I've cut abolisher in favor of Revoker. Abolisher is good vs twin as they can't EOT twiddle and ruins the tempo entirely for UWR - abolisher seemed too narrow still.
I feel really good about the cut flickerwisp... I know it's the best most awesome card to draw with vial on 3 but honestly I'd rather have consistency than happenstance blow outs.
4th resto seems hard on the mana and clunky and the akroma is too cute and not practical enough - same reason I don't play mangara
You don't cut Flickerwisp. Period. It doesn't need vial to be the best card in the deck. Play with it more and you'll learn.
I think Sheepz is right... by the time you're throwing Bob into a decklist with an average CMC of more than one, it pretty much becomes junk goodstuff. That said I like the Rhino for the reach. Every time it flickers, that's a 6 point life swing.
Then again, I'm the one sacrificing synergies for the sake of a flicker list, so take my advice with a grain of salt. A few days ago, I was looking at Blind Hunter, and the new card probably rivals that one.
Try Inquisitor Exarch? You lose flying and the 4 point life swing, but he costs 2!
If I were running mono-white, that would be the way to go. But the extra two mana is probably worth the extra 2 point life swing and flying, especially since there will be other things in the list worth flickering.
I wish there was a creature that gained more life than it's cmc upon entry. It would be FAR better at compensating for bob life loss. Blind hunter is cool though, if it was three cmc I would seriously run that haha.
Aven Riftwatcher basically does since it gains the life when it comes in or leaves play. My mono white list doesn't need life gain, but if I ever did they would be my first bet. Opponents rarely want to waste removal on something that is going to die on its own in a few turns, so it can often be 3 mana for 4 damage and 4 life gained. Blind Hunter is too weak to be worth 4 mana.
Scapeshift
+3 Burrenton Forge-Tender, +2 Spellskite, +1 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
-1 Dismember, -4 Path to Exile, -1 Fiend Hunter
Storm
+2 Relic of Progenitus, +1 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, +1 Kitchen Finks
-4 Aether Vial
UWR
+3 Burrenton Forge-Tender, +2 Spellskite, +1 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
-1 Dismember, -4 Path to Exile, -1 Fiend Hunter
Pod
+1 Dismember, +2 Relic of Progenitus, +2 Leonin Relic-Warder, +2 Spellskite
-4 Judge's Familiar, -3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
Stone Cloaker sucks, because it is an absolutely abysmal topdeck. When originally building the deck, I used Stonecloaker for my other bouncing effect because I didn't have angels yet. Took it to a modern ptq qualifier and I HATED them. Even in matchups where the gy removal was relevant, I still hated it. Few things sting more than being in top deck mode, needing to eek out a few more points of damage ftw, and top decking a Stonecloaker that you can't play because you don't have a creature on the board.
I will again reiterate that Blade Splicer is the second best card in the deck. If you've played the deck at all, you will quickly come to realize this. No "Death and Taxes" list should not have it.
Also... Rest in Peace > Relic. RiP's permanent effect is definitely more worthwhile than the 1 less cost and cantrip of the relic.
As for your SB questions... I'm not overly high on finks. They're good bounce targets, but the life gain rarely makes a huge difference and there are better creatures fighting for spots in the deck. And again, D&T is not a deck that wants to grind to win. We're a weenie deck with tricks. That said, if I had to choose between finks and spellskite for that matc, I'd take finks every time because pod doesn't run enough removal for spellskite to be really good, so I'd rather have a creature that can do some face bashing.
I haven't played in a little over a month, but I've put a lot of time into, and played a lot of games with, mono white death and taxes with pretty good results. I can't think of a matchup where I sided out Blade Splicer. There are some games where I side out 1, but even then, that's a tough decision. 3 mana for a 1/1 weenie and a 3/3 first striker is frickin good. It is definitely one of the MVPs of the deck, and I would never consider running a death and taxes list in modern without 4. Blade Splicers force your opponents to think. The golem is the immediate threat - should they use their removal on it and deal with the splicer later? Or should they deal with the splicer now before you can blink it for more golems? Splicer is also that much better if you run any Mutavaults as it gives Mutavault first strike. Splicer also causes your opponent to respect your vial more when it's at 3. If you have a Thalia out, and a vial at 3, I can often bluff an opponent into not attacking for a turn or two because he doesn't want to swing into 5 first striking damage. I could write a flippin' book about Blade Splicer's awesomeness, and the many different ways it impacts the game for us, but I think you get the picture by this point.
Wall of Omens is a fine addition, but it shouldn't be one of the 27 creatures that this deck should ideally be running, because it can't bash face. Death and Taxes in Legacy is a controlling deck. Death and Taxes in Modern is, at its core, a weenie deck that relies on tricks and taxing effects to compliment it. We need our 27 creatures to be able to pummel our opponent every chance they get. Spellskite is the exception to this rule, because it allows us to make the rest of our creatures more difficult to kill. That said, I haven't yet needed a Spellskite in the main deck and am happy to bring them out of the board.
Do you actually like Thalia in modern? As I'm coming from legacy, I always feel that she does not do enough in that spot. She can be removed easily and modern in general seems more creature based (than legacy). Imo she can only do things in the first 2/3 turns, but after that it's not a very good draw...
Maybe cutting a thalia for crusader or linvala? Or cutting all? Hm, but on the otherhand I see why she has to be in there.... I'm just not yet happy.
Thalia is awesome. We have tricks, but don't forget that, at our core, we are a weenie deck. 2 for a 2/1 with first strike is pretty good. 2 for a 2/1 first strike that slows down control/burn/combo is spectacular. She can be removed easily enough, but that can be said for all our creatures (except for Brimaz/Resto Angel). And if you run Judge's Familiar, she becomes an even bigger pain in the ass for your opponent.
what do you think about ghostly prison?I have one SB slot left and it seems useful vs. twin, kiki wur, kiki pod, living end, Zoo, mefolk and even vs jund/rock and their man-lands. Can also slow low mana decks like boogle or infect.
