Sorry for the delay....work
Here is my current list..it looks odd but it has been well tuned over a long period of time.
Please note it is not an Enduring Ideal list - I do run EI W/u, but for "pure" pillowfort I use RW. There is a thread for the Enduring Ideal cousins.
I run a lot of combos/semi combo synergies here, but most of the cards are worthy on their own.
A) The Nodes/Heliod lock is solid, but against PTE decks you need to be able to protect Heliod from Path and plenty of decks don't care about it. Nodes and Heliod are decent by themselves.
B) The unlife/form combo- this rarely comes up, as better players scoop game one when out of it. Form is there because Unlife is worthwhile by itself, and the form can win the game in short order if the board is locked down but there are lots of blockers- Unlife it has a big impact in a lot of the fast matches (unlike solemnity would).
C) Obliterate is a one card combo with Suppression Fields down against control decks, leaving them with zero permanetns and me with >10. Field stops them rebuilding mana, even if they have a few lands left in the library. Good players playing blue control know they will win the long game by keeping me off win cons. They commit to the board and if this card is cast late enough you leave them with zero permanents and no ability to counter for the next few turns, enabling you to slip a card down and win. It also combos with Heliod's indestructibility. The odd mana base is a concession to Obliterate, running garisons not only enables scry lands to be replayed it allows lands to go back to hand without opponents getting suspicious.
There are nonbos which make my version hard to play.
S Field is an MVP often, but it interacts with Heliod's and Luminarch activated ability poorly, as well as the cast out cycling.
Starfield and RIP main is a semi nonbo, but you can play starfield for its opalescence ability as well as its recur an enchantment ability. It is the card that needs the most care in the deck. Mistakes lose matches. You always need to know how you will win- against a tron list you need to win via a sudden animation using Starfield, for example.
Ghost Quarter and S field are nonbos too.
I use a lot of win cons- in my experience you can't get the "right" wincon for the deck. If you have 5cc wincons you won't cast them against most U decks. The obliterate and the Lumincarch are the wincons against control, one will be cast the other slips past counters. Playing SFN is suicidal against many decks running mass removal, for example. Very few cards are universally good. Running RIP main is really important for my money, lots of decks use the bin one way or the other, whether it be dies triggers or Snapcasters, or Goyfs, Flashback, Delve or such. When it is dead it is still a 2 cost enchantment.
The board is key- Eidolons are so useful in many matches, a blocker at 1/4 and Snapcaster irritant in some matches, it works great against bring to light versions of scapeshift, nerfs a bit of the ad nauseam combo, it slows tron and the ilk to a crawl it has won me lots of games by being the straw that breaks the camel's back. The number of times it is down and a key enchantment is animated but they need two spells to kill it is quite large. Blood moon, needles and stony are the only way to beat regular (non eldra) tron, Moon and Nyx is a nonbo, of course, Moon is unexpected by a lot of inexperienced players as they see the Shrine to Nyx, always be sure to mention it between games.
As a rule it is worthwhile considering the deck as a sphere of safety deck- as such any t0/2 enchantment is never truly dead if the opponent wins by attacking. S Field is almost universally good- everything from an inkmoth activation, a ravager sac, to a fetchland activation or lightning storm suffers under it, Halo is often good too, but even when dead you are normally better getting them down because a single sphere and ghostly can often put that last damage out of reach. Speed is not the issue in the early turns- you should hit an enchantment t2, 3. Everynow and then a t4 sphere would save where a t5 would not, but it is rare.
I think it's time to take another look at the blue splash - Search for Azcanta might be just what the doctor ordered. It gives us an excellent card filtering mechanism in the early game, and a card advantage engine late (probably very late - not exactly a deck that puts things into the yard). Even still, the filtering isn't something to be sneezed at. I'm going to test it out on MTGO and see if there is anything there
Gideon seems like an interesting choice, not sure about running him in the main. He would be insane against decks with limited burn/creature threats though, and he acts as solemnity 5+ against infect until they kill him with hierarch.
I'm going to pick up two for my board and see if they do anything.
By the way, where did you find that list? Did it win something?
I found it on a website, a big website, but I don't believe it won anything, I think it was a deck they were considering playing at a PTQ, I'm thinking they didn't select it, but they considered it.
I don't think cast search on turn 2 is anything close to what we want to be doing. Your meta would have to be all control to even consider that card. Remember what this deck does on turn 2, halos and suppression field. Those are way more impactful than search. Post board this is also the same cmc slot as rest in peace and rule of law.
I just don't think it's practical. Also flipping it almost always comes at the opportunity cost of increasing devotion by pitching lock pieces. I tend to want to slam nearly everything I'm drawing unless the card is truly dead (phyrexian unlife in the infect matchup comes to mind, or leyline in some of the pure creature decks). But usually I'm boarding those out for more impactful cards anyway.
If the card was hybrid white/blue there may have been an argument, as the selection would be a nice include for the control matchup. But if I'm going to mess with my lands to beat control (my list is mono-w) I'm going to just play obliterate and blood moon.
I think the search is definitely powerful. There are many times where I need to dig for another prison/sphere, or need to find a Halo, or are looking for a Nevermore, but with no way to filter I'm at the mercy of the top of my deck. Also, it gives me access to Spreading Seas which I love.
I agree. One of the biggest problems for this deck is white has so little card advantage. You just don't see enough cards. Some of your cards are just dead in each matchup so seeing more cards allows you to see the high impact cards that you need. If Search for Azcanta isn't the card, we do need something similar to it help see more cards.
Wasting turn 2 to see an extra card turn 3 does not seem worth the inherent risk of running another color. If you want to talk about maindeck spreading seas as a reason that's fine, but ultimately if you are running another color you are running fetches, and if you are running fetches you are giving up suppression field, which is an insanely good card. Either that or you are running a lot of non basics and are exposing yourself to blood moon and ponza decks.
I think you solve bad matchups with your sideboard, which is highly flexible given that half the maindeck of any mono white list is already made up of sideboard cards, so you should have extra slots available.
There's also something to be said about mulling more aggressively with our type of strategy. When a single cards can buy you 3+ turns, it's okay to risk an additional mulligan to find it for your opener.
If you want better card selection at the cost of speed Idyllic Tutor does that better, btw. I don't think that's a good trade off, but maybe in a meta with few aggro decks this would be viable.
My opinion is that the only viable splash at the moment for a non enduring ideal list is red, and if you want to play blue you should very likely just be playing enduring ideal instead.
Sorry for the delay....work
Here is my current list..it looks odd but it has been well tuned over a long period of time.
Please note it is not an Enduring Ideal list - I do run EI W/u, but for "pure" pillowfort I use RW. There is a thread for the Enduring Ideal cousins.
I run a lot of combos/semi combo synergies here, but most of the cards are worthy on their own.
A) The Nodes/Heliod lock is solid, but against PTE decks you need to be able to protect Heliod from Path and plenty of decks don't care about it. Nodes and Heliod are decent by themselves.
B) The unlife/form combo- this rarely comes up, as better players scoop game one when out of it. Form is there because Unlife is worthwhile by itself, and the form can win the game in short order if the board is locked down but there are lots of blockers- Unlife it has a big impact in a lot of the fast matches (unlike solemnity would).
