Since Magic’s origin in 1993 with the printing of Ancestral Recall and Time Walk, many players have been drawn to the alluring power of blue. In Vintage, decks utilize Time Vault and Voltaic Key to chain together infinite turns if left uncontested. Sadly, in modern these cards are not legal – however, there are some incredibly powerful cards within the format at our disposal!
At its core, “Taking Turns” is a blue control-oriented combo deck that wins by chaining together a number of extra turn effects to build a critical advantage in land-drops and card draw until a significant win-condition can be utilized.
With this deck, players are provided with a unique style of game-state-evaluation. A lot of the strong-resource denial comes from bounce effects and restricting opponent’s mana. Unlike Storm that requires a lot of card spots for rituals and cost reducing creatures like “Goblin Electromancer”, Taking Turns only runs on average 8-10 extra turn effects meaning that the rest of the deck can be dedicated to disruption.
As you will see throughout the forum, there are a lot of different ways to build this deck. As a less common combo deck we lack a "definitive list" which promotes creativity when brewing. A lot of your deckbuilding decisions will stem from your local meta.
Lastly,
A sincere thank you to ~Purk and ~xenob8 for their dedicated previous work on this forum
"Knowledge is cruel. It will break your heart and test your alliances. Are you certain you want this curse?"
As mentioned above, there is a general "core" to the deck however a lot of the smaller changes (such as splashing a second color) are determined by individual preference and your local meta. It is recommended that newer players picking up the deck start with a mono blue version to get a feel for its play-style and the combo itself first before making changes or attempting to splash another color.
All of this being said, below I have included some popular nonbasic lands found in different taking turn builds and the rationale as well as the recommended number to play.
Gemstone Caverns
This card is a powerful one of seen in a lot of builds because it allows you to essentially steal "the play" from your opponent at the cost of a weaker card in your hand. This means that on your first turn you could essentially draw a card and then cast something like Howling Mine to start your engine of drawing cards or leave up Remand to counter their turn 2 play.Recommended: 1x
Mikokoro, Center of the Sea & Geier, Reach Sanitarium
Both of these cards have become "Taking Turns" staples as they allow for continuous card advantage while staying mana efficient every turn. Geier, Reach Sanitarium has been slowly declining in effectiveness because a lot of powerful decks in the format benefit from discarding and we do not control what the opponent discards. Recommended: 1-2
Inkmoth Nexus
There is a unique interaction in which Inkmoth Nexus can be targeted with an awoken Part the Waterveil to add six +1/+1 counters. Inkmoth Nexus is still a regular land with these counters so you can activate it's ability and swing for lethal infect damage within two turns. A lot of players prefer running this as a one of as the land has flying so you can get around token and aggressive creature strategies easier. Recommended: 1x
Tolaria West
This land is used in "As Foretold" builds of Taking Turns as a way to tutor for Ancestral Vision. This will be discussed further in the "Variants" portion of the forum. Recommended: 2-3
Oboro, Palace in the Clouds & Minamo, School At Water's Edge
Both cards are included for very niche situations in which your opponent has restricted access to islands specifically. If your opponent were to cast a card like Choke, you would be still have access to blue mana that untaps every turn. If your local meta has cards like Choke in the sideboard then these two are options; however, whenever you reduce the number of basic lands it opens you up to additional hate cards like those mentioned above. Recommended: 0-1
Fetch Lands
Despite being a primarily blue deck, fetch lands are incredibly useful as they allow us to shuffle and thin our deck. When used with Jace, the Mind Sculptor we are able to essentially draw three fresh cards and then shuffle away the two worst cards in our hand. When "combo-ing off" they also work to thin the deck so that our extra turns are spent flooding out with too many lands. Recommended: 5-6
Considerations for playing two or three colors
Shock Lands
Although shock lands provide us with perfect access to our colors - they should be limited. Since we need to get to turn 4/5 at minimum to combo we cannot allow ourselves to take too much damage from our land base. Personally when playing Jeskai I run 2 Steam Vents and 1 Hallowed Fountain. Recommended: 2-3
"Buddy" Lands
These lands are the go to when splashing another color as the deck plays a lot of blue sources so it is easy to have them come into play untapped with no downside. Recommended: 4 if running two colors, 4+ if running more than two colors.
"Battle" Lands
Again these lands are similar to buddy lands in that require you to have 2 basic lands in play for them to come in untapped. They also have the added bonus of being "Island ___" so they can be searched for with fetch lands. The downside is that they are only available in UW and UB so blue-red taking turns do not have access to them as a resource. Recommended: 0-2
This card is what makes the deck possible. It is the cheapest extra turn effect in the format that does not require a heavy draw back. Recommended: 4x
Temporal Mastery
Despite being seven mana to hard cast we have the ability to manipulate the top of our deck with cantrips and Jace, the Mind Sculptor so a lot of the time we are able to cast this for the low low price of two mana. Even without the miracle trigger, we get to a point during the combo where we have enough land to hard cast this if needed. Keep in mind that during a tournament, if this is the first card you draw - YOU MUST REVEAL IT BEFORE IT TOUCHES THE REST OF YOUR HAND or a judge will be called and you will miss the trigger! Reccommended: 2-3x
Part the Waterveil
With it's printing in Battle for Zendikar, Taking Turns became a far more competitive combo deck. Part the Waterveil functions as both an extra turn spell and a win condition when awoken for 9 mana. Without the awoken cost, it fits perfectly in our curve - allowing for turn 5: Time Warp, Turn 6: Part the Waterveil. Recommended: 1-2x
Walk the Aeons
This card has fallen from grace with the printing of Part the Waterveil as mentioned above. The one positive with this card is its ability to buyback allowing for multiple turns. The downside is that you have to sacrifice three lands and our lands are extremely important! Recommended: 0-1
Nexus of Fate
Since its printing as a "Buy-A-Box" promo for the M19 set, there has been a lot of debate over its power in comparison to the other more tested "Time Walk" effects. There are strong positives in that it is instant speed allowing you to cast it on your opponent's turn, and that it shuffles back into your deck rather then going to the graveyard, essentially giving you "infinite" turns as long as you draw one a turn. This card is more suited for the Bant Turbo Fog style Taking Turns deck that will be discussed in more detail below. Recommended: If you are going for a Turbo Fog style deck then 3-4x, if not then 0-1
Temporal Trespass
This card has yet to see play from what I've found online; however, I think in a UB graveyard styled turns deck it could have a lot of potential. Thanks to the new Surveil mechanic brought to us from Guilds of Ravnica, cards like Mission Briefing could easily fill our graveyard with delve targets. I challenge one of you reading this forum to be the one who brews it! Recommended: 0-1
Chance for Glory
This was newly printed in Guilds of Ravnica and has spawned some RW "Taking Turns" variants. These decks are far less consistent and only cast this card once they have successfully resolved a Sundial of the Infinite or have a Gideon, of the Trials emblem. Recommended: ONLY TO BE PLAYED IN RED/WHITE VARIANTS
