its just so expensive, Like adding a batterskull i suppose is the alternative, but its much stronger when its 4 cmc because it comes down earlier but also you can still hold up disruption like mana leak after playing it in the midgame (like when ur at 6 mana). Like i guess an example is against decks like scapeshift or tron, you really want a clock against those decks but u also want something that doesnt just die to bolt or something similar (clique is fantastic dont get me wrong but it does do a lot of dying.) and a tamiyo at 4 cmc is really attractive there because it taps one of their lands down which is significant disruption (so less fear of them resolving something scary) and it lets your later turns be safer because you dont have to tap out for anything else assuming tamiyo gets there, so you have access to more mana to disrupt their scary spells.
i mean the mana cost is important to me for a lot of reasons, maybe 5 cmc isnt as bad as i think it is, but tamiyo does seem just too expensive in cmc to me atm. Something about it i cant get past.
has anyone done significant testing with tamiyo in modern? i assume its not that great but i guess i could be wrong.
hey everyone im struggling to find a really good 4 drop for the deck. Something that would sort of be our version of ajani vengeant a very versatile (both a fairly decent win condition, and something we can use to also stabilize) card that doesn't exceed 5 mana. i feel like it cant tap us out too much ( which is the problem with 5 mana.) I was thinking maybe a 4th cryptic but that alone cant really win a game. Does anyone have any good ideas?
Terminate vs Dismember is another interesting decision. I think that Terminate is really really good but the fact that dismember is a lot easier on your mana base (since our base is most intensively in blue, not as much black or red) and can be cast through blood moon(which is fairly relevant) and if your really up against it can be cast for 1( sometimes comes up vs delver decks who lock you out after you both reach 2 mana, with their counters. Or when you have to kill multiple things per turn. or when you want to kill a colonnade and hold up as much countermagic mana up after). I think a 2 terminate 2 dismember split seems pretty reasonable.
I hear what you're saying on think twice, I think maybe running 2 remand 1 think twice could be a happy medium though. Also I feel like between the Cryptics, Electrolyzes, and Snapcasters you're often 2 for 1'ing the opponent enough to where you don't need all that much Card advantage from think twice.
Also remand can realistically do a cryptic impersonation if they counter your counter with something like a cryptic (counter draw) and u remand ur first counter, suddenly you're way ahead.
and lets not forget to factor in the cruel ultimatum card advantage :).
Also i'm a big fan of the miser shadow of doubt, its very good against certain decks.
Relic is also good vs goyf.... but you're a snap caster deck, so it hurts you a lot too.
it sort of does yeah but to be honest if you're siding relic in it also does a Lot of damage to your opponent as well. I think even against pod its fine to side into, since it disrupts their combos and their Reveillark, and neuters ooze as well. Also you dont HAVE to pop it Even can get persist critters with the persist trigger on the stack. If you REALLY concerned about it hurting ur snappys then you could Consider Scrabbling Claws but be warned against plenty of matchups that utilize the GY they will fill their graveyard up much faster than you can really control with just the 1 targeted card. i'd say storm is a good example, although i guess not many people play that deck anymore.
Also i should point out UWR control does play 4 snaps and 2 relics in sb, so i suppose they think its worth it even with that downside, i think i agree as well since it doesn't take long for you to still get value off snappys by filling in gy with a few more cards, (like the one u just drew).
an interesting question is how good is remand vs think twice. I do love think twice but remand has a high ceiling in terms of the potential blowouts it can perform. I think remand might be better in a majority of the matchups, although it might still be worth it to have 1 think twice in the deck so that you can get that really long grindy matchup advantage especially if you want to side out some number of remands when your facing an opponent who plays a lot of low mana costing spells.
Although now that i think about it, doesnt remanding a flashbacked think twice actually just negate a think twice CA? hm, the only benefit i can think of now for an instance where remand is worse than think twice is when you're getting thoughtseized, but they never really take ur think twice with a thoughtseize anyway.
I think the fact that remand cycles (possibly into a mana leak) and early on often timewalks your opponent is just too good of an upside. not to mention later on in a counterfight its very far from dead if used correctly. in addition its a hard counter to flashbacked spells and has potential to be a cryptic command counter draw for 2 mana (that value has me drooling) in a lot of different scenarios and the fact that it cycles has me wanting to play more of them, probably around 2.
I think 4 leak is still probably correct, also remand might let you keep more opening hands that you would feel less comfortable keeping (because you dont have a mana leak in your opening draw), so that you have more chances of cycling into it.
overall remand just reminds me of shadow of doubt in so far as how free and good it is since it cycles.
