I've been doing some testing for the upcoming SCG Open in Baltimore since I live nearby, and I've assembled a strong list against the majority of the field. I like my R/G Matchup since I use the aggressive version of this deck (Geist & Reckoner) and go under Burning Earth most of the time, and have plenty of removal for their creatures. Bant Hexproof is annoying, but I have verdicts and flares in the SB for them. Jund is about 50/50, but I have Clones, T-Maws, and Conscripts to help me in that matchup. And against any aggro decks, I consider myself a heavy favorite with cheap removal, snaps, and reckoners.
However, I've been playtesting against B/G Midrange, and my god is the matchup really rough. They have so many ways to kill your Geist (Lili, Mutilate, Devour Flesh SB) and they can strip it from your hand on their play with a Lifebane Zombie. They can kill Boros Reckoner without damaging themselves at all thanks to Putrefy and Doom Blade - which conveniently works against Thundermaw Hellkite - and they have Oozes to turn off your Snapcaster Mages and offset damage from your burn spells.
So I'm turning to the MTGS Community to help me out with this one: What are some cards UWR Geist can use to make the B/G matchup better? My immediate thought is to use Tamiyo because she can tap down a Thragtusk or Desecration Demon, draw cards, and use her ultimate as a win condition with burn in hand (assuming no scooze is on board). The B/G Decks also have very few ways to deal with planeswalkers.
Here's my list as of now; I top 8'ed an IQ with it (a few slight changes) so I know the list is good and can win. Thanks for any help!
What you really need to beat them is Sphinx's Revelation. But you're deck isn't tuned to take advantage of that. They will have a lot of duress type effects and Vraska after board, so Tamiyo isn't going to be an all star. I feel like you either need a way to reload your hand (Revelation), or the most you could do is try and add a little more grind power via utility lands. You should be able to play 1 and still cast Boros Reckoner reliabily. In order of most likely to least likely: a) Moorland Haunt, b) Slayers' Stronghold, c) Desolate Lighthouse, c) Mutavault.
I don't think Rev's are where you want to be, and I think you already have most of the tools to make the matchup decent (Burn, Counterspells), I think all you can hope for is a slight push, and maybe shaving a card in your sb for another counterspell, or assemble the legion.
I really want to try to add more to my mainlist (play 3 synco, 2 dissipate main) or my SB. Feel like I need izzet staticasters. I've never tried them in my SB but everyone else swears by them. Also feel like celestial flare/renounce the guilds
Used to love staticaster, but feel like he does next to nothing these days. Best you could hope to kill in this meta would be against craig wescoes white weenie deck. Staticaster isn't amazing atm. Celestial Flare and Renounce however, are both solid cards, And I've grown quite fond of Renounce.
I feel like boarding in a niched card like wear and tear (which isn't really going to hit anything else), is going to get you killed by something else. I still thing the best way is to counter it with dissipates on the play and siding out a dissipate for a negate on the draw. Generally you should be able to counter it, as it comes down turn 4. That is late enough in the game to generally count on being able to counter something. If not, it's probably because you had the counterspell and used it on something else. Another way, is to get a ratchet bomb down early enough, and proactively tick it up to 4. A resolved burning earth is pretty much ggs, so keep that in mind if you decide to snap syncopate a hellrider. I would even go as far to say prioritizing a burning earth over a domri is also correct, and you should bring in renounce to hit domris.
I feel like most of the time, you should be able to play around burning earth, and if you let one resolve, there was probably something you could have done to prevent it. Mind you, counterspells are also a lot better now, so maybe we're just running different levels of counter removal.
+2 Detention Sphere
+2 Assemble the Legion
+1 Negate
-2 Pillar of Flame
-3 Azorius charm
Since you need board wipe but not removal, I won't cut Supreme Verdict.
And you definitely don't want those token generator backed on their top library, so cut Azorius charm
I find bouncing a token is a very relevant effect, and I love charm for the cantrip. I would cut augurs before I cut charm as bringing in assemble and sphere makes it worse. Im also not a huge fan of sphere but thats a personal choice ans im not sure if its correct. I just dont like the idea of turning on their abrupt decays and providing more utility to golgari charm
Also verdict is a great safety button...but unless things get completely out of hand...a verdict will generally be a 1 for 1...or 1 for 0.5. I think two is a good number to have security without having then clog up your hand...plus tapping out for a verdict is an easy way to get garrukd.
