These four cards have slowly been creeping up in the past week or so? Any idea why? Rise of Esper/Grixis control? Personally I been playing a Modern UB brew, and I noticed that after I bought these cards they all started
I also am curious about Eternal Witness. It's been climbing lately? Why?
What are the ceilings for these cards?
Creeping Tar Pit: Grixis control put on a strong showing in the invitational last weekend.
Wurmcoil Engine: It hasn't really increased that much recently. The small increase might be due to GR Tron winning the invitational.
Inquisition of Kozilek: Jund and various Grixis decks
Spell Snare: Various blue decks, most notably Twin
Eternal Witness: Often played in large numbers in Collected Company decks.
Terminate has increased quite a bit recently. I attribute that to it being an essential removal spell in both Grixis and Jund decks.
From the 7-1 list, it looks like Grixis Control/Moon.
Edit: that's a lot of Amulet and Grixis in the 7-1 list.
I can understand why he would make the switch. I've had been playing Sultai control for a while and right before I gave it up I felt that the metagame has since shifted to where Lightning Bolt and Terminate and very good, while Abrupt Decay has become kind of disappointing.
When it comes to cards like this, the only one that sees play is Misdirection (yes I know its not Modern legal), and that's because you can cast it for free. This is just much, much worse.
Not very many recent posts. How do people think this deck is positioned right now?
Deathblade or Esper Stoneblade better?
I've never liked the greedy manabase of the Deathblade variant (there is a separate thread in the Aggro section to discuss that deck). Personally, after playing Esper Stoneblade for a while I have come to question whether the black splash is worth it. I'm searching right now for a different deck to play, but if I were to play a Stoneblade variant right now it would probably be just UW Stoneblade for the very stable mana base.
I hate to actually weight in on this, but one of the better players in my shop (in a very competitive shop), runs 65 card decks. He plays mid-range in all formats he plays and consistently goes 3-1, 4-0, ect. Week after week. He doesn't really even up the land count to accommodate for it.
My shop is all experienced pilots on tier 1 decks, and yet he manages to pull out good results nearly all the time. I don't think playing 61 cards is a good idea, but knowing this player well--makes me doubt the articles and their math.
He's playing with 5 more things he wanted to play but had to cut--like mainboarding thrun in BGx, stuff like that. Its absolutely baffling and should hurt him, but it really doesnt seem to.
I'd argue that he achieves success in spite of having a 65 card deck rather than because of having it. I don't think the drawback is great to running more than 60 cards, but every minute disadvantage in Magic adds up.
Jund's return to prominence bodes well for blue control. When playing a control deck I'd rather deal with Lava Spikes (Lighting Bolt) than Lingering Souls any day.
Ok. I'll ask a different question that might illustrate why Surgical Extraction isn't a card you want against decks with lots of redundant cards.
How much do you think extraction helps you in the Burn matchup? Extract their Lightning Bolts? How about extract both their Lightning Bolts and their Lava Spikes?
The card is good against certain kinds of combo decks. That's about it.
It depends on your meta whether you want a certain card to be in your sideboard doesn't it? Just cause the card would only be good against a certain kind of decks and not against the rest, doesn't makes it unworthy to be mentioned. Surgical one of their urza land after a ghost quarter or tectonic edge and sniping away their 1st big drop could slow them down too..
Since you're playing red, I think it is much better to use Sowing Salt, which is a single card, rather than relying on a two card combo.
I'm actually leaning towards control decks being harder to construct and play in Modern than in Legacy. Without Force of Will, much more thought needs to made about tapping out during ones own turn to avoid losing to a turn 3-4 combo or a dire threat like a Batterskull or a Keranos, God of Storms. Decks need to be designed from the ground up regarding how much sorcery speed spells they want to play due to this consideration.
In addition, the quality of removal, counters, and library manipulation are lower. One cannot simply jam 4 Swords to Plowshares in every control deck running white, so the type and number of each removal spell or counterspell needs to be finely tuned.
I went 4-0 at my LGS this week in a legacy event of about 20 people with the following Esper Stoneblade decklist. I had been playing the deck for a while and I always felt that the deck was more fun than viable, so going undefeated was a pleasant surprise.
