Probably the worst thing is that now we can't delve that consistently to remove useless stuff from the graveyard before playing Time Spiral. So our chances of fizzling will be slightly higher. Other than that, I'm sure there are a lot of (not-so-powerful) viable replacements.
We will have to play Ancestral Visions now to replace cruise. Cruise hurt the hard control decks like Narset more than it hurt us.
Unfortunately nothing comes close to replacing Dig. This was the best deck in the format to abuse Dig because Dig is the ultimate combo control card and one of our best Merchant Scroll targets. Maybe Careful Consideration, Fortune's Favour or Epiphany at the Drownyard?
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I think Epiphany at the Drownyard is a bad card for replacing Dig i rather use Careful Consideration.
Telling Time is a good option to take more juice from Long Term Plans.
I won a 30 person tournament (4-0) playing Epiphany at the Drownyard. I also played Rise from the Tides instead of Talrand. Epiphany is way better than is sounds. It was better before Dig/Cruise got banned, though, because it helped fuel delve, but I think it's still good. Don't forget that, with infinite mana, Epiphany becomes another wincon.
Well Careful Consideration and Fortune's Favor are bad Fact or Fiction imitations. I think Epiphany is the most interesting one of the three because it gets broken with a lot of mana and this deck is pretty good at making alot of mana. I don't think we want another Fact or Fiction so I was probably wrong to consider Consideration and Favor as replacements for Dig. Pieces of the Puzzle or Compulsive Research might be what we are after instead and they are great if our T2 Jace gets removed. Pieces is a 3 mana conditional Fact or Fiction, and Compulsive is great against attrition and control.
On the bright side, we can now play Logic Knot, and our Flash of Insight just got way better because we don't have to worry about it clashing with Delve anymore.
So hard control (Child, Narset, Keranos) loses Cruise which hurts them alot more than it hurt us, and Dig which hurts us alot more than it hurts them. I'd say the nerfing is pretty fair to both sides of the blue spectrum. Those decks already play Ancestral Visions, which my build doesn't currently run, so now it's just a straight up swap for me. So the bans probably won't hurt Jace as much as the RC expected it to.
Also I've been noticing comments elsewhere that the Marath ban will make Jace less dominant, because it will push aggro again and Jace is supposed to be weak to aggro decks. In my experience at least Jace is VERY good against red-based decks because when he eventually does stick he will gain 3 life a turn with his +1, which is even better than what Oloro did while he was around. The real deterrent to aggro's viability wasn't Marath in my opinion, but the starting life total of 30.
The power of Jace is that even when he dies to removal, you have only invested 2 or 4 mana and 0 cards from your hand while your opponent has wasted their hand resources and a valuable early turn which could have been better spent on developing their board. And this is not to mention how Sapphire Medallion makes their wall of removal look fruitless in the face of unlimited Jace recasts. The recent Jacedrazi list that won the DTC absolutely crushes aggro because it is less reliant on Jace sticking around, and also doesn't crumble to hate cards like Gaddock Teeg or Scavenging Ooze.
Logic Knot is bad because it's useless after a draw 7.
I wonder if Set Adrift could see play now (probably not). My main issue with Cruise/Dig banned is that now it's harder to delve *****ty cards away and make Draw 7s more reliable.
I've been looking for a new DC decks to experiment with (I generally play Geist or Jenara) and Jace seems to be both a strong deck and a very fun one to play.
First I want to thank you for the mini-primer on the opening post, helped a lot with the questions I had for the deck.
I still have some interrogation about card choices and playing the deck. I have not been able to test the deck other than playing goldfish (Didn't go to a tournament with it yet, don't play cockatrice and the MTGO commander metagame is a joke + people rage on combo decks and counterspells. Needless to say I didn't get even half of a decent game )
- First, this decks looks/feels to me a lot more control than combo. I very rarely had an opportunity for a combo kill on the early turns (even turn 3-6) unless I had a very busted hand. I also generally didn't find high tide that easily, and most draws felt like a control deck where I would ultimately draw into a way to combo kill on the late game. Is it how the deck is supposed to play out?
- Still on the combo/control plan, I see some early lists playing Mind's desire, while most recent iterations have cut it, I guess that's a way to go more towards a control gameplan (in the same way recent lists seem to cut Candelabra and Timetwister - even if it's hard to determine if that's a budget choice or not)
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The deck won't combo before turn 5 usually, because you need to gather enough lands for High Tide. Don't trust MTGTOP8 definitions of the decks, they're always a little wrong.
