You are going to run out of fetchable lands with 8 fetchable lands and 12 fetches by virtue of drawing fetchable lands and by your opponents playing their own field/gq. 4-6 blue fetches seems like the sweet spot.
If you want to play 4 snapcasters you need 4 opts minimum.
I don't like mana leak though some people still play it.
I have played 4 logic knot in jeskai and cried in the sideboard games when my opponent opened on turn 1 relic. People will bring in grave hate vs you and logic knot isnt something you always side out. That's something to think about as multiple knots have other unforseen costs. I don't think you have enough 1 cmc cards to play 4 knots anyways.
Telling time is much much worse than anticipate unless you are playing Miracles. That opinion written in this thread is just wrong, and like they never played telling time before. Both cards are weak though.
I don't like cutting search for Azcanta, remember that card turns into a mana source for this mana hungry deck. It's not just a slow filtering and a value engine.
I think that list would be worth testing if you cut some of the knots and all of the anticipates for 1 cmc can trips and a snare and/or some other 1-2 cmc interactive card. I'd cut something to play a search or two. Playing 1 settle the wreckage over the 4th verdict is probably better since you play 4 cryptic and 4 snapcasters.
Currently the sorcery speed cards have proven their worth, so trying to go more instant speed will be met with criticism.
In a deck full of fetches, I do prefer Telling Time over Anticipate, because if you see 2 cards you want out of the three, you can keep one at the top and draw the other one. If you want only 1 of the cards, you can draw it, set any other one at top of library and than shuffle it away with a fetch land. Anticipate never gives you such options. If you see 2 good cards, you must bottom one of them and keep one.
Of course the fetch land shuffle screws your deck in the sense that you might draw the worst card you put at the bottom with the Telling Time. But if you have more ways to manipulate your library, Telling Time seems better to me regardless.
They are both bad in a Control deck IMO, though. The format is so fast that we can't really afford to spend 2 mana on a "do-nothing" card. It doesn't disrupt our opponent, and it doesn't really help us pull ahead, so... I see little point in playing it on a Control deck. If they did dig deeper, maybe they could be worth, by trying to find our best tools in a given match-up. But digging 3 cards for two mana doesn't seem enoughly good for me. Impulse could be good enough, maybe.
I do think both are reasonable on Combo decks though, because they are good at trying to find specific cards.
How have you guys been doing trying to fight opposing Jaces? I feel like I needed to go back to Jeskai in order to have a better game against other Jace decks, but I'd rather stick to UW if I could.
I feel like Gideon, Ally of Zendikar is really important now to try to fight opposing Jaces. If I stick to UW, I'm probably trying something like 2 Gideon of the Trials, 2 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar and 2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor, although it's probably too heavy on PWs.
Jace is two turns faster than Search when in top deck mode. The same logic applies to Cryptic Command. You get immediate value out of the card, and that's huge when being under pressure. Also, I have the feeling that people use Jace's Brainstorm ability not enough. The play "Jace, BS, he dies" is actually pretty good, not amazing, but still above average (I reiterate: above average!!); but if you Jace, fate seal and it dies anyway, yeah, that's just a wasted Jace TMS, and it happens quite frequently in a Lightning Bolt, Bloodbraid Elf, Reality Smasher metagame. Fatesealing in the dark in account of Lightning Bolt (and nothing else) is an overly risky play.
Looks unconventional, but I'm just throwing this out here, because I want to hear what you think about it, feel free to tear it apart, haha.
A few comments on card choices:
I think weak cantrips like Wall of Omens, Spreading Seas, Remand, and Shadow of Doubt are complete garbage compared to "real" cantrips like Anticipate, Serum Visions and Opt. These cards are actually getting there, there is no durdling around.
8 Fetchlands is the norm for every 3 color deck, yet people refuse to play more than 4 Fetchlands in U/W control. With Jace TMS AND Logic Knot involved (maybe I should only run 3 Logic Knots, 4 is really pushing it), I see absolutely no reason to run less than 8. You can get Burn to above 50% very easily actually. Maybe the matchup is close, but you are in no way an underdog.
Two of the best cards I decided to omit for the time being are probably Spell Snare and Detention Sphere. The price for running Detention Sphere is - of course - that we would have to make cuts in the permission/disruption department. I think this is not necessarily where we want to be. If there is a problematic permanent that we need to get rid of (like Jace, Blood Moon, Chalice, Lilliana) there is still the gamble that get there with the means that we have available in the main like Vendilion Clique, Cryptics, and generic counterspells. I think it's wiser to shore this weakness up with an appropriate SB.
Spell Snare, I think, is highly dependent on the metagame. If Storm and Burn rises to the top again, then I'm definitely making the switch, but as long as Bloodbraid Elf and Jace decks are the top tier decks, I stick to two mana counterspells and a high cantrip count (six instead of just four)
Well... I don't agree with most of your thoughts there. Just my opinions, of course, but there they go:
Of course Jace and Cryptic Command have an immediate higher impact. I agree with you on that. That's why they cost more mana. We usually play them by the way. But in Modern it's much easier to cast a 1U spell than a 2UU or a 1UUU mana spell. We don't really know for sure where the format is going, but in the Modern we know now, there are a really high number of matches in which you just can't tap out for Jace. In others, Cryptic Command is just clunky and slow. SFA on the other hand is much easier to resolve in U mirrors, and reasonable to deploy vs fast opponents. Although we have to tap the same amount of lands to activate Azcanta, we can do it at Instant Speed, what allows us to generate Card Advantage in our opponent's end step, when they can no longer play some of their high impact spells (Primeval Titan, Past in Flames, Karn or JTMS to name a few). I think each one of these cards is better on the right circunstances. I like SFA enough to play them, and I think it's reasonable to cut them now with JTMS on the format. But SFA is better than JTMS or Cryptic in a really good amount of circunstances.
I don't agree with your statement about the cantrips either. Yes, Opt, SV and Anticipate are better at finding specific cards, but Wall of Omens, Spreading Seas, Remand and Shadow of Doubt are cantrips that impact the board and/or disrupt your opponent. Wall protects you and your walkers (what is really valuable in UW that usually plays little spot removal count), Seas disrupts your opponent's manabase, Shadow of Doubt also disrupts your opponent's manabase and counters tutor effects, Remand delays your opponent's plays, while all of those cantrips you listed "do nothing" except drawing cards. They don't impact the board and don't disrupt your opponent. So they are essencially Tempo Loss. You're trying to find something on your deck while your opponent is just advancing his board, beating your face, and playing something that is already impacting the game.
