Solidarity is a very interesting deck. As you can see, the entire deck is instants and lands. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHOULD THIS DECK RUN ANY NON-INSTANT, NON-LAND CARDS. The reason the deck works so well is that it can use EVERY card (see Sideboard Foil), making everything a potential threat at all times (with the exception of Reset, which can only be used on your opponents turn) THIS IS A VERY IMPORTANT QUALITY. Since everything is an instant, how does it kill?
Solidarity can kill at instant speed, a very important fact in the metagames today. If your opponent has a Belcher Trigger on the stack, or lethal combat damage on the stack, etc, you can simply win and not worry about that - once the game is over, all effects are countered. It can, and usually does, kill on your opponents turn, which is very big too. It kills by playing mana acceleration in the form of High Tide, Turnabout, and Reset, generating massive amounts of mana. Then it plays Brainstorms, Impulses, and Meditates until it hits Flash of Insight. Using flash of insight, it removes it's graveyard from the game to search its entire library for a card, usually Meditate or Brainstorm. After this, it can stack its library, putting somewhere within reach a Brain Freeze and a Words of Wisdom. Then it decks the opponent with Brain Freeze and follows up with Words of Wisdom for a "quick" kill.
The mian problem with solidarity is that it is impossible to go off before turn 2. Literally. And turn 2 kill requires a god hand of AT least 2x reset, 2x high tide, 2x Island, 1x draw card. However, it can go off usually before turn 5 and always by then.
There are many cards that would work in Solidarity, and I will look at the most popular, as well as sideboard options and wish targets. Here is a breakdown of the cards in the deck above:
II. Card Breakdown //Mana Engine
4 High Tide - The main mana generator in the deck, combined with Reset and Turnabout I have had over 30 mana total in 1 turn.
4 Reset - This nets mana advantage with just 3 land in play, and with just 2 land if High Tide has been played. the sick mana generation provided by Reset makes the deck work. It can be used only on your opponents turn, the main reason why that is when you go off.
4 Turnabout - a 4cc Reset, plus able to stall opponent. It can be used on your opponents turn. see Reset above for its uses.
//Draw and Tutor
4 Brainstorm - Brainstorm is very efficient draw, and with the inclusion of Fetchlands and Mystical Tutor it is somewhat easy to shuffle bad stuff back in. If Mystical Tutor and fetchlands are not run, Accumulated Knowlege is another option. Simply keep them in the grave while Flash of Insighting, and you can go crazy drawing.
3 Meditate - The most efficient Blue Draw available, Meditate is very important ot the deck. It allows for a "Reset" of your hand, and digging for the kill and untappers. One is even Sideboarded for Cunning Wish to be found.
4 Impulse - Impulse is the best digging in the game. 2 mana, 4 cards, take 1. Some people argue that Peer Through Depths would be better suited, but it can not be used before comboing to get needed land and it reveals what you draw, giving your opponent a better idea of what to counter.
3 Mystical Tutor - This can find whatever you need it to. Low on mana? grab a Reset. Got 2 extra Turnabouts? Get a High Tide for sick mana. Need some draw? Snag a Meditate. It is the other half of Cunning Wish.
//Support
4 Force of Will - This deck needed disruption, and people came up with stuff like Dissapate, Abeyance, etc. In the end, old FoW was back in because of the threat of turn 1 Trinisphere(which does not hurt this deck as much as most, but still pains), early Survival of the Fittests, and use under various locks. It is still the best counterspell in the game, and this deck is no exception to the rule all blue decks should run 4.
3 Cunning Wish - This is the toolbox of the deck, similar to Long.dec's Burning Wish, Tinker's Phyrexian Portal, and Deck Parfait's Enlightened Tutor and Sterling Grove. It makes your deck effectivly 15 cards more versatile with ony 3 slots. It can also fetch Flah of Insight if countered from the grave.
//Lands
4 Polluted Delta - this thins the deck so it is more likely for key cars to be drawn, "bubbles" Impulse food you want back to the top, and has insane synergy with Brainstorm
2 Flooded Strand - see Polluted Delta
13 Island - DUH! on a side note, Remote Isle and Lonely Sandbar look like they would d well and never are dead cards, but they do not get extra mana off High Tide and Should not be played.
//Sideboard
1 Meditate - see above for reason, this is very good draw
1 Tolarian Winds - Useful if mana flooded or as a kill after Flash of Insight.
1 Brain Freeze - Extra kill just in case something happens to your Flash.
1 Chain of Vapor - All around useful removal, get rid of Chalice of the Void, Trinisphere, etc
1 Rebuild - see Chain of Vapor. It can also wreck Welder and Affinity's Board.
2 Echoing Truth - See Chain of Vapor
1 Hibernation - Random Scrub Elves, Survival of the Fittest, and more leave
1 Evacuation - Goblins, Sligh, etc die. It is a little overpriced, the vareity of decks iit can be used vs warrants its use. It can be used during the declare blockers step of cambat to stop attackers if needed.
