Peregrine Drake has been downgraded, which means that the dreaded Esper Familiars combo is back. Only that Drake doesn't need the familiars or the bouncelands, and can even be monocolor if you wish, which is a huge boon for the deck. Not needing a slow manabase and the Familiar creatures to operate means we save a lot of spots for actual good cards like Counterspell or Lightning Bolt, which means we can pretty much operate as a classic draw-go Control deck with the combo as the finisher. Having a lot of good instant and sorcery cards as control tools means the value of Mnemonic Wall as an individual card improves a lot, as it can blank a 3/X or less ground attacker while rebuying us a spell, acting as a Snapcaster Mage of sorts. This improves a lot the matchups the previous iteration of the deck had. Here are some decklists:
The deck can also use a little Red or Black splash, since we sacrifice little for a lot of options: in Red we have Burn spells like Lightning Bolt and Galvanic Blast to act as removal while also being a plan B for a Burn win, and a good on it's own finisher in Rolling Thunder, which can act as a board wipe or as a way to finish the game itself. In Black, we have actual removal like Chainer's Edict or Disfigure, and two finishers in Gray Merchant of Asphodel and Consume Spirit. For the moment, I'm more inclined towards the Izzet build due to it's natural resilience and better removal, having an additional angle of attack simply combining Drake and Mulldrifter beats + Burn spells to finish off an opponent packing only Graveyard hate and unprepared for the Burn axis of the deck. Here's a sample decklist:
This version is super crammed. It copies the Teachings lifegain engine of gainlands + bouncelands + Talisman + Deprive. I would like to make some changes to this one, like including +1 Talisman, 1-2 Exclude, and 1-2 Serrated Arrows, which are great and synergistic. They can lower an Angler to 4/4 so we can Blast it, or shot a 4/4 down to 3/3 so it gets chumped forever by the Wall. They can also be blinked with Flicker to reset the counters for value when it gets to 0, and turn Blast and Epiphany on more often.
I really think this deck has potential to be the best of the format. After all, Familiars was the best deck before it, and had to devote a lot of spots that could be used to give the deck a more controlling angle into creatures that reduced the actual spells cost.
This will be the 60 I'll run at the outset. It seems quite powerful as a combo deck. Bolt/Flame Slash to control the early game, Gigadrowse/Dispel to stop anything the opponent might do. The thing I am still trying to decide is how to split the cantrips and dig. How good Desperate Ravings will be I don't know, but I imagine I should have 4 Preordain somewhere in this mix.
There are a lot of ways you could potentially go. Sticking with Esper and the Familiars is one, that deck can kill on turn 4 with just one Familiar and white gives you access to some great stall cards like Lone Missionary while you look to assemble the combo. Mono blue is reasonable but I think at the very least it wants to splash black for Reaping the Graves since it gives the combo so much resiliency. Possibly for Teachings too which can find Ghostly Flicker, Snap if you want to rebuy a Drake/Wall, and counterspells, etc. Running Tron lands is a possibility to generate even more mana off the Drake. There's also the old UG aura ramp spells like Fertile Ground, Wild Growth, etc that can generate a ton of extra mana off of Drake.
I took your advice into account and swapped Mulldrifter for Sea Gate Oracle and Mnemonic Wall for Archaeomancer and things went definitely better for me. Oracle is a pretty good roadblock that I don't mind tapping out for in turn 3, and does more or less the same job than Preordain but coming with a body. Archaeomancer is pretty huge when I cast it for pure value, having 6 mana open and casting it bringing back a Counterspell, or with 5 and bringing Galvanic Blast or a Pyroblast in games 2 and 3 is insane and can pretty much mean the difference between winning or losing. I've been able to come back from a lost match by simply going T6 Archaeomancer retrieving a counter, using the counter to hold the fort until next turn, then dropping Drake and winning out of nowhere. It's more or less like a Pauper Snapcaster Mage. That said, I've been running this list with pretty good success:
Running Darksteel Citadel instead of Radiant Fountain hurts a bit, but Galvanic Blast is very well worth it since I already have Swiftwater Cliffs to go the infinite route. The card can flat out destroy every pauper creature except Gurmag Angler, Fangren Marauder, Guardian of the Guildpact and the Hexproof dudes, and represents 1/5 of damage to the face for 1 mere mana, which helps us combating super aggro decks and maintaining the tempo we lose from gainlands and bouncelands. Early game when Metalcraft is not operative it can still take down a lot of pests like Stompy creatures, Elves, Goblins, and even flipped Delvers. Combined with Lightning Bolt, we have 8 1CMC removal for the majority of the field that doubles as a Burn plan B combined with Drake beats and a huge Rolling Thunder. When we pair this with lifegain and counters, we can simply play a classic counterburn tempo-control game by countering the opponent's threats while burning his face and hitting with the Drake (I've won against burn twice this way), which greatly increases the resilience and versatility of the deck.
