Although it feels a bit weird, I've cut Azorius Charm completely. Divination just feels better against all the MBD. I'm not quite sure where I want to go with my sideboard yet. I am considering the Fiendslayer Paladin route but I dont know if I like Archangel of Thune. I'm definitley playing 2 Jace, Memory Adept and some more counterspell. Maybe Celestial Flare instead of Paladin?
I'm stoked for the event and I'll be sure to write up a report afterwards.
Quick reasons for some card choices:
- Azorius Charms were dropped for 3 Divination and 1 Elixir of Immortality.
- Aetherling main because I believe he is still the most reliable win condition.
- 3 Syncopates because I know from playing at Channel Fireball that there will be a good number of Esper players and I like having the extra counters.
- 3 Archangel because I like it against MonoU.
- 4 Celestial Flare because I'm still afraid of Mistcutter Hydra and Stormbreath Dragon.
Good luck to anyone else attending SCG Oakland this weekend.
EDIT - Quick question - how do people feel about siding out divination against monoU? i hate it when they hit mine off nightveil specter.....
Wanted to do a little write-up for GP Dallas. Was going to go with UWR Control as it's a pet deck of mine, but I had to put it down (lol). Straight UW seems better in terms of sheer consistency, which is what I wanted over 8/9 rounds of Magic.
I drove from Houston to Katy to pick up a few cards I needed to finish the list. Thought about getting back over to I-45. Instead I went up 290, took TX-6 through College Station and Waco, and then I took I-35N to Dallas.
Traffic was good until I got close to Dallas. Got stuck in traffic around 7PM. Got past it around 1AM. I considered continuing my trip and spending the night at my brother's apartment. Also considered radio reports of accidents and jack-knifed trucks all over the highway and I turned around. I would need to make it to my brother's, which could've taken another hour or two. And the next morning I would've had to drive from Dallas to Fort Worth. Which seemed impossible.
On the way home I considered taking exits towards Fort Worth and sleeping in my car. I kept telling myself that it was crazy. But it also seemed like a reasonable idea. I had a sleeping bag in the trunk of my car, because I was too lazy to unpack everything after a camping trip. I had three sweaters in my backpack. I had some super-comfy warm penguin pajamas. It seemed possible. But I heard it would be dropping to like single-digit temperatures and I didn't want to wake up dead.
Drove back for a few hours, until I could barely keep my eyes open. After I almost fell asleep a couple of times I decided to pull over. Pulled into a Wal-Mart parking lot, got myself into my sleeping bag, and went to sleep looking like a giant Glo Worm. Woke up a few hours later and drove the rest of the way home.
Very happy with how my deck performed overall. Was a good tournament for me.
Wanted to do a little write-up for GP Dallas. Was going to go with UWR Control as it's a pet deck of mine, but I had to put it down (lol). Straight UW seems better in terms of sheer consistency, which is what I wanted over 8/9 rounds of Magic.
I drove from Houston to Katy to pick up a few cards I needed to finish the list. Thought about getting back over to I-45. Instead I went up 290, took TX-6 through College Station and Waco, and then I took I-35N to Dallas.
Traffic was good until I got close to Dallas. Got stuck in traffic around 7PM. Got past it around 1AM. I considered continuing my trip and spending the night at my brother's apartment. Also considered radio reports of accidents and jack-knifed trucks all over the highway and I turned around. I would need to make it to my brother's, which could've taken another hour or two. And the next morning I would've had to drive from Dallas to Fort Worth. Which seemed impossible.
On the way home I considered taking exits towards Fort Worth and sleeping in my car. I kept telling myself that it was crazy. But it also seemed like a reasonable idea. I had a sleeping bag in the trunk of my car, because I was too lazy to unpack everything after a camping trip. I had three sweaters in my backpack. I had some super-comfy warm penguin pajamas. It seemed possible. But I heard it would be dropping to like single-digit temperatures and I didn't want to wake up dead.
Drove back for a few hours, until I could barely keep my eyes open. After I almost fell asleep a couple of times I decided to pull over. Pulled into a Wal-Mart parking lot, got myself into my sleeping bag, and went to sleep looking like a giant Glo Worm. Woke up a few hours later and drove the rest of the way home.
