Mystical Teachings is a card that spawned one of the more dominant decks in timespiral block constructed and has had a bit of exposure in different extended seasons when it was legal. At heart this deck is a U/B/x/x control deck. The primary focus of the deck is using mostly instants to control the board. Some builds use Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir and 1-2 large creatures because mystical teachings can tutor for Teferi and when he is in play it can tutor for any other creature.
THE CARDS
The answers in this deck need to be as cheap as possible to help gain tempo advantage over faster decks. These spoilers will contain card choices and my opinion and experience with them.
doom blade: a great removal spell that kills several threats...unfortunately it doesn't kill Bob.
path to exile: The best removal spell in the format.
oblivion ring: Very slow but answers a lot of problems. Sideboard at best, since bounce spells tend to be better in this deck.
smother: Probably the second best removal spell since every deck in the format is based off of creatures with a cmc of 3 or less.
dismember: This card is ok, but slaughter pact is better to get off of teachings and both path to exile and smother are better early.
slaughter pact: I love this as a one of to kill pesky creatures off of mystical teachings. A 1-of is probably the best use of this card.
go for the throat:A solid removal spell, but with affinity around it is probably best in your sideboard.
Consume the meek: This is a solid one of because you can use teachings to tutor for it on turn 4 then drop a land and "wrath" the board.
Damnation,Wrath of god: 1-2 of these main deck is fine to augment the one consume the meek you should be running. These are also good in board to deal with Zoo.
Engineered explosives: At one point and time this was used in the deck, but I don't know if it is really worth it anymore. If elves get big this could be thrown into the sideboard.
deathmark: 2-4 in board are great against, zoo,bant, and elves.
condescend: decent counterspell, but it might be too inefficient for this deck.
delay:This is a fine 1-2 of in decks with a heavy Teferi base.
mana leak: A solid counterspell especially if your not counter heavy.
rune snag:About the same as mana leak early, however it is much better late game while still being good in the first few turns.
spell burst:A silver bullet of sorts. If you get it late game it is almost a hard lock for opponents spells. Some decks may opt to run this.
spell pierce: This has less uses now that combo decks are mostly slow. It might be decent to sideboard in against decks with heavy discard.
negate:This is similar to spell pierce except it is a hard counter for later.
flashfreeze: Probably the most solid counterspell from your sideboard. I have often ran 1 main deck in different builds since the best spells are almost always red or green in this format.
cryptic command: This card is right at the edge of efficiency. There is no doubt that it is powerful, but clogging your deck up with tons of 4cmc spells is ill advised. Better in the versions that don't run Teferi and other optional high converted mana cost spells.
spell snare:I would only run these in counterspell heavy builds because of how narrow it is. With that being said it is pretty good to regain tempo and not bad in counter wars since the best counterspells cost 2.
remand: Remand is a solid card, if you just want a few counterspells to deal with living end or want to add a few "sort of unconditional" counterspells to a counter suite.
logic knot: late game this is counterspell; its terrible early though., and it doesn't have synergy with snapcaster mage.
Efficiency is a must for creatures also. The teferi package is 1-3 teferi and 1-2 fatties.
Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir: He is the center piece of the deck just as mystical teachings is. they go hand and hand. 2-3 of him is enough.
Baneslayer angel: The most efficient beater with a quick clock that makes aggro players cry. Still dies a lot and stuff.
Grave titan:Slightly more resilent than BSA drops tokens that do some blocking, while typically being the biggest body on the field.
wurmcoil engine: Path to exile makes this card worse, but nothing else can effectively trade 1 for 1 with it. I recommend this card highly if your running any beef.
Crovax, Ascendant Hero:This guy is kinda old tech, could have its uses if the meta game switches up a bit.
plumeveil:If you need a kickass wall look no further.
vendilion clique: Decent at applying pressure on your opponent, and nice if you run a bit more disruption in your board.
Spinx of Jwar Isle: probably the best strait up win con. Toss 1 in the board and bring him in against decks with answers.
Snapcaster mage: similar to vinny clique in it's uses. This card is sort of the glue that can hold your whole deck together. Tiago allows you run more pseudo copies of each spell type(discard, card draw/cantrips, removal, and counterspells) in your deck which allows you to run a more diverse spread.
