4 one drops in delver don't feel reliable enough for early pressure, especially with fatal pushes everywhere.
Hi EncaliburMTG,
I think you're wrong with this statement. Grixis Delver is the most successful Delver deck and it only runs four 1-drops. Sure, they have Tasigur as well but they need to be very lucky to play him before turn 3. I stopped playing Swiftspears because of all the Fatal Pushes. I think that 4x Delver & 4x Swiftspear don't apply that much more pressure. However, I also think that taking out the 4 Delvers would be a great mistake. They force the opponent to react and stall them in doing their thing.
My turn 2 plan is to either play Delver with protection up, or to filter and set up my next draws, or to remove my opponents creatures. Usually it's something like Bolt your Bird and Visons, or keep Remand up and Bolt their face at end step if they don't do anything to have Snap+Bolt next turn. I usually nibble away their life total quite a bit during the first turns.
I played 17 games now with the list I posted on Xmage and I am 13-4 now. It's not stellar but I think it'S pretty good. I get down a Worship about every third game and so far I haven't lost a single game after Worship resolved. Last matches I won against UW control, 5C Allies, Human Aggro, Affinity and lost against Temur Delver and Death's Shadow Aggro. The Allies & Humans decks were very aggressive but with all my burn spells and 4 Paths it's a bad match-up for them. One game however Worship on turn 4 just saved me before their lethal attack. In the second game against affinity I was able to perfectly set up my game plan with Visions and Sleight to have Anger for his board and Bolt for his Inkmoth. After everything except for an Etched Champion was cleared I could play Geist and Worship and since I had Eiganjo in play he had no way to win anymore (since Eiganjo rendered Whipflare useless).
Temur Delver got me good with a Disrupting Shoal deciding a counter war in my opponent's favor and a turn 3 Blood Moon in one game. Death's Shadow got me both games with Ranger of Eos. Getting two more Death's Shadows is cruel
I think it's exactly like you wrote CurdBros: "it works much more seamlessly with the way the deck is already constructed"! It plays the same way it always does. We pressure the opponent aggressively with turn 1 Delver, attack his life total with Bolt-Snap-Bolt or stall him with Remand-Snap-Remand, finish with flying attackers and Geist and burn. It's just that the opponent can't win without an answer
I don't like changing the deck to go "all in" because then the strength would turn to the deck's weakness. It would just become more prone to enchantment hate cards if we add Steel of the Godhead and Idyllic Tutor for example and other important cards would have to be cut...
That doesn't mean however that my list can't be tweaked and tuned. I few things on my mind:
I'd like to add a Moorland Haunt to be able to create more creatures but I don't know which land to cut. Maybe one of the fetches (since you can't fetch with Worship in play)? Glen Elendra Archmage could be good as a 1-of because of Persist and her ability which can protect Worship. Another idea would be to run Lawmages over Walls and add Disrupting Shoal because you'd have blue cards with CMC 1-4 to discard... Or maybe change something completely different? What do you guys think?
Hi CurdBros, I have to say that I absolutely agree with you. Our deck is the perfect shell for this strategy. Geist and Ascended Lawmage or Wall of Denial are very hard to remove when we run at least 2 Boros Charms which can make all our permanents indestructible. Emerge Unscathed can save Geist and Lawmage as well. And even if the board state allows no favorable attacks we can still burn the opponent out at some point if he can't kill us because of Worship. The version I am trying atm has 21 lands, 2 Worships, 5 hexproof creatures, and still runs 4 Delvers even though only 23 cards are left that flip them. I played more test games and so far I am 7-1 (including wins over the GP winning Death's Shadow deck (Leyline saved me there) and the Grixis Death's Shadow variant (quoting my opponent: "Damn Worship!")). So far I love how the deck is playing.
I played some test games this weekend with Worship and Madcap. Madcap is too fragile in my opinion in a format where Kolaghan's Command is so popular. I won with it against Grixis delver because I was able to surgically exile my opponent's Commands but that was just lucky. Since a dead Emperion stays in the graveyard it can easily be exiled the same way as well...
I was very pleased with Worship though. Worship and a Lawmage in play won me a match against Baral Gifts Storm and a match against Jund. I didn't like the Lawmage's CMC4 cost however. Another (saver but slower) option would be Wall of Denial. With that card you even win against Anger/Whipflare/Elesh Norn. Lawmage on the other hand can pressure opponents real hard in combination with Geist and Clique to finish the game before they dig into an answer.
I like how Surgical Extraction won you the last match. This card has won me many games too lately, since I am running 2 copies in my SB. The best match was against one these retarded Fuse decks online. I was able to make Kari Zev's Expertise fizzle by bolting the target and removed all his copies with Surgical. Then my opponent tried to play Sram's Expertise but I was able to Spell Pierce it and remove these copies as well with Snap & Surgical. He conceded next turn. I just loved that game!
The BG zombie homebrew sounds interesting. Thankfully these decks are not very popular but I stumbled over a brew online that I just could't beat. Did four test games and lost all of them. My opponent was running 4x Geralf's Messenger, 4x Death Baron, 4x Cemetery Reaper and 4x Collected Company main board...
