Question: If you are playing straight UR, no black for Bolas, how do you deal with a resolved Bolas?
This is my biggest concern. Ideally you counter it, which shouldn't be terribly difficult because they would need probably 9 mana at a minimum to cast it with back up counter magic, and at that point you just keep 2 counters available. But rare circumstances are going to happen and it will sometimes get in. So is it worth adjusting the deck in some way to be able to beat it (like Imprisoned on the Moon) which will weaken the deck otherwise, or better to assume you can keep counter magic for it up and the rare time it does land you just accept as a loss?
Run 1 copy of Commit/Memory. It won't hurt your consistency overall, as it's a decent answer to everything (actually the only good answer UR has to Sphinx as well). It's far from ideal, of course, but it's your only way of removing it from the game.
Wait, how does Commit answer Sphinx exactly?
You can target the Sphinx as it's being cast (on the stack). Then you'll have to find a way to use Memory before he draws it again.
Not the best answer, but it's better than being forced to use summary dismissal, or maybe you could try to use Hour of Devastation, but it's a terrible card in the matchup.
You're also giving other decks too much credit in regards to adapting. There is a second mover advantage when it comes to adapting to a meta, and given that control decks are reactive by nature, it stands to reason that they will always be superior when it comes to adapting to a meta. Whatever idea you might think of to adapt to a control-based meta, control can adapt back just as quickly.
Standard is going to hell once again due to the best deck being control. We've already seen Wizards citing "not fun" and justification to ban cards, and control sure as hell isn't fun to play against. Question becomes whether Wizards wants to dismantle control completely (i.e. Banning Torrential Gearhulk) or cut out some the new tools that have pushed it too much into top tier (i.e. Hour of Devastation.
You're also giving other decks too much credit in regards to adapting. There is a second mover advantage when it comes to adapting to a meta, and given that control decks are reactive by nature, it stands to reason that they will always be superior when it comes to adapting to a meta. Whatever idea you might think of to adapt to a control-based meta, control can adapt back just as quickly.
Standard is going to hell once again due to the best deck being control. We've already seen Wizards citing "not fun" and justification to ban cards, and control sure as hell isn't fun to play against. Question becomes whether Wizards wants to dismantle control completely (i.e. Banning Torrential Gearhulk) or cut out some the new tools that have pushed it too much into top tier (i.e. Hour of Devastation.
Speak for yourself, I for one love the countermagic wars.
Also, isn't it a bit early to start the witch hunt? It's only been two weeks, that's barely enough time for any deck to adapt.
You're also giving other decks too much credit in regards to adapting. There is a second mover advantage when it comes to adapting to a meta, and given that control decks are reactive by nature, it stands to reason that they will always be superior when it comes to adapting to a meta. Whatever idea you might think of to adapt to a control-based meta, control can adapt back just as quickly.
Standard is going to hell once again due to the best deck being control. We've already seen Wizards citing "not fun" and justification to ban cards, and control sure as hell isn't fun to play against. Question becomes whether Wizards wants to dismantle control completely (i.e. Banning Torrential Gearhulk) or cut out some the new tools that have pushed it too much into top tier (i.e. Hour of Devastation.
First of all, who are you replying to? There's a quote option for a reason.
Second, the Standard Metagame is fairly irrelevant right now, unless you play online. All of the paper PPTQs right now are Modern or Sealed, and that won't change until rotation and so much of the metagame is rotating out that it's anyone's call what will happen after that. So that leaves very little in competitive REL Standard events... basically the SCG events, which are scattered so thinly across the map that most people can't get to them.
Third, sure it's the the "most played deck" but you neglect to mention that it's still only about 10% of the metagame. That's considered very healthy, and a far cry from times when the best deck was near or beyond 30% (mono-black devotion for a time during RTR-THE Standard, and there were no bans then).
Fourth, being the most played deck doesn't make it the "best deck". These results from a recent MTGO PTQ suggest it's not even close: http://decks.tcgplayer.com/Magic/deck/search?format=Standard&location=mtgo-standard-ptq-7-21-2017
Only three in the top 32, and ZERO in the top 16. If anything, this suggests that the deck is weaker than people think it is, as a disproportionately low number of the players using this deck did well with it relative to the number of people who played it.
Fifth, you're kidding yourself if you think Wizards is going to ban something in the current state of the Standard metagame. It's the healthiest it's been in a long time.
I think this deck doesn't really need more than 2 Hour of Devastation, at least in the main deck. You rarely need to cast this more than once in a game, and with the amount of card draw the deck has, it's fairly easy to get to one of them even if there are only 2 in the deck. I think Sweltering Suns is more important given the rise of UW Monument and Mono-red Aggro.
