So, I recently got into Modern. I wanted to brew something different but wanted to play 4C Gifts, until the banning of DRS. Also, I had the cards to make this. I just want to discuss this deck. I felt it improper to put this in 4C gifts thread, since this takes the deck back to its roots (I played Solar Flare in Standard. Kamigawa-Ravnica days). I'm showing some promising results (went 4-0 at an FNM vs. Tier decks) and the list is far from optimal but I'm liking it so far. (Maybe one day a viable replacement post-DRS ban)
Also I'm thinking a lot about Esper Charm md and a 3rd fattie: Grave Titan...
Also need a 3rd Manland for MD, ideas?(so that you can gifts for 3 diff manlands if needed):
I definitely see something like this being viable, basically a mix of Esper Control with a gifts package for an end game.
I would highly recommended Esper Charm is very flexiable and 2 cards for 3 mana at instant speed cant be over stated.
Another card I have found to be amazing with Gifts that i feel is very unrated is Noxious Revival. With Snapcaster and Revival as part of your Gifts package, u can get any card from your deck on top of ur library (by end of your opponents turning gifts, then casting Revival, with snap if they put it in the graveyard and then drawing, also helps get back any cards u make have been forced to discard).
I definitely see something like this being viable, basically a mix of Esper Control with a gifts package for an end game.
I would highly recommended Esper Charm is very flexiable and 2 cards for 3 mana at instant speed cant be over stated.
Yeah, Endgame it's beautiful, but even at Mid-range sometimes, Iona in play on turn 4-5 = blowout.
Yes, I love me some Esper Charm... the only thing is, is that it fights for a slot with Thirst For Knowledge (which is easier to cast), but the modes on charm are amazing:
A: Meh, pop enchantment? relevant in some situations like UR Storm
B: Draw Two, pretty amazing when you need to dig
C: Target Discards Two... This is amazing with Liliana... you can either blow up your opponents hand and/or discard some fatties
Another card I have found to be amazing with Gifts that i feel is very unrated is Noxious Revival. With Snapcaster and Revival as part of your Gifts package, u can get any card from your deck on top of ur library (by end of your opponents turning gifts, then casting Revival, with snap if they put it in the graveyard and then drawing, also helps get back any cards u make have been forced to discard).
Yeah, I had a revival on my board, was pretty good to get back random stuff, like lands, etc.
You have any current lists? I mean I feel like the Talisman are best post-shaman ramp, is there anything that I am missing? do they ramp at all? Thanks
Also, I am not 100% sold on manabase, I kinda just threw this together... With 6 fetches, 5 Talisman, 1 thoughtseize and 4 Shocks... RDW could be an abysmal matchup Game 1... Gotta B-line to Iona-Red... This is why I have disfigures all over place and really wanna add Esper charm... Need to keep the steam away from them. Lili and Wrath is way too slow in that matchup I am finding.
I was originally planning on running UW Tron, and I still might, but I have an Esper deck that does very well already. Elesh just seems like a blowout against so much of the meta in my area, and I could continue using Liliana and Esper Charm (Esper Charm is amazing BTW).
Do you recall any of the decks that you beat playing this list? With my standard Esper deck I crushed everything except for Hatebears. I feel like Gifts would have helped in that game quite a bit. Turn 4 Iona or Elesh would have won me those games.
EDIT: Also, why the Talismans? With a control shell I don't really think you need the ramp. I would probably rather have counterspells or lifegain. Sphinx's Revelation, Timely Reinforcements, Esper Charm, another Inquisition or two could all take the place of those Talismans.
I also don't think you need Thirst for Knowledge. I use Thirst in mono U Tron and while it is great there, that deck doesn't have the disruption available to Esper. Again you could be running more removals, counters, another Fatty, or Wall of Omens or something instead.
I recommend at least a second creeping tarpit for a land--manland are great because they ease the pressure of walkers which are pretty hard to deal with.
It looks like your list is a little budget, let me know what you say about that, there are other great esper gifts running around and I might be able to cater to you if thats the case.
I play 4cc, and think our lists are similar enough to help, I really don't think wraths main are worth the slots, I think I'd run 1 and one EE with an academy ruins--that usually covers most of anything you'd ever want. often times think of only needing two singletons and let snapcaster be the third piece.
if you can afford it the filter lands are better for your deck then the checklands, though singleton checklands are great.