I have to admit that I am fed up with all the unfair strategies while I am playing a fair game and simply try to kill my opponent with Delver/Geist beatdown and burn. This time I want to discuss some possibilities to use unfair strategies in our Jeskai Tempo shells as well. Here are some ideas: 1. Add 4x Pact of the Titan & 4x Angel's Grace
Merits: Mana base doesn't need to be changed since we don't need to play high CMC cards. Best case scenario is a 4/4 Titan attacking on turn 2 and Angel's Grace can save us from loosing against opponent's combos. Problem: Titan dies to every removal. 2. Add 4x Madcap Experiment & 2x Platinum Emperion
Merits: Opponent needs to have/find an answer or he/she can't win. 8/8 body makes Emperion a good attacker. Inquisition can't stop this. Problem: Emperion dies to every removal (except Push). Experiment's CMC is 4 so we'll need 1-2 extra lands. 3. Play at least 3x Geist of Saint Traft, add 2x Worship & for example 2x Ascended Lawmage
Merits: Opponent needs to have/find an answer or he/she can't win, opponent most likely has no answer in game one. Problem: Worship can be removed or bounced with Cryptic or Wear/Tear and the plan crumbles against mass removal. Would need counter spells to fight over it. 4. Add 4x Shape Anew & 1x Blightsteel Colossus, replace at least 8 creatures
Merits: Blightsteel Colossus can win the game with one attack and there are very few answer to deal with him. Darksteel Colossus can be used too, to finish the opponent off after having dealt a lot of damage already. Problem: To function this strategy needs at least 3x Thopter Engineer (haste is very important) which aren't that good on their own. It also needs other creatures like Pia and Kiran Nalaar (which is good) and something like Thraben Inspector to make bolt-proof targets for Shape Anew. Also needs Izzet Charm to discard Colossus when he's stuck in hand. Also needs 22-23 lands so Delver would have to go.
What do you guys think about these four strategies? Which one seems most viable and why? Have you tried any of these before?
Hi, I also wanted to thank EncaliburMTG for taking the time to write down this report. I liked reading it because our decks are very similar.
Today I stumbled over an old and forgotten card and tested and online...and I had a blast! My opponents were surprised and impressed too.
The card is Test of Faith! Of course it's hard to resolve if your opponent plays Spell Snare and of course your opponent can respond by killing your creature (if it's not Geist) but if the timing is right this card wins games! One game my opponent blocked Geist with 3 tokens, well, thanks for permanently making Geist a 5/5. The other game I played against Jeskai Control and I had a delver in my starting hand but I waited until turn 3 to protect it either with Mana Leak or Test of Faith (both in hand). My opponent cast Lightning Helix, making Delver a 4/4, next turn it flipped and I had a 6/5 Flyer--I love it!
This card could even be the answer to Titanshift. If the cast Anger and your Geist attacks them for 9 next turn...I think that will ruin their day. I'll test it a little more for sure.
Very cool list. Let us know how it goes. Shinka is a really cool addition and looks really great in your deck.
Today's FNM ended 2-2.
First round I won against Jeskai Nahiri. First game he grinded me to death and it took 30 minutes. Games 2 & 3 were over in 10 minutes. He flooded both games and flipped Delver, Clique and Geist finished the games quickly.
Second round I had to face my nemesis TitanShift and lost yet again. He had Anger when I played Geist in game one and finished me with Scapeshift. Second game I Cliqued him and he had two Summoner's Pacts in hand -_- He was able to resolve Titan and I could't find a Path. I had added Disdainful Stroke but didn't draw it.
Third round I played against Skred Red (first time in my store). Second bad match-up since he runs Blood Moons and Angers mainboard and has Skreds and Bolts for my creatures. Game 1 he played a mainboard Ensnaring Bridge the turn after I finally resolved Geist so Geist couldn't attack and his Planeswalkers finished me. Game 2 was long and grindy too and ended in his favor.
Fourth round I played against a fun BW Goat deck with Springjack Shepherd and the white and black Expertise cards to fuse Beck // Call. Game 1 was an easy win with flipped Delver, Clique and burn. Game 2 he got me with four 4/5 goats Game 3 I stalled him long enough with Remand and Snappy, so that Delver could get him down in double Bolt range and I won. Mana Leaks did good work against his Expertise cards.
So all in all it was a fun evening. Cliques were good. Shinka was also good (Skred Red player blocked Geist with two tokens forgetting about Shinka--guess that can steal some games at tournaments). Blessed Alliance was useless in my match-ups. During the grindy games I wished I had a CMC4 PW like Gideon in my SB...
I replaced my basic Mountain with Shinka, which has been really good online in combination with Geist and Clique so far.
Basic Plains and Island will never get cut though since they're the only out against Blood Moon strategies. Cavern still works fine with 11 Wizards. Blessed Alliance is surprisingly good in the mainboard as hard removal no. 5 (next to my four Pathes) to deal with everything that I can't bolt.
