Round 1 vs Affinity: 1-2
Game 1: Kept a really slow, one land hand because I thought my opponent was playing Kiki-Pod, since they usually do. Lost to Arcbound Ravanger and Cranial.
Game 2: Was able to land a Liliana and Tezz to control the board. Damnation then beatdown with 5/5s from Tezz.
Game 3: He had the nuts draw and I failed to find a disfigure in time.
Round 2 vs Owling Mine: 0-2
Game 1: I never played against this deck, nor knew how it worked. Opponent was able to lock me out with Exhaustion, Vapor Snag and Boomerang my threats and won via Ebony Owl Netsuke and Runeflare Trap. Mana leaks kept me alive for awhile...but eventually got overwhelmed with cards in hand and no way to cast spells fast enough.
Game 2: Used Cranial Extraction to get rid of all his Runeflare Traps...(by this time I had 2 Darksteel Citadels in play and 2 other lands)...in response he cast Hurkyl's Recall..bouncing my 2 Darksteel Citadels. I passed turn and he Boomeranged my Watery Grave...I couldn't catch up, he cast 3 Howling Mine, then finally killed me off with 3 Ebony Owl Netsuke.
Round 3 vs B/G/w: 1-1-1
Game 1: This guy plays a midrange type BG deck running Deathrite Shamans, Phyrexian Obliterator, Scavenging Ooze, Eternal Witness, Abrupt Decay and wait for it.....Sadistic Sacrament. I was able to deal with his deathrite and Ooze...he Sadistic Scaramented me and took out my Batterskull, Wurmcoil and Tezzeret..but I had 2 in hand. This game went quick as I animated an Inkmoth Moth and swung for 10 infect in two turns. He couldn't top deck his Maelstrom Pulse to deal with Tezz...still I had another in hand anyway.
Game 2: Can't really remember this Game, think he won with the Obliterator beatdown.
Game 3: I was able to cast the Bridge and lock him for awhile..then he decayed the Bridge...I cast a Wurmcoil and passed after he attacked. Didn't want to block the Obliterator since I'd have to sac permanents...figured I'd just gain the life back with Wurmcoil on the back swing. He cast another Obliterator and a Deathrite then passed... I attacked with Wurmcoil, he blocked with his Obliterator...I sac'd some lands and artifacts due to the Obliterator taking damage from my Wurmcoil...but ended up killing one of his and getting 2 tokens off of Wurmcoil. I figure I gain six life and still have blockers and 5 land. He attacked again, I took the damage and he passed turn. Yes! I draw a Buried Ruin, and attacked with the tokens, he doesn't block with his deathrite...I gain 3 life. After combat I played the Buried Ruin, had enough mana to pay 2 and sac it to get back my Ensnaring Bridge he destroyed earlier and cast it. Game ended up going to turns and was a draw....I realized that I could've used Extirpate early on to get rid of an Obliterator in his hand...but I failed to before he cast it...probably would won this game and match if I did.
Round 4 vs Merfolk: 1-1-0
Game 1: Was able to lock him out for awhile with Bridge, then cleared the board with Engineered Explosives for 2...but took too much damage before stabilizing. I made a foolish play and didn't playout all my spells to empty my hand...he also used Vapor Snag on my trinket mage to up my card count so he could attack. I couldn't counter anything with mana leak since he was using Aether Vial to bring in his creatures...so the card sat in my hand and I finally lost to Mutavault beatdown.
Game 2: I ended up getting a Bridge lock very early and Pithing Needled Aether Vial. I cast all 3 Damnation this game just in case he had a way to deal with bridge and to get it out of my hand. Sat at zero cards for most of the game...finally after casting and resolving the third Tezz I was able to assemble 10 artifacts on my last turn (we went to turns after timing out)...and ultimated Tezz for 20...since he was still at 20 life lol. Game took forever but I won.
All in all I felt this was just more research...the deck is resilient, but it can cause a lot of draw matches...I wonder if a mill approach would work as a sideboarded in win con...too bad Grindstone isn't in this format :-/.
Anyway let's see what next week brings as the ban/unban announcement revigorates modern...well hopefully lol.
My suggestion would be, try to cut all counterspells. I dont want to repeat myself in this thread too often, but i think they are very bad in this kind of deck since its a tap out variant of a control deck. I think the 3rd Lili would be definitely worth it, too.
Has anybody testet Defense Grid as a Sideboard card actually? It looks very powerful on paper and would match in my current list.