C) Obliterate is a one card combo with Suppression Fields down against control decks, leaving them with zero permanetns and me with >10. Field stops them rebuilding mana, even if they have a few lands left in the library. Good players playing blue control know they will win the long game by keeping me off win cons. They commit to the board and if this card is cast late enough you leave them with zero permanents and no ability to counter for the next few turns, enabling you to slip a card down and win. It also combos with Heliod's indestructibility. The odd mana base is a concession to Obliterate, running garisons not only enables scry lands to be replayed it allows lands to go back to hand without opponents getting suspicious.
There are nonbos which make my version hard to play.
S Field is an MVP often, but it interacts with Heliod's and Luminarch activated ability poorly, as well as the cast out cycling.
Starfield and RIP main is a semi nonbo, but you can play starfield for its opalescence ability as well as its recur an enchantment ability. It is the card that needs the most care in the deck. Mistakes lose matches. You always need to know how you will win- against a tron list you need to win via a sudden animation using Starfield, for example.
Ghost Quarter and S field are nonbos too.
I use a lot of win cons- in my experience you can't get the "right" wincon for the deck. If you have 5cc wincons you won't cast them against most U decks. The obliterate and the Lumincarch are the wincons against control, one will be cast the other slips past counters. Playing SFN is suicidal against many decks running mass removal, for example. Very few cards are universally good. Running RIP main is really important for my money, lots of decks use the bin one way or the other, whether it be dies triggers or Snapcasters, or Goyfs, Flashback, Delve or such. When it is dead it is still a 2 cost enchantment.
The board is key- Eidolons are so useful in many matches, a blocker at 1/4 and Snapcaster irritant in some matches, it works great against bring to light versions of scapeshift, nerfs a bit of the ad nauseam combo, it slows tron and the ilk to a crawl it has won me lots of games by being the straw that breaks the camel's back. The number of times it is down and a key enchantment is animated but they need two spells to kill it is quite large. Blood moon, needles and stony are the only way to beat regular (non eldra) tron, Moon and Nyx is a nonbo, of course, Moon is unexpected by a lot of inexperienced players as they see the Shrine to Nyx, always be sure to mention it between games.
As a rule it is worthwhile considering the deck as a sphere of safety deck- as such any t0/2 enchantment is never truly dead if the opponent wins by attacking. S Field is almost universally good- everything from an inkmoth activation, a ravager sac, to a fetchland activation or lightning storm suffers under it, Halo is often good too, but even when dead you are normally better getting them down because a single sphere and ghostly can often put that last damage out of reach. Speed is not the issue in the early turns- you should hit an enchantment t2, 3. Everynow and then a t4 sphere would save where a t5 would not, but it is rare.
Obliterate is a house against Control. For now I have settled on a Mono White build with Entreat the Angels and Sigil of the Empty Throne as win cons.
Hey guys, first time posting here. Had the deck for almost a year, but haven't played much because modern here where I live is kind of dead.
Will be posting my list and my experiences. By the way, the sideboard is a work in progress, and I don't find that I need to get stuff from it very often on the meta in my LGS.
Overall I've found most of the matches I've tried to be even or favorable.
Gifts Storm: Favorable, 4 Leylines and 4 Runed Halos are incredible against grapeshot, Nevermore helps as well, Rest in Peace stops the combo from getting too out of control. Empty the warrens can be dealt with using Ghostly Prisons and Whrath. Baral and the gobling are easy enough to get rid of.
Jund: Even, Leyline does a incredible amount of work, Runed Halos are super good as well, Nevermore protects our enchantments against the spot removal and Ghost Quarter gets rid of the man lands. There's basically no dead cards against Jund and its a really fun match to play. Feels like its important to find a win condition pretty early though as the game can change out of nowhere from time to time.
Naya Burn: Even, games against Burn are always closer then I would like, but Leylines are great. Games without a turn 0 leyline are pretty tough and you have to use Runed Halos to hold on until you find one. Having some early blocks for the creatures goes a long way in this match. Runed Halo naming Eidolon is prety funny.
Ad Nauseam: This one depends. If the deck doesn't have lab maniac, then it's super favorable, otherwise, it's almost impossible to win. Leyline, Runed Halo and Suppression Field all deal with Lightning Storm, but I have no idea how to interact with the maniac.
Mono red Goblins: Favorable. It's a creature deck, there's really no secret to it, Runed Halo, Ghostly Prison, Sphere of Safety, Nodes and Wrath are all great.
Soul Sisters: Favorable, about the same as goblins really. Takes a while to win because the opponent get's to gain a bunch of life, but it doesn't matter much.
Mono Blue Merfolk: Even, taxing the attack and blowing up the board works great, but the creatures grow to be pretty big if the board is allowed to develop. Blockers are important.
Naya Zoo: Even, taxing the attack step and wrath are great again, but three Burning-Tree Emissarys followed by a bushwacker can be a blowout. Blockers are important again.
Affinity: Even, can be dangerous if they get a really explosive draw, runed halos and ghost quarters are super important against the man-lands, Suppression Field does wonders to slow down the deck, Wraths are important as well. Stony silence comes in from the sideboard and wrecks just about everuthing, its fantastic.
Abzan Vizier Combo: Even, Leyline is great, Suppression Field turns off sac outlets, Wraths and nodes keep the board under control, if they combo out and gain infinite life its gg though.
RG Scapeshift: Leyline, Runed Halos and Nevermores win the game all on their own, not much secret to this match, really. Dude at the store get's a Back to Nature from the sideboard, so there`s that, but that's a risk against any deck running green.
Leylines and Runed Halos are by far the all stars of the deck, they do a incredible amount of work, turning off a lot of interaction that our opponents could have or stopping combos all together. There's rally no control decks in my meta, so I can't say how the deck performs against them.
I've just got myself 4 Myth Realized to try out on the deck, but have no idea what to expect. Also, I've switched from Banishing Lights to Oblivion Rings...It just happens that every once in a while I want to get rid of my own suppression field or a node.
Hope this information is of some help to someone!
My friends, I go in a championship that on average compete 40 to 50 players, this Sunday, I go with this list, I will expose after the championship the result for you
4 Runed Halo
4 Suppression Field
2 Detention Sphere
4 Leyline of Sanctity
4 Phyrexian Unlife
4 Porphyry Nodes
2 Nevermore
4 Ghostly Prison
3 Entreat the Angels
4 Solemnity
SIDE
Sideboard (15 cartas)
1 Boseiju, Who Shelters A..
1 terrenos
4 Kor Firewalker
4 criaturas
4 Rest in Peace
2 Nevermore
4 Stony Silence
the filed is very aggressive, in the last championships, we had eixes, many burns in the top 8, I already gave up playing against tron, the stony silence is there because of afinith that has many ad nausean to disrupt
I won another small FNM last night. I have played this deck in two cities with different metals and have not lost with it in 12 rounds since August. I don't have much time to play Modern at the moment but the deck seems resilient.
I beat BW tokens, Shoal Reanimator (I was actually quite lucky, cast out on game 3 nabbed a cheated worm... I only had 3 lands, getting Nkykthos mana for the spell) and I drew with Grixis, although the game was locked and I would have won turn 7 of extras.
I do like the Karoo lands in the list, really help get me to Obliterate, which is such a house vs. control, and they bounce Scrying lands for Selection.