-1 Aetherling
-2 Think Twice
-2 Dissipate
-2 Jace, Architect of Thought
(I can also see keeping in your dissipates on the play, and bringing in a negate on the draw)
Jund
-2 Augur of Bolas
-2 Pillar of Flame
-1 Supreme Verdict
+1 Negate
+2 Counterflux
+2 Assemble the Legion
USA Flash
-3 Augur of Bolas
-2 Pillar of Flame
-2 Searing Spear
-2 Turn // Burn
+2 Dispel
+1 Negate
+2 Counterflux
+2 Detention Sphere
+2 Assemble the Legion
*Keep in mind, Flash will generally have Renounce the Guilds in it's sb, so your sphere's might be worse. And keep in mind that Assemble the Legion makes Red/White Soldiers.
BG/the Rock (Versions that have cut Geralf's Messenger for Lifebane Zombie)
-3 Augur of Bolas
-2 Pillar of Flame
-1 Supreme Verdict
+2 Counterflux
+1 Negate
+2 Assemble the Legion
This is just off the top of my head. Every game is different and you should board accordingly. These are just guidelines to get a general idea.
What do you think about Planar Cleansing against Jund Midrange? I didn't like the spell previously but it seems it does a lot of work against Jund and might actually be a good tech against them:
- 6 mana isn't that big of problem against Jund
- Kills tokens AND planeswalkers generating them. No more "there is still a threat on the board" after casting Verdict
- From time to time will kill something like Rakdos Keyrune
From what I've seen Garruks are a big problem for UWR if they are not countered because they are always 2 for 1 afterwards. Planar Cleansing solves this problem.
The problem isnt getting to six mana...the problem is tapping out at 6 mana...giving them free reign to rakdos return you for six seems like an easy way to die....negating or thundermawing a garruk seems safer
I really think Jace M.A is the best approach. They have to actually have the elixir in hand, and your odds of being able to negate or mill it are pretty good.
obviously, the deck made short work of all the aggro decks in the field. I didn't get to see it face off against any real midrange decks other than the GW deck in the top 8. Still, it feels like turn/burn and aetherling gave UWR a fresh breath of life that the deck really needed.
I've tested the deck for a few matches online and it seems legit. Played it against junk aristocrats and junk reanimator and won both matches. Didn't miss restoration angel at all really. Jace, architect of thought does great work against any kind of lingering souls deck and it's awesome to have renounce the guilds as a real answer to something like obzedat.
I really like the deck, I'm actually more worried about the aggro matchup's now that there's less early stuff like augurs and reckoners. I also don't have staticaster in the SB anymore. It kinda worries me that when I watch the coverage, the pilot seems to be making a lot of sub-optimal plays, and his opponnents seem to always have to mulligan. I can't judge his skill level, and so I'm unsure where I can and cannot make changes. Here's the list I'm running for comparison, though I would like to get more games in before I start thinking about heavy changes.
So far the only changes I've made are cutting a verdict for another terminus in the main, and putting a flux in the sb. I cut Jace from the SB in favor of a cavern of souls, mostly cause they're both for control match-ups, and Jace isn't even that good anymore (Aetherling seems to be where it's at). Anything else, Tamiyo does similar enough for a 5-drop walker. I also still don't know how I feel about the Assemble the Legion in the main. It's been good, and I've played with it a lot since it was released, and it's won me a lot of games, but I'm still not sold. I'm still not sure if I know the deck enough to cut it. The 4rth Revelation turned into an azorius charm, just cause my friend was borrowing my 4rth Rev, and I still don't feel the need to put in the 4rth. Between Jace and Tamiyo, and cards like Aetherling and Assemble, games where you don't draw revelation, aren't even that back-breaking anymore. Sometimes terminus, followed up by Aetherling is completely fine. I can also see going down to 1 snapcaster, because he does very little in the early game, and you have so much burn anyways. But late-game he buys back your revelation or turn etc. Still one would seem fine. I'm also worried that this deck has so much stuff that isn't useful in the control match-up.