It's a good card and it's been in and out of my sideboard. But ultimately, sideboard slots are tight, and I always seem to find something that is just better than it.
After checking out his list and reading his comments on various cards... it's pretty clear he doesn't know much about death and taxes in modern. He's too focused on cute tricks. Also... Gut Shot?! 2 life for 1 damage... why not just run Icatian Javelineers if you're really so worried about 1 toughness creatures. I still don't think they're needed, but I'd take a body that I can refill over having to shock myself to deal 1 flippin damage any day.
I am struggling a lot against mono green devotion deck :/ Have you guys tried? They just have bigger creatures sooner than us :/
I'm yet to play a full game against Nykthos. I played against one in the tournament practice queues (I assume). I was on the draw, played a t1 vial, t2 arbiter, and with a t3 ghost quarter shot down his shrine, which caused him to promptly drop from the match. But from looking at the decklists, my strategy will be to hold onto my paths for their big guys and keep them away from nykthos at all costs while pounding his face with my flyers. And as Sheepz said above, if they get a good draw (which seems like it wouldn't be the most common thing, I'm yet to see a decklist that looks consistent), there isn't much we can do but pray for luck.
Thanks! that looks good! One question, the last time there was a lot of UWR Control, and I had trouble dealing with sided in Ajani Vengeance..I often couldnt stick my creatures to knock him down..So im considering 1-2 pithing needles.
Fair enough. You could do without the marks, as spellskites essentially play the same role against control, and they're better against infect/boggles. Or, you could cut 1 mark (so you still have 4 cards to protect your creatures from burn in your 75) and then the Kataki (leaving you with 6 hate cards against affinity). Kataki also makes you pay 1 for your golem tokens and vials, which can be annoying.
That seems reasonable. However, what are your thoughts on Eidolon of Rhetoric? I havent played it so far..I guess its mainly good against storm, and living end. Living end van easily beast within the creature..storm has to use two burn spells? and I guess against control it helps..I'm not sure, anyone have some good or bad experience with Eidolon of Rhetoric
I side in Eidolon against...
-Storm (Although this is already a very strong matchup for us if you run Thalia and Judge's Familiar)
-Decks that use cascade (hold your vial at 3, wait for them to cast their cascade spell then flash it in. That forces them to cascade and essentially waste their spell)
+Living End
+Ad Nauseum
+GargaBalance Combo
Thanks! that looks good! One question, the last time there was a lot of UWR Control, and I had trouble dealing with sided in Ajani Vengeance..I often couldnt stick my creatures to knock him down..So im considering 1-2 pithing needles.
Fair enough. You could do without the marks, as spellskites essentially play the same role against control, and they're better against infect/boggles. Or, you could cut 1 mark (so you still have 4 cards to protect your creatures from burn in your 75) and then the Kataki (leaving you with 6 hate cards against affinity). Kataki also makes you pay 1 for your golem tokens and vials, which can be annoying.
I hope I can get some help with my Sideboard for this saturday. It certainly isn't my strongest part of the game. I need to know what's a ''must have'' and what's not, and what to take out and what to take in..
futhermore, I havent tried Linvala yet, as of now i've got her in my mainboard, but I could put her in the sideboard, but I dont know what to replace her with..
This is my Decklist, adjusted to a heavy control and combo meta (living end, different versions of Tron, affinity, skapeshift, storm, ad nauseum, infect, boggle, dredge, amulet of vigor combo deck(?) and mainly UWR Control and midrange)
The final build of the GW list in channel fireball is interesting. It's a slower deck for certain, but thragtusk sure would be a momentum swinger with a blink.
That being said... I think it's more of a "cute" play than anything else. If you want to run a 5 drop like thragtusk, then you would probably need 24 land, since we like sacking our lands to blow up our enemies'. Not worth it for a cute trick. It certainly could be fun for a casual fnm tourney though.
I never thought about the synergy with spirit and Mikoro synergy though. I like it a lot. Though it will be interesting to see if it's worth it considering how frail the spirit is.
I would just like to chime in and add that, as a mono white death and taxes player, Judge's Familiar has been a house. My build runs two Sword of Light and Shadows, so the fact that they fly is extra relevant. An early familiar also slows down UWR control/burn/storm (to name a few). It especially gives your opponent's a headache when you have a Thalia on the board with it. A t1 familiar, followed by a t2 thalia always helps take off some of the sting of not getting a vial in your opener.
@Chalupacabra - I don't think I've ever sided out Serra Avenger. Yes, it often eats a bolt, but it's a beast when it doesn't. There aren't a lot of decks in the format that have flyers to block it, and it can block a lot of smaller creatures.
The problem with Dryad Militant is that all of the decks that it's really good against can easily kill it. I guess that's one burn spell that could be going elsewhere, but that's kept militant on the sidelines for me. I run 3 Judge's Familiar in my deck and absolutely love it. I actually just beat Ad Nauseum because I had a judge on the table when he combo'd out of desperation, and he didn't have the mana to cast lightning storm AND pay the extra 1 for the judge. It's also quite good against storm, and it flies, so it holds a sword pretty well.
Inquisitor exarchs are fine cards, it's just there are better cards at our disposal. I would definitely recommend pulling them over the avengers for your Mindcensors and extra Brimaz. Without a wisp/angel, they're just a vanilla 2/2 beater that any creature can block. It's a cute trick to be able to eek out the last few points of damage by flickering it, but avengers are just much more powerful. Also, unless my opponent was at 2 life, I would ALWAYS rather topdeck an avenger over an exarch.