Gigadrowse is one of the strongest forms of instant-speed disruption our deck has to offer. Since it can tap any permanent, we can target certain colors on their upkeep to prevent them from casting sorcery-speed threats during their main phase. This is what gives us the strong advantage over decks like Tron since all of their pay off cards have to be cast in their main phase (ie; Karn, Wurmcoil Engine, Ulamog, etc..). This card also is strong during control matchups because we can tap down their lands on their end step and then combo safely without worrying about countermgic. Recommended: 3-4x
Exhaustion
Exhaustion is both disruption and a "psuedo-time-walk" effect in that it buys us an additional turn usually where the opponent is unable to cast anything or attack. When used alongside Gigadrowse we are able to essentially buy two turns by first replicating gigadrowse one turn to tap their field and then on our second turn we use exhaustion to keep everything tapped. DISCLAIMER: From my experience with the deck, exhaustion is a card that fluctuates in power based on the format. If the format is full of decks that can function well with one mana spell turns, or the format has a lot of decks that leave mana open - the card gets a little worse. Personally I usually run 3 Exhaustion/3 Gigadrowse but go to 2 Exhaustion/4 Gigadrowse when the card starts to underperform. Recommended: 2-3
Remand
Remand falls into a similar category with exhaustion in that it only feels powerful when your opponents are tapping out for big mana spells. Unfortunately the current meta is centered around decks that cast 1-2 mana spells so remand has little effect. The pro of this card is that it replaces itself so it keeps tempo. Recommended: 0-2
Cryptic Command
Cryptic Command could be considered one of the most powerful counterspells in all of modern. For four mana this card (almost on its own) guarantees we live through our fourth turn without losing - allowing us to combo on turn 5 as planned. It also works well with a lot of thing we are already doing in the deck such as bouncing our snapcaster mages to flashback additional spells. Recommended: 1-3
Commandeer
Commandeer is a unique spell that is sure to have a judge called our at minimum - a confused look on your opponent's face. Since we are able to draw a lot cards when we are "combo-ing off", Commandeer practically becomes a free counterspell. It also allows for clever plays where you purposefully tap out so your opponent attempts to resolve something big and then you can steal it. Recommended: 1-2 Official Rulings for the card listed under "A Detailed Strategy Guide", because there isn't enough time in the world for your opponent to pull out their phone and google everything!
Echoing Truth & Boomerang
Both of these cards are used interchangeably in mono-blue Taking Turn variants as an additional form of disruption. Echoing truth has the perk of potentially bouncing multiple threats (ie, two Elvish Archdruid when playing against elves or a field of tokens), while Boomerang has the ability to bounce lands which can really set some decks behind. Recommended: 1-2
Lightning Bolt/Path to Exile/Fatal Push
Adding a color splash gives access to a large amount of cheap creature removal. As of lately, a lot of Taking Turns players have shifted to (U/R) builds because Lightning Bolt has the ability to deal with creatures and planeswalkers and pressures the opponent's life total when unneeded as removal. Recommended: Depends on the build
Both cantrips have their advantages and disadvantages. Although serum visions is able to dig deeper into your deck, it is a sorcery and you have no control of the card you draw. Opt on the other hand is instant speed and you get to scry before drawing but it only sees two cards at maximum. An additional positive for Opt though is that it allows us to cast miracles on our opponent's turn allowing for sneaky end-of-turn Temporal Masteries and beginning-of-combat board wipes with Terminus in UW builds. Recommended: 4x
Snapcaster Mage
Voted as one of the Top 100 most powerful printed magic cards of all time, this card shows its power in Taking Turns. Since we run such a high count of spells (average ~ 25-30) Snapcaster always has a useful target in the graveyard. Not only does he allow for us to have potentially 8 Time Warps in our deck, but he also is considering our second "win condition" in that attacking for 2 damage each turn quickly adds up. Recommended: 3-4 (unless your local meta has a lot of graveyard hate)
Jace, the Mind Sculptor
On February 12th of 2018, Jace was unbanned in modern - paving the way to yet another strong addition to Taking Turns. We will discuss how to properly play Jace later in the forum (See "Technical Play Aspects"). Recommended: 1-2
Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
Out of nowhere, Teferi arose from the ashes with his release in Dominaria and became a card that could rival Jace in power. Although not many builds of Taking Turns currently run him, there have been some lists that run one. He has been seen more commonly in the Bant Turbo Fog lists that we will discuss later in the forum. Recommended: 0-1
Dictate of Kruphix & Howling Mine
These two cards are what powers the "Dictate" builds of Taking Turns. We will discuss these further in the "Variants" portion of the forum. Recommended: 5-6
As Foretold & Ancestral Vision
These two cards are what powers the "As Foretold" builds of Taking Turns. We will discuss these further in the "Variants" portion of the forum. Recommended: 8
Search for Azcanta//Azcanta, the Sunken Ruin
Search for Azcanta is not normally seen in Taking Turns, however some As Foretold builds run 1-2 as a way to filter their draw steps. With these builds, once there are enough counters on As Foretold, they can start Activating Azcanta, the Sunken Ruin to search their deck for extra turn effects to cast for free. Recommended: 0-1
As you can see from his build, he also runs a single Ancestral Vision. This is done occasionally to increase our odds against grindy matchups that involve a lot of discard. Besides that, this list follows the "general core" almost perfectly.
"Well at least all of that arm-waving and arcane babbling you did was impressive" ~Remand
Now Let's Make the Deck A Little More Personal To You
Dictate of Kruphix has flash allowing you to cast it at instant speed on your opponent's end of turn or on your upkeep
Cons:
Both the enchantment and artifact are symmetrical in that they also keep your opponent's hand full. This can be especially dangerous in our already unfavorable matchups like burn.
Howling Mine usually is destroyed on your opponent's next turn after they have drawn an additional card off of it; and currently the format is already very aggressive towards artifacts because of KCI...
Blue-Black Dictate Build
Daniel Wong - Grand Prix Vegas 2017
Unlike using Gigadrowse or Cryptic Command to prevent combat damage for a turn, this deck is able to completely nullify combat damage for two mana.
Having access to green allows the deck to ramp into it's bigger mana spells earlier.
Cons:
In order for this deck to win they need to successfully resolve and keep a planeswalker on the board which is very difficult in the current meta.
A lot of opening hands can be deceiving in that they would be perfect "IF" the birds of paradise or noble hierarch lives, but most opponents will remove them right away to prevent explosive follow-up turns.
Currently lack enough footage or information about the deck to properly assess its pro's and con's. But this is an option for those who want to get away from blue or win through another unconventional condition.
Splashing a color also provides very little adjustment with the manabase as the deck is still primarily blue, and only requires 1-2 sources of the splashed color by turn 3 or 4 which is easy achievable.
Below I have Included decklists of each splash I could find. Personally, I have been running a Jeskai build for the past few months to have access to Lightning Bolt as well the strong white sideboard hate cards in the format.
The biggest reason to play a UR variant is the power of bolt as mentioned previously. From watching Daniel Wong's videos you can see how quickly he is able to present lethal with access to 4x Lightning Bolt and 4x Snapcaster Mage
The sideboard is also unique in that it runs Gelectrode. In a deck that runs mostly spells, it is very easy to continuously untap Gelectrode to ping an enemy's board down. With access to red, you also are able to play: Anger of the Gods and Abrade as seen in Daniel's list - but you also have access to cards like Blood Moon, Chandra, Torch of Defiance, Young Pyromancer, etc..