I added Mana Leaks again to get rid of pesky cards for good instead of just remanding them and so far I like them a lot. I think the 50/50 split between Remands and Mana Leaks is the best solution for my deck which is not as aggressive as some other lists here.
The deck has a very high win percentage online and at FNM and runs really good against Abzan (beat Abzan 4 times in the last week with no losses). However, Titanshift is still the deck that is most troublesome. I can't find an efficient way to deal with both Scapeshift and Titans. Maybe I'll add Disdainful Stroke back to the sideboard for that match-up.
CrudBros & Mazereon, thanks for your feedback! Mazereon, our decks really look very similar now. I would definately run 20 lands in your deck but 19 somehow seem to work for you. How often do you have to mulligan?
I am testing different builds on Xmage right now. Tomorrow I can test at FNM but I don't have the Cliques yet. (had one before but I sold it over a year ago) If the online testing continues going well with 2 Cliques I'll order them. Thankfully they're not that expensive anymore. I like that I can set the Cavern to Wizards then, playing 11 Wizards in total
Tomorrow I might try 21 lands with an added Eiganjo Castle and run 4 Geists and 1 Resto Angel. Let's see how that goes...
I will be adding 2 Ceremonius Rejection to my SB. It can hit a lot of things (Eldrazi, Ugin/Karn, Artifacts).
Hi, if you ask me 2 is too much. I think 1 Ceremonius Rejection is great in a package with 2 Stony Silence. You board these 3 cards in against Tron and Affinity (plus Wear/Tear vs Affinity) and you could also use these 3 cards against Ad Nauseum to stop Lotus Bloom. Ceremonius Rejection against Karn and Cranial Plating saved me more than once.
I don't see it that strong vs Eldrazi decks since they use Cavern. You could try to use a split of 1 Ceremonius Rejection & 1 Disdainful Stroke just to have an answer to more different decks. Both are good against Tron and Eldrazi (without Cavern) but Disdainful Stroke can also be used against Scapeshift and other ramp decks. You can also use it against Control decks but Dispel might be better there.
Hi, after getting a negative record at FNM two times in a row I have decided to play without Monastery Swiftspears (I used 3-4) since they're always underperforming. I want to play a list that is bit more controlling. I still want to keep everything within CMC3 range, so no 4-drops. I also want to keep the creature count at 15 but I am not sure about the last creature(s). Please have a look:
Notes:
- I'd like to add Mana Leak but I don't know what to cut
- I have to splits: Pillar is Bolt no.5, Sleight is SV no.5
- I had to cut both Boros Charms because there is no space when I use more disruption
??? could be
2x Aven Mindcensor
Pros: Good against Tron & Scapeshift, which are tough match-ups, Cons: Only 2 dmg for 3 mana, dies to everything
2x Vendilion Clique
Pros: Good against combo & control, which are on the raise, Cons: UU cost, can be removed in response
2x Jötun Grunt
Pros: aggressive 4/4 body, good with Saheeli, awesome vs graveyard decks, Cons: Logic Knot would have to go, maybe Lavamancer too
2x Baral, Chief of Compliance
Pros: could be good when I also add 2 Mana Leaks, Cons: dies to Bolt, applies no pressure
2x Soltari Priest
Pros: hard to remove, can't be blocked in Modern :), Cons: WW cost (would switch Cavern for Eiganjo), 2 dmg/turn might not be enough
2x Thing in the Ice
Pros: can win a game on it's own, opponent needs to deal with it, Cons: nonbo with Geist
2x Kiln Fiend
Pros: kills quickly, Cons: dies even quicker...
1x Sygg, River Cutthroat
1x Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
Pros: lot's of card advantage, Cons: both are fragile and don't pressure the opponent immediatly
Please tell me what you think. Which option seems best to you?
Did you guys get a chance to watch Caleb's stream? It's a really cool new style jeskai delver list that may be the way to go in the new meta. I'm surprised that no one was excited that caleb mentioned our forum ideas on stream on Channel Fireball. I was super excited!
Hi CurdBros. I have to say that I didn't like the games. First match he only wins because the opponent can't use Remand right. Second match he loses because Dredge has very good draws, but also because he has too many high cost cards in hand and not enough mana. This shows why it's not a good idea to run CMC4 cards like Cryptic in a 19 land deck. Third match is completely pointless, because the opponent doesn't do anything even with 14 mana available in a Tron deck and 4 cards in hand. Burn match is interesting though...
The MTGO algorithm for drawing lands looks so weird to me. He ends up with 5-6 lands in play almost every single game which never happens in real life--at least not to me. Otherwise I would be running Thundermaw Hellkite in my Delver deck...
I wish he used a more interesting Jeskai Delver list with Reveler and Saheeli for example or at least with some cards that can help Geist go through blockers, like Emerge Unscathed or Slip Through Space (1 Mutagenic Growth is not enough imho if you run 3 Geists).
