MTG Salvation

I've been playing magic for over 10 years, I'm just now trying to get into competitive modern and I'd like some advice on a deck I built. It's a Bant Flicker Control deck. I found a deck list online somewhere. It used Eldrazi Displacer which I'm not too fond of, it warps the mana base too much. So I decided to focus on Eerie Interlude which can give me a lot of value, at instant speed, for 2W :



From play testing, it seems to work pretty well, I usually end up recurring eerie interludes and path to exiles with the eternal witness. Often I'll be drawing extra cards at the same time with the wall of omens, reflecting creatures, etc.

I'd like to bring this deck with me in the coming competitive modern events at my LGS. I don't think it's top tier but it's fun to play with, lots of interaction with the opponent's board. There's room for improvement I'm sure and I really need help building a sideboard since I've never done that.

Right now, some of the modifications I'm thinking are as follows :

1. Change Spell Queller for something else. They are good but don't work well with Eerie Interlude and venser.
2. Add in some Flickerwisps maybe?
3. Remove one Venser, the Sojourner? casting cost is too high, not sure about this.
4. Move 1-2 Kitchen Finks to sideboard
5. Move Stonehorn Dignitary to sideboard
6. Maybe review the shock land vs Canopy Vista and Prairie Stream ratio
7. Add another Aether Vial? I don't want two in my starting hand though...
8. Switch Reclamation Sage with Knight of Autumn
9. I think it has 61 cards right now, I need to cut out one more of course

That's all I can think of for now. So if anyone has tips, I'll gladly take them.

Thanks!

I realize I should've put this in Deck Creation. I'm not sure how to do this now. Can anyone help?

I think only a mod can do that.

As to your deck, I've played against something similar, its fun enough, but you have a lot of 3 drops, makes sense for the Vial, but no ramp, could make your life hard.

Getting down to 60 cards should probably just be a matter of cutting a Venser. 5 mana is so much for a card that doesn't just win, unfortunately. Card is sweet, though.

You can definitely get away with less Kitchen Finks main once you upgrade the Rec Sage to Knight of Autumn.

As far as Vials go, it doesn't seem correct to only run 3. Spirits gets away with it because CoCo is more important and the deck also has a number of solid one drops to play other than Vial. Which leads me to think you might do well with more turn 1 plays. Modern is so fast and if you're going to be able to survive long enough to get these value engines going, you probably need to be doing more on the early turns to get rolling. Mana dorks like Birds of Paradise or Noble Hierarch are obviously strong, but Thraben Inspector is a possible option. She gives you card advantage, things to do on turn 1 and 2 if you need, and can get some additional value from your blink effects.

If you do end up cutting the Quellers, I'd take a hard look at adding some counters to the side like Dispel, Negate, Ceremonious Rejection, and Disdainful Stroke. Otherwise, I don't see how you're better fast combo decks. Thalia, Guardian of Thraben is another strong card for similar purposes.

Moving Stonehorns to the side is probably a good call, they'll be dead cards in certain matchups. That opens up a couple slots that you could fill with Voice of Resurgence to lower your curve and make tokens when you blink him. Now, it wouldn't help your clogged up 3 drop spot, but Renegade Rallier seems like it could do crazy things since blinking him triggers his own Revolt trigger when he returns to play. You might need more fetches and some more creatures that can be returned by his ability, but with a little work I feel like he could be bonkers.

Those are just some thoughts off the cuff. Overall, the deck looks sweet and I hope it works out well for you!

Thanks for the input, I'll go through all that later today. Originally, in this deck, I was going to go with Mistmeadow Witch, it's a bit mana intensive but I wonder if it could replace Venser, the Sojourner and lower the mana curve a bit. I could also bring back Eldrazi Displacer instead but having played it in the past, it imposed a lot of restrictions.

The version I saw of this deck online had a playset of Cryptic Command. At 1UUU, I think it's a bit much. However, it made for a versatile recursion loop with Eternal Witness. It allowed disabling creatures, drawing and countering. Again, it's a bit mana intensive but it seemed to work. Maybe 4 is too many. Any thoughts?

Voice of Resurgence seems interesting but I think I'm missing something. If I blink it, I don't get the token right? Otherwise, it's only if an opponent casts a spell during my turn? I'd rather clear that up before I run and grab a playset.

I just looked at all U, W or G, 2 CMC or less, creature. I wrote down anything that had any potential at all. Here's what I found :

Optional Blink
Aviary Mechanic, Deputy of Acquittals, Jeskai Barricade

Mandatory Blink
Dream Stalker, Kor Skyfisher, Quickling

Recursion
Snapcaster Mage

Lifegain
Cathedral Sanctifier, Arashin Cleric, Cleric of the Forward Order, Inquisitor Exarch

Beatdown
Countless Gears Renegade, Faerie Impostor

Draw
Coiling Oracle, Thraben Inspector

Ramp
Loam Larva, Nest Invader, Sylvan Ranger

Denial
Meddling Mage, Plaxmanta

In this list, I think Coiling Oracle is interesting, doubles as ramp and draw. Maybe it overlaps Wall of Omens too much though. Then again, Maybe I could take out the Serum Vision.

Otherwise, Thraben Inspector sounds like a solid choice. Clues seem a bit mana intensive, not sure. Meddling Mage is obviously a solid choice, would help against combo decks. Wish I hadn't sold my playset when they were worth 15$. I'd be willing to buy maybe 2 back.

All the lifegain ones I'm really not sure. Kitchen Finks is hard to replace. Inquisitor Exarch is a bit different though. Maybe it could help finishing off an opponent.

Snapcaster Mage is usually a good choice but I'm not sure in this deck. Not that many instants or sorcerys worth grabbing. Plus I'd probably rather not exile Eerie Interlude so I can keep getting it with Eternal Witness.

Any opinions? I feel like I'm talking to myself a bit. Still helps me sort out my thoughts...

So my next iteration is starting to look something like this :



I'm hesitating to try and fit some Birds of Paradise in here. Not sure it's worth it. I'm not buying Noble Hierarch. I'm still wondering if I should switch Venser by Mistmeadow Witch. Sideboard is really tentative at this point. Last thing, I'm not sure if I should run 22 or 23 lands.

Bumping until the 7th when I play at my LGS.

So predictably, this was a bust tonight. I got destroyed by a Valakut deck, held my own a while against a Soul Sisters but lost to what I think was bad luck. Then I played a Cheerios deck but the guy had to leave in the middle of the second game. I think I could've sided effectively against him.

I'll still try to make it work next time I go to my LGS. I'm thinking of taking out the Coiling Oracles & the Renegade Ralliers, they were kind of lackluster tonight. That frees up 5-6 spots. I think I'll bring in some counterspelling, Mana Leaks or something similar. Otherwise, I'm not 100% sure what would help.

I'm not too sure about the rest, I'll sit down with a couple of friends this weekend and go through it again. I'll post the next iteration here for posterity.