I think this is a pretty niche card, but I think it has some small amount of potential in the sideboard. Modern has a surprising number of 1 CMC cards, especially things you normally can't interact with like Aether Vial and Map. I would need to do a full breakdown of the format to see if this is worth playing, but my inclination is that it's worth considering.
The first ability isn't fantastic, it just sort of slows down your opponent a little bit. Good against Burn or BGx types of decks with Thoughtseize and Liliana. But what I'm more concerned about is the secondary effect. Neutering tokens can be good, and I've played cards in other decks that do it. I'm not saying this is a slam dunk of a card, but in the right environment, this card might appear in a sideboard.
Particularly good against Collected Company decks. The fact it costs 1 means you can fit it on the board at any time, and since those decks are typically very light on removal, you don't care that much. Merfolk would probably like this card for sideboards, us probably not as much. Even still, I could see CoCo going on a rise and wanting to play this. There's a similar creature that I'm not remembering, a white flier from a couple years back. I haven't ever wanted to play that, but I'm not sure if 1cmc changes my opinion.
This is definitely the highlight card of the set. Basically paying 1 more for a modal wrath that offers the ability to kill artifacts/enchantments on the second mode. My gut reaction is to not want to play this in the main, but sideboard one copy.
With this card, you're effectively asking whether slowing wrath by a turn is made up for the fact that in some cases, it does what wrath cannot. Instinctively, Wrath often needs to be cast as soon as you can. I have lost games where if I had cast wrath a turn earlier, I would have been fine. Turn 5 on the draw seems really slow, and I feel like I want to have the 4cmc wrath effects main. I do like the idea of this in the sideboard. I like more expensive wraths there, especially since you can optionally board it in when you see an opponent with a deck where the second mode is good.
I think there just aren't enough decks where this is good enough. It's fine against Lantern, KCI, Bogles, Affinity (though regular wrath is fine). These decks just aren't popular enough to support this card the way some people might think. Sometimes it will be good, but on average, it will probably just be a slightly worse wrath.
I want to get a Pact of Negation for my Sideboard, and maybe 3 Leyline of Sanctity.
I just sleeved it up, on Saturday I will test these 75 on a small Tournament.
Guess I'll post my tournament report to keep things kinda going. This was my first time ever playing the deck. I'm not a semipro or a grinder, the highest MtG achievement I have to my name is top-8ing a PTQ. So with that context, here is the report:
I played the cardknock life list with 2 changes:
1 Snow covered-plains -> plains because I couldn't find the snow land in time. The difference never came up.
1 Ceremonious rejection -> Timely reinforcements because I was more afraid of burn. This was relevant in 1 matchup.
Round 1 - Ponza. Weirdly I won really easily even though he kept blowing up my lands. The first threat he played was inferno titan and by that time I had Elspeth on board. Game 2 he probably sided out removal and I just killed him with thought-knot seer. (1-0)
Round 2 - Bant spirits. I won game 1 by wrathing his board away and attacking with colonnade and champion of wits. Game 2 I keep a 1 lander on the draw and die. Game 3 I keep a hand with supreme verdict but no colored mana and come close to stabilizing. Close (1-1)
Round 3 - Infect. Game 1 I died so fast I don't even remember what my hand was. Game 2 I mulled to 5 looking for white mana + path and die a slightly slower death. I will probably make room in the board for 1 more spatial distortion with this matchup in mind. Also good against humans and etched champion. (1-2)
Round 4 - Titanshift. Game 1 I reanimate Iona turn 5 naming Green and he can't do anything. Game 2 I tap out for... something... and die to scapeshift. Game 3 I learn my lesson and just don't tap out until I counter his titan on turn 6. The next turn he has 1 card in hand which I know is garbage from TKS. On my next turn I reanimate Iona and lock him out. He said afterwards he had paths in the board but never drew them. TKS was stellar here. (2-2)
Round 5 - Janky green tron. He had the green tron engine but he was playing old Ulamog an old Kozilek. The ones that destroy 1 permanent and draw 4 cards. Game 1 I won with Iona + Colonnade attacks after he cheated a giant eldrazi into play with Quicksilver Amulet. Yeah. Game 2 I died to turn 3 tron online pass, turn 4 giant eldrazi with annihilator. I should have mulliganed my noninteractive hand. Game 3 I won with TKS beatdown. Fat Vendilion Clique was MVP again. (3-2)
Round 6 - UW control. Here is where my inexperience really showed. I now think that we should just be playing for the Batterskull + Academy ruins recursion strategy in the early/mid game and Emrakul in the late game, forgetting about Iona or our PWs because they are too easily answered. I also think that in this matchup we should board into a counterspell deck to absolutely try and keep Jace & Teferi from resolving without opposition. If we don't tap out and they somehow force PWs through our counters, they should be low enough on mana that we can kill the PW with Colonnade or Dsphere/Obring postboard. As it was, I kept tapping out and he just planeswalkered me to death. Also, keep 4 paths in postboard for their 4 colonnades. Just 2 paths + 2 Field of Ruin is not enough. Don't fetch for basics because they run 4 paths and 4 field or ruins. Crucible of worlds is amazing in this matchup. (3-3)
Overall, I liked the deck. I made some truly awful decisions, one trying to cast Timely Reinforcements as an instant, and twice thinking Champion of Wits eternalize had haste (I had only ever eternalized Earthshaker Khenra on MtG Arena prior to this tourney). A small percent of the time Iona will just lock your opponent out of the game.
