Eternal Command is a versatile deck that can play a tempo or control role. It can play the tempo role by using multiple Cryptic Commands (Cryptic) or Remands to stall the opponent while your creatures attack unblocked. It can play the control role by casting Cryptic Command over and over. This ability to recur Cryptic is one of the most powerful late game things you can do in the Modern format. This recursion can either lock the opponent out of the attack step, or prevent them from resolving one spell per turn.
How it works:
It requires an Eternal Witness (Witness) in play, and a Cryptic in hand. With the Cryptic you return Witness to your hand and use the other 3 modes on Cryptic to your benefit. Then you can recast/vial Eternal Witness returning Cryptic to your hand and can repeat this process again. Snapcaster Mage (Snapcaster) can do the same thing albeit not indefinitely. With that loop, you can see how the deck got its name. The deck can also be referred to as RUG Vial, since it’s Red Blue and Green colors and uses Aether Vial (Vial).
History:
This deck was first popularized by Shouta Yasooka at the 2012 Player’s Championship. He played it to a 5-1 record in the swiss. He made it to the finals of the tournament, but lost in the finals against jund, a deck he beat twice in the swiss.
Since then, the deck hasn’t had much success. It’s only notable result was winning a modo PTQ back in February. It has put up a few finishes in mtgo daily results, but nothing too consistent.
The reason why it hasn’t done that well is because it was presumed deathrite shaman killed the deck. Shouta created the deck before deathrite shamanwas printed. However this was not the case as Dustin Faeder won the PTQ at the height of Jund’s dominance, when Bloodbraid Elf was still legal. Now the printing of Scavenging Ooze really deters people from playing a graveyard based strategy. But there are a few people playing this archetype (post m14) in mtgo daily events and doing okay with it.
Serum Visions vs Thirst For Knowledge
While Thirst is a better card in a vacuum, serum visions is better in this deck. Serum Visions gives you more turn 1 plays which is important in a fast format such as modern. It’s a sorcery which pumps Tarmogoyf (Goyf). One of the more common lines of play on turn one with this deck is to play a fetch, crack it, and cast serum visions. Then the next turn you cast your goyf which is a 2/3 and can’t be bolted due to state based effects. This comes up a lot versus UWR control decks. Against them, there will be mostly instants and lands in the graveyards, which makes your 2/3 Goyf boltable. You do not want your Goyf to be boltable in most circumstances.
Thirst gives you access to more cards right away for a higher mana cost, but it’s not actually card advantage. Thirst is a 3 for 3 if you don’t discard an artifact. That effect is not that powerful. It’s only worth the cost when you discard an artifact, then it becomes a 3 for 2. However you’re only discarding your vials when you’ve drawn your 3rd/4th ones. With this deck you always want to have 2 vials out, one on 3 counters and one on 2 counters. It’s not very often you have your third vial in hand and have thirst for knowledge as well. You don’t really want to discard lands, as there are board states where you can cast multiple cryptics or other spells per turn.
Creatures
Tarmogoyf
Play 4. The card is really good. A lot of your bad match ups come down to having this card in your opener. It lets you race aggro and put a clock on combo.
Eternal Witness
You can play 3 or 4 of this card. It’s really good but sometimes it’s really clunky. It really shines with a Vial out, but if you don’t have an active Vial the card is really slow. Also some decks can go underneath you and Witness is one of the cards that you cut in those match ups. The decks that go underneath you are usually weak to pyroclasm (a potential sideboard card this deck can play), and pyroclasm kills a lot of your own creatures. If you plan to play pyroclasm in your sideboard playing 3 Witnesses might be correct.
Snapcaster Mage
You can also play 3 or 4 of this card. A reason not to play the full playset is that snapcaster exiles the card you want to recur with witness. If you want to reduce this awkwardness you can play 3 Snapcasters. If you want to cut a snapcaster from those lists above, you could replace it with another 2 drop, Scavenging Ooze (Ooze).
Vendilion Clique
You should play at least 3 of this card. And with the new legend rule in affect, playing the full 4 can even be considered. The card is just that good. If you don't have an active Vial, this is one of the cards you want. The information that it gives is really nice. It helps you play around counters (you don't want to let your cryptic command get mana leaked), and it helps you play around wrath effects. Sometimes you want to just run out your goyfs vs a UWR opponent, but if they have wrath they got you pretty good. Clique also tells you how close you combo opponent is to winning.
Playing 4 CMC creatures
The major problem with playing 4 casting cost creatures in this deck is that they screw up your vials. Remember you want them on 2 and 3. If you have them on 3 and 4, you just get your Snapcasters spell snared, or your Goyfs killed by sorcery speed wraths.
The two most commonly played four converted mana cost creatures that are played are Huntmaster of the Fells(Huntmaster) and Glen Elendra Archmage (Archmage). The only way Huntmaster is worth 4 mana is if you vial or cast him and he flips right away. When that happens you have a 4/4 trampler, a 2/2 you gained 2 life and you dealt 2 damage to your opponent while possibly killing a creature of theirs. I believe the reason he is played still is that he doesn’t crippled by graveyard hate. However Huntmaster still won’t beat a Scavenging Ooze like a Linvala, Keeper of Silence or Olivia Volderan would. Huntmaster is a very underpowered 4 drop in Modern.