Edit: But if you are ok with counters, I would at least play remand since its effectively most of the time a timewalk and cantrip.
Thanks for your suggestions...what would you advise instead of the counterspells? How do we beat Scapeshift, UWR, Tron and fringe decks like Howling Mine Game 1? Our deck is not that fast...by turn three Scapeshift has almost double our mana...we can't kill them fast enough. UWR counters everything we attempt, Tron is hard but lets say you dont wanna mull to 4 just to get that one Ghost Quarter, then you have a chance of hitting a Mana Leak to foil thier turn 3 Wurmcoil or Karn....and just for the fringe decks you might just have to counter a Runeflare Snag (it was my only out in that match up Game 1.)
The only alternatives I see to the Mana Leaks would have to be more disruption like Inquisition/Duress...would have to think about that...
Early disruption is excellent since it's a T1 play and leaves you with your mana available to play on your turns while having valuable info, especially valuable since we have lots of decisions to make. I think 2-3 Thoughtseize and 1-2 Inquisition of Kozilek are excellent here.
Yoshi: I think I've seen Defense grid in ACE1's sideboard.
Thanks for your suggestions...what would you advise instead of the counterspells? How do we beat Scapeshift, UWR, Tron and fringe decks like Howling Mine Game 1? Our deck is not that fast...by turn three Scapeshift has almost double our mana...we can't kill them fast enough. UWR counters everything we attempt, Tron is hard but lets say you dont wanna mull to 4 just to get that one Ghost Quarter, then you have a chance of hitting a Mana Leak to foil thier turn 3 Wurmcoil or Karn....and just for the fringe decks you might just have to counter a Runeflare Snag (it was my only out in that match up Game 1.)
The only alternatives I see to the Mana Leaks would have to be more disruption like Inquisition/Duress...would have to think about that...
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Has anybody testet Defense Grid as a Sideboard card actually? It looks very powerful on paper and would match in my current list.
Defense grid has been in my board for a while and it is pretty good. I've added them because a while ago my metagame was 90% blue decks, there was mono blue faeries, BUG, UWR control/midrange, grixis delver pyromancer, etc
If it resolves against those decks it puts you i a pretty good position. It is not 100% effective because if the play spell snare they can counter it, or if they are on the play they can mana leak it. Still, backed by a turn one discard spell it is a pretty solid play on turn two.
Since then my meta shifted but i always see a blue deck once in a while so i'm pretty happy to have access to them.
Yeah, lots of people seem to wish sword of the meek gets unbanned but let's face it, it is highly unlikely to happen. I'm just glad sword is banned instead of foundry. Maybe some of you people are blinded by their hopes for the deck but thopter + sword would warp the metagame and make every aggro deck unplayable so i really hope it stays banned.
I played a few more games yesterday and honestly rings + tezz feels more and more like a combo kill. There is such a huge difference between getting 4-5 artifact and getting 9-10. I did not go to overtime a single match yesterday! It used to be that i gave my opponent way too much time to draw answers and break to lock. If i exclude games where i drew 6 lands in a row or got stuck on 2 lands the whole game, the deck feels a lot better with rings.
Yeah, lots of people seem to wish sword of the meek gets unbanned but let's face it, it is highly unlikely to happen. I'm just glad sword is banned instead of foundry. Maybe some of you people are blinded by their hopes for the deck but thopter + sword would warp the metagame and make every aggro deck unplayable so i really hope it stays banned.
I played a few more games yesterday and honestly rings + tezz feels more and more like a combo kill. There is such a huge difference between getting 4-5 artifact and getting 9-10. I did not go to overtime a single match yesterday! It used to be that i gave my opponent way too much time to draw answers and break to lock. If i exclude games where i drew 6 lands in a row or got stuck on 2 lands the whole game, the deck feels a lot better with rings.
How does it make aggro unplayable? It doesn't do anything until turn 3 (and even then it is just a 1/1 flier and 1 life on the first turn) at best, and probably turn 4-5 more realistically, which means that aggro should have already won by your next untap step.
How does it make aggro unplayable? It doesn't do anything until turn 3 (and even then it is just a 1/1 flier and 1 life on the first turn) at best, and probably turn 4-5 more realistically, which means that aggro should have already won by your next untap step.
Sure, if the deck contained 4 sword 4 foundry and lands.
It would be played in an heavy control deck as a win con that can recover your life total and board postition from scratch, instant speed. Way too powerful.