Changes I would make to the cardknocklife list:
1 Champion of wits -> 1 Thirst for knowledge for gifts purposes. I drew Unburial/resurrect target more than once on the day
1 Haven of the Spirit Dragon out - irrelevant all day in every matchup
1 Field of ruin from the side into main replacing haven
1 Spatial distortion into sideboard
Guess I'm "Just Getting Started" again... the last time I posted on mtgsalvation was probably around 2010 and it looks like they deleted my account lol.
One last thing, I have read through some of the recent posts here and I disagree with cutting Colonnade. In fact I think Colonnade the most consistent way we win the game. I would not go below 3.
Went ahead and picked up a bunch of stuff for this deck. I don't have much of a sideboard yet (although I should be able to pick up some stuff for it in a couple weeks). Anyways, here's my first draft list:
I'm not entirely certain how good the maindeck ratios are, hopefully it will run smooth enough. Only 2 Colonnade because that's all I could afford without cutting costs elsewhere. My main question is whether or not I should try and fit in Crucible and Thought-Knots (which I've seen other lists running) and if so what to cut for them.
I have 4x Leyline of Sanctity and a Hurkyl's Recall laying around I could throw in the side, plus stuff like Disenchant and Timely Reinforcements should be cheap enough that I can pick them up. Stuff in the range of $20 or less like Wurmcoil, Batterskull and O-Stone should be manageable. Unfortunately it seems like picking up an engineered explosives is one of those things that I'll be putting on indefinite hold.
If there's anything glaringly wrong with the maindeck let me know so I can get it fixed up in the next few weeks!
So here is my Tournament report:
It was about 18 players, 5 rounds of Swiss. My list was that posted above, except for few small changes:
Main:
-Cyclonic Rift
+Supreme Will
Side:
-Muddle the Mixture
+Timely Reinforcements
Round 1 vs Boggles: 2-0
First game, I live long enough to cast a Gifts Ungiven. Somehow, my opponent gave me Ugin out of it.
SB:
-Iona
-4 Remand
-2 Condescend
-Emrakul
+EE
+Thopter Sword
+Disenchant
+Blessed Alliance
+2 Timely Reinforcements
+Cleansing Nova
Second game, I have a wonderful opener:
T2 Signet, T3 EE on 1 and blow it up, T4 Cleansing Nova and Tron, then Elesh Norn, Ugin etc (I Still Had All These)
Round 2 vs Hollow One: 2-0
First game, I have T1 Path, T2 Signet and T3 Settle the Wreckage. Wonderful MB choice.
SB:
See Boggles, except for
-Elesh Norn
-Unburial Rites
+Celestial Purge
+Batterskull
Postboard, I mulliganed once, then I Still Had All These (See "tha Gathering" for reference) - 2 Timely Reinforcements, 2 Path to Exile, and again Settle the Wreckage.
Round 3 vs UW Control: 2-1
First Game, I delay his wincons with my counterspells, then get to Emrakul mana.
SB:
-1 Path to Exile
-Wrath of God
-Settle the Wreckage
-Elesh Norn
-Iona
-Unburial Rites
+Batterskull
+EE
+Crucible of Worlds
+Pithing Needle
+Trinket Mage
+Disenchant
Second game, my opponent keeps me busy with Jace, Teferi, a well-timed Entreat the Angels Miracle and Colonnades. Nuff said.
Game three was the nuts. I had a Jace and fatesealed him to threaten the -12 finish, but just when I had it up, my opponent had an out (Cryptic Command and Teferi). I could replay the Jace, but that was all - I was far away from Tron mana, so the "Infinite Gifts Chain" with Emrakul, Sphinx's Revelation, another Gifts Ungiven and X (=VALUE) was also impossible.
Then my opponent had a Rest in Peace, and that exiled the Sphinx's, Ugin, Wurmcoil Engine and more - I cleared that with EE, but then that was gone, too.
So finally when the end of time was reached, I found the last Tron piece. My opponent had a hard-casted Entreat create him 3 Angels (one received a Path via my Snapcaster) and Clique'd me at end of draw. So I faced lethal (I was at 1 from the first attack) and could swing my life up to 7 with my Snapcaster and equipping it with Batterskull - but that wasn't enough.
Here is what I found: I had a Jace on 3, just Lands left in my hand and like 25-30 mana thanks to all 4 Towers in play.
Brainstorming with Jace found Gifts Ungiven, and that won me the game - I Love That Card.
The Pile was:
Emrakul
Supreme Verdict
Gifts Ungiven
Path to Exile
My opponent had no Colonnades left, and was hellbent. So he neither could give me Supreme Verdict nor Emrakul - and there I had the IGC (=Infinite Gifts Chain). I Path'ed one token, Gift'ed for the same pile (still presenting Emrakul/Verdict mana), and thereby could remove all his wincons.
GG's
Round 4 vs RW Taxes: 0-2
First game, I was screwed by Thalia - Wrath of God in hand :/
SB:
-Iona
-Emrakul
-4 Remand
-2 Condescend
-Supreme Will
-more, I don't remember
+everything except Hurkyl's Recall I think
Second game, I got screwed again because the Wrath effect I drew was Cleansing Nova. Bitter Lessons
Round 5 vs KCI: 0-2 (argh!)
First game, there was not much I could hope to do - my deck is slow and lacks real permission to his combo.
SB:
-Wrath of God
-Settle the Wreckage
-Supreme Verdict
-Elesh Norn
-Iona
-Unburial Rites
-Emrakul
+EE
+Pithing Needle
+Hurkyl's Recall
+Trinket Mage
+Disenchant
+Cleansing Nova
+I don't remember
Second game, I mulliganed twice, and had just Remand and Hurkyl's to interact - Game Over
So I am really loving the Deck when it works, though my Sideboard will change now. Those many 1-offs are nice to have with Gifts Ungiven, but now I will probably try this:
Is Mindslaver still worth running (main or side)? I'm running it but kind of want to take it out for another Signet maybe.
