MTG Salvation

Tested today vs Abzan Reanimator. Got crushed with Esper, and it wasn't close. Buying back Duress or removal , or a whip, gets them ahead via card advantage. I'm lucky to not have spent too much on getting Ojutai, so it doesn't hurt the wallet at all. I'm going back to my old list with some revisions:



I had this list ready as soon as Dragons of Tarkir was released but I tried some of the Dragon Builds first. Every opponent I've played has said they're not worried about the Esper Match up anymore. Buying back cards that were countered is a thing right now. I think a Sullivan style list is actually more powerful and does have the "inevitability clause" on. I'm running Anticipate as a 2 of to smooth out the mana curve. Trying Silence the Believer's MB to up exile effects. Looks and feels better even testing already. Maybe this is just m style (grindy matches) but I feel like I can reset the board better and buy myself time to sculpt my hand draw via Ashiok. Liliana can tutor or be the last nail in the coffin via Disrutpion, and Ugin is just well...a house. PLA is hard to remove and I actually miss the life gain from returning Radiant Fountain's to my hand. Potential life gain and hand bluffing was always good.

Quote from 2k5lexi »

You are losing to any resolved raptor. Thats not a good plan dude. Force at least one utter end main and swap dissolve for dissipates. And i cant see why you would ever cut on heroes downfalls. 3 thoughtseizes main seems like a meta call that gets punished badly.
Just my 2 cents. like your list overall though

One resolved Raptor is not the end of the world; it is still manageable. A resolved Ashiok on my side is a much bigger blow to them than a resolved Raptor on their side is to me. An Utter End would be nice but as we all know the mana base doesn't favour such an inclusion. Going with more white sources is a possibility but I wouldn't be comfortable doing so since it would slow down my early game some.

I still don't understand why some people don't like running 3-4 Thoughtseize in the main. The card gives you information and allows you to pick off something that you might have had difficulty dealing with otherwise or simply a big threat. There's really nothing else like it and often the 2 life you had to pay will win you the game. The only match ups I side them out for are RDW/Atarka Red and I haven't been seeing many of those at all at my LGS these past few weeks.

3 Downfall is good. There aren't many walkers out there right now - at least not where I'm playing.

Killax I had pondered on adding Dissipate, but I was iffy on losing top deck manipulation. I'm considering cutting PLA from the starting 60 and going 3 Ashiok, but that's risky, I think 1 creature is right. I'm going to test it anyway. There is reason to add a 3 crux over Ultimate Price, resetting the board in time to stabilize is important.

The real issue is Den Protector and Siege Rhino + the value Abzan cards give over time. It's taken me a while to remember what it was like playing in the 90's and early 2000. Now I remember and there was a reason Regrowth was restricted in Vintage. Standard is not Vintage, but sticking regrowth on a card that can return itself is a little stupid. Now...what I have seen happen in my matches is:

I counter Rhino (They have Courser out, and are usually curving out to this by T4) (If you don't that is 9 damage coming at you, with a possible 15 in 2 turns this is red zone. If I have a Crux in hand I might let this resolve but this is a tough spot, PLUS is they've gotten early damage in this is lethal in 2 turns)
They cast Den Protector next Turn
I remove Den Protector
They Cast Lion
I Counter or Remove Lion on Sight
they Cast Den Protector and rebuy Den Protector
They Cast more Rhinos and

There comes a point where you run out of counters and Removal. There comes a point where you have actually stopped as lot from getting on the board but Rhinos enter the battlefield and deal 3 damage to you. Over time, that can equal= 12. Over time that can go over 12 if they get Tasigur out and force you to return a Rhino.

Regrowth on legs was a mistake imo. It being cast as a Morph also means is blankets multiple targets from Bile Blight, it means they can just bait removal and counters out at will. It's not surprise that not 1 Esper deck made the top 8 at my local PPQ, and has failed this week to in the last Grand Prix Paris. There is also the issue of 12 enter the board tap lands. In talking with the level 2 Judge yesterday he said

"There were a bunch of Esper decks...and you know what happened? Their 5th land was a tap land and failed to Crux in time to stabilize."

Some missed breakers but the verdict is, the deck is too slow to keep up. This is my opinion though and my meta is very competitive (it adjusts every week, and a lot of players are Starcity games or CFB or even here getting info). Abzan is king and that's not going to change. I refuse to play green lol I have piloted abzan is stupid how good that deck is. If I ran Abzan...I'd rock it week after week because that deck (and most if it's variants) offer so many ways to win, your options are huge, from Planeswalkers to, Reanimator, to Control, Midrange flavors, the core of the deck is Rhinos, Courser, Charm, Downfall's, and a walker of preference (Chose your poison, they have access to the best ones ATM).

