MTG Salvation

How did you feel about the mana? Blast zone over Field and 3x waterlogged grove?

The manabase is an open project. I did like Blast Zone, but it’s also due to the decks I faced. Field of Ruin may be better suited for the archetype, but again, I was pleased with the former. What I truly disliked, though, were the Groves. Cycle lands aren’t the best when we actually want to make landrops, and this thing deals a friggin’ damage to us for every activation. We use a lot of mana. Not going to run mor than one, but I’ll probably just remove them altogether.

I do like your Stirring Wildwood suggestion. The problem I see with it is being non-blue. I want my non-basics being Choke-resilient (and yes, Choke is a real card, you’ll end up losing games to it otherwise). Then, obviously there is the dissinergy with Cryptic Command.


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I saw a very spicy list online, and I’m certainly going to try it (with some tweakings).

Cashed a tournament with a sweet 4-0.




Faced Mono Red Phoenix (2-1), GR Titanshift (2-0), Mono Red Blistercoil (2-0), Altarvine (2-1). The list is working the way it’s intended to do.

About Growth Spiral, I already pinpointed the problem with the card: moving between turns 2-4 doesn’t apport much to us, most of the time.

Blast Zone certainly doesn’t help with Coatl. That said, it turns otherwise difficult matchups (Humans) into a walk in the park if we see a copy of it early enough. Which are the matchups where the same Coatl is at its best. Hard call. I’m gonna test a 1-1 split between Field and Zone to understand the dynamics better.

I tried Growth Spiral and it hugely disappointed me. I think its place is in decks such as Temur Scapeshift, where we don’t have to deal with the lack of lands in our hands (sorry for the assonance) before turn six/seven. I’ll try it again, but the only thing I liked about Spiral is being able to flashback it at istant speed with Snapcaster Mage, turning it into the fifth (very narrow) Opt.

Blessed Alliance actually synergizes with a lot of cards in our deck, and I was thinking of going for it instead of Winds of Abandon if I were to run a pair of Blast Zone. For starters, between Coatl and Alliance the opponent has a hard time choosing when and how to put its creatures in the danger zone. Then, I loved how often we untap Restoration Angel and Lyra Dawnbringer for additional kill/lifegain. It’s reusable with Snapcaster at istant speed, putting yourself in an optimal condition against any Burn deck. I’ve never been a fan of maindecking it, but she’s truly been amazing in testing.


EDIT: something I can see to make Coatl more functional is to cut Celestial Colonnade in favor of another Misty and a basic land. It hasn’t been impressive, lately. And Mystic Snake has been a lot better than Cryptic Command in this Spell Pierce / Force of Negation / Commandeer / Dovin’s Veto metagame. In order to cast it more consistently, I can see switching the numbers of them.

This would be my take on it, given we want a) Lyra maindeck, b) support a more Midrangey strategy compared to straight UW.

Another point could be replacing Field of Ruin with Blast Zone and dedicate one more slot in the sideboard to big mana strategies (Disdainful Stroke or even a third Cryptic Command).

The deck plays Lyra Dawnbringer maindeck as life gain source, don’t forget that. Not saying that Timely is wrong, though.

Regrowth has some utility, but in a Resto Angel deck I would maximize Snapcaster targets tbh.

I would start from cutting singletons like Timely Reinforcements and Surgical Extraction to play the full set of Force of Negation. In game one I want to be the most flexible I can, and - even if in a different way - Force covers turn 0-1-2 plays in most of the matchups I want those cards.

IMHO Growth Spiral are overpriced for what they do, and if they were a cc1 cantrip (my fav is Sleight of Hand) you would cast Snap Mage more consistently. We don’t really need to go from 2 to 4 mana, the crucial turns are 1 to 3. I would, then, simply swap the first Illumination for the second Teferi, Hero of Dominaria.

When I asked him, Nassif said that Mystic Snake is interesting not because of the blink (he only played one Resto) but especially as a clock vs Big Mana and Combo.

