1. Play 2 drops. They draw some cards.
2. If your opponent's early creature is going to kill you, you have usually 7 ways to kill it.
3. Then you can Wrath or something.
4. Then you drop a Planeswalker and basically the game is yours.
5. PS. Jace
There's some level of variance between matchups and draws, but that's more or less a power point outline of what you're supposed to do with the deck. It is very resilient, even against the faster matchups that are supposedly worse for you (RDW didn't seem as bad for me as I am constantly told it's supposed to be, except when they do the "I drew this ridiculous combination of cards and just kill you" thing).
Has anyone considered Survival Cache? Just curious. I personally feel like it's a bit too situational but I wanted to see if anyone has actually tested it.
Im really excited to get this deck up and running.. do you guys generally run 3 of each PW for consistancy? Ive seen a few people drop an Elspeth in favor of the extra Jace..
I have been using Wall of Denial here and it is good for a couple of reasons. It really shuts down opposing heavy hitters like Baneslayer and Jar Jar. It is also a good card to sideboard out for negates if you are playing against a creatureless deck.
In summation.....Star Trek wins a prolonged naval battle against superior, yet less technologically advanced, numbers, with Picard leading the assault, while Kirk takes your soul by laying out Solo and probably his manservant Chewy as well, before impregnating and ditching your Princess.
Just be familiar with your deck is really the best way to go. Don't do what one of the other posters suggested and play sub-optimal cards just because you think you need to go blisteringly fast. I won two of my matches at midwest masters because I won game one and only had ten or so minutes for game two. I played the kneel down then. If you are ahead don't be afraid to shuffle for the full amount of time or take the legal amount of time while fetching. Same goes with shuffling your opponents deck. As long as you are not slow playing it is fine, the kneel down is a good tactic. I had judges watching me the whole time because my opponent thought I was slow playing, but I wasn't. There is a difference between taking the legally alloted amount of time for an action and slowplaying. There is nothing in the rules that says you have to play fast enough to give your opponent a chance to win.
Edit: Disagree with the post above me. There are lots of factors that take a game to time. Some complicated decisions on blocks and damage, when to path or bolt, what walker to lay, which ability to use, trying to size your opponents hand up. The control mirror where you have to save counters to protect your walkers. There are a ton of decisions to make and each one takes time. Sometimes a game/match is complex enough that neither player has to be deficient to go to time.
So about this little guy... I was tossing it around as a SB card against the mirror & U/W since it lets you reset a land they spreading seas when it hit me. He could have a spot main since he can be dropped to bounce your own spreading seas or wall of omens netting you more cantrip-ing things or letting you hit that man land after you tried to color screw them.
Good enough to include? I'm gonna try them at the game day this weekend and see.
The problem with him is that you enable all your opponents removal (ie dead cards)
90% of the time he will be 3 mana return target permanent to your hand. If you really wanted to do that you could run regress or aether tradewinds, both of which have other pretty good uses if you dont have a cantrip to bounce.
Just be familiar with your deck is really the best way to go. Don't do what one of the other posters suggested and play sub-optimal cards just because you think you need to go blisteringly fast. I won two of my matches at midwest masters because I won game one and only had ten or so minutes for game two. I played the kneel down then. If you are ahead don't be afraid to shuffle for the full amount of time or take the legal amount of time while fetching. Same goes with shuffling your opponents deck. As long as you are not slow playing it is fine, the kneel down is a good tactic. I had judges watching me the whole time because my opponent thought I was slow playing, but I wasn't. There is a difference between taking the legally alloted amount of time for an action and slowplaying. There is nothing in the rules that says you have to play fast enough to give your opponent a chance to win.
Edit: Disagree with the post above me. There are lots of factors that take a game to time. Some complicated decisions on blocks and damage, when to path or bolt, what walker to lay, which ability to use, trying to size your opponents hand up. The control mirror where you have to save counters to protect your walkers. There are a ton of decisions to make and each one takes time. Sometimes a game/match is complex enough that neither player has to be deficient to go to time.
