The cards above is what I had in paper for last night. Didn’t have 4 Aether Meltdowns so replace them with 2 Static Snares. The combo felt fine. I liked the snares, may stick with 2 meltdowns and 2 snares, not sure. The lands are what I had. Didn’t miss the 2 extra cycles land or the cataract. My TCGPlayer order will be in Monday; that should be all the ‘right’ cards I need. My sideboard is a mess, I know, but it is what I had.
Had a really good time last night running the deck above. I was in the top 4 and we just split. There were 12 players.
Match 1 (2-0) B/G Something – newer player, it was just a thrown together the deck. Tried to be as nice as possible but was never in any real danger.
Match 2 (1-1) Temer Engery (this guy also finished in the top 4) – Game 1 the deck ran great. Game 2, could not draw any Fumigates. Turn 6 double Anticipates. Turn 7 Glimmer with 2 life. Fill like I would have taken it if I would have drawn a board wipe. Game 3, started with 5 minutes to go but ran out of time for a draw. 5 more minutes and I would have won, had the cards in hand that I needed.
Match 3 (2-1) BG Hapatra – Game 1, same as before, the deck ran great. Game 2, he had a great hand and just out raced me. This was the only game last night where I felt I never really had a chance. Game 3 Gideon was a house, he spent 4-5 turns trying to kill him. When he finally did, I Approached. GG
Match 4 (2-1) BG Hapatra – pretty much same as match 3. Game 2 was stuck on 2 mana until turn 5ish. Never recovered.
Overall 3-0-1
Final thoughts, the deck ran very smooth. Only one game where I felt like I never had a chance. Even the games I lost, I was always right there.
Superstars Authority of the Consuls – dropping this turn 1, game 1, was always awesome. Dropping the 2nd just felt dirty. The extra lift this gained me won me several games. M2 – G1 the hydra had me down to 3 life before I wiped the board and stabilized. Without this, I would have lost that game and several others. It would mean I could tap out on turn 5 to play Fumigate and know they couldn’t touch me their next turn. 2 main desk is perfect, with 2 in the board.
Blessed Alliance – honestly one of the best cards in the deck. Nothing more needs to be said. Not sure what we will replace it with after rotation.
Pull from Tomorrow – I changed the draw package to 2 pulls, 2 glimmer, 2 anticipates, 1 hieroglyphic. This just felt right. Losing turn one hiero hurt a few time but the turn 7-9 pulls easily made up for it. Drawing 5-8 cards late finished a lot of games. M4 – G1, I drew 8 cards at the end of his turn while still holding 3-4. He stopped me from untaping and just said let's go to game 2.
Gideon of the Trials – I added one main just as a 2nd win-con. Not really expecting much. But he was a house. Dropping an ‘I can’t lose’ token on turn 3 means they have to deal with him. Getting in a few hits with the 4/4 means they really need to deal with him. Then just +1 to make their biggest guy do no damage. The whole time I am getting closer to dropping an approach. Every time I dropped him, he did work. Has seen several lists that run 3-4 sideboard, mainly to deal with other walkers. May do the same.
Changes – other than my sideboard and the Aether Meltdowns, not much. The deck ran really smooth. I like the changes to the draw package. Pull just does so much work. Not 100% on the Anticipates instead of hieroglyphics but they worked fine. Will post my updated sideboard later this weekend once I figure out what I am going to do. Pretty sure I add 2-3 Solemnity to my sideboard.
Hi! I'm a long time modern player that has started playing standard in Magic Online and I've settled on this deck as one of the ones I like to play.
I've been having some troubles against Zombie and UW Monument decks and I'd like to ask if someone has tried Engulf the Shore as a SB tech against go-wide decks?
Against go wide decks (especially Zombies) I really like Descend upon the Sinful in the sideboard. But for me at least, 2 Authority of the Consuls main and 2 SB is my go to plan. They just do so much work. Been trying out 3 main to see how it works, not 100% yet. But I am still working on my SB, will post what my final one is soon.
This is my current list. Some decision points that I have been swinging around on are the two drop slot. Im trying negate currently and it has been useful. There is usually a non creature spell that you dont mind cast in all matchups. Before i tried revolutionary rebuff as a poor mana leak effect. It was alright but some matchups it lined up so poorly. I saw one list today had renewed faith which seems good as it cycles. The Gideon has been amazing. I moved the authorities back to the side because I haven't been coming across as much mono-red. My spicy one of is nimble obstructionist. It has been good as a way to chump block, surprise kill planeswalkers, hit annoying triggers like ulamogg, scarab god.
Hieroglyphic is versatile. It cycles early to help you find land, it draws gas mid game, and draws into Suns. The one mana cycling is relevant as you hold up countermagic and let's you both counter and draw deeper.
Pull serves one purpose alone basically and that's to draw a lot. At 4 mana, it's worse than Hieroglyphic because it only nets 1 total after the discard. It's essentially a 6 mana spell and this deck needs early draw options.
Essentially, Hieroglyphic does everything we ever want it to whenever we want it to and Pull is too situational to be viable.