Coatl rarely has death touch on turn 3 because your first fetch usually needs to find a dual

I indeed meant past turn three. Maybe I wasn’t being super clear.

I think mystic snake is too cute; a little bit of synergy with restoration angel (which I'm convinced is only 1 slot in the main and 1-2 side) isn't enough reason to play a 4 drop that's worse in most situations than cryptic command.

It may be too cute, obviously, but I do think it’s worth testing in a single copy. I’m pretty convinced in going up to three Angels, on the other hand. Sided them in in 90% of the matches.

How can you not get overwhelmed by creatures without sweepers in the deck ?

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I don't really like Winds of Abandon and would prefer Seal Away and Condemn as extra removal besides Path

The answer lies in your own sentences. Winds of Abandon is a spot removal that recycles into a sweeper. If you prefer other sweepers, just run them along with the maindeck 4 Path, 1 Condemn and 4 Coatl. I found them functional, though, and I believe they are a better maindeck option in this deck. If you look at the sb, I also have Terminus there.

Also, if this is turning into more of a flash-tempo type deck what about Frilled Mystic to go along with Resto and Coatl ?

Would 100% run Mystic Snake instead. The double G is too heavy. But it’s a good point, it may be worth a slot alongside Restoration Angel.

Why is Narset in the maindeck here ?
She seems even worse with the more creature-heavy version so Teferi (or even Jace, UoS) seems like a much better option.
I'd also prefer Search for Azcanta as a card filtering/draw engine instead.

Those two slots could be anything that neat you cards. Search for Azcanta is definitely fine. So it is Fact or Fiction (which is a little too expensive in terms of mana, but at least is istant speed). Narset does it’s job well, though, as a double Impulse + hate card. I would definitely not run little Teferi or cc4 walkers in the slot.

I think that a control can use the 0/4 blocker better than a 1/1 flyer and "flash" is basically the only real advantage of Coatl (I don't really count on the deathtouch).

Trust me, that’s not the case. First thing first, this thing is a clock in the air, which isn’t something to dismiss against lots of strategies. Then, I swear, you’re wrong about the deathtouch. It has been invaluable in testing. This thing is a better Baleful Strix from turn three on, and the ‘lack of sweepers’ (which doesn’t hold true anyway) is definitely compensated by flash Resto Angel, blink tapped Coatl, chump with both of them (and very often both of opponent’s creatures are destined to die this way).

Sure, this is a consequence, not a reason. If we weren’t splashing green, we shouldn’t even be concerned about it.

Not assuming Green isn’t worth it, just saying.

You may definitely be right about Primastic Vista, I wasn’t pondering on the manabase yet, just attempted to provide a skeleton where to start from.

don't agree with it being a 'bad' UW control deck. I think it has the potential to be a better UW control deck; Coatl and Waterlogged Grove are excellent cards for the archetype.

That’s why I think you should focus on their power. Resto Angel configurations are the best way to build this kind of decks since... forever. Instead of crappy Wall of Omens we get a real card, finally. I also believe you are overestimating cycle lands in this archetype. Control always want to make landrops until the very late game. These things also deal damage to you, which is the opposite a Control deck wants to be at. 2-3 are fine, the full set is definitely overdoing.

IMHO.

This is turning into a bad UW Control, though.

First thing first, I don’t believe that anything less than four Path to Exile is right. There are too many spots where your opponent is on the play and you are forced to deal with its play immediately. And six removal overall, even with Coatl, is definitely too much on the low side of the spectrum.

I can definitely understand the point on Growth Spiral. I don’t even like the card. The point of splashing green, imho, should be Ice-Fang Coatl. What I would be interested in is, in fact, a Restoration Angel build that complements it.




Something of the sort, I mean.

I like the looks of the latest list. That said, it seems way too soft against go-wide strategies, and there is ‘too much air’. Is Fact or Fiction really necessary? You definitely need some sort of sweeper maindeck. Engineered Explosives could be a good addiction. I don’t dislike the fourth Snap either, given the amount of cheap spells in it.

Actually, Winds of Abandon could be the card I was looking for.