I've got just one simple question — why you don't play Ancestral Vision? Because it sucks with Colonnade or what?
It's just not the card that Esper needs. Esper already has a fantastic suite of draw spells in Esper Charm, Think Twice, and Sphinx's Rev, and each of them provide the cards immediately. Oftentimes, you're stuck on draw spells or Wraths/Cryptics while trying to draw into more interaction or more lands -- things that you can't really wait 4 turns for.
The only cards that would really make a dent in the maindeck are Counterspell and another 1-2 mana unconditional "destroy target creature" effect -- Anguished Unmaking came really close, and actually is playable enough to maindeck a copy or so.
This. A thousand times this. Modern can have BBE, hypergenesis, and whatever else agro and combo degenerates want off the banned list back if modern can get a counterspell reprint. It doesn't matter, it'd make our deck tier two, period end of story.
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Primary Decks:
Modern: Esper Draw-Go
Legacy: RUG Lands
EDH: Sidisi turn-3 storm
I've got just one simple question — why you don't play Ancestral Vision? Because it sucks with Colonnade or what?
It's just not the card that Esper needs. Esper already has a fantastic suite of draw spells in Esper Charm, Think Twice, and Sphinx's Rev, and each of them provide the cards immediately. Oftentimes, you're stuck on draw spells or Wraths/Cryptics while trying to draw into more interaction or more lands -- things that you can't really wait 4 turns for.
The only cards that would really make a dent in the maindeck are Counterspell and another 1-2 mana unconditional "destroy target creature" effect -- Anguished Unmaking came really close, and actually is playable enough to maindeck a copy or so.
This. A thousand times this. Modern can have BBE, hypergenesis, and whatever else agro and combo degenerates want off the banned list back if modern can get a counterspell reprint. It doesn't matter, it'd make our deck tier two, period end of story.
Can we add a section to the primer about why we don't play AV, so that going forward we can refer people to the primer rather than explaining this 100 times , because inevitably we will have to just like we had to do this a few months back with monastery mentor and serum visions.
And to whoever asked me about planar cleansing, it's an amazing draw against lantern, tezzeret, boggles, and decks where you wind up top decking like gb/x decks. We legitimately don't have any non lands permanents that we actually care about. Against 99% of decks, resetting the board totally puts us in a much better position than our opponents who all require SOME sort of non land permanent in order to win. It's just a good catch all and makes a good package along with singleton engineered explosives and fracturing gust, to give you a 3-of versatile "get out of jail" card against a lot of matchups.
Personally, I don't think visions has been around and tested with enough to say its completely unplayable. Sure, thats the conclusion everyone has drawn, and it doesn't just drop right in, but I still think its early.
I intend to take the time to update the primer once we have a solid number of large modern tournaments with some data to look at--probably at least 2-3 GP sized events. The fact is, it's just too early to make calls on cards, this is still decidedly the brew-phase of a new metagame.
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Yes, I am a local area mod. WELP. GOOD LIFE CHANGES ALL HAPPEN AT ONCE AND SOME ARE MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE
Primary Decks:
Modern: Esper Draw-Go
Legacy: RUG Lands
EDH: Sidisi turn-3 storm
Been free playing all day against tier 1 and 2 decks and haven't dropped a match. We're about to start up a Swiss tournament if one of us can figure out how to use the arena matchmaking software. Had about 25 show up to Sunday to test modern, so I would say the format is pretty damn healthy.
So far leyline has actually been really great against burn. The couple times they've had revelry I've either had spell snare, or a second leyline. Main deck curses are good, main deck negates or extra logic knot and one negate are also very good.
I don't miss the velocity of having 2 remand and 2 cantrips, 4 think twice, 4 charm and 4 cryptic let us see a large portion of the deck, without placing too much weight on the 4 "do nothing" cantrip slots. Game one against infect just knowing you have curse in your deck is a great feeling, and having negates main feels really nice against all the tezz brews running around, and even got to negate a Liliana which just felt fantastic. Full list when I'm not on my phone
@SES, sounds nice. I want to break out of my shell and play a bit of different cards then I always do.
Yeah, in open metagames like this I like to "counterbrew". Basically try to guess what the other people are going to try to jam, for example, at your next major event, obviously prepare for thopter / tezz decks, and also for burn splashing for ancestral vision(and possibly snapcaster at that point)
Bust out those leylines boys. I would almost play 4, but definitely am playing 3.
Burn is NOT going to play ancestral vision. splashing for treasure cruise was probably a wash--there were blue and blue-less lists that top 8'd during the TC meta, and the fact that visions is a brick off the top for burn means it absolutely can't see play there.
Both of my friends scrubbed out at the Invitational--guy on gifts went 0-4 drop in standard, so he didn't even take the gifts list for a spin, and the friend of mine playing esper was 1-3 in standard and 1-x in modern on day one, though I haven't talked with him yet about what he played against and how the matches went.