1 Stroke of Genius - This is good for massive draw(20-30 cards) and as a kill of they run Feldon's Cane, Gaea's Blessing, etc.
1 Foil - Get rid of Extra lands and counter a nasty spell if needed
1 Stifle - All around utility vs Survival of the Fittest, Goblin Charbelcher, Morphling, etc
1 Blue Elemental Blast - [insert red card here] = grave, as well as countering that gamewinning Fireblast.
1 Annul - Goblin Charbelcher and Survival of the fittest, as well as random Battle of Wits and enchantment based decks
1 Mystical Tutor - See above, all around search III. Other possible cards
There are many possible card that could be and were not used. This is a list of the most common. A) Maindecked
1. Accumulated Knowlege
This is probably the card that deserves being in the deck the most of all. With the massive amount of draw, this almost always gets 3-4 cards by the kill, and is a bargain at 2 mana.
2. Thawing Glaciers
This card has been tested in Solidarity a lot, but during my tests I thought it was very slow. In order to get 1 Island, the steps are as follows:
1) Play it, tapped
2) either wait a turn (turn = 1) or untap it (UT = 1)
3) pay 1 mana to get an island, it and the island taps.
3) Wait 1 turn (turn = 1/2) or untap (UT = 1/2) for island to become active and if not untapped, another turn to play it and have it untap
With only 8 untap effects in the deck, two of them have already been used(most likely) by the time Thawing Glaciers Resets to the place it started. Assuming you used 1 to generate the mana used to get the island, that is 3 untap effects for 1 island. I think that it would be worth it if the island did not come into play tapped, but that means another untap before it can be used.
3. Snap
a mini-Reset, it can bounce a Meddling mage or similar trouble creature. While this is a very useful ability, it is too situational for it to be used. Sided, however, is an option.
4. Fact or Fiction
This is a very good card and might work. However, the 4cc makes it way too much of an investment unless you have a Reset, which makes it too situational. Basically, it costs too much to be of any use.
5. Peer Through Depths
It is almost strictly better than impulse in this deck. the 4 differences are:
Pro Peer Through Depths
1. Digs 1 More
Pro Impulse
1. Finds anthing
2. Doesn't reveal card
3. Sweet Art and DCI foil Impulse #3 and #2 do not matter much, however #2 *Might* help your opponent plan. So, it comes down to Dig 1 more VS not finding land. I think that digging 4 is fine and it is importan to be able to find land, but both are fine. B) Sideboarded
1. Turnabout
2. Turnabout
3. Turnabout
4. Turnabout
5. Turnabout
6. Turnabout
7. Turnabout
8. Turnabout
IV. Splashes
Most versions of Solidarity are mono-U, but splashes are possible. here is a breakdown of possible splashes.
White Splash:
White provides some good cards, including StP for killing Meddling mage, Orim's Chant/Abeyance for stopping opponent, and Disenchant for many problems like Belcher, Trini, SoR, etc. It is probably the best splash color.
Green Splash:
Green gives you Naturalize, Crop rotation for more mana advantage, and ... nothing else, except maybe fog if you are staring at a fistful of goblins.
Red Splash:
Red gives you removal in the form of lightning bolt and shatter, a few mana accelerators that are unneeded.
Black Splash:
Black, the second best splash, can kill problem creatures using Diabolic Edict or Ghastly Demise, provide efficient mana accel with Cabal and Dark ritual, and go nuts drawing off of Skeletal Scrying
I do not think that it is a good idea to splash anything besides white, as it provides answers for Artifacts, Creatures, Enchantments, and cards not played yet. However, it is your choice to play other colors. V. Matchup Analysis
vs Goblins - Unless they get off to a VERY fast start, you should win game 1. Burn is useless, and if you are playing Mono-U, Wastes are too. Game 2 they board in Pyroblast, and you have to be a lot more careful of them. Try to play meditates with enough mana open to turnabout, etc, because they might counter the Reset.
vs BBS or BBS/w- this is a very difficult matchup, they have lots of counters and they can easily Mana Leak the first Reset or High Tide you play. THey run lots of countermagic, and therefore you have to go off with lots of backup (2+ Resets, 2+ High Tides, a few draw spells). If you can go off fast, go ahead, but don't be suprised if they Force of Will you stuff. If they run Meddling mage and name brainfreeze, go off, then kill the mage off a Cunning Wish. If you run white, Orim's Chant as early into you turn as possible.
vs ATS - another counter-strong deck, this should be a little easier than BBS because it runs a max of 12 counters. None of the creature should present major problems, because your only permanents are land. Mystic Snake might be a problem, but it can only counter 1 spell a turn so it is not too bad.
