you guys aren't a fan of the seas, eh? we do have 2 edge against tron, but sowing salt is leaving and we have so much removal that is basically useless against tron.
-2 Sowing Salt
-2 Grafdigger's Cage
+2 Counterflux
+2 Rest in Peace
the seas present an option for more land denial that cantrips, allowing us to shift out lightning bolts. thoughts?
I'm not a fan of Spreading Seas tbh. It's still up to you if you want it in your 75. It could be good vs RG Tron but it's not that relevant for the Mono U Tron matchup.
hey guys. playing a pretty big tournament this sunday at a local shop. i expect about 30 people, most of whom are pretty competitive.
i don't know the meta because modern hasn't really been run at the shops before. should be a brand new meta. i do know there will be at least one melira pod, one tron, and one waco-tapa UWR control. there will probably be an affinity and a fish. so it's basically not going to be heavily skewed towards a playstyle, but more a representation of modern as a whole. so i think i'm pretty well positioned.
anyways, i need your help. my mainboard is concrete and is the list i'll be playing. but my sideboard is in shambles. can you guys help me tweak it?
I would definitely cut some spreading seas for a couple of Counterflux. I know it's 3 mana, but it's pretty good in other matchups like Scapeshift and somehow decent vs Tron. Batterskull might be good if you can resolve it in the UWR mirror. Against Affinity, the first thing that comes to my mind would be Engineered Explosives. Against Pod, you already have Stony Silence. I don't think you'll have a lot of issues with it, just be careful with Voice. Other than that, you're alright since the deck runs a lot of removal. If you can sneak in a couple of Spellskites, it can be used against Infect, Twin and Boggles.
I'd really like to stick with my current maindeck since it could easily turn out to be very effective. What I need advice on is the side. I've got at least 5 spots to fill.
You might want to add some spellskites because it is good in several matchups like Infect, Bogles and Twin. You probably want some GY hate in your sideboard for certain matchups. I personally like Mindcensors. I know some of us had bad encounters with it, but you could try testing it out if it works for you. If you don't have anything else to add, you might consider having a Batterskull or the 4th Path to Exile.
Try to borrow EE if you can. But if your main purpose is to blow up tokens, then Ratchet Bomb should be enough for now.
I've been testing 4 walkers topping out my curve with 26 lands and at least goldfishing has been wonderful. I can seemlessly shift between the beats with Geist and Elspeth to control with Ajani and Cryptic.
It seems like the deck is closer to the UWR Wafo Tapa build. If you want a more controlling list, I would probably max out Cryptics and probably drop an Elspeth. If you want to play the midrange game, I would cut some of the 4 drops and add 2-3 Cliques. Also, I'd take out Ratchet Bomb and replace it with EE.
To be honest Wrath of God is one card I'm still waiting on. I have it proxied up in the sideboard but couldn't use that in a sanctioned tournament obviously.
I do wonder if I need that many board wipes (I have four if you include the Engineered Explosives). What do you run in the board? Supreme Verdict?
I personally feel wrath effects are not needed in the deck. Decks run a lot of creatures would be RG Aggro, Robots, W/x decks and Pod if you will consider it. Aside from RG, pyroclasm and EE hits almost all of their guys. I just prefer it over Wrath because they are cheaper to cast. For larger guys, you can either counter or Path the creature. Just to add. Pyroclasm is also decent in the mirror. The only reason I would run *** would be Thrun. If you see him a lot in your meta, *** probably deserves 1-2 slots in your SB.
Sowing salt is terrible agaisnt U tron, and good vs de other one. Still i feel its really unneeded, specially against the Rg version that runs a crap load of cheap artifacts for mana fixing and draw. Against all those, a stony silence totally wreacks them, and buys us enough time to kill them.
On the matter of scapeshift, no, DO NOT run mindsensors, they are terrible, all the time.
A 2/1 with flash and flying might seem good, but scapeshift (all 90% of the other decks) can get rid of them so easily you end up wondering why you even bothered to play it. Even worse, everyone expects a mindsensor nowadays, so its only redeemning feature, the surprise factor, is largely gone.
I get the point that Mindcensors are easy to kill and they will play around that card. I'm alright in cutting them since it frees up my sideboard slot. How about the Pod matchup? How do you board against them? I've thought of using RIP since it shuts down the Melira combo, but it hurts us pretty bad. So do we just kill everything we see and hope we can race them before they can assemble the combo? I've thought of using Stony Silence against them too but there are players that might board out pods and go with the beatdown plan.
I feel like MD Mindcensor is probably justified. Big game against Gifts, Pod, Scapeshift, Tron.
If there's a lot of those decks in your meta, it's probably a good idea to run mindcensors in the main. I think having 2 in your main and a 3rd copy at the side wouldn't be so bad. At the very least, it is a 2/1 Flyer that screws up fetch lands.
Midrange tempo decks usually go with Leak/Remand and sometimes Spell Snares. The more controlling blue decks have Cryptics in their lists. Some lists run a couple Negates and Counterflux, but that's just for sideboarding purposes.
Just like what the others said, blue is not that good in Modern if you compare it to legacy because of the lack of free counterspells and cheap card draw like Ponder and Preordain. So there's no need to hate too much on countermagic.
This is a format of goodstuff decks, midrange decks, creature based combo decks and a little bit of control.
I don't think Cryptic Command is something that a tempo deck really needs. I'm not discounting the fact that it is a powerful card. And I know it really depends on how you want to play deck. Tbh, I think the card that the deck really needs and some of us are not using would be Vendilion Clique.