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Primary Decks:
Modern: Esper Draw-Go
Legacy: RUG Lands
EDH: Sidisi turn-3 storm
I don't anticipate a lot of control decks,and even if there are, Teferi out of the board with Duresses are insane. This is a metacall of course, but as far as what I'm seeing currently, this is where I'm at.
Hey guys! I have to take a survey for a statistics class, so I figured I might as well try to get some responses from you guys -- I apologize. At least it's only 3 questions.
I've been running the Wafo-Tapa list with -1 Spell Snare, -2 Think Twice and +1 Celestial Flare (amalek0, that was your idea and it's been working out for me) and +2 Hallowed Moonlight. So basically, I've substituted the Think Twice double cantrip for Hallowed Moonlight and kept in the Shadow of Doubt. I've seen a lot of CoCo decks and Hallowed really shines. Shadow of Doubt has also bought me early turns, which has been great.
Any thoughts on this? I realize I'm costing myself two card draws on the TT flashbacks, but the card draw still seems strong in the deck and I get the bonus of more cantrips having a dual use (Remand, Hallowed Moonlight and Shadow of Doubt).
Really could do with some help guys
Going to my LGS to play some modern, in the meta game there is quite a lot of hate bear decks and i am really struggling to know what to bring in vs them like everything seems really sketchy, banslayers die to parth, Boarding in anguished unmaking does to much damage to you, boarding in dispel just for the 4 collected companies seems bad and elthspeth dies to resto angle if there running it.
i really just dont know.
The real question is "Why are you losing". If they flood the board and you die too quickly with Elspeth and Night of Souls' Betrayal in hand, or you finally play Baneslayer and they Path it and swing for lethal, that's one thing. In that circumstance you want more early interaction to increase the buffer that gets you to the pile of "I win" cards you're already running. Having your Baneslayer Path'd is only a problem if you're staring down near-lethal.
However, I've found that Junk Company decks do a lot of nothing the early turns, and only have a hope of killing you if they resolve multiple Collected Companies. That's why I think Dispel is a great sideboard card, and would be plenty happy boarding in 2 Dispel and the 4 fatties you have. Hate Bears could be more aggressive though, I haven't played against it in over a year. I will say that if they are blitzing you down you want Condemn and not Timely Reinforcements. I really don't like that card. 6 life isn't worth a card unless your opponent in running 8+ bolts (i.e. the only thing more anti-card advantage than a life-gain spell is a Lava Spike). The only way Timely is effective is if you get the 3 tokens, and the tokens manage to trade with their creature(s). It may seem great to block and soak up a lot of damage, but your opponent can easily go over the top with Collected Company and you either want your sideboard cards to be dirt cheap, focused interaction, or game-breakers; Timely Reinforcements doesn't break anything outside of the Burn matchup (and only then if they don't hold up Atarka's/Skullcrack).
depends on what kind of hatebears they're playing--there's a lot of decks that seem to get the label "hatebears". If you're talking about mono white "hatebears" aka death and taxes, -1/-1 effects like night of souls' betrayal are quite strong--it turns of thalia, flickerwisp, blade splicer, etc. If it's the GW version with things like gaddock teeg and voice of resurgence, -1/-1 effects are still good. If it's a bigger version with loxodon smiter or wilt-leaf liege, they don't work very well at all. You have to feel out what exactly their game plan is before you know what to bring in. Elspeth is good against versions going big on the ground, bad against versions playing smaller/flash dudes. wrath effects are less strong (still good, but less strong) against bigger builds, devastating against death and taxes style builds.
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Yes, I am a local area mod. WELP. GOOD LIFE CHANGES ALL HAPPEN AT ONCE AND SOME ARE MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE
Primary Decks:
Modern: Esper Draw-Go
Legacy: RUG Lands
EDH: Sidisi turn-3 storm
Really could do with some help guys
Going to my LGS to play some modern, in the meta game there is quite a lot of hate bear decks and i am really struggling to know what to bring in vs them like everything seems really sketchy, banslayers die to parth, Boarding in anguished unmaking does to much damage to you, boarding in dispel just for the 4 collected companies seems bad and elthspeth dies to resto angle if there running it.
i really just dont know.
When I hear hatebears I just translate that as "Aether vial decks that try to annoy you to death" which usually means your counter magic is awful against them. I cut all the cryptics, knots, and remands if you paly them. I keep in snaresw because they're still live a lot fo the time even with a vial on 2 in play. They often try to get on board fast and end up casting a dork and then vial in a second. With your boad I'd pull in 2 timely, 1 NosB, 1 Elle, 2 baneslayer in pace of 4 cryptic and 2 knot. Any other poor cards like shadow of doubt and remand I'd want stony and anguished because they at least do stuff. If they're on CoCo don't bring in dispel unless they are also palying some other threatening instant then it's totally worth it. Dispel is great against CoCo/chord decks but plain CoCo it depends on what you see.
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And on that day, Garfield said unto the world "Go ye forth and durdle!"
