I built this deck a few months ago as another control deck that was meant to be a little less oppressive or unfun to play against than my Thassa, God of the Sea deck in my sig. I also had a Rasputin Dreamweaver deck built a long time ago when I first started playing and, while it never really worked out the way I wanted it to, I wanted to see if I could find a way to make UW work for me. This deck is the result of that and so far, it has been performing very well. In fact, this is a deck that I plan on having around for a while.
It is basically a blink deck with a few odds and ends thrown in. I know there are other decks out there that focus on different things but mine is meant to just be value. Flash things in to draw cards. Blink things to draw cards (and get their EtB effects). Control the game with varying Flash creatures and spells and so on. The ultimate goal is just to chip away at opponents while slowly building up a board state so I can attack more forcefully.
Most creatures have Flash so the deck operates mostly at Instant speed. There are a few good Sorceries and non-Flash creatures thrown in for good measure. Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir helps give them Flash when I need it. Once they are down, Eldrazi Displacer and Mistmeadow Witch keep giving me their EtB effects and keep triggering Ephara.
Mimic Vat and Faerie Artisans are other ways to get instant speed creatures. In fact, Faerie Artisans has been an all star and there was one game in particular where it was extremely helpful. Mimic Vat is grave hate (kind of) and an instant speed creature all in one.
I think the first thing a lot of people will think of with this list is why not have Brago, King Eternal as the Commander. The reason is because I just want card advantage. Brago requires a bit more aggression on my part to really be useful and if combat is shut down for whatever reason, I don't get any value out of him. Ephara is a bit more flexible in allowing creatures to just enter to trigger her and then it gives me a 6/5 Indestructible creature to attack with later on which I think can be better for the long game than a 2/4 flyer.
Another note is that I used to have Leyline of Anticipation and Vedalken Orrery in the deck to let me cast everything at instant speed However, the deck is already built around that so they actually helped very little. I decided to cut them for more cards that would have a bigger impact on the game.
Feel free to ask any questions about card choices or offer suggestions. I am sure there are a couple cards I don't know about that would be a good fit.
I was playing a game with this deck the other night where I was playing against my own Gisela, Blade of Goldnight deck (my brother-in-law was playing it) and two other decks (I don't remember what they were). But the important piece is that I want to expand on the impact Faerie Artisans had in that game.
Gisela cast Urabrask, so I got an Urabrask token. Before another token was generated, Artisans was killed or bounced so the token stuck around forever. I think it was killed and someone reanimated it so when bounced everything (Cyclonic Rift probably) I got it back. Urabrask offset Gisela's Urabrask as now they couldn't get swarm for the win so it kept the deck at bay for a while.
Eventually, I got Artisans again and Gisela came down. This changed the entire game as players needed to keep getting rid of the original Gisela as well as the token I had. Eventually they managed to get rid of it (mine was easy enough; they just had to cast a creature) but it did change the game up quite a bit.
All the while, it kept giving me EtB effects from my opponent's creatures as well as trigger Ephara. The lack of Flash hurts it, but this card is very powerful in this type of deck.
Afeter playing this deck more and more I have decided to continue pushing it towards a "flash" deck as much as possible Now, I can't get rid of everything that does not have Flash or is not an Instant, but I have taken a closer look at some of the things that aren't to see if they still make sense in the deck.
To start with, here are the cards I wanted to add:
Teferi's Protection is an obvious inclusion. The deck is already reactionary and this is a card that just stops a lot of things from killing me. I just picked one up Friday so I have not had a chance to see it in action.
Containment Priest is a Flash creature that helps prevent things like Living Death or Genesis Wave. It has a cheap mana cost, a fairly high impact effect, and Flash so it seems like a good inclusion to the deck.
Nimble Obstructionist I am on the fence about. It has Flash and replaces itself if I cycle it to counter an ability. It seems like it should be good but I will have to see what happens in the coming weeks to see if it pulls its weight.
Insidious Will is just anoth counter spell but it is one where all the modes are potentially relevant at different times. It seems good overall so I am excited to see what it does in action.
Stonecloaker is a way to hate on graveyards one card at a time. It also has Flash and can bounce itself to keep drawing me cards each upkeep.
Alms Collector is a way to prevent big draws from an opponent while also giving me some extra card draw (not that I really need it). I feel that being able to Flash it in to stop a Blue Sun's Zenith is a big deal.
To make room for these cards, I looked at these cards as cuts:
I cut Deadeye because it was almost too good, but never really worked toward an end game. That is, it provided a ton of value with cards or life or whatever, but it never pushed the game forward. It just let me durdle for long periods of time.
Myr Battlesphere is an end game and a pretty decent one at that. But, as I move towards Flash, and realizing it can be blocked fairly easily (obviously the trigger can't be) I decided to cut. The fact that I got rid of one of the ways to blink it also let to its cut.
Cataclysmic Gearhulk made a really good showing the first time I played the deck, but since then I have never wanted to cast it. My board state is often good enough that it hurts me too much to fire it off and since it is a Creature, I can't Flash it in normally. Oblivion Stone allows for a better option if I am far beyond and I can activate it on my opponent's turn so I can be the first to start rebuilding rather than the last.
Knight of the White orchid almost never got me a land. I actually have a fair amount of ramp in the deck for being White/Blue and the others are not conditional so blinking them always gets me a land where this is hit or miss (often miss). As such, I felt it deserved to be cut for something better.
Cloudstone Curio has always been a potential cut and I finally decided to get rid of it. Flashing things in and bouncing other things with Flash sounds good on paper, but it rarely played out that way.
Emeria Shepherd was tough and if Nimble Obstructionist doesn't work out she will make it back in, but her high mana cost and the fact that the deck has a high number of instants and sorceries means she wasn't often getting back relevant cards.
I think elspeth, sun's champion, is ridiculously good in this deck and is probably the one glaring omission I see, except for a clone package. Triggering ephara every turn and then winning through gummed up boards, it fits both wrath and win condition slots.
Phantasmal image and Phyrexian Metamorph are my favorite two that I think are basically mandatory due to how mana efficient they are.
I don't think this is a timetwister deck. I'd rather play something like Rhystic Study or Skullclamp if you want something with raw card advantage, but I don't like any of th ose to be honest. I'd just sack it and play a better card. my thinking here is that Timetwister tends to be a card you want in either a high velocity deck or a deck with very high card quality -- in Ephara average card quality tends to be lower than other decks since we play a lot of cheap creatures with flash.
Otherwise looks pretty cool Especially interested to see how alms collector plays out.
--------------------------------------------
Re: Your manabase
I think you could probably make some major improvements to your mana at moderate cost. Here's what I'd recommend
1) Add a fetchland or three. I'd do flooded strand/polluted delta/windswept heath since they're cheap. Very good with Sun Titan.
2) Add Skycloud expanse. This land is great with Ephara, providing both colors she needs on one land, which fixes a lot of draws (e.g. Ancient Tomb + Skycloud + Strip mine == Ephara).
3) Double check your count of basics, I think you may be a bit heavy on islands though it is close. I think 12 plains/10 islands is probably closer to right though you'll want to shave some of those for fetches/skycloud.
Thanks for your insights. Here are my thoughts on each:
Elspeth Sun's Champion - This does seem like a pretty good card. She doesn't have flash (obviously) but I think her abilities are extremely relevant so I will be keeping her in mind as I move forward with updating the deck. Not sure what I cut for her, but I will be looking for something.
Clones - I have Stunt Double and I am fine with Stunt Double as my only clone (Faerie Artisans is kind of another one). I am not a fan of clones in this deck (I have started trimming them down in my Thassa deck as well). In this deck it is more a consideration of the fact that I can't cast them at Instant timing without Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir. I think clones in general are good and the two you mentioned are top of that list, but they are not where I want to be with the deck.
Timetwister - Every blue deck is a Timetwister deck In general, I use Timetwister and Day's Undoing as early or mid game cards to reset my hand if I got to a slow start. I generally have no problem drawing a bunch of cards once I get going but I do need a little help sometimes to "start over" as it were and change up my hand. I am using them as a means to refresh a bad position; not enhance a winning one. That is the reason Time Spiral is not in this deck; it is too slow to do what I want it to do in this deck.
