Two other friends of mine and I have been working on a UGW deck that seems pretty powerful and is very competitive. I will probably taking it to regional qualifiers as well as one of the others if not all three of us.
Here is a list that won 5th place at the Star City Games 1k tournament in April.
I just joined but they have been testing for awhile so a lot has changed especially with Alara Reborn coming out. When one of us saw the release of borderposts we were especially excited. A turn 1 post into a turn 2 Bloom Tender seems really good and usually spells games if not answered. The Wall of Reverence slot has seen many cards.
So far the matches look pretty good. The hardest match-up is Blightning pre-board but gets a lot better once the Forge-Tenders come in. The match-up against Boat Brew is pretty good and after board its around 70/30 towards us.
MD Card Choices Fieldmist Borderpost: This card activates Bloom Tender, and when you play this first turn and land a Bloom Tender second turn you pretty much win unless the yhave an answer soon.
Bloom Tender: I don't think I need to say too much about this choice. It's huge mana acceleration and helps with Mistmeadow's cost.
Reveillark: Gets back every creature except Finks out of the yard. Reveillark gets messy when it's teamed with the Witch.
Seedborn Muse: Also a huge card for the deck. It lets you tap out to play him and still be able to counter on their turn after you play him. It also starts shenanigans when you can blink on your turn on their turn.
Kitchen Finks: This cards is really for the blightning and aggro matches, but mainly for blightning since its our worst matchup. It proved much better then the Wall because we can blink it to gain more life. It's one of two solutions to Blightning pre-board.
Knight-Captain of Eos: Ya, ya, laugh if you want. I showed up to see the other two guys's lists and this showed up. I was like what? Apparently it just wins you the game against aggro creatures decks when you can blink it...who knew?
I've been testing a similar build to this pre-ARB and it seems solid. Only problem i've found is that the deck just rolls over to volcanic fallout. Obviously forge-tender solves, and theres also dauntless escort from ARB that could have potential. The other problem I was finding is handling fast aggro decks like kithkin and bant pre-board and Knight captain of eos seems like a good answer to that I didn't think of. I'll have to test that out on mws.
One other problem I've noticed is in the r/w lark matchup, SGC just rolls so hard. I know you can path him but as of right now that seems like the only answer other than pithing needle out of the sb and I guess ***.
With wrath's in the board only, I don't see how this deck can beat a half decent B/W tokens build. A little bit of disruption and some pump, and you're just so far behind that there's nothing to really hope to defend with?
I basically don't see how this deck can beat spectral procession decks running some pump.
It's just me, but I would take out the Borderposts because I would rather have more spells or creatures, and I can already have a turn two Bloom Tender. In fact, a lot of my games have gone like this.
T1 CIPT land
T2 Land, Bloom Tender
T3 Land, play Witch and something that cost four (Archmage/Sower)
T4+ Whatever I want to do.
The Mages seem to be wonderful, and have amazing synergy with the mistmeadow witch. Any tutoring by the opponent just results in me blinking the mage and naming whatever they just tutored for. Plus, with the Sage of Fables, the Mage becomse a 3/3 and resilient to Volcanic Fallout and the like.
I sub the Birds in for the Mind Stones when there isn't mass creature removal. Targeted removal will rarely target the birds, so why not have the turn 1 ramp instead of turn 2.
I'll probably find something to cut to get a 3rd and/or 4th meddling mage in, but I haven't decided what yet. Potentially the Sage of Fables, but I really like him a lot as is. Perhaps the Mind Stones. Who knows.
I like this deck a lot, and I am going to playtest it soon, except I am getting rid of the groves and gates for painland equivalents due to some monetary issues.
Have you tried bant charms in the lineup anywhere? My guess is that artifacts are going to come in hard in upcoming tournaments, and having some extra artifact/creature/counterspell hate may not be a bad idea, just my 2 cents.
I've been playing with this on MWS and it's really fun. I really like wrath of god maindecked, especially if you run finks maindecked. It has so much synergy with the rest of the deck and obviously it would help against any sort of tokens matchup. It's biggest problem is that it's pretty slow so the wrath definitely helps there against aggro decks. The only thing that really concerns me is its matchup against red decks. It's gonna struggle to do anything against blightning.
Do you really need sage of fables when you can just flip Glen Elendra with the witch?
Not at all. However, the Meddling Mage, the Mistmeadow Witch, and the Archmage all come into play with counters on them. Now your Meddling Mage survives Volcanic Fallout, as a 3/3. Plus, I use it for card draw regularly.