So...if control is going to adapt it might be right to main Dissipate over Dissolve or maybe MB both. Scorn was "off" a lot in my Esper games and it was pretty sub-par. When it was on, great! But if there's going to be a U/B dragon deck going forward it's mana base has to be worked out and Exile Effects improved on.

I'm a big fan of Ojutai, but he's not as good as people hyped the card to be. Players do not side out removal, and when you can buy back cards they get ahead, and 1 Dragon vs a siege of Rhinos isn't enough. There is Very little Graveyard hate in standard, and that's huge.

Quote from racerxen »

Killax I had pondered on adding Dissipate, but I was iffy on losing top deck manipulation. I'm considering cutting PLA from the starting 60 and going 3 Ashiok, but that's risky, I think 1 creature is right. I'm going to test it anyway. There is reason to add a 3 crux over Ultimate Price, resetting the board in time to stabilize is important.

I don't think PLA is necessary in the main. I've yet to play a game where I ran out of wincons while running a 3x Ashiok, 1x Ugin configuration.

I'm not wild about Crux of Fate in the non-dragon decks. It's a mediocre wrath when you're not using it as a Plague Wind. I like 3x Perilous Vault, 1x Ætherspouts personally.

I'll drop PLA to the SB and add in a Dissipate MB, I think Crux can be good if you need a quick reset button at 5cmc. Usually Vault is really slow and has to be fired off in two turns. Unless you're casting it late which be that time you're just cleaning up their threats and exiling their most troublesome permanents. I think the idea of 3 Ashiok actually and might go this route jar75. There might be reason Killax to split the Counters at 3cmc, between Dissolve and Dissipate, maybe 2 of each and 2 in the SB. Point is to have more exile effects. I've been testing it, it's working for me, going to take it to FNM and see how it runs in a tournament setting.

I should say, I don't think Esper dragons is a bad deck, in fact me buying my 3rd Ojutai and getting stupidly excited to run the card in my Dragons build made me feel like a kid again. My fav creature was Sengir Vampire, and Dragonlord Ojutai was getting pretty close to that feeling lol. However, running the deck and getting crushed a few games made me rethink about the deck's current position in my meta.
I should also say, that I ran in a highly competitive store and still placed 5th out of 11. I was 2-0 going into round 3, and lost my last 2 matches, but those matches were blow outs. It had nothing to do with my own skill at that point, but with their draws being stupidly good. I was Duressed 3 times, and TS 2, and Instand Duress via Mardu Charm all in 1 game. So...being left with a Caves of Koilos felt a little under powered. I have my U/B control set up, but I'll try Esper again next week. I haven't lost to an Esper deck all but 2x since it became popular, and that loss was due to decking, and stumbling on my own land drops in 1 game. I'm remembering how to play control (the rust was and is still real, 7-10 years of an absence is long!) so grindy matches are my fav style of play.

Something has to be done about Esper's Mana base, if 2 Urborg is the answer then I'll try your mana base Killax. Also...in my play testing with the deck, Abzan reanimator is very very very hard, infact that might be as bad as the Mardu Match up.

Anyone try pristine skywise in there I'm running 3 and it's amazing. Swing their turn cast I counter to untapped and protection from whatever

Haven't tried that card Painter, but i'm not sure it's that much better than Ojutai himself? What's your game play like with the card? Match ups where it's been useful or your MVP? Just asking because if it is good, I'd liek to read about.

Guy/Gals, Tasigur, the Golden Fang seems like he could give U/B Dragons, Esper, and Straight up control so much card advantages in the long run. Have you all tried running him? How's it worked out? Good? Bad? Meh? When I see Abzan players activate his ability I always feel like he'd be better suited in a control deck like ours. I see decks running him in the SB as a 2 of, but when are you bringing him in? I can see his value in the control mirror, but not sure where else, Midrange? Vs aggro I can see him being a 4/5 Body that block everything.