Angel of Jubiliation is an interesting choice. However, it's giant "BOLT ME NOW PLZ" sign on its face would make me shy away from it. I have no doubt it can be powerful if you can get it to stick, but again, we have more powerful, safer options.
I run 3 RiPs in my board and never find myself wishing the third RiP was something else. It's good against any deck that runs lots of removal + snapcasters, living end, storm, the random aggro loam deck...
It depends what your local meta looks like, but Spellskite does more for us against more of the current top tier decks (comes in against the various Twin iterations, UWR, Jund...)
As to the SB you played with, one suggestion: use Sundering Growth instead of Disenchant. Does the same thing, but we can copy a golem token if we happen to have one on out.
@Sheepz - Against pod, I side in 2 Rest in Peace, 1 Aven Mindcensor (I run 1 md, and 1 sb), and 2 Spellskites. Pod is as good as the opponent that is piloting it, but I actually feel like our matchup is pretty good. I side out 3 thalias and 2 judge's familiar for those cards. They don't need to the combo to win, but it's one less thing to worry about with RiP in play. Also, RiP makes their finks/redcaps significantly worse, even without the combo.
IzzetDeeds: I absolutely love your approach to after tournament review. Identifying your mistakes like that and explaining your reasoning is very educational and give me more to think about. It must have taken you some time to type that out, but I really appreciate you doing it. I really like the development of your deck, and despite my continuing dislike for swords in this deck I think you are doing a lot more to prove the worth of this deck than I am.
Np! Typing everything out helps me further reflect on it as well. I can certainly see the no swords argument, but it is such a powerful card if I can get it to stick against UWR and other burn-heavy decks, that it definitely proves its worth, especially with my list having so many flyers.
I've been playing the deck online and decided to swap out the Mirran Crusaders for Kitchen Finks, but I couldn't find my finks tonight. So the crusaders stayed in, and the riftwatchers got the sideboard slot. I also borrowed Spellskite and Ethersworn Cannonist for my sideboard in Richmond, and did not have access to them tonight. Thus the Ghostly Prison.
Round 1 - UWR (with Geists) (win 2-0)
My opponent keeps a hand with only a couple of lands the first game, which worked out quite nicely for me, as I was able to get a Leonin Arbiter to stick around long enough to pick his lands off with Ghost Quarters. He scooped relatively early when I got a couple of guys on the board, and he didn't draw a much needed land three turns in a row. I side out 2 Crusaders, 1 Dismember, 4 paths for 1 Thalia, 2 Mark of the Asylum, 2 Aven Riftwatcher, 2 Rest in Peace and 1 Aven Mindcensor. Game 2, I get a t1 Judge's Familiar, t2 thalia to stall his removal a turn. He kills my Thalia on turn 4, drops an Ajani Vengeant turn 5 (while I played an arbiter on turn 4). With my arbiter in play, I pick off his second red source to keep him at 3 mana and off Anger of the Gods. He uses Ajani to keep one of my plains locked down as he slowly ticks it up to 7. When it's at 7, I swing into it with my judge's familiar and arbiter, while he had a snapcaster in play. Stuck at three mana, he made the mistake of blocking my arbiter with the snapcaster, and then Path to Exile'ing his snapcaster to get to his 4th mana, which allowed my judge to bring his ajani back down to 6. I eventually knock off Ajani with some other flyers, but he casts a Geist and picks my guys off. We get to the point where his Geist is staring at my Thalia, while I have a vial in that's at 3. I play an Aven Riftwatcher to get my life up, and to fly over his geist for a few turns, and eventually bring it home with a Restoration Angel.
Mistake Plays: I actually didn't have any plays that I would do differently in this round.
Fun Plays: Having my Thalia basically cancel out his Geist, and then smile as Aven Riftwatcher flies over his Geist's head to beat his face.
Round 2: UR Storm (Loss 0-2)
My opening hand game 1 only had one plains, but it had a judge's familiar, thalia, arbiter, blade splicer, path to exile, path to exile. I made the mistake of assuming my deck would be kind and give me a second land relatively quickly, but alas it wasn't so. I didn't get my second land until t4 (although I did path two Goblin Electromancers while I waited. Unfortunately, by the time I got going it was too late, and I never saw a Flickerwisp to bounce his Pyromancer's Ascension and he combo'd out when I had him down to 7. I sideboard out 1 dismember, 2 crusaders, 2 swords and 1 mindcensor for 1 thalia, 3 rest in peace and 2 relic-warders. I had both relic warders in my opening hand game 2, and felt pretty good. I kept a vial at 2, and used a relic-warder to take out one of his pyromancer's ascensions early once he got it to two counters. He eventually kills it, to get his ascension (now with zero counters) back, and plays another. Meanwhile, I played another vial and got my 2 vials to 3 and 2 respectively. I get him down to 1. I have 5 mana, and in my hand I have a flickerwisp, restoration angel and my second relic warder. I hardcast relic warder, its ability on the stack, vial in the flickerwisp to permanently remove one ascension, then remove the second when my relic-warder comes back into play at the end of turn. On my opponent's turn, he casts Past in Flames, flashes back a lightning bolt to kill my relic-warder, and then with the ascension back in play, he manages to combo out. Had I used the vial to play the relic-warder (I hard casted it to play mind games and make him wary of my open vial), I would have been able to cast restoration angel in response to the bolt to save my relic-warder and keep his ascension off the board, thus winning the game. But I didn't, because I decided to play mind games against a storm player, who was clearly going to try to combo since he was at 1 life.
Mistake Plays: Hardcasting the relic-warder at the end. Doy doy doy.
Fun Plays: Perma-removing one of his ascension with Leonin Relic-Warder and Flickerwisp shenanigans.