Very happy with how my deck performed overall. Was a good tournament for me.
Haha great report! Sorry things didn't work out for you. Following the GP on Twitter, sounds like you weren't the only one who couldn't make it there.
@everyone http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/article.asp?ID=11533 at the bottom Melissa Detora talk about UWcontrol and the UWcontrol of Cifka with scryland. I tried it (or something close to the list of deTora) yesterday in my FNM 3-0-1. Scry land are really what this deck was missing. I know a couple of people are already doing this, but i wont play that deck anymore without at least 4 Scry land. they are very good at getting that 3rd and 4th land drop for Divinition or Jace
@ChewyWumpus Most of time syncopate is good for 2 to gain the tempo of the game. ya i did cast MEGA syncopate for 12. but in turn 2-3-4-5 countering their most important spell for 2 is big! if perfect counter were stricly better people would only play Render Silent / Counterflux / Dissolve / Plasma Capture / Cancel... there is a reason why people lose their time with Syncopate / Negate / Essence Scatter. 2 mana!
@ctaylor33 i never tried 3 mutavault... but i don't think i want to. the mana base would **** me more often than help me. 2 mutavault is more than enough. Quick rules about using mutavault : 1. never attack in untap mana in the early turns. you would just get timewalked. 2. If you need the land, don't attack. (+ people will think you have 10 counterspells in hand)... 3. if i attack its because i can get threw (oppennent is tapout from last turn, or i can protect it with counterspell.) 4. I really dont care to lose that +9th lands, i just want tot start the clock 5. Depending of the matchup, it's a great blocker. don't lose them for nothing, in those matchup.
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Kakwann, Lvl 39 Sorcerer
Currently Playing
Standard:GWRU 4C Collected Company Modern:GUWRB Bloom Titan Legacy:BUG SHARDLESS BUG
EDH : GR BORBORYGMOS ENRAGED GU PRIME SPEAKER ZEGENA UWR ZEDRUU THE GREATHEARTED UBR MISHRA ARTIFICER PRODIGY B SHEOLDRED WHISPERING ONE R ASHLING THE PILGRIM
I tried playing Cifka's deck. I really missed the divinations and elixir. Divination is so good vs thoughtseize. And having 3 win conditions when people play 4 hero's downfalls seems really bad.
That list would never be successful in my area. I face Slaughter Games almost every tournament I play in. I realize my local meta is not tier one, but it is what it is and if I want to be successful I cannot play a deck with only one primary win-condition (I realize Mutavault, Jace, and the Paladin can win as well).
PS: For those of you talking about removing Azorius Charm, Cueneo said it is a good card in the deck and one of the hardest to play correctly.
That list would never be successful in my area. I face Slaughter Games almost every tournament I play in. I realize my local meta is not tier one, but it is what it is and if I want to be successful I cannot play a deck with only one primary win-condition (I realize Mutavault, Jace, and the Paladin can win as well).
PS: For those of you talking about removing Azorius Charm, Cueneo said it is a good card in the deck and one of the hardest to play correctly.
the point of one win con is cause he just recurs is with the elixer and then revs untill he finds it again. it was one of the first featured matchs against mono u and it simply destroyed it
the point of one win con is cause he just recurs is with the elixer and then revs untill he finds it again. it was one of the first featured matchs against mono u and it simply destroyed it
Elixir doesn't save your win-con from Slaughter Games. But evidently no one plays Slaughter Games other than in my local area. I never see it played at these big tournaments.
This is my current list. Trading post is somewhat a pet card of mine if you're curious, that and I'm terrified of losing my elixir plan against control or thoughtseize decks, also my primary reason for running aetherling, plus it doesn't hinder my game one of the mirror quite so bad. I'd love to get my hands in 2 more jace, but unfortunately that's all I have and at 40 a piece like they were last i checked it's a bit rough on the budget. I'd eventually like to bring my sphinx count to 4, but am unsure. My millage varied last season playing the full play set and I'm not sure it's justified now either.
Elixir doesn't save your win-con from Slaughter Games. But evidently no one plays Slaughter Games other than in my local area. I never see it played at these big tournaments.
my bad was thinking of rakdos return. if your seeing a bunch of slaughter games type decks then i would say split those win conditions up.
