I'm bummed that the mythic rare is an emotionless mass of fire. In contrast, the uncommon and rare are full of life. It's a shame that the same artist wasn't given the chance to complete the cycle.
It makes sense to me for Liliana to turn on Bolas in this situation. We know that the most important character trait for her is her obsession with achieving freedom. We saw her go on a multiverse tour and do all sorts of evil stuff for that.
Now, Bolas's control over her and his forcing her to wreak havoc in Ravnica make her realize that there will never be freedom for her as long as Bolas is still around, and that she might as well fight him and get her final moment of freedom rather than submit to him forever.
And this is a good primer for anyone who is interested in picking up this deck right now. It's written for the old Standard but most things still hold true.
If you check out this Standard Power Rankings from CFB, it is said in the article that Mono-Blue Tempo is "arguably the best positioned deck in the format for next week."
And that is, imo, because there aren't many mono-color aggro decks running around (bad matchups for us). The top-performing decks right now are various shades of control and midrange, all of which we should be at least 50/50 against, if not positive. The only other decks that we may struggle against are Azorius Aggro and Izzet Drake, both of which are still around, but not in high number. If you expect the metagame at the PT (ahem, MC) to be similar to this, then Mono-Blue Tempo is certainly a fine choice.
As for how this deck can beat anything, if you remember Standard UB Faeries from way back you will understand, since both decks play out similarly. There are two common types of games that you win, one is when you have the nut draw with Curious Obsession + protection for the creature, then you draw an extra card every turn and just run away with the game (equivalent to T1 Thoughtseize, T2 Bitterblossom, T3 Spellstutter Sprite, T4 Mistbind Clique/Cryptic Command in UB Faeries). The other type is when you are behind for the majority of the game, then at some point, you utilize the instant-speed tricks, counterspells, and the raw power of Tempest Djinn to race and win at 1 life or so. (It's extremely satisfying when that happens.) Djinns + Tricksters can turn around a surprising amount of games.
But at the same time, it requires intensive skills to achieve that. I've seen myself slip into a losing position countless times simply because of one lapse. Counter the wrong thing and you lose. Not counter the right thing and you lose. Tap too low on the wrong turn and you lose. Leave too much mana unused and you lose. Being too afraid to attack and you lose. Being too reckless with your attacks and you lose. You get the idea. Tight play is so important for this deck since the margin of victory is usually very slim.
Yeah, I've played against Golgari plenty of times, and that matchup is mostly a cakewalk. Andrea Mengucci actually agrees, though that comes from his perspective as a Golgari player. His article is somewhere on CFB and in it he mentioned how tough it was to beat Mono Blue as a Golgari player.
I must have played > 20 matches against Golgari. The number of games I lost because of Carnage Tyrant? Exactly one.
You might wanna consider the possibility that you have been playing the matchup wrong. Seriously, the matchup is never about countering Carnage Tyrant. It's about wisely using Trickster to blank their turns or to keep Wildgrowth Walker from gaining them life; choosing which spells to interact with and which to ignore; pacing yourself so your threats line up well against their answers; and racing them in the air. I would gladly let all my Golgari opponents make the average cmc of their deck higher by playing more Carnage Tyrant.
Even if they manage to live long enough to get Carnage Tyrant down, you should still be winning the race most of the time anyway. If they can hold you back long enough for Carnage Tyrant to take the game, then kudos to them; at that point they deserve to win with their big spells.
This deck will not splash, no matter how many duals with basic land types there are, Djinn works only with basic Islands.
lol Thanks for the reminder. Sometimes we stop reading the cards because we think we know them by heart. Apparently that is never the right way to do it.
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Now, Bolas's control over her and his forcing her to wreak havoc in Ravnica make her realize that there will never be freedom for her as long as Bolas is still around, and that she might as well fight him and get her final moment of freedom rather than submit to him forever.
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https://m.soundcloud.com/user-121566285/everything-you-need-to-know-about-mono-blue-aggro
And this is a good primer for anyone who is interested in picking up this deck right now. It's written for the old Standard but most things still hold true.
https://www.reddit.com/r/spikes/comments/9uxeti/standard_mono_blue_tempo_strategy_guide/
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- Its Pteramanders adapt more cheapy and earlier than ours.
- It has so many cheap removals.
- It has 8 flyers that can trade with our Djinns (and 4 even cantrip).
- It plays a staring contest better than us due to having more card draws.
- Even the nut draw is still not enough most of the time because they commonly have multiple removals + counterspells.
I also have no idea how to beat it consistently without wasting too many sideboard slots. (Deep Freeze, Entrancing Melody, more hard counters, etc.)
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And that is, imo, because there aren't many mono-color aggro decks running around (bad matchups for us). The top-performing decks right now are various shades of control and midrange, all of which we should be at least 50/50 against, if not positive. The only other decks that we may struggle against are Azorius Aggro and Izzet Drake, both of which are still around, but not in high number. If you expect the metagame at the PT (ahem, MC) to be similar to this, then Mono-Blue Tempo is certainly a fine choice.
As for how this deck can beat anything, if you remember Standard UB Faeries from way back you will understand, since both decks play out similarly. There are two common types of games that you win, one is when you have the nut draw with Curious Obsession + protection for the creature, then you draw an extra card every turn and just run away with the game (equivalent to T1 Thoughtseize, T2 Bitterblossom, T3 Spellstutter Sprite, T4 Mistbind Clique/Cryptic Command in UB Faeries). The other type is when you are behind for the majority of the game, then at some point, you utilize the instant-speed tricks, counterspells, and the raw power of Tempest Djinn to race and win at 1 life or so. (It's extremely satisfying when that happens.) Djinns + Tricksters can turn around a surprising amount of games.
But at the same time, it requires intensive skills to achieve that. I've seen myself slip into a losing position countless times simply because of one lapse. Counter the wrong thing and you lose. Not counter the right thing and you lose. Tap too low on the wrong turn and you lose. Leave too much mana unused and you lose. Being too afraid to attack and you lose. Being too reckless with your attacks and you lose. You get the idea. Tight play is so important for this deck since the margin of victory is usually very slim.
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I must have played > 20 matches against Golgari. The number of games I lost because of Carnage Tyrant? Exactly one.
You might wanna consider the possibility that you have been playing the matchup wrong. Seriously, the matchup is never about countering Carnage Tyrant. It's about wisely using Trickster to blank their turns or to keep Wildgrowth Walker from gaining them life; choosing which spells to interact with and which to ignore; pacing yourself so your threats line up well against their answers; and racing them in the air. I would gladly let all my Golgari opponents make the average cmc of their deck higher by playing more Carnage Tyrant.
Even if they manage to live long enough to get Carnage Tyrant down, you should still be winning the race most of the time anyway. If they can hold you back long enough for Carnage Tyrant to take the game, then kudos to them; at that point they deserve to win with their big spells.
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lol Thanks for the reminder. Sometimes we stop reading the cards because we think we know them by heart. Apparently that is never the right way to do it.
RTFC holds true always. (Read the Friendly Cards)