I wholeheartedly agree here. Keeping track of your time is key and knowing when to go on the offensive and when to stay defensive. I had no draws playing this deck when I went to National Qualifiers because if I could win game 1 and it took over 25 minutes (Which it often did) you can start playing on the defensive and creating a good board presence to ensure your opponent has a difficult time slamming through you. The "trick" to defensive playing is to simply play things that need answers but instead of getting aggressive, use them to keep your opponent down. Helix with an ajani as soon as you drop it to kill an attacker, bounce creatures with jace, if you get to a point where you can win then by all means take the 2-0 but if you feel that the match is a struggle for you in the first place, switching to a defensive tactic can be key to taking the game 1-0.
I have been using Wall of Denial here and it is good for a couple of reasons. It really shuts down opposing heavy hitters like Baneslayer and Jar Jar. It is also a good card to sideboard out for negates if you are playing against a creatureless deck.
I put WoD in the sideboard because there are matches where I really do not want to see him, like the mirror, I would so much rather draw cancel (which is what I run in the 3 drops slot) than the wall or O-ring (My other 3 drop slot) because of the way it deals with the deck. True, it's lovely against AiR, but that's why we have a sideboard. I feel that more decks warrant a maindecked counterspell rather than just another body to sit there and look cute.
Pretty much everything but AiR has something that if cancelled or countered by your choice of counterspell can turn the game in the counter's favor.
Tapout - BSA, Jar Jar, Jace 2.0
Mirror - Walkers
Polymorph - Polymorph/summoning trap (If they are running that variant)
Mythic - Depending on which version they play - Rafiq, Finest Hour, BSA, Eldrazi Conscription, Sovereigns of Lost Alara
Jund - Blightning. Later game Geopede/leech, Siege-Gang
Jund is really the only one I could see it going either way against. I board in walls against AiR, Old Jund (Broodmate) or other aggro decks. I just feel that mainboard the removal and counter magic is really the way to go (3 O-Ring 3 Cancel)
As sideboard against control mirrors. I've been testing this as a one-of. The only time where it's been detrimental has been if I draw all my creatures and my opponent is playing telemin performance. I'm really loving this card over mindspring in the board. Thoughts?
Not really sure we can waste an entire turn drawing and seeing that this card is solely for mirror, I feel it would get countered without question, just tapping us out and leaving ourselves at their mercy. Mindspring I feel is better because you DONT have to fully tap out turn 6 for it. You can leave counter magic open and draw 2, or draw 3 and hold path. It's drawpower too late and can often be too much. That cardplay left uncountered begs to be telemined
heres something to consider, i thought about the three drop issue a while ago and while i like oblivion ring on the draw against controll in the three slot, i splashed black to the deck and now run blightning and esper charm to improve card advantage and adress other orings
Where is your list? I'm very curious; PM me it please?
Don't get me wrong, this card is fantastic, but it almost seems like it is just kind of, in the deck. I run only a 1 of and I think it is pretty good as is.
Match 1 vrs Boros:
He was playing some Homebrew with Silence, Lightning Bolt and Bushwalkers, I don't know, I steamrolled it.
Game 1 - I just controlled the board entirely, my planewalkers didn't care about silence since I could still activate em. Win
(No Sibeboard for game 2)
Game 2 - He kept a one land hand, it was a mountain, I spreading seas and then get Jace 2.0 out before he even gets his second land. Win
1-0 (2-0 games)
Match 2 vrs Polymorph
Nothing to say, he was playing polymorph.
Game 1 - I did my thing, saved my path of exile for the one time he tried to polymorph, he was helpless. Win
(Sideboard = Spreading seas - 4, Negate + 4)
Game 2 - This time he plays alil more cautious, saving his negate to negate my negate for the polymorph. However, he casts polymorph, I negate, he negates, then I Path of Exile, GG. Win
2-0 (4-0 games)
Match 3 vrs Esper
This deck put my brothers Brilliant Altermatum deck out so I knew he had the goods, but I wasn't that worried.