Geist of Saint Traft:Solid card out of the sideboard to bring in against decks that have tons of removal.
repeal: decent card that doesn't do exactly what we want although it's versatility is pretty good.
merchant scroll: Some people might want to run this......I just don't see the use in it.
esper charm: best card draw spell in the format. it also destroys enchantments while being an instant speed mind rot when necessary.
extirpate/surgical extraction: one of these makes a nice silver bullet in your main. 3 might be the correct number in your 75 depending on the meta. I chose surgical extraction main because of the option to be free off of a teachings.
into the roil:Can bounce blood moon or gaddok teeg without having a restrictive cost.
Pulse of the Fields: This has been better historically, but probably not as good as other options.
thoughtseize/Inquisition of Kozilek: These can pick up for the slack that counterspells create because discard is generally better than counterspells in this format.
These are some of the "fun" lands as I call them. Non basics that do more than tap for colors. Run these in moderation. Our deck is already weak to moon effects with our tri-color mana-base.
Here's mine. I really like White Sun's Zenith as a finisher. Although in hindsight I shouldn't have, I've already cast Zenith, then Teachings for it the next turn, and cast again the turn after that. What can I say? I'm a cat person.
I also like Batterskull because, of course, I can keep picking it back up and replaying it. It also gives my Tiagos something to beat face with. Which is always nice.
I'm not sure if I did the lands right. Feel free to suggest a different build if you think I've done it wrong. I probably have.
This is the variant I'm testing right now, features a little more spot removal than other builds I've been seeing but it has the same finisher package as most versions have had over the past season or two.
@feathers:
Why the random 2 and one of non instants in the board? Or has your library manipulation been sufficient at finding the cards?
Yeah. I didn't want to draw too many of either but be able to find at least one. But I should switch one of the two-ofs with COP:R, though. I had Ingenuity in there before so I didn't think more than one was necessary.
It used to be four colors for Bant Charm, All Suns' Dawn, and the Grip there. This deck began as a 4c Permission deck from INS's thread in Deck Creation there. When Ingenuity wasn't really consistent I ended up cutting them for Gifts, then Teachings when I decided that Gifts was probably too complicated for me. And then I just cut green, redid my mana, joined you guys.
Why the 1 ofs of the sweepers? I do not see a gifts package
Mystical teachings can search for consume the meek because it is an instant.
As for go.decks list i have no idea why the split. I would just run wrath or damnation to help with my manabase.
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In life all we can do is try to make things better. Sitting lost in old ways and fearing change only makes us outdated and ignorant.
Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding.
Albert Einstein
Millions of innocent men, women and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined and imprisoned; yet we have not advanced one inch towards uniformity.
Slips,
How's your testing going with that list? I took something very similar to your list to our Modern this week and it absolutely crushed. White Sun's Zenith was really fun, but not sure if it's necessary. The discard (I played 6 like you) absolutely shredded and the Geist/Elspeth board plan was really solid. 3x Zoo, 1x Jund I beat.
Slips,
How's your testing going with that list? I took something very similar to your list to our Modern this week and it absolutely crushed. White Sun's Zenith was really fun, but not sure if it's necessary. The discard (I played 6 like you) absolutely shredded and the Geist/Elspeth board plan was really solid. 3x Zoo, 1x Jund I beat.
Yeah that list is pretty damn clutch. I would drop the WSZ in the sideboard. I rarely was happy having it in my opening hand or drawing it before I had like 10 lands in play.
The discard is really good against every combo/midrange/control deck. I'm still struggling a bit against zoo though. Some of the hands they get are essentially unbeatable.
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In life all we can do is try to make things better. Sitting lost in old ways and fearing change only makes us outdated and ignorant.
Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding.
Albert Einstein
Millions of innocent men, women and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined and imprisoned; yet we have not advanced one inch towards uniformity.
Yeah that list is pretty damn clutch. I would drop the WSZ in the sideboard. I rarely was happy having it in my opening hand or drawing it before I had like 10 lands in play.
The discard is really good against every combo/midrange/control deck. I'm still struggling a bit against zoo though. Some of the hands they get are essentially unbeatable.
To be fair, WSZ isn't a card you want in a Teachings deck that plays creature finishers. If you're playing the Teferi package + a titan or two, I wouldn't bother with Zenith.
If you want to play exclusively snapcaster + maybe a clique or two, Zenith is an awesome instant speed non-creature finisher that can give you chump blockers if needed, or be a win condition later on. It's a card that needs experience to play right with. Lots of people forget that it's sometimes the best play to play it at 4 mana, get a 2/2 to get a bit of pressure going or provide some defense, then tutor it up later on with another teachings. More or less, it's a win condition that can be tutored up when you've stabilized similar to Teferi, but unlike Teferi, it can potentially provide a much quicker clock under the right circumstances.
