Monastery Siege was actually pretty nice last night. I was playing the Silberman counterspell list, removing the Pilgrim's Eyes for two Monastery Sieges.
Match 1 VS Jund
G1: We both play draw-land-go for about 12 turns. Literally. He drew one Liliana of the Veil and an Avaricious Dragon all game. I drew two Sun Titans. This was the weirdest game I've played with this deck.
G2: Liliana when I had no answers. Poor sideboarding lost me this game, I think.
G3: I got greedy with a Verdict and took too much damage.
All of these games were rather grindy and I saw two non-sun titan creature cards all game. One Wall of Omens and a Court Hussar. I mean, I probably saw a combind 40~ cards in these games, and only two creatures besides sun titan. Weird.
Match 2 VS Blue Jund/Grixis Midrange
G1: Out valued him, not much else to say. Siege is good.
G2: Again, Siege is reaaallly good. He managed to spellbomb my graveyard twice so I ran out of win conditions. We ended up drawing the game because he couldn't kill me and I had only a handful of creatures left.
Match 3 VS Melira Company
G1: He draws a bunch of mana dorks which I verdict, leaving him topdecking
G2: I always have a counter for his company/chord and my verdicts do work.
I feel like this is a really good matchup. Mortarpod is doubly good here.
Match 4 VS Elves
I was tired and he was undefeated for the night, asked for a draw pre-game for simplicity's sake.
G1: He dumped his hand so fast, Affinity would be proud. Died to a turn 4 massive army pumped by Ezuri.
G2: Got a Siege down while he had a Choke out. No matter how many times I wiped his board or 1-for-1'd him, he had a full hand. Lead the Stampede and Sylvan Messenger are hard to deal with. Didn't draw many creatures either.
Elves seems like a hard matchup, especially against a competant opponent. If we don't have any creatures, they only need to deploy a few threats to the board to play around Verdicts. We can't clock them and unless we curve into an obscene amount of removal and creatures, I don't think this matchup is in our favor.
Overall, 2-1-1.
I like Siege over eyes a lot. Yeah, I lose a chump blocker, but the ability to get through my deck faster, to find that removal spell, titan, or 7th plains faster, is amazing. I feel a lot more confident going into the grindier games, especially versus Grixis. I was tired of dropping matches just because I got Emeria active but they had dealt with my graveyard a few turns earlier (Ooze, spell bomb, etc) so I was sitting here doing nothing. Or I couldn't get Emeria online because I kept missing land drops. I also had Mastery of the Unseen sideboarded in for the grindy games. It was... OK. I like the card, not sure about yet. Needs more testing.
I was playing the Phil Silberman list with two minor changes. I stuck in another Aether Spellbomb in the main (love the card, for better or for worse) in place of a Lone Missionary (which went to the side), and replaced a Hallowed Fountain with a Prairie Stream.
2-0 Affinity
G1: He has a slow start; lots of 1/1s but no platings, ravager, or steel overseer. I curve mortarpod into multiple creatures and slowly eat his board alive before finding a lone missionary and dropping a sun titan.
G2: T1 Spellbomb T2 Stony Silence T4 Verdict T6 Titan
0-2 Kiki Chord
G1: He combos me out after grinding out my resources. This deck is so hard to beat. Being able to chord for E-witness, get back chord, chord into angel, flicker e-witness, chord for kiki or other value is so good against us. IDK how to win vs this deck TBH, other than them bricking on draws.
G2: Beat me to death.
1-1-1 Scapeshift
G1: Combos me out, I went up to 34 life via Lone Missionaries and Ojutai's Command but he Scapeshifts me for 36. I had the option of reccuring a Lone Missionary off Sun Titan OR going for flooded strand to get Emeria online. Not sure which was the best choice. Either I get Emeria online with two guarenteed Lone Missionary triggers that turn, or I get a Lone Missionary that turn and go right to 38. But all he needs is 1 land drop and I die.
G2: Very grindy game. We gum up the board as he goes the Huntmaster route. I spend many turns passing with two counterspells in hand. Eventually I cast a titan -> aetherspellbomb praying to hit my 1-of surgical extraction. I do. Quarter his valakut then extract it. With Scapeshift gone, I win the game off titan and Emeria.
G3: 3 Minutes left, we decide to draw.
0-2 Grixis/Blue Jund
G1: Don't get Emeria online and I draw like 4 or 5 lands in a row.
G2: Grindy game, we're both down to 1 or 2 cards. I purge his Creeping Tar Pit instead of pathing and he resolves a Jace to which I have no answer. Woops. Wins off Kolaghan's command value.
________
Pretty disappointed tonight. 3rd Aether spellbomb was nice but I didn't draw the gifts all night, with some of those games going VERY long. Considering throwing in a Mastery of the Unseen or two Monastery Sieges in the main. If I'm going to durdle through 35 minute games, I'd like to do so with SOME kind of card "selection" or something to do when I'm hellbent with tons of mana.
