Hehe I'm glad I sparked a 2 page debate over Memory Lapse so now I'm back with more counterspell designs that will never see the light of day.
Aquatic Swelling - 2UU
As long as you control 4 or more Islands, Aquatic Swelling costs 2 less to cast.
Shuffle target spell into it's owner's library.
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End of Daze - UU
Counter target spell unless its controller pays 1. If you shuffled your library this turn, exile that spell instead.
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Waters Awoken - UUUUU
Chroma - Waters Awoken costs U less to cast for each blue mana symbol in the mana costs of cards in your graveyard. This affect cannot reduce the cost of Waters Awoken to less than UU.
Counter target spell.
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Probably Somehow Broken but Seems Terrible on Paper Spell - U
When you cast PSBbSToPS, return target spell to its owner's hand.
Each of your opponents draw a card.
If you couldn't tell, I'm a big fan of clunky overcosted spells that become OP when some condition is met. Frankly I think it's exactly what Modern needs - it gives U based control a jumping off point without making U-tempo (delver, snapcaster decks) too insane. Well, maybe that 2nd spell is a good card in any deck with the pervasiveness of fetches but it still has its drawbacks. Also, 3 out of 4 of these get around uncounterable because I'm a jerk - I'm sure Wizards will will never make a playable answer to uncounterable spells in the next 10 years though. It could easily be fixed with alternate wordings though like how Remand is phrased; "counter target spell, if it's countered this way return to owners hand/shuffle into library/exile insted"
Instant 2UU, Suspend 5, at the beggining of your upkeep, draw a card equal to the number of time counters on ancestral something. at the end of your turn, discard 2 cards.
as long as ancestral something is suspended, players can only play one spell each turn.
Draw 3 cards.
I play modern, but if they print this... im gonna quit. LOL
Uhhh I hope you were being sarcastic...You do realize this is better than ancestral recall? Other than the fact that you cant win the game on the spot if the opponent has 2 or less cards in their library, you actually made a power 9 more broken. Unless of course you meant to not give it a mana cost a la Ancestral vision or Living end rather than a cost of 0. Who would ever suspend this when you can draw 3 for 0 at instant speed? Don't worry - I think you have many Modern playing days ahead of you if it takes something this broken to quit.
Anyway, as many have already said, a decent counter would be nice. Remand and Mana leak are great for tempo but we have no playable hard counters that don't do something else (Cryptic command). Memory Lapse would be awesome even though that's not exactly a hard counter. Or, something like:
Memory Cancel UU
Multikicker 1
Counter target spell. If a spell is countered this way, put it on top of its owner's library instead of into that player's graveyard. Then that spell's controller puts the top card of his or her library into his or her graveyard for each time Memory Cancel was kicked.
This "fixes" (NWO) memory lapse slightly by costing it at UU yet also makes it strictly better than cancel - a card that's proven itself unplayable in constructed.
I just took an 8-man with a UB semi-homebrew version of this deck (by semi-homebrew I mean I took all the staples but didn't consult any actual decklists and did all my own testing). Is there a primer thread/discussion of specific decklists somewhere?
Anyway, I haven't playtested the mono-U or Uw version but I think Ub has an amazing amount of answers for some of our problem matchups. I've even been maindecking 2 Duress (to compliment 4 Thoughtseize) - they get rid of two backbreaking cards in Supreme Verdict and Anger of the Gods. I don't see many people maindecking Ratchet Bomb, Golgari Charm, or Gaze of Granite but we can deep-6 those as well. So many games come down to dropping a Thassa or Master and protecting them. As many people said before, if the opponent lets you untap its usually GG 75-80% of the time. I don't have Ashioks yet but I think they would easily make the cut somewhere in the 60.
I don't take notes or video record my matches or anything but if you want a breakdown of what I remember here it is (pm me for decklist):
Match 1 was against some sub-optimal Boros deck. I almost punted game 2 but ended up turning it around and went 2-0. I won't discuss it at length but this match was as close to a freebie as it comes - Master was almost an auto win even with only 1-2 devotion. Pro red was too much for this deck to handle since it was full of 3-drops. I saw Truefire paladin, Skyknight Legionnaire, Wojek Halberdiers, Warleader's Helix, and a few other cards that are too mana intensive for this archetype.