I've found Zoo to be relatively manageable, depending on how I go about building the deck, and the specific variation of Zoo I would be playing against. Zoo decks that randomly have negates in them are annoying, but most of the standard builds you'll beat if you can stabilized by turn 3-4. Spell Snare & Tribute to Hunger are really strong cards against most Zoo decks, and I wouldn't play teachings without at least 1-2 of each of these cards.
I think the matchup is about 50/50, which is fine considering Zoo is supposed to be strongest against control decks.
Out of curiosity, are people finding the discard that important? I love IoK, but I felt it just didn't feel right when playing it in here. I'm not entirely sure why, and it's probably more related to the way my deck is built, but I feel I'd rather have discard in the board than the maindeck.
To be fair, WSZ isn't a card you want in a Teachings deck that plays creature finishers. If you're playing the Teferi package + a titan or two, I wouldn't bother with Zenith.
If you want to play exclusively snapcaster + maybe a clique or two, Zenith is an awesome instant speed non-creature finisher that can give you chump blockers if needed, or be a win condition later on. It's a card that needs experience to play right with. Lots of people forget that it's sometimes the best play to play it at 4 mana, get a 2/2 to get a bit of pressure going or provide some defense, then tutor it up later on with another teachings. More or less, it's a win condition that can be tutored up when you've stabilized similar to Teferi, but unlike Teferi, it can potentially provide a much quicker clock under the right circumstances.
I've found Zoo to be relatively manageable, depending on how I go about building the deck, and the specific variation of Zoo I would be playing against. Zoo decks that randomly have negates in them are annoying, but most of the standard builds you'll beat if you can stabilized by turn 3-4. Spell Snare & Tribute to Hunger are really strong cards against most Zoo decks, and I wouldn't play teachings without at least 1-2 of each of these cards.
I think the matchup is about 50/50, which is fine considering Zoo is supposed to be strongest against control decks.
Out of curiosity, are people finding the discard that important? I love IoK, but I felt it just didn't feel right when playing it in here. I'm not entirely sure why, and it's probably more related to the way my deck is built, but I feel I'd rather have discard in the board than the maindeck.
Its essentially you chose to beat zoo or you chose to beat everything else. Heavy discard is pretty bad against zoo, but really great against twin, death cloud, Big zoo, other teachings decks, tempo decks.....
I just wish that we had a cheap instant simular to see beyond to ditch WSZ if we draw it. Really control in this format is more of a battle with yourself than your opponent. Its really hard to get the right number of powerful cards to win, but few enough that you don't get clogged up.
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In life all we can do is try to make things better. Sitting lost in old ways and fearing change only makes us outdated and ignorant.
Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding.
Albert Einstein
Millions of innocent men, women and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined and imprisoned; yet we have not advanced one inch towards uniformity.
For my list the JI is supposed to be a Gifts, hence the 4 one of Sweepers.
That makes a lot more sense lol.
I was starting to question your deck building:)(jk)
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In life all we can do is try to make things better. Sitting lost in old ways and fearing change only makes us outdated and ignorant.
Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding.
Albert Einstein
Millions of innocent men, women and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined and imprisoned; yet we have not advanced one inch towards uniformity.
Not a big fan of trickbind, sudden spoiling, white sun's zenith, or your countersuite.
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In life all we can do is try to make things better. Sitting lost in old ways and fearing change only makes us outdated and ignorant.
Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding.
Albert Einstein
Millions of innocent men, women and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined and imprisoned; yet we have not advanced one inch towards uniformity.
Not a big fan of trickbind, sudden spoiling, white sun's zenith, or your countersuite.
Care to elaborate? I can understand White Sun, since it can be incredibly clunky, I suppose. However, I feel like Trickbind is just so good right now. It creates a lot of tempo in various situations: stops a Punishing Grove activation, turns Bloodbraid into just a 3/2 Haste, shuts off Knight activations (they sac a land, as well), buys you time against Twin, cancels out fetchlands.... 3 may not be the correct number, but I think it should be in the list somewhere. Spoiling is pretty sweet because it effectively acts as a 3 mana, uncounterable, instant speed Plague Wind. What's not to like about it?
