MTG Salvation

Quote from Bozo_x

UW Tempo is probably the best UW deck that only uses Blue and White

the only cards your missing that are worth anything big are
Aether Vial - 10$ ea
Windswept Heath - 15$ ea
Umezawa's Jitte - 25$ ea

from my understanding this deck does extremely well in the hands of a skilled player. In my opinion it has the highest learning curve. with the cards you have your not to far off from a tempo deck if you know how to trade pretty well then you should be able to get it in like a week depending on how often you go trade with people.

Thanks for your reply. I failed to mention in my original post that I already have the UW Tempo deck that you pointed me to. Sorry about that.

If there isn't any other viable UW-only deck, I may just dismantle my Landstill deck for a Merfolk monoblue deck. At least the Merfolk deck uses cheaper cards overall.

I have this UW Landstill deck, but in looking at the internet, it seems the optimal Landstill build is UWb.

I don't really want to buy the additional cards needed to support black, so I have the following questions:

1) Is this build still viable as a Legacy deck?
2) If the answer to #1 is "No," then can this deck be improved while still remaining UW?
3) If the deck cannot be improved in #2 without a third color, then is there another viable UW-only deck? I figured I could sell/trade some of the cards in the Landstill deck to build another UW deck.

I looked at the CounterTop deck in "The Price of Legacy" thread, and even that uses black. Solidarity didn't look viable, so the only other alternative I saw in that thread was Merfolk, but that deck was monoblue. I am not sure I want to change this deck to monoblue.

EDIT: Bozo_x replied below that I should look into UW Tempo UW Tempo, but I failed to mention in my original post that I already have this deck.

Thanks in advance!

Quote from weltkrieg

ethersworn canonist is an excellent option. You could also run any of the white "time walk" spells such as

• abeyance
  
• orim's chant
  
• silence

all curbstomp combo pretty well. indeed, many of them even run them themselves.

Thanks for these suggestions. I had not thought about these three spells before.

In order to accommodate 4 more anti-combo cards, I have to give up some other cards. I wish that there was something like Silence in creature form.

Quote from CorpusColawesome

I know you said that you're not aiming for the deck to be Tier 1 competitive, but it stands to reason that you should have at least some plan against combo decks. As it stands, the only cards you are playing that have any relevance in those matchups are the 1x Gaddock Teeg and 1x Mana Tithe. I recommend that you dedicate at least 8 spots MD and 4 spots in the SB to cards that will be relevant in matchups with decks that have gameplan that is not based around playing creatures. A full playset of Teegs is a good start since they can disrupt so many important spells.

Thanks for your input. Do you have any other card suggestions to stop combo?

Are we talking about cards like City of Solitude or somesuch? I know that Ethersworn Canonist is generally a good anti-combo card, but it would probably be a SB card rather than a MD card, since it hurts me as much as it would the combo player.

Since you are using blue, you might want to use Brainstorm for quick card drawing, especially if you need another counter spell. Additional blue cards to consider are Negate, Counterspell, and Spell Pierce.

4 Daze may be too much. If the game drags out, it becomes less effective. You should probably try 2-3.

4 Aether Vial may be too much. In a mid-game, drawing another Aether Vial is probably a wasted draw. You probably want to be 2-3.

Perhaps you can try some of these slivers:
Gemhide Sliver: Gives additional mana
Quick Sliver: Useful for a surprise block in combat.
Root Sliver: It costs 4, but it can't be countered, and all your other slivers can't be countered. This would potentially get around Counterbalance.

Because your deck has a lot of CMC 2 Slivers, another card that will hose the deck is Engineered Explosives set at 2.

I updated and finalized the mainboard deck for now.

Quote from Antiria

If you can't play Serra Avenger until the 4th turn anyway, why not just wait an extra turn and use Baneslayer Angel? Correct me if I'm wrong as the only thing I've been playing lately is T2 Standard but doesn't Baneslayer Angel have relevance in ever format? Especially when you have mana-dorks that could have her out turn 3.
Just seems like a good idea to me.

I had thought that, but I wanted this deck to move quickly and not have a heavy mana dependency.

Quote from weltkrieg

the aether vials would be a good inclusion, I feel. It would allow you to drop serra avenger one turn early. Baneslayer is definitely not what I would consider a good inclusion, unless you're using her as a control finisher. Given that you're planning on many creatures, I'd consider leaving her out for now.

A sideboard option to curbstomp blue with: Cold Eyed Selkie is worth of thought. there is a vintage deck that draws many cards using a very similar strategy.

Thanks for that suggestion. I had not thought of that as a sideboard option. This deck could use some card drawing capability.

Hi,
I'm looking for suggestions on this deck, based on some random cards I have in my collection. This deck's strategy is aggro-control: attack with small/medium creatures while trying to control the board a little. Most creatures have some sort of secondary capability that can affect the board.

This deck is not Tier 1 material. However, I do want the deck to be consistent.

Can anybody suggest some cards for this type of deck, besides Tarmogoyf? Yeah, I would love to use Tarmogoyf, but its price on the secondary market is to high for me.

EDIT: I finalized this deck for now. Suggestions still welcome.




Card Choices and Rationale
Gaddock Teeg: This stops Force of Will, Wrath of God, Planeswalker cards, and some red and black spells. CorpusColawesome mentioned that it is an excellent anti-combo card.

Jotun Grunt: This puts cards in my graveyard back into my library. It also happens to hurt Tarmogoyf indirectly.

Mother of Runes: After seeing this used in another deck, I decided to use this. If my opponent does not use a removal spell on it, it will provide protection to my other creatures.

Qasali Pridemage: This destroys artifacts and enchantments. If I don't sacrifice it, its exalted ability will become troublesome later.

Noble Hierarch: This provides mana acceleration. If the opponent does not destroy it, its exalted ability will become troublesome later.

Serra Avenger: This is a finisher. This is primarily used to equip a Jitte.

Knight of the Reliquary: This is a finisher. Hopefully, somewhere in the mid-game, I will have cracked a few fetchlands or used up some wastelands.

Stoneforge Mystic: This is a critical card in tutoring for a Jitte. Its secondary ability also avoids casting the Jitte, so it cannot be countered.

Vines of Vastwood: Because I am not playing blue, this is the only card that can prevent targeted removal. If they board wipe with Wrath of God or similar, I can't do much about that.

Aether Vial: This is needed to accelerate creatures into play, especially Serra Avenger, Jotun Grunt, and Stoneforge Mystic. Since using this artifact does not cast the creature, it avoids Counterbalance.

Mana Tithe: This is an inefficient card, but most opponents should be caught off guard by this.

Karakas: This returns my own Gaddock Teeg to my hand or stops an opponent's Iona or Emrakul.

Marsh Flats: This is another card to pull a Plains card.

Deck Weaknesses
1) The deck is very vulnerable to Engineered Explosives set at 2.
2) Since many cards are at CMC2, a Counterbalance is probably going to doom this deck.

Unless the card description so far is flavor text, I interpret "forefront of battle" as it needs to attack to have an effect.

4WW
Flying
When Angelic Arbiter attacks, all other attacking creatures you control gain +1/+1 until end of turn.
4/6

OR

4WW
Flying
When Angelic Arbiter attacks, prevent combat damage dealt to attacking creatures you control.
4/6

OR

4WW
Flying
When Angelic Arbiter attacks, each attacking creature you control can only be blocked by one creature.
4/6