Like Ernenwein, I do not like the Vial/CoCo build. Trying to do too many things, IMO. I will also never consider a 4 CMC card correct, in a 21 land build with no dorks or card selection/draw--and though I'd like one or two Curious Obsession, I still have a couple of Remand in my main deck.
Since I prefer the UW take on Spirits, I'm considering a full playset of Echoing Truth in the 75, because of its broad utility against all kinds of permanents, and its double utility against Terminus/Settle the Wreckage.
Also curious about Vials in Bant Spirits. Plus, how do people make room for Curious Obsession or Chart a Course? And which one of the two do people prefer? I got my butt kicked two weeks ago running UW Spirits because my ghost bros kept getting picked off by removal, bounces, and counters.
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Current Modern Decks BG Elves // "He's back. And he brought his friends. And their friends." BG The Rock // "Dwayne Johnson approved." RU Izzet Phoenix // "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em." UGW Bant Spirits // "Super Ghost Bros." BUG Sultai Wildnerness Teachings // "How many turns did I just take again?" C Colorless Eldrazi // "Smash you."
Play the vials, they may seem counter-intuitive in what Bant Spirits wants to be doing but being able to play a creature for 'free' each turn really helps to assemble the critical mass board while representing additional disruption.
Having a vial on board also really messes with how the opponent thinks.
Personally was also on no vials before but made the switch after Ondrej Strasky's 2nd place finish and never looked back.
No need to take my word for it though, the Coco-vial build's results at GP level speak for themselves.
Guys please opinions on japanese cards. Lost a 3/3 creature against Japan celestial colonade. This guy played all creatures and spells in english cards, but some cards in his manabase was japanese. I dont registrated this really ( my brain say its all fine and all english to me lets attack his empty board)...and i am sure it is a Kind of legal cheating. It is not ok, but i know legal. I Hate such people. I never forget colonade normally, but with this Tricks it can happen one time in 3 years and such people take advantage of this
If I am a customer spending premium amount of dollars, I expect a premium service. Jund falls into the category of a premium deck costing more dollars than a majority of the rest of the format. I'm not getting the desired performance ratio per dollars spent out of the Jund deck because WOTC decided to make the format more diverse.
For the bant versions, I am having nice success replacing paths with reflector mages and an additional rattlechains. Copying Reflector Mage using Image feels so good.
I also run Vial along with CoCo. It's important to establish a fast lethal board game 1. Sideboard games Vials or CoCo can be sideboarded out for a slower game because you have answers (tron and dredge).
My meta right now has some control (Jeskai & UR Thing in the Ice/Blue Moon), but it's shifting towards aggro. Any advice for going up against Humans/Elves? I can run either Bant or UW Spirits now.
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Current Modern Decks BG Elves // "He's back. And he brought his friends. And their friends." BG The Rock // "Dwayne Johnson approved." RU Izzet Phoenix // "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em." UGW Bant Spirits // "Super Ghost Bros." BUG Sultai Wildnerness Teachings // "How many turns did I just take again?" C Colorless Eldrazi // "Smash you."
bant can more reliably cast settle the wreckage, engineered explosives and other wraths. Other than that, there isn't truly a strong answer (in both bant and azorious) to elves and humans, besides tight playing, getting good hands and the opponents not having a nut draw.
A consideration for additional vapor snag or dismembers as removal could be made, but i'm not a fan of lowering the creature count
Hmm okay. Also for Curious Obsession or Chart a Course, which should I run, should I, and how many copies? One thing that kicked my butt last time I ran spirits was running out of threats because control decks grinded me out with removal and counters. Also, is it bad cutting lands to 20 with Vial? I got flooded a ridiculous amount and had to mull down to 4 twice in a row one match.
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Current Modern Decks BG Elves // "He's back. And he brought his friends. And their friends." BG The Rock // "Dwayne Johnson approved." RU Izzet Phoenix // "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em." UGW Bant Spirits // "Super Ghost Bros." BUG Sultai Wildnerness Teachings // "How many turns did I just take again?" C Colorless Eldrazi // "Smash you."
i think chart a course is as good as we can get in terms of 2-mana card drawing effect, but i still prefer Curious Obsession out of the two as UW spirits is good at protecting its creatures.
