Glad to see this deck is picking up some attention. It is for sure not a cheap deck to build. A pretty expensive one actually. It feels very much like playing legacy when things go good and I love it. Turn 2 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas is still one of my favorite things to do and can be a game winner alone.
I'm thinking of removing Tezzeret, the Seeker for Agent of Bolas as my deck is swinging into black. Seeker's big upside for me is the tutor ability which is beautiful in zipping out an Ensnaring Bridge or Pithing Needle for example, his untap ability is great for our mana, and his ultimate will be a win-con.
Agent of Bolas's ability seem a little less strong but I can see they probably are better than Seeker against some of our most tough match-ups such as burn. Can you give me any insight as to why you have found him so good or perhaps better than Seeker in your eyes?
Another thing I've been considering lately, and something I'm not sure if you've tried yet, is a more aggressive landkill/tempo approach using one more of the following:
Playing a more ramp-heavy style R/G Ponza-style with our ramp package, you could probably totally forego the Paradox/Atlas plan and go straight to the big nasty stuff & planeswalkers. This idea was born from the thought of using Plow Under on something on turn 3 on the play and putting two lands on top of their library - this is in many ways even better than land destruction as it completely nukes their next few turns in 99% of cases and gives you two full turns to have at them.
What matchups are you bringing in 3-Sphere against? How are you functioning or going off underneath it since the manabase is super slim until you get a colorless engine going?
I haven't actually ever played Trinisphere when it could affect me negatively, typically I would being it down after Bust goes off and destroys all their land.
I bring in Trinisphere against Storm which is everywhere right now when in using it proactively. I also like it against tempo-style blue decks such as Faeries.
Glad to hear you are all still enjoying this deck, I have taken my latest iterations to several FNM's with some pretty great results. This is my current list :
I feel like this list is pretty tuned and I'm not sure I can think of much if any changes I would make in the mainboard. The one card I am considering adding is a single Batterskull as the ability to loop it's effects and actually net positive mana (thus infinite colourless mana) does seem like a viable 'on the spot' sort of win that this deck wants. I'm also considering not using Botanical Sanctum and instead use another card that can provide me any colour such as Mana Confluence but I'm not entirely sold on losing life. Lastly I am considering re-adding a single Blue Sun's Zenith as another win con that's hard to remove.
Handling the sideboard is ultimately the hardest challenge for and my current list has quite a few options to rip Stony Silence out of their hands and potentially even destroy it once it's in play. A huge gamechanger has been Inquisition of Kozilek and Thoughtseize as well as a more sturdy land-base that will typically provide me with enough options to cast it on turn one. I have had a few games where I wasn't able to get black mana on turn 1 and on turn 2 they played Stony before I could remove it from their hand, those are tougher matchups but still not impossible. Overall I have gone to basically turning belly up against Stony and just dying 90% of the time to actually being able to attack their enchantment pre-emptively and also come back and fight back if it does his the board.
Aside from those match-ups, Leyline of Sanctity is almost a must have against Burn, 8Rack, Death's Shadow anything and a plethora of combo decks. I would personally never play any less than 3 in the SB and have played with 4 more often than not.
Trinisphere can act as a hard lock after destroying all their land as well as completely mess up some decks including Storm. I have completely won a few games on the backs of this card and few players are used to playing with it, you can be a huge rules-lawyer douche if you want with this card as well but I try to avoid that.
All is Dust maybe is the one card in the sideboard that doesn't belong but it is effective against slower decks trying to draw you into a later game. It could probably be replaced with something more proactive.
This latest build is a bit different in terms of cards that can win you the game. 90% of the time my opponents will concede well before I actually have to win, but if you need to actually play it out is to completely put them in a lock-down state + draw most of your deck up using the Paradox/Atlas combo with Ugin or Tezzeret on the board. This might at first glance seem hard to do but in reality it's exactly what the deck is tuned to do, so it's not as challenging on paper as it may look. Tezzeret's ultimate is the easiest and cleanest victory however the alternative victory will be playing Ugin and literally bolting them to death with Ugin turn after turn.
One last point - this deck is an insanely expensive modern deck. I happen to have the paper cards for it due to having a very old collection, but putting this together 'for fun' is almost impossible for most players. This gives this deck an extremely unique look at FNM's and other players at the shops I go to are totally amazed by how my deck works and what it does, but few have the resources to actually put anything together like it. Because of these reasons, and because of the fact everytime I play new people they have never seen it before, probably makes it my favourite modern deck I've ever played. There is a lot of quick math going on and if you can play quickly it helps, but other players can be a little depressed playing against you as it plays so many 'un-fun' cards so that would probably be the major downsides.