Game 1 - He was playing 3 colors so I spreading seas his one Swamp source and controlled the game. Win
(Sideboard = Spreading Seas - 4, Martial Coup -2, Celestial Purge +3, Negate x 3)
Game 2 - He makes me discard, pulses my only planeswalker on deck and I draw nothing but lands (even though I only run 24 lands) Lost
Game 3 - He cascade down into a Pulse with nothing on the board instead of any type of discard at one crucial moment, I have a Jace and Gideon sticking and he is holding 3 Mind Rots in hand (don't ask me) Win
3-0 (6-1-0 games)
Match 4 - Goblins
This guys deck is blazingly fast, he killed people (including me in a game or two) by turn 3 or 4, I was impressed. We where both undefeated. At this point the 4 undefeated decks where Mine, Elfdrazi, Open the Vaults control and this Goblin deck. It was double elimination.
Game 1 - He casts out his entire hand, attacking into me and getting me down to 5, but I Day of Judgment, drop Ajani and Gideon and force him to attack into gideon even with no creatures on deck (everything had haste) I played it nice and tight. Win
(Sideboard Spreading Seas - 4, Oblivion Ring -4, Marshal Coup - 2, Celestial Purge +3, Kor Firewalkers +3, Wall of Denial +3)
Game 2 - I keep a hand that had Mountain/Plains/Island/DOJ x2/Gideon and Elspeth, I shouldn't have. Turn one he puts down Quest for the goblin lord, turn 2 he plays the Instigator, Turn 3 he puts out a Cheiftan and Seigegang with the Instigator, also casting something else. I had to wipe the board or die since his quest was active. I didn't draw my second white source. Loss by turn 4. Loss
Game 3 - I DO Day of Justice after he overextends going for the close kill, I only had 5 life left but after that he couldn't do much of anything. My walls his > his 1 goblin. Win
4-0 (8-2-0)
Match 5 vrs Vampires
Believe it or not, my brother brought a very well built Brilliant Altermatum deck and my cousin brought Geo Jund. Geo Jund went 0-2 and my brother took 9th place. Hoewver this was the vampire deck we built JUST to playtest our decks against, so my Sister-in-law played it just for fun, she got 4th, losing to me and Grixas.
Game 1 - 2 PoE on a Hexmage and a Bloodghast, Day of Judgement on a Malakar Bloodwitch and some other vamp. Easy win, this deck is an easy match for us. Win
(Sideboard = Spreading Seas - 4, Marshal Coup - 2, Celestial Purge +3, Wall of Denial + 3)
Game 2 - She kept a 1 land hand since she knows vamps are fast, I put Jace down and fateseal her, keepin her off the lands while I draw up lots of spot removal. Easy game. Win
5-0 (10-2-0)
Match 6 vrs Grixas Control
Grixas had lost to goblins, was in the losers bracket but didn't have 2 losses, Goblins was in the losers bracket because of me but only had one loss. You'll notice I put 4th (Helen's Vamp deck) out, Grixas (3rd) and second place out. I was at this point the only one who didn't have a match loss under his belt, this was a double Elimn tourny, so I liked my chances.
Game 1 - Spreading Seas x 3 and Ajani Tapdown on his 4th mana source, he couldn't do anything with 3 Islands, I don't even know what he coulda cast, but I handled this game with ease. I did notice Sadraxis Spectors so I decide the purges are again a lovely sideboard choice. Win
(Sideboard - Path to Exile - 3, Celestial Purge +3)
Game 2 - I keep him off any red mana sources, Purge or Path to exile anything he plays and it was another rollover match. Win
6-0 (12-2-0)
-Finals- Match 7, Rematch vrs the superfast Goblins
This deck was impressive, it was on the other side of the field eating up a couple Jund decks and tearing up Polymorph. He asked me if I wanted to split 1st and second, I smirked and declined.
