I figured that in AFT builds you would play some number of mission briefing to fill a flashback roll that snap gives but also synergize with the suspend spells. Seems like a powerful 1 of.
Mission Briefing is probably good, but I certainly wouldn't cut a Snapcaster for it. Honestly, I'd probably add a 4th Snapcaster before the first Briefing. Snap just does so much: it chumps or trades off, pressures opposing planeswalkers, it gets bounced by Jace or Cryptic or Thing, and it attacks for the win.
Finding a second Ancestral after you've resolved As Foretold is usually not too hard with all the cantrips and Tolaria West. And needing access to a 5th Ancestral doesn't come up very often. I may try Briefing for a league or two, see if there is more to it than meets the eye. I will say that Briefing plays better against Surgical Extraction, so that is something to keep in mind.
Any thoughts on using the new Teferi? Being able to combo off without worrying about counters and the ability to time warp at instant speed seem pretty good. And for just 3 mana nonetheless
Teferi, Time Raveler seems great if it resolves vs control, but those matchups are typically pretty good for the Taking Turns deck anyway, no? Maybe it's also good against something like Grixis Death's Shadow, or maybe even Infect?
The opportunity cost is pretty low, since it's three mana and it can bounce something and draw a card the turn you play it. Being able to bounce stuff like Blood Moon, Pyromancer Ascension, Chalice of the Void, is potentially really useful. I am certainly excited to try it out.
I’m going to assume it’s a strictly worse build, but I think it’s at least worth brewing with maybe.
Totally worth a shot, I never want to discourage brewing with a new card. The card is definitely powerful, it draws you an extra card every turn. My take is that the "win the game by decking yourself" plan is probably more trouble than it's worth. If you draw your whole deck it's pretty trivial to have some other way to win, in fact you probably need to have another way in case they can deal with the Jace. So the card would need to be doing something else in the mid-game, preferably something that another card doesn't already do better. Having said all that, playing JWOS alongside JTMS does sound really good.
Congrats on day 2 and cashing!
Timely reinforcements is interesting to have mainboard. How has it performed? I’ve loved it sideboard.
Thanks @JPoJohnson! Timely performs a lot like a sideboard card. Awesome sometimes, useless other times. Right now, it is at least useful in almost every matchup, particularly the poorer ones. Maindecking 1 Timely is pretty common in UW Control for this reason. Finding the Timely is basically the only way [for my deck] to beat burn in game 1 (Dredge too, to a lesser extent). Needing to gain 6 life (or 12 with snap) comes up surprisingly often. With so much card draw the deck is actually pretty good at finding 1-ofs. I actively want Timely versus burn, dredge, jund/rock and non-spirits creature decks. It is notably awful vs Tron, Artifact Prison, and Ad Nauseum.
I've also tried 1 Surgical Extraction main instead, which was again awesome sometimes, and really bad other times. I like the surgical vs phoenix, dredge, tron, scapeshift, and basically any deck named after a specific card. Overall, I found Surgical was a bit too narrow so I went with Timely for this event.
Right now though, with War of the Spark spoilers, I’m looking at trying out a full dictate/mine build using the new Jace walker. A lot of hate has been put on him, but with the crazy amount of draw power the dictate/mine build allows, I feel it might have the potential to be a quick and efficient way to close games. Any thoughts or constructive criticisms?
I think that the new Jace, Wielder of Mysteries is probably just worse than Jace, the Mind Sculptor in a typical Turns deck. Most of the time, if you've drawn your whole deck you've already won. The card is not particularly quick or efficient. Maybe there is some other build that uses the graveyard and/or aggressively self-mills that could take advantage of the new Jace. I'm just not sure what that deck would look like.
Hi everyone. I thought I'd share my hybrid Turns/Control list that I played at GP Calgary to a 10-5 finish and 52nd place. The deck was very good to me on Friday where I won a Last Chance Trial (4-0) to earn 2 byes and on Day 1 where I made it to 8-0 before the cut. I was riding high into Day 2, then I promptly lost 4 matches in a row crushing my dreams of a top 8 finish.
