I like Relic against the current meta, most decks I've played against recently include some kind of GY interaction, despite the hate in the meta (dredge, snapcaster decks, goyf decks, delver).
Maindeck
15 Island
1 Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
4 Mutavault
4 Cursecatcher
4 Silvergill Adept
4 Master of the Pearl Trident
4 Lord of Atlantis
3 Tidebinder Mage
3 Harbinger of the Tides
4 Merrow Reejerey
4 Master of Waves
4 Aether Vial
4 Spreading Seas
2 Vapor Snag
Sideboard
3 Dispel
2 Remand
2 Unified Will
4 Sea’s Claim
4 Gut Shot
You may change the islands to Wanderwine Hubs/Minamo, but not Cavern of Souls.
Jund
+4 Sea’s Claim
-4 Aether Vial
Bant Eldrazi
No changes
Affinity
+4 Gut Shot
+2 Sea’s Claim
-3 Tidebinder Mage
-3 Master of Waves
Burn
+3 Dispel
+4 Sea’s Claim
-4 Merrow Reejerey
-2 Vapor Snag
-1 Harbinger of the Tides (or lord?!)
Death Shadow Zoo
+4 Sea’s Claim
+3 Dispel
-4 Master of Waves
-3 Merrow Reejerey
Has anyone tried a UB build recently? I like the idea of MB Thoughtseize or Inquisition of Kozilek to deal with combo decks and gain intel, and Make Obsolete seems good against Elves and Affinity.
Anyone play against the Valakut deck that uses the Madcap Experiment and Platinum Emperion combo? Vapor snag helped me to bounce PE once id built enough forma single lethal swing, but the combo seems to give them time to either resolve Scapeshift/Titan or a Anger of the Gods then swing for 8 per turn with emperion.
I'm thinking of swapping my mb Snags for Swan Song to have a 1 cmd hard counter.
While i agree with most of the comments about Dredge, i don't think it needss a ban given the volume of cards that shut down graveyard shenanigans. The deck encourages you to play more interactivity, but not in the traditional bolt/path/abrupt decay fashion.
I would love to see a ban on phyrexian mana. Dismember is a flavorless card when it is used in ever deck, and mutagenic growth leads to silly t2/t3 wins for infect. It would also give more decks game against affinity with no vault skirge.
For context, i play Merfolk, Elves, and Mono-U Tron.
I don't really know how to start implementing Heritage Druid, Nettle Sentinel, Collected Company, and Chord of Calling which are the cards which I'm probably going to start upgrading first.
The budget list has an entirely different aim (using Elf Lords) than the non budget versions.
I would focus on Collected Company, as it is just about to rotate out of standard so is relatively inexpensive now, and heritage druid as it was recently reprinted. Replace Nylea's Presence with CoCo and Arbor Elf with Heritage and you have the basis of the deck. Once you have your playset of Heritage, replace Elvish Champion and Imperious with Nettle (they need heritage to combo). Save Chord for last as some still favor Lead instead for its explosive play.
You can replace 1 for 1 and buy over time to minimize effect of proce spikes (dollar cost averaging)
Thanks for the feedback. I like Siege as a pseudo-Kira tjat protects from some spells or can be a card draw engine in grindy games. Path now costs 3mana and Abrupt Decay 4.
You may be right about the lands, but the curve is lower and is all U mana so I'm less worried about mana screw (though lack of aether vial may be a problem).
Great to see people still underestimate the fish. Makes is much less lilely that we'll be hit with the ban hammer (while the combo decks are prime targets).
A Keep or Mulligan
You are on the play against Affinity:
Cursecatcher, Cursecatcher, Cursecatcher, Island, Island, Vapor Snag, Master of Waves
That's a keep for me, especially because I don't play Hurkyl's Recall.
T1 Cursecatcher,
T2 Cursecatcher, leave island up for vapor snag (signal pest or some other annoying card)
T3 I've drawn 2 cards, can still play another Cursecatcher, and hopefully will have a lord to start swinging in for damage
Im going to try a build with echoing truth over unsummon for comparison, but the U vs. 1U has worked out well for me so far, especially vs. DSZoo. I use Petr's build so also dont have a SB for Affinity (although unsummon works there too).
To expand on the point. I often find myself on T3/T4 with 2 Islands and a Mutavault. Leaving that mana up allows me to Snag/Unsummon after either a spreading seas or remand. Dismember does little vs. Death's Shadow and reduces your life total to dangerous levels.
I run 4 mainboard vapor snag and bring an unsummon from the sideboard as well as 2 dispels and 2 tidebinder. Remove kira and 4 master. This has been a favorable matchup for me so far.
Thanks for posting these! Do you play competitive or friendly leagues?
No Relic's? How do your Dredge matches go?
I'm thinking of swapping my mb Snags for Swan Song to have a 1 cmd hard counter.
I would love to see a ban on phyrexian mana. Dismember is a flavorless card when it is used in ever deck, and mutagenic growth leads to silly t2/t3 wins for infect. It would also give more decks game against affinity with no vault skirge.
For context, i play Merfolk, Elves, and Mono-U Tron.
I would focus on Collected Company, as it is just about to rotate out of standard so is relatively inexpensive now, and heritage druid as it was recently reprinted. Replace Nylea's Presence with CoCo and Arbor Elf with Heritage and you have the basis of the deck. Once you have your playset of Heritage, replace Elvish Champion and Imperious with Nettle (they need heritage to combo). Save Chord for last as some still favor Lead instead for its explosive play.
You can replace 1 for 1 and buy over time to minimize effect of proce spikes (dollar cost averaging)
You may be right about the lands, but the curve is lower and is all U mana so I'm less worried about mana screw (though lack of aether vial may be a problem).
I plan to play test and adjust from there.
Great to see people still underestimate the fish. Makes is much less lilely that we'll be hit with the ban hammer (while the combo decks are prime targets).
That's a keep for me, especially because I don't play Hurkyl's Recall.
T1 Cursecatcher,
T2 Cursecatcher, leave island up for vapor snag (signal pest or some other annoying card)
T3 I've drawn 2 cards, can still play another Cursecatcher, and hopefully will have a lord to start swinging in for damage
To expand on the point. I often find myself on T3/T4 with 2 Islands and a Mutavault. Leaving that mana up allows me to Snag/Unsummon after either a spreading seas or remand. Dismember does little vs. Death's Shadow and reduces your life total to dangerous levels.