As a lark/mulldrifter lover, the big problem with a control uw deck is that you can't beat enough different decks. You can jam your deck with 4 negates and 2 dispels and beat storm, but then you're behind to aggro decks, you have the wrong cards vs twin, several bad topdecks vs jund, etc. The decks attack you from too many different angles to have answers for everyone. You can build yourself as a straight jund crusher, but you'll lose to a ton of other decks. Recently, half of the decks in the format using deathrite shaman has made lark even less appealing. As much as I want to play it, it's simply not good enough at the moment. Lark was an incredible deck in it's standard form, but that was where there was little to no graveyard hate and the only counterspells were 4 cmc (the only decks to play cheaper counterspells were fae and merfolk, by far your worst matchups). Lark was king of tapout control in a midrange/5cc meta.
Liliana is excellent in control mirrors, as she is great 5-drop threat in a 6 mana format. Against other decks, she is still good as she can tutor up consume the meek/wurmcoil/whatever. She also can simply provide a must kill threat with 6 starting loyalty.
why don't people play creatures in time sieve decks??? they give a chance for control. thopter assembly is an amazing card with time sieve, and then the myr are better than the borderposts in my opinion. because if you get into a situation they can just as easily be used as blockers instead of just sac fodder for the time sieve and they give mana...and then steel hellkite destroys their stuff while you are hitting them for five...why are these called bad in time sieve decks?
Because people play creature removal and not having any creatures allows you to make several cards in their deck completely dead g1.
Oh that's not all SB, those are all just cards withing the 75 cards of my decklist. My valakut tech is leyline of sanctity, cryptic command and the extra spell pierce in my SB.
My Fae sideboarding plan is to bring in ratchet bombs, spell pierce and ethersworn canonist.
I played UW lark in the recent ext mocs, in limited testing the deck performed extremely well for me. Faeries is a negative matchup, but everything else is pretty good. Linear aggro matchups are byes, though vengevine decks actually have a shot.
yes, if you are trying to race then killing BB is good, however if you are trying to fight thier tempo then letting it suck some life points and then wipeing the creatures is better.
I don't understand what you're saying. How is letting BB stick good for fighting their tempo, and how are you using this tempo battle to win if you are not racing?
Is not actually terrible. Unfortunatly, if someone edges your key filter, you might be locked out of fallout/day/cryptic. Also, adding red makes it difficult/impossible to play your own tec edges, which is a strong point of this deck.
Because none of those cards do anything worthwhile. Esper charm is fine, but thoughtseize would be the big draw towards playing black. Unfortunately your mana is pretty bad (especially if you want to t1 thoughtseize consistently) and you have to give up tectonic edge
Why play black suns zenith and GFT if you have wrath and path
i rather play other 4cc cards like colossus. against faeries BB tokens will block it all day...or maybe not...i am exaggerating. only until mistbind clique kills you. and its also legendary which is a drawback if you have the creature blocked by tokens and you need another creature to surpass the amount of blockers...and then...damn!!! you draw another Thrun and not anything else like....GSS.
so you play 1? How many Colossus are you playing anyways
Okay, I've read this paragraph over and over and I am genuinely trying to understand how you disagree with my complaint about Fauna Shaman. So, I'm going to paraphrase your argument above:
Fauna Shaman does not prevent you from playing a t3 play because you can attack instead of using the activated ability. This is basically the same as swinging with a leech because you can't pump the leech if they have red or black mana up, so you hit for 2 with either creature anyway.
If that is not what you're saying, please explain in detail because I would really like to understand what you mean. Seriously.
That's precisely what I am saying.
But my response to the above is three-fold:
1) Attacking with Fauna Shaman is the right play only if you have no creatures to cycle. As far as I'm concerned, the only creatures you don't cycle are Bloodbraid Elf and Putrid Leech, but the leech is the weaker case. Attacking with Fauna Shaman also is an obvious tell about what you have in hand (i.e. no creatures to pitch). Essentially, using Fauna Shaman's ability is the reason the card is in the deck, otherwise it's just a bear. Like I said before, you sacrifice early pressure for extreme pressure later.
Sometimes it is the right play to cast something t3. If fae plays a blossom and you don't have a hand capable of beating blossom without pulsing it immediatly, bashing for 2 and pulsing could be the best move. The point of not using fauna shaman on t3 is so you can play a 3 drop.
