MTG Salvation

Quote from StreexIT »

Do you people like Ashiok, Dream Render over rest in peace in the side along with surgical extractions?

Yes I like it, because both are more flexible cards than RiP and you can still use your Snaps and Knots for full value. For what its worth that also leaves their Natures Claims dead in hand.
I like Ashioks static ability especially vs Amulet. Put some Damping Spheres in the mix and lean back.

I've been playing Miracles at all the modern events in my LGS for the past month and have had consistently good results, with multiple 4-0's and 4-1's. My list has settled down to this after the first 2 weeks (toyed a bit yesterday):



I've put the pretty standard cards that never leave my SB, with the rest of the list including cards like Celestial Purge, Disenchant[/card(s), RiP, Surgical, Dispels and Disdainful Stroke etc.

Last night I swapped a Teferi and a Cryptic for a Knot and the Blessed Alliance. Didn't see much difference, but I'd rather have cryptic/teferi over the knot. Might cut a snap for a negate or something.

My conclusions so far:

I) I'd never play Miracles without Opt and especially Telling Time. Time's so good at digging for what you need and setting up Miracle triggers.

II) Clique mainboard is awesome, helps with info and applies pressure, while you set up Entreats or counters plus a walker.

III) I swear by the second Entreat. You get some seriously clunky hands (and I've lost a couple of games because of that), but sacrificing a Jace for a brainstorm to unclog your hand is a serious threat.

IV)I'm playing a crucible in my sideboard, but I've never played a mirror match, so I can't speak for the efficacy of it. On the other hand, Geist and the Angels are epic against a huge amount of the field in my store.

V) Main issues I've had were against decks like Thopter/Sword ones, Hyper Aggressive ones -infect could be included in this category- and I'm not quite clear against the Mardu Pyro decks.

Play leyline instead of runed halo, and ajani instead of secure.
The cards are obviously different, but in terms of what you're looking to them to do, those are reasonable replacements.

Quote from Magix »

Quick Question: I miss Secure the Wastes (1-off Maindeck) and Runed Halo (2-off,SB) for a Paper Event tomorrow. What would be some good substitutions given a wide open Meta with Azcanta Control (Nicolich List)?
I thought about 1 Geist or an other PW main, because I dont want to turn on their spot removal and still have a good finisher like Secure. SB Slots could be used with Disdainful Stroke or Rejection. Opinions?

There is no real replacement for secure the wastes... instant speed finishers that go wide and boast its efficiency and flexibility are rare to to find. It is also a defensive tool. 1 geist MD is fine, though you won't find it with Azcanta. Off the top of my head I'm struggling to think of an instant speed finishers worth playing outside of snap/hulk/secure. MD Clique might be worth a thought.

You could reconfigure your PW and wincon set to include a Gideon package, or a gideon/elspeth/Geist mix, but this changes a lot of deck dynamics. This will give you greater defense from your PWs as well as more on board power at the cost of utility from Secure, Nahiri, and Ajani.

Similar story with Runed Halo but at least one can dissect which MU's you'll need to find a SB replacement with. Halo is so universally applicable that it's hard. It usually comes in for Combo or decks that have specific cards you have trouble with. Or threat light decks such as Shadow.

I think Shadow, Valakut, Storm are the ones I find it a Haymaker answer in (out of T1). Leyline of Sanctity can do good work in all these MU's (see Bearscapes' post recently), or if Valakut is a specific problem that you need to address then Shadow of Doubt is bonkers against them. Geist happens to be also very good vs. GDS and Valakut.

Quote from Magix »

I have just linked a data source, you just have to collect all the pieces and create a statistic to determine the most winning deck. I think that this could be a nice Modern Nexus article @ktkenshinx

Don't worry! There will be tons of data-driven banlist articles in the coming month. Our SFM Abzan vs. Affinity piece (part 1) goes live tomorrow, kicking off the discussion.

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Honestly the Jund matchup isn't that bad anymore with Bounding Krasis. Jund is incentivized to board out some number of bolts anyway since they suck against goyf and exarch, and the only real target for them is Snapcaster, which just feels bad to keep bolts in for. This stretches the few bolts they leave in a bit too far, and Krasis usually goes unanswered or eats a terminate/decay. I keep 2 twins in against them because Krasis is actually a serviceable threat against them now, and Deceiver is a great tempo play against them with Goyfs in play. You definitely have to play to your deck's strengths post board. Try not to remand something early unless you have a threat in play. Prioritize getting threats into play, then protect it with permission, and try to tempo them out of the game. Grindy cards like Keranos/Huntmaster/Thragtusk are still great, but you shouldn't try to jam them ASAP, and should instead wait for them to grind through the rest of your hand before deploying them. Waiting until they're out of gas or close to out of gas is the best way to make those threats game winning. I bring in dispels, roast, huntmasters, thragtusk, keranos, and explosives, board out 2 twins, electrolyze, a bolt, a deceiver or two (maybe 3) against them. Since going with this plan, I have over a 50% win rate against Jund. The best thing to do against them is take advantage of the fact that they are a curve out type deck that is typically only cast 1 spell per turn in the first few turns. Trying to put them off balance early by being super mana-efficient is typically the best strategy. Also, if you have dispel in your hand, it is usually best to hold a threat until you can play it and leave up dispel. However, on the play I will absolutely play a goyf on two so they are forced remove it on their turn 2, and if they opt to play a threat of their own turn 2, then you can tap it down with krasis/deceiver and attack with goyf, and then they untap on the back foot.

I often here Modern players call UR Twin instead Tempo Twin but anymore that title doesn't hold water. There's zero "real" two drops, maybe one Lavaman, the only card I'd feel comfortable calling a threat is the one of Clique and the deck isn't realistic clocking on average until something like maybe what, turn 8? It seems like any more people just call anything with Remands, Bolts, and Snapcaster a tempo deck.

The quick and dirty definition I know with tempo is "an aggro deck with disruption" whereas UR Twin aims more to prolong the game until they assemble the combo or get in a couple chip shots and Bolt, Snap Bolt them out. A typical UR Twin list anymore is an aggro control deck deck with a combo finish or just a combo control deck. I just don't understand how people can look at RUG Delver in Modern and Twin and categorize them in the same shell.

@ Magix

Yeah they are super close:
My reasoning for leaning more towards Pierce over snare was the increased number of 3 drops that die to bolt.
That being said Bolt and small creature decks are under represented in my meta. Hence pulling the electrolyze and grim, and adding a clique and another Krasis.
The one thing that is also worth mentioning. Having the 4X Slow lands helps a ton vs choke/Boil