3x Esper Charm because I love that card. It is never a dead draw for me and has served me very well. I have very heavy aggro in my meta and a lot of weird aggro homebrews, hence the 3x wraths.
There are a couple control players and 1 Tron player (besides myself lol), hence the Geist of Saint Trafts and Terastadon, respectively. Wurmcoil will be taking a SB slot once Iona, Shield of Emeria gets here. Sphinx of the Steel Wind is in case i run into our Zoo player. Purge is for Splinter Twin and opposing lilianas.
I will probably be adding one more Colonnade (I have two sitting in a binder) but I am not sure what lands to drop. I am loving Scrylands in Modern. I have Scryed away Iona, Unburial, or Elesh a bunch of times already.
I am all for Iona MB. Terastodon will be coming in against Tron, Scapeshift, or whatever else seems reasonable (maybe UWR? Taking out their lands seems nice).
I am kind of the opposite of you right now where I have all my removal (besides Path) in the SB. Liliana and Esper charm have won me many games. Tomorrow I will be testing basically the same list that I have above except with Iona MB and the Sideboard looks like this:
Against UWR Control -
- Verdict
- Wrath
- Day of Judgment
- 1x Path to Exile
- Iona
+ Thoughtseize
+ Oblivion Ring
+ Detention Sphere
+ Disenchant
+ Terastodon
Against Aggro (RDW, Zoo, Naya Blitz, etc)
- Iona (unless RDW)
- 2x Liliana of the Veil
- 2x Remand
+ Sphinx of the Steel Wind
+ 2x Doom Blade
+ Go for the Throat
Against Bogles
- 2x Remand
- 1x Timely Reinforcements
+ Oblivion Ring
+ Detention Sphere
+ Disenchant
(I think Timely won't be super effective since the 1/1 soldier will get trampled over pretty quick, but the life gain may be relevant. Not sure.)
In regards to Jin-Gitaxias and the Griselfather...I think Griselbrand is probably a better target than Gin. Gin is good against Control if you can resolve him, but if you are in an aggro heavy meta their hand may be pretty low anyway. I have thought about Gin as a SB option though. If Griselbrand was cheaper I would pick one up just because he is a BAMF, but honestly I don't know if he has the same effect as Iona and Elesh.
Elesh invalidates your opponents creatures and boosts your own tokens/snappys and Iona protects herself from Path or whatever the relevant removal is, then it's a 3 turn clock with her max.
Wurmcoil is an option in case you go up against BG Rock/Jund running Lilly. Sac Wurmcoil to Lilly and swing with both tokens to take care of her (Or just Celestial Purge, which I might actually run 2 of in my SB)
EDIT: Also you could easily deck yourself if you get Jin out too early. Hell I have been close to decking myself just with Esper Charms, Gifts, and Sphinx.
lands with this deck i think are always a debate and i run more esper attrition with a gifts finish than most others but i like it and it, i've been very happy focusing more on the discard package
sorry for the poor formatting, i'll try and change it later
Board
deck is easy to hate out so i forgo some board space to go into midrange if I I feel hate coming or against decks that pack alot main:
4 Bob
3 Geist
Hate
3 stony silence
2 spellskite
2 leyline of sanctity
1 swan song
i usually try and find space for timely if i think aggro will be out in full force, it's great. and baneslayer if i'm really worried about affinity but elesh norn just wins that as long as you prevent overseer from getting online and or ravager pumping etched champion
I love this deck. I gave up jund after DRS ban for this deck because it's fun and it has really good chances in most matchups. Even when your win con is dead (i.e. Rest in Peace, Nihil Spellbomb, Tormod's Crypt, ect.) you still have chances to win.
I'm still testing but as of right now this is my list:
The package of Snappy, Sun Titan, Noxious Revival and Think Twice/Forbidden is a fun one
Anyone looking at this might think it's a little weak to aggro. That said I don't see too much of that these days. I've tested this vs. Affinity with encouraging results. Post board you have really good chances provided they don't stick a turn 2 blood moon.
Paths are especially nice in this deck. They are easily one of the best spot removal spells in magic. They are cheap to reuse with snappy and also, they can be used for ramp! That's right try pathing your own creatures just before a board wipe. That's why I have a single island despite having no blue fetches.
