I have in play Phyrexian Unlife + Solemnity and am below zero life. My opponent attacks me with a creature that has lifelink. Obviously I don't get any infect counters but the question is, does my opponent gain life from lifelink?
If creature removal is all you are looking for then give Declaration in Stone a look. Saffron Olive has played it in a few budget decks and speaks highly of it.
Through Google I found a link to beta.mtgsalvation.com and that's working for me for now. Otherwise I can't get in at all on any browser from either my work or home computer.
This made top 8 in Barcelona. I guess the thing freaking me out about it is Terminus. Any other board sweeper Lodestone Golem would make too expensive but not Terminus.
How is this deck faring against the U/W control decks like the ones from Barcelona? Just looking at it on paper, Terminus scares me because they can cheat it out even if you've already stuck a Lodestone Golem.
Article about Sai, Master Thopterist by Frank Karsten. He's very high on the card right now, even in Modern. Doesn't specifically mention Grand Architect decks but the analysis here should prove valuable to anyone thinking about trying Sai out.
I think Sai is useful if you want to try to play the long game. I understand that not everyone here thinks that's the best idea and are more focused on the beatdown/disruption plan. Maybe it winds up being a sideboard card vs. control?
Has anyone considered Sigil of Distinction as a one-of in this deck? It's tutorable for the versions running Trinket Mage and seems like it would be a great mana sink. Turns a Mausoleum Wanderer into both a beat stick and a hard counter. Just a thought...
Anyway, I'm about to hop on the wagon here since I already have a set of Walking Ballista and this deck looks like both an affordable and competitive entry point for me into Modern.
I've been playing around with Rat Colony and admittedly having little success. Still, it's a card people may want to build around so it can't hurt to discuss builds and experiences playing the deck. It's not necessarily a budget deck (expensive cards may be required for it to actually work) but it is definitely a casual one.
My first thought was that the deck is likely to run out of gas. Any kind of board wipe almost guarantees that you won't recover unless your opponent is also out of gas and you hit a lucky streak of consecutive Rat Colony top decks. Looking at in color budget options for card draw led me to consider Key to the City which is a good start since it can help break a stalled board but is obviously not enough by itself. The second card I considered was Midnight Oil. You're going to wind up in top deck mode anyway so you may as well draw two cards a turn. It's a bit of a nonbo with Key to the City though. I also considered Ghirapur Orrery but it's a symmetrical effect and fairly unreliable if you can't consistently empty your hand. None of this stuff really seemed to work.
I then decided that I could branch out into another color if needed since the color requirements for the rats are not steep at all. Looking at green options led me to consider Driven // Despair which sets up this sequence if you can manage to make four land drops in a row.
T1: Swamp
T2: Swamp + Rat Colony
T3: Swamp + Rat Colony
T4: Forest + Rat Colony + Rat Colony (Rats are 5/1)
T5: Cast Driven. Cast Despair. Attack for 20, draw four cards, opponent discards four cards.
Yes, this is extremely fragile but the potential is there. Drawing four cards is huge if you can pull it off. Mind Twisting your opponent doesn't suck.
Song of Freyalise also seems like an option and functions as acceleration.
T1: Swamp
T2: Swamp + Rat Colony
T3: Forest + Song of Freyalise + Rat Colony
T4: Rat Colony + Rat Colony
T5: All rats get a +1/+1 counter and gain trample, vigilance and indestructible. Attack for 24.
Yeah, still thoroughly in Magical Christmas Land here but it's something at least. It can get even more magical as you might be able to fit an extra rat in there somewhere or cast Driven // Despair as well.
Finally since we're playing all rats, Metallic Mimic seems like an auto include. So this gives us something that looks like this so far:
That leave us six slots to play with. Our options are to go with some removal like Fatal Push, some way to protect our rats like Blossoming Defense or something janky. Let's just split it between Push and Defense giving us this:
Hazardous Conditions is really the wildcard here. I'm going to try it out as way to deal with tokens. Between Metallic Mimic and Song of Freyalise we stand a chance at making this an asymmetrical effect and if the token deck has gone off and flooded the field with tokens then it might be worth casting straight up even if it is symmetrical.
I would consider Golden Demise but our deck is really not designed to get the City's Blessing. Yes, if the game runs long, then it might be able to do that but probably not. I guess if you get Golden Demise in your opening hand then you could hold back and try to sucker them in. Wipe the board and then start laying rats afterwards. I dunno.
I guess maybe I should just bite the bullet and run Walking Ballista to try to deal with tokens? That actually seems pretty desperate unless I wanted to turn this into some kind of Constrictor deck. I am open to suggestions.
