Yeah it's definitely greedy, but I'm going to start with the full 8 just to see how it goes.
The counterspell only gets 1 mana cheaper, so I'm not too worried about not having a wizard for it 50% of the time, and then with the Wizard's Bolt, you have much higher variance - 3 mana bolt is not good - BUT, after you drop a blood moon, being perfectly efficient doesn't matter any more. I've had tons of games where I win off something dumb like Electrolyze into Snap Electrolyze, so I feel like I will actually burn people out by hard casting wizard's lightning. Also, your wizard only has to be on the field when you cast the card, in testing, firing off a few burn spells in response to removal has felt great.
I went really hard into Aggro-Control instead of prowess or tempo. My maindeck is UR Breach, so I took that shell and made it more aggressive and Wizardy. The strength to this build is that it does not rely on synergy. It's designed to win with just a couple wizards in play, so all the wizards are wizards that are good on their own. V clique and Obstructionist dominate the skies, snapcaster is snapcaster, lava man gives me a lot of reach or removal, soul scar lets me bolt goyfs to death way more easily and prowess makes his tiny body actually worth something. Blood Moon is great in a deck like this since it doesn't hurt us, we can capitalize on the tempo, and it fits well in the curve. I also added JTMS as a curve topper since I had an extra slot and he is amazing in Blue Moon generally.
The one thing I would change is, it would be nice to squeeze some remands in.
Also, I'm not the best writer, but I'll try to write a primer from the breach side. I had my deck pretty polished out, but now the meta is going to shift. Need to make some changes and test things.
Death's Shadow and Jeskai. I also really like having a theoretical turn 1 win be possible. Remand is a good point, my hope is that it is better games 2-3, while the turbo/moon plan has a nice 'gotcha' effect for game one. I'll test both ways and see how it goes.
22 land build felt pretty great. Went 3-1 losing to Jund, beating Grixis Shadow, Esper Shadow, and Affinity. I think I made a mistake bringing the combo back in for game 3 vs Jund. The game was pretty close but I got low on cards and kept having to loot away combo pieces for interaction and ended up dying slowly. Might be good to run pull from tomorrow? Or just play better lol.
I tried out Pyromancers. They're pretty good. I like them more than the Madcap Package for sure. They don't do much against burn though so I swapped mine for a Spellskite and Entrancing Melody to see if that's better. If your meta is a lot of jund/shadow, Pyro probably over preforms.
4 cryptics feels great. I almost always want to cast multiple cryptics late game, so having all 4 is really nice. It also makes the tempo plan better, tap all your creatures and attack with a couple snapcasters has won me a lot of games.
5 can trips and 21 lands are right on the edge. I think it may be right to add one more of either but I don't know what to cut.
I was on 7 can trips originally but kept finding myself can triping into more can trips and just dying against the faster decks. I swapped two Opts for Spell Pierce and the second Mana Leak and I've been getting great results. The extra counters really help against fast decks, no one expects maindeck spell pierce. That thing counters thoughtseize/iok on the play, lilianas, scapeshifts, most burn, cranial plating, etc.
round 1 - jeskai tempo - on the draw
baited out a counter t3 end step with electrolyze, landed a moon right after then played a really slow game where I breach for the win on turn 10 with cryptic+spell pierce backup
game 2 opp keeps a low land hand, doesn't draw into more lands, gets mooned and breached quickly
win 2-0
round 2 - mono blue pili-pala grand architect combo
game 1 all I have is remands basically, opp doesn't miss any land drops and eventually just recasts the combo and wins with "Blue Sun's Zenith for a billion"
game 2 kept his board completely clear and clocked him with obstructionist.
game 3 I have a stacked hand, spell snare, pierce, remand, mana leak, dispel, 2 lands, op peeks me turn 1 so he knows what's up. No body casts anything for a bunch of turns. Opp tries to resolve a pili pala and we have a counter war. I end up remanding one of my own spells to "lose the battle, win the war" type of things, draw a bolt off remand, bolt the pili still on his turn. I wanted to combo, but I didn't have it, so I passed, crypticed 2 or 3 times, drew into the combo and went for it with remand backup.
win 2-1
round 3 - abzan company
game 1 I keep a one land on the draw with serum visions and don't find another land until turn 4-5. totally dead.
game 2 I have a nice balanced hand with a bolt some counters and land. Play the control game, killing everything, then eventually chip in with snaps and an electrolyze for the win.
game 3 mull to 6 keep a hand with spell snare, snare a druid turn 1/2, electrolyze something, then turn 5 breach. Opp Chords in response and gets a Tidehollow Sculler, takes emrakul from my hand so I breach in a snap to get some damage in. I draw into cryptic, bounce the sculler end of turn to get emmy back. Go for another breach, opp goes for CoCo and I say "oh *****" but he doesn't hit a sculler and scoops.