If I do that I'll probably take out Academy Ruins for another colored source too since I don't have good targets (Engineered Explosives) for it anyways
@StayHappyThere , in general, I don't think so. It's a combo that requires a lot of set up and we often can't run multiple copies of the combo pieces to make it as consistent as it has been. Ii think in general, modern has gotten so fast that a hard lock on turn 5 or 6 isn't what it once was. Even two-card combos like thopter/sword are falling out of favour for things like Secure the Wastes.
What I'm always wondering about, and the part of magic that I have the most trouble with, is sideboard slots. What are people running in their sideboards that are more local meta calls, rather than the things we see show up in every list. For example, the last LGS I played, there was some lantern and grixis, so I ended up relying more on things like Leyline of Sanctity. What are some fun-of or hidden tech cards that you use in your local stores?
My personal favorites are:
-Sacred Ground: was wonderful against many LD effects. Does not help against Surgical Extraction, though
-Damping Matrix: I played it when Birthing Pod Decks were still around. Spirits and Hardened Scales makes it a worthy card again, I think.
-Pact of Negation: with Tolaria West to find it, this hard counter is nice to have in the lategame when you want to tap out for someting like Ugin, Elspeth or Iona, and then still have an out.
-Hibernation: self-explaining I guess.
-Trinket Mage: nice card to bring in vs. Aggro when you also board in Engineered Explosives and Pithing Needle. Also finds Expedition Map.
It's been a bit since I've chimed in here, haven't taken the deck out in a while. I've got like half the format built now, maybe more, and I've been playing less Magic lately. But I'll put a few comments
GRN unsurprisingly had nothing for us. Without gold cards in UW there wasn't really going to be anything. Maybe in the next set, but I never have high hopes for sets.
Teferi is actually quite good, been playing him in Jeskai Control. Being able to untap lands is much better than it sounds, especially when we might be able to untap 4 mana to EOT Gifts. I think Teferi is probably better in Jeskai because more interaction means more chances to keep him alive. Still, I think he does have some potential and I'd certainly play one copy until I was certain he wasn't good.
Mindslaver seems particularly bad right now because graveyard strategies are back. Storm is good again and Dredge has been putting up some impressive results since Creeping Chill got printed. So I'd be weary of dipping too far into the graveyard strategy. With people playing cards like Surgical, Cage, Relic, Leyline of the Void, Spellbomb, all of it's bad for that. Cut the combo, free up slots.
Getting to tron in this deck isn't as important as being able to cast your colored spells, by controlling the game you will reach tron at some point to cast your big finisher spells but you need to be able to control the game til that point
Why are some people playing 3 Urza's Mine and 3 Urza's Power plant?
One of the bigger problems with the deck is colour consistency. When you play 12 lands that produce no colour and then try to cast spells like Wrath of God or Supreme Verdict, it's pretty difficult to cast. We play Signets to try to offset it, but we're still not playing anywhere near enough for it to be consistent on turn 4. So the thought process became: let's play higher coloured sources (and cut Tron lands as a result). At first it seems really bad, but you realize that you sometimes care more about consistency on early game than you do getting to mid/late. The tradeoff is really that you're getting Tron online later. I find it's often a meta decision as to whether you think early game matters more. If decks like Jund and Jeskai are good, then you want to be playing more Tron lands, otherwise fewer is probably okay.
R1 Opp is on Mono-Red good stuff. Lots of burn + swiftspear and things like Shard Volley to try and be as quick as possible.
G1 I got pounded on pretty fast with Goblin Guides and Monastery Swiftspears. I kept a pretty medium mulligan to 6 that didn't have any ramp or a board wipe. G2 I get a lucky top deck of Gifts Ungiven on another medium mulligan, and reanimate Iona, Shield of Emeria naming red. His suspended Rift Bolt fizzled when it tried to get cast on his upkeep to burn me for the last points, and scooped when he realised that wouldn't work. G3 was much less exciting, I made a big misplay and didn't cast the Leyline of Sanctity that I drew the turn before I died to a Lightning Bolt and three Shard Volley.
0-1
R2 Opp is on Devoted Company, a pretty stock list with the infinite green mana combo and Shalai, Voice of Plenty for protection.
G1 we both durdle and do what control mirrors do until he eventually gets down Teferi, Hero of Dominaria and Jace, The Mindsculptor and I don't care about the game anymore. G2 goes a little smoother with me being able to dig a little faster and hard cast Leyline of Sanctity and eventually get to tap 15 for Emrakul, the Aeons Torn. He couldn't dig for a Terminus, and scooped. G3 I get a Thought-Knot Seer out T3 and exile the only castable card in his hand. I beat face while he tries to recover and eventually concedes.
2-1
R4 Opp thought there were only 3 rounds and left before the matches started. I ended up with a 3-1 record, good for 4th place after breakers.
Some notes about the deck as I have it:
- I liked the 2 Negate in the main, but I think I also got really lucky running into decks that wanted to mostly cast non-creature spells, or had trouble putting the right pieces of creature combos together. There are a lot of powerful creature-based decks, and I think I mis-built there. I'm going to replace one, along with the Spell Snare, which felt actively bad the more I drew it in games. I want to experiment with a single Cyclonic Rift, and will think on what else to try.
-Leyline of Sanctity is pretty medium when it's not in your opening hand, but I never didn't have the mana to cast it when I drew it, along with doing something else. I think we're one of the few decks that can afford the opportunity cost of playing a 4-drop enchantment post board and have it still affect the game. I certainly don't recommend you plan your deck around casting it, but it is something to keep in mind.