I have to disagree here. You should keep at least one Jeskai Charm because that card actually is awesome even without Mentor. With Mentor that card will just win you a lot of games! I use the mode with +1/+1 & Lifelink most of the time and it helped me winning a lot of races. Also, 4 dmg to the face is awesome when your opponent has Spell Snare and he can't use it
Hello.
First of all I have to agree with CurdBros and D90Dennis14 that many lists posted here look like they can't possible work with the given mana base. 18-19 lands compared with many 3- or even 4-drops are a recipe for disaster if you ask me.
Last FNM I run my deck with 19 lands & 6 cantrips and I lost at least two games due to having mana problems (mulligans to 5, not hitting the 3rd land in time, missing one of my three colors).
I'll tweak my deck again adding 1 Saheeli, 1 Bedlam Reveler and 1 Sleight of Hand. Sleight of Hand has been really good as Serum Vision no. 5 during online testing.
CurdBros: It's your fault that I spent quite some money on the black bordered 7th Edition foil vision, because it looks so good on the photo you uploaded
Saheeli also appears to be very good with Snapcaster. Should have realized that earlier. -_-
At FNM I lost against a UWR combo deck with Saheeli & Felidar. I didn't loose against the combo but in one looong game my opponent's second Saheeli pinged me for 8 points of damage and thanks to the constant scrying my opponent was able to shape his hand perfectly...
Back to the mana base, I'll add back my 20th land (one more Flooded Strand) and try 20 lands in 61 cards. Let's see how it goes...
Hi. Regarding replacements for Gitaxian Probe: Compared to other decks posted here my deck was always low on cantrips. I had 2 Remand, 2 Probes and 3 Serum Visions. With the 2 Probes gone I finally had to go up to 4 Serum Visions, but instead of adding another cantrip I tried some other cards and tested online with great success. Right now I am testing with this:
So what did change? Well, I went back to the roots and added two cards I was playing a long time ago: Grim Lavamancer & Isochron Scepter. Both have been very good so far during testing. Since Scepter is in my SB I only got it into play once so far, but the Death & Taxes player scooped to it with Lightning Helix imprinted
I also switched back to using Wandering Fumarole. Even though this is a tempo deck with 19 lands it's still the only land coming into play tapped and it just helped me much more often then it felt obstructive. I just missed it when I took it out. When I have a protection spell (Emerge Unscathed or Spell Pierce/Snare) and a Delver in my starting hand I play Delver on turn 2 and not right away. I these cases I can just go ahead and play Fumarole turn 1. Red decks are popular right now (Free Win Red, Skred Red...) and they run Anger (and many other decks too). A manland doesn't die to Anger.
I also added Swerve back to the mainboard. I wrote it before but the card is awesome. Opponent Abrupt Decays his own Tarmogoyf? Opponent discards his own card to Inquisition? You want to counter Remand, Mana Leak, Spell Snare?
Jeskai Charm felt awesome felt awesome almost every time I drew it and won me a lot of games! Really recommend this one too as a 1-of.
My deck went up to quite a few 1-ofs again even though I tried to streamline it, but with 4 Snapcasters these 1-of cards give me a lot of choices. I will keep the 1 Mutagenic Growth to have a spell that I can cast when I am tapped out or snap back with only 2 mana.
The only thing I am not happy with is the 1-1 split between Pierce and Snare...because they're both too good. A lot of decks listed here don't run these counters but I love them and would love to run them both twice. Obviously there's no space to fit them both in as 2-ofs. I can't decide which one would be better as a 2-of without the other one. I think, 2 Spell Snares would win/cost me just as many games as 2 Spell Pierces...
Sadly, I can't make any room for the other awesome 1-of card mentioned above: Noxious Revival.
Anyhow, the deck runs smoothly and I am happy with it at the moment.
Hi EncaliburMTG,
I think you're wrong with this statement. Grixis Delver is the most successful Delver deck and it only runs four 1-drops. Sure, they have Tasigur as well but they need to be very lucky to play him before turn 3. I stopped playing Swiftspears because of all the Fatal Pushes. I think that 4x Delver & 4x Swiftspear don't apply that much more pressure. However, I also think that taking out the 4 Delvers would be a great mistake. They force the opponent to react and stall them in doing their thing.
My turn 2 plan is to either play Delver with protection up, or to filter and set up my next draws, or to remove my opponents creatures. Usually it's something like Bolt your Bird and Visons, or keep Remand up and Bolt their face at end step if they don't do anything to have Snap+Bolt next turn. I usually nibble away their life total quite a bit during the first turns.
I played 17 games now with the list I posted on Xmage and I am 13-4 now. It's not stellar but I think it'S pretty good. I get down a Worship about every third game and so far I haven't lost a single game after Worship resolved. Last matches I won against UW control, 5C Allies, Human Aggro, Affinity and lost against Temur Delver and Death's Shadow Aggro. The Allies & Humans decks were very aggressive but with all my burn spells and 4 Paths it's a bad match-up for them. One game however Worship on turn 4 just saved me before their lethal attack. In the second game against affinity I was able to perfectly set up my game plan with Visions and Sleight to have Anger for his board and Bolt for his Inkmoth. After everything except for an Etched Champion was cleared I could play Geist and Worship and since I had Eiganjo in play he had no way to win anymore (since Eiganjo rendered Whipflare useless).