Match 2 was against a fairly off-the-shelf RDW build. Ash Zealot, Chandra's Phoenix, Rakdos Cackler, Lightning Strike and the finisher Fanatic of Mogis all made appearances. My deck actually has a hilarious matchup vs RDW - if we can stay at 4+ life, we're almost unreachable once we stabilize. They just burn through cards so fast and usually don't have ways to restock. Most games came down to dropping a master and attacking with all the tokens while I protected my board position/life total with Syncopate and Dissolve. I managed to go 2-1 even though I questionably didn't board out Thoughtseize. Free shocks and I still took the match!
Match 3 was against some crazy Mono-B that I've never seen before. It looked like he wanted to drop Pack Rat on curve, make a ton of copies and win off of Gray Merchant of Asphodel. Luckily I was able to disrupt his combo with Thoughtseize game 1 and game 2 he got flooded. He was forced to play two Underworld Connections while i tempo'd him out with weirds, masters, thassa, bounce, and counters. I ended up going 2-0 this match.
Wow, really glad I picked up a playset for 6 tix apiece, I just wish I got them in paper too
I just don't know whether to cash in or enjoy the ride. Does anyone have the exact decklist? I was just trying to brew up a fun hilarious board clogging deck with frostburn weirds and omenspeakers with some control for anti-boardwipe tech. Thoughtseize for Supreme verdict and various counters for anger of the gods (which the Big Fish Man conveniently survives anyway even if his army gets quashed).
So I'm somewhat new to commander - I know my way around a magic deck but the community and politics are what's really confusing about this format. Also I only play online and I'm sure its different not having to be face to face right across a table from someone.
Alright, the politics within the game (ones that only affect in-game decisions) really aren't that difficult to understand. Basically what I mean is certain players (and I'm definitely not saying this is the majority) get particularly butthurt over one style of deck or even single cards. Some players have multiple infinite combos in their deck but complain and quit when I play my Ulamog on turn 11. I literally got blocked by one guy for having Take Possession in my deck... I guess he didn't like that I had a way around his softlock. I also find it rude when someone starts comboing off and one of the other players makes some snarky comment and just quits. Sure, sometimes I don't wanna sit there watching the comboer play with themselves for 5 mins if they're going to win anyway but just concede and say good game. A lot of combos are pretty easy to interact with or at least see coming.
I play a Thraximundar goodstuff deck and the total value is maaaaybe 30-40 tickets (if you don't play MTGO, 1 ticket = $1 but cards tend to be slightly cheaper so it's the equivalent of a $60-80 deck). Still, people quit when I play Massacre Wurm and clone it the same turn. What did you think I was gonna do with 10 mana? That's not even close to the strongest play I can make. Sol ring is my most expensive single card but I can almost never land it turn 1 like everyone else seems to do.
Sorry if there are multiple other threads like this - I didn't see any but I really wasn't making this to complain or vent. I was just wondering from the commander veterans what is generally viewed as a "cheap/unfair" deck? Is it just a minority of players who are bound to complain about anything and blame it on factor X, Y, and Z every time they lose?
I read this thread much earlier today and it stuck in the back of my mind. Well, it turns out I played a momir event today and I was actually digging playing 5 lands! I know one event doesn't exactly constitute an adequate sample size but you've converted me to a believer in 5 color. Firebreathing and effects similar to pestilence demon are still important but I like to have 1 of each land available. I actually won a game off of Angus Mackenzie HAHAHAH my opponent was none too happy.
Anyway I just wanted to say thanks and that yes I believe it comes down to luck and personal preference. I am far too lazy to do any math in defense of this new stance but all I know is that sundering titan is about a 0.9% probability. There are 5 elder dragons (~4-4.5% of getting one on any random 8 mana activation) that can usually end the game in 2-3 turns on their own (depending on how things have been going up to that point) so I think the risk is worth the reward. I mean, would you try to win off Ambassador Laquatus because you're afraid of platinum emperion? The mountain/swamp thing made sense at first but I'll definitely be testing more 5 color matches - I only usually play 1-2 momirs per week but I'll report back when I have more experiences!
