Also folks, feel free to peck apart my deck at weaknesses and what not. I'm sure it could be better, and I'd love everyone's input. Except Dlanze or whatever his name was, the guy I blocked for adding nothing to the forum.
Thanks. I try to be thorough and go over the strong and weak points of the game. Otherwise, the sharing of information becomes halted and the concept stagnates.
Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker is a very good Magic the Gathering card. He attacc. He protecc. But most importantly. He does not close the game out. Like at all. I mean, his ult does, but that's super far off. You have to plus him like 4 times to try and savage their board state so you can try to win and that's....lackluster for 8 mana when Ultimatum can do it for 7.
But in summary, NBP does not close a game easily, but NPGP does and more. Also, I know Telemin Performance isn't exactly like the +2 of NBGP. It's just the closest one in the game. Sue me.
Hello again folks. Been a smattering of months since I checked in last. Been busy with work, depression, anxiety, general garbage like that. Figured I'd dust off a deck and take a crack at MtG again to get my mind off things. From Thursday's 30+ weekly to tonight's 40+ FNM, I am proud to report that I went 4-0 both nights, 17-3 games wise. I had a bye round 1 tonight due to my opponent never showing up. Here's my current list, updated from when I last poked my head up.
Now for the write up on the matches. Starting with Thursday.
Match 1: Grixis Control "Mirror" (2-0)
I hadn't played the game in a couple of months, he hadn't played in a year. A nice rousing way to start my return to the format, with a grindy control matchup, in which I drew all 4 Fatal Push, cast 1, and slowly killed him game 1 with a Tasigur and a pair of Tar Pits after a number of volleys of me dealing with opposing Tasigurs and Anglers and he dealing with my answers and, gods do I love the grind. Game 2, we were going to time, but he gave it to me when turn 0, I threw an Ultimatum at the dome when he tapped out to Damnation my Kalitas and Snapcasters and play a Tasigur. Swung life totals around, with me at 10 and him at 5, knocked out his hand, and killed the Tas. A good match.
Match 2: Jeskai Flash (2-1)
This was a match up I was wary about. Not because I particularly dislike the match up, but I have a lot of respect for my opponent who's an outstanding pilot with whatever deck he has, be it control, Jund, Shadow, or some other deck he decides to mess about with. Tonight was Jeskai, and boy howdy, did we go at it. Game 1, he hit me with a large concentration of burn spells and a maindeck Geist of St. Traft beat me over the head with a shovel a couple of times. Which was painful. Game 2, he stalled on lands, shortcutted two fetches at the same time, and I hit him with a Shadow of Doubt. Very quick concession. Game 3, I did what Bolas does: play the long game. Countered or killed every threat he came up with, including casting and flashing back a Damnation to deal with 2 St. Trafts and resolved Ultimatum into God-Pharoah into Snap off your library Ultimatum. A very good, close, interactive match. Gods I missed this deck.
Match 3: RW Norin Sisters (2-0)
I got paired down so slightly inaccurate meta data but still, the match was played and things happened. Jace +1'd both games into oblivion and fogged his board for some 40 life while he slowly dug into it with a Mirran Crusader. I played a Kalitas and a Damnation for his troubles and ripped through him game 1 with 6 Zombies and game 2 with lands from 56 to ded. Not a challenging match up, and extremely favored.
Match 4: Blue Moon (2-0)
Game 1 I played an As Foretold on turn 3 and watched my opponent lose to his own Blood Moon. He drew 2 Islands and mono nonbasics while I cast a lot of spells for free through a busted mythic. Game 2 I countered and Surgical'd his Moons, resolved an Ultimatum when he tapped low to resolve a Batterskull and fight over it, and drained him slowly with The Scarab God.
I'll comeback and edit this with the full write up tomorrow since it's 3 AM right now and my eyes are swimming as I type all this out. Also @Lil_Bolas , I don't think I've ever had the pleasure of looking at your deck. How's that looking?
Edits: Friday went 4-0 as well, with a round 1 bye due to my opponent who never showed up that night period.