Update: It's time to prepare for the mirror because UW Control is blowing up! Joe Lossett just won SCGOak with UW Control! His list is the top one above. Not much interesting in it other than no Aetherling main; 3 Elspeth instead (similar to Cifka), and he played the black scry lands. He also played one Elixir main. Seems like he took the best of all the recent UW lists and put them in one deck.
Another update: three UW Control of GPDFW Top 8. William Jensen is one of the three; he is playing a Cuneo-style build.
Thoughts on Debtor's Pulpit? It answers obzedat, blood baron, stormbreath dragon, aetherling, mistcutter hydra, and forces players to extend into verdicts and detention spheres. It sticks around after a board wipe to answer the next threat. It also costs 6 mana. I've been playing with a singleton and it's been solid so far.
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Some facts of magic:
-Terror is an emotion which, when experienced, results in death.
-The pox was a disease notorious for having killed one-third, rounded up, of Europe’s population. Smallpox, on the other hand, killed only a single person.
-A person riding a horse cannot be stopped by foot soldiers, large animals, walls, archers, or even catapults.
This is what I'm on right now. My meta is hugely dominated by monoB and monoU with a few R/W devotion and some Boros. Usually whatever is FTM is being played the most, other then that its a bunch of people that take the latest winning lists from scg and tcg opens along with gps.
At FNM i swept every round with relative ease.
R1 was against monoU and i was able to sweep everything under the rug with last breaths after i top decked a verdict t5 on his MoW and NVS, after that my sideboard took care of him. 2 last breaths in my opening grip made sure he had no presence along with 1 gainsay and 1 negate off the top t2 and t3.
R2 I played against some jank Mono Red burn deck with Young Pyromancer and Dragon Hatchlings as its only creatures. Needless to say, 2-0'd that quickly.
R3 was against a mono WW deck that didnt have the reach G1 and G2 i was able to stablize with Verdict into Jace into Elspeth.
R4 was a B/W midrange list similar to the one being played at the pro tour, but they were on the pack rat plan. G1 got dicey with a double thoughtsieze taking my sphere and essence scatter but good old Jace found me a verdict to wipe away all of his rats. G2 he T2 rat which promptly drew its last breath. After that i was able to counter almost everything he pulled off the top and Dsphered a whip to make sure no shenanigans would happen.
All and all it was a great night. I was looking forward to the monoB match up because i feel that leans in our favor a bit, but i didnt see one all night. Either way, 1st seed playing U/W for the first time since the beginning of theros made me happy. I'm glad I'm back on the U/W train. Esper didn't have enough power for how hard the spells were on the manabase.
I like the 4 life for aggro, but many times it's going to hit too slow to be relevant. At that point I'm already controlling the field and prepping for sphinx. My biggest thought for adding it was against decks like mbd. If i catch a elixir when piloting mbd myself in a thoughtseize, that's what i hit. Save a downfall for elspeth and just watch them deck themselves with no other win con.
Yep, as long as you dont have a lot of WBR Mythic or Jund in your meta. Slaughter Games exiles so the Elixir won't help there. I still prefer the 1 Aetherling and 2 Elspeths main for diversity. I have had good luck with the Elixir, but you don't really have the time in local FNMs to consistently win by decking people.
Elixir isn't about decking the opponent (with the possible exception of UWx). It is about recycling your win conditions and improving your draw by improving your land to spell ratio in your library
I play aetherling, prognostic sphinx, memory adept, architect of thought and fiendslayer. Having 5 win conditions is enough to fend off slaughter games.
Why do you guys even worry about Slaughter Games? Its a four mana sorcery that doesnt have any impact at all on the board and just because they get rid of one of your win conditions doesnt mean they win. Also arent you guys all running Mutavault? Cant be thoughtseized or Slaughter Gamed.
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Modern: UW Control
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You can Disperse your own Planeswalkers and Detention Spheres. Fringe benefits to be sure but not entirely irrelevant.
