rocked me hard and surprised me, he was basically running all ramp trying to get to 7 mana in like 4 turns or 5 turns and cast approach twice and to do that he ran mastermind's acquisition to get another approach from the deck or the sideboard. In the second game he hand enough mana to cast matermind's acquisition and approach both in the same turn and unfortunately I didn't have enough mana to counter the approach and lost, I had the counter in my hand but tapped out because of casting something and I thought he had no cards in hand but he had 1 card that he put on the table and covered with his hands so I couldn't see it. That card was the tutor which he used to get an approach and cast it to win the game.
He finished the tourney 3-2 so although his deck was lethal against me, he got rocked by some other people as well. As far as I can tell the deck doesn't run any creatures main deck.
3rd Round - VS - Mono Black aggro with ammit eternal, heart of kiran, duress etc... result 2-1
I managed to win the 3rd game against this fast deck by casting both Cast out and Baffling end in the same turn to take care of 2 of his creatures and put him in topdeck mode and I was able to Approach the next turn to gain 7 life and that gave me a couple of more turns to draw cards and be able to cast approach a second time to win the match. IT's a fast deck and if I didn't sideboard in the 2 Baffling Ends I would not have won the third game.
4th Round - VS - B/W Vampire tokens with legion's landing, radiant destiny, Mavrein fein etc... result 0-2
This deck also surprised me and in the first game I didn't draw my removal fast enough and he kept making tokens every turn after he flipped legion's landing and I just didn't know what to do to stop him, I wouldn't be able to get approach out twice before he beat me with the tokens.
In the second game I kept a 2 land hand and missed the next 2 land drops so I put down the 3rd land on the 5th turn while already facing a flipped Legion's landing and although I put up a fight he managed to duress me twice in the next few turns to take out my settle the wreckage first time, and fumigate the second time.
He made it to the finals and he lost against the Grixis control deck which won the tourney, I saw the 3rd game only and in that game this token deck had nothing out except one Radiant Destiny and 2 Cast Outs for pretty much the whole game. I don't know how to beat this deck, or it may be because I had terrible draws both games that I am still shook up about this match-up
Round 5 - VS - R/G Dinos with all the good stuff including Ghalta and friends - Result 1-2
I won the first game by being able to just Essence Scatter his first 2 plays, then Supreme will the 3rd play and when he did get 2 dinos out I settled them and so I was able to cast approach twice before being overrun by hungry dinos. In the second game I kept a 3 land hand and 4 out of the next 5 draws were lands so due to the severe mana flood I got beat in a couple of turns by the dinos.
In the third game I just couldn't draw enough removal on time, I killed a few dinos but he kept casting them one after another and when I did have removal he got a Carnage Tyrant and gave it haste with Otepec guy and hit me for about 20 damage in one turn, I didn't have enough free mana to cast settle the wreckage so I lost. I don't think I should've lost this match up since dinos only have big creatures and haste, they don't really have combat tricks, burn or counters so it should be an easy game to win for a control deck but again sometimes things don't go your way.
Card that I tested and what I think about them:
1 Nezahal main deck - can't say anything because I didn't cast him at all in all the games, I drew him once I believe but didn't get to cast him to see if he is good or not.
1 Arch of Orazca main deck - I did get enough to Ascend in many games but never had the time to use the mana to actually use this card to draw cards, but I believe it is useful.
2 Baffling End (sideboard)- worked great against Mono Black aggro, would probably work against R/G dinos as well to get rid of the Otepec Huntmaster, Deathgorge Scavenger, and Drover of the mighty. Unfortunately I wasn't thinking straight so I didn't sideboard them in against the dino match-up so it's my bad but you definitely need them against dinos. The may also work against B/W tokens because they have a lot of 1 mana, 2 mana or 3 mana drops. I will be running 3 Baffling End in my sideboard from now on.
1 Flood of Recollection main deck - I drew it many times, but didn't get to cast it yet, I do still want to run one since it can get back so many different cards but by itself it does nothing so I discarded it very often to champion of wits or farm/market.
2 Crafty Cutpurse (sideboard)- these were to be run against God Pharaoh's Gift decks or the scarab god decks and I didn't face any of those decks yesterday so I didn't get to test them out but they should work in theory to steal one token from those decks which can possibly win you the game.
I also tried 2 spell pierce main deck instead of 2 negates and they didn't work out at all so I will go back to running negates main deck.
So, I will need to rework the main deck a bit and also the sideboard ahead of the new free standard season where everything seems to be working, and Energy and Mono red seem to be disappearing already at least in my LGS's meta.
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Mtg Lifestyle
3-1-1 (draw being intentional) in swiss, playing variety of matchups.
Vs UW cycling 2-0
Vs temur black planeswalkers 1-2
Vs Mono Red 2-0
Vs Mardu Vehicles 2-0
Round 5 ID
And then top8:
Quarters vs Mono Black aggro 2-0
Semis vs Esper Approach 2-1
Finals prize split
Notes about card choices:
Baffling End is amazing. I'm not going below 4 any time soon. Scrounger didn't feel like threat anymore.
Azor is way better than he seems. A lot of decks can't even kill him, and often one activation is game over.
Nezahal is a must one-of in sideboard. If you are not severely behind, you won't lose after casting this.
Arch of Orazca is very good 1-of. Search for Azcanta needs to go out vs Aggro, but Arch still gives free late game value if you and aggro both topdeck.