You're also giving other decks too much credit in regards to adapting. There is a second mover advantage when it comes to adapting to a meta, and given that control decks are reactive by nature, it stands to reason that they will always be superior when it comes to adapting to a meta. Whatever idea you might think of to adapt to a control-based meta, control can adapt back just as quickly.
Standard is going to hell once again due to the best deck being control. We've already seen Wizards citing "not fun" and justification to ban cards, and control sure as hell isn't fun to play against. Question becomes whether Wizards wants to dismantle control completely (i.e. Banning Torrential Gearhulk) or cut out some the new tools that have pushed it too much into top tier (i.e. Hour of Devastation.
Redacted for Flaming - hoser2. When is the last time a control deck was even viable in standard? Esper Dragons? People are trying control because it got some new toys. I don't think its actually the best deck Edited for Flaming - hoser2. LOL @ 10% of the meta! Id say the meta is pretty bad ass if the "top deck" only see's 10% share of the meta!
Don't have time right now to post my full list, but I went 3-1 at FNM with U/R and a splash of black for 1 Bolas. Ended up losing to a temur energy deck, because I couldn't keep up with their card draw to keep countering all their threats, and eventually some stuff stuck that I couldn't handle.
Top performers:
Essence Scatter - Was good in every matchup, including control. I would play 4 copies of this going forward, and maybe board out 1 or 2 against control.
Disallow - I was never disappointed when I drew this, and it saved my ass against a westvale abbey.
Bolas - Singlehandedly won me a game against g/r energy and another against control. The +1 was amazing, while the +2 was almost always disappointing.
Dragonmaster Outcast - Boarded it in in almost every matchup, and was dominant whenever it hit the battlefield.
Top disappointments:
Censor - I only ever countered 1 card with this all night. It was usually something I just cycled away. I suppose opponents had to play more cautiously, but I would much rather have more essence scatters or card draw.
Torrential Gearhulk - While still amazing, abrade and essence scatter weaken this card significantly.
Magma Spray - Would have been better if I played against a zombie deck, but abrade and harnessed lightning were always better.
The biggest weakness of the deck was the inability to handle big threats if they hit the board. Might consider 1 or 2 copies of unsummon to handle bigger threats going forward, but I don't know if it is worth giving up any removal or counter magic for it.
Worth noting, even though i dont condone the use of unsummon, lol, it handles The flipped prince quite nicely.
The most common decks online are quickly shifting towards U/W or U/B Gifts and U/W Monument (and the mirror). You also see a good bit of Mono R aggro. I don't see as much of Energy or Delirium or Emerge.
I had originally tuned for the mirror and the discard really provides an advantage there. It also helps several of the other match-ups game 1 and is easily sided out for more appropriate answers in those matches.
Gifts is tough. I dropped down to 2 Hours in the maindeck with another in the side to go with a couple Sweltering Suns and a Chandra for sweepers. Sweltering Suns does nothing in the match-up and it's tough to pace them otherwise. I added the Scarab Feast as an early cycler and random hoser. Censor just wasn't useful enough often enough and Scarab gets more mileage. I'm not sure it's strong enough here and I added Scavenger Grounds for a land with another in my Board usually. Endless Sands is cute, but Scavenger is probably better.
Disappointments are Fatal Push (great in Modern, meh here), Nicol-Bolas (+1 and -4 are best - I've never come close to ultimate and +2 is always underwhelming), and Torment of Hailfire (I really wanted this to be a good finisher - it is when it is but when it's not it blows).
I feel like this deck could have game against U/W Gifts which might keep it viable. Ideas?
So it's taken me a good deal of time to figure out how I want to put this deck together, but I've gotten some ideas and I think this will work at locals for the upcoming weeks, as well as gencon in Mid-August (only 20 days to go!)
This sideboard is very meta-centric and not what I would bring to a blind PTQ. The one-of Dynavolt Tower is a sleeper because people will be quick to use (or eager to save) abrade on gearhulks, allowing tower to poke once or twice can be enough to generate enough tempo to turn a game. Nicol Bolas is an all-star that just blows out a game when he lands, and the idea of setting up an EoT gearhulk to draw out their counters and tap them out, only to untap and slam a bolas is incredible.
As for why Hieroglyphic Illuminations isn't here, I really don't think it's that great. Supreme Will seeems better at getting what we need, and has more utility as well.
Any constructive criticism is appreciated, as ever.