Still happy to run plenty of win cons last night I won through Assemble the Legion, Luminarch Ascension, Helion and Starfield.
On Search, obviously I can't run it, but it is probably at its best in Enduring Ideal versions, especially those with Starfield. They have fewer Wincons and much more need to smooth, as well as the ability to put stuff in the bin back into the deck.
The card is class, though. I think straight up pillow fort can run it, but I am certain Red is the best splash color for what are full on Prisons, followed by U, the other two offering decent options that change the way the deck plays.
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My friends, I'm playing a few days with this training and I really liked it, the field here in my city is very aggro, so I use this list and I'm using something new, I've never seen a list with these letters, the name of the deck is called Zenith Prison
ZENITH PRISON
1 Boseiju, Who Shelters A..
4 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
19 Plains (#230)
24 terrenos
4 Runed Halo
2 Greater Auramancy
4 Story Circle
2 Detention Sphere
4 Leyline of Sanctity
4 Phyrexian Unlife
4 Porphyry Nodes
4 Ghostly Prison
4 Solemnity
FINALIZE THE GAME
3 White Sun's Zenith
1 Red Sun's Zenith
SIDE
1 Auramancer
1 criaturas
4 Oketra's Last Mercy
4 Rest in Peace
2 Angel's Grace
2 Obliterate
2 Stony Silence
now on the side you may be surprised, I have a deadly rage with decks that use blue (I NEVER GOT FROM ONE UWRs, UW etc until using this list)
1 Greater Auramancer
(always enter G2 to protect)
4 Oketra's Last Mercy
(with Bouseiju playing cool, even though not untapping the grounds in the middle of the game with Nikytos ends up with the controls gas (snap + ray + helix etc)
4 Rest in Peace
2 Angel's Grace
(Strange is not ?? NOT here much ad nausean and the deck does not win..nevermore I have 4, but very difficult to put it into play naming maniac, I let the combo begin and when it will give p last damage I give grace of the angel (**** Ye) = FINISHED
2 Obliterate
ANY DECK CONTROL
2 Stony Silence
(affinith, I've never had so much trouble)
now..tron I gave up playing, it's unfair .. Karn, all is dust is complicated
I chose the Zenniths to finish because the deck has few finishes the zeniths always return to the deck (RUN)
I've been contemplating a two or three of faith's reward for tron matchups, I really want them to crack an O. stone or all is dust and then put all my permanents back at end of turn. I considered open the vaults but with expedition map and O. stone in their decks there is too large a downside.
You cannot beat Tron reactively unless you are running a lot of blue in a uw version. Such decks run Spreading Seas anyway, and can run Bribery in the board, which is strong.
You have to stop it doing what it does, and make sure you run Starfield as it is the quickest win from nowhere con, normally winning the turn it is laid...eventually Tron will win so you need to take advantage of any window caused by disruption.
Good cards v Tron from the board in white...
Stony S
Rule of law/Eidolon.
That is it. Nevermore effects never do it in the match. This assumes
Suppression Field main.
Other than that you need blue... Bribery, Seas, counters, permanent nicking cards.
Or red..
Moon, Crumble to Dust. Mass
Landkill like Obliterate can finish
You can run 4 Ghost Quarter and Surgicals, but it is wasteful.
I tried an illegal deck experiment with nevermore x35, 25 plains and it still can't control the Tron lists before turn ten. I. E. Tron normally wins before turn ten casting Nevermore every turn from 3 onwards.
Reactive cards are just like counters.
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Very much agree here. Burn has difficulty game two anyway with any unlife/solemnity build. As a one of maybe. The list looks very anti certain decks, but not going to trouble certain other decks like Tron. I know that is Modern all over, but this accentuates this tendency. It is quite innovative, but I would feel uncomfortable with this style u less I had a very specific meta.
As far as mana goes, something is up as you say.
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Forgive me friend, I argued, my English is weak and I wrote some things wrong but I will explain.
I use 4 Temple of Triumph
I use 4x Oketra but against CONTROLS, with Boseiju in turn 8 or 9 which is how much I can hold the deck, if it solves, I lose 3 lands, but I recover all the gas, EVERYTHING! I advise to testarm, often gero 3 white and I have but 3 inclusive land nikitos
I can not win from tron, I already gave up, focus on other games.Do not separate side only for him I find a waste
This is the current list I am thinking of running, without the faith's reward, I am still waffling between win conditions though, I might make Obliterate main board and take out Heliod, or put two assemble the legion main. Maybe two assemble the legion and two obliterate, removing heliod, elspeth, and starfield?
The main problem I have been having is my local store has 3 or 4 of heavy aggro decks running falkenrath aristocrat, as well as an affinity player, a bogles player, and a merfolk player. On top of all these possible turn 3-4 kills, I have eldrazi tron and RG tron players that I regularly run into. The aggro matches go well if I can actually draw land but it means I am limited in what I can add to deal with All is Dust and Ugin.
Should I just hope the blood moons, crumbles, and stony silence are enough to slow them down until I get the kill?
My friend! You use the Obliterate too! How cool! Do you use 23 lands and get to 8 manas? I HATE BLUE platforms, seriously thinking about using 1 of MAIN DECK
I would like you to show me all the utilities you have already done with this monstrous card
1 rest in peace (reanimation decks inc dredge, living end, any snapcaster or death's shadow deck with enough delve) 1 pyroclasm (utility vs hatebears, elves, affinity etc.) 2 blood moon (tron, greedy decks e.g. death's shadow, mardu) 2 eidolon of rhetoric (storm, tron- it is actually MVP here vs Tron, as much as Stony) 1 nevermore (combo) 1 gideon's intervention (combo)
Mana- the B garrisions not only increase the amount of mana available, they can bounce temples for extra scry. Nykthos is a mid game 4/5 card, but garrison can be turn 2/3/4. It also helps return a land for a quick start after Obliterate.
I tried to give myself more options and in play decisions with the tutor and a variety of wincons and two locks. With scry, bouncing the scryland, and the tutor with two locks you get a few more decisions to make.
Every enchantment counts towards Sphere of Safety, so no hate card is ever really dead.
There is the nodes/heliod lock, although it is advisable to not lose heliod to path by protecting with Auramancy.
There is the Unlife/Form lock, although it is a win con as much as a lock. All these pieces are good on their own, bar the Form.
There are two nonbos- S field with G quarter, Heliod and Cast Out cycling and Auramancy.
RIP main is a MVP often, but it conflicts with Starfield.
Obliterate main will end the game vs control, but if Starfield is down it effectively wipes the board, so you need to /constantly as "how do I win?". If the answer involves obliterate then Starfield should often not be cast after.
Cast Out is instant speed removal and that is not to be sniffed at in this deck that can't use Path.
In order to beat counterspell heavy slow decks I can try and slip down a Luminarch Ascension, and that is easier if I run things that cost two. The turn 4 "lay rest in peace"- counter "lay luminarch" can win games vs. control. A big two slot is essential vs decks looking to go 1 for 1 in turns 1-5. Resolving big things vs control is hard, with the exception of obliterate. Starfield should rarely be dropped vs decks with mass removal, but it is fantastic against other decks.