I have the Finks, Titan, and Spellskites ready to try this list out at some point. I am not sure what I would cut for them, probably some counters I guess? More likely some spot removal.
I have the Finks, Titan, and Spellskites ready to try this list out at some point. I am not sure what I would cut for them, probably some counters I guess? More likely some spot removal.
I think you should keep the spot removal.
You could cut the remands and the inquisitions. Speaking from experience in jund, it's sub optimal to run just 2 inquisitions. Less than 4 is a big blunder in jund and I feel the same applies here (Jund actually runs about six with the others being thoughtseize naturally). The point there is you want to guaruntee a turn one inquisition or thoughtsieze. Remand also feels like a tempo card and I don't think you're playing tempo. Could be a meta call though, perhaps your meta is UWR heavy? Always good to remand snappy's targets.
And a final side note, the more I think about it I really like your chromatic lantern. I may try that out myself.
Yeah I actually got rid of the inquisitions already (they are SB with thoughtseize for control match ups). This is the list I'll be running in a couple hours:
Not running Chromatic Lantern though, whose list is running that?
Esper Charm and Lily work well with the deck in that I can discard my fatties if I draw them or force the open to discard (or destroy enchantments/draw cards). I am never disappointed when I see Esper Charm.
Quicken? What are you trying to Quicken? Lingering Souls? Seems pretty unexciting.
Why not cut those for 2 Wraths, and a Lili for the 3rd Wrath (Damnation would fit well with your manabase)? Or you could play more diverse spot removal (GFTT/Doom Blade/Dismember/Devour Flesh/etc).
Thought Scour is another interesting option - it works well with Souls, Snapcaster, and of the course the reanimation package.
I like the use of Bobs in the board - that's clever.
yeah bobs geist in geist, big dudes gifts rites out (except on occasion wurmcoil if you feel lucky).
quicken + IoK/Thoughtseizee is a counter for non instant speed stuff in a top deck war it all provides nice flexbility turn 2 if you have leak in hand, especially if you're playing more man-lands and cant do it T1 without risking tempo loss later. Holding on leak and if you dont use it eot discard works well early and provides a cheap way to get value of snap if you have to flash him in mid game to block (snap discard and quicken swaps a blue for a colorless to hold up cryptic and then go the same way t4/5 if you don't have to use it).
also this probably won't happen again ever, especially because i don't play the deck as much now (and its worth noting I have no idea how many comes i lost because quicken wasnt something else), but i eot gifts, then passed my turn knowing they had cryptic in hand from an early IoK (against twin), they flashed in a dude and I went quicken rites elesh norn over it. they bounced him on their turn, but it ate a turn and a cryptic and gave me an extra draw, which found me snap and flashbacked toughtseize to grab the twin, followed it with a hard cast elesh norn and tar pit did the rest.
some people hate it, alot of people give me flak for it but if it didn't win me games i would take it out. it may not be the best thing, but i play this and BUG in modern and both decks fold post board to blood moon, this more so because it can't deal with a resolved moon and i got tired of people ripping them off the top, even after 2 or 3 discard spells in the first 2 turns, leak is the best answer to it but sometimes you don't have it, or you have to use it on something else and remand is only good if you have cryptic and can cryptic it the following turn). it's not perfect but twin, scapeshift, big red/blue moon prison decks all have sorcery speed spells that can be backbreaking to rip off the top man in addition to a slew of board cards that are no fun. I found hitting the right notes without losing tempo can be hard and losing tempo is bad. having thoughtseize but holding up leak only for an opponent to play something not worth countering is awful, like serum visions. leaking serum visions never feels good (for me) unless you know the hand and the rest of the hand is dead. again not perfect, but i've found it useful in this attrition based build which wants to trade 1-1 without losing tempo and using lingering souls to stall agro or be a finisher with elesh norn till rites or Lil takes over. If you run lingering and snap i'd be hard pressed to not run 4 of her here. If you're playing control play sweepers, just now that with so much twin instant speed removal is necessary and if they're running spell snare, leak can be a liability at disrupting the combo. and if you running a lot of spot and sweepers you have a lot of dead cards against storm/ad nauseam and scapeshift
without top of libary manipulation i don't like thought scour. it can mill away important answers, for every time it puts rites or a cheap snap target and a fatty into the yard there will be more times where its a land you need lil and/or snap. and if you put a sweeper in the yard you need two rocks to get it out on time with snap, maybe good against zoo but probably not much else.