Game 1 - Path t1, WoO t2, Oblivion Ring t3, Eslpeth t4, he casts seige gang with an activated Quest out, kills Elpseth and hits me for about 5. I DoJ, he only has a Cannon Fodder in hand, I win with ease. Win
(Sideboard = Spreading Seas - 4, Marshall Coup - 2, Eslpeth - 1, Ajani - 1, Oblivion Stone - 1, Celestial Purge + 3, Kor Firewalker x 3, Wall of Denial x 3)
Game 2 - He godhands me, I had to mulligan to 6 and hated it. He beat me turn 4 again, flame slashing my only WoO. Lost
Game 3 - This one was weird, I didn't put in flashfreezes or Negates because his deck was pretty creature heavy and I thought I could spot remove everything. I get out 2 Kor Firewalkers by turn 3, he has out 3 creatures by turn 3 but can't attack. THEN he casts ManaBarbs. It was alot of Tap-go, I attacked with firewalkers each turn, playing a couple WoO for the 4 dmg. Then I got down to my oblivion Ring, O-ringed the barbs, I get out a Jace (had 7 mana) he casts another Barbs, I brainstorm down to a O-ring and O-ring that manabarbs and play Gideon. Nothing he can do, since I had a grip of removal by that point. Win
UWR 7-0 (14-3-0)
I found myself taking the Spreading Seas out against the mono colored decks and against decks. But when I didn't I tried to stay away from Path to exile since your trying to mess up their mana base and then you path them to fix their mana base. Everything I could I put in Celestial Purge. I know that my opponents don't seem like they would be to destructive, there was other decks there like Naya, Jund and UW tapout. My cousin blightninged the Naya deck and the guy discarded 2 Vengevines then he played goblins, which beat him turn 3 and turn 4 I think or something. If anyone has any questions about my sideboarding choices or about any of my matches, holla. Hope this helps, btw this was my first tourny playing this deck and my first tourny playing Control at all (been out of magic for awhile, been doing sealed lately) I loved it. On a side note, alot of the players up there thought Gideon sucked until I beat their face in with it.
-edit- after glancing back over, I played 8 matches, I went 8-0, should be (16-3-0), like 5th round I played the undefeated Open the Vaults deck. I was worried about this matchup but I actually liked my chances against this guy. No Time warps, no Tezz's. It was a U/W/B Control with alot of Cycle creatures + Traumatize on himself and Open the Vaults. He also played the sphyx that let him draw 3 and discard 3. I beat him 2-0 pretty easy, game one I just played my walkers while he cycled and did all that jive, I pathed the one sphynx he played (no negates pre-board) and after he Opened the Vaults, I just DOJ. I had Jace on board to help me get to the boardwipers. Game 2 I had 4 negates, 3 boardwipers and 4 jaces to help get to boardwipers. I negated Open the Vaults. Once he negated my Negate on the open the vualts, so I just DOJ. This wasn't Time Seive, but he got 5th place and did pretty good.
ok so i have a big question i am currently running UWr planeswalker control at my FNM/ i am thinking of taking out my 2 negates and my two baneslayer's for 4 ponders seems how i have been having a rough time drawing the spells i need however the format has been really creature heavy lately with 32 people showing and you never now what your going to play people change quick here. i was wondering if there may be another spell i could you to basically do the same thing as ponder but yet have answers to all the creatures as they just wreck me lately as i can never get my paths or days when there needed.... any help...
in UWr elspeth 3 of is a must i mean its more than just situational its a great cards it more often than none gets you either a blocker and damage redirected to elspeth and not you or it gets you a 1/1 first play and second play +3+3 and flying on any creature so essentially 4 or more damage to an opponent. and it still makes ur opponent waste spells on it than you. considering your opponent doesn't want to see you get its ultimate off. indestructible baneslayer...... say what? its gross.... more often than none though i see elspeth and it helps me stall 3 or more turns when needed and helps me keep jace gideon or ajani alive alot longer....
Kor Sanctifiers does the same job on spreading seas, doesn't set you back a land drop and can be used for other cards you'll want to deal with.
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GP Charlotte 2013 Top 16 GTC Limited
PT RTR Day 2
GP Worcester 3-4th place 2012 M13 Limited
GPT Minneapolis 1st Place
SCG Worcester 10th place 2012
TCG Platinum top 8 June 24th 2012
GPT Worcester 2012 2nd and 5-8th place same event 2 decks (2 running soul run ramp m13 standard)
Ok, finally tested my build with scepter... I ran it instead of elspeth and also ran 4 into the roils main (very good but decided to go to 3 main). Scepter is a house, BUT IS SOOOOOOO SLOW. Control is slow enough as it is, but adding another 4 drop (I say 4 because you need 4 for it to be used without just tapping out) in a deck that has plenty of turn 4 plays isn't great. I did top 4 with it, but I went to five turns on game 1 in two different rounds. One ending in a draw, the other I failed to draw on turn 5. So, although scepter is good disruption, I wouldn't run more than two in the sideboard and I wouldn't know when to bring it in since we have so many sb options as is.