Obviously there are games where creatures can be picked off one by one or you flood/screw, but it should be a small amount of the times. If you want to better grind through your opponents i strongly suggest the bant vialless version with collected company, rattlechains and kira, great glass spinner: you will lose some amount of speed but you'll be better equipped to grind through interaction (your deck will be pre-boarded for grindy matchups).
Running 20 lands in UW is fine imho, one land will not change the chances drastically. I would advise against it if you plan to splash black for lingering souls.
Thanks for the tips! The only control decks that show up regularly at my LGS these days are either Jeskai or some form of UR, so I deal mainly with counters and red removal. Many more aggro decks have started showing up recently so I'm trying to figure out what to play and board against things like Humans and Elves.
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Current Modern Decks BG Elves // "He's back. And he brought his friends. And their friends." BG The Rock // "Dwayne Johnson approved." RU Izzet Phoenix // "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em." UGW Bant Spirits // "Super Ghost Bros." BUG Sultai Wildnerness Teachings // "How many turns did I just take again?" C Colorless Eldrazi // "Smash you."
Counters and queller can really put a damper on the biggest plays. I would avoid unified will and look to cards like unsubstantiate to give you an mode to use vs vial/cavern heavy tribal decks. I've greatly enjoyed spell pierce as a 2 of in the main - but I board d out of counters in these matches.
Humans has an incredibly hard time killing you through a worship. Elves isn't impacted by it. GB can just drain kill you. GW can ballista down your board and then dome you for whatever they need unless you have the hexproof lock - at which point they just dig for a rec sage. Rec save may already be coming in because of vials anyway - esp finally if they are worried about grafdiggers cage.
Just some notes from my games at the LGS with UW vial.
Counters and queller can really put a damper on the biggest plays. I would avoid unified will and look to cards like unsubstantiate to give you an mode to use vs vial/cavern heavy tribal decks. I've greatly enjoyed spell pierce as a 2 of in the main - but I board d out of counters in these matches.
Humans has an incredibly hard time killing you through a worship. Elves isn't impacted by it. GB can just drain kill you. GW can ballista down your board and then dome you for whatever they need unless you have the hexproof lock - at which point they just dig for a rec sage. Rec save may already be coming in because of vials anyway - esp finally if they are worried about grafdiggers cage.
Just some notes from my games at the LGS with UW vial.
Is it worth using Echoing Truth instead of unsubstantiate? I'd rather not go hunting after and spend more money. :/
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Current Modern Decks BG Elves // "He's back. And he brought his friends. And their friends." BG The Rock // "Dwayne Johnson approved." RU Izzet Phoenix // "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em." UGW Bant Spirits // "Super Ghost Bros." BUG Sultai Wildnerness Teachings // "How many turns did I just take again?" C Colorless Eldrazi // "Smash you."
phantasmal image unfortunately doesn't synergize with curious obsession (auras target the enchanted creature as they resolve). IMHO they still could make the cut over thalia or nebelgast herald
If I wanted to run a full set of Obsession, what would I cut in UW? And what would I run instead of Vial in a Vial-less Bant build? Curious.
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Current Modern Decks BG Elves // "He's back. And he brought his friends. And their friends." BG The Rock // "Dwayne Johnson approved." RU Izzet Phoenix // "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em." UGW Bant Spirits // "Super Ghost Bros." BUG Sultai Wildnerness Teachings // "How many turns did I just take again?" C Colorless Eldrazi // "Smash you."
I've been playing Bant Spirits in the last week replacing my humans and UW spirits...
I've been struggling agains't Jund.
Do you guys take out the 4x vial and 4xnobles against them?
would you mind sharing your list?
Assuming you do run 4x vials and 4x nobles, i think it's an interesting approach to take out most of the acceleration in favor of slower but more impactful spells. As the games with jund usually develop, speed isn't as necessary as the ability to grind, and you'll eventually find enough lands for your cocos (coco is one of the best topdecks you can possibly want against jund).
If you do run them, some number of Rest in peace should be a good option, as well as any creature you can deploy (even geist of saint traft!) in order to make the creature density as high as possible. I would even go as far as deploying knight of autumn for "no value" if i can, as a vanilla 3 mana 4/3.
I would look to take out vials first, as they don't provide acceleration for CoCo and are hit by Kholaghan's command/assassin's trophy, and then nobles if you still have anything good in the sideboard to side in. In any case, i'd look to take out all vials before the nobles
Lastly, i would recommend a kira, great glass-spinner in the 75 if you feel grindy decks are prevalent in your meta.
