I guess we will have to see.
I think two sites won't work long term.
I guess the quality of the sites will determine what happens.
Mtgs has good general and Modern content, which matters to me. Its Legacy content is nearly unusable, due to the way it is organised, and Legacy also matters to me. I don't really do the rest, rumours aside of course, so the new site has to exceed the current site in those areas in order for me to move. That is easy to do in the cade of the Legacy content, but harder for Modern where the current site is very well organised.
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- drmarkb
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Disenchant - worth considering harmomic sliver instead perhaps? If u are green then it can be repeatedly wisped for fun vs affinity. And vialed in. With thalia down costs the same.
Would it be worth considering a solitary stiring wildwood as a man land over a mutavault? I would have thought the deck can handle one CIP land as thickets are not real CIP tapped lands on the turns that matter most. Or perhaps one hideaway windbrisk heights over a plain? With splicer making two men a windbrisk activation is not that difficult, and again can be wisped. Perhaps even a basic forest for PTE, though with the mutavault/ghost quarter count is probably too high for that.
Those canopies look rather painful...........
Also - is your meta lacking storm? Thalias tend to get bolted I found vs storm [storm often run 4 bolts board or a transformational board to make it twin] and I did like the back up of a couple of canonist/rule of law vs these R/U decks.
If the meta is discard heavy then a wilt leaf liege in the board might be worth considering?
I played icatians with much success at the start of modern. They are excellent against so much on the play.
Vs jund they hold off bob
vs affinity they off anything
vs hierach/bops in pod they act as LD that beats and flickers
they off lavamancer and 3/1 helspark elementals in RDW variants
they hit lavamancer and steppe lynx in URW
they off flickerwisp
they kill thalia
they delay serra ascendent/martry decks
and
they stop student levelling.
they turn lilian of the veil into a one for one
etc.
When I stopped playing the deck a few months back I turned the deck into a more regular version without them for loaning/testing purposes. But they were great for me.
I recently turned again towards D and T and immediately splashed green too for the reasons you give [after doing the same in martry proc in a PTQ to good effect] , but as I suggested above, I may head towards blue.
If they also run cards that put stuff from the bin to the bottom of the library they are a way of getting a search so it is no longer there without resorting to sac lands.
One needs to be careful with them and the mana base in general - they interact with blood moon to give you legendary mountains that do nothing when they die, and its surprising just hwo many non basics end up in martyr variants.
a)apologies............) Hexproof bant was mine that I lent out and was well tuned although the idea came from MTGS fora. D and T simply can't deal with it if they play it right. It has a fewer fetches than normal as well due to the kami legendary lands/geist/thrun interactions, and 8 BOP/hierachs. Every deck has one that owns it- does not stop d and t being a good deck. Modern is a huge diverse format.
b) OFF TOPIC - 4c poison-combo did fine- W3 L2- lost 2-1 in the last 2 rounds on the draw both times vs Jund and URW- not the easiest of matches. 3 mulls in there as well vs just 1in first 3 rounds. Its a hard meta with good decks at the top, again modern is a diverse format.
(regular D and T i.e. thalia, arbiter, flickerwisp, finks, splicers, arbiters vial etc)
In my expierience the deck does well against most aggro decks bar perhaps affinity when D and T is on the draw, where it can gain ground after boarding.
The deck shines against pod normally, and can hose storm out of the board reasonably well and goes toe to to with fae and normally wins.
RG Tron seems to be a hardish matchup, UW gifts tron less so.
Martyr proc is a bit hard as well as they do not do that much searching and are nearly mono.
The biggest problem I find is with those 2 for 1 decks like borremandos [UWR snapcaster, lynx, helix, bolt, path remand etc] and Jund.
These matches go on a while and eventually D and T often seems to lose because Vials turn up too late (eg t3) and thus are not always able to extract maximum CIP flickerwisp value, esp on the draw [they are always putting pressure on if they play first]. Otherwise its just a question of drawing into vial 3 or 4 when every card they draw into is relevant, or playing equipment that is irelevant when all men are dead. In particular UWR seems to just take out arbiters and thalias one for one and eventually can use snapcaster, lavamancer etc to totally run D and T out of men.
The obvious solution to this is to go off colour and filter/draw and manipulate the library, but that doesn't really work with Thalia if its done via spells like serum visions.
May I suggest that inclusion of blue for creature based effects that allow manipulation of library/hand may be a way to go.
something like
the d and t "core"
4vial
3 thalia
4 arbiter
4 flickerwisp
3-4 finks
3-4 splicers
2 mindsensors
together with 2-3 vendillion clique (allowing filtering of excess vials or hitting their hand), court hussar maybe (or similar) and aether adeptesque bounce (another "tax"). It could still run some land destruction via edge and GQ and perhaps run more land anyway, allowing inclusion of manlands, bearing in mind that the extra land could be manipulated away.
Obv hussar does not work with vial and flicker, but I feel that what D and T needs is more options mid game when plan A to deny them resouces has been matched by their plan A (to kill everything in sight) and plan B (to beat down slowly in the air) has also gone south because of their plan A.......
I know corroded and the meta to which he refers. There were 6 kills at t2 and t3 at the tournament in question, and about 20 players. So there were "combo" kills, just not storm ones (there will be next time i suspect). There were indeed plenty of graveyard based plays, just none that got hosed by grunt as its too slow to stop a t2 grisselbrand with haste swinging 3 times [glass cannon] and does not stop pod- melira/poison or kiki/resoration angel. There were a couple of UWR barely boros/borremandos etc decks that would not have enjoyed grunt and of course he does make junds goyfs and naya/zoo's goyfs n reliquaries smaller, but they did not meet.....
One of the decks was that kept winning turn2/3 was 4c poison deck (5 wins t2 or 3). T2 thalia vs those decks is not that hot- they spend 2 mana to dismember at EOT or one to slaughter pact main phase and then go off via simeon grunt and two mana to cast strobe/mutagenic/might/rancor etc. Just slows a turn at best. And a t2 phyrexian crusader in a deck full of giant growths is ridiculous vs D and T........just one of those things. D and T can't legislate for that and frankly playing 4c poison is never going to be too mainstream.
I agree esper control should hate thalia, as do storm, twin and many other decks out there and I myself put 3 copies in my versions of d and t and always wonder if it should be 4 (I played d and t in the first modern weekend we could- its come a long way since then with cards like Thalia and I still love it). But it would not have helped that much in at least two matches that corroded lost......
Whichever way you look at it the card needs the spectrals though.