So I seconded an 8-4 MMA draft this past Tuesday and in a moment of idiocy I forgot MMA drafts were actually coming to an end at some point. So now I'm more or less stuck with 4 MMA packs.
I'm assuming they will eventually rise in value but I don't have many other resources on my account. I don't really speculate and I'm more into instant gratification so I'm considering doing something rash. I figure I have 3 options:
1) Be patient. I really don't want to do this but I know it will probably earn me the most value. I just don't want to have to be waiting months only for a few more tix worth of value.
2) Crack the packs. This is probably a horrible move but I do love opening packs - it's probably why I like draft so much (because I can actually get something back for it if I win). However, unless I'm totally unlucky, most of the cards that were in MMA should eventually go back up in value once the market isn't as flooded. Looks like Goyf already went up from about 40 to 44 just since drafts stopped (just an example - I know I won't open a goyf).
3) Sell the packs. This would hurt as they are only selling for about 6.4 right now from what I see. Ouch, I was getting at least 6.9 for them when drafts were still active. This is the safest route without having to sit on them for months but I'd be eating 2 whole tickets (lol not much but its the principle) just because I want to draft now instead of being patient. Plus I'd be kicking myself if they went up quickly in a short amount of time.
In the grand scheme of things even 26-28 tickets for the whole lot isn't a lot and if I'm waiting months to sell them I'd almost rather at least get some enjoyment out of cracking packs. I guess my question is how much can I expect these to rise in value over a few months? Or will the demand be so low since it is not a redeemable set that they'll pretty much stagnate around 7 and I'm better off selling/opening them now?
Wow they just refuse to print a decent Chandra don't they? This should cost RRR and even 1RR wouldn't have been overpowered in my opinion....
You won't play the 0 ability the turn she comes down unless she was a late topdeck or you're hunting for a land. A 4 mana Scorching Spear is pretty horrible, and how many X/1s are sticking around on turn 4? The ultimate will never go off and isn't even a guaranteed win. Worse than the firebrand IMO (Still better than mega-overcosted chandras 1 and 2 though)
So yes, land ratios and complicated math aside, there are decks that will be better with over 60 cards. Will they ever evolve past the kitchen table or completely lucksacking/pissing off an entire FNM? Probably not. Personally, I DO occasionally run control decks with a 61st card being a land. I'm not sure if it's just trendy or if it actually helps though. I won't weigh in on that argument, it is splitting hairs IMO. That said, I agree with everyone else who said cut it to 60 or your deck will be mathematically less consistent and less efficient.
Hey guys, it's been a long time since I've frequented this thread and either way I'm more of a lurker. I think the last time I posted was around the release of GTC. Anyway, I've been LOVING Ral Zarek and aetherling is a house too so I wanted to update my list and play grixis for the next few months. Here is my most recent take:
I think I need more 2cc removal - I was planning on having warped physique in there but it wasn't as good as I thought it would be. Its all but dead vs. control since my hand will be dwindling by the time they go to drop their fat finisher. It's kind of like the removal version of mana leak but even worse than that; it's usually flawless in the early game but it's worse that even a searing spear turn 6+.
Homicidal seclusion is old tech but it's still very effective - I wouldn't run more than 1 but its great with augur or snappy. A long time ago I used Demonic Rising which was pretty amazing but its not as good without keyrunes. I cut my rakdos keyrunes a long, long time ago because it never seemed to work out (too much mana commitment when I needed an early game answer). I'm considering adding them back - it never hurts to have as many answers to thragtusk as possible.