Atm cards I WANT to cut for say an esper-matchup:
2 Terminus
2 Searing Spear
1 Mizzium Mortars
2 Pillar of Flame
2 Supreme Verdict
2 Turn and Burn
2 Warleader's Helix
1 Essence Scatter
This is in order from most likely to least likely.
I have these options to bring in (Least likely to most):
2 Renounce the Guilds
1 Turn and Burn
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Cavern of Souls
2 Negate
1 Counterflux
1 Aetherling
So essence scatter at least hits maybe aetherling, snappy, or resto, Warleader's helix can at least kill a Jace or Dome them. And turn can burn or kill an Aetherling. And renounce can maybe hit detention sphere or Assemble in the Uwr Match-up.
So I'm thinking:
-2 Terminus
-2 Searing Spear
-1 Mizzium Mortars
-2 Pillar of Flame
-1 Supreme Verdict
+1 Renounce the Guilds
+1 Turn and Burn
+1 Oblivion Ring
+1 Cavern of Souls
+2 Negate
+1 Counterflux
+1 Aetherling
I can also see keepin in the verdict. I would really like to find one more slot in the main or sb for a card that is good in the control-matchup.
I'm going to be running it at FNM tomorrow. Ill post the results afterwards and any changes I'd make. What are your thoughts on the deck?
I think you have too many counterspells, and you're correct in wanting a blend of spells, but between the lack of Augur's, and Thought Scours, I don't know if you will be able to see enough of you're deck quickly enough to benifit from the card selection. I also think you're leaning towards a more control heavy route, and would want to find a way to squeeze in another land and 2-3 supreme verdicts.
I could also be wrong, I've been doing horribly lately.
I also like the idea of a single mizzium mortars to work as removal in the lategame, as well as a onesided wrath in the late-game. I also have been finding that verdict is getting worse.
Could someone please explain why exactly Aurelia is at least decent in this deck? I've been taking a break from UWR since mid-RtR and I can't figure out how is she considered a finisher....
Ok, let's say you EoT Snapcaster -> Spear the opponent. Then you Resto -> blink Snappy-> Spear. Next turn land Aurelia and deal a total of 22 dmg on an empty board( that's if they don't have any removal). Sure, 22 is a lot of damage, but how does that fare when people are slamming Thragtusks?
Isn't Assemble the Legions much better? It isn't as explosive, but it is harder to remove and offers inevitability.
In a flash deck, you're a control deck, but you're not pure control. You don't run as many wraths, and you don't have inevitability. You're cards kind of suck and are pretty low-impact. If you try an lock your opponent out of the game, you have to find and dedicate a ton of resources. At this point decking yourself becomes a legitimate issue. And since you don't have cards like drownyard, you can't exactly slow down and just focus on milling them to win. You have to keep drawing large amounts of cards to continue to keep your opponent out of the game. Often times the game plan for flash is to stabilize, and create a window where the opponent is out of steam, and win before the opponent can start gathering resources for another assault. Sometimes you have to look like you're about to lose but disrupt your opponent enough to kill them the turn before they kill you. You can't always hope to have the board locked down each and every game. This means you have to have some sort of tool to do large amounts of damage out of nowhere. Whether it's runechanter's pike, harvest pyre, or Aurelia. You need a way to kill your opponent when they're at a life total where they feel safe.
Assemble is good, but you have to draw it in your early turns to begin building it up. It doesn't help on turn 12 when you're dead on board and top-deck one. At least Aurelia + Eot Resto, threatens 12 damage, which combined with your opponent paying life for shocklands, and maybe a couple of burn spells, might be enough to get you there.
Thragtusk decks gain life, but they also aren't pressuring you as much as hyper aggro decks. So even if their life-total is higher, it gives you more time to set up bigger revelations, find more burns spells, restoration angels etc. The life-gain from a couple of thragtusks is usually manageable, but the bodies are what you need to find answers for.