My wins cons explained-
Form - lock piece/removal/wincon A bit silly, but the form can shut down certain decks on its own, and can be cast on its own without Unlife in certain situations. Sort of a luxury but it ends matches the quickest as a tutor target once the game is safe, but only on a clear-ish board.
Heliod- lock piece with Nodes, wincon, blocker, makes enchantments that ramp up a sphere of safety. Can sometimes bait a Path to ramp to 8 for the boardwipe, which, incidentally it survives despite being a critter.
Ascension- just there for control matches where it can slip down or bait a counter.
Assemble- takes over any board state- blockers at first, eventually it just wins.
Starfield- reanimating key countered enchantments is terrible and not the intended use of the card in the deck, - it is normally wrong to play it as a control piece- although sometimes you can be cute and reanimate a cycled cast out that is unexpected, it generally is not what the cards is there for. It is there for Opalescence effect- lay, animate a massive team- win It is used in this way vs Tron sometimes.
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I'm going to be in a big tournament on the 21st, cheer for me, this is my training for fighting, hoping not to get TRONS and UWRS that are difficult matches, I'm thinking about putting GREEN on the deck for Trhul, last Troll that can not be undone, 2 of side.
4 Nkykthos, Shrine to Nyx
4 temple of triumph
15 plains
1 Boseiju, Who Shelters All (against controls that always have)
4 Leyline of Sanctity
3 porphry nodes
4 runed halo
4 suppression field
4 Solemnity
2 greater auramancy
4 ghostly prison
4 phyrexian unlife
3 sphere of safety
3 White Zenith
1 Red Zenith
4 Rest in peace (Controls)
4 Nevermore (storm, valakut, ad nausean)
3 Stony Silence (Tritão, humanos, lanterna, affinith, TRON ¬¬
(I always lose to trons omebody help me!!)
After running pillow fort for quite a long time, I've tried a lot of different lists and splashes. I'd like to share some of the things that I've learned about playing the deck along with my list.
So basically this deck is similar to the Lantern deck in some ways. Each match is a puzzle you're trying to solve by determining exactly what the opponents deck needs to beat you and then targeting those things with silver bullets. These are the important/debatable pieces that I chose and why.
Entreat the Angels
So in the beginning I never considered running anything other than Enduring Ideal and I was very reluctant at first to test other types of win cons. But after lots of testing I feel that Entreat has shown itself to be far superior to Ideal in terms of consistency. While basically autowinning when casting Ideal, getting to 7 mana without dying in this meta is a tall order, even with Nykthos. Entreat gives you basically the same long term inevitability as Ideal while having uses before having to be at 7 mana. Also by running only Entreat, you open up slots that were filled by removing additional combo pieces that were difficult cards to cast like Form of the Dragon and Dovescape and replacing them with more pillow rocks that keep you from dying. The list initially ran 2 copies of Sigil of the Empty Throne but I found that I would only actually use it to win a game about once every 30 games. Most of the time it was of no real use and was hard to cast and clunky in starting hands.
This 2 card combo is one of the main reasons to be running this deck and I think anyone not playing 4 copies of Unlife and at least 2 copies of Solemnity is making a pretty big mistake. These 2 cards together up your game 1 win percentage by a rather large amount, very very few decks have mainboard answers to this lock. Given that you can tutor for exact pieces that you need and also tutor for the protection you need to keep it in place, I don't see any reason not to be running it. Not to mention, both cards are powerful on their own, especially Unlife, I'm almost never sad to top deck unlife, which is why it gets the 4 slots. I guess with tutors, I could possibly cut Solemnity to 2 copies, given that it usually has a much smaller effect on board state, but I think 3 is still probably the right answer.
I used to run no copies of this card, and after adding 1 it always felt great to draw it. While being a little slow especially on the draw, usually whatever you are going to go get will probably keep you from dying which is a pretty great feeling. Mid to late game it's always a powerful draw, given that you can usually tutor and cast whatever you get in the same turn. After playing with 2 copies for awhile, I increased to 3 and then 4 and I have still yet to be sad about it, especially game 1 where getting the second half of the Unlife/Solemnity combo usually just wins the game.
I used to only run one of these mb and one in the sb, but I think that being able to really lock people out of removing the unlife/solemnity combo pieces is pretty important. Especially now I am seeing more and more decks have 1 or 2 of copies of things like echoing truth in storm mb, rec sage in scapeshift mb, etc. Post sideboard I think 3 is a minimum and probably 4. Once you get a lock you can usually cast one and tutor for the other and basically can't lose except to cards like fracturing gust which can be named with nevermore/g.intervention.
This is basically just a mb catch all for anything you didn't expect or plan for. It fills this roll slightly better than nevermore because it not only stops the casting but can also prevent damage, so you can solve issues from the early game.
The sideboard is where I have the most current flexibility and I'm open to there being better choices. I feel like most of the choices speak for themselves as the usual white sideboard staples. I also am running Magus of the Moat in creature heavy matchups given that most people side out a lot of their removal so Magus can buy you a decent amount of time. It also has double white for nykthos. Grand Abolisher is another 2 drop with double white that gives control decks some problems.
The worst matchup by far is tron and eldrazi tron. Up until now I have just written it off but I wonder if I should give up the slots like defense grid and abolisher in favor of cards that would try to improve that matchup but I don't really know what could go there and if it would be worth it.
Any comments or ideas would be great, if you decide to give the list a shot, let me know how it's going.
Interesting, thanks for sharing.
I would guess that you beat many of the same decks that the attack tax version of the deck beat, finding Tron the hardest. You effectively play the damage-nerfing combo over attack taxes, probably gaining a bit by using the combo in some matches and losing a bit in others, but probably you eat a lot of the same decks for breakfast. I can see where you are coming from in the sideboard too, the creatures are especially cheeky- against Elves you could lock them out totally even if they board wipe the Enchantments. Neat.
I would think you have more difficulty with UWx counterspells, I am surprised you don't run a couple more nerfers in the board, 6 or so.
There are only a few decks that can break Unlife/Solemnity main deck as you say.
In case anyone is new to the thread, they are traditional G/GX and U Tron, Reanimator or any other deck cheating in Emrakul, and of course, counterspell heavy decks can counter it, and Ad Nauseam with the Maniac win (where you want your Nevermore effects. Hatebears with Flickerwisps can also remove the Unlife side of the combo and alpha strike, Jund can Maelstrom as well, although both get limited by Auramancy, and Nahiri decks of course can munch on our beloved Enchantments, although there are fewer Nahiri decks today than ever. There are not many decks fast enough to go under t3 Unlife/T4 Solemnity, but there are some fast enough to go under T3 Unlife, T4 Tutor/T5 solemnity, especially Death's Shadow Grixis lists with their Stubborn Denials. A lot of these also beat the tax versions of the deck (Ghostly/Sphere), although reanimator has a harder time against taxes as it reduces its abaility to go off early and Grixis DS gets nerfed more easily if S field is run.
Let us know how you go on. I don't mono W myself as its easier to attack Tron with splashes, and I have losing to Tron. I also like access to Blood Moon for other matches like DShadow. It is nice to see mono W lists here.
The main problem I see with this deck is a lack of a win-con besides simply locking out the opponent and hoping to win with creature-lands and Crucible + GQ/FoR.