Round 3: UWR (with Geist -- a different deck) (Win 2-1)
My second UWR geist deck of the night. He's on the play, and through counters and burn, he remained in control of my creatures. I couldn't get a creature to stick to deal with his Geist, and it was a fairly quick game 1. Again, I side out 2 Crusaders, 1 Dismember, 4 paths for 1 Thalia, 2 Mark of the Asylum, 2 Aven Riftwatcher, 2 Rest in Peace and 1 Aven Mindcensor. Game 2 I had an early vial, which gave me an easy answer for Geist. I would just leave an open board so Geist would attack, then vial in a blocker before I declared blockers to kill his Geist. With vial tricks, and using Flickerwisp and Restoration Angel to make his removal fizzle, I was able to pull out the win. Game 3, I played a t3 Sword of Light and Shadow. I had a Rest in Peace in hand to nullify his snapcaster, but since I got a sword to stick, I kept it in my hand. He kept killing my creatures off for a while to keep me from getting it to equip. However, eventually I vial in a Blade Splicer at the end of his turn. Then, on my turn, with a restoration angel in hand, I forced him to try to blow up the splicer by equipping it, and then resto angeled in response to save my splicer and get a new golem. He has two snapcasters on the board to my 1 golem, bladesplicer and resto angel (he killed the blade splicer's first golem friend when I tried to equip it), I finally got the sword to equip to the golem. He blocked the golem with his snapcasters for two turns, but he couldn't deal with the +3 life and me getting back a weenie every turn after that, and I pull out the win.
Mistake Plays: Equipping the sword to the golem. My thinking was that the Restoration Angel can survive a bolt, a golem cannot. So by giving the golem the sword, I have two creatures to attack with that he can't just simply bolt and move on. In doing so, I essentially spotted him two turns while he blocked my golem with his snapcasters. Had I just equipped the resto angel, he would have been taking 5 through the air each turn, with me gaining 3 life and getting back the weenies that were burned earlier. Also, early in game 1, on turn 2, I had a vial at 1 on the board. I casted Thalia, he remanded, and I vialed-in a judge's familiar to counter the remand so he couldn't draw. It was early in the game, so that one card probably would not have mattered much. I should've saved the familiar to counter the lightning bolt that came right after that.
Fun Plays: Forcing him to try to burn my blade splicer, and then resto angel'ing it. Also, when he was swinging with a Geist, I had my two vials at 3 and 2 open. I vialed in a Thalia before declaring blockers. He attempted to bolt my Thalia. I responded by vialing in a flickerwisp to save my Thalia, and then block his Geist anyways.
Round 4 (URG Twin) (Win 2-1)
I never saw an Aether Vial in all three games against this guy. But, this deck is versatile enough that it's not a dealbreaker. Game 1, Kept him off his second red mana source to stave off the combo. By the time he managed to get his second red mana source to stick, I had a path at the ready for his combo and pulled out the win. I sided out 2 crusaders, 2 swords, 3 judge's familiar for 2 Stony Silence, 2 Rest in Peace, 1 Thalia, 1 Mark of the Asylum and 1 Ghostly Prison. Game 2, he plays a t2 Spellskite, which I respond to by playing Stony Silence. I use an early path on a Scavenging Ooze, but eventually get overwhelmed by Goyfs without getting any of my flyers to do some beating. I then sided out two Stony Silence for the second Mark and second Ghostly Prison. Game 3, I stick a t2 mark of the asylum. T3, I play a flickerwisp, targeting my own plains to untap one of my plains so I have my path mana open. Turns 4 and 5 he plays a deceiver exarch and pestermite. His mana base is too strong for me to hope to disrupt, so instead, after attacking with my flickerwisp on my turn, I play another flickerwisp during my second main, targeting the wisp that just attacked. I move to my end step, the wisp comes back into play, and I use it to bounce his pestermite out of play for the turn (who needs a vial for tricks!) He plays a Thrun, The Last Troll. At his end step, I play a resto angel targeting my wisp to keep his pestermite out of play for the turn again. And then I win the damage race with my 2 wisps (3/1 flyers) and 1 resto angel (3/4 flyers) that he couldn't do anything about thanks to Mark of the Asylum.
Mistake Plays: I used a path way too early in game 2 against the scavenging ooze. The life gain sucks, but, we can bounce the ooze to reset its counters when it gets to big with wisp. That path would've been much more useful in getting rid of a goyf later in the game. I made another path error (although it turned out not to be) early in game 3. He had a 2/3 goyf which I pathed early. I drew a Rest in Peace the next turn. And while, I never played the RiP (because I didn't need to), it would've been better to save the path for the combo, knowing that I still had a turn or 2 to deal with the goyf. It turns out, that after seeing my Stony Silence in game 2, my opponent decided to side out the combo. So holding back a path for his combo was a waste, since it was never coming.
Fun Plays: Flickerwisping his Pestermite out for the combat phases without vial. It felt good... real good. Also, not so much a sweet play, but it was a lot of fun flying over his troll's head with my flyers that he couldn't burn.
Mistake Play that Turned Out to be a Winner: Siding in Stony Silence. I wasn't thinking, and for some reason, in the back of my mind I assumed Stony Silence shut down artifacts AND enchantments (aka it shut down Twin). I don't know what was going through my mind that I thought that, but they were sided in game 2. What that allowed me to do was keep the pressure on his combo. Without the stony silence, he would have been able to use spellskite to keep me from using path/dismember to disrupt his combo. AND, as mentioned earlier, he decided to side out his combo game 3 because of it. I think it might actually be worth siding it in against Twin just to shut down their spellskite and ensure you can stop the combo with path/dismember/resto angel'ed wisp.