- I never once thought Rule of Law was a card worth bringing in at this event. If you have a lot of storm or combo in your meta, I see the appeal, but I think I'm going to be looking for something different there as well.
-Thought-knot Seer is so good in Control matchups. We're often faster with ramp, and they often can't easily deal with 4/4 attackers postboard. I think it's a very good card that our deck plays with very well.
Match 1 Mardu Midrange
Game 1 Mull to 5, don't draw lands until t4/5
Game 2 Mull to 6. Only draw lands, die.
0-1
Match 2 Kiki-Chord
Game 1 Turn 3 maindeck Magus of the Moon basically locks us out.
Game 2 Come close to stabilizing but couldn't get the right mana for Supreme Verdict
0-2
Match 3 Hardened Scales Affinity
Game 1 Gifts for Elesh, Rites locks him out.
Game 2 He swarms us before we have time to react.
Game 3 Goes to time, luckily we're able Gifts for Elesh, Rites again. Along with a few Colonnades we have out, we finish it quickly.
1-2
Match 4 Some weird UW Control
Game 1 Important spells get countered and die to X (can't remember).
Game 2 More mana screw.
1-3
Week 2
Match 1 Bant Spirits
Game 1 Rites Iona, die to CoCo and a bazillion creatures.
Game 2 Don't find correct mana for Verdict die.
0-1
Match 2 Merfolk
Game 1 Come close to stabilizing but eventually die to Mutavault + Lord
Game 2 Again, can't ever find wrath effect, die.
0-2
Match 3 Weird Mono Black Infi-Mill
Games 1-2 He has no way to remove Emrakul from our deck. GG EZ.
1-2
Match 4 Affinity
Game 1 Die to Cranial Plated Inkmoth
Game 2 Die to a million creatures that came out way too fast for us.
1-3
Even though I lose a lot I love the deck. My main problems are inexperience with the deck plus I'm bad at sideboarding. I never know what to take out or when to remove the Gifts combo. If anyone has advice I'd love to hear.
Thanks!
Ps I'm considering Terminus with how aggro my lgs is.
I was playing this deck for a bit, but could never seem to find answers when I needed them. My LGS is either Titanshift, Izzet Phoenix, or Storm and it seems like the deck (or at least me) has a hard time with those match ups. I've been playing UW Vial Spirits instead and having more success, which makes me sad because I love UW Tron and think it's interesting and diverse.
The issue with this deck is never having the right card when needed. Sometimes you're lacking a signet, sometimes your lacking other spells. This card helps turn the sideboard and exile into a free search. 4 cmc is super easy to obtain for this deck and at worse you get a artifact beater. I plan build a nearly all artifact sideboard with cards like engineer explosives and relic. The point being to have an out for every situation.
Edit: I'll also put a blightsteel/wormcoil in the sideboard to help steal games. Also, a crucible in the sb with this card brings back tron online.
Took this deck to my local LGS this weekend and cleaned house. When Lattice and Karn go off it was a big shocker to some. Karn helped me edge a win against G tron which is nearly impossible. The Champs are way better than thirst because against control they tend to let them resolve or forget they are in the gy late game for a 4 card draw.
I think this is a pretty niche card, but I think it has some small amount of potential in the sideboard. Modern has a surprising number of 1 CMC cards, especially things you normally can't interact with like Aether Vial and Map. I would need to do a full breakdown of the format to see if this is worth playing, but my inclination is that it's worth considering.
The first ability isn't fantastic, it just sort of slows down your opponent a little bit. Good against Burn or BGx types of decks with Thoughtseize and Liliana. But what I'm more concerned about is the secondary effect. Neutering tokens can be good, and I've played cards in other decks that do it. I'm not saying this is a slam dunk of a card, but in the right environment, this card might appear in a sideboard.
Particularly good against Collected Company decks. The fact it costs 1 means you can fit it on the board at any time, and since those decks are typically very light on removal, you don't care that much. Merfolk would probably like this card for sideboards, us probably not as much. Even still, I could see CoCo going on a rise and wanting to play this. There's a similar creature that I'm not remembering, a white flier from a couple years back. I haven't ever wanted to play that, but I'm not sure if 1cmc changes my opinion.
This is definitely the highlight card of the set. Basically paying 1 more for a modal wrath that offers the ability to kill artifacts/enchantments on the second mode. My gut reaction is to not want to play this in the main, but sideboard one copy.
With this card, you're effectively asking whether slowing wrath by a turn is made up for the fact that in some cases, it does what wrath cannot. Instinctively, Wrath often needs to be cast as soon as you can. I have lost games where if I had cast wrath a turn earlier, I would have been fine. Turn 5 on the draw seems really slow, and I feel like I want to have the 4cmc wrath effects main. I do like the idea of this in the sideboard. I like more expensive wraths there, especially since you can optionally board it in when you see an opponent with a deck where the second mode is good.
I think there just aren't enough decks where this is good enough. It's fine against Lantern, KCI, Bogles, Affinity (though regular wrath is fine). These decks just aren't popular enough to support this card the way some people might think. Sometimes it will be good, but on average, it will probably just be a slightly worse wrath.