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How can we truly be free, if we are held in the bondage of clothing?
"What kind of ability would say "counters black spells" on it? "If a Rigger you control would assemble a Contraption, it counters black spells instead"? "
-Mark Gottlieb
Hieroglyphic is versatile. It cycles early to help you find land, it draws gas mid game, and draws into Suns. The one mana cycling is relevant as you hold up countermagic and let's you both counter and draw deeper.
Pull serves one purpose alone basically and that's to draw a lot. At 4 mana, it's worse than Hieroglyphic because it only nets 1 total after the discard. It's essentially a 6 mana spell and this deck needs early draw options.
Essentially, Hieroglyphic does everything we ever want it to whenever we want it to and Pull is too situational to be viable.
Exactly this, well said. This deck loses more often than not by not drawing enough land. Pull would not help this at all. 3 Illuminations is plenty. I also feel sometimes that i want 26 lands but then you get flooded. keen to know what others think
For me at least, this combination runs very smoothly. Anticipate digs 3 cards deep early and the 2 pulls reloads my hand late game. There are times when I miss being able to cycle Hieroglyphic for one but not very often. Where as digging deeper with Anticipate almost always seems good. And a turn 8-10 Pull usually means I win, even I have not already cast Approach. Even a turn 4 or 5 Pull is not great but is not always terrible if you are digging for a specific answer.
And I still have 8 one mana cyclers. But that is just what is working for me, your mileage may vary.
Here is my current approach list. Its different than the rest, since I am trying to be a good UW control deck first and foremost, and a good approach deck as a secondary objective. As such, I favor stuff like disallow before supreme will. Here is the list
I just got my second 3-2 in competitive leagues. Lost to GR ramp (which seemed unwinnable), temur black feat the scarab god (twice, twice 2-1, and twice i think i punted. did not seam like a bad matchup but i still lost twice to it) and UR gifts. I obliterated zombies, constrictor decks, red eldrazi, and the mirror. The deck seemed to win by a mile when it wins, and the losses were close, so maybe it's me piloting wrong (if someone wants to play the deck and see how they do be my guest).
For the future, the creatures have been underwhelming, so i might try to improve the % vs ramp and perhaps have something vs the scarab god, that always seems to punish me.
Some tips for the mirror and why I like hour of revelation. 1) In the mirror the key for me was to never cast my suns, make sure I can use my 14 post board counterspells (4 disallow, 3 negate, 4 censor, 1 supreme will, 2 summary dismissal) + the two dispels to counter all their suns. From then on, winning is academic. 2) the 1-of hour has been really good; people don't expect it and cleaning up chandra+creatures or liliana (and her mastery) + zombies has been very useful. Also, vs gifts, it was useful to know that i could tap out and not fear the opponent resolving a gift. It means not playing cast outs, but I'm ok with that. I never was in a situation of thinking "if I only had a cast out", but I have been in situations were I was digging deep hoping to draw the hour.
I'm skeptical of the main deck Unsummon. Kefnet continues to be terrific control mirror tech. Sphinx is good UW mirror tech--I leave in three or four fumigates in the mirror just for sphinx. I do wonder if Jace or little Gideon makes for a better alt win con than the Regal Caracal. The cat is good at gumming up the board but I don't know how often it can go the distance on its own after a lost legacy.
15 cyclers plus Supreme Will (plus Farmland) make for some very smooth draws. Farm // Market seems like a nice little anti-flood plan for the late game.
I agree with his thoughts on the 4th approach. It is the best thing to be doing after turn 7. I am going to try to test the extra one. i think everyone agrees on the 4th fumigate and 4 cast out. He also hates the Aether Meltdowns. I am currently using 2 Negates, 1 Essence Scatter. Immolating glare is also another very good option.
I definitely think 4 Cast Out and 4 Fumigate are correct - I also often board in a Descend Upon the Sinful. I'm unsure on Aether Meltdown. I like it in that it's good early interaction that nullifies a threat until I can play a Fumigate, but obviously for the same reasons as everyone else, I'm not totally sold on it. For the moment, I play 3 though and it works pretty well. In my opening hand, I'm never *unhappy* to see it, as it solves an early problem. Whether there are better options, I'm not sure as I haven't tested them.
I do play a Desert's Hold, which has been a handy alternative (albeit more expensive) to stop activated abilities.
I came tied for 1st at Standard Showdown on Saturday, drawing with Mono Black Zombies at the end in Game 3 (out of time) - in game 2 my opponent cast Lost Legacy and removed my Approaches, but I ground it out and won (eventually) with 1x Regal Caracal, 1x Descend (the Angel token) and a Torrential Gearhulk.
I'm going up to 4 Caracal in the sideboard from now on (I only had 1 before) after seeing the great work it did.
I'm also leaning towards 4 Approaches - a few times it's simply taken too long to hit the first one and the games have been very tight because of it.
I don't think you can play Aether Meltdown and Blessed Alliance in the same deck. After rotation it might be worth playing the meltdown, depending on what the new two mana conditional white removal spell looks like.