win 2-1
round 4 - abzan company - again, different player
game 1 I'm on the play. opp plays a dork/druid and I sorcery speed kill it for a few turns. I got for eot value turn 5 with snappy and opp punishes me with a coco - gets druid and vizier. I untap and breach, leaving him with nothing but the druid and 3 life. I never draw the bolt, but I remand, mana leak, cryptic every spell he casts and get in with snapcaster eventually.
game 2 I keep a hand with 3 land, 2 remand, snapcaster, and spell pierce. opp goes bird->druid, then I remand a vizier, but he has the second plains in his hand - and duskwatch recruiter. I die to ballista quickly.
game 3 I fetch shock visions, opp plays a birds, I hold up izzet charm and remand, opp plays noble hierarch and viscera seer. I mainphase an electrolyze on seer and noble, he sacs both to fizzle it and keeps the card on top. He untaps and cocos into druid/recruiter. I mainphase another electrolyze on the druid, which he put -1/-1 counters on in response. He uses duskwatch's ability a few times over the next few turns and I counter the creatures but I don't have removal for the recruiter. I end up using cryptic to tap and draw twice while letting him get a large boardstate. I want Anger, but I draw into bolt and the combo, bolt whatever was untapped. untap and combo for the win.
win 2-1
didn't get to test my new anti burn sb tech, but I'm really happy with how the deck is preforming.
just won another tournament with this deck, used a new build that I think is a lot more consistent.
round 1: burn - 2-0
game 1 I get hit a couple times by swiftspear, bolt it, spell pierce something, mana leak something, don't remember exactly, but I'm nearly hellbent end of turn 4 and at 1. Turn 5 top deck my 5th land, and breach into two cards and 3 mana - neither is burn and I win! Very surprising, I thought I was dead but had no other choice.
game 2 I play the counter game again and win off the back of a timely batterskull turn 6
round 2: affinity - 2-0
game 1 I'm on the draw, snare a ravager, remand an etched champion 2-3 times, breach him down to 8 turn 5 or 6, and clean up with bolt snap bolt.
game 2 ceremonious rejection on a ravager t1, then my opponent thoughtseizes me and my hand is (bolt, shatterstorm, cryptic, emmy, land). They take the shatterstorm. I draw into another bolt and breach and go for the kill.
round 3: dredge - 2-1
game 1 is super grindy. I almost get there but never find a breach.
game 2 I snap keep a hand with anger and lands that can cast it, but it doesn't matter because opp mulls to 4 and keeps a no lander.
game 3 I pierce a big conflagrate, counter a bunch of stuff, get hit by a few bloodghasts/amalgams/etc. then I draw the combo, bolt snap bolt his amalgams and block ghast to get him below 6 permanents. Breach on my turn, get him down low. He dredges some stuff back out, but then I just burn him.
round 4: gw comapany - 2-0
game 1 I visions, remand a 3 drop, electrolyze 2 dorks, and then land a clique, target myself to ditch a blood moon. Then clique and some burn get in for lethal over a few turns. Didn't reveal the combo at all.
game 2 I kill 3 devoted druids and remanded chord a few times before breaching for the win.
deck feels amazing. I think this 4 cryptic build feels more consistent then the spirit guide build. Beating dredge without drawing surgical or anger felt great. Maindeck spell pierce is AMAZING! That thing countered so much stuff turns 1 and 2, it's crazy.
played another event since, went 3-1 lost to burn. I kept 1 land hands both games, which I think was just bad play on my part. I think I'll swap yp in the side for another spell pierce anyways since he seems to just turn on removal that would otherwise be dead.
just won another tournament with this deck, used a new build that I think is a lot more consistent.
round 1: burn - 2-0
game 1 I get hit a couple times by swiftspear, bolt it, spell pierce something, mana leak something, don't remember exactly, but I'm nearly hellbent end of turn 4 and at 1. Turn 5 top deck my 5th land, and breach into two cards and 3 mana - neither is burn and I win! Very surprising, I thought I was dead but had no other choice.
game 2 I play the counter game again and win off the back of a timely batterskull turn 6
round 2: affinity - 2-0
game 1 I'm on the draw, snare a ravager, remand an etched champion 2-3 times, breach him down to 8 turn 5 or 6, and clean up with bolt snap bolt.
game 2 ceremonious rejection on a ravager t1, then my opponent thoughtseizes me and my hand is (bolt, shatterstorm, cryptic, emmy, land). They take the shatterstorm. I draw into another bolt and breach and go for the kill.
