Been reminiscing about when I started magic back in onslaught days. Astral Slide was a good deck then got better with Witness. Since modern doesn't go all the way back to Onslaught >_> (I'm very angry about that btw) we don't get slide. But we still get Witness and we have a new border kind of way to slide it in and out which still lets you control the game.
So here's the breakdown:
Slide variant:
Ghostway- Ghostway is awesome. Ok so this basically fuels the deck. Ghostway is your Astral Slide. Cast Ghostway. Out goes Eternal witness. In comes Eternal Witness. Ghostway comes back to your hand to rinse and repeat. On its own, not that impressive, BUT Ghostway has one advantage that Slide didn't, it lets you blink your WHOLE team. But I'm not going to try to sell you on the advantages or disadvantages of Ghostway. If you're reading this then you have to buy into the combo of Eternal Witness and Ghostway or the rest of the deck just won't be good enough.
Momentary Blink- Poor Man's Slide. It works well in this deck but I'm debating if I need a full compliment of 4. This deck actually started NOT because I wanted a slide variant, but because I really liked how Momentary Blink interacted with Coiling Oracles and Kitchen Finks especially. More on that later.
Can I get a WITNESS:
Eternal Witness - One of the things that made this deck so useful back in the OLS/MDF was that you could have two astral slides on the battlefield (back then it was just called in play) cycle one Tranquil Thicket and slide out your Witness AND their creature. Witness comes back you get back your cycle utility rinse repeat so they can never attack. Ghostway doesn't hit your opponents creatures or it would probably be banned. However there's ways to make it hit your opponents and still keep up the tempo you need to win the game.
Snapcaster Mage - This card is insanely good. It's not exactly a witness because you don't get to keep recurring the instants once they hit Exile. However, if it doesn't get banned, this creature is probably the best one in your deck. Countermagic is useful but using one counterspell 3 times is actually unfair. Not to mention how abusive this card gets with Path to Exile. The most brilliant thing about this card is that you can blink it to flashback a counterspell whenever you need it. Anything that turns Momentary Blink into a counterspell deserves some recognition.
NOW, you can't win just on those cards alone so I had to find a way to win otherwise. My initial thought was, hey just use Genesis Chamber because you're going to be getting a TON of creatures into the battlefield over and over. But..oh wait....ghostway blips your tokens out of existence and that barely makes it worth it. Ok you cOULD be blocking with all those tokens and ghostway only when you needed it, but I couldn't see doing all that work for only mediocre creatures to swarm in and attack. You WILL be getting more creatures than them so it's something I've got in the back of my mind for later.
But for now I needed to abuse a few more ETB effects.
ETB Utility Creatures:
Coiling Oracle - Turn 2 Oracle may get shocked or path'd. It has already done its job letting you accelerate into another land drop or it drew you hopefully some combo piece (I have to consider this combo control abusing tempo) or some control mechanism. Either way a solid 2 drop creature to put in a deck that abuses the ETB effect. If your oracle survives then blocking with him and blinking him is actually a little nutty. He survives the day and replaces your blink which can be flashed back simply enough.
Kitchen Finks- 3/2 etb gain 2 life. Block a creature and you've essentially 1.75 for 1 them which is no small thing. Persist and you've 2.75 for 1 them. If it gets pathed that sucks but you can only run so many paths. (Till people are allowed to play snapcaster mage that is for however long that lasts). This combos with Momentary Blink to make finks the most survivingest non-indestructible/hexproof/pro guy ever. (*grandiose claims and unsubstantiated sweeping generalizations are not the responsibility of this poster to fact check. This is merely an opinion. Return to your FourLoco now*) Finks, 2 life. Dies 2 life. blink 2 life. Dies again, 2 life. Flashback blink. 2 life, dies 2 life. That's 12 life with 2 cards and 4 mana max. That should put a dent in zoo's ability to kill you effectively. Not to mention you run more than one way to blink this guy in and out of play.
Acidic slime - Well this should be a pretty obvious top of the curve creature for this deck. Blinking him in and out means you get repeatable land destruction. If they're also running enchantments and non torpor orb artifacts you can wreck house sniping their stuff little by little. (If they're affinity then Viridan Shaman does this better and sides in just like it did in Eternal Slide.) once you've gotten rid of their creatures you're free to also get rid of all their lands.
Fiend Hunter - This has awesome interactions with blink effects. You need extra creature removal in this deck so your puny creatures can actually swing for some damage. You're going to barely chip away at their life total realistically speaking. But this guy makes sure that you can keep their side of the board clear when you need to swing with your frail X/1s.
Control cards:
Mana leak The big debate here is going to be Mana leak versus Remand. Post board neither beats a flashfreeze against the right deck. If the format warrants it nothing beats a flashfreeze main deck. The reason I have mana leak in here to begin with is because it stops early threats, which it needs to do, but it also paces your opponent in the long game. When you get a blinking Acidic slime, paying 3 mana isn't an option so it becomes a hard counter late game which mana leak doesn't get to do very often. However, Remand is far superior when combined with Snapcaster Mage. So just know that Remand > Mana Leak but for right now I need to try a harder counter.
