Onto other thoughts, can someone sell me into Squadron Hawk in this deck. I am comparing them to 3 Baneslayer Angel and 1 Felidar Sovereign. The angel and sovereign can win you the game on their own and are impossible to attack into profitably. They serve as another way to survive if martyr is stopped somehow. The hawks just seem to make martyr better, which seems vastly unnecessary as we usually have more than enough white cards to martyr good. Not sure how good Mistveil Plains shenanigans are with the hawks. Not too mention recurring Baneslayer angel or felidar sovereign with emeria will pretty much ensure you win in the late game, unless they run a bunch of Paths and O-rings. But maybe i'm undervaluing the hawks. Any comments?
In this deck, I love Squadron Hawk. Four chump blockers are great. That they're also four tiny flying win cons to boot is even better. You'd be surprised how often the fact they fly wins board stalls when you keep chump blocking with Martyrs and Ranger of Eoses. Mistveil Plains just turns the last one in hand into another Hawk caller (and when you cast Hawk after Hawk with a Mistveil, you'll always have at least one in hand).
Since I run 3 Rise//Fall and 4 Blightning, the one thing I like about Cryptic Command is that it's a hard counter to everything, and you need hard counters to catch what discard doesn't. That and the random Fog occasionally wins games.
Then again, I'm also accentuating the LD theme with 2 Tectonic Edge and 1 Trickbind (admittedly, Trickbind has been about as good to me as Suffer the Past has).
"Mono-White" Tokens, UR Affinity, and Mono-Blue Merfolk win (all right, just how good is Vapor Snag treating Merfolk? qbturtle15's card choices are spreading like wildfire), while two Death and Taxes, Martyr Proc, Jund, Twin Pod, Living End (4 Faerie Macabre and 0 Shriekmaw main--expecting combo and not much aggro?), UR Storm (is a Past Ascension Hybrid, but has no Empty the Warrens main), Melira Pod, and UW Tron get close.
Two UB Tempo decks (one of them is the Merfolk hybrid), Blue Affinity (only special card is Thoughtcast and maybe Canonist), and an unusual GB take on Melira Pod win, while Boros Deck Wins, Boom/Bust Zoo, Izzet Deck Wins, Mono-Blue Tempo (moving it out of Rogue, although I still can't justify some of the deck design), another two Melira Pod, RG Ramp (moving it out of Rogue--the red splash allows Through the Breach and better sideboard options), four Jund, Esper Reanimator Gifts, two Mono-White Tokens, White Splash Merfolk, Tribal Blue Zoo, and Soul Sisters (3 Disenchant main?!? Yikes) get close.
White Splash Merfolk and Martyr Proc win, while RDW, Mono-Blue Merfolk, UB Tempo, UR Storm, three Tribal Blue Zoo (one unusually has Squadron Hawk main--trying to beat the mirror?), and Jund (rather aggro, with Kird Ape and no targeted discard main) get close.
RUG Tempo Thresh, Jund, and UW Tron win, while Soul Sisters (resembling Martyr Proc with no board wipes is a good direction), another Jund, Tribal Blue Zoo, Goblins, Mono-Blue Merfolk, Twin Pod, "Mono-White" Tokens (yes, there's a green card maindeck, and I should have started charting the mild green splash), White Splash Merfolk (seems that qbturtle15 was also saving up cash for Sygg and Moorland Haunt), Grixis Tempo (I now believe Suffer the Past is the weakest card maindeck), Exarch Twin, Red Affinity, and RDW get close.
In order from first to eighth place, the decks were Twin Pod, Exarch Twin, UB Tempo, Grixis Tempo, Aggro Elves (with slight combo potential), Ad Nauseam-Angel's Grace, Martyr Proc, and Twin Pod.
Yeah, Jin-G's 10 cmc is too much for this deck. I'm already reluctant to use 7-mana finishers with Teferi.