I've been working on this deck for off and on for about a year, but really dedicated myself to it in the last few months, with the rise of UR Phoenix decks. I've had good success locally (I top 4'ed a 4k open in Edmonton a few weeks back) and on MTGO (24-11 in comp leagues, still no 5-0). I could write pages about how the deck works, the other variations I've tried, the different match-ups, lines of play etc. But for now I'm just sharing my latest list.
Also, I want to say congrats to Daniel Wong on yet another great GP finish! I regret not saying hi when I saw you on Day 2. It's because of you that I ever sleeved up Time Warp in modern.
Has anyone played with Isolate? Obviously a very narrow card, but I am thinking it could be a good sideboard card in some problem matchups, namely: Aether vial decks (spirits,humans,etc.), burn, infect. While being serviceable against: amulet, bogles, ponza, lantern, death's shadow (maybe hardened scales?).
Speaking for myself these decks represent a large portion of the local metagame, including some of the tougher matchups for UW. Being able to cleanly answer a turn 1 vial or hierarch would be worth consideration, no?
Just curious whether anyone here has tried it out.
Yeah, so far the only games I win against spirits are the ones where I miracle a terminus. So the 4th is definitely going in. I will try adding a copy of nodes to the board too.
I am playing a 4x As Foretold and 4x Ancestral Vision build. I've gone from running 0x Dictate to 1x Dictate to 2x. Keep in mind, I'm new to the deck and the format in general. But after about 40 matches trying out different configurations, I think 2x Dictate is best.
As Foretold is still the best card to play on turn 3 but Dictate is a very good 2nd option. My experience has been that it is better to be overloaded on engine spells than extra turn spells, especially early on. Without one of those cards (or Jace) in play, taking an extra turn really doesn't accomplish much. Having the extra engine cards also helps insulate you from Thoughtseize effects.
Hey guys,
I played UW As Foretold Turns at a FacetoFace 5K Open last weekend. Went 6-3 and finished 33 out of 240 (just missed the money ). This was the list I played:
I was fully expecting to scrub out and hit the side events but the deck was actually good.
Here's a summary of the matches with a few comments:
Match 1 vs Mono White Humans/Souls Sisters Brew (2-0): Opp was relatively new and had no interaction. Terminus and Thing in the Ice were great out of the board 2-0.
Match 2 vs RW Burn (2-0): Opp had a good start but I was able to trade some early Snapcasters with Eidolon and Goblin Guide. Starting comboing off on turn 6 with As Foretold and Exhaustion in same turn. Opponent had bolt and 1 land up, I had 4 life and never needed to crack my fetches. Eventually won after a casting Day's Undoing to get back Snappies and taking about 10 extra turns. Game 2 I kept a mull to 6 with Snapcaster + Thing in the Ice, scry Timely Reinforcements to the top. Thing + Timely + Snap made for a relatively easy game. Helped that Opp drew 5 lands and only 7 spells.
Match 3 vs Jund (0-2): Opp on the play had Inquisition to take Ancestral, then Dark Confidant, then Liliana of the Veil. I drew only Time Warps and Snapcaster. By the time I was looking to Snapcaster, they had a Scavenging Ooze going. Game 2 I mulled to 6 and lost to an almost identical start from the opponent. I brought in Ghostly Prison to slow down Raging Ravine and Bloodbraid beats, it was quite bad vs the Goyf, Confidant, Lili combo that killed me. They basically Junded me out the old fashioned way.
Match 4 vs UR Breach (1-2): This match was odd. Opponent got stuck on 1 land. I took Game 1 easily. Game 2 we both got stuck on 2 lands, but he eventually drew lands 3 and 4 and played Jace while I was pitching to hand size. Game 3 I mulled. He kept a hand with Remand, Jace, Through the Breach. I mulled to 6 and kept 4 lands with 2 Ancestral Vision, then proceeded to draw the other 2 Ancestrals and some more lands. Still think I would've had a chance had he not drawn a second Remand and had the quick Breach + Emrakul.