Path to Exile: Simple Shmimple. Creature removal is creature removal is creature removal. You may let them ramp which makes your Mana Leak and Remand less valuable. But Snapcaster Mage + Path to Exile is probably the best two card combination in the modern format. (*please see earlier disclaimer about sweeping generalizations*) Exile a dude. Get a 2/1, block a dude flash back path exile another dude.
Last slots final thoughts: Other cards have come into consideration. There are plenty of 2 mana blink effects. I have considered all of them (even the creature based blinker) and come to the conclusion that Momentary Blink and Ghostway are the best the format has to offer. I've thought about Feeling of dread in this deck. Tapping down two guys so you can swing then tapping down 2 guys AGAIN is almost like casting Sleep. It can help eke out a win. I'm not sold on it just yet but it's in the deck as a 2 of to deal with early creatures I couldn't counter while I stall til I take control of the game.
The numbers on this deck are a little wonky and I haven't included Fiend Hunter just yet but believe me he will go in the deck once I figure out what to take out.
Here's the decklist! Comments are welcomed and appreciated.
Notes: Metamorph is in this deck because it can copy their biggest threat or copy any of your creatures. It works with blink but requires they have a creature on the battlefield if you want it to do anything with Ghostway. As such it's the weakest card in the deck right now. Venser Shaper Savant was another utility creature that I felt like I had to include in the deck. It serves as a remand when you need it as well as a body to swing. Blinking it with momentary blink means you can counter a spell whenever you want, and, like I said before, turning blink into a counterspell is no small thing. I know it's good but I can't decide if it's worth it. At the end of the game it IS fun to ghostway this guy and acidic slime. Kill a land bounce their permanent so they'll have to counter it again. It hits Planeswalkers which neither fiend hunter nor Acidic Slime can touch.
Other thoughts, Vendillion clique. Yeah I've for sure thought about this card. It's probably going to find it's way into the deck and replace one of the coiling oracles. It works well with Venser I just haven't found a place for it either.
sideboard options:
right now I have no sideboard. I usually like to play with a deck fifty times and fifty goldfishes before i think about a complete sideboard. However, Zoo is the only deck I hear about time and again so the board should probably have some ways to deal with it. Flashfreeze seems like an obvious choice here. Suggestions on the board would be greatly appreciated.
Tenuous board:
4 Flashfreeze/Redirect- Anti Zoo/control. The Reason I mention Redirect here as a possibility is because if they're trying to use removal against your creatures and you don't have the blink then you can just redirect it to their creatures who are going to be threatening you. It's very zen using your opponent's strengths against them haha. Anyway it also gets past hexproof which I foresee being a problem in Geist of Saint Traff. The bonus here is that Redirect works on non red/green spells AND countermagic to win you a counter war. This would side in to replace the Remands/Mana Leaks depending on which one I use.
3 Genesis Chamber - I'm not sure here. I think if they're not running a lot of creatures then maybe quantity is better than quality. You're hopefully getting an eff ton of use out of this thing while they're barely able to abuse it at all. Who knows, this may be good enough to put in the main deck with Kitchen Finks + Blinks, but like I said, it doesn't play perfectly well with ghostway. eh sure your tokens die when you ghostway but you also get more tokens when your guys come back so it's like they didn't go anywhere. I dunno, we'll see.
2 Spell Snare - I guess the reason this card even exists is because a blue mage going second really has no easy way to stop an opponent from playing an aggressive creature. This isn't dead late game and it's easily Snapcasterable. Also a cheap way to win a counter war getting rid of their mana leaks or remands or redirects.
i have a sinking suspicion that you WILL want a split second answer to something in this format. I don't think Wipe Away is going to be the perfect answer to anything but it's really not bad. However, more likely, is going to be Trickbind. I guess it'll stop a spellskite from redirecting valuable removal to it but more than that, it stops Splinter Twin from doing its thing. You COULD theroetically run Torpor Orb in your own deck by siding in Genesis Chamber with it. You get the benefit of the blinks giving you an army while the splinter twin deck can't get off the ground.
4 Viridian Shaman seems likely if Affinity is hyper aggressive. It may actually be too slow, but countermagic and path to exile should help stall until you can get this into play.
There are a lot of ETB effects I know, trust me I looked at all of them. There's some great ones that i would love to include in the deck.
i dunno if you call that a primer or not, but it's what i've got so far. Thoughts?
I would put Mystic Snake somewhere in your 75. It's a 2/2 Flash 2UG creature that counterspells when it comes into play. It was reprinted as a Timeshifted card back in Time Spiral, thus it is legal in Modern. The card's pretty sick with Momentary Blink.
