MTG Salvation

The first place deck from New Mexico seems very promising. Boyce Travis went all the way with this tempo deck. I believe discussion on this deck belongs in this forum as this is a base aggro deck, just had more disruption than dudes.

I liked this list when I saw it. The one thing I don't really like is Runechanter's Pike because I don't really care for Thought Scour. It just doesn't do enough. I know thought scour+acharm but thats card disadvantage and you need both in hand to make it any good. The 2 things I like most are NpGm and leyv skyknight. The fact NpGm can make Gesit fly is pretty huge, and detaining a threat late game is good. LSkyknight is a nice 3 flying, can detain planeswalkers and be re-triggerd via Restoration Angel. With the mix of detain, bouncing and some maindeck counters to keep the adversary off removal, and Scma rebuying stuff, the deck sems like a ton of fun. It seems a little similar to U/W/r midrange, just with less countermagic and a stronger endgame with hellkite. But this deck has the detain shenangians and can send Geist to the skies for a really quick clock.

I was so wrong about Runechanter's Pike and Thought Scour. Like SO wrong and I admit that.

I also upped the land count to 23 as 22 wasn't enough with all the 3 drops and Restoration Angels.

Something weird, but even game one against someone packing 4 Supreme Verdicts, can't you bounce one of your awesome attackers like GoST/RAngel back to your hand in response as to not get totally blown out?

I could be cracked out on paint fumes from work lol but wouldn't Feeling of Dread be better suited in the Dramatic Rescue spot? Seems like it would help combat the tusk/AoS craziness plus help you potentially punch through some lethal damage. Also not a bad option if you hit a walker or guildmage.

Quote from Ships_Ahoy

I could be cracked out on paint fumes from work lol but wouldn't Feeling of Dread be better suited in the Dramatic Rescue spot? Seems like it would help combat the tusk/AoS craziness plus help you potentially punch through some lethal damage. Also not a bad option if you hit a walker or guildmage.

I Do Not Like Dramatic Rescue. It was always failing me in testing as a lesser unsummon. Such is life(puns). These are the cards I've been testing with in its place.

1)Cyclonic rift

While seemingly good, I could never get to 7 mana when i needed to making this card near worthless, in the fact that it can't bounce my own GoST, which is weirdly important(verdict, terminus). I also thought that it might be relevant to bounce detention sphere and planeswalkers, but they don't actually seem to hamper the deck enough, and you never want to bounce the sphere, you want to bounce your own pike, which you can't do turn four if you tap out for said pike.

2)Feeling of Dread

This was one of the cards that I like because of how well it preformed in teh UW humans deck. Also, minor synergy with thought scour. It feels like it helps you race better than Dramatic Rescue did in teh first place.

3)Inaction Injunction

honestly, I only tried out injunction because of that snapcaster flashback a cantrip possibility, and for that purpose, it was powerful.But anytime you didn't see snapcaster, there would be more threats than you could detain. Unlike the skyknight, we're not leaving a 3/1 behind, so it didn't seems to deliver as much.

My deck right now has -2 Dramatic Rescue -1 Swift Justice +3 Inaction Injunction(just for the sake of more cantrips and working towards crazy pikes. But I'm sbing these out against every control deck. boarding out cantrips feels bad.

Edit: include list.

I guess it depends on what you want to do. I replaced the DRescue's with Faith's Shields and have been happy. FShield is really good at either forcing Geist through, and stopping targeted removal. I also upped the counterspell count. Not by alot but a couple more. I rarely put more than 2 threats out at a time, so it lets me use untapped mana for counters, tempo spells and scmage silliness. Anyone thinking of cutting Unsummon, don't. The mere fact you can save a Geist from SVerdict/Terminus alone is worth it. I still am really liking NPGMage. I think 2 is perfect, 3 would be too many. Making Geist fly is just redonks. And the detain ability can really count when things get tense. I'm still on fence about the red splash. It sure is tempting, especially for searing spear. There isn't alot of good burn, but the fact searing spear is an instant sure counts. I also thing mizzium mortars can be a total blowout against g/w aggro. Brimstone volley doesn't look ahve bad either as a great to sucker people into blocks and punish them. Just theorizing.

