After some playtesting, I find that I'm having alot of problems against Jund based decks (notably raven's crime and bloodbraid elf).
Most of the time, the game goes on to the point where the board is clear and both of us are on the topdeck. Exept he can loam out my hand with raven's crime and I end up losing to some random threat.
Is there any card that's good in the graveyard / recurrable? Teachings for extraction doesnt cut it most of the time. You spent an entire turn to fetch something that wont help the board. And msot of the time i end up just pitching teachings to a ravens crime to save more important spells.
We are traditionally bad against Jund decks, but you shouldn't be dying hard if you have snapcaster and teachings. They are enough card advantage when abused properly with esper charm.
Fact. Our deck is AWFUL against affinity. What do you guys do against it. Seriously.
Agreed Teferi is too expensive and most of the time he is just a plumeveil.
We are traditionally bad against Jund decks, but you shouldn't be dying hard if you have snapcaster and teachings. They are enough card advantage when abused properly with esper charm.
Fact. Our deck is AWFUL against affinity. What do you guys do against it. Seriously.
destroy the 1-2 good creatures they actually play. Affinity is super weak to removal. I also tend to run a little artifact/enchantment hate in board as a general 3 of.
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In life all we can do is try to make things better. Sitting lost in old ways and fearing change only makes us outdated and ignorant.
Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding.
Albert Einstein
Millions of innocent men, women and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined and imprisoned; yet we have not advanced one inch towards uniformity.
@ Devils Advocate:
Yea I would like to see some of your preferences, ideas, and decklist! I sleeved up Cymic Kims list with some tweaks and the entire time I kept thinking all I wanted was esper charm. I'll prob give both versions a whirl in due time.
I'll PM it to you (and anyone else who is interested) but I don't want to post it in the competitive thread. My metagame is quite casual and I can get away with playing it, but I wouldn't recommend it to most people.
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"I am confident that if anyone actually
penetrates our facades, even the most
perceptive would still be fundamentally
unprepared for the truth of House Dimir."
Agreed Teferi is too expensive and most of the time he is just a plumeveil.
We are traditionally bad against Jund decks, but you shouldn't be dying hard if you have snapcaster and teachings. They are enough card advantage when abused properly with esper charm.
Fact. Our deck is AWFUL against affinity. What do you guys do against it. Seriously.
Fact: Affinity is a deck that desperately needs to dump its hand as fast as possible against us. If they try to play out less aggressively, their deck will fall apart to your precise play. The fewer cards in their hand, the less likely they are to be able to kill you. Remember, even though each individual card in an Affinity deck is rather weak on its own, they have to value each card very highly. Individually, each one of our cards is worth a lot less to us than each of your opponent's cards- even a 1-for-1 is going to favor you slightly. Landing a couple of 2-for-1's can completely blow most lists out.
I suggest you run plenty of spot removal in your deck. I also suggest that you not be afraid to use your Esper Charms as Mind Rots whenever you need to.
Fact: Affinity is a deck that desperately needs to dump its hand as fast as possible against us. If they try to play out less aggressively, their deck will fall apart to your precise play. The fewer cards in their hand, the less likely they are to be able to kill you. Remember, even though each individual card in an Affinity deck is rather weak on its own, they have to value each card very highly. Individually, each one of our cards is worth a lot less to us than each of your opponent's cards- even a 1-for-1 is going to favor you slightly. Landing a couple of 2-for-1's can completely blow most lists out.
I suggest you run plenty of spot removal in your deck. I also suggest that you not be afraid to use your Esper Charms as Mind Rots whenever you need to.
This. They only have 3 real creatures and 1 equipment that is a threat.
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In life all we can do is try to make things better. Sitting lost in old ways and fearing change only makes us outdated and ignorant.
Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding.
Albert Einstein
Millions of innocent men, women and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined and imprisoned; yet we have not advanced one inch towards uniformity.
This. They only have 3 real creatures and 1 equipment that is a threat.
Call it 2 creatures (Ravager, Atog), 1 Equipment (Cranial Plating), an Instant (Fling), and a land (Inkmoth Nexus). In blue builds, even Master of Etherium is pretty mediocre against the sheer amount of spot removal we run. I mean heck, Shrapnel Blast is often a worse Tribal Flames.
Guys I know the basics of beating aggro decks with control. The problem is affinity is actually way better than you guys are giving it credit for. You guys clearly have never suffered multiple thoughtcasts before. Just saying we cannot beat that deck straight up.