You had mentioned that even Skullclamp and Rhystic Study weren't right for this deck and I agree. I obviously disagree that they are better than Twister since they perform different functions.
Mana Base - I have made a conscious decision to only run on-color fetches in all of my decks. I like the aesthetic and I have generally not had a problem with it. I do not plan on changing that now, which means the only fetch to play is Flooded Strand. I feel that 1 fetch land is hardly worth running so I have decided not to run any fetches in my 2 color decks. And yes, I agree they work well with Sun Titan (and Sun Titan has too few targets as it is) but I think I would rather keep towards this ideal even if it does come at the cost of making Sun Titan a little less good.
Skycloud Expanse and the rest of the Odyssey filter lands will never make it into any of my decks. They are not ideal in my opinion since they do not tap for mana. And, unlike the Shadowmoor/Eventide Filterlands, I don't get a choice of color. In a 2 color deck it isn't as big a deal as I will often be able to use it later on, but I can't Mana Drain on Turn 2 if I need to with Skycloud Expanse. I do understand the benefit of fixing mana early, especially to get Ephara out, but I run a total of 7 lands that don't produce colored mana at all (and one that doesn't produce any mana). I know I have some rocks in there too, but I don't want to play lands that don't tap for mana (except the Maze of Ith I am running). To be honest, I have seen a couple of times where I was missing a certain color to get Ephara out right away, which meant I had to take a turn off to cast Solemn or Cartographer, or Twister into a new hand. However, I don't feel that swapping a Plains or an Island for Expanse will really change this. Fetches would be better for that but, as mentioned above, I like to keep my deck as "on-color" as possible.
As for my basics, I have been trying to keep the Island count higher due to the desire for early game counter magic. After cutting Knight of the White Orchid, Emeria Shepherd, and Cataclysmic Gearhulk, I would actually argues that I should change the count to 12 Islands/10 Plains. I always want blue mana in this deck. White mana is good up until I get about 3 or 4 generally (obviously I want 7 Plains for Emeria, the Sky Ruin at some point) but I don't need White mana nearly as much as I need Blue especially in the early game.
Over all the games I have played and all the times I have goldfished the deck, the only times I have mana troubles is when I don't have any at all (such as keeping a 2 lander for example). That is more an issue of mulligans and doesn't happen often. But, I have never had problems with the color of mana at my disposal though as I play more I might see that come up from time to time. I am not suggesting the mana base is perfect, but I personally have never encountered any issues with it.
I definitely appreciate the suggestions and Elspeth is the biggest takeaway for me so I will be looking to see where she can fit into the deck.
Yeah, I don't normally like the odyssey filters but specifically in ephara I think it's very good.
It's all about that peculiar demand of uw on turn 3 every game pretty much. I can understand the issues with countermagic though
Oh, I picked up an as foretold to test out, I think it'd be spectacular in your flash heavy build.
Edit: and one more thing to think about. Thalia's Lancers will be able to get your planeswalkers in a few weeks. Cards that can tutor for wraths are really good in UW (and rare). Pretty much the only reason I play trophy mage for the most part.
Oh, I picked up an as foretold to test out, I think it'd be spectacular in your flash heavy build.
Edit: and one more thing to think about. Thalia's Lancers will be able to get your planeswalkers in a few weeks. Cards that can tutor for wraths are really good in UW (and rare). Pretty much the only reason I play trophy mage for the most part.
You'll have to let me know how As Foretold works out. I could see the benefit of it as it allows me to use it once each turn, not just my turns. I can get on board with that.
As for Lancers, I only have 3 creatures to tutor up (which is fewer than I expected it to be) and 2 planeswalkers (maybe 3 if I find a spot for Elspeth). Honestly, as you pointed out, Elspeth is probably the best target as she wraths, but I am not sure of the utility in adding her and a tutor to get to her. But, as a "silver-bullet" type card, maybe it is worth it? It does give me 2 ways to draw that wrath and Elspeth, Venser (PW), and Teferi are pretty good on their own so it isn't a bad thing to have a "second" copy of each.
Can get kor Haven or any legendary land too. Academy ruins is a common target for me since it let's you loop o stone. Jitte too if you run that. I wish it wasn't sorcery speed but the power level is high.
Will definitely try to get some as foretold testing in.
After some issues with card orders, I finally got my Nimble Obstructionist in the mail. However, this is the only one of my decks I did not play the other night so I still don't have any games played with the Obstructionist.
After playing with Elspeth in Modern and recognizing the points Pokken made, I am going to be looking for a slot for her. I am not sure of the best thing to cut to make room, though I am thinking of cutting Sun Titan due to the small number of targets.
I also picked up a foil Thalia's Lancers to go with Elspeth. As pointed out above, this deck actually has 7 cards it can fetch and will be 8 once I find a spot for Elspeth. And the 8 cards are high enough impact that I think I am fine with running a sorcery timing spell to get to them. However, this too requires another cut and I am not sure that that will be.
I found room for Thalia's Lancers and played it last night. I didn't have Elspeth, Sun's Champion in the deck yet, but I felt this still have me a decent idea on what Lancers can do. And, I am not sure I was that impressed.
I was playing against 3 Meren decks. 1 was the straight precon, 1 had minor modifications and the last seemed to be built from the ground up (more or less). This was intentional as we felt it would be fun to have 3 Meren decks playing in the same game (and it was). I had fully expected to die early as all 3 decks could keep pressure on me.
To breakdown the game a little: The game started off slow where I ended up keeping a hand of Irrigated Farmland, Sol Ring, Day's Undoing, and other irrelevant cards. Note I had no other lands. Turn 1 I played Farmland. Turn 2 I drew an Island, played it, played Sol Ring, and cast Undoing to get a new hand.
This hand was much better and it messed with my opponents hands a little. The important card was Stonecloaker. I played another land and cast Ephara. I then sat back for a little while without doing anything other than casting Stonecloaker to remove targets from Meren #3's graveyard (she was the only one who had Meren to get back creatures). At one point, with the trigger on the stack, she cast Cloudthresher to kill it so I would quit removing cards from graveyards.
The nest turn, I cast Stunt Double (I should have cast it on her turn but I didn't see the line right away) and copied Meren. Then, at my end step, I targeted Stonecloaker to get it back to my hand.
In the meantime, Meren #2 (the one built from the ground up) ended up getting a Dark Depths and a Vampire Hexmage so they had a Marit Lage token on the battlefield. They moved to combat on their turn and decided to attack Meren #1. I felt this was a misplay as I am pretty sure they really needed to attack me (and I thought that was how the game was going to go). In this case, it didn't matter as I had Selfless Squire so I would have just had a really big Squire.
On Meren #3's turn, I cast Stonecloaker again (getting rid of the Hexmage in Meren #2's graveyard) intending to get back Stunt Double so I could have my own Marit Lage. However, Meren #1 cast Wretched Confluence (I think) to give Stonecloaker -2/-2 and Stunt Double/Meren -4/-4. This shut off that line. The next turn I as attacked with Marit Lage. I flashed in Mulldrifter to chump block and draw two cards. I don't remember who got rid of Marit Lage, but it was removed eventually. I think Meren #1 cast Barter in Blood.
At this point, we all just grinded for a while. I got Venser, the Soujouner but Meren #1 blew it up with Terastodon. I cast Timetwister (twice, with the help of Archaeomancer). This meant Venser was back in the library. At one point, I drew Thalia's Lancers and searched my library to find a Legendary card and nothing seemed that good at that time. I didn't have Elspeth yet, but she was probably the best choice for the time but I don't think she would have been great as it just would have filled the graveyard for all 3 Meren decks without actually killing Meren. There were only a couple cards above 4 power (Terastodon and Mortician Beetle being the two big ones) and I definitely didn't want Terastdon to come back to block up more of my stuff.
So, I ended up taking Venser. He was good since I could blink Archaeomancer to get back Timetwister but I never cast Twister again.
Eventually, I just overran Meren #1 with fliers and I killed Meren #2 while he had Archfiend of Depravity on the battlefield so I didn't have to sac my creatures. I killed Meren #3 around the same time.