Monastery Siege: The draw-discard lets us hit our land drops and fills our graveyard with fodder for when we finally have an active Emeria or Sun Titan. Also lets us find answers much quicker, like a path for a Scooze or a verdict. The targeting tax is OK for things like burn but I feel we're already favored there. Also 3 CMC so it can be recurred with Sun Titan.
Lightform: 3 CMC, "draw and put a 2/2, flying, lifelinker into play". Recurrable with Sun Titan. While writing this I realized that the unmorphing doesn't trigger ETB so I don't think is very good anymore, haha, but some thoughts would still be nice.
Main thing I'm interested in is Siege, probably as a 1 or 2 of, maybe 1-1 split main/side. I'm not sure what matchups it shores up, maybe Grixis? They 2-for-1 us so many times, some way to find what we need at that moment than just living off the top of our deck could be nice.
I'm getting more and more inclined to going back to the Mortarpods. I just don't feel I've tested the Spell Snares enough yet. :/ I agree very much about your analysis of "in what meta is this good"! Interesting boarding in Spreading Seas vs Grixis.
EDIT: I'm actually starting to reconsider Mana Leak in the deck, too... We're playing Ghost Quarters + Paths and it just doesn't mesh that well with Leaks, beyond that we also like to go late and late the Leaks are usually dead too. Sure, they're great the times I have them early vs decks where they're good, but yeah...
Spreading seas is amazing and if we had any room, I'd be mainboarding them. I don't know if it's always the right card to bring in, but I'll be sideboarding it A LOT more, especially versus jund/junk/grixis. I'm not a super fan of Mana Leak either but we really don't have any better choices. Condescend could be... OK, punishes our opponents for trying to curve out.
Great report. Only thing I have to say is WTF kind of meta you have. SO many unusual decks. Funny that when you faced the more common decks, you won as well. It happens I guess.
I'd also like to comment on Lone Missionary. He isn't great in every matchup but if you happen to face burn or aggro decks, he is a must draw. There really isn't anything better for that slot. Don't underestimate his 2/1 beat powers (much like snapcaster, it can get there). If you are in a matchup where you don't need them, consider sideboarding them out for other creatures? Unfortunately he is too vital in certain matchups to cut, or I'd be with you that he could go.
There were 139 people so a few off-the-wall odd decks should be expected, but playing against 3 of them really sucked. Thinking back on it, I probably should have scooped my first match to avoid playing against the turn/tron players, they were playing right next to me and also drew.
I like lone missionary a lot. I've gone from 3 life to 10-15 within a turn or two once the engine was online more than a few times. I kind of want to cut one for another spellbomb though, with two in the sideboard. I'll try it out this Thursday, alongside -1 snapcaster +1 gifts and let you guys know how it goes.
How do we match up against Bogles? Taking Silberman's list to states this weekend with a few tweaks and I'm wondering whether or not to bring any Bogles hate. The only thing I know is that the meta is going to be heavy Grixis. Any suggested tweaks?
Built this after a month of contemplating and after one night of playing I'm already in love. Went 2-2 tonight at my LGS's Thursday night modern event.
My list is a slightly edited copy of Phil Silberman's that took down that Milwaukee IQ. I replaced Gifts Ungiven with a Snapcaster Mage, and went with a crappy sideboard. I had intended to use Emeria Shephard (replacing Sun Titan) and a Prairie Stream (replacing... something, not sure) but I was told they were't legal till tomorrow about 5 minutes before the event. Woops! I've been playing Esper midrange/mentor for the past few months and have been enjoying moderate success at my LGS. The crowd is pretty competitive and you'll usually play against t1/t2 decks throughout the 4 or 5 rounds. I decided to switch because this deck just looks too fun and I really think it has legs to take down a big event, bigger than an IQ.
G1 I found a bit of interaction then he dropped an Etched Champion and I died a few turns later.
G2 I boarded in all my hate and saw none of it, sadly. I dug about 20 cards deeps with multiple walls and hussars and never saw a verdict. Turns out they were clumped together in the bottom 25~ cards. Ah well! I think I could have won that game had I drawn a verdict, so that one just gets chalked up to variance.
Round 2 VS Ascendancy Combo 2 - 0
G1 I keep a 5 lands, d-sphere, titan hand and we go land-go for a few turns. He drops a t4 fatesticher which I D-sphere and we go draw-go again for a bit. I land a Titan and an Aether Spellbomb and he goes off, drawing like 20-30 cards before stalling. Next turn he tries to go off again and my Spellbomb bounces his fatesticher before the untap triggers resolve.