I was able to beat 4 of what I consider to be even to unfavorable matchups:
Round 1 vs Death and Taxes (2-0):
Game 1 I was slowed by Thalia and was facing down a resolved Sword of Fire and Ice, but was able to prevent it from ever being equipped to a creature and eventually Vindicated it. I later landed a Batterskull and an Umezawa's Jitte. I made the mistake of attacking with the Batterskull germ into a Thalia with a Jitte equipped, but my opponent didn't see the favorable block and prematurely scooped. Game 2 was a battle of attrition until my opponent resolved a Brimaz, King of Oreskos with a Karakas to back it up. I was able to stall with Lingering Souls until I found a Vindicate for the Karakas and then took over the game with a Jitte.
For games 1 and 3, I was able to beat down with creatures and equipment before my opponent could get a lock or the Helm of Obedience/Rest in Peace combo and had enough mana to pay for Elephant Grass. The fact that Germ tokens are black made Batterskull too slow in both games. Game 2 I countered an initial Argothian Enchantress and then named the same card with a Meddling Mage. He then played an Enchantress's Presence, however, and ran away with the game.
Round 4 vs ANT (2-0):
Game 1 my opponent had a hand full of disruption and rituals but did not draw an Infernal Tutor, Tendrils of Agony, or Ad Nauseam for many turns. I was able to resolve a Jace to disrupt his draws long enough while holding up several counterspells to win the game. Game 2 my opponent naturally drew a Tendrils of Agony but did not have the storm count to kill me without using Past in Flames, which he also had in hand. I had a Nihil Spellbomb on board and a Force of Will in hand, which he was never able to answer before I won with beatdown from Meddling Mages.
Moving forward, I would like to replace a Nihil Spellbomb in the sideboard with a Containment Priest, which I did not happen to own at the time.
I think Modern is the best it has ever been right now. Finally color combinations like Grixis and Esper are starting to see more than fringe play. I'm even considering dusting some of my UB hate cards like Great Sable Stag.
Notably he made adjustments to the deck that makes it less weak to manlands with the inclusion of 2 Tectonic Edge and a Dismember. The Clever Impersonator in the sideboard is interesting. I'm not sure what you would bring it in against besides Tron.
I'll be giving this newer version of the deck a try at my LGS this week.
Does anyone think silumgar's command (or ojutai's command for that matter) have a place in the deck as versatile 1 ofs? I've noticed some people playing hero's downfalls to kill planeswalkers, and Silumgar's command services this function with added utility.
I'm not particularly excited about either Silumgar's Command or Ojutai's Command. While situationally very useful, both of them are generally less powerful than Cryptic Command. It is hard to justify paying 4 or 5 mana for a counterspell that doesn't even counter every spell type. The mana curve for this deck is already dangerously high and even running a three mana removal spell like Hero's Downfall seems questionable at times.
Creeping Tar Pit: Grixis control put on a strong showing in the invitational last weekend.
Wurmcoil Engine: It hasn't really increased that much recently. The small increase might be due to GR Tron winning the invitational.
Inquisition of Kozilek: Jund and various Grixis decks
Spell Snare: Various blue decks, most notably Twin
Eternal Witness: Often played in large numbers in Collected Company decks.
Terminate has increased quite a bit recently. I attribute that to it being an essential removal spell in both Grixis and Jund decks.
I can understand why he would make the switch. I've had been playing Sultai control for a while and right before I gave it up I felt that the metagame has since shifted to where Lightning Bolt and Terminate and very good, while Abrupt Decay has become kind of disappointing.
Actually, a Miracles list with Redirect made all the way to the finals of GP Kyoto: http://magic.wizards.com/en/events/coverage/gpkyo15
I've never liked the greedy manabase of the Deathblade variant (there is a separate thread in the Aggro section to discuss that deck). Personally, after playing Esper Stoneblade for a while I have come to question whether the black splash is worth it. I'm searching right now for a different deck to play, but if I were to play a Stoneblade variant right now it would probably be just UW Stoneblade for the very stable mana base.
I'd argue that he achieves success in spite of having a 65 card deck rather than because of having it. I don't think the drawback is great to running more than 60 cards, but every minute disadvantage in Magic adds up.
Have you considered Glare of Subdual? Seems like great synergy with token strategies and is easy to splash.
Since you're playing red, I think it is much better to use Sowing Salt, which is a single card, rather than relying on a two card combo.
In addition, the quality of removal, counters, and library manipulation are lower. One cannot simply jam 4 Swords to Plowshares in every control deck running white, so the type and number of each removal spell or counterspell needs to be finely tuned.