The version I run runs both Impulse *and* Peer Through Depths, then again I don't play tourny so I exclude Cunning Wish since I have no sideboard. However I find myself digging for Instants more often than lands.
Thawing Glaciers is a must. You have to work around it, it's true, but in exchange when you go off Resets/Turnabouts become Resets + Rampant Growth + 1, 2 or 3 Mana depending on how many High Tide you played. I'd put 2 instead of the Flooded Strands, I run only 4 Deltas for fetching and I've never had a problem. I also include 1 Stroke of Genius since Gaea's Blessing guarantees an auto loss if you're running only Brain Freezes for the kill.
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"Dying with good cards in your hand is the surest sign that you did something wrong, somewhere." -Caleb Durward
Not being an Island, Boseiju just isn't worth it. Thawing Glaciers is very good though, and worth considering, it can net you a lot of lands and keep the engine going. Overall, this is a fun deck, and I also like how it's cheap to build.
I like Thawing Glaciers, but I don't really think it is worth it in this deck. I think that it could work in this deck, but I prefer the version without it.
I also like how it is cheap, and Reset, the most expensive required card, costs $4-5 each. Cunning Wish, Force of Will, and fetches are not needed, but just add to consistency. You can make the entire deck for about $30.
I also like how it is cheap, and Reset, the most expensive required card, costs $4-5 each. Cunning Wish, Force of Will, and fetches are not needed, but just add to consistency. You can make the entire deck for about $30.
Could you post the poor mans version of this deck? I'm interested in trying the deck out but I just don't want to spend a lot of money on a new deck.
Rather than Merchant Scroll I'd play Opt. Three wishes is nice in replacement of the Cunning Wish (not just because of the name, but the mana cost which in this deck is basically identical). Solidarity relies on the instant speed to the max, without that there's not much you're gonna be able to still compete.
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"Dying with good cards in your hand is the surest sign that you did something wrong, somewhere." -Caleb Durward
Yo, most sucessful solidarity decks I've seen don't play words of wisdom in maindeck, it muddles up your abbility to rack up a storm count. I say sideboard it and use cunning wish to fetch it.
There are 4 Brain Freeze main deck and 1 sideboard, I'm trying to make this deck tournament legal... Where should I put the 4th Brain Freeze and what should I put in the now empty slot?
Cut the number of Brainfreezes down to 2 or 3, and run them all MD. The correct Brainfreeze number and filler cards depend on your build. Definitely Flash of Insight if you aren't already running it.
Mystical Tutor is trash. Most of your fizzling occurs because you're not drawing into actual card advantage. Tutor accelerates this problem. The good builds (aka, ones that win) have cut this card for quite some time. Opt is much better. Tutor also has the problem of giving away your scarcest resource to control. Card draw + redundancy > tutoring in Legacy. This isn't a format full of 1-ofs.
Flash of Insight should be a 2x just because of it's strength against counters and discard.
Twincast is a must. It provides the deck with greater fluidity against control, adding to your scarcest resource mid-combo, be it cards or mana.
Remand is really good and played in most of the current builds.
Words of Wisdom and Stroke of Genius are bad maindeck choices. You don't have to go off in response to lethal against control, and the only reason to clutter up your mid-combo cards with finisher cards is against control. Words of Wisdom would theoretically be worth it for drawing two cards, but the extra card it gives Threshold can become quite important. It's generally worse than Impulse.
I've played solidarity for about a month or so. The maindecks are usually the same, but I just pack 2 brain freezes MD, no SB, 1 Twincast MD and 1 SB. I also have 4 Disrupt and 4 Hydroblast in the SB cuz most legacy players are into Burn or heavy discard... (please note that *most* is about 5, only 7 players are into legacy arround here ).
I also have 1 meditate and 1 Turnabout as wish targets, I used to play 4 if those MD but then I'd run out of draw or untap effects...
Mystical Tutor is trash. Most of your fizzling occurs because you're not drawing into actual card advantage. Tutor accelerates this problem. The good builds (aka, ones that win) have cut this card for quite some time. Opt is much better. Tutor also has the problem of giving away your scarcest resource to control. Card draw + redundancy > tutoring in Legacy. This isn't a format full of 1-ofs.
Flash of Insight should be a 2x just because of it's strength against counters and discard.
