Fair enough, I guess the reason I am not a fan of Mogis is that I have never had a problem against Junk, Junk or other control decks, my match percentage against them is very high so bringing in what I feel to be a card that doesn't really do much or is a huge haymaker goes against my SB preferences when I feel I have actual bad matchups that a card like Mogis could be used for those. I totally get wanting to play win more cards I mean come on cruel ultimatum is totally win more but for me the SB should be more than just sweet cards but cards that have big impact like a crumble to dust which is game ending against a tough matchup
Lil Bolas what decks are you looking to bring Mogis in? Is he a somewhat conditional one sided Sulfuric Vortex like card that also has elements of the abyss? I'm curious why you always have him in there not that I think it's wrong I've just always wondered why and how has he performed for you?
After playing Tron enough I have learned that Fulminator Mage is not how this deck wants to beat them, unless you are playing a very heavy creature build of Cruel you just don't have the pressure to be able to take advantage of using Fulminator to take them off land for a turn they run so many draw artifacts and tutors that you need to either tempo them out long enough to land a crumble or play a version that has 2-3 tasigurs cliques and ways to tempo them out just enough to kill them before the lands come together for them. I prefer to go haymaker for haymaker with Tron mostly because if I play 4 fulminators then I limit my SB for other matchups but who knows if Tron becomes that big a presence maybe we will need both to battle them
For me this deck is always a local meta driven deck. I feel like the engine it runs is hard to compare across. At my store there is almost no affinity but a huge amount of Jund and a small amount or Tron and other stuff, the presence of Jund is the reason I started playing mystical teachings because if Jund wants to take my cards and go long with tarmogoyfs and bobs and Liliana well then I will play a full playset of electrolyze and a smattering of huge haymakers like blue sun zenith to bury my opponent. When Tron and infect and affinity have been very present I have decreased on mystical teachings and have played much more sweepers and gone to Vendilion Clique to both disrupt block and set up. The thing I have loved most about playing Cruel control over the past year is how despite being a Grixis control deck it has such a wide range to it and I wouldn't criticize anyone for how they wish to guild the deck because it is so niche and yet so adaptable in a way that other decks are just not. I will always love this deck most no matter how good it because it brings out the Brewer in me. I can go on and on over all the unique one of cards I've been able to play because of the meta game and mystical teachings. I single handedly influenced how present Tron was because I was playing Commandeer in my SB and Tron players were tired of having their Karns stolen turn 4 after I teachings for commandeer and stole it in that same turn by pitching my hand. Anyways if Tron and affinity become good I suggest engineered explosives cheep red sweepers and big 5 mana sorcerers like Bribery and Crumble to Dust backed up by some timely negates, counterflux etc...
Last night at FNM was really fun as when we were all checking our phones and seeing the Reddit posts about the mtgo beta bans I felt a bit of sadness but also a small bit of happiness as I hate playing against twin. Not because of the twin combo but because of Blood Moon and the biggest blood moon deck is leaving the format. I've lost more games playing the decks I do to blood moon out of the board from twin than to a splinter twin on a deceiver/mite.