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Awesome job on Sig by Neongoyf from Damnation Studios
Into the roil is 100x better than skyfisher for that roll. Last night I was a cantrip'ing fiend. Into the roil kicked to bring back a seas so I could recast onto a better land, not to mention the two extra cards. Kicked it again to save my jace when my opponent dropped his to blow it up. Oringed his next turn and played mine again.
It's very good.
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Awesome job on Sig by Neongoyf from Damnation Studios
I run 2. I cut 1 in favor of a Fourth Jace. She still comes up enough to be useful, and she does win games, but she can't control the board as much as the other walkers. She is really an add more than necessity. She creates chumps. Also her ultimate, although great, is *almost* irrelevant.
I run 2x Sea Gate Oracle, 4x Wall of Omens, 3x Gideon, 4x Path, 4x Doj mainboard. I've never really had an issue with too many creatures, even vs. Naya and other such decks.
I find vampires to be a pretty decent matchup. It looks a lot worse on paper than it really is. We can block almost all their early drops w/ Wall of Omens, and if they waste a turn casting removal, we don't take huge damage from Vampires until Nocturnus drops.
Also, Ajani V. is one of their worst nightmares. He kills any creature in their deck except for Bloodwitch and unless they kill him w/ aggro or a hexmage, he will do it again.
The deck essentially holds the board until you drop a sweeper, then you have something that survives the sweeper, and you give it +3/+3 and flying.
The deck waits for an opening then takes it early game, after it stabilizes it then starts to put more pressure on the board position.
Elspeth is that pressure engine, which is why she is in the deck. I would not run less than 3 to be honest. the 3 of each PW is a good solid mix. I tried it with 2 of each to make room for other things and it ended up biting me on the tush. I went back to of each on Friday and it paid off with $45 credit and another Jace, the Mind Sculptor.
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UB - Tezzerator 2.0 - UB
8-3-0
(Decklist and blog updated 4/11/2011)
"Fun fact about me: I home brew my buddies meta deck. He went from having a much lower ranking then me to a significantly higher rating since I started doing this."
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2. If your opponent's early creature is going to kill you, you have usually 7 ways to kill it.
3. Then you can Wrath or something.
4. Then you drop a Planeswalker and basically the game is yours.
5. PS. Jace
There's some level of variance between matchups and draws, but that's more or less a power point outline of what you're supposed to do with the deck. It is very resilient, even against the faster matchups that are supposedly worse for you (RDW didn't seem as bad for me as I am constantly told it's supposed to be, except when they do the "I drew this ridiculous combination of cards and just kill you" thing).
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Edit: Disagree with the post above me. There are lots of factors that take a game to time. Some complicated decisions on blocks and damage, when to path or bolt, what walker to lay, which ability to use, trying to size your opponents hand up. The control mirror where you have to save counters to protect your walkers. There are a ton of decisions to make and each one takes time. Sometimes a game/match is complex enough that neither player has to be deficient to go to time.
So about this little guy... I was tossing it around as a SB card against the mirror & U/W since it lets you reset a land they spreading seas when it hit me. He could have a spot main since he can be dropped to bounce your own spreading seas or wall of omens netting you more cantrip-ing things or letting you hit that man land after you tried to color screw them.
Good enough to include? I'm gonna try them at the game day this weekend and see.
90% of the time he will be 3 mana return target permanent to your hand. If you really wanted to do that you could run regress or aether tradewinds, both of which have other pretty good uses if you dont have a cantrip to bounce.
I wholeheartedly agree here. Keeping track of your time is key and knowing when to go on the offensive and when to stay defensive. I had no draws playing this deck when I went to National Qualifiers because if I could win game 1 and it took over 25 minutes (Which it often did) you can start playing on the defensive and creating a good board presence to ensure your opponent has a difficult time slamming through you. The "trick" to defensive playing is to simply play things that need answers but instead of getting aggressive, use them to keep your opponent down. Helix with an ajani as soon as you drop it to kill an attacker, bounce creatures with jace, if you get to a point where you can win then by all means take the 2-0 but if you feel that the match is a struggle for you in the first place, switching to a defensive tactic can be key to taking the game 1-0.