Hey, the point was made that timely isn't that great. What are other cards that kinda fill the same rule
Leyline of Sanctity?
None. Leyline does too much. Not only does it hose burn down, it stops all sorts of dumb stuff, from thoughtseize, Liliana edict and ultimate, tezz ultimate, some lantern mill targeted stuff, redcap persist combo, gifts h given (gifts targets target opponent) in addition of a bunch of other fringe stuff like grishoalband, storm, and ad nauseum win conditions.
No other card (besides witchbane orb) is going to give you all of that protection.
When I hear hatebears I just translate that as "Aether vial decks that try to annoy you to death" which usually means your counter magic is awful against them. I cut all the cryptics, knots, and remands if you paly them. I keep in snaresw because they're still live a lot fo the time even with a vial on 2 in play. They often try to get on board fast and end up casting a dork and then vial in a second. With your boad I'd pull in 2 timely, 1 NosB, 1 Elle, 2 baneslayer in pace of 4 cryptic and 2 knot. Any other poor cards like shadow of doubt and remand I'd want stony and anguished because they at least do stuff. If they're on CoCo don't bring in dispel unless they are also palying some other threatening instant then it's totally worth it. Dispel is great against CoCo/chord decks but plain CoCo it depends on what you see.
I didn't consider that it was a Vial deck, but with Resoration Angel I suppose that's likely. In that case I'd sideboard like Stockpile says, except cut Remand instead of Logic Knot. I'd also consider cutting the 2 Logic Knots or 2 Spell Snare (assuming you run the full 4) as well, for 1 Dispel and 1 Vendilion Clique. Clique against Æther Vial is somewhat of a hard counter, and it trades with most everything out of their deck while protecting Baneslayer Angel and Colonnade from Path.
EDIT: Noone can really give suggestions without your maindeck, though.
I managed to get to the IQ last weekend and I punted playing for top 8 sadly. There was far less blue that I expected and a lot more green midrange decks. I played the list that I've been posting about lately along with the same SB I mentioned. It was 6 rounds with 41 players, here's how it went.
R1: Goblin burn splashing CoCo
Game 1 my spell snare hits a krenko's command and my second and third copy rot in my hand. He resolves haste threat after another haste threat preventing my wraths from really doing anything and I quickly die to burn.
I side out my snares, a cryptic, and an AV for removal, negates and baneslayer.
We trade back and forth in the early turns and I don't see a single card draw spell. I top deck a baneslayer with a negate in hand on turn 5 and decide to just jam it. I was thinking that since I haven't found card draw and they have a few cards in hand if the angel dies I can't win at all. It sticks and I get to untap then she takes it home as simple as that.
Game 3 I finally manage to get value from a wrath on turn 4, kill a rabblemaster on 5 with 5 lands in play. He draws and passes. I play a land and with 15 life I am prepared to rev for lots in a turn or two so If I survive I got it locked up. End step he plays a CoCo which I cryptic. He untaps and casts another CoCo and I have no counters in hand.
He hits rabble master and goblin chieftain I think (the one that gives everything +1/1 and haste) then attacks me down to 4 and shows me 2 goblin grenades with mana available. Get Punk'd Son!
R2: Death's Shadow aggro
I open on AV and he opens on double nacatl, but doesn't find the third land type they want so I get beaten by 2/2s for a pair of turns. On turn 3 he drops a steppe lynx and I wrath the board away. He thoughtseize's my second wrath and plays a shadow that is a 5/5. My turn AV resolves, I cast half a think twice and cryptic to tap and draw. Untap and I snap wrath and he has nothing left so colonnade beats end the game.
Game 2 I mull to 5 and keep a hand of 2 land, 2 path, and elle. I path the first threats and draw 3 lands and a zenith in a row. He slowly rebuilds and the shadow is a 6/6 on turn 4. I zenith for 2 to chump and find a condemn and the life gain is actually an upside! I condemn the shadow but he has a protection spell. I drop to 1 life, but still have Elle in hand and 5 mana out. I draw for the turn and it's a think twice, I cast it into another land. Flash back and find a cryptic so I go to negative many.
G3 He mulls to 4 but has a very aggressive start. He goes seize into nacatl into lynx into another nacatl which are both fully turned on. I path one kitty, snapcaster to chump block the lynx and path the other kitty. He keeps shocking himself in various ways until he's down to 7 and I manage a small rev just to give myself a bit of padding since he's so close to colonnade being lethal by itself. He finds another lynx and has 2 cards in hand. I end step a zenith for 2 and put him to 5 life deciding to hold back the colonnade and a token just in case even though I'm at 19. I have lethal on the next turn no matter what so regardless of what he draws I'll win. He untaps, tanks a minute and passes back. I animate my land and attack for lethal. He extends the hand and show me he was sitting on 2 become immense and a temur battle rage. Phew! Play well, get rewarded.
