Agreed with the mana sink in conjunction with Wilderness Reclamation. If you have a one-of mana sink, you may also want to consider White Sun's Zenith. With Reclamation, you only need two sources of white to cast it, and it will produce more value with double your mana available than Secure in the mid/late game. Of course, it depends on how willing you are to tap out for it at the end of your turn for that sweet double-mana.
I realize you can play lands much faster with growth spiral, but 26 seems a bit high. For what it's worth I'm of the opinion to cut a land and maybe a Think Twice for one or two more planeswalkers that provide more pressure/clock to an opponent, and defend if necessary. Taking advantage of Wilderness Reclamation, you can now tap out more safely for bigger planeswalkers that can attack or provide a stream of creatures. I'm thinking Gideon Jura; Gideon, Ally of Zendikar; or maybe Elspeth, Sun's Champion as a one-of. Of course, your Search for Ass Cancer can help to find them, and they won't be affected by Terminus.
I've been tearing it up on MTG Arena with a variation of this deck: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJmIbkdxr6Q&t=239s
Main changes: -2 Uncomfortable Chill, -1 Radical Idea, +2 Ritual of Rejuvenation, +1 Ixalan's Binding.
This deck has been performing extremely well for me (disclaimer: on unranked, single matches). I highly recommend trying it.
@The Prodigy - It looks like you are missing a planeswalker. You have "6 Planeswalker" but only show 3 Jace and 2 Teferi. Did you mean to add Gideon of the Trials?
Remember that we’re a deck that taps out more often than not. Yes, you can tap out for Teferi and then hold up Leak/Knot/Negate (at least by the time the end step rolls around, which does give them a window to resolve things), but the truth is that CMC 2 counter magic is just pretty bad in Modern overall, especially pre-sideboard.
So unless people are planning to build around Teferi with significantly increased numbers of CMC 2 counterspells (which seems unadvisable in general and even worse for straight UW than other Uxx decks), Teferi’s untap mode looks mediocre at best. Too bad the effect is not immediate; at least then you could drop a Wall of Omens or something.
I’m happy to be proven wrong once people start testing him, but for now I’d say that JtMS, Gideon Jura, and Elspeth, Sun’s Champion are all superior choices.
Those are all excellent points, and I have considered most of them. Jace is almost certainly a better choice in a tapout control-style deck.
I plan to start off testing Teferi with 4 x Mana Leak and 2 x Logic Knot. I figure that I can still hold up Mana Leak/Logic Knot for big, non-instant spells after dropping Teferi, and still be able to add loyalty to gain card advantage, unlike Jace. Mana Leak sucks in the late game, but at that point, if I have Teferi ticking up, that probably won't matter much.
I guess we'll see if he just ends up being a worse Jace or Gideon Jura.
Anyone else reckon that Teferi, Hero of Dominaria is competing with Jace? Getting to untap two lands every turn is a huge deal for a deck that is tapping out as often as we do. In addition, he can gain card advantage without exposing himself to bolt immediately and the untap can help you protect it from a threat after you cast him. He might be the real deal!
I suspect you might be right. This might make Mana Leak more playable, but definitely Logic Knot and Negate. The problem with Jace is that casting him when you only have four or five lands can leave you defenseless. His -3 and -8 are both excellent, as well.
jayjayhooks, I've thought of a different style of control with 4x Oust, 4x Remand, 4x Nevermore and maybe some number of Meddling Mage and Gideon's Intervention. Oust is fantastic with Nevermore...I may have to try this.
Wizard Retort works very well with Snapcaster, of course!
I can see Teferi being a staple at the top end. The problem with planeswalkers in UW control is that you have to tap out to cast them, leaving you vulnerable on the following turn. This helps prevent that, allowing you to hold up a Logic Knot, Negate, or Path.
Seal Away is also pretty good.
Edit: Honorable mention to Stabilization Orb! Great tech vs. Tron and Storm, two difficult matchups for UW Control. It's about time they printed something like this.
There have got be better options than playing Call of the Herd in Modern...