Also general question: What's the use of Windbrisk Heights, exactly? First, I don't find myself attacking with 3 or more creatures per turn very often (could be because of my more control-ish defensive build, I think). But even if I would do so, by the time I have 3 good creatures out and can attack with them, I don't see too many cards that are worth being "cheated" into play via hideaway. So is there some reasoning that I fail to see right now?[/QUOTE]
Windbrisk is part of the package with spectral procession. A single spectral gets it online early. If you are playing against say a jund type deck that eeks out card advantage via 2 for 1 effects and removes your stuff gradually then they have to spend removal sub optimally there and then or allow you the chance to cheat in more stuff, potentially ranger of eos, squadron hawk no 1, or other spectrals, all of which are hard to fight through. Mid combat appearances of honor the pure etc. are rather nice, but not enough on its own to justify the card. Nor is casting an eslpeth for two. Outside of that against mono U decks that run at similar pace to jund it does a similar job, this time allowing stuff to sneak through the counters by virtue of being a good spell that doesn't cost a card. If you do not run spectrals then the card is not so hot, and as the build becomes more defensive the card becomes much less use.....the key phrase in the question is "three good creatures"- the windbrisk allows one spectral procession to activate it, (or hawk and some searched for mates) rather than waiting for three good dudes. The card loses tempo, though and as such is in competition with Emeria.
I think we are all scratching round for off colour variants or other variants to patch up the decks' weakest matches. CML did an article on TCG looking at splashes in Feb, although I feel he was overly critical of the deck and overly dismissive of the splashes.
Red seems to offer pretty much as suggested above- helix, vengent main. It also offers the possibility of using up precious sideboard slots to sort out the tron elephant in the room using land destruction spells. No martyr deck has a v good match up vs RG tron, but some seem better than others.
I suggest that each variant offers subtle changes in how the deck plays but perhaps the biggest offering is in the board where anti-land skullduggery can buy time to swing that match- this option being available in red [stone rain], green [beast within, which can also get past a resolved Iona] and even blue [spreading seas]. This does cost precious sideboard slots though.
Black seems to offer hand disruption, but I have not gone down that route.
FWIW I think the versions of martry are best with spectral procs and windbrisks, and after that there doesn't seem to be much between red, black and green splashes. When the deck is more traditional martyr with wraths and perhaps ghostly prison type spells I personally prefer a red splash for the reach.
I had a very good opponent in a PTQ board in ancient grudge into a gifts/loam type deck for the same reason- he feared/suspected a swords [probably light and shadow since the deck is martyr/proc]. I was not running any, and since I won G2 we never got to G3.
FWIW I feel chalice is a decent plan B if the ascendent/rangers refuse to turn up and the martrys do, but that is a very rare senario given the numbers. I would rather play white cards that make martyr better/consistent [eg htp, elspeth etc] or give another plan B that doesnt involve being over 30 life, keeping swords/chalice as decent one of board options, especially against control decks like teachings, and aggro control like fae with its shackles. There is also the fact that a some decks will be able to keep the deck off the thirty life, thus taking out both plan A [ascendant and B [chalice].
I agree. Student was arguably worth it when wild nactyl was a common t1 play and zoo abounded. It went through/blocked the nactyl. Even then there was danger; nactyl followed by bolt vs student and 2 mana sunk could be nasty.
But it was so often a win more card, and was perhaps more suited to death and taxes. I see no reason for it now.
The fog kami is a far better "threat" vs aggressive decks - the threat being they are locked out of the game via forcast and you will win eventually.
It also acts as a solution to cryptic command EOT / swing vs caw blade and fae variants.
I guess figure and student players would argue they are great late game threats, but I would rather cast a spectral procession, elspeth etc as my mid-late game threat. After all i don't want the whole deck to cost 1- there are dangers there.
Perhaps as a one of it is possible to play and use student/figure but with 4 martyr, 4 ascendant and probably a kami why would you need that many more one drops- nearly all the time u will search for something to get ascendant going or ascendants.
Another one drop to consider would be a gideons lawkeeper type card- rather handy for tapping opposing monstrosities and especially cheated emrakuls, but it feels more like a board card.
Then there is soul warden etc for non martyr life gain, which would be valid with spectral processions at least.
a) Elpeth T costs one more - a huge difference. Generally in wider formats you notice one mana so much more than say in block or std. For 5 mana i want to win the game with the card there and then.
b) serra ascendant and +3+3 flying is extremely potent t4 play- enough to seal the deal there and then (sometimes by giving another man who doesnt fly +3+3). The best agressive move Elspeth T can do is 3 dudes t5, no surprise growths/flying. The ability to make an already activated ascendant into a 9/9 is also rather sweet. The +3+3 on an unactivated ascendant is rather good when racing affinity.
c) If you want to make dudes then spectral procession is a better threat wise - with HTP it makes 3 x 2/2 flyers on t3. Or lingering souls of course.......
d) the gain life ability on Elspeth 2 is normally irrelevant- if you need the life something is wrong game plan wise. Blowing the board away asymmetrically is potentially nice but not the gamewining threat it is in standard, the 4 mana elspeth has a better ultimate that gives headaches to control decks, but that is not why the planeswalkers are there..........
e) a lot of decks like storm need disrupting- neither elspeth dos that but the cheaper one at least bashes for 3 on the turn its cast- back to point (b) really- offence wins matches
"Pillow Fort" is the name given to white enchantment based prison decks that aim to lock the opponent out of the game, before delivering a coup-de-grace or getting the opponent to scoop when they acknowledge that they have no way to win. It is a prison deck, i.e. one that stops the opposition playing not by destroying and countering but by putting permanents down that slowly reduce the opponent's ability to do anything. Like many Modern prison deck it is not tier one. Wizards does not really like this type of deck, primarily because newer players, especially those who have less idea about conceding the game, have been found to dislike such strategies. That said these decks can be effective, taking down the odd SCG type event from time to time, and certainly having enough to take down a PPTQ or FNM.
Other prison decks in the format include Lantern Control, Skred Red, 8 rack and various RW lockdown decks. However, decks such as Martyr Proc, Deathcloud, Blue Moon and even Norrin/Martyr decks retain strong prison elements whilst not being out-and-out prison decks. The closest deck to Pillow-Fort is Enduring Ideal, which uses a similar core of cards in the early game but wins via the namesake card taking over the late game.
In this primer a large number of parts are hidden under spoilers in order to make it reasonable length. If you are familiar with the deck then this should make it easier to find the bits you are looking for without trawling through stuff you already know. Please note that I have tried to avoid duplicating stuff in this primer, so the sections entitled "Card Choices" won't be extensive as much of the material is covered elsewhere in the appropriate sections such as "Win-Cons".
So why would you want to play this deck? Good question. Firstly, let us deal with the reason some people may give for not playing the deck- the lack of interaction issue. This might seem like a odd thing to say about a prison deck, but games vs. removal heavy decks can be very swingy and interactive, and have a lot of decisions in them on both sides. For some players playing constructed Magic is not about turning creatures sideways and launching a bunch of burn spells. There will be some players who feel they did not get to play Magic after a match with you, especially if they only turn creatures sideways like a Merfolk or Token deck. The "I did not play Magic" feeling is pretty much how players felt when being Remand/Exarch/Twinned too, and strangely enough t3 Karn does not feel like much of a match either. Whatever happens our deck gives the opponent chances to play lots of spells, which is more than can be said for a few decks in the format.
The biggest issue with this deck in terms of frustrated players is that finishing the game is more prolonged than Legacy prison decks, and newer players often do not know when to sweep, which can lead them to sitting there for a while doing nothing. Whilst Legacy prison decks can finish a game quickly with a Helm/Rest in Peace combo, a Marit Lage, host of 4/4 Angels or even the odd hard Waste-lock, we don't get that luxury, and that can lead to the odd player, especially newer ones, feeling hard done by. That is unfortunate, just try to be empathetic to them if they are new.
