Is spell queller playable? Against decks with bolt or removal in general, I don't think so. Against everything else, it seems ok. I played against a straight UWR control list at a GPT this weekend running queller and I think it just works like a worse Clique. I could see running it instead of mana leak though
At a local PPTQ this weekend I had a very rough time closing out games with cage in play.
Scenario 1: RG Tron, game two I turn two stony silence, turn four crumble but opponent had turn one cage. Stony silence eventually gets nature's claimed, o stone, and opponent hardcasts ulamog.
Scenario 2: Affinity, game three. Opponent turn one cage, me turn two SS, opponent turn two cage #2. I successfully remove his threats but the board ends up with nahiri on 20, and me clocked down entirely by etched champion. I had fused wear/tear on one cage and ghirapur aether grid, but my only other out was engineered explosives. I could have eaten my own stony silence, popped cage on one, but then I would be staring down an etched champ with two platings.
This feeling where I could just not close out a game without nahiri -8 recurred in several games, either from hate cards or just not drawing nahiri or being able to keep it alive. I ended up 3-3, beating grixis delver, tron, and infect while losing to affinity twice and bant eldrazi, which felt pretty unwinnable.
Bribery: not only gets you your opponent's Emrakul, it also stays in play, preventing a Nahiri ultimate. Has applications against Tron and other decks.
Zealous Conscripts: let your opponent get Nahiri to 8, then resolve this guy through Negate to steal Nahiri and ult it yourself. Similar effectiveness against Tron. Goes infinite with Kiki if you can steal one.
I've also seen a 2 resto / 1 Kiki splash locally, resto is nice by itself and making the opponent have to consider the combo is another layer of complexity for the match.
The black splash for lingering souls might be worth it too in several matchups.
Logic Knot is much more live late game than Leak. Even against Tron or other ramp, where Leak would be totally dead. Knot also doesn't get Spell Snared.
My local meta is loaded with UWR Nahiri, and I've seen Kiki Chord jamming her also. Bribery as a one or two-of is getting popular outside of the mirror in Jeskai Kiki and Grixis lists. EOT Clique to fight over into Bribery is very awkward to play through.
Twisted Image is in a good spot with plenty of targets in decks seeing play: BoP, Heirarch, wall of roots/omens, ornithopter, signal pest, spellskite. Even without zero-power targets, it just cycles at instant speed. With targets, it's cantripping removal for single blue.
What matchups does Geist come in for? Creatureless combo decks? Doesn't it just get blocked by everything?
Is regeneration relevant enough to play Wrath of God instead of more Verdict?
In a meta heavy on Path to Exile, shouldn't we run more than four basics? Between path and GQ, especially versus Snapcasters, eventually those cards become Dispatch and Strip Mine. Against PTE decks, do you deliberately not fetch basics to avoid losing the ramp from Path? The above lists run 9 fetches and 8 or 9 fetchables. Assuming you draw some fetchable lands, and possibly get basics from Paths and GQs, doesn't this just set up completely dead draws for longer games? If you don't have a Nahiri or lighthouse, isn't it just as bad as the Emrakul draw?
If you end up having to discard Emrakul, you then shuffle in all these dead draws (fetches, AVs, leaks). Wouldn't the deck benefit from more graveyard-eaters like Grim Lavamancer, Logic Knot, etc?
This is what I've been running lately. I tried taking out cryptic completely but ended up on one. Tried moons main, didn't like it. Pushing in more spell interaction helps with grixis and mirrors, which is a huge portion of my meta. Almost foiled out too..
My local meta is primarily split into UR delver/delver with goyfs/delver with geist and Junk midrange/thune/rhino/etc pod. The rest is random RG/U/UW gifts tron, affinity, UR storm, Fatestitcher Jeskai, 8 rack, D&T junior, Scapeshift and others.
Maindeck shackles has been great and is very rarely a dead card. The prevalence of goyfs drove up my use of Spell Snare and I think 2 is the sweet spot. I can't bring myself to play Thought Scour, and Twisted Image at the very worst can just cycle EOT if dead. I was running 2x clique in place of skite but found it to be clunky with so many 3-drops and getting blown out by Forked Bolt.
