Blood Moon is good at stalling Tron if you're already playing it. Playing 3-4 Oblivion Stone and Ancient Stirrings lets them dig out of that a lot, and sideboard makes that even easier. If you want to "shut them down" it would be Sowing Salt effects.
A card that is pretty good at shutting some decks down is Runed Halo. Name Valakut against those decks, name Lightning Storm against Ad Nauseum, Borborygmos, Enraged against Grishoalbrand.
As a Tron player, I totally get where everyone's discontent is coming from. I'm peeling your lands off the battlefield and slamming fatties.
There's no deck right now that I hate playing against. The closest would have been Eggs. Just kill me already, dude. Don't make me have to wait to see if you whiff. Burn is annoying in large quantities, too but you just add more sideboard stuff.
Hey guys, I have what you might call an 'unorthodox' idea for Esper Control. In fact, the only blue necessary is for Negate, Drownyard, and potential sideboarding. I have this perspective from having played Standard Esper Control back around M13/RTR, and from playing Modern BWR Tokens (essentially BW Tokens + Red for Bolt/Helix and sideboard options).
I've found that BWR Tokens does a pretty good job of board/hand control, but sometimes allows opponents to claw their way back into the game (in addition to being terribly vulnerable to combo). That's why I decided to brew this Esper list:
Pros:
Powerful low-costed spells
Consistent mana base
Ghost Quarter
Versatility
Flexible sideboard
Cons:
Potentially (very) long games
Not very proactive
Weak in control mirrors
All feedback is welcome and appreciated
Drownyard seems bad with so many decks caring about getting cards into the graveyard. Don't get me wrong, it was my favorite WinCon during INN-RAV standard (possibly of all time). Reanimator strategies gave me trouble then and I'd imagine that would still be true against Dredge.
i put a 2nd Splendid in my deck and lately i've been having a couple of these turn 4 situations where I just scapeshift away 4 lands and get 1/2 valakuts and 2/3 mountains. next turn I splendid back up my 4 lands and combo for win.
best one was a control player let me scapeshift 5 lands away, I fetched up Boseiju, Who Shelters All, next gave him a splendid finish.
Gave the card a try yesterday against Jund, Darwin Chord, and Jeskai Nahiri. I lived exactly the scenario you said yesterday against Jeskai Nahiri. I resolved a Scapeshift on 5 lands, grabbed Boseiju, and forced a win. He said he had never ever seen someone force such a low scapeshift, and he thought I was baiting his counterspell. I could see similar things happening at a larger event. Against Darwin Chord, I was able to wipe the board with a Scapeshift and then use the Splendid to finish him off (after a pretty lucky top deck of Prismatic Omen).
Another scenario like that, the Scapeshift can be used to grab fetches to give the reclamation more lands. Bear in mind that you'll have to pay life for them, of course, but you CAN squeeze out a good chunk of damage further if you need it. Be weary of lightning bolt, obviously.
You sold me 100% on playing these for the foreseeable future. (Or until my meta ditches their ghost quarters.)
Wow. He even added the 2 PNK Nalaars like I had mentioned. I actually really like the Fog sideboard too. That card helps with the infect matchup by buying just one more turn.
Hell, it can do more than one turn. When I played RG Titanshift, there were plenty of times the infect player went all in on his dude, knowing that I couldn't kill it with just a bolt. A fog in those scenarios would have put them into a topdeck mode.
I'm well aware it's a may ability. I'm just recounting what I saw from how my opponents were playing. I've seen the same sort of thing in online testing as well. People aren't really thinking about what they're doing.
Seriously, this. I've seen way too many people have a hand stacked with removal, and choose to discard it. I've seen someone ditch a snapcaster to Nahiri, when the Cryptic in the grave would have allowed him to tap their team, and win next turn. You even touched on the issue of discarding all your lands to Nahiri, like they don't realize mana advantage is how you're able to win games.
The sooner Jeskai pilots remember that they don't HAVE to discard anything the better. Discard cards that are dead currently. Discard fetches if you know there aren't targets in your library, or your hand is already land heavy. Don't discard gas.
