Utter end is just there as an idea, i'm not sure i actually want to play it, but a universal removal could prove useful in my opinion
I decide to only use 1 mutavault because I fear the colorless mana could be problematic
Not sure how I feel about Mortify when we can play Esper Charm. Also a bit too much spot removal I think. My list plays 3 Vendilions and no Snapcasters though. How's the Dig Through Time been doing for you? I haven't had the chance to play mine yet (I also run 1 in the main) but I feel like it can be pretty powerful.
I assume all the same factors can be said about Dig through time? I was thinking that there was not enough delve fodder created by our general game progress and that normally it was too slow. But someone was saying that any blue midrange/control deck would be happy to test it, so I was thinking about it with displeasing results on the card's inclusion (Id like it if it werent 8 mana personally)
I can see this card being good. When would we want to cast this card? It's a good mid-late game way to refuel. By then, stuff will be in your grave. Discard spells, counterspells, dead creatures, cards discarded from Pack Rat and Liliana of the Veil, etc. What if it cost 2UU? Would you play it? I think so. Getting 4 cards in our grave by the time we want to cast this seems very reasonable to me. We don't have to play this early on in a game, and we don't have to have 6 cards in our grave to make it cost UU.
I'll definitely be testing it out as a 1-of and a 2-of.
If Modern is that tight of format, I can see why now Magic doesn't bother to support it. A format that is just going to crush the fun of deck building under the boot. If "competitive" players are just going to stick with what works, then there is no point in supporting that format.
Modern is a constructed format with known decks that anyone who doesn't want to get crushed by has to keep in mind. You can bring your "populate deck" to an event, but you're most likely going to get crushed. There is no such thing as a "populate deck" or a "convoke deck". Those are mechanics. Having those mechanics in cards that are legal for modern doesn't mean there is a "(mechanic) deck". So, when evaluating a card, we look for things that fit in decks that are already established, or a final missing piece to a rogue deck that may make it competitive, or simply a new card that is powerful enough and has enough synergy with other cards so that you can build a new deck out of it. Wingmate Roc is none of those things. Before you can try and populate a token with another card that will probably not stick on the battlefield anyway, you're getting attacked for 2 trillion damage by 1 trillion flying tokens with haste. If a card isn't good enough for a format like modern, then it's just not good enough. You can try to make it fit into something or build around it, but if it's too slow and/or weak, it just won't work. And you can't get mad at the format for that. It's enough that standard has been slowed down to boring midrange decks, no need to change modern as well.
You play to win the game. The card is fine for casual decks and maybe EDH. Modern is a competitive format, and a 5-drop 3/4 flyer that conditionally brings out another 3/4 flyer just isn't enough.
If Esper Faeries were a thing, would Restoration Angel be played? It sounds very good to me... Flickering any of the creatures in this deck just sounds so good
Hey guys, new to this forum. Yesterday I played in a small tourney with around 12 people total. It was my first time playing in this meta but will be going every Monday now. Here's what happened.
Match 1: Ad Nauseam
Side note: I've never played this matchup before, but I knew the deck at least.
G1: I didn't apply enough pressure on him (no Bitterblossom). At the end of my turn, he cast Ad Nauseam powered by Boseiju, who shelters all with a Phyrexian Unlife out. I responded by bouncing the Unlife with a Cryptic Command, but he cast Angel's Grace and beat me.
Side: -1 Darkblast, -1 Smother, -2 Vapor Snag, +2 Liliana of the Veil, +2 Spellskite
G2: He mulled to 4 (he would later tell me he was looking for Leyline of Sanctity), I kept 7. On the play, I opened up with Inquisition, Bitterblossom, Liliana, Remand his Lotus Bloom. His hand was gone and he couldn't land anything and I proceeded to win with Tar Pits and tokens.
G3: We both kept 7. Early hand disruption kept him off his combo, but he landed an Unlife. I got him to 0 without Bitterblossom, and next turn I swung for 13 (infect at this point) after landing a Scion of Oona to pump everyone. He had no response to that.
1-0 (2-1)
Match 2: UWR Kiki
G1: He dominated this game with an impressive midrange game of Blade Splicer + Restoration Angel. Electrolyze also destroyed me. There wasn't much I could do, so we quickly went to G2.