Match 5 vs Eldarazi Tron (2-1): Best match of the day. Game 1 was easy, he had no tron, no temples and he played Chalice on 1 not 0, allowing me to cast many Ancestral Visions. Game 2 I stumbled and he had a quick TKS into Reality Smasher. Game 3 he had all the hate but not much pressure, Relic of Progenitus, Grafdigger's Cage, Warping Wail and Surgical Extraction. He wailed my first Time Warp, then Surgicaled them all. I played an Exhaustion and he surgicaled those away immediately. Stony Silence bought me a ton of time as he drew Ratchet Bomb, Relic and 3 Mind Stones. Long story short, we went to time and I ended up -12ing Jace on turn 5 of extra turns then decking him with Ancestral Vision. I took turns 1,2,3 and 5 of extra turns thanks to a couple of clutch Temporal Masterys.
Match 6 vs Jund (2-0): This time I won the die roll, for the first time all day. Turn 1 suspend Ancestral then opponent played a small goyf and some discard spells taking away my early plays. I draw and play an As Foretold on turn 3 and my opponent plays Liliana of the Veil, then Liliana, the Last Hope. This gives me all the time I need to tick up the As Foretold and start going off on Turn 5. This time I only sideboarded 2 Timely Reinforcements (cutting a couple Temporal Mastery) I was able to chump block a Goyf and hold off a Confidant long enough to go start taking turns. Opponent didn't have any disruption except 1x Inquisition and 1x Collective Brutality. Eventually got there by Cryptic Command tapping down blockers and beating with a Soldier token and a couple Snapcasters.
Match 7 vs Soul Sisters (2-0): Opponent had a proper soul sisters deck and had some good hands but wasn't fast enough to kill me. This matchup seems great and I was very glad to see it this late in the day. I brought in Ghostly Prison, Terminus and Thing in the Ice for Game 2. Probably was more than necessary. 1 Terminus and the game was over.
Match 8 vs Ad Nauseum (1-2): Chalk this one up to inexperience, I went to Cryptic Command bounce his Phyrexian Unlife on his turn 4 end step when he had 6 mana available . He played Spoils of the Vault + Ad Nauseum in response. Bone head move on my part. Game 2 I land an early Stony Silence then just proceed to draw a ton of cards with Dictate of Kruphix and As Foretold in play. As soon as the opponent had mana to combo, I never tapped out. Always leaving up some combination of Cryptic Command, Dispel and Spell Pierce. Eventually, played a Jace and -12ed opponent out. Opponent said it was the Stony that won the game. Game 3 I mulled to 6, kept a 2 lander with 1 Dispel. Never drew a third land and opponent had 2 Lotus Blooms on turn 1 to combo off turn 4 with Pact of Negation backup.
Match 9 vs BR Hollow One (2-0): On the play for the second time all day. Opponent's start was good but there was no turn 1 Hollow One. He got me pretty low using Gurmag + Phoenix but then I chained Exhaustion into Time Warp into many more turns and some snapcaster beats. Game 2 I drew a clutch Ghostly Prison to stifle his attacks with Flameblade Adept as he had to choose between attacks or casting spells. A flipped Thing in the Ice sealed the deal. Really this was the only time Ghostly Prison was good all day.
Basically, I was impressed by how much game the deck had. And man is it ever fun, though I was absolutely exhausted after playing it for 9 rounds. The opponent's reactions alone made it worth it. You do have to play pretty fast. If you're new to the deck, I recommend some practice with remembering upkeep and draw triggers. And there are some less intuitive lines that do come up like bouncing Snapcaster with Jace to flashback a Time Warp or bouncing Tolaria West with Cryptic to transmute for another Ancestral, or +2ing Jace on yourself (not your opponent!) right away when you are taking extra turns.
I was most surprised by how good Search for Azcanta was, draw filtering early, then just being an extra land in the midgame. I activated it once or twice but those games were basically over by that point. The deck really suffers from not doing much on turn 2 and falling behind as a result, so Azcanta helps a little there. I'll be looking to try Remand, Howling Mine and maybe some other options (Ratchet Bomb, Path to Exile?) on this front.
I think it is totally reasonable to play a mix of As Foretold and Dictates/Mines. The first change I wanted after the tourney was to add a second Dictate of Kruphix in place of the 4th Temporal Mastery. You really need to have one these engine cards on turn 3 if you want the deck to fire on all cylinders. The longer you take to get one online the harder it gets to win.
