MTG Salvation

Hey. Old returning moon player.
When you say control/midrange
are you then talking about the titi deck?
I've been looking at that deck for a while now. But I really want to put in some more cliques or nimble obstructionist. But I don't really know what the flex slots are. Would anyone care to allaborate on the flex slots of titi moon?

Quote from korfits »

Hey. Old returning moon player.
When you say control/midrange
are you then talking about the titi deck?
I've been looking at that deck for a while now. But I really want to put in some more cliques or nimble obstructionist. But I don't really know what the flex slots are. Would anyone care to allaborate on the flex slots of titi moon?

Flex slots are in the Cantrips, Electrolyze, and Abrade really. Assuming you are Blue Moon Thing, vs Pyro/Thing.

Thanks isSurge!
Would it be a good idea to make a primer or an explanation on the different UR moon variations? Because this threat is very mixed beauce if the diversity in deck builds

I was a greedy-keep away from 4-0 last Monday with Breach Moon. On game 3 of a weird mono G stompy deck (with Evolve and pump spells), I mull to 6 and keep a SUPER greedy hand on the play of Breach, Emmy, and 4 lands. I was dead his turn 4 after drawing 3 more lands in a row (after scrying the opener to the bottom).

C'est La Vie.

Going to be trying Kiki again tonight. Something spicy with 3-4 Moons and Simian Spirit Guide. Kind of an all-in combo game 1, and traditional UR control games 2/3. There's no other way to slice it: no matter what the build, this deck is mediocre. Might as well have fun with it. At least until my Teferis come in the mail.

Jace is for sure Synergistic, by simple fact of 'draw 3'. Its just an engine card, but what an engine.

I think the last what, 4 months or so, has proven there are a number of ways to run the deck. I think we have probably 5 variably workable win cons between Thing, Pyro, Kiki, Madcap, and Breach, while all of them can pivot into Jace/Control decks or lean in harder on the Tempo/Aggro path.

The biggest question is what is going to be best in a week or so, when the meta is flooded with BGx, UWx and people messing around in the fringes with BridgeVine/KCI/Dredge and so on.

Pyro is strong in those match ups, with AV and Clique to mess with UW decks as well.

Looks good.

Any tips on the Burn match up? Its everywhere online at the moment, and unless the counters line up really well, its pretty bad I think.

I tried a wonky Kiki Jiki build last night. Made a bunch of interaction cuts to shove in a 4th Kiki and 4 Simian Spirit Guide. I wanted to go all-in combo and leverage SSG for either fast Blood Moons, or fast(er) combos. Not gonna lie, this was probably the most fun I'd had in a LONG time.

Some highlights:
Against Jeskai (2-0), with a Blood Moon out, an Exarch that was flashed in on the previous turn. On my turn, I had 6 lands and go for Kiki. He used his only blue mana to Logic Knot it. I exile a SSG plus my last Island to Remand it and win.

Against Titanshift (2-0), game 1 I literally Twin him with Turn 3 end step Pestermite, turn for SSG + Kiki. Game 2, with a Blood Moon out, I'm on 4 mana (to his like... 7). After he pact'd for a Titan, I Clique on his draw step. He responds with a Through the Breach. With my last Island left, I exile SSG to cast Remand. Take his Titan, and he draws a few cards and then concedes.

Against Jund (0-2), I resolve a turn 3 Jace, but never got to slam an early Moon. Got utterly crushed. Probably should just mulligan for early Moon. Goyfs and Bobs and BBEs and Lilys, Oh My!

I had my most spectacular series of events against Grixis Control (2-0), I'm getting beat down by the 4/4 Nicol Bolas and am LootHouse-ing looking for anything to win. I manage to draw some tappers to go with my Kiki. At 6 life and 6 lands (4 island, LootHouse, Steam Vents), I flash in Exarch to tap his Blood Crypt (one of two red sources). Resolves. Then I flash in Pestermite to tap his other red source. He tanks for a good while and Cryptic Commands, counter Pestermite, bounce my Steam Vents, leaving me with 0 red sources. I shrug and say OK. Untap, draw for turn, shock the Steam Vents in, double SSG, play Kiki and win. Dude was super tilted and actually stormed off. Came back after venting outside for a bit and we laughed and chatted about bad beats and lucky wins. He's one of the guys I see a lot there and no hard feelings between us. But he was having a rough night anyway, and that's pretty rough luck on top.

TL;DR - SSG saved me in multiple situations casting a 2 mana counterspell with 1 Island. SSG allowed me to cast both Jace and Kiki ahead of schedule (never got early Moon ). SSG allowed me to win out of nowhere with only 1 red-producing land. Essentially, SSG brought back much of the fear and uneasiness we used to get playing Twin because opponents having to play around unknown factors. I played this config for the memes and lols, expecting to 0-4 or 1-3, but it actually proved to be super valuable in winning each match I won, and finished 3-1. Got crushed by Jund, but was worth it for the nonsense of the other matches. Interaction is overrated.