I have liked having maindeck Gideon quite a bit. I have also been having success with Gearhulks out of the side. It's kind of a reverse bluff situation--since the deck is known now, people know not to expect Gearhulks and don't play around them. Then... bam! Gearhulk. I like them better than the kitties.
I find the toughest matchup is anybody who can play the fish type gameplan of running out early threats and then holding up a counter for your haymakers. The most common decks that do this are temur energy and gate (with wanderer) post board. I almost always win game one and then have a big struggle in games two and three. It would be nice if we had better one for one removal so we weren't so dependent on tapping out for a big spell to swing the game.
For what it's worth, this is what I've been running:
I have replaced the meltdowns with Static Snare and been very happy. I will have to try the 2/4 split with castout, been running 3/3. Not as sure on the 4 Approach. Since changing my draw package (yes, I know I am the only one that likes it), I don't have any issues with just 3 Approaches. And the 2 Gideons main really feels like the right number.
Also, have seen some list that runs Negate or Essence Scatter main instead of the Meltdown/Snare. Seems pretty interesting, may have to try it out.
Been running this deck for a very long time now. Here are my thoughts, take them for whatever you deem them worth.
4 Appraoch is way too many. It's absolute dead in the opening hand; even though we're not necessarily a 6-mana deck anymore, we're still absolutely a 4-mana deck, and have to make sure we get there as unscathed as possible. 2 is way far too few. The decklist that went 2nd place in the MOCS Qualifier ran 3, and for good reason.
I couldn't believe how disappointed I was with Torrential Gearhulk when I purchased them. Abrade is just far too rampant in the meta. I really don't want to give up on them though, they're such a power-play card, and really the only card that fills out the curve nicely to sit in the 6-slot (Pull from Tomorrow would be the other consideration I think? But I'll get to that shortly). As much as I'd like to agree with your assessment that there's a reverse-counter situation going on regarding the Gearhulks jacobk, unfortunately, I think GPG picking up steam and Abrade just being crazy good in general is going to keep Gearhulks from being viable. I ended up selling mine on Modo to play with other toys. Would love to know how they continue to perform in the sideboard.
Aether Meltdown, for me personally, has been an absolute superstar. It just shuts down everything, including turning the Gods into 1-Power beatsticks as opposed to 5-power, given that the only other answer in this deck to Gods atm is Cast Out and Gideon for those who run him, this is crucial - I've only been playing a post-rotation of this deck, so Blessed Alliance hasn't been been in any version I've played.
Speaking of gods - I have found Kefnet absolutely useless. I took him out long ago. I will test him again in the sideboard for the control mirror as you all suggest.
Gideon of the Trials and Dovin Baan both seem like complicated cards that I can't decide if I like or not. Personally, the only time the Gideon emblem has ever mattered has been in the control mirror (and in some silly mill matchups running fraying sanity + startled awake). In all other matchups, it's been a situation where they've either had the board presence to take out Gideon no issues and finish the game the way they were going to, or, the Gideon and emblem wasnt going to matter anyway since the game was wrapping up with Fumiagte and Approach soon. Dovin Baan just doesn't seem to pull enough work in the meta, and comes to the board at too little loyalty. Whenever I play him, I always just find myself cracking him for a bit of life and draw.
In my personal opinion: Fumigate is our best card. By a mile. This deck only works because of Fumigate, in fact.
And finally: Does anyone else have an issue with how much energy we have laying around doing nothing? They're must be something that can be put towards. I trialed Gonti's Aether Heart for a little bit, but it was nothing more than a gimmicky win-more card, but it did set up a play or two here and there of locking an opponent out, drawing all the way to approach and casting it again with 0 reprisal.
Oh double finally: Why does Pull From Tomorrow seem to suck so hard in this deck, even with the Gearhulks out? Is there just too much card draw in the deck already between cycling, glimmers and supreme wills?
I like the 4 Approach just because it's often the case that you can win games by casting running approaches and only by casting running Approaches. The rest of the deck is pretty solid at stalling until you get to seven mana.
After playing some matches against UB control I have to say that The Scarab God is a house. I feel like we are heavily favored in that matchup except for the absurd power level of that card. Yes, we can exile it, but if they play it with a Gearhulk in the graveyard it brings its own counterspells with it. The situation was probably exacerbated by my plan of running my own Gearhulks. Honestly though it makes me wonder if the mana is or will be good enough to run a black splash solely for some The Scarab God action out of the sideboard.
Pull From Tomorrow shines in decks that look to make a bunch of one for one trades and then pull ahead with draw spells. UR Control is probably the best archetype for it right now. Classic counter-everything control is the same way. We are much more about finding the right silver bullet for any given situation. For us Glimmer and Supreme Will are both worth nearly as much as a draw four spell because they let us get the best card out of the top four.
