Hmm... interesting list there. My first thoughts are that I'm not a fan of all the 2s and 1ofs, and 4 Cruel seems like a little too much to me. Not to mention Countersquall over negate in the main is also an oddball choice. But if it works out for you, that's fine.
On the other hand, with all the direct-able lifeloss and damage spells, it almost seems like a waste to play creatures at all, as you can probably take them out after a Cruel or two with Earthquake, or just bolts and Countersquall lifeloss, not to mention Chandra and fallout damage.
In that regard, I'd almost say it'd be better for you to simply replace your win condition creatures with 4 Fleshbag Marauder, as it has a higher level of synergy with Cruel in your build, albeit it is overcosted for a removal spell. Chandra seems good enough to seal the deal should they not be able to prevent you from stabilizing. 4 Cruel also means you'll be more likely to draw it in multiples, meaning you can easily chain 1 after the other should you resolve it.
Overall, I kind of like that approach to the deck, not relying on creatures to win at all...
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I had originally used a straight Grixis build in my testing but I found it to be lacking in the ability to clear the board against decks like the R/W deck and Bant. I also came to the conclusion that Ajani Vengeant is too great of a card to not make the deck. It can single handedly win you many of the control matchups and can give you a quick helix effect + a reduction of either a burn spell or a creature's attack against your life total. I also came to realize that Esper Charm is just better than Capsule in every way. More often than not, I just went to tear up my opponent's hand with the Charm and that itself gives me enough reason to be running the white. Also the sideboard options are just better.
4 Cruels may seem like a bit too many. I know there are times that I wish I had a fourth but I'm also sure that I never want to see 2 of them in my opener. Countersquall over Negate seems awkward because of those times where you don't have a black right away. I also think the random 2 damage is pretty meaningless since random points of damage do not really help you win the game. Sorin seems like an interesting idea to me. I'm not a huge fan of his restrictive CC but you need 3 black to win the game anyway so I guess it's not as restrictive. I like his affect in the aggro matchups and he seems pretty good in the control matchup since he is pretty hard to deal with and Mindslaver has always been a house against control decks.
I have been getting decimated with my list lately. It's not too different from the OPs list, but it just doesn't do anything. The only time I ever win are against people that don't play very much AND I get a good draw. It seems like everyone sides in Goblin Ruinblaster and just destroys me games 2 and 3. I see a lot of people running Double Negative, but that stupid card just craps itself every time I bring it in against Jund. It literally acts as a mana-specific Cancel since I never have 3 mana open against them. Spell Pierce just seems so much better. As much as I like Wretched Banquet, it pretty much does nothing against Ball Lightning, Hellspark Elemental, and Hell's Thunder and I have a ton of red decks (12-13 out of 16 is typical) that I play against. I'm kinda thinking that I might replace the 4 Banquets with Burst Lightning since they essentially do the same thing. Double Negatives will become Spell Pierce since I already have 4 Swerve SB and a 3/1 split of Negates. After that I think Magma Spray will have to find its way in there as well since I get eaten alive by Bloodghast all the time. So frustrating.
well, i tested out a beta build of grixis colored pshinx, and didnt really like it much... i dropped banquet cuz it just slows the deck down more than it already is, and even then i wasnt seeing the deck to have the right (available) ammo to deal with the meta... so i went ahead and restarted it based b/u, then realized "W belongs here"...
i absolutely can never understand why people think baneslayer is SO great, considering it dies to everything except combat with broodmate dragon... (sneezing on it kills it too! :P), in case anyone is wondering why theyre not present...(and steel wind is totally worth the extra mana, since it laughs at 3/4 of the most common removal)... also, its not a sphinx
so this is what i have, i think it looks pretty solid (needs testing yet)...i can see a few numbers being tweaked with a bit yet...