Ok I went 3-1 tonight with the list I posted above. I lost to Ad Nauseaum Unlife. First game I had Iona out naming Black. He about conceded but then drew Mystical Teachings and drew a bounce spell then combo'd off. Game 2 he drew the nuts and there was nothing I could do.
The other decks I played were mainly home brews. I had a very intense game with my buddy who runs the Kuldotha/Blightsteel/Platinum Angel deck that Travis Woo talked about a while ago. Blightsteel Blitz I think it is called. Game 1 I mulled to 4 and lost, game two he had Cranial Plating and Lightning Greaves on a Wurmcoil Engine, along with a Wurmcoil Token. I am at 12 life. I end of turn Gifts for Lingering Souls and flash it back to get some chumps (I have a Liliana of the Veil with 2 counters out). I chump on the turn and EOT Gifts for Terastodon. I blow up Cranial Plating, Lightning Greaves, and one of my swamps to have a blocker. He makes the mistake of not swinging at Liliana. I path his Wurmcoil and take over the game. He was at 68 life and I was at 12, somehow I won.
When it was all done i played the guy who came in first 2 quick games (I came in 3rd). He was running Affinity. Game 1 I beat him with a Snapcaster/Wrath package followed by Gifts/Elesh. Game 2 he fought through a Stony Silence and landed a Blood Moon (which I could do nothing against). So I felt pretty good about the matchup, felt in control most of the time.
A couple of notes:
- I never wanted Sphinx's Revelation. In this deck I have better things to do with my mana.
- Esper Charm was an all star. I was never disappointed to draw it.
- Terastodon is very good in the matchups that Iona is not.
- Elesh is a house in an aggro meta and has amazing synergy with Lingering Souls and Timely Reinforcements.
- LINGERING SOULS IS THE REASON TO RUN ESPER. It was amazing.
- I am going to up the mana leaks to 4 in the MB.
My list got crushed by ad nauseam too. I'm going to retool in preparation for next friday. I'll post my new list for pointers soon. I'm thinking Venomous is right about lingering souls. I also think Sun Titan was a little too cute in my list. I'll be looking for other options.
My list got crushed by ad nauseam too. I'm going to retool in preparation for next friday. I'll post my new list for pointers soon. I'm thinking Venomous is right about lingering souls. I also think Sun Titan was a little too cute in my list. I'll be looking for other options.
2-3 cryptic does a world of good against storm/AdN bouncing important enchantments and countering things tends to very good, it's cost is tough but it takes some of the really good parts of esper charm and put it together other really good options, its flexibility is its greatest asset. it might be a tough to cast dismiss alot, but when it's not it's probably the only card in your deck that can help you win the game
Is Griselbrand a good reanimation target? I assume he is not as good as Iona due to removal?
It's not right for this deck I think. Griselbrand is more aggro-reanimation where your goal is to land a fatty and kill the opponent as fast as you can. This deck is more control, so you want a creature that will prevent the opponent from winning somehow. A 7/7 flying lifelink is never bad, obviously, but this deck can pull out something that locks up a win and stops your opponent from doing anything about it. Rather than a card that lets you draw into a win, just go straight to the win.
You have any current lists? I mean I feel like the Talisman are best post-shaman ramp, is there anything that I am missing? do they ramp at all? Thanks
I believe that they were posted in the 4C Gifts thread. If not, then ktkenshinx probably has them saved.
Here is my current list:
3 Snapcaster Mage
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
Artifacts
3 Talisman of Progress
2 Talisman of Dominance
Instants
4 Gifts Ungiven
3 Spell Snare
2 Path to Exile
1 Disfigure
1 Go For the Throat
3 Thirst for Knowledge
Sorcery
3 Lingering Souls
2 Wrath of God
1 Day of Judgment
1 Supreme Verdict
2 Unburial Rites
1 Thoughtseize
1 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Liliana of the Veil
Land
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Marsh Flats
2 Misty Rainforest
2 Hallowed Fountain
1 Watery Grave
1 Godless Shrine
1 Creeping Tar Pit
1 Celestial Colonnade
1 Snow-Covered Island
1 Island
1 Snow-Covered Plains
1 Plains
1 Snow-Covered Swamp
3 Glacial Fortress
3 Drowned Catacomb
3 Swan Song
2 Disfigure
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Detention Sphere
1 Hurkyl's Recall
2 Echoing Truth
1 Liliana of the Veil
1 Sundering Titan
1 Magister Sphinx
1 Thoughtseize
Debating with myself for that 4th Lingering Souls md...
