I think Resto provides more utility for the deck than Lavaman can. Lavamancer is good against aggro decks, but we're already good against those. It's a strong card, but I think we have better options than a 1/1 that can ping for 2
Has anyone tried splashing a Breeding Pool for a sideboarded Gaddock Teeg? What were your results?
Seems like a non-bo with a lot of the cards the deck could be playing, like Cryptic and Rev. And a lot of decks are gonna be playing Blood Moon to try and hose the Eldrazi decks, which we'd be extremely vulnerable to.
That might be true, I haven't tested it enough to argue against that, but 2 colorless flyers is huge defense against Affinity. I think Elspeth is better against mid-range, Whirler against aggro.
But we're already good against the aggressive decks, so making that matchup better isn't really important.
Whirler Rogue actually acts more similar to Elspeth, Knight-Errant in the deck.
You should just be running Elspeth is the thing though. Elspeth is harder for other decks to handle, being that she's a planeswalker, and still helps to stabilize against aggro, as well as making your Geists hit harder, and helping your Snapcasters be real threats when attacking.
I've played Mantis Rider and Lightning Angel both, and I think if you want one of those, you want Angel. There's still plenty of Bolts around, as well as Abrupt Decay, though that may see a small downturn now due to Twin not being around.
Cavern of souls on the other hand, is quite a curious addition and not so straightforward to use properly. It doesn't produce colored mana except for creatures, and the uncounterable clause is irrelevant is non-blue match ups. Using it in a blue match up however has quite some nuances. Is calling spirit to resolve geist or wizard for snapcaster/clique more important ?
Hey guys, I'm currently getting into this archetype and after testing it a few times it really is a very interactive and fun deck to play. The high density of burn spells (to the face) and incidental life gain is something I really dig compared to other decks I play (Grixis Delver and a bit of URb Twin). I got a question about Geist though, is 3 really too few and 4 the number? In some match-ups he is obviously amazing but in some match-ups I'd rather have something else and it can get stuck in your hand when you have one on the field.
Also, what do people think about Blade Splicer? It's a pet card of mine and I think a single Splicer can be good. It's 4 power for 3 over 2 bodies, it has great synergy with Resto, resillent vs sacrifice, blocks Etched Champion and hold the fort well vs smaller creatures.
I think 4 is best because it's usually how you're winning games, but I'm also playing to 2 Elspeth's in the main, so I want to see both of those as much as possible.
Is it recommended to run copies of Serum Visions or Anticipate in the deck?
Anticipate is never worthwhile as the selection doesn't outweigh the fact you're paying 2 mana for it. If you were playing a Control deck, you might consider a cantrip like Think Twice as it can generate card advantage when you have excess mana. Anticipate doesn't generate any advantage, it just replaces itself.
Much the same with Serum Visions, it helps dig through the top of your deck but it wastes a mana you could be using on something else. It's not a bad card, it's just a better card in combo decks. If you are running a combo in the deck you might like it but otherwise I'd take something else like a counterspell or more removal.
Serum Visions is not brainstorm or ponder or even preordain but it is the next best thing and it should be run to control land drops and find cards. Playing without visions is a mistake.
I disagree. Serum Visions isn't strong enough to play, especially since it is sorcery speed. We have the advantage of being able to play almost entirely on our opponent's turn, and playing Visions takes away from that.
I'm not a huge fan of Stony Silence. The biggest issue with it is that we already have a good Affinity matchup, and the card doesn't do enough against Tron. Sure, if you land it on turn two, it can slow them down, but they have the most inevitability of any deck in the format. It doesn't do anything to clock them. It's the same reasoning that I don't like Blood Moon against them, and prefer Molten Rain.
Purge comes in for their Blood Moons.
Wow, that is good to know, I didn't realize that they were running Blood Moon now-a-days, shows how little I know of Modern.
What do you advise for replacing Theads in the sideboard then?
Threads can be a lot of things really. It just depends on what you're scared of, that's the beauty of UWR
I'm curious as to why lightning bolt gets sideboarded out against so many grindy matchups like jund junk and grixis? This isn't me being a know it all douche im sincerely asking. I'm am new to jeskai and would love some insight from a skilled player with results to back them up. Did you miss them at times when you boarded them out? I read your report and saved it for future reference. I really appreciate something concrete to look at.
They don't really do anything. Against Jund they kill Bobs, against Junk they kill basically nothing, against Grixis they kill Jace's if they're on control and Pestermite if they leave in the combo. In the grindy matchups, the 3 to the face isn't that relevant. Leaving in Helix is fine because it puts them further off of killing you.