4 Jace, Architecht of Thought
2 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
1 Elixir of Immortality
4 Last Breath
4 Detention Sphere
4 Supreme Verdict
2 Essence Scatter
3 Disslove
3 Divination
3 Sphinx's Revelation
4 Azorius Guildgate
4 Hallowed Fountain
8 Island
8 Plains
Although it feels a bit weird, I've cut Azorius Charm completely. Divination just feels better against all the MBD. I'm not quite sure where I want to go with my sideboard yet. I am considering the Fiendslayer Paladin route but I dont know if I like Archangel of Thune. I'm definitley playing 2 Jace, Memory Adept and some more counterspell. Maybe Celestial Flare instead of Paladin?
Don't look back, Azorius charm is a terrible card.
4 Hallowed Fountain
8 Island
7 Plains
3 Mutavault
4 Jace, Architecht of Thought
2 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
1 Elixir of Immortality
4 Last Breath
4 Detention Sphere
4 Supreme Verdict
3 Syncopate
2 Essence Scatter
3 Disslove
3 Sphinx's Revelation
2 Mutavault
4 Azorius Guildgate
4 Hallowed Fountain
8 Island
8 Plains
2 Jace, Memory Adept
3 Archangel of Thune
3 Negate
3 Gainsay
4 Celestial Flare
I'm stoked for the event and I'll be sure to write up a report afterwards.
Quick reasons for some card choices:
- Azorius Charms were dropped for 3 Divination and 1 Elixir of Immortality.
- Aetherling main because I believe he is still the most reliable win condition.
- 3 Syncopates because I know from playing at Channel Fireball that there will be a good number of Esper players and I like having the extra counters.
- 3 Archangel because I like it against MonoU.
- 4 Celestial Flare because I'm still afraid of Mistcutter Hydra and Stormbreath Dragon.
Good luck to anyone else attending SCG Oakland this weekend.
EDIT - Quick question - how do people feel about siding out divination against monoU? i hate it when they hit mine off nightveil specter.....
This is the list I went with.
1 AEtherling
Spells:33
1 Elixir of Immortality
1 Syncopate
2 Celestial Flare
1 Cyclonic Rift
1 Essence Scatter
2 Last Breath
4 Detention Sphere
4 Dissolve
3 Divination
4 Sphinx's Revelation
4 Jace, Architect of Thought
4 Supreme Verdict
2 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
4 Azorius Guildgate
4 Hallowed Fountain
6 Island
2 Mutavault
6 Plains
2 Temple of Deceit
2 Temple of Triumph
1 Pithing Needle
2 Celestial Flare
4 Gainsay
2 Last Breath
2 Negate
1 Ratchet Bomb
1 Sundering Growth
1 Jace, Memory Adept
1 AEtherling
I drove from Houston to Katy to pick up a few cards I needed to finish the list. Thought about getting back over to I-45. Instead I went up 290, took TX-6 through College Station and Waco, and then I took I-35N to Dallas.
Traffic was good until I got close to Dallas. Got stuck in traffic around 7PM. Got past it around 1AM. I considered continuing my trip and spending the night at my brother's apartment. Also considered radio reports of accidents and jack-knifed trucks all over the highway and I turned around. I would need to make it to my brother's, which could've taken another hour or two. And the next morning I would've had to drive from Dallas to Fort Worth. Which seemed impossible.
On the way home I considered taking exits towards Fort Worth and sleeping in my car. I kept telling myself that it was crazy. But it also seemed like a reasonable idea. I had a sleeping bag in the trunk of my car, because I was too lazy to unpack everything after a camping trip. I had three sweaters in my backpack. I had some super-comfy warm penguin pajamas. It seemed possible. But I heard it would be dropping to like single-digit temperatures and I didn't want to wake up dead.
Drove back for a few hours, until I could barely keep my eyes open. After I almost fell asleep a couple of times I decided to pull over. Pulled into a Wal-Mart parking lot, got myself into my sleeping bag, and went to sleep looking like a giant Glo Worm. Woke up a few hours later and drove the rest of the way home.
Very happy with how my deck performed overall. Was a good tournament for me.
Haha great report! Sorry things didn't work out for you. Following the GP on Twitter, sounds like you weren't the only one who couldn't make it there.
How have the black scry lands been for you?