Top 16 - 2012 Indiana State Championships Currently Playing: GBStandard - Golgari Safari MidrangeBG RBWModern - Mardu PyromancerWBR RLegacy - Good Old Fashioned BurnR
So it's taken me a good deal of time to figure out how I want to put this deck together, but I've gotten some ideas and I think this will work at locals for the upcoming weeks, as well as gencon in Mid-August (only 20 days to go!)
This sideboard is very meta-centric and not what I would bring to a blind PTQ. The one-of Dynavolt Tower is a sleeper because people will be quick to use (or eager to save) abrade on gearhulks, allowing tower to poke once or twice can be enough to generate enough tempo to turn a game. Nicol Bolas is an all-star that just blows out a game when he lands, and the idea of setting up an EoT gearhulk to draw out their counters and tap them out, only to untap and slam a bolas is incredible.
As for why Hieroglyphic Illuminations isn't here, I really don't think it's that great. Supreme Will seeems better at getting what we need, and has more utility as well.
Any constructive criticism is appreciated, as ever.
I'm not sure I'd rely on Tower avoiding Abrade, but you have to playing vs a deck with Abrade in it. Overall, I don't think artifact hate is very high in maindecks, though I'm sure that will change with the emergence of the Gift decks. If I were to guess, Tower will come out in a lot of Game 2/3s. I would also be interested in whether or not Chandra, Flamecaller doesn't fit a little better in the main. Just a thought.
I would also really try to squeeze in a couple Illuminations. While I understand that Supreme Will can dig deeper, the inevitability of this deck hinges on the card advantage. Being able to cycle the Illuminations early and then the added potential free flashback for 2 more cards off a Gearhulk make it much more valuable than something like Pull from Tomorrow. I originally didn't like it either - it's much, much worse (in general) than Glimmer of Genius. But the cycling allows you to hit lands more consistently, find answers more consistently, get to the late game more consistently. Just my thoughts.
I'm not sure I'd rely on Tower avoiding Abrade, but you have to playing vs a deck with Abrade in it. Overall, I don't think artifact hate is very high in maindecks, though I'm sure that will change with the emergence of the Gift decks. If I were to guess, Tower will come out in a lot of Game 2/3s. I would also be interested in whether or not Chandra, Flamecaller doesn't fit a little better in the main. Just a thought.
I would also really try to squeeze in a couple Illuminations. While I understand that Supreme Will can dig deeper, the inevitability of this deck hinges on the card advantage. Being able to cycle the Illuminations early and then the added potential free flashback for 2 more cards off a Gearhulk make it much more valuable than something like Pull from Tomorrow. I originally didn't like it either - it's much, much worse (in general) than Glimmer of Genius. But the cycling allows you to hit lands more consistently, find answers more consistently, get to the late game more consistently. Just my thoughts.
You're right, artifact hate in the maindeck is rather low - most decks only run 1-2 copies main and at most 1 more in the board (only mono red runs the full 4 with a 1/3 split) and it's usually the best card to get rid of a torrential gearhulk, so if they kill tower then so much the better for later on. I don't expect to ever cast it unless I can immediately get a bolt off, or else know it won't get hit.
I may try illuminations a bit more, especially if I can't get enough copies of Supreme Will from the shop at FNM. Hopefully it'll work out.
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Top 16 - 2012 Indiana State Championships Currently Playing: GBStandard - Golgari Safari MidrangeBG RBWModern - Mardu PyromancerWBR RLegacy - Good Old Fashioned BurnR
So it's taken me a good deal of time to figure out how I want to put this deck together, but I've gotten some ideas and I think this will work at locals for the upcoming weeks, as well as gencon in Mid-August (only 20 days to go!)
When do you guys bring in Thing in the Ice? I tried it against the mono red aggro list and found i drew it too late most times or they could remove it the other times. Plus flipping and giving them back a Glorybringer really sucks. The only time its been really great is in the BG match taking all the counters off of their threats
Maybe I'm playing it wrong, any tips on using it or match ups its really good against?
Random experiment, but I have tried Nimble Obstructionist in place of Disallow. Has the same ability-in a sense, and can be a 3/1 flyer flashed if needed
Would anyone mind going over their sideboard strategies? I just got back into MtG after a very long while and am struggling with what to side out in most of my matchups.
I am posting my list below, but it's still being heavily tested and will be seeing frequent changes. I'm not really looking for specific advice on how I should sideboard my list, but more for general UR Control strategies. What do you try and side out for RDW? GB Energy? Temur Energy? UW Monument?