Hypperz - I agree most of what you said. I really think 3 Approach is the right number. Would really like to the like gearhulk but just can't seem to, there are better plan b's instead of him. For me at least, Gideon of the Trials has been a house. He just stalls the game a few turns, which is what our deck wants. Usually, I don't drop an emblem, instead just turn off their biggest threat. And almost as important, he makes them fight over something that I don't care about. The 2-4 turns worth of them throwing dudes at him is that many turns they are not attacking me. And IMO, we can never have too much draw.
jacobk - I have been running 2 Anticipates and 2 Pulls for the last couple of weeks and love the combination. Early anticipates finding the card that I want/need and the late pulls to refill my hand or dig for the approach that is 6 cards deep. With my current draw package, 3 approaches seem really solid.
But I may try to combine comments from both Hypperz and jacobk. What about adding in some Aether Hub, use it to cast a The Scarab God from the sideboard? The god seems like it would do a lot of work, especially once they have sided out all of the removal game 2. It could be trying too hard since our mana base is very smooth right now but will have to try it out.
In line with Fumigate being the best card by a mile, I feel like post-rotation Settle the Wreckage really brings the deck up a notch - though it is not without its faults.
As much as I absolutely love the idea of Shielded Aether Theif on paper, unfortunately, all he ever did in my testing was validate the otherwise dead cards in the hands of the decks I wanted him to pull work in. With that said, when he works, he works well, and could have a home in the sideboard alongside Authority of the Consuls for those not mainboarding them yet. Ramunap or Zombies sees creatureless UW Approach, takes out Fatals, Grasps, Shocks, etc., and then in comes Aether Thief and Consuls to block hasted weenies all day long.
Anticipate lives in the same 2CMC conundrum I have with Aether Thief - We all agree Censor is amazing by this point I think, I stand by Meltdown completely, and do I really want to jack up on more 2CMC?
Nothing particularly interesting, but I've started sideboarding Crook of Condemnation in the sideboard to help a little with zombies and especially all the God-Pharoah's ramps that have been springing up, and it's been awesome. Between Consuls, Cast Out, Crook and Fumigate, I just absolutely love playing GPG at the moment, free win.
Forgive me if it's already come up and I missed it - But anyone trialed Solemnity for the energy match-ups yet? It's already not a bad match up at all as far as things go, but it seems like it's a ridiculous sideboard answer to not getting hit with the dumb T4/5 on-the-play Pump kills before we hit fumigate in bad draws.
Forgive me if it's already come up and I missed it - But anyone trialed Solemnity for the energy match-ups yet? It's already not a bad match up at all as far as things go, but it seems like it's a ridiculous sideboard answer to not getting hit with the dumb T4/5 on-the-play Pump kills before we hit fumigate in bad draws.
I have tried it and yes it works great. The only problem is like you said that match up is not that bad and I don't have 2 slot's in my sideboard for it. It is nice for the Hapatra match also but really don't see that deck much either.
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Modern
Currently Playing UW UW Control/Miracles R Skred Red
The energy draw that scares me is when they play two early creatures and then sit back with a Negate ready for my Fumigate. In the worst case scenario they then follow up with a Chandra. Solemnity doesn't really do much to stop that beatdown, and it costs you a card.
I like to leave in Blessed Alliance in addition to bringing in extra sweepers and dispels. Yes, Blessed Alliance is sad if they have Whirler Virtuoso, but (a) it's nearly your only out against 2 drop into 2 drop on the draw, and (b) even if they have whirler you can usually get value with the blessed alliance either before it attacks or after you play a sweeper.
Consign // Oblivion is interesting. In addition to bouncing creatures and Gideons, it's also nice anti-Chandra-emblem technology. You can even flash it back instant speed with Torrential Gearhulk for some Funeral Charm style draw step action.
Another 5-0 list today... maybe Unsummon is actually great and I just don't get it?
Pretty nifty article. Anybody running the Meltdown version not running 4 Aether Hubs are making a HUGE mistake - The glimmers alone make it good enough really. It's just 4 untapped lands that tap for anything in our deck essentially, the Meltdowns just help to ensure this.
Consign is an awesome idea, opening up slightly more card advantage and handling, as jacobk said, almost anything. Not to mention I adore the idea of this deck splashing into esper territory.
Can't say I'm on-board for the Thraben Inspector + Spell Queller reasoning, mind-you. Spell Queller is obviously a great situational card, but the vacuum scenario he presents for Thraben + Queller sounds better and more easily solved with a Kefnet or Glyph Keepers.
Nice to see the pot stirring with this deck though. Very nice to see.
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2x Anticipate
4x Blessed Alliance
4x Censor
2x Glimmer of Genius
1x Hieroglyphic Illumination
2x Pull from Tomorrow
4x Supreme Will
Sorcery (7)
3x Approach of the Second Sun
4x Fumigate
2x Irrigated Farmland
9x Island
6x Plains
4x Port Town
4x Prairie Stream
Enchantment (9)
2x Aether Meltdown
2x Authority of the Consuls
3x Cast Out
2x Stasis Snare
1x Gideon of the Trials
2x Authority of the Consuls
2x Declaration in Stone
3x Dispel
2x Immolating Glare
2x Linvala, the Preserver
2x Negate
2x Sphinx of the Final Word
The cards above is what I had in paper for last night. Didn’t have 4 Aether Meltdowns so replace them with 2 Static Snares. The combo felt fine. I liked the snares, may stick with 2 meltdowns and 2 snares, not sure. The lands are what I had. Didn’t miss the 2 extra cycles land or the cataract. My TCGPlayer order will be in Monday; that should be all the ‘right’ cards I need. My sideboard is a mess, I know, but it is what I had.