UB or "Dimir" Taking Turns was Daniel Wong's previous preference before switching to UR. With black you have access to a wide variety of discard spells which can really disrupt an opponent's early turns. From my brief experience in playing UB Taking Turns, having access to Collective Brutality seemed to smooth out one of our toughest matchups... burn. With splashing black you also have access to strong creature removal in the form of: Fatal Push and Damnation.
Chalice is one of the primary sideboard options available to mono blue variants of Taking Turns. Unfortunately it makes our Serum Visions un-castable, however the upside is that it can shut down some decks entirely. Recommended use in the following matchups:
Mardu Pyromancer and other heavy Thoughtseize/Inquisition decks
Elves - if they are NOT running Cavern of Souls
Phoenix Decks as almost all of their spells are either 1 or 2 mana
Infect
Decks like Living End and Amulet Titan that try to cheat 0 cmc spells like card]Pact of Negation[/card]/Summoner's Pact and Living End
Affinity WHEN ON THE PLAY - Being able to shut off their explosive Mox Opal/Welding Jar hands
Obviously as you add color splashes Chalice becomes more of a hinderance against our own gameplan because it also stops or Lightning Bolts in UR, Paths in UW, and Fatal Push/Discard in UB.
Engineered Explosives
Engineered Explosives is a clean answer to a lot of things in the format - but it is obviously a stronger utility when playing more than one color. Recommended use in the following matchups:
Token strategies - including Storm when they go for Empty the Warrens wins
KCI as it can hit multiple mana rocks
Cleanly wipes out multiple Mausoleum Wanderer against Spirits to then safely combo
Deals with a lot of opponent's sideboard hate (ie, Rest in Peace, Thalia, etc..)
Alternatively, if you are playing against a deck like GB or Jund and they lead on a turn 1 Inquisition of Kozilek and you have a Commandeer - it would be considered the "correct" play to remove two lesser effective blue cards from your hand to gain control of their discard spell. In the GB Rock/Jund matchup - their clock comes from their creatures like Tarmogoyf but it also comes from their clean removal and discard effects, so being able to use their spell against them is a strong play.
Ultimately, the most important part of the early game is that we survive to turn 3/4 and make consistent land drops
Part Two: The Mid Game (Turns 3 & 4)
These are the most crucial turns because a majority of decks in the format consistently win within this time span. Truly understanding the deck comes down to proper navigation based on threat assessment. As the combo deck, our biggest priority in these two turns is landing a Dictate of Kruphix/Howling Mine/As Foretold
Safely casting this comes down to the board state however. For example; if an opponent is playing burn and your life total is 4 but they no longer have any cards in hand or creatures left on the field - turn 3 may seem like the correct time to resolve a Dictate or Howling mine. This would be the wrong play because it would allow them two chances to draw 4 points of burn within their fourth turn.
This is something I struggled with for a while in playing the deck. Often EOT Dictate on your opponent's third turn seems like the best play - however if your hand still has disruption and lands to play then actually casting it on turn 4 is often correct. Unfortunately this is not the most "mana efficient" however, it allows you to untap on turn five and safely combo.
Additionally, depending on the game state by turn 4, sometimes casting Jace, the Mind Sculptor can be the correct line. This will be discussed further in the next section.
Part Three: The End Game (Turns 5+)
During these turns you are performing the combo. Chaining together extra turn effects is self-explanatory; however, one of the biggest pieces of advice is to play around disruption by staying as cautious as possible.
For example, if you are playing against a deck that has even a single blue mana open.. even with 7 lands in play, it is safer to cast a gigadrowse tapping the remaining land and then follow-up with exhaustion, then it is to resolve a Temporal Mastery and have your opponent Spell Pierce it and then win the game.
Actually one of my most embarrassing losses while piloting this deck was against an opponent who was running Amulet Titan and they randomly had a Remand in hand. I had cast three or four extra turn effects, tapping out each time, without any responses. Then randomly at 6 mana I cast a Part the Waterveil (not awoken obviously) and he used Remand to bounce it to my hand. In that moment I had exhaustion in hand and could have cast that twice instead but I wasn't thinking he would randomly cast something several turns later...!
@Timewalkinonsunshine, just finished watching your video last night! You were so incredibly lucky with that Gemstone Caverns lol! I couldn't believe it
So as I mentioned on your video - I think I may take a break from Jeskai after only going 5-3 (then dropped) at Starcity Worcester this weekend
I had a lot of really strong games and from them I think I would make the following changes
I think I would switch to 3 Path, 2 Bolt. My reasoning was that unlike a solid UR build where the 4x bolt are intended to just win quicker.. I found that bolt wasn't really that important to my gameplan and having a clean answer to any creature in the form of Path was more important..
I would definitely get rid of Geist of Saint Traft in the sidebaord as it did nothing for me (like you mentioned in the video, it is just a 2/2 that can be blocked)... That being said I lost to him in two rounds back to back and was so mad that I didn't have an answer lol - I did like Vendilion Clique though however. It kind of ran away with the game a few times because I was able to take their only creature removal interaction and then attack them down quickly... Potential considerations for replacing Geist would be: A second vendilion clique, just doing 2x Crackling drake and dropping Vendilion Clique altogether, or Young Pyromancer
Definitely would change the land base, running more basics and then possibly Prairie Stream, and more buddy lands.. Was also considering running no fetches similar to storm however that would make the idea of a "perfect mana base" a lot more difficult
These are just of my ranting opinions from playing..! Definitely felt more like a control deck that can just spiral out of control into a combo then a straight Taking Turns build.. I would do UR but I feel like against creature decks you just watch them put ten creatures down and pray you can Anger of the Gods in time lol
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@Timewalkinonsunshine, just finished watching your video last night! You were so incredibly lucky with that Gemstone Caverns lol! I couldn't believe it
So as I mentioned on your video - I think I may take a break from Jeskai after only going 5-3 (then dropped) at Starcity Worcester this weekend
I had a lot of really strong games and from them I think I would make the following changes
I think I would switch to 3 Path, 2 Bolt. My reasoning was that unlike a solid UR build where the 4x bolt are intended to just win quicker.. I found that bolt wasn't really that important to my gameplan and having a clean answer to any creature in the form of Path was more important..
I would definitely get rid of Geist of Saint Traft in the sidebaord as it did nothing for me (like you mentioned in the video, it is just a 2/2 that can be blocked)... That being said I lost to him in two rounds back to back and was so mad that I didn't have an answer lol - I did like Vendilion Clique though however. It kind of ran away with the game a few times because I was able to take their only creature removal interaction and then attack them down quickly... Potential considerations for replacing Geist would be: A second vendilion clique, just doing 2x Crackling drake and dropping Vendilion Clique altogether, or Young Pyromancer
Definitely would change the land base, running more basics and then possibly Prairie Stream, and more buddy lands.. Was also considering running no fetches similar to storm however that would make the idea of a "perfect mana base" a lot more difficult
These are just of my ranting opinions from playing..! Definitely felt more like a control deck that can just spiral out of control into a combo then a straight Taking Turns build.. I would do UR but I feel like against creature decks you just watch them put ten creatures down and pray you can Anger of the Gods in time lol
All of those things seem reasonable. Hope you enjoy your next deck!