Thoughtflare has been amazing in the past but recently I can never get it off. I like to think of it as a mini-sphinx for UR but I seem to always draw it when I just need some removal. I don't know if this is just poor luck or if I've overestimated this card for a long time. As this is a control deck, I need card draw so I don't know what I'd add if I cut them. Maybe sign in blood or underworld connections? I don't know, they have really cheap costs mana wise but I don't know if I can afford to pay life and being sorcery speed really hurts. Although, UC does have some nice synergy with Ral.
Hey guys, I like to brew terrible decks and see what can be done with them. I just remembered I had this old deck on cockatrice and thought I'd dig it up and see if anything can be changed/updated with DGM. This is not meant to be competitive at the highest levels but it is very fun and can quite consistently pull off the fabled "oops I win" just by playing all your cards in the right order. It also has the advantage of being like no other deck so your opponent might misplay while trying to figure it out. Well here it is - tear it apart, it could use some constructive criticism:
Augur of Bolas might become gatecreeper vine, I just didnt own a 4th snappy and wanted a cantrip-like effect. I like augur because he can grab my key combo pieces and even if he whiffs it's still a nice wall. However, gatecreeper is the sure card-in-hand and it could help with only 22 lands.
It is pretty apparent that the sideboard needs to be transitional - I'm just not sure which direction to go yet. Should I load up on negates and abrupt decays and stick with the combo plan (to take out any opposing tormod's crypts, rest in peaces, grafdiggers cage etc)? Or should I try and make it turn into some non-optimal version of golgari aggro? The initial main deck is pretty easily hate-able with any GY interactions but I have to admit I don't know the meta well enough to judge how much 'yard hate there is in the average SB. Not much else gets this though - the creatures are cheap, so countering them is not efficient. They mostly have ETB/dies triggers so removal, even sweepers, still won't give the opponent CA (in many cases) even if I overextend.
2 sample sideboards (created in ~30 seconds each so they're strictly examples):
I also think dispels are going to be necessary in the side if I stick to forcing out my combo because if immortal servitude gets countered I'm waaay behind. I would consider using a counter on any spell in my deck other than servitude a misplay because literally everything is a grind/stall/set-up/CA card until I can play servitude. Sometimes vs. a bad draw I can beat face with a LOL-troll, discarding my whole hand and keeping as much B up as possible but that's my only other wincon.
Please be kind. I know this deck is janky - and I DO want feedback/scrutiny - but I'm sensitive. I'm not jumping into any PTQs with this deck or anything, I just want a fun, slightly troll-ish deck that can win sometimes.
I haven't played with it, only against it, but advent of the wurm + snappy + ramp is some pretty brutal value. Although it does make far//away quite a bit better. But thanks to snappy that whole scenario is card neutral so I think I'd rather be the one playing advent, not the player trying to answer it.
Hey guys! I've mostly played just casual and standard for the last 3-4 years but I recently got into MTGO and I'm trying to start following modern. Any help/suggestions would be appreciated, thanks.
Favorite Playstyle: Midrange/control - I like a deck that can control the early game, drop a bomb (who may or may not have recursion) and protect it late game. I played solar flare and loved it in SOM/INN standard and now I play grixis control. I'm guessing these decks don't translate very well directly into modern.
How Competitive (For Fun, Local Tournament, MTGO, PTQ/GP): MTGO
Favorite Cards/Colors: Lightning bolt, blightning, remand/mana leak. Basically good removal and extreme value spells.
Budget: about 100 tickets on MTGO. For those of you that only play paper, that roughly translates to $100 of physical cards but some prices do differ slightly.
Awwww yeahhhh I love me some woodlot crawler. Based on the first few pages of this thread I thought it slipped under the radar but clearly people are talking about it now. Only playtesting will see if it makes the grade but I will put any minimal credibility I might have on the line and say it's definitely worthy of at least 2-3 SB slots in standard constructed (if not main deck). A 2-mana pseudo-answer to greens favorite fatties like loxodon smiter and thragtusk? Check. Kills unflipped huntmaster/BTE straight up? Check. Goes 1-for-1 with manyotherutilitybears? Check. Evasion? Check - many decks roll with forests these days, thanks shocklands. Maybe I'm theorycrafting a bit much here but there just aren't many situations where this guy is dead. Maybe they have only a Boros reckoner or two on the field, but you should definitely play this guy in control or tempo. In that case, you should have saved plenty of removal for that pesky minotaur. This guy is a meta hater right here. Unless RB zombies/rakdos/Rb sligh comes back with a vengeance (they have too many cheap 2-3 power guys for this guy to be a smart trade), this guy will be a tech thing to play vs. the meta.