Still playing my previously posted version of the deck earlier in the thread - it's U/R with G sprinkled in for Bristling Hydra, Attune from the Aether, Descendant's Path, and Greenbelt Rampager (dun laugh at my elephant!). The deck is doing very well although I have noticed the mono-red decks that are everywhere are a super tough match-up but beatable with the amount of removal & counters. 2 main deck Radiant Flames help a lot.
I am still looking for more Hour of Devastation & Amonkhet cards that I should be playing in the sideboard as I think I want to take out Manglehorn (relic of Marvel matchups)
Well, it's been several months but I have had several opportunities to bring my deck to FNM's locally and have had some good results. The more I play, the more I realize how complicated the deck is. I've recently had people call me for slow play and that is something that has never happened to me in my 20+ years of playing magic. Not saying this is the most complex deck in the world by any means, but your early-game decisions often are a guessing game of 'If he destroys this I can keep that and put 3 counters on turn 3 but only if ...'.
The best part about the deck is that Game 1 is about as close to a bye as I've ever played in modern. Pretty much nobody is running main deck artifact and what removal there is usually isn't very effective as we have so many permanents in play & so quickly. My deck is still close to the same as posted earlier in this thread but I have added 2 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon and one copy of Karn. I would say Karn is honestly not even that good but Ugin is a complete standout bomb which can be dropped earlier than your opponent might expect. The minus effect on Ugin is usually an immediate scoop which allows me to kind of say he's a win condition all his own, something this deck really lacks.
In my earlier iterations of this deck I was getting wiped out by discard spells but my three Leyline of Scantity actually seems to have completely resolved this problem to the point where even 8-Rack has a tough time. Currently I'm getting destroyed by Stoney Silence still but I have some plans for that.
Still a really fun deck and surprisingly effective strategy against mid-range decks and some combo decks but I have had a really hard time with aggressive decks or tempo-control decks like Faeries and Merfolk so it's by no means a picnic.
With the Marvel banning I feel U/R/x control looks great. I expect a resurgence in aggro for a few weeks and cards like Radiant Flames will be very good going forward. Dynavolt Tower should also be a lot better as we'll need to shore up our Mardu Vehicles matchups.
OK it's been a few months with my above deck, I thought I would provide a tournament report from my last one locally. I went 1-2 but learned something valuable.
Match 1 was against some sort of Grull combo deck involving defenders with very little interaction. I went 2-0 here and both games I landed Tezzeret on T3 and was able to combo-victory on T4. Not much else to say here really other than the fact the deck worked exactly as advertised and due to the little information I had I didn't even bother sideboarding.
Match 2 was against one of the best players at our store who plays Skred Red. I knew this match-up would be tough but I had some weird confidence knowing he didn't splash white. Game 1 he won the die roll and durdled with Relic of Progenitus early-game. When he saw Coretapper he gave it a puzzled read for about 30 seconds and opted to immediately Skred it - I had an Astral in play and naturally sacrificed it. On turn 3 he passed with 3 lands untapped and I was able to cast Bust destroying all lands and then playing a land in response. Next turn I landed Trinisphere and it was just draw-go for a few turns until I was able to go off. At this point I was feeling really great and sideboarded in my creature package and removed all four of my Boom // Bust. This turned out to be a critical error as on Game 2 T1 I opened with 3 artifacts and in response he exiled Simian Spirit Guide and he completely blew me out with Shattering Spree. I wasn't able to recover and lost. Game 3 I flooded out and he took me out while taking his time using Koth.
Match 3 was against Esper Faeries. I play U/R Faeries and I was really dreading this match-up. Game 1 was close, he took me down on turn 7 or 8 with two Scion of Oona's and a few Spellstutter Sprites. Game 2 was .. T2 Stony Silence. Completely blowout victory for him.
What I learned here - and in similar match-ups and games I've played apart from FNM - is that our deck has serious game against A)Decks that do not pack enough good hate OR B)Do no possess a high density of 1-2 mana disruptive cards. In regards to B I feel we can fight that more effectively on our terms, but the hate is something that has to be resolved. For problem A, this is related to when they sideboard in the perfect hate for us - usually non-single target artifact disruption/removal. I'm looking at a few cards in my sideboard and wondering if perhaps we should not be including something like a discard suite of 7-8 Inquisitions and Thoughtseize effects and taking a highly proactive approach to our opponents sideboard plans. For those of you trying the Death Cloud versions of this deck I'm curious to know how well it's been working for you!
