MTG Salvation

I made it into the top 4 of a small showdown event on Saturday with this deck. Then lost in the semi-final to UW cycling.

The weakness that keeps frustrating me is our inherent lack of removal for enchantments and artifacts.

So, despite putting up decent results across the last three tournaments (1 win with 3 top 4 finishes) i’ve decided to experiment.

While keeping the big red core and black for disruption and card advantage (siphoner), I’m going to see what happens when I substitute green for blue.

People keep telling me that Jund is a stronger shell for the Phoenix/Glorybringer shell. We’ll see -

Won a very small Standard Showdown event with the deck today. A couple of points to make:

* Doomfall continues to perform well, both as a flexible discard spell and a further exile effect beyond spray and contempt. I have not regretted drawing it yet.

* dire fleet daredevil is ok. As Scasseden said, he’s more often a turn 2 speed bump against fast aggro than anything. I didn’t have the chance to play him later and use his extra ability today, but in the absence of a better two-drop i’ll Keep him for now

Interesting deck lists guys. Here's mine as it stands after what I learned yesterday:



A few things that still need sorting out:

The mana - I'd like another red source in there. May need to lose a fetid pool or drowned catacomb for a canyon slough or dragonskull summit. Also, the absence of a basic island feels wrong.

The missing fourth Vraska's Contempt - Unsure whether the two doomfalls make up for it.

Two Abrades main deck - Haven't faced a vehicles deck for a while but I know they're still around. Gearhulks are manageable.

Pia Nalaar - Her synergy is great but she could be an extra chart a course or removal spell.

Gonti - Awesome against slower and mid-range decks. Makes all the difference when he steals a bomb like Scarab God or Glorybringer. He did that so many times yesterday, twice against the same opponent. Comes out against weenies. Doubled against control. Great Scarab God target. It's just possible that one is optimum though bearing in mind the curve.

No counters - I don't miss the negates, but essence scatter can be a back breaker against mid-range.

Harnessed Lightning - All four. All day long. It forces the opponent to make choices based on what's in your energy pool, and sometimes they daren't risk it. That said, I'm very interested to read what Scasseden has to say about his experiences without them.

No Planeswalkers - I was running a single Chandra but could not keep her on the battlefield. Too often she's a one-shot removal spell then dead, and I don't want to have to expend creature resources guarding her only to have her contempted or burned. But, when she sticks she's great.

I wish I had room for - Another Chart a Course, the fourth Contempt.

I wish there was - a better sweeper.

Scasseden,

Just on the discard point you make. I had good times today with doomfall - a 3 CMC contempt without the life gain OR a duress that takes a critter. Flexible and disruptive.

I went 3-1 to finish 4th in a 16-player Showdown event today. I beat UB mid-range, merfolk and RB aggro but lost to mono-red.

Over and over it was fast starts by aggressive opponents that caused me most difficulty. Having recently dropped all my fatal pushes for red removal, I think I may have gone too far. Perhaps one or two pushes are worth keeping main deck.

Pia Nalar is a nice 3 drop that synergies well with whirler virtuoso but two is plenty. There may also be room for two of another 2-drop alongside siphoner. Dire-fleet daredevil may be that card. Gifted aetherborne would be great except for its BB cost.

At the top end, a suite of 4 Phoenix, 3 Glorybringer and 2 Scarab Gods is serving well. Generally, these seem to be enough to exhaust opponents’ exile effects and burst through for lethal given time.

Other value cards for me today include Gonti, Doomfall and Magma Spray.

Just on the subject of profane procession, two options worth mentioning are consign/oblivion and rivers rebuke. Obviously both of these will only work before procession flips.

Once it has become a land, field of ruin is probably the main tool open to us. I have seen a couple of deck lists with a single field in the side.

I’m with Hoser. The mid-range version of this deck has 18 or 19 creatures. That’s too many to get best use out of search for azcanta once flipped.