Twincast is a must. It provides the deck with greater fluidity against control, adding to your scarcest resource mid-combo, be it cards or mana.
Remand is really good and played in most of the current builds.
Words of Wisdom and Stroke of Genius are bad maindeck choices. You don't have to go off in response to lethal against control, and the only reason to clutter up your mid-combo cards with finisher cards is against control. Words of Wisdom would theoretically be worth it for drawing two cards, but the extra card it gives Threshold can become quite important. It's generally worse than Impulse.
Listen to this person. They know what they're doing. I've seen him/her/it post on The Source (The Premier Legacy site) and they really know this deck. All the above is fantastic advice.
Enough inflation of egos, heres what I've been playing around with:
Its what I was told Gearheart is currently playing. It's way cool, and I haven't had too many problems with it. However, I haven't really seen the use of the Disrupts in the board. I could see cutting them for more wishboard tech, but I'm hesitant to do that without first knowing more about the deck.
Also, I would be more comfortable with access to some more Brain Freeze. And maybe Words of Wisdom along with Stroke in the board. Stroke kill is 3U (X=1) and Words is only 1U. It could make a difference, I don't know.
Really the main problems I've had with it have been my own fault. FoW'ing too much, etc. But thats just playskill related, not the deck. It's practically autopilot. Easy to learn, hard to master.
what about Candelabra of Tawnos? with high tide in play you will never run out of mana.
Once you're going off, running out of mana should never be a problem unless you're just an incompetent player. I mean, once you've played High Tide and get the draw spells and untap spells, you're already making assloads of mana anyways, Candelabra is just overkill.
No offense but in reading your deck, then finding it consistently goes off on turn 5, with earlier turns depending on god draws... well... seems slow. I thought the main strategy for legacy decks were to go off on turn 1 or turn 2? This deck while being cheap doesnt have that capability and seems a tier 2 build. Judging by the cards I bet it has a hard time in comparison to other legacy decks, it lacks that... ummph that puts it into the tier 1 spotlight. Also you could note a few proxy suggestions since I believe that any deck is allowed any 5 cards in magic to be proxy cards because wizards understands we all cant afford a Black Lotus. So having some power cards like Mox Sapphire or Time Walk would speed up your deck just a little bit.
End of post.
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Please disregard this rant:
Would it not have just been easier to reprint expensive cards? Wait! Then everyone would complain how cheap it is and how they couldnt make a profit from it! Heeeeey... ? Why would the general populace care if a card remained high dollar? Isnt the reason people drop from magic in the first place because its too costly to keep up once your cards hit legacy? That means wizards is secretly controlled by hobbystores, I am begining to dislike hobbystore owners as much as Mark Rosewater.
I believe you've confused the Legacy format with the Vintage format. There are no moxes other than Diamond and Chrome allowed. Few decks can kill before turn 3 and those decks are plagued by inconsistency. The turn 4 kill of Solidarity is very competitive. While its slower than other combo decks, its more resistant to hate due to its instant speed ability.
Also, most of the cards cost only pennies to a few dollars other than Reset, Meditate, Force of Will, Cunning Wish, and Twincast.
note: The cost of entering Vintage is fairly prohibitive. Thus Legacy was born. You can use your entire collection other than those on the legacy banned list.
I don't understand why you split the fetchlands 4 and 2 in the mono-U version. If you want to run 6 fetches total, surely 3 of each is better. It's safer against Pithing Needle, and also safer against Extirpate, which will hit a fetch if your opponent suspects you are short on land.
(M:tG) It's a hobby which costs money. You can't play golf without the right clubs and a membership for the golf court, you can't play paintball with a cardboard armor and a sling, you can't go to the movies without paying for a ticket and you can't play Magic without owning the cards. Simple as that.
so whats the solution if opponent reveals a gaea's blessing and out the ability in stack? can we still respond to it?
Stifle in the board, or with the ability on the stack Remand your Brain Freeze, then replay it, then make them draw before the trigger resolves.
and another thing with darksteel colossus?
Just mill them until their library is the colossus, them Stroke of Genius them.
and how do we get infinite mana in this deck?