Grixis Death's Shadow, Jund, UW Tron, Jeskai Control, Storm, Counters Company, Eldrazi Tron, Affinity, Living End, Infect, Merfolk, Dredge, Ad Nauseam, Amulet, Bogles, Eldrazi Tron, Mono U Tron, Lantern, Mardu Pyromancer
10 Urza Lands
3 Celestial Colonnade
3 Hallowed Fountain
1 Seachrome Coast
1 Flooded Strand
1 Island
1 Plains
1 Snow-covered Plains
1 Academy Ruins
1 Tolaria West
1 Field Of Ruin
[ARTIFACTS]
2 Expedition Map
4 Azorius Signet
1 Wurmcoil Engine
[CREATURES]
1 Snapcaster Mage
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1 Iona, Shield Of Emeria
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
4 Path to Exile
2 Condescend
4 Remand
1 Cyclonic Rift
3 Thirst for Knowledge
4 Gifts Ungiven
1 Settle the Wreckage
1 Wrath of God
1 Supreme Verdict
1 Unburial Rites
1 Sphinx's Revelation
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Pithing Needle
1 Sword of the Meek
1 Thopter Foundry
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Batterskull
1 Trinket Mage
1 Muddle the Mixture
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Disenchant
1 Celestial Purge
1 Blessed Alliance
1 Sacred Ground
1 Timely Reinforcements
1 Cleansing Nova
I want to get a Pact of Negation for my Sideboard, and maybe 3 Leyline of Sanctity.
I just sleeved it up, on Saturday I will test these 75 on a small Tournament.
Greetings
I played the cardknock life list with 2 changes:
1 Snow covered-plains -> plains because I couldn't find the snow land in time. The difference never came up.
1 Ceremonious rejection -> Timely reinforcements because I was more afraid of burn. This was relevant in 1 matchup.
Round 1 - Ponza. Weirdly I won really easily even though he kept blowing up my lands. The first threat he played was inferno titan and by that time I had Elspeth on board. Game 2 he probably sided out removal and I just killed him with thought-knot seer. (1-0)
Round 2 - Bant spirits. I won game 1 by wrathing his board away and attacking with colonnade and champion of wits. Game 2 I keep a 1 lander on the draw and die. Game 3 I keep a hand with supreme verdict but no colored mana and come close to stabilizing. Close (1-1)
Round 3 - Infect. Game 1 I died so fast I don't even remember what my hand was. Game 2 I mulled to 5 looking for white mana + path and die a slightly slower death. I will probably make room in the board for 1 more spatial distortion with this matchup in mind. Also good against humans and etched champion. (1-2)
Round 4 - Titanshift. Game 1 I reanimate Iona turn 5 naming Green and he can't do anything. Game 2 I tap out for... something... and die to scapeshift. Game 3 I learn my lesson and just don't tap out until I counter his titan on turn 6. The next turn he has 1 card in hand which I know is garbage from TKS. On my next turn I reanimate Iona and lock him out. He said afterwards he had paths in the board but never drew them. TKS was stellar here. (2-2)
Round 5 - Janky green tron. He had the green tron engine but he was playing old Ulamog an old Kozilek. The ones that destroy 1 permanent and draw 4 cards. Game 1 I won with Iona + Colonnade attacks after he cheated a giant eldrazi into play with Quicksilver Amulet. Yeah. Game 2 I died to turn 3 tron online pass, turn 4 giant eldrazi with annihilator. I should have mulliganed my noninteractive hand. Game 3 I won with TKS beatdown. Fat Vendilion Clique was MVP again. (3-2)
Round 6 - UW control. Here is where my inexperience really showed. I now think that we should just be playing for the Batterskull + Academy ruins recursion strategy in the early/mid game and Emrakul in the late game, forgetting about Iona or our PWs because they are too easily answered. I also think that in this matchup we should board into a counterspell deck to absolutely try and keep Jace & Teferi from resolving without opposition. If we don't tap out and they somehow force PWs through our counters, they should be low enough on mana that we can kill the PW with Colonnade or Dsphere/Obring postboard. As it was, I kept tapping out and he just planeswalkered me to death. Also, keep 4 paths in postboard for their 4 colonnades. Just 2 paths + 2 Field of Ruin is not enough. Don't fetch for basics because they run 4 paths and 4 field or ruins. Crucible of worlds is amazing in this matchup. (3-3)
Overall, I liked the deck. I made some truly awful decisions, one trying to cast Timely Reinforcements as an instant, and twice thinking Champion of Wits eternalize had haste (I had only ever eternalized Earthshaker Khenra on MtG Arena prior to this tourney). A small percent of the time Iona will just lock your opponent out of the game.
Changes I would make to the cardknocklife list:
1 Champion of wits -> 1 Thirst for knowledge for gifts purposes. I drew Unburial/resurrect target more than once on the day
1 Haven of the Spirit Dragon out - irrelevant all day in every matchup
1 Field of ruin from the side into main replacing haven
1 Spatial distortion into sideboard
Guess I'm "Just Getting Started" again... the last time I posted on mtgsalvation was probably around 2010 and it looks like they deleted my account lol.
One last thing, I have read through some of the recent posts here and I disagree with cutting Colonnade. In fact I think Colonnade the most consistent way we win the game. I would not go below 3.
2x Flooded Strand
2x Hallowed Fountain
1x Plains
1x Island
1x Snow-Covered Plains
1x Snow-Covered Island
2x Seachrome Coast
2x Celestial Colonnade
4x Urza's Tower
3x Urza's Mine
3x Urza's Power Plant
1x Field of Ruin
1x Academy Ruins
1x Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
1x Iona, Shield of Emeria
1x Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1x Snapcaster Mage
Instants
4x Gifts Ungiven
4x Path to Exile
3x Thirst for Knowledge
3x Remand
2x Condescend
1x Sphinx's Revelation
1x Supreme Will
1x Cyclonic Rift
1x Spell Burst
1x Repeal
1x Day of Judgment
1x Wrath of God
1x Supreme Verdict
1x Unburial Rites
Artifacts
3x Azorius Signet
2x Expedition Map
1x Mindslaver
Planeswalkers
1x Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
I'm not entirely certain how good the maindeck ratios are, hopefully it will run smooth enough. Only 2 Colonnade because that's all I could afford without cutting costs elsewhere. My main question is whether or not I should try and fit in Crucible and Thought-Knots (which I've seen other lists running) and if so what to cut for them.