Care to elaborate? I can understand White Sun, since it can be incredibly clunky, I suppose. However, I feel like Trickbind is just so good right now. It creates a lot of tempo in various situations: stops a Punishing Grove activation, turns Bloodbraid into just a 3/2 Haste, shuts off Knight activations (they sac a land, as well), buys you time against Twin, cancels out fetchlands.... 3 may not be the correct number, but I think it should be in the list somewhere. Spoiling is pretty sweet because it effectively acts as a 3 mana, uncounterable, instant speed Plague Wind. What's not to like about it?
Trickbind does a lot of things, but instead of spending a card to stop the activation of grove why not just grab the single extirpate. instead of stopping the activation of a knight you could of killed the thing before they could activate it. You also have better answers for twin. (sudden death) Or you can just run a few discard spells with a few counterspells and wreck the by destroying their hand. Instead of countering the bloddbraid ability you can just counter the spell they play for the same amount of mana. Sure it cancels fetch lands, but instead of doing that you could be countering what they are playing, or killing it. i would run 1 of these at most, and I probably wouldn't run it. shadow of doubt does several of the things you mentioned and it even cantrips.
WSZ is slightly clunky and best played in the sideboard, but it is ok
Sudden spoiling is just a 3 mana darkness that can't be countered. If it killed your opponents creatures like plague wind it would be absolutely busted. The only time it was ever useful(even in standard) was stopping the lark combo back in the day. the card is absolute **** man.
The rest of your deck looks fine, just the 3 cards that I mentioned aren't optimal in any way.
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In life all we can do is try to make things better. Sitting lost in old ways and fearing change only makes us outdated and ignorant.
Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding.
Albert Einstein
Millions of innocent men, women and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined and imprisoned; yet we have not advanced one inch towards uniformity.
I will admit that Spoiling was a card I added based mostly on theory and its place in the curve. I might just cut it for more 3-mana countermagic. Trickbind might stay in the deck or come out for 2-mana countermagic. I am not sure that more discard is the answer, I think 4 spot discard spells is perfectly fine. I will likely test it, though.
I am also curious if Clique has a place mainboard.
Yeah that list is pretty damn clutch. I would drop the WSZ in the sideboard. I rarely was happy having it in my opening hand or drawing it before I had like 10 lands in play.
The discard is really good against every combo/midrange/control deck. I'm still struggling a bit against zoo though. Some of the hands they get are essentially unbeatable.
Yeah, I agree with you Zoo can just steal games sometimes. Have you tried to fit some Repeal in at all? I really like it against Zoo, and always have.
I will admit that Spoiling was a card I added based mostly on theory and its place in the curve. I might just cut it for more 3-mana countermagic. Trickbind might stay in the deck or come out for 2-mana countermagic. I am not sure that more discard is the answer, I think 4 spot discard spells is perfectly fine. I will likely test it, though.
I am also curious if Clique has a place mainboard.
clique is a pretty good card. I'm not running it right now, but I would test it as a 2-3 of and see it you like it. IMO it is a preference thing. I just don't like running creatures because they are a hassle to me. Its kinda like chasing after a kid who constantly runs towards the highway....
Yeah, I agree with you Zoo can just steal games sometimes. Have you tried to fit some Repeal in at all? I really like it against Zoo, and always have.
It's something that I have tried with some success here and there, but it is really inconsistent. Sometimes its the best card you could ever draw and other times it is too slow. I Just wish we had swords to plowshares....I would love to run 4 1cmc exilers.(especially with a full grip of snapcasters)
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In life all we can do is try to make things better. Sitting lost in old ways and fearing change only makes us outdated and ignorant.
Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding.
Albert Einstein
Millions of innocent men, women and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined and imprisoned; yet we have not advanced one inch towards uniformity.
Thomas Jefferson
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Note: This was NOT written by feathers.
Mystical Teachings is a card that spawned one of the more dominant decks in timespiral block constructed and has had a bit of exposure in different extended seasons when it was legal. At heart this deck is a U/B/x/x control deck. The primary focus of the deck is using mostly instants to control the board. Some builds use Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir and 1-2 large creatures because mystical teachings can tutor for Teferi and when he is in play it can tutor for any other creature.
THE CARDS
The answers in this deck need to be as cheap as possible to help gain tempo advantage over faster decks. These spoilers will contain card choices and my opinion and experience with them.
doom blade: a great removal spell that kills several threats...unfortunately it doesn't kill Bob.
path to exile: The best removal spell in the format.
oblivion ring: Very slow but answers a lot of problems. Sideboard at best, since bounce spells tend to be better in this deck.
smother: Probably the second best removal spell since every deck in the format is based off of creatures with a cmc of 3 or less.
dismember: This card is ok, but slaughter pact is better to get off of teachings and both path to exile and smother are better early.
slaughter pact: I love this as a one of to kill pesky creatures off of mystical teachings. A 1-of is probably the best use of this card.
go for the throat:A solid removal spell, but with affinity around it is probably best in your sideboard.