The deck also seems to lack more cantrips and card draw to consistently find its pieces, as the tutors it has are decent but slow.
Here is my current list..it looks odd but it has been well tuned over a long period of time.
Please note it is not an Enduring Ideal list - I do run EI W/u, but for "pure" pillowfort I use RW. There is a thread for the Enduring Ideal cousins.
2 Nkykthos, Shrine to Nyx
1 Rugged Prairie
2 Sacred Foundry
2 Boros garrison
4 temple of triumph
8 plains
1 mountain
4 Leyline of Sanctity
2 porphry nodes
4 runed halo
4 suppression field
2 greater auramancy
2 rest in peace
1 idyllic tutor
1 oblivion ring
1 phyrexian unlife
1 cast out
4 sphere of safety
1 obliterate
1 luminarch ascension
1 starfield of nyx
2 heliod,, god of the sun
1 assemble the legion
1 form of the dragon
2 blood moon
1 pyroclasm
2 eidolon of rhetoric
2 pithing needle
1 grafdigger's cage
1 rest in peace
4 stony silence
1 nevermore
1 gideon's intervention
I run a lot of combos/semi combo synergies here, but most of the cards are worthy on their own.
A) The Nodes/Heliod lock is solid, but against PTE decks you need to be able to protect Heliod from Path and plenty of decks don't care about it. Nodes and Heliod are decent by themselves.
B) The unlife/form combo- this rarely comes up, as better players scoop game one when out of it. Form is there because Unlife is worthwhile by itself, and the form can win the game in short order if the board is locked down but there are lots of blockers- Unlife it has a big impact in a lot of the fast matches (unlike solemnity would).
C) Obliterate is a one card combo with Suppression Fields down against control decks, leaving them with zero permanetns and me with >10. Field stops them rebuilding mana, even if they have a few lands left in the library. Good players playing blue control know they will win the long game by keeping me off win cons. They commit to the board and if this card is cast late enough you leave them with zero permanents and no ability to counter for the next few turns, enabling you to slip a card down and win. It also combos with Heliod's indestructibility. The odd mana base is a concession to Obliterate, running garisons not only enables scry lands to be replayed it allows lands to go back to hand without opponents getting suspicious.
There are nonbos which make my version hard to play.
S Field is an MVP often, but it interacts with Heliod's and Luminarch activated ability poorly, as well as the cast out cycling.
Starfield and RIP main is a semi nonbo, but you can play starfield for its opalescence ability as well as its recur an enchantment ability. It is the card that needs the most care in the deck. Mistakes lose matches. You always need to know how you will win- against a tron list you need to win via a sudden animation using Starfield, for example.
Ghost Quarter and S field are nonbos too.
I use a lot of win cons- in my experience you can't get the "right" wincon for the deck. If you have 5cc wincons you won't cast them against most U decks. The obliterate and the Lumincarch are the wincons against control, one will be cast the other slips past counters. Playing SFN is suicidal against many decks running mass removal, for example. Very few cards are universally good. Running RIP main is really important for my money, lots of decks use the bin one way or the other, whether it be dies triggers or Snapcasters, or Goyfs, Flashback, Delve or such. When it is dead it is still a 2 cost enchantment.
The board is key- Eidolons are so useful in many matches, a blocker at 1/4 and Snapcaster irritant in some matches, it works great against bring to light versions of scapeshift, nerfs a bit of the ad nauseam combo, it slows tron and the ilk to a crawl it has won me lots of games by being the straw that breaks the camel's back. The number of times it is down and a key enchantment is animated but they need two spells to kill it is quite large. Blood moon, needles and stony are the only way to beat regular (non eldra) tron, Moon and Nyx is a nonbo, of course, Moon is unexpected by a lot of inexperienced players as they see the Shrine to Nyx, always be sure to mention it between games.
As a rule it is worthwhile considering the deck as a sphere of safety deck- as such any t0/2 enchantment is never truly dead if the opponent wins by attacking. S Field is almost universally good- everything from an inkmoth activation, a ravager sac, to a fetchland activation or lightning storm suffers under it, Halo is often good too, but even when dead you are normally better getting them down because a single sphere and ghostly can often put that last damage out of reach. Speed is not the issue in the early turns- you should hit an enchantment t2, 3. Everynow and then a t4 sphere would save where a t5 would not, but it is rare.
I found it on a website, a big website, but I don't believe it won anything, I think it was a deck they were considering playing at a PTQ, I'm thinking they didn't select it, but they considered it.
I just don't think it's practical. Also flipping it almost always comes at the opportunity cost of increasing devotion by pitching lock pieces. I tend to want to slam nearly everything I'm drawing unless the card is truly dead (phyrexian unlife in the infect matchup comes to mind, or leyline in some of the pure creature decks). But usually I'm boarding those out for more impactful cards anyway.
If the card was hybrid white/blue there may have been an argument, as the selection would be a nice include for the control matchup. But if I'm going to mess with my lands to beat control (my list is mono-w) I'm going to just play obliterate and blood moon.
I think you solve bad matchups with your sideboard, which is highly flexible given that half the maindeck of any mono white list is already made up of sideboard cards, so you should have extra slots available.
There's also something to be said about mulling more aggressively with our type of strategy. When a single cards can buy you 3+ turns, it's okay to risk an additional mulligan to find it for your opener.
If you want better card selection at the cost of speed Idyllic Tutor does that better, btw. I don't think that's a good trade off, but maybe in a meta with few aggro decks this would be viable.
My opinion is that the only viable splash at the moment for a non enduring ideal list is red, and if you want to play blue you should very likely just be playing enduring ideal instead.
Obliterate is a house against Control. For now I have settled on a Mono White build with Entreat the Angels and Sigil of the Empty Throne as win cons.
It was printed in eighth edition so it is legal in modern. It was originally from Invasion, but that's not really relevant.
Will be posting my list and my experiences. By the way, the sideboard is a work in progress, and I don't find that I need to get stuff from it very often on the meta in my LGS.
4 Banishing Light
1 Endless Horizons
2 Ghost Quarter
4 Ghostly Prison
2 Heliod, God of the Sun
4 Leyline of Sanctity
2 Nevermore
4 New Benalia
2 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
16 Plains
4 Porphyry Nodes
1 Rest in Peace
4 Runed Halo
2 Sigil of the Empty Throne
2 Sphere of Safety
2 Suppression Field
4 Wrath of God
2 Aura of Silence
1 Aven Mindcensor
2 Curse of Exhaustion
2 Luminarch Ascension
2 Nevermore
1 Rest in Peace
2 Stony Silence
2 Suppression Field
Overall I've found most of the matches I've tried to be even or favorable.
Gifts Storm: Favorable, 4 Leylines and 4 Runed Halos are incredible against grapeshot, Nevermore helps as well, Rest in Peace stops the combo from getting too out of control. Empty the warrens can be dealt with using Ghostly Prisons and Whrath. Baral and the gobling are easy enough to get rid of.
Jund: Even, Leyline does a incredible amount of work, Runed Halos are super good as well, Nevermore protects our enchantments against the spot removal and Ghost Quarter gets rid of the man lands. There's basically no dead cards against Jund and its a really fun match to play. Feels like its important to find a win condition pretty early though as the game can change out of nowhere from time to time.