I drew so many Temporal Masterys in opening hands, on turn 2, and off of Serum Visions/Opt. It never feels good. I would like to see if trimming Mastery leaves the deck functional or not. I was frequently cutting them for sideboarded games and had plenty of success without them. Only once did a "Miracle" Temporal Mastery actually swing a game for me. Whereas I had to mulligan more than a couple hands with 1-2 Temporal Mastery and no early action.
Out of the board I was underwhelmed by Ghostly Prison. Though I basically dodged the matchups where I think Prison might actually be good (ie. Humans, Merfolk, Pyromancer).
I think Engineered Explosives is the card I most wished I had in my 75, followed by Spell Snare. EE might be worth a slot in the main deck. Seems like the best cards against Humans and Bogles, which I never faced, but which were all over the place. Plus you can tutor it with Tolaria West. Though it is a non-bo with Stony Silence. Anyway, sorry this comment got waaay out of hand. Hopefully I said something useful in there.
So 3x Snapcaster Mage and 2x Jace are the only wincon? That might be risky.
Totally. But this is basically what Marcus Ewaldh had when he 7-1ed the modern challenge (I'm down 1 Jace). From what I've seen and played, finding a wincon is usually the easy part and getting to turn 5 in 1 piece is the hard part.
Definitely makes sense to me to keep an extra wincon or two in the sideboard. Right now I have Thing in the Ice for that purpose.
Hi guys, I am new here. Been a fan of this archetype for a while. Just bought into this deck, as I think it is one of the best places to use JTMS.
As a starting point, I am on this list:
It seems to me, without much testing (mostly watching streams), that the worst matchup is 5-Color Humans (with Thalia, Freebooter, Sin Collector and Meddling Mage). Maybe Burn, Affinity, Storm or BR Hollow One are worse. Most midrange and control matchups look close or favorable on paper. Am I right in this assessment? I'm sure I'm not thinking of everything. How are you guys sideboarding for these bad matchups, humans in particular?
Thanks guys, I appreciate the feedback. I think I'll still test at a regular REL event or two. Gonna try with the Kiki-Jiki business in the sideboard, moving Fulminator Mage and Beast Within to the main. Should be good for some laughs at least
Hey guys, I'm new to modern and I've been messing with some Living End variants.
Would you critique this list? Or give me your first impression? I've only played a few matches vs Death's Shadow and Eldrazi Tron so far, with decent results.
If this is the wrong place for this kind of brew, I apologize. I figured that experienced Living End players might be able to tell me right away if I'm barking up the wrong tree.
Finding a second Ancestral after you've resolved As Foretold is usually not too hard with all the cantrips and Tolaria West. And needing access to a 5th Ancestral doesn't come up very often. I may try Briefing for a league or two, see if there is more to it than meets the eye. I will say that Briefing plays better against Surgical Extraction, so that is something to keep in mind.
The opportunity cost is pretty low, since it's three mana and it can bounce something and draw a card the turn you play it. Being able to bounce stuff like Blood Moon, Pyromancer Ascension, Chalice of the Void, is potentially really useful. I am certainly excited to try it out.
Thanks @JPoJohnson! Timely performs a lot like a sideboard card. Awesome sometimes, useless other times. Right now, it is at least useful in almost every matchup, particularly the poorer ones. Maindecking 1 Timely is pretty common in UW Control for this reason. Finding the Timely is basically the only way [for my deck] to beat burn in game 1 (Dredge too, to a lesser extent). Needing to gain 6 life (or 12 with snap) comes up surprisingly often. With so much card draw the deck is actually pretty good at finding 1-ofs. I actively want Timely versus burn, dredge, jund/rock and non-spirits creature decks. It is notably awful vs Tron, Artifact Prison, and Ad Nauseum.
I've also tried 1 Surgical Extraction main instead, which was again awesome sometimes, and really bad other times. I like the surgical vs phoenix, dredge, tron, scapeshift, and basically any deck named after a specific card. Overall, I found Surgical was a bit too narrow so I went with Timely for this event.