Round 2: Jeskai Control (2-1)
Very good pilot, wery fun games. After attempting an Ultimatum and a NBGP, I eventually died to Colonnades and Snap beats. Game 2, he kept a shifty hand, sat on a fetch til he drew another, cracked both and I hit him with Shadow of Doubt. Played another fetch and I flashed Shadow back with Snapcaster. Very similar to Thursday night, in both deck and method of winning. Game 3, I got my lands blown up by Ajani and he proceeded to draw every land left in his deck. It was a very sad turn of events but I drew lands and threats and killed him. I had absolutely no right to win that match. It felt like cheating, honestly.
Round 3: Bant Company (2-0)
A friend of mine I hadn't seen in a while. A good match, with lots of banter and cursing and chicanery. Game 1 I baited the Spell Queller I had a feeling he had with an early Kalitas on turn 4 and proceeded to slam an As Foretold. Played a follow up As Foretold, staved off a few hits from the Queller to land another Kalitas through the first AF into Kommand a Hierarch for a Zombie through second AF, cast Snapcaster, flashback Kommand for second Hierarch, for a second Zombie and leaving him hellbent with a 3/4 Queller, he had a Gavony, and facing down Kalitas, 2 Zombos, and a Snap. Drew a company, cast it, whiffed, next game. Game 2, He kept a 1 lander with double Hierarch, Voice, and a Mirran Crusader. A very good hand. I survived til turn 3, kicked the Voice of my skyship, untapped and cast Damnation. He never cast a spell the rest of the game for lack of lands. A poor turn of events. But we're both used to that kind of thing and cracked jokes all the while.
Round 4: RG Hollowvine (2-1)
A hillbilly friend of mine played this one. Game 1, I clenched really hard and got 20'd on turn 3, from Hooting Mandrills, Become Immense, Temur Battle Rage. Game 2, I clenched harder and resolved a Kalitas with 4 removal spells in hand and got there. Game 3, I opened up Steam Vents, shock self, pass, holding a Ceremonious Rejection with a Surgical to stop the possible nut turn 1 Hollow One(s). Sure enough, he goes for it, I tell him to hold on, Reject the first 1, and Surgical the other 3 out of his hand. Scooped them up like Raisin Bran. Spectators lost their mind from the turn 1 16 power into 0 power, perfect answer.
Explanation of changes
Well, our God-Pharaoh returned, and my word, does he close out a game. I've opted out of Grave Titan for him and it's done perfectly fine. Has been better than the Titan where Titan was good, and has been better where Grave Titan was bad as well. Solid change. Dropped a Rise & Fall for a Chandra, and she's also incredible. The ability to just sit there and give you 2 plus mana for all the big mana cards in our deck or "drawing" a card and pushing chip damage is also just fine and top notch. I've also added a second Kalitas to push my threats up and help combat aggro decks by giving more life gain and attaching a blocker to every removal spell. Also, since I'm sure a lot of people will notice the 61 cards, that's simply something I do. I play the 61 cards until I draw both of the cards that are competing for the slot, NBGP and the second KToG, and cut the worse one in the situation. Or if one card severely out performs the other, the worse of the two gets the axe. It's probably not absolutely correct, but it's how I've played since about 2010.
On the sideboard, TiTI was simply too slow for the current meta, Academy Ruins too grindy, and I haven't seen an artifact based deck for a good minute in my area, so I 86'd Shatterstorm. Put in 3 Fulminators and a second Surgical for an edge on Tron, control/midrange decks, and combo decks.
Personally, as a huge advocate of cutting Bolt, I've been cutting it in regards to the sheer number of creatures it does not kill that kicking someone off a skyship does. In the meta anyways. Now, if your LGS is all tiny dudes.dec, keep Bolt, and play some split of Push. Moving on, let me just say this: Bolt is not a bad card. It is simply not terribly effective at this crossroads of the meta, with Eldrazi Tron and Death's Shadow being the largest offenders, and Junk, Jund, Company, and a couple of others I'm sure I've missed. But against a lot of these decks, Bolt sometimes does something relevant. And that "sometimes" personally upsets me. I want my removal spells to always do something. After all, that's why I put them in.