Temur Delver got me good with a Disrupting Shoal deciding a counter war in my opponent's favor and a turn 3 Blood Moon in one game. Death's Shadow got me both games with Ranger of Eos. Getting two more Death's Shadows is cruel
2x Arid Mesa
3x Flooded Strand
3x Scalding Tarn
1x Hallowed Fountain
1x Steam Vents
1x Sacred Foundry
1x Island
1x Plains
1x Seachrome Coast
1x Spirebluff Canal
1x Inspiring Vantage
1x Wandering Fumarole
1x Clifftop Retreat
1x Sulfur Falls
1x Shinka, the Bloodsoaked Keep
1x Eiganjo Castle
1x Electrolyze
4x Lightning Bolt
2x Lightning Helix
2x Boros Charm
4x Path to Exile
2x Remand
4x Serum Visions
1x Sleight of Hand
2x Spell Pierce
1x Emerge Unscathed
Creature (14)
4x Delver of Secrets
4x Snapcaster Mage
3x Geist of Saint Traft
2x Wall of Denial
1x Vendilion Clique
Enchantments (2)
2x Worship
1x Leyline of Sanctity
2x Surgical Extraction
1x Grim Lavamancer
1x Dispel
1x Ceremonious Rejection
1x Negate
2x Stony Silence
1x Wear/Tear
1x Celestial Purge
1x Deflecting Palm
1x Stone Rain
2x Anger of the Gods
I think it's exactly like you wrote CurdBros: "it works much more seamlessly with the way the deck is already constructed"! It plays the same way it always does. We pressure the opponent aggressively with turn 1 Delver, attack his life total with Bolt-Snap-Bolt or stall him with Remand-Snap-Remand, finish with flying attackers and Geist and burn. It's just that the opponent can't win without an answer
I don't like changing the deck to go "all in" because then the strength would turn to the deck's weakness. It would just become more prone to enchantment hate cards if we add Steel of the Godhead and Idyllic Tutor for example and other important cards would have to be cut...
That doesn't mean however that my list can't be tweaked and tuned. I few things on my mind:
I'd like to add a Moorland Haunt to be able to create more creatures but I don't know which land to cut. Maybe one of the fetches (since you can't fetch with Worship in play)? Glen Elendra Archmage could be good as a 1-of because of Persist and her ability which can protect Worship. Another idea would be to run Lawmages over Walls and add Disrupting Shoal because you'd have blue cards with CMC 1-4 to discard... Or maybe change something completely different? What do you guys think?
Hi CurdBros, I have to say that I absolutely agree with you. Our deck is the perfect shell for this strategy. Geist and Ascended Lawmage or Wall of Denial are very hard to remove when we run at least 2 Boros Charms which can make all our permanents indestructible. Emerge Unscathed can save Geist and Lawmage as well. And even if the board state allows no favorable attacks we can still burn the opponent out at some point if he can't kill us because of Worship. The version I am trying atm has 21 lands, 2 Worships, 5 hexproof creatures, and still runs 4 Delvers even though only 23 cards are left that flip them. I played more test games and so far I am 7-1 (including wins over the GP winning Death's Shadow deck (Leyline saved me there) and the Grixis Death's Shadow variant (quoting my opponent: "Damn Worship!")). So far I love how the deck is playing.
I was very pleased with Worship though. Worship and a Lawmage in play won me a match against Baral Gifts Storm and a match against Jund. I didn't like the Lawmage's CMC4 cost however. Another (saver but slower) option would be Wall of Denial. With that card you even win against Anger/Whipflare/Elesh Norn. Lawmage on the other hand can pressure opponents real hard in combination with Geist and Clique to finish the game before they dig into an answer.
I like how Surgical Extraction won you the last match. This card has won me many games too lately, since I am running 2 copies in my SB. The best match was against one these retarded Fuse decks online. I was able to make Kari Zev's Expertise fizzle by bolting the target and removed all his copies with Surgical. Then my opponent tried to play Sram's Expertise but I was able to Spell Pierce it and remove these copies as well with Snap & Surgical. He conceded next turn. I just loved that game!
The BG zombie homebrew sounds interesting. Thankfully these decks are not very popular but I stumbled over a brew online that I just could't beat. Did four test games and lost all of them. My opponent was running 4x Geralf's Messenger, 4x Death Baron, 4x Cemetery Reaper and 4x Collected Company main board...
I have to admit that I am fed up with all the unfair strategies while I am playing a fair game and simply try to kill my opponent with Delver/Geist beatdown and burn. This time I want to discuss some possibilities to use unfair strategies in our Jeskai Tempo shells as well. Here are some ideas:
Merits: Mana base doesn't need to be changed since we don't need to play high CMC cards. Best case scenario is a 4/4 Titan attacking on turn 2 and Angel's Grace can save us from loosing against opponent's combos. Problem: Titan dies to every removal.