Thoughts? I have really enjoyed running both GoST and Reckoner to increase threat density. Ral has also turned out to be great. 4 Snap may be too many, I am thinking about dropping 1 snap to add a 3rd Ral. Also Aurelia could very easily be thundermaw
I can see cutting a snappy and something else for 2 boros charms. The extra reach in your deck isn't unwanted, and sometimes you just need to infinite life FTW...
I would disagree with you again in saying that UWr flash is the more popular deck choice in those colors. I'd argue the midrange variant with boros reckoner and harvest pyre is the more played of the two. I haven't looked up the numbers but I'm fairly confidant this is true. Only recently has the "flash" (not traditional flash) deck, running 2 aurelia's, been performing well, and even then I'd still say it's not as played as reckoner builds.
Both the Reckoner/Pyre and Aurelia Uwr decks are considered Flash.
UWr Flash is also sometimes known as Uwr control by some and plays a slower game that leans on casting sphinx's revelation, while usa midrange is a tempo based deck that uses hard to answer threats, burn, and very little to no counter-magic. For sure reckoner and harvest pyre can be run in usa midrange, but generally what you've been seeing is a Flash variant.
One is about answering your threats cheaply and reloading with sphinx, the other is about disrupting you long enough to kill/burn you out.
TBH I actually haven't seen or heard anything from usa midrange in a long long time.
The Aurelia decks and Reckoner decks are trying to play the same game, but the finishers are different. Both have their pros and cons, and kind of tie into how much you hate or love think twice, vs thought scour.
Also, I'm pretty sure that Naya Blitz is the match-up I like to see the most. It's my favorite match-up as a flash player.
My numbers for cards that relate to that match-up are:
3 Augur
4 Reckoner
3 Restoration
3 Pillar
2 Spear
1 Verdict
(Just to show I'm not overboard trying to hate out the blitz decks)
Just a crazy idea I had that I'm going to test. I figure that since with UWr Flash, you get to see so many cards, diversifying your answers seems like a good idea, and I wanted to see how far I could push the envelope. All the burn numbers and counter numbers still add up the same, but every card does something a little different, which when paired with thought scour should give your more options.
The only thing I'm not sure of so far, is that it makes Augur decisions a lot harder if you have to choose between 3 different one-ofs. I don't know if that's a flaw in deck design, or if you can always make an optimal choice.
I also thought about running a Warleader's helix, but I don't like the idea of not being able to kill a thundermaw hellkite.
This is not always true. I personally want to have some success in my playing to feel "good" about myself. The last 5-6 big tournaments I've been in, I haven't top 8ed even once and it really hurts me. It hurts because some were very close, but usually mistakes or poor shuffling got me.
Now you're saying something much deeper that I think a lot of us can relate too.
It's really hard in magic to gauge how good you are, and I know that I can't help but compare myself to the player's around me. At first I was just new and bad at the game, but as I got better, I used winning games as a report of my skill level. If I beat someone multiple times, it probably meant I was better than them. If I thought I was better than someone, it usually meant that I deserved to beat them.
But I felt like this only in the just after noob phase. I coined it the "stupid-enough-to-win phase", where you've got your decent aggro deck, you've got a little beginner's luck, and you've got just enough knowledge to not screw up. At this point in your magic career, you're just wrecking face, taking names, and cashing checks, but you couldn't say why you're winning. Life is great, it's simple it's black and white, you're good, they're worse and if you lost it wasn't your fault.
Then comes the much harder phase, where you realize how complex magic is, you start wanting to play decks with higher ceilings of improvement and decision trees, and you do decent at first, but when you watch someone you respect play your deck, it doesn't seem possible that you're both playing the same deck. You realize in a mirror match that they're fighting over completely different things etc. And when you hit your first dry spell of success, you start to question everything. What's going on lately?, why can't I win anymore? What's changed?
I find winning at magic oddly enough is much, MUCH harder when you wan't to start knowing what's actually going on. When you decide on the line of play you're going to take in a game, or fighting the urge to change your line, even if you've received no new information. It's so much easier to just try and think a turn or two ahead, or just try and make the most optimal decision each turn. But actually trying to manipulate the entire course of a game just seems impossible.