I still play Mind's Desire, but a lot of the times it's useless and I've been thinking of cutting it. It's only useful in a combo turn, and you're probably better off playing Teferi PW.
Another question: has any of you tested with thing in the Ice? It seems quite strong as both a finisher and a way to reset the board (especially against annoying creatures)
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It seems great, but after you flip him you punch for 7 and then the opponent plays his creatures again and he gets blocked for eternity. I'd rather play Wash Out, that can be flashbacked.
I am not a big fan of Visions, especially in this deck where you would rather play Sleight of Hand on t1 or topdeck Sleight in the late game instead. Visions is undeniably good vs attrition or draw go decks though. I am putting Visions back in for now because it's the only comparable spell to Treasure Cruise as a 1 mana draw 3.
-1 Dig Through Time
+1 Careful Consideration
Our other options are Pieces of the Puzzle and Epiphany at the Drownyard. I am still undecided on Careful and might replace it with Pieces later because it curves better and digs one deeper.
-1 Long-Term Plans
-1 Submerge
+1 Candelabra of Tawnos
+1 Tezzeret the Seeker
LTP often doesn't work because we need to have a cantrip on the following turn in order to draw the card we just searched for. I would have kept LTP in the deck put the card 2nd from top rather than 3rd. Maybe it belongs better in a more combo-driven version. Also we now have an more powerful way to tutor Palinchron, directly into play as well. Reweave Jace or stolen creature into Snapcaster, giving flashback to Reweave, then Reweave Snapcaster into Palinchron. It works even better if Snapcaster is in play or isnt in the library.
Submerge was subpar (haha) against the decks I brought it in for such as Jenara and Titania. The newly added Unsubstantiate is more than capable of dealing with these matchups now.
Tezzeret is back in because the deck misses him terribly. Honestly some games you would rather Reweave into Tezz then Ugin, and Reweaving into Tezz is super strong anyway. That being said, casting Reweave now takes a bit more finesse. If you want to Intuition for Reweave into Ugin, be sure to get Tezz in the Intuition pile to remove any chances of hitting Tezz.
Gemstone has been awesome so far. It's another Mox which I would play more of if I could because t1 Jace is so broken.
Geier Reach has been better in testing than Mikokoro because symmetrical loot works out better for us than symmetrical draw. It lets us flip Jace earlier and discard cards like Circular Logic or Deep Analysis without needing Jace in play. I might cut Mikokoro to put Drownyard back in.
Hi, how has been your testing with Reweave and both Tezzeret and Ugin?
I use the reweave into Ugin plan fairly often, and it is a wonderful wincon, as a lot of decks basically just can't beat Ugin. I'm still not running Tezzeret since I'm not a fan of the randomness it can iduce (or the fact that you will have to get Tezzeret out before reweaving). I also don't play Candelabra (don't own it and not sure I want to buy it since the RC seems to like banning good decks...). How good is the card for the deck? Does it allow for combo more often/consistently? Would you consider running another "budget" substitution in this slot just to produce mana? (Peregrin Drake/Mind over matter/ Reality Spasm ?)
How do you feel about Shackles? So far, I have been in 3 tournaments with the deck and they felt either dead (control/creatureless), not that good/slow (can prevent them from playing Jace in the mirror), and winmore against creature decks (titania). The only time I felt I needed them was against Jenara/Anafenza with a board full of Hatebears, where shackles could do some work. Those GW decks also have lots of ways to kill the shackles and to tutor for them.
Has anyone tested with card drawing counterspells, such as Arcane Denial or Dream Fracture? The former is card disadvantage and the latter is 3cmc, but being able to counter a key spell while digging for a way to combo seems good. Making our opponent draw is not that exciting since they can find hate cards. Though I feel like this deck can ignore a great deal of our opponents deck by just countering hatebears/lock pieces then going for a combo/reweave when their board becomes threatening. Of course it's a different story against control, where we can end up in a bad spot if they draw to many counterspells
I'm also running Windfall which I like a lot (I also don't own a Timetwister...). It's a very good way to get back the loss of CA after bouncing creatures or Mulligans for instance and allows you to use your resources very aggressiely then refill and generate CA. This is just anectotal evidence but the card won me a game where I mulled to 4 to a hand with 2 island mox diamond Windfall. Drew another land I scryed on top and turn 2 windfall to draw 7 The fact it fills up our yard is good. On the other hand, when both players are topdecking or with 2-3 cards in hand it's very bad
Another card I'm considering is Savor the moment. We want a lot of islands in play before going for a big turn, and this card is basically a 3 mana Explore. 3 mana is a lot for this card, but I would completely play a 2 mana Explore. This one also has the benefit of being able to + Jace one more time and to remove a counter for a suspended Vision
Savor the Moment is OK, but looks a lot better in Teferi decks. But it's cool that it can "give haste" to Talrand tokens too. It's cheap enough to warrant at least testing.
