Yeah, I'm more and more thinking I want to go UB instead of UR. Maybe even full Esper, since I recently snagged some Flooded Strands in a trade. The UR version seems very all-or-nothing (feels like an aggro deck, except I'm aggressively drawing cards instead of aggressively hitting my opponent), a slower control shell sounds more reliable.
I think Esper is the way to go with the manabase that is available to us. Plus the Dark Petitions allow you to play singleton alt win cons or snag a Tutelage to grind the game out. Hedron Alignment plays nicely with the creature side of Jace.
Splashing white gives us access to Reflector Mage, Utter End, Hallowed Moonlight out of the board, Immolating Glare, Dragonlord Ojutai, and Surge of Righteousness among others.
The one card that I think I should definately add that I blanked on is Ob Nix. His draw power and murder ability fit this decks style perfectly.
First post and all... So my LGS has a competition going on where you bring hedron alignment to an IQ level event, win a single round with hedron alignment and you win a box. Kind of cool. Anyway, here's the deck I created.
I would like to quickly tell you how i arrived at this exact decklist - I began with a sultai shell, but realized very quickly that it suffered from a lack of exile effects - I didn't have a way to get rid of a resolved hangarback walker or even stop ugin from coming back. I moved into esper, and it seemed good, but Hedron Alignment kept on messing up my draws.
You might be wondering why the deck looks rather large - well, it happens to actually be 87 cards. Normally, I don't ever run more than 60 cards, but in this case the breakthrough came when I listened to the top level podcast episode regarding Ben Rubins Abzan deck. They went into discussions about why some decks were specifically the size they were, so I posited this question - If I were to drift away from 60 card main deck, Specifically how large would I want to make the deck? Why? I soon arrived at the answer of 87 cards - I draw my initial hand and then I have a 5% chance and climbing of drawing Hedron Alignment. In addition, with the exception of Jace and Dig Through Time, there are reasonable substitutes to most cards in Standard.
You also may be wondering, "Why no Ugin?" Ugin is actually not that great in this deck for a few reasons. There is a very very low chance that they will actually successfully exile TWO Hedron Alignments. If they exile one, you need to use your filtering and counter magic to keep the others in the place they belong until you are ready to win. In other words, you don't need another win condition. I do have Jaces ult and two man lands just in case, and have won some games off Jace already, but casting Ugin just leaves you vulnerable, and you definitely don't want to minus three. I could be 100% wrong, and I am prepared to put in one or two ugins.
"How do you win?" Hedron alignment plus monastery siege is usually the answer. Monastery Siege enables us to filter very rapidly through our deck. You discard an alignment, then play one, then discard one, then delve one of the ones you discarded and prepare to win. Due to exile effects actually existing, I prefer to exile one just before imminent victory.
"Any tests?" I've played this deck only about a dozen times - I've had a hard time testing against people as of late. I lost one game to mana screw - otherwise, I've been on fire. I've played against Mono-colorless eldrazi (which I thought would be hard since Thought-Knot Seer exiling two Alignments means gg, but as long as you are careful, they are likely never going to actually exile more than one. Turned out it was easy enough), 5 color control, Rally, and Esper Dragons. As it turns out, having a win condition that can't effectively be countered (I'd like to see someone actually waste a counterspell on a Hedron Alignment) is a reasonable way to win if you can control the board. Either way I know my sample size is definitely not large enough, but it is a promising start.
Currently trying Alignment in UW Enchantment shell with Starfield of Nyx. Oath of Jace, Monastery Siege provide a ton of looting (recurring two legendary Oaths with Starfield is strong). Also using the 1u scheming sorcery that puts top 5 in gy to fuel Starfield and dig for Hedron. Exile effects are Dig Through Time and Rite of Undoing. Other cards are End Hostilities, stasis snare, silkwrap. So far no alignment wins in testing, but the shell seems viable, as there's always the "kill them with enchantments" game plan.
BoredRex, in a sultai shell there are some great options for exile effects. Reality Shift handles the Hangarback problem as does a timely Disperse into a counterspell. You could also Murderous Cut or Sultai Charm into a Languish. Negate, Disdainful Stroke, and Ruinous Path both deal with Ugin nicely. Even if they recur it with Haven or Den Protecter you should have a counterspell in hand for it and how many times in a game are your opponents recurring an Ugin that its a problem? Transgress the Mind can also solve the Ugin problem permanently.
I was just going to stop into this thread and mention things I have discovered while brewing with Hedron Alignment. Some of them have been pointed out. starfield of nyx is intersting along with oaths. Another interesting concept to consider would be using manifest cards. You could disguise a Hedron alignment as a manifested creature and when it dies or gets exiled it goes to that zone. I sort of gets my Mastery of the Unseen juices flowing and actually brewing an enchantment heavy build. It would a lot diff than above. And I must say that list looks pretty good!