I could talk about this guy for days but I think I've gotten my point across. If you can't tell, I love playing 2 mana spells in control decks that are almost guaranteed to be 1-for-1 yet also have the ability to be degenerate with a good matchup and some luck. Imagine beating face with thragtusk until your lucksacking opponent topdecks this guy and proceeds to dismantle your board during the stalemate? Yeahhhhh I'm that dick - he'll be fun in my grixis control list featuring Ral zarek.
In addition to what everyone has mentioned so far that strongly suggests this is a fake, the first ability has an awkward comma. A real card would not have a grammar mistake. A comma is not necessary before a conjunction unless it is separating two independent clauses which "in your graveyard" of course is not.
Aquatic Swelling - 2UU
As long as you control 4 or more Islands, Aquatic Swelling costs 2 less to cast.
Shuffle target spell into it's owner's library.
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End of Daze - UU
Counter target spell unless its controller pays 1. If you shuffled your library this turn, exile that spell instead.
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Waters Awoken - UUUUU
Chroma - Waters Awoken costs U less to cast for each blue mana symbol in the mana costs of cards in your graveyard. This affect cannot reduce the cost of Waters Awoken to less than UU.
Counter target spell.
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Probably Somehow Broken but Seems Terrible on Paper Spell - U
When you cast PSBbSToPS, return target spell to its owner's hand.
Each of your opponents draw a card.
If you couldn't tell, I'm a big fan of clunky overcosted spells that become OP when some condition is met. Frankly I think it's exactly what Modern needs - it gives U based control a jumping off point without making U-tempo (delver, snapcaster decks) too insane. Well, maybe that 2nd spell is a good card in any deck with the pervasiveness of fetches but it still has its drawbacks. Also, 3 out of 4 of these get around uncounterable because I'm a jerk - I'm sure Wizards will will never make a playable answer to uncounterable spells in the next 10 years though. It could easily be fixed with alternate wordings though like how Remand is phrased; "counter target spell, if it's countered this way return to owners hand/shuffle into library/exile insted"
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Uhhh I hope you were being sarcastic...You do realize this is better than ancestral recall? Other than the fact that you cant win the game on the spot if the opponent has 2 or less cards in their library, you actually made a power 9 more broken. Unless of course you meant to not give it a mana cost a la Ancestral vision or Living end rather than a cost of 0. Who would ever suspend this when you can draw 3 for 0 at instant speed? Don't worry - I think you have many Modern playing days ahead of you if it takes something this broken to quit.
Anyway, as many have already said, a decent counter would be nice. Remand and Mana leak are great for tempo but we have no playable hard counters that don't do something else (Cryptic command). Memory Lapse would be awesome even though that's not exactly a hard counter. Or, something like:
Memory Cancel
UU
Multikicker 1
Counter target spell. If a spell is countered this way, put it on top of its owner's library instead of into that player's graveyard. Then that spell's controller puts the top card of his or her library into his or her graveyard for each time Memory Cancel was kicked.
This "fixes" (NWO) memory lapse slightly by costing it at UU yet also makes it strictly better than cancel - a card that's proven itself unplayable in constructed.
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Anyway, I haven't playtested the mono-U or Uw version but I think Ub has an amazing amount of answers for some of our problem matchups. I've even been maindecking 2 Duress (to compliment 4 Thoughtseize) - they get rid of two backbreaking cards in Supreme Verdict and Anger of the Gods. I don't see many people maindecking Ratchet Bomb, Golgari Charm, or Gaze of Granite but we can deep-6 those as well. So many games come down to dropping a Thassa or Master and protecting them. As many people said before, if the opponent lets you untap its usually GG 75-80% of the time. I don't have Ashioks yet but I think they would easily make the cut somewhere in the 60.