Had a really good time last night running the deck above. I was in the top 4 and we just split. There were 12 players.
Match 1 (2-0) B/G Something – newer player, it was just a thrown together the deck. Tried to be as nice as possible but was never in any real danger.
Match 2 (1-1) Temer Engery (this guy also finished in the top 4) – Game 1 the deck ran great. Game 2, could not draw any Fumigates. Turn 6 double Anticipates. Turn 7 Glimmer with 2 life. Fill like I would have taken it if I would have drawn a board wipe. Game 3, started with 5 minutes to go but ran out of time for a draw. 5 more minutes and I would have won, had the cards in hand that I needed.
Match 3 (2-1) BG Hapatra – Game 1, same as before, the deck ran great. Game 2, he had a great hand and just out raced me. This was the only game last night where I felt I never really had a chance. Game 3 Gideon was a house, he spent 4-5 turns trying to kill him. When he finally did, I Approached. GG
Match 4 (2-1) BG Hapatra – pretty much same as match 3. Game 2 was stuck on 2 mana until turn 5ish. Never recovered.
Overall 3-0-1
Final thoughts, the deck ran very smooth. Only one game where I felt like I never had a chance. Even the games I lost, I was always right there.
Superstars
Authority of the Consuls – dropping this turn 1, game 1, was always awesome. Dropping the 2nd just felt dirty. The extra lift this gained me won me several games. M2 – G1 the hydra had me down to 3 life before I wiped the board and stabilized. Without this, I would have lost that game and several others. It would mean I could tap out on turn 5 to play Fumigate and know they couldn’t touch me their next turn. 2 main desk is perfect, with 2 in the board.
Blessed Alliance – honestly one of the best cards in the deck. Nothing more needs to be said. Not sure what we will replace it with after rotation.
Pull from Tomorrow – I changed the draw package to 2 pulls, 2 glimmer, 2 anticipates, 1 hieroglyphic. This just felt right. Losing turn one hiero hurt a few time but the turn 7-9 pulls easily made up for it. Drawing 5-8 cards late finished a lot of games. M4 – G1, I drew 8 cards at the end of his turn while still holding 3-4. He stopped me from untaping and just said let's go to game 2.
Gideon of the Trials – I added one main just as a 2nd win-con. Not really expecting much. But he was a house. Dropping an ‘I can’t lose’ token on turn 3 means they have to deal with him. Getting in a few hits with the 4/4 means they really need to deal with him. Then just +1 to make their biggest guy do no damage. The whole time I am getting closer to dropping an approach. Every time I dropped him, he did work. Has seen several lists that run 3-4 sideboard, mainly to deal with other walkers. May do the same.
Changes – other than my sideboard and the Aether Meltdowns, not much. The deck ran really smooth. I like the changes to the draw package. Pull just does so much work. Not 100% on the Anticipates instead of hieroglyphics but they worked fine. Will post my updated sideboard later this weekend once I figure out what I am going to do. Pretty sure I add 2-3 Solemnity to my sideboard.
Modern
Currently Playing
UW UW Control/Miracles
R Skred Red
Retired
BU Faeries
RGW Naya Burn
BW B/W Tokens
Against go wide decks (especially Zombies) I really like Descend upon the Sinful in the sideboard. But for me at least, 2 Authority of the Consuls main and 2 SB is my go to plan. They just do so much work. Been trying out 3 main to see how it works, not 100% yet. But I am still working on my SB, will post what my final one is soon.
Modern
Currently Playing
UW UW Control/Miracles
R Skred Red
Retired
BU Faeries
RGW Naya Burn
BW B/W Tokens
3 Approach of the Second Sun
4 Blessed Alliance
4 Cast Out
4 Censor
4 Fumigate
4 Glimmer of Genius
3 Hieroglyphic Illumination
1 Nimble Obstructionist
1 Gideon, of the Trials
4 Irrigated Farmland
8 Island
7 Plains
4 Prairie Stream
4 Supreme Will
2 Blighted Cataract
4 Authority of the Consuls
2 Descend upon the Sinful
2 Linvala, the Preserver
2 Sphinx of the Final Word
4 Regal Caracal
1 Summary Dismissal
This is my current list. Some decision points that I have been swinging around on are the two drop slot. Im trying negate currently and it has been useful. There is usually a non creature spell that you dont mind cast in all matchups. Before i tried revolutionary rebuff as a poor mana leak effect. It was alright but some matchups it lined up so poorly. I saw one list today had renewed faith which seems good as it cycles. The Gideon has been amazing. I moved the authorities back to the side because I haven't been coming across as much mono-red. My spicy one of is nimble obstructionist. It has been good as a way to chump block, surprise kill planeswalkers, hit annoying triggers like ulamogg, scarab god.