R3: Affinity
In game one I suspend AV on 1 and 2. He dumps 4 various things into play on turn 1 and a plating that gets snared on 2. He starts playing a ton of man lands including 3 inkmoth that get me a little worried and follows with a signal pest and ravager. I untap and verdict leaving him with just mana. He gives me 2 infect and sends the turn back. I ancestral into GQ and a condemn, next turn I have a snapcaster for another nexus and then my colonnades are active which causes him to scoop.
Game 2 I mull away two 1 land hands down to 5 keeping a hand of 4 lands and a logic knot. He thoughtseize's my knot and I do nothing for 3 turns and just die.
Game 3 I once again throw back a pair one landers and keep on 5. But this time it's 4 lands and a stony silence. I play a colonnade, pass, and cross my fingers. He plays ornithopter, darksteel citadel, springleaf drum, and then...vault skirge. I audibly sigh in relief, draw a second stony for my turn, windmill slam one down and pass. Well, he does nothing for the rest of the game and loses just like me the last game. Underwhelming for sure.
R4: 4c Gifts with GriselB and Gin-Gitaxias in addition to the usual suspects.
I play draw go for several turns while he durdles himself with various looting effects. Eventually he goes for an endstep gifts which I cryptic, he untaps and casts both sides of a lingering souls. I manage to tag the FB with a remand so I'm not under any serious pressure. I take the beats all the way from 18 down to 7 life. I end step a revelation for lethal with logic knot back up. He uses izzet charm to pierce it and then snap caster to do it again. I pass the turn back and go even lower. I cast another giant X spell on his end step with WSZ with zero back up. He gifts in response for 4 removal spells. I let him have a decay and a terminate. I untap and attack with all the cats. He kills and blocks some then I revelation for a lot leaving open mana for two paths. His turn he resolves gifts, I path what he gets back. Since he's tapped out to my two active colonnades he scoops.
Game 2 it was almost a play by play copy of game one. We do nothing for 6 turns, I stop an end step gifts with a negate and the follow up mainphase gifts with a stoke while having a snare for his izzet charm. More time passes with my resolving AV and him looting up a loaded yard. I end step revelation for 4 with negate up. He thinks and dispels it. I pause and decide that I have something more important to protect. I untap and cast a rest in peace. He goes for a negate, but I did well and remained calm so I negate back and it resolves.
With half of his library now exiled he has very little to draw into outside of hard casting his fatties which made the rest of the game incredibly easy to navigate.
R5: BW aristocrats
Super sweet deck. All the usual suspects in a sacrifice for value deck like blood artist, cut throat, cartel aristocrat, transforming Liliana, and so forth. First game I snare an aristocrat and he resolves a lili on turn 3 with a viscera seer in play. She flips and I get really afraid. Next turn he plays wall of omens, sacs to scry and reanimates it to get more action. I play my 4th land and just pass. He plays an aristocrat and then a cut throat. I cryptic the cut throat and bounce liliana. Next turn I take a lot of damage but am able to snap cryptic lili and draw. I untap, wrath the board, suspend 2 visions and feel very good about my life. A couple turns later I resolve a revelation for 8 and the game ends with a whimper after that.
Next game I suspend AV on 1 and 2 and manage to purge a turn 3 Lili. He plays a bunch of mopey creatures that I wrath on turn 5 with my AV getting me all lands. Next turn he plays a viscera seer and my second AV gets yet another set of lands. At this point we both flood out hard but he finds a second creature and starts chipping away 3 life at a time. I eventually draw a think twice so I main phase both sides of it getting a snare and another TT. I cast both sides again and am sitting on a path, a GQ, a clolonnade, and a revelation. I play my first colonnade and pass. He casts a blood artist so I have to path the seer in response to prevent myself from taking lethal that turn. He then plays a tidehallow sculler and takes my rev and has to pass. I draw a snare and pass, he draws and passes right back. I get another fetch land and pass back. He plays another aristocrat which I snare. He untaps and casts mogis' marauder to give all his guys intimidate and attacks with everyone but the sculler. I don't black and he goes for a zealous persecution for lethal. My last card was luckily a snare so I survive another turn. I untap to get a path, exile the sculler, get back revelation and then cast it for about 10. GG.
R6 Melira and Co.
I get paired down so we can't draw into the top 8 unfortunately. I mull a no land hand and keep 2 snare, snapcaster, think twice, and 2 lands. He goes down to 5 and when he opens on temple noble I feel pretty good. I cast both sides of think twice to find more snare and more snaps. He curves turn 2 gavony into finks into another finks into CoCo finding two more creatures. I can't cast a single relevant spell, chump with a snap caster and just die.
Game 2 I keep a fine hand and he plays a turn 2 melira which I snare. Turn 3 he plays a sin collector and I screw up. My hand was TT, path, cryptic, revelation, land, and elspeth. I have 3 lands in play so I stop and think for a bit and I literally fall asleep for a moment. At this point I have been awake for almost 30 hours so I get scared and path the collector and he takes cryptic. I think twice for a land, suspend AV and pass. I draw play land with enough in hand for an on curve Elle and pass. He resolves a CoCo for a finks and an anafenza. His turn he casts a seer, gains infinite, then chords for redcap that turn and kills me. If he didn't have the chord in hand I'd have been able to deck him after Elle wraths the board, but if I hadn't fallen asleep and punted so horribly I'd have that game on lock. As it is, I still need to learn how to fall asleep when I want to. Feels so horrible.