Suddenly you understand the incredible amount of variance involved, but that minimizing variance is another layer of the game.
You progress through levels of humility, ignorance, cockiness and when you ask for advice, everyone has a different answer, and a different viewpoint. Everyone's idea of what is "correct" and "incorrect" are different, and you have to sift through all this information to find out what is true and what isn't.
I went from thinking my loses were at first because I got unlucky, then I realized that maybe It might have been my fault. Then I started thinking maybe it's always my fault, and now I've finally settled on, sometimes, maybe these things just happen.
Even now I still can't figure out a system to measure my progress and some days I just feel like the absolute worst player.
I also try to remind myself to not be so results oriented.
Being a good magic player, I feel, is about being able to know and do the right thing consistently each time, even if it doesn't always reward you. It's about constant and consistent evaluation of how you see the world and working to make it as accurate a representation as possible.
Ultimately, for me it's about being as honest and truthful with myself as possible.
I'm sure this is all old news, but I tried my best to put it into words (sorry if I rambled)
I also don't really agree with the "Lucky>Fun...etc" thing. I think if you really wan't to win, it requires work and dedication, and you need to bring something extra to the table. If you wan't to win, you have to play tighter, you have to think of all the angles, you have to make the right reads, the right plays, the right bluffs. You have to think and do things in such a way that adds value to how you play out the cards you're given. Or you can mindlessly grind major events, and hope that one day the stars just align and you dodge every bad match-up, play every good one, and keep every 7.
What you really need to beat them is Sphinx's Revelation. But you're deck isn't tuned to take advantage of that. They will have a lot of duress type effects and Vraska after board, so Tamiyo isn't going to be an all star. I feel like you either need a way to reload your hand (Revelation), or the most you could do is try and add a little more grind power via utility lands. You should be able to play 1 and still cast Boros Reckoner reliabily. In order of most likely to least likely: a) Moorland Haunt, b) Slayers' Stronghold, c) Desolate Lighthouse, c) Mutavault.
I don't think Rev's are where you want to be, and I think you already have most of the tools to make the matchup decent (Burn, Counterspells), I think all you can hope for is a slight push, and maybe shaving a card in your sb for another counterspell, or assemble the legion.
Used to love staticaster, but feel like he does next to nothing these days. Best you could hope to kill in this meta would be against craig wescoes white weenie deck. Staticaster isn't amazing atm. Celestial Flare and Renounce however, are both solid cards, And I've grown quite fond of Renounce.
I feel like most of the time, you should be able to play around burning earth, and if you let one resolve, there was probably something you could have done to prevent it. Mind you, counterspells are also a lot better now, so maybe we're just running different levels of counter removal.
I find bouncing a token is a very relevant effect, and I love charm for the cantrip. I would cut augurs before I cut charm as bringing in assemble and sphere makes it worse. Im also not a huge fan of sphere but thats a personal choice ans im not sure if its correct. I just dont like the idea of turning on their abrupt decays and providing more utility to golgari charm
Also verdict is a great safety button...but unless things get completely out of hand...a verdict will generally be a 1 for 1...or 1 for 0.5. I think two is a good number to have security without having then clog up your hand...plus tapping out for a verdict is an easy way to get garrukd.
3 Augur of Bolas
1 Snapcaster Mage
3 Restoration Angel
1 Aetherling
Spells
2 Pillar of Flame
2 Syncopate
3 Azorius charm
2 Searing Spear
2 Think Twice
2 Turn // Burn
2 Dissipate
3 Sphinx's Revelation
3 Supreme Verdict
2 Warleader's Helix
2 Jace, Architect of Thought
2 Dispel
2 Pillar of Flame
1 Pithing Needle
1 Negate
3 Ratchet Bomb
2 Counterflux
2 Detention Sphere
2 Assemble the Legion
Aggro:
+3 Ratchet Bomb
+2 Pillar of Flame
-1 Aetherling
-2 Think Twice
-2 Dissipate
Aggro/Burning Earth Decks
+3 Ratchet Bomb
+2 Pillar of Flame
+2 Detention Sphere
-1 Aetherling
-2 Think Twice
-2 Dissipate
-2 Jace, Architect of Thought
(I can also see keeping in your dissipates on the play, and bringing in a negate on the draw)
Jund
-2 Augur of Bolas
-2 Pillar of Flame
-1 Supreme Verdict
+1 Negate
+2 Counterflux
+2 Assemble the Legion
USA Flash
-3 Augur of Bolas
-2 Pillar of Flame
-2 Searing Spear
-2 Turn // Burn
+2 Dispel
+1 Negate
+2 Counterflux
+2 Detention Sphere
+2 Assemble the Legion
*Keep in mind, Flash will generally have Renounce the Guilds in it's sb, so your sphere's might be worse. And keep in mind that Assemble the Legion makes Red/White Soldiers.
