MTG Salvation

You can Glimpse the Unthinkable targeting yourself, which seems pretty freaking sweet. What about some Delve cards like Logic Knot or Tasigur, the Golden Fang. I feel like there's a UB Dredge Control deck waiting to happen.

Thanks for the advice, I just get worried because responding to cards after their copy has resolved gets very weird naturally PiF Ravings is the only time I've had this come up. I've actually been getting in the habit of writing down mana and storm instead of using dice, precisely because I'm preparing to move into competitive events, and I feel like that makes a better record in awe the opponent calls a judge and I have to recreate a 12 spell sequence, which doesn't really happen in the local store or at kitchen table.

So I have a competitive question. I've never played storm at a competetive REL event, and sometimes the stack gets complicated. For example, I'm a big fan of responding to PiF with Ravings and an active ascension, then using the instants drawn from the raving copy to respond to the initial ravings before it resolves. I've actually stacked two ravings on the PiF and then engage in piles of shenanigans, once I even dug one up and had all three on the stack.

Do you guys think that it's a good idea to call a judge on yourself right before you begin the mayhem just to make sure that the opponent doesn't get lost in the stack interaction? I feel like that's an appropriate use of a judge, though I've never actually used anything this complicated at a GP or Star City before.

Anyone ever just call a judge when storming off in general to make sure the combo is clear? Thanks all.

I don't think that land is where we wanna be. If you're running the 18 land Faithless Looting build I could maybe see an argument, but the Finkel build is so tight on lands. If it's turn four and all I need is to top deck and drop an untapped land for the win, drawing that thing is going to feel pretty bad.

Yeah, I feel like the third color probably is the biggest issue. Stretching the mana base doesn't exactly give me a warm fuzzy feeling. I was just thinking that if we can turn some turn five hands into turn four hands it could be worth it. But you all make very good points, and I haven't tested it, as I don't own tutors.

Has anyone considered splashing black for Infernal Tutor? I know the prevailing wisdom is that it's unplayable without LED, but I'm not sure that's the case. The Legacy decks that run it are often trying to abuse it to tutor their win con (e.g. - Ad Nauseam, Tendrils, Burning Wish), but Bryant Cook has talked about often using it in TES without LED to get a second copy of a ritual or some artifact mana when he's short. The point is that with ascension available, we can frequently draw our whole deck for the grapeshot, so we don't need to tutor for it.

The question is, in an ascension build, could it be useful to tutor up a second copy of something to help power ascension? Or, suppose we need a redundant ritual to go off next turn. Or, we're mid combo with a plethora of mana and only one cantrip in hand, maybe a tutor can help us get a second sleight or something to give us a better chance of hitting PiF or grapeshot without fizzling?

It would also open up sideboard discard (which I'm not even sure we'd want, but I'm open to the discussion). Thoughts?

I love this thread and I look forward to brewing up a version of this to bring dismay to my LGS. I'm thinking that a really oppressive and grindy version might be great, and in mono-red to lend to resiliency. I also feel like sweepers are important, I want actual destruction instead of Blood Moon, which also makes the 3cc slot pretty heavy with your efficient land destruction, and possibly some lockout and fun tricks. So this is what I'm feeling right now.



I'm not sure about any of this, of course. I feel like Chalice of the Void on 1 is really strong, especially if people get smart and start to sandbag lands. Once you've got them at zero lands, they might as well scoop. Simian Spirit Guide might be a bit greedy, but I feel like it helps fuel the dream, which is Turn 1: Land, Spirit Guide, Chalice on 1, even if that is a bit optimistic, it would be back breaking. Also, he helps power out LD on turn 2, which is a plus.

I enjoy Surgical Extraction on a fetch land, or even on the first land that you nuke if that works. It also lets you look through the deck, as DrLemniscate mentioned above, lets you know about the board, if done on turn one you can find out what your opponent is on, if they've only played fetch, crack, go or something.

I want sweepers to help stabilize, so I feel like Pyroclasm is the best choice, but possibly some Anger of the Gods in the board, if you're dealing with a deck that can power out lords, like Merfolk or something. Lightning Bolt just seems like an obvious addition since I'm in mono-red control, though I'm not sure about that. And I've also considered Gut Shot in case you're tapped out on LD and they just drop a land and a delver or something.

I still want Blood Moon to be a sideboard card, because I feel like people are playing around it these days, so it might not be the best in the main cluttering up an already stacked 3 slot, but decks like Amulet Bloom totally fold to it.

I think Koth of the Hammer is a perfectly good wincon, it makes the mountains beaters, and if he ultimates the game is pretty much over.

Splashing green for Burning-Tree Emissary could be a good alternative to splashing blue. Also, Storm Entity seems like a good card for any version of this deck.

If you're thinking about splashing blue for Desperate Ravings, I wonder if Goblin Electromancer could be a good addition. Depends on how useful he'd be towards pumping rituals, but Finkel said it's absolutely crazy not to put him in the regular UR Storm. Could throw your opponent off, too. Bait removal when your opponent thinks you're on normal storm. If you can fit it, I think it's better than the locket for most things. You probably won't be casting an Empty or a Past in Flames with another in the yard, and they seem to be the cards that benefit the most. Also, budget, they're like 15¢. Hahaha.