round 3: dredge - 2-1
game 1 is super grindy. I almost get there but never find a breach.
game 2 I snap keep a hand with anger and lands that can cast it, but it doesn't matter because opp mulls to 4 and keeps a no lander.
game 3 I pierce a big conflagrate, counter a bunch of stuff, get hit by a few bloodghasts/amalgams/etc. then I draw the combo, bolt snap bolt his amalgams and block ghast to get him below 6 permanents. Breach on my turn, get him down low. He dredges some stuff back out, but then I just burn him.
round 4: gw comapany - 2-0
game 1 I visions, remand a 3 drop, electrolyze 2 dorks, and then land a clique, target myself to ditch a blood moon. Then clique and some burn get in for lethal over a few turns. Didn't reveal the combo at all.
game 2 I kill 3 devoted druids and remanded chord a few times before breaching for the win.
deck feels amazing. I think this 4 cryptic build feels more consistent then the spirit guide build. Beating dredge without drawing surgical or anger felt great. Maindeck spell pierce is AMAZING! That thing countered so much stuff turns 1 and 2, it's crazy.
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/849341#paper
The counterspell only gets 1 mana cheaper, so I'm not too worried about not having a wizard for it 50% of the time, and then with the Wizard's Bolt, you have much higher variance - 3 mana bolt is not good - BUT, after you drop a blood moon, being perfectly efficient doesn't matter any more. I've had tons of games where I win off something dumb like Electrolyze into Snap Electrolyze, so I feel like I will actually burn people out by hard casting wizard's lightning. Also, your wizard only has to be on the field when you cast the card, in testing, firing off a few burn spells in response to removal has felt great.
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/1019535#paper
I went really hard into Aggro-Control instead of prowess or tempo. My maindeck is UR Breach, so I took that shell and made it more aggressive and Wizardy. The strength to this build is that it does not rely on synergy. It's designed to win with just a couple wizards in play, so all the wizards are wizards that are good on their own. V clique and Obstructionist dominate the skies, snapcaster is snapcaster, lava man gives me a lot of reach or removal, soul scar lets me bolt goyfs to death way more easily and prowess makes his tiny body actually worth something. Blood Moon is great in a deck like this since it doesn't hurt us, we can capitalize on the tempo, and it fits well in the curve. I also added JTMS as a curve topper since I had an extra slot and he is amazing in Blue Moon generally.
The one thing I would change is, it would be nice to squeeze some remands in.
Also, I'm not the best writer, but I'll try to write a primer from the breach side. I had my deck pretty polished out, but now the meta is going to shift. Need to make some changes and test things.
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/915818#paper
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/849341
So I'm back up to 22 lands and 6 cantrips.
Might try -1 land +1 search for azcanta soon though.
Why roast a goyf when I can steal it?
5 can trips and 21 lands are right on the edge. I think it may be right to add one more of either but I don't know what to cut.
I was on 7 can trips originally but kept finding myself can triping into more can trips and just dying against the faster decks. I swapped two Opts for Spell Pierce and the second Mana Leak and I've been getting great results. The extra counters really help against fast decks, no one expects maindeck spell pierce. That thing counters thoughtseize/iok on the play, lilianas, scapeshifts, most burn, cranial plating, etc.
just 4-0ed again with this list: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/849341#paper
round 1 - jeskai tempo - on the draw
baited out a counter t3 end step with electrolyze, landed a moon right after then played a really slow game where I breach for the win on turn 10 with cryptic+spell pierce backup
game 2 opp keeps a low land hand, doesn't draw into more lands, gets mooned and breached quickly
win 2-0
round 2 - mono blue pili-pala grand architect combo
game 1 all I have is remands basically, opp doesn't miss any land drops and eventually just recasts the combo and wins with "Blue Sun's Zenith for a billion"
game 2 kept his board completely clear and clocked him with obstructionist.
game 3 I have a stacked hand, spell snare, pierce, remand, mana leak, dispel, 2 lands, op peeks me turn 1 so he knows what's up. No body casts anything for a bunch of turns. Opp tries to resolve a pili pala and we have a counter war. I end up remanding one of my own spells to "lose the battle, win the war" type of things, draw a bolt off remand, bolt the pili still on his turn. I wanted to combo, but I didn't have it, so I passed, crypticed 2 or 3 times, drew into the combo and went for it with remand backup.
win 2-1
round 3 - abzan company
game 1 I keep a one land on the draw with serum visions and don't find another land until turn 4-5. totally dead.
game 2 I have a nice balanced hand with a bolt some counters and land. Play the control game, killing everything, then eventually chip in with snaps and an electrolyze for the win.