A 3 Path - 2 Bolt split seems reasonable, though it's making me wonder at what point is it just better to play straight up UW and have a better manabase.
I definitely imagined Geist of Saint Traft being way better than it was in practice. That's why we playtest though, gotta learn somehow!
I think if you're going straight-up UW, it becomes much easier to make a manabase that's not very painful.
I have a few minor nitpicks about the rules section in the primer. I'll include references to the comprehensive rules because I like rules.
This is important because when drawing multiple cards a turn with Dictate or Howling Mine, you would reveal the first card separate and have the opportunity to cast it BEFORE drawing the remaining cards.
This is only true if you want it to be. There's a lot to unpack here, so I'm going to go through everything step-by-step. First of all, everything I'm about to talk about takes place in the draw step.
Both Howling Mine and Dictate of Kruphix have triggered abilities that trigger "At the beginning of each player's draw step", which means those abilities will go on the stack and resolve during the draw step.
The first card that you will draw in your draw step is the "card for turn". See rules 504.1 and 504.2: "First, the active player draws a card. This turn-based action doesn’t use the stack." and "Second, the active player gets priority. (See rule 116, “Timing and Priority.”)".
The key here is that triggered abilities will go onto the stack after you've drawn your card for turn. See rule 603.3: "Once an ability has triggered, its controller puts it on the stack as an object that’s not a card the next time a player would receive priority...".
If the card you've drawn for turn has Miracle, then you have multiple triggers trying to go on the stack at the same time (the Miracle trigger and the Dictate/Howling Mine trigger(s)). Because you have multiple triggers to put on the stack, you choose the order. See rule 603.3b: "If multiple abilities have triggered since the last time a player received priority, each player, in APNAP order, puts triggered abilities they control on the stack in any order they choose...".
If you choose to put the Miracle trigger on the bottom of the stack, then the Dictate/Howling Mine trigger(s) will resolve before the Miracle. You will draw your Dictate/Howling Mine card(s) before casting the Miracle card.
If you choose to put the Miracle trigger on the top of the stack, then you will cast the Miracle card before drawing the Dictate/Howling Mine cards.
Typically, it's strategically better to draw cards before casting the Miracle card because you can draw into Commandeer or a counterspell that can protect the Miracle card. However, if you expect that your opponent will do something like target you with Vendilion Clique in response to the Miracle trigger while you don't have access to interaction, it's better to put the Miracle trigger on the top of the stack so that your opponent will look at fewer cards with Vendilion Clique and have less information.
Now for the super pedantic one:
Logic Knot tries to resolve, but is countered on resolution because it no longer has a legal target, and it's removed from the stack
This used to be true, but with the Dominaria rules update, the spell is not considered to be "countered". It still goes to the graveyard without having any effect, aka "fizzles". The difference doesn't matter in the context of Modern because the only card that cares about this rules change, Multani's Presence, is not Modern legal. Still, I like spreading accurate information!
I also have a suggestion: Tips & Tricks! There are a few things that are good candidates for a Tips & Tricks section that you mention briefly in some parts of the primer, but I think it's good to have a compilation. Here's a few things that would be right at home there:
Because Dictate of Kruphix triggers at draw step, you can flash it in at your upkeep and draw an extra card in that same turn. This is especially useful when you know you will Miracle a Temporal Mastery and have 5 or more mana available at your upkeep.
You can tap your own Howling Mine (among the other permanents you tap) with Gigadrowse at your opponent's upkeep to prevent your opponent from drawing a card for Howling Mine.
You can target multiple Phantasmal Images with Gigadrowse to kill them all.
You can resolve the copies of Gigadrowse through a Chalice of the Void on 1. (This is in the section on Gigadrowse already but deserves a mention)
You can use Commandeer on most counterspells and have them target Commandeer and they will fizzle. This means that you won't have to, for example, pay the mana at upkeep on Pact of Negation. Note that you cannot use Commandeer in this way on counterspells that can't target Commandeer, such as Spell Snare or Warping Wail.
You can use Commandeer as an expensive Force of Will for many noncreature spells, such as Collected Company or Postmortem Lunge. Note that this won't work for symmetric effects like Blood Moon, Chalice of the Void, or Living End.
You can use Jace's -1 ability or Cryptic Command to bounce your own Snapcaster Mage and continue your Time Walk chain. Just make sure that you don't run into a removal spell for Snapcaster Mage in response to your bounce!
There's a bunch more cool and non-obvious things, but the other ones I can think of right now are pretty specific to my build (such as using Surgical Extraction on your own instant or sorcery to pump a Crackling Drake). Anyway, great job on the primer! I really appreciate your hard work and I'm sure many other time walkers do too.
This is excellent, thank you so much!
So in order to transfer the primer over I had to build a skeleton but I definitely plan on going through and just adding more and more stuff over time!
Had a lot of difficulty in finding strong rules... if you think of any more post them and I'll work them in!
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The league went really poorly. I made a few misplays and we had some pretty bad luck in some of our draws. Probably the worst part though is that our sideboard was pretty poorly positioned for the matchups we got! I hope to make another UW Turns deck in the future to better show off what it can do.
I have one more trick that came up several times during the league, which is playing around your opponent's Cryptic Command with Dictate of Kruphix. Normally, we just flash in Dictate at our opponent's end step once we have 3 mana available. However, if we're on the draw and suspect that the opponent has Cryptic Command in hand, this turns out very poorly for us because they'll have Cryptic Command online by then. The opponent can counter the Dictate and bounce one of our lands, putting us very far behind. To play around this, you can cast Dictate during the opponent's draw step. The opponent will only have 3 mana available at that point, and they won't draw an extra card off Dictate that turn because the beginning of the draw step already happened. The opponent will still have options with their Cryptic, but those options are much worse than counter-bounce. Do note that this play is vulnerable to 2-mana counterspells like Logic Knot or Mana Leak, and also vulnerable to Detention Spehere. Still, it's a good trick to know about!
A user on reddit, trainowns, just posted a Simic turns list featuring Wilderness Reclamation and Nexus of Fate! Post on /r/TurnsMTG, on /r/Spikes, and decklist on MTG Goldfish.
It's somewhat different from a traditional Turns list, leaning more on Pull from Tomorrow rather than Howling Mine effects to really draw through your deck. Very interesting brew!
A user on reddit, trainowns, just posted a Simic turns list featuring Wilderness Reclamation and Nexus of Fate! Post on /r/TurnsMTG, on /r/Spikes, and decklist on MTG Goldfish.
It's somewhat different from a traditional Turns list, leaning more on Pull from Tomorrow rather than Howling Mine effects to really draw through your deck. Very interesting brew!
The wincon is bloody slow,winning via mikokoro milling or snap beats. But if it works consistently, its good.