PTQ grinder, whose favorite format is modern. I've always been a mid-range (Jund) guy but I've also placed and done very well with burn. I've been playing RG scapeshift for a little while on and off now since I can't seem to get my Jund deck to be the 75 I want exactly against this field. So, I'm coming to you great people for advice. The meta is wide-open again right now with Eldrazi gone, and I'm trying to tweak a list to what I will predict to be the meta at Texas States (SCG) tomorrow. The main-deck is pretty solid, with just two possible changes. The sideboard, however... holy... I don't even know... so lost.
So, yes, I know that is WAY more than 15 cards in the board... that's what I'm asking you to help me with. I've taken tons of lists from GPs, PTs and MODO results and these are all viable options in some form or fashion... problem is that most of those results were pre-banning.
Questions.
(a) If Commune is out, should I replace it with Omens or Pacts or Relics? [I currently don't own Omens as I feel they are win-more but you could convince me otherwise. As for Pacts, do you always tutor up PrimeTime (aka view Pact as Titans #5 and #6?)]
(b) Khalni Heart or max out on Farseek? [I've personally loved the expedition and rarely see enchantment hate, esp with BGx gone.]
(c1) What meta are you expecting these days (especially those that play online)? If you're thinking the meta is pretty fast with aggro, other combo and a few ThopterSword/Control decks, what do you feel is the perfect sideboard for tomorrow?
(c2) If I had to pick a sideboard right now, I'd probably pick the first 15 cards I listed. Does that sound right to you? If not, help me finalize my 75 please!
Lots of questions, and things to think about, I know... but thanks for all your help!
(a)There are definitely times where Omen is win-more, but Omen almost always turns on your Valakuts. It guarantees that every top deck after it is live. Lands, ramp, bolts, Scapeshift, Titans are all live. It feels like a wincon on it's own a lot of the time.
(b)Farseek is good if you expect random Abrupt Decays to eat your Khalni Hearts. It's also doesn't require set-up compared to Khalni, but the difference in ramp can be a real thing. Play them, and see if they're for you. I prefer Khalni Heart because no one in my meta thinks to decay it, they're too busy holding removal game 1 for omen.
(c)I haven't a clue what to expect in the meta right now, as I'm fighting a metric ton of control at my LGS. If I expected my meta to have aggro, combo, and Thoptersword (That part is true though), I'd have Courser and Anger for aggro. Reverberate if I expected scapeshift mirrors, Sudden Shock to deal with infect, and Ancient Grudge/Relic of Progenitus for thoptersword/affinity. I think the sideboard you showed covers a lot.
Torpor Orb. Also shuts down Company-combo decks to some degree. Leyline of the Void shuts down Living End, Company, Dredge, Grishoalbrand, Snappy and Gifts. It's also Abrupt Decay proof, which might be good if there's a BUG Thopter deck. Rest in Peace shuts down the same stuff that Leyline does. Ancient Grudge, Abrupt Decay, Kolaghan's Command, Rakdos Charm, and other Artifact destruction. Also good against Affinity. Scavenging Ooze looks like a very solid choice for green but it's easy to remove. Extirpate and "Phyrexian Extirpate". Extirpate is probably better because it's uncounterable. Pithing Needle. Shuts down problematic Planeswalkers (Karn, Tezzeret), some of the good affinity stuff (plating, ravager, overseer) and Viscera seer. Relic of Progenitus, but might only be good enough to get rid of a single SotM. Shatterstorm, Creeping Corrosion and other "artifact wraths". Given that they are quite mana intensive they are great targets for the blue thopter player's counterspells.
What did I miss? Take into consideration that we want stuff that is good against a wide field of strategies.
Here is an underrated one: Jace, Architect of thought his plus shuts off all of their token dmg and his ult wins the game.
Jace +1 leaves the Thopter with Sword on it as a 1/3 attacking... so you're not gonna use that ult unless you have a flying blocker.