Also, I believe Jin-G is like Bob--he can't be the biggest hitter in the deck, or you can't win before he kills you (Bob by life loss, Jin-G by self-decking).
Better eliminate Pyromancer Ascension or UR Storm will gladly pay 3 mana to net 6 mana with a Pyretic Ritual and it all goes downhill from there. (Board in Viridian Zealot or graveyard hate, probably.)
Tezz Affinity and Esper Reanimator Gifts win, while two Melira Pod, Bant Aggro, Martyr Proc, Death and Taxes, RG Ramp, two Jund, and 5cc Cruel Control get close.
Tempered Steel Affinity (Ardent Recruit? Carapace Forger? Aren't those guys not boosted by Tempered Steel?), Jund, and Melira Pod win, while Black Splash Merfolk, Red Affinity, UW Control (likes using Reveillark instead of Sun Titan), Exarch Twin, three(!) Mono-Blue Merfolk, Rakdos Deck Wins, UB Tempo, another Melira Pod, Esper Reanimator Gifts, UW Polymorph Tokens, Tezz Affinity, and Twin Pod (nice Devoted Druid-Quillspike combo as a back-up) get close.
From first to eighth place (well, First, Second, Top 4, Top 8), the decks were RUG Tempo Thresh, Exarch Twin (everyone loves Dispel instead of Pact of Negation, probably because it's the more versatile card), Jund, Jund, Mono-Blue Merfolk, Jund, Martyr Proc, and Tezz Affinity. (Yes, that's 3 Jund Decks in the Top 8. Put that deck in your gauntlet for sure.)
Tempered Steel Affinity (unusually Esper-coloured), Tribal Blue Zoo, and Martyr Proc win, while Boros Deck Wins, Twin Pod (Novijen, Heart of Progress is nice with all the Persist dudes, and Melira just throws everyone off), UW Control (2 Mindbreak Trap main--yikes), Tribal Dark Zoo, UB Tempo, two Red Affinity, and Ad Nauseam-Angel's Grace get close.
Twin Pod, Red Affinity, and Esper Reanimator Gifts win, while Soul Sisters, another Red Affinity, "Mono-White" Tokens, Melira Pod, Mono-Blue Fae, another Esper Reanimator Gifts, UW Control, White Splash Merfolk, UW Tron, a plain old Tribal Zoo, Tribal Blue Zoo, and UW Polymorph Tokens get close.
Cruel Teachings tends to be UBRw, and it loves Lightning Helix.
In a recursion-heavy build (Tiago, Grim Harvest), I actually like Desperate Ravings. You dig a lot further than Think Twice lets you and whatever you discard is often still usable. Plus, randomly discarding a freshly drawn Desperate Ravings is funny.
I'm pretty tempted to play Grixis Teachings myself because Lightning Bolt is nifty removal that's never dead in any match-up. Terminate also happens to be three times better than any 2 cmc black removal spell.
I'm not a fan of Bogardan Hellkite as the finisher because Cruel Teachings has enough trouble hitting 7 mana for Cruel Ultimatum, so imagine Time Walking yourself that many more times to hit 8 mana...although Dreadship Reef does make the wait a lot less painful.
Elspeth is here for consistency. When you get a hand with a bunch of Martyr of Sands, a Weathered Wayfarer, Elspeth, and not much else, Elspeth will save your butt against aggro by making eight hundred soldier tokens and eventually making everyone Wrath-proof. If Elspeth is the last thing to resolve against control (let's say they've got the Tectonic Edges for Emeria and the board wipes for Proclamation), you also tend to win.
Mentor of the Meek needs a constant stream of creatures to be good. (That I learned when I tried to build a Deadguy Ale deck in Legacy that abused him.) Elspeth is good all the time.
I'm not certain how good Wee Dragonauts is in this deck. With all those Remands and Spell Pierces, I'm not sure how often it's going to be bigger than a flying 3/3 (which isn't bad, but I almost want another burn spell in its place).