The deck has a tough time against BGx and Abrupt Decay. Spellskite main has been decent, and the Surgical Extractions in the side are primarily for eating Abrupts, but work nicely on Fatstitcher and Past In Flames, while working like an instant-speed Cabal Therapy-ish feeling Peek/Probe effect vs combo. Volcanic Fallout, while worse against pod, solved my problem of Anger of the Gods getting Spell Pierced or Leaked constantly. I find myself playing Moon less but I can't bring myself to remove it. Flashfreeze might as well be Counterspell in a lot of matchups.
I've experimented with EE, Surrak, Keranos (lot of decks running Celestial Purge for this now), Batterskull, Huntmaster, and Savage Knuckleblade in the board but I'm still trying to find things that work for the meta that aren't dead in hand for a large portion of the game. I've also slowly gone through combinations of Electrolyze, Forked Bolt, and Flame Slash and ended up removing all of them. Sorcery speed is just too inconvenient and Electrolyze seems awkward and rarely 2-for-1's. I've also gone from 2 Cryptic to 1 to try to minimize bloated early game hands. I think adding Goyf is where I want to be eventually but I would love to get straight UR working better in the current meta.
Ad nauseam runs a card called patrician's scorn that makes leyline of sanctity useless in that matchup, even in multiples.
Couldn't flashback through cage.
Scenario 1: RG Tron, game two I turn two stony silence, turn four crumble but opponent had turn one cage. Stony silence eventually gets nature's claimed, o stone, and opponent hardcasts ulamog.
Scenario 2: Affinity, game three. Opponent turn one cage, me turn two SS, opponent turn two cage #2. I successfully remove his threats but the board ends up with nahiri on 20, and me clocked down entirely by etched champion. I had fused wear/tear on one cage and ghirapur aether grid, but my only other out was engineered explosives. I could have eaten my own stony silence, popped cage on one, but then I would be staring down an etched champ with two platings.
This feeling where I could just not close out a game without nahiri -8 recurred in several games, either from hate cards or just not drawing nahiri or being able to keep it alive. I ended up 3-3, beating grixis delver, tron, and infect while losing to affinity twice and bant eldrazi, which felt pretty unwinnable.
Bribery: not only gets you your opponent's Emrakul, it also stays in play, preventing a Nahiri ultimate. Has applications against Tron and other decks.
Zealous Conscripts: let your opponent get Nahiri to 8, then resolve this guy through Negate to steal Nahiri and ult it yourself. Similar effectiveness against Tron. Goes infinite with Kiki if you can steal one.
Jace, Architect of Thought: slow Nahiri number 5? 1/1 tokens?
I've also seen a 2 resto / 1 Kiki splash locally, resto is nice by itself and making the opponent have to consider the combo is another layer of complexity for the match.
The black splash for lingering souls might be worth it too in several matchups.
1 Vendilion Clique
1 Grim Lavamancer
4 Nahiri, the Harbinger
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Lightning Helix
1 Electrolyze
4 Path to Exile
3 Remand
1 Mana Leak
1 Logic Knot
3 Spell Snare
3 Ancestral Vision
3 Celestial Colonnade
1 Desolate Lighthouse
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Flooded Strand
2 Steam Vents
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Sacred Foundry
2 Sulfur Falls
3 Island
1 Mountain
1 Plains
1 Supreme Verdict
1 Wrath of God
1 Izzet Staticaster
2 Timely Reinforcements
2 Crumble to Dust
2 Negate
1 Dispel
1 Wear // Tear
1 Celestial Purge
1 Vendilion Clique
Logic Knot is much more live late game than Leak. Even against Tron or other ramp, where Leak would be totally dead. Knot also doesn't get Spell Snared.
My local meta is loaded with UWR Nahiri, and I've seen Kiki Chord jamming her also. Bribery as a one or two-of is getting popular outside of the mirror in Jeskai Kiki and Grixis lists. EOT Clique to fight over into Bribery is very awkward to play through.
Twisted Image is in a good spot with plenty of targets in decks seeing play: BoP, Heirarch, wall of roots/omens, ornithopter, signal pest, spellskite. Even without zero-power targets, it just cycles at instant speed. With targets, it's cantripping removal for single blue.
Is regeneration relevant enough to play Wrath of God instead of more Verdict?