In short, creature damage isn't super good right now, straight up murdilate is much better.
Next up in regards to your questions was "Where'd the sweepers go?" Funny story, and a nice slice of irony, aggro swept them out. Basically, here's the deal. Literally pulling from Salvation's Tier 1 section, versus Dredge, Death's Shadow, Burn, Eldrazi Tron, and Affinity, these are all decks which can kill you semi-consistenly turn 4. If we include Tier 2, Living End, Elves, Company, and Humans are added to the list where sweepers would be relevant and can kill quickly. Meaning we'd have to have the sweeper on curve, perfect mana, double red can be hard for our mana base so early on, and a relevant spell like Anger or Damnation. And even then, Anger is only for 2/3rds of the decks listed. And of those, Affinity, Elves, and even Humans can sometimes simply outclass the Anger in terms of toughness. Meaning only 1/3rd of the decks are always weak to anger, 1/3rd is sometimes, and 1/3rd is never. For Damnation, sure, you hit all of them easy. But, you'd be encouraged to play a higher number to consistently draw it, and lands, and find a way to not die/oppose your opponent simply having their way and going all in and killing you before the Damnation. So personally, I, and perhaps others, have found that it is simply easier to focus on killing and countering individual problem targets and then including a singleton sweeper or sometimes 2, sometimes 0, to dig us out in case things get slightly out of hand and we need to reset the boardstate that we rely on our high density of dig and draw to find.
In short, people have been blasting Initial D music and zooming through Modern and having too many sweepers clog our hands and we get run over.
Howdy Krazeboi. It's honestly been fine. I've just found Bolt to be so bad, God that still feels weird to say, right now in the meta versus Shadow decks, Eldrazi, and frankly, random creatures that I could just as easily kick over. Playing guys like Kalitas and Tas help finish the game in the mean time since Bolt, Snap Bolt is no longer a win condition. They also have the added bonus of helping me survive to shatter my opponents with an Ultimatum or just take enough control and slowly put them down with manlands.
Basically, I find Lightning Bolt simply doesn't kill the sheer volume of creatures our deck cares about that Fatal Push does. And given the long game nature of the deck, I feel that's a liability and cut it in favor of new directions. The deck plays just as nicely as it did when Bolt was good without Bolt, so I say try it out. That's really the best way to get a feel for yourself. After all, we all differ in terms of how we play our deck and what choices we make.
Answers. Be they as correct or incorrect as they may be. I suppose that would make them reasons then.
1. I've tried As Foretold for the past month and a half and, so far as I can tell, it's made me far more consistent in terms of controlling, and well, living through the turn. It's like an Aether Vial for any spell with CMC X, or less, every turn. Even just playing it and resolving an AV the turn it lands is good enough to have warranted the slot. However, it can be grindy and slow, but then again a lot of the deck is grindy and slow. Bottom line is I really do enjoy the card as I feel it gives me an edge by being able to cast more spells and save mana for taxing effects and more spells.
2. Rise // Fall has been a favorite of mine all the way back since I first was playing this deck as a Mystical Teachings toolbox and Twin was still legal. I think that, yes it can be useful in an aggressive deck to great effect in order to try and strip stabilization cards out of their hand and continue pressing the advantage, but at the same time a deck that plays a long game can also use it early on or later to strip one assured card if they're sandbagging an answer or two and have permission, maybe even two cards if they just don't see it coming/cannot respond to it. The Rise part is also extremely useful as a sorcery speed Unsummon and a Raise Dead which comes up in more niche cases, but can be used to counter a problem creature on the way back down, rebuy a creature in the yard which is very useful to stabilizing/winning the game, or even the one time against Dredge where I stuck GGT back in his hand and he happened to have zero other dredgers in the yard and very quickly lost with no enablers. I also might be totally wrong and it's just too slow and one mana disruption like Inquisition of Kozilek and Thoughtseize are just absolutely better or something along those lines. Maybe more kill spells or permission.
3. I wasn't always as wealthy as I am now and got used to playing 3. I also remember something that stuck with me forever. You only play 4 of of the things you want to always see at a reasonable time every single game that helps you win or stabilize every single game. I kind of took it as the diversification of threats and answers. This one might be the most erroneous of all my ideas and philosophies, but it's just how I was taught.