The Archmage can be worthy of ticking up your vial to four counters. Scapeshift, UWR and other combo decks are going to have a hard time beating the Archmage when it’s on the table. However this still screws up your vials, and it has a great analogue in Counterflux. You’re not forced to play with this card as you can play with Counterflux for your combo and control match ups.
Counterspells
It’s a no brainer to play 4 Cryptics in this deck. However it is not clear what other counters you should play to stall the game so you can get to Cryptic mana. Shouta had a split of 3 mana leak, 2 remand, 3 spell snare. Dustin played 4 remand when jund was popular, then switched to 4 spell snare when scapeshift was popular. Deranja (mtgo grinder) plays remand. When deciding what to play in this slot it depends on the meta and playstyle. If it’s an open meta you’re better off playing mana leak and remand. If you’re more aggressive you should play remand over mana leak.
However the problem with mana leak and remand is that this deck is not that consistent in closing out games fast. It has no mana denial to make the mana leaks live in the late game. It has no reliable way to draw tarmogoyfs to close out the game while chaining remands with snapcaster and witness.
However one of the strange things about the decklists by Dustin and Deranja is the copious amounts of 4 ofs. In a deck with Snapcaster and Witness your graveyard is an extension of your hand. And playing a lot of one ofs with a similar effect costs very little and could be greatly beneficial in various match ups. That’s something to think about when building this deck. Especially in the sideboard, you make your snapcasters less potent by not playing a wide range of spells.
Burn/Removal
You always want 4 bolt type spells. Playing 4 of these help you beat Deathrite Shamans and on occasion Scavenging Oozes. Depending on the meta you can interchange Lightning Bolt with Pillar of Flame or Sudden Shock. Sudden Shock is particularly good against UR tempo decks and other Aether Vial decks. Sudden Shock also can kill Deathrite and Ooze before your opponent activates it. Though they’ll usually play around Sudden Shock after you get them with it once.
Electrolyze is really good in this format. There are a lot of 1 and 2 toughness creatures so you’ll be able to get a 2 for 1 a lot of the time. It can also help you kill planeswalkers or big creatures without 2 for 1ing yourself. It lets you attack your Goyf into an opposing Goyf and get a 2 for 1. Electrolyze also cycles when it’s dead, and it can’t be spell snared. You want to play at least 3 Electrolyzes.
Artifacts
Play 4 Aether Vial. There are match ups where you side them out (namely grindy match ups where the opponent doesn't have counter spells). Aether Vial is essentially a mana source. You don't want a bunch of mana sources in your deck if you are playing a drawn out game.
Lands
You should play 8 fetches, 4 Misty Rainforest and 4 Scalding Tarn. You want 1 basic forest and 1 basic mountain to fetch against burn decks or decks that play path to exile, ghost quarter and/or blood moon. You should play at least 3 basic Islands. Playing 5 basic Islands is fine, you don't really need more than 1 of each red/green/blue shock land. It'll be very rare for you to get cut off of red/green mana as you have basics to fetch. 2-3 Flooded Groves helps you cast cryptic and eternal witness. Copperline Gorge is the worst land in the deck, but you'd rather play it than another Stomping Ground. I'm partial to Dustin's mana base.
Issues and Match Ups
Issues
One of the problems with this deck is that you don’t have enough sideboard slots for an open meta. You need cards that deal with your opponent’s hate as well as cards that improve your various match ups.
You’re going to face decks that sideboard in stony silence, or rest in peace, or relic of progenitus or leyline of the void, all which cripple this deck. Since you don’t know what cards your opponent can bring in you can either sideboard in nothing for their hate, or sideboard in naturalize effects. Naturalize is a very mediocre magic card, especially in Modern. You don’t want mediocre cards in your sideboard. Ancient Grudge is a powerful card, it’s a 2 for 1 that beats discard and counters, but what if your opponent has stony silence or rest in peace? Back to Nature is a strong card, it can destroy multiple leylines/RIPs/Stony Silences and is great vs Bogle decks, but it doesn’t stop relic of progenitus or scavenging ooze.
You’re left with these options
1) Have sub par sideboard cards (naturalize)
2) Bring in ancient grudge or back to nature in the dark and hope you picked the right one
3) Hope to dodge graveyard hate
None of these options are very appealing in the current metagame.
The third option worked for Dustin. He had no way to kill enchantments unless he bounces them with cryptic command. He loaded up on anti jund cards 4x Threads of Disloyalty and 4x Spellskite to protect the Threads.
It’s clear this deck is much better in a defined meta game where you can tune your sideboard to beat the best decks. It’s also good when there are very few rest in peace and stony silence cards being played.
Match Ups
Most mid range match ups (BGx decks, melira pod, naya, and hate bears) are 50/50 or better match ups. They can't kill you fast enough before you get cryptic mana. Some of these decks have mana denial plans, which aren't great vs you since you run a lot of basics and have Aether Vial to help cast your creatures.