Lancers ended up being "good" in that Venser is really good. But, I don't know that there are any choices that are not "win-more" beyond Elspeth being able to blow up the board when I need her to. So, I think Elspeth definitely deserves a spot in the deck, but I am not sure I am impressed enough with Lancers to keep it around.
I will keep it in for now as one game (especially one I was winning) is hardly enough to tell if Lancers is worth it.
I will be finding a spot for Elspeth to allow for a greater impact of Lancers. I have thought about cutting Top as its impact has been fairly low in this deck but it is still a good card so it is tough to cut.
I have found that Thalia's Lancers is not a card I like having in the deck. It has always gotten me Venser, the Sojourner as he always seems like the best card to get. Perhaps if Elpseth was in the deck she would be the choice, but it still means that I am not really using it as a card to get the best card for a specific scenario. I am just using it is a a 2nd copy of a specific card which is not what I want to be doing.
I asked someone else to review the deck (not knowing which cards were I added recently) to find a cut for Elpseth as I really couldn't find one. After looking through my deck, they suggested I cut Lancers as I only had 7 choices (that was part of their rationale) and realistically they were not all good enough to include the card. Being castable only at Sorcery timing (a concern I mentioned above) is another strike against it as it forces me to play a more proactive game than I want in some situations (otherwise it is a dead card in my hand).
Regarding Top: I had just finished a game where Sensei's Divining Top kept me in the game early on to help me hit my lands drops while keeping relevant counterspells on top in case I needed them. So, I have decided cutting Top is not a good idea right now.
Also, I never recorded which card I cut for Lancers to begin with. I ended up cutting Sun Titan due to the lack of good targets. So, I cut Sun Titan for Lancers and then Lancers for Elspeth (so, I guess, I really cut Titan for Elpseth).
With the release of Ixalan and some playtesting, I have decided to find a spot for Search for Azcanta. This card seems great as the game goes long and helps set up my draws. With Top I can potentially use this to get rid of "bad" cards early in the game or dig deeper to find lands or spells as needed. Then, once it transforms, it allows me to pick out specific spells when I need them. If I need a board wipe or a counterspell, I get to look at 4 cards to find one. Overall, the power and versatility behind the card makes it an attractive addition. I know with the relative high number of creatures I am running, it could whiff more often than I would like, so I will have to see how it plays out.
To make room, I have come to the conclusion that Oblivion Stone may not be pulling its weight. I can't remember the last time I actually cast it let alone activated it. I feel that the rest of my removal suite is pretty good already and O Stone may be overkill. I may end up regretting the cut, but for now, I think it is worth opening up that slot for Search.
Now that lancers can tutor for Elspeth I think it's pretty crazy not to play it, slow or not.
Don't forget the legendary lands it can get. I would say I get Nykthos or Academy Ruins with it the most often since these are low key power plays. And it can get Search as well
Cloudblazer is *significantly worse* than "Search for a wrath, a powerful piece of equipment, kor haven, venser, teferi, or search for azcanta." No question, not even in the same ballpark power level wise.
I am not sure I like Search as it slips the deck more and more toward generic UW control, but it is a strong way to ramp and this deck does tend to load the grave up for some reason. I've learned to really appreciate just incidental ramp in this deck, and it will rarely whiff I think if you activate it.
Out of Rivals of Ixalan, there are 2 cards that stand out to me: Azor, the Lawbringer and Release to the Wind. Azor looks decent in this deck. Blinking it is relevant and being able to attack and Sphinx's Rev every turn (even for just 2 or 3) gives me ways to keep my hand full as needed. I generally don't have a problem with keeping cards in hand though so I am not sure if a Sorcery timing spell to stop my opponent's from casting spells on their turn and needing to attack and spend mana on my turn is where I want to be.
Release to the Wind on the other hand gives me an Instant timing way of saving my creature, getting more utility out of creatures' ETB effects, or even just saving myself from an opponent's attack if needed. This looks reasonably promising so I will be trying to find a slot for it in the coming weeks. I am pretty sure I am going to cut Phyrexian Ingester as it is high on the curve, is Sorcery timing, and generally is not needed as I have other removal.
Now that lancers can tutor for Elspeth I think it's pretty crazy not to play it, slow or not.
Don't forget the legendary lands it can get. I would say I get Nykthos or Academy Ruins with it the most often since these are low key power plays. And it can get Search as well
Cloudblazer is *significantly worse* than "Search for a wrath, a powerful piece of equipment, kor haven, venser, teferi, or search for azcanta." No question, not even in the same ballpark power level wise.
I just realized I never responded to this. I actually agree with this assessment. Lancers is still good and can be powerful for given situations. So, I am certainly not going to argue that the power level is not there. In fact, I think my desire to cut it is due to its power level. I generally use tutors sparingly already and Lancers just wants to grab one of two cards; Venser or Elspeth planeswalkers. So, if anyone were to read these comments, I would not disagree with adding Lancers.
I actually don't think I can come up with a cogent argument for cutting it really. It just feels like a card I don't want to run for a variety of reasons. None probably make sense regarding making the deck as best as it can be, but I think they make sense regarding making the deck play the way I want it to play.
As for Cloudblazer, it certainly is "worse" but there have been a number of scenarios where getting the 2 cards and (usually more importantly) getting 2 life has been exceptionally crucial to staying alive. Being able to tutor for Elspeth doesn't do as much when I am at 6 life and my opponents have a couple small creatures. But drawing 2 cards to draw into a real wrath or spot removal and gaining 2 life have kept me alive in a couple situations.
Getting Kor haven seems like a better play than cloudblazing in that situation for the most part, depending on the mana situation of course (Lancers being quite a bit better at blocking). Or Jitte if you've got enough mana to play and equip (though I know you don't play Jitte). Not wanting to play lots of tutors I can totally understand. I find this deck has so few decent tutors available that playing them doesn't impact me, as I am in agreement generally about the tutor volume, but certainly can understand wanting to go lower.
Your list has a ton of excellent targets, though fewer than mine perhaps. Venser, Kor haven, brago, sword, search, planeswalkers. I think Brago is quite a bit more powerful than getting planeswalkers in a lot of boards, though of course that depends. Getting Search is probably a safer play early in the game really, since search is far more innocuous.
The main issue I have with lancers is tempo. It's very slow. But if you're dying when you're still at low enough mana that cloudblazer's tempo advantage is saving you, I think that more serious issues are at play there
As mentioned above, I want to find a split for Release to the Wind. I have also been looking to replace Phyrexian Ingester. This is mostly due to its high mana cost. So, in its place, I am going to try Release. Release to the Wind does two things: it (temporarily) removes a threat from an opponent and it also helps save my stuff from being removed. As part of the latter use, it also gives me a way to re-use ETB abilities as needed. Exiling a Draining Whelk and then recasting it in response to a spell seems like a good play
Another change I am going to make is adding in Nimbus Maze. This is an interesting land for the deck as it gives me the color of mana I need on basically from turn 3 and later. It doesn't work for a turn 2 mana drain, but that is a worthwhile tradeoff. If I draw 2 Plains and this, it gives me my blue mana as needed. Later in the game it gives me both colors as well as colorless for Eldrazi Displacer. It basically turns into a painless Adarkar Wastes that is a bit less useful early in the game but still reasonable. To make room for this, I am going to cut a Plains. This still leaves me with 14 plains for Emeria, the Sky Ruin so I don't think I lose a lot there.
I have been playing this deck fairly often and I think it is in a pretty good place. Of the new sets, I think Teferi, Hero of Dominaria and Toothy, Imaginary Friend stand out as being very good includes. Spellseeker is interesting in that I like the card, but it only gives me access to 4 cards. And, as mentioned above, I try to keep tutors in check (though this is super conditional so I would not be opposed to running it). Toothy looks great since I can blink him, bring him back, draw cards, and get all the counters back on him so I always have a big creature that can draw me cards in a pinch.
Teferi just seems to be very powerful. He helps keep my hand full, gives me mana to cast things on my opponent's turns, and his ultimate is fantastic.