Hey guys I'm the guy who top 4ed the classic this past weekend.
I noticed some people discussing the list so I thought I'd explain a few of the card choices.
List for reference: U/W Spirits
No phantasmal images: Other than the obvious nonbo with Curious Obsession, its just not as needed. With an active curios obsession you're more likely to see the second copies of your important spirits. Also, with curious obsession, I found I would just have one creature out that has CO on it and keep the rest of the spirits in hand to protect the suited up spirit. So phantasmal image was a lot more awkward when I would only have one creature on board.
Ghost Quarter: After playing the match-up a lot, I've found the tron match up to be pretty unfavorable for us. I wanted an answer to the opponents tron pieces while also have utility against the Colonnade decks because I tend to play the match-up slower, so Colonnade is usually active by the time I want to close out the game. Also can hit a flipped azcanta. One nice play with GQ is to use it as a on board trick by quartering yourself after leave up mana that doesn't represent Rattlechains or Queller.
Thalia, GoT: Thalia is basically a sideboard card in the main. It slows down combo decks, while also keeping Tron off of turn 3 Karn. It has some utility against other decks like burn, dredge(keeps them off turn 2 cathartic, and they also have to get to three lands before they can start loaming. Also gets to freely block Bloodghasts), midrange & control decks. Taxing your own paths and curious obsessions is fine because the cards already aggressively costed, so paying 2 for either is usually fine. I thought about testing 2 mana leaks and 1 selfless spirit in this spot to better protect what ever creature has C.O. on it.
No Moorland Haunt: I was expecting a lot more dredge this weekend so I wanted utility lands that didn't rely on the graveyard, especially since one of the match-ups moorland haunt is good in (mardu), I also bring in Rest in Peace.
Other notes: The sideboard still needs a bit of work but I really enjoyed playing the list and will be rolling back something similar for GP Atlanta this weekend.
Let me know if anyone has any other questions or concerns about the list.
I've already asked you a couple questions on FB, I'm taking this chance to ask you some more questions, thanks for visiting us by the way
UW control is a matchup where I tend not to exted my hand either, but would you actually prefer having 2x GQ in place of Mutavaults just to deal with their mid/late game threats? I mean, colonade and azcanta are a concern, but it feel like my task is to approach lethal damage by that stage, and if they managed to prevent me from racing, then I'm doomed anyways, because their PW are going to generate the value they need to outplay me from there on. I'm not saying GQ has no utility, but that extra Mutavaults better fit the aggro plan we are supposed to pull off. This is why I gave up on the surgical extraction plan long ago: the goal here is not to prevent them from threating us with one of their late game win conditions, but to get them to have no time to recur to these.
What's your opinion on Damping Sphere versus Eidolon of Rhetoric? I see how the former is so important to deal with tron post side, i also can't get rid of Eidolon as it is so damn good against a plethora of decks, from combos to mardu, jeskay, blue moon and aggro too, especially when I'm on the play.
I have longly thought about hurkyl's recall, and I did play with it for months. Eventually, I wrote down the matchups where hurkyl and stony were spendable, and my results say Hurkyl's good against Whirls decks( blows up ensnaring bridge and all of the garbage they have landed on the board), affinity ( which is a bit out of meta nowadays) and red prison deck, because of chalice and bridges again. Stony is an all-round anti artifact hate card you want to have against affinity, hardened scales, kci, nauseam, lantern and whirl decks and tron. I ended up relying on stony for my anty artifact plan and switching hurkyl with echoing truth as it's just as good at bouncing every kind of cage, plus it's way more flexible. What made you pend towards hurkyl insead of Echoing?
How often have you had issues with casting your coloured spells? with a mention to Auriok Champion which has a prohibitive WW casting cost
Have you ever felt 5x counterspells post side to be too much? which are the matchups where you absolutely need that amount of counterspells to deal with your opponent? I ve been on 3x since november 2017 and they have always felt enough.
Do you think Horizon canopy is a 'must have' in this deck and (given we all know how good the cycling ability is) how often the extra damage has given you troubles? How many times you found yourself in a spot where you had to adjust your plans in order to reduce the impact of that land on your life total?
Regarding Curious Obsession, you have told me you actually like it in the UW control matchup post side. I do agree that CO forces action on their part which puts us in the spot to use rattlechains and generate advantage, but doesn't holding CO mainboard against UW feel like holding phantasmal image mainboard against Jeskai? Especially in a postsideboard game where they know how they have to play and what kind of hand they are supposed to start with, which reduced the variability you can exploit on G1 when they might have kept a removal light hand due to the lack of informations about what's going on on your side.