I don't use Volcanic Fallout or Countersquall because I have been color screwed more than enough times. If you think that all you need is is UB for Countersquall then you aren't looking at the whole picture. Typically, after the first 4-5 turns you are doing more than 1 thing per turn and your mana requirements start looking really crazy. If you Terminate and Countersquall on their turn you need UBBR. If you Terminate and Negate it's 1UBR. That is quite a bit easier to manage. Then it starts getting crazy when you need 2UUBRR for Fallout, Capsule, and Squall. All I am saying is that the mana base works at building up to UUBBBRR for the Ultimatum, but you really need some flexibility early on. And too many super color specific cards can cost you a crucial turn 4 move.
Edit: I do know that later on it fixes itself really well, but early game stresses the mana quite a bit as it is.
Obviously, you wouldn't want to go with 4 of each of these, as that would make nearly all your lands come into play tapped and leave very little room for Scalding Tarns and basic lands, but the point is that there is plenty of good mana-fixing available. It really shouldn't be too difficult.
Furthermore, if you are trying to cast Cruel Ultimatum for UUBBBRR, you should have no problem with 2UUBRR.
OC- I was over explaining myself. There have been times when I am sitting on UR with a Negate in hand for Blightning and am really glad I didn't have a Countersquall. I just like to simplify my mana requirements as much as possible when the 2 life point bonus isn't game breaking.
Here's the deck now. Too much Jund made Wretched Banquet a sad boy, so in with Agony Warp. The whole point of a blue control deck is to play your cards on their turn, so I needed more Instants. I have all the anti-Jund and Anti-Vampires stuff in the board, but if the last 2 weeks is any indication I might just board in before the tournament. Then, if by chance I play something without Vampires, Goblins, or Jund I can just use this deck.
Magma Spray - Bloodghast obviously, but it helps Thrinax disappear if it's taken any other damage.
Grixis Charm - The vesatility of this stupid card has me thinking I might want 4. Usually it just kills a big creature, but watching a Scepter take out a Baneslayer Angel is funny. I have also bounce a couple of Pithing Needles that were set on Chandra.
Sedraxis Scepter - I'm still testing these, but they just seem good. I hate creatures and avoid playing with them, but I think I have to cave. 3/2 flying with a cheap unearth is good. And with Cruel U, I always found myself drawing 3 and gaining 5 while wasting the creature mode. This little dude, has made it even better.
No counters at all main? I don't rate your chances against anything that's not aggro.
Trust me, I hate having to put them in the board, but almost everyone plays R aggro in some form. The last 3 tournaments I have played have been:
Vampires
Soldiers
Warp World
Jund
BR Goblins
Jund
Valakut
Jund
Jund
Vampires
Jund
I think that I could easily switch out the 2 MD Scepters for 2 of the Negates though. I just need to kill that 3rd turn Blightning more than any other move in the game. I'll also look at dropping the Burst Lightning, but the kicked 4 points has been pretty big for me. It seems to be about as useful as Wretched Banquet, but with so much haste, Banquet has been a dead card so much lately. 80% of the decks have Hellspark, Ball Lightning, Elemental Appeal, Hell's Thunder, Bloodbraid, or Goblin Bushwacker. Burst Lightning kills all of these except Hell's Thunder, which it will when kicked.
It has been ridiculously frustrating lately because I love this deck and I love decks like this, but with every single person playing Draw-Attack decks it's been giving me fits.
I'll try some of your suggestions out tonight. so we'll see.
Some notes from testing:
- Volcanic Fallout is much better than Pyroclasm for one reason: it's an instant. This is so much more important than the one extra mana it takes to cast it.
- The combination of Refuges and M10 duals is mainly to test which one is more effective. So far, the M10 duals have been better, so they will likely go up to 4-of's.
- Grixis Charm is great for me. It's versatile enough to hit a Rhox War Monk, half a Broodmate Dragon, any Planeswalker, etc. One game, on the play, I dropped a Grixis Charm on a tri-land and the guy just scooped.
- Mind Spring has also been great. Against most aggro decks, I've traded my removal for all their spells, and untapping on turn 5 or later with a Mind Spring in hand is fantastic.