Standard
WU[MANA]R[/MANA]AMERICA! EFF YEAH!RU[MANA]W[/MANA]
UBRGrixis [UBeR] ControlRBU
Legacy
UBReanimatorBU
EDH
GBSavra, Queen of the GolgariBG
I put WoD in the sideboard because there are matches where I really do not want to see him, like the mirror, I would so much rather draw cancel (which is what I run in the 3 drops slot) than the wall or O-ring (My other 3 drop slot) because of the way it deals with the deck. True, it's lovely against AiR, but that's why we have a sideboard. I feel that more decks warrant a maindecked counterspell rather than just another body to sit there and look cute.
Pretty much everything but AiR has something that if cancelled or countered by your choice of counterspell can turn the game in the counter's favor.
Tapout - BSA, Jar Jar, Jace 2.0
Mirror - Walkers
Polymorph - Polymorph/summoning trap (If they are running that variant)
Mythic - Depending on which version they play - Rafiq, Finest Hour, BSA, Eldrazi Conscription, Sovereigns of Lost Alara
Jund - Blightning. Later game Geopede/leech, Siege-Gang
Jund is really the only one I could see it going either way against. I board in walls against AiR, Old Jund (Broodmate) or other aggro decks. I just feel that mainboard the removal and counter magic is really the way to go (3 O-Ring 3 Cancel)
Standard
WU[MANA]R[/MANA]AMERICA! EFF YEAH!RU[MANA]W[/MANA]
UBRGrixis [UBeR] ControlRBU
Legacy
UBReanimatorBU
EDH
GBSavra, Queen of the GolgariBG
Not really sure we can waste an entire turn drawing and seeing that this card is solely for mirror, I feel it would get countered without question, just tapping us out and leaving ourselves at their mercy. Mindspring I feel is better because you DONT have to fully tap out turn 6 for it. You can leave counter magic open and draw 2, or draw 3 and hold path. It's drawpower too late and can often be too much. That cardplay left uncountered begs to be telemined
Standard
WU[MANA]R[/MANA]AMERICA! EFF YEAH!RU[MANA]W[/MANA]
UBRGrixis [UBeR] ControlRBU
Legacy
UBReanimatorBU
EDH
GBSavra, Queen of the GolgariBG
Where is your list? I'm very curious; PM me it please?
Don't get me wrong, this card is fantastic, but it almost seems like it is just kind of, in the deck. I run only a 1 of and I think it is pretty good as is.
Thoughts?
4 x Jace the Mind Sculptor
3 x Elspeth Knight-Errant
3 x Gideon Jura
3 x Ajani Vengeant
Creatures - 6
4 x Wall of Omens
2 x Sea Gate Oracle
Spells - 17
3 x Day of Justice
2 x Martial Coup
4 x Spreading Sea
4 x Path of Exile
4 x Oblivion Ring
4 x Celestial Colonade
3 x Scalding Tarn
3 x Arid Mesa
1 x Mountain
5 x Island
4 x Plains
3 x Kor Firewalker
3 x Celestial Purge
4 x Negate
2 x Flashfreeze
3 x Wall of Denial
Match 1 vrs Boros:
He was playing some Homebrew with Silence, Lightning Bolt and Bushwalkers, I don't know, I steamrolled it.
Game 1 - I just controlled the board entirely, my planewalkers didn't care about silence since I could still activate em. Win
(No Sibeboard for game 2)
Game 2 - He kept a one land hand, it was a mountain, I spreading seas and then get Jace 2.0 out before he even gets his second land. Win
1-0 (2-0 games)
Match 2 vrs Polymorph
Nothing to say, he was playing polymorph.
Game 1 - I did my thing, saved my path of exile for the one time he tried to polymorph, he was helpless. Win
(Sideboard = Spreading seas - 4, Negate + 4)
Game 2 - This time he plays alil more cautious, saving his negate to negate my negate for the polymorph. However, he casts polymorph, I negate, he negates, then I Path of Exile, GG. Win
2-0 (4-0 games)
Match 3 vrs Esper
This deck put my brothers Brilliant Altermatum deck out so I knew he had the goods, but I wasn't that worried.
