@vikingtrader: Hi! I’m also very interested in the ED version. I was playing the borderposts version but, after the release of ED, I jumped to them. I’m playing with a black splash for discarding my opponents (with really good results). After reading your last post, I think that using some number of borderposts could improve this ED version. Could you please post your list?
Been a while since I posted and I see we're in a new thread. I wanted to share my updates post-WAR. I 4-1'd with the deck in a comp league on MTGO as well as collab'd with Janh, the guy that trophies a lot on MTGO with Saheeli. We're still tuning, but here's where I'm at and I'm really enjoying this list. I won't be posting regular updates here, just when I think I've found something important, so if you wanna keep up with my progress on the deck you can follow me on twitter.
1) Teferi, Time Raveler is the real deal. Protects the combo from interaction and has natural synergy with our ETB creatures. I can't stress enough how good this card is for us.
2) 4 Lightning Bolt / 0 Lightning Helix is purely a meta call for the MTGO meta. If you expect burn and assorted aggro, make some sort of split (3/2 worked well for me in the past).
3) 3 Remand is a response to the uptick Humans where we really can't leverage them. Cryptic Command takes the 4th Remand slot as it is a versatile spell that gives you outs to random hosers which are more common these days due to Whir Prison and new Karn.
4) Ashiok, Dream Render is absolutely amazing. Cross performs against Tron, Storm, Amulet, Dredge and many more. Card has been outstanding. Note that you can reset it with Felidar Guardian when its down to 1 counter.
5) Narset, Parter of Veils, in conjunction with new Teferi, allows us to attack control from an angle we couldn't previously. This card, while strong, hasn't been as great as I expected it to be, and I may cut down to 1 copy in the board moving forward. Narset may benefit more in the presence of more hard counters.
Happy to answer any questions. WAR brings us a lot of new toys, such as the 3cmc walkers and even Dovin's Veto, which I'm very excited to continue brewing and tuning with.
Thank you so much for your work with this deck. It is not easy to improve Copycat with a meta that is always shifting. It is interesting how controlling the table you can buy a lot of turns in modern. Wall of omens, Seas, Detention Sphere, paths, bolts, ... This means that metagame is agro (in a high %), so why don´t you use anger/verdict/wrath in omens slots for example? Maindecking Anger of the Gods, you could clean the table even with fieldar there, using paths to exile bodies with a huge defense.
Great! I see you are also playing copycat! Why you didn't post here? Maybe there are more people interested (like me) that don´t know about the other "Reality Acid Deck" threat. I didn't see your videos yet but I will do it soon.
Neoform may be a finder in another shell (4cc Saheeli). I see that, when previous Jeskay Copycat thread was deleted, this is pretty dead. Nobody is playing this deck now?. Really??
I tested this list and 22 lands are a lot for me. Another curious thing is no geist. I think that 2x Helix and 2x Autumn are better right now?.
Maybe -1x land, +1x path mainboard could be helpful. I don´t think that 3x black leyline could be better than surgical/ravenous trap in a 2 black-lands deck. Anyway, this list is pretty standard and solid.
Looking for a SB replacement for my Phoneix match up. I don't have any surgicals, so it's Crypts or Spellbombs? What's the pick here? Is the 1 mana that important?
I am personally on 1 surgical 2 spellbombs because I don't have the other 2 surgicals. Just my thing though, I like them.
Ravenous trap is the best replacement. Even Ben Friedman said that this card has a similar value than surgical against phoenix and dredge. You may practise with traps and you will see it clearly. I recommend traps strongly in this modern metagame.
Advantages of playing Nahiri are well known in my experience. But Nahiri shifts Opts in uwr version. Having a initial hand with Nahiri (or Emrakul) is a very slow gameplan if you don't have BOTH Restore pieces in electrodom version. That's the reason why I erase Nahiri from this equation. Another negative aspect is that I can't play Blood Moon maindeck because sometimes (a lot) I can't play Moon and Nahiri in the same game. Those things plus loosing Opts are very painful in Modern's speed right now.