- I've yet to see any problems casting Countersquall. However, it would be easy enough to swap the set for the Negates in the board. It doesn't really matter much. As long as I have 8 Negate-effects against mirror matches, it's fine.
And after last night, I officially quit. I don't check my DCI rating very often but in 3 weeks of playing this deck and smashing my face against a wall with it, I have dropped 50 points.
I tailored the deck to beat aggro and I played:
Turbo Runeflare (0-2)
Esper Control (0-2)
5-CC (0-2)
RB garbage (2-0)
So I've been playing this list for a little bit, and it has played out quite well for me so far. I'll comment on a few of the unusual card choices, but pretty much its a standard list.
Essense Scatter and Swerve: I like these misers singletons inthe main. Both of these are fairly narrow, but they are really good at what they do. Swerving a Blightning is amazing, and having a way to counter Sprouting Thrinax is very nice, since otherwise he can be quite annoying.
Sphinx of Jwar Isle: It's not that he's unusual, it's just that only running one is rare. The thing is, I ususally don't need him to win. The real win condition is Cruel Ultimatum... once you resolve that, winning is pretty academic. Usually Chandra gets the job done, or I chain Cruels and then burn people out with Bolts and Earthquakes. The Sphinx is just one other alternate way of doing the same job.
Fleshbag Marauder: This guy no doubt looks the most awkward, but I really wanted a few more answers to opposing Sphinxes of Jwar Isle, since he's difficult to kill otherwise if he resolves. One nice side benefit is that the Marauder is not Negatable, which most Sphinx decks will be packing against you after board.
Pithing Needle: Totally underrated, this card answers opposing planeswalkers and (especially) Luminarch Ascension, which can otherwise be disaster if they drop it turn 2.
Magma Spray: It kills Bloodghast, who can be annoying otherwise. Also nice for taking out Hellspark Elementals.
So I've been playing this list for a little bit, and it has played out quite well for me so far. I'll comment on a few of the unusual card choices, but pretty much its a standard list.
Single Essense Scatter and Swerve in the main: Both of these are fairly narrow, but they are really good at what they do. Swerving a Blightning is amazing, and having a way to counter Sprouting Thrinax is very nice, since otherwise he can be quite annoying.
Fleshbag Marauder: This guy no doubt looks the most awkward, but I really wanted a few more answers to opposing Sphinxes of Jwar Isle, since he's difficult to kill otherwise if he resolves.
Pithing Needle: Totally underrated, this card answers opposing planeswalkers and (especially) Luminarch Ascension, which can otherwise be disaster if they drop it turn 2.
Magma Spray: It kills Bloodghast, who can be annoying otherwise. Also nice for taking out Hellspark Elementals.
The biggest question I still have is whether Courier's Capsule is better than Blightning. The Capsule just seems very awkward...
Thoughts?
To answer your biggest question, I think both of these spells are rather awkward, given that they are sorceries. I would go with the Capsule over Blightning because Blightning is an aggressive card, and you are playing control, so you don't want to be going after your opponent until after you stabilize the board (at which point, Blightning is not as useful as Cruel Ultimatum).
However, I think the four Jace and four Cruels are probably more than enough draw power - at some point you need the business spells to draw into. I would cut the Capsule/Blightning spot in favor of more counterspells. Winning the Negate wars is critical for any mirror match, and there are a lot of Planeswalkers running around out there.
Also, running only one copy of any counterspell is not very effective. Even with all that draw power, you aren't likely to hit that one card very often. Same with the Sphinx, which by the way is a very effective finisher.
Finally, Terramorphics aren't really all that exciting. Making basic lands come into play tapped is not worth it. You might as well run a couple of Zendikar Refuges if you really need more fixing.
I can potentially see the benefits of dropping one cruel for one sphinx, but i disagree that you don't need the capsules. you can't really think of cruel as card draw, since it doesn't come online until much later in the game, and jace often dies (Pulse, Hexmage, damage, etc.)