Artificer's Epiphany are there as an instant card draw spell for when I don't have anything to counter or burn, and I'd like to go up to three. Seven hard counterspells and turning Deprive's downside into an upside by bouncing gainlands plus Exclude usually put us very far ahead against grindy decks like MBC. Epiphanies cold also be Thoughtcast but for the time being, I've preferred Epiphany's overall consistency with the CMC (which is conveniently the same as Ghostly Flicker) and instant speed.
Alongside the 3rd Epiphany, I'm looking to make room for 2-3 copies of Prophetic Prism, which I can flicker alongside Archaeomancer for value, and which can help with Galvanic Blast so I could trim 1-2 Citadels for Radiant Fountain.
Overall, the deck is a beating: it's a stone-rock solid control deck that plays the classic counterburn game, trading 1 for 1 as aggressively as possible and getting ahead on cards while you assemble the combo, then win out of nowhere with a combo finish or beating down with a free 2/3 flyer + burn.
I don't think you want to add so many artifact lands just for the upside of Galvanic Blast and Artificer's Epiphany. You're making the deck susceptible to Gorilla Shaman and other hate for (imo) a very low upside. Galvanic Blast is good removal sure but like Picelli said for the purposes of this deck Flame Slash is more or less going to do the same thing at least 9/10 times. Very few games will you be burning people out with Blast and few times will it matter that it's an instant.
I think being an instant will matter a lot in this new meta with Drakes everywhere. Disrupting the combo in response to Flicker is enough to gain a bit of time, and I've won a few games against Bogles and Burn by countering their relevant spells and pointing burn to their face. With Blasts out the Bogles matchup becomes significantly worse.
That said, what about Skred with a snow manabase? 4 Cliffs, 3 Boilerworks, 2 Fountains and 13 snow lands. Would it be consistent enough to kill 3-4 toughness guys? I also like how it escalates through the game so early on it's also able to take on X/2s while later becoming an out to Gurmag Angler and Fangren Marauder
I haven't had any problems with the Counterspells, I follow more of a draw-go approach, hence my preference for instant speed burn, but since Slash is just 1 mana and is pretty consistent and efficient I suppose I can make an exception. Drake plays a great part into this by making me untap lands, but overall, I don't want to combo out ASAP, so I usually have counterspell backup when I resolve Drakes or Archaeomancers in order to make sure they hit. Sea Gate Oracle is a nice roadblock and I don't mind tapping out for him in turn 3, where in later turns it's low mana cost makes it negligible. Here's the current list:
I have 58 cards in the mainboard and I'm currently looking into instant speed draw spells, mainly Accumulated Knowledge. Perhaps I'll slot 2, cut a Flame Slash, and maybe 1 Exclude for the 4th one.
I'm running just two Exclude as I also think that three is one too many. I was pondering about running Comparative Analysis instead of AK, because I forgot Think Twice existed, but TT seems perfect for the task. I'm feeling I've lost a little bit of edge taking out Galvanic Blasts, so I'm looking for a place for a pair of Firebolt in here as a replacement for burn that can go to the dome. I've switched the numbers on Archaeomancers and Peregrine Drakes, since I've found many times where I've wanted to cast an Archaeomancer for pure value, where I only cast Drake when attempting to go off. I'm also going to try the Preordain instead of Ponder in order to filter junk more easily.
Really thinking of going back to Galvanic Blasts, since LITERALLY every match I've played since Saturday involved Peregrine Drake shenanigans except for a weird Delver deck, so no one is rocking out Gorilla Shaman, and I find it unlikely until the Drake hype has died or the deck is banned. Darksteel Citadel can't be destroyed anyways, and the Shaman dies even to unboosted Blast and all counterspells and Bolts. I don't think it destroying a land or two would be a problem, and I have 1 CMC answers for it anyways.