I've been playing Arcane Denial in the deck for a long time. People dismiss this, but it's card disadvantage just like Force of Will. There are things you won't Force because they aren't worth the disadvantage, and that works just like Arcane Denial. Denial's greatness comes from the fact that it's a hard counter for 1U. Dream Fracture is bad, since there are tons of better 3 mana counters.
I don't like Windfall at all. It's only good if you managed to resolve it when you're losing against control (because they'll have more cards than you. If you can't play Timetwister, put a draw spell in its place. Even Flux is better (actually Flux has been very nice with me, I just can't find a slot for it right now).
Thanks for the answer. Teferi is a good idea to replace candelabra though it conflicts with the rewind plan which I've found to be very good. It's still possible to work around of course, I'll test it. Didn't know Flux, it seems interesting though you can't "steel" cards from your opponent like with windfall.
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I know that, come on. What I mean is that I dislike that as a plan. It doesn't seem a reliable wincon. Paying 6 and sacrificing a permanent to play Ugin IF you have Jace in play and Ugin in the library seems so unreliable to me. I'd rather have anything else in that slot.
It looks awesome. IF you have a flipped Jace. I dislike cards that depend on a commander being in play, and specially if that commander must meet certain requirements. Seems like there have been only 2-3 Jaces using it on mtgtop8, though, so it's really not canon.
Unsubstantiate is insane. I'm never taking it out of the deck again. Imprisoned is a damn good removal, specially against opposing commanders. Play it on Kaalia and watch your opponent hurt. Homunculus is an excelent clock, and making your spells cost less is insane. His downside is Order of Succession. There are times you'll want to play it and can't because you have Homunculus in play. So I still don't know if he stays, although he's great. Fortune's Favor is the least good of the bunch, but it's not bad at all. The problem is costing 4 mana. I guess Pieces of the Puzzle is a better card.
Hi, how has been your testing with Reweave and both Tezzeret and Ugin?
I use the reweave into Ugin plan fairly often, and it is a wonderful wincon, as a lot of decks basically just can't beat Ugin. I'm still not running Tezzeret since I'm not a fan of the randomness it can iduce (or the fact that you will have to get Tezzeret out before reweaving). I also don't play Candelabra (don't own it and not sure I want to buy it since the RC seems to like banning good decks...). How good is the card for the deck? Does it allow for combo more often/consistently? Would you consider running another "budget" substitution in this slot just to produce mana? (Peregrin Drake/Mind over matter/ Reality Spasm ?)
How do you feel about Shackles? So far, I have been in 3 tournaments with the deck and they felt either dead (control/creatureless), not that good/slow (can prevent them from playing Jace in the mirror), and winmore against creature decks (titania). The only time I felt I needed them was against Jenara/Anafenza with a board full of Hatebears, where shackles could do some work. Those GW decks also have lots of ways to kill the shackles and to tutor for them.
I'm also running Windfall which I like a lot (I also don't own a Timetwister...). It's a very good way to get back the loss of CA after bouncing creatures or Mulligans for instance and allows you to use your resources very aggressiely then refill and generate CA. This is just anectotal evidence but the card won me a game where I mulled to 4 to a hand with 2 island mox diamond Windfall. Drew another land I scryed on top and turn 2 windfall to draw 7 The fact it fills up our yard is good. On the other hand, when both players are topdecking or with 2-3 cards in hand it's very bad
Reweave into Ugin is the best thing you can do against a Titania/Jenara/Karador meta, and you should definitely only play Ugin if that is your meta. Maybe I am biased because I only play online, but the online meta has alot of ramp or attrition decks such as Maelstrom Wanderer and Gitrog. Ugin has almost no interaction against Griselbrand, Maelstrom Wanderer and Gitrog Monster. I would rather play Tezzeret against these decks because he gives me a faster, proactive gameplan. I never cast Reweave randomly since I will always assume the worst case scenario. So if I play against Anafenza I have to assume I will Reweave into Tezzeret and not Ugin, and if I play against Wanderer I have to assume I will hit Ugin. That being said, I tend to mostly Reweave into Palinchron now. Even if I played Ugin as my only walker, I would try resist the temptation of a t6 Ugin and hold the Reweave until I found a High Tide effect.