Another question is since most cruel control decks run rakdos charm in the sideboard, graveyard hate is covered fairly well, however i think a split of 1 charm 1 relic of progenitus is a good idea since rakdos charm does cost you a card, and if they dont go for any graveyard shenanigans its dead, whereas relic just cycles if that happens, Also the fact that relic is colorless actually does come up a lot vs the living end matchup, since living end plays SO many land destruction cards like beast within ( my god is that a nasty card.. ) and fulminator mages. Keeping us off of 1 black 1 red is not that hard.
electrolyze is just better than magma jet in modern for a lot of different reasons, first off it has a realistic chance of becoming a 3 for 1 if your opponent has 2 creatures in play with 1 toughness each, like what you'd face against early pod or affinity.
scry 2 is great and i won't say it isn't attractive but when you can 3 for 1 for 3 mana at instant speed, I think the upside just outweighs scry 2 by too large an amount. Also if your deck is filled with a lot of magma jets and your opponent is playing lingering souls or coming at you fast by dumping their hand with affinity on the first couple turns you really can't afford to just 1 for 1 them even if it means scrying 2 each time you do so.
lingering souls is a nightmare if you're just playing magma jets, whereas at least electrolyze trades fairly even with lingering souls.
i mean the mana cost is important to me for a lot of reasons, maybe 5 cmc isnt as bad as i think it is, but tamiyo does seem just too expensive in cmc to me atm. Something about it i cant get past.
has anyone done significant testing with tamiyo in modern? i assume its not that great but i guess i could be wrong.
I wish Tamiyo, the moon sage was a 4 drop :/ would be almost perfect.
Also remand can realistically do a cryptic impersonation if they counter your counter with something like a cryptic (counter draw) and u remand ur first counter, suddenly you're way ahead.
and lets not forget to factor in the cruel ultimatum card advantage :).
Also i'm a big fan of the miser shadow of doubt, its very good against certain decks.
it sort of does yeah but to be honest if you're siding relic in it also does a Lot of damage to your opponent as well. I think even against pod its fine to side into, since it disrupts their combos and their Reveillark, and neuters ooze as well. Also you dont HAVE to pop it Even can get persist critters with the persist trigger on the stack. If you REALLY concerned about it hurting ur snappys then you could Consider Scrabbling Claws but be warned against plenty of matchups that utilize the GY they will fill their graveyard up much faster than you can really control with just the 1 targeted card. i'd say storm is a good example, although i guess not many people play that deck anymore.
Also i should point out UWR control does play 4 snaps and 2 relics in sb, so i suppose they think its worth it even with that downside, i think i agree as well since it doesn't take long for you to still get value off snappys by filling in gy with a few more cards, (like the one u just drew).
Although now that i think about it, doesnt remanding a flashbacked think twice actually just negate a think twice CA? hm, the only benefit i can think of now for an instance where remand is worse than think twice is when you're getting thoughtseized, but they never really take ur think twice with a thoughtseize anyway.
I think the fact that remand cycles (possibly into a mana leak) and early on often timewalks your opponent is just too good of an upside. not to mention later on in a counterfight its very far from dead if used correctly. in addition its a hard counter to flashbacked spells and has potential to be a cryptic command counter draw for 2 mana (that value has me drooling) in a lot of different scenarios and the fact that it cycles has me wanting to play more of them, probably around 2.
I think 4 leak is still probably correct, also remand might let you keep more opening hands that you would feel less comfortable keeping (because you dont have a mana leak in your opening draw), so that you have more chances of cycling into it.
overall remand just reminds me of shadow of doubt in so far as how free and good it is since it cycles.
Another question is since most cruel control decks run rakdos charm in the sideboard, graveyard hate is covered fairly well, however i think a split of 1 charm 1 relic of progenitus is a good idea since rakdos charm does cost you a card, and if they dont go for any graveyard shenanigans its dead, whereas relic just cycles if that happens, Also the fact that relic is colorless actually does come up a lot vs the living end matchup, since living end plays SO many land destruction cards like beast within ( my god is that a nasty card.. ) and fulminator mages. Keeping us off of 1 black 1 red is not that hard.
scry 2 is great and i won't say it isn't attractive but when you can 3 for 1 for 3 mana at instant speed, I think the upside just outweighs scry 2 by too large an amount. Also if your deck is filled with a lot of magma jets and your opponent is playing lingering souls or coming at you fast by dumping their hand with affinity on the first couple turns you really can't afford to just 1 for 1 them even if it means scrying 2 each time you do so.
lingering souls is a nightmare if you're just playing magma jets, whereas at least electrolyze trades fairly even with lingering souls.