List for refference:
4x Glacial Fortress
2x Meandering River
1x Desert of the True
5x Plains
5x Island
2x Ipnu Rivulet
2x Field of Ruin
1x Arch of Orazca
4x Baffling End
3x Cast Out
3x Settle the Wreckage
3x Fumigate
4x Censor
2x Essence Scatter
2x Disallow
2x Supreme Will
2x Search for Azcanta
4x Hieroglyphic Illumination
1x Gideon of the Trials
2x Approach of the Second Sun
2x Azor, the Lawbringer
2x Authority of the Consuls
1x Forsake the Worldly
4x Regal Caracal
1x Cast Out
4x Negate
1x Nezahal, Primal Tide
2x Torrential Gearhulk
Name calling is not allowed.
Infraction issued.
-- Lugger
I played around with this build a little bit. I liked it but I found myself missing the sweepers. With Baffling End the board is now in a better state so I am more resilient to a countered Settle the Wreckage or Fumigate. At least that is what I'm finding.
Others on this thread are more knowledgeable than me but FWIW:
1. I'm running 3/3 Settle the Wreckage/Fumigate blend at the moment. I board out all three Fumigate and all three Approach of the Second Sun. Torrential Gearhulk can't be Lost Legacy so I +2 there as well as +4 Regal Caracal.
2. I feel the kitties are essential here to stabalize life. I basically follow the gameplan for #1 because that is what is available in my sideboard. And I'll apologize for continuing to promote the same card, but I really believe Baffling End helps here too. I think it is the UW version of Fatal Push. Enchantment speed but will take out another tier of creature unless they have Revolt triggered. . .
Thank you for posting! There have been several great Approach lists posted recently; this one might be my favorite. I like the addition of Hieroglyphic Illumination because it allows for the elimination of both Opt and Glimmer of Genius (at least in my deck). Freeing up 4 slots for something which affects board-state or advances Approach.
I've been keeping Search for Azcanta in v agro (keeping it uncast until graveyard is close to flip) so will use that 3rd colorless for a Field of Ruin.
Great deck - congrats on the PPTQ result!
In almost every list I run 2 Sunscourge Champion and 3 Regal Caracal, I bring in these 5 against any fast deck. The champs come down on turn 3, gain 2 life, then chump block. Comes back on turn 4, gains 4 and chumps again. I have found the cats are not very good by themselves. I really what to play 2 in a row. Or 1-2 Champs then a Cat. Some combination of those really helps most aggro matchups.
Modern
Currently Playing
UW UW Control/Miracles
R Skred Red
Retired
BU Faeries
RGW Naya Burn
BW B/W Tokens
Gratz on the nice results! And thanks for posting your list, it is very sweet.
Glad to hear about Azor, I have wanted to try him by not quite sure how good he is. I will definitely do some playtesting with him. Same with Nezahal.
I really hate suggesting making changes to a winning list but... I would suggest at least one Ixalan's Binding. It has done so much work for me against almost every deck. Just my 2 cents, your mileage my vary.
Modern
Currently Playing
UW UW Control/Miracles
R Skred Red
Retired
BU Faeries
RGW Naya Burn
BW B/W Tokens
Well received!
Another question.
Do you remove your censors if you are on the draw?
Whats your game plan against UW Cycling? Just mill them to death?
Silent Gravestone is a new card that could help also. Seems very solid but have not tested it yet.
Modern
Currently Playing
UW UW Control/Miracles
R Skred Red
Retired
BU Faeries
RGW Naya Burn
BW B/W Tokens
Fantastic result, it's great to have another person prove that straight Azorius U/W Approach is alive and well and can win tourneys.
Also great that another person thinks Baffling End is good enough to be main decked, I played a couple in the sideboard but I will be playing 3 main deck from now on, if I'm paired against a deck with low creatures or control I can always discard them to Champion of wits. I also like Arch of Orazca although I never got the chance to use it to draw cards during my games. Also interested in how Illuminations have worked for you instead of Glimmer, I can see your deck is running low on card draw but I guess late game if you get Azor to stick you can suddenly fill your hand with cards.
AS for the sideboard I will be testing a creature heavy sideboard again, as I did a few month ago when I was winning a lot of games and will be looking at:
I really liked it when the deck turned aggro but still having some counterspells and I usually keep 2 Approach main deck even after the creature heavy sideboard so I can win out of nowhere, I tend to side out the Fumigates x3 and the card draw cards like Glimmer x3, and Supreme Will x2 and Search for Azcanta x2.
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Mtg Lifestyle
I treat this deck specifically as "SearchForAzcanta.dec", and thus I just don't think any Glimmers ar necessary. Between hard cast Illuminations, Supreme Will impulse mode, and all cycling cards it is quite easy to find either Search or Arch, both of which will provide all card advantage this deck needs. And in case of early Search, you just bin every Hieroglyphic you find, where as Glimmers just sit there. Also, since I'm not running Gearhulks main, there is even less incentive to play Glimmer. And for ultra late game scenarios, Azor can be treated like card advantage spell as well - one activation is usually game over.
On top of all that, Approach does not even need to play like traditional control all the time. Even without any card advantage source, sometimes you just go Approach turn 7, supreme will + cycling whatever on turn 8 and then Approach on turn 9.
And about Ixalan's Binding:
If i had to choose one, I will always play cast out, simply because of instant speed. It just feels too good to hold up 4 mana, see my opponent attack with like 4 power instaed of full 11 (not willing to get Hazoret Settled), letting it in and then Casting Out their Hazoret/planeswalker in their end step. If you also happen to draw Fumigate, you can full on blow out remaining creatures.
That being said, I was on edge on playing additional Bindings anyway. I think I want like 2 Bindings in sideboard (in addition to 4 Cast Outs), simply because most decks try to overflow your planeswalker removal and exile in games 2 and 3. Thanks for reassurance, now I will 100% try them there.