Wisp i talk about Remand in the post. I know it was tl;dr.
Feathers: I have considered it so that it's safely out of bolt/helix range. Coiling Oracle has the benefit of creating random extra land drops. This one game gave me five lands turn 3 which was hot. I have to determine if i need that extra push against Zoo that just blocking until I can get a Finks online is worth it.
CotC: Snake is a thought. the reason Venser is in there right now instead of snake is because of Ghostway. i can still blink the venser to counter a spell but if it's Ghostway'd then it at least can bounce something else.
How good is Cackling Counterpart? It's not Momentary Blink, but since all your creatures have ETB abilities, making more creatures and triggering those abilities is great. Plus, it's also got Flashback and doesn't stretch your mana base!
It nets you lands to...the hand you know that. I think after a game they'll know coiling oracle needs to die. Wall was in the original build but I've tweaked it out.
How good is Cackling Counterpart? It's not Momentary Blink, but since all your creatures have ETB abilities, making more creatures and triggering those abilities is great. Plus, it's also got Flashback and doesn't stretch your mana base!
Oh that's a good card. I didn't want to use Phantasmal Image because I couldn't blink it only ghostway and that's not what you want from a clone. I'll consider it.
Venser the Sojourner and Noble Hierarch both seems like they're worth looking at here. Same with Bant Charm. I think Acidic Slime should go away because it's too slow and the effect isn't really gamebreaking. If you want a powerful five drop I would look more closely at something like Plow Under.
Also, I don't see much of an endgame here, and the draw engine is pretty weak. Mulldrifter would be a nice add. Same with Reveillark. This definitely seems to have potential, but it also appears to have a ways to go as well.
Finally, with both Snapcaster Mage and Witness in the deck, should Gifts Ungiven be looked at?
I am indeed a big proponent of Gifts Ungiven. When the format was faster it was too slow. Now that the format is slower it's probably too fast. I don't know that it's what the deck needs though. I'll look into it.
Mulldrifter is fine because it draws cards, sure. And it draws a lot of cards. I'll consider it. I don't think it's right at that cost as a late game aid where Acidic slime deals with threatening swords as well as man lands which may be giving me trouble. I can cut slime down to try out reveillark because it triggers off of leaving play which it would do every turn with ghostway witness which it can get back witness. That may be the late game solution i was looking for.
Update: Reveillark Is the late game beast i wanted it to be. The implications of Reveillark with Ghostway are awesome. Acidic Slime recurring deathtouch blocking their creatures then ghostway the reveillark to get back the slime and a witness is amah-zing.
Notes: Blood Moon + Magus of the Moon really wrecks this deck because you can't cast ANYTHING once they're out. Floating a white mana for a path or countering these things is integral to winning. I may include some basic lands for Path protection and moon protection. i knew it'd be a problem but it just completely shuts things down.
You could just make it WG and replace Oracle/Venser with Wall of Omens and Wood Elves Respecfully. Both are recurrable w/ Lark. Also suprised you missed how good Sun Titan would be with Ghost Away. You can get back Ghost Quarters, Fetchlands, Creatures Lark can't get (i'm looking at you Finks). You could splash U just for the flashback of Blink of you want. A mana base of
4 Temple Garden
2 Sunpetal Grove
x Forest
x Plains
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Breeding Pool
3 Marsh Flats
3 Misty Rainforest
Leaves you 8-10 basic land drops. Blood Moon effects woudn't hurt as much.
Interesting proposal. If i go WGu then it gets rid of the countermagic which I'm scared of. Coiling Oracle is really really good. I think people are underestimating how powerful it is. Wood Elves over Coiling Oracle isn't an option. I've been testing it on MWS and Cockatrice and I've never said Oh i wish this was a wood elves. I have thought "I wish this was a wall of omens" but not that often.
i'll think about a slightly different build.
And as far as sun Titan goes: Eh. I know it's good, but yet again I think it's better with phantasmal image. It changes up what the deck can do and often gets it confused what the deck WANTS to do. It's very important to remember what the deck wants to do when talking about this. Having said that I think Beast Within is probably the best card I could include right now. Beast Within into a Fiend Hunter to ex the token and free to blink the fiend into another creature may be good enough to include. It'd be easier to do that if I went WGu.
I have to keep the focus on Ghostway + Witness being the main mechanism. If it drifts away from that it's no longer Eternal Slide/Flubber it's a birthing pod deck without Birthing Pod.
Just a quick couple of dumb things first quick. OP, love your sig. Also, I use to run this very deck in MP. Snapcaster Mage is making me want to remake that deck. Going to wait for hype to die. Not willing to pay more than 10/each. Ok done!
Anyways,
Elephant in the room, but no 'Goyf? Is it issues with taking cards from grave? (Quick aside, I use to be anti-goyf, but I caved and played it recently. Investing in them is something I plan to do for Modern. I sold my two that I had for 60 bucks years ago. Coming back to the game, wow, dumb me. Oh well.)