Side: -3 Vendilion Clique, -2 Vapor Snag, -1 Darkblast, +2 Engineered Explosives, +2 Spellskite, +2 Liliana of the Veil
G2: His turn 1 tapped Colonnade was great to see as I landed a Bitterblossom. A turn 4 Mistbind locked him out, and with another his next turn he just scooped it up. The deck can be so explosive and Mistbind is such a good card against UWR builds.
G3: Two Bitterblossoms weren't enough as I had to resort to chumping Blade Splicer tokens and Restoration Angels.
1-1 (3-3)
Match 3: UWR Control
Side note: apparently this guy is notorious for playing control, and playing slowly. Next time I play him I'll tell him to hurry his ass.
G1: No early Bitterblossom hurt, as we went back and forth playing land and passing with me hitting with a lone Spellstutter for a few turns. Eventually I land a Mistbind on him and have him on a clock. I miscalculate our life totals (while he hits me with Celestial Colonnade) and he plays a Lightning Helix, and I lose the game with him at 1 life.
We had to stop in the middle of our G2 due to time, so he won the match 1-0.
1-2 (3-4)
Match 4: Scapeshift
Side note: at this point neither one of us can win packs, so we played for fun, but kept it competitive.
G1: I land T2 Bitterblossom and T3 Vendilion Clique, then I stay stuck at 3 lands for a while. Another Vendilion Clique put the second Scapeshift to the bottom. I hit him a few times, but then he draws a third and wins at 4 life.
Side: -1 Smother, -2 Dismember, , -1 Darkblast, -1 Vapor Snag, +1 Shadow of Doubt, +2 Liliana of the Veil, +2 Spellskite
G2: A long, epic game. I land a T2 Bitterblossom, then follow it up with Vendilion Cliques and Mistbind Cliques. He plays a Volcanic Fallout and I cringe. I wouldn't let him get to his main phase without some sort of disruption, so we Remand and Cryptic back and forth for a few turns. Eventually the Bitterblossom rides me to victory as he can't deal with the constant beating. Great game, I was really focused and seemingly made all the right decisions in tight situations.
G3: I have Vendilions countered and by turn 5 I'm left with a board of Spellskite and man-lands. He Scapeshifts and I let him (I'm still at 20 life). He puts 6 mountains and 2 Valakut, the molten pinnacle in, so I Cryptic Command to bounce a mountain, pay U to eat 3 damage, and take only 3 myself. I later Tec Edge a Valakut and proceed to win with my own lands.
2-2 (5-5)
Reactions: I was expecting to play more creature decks. Mainboard Smother and Darkblast were disappointing as they've helped me in the past vs Affinity, Delver, and Pod decks. The Vapor Snags were a new thing, but I wasn't very happy with them either. Shadow of Doubt never did its job other than pitching to Liliana and cantripping a few times. I think it's because I saw them too late. There were a few times that I would have caught my opponent off guard with fetchland activations, so I think the problem was running only one. I also wished I had more hand disruption, seeing as I played 2 true combo decks, 1 control and UWR Kiki (who never beat me by combo). I will tweak my decklist for next week and try to report back here again.
IMO, this deck has a lot of mainboard flex spots. There is the Faerie shell with a few support cards that I wish to keep no matter what:
4x Spellstutter Sprite
3x Vendilion Clique
2x Scion of Oona
4x Mistbind Clique
4x Bitterblossom
3x Cryptic Command
24/25 lands
Other than that, it's really up to anything. I need to find a balance between hand disruption, creature removal, counter magic, tempo advantage, and possibly even deck filtering. The mainboard cards to consider (I may be forgetting a few):
Hand disruption: Thoughtseize, Inquisition of Kozilek, Liliana of the Veil
Removal: Dismember, Smother, Doom Blade, Go for the Throat, Darkblast
Counter magic: Mana Leak, Remand, Spell Snare, Countersquall
Tempo advantage: Time Warp, Vapor Snag, Shadow of Doubt
Deck filtering: Serum Visions
The swords fit somewhere up there as well, and honestly I don't know where to put Pack Rat
The biggest thing for me is having cards that are almost always relevant. I don't want to see Darkblast or Smother vs UWR Control (although Smother hits Colonnade). I don't want Spell Snare against decks that don't run critical 2-drops. I will tweak the deck and add more hand disruption. Any comments and/or suggestions are much appreciated.