The last card I have been thinking of for a while is Settle the Wreckage. Instant timing wraths are awesome, especially in a deck like this, and it gives me protection against someone trying to alpha strike with hasty creatures or making something really big that I can't target.
The main problem with these additions are trying to find cards to cut to make room. As much as it seems like a poor decision, I am honestly thinking of cutting Jace, the Mind Sculptor. I have just started feeling that in this deck, Jace just does not do much. He Brainstorms for me but then I never feel like he is even worth protecting (and most of the time I am correct to save my answers for other things) so he just doesn't do anything.
I am not sure what the other cut should be. I still don't think Sensei's Divining Top is the best card. I know I recorded a game where it was instrumental in getting me going, but beyond that it just doesn't do as much.
Beyond those two cards, I am not sure what else I could cut. For now, these are the top of the list for cutting for Teferi and Toothy. I am not sure where to fit in Settle though.
Reveillark seems underwhelming as it only hits.....21 of my creatures (23 if I add Spellseeker and Toothy)
Actually, that is a solid suggestion. I never really looked at that as an option and didn't realize until just now that it can get back two thirds of my creatures. I will have to find a spot for it somewhere.
At least I can see I am not totally off base on cutting Jace so I will definitely find something else for that spot. There are good suggestions so far.
I had Blink in a very early build. I cut it for a couple reasons. The biggest is that it doesn't save anything from wraths (though it does save them from targeted removal). However, with a few of the additions I am looking at as well as some of the cards I have added over the time I have had the deck, I think it may be worthwhile to have a Blink effects as a "trick" (especially one I can use twice) to re-use. Two things I will have to watch for though: it is repeatable with Archaeomancer (I don't like introducing "loops" in my deck) and it is a nonbo with Containment Priest. But, otherwise, it seems solid.
So, with those suggestions, I am looking at these possibilities:
CUTS Jace, the Mind Sculptor - Mentioned above and feels underwhelming in this particular deck. Search for Azcanta - Similar reason to cutting Jace; the deck often has enough card draw as it is that the selection from Azcanta may not be necessary. Overwhelming Intellect - 6 mana to counter a spell and draw cards is not bad, but it takes a lot to keep up and is conditional. With the potential addition of Momentary Blink, I can just re-use my creature based counter magic or work to get other counters back with Archaeomancer
And, that is where I leave off. I am not sure what else to cut to make room for the rest of the cards. I think Momentary Blink, Teferi, and Reveillark are my top three choices to add for now so I could see those being the options for the 3 cuts above. I will try to find room for the other 3 soon.
Settle is bad. People play so many basics in general that resolving it will usually put you way behind.
I don't like teferi because defending walkers is hard and he's not as good as big elspeth or venser. I've even considered cutting venser but he ultimates so fast it's crazy.
I can agree with Teferi and even when suggesting it, I was thinking whether it would just turn into the next Jace. That is, cast him, tick him up, and then do nothing to protect him because it isn't worth it. Perhaps he is a bit of a trap in that sense and isn't worth trying to slot in.
On a side note here (since you mentioned Venser) I too was actually considering whether I wanted to keep him. He paints a huge target on himself/me and I am not sure if it ends up being worth it. I actually landed on keeping him because his +1 is relevant. I didn't consider his Ultimate as much as I rarely get it off. Someone is usually able to keep him off the necessary counters.
Settle just gives me another Instant way to deal with an alpha strike. I would be lying if I said I never got into a scenario where I wanted it, but maybe there are better options due to the ramp issue you mentioned. What are your thoughts on Evacuation as an Instant timing "wrath"?
I think Momentary Blink does represent a way to re-use things as a bit of a trick if needed (and not telegraphed like Displacer). What other cards would be better than Blink (that I am not already running)?
I am going to proxy up the Spellseeker and Toothy while I wait for mine to come in the mail. Luckily, I already had Reveillark. I will try to play this tomorrow to see how well some of the new cards play.
Rout makes enough sense as to be completely obvious to the "problem" I am trying to solve. I am not sure why I didn't think of that as it is a card I already run in 2 other decks. I will give that a try.
That's a good call on Venser, and each game may play out differently for people, but I have never used his -1. Most of my stuff is already either flying (so harder to block anyway) or I have cleared my opponent's board before I attack for the win. That is not to say it is not a good ability, but I am not sure I have been in a situation where I a) had Venser out and b) activating his -1 was the game winning play. I will keep an eye on him for now with that in mind though to see if I am just not using him as effectively as possible.
Closet isn't quite as good as I want as my thought behind Blink was the ability to re-use EtB things at the right time. Closet doesn't give me a window for that. Shard, on the other hand, gives me a bit more options in that regard. I can bounce something when I need it and then recast it right then. I can even just use the mana at the end of my opponent's turn to put something in my hand for "later". Since it is repeatable, I can see more use being made out of this than Blink. I will see if I can give this a try.
I played this deck a couple times (and watched someone else play it at least once) and unfortunately, I never got to see any of the new cards in action.
In one game, I had Toothy, Imaginary Friend in my hand, but I had missed some land drops. I was only on 5 lands and a Thought Vessel so I had to keep my mana up to use a couple spells if needed as the Dragons player was getting out of hand and another player had an Ulamog's Crusher. I had a Teferi's Protection in hand to at least save me for a turn. However, I ended up being targeted with Yosei, the Morning Star's trigger from the 4th player which effectively ended the game for me as the other 2 players were much larger threats and I needed to expend my Protection in the hopes of being able to draw an answer next turn. So, I was unable to see how much Toothy would help. I did think to just slam it as a way to maybe draw cards later, which might have been the right call. I am not sure. As of now, this needs some more testing and some hopefully better games to evaluate the card.
In another game, I had Reveillark in hand but I only had Kor Cartographer in the graveyard so there wasn't really a reason to cast it over keeping my mana up. I ended up shuffling it away with a Twister effect. This too never actually showed up in a game to do anything so I will be keeping my eye on it as I play more games with the deck. I do think the potential for this card is pretty high, so it will take a lot of games where it does nothing to look at cutting it.
When another player was playing my deck, I saw them play Spellseeker and, as expected, they got Mana Drain. The fact that it can get Mana Drain or Cyclonic Rift as well as removal like Swords and Path means the potential for this is pretty high as well. I will be watching it to see how much it helps over the course of a couple games.
I missed this in Dudemichael's post initially, but I am thinking of trying Seht's Tiger as suggested. I was playing against someone using the Cat precon and I think I like the idea of another creature (other than Selfless Squire and Angel of the Dire Hour) that can work against an Alpha Strike. And, unlike the Angel, I can blink it to re-use it. It is not a "final" as a Wrath, but being a creature and being somewhat re-usable means it might be good enough to make the cut. I might try this over Rout for now. I think Settle the Wreckage is definitely out now.
One card I did find I often felt was disappointing was Mistmeadow Witch. I know this seems a bit backwards, but it costs 4 mana to activate, it doesn't return things right away, and it is high on the "eats removal" chart. The latter isn't the worst thing, but the first 2 things are very detrimental to this type of deck. I am been finding that when I have this card in hand, I never want to cast it because I have better things to be doing. I think I am going to cut this for the Tiger for now. I am not sure the Tiger keeps its spot in the deck, but I am convinced I don't want the Witch anymore.
I can agree with Teferi and even when suggesting it, I was thinking whether it would just turn into the next Jace. That is, cast him, tick him up, and then do nothing to protect him because it isn't worth it. Perhaps he is a bit of a trap in that sense and isn't worth trying to slot in.
On a side note here (since you mentioned Venser) I too was actually considering whether I wanted to keep him. He paints a huge target on himself/me and I am not sure if it ends up being worth it. I actually landed on keeping him because his +1 is relevant. I didn't consider his Ultimate as much as I rarely get it off. Someone is usually able to keep him off the necessary counters.
Settle just gives me another Instant way to deal with an alpha strike. I would be lying if I said I never got into a scenario where I wanted it, but maybe there are better options due to the ramp issue you mentioned. What are your thoughts on Evacuation as an Instant timing "wrath"?