Howdy folks. I don't post very often, if ever really as I prefer lurking, but now I need some help and seeing as there's not many of us out there playing this deck, and well, I couldn't think of who better to ask than fellow pilots. Except for one strong-headed person whom people have had many disagreements with, but I blocked them ages ago so that shouldn't matter all too much. Anyways, I've come to a roadblock and perhaps I'm approaching things the wrong way. So if all you lovely folk could look at my list and help advise me in the pursuit of greater power, as our God-Pharaoh dictates us to do, I would greatly appreciate it.
As returning it to your hand is a part of the cost, you won't have time to untap it as it will be in your hand when the ability is put on the stack for you to attempt to respond to in the first place.
Alright, I tweaked it some based on some of your suggestions and some suggestions of a friend of mine and came up with this. It's testing much more cleanly, and still wish I had the second Jace, but I will concede the point that there are a larger number of 2 CMC powerhouse cards in the format right now so 2 Snares should be in the deck. I also moved a Wurmcoil into the board with Academy Ruins, have been trying out Vedalken Shackles, which have been very good, along with some new mainboard card choices.
Hello all, long time lurker, first time really posting. I've long adored playing Cruel Control and was thinking about bringing it to a major tournament finally in the form of Grand Prix Charlotte. That being said, as of lately, I've felt that my deck and sideboard were...inadequate. Dismayed, I put it down for a while and focused on some other things, but now I really want to pick it back up and prepare it for the upcoming tournament. Please, give me some thoughts and suggestions and questions about what you think of the deck, what I should consider to make it more competitive and yeah. Thanks a bundle.
My updated list featuring Mr. JTMS himself. Bless up.
// 5 Creature
3 Snapcaster Mage
1 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
1 The Scarab God
// 4 Enchantment
3 As Foretold
1 Search for Azcanta
// 14 Instant
2 Cryptic Command
3 Fatal Push
2 Kolaghan's Command
1 Lightning Bolt
3 Mana Leak
1 Shadow of Doubt
2 Terminate
// 25 Land
1 Blood Crypt
3 Creeping Tar Pit
1 Dreadship Reef
1 Field of Ruin
1 Mountain
3 Polluted Delta
3 Scalding Tarn
3 Snow-Covered Island
3 Steam Vents
1 Sulfur Falls
2 Swamp
3 Watery Grave
1 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
2 Jace, Architect of Thought
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
// 7 Sorcery
2 Ancestral Vision
1 Cruel Ultimatum
1 Damnation
3 Serum Visions
2 Engineered Explosives
2 Fulminator Mage
1 Keranos, God of Storms
1 Disdainful Stroke
1 Negate
1 Shadow of Doubt
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Anger of the Gods
1 Collective Brutality
1 Never // Return
1 Shatterstorm
Also folks, feel free to peck apart my deck at weaknesses and what not. I'm sure it could be better, and I'd love everyone's input. Except Dlanze or whatever his name was, the guy I blocked for adding nothing to the forum.
Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker is a very good Magic the Gathering card. He attacc. He protecc. But most importantly. He does not close the game out. Like at all. I mean, his ult does, but that's super far off. You have to plus him like 4 times to try and savage their board state so you can try to win and that's....lackluster for 8 mana when Ultimatum can do it for 7.
Now for our lord and God-Pharaoh. Bolas has started to really get back his old power and has channeled it into one mana less and a whole lot more game closing abilities. For starters, you can play him and just judo chop someone with his minus immediately. He also can steal a random spell from the top and mind rots the opponent to put them on the backfoot, more than say a Stone Rain or Mind Control would like with OG NBP. And, if absolutely necessary, you can reduce everything they have to nothing but their own folly for opposing you.
But in summary, NBP does not close a game easily, but NPGP does and more. Also, I know Telemin Performance isn't exactly like the +2 of NBGP. It's just the closest one in the game. Sue me.