50% of the metagame atm is comprised of (in decreasing order) Delver, Stompy, MBC, Affinity, and Boggles. Flame Slash is definitely the way to go with Delver, Stompy, and Affinity. The biggest problem we are going to run into is Delver having 10 counterspells in the 60 and more dispels in the side. Between Delver, Teachings, and Tron plus general utility I think we really are going to want 2 copies of Gigadrowse in the 60.
So yesterday I tested against a friend and asked him to play Gorilla Shaman in games 2 and 3 to see how it went. Turns out the card isn't nearly as dangerous as we thought. It dies to all 8 of our removal spells early game, and late game it can be countered. Playing carefully your artifact lands (if you have other lands to play) and returning them with Boilerworks really helps to minimize blowouts. Citadels are also untouchable by the Shaman. I've added a few Prophetic Prism as another blink target (flickering Prism and Oracle for value is usually a good play if you need cards) and in order to trigger Blasts more consistently after I've lost two lands. Prism also has some nice sinergies, such as allowing me to launch Counterspells from a single Boilerworks or turning my colorless lands into Bolt and Blast producers. Here's what I'm running:
I replaced the Epiphanies for Prisms because as I said Flickering any combination of Prisms, Archaeomancers and Oracles turns Flicker into a makeshift Draw 2. Then I added another 2, thus I'm sitting at 62 card but don't know what to cut. Perhaps the Excludes? Although they're a really powerful card.
Since I have the prisms I cut two Citadels for two Fountains in order to gain life faster and with less tempo loss after bouncing, unlike Cliffs which enter tapped and only provide 1 life. If Prisms provide enough fixing, I'll probably cut an Island for a second Citadel.
I had completely forgotten that Burst Lightning existed, so I'll start running some copies of it in order to still have that oomph in case I need to finish with burn. Compulsive Research and Capsize aren't the best kill spells IMO since they can be run in a dedicated mono Blue combo deck. I think we should play to the strengths the Red splash brings to the table, which are one CMC removal that doubles as a plan B wincon.
Harvest Pyre is an interesting card, I'll have to test how much can I consistently exile 5+ cards to justify running it over some Flame Slash. I'm going to go with 1-of at first. and test from there.
About counterspells, maybe it's time I cut the Exclude, although they feel very powerful when cast. They negate high impact enemy threats like Gary, Mulldrifter, Fangren Marauder or Gurmag Angler without us losing card advantage, and it also digs a little to help find combo pieces. I don't agree about Deprive though, they're good as 2-3 of as Counterspells 5-7. The "disadvantage" of bouncing a land becomes an advantage, especially against Aggro decks by bouncing lifegain lands, and once you're at 5+ mana you can combo anyways regardless of a bounce. I'll trim down to 2 though and fit one Dispel while I look on about what to cut for the second one.
The deck feels more and more powerful every time I downgrade the curve a bit. Churning out 1 CMC removals and 2 CMC unconditional counterspells while gaining life from the manabase really makes some work, and having so much draw makes me able to dig for combo pieces or answers. Archaeomancer continues to be fantastic even when played outside the combo: retrieving a removal or a counterspell is a pretty big advantage once you have been drowning your opponent in cards the first few turns. Once I cut something for the second Dispel and EMA hits the shelves, I'll probably start taking this list to tournaments as my control deck of choice.
I've been finding Harvest Pyre and Dispel a bit less than stellar, so I decided to replace them with something else. I replaced Pyre with Capsize as a necessary evil to deal with Gurmag Angler with Pyre gone, and as a plan B wincon (bounce their board, swing with Drake, finish with Burn, the last two steps now becoming plan C when done on their own).
The deck is starting to perform much, much better. You want lots of 1 CMC removal and a moderate number of 2 CMC counterspells. Cards that accumulate value over time like Archaeomancer, Exclude, Sea Gate Oracle and Think Twice are the second part of the plan. You counter and burn their things, slowly accrue card advantage playing these cards over time, and then combo off. The deck also commands absolute respect on turn 5 onwards by forcing the opponent to keep counter or instant speed removal mana open at all times, because if they so much as tap out, I can drop Drake, untap, play Flicker and bounce Drake and a land to make +3 mana, drop Archaeomancer recovering flicker, and win on the spot. I've lost very few of the games I've played with this list, and those that I did were only to other Drake lists. To my surprise, the Mystical Teachings version of the deck (a normal Teachings list which incorporates the combo finisher) is way slower than us, which we can turn to our advantage by trying to combo out as fast as possible or simply by trying to burn them out.
