I must say I'm inlove with this deck. While I know it's power level is slightly lower than that of sparkblade cawblade caw-go WHAT EVER IT IS I enjoy playing it more and its taught me a ton about playing permission.
I've been thinking about removing the clasp chalice combo for a few more counters/draw and 1 or 2 of Elixir of Immortality
I think Jace 1 is the best 4th and 5th walker right now as it gives us an edge over our worst matchup cawblade and keeps us drawing cards against almost every deck(or acts as a fog for 1 turn)
Originally I saw the infinite mana as a way to play high tide in standard with Blue Sun's Zenith. That win was far to difficult considering you're milling yourself and you can have all the pieces in place yet not be able to win. Thusly like said before the combo should revolve around infinite untaps ala pestermite+splintertwin combo
Right now I'm using multiple win cons that will work against most people with the added benefite of playing necrotic ooze
So I've already edited this deck and with what you might say. First off I've added more kill conditions, (Steel Overseer + Trisky=Cunning Sparkmage DERP) and I've added Scrib nibblers. On top of that I added a way to prevent infinite damage via 1 Abuna Acolyte (ooze infinite untaps beat valakut now yay) I'm not sure if this is necessary because once you assemble the combo with an ooze you should be able to go off against valakut and kill them with scrib/sparkmage.
Also I changed the enclaves to Reckless Scholars. On turn 1 in this deck you want to drop hedcrab or birds not cryptologist. This makes Reckless scholar the same CMC with 2B instead of 1BB for the effect you need AND now ooze can use it's ability. Thusly as soon as you have khalni + soliton + welder in the yard you can be assured to go off.
This is what I've come up with so far. After testing I found that Mono Blue with USZ just wasn't good enough due to leyline of FFFFUUUUU then I thought about fauna shaman after rereading the post (great addition gives access to claim from the board ☺☺☺☺ swords and leylines)
Other choices:
Luxcannon -> blows up everything they own
Inquisition -> eats their counters(I figure access to all 8 discards isn't too bad so duress x4 in the board)
Skittles -> Gives ooze haste for 2BBB (Combo out when you want to) also regenerate
Steel Overseer/Triskelion -> alternate win via welder(infinite pings)
birds -> mana fixing early
Memoricide -> remove vengevines and other pesky things like Primeval
I really like how there is multiple interactions between the ooze or welder.
Only thing I don't like is that there are 2 targets for memoricide that shut down the whole deck
I've been playing with SoJI A LOT in testing and I absolutely hate it. The problem is the card has everything I want from it (Fast Clock Sick Evasion).
Only problem is It's a turn too slow. It's like I just scream every time I die with my opponent at 5 life D:
Right now I win the game with Jace colonnade BSA or Gideon
BSA Is still the best finisher in UW as far as I'm concerned. Evasion and 10 point life swing. Yes please
I think you'd be well off if you splashed red for raging ravine and lightning bolt as well as the option for more land destruction. also helps in the aggro matchup by giving you access to pyroclasm. Consider garruk as well.
I've never liked GR EVER in vala. and I've always ran 2 Slimes and 1 Ruinblaster from the side and I've boarded them in for EVERY matchup sans aggro (mirror,UB,UW,Eldrazi Green) and it's been a house every time. I've actually been working on a GW deck using them as a 4 of in the main and the best thing about slime is it will bait the counterspell about 80% of the time due to it's game changing ETB effect.
In fact I had one win me a game destroyed his 6th land and he trapped in response hitting kozilek I ended up killing kozilek and saccing a few lands then winning the game by ramping harder and faster
Good:
What is to note is the abuse of several combos in this deck. Admonition angel has been regarded by some as the best "Titan" in standard but is difficult to abuse due to WWW cc requirement taking note I decided to couple it with ramp to hit WWW on turn 6 extremely easily. This also gives me out lets with which to remove planes walkers from the game. Something previously difficult to do. Primeval titan and Khalni Heart are the most obvious things to use in conjunction.
The other big combo in the deck is Sun Titan+Emeria abuse. Both of these cards recur each other so if you can force your opponent to waste a tec edge on your emeria you'll be up in land count as soon as you drop sun titan.
From there you simply win the game with damage from trampling or flying creatures.
Acidic slime: In every deck I've played featuring green in the current standard(valakut,eldrazi green,this)Acidic slime has come in from the board in almost every matchup. I decided it was time to start playing this house maindeck and it's netted me 2 for 1 almost every time it's hit the field. It also has helped me win against some rogue decks too that abuse an enchantment like canopy cover or something similar.
Bad: The Mana curve is LUDICROUS there are so many 6 drops that not ramping perfectly loses you the game. Well timed doomblades an counter spells can make you scoop.
That being said I'm wondering how can I continue to abuse the Admo/primeval combo and lower the curve.
FNM Matches:
R1: Elfdrazi 2-0
1st game he summoning trapped into kozilek but my slime brunted the assault and I sacced some lands flew over the top for the win with admo.