Anyway the decks I'm playing against currently are tribal zoo, big zoo, past in flames/ascension combo.dec, affinity.
I play freakin rest for the weary, 4 helixes, 4 paths, 1 terminate, 1 tribute to hunger, and repeals and consume the meeks. Affinity is still ripping me in half. I think I win 1 game out of every like 8. Jund is sorta 50/50 and usually turns into a topdeck war where you need to draw hotness. My storm matchup sucks game 1, but post board it's legit. The zoos were beating my face in today, but I think it's more of a mana issue than the actual list because there were several times I had stuff, but couldn't play it.
I've been looking into a Modern deck and this one really appeals to me (and not just because it doesn't run Tarmogoyf...lol)
Is there a list of matchups somewhere in the past 25 pages or would someone mind briefing me on how this deck fares against others in the format (particularly Jund, and Zoo because I know they're very popular where I play...)
Also I was kind of curious as to why Damnation is played over Wrath? Is there any advantage to playing the Black spell instead or can you substitute the white version (not gonna lie, I don't much like dropping $25 on cards...)
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"Of course you should fight fire with fire. You should fight everything with fire." - Jaya Ballard
I've been looking into a Modern deck and this one really appeals to me (and not just because it doesn't run Tarmogoyf...lol)
Is there a list of matchups somewhere in the past 25 pages or would someone mind briefing me on how this deck fares against others in the format (particularly Jund, and Zoo because I know they're very popular where I play...)
Also I was kind of curious as to why Damnation is played over Wrath? Is there any advantage to playing the Black spell instead or can you substitute the white version (not gonna lie, I don't much like dropping $25 on cards...)
In this deck (since it is primarily a U/B build), playing damnation instead of wrath often allows you to have a much more consistent mana-base. This is especially true if you're playing with Creeping Tar Pits. However, it might not be much of a problem depending on your particular build if you think that you can easily get 2 white mana out.
Guys I know the basics of beating aggro decks with control. The problem is affinity is actually way better than you guys are giving it credit for. You guys clearly have never suffered multiple thoughtcasts before. Just saying we cannot beat that deck straight up.
Anyway the decks I'm playing against currently are tribal zoo, big zoo, past in flames/ascension combo.dec, affinity.
I play freakin rest for the weary, 4 helixes, 4 paths, 1 terminate, 1 tribute to hunger, and repeals and consume the meeks. Affinity is still ripping me in half. I think I win 1 game out of every like 8. Jund is sorta 50/50 and usually turns into a topdeck war where you need to draw hotness. My storm matchup sucks game 1, but post board it's legit. The zoos were beating my face in today, but I think it's more of a mana issue than the actual list because there were several times I had stuff, but couldn't play it.
well if you weren't playing a stupid 4 color build you could own the deck. Trust me I played many games against it with teachings back in extended when it had arti-lands. It is really weak to almost any removal. Hell sideboard infest if it is that big of a deal.
Let's not go calling other people's decks stupid, thanks.
Kors
In life all we can do is try to make things better. Sitting lost in old ways and fearing change only makes us outdated and ignorant.
Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding.
Albert Einstein
Millions of innocent men, women and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined and imprisoned; yet we have not advanced one inch towards uniformity.
Guys I know the basics of beating aggro decks with control. The problem is affinity is actually way better than you guys are giving it credit for. You guys clearly have never suffered multiple thoughtcasts before. Just saying we cannot beat that deck straight up.
Yeah, we really can. The blue Affinity lists are far weaker and less dangerous than the R/x builds. Demolish their hand, kill their big threats, and ride your card advantage to victory.
I play freakin rest for the weary, 4 helixes, 4 paths, 1 terminate, 1 tribute to hunger, and repeals and consume the meeks. Affinity is still ripping me in half. I think I win 1 game out of every like 8. Jund is sorta 50/50 and usually turns into a topdeck war where you need to draw hotness. My storm matchup sucks game 1, but post board it's legit. The zoos were beating my face in today, but I think it's more of a mana issue than the actual list because there were several times I had stuff, but couldn't play it.
Bolding mine. It sounds like you're trying to make your mana base do way too much. Post your list- we'll see what can be done with your deck.
well if you weren't playing a stupid 4 color build you could own the deck. Trust me I played many games against it with teachings back in extended when it had arti-lands. It is really weak to almost any removal. Hell sideboard infest if it is that big of a deal.