Game 1 - He was playing 3 colors so I spreading seas his one Swamp source and controlled the game. Win
(Sideboard = Spreading Seas - 4, Martial Coup -2, Celestial Purge +3, Negate x 3)
Game 2 - He makes me discard, pulses my only planeswalker on deck and I draw nothing but lands (even though I only run 24 lands) Lost
Game 3 - He cascade down into a Pulse with nothing on the board instead of any type of discard at one crucial moment, I have a Jace and Gideon sticking and he is holding 3 Mind Rots in hand (don't ask me) Win
3-0 (6-1-0 games)
Match 4 - Goblins
This guys deck is blazingly fast, he killed people (including me in a game or two) by turn 3 or 4, I was impressed. We where both undefeated. At this point the 4 undefeated decks where Mine, Elfdrazi, Open the Vaults control and this Goblin deck. It was double elimination.
Game 1 - He casts out his entire hand, attacking into me and getting me down to 5, but I Day of Judgment, drop Ajani and Gideon and force him to attack into gideon even with no creatures on deck (everything had haste) I played it nice and tight. Win
(Sideboard Spreading Seas - 4, Oblivion Ring -4, Marshal Coup - 2, Celestial Purge +3, Kor Firewalkers +3, Wall of Denial +3)
Game 2 - I keep a hand that had Mountain/Plains/Island/DOJ x2/Gideon and Elspeth, I shouldn't have. Turn one he puts down Quest for the goblin lord, turn 2 he plays the Instigator, Turn 3 he puts out a Cheiftan and Seigegang with the Instigator, also casting something else. I had to wipe the board or die since his quest was active. I didn't draw my second white source. Loss by turn 4. Loss
Game 3 - I DO Day of Justice after he overextends going for the close kill, I only had 5 life left but after that he couldn't do much of anything. My walls his > his 1 goblin. Win
4-0 (8-2-0)
Match 5 vrs Vampires
Believe it or not, my brother brought a very well built Brilliant Altermatum deck and my cousin brought Geo Jund. Geo Jund went 0-2 and my brother took 9th place. Hoewver this was the vampire deck we built JUST to playtest our decks against, so my Sister-in-law played it just for fun, she got 4th, losing to me and Grixas.
Game 1 - 2 PoE on a Hexmage and a Bloodghast, Day of Judgement on a Malakar Bloodwitch and some other vamp. Easy win, this deck is an easy match for us. Win
(Sideboard = Spreading Seas - 4, Marshal Coup - 2, Celestial Purge +3, Wall of Denial + 3)
Game 2 - She kept a 1 land hand since she knows vamps are fast, I put Jace down and fateseal her, keepin her off the lands while I draw up lots of spot removal. Easy game. Win
5-0 (10-2-0)
Match 6 vrs Grixas Control
Grixas had lost to goblins, was in the losers bracket but didn't have 2 losses, Goblins was in the losers bracket because of me but only had one loss. You'll notice I put 4th (Helen's Vamp deck) out, Grixas (3rd) and second place out. I was at this point the only one who didn't have a match loss under his belt, this was a double Elimn tourny, so I liked my chances.
Game 1 - Spreading Seas x 3 and Ajani Tapdown on his 4th mana source, he couldn't do anything with 3 Islands, I don't even know what he coulda cast, but I handled this game with ease. I did notice Sadraxis Spectors so I decide the purges are again a lovely sideboard choice. Win
(Sideboard - Path to Exile - 3, Celestial Purge +3)
Game 2 - I keep him off any red mana sources, Purge or Path to exile anything he plays and it was another rollover match. Win
6-0 (12-2-0)
-Finals- Match 7, Rematch vrs the superfast Goblins
This deck was impressive, it was on the other side of the field eating up a couple Jund decks and tearing up Polymorph. He asked me if I wanted to split 1st and second, I smirked and declined.