Another, albeit mana intensive, strategy, is to blink some random wizard, it comes into play with a counter, and then you pay 2 mana to remove the counter. {4}{U}{W} to draw a card is pricy, but in this deck, you often have the extra mana kicking around.
I played this for about 6 hours last night at my local shop, and won regularly all evening, although we were playing casual, not standard. I won against decks with combos I'd never have to face in standard. (I also lost to a Pyrohemia Deck when I couldn't draw something to get it off the board).
By the end of the night, I had added a third meddling mage and was running 61 cards. I also spent about half the evening with BoPs where the Mind Stones are. Having the colored mana made a big difference on several occasions. The Meddling Mage also does the same thing with the Bloom Tender that the Mistmeadow Witch, making a turn 3 Archmage or Sower possible.
I'm also considering swapping Bant Charm in for PtE. The CMC doesn't bother me in this deck, and having an extra counter or artifact removal is worth the significantly less powerful creature removal to me. Thoughts?
Also, what are your thoughts about Ardent Plea I have absolutely no idea where it would go, but if I remove PtE, it becomes 1 of the 3 most important cards in the deck everytime, Bloom Tender, Mistmeadow Witch, or Meddling Mage. I'm not planning to include it, but it interests me nonetheless.
I'm also considering swapping Bant Charm in for PtE. The CMC doesn't bother me in this deck, and having an extra counter or artifact removal is worth the significantly less powerful creature removal to me. Thoughts?
I think twelve non-creature spells are sufficient; PtE, Bant Charm, and either Remove Soul, Negate, or (preferably) Cryptic Command. That, along with the Archmage, allows for a suitable amount of counter and removal.
I think twelve non-creature spells are sufficient; PtE, Bant Charm, and either Remove Soul, Negate, or (preferably) Cryptic Command. That, along with the Archmage, allows for a suitable amount of counter and removal.
You're probably right, but since my variant only runs 9 non-creature spells (2 of which are Mind Stone), I need to be more flexible with them, which is why I'm considering Bant Charm over PtE. I played probably 8-10 games last night and never cast PtE.
Not at all. However, the Meddling Mage, the Mistmeadow Witch, and the Archmage all come into play with counters on them. Now your Meddling Mage survives Volcanic Fallout, as a 3/3. Plus, I use it for card draw regularly.
Another, albeit mana intensive, strategy, is to blink some random wizard, it comes into play with a counter, and then you pay 2 mana to remove the counter. {4}{U}{W} to draw a card is pricy, but in this deck, you often have the extra mana kicking around.
I played this for about 6 hours last night at my local shop, and won regularly all evening, although we were playing casual, not standard. I won against decks with combos I'd never have to face in standard. (I also lost to a Pyrohemia Deck when I couldn't draw something to get it off the board).
By the end of the night, I had added a third meddling mage and was running 61 cards. I also spent about half the evening with BoPs where the Mind Stones are. Having the colored mana made a big difference on several occasions. The Meddling Mage also does the same thing with the Bloom Tender that the Mistmeadow Witch, making a turn 3 Archmage or Sower possible.
I'm also considering swapping Bant Charm in for PtE. The CMC doesn't bother me in this deck, and having an extra counter or artifact removal is worth the significantly less powerful creature removal to me. Thoughts?
Also, what are your thoughts about Ardent Plea I have absolutely no idea where it would go, but if I remove PtE, it becomes 1 of the 3 most important cards in the deck everytime, Bloom Tender, Mistmeadow Witch, or Meddling Mage. I'm not planning to include it, but it interests me nonetheless.
J
I don't really like ardent plea because half of the time you're gonna get a mind stone or something. I haven't had too much of a problem stalling until I get what I need. Wrath of God really helps to do that. If I can't get the cards I need I usually end up evoking mulldrifters and sacking mind stones until I can find what I need.
Like I said, I probably wouldn't include it, but if I did it would take the place of Mind Stone, so you'd only get a Tender, a Witch, or a Mage. Not a bad replacement for the Mind Stone, IMO, just not as good as the BoPs I've been running in that slot.
I don't know... I think I'd rather run more blink targets than a bit of mana ramp.
Finks and Turn to Mist both want a slot in this deck. As does anything that makes tokens (I'm looking at you, Cloudgoat Ranger and Knight Captain of Eos). For that matter, anything with a CIP/Leaves Play ability should get a good look as a possible canidate for this deck.
So, to make things easy, a list is made!
Things you could be running but aren't (for UW only):
Now, that's just a few cards you could abuse with blink. Not all of them will fit/work here, but the general idea is that there's so much to abuse in U/W that I don't think you have a NEED to go green.