Also I'm thinking a lot about Esper Charm md and a 3rd fattie: Grave Titan...
Also need a 3rd Manland for MD, ideas?(so that you can gifts for 3 diff manlands if needed):
Inkmoth Nexus
Mutavault
Faerie Conclave
Additional SB options:
Tidespout Tyrant
Mortify
Castigate
More counter/disruption
Sidenote:
Original build had 4x remand and 2x mana leak... Didn't like them in this deck, mostly cause you need the 2 drop mana ramp
Ideas, thoughts, concerns? Thanks.
Thank you mchief111, great sig
Lvl 37 Planeswalker
Current:
Legacy:
:symu::symb::symr::symw::symg: TES |
Vintage:
:symb::symu: Titan Dredge | :symb::symu::symw: Bomberman
Modern:
:symu::symr: Kiki-Twin | :symr::symg: Tron
Standard:
Wip
EDH:
:symb::symu::symw: Zur
I would highly recommended Esper Charm is very flexiable and 2 cards for 3 mana at instant speed cant be over stated.
Another card I have found to be amazing with Gifts that i feel is very unrated is Noxious Revival. With Snapcaster and Revival as part of your Gifts package, u can get any card from your deck on top of ur library (by end of your opponents turning gifts, then casting Revival, with snap if they put it in the graveyard and then drawing, also helps get back any cards u make have been forced to discard).
Storm Crow is strictly worse than Seacoast Drake.
Yeah, Endgame it's beautiful, but even at Mid-range sometimes, Iona in play on turn 4-5 = blowout.
Yes, I love me some Esper Charm... the only thing is, is that it fights for a slot with Thirst For Knowledge (which is easier to cast), but the modes on charm are amazing:
A: Meh, pop enchantment? relevant in some situations like UR Storm
B: Draw Two, pretty amazing when you need to dig
C: Target Discards Two... This is amazing with Liliana... you can either blow up your opponents hand and/or discard some fatties
Yeah, I had a revival on my board, was pretty good to get back random stuff, like lands, etc.
You have any current lists? I mean I feel like the Talisman are best post-shaman ramp, is there anything that I am missing? do they ramp at all? Thanks
Also, I am not 100% sold on manabase, I kinda just threw this together... With 6 fetches, 5 Talisman, 1 thoughtseize and 4 Shocks... RDW could be an abysmal matchup Game 1... Gotta B-line to Iona-Red... This is why I have disfigures all over place and really wanna add Esper charm... Need to keep the steam away from them. Lili and Wrath is way too slow in that matchup I am finding.
Thank you mchief111, great sig
Lvl 37 Planeswalker
Current:
Legacy:
:symu::symb::symr::symw::symg: TES |
Vintage:
:symb::symu: Titan Dredge | :symb::symu::symw: Bomberman
Modern:
:symu::symr: Kiki-Twin | :symr::symg: Tron
Standard:
Wip
EDH:
:symb::symu::symw: Zur
Do you recall any of the decks that you beat playing this list? With my standard Esper deck I crushed everything except for Hatebears. I feel like Gifts would have helped in that game quite a bit. Turn 4 Iona or Elesh would have won me those games.
EDIT: Also, why the Talismans? With a control shell I don't really think you need the ramp. I would probably rather have counterspells or lifegain. Sphinx's Revelation, Timely Reinforcements, Esper Charm, another Inquisition or two could all take the place of those Talismans.
I also don't think you need Thirst for Knowledge. I use Thirst in mono U Tron and while it is great there, that deck doesn't have the disruption available to Esper. Again you could be running more removals, counters, another Fatty, or Wall of Omens or something instead.
It looks like your list is a little budget, let me know what you say about that, there are other great esper gifts running around and I might be able to cater to you if thats the case.
I play 4cc, and think our lists are similar enough to help, I really don't think wraths main are worth the slots, I think I'd run 1 and one EE with an academy ruins--that usually covers most of anything you'd ever want. often times think of only needing two singletons and let snapcaster be the third piece.
if you can afford it the filter lands are better for your deck then the checklands, though singleton checklands are great.