The idea of the Blightning was that in a format with as little card draw as this has, forcing the opponent to discard is much better than it used to be. Also, it helps the "burn them out" plan I often win with, and its nice as another way to keep people from getting luminarch ascension active (the UWr ascension/planeswalker control deck gets a lot of play in my metagame for some reason). That said, I still think I like the Capsule better for now.
I think you misunderstand me running singleton counterspells - I dont' expect to draw either every game by any means. They are called "Miser's Singletons" for a reason. IN particular, they are fairly narrow (terminate will be better than essence scatter most of the time, and negate is often better than swerve), but I like them as possibilities for the few times they are better. I dont' need them to win, but it is nice that if the opponent sees for example the Scatter in game 1, they may play around it more in games 2 and 3. Overall, I just prefer running a diversity of "narrow" counters (negate, swerve, scatter) rather than putting all my eggs in one basket, so to speak.
As far as Terramorphic - I don't mind the additinoal CIP tapped land, but I think expanse is actually better than the refuges here since it can fetch the relevant basic to allow me to turn on the M10 Duals. I think that is a better benefit than the one life I could get from the refuge.
As far as Terramorphic - I don't mind the additinoal CIP tapped land, but I think expanse is actually better than the refuges here since it can fetch the relevant basic to allow me to turn on the M10 Duals. I think that is a better benefit than the one life I could get from the refuge.
Really, the best thing about the refuge when compared to terramorphic is that it can produce two different colors as compared to the one color you chose with your terramorphic. This helps a lot in being able to drop a turn 7 cruel which is very important.
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On the other hand, with all the direct-able lifeloss and damage spells, it almost seems like a waste to play creatures at all, as you can probably take them out after a Cruel or two with Earthquake, or just bolts and Countersquall lifeloss, not to mention Chandra and fallout damage.
In that regard, I'd almost say it'd be better for you to simply replace your win condition creatures with 4 Fleshbag Marauder, as it has a higher level of synergy with Cruel in your build, albeit it is overcosted for a removal spell. Chandra seems good enough to seal the deal should they not be able to prevent you from stabilizing. 4 Cruel also means you'll be more likely to draw it in multiples, meaning you can easily chain 1 after the other should you resolve it.
Overall, I kind of like that approach to the deck, not relying on creatures to win at all...
4 Cruels may seem like a bit too many. I know there are times that I wish I had a fourth but I'm also sure that I never want to see 2 of them in my opener. Countersquall over Negate seems awkward because of those times where you don't have a black right away. I also think the random 2 damage is pretty meaningless since random points of damage do not really help you win the game. Sorin seems like an interesting idea to me. I'm not a huge fan of his restrictive CC but you need 3 black to win the game anyway so I guess it's not as restrictive. I like his affect in the aggro matchups and he seems pretty good in the control matchup since he is pretty hard to deal with and Mindslaver has always been a house against control decks.
Anyway just some of my thoughts.
pretty muchdoes nothing against Ball Lightning, Hellspark Elemental, and Hell's Thunder and I have a ton of red decks (12-13 out of 16 is typical) that I play against. I'm kinda thinking that I might replace the 4 Banquets with Burst Lightning since they essentially do the same thing. Double Negatives will become Spell Pierce since I already have 4 Swerve SB and a 3/1 split of Negates. After that I think Magma Spray will have to find its way in there as well since I get eaten alive by Bloodghast all the time. So frustrating.WUBRGPauper Battle BoxWUBRG ... and why I am not a fan of Wayne Reynolds' Illustrations.
i absolutely can never understand why people think baneslayer is SO great, considering it dies to everything except combat with broodmate dragon... (sneezing on it kills it too! :P), in case anyone is wondering why theyre not present...(and steel wind is totally worth the extra mana, since it laughs at 3/4 of the most common removal)... also, its not a sphinx
so this is what i have, i think it looks pretty solid (needs testing yet)...i can see a few numbers being tweaked with a bit yet...