Against combo decks (storm, scapeshift, kiki pod, RG tron, splinter twin, bogle) you're mostly an underdog in game 1, as you have very few cheap counters and a slow clock unless you have two goyfs. But after sideboard you have the cards to make those match ups favorable.
Aggro decks (Red deck wins, Gruul Aggro, affinity, merfolk) you're mostly an underdog since they can easily kill you before you get cryptic mana, and witness is really slow here. But against affinity you have electrolyze and ways to cast it multiple times, so this match up can be very draw dependent. There's not many sideboards cards you can have against these decks, though Scavenging Ooze is not bad against RDW, Gruul and merfolk.
You're a slight favorite vs control decks (UWR, U Tron). They can't beat multiple cryptics and are soft to goyfs. Also a lot of UWR control decks don't have any graveyard hate, which is great for you. Though they might have some number of stony silences, which is not so great for you.
Although the sideboard games do influence these % as well, since you could have the anti BG package with 4 spellskite and 4 threads, and/or your opponent could be packing 4 nihil spell bomb or 4 leyline of the void. This deck plays some of the best cards in the format and can get out of a lot of bad situations with clique, and cryptic command. It has one of the strongest late game in the format being able to recur cryptics. So that's why a lot of the match ups are close.
Since most match ups are fairly close this deck rewards tight play and correct metagaming.
Counterflux
This card is amazing in this deck because you can recur it so many times. Combo decks are going to have a hard time winning if you draw this card. It's also great in control mirrors. You should always have 2 in your sideboard.
Combust
You want some number of this card to help with the splinter twin match up. It also is great vs delver decks and UWR. Against UWR control you side out most of your burn spells so you can combust their colonnades and restoration angels.
Scavenging Ooze/Tormod's Crypt
These are the best graveyard hate cards you can play. I think you want one crypt in your sideboard for storm, Goryo's Vengeance, eggs and academy ruins decks. This deck can't afford to play relic, and you can recur crypt with witness. You bring in crypt vs academy ruins decks, namely mono blue tron, as these games can go long, which means a mind slaver lock is very real. Crypt is insurance against that. Ooze is not only great against graveyard strategies it also helps vs aggro decks, and is good against snapcaster decks.
Spellskite/Threads of Disloyalty
With threads you really want to steal dark confidants (bob) and tarmogoyfs. Most other 2 mana cost creatures aren't nearly as good. But the decks that play bob and goyf usually have a way to kill threads. So for however many threads you have in your sideboard, you should have that many spellskites. Spellskite is good in other match ups. It's amazing vs bogle and infect. It's okay vs twin and burn. Twin and burn have cards that can beat spell skite though (deceiver exarch, skull crack, lava spike, bump in the night, boros charm). Spellskite is not as amazing in those match ups as you think. You can also bring in spellskite vs UWR control. You can use it to save your goyf from a path to exile. Or if the UWR opponent left in a lot of burn game 2, you can bring it in game 3.
Back to Nature/Nature's Claim/Naturalize
Back to nature is the more powerful card, but more narrow. Nature's claim is a good catch all for the hate your opponent can bring in. Back to nature is pretty good against bogle decks, and decks that have multiple leylines or stony silences.
It's similarly amusing when Twin Pod only gets dragged to Developing Competitive Established first.
Relax; like other (eventually) proven decks, it will show itself in multiple tournaments over multiple weeks if it is indeed good enough. At that point, it will likely get moved to Established or Proven.
Yeah so if anyone who knows how to do a primer for this would like to your more than welcome but i agree give it a bit of time but im pretty sure it would be back in established its putting up better numbers than half those decks actually half those decks ive never even see win more than a daily event but whatever time will show us all
i have since removed the 2 remands from my version because altho this deck can play as a tempo deck at times its not fast enough to where u can close the gap before they can replay the threat. i am currectly testing 2 electrolyze in there spot to help with a lil extra reach/removal and it cantrips as well. so has anybody else been testing this seeing any bad matchups. i have only been playing it for 2 days but ive lost the worst to merfolk oddly enough the island walk and swarms of lords are just brutal
I'm never a fan of Vapor Snag. I've probably used it to save my own guys half the time, and I don't tend to use it at all (it's probably Thirst for Knowledge fodder just as often). I am seriously considering using Dismember instead, but then I'll need to adjust the mana base to fit in a Watery Grave.
I'm also currently testing -1 Leak -1 Snare +2 Izzet Charm. Izzet Charm has been great, but unfortunately, I'll probably have to adjust the mana base even further.
i agree with the mods its a good deck now lets see if it can fight through the meta for a month or so and then it will get a deserved spot but i also feel like the deck is lacking in the removal department dismember is something to consider but yeah mana bases must be changed but yes i cant wait to test izzet charm with that and cryptic its like a bunch of lil swiss army knives. but i removed remand and am currently testing 2 electrolyze only played a few games with them but ive never been sad to see them may try dismember tho with a few mana base changes
Im not sure exactly sure how this wins. I guess continuely bouncing witness and countering a spell. Does that seem a bit weak to anyone else? I mean a bolt or winning a counter war would stop it cold.
A familiar's ruse could help the deck.