- Agreed on Dynavolt tower. It's fantastic in some matchups but a trap in others, I play 2 in the sideboard.
- I really think Jace is just too slow and doesn't do enough.
- If you are sticking with U/R, a 4th Gearhulk I feel is kind of necessary. Good luck getting another.
- Commit // Memory is awesome but not your only option. Glorybringer is the best option overall but also there's Lathnu Hellion if you are using a lot of energy cards to support him. Personally I absolutely love the Hellion he comes down early with the pain, usually forces out removal which you shouldn't really care about since he costs you energy, and he's big enough to smack a Gideon in the face and kill him right off.
- In those aggro match-ups you will need some form of early game defense, I agree. Shielded Aether Thief is not a bad card for this job if you are sticking with U/R.
Most of your criticisms are exactly why I added green, I feel the mono Blue and U/R lists are just not quite as well positioned at present. Cards such as Nissa, Steward of the Elements, Greenbelt Rampager, Dissenter's Deliverance, and Bristling Hydra provide you more game against those matchups you are bad against without (hopefully!) sacrificing too much on the match-ups you were already good against.
My deck mentioned above on this page, my most common matchups have been control decks (Mono-Blue variants, UW/UB/UR as well as the new BR control decks that are popping up online). I haven't faced a lot of Mono black Zombies yet nor have I seen much in the way of Mardu Vehicles online (although I 2-0'd Mardu Vehicles in paper FNM with this same deck).
Some card choices:
Greenbelt Rampager functions as a complete pest in the early game whereas Lathnu Hellion has sort of a dual purpose of being very annoying to a lot of decks and a complete surprise to a bunch of other ones. Usually I can stick one or both and hide behind a counterspell and ride them to victory - in fact this is the most common way the deck wins. Bristling Hydra is great against certain matchups such as U/W but when he's weak he's still a 4 power threat who can get bigger, I have been thinking about moving him to the sideboard though.
The deck is still functions great as a straight control deck with 9 maindeck counters and 5 more in the board. We're also running the traditional 4 Harnessed Lightning and 3 Magma Spray for our burn suite, honestly I sometimes feel we could go down to 2 or even 0 Magma Spray as it's a dead card against a lot of decks. 3 Torrential Gearhulk do all the heavy lifting late game against pretty much everything.
What I really want to talk about is Nissa, Steward of the Elements. While in theory you want to play her for 8 and just ultimate her for the win, she's a zillion times better to just stick her on turn 3 in a creatureless board state and in fact it's kind of hard to lose if you get this to happen. Sure they can maybe stick a creature but odds are you are going to zap it and counter anything else after that, they are kind of screwed while you scry. Both of her other abilities are fantastic although her 0 kind of has to be set up as we're running so many instants/sorceries.
I am working with a Temur control list and just blasted my local FNM here with the deck. I also play it online and I really love the green elements specifically against control. My green MVP's:
1 - Attune with the Aether : The reason to play green. It smooths your draws out and gives you way way more consistency within your opening hands.
2 - Greenbelt Rampager : Oh man this elephant, if you get in early against control decks they will end up exposing themselves and using way too much in a way of resources to stop this nuisance. He's kind of annoying to play but I use a lot of energy cards.
3 - Dissenter's Deliverance : Instant-speed artifact removal and cycles for a green. I have only been using 2 or 3 in my sideboard but I'm considering adding a fourth copy. Because it cycles you can main deck it.
So far apart from the above I have used Servant of the Conduit which apart from getting out an early Torrential Gearhulk is kinda meh. Nissa, Steward of the Elements has been a real fun card for me, if you play her on turn 3 a lot of decks have a hard time dealing with her/chipping her down. Lastly, Bristling Hydra - if you prefer to go more towards control/midrange, he really helps shore up the U/R and U/W control matches.
Combo is always plan A, finding Otherworld Atlas or Paradox Engine - even with one copy - is no big deal with effectively 6 Tutor effects. Tezzeret is plan B I would consider a third copy. Ensnaring Bridge can make this option award but there are some workarounds such as blowing up you own bridge with Engineered Explosives.