Modern
Currently Playing
UW UW Control/Miracles
R Skred Red
Retired
BU Faeries
RGW Naya Burn
BW B/W Tokens
C Long Live Eldrazi C
Hieroglyphic is versatile. It cycles early to help you find land, it draws gas mid game, and draws into Suns. The one mana cycling is relevant as you hold up countermagic and let's you both counter and draw deeper.
Pull serves one purpose alone basically and that's to draw a lot. At 4 mana, it's worse than Hieroglyphic because it only nets 1 total after the discard. It's essentially a 6 mana spell and this deck needs early draw options.
Essentially, Hieroglyphic does everything we ever want it to whenever we want it to and Pull is too situational to be viable.
Current Decks
Standard / Type 2
BRMidrange
"What kind of ability would say "counters black spells" on it? "If a Rigger you control would assemble a Contraption, it counters black spells instead"? "
-Mark Gottlieb
Exactly this, well said. This deck loses more often than not by not drawing enough land. Pull would not help this at all. 3 Illuminations is plenty. I also feel sometimes that i want 26 lands but then you get flooded. keen to know what others think
2 Anticipate
2 Glimmer of Genius
2 Pull from Tomorrow
1 Hieroglyphic Illumination
For me at least, this combination runs very smoothly. Anticipate digs 3 cards deep early and the 2 pulls reloads my hand late game. There are times when I miss being able to cycle Hieroglyphic for one but not very often. Where as digging deeper with Anticipate almost always seems good. And a turn 8-10 Pull usually means I win, even I have not already cast Approach. Even a turn 4 or 5 Pull is not great but is not always terrible if you are digging for a specific answer.
And I still have 8 one mana cyclers. But that is just what is working for me, your mileage may vary.
Modern
Currently Playing
UW UW Control/Miracles
R Skred Red
Retired
BU Faeries
RGW Naya Burn
BW B/W Tokens
1 blighted cataract
1 westvale abbey
4 irrigated farmland
4 port town
4 prairie stream
4 plains
8 island
Sorceries (8)
4 fumigate
1 hour of revelation
1 descend upon the sinful
2 approach of the second sun
3 blessed alliance
4 scatter to the winds
4 censor
1 supreme will
4 disallow
4 glimmer of genius
4 hieroglyphic illumination
2 pull from tomorrow
1 blessed alliance
3 regal caracal
2 dispel
3 negate
2 thing in the ice
2 summary dismissal
2 crook of condemnation
I just got my second 3-2 in competitive leagues. Lost to GR ramp (which seemed unwinnable), temur black feat the scarab god (twice, twice 2-1, and twice i think i punted. did not seam like a bad matchup but i still lost twice to it) and UR gifts. I obliterated zombies, constrictor decks, red eldrazi, and the mirror. The deck seemed to win by a mile when it wins, and the losses were close, so maybe it's me piloting wrong (if someone wants to play the deck and see how they do be my guest).
For the future, the creatures have been underwhelming, so i might try to improve the % vs ramp and perhaps have something vs the scarab god, that always seems to punish me.
Some tips for the mirror and why I like hour of revelation. 1) In the mirror the key for me was to never cast my suns, make sure I can use my 14 post board counterspells (4 disallow, 3 negate, 4 censor, 1 supreme will, 2 summary dismissal) + the two dispels to counter all their suns. From then on, winning is academic. 2) the 1-of hour has been really good; people don't expect it and cleaning up chandra+creatures or liliana (and her mastery) + zombies has been very useful. Also, vs gifts, it was useful to know that i could tap out and not fear the opponent resolving a gift. It means not playing cast outs, but I'm ok with that. I never was in a situation of thinking "if I only had a cast out", but I have been in situations were I was digging deep hoping to draw the hour.
4 Irrigated Farmland
9 Island
6 Plains
4 Prairie Stream
2 Unsummon
4 Blessed Alliance
4 Censor
4 Renewed Faith
4 Supreme Will
4 Glimmer of Genius
3 Hieroglyphic Illumination
4 Fumigate
3 Approach of the Second Sun
4 Authority of the Consuls
4 Negate
1 Kefnet the Mindful
1 Summary Dismissal
2 Regal Caracal
1 Descend upon the Sinful
2 Linvala, the Preserver
6 Island
8 Plains
1 Port Town
4 Prairie Stream
2 Westvale Abbey
4 Blessed Alliance
4 Censor
4 Supreme Will
4 Glimmer of Genius
3 Hieroglyphic Illumination
4 Fumigate
4 Approach of the Second Sun
1 Farm // Market
4 Cast Out
4 Authority of the Consuls
2 Dispel
2 Negate
3 Regal Caracal
2 Descend upon the Sinful
2 Sphinx of the Final Word
I'm skeptical of the main deck Unsummon. Kefnet continues to be terrific control mirror tech. Sphinx is good UW mirror tech--I leave in three or four fumigates in the mirror just for sphinx. I do wonder if Jace or little Gideon makes for a better alt win con than the Regal Caracal. The cat is good at gumming up the board but I don't know how often it can go the distance on its own after a lost legacy.