This is probably the Control deck I'm going to play competitively this season. I don't see any reasons about why should I play other Control decks like MBC or Kuldotha when I can simply play Izzet Drake or Teachings Drake and have an insane win percentage. The lifegain and the plethora of 1 CMC removal and Counters make aggro matchups a cake walk, and the combo finish pressure traditional control decks like MBC or Kuldotha to win fast or die trying. Tron is the only matchup that can give trouble because we don't have any answers to Fangren Marauder or Ulamog's Crusher, but then again we have Capsize, Rolling Thunder and Counterspells as answers against them, and we could always overload on Harvest Pyres if we expect a lot of Tron.
I gave your list a try, Zephyr. I like it! How does it do on faster aggro decks, though? It takes a while for this deck to get set up, but once it hits its curve, it's insanely good.
EDIT: Also, how does it deal with Bogles/Hexproof? I just got completely decimated by that.
I gave your list a try, Zephyr. I like it! How does it do on faster aggro decks, though? It takes a while for this deck to get set up, but once it hits its curve, it's insanely good.
EDIT: Also, how does it deal with Bogles/Hexproof? I just got completely decimated by that.
To be honest you pretty much just hope to dodge hexproof. Red/Blue has no real way to deal with it so even in the sideboard you are kind of screwed. From what I've been able to find your options are to outrace them, splash green for something like fog/disenchant, or have something like Force Spike to try and force as much interaction as possible while they are limited on mana and you try to race.
I'm not sure if I should have made a new thread for it or not, but I figured it would be easiest to keep the Peregrine Drake decks together for the moment.
I've been working on a list based on simply going as fast as possible. With the land enchantments we are able to ramp very quickly and with a fog package we can buy an extra turn a lot of the time. The biggest issue with this route so far is the lack of defense for the combo. I think some amount of the ramp or search should be dispel though the exact ratio is unsure.
If I may ask, what is the win condition for that deck? I like the idea, but I don't feel like there's enough push toward a win aside from very, very slowly pinging them with the Drake, which is vulnerable to removal that you lack counters for.
I feel like if you're going to be running land enchantments, you can get away with running fewer lands and putting in something more. Perhaps some counter spells or some green pump spells?
If I may ask, what is the win condition for that deck? I like the idea, but I don't feel like there's enough push toward a win aside from very, very slowly pinging them with the Drake, which is vulnerable to removal that you lack counters for.
I feel like if you're going to be running land enchantments, you can get away with running fewer lands and putting in something more. Perhaps some counter spells or some green pump spells?
I'm guessing the primary win condition it is infinite mill with Compulsive Research.
You'd need to switch to flickering two walls, at some point.
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Oh, you think the losers' bracket is your ally, but you merely adopted the scrub tier. I was born in it, molded by it. I didn’t 4-0 an FNM until I was already a man; by then, it was nothing to me but an extra pack to sell for store credit!
Oh, I get it. Ghostly Flicker on Peregrine Drake and Mnemonic Wall, bring back Compulsive Research and untap bouncelands/enchanted lands, and repeat?
...I think? You'd have to get both that and the flicker back somehow.
Once you get infinite mana (With wall, ghostly flicker, drake), you can draw your entire deck with Coiling Oracle. From there you can compulsive research with two walls to infinitely mill. The upside is it limits the number of actual dead draws in the deck (since your win con is also a draw spell), but the downside on MTGO is it can take awhile.
The benefits are that the combo are much more resilient to spot removal thanks to both Grim Harvest and Mortuary Mire. Bojuka Bog could also be added for reusable GY hate.
What I'd want to add though, are the 1-of silver bullets that make Teachings actually good. Things like Exclude, Echoing Decay, Wail of the Nim, one or two pieces of catch-all removal like Rend Flesh and an actual fetchable kill spell in Comparative Analysis. It would also help against Boggles since we run 5 edict effects, 3 of which reusable. The playset of Disfigure is totally needed in order to deal with Delver and Stompy though.