Other more universally useful cards I've tried in that slot and liked include Search for Azcanta, Mana Leak or another copy of Remand, Cryptic Command, Exhaustion or Tolaria West.
4x Ancestral Vision
4x Serum Visions
4x As Foretold
1x Exhaustion
1x Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
3x Time Warp
1x Timely Reinforcements
2x Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1x Living End
1x Engineered Explosives
Instant Speed (16)
3x Cryptic Command
4x Opt
4x Path to Exile
1x Remand
3x Snapcaster Mage
1x Spell Snare
4x Field of Ruin
4x Flooded Strand
2x Glacial Fortress
1x Hallowed Fountain
7x Island
1x Mikokoro, Center of the Sea
1x Plains
2x Tolaria West
1x Dispel
1x Negate
1x Spell Pierce
1x Spell Snare
2x Stony Silence
2x Surgical Extraction
3x Terminus
2x Thing in the Ice
1x Timely Reinforcements
1x Circle of Protection: Red
I've been working on this deck for off and on for about a year, but really dedicated myself to it in the last few months, with the rise of UR Phoenix decks. I've had good success locally (I top 4'ed a 4k open in Edmonton a few weeks back) and on MTGO (24-11 in comp leagues, still no 5-0). I could write pages about how the deck works, the other variations I've tried, the different match-ups, lines of play etc. But for now I'm just sharing my latest list.
Also, I want to say congrats to Daniel Wong on yet another great GP finish! I regret not saying hi when I saw you on Day 2. It's because of you that I ever sleeved up Time Warp in modern.
Speaking for myself these decks represent a large portion of the local metagame, including some of the tougher matchups for UW. Being able to cleanly answer a turn 1 vial or hierarch would be worth consideration, no?
Just curious whether anyone here has tried it out.
Been pretty well crushing all except for spirits! Back to back PPTQ top 8 losses to Bant Spirits. Anyone have some secret tech for the matchup?
I am thinking maybe Porphyry Nodes. Anyone playing that card lately?
As Foretold is still the best card to play on turn 3 but Dictate is a very good 2nd option. My experience has been that it is better to be overloaded on engine spells than extra turn spells, especially early on. Without one of those cards (or Jace) in play, taking an extra turn really doesn't accomplish much. Having the extra engine cards also helps insulate you from Thoughtseize effects.
2x Field of Ruin
4x Flooded Strand
2x Glacial Fortress
1x Hallowed Fountain
7x Island
1x Mikokoro, Center of the Sea
1x Plains
1x Scalding Tarn
3x Tolaria West
Planeswalker (2)
2x Jace, the Mind Sculptor
Creature (3)
3x Snapcaster Mage
4x Ancestral Vision
1x Day's Undoing
3x Exhaustion
1x Living End
3x Temporal Mastery
4x Serum Visions
4x Time Warp
Enchantment (6)
4x As Foretold
2x Dictate of Kruphix
1x Search for Azcanta
Instant (7)
2x Cryptic Command
4x Opt
2x Stony Silence
3x Timely Reinforcements
3x Terminus
2x Thing in the Ice
2x Ceremonious Rejection
1x Spell Pierce
1x Engineered Explosives
1x Dispel
I played UW As Foretold Turns at a FacetoFace 5K Open last weekend. Went 6-3 and finished 33 out of 240 (just missed the money
2x Field of Ruin
4x Flooded Strand
2x Glacial Fortress
1x Hallowed Fountain
7x Island
1x Mikokoro, Center of the Sea
1x Plains
1x Scalding Tarn
3x Tolaria West
Planeswalker (2)
2x Jace, the Mind Sculptor
Creature (3)
3x Snapcaster Mage
4x Ancestral Vision
1x Day's Undoing
3x Exhaustion
1x Living End
4x Temporal Mastery
4x Serum Visions
4x Time Warp
Enchantment (6)
4x As Foretold
1x Dictate of Kruphix
1x Search for Azcanta
Instant (7)
2x Cryptic Command
4x Opt
2x Stony Silence
2x Timely Reinforcements
2x Ghostly Prison
2x Terminus
2x Thing in the Ice
2x Ceremonious Rejection
2x Spell Pierce
1x Dispel
Here's a summary of the matches with a few comments:
Match 1 vs Mono White Humans/Souls Sisters Brew (2-0): Opp was relatively new and had no interaction. Terminus and Thing in the Ice were great out of the board 2-0.
