I really like condemn, so much in fact that I am now running a 3/3 split between it and path (wich might be wrong but i've been liking it so far). In most cases i find that attcking creatures are a problem and giving the opponent life is far less problematic than giving them mana.
I probably would switch to a 2/4 split. Condemn definitely is strong, but not working against utility creatures and combo creatures hurts a lot.
I'd also recommend anyone to play 1-2 copies of calciform pools. I find that it's an absolute mvp in the control mirrors and quite decent vs midrange. Granted, vs aggro it's pretty terrible, but as long as it only takes up 1-2 slots in your 60 that' not too big of a deal imo
Are you running them instead of Tectonic Edge or Ghost Quarter?
Valanarch do you feel like you are running well on only 24 lands? 25-26 seems to be the norm, but your curve is a bit lower perhaps. I just worry about not hitting that 6th land considering Colonnade is a key finisher in many scenarios. Also, I'm a fan of Tectonic Edge but I see a lot of people using Ghost Quarter instead. Is there a reason for this? It seems like the basic land is a larger downside to me, but I am a newcomer to the format. Thanks for your input!
Your list is quite unique. It definitely looks like you're building a Standard-style control deck with a Modern card-pool. If you want to do something more typical to UW control in Modern, there are plenty of lists to look at (and I can supply mine, which is more tap-out than most).
However, I don't think your deck is inherently bad. I actually was surprised at how reasonable it looked, considering how different it is. Some suggestions:
You're very top-heavy. Five mana and above is be considered very expensive in Modern (unless you're doing aggressive mana ramp, like using Tron lands). So you have means 9 cards that are "expensive." For reference, I run just a single Gideon and a single Baneslayer in my list, and sometimes I feel like that could be too much. In particular, I think that Venser is too cute.
You're built to beat mid-range creature-based decks (which is par-for-the-course for Standard, but atypical for Modern). I think that you need to tune more toward beating the super-fast decks (Affinity, Burn), and combo decks (Amulet, Twin, etc). The best way to solve this is more cheap counters and cheap removal--though cheap, good removal is hard to come by in straight UW. 4 Wraths may be too much as well, since they're practically dead in a lot of matchups. I think you'll struggle against control as well, since it looks like in general you'll drop one big threat per turn, which is easy for control to deal with. To solve that, you need instant-speed threats, cheap countermagic, and incremental card advantage (Think Twice, Esper Charm).
I noticed that you removed the Temples--I think this is correct. They're great if you can afford to have enough taplands, but I find that 4 Colonnades is about the most you can be comfortable running. I would not play the Conclave nor the Maze. I doubt you'll find yourself often needing to swing for 2 with a manland (though it helps against Liliana in particular), and generally Maze will be far too expensive to matter. Another thing with the lands is, I far prefer Ghost Quarter in UW control, just because Infect, Tron, and Amulet all demand that you kill their lands on turns 1-3, where you can't use Tectonic Edge. Many people disagree with me here, though.
Your sideboard is a good start. I don't think Oblivion Ring is necessary. Ratchet Bomb is generally too slow (Engineered Explosives can do the same thing faster). Consider Stony Silence (Affinity gets destroyed by it, Tron hates to see it), Spellskite (great against Bogles, Infect, and Twin), and Grafdigger's Cage (really only good against Collected Company and graveyard based decks, but Collected is growing in popularity a LOT). Also consider a 1-of Disenchant. It's nice to have, just because sometimes you'll hit a random deck running equipment, or Bitterblossom, etc, and having a miser Disenchant can be a lifesaver.
Thanks for all the help! I know the sideboard needed work (it was mostly placeholder), and you gave me a lot of good ideas! I was also feeling like the deck is a little slow, I know Venser is "cute" but he is a pet card that I really enjoy. I admit I'll probably have to cut him. This started as a Luminarch/Titan deck and has evolved but I would like to keep some sort of Sun Titan package.
As far as cheaper counters/removal, what do you suggest? Modern is really new to me so I could be missing some good ideas. What comes to mind is Spell Pierce, Spell Snare, Mana Tithe, Oust, Condemn, Into the Roil, and Cyclonic Rift, Which of these (if any, or others) would you suggest? Posting your list would also be very helpful; I'm not sure I have time to go through 30 pages.