Time Warp—In my MP deck, Witness+Witness/Venser+Ghostway+Extra Turn Spell was infinite turns. Planning on testing it in my build, but it's prolly too mana intensive. Having a combo just win the game outof nowhere clicks with me though.
Aven Riftwatcher—Does he have a place in this deck, I wonder? I'm a rogue deck builder, and I helped a friend build a Blink-Moat deck for block back in the day. Riftwatcher was a champ in that deck. He's easier to cast than finks and he flies and nets you more life per blink effect. Worth testing?
SB Ideas
Ghostway + Wrath of God—At EOT, cast Ghostway, during turn Wrath of God, likely win game. Oh yeah, you get your Ghostway or *** back!
Isochron Scepter—I was also thinking of testing a scepter version because it hold Momentary Blink. Possibly running scepter in SB and bringing it in when they see no artifacts G1. Fire/Ice over Feeling of Dread in this version?
Graveyard-Hate Hate—Let's face it. This is a GY based strategy. Need to hate the hate. I've always liked Pull from Eternity because you can also use it to reuse RFG'd flashback cards. On reflection, I don't really know what the hate is for yards yet. Tormod's Crypt? Leyline of the Void? I think Nature's Claim would be too good in this deck with Snapcaster.
Just a quick couple of dumb things first quick. OP, love your sig. Also, I use to run this very deck in MP. Snapcaster Mage is making me want to remake that deck. Going to wait for hype to die. Not willing to pay more than 10/each. Ok done!
You need to pick them up now. Snapcaster is going to be the best creature in the format. If you don't pick them up at 10 now you can pick them up at 25 later.
Anyways,
Elephant in the room, but no 'Goyf? Is it issues with taking cards from grave? (Quick aside, I use to be anti-goyf, but I caved and played it recently. Investing in them is something I plan to do for Modern. I sold my two that I had for 60 bucks years ago. Coming back to the game, wow, dumb me. Oh well.)
I don't like goyf at all. For my play-style I only put goyfs in decks that focus on creature beat down (with maybe a plow at the top of the curve). In this deck specifically, what does goyf do? he's a creature that may be a 3/4 for 2. He doesn't add anything to the deck and has no synergy with anything I'm trying to do.
Time Warp—In my MP deck, Witness+Witness/Venser+Ghostway+Extra Turn Spell was infinite turns. Planning on testing it in my build, but it's prolly too mana intensive. Having a combo just win the game outof nowhere clicks with me though.
Eh it may be better than Acidic Slime at the top of the curve. Not sure yet, i'll test it. I think Savor the moment MAY be better on a turn where you swing then Ghostway.
Aven Riftwatcher—Does he have a place in this deck, I wonder? I'm a rogue deck builder, and I helped a friend build a Blink-Moat deck for block back in the day. Riftwatcher was a champ in that deck. He's easier to cast than finks and he flies and nets you more life per blink effect. Worth testing?
I have thought about it, Aven Riftwatcher, but the problem is that Finks has self blinking in persist and takes a guy down with it comes back to gain life. Then you blink it and the -1/-1 counter goes away so he's free to block again and come back with persist. In the long run, with all that calculated Finks gains you the same amount of life, can gain the same amount without a blink, and sticks around a lot longer without the blink than the Riftwatcher.
SB Ideas
Ghostway + Wrath of God—At EOT, cast Ghostway, during turn Wrath of God, likely win game. Oh yeah, you get your Ghostway or *** back!
Isochron Scepter—I was also thinking of testing a scepter version because it hold Momentary Blink. Possibly running scepter in SB and bringing it in when they see no artifacts G1. Fire/Ice over Feeling of Dread in this version?
Graveyard-Hate Hate—Let's face it. This is a GY based strategy. Need to hate the hate. I've always liked Pull from Eternity because you can also use it to reuse RFG'd flashback cards. On reflection, I don't really know what the hate is for yards yet. Tormod's Crypt? Leyline of the Void? I think Nature's Claim would be too good in this deck with Snapcaster.
Cheers,
Matt
I don't think scepter works for this deck. Wrath may work in the board if they are making creatures faster than I can deal with them. Graveyard Hate: Well right now there aren't any decks that abuse the graveyard enough to make it a mandatory sideboard option. Combos like dedicated Pyromancer Ascension and Dredge were impossible to play in the format before the bannings. The graveyard is there though and is an untapped frontier in this modern environment. It's likely we'll see a lot of riffs on the decks we saw a while ago in Extended where Bridge from Below was so good. If Bridge comes back the answer will be Offalsnout again. If Crypt Champion + Saffi Eriksdotter becomes popular then maybe Faerie Macabre will be a popular answer. Tormod's crypt might make it into some Affinity/Red decks because it's not dead when you can Kuldotha Rebirth/Shrapnel blast it away. Leyline of the Void for some reason is never a popular answer against these kinds of decks. Especially because people see it coming (first turn usually) they can play around it until they find the answer they're looking for (probably nature's claim).