I've seen some lists regarding the Heartless Summoning/Myr Retriever combo. I wonder if it could be worthwhile to develop this idea into a combo elves type card. With Beck // Call acting as a slightly worse Glimpse of Nature and the effect of Heartless Summoning on the casting costs of colorless creatures, I think there could be room for a fairly competitive deck. Unfortunately, I don't have a history as a great deck builder. These are the preliminary cards I'm thinking of.

COMBO:

Heartless Summoning - This has got to be a 4 of, you need it in play to go off. Use it to drop any creature in the deck for free.

Beck // Call - Another 4 of. Much like Glimpse of Nature in Legacy or old Extended Elves, this card is a huge enabler. The turn you play it, if a Heartless Summoning is in play, you can go off.

Creatures: (Each one will cost nothing and die instantly once Heartless Summoning is in play.

Copper Myr - Green mana fixing.

Leaden Myr - Black mana fixing

Silver Myr - Blue mana fixing.

Myr Retriever - This one is a bit obvious, once you have two of them, you can loop the storm count infinitely, which also draws you unlimited cards after Beck // Call

Runed Servitor - I like this during the combo, because it draws you a card for free, and a second if you've played Beck.

Perilous Myr - Seems like a good idea, kind of like playing out a Murderous Redcap. Spot removal for pesks, or a little damage if you're going with Grapeshot

Myr Moonvessel - This could be good on the combo turn, it allows you to float some colorless mana, always nice.

Myr Sire - This also seems good on the combo turn, Beck // Call says when a creature enters the battlefield, not casting creature spells. So you draw one for the Sire, then when it dies, you get another draw for the 1/1, which also dies immediately.

Spellskite - Will not die instantly, but is free. Seems like a great card if you think you need any protection when going off. Could be good main, or definitely a sideboard option.

DIGGING:

Serum Visions & Sleight of Hand - It is a partially blue combo deck, why not?

Muddle the Mixture - Transmutes for Heartless Summoning, Beck // Call, or Myr Retriever. Also a counter spell, seems good enough.

Shred Memory & Dimir Infiltrator - As cards, I don't like them, but if you have enough space after all of this for more transmuters, they also get you a combo piece.

WIN CON:

Bitter Ordeal - I like this simply because every creature in the deck dies, with the Myr Retriever it could be nice, and you're already playing black. I don't like the math, because if you've already played Beck, you might actually deck yourself before you are capable or getting a high enough Gravestorm count to win. If you wait for another turn once you have a few Retrievers, it could be great when you aren't forced to draw. But that might require you to Time Warp or some other costly spell to get another turn. Not sure we have the mana or the room.

Grapeshot - A more obvious kill condition, but we're already running three colors, and even splashing that fourth could make for a shaky mana base. Iron Myr probably isn't a good way to activate it, since it doesn't have haste, and it doesn't stick around with Heartless out.

LANDS:

Watery Grave, Breeding Pool, Overgrown Tomb - Seems obvious to have some number, possibly 4 of each.

Opulent Palace - Is it too slow for Modern? Probably, I'm no expert.

Swamp, Island, Forest - Maybe something to protect from Path to Exile or Ghost Quarter.

Misty Rainforest, Verdant Catacombs, Polluted Delta - Three color deck, you'll probably end up fetching for something. Also, thinning the deck is very necessary.

Academy Ruins - Once again, I'm not a great deck builder. There probably isn't room for something like this. But if there is, it jumps out at me as possibly useful.

Alchemist's Refuge - If you're worried about the combo being broken up, I suppose this could be useful. Not extremely sure.

Mutavault, Blinkmoth Nexus, Inkmoth Nexus - Probably bad in the deck, but on the combo turn you could transform one and get a card draw, but lose a land. Figure there are no bad ideas in brainstorming.

Cavern of Souls - Name creature type "Myr"?

City of Brass, Tendo Ice Bridge, Gemstone Mine - You don't need colored mana that many times, these could be good.

Darksteel Citadel - It's Indestructible.

Desert - If you're against aggro, maybe.

Novijen, Heart of Progress - In case you decide that beatdown is the plan.

Svogthos, the Restless Tomb - Also for a shift to beatdown.

Shelldock Isle - It's likely that at some point you'll have fewer than 20 cards in your library.

Radiant Fountain - Is the lifegain necessary?


So, once again, I'm not great at deck building, just idea hunting. I think there might be a deck in here somewhere. If anyone is interested in building something around this (a greater mind than mine, I'm sure). I'd love to know where you took the decklist and what kind of results you're having. It seems too shaky for a really competitive modern metagame, but I could be wrong about that. Could be decent for casual tabletop. Might build one myself, but it would be grossly suboptimal.

I hope this catches a bit of conversation.

I'm wondering if Lightning Storm would be a good addition. Or possibly splashing blue for Trade Routes. Blue also has excellent cantrips.

The other thing I'm worried about is getting to three mana and not having enough red to cast a Seismic or a Crusher.

I'm wondering if it's worth adding Flame Jab or possibly Faithless Looting/Desperate Ravings as plans to get some land post Crusher. Could be worth running Crucible of Worlds to recur those lands as well. But now we're well out of budget range.