Agelic overseer is definitely sweet and worth sideboard slots. Loyal cathar is a bit rough costing ww, and his flipside isn't that good. Doomed traveller isn't good now without honor of the pure in my opinion, though I may be wrong.
When you play huntmasters, you are looking to grind out games against all kinds of decks instead of praying for a godhand and killing the opponent quickly. I play in a lot of long tournaments and I dislike having games where I lose to a control or midrange opponent just because I didn't draw my nut hand. Lunarchs, mayors, and huntmasters make for a better grind-style deck whilst keeping a decent amount of aggressiveness. Lunarch is perfect here as he fits in all parts of your curve. It all boils down to the kind of deck you prefer. Consistency vs. Raw power.
- Sasky
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Nov 29, 2012Sasky posted a message on Naya Humans (RTR Standard)@javdubs: Your idea sounds good. Have you checked out Craig Wescoe's Lightning Humans deck? It's up on tcgplayer. His idea sounds like what you want to be doing for that direction. As for bant control, this deck, like all aggro decks, is quite soft to sweepers. However, I have played the matchup and this deck is superior to straight out g/w aggro in dealing with long, grindy games. You just need to land a werewolf and let him win the game for you or until they sweep, then play something else. Midrange is ok, just hope for the best game 1, then punish them with intrepid hero game 2 (and 3).Posted in: Sasky Blog
@BobMcfall: They are both control-ish cards, which isn't really what this deck wants to be doing. I do want to play daybreak ranger, but she seems to get in the way of the main game plan. Pillar is also too difficult to support mana-wise. We have like 1 turn one untapped mana. -
Aug 14, 2012Sasky posted a message on Making the best Werewolf deck (Innistrad Standard)Thanks, I have tested gang and found him to be clunky, especially with huntmaster competing at the 4-drop slot. Bonfire is usually a better spell.Posted in: Sasky Blog
I agree with the borderland comment. He's actually ok because of the relatively high curve and because he gets a boost from mayor, though running 4 might be a bit too much. As of now he's ok, but I'll see how it goes. - To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
http://www.channelfireball.com/articles/the-quintessential-modern-tezz-gifts-faq/
Sigarda is very good against abzan, but she cannot be casted which is why I would be uncomfortable adding her.
Doesn't leyline buy you enough time to gifts into Iona against Burn?
Disenchant is also great against infect. I agree that against the most common decks playing stony silence it should not be brought in.
Against Abzan, Sower of temptation is very good. Perhaps a sideboard like this:
2 Disenchant
2 Negate
2 Spellskite
1 Ghostly Prison
2 Sower of Temptation
4 Leyline of Sanctity
1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
Going T3 gifts t4 fatty is as good as it sounds.
However, it doesn't happen all the time. Your fatties might not win you the game instantaneously in certain matchups as well.
I'm not sure whether I like the Gifts version more than the U/B/x vanilla build to be honest.
As for grixis- what does red offer that green doesn't? Abrupt Decay answers more things than Bolt.
I can't find a list I liked so I took darksteel's most recent list and tweaked the sideboard to my liking.
1 Snapcaster Mage
1 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
Spells (30)
2 Condescend
3 Expedition Map
4 Path to Exile
1 Cyclonic Rift
4 Azorius Signet
4 Remand
4 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Day of Judgment
1 Supreme Verdict
1 Wrath of God
4 Gifts Ungiven
1 Unburial Rites
1 Eye of Ugin
1 Flooded Strand
1 Island
1 Plains
2 Hallowed Fountain
3 Seachrome Coast
4 Celestial Colonnade
4 Urza's Mine
4 Urza's Power Plant
4 Urza's Tower
2 Celestial Purge
2 Disenchant
2 Spellskite
3 Negate
1 Ghostly Prison
4 Leyline of Sanctity
1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
The changes I made to the sideboard were:
-1 Sundering Titan
-2 Timely Reinforcements
+2 Disenchant
+1 Spellskite
Sundering Titan, according to a friend of mine who plays Tron a ton, does nothing you want. It's only really good against zoo decks, but even then it is too slow. It's not really fantastic against Abzan and Jeskai decks as it doesn't deal with their manlands.