After another tournament yesterday (2-2, top 4 so no entry for me), here's my considerations:
4x Remand is mandatory. It has saved me a lot of time and gained me the time to push with Geist and kill my opponent with burns.
3x Cryptic is the right number. It's always a huge card and very versatile.
I've not missed at all the Resto Angel. The Snap+Geist+Clique team is enough.
I'm happy with the side and the rest of the deck too. I've not screwed once with mana, so I'll keep my 25 lands count. And the rest of the spells seems good in the numbers. Counterflux is huge, it has saved me in a lot of bad situations.
My only concern is about Ajani. Sure, its +1 (screwing opponent's mana) and -3 are great, but as iamghost said he dies really quickly. I may try a 2x Elspeth, Knight-Errant instead, what do you suggest?
Also, I have a question: what can I do against Naya? For the 2nd time, I've lost against a turn 3 Blood Moon. After winning G1, in game 2 I had no counters for it, game 3 I fetched for a plains, but it seems that 2x Disenchant is not enough for drawing one. Lightning Helix and Bolt had gained me some turns, but in end I died anyway.
All in all, I'm liking this deck more and more. It's the 3rd tournament I pilot it, and I think I'm making some progress. Unluckily I'm the only modern player among my play group, so I can't test it as I wish.
Aside from fetching basics early game to play around blood moons, you can play cards that you can still cast even with blood moon. Some list run Batterskull. It is colorless and is pretty good vs aggro decks. Regarding which PW to choose, that would depend on your metagame. They are both good cards and have different purposes. Elspeth is very good vs aggro decks because he can constantly chump tokens and gives your Geist evasion. As for Ajani, imo, he's better against control because he can lock down permanents and eventually blow up all of your opponent's lands
I'm not a fan of Spreading Seas tbh. It's still up to you if you want it in your 75. It could be good vs RG Tron but it's not that relevant for the Mono U Tron matchup.
I would definitely cut some spreading seas for a couple of Counterflux. I know it's 3 mana, but it's pretty good in other matchups like Scapeshift and somehow decent vs Tron. Batterskull might be good if you can resolve it in the UWR mirror. Against Affinity, the first thing that comes to my mind would be Engineered Explosives. Against Pod, you already have Stony Silence. I don't think you'll have a lot of issues with it, just be careful with Voice. Other than that, you're alright since the deck runs a lot of removal. If you can sneak in a couple of Spellskites, it can be used against Infect, Twin and Boggles.
You might want to add some spellskites because it is good in several matchups like Infect, Bogles and Twin. You probably want some GY hate in your sideboard for certain matchups. I personally like Mindcensors. I know some of us had bad encounters with it, but you could try testing it out if it works for you. If you don't have anything else to add, you might consider having a Batterskull or the 4th Path to Exile.
Try to borrow EE if you can. But if your main purpose is to blow up tokens, then Ratchet Bomb should be enough for now.
It seems like the deck is closer to the UWR Wafo Tapa build. If you want a more controlling list, I would probably max out Cryptics and probably drop an Elspeth. If you want to play the midrange game, I would cut some of the 4 drops and add 2-3 Cliques. Also, I'd take out Ratchet Bomb and replace it with EE.
I personally feel wrath effects are not needed in the deck. Decks run a lot of creatures would be RG Aggro, Robots, W/x decks and Pod if you will consider it. Aside from RG, pyroclasm and EE hits almost all of their guys. I just prefer it over Wrath because they are cheaper to cast. For larger guys, you can either counter or Path the creature. Just to add. Pyroclasm is also decent in the mirror. The only reason I would run *** would be Thrun. If you see him a lot in your meta, *** probably deserves 1-2 slots in your SB.
Can you show us your list again, with your current sideboard?
How's Wrath of God doing for you? I can see that you have it in the side for Thruns. Have you tried using Pyroclasms over Wraths?
I get the point that Mindcensors are easy to kill and they will play around that card. I'm alright in cutting them since it frees up my sideboard slot. How about the Pod matchup? How do you board against them? I've thought of using RIP since it shuts down the Melira combo, but it hurts us pretty bad. So do we just kill everything we see and hope we can race them before they can assemble the combo? I've thought of using Stony Silence against them too but there are players that might board out pods and go with the beatdown plan.
I have to agree with this. It's pretty bad when they run countermagic, but I still like having it in the sideboard as a 1 of.
If there's a lot of those decks in your meta, it's probably a good idea to run mindcensors in the main. I think having 2 in your main and a 3rd copy at the side wouldn't be so bad. At the very least, it is a 2/1 Flyer that screws up fetch lands.
Things that you normally bring in would be Aven Mindcensor, Counterflux / Negate and Sowing Salt. Can you show us your list?
He's referring to Dark Confidant
Mana Leak
Remand
Spell Snare
Cryptic Command
Midrange tempo decks usually go with Leak/Remand and sometimes Spell Snares. The more controlling blue decks have Cryptics in their lists. Some lists run a couple Negates and Counterflux, but that's just for sideboarding purposes.
Just like what the others said, blue is not that good in Modern if you compare it to legacy because of the lack of free counterspells and cheap card draw like Ponder and Preordain. So there's no need to hate too much on countermagic.
This is a format of goodstuff decks, midrange decks, creature based combo decks and a little bit of control.
Aside from fetching basics early game to play around blood moons, you can play cards that you can still cast even with blood moon. Some list run Batterskull. It is colorless and is pretty good vs aggro decks. Regarding which PW to choose, that would depend on your metagame. They are both good cards and have different purposes. Elspeth is very good vs aggro decks because he can constantly chump tokens and gives your Geist evasion. As for Ajani, imo, he's better against control because he can lock down permanents and eventually blow up all of your opponent's lands