I'm curious to know how your sideboarding looks like against UW.
Speaking of Moorland haunt, I've found out it's good enough to justify its coexistence with RiP in a number of matchups, one of which is Mardu. If the deck I'm facing is putting a fast clock, like dredge, hollow and vengevine, then I'm happy trimming that land when I'm on the draw, both because of RiP and because it's unlikely it's going to be impactful against those go wide decks. Against midrange, instead, I still want that land because it's still providing mana under rest in peace, and it's helping me so much generating value if no RiP has shown up. Rip can shut them down for a larg part of their strategy, but if i don't get to draw it, or i get it discarded on T1,I very much need moorland to keep up with their mass of spot removals. I could say the same of vials+stony silence against tron, but don't want to dilute here.
Now Assassin's trophy is bringing up midrange, so I believe Moorland is still a reasonable pick as a one of. UW control, Spirits, and Humans are also good matchups to have that land mainboard.
One last less specific question: do you adjust your sideboard choices depending whether you re on the play or on the draw?
SpookyGoose, thanks for stopping by the forum! I took some of your ideas and have been tweaking my own UW build, and to me the deck seems like a pretty good call right now. Seeing your list inspired me to finally try the Curious Obsessions and ditch the Phantasmal Images--I also like the Horizon Canopy tech. Finally, you convinced me that I'd be OK at 20 lands. However, like StreexGeist, your Auriok Champion looks a little greedy to me, and I also wonder how well you like it--WW and UU spells have been very hard to cast with my land package. I did not like Deprive, for instance (although of course you can't Vial in a Deprive).
Here is the build I went 4-0-1 with today. I could easily have won the draw, if I hadn't punted hard in G1. The event was a "Golden Ticket for the Portland GP" tourney:
I play twice a week (nine rounds) on paper at a busy and competitive LGS. I put UW together after not liking the Bant/Vial list, and my current record across my changing builds is 14-3-2.
Here is my thinking about my choices:
The Remand is a pet card, and until today I had two in the main, with three Echoing Truth in the side, but I moved one Truth to the main today, and it felt right. I have to admit that Remand doesn't really feel very relevant most of the time.
I really dig Nebelgast Herald a lot. Playing with its ability at flash speed is very good against a lot of creature decks (ahem *Humans*). It and Rattlechains are a dynamite pairing in many game states. I kind of want a second copy in the side, actually.
Echoing Truth is an absolute all-star for me. It bounces opponent's stuff (Hi, Bedlam Reveler...Bye!), often getting two-for-one (from a tempo perspective). It's explicitly important against graveyard decks, but also hits so many other troublesome permanents. It also saves our own stuff, whether creatures against Terminus, or a RiP against Dredge. I'm not considering fewer than three in the 75.
Last night and today were the first rounds I played with Curious Obsession, and I am completely sold on it. I am probably going to take out the Remand for the third copy.
I side out Geist a lot. The lack of evasion really matters.
I'm loaded for bear against graveyard and artifact decks right now, which feels correct for the current meta, the way I see it. But I've beaten Dredge 2-0 in the last couple days, including once on a mull to five (on the draw), and also two post-board games where I drew zero hate, so maybe I'm over-prepared. Again, Truth helps a LOT against these decks.
I am thinking about some minor changes: -1 Remand for +1 Obsession in the main, and -1 Stony, -1 RiP for +1 Hurkyl's Recall, +1 Nebelgast Herald in the side. The list feels great to play right now.
Since I prefer the UW take on Spirits, I'm considering a full playset of Echoing Truth in the 75, because of its broad utility against all kinds of permanents, and its double utility against Terminus/Settle the Wreckage.
BG Elves // "He's back. And he brought his friends. And their friends."
BG The Rock // "Dwayne Johnson approved."
RU Izzet Phoenix // "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em."
UGW Bant Spirits // "Super Ghost Bros."
BUG Sultai Wildnerness Teachings // "How many turns did I just take again?"
C Colorless Eldrazi // "Smash you."
Having a vial on board also really messes with how the opponent thinks.
Personally was also on no vials before but made the switch after Ondrej Strasky's 2nd place finish and never looked back.