Battle at the Bridge is a concession to burn which is big in my local meta, but also the fact we can drain a ton of mana into it and gain life really matters a lot and can buy you more than one turn. You can hit for 10+ with this and burn folds fast. I need all four or I will never see them in the matchup where they are critical. I commonly replace Boom/Bust with these when sideboarding
Welding Jar, I had one but got blown out by multiple spot removal against B/G decks. I can reasonably drop one and go down to two.
The Demon seems good and I'm curious to hear how these Black-heavier answers work out.
Our lists are very similar and apart from our choice of Tezzeret looks like we are coming to similar conclusions on card choices. I really can't say enough good things about Chalice of the Void in modern right now, and out ability to modify the counters can feel downright broken. Leyline too, remember it also stops Gifts Ungiven. If I could recommend any two cards to try, those would be it.
This is my latest build which I've been playtesting for 7 competitive-but-casual matches as I haven't had enough time to commit to a full FNM.
My primary changes consist of removing Lodestone Golem and adding Chalice of the Void into the main board. Chalice has won me quite a few games almost on it's own but the deck does take a while to actually go for the kill compared to Golems, I also ran into some plays such as T1 with a Surge Node and a Mix Opal you can tick up a Chalice as your opponent hits turn 1-2-3, I did this to a Living End deck and they didn't get a chance to play any spells that game.
Leyline helped a lot against Storm and 8rack in particular I also used it against Abzan and felt it it had been almost necessary - I tried witchbane orb it was too slow.
Finally Engineered Explosives helped against Abzan and Merfolk in particular,
So far I have beenough hit hardest by blue decks, Bant and Esper decks have beaten me with well timed counters and stoney silence and I don't have a lot of great answers for that yet. I I have yet to test against burn, Naya, Affinity or Eldrazi.
Looks like my list above had 3 Darksteel Citadels hiding in the artifact list, sorry about that! I have edited them back, I found 17 land was the right amount to ensure I am getting playable opening hands. Bust without Citadel is usually still great, We have such an enormous mana advantage, plus we can Whir for Crucible. Losing Gemstone Mine is no big deal (wish it used charge counters!).
Voltaic I have gone back and forth on. It is good for building counters and ramp and has been a solid choice to Whir for. Some games it does just sit there though.
Trinisphere .. this is a test but I play against decks like Merfolk and Abzan and man do they hate this card. In tournament play, players must know how it works or can mess up easily. My deck doesn't have a combo wincon so dropping this after a bust gives me a turn or two to kill them before it is possible to come back.
This is my list thus far, my testing had been limited but I'm pleased with it. Thanks to you guys I decided on Ancient Stirrings + Glimmervoid as being the best plan to add consistency. Whir is still my gameplan, ideally I will take Paradox Engine or Otherworld Atlas to go off, however plan A is now an early game Bust. Trinisphere is my big addition, leveraging our mana advantage and land destruction to not let them come back. Kill is tying my opponents hands and playing two Golem, with no land and trinisphere out I do not anticipate it being possible to win.
This deck currently has not much in terms of answers to Stoney Silence however it's not a huge part of my local meta. Will update you all once I can report actual results beyond casual practice.
Not sure Lightning Storm can be stopped by Hex Parasite there since parasite reads target permanent. Ad Nauseum is currently a tough matchup I am working on so I hope I'm wrong!
I'm thinking of removing Tezzeret, the Seeker for Agent of Bolas as my deck is swinging into black. Seeker's big upside for me is the tutor ability which is beautiful in zipping out an Ensnaring Bridge or Pithing Needle for example, his untap ability is great for our mana, and his ultimate will be a win-con.
Agent of Bolas's ability seem a little less strong but I can see they probably are better than Seeker against some of our most tough match-ups such as burn. Can you give me any insight as to why you have found him so good or perhaps better than Seeker in your eyes?
Another thing I've been considering lately, and something I'm not sure if you've tried yet, is a more aggressive landkill/tempo approach using one more of the following:
Mwonvuli Acid-Moss
Plow Under
& split copies of Boom/Bust & Wildfire
Playing a more ramp-heavy style R/G Ponza-style with our ramp package, you could probably totally forego the Paradox/Atlas plan and go straight to the big nasty stuff & planeswalkers. This idea was born from the thought of using Plow Under on something on turn 3 on the play and putting two lands on top of their library - this is in many ways even better than land destruction as it completely nukes their next few turns in 99% of cases and gives you two full turns to have at them.