G2 My sideboard is FULL of incidental hate and I brought it alllll in. Meddling mages would have been great here though. He had no win condition outside of the ascendancy so it would have been an instant win.
Round 3 VS Pia and Kiran Grixis 0 - 2
A very grindy set of games. I felt... disadvantaged in this matchup. I was expecting it to go very well for me, and it did for some turns, but endless removal and my inability to get Emeria online before Pia+Kiran took over led to my loss. The card is very good, and I'm happy it's seeing play. It's hard to fully deal with them, especially with K-Command. The matchup felt harder than I thought it'd be but the games still very winnable in most cases.
Round 4 VS Grishoalbrand 2 - 1
Made some sweet plays this match, such as: Plenty of mana and a snapcaster on board with a Mortarpod and a Ojutai's Command in hand. The game seems pretty locked up but my opponent could still combo off and get right back in the game or even outright kill me. I play the pod, ping him, then equip it to Snapcaster and pass the turn. He goes to combo off. In respond, I sac snapcaster, bring him back with Ojutai's, then flashback mana leak. Probably not the most complicated line of play but it still felt good to see it and pull it off.
G2 He just outright killed me turn 2. Kept a slow 6-card hand and he took advantage of that.
G3 Weirdest game of modern I've ever played. We both durdled about 15 turns. I couldn't find a blue source and he couldn't find a way to combo. Eventually I found my blue sources and got a Sun Titan online to continously recur my flooded strands. By the end of the game I was ghost quartering him 3 times a turn whilst swinging 19 vigilance, with 3 pieces of countermagic+2 removal in hand.
Overall... I like the deck. I feel it has an absurd amount of untapped potential, especially with us getting new cards like Emeria Shepherd (and, to a lesser extent, Prairie Stream). I never felt too disadvantaged in a matchup. Digging for the cards I need was relatively easy and I always felt like I had an out, no matter how bad it looked, while holding a court hussar.
I plan on taking this deck to states in a few weeks, and possibly even GP Detroit after that although I'm still a bit split on what direction I want to take the deck. I feel like a suite of counter magic is a must-have. I also like the idea of running an unburial-iona/norn gifts package. Planeswalkers also seem viable now that we have the Shepherd, and I'd love to run something like a Venser, Jace AOT, or Ashiok in the main.
Also, what do you guys think of Flagstone of Trokair? Someone brought it up after I had to ghost quarter myself to fix my mana for a Snapcaster play. I'm considering throwing a 1-of in. Worst case scenario, it delays Emeria a turn. Best case scenario, we fix our mana a bit and thin our deck/get Emeria online a bit faster via ghost quarter. Anyways, love the discussion in this thread- will definitely be sharing tournament reports and ideas often.
Aaand, last stray thought: Flip jace. What do you guys think? Have any of you tried it with success? Probably not the most value addition to the deck but I think it could work decently. It's a must-answer threat (or atleast the opponent will assume so), helps us hit land drops, etc. Against Affinity, I died with 3 titans in hand at one point. I hit 6 mana but I was never really in the position to just tap out for a big dumb beater. Jace would have been dope there.
PPTQ first place with two maindeck Lilis. I'd be able to test a similar build two or three times a week... if I had any! Will try and get some within a month or two and let you guys know how well they work. I'm pretty hellbent on trying them out.
I dont think removing Mentor from the list completely is the answer.
If you are doing that, then Grixis is just the better deck.
I think the answer is having something in the sideboard that you transform into when Mentor is not at its strongest.
Before we remove Mentor from the list, ask yourself what is good about Mentor and why are you playing it in the first place? Mentor is really good against creature heavy, removal light decks; he is able to create blockers/attackers by casting spells making combat math hard for your opponent. Prowess makes this doubly hard, as every spell makes him and his tokens bigger. Where Mentor is poor, is where the deck you are playing against is running threat light but a lot of cheap removal. His 2/2 body and CMC 3 makes him hard to protect when they are playing cards like Bolt for 1 CMC.
I am on the Geist transformative sideboard, bc Geist plays well in situations that Mentor does not. The deck packs enough removal/counters to protect a Geist from creatures on board and most ppl will board in extra spot removal for the Mentors they saw game 1, which becomes useless against Geist.
The other option, would be to have a control sideboard; some planeswalkers and extra board wipes and just turn into a Esper tap-out control deck that wins on the back of Tasigur/Angler.
In my opinion, this deck (Esper midrange/control) is like Junk, while Grixis is like Jund. We both play a similar game of 'drop a delved creature backed up counters and hand disruption', but with Esper we get to attack from an entirely different angle through Lingering Souls. I'd go so far as to say Lingering Souls is the reason to be playing Esper right now. With so many decks opting to go for advantageous 1-for-1 or 2-for-1 trades, Lingering Souls generally represents a 1-for-1/4th or 1-for-1/2 trades. That's why I like this deck over Grixis, anyhow.