UR Burn-Tempo has results; someone started a thread on it in the Red-x Aggro subforum here, but discussion has fizzled for the most part.
I almost want Searing Blaze in Vapor Snag's place: it's similarly dead if your opponent has no creatures, but it deals more damage, and unlike Snag, it's often not card disadvantage. It probably requires more fetchlands to be fully effective, though.
To me, Electrolyze's 2 damage for 3 mana doesn't seem efficient enough (but it does cantrip). Try replacing it with another 1-mana burn spell.
Come to think of it, with only 4 fetchlands, I have a feeling Grim Lavamancer and Tiago will argue way too often. Add more fetchlands or try using Keldon Marauders instead.
@MrFreak0r, how often have Scrying Sheets screwed you over because it doesn't produce red mana? (This is why I eventually dumped Stensia Bloodhall from my Rakdos Deck Wins list--that and it did its awesome stuff too late.)
Creeping Tar Pit is by far the most efficient Zendikar manland, though. It even sees occasional play in Legacy. UW Control could also shore up its finishers, so it wants Celestial Colonnade. Granted, the other Zendikar manlands aren't bad.
The Erayo lock is only a hard lock if you add Ethersworn Canonist or Rule of Law in it. (Erayo Affinity does run Canonist, turning it into a hard lock.)
Sadly, at least one commonly played spell in Modern can disrupt the Erayo lock (assuming Canonist is the second piece) once completed--Shattering Spree. Replicate it at least once and Erayo can't counter everything.
The Erayo lock also does nothing if your opponent has a large enough board presence before it is completed--I once had a player concede after assembling the Erayo lock because I had a Goyf on the other side of the board at that time. (Granted, that player could only assemble the lock after quite a few turns of play--the Erayo lock is a little inconsistent to assemble, as it requires four spells in rapid sequence.)
Some people use Eldrazi in the same deck as the Slaver lock; if someone accidentally gives me the Slaver-Ruins-Crucible-Eldrazi pile, I'll give that person the Crucible and Ruins all the time, as the buried Eldrazi automatically shuffles the Slaver back in before Ruins can put it on top of the library.
In this deck, I love Squadron Hawk. Four chump blockers are great. That they're also four tiny flying win cons to boot is even better. You'd be surprised how often the fact they fly wins board stalls when you keep chump blocking with Martyrs and Ranger of Eoses. Mistveil Plains just turns the last one in hand into another Hawk caller (and when you cast Hawk after Hawk with a Mistveil, you'll always have at least one in hand).
That and they give the middle finger to flying dudes with tiny buttocks like Vendilion Clique, Spellstutter Sprite, and Inkmoth Nexus. (All right, Delver of Secrets is a pain.)
What with Emeria (Weathered Wayfarer to go get it), Proclamation, Serra Ascendant with Martyr, Elspeth, Student of Warfare/Figure of Destiny, Ranger to go get most of them, and maybe Spectral Procession, this deck has a good enough long game already. The trick is surviving until you hit that long game.
Then again, I'm also accentuating the LD theme with 2 Tectonic Edge and 1 Trickbind (admittedly, Trickbind has been about as good to me as Suffer the Past has).
I suppose you could Stifle a Tidehollow Sculler trigger, but then it sort of did its job.
Stifling Liliana of the Veil's -2 actually has promise.
Other than that, I Stifle Wasteland surprisingly often.
"Mono-White" Tokens, UR Affinity, and Mono-Blue Merfolk win (all right, just how good is Vapor Snag treating Merfolk? qbturtle15's card choices are spreading like wildfire), while two Death and Taxes, Martyr Proc, Jund, Twin Pod, Living End (4 Faerie Macabre and 0 Shriekmaw main--expecting combo and not much aggro?), UR Storm (is a Past Ascension Hybrid, but has no Empty the Warrens main), Melira Pod, and UW Tron get close.