I don't like Timely. It's just going to eat a skullcrack or atarka's command. You ahve 4 leylines anyway for the burn matchup.
I saw that R/G Tron is this deck's worst matchup. I like having disenchant to help with the matchup by a few percent points. It's also something to bring in against the two prominent blood moon decks - Twin and Blue Moon, as it hits a lot of relevant spells in those decks. Great against Affinity, which I found darksteel's list to be not having enough sideboard slots against (it's an ok matchup, but you want to be boarding out a lot of cards and his list doesn't have enough to bring in). Also good vs. random stuff like 8rack and Bogles and Tokens. Hits Stony Silence as well, but only bring it in against decks that run stony silence and other artifacts and enchantments that you want to kill i.e. don't bring it in vs Abzan.
I added a 2nd Spellskite because **** infect. It's also ok against burn, which makes up a little for the timely reinforcements that I took out from the deck.
The good thing about picking up UW Tron is that I don't see myself spending any money on DTK cards - none of the new cards look like something I would cut from the deck to make room for. None of them seem to make any existing deck a worse matchup for this deck as well.
Maindeck:
-2 Timely Reinforcements
-1 Wrath of God
+1 Path to Exile
+1 Ghost Quarter
+1 Supreme Verdict
I have never felt that I needed Timely. Against burn, timely is just going to eat a skullcrack. Against other decks it is pretty slow. You have 4 MD wraths anyway.
I moved the SB Path and GQ to the MD to shore up some weaknesses against infect and affinity and free up SB slots.
Supreme Verdict is harder to cast than Wrath, but better vs Merfolk and Twin. 1 copy MD seems better than 4 wraths as a hedge int hose matchups. You don't want wrath effects against twin anyway, so 1 copy of verdict is sufficient.
Sideboard:
-1 Path to Exile
-1 Ghost Quarter
-1 Rest for the Weary
-1 Duress
-1 Detention Sphere
-1 Go for the Throat
+2 Slaughter Pact
+1 Leyline of Sanctity
+2 Thoughtseize
+1 Disenchant
As spoken about, the sb PTE and GQ were moved to the MD.
I like thoughtseize more than duress as they achieve the same goal, the life loss is irrelevant in the matchups you want them in, and you're never gifting for different 1 mana discard spells anyway. The upside of TS over duress is that it can hit stuff like blighted agent. Our combo matchup is pretty miserable, so a 3rd thoughtseize seems justified.
Slaughter Pact is just a better removal spell than go for the throat. You almost always bring these in against any deck with creatures that hurt you. Being great vs twin is a great upside.
Disenchant is better than detention sphere imo.
I don't understand why he plays 3 leylines and 1 rest for the weary. If you want to run leylines run 4 instead. It has broader application than rest for the weary anyway. Our deck can cast a leyline easily too.
Updated list:
2 Spellskite
2 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
Spells (28)
4 Path to Exile
4 Azorius Signet
4 Talisman of Progress
3 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Supreme Verdict
3 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
3 Wrath of God
4 Gifts Ungiven
2 Unburial Rites
1 Island
1 Plains
1 Polluted Delta
1 Snow-Covered Plains
1 Swamp
1 Watery Grave
2 Creeping Tar Pit
2 Flooded Strand
2 Godless Shrine
2 Hallowed Fountain
2 Marsh Flats
3 Darksteel Citadel
3 Ghost Quarter
4 Inkmoth Nexus
2 Slaughter Pact
2 Nihil Spellbomb
3 Thoughtseize
1 Celestial Purge
1 Disenchant
2 Negate
4 Leyline of Sanctity
Remand, for example is skill intensive. Delver of Secrets is not.
Vines of Vastwood, for example is skill intensive. Noble Hierarch is not.
With that said, every color can be skill intensive depending on what cards you play.