Merits: Opponent needs to have/find an answer or he/she can't win. 8/8 body makes Emperion a good attacker. Inquisition can't stop this. Problem: Emperion dies to every removal (except Push). Experiment's CMC is 4 so we'll need 1-2 extra lands.
Merits: Opponent needs to have/find an answer or he/she can't win, opponent most likely has no answer in game one. Problem: Worship can be removed or bounced with Cryptic or Wear/Tear and the plan crumbles against mass removal. Would need counter spells to fight over it.
Merits: Blightsteel Colossus can win the game with one attack and there are very few answer to deal with him. Darksteel Colossus can be used too, to finish the opponent off after having dealt a lot of damage already. Problem: To function this strategy needs at least 3x Thopter Engineer (haste is very important) which aren't that good on their own. It also needs other creatures like Pia and Kiran Nalaar (which is good) and something like Thraben Inspector to make bolt-proof targets for Shape Anew. Also needs Izzet Charm to discard Colossus when he's stuck in hand. Also needs 22-23 lands so Delver would have to go.
What do you guys think about these four strategies? Which one seems most viable and why? Have you tried any of these before?
Today I stumbled over an old and forgotten card and tested and online...and I had a blast! My opponents were surprised and impressed too.
The card is Test of Faith! Of course it's hard to resolve if your opponent plays Spell Snare and of course your opponent can respond by killing your creature (if it's not Geist) but if the timing is right this card wins games! One game my opponent blocked Geist with 3 tokens, well, thanks for permanently making Geist a 5/5. The other game I played against Jeskai Control and I had a delver in my starting hand but I waited until turn 3 to protect it either with Mana Leak or Test of Faith (both in hand). My opponent cast Lightning Helix, making Delver a 4/4, next turn it flipped and I had a 6/5 Flyer--I love it!
This card could even be the answer to Titanshift. If the cast Anger and your Geist attacks them for 9 next turn...I think that will ruin their day. I'll test it a little more for sure.
Today's FNM ended 2-2.
First round I won against Jeskai Nahiri. First game he grinded me to death and it took 30 minutes. Games 2 & 3 were over in 10 minutes. He flooded both games and flipped Delver, Clique and Geist finished the games quickly.
Second round I had to face my nemesis TitanShift and lost yet again. He had Anger when I played Geist in game one and finished me with Scapeshift. Second game I Cliqued him and he had two Summoner's Pacts in hand -_- He was able to resolve Titan and I could't find a Path. I had added Disdainful Stroke but didn't draw it.
Third round I played against Skred Red (first time in my store). Second bad match-up since he runs Blood Moons and Angers mainboard and has Skreds and Bolts for my creatures. Game 1 he played a mainboard Ensnaring Bridge the turn after I finally resolved Geist so Geist couldn't attack and his Planeswalkers finished me. Game 2 was long and grindy too and ended in his favor.
Fourth round I played against a fun BW Goat deck with Springjack Shepherd and the white and black Expertise cards to fuse Beck // Call. Game 1 was an easy win with flipped Delver, Clique and burn. Game 2 he got me with four 4/5 goats
So all in all it was a fun evening. Cliques were good. Shinka was also good (Skred Red player blocked Geist with two tokens forgetting about Shinka--guess that can steal some games at tournaments). Blessed Alliance was useless in my match-ups. During the grindy games I wished I had a CMC4 PW like Gideon in my SB...
2x Arid Mesa
3x Flooded Strand
3x Scalding Tarn
1x Hallowed Fountain
1x Steam Vents
1x Sacred Foundry
1x Island
1x Plains
1x Seachrome Coast
1x Spirebluff Canal
1x Inspiring Vantage
1x Wandering Fumarole
1x Clifftop Retreat
1x Cavern of Souls
1x Shinka, the Bloodsoaked Keep
Burn/Removal (13)
1x Electrolyze
4x Lightning Bolt
3x Lightning Helix
4x Path to Exile
1x Blessed Alliance
2x Remand
4x Serum Visions
1x Sleight of Hand
1x Saheeli Rai
Protection/Disruption (5)
2x Mana Leak
2x Spell Pierce
1x Emerge Unscathed
Creature (14)
4x Delver of Secrets
1x Grim Lavamancer
4x Snapcaster Mage
3x Geist of Saint Traft
2x Vendilion Clique
1x Leyline of Sanctity
2x Surgical Extraction
1x Pithing Needle
1x Dispel
1x Ceremonious Rejection
1x Negate
2x Stony Silence
1x Wear///Tear
1x Celestial Purge
1x Deflecting Palm
1x Stone Rain
2x Anger of the Gods
I replaced my basic Mountain with Shinka, which has been really good online in combination with Geist and Clique so far.
Basic Plains and Island will never get cut though since they're the only out against Blood Moon strategies. Cavern still works fine with 11 Wizards.