I think Momentary Blink does represent a way to re-use things as a bit of a trick if needed (and not telegraphed like Displacer). What other cards would be better than Blink (that I am not already running)?
I am going to proxy up the Spellseeker and Toothy while I wait for mine to come in the mail. Luckily, I already had Reveillark. I will try to play this tomorrow to see how well some of the new cards play.
The thing with venser is sometimes he just takes the game over. Gilded drake for example or with creature venser or similar. Spellseeker too.
Evacuation is very good. I'd definitely try it before settle. Especially if running archaemancer as that's a wincon. Aetherspouts is much stronger than settle also.
I think almost anything is better than blink. I am on mobile so hard to look at your list while I write, resto, dust elemental, umm, another way to find whitemane lion, really anything. Eerie interlude or ghost way maybe.
I haven't played this deck often, so I am probably going to try to play it again tomorrow night. I have been having a good amount of success with it still so there is nothing I really feel is not working well.
The one change I am going to make is to cut Command Tower and replace it with a Plains. This is for a couple reasons. First, a Plains works better with Emeria and Kor Cartographer and second, I am not sure I really want this in a 2 color deck. There are other lands that do the same thing (effectively) and Plains just work out better for a couple existing synergies. Also, I ran out of them and I want to put one in my Lord Windgrace deck.
Here is the list:
1 Ephara, God of the Polis
Lands
1 Adarkar Wastes
1 Ancient Tomb
1 Emeria, the Sky Ruin
1 Glacial Fortress
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Irrigated Farmland
11 Island
1 Kor Haven
1 Maze of Ith
1 Mystic Gate
1 Nimbus Maze
11 Plains
1 Prairie Stream
1 Reliquary Tower
1 Temple of the False God
1 Terrain Generator
1 Tundra
1 Winding Canyons
Instants
1 Capsize
1 Cyclonic Rift
1 Disallow
1 Eerie Interlude
1 Forsake the Worldly
1 Ghostway
1 Insidious Will
1 Mana Drain
1 Path to Exile
1 Release to the Wind
1 Return to Dust
1 Summary Dismissal
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Teferi's Protection
1 Alms Collector
1 Angel of Finality
1 Angel of the Dire Hour
1 Archaeomancer
1 Brago, King Eternal
1 Cloudblazer
1 Containment Priest
1 Dream Eater
1 Duplicant
1 Eldrazi Displacer
1 Faerie Artisans
1 Gilded Drake
1 Karmic Guide
1 Kor Cartographer
1 Mulldrifter
1 Nimble Obstructionist
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
1 Recruiter of the Guard
1 Resolute Archangel
1 Restoration Angel
1 Seht's Tiger
1 Selfless Squire
1 Snapcaster Mage
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Spell Queller
1 Stonecloaker
1 Stunt Double
1 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
1 Toothy, Imaginary Friend
1 Torrential Gearhulk
1 Venser, Shaper Savant
1 Voidmage Husher
1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
1 Venser, the Sojourner
Artifacts
1 Azorius Signet
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mimic Vat
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Sol Ring
1 Sword of the Animist
1 Talisman of Progress
1 Thought Vessel
Sorceries
1 Cleansing Nova
1 Day's Undoing
1 Supreme Verdict
1 Timetwister
It is basically a blink deck with a few odds and ends thrown in. I know there are other decks out there that focus on different things but mine is meant to just be value. Flash things in to draw cards. Blink things to draw cards (and get their EtB effects). Control the game with varying Flash creatures and spells and so on. The ultimate goal is just to chip away at opponents while slowly building up a board state so I can attack more forcefully.
Most creatures have Flash so the deck operates mostly at Instant speed. There are a few good Sorceries and non-Flash creatures thrown in for good measure. Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir helps give them Flash when I need it. Once they are down, Eldrazi Displacer and Mistmeadow Witch keep giving me their EtB effects and keep triggering Ephara.
Mimic Vat and Faerie Artisans are other ways to get instant speed creatures. In fact, Faerie Artisans has been an all star and there was one game in particular where it was extremely helpful. Mimic Vat is grave hate (kind of) and an instant speed creature all in one.
I think the first thing a lot of people will think of with this list is why not have Brago, King Eternal as the Commander. The reason is because I just want card advantage. Brago requires a bit more aggression on my part to really be useful and if combat is shut down for whatever reason, I don't get any value out of him. Ephara is a bit more flexible in allowing creatures to just enter to trigger her and then it gives me a 6/5 Indestructible creature to attack with later on which I think can be better for the long game than a 2/4 flyer.
Another note is that I used to have Leyline of Anticipation and Vedalken Orrery in the deck to let me cast everything at instant speed However, the deck is already built around that so they actually helped very little. I decided to cut them for more cards that would have a bigger impact on the game.
Feel free to ask any questions about card choices or offer suggestions. I am sure there are a couple cards I don't know about that would be a good fit.
1 Deadeye Navigator
1 Myr Battlesphere
1 Cataclysmic Gearhulk
1 Knight of the White Orchid
1 Cloudstone Curio
1 Emeria Shepherd
1 Teferi's Protection
1 Containment Priest
1 Nimble Obstructionist
1 Insidious Will
1 Stonecloaker
1 Alms Collector
1 Sun Titan
1 Thalia's Lancers
1 Thalia's Lancers
1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
1 Oblivion Stone
1 Search for Azcanta
1 Phyrexian Ingester
1 Plains
1 Release to the Wind
1 Nimbus Maze
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Overwhelming Intellect
1 Search for Azcanta
1 Toothy, Imaginary Friend
1 Spellseeker
1 Reveillark
1 Mistmeadow Witch
1 Seht's Tiger
1 War Priest of Thune
1 Dream Eater
1 Draining Whelk
1 Leonin Relic-Warder
1 Sphinx of Uthuun
1 Reveillark
1 Cleansing Nova
1 Gilded Drake
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
1 Angel of Finality
1 Mimic Vat
1 Brago, King Eternal
1 Soulherder
1 Winds of Abandon
Gisela cast Urabrask, so I got an Urabrask token. Before another token was generated, Artisans was killed or bounced so the token stuck around forever. I think it was killed and someone reanimated it so when bounced everything (Cyclonic Rift probably) I got it back. Urabrask offset Gisela's Urabrask as now they couldn't get swarm for the win so it kept the deck at bay for a while.
Eventually, I got Artisans again and Gisela came down. This changed the entire game as players needed to keep getting rid of the original Gisela as well as the token I had. Eventually they managed to get rid of it (mine was easy enough; they just had to cast a creature) but it did change the game up quite a bit.
All the while, it kept giving me EtB effects from my opponent's creatures as well as trigger Ephara. The lack of Flash hurts it, but this card is very powerful in this type of deck.
To start with, here are the cards I wanted to add:
Teferi's Protection
Containment Priest
Nimble Obstructionist
Insidious Will
Stonecloaker
Alms Collector
Teferi's Protection is an obvious inclusion. The deck is already reactionary and this is a card that just stops a lot of things from killing me. I just picked one up Friday so I have not had a chance to see it in action.
Containment Priest is a Flash creature that helps prevent things like Living Death or Genesis Wave. It has a cheap mana cost, a fairly high impact effect, and Flash so it seems like a good inclusion to the deck.
Nimble Obstructionist I am on the fence about. It has Flash and replaces itself if I cycle it to counter an ability. It seems like it should be good but I will have to see what happens in the coming weeks to see if it pulls its weight.
Insidious Will is just anoth counter spell but it is one where all the modes are potentially relevant at different times. It seems good overall so I am excited to see what it does in action.
Stonecloaker is a way to hate on graveyards one card at a time. It also has Flash and can bounce itself to keep drawing me cards each upkeep.
Alms Collector is a way to prevent big draws from an opponent while also giving me some extra card draw (not that I really need it). I feel that being able to Flash it in to stop a Blue Sun's Zenith is a big deal.
To make room for these cards, I looked at these cards as cuts:
Deadeye Navigator
Myr Battlesphere
Cataclysmic Gearhulk
Knight of the White Orchid
Cloudstone Curio
Emeria Shepherd
I cut Deadeye because it was almost too good, but never really worked toward an end game. That is, it provided a ton of value with cards or life or whatever, but it never pushed the game forward. It just let me durdle for long periods of time.