Yeah, we really can. The blue Affinity lists are far weaker and less dangerous than the R/x builds. Demolish their hand, kill their big threats, and ride your card advantage to victory.
Bolding mine. It sounds like you're trying to make your mana base do way too much. Post your list- we'll see what can be done with your deck.
I'll concede that my mana base may be atrocious, but I know that a mana base can be found that makes it possible to cast all the spells I play without stretching my luck.
For testing purposes we tried desperate ravings yesterday instead of esper charm because it's cheaper and easier to cast and we had an argument over whether or not the other two abilities were relevant enough. So we just sleeved it up for one day.
Sadly I never saw them outside of two games, but the game I did see it I ended up with an epic set up because it dumped a helix for me and drew me into a snapcaster. and the other game I got bloodbraid into rise fall and got to pitch teachings and ravings and the flashback on ravings gave me a kill spell.
4 Path
4 Helix
4 Spell Snare
4 Desperate Ravings/esper charm
4 Snapcaster
3 Teachings
3 Cryptic Command
2 Repeal
1 Vendilion Clique
1 Terminate
1 Rest for the weary
1 Tribute to hunger
1 White Sun
1 Consume the meek
The mana base is ugly but here it is.
3 Island
1 Watery Grave
4 Creeping Tarpit
2 reflecting pool
3 mystic gate
1 hallowed fountain
2 steam vents
4 scalding tarn
1 mountain
1 plains
2 marsh flats
1 sacred foundry.
I've been looking into a Modern deck and this one really appeals to me (and not just because it doesn't run Tarmogoyf...lol)
Is there a list of matchups somewhere in the past 25 pages or would someone mind briefing me on how this deck fares against others in the format (particularly Jund, and Zoo because I know they're very popular where I play...)
Also I was kind of curious as to why Damnation is played over Wrath? Is there any advantage to playing the Black spell instead or can you substitute the white version (not gonna lie, I don't much like dropping $25 on cards...)
I don't believe there is a list of matchups, but in general we do very well against combo and not as well against aggro. Zoo is a tough matchup, but it is beatable if you play a really tight game. You can also build to beat zoo if that's the deck to beat in your meta, just put in tons of removal, but your game vs. combo will obviously get a bit tougher. That's kind of how the deck works, you prey on developed metagames by tweaking your main deck to beat the most common match up and your sideboard to help you against the ones that give you trouble.
Honestly, I wouldn't play either Wrath or Damnation. Consume the Meek is better than both because it can be tutored with Teachings (so you really only need to run 1) and it doesn't kill your Teferi, your Dralnu if that's how you roll, or your finisher of choice. Of course, in a zoo dominated meta I could understand running Damnation alongside CtM, and Wrath is fine too. Most lists are UBw, so casting Wrath is harder, but shifting to UWb is equally valid if you want to run Wraths over Damnations.
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"I am confident that if anyone actually
penetrates our facades, even the most
perceptive would still be fundamentally
unprepared for the truth of House Dimir."
Desperate Ravings seems either very good or very bad to me. Sometimes it seems like it is a sweet card that can't go that wrong (mainly with snapcaster) and other times where it really just dumps land into your hand and discards your spells. (This is all from that grixis control brew that Chapin brewed up in standard that I tested for a bit with basic land proxies before deciding it wasn't my thing.)
Meh, I haven't played with it much. Affinity can go either way though, some draws you can't beat plating and sometimes you just get ranched by fling, but sometimes they just spew out 4 guys and you manage to handle it.
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Thanks to SushiOtter at Hakai Studios for the great banner.
Honestly, I wouldn't play either Wrath or Damnation. Consume the Meek is better than both because it can be tutored with Teachings (so you really only need to run 1) and it doesn't kill your Teferi, your Dralnu if that's how you roll, or your finisher of choice. Of course, in a zoo dominated meta I could understand running Damnation alongside CtM, and Wrath is fine too. Most lists are UBw, so casting Wrath is harder, but shifting to UWb is equally valid if you want to run Wraths over Damnations.
This man speaks truth. I couldn't get ahold of Damnation number 2 so i put in Wrath to keep it together, but it couldn't be cast half the time. So now i run 2 CtM and 1 Damn, probably gonna change but with the way things are looking i don't mind drawing into CtM most of the time because the rest of the time I'm tutoring for it.
Now for a discussion of silver bullets;
For the most part, I don't draw all of them every game, that's the point of 1-ofs. To not have them when you don't need them, and when you do, mystical tutor happens.