Blessed Alliance is surprisingly good in the mainboard as hard removal no. 5 (next to my four Pathes) to deal with everything that I can't bolt.
I added Mana Leaks again to get rid of pesky cards for good instead of just remanding them and so far I like them a lot. I think the 50/50 split between Remands and Mana Leaks is the best solution for my deck which is not as aggressive as some other lists here.
The deck has a very high win percentage online and at FNM and runs really good against Abzan (beat Abzan 4 times in the last week with no losses). However, Titanshift is still the deck that is most troublesome. I can't find an efficient way to deal with both Scapeshift and Titans. Maybe I'll add Disdainful Stroke back to the sideboard for that match-up.
I am testing different builds on Xmage right now. Tomorrow I can test at FNM but I don't have the Cliques yet. (had one before but I sold it over a year ago) If the online testing continues going well with 2 Cliques I'll order them. Thankfully they're not that expensive anymore. I like that I can set the Cavern to Wizards then, playing 11 Wizards in total
Tomorrow I might try 21 lands with an added Eiganjo Castle and run 4 Geists and 1 Resto Angel. Let's see how that goes...
Hi, if you ask me 2 is too much. I think 1 Ceremonius Rejection is great in a package with 2 Stony Silence. You board these 3 cards in against Tron and Affinity (plus Wear/Tear vs Affinity) and you could also use these 3 cards against Ad Nauseum to stop Lotus Bloom. Ceremonius Rejection against Karn and Cranial Plating saved me more than once.
I don't see it that strong vs Eldrazi decks since they use Cavern. You could try to use a split of 1 Ceremonius Rejection & 1 Disdainful Stroke just to have an answer to more different decks. Both are good against Tron and Eldrazi (without Cavern) but Disdainful Stroke can also be used against Scapeshift and other ramp decks. You can also use it against Control decks but Dispel might be better there.
2x Arid Mesa
3x Flooded Strand
3x Scalding Tarn
1x Hallowed Fountain
1x Steam Vents
1x Sacred Foundry
1x Island
1x Mountain
1x Plains
1x Seachrome Coast
1x Spirebluff Canal
1x Inspiring Vantage
1x Wandering Fumarole
1x Clifftop Retreat
1x Cavern of Souls
Burn/Removal (12)
1x Electrolyze
1x Jeskai Charm
4x Lightning Bolt
1x Pillar of Flame
2x Lightning Helix
3x Path to Exile
2x Remand
4x Serum Visions
1x Sleight of Hand
1x Saheeli Rai
Protection/Disruption (5)
1x Negate
1x Logic Knot
2x Spell Pierce
1x Emerge Unscathed
Creature (15)
4x Delver of Secrets
4x Geist of Saint Traft
1x Grim Lavamancer
4x Snapcaster Mage
2x ???
1x Leyline of Sanctity
2x Surgical Extraction
1x Pithing Needle
1x Dispel
1x Ceremonious Rejection
2x Stony Silence
1x Wear///Tear
1x Blessed Alliance
1x Celestial Purge
1x Deflecting Palm
1x Stone Rain
1x Anger of the Gods
1x Sulfur Elemental
Notes:
- I'd like to add Mana Leak but I don't know what to cut
- I have to splits: Pillar is Bolt no.5, Sleight is SV no.5
- I had to cut both Boros Charms because there is no space when I use more disruption
??? could be
2x Aven Mindcensor
Pros: Good against Tron & Scapeshift, which are tough match-ups, Cons: Only 2 dmg for 3 mana, dies to everything
2x Vendilion Clique
Pros: Good against combo & control, which are on the raise, Cons: UU cost, can be removed in response
2x Jötun Grunt
Pros: aggressive 4/4 body, good with Saheeli, awesome vs graveyard decks, Cons: Logic Knot would have to go, maybe Lavamancer too
2x Baral, Chief of Compliance
Pros: could be good when I also add 2 Mana Leaks, Cons: dies to Bolt, applies no pressure
2x Soltari Priest
Pros: hard to remove, can't be blocked in Modern :), Cons: WW cost (would switch Cavern for Eiganjo), 2 dmg/turn might not be enough
2x Thing in the Ice
Pros: can win a game on it's own, opponent needs to deal with it, Cons: nonbo with Geist
2x Kiln Fiend
Pros: kills quickly, Cons: dies even quicker...
1x Sygg, River Cutthroat
1x Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
Pros: lot's of card advantage, Cons: both are fragile and don't pressure the opponent immediatly
Please tell me what you think. Which option seems best to you?
Hi CurdBros. I have to say that I didn't like the games. First match he only wins because the opponent can't use Remand right. Second match he loses because Dredge has very good draws, but also because he has too many high cost cards in hand and not enough mana. This shows why it's not a good idea to run CMC4 cards like Cryptic in a 19 land deck. Third match is completely pointless, because the opponent doesn't do anything even with 14 mana available in a Tron deck and 4 cards in hand. Burn match is interesting though...