1x Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1x Wurmcoil Engine
4x Gifts Ungiven
3x Mana Leak
2x Remand
3x Path to Exile
2x Inquisition of Kozilek
1x Timely Reinforcements
2x Lingering Souls
1x Day of Judgment
1x Supreme Verdict
1x Wrath of God
2x Unburial Rites
3x Esper Charm
1x Sphinx's Revelation
2x Celestial Colonnade
3x Hallowed Fountain
3x Temple of Deceit
3x Temple of Silence
2x Darkslick Shores
2x Temple of Enlightenment
2x Plains
1x Island
3x Swamp
3x Esper Charm because I love that card. It is never a dead draw for me and has served me very well. I have very heavy aggro in my meta and a lot of weird aggro homebrews, hence the 3x wraths.
Sideboard
1x Terastodon
1x Sphinx of the Steel Wind
1x Timely Reinforcements
2x Stoney Silence
1x Sphinx's Revelation
1x Negate
1x Spell Snare
1x Hero's Downfall
2x Celestial Purge
1x Thoughtseize
1x Dismember
There are a couple control players and 1 Tron player (besides myself lol), hence the Geist of Saint Trafts and Terastadon, respectively. Wurmcoil will be taking a SB slot once Iona, Shield of Emeria gets here. Sphinx of the Steel Wind is in case i run into our Zoo player. Purge is for Splinter Twin and opposing lilianas.
Or Wall of Omens...?
Hmmm....
I am all for Iona MB. Terastodon will be coming in against Tron, Scapeshift, or whatever else seems reasonable (maybe UWR? Taking out their lands seems nice).
I am kind of the opposite of you right now where I have all my removal (besides Path) in the SB. Liliana and Esper charm have won me many games. Tomorrow I will be testing basically the same list that I have above except with Iona MB and the Sideboard looks like this:
1x Terastodon
1x Sphinx of the Steel Wind
2x Stony Silence
2x Doom Blade
1x Go for the Throat
1x Essence Scatter
1x Sphinx's Revelation
1x Detention Sphere
1x Oblivion Ring
1x Disenchant
1x Thoughtseize
1x Timely Reinforcements
Against UWR Control -
- Verdict
- Wrath
- Day of Judgment
- 1x Path to Exile
- Iona
+ Thoughtseize
+ Oblivion Ring
+ Detention Sphere
+ Disenchant
+ Terastodon
Against Aggro (RDW, Zoo, Naya Blitz, etc)
- Iona (unless RDW)
- 2x Liliana of the Veil
- 2x Remand
+ Sphinx of the Steel Wind
+ 2x Doom Blade
+ Go for the Throat
Against Bogles
- 2x Remand
- 1x Timely Reinforcements
+ Oblivion Ring
+ Detention Sphere
+ Disenchant
(I think Timely won't be super effective since the 1/1 soldier will get trampled over pretty quick, but the life gain may be relevant. Not sure.)
Elesh invalidates your opponents creatures and boosts your own tokens/snappys and Iona protects herself from Path or whatever the relevant removal is, then it's a 3 turn clock with her max.
Wurmcoil is an option in case you go up against BG Rock/Jund running Lilly. Sac Wurmcoil to Lilly and swing with both tokens to take care of her (Or just Celestial Purge, which I might actually run 2 of in my SB)
EDIT: Also you could easily deck yourself if you get Jin out too early. Hell I have been close to decking myself just with Esper Charms, Gifts, and Sphinx.
I don't have access to Cryptic Command, so I think I might SB 1 Esper Charm for an Essence Scatter (I do have a lot of aggro at my LGS...)
EDIT: Scratch that, gonna do a 3rd Remand.
sorry for the poor formatting, i'll try and change it later
3 IoK
2 thoughtseize
4 mana leak
2 cryptic
removal(8)
1 slaughter pact
3 path
4 Lil
flexibility(6)
4 snap
2 quicken
4 lingering souls
3 gifts
1 elesh norn
1 iona
1 wurmcoil
1 unburial rites
land (24)
2 tec edge
3 marsh flats
3 misty
1 sunken ruins
2 tar pit
2 colonnade
2 fountain
2 grave
1 shrine
6 basics (1 reg and 1 snow each)
Board
deck is easy to hate out so i forgo some board space to go into midrange if I I feel hate coming or against decks that pack alot main:
4 Bob
3 Geist
Hate
3 stony silence
2 spellskite
2 leyline of sanctity
1 swan song
i usually try and find space for timely if i think aggro will be out in full force, it's great. and baneslayer if i'm really worried about affinity but elesh norn just wins that as long as you prevent overseer from getting online and or ravager pumping etched champion
Also I love Slaughter Pact. I need to pick one up.