4 Peregrine Drake
4 Mulldrifter
3 Mnemonic Wall
2 Sage's Row Denizen
2 Serrated Arrows
Sorcery (4)
4 Ponder
Instant (20)
4 Accumulated Knowledge
4 Counterspell
4 Snap
3 Deprive
3 Ghostly Flicker
2 Exclude
3 Quicksand
18 Island
The deck can also use a little Red or Black splash, since we sacrifice little for a lot of options: in Red we have Burn spells like Lightning Bolt and Galvanic Blast to act as removal while also being a plan B for a Burn win, and a good on it's own finisher in Rolling Thunder, which can act as a board wipe or as a way to finish the game itself. In Black, we have actual removal like Chainer's Edict or Disfigure, and two finishers in Gray Merchant of Asphodel and Consume Spirit. For the moment, I'm more inclined towards the Izzet build due to it's natural resilience and better removal, having an additional angle of attack simply combining Drake and Mulldrifter beats + Burn spells to finish off an opponent packing only Graveyard hate and unprepared for the Burn axis of the deck. Here's a sample decklist:
4 Mnemonic Wall
4 Mulldrifter
4 Peregrine Drake
Artifact (2)
2 Pristine Talisman
Instant (20)
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Galvanic Blast
4 Counterspell
3 Ghostly Flicker
3 Artificer's Epiphany
2 Deprive
4 Ponder
1 Rolling Thunder
Land (21)
4 Swiftwater Cliffs
3 Izzet Boilerworks
2 Radiant Fountain
4 Seat of the Synod
4 Great Furnace
3 Island
1 Mountain
This version is super crammed. It copies the Teachings lifegain engine of gainlands + bouncelands + Talisman + Deprive. I would like to make some changes to this one, like including +1 Talisman, 1-2 Exclude, and 1-2 Serrated Arrows, which are great and synergistic. They can lower an Angler to 4/4 so we can Blast it, or shot a 4/4 down to 3/3 so it gets chumped forever by the Wall. They can also be blinked with Flicker to reset the counters for value when it gets to 0, and turn Blast and Epiphany on more often.
I really think this deck has potential to be the best of the format. After all, Familiars was the best deck before it, and had to devote a lot of spots that could be used to give the deck a more controlling angle into creatures that reduced the actual spells cost.
All help is appreciated.
Thanks to DNC from Heroes of the Plane Studios for the sig
Check my Pauper Cube!
I'm brewing a monoblue list myself. What'cha think? (My local group plays with high tide as legal)
http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/high-drake/
4 Mulldrifter
4 Peregrine Drake
2 Prophetic Prism
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Flame Slash
2 Gigadrowse
3 Ghostly Flicker
2 Desperate Ravings
2 Compulsive Research
2 Dispel
4 Ponder
4 Swiftwater Cliffs
4 Izzet Boilerworks
4 Radiant Fountain
10 Island
2 Mountain
This will be the 60 I'll run at the outset. It seems quite powerful as a combo deck. Bolt/Flame Slash to control the early game, Gigadrowse/Dispel to stop anything the opponent might do. The thing I am still trying to decide is how to split the cantrips and dig. How good Desperate Ravings will be I don't know, but I imagine I should have 4 Preordain somewhere in this mix.
4 Peregrine Drake
4 Sea Gate Oracle
3 Archaeomancer
Sorcery (5)
4 Ponder
1 Rolling Thunder
Instant (22)
4 Counterspell
3 Deprive
2 Exclude
4 Galvanic Blast
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Ghostly Flicker
2 Artificer's Epiphany
4 Great Furnace
4 Seat of the Synod
3 Darksteel Citadel
4 Swiftwater Cliffs
3 Izzet Boilerworks
3 Island
1 Mountain
4 Pyroblast
4 Spreading Seas
3 Gorilla Shaman
2 Electrickery
2 Dispel
Running Darksteel Citadel instead of Radiant Fountain hurts a bit, but Galvanic Blast is very well worth it since I already have Swiftwater Cliffs to go the infinite route. The card can flat out destroy every pauper creature except Gurmag Angler, Fangren Marauder, Guardian of the Guildpact and the Hexproof dudes, and represents 1/5 of damage to the face for 1 mere mana, which helps us combating super aggro decks and maintaining the tempo we lose from gainlands and bouncelands. Early game when Metalcraft is not operative it can still take down a lot of pests like Stompy creatures, Elves, Goblins, and even flipped Delvers. Combined with Lightning Bolt, we have 8 1CMC removal for the majority of the field that doubles as a Burn plan B combined with Drake beats and a huge Rolling Thunder. When we pair this with lifegain and counters, we can simply play a classic counterburn tempo-control game by countering the opponent's threats while burning his face and hitting with the Drake (I've won against burn twice this way), which greatly increases the resilience and versatility of the deck.