Im not sure exactly sure how this wins. I guess continuely bouncing witness and countering a spell. Does that seem a bit weak to anyone else? I mean a bolt or winning a counter war would stop it cold.
A familiar's ruse could help the deck.
It plays a bunch of value cards to get card advantage, and wins with either clique, or removes all your ground guys with counters/removal/bounce to kill you on the ground.
I've been getting frustrated with Lightning Bolt as the only creature removal. So many relevant things dodge it. Shouta said he also considered playing white instead of red for Path to Exile, and I definitely want to try that version out.
Regardless of which version you play, I strongly suggest replacing Serum Visions with Sleight of Hand. I don't know why exactly Shouta picked Visions, but I can't think of any reason why it would be better in this deck. We aren't trying to set up Delver flips.
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Playing black over red could also work out. BUG variants of this deck could play Dark Confidant, Inquisition of Kozilek, Countersqall, and harder removal.
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I'm always looking for foil Madcap Skills and Ghitu Fire-Eater, [trade thread link forthcoming]
Playing black over red could also work out. BUG variants of this deck could play Dark Confidant, Inquisition of Kozilek, Countersqall, and harder removal.
Then you wouldn't have Bolt or Grudge, two of the biggest reasons to play the deck.
Has anyone tried Blood Moon or Molten Rain in the board to somehow slow down Tron. That match up is awful.
I've been getting frustrated with Lightning Bolt as the only creature removal. So many relevant things dodge it. Shouta said he also considered playing white instead of red for Path to Exile, and I definitely want to try that version out.
Regardless of which version you play, I strongly suggest replacing Serum Visions with Sleight of Hand. I don't know why exactly Shouta picked Visions, but I can't think of any reason why it would be better in this deck. We aren't trying to set up Delver flips.
I've found that quite a few things that dodge Bolt merely get Fogged by the Witness-Cryptic Command-(Vial) lock forever. (Tap all creatures at beginning of combat, bounce Witness, Vial in Witness, get Command again.) Nevertheless, I've always found that Vapor Snag was the most useless slot in the deck, and I'm trying to adjust the mana base to slot in Dismember.
I think Yasooka picked Serum Visions because it lets you see 3 cards, not just 2. In testing, I've always liked Visions more than Sleight of Hand simply because it digs further.
Im not sure exactly sure how this wins. I guess continuely bouncing witness and countering a spell. Does that seem a bit weak to anyone else? I mean a bolt or winning a counter war would stop it cold.
A familiar's ruse could help the deck.
It looks that way, but I think if you play it a little you'll find it's actually fine at winning games. Clique and Goyf are very adequate for beating people down.
I've never played a deck before where Familiar's Ruse actually seemed like it would get me enough value to be worthwhile, but I think you might be onto something here. Replaying Snapcasters and Eternal Witnesses in this deck is actually nuts. I agree with whoever mentioned they were Snagging their own creatures a lot, and Familiar's Ruse is obviously a better way of putting guys back in your hand. Not saying the Vapor Snags should be replaced with Ruses, just that bouncing guys is in fact something you would like to do sometimes with this deck.
I've been getting frustrated with Lightning Bolt as the only creature removal. So many relevant things dodge it. Shouta said he also considered playing white instead of red for Path to Exile, and I definitely want to try that version out.
Regardless of which version you play, I strongly suggest replacing Serum Visions with Sleight of Hand. I don't know why exactly Shouta picked Visions, but I can't think of any reason why it would be better in this deck. We aren't trying to set up Delver flips.
I can definitely see how you might want a better removal package- my first thought was actually "can we add a fourth color?" (probably white) rather than thinking about replacing red. Three colors certainly make for a more stable manabase, but one of the things I've liked about the deck is that every Bolt you draw can potentially be played 2-4 times. It's so much damage! It feels a little bit like Punishing Fire again. It's worse at killing creatures than Dismember or Path to Exile, but it gives the deck the ability to burn people out from fairly high life totals that would normally be safe against this sort of deck, while still only taking up four slots. When the Snapcaster/Witness package is letting you play your spells multiple times a game, cards that are just very powerful - like Lightning Bolt or Cryptic Command - are made that much better.
That said, I would be very interested to see how a UGW or UGB (or even 4-color) version of the deck plays, so if anyone is working on one, I'd love to hear about it.
I can't get any goyfs atm so I was thinking of making a 4 colour version with white. And maybe geist/rhox war monk as my dumb beatstick. Unsure tho, they dont' really stack up against goyf.
honestly dryad could be good in the deck if ur working on a budget nixernator. but im trying out and bant version of the deck right now man are mirror matches long with this deck lol but there is deff potential with this deck it can really do some broekn things and i think a 4 color deck minus black could be good helix could really help out the aggro matchups if they get a fast start
but im trying out and bant version of the deck right now man are mirror matches long with this deck lol but there is deff potential with this deck it can really do some broekn things and i think a 4 color deck minus black could be good helix could really help out the aggro matchups if they get a fast start
John Kassari is testing out a bant version on his stream. He did some testing yesterday and lost most of his games.