I run pristine and ojutai with sulimgar. I run more dragons to turn on scorn and foul tongue earlier. I found through play testing (with my meta) opening hand I need one dragon . 3 pristine 3 ojutai 2 sulimgar . In mirror of they have ojutai and swing I just bile blight my pristine at worst case to untapped after attack by my part to protect against let's say white block to kill her mine stays then swing again

I feel like pristine is under rated and really not expected.i usually cast it on t8 to make sure I have something to cast to give it protection and untapped after sideways. I found it works extremely well. Due to my meta is pretty cocky and only runs top 8 decks I find a all round way to win. Runs good in my play test vs everything pretty much. Only thing I have problem with is den to death mist to Phoenix builds but I just side IN VAULT AND Utter end or whatever I find a way. 3-1 is the worst I've done and that's since I've move from true b/u to b/u/w about 3 weeks ago. I can honestly say I am not ashamed for moving and I was only b/u for life

Quote from racerxen »

Haven't tried that card Painter, but i'm not sure it's that much better than Ojutai himself? What's your game play like with the card? Match ups where it's been useful or your MVP? Just asking because if it is good, I'd liek to read about.

Guy/Gals, Tasigur, the Golden Fang seems like he could give U/B Dragons, Esper, and Straight up control so much card advantages in the long run. Have you all tried running him? How's it worked out? Good? Bad? Meh? When I see Abzan players activate his ability I always feel like he'd be better suited in a control deck like ours. I see decks running him in the SB as a 2 of, but when are you bringing him in? I can see his value in the control mirror, but not sure where else, Midrange? Vs aggro I can see him being a 4/5 Body that block everything.

I bring Tasigur in for almost every matchup. He turns on too much of your opponents removal to be maindeck, but he's great out of the sideboard.

Hi guys. I used to play the Shouta Yasooka U/B Dragons list and dabbled in Esper a little bit but found the lists lacking primarily because your few win conditions were so often targets for opponents' removal or edict effects (Foul Tongues, Crackling Doom, etc).

So I've been experimenting with U/B Dragons, but instead playing creatures instead of removal spells and counters. The idea being - turn the deck more into an aggro-control deck rather than a pure control build. This does two things: a.) enables you to take the active role in matchups vs. other control decks and win the game rather than play draw-go for 20 turns and b.) your little creatures soak up removal that would otherwise be used on your dragons, and things like Foul-Tongue are useless against you, and Crackling Doom is supoptimal too.




So this deck plays out alot like U/B except that you use smaller creatures (instead of situational removal like Bile Blight / Crux) to bridge to the late-game.

So basically speaking, the idea behind this list is to take out 1-for-1 removal spells for Hand of Silumgar and Stratus Dancer. Hand of Silumgar is essentially a removal spell on legs because, having deathtouch, he can essentially trade 1-for-1 with any attacking creature that doesn't have flying. The upside to Hand over, say, Bile Blight, is that in board states where you have to take a more active role (say, vs. another control deck), he can present a clock whereas a Bile Blight might just rot in your hand if it doesn't have a target.

Stratus Dancers similarly provide extra value as attackers and blockers in addition to being Negates on legs. Often times if you can play a Dancer early on as a morph, you have insurance vs. a later Thoughtseize, or Crackling Doom, or Hero's Downfall that would otherwise ruin your plans to land an Icefall Regent or Dragonlord Silumgar.

In this deck Icefall Regent is stronger than Dragonlord Ojutai because the deck is simply trying to 1-for-1 the opponent and out-tempo him rather than establish a hard control lock. By tapping enough guys and potentially doing some damage with Hands and Dancers, the can simply win in situations where other control decks would have to continue to try to grind the game out.

Playing 4 Thoughtseize and 8 Fetchlands, not having to play any BB spells MD, and not having to play the U/W tapland means the manabase is much smoother and more reliable, AND Dig Through Time is much more powerful in this deck because the graveyard fills up faster.

4 Foul-Tongue is just great even if it doesn't always get their best creature, because essentially you are paying 3 mana for 1-for-1 card parity and a 4 life buffer that lets you cast more Thoughtseizes or survive for another turn against an attack. Gaining life in this kind of deck is really nice.

In testing, both the Esper Dragons and Abzan matchups have been very positive. Mono Red and Atarka Red feel slightly unfavorable in game 1, but with 4 Ultimate Price, 4 Foul-Tongue, and Drown and Jorubai post-board they seem to be manageable. Other matchups are pretty positive as well, such as G/W Devotion and Mardu Dragons. The only matchup I've struggled with in testing so far has been aggressive Jeskai decks with Mantis Rider, Seeker of the Way, and lots of burn. Mantis Rider is hard to deal with and they just have too much reach.