Maybe it's just me, but my metagame is HEAVILY red/blue slanted. Against the uninteractive decks, sure, Mentor is AMAZING. It can and does win the game alone. But I get maybe one of those games a week, if at all. That's the main reason I'm considering giving Mentor the axe. Why play with a card that I know, 4 matches out 5, will be practically useless. I just don't think Mentor is worth the mainboard slot with how strong and prevalent Grixis is.
If you are playing Esper mentor then you need to run 3-4 Mentors mainboard. It seems like you could just be playing the card at the wrong times. Monastery Mentor is like Pack Rat in that they both die to everything, but they are insane when our opponents have exhausted their resources.
I don't think more than two mentors is correct. Generally you hold onto one till you have 2 or 3 spells in hand where you can chain-cast them for value. Drawing more than one just feels terrible and it oftentimes sits dead in your hand, unless you want to run out an early copy to bait removal.
I've yet to try sideboarding in Geist (no copies) but I love the idea and will try it eventually. Seems pretty good vs Grixis currently, although I'm still very interested in Liliana or Bitterblossom.
More importantly, I wanted to talk about potential Mentor replacements. While he did work in some matches (gifts, tutelage), I'd rather have a card that I'm NOT sideboarding out every single game. I've come up a list with some potential replacements that I want to talk about.
Bitterblossom
Pros:
- Comes out a turn earlier. On the play, you can slip under Remand and other two mana counters like Negate.
- Play and forget. Provides value for the whole game. Chump blockers and finishers.
- Hard for most decks to remove game 1 outside of cards like Abrupt Decay.
- Synergy with Solemn Sorin and Vault of the Archangel.
Cons:
- Not very good against burn.
- Spell Snare
- Weak to token hate, which will inevitably be coming in g2 against us because of lingering souls/mentor.
Additional:
- Tribal AND Enchantment. Buffs up Goyf a lot.
Geist of Saint Traft
- Arguably hard to remove in current meta.
- Fast clock, able to close out games quickly.
- Spell Snare proof/same cost as Mentor so we're not raising curve.
- Can be chumped, perhaps not the best in a heavy creature meta, although we do run a lot of removal.
- Snapcaster, ambush viper mode.
- Open to board wipe hate like Damnation and Supreme Verdict which could potentially be sided in against us.
Monastery Mentor
- Gives all of our spells extra value.
- Can end a game very quickly with itself and a monk token or two.
- Synergy with Solemn Sorin and Vault of the Archangel
- Cannot be cast on turn 3 in most cases. It's generally a 4/5/6 drop.
- Weak to token hate/board wipes
Jace, Architect of Thought
- Amazing in grindy games, blanking 1/x cards and providing card advantage.
- Potentially game ending ultimate VS certain decks.
- 4 Drop, we could potentially be dead before then. Not always able to jam it t4 either. Raises curve slightly.
- Not super impact-ful when played.
Liliana of the Veil
- Synergy with our delve spells and Lingering Souls
- Discard ability game winning vs certain decks, ultimate wins against most others.
- Good against hexproof
- 3 drop, curve isn't raised
- Not the best against smite/liege/souls
- BB cost
Pack Rat
- Every draw is now live. A top deck land on turn 10 is fuel for the pack rat fire.
- Can VERY quickly close out a game, as Mono B devotion players will remember.
- Synergy with lingering souls and our other Delve cards
- Spell snare
- Token hate/board wipes
- Especially weak to D-sphere
- Sometimes have to play it as a 5 drop, similar to Mentor.
Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
- Ultimate VERY GOOD.
- Amazing vs creature decks with a slow start. Tons of removal to keep the board clean to protect Ashiok, plus Lingering Souls tokens.
- Meh against burn.
- Flipping a Tasigur or Angler feels bad.
- Can't protect self although it starts with high loyalty
Timely Reinforcements
- Shaheen Style
- Great against burn and other aggresive decks if we draw one of the copies. Timely -> Snapcaster Timely is backbreaking.
- Anti-synergy with lingering souls
- Does very little in control matchups or combo where life total isn't under duress starting t1.
- Token hate
Sorin, Solemn Visitor
- Potentially game winning ultimate
- Synergy with all our other creatures because lifelink is BOSS
- Protects self, provides a token
- 4 drop
- token hate
- bolt-able after making a token
These cards would be a 1-3 of the mainboard in place of Monastery Mentor.
This is all I can think of right now. What do you guys think? What have you tried? What works well? Anything not listed that's over-performing?
Worth playing?
http://www.twitch.tv/magic/v/26964646?t=1h42m18s The one here. I've been looking for a bit and I can't find it, although I'm sure a list is out there somewhere.
http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/rptq-top-8-decklists/oath-of-the-gatewatch-rptq-tokyo-2015-10-31
Decklist #3
Match 1 VS Jund
G1: We both play draw-land-go for about 12 turns. Literally. He drew one Liliana of the Veil and an Avaricious Dragon all game. I drew two Sun Titans. This was the weirdest game I've played with this deck.