If you're worried about competing with fair decks where you might need defence have you thought of just going bigger and running a Baneslayer Angel? It's very swingy in the life gain and it can block anything. Robots absolutely hate the thing because Cranial Plating does stop them dying from first strike. Baneslayer was a big deal in the Modern meta years ago.
I've played Baneslayer previously. My intention with this deck was to not play the typical "Two 5-drop finishers Midrange" build of the deck, and bring the curve down slightly and play a more aggressive style of deck, which can still hold it's own in a midrange slogfest. Lightning Angel does this well. I'm not necessarily "worried" about competing with the fair decks, Geist does that just fine, but Lightning Angel provides a threat that can help keep up alive while blocking at the same time, which I prefer against decks that are playing Skullcrack effects, like Burn and Sullivan Zoo.
Thanks for the insight. It should be easy to find an Elspeth for the board, since I don't really care if I run a Duel Deck one or what.
Do you think a sideboard Stony Silence would be good, since it (obviously) helps against Affinity, but can also help versus Tron (shuts off the mana fixers and Oblivion Stone)?
I am probably going to run into a bunch of Affinity if I bring this to Regionals, along with the usual suspects of Burn and Tron. In reality, I don't often play Modern, so I like that this deck is probably as close to tempo as you could really find and that appeals to the Legacy player in me.
One question though, in your Reddit post, you list Purge as coming in versus Affinity. Could you clarify why that would be? Is there something Red or Black that they now run that I don't know of? Like I said, I don't often play Modern, so I might be missing something.
I'm not a huge fan of Stony Silence. The biggest issue with it is that we already have a good Affinity matchup, and the card doesn't do enough against Tron. Sure, if you land it on turn two, it can slow them down, but they have the most inevitability of any deck in the format. It doesn't do anything to clock them. It's the same reasoning that I don't like Blood Moon against them, and prefer Molten Rain.
I'm actually the guy that finished 24th at SCG Cinci. I ended up here on a whim, thinking maybe I could skim the thread just to see what others were saying about the archetype, and definitely did not expect to see my list get posted here. That said, I did do a tournament report on Reddit, and wanted to link you guys to it so you can see how the Open actually went for me.
To address some of the comments on card selection:
Spell Pierce - this gets a lot of cards that we need to handle in the format. It gets Bloom, Amulet, burn spells, discard spells, Liliana, Karn, Tron's eggs, Lingering Souls, Ancient Stirrings, Cranial Plating, etc. Obviously, if your opponent Karns on 4 with Tron and an extra Tron land, they get to pay the tax, but the card is insanely good in the early game when trying to protect our Geists.
Lightning Angel - to quote a Facebook post adressing interest in my 2/2 Lightning/Resto split:
Resto and Lightning Angel play basically the same role, but in slightly different ways. They're both threats that provide a good clock, without dying to Abrupt Decay or Lightning Bolt. Lightning Angel has the upside of being able to play both offense and defense which has been great against the aggressive decks of the format, and Resto provides extra value and also helps to fight against other control decks, for example, I was playing against UWr Twin during day 2, Resto'd at the end of his turn 4, and he tapped out to Cryptic it, which let me untap and slam a Geist the next turn. Both of these things are effects that the deck wants, and so I found a 2/2 split to be best.
Elspeth, Knight-Errant - she's just great in the fair matchups. Being able to jump a Geist over blockers and just smash your opponent for 9 is super powerful. She creates blockers against the creature decks, and helps us grind along with Jund, etc. during game one. There are just a lot of decks that can't handle planeswalkers well.
@.H.: I dropped the Threads from my sideboard, I don't think it's crucial to have. Eiganjo Castle is one of the top 5 cards in the deck. No one knows what that card does until they get blown out by it. Elspeth is a necessity though. That card's just fantastic, nearly unbeatable really, against BGx and Grixis.
UW Control
UWR Geist
UWR Control
Seems like a non-bo with a lot of the cards the deck could be playing, like Cryptic and Rev. And a lot of decks are gonna be playing Blood Moon to try and hose the Eldrazi decks, which we'd be extremely vulnerable to.
UW Control
UWR Geist
UWR Control
But we're already good against the aggressive decks, so making that matchup better isn't really important.
UW Control
UWR Geist
UWR Control
You should just be running Elspeth is the thing though. Elspeth is harder for other decks to handle, being that she's a planeswalker, and still helps to stabilize against aggro, as well as making your Geists hit harder, and helping your Snapcasters be real threats when attacking.
