All the previous threads got archived so here I am again talking about control in Ixalan standard. Due to a lot of creature-based decks as well as R/G dinos making an appearance I have decided to drastically change my U/W Approach deck to suit the new format and start winning some games. It is time to innovate once again as I did before with U/W control before Ixalan and also helping to create the Ramunap Red decks as well.
Without further ado here is the deck as it looks right now with some cards explanations coming after:
So...I know you might be rolling your eyes at this and probably because of the sideboard choices more than about the main deck choices, but anyway here is a brief explanation of some of the card choices in the deck.
Main deck:
3 Sunscourge Champion - It helps to gain life and it blocks, or you can discard it to Champion of Wits and Eternalize it the next turn to get more life and have another blocker. This was in response to the variety of aggro decks in this format.
3 Champion of Wits- It helps to draw cards and can chump block on turn 3, it can also get Eternalized in the late game to get you more cards and help find Approach.
2 Kefnet the mindful- He is there to help draw cards and maybe actually attack against control decks.
2 Thaumatic Compass- ARE YOU KIDDING ME?
Have you seen what this card does, I don't know how people don't play 2-3 of these in every CONTROL deck. This card is the bees' knees both early game and late game. First of all if you drop it on turn 2 it helps to start thin out your deck on the next turn, it helps find you land so you can drop a land every turn past turn 3 and once you hit 7 lands it turns into a MAZE of ITH that's not legendary. That's right if you got 2 of these you can flip them and then be able to stop TWO attacking creatures from dealing damage to you.
I have been testing this card and really wish I could find space for 3 of these in the main deck but even with 2 of them it still works extremely well. Get these while they're still cheap and before they become a staple in every control deck. Needless to say it works with Search for Azcanta and if you can flip both of them on the 6th turn then you will get 9 mana available on the 7th turn which is really good for a control deck.
The rest of the cards in the main deck should be self-explanatory, the removal package is 3 Settle the Wreckage, 3 Fumigates and 3 Cast out as usual.
Now, for the super secret sideboard tech...well, this deck turns into an aggro U/W deck after sideboarding. The decks runs 8 creatures main deck and after sideboarding the deck will run a whopping 17 creatures and 2 Legion's Landings to potentially make more creatures.
So, against mono-red or any other aggro deck after sideboarding this deck will be able to beat them at their own game, we will retain 3 Settle the wreckage, 1 Fumigate, 2 Cast out and 4 Essence Scatters in the deck to fight off their creatures and on top of those we will have an additional 17 creatures to face them. Not to mention the potential spires of orazca which can shut down Hazoret or Glorybringer or any other dangerous creature each turn.
Here are the cards explanations:
Regal Caracal- she is a Cat lord and makes more cats, which gain life for the deck and stall the board. Vizier of Deferment- they can stop an attacker before it deals damage by exiling it until the end of turn, or you can exile a regal caracal after it blocks and it will come back at the end of turn with 2 extra cats. This will also work with Champion of wits and Sunscourge champion. I believe it is an underrated card for its ability and that it provides a 2/2 body to block, and all for 3 mana only. Vizier of many faces- It can copy your cat lord or any other creatures we got, and also copy an opponent's creature including Carnage Tyrant since it doesn't target, or even hazoret the fervent or the scarab god. Legion's Landing- it's a good drop on turn 1 and later in the game once the cats come out along with other creatures it will be possible to flip it and start making 1/1's with lifelink every turn.
Sideboarding method against mono-Red or R/G dinos:
Take out:
2 Search of Azcanta
2 Fumigate
2 Negate
1 Cast out
2 Approach of the second sun
2 Pull from Tomorrow
Put in:
4 Regal Caracal
3 Vizier of deferment
2 Vizier of many faces
2 Legion's Landing
We take out some clucky and slow spells, and 2 Fumigates to put into a lot of creatures that will stall the board, and we still have the rest of the removal package and of course 4 Essence Scatters as well.
Against U/W control or U/B control decks:
Black based control now runs Duress as well as other hand destruction cards and they know you will be using creatures after sideboarding but they don't know how many you will sideboard in, so here's the sideboard plan. We can also use this sideboarding plan against the mirror match of U/W control.