G2: Liliana when I had no answers. Poor sideboarding lost me this game, I think.
G3: I got greedy with a Verdict and took too much damage.
All of these games were rather grindy and I saw two non-sun titan creature cards all game. One Wall of Omens and a Court Hussar. I mean, I probably saw a combind 40~ cards in these games, and only two creatures besides sun titan. Weird.
Match 2 VS Blue Jund/Grixis Midrange
G1: Out valued him, not much else to say. Siege is good.
G2: Again, Siege is reaaallly good. He managed to spellbomb my graveyard twice so I ran out of win conditions. We ended up drawing the game because he couldn't kill me and I had only a handful of creatures left.
Match 3 VS Melira Company
G1: He draws a bunch of mana dorks which I verdict, leaving him topdecking
G2: I always have a counter for his company/chord and my verdicts do work.
I feel like this is a really good matchup. Mortarpod is doubly good here.
Match 4 VS Elves
I was tired and he was undefeated for the night, asked for a draw pre-game for simplicity's sake.
G1: He dumped his hand so fast, Affinity would be proud. Died to a turn 4 massive army pumped by Ezuri.
G2: Got a Siege down while he had a Choke out. No matter how many times I wiped his board or 1-for-1'd him, he had a full hand. Lead the Stampede and Sylvan Messenger are hard to deal with. Didn't draw many creatures either.
Elves seems like a hard matchup, especially against a competant opponent. If we don't have any creatures, they only need to deploy a few threats to the board to play around Verdicts. We can't clock them and unless we curve into an obscene amount of removal and creatures, I don't think this matchup is in our favor.
Overall, 2-1-1.
I like Siege over eyes a lot. Yeah, I lose a chump blocker, but the ability to get through my deck faster, to find that removal spell, titan, or 7th plains faster, is amazing. I feel a lot more confident going into the grindier games, especially versus Grixis. I was tired of dropping matches just because I got Emeria active but they had dealt with my graveyard a few turns earlier (Ooze, spell bomb, etc) so I was sitting here doing nothing. Or I couldn't get Emeria online because I kept missing land drops. I also had Mastery of the Unseen sideboarded in for the grindy games. It was... OK. I like the card, not sure about yet. Needs more testing.
I was playing the Phil Silberman list with two minor changes. I stuck in another Aether Spellbomb in the main (love the card, for better or for worse) in place of a Lone Missionary (which went to the side), and replaced a Hallowed Fountain with a Prairie Stream.
Don't think it's very good unless you're like... going up an all-in combo list. It's a tempo card at heart IMO.
2-0 Affinity
G1: He has a slow start; lots of 1/1s but no platings, ravager, or steel overseer. I curve mortarpod into multiple creatures and slowly eat his board alive before finding a lone missionary and dropping a sun titan.
G2: T1 Spellbomb T2 Stony Silence T4 Verdict T6 Titan
0-2 Kiki Chord
G1: He combos me out after grinding out my resources. This deck is so hard to beat. Being able to chord for E-witness, get back chord, chord into angel, flicker e-witness, chord for kiki or other value is so good against us. IDK how to win vs this deck TBH, other than them bricking on draws.
G2: Beat me to death.
1-1-1 Scapeshift
G1: Combos me out, I went up to 34 life via Lone Missionaries and Ojutai's Command but he Scapeshifts me for 36. I had the option of reccuring a Lone Missionary off Sun Titan OR going for flooded strand to get Emeria online. Not sure which was the best choice. Either I get Emeria online with two guarenteed Lone Missionary triggers that turn, or I get a Lone Missionary that turn and go right to 38. But all he needs is 1 land drop and I die.
G2: Very grindy game. We gum up the board as he goes the Huntmaster route. I spend many turns passing with two counterspells in hand. Eventually I cast a titan -> aetherspellbomb praying to hit my 1-of surgical extraction. I do. Quarter his valakut then extract it. With Scapeshift gone, I win the game off titan and Emeria.
G3: 3 Minutes left, we decide to draw.
0-2 Grixis/Blue Jund
G1: Don't get Emeria online and I draw like 4 or 5 lands in a row.
G2: Grindy game, we're both down to 1 or 2 cards. I purge his Creeping Tar Pit instead of pathing and he resolves a Jace to which I have no answer. Woops. Wins off Kolaghan's command value.
________
Pretty disappointed tonight. 3rd Aether spellbomb was nice but I didn't draw the gifts all night, with some of those games going VERY long. Considering throwing in a Mastery of the Unseen or two Monastery Sieges in the main. If I'm going to durdle through 35 minute games, I'd like to do so with SOME kind of card "selection" or something to do when I'm hellbent with tons of mana.