I played a few more games yesterday and honestly rings + tezz feels more and more like a combo kill. There is such a huge difference between getting 4-5 artifact and getting 9-10. I did not go to overtime a single match yesterday! It used to be that i gave my opponent way too much time to draw answers and break to lock. If i exclude games where i drew 6 lands in a row or got stuck on 2 lands the whole game, the deck feels a lot better with rings.
Awesome. Gives us more reach / power, then. My question still stands: is 1 or 2 the right number?
Then, I've done some searching for a tutor. Say in one slot you put a Rings, and in the other a tutor to search for it (or something else. Angles!) Fabricate and Arcum Dagsson are the results.
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Awesome. Gives us more reach / power, then. My question still stands: is 1 or 2 the right number?
Then, I've done some searching for a tutor. Say in one slot you put a Rings, and in the other a tutor to search for it (or something else. Angles!) Fabricate and Arcum Dagsson are the results.
I think 2 is fine, gives us more chance to +1 tezz into it then kill the next turn. It curve well too, 4 mana for tezz, 5 mana for rings + copy. I've also won a game against affinity by -1 + copy two turns in a row. Getting 10 power on the table each turn is pretty sweet.
Arcum is cool but a bit too fragile. I never tried fabricate, maybe it's good maybe it isn't. Searching for any artifact looks good, i'm unsure if it would be better than thirst for decks that run it.
EDIT: there is also kuldotha forgemaster but he is too slow and the card disadvantage is too high
Take a look at my list on page 7. If you get to play against those decks, you still have 3-4 Discard outlet in the board against combo, 2-3 defense grid im gonna test in the board against everything that plays counterspells. I wouldnt be too hesitated to play a few handdisruption spells main also, they might be better at least than counterspells.
I was trying a list with counterspells. I mean, in the mid/lategame they are "ok" most of the time, but mana leak falls of pretty quick and remand can sometimes be a 2 mana draw 1 card. Too often I had bad "top 5" cards with Tezz´s +1 so that i boarded them out. I could also see to test 1-2 Cliques main alongside some Discard to handle opponents hand but thats just some idea.
Still, have to test more, but all i can do is suggest you to do the same and test my counterspell-less list on page 7 and see how it works.
So I'm considering taking out 2 Mana Leaks from my main and putting in 2 Duress....so that would leave me with 2 Thoughtseize and 2 Duress for disruption...I feel Duress is better for us because our deck is built to deal with the creature based decks...for example I run, 2x Damnation, Executioner's Capsule, Liliana, 2x Disfigures and of course the 2x Ensnaring Bridge.
The things we really want to deal with are sorceries, instants, planeswalkers, artifacts and enchantments.
Inquisition hits these as well, but with limitation. Of course it can get a creature, but we can already deal with creatures. I want to be able to take Karn, Scapeshift, Splinter Twin, Cryptic Command...
Idk, maybe Inquisition is just better in this format...
This deck already has a bunch of bad top decks in forms of Manarocks, and I´d really hate to add another one to that but thats just me since im not a fan in general of cards that do nothing on its own.
Yeah, speaking of the mana rocks, i'm getting real tired of drawing them. Most of the time they just sit there and do nothing, and then i end up saccing them to foundry or cycling them with intuition.
My deck doesn't feature any wurmcoils or batterskull, my curve tops at 4 with tezz and playing him a turn sooner just needlessly expose him to combat damage. I'm cutting the rocks except for mox opal because they are free, fetchable and give any color for explosives. I'm adding back sunken ruins for more colored lands. My new list:
They are quite good in fact. I've won games by attacking with them through a bridge. When i can't draw a tezzeret it is a slow kill but it is better than if i did not have them.
Also, they are a great blocker, with welding jar (previously from the board) i've killed opposing v.clique, blinkmoth nexi, etc, without losing mana. And late game you can just chump any flyer and not care about losing a land.
I have yet to perfom the 2 swing kill with tezz -1 because my deck is more focused on ulting with tezz but just the fact that you can do it can incite the opponent to keep flying blockers instead of attacking.
They also can count for an artifact for tezz ult. They are my only out vs infinite life too.
Sure, if the deck contained 4 sword 4 foundry and lands.
It would be played in an heavy control deck as a win con that can recover your life total and board postition from scratch, instant speed. Way too powerful.
That's my point. Control needs the help, and the combo would come down too late to push out aggro. I son't see what would be wrong with it.
