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It is like they are entering a "red zone" which those two does alot, while Architect usually hangs back, being brain to the whole thing. In that scenario Master of Etherium is randomly holding a baby in the middle of a no-man's land.
@Epityr.dec
You play Bridge in the sideboard? What is the plan with that?
How would you guys hedge for the UW control matchup? I don't know how to gain an advantage using SB strategies without coughing one away for other important modern strategies. Trying to find a good catch-all in the Unified Will slot and play something that helps against Supreme Verdict that isn't soft to cheap spot removal.
Btw nice work on the sig RR7_7RR. When I first started brewing this deck, before realizing the optimal build, I was doodling away looking to make custom mat artwork of the spells, having a narrative of them as a whole. I made a production plant where Etherium Sculptors worked on high standing platforms, and equipped Superions and Lupine Prototypes for action, using scraps picked by Glint Nest Cranes, navigating the premises with Smuggler's Copters (see attached for loose sketch)
I think if I can hunker down and take the project seriously, I would want to do a playmat with narrative illustration that invokes the core of the optimal build. I've always called the deck Blue Man Group, so it would be nice to just have all the Vedalken using Copters and/or Ballistas as percussion instruments lol. Any other ideas would be sweet
For those wanting a card for sweepers, classic hangarback walker is great, but also... god-pharaoh's gift! Someone here made the suggestion some time ago so i gave it a shot. I drew the card only once tonight, vs u/w control, and i was very impressed. It has the advantage of immediate impact, playing it pre-combat gets you a hasty token, BOOM! and sweeper are pretty bad with this, one 4/4 haste a turn races like crazy. Even vs non control deck it is fairly easy to get triggers with mausoleum wanderers, walking ballista (just empty the barrel and you get it back), or anything that dies chumping or discarded to copter. The card is value and power, which is great!
Best thing about God-Pharaoh's Gift is that tokens don't get exiled in the end step. Hit for 4 with Wanderer and have it ready to sac and force them to pay 4 if they want to resolve an instant or sorcery.
For a creature deck we are nicely positioned against Verdict: manlands, Copter, Wurmcoil, Throne, Gift, Lodestone, Thorn, Academy Ruins, with possible Scrap Thrawler, Trinket Mage and Relic of Progenitus for grinding. I would focus on other mathups before UW Ctrl.
I also wonder about Signal Pest. The card never did anything for me in this deck.
Did anyone try Tectonic Edge? With all those delaying cards (blue one-drops, Lodestone, Thorn) we can easily turn soft lock into hard.
Monument can be good if we start Architect into Master of Waves for infinite power, which can be tapped for infinite Ballista or Monument.
Without Waves we only have Battlesphere or Hangarback as token makers. I would say no. But the beauty of this deck is modularity.
So I'm testing and loving gift. I did cut loadstone so I can run 4 pest, 4 wanderer, 4 familiar, 3 sage I don't run master either and I'm only on 2 gift right now. Deck seems much more aggressive and killing my x/1's or cashing in a balista to attack right away has been great! This also makes you feel better about cashing in your counterspell creatures too. I'll keep testing but it seems great currently. Another nice thing is that gift allows our gy hate cards to still be great while not hurting me.
Some Merfolk dignitaries swear by Gemstone Caverns.
It is only "active" 5.8% of time with one copy in the main.
I don't like it there, but this deck can use first turn Sculptor, Engineer, Copter, or even Thorn after sideboard. And can easily use colorless mana otherwise.
Even more copies are not completely dead with 4 Copters, just like Opals with Ravager.
Anyone tried it?
Welp, after RG Vengevine takes down an open I think I'll be moving back to maindeck 1x Trinket Mage/2x Aether Spellbomb/1x Relic of Progenitus package, at least for testing purposes
Knowing my metagame people will be on this list like flies on stink
Welp, after RG Vengevine takes down an open I think I'll be moving back to maindeck 1x Trinket Mage/2x Aether Spellbomb/1x Relic of Progenitus package, at least for testing purposes
Knowing my metagame people will be on this list like flies on stink
That seems like a rather slow way to attack it. I think the deck gets around most yard hate really well.
Not an expert on Vengevine.dec but it's engine depends on finding and resolving looting spells (Looting and Reunion) to do the thing.
Have a Bird into Thorn and the deck is mostly stopped. Cage, Relic, Wurmcoil, Battlesphere, even Spellbomb, big Ballista, Hangarback if necessary, Thorn, Spellskite... we are not defenseless.
And the deck didn't took down an Open, not even top32.
Has anyone tried Spellskite in the main? Seems like an easy choice to protect our enablers from spot removal while it's our best card against auras and it also helps a lot against affinity since it can redirect modular from Arcbound Ravager.