Thanks again for your work on this deck, redbaron
I haven't actually ever played Trinisphere when it could affect me negatively, typically I would being it down after Bust goes off and destroys all their land.
I bring in Trinisphere against Storm which is everywhere right now when in using it proactively. I also like it against tempo-style blue decks such as Faeries.
Glad to hear you are all still enjoying this deck, I have taken my latest iterations to several FNM's with some pretty great results. This is my current list :
4x Astral Cornucopia
4x Chalice of the Void
1x Ensnaring Bridge
4x Everflowing Chalice
3x Mox Opal
1x Otherworld Atlas
1x Paradox Engine
4x Surge Node
Creature (4)
4x Coretapper
Land (18)
4x Botanical Sanctum
3x Darksteel Citadel
3x Gemstone Mine
4x Glimmervoid
4x Spire of Industry
2x Abrupt Decay
3x Whir of Invention
4x Ancient Stirrings
4x Boom/Bust
Planeswalker (3)
1x Tezzeret the Seeker
2x Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
2x All Is Dust
1x Ensnaring Bridge
4x Inquisition of Kozilek
3x Leyline of Sanctity
2x Spellskite
2x Thoughtseize
1x Trinisphere
I feel like this list is pretty tuned and I'm not sure I can think of much if any changes I would make in the mainboard. The one card I am considering adding is a single Batterskull as the ability to loop it's effects and actually net positive mana (thus infinite colourless mana) does seem like a viable 'on the spot' sort of win that this deck wants. I'm also considering not using Botanical Sanctum and instead use another card that can provide me any colour such as Mana Confluence but I'm not entirely sold on losing life. Lastly I am considering re-adding a single Blue Sun's Zenith as another win con that's hard to remove.
Handling the sideboard is ultimately the hardest challenge for and my current list has quite a few options to rip Stony Silence out of their hands and potentially even destroy it once it's in play. A huge gamechanger has been Inquisition of Kozilek and Thoughtseize as well as a more sturdy land-base that will typically provide me with enough options to cast it on turn one. I have had a few games where I wasn't able to get black mana on turn 1 and on turn 2 they played Stony before I could remove it from their hand, those are tougher matchups but still not impossible. Overall I have gone to basically turning belly up against Stony and just dying 90% of the time to actually being able to attack their enchantment pre-emptively and also come back and fight back if it does his the board.
Aside from those match-ups, Leyline of Sanctity is almost a must have against Burn, 8Rack, Death's Shadow anything and a plethora of combo decks. I would personally never play any less than 3 in the SB and have played with 4 more often than not.
Trinisphere can act as a hard lock after destroying all their land as well as completely mess up some decks including Storm. I have completely won a few games on the backs of this card and few players are used to playing with it, you can be a huge rules-lawyer douche if you want with this card as well but I try to avoid that.
All is Dust maybe is the one card in the sideboard that doesn't belong but it is effective against slower decks trying to draw you into a later game. It could probably be replaced with something more proactive.
This latest build is a bit different in terms of cards that can win you the game. 90% of the time my opponents will concede well before I actually have to win, but if you need to actually play it out is to completely put them in a lock-down state + draw most of your deck up using the Paradox/Atlas combo with Ugin or Tezzeret on the board. This might at first glance seem hard to do but in reality it's exactly what the deck is tuned to do, so it's not as challenging on paper as it may look. Tezzeret's ultimate is the easiest and cleanest victory however the alternative victory will be playing Ugin and literally bolting them to death with Ugin turn after turn.
One last point - this deck is an insanely expensive modern deck. I happen to have the paper cards for it due to having a very old collection, but putting this together 'for fun' is almost impossible for most players. This gives this deck an extremely unique look at FNM's and other players at the shops I go to are totally amazed by how my deck works and what it does, but few have the resources to actually put anything together like it. Because of these reasons, and because of the fact everytime I play new people they have never seen it before, probably makes it my favourite modern deck I've ever played. There is a lot of quick math going on and if you can play quickly it helps, but other players can be a little depressed playing against you as it plays so many 'un-fun' cards so that would probably be the major downsides.