Take out:
2 Pull from Tomorrow
1 Approach of the second sun
3 Fumigate
4 Essence Scatter
3 Sunscourge Champion
Put in:
4 Regal Caracal
2 Vizier of many faces
3 Vizier of Deferment
2 Negate
2 Legion's Landing
So we keep 3 Settle the wreckage and 3 Cast outs to deal with their scarab god or other big creatures. We take out the 4 essence scatters since they don't play many creatures usually and no 2 or 3 drop creatures either, but we put in 2 Negates so our counter army will be: 4 Negates, 2 Disallow and 2 Supreme Will. We also have the 2 Kefnet which can win the games by themselves if we keep a full hand and protect them with Negates.
I will work on how to sideboard against Temur Energy decks but it will be basically adding more creature as well.
Let me know what you think, I can't wait to rock this deck in the coming weeks!
Finally, we have a dedicated U/W approach thread. I'm running a pretty stock list on MTGO and have beaten most of the tier 1 decks over the last 2 weeks. The main match up I have diffculty with is the mirror (I'm configured to beat aggro/Midrange G1). I think this deck is still great and, you can beat duress by diversifying your threats after board. The deck digs deep so it sees a lot of cards; Match ups become harder but you can also play around things and bring in a variety of cards on the play and on the draw.
I've seen some great tech from Japanese based players, and it has involed Angel of Sanctions + the Gearhulk plan. The deck is malleable, and rewards tight play execution.
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Modern: Decks I'm playing right now: G Mono Green Tron (34-10-3 paper record, only SCG/Regionals/PPTQ record) C Eldrazi Tron (9-5) UG Infect RW Burn
The moderator has merged the 2 U\W primers. He felt they were similar enough to only warrant one thread. So I am redacting my primer. This thread is primarily focused on a more creature-centric approach whereas mine was for the no creature main board and I don't want my primer to be a distraction to this thread.
Great write-up, I just built this deck a couple days ago and after playing with it as much as possible in that time, I've come to the conclusion that Search for Azcanta is the bee's knees. I traded super aggressively for them at my last FNM, because I knew it was going to have a place in any control decks going forward.
Now for a sideboard suggestion, which I haven't seen in any of these lists so far... Solemnity. Energy decks are going to be running rampant, and Solemnity is just hilarious in those matchups if it's dropped on turn 3 on the play. It's particularly damning against Sultai, affecting about 50% of their cards.
Dunno if it's too slow as I haven't had a chance to test it against Energy. Seems less good on the draw, opening us up to Chandra, Hydra, or possibly Scarab God on their turn 4. but I do have 3 sitting in my SB waiting to see play. Any thoughts?
@AlistorMcCoy - Thanks. I agree on Search, I ran 2 at FNM and Standard Showdown yesterday. Both days they were great. Never unhappy to see them, it was actually kinda hard for me to side them out yesterday when I went up against mono-red. Now I am looking at what to cut to find room for a 3rd. Not sure if I want it main or in the side. Against any midrange or control decks, they are just so good.
Thanks for pointing out Solemnity, I will add it to the guide. I am still working on my sideboard, ran 2 yesterday. Didn't go up against temur but did run into B\G Constictor. Dropped it in game 2 on the 3rd turn and it just shut down his whole game plan. Not completely sold on it. It does feel like a win more card but will keep trying it and let you know.
So yesterday went to Standard Showdown and went 4-0 with the list below. Didn't lose a single game. I have been trying the esper version finally went back to straight U/B and it is just so much more consistent.
Match 1 (2-0)- Mono-Red. He had a slow start to game 1 and I just never let him get going. Game 2, 3 Authorities out by turn 2. After a Fumigate on 5, he scooped.
Match 2 (2-0) - R/G Dino's. He was still working on his list, was never in any real danger. I think dino's are going to be good, just have not seen a really scary list yet.
Match 3 (2-0) - B/G Constritor. Game 1 deck did its thing, Settle on 4, Farm on 6, over after that. Game 2 dropped Solemnity on turn 3, was pretty over at that point.
Match 4 (2-0) - Grixis Control. Was really looking forward to this match, don't get to play against much control at my LGS. Game 1, he didn't try to counter my Gideon because he was that afraid of it. That was a mistake, we both kept the boards clear except for Gideon. Cast the second Approach the turn after he tried to jam a Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh that I countered. Game 2 about the same, landed a Gideon early and beat him down with it.
Overall the deck ran very smooth. always seemed to have the cards I need or was able to draw them. Added Failure // Comply just before we kicked off, just to try it out, and was happy with. Using it to bounce a big spell was pretty nice. Bouncing a Chandra with Failure then naming it with Comply the next turn was all I needed to finish off RR in game 1. Talked to a couple guys after we were done about the card. They suggested I name negate against control before I cast Approach. Or Approach, so if they do counter mine, they can't cast theirs the next turn. Not 100% sold on the card but each time I used it, it felt good.