Vedalken Shackles is mostly here because of Tezzeret. I mentioned in another post that the deck can branch out into a Tezzelabra build with Candelabra and Teferi, or into a Reweave build with only Ugin (or if you're crazy like me you can also run both Tezzelabra and Reweave but I wouldn't recommend that). If you run the Reweave build without Tezzeret you can easily cut Shackles as well. I personally like Shackles because it often works like a Moat vs creature decks. Against creature decks you stall their board if you take their biggest threat, since if they attack they will keep losing their guys and you can steal something else if they trade. It completely stalls the board until it gets removed and I think it's the best steal effect in a vacuum. Treachery is better because it comboes with High Tide and curves into Time Warp, and Order of Succession can be flashbacked and deals with hexproof. But you are right that Shackles can get cut.
I still have to understand the advantages of Reweave... Seems so unreliable...
You really have to test Reweave before you decide. It doesn't have to find Ugin either. From my own testing it's usually better to Reweave into Snapcaster->Palinchron. But building around Reweave optimally means you would have to cut Talrand/Erayo/Homunculus in addition to any other walkers you currently run besides Ugin, and that is a real pain in the butt.
Playing JTMS isn't worth not playing your commander :D.
---
Also I tested Temporal Tresspass after the Dig/Cruise bannings, and while it is certainly better now that it doesn't conflict with the Delve cards, it is still only castable after turn 6. Only in very specific situations and only in the late-game will you ever benefit from casting it for 3 mana.
Another drawback is that is only castable once. One of the best things about our 5 mana time warps is that Jace can -3 them. Walk the Aeons is better than Temporal Tresspass overall, but Trespass is still better than Temporal Mastery or Part the Waterveil.
Yeah, when I didn't own Candelabra I didn't play Tezz and as a result didn't play Shackles either. But Tezzeret is SO strong when you have Shackles, Candelabra, Lens, Medallion and Moxen to get... I've been testing Teferi instead of Mind's Desire too and it's insane. I've now twice done the play of early High Tide into Teferi, -1 into Ugin, pass. That can simply change the game in such a crazy way...
I've been testing Savor the Moment too and it feels great. I won't buy any of the expensive 5 mana time walks, and I feel Savor the Moment goes into those slots quite easily. I still don't know if it's better than Walk the Aeons, Temporal Trespass or Turnabout, though. (for now I'm playing Turnabout, Temporal Tresspass and Time Warp as my only time walks).
You're right about Temporal Tresspass too. I can play it earlier than that, and it's crazy to pay 3 mana for it, but it exiling itself really hurts. I feel maybe Walk the Aeons could be really better.
Unfortunately nothing comes close to replacing Dig. This was the best deck in the format to abuse Dig because Dig is the ultimate combo control card and one of our best Merchant Scroll targets. Maybe Careful Consideration, Fortune's Favour or Epiphany at the Drownyard?
1. Jace High Tide Control
2. 5CC Horde Scapeshift
3. Selvala Channel Emrakul
4. Selvala GW Combo
5. Keranos Wildfire
Damia (EDH)
Niv-Mizzet (EDH)
Karador the Hermit Druid (EDH)
BRGW Saskia the Unyielding BRGW
GUWB Thrasios, Triton Hero // Tymna the Weaver GUWB
B Braids, Cabal Minion B
G Titania, Protector of Argoth G
R Zurgo Bellstriker R
Founding Father of [Team Stepfathers]: We beat you and you hate us
My Street Art
Telling Time is a good option to take more juice from Long Term Plans.
On the bright side, we can now play Logic Knot, and our Flash of Insight just got way better because we don't have to worry about it clashing with Delve anymore.