Match 2 vs RW Burn (2-0): Opp had a good start but I was able to trade some early Snapcasters with Eidolon and Goblin Guide. Starting comboing off on turn 6 with As Foretold and Exhaustion in same turn. Opponent had bolt and 1 land up, I had 4 life and never needed to crack my fetches. Eventually won after a casting Day's Undoing to get back Snappies and taking about 10 extra turns. Game 2 I kept a mull to 6 with Snapcaster + Thing in the Ice, scry Timely Reinforcements to the top. Thing + Timely + Snap made for a relatively easy game. Helped that Opp drew 5 lands and only 7 spells.
Match 3 vs Jund (0-2): Opp on the play had Inquisition to take Ancestral, then Dark Confidant, then Liliana of the Veil. I drew only Time Warps and Snapcaster. By the time I was looking to Snapcaster, they had a Scavenging Ooze going. Game 2 I mulled to 6 and lost to an almost identical start from the opponent. I brought in Ghostly Prison to slow down Raging Ravine and Bloodbraid beats, it was quite bad vs the Goyf, Confidant, Lili combo that killed me. They basically Junded me out the old fashioned way.
Match 4 vs UR Breach (1-2): This match was odd. Opponent got stuck on 1 land. I took Game 1 easily. Game 2 we both got stuck on 2 lands, but he eventually drew lands 3 and 4 and played Jace while I was pitching to hand size. Game 3 I mulled. He kept a hand with Remand, Jace, Through the Breach. I mulled to 6 and kept 4 lands with 2 Ancestral Vision, then proceeded to draw the other 2 Ancestrals and some more lands. Still think I would've had a chance had he not drawn a second Remand and had the quick Breach + Emrakul.
Match 5 vs Eldarazi Tron (2-1): Best match of the day. Game 1 was easy, he had no tron, no temples and he played Chalice on 1 not 0, allowing me to cast many Ancestral Visions. Game 2 I stumbled and he had a quick TKS into Reality Smasher. Game 3 he had all the hate but not much pressure, Relic of Progenitus, Grafdigger's Cage, Warping Wail and Surgical Extraction. He wailed my first Time Warp, then Surgicaled them all. I played an Exhaustion and he surgicaled those away immediately. Stony Silence bought me a ton of time as he drew Ratchet Bomb, Relic and 3 Mind Stones. Long story short, we went to time and I ended up -12ing Jace on turn 5 of extra turns then decking him with Ancestral Vision. I took turns 1,2,3 and 5 of extra turns thanks to a couple of clutch Temporal Masterys.
Match 6 vs Jund (2-0): This time I won the die roll, for the first time all day. Turn 1 suspend Ancestral then opponent played a small goyf and some discard spells taking away my early plays. I draw and play an As Foretold on turn 3 and my opponent plays Liliana of the Veil, then Liliana, the Last Hope. This gives me all the time I need to tick up the As Foretold and start going off on Turn 5. This time I only sideboarded 2 Timely Reinforcements (cutting a couple Temporal Mastery) I was able to chump block a Goyf and hold off a Confidant long enough to go start taking turns. Opponent didn't have any disruption except 1x Inquisition and 1x Collective Brutality. Eventually got there by Cryptic Command tapping down blockers and beating with a Soldier token and a couple Snapcasters.
Match 7 vs Soul Sisters (2-0): Opponent had a proper soul sisters deck and had some good hands but wasn't fast enough to kill me. This matchup seems great and I was very glad to see it this late in the day. I brought in Ghostly Prison, Terminus and Thing in the Ice for Game 2. Probably was more than necessary. 1 Terminus and the game was over.