Consume the meek: This is a solid one of because you can use teachings to tutor for it on turn 4 then drop a land and "wrath" the board.
Damnation,Wrath of god: 1-2 of these main deck is fine to augment the one consume the meek you should be running. These are also good in board to deal with Zoo.
Engineered explosives: At one point and time this was used in the deck, but I don't know if it is really worth it anymore. If elves get big this could be thrown into the sideboard.
deathmark: 2-4 in board are great against, zoo,bant, and elves.
condescend: decent counterspell, but it might be too inefficient for this deck.
delay:This is a fine 1-2 of in decks with a heavy Teferi base.
mana leak: A solid counterspell especially if your not counter heavy.
rune snag:About the same as mana leak early, however it is much better late game while still being good in the first few turns.
spell burst:A silver bullet of sorts. If you get it late game it is almost a hard lock for opponents spells. Some decks may opt to run this.
spell pierce: This has less uses now that combo decks are mostly slow. It might be decent to sideboard in against decks with heavy discard.
negate:This is similar to spell pierce except it is a hard counter for later.
flashfreeze: Probably the most solid counterspell from your sideboard. I have often ran 1 main deck in different builds since the best spells are almost always red or green in this format.
cryptic command: This card is right at the edge of efficiency. There is no doubt that it is powerful, but clogging your deck up with tons of 4cmc spells is ill advised. Better in the versions that don't run Teferi and other optional high converted mana cost spells.
spell snare:I would only run these in counterspell heavy builds because of how narrow it is. With that being said it is pretty good to regain tempo and not bad in counter wars since the best counterspells cost 2.
remand: Remand is a solid card, if you just want a few counterspells to deal with living end or want to add a few "sort of unconditional" counterspells to a counter suite.
logic knot: late game this is counterspell; its terrible early though., and it doesn't have synergy with snapcaster mage.
Efficiency is a must for creatures also. The teferi package is 1-3 teferi and 1-2 fatties.
Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir: He is the center piece of the deck just as mystical teachings is. they go hand and hand. 2-3 of him is enough.
Baneslayer angel: The most efficient beater with a quick clock that makes aggro players cry. Still dies a lot and stuff.
Grave titan:Slightly more resilent than BSA drops tokens that do some blocking, while typically being the biggest body on the field.
wurmcoil engine: Path to exile makes this card worse, but nothing else can effectively trade 1 for 1 with it. I recommend this card highly if your running any beef.
Crovax, Ascendant Hero:This guy is kinda old tech, could have its uses if the meta game switches up a bit.
plumeveil:If you need a kickass wall look no further.
vendilion clique: Decent at applying pressure on your opponent, and nice if you run a bit more disruption in your board.
Spinx of Jwar Isle: probably the best strait up win con. Toss 1 in the board and bring him in against decks with answers.
Snapcaster mage: similar to vinny clique in it's uses. This card is sort of the glue that can hold your whole deck together. Tiago allows you run more pseudo copies of each spell type(discard, card draw/cantrips, removal, and counterspells) in your deck which allows you to run a more diverse spread.
Geist of Saint Traft:Solid card out of the sideboard to bring in against decks that have tons of removal.
repeal: decent card that doesn't do exactly what we want although it's versatility is pretty good.
merchant scroll: Some people might want to run this......I just don't see the use in it.
esper charm: best card draw spell in the format. it also destroys enchantments while being an instant speed mind rot when necessary.
extirpate/surgical extraction: one of these makes a nice silver bullet in your main. 3 might be the correct number in your 75 depending on the meta. I chose surgical extraction main because of the option to be free off of a teachings.
into the roil:Can bounce blood moon or gaddok teeg without having a restrictive cost.
Pulse of the Fields: This has been better historically, but probably not as good as other options.
thoughtseize/Inquisition of Kozilek: These can pick up for the slack that counterspells create because discard is generally better than counterspells in this format.
These are some of the "fun" lands as I call them. Non basics that do more than tap for colors. Run these in moderation. Our deck is already weak to moon effects with our tri-color mana-base.
Calciform Pools/Dreadship Reef: These are great for control mirrors and not terrible overall.