So hard control (Child, Narset, Keranos) loses Cruise which hurts them alot more than it hurt us, and Dig which hurts us alot more than it hurts them. I'd say the nerfing is pretty fair to both sides of the blue spectrum. Those decks already play Ancestral Visions, which my build doesn't currently run, so now it's just a straight up swap for me. So the bans probably won't hurt Jace as much as the RC expected it to.
Also I've been noticing comments elsewhere that the Marath ban will make Jace less dominant, because it will push aggro again and Jace is supposed to be weak to aggro decks. In my experience at least Jace is VERY good against red-based decks because when he eventually does stick he will gain 3 life a turn with his +1, which is even better than what Oloro did while he was around. The real deterrent to aggro's viability wasn't Marath in my opinion, but the starting life total of 30.
The power of Jace is that even when he dies to removal, you have only invested 2 or 4 mana and 0 cards from your hand while your opponent has wasted their hand resources and a valuable early turn which could have been better spent on developing their board. And this is not to mention how Sapphire Medallion makes their wall of removal look fruitless in the face of unlimited Jace recasts. The recent Jacedrazi list that won the DTC absolutely crushes aggro because it is less reliant on Jace sticking around, and also doesn't crumble to hate cards like Gaddock Teeg or Scavenging Ooze.
1. Jace High Tide Control
2. 5CC Horde Scapeshift
3. Selvala Channel Emrakul
4. Selvala GW Combo
5. Keranos Wildfire
Damia (EDH)
Niv-Mizzet (EDH)
Karador the Hermit Druid (EDH)
I wonder if Set Adrift could see play now (probably not). My main issue with Cruise/Dig banned is that now it's harder to delve *****ty cards away and make Draw 7s more reliable.
I've been looking for a new DC decks to experiment with (I generally play Geist or Jenara) and Jace seems to be both a strong deck and a very fun one to play.
First I want to thank you for the mini-primer on the opening post, helped a lot with the questions I had for the deck.
I still have some interrogation about card choices and playing the deck. I have not been able to test the deck other than playing goldfish (Didn't go to a tournament with it yet, don't play cockatrice and the MTGO commander metagame is a joke + people rage on combo decks and counterspells. Needless to say I didn't get even half of a decent game )
- First, this decks looks/feels to me a lot more control than combo. I very rarely had an opportunity for a combo kill on the early turns (even turn 3-6) unless I had a very busted hand. I also generally didn't find high tide that easily, and most draws felt like a control deck where I would ultimately draw into a way to combo kill on the late game. Is it how the deck is supposed to play out?
- Still on the combo/control plan, I see some early lists playing Mind's desire, while most recent iterations have cut it, I guess that's a way to go more towards a control gameplan (in the same way recent lists seem to cut Candelabra and Timetwister - even if it's hard to determine if that's a budget choice or not)
Currently Playing:
Modern Grixis Shadow, Storm
Legacy: Grixis Delver, Sneak and Show
Duel Commander: Kess High Tide
Vintage Big blue(MTGO)
I still play Mind's Desire, but a lot of the times it's useless and I've been thinking of cutting it. It's only useful in a combo turn, and you're probably better off playing Teferi PW.
Another question: has any of you tested with thing in the Ice? It seems quite strong as both a finisher and a way to reset the board (especially against annoying creatures)
Currently Playing:
Modern Grixis Shadow, Storm
Legacy: Grixis Delver, Sneak and Show
Duel Commander: Kess High Tide
Vintage Big blue(MTGO)
-1 Treasure Cruise
+1 Ancestral Visions
I am not a big fan of Visions, especially in this deck where you would rather play Sleight of Hand on t1 or topdeck Sleight in the late game instead. Visions is undeniably good vs attrition or draw go decks though. I am putting Visions back in for now because it's the only comparable spell to Treasure Cruise as a 1 mana draw 3.
-1 Dig Through Time
+1 Careful Consideration
Our other options are Pieces of the Puzzle and Epiphany at the Drownyard. I am still undecided on Careful and might replace it with Pieces later because it curves better and digs one deeper.
-1 Long-Term Plans
-1 Submerge
+1 Candelabra of Tawnos
+1 Tezzeret the Seeker
LTP often doesn't work because we need to have a cantrip on the following turn in order to draw the card we just searched for. I would have kept LTP in the deck put the card 2nd from top rather than 3rd. Maybe it belongs better in a more combo-driven version. Also we now have an more powerful way to tutor Palinchron, directly into play as well. Reweave Jace or stolen creature into Snapcaster, giving flashback to Reweave, then Reweave Snapcaster into Palinchron. It works even better if Snapcaster is in play or isnt in the library.