2) The reason Putrid Leech hits for 2 when they have removal mana up is because they can't kill it with bolt or disfigure. While Fauna Shaman hits for the same damage, tapping it to attack is sub-optimal and it can be killed by bolt and disfigure.
Fauna shaman is killed on the spot by removal. Putrid leech, however, is not. Instead, they hold it in hand, waiting for you to pump. Thus, putrid leech often misses damage simply because they leave mana open. So if they have bolt, fauna shaman is indeed less aggressive than putrid leech, because it dies. However, if they don't have bolt, fauna shaman basically swings for the same amount of damage, unless you get them to tap out before your attack (play 3 drop into mana leak, etc). Basically, if they allow you to attack with fauna shaman, you know they don't have the bolt, while if you attack with putrid leech you are in the dark.
3) Lotus Cobra swings for the same amount of damage as Fauna Shaman, but can attack and ramp in the same turn, fulfilling its purpose in the deck.
Well, generally you don't ever want to attack with fauna shaman. Fauna shaman and lotus cobra arn't very comparable, because they do completely different things. Putting lotus cobra into the fauna shaman slot will yield poor results in a stock jund list, because there are very few ways to take advantage of the slight mana accel. Lotus cobra is also a miserable cascade. Basically, I don't think the deck in its current incarnation wants or needs ramp.
step 1: tap 5, cast monstrous carabid.
step 2: ??
step 3: profit
If you want to run unsummon, be our guest, just enjoy not having an extra card in your hand mid-game.
Because people play creature removal and not having any creatures allows you to make several cards in their deck completely dead g1.
How is canonist good against fae?
edit: or anyone, for that matter
there is no metalcraft
I played UW lark in the recent ext mocs, in limited testing the deck performed extremely well for me. Faeries is a negative matchup, but everything else is pretty good. Linear aggro matchups are byes, though vengevine decks actually have a shot.
Scion of oona - 3 mana 1/1 flash do nothing
spellstutter - 2 mana 1/1 flash, counter target preordain
Mistbind clique - 4 mana 4/4 flash, please please don't have a path for my spellstutter/mutavault, otherwise uncastable
On the flipside, with bitterblossom:
Scion of oona - 3 mana 1/1 flash, also glorious anthem
spellstutter - 2 mana 1/1 flash, hard counterspell
mistbind clique - 4 mana 4/4 flash, time walk
Which versions of these would you rather face?
I don't understand what you're saying. How is letting BB stick good for fighting their tempo, and how are you using this tempo battle to win if you are not racing?
4 scalding tarn
3 arid mesa
2 plains
2 mountain
3 island
3 cascade bluffs
3 mystic gate
2 rugged prarie
4 celestial collonade
Is not actually terrible. Unfortunatly, if someone edges your key filter, you might be locked out of fallout/day/cryptic. Also, adding red makes it difficult/impossible to play your own tec edges, which is a strong point of this deck.
Because none of those cards do anything worthwhile. Esper charm is fine, but thoughtseize would be the big draw towards playing black. Unfortunately your mana is pretty bad (especially if you want to t1 thoughtseize consistently) and you have to give up tectonic edge
Why play black suns zenith and GFT if you have wrath and path
so you play 1? How many Colossus are you playing anyways
That's precisely what I am saying.
Sometimes it is the right play to cast something t3. If fae plays a blossom and you don't have a hand capable of beating blossom without pulsing it immediatly, bashing for 2 and pulsing could be the best move. The point of not using fauna shaman on t3 is so you can play a 3 drop.
Fauna shaman is killed on the spot by removal. Putrid leech, however, is not. Instead, they hold it in hand, waiting for you to pump. Thus, putrid leech often misses damage simply because they leave mana open. So if they have bolt, fauna shaman is indeed less aggressive than putrid leech, because it dies. However, if they don't have bolt, fauna shaman basically swings for the same amount of damage, unless you get them to tap out before your attack (play 3 drop into mana leak, etc). Basically, if they allow you to attack with fauna shaman, you know they don't have the bolt, while if you attack with putrid leech you are in the dark.
Well, generally you don't ever want to attack with fauna shaman. Fauna shaman and lotus cobra arn't very comparable, because they do completely different things. Putting lotus cobra into the fauna shaman slot will yield poor results in a stock jund list, because there are very few ways to take advantage of the slight mana accel. Lotus cobra is also a miserable cascade. Basically, I don't think the deck in its current incarnation wants or needs ramp.