Very interesting idea, and the odd is higher than I expect for this dumping-the-whole-library strategy. A single Dark Petition might be helpful in many cases.
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Splashing white gives us access to Reflector Mage, Utter End, Hallowed Moonlight out of the board, Immolating Glare, Dragonlord Ojutai, and Surge of Righteousness among others.
The one card that I think I should definately add that I blanked on is Ob Nix. His draw power and murder ability fit this decks style perfectly.
4 Hedron Alignment
4 Monastery Siege
4 Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
2 Hallowed Moonlight
3 Void Shatter
3 Clash of Wills
1 Ojutai's Command
2 Disdainful Stroke
1 Silumgar's Command
2 Anticipate
2 Comparative Analysis
4 Dig Through Time
2 Stasis Snare
3 Murderous Cut
3 Languish
1 Flaying Tendrils
3 End Hostilities
2 Treasure Cruise
1 Dark Petition
Lands
4 Windswept Heath
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Flooded Strand
4 Polluted Delta
4 Island
3 Plains
3 Swamp
3 Sunken Hollow
3 Prairie Stream
2 Shambling Vent
2 Blighted Fen
1 Blighted Cataract
1 Mage-Ring Network
First post and all... So my LGS has a competition going on where you bring hedron alignment to an IQ level event, win a single round with hedron alignment and you win a box. Kind of cool. Anyway, here's the deck I created.
I would like to quickly tell you how i arrived at this exact decklist - I began with a sultai shell, but realized very quickly that it suffered from a lack of exile effects - I didn't have a way to get rid of a resolved hangarback walker or even stop ugin from coming back. I moved into esper, and it seemed good, but Hedron Alignment kept on messing up my draws.
You might be wondering why the deck looks rather large - well, it happens to actually be 87 cards. Normally, I don't ever run more than 60 cards, but in this case the breakthrough came when I listened to the top level podcast episode regarding Ben Rubins Abzan deck. They went into discussions about why some decks were specifically the size they were, so I posited this question - If I were to drift away from 60 card main deck, Specifically how large would I want to make the deck? Why? I soon arrived at the answer of 87 cards - I draw my initial hand and then I have a 5% chance and climbing of drawing Hedron Alignment. In addition, with the exception of Jace and Dig Through Time, there are reasonable substitutes to most cards in Standard.
You also may be wondering, "Why no Ugin?" Ugin is actually not that great in this deck for a few reasons. There is a very very low chance that they will actually successfully exile TWO Hedron Alignments. If they exile one, you need to use your filtering and counter magic to keep the others in the place they belong until you are ready to win. In other words, you don't need another win condition. I do have Jaces ult and two man lands just in case, and have won some games off Jace already, but casting Ugin just leaves you vulnerable, and you definitely don't want to minus three. I could be 100% wrong, and I am prepared to put in one or two ugins.
"How do you win?" Hedron alignment plus monastery siege is usually the answer. Monastery Siege enables us to filter very rapidly through our deck. You discard an alignment, then play one, then discard one, then delve one of the ones you discarded and prepare to win. Due to exile effects actually existing, I prefer to exile one just before imminent victory.
"Any tests?" I've played this deck only about a dozen times - I've had a hard time testing against people as of late. I lost one game to mana screw - otherwise, I've been on fire. I've played against Mono-colorless eldrazi (which I thought would be hard since Thought-Knot Seer exiling two Alignments means gg, but as long as you are careful, they are likely never going to actually exile more than one. Turned out it was easy enough), 5 color control, Rally, and Esper Dragons. As it turns out, having a win condition that can't effectively be countered (I'd like to see someone actually waste a counterspell on a Hedron Alignment) is a reasonable way to win if you can control the board. Either way I know my sample size is definitely not large enough, but it is a promising start.
Anyway, I'd love to hear any feedback. Cheers!
Is weird Im U/W lifegain playing 4 cleric of the forward order 4 arashin cleric main I also use Treasure cruise and rite of undoing as my delve cards.
I have had some luck casually but I want to test in fnm.
Meh
Modern
BUWEsper ControlWUB
BRUGrixis DelverURB
WRBGKiki ChordGBRW
WBGAbzan MidrangeGBW
BRGJundGRB
Legacy
UBRGrixis DelverRBU
Commander
Also meh
Very interesting idea, and the odd is higher than I expect for this dumping-the-whole-library strategy. A single Dark Petition might be helpful in many cases.