I think Absorb is definitely worth testing in the Timely Reinforcements slot. There's been a lot of conditioning in Modern Control that 3 mana counters are unplayable and I'm not sure that's true. I just think there hasn't been one good enough yet. Absorb seems like a great fit for the UW control gameplan.
I see no reason why you'd ever be interested in trading one of the best 1 mana removal spells ever made for a conditional two mana spell. Go For The Throat is only bad vs a single deck. Swapping it for Cast Down won't change lot. The only deck that card may make the cut in is a Corey Burkhart like Grixis Control it won't suddenly make UB a tier 1 strategy.
Went 2-1-1 at FNM tonight with the following list. Beat Slivers and 8 Rack. Drew against Skred Red, and lost a tight match 1-2 to Jund.
I won Game 1 against Jund with Colonnade beat down after he shocked and thoughtseized himself down very low. Game 2 he cast 3 Bloodbraid Elfs and I had no way to overcome the card advantage. Game 3 was close, but I was unable to find any way to generate card advantage and lost after he was able to pull out a few 2-1s with. If I had found a Jace, Revelation, or Search for Azcanta in Game 3 I probably could have pulled it out.
I definitely got punished against Jund for not having Wall of Omens in the list, and think going forward it's definitely correct to be playing 1-2. Cutting to 2 Jace definitely felt like it affected my ability to generate card advantage to start turning the corner.
I agree about Jura. I was playing him in a UW midrange deck with a lot more creatures and some main deck Settle the Wreckage. The interaction was sweet but the real all-star was Gideon. Dude is almost impossible to kill and has immediate positive impact for you when he comes down.
Personally I love original Gideon, but with having adopted to 2 JTMS, I ended up wanting to pair my curve back a little. 2 Jace, 3 Cryptic, 3+ Wraths, Snapcaster, and Secure just make for a lot of clunk along with Jura. Since then, I've traded my 1-2 Big Gideon in for 2 Gideon 3s. He does work well in the shell, with putting on the brakes before I wrath the board, but I miss Big Pappa Gideon. Maybe I'll just throw him in as a 1-of some day.
Re: the above deck list, I do like the 1/1/1 Mana Leak/Logic Knot/Negate. I lobbied Grixis Control to adopt Knot for years, but in UW, I have a hard time even with 2 in my deck. (Fewer fetches and fewer cantrips, plus ramping my opponent.) Going 2/1 or 1/1 with Leak has been working well for me as a compromise. And while some people are down on the MD Negate, I personally like it. (Grixis Shadow pretty much exists because of Stubborn Denial, so there must be some non-creatures worth countering out there. ) Plus we have a number of good tools for dealing with permanents, so an extra safety valve vs. noncreatures is nice to have around IMO.
I also like the MD Clique and the full Seas/Field package. Actually, we're nearly on the exact same list. The only major changes I'd advocate for are, as Annihilator mentioned, -1 Cryptic for +1 Search (personally I find that to be the best turn-2 play on many board states, but your experience is your experience of course), and finding SB slots for 2-3 Geist of Saint Traft. Being able to field a usually-3-turn-clock can clinch games that you'd never have won otherwise. And it's a lot easier to tap down for him late-game when you have a Teferi giving him flash.
Speaking of which, how's the SB Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir working for you? As mentioned a few days past, I've been trying out one in the board as well. I haven't gotten to an FNM with him yet, but in testing he's been relevant surprisingly often and he's just a house when you get him on the field.
I haven't played any games with him yet, but had a sideboard slot to use and want to give him a spin. There's been a big resurgence in my meta of U/R Blue Moon/Through the Breach decks, and some other U based shells as well as Jund so he seems worth a shot.
My fear is that he's going to be too hard to resolve and too hard to cast and will likely get removed for a more versatile card. UW also isn't really a deck that can take great advantage of his abilities. We have no real haymaker to force through with him, and no creatures to flash in so his best trait is guaranteed wins in a counter battle and stopping cascade spells.
I'm not a huge fan of Search for Azcanta. I played two copies for a while I didn't like drawing them early or seeing them in my 7 since they are so low impact early in the game and playing one early in the game is super risky. It is game winning when you've stabilized the board though.
As of now, I prefer Gideon Jura. He's better on defense than AOZ is and can immediately come down and generate meaningful value by eating a Tarmogoyf/Reality Smasher/Dark Confidant or something similar. That being said, he can't generate nearly as much value as Ally of Zendikar can, and in UW mirrors the player with Ally of Zendikar will easily win over a player who has Gideon Jura.