4 sphinx of lost truths
2 sphinx of the steel wind
spells
4 infest
4 path to exile
4 punish ignorance
4 esper charm
3 negate
3 doom blade
2 day of judgement
2 jace beleren
2 brilliant ultimatum
4 glacial fortress
4 drowned catacombs
4 arcane sanctum
4 swamp
4 plains
4 island
2 reliquary tower
sideboard is kinda in flux since i have alot of stuff i can potentially use, but cant decide...
so far it looks like:
4 sunspring expedition
3 flashfreeze
2 identity crisis
2 gather specimens
stuff i kinda wanna see squeezed in here:
essence scatter
agony warp
mind shatter
scepter of fugue
quest for ancient secrets
<(-'.'-)> Q(-'.'-Q) <(-'.'-<) (>-'.'-)> O==(-.-Q) t(-'.'-t)
""Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising everytime we fall" --- Confucius""
Now Playing:
(standard)
:symb::symu::symw: solar flare (permission heavy)
developing:
:symb::symu::symr: grixis control (unburial build)
:symg::symu::symr: dredge (unburial build)
Edit: I do know that later on it fixes itself really well, but early game stresses the mana quite a bit as it is.
WUBRGPauper Battle BoxWUBRG ... and why I am not a fan of Wayne Reynolds' Illustrations.
You have access to 4 of each of the following lands in your colors:
Obviously, you wouldn't want to go with 4 of each of these, as that would make nearly all your lands come into play tapped and leave very little room for Scalding Tarns and basic lands, but the point is that there is plenty of good mana-fixing available. It really shouldn't be too difficult.
Furthermore, if you are trying to cast Cruel Ultimatum for UUBBBRR, you should have no problem with 2UUBRR.
Yeva (88/92 foils)
Raff
Scarab
Rakdos
Wort ($50 budget, 94/97 foils)
Trostani
Here's the deck now. Too much Jund made Wretched Banquet a sad boy, so in with Agony Warp. The whole point of a blue control deck is to play your cards on their turn, so I needed more Instants. I have all the anti-Jund and Anti-Vampires stuff in the board, but if the last 2 weeks is any indication I might just board in before the tournament. Then, if by chance I play something without Vampires, Goblins, or Jund I can just use this deck.
4 Crumbling Necropolis
4 Drowned Catacomb
1 Dragonskull Summit
1 Magosi, the Waterveil
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Island
4 Mountain
4 Swamp
Creatures - 6
2 Sedraxis Scepter
2 Sphinx of Lost Truths
2 Sphinx of Jwar isle
4 Courier's Capsule
Sorceries - 3
3 Cruel Ultimatum
Instants - 14
4 Lightening Bolt
4 Terminate
3 Agony Warp
3 Burst Lightning
Planeswalkers - 7
4 Jace Beleren
3 Chandra Nalar
3 Negate
4 Swerve
4 Magma Spray
2 Grixis Charm
2 Sedraxis Scepter
Magma Spray - Bloodghast obviously, but it helps Thrinax disappear if it's taken any other damage.
Grixis Charm - The vesatility of this stupid card has me thinking I might want 4. Usually it just kills a big creature, but watching a Scepter take out a Baneslayer Angel is funny. I have also bounce a couple of Pithing Needles that were set on Chandra.
Sedraxis Scepter - I'm still testing these, but they just seem good. I hate creatures and avoid playing with them, but I think I have to cave. 3/2 flying with a cheap unearth is good. And with Cruel U, I always found myself drawing 3 and gaining 5 while wasting the creature mode. This little dude, has made it even better.
WUBRGPauper Battle BoxWUBRG ... and why I am not a fan of Wayne Reynolds' Illustrations.