Reasons to play this type of deck are wide ranging and may include novelty, the chance to use pet cards that can't see place elsewhere, the desire to hark back to days gone past where creatures were not everything, and perhaps most importantly the ability to deck-build without all the best cards being known as they are in Jund, for example. It is a brewer's delight, and there is almost an EDH feel to a deck that legitimately asks "Can you pay 15 to attack?" the turn after they get to 14 mana. Another reason is that it has some exceptionally favourable matches, and does well against a few top tier decks, so that it might just take down your local "win a Goyf" or FNM event. So, get brewing. And remember, it is now 25 to attack.....:)
A final note about running this deck locally and the "hate issue". We are easy to hate out- Back to Nature and Fracturing Gust are obscene against us. Neither card gets much play but if you want to turn up to FNM weekly or even monthly and play this deck time-and-time again expect reprisals. As a deck that relies on a single card type this is always going to be a problem- ask a local FNM Affinity player and you will see what I mean. My recommendation is to get more than one deck if you only want to run this in small metas, preferably one without too many enchantments.
Assuming the deck does not win via scooping, the deck has a few choices of wincons.
One especially great trick with him is to Wrath of God and swing for 5. A second and nastier idea is the lock with Porphyry Nodes .Nodes eats the smallest powered critter on your upkeep, regardless of Hexproof, and with Heliod around is basically a death sentence for everything below 6 power. Nodes never goes away as Heliod is always present. Heliod is a creature of course, and this format can deal with creatures, Heliod being especially vulnerable to Path to Exile or any bounce effect.
This vulnerability to common spot removal spells explains why Greater Auramancy is a genuinely maindeckable choice.
The minus two ability of Liliana of the Veil is also a problem if Heliod has not made any men, although a Leyline of Sanctity or Halo set to Liliana will stop this from happening.
Most importantly for us burn and destroy effects don't touch him, however, and there are almost no common -x-x abilities that can deal with a 5/6, so as your enchantment defenses grow Heliod becomes increasingly hard to deal with.
The other Gods all present similar types of benefits, and whilst squeezing Keranos in sounds lovely, the mana base would be stretched if we refrain from fetches ourselves. Most of the others offer less value than Heliod, but are still nonetheless reasonable options.
This card is probably the best Theros themed enchantment card despite not actually being in Theros block. Using this card does present us with some issues, however. Firstly, switching on the team is an issue in itself- often making our own mass removal unattractive, and making theirs potentially game winning. In the case of a single enchantment keeping their deck from working, such as a Leyine or Runed Halo stopping a Scapeshift , there is little more depressing than watching your Greater Auramancy biting a bolt, followed by Bolt/Snappy on the bolt to make Leyline of Sanctity disappear for the turn they need to combo. Dropping Starfield early in order to abuse the re-animation effect can backfire if you end up trying to not switch your team on. The reanimation is optional of course, and can provide an infinite blocker, so it is not to be sniffed at. Personally I love this card, but I feel it is best when it is cast to win the game there and then, making it feel situational. Enduring Ideal certainly likes this card- the ability to search stuff out making it a superb one of. We do not get as much luxurious card selection, and so care needs to be taken when using and playing with this one.
The problem with the card is twofold- firstly it comes down turn two and does nothing against some decks that can just chip away. Secondly our second turn is a pretty huge turn- we need something down before t3- and given the choice it is normally better to get down other options. For example.....
Runed Halo
Suppression Field
Or Luminarch.
Well here there are a number of decks where the optimal play will be Halo or Field. Vs. Living End, Melira Combos, Scapeshift, Ad Nauseam or most fetch heavy decks the Field is often life saving turn 2. Vs aggro and Burn decks the Halo shines on that second turn. So given the choice the Ascension won't be cast t2 a lot of the time, and for a card that takes a while to kick in that says something.
The later this card comes down the worse it is. It can work, and shines against some decks when it can make an end of turn game winning army that would do Miracles proud, let alone Modern decks. Its main upside is that it can be slipped down t2. That said I would personally not use it main deck very often. As a sideboard option it shines, a great card vs any deck that does not deal damage early- control decks, tron etc.
Karma is a card barely remembered, a relic from the days of real colour hosing. It costs 4, and against a normal fetch/shock-heavy W,B, G deck will kill them in about 3-4 turns if dropped mid-game. The reason we don't see more of it in sideboards is simple- when was the last time you saw mono-black, or even "Rock" at any table, top or otherwise? The card is still powerful in a vacuum, but compared to anti Island tech like Choke it does not see much play. That is where Urborg comes in, turning the card into a super Primal Order for every land.
The obvious downside- that it kills us- can be mitigated by our staple card Runed Halo or even Story Circle .
Of course they can kill Karma, but it is Abrupt Decay proof, and will not die to the swathes of targeted critter kill. Their answer has to be pretty quick, and for good measure the damage can be redirected to planeswalkers. This might sound like crazy Christmas land, but it actually got itself included as a transformational sideboard plan in a 3rd place deck at a 1K event. Not sure I would ever want to play it as the full on game plan, but as a way of increasing win cons from the board it seems reasonable.
and
These make for a powerful combo, normally seen in Enduring Ideal. Without selection the Unlife is decent by itself game one vs a chunk of the field. Remember that swinging for a million won't kill you until the next swing, but which time the Form will reset your life total. To be honest the combo is fine, it can be included and against aggro decks the Unlife does work by itself, so it only really costs you one dead card. Against control decks if I am going to have 8 mana then Obliterate will win the game for you damn near on the spot, though. You will get to high mana often with this deck, and this combo will win the game, but the combos and single card wincons above offer more in their own right, with each piece doing something by itself- e.g. Heliod.
Helix Pinnacle is a possibility if you want to get creative and have time on your hands.
It has a measure of self-protection- Abrupt Decay, Reclamation Sage et al. can't touch it.
Nykthos Mana can make it a reasonable win con. That said in itself it does nothing other than add to the enchantment count for sphere, and when you are 1-1 with ten on the clock this is not going to be winning it for you, unlike our fast beating Heliod or a Karma type damage card.
Barren Glory is even more insane in a permanent based prison deck, effectively being counter intuitive with the idea of a prison. The prison would have to be instant based and have sac options like Claws of Gix . Does not sound possible to me, but others may have different ideas.
Near-Death Experience has a chunk of potential- if you like living dangerously. Phyrexian Unlife, and Leylines might back this one up along with the usual taxes, making it a possible with pain lands to control life.
Hondens, such as Honden of Infinite Rage synergise to produce some ridiculous effects. the problem is that they require multi-mana and are quite expensive for what they are. If there were two mana Shrines to go in there these could become very powerful. As it is they are unlikely to be troubling the top tables. even at FNM, although both the red or white ones represent very decent effects.
These are basically all crazy off the wall win cons that are enchantment based. Fundamentally these are harder to work than the one card combo "good cards" listed above, in that they can't make threats/blockers. That said, if you like brewing, and are after more deck creation than Deck Creation normally offers, well these might be your guys, eh?