Artificer's Epiphany are there as an instant card draw spell for when I don't have anything to counter or burn, and I'd like to go up to three. Seven hard counterspells and turning Deprive's downside into an upside by bouncing gainlands plus Exclude usually put us very far ahead against grindy decks like MBC. Epiphanies cold also be Thoughtcast but for the time being, I've preferred Epiphany's overall consistency with the CMC (which is conveniently the same as Ghostly Flicker) and instant speed.
Alongside the 3rd Epiphany, I'm looking to make room for 2-3 copies of Prophetic Prism, which I can flicker alongside Archaeomancer for value, and which can help with Galvanic Blast so I could trim 1-2 Citadels for Radiant Fountain.
Overall, the deck is a beating: it's a stone-rock solid control deck that plays the classic counterburn game, trading 1 for 1 as aggressively as possible and getting ahead on cards while you assemble the combo, then win out of nowhere with a combo finish or beating down with a free 2/3 flyer + burn.
Thanks to DNC from Heroes of the Plane Studios for the sig
Check my Pauper Cube!
That said, what about Skred with a snow manabase? 4 Cliffs, 3 Boilerworks, 2 Fountains and 13 snow lands. Would it be consistent enough to kill 3-4 toughness guys? I also like how it escalates through the game so early on it's also able to take on X/2s while later becoming an out to Gurmag Angler and Fangren Marauder
Thanks to DNC from Heroes of the Plane Studios for the sig
Check my Pauper Cube!
3 Archaeomancer
4 Peregrine Drake
4 Sea Gate Oracle
Sorcery (9)
4 Ponder
4 Flame Slash
1 Rolling Thunder
Instant (16)
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Counterspell
3 Deprive
2 Exclude
3 Ghostly Flicker
4 Swiftwater Cliffs
3 Izzet Boilerworks
2 Radiant Fountain
8 Island
5 Mountain
4 Pyroblast
4 Spreading Seas
3 Gorilla Shaman
2 Dispel
2 Electrickery
I have 58 cards in the mainboard and I'm currently looking into instant speed draw spells, mainly Accumulated Knowledge. Perhaps I'll slot 2, cut a Flame Slash, and maybe 1 Exclude for the 4th one.
Thanks to DNC from Heroes of the Plane Studios for the sig
Check my Pauper Cube!
3 Peregrine Drake
4 Archaeomancer
4 Sea Gate Oracle
Instant (19)
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Counterspell
3 Deprive
2 Exclude
3 Ghostly Flicker
3 Think Twice
4 Preordain
3 Flame Slash
1 Rolling Thunder
Land (22)
4 Swiftwater Cliffs
3 Izzet Boilerworks
2 Radiant Fountain
8 Island
5 Mountain
Really thinking of going back to Galvanic Blasts, since LITERALLY every match I've played since Saturday involved Peregrine Drake shenanigans except for a weird Delver deck, so no one is rocking out Gorilla Shaman, and I find it unlikely until the Drake hype has died or the deck is banned. Darksteel Citadel can't be destroyed anyways, and the Shaman dies even to unboosted Blast and all counterspells and Bolts. I don't think it destroying a land or two would be a problem, and I have 1 CMC answers for it anyways.
Thanks to DNC from Heroes of the Plane Studios for the sig
Check my Pauper Cube!
4 Archaeomancer
4 Sea Gate Oracle
3 Peregrine Drake
Artifact (4)
4 Prophetic Prism
Instant (20)
4 Counterspell
3 Deprive
2 Exclude
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Galvanic Blast
3 Ghostly Flicker
4 Preordain
1 Rolling Thunder
Land (22)
4 Swiftwater Cliffs
3 Izzet Boilerworks
4 Seat of the Synod
4 Island
4 Great Furnace
1 Darksteel Citadel
2 Radiant Fountain
I replaced the Epiphanies for Prisms because as I said Flickering any combination of Prisms, Archaeomancers and Oracles turns Flicker into a makeshift Draw 2. Then I added another 2, thus I'm sitting at 62 card but don't know what to cut. Perhaps the Excludes? Although they're a really powerful card.
Since I have the prisms I cut two Citadels for two Fountains in order to gain life faster and with less tempo loss after bouncing, unlike Cliffs which enter tapped and only provide 1 life. If Prisms provide enough fixing, I'll probably cut an Island for a second Citadel.
Thanks to DNC from Heroes of the Plane Studios for the sig
Check my Pauper Cube!