Red allows you to play Huntmaster (another great combo with Vial and Witness), and honestly I think you just don't need removal when you can "counter everything" just like Yasooka ;D
We've only got five non-Remand counters that cost less than four, and if anything slips through that survives Bolt, we probably can't deal with it for a while. Vapor Snag helps, but I feel like better removal would make things so much smoother.
I'd be interested to see exactly how Shouta mulliganed with the deck. It's hard to tell from just watching the coverage. Right now I don't think I've got a good handle on what a keepable hand should look like.
Huntmaster and Grudge out of the board are the reasons Shouta chose red over white, and that's fair. I'm not saying the white version is definitely better overall, just that I feel the deck would much rather have Path than Bolt.
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The biggest issues this deck has to overcome is being a good deck when vial isn't in play. Vial can do some sick things, but half the games you wont have a turn 1 aether vial, so I think more focus should be placed on consistency with that.
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Find me online - I'm on Cockatrice * Tag - Badd B - Or on MTGO - Tag - Cbus05
The biggest issues this deck has to overcome is being a good deck when vial isn't in play. Vial can do some sick things, but half the games you wont have a turn 1 aether vial, so I think more focus should be placed on consistency with that.
Let it be known badd invented this long before the japanese did... fo real. So I take his word on this.
I guess the question is, go with stablity of a more control deck, or the explosiveness of a more combo vial deck?
I've never played a deck before where Familiar's Ruse actually seemed like it would get me enough value to be worthwhile, but I think you might be onto something here. Replaying Snapcasters and Eternal Witnesses in this deck is actually nuts. I agree with whoever mentioned they were Snagging their own creatures a lot, and Familiar's Ruse is obviously a better way of putting guys back in your hand. Not saying the Vapor Snags should be replaced with Ruses, just that bouncing guys is in fact something you would like to do sometimes with this deck.
I'm that person who has been Vapor Snagging my own creatures a fair bit (bouncing the occasional fatty or manland, and pitching it to Thirst for Knowledge and Izzet Charm the rest of the time). I've only bounced my own creatures with Vapor Snag defensively. It's just to save them from removal. Probably the #1 target for my own Snags is Goyf. (Especially with a Vial at 2.)
I do bounce my own Eternal Witness a metric ton, though, but only with Cryptic Command and either 7 lands or a Vial at 3. Casting Cryptic Command every turn for the rest of the game is backbreaking--a lot of the time, it becomes "Creatures opponents control can't attack or block for the rest of the game".
Introduction:
Since then, the deck hasn’t had much success. It’s only notable result was winning a modo PTQ back in February. It has put up a few finishes in mtgo daily results, but nothing too consistent.
The reason why it hasn’t done that well is because it was presumed deathrite shaman killed the deck. Shouta created the deck before deathrite shamanwas printed. However this was not the case as Dustin Faeder won the PTQ at the height of Jund’s dominance, when Bloodbraid Elf was still legal. Now the printing of Scavenging Ooze really deters people from playing a graveyard based strategy. But there are a few people playing this archetype (post m14) in mtgo daily events and doing okay with it.
August 31st, 2012Magic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards
1 Breeding Pool
2 Copperline Gorge
3 Flooded Grove
1 Forest
4 Island
3 Misty Rainforest
1 Mountain
4 Scalding Tarn
1 Steam Vents
1 Stomping Ground
Creatures 13
3 Eternal Witness
4 Snapcaster Mage
3 Tarmogoyf
3 Vendilion Clique
4 Aether Vial
Spells 26
4 Cryptic Command
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Mana Leak
2 Remand
2 Serum Visions
3 Spell Snare
2 Thirst for Knowledge
2 Vapor Snag
3 Ancient Grudge
2 Combust
2 Glen Elendra Archmage
1 Grafdigger's Cage
3 Huntmaster of the Fells
2 Spell Pierce
2 Threads of Disloyalty
1st Place Modern PTQ #4981512 on 02/04/2013Magic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards
1 Breeding Pool
2 Copperline Gorge
2 Flooded Grove
1 Forest
5 Island
4 Misty Rainforest
1 Mountain
4 Scalding Tarn
1 Steam Vents
1 Stomping Ground
4 Eternal Witness
4 Snapcaster Mage
4 Tarmogoyf
3 Vendilion Clique
Artifacts 4
4 Æther Vial
Spells 23
4 Cryptic Command
3 Electrolyze
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Remand
4 Serum Visions
3 Ancient Grudge
2 Combust
4 Spellskite
4 Threads of Disloyalty
2 Tormod's Crypt
Modern Daily #5686184 on 07/12/2013Magic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards
1 Breeding Pool
2 Copperline Gorge
2 Flooded Grove
1 Forest
5 Island
4 Misty Rainforest
1 Mountain
4 Scalding Tarn
1 Steam Vents
1 Stomping Ground
4 Eternal Witness
4 Snapcaster Mage
4 Tarmogoyf
3 Vendilion Clique
Artifacts 4
4 Aether Vial
Spells 23
4 Cryptic Command
3 Firespout
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Serum Visions
4 Spell Snare
3 Ancient Grudge
3 Combust
3 Grafdigger's Cage
3 Spellskite
3 Threads of Disloyalty
Modern Daily #5798524 on 08/11/2013Magic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards
1 Breeding Pool
1 Copperline Gorge
3 Flooded Grove
1 Forest
3 Island
4 Misty Rainforest
1 Mountain
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Steam Vents
1 Stomping Ground
Creatures 16
4 Eternal Witness
1 Huntmaster of the Fells
4 Snapcaster Mage
4 Tarmogoyf
3 Vendilion Clique
4 Aether Vial
Spells 23
4 Cryptic Command
3 Electrolyze
4 Lightning Bolt
1 Pillar of Flame
2 Remand
3 Serum Visions
2 Spell Snare
2 Ancient Grudge
2 Combust
1 Dispel
2 Glen Elendra Archmage
2 Huntmaster of the Fells
1 Nature's Claim
2 Spellskite
3 Threads of Disloyalty
While Thirst is a better card in a vacuum, serum visions is better in this deck. Serum Visions gives you more turn 1 plays which is important in a fast format such as modern. It’s a sorcery which pumps Tarmogoyf (Goyf). One of the more common lines of play on turn one with this deck is to play a fetch, crack it, and cast serum visions. Then the next turn you cast your goyf which is a 2/3 and can’t be bolted due to state based effects. This comes up a lot versus UWR control decks. Against them, there will be mostly instants and lands in the graveyards, which makes your 2/3 Goyf boltable. You do not want your Goyf to be boltable in most circumstances.