Could someone please give me an idea of how you play ur titi? Do you cast titi late game so you can protect him or what? Is it different in different MUs? If you play YP is that the same or do you go more aggro?

Are there no cards from GRN that you would want to try in ur moon ?

When you compare to temur moon. Is that in the regard that they don't need as much permission because they are more creature heavy? I've been play a bit titi moon and temur moon. But I doubt that I play them optimal. Why winrate is kind of poor. So I'm trying to learn So every help is very much appreciated

Quote from korfits »

Are there no cards from GRN that you would want to try in ur moon ?

Not that I can think of for Thing versions.

Bloodyrabbit_01 do you by any chance play modo? I would love to see some of your games and how you play them

As a long, long, long-time Blue Moon player, I can firmly say that, after the first time I cast a Terminus for 1 mana to hit a lethal board of creatures and then turned the corner and handily won... I don't think I can touch this deck again until Splinter Twin comes back. As long as I own Teferi's, I see no reason to continue playing a second class citizen deck. I loved the deck, but the above caveats remind me that it's simply not sitting at the "big kid table" in Modern.

This deck might not be the best of the best, but it sure is better than my previous deck, Grixis Control. I picked this archetype after seeing the CFB deck feature (Crackling Drake). I made a list that was to my liking, and went 5-0 in friendly and 5-0 in comp leagues consecutively, dropping only three games total. Naturally I had the luck on my side, but Drake felt pretty busted. You can't always afford to tap four mana for a threat, but when you can Drake is absolutely brutal.

Quote from quasar890 »

Glad to see someone else on the Crackling Drake Train. I think Crackling Drake fits perfect into the Deck. You are a Control Deck which can turn around the Corner really quick. Sometimes the Drake just needs 1 attack and you win.

What did you play against?
For me 22 where way to much. I cut a Fetchland and still flood sometimes
How was the Nimble Obstructionist? I play a Shadow of Doubt at the moment since its a pet card of mine, but Nimble makes more sense i guess. Shadow is also on a flex slot and will be cutted i guess

I wanted to have one flying flash threat, so that meant Nimble or Clique. It's crazy but I think Nimble is definitely on par with Clique.

My comp. league MUs were RG Valakut, E-tron, Dredge, BUG Death's Shadow, Bant Spirits.

Quote from BloodyRabbit_01 »

@cfusionpm

UR has two huge pros compared to UW, though: it’s much (MUCH) more consistent because of all the cantrips, and it has the upper hand in the mirror match.

Oh I definitely know the pros and cons of UR, I've been playing dozens of shells since Twin was banned. In the past 6 months or so, I personally found that the "fair" versions (running Thing and/or Pyro) simply lack the speed and consistency to win the matches you need to win quickly, and lack the answers and tools to deal with a wide variety of awkward threats (even things as simply as creatures that don't die to Bolt). It's really gotten no new tools in years other than Abrade, which while nice, still doesn't solve one of the fundamental problems of x/4+ creatures, or speed up the clock, or fix reliability, etc. It's especially true when Blood Moon is either too slow or entirely irrelevant to the meta.

As a result of many losses with fair versions, I mostly played unfair versions (Kiki, Breach, and Madcap) each of which have their own pros and cons. But after so many years of playing decks where every single matchup felt like an uphill battle (even ones where I'm supposedly favored in), it was a breath of fresh air feeling the power and strength of a true Tier 1 deck. UR is fun and enjoyable, but wow, it has not even been close. I thought the lower number of cantrips might have mattered, but when all your cards are gas and your lands attack for 4 in the air, you don't miss them...

My local meta is filled with aggressive creature decks and I was sick of losing to them. The switch has been spectacular. Most of the noncreature decks are heavily artifact based, which means Stony Silence is a house.

Quote from quasar890 »

I'm going to give Nimble a shot and will probably cut the 4th Drake like you did.
Would you change anything from the List?

What do you do against Burn? When i tested the Matchup it felt pretty bad.

I have only minimal testing under my belt atm, but I don't hate the burn MU.

As for the list, it's hard to say how to improve it after a perfect 10-0 match record. SB pyroclasm could be EE, not sure.

Quote from Tiemuuu »

This deck might not be the best of the best, but it sure is better than my previous deck, Grixis Control. I picked this archetype after seeing the CFB deck feature (Crackling Drake). I made a list that was to my liking, and went 5-0 in friendly and 5-0 in comp leagues consecutively, dropping only three games total. Naturally I had the luck on my side, but Drake felt pretty busted. You can't always afford to tap four mana for a threat, but when you can Drake is absolutely brutal.

Drake is a huge surprise when it comes down, just played a fun UR Mirror, he had Drakes, I had Ral (2 instead of Jace) and 1 Niv, just for fun. Ral's not even close to as good as Jace but he was enough to get me there in game 1 once I dropped Niv. His drakes killed me game 2, while Thing and Cantrips on curve got me game 3.