-1 Choke
-2 Ethersworn Canonist
+1 Blood Moon
+1 Stormbreath Dragon
+1 Thrun
Kibler has too much sb against fair decks, which you have a good time against anyway. You definitely need canonists so you don't auto-lose to decks like Living End and Storm, while slowing down Infect, Bogles, and Burn. Choke is also just much better than Thrun as it's a better card in the Twin and Fish matchups, while being only slightly worse against control decks (which are not rampant in modern).
1 Birds of Paradise
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Wild Nacatl
2 Qasali Pridemage
2 Scavenging Ooze
4 Tarmogoyf
3 Loxodon Smiter
4 Knight of the Reliquary
2 Thundermaw Hellkite
Spells (11)
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Path to Exile
2 Domri Rade
1 Chandra, Pyromaster
1 Kessig Wolf Run
1 Mountain
1 Plains
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Temple Garden
2 Forest
2 Horizon Canopy
2 Stomping Ground
4 Arid Mesa
4 Windswept Heath
4 Wooded Foothills
2 Bonfire of the Damned
2 Wear // Tear
2 Ethersworn Canonist
2 Feed the Clan
2 Stony Silence
2 Blood Moon
2 Choke
1 Ajani Vengeant
Maro said, "Let Narset be!"
And there was light.
Also, standard is just really, really boring.
http://www.starcitygames.com/article/30302_Daily-Digest-Immense-Rage.html
However, I have played a lot of U/W/x control in modern and Miracles and stoneblade in legacy, and would like to share some observations to contribute to the discussion. In the following points, when I say 'control', I am referring to blue-based dedicated control decks.
1) Celestial Colonnade is a pretty lame wincon. It comes into play tapped which makes multiple colonnade hands very awkward. Yet, dedicated control decks are forced to run 4 because there is no creature in modern that is cheap and serves as a resilient wincon (see stoneforge mystic in legacy stoneblade and JTMS in miracles).
2) No brainstorm/preordain/ponder - This is pretty big because you usually end up drawing the wrong half of your deck and dying. This is not standard where you have a very limited range of threats. You can play serum visions, but it's not very good and it's made worse because of point #1.
3) Board wipes are next to useless - Board wipes supposedly make a control deck because of the sheer card advantage it generates. In standard, creatures reign supreme and there are very little good manlands. In legacy, Terminus is really good because it's an instant speed board wipe and there are a lot of decks that actually fold to board wipes as compared to modern (swarm strategies like elves and goblins, creatures like TNN, lack of manlands because of speed of format etc.) Modern has a strange combination of super-value creatures that are wrath-proof (no efficient way to cast terminus in this format) and a lot of manlands, as well as a top tier deck that casts creatures at instant speed (Twin).
4) Counterspell hate - This is a format where cavern of souls and voice of resurgence is played. In standard, there are a lot of big, unwieldy spells that get hit by stuff like dissolve. In legacy, most spells can be countered easily with Force of Will or Daze. Modern presents you with a weird situation where you cannot counter anything because of VoR being in play, cavern naming titan, scapeshift having a lot of lands, twin being able to cast everything at instant speed, things costing zero in affinity etc. Your counterspells are also have quite a restricted window - mana leak is weak after a few turns, remand is weak vs any deck with an average cmc of 1-2, spell snare is really sad vs a lot of things, cryptic command costs 1UUU. The consequence of this? Control is lacking in its traditional catchall answer which is counterspells.
5) Painful manabase - The manabase in modern is painful compared to legacy, which is an issue because you need untapped lands as early as turns one and two. Aggro and midrange decks do not really care about taking damage, but control decks need to preserve their life total.
6) Super big decks - There are decks that just blow the 'inevitability' of any control deck in modern out of the water, and these decks are scapeshift and Tron. Have fun tapping 5 for your colonnade to attack.
Twin and scapeshift are actually our go-to control decks because of their combo finish. If you think about it, one of the main reasons why Miracles, the only control deck in legacy is so successful is because of its combo finish of top+counterbalance or top+Entreat! If WotC wants to see a U/W control deck do well, a grindy combo finisher that costs little mana (e.g. Thopter+Sword) can be considered.