I really think that Inaction Injunction, Faith's Shield, and Feeling of Dread are all better cards than Dramatic Rescue. Personally, I still favor Feeling of Dread over the other two.

I like the cantrip ability of the Injuction but comparing to Feeling of Dread it just detains one creature at sorcery speed while the other "basically detains" up to 2 creatures at instant speed and it flashback as well for the same CMC...so like a halfway cantrip in itself. They both want to do essentially the same thing...but FoD just lets you do it "more". I think that the Injunction shines if you're facing creature threats with activated abilities like Olivia or a guildmage...outside of that..I feel that FoD just outclasses it in their functions in the deck.

Now Faith's Shield seems like it could be almost a meta call card or great sideboard card against targeted removal or red sweepers because FoD could very well be a dead draw against control, but right now the general meta it seems Mid-range and aggro and I feel FoD answers those types of decks at a better percentage than the Shield. Same principle 1 FoD flashbacked can impact the board for 4 turns while Faith's Shield does so for just one(w/o Snappy of course).

And against Mid-range and Aggro, you are the control deck more times than not and you want to keep their "threats" at bay while you peck away at their life total.

Yet again I could very well be wrong but it just seems like Feeling of Dread seems like a good meta call right now in the MD. Just my two cents

Feeling of Dread is still a good option. Just have to weigh what cards will be good an when. FShield can protect a dude or force damage through. Feeling helps buy time and tapping bigger threats down. I will try Feeling of Dread tonight and probably 1 Dungeon Geist mainboard and another is the sideboard. DGeist has a similar role in that he flies and slows something down. Between Unsummoning, acharming, Feeling of dread, DGeist works well with lyev skyknights, and the whole tempo plan. I think Ill cut back some on the counters and just use Negate again, as it stops what I want to most, planeswalkers/removal. I can sideboard another dungeon geist and maybe 2 supreme verdicts to help versus Jund etc. Versus control, an extra Negate, with the Geists mainboard should be enough to overpower them.

I went ahead and tried a very Delver-like deck tonight at FNM. I went 3-0-1 with an intentional draw in the last round. The deck didn't lose a game all night in the 3 matches it played. It felt very similar to pre-RTV Delver. Obviously, no ponder hurts a lot, but Delver still flips, and I'm not entirely sold it should be cut entirely. If anybody is interested in the exact list. It's posted below. Pike wasn't overly helpful. It could probably be something better. It just was hard to play it as you do have to leave more mana up and I never really had any prime time to drop it.

In Nebraska states the winner is a deck very similar from that on the topic:



I had test it a lot and agroo deck like Mono Red deck are much more quick then it, but control . I think it need to be work and is very dependable from the meta, but is a seriously deck. In the mana I don't like the gates because they come tap, and I lose some match because I have only lands that become to game tap, I think maybe evolving wild can fix that because we don't have any first drop, that we always want to play like a delver or something like that.

I was so glad to see some UW Tempo decks showing up in recent tournies. I am sure that everyone has been struggling to come up with UW Tempo deck that is near comparable to Delver deck from last standard. Of course we will never have a functioning Delver deck 2.0, but the version I'm running at the moment seems very consistent, and going to try out at serious environment soon.



I know that I don't run Geist of Saint Traft but I am not too sure what to take out for already tight deck spot. I love to have Geist out on the board but whole deck just seems to flow better and have synergy with one another without it.

I'm testing out Adam Prosak's UW Tempo deck



My SB is a little different, and I want to try out Pithing Needle. I just need to get a ruling on it. Does Needle shut down utility lands like Vault of the Archangel and Kessig Wolfrun? Since they have to tap that specific land, my mind is saying yes, it works on that.

Quote from Undercooled

I know that I don't run Geist of Saint Traft but I am not too sure what to take out for already tight deck spot. I love to have Geist out on the board but whole deck just seems to flow better and have synergy with one another without it.

If I'm counting right, you only listed 14 cards in your SB.