Ballsy move, dude The Sunken ruins seem to be missing from your list though. And tell me, didnt you consider keeping a couple of rocks before berserking-out and throw 'em all out?
Yeah, speaking of the mana rocks, i'm getting real tired of drawing them. Most of the time they just sit there and do nothing, and then i end up saccing them to foundry or cycling them with intuition.
My deck doesn't feature any wurmcoils or batterskull, my curve tops at 4 with tezz and playing him a turn sooner just needlessly expose him to combat damage. I'm cutting the rocks except for mox opal because they are free, fetchable and give any color for explosives. I'm adding back sunken ruins for more colored lands. My new list:
Yeah, speaking of the mana rocks, i'm getting real tired of drawing them. Most of the time they just sit there and do nothing, and then i end up saccing them to foundry or cycling them with intuition.
My deck doesn't feature any wurmcoils or batterskull, my curve tops at 4 with tezz and playing him a turn sooner just needlessly expose him to combat damage. I'm cutting the rocks except for mox opal because they are free, fetchable and give any color for explosives. I'm adding back sunken ruins for more colored lands. My new list:
adding 24th land and welding jar, you'd be surprised by the amount of matchups i end up siding them in.
I know how you feel about the rocks, but the ramp is necessary...your opals aren't going to turn on fast enough... Also, I see that you don't run thirst for knowledge..which is a definite 2 of minimum.
I think you can take out 2 trinket mage and put 2 thirst for knowledge.
I play 3 talismans of dominance and a mox opal for 4 rocks in total.
I see them as mana dorks with haste...turn 2 ramp with talisman and still have mana open to cast, thoughtseize, IOK or a 1cmc artifact is extremely powerful. You are progressing your board state while disrupting your opponent.
If you put in the draw, in the form of thirst, you might find that you are drawing less rocks....or be able to toss one and keep 2 other useful cards.
I even threw in a 2nd Nihil Spellbomb, because if anything its 1B draw a card.
I didn't take out all mana rocks, i still play mox opals. They are generally online turn 3, sometimes turn 2, turn 1 with a god hand. Free artifacts are good because you can empty your hand faster for bridge and the mana they provide allows you to play the rest of your hand.
I think i found a compromise for mana rocks, i'll be using mind stones. I almost never used colored mana from talismans anyways and you can cycle them later. The cycle ability can be copied with rings too. I've also put relic of progenitus because i think it is a little better than spellbomb. You can also copy the draw with rings.
I don't have room for thirst, my curve is full on 3 mana. I like rings better anyways, they give you a faster kill and you get card advantage from other abilities instead of card advantage from drawing cards. They are similar to thirst because you can tap out for them and get the benefit the next turn or right away if you have extra mana.
Sunken ruins i found was useless. If i draw too much colorless lands it doesn't help so i took it out.
Round 1 vs Affinity: 1-2
Game 1: Kept a really slow, one land hand because I thought my opponent was playing Kiki-Pod, since they usually do. Lost to Arcbound Ravanger and Cranial.
Game 2: Was able to land a Liliana and Tezz to control the board. Damnation then beatdown with 5/5s from Tezz.
Game 3: He had the nuts draw and I failed to find a disfigure in time.
Round 2 vs Owling Mine: 0-2
Game 1: I never played against this deck, nor knew how it worked. Opponent was able to lock me out with Exhaustion, Vapor Snag and Boomerang my threats and won via Ebony Owl Netsuke and Runeflare Trap. Mana leaks kept me alive for awhile...but eventually got overwhelmed with cards in hand and no way to cast spells fast enough.
Game 2: Used Cranial Extraction to get rid of all his Runeflare Traps...(by this time I had 2 Darksteel Citadels in play and 2 other lands)...in response he cast Hurkyl's Recall..bouncing my 2 Darksteel Citadels. I passed turn and he Boomeranged my Watery Grave...I couldn't catch up, he cast 3 Howling Mine, then finally killed me off with 3 Ebony Owl Netsuke.
Round 3 vs B/G/w: 1-1-1
Game 1: This guy plays a midrange type BG deck running Deathrite Shamans, Phyrexian Obliterator, Scavenging Ooze, Eternal Witness, Abrupt Decay and wait for it.....Sadistic Sacrament. I was able to deal with his deathrite and Ooze...he Sadistic Scaramented me and took out my Batterskull, Wurmcoil and Tezzeret..but I had 2 in hand. This game went quick as I animated an Inkmoth Moth and swung for 10 infect in two turns. He couldn't top deck his Maelstrom Pulse to deal with Tezz...still I had another in hand anyway.