Along with that, your deck has too many 3 and 4 drops. You have 12 cards that cost 4 mana. Your Snapcasters plays will probably cost 4 mana too most of the times, since you have only 6 spells that cost 1 mana, and you're probably not planning to use the Ambush Viper mode that frequently (in which case, Snappy would be just worse than a Wall of Omens in most cases). Too many Cryptics, Verdicts, JTMS, Cliques and Snappys IMO. Results are: your decks seems really clunky to me. You're probably doing "nothing" turns 1 and 2, to maybe do something on turn 3 or 4. Doesn't seem like a good plan to me in Modern, unless you're planning to win on the spot on turns 3 or 4 (like Storm and Ad Nauseam do), or play something much scarier than a Verdict or a Jace (like Karn, Ugin or Ulamog). I believe you'll too oftenly have a hand like 2 JTMS, 1 Cryptic, 1 Verdict and some lands while your opponent is just crushing you with fast creatures for 3 turns.
So... IMO, your deck can't reliably beat plays like turn 1 Aether Vial (specially with Cavern of Souls), Goblin Guide into Eidolon, discard spell into Bob, discard spell into Bitterblossom, turn 2 Blood Moon on the draw (specially with your higher number of fetch lands), Elves, Revolting Zoo, Hollow One and Dredge, to name a few.
I finally got my hands on a copy of JTMS. I'll wait until Masters 25's release to get myself a second one, and maybe even a third one as well.
Anyways... I was on UW Control myself before the unban, and now I think that Jeskai is probably better positioned than UW, because in my tests, UW struggles so much to fight opposing Jaces. However, in my meta there are tons of Trons, Eldrazis and Valakuts, all of which are really bad match-ups for traditional Jeskai.
So I ended up brewing a deck that's kind of a mix of Jeskai and UW. Keep in mind that I only play one copy of JTMS because I only have one yet. I intend to add one or two copies later.
Haven't think about the sideboard yet. I wanted to play a 4th Bolt, but I'm not sure on this.
Not sure about the manabase too. I tried to put a 3rd Field of Ruin, but I'm not sure I can really afford to do so with only 5 basics. Have been thinking if I'm too heavy on 4 Colonnades... maybe 3 is better? I'm also thinking about maybe cutting the Sulfur Falls for a Spirebluff Canal. Any thoughts?
If opposing Jaces are a big worry for you, I would start by playing cards that are good against Jace: Secure the Wastes and Vendilion Clique as far as maindeck goes, and possibly Geist in the sideboard.
I wouldn't call them a "big worry". I just think Jace is probably gonna be oftenly seen in the format from now on, so I intend to have a reasonable plan against him. At least a better plan than what UW can offer (Colonnades and Gideons beats or D-Spheres). For now, I believe my counterspells, Snapcasters and Burns make a solid plan vs opposing Jaces.
I finally got my hands on a copy of JTMS. I'll wait until Masters 25's release to get myself a second one, and maybe even a third one as well.
Anyways... I was on UW Control myself before the unban, and now I think that Jeskai is probably better positioned than UW, because in my tests, UW struggles so much to fight opposing Jaces. However, in my meta there are tons of Trons, Eldrazis and Valakuts, all of which are really bad match-ups for traditional Jeskai.
So I ended up brewing a deck that's kind of a mix of Jeskai and UW. Keep in mind that I only play one copy of JTMS because I only have one yet. I intend to add one or two copies later.
Haven't think about the sideboard yet. I wanted to play a 4th Bolt, but I'm not sure on this.
Not sure about the manabase too. I tried to put a 3rd Field of Ruin, but I'm not sure I can really afford to do so with only 5 basics. Have been thinking if I'm too heavy on 4 Colonnades... maybe 3 is better? I'm also thinking about maybe cutting the Sulfur Falls for a Spirebluff Canal. Any thoughts?
I’ve got different experiences from you guys. IMHO, Azcanta is at its best. Way better positioned than the same Jace. It’s basically the glue which keeps the deck togheter. Against both Combo and aggressive strategies - where playing a 4cc sorcery speed spell is just nonsensical. And also against Jund it won me much more games than the planeswalker, because it isn’t affected by Bolts and haste creatures. I’ll definitely pack two of them, plus the usual 3 Jace. They complements each other quite well.
I agree with you on this one. SFA is faster, harder to remove, and can generate value in Instant Speed once it flips. It also searches for JTMS himself or any other thing we might need. I wouldn't play less than 2 now even with 2 or 3 JTMS main deck.
I think that adding some black for discard will be the best move to protect and help Jace. I'll try to include shadow of doubt spreading seas and at least 2 fields of ruin. What do you guys think?
I don't know. I have been seeing a lot of streamers play Jace on UBx shells with a lot of discards and removal, and I'm not sure it's a good idea. I think discards are good when you intend to play a cheap and powerful threat right after them, because they are likely dead by turns 4 and later. DS does that with Death's Shadow itself, Tasigur or Gurmag Angler, Jund does that with Bob and Goyf, eventually Liliana, Mardu does that with Young Pyromancer, Fairies and BW Tokens do that with Bitterblossom.
Jace on the other hand, is a late game powerhouse. So... I think it's antagonic to play both. The discard spells try to help you gain an advantage on the early game, and JTMS tries to make you win the late game. Discards suck in the late game, and Jace sucks in the early game. I think they don't help each other that much. Discards are really bad to draw from Jace's Brainstorm ability, and they won't really protect him unless you save one or two for turn 3, and in that case, they're not being really efficient, and you're probably not disrupting your opponent effectively. Of course you can return un uneeded Thoughtseize to the top of library and than shuffle it away with a fetch land, but I think the discard spells end up increasing the amount of bad draws in your deck on the late game, and that's exactly what JTMS does better.
I could see discards and JTMS being played on the same deck and working, but IMO, it would work better if you had powerful threats to slam on turns 2 and/or 3, like that Sultai deck with Jace, Goyfs, Bobs, Lillys and some discards. If you have a good threat density he might help by digging into more and more threats, maybe removals. I don't know, however, if Jace is really that good on this kind of deck, as he is on a deck like ours, where almost every card is relevant in the late game. I think in those B based Midranges, top ends like BBE and maybe even Chandra, Torch of Defiance make more sense. Chandra ends the game much faster, deals damage to creatures, to the opponent, and helps find more gas as well if needed (not as good as JTMS in the job, but...). BBE has a much higher immediate impact and also helps end the game faster.