Closing thoughts.
The meta was close to what I expected. Half the room was various midrange decks, a quarter was affinity and various creature aggro and several delver decks, but the rest I was off on. There was no lantern, almost no blue at all and little combo. I saw one guy on faeries, one person on WB eldrazi, two gifts decks, and a few burn players.
Going forward I plan to make a few massive changes to my UW list.
Main:
-1 sphere
-1 plains
+1 delta
+1 condemn
Side:
-1 condemn
+1 disenchant
Scary, I know. Not being able to hit turn 1 vision was a problem a few times on the draw and not so much on the play. That being said I'd like to make it a little more likely so I'm putting in another turn 1 untapped blue source. But I'm still wanting to stay away from painful sources so I may put in a coast over a plains to keep with that.
Remand was fine all day. Never amazing, but fine. The lack of blue, suspend,and flash back spells makes me less excited about it though. I'm going to play modern states at the same place so I'll likely cut both remands for a think twice and a deprive unless I come up with something else. I still want plays on turn 2, but there aren't many that work. If I go with a delta It might be correct to run a third knot and a deprive so I have enough answers to 3 mana spells on turn 2 and turn 3. Though it's also possible to go deprive/ negate and put another random card in the side over a negate in there.
The rest of the deck worked exactly as expected. I did hiccup on blue once but I knew that would happen so trading a plains for a blue source will reduce the odds of that happening again. The D sphere was aggressively mediocre as expected and I was always feeling like I was barely short on removal so I'll move another condemn to the main and drop it for another non creature removal spell in the side.
The side was great, the strokes helped out against gifts to stop both their namesake card and their hard cast monsters. The extra removal was necessary and the permanent hate was awesome as expected. The only other card that under preformed for me was the clique, but there was so little combo and control that I'm not surprised at that. In a larger field I'm sure it would've gotten some great game time. With a meta flooded with almost entirely creature aggro and derpy midrange I am going to start fooling around with something like this:
Infect is not entirely absent so I like the disenchant and the timely. Pulse has been underwhelming more and more against everything. In fact even against burn I don't always get to cast it a second time so timely may just be better against them all together if I don't want to go with a CoP: Red. There was also a bit of scapeshift, but not enough to scare me.
I'm really interested in some feedback on the changes I suggested based on the expected meta. -2 remand and +2 2cmc counters, but which ones? If negate is one, what does it become in the side and so forth. I'll be updating my SB guide once I settle on a list and it will be at the same link I posted earlier. I'll hopefully settle on the changes I make on Thursday, take it for a spin at FNM, test more on Saturday, and play the event on Sunday.
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And on that day, Garfield said unto the world "Go ye forth and durdle!"
How are you guys going about the control mirror? Are Rev/Cryptic generally good, or is dispel/negate too much of a deterrent? How about boarding versus midrange/control decks like Grixis? Any insight would be appreciated
Edit: I should probably list my SB. It hasn't changed since I last posted, but here it is again -
This. A thousand times this. Modern can have BBE, hypergenesis, and whatever else agro and combo degenerates want off the banned list back if modern can get a counterspell reprint. It doesn't matter, it'd make our deck tier two, period end of story.
Yes, I am a local area mod.WELP. GOOD LIFE CHANGES ALL HAPPEN AT ONCE AND SOME ARE MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVEPrimary Decks:
Modern: Esper Draw-Go
Legacy: RUG Lands
EDH: Sidisi turn-3 storm
Can we add a section to the primer about why we don't play AV, so that going forward we can refer people to the primer rather than explaining this 100 times , because inevitably we will have to just like we had to do this a few months back with monastery mentor and serum visions.
And to whoever asked me about planar cleansing, it's an amazing draw against lantern, tezzeret, boggles, and decks where you wind up top decking like gb/x decks. We legitimately don't have any non lands permanents that we actually care about. Against 99% of decks, resetting the board totally puts us in a much better position than our opponents who all require SOME sort of non land permanent in order to win. It's just a good catch all and makes a good package along with singleton engineered explosives and fracturing gust, to give you a 3-of versatile "get out of jail" card against a lot of matchups.
Yes, I am a local area mod.WELP. GOOD LIFE CHANGES ALL HAPPEN AT ONCE AND SOME ARE MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVEPrimary Decks:
Modern: Esper Draw-Go
Legacy: RUG Lands
EDH: Sidisi turn-3 storm
So far leyline has actually been really great against burn. The couple times they've had revelry I've either had spell snare, or a second leyline. Main deck curses are good, main deck negates or extra logic knot and one negate are also very good.