You can only do this if your opponent plays an Ill-Gotten Gains when you have a High Tide, Reset and a Twincast in hand and two lands in play. In response to the IGG you play the high tide, then reset to untap your lands. Then you tap your 2 lands for 4 mana. Use two of it to play twincast on the IGG. When the copy resolves you get back those 3 cards. Use your 2 floating mana to play reset. Then, tap one land for two mana. Use one for a high tide. Tap the other land for 3 mana, you have 4 floating and use two of it to retwincast the IGG. When the copy resolves get back the same three cards. Use your two mana to reset, then tap your lands for 6 mana total. Twincast the IGG. Get back the Twincast and the Reset, you don't need the High tide anymore, so the third card you get should be something like a Brainstorm so you can start digging through your library. Anyway, after the IGG copy resolves, you will have 4 mana floating, and a hand of Twincast, Reset and one other card. Play the Reset, tap your lands. You will have 8 mana floating. After you play Twincast targetting the original IGG (which you never let resolve) you will have 6 mana floating, which means that from now on every IGG copy will gain you 2 mana. This way, you make infinite mana and infinite storm.
sweet lord! wow! so thats how you do it (both inifinite mana trick and gaea's blessing solution!)!!! ok so i need to put 1 twincast back in my deck and 1 stifle in my board! woot! kewl! thanks!
(M:tG) It's a hobby which costs money. You can't play golf without the right clubs and a membership for the golf court, you can't play paintball with a cardboard armor and a sling, you can't go to the movies without paying for a ticket and you can't play Magic without owning the cards. Simple as that.
Solidarity
I. Decklist
//Mana Engine
4 High Tide
4 Reset
4 Turnabout
//Draw and Tutor
4 Brainstorm
3 Meditate
4 Impulse
3 Mystical Tutor
//Support
4 Force of Will
3 Cunning Wish
//Kill
1 Flash of Insight
3 Words of Wisdom
4 Brain Freeze
//Lands
4 Polluted Delta
2 Flooded Strand
13 Island
//Sideboard
1 Meditate
1 Tolarian Winds
1 Brain Freeze
1 Chain of Vapor
1 Rebuild
2 Echoing Truth
1 Hibernation
1 Evacuation
1 Stroke of Genius
1 Foil
1 Stifle
1 Blue Elemental Blast
1 Annul
1 Mystical Tutor
Solidarity is a very interesting deck. As you can see, the entire deck is instants and lands. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHOULD THIS DECK RUN ANY NON-INSTANT, NON-LAND CARDS. The reason the deck works so well is that it can use EVERY card (see Sideboard Foil), making everything a potential threat at all times (with the exception of Reset, which can only be used on your opponents turn) THIS IS A VERY IMPORTANT QUALITY. Since everything is an instant, how does it kill?
Solidarity can kill at instant speed, a very important fact in the metagames today. If your opponent has a Belcher Trigger on the stack, or lethal combat damage on the stack, etc, you can simply win and not worry about that - once the game is over, all effects are countered. It can, and usually does, kill on your opponents turn, which is very big too. It kills by playing mana acceleration in the form of High Tide, Turnabout, and Reset, generating massive amounts of mana. Then it plays Brainstorms, Impulses, and Meditates until it hits Flash of Insight. Using flash of insight, it removes it's graveyard from the game to search its entire library for a card, usually Meditate or Brainstorm. After this, it can stack its library, putting somewhere within reach a Brain Freeze and a Words of Wisdom. Then it decks the opponent with Brain Freeze and follows up with Words of Wisdom for a "quick" kill.
The mian problem with solidarity is that it is impossible to go off before turn 2. Literally. And turn 2 kill requires a god hand of AT least 2x reset, 2x high tide, 2x Island, 1x draw card. However, it can go off usually before turn 5 and always by then.
There are many cards that would work in Solidarity, and I will look at the most popular, as well as sideboard options and wish targets. Here is a breakdown of the cards in the deck above:
II. Card Breakdown
//Mana Engine
4 High Tide - The main mana generator in the deck, combined with Reset and Turnabout I have had over 30 mana total in 1 turn.
4 Reset - This nets mana advantage with just 3 land in play, and with just 2 land if High Tide has been played. the sick mana generation provided by Reset makes the deck work. It can be used only on your opponents turn, the main reason why that is when you go off.
4 Turnabout - a 4cc Reset, plus able to stall opponent. It can be used on your opponents turn. see Reset above for its uses.
//Draw and Tutor
4 Brainstorm - Brainstorm is very efficient draw, and with the inclusion of Fetchlands and Mystical Tutor it is somewhat easy to shuffle bad stuff back in. If Mystical Tutor and fetchlands are not run, Accumulated Knowlege is another option. Simply keep them in the grave while Flash of Insighting, and you can go crazy drawing.
3 Meditate - The most efficient Blue Draw available, Meditate is very important ot the deck. It allows for a "Reset" of your hand, and digging for the kill and untappers. One is even Sideboarded for Cunning Wish to be found.
4 Impulse - Impulse is the best digging in the game. 2 mana, 4 cards, take 1. Some people argue that Peer Through Depths would be better suited, but it can not be used before comboing to get needed land and it reveals what you draw, giving your opponent a better idea of what to counter.