I am still looking for more Hour of Devastation & Amonkhet cards that I should be playing in the sideboard as I think I want to take out Manglehorn (relic of Marvel matchups)
The best part about the deck is that Game 1 is about as close to a bye as I've ever played in modern. Pretty much nobody is running main deck artifact and what removal there is usually isn't very effective as we have so many permanents in play & so quickly. My deck is still close to the same as posted earlier in this thread but I have added 2 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon and one copy of Karn. I would say Karn is honestly not even that good but Ugin is a complete standout bomb which can be dropped earlier than your opponent might expect. The minus effect on Ugin is usually an immediate scoop which allows me to kind of say he's a win condition all his own, something this deck really lacks.
In my earlier iterations of this deck I was getting wiped out by discard spells but my three Leyline of Scantity actually seems to have completely resolved this problem to the point where even 8-Rack has a tough time. Currently I'm getting destroyed by Stoney Silence still but I have some plans for that.
Still a really fun deck and surprisingly effective strategy against mid-range decks and some combo decks but I have had a really hard time with aggressive decks or tempo-control decks like Faeries and Merfolk so it's by no means a picnic.
3x Darksteel Citadel
4x Gemstone Mine
4x Glimmervoid
1x Inventors' Fair
5x Island
Artifacts
4x Astral Cornucopia
3x Chalice of the Void
1x Engineered Explosives
1x Ensnaring Bridge
4x Everflowing Chalice
4x Mox Opal
1x Otherworld Atlas
1x Paradox Engine
4x Surge Node
1x Trinisphere
1x Voltaic Key
4x Coretapper
Planeswalkers
2x Tezzeret the Seeker
Spells
4x Ancient Stirrings
4x Boom/Bust
1x Blue Sun's Zenith
3x Whir of Invention
4x Lodestone Golem
3x Leyline of Sanctity
3x Reality Smasher
2x Spellskite
1x Welding Jar
1x Crucible of Worlds
1x Pithing Needle
OK it's been a few months with my above deck, I thought I would provide a tournament report from my last one locally. I went 1-2 but learned something valuable.
Match 1 was against some sort of Grull combo deck involving defenders with very little interaction. I went 2-0 here and both games I landed Tezzeret on T3 and was able to combo-victory on T4. Not much else to say here really other than the fact the deck worked exactly as advertised and due to the little information I had I didn't even bother sideboarding.
Match 2 was against one of the best players at our store who plays Skred Red. I knew this match-up would be tough but I had some weird confidence knowing he didn't splash white. Game 1 he won the die roll and durdled with Relic of Progenitus early-game. When he saw Coretapper he gave it a puzzled read for about 30 seconds and opted to immediately Skred it - I had an Astral in play and naturally sacrificed it. On turn 3 he passed with 3 lands untapped and I was able to cast Bust destroying all lands and then playing a land in response. Next turn I landed Trinisphere and it was just draw-go for a few turns until I was able to go off. At this point I was feeling really great and sideboarded in my creature package and removed all four of my Boom // Bust. This turned out to be a critical error as on Game 2 T1 I opened with 3 artifacts and in response he exiled Simian Spirit Guide and he completely blew me out with Shattering Spree. I wasn't able to recover and lost. Game 3 I flooded out and he took me out while taking his time using Koth.
Match 3 was against Esper Faeries. I play U/R Faeries and I was really dreading this match-up. Game 1 was close, he took me down on turn 7 or 8 with two Scion of Oona's and a few Spellstutter Sprites. Game 2 was .. T2 Stony Silence. Completely blowout victory for him.
What I learned here - and in similar match-ups and games I've played apart from FNM - is that our deck has serious game against A)Decks that do not pack enough good hate OR B)Do no possess a high density of 1-2 mana disruptive cards. In regards to B I feel we can fight that more effectively on our terms, but the hate is something that has to be resolved. For problem A, this is related to when they sideboard in the perfect hate for us - usually non-single target artifact disruption/removal. I'm looking at a few cards in my sideboard and wondering if perhaps we should not be including something like a discard suite of 7-8 Inquisitions and Thoughtseize effects and taking a highly proactive approach to our opponents sideboard plans. For those of you trying the Death Cloud versions of this deck I'm curious to know how well it's been working for you!
- Agreed on Dynavolt tower. It's fantastic in some matchups but a trap in others, I play 2 in the sideboard.
- I really think Jace is just too slow and doesn't do enough.
- If you are sticking with U/R, a 4th Gearhulk I feel is kind of necessary. Good luck getting another.