Monastery Siege: The draw-discard lets us hit our land drops and fills our graveyard with fodder for when we finally have an active Emeria or Sun Titan. Also lets us find answers much quicker, like a path for a Scooze or a verdict. The targeting tax is OK for things like burn but I feel we're already favored there. Also 3 CMC so it can be recurred with Sun Titan.
Lightform: 3 CMC, "draw and put a 2/2, flying, lifelinker into play". Recurrable with Sun Titan. While writing this I realized that the unmorphing doesn't trigger ETB so I don't think is very good anymore, haha, but some thoughts would still be nice.
Main thing I'm interested in is Siege, probably as a 1 or 2 of, maybe 1-1 split main/side. I'm not sure what matchups it shores up, maybe Grixis? They 2-for-1 us so many times, some way to find what we need at that moment than just living off the top of our deck could be nice.
Spreading seas is amazing and if we had any room, I'd be mainboarding them. I don't know if it's always the right card to bring in, but I'll be sideboarding it A LOT more, especially versus jund/junk/grixis. I'm not a super fan of Mana Leak either but we really don't have any better choices. Condescend could be... OK, punishes our opponents for trying to curve out.
There were 139 people so a few off-the-wall odd decks should be expected, but playing against 3 of them really sucked. Thinking back on it, I probably should have scooped my first match to avoid playing against the turn/tron players, they were playing right next to me and also drew.
I like lone missionary a lot. I've gone from 3 life to 10-15 within a turn or two once the engine was online more than a few times. I kind of want to cut one for another spellbomb though, with two in the sideboard. I'll try it out this Thursday, alongside -1 snapcaster +1 gifts and let you guys know how it goes.
Swords isn't modern legal.
https://www.reddit.com/r/ModernMagic/comments/3pf9jn/56th_at_ohio_states_with_uw_emeria_control/
2 Pilgrim's Eye
3 Court Hussar
3 Lone Missionary
3 Sun Titan
1 Emeria Shepherd
4 Wall of Omens
1 Snapcaster Mage
Lands
2 Island
7 Plains
3 Emeria, the Sky Ruin
4 Flooded Strand
4 Ghost Quarter
4 Hallowed Fountain
2 Aether Spellbomb
2 Mortarpod
2 Detention Sphere
Instants/Sorcs
1 Dispel
2 Mana Leak
2 Negate
2 Ojutai's Command
4 Path to Exile
2 Supreme Verdict
1 Lone Missionary
2 Meddling Mage
1 Stonecloaker
2 Spreading Seas
2 Stony Silence
2 Celestial Purge
1 Disenchant
1 Dispel
1 Negate
1 Surgical Extraction
2 Supreme Verdict
My list is a slightly edited copy of Phil Silberman's that took down that Milwaukee IQ. I replaced Gifts Ungiven with a Snapcaster Mage, and went with a crappy sideboard. I had intended to use Emeria Shephard (replacing Sun Titan) and a Prairie Stream (replacing... something, not sure) but I was told they were't legal till tomorrow about 5 minutes before the event. Woops! I've been playing Esper midrange/mentor for the past few months and have been enjoying moderate success at my LGS. The crowd is pretty competitive and you'll usually play against t1/t2 decks throughout the 4 or 5 rounds. I decided to switch because this deck just looks too fun and I really think it has legs to take down a big event, bigger than an IQ.
2 Pilgrim's Eye
3 Court Hussar
3 Lone Missionary
4 Sun Titan
4 Wall of Omens
1 Snapcaster Mage
Lands
2 Island
8 Plains
3 Emeria, the Sky Ruin
4 Flooded Strand
4 Ghost Quarter
3 Hallowed Fountain
2 Aether Spellbomb
2 Mortarpod
2 Detention Sphere
Instants/Sorceries
1 Dispel
2 Mana Leak
2 Negate
2 Ojutai's Command
4 Path to Exile
2 Supreme Verdict
1 Lone Missionary
1 Stonecloaker
1 Spreading Seas
2 Stony Silence
2 Celestial Purge
1 Disenchant
1 Dispel
1 Negate
2 Supreme Verdict
1 Wrath of God
1 Venser, Shaper Savant
1 Flash Freeze
Round 1 VS Affinity 0 - 2
G1 I found a bit of interaction then he dropped an Etched Champion and I died a few turns later.
G2 I boarded in all my hate and saw none of it, sadly. I dug about 20 cards deeps with multiple walls and hussars and never saw a verdict. Turns out they were clumped together in the bottom 25~ cards. Ah well! I think I could have won that game had I drawn a verdict, so that one just gets chalked up to variance.