I'm still testing but as of right now this is my list:
4x Marsh Flats
4x Verdant Catacombs
4x Celestial Colonnade
3x Godless Shrine
2x Watery Grave
1x Hallowed Fountain
1x City of Brass
1x Island
2x Plains
1x Swamp
1x Ghost Quarter
1x Tectonic Edge
Creatures
2x Spellskite
3x Snapcaster Mage
3x Kitchen Finks
1x Sun Titan
1x Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1x Iona, Shield of Emeria
1x Slaughter Pact
1x Noxious Revival
3x Path to Exile
1x Doom Blade
4x Mana Leak
1x Think Twice
1x Forbidden Alchemy
1x Thirst For Knowledge
4x Gifts Ungiven
Sorceries
1x Timely Reinforcements
1x Wrath of God
1x Supreme Verdict
1x Day of Judgment
1x Unburial Rites
Planeswalkers
2x Liliana of the Veil
1x Sphinx of the Steel Wind
3x Leyline of Sanctity
3x Stony Silence
2x Celestial Purge
2x Disenchant
2x Lingering Souls
1x Engineered Explosives
1x Nihil Spellbomb
The package of Snappy, Sun Titan, Noxious Revival and Think Twice/Forbidden is a fun one
Anyone looking at this might think it's a little weak to aggro. That said I don't see too much of that these days. I've tested this vs. Affinity with encouraging results. Post board you have really good chances provided they don't stick a turn 2 blood moon.
Paths are especially nice in this deck. They are easily one of the best spot removal spells in magic. They are cheap to reuse with snappy and also, they can be used for ramp! That's right try pathing your own creatures just before a board wipe. That's why I have a single island despite having no blue fetches.
I think you should keep the spot removal.
You could cut the remands and the inquisitions. Speaking from experience in jund, it's sub optimal to run just 2 inquisitions. Less than 4 is a big blunder in jund and I feel the same applies here (Jund actually runs about six with the others being thoughtseize naturally). The point there is you want to guaruntee a turn one inquisition or thoughtsieze. Remand also feels like a tempo card and I don't think you're playing tempo. Could be a meta call though, perhaps your meta is UWR heavy? Always good to remand snappy's targets.
And a final side note, the more I think about it I really like your chromatic lantern. I may try that out myself.
1x Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1x Iona, Shield of Emeria
4x Gifts Ungiven
4x Path to Exile
3x Mana Leak
3x Remand
3x Lingering Souls
2x Esper Charm
2x Unburial Rites
1x Timely Reinforcements
1x Wrath of God
1x Supreme Verdict
1x Day of Judgment
1x Negate
1x Sphinx's Revelation
1x Go for the Throat
25x lands
Not running Chromatic Lantern though, whose list is running that?
Esper Charm and Lily work well with the deck in that I can discard my fatties if I draw them or force the open to discard (or destroy enchantments/draw cards). I am never disappointed when I see Esper Charm.
yeah bobs geist in geist, big dudes gifts rites out (except on occasion wurmcoil if you feel lucky).
quicken + IoK/Thoughtseizee is a counter for non instant speed stuff in a top deck war it all provides nice flexbility turn 2 if you have leak in hand, especially if you're playing more man-lands and cant do it T1 without risking tempo loss later. Holding on leak and if you dont use it eot discard works well early and provides a cheap way to get value of snap if you have to flash him in mid game to block (snap discard and quicken swaps a blue for a colorless to hold up cryptic and then go the same way t4/5 if you don't have to use it).
also this probably won't happen again ever, especially because i don't play the deck as much now (and its worth noting I have no idea how many comes i lost because quicken wasnt something else), but i eot gifts, then passed my turn knowing they had cryptic in hand from an early IoK (against twin), they flashed in a dude and I went quicken rites elesh norn over it. they bounced him on their turn, but it ate a turn and a cryptic and gave me an extra draw, which found me snap and flashbacked toughtseize to grab the twin, followed it with a hard cast elesh norn and tar pit did the rest.