- Commit // Memory is awesome but not your only option. Glorybringer is the best option overall but also there's Lathnu Hellion if you are using a lot of energy cards to support him. Personally I absolutely love the Hellion he comes down early with the pain, usually forces out removal which you shouldn't really care about since he costs you energy, and he's big enough to smack a Gideon in the face and kill him right off.
- In those aggro match-ups you will need some form of early game defense, I agree. Shielded Aether Thief is not a bad card for this job if you are sticking with U/R.
Most of your criticisms are exactly why I added green, I feel the mono Blue and U/R lists are just not quite as well positioned at present. Cards such as Nissa, Steward of the Elements, Greenbelt Rampager, Dissenter's Deliverance, and Bristling Hydra provide you more game against those matchups you are bad against without (hopefully!) sacrificing too much on the match-ups you were already good against.
4x Aether Hub
3x Botanical Sanctum
4x Forest
5x Island
2x Lumbering Falls
3x Mountain
2x Spirebluff Canal
Planeswalker (2)
2x Nissa, Steward of Elements
Instant (20)
3x Censor
3x Commit
2x Disallow
4x Glimmer of Genius
4x Harnessed Lightning
3x Magma Spray
1x Negate
2x Bristling Hydra
3x Greenbelt Rampager
3x Lathnu Hellion
3x Torrential Gearhulk
Sorcery (4)
4x Attune with Aether
2x Confiscation Coup
2x Dispel
2x Dissenter's Deliverance
2x Dynavolt Tower
2x Essence Scatter
2x Manglehorn
1x Negate
2x Radiant Flames
My deck mentioned above on this page, my most common matchups have been control decks (Mono-Blue variants, UW/UB/UR as well as the new BR control decks that are popping up online). I haven't faced a lot of Mono black Zombies yet nor have I seen much in the way of Mardu Vehicles online (although I 2-0'd Mardu Vehicles in paper FNM with this same deck).
Some card choices:
Greenbelt Rampager functions as a complete pest in the early game whereas Lathnu Hellion has sort of a dual purpose of being very annoying to a lot of decks and a complete surprise to a bunch of other ones. Usually I can stick one or both and hide behind a counterspell and ride them to victory - in fact this is the most common way the deck wins. Bristling Hydra is great against certain matchups such as U/W but when he's weak he's still a 4 power threat who can get bigger, I have been thinking about moving him to the sideboard though.
The deck is still functions great as a straight control deck with 9 maindeck counters and 5 more in the board. We're also running the traditional 4 Harnessed Lightning and 3 Magma Spray for our burn suite, honestly I sometimes feel we could go down to 2 or even 0 Magma Spray as it's a dead card against a lot of decks. 3 Torrential Gearhulk do all the heavy lifting late game against pretty much everything.
What I really want to talk about is Nissa, Steward of the Elements. While in theory you want to play her for 8 and just ultimate her for the win, she's a zillion times better to just stick her on turn 3 in a creatureless board state and in fact it's kind of hard to lose if you get this to happen. Sure they can maybe stick a creature but odds are you are going to zap it and counter anything else after that, they are kind of screwed while you scry. Both of her other abilities are fantastic although her 0 kind of has to be set up as we're running so many instants/sorceries.
1 - Attune with the Aether : The reason to play green. It smooths your draws out and gives you way way more consistency within your opening hands.
2 - Greenbelt Rampager : Oh man this elephant, if you get in early against control decks they will end up exposing themselves and using way too much in a way of resources to stop this nuisance. He's kind of annoying to play but I use a lot of energy cards.
3 - Dissenter's Deliverance : Instant-speed artifact removal and cycles for a green. I have only been using 2 or 3 in my sideboard but I'm considering adding a fourth copy. Because it cycles you can main deck it.
So far apart from the above I have used Servant of the Conduit which apart from getting out an early Torrential Gearhulk is kinda meh. Nissa, Steward of the Elements has been a real fun card for me, if you play her on turn 3 a lot of decks have a hard time dealing with her/chipping her down. Lastly, Bristling Hydra - if you prefer to go more towards control/midrange, he really helps shore up the U/R and U/W control matches.
Combo is always plan A, finding Otherworld Atlas or Paradox Engine - even with one copy - is no big deal with effectively 6 Tutor effects. Tezzeret is plan B I would consider a third copy. Ensnaring Bridge can make this option award but there are some workarounds such as blowing up you own bridge with Engineered Explosives.