5th Modern Daily on 1/7/2012: http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Digital/MagicOnlineTourn.aspx?x=mtg/digital/magiconline/tourn/3253742
Two UB Tempo decks (one of them is the Merfolk hybrid), Blue Affinity (only special card is Thoughtcast and maybe Canonist), and an unusual GB take on Melira Pod win, while Boros Deck Wins, Boom/Bust Zoo, Izzet Deck Wins, Mono-Blue Tempo (moving it out of Rogue, although I still can't justify some of the deck design), another two Melira Pod, RG Ramp (moving it out of Rogue--the red splash allows Through the Breach and better sideboard options), four Jund, Esper Reanimator Gifts, two Mono-White Tokens, White Splash Merfolk, Tribal Blue Zoo, and Soul Sisters (3 Disenchant main?!? Yikes) get close.
1st Modern Daily on 1/8/2012: http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Digital/MagicOnlineTourn.aspx?x=mtg/digital/magiconline/tourn/3253762
White Splash Merfolk and Martyr Proc win, while RDW, Mono-Blue Merfolk, UB Tempo, UR Storm, three Tribal Blue Zoo (one unusually has Squadron Hawk main--trying to beat the mirror?), and Jund (rather aggro, with Kird Ape and no targeted discard main) get close.
2nd Modern Daily on 1/8/2012: http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Digital/MagicOnlineTourn.aspx?x=mtg/digital/magiconline/tourn/3253753
RUG Tempo Thresh, Jund, and UW Tron win, while Soul Sisters (resembling Martyr Proc with no board wipes is a good direction), another Jund, Tribal Blue Zoo, Goblins, Mono-Blue Merfolk, Twin Pod, "Mono-White" Tokens (yes, there's a green card maindeck, and I should have started charting the mild green splash), White Splash Merfolk (seems that qbturtle15 was also saving up cash for Sygg and Moorland Haunt), Grixis Tempo (I now believe Suffer the Past is the weakest card maindeck), Exarch Twin, Red Affinity, and RDW get close.
Modern Premier on 1/8/2012: http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Digital/MagicOnlineTourn.aspx?x=mtg/digital/magiconline/tourn/3253927
In order from first to eighth place, the decks were Twin Pod, Exarch Twin, UB Tempo, Grixis Tempo, Aggro Elves (with slight combo potential), Ad Nauseam-Angel's Grace, Martyr Proc, and Twin Pod.
Also, I believe Jin-G is like Bob--he can't be the biggest hitter in the deck, or you can't win before he kills you (Bob by life loss, Jin-G by self-decking).
Tezz Affinity and Esper Reanimator Gifts win, while two Melira Pod, Bant Aggro, Martyr Proc, Death and Taxes, RG Ramp, two Jund, and 5cc Cruel Control get close.
5th Modern Daily on 1/6/2012: http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Digital/MagicOnlineTourn.aspx?x=mtg/digital/magiconline/tourn/3253692
Tempered Steel Affinity (Ardent Recruit? Carapace Forger? Aren't those guys not boosted by Tempered Steel?), Jund, and Melira Pod win, while Black Splash Merfolk, Red Affinity, UW Control (likes using Reveillark instead of Sun Titan), Exarch Twin, three(!) Mono-Blue Merfolk, Rakdos Deck Wins, UB Tempo, another Melira Pod, Esper Reanimator Gifts, UW Polymorph Tokens, Tezz Affinity, and Twin Pod (nice Devoted Druid-Quillspike combo as a back-up) get close.
Modern Premier on 1/6/2012: http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Digital/MagicOnlineTourn.aspx?x=mtg/digital/magiconline/tourn/3253919
From first to eighth place (well, First, Second, Top 4, Top 8), the decks were RUG Tempo Thresh, Exarch Twin (everyone loves Dispel instead of Pact of Negation, probably because it's the more versatile card), Jund, Jund, Mono-Blue Merfolk, Jund, Martyr Proc, and Tezz Affinity. (Yes, that's 3 Jund Decks in the Top 8. Put that deck in your gauntlet for sure.)