Creeping Tar Pit : EBT is kinda tough, but this is the best way to help snapcaster mage end the game if don't run the teferi package.
Tolaria West : I like this card better in tron or post, but it might have applications here to search out a pact or one of these lands.
academy ruins: this is a good card if you have artifact things to return.
Shizo, Death's Storehouse: This is a pretty good land to run with teferi or if you run something like Geist of Saint Traft in your sideboard.
SAMPLE LISTS
My current list
4 Path to Exile
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Esper Charm
3 Mystical Teachings
2 Damnation
2 Thoughtseize
1 Consume the Meek
1 Cryptic Command
1 Dissipate
1 Negate
1 Gifts Ungiven
1 Pact of Negation
1 Remand
1 Rest for the Weary
1 Slaughter Pact
1 Smother
1 Surgical Extraction
1 Darkslick Shores
2 Fetid Heath
1 Godless Shrine
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Island
3 Isolated Chapel
4 Marsh Flats
1 Plains
4 River of Tears
1 Shizo, Death's Storehouse
1 Swamp
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Watery Grave
4 Timely Reinforcements
3 Geist of Saint Traft
3 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
2 Deathmark
1 Damnation
1 Duress
1 Negate
2 Snapcaster Mage
1 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
1 Wurmcoil Engine
[31 other spells]
4 Esper Charm
4 Path to Exile
4 Rune Snag
3 Spell Snare
2 Repeal
2 Smother
2 Doom Blade
2 Mystical Teachings
2 Think Twice
1 Consume the Meek
1 Dismember
1 Echoing Truth
1 Flashfreeze
1 Sudden Death
1 Surgical Extraction
4 Darkslick Shores
4 Marsh Flats
3 Seachrome Coast
2 Misty Rainforest
1 Adarkar Wastes
1 Glacial Fortress
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Sunken Ruins
1 Underground River
1 Watery Grave
1 Isolated Chapel
2 Swamp
2 Island
1 Plains
1 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
3 Vendilion Clique
2 Damnation
1 Flashfreeze
2 Sudden Death
4 Thoughtseize
2 Wipe Away
2 Plains
2 Island
2 Swamp
4 Marsh Flats
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Hallowed Fountain
1 Watery Grave
1 Godless Shrine
3 Mystic Gate
3 Isolated Chapel
1 Arcane Sanctum
1 Creeping Tar Pit
Creatures:
3 Snapcaster Mage
4 Mystical Teachings
4 Esper Charm
4 Mana Leak
4 Path to Exile
3 Cryptic Command
3 Remand
1 Consume the Meek
1 Pulse of the Fields
1 White Sun's Zenith
1 Pact of Negation
1 Slaughter Pact
1 Extirpate
Sorceries:
2 Wrath of God
1 Batterskull
2 Flashfreeze
2 Sudden Death
2 Celestial Purge
2 Tribute to Hunger
2 Timely Reinforcements
1 Circle of Protection: Red
1 Cryptic Command
1 Suffer the Past
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Krosan Grip
Here's mine. I really like White Sun's Zenith as a finisher. Although in hindsight I shouldn't have, I've already cast Zenith, then Teachings for it the next turn, and cast again the turn after that. What can I say? I'm a cat person.
I also like Batterskull because, of course, I can keep picking it back up and replaying it. It also gives my Tiagos something to beat face with. Which is always nice.
I'm not sure if I did the lands right. Feel free to suggest a different build if you think I've done it wrong. I probably have.
4 Esper Charm
4 Mana Leak
2 Negate
1 Cryptic Command
2 Smother
4 Path to Exile
1 Jace's Ingenuity
3 Spell Snare
1 Consume the Meek
1 Wrath of God
1 Day of Judgment
1 Damnation
3 Snapcaster Mage
1 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
1 Grave Titan
1 Wurmcoil Engine
5 Island
1 Swamp
1 Plains
3 Creeping Tar Pit
2 Celestial Colonnade
4 Marsh Flats
2 Watery Grave
2 Hallowed Fountain
2 Godless Shrine
1 Mystic Gate
2 Arcane Sanctum
1 Fetid Heath
This is the variant I'm testing right now, features a little more spot removal than other builds I've been seeing but it has the same finisher package as most versions have had over the past season or two.
@feathers:
Why the random 2 and one of non instants in the board? Or has your library manipulation been sufficient at finding the cards?