Naya Burn: Even, games against Burn are always closer then I would like, but Leylines are great. Games without a turn 0 leyline are pretty tough and you have to use Runed Halos to hold on until you find one. Having some early blocks for the creatures goes a long way in this match. Runed Halo naming Eidolon is prety funny.
Ad Nauseam: This one depends. If the deck doesn't have lab maniac, then it's super favorable, otherwise, it's almost impossible to win. Leyline, Runed Halo and Suppression Field all deal with Lightning Storm, but I have no idea how to interact with the maniac.
Mono red Goblins: Favorable. It's a creature deck, there's really no secret to it, Runed Halo, Ghostly Prison, Sphere of Safety, Nodes and Wrath are all great.
Soul Sisters: Favorable, about the same as goblins really. Takes a while to win because the opponent get's to gain a bunch of life, but it doesn't matter much.
Mono Blue Merfolk: Even, taxing the attack and blowing up the board works great, but the creatures grow to be pretty big if the board is allowed to develop. Blockers are important.
Naya Zoo: Even, taxing the attack step and wrath are great again, but three Burning-Tree Emissarys followed by a bushwacker can be a blowout. Blockers are important again.
Affinity: Even, can be dangerous if they get a really explosive draw, runed halos and ghost quarters are super important against the man-lands, Suppression Field does wonders to slow down the deck, Wraths are important as well. Stony silence comes in from the sideboard and wrecks just about everuthing, its fantastic.
Abzan Vizier Combo: Even, Leyline is great, Suppression Field turns off sac outlets, Wraths and nodes keep the board under control, if they combo out and gain infinite life its gg though.
RG Scapeshift: Leyline, Runed Halos and Nevermores win the game all on their own, not much secret to this match, really. Dude at the store get's a Back to Nature from the sideboard, so there`s that, but that's a risk against any deck running green.
Leylines and Runed Halos are by far the all stars of the deck, they do a incredible amount of work, turning off a lot of interaction that our opponents could have or stopping combos all together. There's rally no control decks in my meta, so I can't say how the deck performs against them.
I've just got myself 4 Myth Realized to try out on the deck, but have no idea what to expect. Also, I've switched from Banishing Lights to Oblivion Rings...It just happens that every once in a while I want to get rid of my own suppression field or a node.
Hope this information is of some help to someone!
4 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
18 Plains
2 Ghost Quarter
24 terrenos
1 Heliod, God of the Sun
1 criaturas
4 Runed Halo
4 Suppression Field
2 Detention Sphere
4 Leyline of Sanctity
4 Phyrexian Unlife
4 Porphyry Nodes
2 Nevermore
4 Ghostly Prison
3 Entreat the Angels
4 Solemnity
SIDE
Sideboard (15 cartas)
1 Boseiju, Who Shelters A..
1 terrenos
4 Kor Firewalker
4 criaturas
4 Rest in Peace
2 Nevermore
4 Stony Silence
the filed is very aggressive, in the last championships, we had eixes, many burns in the top 8, I already gave up playing against tron, the stony silence is there because of afinith that has many ad nausean to disrupt
I beat BW tokens, Shoal Reanimator (I was actually quite lucky, cast out on game 3 nabbed a cheated worm... I only had 3 lands, getting Nkykthos mana for the spell) and I drew with Grixis, although the game was locked and I would have won turn 7 of extras.
I do like the Karoo lands in the list, really help get me to Obliterate, which is such a house vs. control, and they bounce Scrying lands for Selection.
Still happy to run plenty of win cons last night I won through Assemble the Legion, Luminarch Ascension, Helion and Starfield.
On Search, obviously I can't run it, but it is probably at its best in Enduring Ideal versions, especially those with Starfield. They have fewer Wincons and much more need to smooth, as well as the ability to put stuff in the bin back into the deck.
The card is class, though. I think straight up pillow fort can run it, but I am certain Red is the best splash color for what are full on Prisons, followed by U, the other two offering decent options that change the way the deck plays.
ZENITH PRISON
1 Boseiju, Who Shelters A..
4 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
19 Plains (#230)
24 terrenos
4 Runed Halo
2 Greater Auramancy
4 Story Circle
2 Detention Sphere
4 Leyline of Sanctity
4 Phyrexian Unlife
4 Porphyry Nodes
4 Ghostly Prison
4 Solemnity
FINALIZE THE GAME
3 White Sun's Zenith
1 Red Sun's Zenith
SIDE
1 Auramancer
1 criaturas
4 Oketra's Last Mercy
4 Rest in Peace
2 Angel's Grace
2 Obliterate
2 Stony Silence
now on the side you may be surprised, I have a deadly rage with decks that use blue (I NEVER GOT FROM ONE UWRs, UW etc until using this list)
1 Greater Auramancer
(always enter G2 to protect)
4 Oketra's Last Mercy
(with Bouseiju playing cool, even though not untapping the grounds in the middle of the game with Nikytos ends up with the controls gas (snap + ray + helix etc)
4 Rest in Peace
2 Angel's Grace
(Strange is not ?? NOT here much ad nausean and the deck does not win..nevermore I have 4, but very difficult to put it into play naming maniac, I let the combo begin and when it will give p last damage I give grace of the angel (**** Ye) = FINISHED
2 Obliterate
ANY DECK CONTROL
2 Stony Silence
(affinith, I've never had so much trouble)
now..tron I gave up playing, it's unfair .. Karn, all is dust is complicated
I chose the Zenniths to finish because the deck has few finishes the zeniths always return to the deck (RUN)
Why Oketra's Last Mercy ?
This card is terrible and you already have enough Burn hate in the maindeck with Leyline + P.Unlife.
If you really want more lifegain I'd go with Blessed Alliance/Rest for the Weary/Timely Reinforcements or even use Kor Firewalker.
You have to stop it doing what it does, and make sure you run Starfield as it is the quickest win from nowhere con, normally winning the turn it is laid...eventually Tron will win so you need to take advantage of any window caused by disruption.
Good cards v Tron from the board in white...
Stony S
Rule of law/Eidolon.
That is it. Nevermore effects never do it in the match. This assumes
Suppression Field main.
Other than that you need blue... Bribery, Seas, counters, permanent nicking cards.
Or red..
Moon, Crumble to Dust. Mass
Landkill like Obliterate can finish
You can run 4 Ghost Quarter and Surgicals, but it is wasteful.
I tried an illegal deck experiment with nevermore x35, 25 plains and it still can't control the Tron lists before turn ten. I. E. Tron normally wins before turn ten casting Nevermore every turn from 3 onwards.
Reactive cards are just like counters.
Very much agree here. Burn has difficulty game two anyway with any unlife/solemnity build. As a one of maybe. The list looks very anti certain decks, but not going to trouble certain other decks like Tron. I know that is Modern all over, but this accentuates this tendency. It is quite innovative, but I would feel uncomfortable with this style u less I had a very specific meta.
As far as mana goes, something is up as you say.
Forgive me friend, I argued, my English is weak and I wrote some things wrong but I will explain.
I use 4 Temple of Triumph
I use 4x Oketra but against CONTROLS, with Boseiju in turn 8 or 9 which is how much I can hold the deck, if it solves, I lose 3 lands, but I recover all the gas, EVERYTHING! I advise to testarm, often gero 3 white and I have but 3 inclusive land nikitos
I can not win from tron, I already gave up, focus on other games.Do not separate side only for him I find a waste
IS Sphere of Safety sory.