I likely won't get to playtest this until some time next week but I will report back when I have some more insights.
And this experiment was a failure... It's a fun deck but neither consistent enough nor resilient enough to win a tournament. Guess I'll be giving that ol' 8-Whack deck a try after all.
Match 2: Won 2-1 vs GB Tron.
Game 1, he had to mulligan to four in game won but still got Tron anyway and then dropped a Wurmcoil Engine when he was at 1 life. I top decked a bolt for the win. He seemed to have bad luck in game three as well but I can't remember the details.
Match 3: Won 2-1 vs Boros Burn
I was kind of proud of this win as I figured he's the favorite thanks to Lightning Helix and access to Path to Exile out of the board. I slow rolled my Akroan Crusaders and used my Giant Growths defensively until he was tapped out and a big Crusader got through for 10 damage. The game I lost he got an Eidolon of the Great Revel in play and it made math hard for me. I dunno if he drew bad in game three or misplayed it or what. I made him waste burn on my creatures and that won me the game.
And then it all goes down hill again...
Match 4: Lost 0-2 to GB Rock
Was never really in either game. Too much discard, too much removal, too many fatties plus life gain. I almost got Magus of the Moon in play in game two which would have cut him off from green before he really got set up but I doubt that would have held him off for long anyway. He was bound to draw into more removal.
Match 5: Lost 0-2 to UB/r Snapcaster/Torrential Gearhulk deck
I make a play mistake in game 1 by not playing around Mana Leak correctly. I got him down to 1 life. The rest of the game became a series of Cryptic Commands being cast repeatedly. Game 2 wasn't even close. 1:1 removal nonstop until the Gearhulks hit the board again.
So I'm not sure if it's suboptimal play or suboptimal design or maybe a little of both. I am getting some good experience in with the deck. One innovation that won me a game was the addition of 2x Hope of Ghirapur which can be surprisingly effective against control if they don't have instant speed removal for it.
My take on it is that pros can just do stuff like that while we mere mortals cannot.
3 Snapcaster Mage
Spells (32)
3 Ancestral Vision
2 Gigadrowse
3 Lightning Bolt
4 Opt
4 Serum Visions
4 Remand
2 Day's Undoing
4 Exhaustion
1 Cryptic Command
4 Time Warp
1 Temporal Trespass
1 Howling Mine
Enchantments (3)
3 Dictate of Kruphix
Lands (21)
10 Island
1 Mikokoro, Center of the Sea
1 Minamo, School at Water's Edge
4 Scalding Tarn
1 Steam Vents
4 Sulfur Falls
1 Mountain
1 Burst Lightning
1 Lightning Bolt
1 Spell Pierce
2 Boomerang
1 Disrupting Shoal
3 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Logic Knot
4 Thing in the Ice
Source:https://mtgdecks.net/Modern/lejay-5-0-decklist-by-lejay-755987
Laszlo Poroskai's White-Blue Control
3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
Creature (3)
2 Snapcaster Mage
1 Vendilion Clique
Sorcery (7)
1 Serum Visions
1 Timely Reinforcements
4 Terminus
1 Entreat the Angels
Instant (18)
4 Opt
4 Path to Exile
1 Condemn
2 Think Twice
2 Logic Knot
1 Mana Leak
1 Negate
3 Cryptic Command
2 Search for Azcanta
1 Detention Sphere
Legendary planeswalker (2)
2 Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
Land (24)
2 Glacial Fortress
2 Hallowed Fountain
3 Celestial Colonnade
4 Field of Ruin
4 Flooded Strand
7 Island
2 Plains
https://www.channelfireball.com/articles/core-set-2019-spotlight-sai-master-thopterist/
I think Sai is useful if you want to try to play the long game. I understand that not everyone here thinks that's the best idea and are more focused on the beatdown/disruption plan. Maybe it winds up being a sideboard card vs. control?
Anyway, I'm about to hop on the wagon here since I already have a set of Walking Ballista and this deck looks like both an affordable and competitive entry point for me into Modern.
My first thought was that the deck is likely to run out of gas. Any kind of board wipe almost guarantees that you won't recover unless your opponent is also out of gas and you hit a lucky streak of consecutive Rat Colony top decks. Looking at in color budget options for card draw led me to consider Key to the City which is a good start since it can help break a stalled board but is obviously not enough by itself. The second card I considered was Midnight Oil. You're going to wind up in top deck mode anyway so you may as well draw two cards a turn. It's a bit of a nonbo with Key to the City though. I also considered Ghirapur Orrery but it's a symmetrical effect and fairly unreliable if you can't consistently empty your hand. None of this stuff really seemed to work.