Can you guys critique my decklist? Trying to break into Modern and I am tweaking an old Standard deck I had laying around. I have most of it assembled, but I am looking into buying the Hallowed Fountains, Flooded Strands, Restoration Angels and Batterskull. I know this isn't a budget forum, but I'm trying to avoid Snapcaster and Cryptic for now.
Also, what is the consensus on Temple of Enlightenment? Scry is always great, but we already are running 4x Colonnade and other ETBT lands.
No, it works. His ability triggers at the declare blockers step (see rulings on Ferrel's Zealot, Keeper of Tresserhorn, Orcish Squatters, etc). Kaalia's ability triggers at the declare attackers step, so he's good to go for the declare blockers step.
Nice job on the links, most would be too lazy :D. Are you absolutely positive here though? It seems like it might have an "if" clause as to whether or not it attacked. Similar to something like Test of Endurance that will not trigger if the requirement is not met, I feel like it might trigger at the blockers step, but retroactively check if it "attacked".
Can we get some more input here? Cause if it works then it's a shoe-in for my Kaalia deck cause it's just crazy. If it doesn't then it is lackluster at best.
Got this product yesterday, I can say there's one thing I was disappointed with. There is no Sorin emblem token! Each deck came wrapped with a 1/1 spirit token (as it indicates on the inside packaging). This is very disappointing as it was something that I was buying the duel deck for.
For comparison, when I purchased Venser vs. Koth they both came with the emblem tokens.
I've never played in a league with points, but I have (perhaps an obvious) question. Does it ever feel like you are focusing too much on getting points and not on actually trying to accomplish "real" Magic goals? Do you ever feel like you are constantly scanning the list to make sure you aren't missing out on points (or seeing what you can shoot for next)?
It just seems like this could detract from the experience for me.
I kinda hate foreign cards. I like to be able to understand what the hell I'm playing, lol. I have an encyclopedic mind for this game, sure, but it's not that good.
Here's my signed Badlands, foil Gisela, altered Avacyn, and my special cut Kaalia. I took the oversized one that came with the deck, cut it to fit sideways on a regular size card, and contact cemented it or something lol. Apparently I need to work on my scan-fu.
=====
Post 5400!
/doesn't mean lol
!! I want to do this to my Kaalia now. 2 Questions tho:
1. Did you contact cement it to another card? (As in it is twice as thick now?)
2. When it's on the table, is it confusing when it is tapped? (As the card would either be betraying its own orientation or every other card's)
Here's my advice from buying a few cars. Both of my cars I've bought used from private sellers, and my wife bought a car through CarMax.
* Buy used. New cars are so much more money for so little value. If you really want a new car, just get a car with low mileage and that will save you a ton of money.
* Do not buy a car that was a rental car. These cars are everywhere, and are notoriously roughly driven. If it was me, I'd consider whatever mileage it had to be x2 when comparing to other cars.
* Mileage means a LOT more than the year. You can many times get a great deal on a slightly older car that hasn't been driven a whole lot.
* Had a good experience overall with CarMax. They were nice, fair, and the price is not a haggle price. The dealer will not push you and they have a lot to choose from generally. I would suggest that you get an outside loan though, the rates they offered were pretty atrocious.
Is the card i had in mind. I used the worldgorger dragon combo in a mono black extended 60 card deck, so i was limited to black cards.
As previously said, using a Badlands instead of swamp as the land drop opens up all the red instant-speed blaze spells you can think of. Since Consume Spirit only hits 1 target, for the purpose of this combo, it's inherently worse than Comet Storm et. al.
Edit: man! i didn't know they did a promo version of Consume Spirit. Sweet!
Yes but Consume Spirit is still a sorcery. I've never used the combo myself, but unless I'm missing something you don't have a chance to cast a sorcery without some kind of way to stop the dragon.
If you are looking for card advantage, Survival Cache has been a nice gem for me in multiplayer games. You may draw a little hate trying to get that second card though.
Pursuit of Knowledge is also great for those willing to roll the dice. If you can protect it with a white counter or hexproof it's probably a lot stronger. Also better with cantrip spells.
Valanarch do you feel like you are running well on only 24 lands? 25-26 seems to be the norm, but your curve is a bit lower perhaps. I just worry about not hitting that 6th land considering Colonnade is a key finisher in many scenarios. Also, I'm a fan of Tectonic Edge but I see a lot of people using Ghost Quarter instead. Is there a reason for this? It seems like the basic land is a larger downside to me, but I am a newcomer to the format. Thanks for your input!