2nd game he got out a few elves but I was matching with walls and journey to nowhere on his ezuri(it's scary not having pyroclasm against these decks but still very winable) flew over his head again with admonition angel. 1-0-0
R2: UB vat control
1st game opponent gets mana screwed I win
2nd game duresses cultivate doomblades overgrown battlement I lose
3rd game I get ramp going he plays jace instead of saving mana for leak I get admonition angel out exile his jace next turn play primeval into counter then trap into another primeval too much damage for him to deal with in the following turns. 2-0-0
R3: Big Red
1st game he misplayed and didn't use his koth to kill me as fast as possible when he got his emblem. I won off of stompy again
2nd game double kor firewalker summoning trap hit iona gg 3-0-0
R4: UB trinket (we agreed to draw to get 1/2 garunteed but played it out anyways)
1st game drew the nuts against me bladed my battlement duressed an explore and countered a cultivate
2nd game T3 jace thanks to chalice kept me on 5 lands for the rest of the game.
U/B is far more difficult in play testing to beat than U/W because they have no instant speed spot removal for ramp walls. 3-1-0
In my local group of edh players we have one person who is running Merieke Ri Berit as his general. The other night we had a serious disagreement on how her ability works on the stack. The situation is this My friend uses Merieke Ri Berit's ability to gain control of a creature then in response uses fatestitcher to untap her then again he taps her to gain control of a second creature.
Both myself and my friend agreed that he now gains control of 2 creatures because state based actions aren't checked until the end of the resolution of the stack thusly the game could never know if Merieke Ri Berit was untapped. However one of our friends who is an out of practice judge said that it doesn't matter if state based actions are checked as the only way to gain control of another creature is by untapping her thusly the first creature MUST be destroyed.
Who is right? Does my friend control 2 creatures with a tapped merieke or just 1?
Other pointed hate cards that need to be added to the side board section are pulse the fields kor firewalker(burn) celestial purge(jund) and cranial extraction variants(scapeshift).
Anyway here's the list.
4 plains
4 island
4 celestial colonnade
4 glacial fortress
4 seachrome coast
4 tectonic edge
1 scalding tarn
3 Jace, the Mindsculptor
2 Jace, Beleren
Sorceries
4 Preordain
4 Day of judgment
Instants
3 Jace's Ingenuity
3 White Sun's Zenith
2 spell pierce
1 negate
2 stoic rebuttal
1 deprive
4 mana leak
3 Everflowing Chalice
3 Contagion Clasp
I've been thinking about removing the clasp chalice combo for a few more counters/draw and 1 or 2 of Elixir of Immortality
I think Jace 1 is the best 4th and 5th walker right now as it gives us an edge over our worst matchup cawblade and keeps us drawing cards against almost every deck(or acts as a fog for 1 turn)
4 Birds of Paradise
3 Reckless Scholar
4 Fauna Shaman
3 Hedron Crab
4 Myr Welder
1 steel overseer
1 triskelion
2 Soliton
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Khalni Gem
1 Lux Cannon
1 molten tail masticore
4 renegade doppelganger
3 Drowned Catacomb
6 Forest
3 Island
3 Misty Rainforest
3 Swamp
3 Verdant Catacombs
4 duress
2 Black Sun's Zenith
3 Memoricide
3 Nature's Claim
3 Ratchet Bomb
guess I'm back to doppelganger :S
Right now I'm using multiple win cons that will work against most people with the added benefite of playing necrotic ooze
3 Birds of Paradise
4 Reckless Scholar
4 Fauna Shaman
4 Hedron Crab
3 Myr Welder
4 Necrotic Ooze
1 Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon
2 Soliton
1 Cunning Sparkmage
1 Scrib Nibblers
1 Abuna Acolyte
2 Khalni Gem
1 Lux Cannon
4 Darkslick Shores
3 Drowned Catacomb
6 Forest
3 Island
3 Misty Rainforest
3 Swamp
3 Verdant Catacombs
4 duress
2 Black Sun's Zenith
3 Memoricide
3 Nature's Claim
3 Ratchet Bomb
So I've already edited this deck and with what you might say. First off I've added more kill conditions, (Steel Overseer + Trisky=Cunning Sparkmage DERP) and I've added Scrib nibblers. On top of that I added a way to prevent infinite damage via 1 Abuna Acolyte (ooze infinite untaps beat valakut now yay) I'm not sure if this is necessary because once you assemble the combo with an ooze you should be able to go off against valakut and kill them with scrib/sparkmage.
Also I changed the enclaves to Reckless Scholars. On turn 1 in this deck you want to drop hedcrab or birds not cryptologist. This makes Reckless scholar the same CMC with 2B instead of 1BB for the effect you need AND now ooze can use it's ability. Thusly as soon as you have khalni + soliton + welder in the yard you can be assured to go off.