I've been working on something similar! I'm a huge fan of the Wilderness Teachings deck going around and think it could work with a Taking Turns shell
So far I like:
Nissa Steward of Elements as the win condition and in place of Jace
Blue Sun's Zenith as card draw, running less Dictate of Kruphix
It's weird because I actually don't like Time Warp in a UG shell with Wilderness Reclamation.. I'm more of a fan of trying to run instant speed with some Temporal Masteries
Don't really have a list yet but Remand/Growth Spiral seem pretty sweet
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UU"Brute force can sometimes kick down a locked door, but knowledge is a skeleton key"UU
Congrats to you both! I was hesitant to play this deck with all the burn hype without chalice. But I thought chalice would disrupt the bolt strat to much (Mat proved me wrong!).
While I never like to "meta game" modern I was expecting burn in high numbers. Modern being as it is maybe I should have just ran it out there (with chalice).
Congrats to you both! I was hesitant to play this deck with all the burn hype without chalice. But I thought chalice would disrupt the bolt strat to much (Mat proved me wrong!).
While I never like to "meta game" modern I was expecting burn in high numbers. Modern being as it is maybe I should have just ran it out there (with chalice).
If I can make Calgary I will take turns.
Grand Prix are extremely open and hard to metagame for. There were 1318 competitors at GP Toronto, and even if 10% of them were on Burn (132 players on the same deck? That's insane!), you'd play against Burn on average 1.5 times out of 15 matches. It's just not worth metagaming against a single deck when the field is as diverse as it is in Modern.
So awesome! Congratulations Dan! If we could only duplicate you 3 or 4 times maybe this deck would be considered Tier 1 haha
I've been super busy lately (just got my nursing license and start working next week!) so I haven't had too much time for magic lately but I plan on working on the forum again. Lots of changes to add as Simic Turns and Bant are getting a lot more love!
I plan on playing this weekend at a small PPTQ at our local shop with UR. Eventually I want to start experimenting with growth spiral and whatnot and maybe try that Wilderness Teachings deck
Just figured i'd update everyone!
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UU"Brute force can sometimes kick down a locked door, but knowledge is a skeleton key"UU
So awesome! Congratulations Dan! If we could only duplicate you 3 or 4 times maybe this deck would be considered Tier 1 haha
I've been super busy lately (just got my nursing license and start working next week!) so I haven't had too much time for magic lately but I plan on working on the forum again. Lots of changes to add as Simic Turns and Bant are getting a lot more love!
I plan on playing this weekend at a small PPTQ at our local shop with UR. Eventually I want to start experimenting with growth spiral and whatnot and maybe try that Wilderness Teachings deck
Just figured i'd update everyone!
Thanks! As Mat helped prove, our deck really has what it takes to compete. The two of us were both playing in the feature match area in round 15 for our win-and-in for top 8, and what a crazy world it would be if we had both won our matches to put 2 copies of UR Turns into the top 8! I think that would have convinced quite a few people to give it a try! Good luck with your personal life - I have a few friends in nursing and know it can be challenging and stressful, but as I understand it's also very rewarding. And good luck in your PPTQ! I also want to look into experimenting with Simic, but I'm definitely nowhere near ready to take a Simic list to a big tournament.
I think the deck is competitive: need only more player with it in big tournament.
Good Job again Daniel!
Thanks! I'm actually really glad that Mat did so well with the deck too! It gives some reassurance that it's not just one maniac taking the deck to a bunch of GPs and getting lucky every once in a while, it's a deck that has the power level to compete at large tournaments. Hopefully this inspires other Taking Turns players to try the deck at a big event!
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Since Magic’s origin in 1993 with the printing of Ancestral Recall and Time Walk, many players have been drawn to the alluring power of blue. In Vintage, decks utilize Time Vault and Voltaic Key to chain together infinite turns if left uncontested. Sadly, in modern these cards are not legal – however, there are some incredibly powerful cards within the format at our disposal!
At its core, “Taking Turns” is a blue control-oriented combo deck that wins by chaining together a number of extra turn effects to build a critical advantage in land-drops and card draw until a significant win-condition can be utilized.
With this deck, players are provided with a unique style of game-state-evaluation. A lot of the strong-resource denial comes from bounce effects and restricting opponent’s mana. Unlike Storm that requires a lot of card spots for rituals and cost reducing creatures like “Goblin Electromancer”, Taking Turns only runs on average 8-10 extra turn effects meaning that the rest of the deck can be dedicated to disruption.
As you will see throughout the forum, there are a lot of different ways to build this deck. As a less common combo deck we lack a "definitive list" which promotes creativity when brewing. A lot of your deckbuilding decisions will stem from your local meta.
OFFICIAL DISCORD: https://discord.gg/K6WnFzZ
Join Us For Additional Discussion!
Lastly,
A sincere thank you to ~Purk and ~xenob8 for their dedicated previous work on this forum
As mentioned above, there is a general "core" to the deck however a lot of the smaller changes (such as splashing a second color) are determined by individual preference and your local meta. It is recommended that newer players picking up the deck start with a mono blue version to get a feel for its play-style and the combo itself first before making changes or attempting to splash another color.
17 96.8% / 95.6%77.2% / 69.1%51.1% / 41.0%28.8% / 20.8%
18 97.7% / 96.8%80.7% / 73.0%56.3% / 45.9%33.8% / 24.9%
19 98.4% / 97.7%83.8% / 76.5%61.2% / 50.6%39.0% / 29.2%
20 98.9% / 98.3%86.4% / 79.6%65.8% / 55.2%44.1% / 33.7%
21 99.2% / 98.8%88.6% / 82.3%70.0% / 59.6%49.3% / 38.3%
22 99.5% / 99.2%90.5% / 84.7%73.9% / 63.7%54.3% / 43.0%
23 99.6% / 99.4%92.1% / 86.8%77.4% / 67.7%59.1% / 47.6%
24 99.8% / 99.6%93.5% / 88.7%80.6% / 71.3%63.8% / 52.2%
25 99.8% / 99.7%94.6% / 90.4%83.5% / 74.7%68.2% / 56.7%
26 99.9% / 99.8%95.6% / 91.8%86.0% / 77.9%72.3% / 61.1%
27 99.9% / 99.8%96.4% / 93.1%88.3% / 80.8%76.0% / 65.3%
28 99.9% / 99.9%97.1% / 94.2%90.2% / 83.4%79.5% / 69.2%
This is especially important in a deck like Taking Turns because a lot of our "high value" combo cards cost greater than 5 mana so it is essential that we do not fall behind on land drops. Being in blue does provide us with access to cantrips and we do play a number of cards that allow us to draw additional cards each turn - however; it is recommended that your mana base be between 22-24 lands.
When it comes to colors, Taking Turns has a major advantage over many decks in the format in that a majority of the lands are basic islands. This means that we are generally strong to Field of Ruin and Blood Moon strategies.