Thanks for all the help! I know the sideboard needed work (it was mostly placeholder), and you gave me a lot of good ideas! I was also feeling like the deck is a little slow, I know Venser is "cute" but he is a pet card that I really enjoy. I admit I'll probably have to cut him. This started as a Luminarch/Titan deck and has evolved but I would like to keep some sort of Sun Titan package.
As far as cheaper counters/removal, what do you suggest? Modern is really new to me so I could be missing some good ideas. What comes to mind is Spell Pierce, Spell Snare, Mana Tithe, Oust, Condemn, Into the Roil, and Cyclonic Rift, Which of these (if any, or others) would you suggest? Posting your list would also be very helpful; I'm not sure I have time to go through 30 pages.
4x Celestial Colonnade
1x Faerie Conclave
4x Flooded Strand
2x Glacial Fortress
2x Hallowed Fountain
2x Island
1x Mystifying Maze
3x Plains
3x Seachrome Coast
4x Tectonic Edge
Instant (11)
4x Condescend
4x Path to Exile
1x Sphinx's Revelation
2x Think Twice
2x Restoration Angel
2x Sun Titan
4x Wall of Omens
1x Wurmcoil Engine
Planeswalker (7)
2x Gideon Jura
1x Jace, Architect of Thought
2x Jace Beleren
2x Venser, the Sojourner
Artifact (2)
1x Aether Spellbomb
1x Batterskull
Sorcery (3)
3x Supreme Verdict
Enchantment (2)
2x Detention Sphere
3x Ratchet Bomb
3x Celestial Purge
3x Oblivion Ring
3x Relic of Progenitus
3x Kor Firewalker
Can you guys critique my decklist? Trying to break into Modern and I am tweaking an old Standard deck I had laying around. I have most of it assembled, but I am looking into buying the Hallowed Fountains, Flooded Strands, Restoration Angels and Batterskull. I know this isn't a budget forum, but I'm trying to avoid Snapcaster and Cryptic for now.
Also, what is the consensus on Temple of Enlightenment? Scry is always great, but we already are running 4x Colonnade and other ETBT lands.
He would have two instances of Scavenge and you could choose which you wanted to pay.
Nice job on the links, most would be too lazy :D. Are you absolutely positive here though? It seems like it might have an "if" clause as to whether or not it attacked. Similar to something like Test of Endurance that will not trigger if the requirement is not met, I feel like it might trigger at the blockers step, but retroactively check if it "attacked".
Can we get some more input here? Cause if it works then it's a shoe-in for my Kaalia deck cause it's just crazy. If it doesn't then it is lackluster at best.
For comparison, when I purchased Venser vs. Koth they both came with the emblem tokens.
I'm confused on how Thespian's Stage would help if you need 10 gates with different names.
It just seems like this could detract from the experience for me.
!! I want to do this to my Kaalia now. 2 Questions tho:
1. Did you contact cement it to another card? (As in it is twice as thick now?)
2. When it's on the table, is it confusing when it is tapped? (As the card would either be betraying its own orientation or every other card's)
"In essence" yes, only regeneration causes the creature to be tapped.
* Buy used. New cars are so much more money for so little value. If you really want a new car, just get a car with low mileage and that will save you a ton of money.
* Do not buy a car that was a rental car. These cars are everywhere, and are notoriously roughly driven. If it was me, I'd consider whatever mileage it had to be x2 when comparing to other cars.
* Mileage means a LOT more than the year. You can many times get a great deal on a slightly older car that hasn't been driven a whole lot.
* Had a good experience overall with CarMax. They were nice, fair, and the price is not a haggle price. The dealer will not push you and they have a lot to choose from generally. I would suggest that you get an outside loan though, the rates they offered were pretty atrocious.
You cannot skip your combat phase. You can act as though it didn't exist but it still happens.
Yes but Consume Spirit is still a sorcery. I've never used the combo myself, but unless I'm missing something you don't have a chance to cast a sorcery without some kind of way to stop the dragon.
Unless your opponent can sacrifice more times than you. I like this idea a lot.
Pursuit of Knowledge is also great for those willing to roll the dice. If you can protect it with a white counter or hexproof it's probably a lot stronger. Also better with cantrip spells.