Enter Familiar's Ruse.
At it's worst, it's a dead card, at its best it certainly can be devastating, especially at late game.
I believe because the creature is returned because of its cost, they cannot respond by countering the spell, am I correct?
Counterspell in Modern? No, I think Ruse can be much more than that.
This is still in the context of silver bullets.
EDIT: on the topic of janky ridiculous bullets, Twincast. Good day sirs.
This man speaks truth. I couldn't get ahold of Damnation number 2 so i put in Wrath to keep it together, but it couldn't be cast half the time. So now i run 2 CtM and 1 Damn, probably gonna change but with the way things are looking i don't mind drawing into CtM most of the time because the rest of the time I'm tutoring for it.
Now for a discussion of silver bullets;
For the most part, I don't draw all of them every game, that's the point of 1-ofs. To not have them when you don't need them, and when you do, mystical tutor happens.
Enter Familiar's Ruse.
At it's worst, it's a dead card, at its best it certainly can be devastating, especially at late game.
I believe because the creature is returned because of its cost, they cannot respond by countering the spell, am I correct?
Counterspell in Modern? No, I think Ruse can be much more than that.
This is still in the context of silver bullets.
EDIT: on the topic of janky ridiculous bullets, Twincast. Good day sirs.
Familiar's Ruse looks cool, until you have it but no creature you can afford to bounce, which is like 60% of the time.
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"I am confident that if anyone actually
penetrates our facades, even the most
perceptive would still be fundamentally
unprepared for the truth of House Dimir."
If you're playing a Teachings deck and you expect Familiar's Ruse to be live even 50% of the time you draw it, you're out of your mind. That card is difficult to bring online in dedicated aggro-control decks with a bunch of Mutavaults, Spellstutter Sprites, etc. That card was printed in Lorwyn block and has never become more than the occasional 1-2 of in formats/metagames where Bitterblossom has been one of the most influential and present cards for a number of seasons.
If you're going to play a card as demanding as Familiar's Ruse, you need to support it. This has nothing to do with how much the card has been used or how underrated it may be. If you're not supporting a very specific cost of a card like that, it's simply not going to work.
Cryptic Command is much, much better than Familiar's Ruse in Teachings. Unlike Ruse, it's never dead, as countering a spell then fogging aggro or bouncing a troublesome permanent and cantripping is always useful. After that, when your opponent is down to casting 1 spell a turn or fewer (if you've stabilized against aggro, your opponent should now be down to this unless you're against Jund), Tiago flashing back Cryptic Command and bouncing himself upon resolution is absolutely back-breaking. When your opponent topdecks lands, draw cards or find a finisher and you should be good.
In finisher-light builds (no fatty for Teferi, maybe WSZ (Esper) or Comet Storm (Grixis) at most along with manlands, Tiago, and maybe V. Clique), I often search for Cryptic Command with Mystical Teachings, as getting two shots out of it with Tiago and still keeping him in reserve is just that good.
Rewind seems even better with Mystical Teachings. I prefer counter heavy playing:
4 Spells Snares
4 Mana Leaks
3-4 Rewind
1 Crypric
You shouldn't need a zillion removal spells. Also is everyone running 4 Snapcasters? I think he's pretty amazing in general, can be tutored for by Mystical Teachings, and creates card advantage os sorts. I also really like Dralnu AND Snapcasters for even more recursion late game.
I'm still on board with Teferi+Fatty. My fatty of choice is Banelsayer Angel because of the tempo swing she creates in the life gap. Plus she beats most things in combat. I like the idea of Meloku as well, but the lifegain aspect of Baneslayer Angel seems more relevant in more matches I come accross where my life total is important, in which case Baneslayer Angel gives me that tempo back. I can't see why anyone wouldn't be running Teferi. He allows you to have supreme control over the stack by making all their spells sorcery speed, which is condusive to a permission style strategy. Sure good removal spells exist, but Teferi makes sure they can only do it on their turn.
Okay seriously...
In a hard-core control deck we are considering Familiar's Ruse? You should only have a maximum of 4 creatures:these should be creatures that are all glass cannons.
Please we have to address a very serious issue that I have seen in my testing with Junya Iyanaga and other Esper Teaching Variants.....