Submerge was subpar (haha) against the decks I brought it in for such as Jenara and Titania. The newly added Unsubstantiate is more than capable of dealing with these matchups now.
Tezzeret is back in because the deck misses him terribly. Honestly some games you would rather Reweave into Tezz then Ugin, and Reweaving into Tezz is super strong anyway. That being said, casting Reweave now takes a bit more finesse. If you want to Intuition for Reweave into Ugin, be sure to get Tezz in the Intuition pile to remove any chances of hitting Tezz.
-1 Snow Island
-1 Drownyard Temple
+1 Gemstone Caverns
+1 Geier Reach Sanitarium
Gemstone has been awesome so far. It's another Mox which I would play more of if I could because t1 Jace is so broken.
Geier Reach has been better in testing than Mikokoro because symmetrical loot works out better for us than symmetrical draw. It lets us flip Jace earlier and discard cards like Circular Logic or Deep Analysis without needing Jace in play. I might cut Mikokoro to put Drownyard back in.
1. Jace High Tide Control
2. 5CC Horde Scapeshift
3. Selvala Channel Emrakul
4. Selvala GW Combo
5. Keranos Wildfire
Damia (EDH)
Niv-Mizzet (EDH)
Karador the Hermit Druid (EDH)
I use the reweave into Ugin plan fairly often, and it is a wonderful wincon, as a lot of decks basically just can't beat Ugin. I'm still not running Tezzeret since I'm not a fan of the randomness it can iduce (or the fact that you will have to get Tezzeret out before reweaving). I also don't play Candelabra (don't own it and not sure I want to buy it since the RC seems to like banning good decks...). How good is the card for the deck? Does it allow for combo more often/consistently? Would you consider running another "budget" substitution in this slot just to produce mana? (Peregrin Drake/Mind over matter/ Reality Spasm ?)
How do you feel about Shackles? So far, I have been in 3 tournaments with the deck and they felt either dead (control/creatureless), not that good/slow (can prevent them from playing Jace in the mirror), and winmore against creature decks (titania). The only time I felt I needed them was against Jenara/Anafenza with a board full of Hatebears, where shackles could do some work. Those GW decks also have lots of ways to kill the shackles and to tutor for them.
Has anyone tested with card drawing counterspells, such as Arcane Denial or Dream Fracture? The former is card disadvantage and the latter is 3cmc, but being able to counter a key spell while digging for a way to combo seems good. Making our opponent draw is not that exciting since they can find hate cards. Though I feel like this deck can ignore a great deal of our opponents deck by just countering hatebears/lock pieces then going for a combo/reweave when their board becomes threatening. Of course it's a different story against control, where we can end up in a bad spot if they draw to many counterspells
I'm also running Windfall which I like a lot (I also don't own a Timetwister...). It's a very good way to get back the loss of CA after bouncing creatures or Mulligans for instance and allows you to use your resources very aggressiely then refill and generate CA. This is just anectotal evidence but the card won me a game where I mulled to 4 to a hand with 2 island mox diamond Windfall. Drew another land I scryed on top and turn 2 windfall to draw 7 The fact it fills up our yard is good. On the other hand, when both players are topdecking or with 2-3 cards in hand it's very bad
Another card I'm considering is Savor the moment. We want a lot of islands in play before going for a big turn, and this card is basically a 3 mana Explore. 3 mana is a lot for this card, but I would completely play a 2 mana Explore. This one also has the benefit of being able to + Jace one more time and to remove a counter for a suspended Vision
Currently Playing:
Modern Grixis Shadow, Storm
Legacy: Grixis Delver, Sneak and Show
Duel Commander: Kess High Tide
Vintage Big blue(MTGO)
I've been playing Arcane Denial in the deck for a long time. People dismiss this, but it's card disadvantage just like Force of Will. There are things you won't Force because they aren't worth the disadvantage, and that works just like Arcane Denial. Denial's greatness comes from the fact that it's a hard counter for 1U. Dream Fracture is bad, since there are tons of better 3 mana counters.
I don't like Windfall at all. It's only good if you managed to resolve it when you're losing against control (because they'll have more cards than you. If you can't play Timetwister, put a draw spell in its place. Even Flux is better (actually Flux has been very nice with me, I just can't find a slot for it right now).