Electrostatic Bolt is a meh card since it can't hit players unlike Firebolt and it's only 4 toughness targets are Spire Golem and Myr Enforcer, leaving out Gray Merchant of Asphodel, Mnemonic Wall, Carapace Forger, Hooting Mandrills, the possibility of 2-for-1'ing Atog and other rogue X/4's such as Werebear, Putrid Leech, Horned Kavu and Moldgraf Scavenger. I think I'll stick to a mix of Flame Slash and Burst Lightning, which kills every little pest early game and stays relevant later thanks to kicker and can go to the face.
Harvest Pyre is an interesting card, I'll have to test how much can I consistently exile 5+ cards to justify running it over some Flame Slash. I'm going to go with 1-of at first. and test from there.
About counterspells, maybe it's time I cut the Exclude, although they feel very powerful when cast. They negate high impact enemy threats like Gary, Mulldrifter, Fangren Marauder or Gurmag Angler without us losing card advantage, and it also digs a little to help find combo pieces. I don't agree about Deprive though, they're good as 2-3 of as Counterspells 5-7. The "disadvantage" of bouncing a land becomes an advantage, especially against Aggro decks by bouncing lifegain lands, and once you're at 5+ mana you can combo anyways regardless of a bounce. I'll trim down to 2 though and fit one Dispel while I look on about what to cut for the second one.
Here's the list after the changes:
4 Archaeomancer
3 Peregrine Drake
4 Sea Gate Oracle
Instant (20)
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Burst Lightning
1 Harvest Pyre
4 Counterspell
2 Deprive
1 Dispel
2 Ghostly Flicker
3 Think Twice
4 Preordain
2 Flame Slash
1 Rolling Thunder
Land (22)
4 Swiftwater Cliffs
3 Izzet Boilerworks
2 Radiant Fountain
8 Island
5 Mountain
The deck feels more and more powerful every time I downgrade the curve a bit. Churning out 1 CMC removals and 2 CMC unconditional counterspells while gaining life from the manabase really makes some work, and having so much draw makes me able to dig for combo pieces or answers. Archaeomancer continues to be fantastic even when played outside the combo: retrieving a removal or a counterspell is a pretty big advantage once you have been drowning your opponent in cards the first few turns. Once I cut something for the second Dispel and EMA hits the shelves, I'll probably start taking this list to tournaments as my control deck of choice.
Thanks to DNC from Heroes of the Plane Studios for the sig
Check my Pauper Cube!
4 Urza's Tower
4 Urza's Power Plant
4 Urza's Mine
1 Haunted Fengraf
9 Island
4 Expedition Map
4 Prophetic Prism
3 Serrated Arrows
Sorcery (8)
4 Ponder
4 Preordain
4 Mnemnonic Wall
4 Mulldrifter
3 Peregrine Drake
1 Ulamog's Crusher
Instant (7)
4 Condescend
2 Ghostly Flicker
1 Capsize
Thanks to DNC from Heroes of the Plane Studios for the sig
Check my Pauper Cube!
The deck is starting to perform much, much better. You want lots of 1 CMC removal and a moderate number of 2 CMC counterspells. Cards that accumulate value over time like Archaeomancer, Exclude, Sea Gate Oracle and Think Twice are the second part of the plan. You counter and burn their things, slowly accrue card advantage playing these cards over time, and then combo off. The deck also commands absolute respect on turn 5 onwards by forcing the opponent to keep counter or instant speed removal mana open at all times, because if they so much as tap out, I can drop Drake, untap, play Flicker and bounce Drake and a land to make +3 mana, drop Archaeomancer recovering flicker, and win on the spot. I've lost very few of the games I've played with this list, and those that I did were only to other Drake lists. To my surprise, the Mystical Teachings version of the deck (a normal Teachings list which incorporates the combo finisher) is way slower than us, which we can turn to our advantage by trying to combo out as fast as possible or simply by trying to burn them out.