Could be wrong obviously. But I don't feel like B based Midranges are the best home for JTMS. I think the best shell for Jace is an interactive deck based on counterspells, and not on discards. Counterspells are so much better on the late game, and if you're playing Jace, you should be wanting to make it to the late game oftenly.
the idea to cut 1 mana cantrips comes up every so often.
its a power vs. consistency trade-off. the better your draw is the less there is a need for cantrips. so it becomes easy to theorycraft the deck to the point where you ask yourself why you arent just playing more 'answer' cards.
the reality ends up being that you lose equity on those games with below average draws, resulting in a net loss for your win percentage.
I think the cantrips are kind of necessary. Especially in Modern, where we don't have powerful answers for everything. This way, we can try to minimize our chances of drawing Supreme Verdict when we're facing Tron, Logic Knot when we're facing Merfolks, Path when we're facing Ad Nauseam, Cryptic Command when we're facing Affinity, etc.
Without LotV, there are no XBB costed cards. That’s why the missing “maybe” is significant.
On language:
Even if the Oxford English Dictionary had an mtg section, it wouldn’t matter because dictionaries aren’t lexical rulebooks; they document popular uses of words(ex: widespread misuse of “literal” led to a new definition being added several years ago). It’s not like it’s publically-visible, but you’re talking down to someone about the game’s basics, who has been playing for over two decades. I know the terminology because I’ve been on the groundfloor of its development for quite some time. “Fish” used to mean a disruptive blue-based weenie deck exclusively; since Lorwyn, it’s most common use refers to “merfolk”(I could go on with examples).
If you want “splash” to mean more than a small amount of another colour, that’s your business, but save the pedantry for private messages. Also,
if I made a UWb list, this isn’t the thread where I’d share it.
Well... I play this game for more than 15 years as well, and I haven't seen any different use of the term "splash" from jayjayhooks's definition. Ever. I watch streams, videos, read guides and never saw anyone call a deck that has more than 10 cards of some colour to be on a splash. My friends never said so as well, and some of them are as old on this game as I am. So... IMO, you're just wrong.
For me, you're splashing a colour to a deck if you're adding one or two mana producers of the colour to the deck (usually fetchable Shocklands in Modern), and than adding a couple of cards of the given colour to the deck. Something around 6 or less cards, and maybe a couple of sideboard techs, and that's about it.
If you're planning to add Fatal Pushes, Inquisition of Kozilek, Thoughtseizes, Lilianas, Anguished Unmaking and Lingering Souls, you can't call that a black splash. You're just playing straight Esper. Depending on the build, you could even be playing BW with a blue splash, or UB with a white splash. But a deck with that amount of black could never be on a black splash.
Boros Burn, for example, plays much less white than you're planning to play black there, and everyone calls it Boros.
I'm not sure Clique is better now. At least not on Jeskai that shouldn't have a hard time removing opposing Jaces. I think Clique is great vs combo decks for it's combination of disruption + clock, but combos are likely gonna have a hard time now that Jund'll likely be one of the major players on the format. So... they should see less play now.
Jund and Grixis'll likely gonna play a lot of Kommands to chain with BBE and Snapcasters. Grixis and Jeskais might play some Electrolyzes as well, because it's very good vs BBE and reasonable against JTMS. Bolt'll likely see much more play now as well, for fighting Jaces. The Black Grindy decks seem to be playing more Liliana, the Last Hope as well. Lingering Souls could see more play as well. Could be in Esper, maybe a white splash in Jund, or even a come back from BW or Esper Tokens who happens to be a really good deck vs Controls and Jund. If the metagame is shifting towards grindy games, LS are probably gonna show up somewhere. And these are all bad news for Clique.
What could make Clique good now is to try to force your own Jace in the Blue Mirrors, and maybe to try to pressure opponent's Jace, which Jeskai should be good at anyways. You play Clique on their end step, take out their counter, and than play JTMS safely on your turn. The fact that it curves perfectly is really sweet.
However, I don't think it's better now on Jeskai. I think it should be better on Jace decks that don't play R, like UW, Esper, Sultai, UB, etc., because they might need some good options to try to beat opponent's Jaces.
Ehr, @jayjayhooks didn't attack you. He was just stating that "a black splash for Push and Lingering" means having to rethink the whole manabase, and you'll end up playing actual Esper. If you want to go that route, I suggest to open a new thread, because it has nothing to do with UW anymore - most likely, you will cut colorless lands and some basics, and that's the main benefit from playing two colors. We'll be glad to contribute. But you're overreacting, man, so chill out and stop being an ass.
About Miracles, I'm still unsure about it. I'm testing several decklists, and they are sometimes very powerful, other times just "fine", but worse than classic UW. I still have to figure out what is the best shell for Jace in UW. And I'm also re-considering Gideon of the Trials, because very aggressive decks seems to be kept in check by your usual Combo - UR Storm and a resurgence in G-Valakut - so that only Burn is a viable option, and Trials is good against Burn. While, with Settle in the deck, we can contain decently BBE. To be honest, what it really appeals to me in Miracles is playing lots of cantrips + some Entreats more than Terminus. Entreat is such a crazy card, even if you naturally cast it from the top in the midgame. If the metagame will focus more on Midrange strategies, Entreat just crush them.
I’m also unsure about jamming Jace TMS in our “usual” UW shell. I liked that before the unbans, but when we cut things like Sphere & Snare from the maindeck to make space for Walls and Jace, well, I think we’re conceding too much against a part of the field. Same goes for the 2cc counterspells: if Jace will be prevalent, then we have to pack more. Dunno. I feel like this isn’t the right way.
Well... I believe we won't know until we have a better clue about how the new metagame is going to look like. For now, what we expect is there'll be powerful Midranges and Controls based on BBE and Jace, there'll be decks trying to go under these decks (Burn, Dredge, Zoo, maybe Affinity), there'll be decks trying to go bigger (Valakut, Tron, Eldrazis) and linear combos (Storm, Ad Nauseam, Grishoalbrand). That's the first assumption. It could be right or wrong.
If Jund becomes too powerful, for example, the combo decks are probably vanishing from the format (as they did the last year with the rise of Death's Shadow decks), because B based Midranges usually prey on combos with their hand disruptions and good clocks. If Controls become too powerful, they might crush the Midranges and than the fast combos might become relevant. If the fast Aggros become prevalent, than Tron and Valakut might vanish and the fight could be more polarized in Midranges/Controls vs Aggros.
So... we can't know for sure. And since we don't know how the metagame is going to look like, we don't even know which Jace deck is gonna be the best, if there'll be a "best Jace deck" in the format. In a vacuum, I believe that UW Control's main force comes from the land disruption and more stable manabase, while Jeskai is probably the best vs Aggro decks, Grixis should be the best vs combos and maybe other Midranges, and Blue Moon is somewhere between UW's ability to fight Big Mana and Grixis's power vs Midranges. Some other decks could emerge too, like Esper, UB, Sultai, Bant, Temur, Big Naya, etc. If the metagame becomes perfectly balanced, there'll be room for all these decks, each one being better against something. In theory, all of these should be able to put a reasonable fight against everything, but some of them would excel against a different type of deck.