Jeff Hoogland went 4-1 with this same deck, beating some good decks (Gx Tron was one). Hopefully I can get his quote right...He said that "Call of the Herd overperformed by a fantastic margin" in the deck.
A lot of people in this forum seem to poop on any card that isn't mainstream...I can understand why to some extent, but trying new cards here is like playing a new song in a room full of old people that are set in their ways.
It's a good card, but with Thalia out, its real CMC is four or more. As good as it is, I'm not sure it would go in D&T. Humans may be the best shell for this card.
Negate is in no way 'strictly worse' than Logic Knot. I dont think you understand what those words mean.
I do. And I confirm what I said. That is: "strictly worse than the third Logic Knot". Key word you missed out: "third". The fourth copy is debatable, but playing a Negate over the third one, well...in my opinion, it's just wrong. Of course, sideboard Negate is a whole other story. I don't see the reason for ad hominem attacks while discussing magic cards by the way, but to each his own.
Rutherjc is right. What you mean is "clearly worse", not "strictly worse". For example, if you had an instant that costs 1U and says "Counter target non-creature spell. Scry 1", then Negate would be STRICTLY worse than that card. If there are situations where Negate would be better than Logic Knot, then it cannot be "strictly" worse. For example, your opponent casts a non-creature spell you want to counter, but you only have an island and a plains untapped, or you have no cards in your graveyard.
Agreed with the mana sink in conjunction with Wilderness Reclamation. If you have a one-of mana sink, you may also want to consider White Sun's Zenith. With Reclamation, you only need two sources of white to cast it, and it will produce more value with double your mana available than Secure in the mid/late game. Of course, it depends on how willing you are to tap out for it at the end of your turn for that sweet double-mana.
I've been tearing it up on MTG Arena with a variation of this deck: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJmIbkdxr6Q&t=239s
Main changes: -2 Uncomfortable Chill, -1 Radical Idea, +2 Ritual of Rejuvenation, +1 Ixalan's Binding.
This deck has been performing extremely well for me (disclaimer: on unranked, single matches). I highly recommend trying it.
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/mtgo-standings/modern-challenge-2018-04-29
Those are all excellent points, and I have considered most of them. Jace is almost certainly a better choice in a tapout control-style deck.
I plan to start off testing Teferi with 4 x Mana Leak and 2 x Logic Knot. I figure that I can still hold up Mana Leak/Logic Knot for big, non-instant spells after dropping Teferi, and still be able to add loyalty to gain card advantage, unlike Jace. Mana Leak sucks in the late game, but at that point, if I have Teferi ticking up, that probably won't matter much.
I guess we'll see if he just ends up being a worse Jace or Gideon Jura.
I suspect you might be right. This might make Mana Leak more playable, but definitely Logic Knot and Negate. The problem with Jace is that casting him when you only have four or five lands can leave you defenseless. His -3 and -8 are both excellent, as well.
I definitely plan on testing him.
I can see Teferi being a staple at the top end. The problem with planeswalkers in UW control is that you have to tap out to cast them, leaving you vulnerable on the following turn. This helps prevent that, allowing you to hold up a Logic Knot, Negate, or Path.
Seal Away is also pretty good.
Edit: Honorable mention to Stabilization Orb! Great tech vs. Tron and Storm, two difficult matchups for UW Control. It's about time they printed something like this.
Jeff Hoogland went 4-1 with this same deck, beating some good decks (Gx Tron was one). Hopefully I can get his quote right...He said that "Call of the Herd overperformed by a fantastic margin" in the deck.
A lot of people in this forum seem to poop on any card that isn't mainstream...I can understand why to some extent, but trying new cards here is like playing a new song in a room full of old people that are set in their ways.
Rutherjc is right. What you mean is "clearly worse", not "strictly worse". For example, if you had an instant that costs 1U and says "Counter target non-creature spell. Scry 1", then Negate would be STRICTLY worse than that card. If there are situations where Negate would be better than Logic Knot, then it cannot be "strictly" worse. For example, your opponent casts a non-creature spell you want to counter, but you only have an island and a plains untapped, or you have no cards in your graveyard.