I keep finding myself wanting to cut Censor in anything that isn't a control matchup, but I feel that has to be wrong.
Would anyone mind going over their sideboard strategies? I just got back into MtG after a very long while and am struggling with what to side out in most of my matchups.
I am posting my list below, but it's still being heavily tested and will be seeing frequent changes. I'm not really looking for specific advice on how I should sideboard my list, but more for general UR Control strategies. What do you try and side out for RDW? GB Energy? Temur Energy? UW Monument?
I keep finding myself wanting to cut Censor in anything that isn't a control matchup, but I feel that has to be wrong.
I usually break down sideboarding vs archetype. Obviously within that, you may have specifics for a particularly bad or good match-up, but that is generally where I start.
Vs Aggro, you want to get faster. I ditch the Bolas and usually some number of 3 mana counters. You can't spend turn 3 'looking' for answers or countering their 5th creature.
Vs Combo, you want to be more disruptive. Negate, grave hate, etc. all comes in. Depends on the combo what you want to pull out - for something like U/W Gift, I'd side out some number of spot removal and the smaller sweepers.
Vs Control, you want to be more disruptive. Again, more counters, more hate, and your trump cards (Sphinx) come in for the soft counters and sweepers.
With the rise of mono-red aggro, I think you should definitely prioritize Sweltering Suns over Hour of Devastation. The latter just doesn't come fast enough to save you.
Agreed about prioritizing Suns over Devastation. The main reason I was so excited for Devastation was between it, Abrade, and Magma Spray it seemed U/R finally had all the tools needed to be favored against vehicles, and of course vehicles is no where to be seen now.
Also, I've been considering swapping Thing in the Ice for Shielded Aether Thief as mono-red gets a LOT of it's damage in by disabling blockers, nothing's worse than spending turn 2 to play a TiTi, only for Ahn-Crop Crasher or Earthshaker Khenra to render it incapable of blocking for the turn, whereas the thief can be flashed in after attacks are declared, nulling a large source of the Mono-Red's power. And of course the 4 toughness is the magic number to avoid Mono-Red's Shocks and Abrades. Not sure if this would be effective, but just something I was considering.
Obviously TiTi is a huge asset because it can act as a crucial road block against other aggressive decks, like zombies or humans, and still be an additional threat in MU's where you have to worry about Dispossess or an abundance of removal, but I have always loved the energy sink and flash ability of Thief. Heck, since both are resilient to Suns, and since RDW is so popular now, maybe having both in the SB is correct.
Another option could be Unsummon, as all you really want in this MU is just a lot of cheap interaction, and card advantage doesn't really matter. Unsummon can have some fun shenanigans with Gearhulk too.
Also I have noticed a lot of lists are now running the full set of Supreme Will and only 1-2 Disallow. Currently, I'm still playing the full set of disallows and 2 Wills, but I was wondering what the opinions are of the ratio of Supreme Wills to Disallows.
Would anyone mind going over their sideboard strategies? I just got back into MtG after a very long while and am struggling with what to side out in most of my matchups.
I am posting my list below, but it's still being heavily tested and will be seeing frequent changes. I'm not really looking for specific advice on how I should sideboard my list, but more for general UR Control strategies. What do you try and side out for RDW? GB Energy? Temur Energy? UW Monument?
I keep finding myself wanting to cut Censor in anything that isn't a control matchup, but I feel that has to be wrong.
Mix and match however you like for your meta. I will however note that depending on how reliant the deck is on Ramunap Ruins, there may be the potential to stick Crumble to Dust in sideboards to mess with it.
Top 16 - 2012 Indiana State Championships Currently Playing: GBStandard - Golgari Safari MidrangeBG RBWModern - Mardu PyromancerWBR RLegacy - Good Old Fashioned BurnR
I would suggest 4 Sweltering Suns in the 75 at this point. At least 2 in the main. Probably move Hour of Devastation to the sideboard. Not only because of mono-red, but also because that's the right strategy for Oketra's Monument decks, and zombie decks.
Heith the Kyoto results, I have a few ideas/questions going forward in control.
First, I agree that at least 3 sweltering suns should be in the 75. Do we however also include kozilek's return? Perhaps 2 and 2?
Second, how valuable is Torrential Gearhulks? Abrade was one of the most prevalent cards and crook of condemnation also affects it. Should we drop 1 or 2?
Third, because of the dominance of aggro, should we play two Chandra Torch of Defiance in the main? She not only seems good for removal, but ramps into our larger threats.If we include her, how does this change our counter shell?
