Some thoughts from FNM last night. I went 0-6 (three rounds), so consider this more of an information-gathering exercise than anything! Round 1 was against 5color Superfriends, and we just weren't fast enough to kill before he got a bunch of planes walkers online and took over the board.
Round two was vs. GR Eldrazi Ramp. Both games we had the same issue; not enough reach to finish the job before he gets going with World Breaker, Nissa and Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger. I also misplayed by not countering an early ramp spell, realizing my mistake right after I made it. Game two I got him down to one life thanks to Thunderclap Wyvern and small flyers, but he stabilized with life gain off of Jaddi Offshoot with extra landfall triggers plus finishers.
Third round was Esper Starfield Pact. Lots of spot removal and of course Languish, the -4/-4 being enough to kill any of the deck's creatures unless we've got a counter. Both games felt close, and I was well-positioned for a while and pressuring his life total, but in the end not enough reach to kill before his inevitability kicks in. Sadly, Reflector Mage was not much help here since he ran very few creatures.
Some general observations:
* Holding up mana, especially on turn two, to either counter something or cast Rattlechains / Infiltrator at end of turn was really valuable.
* Always Watching and Thunderclap Wyvern both performed really well. Silumgar Sorcerer much less so.
* The deck, or at least my build of it, seems to lack enough reach to close out a game.
* Stratus Dancer was highly versatile vs the Starfield Pact deck.
Bear in mind, I haven't played in an FNM in a long time so I may have made play errors that I'm not aware of. I also didn't play against any aggro decks, so maybe it would have a better time racing them in the air than I had against more controlling decks.
Your post and the videos inspired me to build this as my Standard deck. I'm looking forward to taking it to FNM next week, but until then I'll try to find someone to play Standard with to test it out. It's broadly similar, but with a few changes - and it lacks Prairie Stream for now.
Someone on another thread had the idea of running 1x Wastes in a deck with Dimensional Infiltrator, to be fetched up with Evolving Wilds in relevant situations. I'm inclined to think our mana base can get away with doing this; might be worth trying out?
If you do, should budget talk for UW still be in this thread or perhaps should another be made? I'm buying the rest of the deck tomorrow and will hopefully get to FNM in time to play, so I'll write up a report of how it goes.
Duskwatch Recruiter is an interesting proposition; doesn't have flash, but has synergy with the, uh, flashiness of the others.
To be honest I suspect the UW version is stronger than the UG because of flying creatures and Wyvern, but then again the creatures from green are beefier.
This is an awesome deck! Since UG is traditionally light on spot removal, maybe a few copies of Plummetwould be good in the board against things like Ojutai and Avacyn? Or, if it's not too janky, Aim High... won't help us if we're too far behind but it's another instant speed combat trick alongside Krasis.
I theory-crafted this budgetized list of the UW Flash smoresbacon linked to. There's a singleton Avacyn in there because I happened to pull one. Main difference from UG is its access to Reflector Mage, the Wyvern and spot removal, but it loses Pack Guardian and Bounding Krasis. Not sure if it would be better to just stick with UG.
Getting back into actively playing Magic and I want to build a gateway into Standard for around eighty dollars - can be a little more if needed.
My deck building skills have really atrophied so I don't know how to go about it - just something that can perform reasonably at the "average" FNM would be good. I'm interested in UW and UB (pulled Diregraf Colossus in Sealed and love that guy) and my preferred play styles are tempo and midrange, but I'm very open to suggestion.
Cool idea with Mayor of Avabruck! I think you could safely go down to three, though. That would leave you with eleven open slots: could add a singleton Contagion Engine as another Treasure Mage target, 3 more Dissipates, and then some utility and a bit more card draw. Haven't had occasion to playtest with it yet but Bramblecrush is going in my build and I think it'll make a great utility card.
Point taken on Lumberknot. The Titans, Wurmcoil and Sphinx aren't very budget-friendly, though. Contagion Engine can work as a board-sweep, the number could be increased to 2 or maybe just an additional one in the SB.
Drungrove Elder is a good idea. Maybe I should take out the Lumberknots and go with 2x Elder and 1x Manor Gargoyle? (Good blocker in a pinch / win con)
I know this won't be as competitive as UW Control, even the budget version, but to me it seems more fun, has the rogue deck factor and it is a budget deck after all so it only needs to be suitable for FNM really.
In the old standard mono U control was weak to aggro, so I thought that with Innistrad coming in, UG could make a pretty decent and wallet-friendly alternative.
I'll explain a few of the card choices. Ambush Viper - Acts as a removal spell that can beef up Lumberknot, late-game draw can still be cast at the end of my opponent's turn like blue-based control prefers to do.
Lumberknot - This build's primary win condition. Hexproof turns most of the opponent's removal into dead cards and I can proliferate it into a fatty.
Maybe the control matchup could be strengthened via the SB. This is a bit unconventional, but have you considered Mind Rot? Good counter-bait versus blue based control.
Round two was vs. GR Eldrazi Ramp. Both games we had the same issue; not enough reach to finish the job before he gets going with World Breaker, Nissa and Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger. I also misplayed by not countering an early ramp spell, realizing my mistake right after I made it. Game two I got him down to one life thanks to Thunderclap Wyvern and small flyers, but he stabilized with life gain off of Jaddi Offshoot with extra landfall triggers plus finishers.