@ChewyWumpus Most of time syncopate is good for 2 to gain the tempo of the game. ya i did cast MEGA syncopate for 12. but in turn 2-3-4-5 countering their most important spell for 2 is big! if perfect counter were stricly better people would only play Render Silent / Counterflux / Dissolve / Plasma Capture / Cancel... there is a reason why people lose their time with Syncopate / Negate / Essence Scatter. 2 mana!
@ctaylor33 i never tried 3 mutavault... but i don't think i want to. the mana base would **** me more often than help me. 2 mutavault is more than enough. Quick rules about using mutavault : 1. never attack in untap mana in the early turns. you would just get timewalked. 2. If you need the land, don't attack. (+ people will think you have 10 counterspells in hand)... 3. if i attack its because i can get threw (oppennent is tapout from last turn, or i can protect it with counterspell.) 4. I really dont care to lose that +9th lands, i just want tot start the clock 5. Depending of the matchup, it's a great blocker. don't lose them for nothing, in those matchup.
Standard: GWRU 4C Collected Company
Modern: GUWRB Bloom Titan
Legacy: BUG SHARDLESS BUG
EDH :
GR BORBORYGMOS ENRAGED
GU PRIME SPEAKER ZEGENA
UWR ZEDRUU THE GREATHEARTED
UBR MISHRA ARTIFICER PRODIGY
B SHEOLDRED WHISPERING ONE
R ASHLING THE PILGRIM
Here's the deck tech
http://www.twitch.tv/magic/b/485690412?t=46m43s
I tried playing Cifka's deck. I really missed the divinations and elixir. Divination is so good vs thoughtseize. And having 3 win conditions when people play 4 hero's downfalls seems really bad.
Update: he is now 6-0 after defeating Boros Aggro.
3 Jace, Architect of Thought
1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
Spells
4 Detention Sphere
4 Supreme Verdict
1 Ratchet Bomb
4 Divination
4 Azorius Charm
4 Sphinx's Revelation
2 Quicken
4 Dissolve
2 Syncopate
1 Elixir of Immortality
4 Azorius Guildgate
4 Hallowed Fountain
1 Temple of Silence
2 Mutavault
7 Plains
8 Island
3 Gainsay
1 Jace, Memory Adept
3 Last Breath
1 Blind Obedience
1 Pithing Needle
2 Negate
1 Ratchet Bomb
3 Fiendslayer Paladin
That list would never be successful in my area. I face Slaughter Games almost every tournament I play in. I realize my local meta is not tier one, but it is what it is and if I want to be successful I cannot play a deck with only one primary win-condition (I realize Mutavault, Jace, and the Paladin can win as well).
PS: For those of you talking about removing Azorius Charm, Cueneo said it is a good card in the deck and one of the hardest to play correctly.
the point of one win con is cause he just recurs is with the elixer and then revs untill he finds it again. it was one of the first featured matchs against mono u and it simply destroyed it
Elixir doesn't save your win-con from Slaughter Games. But evidently no one plays Slaughter Games other than in my local area. I never see it played at these big tournaments.
1 AEtherling
Spells:33
1 Elixir of Immortality
2 Syncopate
3 Azorius Charm
2 Celestial Flare
4 Essence Scatter
4 Detention Sphere
3 Dissolve
3 Divination
3 Sphinx's Revelation
2 Jace, Architect of Thought
4 Supreme Verdict
2 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
4 Azorius Guildgate
4 Hallowed Fountain
6 Island
2 Mutavault
6 Plains
2 Temple of Deceit
2 Temple of Silence
1 Pithing Needle
2 Celestial Flare
2 Glare of Heresy
4 Last Breath
2 Negate
1 Trading Post
2 Jace, Memory Adept
1 AEtherling
This is my current list. Trading post is somewhat a pet card of mine if you're curious, that and I'm terrified of losing my elixir plan against control or thoughtseize decks, also my primary reason for running aetherling, plus it doesn't hinder my game one of the mirror quite so bad. I'd love to get my hands in 2 more jace, but unfortunately that's all I have and at 40 a piece like they were last i checked it's a bit rough on the budget. I'd eventually like to bring my sphinx count to 4, but am unsure. My millage varied last season playing the full play set and I'm not sure it's justified now either.