4 Flooded Strand
4 Polluted Delta
3 Marsh Flats
3 Underground Sea
3 Tundra
1 Scrubland
2 Island
1 Plains
1 Swamp
1 Karakas
Creatures - 7
4 Stoneforge Mystic
2 Snapcaster Mage
1 Vendilion Clique
Equipment - 3
1 Batterskull
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
4 Brainstorm
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Force of Will
2 Counterspell
1 Dimir Charm
1 Dig Through Time
Sorceries - 8
3 Lingering Souls
2 Thoughtseize
1 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 Vindicate
1 Ponder
Planeswalkers - 3
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
4 Meddling Mage
3 Nihil Spellbomb
2 Zealous Persecution
1 Supreme Verdict
1 Flusterstorm
1 Manriki-Gusari
1 Vendilion Clique
1 Thoughtseize
1 Disenchant
I was able to beat 4 of what I consider to be even to unfavorable matchups:
Round 1 vs Death and Taxes (2-0):
Game 1 I was slowed by Thalia and was facing down a resolved Sword of Fire and Ice, but was able to prevent it from ever being equipped to a creature and eventually Vindicated it. I later landed a Batterskull and an Umezawa's Jitte. I made the mistake of attacking with the Batterskull germ into a Thalia with a Jitte equipped, but my opponent didn't see the favorable block and prematurely scooped. Game 2 was a battle of attrition until my opponent resolved a Brimaz, King of Oreskos with a Karakas to back it up. I was able to stall with Lingering Souls until I found a Vindicate for the Karakas and then took over the game with a Jitte.
Round 2 vs Burning Loam (2-1):
Game 1 I resolved a Sorin, Lord of Innistrad and Lingering Souls. While my opponent had an active Grove of the Burnwillows/Punishing Fire combo and Life from the Loam/Wasteland engine going, he was held back on tempo by the Sorin and eventually scooped when I resolved a Jace. I was not too familiar with the archetype, so Game 2 I made the mistake of siding out most of my removal and found myself facing down a Knight of the Reliquary, a Gaddock Teeg, and an impending Thespian's Stage/Dark Depths combo upon which I scooped. Game 3, I resolved a Manriki-Gusari against my opponent's Jitte and took over the game with equipment.
Round 3 vs GW Enchantress (2-1):
For games 1 and 3, I was able to beat down with creatures and equipment before my opponent could get a lock or the Helm of Obedience/Rest in Peace combo and had enough mana to pay for Elephant Grass. The fact that Germ tokens are black made Batterskull too slow in both games. Game 2 I countered an initial Argothian Enchantress and then named the same card with a Meddling Mage. He then played an Enchantress's Presence, however, and ran away with the game.
Round 4 vs ANT (2-0):
Game 1 my opponent had a hand full of disruption and rituals but did not draw an Infernal Tutor, Tendrils of Agony, or Ad Nauseam for many turns. I was able to resolve a Jace to disrupt his draws long enough while holding up several counterspells to win the game. Game 2 my opponent naturally drew a Tendrils of Agony but did not have the storm count to kill me without using Past in Flames, which he also had in hand. I had a Nihil Spellbomb on board and a Force of Will in hand, which he was never able to answer before I won with beatdown from Meddling Mages.
Moving forward, I would like to replace a Nihil Spellbomb in the sideboard with a Containment Priest, which I did not happen to own at the time.
Notably he made adjustments to the deck that makes it less weak to manlands with the inclusion of 2 Tectonic Edge and a Dismember. The Clever Impersonator in the sideboard is interesting. I'm not sure what you would bring it in against besides Tron.
I'll be giving this newer version of the deck a try at my LGS this week.
Edit: I hadn't noticed until later that Gerard Fabiano wrote an article explaining his choices for the second version of his deck: http://www.starcitygames.com/article/30670_Jund-Sultai-and-UR-Merfolk.html. As I had suspected, the Clever Impersonator was indeed for Tron.
I'm not particularly excited about either Silumgar's Command or Ojutai's Command. While situationally very useful, both of them are generally less powerful than Cryptic Command. It is hard to justify paying 4 or 5 mana for a counterspell that doesn't even counter every spell type. The mana curve for this deck is already dangerously high and even running a three mana removal spell like Hero's Downfall seems questionable at times.