This is the list I want to test this week before GP Birmingham, I can't drop Master of Etherium as easily as Xaanto since I think it's key to the deck, yeah, sometimes you will play him as a 1/1 for 3 but being a blue artifact that pumps other artifacts is extremely useful even if he is not hitting, I prefer it over Myr Superion which in the end suffers the same problem Tarmogoyf does, it's too easy to kill with Fatal Push.
Not an expert on Vengevine.dec but it's engine depends on finding and resolving looting spells (Looting and Reunion) to do the thing.
Have a Bird into Thorn and the deck is mostly stopped. Cage, Relic, Wurmcoil, Battlesphere, even Spellbomb, big Ballista, Hangarback if necessary, Thorn, Spellskite... we are not defenseless.
And the deck didn't took down an Open, not even top32.
Well this version can just go over the top of you too. It uses neonate to discard as well and taxing 1 drop creatures isn't going to stop it too much. Battle rage and BI are scary as well even if taxed for a couple mana. The g/r new version usually has a nice boardstate by t3 so if you get behind a turn it'll be hard to catch up. The meta is so go fast or go high on mana producers that that's why I'm trying cutting lodestone for more speed on starts and then relying in god-pharaoh's gift for the late game.
Has anyone tried Spellskite in the main? Seems like an easy choice to protect our enablers from removal spot while it's our best card against auras and it also helps a lot against affinity since it can redirect modular from Arcbound Ravager.
This is the list I want to test this week before GP Birmingham, I can't drop Master of Etherium as easily as Xaanto since I think it's key to the deck, yeah, sometimes you will play him as a 1/1 for 3 but being a blue artifact that pumps other artifacts is extremely useful even if he is not hitting, I prefer it over Myr Superion which in the end suffers the same problem Tarmogoyf does, it's too easy to kill with Fatal Push.
I'd suggest cutting 1 wurmcoil for a second god-pharaoh's gift and maybe cut some things to get judges as they have evasion and stop combo better early. Why the fetches?
Not an expert on Vengevine.dec but it's engine depends on finding and resolving looting spells (Looting and Reunion) to do the thing.
Have a Bird into Thorn and the deck is mostly stopped. Cage, Relic, Wurmcoil, Battlesphere, even Spellbomb, big Ballista, Hangarback if necessary, Thorn, Spellskite... we are not defenseless.
And the deck didn't took down an Open, not even top32.
Well this version can just go over the top of you too. It uses neonate to discard as well and taxing 1 drop creatures isn't going to stop it too much. Battle rage and BI are scary as well even if taxed for a couple mana. The g/r new version usually has a nice boardstate by t3 so if you get behind a turn it'll be hard to catch up. The meta is so go fast or go high on mana producers that that's why I'm trying cutting lodestone for more speed on starts and then relying in god-pharaoh's gift for the late game.
Neonate doesn't produce starts we are worried about, not even 2 copies. Noncreature loot spells are the important ones.
What is the point in cutting Lodestones for speed just to play Gift in the late game? If this deck loses midgame plays then it becomes disjointed, like playing Goblin Guide and Inferno Titan in the same deck.
Not an expert on Vengevine.dec but it's engine depends on finding and resolving looting spells (Looting and Reunion) to do the thing.
Have a Bird into Thorn and the deck is mostly stopped. Cage, Relic, Wurmcoil, Battlesphere, even Spellbomb, big Ballista, Hangarback if necessary, Thorn, Spellskite... we are not defenseless.
And the deck didn't took down an Open, not even top32.
Well this version can just go over the top of you too. It uses neonate to discard as well and taxing 1 drop creatures isn't going to stop it too much. Battle rage and BI are scary as well even if taxed for a couple mana. The g/r new version usually has a nice boardstate by t3 so if you get behind a turn it'll be hard to catch up. The meta is so go fast or go high on mana producers that that's why I'm trying cutting lodestone for more speed on starts and then relying in god-pharaoh's gift for the late game.
Neonate doesn't produce starts we are worried about, not even 2 copies. Noncreature loot spells are the important ones.
What is the point in cutting Lodestones for speed just to play Gift in the late game? If this deck loses midgame plays then it becomes disjointed, like playing Goblin Guide and Inferno Titan in the same deck.
It produces a discard outlet you can't counter is the point. With that list you likely aren't catching their t1/t2 acceleration while keeping your aggro plan. The new g/r list runs bolts too. Gifts with more 1 drops give you the opportunity to go wider more aggressively imo (this also gets you 4/4's). This has allowed me to be more aggressive with balistas as well because emptying them and reloading is an actual thing.
If you are at the point of playing with God-Pharaoh's Gift, why not go one step further and try Champion of Wits? It's literally Snapcaster Mage flashback Careful Study, and with Grand Architect it's like a pseudo-Brainstorm. Eternalizing is even better with it. I know some of you are complaining about Master of Etherium, maybe you can test Champion?