I've been playing with UW Control since the unbans with 3 copies of Jace in the main. He's been good, but I'm not entirely sure playing 3 copies is correct. It's pretty clunky playing 3 copies, and usually when he lands the deck is so full of air that the opponent has a few turns to catch up before they are actually just locked out of the game.
I think going down to 2 copies is probably the right thing to do, but it feels weird to be playing so few copies of such a sweet card.
The other "controversial" things in my list are likely 4th Cryptic, and one Remand. Those could easily be replaced by +1 Gideon of the Trials, and +1 Sphinx's Revelation/Glimmer of Genious or a Wall of Omens.
It's possible that going down to 2 JTMS means I'll need something like Revelation in the list.
It was definitely very powerful against the control decks. I think it's probably a pretty greedy card to play in a metagame where Abrade is so popular and it's too slow to be very impactful against any of the aggressive creature decks.
Anybody have any thoughts about Axis of Immortality against Mono Red? It's pretty pricey at 6 mana, but seems like it would be pretty big game against them especially now that Rampaging Ferocidon is so rampant.
EDIT: Nevermind, apparently ferodican stops this from working.
I've been eyeing this deck for awhile as I've felt the lack of options when playing Modern and feel like I might as well jam Snapcasters. What would a good starting list look like? My metagame has a good variety but Tron is HUGE! That's what I'm worried about the most; I've been told Ux control decks in general don't do well against any Tron variants and they're littered through my local store.
Ux has traditionally been bad against Tron variants, however our Eldrazi tron matchup is slightly favourable and our traditional Gx Tron match up is just all I ever want to face, very favorable. Blue tron is a bad match for us though.
I find any of the Green based Tron decks to be pretty terrible matchups for us and Eldrazi Tron to be very favorable. Any reason why you think the G variants are good matchups? The problem with them is that their threats are more Planeswalker based in Karn and Ugin and they usually also intend on ramping out Ulamog. Our deck has very few ways to interact with resolved Planeswalkers, and all of our Paths/Verdicts are pretty close to dead in the matchup.
Eldrazi Tron, on the other hand, is so creature based that our deck can just run them out of gas with Path to Exiles and Supreme Verdicts before locking them out of the game with Crytpic chains.
UW got 11th at the Modern Open this weekend. Key takeaways from that list are 4 Field of Ruin, 1 Settle the Wreckage maindeck instead of 3rd Verdict, and a maindeck Disallow.
Search for Azcanta has yet to do anything in tournament play. Surprised to see so many people here still high on it.
I won Game 1 against Jund with Colonnade beat down after he shocked and thoughtseized himself down very low. Game 2 he cast 3 Bloodbraid Elfs and I had no way to overcome the card advantage. Game 3 was close, but I was unable to find any way to generate card advantage and lost after he was able to pull out a few 2-1s with. If I had found a Jace, Revelation, or Search for Azcanta in Game 3 I probably could have pulled it out.
I definitely got punished against Jund for not having Wall of Omens in the list, and think going forward it's definitely correct to be playing 1-2. Cutting to 2 Jace definitely felt like it affected my ability to generate card advantage to start turning the corner.
1 Vendilion Clique
2 Snapcaster Mage
Planeswalkers (4)
1 Gideon Jura
1 Gideon of the Trials
2 Jace, The Mind Sculptor
Other Spells (28)
4 Path to Exile
3 Cryptic Command
4 Serum Visions
4 Spreading Seas
1 Supreme Verdict
2 Detention Sphere
1 Spell Snare
2 Search for Azcanta
1 Wrath of God
1 Logic Knot
1 Negate
1 Mana Leak
1 Settle The Wreckage
1 Remand
1 Sphinx's Revelation
4 Field of Ruin
4 Celestial Colonnade
4 Flooded Strand
5 Island
3 Plains
1 Glacial Fortress
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Scalding Tarn
2 Stony Silence
2 Disdainful Stroke
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Blessed Alliance
1 Condemn
1 Ceremonious Rejection
2 Rest in Peace
1 Timely Reinforcements
1 Dispel
1 Negate
1 Celestial Purge
1 Settle The Wreckage
I haven't played any games with him yet, but had a sideboard slot to use and want to give him a spin. There's been a big resurgence in my meta of U/R Blue Moon/Through the Breach decks, and some other U based shells as well as Jund so he seems worth a shot.
My fear is that he's going to be too hard to resolve and too hard to cast and will likely get removed for a more versatile card. UW also isn't really a deck that can take great advantage of his abilities. We have no real haymaker to force through with him, and no creatures to flash in so his best trait is guaranteed wins in a counter battle and stopping cascade spells.