Junya Teachings
1. Storm
This is a difficult match-up, as they can use past in flames to recover the spells that you had made them discard. The benefit is that Esper Charm can attack their Ascension, but often that is not enough. Also Game 2, their Leyline of Sanctity blanks 8 of your cards. So I am thinking that perhaps a Mindbreak Trap is necessary.
2. Hive Mind
If you follow all the events with modern, you'll see that a variant has popped up. Proof . This is very difficult as it comes down to your ability to shred loose hands, but not having permission is very painful.(
Junya Iyanaga's deck suffers from its inability to fulfill its role as a blue deck, instead it plays a more rock style by gaining both card advantage off Esper Charms and also having strong hand disruption, and having great removal. Its for this reason that Junya Iyanaga Teachings Stomps: Zoo, Melria Combo, Burn, Rock, and Aggro.
Here is what we have to ask ourselves, what teaching variant do we need? Permission is great and all, but Junya Iyanaga went 5-0-1 for a reason. His deck was well tuned against the expected Zoo storm, but honestly I feel as though his deck simply folds to any deck that mandates permission. I need thoughts.
The Alternative would be to compile some Standard Teaching deck. One that has permission, Example. But my biggest concern is that I feel there is an opening for a storm deck. Past in Flames has given Storm decks the ability to combo twice!
I do enjoy how people are discussing packages for decks so here is my list:
Marrow Shards -Goblin Mass, already stated
Sudden Death - Obvious against PesterTwin
Grim Harvest - Bring back old buddies
Surgical Extraction - A Must
Mindbreak Trap - A fail safe
Rest for the Weary - Much better then Pulse of the Fields, main deck.
Blue and Black Pacts
Consume the Meek - Insta-***
Aven Mindcensor - Good in Mirror
Ravenous Trap - Against some dredge combo.
White Sun Zenith - Honorable Replacement for Decree of Justice.
There are Obvious ones I will not go into, as the list is somewhat long...Snapcaster, Vendilion,
Note: I do not like Teferi. In this day and age he seems unnecessary in the main deck, the SB is a better home as you can bring him in against mirror, and splinter Twin, to negate all their 1 mana counter spells.
tl;dr: Junya Iyanaga Esper Control or Permission Teachings.
Also what is the balance between Removal, Permission, and Disruption?
PS: Spell Check?
P.S.S: Has anyone been playing with Vedalken Shackles, I have and I must say its stupid crazy (as it has always been).
P.S.S.S: Some people have proven that UB Teachings is still viable. Something to look at, because Blood Moon will be everywhere. (Mono-Red, Affinity, UR Delver)
Agreed Teferi is too expensive and most of the time he is just a plumeveil.
We are traditionally bad against Jund decks, but you shouldn't be dying hard if you have snapcaster and teachings. They are enough card advantage when abused properly with esper charm.
Fact. Our deck is AWFUL against affinity. What do you guys do against it. Seriously.
destroy the 1-2 good creatures they actually play. Affinity is super weak to removal. I also tend to run a little artifact/enchantment hate in board as a general 3 of.
Albert Einstein
Thomas Jefferson
I'll PM it to you (and anyone else who is interested) but I don't want to post it in the competitive thread. My metagame is quite casual and I can get away with playing it, but I wouldn't recommend it to most people.
"I am confident that if anyone actually
penetrates our facades, even the most
perceptive would still be fundamentally
unprepared for the truth of House Dimir."
Fact: Affinity is a deck that desperately needs to dump its hand as fast as possible against us. If they try to play out less aggressively, their deck will fall apart to your precise play. The fewer cards in their hand, the less likely they are to be able to kill you. Remember, even though each individual card in an Affinity deck is rather weak on its own, they have to value each card very highly. Individually, each one of our cards is worth a lot less to us than each of your opponent's cards- even a 1-for-1 is going to favor you slightly. Landing a couple of 2-for-1's can completely blow most lists out.
I suggest you run plenty of spot removal in your deck. I also suggest that you not be afraid to use your Esper Charms as Mind Rots whenever you need to.
This. They only have 3 real creatures and 1 equipment that is a threat.
Albert Einstein
Thomas Jefferson
Call it 2 creatures (Ravager, Atog), 1 Equipment (Cranial Plating), an Instant (Fling), and a land (Inkmoth Nexus). In blue builds, even Master of Etherium is pretty mediocre against the sheer amount of spot removal we run. I mean heck, Shrapnel Blast is often a worse Tribal Flames.
Anyway the decks I'm playing against currently are tribal zoo, big zoo, past in flames/ascension combo.dec, affinity.