15 cyclers plus Supreme Will (plus Farmland) make for some very smooth draws. Farm // Market seems like a nice little anti-flood plan for the late game.
I agree with his thoughts on the 4th approach. It is the best thing to be doing after turn 7. I am going to try to test the extra one. i think everyone agrees on the 4th fumigate and 4 cast out. He also hates the Aether Meltdowns. I am currently using 2 Negates, 1 Essence Scatter. Immolating glare is also another very good option.
Interested to know others thoughts
I do play a Desert's Hold, which has been a handy alternative (albeit more expensive) to stop activated abilities.
I came tied for 1st at Standard Showdown on Saturday, drawing with Mono Black Zombies at the end in Game 3 (out of time) - in game 2 my opponent cast Lost Legacy and removed my Approaches, but I ground it out and won (eventually) with 1x Regal Caracal, 1x Descend (the Angel token) and a Torrential Gearhulk.
I'm going up to 4 Caracal in the sideboard from now on (I only had 1 before) after seeing the great work it did.
I'm also leaning towards 4 Approaches - a few times it's simply taken too long to hit the first one and the games have been very tight because of it.
I have liked having maindeck Gideon quite a bit. I have also been having success with Gearhulks out of the side. It's kind of a reverse bluff situation--since the deck is known now, people know not to expect Gearhulks and don't play around them. Then... bam! Gearhulk. I like them better than the kitties.
I find the toughest matchup is anybody who can play the fish type gameplan of running out early threats and then holding up a counter for your haymakers. The most common decks that do this are temur energy and gate (with wanderer) post board. I almost always win game one and then have a big struggle in games two and three. It would be nice if we had better one for one removal so we weren't so dependent on tapping out for a big spell to swing the game.
For what it's worth, this is what I've been running:
7 Plains
4 Irrigated Farmland
4 Prairie Stream
2 Port Town
1 Westvale Abbey
4 Blessed Alliance
4 Censor
4 Supreme Will
4 Glimmer of Genius
3 Hieroglyphic Illumination
4 Cast Out
4 Fumigate
2 Gideon of the Trials
4 Approach of the Second Sun
4 Authority of the Consuls
4 Negate
2 Dispel
2 Descend Upon the Sinful
3 Torrential Gearhulk
The deck really could use Pithing Needle out of the sideboard.
Also, have seen some list that runs Negate or Essence Scatter main instead of the Meltdown/Snare. Seems pretty interesting, may have to try it out.
Modern
Currently Playing
UW UW Control/Miracles
R Skred Red
Retired
BU Faeries
RGW Naya Burn
BW B/W Tokens
4 Appraoch is way too many. It's absolute dead in the opening hand; even though we're not necessarily a 6-mana deck anymore, we're still absolutely a 4-mana deck, and have to make sure we get there as unscathed as possible. 2 is way far too few. The decklist that went 2nd place in the MOCS Qualifier ran 3, and for good reason.
I couldn't believe how disappointed I was with Torrential Gearhulk when I purchased them. Abrade is just far too rampant in the meta. I really don't want to give up on them though, they're such a power-play card, and really the only card that fills out the curve nicely to sit in the 6-slot (Pull from Tomorrow would be the other consideration I think? But I'll get to that shortly). As much as I'd like to agree with your assessment that there's a reverse-counter situation going on regarding the Gearhulks jacobk, unfortunately, I think GPG picking up steam and Abrade just being crazy good in general is going to keep Gearhulks from being viable. I ended up selling mine on Modo to play with other toys. Would love to know how they continue to perform in the sideboard.
Aether Meltdown, for me personally, has been an absolute superstar. It just shuts down everything, including turning the Gods into 1-Power beatsticks as opposed to 5-power, given that the only other answer in this deck to Gods atm is Cast Out and Gideon for those who run him, this is crucial - I've only been playing a post-rotation of this deck, so Blessed Alliance hasn't been been in any version I've played.
Speaking of gods - I have found Kefnet absolutely useless. I took him out long ago. I will test him again in the sideboard for the control mirror as you all suggest.
Gideon of the Trials and Dovin Baan both seem like complicated cards that I can't decide if I like or not. Personally, the only time the Gideon emblem has ever mattered has been in the control mirror (and in some silly mill matchups running fraying sanity + startled awake). In all other matchups, it's been a situation where they've either had the board presence to take out Gideon no issues and finish the game the way they were going to, or, the Gideon and emblem wasnt going to matter anyway since the game was wrapping up with Fumiagte and Approach soon. Dovin Baan just doesn't seem to pull enough work in the meta, and comes to the board at too little loyalty. Whenever I play him, I always just find myself cracking him for a bit of life and draw.
In my personal opinion: Fumigate is our best card. By a mile. This deck only works because of Fumigate, in fact.