Round 2 VS Ascendancy Combo 2 - 0
G1 I keep a 5 lands, d-sphere, titan hand and we go land-go for a few turns. He drops a t4 fatesticher which I D-sphere and we go draw-go again for a bit. I land a Titan and an Aether Spellbomb and he goes off, drawing like 20-30 cards before stalling. Next turn he tries to go off again and my Spellbomb bounces his fatesticher before the untap triggers resolve.
G2 My sideboard is FULL of incidental hate and I brought it alllll in. Meddling mages would have been great here though. He had no win condition outside of the ascendancy so it would have been an instant win.
Round 3 VS Pia and Kiran Grixis 0 - 2
A very grindy set of games. I felt... disadvantaged in this matchup. I was expecting it to go very well for me, and it did for some turns, but endless removal and my inability to get Emeria online before Pia+Kiran took over led to my loss. The card is very good, and I'm happy it's seeing play. It's hard to fully deal with them, especially with K-Command. The matchup felt harder than I thought it'd be but the games still very winnable in most cases.
Round 4 VS Grishoalbrand 2 - 1
Made some sweet plays this match, such as: Plenty of mana and a snapcaster on board with a Mortarpod and a Ojutai's Command in hand. The game seems pretty locked up but my opponent could still combo off and get right back in the game or even outright kill me. I play the pod, ping him, then equip it to Snapcaster and pass the turn. He goes to combo off. In respond, I sac snapcaster, bring him back with Ojutai's, then flashback mana leak. Probably not the most complicated line of play but it still felt good to see it and pull it off.
G2 He just outright killed me turn 2. Kept a slow 6-card hand and he took advantage of that.
G3 Weirdest game of modern I've ever played. We both durdled about 15 turns. I couldn't find a blue source and he couldn't find a way to combo. Eventually I found my blue sources and got a Sun Titan online to continously recur my flooded strands. By the end of the game I was ghost quartering him 3 times a turn whilst swinging 19 vigilance, with 3 pieces of countermagic+2 removal in hand.
Overall... I like the deck. I feel it has an absurd amount of untapped potential, especially with us getting new cards like Emeria Shepherd (and, to a lesser extent, Prairie Stream). I never felt too disadvantaged in a matchup. Digging for the cards I need was relatively easy and I always felt like I had an out, no matter how bad it looked, while holding a court hussar.
I plan on taking this deck to states in a few weeks, and possibly even GP Detroit after that although I'm still a bit split on what direction I want to take the deck. I feel like a suite of counter magic is a must-have. I also like the idea of running an unburial-iona/norn gifts package. Planeswalkers also seem viable now that we have the Shepherd, and I'd love to run something like a Venser, Jace AOT, or Ashiok in the main.
Also, what do you guys think of Flagstone of Trokair? Someone brought it up after I had to ghost quarter myself to fix my mana for a Snapcaster play. I'm considering throwing a 1-of in. Worst case scenario, it delays Emeria a turn. Best case scenario, we fix our mana a bit and thin our deck/get Emeria online a bit faster via ghost quarter. Anyways, love the discussion in this thread- will definitely be sharing tournament reports and ideas often.
Aaand, last stray thought: Flip jace. What do you guys think? Have any of you tried it with success? Probably not the most value addition to the deck but I think it could work decently. It's a must-answer threat (or atleast the opponent will assume so), helps us hit land drops, etc. Against Affinity, I died with 3 titans in hand at one point. I hit 6 mana but I was never really in the position to just tap out for a big dumb beater. Jace would have been dope there.
https://www.reddit.com/r/spikes/comments/3fhwh7/modern_pptq_win_with_esper_mentor/
PPTQ first place with two maindeck Lilis. I'd be able to test a similar build two or three times a week... if I had any! Will try and get some within a month or two and let you guys know how well they work. I'm pretty hellbent on trying them out.
In my opinion, this deck (Esper midrange/control) is like Junk, while Grixis is like Jund. We both play a similar game of 'drop a delved creature backed up counters and hand disruption', but with Esper we get to attack from an entirely different angle through Lingering Souls. I'd go so far as to say Lingering Souls is the reason to be playing Esper right now. With so many decks opting to go for advantageous 1-for-1 or 2-for-1 trades, Lingering Souls generally represents a 1-for-1/4th or 1-for-1/2 trades. That's why I like this deck over Grixis, anyhow.
Maybe it's just me, but my metagame is HEAVILY red/blue slanted. Against the uninteractive decks, sure, Mentor is AMAZING. It can and does win the game alone. But I get maybe one of those games a week, if at all. That's the main reason I'm considering giving Mentor the axe. Why play with a card that I know, 4 matches out 5, will be practically useless. I just don't think Mentor is worth the mainboard slot with how strong and prevalent Grixis is.