Takeaways from the FNM:
As I mentioned at the start, on my online version I replaced Mirran Crusader with Kitchen Finks. And boy, did I ever wish I was able to find my finks today! I sided out Crusaders in every single matchup. Most decks in the format have an easy answer to him. In game ones against the UWR decks, I actually just used him to draw out a counter/burn spell before I played a creature that I actually thought my stick on the board for a second. The crusader is an absolute beast against Jund and GB rock, but he's wayyyy too weak against the rest of the field.
I really really like Aven Riftwatcher in this deck. It's vanishing three makes it practically a waste for your opponent to use a burn spell on, it gets you a guaranteed 4 life, it flies (which not only lets it flyer over your opponents big scary creatures, but it can block Affinity's Signal Pest and Vault Skirge. I'm not sure if I'm quite sold on them over finks, seeing as Finks can survive non-Anger of the Gods board wipes and bolts. But until I find my finks, I'm definitely putting two riftwatchers in place of the crusaders.
I love Leonin Relic-Warder in our board, and it was so fun to be able to use wisp shenanigans to perma-exile one of my storm opponent's pyromancer's ascension. HOWEVER, relic warder requires a vial at 2 (or a resto angel) to be used at instant speed, and is quite easy to kill. I'm considering replacing the relic-warder with Sundering Growth. I don't like that Growth costs 3 to play with Thalia, but I really like the sound of being able to use an instant-speed growth to take out Storm's ascensions, or splinter twin AND get another 3/3 golem out of the mix. Relic-Warder is cute, but I think Sundering Growth might be better.
I definitely need to trade to get ahold of Ethersworn Cannonist and Spellskite. Spellskite is 100 times more versatile and useful than Ghostly Prison.
A response to some of the questions that I've seen in this thread:
How do we beat Amulet of Vigor combo? - I've actually had a lot of success with this matchup. Just save your paths for the big guys and fly over to bash their faces in. We can also use Flickerwisp to bounce their amulets on their turn, which basically kills their turn. Also, save your Ghost Quarters/Tectonic Edges for their lands that can give trample/haste/double strike.
How many Aven Mindcensors should we run? - I run 2 in my 75 (1 md, 1 sb). Mindcensors are an absolute boss in some matchups, but they're also crappy 2/1 flyers in others. I view my mindcensor as a 5th arbiter (just as I view my dismember as my 5th path). If Magic decks consisted of 65 cards main deck, I would run 2-3. However, for my build personally, there just isn't room for a 2nd or 3rd, and I honestly haven't had any problems yet because of it.
You don't cut Flickerwisp. Period. It doesn't need vial to be the best card in the deck. Play with it more and you'll learn.
Aven Riftwatcher basically does since it gains the life when it comes in or leaves play. My mono white list doesn't need life gain, but if I ever did they would be my first bet. Opponents rarely want to waste removal on something that is going to die on its own in a few turns, so it can often be 3 mana for 4 damage and 4 life gained. Blind Hunter is too weak to be worth 4 mana.
Stone Cloaker sucks, because it is an absolutely abysmal topdeck. When originally building the deck, I used Stonecloaker for my other bouncing effect because I didn't have angels yet. Took it to a modern ptq qualifier and I HATED them. Even in matchups where the gy removal was relevant, I still hated it. Few things sting more than being in top deck mode, needing to eek out a few more points of damage ftw, and top decking a Stonecloaker that you can't play because you don't have a creature on the board.
I will again reiterate that Blade Splicer is the second best card in the deck. If you've played the deck at all, you will quickly come to realize this. No "Death and Taxes" list should not have it.
Also... Rest in Peace > Relic. RiP's permanent effect is definitely more worthwhile than the 1 less cost and cantrip of the relic.
As for your SB questions... I'm not overly high on finks. They're good bounce targets, but the life gain rarely makes a huge difference and there are better creatures fighting for spots in the deck. And again, D&T is not a deck that wants to grind to win. We're a weenie deck with tricks. That said, if I had to choose between finks and spellskite for that matc, I'd take finks every time because pod doesn't run enough removal for spellskite to be really good, so I'd rather have a creature that can do some face bashing.
Wall of Omens is a fine addition, but it shouldn't be one of the 27 creatures that this deck should ideally be running, because it can't bash face. Death and Taxes in Legacy is a controlling deck. Death and Taxes in Modern is, at its core, a weenie deck that relies on tricks and taxing effects to compliment it. We need our 27 creatures to be able to pummel our opponent every chance they get. Spellskite is the exception to this rule, because it allows us to make the rest of our creatures more difficult to kill. That said, I haven't yet needed a Spellskite in the main deck and am happy to bring them out of the board.
Thalia is awesome. We have tricks, but don't forget that, at our core, we are a weenie deck. 2 for a 2/1 with first strike is pretty good. 2 for a 2/1 first strike that slows down control/burn/combo is spectacular. She can be removed easily enough, but that can be said for all our creatures (except for Brimaz/Resto Angel). And if you run Judge's Familiar, she becomes an even bigger pain in the ass for your opponent.
It's a good card and it's been in and out of my sideboard. But ultimately, sideboard slots are tight, and I always seem to find something that is just better than it.
I usually side in 2. If 2 cards in my deck can make 4+ cards in their deck completely useless, then I'm all for i.
After checking out his list and reading his comments on various cards... it's pretty clear he doesn't know much about death and taxes in modern. He's too focused on cute tricks. Also... Gut Shot?! 2 life for 1 damage... why not just run Icatian Javelineers if you're really so worried about 1 toughness creatures. I still don't think they're needed, but I'd take a body that I can refill over having to shock myself to deal 1 flippin damage any day.