Thanks Pumpmonkey for starting the primer again. I have been missing the chance to discuss strategies and what not going forward. I managed to go 5-0 the other day and feel very certain with the list. The only thing I am torn on is the 4th approach instead of the 3rd opt. I have felt like 2 Search for Azcanta was the right number. I tried three and it seemed subpar in game 1.
I thought the card is great but yeah, it hits our gideon and azcanta.. So sad I also want to try 1 kefnet mainboard to push control decks since we're losing sphinx
Yeah, it's pretty important to side in the alt win cons if you're playing against black. Seems like they always have Lost Legacy. Having Gearhulks and Caracals is pretty important to avoid the blowout if they sneak it past your counter magic.
@devtin - Your welcome, that is why I did the write-up, kept waiting for someone else to do it. And thanks for the link, I added it.
For me, 3 Approach seems the right number mainly because it is not a card I want to see in my opening hand. Ideally, I don't see it until turn 4+ and will all the draw/cycling/filtering we have, rarely do I have a problem finding it. Just my 2 cents.
@kolayhe - Against any deck where you think there is a good chance you are not going to get there with Approach, you have to side in a solid plan B. With my current list, after sideboard, I am running 2 Gideons and 3 Gearhulks. They become my win-con with Approach as my backup. So far this has worked well for me. My strategy for playing control is to keep throwing stuff at them and make them counter it. At some point, something will result. You can't sit there with a hand full of stuff afraid to cast it because of it being countered. That being said, be smart about it, wait to cast your Gideons until they tap out for something or when you have enough mana/counters to protect it. Remember most other players think all we do is cast Approach, so they aren't as scared of other cards and will sometimes let them resolve. So they end up holding counters to stop Approach and letting other stuff that 'isn't important' hit the board. Also, I try to punish them on the turns they try to cast something big. Forces them to commit to something. So far this has worked pretty well for me.
I would like to start talking about sideboarding and strategy against the 3 main types of decks, aggro, mid-range and control. I know a lot of that is going to depend on the deck but having everyone giving there ideas and thoughts on each match-up should really help.
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Modern
Currently Playing UW UW Control/Miracles R Skred Red
I'm interested in what people cut in the energy matchup. I've typically been taking out 1 Approach and then some combination of Censors and Supreme Wills and bringing in Caracals, Gearhulks, and Negates.
I've been thinking of boarding out Settle the Wreckage vs energy, though, since they seem to have a lot of mana sinks and it always feels bad to ramp them.
I'm interested in what people cut in the energy matchup. I've typically been taking out 1 Approach and then some combination of Censors and Supreme Wills and bringing in Caracals, Gearhulks, and Negates.
I've been thinking of boarding out Settle the Wreckage vs energy, though, since they seem to have a lot of mana sinks and it always feels bad to ramp them.
@spitfire_23 Against Energy I bring in my plan b because most will board in a lot of negates and remove spot removal. And I don't like Meltdown because the only real target we get is Rogue Refiner. So something like this
On the draw - 3 Censor, -3 Meltdown +1 Gideoon, +3 Gearhulk, +2 Negate.
On the play same except swap Censor for Opt.
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Modern
Currently Playing UW UW Control/Miracles R Skred Red
Per Standard Deck Creation Forum Rules, "If you want to post a new thread in this forum, please check and make sure there isn't already a thread on the same topic. If you're unsure, please go ahead and ask." I am merging the two UW Approach threads into the first one started. - hoser2
Been testing a lot on mtgo. The U/B match is hard, but I think we can reconfigure to improve this match up. G1's I've won off of milling (i know I know...but hear me out), Ipnu Rivulet is a card I actively dig for G1. I've had U/B players aim for it simply because it will mill them in the late game. Usually I sandbag them and then drop once we have drawn a billion cards each. When it comes down to it, we have more removal for their threats then they have threats in their entire MD 60. So the mill plan gets there.
G2 and G3, yeah, duress is a pain, and our SB package isn't always geared to beat control. So, I like trying a 3rd Search for Azcanta out of the board, gearhulks, and hard counters. Soft counters do well against decks that want to curve out, but in this match up I always want access to Disallow. I do bring in some threats but it's expected. Most U/B pilots know that we will bring in cats, and gearhulks. Gideon is also meh here, I wish we had a sticky threats to bring in, or a trump card. Going to have to look hard for the tech.