Basically any planeswalker with a decent ability or two could be used in this deck, with the ability to protect itself being highly desirable.
Two issues exist with the use of planeswalkers. Firstly, we have a fair few cards that prevent damage to us but only Sphere of Safety prevents attacks against planeswalkers. Ghostly Prison, Runed Halo and Story Circle/COP type cards don't ever protect our planeswalkers.
If you do go down the planeswalker route it pretty much rules out using Suppression Field , one of our better t2 plays that inhibits everything from infinite Melira style sac combos, Kiki, Fetches, opposing Planeswalkers, Equipment and even Lightning Storm in Ad Nauseam.
Another consideration is that a large number of Planeswalkers have a very specific set of abilities, and several relate directly to creatures, of which we have none. Liliana is the sort of controlling planeswalker we would like but at double B it is not going to be easy.
If you do plump for the Planeswalker route then Gideon Jura and Elspeth, Knight Errant are two of the older and better planeswalkers who fit in well with some aspects of our plan and offering some measure of protection for themselves.
There are many potential walkers. Here are just some.
Elspeth, Knight Errant
Manlands and lands that generate men offer a fair deal to a deck that stalls and wipes the board a lot. Suppression Field is again antagonistic with man-lands, although we can benefit from Nykthos mana and go long so in the later part of the game it is less of an issue. I personally don't rate too many of these- our coloured mana is important, and when it comes to tapped lands in a deck with some binary cards like ours scrying from Temples is probably more important than the odd chump or post-Wrath beat.
Mutavault offers the ability to do 2 damage for just 1 mana activation, and can block Etched Champion, although that is only a minor consideration given our likely Runed Halos.
Celestial Colonnade offers a great body and evasion, although limits us to a blue splash and we are limited when it comes to CIP tapped (ETB tapped for all you youngsters). I would probably run a copy or two of this in a blue splash shell.
Forbidding Watchtower - an overlooked card that provides a very defensive body at a reasonable cost, although it is less of a wincon and more of a blocker. That said CIP tapped is again a huge drawback.
Blinkmoth Nexus . Psuedo-mini Mutavaults that fly.
Keldon Megaliths. Slow but can shoot Mana Dorks, players (and thus Planeswalkers) and Bobs. Its great apart from the fact that we are sometimes just too slow as it is, and not producing white can be an issue in our deck.
We really don't want to be dabbling in critters, unless they are enchantments as well that gain protection from Greater Auramancy and synergise with Sphere of Safety. If we do run them their power is often secondary to their main abilities and their status enchantments, and including them switches on creature-only kills like Terminate, but in the case of, say, Courser of Kruphix it should replace itself. One thing to remember is Fetch-Courser synergy is again limited if we use Suppression Field, although it does work well with Temples.
The ability of the Eidolon of Rhetoric is very powerful vs a narrow range of decks- cascade based Living End and Restore Balance, Storm, Ad Nauseam and decks like Tron that cycle through to get what they want. For that reason its a good board card, especially with the 4 toughness making it a reasonably priced blocker.
Other off-the-wall wincons that could work without attacking and if you could protect them include cards such as
Azor's Elocutors
and
Felidar Sovereign
Neither of these are recommended- fragile and lacking synergy with our other stuff, both could, however, find a home in someone's pet build, but not mine.
Sun Titan is a legitimate consideration here, although I personally prefer it in a UW traditional control shell.
The other option is to use Nykthos elements to shove out a huge game ending Eldrazi. Spaghetti monsters, anyone? Emrakul, the Aeons Torn is the poster boy, but some of the smaller mates have some nice control elements in, Ully, Kozy etc. all hit hard.
Ideally we look at about 24 lands+/- 1, build depending. The lowest I have seen is 22 lands including 8 scry lands. Normal builds are 24, I have seen 25.
Essential One:
Basically the Scry is our best "free" filtering mechanism. A lack of fetches really helps make this work well. We have many binary cards in our deck, and putting Leyline no 2 or 3 to the bottom on t1 is often the difference between winning and losing. These are uniquely good in Prison decks, where life is valuable and cards are hit and miss and tutoring is non existent, almost. They often feel like spells in this deck. It is one of those truths that is hard to believe, so I simply say "try them." Prison decks are unlike most other decks in the format, and fetch/shocking is the way to lose rapidly.
Splashing for a color is a great option. White offers the core of the prison, but delving into another colour offers the chance to get stuff from the color pie that helps in some of the weaker matches. Personally I favour Red or Blue and then Green and Black. Blue is for me the best for Enduring Ideal, so given the opportunity I go for Red. If you do splash aim for Temples and shock lands before fetches, unless you have serious reason to use fetches. Fetches might be better, but that pain soon adds up in this deck. Each color offers different options, and these are outlined below.
This offers the ability to deal with land from the board. Crumble to Dust helps solve one of the deck's huge issues- Tron.
Blood Moon is main deckable and an enchantment, although works against Nykthos, so perhaps as a one of with a Tutor effect it might work in the right meta. Contrary to popular belief dropping this vs Tron decks normally just delays them, but it can be brutal vs 4 color good stuff decks.
Also on offer are Bolt, Pyroclasm and Helix effects, although these again don't have much synergy with our deck as each one reduces the number of Enchantments, and so an argument can be made for these cards to appear in sideboards.
One card I do wish to mention is a pet one. Obliterate solves an issue with the deck in game 2 and 3 against Red/Blue shell control decks like Twin or Grixis control. Whilst we can often make ourselves immune to creature attack, these decks often eventually take control of the game, chaining Cryptics and Snappies to remove cards like Leyline late game, providing a window for them to finish us off with a Keranos and Bolt fest. Even if they do not they can sometimes get enough mana to keep our threats off the table forever. After it resolves, (and it nearly always resolves) Obliterate leaves us with a huge number of enchantments that become more effective when they have fewer mana resources. Given their reliance on fetches and shocks, by the time they are back in the game they are often dead. Suppression Field is excellent in this situation, as each fetch is not going to be activated till it has two shocks alongside. Even without this you can often get situations when they have just a few "real" lands left in the deck. In short it kills all of their permanents, and leaves us with several. You will note that Heliod is indestructible, and thus can beat straight after. Additionally the card is playable against Tron post board, and also devastating, especially against Blue Tron that can ramp up to mass bounce. For those sceptical, and I do not blame you if you are, I would simply recommend that you try it in the board- like Temples it needs to be seen in action.
Outpost Siege is a superb card that is the best thing to happen to RW lockdown decks in ages. That said I don't think it works well for us- we have fewer one-for-ones to reduce damage to us in the early game than most lockdown decks running bolts et al, and without the acceleration of Spirit Guides or Signets the card is slower than we need; our turn four needs to be dropping stuff that slows them.
Red also offers us serious old style color hating such as
Boil
as well as some uncounterable Rending Volley action, though pot Twin ban this is less relevant.
Neither red based Gods are going to help us sadly, as their abilities just do not match up.
War's toll has been used, being solid vs most control/instant based strategies.