Footsteps Hulk
Ascendency Combo
Restore Balance
Ad Nauseam
EDH:
Ghave Lands
Narset Combo
It used to be four colors for Bant Charm, All Suns' Dawn, and the Grip there. This deck began as a 4c Permission deck from INS's thread in Deck Creation there. When Ingenuity wasn't really consistent I ended up cutting them for Gifts, then Teachings when I decided that Gifts was probably too complicated for me. And then I just cut green, redid my mana, joined you guys.
Shizo, Death's Storehouse
Mystical teachings can search for consume the meek because it is an instant.
As for go.decks list i have no idea why the split. I would just run wrath or damnation to help with my manabase.
Albert Einstein
Thomas Jefferson
How's your testing going with that list? I took something very similar to your list to our Modern this week and it absolutely crushed. White Sun's Zenith was really fun, but not sure if it's necessary. The discard (I played 6 like you) absolutely shredded and the Geist/Elspeth board plan was really solid. 3x Zoo, 1x Jund I beat.
2 Plains
2 Island
2 Swamp
4 Marsh Flats
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Hallowed Fountain
2 Watery Grave
1 Godless Shrine
3 Mystic Gate
3 Isolated Chapel
1 Arcane Sanctum
1 Creeping Tar Pit
Creatures:
3 Snapcaster Mage
4 Esper Charm
4 Mana Leak
4 Path to Exile
3 Mystical Teachings
3 Cryptic Command
3 Remand
1 Consume the Meek
1 Pulse of the Fields
1 White Sun's Zenith
1 Pact of Negation
1 Slaughter Pact
1 Extirpate
Sorceries:
2 Wrath of God
1 Batterskull
2 Flashfreeze
2 Sudden Death
2 Celestial Purge
2 Tribute to Hunger
2 Timely Reinforcements
2 Circle of Protection: Red
1 Cryptic Command
1 Suffer the Past
1 Hurkyl's Recall
Updated. Cut Grip for another COP and Teachings for a Watery Grave. 26 land just wasn't cutting it. It's an oddly inconsistent number. Dunno why.
Yeah that list is pretty damn clutch. I would drop the WSZ in the sideboard. I rarely was happy having it in my opening hand or drawing it before I had like 10 lands in play.
The discard is really good against every combo/midrange/control deck. I'm still struggling a bit against zoo though. Some of the hands they get are essentially unbeatable.
Albert Einstein
Thomas Jefferson
To be fair, WSZ isn't a card you want in a Teachings deck that plays creature finishers. If you're playing the Teferi package + a titan or two, I wouldn't bother with Zenith.
If you want to play exclusively snapcaster + maybe a clique or two, Zenith is an awesome instant speed non-creature finisher that can give you chump blockers if needed, or be a win condition later on. It's a card that needs experience to play right with. Lots of people forget that it's sometimes the best play to play it at 4 mana, get a 2/2 to get a bit of pressure going or provide some defense, then tutor it up later on with another teachings. More or less, it's a win condition that can be tutored up when you've stabilized similar to Teferi, but unlike Teferi, it can potentially provide a much quicker clock under the right circumstances.
I've found Zoo to be relatively manageable, depending on how I go about building the deck, and the specific variation of Zoo I would be playing against. Zoo decks that randomly have negates in them are annoying, but most of the standard builds you'll beat if you can stabilized by turn 3-4. Spell Snare & Tribute to Hunger are really strong cards against most Zoo decks, and I wouldn't play teachings without at least 1-2 of each of these cards.
I think the matchup is about 50/50, which is fine considering Zoo is supposed to be strongest against control decks.
Out of curiosity, are people finding the discard that important? I love IoK, but I felt it just didn't feel right when playing it in here. I'm not entirely sure why, and it's probably more related to the way my deck is built, but I feel I'd rather have discard in the board than the maindeck.
Its essentially you chose to beat zoo or you chose to beat everything else. Heavy discard is pretty bad against zoo, but really great against twin, death cloud, Big zoo, other teachings decks, tempo decks.....
I just wish that we had a cheap instant simular to see beyond to ditch WSZ if we draw it. Really control in this format is more of a battle with yourself than your opponent. Its really hard to get the right number of powerful cards to win, but few enough that you don't get clogged up.
Albert Einstein
Thomas Jefferson
That makes a lot more sense lol.