I'm playing ur electrodom with a white splash for sideboard cars like wear//tear, stony, and rip. Meanwhile, maindeck I can play Blood Moon without any problem, changing gameplay after sideboarding, using more Blood Moon (2 in my sideboard) or hating phoenix&dredge removing Moons and adding Rips. Same equation using Stony Silence.
I finally dropped uwr electrobalance to ur version due to the lack of opt. Nahiri+emmy is a good call but way to slow in electrodom version (in my playtesting). Why are you convinced in uwr version? Don’t you think it is to slow when you play against ur phoenix, shadow, robots,...? I think it is more useful playing serum+opt in order to find our second piece to restore modern
@part_timeMTG: I saw the point of replacing Bolts with Paths and removing Blood Moon, I think it is a smart solution. Giving a basic land to our opponent in a Restore Balance deck is not a problem due to Gargadon, but: don´t you think that planeswalkers in front of us are problematic?. I think exactly the same that @epoa.
Other reflexion: why running so many manipulation (Serum + Opt + Sleight) and no Remand + Cryptic?. I think that with Serum and Ancestral we are in a good position searching the combo piece, using control cards to delay our opponent. Maybe Azcanta could give us better draws if we want to search some piece.
Finally, Mission Briefing didn´t pass the cut, being a relatively bad in a grindy match up. Maybe they must be supplanted by 2x Cryptic command?. I think that we need to include a secondary winning condition, and Nahiri, the Harbinger is our best chance. That is the reason to play uwr instead of ur version. Furthermore, white splash open a huge sideboard.
Maindeck I can't see why we would want creatures like a v clique against control, could you help me understand your choice? I love the card but don't see why we would want it necessary for control mu's. We have no other targets for their removal as a whole, so it is going to be in the yard either way right? Maybe more so against jeskai than blue white but still. I like lingering souls a lot more than mardu charm, but I guess versatility is something to consider.
Vendilion Clique and Mardu Charm, both cards have the same mission for control mu's: playing one of these cards (at the end of control player turn) allow you to discard a counter spell from his/her hand. Now in your turn, you can play a cascader or a Blood Moon and driving that game. This is because control usually plays leak/logic/cryptic and when they recognize that we are playing a Restore deck, they only have to play in 2 ways: pressure with snap (lol) or sitting and keeping untapped with counters. Once you play a Vendilion/Charm, they have to keep sitting (because they might have 2 counters with their 3 mana in play) or tapping to counter that. Now in your turn you will have a free track to cascade. The downside is that you are losing your vendilion, but it worth it.
You can do in turn 1 or 2 (if you gain die roll) Blood Moon, but that is more a lucky play xD.
In the blue matches, I feel cards get stranded in my hand (especially lands) if I don't have garga and or high density of posts. How can RB have a better percent against blue if we aren't actually hitting their lands?
Well, that is the problem of playing a broken strategy like RestoreBalance xD. Mardu charm could buy some time until you have gargandon. You have to try to resolve a nahiri doing discard with mardu charm (or maybe kolaghan's command?), and in your turn playing a thread like blood moon to cast next turn a nahiri. Without blue, mardu charm is your "vendilion" option.
Thanks!
Thank you so much for your work with this deck. It is not easy to improve Copycat with a meta that is always shifting. It is interesting how controlling the table you can buy a lot of turns in modern. Wall of omens, Seas, Detention Sphere, paths, bolts, ... This means that metagame is agro (in a high %), so why don´t you use anger/verdict/wrath in omens slots for example? Maindecking Anger of the Gods, you could clean the table even with fieldar there, using paths to exile bodies with a huge defense.
Thanks!