// 1 Artifact
1 Coalition Relic
// 8 Creature
2 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
3 Snapcaster Mage
2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
1 The Scarab God
// 3 Enchantment
3 As Foretold
// 15 Instant
2 Cryptic Command
4 Fatal Push
2 Kolaghan's Command
3 Mana Leak
1 Shadow of Doubt
3 Terminate
// 24 Land
1 Blood Crypt
1 Bloodstained Mire
3 Creeping Tar Pit
1 Dreadship Reef
3 Polluted Delta
2 Scalding Tarn
3 Snow-Covered Island
3 Steam Vents
1 Sulfur Falls
2 Swamp
1 Wandering Fumarole
3 Watery Grave
2 Jace, Architect of Thought
1 Nicol Bolas, God-Pharoah
// 6 Sorcery
3 Ancestral Vision
2 Cruel Ultimatum
1 Damnation
2 Engineered Explosives
2 Fulminator Mage
1 Izzet Staticaster
1 Keranos, God of Storms
1 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Ceremonious Rejection
1 Negate
1 Shadow of Doubt
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Collective Brutality
1 Never // Return
Now for the write up on the matches. Starting with Thursday.
Match 1: Grixis Control "Mirror" (2-0)
I hadn't played the game in a couple of months, he hadn't played in a year. A nice rousing way to start my return to the format, with a grindy control matchup, in which I drew all 4 Fatal Push, cast 1, and slowly killed him game 1 with a Tasigur and a pair of Tar Pits after a number of volleys of me dealing with opposing Tasigurs and Anglers and he dealing with my answers and, gods do I love the grind. Game 2, we were going to time, but he gave it to me when turn 0, I threw an Ultimatum at the dome when he tapped out to Damnation my Kalitas and Snapcasters and play a Tasigur. Swung life totals around, with me at 10 and him at 5, knocked out his hand, and killed the Tas. A good match.
Match 2: Jeskai Flash (2-1)
This was a match up I was wary about. Not because I particularly dislike the match up, but I have a lot of respect for my opponent who's an outstanding pilot with whatever deck he has, be it control, Jund, Shadow, or some other deck he decides to mess about with. Tonight was Jeskai, and boy howdy, did we go at it. Game 1, he hit me with a large concentration of burn spells and a maindeck Geist of St. Traft beat me over the head with a shovel a couple of times. Which was painful. Game 2, he stalled on lands, shortcutted two fetches at the same time, and I hit him with a Shadow of Doubt. Very quick concession. Game 3, I did what Bolas does: play the long game. Countered or killed every threat he came up with, including casting and flashing back a Damnation to deal with 2 St. Trafts and resolved Ultimatum into God-Pharoah into Snap off your library Ultimatum. A very good, close, interactive match. Gods I missed this deck.
Match 3: RW Norin Sisters (2-0)
I got paired down so slightly inaccurate meta data but still, the match was played and things happened. Jace +1'd both games into oblivion and fogged his board for some 40 life while he slowly dug into it with a Mirran Crusader. I played a Kalitas and a Damnation for his troubles and ripped through him game 1 with 6 Zombies and game 2 with lands from 56 to ded. Not a challenging match up, and extremely favored.
Match 4: Blue Moon (2-0)
Game 1 I played an As Foretold on turn 3 and watched my opponent lose to his own Blood Moon. He drew 2 Islands and mono nonbasics while I cast a lot of spells for free through a busted mythic. Game 2 I countered and Surgical'd his Moons, resolved an Ultimatum when he tapped low to resolve a Batterskull and fight over it, and drained him slowly with The Scarab God.
I'll comeback and edit this with the full write up tomorrow since it's 3 AM right now and my eyes are swimming as I type all this out. Also @Lil_Bolas , I don't think I've ever had the pleasure of looking at your deck. How's that looking?
Edits: Friday went 4-0 as well, with a round 1 bye due to my opponent who never showed up that night period.