Overall, the deck feels well positioned and quite powerful, and provides a better way to play Dragons without having to expose yourself to too much of the dedicated hate that people play for Dragons decks (Self-Inflicted Wound, Crackling Doom, and Foul-Tongue Invocation).

MTG Fan, have you tested this deck yet? results? I'm always to reading about results, but this just seems way unpowered compared other Midrange strategies. Our 2 drops (B/U) are no where near as powerful as Abzan or any other color. The 3 drops is a morph, while it enter as a 2 drop it then loses it's purpose.

Not sure man, not convinced but convince us, or me to try it, it looks not as powerful.

Also you have not 1 4 drop spells or play, most Midrange decks have sick 3-4 drops to work with that pressure control and other arch types in the format. There's no Sweeper either I'm not seeing how this is supposed to play out. Hopefully you have some data for us to read. If phyrexian obliterator were in standard then maybe...but it's not.

Quote from racerxen »

MTG Fan, have you tested this deck yet? results? I'm always to reading about results, but this just seems way unpowered compared other Midrange strategies. Our 2 drops (B/U) are no where near as powerful as Abzan or any other color. The 3 drops is a morph, while it enter as a 2 drop it then loses it's purpose.

Not sure man, not convinced but convince us, or me to try it, it looks not as powerful.

Also you have not 1 4 drop spells or play, most Midrange decks have sick 3-4 drops to work with that pressure control and other arch types in the format. There's no Sweeper either I'm not seeing how this is supposed to play out. Hopefully you have some data for us to read. If phyrexian obliterator were in standard then maybe...but it's not.

Hand of Silumgar is basically a removal spell on legs. In fact, in most matchups, it's actively *better* than having a Bile Blight or Ultimate Price. It stalls the board because opponents don't want to attack into it. And in games vs. control opponent where you don't need to block, it can provide a clock that Bile Blight or Ultimate Price otherwise would not be able to.

Stratus Dancer is just pure value in this format. Everybody plays instants and sorcereries, and often very powerful ones. If you can play Dancer for 3 early, it provides 1U insurance against Abzan Charms, Thoughtseizes, Commands, Collected Company, Draconic Roar, Crackling Doom, Dig Through Time and the like. And if you snag any of these spells with the dancer, you get a 3/2 flier, which is just amazing value - to counter a spell and get a 3/2 flier.

Quote from Killax »

MTG-Fan, Im liking the thought process here altough I do feel that UB Dragon's isn't the correct set of colours if you want to attempt something like an Aggro-Control build, or perhaps better said, Midgame-Control (in a way like Temur).

The main reasons why I would advice against this strategy is while you do have a bigger threat count and nice maindeck against UBw Control (mainly because of Stratus Dancer) you also have a very low quantity of removal cards who are needed to deal with the Green recursion engine that is becomming a much more common sight throughout many different decks.

My personal (unsalted) opinion about the cards included:

- Thoughtseize, Invocation, Scorn and DTT are all fanatastic cards. It will not be unlikely that your DTTs will see some early play.
- Hand of Silumgar and Stratus Dancer however are NOT basicly the same as "Removal" and "Counterspell". While this might seem so against specific decks who run low on creatures I think it's a common mistake to see a 2/1 with Deathtouch as a real issue and Stratus Dancer unfortunatly ins't a Negate when flipped up but only deals with Instants and Sorcery's. Both are good against Control to some degree but both are almost useless against Aggro and Midgame decks who either stomp through these creatures or see them as even working in their favour (because early game playing these creatures will mean no Silumgar's Scorn to mess with powerfull opponent plays). Removing these type of cards is never an real issue for either Aggro or Midgame.
- Icefall Regent, Silumgar, the Drifting Deatha and Dragonlord Silumgar are all cool cards but again are not really made for a race or even a great Midgame plan. Mainly because Icefall Regent still can get removed, Silumgar DD still only does 3 damage and there is nothing that stops your opponent from dealing with Dragonlord Silumgar if you tap out for it.

So my personal verdict would be to actually go Red Blue (maby add White) instead.

This verdict is based on the following Dragons who race exceptionally well and the spells who work exceptionally well with these Dragons (to protect them or generally punch out your opponent in a incredibly fast way).