Game 2: Can't really remember this Game, think he won with the Obliterator beatdown.
Game 3: I was able to cast the Bridge and lock him for awhile..then he decayed the Bridge...I cast a Wurmcoil and passed after he attacked. Didn't want to block the Obliterator since I'd have to sac permanents...figured I'd just gain the life back with Wurmcoil on the back swing. He cast another Obliterator and a Deathrite then passed... I attacked with Wurmcoil, he blocked with his Obliterator...I sac'd some lands and artifacts due to the Obliterator taking damage from my Wurmcoil...but ended up killing one of his and getting 2 tokens off of Wurmcoil. I figure I gain six life and still have blockers and 5 land. He attacked again, I took the damage and he passed turn. Yes! I draw a Buried Ruin, and attacked with the tokens, he doesn't block with his deathrite...I gain 3 life. After combat I played the Buried Ruin, had enough mana to pay 2 and sac it to get back my Ensnaring Bridge he destroyed earlier and cast it. Game ended up going to turns and was a draw....I realized that I could've used Extirpate early on to get rid of an Obliterator in his hand...but I failed to before he cast it...probably would won this game and match if I did.
Round 4 vs Merfolk: 1-1-0
Game 1: Was able to lock him out for awhile with Bridge, then cleared the board with Engineered Explosives for 2...but took too much damage before stabilizing. I made a foolish play and didn't playout all my spells to empty my hand...he also used Vapor Snag on my trinket mage to up my card count so he could attack. I couldn't counter anything with mana leak since he was using Aether Vial to bring in his creatures...so the card sat in my hand and I finally lost to Mutavault beatdown.
Game 2: I ended up getting a Bridge lock very early and Pithing Needled Aether Vial. I cast all 3 Damnation this game just in case he had a way to deal with bridge and to get it out of my hand. Sat at zero cards for most of the game...finally after casting and resolving the third Tezz I was able to assemble 10 artifacts on my last turn (we went to turns after timing out)...and ultimated Tezz for 20...since he was still at 20 life lol. Game took forever but I won.
All in all I felt this was just more research...the deck is resilient, but it can cause a lot of draw matches...I wonder if a mill approach would work as a sideboarded in win con...too bad Grindstone isn't in this format :-/.
Anyway let's see what next week brings as the ban/unban announcement revigorates modern...well hopefully lol.
Twitch: gamerchamp
Modern: UGrand Architect, UBTezzeret Control, UBWRG Bridge From Below (Dredge)
Legacy: UWGTrue-Name Bant
3 Watery Grave
3 Ghost Quarter
2 Marsh Flats
2 Misty Rainforest
2 Swamp
2 Darksteel Citadel
2 Drowned Catacomb
2 Inkmoth Nexus
1 Island
1 Breeding Pool
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Creeping Tar Pit
1 Buried Ruin
1 Academy Ruins
CREATURES (4):
1 Spellskite
1 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Aetherling
1 Trinket Mage
4 Mana Leak
2 Disfigure
2 Thirst for Knowledge
2 Damnation
2 Thoughtseize
1 Abrupt Decay
ARTIFACTS (13):
3 Talisman of Dominance
2 Ensnaring Bridge
2 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Batterskull
1 Golgari Signet
1 Executioner's Capsule
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Mox Opal
1 Pithing Needle
PLANESWALKERS (6):
4 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
2 Liliana of the Veil
3 Extirpate
2 Rain of Tears
1 Damnation
1 Negate
1 Phyrexian Arena
1 Cranial Extraction
1 Spell Pierce
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Spellskite
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Torpor Orb
Twitch: gamerchamp
Modern: UGrand Architect, UBTezzeret Control, UBWRG Bridge From Below (Dredge)
Legacy: UWGTrue-Name Bant
Thanks for your suggestions...what would you advise instead of the counterspells? How do we beat Scapeshift, UWR, Tron and fringe decks like Howling Mine Game 1? Our deck is not that fast...by turn three Scapeshift has almost double our mana...we can't kill them fast enough. UWR counters everything we attempt, Tron is hard but lets say you dont wanna mull to 4 just to get that one Ghost Quarter, then you have a chance of hitting a Mana Leak to foil thier turn 3 Wurmcoil or Karn....and just for the fringe decks you might just have to counter a Runeflare Snag (it was my only out in that match up Game 1.)