BG/the Rock (Versions that have cut Geralf's Messenger for Lifebane Zombie)
-3 Augur of Bolas
-2 Pillar of Flame
-1 Supreme Verdict
+2 Counterflux
+1 Negate
+2 Assemble the Legion
This is just off the top of my head. Every game is different and you should board accordingly. These are just guidelines to get a general idea.
The problem isnt getting to six mana...the problem is tapping out at 6 mana...giving them free reign to rakdos return you for six seems like an easy way to die....negating or thundermawing a garruk seems safer
I really like the deck, I'm actually more worried about the aggro matchup's now that there's less early stuff like augurs and reckoners. I also don't have staticaster in the SB anymore. It kinda worries me that when I watch the coverage, the pilot seems to be making a lot of sub-optimal plays, and his opponnents seem to always have to mulligan. I can't judge his skill level, and so I'm unsure where I can and cannot make changes. Here's the list I'm running for comparison, though I would like to get more games in before I start thinking about heavy changes.
2 Snapcaster Mage
1 Assemble the Legion
1 Aetherling
1 Tamiyo, the Moon Sage
1 Jace, Architect of Thought
4 Azorius Charm
3 Think Twice
3 Sphinx's Revelation
2 Searing Spear
1 Mizzium Mortars
2 Pillar of Flame
2 Turn
2 Warleader's Helix
1 Detention Sphere
1 Essence Scatter
1 Dissipate
1 Rewind
2 Supreme Verdict
2 Terminus
4 Hallowed Fountain
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Steam Vents
4 Sulfur Falls
3 Sacred Foundry
3 Clifftop Retreat
2 Island
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Desolate Lighthouse
3 Clone
1 Terminus
2 Pillar of Flame
1 Turn
2 Renounce the Guilds
1 Counterflux
2 Negate
1 Aetherling
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Oblivion Ring
So far the only changes I've made are cutting a verdict for another terminus in the main, and putting a flux in the sb. I cut Jace from the SB in favor of a cavern of souls, mostly cause they're both for control match-ups, and Jace isn't even that good anymore (Aetherling seems to be where it's at). Anything else, Tamiyo does similar enough for a 5-drop walker. I also still don't know how I feel about the Assemble the Legion in the main. It's been good, and I've played with it a lot since it was released, and it's won me a lot of games, but I'm still not sold. I'm still not sure if I know the deck enough to cut it. The 4rth Revelation turned into an azorius charm, just cause my friend was borrowing my 4rth Rev, and I still don't feel the need to put in the 4rth. Between Jace and Tamiyo, and cards like Aetherling and Assemble, games where you don't draw revelation, aren't even that back-breaking anymore. Sometimes terminus, followed up by Aetherling is completely fine. I can also see going down to 1 snapcaster, because he does very little in the early game, and you have so much burn anyways. But late-game he buys back your revelation or turn etc. Still one would seem fine. I'm also worried that this deck has so much stuff that isn't useful in the control match-up.
Atm cards I WANT to cut for say an esper-matchup:
2 Terminus
2 Searing Spear
1 Mizzium Mortars
2 Pillar of Flame
2 Supreme Verdict
2 Turn and Burn
2 Warleader's Helix
1 Essence Scatter
This is in order from most likely to least likely.