Trust me, I hate having to put them in the board, but almost everyone plays R aggro in some form. The last 3 tournaments I have played have been:
Vampires
Soldiers
Warp World
Jund
BR Goblins
Jund
Valakut
Jund
Jund
Vampires
Jund
I think that I could easily switch out the 2 MD Scepters for 2 of the Negates though. I just need to kill that 3rd turn Blightning more than any other move in the game. I'll also look at dropping the Burst Lightning, but the kicked 4 points has been pretty big for me. It seems to be about as useful as Wretched Banquet, but with so much haste, Banquet has been a dead card so much lately. 80% of the decks have Hellspark, Ball Lightning, Elemental Appeal, Hell's Thunder, Bloodbraid, or Goblin Bushwacker. Burst Lightning kills all of these except Hell's Thunder, which it will when kicked.
It has been ridiculously frustrating lately because I love this deck and I love decks like this, but with every single person playing Draw-Attack decks it's been giving me fits.
I'll try some of your suggestions out tonight. so we'll see.
WUBRGPauper Battle BoxWUBRG ... and why I am not a fan of Wayne Reynolds' Illustrations.
2 Sphinx of Jwar Isle
Spells:
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Countersquall
4 Into the Roil
2 Swerve
4 Terminate
4 Grixis Charm
4 Volcanic Fallout
3 Mind Spring
3 Cruel Ultimatum
2 Rupture Spire
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Dragonskull Summit
2 Drowned Catacomb
2 Jwar Isle Refuge
2 Akoum Refuge
3 Island
3 Swamp
3 Mountain
4 Flashfreeze
4 Negate
4 Essence Scatter
3 Thought Hemorrhage
Some notes from testing:
- Volcanic Fallout is much better than Pyroclasm for one reason: it's an instant. This is so much more important than the one extra mana it takes to cast it.
- The combination of Refuges and M10 duals is mainly to test which one is more effective. So far, the M10 duals have been better, so they will likely go up to 4-of's.
- Grixis Charm is great for me. It's versatile enough to hit a Rhox War Monk, half a Broodmate Dragon, any Planeswalker, etc. One game, on the play, I dropped a Grixis Charm on a tri-land and the guy just scooped.
- Mind Spring has also been great. Against most aggro decks, I've traded my removal for all their spells, and untapping on turn 5 or later with a Mind Spring in hand is fantastic.
- I've yet to see any problems casting Countersquall. However, it would be easy enough to swap the set for the Negates in the board. It doesn't really matter much. As long as I have 8 Negate-effects against mirror matches, it's fine.
Yeva (88/92 foils)
Raff
Scarab
Rakdos
Wort ($50 budget, 94/97 foils)
Trostani
GW Aggro
I would guess in the UWx thread.
And after last night, I officially quit. I don't check my DCI rating very often but in 3 weeks of playing this deck and smashing my face against a wall with it, I have dropped 50 points.
I tailored the deck to beat aggro and I played:
Turbo Runeflare (0-2)
Esper Control (0-2)
5-CC (0-2)
RB garbage (2-0)
Apparently my Meta shifted since Friday. A lot.
WUBRGPauper Battle BoxWUBRG ... and why I am not a fan of Wayne Reynolds' Illustrations.
Essense Scatter and Swerve: I like these misers singletons inthe main. Both of these are fairly narrow, but they are really good at what they do. Swerving a Blightning is amazing, and having a way to counter Sprouting Thrinax is very nice, since otherwise he can be quite annoying.
Sphinx of Jwar Isle: It's not that he's unusual, it's just that only running one is rare. The thing is, I ususally don't need him to win. The real win condition is Cruel Ultimatum... once you resolve that, winning is pretty academic. Usually Chandra gets the job done, or I chain Cruels and then burn people out with Bolts and Earthquakes. The Sphinx is just one other alternate way of doing the same job.
Fleshbag Marauder: This guy no doubt looks the most awkward, but I really wanted a few more answers to opposing Sphinxes of Jwar Isle, since he's difficult to kill otherwise if he resolves. One nice side benefit is that the Marauder is not Negatable, which most Sphinx decks will be packing against you after board.