3 Mystical Tutor - This can find whatever you need it to. Low on mana? grab a Reset. Got 2 extra Turnabouts? Get a High Tide for sick mana. Need some draw? Snag a Meditate. It is the other half of Cunning Wish.
//Support
4 Force of Will - This deck needed disruption, and people came up with stuff like Dissapate, Abeyance, etc. In the end, old FoW was back in because of the threat of turn 1 Trinisphere(which does not hurt this deck as much as most, but still pains), early Survival of the Fittests, and use under various locks. It is still the best counterspell in the game, and this deck is no exception to the rule all blue decks should run 4.
3 Cunning Wish - This is the toolbox of the deck, similar to Long.dec's Burning Wish, Tinker's Phyrexian Portal, and Deck Parfait's Enlightened Tutor and Sterling Grove. It makes your deck effectivly 15 cards more versatile with ony 3 slots. It can also fetch Flah of Insight if countered from the grave.
//Kill
1 Flash of Insight - 1) removes your graveyard from the game to search your entire library for a card (Meditate, Brainstorm, or Accumulated Knowlege).
2) stack your library, putting somewhere within reach a brain freeze and a Words of Wisdom.
3) brain freeze and follow followed by Words of Wisdom for the kill.
3 Words of Wisdom - See Flash of Insight. It kills because they no longer have a library thanks to Brain Freeze, so they can't draw the needed card and lose.
4 Brain Freeze - With all the Resets, Turnabouts, High Tides, and draw spells played, this almost always finishes after the first. you can play multiples, or cunning Wish into a Cunning Wish into a Cunning Wish etc untill the needed spells are played.
//Lands
4 Polluted Delta - this thins the deck so it is more likely for key cars to be drawn, "bubbles" Impulse food you want back to the top, and has insane synergy with Brainstorm
2 Flooded Strand - see Polluted Delta
13 Island - DUH! on a side note, Remote Isle and Lonely Sandbar look like they would d well and never are dead cards, but they do not get extra mana off High Tide and Should not be played.
//Sideboard
1 Meditate - see above for reason, this is very good draw
1 Tolarian Winds - Useful if mana flooded or as a kill after Flash of Insight.
1 Brain Freeze - Extra kill just in case something happens to your Flash.
1 Chain of Vapor - All around useful removal, get rid of Chalice of the Void, Trinisphere, etc
1 Rebuild - see Chain of Vapor. It can also wreck Welder and Affinity's Board.
2 Echoing Truth - See Chain of Vapor
1 Hibernation - Random Scrub Elves, Survival of the Fittest, and more leave
1 Evacuation - Goblins, Sligh, etc die. It is a little overpriced, the vareity of decks iit can be used vs warrants its use. It can be used during the declare blockers step of cambat to stop attackers if needed.
1 Stroke of Genius - This is good for massive draw(20-30 cards) and as a kill of they run Feldon's Cane, Gaea's Blessing, etc.
1 Foil - Get rid of Extra lands and counter a nasty spell if needed
1 Stifle - All around utility vs Survival of the Fittest, Goblin Charbelcher, Morphling, etc
1 Blue Elemental Blast - [insert red card here] = grave, as well as countering that gamewinning Fireblast.
1 Annul - Goblin Charbelcher and Survival of the fittest, as well as random Battle of Wits and enchantment based decks
1 Mystical Tutor - See above, all around search
III. Other possible cards
There are many possible card that could be and were not used. This is a list of the most common.
A) Maindecked
1. Accumulated Knowlege
This is probably the card that deserves being in the deck the most of all. With the massive amount of draw, this almost always gets 3-4 cards by the kill, and is a bargain at 2 mana.
2. Thawing Glaciers
This card has been tested in Solidarity a lot, but during my tests I thought it was very slow. In order to get 1 Island, the steps are as follows:
1) Play it, tapped
2) either wait a turn (turn = 1) or untap it (UT = 1)
3) pay 1 mana to get an island, it and the island taps.
3) Wait 1 turn (turn = 1/2) or untap (UT = 1/2) for island to become active and if not untapped, another turn to play it and have it untap
With only 8 untap effects in the deck, two of them have already been used(most likely) by the time Thawing Glaciers Resets to the place it started. Assuming you used 1 to generate the mana used to get the island, that is 3 untap effects for 1 island. I think that it would be worth it if the island did not come into play tapped, but that means another untap before it can be used.
3. Snap
a mini-Reset, it can bounce a Meddling mage or similar trouble creature. While this is a very useful ability, it is too situational for it to be used. Sided, however, is an option.