Without going too far into detail, when it comes to color splashing it is recommended by Patrick Chapin in his book "Next level Deckbuilding" that in a two color deck you run at least 13-15 sources of each color. For a three colored deck it is recommended that you have 18-19 lands dedicated to your primary color (which in this case would be blue) and then determine the remaining color splashes based on cards you are attempting to cast. For example, if playing a UR Taking Turns build and you want to be able to cast Anger of the Gods by turn 3 against creature decks - you should have about 13-14 red sources available to consistently cast the spell.
All of this being said, below I have included some popular nonbasic lands found in different taking turn builds and the rationale as well as the recommended number to play.
Official Rulings for the card listed under "A Detailed Strategy Guide", because there isn't enough time in the world for your opponent to pull out their phone and google everything!
20 Island
1 Gemstone Caverns
1 Mikokoro, Center of the Sea
1 Inkmoth Nexus
Spells:
1 Ancestral Vision
4 Gigadrowse
4 Serum Visions
3 Remand
3 Exhaustion
3 Cryptic Command
4 Time Warp
3 Temporal Mastery
3 Part the Waterveil
2 Howling Mine
Enchantments:
4 Dictate of Kruphix
Creatures:
2 Snapcaster mage
Planeswalkers:
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
A lot of his newer content involves GB Rock however further back on his channel he has several videos about Taking Turns with very solid commentary!
As you can see from his build, he also runs a single Ancestral Vision. This is done occasionally to increase our odds against grindy matchups that involve a lot of discard. Besides that, this list follows the "general core" almost perfectly.
Strategy:
"Dictate" builds (as they are referred to) of Taking Turns use both Dictate of Kruphix and Howling Mine as cheap tools to draw additional cards every turn.
Pros:
Cons:
Daniel Wong - Grand Prix Vegas 2017
Daniel Wong - Youtube Channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_f6wsEBvzAmMAl7pY1othw
Strategy:
"As Foretold" builds (as they are referred to) of Taking Turns use the card As Foretold as a way to cast multiple spells in a turn. This style of Taking Turns also abuses cards like Ancestral Vision and Wheel of Fate since they can be cast for free without needed to be suspended when using As Foretold.
Pros:
Cons:
Pascal Maynard - Channel Fireball
Saffron Olive - MTGGoldfish
Shaun McLaren - Starcitygames
Strategy:
"Turbo Fog" is a style of Taking Turns that originated in Standard with the printing of Nexus of Fate/card] and Teferi, Hero of Dominaria. Unlike traditional modern Taking Turns builds, this deck uses a combination of ramp in the form of: Utopia Sprawl and Fertile Ground; and Fog effects such as: Fog and Angelsong to prevent combat damage until they are ready to combo. Once assembled the deck wins by tutoring for their copies of Nexus of Fate with Search for Azcanta and win through the power of their planeswalkers.
Pros:
Cons:
Autumn Lily - Youtube Channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCe2oALFdqAczE9r6lNpovBw
Gabriel Nassif - Youtube Channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1py233U9XMeP9Dw_OPwnoQ
4 Arbor Elf
1 Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
2 Courser of Kruphix
2 Eternal Witness
Planeswalkers:
3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
3 Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
Spells:
4 Utopia Sprawl
4 Angelsong
2 Remand
2 Search for Azcanta
2 Fertile Ground
4 Cryptic Command
2 Time Warp
1 Supreme Verdict
1 Nexus of Fate
3 Breeding Pool
2 Flooded Strand
3 Forest
1 Hallowed Fountain
2 Island
4 Misty Rainforest
1 Plains
2 Temple Garden
4 Windswept Heath
2 Dispel
2 Timely Reinforcements
1 Wrath of God
1 Supreme Verdict
2 Stony Silence
1 Negate
3 Dampning Sphere
2 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Path to Exile
Strategy:
This is a unique Boros-colored (R/W) "Taking Turns"-styled deck that uses cards like Chance for Glory to take extra turns and Glorious End to end opponent's turns abruptly. To prevent themselves from losing the game they play Gideon of the Trials and Sundial of the Infinite to end the turn before the "you lose the game" trigger.
Currently lack enough footage or information about the deck to properly assess its pro's and con's. But this is an option for those who want to get away from blue or win through another unconventional condition.
Jeff Hoogland - Youtube Channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0OFObRNMjSsnuEMGA-K29Q
4 Wall of Omens
2 Platinum Angel
Planeswalkers:
4 Gideon of the Trials
2 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
1 Gideon Jura
Spells:
1 Angel's Grace
3 Faithless Looting
4 Path to Exile
1 Anger of the Gods
4 Chance for Glory
4 Glorious End
1 Day of Judgment
4 Madcap Experiment
1 Wrath of God
4 Arid Mesa
2 Field of Ruin
4 Flooded Strand
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Inspiring Vantage
1 marsh Flats
2 Mountain
6 Plains
3 Sacred Foundry
3 Rest in Peace
2 Stony Silence
2 Anger of the Gods
3 Blood Moon
1 Rule of Law
1 Timely Reinforcements
1 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
1 Settle the Wreckage
Modern is a format that prides itself on diversity. Looking at the top 32 of any large event you will see a wide spectrum of decks and it is the primary reason that whenever GW Hexproof/Bogles or Burn come in first place - no one bats an eye.
As a mono blue deck the combo is far more consistent however you rely on bounce effects and Chalice of the Void as a way to hold back every deck in the format. Alternatively, by adding a color you have access to a lot of strong resources such as Stony Silence in white to combat artifact decks like Hardened Scales and KCI, and cards like Terminus and Settle the Wreckage against the many creature/tribal decks in the format.
Splashing a color also provides very little adjustment with the manabase as the deck is still primarily blue, and only requires 1-2 sources of the splashed color by turn 3 or 4 which is easy achievable.
Below I have Included decklists of each splash I could find. Personally, I have been running a Jeskai build for the past few months to have access to Lightning Bolt as well the strong white sideboard hate cards in the format.
4 Snapcaster Mage
Planeswalkers:
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
Artifacts:
1 Howling Mine
Enchantments:
4 Dictate of Kruphix
Spells:
4 Time Warp
1 Part the Waterveil
3 Temporal Mastery
4 Gigadrowse
3 Exhaustion
4 Serum Visions
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Cryptic Command
1 Commandeer
2 Scalding Tarn
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Polluted Delta
1 Flooded Strand
3 Steam Vents
4 Sulfur Falls
1 Temple of Epiphany
1 Cascade Bluffs
5 Island
2 Snow-Covered Island
1 Gemstone Caverns
1 Mikokoro, Center of the Sea
3 Thing in the Ice
1 Crackling Drake
2 Gelectrode
2 Abrade
2 Anger of the Gods
2 Engineered Explosives
1 Commandeer
2 Surgical Extraction
The sideboard is also unique in that it runs Gelectrode. In a deck that runs mostly spells, it is very easy to continuously untap Gelectrode to ping an enemy's board down. With access to red, you also are able to play: Anger of the Gods and Abrade as seen in Daniel's list - but you also have access to cards like Blood Moon, Chandra, Torch of Defiance, Young Pyromancer, etc..