i've come to the conclusion that this deck's weakness isn't dedicated graveyard hate. If they have graveyard hate in the form of Extirpate it could get annoying for sure. If they have Discard AND graveyard hate (re: Thoughtseize + Surgical Extraction turn 1) then it can be bad. What this deck is afraid of is Torpor Orb. It turns all of your guys into overcosted dudes (except Reveillark who maintains his useability)
Nature's Claim still kills the Torpor Orb which is great. However a transformational sideboard COULD work siding in Geist of Saint Traff, and going Bant. If they're playing Torpor Orb then they're likely not casting Splinter Twin that game. Makes me want to play Cloudthresher in the side. Evoke for 2GG and because of torpor orb you get to keep it You don't get the 2 damage but it doesn't matter because you get a 7/7 with reach for 4. (This means Goyf, if he has a place in the deck, is in a board expecting orb to side in)
Thanks for the comments. Thinking about the board is important but relies on the format. I may side in Ethersworn Canonist and Kira Great Glass Spinner
'Goyf, you're right, doesn't fit the deck. He hasn't been in any of my lists either. I was just curious mostly what your thoughts were. I felt it was a question that wanted asking. If green, where goyf? If you know what I mean.
I was testing last night with Riftwatcher against my own deck gauntlet just playing solo games, and I realized his capital problem is that he's only a 2 power. In a format that has x/3 creatures for 1 mana in droves, he doesn't make the cut. Finks is definitely the superior creature.
For Time Warp, I've just been running it as a 1of for kicks. I probably will in my final build as well just because I like to do things like that.
So here's the breakdown:
Slide variant:
Ghostway- Ghostway is awesome. Ok so this basically fuels the deck. Ghostway is your Astral Slide. Cast Ghostway. Out goes Eternal witness. In comes Eternal Witness. Ghostway comes back to your hand to rinse and repeat. On its own, not that impressive, BUT Ghostway has one advantage that Slide didn't, it lets you blink your WHOLE team. But I'm not going to try to sell you on the advantages or disadvantages of Ghostway. If you're reading this then you have to buy into the combo of Eternal Witness and Ghostway or the rest of the deck just won't be good enough.
Momentary Blink- Poor Man's Slide. It works well in this deck but I'm debating if I need a full compliment of 4. This deck actually started NOT because I wanted a slide variant, but because I really liked how Momentary Blink interacted with Coiling Oracles and Kitchen Finks especially. More on that later.
Can I get a WITNESS:
Eternal Witness - One of the things that made this deck so useful back in the OLS/MDF was that you could have two astral slides on the battlefield (back then it was just called in play) cycle one Tranquil Thicket and slide out your Witness AND their creature. Witness comes back you get back your cycle utility rinse repeat so they can never attack. Ghostway doesn't hit your opponents creatures or it would probably be banned. However there's ways to make it hit your opponents and still keep up the tempo you need to win the game.
Snapcaster Mage - This card is insanely good. It's not exactly a witness because you don't get to keep recurring the instants once they hit Exile. However, if it doesn't get banned, this creature is probably the best one in your deck. Countermagic is useful but using one counterspell 3 times is actually unfair. Not to mention how abusive this card gets with Path to Exile. The most brilliant thing about this card is that you can blink it to flashback a counterspell whenever you need it. Anything that turns Momentary Blink into a counterspell deserves some recognition.
NOW, you can't win just on those cards alone so I had to find a way to win otherwise. My initial thought was, hey just use Genesis Chamber because you're going to be getting a TON of creatures into the battlefield over and over. But..oh wait....ghostway blips your tokens out of existence and that barely makes it worth it. Ok you cOULD be blocking with all those tokens and ghostway only when you needed it, but I couldn't see doing all that work for only mediocre creatures to swarm in and attack. You WILL be getting more creatures than them so it's something I've got in the back of my mind for later.
But for now I needed to abuse a few more ETB effects.
ETB Utility Creatures:
Coiling Oracle - Turn 2 Oracle may get shocked or path'd. It has already done its job letting you accelerate into another land drop or it drew you hopefully some combo piece (I have to consider this combo control abusing tempo) or some control mechanism. Either way a solid 2 drop creature to put in a deck that abuses the ETB effect. If your oracle survives then blocking with him and blinking him is actually a little nutty. He survives the day and replaces your blink which can be flashed back simply enough.
Kitchen Finks- 3/2 etb gain 2 life. Block a creature and you've essentially 1.75 for 1 them which is no small thing. Persist and you've 2.75 for 1 them. If it gets pathed that sucks but you can only run so many paths. (Till people are allowed to play snapcaster mage that is for however long that lasts). This combos with Momentary Blink to make finks the most survivingest non-indestructible/hexproof/pro guy ever. (*grandiose claims and unsubstantiated sweeping generalizations are not the responsibility of this poster to fact check. This is merely an opinion. Return to your FourLoco now*) Finks, 2 life. Dies 2 life. blink 2 life. Dies again, 2 life. Flashback blink. 2 life, dies 2 life. That's 12 life with 2 cards and 4 mana max. That should put a dent in zoo's ability to kill you effectively. Not to mention you run more than one way to blink this guy in and out of play.