Personally, I think I like the idea of U/W Blink with a strong fae backing. Mistbind comming in every turn to keep an opponent tapped out is just mean. And using Mistbind to champion either Vendilion or Spellstutter is evil embodied. Ajani Goldmane could also find room here to combo with the Arch-Mage and Finks.
P.S. Nevermaker is a HOUSE in blink and wonderful at stalling out/locking down with the help of Mistbind.
green is here for bloomtender and seedborn muse which allow the deck to abuse the blink ability to the fullest as well as play creatures during your turn while still having counter and blink mana up during their turn. Without those you almost never will have enough mana to abuse the witch and still play any spells.
Also dont forget this is a reveillark deck at it's core so cards like cloudgoat and most of the faerie targets are good but theres so little room already and they're not larkable so they don't really fit.
I agree those are all considerable just leaving green out is a mistake imo. I almost never get mana screwed going 3 color in this deck and you're just missing out on too much by not playing bloomtender/muse
I can't imagine having the mana to pull things off without Bloom Tender and Muse
For example: I had on the board 2 bloom tenders, a mistmeadow witch, and a seedborn muse. I had nothing but creatures in hand, and 6 land on the board. My opponent played Wrath of God, and I responded by blinking the witch, the muse, and one of the tenders.
I'd never have that kind of mana on turn 6 any other way. The way this deck wins is by having 16 mana available on both your and your opponent's turn. The Witch is just too expensive mana wise to do anything else.
Edit: Yes, finks are awesome, but I'd keep them in the sideboard. Too many other useful things in the deck to put them in. They'd have to take either Sower of Temptation or Sage of Fable's spot in my build, and they don't have near the upside either of those cards do.
I agree with everyone else, never, and I mean never, drop green. Apart from the Tender and Muse, you can also the have access to Bant Charm, which is good because it can be both removal and counter.
Also, as JeffDerek said above, lots of mana is very good for this deck. I tend to find it works well against removal heavy decks because it is easy to either counter the spell or bounce the target.
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Here is a list that won 5th place at the Star City Games 1k tournament in April.
4 Mind Stone
Creatures
4 Bloom Tender
2 Glen Elendra Archmage
4 Mistmeadow Witch
4 Mulldrifter
3 Reveillark
3 Seedborn Muse
2 Sower Of Temptation
2 Wall Of Reverence
Instants
4 Cryptic Command
3 Path To Exile
2 Remove Soul
1 Forest
3 Island
Lands
2 Adarkar Wastes
1 Brushland
2 Flooded Grove
3 Mystic Gate
4 Reflecting Pool
4 Seaside Citadel
2 Vivid Creek
1 Wooded Bastion
1 Yavimaya Coast
2 Glen Elendra Archmage
1 Reveillark
1 Sower Of Temptation
2 Wall Of Reverence
2 Runed Halo
2 Bant Charm
1 Path To Exile
4 Wrath Of God
I just joined but they have been testing for awhile so a lot has changed especially with Alara Reborn coming out. When one of us saw the release of borderposts we were especially excited. A turn 1 post into a turn 2 Bloom Tender seems really good and usually spells games if not answered. The Wall of Reverence slot has seen many cards.
So here is our list after quite a bit of testing.
3 Mind Stone
3 Fieldmist Borderpost
Creatures (25)
4 Bloom Tender
3 Glen Elendra Archmage
4 Mistmeadow Witch
4 Mulldrifter
3 Reveillark
3 Seedborn Muse
2 Kitchen Finks
2 Knight-Captain of Eos
4 Cryptic Command
3 Path To Exile
2 Remove Soul
Basic Lands (10)
4 Forest
4 Island
2 Plains
Lands (11)
2 Flooded Grove
3 Mystic Gate
4 Seaside Citadel
2 Vivid Creek
2 Sower Of Temptation
4 Burrenton Forge-Tender
3 Qasali Pridemage
2 Scattershot Archer
4 Wrath Of God
So far the matches look pretty good. The hardest match-up is Blightning pre-board but gets a lot better once the Forge-Tenders come in. The match-up against Boat Brew is pretty good and after board its around 70/30 towards us.
MD Card Choices
Fieldmist Borderpost: This card activates Bloom Tender, and when you play this first turn and land a Bloom Tender second turn you pretty much win unless the yhave an answer soon.
Bloom Tender: I don't think I need to say too much about this choice. It's huge mana acceleration and helps with Mistmeadow's cost.
Glen Elendra Archmage: Counters stuff and can be blinked to counter more stuff...
Mistmeadow Mitch: Heart of the deck. Once you have this online your deck starts steamrolling.
Mulldrifter: Card draw. Enough said.