Match 8 vs Ad Nauseum (1-2): Chalk this one up to inexperience, I went to Cryptic Command bounce his Phyrexian Unlife on his turn 4 end step when he had 6 mana available
Match 9 vs BR Hollow One (2-0): On the play for the second time all day. Opponent's start was good but there was no turn 1 Hollow One. He got me pretty low using Gurmag + Phoenix but then I chained Exhaustion into Time Warp into many more turns and some snapcaster beats. Game 2 I drew a clutch Ghostly Prison to stifle his attacks with Flameblade Adept as he had to choose between attacks or casting spells. A flipped Thing in the Ice sealed the deal. Really this was the only time Ghostly Prison was good all day.
I was most surprised by how good Search for Azcanta was, draw filtering early, then just being an extra land in the midgame. I activated it once or twice but those games were basically over by that point. The deck really suffers from not doing much on turn 2 and falling behind as a result, so Azcanta helps a little there. I'll be looking to try Remand, Howling Mine and maybe some other options (Ratchet Bomb, Path to Exile?) on this front.
I think it is totally reasonable to play a mix of As Foretold and Dictates/Mines. The first change I wanted after the tourney was to add a second Dictate of Kruphix in place of the 4th Temporal Mastery. You really need to have one these engine cards on turn 3 if you want the deck to fire on all cylinders. The longer you take to get one online the harder it gets to win.
I drew so many Temporal Masterys in opening hands, on turn 2, and off of Serum Visions/Opt. It never feels good. I would like to see if trimming Mastery leaves the deck functional or not. I was frequently cutting them for sideboarded games and had plenty of success without them. Only once did a "Miracle" Temporal Mastery actually swing a game for me. Whereas I had to mulligan more than a couple hands with 1-2 Temporal Mastery and no early action.
Out of the board I was underwhelmed by Ghostly Prison. Though I basically dodged the matchups where I think Prison might actually be good (ie. Humans, Merfolk, Pyromancer).
I think Engineered Explosives is the card I most wished I had in my 75, followed by Spell Snare. EE might be worth a slot in the main deck. Seems like the best cards against Humans and Bogles, which I never faced, but which were all over the place. Plus you can tutor it with Tolaria West. Though it is a non-bo with Stony Silence. Anyway, sorry this comment got waaay out of hand. Hopefully I said something useful in there.
I'm thinking of splashing red for Lightning Bolt, Pyrcoclasm and Blood Moon. Or white for Ghostly Prison and Supreme Verdict. If I stay mono-blue I'm considering Gut Shot, Gigadrowse and/or Torpor Orb along with [obviously] Thing in the Ice.
Definitely makes sense to me to keep an extra wincon or two in the sideboard. Right now I have Thing in the Ice for that purpose.
As a starting point, I am on this list:
2x Field of Ruin
1x Flooded Strand
1x Scalding Tarn
1x Misty Rainforest
1x Polluted Delta
1x Gemstone Caverns
10x Island
1x Mikokoro, Center of the Sea
4x Tolaria West
4x As Foretold
Creature (3)
3x Snapcaster Mage
Sorcery (20)
4x Ancestral Vision
1x Day's Undoing
3x Exhaustion
4x Serum Visions
4x Temporal Mastery
4x Time Warp
3x Cryptic Command
4x Opt
2x Remand
Planeswalker (2)
2x Jace, the Mind Sculptor
Would you critique this list? Or give me your first impression? I've only played a few matches vs Death's Shadow and Eldrazi Tron so far, with decent results.
If this is the wrong place for this kind of brew, I apologize. I figured that experienced Living End players might be able to tell me right away if I'm barking up the wrong tree.
1x Botanical Sanctum
1x Breeding Pool
1x Forest
1x Grove of the Burnwillows
1x Island
2x Misty Rainforest
1x Mountain
1x Scalding Tarn
4x Spirebluff Canal
1x Steam Vents
1x Stomping Ground
3x Wooded Foothills
Creature (30)
4x Curator of Mysteries
1x Deadshot Minotaur
3x Deceiver Exarch
4x Desert Cerodon
4x Hollow One
2x Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
2x Monstrous Carabid
2x Simian Spirit Guide
4x Street Wraith
4x Striped Riverwinder
4x Violent Outburst
Sorcery (3)
3x Living End
Enchantment (5)
2x As Foretold
3x Blood Moon
3x Beast Within
4x Fulminator Mage
2x Ingot Chewer
3x Ravenous Trap
3x Ricochet Trap