I have these options to bring in (Least likely to most):
2 Renounce the Guilds
1 Turn and Burn
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Cavern of Souls
2 Negate
1 Counterflux
1 Aetherling
So essence scatter at least hits maybe aetherling, snappy, or resto, Warleader's helix can at least kill a Jace or Dome them. And turn can burn or kill an Aetherling. And renounce can maybe hit detention sphere or Assemble in the Uwr Match-up.
So I'm thinking:
-2 Terminus
-2 Searing Spear
-1 Mizzium Mortars
-2 Pillar of Flame
-1 Supreme Verdict
+1 Renounce the Guilds
+1 Turn and Burn
+1 Oblivion Ring
+1 Cavern of Souls
+2 Negate
+1 Counterflux
+1 Aetherling
I can also see keepin in the verdict. I would really like to find one more slot in the main or sb for a card that is good in the control-matchup.
Oh, and I cut a Dissipate for a Rewind.
I think you have too many counterspells, and you're correct in wanting a blend of spells, but between the lack of Augur's, and Thought Scours, I don't know if you will be able to see enough of you're deck quickly enough to benifit from the card selection. I also think you're leaning towards a more control heavy route, and would want to find a way to squeeze in another land and 2-3 supreme verdicts.
I could also be wrong, I've been doing horribly lately.
I also like the idea of a single mizzium mortars to work as removal in the lategame, as well as a onesided wrath in the late-game. I also have been finding that verdict is getting worse.
In a flash deck, you're a control deck, but you're not pure control. You don't run as many wraths, and you don't have inevitability. You're cards kind of suck and are pretty low-impact. If you try an lock your opponent out of the game, you have to find and dedicate a ton of resources. At this point decking yourself becomes a legitimate issue. And since you don't have cards like drownyard, you can't exactly slow down and just focus on milling them to win. You have to keep drawing large amounts of cards to continue to keep your opponent out of the game. Often times the game plan for flash is to stabilize, and create a window where the opponent is out of steam, and win before the opponent can start gathering resources for another assault. Sometimes you have to look like you're about to lose but disrupt your opponent enough to kill them the turn before they kill you. You can't always hope to have the board locked down each and every game. This means you have to have some sort of tool to do large amounts of damage out of nowhere. Whether it's runechanter's pike, harvest pyre, or Aurelia. You need a way to kill your opponent when they're at a life total where they feel safe.
Assemble is good, but you have to draw it in your early turns to begin building it up. It doesn't help on turn 12 when you're dead on board and top-deck one. At least Aurelia + Eot Resto, threatens 12 damage, which combined with your opponent paying life for shocklands, and maybe a couple of burn spells, might be enough to get you there.
Thragtusk decks gain life, but they also aren't pressuring you as much as hyper aggro decks. So even if their life-total is higher, it gives you more time to set up bigger revelations, find more burns spells, restoration angels etc. The life-gain from a couple of thragtusks is usually manageable, but the bodies are what you need to find answers for.
I can see cutting a snappy and something else for 2 boros charms. The extra reach in your deck isn't unwanted, and sometimes you just need to infinite life FTW...
Both the Reckoner/Pyre and Aurelia Uwr decks are considered Flash.
UWr Flash is also sometimes known as Uwr control by some and plays a slower game that leans on casting sphinx's revelation, while usa midrange is a tempo based deck that uses hard to answer threats, burn, and very little to no counter-magic. For sure reckoner and harvest pyre can be run in usa midrange, but generally what you've been seeing is a Flash variant.
One is about answering your threats cheaply and reloading with sphinx, the other is about disrupting you long enough to kill/burn you out.
TBH I actually haven't seen or heard anything from usa midrange in a long long time.
The Aurelia decks and Reckoner decks are trying to play the same game, but the finishers are different. Both have their pros and cons, and kind of tie into how much you hate or love think twice, vs thought scour.
Also, I'm pretty sure that Naya Blitz is the match-up I like to see the most. It's my favorite match-up as a flash player.
My numbers for cards that relate to that match-up are:
3 Augur
4 Reckoner
3 Restoration
3 Pillar
2 Spear
1 Verdict
(Just to show I'm not overboard trying to hate out the blitz decks)
I bring in 3 staticasters and 1 dispel.