I don't think more than two mentors is correct. Generally you hold onto one till you have 2 or 3 spells in hand where you can chain-cast them for value. Drawing more than one just feels terrible and it oftentimes sits dead in your hand, unless you want to run out an early copy to bait removal.
I've yet to try sideboarding in Geist (no copies) but I love the idea and will try it eventually. Seems pretty good vs Grixis currently, although I'm still very interested in Liliana or Bitterblossom.
2-1 VS RB Bloodchief's Burn
0-2 VS Affinity
1-2 VS Scapeshift
2-0 VS UR Sphinx's Tutelage Blood Moon
2-0 4c Gifts
4 Polluted Delta
4 Flooded Strand
1 Marsh Flats
2 Watery Grave
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Godless Shrine
1 Vault of the Archangel
2 Creeping Tar Pit
2 Darkslick Shores
2 Island
1 Swamp
1 Plains
4 Snapcaster Mage
3 Gurmag Angler
2 Monastery Mentor
2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
Instants and Sorceries - 27
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Serum Visions
1 Thoughtseize
4 Lingering Souls
4 Thought scour
4 Path to Exile
2 Remand
2 Spell Snare
1 Murderous Cut
1 Dismember
1 Slaughter Pact
1 Shadow of Doubt
1 Jace, Architect of Thought
2 Negate
2 Celestial Purge
1 Flashfreeze
1 Languish
1 Disenchant
1 Blood Baron of Viskopa
3 Timely Reinforcements
2 Stony Silence
More importantly, I wanted to talk about potential Mentor replacements. While he did work in some matches (gifts, tutelage), I'd rather have a card that I'm NOT sideboarding out every single game. I've come up a list with some potential replacements that I want to talk about.
Bitterblossom
Pros:
- Comes out a turn earlier. On the play, you can slip under Remand and other two mana counters like Negate.
- Play and forget. Provides value for the whole game. Chump blockers and finishers.
- Hard for most decks to remove game 1 outside of cards like Abrupt Decay.
- Synergy with Solemn Sorin and Vault of the Archangel.
Cons:
- Not very good against burn.
- Spell Snare
- Weak to token hate, which will inevitably be coming in g2 against us because of lingering souls/mentor.
Additional:
- Tribal AND Enchantment. Buffs up Goyf a lot.
Geist of Saint Traft
- Arguably hard to remove in current meta.
- Fast clock, able to close out games quickly.
- Spell Snare proof/same cost as Mentor so we're not raising curve.
- Can be chumped, perhaps not the best in a heavy creature meta, although we do run a lot of removal.
- Snapcaster, ambush viper mode.
- Open to board wipe hate like Damnation and Supreme Verdict which could potentially be sided in against us.
Monastery Mentor
- Gives all of our spells extra value.
- Can end a game very quickly with itself and a monk token or two.
- Synergy with Solemn Sorin and Vault of the Archangel
- Cannot be cast on turn 3 in most cases. It's generally a 4/5/6 drop.
- Weak to token hate/board wipes
Jace, Architect of Thought
- Amazing in grindy games, blanking 1/x cards and providing card advantage.
- Potentially game ending ultimate VS certain decks.
- 4 Drop, we could potentially be dead before then. Not always able to jam it t4 either. Raises curve slightly.
- Not super impact-ful when played.
Liliana of the Veil
- Synergy with our delve spells and Lingering Souls
- Discard ability game winning vs certain decks, ultimate wins against most others.
- Good against hexproof
- 3 drop, curve isn't raised
- Not the best against smite/liege/souls
- BB cost
Pack Rat
- Every draw is now live. A top deck land on turn 10 is fuel for the pack rat fire.
- Can VERY quickly close out a game, as Mono B devotion players will remember.
- Synergy with lingering souls and our other Delve cards
- Spell snare
- Token hate/board wipes
- Especially weak to D-sphere
- Sometimes have to play it as a 5 drop, similar to Mentor.
Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
- Ultimate VERY GOOD.
- Amazing vs creature decks with a slow start. Tons of removal to keep the board clean to protect Ashiok, plus Lingering Souls tokens.
- Meh against burn.
- Flipping a Tasigur or Angler feels bad.
- Can't protect self although it starts with high loyalty
Timely Reinforcements
- Shaheen Style
- Great against burn and other aggresive decks if we draw one of the copies. Timely -> Snapcaster Timely is backbreaking.
- Anti-synergy with lingering souls
- Does very little in control matchups or combo where life total isn't under duress starting t1.
- Token hate
Sorin, Solemn Visitor
- Potentially game winning ultimate
- Synergy with all our other creatures because lifelink is BOSS
- Protects self, provides a token
- 4 drop
- token hate
- bolt-able after making a token
These cards would be a 1-3 of the mainboard in place of Monastery Mentor.
This is all I can think of right now. What do you guys think? What have you tried? What works well? Anything not listed that's over-performing?