For that reasons, I believe UW Control's place in the format depends on the Big Mana Decks's place and if Blood Moon will still be a thing on the format. If Moon is still a thing, than UW has an edge over the other possible Control decks, thanks to it's manabase. If Big Mana decks are still present, than UW could be good by having game against the other decks on the field and praying on the Big Manas. But if neither of these are still present, than UW'll probably be just worse than Jeskai or Grixis. Other possibility is UW becomes present by just attacking the best Control and/or Midrange. Let's say the best Jace deck is Jeskai. UW could be a solid choice if it beats Jeskai while having game against the rest of the meta. And still, our best weapon to beat Jeskai (or Grixis, or any other 3 colored Control deck) is still the land disruption package. So... I wouldn't shave our land disruption, at least for now. I believe that in almost any scenario where UW proves to be a solid choice on this new metagame, the land disruption will be one of the main reasons.
I wouldn't cut Electrolyze now. It's a good card vs both BBE and Jace (along with Bolt or Helix), it's also good vs Lingering Souls that's likely gonna show up more now since it's good vs both BBE and Jace. I wouldn't be surprised if Jund just throws a Godless Shrine somewhere to add some Lingering Souls and have one more good target for BBE. I'd still run one or two copies of it.
Not sold about Clique yet, because along with Lingering Souls and maybe Electrolyzes, Kolaghan's Command is probably gonna see a lot more play now with BBE on Jund, and Clique is just a juicy target for it. Even Liliana, the Last Hope is likely to see more play, and she kills Clique easily too. I bet Jund'll try to chain BBEs into Kommands and Lillys for the grind.
It plays 2 Jace right now, and I could see going to 3, but 4 is most definitely unwarranted. There are a few times where you slam Jace on 4, and many times where you actively wish he was a different card. Not cutting the Seas -- as I suspected, they're still great vs. big mana, and there's nothing better for punishing a stumbling opponent than Gideon, more Seas, Search, Jace, and generally just getting to Cryptic mana. It's been great to have some Wall of Omens too, as it does exactly as intended. I also wouldn't suggest cutting Search for Azcanta because blue mirrors generally revolve around who casts SfA first, and UW mirrors in particular revolve around keeping unflipped Azcantas in play or resolving a Gideon to waste opposing Snap/Clique/Queller-beats. The Tron matchup is actually better than ever, since we now have another must-blow-up permanent for OStone if you ever get a clean chance to stick Jace, and Walls have covered the less-removal axis.
The mainboard Settles are a playtesting thing, but I suspect it will stick with me since it's decent against Bloodbraid decks (since it'll hit their other attackers along with a freshly-cast BBE, leaving only the cascaded spell in play conveniently for a Gideon plus or Wall block. Secure is still great, Sphinx's Rev is a necessity for the Jund matchup. You know, the usual. To be honest, I steal most of my games these days with Search for Azcanta -- card is good. I also swapped the 2 Leaks with a 2nd Knot and a Remand, since Leak loses mirrors when opponents go for real plays late in the game. Didn't want a 3rd Knot since it'd leave me cold to grave hate.
I finally ended my lasting relationship with Queller in the board since it doesn't team up with Snappy to kill a Jace that +2'd. Time will tell if I prefer the Quellers, but I will say it's not necessarily permanent. I may play a mix to be honest.
I'm probably trying something really similar to your list now. Firstly, I don't know if I'd cut Gideons3, because they are good on some of our worst match-ups, and they are a cheap Win Condition that curves nicely with JTMS, which is really good. On the blue Mirrors, although he doesn't excels at trying to beat opposing Jaces, he helps protecting our own Jaces from opposing threats, and at least forces our opponents to worry about him.
Other relevant thing is: we don't know yet if "the best Jace deck" (if there'll be any) will play white. We imagine UW and Jeskai are gonna be major players now, but there's a real chance that Grixis or Blue Moon just prove themselves the best Jace decks, and in that case, Gideon3 would be a good threat, since they can't remove him as easily (if we decide to stick to UW Control regardless, of course).
Vendilion could be better than Gideon3, but it dies much easier, specially now that Bolt'll likely see a lot of play again, although it does have flash and evasion. Kolaghan's Command and maybe Lingering Souls will probably see more play now as well, and that's bad for Clique too. Not sure. Since we usually play little spot removal count and rely more on our sweepers, and he dies much harder I think Gideon3 could be better. I have been seeing a lot of players just cut some sweepers in order to play more cheap spot removal, but I'm not sold on it. Most of these removals are "bad", like Condemn or Oust. Not sure if it's worth it to run a bunch of mediocre cards and try to rely more on Jace. Could be wrong, but I believe Jace serves the deck better than the deck should serve Jace. If I were to try more cheap spot removal, I'd probably just play Jeskai and play some Burns that would also help beating opposing Jaces.
Settle the Wreckage could be a good bet now IMO, because Jund'll likely try to outgrind us with BBE + Kommand chains, what makes the exile clause much better. BBE's haste is also good for STW. However, the fact that it doesn't really clean the entire board is really relevant, since it becomes much worse to cast a turn before you intend to slam Jace, and it'll likely just respond to "half BBE". Wall of Omens could compensate this and Jace could defend himself by bouncing the remaining threat, but in this case he likely dies to Bolt or Kommand without gaining us any value.
I like the Secure the Wastes. I'd probably try to find room for Spell Snare, since U-Controls are probably gonna rise now, and this card is so good on these matches. It also answers Bob, which is really important for us.
Well... in my experience I ended up losing more games because I had to Bolt myself in order to Verdict turn 4, than I lost because the Stream entered tapped. But it seems really close, and HF surely has its uppersides.
I finally could finish my UW Control from my Jeskai Control IRL (still Jaceless though... ). I played on a small tournament and ended up 3-0-1. My list was the following (the Ghost Quarter was supposed to be the 4th Field of Ruin, but I couldn't get it yet):
Game 1 - I was able to ruin his mana base by casting Seas on two forests that had Sprawls enchanteds and D-Sphere exiling two Arbor Elves. He tried to play some of his Win Conditions, I countered or removed them all, and Gideon Jura won the game.