As of now, I prefer Gideon Jura. He's better on defense than AOZ is and can immediately come down and generate meaningful value by eating a Tarmogoyf/Reality Smasher/Dark Confidant or something similar. That being said, he can't generate nearly as much value as Ally of Zendikar can, and in UW mirrors the player with Ally of Zendikar will easily win over a player who has Gideon Jura.
I think going down to 2 copies is probably the right thing to do, but it feels weird to be playing so few copies of such a sweet card.
The other "controversial" things in my list are likely 4th Cryptic, and one Remand. Those could easily be replaced by +1 Gideon of the Trials, and +1 Sphinx's Revelation/Glimmer of Genious or a Wall of Omens.
It's possible that going down to 2 JTMS means I'll need something like Revelation in the list.
1 Vendilion Clique
2 Snapcaster Mage
Planeswalkers (4)
1 Gideon Jura
1 Gideon of the Trials
2 Jace, The Mind Sculptor
Other Spells (28)
4 Path to Exile
4 Cryptic Command
4 Serum Visions
4 Spreading Seas
2 Supreme Verdict
2 Detention Sphere
2 Spell Snare
1 Search for Azcanta
1 Wrath of God
1 Logic Knot
1 Negate
1 Mana Leak
1 Remand
4 Field of Ruin
4 Celestial Colonnade
4 Flooded Strand
6 Island
3 Plains
1 Mystic Gate
1 Scalding Tarn
2 Stony Silence
2 Disdainful Stroke
2 Ceremonious Rejection
2 Rest in Peace
2 Timely Reinforcements
1 Dispel
1 Negate
1 Celestial Purge
1 Disenchant
1 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
Round 1: L vs Grixis Control
Round 2: W vs Grixis Control
Round 3: W vs R/G Dinosaurs
Round 4: W vs UB Control
Round 5: W vs UW Auras
4 Cast Out
4 Censor
3 Approach
3 Fumigate
3 Settle The Wreckage
3 Glimmer of Genius
3 Supreme Will
2 Search for Azcanta
2 Azor's Gateway
2 Baffling End
2 Disallow
1 Essence Scatter
1 Pull from Tomorrow
1 Ixalan's Binding
1 Torrential Gearhulk
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Irrigated Farmland
7 Island
7 Plains
2 Field of Ruin
1 Arch of Orazca
Sidedeck:15
4 Regal Caracal
4 Negate
4 Authority of the Consuls
1 Nezahal, Primal Tide
1 Baffling End
1 Ixalan's Binding
It looked beautiful, not sure how it would perform against a more aggressive deck, but totally crushed on camera.
3 Snapcaster Mage
Sorcery (4)
2 Cruel Ultimatum
2 Damnation
Instant (24)
4 Cryptic Command
3 Electrolyze
2 Fatal Push
1 Kolaghan's Command
2 Logic Knot
2 Mana Leak
2 Opt
1 Shadow of Doubt
1 Spell Snare
3 Terminate
3 Think Twice
1 Engineered Explosives
2 Nihil Spellbomb
Enchantment (1)
1 Search for Azcanta
Land (25)
1 Blood Crypt
3 Creeping Tar Pit
4 Drowned Catacomb
1 Field of Ruin
3 Island
4 Polluted Delta
3 Scalding Tarn
2 Steam Vents
2 Sulfur Falls
1 Swamp
1 Watery Grave
60 Cards
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Fatal Push
1 Kolaghan's Command
2 Collective Brutality
1 Countersquall
1 Dispel
2 Fulminator Mage
1 Izzet Staticaster
1 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
1 Surgical Extraction
2 Thoughtseize
1 Vendilion Clique
EDIT: Nevermind, apparently ferodican stops this from working.
I find any of the Green based Tron decks to be pretty terrible matchups for us and Eldrazi Tron to be very favorable. Any reason why you think the G variants are good matchups? The problem with them is that their threats are more Planeswalker based in Karn and Ugin and they usually also intend on ramping out Ulamog. Our deck has very few ways to interact with resolved Planeswalkers, and all of our Paths/Verdicts are pretty close to dead in the matchup.
Eldrazi Tron, on the other hand, is so creature based that our deck can just run them out of gas with Path to Exiles and Supreme Verdicts before locking them out of the game with Crytpic chains.
Search for Azcanta has yet to do anything in tournament play. Surprised to see so many people here still high on it.