2 Snapcaster Mage
Planeswalkers:
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
Artifacts:
2 Howling Mine
Enchantments:
4 Dictate of Kruphix
Spells:
1 Collective Brutality
1 Commandeer
2 Cryptic Command
3 Exhaustion
2 Fatal Push
4 Gigadrowse
2 Part the Waterveil
4 Serum Visions
1 Snapback
3 Temporal Mastery
4 Time Warp
3 Drowned Catacomb
1 Flooded Strand
2 Gemstone Caverns
6 Island
1 Mikokoro, Center of the Sea
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Polluted Delta
1 Scalding Tarn
3 Snow-Covered Island
2 Sunken Hollow
1 Temple of Deceit
1 Watery Grave
3 Chalice of the Void
1 Collective Brutality
1 Commandeer
2 Engineered Explosives
2 Hurkyl's Recall
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
2 Thing in the Ice
1 Thoughtseize
4 Snapcaster Mage
Planeswalkers:
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
Artifacts:
2 Howling Mine
Enchantments:
4 Dictate of Kruphix
Spells:
3 Serum Visions
2 Opt
1 Supreme Verdict
3 Path to Exile
3 Exhaustion
4 Gigadrowse
2 Cryptic Command
4 Time Warp
1 Part the Waterveil
3 Temporal Mastery
1 Mikokoro, Center of the Sea
1 Gemstone Caverns
7 Island
3 Flooded Strand
2 Scalding Tarn
2 Polluted Delta
1 Hallowed Fountain
2 Prairie Stram
3 Glacial Fortress
1 Temple of Enlightenment
3 Terminus
3 Thing in the Ice
2 Stony Silence
1 Ceremonious Rejection
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Negate
2 Dispel
1 Lyra Dawnbringer
- Mardu Pyromancer and other heavy Thoughtseize/Inquisition decks
- Elves - if they are NOT running Cavern of Souls
- Phoenix Decks as almost all of their spells are either 1 or 2 mana
- Infect
- Decks like Living End and Amulet Titan that try to cheat 0 cmc spells like card]Pact of Negation[/card]/Summoner's Pact and Living End
- Affinity WHEN ON THE PLAY - Being able to shut off their explosive Mox Opal/Welding Jar hands
Obviously as you add color splashes Chalice becomes more of a hinderance against our own gameplan because it also stops or Lightning Bolts in UR, Paths in UW, and Fatal Push/Discard in UB.Alternatively, if you are playing against a deck like GB or Jund and they lead on a turn 1 Inquisition of Kozilek and you have a Commandeer - it would be considered the "correct" play to remove two lesser effective blue cards from your hand to gain control of their discard spell. In the GB Rock/Jund matchup - their clock comes from their creatures like Tarmogoyf but it also comes from their clean removal and discard effects, so being able to use their spell against them is a strong play.
Ultimately, the most important part of the early game is that we survive to turn 3/4 and make consistent land drops
Safely casting this comes down to the board state however. For example; if an opponent is playing burn and your life total is 4 but they no longer have any cards in hand or creatures left on the field - turn 3 may seem like the correct time to resolve a Dictate or Howling mine. This would be the wrong play because it would allow them two chances to draw 4 points of burn within their fourth turn.
This is something I struggled with for a while in playing the deck. Often EOT Dictate on your opponent's third turn seems like the best play - however if your hand still has disruption and lands to play then actually casting it on turn 4 is often correct. Unfortunately this is not the most "mana efficient" however, it allows you to untap on turn five and safely combo.
Additionally, depending on the game state by turn 4, sometimes casting Jace, the Mind Sculptor can be the correct line. This will be discussed further in the next section.
For example, if you are playing against a deck that has even a single blue mana open.. even with 7 lands in play, it is safer to cast a gigadrowse tapping the remaining land and then follow-up with exhaustion, then it is to resolve a Temporal Mastery and have your opponent Spell Pierce it and then win the game.
Actually one of my most embarrassing losses while piloting this deck was against an opponent who was running Amulet Titan and they randomly had a Remand in hand. I had cast three or four extra turn effects, tapping out each time, without any responses. Then randomly at 6 mana I cast a Part the Waterveil (not awoken obviously) and he used Remand to bounce it to my hand. In that moment I had exhaustion in hand and could have cast that twice instead but I wasn't thinking he would randomly cast something several turns later...!
That was until I started playing Taking Turns shortly after!
In traditional control decks like Jeskai or UW, tapping out to play a Jace or Teferi without protection can prove to be disastrous. In order to keep their hand full of resources they need the continuous +0 brainstorm effect or the +1 of Teferi. With this strategy, Jace is being underutilized.
In Taking Turns, all of Jace’s abilities are being used to their full extent.
To better understand its utility, I consider Jace, the Mind Sculptor to be a turn 4 or a turn 11 play.
In the first circumstance, Jace is an enabler. We assess the game state as being safe for another turn – cast Jace – and then brainstorm a Temporal Mastery to the top of our library or bounce their only creature to their hand. With both plays, we guarantee that the following turn we either start the turn with an extra turn effect or with a Jace in play. Setting up a temporal mastery is the preferred option obviously, as it allows us to double-spell with either another Dictate or exhaustion in case we fizzle.
In our second circumstance, Jace can either be our set win condition or a way to get more extra turn effects by bouncing Snapcaster Mage to have more access to our graveyard.
When used as the win condition we play him and immediately start using the +2 ability. Since we don’t intend for our opponent to have another turn, it is usually correct to fateseal yourself to improve the consistency of our draws. There are a lot of decks where attacking is difficult and you have to win by exiling their library. The plus side to this strategy is that when their hand becomes their library and you pass turn (almost always with exhaustion in play) they will most likely draw an extra 2-3 cards because of the Dictates and Howling Mines in play.
In UR Variants that run 3-4 Lightning Bolt, having access to bouncing Snapcaster to flash them back, we can quickly present lethal within a few turns. With one bolt in hand, one in graveyard, and a single Snapcaster Mage you could: Bolt – Snap – Bolt – Bounce Snapcaster with Jace – Snap – Bolt for 9 damage (without including Snapcaster attacking each turn)!
Hopefully in discussing Jace in the context of Taking Turns, you as the reader understand that he is not to be played like a Control deck but almost as a completely different card.
The following tips are examples of strong technical play that will hopefully prove helpful in certain matchups. It is my goal for this section of the forum to grow over time with player feedback!
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StaffMTGO/MTGA: Tyclone
My Primers ~ GWx Vizier Company ~ Knightfall ~ RG Eldrazi ~ Green's Sun's Zenith
More Brews ~ Modern Four Horsemen ~ Gitrog Dredge
Just posted a Jeskai Taking Turns video. I'm pretty happy with the way the deck played out!
So as I mentioned on your video - I think I may take a break from Jeskai after only going 5-3 (then dropped) at Starcity Worcester this weekend
I had a lot of really strong games and from them I think I would make the following changes
These are just of my ranting opinions from playing..! Definitely felt more like a control deck that can just spiral out of control into a combo then a straight Taking Turns build.. I would do UR but I feel like against creature decks you just watch them put ten creatures down and pray you can Anger of the Gods in time lol
I have a few minor nitpicks about the rules section in the primer. I'll include references to the comprehensive rules because I like rules.This is only true if you want it to be. There's a lot to unpack here, so I'm going to go through everything step-by-step. First of all, everything I'm about to talk about takes place in the draw step.