- Stormbreath Dragon hasty clock that can finish the game when the deck contains another fair number of 'bolts'
- Thunderbreak Regent the Siege-Rhino of tomorrow
- Draconic Roar additional Lightning Strikes are always good when you also like Dragons and Silumgar's Scorn
- Valorous Stance the biggest benifit of these Dragons is that they are immume to Bile Blight by themselves, meaning only Ultimate Price and Hero's Downfall generally are able to deal with your Dragons. Additionally this card deals with opposing Dragons aswell
- Stubborn Denial Negate's for U work if you add up the Dragon count more and more
- Crater's Claws are an incredible game finisher for an Aggro/Midgame-Control deck

So generally I'd say if you are willing to try something else, build a Jeskai control deck. There honestly is very little stopping you going that way and it does seem that it's more viable and more potent in terms of pool and creatures that work well in a Aggro/Midgame-Control strategy.

PS UB generally speaking isn't the colours who support any form of Aggro-Control. The only real exception where Faeries mainly due to Bitterblossom.
UR/UW on the other hand often support aggro-control plans incredibly well. But that is something for another topic

The beautiful thing about playing Dragons like Icefall Regent and Dragonlord Silumgar is that you *don't* need to lock them down to win the game. That's one of the problems U/B Control and Esper Dragons runs into vs. recursion engines - it can't lock them down. All my build wants to do is just tap them down or steal them long enough to fly over for the win. I've beaten many Deathmist Raptor decks this way - you just win before they do.

I think you're totally wrong about Hand of Silumgar and Stratus Dancer. You really have to test these cards to see what an impact they make on the board state. Abzan either doesnt' attack into Hand, or attacks into it and loses one of their guys, fills your graveyard for Dig, and is set back in tempo. Stratus Dancer is a little like Spellstutter Sprite or Vendilion Clique in that it disrupts the opponent while also providing a valuable flying attacker/blocker.

And think about what you said regarding the green recusion engines... you need removal to deal with them? That's precisely why those engines are good, because spending 1-for-1 removal on Deathmist Raptors or Den Protectors plays right into their strategy and creates card advantage for them. Instead of just spending removal spells on their guys, you should be looking to out-tempo them or remove their guys while generating value in the process.

Again, one of the great things about this build is that tapping out for Icefalls and Dragonlord Silumgar is really easy to do, because you play 4 Thoughtseize, and soak up removal with other creatures, or provide a 1U answer to removal in Stratus Dancer. And you play lots of dragons, so even if one eats removal, you have more.

I think you have to test this deck to really see it work. So far for me in testing it's been stronger than both traditional U/B Control and Esper Dragons... the only bad matchups it seems to have are Jeskai decks with Mantis Riders.

Quote from Killax »

[quote from="MTG-Fan »" url="http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/standard-type-2/competitive/proven-standard/573595-u-b-x-pure-control?comment=2073"]
Comming from the Yasooka build myself, while I like it (and Icefall Regent) the downside is that the clock it represents isn't half as impressive as Ojutai's for example. This is mainly true do to the fact it doesn't awnser issues, it just stops them (for a while at best).

Unless your Midgame (note I do not only say Abzan while I am saying Midrange) opponent 'acts a fool' and attacks into Hand of Silumgar, it is much more likely for them to actually deal with this in a different way (mainly tokens) or you not having the card from turn 2 and on. My biggest issue with the card however is that not only versus Midgame it hopefully works, it does absolutely nothing against Token decks or decks who can include Valorous Stance or other red burn/removal. Abzan arguably is the match up UBw Dragons was build to awnser.

Here's how this plays out:

1. You play Hand of Silumgar
2. Opponent has some number of big threats in play, or maybe 2-3.
3. He has three choices: attack with one or more guys *into* Hand of Silumgar and surely lose one of them, or hold back and not attack, or use removal spells on Hand of Silumgar. All three outcomes are favorable for the U/B player because:
- Attacking into Hand of Silumgar essentially turns Hand into a 1B removal spell.
- Holding back and not attacking into Hand makes opponent lose tempo and lets you trasition into your superior late-game.
- Spending a removal spell on Hand of Silumgar eliminates a removal spell that might otherwise be used on one of your Icefall Regents or Dragonlord Silumgars, which strengthens your late-game.

The only decks that can really deal with Hand profitably are ones that can fly over it with early threats. The only deck that can really do that is Jeskai with Mantis Riders. All other decks in the format either depend on non-flying early threats, or flying threats that only come down later in the game (i.e. Dragons).

]
Stratus Dancer is also very, very, very far from Spellstutter Sprite or Clique... I can only suggest you play those cards before comparing them to a creature that needs to be faced down (cost 3) and Megamorph (cost total 5) to stop an Instant OR Sorcery. Again creatures or planeswalkers are not stopped by it...