3 Birds of Paradise
4 Enclave Cryptologist
4 Fauna Shaman
4 Hedron Crab
3 Myr Welder
4 Necrotic Ooze
1 Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon
2 Soliton
1 Steel Overseer
1 Triskelion
3 Khalni Gem
1 Lux Cannon
4 Darkslick Shores
3 Drowned Catacomb
6 Forest
3 Island
3 Misty Rainforest
3 Swamp
3 Verdant Catacombs
4 duress
2 Black Sun's Zenith
3 Memoricide
3 Nature's Claim
3 Ratchet Bomb
This is what I've come up with so far. After testing I found that Mono Blue with USZ just wasn't good enough due to leyline of FFFFUUUUU then I thought about fauna shaman after rereading the post (great addition gives access to claim from the board ☺☺☺☺ swords and leylines)
Other choices:
Luxcannon -> blows up everything they own
Inquisition -> eats their counters(I figure access to all 8 discards isn't too bad so duress x4 in the board)
Skittles -> Gives ooze haste for 2BBB (Combo out when you want to) also regenerate
Steel Overseer/Triskelion -> alternate win via welder(infinite pings)
birds -> mana fixing early
Memoricide -> remove vengevines and other pesky things like Primeval
I really like how there is multiple interactions between the ooze or welder.
Only thing I don't like is that there are 2 targets for memoricide that shut down the whole deck
Only problem is It's a turn too slow. It's like I just scream every time I die with my opponent at 5 life D:
Right now I win the game with Jace colonnade BSA or Gideon
BSA Is still the best finisher in UW as far as I'm concerned. Evasion and 10 point life swing. Yes please
In fact I had one win me a game destroyed his 6th land and he trapped in response hitting kozilek I ended up killing kozilek and saccing a few lands then winning the game by ramping harder and faster
sorry I'll change that in the OP I just copied my list I had online but I changed the mana base a bit
Deck List
4 Acidic Slime
2 Admonition Angel
1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
4 Primeval Titan
2 Sun Titan
3 Wall of Omens
3 Overgrown Battlement
3 Cultivate
3 Emerge Unscathed
3 Explore
2 Journey to Nowhere
2 Khalni Heart Expedition
3 Summoning Trap
5 Forest
10 Plains
4 Sunpetal Grove
3 Tectonic Edge
3 Baneslayer Angel
2 Eldrazi Monument
4 Kor Firewalker
1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
3 Naturalize
1 Summoning Trap
1 Admonition Angel
Good:
What is to note is the abuse of several combos in this deck. Admonition angel has been regarded by some as the best "Titan" in standard but is difficult to abuse due to WWW cc requirement taking note I decided to couple it with ramp to hit WWW on turn 6 extremely easily. This also gives me out lets with which to remove planes walkers from the game. Something previously difficult to do. Primeval titan and Khalni Heart are the most obvious things to use in conjunction.
The other big combo in the deck is Sun Titan+Emeria abuse. Both of these cards recur each other so if you can force your opponent to waste a tec edge on your emeria you'll be up in land count as soon as you drop sun titan.
From there you simply win the game with damage from trampling or flying creatures.
Acidic slime: In every deck I've played featuring green in the current standard(valakut,eldrazi green,this)Acidic slime has come in from the board in almost every matchup. I decided it was time to start playing this house maindeck and it's netted me 2 for 1 almost every time it's hit the field. It also has helped me win against some rogue decks too that abuse an enchantment like canopy cover or something similar.
Bad: The Mana curve is LUDICROUS there are so many 6 drops that not ramping perfectly loses you the game. Well timed doomblades an counter spells can make you scoop.
That being said I'm wondering how can I continue to abuse the Admo/primeval combo and lower the curve.
FNM Matches:
R1: Elfdrazi 2-0
1st game he summoning trapped into kozilek but my slime brunted the assault and I sacced some lands flew over the top for the win with admo.
2nd game he got out a few elves but I was matching with walls and journey to nowhere on his ezuri(it's scary not having pyroclasm against these decks but still very winable) flew over his head again with admonition angel.
1-0-0
R2: UB vat control
1st game opponent gets mana screwed I win
2nd game duresses cultivate doomblades overgrown battlement I lose
3rd game I get ramp going he plays jace instead of saving mana for leak I get admonition angel out exile his jace next turn play primeval into counter then trap into another primeval too much damage for him to deal with in the following turns.
2-0-0
R3: Big Red
1st game he misplayed and didn't use his koth to kill me as fast as possible when he got his emblem. I won off of stompy again
2nd game double kor firewalker summoning trap hit iona gg
3-0-0
R4: UB trinket (we agreed to draw to get 1/2 garunteed but played it out anyways)
1st game drew the nuts against me bladed my battlement duressed an explore and countered a cultivate
2nd game T3 jace thanks to chalice kept me on 5 lands for the rest of the game.
U/B is far more difficult in play testing to beat than U/W because they have no instant speed spot removal for ramp walls.
3-1-0
http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=253797&highlight=Merieke
Both myself and my friend agreed that he now gains control of 2 creatures because state based actions aren't checked until the end of the resolution of the stack thusly the game could never know if Merieke Ri Berit was untapped. However one of our friends who is an out of practice judge said that it doesn't matter if state based actions are checked as the only way to gain control of another creature is by untapping her thusly the first creature MUST be destroyed.
Who is right? Does my friend control 2 creatures with a tapped merieke or just 1?