Thirst gives you access to more cards right away for a higher mana cost, but it’s not actually card advantage. Thirst is a 3 for 3 if you don’t discard an artifact. That effect is not that powerful. It’s only worth the cost when you discard an artifact, then it becomes a 3 for 2. However you’re only discarding your vials when you’ve drawn your 3rd/4th ones. With this deck you always want to have 2 vials out, one on 3 counters and one on 2 counters. It’s not very often you have your third vial in hand and have thirst for knowledge as well. You don’t really want to discard lands, as there are board states where you can cast multiple cryptics or other spells per turn.
Creatures
Play 4. The card is really good. A lot of your bad match ups come down to having this card in your opener. It lets you race aggro and put a clock on combo.
Eternal Witness
You can play 3 or 4 of this card. It’s really good but sometimes it’s really clunky. It really shines with a Vial out, but if you don’t have an active Vial the card is really slow. Also some decks can go underneath you and Witness is one of the cards that you cut in those match ups. The decks that go underneath you are usually weak to pyroclasm (a potential sideboard card this deck can play), and pyroclasm kills a lot of your own creatures. If you plan to play pyroclasm in your sideboard playing 3 Witnesses might be correct.
Snapcaster Mage
You can also play 3 or 4 of this card. A reason not to play the full playset is that snapcaster exiles the card you want to recur with witness. If you want to reduce this awkwardness you can play 3 Snapcasters. If you want to cut a snapcaster from those lists above, you could replace it with another 2 drop, Scavenging Ooze (Ooze).
Vendilion Clique
You should play at least 3 of this card. And with the new legend rule in affect, playing the full 4 can even be considered. The card is just that good. If you don't have an active Vial, this is one of the cards you want. The information that it gives is really nice. It helps you play around counters (you don't want to let your cryptic command get mana leaked), and it helps you play around wrath effects. Sometimes you want to just run out your goyfs vs a UWR opponent, but if they have wrath they got you pretty good. Clique also tells you how close you combo opponent is to winning.
Playing 4 CMC creatures
The two most commonly played four converted mana cost creatures that are played are Huntmaster of the Fells(Huntmaster) and Glen Elendra Archmage (Archmage). The only way Huntmaster is worth 4 mana is if you vial or cast him and he flips right away. When that happens you have a 4/4 trampler, a 2/2 you gained 2 life and you dealt 2 damage to your opponent while possibly killing a creature of theirs. I believe the reason he is played still is that he doesn’t crippled by graveyard hate. However Huntmaster still won’t beat a Scavenging Ooze like a Linvala, Keeper of Silence or Olivia Volderan would. Huntmaster is a very underpowered 4 drop in Modern.
The Archmage can be worthy of ticking up your vial to four counters. Scapeshift, UWR and other combo decks are going to have a hard time beating the Archmage when it’s on the table. However this still screws up your vials, and it has a great analogue in Counterflux. You’re not forced to play with this card as you can play with Counterflux for your combo and control match ups.
Counterspells
However the problem with mana leak and remand is that this deck is not that consistent in closing out games fast. It has no mana denial to make the mana leaks live in the late game. It has no reliable way to draw tarmogoyfs to close out the game while chaining remands with snapcaster and witness.
However one of the strange things about the decklists by Dustin and Deranja is the copious amounts of 4 ofs. In a deck with Snapcaster and Witness your graveyard is an extension of your hand. And playing a lot of one ofs with a similar effect costs very little and could be greatly beneficial in various match ups. That’s something to think about when building this deck. Especially in the sideboard, you make your snapcasters less potent by not playing a wide range of spells.