2 Porphyry Nodes
4 Runed Halo
1 Solemnity
2 Greater Auramancy
3 rest in peace
4 suppression Field
4 ghostly prison
1 oblivion ring
1 banishing light
1 phyrexian unlife
1 Idyllic Tutor
1 Heliod, God of the Sun
1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
4 Sphere of Safety
1 Starfield of Nyx
1 Assemble the Legion
1 Sigil of the Empty Throne
3 Ghost Quarter
10 plains
4 temple of triumph
2 sacred foundry
4 nykthos, shrine to nyx
3 stony silence
1 eidolon of rhetoric
3 nyx-fleece ram
1 nevermore
2 crumble to dust
1 karma
1 grafdiggers cage
1 obliterate
This is the current list I am thinking of running, without the faith's reward, I am still waffling between win conditions though, I might make Obliterate main board and take out Heliod, or put two assemble the legion main. Maybe two assemble the legion and two obliterate, removing heliod, elspeth, and starfield?
The main problem I have been having is my local store has 3 or 4 of heavy aggro decks running falkenrath aristocrat, as well as an affinity player, a bogles player, and a merfolk player. On top of all these possible turn 3-4 kills, I have eldrazi tron and RG tron players that I regularly run into. The aggro matches go well if I can actually draw land but it means I am limited in what I can add to deal with All is Dust and Ugin.
Should I just hope the blood moons, crumbles, and stony silence are enough to slow them down until I get the kill?
I would like you to show me all the utilities you have already done with this monstrous card
My list
1 mountain
4 temple of triumph
1 rugged prairie
2 sacred foundary
2 boros garrison
2 nykthos, shrine to nyx
3 ghost quarter
2 pophyry nodes
2 greater auramancy
2 rest in peace
4 runed halo
1 luminarch ascension
4 suppression field
1 idyllic tutor
1 phyrexian unlife
4 leyline of sanctity
2 cast out
2 heliod, god of the sun
1 starfield o nyx
1 assemble the legion
4 sphere of safety
1 form of the dragon
1 obliterate
1 grafdigger's cage (elves, chord decks, reanimators, dredge etc.)
2 pithing needle (tron, reanimator etc)
4 stony silence (tron, affinity)
1 rest in peace (reanimation decks inc dredge, living end, any snapcaster or death's shadow deck with enough delve)
1 pyroclasm (utility vs hatebears, elves, affinity etc.)
2 blood moon (tron, greedy decks e.g. death's shadow, mardu)
2 eidolon of rhetoric (storm, tron- it is actually MVP here vs Tron, as much as Stony)
1 nevermore (combo)
1 gideon's intervention (combo)
Mana- the B garrisions not only increase the amount of mana available, they can bounce temples for extra scry. Nykthos is a mid game 4/5 card, but garrison can be turn 2/3/4. It also helps return a land for a quick start after Obliterate.
I tried to give myself more options and in play decisions with the tutor and a variety of wincons and two locks. With scry, bouncing the scryland, and the tutor with two locks you get a few more decisions to make.
Every enchantment counts towards Sphere of Safety, so no hate card is ever really dead.
There is the nodes/heliod lock, although it is advisable to not lose heliod to path by protecting with Auramancy.
There is the Unlife/Form lock, although it is a win con as much as a lock. All these pieces are good on their own, bar the Form.
There are two nonbos- S field with G quarter, Heliod and Cast Out cycling and Auramancy.
RIP main is a MVP often, but it conflicts with Starfield.
Obliterate main will end the game vs control, but if Starfield is down it effectively wipes the board, so you need to /constantly as "how do I win?". If the answer involves obliterate then Starfield should often not be cast after.
Cast Out is instant speed removal and that is not to be sniffed at in this deck that can't use Path.
In order to beat counterspell heavy slow decks I can try and slip down a Luminarch Ascension, and that is easier if I run things that cost two. The turn 4 "lay rest in peace"- counter "lay luminarch" can win games vs. control. A big two slot is essential vs decks looking to go 1 for 1 in turns 1-5. Resolving big things vs control is hard, with the exception of obliterate. Starfield should rarely be dropped vs decks with mass removal, but it is fantastic against other decks.
My wins cons explained-
Form - lock piece/removal/wincon A bit silly, but the form can shut down certain decks on its own, and can be cast on its own without Unlife in certain situations. Sort of a luxury but it ends matches the quickest as a tutor target once the game is safe, but only on a clear-ish board.
Heliod- lock piece with Nodes, wincon, blocker, makes enchantments that ramp up a sphere of safety. Can sometimes bait a Path to ramp to 8 for the boardwipe, which, incidentally it survives despite being a critter.
Ascension- just there for control matches where it can slip down or bait a counter.
Assemble- takes over any board state- blockers at first, eventually it just wins.
Starfield- reanimating key countered enchantments is terrible and not the intended use of the card in the deck, - it is normally wrong to play it as a control piece- although sometimes you can be cute and reanimate a cycled cast out that is unexpected, it generally is not what the cards is there for. It is there for Opalescence effect- lay, animate a massive team- win It is used in this way vs Tron sometimes.
I'm going to be in a big tournament on the 21st, cheer for me, this is my training for fighting, hoping not to get TRONS and UWRS that are difficult matches, I'm thinking about putting GREEN on the deck for Trhul, last Troll that can not be undone, 2 of side.
4 Nkykthos, Shrine to Nyx
4 temple of triumph
15 plains
1 Boseiju, Who Shelters All (against controls that always have)
4 Leyline of Sanctity
3 porphry nodes
4 runed halo
4 suppression field
4 Solemnity
2 greater auramancy
4 ghostly prison
4 phyrexian unlife
3 sphere of safety
3 White Zenith
1 Red Zenith
4 Rest in peace (Controls)
4 Nevermore (storm, valakut, ad nausean)
3 Stony Silence (Tritão, humanos, lanterna, affinith, TRON ¬¬
(I always lose to trons omebody help me!!)
1 greater auramancy (G2 G3 ALL IN)
3 Oketra Meery (Burns, Uwr, UW,URs)
After running pillow fort for quite a long time, I've tried a lot of different lists and splashes. I'd like to share some of the things that I've learned about playing the deck along with my list.
4 Runed Halo
4 Suppression Field
4 Phyrexian Unlife
4 Ghostly Prison
4 Idyllic Tutor
4 Leyline of Sanctity
4 Entreat the Angels
3 Solemnity
2 Oblivion Ring
2 Greater Auramancy
1 Gideon's Intervention
4 Flagstones of Trokair
4 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
2 Ghost Quarter
1 Gemstone Caverns
1 Mistveil Plains
12 Plains
3 Rest in Peace
2 Magus of the Moat
2 Defense Grid
2 Grand Abolisher
2 Nevermore
2 Stony Silence
1 Rule of Law
1 Greater Auramancy
So basically this deck is similar to the Lantern deck in some ways. Each match is a puzzle you're trying to solve by determining exactly what the opponents deck needs to beat you and then targeting those things with silver bullets. These are the important/debatable pieces that I chose and why.