UW Control
UWR Geist
UWR Control
UW Control
UWR Geist
UWR Control
You can also name Cleric and bluff UWr Twin
UW Control
UWR Geist
UWR Control
It isn't strong enough in other matchups to warrant it's inclusion, in my opinion.
I think 4 is best because it's usually how you're winning games, but I'm also playing to 2 Elspeth's in the main, so I want to see both of those as much as possible.
I disagree. Serum Visions isn't strong enough to play, especially since it is sorcery speed. We have the advantage of being able to play almost entirely on our opponent's turn, and playing Visions takes away from that.
UW Control
UWR Geist
UWR Control
4x Scalding Tarn
4x Flooded Strand
2x Steam Vents
2x Hallowed Fountain
1x Sacred Foundry
2x Celestial Colonnade
2x Sulfur Falls
1x Eiganjo Castle
1x Cavern of Souls
1x Desolate Lighthouse
2x Island
1x Mountain
1x Plains
4x Snapcaster Mage
2x Vendilion Clique
4x Geist of Saint Traft
3x Restoration Angel
1x Thundermaw Hellkite
Planeswalkers:
2x Elspeth, Knight-Errant
Instants and Sorceries:
4x Lightning Bolt
4x Path to Exile
2x Spell Pierce
4x Remand
4x Lightning Helix
2x Electrolyze
1x Keranos, God of Storms
1x Elspeth, Sun's Champion
1x Izzet Staticaster
1x Kor Firewalker
1x Timely Reinforcements
2x Molten Rain
2x Negate
1x Supreme Verdict
1x Anger of the Gods
1x Engineered Explosives
1x Valorous Stance
1x Celestial Purge
1x Wear/Tear
UW Control
UWR Geist
UWR Control
Threads can be a lot of things really. It just depends on what you're scared of, that's the beauty of UWR
UW Control
UWR Geist
UWR Control
They don't really do anything. Against Jund they kill Bobs, against Junk they kill basically nothing, against Grixis they kill Jace's if they're on control and Pestermite if they leave in the combo. In the grindy matchups, the 3 to the face isn't that relevant. Leaving in Helix is fine because it puts them further off of killing you.
UW Control
UWR Geist
UWR Control
I've played Baneslayer previously. My intention with this deck was to not play the typical "Two 5-drop finishers Midrange" build of the deck, and bring the curve down slightly and play a more aggressive style of deck, which can still hold it's own in a midrange slogfest. Lightning Angel does this well. I'm not necessarily "worried" about competing with the fair decks, Geist does that just fine, but Lightning Angel provides a threat that can help keep up alive while blocking at the same time, which I prefer against decks that are playing Skullcrack effects, like Burn and Sullivan Zoo.
I'm not a huge fan of Stony Silence. The biggest issue with it is that we already have a good Affinity matchup, and the card doesn't do enough against Tron. Sure, if you land it on turn two, it can slow them down, but they have the most inevitability of any deck in the format. It doesn't do anything to clock them. It's the same reasoning that I don't like Blood Moon against them, and prefer Molten Rain.
Purge comes in for their Blood Moons.
UW Control
UWR Geist
UWR Control
I'm actually the guy that finished 24th at SCG Cinci. I ended up here on a whim, thinking maybe I could skim the thread just to see what others were saying about the archetype, and definitely did not expect to see my list get posted here. That said, I did do a tournament report on Reddit, and wanted to link you guys to it so you can see how the Open actually went for me.
To address some of the comments on card selection:
Spell Pierce - this gets a lot of cards that we need to handle in the format. It gets Bloom, Amulet, burn spells, discard spells, Liliana, Karn, Tron's eggs, Lingering Souls, Ancient Stirrings, Cranial Plating, etc. Obviously, if your opponent Karns on 4 with Tron and an extra Tron land, they get to pay the tax, but the card is insanely good in the early game when trying to protect our Geists.
Lightning Angel - to quote a Facebook post adressing interest in my 2/2 Lightning/Resto split:
Elspeth, Knight-Errant - she's just great in the fair matchups. Being able to jump a Geist over blockers and just smash your opponent for 9 is super powerful. She creates blockers against the creature decks, and helps us grind along with Jund, etc. during game one. There are just a lot of decks that can't handle planeswalkers well.
@.H.: I dropped the Threads from my sideboard, I don't think it's crucial to have. Eiganjo Castle is one of the top 5 cards in the deck. No one knows what that card does until they get blown out by it. Elspeth is a necessity though. That card's just fantastic, nearly unbeatable really, against BGx and Grixis.
UW Control
UWR Geist
UWR Control