I'm yet to play a full game against Nykthos. I played against one in the tournament practice queues (I assume). I was on the draw, played a t1 vial, t2 arbiter, and with a t3 ghost quarter shot down his shrine, which caused him to promptly drop from the match. But from looking at the decklists, my strategy will be to hold onto my paths for their big guys and keep them away from nykthos at all costs while pounding his face with my flyers. And as Sheepz said above, if they get a good draw (which seems like it wouldn't be the most common thing, I'm yet to see a decklist that looks consistent), there isn't much we can do but pray for luck.
I side in Eidolon against...
-Storm (Although this is already a very strong matchup for us if you run Thalia and Judge's Familiar)
-Decks that use cascade (hold your vial at 3, wait for them to cast their cascade spell then flash it in. That forces them to cascade and essentially waste their spell)
+Living End
+Ad Nauseum
+GargaBalance Combo
I've actually taken Eidolon out of my physical deck's board, and I've also taken Ethersworn Cannonists (I haven't gotten eidolons online yet) out of my online deck's sideboard in lieu of celestial purge. But that's because I hate Grim Lavamancer, Young Pyromancer, Ajani Vengeant, Liliana of the Veil, and the random Chandra Pyromancer, Infernal Titan and Olivia Voldaren you sometimes run into.
BUT my I haven't seen ad nauseum in weeks online (nor have I seen Living End or GargaBalance), and my local meta has more twin and UWR control decks.
Fair enough. You could do without the marks, as spellskites essentially play the same role against control, and they're better against infect/boggles. Or, you could cut 1 mark (so you still have 4 cards to protect your creatures from burn in your 75) and then the Kataki (leaving you with 6 hate cards against affinity). Kataki also makes you pay 1 for your golem tokens and vials, which can be annoying.
My recommendation for your sb for your meta:
3 Rest in Peace
3 Stony Silence
2 Mark of Asylum
2 Sundering Growth
2 Eidolon of Rhetoric
1 Spellskite
1 Kataki, War's Wage
1 Engineered Explosives
That being said... I think it's more of a "cute" play than anything else. If you want to run a 5 drop like thragtusk, then you would probably need 24 land, since we like sacking our lands to blow up our enemies'. Not worth it for a cute trick. It certainly could be fun for a casual fnm tourney though.
I never thought about the synergy with spirit and Mikoro synergy though. I like it a lot. Though it will be interesting to see if it's worth it considering how frail the spirit is.
The problem with Dryad Militant is that all of the decks that it's really good against can easily kill it. I guess that's one burn spell that could be going elsewhere, but that's kept militant on the sidelines for me. I run 3 Judge's Familiar in my deck and absolutely love it. I actually just beat Ad Nauseum because I had a judge on the table when he combo'd out of desperation, and he didn't have the mana to cast lightning storm AND pay the extra 1 for the judge. It's also quite good against storm, and it flies, so it holds a sword pretty well.
Inquisitor exarchs are fine cards, it's just there are better cards at our disposal. I would definitely recommend pulling them over the avengers for your Mindcensors and extra Brimaz. Without a wisp/angel, they're just a vanilla 2/2 beater that any creature can block. It's a cute trick to be able to eek out the last few points of damage by flickering it, but avengers are just much more powerful. Also, unless my opponent was at 2 life, I would ALWAYS rather topdeck an avenger over an exarch.
Angel of Jubiliation is an interesting choice. However, it's giant "BOLT ME NOW PLZ" sign on its face would make me shy away from it. I have no doubt it can be powerful if you can get it to stick, but again, we have more powerful, safer options.
I run 3 RiPs in my board and never find myself wishing the third RiP was something else. It's good against any deck that runs lots of removal + snapcasters, living end, storm, the random aggro loam deck...
It depends what your local meta looks like, but Spellskite does more for us against more of the current top tier decks (comes in against the various Twin iterations, UWR, Jund...)
As to the SB you played with, one suggestion: use Sundering Growth instead of Disenchant. Does the same thing, but we can copy a golem token if we happen to have one on out.
@Sheepz - Against pod, I side in 2 Rest in Peace, 1 Aven Mindcensor (I run 1 md, and 1 sb), and 2 Spellskites. Pod is as good as the opponent that is piloting it, but I actually feel like our matchup is pretty good. I side out 3 thalias and 2 judge's familiar for those cards. They don't need to the combo to win, but it's one less thing to worry about with RiP in play. Also, RiP makes their finks/redcaps significantly worse, even without the combo.
Np! Typing everything out helps me further reflect on it as well. I can certainly see the no swords argument, but it is such a powerful card if I can get it to stick against UWR and other burn-heavy decks, that it definitely proves its worth, especially with my list having so many flyers.
3x Judge's Familiar
4x Leonin Arbiter
3x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
3x Serra Avengers
4x Blade Splicer
4x Flickerwisp
2x Mirran Crusader
1x Aven Mindcensor
3x Restoration Angel
4x Path to Exile
1x Dismember
Artifacts (6)
4x Aether Vial
2x Sword of Light and Shadow
3x Rest in Peace
2x Mark of the Asylum
2x Stony Silence
2x Ghostly Prison
2x Leonin Relic-Warder
2x Aven Riftwatcher
1x Aven Mindcensor
1x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
I've been playing the deck online and decided to swap out the Mirran Crusaders for Kitchen Finks, but I couldn't find my finks tonight. So the crusaders stayed in, and the riftwatchers got the sideboard slot. I also borrowed Spellskite and Ethersworn Cannonist for my sideboard in Richmond, and did not have access to them tonight. Thus the Ghostly Prison.