The only alternatives I see to the Mana Leaks would have to be more disruption like Inquisition/Duress...would have to think about that...
Twitch: gamerchamp
Modern: UGrand Architect, UBTezzeret Control, UBWRG Bridge From Below (Dredge)
Legacy: UWGTrue-Name Bant
Yoshi: I think I've seen Defense grid in ACE1's sideboard.
OLD SCHOOL 93/94 «The Pain Train» Black Sligh, Esper «Machine Gun» Artifacts, Jund «Psycho» Ponza-Disko.
Defense grid has been in my board for a while and it is pretty good. I've added them because a while ago my metagame was 90% blue decks, there was mono blue faeries, BUG, UWR control/midrange, grixis delver pyromancer, etc
If it resolves against those decks it puts you i a pretty good position. It is not 100% effective because if the play spell snare they can counter it, or if they are on the play they can mana leak it. Still, backed by a turn one discard spell it is a pretty solid play on turn two.
Since then my meta shifted but i always see a blue deck once in a while so i'm pretty happy to have access to them.
I played a few more games yesterday and honestly rings + tezz feels more and more like a combo kill. There is such a huge difference between getting 4-5 artifact and getting 9-10. I did not go to overtime a single match yesterday! It used to be that i gave my opponent way too much time to draw answers and break to lock. If i exclude games where i drew 6 lands in a row or got stuck on 2 lands the whole game, the deck feels a lot better with rings.
How does it make aggro unplayable? It doesn't do anything until turn 3 (and even then it is just a 1/1 flier and 1 life on the first turn) at best, and probably turn 4-5 more realistically, which means that aggro should have already won by your next untap step.
Storm Crow is strictly worse than Seacoast Drake.
Sure, if the deck contained 4 sword 4 foundry and lands.
It would be played in an heavy control deck as a win con that can recover your life total and board postition from scratch, instant speed. Way too powerful.
Awesome. Gives us more reach / power, then. My question still stands: is 1 or 2 the right number?
Then, I've done some searching for a tutor. Say in one slot you put a Rings, and in the other a tutor to search for it (or something else. Angles!) Fabricate and Arcum Dagsson are the results.
OLD SCHOOL 93/94 «The Pain Train» Black Sligh, Esper «Machine Gun» Artifacts, Jund «Psycho» Ponza-Disko.
I think 2 is fine, gives us more chance to +1 tezz into it then kill the next turn. It curve well too, 4 mana for tezz, 5 mana for rings + copy. I've also won a game against affinity by -1 + copy two turns in a row. Getting 10 power on the table each turn is pretty sweet.
Arcum is cool but a bit too fragile. I never tried fabricate, maybe it's good maybe it isn't. Searching for any artifact looks good, i'm unsure if it would be better than thirst for decks that run it.
EDIT: there is also kuldotha forgemaster but he is too slow and the card disadvantage is too high
So I'm considering taking out 2 Mana Leaks from my main and putting in 2 Duress....so that would leave me with 2 Thoughtseize and 2 Duress for disruption...I feel Duress is better for us because our deck is built to deal with the creature based decks...for example I run, 2x Damnation, Executioner's Capsule, Liliana, 2x Disfigures and of course the 2x Ensnaring Bridge.
The things we really want to deal with are sorceries, instants, planeswalkers, artifacts and enchantments.
Inquisition hits these as well, but with limitation. Of course it can get a creature, but we can already deal with creatures. I want to be able to take Karn, Scapeshift, Splinter Twin, Cryptic Command...
Idk, maybe Inquisition is just better in this format...
Twitch: gamerchamp
Modern: UGrand Architect, UBTezzeret Control, UBWRG Bridge From Below (Dredge)
Legacy: UWGTrue-Name Bant
Yeah, speaking of the mana rocks, i'm getting real tired of drawing them. Most of the time they just sit there and do nothing, and then i end up saccing them to foundry or cycling them with intuition.