Acidic slime - Well this should be a pretty obvious top of the curve creature for this deck. Blinking him in and out means you get repeatable land destruction. If they're also running enchantments and non torpor orb artifacts you can wreck house sniping their stuff little by little. (If they're affinity then Viridan Shaman does this better and sides in just like it did in Eternal Slide.) once you've gotten rid of their creatures you're free to also get rid of all their lands.
Fiend Hunter - This has awesome interactions with blink effects. You need extra creature removal in this deck so your puny creatures can actually swing for some damage. You're going to barely chip away at their life total realistically speaking. But this guy makes sure that you can keep their side of the board clear when you need to swing with your frail X/1s.
Control cards:
Mana leak The big debate here is going to be Mana leak versus Remand. Post board neither beats a flashfreeze against the right deck. If the format warrants it nothing beats a flashfreeze main deck. The reason I have mana leak in here to begin with is because it stops early threats, which it needs to do, but it also paces your opponent in the long game. When you get a blinking Acidic slime, paying 3 mana isn't an option so it becomes a hard counter late game which mana leak doesn't get to do very often. However, Remand is far superior when combined with Snapcaster Mage. So just know that Remand > Mana Leak but for right now I need to try a harder counter.
Path to Exile: Simple Shmimple. Creature removal is creature removal is creature removal. You may let them ramp which makes your Mana Leak and Remand less valuable. But Snapcaster Mage + Path to Exile is probably the best two card combination in the modern format. (*please see earlier disclaimer about sweeping generalizations*) Exile a dude. Get a 2/1, block a dude flash back path exile another dude.
Last slots final thoughts: Other cards have come into consideration. There are plenty of 2 mana blink effects. I have considered all of them (even the creature based blinker) and come to the conclusion that Momentary Blink and Ghostway are the best the format has to offer. I've thought about Feeling of dread in this deck. Tapping down two guys so you can swing then tapping down 2 guys AGAIN is almost like casting Sleep. It can help eke out a win. I'm not sold on it just yet but it's in the deck as a 2 of to deal with early creatures I couldn't counter while I stall til I take control of the game.
The numbers on this deck are a little wonky and I haven't included Fiend Hunter just yet but believe me he will go in the deck once I figure out what to take out.
Here's the decklist! Comments are welcomed and appreciated.
4 Breeding Pool
2 Glacial Fortress
4 Hallowed Fountain
3 Hinterland Harbor
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Sunpetal Grove
4 Temple Garden
3 Acidic Slime
4 Coiling Oracle
3 Eternal Witness
4 Kitchen Finks
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
4 Snapcaster Mage
1 Venser, Shaper Savant
2 Feeling of Dread
3 Ghostway
4 Mana Leak
4 Momentary Blink
4 Path to Exile
Notes: Metamorph is in this deck because it can copy their biggest threat or copy any of your creatures. It works with blink but requires they have a creature on the battlefield if you want it to do anything with Ghostway. As such it's the weakest card in the deck right now. Venser Shaper Savant was another utility creature that I felt like I had to include in the deck. It serves as a remand when you need it as well as a body to swing. Blinking it with momentary blink means you can counter a spell whenever you want, and, like I said before, turning blink into a counterspell is no small thing. I know it's good but I can't decide if it's worth it. At the end of the game it IS fun to ghostway this guy and acidic slime. Kill a land bounce their permanent so they'll have to counter it again. It hits Planeswalkers which neither fiend hunter nor Acidic Slime can touch.
Other thoughts, Vendillion clique. Yeah I've for sure thought about this card. It's probably going to find it's way into the deck and replace one of the coiling oracles. It works well with Venser I just haven't found a place for it either.
sideboard options:
right now I have no sideboard. I usually like to play with a deck fifty times and fifty goldfishes before i think about a complete sideboard. However, Zoo is the only deck I hear about time and again so the board should probably have some ways to deal with it. Flashfreeze seems like an obvious choice here. Suggestions on the board would be greatly appreciated.
Tenuous board:
4 Flashfreeze/Redirect- Anti Zoo/control. The Reason I mention Redirect here as a possibility is because if they're trying to use removal against your creatures and you don't have the blink then you can just redirect it to their creatures who are going to be threatening you. It's very zen using your opponent's strengths against them haha. Anyway it also gets past hexproof which I foresee being a problem in Geist of Saint Traff. The bonus here is that Redirect works on non red/green spells AND countermagic to win you a counter war. This would side in to replace the Remands/Mana Leaks depending on which one I use.
