I'm a casual player who started a couple months after Beta (still curse my luck with that), quit a few times, and started playing again recently. Ran UWC at a few tournies, found that my meta is swamped with UWC, UBC, and Illusions with some generic midrangey, creature-heavy beaters sprinkled here and there.
I currently have a UR Counterburn set up that will be legal for about a week and a half; it's a lot of fun, and I'm looking for a deck that, while probably not the best, will have a similar fun feel. I like control, I love flashback, and I love value cards. My all-time favorites are nice little 2-for-1s and cards that give you incremental advantage until you hit a threshold where you just smother your opponent. Because of that, I'm thinking I may start with a RUg flashburn style. Here's the preliminary list:
I currently can't run Windows, so I don't have access to MWS, but I've playtested this against other decks in my Decked Builder app. It's withering against the Illusion decks that I run up against, and does reasonably against most else post-board. I'm having a hard time with other U/x decks, hence the Dissipates, which I'm not really sure is the right way to go.
Against aggro things like Beast Within and Mulch come out (so unless they're artifact heavy, I'm basically in R/U) for Slagstorm and Arc Trail (or occasionally Incinerate, which I'm on the fence about). Against control, I'm thinking Geistflame gets axed. I may pull the Arc Trails from the board to get more countermagic in to protect my win conditions, which admittedly are pretty vulnerable against control.
Wins usually come after seizing board control with the numerous card/board advantage engines, and then either bombing with Shrine of Burning Rage or alpha striking with Chandra -2 into Devil's Play. Like I said, those are hard to swing against control, although if you have a Chandra out, countering Devil's Play is a losing proposition because they'll have to counter the spell and the copy, then potentially the flashback and the flashback's copy.
Cards I'm on the fence about: Incinerate: Good against some aggro and hasty decks. And the ~2 cards in standard that can regenerate right now.
Ponder: Really torn on this. I don't think it's as bad as a lot of the forums seem to believe, but 1) it's not stellar and 2) I have 12 other sift/draw spells already (and could easily bump it up to 4 Think Twice and Desperate Ravings). Still, I've had more than a few games where I safely shuffled away 3 lands on turn 1 and pulled the Think Twice I really needed (or something).
Mulch: Usually gives you card parity at least, and can give virtual card advantage. But it's sorcery speed; in some matchups that's fine, and in some it can ruin you. Plus, I feel like the deck is just one or two good Flashback spells from being able to consistently get value out of Mulch. Maybe if I kicked it up to three Snapcasters, but I don't think that's a smart play. May also bite me if Surgical Extraction becomes common sideboard tech. If I shift to a more draw-go style, this will probably be an early casualty. Alternately, if I end up with less focus on flashback and more focus on tapout, Make a Wish is a possibility.
Silent Departure. You'll notice it's not on the list, despite being a flashback control card. I've found, though, that at sorcery speed, Unsummon just isn't viable against most decks you'd want to unsummon against. It's something to consider if Tree of Redemption starts giving me nightmares (unsummon or flashback, then blow a Shrine in their face), but as it is I can't justify it, as much as I'd like to.
Burning Vengeance: It's janky and it does nothing when it comes down, but I can't keep myself from loving it. It turns your 2-for-1s into 3-for-1s. And who doesn't want a Think Twice that also murders your opponent's lords? I'll probably keep it at 2, although I realize it may not be the best pick, at least until we get some more flashback spells in the next few sets.
Forbidden Alchemy: If I replace Mulch/Ponder, it will probably be with this card, perhaps as a 2-of. I intend to keep the green splash so I can neutralize artifacts and deal with otherwise unanswerable threats with Beast Within, so I probably won't splash back for the flashback, although if it were strictly R/U I'd certainly make an effort.
Lands: 20 seems to be the right number with the low mana curve and Mulch, but I have no idea what the best land distribution would be. The only two cards with color weight > 1 are Dissipate and Devil's Play's flashback (and Slagstorm, in the sideboard), and since I have a 2-drop in each color, I don't want to short any color too much. Current color distribution is R28%, U25%, G8%, :sympu:5%, but green gets more important against artifact heavy decks (which I anticipate seeing a lot of, with swords, Tempered Steel, and Birthing Pod seeming like the three go-to decks right now).
There are a few others, like Geistflame in favor of Galvanic Blast, that I may tinker with, but they're smaller concerns. As much as I'd love to throw in a few Koth of the Hammer, (largely for his -2 to fuel flashback and Devil's Play), I just can't afford to put in enough mountains to make him worthwhile.
Like I said at the beginning, I'm pretty new to the tournament stuff, so I'm sure there's an awful lot of room for improvement. And this is a deck type I'd like to try out, despite the weaknesses, so I guess I'm just looking at ways to fine-tune.
Anyways, thanks for sticking with me through that rather lengthy post, and happy Magic™ing!
This is a very solid foundation, but I feel like at least 2 Grudge and Dismember are wanted in the Main. Beast Within is pretty good at killing planeswalkers, but then again so is your burn package.