I have 4x Leyline of Sanctity and a Hurkyl's Recall laying around I could throw in the side, plus stuff like Disenchant and Timely Reinforcements should be cheap enough that I can pick them up. Stuff in the range of $20 or less like Wurmcoil, Batterskull and O-Stone should be manageable. Unfortunately it seems like picking up an engineered explosives is one of those things that I'll be putting on indefinite hold.
If there's anything glaringly wrong with the maindeck let me know so I can get it fixed up in the next few weeks!
It was about 18 players, 5 rounds of Swiss. My list was that posted above, except for few small changes:
Main:
-Cyclonic Rift
+Supreme Will
Side:
-Muddle the Mixture
+Timely Reinforcements
Round 1 vs Boggles: 2-0
First game, I live long enough to cast a Gifts Ungiven. Somehow, my opponent gave me Ugin out of it.
SB:
-Iona
-4 Remand
-2 Condescend
-Emrakul
+EE
+Thopter Sword
+Disenchant
+Blessed Alliance
+2 Timely Reinforcements
+Cleansing Nova
Second game, I have a wonderful opener:
T2 Signet, T3 EE on 1 and blow it up, T4 Cleansing Nova and Tron, then Elesh Norn, Ugin etc (I Still Had All These)
Round 2 vs Hollow One: 2-0
First game, I have T1 Path, T2 Signet and T3 Settle the Wreckage. Wonderful MB choice.
SB:
See Boggles, except for
-Elesh Norn
-Unburial Rites
+Celestial Purge
+Batterskull
Postboard, I mulliganed once, then I Still Had All These (See "tha Gathering" for reference) - 2 Timely Reinforcements, 2 Path to Exile, and again Settle the Wreckage.
Round 3 vs UW Control: 2-1
First Game, I delay his wincons with my counterspells, then get to Emrakul mana.
SB:
-1 Path to Exile
-Wrath of God
-Settle the Wreckage
-Elesh Norn
-Iona
-Unburial Rites
+Batterskull
+EE
+Crucible of Worlds
+Pithing Needle
+Trinket Mage
+Disenchant
Second game, my opponent keeps me busy with Jace, Teferi, a well-timed Entreat the Angels Miracle and Colonnades. Nuff said.
Game three was the nuts. I had a Jace and fatesealed him to threaten the -12 finish, but just when I had it up, my opponent had an out (Cryptic Command and Teferi). I could replay the Jace, but that was all - I was far away from Tron mana, so the "Infinite Gifts Chain" with Emrakul, Sphinx's Revelation, another Gifts Ungiven and X (=VALUE) was also impossible.
Then my opponent had a Rest in Peace, and that exiled the Sphinx's, Ugin, Wurmcoil Engine and more - I cleared that with EE, but then that was gone, too.
So finally when the end of time was reached, I found the last Tron piece. My opponent had a hard-casted Entreat create him 3 Angels (one received a Path via my Snapcaster) and Clique'd me at end of draw. So I faced lethal (I was at 1 from the first attack) and could swing my life up to 7 with my Snapcaster and equipping it with Batterskull - but that wasn't enough.
Here is what I found: I had a Jace on 3, just Lands left in my hand and like 25-30 mana thanks to all 4 Towers in play.
Brainstorming with Jace found Gifts Ungiven, and that won me the game - I Love That Card.
The Pile was:
Emrakul
Supreme Verdict
Gifts Ungiven
Path to Exile
My opponent had no Colonnades left, and was hellbent. So he neither could give me Supreme Verdict nor Emrakul - and there I had the IGC (=Infinite Gifts Chain). I Path'ed one token, Gift'ed for the same pile (still presenting Emrakul/Verdict mana), and thereby could remove all his wincons.
GG's
Round 4 vs RW Taxes: 0-2
First game, I was screwed by Thalia - Wrath of God in hand :/
SB:
-Iona
-Emrakul
-4 Remand
-2 Condescend
-Supreme Will
-more, I don't remember
+everything except Hurkyl's Recall I think
Second game, I got screwed again because the Wrath effect I drew was Cleansing Nova. Bitter Lessons
Round 5 vs KCI: 0-2 (argh!)
First game, there was not much I could hope to do - my deck is slow and lacks real permission to his combo.
SB:
-Wrath of God
-Settle the Wreckage
-Supreme Verdict
-Elesh Norn
-Iona
-Unburial Rites
-Emrakul
+EE
+Pithing Needle
+Hurkyl's Recall
+Trinket Mage
+Disenchant
+Cleansing Nova
+I don't remember
Second game, I mulliganed twice, and had just Remand and Hurkyl's to interact - Game Over
So I am really loving the Deck when it works, though my Sideboard will change now. Those many 1-offs are nice to have with Gifts Ungiven, but now I will probably try this:
3 Chalice of the Void
1 Batterskull
2 Negate
1 Trinket Mage
1 Celestial Purge
1 Disenchant
2 Timely Reinforcements
2 Rule of Law
1 Cleansing Nova
Still some additions for Gifts piles, and Combo / Aggro hate in multiples.
Greetings
If I do that I'll probably take out Academy Ruins for another colored source too since I don't have good targets (Engineered Explosives) for it anyways
What I'm always wondering about, and the part of magic that I have the most trouble with, is sideboard slots. What are people running in their sideboards that are more local meta calls, rather than the things we see show up in every list. For example, the last LGS I played, there was some lantern and grixis, so I ended up relying more on things like Leyline of Sanctity. What are some fun-of or hidden tech cards that you use in your local stores?