Burn/Removal
Electrolyze is really good in this format. There are a lot of 1 and 2 toughness creatures so you’ll be able to get a 2 for 1 a lot of the time. It can also help you kill planeswalkers or big creatures without 2 for 1ing yourself. It lets you attack your Goyf into an opposing Goyf and get a 2 for 1. Electrolyze also cycles when it’s dead, and it can’t be spell snared. You want to play at least 3 Electrolyzes.
Artifacts
Lands
Issues
You’re going to face decks that sideboard in stony silence, or rest in peace, or relic of progenitus or leyline of the void, all which cripple this deck. Since you don’t know what cards your opponent can bring in you can either sideboard in nothing for their hate, or sideboard in naturalize effects. Naturalize is a very mediocre magic card, especially in Modern. You don’t want mediocre cards in your sideboard. Ancient Grudge is a powerful card, it’s a 2 for 1 that beats discard and counters, but what if your opponent has stony silence or rest in peace? Back to Nature is a strong card, it can destroy multiple leylines/RIPs/Stony Silences and is great vs Bogle decks, but it doesn’t stop relic of progenitus or scavenging ooze.
You’re left with these options
1) Have sub par sideboard cards (naturalize)
2) Bring in ancient grudge or back to nature in the dark and hope you picked the right one
3) Hope to dodge graveyard hate
None of these options are very appealing in the current metagame.
The third option worked for Dustin. He had no way to kill enchantments unless he bounces them with cryptic command. He loaded up on anti jund cards 4x Threads of Disloyalty and 4x Spellskite to protect the Threads.
It’s clear this deck is much better in a defined meta game where you can tune your sideboard to beat the best decks. It’s also good when there are very few rest in peace and stony silence cards being played.
Match Ups
Against combo decks (storm, scapeshift, kiki pod, RG tron, splinter twin, bogle) you're mostly an underdog in game 1, as you have very few cheap counters and a slow clock unless you have two goyfs. But after sideboard you have the cards to make those match ups favorable.
Aggro decks (Red deck wins, Gruul Aggro, affinity, merfolk) you're mostly an underdog since they can easily kill you before you get cryptic mana, and witness is really slow here. But against affinity you have electrolyze and ways to cast it multiple times, so this match up can be very draw dependent. There's not many sideboards cards you can have against these decks, though Scavenging Ooze is not bad against RDW, Gruul and merfolk.
You're a slight favorite vs control decks (UWR, U Tron). They can't beat multiple cryptics and are soft to goyfs. Also a lot of UWR control decks don't have any graveyard hate, which is great for you. Though they might have some number of stony silences, which is not so great for you.
Although the sideboard games do influence these % as well, since you could have the anti BG package with 4 spellskite and 4 threads, and/or your opponent could be packing 4 nihil spell bomb or 4 leyline of the void. This deck plays some of the best cards in the format and can get out of a lot of bad situations with clique, and cryptic command. It has one of the strongest late game in the format being able to recur cryptics. So that's why a lot of the match ups are close.
Since most match ups are fairly close this deck rewards tight play and correct metagaming.
You generally should play 2-3 copies. It's great vs birthing pod, spellskite, affinity decks, tron decks, opposing Aether Vials, people who play batterskull, and it helps you remove graveyard hate cards like relic of progenitus and nihil spell bomb.
Counterflux
This card is amazing in this deck because you can recur it so many times. Combo decks are going to have a hard time winning if you draw this card. It's also great in control mirrors. You should always have 2 in your sideboard.
Combust
You want some number of this card to help with the splinter twin match up. It also is great vs delver decks and UWR. Against UWR control you side out most of your burn spells so you can combust their colonnades and restoration angels.
Scavenging Ooze/Tormod's Crypt
These are the best graveyard hate cards you can play. I think you want one crypt in your sideboard for storm, Goryo's Vengeance, eggs and academy ruins decks. This deck can't afford to play relic, and you can recur crypt with witness. You bring in crypt vs academy ruins decks, namely mono blue tron, as these games can go long, which means a mind slaver lock is very real. Crypt is insurance against that. Ooze is not only great against graveyard strategies it also helps vs aggro decks, and is good against snapcaster decks.
Spellskite/Threads of Disloyalty
With threads you really want to steal dark confidants (bob) and tarmogoyfs. Most other 2 mana cost creatures aren't nearly as good. But the decks that play bob and goyf usually have a way to kill threads. So for however many threads you have in your sideboard, you should have that many spellskites. Spellskite is good in other match ups. It's amazing vs bogle and infect. It's okay vs twin and burn. Twin and burn have cards that can beat spell skite though (deceiver exarch, skull crack, lava spike, bump in the night, boros charm). Spellskite is not as amazing in those match ups as you think. You can also bring in spellskite vs UWR control. You can use it to save your goyf from a path to exile. Or if the UWR opponent left in a lot of burn game 2, you can bring it in game 3.
Back to Nature/Nature's Claim/Naturalize
Back to nature is the more powerful card, but more narrow. Nature's claim is a good catch all for the hate your opponent can bring in. Back to nature is pretty good against bogle decks, and decks that have multiple leylines or stony silences.
http://www.mtgoacademy.com/the-game-begins-on-one-serum-visions-and-eternal-command/
Reid Duke discussing all possible RUG decks:
http://www.starcitygames.com/magic/standard/26030-Modern-Moving-Forward.html
Sadly Reid did not discuss Dustin's list in his article, he critiqued Shouta's list. Dustin fixed a lot of the problems with Shouta's list.