Side in: +1 Celestial Purge +1 Disdainful Stroke +1 Wrath of God +1 Blessed Alliance +1 Engineered Explosives
Side out: -1 Spell Snare -1 Cryptic Command -1 Supreme Verdict -1 Jace, Architect of Thought -1 Wall of Omens
Game 2 - He started with Utopia Sprawl again on a basic forest, I just played my Ghost Quarter and destroyed it. That way I gained enough time to play some lands and counter his Land Destructions. Than, Gideon Jura won the game again easily.
Match 2 - Abzan (2-0) - 2-0-0
Game 1 - He started aggressively striping my hand with a bunch of Iok and Seizes, than he played an Ooze. We both had nothing left and the Ooze hit me twice with nothing else going on. I found a Path and an Azcanta right after and he found a Liliana and a Lignering Souls. I got rid of the Ooze with the Path, and than Azcanta found me Jace and 3 Gideons that took out the game.
Side in: +1 Celestial Purge +1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion +2 Rest in Peace +1 Engineered Explosives +1 Blessed Alliance +1 Wrath of God
Side out: -2 Detention Sphere -2 Gideon of the Trials -1 Mana Leak -1 Logic Knot -1 Snapcaster Mage
Game 2 - Once again he stripped my hand with a bunch of Iok and Seizes and played a Bob on turn 2, that gave him a good card advantage. I played an Azcanta that he destroyed with a Maelstrom Pulse, and than I top decked a SV that found me a Path and than a Wall of Omens and a Rest in Peace on the scry. I removed Bob with the Path. He top decked a Goyf and passed the turn. I played the Wall into RiP. He top decked an Abrupt Decay that got rid of the RiP and make his Goyf alive again. I started the Colonnade beat down with 2 of them on the battlefield. He played an Ooze, removed my Wall and tried to race me, but he started the race behind thanks to some self-inflicted damage from Seizes, lands and Bob's triggers.
Match 3 - UB Mill (2-0) - 3-0-0
Game 1 - I really should've lost that game. I kept a bad hand against him (2 Paths and 1 Verdict). At least 1 of the Paths were useful to get rid of a Crab. He resolved a Fraying Sanity, and started to mill me fast and I had nothing to pressure him. Than I played a Spreading Seas on a Hideway land he had and found my last Gideon of the Trials (the other one was already on my graveyard). I played him and made the emblem. Than I started to beat him with 2 Colonnades. The first one died to a Fatal Push. I top decked a Cryptic Command that made me feel safe to start beating with Gideon. I survived around 4 or 5 turns thanks to Gideon, who won the game by himself.
Side in: +1 Engineered Explosives +2 Dispel +2 Rest in Peace +1 Runed Halo +1 Disdainful Stroke +1 Vendilion Clique
Side out: -2 Supreme Verdict -2 Wall of Omens -4 Spreading Seas
Game 2 - That game was kind of easy, since my opponent flooded so much. I had 2 Snappys on my opening hand and a RiP. I just played my Snapcasters early (one on Ambush Viper mode, and the other countering something), played RiP right after that and could beat him down. I managed to counter the most important plays he tried.
Match 4 - UB Mill (1-1) - 3-0-1
Game 1 - She curved perfectly with Crab, into Orb, into Sanity and I couldn't do much. When I started doing something I was already on the second half of my library.
Side in: +1 Engineered Explosives +2 Dispel +2 Rest in Peace +1 Runed Halo +1 Disdainful Stroke +1 Vendilion Clique
Side out: -2 Supreme Verdict -2 Wall of Omens -4 Spreading Seas
Game 2 - This game was really hard. I could counter and remove most of her spells and threats, but I couldn't draw into a Win Condition. The game gone long and I had no expensive counterspell left in hand, so I decided to start beating with Colonnade. She top decked an Orb and played it, and I just had a Dispel. Than we started to race each other. Every attack I did costed me 5 cards from my library thanks to Orb. She tried to Fatal Push the Colonnade, and I Dispeled it. She gained a turn with a Darkness but I managed to beat her with 5 or 6 cards left on my library.
Game 3 - She mulliganed to 5 and started with Crab into Polluted Delta, milling me a bunch. I had no Path, but I had my Runed Halo, which I played on turn 2 naming the Crab and it started milling her instead. She played a Set Adrift on my Halo and milled it with the Crab. I played an EE and destroyed the Crab. Than both of us could do nothing relevant and the time ran out. I believe I would have won the last game if we had time enough.
Well... that's the report. Really enjoyed playing with the deck. I tried shaving the 25th land for the 2nd Wall of Omens and felt a little short on mana sometimes, but I think that overall the deck ran really smoothly. I did flood sometimes too, so for now it doesn't seem like a bad call. Really tough to play vs Mill. Didn't expect to face any, and ended up paired with two of them.
In a deck full of fetches, I do prefer Telling Time over Anticipate, because if you see 2 cards you want out of the three, you can keep one at the top and draw the other one. If you want only 1 of the cards, you can draw it, set any other one at top of library and than shuffle it away with a fetch land. Anticipate never gives you such options. If you see 2 good cards, you must bottom one of them and keep one.
Of course the fetch land shuffle screws your deck in the sense that you might draw the worst card you put at the bottom with the Telling Time. But if you have more ways to manipulate your library, Telling Time seems better to me regardless.
They are both bad in a Control deck IMO, though. The format is so fast that we can't really afford to spend 2 mana on a "do-nothing" card. It doesn't disrupt our opponent, and it doesn't really help us pull ahead, so... I see little point in playing it on a Control deck. If they did dig deeper, maybe they could be worth, by trying to find our best tools in a given match-up. But digging 3 cards for two mana doesn't seem enoughly good for me. Impulse could be good enough, maybe.
I do think both are reasonable on Combo decks though, because they are good at trying to find specific cards.
I feel like Gideon, Ally of Zendikar is really important now to try to fight opposing Jaces. If I stick to UW, I'm probably trying something like 2 Gideon of the Trials, 2 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar and 2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor, although it's probably too heavy on PWs.
Well... I don't agree with most of your thoughts there. Just my opinions, of course, but there they go:
Of course Jace and Cryptic Command have an immediate higher impact. I agree with you on that. That's why they cost more mana. We usually play them by the way. But in Modern it's much easier to cast a 1U spell than a 2UU or a 1UUU mana spell. We don't really know for sure where the format is going, but in the Modern we know now, there are a really high number of matches in which you just can't tap out for Jace. In others, Cryptic Command is just clunky and slow. SFA on the other hand is much easier to resolve in U mirrors, and reasonable to deploy vs fast opponents. Although we have to tap the same amount of lands to activate Azcanta, we can do it at Instant Speed, what allows us to generate Card Advantage in our opponent's end step, when they can no longer play some of their high impact spells (Primeval Titan, Past in Flames, Karn or JTMS to name a few). I think each one of these cards is better on the right circunstances. I like SFA enough to play them, and I think it's reasonable to cut them now with JTMS on the format. But SFA is better than JTMS or Cryptic in a really good amount of circunstances.