The only thing I'm not sure of so far, is that it makes Augur decisions a lot harder if you have to choose between 3 different one-ofs. I don't know if that's a flaw in deck design, or if you can always make an optimal choice.
I also thought about running a Warleader's helix, but I don't like the idea of not being able to kill a thundermaw hellkite.
3 Snapcaster Mage
4 Boros Reckoner
3 Restoration Angel
4 Azorius Charm
4 Thought Scour
3 Sphinx's Revelation
1 Think Twice
1 Harvest Pyre
1 Turn
1 Searing Spear
1 Pillar of Flame
1 Rapid Hybridization
1 Supreme Verdict
1 Izzet Charm
1 Dissipate
1 Counterflux
1 Rewind
4 Hallowed Fountain
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Steam Vents
4 Sulfur Falls
2 Sacred Foundry
4 Clifftop Retreat
2 Island
2 Izzet Staticaster
1 Electrickery
1 Pillar of Flame
2 Dispel
2 Negate
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Supreme Verdict
3 Purify the Grave
2 Jace, Memory Adept
Now you're saying something much deeper that I think a lot of us can relate too.
It's really hard in magic to gauge how good you are, and I know that I can't help but compare myself to the player's around me. At first I was just new and bad at the game, but as I got better, I used winning games as a report of my skill level. If I beat someone multiple times, it probably meant I was better than them. If I thought I was better than someone, it usually meant that I deserved to beat them.
But I felt like this only in the just after noob phase. I coined it the "stupid-enough-to-win phase", where you've got your decent aggro deck, you've got a little beginner's luck, and you've got just enough knowledge to not screw up. At this point in your magic career, you're just wrecking face, taking names, and cashing checks, but you couldn't say why you're winning. Life is great, it's simple it's black and white, you're good, they're worse and if you lost it wasn't your fault.
Then comes the much harder phase, where you realize how complex magic is, you start wanting to play decks with higher ceilings of improvement and decision trees, and you do decent at first, but when you watch someone you respect play your deck, it doesn't seem possible that you're both playing the same deck. You realize in a mirror match that they're fighting over completely different things etc. And when you hit your first dry spell of success, you start to question everything. What's going on lately?, why can't I win anymore? What's changed?
I find winning at magic oddly enough is much, MUCH harder when you wan't to start knowing what's actually going on. When you decide on the line of play you're going to take in a game, or fighting the urge to change your line, even if you've received no new information. It's so much easier to just try and think a turn or two ahead, or just try and make the most optimal decision each turn. But actually trying to manipulate the entire course of a game just seems impossible.
Suddenly you understand the incredible amount of variance involved, but that minimizing variance is another layer of the game.
You progress through levels of humility, ignorance, cockiness and when you ask for advice, everyone has a different answer, and a different viewpoint. Everyone's idea of what is "correct" and "incorrect" are different, and you have to sift through all this information to find out what is true and what isn't.
I went from thinking my loses were at first because I got unlucky, then I realized that maybe It might have been my fault. Then I started thinking maybe it's always my fault, and now I've finally settled on, sometimes, maybe these things just happen.
Even now I still can't figure out a system to measure my progress and some days I just feel like the absolute worst player.
I also try to remind myself to not be so results oriented.
Being a good magic player, I feel, is about being able to know and do the right thing consistently each time, even if it doesn't always reward you. It's about constant and consistent evaluation of how you see the world and working to make it as accurate a representation as possible.
Ultimately, for me it's about being as honest and truthful with myself as possible.
I'm sure this is all old news, but I tried my best to put it into words (sorry if I rambled)
I also don't really agree with the "Lucky>Fun...etc" thing. I think if you really wan't to win, it requires work and dedication, and you need to bring something extra to the table. If you wan't to win, you have to play tighter, you have to think of all the angles, you have to make the right reads, the right plays, the right bluffs. You have to think and do things in such a way that adds value to how you play out the cards you're given. Or you can mindlessly grind major events, and hope that one day the stars just align and you dodge every bad match-up, play every good one, and keep every 7.