I want to second and third that after having played with and without it now for a solid month and a half that Jace, Vryn Prodigy is an absolute must have in the deck. I feel like 2 is perfect and the things he does are so subtle and so powerful depending on the build, but chief of which is turning hands with a very early cruel ultimatum which would typically be mulligans into a loot for something better. I used to play this deck with mystical teachings and while it was cool it always felt a bit too slow since moving to Jace and getting off teachings I have had a lot more success and been able to really abuse kolaghans command and inquisition. Finally while this may not be popular based on things I have seen on here I am running 3 Vendilion Clique in the main. Part of which is because Tron is so popular at my store so it's a bit from necessity but also the ability to play 4 K command with snap Jace and clique means you can have this incredible engine where you just control your opponents draw step and use clique and Kcommand to force discard/control their too deck. I will post a list I have after FNM tonight. Finally regarding Vendilion Clique in the off chance that SFM is unbanned it becomes even more powerful to be able to remove the equipment from their hand in response to the activation with a timely clique. As a 3/1 it is a very fragile creature but as a way to bottom cruel ultimatums and control our opponents draws and provide really powerful and IMO broken synergy with kolaghans command I highly suggest that the faerie gets some more consideration in builds I see on here
To me the secret to playing mystical teachings is not that it can be cards 5-8 of all your best instants but the ability to play really powerful hate cards in the SB. The perfect example is that there is quite a bit of boggles at my shop which is usually bad for Grixis control decks but because I play 3 teachings it means I can play a card like hibernation SB which is also quite funny against Jund too when you can bound a Goyf a Ooze and a raging ravine. The stories are endless of things I've done with teachings. My favorite is when I teachings for a commandeer against a burn player to steal his bolt when I was at 1 and he was at 3 to ice the game
The other reason I love teachings is it means I always have an out to blood moon as long as I fetch for a basic island against known blood moon decks my echoing truth I get from teachings can always just be a huge blowout to go end step echoing truth then on my turn have all my mana ready to cast my spells
I really like to play with mystical teachings at least at the store I play at. It allows me to play this very tool box version with cards like consume the meek and teferi and have these sweet one of sideboard cards like suffer the past and sudden shock etc. I've found that I have more success when I play my 3 teachings version than my no teachings build at least at my store. My advise is to ultimately play whatever you want I mean it is a cruel control deck so if the argument for a card is that at 4 mana it's too expensive well then we have a problem : P
I typically play a Chromatic Lantern in the deck over land #26 and play a 2nd lantern in the SB. I also build my manabase around basics and the BFZ lands and so far it I have actually been impressed with not needing to run as many Ravnica Duals and simply moving to running 6-8 basics and BFZ duals and upping the fetchland count to 9-10 to accommodate. A typical land build can be 3 islands, 2 swamps mountain. 4 tarn 3 delta 2 bloodstained mire. 3 BFZ lands 3 Ravnica lands and 4 Creepings
Yeah, I wouldn't recommend this version in every single meta-game environment but at my store there is a significantly higher number of Amulet, Tron and Jund players. Not as much burn and zoo. So I get a lot more of the "free wins" that the engine of Fulminator Mage and Kolaghans Command can generate, where that engine would be actively bad against a burn or Naya Zoo deck. I am trying out a version that plays 4 blightning, and rather than say that blightning is better than Kolaghan's Command I would just say that they are different cards looking to do different things. But I love playing 4 K Command in modern with a 4 inquisition, 4 serum vision, 4 lightning bolt set up, it allows for a really good consistency and ability to be playing and making early set up plays so you can win early against the decks where trying to resolve Cruel Ultimatum will just never be a reality.
Hey everyone. I wanted to show a different take on Cruel Control that I recently tried out. It is a bit more of a Rakdos control splashing for Snapcaster mage and I have had a number of 4-0 and 3-1 performances with it. Let me know what you think
Land (24)
2x Blackcleave Cliffs
1x Blood Crypt
4x Creeping Tar Pit
2x Island
1x Mountain
4x Polluted Delta
4x Scalding Tarn
2x Steam Vents
1x Sulfur Falls
1x Swamp
2x Watery Grave
Creature (8)
4x Fulminator Mage
4x Snapcaster Mage
Instant (13)
2x Cryptic Command
1x Electrolyze
3x Kolaghan's Command
4x Lightning Bolt
3x Terminate
Sorcery (12)
1x Cruel Ultimatum
2x Damnation
4x Inquisition of Kozilek
1x Rakdos's Return
4x Serum Visions
Planeswalker (2)
1x Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker
1x Ob Nixilis Reignited
Artifact (1)
1x Chromatic Lantern
Sideboard (15)
1x Anger of the Gods
1x Chromatic Lantern
2x Countersquall
2x Dispel
1x Dragonlord Silumgar
1x Dreadbore
1x Duress
1x Engineered Explosives
1x Extirpate
1x Glen Elendra Archmage
1x Nihil Spellbomb
1x Rakdos's Return
1x Thoughtseize