-Sacred Ground: was wonderful against many LD effects. Does not help against Surgical Extraction, though
-Damping Matrix: I played it when Birthing Pod Decks were still around. Spirits and Hardened Scales makes it a worthy card again, I think.
-Pact of Negation: with Tolaria West to find it, this hard counter is nice to have in the lategame when you want to tap out for someting like Ugin, Elspeth or Iona, and then still have an out.
-Hibernation: self-explaining I guess.
-Trinket Mage: nice card to bring in vs. Aggro when you also board in Engineered Explosives and Pithing Needle. Also finds Expedition Map.
GRN unsurprisingly had nothing for us. Without gold cards in UW there wasn't really going to be anything. Maybe in the next set, but I never have high hopes for sets.
Teferi is actually quite good, been playing him in Jeskai Control. Being able to untap lands is much better than it sounds, especially when we might be able to untap 4 mana to EOT Gifts. I think Teferi is probably better in Jeskai because more interaction means more chances to keep him alive. Still, I think he does have some potential and I'd certainly play one copy until I was certain he wasn't good.
Mindslaver seems particularly bad right now because graveyard strategies are back. Storm is good again and Dredge has been putting up some impressive results since Creeping Chill got printed. So I'd be weary of dipping too far into the graveyard strategy. With people playing cards like Surgical, Cage, Relic, Leyline of the Void, Spellbomb, all of it's bad for that. Cut the combo, free up slots.
Grixis Death's Shadow, Jund, UW Tron, Jeskai Control, Storm, Counters Company, Eldrazi Tron, Affinity, Living End, Infect, Merfolk, Dredge, Ad Nauseam, Amulet, Bogles, Eldrazi Tron, Mono U Tron, Lantern, Mardu Pyromancer
Grixis Death's Shadow, Jund, UW Tron, Jeskai Control, Storm, Counters Company, Eldrazi Tron, Affinity, Living End, Infect, Merfolk, Dredge, Ad Nauseam, Amulet, Bogles, Eldrazi Tron, Mono U Tron, Lantern, Mardu Pyromancer
2x Celestial Colonnade
1x Field of Ruin
3x Flooded Strand
2x Hallowed Fountain
1x Island
1x Plains
1x Seachrome Coast
1x Snow-Covered Island
1x Snow-Covered Plains
4x Urza's Mine
3x Urza's Power Plant
4x Urza's Tower
Artifact (5)
2x Azorius Signet
3x Expedition Map
Planeswalker (1)
1x Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
Instant (20)
2x Condescend
4x Gifts Ungiven
2x Negate
4x Path to Exile
3x Remand
1x Secure the Wastes
1x Spell Snare
3x Thirst for Knowledge
1x Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1x Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
1x Iona, Shield of Emeria
1x Snapcaster Mage
1x Wurmcoil Engine
Enchantment (1)
1x Detention Sphere
Sorcery (4)
1x Day of Judgment
1x Supreme Verdict
1x Unburial Rites
1x Wrath of God
1x Batterskull
1x Celestial Purge
1x Ceremonious Rejection
1x Disenchant
1x Dispel
1x Engineered Explosives
1x Gainsay
3x Leyline of Sanctity
1x Rule of Law
2x Thought-Knot Seer
2x Timely Reinforcements
I'll make as many notes as I can recall
R1 Opp is on Mono-Red good stuff. Lots of burn + swiftspear and things like Shard Volley to try and be as quick as possible.
G1 I got pounded on pretty fast with Goblin Guides and Monastery Swiftspears. I kept a pretty medium mulligan to 6 that didn't have any ramp or a board wipe. G2 I get a lucky top deck of Gifts Ungiven on another medium mulligan, and reanimate Iona, Shield of Emeria naming red. His suspended Rift Bolt fizzled when it tried to get cast on his upkeep to burn me for the last points, and scooped when he realised that wouldn't work. G3 was much less exciting, I made a big misplay and didn't cast the Leyline of Sanctity that I drew the turn before I died to a Lightning Bolt and three Shard Volley.
0-1
R2 Opp is on Devoted Company, a pretty stock list with the infinite green mana combo and Shalai, Voice of Plenty for protection.
G1 I hold him off by Path to Exile -ing his combo pieces and close the game out with Gifts Ungiven for Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite the turn after he casts a Collected Company. G2 He lands a Scavenging Ooze and puts together the Devoted Druid / Vizier of Remedies combo, but never finds anything to do with his mana but consume my graveyard. I eventually Gifts for a board wipe and Ugin, The Spirit Dragon as my 4th card, and he had enough.
1-1
R3 is U/W control.
G1 we both durdle and do what control mirrors do until he eventually gets down Teferi, Hero of Dominaria and Jace, The Mindsculptor and I don't care about the game anymore. G2 goes a little smoother with me being able to dig a little faster and hard cast Leyline of Sanctity and eventually get to tap 15 for Emrakul, the Aeons Torn. He couldn't dig for a Terminus, and scooped. G3 I get a Thought-Knot Seer out T3 and exile the only castable card in his hand. I beat face while he tries to recover and eventually concedes.
2-1
R4 Opp thought there were only 3 rounds and left before the matches started. I ended up with a 3-1 record, good for 4th place after breakers.
Some notes about the deck as I have it:
- I liked the 2 Negate in the main, but I think I also got really lucky running into decks that wanted to mostly cast non-creature spells, or had trouble putting the right pieces of creature combos together. There are a lot of powerful creature-based decks, and I think I mis-built there. I'm going to replace one, along with the Spell Snare, which felt actively bad the more I drew it in games. I want to experiment with a single Cyclonic Rift, and will think on what else to try.