Let's see how this build works and I will let you know but it looks promising, Sage of Epityr is quite weak as an attacker but it helps goldfishing as it helps you find that card you want on T2 (most probably Chief Engineer)
Let's see how this build works and I will let you know but it looks promising, Sage of Epityr is quite weak as an attacker but it helps goldfishing as it helps you find that card you want on T2 (most probably Chief Engineer)
Sculptor should be in every list as a 4 of. Sage is great in the opener (I also cut 1 land while running sage) and then good again later when recurring off of gift imo.
As for champion of wits it's a 3 drop and the whole reason for me going smaller was to get away from 3 drops like master so I could ramp out gift faster.
I personally prefer Academy Ruins. Against a control deck, which is where Cavern of Souls is good, it will stop them from countering your things; they can still remove them. Academy Ruins lets you keep getting back a threat that if they counter or remove, you can just put back on top of your library and try again next turn; it gives you a lot of longevity.
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Well, I can saw a woman in two, but you won't wanna look in the box when I'm through.
I personally prefer Academy Ruins. Against a control deck, which is where Cavern of Souls is good, it will stop them from countering your things; they can still remove them. Academy Ruins lets you keep getting back a threat that if they counter or remove, you can just put back on top of your library and try again next turn; it gives you a lot of longevity.
I have been able to shut down Counters Company from winning, then convoked a 5/5 Ballista to whittle their board down to nothing until the opponent scooped, thanks to Academy Ruins giving me topdeck Ballista every turn. Simply too good of a long game to pass up.
I second this, academy ruins has been good, mainly for drawing ballista every turn. Vs tiny creature decks it just locks them out of the game, ballista + fast mana creature is like winning by submission, long and painful for the opponent. That being said, i guess you could play one cavern and one ruins? I mean, why not?
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modern:UW spirits, BR goblins
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It is like they are entering a "red zone" which those two does alot, while Architect usually hangs back, being brain to the whole thing. In that scenario Master of Etherium is randomly holding a baby in the middle of a no-man's land.
@Epityr.dec
You play Bridge in the sideboard? What is the plan with that?
Btw nice work on the sig RR7_7RR. When I first started brewing this deck, before realizing the optimal build, I was doodling away looking to make custom mat artwork of the spells, having a narrative of them as a whole. I made a production plant where Etherium Sculptors worked on high standing platforms, and equipped Superions and Lupine Prototypes for action, using scraps picked by Glint Nest Cranes, navigating the premises with Smuggler's Copters (see attached for loose sketch)
I think if I can hunker down and take the project seriously, I would want to do a playmat with narrative illustration that invokes the core of the optimal build. I've always called the deck Blue Man Group, so it would be nice to just have all the Vedalken using Copters and/or Ballistas as percussion instruments lol. Any other ideas would be sweet
Just wanted to share my current build:
4 mausoleum wanderer
4 signal pest
4 chief engineer
4 etherium sculptor
4 walking ballista
1 hangarback walker
4 grand architect
2 master of etherium
4 lodestone golem
artifacts: 6
4 smuggler's copter
1 throne of the god-pharaoh
1 god-pharaoh's gift
lands: 22
4 blinkmoth nexus
1 academy ruins
1 inventors' fair
1 Oboro, palace in the clouds
15 island
1 welding jar
1 grafdigger's cage
1 relic of progenitus
1 basilisk collar
1 pithing needle
2 quicksilver fountain
2 scrap trawler
2 trinket mage
2 mindlock orb
2 thorn of amethyst
For those wanting a card for sweepers, classic hangarback walker is great, but also... god-pharaoh's gift! Someone here made the suggestion some time ago so i gave it a shot. I drew the card only once tonight, vs u/w control, and i was very impressed. It has the advantage of immediate impact, playing it pre-combat gets you a hasty token, BOOM! and sweeper are pretty bad with this, one 4/4 haste a turn races like crazy. Even vs non control deck it is fairly easy to get triggers with mausoleum wanderers, walking ballista (just empty the barrel and you get it back), or anything that dies chumping or discarded to copter. The card is value and power, which is great!
WBG Elves WBG
Cheeri0s
EDH:
RG Omnath, Locus of Rage RG || GWUB Atraxa, Praetors' Voice GWUB
R Zo-Zu the Punisher R || WU Brago, King Eternal WU
UB Gisa and Geralf UB || BGW Ghave, Guru of Spores BGW
I also wonder about Signal Pest. The card never did anything for me in this deck.
Did anyone try Tectonic Edge? With all those delaying cards (blue one-drops, Lodestone, Thorn) we can easily turn soft lock into hard.
It can be a answer of sorts to sweepers and get throuh a board stall on the ground.