Myr Battlesphere is an end game and a pretty decent one at that. But, as I move towards Flash, and realizing it can be blocked fairly easily (obviously the trigger can't be) I decided to cut. The fact that I got rid of one of the ways to blink it also let to its cut.
Cataclysmic Gearhulk made a really good showing the first time I played the deck, but since then I have never wanted to cast it. My board state is often good enough that it hurts me too much to fire it off and since it is a Creature, I can't Flash it in normally. Oblivion Stone allows for a better option if I am far beyond and I can activate it on my opponent's turn so I can be the first to start rebuilding rather than the last.
Knight of the White orchid almost never got me a land. I actually have a fair amount of ramp in the deck for being White/Blue and the others are not conditional so blinking them always gets me a land where this is hit or miss (often miss). As such, I felt it deserved to be cut for something better.
Cloudstone Curio has always been a potential cut and I finally decided to get rid of it. Flashing things in and bouncing other things with Flash sounds good on paper, but it rarely played out that way.
Emeria Shepherd was tough and if Nimble Obstructionist doesn't work out she will make it back in, but her high mana cost and the fact that the deck has a high number of instants and sorceries means she wasn't often getting back relevant cards.
So, to sum up, here are the changes to the deck:
-Deadeye Navigator
-Myr Battlesphere
-Cataclysmic Gearhulk
-Knight of the White Orchid
-Cloudstone Curio
-Emeria Shepherd
+Teferi's Protection
+Containment Priest
+Nimble Obstructionist
+Insidious Will
+Stonecloaker
+Alms Collector
Phantasmal image and Phyrexian Metamorph are my favorite two that I think are basically mandatory due to how mana efficient they are.
I don't think this is a timetwister deck. I'd rather play something like Rhystic Study or Skullclamp if you want something with raw card advantage, but I don't like any of th ose to be honest. I'd just sack it and play a better card. my thinking here is that Timetwister tends to be a card you want in either a high velocity deck or a deck with very high card quality -- in Ephara average card quality tends to be lower than other decks since we play a lot of cheap creatures with flash.
Otherwise looks pretty cool Especially interested to see how alms collector plays out.
--------------------------------------------
Re: Your manabase
I think you could probably make some major improvements to your mana at moderate cost. Here's what I'd recommend
1) Add a fetchland or three. I'd do flooded strand/polluted delta/windswept heath since they're cheap. Very good with Sun Titan.
2) Add Skycloud expanse. This land is great with Ephara, providing both colors she needs on one land, which fixes a lot of draws (e.g. Ancient Tomb + Skycloud + Strip mine == Ephara).
3) Double check your count of basics, I think you may be a bit heavy on islands though it is close. I think 12 plains/10 islands is probably closer to right though you'll want to shave some of those for fetches/skycloud.
UW Ephara Hatebears [Primer], GB Gitrog Lands, BRU Inalla Combo-Control, URG Maelstrom Wanderer Landfall
Elspeth Sun's Champion - This does seem like a pretty good card. She doesn't have flash (obviously) but I think her abilities are extremely relevant so I will be keeping her in mind as I move forward with updating the deck. Not sure what I cut for her, but I will be looking for something.
Clones - I have Stunt Double and I am fine with Stunt Double as my only clone (Faerie Artisans is kind of another one). I am not a fan of clones in this deck (I have started trimming them down in my Thassa deck as well). In this deck it is more a consideration of the fact that I can't cast them at Instant timing without Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir. I think clones in general are good and the two you mentioned are top of that list, but they are not where I want to be with the deck.
Timetwister - Every blue deck is a Timetwister deck In general, I use Timetwister and Day's Undoing as early or mid game cards to reset my hand if I got to a slow start. I generally have no problem drawing a bunch of cards once I get going but I do need a little help sometimes to "start over" as it were and change up my hand. I am using them as a means to refresh a bad position; not enhance a winning one. That is the reason Time Spiral is not in this deck; it is too slow to do what I want it to do in this deck.
You had mentioned that even Skullclamp and Rhystic Study weren't right for this deck and I agree. I obviously disagree that they are better than Twister since they perform different functions.
Mana Base - I have made a conscious decision to only run on-color fetches in all of my decks. I like the aesthetic and I have generally not had a problem with it. I do not plan on changing that now, which means the only fetch to play is Flooded Strand. I feel that 1 fetch land is hardly worth running so I have decided not to run any fetches in my 2 color decks. And yes, I agree they work well with Sun Titan (and Sun Titan has too few targets as it is) but I think I would rather keep towards this ideal even if it does come at the cost of making Sun Titan a little less good.
Skycloud Expanse and the rest of the Odyssey filter lands will never make it into any of my decks. They are not ideal in my opinion since they do not tap for mana. And, unlike the Shadowmoor/Eventide Filterlands, I don't get a choice of color. In a 2 color deck it isn't as big a deal as I will often be able to use it later on, but I can't Mana Drain on Turn 2 if I need to with Skycloud Expanse. I do understand the benefit of fixing mana early, especially to get Ephara out, but I run a total of 7 lands that don't produce colored mana at all (and one that doesn't produce any mana). I know I have some rocks in there too, but I don't want to play lands that don't tap for mana (except the Maze of Ith I am running). To be honest, I have seen a couple of times where I was missing a certain color to get Ephara out right away, which meant I had to take a turn off to cast Solemn or Cartographer, or Twister into a new hand. However, I don't feel that swapping a Plains or an Island for Expanse will really change this. Fetches would be better for that but, as mentioned above, I like to keep my deck as "on-color" as possible.
As for my basics, I have been trying to keep the Island count higher due to the desire for early game counter magic. After cutting Knight of the White Orchid, Emeria Shepherd, and Cataclysmic Gearhulk, I would actually argues that I should change the count to 12 Islands/10 Plains. I always want blue mana in this deck. White mana is good up until I get about 3 or 4 generally (obviously I want 7 Plains for Emeria, the Sky Ruin at some point) but I don't need White mana nearly as much as I need Blue especially in the early game.
Over all the games I have played and all the times I have goldfished the deck, the only times I have mana troubles is when I don't have any at all (such as keeping a 2 lander for example). That is more an issue of mulligans and doesn't happen often. But, I have never had problems with the color of mana at my disposal though as I play more I might see that come up from time to time. I am not suggesting the mana base is perfect, but I personally have never encountered any issues with it.
I definitely appreciate the suggestions and Elspeth is the biggest takeaway for me so I will be looking to see where she can fit into the deck.
It's all about that peculiar demand of uw on turn 3 every game pretty much. I can understand the issues with countermagic though
Oh, I picked up an as foretold to test out, I think it'd be spectacular in your flash heavy build.
Edit: and one more thing to think about. Thalia's Lancers will be able to get your planeswalkers in a few weeks. Cards that can tutor for wraths are really good in UW (and rare). Pretty much the only reason I play trophy mage for the most part.
UW Ephara Hatebears [Primer], GB Gitrog Lands, BRU Inalla Combo-Control, URG Maelstrom Wanderer Landfall
As for Lancers, I only have 3 creatures to tutor up (which is fewer than I expected it to be) and 2 planeswalkers (maybe 3 if I find a spot for Elspeth). Honestly, as you pointed out, Elspeth is probably the best target as she wraths, but I am not sure of the utility in adding her and a tutor to get to her. But, as a "silver-bullet" type card, maybe it is worth it? It does give me 2 ways to draw that wrath and Elspeth, Venser (PW), and Teferi are pretty good on their own so it isn't a bad thing to have a "second" copy of each.
Will definitely try to get some as foretold testing in.
UW Ephara Hatebears [Primer], GB Gitrog Lands, BRU Inalla Combo-Control, URG Maelstrom Wanderer Landfall
After playing with Elspeth in Modern and recognizing the points Pokken made, I am going to be looking for a slot for her. I am not sure of the best thing to cut to make room, though I am thinking of cutting Sun Titan due to the small number of targets.