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Standard Arena: Eh? Gruul or Die
Modern: Decks I'm playing right now: G Mono Green Tron (34-10-3 paper record, only SCG/Regionals/PPTQ record) C Eldrazi Tron (9-5) UG Infect RW Burn
Very interesting list, do you feel the draw from Champion and Search make up for the lost of Glimmers? And have you considered splashing black? You would not need very much to be able to run The Scarab God and/or Hostage Taker. Both are very strong and seem like they would fit in nicely. Also, the make great Vizier targets.
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Modern
Currently Playing UW UW Control/Miracles R Skred Red
Very interesting list, do you feel the draw from Champion and Search make up for the lost of Glimmers? And have you considered splashing black? You would not need very much to be able to run The Scarab God and/or Hostage Taker. Both are very strong and seem like they would fit in nicely. Also, the make great Vizier targets.
I guess you are referring to my list, and yes I find search and champion better at drawing cards than glimmer. Don't forget I also have kefnet at 4 mana to draw cards and also two pull from tomorrow.
The reason I took glimmer out is because it's competing at the four mana slot with other cards.
Champion is easy to drop at 3 mana and I want him to die asap by blocking or other means so I can eternalize him and draw four cards.
Search is insane with thaumatic compass, I can flip search to get the 7th land and then flip compass at the end of that turn.
The usual scenario is second turn essence scatter, or search or compass.
Then third turn champion or sunscorge champion, or hold mana for disallow or to use compass and get a land. Or drop kefnet to start drawing cards.
The best part is that this deck is busy doing something from turn 2 until I win with approach.
I can use mana for compass, or draw with kefnet, or eternalize something or counter something or kill something.
If you can build it and test it you will see it has some crazy synergy between most of the cards and there is something to do every turn.
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Very interesting list, do you feel the draw from Champion and Search make up for the lost of Glimmers? And have you considered splashing black? You would not need very much to be able to run The Scarab God and/or Hostage Taker. Both are very strong and seem like they would fit in nicely. Also, the make great Vizier targets.
I guess you are referring to my list, and yes I find search and champion better at drawing cards than glimmer. Don't forget I also have kefnet at 4 mana to draw cards and also two pull from tomorrow.
The reason I took glimmer out is because it's competing at the four mana slot with other cards.
Champion is easy to drop at 3 mana and I want him to die asap by blocking or other means so I can eternalize him and draw four cards.
Search is insane with thaumatic compass, I can flip search to get the 7th land and then flip compass at the end of that turn.
The usual scenario is second turn essence scatter, or search or compass.
Then third turn champion or sunscorge champion, or hold mana for disallow or to use compass and get a land. Or drop kefnet to start drawing cards.
The best part is that this deck is busy doing something from turn 2 until I win with approach.
I can use mana for compass, or draw with kefnet, or eternalize something or counter something or kill something.
If you can build it and test it you will see it has some crazy synergy between most of the cards and there is something to do every turn.
I get Kefnet, I don't get Champion. Champion just gets killed by harnessed lightning/fatal push before and you've gained zero card advantage, then with eternalize you end up in the exact same position as you would in terms of a +1 that you'd have with GoG except the latter is at instant speed, which I think is huge when you want to be able to cast settle the wreckage as well. I'd also rather just board wipe than have maze of ith...
So, a trend I've been seeing is more and more lost Legacy's out of the various tokens deck SB'ing. I feel like we are favored, but I'm still getting used to the match up. G1's are almost a bye since you have to brick on not finding your Approaches. G2-G3 are harder, and I am leaning towards the 3 Negate package, along with Regal Carcal and Gaearhulks to act as speed bumps. The issue here is that you cannot win with these threats, they will make chump blockers and stone wall your alternate win cons. Kefnet may be worth it, and I do like Hour of Revelation. Losing Cast Out is huge thought, and I tend to lean on that card quite a bit. Maybe we can have it out of sb? It seems like Hour of Rev was tailor made to halt and stop the token based strats.
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Standard Arena: Eh? Gruul or Die
Modern: Decks I'm playing right now: G Mono Green Tron (34-10-3 paper record, only SCG/Regionals/PPTQ record) C Eldrazi Tron (9-5) UG Infect RW Burn
Very interesting list, do you feel the draw from Champion and Search make up for the lost of Glimmers? And have you considered splashing black? You would not need very much to be able to run The Scarab God and/or Hostage Taker. Both are very strong and seem like they would fit in nicely. Also, the make great Vizier targets.