some people hate it, alot of people give me flak for it but if it didn't win me games i would take it out. it may not be the best thing, but i play this and BUG in modern and both decks fold post board to blood moon, this more so because it can't deal with a resolved moon and i got tired of people ripping them off the top, even after 2 or 3 discard spells in the first 2 turns, leak is the best answer to it but sometimes you don't have it, or you have to use it on something else and remand is only good if you have cryptic and can cryptic it the following turn). it's not perfect but twin, scapeshift, big red/blue moon prison decks all have sorcery speed spells that can be backbreaking to rip off the top man in addition to a slew of board cards that are no fun. I found hitting the right notes without losing tempo can be hard and losing tempo is bad. having thoughtseize but holding up leak only for an opponent to play something not worth countering is awful, like serum visions. leaking serum visions never feels good (for me) unless you know the hand and the rest of the hand is dead. again not perfect, but i've found it useful in this attrition based build which wants to trade 1-1 without losing tempo and using lingering souls to stall agro or be a finisher with elesh norn till rites or Lil takes over. If you run lingering and snap i'd be hard pressed to not run 4 of her here. If you're playing control play sweepers, just now that with so much twin instant speed removal is necessary and if they're running spell snare, leak can be a liability at disrupting the combo. and if you running a lot of spot and sweepers you have a lot of dead cards against storm/ad nauseam and scapeshift
without top of libary manipulation i don't like thought scour. it can mill away important answers, for every time it puts rites or a cheap snap target and a fatty into the yard there will be more times where its a land you need lil and/or snap. and if you put a sweeper in the yard you need two rocks to get it out on time with snap, maybe good against zoo but probably not much else.
The other decks I played were mainly home brews. I had a very intense game with my buddy who runs the Kuldotha/Blightsteel/Platinum Angel deck that Travis Woo talked about a while ago. Blightsteel Blitz I think it is called. Game 1 I mulled to 4 and lost, game two he had Cranial Plating and Lightning Greaves on a Wurmcoil Engine, along with a Wurmcoil Token. I am at 12 life. I end of turn Gifts for Lingering Souls and flash it back to get some chumps (I have a Liliana of the Veil with 2 counters out). I chump on the turn and EOT Gifts for Terastodon. I blow up Cranial Plating, Lightning Greaves, and one of my swamps to have a blocker. He makes the mistake of not swinging at Liliana. I path his Wurmcoil and take over the game. He was at 68 life and I was at 12, somehow I won.
When it was all done i played the guy who came in first 2 quick games (I came in 3rd). He was running Affinity. Game 1 I beat him with a Snapcaster/Wrath package followed by Gifts/Elesh. Game 2 he fought through a Stony Silence and landed a Blood Moon (which I could do nothing against). So I felt pretty good about the matchup, felt in control most of the time.
A couple of notes:
- I never wanted Sphinx's Revelation. In this deck I have better things to do with my mana.
- Esper Charm was an all star. I was never disappointed to draw it.
- Terastodon is very good in the matchups that Iona is not.
- Elesh is a house in an aggro meta and has amazing synergy with Lingering Souls and Timely Reinforcements.
- LINGERING SOULS IS THE REASON TO RUN ESPER. It was amazing.
- I am going to up the mana leaks to 4 in the MB.
2-3 cryptic does a world of good against storm/AdN bouncing important enchantments and countering things tends to very good, it's cost is tough but it takes some of the really good parts of esper charm and put it together other really good options, its flexibility is its greatest asset. it might be a tough to cast dismiss alot, but when it's not it's probably the only card in your deck that can help you win the game
It's not right for this deck I think. Griselbrand is more aggro-reanimation where your goal is to land a fatty and kill the opponent as fast as you can. This deck is more control, so you want a creature that will prevent the opponent from winning somehow. A 7/7 flying lifelink is never bad, obviously, but this deck can pull out something that locks up a win and stops your opponent from doing anything about it. Rather than a card that lets you draw into a win, just go straight to the win.
I believe that they were posted in the 4C Gifts thread. If not, then ktkenshinx probably has them saved.
Storm Crow is strictly worse than Seacoast Drake.