I play freakin rest for the weary, 4 helixes, 4 paths, 1 terminate, 1 tribute to hunger, and repeals and consume the meeks. Affinity is still ripping me in half. I think I win 1 game out of every like 8. Jund is sorta 50/50 and usually turns into a topdeck war where you need to draw hotness. My storm matchup sucks game 1, but post board it's legit. The zoos were beating my face in today, but I think it's more of a mana issue than the actual list because there were several times I had stuff, but couldn't play it.
Is there a list of matchups somewhere in the past 25 pages or would someone mind briefing me on how this deck fares against others in the format (particularly Jund, and Zoo because I know they're very popular where I play...)
Also I was kind of curious as to why Damnation is played over Wrath? Is there any advantage to playing the Black spell instead or can you substitute the white version (not gonna lie, I don't much like dropping $25 on cards...)
"Of course you should fight fire with fire. You should fight everything with fire." - Jaya Ballard
In this deck (since it is primarily a U/B build), playing damnation instead of wrath often allows you to have a much more consistent mana-base. This is especially true if you're playing with Creeping Tar Pits. However, it might not be much of a problem depending on your particular build if you think that you can easily get 2 white mana out.
BRG Loam Control (Assault - Loam) BRG
W Mono White Control (Martyr - Proc) W
well if you weren't playing a stupid 4 color build you could own the deck. Trust me I played many games against it with teachings back in extended when it had arti-lands. It is really weak to almost any removal. Hell sideboard infest if it is that big of a deal.
Let's not go calling other people's decks stupid, thanks.
Kors
Albert Einstein
Thomas Jefferson
Yeah, we really can. The blue Affinity lists are far weaker and less dangerous than the R/x builds. Demolish their hand, kill their big threats, and ride your card advantage to victory.
Bolding mine. It sounds like you're trying to make your mana base do way too much. Post your list- we'll see what can be done with your deck.
Blue zoo. Nuff said.
I'll concede that my mana base may be atrocious, but I know that a mana base can be found that makes it possible to cast all the spells I play without stretching my luck.
For testing purposes we tried desperate ravings yesterday instead of esper charm because it's cheaper and easier to cast and we had an argument over whether or not the other two abilities were relevant enough. So we just sleeved it up for one day.
Sadly I never saw them outside of two games, but the game I did see it I ended up with an epic set up because it dumped a helix for me and drew me into a snapcaster. and the other game I got bloodbraid into rise fall and got to pitch teachings and ravings and the flashback on ravings gave me a kill spell.
4 Path
4 Helix
4 Spell Snare
4 Desperate Ravings/esper charm
4 Snapcaster
3 Teachings
3 Cryptic Command
2 Repeal
1 Vendilion Clique
1 Terminate
1 Rest for the weary
1 Tribute to hunger
1 White Sun
1 Consume the meek
The mana base is ugly but here it is.
3 Island
1 Watery Grave
4 Creeping Tarpit
2 reflecting pool
3 mystic gate
1 hallowed fountain
2 steam vents
4 scalding tarn
1 mountain
1 plains
2 marsh flats
1 sacred foundry.
I don't believe there is a list of matchups, but in general we do very well against combo and not as well against aggro. Zoo is a tough matchup, but it is beatable if you play a really tight game. You can also build to beat zoo if that's the deck to beat in your meta, just put in tons of removal, but your game vs. combo will obviously get a bit tougher. That's kind of how the deck works, you prey on developed metagames by tweaking your main deck to beat the most common match up and your sideboard to help you against the ones that give you trouble.
Honestly, I wouldn't play either Wrath or Damnation. Consume the Meek is better than both because it can be tutored with Teachings (so you really only need to run 1) and it doesn't kill your Teferi, your Dralnu if that's how you roll, or your finisher of choice. Of course, in a zoo dominated meta I could understand running Damnation alongside CtM, and Wrath is fine too. Most lists are UBw, so casting Wrath is harder, but shifting to UWb is equally valid if you want to run Wraths over Damnations.
"I am confident that if anyone actually
penetrates our facades, even the most
perceptive would still be fundamentally
unprepared for the truth of House Dimir."
Meh, I haven't played with it much. Affinity can go either way though, some draws you can't beat plating and sometimes you just get ranched by fling, but sometimes they just spew out 4 guys and you manage to handle it.