Without Waves we only have Battlesphere or Hangarback as token makers. I would say no. But the beauty of this deck is modularity.
It is only "active" 5.8% of time with one copy in the main.
I don't like it there, but this deck can use first turn Sculptor, Engineer, Copter, or even Thorn after sideboard. And can easily use colorless mana otherwise.
Even more copies are not completely dead with 4 Copters, just like Opals with Ravager.
Anyone tried it?
Knowing my metagame people will be on this list like flies on stink
That seems like a rather slow way to attack it. I think the deck gets around most yard hate really well.
Have a Bird into Thorn and the deck is mostly stopped. Cage, Relic, Wurmcoil, Battlesphere, even Spellbomb, big Ballista, Hangarback if necessary, Thorn, Spellskite... we are not defenseless.
And the deck didn't took down an Open, not even top32.
This is the list I want to test this week before GP Birmingham, I can't drop Master of Etherium as easily as Xaanto since I think it's key to the deck, yeah, sometimes you will play him as a 1/1 for 3 but being a blue artifact that pumps other artifacts is extremely useful even if he is not hitting, I prefer it over Myr Superion which in the end suffers the same problem Tarmogoyf does, it's too easy to kill with Fatal Push.
4 Blinkmoth Nexus
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Flooded Strand
8 Snow-Covered Island
1 Spellskite
4 Mausoleum Wanderer
4 Sage of Epityr
4 Chief Engineer
4 Grand Architect
4 Walking Ballista
4 Master of Etherium
4 Lodestone Golem
2 Throne of the God-Pharaoh
4 Smuggler's Copter
2 Wurmcoil Engine
1 God-Pharaoh's Gift
1 Basilisk Collar
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Hangarback Walker
2 Trinket Mage
1 Thorn of Amethyst
2 Quicksilver Fountain
2 Echoing Truth
2 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Spellskite
1 Wurmcoil Engine
Well this version can just go over the top of you too. It uses neonate to discard as well and taxing 1 drop creatures isn't going to stop it too much. Battle rage and BI are scary as well even if taxed for a couple mana. The g/r new version usually has a nice boardstate by t3 so if you get behind a turn it'll be hard to catch up. The meta is so go fast or go high on mana producers that that's why I'm trying cutting lodestone for more speed on starts and then relying in god-pharaoh's gift for the late game.
I'd suggest cutting 1 wurmcoil for a second god-pharaoh's gift and maybe cut some things to get judges as they have evasion and stop combo better early. Why the fetches?
Neonate doesn't produce starts we are worried about, not even 2 copies. Noncreature loot spells are the important ones.
What is the point in cutting Lodestones for speed just to play Gift in the late game? If this deck loses midgame plays then it becomes disjointed, like playing Goblin Guide and Inferno Titan in the same deck.
It produces a discard outlet you can't counter is the point. With that list you likely aren't catching their t1/t2 acceleration while keeping your aggro plan. The new g/r list runs bolts too. Gifts with more 1 drops give you the opportunity to go wider more aggressively imo (this also gets you 4/4's). This has allowed me to be more aggressive with balistas as well because emptying them and reloading is an actual thing.
Modern: Top Control -- UWx Titan -- Loam Pox -- Footsteps Hulk
Legacy: Doomsday -- Death and Taxes -- UR Stasis -- Sylvan Plug
Pauper: UB Teachings -- UR Nivix Control
So I replaced Master of Etherium with Etherium Sculptor and the deck looks like this now:
4 Blinkmoth Nexus
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Flooded Strand
8 Snow-Covered Island
1 Spellskite
4 Mausoleum Wanderer
4 Sage of Epityr
4 Chief Engineer
4 Grand Architect
4 Walking Ballista
4 Etherium Sculptor
4 Lodestone Golem
2 Throne of the God-Pharaoh
4 Smuggler's Copter
2 Wurmcoil Engine
1 God-Pharaoh's Gift
1 Basilisk Collar
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Hangarback Walker
2 Trinket Mage
1 Thorn of Amethyst
2 Quicksilver Fountain
2 Echoing Truth
2 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Spellskite
1 Pithing Needle
Let's see how this build works and I will let you know but it looks promising, Sage of Epityr is quite weak as an attacker but it helps goldfishing as it helps you find that card you want on T2 (most probably Chief Engineer)
Sculptor should be in every list as a 4 of. Sage is great in the opener (I also cut 1 land while running sage) and then good again later when recurring off of gift imo.
As for champion of wits it's a 3 drop and the whole reason for me going smaller was to get away from 3 drops like master so I could ramp out gift faster.
I have been able to shut down Counters Company from winning, then convoked a 5/5 Ballista to whittle their board down to nothing until the opponent scooped, thanks to Academy Ruins giving me topdeck Ballista every turn. Simply too good of a long game to pass up.