Round 2: Jeskai Control (2-1)
Very good pilot, wery fun games. After attempting an Ultimatum and a NBGP, I eventually died to Colonnades and Snap beats. Game 2, he kept a shifty hand, sat on a fetch til he drew another, cracked both and I hit him with Shadow of Doubt. Played another fetch and I flashed Shadow back with Snapcaster. Very similar to Thursday night, in both deck and method of winning. Game 3, I got my lands blown up by Ajani and he proceeded to draw every land left in his deck. It was a very sad turn of events but I drew lands and threats and killed him. I had absolutely no right to win that match. It felt like cheating, honestly.
Round 3: Bant Company (2-0)
A friend of mine I hadn't seen in a while. A good match, with lots of banter and cursing and chicanery. Game 1 I baited the Spell Queller I had a feeling he had with an early Kalitas on turn 4 and proceeded to slam an As Foretold. Played a follow up As Foretold, staved off a few hits from the Queller to land another Kalitas through the first AF into Kommand a Hierarch for a Zombie through second AF, cast Snapcaster, flashback Kommand for second Hierarch, for a second Zombie and leaving him hellbent with a 3/4 Queller, he had a Gavony, and facing down Kalitas, 2 Zombos, and a Snap. Drew a company, cast it, whiffed, next game. Game 2, He kept a 1 lander with double Hierarch, Voice, and a Mirran Crusader. A very good hand. I survived til turn 3, kicked the Voice of my skyship, untapped and cast Damnation. He never cast a spell the rest of the game for lack of lands. A poor turn of events. But we're both used to that kind of thing and cracked jokes all the while.
Round 4: RG Hollowvine (2-1)
A hillbilly friend of mine played this one. Game 1, I clenched really hard and got 20'd on turn 3, from Hooting Mandrills, Become Immense, Temur Battle Rage. Game 2, I clenched harder and resolved a Kalitas with 4 removal spells in hand and got there. Game 3, I opened up Steam Vents, shock self, pass, holding a Ceremonious Rejection with a Surgical to stop the possible nut turn 1 Hollow One(s). Sure enough, he goes for it, I tell him to hold on, Reject the first 1, and Surgical the other 3 out of his hand. Scooped them up like Raisin Bran. Spectators lost their mind from the turn 1 16 power into 0 power, perfect answer.
// 7 Creature
2 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
3 Snapcaster Mage
2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
// 3 Enchantment
3 As Foretold
// 18 Instant
2 Countersquall
2 Cryptic Command
4 Fatal Push
2 Kolaghan's Command
3 Mana Leak
3 Terminate
2 Think Twice
// 24 Land
1 Blood Crypt
1 Bloodstained Mire
3 Creeping Tar Pit
1 Dreadship Reef
3 Polluted Delta
2 Scalding Tarn
3 Snow-Covered Island
3 Steam Vents
1 Sulfur Falls
2 Swamp
1 Wandering Fumarole
3 Watery Grave
1 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
1 Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh
// 8 Sorcery
3 Ancestral Vision
2 Cruel Ultimatum
1 Damnation
1 Rise // Fall
2 Engineered Explosives
3 Fulminator Mage
1 Izzet Staticaster
1 Keranos, God of Storms
1 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Countersquall
1 Disdainful Stroke
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Collective Brutality
1 Never
Mainboard
-1 Grave Titan, -1 Rise // Fall
+1 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet, +1 Chandra, Torch of Defiance, +1 Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh
Sideboard
-2 Thing in the Ice, -1 Academy Ruins, -1 Shatterstorm
+3 Fulminator Mage, +1 Surgical Extraction
Explanation of changes
Well, our God-Pharaoh returned, and my word, does he close out a game. I've opted out of Grave Titan for him and it's done perfectly fine. Has been better than the Titan where Titan was good, and has been better where Grave Titan was bad as well. Solid change. Dropped a Rise & Fall for a Chandra, and she's also incredible. The ability to just sit there and give you 2 plus mana for all the big mana cards in our deck or "drawing" a card and pushing chip damage is also just fine and top notch. I've also added a second Kalitas to push my threats up and help combat aggro decks by giving more life gain and attaching a blocker to every removal spell. Also, since I'm sure a lot of people will notice the 61 cards, that's simply something I do. I play the 61 cards until I draw both of the cards that are competing for the slot, NBGP and the second KToG, and cut the worse one in the situation. Or if one card severely out performs the other, the worse of the two gets the axe. It's probably not absolutely correct, but it's how I've played since about 2010.