I don't miss the velocity of having 2 remand and 2 cantrips, 4 think twice, 4 charm and 4 cryptic let us see a large portion of the deck, without placing too much weight on the 4 "do nothing" cantrip slots. Game one against infect just knowing you have curse in your deck is a great feeling, and having negates main feels really nice against all the tezz brews running around, and even got to negate a Liliana which just felt fantastic. Full list when I'm not on my phone
Yeah, in open metagames like this I like to "counterbrew". Basically try to guess what the other people are going to try to jam, for example, at your next major event, obviously prepare for thopter / tezz decks, and also for burn splashing for ancestral vision(and possibly snapcaster at that point)
Bust out those leylines boys. I would almost play 4, but definitely am playing 3.
Both of my friends scrubbed out at the Invitational--guy on gifts went 0-4 drop in standard, so he didn't even take the gifts list for a spin, and the friend of mine playing esper was 1-3 in standard and 1-x in modern on day one, though I haven't talked with him yet about what he played against and how the matches went.
Yes, I am a local area mod.WELP. GOOD LIFE CHANGES ALL HAPPEN AT ONCE AND SOME ARE MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVEPrimary Decks:
Modern: Esper Draw-Go
Legacy: RUG Lands
EDH: Sidisi turn-3 storm
3x Polluted Delta
4x Celestial Colonnade
3x Island
2x Plains
1x Swamp
3x Drowned Catacomb
3x Hallowed Fountain
2x Watery Grave
1x Ghost Quarter
4x Think Twice
4x Esper Charm
2x Snapcaster Mage
2x Sphinx's Revelation
3x Supreme Verdict
4x Spell Snare
4x Cryptic Command
2x Logic Knot
2x Curse of Death's Hold
2x Negate
1x Elspeth, Sun's Champion
2x Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
3x Duress
3x Leyline of Sanctity
1x Supreme Verdict
1x Fracturing Gust
2x Engineered Explosives
1x Grave Titan
2x Pithing Needle
I don't anticipate a lot of control decks,and even if there are, Teferi out of the board with Duresses are insane. This is a metacall of course, but as far as what I'm seeing currently, this is where I'm at.
Regardless, here's the link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/GZPB62G
Yes, I know my results will be biased -- it's the best I can do.
UWB Esper Draw-Go Control (clicky)
UW Azorius Control (clicky)
Currently pursuing a degree in Biochemistry.
EDH: I've decided I don't like multiplayer formats.
Any thoughts on this? I realize I'm costing myself two card draws on the TT flashbacks, but the card draw still seems strong in the deck and I get the bonus of more cantrips having a dual use (Remand, Hallowed Moonlight and Shadow of Doubt).
The real question is "Why are you losing". If they flood the board and you die too quickly with Elspeth and Night of Souls' Betrayal in hand, or you finally play Baneslayer and they Path it and swing for lethal, that's one thing. In that circumstance you want more early interaction to increase the buffer that gets you to the pile of "I win" cards you're already running. Having your Baneslayer Path'd is only a problem if you're staring down near-lethal.
However, I've found that Junk Company decks do a lot of nothing the early turns, and only have a hope of killing you if they resolve multiple Collected Companies. That's why I think Dispel is a great sideboard card, and would be plenty happy boarding in 2 Dispel and the 4 fatties you have. Hate Bears could be more aggressive though, I haven't played against it in over a year. I will say that if they are blitzing you down you want Condemn and not Timely Reinforcements. I really don't like that card. 6 life isn't worth a card unless your opponent in running 8+ bolts (i.e. the only thing more anti-card advantage than a life-gain spell is a Lava Spike). The only way Timely is effective is if you get the 3 tokens, and the tokens manage to trade with their creature(s). It may seem great to block and soak up a lot of damage, but your opponent can easily go over the top with Collected Company and you either want your sideboard cards to be dirt cheap, focused interaction, or game-breakers; Timely Reinforcements doesn't break anything outside of the Burn matchup (and only then if they don't hold up Atarka's/Skullcrack).
Yes, I am a local area mod.WELP. GOOD LIFE CHANGES ALL HAPPEN AT ONCE AND SOME ARE MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVEPrimary Decks:
Modern: Esper Draw-Go
Legacy: RUG Lands
EDH: Sidisi turn-3 storm
A couple curse effects and an extra sweeper usually get it done.
Leyline of Sanctity?
When I hear hatebears I just translate that as "Aether vial decks that try to annoy you to death" which usually means your counter magic is awful against them. I cut all the cryptics, knots, and remands if you paly them. I keep in snaresw because they're still live a lot fo the time even with a vial on 2 in play. They often try to get on board fast and end up casting a dork and then vial in a second. With your boad I'd pull in 2 timely, 1 NosB, 1 Elle, 2 baneslayer in pace of 4 cryptic and 2 knot. Any other poor cards like shadow of doubt and remand I'd want stony and anguished because they at least do stuff. If they're on CoCo don't bring in dispel unless they are also palying some other threatening instant then it's totally worth it. Dispel is great against CoCo/chord decks but plain CoCo it depends on what you see.