Third round was Esper Starfield Pact. Lots of spot removal and of course Languish, the -4/-4 being enough to kill any of the deck's creatures unless we've got a counter. Both games felt close, and I was well-positioned for a while and pressuring his life total, but in the end not enough reach to kill before his inevitability kicks in. Sadly, Reflector Mage was not much help here since he ran very few creatures.
Some general observations:
* Holding up mana, especially on turn two, to either counter something or cast Rattlechains / Infiltrator at end of turn was really valuable.
* Always Watching and Thunderclap Wyvern both performed really well. Silumgar Sorcerer much less so.
* The deck, or at least my build of it, seems to lack enough reach to close out a game.
* Stratus Dancer was highly versatile vs the Starfield Pact deck.
Bear in mind, I haven't played in an FNM in a long time so I may have made play errors that I'm not aware of. I also didn't play against any aggro decks, so maybe it would have a better time racing them in the air than I had against more controlling decks.
4 Evolving Wilds
4 Port Town
8 Island
7 Plains
Creatures - 25
3 Topplegeist
4 Rattlechains
4 Dimensional Infiltrator
2 Stratus Dancer
4 Reflector Mage
2 Bygone Bishop
2 Silumgar Sorcerer
4 Thunderclap Wyvern
4 Always Watching
2 Stasis Snare
Instant - 6
3 Negate
2 Ojutai’s Command
1 Clash of Wills
3 Felidar Cub
2 Dispel
2 Invasive Surgery
2 Stasis Snare
1 Silumgar Sorcerer
1 Essence Flux
3 Immolating Glare
1 Invocation of Saint Traft
Someone on another thread had the idea of running 1x Wastes in a deck with Dimensional Infiltrator, to be fetched up with Evolving Wilds in relevant situations. I'm inclined to think our mana base can get away with doing this; might be worth trying out?
Great strategy information, btw.
To be honest I suspect the UW version is stronger than the UG because of flying creatures and Wyvern, but then again the creatures from green are beefier.
Do you think a UB Zombie deck would perform decently, with the Relentless Deads but without Liliana?
I'm honestly not sure if the Reflector Mage will work against the gameplan or not. He doesn't have flash but he's a great tempo play.
Immolating Glare looks like it could help, but what to cut for it? Maybe you can afford to cut a land and... something else.
I theory-crafted this budgetized list of the UW Flash smoresbacon linked to. There's a singleton Avacyn in there because I happened to pull one. Main difference from UG is its access to Reflector Mage, the Wyvern and spot removal, but it loses Pack Guardian and Bounding Krasis. Not sure if it would be better to just stick with UG.
4 dimensional infiltrator
4 silumgar sorcerer
4 thunderclap wyvern
4 Reflector Mage
1 archangel avacyn
4 Scatter to the Winds
4 Stasis Snare
2 Ojutai’s Command
1 Essence Flux
4 Port Town
9 Island
7 Plains
My deck building skills have really atrophied so I don't know how to go about it - just something that can perform reasonably at the "average" FNM would be good. I'm interested in UW and UB (pulled Diregraf Colossus in Sealed and love that guy) and my preferred play styles are tempo and midrange, but I'm very open to suggestion.
Thanks so much!
Drungrove Elder is a good idea. Maybe I should take out the Lumberknots and go with 2x Elder and 1x Manor Gargoyle? (Good blocker in a pinch / win con)
I know this won't be as competitive as UW Control, even the budget version, but to me it seems more fun, has the rogue deck factor and it is a budget deck after all so it only needs to be suitable for FNM really.
Here's a thought: could the sideboard be used to make a mid-range aggro deck? With Dungrove in the maindeck, we could go Viridian Emissary, Delver of Secrets, Argent Sphinx, Invisible Stalker... not sure if this is a good idea or not.
In the old standard mono U control was weak to aggro, so I thought that with Innistrad coming in, UG could make a pretty decent and wallet-friendly alternative.
14 Island
10 Forest
Creatures (7)
4 Ambush Viper
3 Lumberknot
Removal & Utility (9)
3 Contagion Clasp
1 Contagion Engine
3 Bramblecrush
2 Disperse
4 Think Twice
2 Blue Sun's Zenith
2 Shrine of Piercing Vision
Counters (12)
4 Mana Leak
4 Stoic Rebuttal
2 Dissipate
2 Negate
3 Darksteel Sentinel
4 Flashfreeze
2 Acidic Slime
3 Steel Disruption
1 Bramblecrush
2 Volition Reins
I'll explain a few of the card choices.
Ambush Viper - Acts as a removal spell that can beef up Lumberknot, late-game draw can still be cast at the end of my opponent's turn like blue-based control prefers to do.
Lumberknot - This build's primary win condition. Hexproof turns most of the opponent's removal into dead cards and I can proliferate it into a fatty.
Blue Sun's Zenith - Maybe this should be replaced with Tezzeret's Gambit?
Darksteel Sentinel - Board it in as a backup win condition with flash. Maybe this is a suboptimal choice.
Acidic Slime, Bramblecrush, Volition Reins - Strengthen the control matchup.