I don't agree with your statement about the cantrips either. Yes, Opt, SV and Anticipate are better at finding specific cards, but Wall of Omens, Spreading Seas, Remand and Shadow of Doubt are cantrips that impact the board and/or disrupt your opponent. Wall protects you and your walkers (what is really valuable in UW that usually plays little spot removal count), Seas disrupts your opponent's manabase, Shadow of Doubt also disrupts your opponent's manabase and counters tutor effects, Remand delays your opponent's plays, while all of those cantrips you listed "do nothing" except drawing cards. They don't impact the board and don't disrupt your opponent. So they are essencially Tempo Loss. You're trying to find something on your deck while your opponent is just advancing his board, beating your face, and playing something that is already impacting the game.
Along with that, your deck has too many 3 and 4 drops. You have 12 cards that cost 4 mana. Your Snapcasters plays will probably cost 4 mana too most of the times, since you have only 6 spells that cost 1 mana, and you're probably not planning to use the Ambush Viper mode that frequently (in which case, Snappy would be just worse than a Wall of Omens in most cases). Too many Cryptics, Verdicts, JTMS, Cliques and Snappys IMO. Results are: your decks seems really clunky to me. You're probably doing "nothing" turns 1 and 2, to maybe do something on turn 3 or 4. Doesn't seem like a good plan to me in Modern, unless you're planning to win on the spot on turns 3 or 4 (like Storm and Ad Nauseam do), or play something much scarier than a Verdict or a Jace (like Karn, Ugin or Ulamog). I believe you'll too oftenly have a hand like 2 JTMS, 1 Cryptic, 1 Verdict and some lands while your opponent is just crushing you with fast creatures for 3 turns.
So... IMO, your deck can't reliably beat plays like turn 1 Aether Vial (specially with Cavern of Souls), Goblin Guide into Eidolon, discard spell into Bob, discard spell into Bitterblossom, turn 2 Blood Moon on the draw (specially with your higher number of fetch lands), Elves, Revolting Zoo, Hollow One and Dredge, to name a few.
I wouldn't call them a "big worry". I just think Jace is probably gonna be oftenly seen in the format from now on, so I intend to have a reasonable plan against him. At least a better plan than what UW can offer (Colonnades and Gideons beats or D-Spheres). For now, I believe my counterspells, Snapcasters and Burns make a solid plan vs opposing Jaces.
Anyways... I was on UW Control myself before the unban, and now I think that Jeskai is probably better positioned than UW, because in my tests, UW struggles so much to fight opposing Jaces. However, in my meta there are tons of Trons, Eldrazis and Valakuts, all of which are really bad match-ups for traditional Jeskai.
So I ended up brewing a deck that's kind of a mix of Jeskai and UW. Keep in mind that I only play one copy of JTMS because I only have one yet. I intend to add one or two copies later.
3 Snapcaster Mage
Planeswalkers
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
2 Gideon of the Trials
Instants
3 Lightning Bolt
3 Lightning Helix
2 Electrolyze
3 Path to Exile
2 Logic Knot
1 Negate
3 Cryptic Command
1 Sphinx's Revelation
4 Serum Visions
2 Supreme Verdict
Enchantments
2 Search for Azcanta
4 Spreading Seas
Lands
4 Celestial Colonnade
4 Flooded Strand
3 Scalding Tarn
2 Field of Ruin
2 Hallowed Fountain
2 Steam Vents
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Sulfur Falls
3 Island
1 Plains
1 Mountain
Haven't think about the sideboard yet. I wanted to play a 4th Bolt, but I'm not sure on this.
Not sure about the manabase too. I tried to put a 3rd Field of Ruin, but I'm not sure I can really afford to do so with only 5 basics. Have been thinking if I'm too heavy on 4 Colonnades... maybe 3 is better? I'm also thinking about maybe cutting the Sulfur Falls for a Spirebluff Canal. Any thoughts?
I agree with you on this one. SFA is faster, harder to remove, and can generate value in Instant Speed once it flips. It also searches for JTMS himself or any other thing we might need. I wouldn't play less than 2 now even with 2 or 3 JTMS main deck.
I don't know. I have been seeing a lot of streamers play Jace on UBx shells with a lot of discards and removal, and I'm not sure it's a good idea. I think discards are good when you intend to play a cheap and powerful threat right after them, because they are likely dead by turns 4 and later. DS does that with Death's Shadow itself, Tasigur or Gurmag Angler, Jund does that with Bob and Goyf, eventually Liliana, Mardu does that with Young Pyromancer, Fairies and BW Tokens do that with Bitterblossom.
Jace on the other hand, is a late game powerhouse. So... I think it's antagonic to play both. The discard spells try to help you gain an advantage on the early game, and JTMS tries to make you win the late game. Discards suck in the late game, and Jace sucks in the early game. I think they don't help each other that much. Discards are really bad to draw from Jace's Brainstorm ability, and they won't really protect him unless you save one or two for turn 3, and in that case, they're not being really efficient, and you're probably not disrupting your opponent effectively. Of course you can return un uneeded Thoughtseize to the top of library and than shuffle it away with a fetch land, but I think the discard spells end up increasing the amount of bad draws in your deck on the late game, and that's exactly what JTMS does better.
I could see discards and JTMS being played on the same deck and working, but IMO, it would work better if you had powerful threats to slam on turns 2 and/or 3, like that Sultai deck with Jace, Goyfs, Bobs, Lillys and some discards. If you have a good threat density he might help by digging into more and more threats, maybe removals. I don't know, however, if Jace is really that good on this kind of deck, as he is on a deck like ours, where almost every card is relevant in the late game. I think in those B based Midranges, top ends like BBE and maybe even Chandra, Torch of Defiance make more sense. Chandra ends the game much faster, deals damage to creatures, to the opponent, and helps find more gas as well if needed (not as good as JTMS in the job, but...). BBE has a much higher immediate impact and also helps end the game faster.
Could be wrong obviously. But I don't feel like B based Midranges are the best home for JTMS. I think the best shell for Jace is an interactive deck based on counterspells, and not on discards. Counterspells are so much better on the late game, and if you're playing Jace, you should be wanting to make it to the late game oftenly.
I think the cantrips are kind of necessary. Especially in Modern, where we don't have powerful answers for everything. This way, we can try to minimize our chances of drawing Supreme Verdict when we're facing Tron, Logic Knot when we're facing Merfolks, Path when we're facing Ad Nauseam, Cryptic Command when we're facing Affinity, etc.
