MTG Salvation

Guys walking ballista is a real card here. I played 2 mainboard and I want to try run 3 - It's soo good card against fast decks - and It's be far one of the best win condition in the deck with academy ruins and Tron Lands

About UG: I tried many lists of this color combination and I didn't found it ever better than straight mono-U (You got less life from shocks/fetches and clunky manabase only for loam+thragtusk? C'MON :D). We often got to fight against grave hate in game 2/3 so gifts ungiven/loam plan is bad after sidegames - Mono U tron can get there with runnin just 1 card (crucible of worlds) and this is often just a win-more strategy (beacouse we are already favoured against control strategies).

Spatials are still bad. Don't listen to the people telling you to run them over Dismember. Maybe as a 5th removal spell in the SB, but even then there are probably better cards. If you do decide on Spatials, you probably want 2x Yavimaya Coast because you will get into situations without colorless mana fairly often. Any reason for Verdant Catacomb over Misty? Noxious Revival is also a thing for these Gifts decks.

Thanks for the feedback! I played a few matches using the last updated list, shifting Frost Titan out to the SB for Oblivion Sower. It was fun, with an on-cast effect even if it didn't make it to the board or got removed quickly. It gives an interesting advantage in that if we leave up at least 1 blue mana up, it potentially gives us extra lands to cast responses with. Whether that's worth it over doing something else is questionable. That's the same spot that another large threat (Kozilek? Gearhulk?) would occupy, and I think I'm starting to get convinced to try Walking Ballista in that spot.

Quote from JaceToTheFace »

Spatials are still bad. Don't listen to the people telling you to run them over Dismember. Maybe as a 5th removal spell in the SB, but even then there are probably better cards. If you do decide on Spatials, you probably want 2x Yavimaya Coast because you will get into situations without colorless mana fairly often. Any reason for Verdant Catacomb over Misty? Noxious Revival is also a thing for these Gifts decks.

I'll address the Dismember vs Spatial below. Catacombs over Misty for pure economical reasons: I got them for Living End before I had UG Tron, and when I was building this Mistys were ~70 and if I was grabbing Breeding Pool most of the time anyway, I went with what I had.

Noxious Revival is an interesting thought - even outside of Gifts, it can emergency-save something in the grave from exile. What would you cut?

Quote from mtgnorin »

Grixis and eldrazi are everywhere and its 1 mana only. Dismember over spatial

Of the maybe 5 matches I played with the updated list, the one I lost to was WB Gideons. Contortion doesn't kill Gideon of the Trials. Dismember does.

As an aside, I've also been thinking of dropping 1 or both fetches for more Islands for less painful mana, and for more Solemn targets.

just another 5-0 stolen by mtgo, and timing out with slaver lock. nbd.

these are reasons why i dont play U tron as much as i'd like to sometimes, mtgo clock in control mirrors (i play on a laptop) ... and in real life, last two tournaments starting with a DRAW (death sentence) because of playing SLOW opponents.

frustrating!

other news. will try Opt start today or tomorrow... and 1 karn MB was good (realistically 5-0 league with it)

I've been running 2 Ugin MB for a while now and that feels really, really good.

I also can't decide between snapcaster and torrential gearhulk. Hulk boy is awesome with dismember, is a fatty, and also fuels thirst. Snap is low cmc to help with the curve and way more versatile. Presently, I'm on snap as I'm trying to cut back on 6+ CMC cards a bit

Guys, Ur opinions about dropping platinum angel? Do You think she's needed in current meta? I know that's she's a panic button and can be discard for thirst (at last) but I'm curious if anyone dropped her for something better

Quote from Dassul »

Guys, Ur opinions about dropping platinum angel? Do You think she's needed in current meta? I know that's she's a panic button and can be discard for thirst (at last) but I'm curious if anyone dropped her for something better

She's good against half the meta and bad against the other half so it's really upto you.
It's good against Burn, Affinity, and Dredge. And bad against E-Tron, Deaath's Shadow, and Tron.

angel is just a good "oh *****" card g1, that i cant imagine dropping it ever...

been testing Opt. 3/4 MB... feels surprisingly good.1 man vs 2 mana is nice. i went off MB chalice and ballista to make room in one list... off talisman and sad robot in another...

like seriously, try opt. cause i think im sold

Here's my opt list. 10-1 with it so far, including 5-0 yesterday.
Opt adds a little consistency and I like it more than anticipate. Anticipate sometimes hits multiple cards you want and you only choose one. Also it's mana efficiency. Anyways. Here's the deck :

Do you side out the opts in any matchups? Could you post maybe a mini sb guide for like the top couple of decks?

@NuBlkAu: Your list looks cool, I think opt's can be helpful right there (along with 2 talismans).
But for me I would cut 1 remand, 1 mindslaver and 1 treasure mage for chalice of the void, walking ballista and trinket mage. The more I play the deck the more I realize that walking ballista is the card that make it MUCH better then before (I ran mono-U tron like 1.5 year ago).
There is one thing with opt that I don't really like - the mana cost. This (U) is really hard to manage - and with full tron online tapping U for opt is really so-so play. Ofc it's much better then serum visions beacuse we like to hold a counterspell but I do think that this 1 mana less is not that much in compare to anticipate (which just dig deeper). Double blue in early turns means no fast tron, so it's mostly a tech against decks where we don't race to BIGGUY (wurmcoil/bigballista/titan/slaver) and we are already favored against these type od decks.
I try to remind how often I play island on 1st turn (and It's mostly without tron land in hand :/) so playin opt turn 1 will be really rare.

Maybe I can do a SB guide.

14-2 now.

After a few leagues I would swap wurm and ballista mb/SB and one treasure marge back for fabricate (or trinket if you want)

Kinda miss snapcaster but not sure where he should go... could go to 3 remands. I'd never cut the 2nd slaver though.

dumb question.

Dude..... you draw mindslaver every turn

oh duh.

Opt is the real deal. Just took NuBIkAu's list with some sb changes and a sub of wurmcoil for snap in the main to a 5-0 and 4-1 finish in mtgo leagues. Opt has felt very strong and as said before gives the deck a lot more consistency. Its not like anticipate, the cheaper cost i find to be often relevant.Its not like serum because you can leave open remand or condescend and if you dont need to then opt. T4 opt and scry into thirst is one of my favorite. The best thing that happened was I put a gemstone cavern into play on the draw and got to opt on my turn 0. But overall opt is great in the opener, great in the midgame, and great as an empty handed top deck.

Trying to figure figure that out.
I had two chalice side and would board out a couple one drops when I'd want it on one.

Burn
Ad nauseum
Grixis shadow

Are main chalice on one matches I can think of atm

Not many.

Took Mono U to a pptq victory. Decided to throw the second Ugin in the deck. Meta was very receptive. Beat Death Shadow, 8 Rack, g/r Ponza, Jeska COntrol, and Dredge. Was a good day.

I have two chalices in the board right now. Usually when they come in some number of maps are coming out to lower your one drops. So its probably 5 one drops post board with opt and chalice. In the rare chance you have chalice on one and draw an op, which often against chalice matchups it could be on 2 (burn) or zero (ad naus, affinity on play), it just gets pitched to thirst. Its the same as map with chalice, doesnt come up very often and isnt really a big deal for the power level you're getting g1 and in non chalice matchups.