Fourth, should we be three or four colors? Bolas seems good in the sideboard, but white seems more important. Authority of the consuls looks very appealing and cast out is at least nice in the sideboard.
I like the idea of swapping out Torrential Gearhulk on game 2 against any red-based deck. At least right now, that's not a normal thing to do and it potentially nullifies a large part of what they want to play against us. But I'm not sure what a good alternative is. Being able to recast counter magic from the graveyard is so good. Maybe Thing in the Ice? Just change up the strategy completely?
I think we need to have a conversation about the red elephant in the room for this archetype: the horrible matchup versus Ramunap Red. I've found that I can craft a deck with a 70% or higher winrate vs every deck in the meta but Ramunap, and that I can do that both with a Temur Dynavolt version, and a straight UR, and a bolas version. But the toolkit at our disposal simply does not answer Ramunap.
I think we need to do a proper brainstorm to come up with some ideas. Here's the thought processes i'm currently going down:
1) Sweepers. Currently our sweeper choices are Kozilek's Return vs Sweltering Suns vs Hour of Devastation. For this matchup, Kozilek's Return is the clear winner, but that really hurts us versus zombies. Sweltering Suns is fine in this matchup, and good vs zombies, but hour of devastation is better vs zombies and mardu. Currently i'm leaning towards mainboard sweltering suns.
2) Sideboard tech. We need some fresh ideas here. Currently one i'm toying with in the temur dynavolt lists is having sideboard Life Goes On. It sounds janky and it's probably terrible, but it's the best idea I have at the moment. I've also noted that shielded Aether-thiefs have been much better then thing in the ice for this matchup, to flash in front of khenra and ahn-crop effects and try to dig for more removal.
3) Do we try to win this matchup? Part of me is saying "Let's build a decklist that ignores this entirely, if we can't find a way to make the matchup at least, say, 35-65. Let's punt this matchup and build to crush everything else".
What do you find most problematic about the matchup? Are we too slow? Do we need lifegain? Their falter abilities?
If we are too slow, I am wondering if we should opt for Chandra Torch of Defiance, removing counter (some) counters, decreasing the torrential count and maybe using something like metallurgic summonings to diversify our threats.
If the problem is we need lifegain then maybe we need to run as Jeskai and opt for blessed alliance and fumigate.
If falter is the problem, then maybe we lean on flash with nimble obstructionist and spell queller.
What do you think?
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You can target the Sphinx as it's being cast (on the stack). Then you'll have to find a way to use Memory before he draws it again.
Not the best answer, but it's better than being forced to use summary dismissal, or maybe you could try to use Hour of Devastation, but it's a terrible card in the matchup.
You're also giving other decks too much credit in regards to adapting. There is a second mover advantage when it comes to adapting to a meta, and given that control decks are reactive by nature, it stands to reason that they will always be superior when it comes to adapting to a meta. Whatever idea you might think of to adapt to a control-based meta, control can adapt back just as quickly.
Standard is going to hell once again due to the best deck being control. We've already seen Wizards citing "not fun" and justification to ban cards, and control sure as hell isn't fun to play against. Question becomes whether Wizards wants to dismantle control completely (i.e. Banning Torrential Gearhulk) or cut out some the new tools that have pushed it too much into top tier (i.e. Hour of Devastation.
Speak for yourself, I for one love the countermagic wars.
Also, isn't it a bit early to start the witch hunt? It's only been two weeks, that's barely enough time for any deck to adapt.
First of all, who are you replying to? There's a quote option for a reason.
Second, the Standard Metagame is fairly irrelevant right now, unless you play online. All of the paper PPTQs right now are Modern or Sealed, and that won't change until rotation and so much of the metagame is rotating out that it's anyone's call what will happen after that. So that leaves very little in competitive REL Standard events... basically the SCG events, which are scattered so thinly across the map that most people can't get to them.
Third, sure it's the the "most played deck" but you neglect to mention that it's still only about 10% of the metagame. That's considered very healthy, and a far cry from times when the best deck was near or beyond 30% (mono-black devotion for a time during RTR-THE Standard, and there were no bans then).
Fourth, being the most played deck doesn't make it the "best deck". These results from a recent MTGO PTQ suggest it's not even close:
http://decks.tcgplayer.com/Magic/deck/search?format=Standard&location=mtgo-standard-ptq-7-21-2017
Only three in the top 32, and ZERO in the top 16. If anything, this suggests that the deck is weaker than people think it is, as a disproportionately low number of the players using this deck did well with it relative to the number of people who played it.
Fifth, you're kidding yourself if you think Wizards is going to ban something in the current state of the Standard metagame. It's the healthiest it's been in a long time.