Well... I play this game for more than 15 years as well, and I haven't seen any different use of the term "splash" from jayjayhooks's definition. Ever. I watch streams, videos, read guides and never saw anyone call a deck that has more than 10 cards of some colour to be on a splash. My friends never said so as well, and some of them are as old on this game as I am. So... IMO, you're just wrong.
For me, you're splashing a colour to a deck if you're adding one or two mana producers of the colour to the deck (usually fetchable Shocklands in Modern), and than adding a couple of cards of the given colour to the deck. Something around 6 or less cards, and maybe a couple of sideboard techs, and that's about it.
If you're planning to add Fatal Pushes, Inquisition of Kozilek, Thoughtseizes, Lilianas, Anguished Unmaking and Lingering Souls, you can't call that a black splash. You're just playing straight Esper. Depending on the build, you could even be playing BW with a blue splash, or UB with a white splash. But a deck with that amount of black could never be on a black splash.
Boros Burn, for example, plays much less white than you're planning to play black there, and everyone calls it Boros.
Jund and Grixis'll likely gonna play a lot of Kommands to chain with BBE and Snapcasters. Grixis and Jeskais might play some Electrolyzes as well, because it's very good vs BBE and reasonable against JTMS. Bolt'll likely see much more play now as well, for fighting Jaces. The Black Grindy decks seem to be playing more Liliana, the Last Hope as well. Lingering Souls could see more play as well. Could be in Esper, maybe a white splash in Jund, or even a come back from BW or Esper Tokens who happens to be a really good deck vs Controls and Jund. If the metagame is shifting towards grindy games, LS are probably gonna show up somewhere. And these are all bad news for Clique.
What could make Clique good now is to try to force your own Jace in the Blue Mirrors, and maybe to try to pressure opponent's Jace, which Jeskai should be good at anyways. You play Clique on their end step, take out their counter, and than play JTMS safely on your turn. The fact that it curves perfectly is really sweet.
However, I don't think it's better now on Jeskai. I think it should be better on Jace decks that don't play R, like UW, Esper, Sultai, UB, etc., because they might need some good options to try to beat opponent's Jaces.
Well... I believe we won't know until we have a better clue about how the new metagame is going to look like. For now, what we expect is there'll be powerful Midranges and Controls based on BBE and Jace, there'll be decks trying to go under these decks (Burn, Dredge, Zoo, maybe Affinity), there'll be decks trying to go bigger (Valakut, Tron, Eldrazis) and linear combos (Storm, Ad Nauseam, Grishoalbrand). That's the first assumption. It could be right or wrong.
If Jund becomes too powerful, for example, the combo decks are probably vanishing from the format (as they did the last year with the rise of Death's Shadow decks), because B based Midranges usually prey on combos with their hand disruptions and good clocks. If Controls become too powerful, they might crush the Midranges and than the fast combos might become relevant. If the fast Aggros become prevalent, than Tron and Valakut might vanish and the fight could be more polarized in Midranges/Controls vs Aggros.
So... we can't know for sure. And since we don't know how the metagame is going to look like, we don't even know which Jace deck is gonna be the best, if there'll be a "best Jace deck" in the format. In a vacuum, I believe that UW Control's main force comes from the land disruption and more stable manabase, while Jeskai is probably the best vs Aggro decks, Grixis should be the best vs combos and maybe other Midranges, and Blue Moon is somewhere between UW's ability to fight Big Mana and Grixis's power vs Midranges. Some other decks could emerge too, like Esper, UB, Sultai, Bant, Temur, Big Naya, etc. If the metagame becomes perfectly balanced, there'll be room for all these decks, each one being better against something. In theory, all of these should be able to put a reasonable fight against everything, but some of them would excel against a different type of deck.
For that reasons, I believe UW Control's place in the format depends on the Big Mana Decks's place and if Blood Moon will still be a thing on the format. If Moon is still a thing, than UW has an edge over the other possible Control decks, thanks to it's manabase. If Big Mana decks are still present, than UW could be good by having game against the other decks on the field and praying on the Big Manas. But if neither of these are still present, than UW'll probably be just worse than Jeskai or Grixis. Other possibility is UW becomes present by just attacking the best Control and/or Midrange. Let's say the best Jace deck is Jeskai. UW could be a solid choice if it beats Jeskai while having game against the rest of the meta. And still, our best weapon to beat Jeskai (or Grixis, or any other 3 colored Control deck) is still the land disruption package. So... I wouldn't shave our land disruption, at least for now. I believe that in almost any scenario where UW proves to be a solid choice on this new metagame, the land disruption will be one of the main reasons.
Not sold about Clique yet, because along with Lingering Souls and maybe Electrolyzes, Kolaghan's Command is probably gonna see a lot more play now with BBE on Jund, and Clique is just a juicy target for it. Even Liliana, the Last Hope is likely to see more play, and she kills Clique easily too. I bet Jund'll try to chain BBEs into Kommands and Lillys for the grind.
I'm probably trying something really similar to your list now. Firstly, I don't know if I'd cut Gideons3, because they are good on some of our worst match-ups, and they are a cheap Win Condition that curves nicely with JTMS, which is really good. On the blue Mirrors, although he doesn't excels at trying to beat opposing Jaces, he helps protecting our own Jaces from opposing threats, and at least forces our opponents to worry about him.
Other relevant thing is: we don't know yet if "the best Jace deck" (if there'll be any) will play white. We imagine UW and Jeskai are gonna be major players now, but there's a real chance that Grixis or Blue Moon just prove themselves the best Jace decks, and in that case, Gideon3 would be a good threat, since they can't remove him as easily (if we decide to stick to UW Control regardless, of course).
Vendilion could be better than Gideon3, but it dies much easier, specially now that Bolt'll likely see a lot of play again, although it does have flash and evasion. Kolaghan's Command and maybe Lingering Souls will probably see more play now as well, and that's bad for Clique too. Not sure. Since we usually play little spot removal count and rely more on our sweepers, and he dies much harder I think Gideon3 could be better. I have been seeing a lot of players just cut some sweepers in order to play more cheap spot removal, but I'm not sold on it. Most of these removals are "bad", like Condemn or Oust. Not sure if it's worth it to run a bunch of mediocre cards and try to rely more on Jace. Could be wrong, but I believe Jace serves the deck better than the deck should serve Jace. If I were to try more cheap spot removal, I'd probably just play Jeskai and play some Burns that would also help beating opposing Jaces.