Not sure how I feel about Mortify when we can play Esper Charm. Also a bit too much spot removal I think. My list plays 3 Vendilions and no Snapcasters though. How's the Dig Through Time been doing for you? I haven't had the chance to play mine yet (I also run 1 in the main) but I feel like it can be pretty powerful.
I can see this card being good. When would we want to cast this card? It's a good mid-late game way to refuel. By then, stuff will be in your grave. Discard spells, counterspells, dead creatures, cards discarded from Pack Rat and Liliana of the Veil, etc. What if it cost 2UU? Would you play it? I think so. Getting 4 cards in our grave by the time we want to cast this seems very reasonable to me. We don't have to play this early on in a game, and we don't have to have 6 cards in our grave to make it cost UU.
I'll definitely be testing it out as a 1-of and a 2-of.
Modern is a constructed format with known decks that anyone who doesn't want to get crushed by has to keep in mind. You can bring your "populate deck" to an event, but you're most likely going to get crushed. There is no such thing as a "populate deck" or a "convoke deck". Those are mechanics. Having those mechanics in cards that are legal for modern doesn't mean there is a "(mechanic) deck". So, when evaluating a card, we look for things that fit in decks that are already established, or a final missing piece to a rogue deck that may make it competitive, or simply a new card that is powerful enough and has enough synergy with other cards so that you can build a new deck out of it. Wingmate Roc is none of those things. Before you can try and populate a token with another card that will probably not stick on the battlefield anyway, you're getting attacked for 2 trillion damage by 1 trillion flying tokens with haste. If a card isn't good enough for a format like modern, then it's just not good enough. You can try to make it fit into something or build around it, but if it's too slow and/or weak, it just won't work. And you can't get mad at the format for that. It's enough that standard has been slowed down to boring midrange decks, no need to change modern as well.
You play to win the game. The card is fine for casual decks and maybe EDH. Modern is a competitive format, and a 5-drop 3/4 flyer that conditionally brings out another 3/4 flyer just isn't enough.
How does that work? Don't you need to have a target when you actually cast an aura?
can't think of anything else
2 Scion of Oona
4 Mistbind Clique
4 Spellstutter Sprite
1 Spell Snare
1 Shadow of Doubt
3 Remand
3 Cryptic Command
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 Thoughtseize
1 Smother
2 Dismember
1 Darkblast
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
2 Vapor Snag
4 Bitterblossom
2 Tectonic Edge
3 Creeping Tar Pit
3 Island
1 Swamp
4 Secluded Glen
4 Darkslick Shores
1 Sunken Ruins
3 River of Tears
2 Spell Snare
2 Liliana of the Veil
2 Sower of Temptation
1 Darkblast
2 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Shadow of Doubt
1 Damnation
2 Engineered Explosives
2 Spellskite
Match 1: Ad Nauseam
Side note: I've never played this matchup before, but I knew the deck at least.
G1: I didn't apply enough pressure on him (no Bitterblossom). At the end of my turn, he cast Ad Nauseam powered by Boseiju, who shelters all with a Phyrexian Unlife out. I responded by bouncing the Unlife with a Cryptic Command, but he cast Angel's Grace and beat me.
Side: -1 Darkblast, -1 Smother, -2 Vapor Snag, +2 Liliana of the Veil, +2 Spellskite
G2: He mulled to 4 (he would later tell me he was looking for Leyline of Sanctity), I kept 7. On the play, I opened up with Inquisition, Bitterblossom, Liliana, Remand his Lotus Bloom. His hand was gone and he couldn't land anything and I proceeded to win with Tar Pits and tokens.
G3: We both kept 7. Early hand disruption kept him off his combo, but he landed an Unlife. I got him to 0 without Bitterblossom, and next turn I swung for 13 (infect at this point) after landing a Scion of Oona to pump everyone. He had no response to that.
1-0 (2-1)
Match 2: UWR Kiki
G1: He dominated this game with an impressive midrange game of Blade Splicer + Restoration Angel. Electrolyze also destroyed me. There wasn't much I could do, so we quickly went to G2.