No need to take my word for it though, the Coco-vial build's results at GP level speak for themselves.
i've recently played UW Spirits, but preferred UW Hatebears more.
The results with Hatebears are mediocre at least, but it's a lot of fun though.
What are the obvious reasons to play Spirits over Hatebears (i'm considering switching decks)?
Green @ it's best
I also run Vial along with CoCo. It's important to establish a fast lethal board game 1. Sideboard games Vials or CoCo can be sideboarded out for a slower game because you have answers (tron and dredge).
BG Elves // "He's back. And he brought his friends. And their friends."
BG The Rock // "Dwayne Johnson approved."
RU Izzet Phoenix // "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em."
UGW Bant Spirits // "Super Ghost Bros."
BUG Sultai Wildnerness Teachings // "How many turns did I just take again?"
C Colorless Eldrazi // "Smash you."
Hmm okay. Also for Curious Obsession or Chart a Course, which should I run, should I, and how many copies? One thing that kicked my butt last time I ran spirits was running out of threats because control decks grinded me out with removal and counters. Also, is it bad cutting lands to 20 with Vial? I got flooded a ridiculous amount and had to mull down to 4 twice in a row one match.
BG Elves // "He's back. And he brought his friends. And their friends."
BG The Rock // "Dwayne Johnson approved."
RU Izzet Phoenix // "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em."
UGW Bant Spirits // "Super Ghost Bros."
BUG Sultai Wildnerness Teachings // "How many turns did I just take again?"
C Colorless Eldrazi // "Smash you."
Thanks for the tips! The only control decks that show up regularly at my LGS these days are either Jeskai or some form of UR, so I deal mainly with counters and red removal. Many more aggro decks have started showing up recently so I'm trying to figure out what to play and board against things like Humans and Elves.
BG Elves // "He's back. And he brought his friends. And their friends."
BG The Rock // "Dwayne Johnson approved."
RU Izzet Phoenix // "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em."
UGW Bant Spirits // "Super Ghost Bros."
BUG Sultai Wildnerness Teachings // "How many turns did I just take again?"
C Colorless Eldrazi // "Smash you."
blessed alliance, path to exile, dismember are fine for removing key targets.
Counters and queller can really put a damper on the biggest plays. I would avoid unified will and look to cards like unsubstantiate to give you an mode to use vs vial/cavern heavy tribal decks. I've greatly enjoyed spell pierce as a 2 of in the main - but I board d out of counters in these matches.
Humans has an incredibly hard time killing you through a worship. Elves isn't impacted by it. GB can just drain kill you. GW can ballista down your board and then dome you for whatever they need unless you have the hexproof lock - at which point they just dig for a rec sage. Rec save may already be coming in because of vials anyway - esp finally if they are worried about grafdiggers cage.
Just some notes from my games at the LGS with UW vial.
Is it worth using Echoing Truth instead of unsubstantiate? I'd rather not go hunting after and spend more money. :/
BG Elves // "He's back. And he brought his friends. And their friends."
BG The Rock // "Dwayne Johnson approved."
RU Izzet Phoenix // "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em."
UGW Bant Spirits // "Super Ghost Bros."
BUG Sultai Wildnerness Teachings // "How many turns did I just take again?"
C Colorless Eldrazi // "Smash you."
20 lands, 29 creatures, very aggressive manabase to shove in a few more creatures.
Tempo
Modern
Eldrazi and Staxes
Whir Prison
Legacy
5c Humans
DnT
"I'm a lead farmer... !" Quote ruined due to policy.
Well, GQ is another way to hate out Tron maindeck, but do you really want 4? So Mutavault? More shocking is 0 Moorland Haunt.
Tempo
Modern
Eldrazi and Staxes
Whir Prison
Legacy
5c Humans
DnT
"I'm a lead farmer... !" Quote ruined due to policy.
If I wanted to run a full set of Obsession, what would I cut in UW? And what would I run instead of Vial in a Vial-less Bant build? Curious.
BG Elves // "He's back. And he brought his friends. And their friends."
BG The Rock // "Dwayne Johnson approved."
RU Izzet Phoenix // "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em."
UGW Bant Spirits // "Super Ghost Bros."
BUG Sultai Wildnerness Teachings // "How many turns did I just take again?"
C Colorless Eldrazi // "Smash you."
Yeah, that all makes sense. Thanks!