I also picked up a foil Thalia's Lancers to go with Elspeth. As pointed out above, this deck actually has 7 cards it can fetch and will be 8 once I find a spot for Elspeth. And the 8 cards are high enough impact that I think I am fine with running a sorcery timing spell to get to them. However, this too requires another cut and I am not sure that that will be.
I was playing against 3 Meren decks. 1 was the straight precon, 1 had minor modifications and the last seemed to be built from the ground up (more or less). This was intentional as we felt it would be fun to have 3 Meren decks playing in the same game (and it was). I had fully expected to die early as all 3 decks could keep pressure on me.
To breakdown the game a little: The game started off slow where I ended up keeping a hand of Irrigated Farmland, Sol Ring, Day's Undoing, and other irrelevant cards. Note I had no other lands. Turn 1 I played Farmland. Turn 2 I drew an Island, played it, played Sol Ring, and cast Undoing to get a new hand.
This hand was much better and it messed with my opponents hands a little. The important card was Stonecloaker. I played another land and cast Ephara. I then sat back for a little while without doing anything other than casting Stonecloaker to remove targets from Meren #3's graveyard (she was the only one who had Meren to get back creatures). At one point, with the trigger on the stack, she cast Cloudthresher to kill it so I would quit removing cards from graveyards.
The nest turn, I cast Stunt Double (I should have cast it on her turn but I didn't see the line right away) and copied Meren. Then, at my end step, I targeted Stonecloaker to get it back to my hand.
In the meantime, Meren #2 (the one built from the ground up) ended up getting a Dark Depths and a Vampire Hexmage so they had a Marit Lage token on the battlefield. They moved to combat on their turn and decided to attack Meren #1. I felt this was a misplay as I am pretty sure they really needed to attack me (and I thought that was how the game was going to go). In this case, it didn't matter as I had Selfless Squire so I would have just had a really big Squire.
On Meren #3's turn, I cast Stonecloaker again (getting rid of the Hexmage in Meren #2's graveyard) intending to get back Stunt Double so I could have my own Marit Lage. However, Meren #1 cast Wretched Confluence (I think) to give Stonecloaker -2/-2 and Stunt Double/Meren -4/-4. This shut off that line. The next turn I as attacked with Marit Lage. I flashed in Mulldrifter to chump block and draw two cards. I don't remember who got rid of Marit Lage, but it was removed eventually. I think Meren #1 cast Barter in Blood.
At this point, we all just grinded for a while. I got Venser, the Soujouner but Meren #1 blew it up with Terastodon. I cast Timetwister (twice, with the help of Archaeomancer). This meant Venser was back in the library. At one point, I drew Thalia's Lancers and searched my library to find a Legendary card and nothing seemed that good at that time. I didn't have Elspeth yet, but she was probably the best choice for the time but I don't think she would have been great as it just would have filled the graveyard for all 3 Meren decks without actually killing Meren. There were only a couple cards above 4 power (Terastodon and Mortician Beetle being the two big ones) and I definitely didn't want Terastdon to come back to block up more of my stuff.
So, I ended up taking Venser. He was good since I could blink Archaeomancer to get back Timetwister but I never cast Twister again.
Eventually, I just overran Meren #1 with fliers and I killed Meren #2 while he had Archfiend of Depravity on the battlefield so I didn't have to sac my creatures. I killed Meren #3 around the same time.
Lancers ended up being "good" in that Venser is really good. But, I don't know that there are any choices that are not "win-more" beyond Elspeth being able to blow up the board when I need her to. So, I think Elspeth definitely deserves a spot in the deck, but I am not sure I am impressed enough with Lancers to keep it around.
I will keep it in for now as one game (especially one I was winning) is hardly enough to tell if Lancers is worth it.
I will be finding a spot for Elspeth to allow for a greater impact of Lancers. I have thought about cutting Top as its impact has been fairly low in this deck but it is still a good card so it is tough to cut.
I asked someone else to review the deck (not knowing which cards were I added recently) to find a cut for Elpseth as I really couldn't find one. After looking through my deck, they suggested I cut Lancers as I only had 7 choices (that was part of their rationale) and realistically they were not all good enough to include the card. Being castable only at Sorcery timing (a concern I mentioned above) is another strike against it as it forces me to play a more proactive game than I want in some situations (otherwise it is a dead card in my hand).
Regarding Top: I had just finished a game where Sensei's Divining Top kept me in the game early on to help me hit my lands drops while keeping relevant counterspells on top in case I needed them. So, I have decided cutting Top is not a good idea right now.
Also, I never recorded which card I cut for Lancers to begin with. I ended up cutting Sun Titan due to the lack of good targets. So, I cut Sun Titan for Lancers and then Lancers for Elspeth (so, I guess, I really cut Titan for Elpseth).
-Thalia's Lancers / Sun Titan
+Elspeth, Sun's Champion
To make room, I have come to the conclusion that Oblivion Stone may not be pulling its weight. I can't remember the last time I actually cast it let alone activated it. I feel that the rest of my removal suite is pretty good already and O Stone may be overkill. I may end up regretting the cut, but for now, I think it is worth opening up that slot for Search.
Don't forget the legendary lands it can get. I would say I get Nykthos or Academy Ruins with it the most often since these are low key power plays. And it can get Search as well
Cloudblazer is *significantly worse* than "Search for a wrath, a powerful piece of equipment, kor haven, venser, teferi, or search for azcanta." No question, not even in the same ballpark power level wise.
I am not sure I like Search as it slips the deck more and more toward generic UW control, but it is a strong way to ramp and this deck does tend to load the grave up for some reason. I've learned to really appreciate just incidental ramp in this deck, and it will rarely whiff I think if you activate it.
UW Ephara Hatebears [Primer], GB Gitrog Lands, BRU Inalla Combo-Control, URG Maelstrom Wanderer Landfall
Release to the Wind on the other hand gives me an Instant timing way of saving my creature, getting more utility out of creatures' ETB effects, or even just saving myself from an opponent's attack if needed. This looks reasonably promising so I will be trying to find a slot for it in the coming weeks. I am pretty sure I am going to cut Phyrexian Ingester as it is high on the curve, is Sorcery timing, and generally is not needed as I have other removal.
I actually don't think I can come up with a cogent argument for cutting it really. It just feels like a card I don't want to run for a variety of reasons. None probably make sense regarding making the deck as best as it can be, but I think they make sense regarding making the deck play the way I want it to play.
As for Cloudblazer, it certainly is "worse" but there have been a number of scenarios where getting the 2 cards and (usually more importantly) getting 2 life has been exceptionally crucial to staying alive. Being able to tutor for Elspeth doesn't do as much when I am at 6 life and my opponents have a couple small creatures. But drawing 2 cards to draw into a real wrath or spot removal and gaining 2 life have kept me alive in a couple situations.
Your list has a ton of excellent targets, though fewer than mine perhaps. Venser, Kor haven, brago, sword, search, planeswalkers. I think Brago is quite a bit more powerful than getting planeswalkers in a lot of boards, though of course that depends. Getting Search is probably a safer play early in the game really, since search is far more innocuous.
The main issue I have with lancers is tempo. It's very slow. But if you're dying when you're still at low enough mana that cloudblazer's tempo advantage is saving you, I think that more serious issues are at play there
UW Ephara Hatebears [Primer], GB Gitrog Lands, BRU Inalla Combo-Control, URG Maelstrom Wanderer Landfall
Another change I am going to make is adding in Nimbus Maze. This is an interesting land for the deck as it gives me the color of mana I need on basically from turn 3 and later. It doesn't work for a turn 2 mana drain, but that is a worthwhile tradeoff. If I draw 2 Plains and this, it gives me my blue mana as needed. Later in the game it gives me both colors as well as colorless for Eldrazi Displacer. It basically turns into a painless Adarkar Wastes that is a bit less useful early in the game but still reasonable. To make room for this, I am going to cut a Plains. This still leaves me with 14 plains for Emeria, the Sky Ruin so I don't think I lose a lot there.
ADDITIONS
Release to the Wind
Nimbus Maze
CUTS
Phyrexian Ingester
Plains
Teferi just seems to be very powerful. He helps keep my hand full, gives me mana to cast things on my opponent's turns, and his ultimate is fantastic.