Not a huge amount to see here at first glance but a deeper look shows us hidden options. Thanks to Caspian for giving us his feedback. I have played Green myself and it was much better than I expected.
Green offers some flexibility in terms of spells. Beast within does pretty much everything, for example.
Primal Command does a lot for its five mana too, but we really need to be looking at enchantments and not five mana spells.
Life from the Loam gives some landkill/card advantage options when combined with grey lands and Horizon Canopies.
Kruphix's Insight offers some much needed advantage/filtering, although the cost is a bit high, rather analagous to Idyllic Tutor.
Kitchen Finks is a great blocker in the main or board option, and works well with Wrath effects and Nykthos, but does not synergise too much with the rest. If you do start playing with this there is a danger you add in townships et al and before long are just playing an enchantment heavy Rhino deck.
Root Maze could be a build around card, but the second, third and fourth copies do nothing, and without filtering will lose us games.
The best reason to play green is Courser of Kruphix - a great blocker that benefits from being an enchantment in terms of Greater Auramancy and Sphere of Safety, it gives us card advantage. Sadly it is double green, but it is excellent.
The Green/White God is one of the more over-costed ones, sadly, and the Green one equally unexciting for us.
Off the wall ideas in green include land kill with
Spreading Algae with Urborg, not tried it myself but Caspian, one the forum contributors, has.
Of perhaps most note is the fact that Green has the exceptionally rude Choke , an evil sideboard card that if resolved wins matches.
Blue offers a number of excellent choices, and the best man-land.
Monastery Siege is superb in that both modes are highly relevant. Ideal for Enduring Ideal decks that need to hit their signature card it is still a fine option for us. Just be careful to avoid self-decking. Two cards you might want to consider if running this are
Wheel of Sun and Moon
and
Mistveil Plains
Spreading Seas offers some degree of anti-Tron potential from the board or even main, and bumps up the enchantment count to boot. Maindeckable, it has the potential to hurt a few deck's greedy manabases, draw a card.
Copy Enchantment Pretty obviously decent but limited to what you have down, just don't copy Heliod.
Detention Sphere . Potentially stronger than O ring, it offers flexibility.
Zur's Weirding . A board card that can just be jammed down early against Tron, especially if you run a Ghost Qurter. It could potentially offer a lock with lifegain cards like Peace of Mind , so that they are forced to keep paying 2 life and you are able to keep denying them draws as eventually each card you draw stops 1.5 draws of theirs. As long as you have a Starfield down the effect is a non-issue for you, and at a push any wincon down can be protected by Zur's. That is all a bit Chritmas-land for my liking, although I have used the card in Enduring Ideal boards.
Sadly the White-Blue god, Ephara, is one of the best but its abilities just do not match up. Thassa, God of the Sea is super, although switching her on requires a large blue investment, and probably Spreading Seas.
Blue also offers counters with cards like Condescend , although our deck gets worse the fewer enchantments we play
One cc discard is superficially attractive, although it reduces enchantment counts and means we need t1 black sources, which is hard for us.
Neither black costing Gods look like they match up with our deck, sadly. That leaves us with a black's control spells, none of which offer much outside of Planeswalkers, which we have talked about earlier.
I won't spoiler this as it is fundamental to the deck. If you deviate from these cards you need a very good reason. The win cons offer a lot of wiggle-room and variation, but providing you are using Nykthos you should expect to be using the following, most of them as four ofs apart from maybe the Auramancy.
Leyline of Sanctity - instrumental in protecting from Clique, Liliana's down abilities (Junk/Jund/8 rack), Valakut (Scapeshift), Lightning Storm (Ad Nauseam), Gitaxian Probe (R/U/X decks and Infect), Grapeshot (Storm), 1 cc discard (4 colour good stuff decks, Tokens, Grishoalbrand, Loam Pox), Borborygmos Enraged (Grishoalbrand), Murderous Redcap (Podless pod), Karn's target player ability (Tron), Gifts Ungiven (4 color Gifts/UW Gifts-Tron) and a host of burn spells in R/U/X, Zoo and Burn decks. Also awesome in terms of mana ramping via Nykthos, it is Abrupt Decay proof
Ghostly Prison - do you want to live or not? Resolving this vs a Grxis style deck is great at reducing their countering capabilities, forcing them to attack or counter early on. Stops ANY Kiki-Resto style combos, and destroys token decks, hurts Living End, Dredge and Merfolk decks that can go wide, it is a serious roadbump for aggro including affinity and it's Signal Pests. Rubbish vs Trons, Jeskai combo and Ad Nauseam, not enough vs Elves.
Sphere of Safety . Just insanely good vs every critter deck, from making them pay an extra 2 or 4 to attack you with Ghostly Prisons you goes to making them pay 6,7,8 very rapidly, and then often far onwards of that to the realms of 20+ to attack with a pair of them.
Runed Halo . Strong two drop, normally a 4 of. It can name Liliana, Gifts or Valakut to act as a Leyline or can name a card with imminent board presence,say a Goyf, Insectile Aberation, or my favorite Eidolon of the Great Revel. Super with Nythos for getting that extra t4/5 mana.
Greater Auramancy Essential at keeping our stuff down, a pair give everything enchantment-based Shroud. I would not recommend less than two. Especially strong if you use creature enchantments.
Again I will not hide this. These are the strongly recommended options, not all are four ofs but they all deserve serious consideration.
Nevermore . Awesome vs linear decks like Ad Nauseam (naming Ad Nauseam), Grishoalbrand (Goryo's, Through the breach) or Jeskai Ascendancy. It is very solid vs decks that need to resolve a bounce spell to beat your Leyline, and very strong vs Co-Co style decks, it is a skill rewarding card. It can be very binary, especially against decks like Lantern Control, but it is rarely dead. Yes there will be times when you name a chord and they Co-Co for what they want or vice versa.
I will be honest I was never that impressed till I tried it, and it made such a difference in certain matches that I would not play less than 3 in the 75, with two main minimum. In local metas it becomes more important- if you know the Elf player runs Fracturing Gust in the board, for example. It can act as a lock piece or as protection for your key lock pieces.
Oblivion Ring Removable removal is not where we want to be but this often fills a slot or two as it deals with almost anything.
and
Banishing Light Oblivion Ring mark 2 for those playing in environs where echoing truth is common.
Porphyr Nodes An auto 4 of in Heliod builds, period, and in a few others to boot. This almost made it into the core section but some decks that splash may chose not to run it at 4 copies.
Rest in Peace All star board card, maindeckable given the Delve-, 'Goyf-, Knight of the Reliquary- and Snapcaster- heavy nature of the current meta. Ruins Dredge, impacts severely Living End, Loam Pox, mono-W Martyr-Proc, Grishoalbrand, Melira Combo and generally strong against aspects of the above named cards.
Nyx-fleece ram I do not favour it as I run Nodes, but it can be really good vs Aggro decks in non Nodes decks at least, blocking and gaining life from t2.
Stony Silence all-star vs Tron, Ad Nauseam, Lantern and Affinity, normally in the board as a 3-4 of. Switching off mana abilities is especially cruel vs Ghostly Prison taxes.