Thoughts?
Standard:
UR Control
been looking forward to an updated cuneo list for a while; how would you guys propose sideboarding vs. mono blue and mono black with this list?
my bad was thinking of rakdos return. if your seeing a bunch of slaughter games type decks then i would say split those win conditions up.
http://sales.starcitygames.com//deckdatabase/displaydeck.php?DeckID=61172
And this guy was in top 16:
http://sales.starcitygames.com//deckdatabase/displaydeck.php?DeckID=61176
This second guy played Omenspeaker!
Update: It's time to prepare for the mirror because UW Control is blowing up! Joe Lossett just won SCGOak with UW Control! His list is the top one above. Not much interesting in it other than no Aetherling main; 3 Elspeth instead (similar to Cifka), and he played the black scry lands. He also played one Elixir main. Seems like he took the best of all the recent UW lists and put them in one deck.
Another update: three UW Control of GPDFW Top 8. William Jensen is one of the three; he is playing a Cuneo-style build.
-Terror is an emotion which, when experienced, results in death.
-The pox was a disease notorious for having killed one-third, rounded up, of Europe’s population. Smallpox, on the other hand, killed only a single person.
-A person riding a horse cannot be stopped by foot soldiers, large animals, walls, archers, or even catapults.
More facts of magic
3 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
4 Jace, Architect of Thought
Lands (26)
6 Island
6 Plains
4 Azorius Guildgate
4 Hallowed Fountain
2 Mutavault
2 Temple of Deceit
2 Temple of Silence
Spells (27)
1 Elixir of Immortality
4 Detention Sphere
3 Azorius Charm
3 Dissolve
1 Essence Scatter
2 Last Breath
1 Celestial Flare
4 Sphinx's Revelation
2 Syncopate
2 Divination
4 Supreme Verdict
2 Pithing Needle
2 Aetherling
2 Celestial Flare
3 Gainsay
2 Last Breath
2 Negate
1 Ratchet Bomb
1 Sundering Growth
This is what I'm on right now. My meta is hugely dominated by monoB and monoU with a few R/W devotion and some Boros. Usually whatever is FTM is being played the most, other then that its a bunch of people that take the latest winning lists from scg and tcg opens along with gps.
At FNM i swept every round with relative ease.
R1 was against monoU and i was able to sweep everything under the rug with last breaths after i top decked a verdict t5 on his MoW and NVS, after that my sideboard took care of him. 2 last breaths in my opening grip made sure he had no presence along with 1 gainsay and 1 negate off the top t2 and t3.
R2 I played against some jank Mono Red burn deck with Young Pyromancer and Dragon Hatchlings as its only creatures. Needless to say, 2-0'd that quickly.
R3 was against a mono WW deck that didnt have the reach G1 and G2 i was able to stablize with Verdict into Jace into Elspeth.
R4 was a B/W midrange list similar to the one being played at the pro tour, but they were on the pack rat plan. G1 got dicey with a double thoughtsieze taking my sphere and essence scatter but good old Jace found me a verdict to wipe away all of his rats. G2 he T2 rat which promptly drew its last breath. After that i was able to counter almost everything he pulled off the top and Dsphered a whip to make sure no shenanigans would happen.
All and all it was a great night. I was looking forward to the monoB match up because i feel that leans in our favor a bit, but i didnt see one all night. Either way, 1st seed playing U/W for the first time since the beginning of theros made me happy. I'm glad I'm back on the U/W train. Esper didn't have enough power for how hard the spells were on the manabase.
http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=546505
Since players are adding in 4 off color scry lands, would it be worth adding in a few Thassa, God of the Sea mainly for the scry each turn instead?
Modern
Currently Playing
UW UW Control/Miracles
R Skred Red
Retired
BU Faeries
RGW Naya Burn
BW B/W Tokens
Standard:
UR Control
Elixir isn't about decking the opponent (with the possible exception of UWx). It is about recycling your win conditions and improving your draw by improving your land to spell ratio in your library
I play aetherling, prognostic sphinx, memory adept, architect of thought and fiendslayer. Having 5 win conditions is enough to fend off slaughter games.