The "budget" Candelabra is Teferi, btw.
Currently Playing:
Modern Grixis Shadow, Storm
Legacy: Grixis Delver, Sneak and Show
Duel Commander: Kess High Tide
Vintage Big blue(MTGO)
You build your deck around its inclusion. Then it becomes assured.
Currently Playing:
Modern Grixis Shadow, Storm
Legacy: Grixis Delver, Sneak and Show
Duel Commander: Kess High Tide
Vintage Big blue(MTGO)
Unsubstantiate is insane. I'm never taking it out of the deck again. Imprisoned is a damn good removal, specially against opposing commanders. Play it on Kaalia and watch your opponent hurt. Homunculus is an excelent clock, and making your spells cost less is insane. His downside is Order of Succession. There are times you'll want to play it and can't because you have Homunculus in play. So I still don't know if he stays, although he's great. Fortune's Favor is the least good of the bunch, but it's not bad at all. The problem is costing 4 mana. I guess Pieces of the Puzzle is a better card.
Reweave into Ugin is the best thing you can do against a Titania/Jenara/Karador meta, and you should definitely only play Ugin if that is your meta. Maybe I am biased because I only play online, but the online meta has alot of ramp or attrition decks such as Maelstrom Wanderer and Gitrog. Ugin has almost no interaction against Griselbrand, Maelstrom Wanderer and Gitrog Monster. I would rather play Tezzeret against these decks because he gives me a faster, proactive gameplan. I never cast Reweave randomly since I will always assume the worst case scenario. So if I play against Anafenza I have to assume I will Reweave into Tezzeret and not Ugin, and if I play against Wanderer I have to assume I will hit Ugin. That being said, I tend to mostly Reweave into Palinchron now. Even if I played Ugin as my only walker, I would try resist the temptation of a t6 Ugin and hold the Reweave until I found a High Tide effect.
Vedalken Shackles is mostly here because of Tezzeret. I mentioned in another post that the deck can branch out into a Tezzelabra build with Candelabra and Teferi, or into a Reweave build with only Ugin (or if you're crazy like me you can also run both Tezzelabra and Reweave but I wouldn't recommend that). If you run the Reweave build without Tezzeret you can easily cut Shackles as well. I personally like Shackles because it often works like a Moat vs creature decks. Against creature decks you stall their board if you take their biggest threat, since if they attack they will keep losing their guys and you can steal something else if they trade. It completely stalls the board until it gets removed and I think it's the best steal effect in a vacuum. Treachery is better because it comboes with High Tide and curves into Time Warp, and Order of Succession can be flashbacked and deals with hexproof. But you are right that Shackles can get cut.
You really have to test Reweave before you decide. It doesn't have to find Ugin either. From my own testing it's usually better to Reweave into Snapcaster->Palinchron. But building around Reweave optimally means you would have to cut Talrand/Erayo/Homunculus in addition to any other walkers you currently run besides Ugin, and that is a real pain in the butt.
Playing JTMS isn't worth not playing your commander :D.
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Also I tested Temporal Tresspass after the Dig/Cruise bannings, and while it is certainly better now that it doesn't conflict with the Delve cards, it is still only castable after turn 6. Only in very specific situations and only in the late-game will you ever benefit from casting it for 3 mana.
Another drawback is that is only castable once. One of the best things about our 5 mana time warps is that Jace can -3 them. Walk the Aeons is better than Temporal Tresspass overall, but Trespass is still better than Temporal Mastery or Part the Waterveil.
1. Jace High Tide Control
2. 5CC Horde Scapeshift
3. Selvala Channel Emrakul
4. Selvala GW Combo
5. Keranos Wildfire
Damia (EDH)
Niv-Mizzet (EDH)
Karador the Hermit Druid (EDH)
I've been testing Savor the Moment too and it feels great. I won't buy any of the expensive 5 mana time walks, and I feel Savor the Moment goes into those slots quite easily. I still don't know if it's better than Walk the Aeons, Temporal Trespass or Turnabout, though. (for now I'm playing Turnabout, Temporal Tresspass and Time Warp as my only time walks).
You're right about Temporal Tresspass too. I can play it earlier than that, and it's crazy to pay 3 mana for it, but it exiling itself really hurts. I feel maybe Walk the Aeons could be really better.