Entreat the Angels
So in the beginning I never considered running anything other than Enduring Ideal and I was very reluctant at first to test other types of win cons. But after lots of testing I feel that Entreat has shown itself to be far superior to Ideal in terms of consistency. While basically autowinning when casting Ideal, getting to 7 mana without dying in this meta is a tall order, even with Nykthos. Entreat gives you basically the same long term inevitability as Ideal while having uses before having to be at 7 mana. Also by running only Entreat, you open up slots that were filled by removing additional combo pieces that were difficult cards to cast like Form of the Dragon and Dovescape and replacing them with more pillow rocks that keep you from dying. The list initially ran 2 copies of Sigil of the Empty Throne but I found that I would only actually use it to win a game about once every 30 games. Most of the time it was of no real use and was hard to cast and clunky in starting hands.
Phyrexian Unlife/Solemnity
This 2 card combo is one of the main reasons to be running this deck and I think anyone not playing 4 copies of Unlife and at least 2 copies of Solemnity is making a pretty big mistake. These 2 cards together up your game 1 win percentage by a rather large amount, very very few decks have mainboard answers to this lock. Given that you can tutor for exact pieces that you need and also tutor for the protection you need to keep it in place, I don't see any reason not to be running it. Not to mention, both cards are powerful on their own, especially Unlife, I'm almost never sad to top deck unlife, which is why it gets the 4 slots. I guess with tutors, I could possibly cut Solemnity to 2 copies, given that it usually has a much smaller effect on board state, but I think 3 is still probably the right answer.
Idyllic Tutor
I used to run no copies of this card, and after adding 1 it always felt great to draw it. While being a little slow especially on the draw, usually whatever you are going to go get will probably keep you from dying which is a pretty great feeling. Mid to late game it's always a powerful draw, given that you can usually tutor and cast whatever you get in the same turn. After playing with 2 copies for awhile, I increased to 3 and then 4 and I have still yet to be sad about it, especially game 1 where getting the second half of the Unlife/Solemnity combo usually just wins the game.
Greater Auramancy
I used to only run one of these mb and one in the sb, but I think that being able to really lock people out of removing the unlife/solemnity combo pieces is pretty important. Especially now I am seeing more and more decks have 1 or 2 of copies of things like echoing truth in storm mb, rec sage in scapeshift mb, etc. Post sideboard I think 3 is a minimum and probably 4. Once you get a lock you can usually cast one and tutor for the other and basically can't lose except to cards like fracturing gust which can be named with nevermore/g.intervention.
Gideon's Intervention
This is basically just a mb catch all for anything you didn't expect or plan for. It fills this roll slightly better than nevermore because it not only stops the casting but can also prevent damage, so you can solve issues from the early game.
The sideboard is where I have the most current flexibility and I'm open to there being better choices. I feel like most of the choices speak for themselves as the usual white sideboard staples. I also am running Magus of the Moat in creature heavy matchups given that most people side out a lot of their removal so Magus can buy you a decent amount of time. It also has double white for nykthos. Grand Abolisher is another 2 drop with double white that gives control decks some problems.
The worst matchup by far is tron and eldrazi tron. Up until now I have just written it off but I wonder if I should give up the slots like defense grid and abolisher in favor of cards that would try to improve that matchup but I don't really know what could go there and if it would be worth it.
Any comments or ideas would be great, if you decide to give the list a shot, let me know how it's going.
I would guess that you beat many of the same decks that the attack tax version of the deck beat, finding Tron the hardest. You effectively play the damage-nerfing combo over attack taxes, probably gaining a bit by using the combo in some matches and losing a bit in others, but probably you eat a lot of the same decks for breakfast. I can see where you are coming from in the sideboard too, the creatures are especially cheeky- against Elves you could lock them out totally even if they board wipe the Enchantments. Neat.
I would think you have more difficulty with UWx counterspells, I am surprised you don't run a couple more nerfers in the board, 6 or so.
There are only a few decks that can break Unlife/Solemnity main deck as you say.
In case anyone is new to the thread, they are traditional G/GX and U Tron, Reanimator or any other deck cheating in Emrakul, and of course, counterspell heavy decks can counter it, and Ad Nauseam with the Maniac win (where you want your Nevermore effects. Hatebears with Flickerwisps can also remove the Unlife side of the combo and alpha strike, Jund can Maelstrom as well, although both get limited by Auramancy, and Nahiri decks of course can munch on our beloved Enchantments, although there are fewer Nahiri decks today than ever. There are not many decks fast enough to go under t3 Unlife/T4 Solemnity, but there are some fast enough to go under T3 Unlife, T4 Tutor/T5 solemnity, especially Death's Shadow Grixis lists with their Stubborn Denials. A lot of these also beat the tax versions of the deck (Ghostly/Sphere), although reanimator has a harder time against taxes as it reduces its abaility to go off early and Grixis DS gets nerfed more easily if S field is run.
Let us know how you go on. I don't mono W myself as its easier to attack Tron with splashes, and I have losing to Tron. I also like access to Blood Moon for other matches like DShadow. It is nice to see mono W lists here.
An interesting build I've seen is Esper-colored, here - https://www.mtggoldfish.com/articles/much-abrew-esper-solemnity-modern
This looks pretty promising as a rough starting point imho.
The main problem I see with this deck is a lack of a win-con besides simply locking out the opponent and hoping to win with creature-lands and Crucible + GQ/FoR.
The deck also seems to lack more cantrips and card draw to consistently find its pieces, as the tutors it has are decent but slow.
Here are my ideas on how to improve it:
#Thassa, God of the Sea can be a decent finisher as besides PtE it can't be stopped being indestructible and having the ability to give itself unblockability.
Other more obscure enchantment win-cons can be: Palace Siege (draining for 2 a turn), Painful Quandary (a worse Cruel Reality thats easier to cast), Torment of Scarabs (probably too easy to play around) and Underworld Dreams/Pillory of the Sleepless (main advantage being tutorable by Zur).
There is also always the option of Starfield of Nyx but I'm not sure if it is worh risking the lock to use it.
#Spreading Seas and Serum Visions would add consitency to the deck and allow it play less lands (mainly GQ's that I dislike in a 3-color deck anyway).
#Idyllic Tutor will replace Drift of Phantasms as a better tutor for the deck (now that Crucible is removed).
Here is the updated deck:
1x Thassa, God of the Sea
3x Zur the Enchanter
Enchantment (17)
3x Spreading Seas
1x Search for Azcanta
1x Runed Halo
2x Detention Sphere
2x Ghostly Prison
4x Solemnity
4x Phyrexian Unlife
Sorcery (12)
4x Serum Visions
3x Thoughtseize
3x Inquisition of Kozilek
2x Idyllic Tutor
3x Fatal Push
2x Path to Exile
Land (22)
4x Flooded Strand
4x Polluted Delta
2x Hallowed Fountain
1x Watery Grave
1x Godless Shrine
2x Creeping Tar Pit
2x Shambling Vent
2x Darkslick Shores
2x Plains
1x Island
1x Swamp
2x Countersquall
1x Story Circle
2x Rest in Peace
2x Stony Silence
1x Runed Halo
1x Detention Sphere
1x Ghostly Prison
1x Rule of Law
2x Greater Auramancy
2x Nevermore
What do you think ?