I currently have a UR Counterburn set up that will be legal for about a week and a half; it's a lot of fun, and I'm looking for a deck that, while probably not the best, will have a similar fun feel. I like control, I love flashback, and I love value cards. My all-time favorites are nice little 2-for-1s and cards that give you incremental advantage until you hit a threshold where you just smother your opponent. Because of that, I'm thinking I may start with a RUg flashburn style. Here's the preliminary list:
2 Snapcaster Mage
Draw/Sift: 16
4 Ponder
3 Mulch
3 Think Twice
3 Desperate Ravings
3 Tezzeret's Gambit
Burn: 12
4 Geistflame
3 Devil's Play
2 Volt Charge
3 Shrine of Burning Rage
3 Dissipate
2 Beast Within
2 Burning Vengeance
3 Chandra, the Firebrand
Lands: 20
5 Mountain
4 Island
2 Forest
3 Rootbound Crag
4 Sulfur Falls
2 Hinterland Harbor
4 Ancient Grudge
3 Arc Trail
2 Beast Within
3 Dissipate
3 Slagstorm
I currently can't run Windows, so I don't have access to MWS, but I've playtested this against other decks in my Decked Builder app. It's withering against the Illusion decks that I run up against, and does reasonably against most else post-board. I'm having a hard time with other U/x decks, hence the Dissipates, which I'm not really sure is the right way to go.
Against aggro things like Beast Within and Mulch come out (so unless they're artifact heavy, I'm basically in R/U) for Slagstorm and Arc Trail (or occasionally Incinerate, which I'm on the fence about). Against control, I'm thinking Geistflame gets axed. I may pull the Arc Trails from the board to get more countermagic in to protect my win conditions, which admittedly are pretty vulnerable against control.
Wins usually come after seizing board control with the numerous card/board advantage engines, and then either bombing with Shrine of Burning Rage or alpha striking with Chandra -2 into Devil's Play. Like I said, those are hard to swing against control, although if you have a Chandra out, countering Devil's Play is a losing proposition because they'll have to counter the spell and the copy, then potentially the flashback and the flashback's copy.
Cards I'm on the fence about:
Incinerate: Good against some aggro and hasty decks. And the ~2 cards in standard that can regenerate right now.
Ponder: Really torn on this. I don't think it's as bad as a lot of the forums seem to believe, but 1) it's not stellar and 2) I have 12 other sift/draw spells already (and could easily bump it up to 4 Think Twice and Desperate Ravings). Still, I've had more than a few games where I safely shuffled away 3 lands on turn 1 and pulled the Think Twice I really needed (or something).
Mulch: Usually gives you card parity at least, and can give virtual card advantage. But it's sorcery speed; in some matchups that's fine, and in some it can ruin you. Plus, I feel like the deck is just one or two good Flashback spells from being able to consistently get value out of Mulch. Maybe if I kicked it up to three Snapcasters, but I don't think that's a smart play. May also bite me if Surgical Extraction becomes common sideboard tech. If I shift to a more draw-go style, this will probably be an early casualty. Alternately, if I end up with less focus on flashback and more focus on tapout, Make a Wish is a possibility.
Silent Departure. You'll notice it's not on the list, despite being a flashback control card. I've found, though, that at sorcery speed, Unsummon just isn't viable against most decks you'd want to unsummon against. It's something to consider if Tree of Redemption starts giving me nightmares (unsummon or flashback, then blow a Shrine in their face), but as it is I can't justify it, as much as I'd like to.
Burning Vengeance: It's janky and it does nothing when it comes down, but I can't keep myself from loving it. It turns your 2-for-1s into 3-for-1s. And who doesn't want a Think Twice that also murders your opponent's lords? I'll probably keep it at 2, although I realize it may not be the best pick, at least until we get some more flashback spells in the next few sets.
Forbidden Alchemy: If I replace Mulch/Ponder, it will probably be with this card, perhaps as a 2-of. I intend to keep the green splash so I can neutralize artifacts and deal with otherwise unanswerable threats with Beast Within, so I probably won't splash back for the flashback, although if it were strictly R/U I'd certainly make an effort.
Lands: 20 seems to be the right number with the low mana curve and Mulch, but I have no idea what the best land distribution would be. The only two cards with color weight > 1 are Dissipate and Devil's Play's flashback (and Slagstorm, in the sideboard), and since I have a 2-drop in each color, I don't want to short any color too much. Current color distribution is R28%, U25%, G8%, :sympu:5%, but green gets more important against artifact heavy decks (which I anticipate seeing a lot of, with swords, Tempered Steel, and Birthing Pod seeming like the three go-to decks right now).
There are a few others, like Geistflame in favor of Galvanic Blast, that I may tinker with, but they're smaller concerns. As much as I'd love to throw in a few Koth of the Hammer, (largely for his -2 to fuel flashback and Devil's Play), I just can't afford to put in enough mountains to make him worthwhile.
Like I said at the beginning, I'm pretty new to the tournament stuff, so I'm sure there's an awful lot of room for improvement. And this is a deck type I'd like to try out, despite the weaknesses, so I guess I'm just looking at ways to fine-tune.
Anyways, thanks for sticking with me through that rather lengthy post, and happy Magic™ing!
WUBRG Humans
BRW Mardu Pyromancer
UW UW "Control"
UR Blue Moon
A decent tech would also be abusing Buried Ruin with Shrine of Burning Rage. I'd reallllly hate to ship one with Mulch. Noxious Revival Is a thought too.
dredge t.e.s. loam
- Bryant Cook