Redacted for Flaming - hoser2. When is the last time a control deck was even viable in standard? Esper Dragons? People are trying control because it got some new toys. I don't think its actually the best deck Edited for Flaming - hoser2. LOL @ 10% of the meta! Id say the meta is pretty bad ass if the "top deck" only see's 10% share of the meta!
Worth noting, even though i dont condone the use of unsummon, lol, it handles The flipped prince quite nicely.
3x Torrential Gearhulk
Planeswalkers
1x Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh
Instants
2x Fatal Push
2x Scarab Feast
2x Essence Scatter
2x Negate
4x Abrade
2x Supreme Will
3x Disallow
4x Glimmer of Genius
3x Hieroglyphic Illumination
Sorceries
3x Transgress the Mind
2x Hour of Devastation
1x Torment of Hailfire
4x Aether Hub
2x Canyon Slough
1x Endless Sands
2x Fetid Pools
7x Island
3x Mountain
1x Scavenger Grounds
4x Spirebluff Canal
1x Sunken Hollow
1x Swamp
The most common decks online are quickly shifting towards U/W or U/B Gifts and U/W Monument (and the mirror). You also see a good bit of Mono R aggro. I don't see as much of Energy or Delirium or Emerge.
I had originally tuned for the mirror and the discard really provides an advantage there. It also helps several of the other match-ups game 1 and is easily sided out for more appropriate answers in those matches.
Gifts is tough. I dropped down to 2 Hours in the maindeck with another in the side to go with a couple Sweltering Suns and a Chandra for sweepers. Sweltering Suns does nothing in the match-up and it's tough to pace them otherwise. I added the Scarab Feast as an early cycler and random hoser. Censor just wasn't useful enough often enough and Scarab gets more mileage. I'm not sure it's strong enough here and I added Scavenger Grounds for a land with another in my Board usually. Endless Sands is cute, but Scavenger is probably better.
Disappointments are Fatal Push (great in Modern, meh here), Nicol-Bolas (+1 and -4 are best - I've never come close to ultimate and +2 is always underwhelming), and Torment of Hailfire (I really wanted this to be a good finisher - it is when it is but when it's not it blows).
I feel like this deck could have game against U/W Gifts which might keep it viable. Ideas?
4 Torrential Gearhulk
Spells (30)
2 Magma Spray
2 Abrade
2 Essence Scatter
2 Negate
4 Harnessed Lightning
2 Censor
3 Disallow
1 Dynavolt Tower
3 Supreme Will
4 Glimmer of Genius
2 Hour of Devastation
1 Commit//Memory
1 Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh
1 Pull from Tomorrow
4 Aether Hub
4 Spirebluff Canal
4 Wandering Fumarole
1 Fetid Pools
1 Canyon Slough
8 Island
4 Mountain
3 Sweltering Suns
2 Crook of Condemnation
2 Negate
2 Magma Spray
2 Glorybringer
2 Confiscation Coup
1 Chandra, Flamecaller
1 Summary Dismissal
This sideboard is very meta-centric and not what I would bring to a blind PTQ. The one-of Dynavolt Tower is a sleeper because people will be quick to use (or eager to save) abrade on gearhulks, allowing tower to poke once or twice can be enough to generate enough tempo to turn a game. Nicol Bolas is an all-star that just blows out a game when he lands, and the idea of setting up an EoT gearhulk to draw out their counters and tap them out, only to untap and slam a bolas is incredible.
As for why Hieroglyphic Illuminations isn't here, I really don't think it's that great. Supreme Will seeems better at getting what we need, and has more utility as well.
Any constructive criticism is appreciated, as ever.
Currently Playing:
GBStandard - Golgari Safari MidrangeBG
RBWModern - Mardu PyromancerWBR
RLegacy - Good Old Fashioned BurnR
Clan Contest 3 Mafia - Mafia Co-MVP
I'm not sure I'd rely on Tower avoiding Abrade, but you have to playing vs a deck with Abrade in it. Overall, I don't think artifact hate is very high in maindecks, though I'm sure that will change with the emergence of the Gift decks. If I were to guess, Tower will come out in a lot of Game 2/3s. I would also be interested in whether or not Chandra, Flamecaller doesn't fit a little better in the main. Just a thought.
I would also really try to squeeze in a couple Illuminations. While I understand that Supreme Will can dig deeper, the inevitability of this deck hinges on the card advantage. Being able to cycle the Illuminations early and then the added potential free flashback for 2 more cards off a Gearhulk make it much more valuable than something like Pull from Tomorrow. I originally didn't like it either - it's much, much worse (in general) than Glimmer of Genius. But the cycling allows you to hit lands more consistently, find answers more consistently, get to the late game more consistently. Just my thoughts.