And finally: Does anyone else have an issue with how much energy we have laying around doing nothing? They're must be something that can be put towards. I trialed Gonti's Aether Heart for a little bit, but it was nothing more than a gimmicky win-more card, but it did set up a play or two here and there of locking an opponent out, drawing all the way to approach and casting it again with 0 reprisal.
Oh double finally: Why does Pull From Tomorrow seem to suck so hard in this deck, even with the Gearhulks out? Is there just too much card draw in the deck already between cycling, glimmers and supreme wills?
After playing some matches against UB control I have to say that The Scarab God is a house. I feel like we are heavily favored in that matchup except for the absurd power level of that card. Yes, we can exile it, but if they play it with a Gearhulk in the graveyard it brings its own counterspells with it. The situation was probably exacerbated by my plan of running my own Gearhulks. Honestly though it makes me wonder if the mana is or will be good enough to run a black splash solely for some The Scarab God action out of the sideboard.
Pull From Tomorrow shines in decks that look to make a bunch of one for one trades and then pull ahead with draw spells. UR Control is probably the best archetype for it right now. Classic counter-everything control is the same way. We are much more about finding the right silver bullet for any given situation. For us Glimmer and Supreme Will are both worth nearly as much as a draw four spell because they let us get the best card out of the top four.
Actually, saying all that, I wonder if we shouldn't be running Anticipate (or post-rotation equivalent) over Hieroglyphic Illumination.
jacobk - I have been running 2 Anticipates and 2 Pulls for the last couple of weeks and love the combination. Early anticipates finding the card that I want/need and the late pulls to refill my hand or dig for the approach that is 6 cards deep. With my current draw package, 3 approaches seem really solid.
But I may try to combine comments from both Hypperz and jacobk. What about adding in some Aether Hub, use it to cast a The Scarab God from the sideboard? The god seems like it would do a lot of work, especially once they have sided out all of the removal game 2. It could be trying too hard since our mana base is very smooth right now but will have to try it out.
Modern
Currently Playing
UW UW Control/Miracles
R Skred Red
Retired
BU Faeries
RGW Naya Burn
BW B/W Tokens
Thoughts on post-rotation?
Anticipate lives in the same 2CMC conundrum I have with Aether Thief - We all agree Censor is amazing by this point I think, I stand by Meltdown completely, and do I really want to jack up on more 2CMC?
Nothing particularly interesting, but I've started sideboarding Crook of Condemnation in the sideboard to help a little with zombies and especially all the God-Pharoah's ramps that have been springing up, and it's been awesome. Between Consuls, Cast Out, Crook and Fumigate, I just absolutely love playing GPG at the moment, free win.
Forgive me if it's already come up and I missed it - But anyone trialed Solemnity for the energy match-ups yet? It's already not a bad match up at all as far as things go, but it seems like it's a ridiculous sideboard answer to not getting hit with the dumb T4/5 on-the-play Pump kills before we hit fumigate in bad draws.
I have tried it and yes it works great. The only problem is like you said that match up is not that bad and I don't have 2 slot's in my sideboard for it. It is nice for the Hapatra match also but really don't see that deck much either.
Modern
Currently Playing
UW UW Control/Miracles
R Skred Red
Retired
BU Faeries
RGW Naya Burn
BW B/W Tokens
I like to leave in Blessed Alliance in addition to bringing in extra sweepers and dispels. Yes, Blessed Alliance is sad if they have Whirler Virtuoso, but (a) it's nearly your only out against 2 drop into 2 drop on the draw, and (b) even if they have whirler you can usually get value with the blessed alliance either before it attacks or after you play a sweeper.
Modern
Currently Playing
UW UW Control/Miracles
R Skred Red
Retired
BU Faeries
RGW Naya Burn
BW B/W Tokens
Another 5-0 list today... maybe Unsummon is actually great and I just don't get it?
4 Irrigated Farmland
7 Island
8 Plains
1 Port Town
4 Prairie Stream
1 Jace, Unraveler of Secrets
2 Unsummon
4 Blessed Alliance
4 Censor
4 Supreme Will
4 Glimmer of Genius
3 Hieroglyphic Illumination
4 Fumigate
3 Approach of the Second Sun
3 Cast Out
4 Authority of the Consuls
3 Negate
1 Disallow
3 Regal Caracal
2 Descend upon the Sinful
1 Linvala, the Preserver
1 Sphinx of the Final Word
I do like Jace.
I wonder if we can fit in some number of Disallow. After watching some UB streaming videos I'm a little jealous of the utility of that card.
Consign is an awesome idea, opening up slightly more card advantage and handling, as jacobk said, almost anything. Not to mention I adore the idea of this deck splashing into esper territory.
Can't say I'm on-board for the Thraben Inspector + Spell Queller reasoning, mind-you. Spell Queller is obviously a great situational card, but the vacuum scenario he presents for Thraben + Queller sounds better and more easily solved with a Kefnet or Glyph Keepers.
Nice to see the pot stirring with this deck though. Very nice to see.