He shuts off all of the other ones and only gets one dmg through which is huge
You +1 Jace, he takes 1 damage from a thopter. Next turn you +1 him again, and he proceeds to take 1 damage from another thopter. Opponent gains X life each turn until one of you can draw interaction. That sounds like most scenarios, the Thopter guy is still ahead.
I like Signets in this deck. They:
- ramp into T3 Wrath/Gifts.
- give you more mana for Thopter+Sword.
- fix colors for Thopter Foundry/Supreme Verdict or against Blood Moon. Also lets you get away with more colorless lands, i.e. GQ/Darksteel Citadel.
- are artifacts for Thirst/Thopter Foundry. If you have Foundry on the battlefield and Sword in your graveyard, you still need one artifact to kickstart the combo.
- make Seachrome Coast slightly better than Glacial Fortress. Normally you want Fortress, because Coast would ETB tapped if it's your fourth land, but with Signets you can have 2 lands + 1 Signet, and Coast would ETB untapped if you played it as your fourth land.
I really like your list as a jumping off point. Turn 3 hard wraths deal with a lot of shenanigans, especially delve creatures.
This is the base of the deck, I could always switch the combo for 4x Ancestral Vision if it grows in popularity and utility (since again, I'm not particularly impressed by it in the actual meta). I'm definitely not sure about the build but I don't think a Midrange or Tapout playstyle is what UW needs now, so I want to stay in the control zone.
Any suggestions? I'm not sure about Detention Sphere but it seems nice either as removal and another answer against opponent's SotM combo or problematic permanents in general. Also, with Eye of Ugin ban, playing control against Tron is definitely hard but not awful. Negate maindeck is going to be great now, with fast combo decks trying to outspeed AV, against Infect and Burn, or against other control decks.
Consider blade splicer? I recall it being an okay inclusion to UW with Restos. She triggers Sword of the Meek to come to the battlefield, and her token can be sac'd to start the combo.
I think everyone needs to calm down. This deck didn't change much. Maybe we run visions, maybe not. We'll have to adapt to the new meta, but we only have vague ideas about what that will be.
Tron just got a huge nerf, so that's great.
It's not really "huge", though. Have you played against it since they started playing 2-3 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger?
A card that is pretty good at shutting some decks down is Runed Halo. Name Valakut against those decks, name Lightning Storm against Ad Nauseum, Borborygmos, Enraged against Grishoalbrand.
There's no deck right now that I hate playing against. The closest would have been Eggs. Just kill me already, dude. Don't make me have to wait to see if you whiff. Burn is annoying in large quantities, too but you just add more sideboard stuff.
Another scenario like that, the Scapeshift can be used to grab fetches to give the reclamation more lands. Bear in mind that you'll have to pay life for them, of course, but you CAN squeeze out a good chunk of damage further if you need it. Be weary of lightning bolt, obviously.
You sold me 100% on playing these for the foreseeable future. (Or until my meta ditches their ghost quarters.)
The sooner Jeskai pilots remember that they don't HAVE to discard anything the better. Discard cards that are dead currently. Discard fetches if you know there aren't targets in your library, or your hand is already land heavy. Don't discard gas.
(b)Farseek is good if you expect random Abrupt Decays to eat your Khalni Hearts. It's also doesn't require set-up compared to Khalni, but the difference in ramp can be a real thing. Play them, and see if they're for you. I prefer Khalni Heart because no one in my meta thinks to decay it, they're too busy holding removal game 1 for omen.
(c)I haven't a clue what to expect in the meta right now, as I'm fighting a metric ton of control at my LGS. If I expected my meta to have aggro, combo, and Thoptersword (That part is true though), I'd have Courser and Anger for aggro. Reverberate if I expected scapeshift mirrors, Sudden Shock to deal with infect, and Ancient Grudge/Relic of Progenitus for thoptersword/affinity. I think the sideboard you showed covers a lot.
Consider blade splicer? I recall it being an okay inclusion to UW with Restos. She triggers Sword of the Meek to come to the battlefield, and her token can be sac'd to start the combo.
Still, good day for all UWx based decks.