I guess you are referring to my list, and yes I find search and champion better at drawing cards than glimmer. Don't forget I also have kefnet at 4 mana to draw cards and also two pull from tomorrow.
The reason I took glimmer out is because it's competing at the four mana slot with other cards.
Champion is easy to drop at 3 mana and I want him to die asap by blocking or other means so I can eternalize him and draw four cards.
Search is insane with thaumatic compass, I can flip search to get the 7th land and then flip compass at the end of that turn.
The usual scenario is second turn essence scatter, or search or compass.
Then third turn champion or sunscorge champion, or hold mana for disallow or to use compass and get a land. Or drop kefnet to start drawing cards.
The best part is that this deck is busy doing something from turn 2 until I win with approach.
I can use mana for compass, or draw with kefnet, or eternalize something or counter something or kill something.
If you can build it and test it you will see it has some crazy synergy between most of the cards and there is something to do every turn.
I get Kefnet, I don't get Champion. Champion just gets killed by harnessed lightning/fatal push before and you've gained zero card advantage, then with eternalize you end up in the exact same position as you would in terms of a +1 that you'd have with GoG except the latter is at instant speed, which I think is huge when you want to be able to cast settle the wreckage as well. I'd also rather just board wipe than have maze of ith...
The point is I want my champions to die so I can eternalize them, also the draw is a may ability so the first time I don't have to draw and discard. Also they can't get pushed without revolt. I do run 6 board wipes main deck, that's why I don't mind killing my own creatures and kefnet is immune.
Also I can discard other champions I draw from the first one and eternalize them.
Being able to wipe the board with a maze of it ith out means I'm not afraid of dying to their next creature, having two mazes in play means game over for them.
I'm still running 3 cast out main deck and 4 essence scatter along the 6 wrath effects.
I'm working on fitting in a 4th sunscourge champion.
Also once search flips I don't need card draw since I can look at the top 4 cards probably every turn. This is the main reason that champion is viable in this shell.
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All the previous threads got archived so here I am again talking about control in Ixalan standard. Due to a lot of creature-based decks as well as R/G dinos making an appearance I have decided to drastically change my U/W Approach deck to suit the new format and start winning some games. It is time to innovate once again as I did before with U/W control before Ixalan and also helping to create the Ramunap Red decks as well.
Without further ado here is the deck as it looks right now with some cards explanations coming after:
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Irrigated Farmland
2 Hostile Desert
1 Ipnu Rivulet
1 Shefet Dunes
6 Island
7 Plains
Creatures(8)
2 Kefnet the mindful
3 Sunscourge Champion
3 Champion of Wits
2 Search for Azcanta
3 Cast out
Artifacts(2)
2 Thaumatic Compass
Spells(21)
4 Essence Scatter
2 Negate
2 Supreme Will
2 Disallow
2 Pull from Tomorrow
3 Settle the Wreckage
3 Fumigate
3 Approach of the Second Sun
4 Regal Caracal
3 Vizier of Deferment
2 Vizier of Many Faces
2 Legion's Landing
2 Forsake the Worldly
2 Negate
So...I know you might be rolling your eyes at this and probably because of the sideboard choices more than about the main deck choices, but anyway here is a brief explanation of some of the card choices in the deck.
Main deck:
3 Sunscourge Champion - It helps to gain life and it blocks, or you can discard it to Champion of Wits and Eternalize it the next turn to get more life and have another blocker. This was in response to the variety of aggro decks in this format.
3 Champion of Wits- It helps to draw cards and can chump block on turn 3, it can also get Eternalized in the late game to get you more cards and help find Approach.
2 Kefnet the mindful- He is there to help draw cards and maybe actually attack against control decks.
2 Thaumatic Compass- ARE YOU KIDDING ME?
Have you seen what this card does, I don't know how people don't play 2-3 of these in every CONTROL deck. This card is the bees' knees both early game and late game. First of all if you drop it on turn 2 it helps to start thin out your deck on the next turn, it helps find you land so you can drop a land every turn past turn 3 and once you hit 7 lands it turns into a MAZE of ITH that's not legendary. That's right if you got 2 of these you can flip them and then be able to stop TWO attacking creatures from dealing damage to you.
I have been testing this card and really wish I could find space for 3 of these in the main deck but even with 2 of them it still works extremely well. Get these while they're still cheap and before they become a staple in every control deck. Needless to say it works with Search for Azcanta and if you can flip both of them on the 6th turn then you will get 9 mana available on the 7th turn which is really good for a control deck.