I don't take notes or video record my matches or anything but if you want a breakdown of what I remember here it is (pm me for decklist):
Match 1 was against some sub-optimal Boros deck. I almost punted game 2 but ended up turning it around and went 2-0. I won't discuss it at length but this match was as close to a freebie as it comes - Master was almost an auto win even with only 1-2 devotion. Pro red was too much for this deck to handle since it was full of 3-drops. I saw Truefire paladin, Skyknight Legionnaire, Wojek Halberdiers, Warleader's Helix, and a few other cards that are too mana intensive for this archetype.
Match 2 was against a fairly off-the-shelf RDW build. Ash Zealot, Chandra's Phoenix, Rakdos Cackler, Lightning Strike and the finisher Fanatic of Mogis all made appearances. My deck actually has a hilarious matchup vs RDW - if we can stay at 4+ life, we're almost unreachable once we stabilize. They just burn through cards so fast and usually don't have ways to restock. Most games came down to dropping a master and attacking with all the tokens while I protected my board position/life total with Syncopate and Dissolve. I managed to go 2-1 even though I questionably didn't board out Thoughtseize. Free shocks and I still took the match!
Match 3 was against some crazy Mono-B that I've never seen before. It looked like he wanted to drop Pack Rat on curve, make a ton of copies and win off of Gray Merchant of Asphodel. Luckily I was able to disrupt his combo with Thoughtseize game 1 and game 2 he got flooded. He was forced to play two Underworld Connections while i tempo'd him out with weirds, masters, thassa, bounce, and counters. I ended up going 2-0 this match.
I just don't know whether to cash in or enjoy the ride. Does anyone have the exact decklist? I was just trying to brew up a fun hilarious board clogging deck with frostburn weirds and omenspeakers with some control for anti-boardwipe tech. Thoughtseize for Supreme verdict and various counters for anger of the gods (which the Big Fish Man conveniently survives anyway even if his army gets quashed).
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Alright, the politics within the game (ones that only affect in-game decisions) really aren't that difficult to understand. Basically what I mean is certain players (and I'm definitely not saying this is the majority) get particularly butthurt over one style of deck or even single cards. Some players have multiple infinite combos in their deck but complain and quit when I play my Ulamog on turn 11. I literally got blocked by one guy for having Take Possession in my deck... I guess he didn't like that I had a way around his soft lock. I also find it rude when someone starts comboing off and one of the other players makes some snarky comment and just quits. Sure, sometimes I don't wanna sit there watching the comboer play with themselves for 5 mins if they're going to win anyway but just concede and say good game. A lot of combos are pretty easy to interact with or at least see coming.
I play a Thraximundar goodstuff deck and the total value is maaaaybe 30-40 tickets (if you don't play MTGO, 1 ticket = $1 but cards tend to be slightly cheaper so it's the equivalent of a $60-80 deck). Still, people quit when I play Massacre Wurm and clone it the same turn. What did you think I was gonna do with 10 mana? That's not even close to the strongest play I can make. Sol ring is my most expensive single card but I can almost never land it turn 1 like everyone else seems to do.
Sorry if there are multiple other threads like this - I didn't see any but I really wasn't making this to complain or vent. I was just wondering from the commander veterans what is generally viewed as a "cheap/unfair" deck? Is it just a minority of players who are bound to complain about anything and blame it on factor X, Y, and Z every time they lose?
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Anyway I just wanted to say thanks and that yes I believe it comes down to luck and personal preference. I am far too lazy to do any math in defense of this new stance but all I know is that sundering titan is about a 0.9% probability. There are 5 elder dragons (~4-4.5% of getting one on any random 8 mana activation) that can usually end the game in 2-3 turns on their own (depending on how things have been going up to that point) so I think the risk is worth the reward. I mean, would you try to win off Ambassador Laquatus because you're afraid of platinum emperion? The mountain/swamp thing made sense at first but I'll definitely be testing more 5 color matches - I only usually play 1-2 momirs per week but I'll report back when I have more experiences!