Settle the Wreckage could be a good bet now IMO, because Jund'll likely try to outgrind us with BBE + Kommand chains, what makes the exile clause much better. BBE's haste is also good for STW. However, the fact that it doesn't really clean the entire board is really relevant, since it becomes much worse to cast a turn before you intend to slam Jace, and it'll likely just respond to "half BBE". Wall of Omens could compensate this and Jace could defend himself by bouncing the remaining threat, but in this case he likely dies to Bolt or Kommand without gaining us any value.
I like the Secure the Wastes. I'd probably try to find room for Spell Snare, since U-Controls are probably gonna rise now, and this card is so good on these matches. It also answers Bob, which is really important for us.
4 Celestial Colonnade
4 Flooded Strand
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Prairie Stream
2 Glacial Fortress
3 Field of Ruin
1 Ghost Quarter
5 Island
3 Plains
Creatures (4)
2 Snapcaster Mage
2 Wall of Omens
Planeswalkers (5)
2 Gideon of the Trials
1 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
1 Gideon Jura
1 Jace, Architect of Thought
4 Spreading Seas
2 Detention Sphere
2 Search for Azcanta
Sorcerys (7)
4 Serum Visions
3 Supreme Verdict
Instants (12)
4 Path to Exile
1 Mana Leak
1 Spell Snare
1 Negate
1 Logic Knot
3 Cryptic Command
1 Sphinx's Revelation
1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
1 Vendilion Clique
2 Stony Silence
2 Rest in Peace
1 Runed Halo
2 Dispel
1 Disdainful Stroke
1 Celestial Purge
1 Blessed Alliance
1 Timely Reinforcements
1 Wrath of God
1 Engineered Explosives
Here's a report:
Match 1 - RG Ponza (2-0) - 1-0-0
Game 1 - I was able to ruin his mana base by casting Seas on two forests that had Sprawls enchanteds and D-Sphere exiling two Arbor Elves. He tried to play some of his Win Conditions, I countered or removed them all, and Gideon Jura won the game.
Side in: +1 Celestial Purge +1 Disdainful Stroke +1 Wrath of God +1 Blessed Alliance +1 Engineered Explosives
Side out: -1 Spell Snare -1 Cryptic Command -1 Supreme Verdict -1 Jace, Architect of Thought -1 Wall of Omens
Game 2 - He started with Utopia Sprawl again on a basic forest, I just played my Ghost Quarter and destroyed it. That way I gained enough time to play some lands and counter his Land Destructions. Than, Gideon Jura won the game again easily.
Match 2 - Abzan (2-0) - 2-0-0
Game 1 - He started aggressively striping my hand with a bunch of Iok and Seizes, than he played an Ooze. We both had nothing left and the Ooze hit me twice with nothing else going on. I found a Path and an Azcanta right after and he found a Liliana and a Lignering Souls. I got rid of the Ooze with the Path, and than Azcanta found me Jace and 3 Gideons that took out the game.
Side in: +1 Celestial Purge +1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion +2 Rest in Peace +1 Engineered Explosives +1 Blessed Alliance +1 Wrath of God
Side out: -2 Detention Sphere -2 Gideon of the Trials -1 Mana Leak -1 Logic Knot -1 Snapcaster Mage
Game 2 - Once again he stripped my hand with a bunch of Iok and Seizes and played a Bob on turn 2, that gave him a good card advantage. I played an Azcanta that he destroyed with a Maelstrom Pulse, and than I top decked a SV that found me a Path and than a Wall of Omens and a Rest in Peace on the scry. I removed Bob with the Path. He top decked a Goyf and passed the turn. I played the Wall into RiP. He top decked an Abrupt Decay that got rid of the RiP and make his Goyf alive again. I started the Colonnade beat down with 2 of them on the battlefield. He played an Ooze, removed my Wall and tried to race me, but he started the race behind thanks to some self-inflicted damage from Seizes, lands and Bob's triggers.
Match 3 - UB Mill (2-0) - 3-0-0
Game 1 - I really should've lost that game. I kept a bad hand against him (2 Paths and 1 Verdict). At least 1 of the Paths were useful to get rid of a Crab. He resolved a Fraying Sanity, and started to mill me fast and I had nothing to pressure him. Than I played a Spreading Seas on a Hideway land he had and found my last Gideon of the Trials (the other one was already on my graveyard). I played him and made the emblem. Than I started to beat him with 2 Colonnades. The first one died to a Fatal Push. I top decked a Cryptic Command that made me feel safe to start beating with Gideon. I survived around 4 or 5 turns thanks to Gideon, who won the game by himself.
Side in: +1 Engineered Explosives +2 Dispel +2 Rest in Peace +1 Runed Halo +1 Disdainful Stroke +1 Vendilion Clique
Side out: -2 Supreme Verdict -2 Wall of Omens -4 Spreading Seas
Game 2 - That game was kind of easy, since my opponent flooded so much. I had 2 Snappys on my opening hand and a RiP. I just played my Snapcasters early (one on Ambush Viper mode, and the other countering something), played RiP right after that and could beat him down. I managed to counter the most important plays he tried.
Match 4 - UB Mill (1-1) - 3-0-1
Game 1 - She curved perfectly with Crab, into Orb, into Sanity and I couldn't do much. When I started doing something I was already on the second half of my library.
Side in: +1 Engineered Explosives +2 Dispel +2 Rest in Peace +1 Runed Halo +1 Disdainful Stroke +1 Vendilion Clique
Side out: -2 Supreme Verdict -2 Wall of Omens -4 Spreading Seas
Game 2 - This game was really hard. I could counter and remove most of her spells and threats, but I couldn't draw into a Win Condition. The game gone long and I had no expensive counterspell left in hand, so I decided to start beating with Colonnade. She top decked an Orb and played it, and I just had a Dispel. Than we started to race each other. Every attack I did costed me 5 cards from my library thanks to Orb. She tried to Fatal Push the Colonnade, and I Dispeled it. She gained a turn with a Darkness but I managed to beat her with 5 or 6 cards left on my library.
Game 3 - She mulliganed to 5 and started with Crab into Polluted Delta, milling me a bunch. I had no Path, but I had my Runed Halo, which I played on turn 2 naming the Crab and it started milling her instead. She played a Set Adrift on my Halo and milled it with the Crab. I played an EE and destroyed the Crab. Than both of us could do nothing relevant and the time ran out. I believe I would have won the last game if we had time enough.
Well... that's the report. Really enjoyed playing with the deck. I tried shaving the 25th land for the 2nd Wall of Omens and felt a little short on mana sometimes, but I think that overall the deck ran really smoothly. I did flood sometimes too, so for now it doesn't seem like a bad call. Really tough to play vs Mill. Didn't expect to face any, and ended up paired with two of them.
Cheers!