The rest of the cards in the main deck should be self-explanatory, the removal package is 3 Settle the Wreckage, 3 Fumigates and 3 Cast out as usual.
Now, for the super secret sideboard tech...well, this deck turns into an aggro U/W deck after sideboarding. The decks runs 8 creatures main deck and after sideboarding the deck will run a whopping 17 creatures and 2 Legion's Landings to potentially make more creatures.
So, against mono-red or any other aggro deck after sideboarding this deck will be able to beat them at their own game, we will retain 3 Settle the wreckage, 1 Fumigate, 2 Cast out and 4 Essence Scatters in the deck to fight off their creatures and on top of those we will have an additional 17 creatures to face them. Not to mention the potential spires of orazca which can shut down Hazoret or Glorybringer or any other dangerous creature each turn.
Here are the cards explanations:
Regal Caracal- she is a Cat lord and makes more cats, which gain life for the deck and stall the board.
Vizier of Deferment- they can stop an attacker before it deals damage by exiling it until the end of turn, or you can exile a regal caracal after it blocks and it will come back at the end of turn with 2 extra cats. This will also work with Champion of wits and Sunscourge champion. I believe it is an underrated card for its ability and that it provides a 2/2 body to block, and all for 3 mana only.
Vizier of many faces- It can copy your cat lord or any other creatures we got, and also copy an opponent's creature including Carnage Tyrant since it doesn't target, or even hazoret the fervent or the scarab god.
Legion's Landing- it's a good drop on turn 1 and later in the game once the cats come out along with other creatures it will be possible to flip it and start making 1/1's with lifelink every turn.
Sideboarding method against mono-Red or R/G dinos:
Take out:
2 Search of Azcanta
2 Fumigate
2 Negate
1 Cast out
2 Approach of the second sun
2 Pull from Tomorrow
Put in:
4 Regal Caracal
3 Vizier of deferment
2 Vizier of many faces
2 Legion's Landing
We take out some clucky and slow spells, and 2 Fumigates to put into a lot of creatures that will stall the board, and we still have the rest of the removal package and of course 4 Essence Scatters as well.
Against U/W control or U/B control decks:
Black based control now runs Duress as well as other hand destruction cards and they know you will be using creatures after sideboarding but they don't know how many you will sideboard in, so here's the sideboard plan. We can also use this sideboarding plan against the mirror match of U/W control.
Take out:
2 Pull from Tomorrow
1 Approach of the second sun
3 Fumigate
4 Essence Scatter
3 Sunscourge Champion
Put in:
4 Regal Caracal
2 Vizier of many faces
3 Vizier of Deferment
2 Negate
2 Legion's Landing
So we keep 3 Settle the wreckage and 3 Cast outs to deal with their scarab god or other big creatures. We take out the 4 essence scatters since they don't play many creatures usually and no 2 or 3 drop creatures either, but we put in 2 Negates so our counter army will be: 4 Negates, 2 Disallow and 2 Supreme Will. We also have the 2 Kefnet which can win the games by themselves if we keep a full hand and protect them with Negates.
I will work on how to sideboard against Temur Energy decks but it will be basically adding more creature as well.
Let me know what you think, I can't wait to rock this deck in the coming weeks!
Check out my Youtube channel where I upload MTG content videos twice a week!
Mtg Lifestyle
I've seen some great tech from Japanese based players, and it has involed Angel of Sanctions + the Gearhulk plan. The deck is malleable, and rewards tight play execution.
Modern: Decks I'm playing right now:
G Mono Green Tron (34-10-3 paper record, only SCG/Regionals/PPTQ record)
C Eldrazi Tron (9-5)
UG Infect
RW Burn
Modern
Currently Playing
UW UW Control/Miracles
R Skred Red
Retired
BU Faeries
RGW Naya Burn
BW B/W Tokens
Modern
Currently Playing
UW UW Control/Miracles
R Skred Red
Retired
BU Faeries
RGW Naya Burn
BW B/W Tokens
Now for a sideboard suggestion, which I haven't seen in any of these lists so far... Solemnity. Energy decks are going to be running rampant, and Solemnity is just hilarious in those matchups if it's dropped on turn 3 on the play. It's particularly damning against Sultai, affecting about 50% of their cards.
Dunno if it's too slow as I haven't had a chance to test it against Energy. Seems less good on the draw, opening us up to Chandra, Hydra, or possibly Scarab God on their turn 4. but I do have 3 sitting in my SB waiting to see play. Any thoughts?