Round 1 - UWR (with Geists) (win 2-0)
My opponent keeps a hand with only a couple of lands the first game, which worked out quite nicely for me, as I was able to get a Leonin Arbiter to stick around long enough to pick his lands off with Ghost Quarters. He scooped relatively early when I got a couple of guys on the board, and he didn't draw a much needed land three turns in a row. I side out 2 Crusaders, 1 Dismember, 4 paths for 1 Thalia, 2 Mark of the Asylum, 2 Aven Riftwatcher, 2 Rest in Peace and 1 Aven Mindcensor. Game 2, I get a t1 Judge's Familiar, t2 thalia to stall his removal a turn. He kills my Thalia on turn 4, drops an Ajani Vengeant turn 5 (while I played an arbiter on turn 4). With my arbiter in play, I pick off his second red source to keep him at 3 mana and off Anger of the Gods. He uses Ajani to keep one of my plains locked down as he slowly ticks it up to 7. When it's at 7, I swing into it with my judge's familiar and arbiter, while he had a snapcaster in play. Stuck at three mana, he made the mistake of blocking my arbiter with the snapcaster, and then Path to Exile'ing his snapcaster to get to his 4th mana, which allowed my judge to bring his ajani back down to 6. I eventually knock off Ajani with some other flyers, but he casts a Geist and picks my guys off. We get to the point where his Geist is staring at my Thalia, while I have a vial in that's at 3. I play an Aven Riftwatcher to get my life up, and to fly over his geist for a few turns, and eventually bring it home with a Restoration Angel.
Mistake Plays: I actually didn't have any plays that I would do differently in this round.
Fun Plays: Having my Thalia basically cancel out his Geist, and then smile as Aven Riftwatcher flies over his Geist's head to beat his face.
Round 2: UR Storm (Loss 0-2)
My opening hand game 1 only had one plains, but it had a judge's familiar, thalia, arbiter, blade splicer, path to exile, path to exile. I made the mistake of assuming my deck would be kind and give me a second land relatively quickly, but alas it wasn't so. I didn't get my second land until t4 (although I did path two Goblin Electromancers while I waited. Unfortunately, by the time I got going it was too late, and I never saw a Flickerwisp to bounce his Pyromancer's Ascension and he combo'd out when I had him down to 7. I sideboard out 1 dismember, 2 crusaders, 2 swords and 1 mindcensor for 1 thalia, 3 rest in peace and 2 relic-warders. I had both relic warders in my opening hand game 2, and felt pretty good. I kept a vial at 2, and used a relic-warder to take out one of his pyromancer's ascensions early once he got it to two counters. He eventually kills it, to get his ascension (now with zero counters) back, and plays another. Meanwhile, I played another vial and got my 2 vials to 3 and 2 respectively. I get him down to 1. I have 5 mana, and in my hand I have a flickerwisp, restoration angel and my second relic warder. I hardcast relic warder, its ability on the stack, vial in the flickerwisp to permanently remove one ascension, then remove the second when my relic-warder comes back into play at the end of turn. On my opponent's turn, he casts Past in Flames, flashes back a lightning bolt to kill my relic-warder, and then with the ascension back in play, he manages to combo out. Had I used the vial to play the relic-warder (I hard casted it to play mind games and make him wary of my open vial), I would have been able to cast restoration angel in response to the bolt to save my relic-warder and keep his ascension off the board, thus winning the game. But I didn't, because I decided to play mind games against a storm player, who was clearly going to try to combo since he was at 1 life.
Mistake Plays: Hardcasting the relic-warder at the end. Doy doy doy.
Fun Plays: Perma-removing one of his ascension with Leonin Relic-Warder and Flickerwisp shenanigans.
Round 3: UWR (with Geist -- a different deck) (Win 2-1)
My second UWR geist deck of the night. He's on the play, and through counters and burn, he remained in control of my creatures. I couldn't get a creature to stick to deal with his Geist, and it was a fairly quick game 1. Again, I side out 2 Crusaders, 1 Dismember, 4 paths for 1 Thalia, 2 Mark of the Asylum, 2 Aven Riftwatcher, 2 Rest in Peace and 1 Aven Mindcensor. Game 2 I had an early vial, which gave me an easy answer for Geist. I would just leave an open board so Geist would attack, then vial in a blocker before I declared blockers to kill his Geist. With vial tricks, and using Flickerwisp and Restoration Angel to make his removal fizzle, I was able to pull out the win. Game 3, I played a t3 Sword of Light and Shadow. I had a Rest in Peace in hand to nullify his snapcaster, but since I got a sword to stick, I kept it in my hand. He kept killing my creatures off for a while to keep me from getting it to equip. However, eventually I vial in a Blade Splicer at the end of his turn. Then, on my turn, with a restoration angel in hand, I forced him to try to blow up the splicer by equipping it, and then resto angeled in response to save my splicer and get a new golem. He has two snapcasters on the board to my 1 golem, bladesplicer and resto angel (he killed the blade splicer's first golem friend when I tried to equip it), I finally got the sword to equip to the golem. He blocked the golem with his snapcasters for two turns, but he couldn't deal with the +3 life and me getting back a weenie every turn after that, and I pull out the win.
Mistake Plays: Equipping the sword to the golem. My thinking was that the Restoration Angel can survive a bolt, a golem cannot. So by giving the golem the sword, I have two creatures to attack with that he can't just simply bolt and move on. In doing so, I essentially spotted him two turns while he blocked my golem with his snapcasters. Had I just equipped the resto angel, he would have been taking 5 through the air each turn, with me gaining 3 life and getting back the weenies that were burned earlier. Also, early in game 1, on turn 2, I had a vial at 1 on the board. I casted Thalia, he remanded, and I vialed-in a judge's familiar to counter the remand so he couldn't draw. It was early in the game, so that one card probably would not have mattered much. I should've saved the familiar to counter the lightning bolt that came right after that.
Fun Plays: Forcing him to try to burn my blade splicer, and then resto angel'ing it. Also, when he was swinging with a Geist, I had my two vials at 3 and 2 open. I vialed in a Thalia before declaring blockers. He attempted to bolt my Thalia. I responded by vialing in a flickerwisp to save my Thalia, and then block his Geist anyways.