4. Fact or Fiction
This is a very good card and might work. However, the 4cc makes it way too much of an investment unless you have a Reset, which makes it too situational. Basically, it costs too much to be of any use.
5. Peer Through Depths
It is almost strictly better than impulse in this deck. the 4 differences are:
Pro Peer Through Depths
1. Digs 1 More
Pro Impulse
1. Finds anthing
2. Doesn't reveal card
3. Sweet Art and DCI foil
Impulse #3 and #2 do not matter much, however #2 *Might* help your opponent plan. So, it comes down to Dig 1 more VS not finding land. I think that digging 4 is fine and it is importan to be able to find land, but both are fine.
B) Sideboarded
1. Turnabout
2. Turnabout
3. Turnabout
4. Turnabout
5. Turnabout
6. Turnabout
7. Turnabout
8. Turnabout
IV. Splashes
Most versions of Solidarity are mono-U, but splashes are possible. here is a breakdown of possible splashes.
White Splash:
White provides some good cards, including StP for killing Meddling mage, Orim's Chant/Abeyance for stopping opponent, and Disenchant for many problems like Belcher, Trini, SoR, etc. It is probably the best splash color.
Green Splash:
Green gives you Naturalize, Crop rotation for more mana advantage, and ... nothing else, except maybe fog if you are staring at a fistful of goblins.
Red Splash:
Red gives you removal in the form of lightning bolt and shatter, a few mana accelerators that are unneeded.
Black Splash:
Black, the second best splash, can kill problem creatures using Diabolic Edict or Ghastly Demise, provide efficient mana accel with Cabal and Dark ritual, and go nuts drawing off of Skeletal Scrying
I do not think that it is a good idea to splash anything besides white, as it provides answers for Artifacts, Creatures, Enchantments, and cards not played yet. However, it is your choice to play other colors.
V. Matchup Analysis
vs Goblins - Unless they get off to a VERY fast start, you should win game 1. Burn is useless, and if you are playing Mono-U, Wastes are too. Game 2 they board in Pyroblast, and you have to be a lot more careful of them. Try to play meditates with enough mana open to turnabout, etc, because they might counter the Reset.
vs BBS or BBS/w- this is a very difficult matchup, they have lots of counters and they can easily Mana Leak the first Reset or High Tide you play. THey run lots of countermagic, and therefore you have to go off with lots of backup (2+ Resets, 2+ High Tides, a few draw spells). If you can go off fast, go ahead, but don't be suprised if they Force of Will you stuff. If they run Meddling mage and name brainfreeze, go off, then kill the mage off a Cunning Wish. If you run white, Orim's Chant as early into you turn as possible.
vs ATS - another counter-strong deck, this should be a little easier than BBS because it runs a max of 12 counters. None of the creature should present major problems, because your only permanents are land. Mystic Snake might be a problem, but it can only counter 1 spell a turn so it is not too bad.
I was wondering if anyone was going to do this or I would have to do it myself. (Yes, I do enjoy playing solidarity and do play with it pretty often)
Anywho, I really liked the article, and thanks for the tips against ATS, I have only faced it a few times when playing Solidarity so far.
I really liked the primer, good work
Truly,
- Ixi v2
ex-Moderator
Legacy love.
Thanks, IxiV2!
Thawing Glaciers is a must. You have to work around it, it's true, but in exchange when you go off Resets/Turnabouts become Resets + Rampant Growth + 1, 2 or 3 Mana depending on how many High Tide you played. I'd put 2 instead of the Flooded Strands, I run only 4 Deltas for fetching and I've never had a problem. I also include 1 Stroke of Genius since Gaea's Blessing guarantees an auto loss if you're running only Brain Freezes for the kill.
Modern
Mono-U Tron
Zombie Loam
Infect
Legacy
Delver
TES
Boseiju, Who Shelters All doesn't work because you don't get mana from it. Not good.
I like Thawing Glaciers, but I don't really think it is worth it in this deck. I think that it could work in this deck, but I prefer the version without it.
I also like how it is cheap, and Reset, the most expensive required card, costs $4-5 each. Cunning Wish, Force of Will, and fetches are not needed, but just add to consistency. You can make the entire deck for about $30.
Could you post the poor mans version of this deck? I'm interested in trying the deck out but I just don't want to spend a lot of money on a new deck.
Modern
Mono-U Tron
Zombie Loam
Infect
Legacy
Delver
TES
^--Nex3
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Legacy:
U Solidarity
RW Burn Mk.3
W Mono White Life
Flash of Insight should be a 2x just because of it's strength against counters and discard.
Twincast is a must. It provides the deck with greater fluidity against control, adding to your scarcest resource mid-combo, be it cards or mana.