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I'm assuming they will eventually rise in value but I don't have many other resources on my account. I don't really speculate and I'm more into instant gratification so I'm considering doing something rash. I figure I have 3 options:
1) Be patient. I really don't want to do this but I know it will probably earn me the most value. I just don't want to have to be waiting months only for a few more tix worth of value.
2) Crack the packs. This is probably a horrible move but I do love opening packs - it's probably why I like draft so much (because I can actually get something back for it if I win). However, unless I'm totally unlucky, most of the cards that were in MMA should eventually go back up in value once the market isn't as flooded. Looks like Goyf already went up from about 40 to 44 just since drafts stopped (just an example - I know I won't open a goyf).
3) Sell the packs. This would hurt as they are only selling for about 6.4 right now from what I see. Ouch, I was getting at least 6.9 for them when drafts were still active. This is the safest route without having to sit on them for months but I'd be eating 2 whole tickets (lol not much but its the principle) just because I want to draft now instead of being patient. Plus I'd be kicking myself if they went up quickly in a short amount of time.
In the grand scheme of things even 26-28 tickets for the whole lot isn't a lot and if I'm waiting months to sell them I'd almost rather at least get some enjoyment out of cracking packs. I guess my question is how much can I expect these to rise in value over a few months? Or will the demand be so low since it is not a redeemable set that they'll pretty much stagnate around 7 and I'm better off selling/opening them now?
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You won't play the 0 ability the turn she comes down unless she was a late topdeck or you're hunting for a land. A 4 mana Scorching Spear is pretty horrible, and how many X/1s are sticking around on turn 4? The ultimate will never go off and isn't even a guaranteed win. Worse than the firebrand IMO (Still better than mega-overcosted chandras 1 and 2 though)
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64x forest
1x lost in the woods
So yes, land ratios and complicated math aside, there are decks that will be better with over 60 cards. Will they ever evolve past the kitchen table or completely lucksacking/pissing off an entire FNM? Probably not. Personally, I DO occasionally run control decks with a 61st card being a land. I'm not sure if it's just trendy or if it actually helps though. I won't weigh in on that argument, it is splitting hairs IMO. That said, I agree with everyone else who said cut it to 60 or your deck will be mathematically less consistent and less efficient.
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4x Augur of Bolas
3x Snapcaster mage
2x Aetherling
1x Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius
Noncreature/nonland permanents (4)
2x Ral Zarek
1x Nicol Bolas
1x Homicidal Seclusion
Draw Power (8)
4x Think Twice
2x Forbidden alchemy
2x Thoughtflare
The control (13)
3x Magmaquake
3x Far // Away
2x Tribute to Hunger
2x Syncopate
2x Dissipate
1x Mizzium Mortars
4x Drowned catacomb
4x Dragonskull summit
4x sulfur falls
3x steam vents
3x watery grave
3x blood crypt
2x nephalia drownyard
1x mountain
1x swamp
1x island
3x Pillar of flame
2x crypt incursion
2x dispel
2x evil twin
2x turn // burn
2x warped physique
1x Slaughter games
1x pithing needle
I think I need more 2cc removal - I was planning on having warped physique in there but it wasn't as good as I thought it would be. Its all but dead vs. control since my hand will be dwindling by the time they go to drop their fat finisher. It's kind of like the removal version of mana leak but even worse than that; it's usually flawless in the early game but it's worse that even a searing spear turn 6+.
Homicidal seclusion is old tech but it's still very effective - I wouldn't run more than 1 but its great with augur or snappy. A long time ago I used Demonic Rising which was pretty amazing but its not as good without keyrunes. I cut my rakdos keyrunes a long, long time ago because it never seemed to work out (too much mana commitment when I needed an early game answer). I'm considering adding them back - it never hurts to have as many answers to thragtusk as possible.