Battle at the Bridge is a concession to burn which is big in my local meta, but also the fact we can drain a ton of mana into it and gain life really matters a lot and can buy you more than one turn. You can hit for 10+ with this and burn folds fast. I need all four or I will never see them in the matchup where they are critical. I commonly replace Boom/Bust with these when sideboarding
Welding Jar, I had one but got blown out by multiple spot removal against B/G decks. I can reasonably drop one and go down to two.
The Demon seems good and I'm curious to hear how these Black-heavier answers work out.
Our lists are very similar and apart from our choice of Tezzeret looks like we are coming to similar conclusions on card choices. I really can't say enough good things about Chalice of the Void in modern right now, and out ability to modify the counters can feel downright broken. Leyline too, remember it also stops Gifts Ungiven. If I could recommend any two cards to try, those would be it.
3x Darksteel Citadel
4x Gemstone Mine
4x Glimmervoid
1x Inventors' Fair
5x Island
Artifacts
4x Astral Cornucopia
3x Chalice of the Void
1x Engineered Explosives
1x Ensnaring Bridge
4x Everflowing Chalice
4x Mox Opal
1x Otherworld Atlas
1x Paradox Engine
4x Surge Node
1x Trinisphere
1x Voltaic Key
4x Coretapper
Planeswalkers
2x Tezzeret the Seeker
Spells
4x Ancient Stirrings
4x Boom/Bust
1x Blue Sun's Zenith
3x Whir of Invention
4x Battle at the Bridge
3x Leyline of Sanctity
1x Defense Grid
1x Engineered Explosives
1x Spellskite
3x Welding Jar
1x Crucible of Worlds
1x Pithing Needle
This is my latest build which I've been playtesting for 7 competitive-but-casual matches as I haven't had enough time to commit to a full FNM.
My primary changes consist of removing Lodestone Golem and adding Chalice of the Void into the main board. Chalice has won me quite a few games almost on it's own but the deck does take a while to actually go for the kill compared to Golems, I also ran into some plays such as T1 with a Surge Node and a Mix Opal you can tick up a Chalice as your opponent hits turn 1-2-3, I did this to a Living End deck and they didn't get a chance to play any spells that game.
Leyline helped a lot against Storm and 8rack in particular I also used it against Abzan and felt it it had been almost necessary - I tried witchbane orb it was too slow.
Finally Engineered Explosives helped against Abzan and Merfolk in particular,
So far I have beenough hit hardest by blue decks, Bant and Esper decks have beaten me with well timed counters and stoney silence and I don't have a lot of great answers for that yet. I I have yet to test against burn, Naya, Affinity or Eldrazi.
Voltaic I have gone back and forth on. It is good for building counters and ramp and has been a solid choice to Whir for. Some games it does just sit there though.
Trinisphere .. this is a test but I play against decks like Merfolk and Abzan and man do they hate this card. In tournament play, players must know how it works or can mess up easily. My deck doesn't have a combo wincon so dropping this after a bust gives me a turn or two to kill them before it is possible to come back.
Metamorph tech sounds fun I'll give it a shot!
3x Darksteel Citadel
4x Gemstone Mine
4x Glimmervoid
1x Inventors' Fair
5x Island
Artifacts
4x Astral Cornucopia
1x Crucible of Worlds
1x Ensnaring Bridge
4x Everflowing Chalice
4x Mox Opal
1x Otherworld Atlas
1x Paradox Engine
1x Pithing Needle
4x Surge Node
1x Trinisphere
1x Voltaic Key
4x Coretapper
2x Lodestone Golem
Planeswalkers
2x Tezzeret the Seeker
Spells
4x Ancient Stirrings
4x Boom/Bust
4x Whir of Invention
4x Battle at the Bridge
4x Chalice of the Void
1x Defense Grid
2x Engineered Explosives
1x Spellskite
2x Welding Jar
1x Witchbane Orb
This is my list thus far, my testing had been limited but I'm pleased with it. Thanks to you guys I decided on Ancient Stirrings + Glimmervoid as being the best plan to add consistency. Whir is still my gameplan, ideally I will take Paradox Engine or Otherworld Atlas to go off, however plan A is now an early game Bust. Trinisphere is my big addition, leveraging our mana advantage and land destruction to not let them come back. Kill is tying my opponents hands and playing two Golem, with no land and trinisphere out I do not anticipate it being possible to win.
This deck currently has not much in terms of answers to Stoney Silence however it's not a huge part of my local meta. Will update you all once I can report actual results beyond casual practice.