Pithing Needle: Totally underrated, this card answers opposing planeswalkers and (especially) Luminarch Ascension, which can otherwise be disaster if they drop it turn 2.
Magma Spray: It kills Bloodghast, who can be annoying otherwise. Also nice for taking out Hellspark Elementals.
4 Crumbling Necropolis
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Drowned Catacombs
4 Dragonskull Summit
3 Island
3 Mountain
3 Swamp
1 Terramorphic Expanse
Counters: 8
4 Double Negative
2 Negate
1 Essence Scatter
1 Swerve
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Terminate
3 Earthquake
Other Spells: 15
4 Cruel Ultimatum
4 Jace Beleren
4 Courier's Capsule
3 Chandra Nalaar
Creatures: 1
1 Sphinx of Jwar Isle
3 Flashfreeze
2 Negate
1 Swerve
2 Pithing Needle
2 Thought Hemorrhage
2 Fleshbag Marauder
2 Magma Spray
1 Terminate
Thoughts?
Thanks to Avatar for the rockin' Sig and Avvy!
To answer your biggest question, I think both of these spells are rather awkward, given that they are sorceries. I would go with the Capsule over Blightning because Blightning is an aggressive card, and you are playing control, so you don't want to be going after your opponent until after you stabilize the board (at which point, Blightning is not as useful as Cruel Ultimatum).
However, I think the four Jace and four Cruels are probably more than enough draw power - at some point you need the business spells to draw into. I would cut the Capsule/Blightning spot in favor of more counterspells. Winning the Negate wars is critical for any mirror match, and there are a lot of Planeswalkers running around out there.
Also, running only one copy of any counterspell is not very effective. Even with all that draw power, you aren't likely to hit that one card very often. Same with the Sphinx, which by the way is a very effective finisher.
Finally, Terramorphics aren't really all that exciting. Making basic lands come into play tapped is not worth it. You might as well run a couple of Zendikar Refuges if you really need more fixing.
In summary...
Maindeck
-4 Capsule/Blightning
+1 Swerve
+1 Essence Scatter
+2 Negate
-1 Cruel Ultimatum
+1 Sphinx of Jwar Isle
-2 Terramorphic Expanse
+2 Zendikar Refuge lands (either one)
Side:
-1 Swerve
-2 Negate
+1 Flashfreeze
+1 Pithing Needle
+1 Fleshbag Marauder
Yeva (88/92 foils)
Raff
Scarab
Rakdos
Wort ($50 budget, 94/97 foils)
Trostani
The idea of the Blightning was that in a format with as little card draw as this has, forcing the opponent to discard is much better than it used to be. Also, it helps the "burn them out" plan I often win with, and its nice as another way to keep people from getting luminarch ascension active (the UWr ascension/planeswalker control deck gets a lot of play in my metagame for some reason). That said, I still think I like the Capsule better for now.
I think you misunderstand me running singleton counterspells - I dont' expect to draw either every game by any means. They are called "Miser's Singletons" for a reason. IN particular, they are fairly narrow (terminate will be better than essence scatter most of the time, and negate is often better than swerve), but I like them as possibilities for the few times they are better. I dont' need them to win, but it is nice that if the opponent sees for example the Scatter in game 1, they may play around it more in games 2 and 3. Overall, I just prefer running a diversity of "narrow" counters (negate, swerve, scatter) rather than putting all my eggs in one basket, so to speak.
As far as Terramorphic - I don't mind the additinoal CIP tapped land, but I think expanse is actually better than the refuges here since it can fetch the relevant basic to allow me to turn on the M10 Duals. I think that is a better benefit than the one life I could get from the refuge.
Thanks to Avatar for the rockin' Sig and Avvy!
Really, the best thing about the refuge when compared to terramorphic is that it can produce two different colors as compared to the one color you chose with your terramorphic. This helps a lot in being able to drop a turn 7 cruel which is very important.