Ediolon of Rhetoric as discussed in the creature section, very efficient vs Storm, Cascade, Tron, Ad Nauseam combo aspects of Elves as well as hurting Snappy and being good blocker from the board.
Rule of Law Same effect, but I prefer blocking especially with Greater Auramancy about.
Suppression Field Awesome card, but dead late on. Hurts fetches, Kiki combos, Lavamancers, Melira Sac combos, Expedition Maps, Equipment and, of course, planeswalkers. Especially great if you decide that cheeky sideboard Obliterate is for you. It even stops the t3 Karn activation.
Peace of Mind Life-gain for cards, does not play well with Field.
Story Circle , maindeckable Circle of Protction effect. Not to be sniffed at, especially decent as it can be activated in response to destruction, saving you for the rest of the turn most likely, although again a nonbo with Suppresion Field.
Sanctimony . Real burn hate.
Favor of the Mighty
Protection vs Boggles and stops the Kiki combo. Cute.
Many of the colored options are discussed in the splash section above.
This section is for white non enchantments that are not discussed in previous sections.
You can again see both the splash section and the wincons for more discussion of things such as Pyroclasm or Planeswalkers.
Idyllic Tutor Slow but it acts as copy 5 of Sphere of Safety gets those one ofs such as Blood Moon or Rest In Peace that creep into builds. Flexible if slow, a copy of this is always worth considering.
Wrath of God. Not all builds run these main, especially Starfield builds, but they do make for great removal, especially in Heliod Builds.
Disenchant effects such as Wear//Tear, Disenchant etc may often make the odd board, and we have already discussed the few creatures that might make an impact here along with Planeswalkers. The thing to remember is that they may not bring removal in for your surprise Kataki, War's Wage , and yes you might find your Stony being eaten by their nature's claim. But for every time this happen how many games will you have lost because your Kataki did not get shroud or make a Sphere even harder to beat through.
Path to Exile . Really? It is so bad vs taxes it does not bare thinking about.
I would use Dismember if I had to over this, but really I would avoid both or splash for Bolt/Helix/Echoing Truth from the board.
Artifacts such as Pithing Needle can be used too. In each case their presence reduces the synergy in the deck, so only use them if you absolutely have to.
Relatively easy. Set Halo on Eidolon, look for Leylines, watch out for destructive revelry, go first as often as possible, keep Auramancies in. Eidolon of Rhetoric is a great blocker here. I like to use the odd helix in the board if I am playing red splash as they are more flexible than, say, Sanctimony. Phyrexian Unlife and Form of the Dragon are used in Enduring Ideal, and if you include that tech here then you will induce apoplexy when dropping t3 Unlife game one. Space is always tight in boards, so if you are having problems look for flexible cards. You can lose this, but its normally fine.
Easiest of all if they don't run Maniac game 1 you can't lose. Nevermore can get an autoscoop too.
Nevermore on the namesake card, look for Leylines if you know they are on it, try and grab removal for Maniac. Eidolon to slow them from the board, Stony Silence in from the board too in order to hurt the manarock based acceleration. Field hits Lightning Storm, watch out for Maniac from the board. Board out the 8 taxes.
Harder than it looks, but if the build is right its fine. Leyline, Halo on Boby or GB, and Nevermore on TTB or GV can be awesome, the taxes can keep them out of it but remember the splicing shenanigans can generate them a lot of mana, a TTB costs only five. You are safe when Leyline is down and its twenty odd to attack. Rest in Peace is an all star. Watch out for them boarding in an Emrakul.
Hard. G1= probably dead 9 times out of ten, if you run Moons then you might nab an extra game or two for every ten, but not much more. I run Obliterate main, and steal the odd game with it. GW is often worse as it runs PTE for Heliod.
G2- still hard- you need to run red or blue splashes- Crumble to Dust, Obliterate(!), Moons, Stony Silence and surprisingly all star Eidolon all come in whilst Ghostly Prisons are dead and a Leyline or two can come out. In blue builds its Spreading Seas (and I have even tried Zurs Weirding!) and any extra Ghost Quarters come in, although Bribery is awesome if you want to dedicate a spot or two to this match- it can steal matches from under their nose. Often the issue is they can be slowed but we can't beat past the Wurmcoil. Watchout for harmless Wurmcoils being turned into Halo evading tokens thanks to your Wraths. How much hate you dedicate to this deck is key- if you don't have enough you will lose every time, but you knacker your chances up in the event as a whole by having too much, so just the odd non flexible card like Crumble to Dust and a bunch of Eidolon/Stonies might get there.
Very similar to red-green, game one is awful. The key here is to have the right splash- red deals best with this- Boil, Crumble to Dust, Obliterate, Blood Moon could all do some work. Nevermore on Cyclonic Rift is also decent, that is the card that beats us. Dropping taxes should find a lot of space in those 2nd and hopefully third games, and the match up is not unwinnable game 2 and 3. Basically you have a shot with red, and are pretty dead with the other splashes, this being the hardest tron.
The easiest of the Tron matches. Gifts does not work when we have Leyline down (no legal targets), Stony is nasty as hell for them post board, their Tron is harder to assemble. Their Wrath and Path effects won't touch a Auramancy Heliod combo, and Starfield can win it straight away. Those off the wall builds with Pinnacles etc. are equally hard for their removal suite to deal with.
It is a bye, shame it is not popular. Halo, Leylines, Auramancies to stop them being bounced and Nevermore on key cards (take your pick) plus Eidolons in some builds. Just remember to keep some taxes in for goblin tokens.
You can't lose this! Nevermore is good too.
RU-X decks are not that hard to shut out- with no twin combo to worry about you can lock them out. An early Leyline is superb. Daddy K, or Keranos to his mates, is their MVP if they can keep our Leylines off the table. IF they cannot then his mandatory ability has to target something, normally their men. Eventually they will be unable to attack.
They have many dead cards, such as Shackles and Threads, but we still have to be careful if running Heliod. They can be locked out from attacking, leaving direct damage the big issue, and once again Leyline is key.
Go first and win G1! Seriously, this match is about hitting Halo and Field t2. If they are a tad slo its game to us. If they are on god-hand mode on the play its game to them. I have died after a t2 halo t3 Prison, but it is amazingly rare, I have played the match a lot. The match is never easy on the draw. A fog effect or two can buy time if this is in the meta. Else Dismember, Celestial Flare and Sunlance are things from the board, but I personally use Lightning Helix from the board to increase the number of valid t2 plays. Helix does double duty, also coming in against burn. If the game goes long its ours.
Often hard to spot what is a Rhino list and what is a combo list at first glance, making sequencing hard. Rhino is not targeted, so Nevermore on it is not bad if they are straight up midrange. Auramancy and Leyline are MVPs regardless of their exact deck variety, a pair of Auramancies are golden. If they are all about Chords and Co-Co then Nevermore Chord before the Co-Co. If you use Karma this match becomes super good game 2, time is often an issue but not when Karma is about. Make sure you know the combo and practice with Halo. Naming goyf is great, but not if they drop a Melira and Finks and chord for the Seer.I never fear this match.