On the sideboard, TiTI was simply too slow for the current meta, Academy Ruins too grindy, and I haven't seen an artifact based deck for a good minute in my area, so I 86'd Shatterstorm. Put in 3 Fulminators and a second Surgical for an edge on Tron, control/midrange decks, and combo decks.
Personally, as a huge advocate of cutting Bolt, I've been cutting it in regards to the sheer number of creatures it does not kill that kicking someone off a skyship does. In the meta anyways. Now, if your LGS is all tiny dudes.dec, keep Bolt, and play some split of Push. Moving on, let me just say this: Bolt is not a bad card. It is simply not terribly effective at this crossroads of the meta, with Eldrazi Tron and Death's Shadow being the largest offenders, and Junk, Jund, Company, and a couple of others I'm sure I've missed. But against a lot of these decks, Bolt sometimes does something relevant. And that "sometimes" personally upsets me. I want my removal spells to always do something. After all, that's why I put them in.
In short, creature damage isn't super good right now, straight up murdilate is much better.
Next up in regards to your questions was "Where'd the sweepers go?" Funny story, and a nice slice of irony, aggro swept them out. Basically, here's the deal. Literally pulling from Salvation's Tier 1 section, versus Dredge, Death's Shadow, Burn, Eldrazi Tron, and Affinity, these are all decks which can kill you semi-consistenly turn 4. If we include Tier 2, Living End, Elves, Company, and Humans are added to the list where sweepers would be relevant and can kill quickly. Meaning we'd have to have the sweeper on curve, perfect mana, double red can be hard for our mana base so early on, and a relevant spell like Anger or Damnation. And even then, Anger is only for 2/3rds of the decks listed. And of those, Affinity, Elves, and even Humans can sometimes simply outclass the Anger in terms of toughness. Meaning only 1/3rd of the decks are always weak to anger, 1/3rd is sometimes, and 1/3rd is never. For Damnation, sure, you hit all of them easy. But, you'd be encouraged to play a higher number to consistently draw it, and lands, and find a way to not die/oppose your opponent simply having their way and going all in and killing you before the Damnation. So personally, I, and perhaps others, have found that it is simply easier to focus on killing and countering individual problem targets and then including a singleton sweeper or sometimes 2, sometimes 0, to dig us out in case things get slightly out of hand and we need to reset the boardstate that we rely on our high density of dig and draw to find.
In short, people have been blasting Initial D music and zooming through Modern and having too many sweepers clog our hands and we get run over.
Basically, I find Lightning Bolt simply doesn't kill the sheer volume of creatures our deck cares about that Fatal Push does. And given the long game nature of the deck, I feel that's a liability and cut it in favor of new directions. The deck plays just as nicely as it did when Bolt was good without Bolt, so I say try it out. That's really the best way to get a feel for yourself. After all, we all differ in terms of how we play our deck and what choices we make.
1. I've tried As Foretold for the past month and a half and, so far as I can tell, it's made me far more consistent in terms of controlling, and well, living through the turn. It's like an Aether Vial for any spell with CMC X, or less, every turn. Even just playing it and resolving an AV the turn it lands is good enough to have warranted the slot. However, it can be grindy and slow, but then again a lot of the deck is grindy and slow. Bottom line is I really do enjoy the card as I feel it gives me an edge by being able to cast more spells and save mana for taxing effects and more spells.
2. Rise // Fall has been a favorite of mine all the way back since I first was playing this deck as a Mystical Teachings toolbox and Twin was still legal. I think that, yes it can be useful in an aggressive deck to great effect in order to try and strip stabilization cards out of their hand and continue pressing the advantage, but at the same time a deck that plays a long game can also use it early on or later to strip one assured card if they're sandbagging an answer or two and have permission, maybe even two cards if they just don't see it coming/cannot respond to it. The Rise part is also extremely useful as a sorcery speed Unsummon and a Raise Dead which comes up in more niche cases, but can be used to counter a problem creature on the way back down, rebuy a creature in the yard which is very useful to stabilizing/winning the game, or even the one time against Dredge where I stuck GGT back in his hand and he happened to have zero other dredgers in the yard and very quickly lost with no enablers. I also might be totally wrong and it's just too slow and one mana disruption like Inquisition of Kozilek and Thoughtseize are just absolutely better or something along those lines. Maybe more kill spells or permission.