- Both Howling Mine and Dictate of Kruphix have triggered abilities that trigger "At the beginning of each player's draw step", which means those abilities will go on the stack and resolve during the draw step.
- The first card that you will draw in your draw step is the "card for turn". See rules 504.1 and 504.2: "First, the active player draws a card. This turn-based action doesn’t use the stack." and "Second, the active player gets priority. (See rule 116, “Timing and Priority.”)".
- The key here is that triggered abilities will go onto the stack after you've drawn your card for turn. See rule 603.3: "Once an ability has triggered, its controller puts it on the stack as an object that’s not a card the next time a player would receive priority...".
- If the card you've drawn for turn has Miracle, then you have multiple triggers trying to go on the stack at the same time (the Miracle trigger and the Dictate/Howling Mine trigger(s)). Because you have multiple triggers to put on the stack, you choose the order. See rule 603.3b: "If multiple abilities have triggered since the last time a player received priority, each player, in APNAP order, puts triggered abilities they control on the stack in any order they choose...".
- If you choose to put the Miracle trigger on the bottom of the stack, then the Dictate/Howling Mine trigger(s) will resolve before the Miracle. You will draw your Dictate/Howling Mine card(s) before casting the Miracle card.
- If you choose to put the Miracle trigger on the top of the stack, then you will cast the Miracle card before drawing the Dictate/Howling Mine cards.
Typically, it's strategically better to draw cards before casting the Miracle card because you can draw into Commandeer or a counterspell that can protect the Miracle card. However, if you expect that your opponent will do something like target you with Vendilion Clique in response to the Miracle trigger while you don't have access to interaction, it's better to put the Miracle trigger on the top of the stack so that your opponent will look at fewer cards with Vendilion Clique and have less information.Now for the super pedantic one:
This used to be true, but with the Dominaria rules update, the spell is not considered to be "countered". It still goes to the graveyard without having any effect, aka "fizzles". The difference doesn't matter in the context of Modern because the only card that cares about this rules change, Multani's Presence, is not Modern legal. Still, I like spreading accurate information!
I also have a suggestion: Tips & Tricks! There are a few things that are good candidates for a Tips & Tricks section that you mention briefly in some parts of the primer, but I think it's good to have a compilation. Here's a few things that would be right at home there:
- Because Dictate of Kruphix triggers at draw step, you can flash it in at your upkeep and draw an extra card in that same turn. This is especially useful when you know you will Miracle a Temporal Mastery and have 5 or more mana available at your upkeep.
- You can tap your own Howling Mine (among the other permanents you tap) with Gigadrowse at your opponent's upkeep to prevent your opponent from drawing a card for Howling Mine.
- You can target multiple Phantasmal Images with Gigadrowse to kill them all.
- You can resolve the copies of Gigadrowse through a Chalice of the Void on 1. (This is in the section on Gigadrowse already but deserves a mention)
- You can use Commandeer on most counterspells and have them target Commandeer and they will fizzle. This means that you won't have to, for example, pay the mana at upkeep on Pact of Negation. Note that you cannot use Commandeer in this way on counterspells that can't target Commandeer, such as Spell Snare or Warping Wail.
- You can use Commandeer as an expensive Force of Will for many noncreature spells, such as Collected Company or Postmortem Lunge. Note that this won't work for symmetric effects like Blood Moon, Chalice of the Void, or Living End.
- You can use Jace's -1 ability or Cryptic Command to bounce your own Snapcaster Mage and continue your Time Walk chain. Just make sure that you don't run into a removal spell for Snapcaster Mage in response to your bounce!
There's a bunch more cool and non-obvious things, but the other ones I can think of right now are pretty specific to my build (such as using Surgical Extraction on your own instant or sorcery to pump a Crackling Drake). Anyway, great job on the primer! I really appreciate your hard work and I'm sure many other time walkers do too.So in order to transfer the primer over I had to build a skeleton but I definitely plan on going through and just adding more and more stuff over time!
Had a lot of difficulty in finding strong rules... if you think of any more post them and I'll work them in!
I've shifted to the UW Foretold version recently and while it may not be the most consistent version, it sure is a blast to play!
A user on reddit, trainowns, just posted a Simic turns list featuring Wilderness Reclamation and Nexus of Fate! Post on /r/TurnsMTG, on /r/Spikes, and decklist on MTG Goldfish.
2 Snapcaster Mage
4 Gigadrowse
3 Serum Visions
4 Growth Spiral
4 Pull from Tomorrow
4 Remand
2 Exhaustion
3 Cryptic Command
4 Nexus of Fate
1 Search for Azcanta
2 Dictate of Kruphix
4 Wilderness Reclamation
2 Breeding Pool
1 Forest
2 Gemstone Caverns
4 Hinterland Harbor
8 Island
2 Mikokoro, Center of the Sea
4 Misty Rainforest
3 Chalice of the Void
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Damping Sphere
1 Echoing Truth
3 Thing in the Ice
4 Leyline of Sanctity
The wincon is bloody slow,winning via mikokoro milling or snap beats. But if it works consistently, its good.
So far I like:
Nissa Steward of Elements as the win condition and in place of Jace
Blue Sun's Zenith as card draw, running less Dictate of Kruphix
It's weird because I actually don't like Time Warp in a UG shell with Wilderness Reclamation.. I'm more of a fan of trying to run instant speed with some Temporal Masteries
Don't really have a list yet but Remand/Growth Spiral seem pretty sweet
http://www.cubetutor.com/viewcube/13649 - My all foil cube.
2 Anger of the Gods
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Commandeer
1 Negate
2 Engineered Explosives
1 Gelectrode
1 Crackling Drake
3 Thing in the Ice
Also shoutout to Mat Stein who also finished 12-3 on UR Turns. Our deck is doing great!
While I never like to "meta game" modern I was expecting burn in high numbers. Modern being as it is maybe I should have just ran it out there (with chalice).
If I can make Calgary I will take turns.
Grand Prix are extremely open and hard to metagame for. There were 1318 competitors at GP Toronto, and even if 10% of them were on Burn (132 players on the same deck? That's insane!), you'd play against Burn on average 1.5 times out of 15 matches. It's just not worth metagaming against a single deck when the field is as diverse as it is in Modern.
I've been super busy lately (just got my nursing license and start working next week!) so I haven't had too much time for magic lately but I plan on working on the forum again. Lots of changes to add as Simic Turns and Bant are getting a lot more love!
I plan on playing this weekend at a small PPTQ at our local shop with UR. Eventually I want to start experimenting with growth spiral and whatnot and maybe try that Wilderness Teachings deck
Just figured i'd update everyone!
Good Job again Daniel!
Thanks! I'm actually really glad that Mat did so well with the deck too! It gives some reassurance that it's not just one maniac taking the deck to a bunch of GPs and getting lucky every once in a while, it's a deck that has the power level to compete at large tournaments. Hopefully this inspires other Taking Turns players to try the deck at a big event!