Reveillark: Gets back every creature except Finks out of the yard. Reveillark gets messy when it's teamed with the Witch.
Seedborn Muse: Also a huge card for the deck. It lets you tap out to play him and still be able to counter on their turn after you play him. It also starts shenanigans when you can blink on your turn on their turn.
Kitchen Finks: This cards is really for the blightning and aggro matches, but mainly for blightning since its our worst matchup. It proved much better then the Wall because we can blink it to gain more life. It's one of two solutions to Blightning pre-board.
Knight-Captain of Eos: Ya, ya, laugh if you want. I showed up to see the other two guys's lists and this showed up. I was like what? Apparently it just wins you the game against aggro creatures decks when you can blink it...who knew?
Cryptic Command: I don't think anything needs to be said.
Path to Exile: Removal.
Remove Soul: I currently still like Broken Amitions over Remove Soul but it is a better choice then negate since we have Archmage.
Sideboard Card Choices
Sower of Temptation: This comes in against Boat Brew to take their lark and assorted goodies.
Burrenton Forge-Tender: Much needed sideboard against Blightning decks. Blocks and prevents
Qasali Pridemage: This comes in against Fae for Bitterblossom.
Scattershot Archer: Comes in against Fae for obvious reasons.
Wrath of God: Comes in against aggro decks like bant and whatnot.
So far, the deck looks to be pretty promising. We're hoping to do well at regionals. Any feedback is appreciated.
One other problem I've noticed is in the r/w lark matchup, SGC just rolls so hard. I know you can path him but as of right now that seems like the only answer other than pithing needle out of the sb and I guess ***.
With wrath's in the board only, I don't see how this deck can beat a half decent B/W tokens build. A little bit of disruption and some pump, and you're just so far behind that there's nothing to really hope to defend with?
I basically don't see how this deck can beat spectral procession decks running some pump.
4 Bloom Tender
4 Mistmeadow Witch
4 Reveillark
3 Seedborn Muse
2 Sower of Temptation
4 Mulldrifter
3 Glen Elendra Archmage
4 Negate (or Remove Soul/Cryptic Command, if I can get them)
4 Bant Charm
1 Glen Elendra Archmage
3 Wrath of God
4 Knight-Captain of Eos
3 Cloudthresher
4 Kitchen Finks
It's just me, but I would take out the Borderposts because I would rather have more spells or creatures, and I can already have a turn two Bloom Tender. In fact, a lot of my games have gone like this.
T1 CIPT land
T2 Land, Bloom Tender
T3 Land, play Witch and something that cost four (Archmage/Sower)
T4+ Whatever I want to do.
EDIT: I also plan on taking this to regionals.
4x Bloom Tender
4x Mistmeadow Witch
4x Reveillark
3x Mulldrifter
3x Glen Elendra Archmage
3x Seedborn Muse
3x Sower of Temptation
2x Sage of Fables
2x Meddling Mage
Enchantments/ Spells
4x Cryptic Command (9)
3x Path to Exile
2x Mind Stone
4x Seaside Citadel
3x Mystic Gate
3x Forest
3x Island
3x Flooded Grove
2x Yavimaya Coast
2x Adarkar Wastes
1x Vivid Grove
1x Vivid Creek
1x Wooded Bastion
3x Birds of Paradise
3x Remove Soul
2x Sage of Fables
2x Negate
2x Meddling Mage
1x Seedborn Muse
1x Sower of Temptation
1x Glen Elendra Archmage
The Mages seem to be wonderful, and have amazing synergy with the mistmeadow witch. Any tutoring by the opponent just results in me blinking the mage and naming whatever they just tutored for. Plus, with the Sage of Fables, the Mage becomse a 3/3 and resilient to Volcanic Fallout and the like.
I sub the Birds in for the Mind Stones when there isn't mass creature removal. Targeted removal will rarely target the birds, so why not have the turn 1 ramp instead of turn 2.
I'll probably find something to cut to get a 3rd and/or 4th meddling mage in, but I haven't decided what yet. Potentially the Sage of Fables, but I really like him a lot as is. Perhaps the Mind Stones. Who knows.
J
My MTGSalvation Cube Page (not always up to date, but sweet pics of my alters)
I like this deck a lot, and I am going to playtest it soon, except I am getting rid of the groves and gates for painland equivalents due to some monetary issues.
Have you tried bant charms in the lineup anywhere? My guess is that artifacts are going to come in hard in upcoming tournaments, and having some extra artifact/creature/counterspell hate may not be a bad idea, just my 2 cents.