Thanks for pointing out Solemnity, I will add it to the guide. I am still working on my sideboard, ran 2 yesterday. Didn't go up against temur but did run into B\G Constictor. Dropped it in game 2 on the 3rd turn and it just shut down his whole game plan. Not completely sold on it. It does feel like a win more card but will keep trying it and let you know.
So yesterday went to Standard Showdown and went 4-0 with the list below. Didn't lose a single game. I have been trying the esper version finally went back to straight U/B and it is just so much more consistent.
Match 1 (2-0)- Mono-Red. He had a slow start to game 1 and I just never let him get going. Game 2, 3 Authorities out by turn 2. After a Fumigate on 5, he scooped.
Match 2 (2-0) - R/G Dino's. He was still working on his list, was never in any real danger. I think dino's are going to be good, just have not seen a really scary list yet.
Match 3 (2-0) - B/G Constritor. Game 1 deck did its thing, Settle on 4, Farm on 6, over after that. Game 2 dropped Solemnity on turn 3, was pretty over at that point.
Match 4 (2-0) - Grixis Control. Was really looking forward to this match, don't get to play against much control at my LGS. Game 1, he didn't try to counter my Gideon because he was that afraid of it. That was a mistake, we both kept the boards clear except for Gideon. Cast the second Approach the turn after he tried to jam a Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh that I countered. Game 2 about the same, landed a Gideon early and beat him down with it.
Overall the deck ran very smooth. always seemed to have the cards I need or was able to draw them. Added Failure // Comply just before we kicked off, just to try it out, and was happy with. Using it to bounce a big spell was pretty nice. Bouncing a Chandra with Failure then naming it with Comply the next turn was all I needed to finish off RR in game 1. Talked to a couple guys after we were done about the card. They suggested I name negate against control before I cast Approach. Or Approach, so if they do counter mine, they can't cast theirs the next turn. Not 100% sold on the card but each time I used it, it felt good.
3 Approach of the Second Sun
Draw
1 Pull from Tomorrow
3 Glimmer of Genius
4 Opt
Counter
4 Supreme Will
3 Censor
1 Disallow
1 Failure // Comply
Removal
3 Fumigate
2 Settle the Wreckage
3 Cast Out
3 Aether Meltdown
2 Farm // Market
2 Search for Azanta
1 Gideon of the Trials
Land
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Irrigated Farmland
7 Island
8 Plains
2 Field of Ruin
4 Authority of the Consuls
1 Jace’s Defeat
4 Negate
2 Solemnity
1 Gideon of the Trials
2 Torrential Gearhulk
Modern
Currently Playing
UW UW Control/Miracles
R Skred Red
Retired
BU Faeries
RGW Naya Burn
BW B/W Tokens
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Irrigated Farmland
6 Island
8 Plains
3 Opt
3 Aether Meltdown
4 Censor
2 Search for Azcanta
2 Gideon of the Trials
2 Supreme Will
2 Farm // Market
4 Cast Out
4 Glimmer of Genius
2 Settle the Wreckage
4 Fumigate
3 Approach of the Second Sun
4 Negate
4 Regal Caracal
2 Spell Pierce
2 Torrential Gearhulk
Also you should add this guy (Searzist) who produces good videos of approach https://www.youtube.com/user/MrPickle30
Modern:R 8Whack R|W White Knights W
Yeah, it's pretty important to side in the alt win cons if you're playing against black. Seems like they always have Lost Legacy. Having Gearhulks and Caracals is pretty important to avoid the blowout if they sneak it past your counter magic.
For me, 3 Approach seems the right number mainly because it is not a card I want to see in my opening hand. Ideally, I don't see it until turn 4+ and will all the draw/cycling/filtering we have, rarely do I have a problem finding it. Just my 2 cents.
@kolayhe - Against any deck where you think there is a good chance you are not going to get there with Approach, you have to side in a solid plan B. With my current list, after sideboard, I am running 2 Gideons and 3 Gearhulks. They become my win-con with Approach as my backup. So far this has worked well for me. My strategy for playing control is to keep throwing stuff at them and make them counter it. At some point, something will result. You can't sit there with a hand full of stuff afraid to cast it because of it being countered. That being said, be smart about it, wait to cast your Gideons until they tap out for something or when you have enough mana/counters to protect it. Remember most other players think all we do is cast Approach, so they aren't as scared of other cards and will sometimes let them resolve. So they end up holding counters to stop Approach and letting other stuff that 'isn't important' hit the board. Also, I try to punish them on the turns they try to cast something big. Forces them to commit to something. So far this has worked pretty well for me.