2 Celestial colonnade
4 Flooded strand
2 Scalding Tarn
1 Arid Mesa
2 Hallowed Fountain
1 Steam Vents
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Sulfur Falls
1 Desolate Lighthouse
2 Field of Ruin
2 Plains
2 Island
1 Mountain
4 Path to exile
4 Opt
1 Peek
3 Lightning Bolt
2 Lightning Helix
2 Relic of progenitus
1 Logic Knot
3 Remand
4 Saheeli Rai
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
1 Detention Sphere
4 Terminus
2 Snapcaster Mage
2 Vendilion Clique
3 Felidar guardian
Side:
1 Celestial Purge
2 Rest in Peace
1 Wear//Tear
2 Stony silence
1 Dispel
1 Negate
1 Engineered explosives
1 Anger of the Gods
2 Geist of Saint Traft
Is someone trying something like this?. It is a uw control shield with copycat.
Thanks!
Maybe -1x land, +1x path mainboard could be helpful. I don´t think that 3x black leyline could be better than surgical/ravenous trap in a 2 black-lands deck. Anyway, this list is pretty standard and solid.
Ravenous trap is the best replacement. Even Ben Friedman said that this card has a similar value than surgical against phoenix and dredge. You may practise with traps and you will see it clearly. I recommend traps strongly in this modern metagame.
I'm playing ur electrodom with a white splash for sideboard cars like wear//tear, stony, and rip. Meanwhile, maindeck I can play Blood Moon without any problem, changing gameplay after sideboarding, using more Blood Moon (2 in my sideboard) or hating phoenix&dredge removing Moons and adding Rips. Same equation using Stony Silence.
Cheers!
Other reflexion: why running so many manipulation (Serum + Opt + Sleight) and no Remand + Cryptic?. I think that with Serum and Ancestral we are in a good position searching the combo piece, using control cards to delay our opponent. Maybe Azcanta could give us better draws if we want to search some piece.
4x Flooded Strand
2x Scalding Tarn
4x Steam Vents
2x Sacred Foundry
2x Sulfur Falls
2x Tolaria West
2x Island
2x Mountain
1x Plains
4x Restore Balance
3x Ancestral vision
4x Serum visions
4x Electrodominance
4x As Foretorld
4x Greater Gargadon
3x Lightning Bolt
3x Remand
1x Vendilion Clique
3x Nahiri, the Harbinger
1x Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1x Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
1x Tormod's Crypt
1x Blood Moon
2x Mission Briefing
My sideboard is still under construction, but it has:
2x Stony silence
2x Rest in peace
2x Pithing needle
2x Abrade
2x Anger of the Gods
3x Dispel
2x Lightning helix
Finally, Mission Briefing didn´t pass the cut, being a relatively bad in a grindy match up. Maybe they must be supplanted by 2x Cryptic command?. I think that we need to include a secondary winning condition, and Nahiri, the Harbinger is our best chance. That is the reason to play uwr instead of ur version. Furthermore, white splash open a huge sideboard.
What do you think about this version?
Vendilion Clique and Mardu Charm, both cards have the same mission for control mu's: playing one of these cards (at the end of control player turn) allow you to discard a counter spell from his/her hand. Now in your turn, you can play a cascader or a Blood Moon and driving that game. This is because control usually plays leak/logic/cryptic and when they recognize that we are playing a Restore deck, they only have to play in 2 ways: pressure with snap (lol) or sitting and keeping untapped with counters. Once you play a Vendilion/Charm, they have to keep sitting (because they might have 2 counters with their 3 mana in play) or tapping to counter that. Now in your turn you will have a free track to cascade. The downside is that you are losing your vendilion, but it worth it.
You can do in turn 1 or 2 (if you gain die roll) Blood Moon, but that is more a lucky play xD.
Well, that is the problem of playing a broken strategy like RestoreBalance xD. Mardu charm could buy some time until you have gargandon. You have to try to resolve a nahiri doing discard with mardu charm (or maybe kolaghan's command?), and in your turn playing a thread like blood moon to cast next turn a nahiri. Without blue, mardu charm is your "vendilion" option.