3 Genesis Chamber - I'm not sure here. I think if they're not running a lot of creatures then maybe quantity is better than quality. You're hopefully getting an eff ton of use out of this thing while they're barely able to abuse it at all. Who knows, this may be good enough to put in the main deck with Kitchen Finks + Blinks, but like I said, it doesn't play perfectly well with ghostway. eh sure your tokens die when you ghostway but you also get more tokens when your guys come back so it's like they didn't go anywhere. I dunno, we'll see.
2 Spell Snare - I guess the reason this card even exists is because a blue mage going second really has no easy way to stop an opponent from playing an aggressive creature. This isn't dead late game and it's easily Snapcasterable. Also a cheap way to win a counter war getting rid of their mana leaks or remands or redirects.
i have a sinking suspicion that you WILL want a split second answer to something in this format. I don't think Wipe Away is going to be the perfect answer to anything but it's really not bad. However, more likely, is going to be Trickbind. I guess it'll stop a spellskite from redirecting valuable removal to it but more than that, it stops Splinter Twin from doing its thing. You COULD theroetically run Torpor Orb in your own deck by siding in Genesis Chamber with it. You get the benefit of the blinks giving you an army while the splinter twin deck can't get off the ground.
4 Viridian Shaman seems likely if Affinity is hyper aggressive. It may actually be too slow, but countermagic and path to exile should help stall until you can get this into play.
There are a lot of ETB effects I know, trust me I looked at all of them. There's some great ones that i would love to include in the deck.
i dunno if you call that a primer or not, but it's what i've got so far. Thoughts?
What do you think of using Wall of Omens to draw cards off Ghostway and sit in front of Zoo durdles?
Feathers: I have considered it so that it's safely out of bolt/helix range. Coiling Oracle has the benefit of creating random extra land drops. This one game gave me five lands turn 3 which was hot. I have to determine if i need that extra push against Zoo that just blocking until I can get a Finks online is worth it.
CotC: Snake is a thought. the reason Venser is in there right now instead of snake is because of Ghostway. i can still blink the venser to counter a spell but if it's Ghostway'd then it at least can bounce something else.
The thing's a Path magnet, I swear.
It nets you lands to...the hand you know that. I think after a game they'll know coiling oracle needs to die. Wall was in the original build but I've tweaked it out.
Oh that's a good card. I didn't want to use Phantasmal Image because I couldn't blink it only ghostway and that's not what you want from a clone. I'll consider it.
Also, I don't see much of an endgame here, and the draw engine is pretty weak. Mulldrifter would be a nice add. Same with Reveillark. This definitely seems to have potential, but it also appears to have a ways to go as well.
Finally, with both Snapcaster Mage and Witness in the deck, should Gifts Ungiven be looked at?
Mulldrifter is fine because it draws cards, sure. And it draws a lot of cards. I'll consider it. I don't think it's right at that cost as a late game aid where Acidic slime deals with threatening swords as well as man lands which may be giving me trouble. I can cut slime down to try out reveillark because it triggers off of leaving play which it would do every turn with ghostway witness which it can get back witness. That may be the late game solution i was looking for.
Update: Reveillark Is the late game beast i wanted it to be. The implications of Reveillark with Ghostway are awesome. Acidic Slime recurring deathtouch blocking their creatures then ghostway the reveillark to get back the slime and a witness is amah-zing.
Notes: Blood Moon + Magus of the Moon really wrecks this deck because you can't cast ANYTHING once they're out. Floating a white mana for a path or countering these things is integral to winning. I may include some basic lands for Path protection and moon protection. i knew it'd be a problem but it just completely shuts things down.
4 Temple Garden
2 Sunpetal Grove
x Forest
x Plains
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Breeding Pool
3 Marsh Flats
3 Misty Rainforest
Leaves you 8-10 basic land drops. Blood Moon effects woudn't hurt as much.
http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=519290
i'll think about a slightly different build.
And as far as sun Titan goes: Eh. I know it's good, but yet again I think it's better with phantasmal image. It changes up what the deck can do and often gets it confused what the deck WANTS to do. It's very important to remember what the deck wants to do when talking about this. Having said that I think Beast Within is probably the best card I could include right now. Beast Within into a Fiend Hunter to ex the token and free to blink the fiend into another creature may be good enough to include. It'd be easier to do that if I went WGu.
I have to keep the focus on Ghostway + Witness being the main mechanism. If it drifts away from that it's no longer Eternal Slide/Flubber it's a birthing pod deck without Birthing Pod.
Just a quick couple of dumb things first quick. OP, love your sig. Also, I use to run this very deck in MP. Snapcaster Mage is making me want to remake that deck. Going to wait for hype to die. Not willing to pay more than 10/each. Ok done!
Anyways,
Elephant in the room, but no 'Goyf? Is it issues with taking cards from grave? (Quick aside, I use to be anti-goyf, but I caved and played it recently. Investing in them is something I plan to do for Modern. I sold my two that I had for 60 bucks years ago. Coming back to the game, wow, dumb me. Oh well.)