Tempo
Modern
Eldrazi and Staxes
Whir Prison
Legacy
5c Humans
DnT
"I'm a lead farmer... !" Quote ruined due to policy.
would you mind sharing your list?
Assuming you do run 4x vials and 4x nobles, i think it's an interesting approach to take out most of the acceleration in favor of slower but more impactful spells. As the games with jund usually develop, speed isn't as necessary as the ability to grind, and you'll eventually find enough lands for your cocos (coco is one of the best topdecks you can possibly want against jund).
If you do run them, some number of Rest in peace should be a good option, as well as any creature you can deploy (even geist of saint traft!) in order to make the creature density as high as possible. I would even go as far as deploying knight of autumn for "no value" if i can, as a vanilla 3 mana 4/3.
I would look to take out vials first, as they don't provide acceleration for CoCo and are hit by Kholaghan's command/assassin's trophy, and then nobles if you still have anything good in the sideboard to side in. In any case, i'd look to take out all vials before the nobles
Lastly, i would recommend a kira, great glass-spinner in the 75 if you feel grindy decks are prevalent in your meta.
Elves || GSpirits G || Spirits || Fish
Pauper
GElvesG || CAffinityC
Commander
G Roon (and the Hidden Realms) G
I noticed some people discussing the list so I thought I'd explain a few of the card choices.
List for reference: U/W Spirits
No phantasmal images: Other than the obvious nonbo with Curious Obsession, its just not as needed. With an active curios obsession you're more likely to see the second copies of your important spirits. Also, with curious obsession, I found I would just have one creature out that has CO on it and keep the rest of the spirits in hand to protect the suited up spirit. So phantasmal image was a lot more awkward when I would only have one creature on board.
Ghost Quarter: After playing the match-up a lot, I've found the tron match up to be pretty unfavorable for us. I wanted an answer to the opponents tron pieces while also have utility against the Colonnade decks because I tend to play the match-up slower, so Colonnade is usually active by the time I want to close out the game. Also can hit a flipped azcanta. One nice play with GQ is to use it as a on board trick by quartering yourself after leave up mana that doesn't represent Rattlechains or Queller.
Thalia, GoT: Thalia is basically a sideboard card in the main. It slows down combo decks, while also keeping Tron off of turn 3 Karn. It has some utility against other decks like burn, dredge(keeps them off turn 2 cathartic, and they also have to get to three lands before they can start loaming. Also gets to freely block Bloodghasts), midrange & control decks. Taxing your own paths and curious obsessions is fine because the cards already aggressively costed, so paying 2 for either is usually fine. I thought about testing 2 mana leaks and 1 selfless spirit in this spot to better protect what ever creature has C.O. on it.
No Moorland Haunt: I was expecting a lot more dredge this weekend so I wanted utility lands that didn't rely on the graveyard, especially since one of the match-ups moorland haunt is good in (mardu), I also bring in Rest in Peace.
Other notes: The sideboard still needs a bit of work but I really enjoyed playing the list and will be rolling back something similar for GP Atlanta this weekend.
Let me know if anyone has any other questions or concerns about the list.
UW control is a matchup where I tend not to exted my hand either, but would you actually prefer having 2x GQ in place of Mutavaults just to deal with their mid/late game threats? I mean, colonade and azcanta are a concern, but it feel like my task is to approach lethal damage by that stage, and if they managed to prevent me from racing, then I'm doomed anyways, because their PW are going to generate the value they need to outplay me from there on. I'm not saying GQ has no utility, but that extra Mutavaults better fit the aggro plan we are supposed to pull off. This is why I gave up on the surgical extraction plan long ago: the goal here is not to prevent them from threating us with one of their late game win conditions, but to get them to have no time to recur to these.
What's your opinion on Damping Sphere versus Eidolon of Rhetoric? I see how the former is so important to deal with tron post side, i also can't get rid of Eidolon as it is so damn good against a plethora of decks, from combos to mardu, jeskay, blue moon and aggro too, especially when I'm on the play.
I have longly thought about hurkyl's recall, and I did play with it for months. Eventually, I wrote down the matchups where hurkyl and stony were spendable, and my results say Hurkyl's good against Whirls decks( blows up ensnaring bridge and all of the garbage they have landed on the board), affinity ( which is a bit out of meta nowadays) and red prison deck, because of chalice and bridges again. Stony is an all-round anti artifact hate card you want to have against affinity, hardened scales, kci, nauseam, lantern and whirl decks and tron. I ended up relying on stony for my anty artifact plan and switching hurkyl with echoing truth as it's just as good at bouncing every kind of cage, plus it's way more flexible. What made you pend towards hurkyl insead of Echoing?