Round 4 (URG Twin) (Win 2-1)
I never saw an Aether Vial in all three games against this guy. But, this deck is versatile enough that it's not a dealbreaker. Game 1, Kept him off his second red mana source to stave off the combo. By the time he managed to get his second red mana source to stick, I had a path at the ready for his combo and pulled out the win. I sided out 2 crusaders, 2 swords, 3 judge's familiar for 2 Stony Silence, 2 Rest in Peace, 1 Thalia, 1 Mark of the Asylum and 1 Ghostly Prison. Game 2, he plays a t2 Spellskite, which I respond to by playing Stony Silence. I use an early path on a Scavenging Ooze, but eventually get overwhelmed by Goyfs without getting any of my flyers to do some beating. I then sided out two Stony Silence for the second Mark and second Ghostly Prison. Game 3, I stick a t2 mark of the asylum. T3, I play a flickerwisp, targeting my own plains to untap one of my plains so I have my path mana open. Turns 4 and 5 he plays a deceiver exarch and pestermite. His mana base is too strong for me to hope to disrupt, so instead, after attacking with my flickerwisp on my turn, I play another flickerwisp during my second main, targeting the wisp that just attacked. I move to my end step, the wisp comes back into play, and I use it to bounce his pestermite out of play for the turn (who needs a vial for tricks!) He plays a Thrun, The Last Troll. At his end step, I play a resto angel targeting my wisp to keep his pestermite out of play for the turn again. And then I win the damage race with my 2 wisps (3/1 flyers) and 1 resto angel (3/4 flyers) that he couldn't do anything about thanks to Mark of the Asylum.
Mistake Plays: I used a path way too early in game 2 against the scavenging ooze. The life gain sucks, but, we can bounce the ooze to reset its counters when it gets to big with wisp. That path would've been much more useful in getting rid of a goyf later in the game. I made another path error (although it turned out not to be) early in game 3. He had a 2/3 goyf which I pathed early. I drew a Rest in Peace the next turn. And while, I never played the RiP (because I didn't need to), it would've been better to save the path for the combo, knowing that I still had a turn or 2 to deal with the goyf. It turns out, that after seeing my Stony Silence in game 2, my opponent decided to side out the combo. So holding back a path for his combo was a waste, since it was never coming.
Fun Plays: Flickerwisping his Pestermite out for the combat phases without vial. It felt good... real good. Also, not so much a sweet play, but it was a lot of fun flying over his troll's head with my flyers that he couldn't burn.
Mistake Play that Turned Out to be a Winner: Siding in Stony Silence. I wasn't thinking, and for some reason, in the back of my mind I assumed Stony Silence shut down artifacts AND enchantments (aka it shut down Twin). I don't know what was going through my mind that I thought that, but they were sided in game 2. What that allowed me to do was keep the pressure on his combo. Without the stony silence, he would have been able to use spellskite to keep me from using path/dismember to disrupt his combo. AND, as mentioned earlier, he decided to side out his combo game 3 because of it. I think it might actually be worth siding it in against Twin just to shut down their spellskite and ensure you can stop the combo with path/dismember/resto angel'ed wisp.
Takeaways from the FNM:
As I mentioned at the start, on my online version I replaced Mirran Crusader with Kitchen Finks. And boy, did I ever wish I was able to find my finks today! I sided out Crusaders in every single matchup. Most decks in the format have an easy answer to him. In game ones against the UWR decks, I actually just used him to draw out a counter/burn spell before I played a creature that I actually thought my stick on the board for a second. The crusader is an absolute beast against Jund and GB rock, but he's wayyyy too weak against the rest of the field.
I really really like Aven Riftwatcher in this deck. It's vanishing three makes it practically a waste for your opponent to use a burn spell on, it gets you a guaranteed 4 life, it flies (which not only lets it flyer over your opponents big scary creatures, but it can block Affinity's Signal Pest and Vault Skirge. I'm not sure if I'm quite sold on them over finks, seeing as Finks can survive non-Anger of the Gods board wipes and bolts. But until I find my finks, I'm definitely putting two riftwatchers in place of the crusaders.
I love Leonin Relic-Warder in our board, and it was so fun to be able to use wisp shenanigans to perma-exile one of my storm opponent's pyromancer's ascension. HOWEVER, relic warder requires a vial at 2 (or a resto angel) to be used at instant speed, and is quite easy to kill. I'm considering replacing the relic-warder with Sundering Growth. I don't like that Growth costs 3 to play with Thalia, but I really like the sound of being able to use an instant-speed growth to take out Storm's ascensions, or splinter twin AND get another 3/3 golem out of the mix. Relic-Warder is cute, but I think Sundering Growth might be better.
I definitely need to trade to get ahold of Ethersworn Cannonist and Spellskite. Spellskite is 100 times more versatile and useful than Ghostly Prison.
A response to some of the questions that I've seen in this thread:
How do we beat Amulet of Vigor combo? - I've actually had a lot of success with this matchup. Just save your paths for the big guys and fly over to bash their faces in. We can also use Flickerwisp to bounce their amulets on their turn, which basically kills their turn. Also, save your Ghost Quarters/Tectonic Edges for their lands that can give trample/haste/double strike.
How many Aven Mindcensors should we run? - I run 2 in my 75 (1 md, 1 sb). Mindcensors are an absolute boss in some matchups, but they're also crappy 2/1 flyers in others. I view my mindcensor as a 5th arbiter (just as I view my dismember as my 5th path). If Magic decks consisted of 65 cards main deck, I would run 2-3. However, for my build personally, there just isn't room for a 2nd or 3rd, and I honestly haven't had any problems yet because of it.