I would like to start talking about sideboarding and strategy against the 3 main types of decks, aggro, mid-range and control. I know a lot of that is going to depend on the deck but having everyone giving there ideas and thoughts on each match-up should really help.
Modern
Currently Playing
UW UW Control/Miracles
R Skred Red
Retired
BU Faeries
RGW Naya Burn
BW B/W Tokens
I've been thinking of boarding out Settle the Wreckage vs energy, though, since they seem to have a lot of mana sinks and it always feels bad to ramp them.
But it is a great answer to Bristling Hydra.
On the draw - 3 Censor, -3 Meltdown +1 Gideoon, +3 Gearhulk, +2 Negate.
On the play same except swap Censor for Opt.
Modern
Currently Playing
UW UW Control/Miracles
R Skred Red
Retired
BU Faeries
RGW Naya Burn
BW B/W Tokens
RNA Standard: Grixis Midrange, Jund Deathwhirler, Sultai Vannifar
GRN Standard: Red Midrange, Mono-Blue Tempo, Wr Aggro, Gruul Experimental Dinosaurs, Sultai Midrange, Jeskai Midrange
Modern: Bant Spirits
Forcing a single archetype in all formats: too many colors, bad mana.
G2 and G3, yeah, duress is a pain, and our SB package isn't always geared to beat control. So, I like trying a 3rd Search for Azcanta out of the board, gearhulks, and hard counters. Soft counters do well against decks that want to curve out, but in this match up I always want access to Disallow. I do bring in some threats but it's expected. Most U/B pilots know that we will bring in cats, and gearhulks. Gideon is also meh here, I wish we had a sticky threats to bring in, or a trump card. Going to have to look hard for the tech.
Modern: Decks I'm playing right now:
G Mono Green Tron (34-10-3 paper record, only SCG/Regionals/PPTQ record)
C Eldrazi Tron (9-5)
UG Infect
RW Burn
Modern
Currently Playing
UW UW Control/Miracles
R Skred Red
Retired
BU Faeries
RGW Naya Burn
BW B/W Tokens
I guess you are referring to my list, and yes I find search and champion better at drawing cards than glimmer. Don't forget I also have kefnet at 4 mana to draw cards and also two pull from tomorrow.
The reason I took glimmer out is because it's competing at the four mana slot with other cards.
Champion is easy to drop at 3 mana and I want him to die asap by blocking or other means so I can eternalize him and draw four cards.
Search is insane with thaumatic compass, I can flip search to get the 7th land and then flip compass at the end of that turn.
The usual scenario is second turn essence scatter, or search or compass.
Then third turn champion or sunscorge champion, or hold mana for disallow or to use compass and get a land. Or drop kefnet to start drawing cards.
The best part is that this deck is busy doing something from turn 2 until I win with approach.
I can use mana for compass, or draw with kefnet, or eternalize something or counter something or kill something.
If you can build it and test it you will see it has some crazy synergy between most of the cards and there is something to do every turn.
Check out my Youtube channel where I upload MTG content videos twice a week!
Mtg Lifestyle
I get Kefnet, I don't get Champion. Champion just gets killed by harnessed lightning/fatal push before and you've gained zero card advantage, then with eternalize you end up in the exact same position as you would in terms of a +1 that you'd have with GoG except the latter is at instant speed, which I think is huge when you want to be able to cast settle the wreckage as well. I'd also rather just board wipe than have maze of ith...
Modern: Decks I'm playing right now:
G Mono Green Tron (34-10-3 paper record, only SCG/Regionals/PPTQ record)
C Eldrazi Tron (9-5)
UG Infect
RW Burn
The point is I want my champions to die so I can eternalize them, also the draw is a may ability so the first time I don't have to draw and discard. Also they can't get pushed without revolt. I do run 6 board wipes main deck, that's why I don't mind killing my own creatures and kefnet is immune.
Also I can discard other champions I draw from the first one and eternalize them.
Being able to wipe the board with a maze of it ith out means I'm not afraid of dying to their next creature, having two mazes in play means game over for them.
I'm still running 3 cast out main deck and 4 essence scatter along the 6 wrath effects.
I'm working on fitting in a 4th sunscourge champion.
Also once search flips I don't need card draw since I can look at the top 4 cards probably every turn. This is the main reason that champion is viable in this shell.
Check out my Youtube channel where I upload MTG content videos twice a week!
Mtg Lifestyle