For references, here's the list I'm running:
4 Archaeomancer
4 Sea Gate Oracle
3 Peregrine Drake
Instant (20)
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Burst Lightning
4 Counterspell
2 Deprive
1 Exclude
3 Think Twice
2 Ghostly Flicker
1 Capsize
4 Preordain
2 Flame Slash
1 Rolling Thunder
Land (22)
4 Swiftwater Cliffs
3 Izzet Boilerworks
2 Radiant Fountain
8 Island
5 Mountain
4 Spreading Seas
4 Pyroblast
3 Dispel
2 Electrickery
2 Gorilla Shaman
This is probably the Control deck I'm going to play competitively this season. I don't see any reasons about why should I play other Control decks like MBC or Kuldotha when I can simply play Izzet Drake or Teachings Drake and have an insane win percentage. The lifegain and the plethora of 1 CMC removal and Counters make aggro matchups a cake walk, and the combo finish pressure traditional control decks like MBC or Kuldotha to win fast or die trying. Tron is the only matchup that can give trouble because we don't have any answers to Fangren Marauder or Ulamog's Crusher, but then again we have Capsize, Rolling Thunder and Counterspells as answers against them, and we could always overload on Harvest Pyres if we expect a lot of Tron.
Thanks to DNC from Heroes of the Plane Studios for the sig
Check my Pauper Cube!
EDIT: Also, how does it deal with Bogles/Hexproof? I just got completely decimated by that.
WB Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim | WBR Queen Marchesa | WUBR Breya, Etherium Shaper
Modern:
/ Death and Taxes | W/ Soul Sisters | Spirits | U Faeries | Tempered Steel Affinity
To be honest you pretty much just hope to dodge hexproof. Red/Blue has no real way to deal with it so even in the sideboard you are kind of screwed. From what I've been able to find your options are to outrace them, splash green for something like fog/disenchant, or have something like Force Spike to try and force as much interaction as possible while they are limited on mana and you try to race.
4 Sheltered Aerie
4 Coiling Oracle
3 Arbor Elf
4 Preordain
4 Ghostly Flicker
4 Peregrine Drake
3 Mnemonic Wall
3 Moment's Peace
3 Compulsive Research
4 Simic Growth Chamber
10 Forest
10 Island
I'm not sure if I should have made a new thread for it or not, but I figured it would be easiest to keep the Peregrine Drake decks together for the moment.
I've been working on a list based on simply going as fast as possible. With the land enchantments we are able to ramp very quickly and with a fog package we can buy an extra turn a lot of the time. The biggest issue with this route so far is the lack of defense for the combo. I think some amount of the ramp or search should be dispel though the exact ratio is unsure.
I feel like if you're going to be running land enchantments, you can get away with running fewer lands and putting in something more. Perhaps some counter spells or some green pump spells?
WB Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim | WBR Queen Marchesa | WUBR Breya, Etherium Shaper
Modern:
/ Death and Taxes | W/ Soul Sisters | Spirits | U Faeries | Tempered Steel Affinity
...I think? You'd have to get both that and the flicker back somehow.
WB Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim | WBR Queen Marchesa | WUBR Breya, Etherium Shaper
Modern:
/ Death and Taxes | W/ Soul Sisters | Spirits | U Faeries | Tempered Steel Affinity
Once you get infinite mana (With wall, ghostly flicker, drake), you can draw your entire deck with Coiling Oracle. From there you can compulsive research with two walls to infinitely mill. The upside is it limits the number of actual dead draws in the deck (since your win con is also a draw spell), but the downside on MTGO is it can take awhile.
WB Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim | WBR Queen Marchesa | WUBR Breya, Etherium Shaper
Modern:
/ Death and Taxes | W/ Soul Sisters | Spirits | U Faeries | Tempered Steel Affinity
3 Archaeomancer
2 Peregrine Drake
4 Sea Gate Oracle
Sorcery (7)
4 Preordain
3 Chainer's Edict
Instant (22)
3 Mystical Teachings
4 Counterspell
4 Accumulated Knowledge
4 Disfigure
2 Diabolic Edict
2 Deprive
1 Capsize
1 Grim Harvest
1 Ghostly Flicker
4 Dismal Backwater
3 Dimir Aqueduct
1 Mortuary Mire
2 Radiant Fountain
8 Island
4 Swamp
The benefits are that the combo are much more resilient to spot removal thanks to both Grim Harvest and Mortuary Mire. Bojuka Bog could also be added for reusable GY hate.
What I'd want to add though, are the 1-of silver bullets that make Teachings actually good. Things like Exclude, Echoing Decay, Wail of the Nim, one or two pieces of catch-all removal like Rend Flesh and an actual fetchable kill spell in Comparative Analysis. It would also help against Boggles since we run 5 edict effects, 3 of which reusable. The playset of Disfigure is totally needed in order to deal with Delver and Stompy though.
Thanks to DNC from Heroes of the Plane Studios for the sig
Check my Pauper Cube!