None. Leyline does too much. Not only does it hose burn down, it stops all sorts of dumb stuff, from thoughtseize, Liliana edict and ultimate, tezz ultimate, some lantern mill targeted stuff, redcap persist combo, gifts h given (gifts targets target opponent) in addition of a bunch of other fringe stuff like grishoalband, storm, and ad nauseum win conditions.
No other card (besides witchbane orb) is going to give you all of that protection.
I didn't consider that it was a Vial deck, but with Resoration Angel I suppose that's likely. In that case I'd sideboard like Stockpile says, except cut Remand instead of Logic Knot. I'd also consider cutting the 2 Logic Knots or 2 Spell Snare (assuming you run the full 4) as well, for 1 Dispel and 1 Vendilion Clique. Clique against Æther Vial is somewhat of a hard counter, and it trades with most everything out of their deck while protecting Baneslayer Angel and Colonnade from Path.
EDIT: Noone can really give suggestions without your maindeck, though.
R1: Goblin burn splashing CoCo
I side out my snares, a cryptic, and an AV for removal, negates and baneslayer.
We trade back and forth in the early turns and I don't see a single card draw spell. I top deck a baneslayer with a negate in hand on turn 5 and decide to just jam it. I was thinking that since I haven't found card draw and they have a few cards in hand if the angel dies I can't win at all. It sticks and I get to untap then she takes it home as simple as that.
Game 3 I finally manage to get value from a wrath on turn 4, kill a rabblemaster on 5 with 5 lands in play. He draws and passes. I play a land and with 15 life I am prepared to rev for lots in a turn or two so If I survive I got it locked up. End step he plays a CoCo which I cryptic. He untaps and casts another CoCo and I have no counters in hand.
He hits rabble master and goblin chieftain I think (the one that gives everything +1/1 and haste) then attacks me down to 4 and shows me 2 goblin grenades with mana available. Get Punk'd Son!
R2: Death's Shadow aggro
Game 2 I mull to 5 and keep a hand of 2 land, 2 path, and elle. I path the first threats and draw 3 lands and a zenith in a row. He slowly rebuilds and the shadow is a 6/6 on turn 4. I zenith for 2 to chump and find a condemn and the life gain is actually an upside! I condemn the shadow but he has a protection spell. I drop to 1 life, but still have Elle in hand and 5 mana out. I draw for the turn and it's a think twice, I cast it into another land. Flash back and find a cryptic so I go to negative many.
G3 He mulls to 4 but has a very aggressive start. He goes seize into nacatl into lynx into another nacatl which are both fully turned on. I path one kitty, snapcaster to chump block the lynx and path the other kitty. He keeps shocking himself in various ways until he's down to 7 and I manage a small rev just to give myself a bit of padding since he's so close to colonnade being lethal by itself. He finds another lynx and has 2 cards in hand. I end step a zenith for 2 and put him to 5 life deciding to hold back the colonnade and a token just in case even though I'm at 19. I have lethal on the next turn no matter what so regardless of what he draws I'll win. He untaps, tanks a minute and passes back. I animate my land and attack for lethal. He extends the hand and show me he was sitting on 2 become immense and a temur battle rage. Phew! Play well, get rewarded.
R3: Affinity
Game 2 I mull away two 1 land hands down to 5 keeping a hand of 4 lands and a logic knot. He thoughtseize's my knot and I do nothing for 3 turns and just die.
Game 3 I once again throw back a pair one landers and keep on 5. But this time it's 4 lands and a stony silence. I play a colonnade, pass, and cross my fingers. He plays ornithopter, darksteel citadel, springleaf drum, and then...vault skirge. I audibly sigh in relief, draw a second stony for my turn, windmill slam one down and pass. Well, he does nothing for the rest of the game and loses just like me the last game. Underwhelming for sure.
R4: 4c Gifts with GriselB and Gin-Gitaxias in addition to the usual suspects.
Game 2 it was almost a play by play copy of game one. We do nothing for 6 turns, I stop an end step gifts with a negate and the follow up mainphase gifts with a stoke while having a snare for his izzet charm. More time passes with my resolving AV and him looting up a loaded yard. I end step revelation for 4 with negate up. He thinks and dispels it. I pause and decide that I have something more important to protect. I untap and cast a rest in peace. He goes for a negate, but I did well and remained calm so I negate back and it resolves.
With half of his library now exiled he has very little to draw into outside of hard casting his fatties which made the rest of the game incredibly easy to navigate.