I've played with these cards many times in the past and top8ed many tournaments in Standard, Modern, Legacy, and Vintage using these creatures, especially Vendilion Clique. While Clique is arguably one of the best blue creatures ever printed and holds its own in every single format, Stratus Dancer is very similar in spirit, if not quite at that level of power. But then again, this is *Standard* we are talking about, which is the weakest of the four major constructed formats, so even a creature *similar in spirit to Clique* but weaker is still very strong in a low-power format like Standard.

While you can aim to out tempo them with Abzan, Jeskai, Temur and Mardu I can say your doing a horrible job if your trying to out tempo them with 3 5 Drops and 4 6 Drops who all have ATK under 5...

It's not about their power, it's about their ETB abilities and the value you generate. 3UU for a 4/3 flier isn't spectacular but 3UU for a 4/3 flier that essentially acts as a removal spell is quite good by Type 2 power levels. It's a great tempo play in this format. 3 for a 2/2 and 1U for a 3/2 flier that counters a sorcery or instant is also a great tempo play by Standard power level standards.

My issue with this UB variant you made is not Thoughtseize but rather the lack of good follow ups.
With Hand of Silumgar being an alternative wall or Stratus Dancer being the alternative follow up you create a tap-out control deck that does not interract with what your opponent is doing whatso ever. The biggest downside of this is that your opponent additionally is free to play what ever he wants, able to punish you with Thoughtseizes of their own, better follow ups (Fleecemane Lion, Rashaka Deathdealer, Goblin Rabblemaster and more) and a stronger overall plan in terms of 4-5 drops when compared to Icefall Regent and Silumgar's.

All these creatures are taken care of by Hand, Foul-Tongue, and Icefall... and then you play your draw spells (Dig, Prerogative) which your opponent usually can't match. And then when you play Icefalls and Dragonlord Silumgars, you are essentially playing threats AND removal spells rolled into one, while your opponent is only playing threats.

I wish you the best of luck with the deck but with some sample hand finish I'm allready turn off by it's potential...

The biggest let down of this deck for me is the anti-synergy between quite a lot of cards. If you tap out for cards like Hand of Silumgar and Dancer, why are you running the Silumgar's Scorn aswell?

For me the biggest advantage in playing UBw Dragons is the options it allows for, all at instant speed.
Be it Silumgar's Scorn casted for UU, Bile Blight for BB, Ultimate Price for B1, Anticipate for U1, Dissolve for UU1, Hero's Downfall for BB1, Foul-Tounge for B2 it all allows us to counter our opponents plays 1 for 1. If we suddenly decide to remove this wonderfull cards for CMC 2 Creatures there is no real point in playing so many high end (Cost 5+) Dragons to round out the game.

Wouldn't you rather spend 1B for a removal spell than 1BB? Hand of Silumgar is essentially just that. And why spend UU1 for a simple counter when I could spend 3 + 1U for a counter and a 3/2 flyer?

Do you think you can afford to cut anticipates?
I'm actually on the fence about that card. : /.

Quote from axman »

Do you think you can afford to cut anticipates?
I'm actually on the fence about that card. : /.

Me too but it's good early for hitting land drops and good late for digging through the deck faster. I just don't want to see it in multiples. I've taken it to 2x, to draw roughly one per game on average.

Quote from TheUnrealOne »

Quote from axman »

Do you think you can afford to cut anticipates?
I'm actually on the fence about that card. : /.

Me too but it's good early for hitting land drops and good late for digging through the deck faster. I just don't want to see it in multiples. I've taken it to 2x, to draw roughly one per game on average.

I do like moving the UPs to the sideboard in favor of the third bile and foul-tongue main.
I am currently trying to make room for ashiok/vault in the main.

Quote from axman »

Quote from TheUnrealOne »

Quote from axman »

Do you think you can afford to cut anticipates?
I'm actually on the fence about that card. : /.

Me too but it's good early for hitting land drops and good late for digging through the deck faster. I just don't want to see it in multiples. I've taken it to 2x, to draw roughly one per game on average.

I do like moving the UPs to the sideboard in favor of the third bile and foul-tongue main.
I am currently trying to make room for ashiok/vault in the main.

I've done this and haven't missed Anticipate at all. All it ever did for me was make a counter or removal spell cost 1U more, so might as well just turn them into counters and removal. I've also cut Ultimate Price from the main in favor of a full set of Invocations and a 3/3 on BB and Downfall.

Here's my current list:

My main concern with removing anticipate: helps find the white source or a dragon for scorn if you need it.