3. I wasn't always as wealthy as I am now and got used to playing 3. I also remember something that stuck with me forever. You only play 4 of of the things you want to always see at a reasonable time every single game that helps you win or stabilize every single game. I kind of took it as the diversification of threats and answers. This one might be the most erroneous of all my ideas and philosophies, but it's just how I was taught.
Hope this all helps.
// 7 Creature
1 Grave Titan
1 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
3 Snapcaster Mage
2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
// 3 Enchantment
3 As Foretold
// 18 Instant
2 Countersquall
2 Cryptic Command
4 Fatal Push
2 Kolaghan's Command
3 Mana Leak
3 Terminate
2 Think Twice
// 24 Land
1 Blood Crypt
1 Bloodstained Mire
3 Creeping Tar Pit
1 Dreadship Reef
3 Polluted Delta
2 Scalding Tarn
3 Snow-Covered Island
3 Steam Vents
1 Sulfur Falls
2 Swamp
1 Wandering Fumarole
3 Watery Grave
3 Ancestral Vision
2 Cruel Ultimatum
1 Damnation
2 Rise // Fall
2 Engineered Explosives
1 Keranos, God of Storms
1 Wurmcoil Engine
2 Thing in the Ice
1 Izzet Staticaster
1 Disdainful Stroke
1 Surgical Extraction
1 Countersquall
1 Academy Ruins
2 Collective Brutality
1 Shatterstorm
1 Never
Also, apologies for the odd layout. I mostly test on Cockatrice so that's why there's an abundance of slashes and what-not.
As returning it to your hand is a part of the cost, you won't have time to untap it as it will be in your hand when the ability is put on the stack for you to attempt to respond to in the first place.
1 Blood Crypt
2 Bloodstained Mire
1 Cascade Bluffs
3 Creeping Tar Pit
1 Dreadship Reef
3 Polluted Delta
2 Reflecting Pool
2 Snow-Covered Island
3 Steam Vents
2 Swamp
4 Watery Grave
Artifact (2)
2 Vedalken Shackles
Creatures (8)
1 Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
2 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
3 Snapcaster Mage
1 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
1 Vendilion Clique
1 Counterflux
2 Cryptic Command
2 Electrolyze
2 Kolaghan's Command
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Mana Leak
2 Spell Snare
3 Terminate
3 Think Twice
Sorceries (5)
1 Anger of the Gods
2 Cruel Ultimatum
2 Damnation
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
1 Keranos, God of Storms
1 Spellskite
1 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Night of Souls' Betrayal
1 Kolaghan's Command
1 Negate
1 Swan Song
1 Academy Ruins
1 Anger of the Gods
1 Shatterstorm
2 Thoughtseize
1 Academy Ruins
1 Blood Crypt
2 Bloodstained Mire
1 Cascade Bluffs
3 Creeping Tar Pit
1 Dreadship Reef
3 Polluted Delta
2 Reflecting Pool
2 Snow-Covered Island
3 Steam Vents
2 Swamp
3 Watery Grave
Artifact (1)
1 Batterskull
Creatures (10)
2 Fulminator Mage
2 Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
2 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
3 Snapcaster Mage
1 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
1 Counterflux
2 Cryptic Command
2 Electrolyze
2 Kolaghan's Command
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Mana Leak
1 Spell Snare
3 Terminate
3 Think Twice
Sorceries (5)
2 Ancestral Vision
1 Cruel Ultimatum
1 Damnation
1 Rise // Fall
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Fulminator Mage
1 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
1 Keranos, God of Storms
1 Spellskite
1 Night of Souls' Betrayal
1 Kolaghan's Command
1 Negate
1 Swan Song
1 Anger of the Gods
1 Damnation
1 Shatterstorm
2 Thoughtseize