-Leyline of Sanctity is pretty medium when it's not in your opening hand, but I never didn't have the mana to cast it when I drew it, along with doing something else. I think we're one of the few decks that can afford the opportunity cost of playing a 4-drop enchantment post board and have it still affect the game. I certainly don't recommend you plan your deck around casting it, but it is something to keep in mind.
- I never once thought Rule of Law was a card worth bringing in at this event. If you have a lot of storm or combo in your meta, I see the appeal, but I think I'm going to be looking for something different there as well.
-Thought-knot Seer is so good in Control matchups. We're often faster with ramp, and they often can't easily deal with 4/4 attackers postboard. I think it's a very good card that our deck plays with very well.
-Being able to hard cast Emrakul, the Aeons Torn is so dope
As always, questions, comments, criticisms are welcome.
1x Iona, Shield of Emeria
1x Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1x Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
Planeswalkers
1x Elspeth, Sun's Champion
Instants
4x Gifts Ungiven
4x Thirst for Knowledge
3x Remand
1x Condescend
4x Path to Exile
1x Sphinx's Revelation
Sorceries
1x Unburial Rites
1x Wrath of God
1x Day of Judgment
1x Supreme Verdict
1x Timely Reinforcements
4x Azorius Signet
1x Talisman of Progress
2x Expedition Map
1x Batterskull
Enchantments
1x Detention Sphere
Lands
4x Celestial Colonnade
3x Hallowed Fountain
3x Seachrome Coast
4x Urza's Tower
4x Urza's Mine
4x Urza's Powerplant
1x Snow-Covered Island
1x Island
1x Plains
1x Wurmcoil Engine
1x Oblivion Ring
1x Timely Reinforcements
2x Disenchant
2x Dispel
3x Negate
1x Engineered Explosives
2x Condescend
1x Repeal
1x Tormod's Crypt
So this is my current version I'm working with. I've played it at my lgs the past couple weeks and I'll try to best recall my matches.
Week 1
I was rushing to get there on time so I didn't have time to perfect fit my sideboard. Ergo no sideboard. The mainboard was the same as this list -Elspeth, Sun's Champion, Oblivion Ring +Wurmcoil Engine, Detention Sphere.
Match 1 Mardu Midrange
Game 1 Mull to 5, don't draw lands until t4/5
Game 2 Mull to 6. Only draw lands, die.
0-1
Match 2 Kiki-Chord
Game 1 Turn 3 maindeck Magus of the Moon basically locks us out.
Game 2 Come close to stabilizing but couldn't get the right mana for Supreme Verdict
0-2
Match 3 Hardened Scales Affinity
Game 1 Gifts for Elesh, Rites locks him out.
Game 2 He swarms us before we have time to react.
Game 3 Goes to time, luckily we're able Gifts for Elesh, Rites again. Along with a few Colonnades we have out, we finish it quickly.
1-2
Match 4 Some weird UW Control
Game 1 Important spells get countered and die to X (can't remember).
Game 2 More mana screw.
1-3
Week 2
Match 1 Bant Spirits
Game 1 Rites Iona, die to CoCo and a bazillion creatures.
Game 2 Don't find correct mana for Verdict die.
0-1
Match 2 Merfolk
Game 1 Come close to stabilizing but eventually die to Mutavault + Lord
Game 2 Again, can't ever find wrath effect, die.
0-2
Match 3 Weird Mono Black Infi-Mill
Games 1-2 He has no way to remove Emrakul from our deck. GG EZ.
1-2
Match 4 Affinity
Game 1 Die to Cranial Plated Inkmoth
Game 2 Die to a million creatures that came out way too fast for us.
1-3
Even though I lose a lot I love the deck. My main problems are inexperience with the deck plus I'm bad at sideboarding. I never know what to take out or when to remove the Gifts combo. If anyone has advice I'd love to hear.
Thanks!
Ps I'm considering Terminus with how aggro my lgs is.
The issue with this deck is never having the right card when needed. Sometimes you're lacking a signet, sometimes your lacking other spells. This card helps turn the sideboard and exile into a free search. 4 cmc is super easy to obtain for this deck and at worse you get a artifact beater. I plan build a nearly all artifact sideboard with cards like engineer explosives and relic. The point being to have an out for every situation.
Edit: I'll also put a blightsteel/wormcoil in the sideboard to help steal games. Also, a crucible in the sb with this card brings back tron online.
// 6 Artifact
3 Azorius Signet
2 Expedition Map
1 Talisman of Dominance
// 6 Creature
3 Champion of Wits
1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
// 1 Enchantment
1 Detention Sphere
// 14 Instant
4 Path to Exile
4 Gifts Ungiven
3 Remand
2 Condescend
1 Thirst for Knowledge
// 24 Land
3 Urza's Power Plant
4 Urza's Tower
3 Urza's Mine
2 Flooded Strand
2 Hallowed Fountain
1 Field of Ruin
1 Academy Ruins
3 Celestial Colonnade
1 Godless Shrine
1 Snow-Covered Island
1 Snow-Covered Plains
1 Plains
1 Island
4 Karn, the Great Creator
1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
// 4 Sorcery
1 Supreme Verdict
1 Wrath of God
1 Day of Judgment
1 Unburial Rites
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Witchbane Orb
1 Batterskull
1 Mycosynth Lattice
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Grafdigger's Cage
3 Thought-Knot Seer
1 Walking Ballista
1 Disenchant
1 Celestial Purge
1 Pact of Negation
1 Timely Reinforcements