How often have you had issues with casting your coloured spells? with a mention to Auriok Champion which has a prohibitive WW casting cost
Have you ever felt 5x counterspells post side to be too much? which are the matchups where you absolutely need that amount of counterspells to deal with your opponent? I ve been on 3x since november 2017 and they have always felt enough.
Do you think Horizon canopy is a 'must have' in this deck and (given we all know how good the cycling ability is) how often the extra damage has given you troubles? How many times you found yourself in a spot where you had to adjust your plans in order to reduce the impact of that land on your life total?
Regarding Curious Obsession, you have told me you actually like it in the UW control matchup post side. I do agree that CO forces action on their part which puts us in the spot to use rattlechains and generate advantage, but doesn't holding CO mainboard against UW feel like holding phantasmal image mainboard against Jeskai? Especially in a postsideboard game where they know how they have to play and what kind of hand they are supposed to start with, which reduced the variability you can exploit on G1 when they might have kept a removal light hand due to the lack of informations about what's going on on your side.
I'm curious to know how your sideboarding looks like against UW.
Speaking of Moorland haunt, I've found out it's good enough to justify its coexistence with RiP in a number of matchups, one of which is Mardu. If the deck I'm facing is putting a fast clock, like dredge, hollow and vengevine, then I'm happy trimming that land when I'm on the draw, both because of RiP and because it's unlikely it's going to be impactful against those go wide decks. Against midrange, instead, I still want that land because it's still providing mana under rest in peace, and it's helping me so much generating value if no RiP has shown up. Rip can shut them down for a larg part of their strategy, but if i don't get to draw it, or i get it discarded on T1,I very much need moorland to keep up with their mass of spot removals. I could say the same of vials+stony silence against tron, but don't want to dilute here.
Now Assassin's trophy is bringing up midrange, so I believe Moorland is still a reasonable pick as a one of. UW control, Spirits, and Humans are also good matchups to have that land mainboard.
One last less specific question: do you adjust your sideboard choices depending whether you re on the play or on the draw?
Here is the build I went 4-0-1 with today. I could easily have won the draw, if I hadn't punted hard in G1. The event was a "Golden Ticket for the Portland GP" tourney:
4x Drogskol Captain
2x Geist of Saint Traft
4x Mausoleum Wanderer
1x Nebelgast Herald
4x Rattlechains
1x Remorseful Cleric
4x Selfless Spirit
4x Spell Queller
4x Supreme Phantom
Instant (6)
1x Echoing Truth
4x Path to Exile
1x Remand
2x Cavern of Souls
4x Flooded Strand
2x Hallowed Fountain
1x Horizon Canopy
3x Island
1x Moorland Haunt
2x Mutavault
1x Plains
4x Seachrome Coast
Enchantment (2)
2x Curious Obsession
Artifact (4)
4x Aether Vial
2x Blessed Alliance
1x Disdainful Stroke
1x Dispel
2x Echoing Truth
1x Grafdigger's Cage
1x Negate
3x Rest in Peace
3x Stony Silence
1x Unified Will
Here is my thinking about my choices:
4 Drogskol Captain
1 Geist of Saint Traft
4 Mausoleum Wanderer
4 Noble Hierarch
3 Phantasmal Image
1 Rattlechains
3 Reflector Mage
2 Selfless Spirit
4 Spell Queller
4 Supreme Phantom
Instant (6)
4 Collected Company
2 Path to Exile
Artifact (3)
3 Aether Vial
3 Botanical Sanctum
1 Breeding Pool
1 Cavern of Souls
3 Flooded Strand
1 Forest
1 Hallowed Fountain
3 Horizon Canopy
1 Island
2 Misty Rainforest
1 Moorland Haunt
1 Plains
1 Temple Garden
2 Windswept Heath
1 Geist of Saint Traft
1 Disdainful Stroke
1 Dromoka's Command
2 Knight of Autumn
3 Rest in Peace
2 Stony Silence
2 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Unified Will
1 Worship
Tempo
Modern
Eldrazi and Staxes
Whir Prison
Legacy
5c Humans
DnT
"I'm a lead farmer... !" Quote ruined due to policy.