I was starting to question your deck building:)(jk)
Albert Einstein
Thomas Jefferson
4 Creeping Tar Pit
4 River of Tears
4 Marsh Flats
2 Fetid Heath
2 Watery Grave
1 Godless Shrine
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Academy Ruins
3 Island
2 Swamp
1 Plains
Creatures (4):
4 Snapcaster Mage
Instants (26):
4 Esper Charm
4 Path to Exile
3 Mystical Teachings
3 Trickbind
2 Remand
2 Dissipate
1 Consume the Meek
1 Cryptic Command
1 Extirpate
1 Pact of Negation
1 Rest for the Weary
1 Smother
1 Sudden Spoiling
1 White Sun's Zenith
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 Damnation
3 Oust
3 Thoughtseize
2 Vendilion Clique
2 Hibernation
1 Celestial Purge
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Sudden Death
1 Damnation
1 Wurmcoil Engine
Thoughts?
Legacy: UB(R/G) Storm UB(R/G)
Vintage: UBG Gush Storm UBG
They don't. Its like the worst card you could ever run. Your just setting yourself up to fail if you run delvers in teachings.
Not a big fan of trickbind, sudden spoiling, white sun's zenith, or your countersuite.
Albert Einstein
Thomas Jefferson
2 Plains
2 Island
2 Swamp
4 Marsh Flats
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Hallowed Fountain
1 Watery Grave
1 Godless Shrine
3 Mystic Gate
3 Isolated Chapel
1 Arcane Sanctum
1 Creeping Tar Pit
Creatures:
3 Snapcaster Mage
1 Vendilion Clique
4 Esper Charm
4 Mana Leak
4 Path to Exile
3 Mystical Teachings
3 Cryptic Command
3 Remand
1 Sudden Death
1 Tribute to Hunger
1 Consume the Meek
1 Pulse of the Fields
1 White Sun's Zenith
1 Pact of Negation
1 Extirpate
Sorceries:
1 Wrath of God
1 Batterskull
2 Hibernation
2 Flashfreeze
2 Celestial Purge
2 Timely Reinforcements
2 Circle of Protection: Red
1 Tribute to Hunger
1 Fracturing Gust
1 Ravenous Trap
1 Sudden Death
1 Wrath of God
Another update. Very gradually learning this deck. I think I have my sideboard down, though.
Care to elaborate? I can understand White Sun, since it can be incredibly clunky, I suppose. However, I feel like Trickbind is just so good right now. It creates a lot of tempo in various situations: stops a Punishing Grove activation, turns Bloodbraid into just a 3/2 Haste, shuts off Knight activations (they sac a land, as well), buys you time against Twin, cancels out fetchlands.... 3 may not be the correct number, but I think it should be in the list somewhere. Spoiling is pretty sweet because it effectively acts as a 3 mana, uncounterable, instant speed Plague Wind. What's not to like about it?
Legacy: UB(R/G) Storm UB(R/G)
Vintage: UBG Gush Storm UBG
Trickbind does a lot of things, but instead of spending a card to stop the activation of grove why not just grab the single extirpate. instead of stopping the activation of a knight you could of killed the thing before they could activate it. You also have better answers for twin. (sudden death) Or you can just run a few discard spells with a few counterspells and wreck the by destroying their hand. Instead of countering the bloddbraid ability you can just counter the spell they play for the same amount of mana. Sure it cancels fetch lands, but instead of doing that you could be countering what they are playing, or killing it. i would run 1 of these at most, and I probably wouldn't run it. shadow of doubt does several of the things you mentioned and it even cantrips.
WSZ is slightly clunky and best played in the sideboard, but it is ok
Sudden spoiling is just a 3 mana darkness that can't be countered. If it killed your opponents creatures like plague wind it would be absolutely busted. The only time it was ever useful(even in standard) was stopping the lark combo back in the day. the card is absolute **** man.
The rest of your deck looks fine, just the 3 cards that I mentioned aren't optimal in any way.
Albert Einstein
Thomas Jefferson
I am also curious if Clique has a place mainboard.
Legacy: UB(R/G) Storm UB(R/G)
Vintage: UBG Gush Storm UBG
Yeah, I agree with you Zoo can just steal games sometimes. Have you tried to fit some Repeal in at all? I really like it against Zoo, and always have.
clique is a pretty good card. I'm not running it right now, but I would test it as a 2-3 of and see it you like it. IMO it is a preference thing. I just don't like running creatures because they are a hassle to me. Its kinda like chasing after a kid who constantly runs towards the highway....
It's something that I have tried with some success here and there, but it is really inconsistent. Sometimes its the best card you could ever draw and other times it is too slow. I Just wish we had swords to plowshares....I would love to run 4 1cmc exilers.(especially with a full grip of snapcasters)
Albert Einstein
Thomas Jefferson