Game 1 - Path t1, WoO t2, Oblivion Ring t3, Eslpeth t4, he casts seige gang with an activated Quest out, kills Elpseth and hits me for about 5. I DoJ, he only has a Cannon Fodder in hand, I win with ease. Win
(Sideboard = Spreading Seas - 4, Marshall Coup - 2, Eslpeth - 1, Ajani - 1, Oblivion Stone - 1, Celestial Purge + 3, Kor Firewalker x 3, Wall of Denial x 3)
Game 2 - He godhands me, I had to mulligan to 6 and hated it. He beat me turn 4 again, flame slashing my only WoO. Lost
Game 3 - This one was weird, I didn't put in flashfreezes or Negates because his deck was pretty creature heavy and I thought I could spot remove everything. I get out 2 Kor Firewalkers by turn 3, he has out 3 creatures by turn 3 but can't attack. THEN he casts ManaBarbs. It was alot of Tap-go, I attacked with firewalkers each turn, playing a couple WoO for the 4 dmg. Then I got down to my oblivion Ring, O-ringed the barbs, I get out a Jace (had 7 mana) he casts another Barbs, I brainstorm down to a O-ring and O-ring that manabarbs and play Gideon. Nothing he can do, since I had a grip of removal by that point. Win
UWR 7-0 (14-3-0)
I found myself taking the Spreading Seas out against the mono colored decks and against decks. But when I didn't I tried to stay away from Path to exile since your trying to mess up their mana base and then you path them to fix their mana base. Everything I could I put in Celestial Purge. I know that my opponents don't seem like they would be to destructive, there was other decks there like Naya, Jund and UW tapout. My cousin blightninged the Naya deck and the guy discarded 2 Vengevines then he played goblins, which beat him turn 3 and turn 4 I think or something. If anyone has any questions about my sideboarding choices or about any of my matches, holla. Hope this helps, btw this was my first tourny playing this deck and my first tourny playing Control at all (been out of magic for awhile, been doing sealed lately) I loved it. On a side note, alot of the players up there thought Gideon sucked until I beat their face in with it.
-edit- after glancing back over, I played 8 matches, I went 8-0, should be (16-3-0), like 5th round I played the undefeated Open the Vaults deck. I was worried about this matchup but I actually liked my chances against this guy. No Time warps, no Tezz's. It was a U/W/B Control with alot of Cycle creatures + Traumatize on himself and Open the Vaults. He also played the sphyx that let him draw 3 and discard 3. I beat him 2-0 pretty easy, game one I just played my walkers while he cycled and did all that jive, I pathed the one sphynx he played (no negates pre-board) and after he Opened the Vaults, I just DOJ. I had Jace on board to help me get to the boardwipers. Game 2 I had 4 negates, 3 boardwipers and 4 jaces to help get to boardwipers. I negated Open the Vaults. Once he negated my Negate on the open the vualts, so I just DOJ. This wasn't Time Seive, but he got 5th place and did pretty good.
PT RTR Day 2
GP Worcester 3-4th place 2012 M13 Limited
GPT Minneapolis 1st Place
SCG Worcester 10th place 2012
TCG Platinum top 8 June 24th 2012
GPT Worcester 2012 2nd and 5-8th place same event 2 decks (2 running soul run ramp m13 standard)
WR Boros Legion WR
It's very good.
My current trade thread.
My current trade thread.
Also, Ajani V. is one of their worst nightmares. He kills any creature in their deck except for Bloodwitch and unless they kill him w/ aggro or a hexmage, he will do it again.
Agreed. I love Elspeth in the deck.
Special thanks to High~Light Studios for the sig.
My trade thread: http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=279327
The deck essentially holds the board until you drop a sweeper, then you have something that survives the sweeper, and you give it +3/+3 and flying.
The deck waits for an opening then takes it early game, after it stabilizes it then starts to put more pressure on the board position.
Elspeth is that pressure engine, which is why she is in the deck. I would not run less than 3 to be honest. the 3 of each PW is a good solid mix. I tried it with 2 of each to make room for other things and it ended up biting me on the tush. I went back to of each on Friday and it paid off with $45 credit and another Jace, the Mind Sculptor.
UB - Tezzerator 2.0 - UB
8-3-0
(Decklist and blog updated 4/11/2011)
"Fun fact about me: I home brew my buddies meta deck. He went from having a much lower ranking then me to a significantly higher rating since I started doing this."