You're right, artifact hate in the maindeck is rather low - most decks only run 1-2 copies main and at most 1 more in the board (only mono red runs the full 4 with a 1/3 split) and it's usually the best card to get rid of a torrential gearhulk, so if they kill tower then so much the better for later on. I don't expect to ever cast it unless I can immediately get a bolt off, or else know it won't get hit.
I may try illuminations a bit more, especially if I can't get enough copies of Supreme Will from the shop at FNM. Hopefully it'll work out.
Currently Playing:
GBStandard - Golgari Safari MidrangeBG
RBWModern - Mardu PyromancerWBR
RLegacy - Good Old Fashioned BurnR
Clan Contest 3 Mafia - Mafia Co-MVP
Have you tested Bolas?
You say "For a Worse Card" but that's definitely not the case.
If you're saying Chandra > Bolas because of some meta call, ok, I'm listening.
But to say Bolas is worse than Chandra, yea I think that's ridiculous.
Bolas is actually quite good and starts to take over a game immediately.
Chandra I admit probably can close out and finish a game quicker than Bolas, but they are very different cards.
Maybe I'm playing it wrong, any tips on using it or match ups its really good against?
I am posting my list below, but it's still being heavily tested and will be seeing frequent changes. I'm not really looking for specific advice on how I should sideboard my list, but more for general UR Control strategies. What do you try and side out for RDW? GB Energy? Temur Energy? UW Monument?
I keep finding myself wanting to cut Censor in anything that isn't a control matchup, but I feel that has to be wrong.
3 Torrential Gearhulk
Planeswalkers (1)
1 Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh
Instants (26)
2 Abrade
3 Censor
1 Commit // Memory
3 Disallow
2 Essence Scatter
4 Glimmer of Genius
3 Harnessed Lightning
2 Hour of Glory
1 Negate
1 Pull from Tomorrow
4 Supreme Will
2 Hour of Devastation
2 Sweltering Suns
Lands (26)
4 Aether Hub
1 Canyon Slough
2 Choked Estuary
3 Fetid Pools
3 Foreboding Ruins
3 Island
2 Mountain
4 Spirebluff Canal
4 Wandering Fumarole
1 Abrade
3 Crook of Condemnation
2 Dispossess
1 Hour of Devastation
1 Negate
1 Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh
2 Summary Dismissal
1 Sweltering Suns
3 Thing in the Ice
I usually break down sideboarding vs archetype. Obviously within that, you may have specifics for a particularly bad or good match-up, but that is generally where I start.
Vs Aggro, you want to get faster. I ditch the Bolas and usually some number of 3 mana counters. You can't spend turn 3 'looking' for answers or countering their 5th creature.
Vs Combo, you want to be more disruptive. Negate, grave hate, etc. all comes in. Depends on the combo what you want to pull out - for something like U/W Gift, I'd side out some number of spot removal and the smaller sweepers.
Vs Control, you want to be more disruptive. Again, more counters, more hate, and your trump cards (Sphinx) come in for the soft counters and sweepers.
Also, I've been considering swapping Thing in the Ice for Shielded Aether Thief as mono-red gets a LOT of it's damage in by disabling blockers, nothing's worse than spending turn 2 to play a TiTi, only for Ahn-Crop Crasher or Earthshaker Khenra to render it incapable of blocking for the turn, whereas the thief can be flashed in after attacks are declared, nulling a large source of the Mono-Red's power. And of course the 4 toughness is the magic number to avoid Mono-Red's Shocks and Abrades. Not sure if this would be effective, but just something I was considering.
Obviously TiTi is a huge asset because it can act as a crucial road block against other aggressive decks, like zombies or humans, and still be an additional threat in MU's where you have to worry about Dispossess or an abundance of removal, but I have always loved the energy sink and flash ability of Thief. Heck, since both are resilient to Suns, and since RDW is so popular now, maybe having both in the SB is correct.
Another option could be Unsummon, as all you really want in this MU is just a lot of cheap interaction, and card advantage doesn't really matter. Unsummon can have some fun shenanigans with Gearhulk too.
Also I have noticed a lot of lists are now running the full set of Supreme Will and only 1-2 Disallow. Currently, I'm still playing the full set of disallows and 2 Wills, but I was wondering what the opinions are of the ratio of Supreme Wills to Disallows.