This man speaks truth. I couldn't get ahold of Damnation number 2 so i put in Wrath to keep it together, but it couldn't be cast half the time. So now i run 2 CtM and 1 Damn, probably gonna change but with the way things are looking i don't mind drawing into CtM most of the time because the rest of the time I'm tutoring for it.
Now for a discussion of silver bullets;
For the most part, I don't draw all of them every game, that's the point of 1-ofs. To not have them when you don't need them, and when you do, mystical tutor happens.
Enter Familiar's Ruse.
At it's worst, it's a dead card, at its best it certainly can be devastating, especially at late game.
I believe because the creature is returned because of its cost, they cannot respond by countering the spell, am I correct?
Counterspell in Modern? No, I think Ruse can be much more than that.
This is still in the context of silver bullets.
EDIT: on the topic of janky ridiculous bullets, Twincast. Good day sirs.
Familiar's Ruse looks cool, until you have it but no creature you can afford to bounce, which is like 60% of the time.
"I am confident that if anyone actually
penetrates our facades, even the most
perceptive would still be fundamentally
unprepared for the truth of House Dimir."
This guy just made the most accurate argument ever. Plus I don't think we play enough creatures to make it legit.
If you're going to play a card as demanding as Familiar's Ruse, you need to support it. This has nothing to do with how much the card has been used or how underrated it may be. If you're not supporting a very specific cost of a card like that, it's simply not going to work.
You are all welcome.
That would be bomb vs empty the warren tokens. Have you tested it?
In finisher-light builds (no fatty for Teferi, maybe WSZ (Esper) or Comet Storm (Grixis) at most along with manlands, Tiago, and maybe V. Clique), I often search for Cryptic Command with Mystical Teachings, as getting two shots out of it with Tiago and still keeping him in reserve is just that good.
4 Spells Snares
4 Mana Leaks
3-4 Rewind
1 Crypric
You shouldn't need a zillion removal spells. Also is everyone running 4 Snapcasters? I think he's pretty amazing in general, can be tutored for by Mystical Teachings, and creates card advantage os sorts. I also really like Dralnu AND Snapcasters for even more recursion late game.
I'm still on board with Teferi+Fatty. My fatty of choice is Banelsayer Angel because of the tempo swing she creates in the life gap. Plus she beats most things in combat. I like the idea of Meloku as well, but the lifegain aspect of Baneslayer Angel seems more relevant in more matches I come accross where my life total is important, in which case Baneslayer Angel gives me that tempo back. I can't see why anyone wouldn't be running Teferi. He allows you to have supreme control over the stack by making all their spells sorcery speed, which is condusive to a permission style strategy. Sure good removal spells exist, but Teferi makes sure they can only do it on their turn.
In a hard-core control deck we are considering Familiar's Ruse? You should only have a maximum of 4 creatures:these should be creatures that are all glass cannons.
Please we have to address a very serious issue that I have seen in my testing with Junya Iyanaga and other Esper Teaching Variants.....
Junya Teachings
1. Storm
2. Hive Mind
Junya Iyanaga's deck suffers from its inability to fulfill its role as a blue deck, instead it plays a more rock style by gaining both card advantage off Esper Charms and also having strong hand disruption, and having great removal. Its for this reason that Junya Iyanaga Teachings Stomps: Zoo, Melria Combo, Burn, Rock, and Aggro.
Here is what we have to ask ourselves, what teaching variant do we need? Permission is great and all, but Junya Iyanaga went 5-0-1 for a reason. His deck was well tuned against the expected Zoo storm, but honestly I feel as though his deck simply folds to any deck that mandates permission. I need thoughts.
The Alternative would be to compile some Standard Teaching deck. One that has permission, Example. But my biggest concern is that I feel there is an opening for a storm deck. Past in Flames has given Storm decks the ability to combo twice!
I do enjoy how people are discussing packages for decks so here is my list:
Note: I do not like Teferi. In this day and age he seems unnecessary in the main deck, the SB is a better home as you can bring him in against mirror, and splinter Twin, to negate all their 1 mana counter spells.
tl;dr: Junya Iyanaga Esper Control or Permission Teachings.
Also what is the balance between Removal, Permission, and Disruption?
PS: Spell Check?
P.S.S: Has anyone been playing with Vedalken Shackles, I have and I must say its stupid crazy (as it has always been).
P.S.S.S: Some people have proven that UB Teachings is still viable. Something to look at, because Blood Moon will be everywhere. (Mono-Red, Affinity, UR Delver)