Not at all. However, the Meddling Mage, the Mistmeadow Witch, and the Archmage all come into play with counters on them. Now your Meddling Mage survives Volcanic Fallout, as a 3/3. Plus, I use it for card draw regularly.
Another, albeit mana intensive, strategy, is to blink some random wizard, it comes into play with a counter, and then you pay 2 mana to remove the counter. {4}{U}{W} to draw a card is pricy, but in this deck, you often have the extra mana kicking around.
I played this for about 6 hours last night at my local shop, and won regularly all evening, although we were playing casual, not standard. I won against decks with combos I'd never have to face in standard. (I also lost to a Pyrohemia Deck when I couldn't draw something to get it off the board).
By the end of the night, I had added a third meddling mage and was running 61 cards. I also spent about half the evening with BoPs where the Mind Stones are. Having the colored mana made a big difference on several occasions. The Meddling Mage also does the same thing with the Bloom Tender that the Mistmeadow Witch, making a turn 3 Archmage or Sower possible.
I'm also considering swapping Bant Charm in for PtE. The CMC doesn't bother me in this deck, and having an extra counter or artifact removal is worth the significantly less powerful creature removal to me. Thoughts?
Also, what are your thoughts about Ardent Plea I have absolutely no idea where it would go, but if I remove PtE, it becomes 1 of the 3 most important cards in the deck everytime, Bloom Tender, Mistmeadow Witch, or Meddling Mage. I'm not planning to include it, but it interests me nonetheless.
J
My MTGSalvation Cube Page (not always up to date, but sweet pics of my alters)
I think twelve non-creature spells are sufficient; PtE, Bant Charm, and either Remove Soul, Negate, or (preferably) Cryptic Command. That, along with the Archmage, allows for a suitable amount of counter and removal.
You're probably right, but since my variant only runs 9 non-creature spells (2 of which are Mind Stone), I need to be more flexible with them, which is why I'm considering Bant Charm over PtE. I played probably 8-10 games last night and never cast PtE.
J
My MTGSalvation Cube Page (not always up to date, but sweet pics of my alters)
I don't really like ardent plea because half of the time you're gonna get a mind stone or something. I haven't had too much of a problem stalling until I get what I need. Wrath of God really helps to do that. If I can't get the cards I need I usually end up evoking mulldrifters and sacking mind stones until I can find what I need.
My MTGSalvation Cube Page (not always up to date, but sweet pics of my alters)
I don't know... I think I'd rather run more blink targets than a bit of mana ramp.
Finks and Turn to Mist both want a slot in this deck. As does anything that makes tokens (I'm looking at you, Cloudgoat Ranger and Knight Captain of Eos). For that matter, anything with a CIP/Leaves Play ability should get a good look as a possible canidate for this deck.
So, to make things easy, a list is made!
Things you could be running but aren't (for UW only):
W/U
Turn to Mist
WHITE
BLUE
Now, that's just a few cards you could abuse with blink. Not all of them will fit/work here, but the general idea is that there's so much to abuse in U/W that I don't think you have a NEED to go green.
Personally, I think I like the idea of U/W Blink with a strong fae backing. Mistbind comming in every turn to keep an opponent tapped out is just mean. And using Mistbind to champion either Vendilion or Spellstutter is evil embodied. Ajani Goldmane could also find room here to combo with the Arch-Mage and Finks.
P.S. Nevermaker is a HOUSE in blink and wonderful at stalling out/locking down with the help of Mistbind.
Also dont forget this is a reveillark deck at it's core so cards like cloudgoat and most of the faerie targets are good but theres so little room already and they're not larkable so they don't really fit.
And Finks is too good to pass up, Larkable or not. Even Boatbrew uses Finks. If you're THAT worried about Lark targets, use Venerable Monk instead.
For example: I had on the board 2 bloom tenders, a mistmeadow witch, and a seedborn muse. I had nothing but creatures in hand, and 6 land on the board. My opponent played Wrath of God, and I responded by blinking the witch, the muse, and one of the tenders.
I'd never have that kind of mana on turn 6 any other way. The way this deck wins is by having 16 mana available on both your and your opponent's turn. The Witch is just too expensive mana wise to do anything else.
Edit: Yes, finks are awesome, but I'd keep them in the sideboard. Too many other useful things in the deck to put them in. They'd have to take either Sower of Temptation or Sage of Fable's spot in my build, and they don't have near the upside either of those cards do.
J
My MTGSalvation Cube Page (not always up to date, but sweet pics of my alters)
Also, as JeffDerek said above, lots of mana is very good for this deck. I tend to find it works well against removal heavy decks because it is easy to either counter the spell or bounce the target.