Thoughtflare has been amazing in the past but recently I can never get it off. I like to think of it as a mini-sphinx for UR but I seem to always draw it when I just need some removal. I don't know if this is just poor luck or if I've overestimated this card for a long time. As this is a control deck, I need card draw so I don't know what I'd add if I cut them. Maybe sign in blood or underworld connections? I don't know, they have really cheap costs mana wise but I don't know if I can afford to pay life and being sorcery speed really hurts. Although, UC does have some nice synergy with Ral.
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4x Black Cat
4x Blood Artist
4x Elvish Visionary
2x Fog Bank
2x Lotleth troll
3x Snapcaster mage
1x Augur of bolas
Instant/Sorcery (14)
4x Grisly Salvage
4x Mulch
4x Immortal Servitude
2x Killing wave
4x Chronic flooding
Land(22)
4x Breeding Pool
3x Drowned Catacomb
1x Forest
3x Hinterland Harbor
1x Island
3x Overgrown Tomb
1x swamp
3x Watery Grave
3x Woodland cemetery
Augur of Bolas might become gatecreeper vine, I just didnt own a 4th snappy and wanted a cantrip-like effect. I like augur because he can grab my key combo pieces and even if he whiffs it's still a nice wall. However, gatecreeper is the sure card-in-hand and it could help with only 22 lands.
It is pretty apparent that the sideboard needs to be transitional - I'm just not sure which direction to go yet. Should I load up on negates and abrupt decays and stick with the combo plan (to take out any opposing tormod's crypts, rest in peaces, grafdiggers cage etc)? Or should I try and make it turn into some non-optimal version of golgari aggro? The initial main deck is pretty easily hate-able with any GY interactions but I have to admit I don't know the meta well enough to judge how much 'yard hate there is in the average SB. Not much else gets this though - the creatures are cheap, so countering them is not efficient. They mostly have ETB/dies triggers so removal, even sweepers, still won't give the opponent CA (in many cases) even if I overextend.
2 sample sideboards (created in ~30 seconds each so they're strictly examples):
BUG Zombies
4x Rancor
4x Diregraf captain
4x Gravecrawler
2x Lotleth troll
1x Geralf's messenger
Combo-protector
4x Negate
4x Abrupt decay
2x Dispel
2x Putrefy
1x Hinterland Harbor
1x Watery grave
1x overgrown tomb
I also think dispels are going to be necessary in the side if I stick to forcing out my combo because if immortal servitude gets countered I'm waaay behind. I would consider using a counter on any spell in my deck other than servitude a misplay because literally everything is a grind/stall/set-up/CA card until I can play servitude. Sometimes vs. a bad draw I can beat face with a LOL-troll, discarding my whole hand and keeping as much B up as possible but that's my only other wincon.
Please be kind. I know this deck is janky - and I DO want feedback/scrutiny - but I'm sensitive. I'm not jumping into any PTQs with this deck or anything, I just want a fun, slightly troll-ish deck that can win sometimes.
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Analysis: will be a staple but far from broken.
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Favorite Playstyle: Midrange/control - I like a deck that can control the early game, drop a bomb (who may or may not have recursion) and protect it late game. I played solar flare and loved it in SOM/INN standard and now I play grixis control. I'm guessing these decks don't translate very well directly into modern.
How Competitive (For Fun, Local Tournament, MTGO, PTQ/GP): MTGO
Favorite Cards/Colors: Lightning bolt, blightning, remand/mana leak. Basically good removal and extreme value spells.
Budget: about 100 tickets on MTGO. For those of you that only play paper, that roughly translates to $100 of physical cards but some prices do differ slightly.
Staples Owned: Nothing of value, really.
Thanks again
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I could talk about this guy for days but I think I've gotten my point across. If you can't tell, I love playing 2 mana spells in control decks that are almost guaranteed to be 1-for-1 yet also have the ability to be degenerate with a good matchup and some luck. Imagine beating face with thragtusk until your lucksacking opponent topdecks this guy and proceeds to dismantle your board during the stalemate? Yeahhhhh I'm that dick - he'll be fun in my grixis control list featuring Ral zarek.
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