game 3 mull to 6 keep a hand with spell snare, snare a druid turn 1/2, electrolyze something, then turn 5 breach. Opp Chords in response and gets a Tidehollow Sculler, takes emrakul from my hand so I breach in a snap to get some damage in. I draw into cryptic, bounce the sculler end of turn to get emmy back. Go for another breach, opp goes for CoCo and I say "oh *****" but he doesn't hit a sculler and scoops.
win 2-1
round 4 - abzan company - again, different player
game 1 I'm on the play. opp plays a dork/druid and I sorcery speed kill it for a few turns. I got for eot value turn 5 with snappy and opp punishes me with a coco - gets druid and vizier. I untap and breach, leaving him with nothing but the druid and 3 life. I never draw the bolt, but I remand, mana leak, cryptic every spell he casts and get in with snapcaster eventually.
game 2 I keep a hand with 3 land, 2 remand, snapcaster, and spell pierce. opp goes bird->druid, then I remand a vizier, but he has the second plains in his hand - and duskwatch recruiter. I die to ballista quickly.
game 3 I fetch shock visions, opp plays a birds, I hold up izzet charm and remand, opp plays noble hierarch and viscera seer. I mainphase an electrolyze on seer and noble, he sacs both to fizzle it and keeps the card on top. He untaps and cocos into druid/recruiter. I mainphase another electrolyze on the druid, which he put -1/-1 counters on in response. He uses duskwatch's ability a few times over the next few turns and I counter the creatures but I don't have removal for the recruiter. I end up using cryptic to tap and draw twice while letting him get a large boardstate. I want Anger, but I draw into bolt and the combo, bolt whatever was untapped. untap and combo for the win.
win 2-1
didn't get to test my new anti burn sb tech, but I'm really happy with how the deck is preforming.
played another event since, went 3-1 lost to burn. I kept 1 land hands both games, which I think was just bad play on my part. I think I'll swap yp in the side for another spell pierce anyways since he seems to just turn on removal that would otherwise be dead.
3 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
4 Snapcaster Mage
1 Vendilion Clique
Enchantments:
3 Blood Moon
Instants:
4 Remand
4 Through the Breach
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Cryptic Command
2 Mana Leak
1 Opt
2 Electrolyze
2 Spell Snare
1 Spell Pierce
4 Serum Visions
Land:
2 Desolate Lighthouse
7 Island
2 Misty Rainforest
1 Mountain
2 Polluted Delta
2 Scalding Tarn
3 Steam Vents
2 Sulfur Falls
2 Anger of the Gods
1 Batterskull
1 Roast
2 Ceremonious Rejection
2 Dispel
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Shatterstorm
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Torrential Gearhulk
1 Young Pyromancer
just won another tournament with this deck, used a new build that I think is a lot more consistent.
round 1: burn - 2-0
game 1 I get hit a couple times by swiftspear, bolt it, spell pierce something, mana leak something, don't remember exactly, but I'm nearly hellbent end of turn 4 and at 1. Turn 5 top deck my 5th land, and breach into two cards and 3 mana - neither is burn and I win! Very surprising, I thought I was dead but had no other choice.
game 2 I play the counter game again and win off the back of a timely batterskull turn 6
round 2: affinity - 2-0
game 1 I'm on the draw, snare a ravager, remand an etched champion 2-3 times, breach him down to 8 turn 5 or 6, and clean up with bolt snap bolt.
game 2 ceremonious rejection on a ravager t1, then my opponent thoughtseizes me and my hand is (bolt, shatterstorm, cryptic, emmy, land). They take the shatterstorm. I draw into another bolt and breach and go for the kill.
round 3: dredge - 2-1
game 1 is super grindy. I almost get there but never find a breach.
game 2 I snap keep a hand with anger and lands that can cast it, but it doesn't matter because opp mulls to 4 and keeps a no lander.
game 3 I pierce a big conflagrate, counter a bunch of stuff, get hit by a few bloodghasts/amalgams/etc. then I draw the combo, bolt snap bolt his amalgams and block ghast to get him below 6 permanents. Breach on my turn, get him down low. He dredges some stuff back out, but then I just burn him.
round 4: gw comapany - 2-0
game 1 I visions, remand a 3 drop, electrolyze 2 dorks, and then land a clique, target myself to ditch a blood moon. Then clique and some burn get in for lethal over a few turns. Didn't reveal the combo at all.
game 2 I kill 3 devoted druids and remanded chord a few times before breaching for the win.
deck feels amazing. I think this 4 cryptic build feels more consistent then the spirit guide build. Beating dredge without drawing surgical or anger felt great. Maindeck spell pierce is AMAZING! That thing countered so much stuff turns 1 and 2, it's crazy.