1st Modern Daily on 1/7/2012: http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Digital/MagicOnlineTourn.aspx?x=mtg/digital/magiconline/tourn/3253721
Mono-Blue Merfolk and Red Affinity win, while Sunny Side Up, Patriot White Weenie, Martyr Proc, and two "Mono-White" Tokens get close.
2nd Modern Daily on 1/7/2012: http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Digital/MagicOnlineTourn.aspx?x=mtg/digital/magiconline/tourn/3253712
Tempered Steel Affinity (unusually Esper-coloured), Tribal Blue Zoo, and Martyr Proc win, while Boros Deck Wins, Twin Pod (Novijen, Heart of Progress is nice with all the Persist dudes, and Melira just throws everyone off), UW Control (2 Mindbreak Trap main--yikes), Tribal Dark Zoo, UB Tempo, two Red Affinity, and Ad Nauseam-Angel's Grace get close.
3rd Modern Daily on 1/7/2012: http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Digital/MagicOnlineTourn.aspx?x=mtg/digital/magiconline/tourn/3253704
Twin Pod, Red Affinity, and Esper Reanimator Gifts win, while Soul Sisters, another Red Affinity, "Mono-White" Tokens, Melira Pod, Mono-Blue Fae, another Esper Reanimator Gifts, UW Control, White Splash Merfolk, UW Tron, a plain old Tribal Zoo, Tribal Blue Zoo, and UW Polymorph Tokens get close.
In a recursion-heavy build (Tiago, Grim Harvest), I actually like Desperate Ravings. You dig a lot further than Think Twice lets you and whatever you discard is often still usable. Plus, randomly discarding a freshly drawn Desperate Ravings is funny.
I'm pretty tempted to play Grixis Teachings myself because Lightning Bolt is nifty removal that's never dead in any match-up. Terminate also happens to be three times better than any 2 cmc black removal spell.
I'm not a fan of Bogardan Hellkite as the finisher because Cruel Teachings has enough trouble hitting 7 mana for Cruel Ultimatum, so imagine Time Walking yourself that many more times to hit 8 mana...although Dreadship Reef does make the wait a lot less painful.
Mentor of the Meek needs a constant stream of creatures to be good. (That I learned when I tried to build a Deadguy Ale deck in Legacy that abused him.) Elspeth is good all the time.
UR Burn-Tempo has results; someone started a thread on it in the Red-x Aggro subforum here, but discussion has fizzled for the most part.
I almost want Searing Blaze in Vapor Snag's place: it's similarly dead if your opponent has no creatures, but it deals more damage, and unlike Snag, it's often not card disadvantage. It probably requires more fetchlands to be fully effective, though.
To me, Electrolyze's 2 damage for 3 mana doesn't seem efficient enough (but it does cantrip). Try replacing it with another 1-mana burn spell.
Come to think of it, with only 4 fetchlands, I have a feeling Grim Lavamancer and Tiago will argue way too often. Add more fetchlands or try using Keldon Marauders instead.
Sadly, at least one commonly played spell in Modern can disrupt the Erayo lock (assuming Canonist is the second piece) once completed--Shattering Spree. Replicate it at least once and Erayo can't counter everything.
The Erayo lock also does nothing if your opponent has a large enough board presence before it is completed--I once had a player concede after assembling the Erayo lock because I had a Goyf on the other side of the board at that time. (Granted, that player could only assemble the lock after quite a few turns of play--the Erayo lock is a little inconsistent to assemble, as it requires four spells in rapid sequence.)
Some people use Eldrazi in the same deck as the Slaver lock; if someone accidentally gives me the Slaver-Ruins-Crucible-Eldrazi pile, I'll give that person the Crucible and Ruins all the time, as the buried Eldrazi automatically shuffles the Slaver back in before Ruins can put it on top of the library.