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3xSgZQPGIYwSywgHbgLevA5AWZjjyxRt
Sam Pardee playing one match with the deck
http://www.channelfireball.com/videos/channel-smdster-rug-modern-event/#6
It's a bit amusing when decks that have only shown up in GP T8's get in the established deck forum but this doesn't.
Feel free to bid on my cards here!
Developing CompetitiveEstablished first.Relax; like other (eventually) proven decks, it will show itself in multiple tournaments over multiple weeks if it is indeed good enough. At that point, it will likely get moved to Established or Proven.
I'm also currently testing -1 Leak -1 Snare +2 Izzet Charm. Izzet Charm has been great, but unfortunately, I'll probably have to adjust the mana base even further.
Ux Whirza
Rb Goblins
Legacy
U Urza Stompy
Duel Commander
Sai, Master Thopterist
A familiar's ruse could help the deck.
It plays a bunch of value cards to get card advantage, and wins with either clique, or removes all your ground guys with counters/removal/bounce to kill you on the ground.
Regardless of which version you play, I strongly suggest replacing Serum Visions with Sleight of Hand. I don't know why exactly Shouta picked Visions, but I can't think of any reason why it would be better in this deck. We aren't trying to set up Delver flips.
Thanks to Gabgabdevo for the awesome sig image!
I'm always looking for foil Madcap Skills and Ghitu Fire-Eater, [trade thread link forthcoming]
Then you wouldn't have Bolt or Grudge, two of the biggest reasons to play the deck.
Has anyone tried Blood Moon or Molten Rain in the board to somehow slow down Tron. That match up is awful.
I've found that quite a few things that dodge Bolt merely get Fogged by the Witness-Cryptic Command-(Vial) lock forever. (Tap all creatures at beginning of combat, bounce Witness, Vial in Witness, get Command again.) Nevertheless, I've always found that Vapor Snag was the most useless slot in the deck, and I'm trying to adjust the mana base to slot in Dismember.
I think Yasooka picked Serum Visions because it lets you see 3 cards, not just 2. In testing, I've always liked Visions more than Sleight of Hand simply because it digs further.
Cryptic Witness lock is fine once you set it up, but that takes time and you don't get time when you're being beaten up by a 4/5 Goyf or two.
It looks that way, but I think if you play it a little you'll find it's actually fine at winning games. Clique and Goyf are very adequate for beating people down.
I've never played a deck before where Familiar's Ruse actually seemed like it would get me enough value to be worthwhile, but I think you might be onto something here. Replaying Snapcasters and Eternal Witnesses in this deck is actually nuts. I agree with whoever mentioned they were Snagging their own creatures a lot, and Familiar's Ruse is obviously a better way of putting guys back in your hand. Not saying the Vapor Snags should be replaced with Ruses, just that bouncing guys is in fact something you would like to do sometimes with this deck.
I can definitely see how you might want a better removal package- my first thought was actually "can we add a fourth color?" (probably white) rather than thinking about replacing red. Three colors certainly make for a more stable manabase, but one of the things I've liked about the deck is that every Bolt you draw can potentially be played 2-4 times. It's so much damage! It feels a little bit like Punishing Fire again. It's worse at killing creatures than Dismember or Path to Exile, but it gives the deck the ability to burn people out from fairly high life totals that would normally be safe against this sort of deck, while still only taking up four slots. When the Snapcaster/Witness package is letting you play your spells multiple times a game, cards that are just very powerful - like Lightning Bolt or Cryptic Command - are made that much better.
That said, I would be very interested to see how a UGW or UGB (or even 4-color) version of the deck plays, so if anyone is working on one, I'd love to hear about it.
John Kassari is testing out a bant version on his stream. He did some testing yesterday and lost most of his games.
http://www.twitch.tv/ehhhhhhh
you can watch his archived videos
I'd be interested to see exactly how Shouta mulliganed with the deck. It's hard to tell from just watching the coverage. Right now I don't think I've got a good handle on what a keepable hand should look like.
Huntmaster and Grudge out of the board are the reasons Shouta chose red over white, and that's fair. I'm not saying the white version is definitely better overall, just that I feel the deck would much rather have Path than Bolt.
Let it be known badd invented this long before the japanese did...
I guess the question is, go with stablity of a more control deck, or the explosiveness of a more combo vial deck?
I'm that person who has been Vapor Snagging my own creatures a fair bit (bouncing the occasional fatty or manland, and pitching it to Thirst for Knowledge and Izzet Charm the rest of the time). I've only bounced my own creatures with Vapor Snag defensively. It's just to save them from removal. Probably the #1 target for my own Snags is Goyf. (Especially with a Vial at 2.)
I do bounce my own Eternal Witness a metric ton, though, but only with Cryptic Command and either 7 lands or a Vial at 3. Casting Cryptic Command every turn for the rest of the game is backbreaking--a lot of the time, it becomes "Creatures opponents control can't attack or block for the rest of the game".