A very decent match. If they are slightly slow they are dead. Halo deals with Etched Champion, be careful naming anything else. Once Sphere resolves we tend to win. Field is great in this match, and Stony from the board is nastier than in normal decks. Nodes is especially viscous with Heliod.
A strong match, even if they run Pridemage.
It is often close but we tend to win. Wrath early, don't get greedy, always assume they can remove one lock piece next turn.
Thalia is their main route to victory, on the draw it is hard for us if that hits. Nodes is exceptional in this match if you run Heliod and fine if you do not. Eldrazi and T is different, but Nodes is exceptional here too.
Happy days, this is one of the easier matches. Like D and T or hatebears without the ability to remove our permanents. Their countering is just not enough to trouble us.
I always think this is going to be close and it ends up being easy. Leyline hurts discard, their attempt to go wide looks silly if you resolve prison and laughable if Sphere Resolves. Do not be afraid to Wrath early if you run them....your Sphere will be around the corner sooner or later. Nodes is strong here again.
Stopping them winning is easy but they can deck us with their Mistveil Plains. Field hurts the Proc forecast ability (Nevermore does not), but beating them down is hard from 100+ life. If you run RIP you are golden. Watch out for ultimated Elspeths.
There won't be a game two most likely, unless you are running alternate win cons.
The aggro cousin of Proc, this is easier and plays like Merfolk. Just don't get a slow start and it is ours.
We almost do not need to board for this
Nodes eats hexproofers, although Totem armor stops them dying temporarily. None of that matters if you make them pay multiple mana to attack. Unless you have cute tech like Favor of the Mighty in the board this game will often be touch and go early and grindy mid game. T2 Halo is the nuts and sets us well on the way. Halo into prison is a strong start, as is dropping Nodes after their t1 Boggle.
It is in our favour with most of our possible versions, especially if you run Eidolon of Rhetoric or Nodes, that stop the card draw getting out of hand.
Leyline and Halo are key. See neither and it is GG, see both and they are finished early on. Be careful- Koth does not deal damage- the mountains do, and watch out for Blasphemous act if you make an army of men.
Their mana is hurt by field, Gifts, lilly's downward abilities and discard all hate Leylines. Iona reanimated is a bugger, but even that can be beaten if Heliod is down with enough protection. They have to attack to win, remember. Game two show them some Karma love for quicker wins.
Hard one for us, sadly. We always have the issue that they can turn mediocre board states into great ones EOT and can Chord for exact kill cards. Eidolon is great t2, Leyline does nothing apart from stop the lethal BG Origins elf from killing us outright. Wrath is good, but they will always recover sooner rather than later. If they ever end up needing twenty to attack they can pay it, so you need to actually win. The main issue is that bits of ours match bits of theirs, we have stuff that stops small chunks of their decks and until Linvala turns into a 2cc enchantment or Humilty gets into Modern (no chance on either) we won't have cards that act against swathes of their stuff. They can genuinely run Fracturing gust too, so keep Nevermore in and cross fingers you get early control and a quick wincon.
Boarding- well in red bring those Pyroclasms in. Overall we can win but it feels like a 1-2 more than a 2-1
Same deck, different day. The easiest of these is R/U delver- less threats, most burn and sadly not seen anywhere for ages.
Grixis is OK, their mana is fragile, and vulnerable to Moon, early Fields or post board Karmas and Boils, and they can't pay 20 to attack. Leyline is the MVP, and any main deck Rest in Peaces will win the day hen combined with a tax or two resolving. Get the taxes down and their countering is reduced, leaving us to take over. If they play the counter game remember the later the game goes the more likely we are to imprison them. The hardest thing used to be identifying if they are Twin Grixis or Delver Grixis - sequencing tending to be different for the decks. Now we don't care!
RUG delver is slightly harder. The same applies as for Grixis, really, but their relative lack of targeted discard makes it harder as they have less dead cards against that t0 Leyline.
Overall I am never unhappy to play these matches, they are always close but we always have a shot. Eidolon is good against snappy flashbacks and Snapcaster itself, but switches on their removal, which they may have to keep.
Its quite easy, unless they pack excessive Back to Nature style hate in the board, and even then given that they actually have to dredge they may not draw it. Expect Abrupt Decay and then Maelstrom Pulse for those RIPs, Auramancy is the nuts here.
Its tight. Nevermore on ascendency G1 is a winner, but they game can be won regardless.
Eidolons do work, Leyline does work, Halo does work, RIP does work. Taxes don't do much but keep the odd ones in. Wraths ar still decent enough as clumsy BOP killers.
Overall it is in our favour, just.
A harder match than Ad Nauseam, say, the Leylines, Nevermore, Auramancies and Halos are key, the rest a bit pointless. Make sure you know how Valakut reads when naming Halo! Cryptic bounce is their normal way to beat our defenses. Game two those Eidolons look good, Moon too. It is losable, but slightly favourable for us.
Leylines, halos. See them to win and use Nevermore to keep lilly off the table if you can. T0 Leyline is a long way to a win.
If you have a bunch of anti attack cards and don't know your opponent is on this you will lose game 1 most likely.
Its like junk, really. Same cards are good for us, and basically they don't have Rhino which helps. BUGs conunters often don't work they way they want, their impression of a tempo deck looks pretty lame against a critterless deck. That said they have all the removal and there is no easy game against this type of deck.
Depends on which Zoo. KOTR, One drop, Coralhelm combo, Co/Co etc. It is always tighter than you think, Pridemage is a bugger and can win them matches.
They have two angles of attack- men and burn, so we need stuff to shut down both aspects. They also have a mana base that is vulnerable to Field early on and to Moon for most of the game if you run one. Their deck encourages a play style that helps us board wipe for big value.
Aggro green is fine, just watch out for Back to Nature game 2.
The only successful prison deck is hard to play, mercifuly. Leyline and Nevermore are presumably key (on Bridge). The Lantern player's Academy Ruins can deck us unless we run main Rest in Peace. A Starfield build which opens with a Leyline and Starfield in hand will win more often than not. Nevermore number two should aim at Surgical extraction. Game two Stony silence is king. I have played this once only, I did win but only thanks to me working out the importance of killing ruin.
Game one is solid, Nevermore is strong, early attack taxes seal the deal more often than not.
If they are not on the Avalanche Rider/Beast plan B then it is easy game 2. Field hits cycling, and they can't go wide if it costs millions to attack, even if their men are big. Again the only threat is them running Back to Nature for instawin.
This deck has evolved so much the matchup info is really out of date. The older hyper fast versions were fine, like playing infect but marginally easier. Halo is strong, and S Field slows them to wading through treacle, finished with Ghostly and Leyline the core is designed for these decks. Newer builds have more controlling elements. The more the deck can grind the harder the match.
I have not played or got data from anyone playing against USA control, Fae, Loam, Restore Balance,RW Prisons, Timewalk, Co-Co allies, Deathcloud, Norrin, Esper, Loam-Pox control or any of the other myriad of viable non-tier 1 decks. Practice as ever is key.