The MTGO algorithm for drawing lands looks so weird to me. He ends up with 5-6 lands in play almost every single game which never happens in real life--at least not to me. Otherwise I would be running Thundermaw Hellkite in my Delver deck...
I wish he used a more interesting Jeskai Delver list with Reveler and Saheeli for example or at least with some cards that can help Geist go through blockers, like Emerge Unscathed or Slip Through Space (1 Mutagenic Growth is not enough imho if you run 3 Geists).
I have to disagree here. You should keep at least one Jeskai Charm because that card actually is awesome even without Mentor. With Mentor that card will just win you a lot of games! I use the mode with +1/+1 & Lifelink most of the time and it helped me winning a lot of races. Also, 4 dmg to the face is awesome when your opponent has Spell Snare and he can't use it
First of all I have to agree with CurdBros and D90Dennis14 that many lists posted here look like they can't possible work with the given mana base. 18-19 lands compared with many 3- or even 4-drops are a recipe for disaster if you ask me.
Last FNM I run my deck with 19 lands & 6 cantrips and I lost at least two games due to having mana problems (mulligans to 5, not hitting the 3rd land in time, missing one of my three colors).
I'll tweak my deck again adding 1 Saheeli, 1 Bedlam Reveler and 1 Sleight of Hand. Sleight of Hand has been really good as Serum Vision no. 5 during online testing.
CurdBros: It's your fault that I spent quite some money on the black bordered 7th Edition foil vision, because it looks so good on the photo you uploaded
Saheeli also appears to be very good with Snapcaster. Should have realized that earlier. -_-
At FNM I lost against a UWR combo deck with Saheeli & Felidar. I didn't loose against the combo but in one looong game my opponent's second Saheeli pinged me for 8 points of damage and thanks to the constant scrying my opponent was able to shape his hand perfectly...
Back to the mana base, I'll add back my 20th land (one more Flooded Strand) and try 20 lands in 61 cards. Let's see how it goes...
2x Arid Mesa
1x Cavern of Souls
1x Clifftop Retreat
2x Flooded Strand
1x Hallowed Fountain
1x Inspiring Vantage
1x Island
1x Mountain
1x Plains
1x Sacred Foundry
3x Scalding Tarn
1x Seachrome Coast
1x Spirebluff Canal
1x Steam Vents
1x Wandering Fumarole
Instant (20)
2x Boros Charm
2x Emerge Unscathed
1x Jeskai Charm
4x Lightning Bolt
2x Lightning Helix
1x Mutagenic Growth
3x Path to Exile
2x Remand
1x Spell Pierce
1x Spell Snare
1x Swerve
4x Delver of Secrets
3x Geist of Saint Traft
1x Grim Lavamancer
4x Monastery Swiftspear
4x Snapcaster Mage
Sorcery (5)
1x Pillar of Flame
4x Serum Visions
1x Anger of the Gods
1x Blessed Alliance
1x Celestial Purge
1x Ceremonious Rejection
1x Deflecting Palm
1x Dispel
1x Grafdigger's Cage
1x Leyline of Sanctity
1x Pithing Needle
1x Stone Rain
2x Stony Silence
1x Sulfur Elemental
1x Surgical Extraction
1x Isochron Scepter
So what did change? Well, I went back to the roots and added two cards I was playing a long time ago: Grim Lavamancer & Isochron Scepter. Both have been very good so far during testing. Since Scepter is in my SB I only got it into play once so far, but the Death & Taxes player scooped to it with Lightning Helix imprinted
I also switched back to using Wandering Fumarole. Even though this is a tempo deck with 19 lands it's still the only land coming into play tapped and it just helped me much more often then it felt obstructive. I just missed it when I took it out. When I have a protection spell (Emerge Unscathed or Spell Pierce/Snare) and a Delver in my starting hand I play Delver on turn 2 and not right away. I these cases I can just go ahead and play Fumarole turn 1. Red decks are popular right now (Free Win Red, Skred Red...) and they run Anger (and many other decks too). A manland doesn't die to Anger.
I also added Swerve back to the mainboard. I wrote it before but the card is awesome. Opponent Abrupt Decays his own Tarmogoyf?
Jeskai Charm felt awesome felt awesome almost every time I drew it and won me a lot of games! Really recommend this one too as a 1-of.
My deck went up to quite a few 1-ofs again even though I tried to streamline it, but with 4 Snapcasters these 1-of cards give me a lot of choices. I will keep the 1 Mutagenic Growth to have a spell that I can cast when I am tapped out or snap back with only 2 mana.
The only thing I am not happy with is the 1-1 split between Pierce and Snare...because they're both too good. A lot of decks listed here don't run these counters but I love them and would love to run them both twice. Obviously there's no space to fit them both in as 2-ofs. I can't decide which one would be better as a 2-of without the other one. I think, 2 Spell Snares would win/cost me just as many games as 2 Spell Pierces...
Sadly, I can't make any room for the other awesome 1-of card mentioned above: Noxious Revival.
Anyhow, the deck runs smoothly and I am happy with it at the moment.