The last card I have been thinking of for a while is Settle the Wreckage. Instant timing wraths are awesome, especially in a deck like this, and it gives me protection against someone trying to alpha strike with hasty creatures or making something really big that I can't target.
The main problem with these additions are trying to find cards to cut to make room. As much as it seems like a poor decision, I am honestly thinking of cutting Jace, the Mind Sculptor. I have just started feeling that in this deck, Jace just does not do much. He Brainstorms for me but then I never feel like he is even worth protecting (and most of the time I am correct to save my answers for other things) so he just doesn't do anything.
I am not sure what the other cut should be. I still don't think Sensei's Divining Top is the best card. I know I recorded a game where it was instrumental in getting me going, but beyond that it just doesn't do as much.
Beyond those two cards, I am not sure what else I could cut. For now, these are the top of the list for cutting for Teferi and Toothy. I am not sure where to fit in Settle though.
Actually, that is a solid suggestion. I never really looked at that as an option and didn't realize until just now that it can get back two thirds of my creatures. I will have to find a spot for it somewhere.
At least I can see I am not totally off base on cutting Jace so I will definitely find something else for that spot. There are good suggestions so far.
I had Blink in a very early build. I cut it for a couple reasons. The biggest is that it doesn't save anything from wraths (though it does save them from targeted removal). However, with a few of the additions I am looking at as well as some of the cards I have added over the time I have had the deck, I think it may be worthwhile to have a Blink effects as a "trick" (especially one I can use twice) to re-use. Two things I will have to watch for though: it is repeatable with Archaeomancer (I don't like introducing "loops" in my deck) and it is a nonbo with Containment Priest. But, otherwise, it seems solid.
So, with those suggestions, I am looking at these possibilities:
ADDITIONS
Toothy, Imaginary Friend
Spellseeker
Reveillark
Momentary Blink
Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
Settle the Wreckage
CUTS
Jace, the Mind Sculptor - Mentioned above and feels underwhelming in this particular deck.
Search for Azcanta - Similar reason to cutting Jace; the deck often has enough card draw as it is that the selection from Azcanta may not be necessary.
Overwhelming Intellect - 6 mana to counter a spell and draw cards is not bad, but it takes a lot to keep up and is conditional. With the potential addition of Momentary Blink, I can just re-use my creature based counter magic or work to get other counters back with Archaeomancer
And, that is where I leave off. I am not sure what else to cut to make room for the rest of the cards. I think Momentary Blink, Teferi, and Reveillark are my top three choices to add for now so I could see those being the options for the 3 cuts above. I will try to find room for the other 3 soon.
I don't like teferi because defending walkers is hard and he's not as good as big elspeth or venser. I've even considered cutting venser but he ultimates so fast it's crazy.
Blink is just worse than a lot of other cards.
The rest are nice and I agree with your cuts.
UW Ephara Hatebears [Primer], GB Gitrog Lands, BRU Inalla Combo-Control, URG Maelstrom Wanderer Landfall
On a side note here (since you mentioned Venser) I too was actually considering whether I wanted to keep him. He paints a huge target on himself/me and I am not sure if it ends up being worth it. I actually landed on keeping him because his +1 is relevant. I didn't consider his Ultimate as much as I rarely get it off. Someone is usually able to keep him off the necessary counters.
Settle just gives me another Instant way to deal with an alpha strike. I would be lying if I said I never got into a scenario where I wanted it, but maybe there are better options due to the ramp issue you mentioned. What are your thoughts on Evacuation as an Instant timing "wrath"?
I think Momentary Blink does represent a way to re-use things as a bit of a trick if needed (and not telegraphed like Displacer). What other cards would be better than Blink (that I am not already running)?
I am going to proxy up the Spellseeker and Toothy while I wait for mine to come in the mail. Luckily, I already had Reveillark. I will try to play this tomorrow to see how well some of the new cards play.
That's a good call on Venser, and each game may play out differently for people, but I have never used his -1. Most of my stuff is already either flying (so harder to block anyway) or I have cleared my opponent's board before I attack for the win. That is not to say it is not a good ability, but I am not sure I have been in a situation where I a) had Venser out and b) activating his -1 was the game winning play. I will keep an eye on him for now with that in mind though to see if I am just not using him as effectively as possible.
Closet isn't quite as good as I want as my thought behind Blink was the ability to re-use EtB things at the right time. Closet doesn't give me a window for that. Shard, on the other hand, gives me a bit more options in that regard. I can bounce something when I need it and then recast it right then. I can even just use the mana at the end of my opponent's turn to put something in my hand for "later". Since it is repeatable, I can see more use being made out of this than Blink. I will see if I can give this a try.
In one game, I had Toothy, Imaginary Friend in my hand, but I had missed some land drops. I was only on 5 lands and a Thought Vessel so I had to keep my mana up to use a couple spells if needed as the Dragons player was getting out of hand and another player had an Ulamog's Crusher. I had a Teferi's Protection in hand to at least save me for a turn. However, I ended up being targeted with Yosei, the Morning Star's trigger from the 4th player which effectively ended the game for me as the other 2 players were much larger threats and I needed to expend my Protection in the hopes of being able to draw an answer next turn. So, I was unable to see how much Toothy would help. I did think to just slam it as a way to maybe draw cards later, which might have been the right call. I am not sure. As of now, this needs some more testing and some hopefully better games to evaluate the card.
In another game, I had Reveillark in hand but I only had Kor Cartographer in the graveyard so there wasn't really a reason to cast it over keeping my mana up. I ended up shuffling it away with a Twister effect. This too never actually showed up in a game to do anything so I will be keeping my eye on it as I play more games with the deck. I do think the potential for this card is pretty high, so it will take a lot of games where it does nothing to look at cutting it.
When another player was playing my deck, I saw them play Spellseeker and, as expected, they got Mana Drain. The fact that it can get Mana Drain or Cyclonic Rift as well as removal like Swords and Path means the potential for this is pretty high as well. I will be watching it to see how much it helps over the course of a couple games.
I missed this in Dudemichael's post initially, but I am thinking of trying Seht's Tiger as suggested. I was playing against someone using the Cat precon and I think I like the idea of another creature (other than Selfless Squire and Angel of the Dire Hour) that can work against an Alpha Strike. And, unlike the Angel, I can blink it to re-use it. It is not a "final" as a Wrath, but being a creature and being somewhat re-usable means it might be good enough to make the cut. I might try this over Rout for now. I think Settle the Wreckage is definitely out now.
One card I did find I often felt was disappointing was Mistmeadow Witch. I know this seems a bit backwards, but it costs 4 mana to activate, it doesn't return things right away, and it is high on the "eats removal" chart. The latter isn't the worst thing, but the first 2 things are very detrimental to this type of deck. I am been finding that when I have this card in hand, I never want to cast it because I have better things to be doing. I think I am going to cut this for the Tiger for now. I am not sure the Tiger keeps its spot in the deck, but I am convinced I don't want the Witch anymore.
So, as of now, the following changes are made:
CUTS
Mistmeadow Witch
ADDITIONS
Seht's Tiger
The thing with venser is sometimes he just takes the game over. Gilded drake for example or with creature venser or similar. Spellseeker too.
Evacuation is very good. I'd definitely try it before settle. Especially if running archaemancer as that's a wincon. Aetherspouts is much stronger than settle also.
I think almost anything is better than blink. I am on mobile so hard to look at your list while I write, resto, dust elemental, umm, another way to find whitemane lion, really anything. Eerie interlude or ghost way maybe.
Spellseeker is the truth. Power level is obscene.
UW Ephara Hatebears [Primer], GB Gitrog Lands, BRU Inalla Combo-Control, URG Maelstrom Wanderer Landfall
The one change I am going to make is to cut Command Tower and replace it with a Plains. This is for a couple reasons. First, a Plains works better with Emeria and Kor Cartographer and second, I am not sure I really want this in a 2 color deck. There are other lands that do the same thing (effectively) and Plains just work out better for a couple existing synergies. Also, I ran out of them and I want to put one in my Lord Windgrace deck.