I then decided that I could branch out into another color if needed since the color requirements for the rats are not steep at all. Looking at green options led me to consider Driven // Despair which sets up this sequence if you can manage to make four land drops in a row.
T1: Swamp
T2: Swamp + Rat Colony
T3: Swamp + Rat Colony
T4: Forest + Rat Colony + Rat Colony (Rats are 5/1)
T5: Cast Driven. Cast Despair. Attack for 20, draw four cards, opponent discards four cards.
Yes, this is extremely fragile but the potential is there. Drawing four cards is huge if you can pull it off. Mind Twisting your opponent doesn't suck.
Song of Freyalise also seems like an option and functions as acceleration.
T1: Swamp
T2: Swamp + Rat Colony
T3: Forest + Song of Freyalise + Rat Colony
T4: Rat Colony + Rat Colony
T5: All rats get a +1/+1 counter and gain trample, vigilance and indestructible. Attack for 24.
Yeah, still thoroughly in Magical Christmas Land here but it's something at least. It can get even more magical as you might be able to fit an extra rat in there somewhere or cast Driven // Despair as well.
Finally since we're playing all rats, Metallic Mimic seems like an auto include. So this gives us something that looks like this so far:
4 Metallic Mimic
20 Rat Colony
4 Song of Freyalise
4 Driven // Despair
4 Woodland Cemetery
4 Blooming Marsh
2 Forest
12 Swamps
4 Metallic Mimic
20 Rat Colony
Spells (14)
3 Fatal Push
3 Blossoming Defense
4 Song of Freyalise
4 Driven // Despair
4 Woodland Cemetery
4 Blooming Marsh
2 Forest
12 Swamps
Sideboard
3 Duress
3 Sorcerous Spyglass
3 Naturalize
3 Cast Down
3 Hazardous Conditions
Hazardous Conditions is really the wildcard here. I'm going to try it out as way to deal with tokens. Between Metallic Mimic and Song of Freyalise we stand a chance at making this an asymmetrical effect and if the token deck has gone off and flooded the field with tokens then it might be worth casting straight up even if it is symmetrical.
I would consider Golden Demise but our deck is really not designed to get the City's Blessing. Yes, if the game runs long, then it might be able to do that but probably not. I guess if you get Golden Demise in your opening hand then you could hold back and try to sucker them in. Wipe the board and then start laying rats afterwards. I dunno.
I guess maybe I should just bite the bullet and run Walking Ballista to try to deal with tokens? That actually seems pretty desperate unless I wanted to turn this into some kind of Constrictor deck. I am open to suggestions.
I likely won't get to playtest this until some time next week but I will report back when I have some more insights.
Match 1: Won 2-1 vs UR
His deck had Snapcaster Mage, Anger of the Gods, Electrolyze and Platinum Emperion of all things. My draws were a little too quick I guess.
Match 2: Won 2-1 vs GB Tron.
Game 1, he had to mulligan to four in game won but still got Tron anyway and then dropped a Wurmcoil Engine when he was at 1 life. I top decked a bolt for the win. He seemed to have bad luck in game three as well but I can't remember the details.
Match 3: Won 2-1 vs Boros Burn
I was kind of proud of this win as I figured he's the favorite thanks to Lightning Helix and access to Path to Exile out of the board. I slow rolled my Akroan Crusaders and used my Giant Growths defensively until he was tapped out and a big Crusader got through for 10 damage. The game I lost he got an Eidolon of the Great Revel in play and it made math hard for me. I dunno if he drew bad in game three or misplayed it or what. I made him waste burn on my creatures and that won me the game.
And then it all goes down hill again...
Match 4: Lost 0-2 to GB Rock
Was never really in either game. Too much discard, too much removal, too many fatties plus life gain. I almost got Magus of the Moon in play in game two which would have cut him off from green before he really got set up but I doubt that would have held him off for long anyway. He was bound to draw into more removal.
Match 5: Lost 0-2 to UB/r Snapcaster/Torrential Gearhulk deck
I make a play mistake in game 1 by not playing around Mana Leak correctly. I got him down to 1 life. The rest of the game became a series of Cryptic Commands being cast repeatedly. Game 2 wasn't even close. 1:1 removal nonstop until the Gearhulks hit the board again.
So I'm not sure if it's suboptimal play or suboptimal design or maybe a little of both. I am getting some good experience in with the deck. One innovation that won me a game was the addition of 2x Hope of Ghirapur which can be surprisingly effective against control if they don't have instant speed removal for it.
Okay, well, chin up and keep trying and all that.