Remand is really good and played in most of the current builds.
Words of Wisdom and Stroke of Genius are bad maindeck choices. You don't have to go off in response to lethal against control, and the only reason to clutter up your mid-combo cards with finisher cards is against control. Words of Wisdom would theoretically be worth it for drawing two cards, but the extra card it gives Threshold can become quite important. It's generally worse than Impulse.
I also have 1 meditate and 1 Turnabout as wish targets, I used to play 4 if those MD but then I'd run out of draw or untap effects...
First off:
Listen to this person. They know what they're doing. I've seen him/her/it post on The Source (The Premier Legacy site) and they really know this deck. All the above is fantastic advice.
Enough inflation of egos, heres what I've been playing around with:
// Lands
12 [UNH] Island
4 [ON] Flooded Strand
2 [ON] Polluted Delta
// Spells
1 [SOK] Twincast
2 [JU] Flash of Insight
3 [US] Turnabout
3 [TE] Meditate
4 [AL] Force of Will
2 [IN] Opt
4 [FE] High Tide (1)
2 [OD] Peek
3 [JU] Cunning Wish
4 [MM] Brainstorm
2 [SC] Brain Freeze
4 [LG] Reset
4 [VI] Impulse
4 [RAV] Remand
// Sideboard
SB: 1 [SOK] Twincast
SB: 1 [US] Turnabout
SB: 1 [TE] Meditate
SB: 1 [US] Stroke of Genius
SB: 1 [ON] Chain of Vapor
SB: 1 [DS] Echoing Truth
SB: 1 [SH] Evacuation
SB: 4 [IA] Hydroblast
SB: 4 [IN] Disrupt
Its what I was told Gearheart is currently playing. It's way cool, and I haven't had too many problems with it. However, I haven't really seen the use of the Disrupts in the board. I could see cutting them for more wishboard tech, but I'm hesitant to do that without first knowing more about the deck.
Also, I would be more comfortable with access to some more Brain Freeze. And maybe Words of Wisdom along with Stroke in the board. Stroke kill is 3U (X=1) and Words is only 1U. It could make a difference, I don't know.
Really the main problems I've had with it have been my own fault. FoW'ing too much, etc. But thats just playskill related, not the deck. It's practically autopilot. Easy to learn, hard to master.
Once you're going off, running out of mana should never be a problem unless you're just an incompetent player. I mean, once you've played High Tide and get the draw spells and untap spells, you're already making assloads of mana anyways, Candelabra is just overkill.
------------------------------
Please disregard this rant:
Would it not have just been easier to reprint expensive cards? Wait! Then everyone would complain how cheap it is and how they couldnt make a profit from it! Heeeeey... ? Why would the general populace care if a card remained high dollar? Isnt the reason people drop from magic in the first place because its too costly to keep up once your cards hit legacy? That means wizards is secretly controlled by hobbystores, I am begining to dislike hobbystore owners as much as Mark Rosewater.
Also, most of the cards cost only pennies to a few dollars other than Reset, Meditate, Force of Will, Cunning Wish, and Twincast.
note: The cost of entering Vintage is fairly prohibitive. Thus Legacy was born. You can use your entire collection other than those on the legacy banned list.
and another thing with darksteel colossus?
and how do we get infinite mana in this deck?
Stifle in the board, or with the ability on the stack Remand your Brain Freeze, then replay it, then make them draw before the trigger resolves.
Just mill them until their library is the colossus, them Stroke of Genius them.
You can only do this if your opponent plays an Ill-Gotten Gains when you have a High Tide, Reset and a Twincast in hand and two lands in play. In response to the IGG you play the high tide, then reset to untap your lands. Then you tap your 2 lands for 4 mana. Use two of it to play twincast on the IGG. When the copy resolves you get back those 3 cards. Use your 2 floating mana to play reset. Then, tap one land for two mana. Use one for a high tide. Tap the other land for 3 mana, you have 4 floating and use two of it to retwincast the IGG. When the copy resolves get back the same three cards. Use your two mana to reset, then tap your lands for 6 mana total. Twincast the IGG. Get back the Twincast and the Reset, you don't need the High tide anymore, so the third card you get should be something like a Brainstorm so you can start digging through your library. Anyway, after the IGG copy resolves, you will have 4 mana floating, and a hand of Twincast, Reset and one other card. Play the Reset, tap your lands. You will have 8 mana floating. After you play Twincast targetting the original IGG (which you never let resolve) you will have 6 mana floating, which means that from now on every IGG copy will gain you 2 mana. This way, you make infinite mana and infinite storm.
Good work on the primer.