In a meta heavy on Path to Exile, shouldn't we run more than four basics? Between path and GQ, especially versus Snapcasters, eventually those cards become Dispatch and Strip Mine. Against PTE decks, do you deliberately not fetch basics to avoid losing the ramp from Path? The above lists run 9 fetches and 8 or 9 fetchables. Assuming you draw some fetchable lands, and possibly get basics from Paths and GQs, doesn't this just set up completely dead draws for longer games? If you don't have a Nahiri or lighthouse, isn't it just as bad as the Emrakul draw?
If you end up having to discard Emrakul, you then shuffle in all these dead draws (fetches, AVs, leaks). Wouldn't the deck benefit from more graveyard-eaters like Grim Lavamancer, Logic Knot, etc?
4 Deceiver Exarch
2 Pestermite
3 Snapcaster Mage
1 Grim Lavamancer
1 Vendilion Clique
Sorcery
4 Serum Visions
2 Gitaxian Probe
1 Roast
Instant
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Electrolyze
1 Twisted Image
3 Remand
2 Spell Snare
2 Spell Pierce
1 Dispel
1 Cryptic Command
4 Splinter Twin
Lands
5 Island
1 Mountain
3 Steam Vents
1 Stomping Ground
3 Sulfur Falls
1 Desolate Lighthouse
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Blood Moon
2 Ancient Grudge
1 Engineered Explosives
2 Spellskite
2 Anger of the Gods
2 Negate
1 Keranos, God of Storms
1 Thundermaw Hellkite
1 Rending Volley
1 Dispel
This is what I've been running lately. I tried taking out cryptic completely but ended up on one. Tried moons main, didn't like it. Pushing in more spell interaction helps with grixis and mirrors, which is a huge portion of my meta. Almost foiled out too..
1 Stomping Ground
1 Cascade Bluffs
2 Sulfur Falls
6 Island
1 Mountain
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Deceiver Exarch
2 Pestermite
3 Snapcaster Mage
2 Spellskite
3 Dig Through Time
4 Serum Visions
2 Gitaxian Probe
3 Remand
2 Spell Snare
1 Izzet Charm
1 Dispel
1 Cryptic Command
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Twisted Image
1 Vedalken Shackles
3 Volcanic Fallout
2 Ancient Grudge
2 Blood Moon
2 Flashfreeze
2 Negate
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Nature's Claim
1 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
My local meta is primarily split into UR delver/delver with goyfs/delver with geist and Junk midrange/thune/rhino/etc pod. The rest is random RG/U/UW gifts tron, affinity, UR storm, Fatestitcher Jeskai, 8 rack, D&T junior, Scapeshift and others.
Maindeck shackles has been great and is very rarely a dead card. The prevalence of goyfs drove up my use of Spell Snare and I think 2 is the sweet spot. I can't bring myself to play Thought Scour, and Twisted Image at the very worst can just cycle EOT if dead. I was running 2x clique in place of skite but found it to be clunky with so many 3-drops and getting blown out by Forked Bolt.
The deck has a tough time against BGx and Abrupt Decay. Spellskite main has been decent, and the Surgical Extractions in the side are primarily for eating Abrupts, but work nicely on Fatstitcher and Past In Flames, while working like an instant-speed Cabal Therapy-ish feeling Peek/Probe effect vs combo. Volcanic Fallout, while worse against pod, solved my problem of Anger of the Gods getting Spell Pierced or Leaked constantly. I find myself playing Moon less but I can't bring myself to remove it. Flashfreeze might as well be Counterspell in a lot of matchups.
I've experimented with EE, Surrak, Keranos (lot of decks running Celestial Purge for this now), Batterskull, Huntmaster, and Savage Knuckleblade in the board but I'm still trying to find things that work for the meta that aren't dead in hand for a large portion of the game. I've also slowly gone through combinations of Electrolyze, Forked Bolt, and Flame Slash and ended up removing all of them. Sorcery speed is just too inconvenient and Electrolyze seems awkward and rarely 2-for-1's. I've also gone from 2 Cryptic to 1 to try to minimize bloated early game hands. I think adding Goyf is where I want to be eventually but I would love to get straight UR working better in the current meta.