Negate and duress are for against mid-range and control. Cheap creatures and removal are for enabling the deck to survive until we can clear early threats and drop a Phoenix. A cheap sweeper like sweltering suns helps here if you have space in the board.

Great to see this primer introduced. I’m especially interested in the sideboard which has yet to be filled out with any detail.

Interesting that there seems to be a core of cards that repeatedly appear: magna spray, duress, negate, confiscation coup, chandra’s defeat, aethersphere harvester, all of which have obvious purpose.

However, there is a lot of variety in sideboard choices.
Pilots clearly differ upon whether they prefer to include disruption, card draw, finishers, sweepers, enchantment removal or more removal in their last few sideboard choices. I suppose this is a positive sign as it suggests a broad and healthy meta. At the same time it makes working out a definitive 15 cards nigh on impossible.

All I’ve been able to do so far is work out a few choices that have not worked for me.

Search for azcanta is one example. Too often in my build after flipping it reveals only lands and critters. Though I do see that it has value without ever being flipped.

As sweepers, Yahenni’s expertise and sweltering suns have both failed to impress. Which is not to say that Bontu’s or Hour of Devastation is perfect, but they do feel more useful. Not sure about golden demise yet either. I do feel that a sweeper would be useful as I sometimes feel overwhelmed by the faster decks. Any views?

Thanks guys. That covers it nicely.

I’d been using only bristling hydra in the four drop slot after falling out of love with hostage taker. The Jaberwocki list was making use of a single Gonti but with more high CMC cards like Vraska and Torrential Gearhulk.

I guess I’m looking for something with better long game against Temur but which can still handle RR, vampires and mono black.

I note that Gonti is appearing in deck lists as a one-of. Recognising the legendary nature of the card, has anyone got a view about whether 2 copies is viable?

There is the option to drop the blue, bring back the green hulks as curve toppers and replace rogue refiners with more Rishkar and/or Raptors. I saw that such a deck was once again appearing on MTGO.

I’m tempted mainly because it would presumably help reduce the volume of mulligans this deck faces.

My last two PPTQs with Sultai Energy have been blighted by unkeepable draws and then land floods or draughts. Part of the game I know but one would hope greater consistency would accompany a return to two colours.

I’m concerned about our matchup with vehicles decks. I played against one in a PPTQ last weekend and it was the only match in which I didn’t take a game.

In the first he went Bomat, Heart of Kiran, motorist, motorist and easily outraced me, finishing off with glorybringer. In the second I mulled to five unable to find adequate mana.

This raises two questions for me

1 Do we need more answers for evasive creatures?

2. Is 21 land and 4 x attune too greedy?

I’m playing 4 x fatal push and 2 x contempt in the main board and recognise that on the ground our critters tend to outweigh the opposition, so we can overwhelm them in combat. However, with so few removal spells I feel vulnerable to fliers.

On the upside, I’ve been very impressed with drowned catacombs. Probably going to add a third. Anyone else tempted to go to 22 land?

Good to have you back Scasseden.

I agree that Revolutionary Rebuff is the more flexible main deck counter. I see that you have chosen to stick with UW rather than adopt a splash of black for Scrapheap Scrounger. Personally, I have found the scrounger wonderful. It fits the theme of the deck beautifully being able to attack with a 3/2 that trades with the likes of sylvan advocate and copter, then returns from graveyard to the battlefield for a couple of mana later in the game when you need it. Think I'd rather have them than rattlechains and my selfless spirits are in the side for when I expect sweepers.

There was one game when black mana was slow to show up, but it arrived eventually. Three colours was otherwise not a problem.

My only reservation about Esper Aggro at the moment is that it dies too often to RW vehicles.

Is this the right thread for discussion of the Esper Aggro deck that Jim Davis and Lee Stehl played to success at Atlanta?

I went 4-0 with a similar deck at Saturday Showdown today. Great fun to play.