Side: -3 Vendilion Clique, -2 Vapor Snag, -1 Darkblast, +2 Engineered Explosives, +2 Spellskite, +2 Liliana of the Veil
G2: His turn 1 tapped Colonnade was great to see as I landed a Bitterblossom. A turn 4 Mistbind locked him out, and with another his next turn he just scooped it up. The deck can be so explosive and Mistbind is such a good card against UWR builds.
G3: Two Bitterblossoms weren't enough as I had to resort to chumping Blade Splicer tokens and Restoration Angels.
1-1 (3-3)
Match 3: UWR Control
Side note: apparently this guy is notorious for playing control, and playing slowly. Next time I play him I'll tell him to hurry his ass.
G1: No early Bitterblossom hurt, as we went back and forth playing land and passing with me hitting with a lone Spellstutter for a few turns. Eventually I land a Mistbind on him and have him on a clock. I miscalculate our life totals (while he hits me with Celestial Colonnade) and he plays a Lightning Helix, and I lose the game with him at 1 life.
We had to stop in the middle of our G2 due to time, so he won the match 1-0.
1-2 (3-4)
Match 4: Scapeshift
Side note: at this point neither one of us can win packs, so we played for fun, but kept it competitive.
G1: I land T2 Bitterblossom and T3 Vendilion Clique, then I stay stuck at 3 lands for a while. Another Vendilion Clique put the second Scapeshift to the bottom. I hit him a few times, but then he draws a third and wins at 4 life.
Side: -1 Smother, -2 Dismember, , -1 Darkblast, -1 Vapor Snag, +1 Shadow of Doubt, +2 Liliana of the Veil, +2 Spellskite
G2: A long, epic game. I land a T2 Bitterblossom, then follow it up with Vendilion Cliques and Mistbind Cliques. He plays a Volcanic Fallout and I cringe. I wouldn't let him get to his main phase without some sort of disruption, so we Remand and Cryptic back and forth for a few turns. Eventually the Bitterblossom rides me to victory as he can't deal with the constant beating. Great game, I was really focused and seemingly made all the right decisions in tight situations.
G3: I have Vendilions countered and by turn 5 I'm left with a board of Spellskite and man-lands. He Scapeshifts and I let him (I'm still at 20 life). He puts 6 mountains and 2 Valakut, the molten pinnacle in, so I Cryptic Command to bounce a mountain, pay U to eat 3 damage, and take only 3 myself. I later Tec Edge a Valakut and proceed to win with my own lands.
2-2 (5-5)
Reactions: I was expecting to play more creature decks. Mainboard Smother and Darkblast were disappointing as they've helped me in the past vs Affinity, Delver, and Pod decks. The Vapor Snags were a new thing, but I wasn't very happy with them either. Shadow of Doubt never did its job other than pitching to Liliana and cantripping a few times. I think it's because I saw them too late. There were a few times that I would have caught my opponent off guard with fetchland activations, so I think the problem was running only one. I also wished I had more hand disruption, seeing as I played 2 true combo decks, 1 control and UWR Kiki (who never beat me by combo). I will tweak my decklist for next week and try to report back here again.
IMO, this deck has a lot of mainboard flex spots. There is the Faerie shell with a few support cards that I wish to keep no matter what:
4x Spellstutter Sprite
3x Vendilion Clique
2x Scion of Oona
4x Mistbind Clique
4x Bitterblossom
3x Cryptic Command
24/25 lands
Other than that, it's really up to anything. I need to find a balance between hand disruption, creature removal, counter magic, tempo advantage, and possibly even deck filtering. The mainboard cards to consider (I may be forgetting a few):
Hand disruption: Thoughtseize, Inquisition of Kozilek, Liliana of the Veil
Removal: Dismember, Smother, Doom Blade, Go for the Throat, Darkblast
Counter magic: Mana Leak, Remand, Spell Snare, Countersquall
Tempo advantage: Time Warp, Vapor Snag, Shadow of Doubt
Deck filtering: Serum Visions
The swords fit somewhere up there as well, and honestly I don't know where to put Pack Rat
The biggest thing for me is having cards that are almost always relevant. I don't want to see Darkblast or Smother vs UWR Control (although Smother hits Colonnade). I don't want Spell Snare against decks that don't run critical 2-drops. I will tweak the deck and add more hand disruption. Any comments and/or suggestions are much appreciated.