My deck doesn't feature any wurmcoils or batterskull, my curve tops at 4 with tezz and playing him a turn sooner just needlessly expose him to combat damage. I'm cutting the rocks except for mox opal because they are free, fetchable and give any color for explosives. I'm adding back sunken ruins for more colored lands. My new list:
1 welding jar
2 mox opal
2 engineered explosives
1 nihil spellbomb
1 elixir of immortality
2 executioner's capsule
3 pithing needle
1 thopter foundry
2 rings of brighthearth
3 ensnaring bridge
Planeswalkers: 7
3 liliana of the veil
4 tezzeret, agent of bolas
Creatures: 6
2 spellskite
4 trinket mage
4 thoughtseize
enchantments: 1
1 artificer's intuition
lands: 24
1 tolaria west
1 urborg, tomb of yawmoth
4 darkslick shores
4 river of tears
2 glimmervoid
2 island
2 swamp
2 darksteel citadel
2 ghost quarter
2 inkmoth nexus
1 academy ruins
1 buried ruins
4 extirpate
4 defense grid
4 chalice of the void
1 grafdigger's cage
1 engineered explosives
1 pithing needle
adding 24th land and welding jar, you'd be surprised by the amount of matchups i end up siding them in.
They are quite good in fact. I've won games by attacking with them through a bridge. When i can't draw a tezzeret it is a slow kill but it is better than if i did not have them.
Also, they are a great blocker, with welding jar (previously from the board) i've killed opposing v.clique, blinkmoth nexi, etc, without losing mana. And late game you can just chump any flyer and not care about losing a land.
I have yet to perfom the 2 swing kill with tezz -1 because my deck is more focused on ulting with tezz but just the fact that you can do it can incite the opponent to keep flying blockers instead of attacking.
They also can count for an artifact for tezz ult. They are my only out vs infinite life too.
That's my point. Control needs the help, and the combo would come down too late to push out aggro. I son't see what would be wrong with it.
Storm Crow is strictly worse than Seacoast Drake.
OLD SCHOOL 93/94 «The Pain Train» Black Sligh, Esper «Machine Gun» Artifacts, Jund «Psycho» Ponza-Disko.
I know how you feel about the rocks, but the ramp is necessary...your opals aren't going to turn on fast enough... Also, I see that you don't run thirst for knowledge..which is a definite 2 of minimum.
I think you can take out 2 trinket mage and put 2 thirst for knowledge.
I play 3 talismans of dominance and a mox opal for 4 rocks in total.
I see them as mana dorks with haste...turn 2 ramp with talisman and still have mana open to cast, thoughtseize, IOK or a 1cmc artifact is extremely powerful. You are progressing your board state while disrupting your opponent.
If you put in the draw, in the form of thirst, you might find that you are drawing less rocks....or be able to toss one and keep 2 other useful cards.
I even threw in a 2nd Nihil Spellbomb, because if anything its 1B draw a card.
Twitch: gamerchamp
Modern: UGrand Architect, UBTezzeret Control, UBWRG Bridge From Below (Dredge)
Legacy: UWGTrue-Name Bant
I think i found a compromise for mana rocks, i'll be using mind stones. I almost never used colored mana from talismans anyways and you can cycle them later. The cycle ability can be copied with rings too. I've also put relic of progenitus because i think it is a little better than spellbomb. You can also copy the draw with rings.
I don't have room for thirst, my curve is full on 3 mana. I like rings better anyways, they give you a faster kill and you get card advantage from other abilities instead of card advantage from drawing cards. They are similar to thirst because you can tap out for them and get the benefit the next turn or right away if you have extra mana.
Sunken ruins i found was useless. If i draw too much colorless lands it doesn't help so i took it out.
1 welding jar
2 mox opal
2 engineered explosives
1 relic of progenitus
1 elixir of immortality
1 executioner's capsule
1 aether spellbomb
3 pithing needle
2 mind stone
1 thopter foundry
2 rings of brighthearth
3 ensnaring bridge
Planeswalkers: 7
3 liliana of the veil
4 tezzeret, agent of bolas
2 spellskite
4 trinket mage
sorceries: 4
4 thoughtseize
enchantments: 1
1 artificer's intuition
lands: 22
1 tolaria west
1 urborg, tomb of yawmoth
4 darkslick shores
4 river of tears
2 glimmervoid
1 island
2 swamp
2 darksteel citadel
2 ghost quarter
2 inkmoth nexus
1 academy ruins
4 surgical extraction
4 defense grid
4 chalice of the void
1 grafdigger's cage
1 engineered explosives
1 pithing needle
Twitch: gamerchamp
Modern: UGrand Architect, UBTezzeret Control, UBWRG Bridge From Below (Dredge)
Legacy: UWGTrue-Name Bant