4 Runed Halo
4 Suppression Field
4 Banishing Light
4 Ghostly Prison
3 Nevermore
2 Ajani Vengeant
4 Leyline of Sanctity
1 War's Toll
4 Wrath of God
3 Sigil of the Empty Throne
3 Sphere of Safety
2 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
13 Plains
4 Temple of Triumph
2 Chalice of the Void
2 Greater Auramancy
4 Kor Firewalker
2 Stony Silence
3 Blood Moon
2 Open the Vaults
1 Heliod, God of the Sun
4 Leyline of Sanctity
4 Nevermore
4 Oblivion Ring
4 Porphyry Nodes
1 Rest in Peace
4 Runed Halo
4 Sigil of the Empty Throne
3 Sphere of Safety
4 Suppression Field
3 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
10 Plains
1 Snow-Covered Plains
4 Temple of Silence
4 Temple of Triumph
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
3 Karma
2 Kataki, War’s Wage
2 Pithing Needle
3 Rest in Peace
2 Stony Silence
3 Wrath of God
Forum or user decklists I have not yet included, I do not want to give undue prominence to my own, and will only include this section if others are willing to contribute their near-finished lists so that you get more than one guy's pet options. Thanks for reading, and if you are in any doubt about posting your deck please do post, and if there is a better forum we will point you to it! Check out my other Modern Primer- RW Prisons (Boros Bridge, Sun and Moon, and RW Stax).
No, just because of time reasons, [I only worked with one person on the deck by email, and was the sole tester] but its another answer to otherwise untargetable emrakuls and a way past resolved iona/wurmcoils if men are on the table. With spectral it should be nuts against traditional critter decks-martyr, jund, delver, etc and certainly worth a place in the 75 at the least. Its not as essential as ranger of eos, but competetive enough for consideration over even elspeth....
CML was quite dissmissive of green splashes on TCG when he looked at ways of improving the deck with new colors, but I am pretty sure the green addition is a way to make the deck better vs twin, affinity and pod, whilst allowing the option of a wider variety of disruption from the board......
I ran this list at a modern PTQ with 90 odd players, going four wins, two draws, one loss, dropping five of my seven points lost to martyr proc mirrors [there were only four martry decks in the tournament].
Its a hyrbidised martyr deck [i.e. one that runs spectral procession/windbrisk in addition to the proclamations/martrys/ascendants] to which I have added green for reasons explained below. It is rather embarassingly 61 cards, I simply wanted the ability to search for a main deck forgetender that otherwise would have pushed out a precious sideboard slot.
The deck
4 martyr of sands
4 serra ascendant
1 kami of false hope
1 burrenton forge tender
4 path to exile
4 squadron hawk
2 Honor the pure
2 auriok champion
1 runed halo
4 qasali pridemage
2 proclamation of rebirth
4 spectral procession
3 ranger of eos
1 elspeth, knight errant
4 windbrisk heights
9 plains
1 forest
2 razorverge thicket
2 wooded bastion
1 temple garden
1 gavony township
4 sunpetal grove
sideboard:
2 wheel of sun and moon
1 rule of law
3 ethersworn canonists
1 wilt leaf liege
2 aven mindsensor
1 relic of progenitus
1 goldmeadow harrier
2 fracturing gust
2 beast within
The plan A of the deck is to hit martryr/ascendant. Plan B is spectral/windbrisk card advantage and beats. Windbrisk was excellent all day long, forcing people to think about honor the pure appearing mid combat, not to mention when another spectral or ranger was hiding under it.
I expected lots of affinity, twin, jund and trons [either UW or the green versions], but of course the deck has to be prepared to face any number of decks.
Card choices- white:
auriok champions- good with spectral, sometimes gets the life total up when martyr and rangers are hiding [rare in a windbrisk version], great against twin. Allows planninig for quicker rebuilding post pyroclasm, [one man towards a windbrisk activation], and it blocks lots of jund men. Mediocre at times, great at others.
Runed halo- a failsafe vs etched champions [esp those with with platings], good vs gifts ungiven and badly built storm decks with just grapeshot main deck. Rarely does nothing.
Elspeth - could have been a fourth ranger, but with searching via windbrisk the fouth ranger is not as relevant as with a traditional build. Elspeth plus unactivated 1/1 ascendant often gets the ascendant to very happy days.
Forge tender: search choice vs jund when the martry plan isnt going to happen but the spectrals are on the case, blocking ravine and bloodbraids.
Only two proclamations: the deck isnt that focused on the graveyard, and there is a valid plan B that involves beating to the face with spectral tokens. Something had to go and the thrid proclamation was it. Never missed it...........
Card choices - green/white.
Pridemage- helps ruin twin, which is a weak match if you are just relying on path. This way six two drops [champion/pridemage] and 4 path help towards making that matchup very much tilted towards this deck. It also makes affinity far more secure, giving 4 main deck cranial kills. The exalted is often relevant, allowing a point of damage through before popping sometimes vs the UW tron/gifts decks where it sometimes denies them a a fourth,fifth,sixth, seventh or second coloured mana for a turn. With a pair down it beats on its own for four, with elepeth for six. It takes out a wurmcoil that would otherwise gain life, takes out shackles, swords in caw blade, and vitally allows a single ascendant thats 6/6 to beat for seven- a potential out vs a resolved unburial rites/iona. It also sits at 3/3 with honor the pure or a resolved and activated township. Kills a birthing pod too. Basically makes mediocre matchups good, and good matchups excellent. Never took one out.
Card choices- land
gavony township: see spectral procession
No flagstones of trokair due to plains/sunpetal issues, and enough potential CIP tapped lands to make the basic land base a simple risk free choice, the deck can't run mistveil plains or Emeria, sky ruin.
Sideboard:
goldmeadow harrier: taps emrakul, iona, wurmcoil, ascendants in order to get the last few points of damage through.
fracturing gust: see affinity
beast within- an potential out vs iona from the bin, essential vs tron decks as a surprise land kill- they really do not expect land kill- buy a turn, win a game. Comes in vs storm decks for the same reason, and is useful vs transformative storm decks that try and twin you after paths are removed.
canonist: In for storm only really
rule of law: See canonist, just a canonist that needs bounce
mindsensor: gifts, mirror matches, pod , boros even, knight of the reliquary decks, zoo [remember that?!!], a real MVP board star
wheel of sun and moon- birthing pod combos pod, aggro loam, dredge/gifts, storm.
relic: gifts, pod- could have been soemthing else in retrospect
wilt leaf- jund, ravens crime dredge, death cloud,
what I did not run: leyline of sanctity- its a mvp in traditional martyr but the matches where its most useful are ones I am less afraid of. It does not beat to the face, and the biggest problem proc has is a bunch of "stop you sideboard cards" but no win if the martry plan runs adrift.
stonecloaker gargoyle- its great in the mirror and vs pod, bouncing ranger of eos and eating specific graveyard cards with triggers on the stack, and a pair can stop opposing lifelinkers. But with no finks the "bounce your own stuff" doesn't work out often enough.
Thalia: see spectral procession etc. Just not viable.
Hope this helps people looking for another take beyond the Wbr versions. I have used this forum a lot to be successful with the mono-w deck a couple of months back, hope I can give something back.