Quote from Izzet Experiment

I'm testing out Adam Prosak's UW Tempo deck

nottz's DeckMagic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards
4 Augur of Bolas 4 Restoration Angel 4 Snapcaster Mage 4 Azorius Charm 2 Dissipate 2 Essence Scatter 1 Rewind 2 Runechanter's Pike 1 Sphinx's Revelation 2 Syncopate 3 Think Twice 4 Thought Scour 4 Unsummon	4 Glacial Fortress 4 Hallowed Fountain 9 Island 2 Moorland Haunt 4 Plains	Sideboard: 2 Detention Sphere 2 Dungeon Geists 2 Faith's Shield 2 Geist of Saint Traft 2 Negate 2 Purify the Grave 1 Rewind 2 Supreme Verdict

My SB is a little different, and I want to try out Pithing Needle. I just need to get a ruling on it. Does Needle shut down utility lands like Vault of the Archangel and Kessig Wolfrun? Since they have to tap that specific land, my mind is saying yes, it works on that.

No you cannot, they're mana abilitys.

Quote from nottz

No you cannot, they're mana abilitys.

Okay. Thanks for clearing that up for me.

Quote from Izzet Experiment

My SB is a little different, and I want to try out Pithing Needle. I just need to get a ruling on it. Does Needle shut down utility lands like Vault of the Archangel and Kessig Wolfrun? Since they have to tap that specific land, my mind is saying yes, it works on that.

It will shut off the ability to give the creatures lifelink/deathtouth or +x/+0 and trample. But they can still tap your colorless mana.

Quote from jdow30

It will shut off the ability to give the creatures lifelink/deathtouth or +x/+0 and trample. But they can still tap your colorless mana.

You're actually correct. Since the ability doesn't produce mana it will be stopped.

I'm thinking of a throwback to the old "Geist-pike" deck:

Quote from Izzet Experiment

If I'm counting right, you only listed 14 cards in your SB.

Oh you are right, Fixed it now : )

Quote from Sasky

I'm thinking of a throwback to the old "Geist-pike" deck:

"Return to Delver"Magic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards
Lands (22): 4 Glacial Fortress 4 Hallowed Fountain 12 Island 2 Plains Creatures (12): 4 Delver of Secrets 4 Snapcaster Mage 4 Geist of Saint Traft	Instants/Sorceries (24): 3 Syncopate 4 Thought Scour 4 Unsummon 4 Azorius Charm 2 Essence Scatter 4 Think Twice 3 Midnight Haunting	Equipment (2): 2 Runechanter's Pike	Sideboard: 2 Dissipate 1 Essence Scatter 3 Purify the Grave 2 Spectral Flight 3 Supreme Verdict 2 Negate 2 Faith's Shield

No Moorland Haunt?
I will go for sure for a UW tempo deck. Azorius Charm is one of the best cards I ever see for tempo, and I consider Geist the best "small" creature in standard. Now I'm testing Prosak list and enjoy, but I like to see Geist in mainboard.

Took 3rd at a small local tournament last night with my UW Tempo deck. My only loss was too an Elf deck, which was due to some misplays of my own. Overall record was 3-1. Glad I didn't have to play my girlfriend who got 1st.

The deck is a lot of fun to play. Your opponent is constantly surprised because you rarely have any board presence. I love it.

Quote from Izzet Experiment

Took 3rd at a small local tournament last night with my UW Tempo deck. My only loss was too an Elf deck, which was due to some misplays of my own. Overall record was 3-1. Glad I didn't have to play my girlfriend who got 1st.

The deck is a lot of fun to play. Your opponent is constantly surprised because you rarely have any board presence. I love it.

Feel the same from my testing. This is really fun. Draw and Go makes the people hate this decks

Quote from Teacher RL

No Moorland Haunt?

Oops, corrected that.

I've been playtesting with the deck and it really feels close to pre-rotation delver. Delver, flip, unsummon this, counter that. The lack of vapor snag becomes painfully obvious as I have lost some games where my opponent is down to 1-2 life.

It's viable to exchange Augur of Bolas for Geist of Saint Traft, as I always want to see it? I played Delver pre-RTR and I loved it, going to test this deck. Augur of Bolas seems weak for this deck, despite it's deck filtering and having good defense against Aggro.

With 4 Azorius Charm, 3/4 Think Twice, 4 Thought Scour and 4 Tiagos, I think that we have all the cantrips we need and that Augur isn't needed in this deck. Something like this:



With more 2 empty slots for the SB.

Try spectral flight as your final sideboard slots. It helps plenty against thragtusk decks.