Silence also has utility as a proactive spell on your opponent's upkeep when you're just trying to buy a turn. Not saying it's better than running another Pact, but it does have uses outside your example.
I only skimmed most of the thread, so I apologize if this has been said already.
A lot of people seem to have latched onto the notion that your opponent(s) can deny you a land from Sin Prodder for "free". However, in a set with the Delirium mechanic, you often will want lands to get put into your graveyard (what with fetches being rotated out). Sure, subsequent lands can truly be denied for free, but the point is that, much like Vexing Devil, in the kinds of decks this card will be played in, either side of the choice is win-win.
Been seeing a good bit of UW control online, which can be a tough match-up, what with all the counterspells and sweepers. Had a couple fun blow-out moments in a match against it last night though.
I won game 1 through land destruction, and then in game 2, my opponent cast Rest In Peace while I had 2 creatures in the 'yard and all 3 lands up. In response, I cycled a 3rd plus a Street Wraith, then used SSG to cascade. He tried to Negate my Living End, but I had another SSG to Ricochet Trap the Negate onto Rest In Peace. That felt sooooo good. He unfortunately drew into a whole lot of wraths and I still lost that game.
My second feel-good moment wasn't quite as sweet, but it did lead to the match win - after a turn 3 end-step Living End, I turn 4 Slaughter Games'd for Supreme Verdict, catching 2 in his hand.
Long story short, I might want a second Slaughter Games in the board.
Spellskite for protecting combo pieces (and blocking, I suppose). Minamo and Oboro for extra legendary permanents that can untap Honor-Worn Shaku (perhaps in response to disruption). Gemstone Caverns for occasional acceleration (with little impact on an otherwise mono-blue manabase).
@badmagicplayer: Congrats on the finish! Clearly disproving your screen name, heh.
I notice you've got only 18 lands, whereas most lists I see that don't have 19 instead have 20 (usually Dryad Arbor), and I get land-screwed often enough (in my whole 2 days of playing this deck online) that I've considered upping as well... End results aside, how do you feel about your choice of 18?
I was just beginning round 6 of Grand Prix Detroit this past weekend, when I hear the guy to my left say, "I begin the game with Leyline of Singularity in play." Needless to say, that got the attention of myself and my opponent, who would continue to look over whenever we were shuffling or between games.
He was using Leyline with Honor-Worn Shaku, which can then infinitely tap-untap itself to mill with Mesmeric Orb. Whenever a Narcomoeba gets milled, it comes into play and (being legendary) can net 1 mana with the Shaku. Further Narcomoebas legend-rule themselves out, so they return to the graveyard and then back into the library with the next Emrakul trigger. The win-con is Increasing Confusion (which he said was aptly-named, given most opponents' unfamiliarity with Four Horsemen in Legacy), but occasionally casting Emrakul can get the job done too.
He won that round, putting him at 3-3. His buddy was also on the deck and was its designer, and he said it gets around the "slow play" issue by adding more mana to the pool or somesuch. Apparently they mulligan very aggressively for the Leyline with the help of Serum Powder.
All in all, it requires a lot of pieces and is likely rather inconsistent, but I thought it was really cool.
I'm very fairly new to Naya Burn, and I find myself siding out Boros Charm all the time, to the point where I dropped down to only 2 main (0 side) in favor of more Lightning Helix. 4 damage to the face is great and all, but it's just so inflexible. (Calling a charm inflexible sounds silly, but its other two modes are pretty lackluster.)
I have most of the cards for Azban (all the expensive ones, anyways) and have been thinking of putting it together since before the Twin ban. Since I don't expect a ton of Eldrazi in my local meta (at least not yet), how are the Infect and Affinity match-ups these days? The primer on page one seems to indicate that every single match-up except Twin is unfavorable, but that can't be right...
I'm playing a similar deck, epiknoob (-2 Lion, -1 Ghor-Clan, -1 Mutagenic, -1 Gut Shot, +4 Boar, +1 Rancor). So far Rancor has been pretty good! It's my most in-flux slot, however.
I like Electrickery as a one-sided sweeper SB sweaper. Good against Elves, Infect, UR Tempo, and mana dorks.
A guy at my LGS wrecked me with (what I know know to be called) Gruul Zoo the other day. Like, brutally wrecked.