Time Warp—In my MP deck, Witness+Witness/Venser+Ghostway+Extra Turn Spell was infinite turns. Planning on testing it in my build, but it's prolly too mana intensive. Having a combo just win the game outof nowhere clicks with me though.
Aven Riftwatcher—Does he have a place in this deck, I wonder? I'm a rogue deck builder, and I helped a friend build a Blink-Moat deck for block back in the day. Riftwatcher was a champ in that deck. He's easier to cast than finks and he flies and nets you more life per blink effect. Worth testing?
SB Ideas
Ghostway + Wrath of God—At EOT, cast Ghostway, during turn Wrath of God, likely win game. Oh yeah, you get your Ghostway or *** back!
Isochron Scepter—I was also thinking of testing a scepter version because it hold Momentary Blink. Possibly running scepter in SB and bringing it in when they see no artifacts G1. Fire/Ice over Feeling of Dread in this version?
Graveyard-Hate Hate—Let's face it. This is a GY based strategy. Need to hate the hate. I've always liked Pull from Eternity because you can also use it to reuse RFG'd flashback cards. On reflection, I don't really know what the hate is for yards yet. Tormod's Crypt? Leyline of the Void? I think Nature's Claim would be too good in this deck with Snapcaster.
Cheers,
Matt
You need to pick them up now. Snapcaster is going to be the best creature in the format. If you don't pick them up at 10 now you can pick them up at 25 later.
I don't like goyf at all. For my play-style I only put goyfs in decks that focus on creature beat down (with maybe a plow at the top of the curve). In this deck specifically, what does goyf do? he's a creature that may be a 3/4 for 2. He doesn't add anything to the deck and has no synergy with anything I'm trying to do.
Eh it may be better than Acidic Slime at the top of the curve. Not sure yet, i'll test it. I think Savor the moment MAY be better on a turn where you swing then Ghostway.
I have thought about it, Aven Riftwatcher, but the problem is that Finks has self blinking in persist and takes a guy down with it comes back to gain life. Then you blink it and the -1/-1 counter goes away so he's free to block again and come back with persist. In the long run, with all that calculated Finks gains you the same amount of life, can gain the same amount without a blink, and sticks around a lot longer without the blink than the Riftwatcher.
I don't think scepter works for this deck. Wrath may work in the board if they are making creatures faster than I can deal with them. Graveyard Hate: Well right now there aren't any decks that abuse the graveyard enough to make it a mandatory sideboard option. Combos like dedicated Pyromancer Ascension and Dredge were impossible to play in the format before the bannings. The graveyard is there though and is an untapped frontier in this modern environment. It's likely we'll see a lot of riffs on the decks we saw a while ago in Extended where Bridge from Below was so good. If Bridge comes back the answer will be Offalsnout again. If Crypt Champion + Saffi Eriksdotter becomes popular then maybe Faerie Macabre will be a popular answer. Tormod's crypt might make it into some Affinity/Red decks because it's not dead when you can Kuldotha Rebirth/Shrapnel blast it away. Leyline of the Void for some reason is never a popular answer against these kinds of decks. Especially because people see it coming (first turn usually) they can play around it until they find the answer they're looking for (probably nature's claim).
i've come to the conclusion that this deck's weakness isn't dedicated graveyard hate. If they have graveyard hate in the form of Extirpate it could get annoying for sure. If they have Discard AND graveyard hate (re: Thoughtseize + Surgical Extraction turn 1) then it can be bad. What this deck is afraid of is Torpor Orb. It turns all of your guys into overcosted dudes (except Reveillark who maintains his useability)
Nature's Claim still kills the Torpor Orb which is great. However a transformational sideboard COULD work siding in Geist of Saint Traff, and going Bant. If they're playing Torpor Orb then they're likely not casting Splinter Twin that game. Makes me want to play Cloudthresher in the side. Evoke for 2GG and because of torpor orb you get to keep it You don't get the 2 damage but it doesn't matter because you get a 7/7 with reach for 4. (This means Goyf, if he has a place in the deck, is in a board expecting orb to side in)
Thanks for the comments. Thinking about the board is important but relies on the format. I may side in Ethersworn Canonist and Kira Great Glass Spinner
'Goyf, you're right, doesn't fit the deck. He hasn't been in any of my lists either. I was just curious mostly what your thoughts were. I felt it was a question that wanted asking. If green, where goyf? If you know what I mean.
I was testing last night with Riftwatcher against my own deck gauntlet just playing solo games, and I realized his capital problem is that he's only a 2 power. In a format that has x/3 creatures for 1 mana in droves, he doesn't make the cut. Finks is definitely the superior creature.
For Time Warp, I've just been running it as a 1of for kicks. I probably will in my final build as well just because I like to do things like that.