R5: BW aristocrats
Next game I suspend AV on 1 and 2 and manage to purge a turn 3 Lili. He plays a bunch of mopey creatures that I wrath on turn 5 with my AV getting me all lands. Next turn he plays a viscera seer and my second AV gets yet another set of lands. At this point we both flood out hard but he finds a second creature and starts chipping away 3 life at a time. I eventually draw a think twice so I main phase both sides of it getting a snare and another TT. I cast both sides again and am sitting on a path, a GQ, a clolonnade, and a revelation. I play my first colonnade and pass. He casts a blood artist so I have to path the seer in response to prevent myself from taking lethal that turn. He then plays a tidehallow sculler and takes my rev and has to pass. I draw a snare and pass, he draws and passes right back. I get another fetch land and pass back. He plays another aristocrat which I snare. He untaps and casts mogis' marauder to give all his guys intimidate and attacks with everyone but the sculler. I don't black and he goes for a zealous persecution for lethal. My last card was luckily a snare so I survive another turn. I untap to get a path, exile the sculler, get back revelation and then cast it for about 10. GG.
R6 Melira and Co.
Game 2 I keep a fine hand and he plays a turn 2 melira which I snare. Turn 3 he plays a sin collector and I screw up. My hand was TT, path, cryptic, revelation, land, and elspeth. I have 3 lands in play so I stop and think for a bit and I literally fall asleep for a moment. At this point I have been awake for almost 30 hours so I get scared and path the collector and he takes cryptic. I think twice for a land, suspend AV and pass. I draw play land with enough in hand for an on curve Elle and pass. He resolves a CoCo for a finks and an anafenza. His turn he casts a seer, gains infinite, then chords for redcap that turn and kills me. If he didn't have the chord in hand I'd have been able to deck him after Elle wraths the board, but if I hadn't fallen asleep and punted so horribly I'd have that game on lock. As it is, I still need to learn how to fall asleep when I want to. Feels so horrible.
Closing thoughts.
Going forward I plan to make a few massive changes to my UW list.
Main:
-1 sphere
-1 plains
+1 delta
+1 condemn
Side:
-1 condemn
+1 disenchant
Scary, I know. Not being able to hit turn 1 vision was a problem a few times on the draw and not so much on the play. That being said I'd like to make it a little more likely so I'm putting in another turn 1 untapped blue source. But I'm still wanting to stay away from painful sources so I may put in a coast over a plains to keep with that.
Remand was fine all day. Never amazing, but fine. The lack of blue, suspend,and flash back spells makes me less excited about it though. I'm going to play modern states at the same place so I'll likely cut both remands for a think twice and a deprive unless I come up with something else. I still want plays on turn 2, but there aren't many that work. If I go with a delta It might be correct to run a third knot and a deprive so I have enough answers to 3 mana spells on turn 2 and turn 3. Though it's also possible to go deprive/ negate and put another random card in the side over a negate in there.
The rest of the deck worked exactly as expected. I did hiccup on blue once but I knew that would happen so trading a plains for a blue source will reduce the odds of that happening again. The D sphere was aggressively mediocre as expected and I was always feeling like I was barely short on removal so I'll move another condemn to the main and drop it for another non creature removal spell in the side.
The side was great, the strokes helped out against gifts to stop both their namesake card and their hard cast monsters. The extra removal was necessary and the permanent hate was awesome as expected. The only other card that under preformed for me was the clique, but there was so little combo and control that I'm not surprised at that. In a larger field I'm sure it would've gotten some great game time. With a meta flooded with almost entirely creature aggro and derpy midrange I am going to start fooling around with something like this:
2 Snapcaster Mage
1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
1 White Sun's Zenith
Removal
4 Supreme Verdict
4 Path to Exile
2 Condemn
Permission
4 Cryptic Command
3 Spell Snare
2 Logic Knot
1 Deprive
1 Negate
4 Ancestral Vision
3 Think Twice
2 Sphinx's Revelation
Manabase
4 Celestial Colonnade
4 Flooded Strand
3 Ghost Quarter
2 Glacial Fortress
2 Hallowed Fountain
5 Island
2 Plains
2 Polluted Delta
2 Prairie Stream
1 Baneslayer Angel
1 Batterskull
2 Celestial Purge
2 Disdainful Stroke
1 Disenchant
1 Negate
2 Rest in Peace
2 Stony Silence
2 Timely Reinforcements
1 Vendilion Clique
Infect is not entirely absent so I like the disenchant and the timely. Pulse has been underwhelming more and more against everything. In fact even against burn I don't always get to cast it a second time so timely may just be better against them all together if I don't want to go with a CoP: Red. There was also a bit of scapeshift, but not enough to scare me.
I'm really interested in some feedback on the changes I suggested based on the expected meta. -2 remand and +2 2cmc counters, but which ones? If negate is one, what does it become in the side and so forth. I'll be updating my SB guide once I settle on a list and it will be at the same link I posted earlier. I'll hopefully settle on the changes I make on Thursday, take it for a spin at FNM, test more on Saturday, and play the event on Sunday.
Edit: I should probably list my SB. It hasn't changed since I last posted, but here it is again -
2x Baneslayer Angel
2x Celestial Purge
2x Condemn
1x Dispel
1x Merciless Eviction
1x Negate
2x Rest in Peace
2x Stony Silence
2x Thoughtseize
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