Being relatively fairly cheap (he was running zero 'Goyfs on purpose, not because he didn't have them), I decided to put it together online, based on memory and some lists I've seen in this thread. I'm leaving out the sideboard in case any of it was his own sweet tech, but most of it is pretty standard, with things like Path to Exile, Feed the Clan, and Destructive Revelry/Ancient Grudge.
The deck in general has been very impressive - the worst that can happen is not having a second land on turn two, but I won several such games.
The 1-of Become Immense was a guess. I've been very unimpressed with it in the handful of matches I played last night... Any suggestions for that slot?
Here I had thought everyone trying Slip Through Space had forgotten about Shadow Rift, which I've played in Pauper UR Delver-Fiend. ...But then I looked and saw that the latter is not actually Modern-legal, and that the newer card frame from Tempest Remastered on MTGO fooled me!
I'm about to go play at my LGS, maybe I'll pick one up beforehand.
A lot of people seem to have latched onto the notion that your opponent(s) can deny you a land from Sin Prodder for "free". However, in a set with the Delirium mechanic, you often will want lands to get put into your graveyard (what with fetches being rotated out). Sure, subsequent lands can truly be denied for free, but the point is that, much like Vexing Devil, in the kinds of decks this card will be played in, either side of the choice is win-win.
I won game 1 through land destruction, and then in game 2, my opponent cast Rest In Peace while I had 2 creatures in the 'yard and all 3 lands up. In response, I cycled a 3rd plus a Street Wraith, then used SSG to cascade. He tried to Negate my Living End, but I had another SSG to Ricochet Trap the Negate onto Rest In Peace. That felt sooooo good. He unfortunately drew into a whole lot of wraths and I still lost that game.
My second feel-good moment wasn't quite as sweet, but it did lead to the match win - after a turn 3 end-step Living End, I turn 4 Slaughter Games'd for Supreme Verdict, catching 2 in his hand.
Long story short, I might want a second Slaughter Games in the board.
Spellskite for protecting combo pieces (and blocking, I suppose).
Minamo and Oboro for extra legendary permanents that can untap Honor-Worn Shaku (perhaps in response to disruption).
Gemstone Caverns for occasional acceleration (with little impact on an otherwise mono-blue manabase).
I notice you've got only 18 lands, whereas most lists I see that don't have 19 instead have 20 (usually Dryad Arbor), and I get land-screwed often enough (in my whole 2 days of playing this deck online) that I've considered upping as well... End results aside, how do you feel about your choice of 18?
He was using Leyline with Honor-Worn Shaku, which can then infinitely tap-untap itself to mill with Mesmeric Orb. Whenever a Narcomoeba gets milled, it comes into play and (being legendary) can net 1 mana with the Shaku. Further Narcomoebas legend-rule themselves out, so they return to the graveyard and then back into the library with the next Emrakul trigger. The win-con is Increasing Confusion (which he said was aptly-named, given most opponents' unfamiliarity with Four Horsemen in Legacy), but occasionally casting Emrakul can get the job done too.
He won that round, putting him at 3-3. His buddy was also on the deck and was its designer, and he said it gets around the "slow play" issue by adding more mana to the pool or somesuch. Apparently they mulligan very aggressively for the Leyline with the help of Serum Powder.
All in all, it requires a lot of pieces and is likely rather inconsistent, but I thought it was really cool.
Am I doing it wrong?
I like Electrickery as a one-sided sweeper SB sweaper. Good against Elves, Infect, UR Tempo, and mana dorks.
Being relatively fairly cheap (he was running zero 'Goyfs on purpose, not because he didn't have them), I decided to put it together online, based on memory and some lists I've seen in this thread. I'm leaving out the sideboard in case any of it was his own sweet tech, but most of it is pretty standard, with things like Path to Exile, Feed the Clan, and Destructive Revelry/Ancient Grudge.
4 Goblin Guide
4 Experiment One
4 Kird Ape
4 Wild Nacatl
4 Burning-Tree Emissary
4 Flinthoof Boar
4 Reckless Bushwhacker
2 Ghor-Clan Rampager
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Mutagenic Growth
4 Atarka's Command
1 Become Immense
Lands (19)
1 Dryad Arbor
1 Arid Mesa
2 Bloodstained Mire
1 Forest
1 Mountain
1 Sacred Foundry
3 Stomping Ground
1 Temple Garden
4 Windswept Heath
4 Wooded Foothills
The 1-of Become Immense was a guess. I've been very unimpressed with it in the handful of matches I played last night... Any suggestions for that slot?
I'm about to go play at my LGS, maybe I'll pick one up beforehand.