No Magma Spray in either main or sb against RDW?
Good news: 3 people posted 7-win records with UR control.
4 Torrential Gearhulk
Spells (31)
2 Hour of Devastation
2 Sweltering Suns
3 Censor
4 Glimmer of Genius
4 Harnessed Lightning
3 Hieroglyphic Illumination
4 Magma Spray
3 Abrade
2 Supreme Will
2 Disallow
2 Essence Scatter
4 Aether Hub
7 Island
6 Mountain
4 Spirebluff Canal
4 Wandering Fumarole
2 Chandra's Defeat
3 Negate
3 Pia Nalaar
2 Glorybringer
2 Dragonmaster Outcast
3 Thing in the Ice
4 Torrential Gearhulk
Spells (31)
2 Sweltering Suns
4 Glimmer of Genius
3 Hieroglyphic Illumination
3 Disallow
3 Supreme Will
3 Essence Scatter
2 Negate
2 Censor
3 Abrade
3 Harnessed Lightning
3 Magma Spray
4 Spirebluff Canal
4 Wandering Fumarole
4 Aether Hub
8 Island
5 Mountain
1 Essence Scatter
2 Negate
1 Magma Spray
3 Thing in the Ice
1 Dragonmaster Outcast
1 Dispel
2 Summary Dismissal
1 Kozilek's Return
2 Chandra's Defeat
1 Hour of Devastation
1 Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh
Creature (4)
4 Torrential Gearhulk
Spells (29)
3 Abrade
3 Harnessed Lightning
4 Censor
2 Essence Scatter
4 Disallow
3 Kozilek's Return
4 Glimmer of Genius
4 Hieroglyphic Illumination
2 Pull from Tomorrow
4 Wandering Fumarole
4 Spirebluff Canal
4 Aether Hub
4 Mountain
10 Island
1 Abrade
1 Essence Scatter
1 Kozilek's Return
2 Magma Spray
1 To the Slaughter
2 Hour of Devastation
3 Negate
1 Dispel
2 Crook of Condemnation
1 The Locust God
Mix and match however you like for your meta. I will however note that depending on how reliant the deck is on Ramunap Ruins, there may be the potential to stick Crumble to Dust in sideboards to mess with it.
Currently Playing:
GBStandard - Golgari Safari MidrangeBG
RBWModern - Mardu PyromancerWBR
RLegacy - Good Old Fashioned BurnR
Clan Contest 3 Mafia - Mafia Co-MVP
First, I agree that at least 3 sweltering suns should be in the 75. Do we however also include kozilek's return? Perhaps 2 and 2?
Second, how valuable is Torrential Gearhulks? Abrade was one of the most prevalent cards and crook of condemnation also affects it. Should we drop 1 or 2?
Third, because of the dominance of aggro, should we play two Chandra Torch of Defiance in the main? She not only seems good for removal, but ramps into our larger threats.If we include her, how does this change our counter shell?
Fourth, should we be three or four colors? Bolas seems good in the sideboard, but white seems more important. Authority of the consuls looks very appealing and cast out is at least nice in the sideboard.
Thanks in advance for your thoughts.
I think we need to do a proper brainstorm to come up with some ideas. Here's the thought processes i'm currently going down:
1) Sweepers. Currently our sweeper choices are Kozilek's Return vs Sweltering Suns vs Hour of Devastation. For this matchup, Kozilek's Return is the clear winner, but that really hurts us versus zombies. Sweltering Suns is fine in this matchup, and good vs zombies, but hour of devastation is better vs zombies and mardu. Currently i'm leaning towards mainboard sweltering suns.
2) Sideboard tech. We need some fresh ideas here. Currently one i'm toying with in the temur dynavolt lists is having sideboard Life Goes On. It sounds janky and it's probably terrible, but it's the best idea I have at the moment. I've also noted that shielded Aether-thiefs have been much better then thing in the ice for this matchup, to flash in front of khenra and ahn-crop effects and try to dig for more removal.
3) Do we try to win this matchup? Part of me is saying "Let's build a decklist that ignores this entirely, if we can't find a way to make the matchup at least, say, 35-65. Let's punt this matchup and build to crush everything else".
If we are too slow, I am wondering if we should opt for Chandra Torch of Defiance, removing counter (some) counters, decreasing the torrential count and maybe using something like metallurgic summonings to diversify our threats.
If the problem is we need lifegain then maybe we need to run as Jeskai and opt for blessed alliance and fumigate.
If falter is the problem, then maybe we lean on flash with nimble obstructionist and spell queller.
What do you think?