MTG Salvation

i like the idea, loosing dead of winter is going to hurt, as i'm not sure how viable the deck is without a turn 3 wipe.

the true power of marit isn't the token at the end (although thats nice) its turning all your lands into free scrys and astrolabes into opts. and just the threat of the ultimate can force you opponent to make some pretty inopportune plays.

on lands /snow permanents, i feel like the number of none snows is going to hurt a little as only 14 of the lands can be with on thin ice and astrolabe. which might bring down the consistency (a couple copies of evo wilds and fields of ruin should help this as having lands tapped turn one is pretty reasonable in for a budget build)

the necessity of astrolabe is an interesting one. in my build its critical because,
1. it's a turn 1 snow permanent which turns dead of winter into a languish which makes it a lot more powerful in a meta with carrion feeder and thing in the ice.
2. is very solid mana fixing
3. the cantrip can be reused with Silumgar's Command (which means Silumgar's Command can do a much more accurate impression of cryptic)
4. it allows for stacking multiple scrys a turn off of slumber can really help churn through the deck.

but with two color and without some of the other interactions it dose loss some of its potency although with both archmages charm and absorb needing very specific mana it's arguable that the deck might need it to smooth out the mana base when its running 12 basics

i feel like i would want a couple of man lands in the deck even if just 2 copies of fairy conclaves. to help as closers.
i've also found running a couple of field of ruins can help in quite a few matchups while also working well with the snow theme

i've been playing around with 2 mb copies of Aven Mindcensor, and for budget list they do a solid job of slowing you opponent down, if you play in a meta with lots of fetchlands.

i've also been trailing Rule of Law in my sb. and if you can get it down it really acts as a hardlock against a huge number of decks currently in modern
(hogaak, phoenix, storm, reanimator, burn, urza combo, neoform, deathshadow variants that don't run G or W) and a lot of random strange brews

another card that i've been play around with is Blizzard Strix, on the surface it doesn't look great but being able to flickerwisp at flash that doesn't die to gutshot/wren and adding to the snow count may make it viable as an option (is strength against chalice, about to ult pw, tron, and creature deck are also nice bonuses)

gy hate isn't hard to change in the sb. the price of rest in peace is dropping a lot from spellbook and if worse come to worse just take in 4 tormod's crypts into sb

a couple of other questions, is the life gain significant enough from fumigate to so offset the extra mana when compared to supreme verdict or day of judgment?

a popular package u see popping up in budget w/u control build is 4 wall of omens, 2 resto angels and occasionally 2 mb Ojutai's Commands. do you feel like the pw are stronger in this slot?

lastly what's your thoughts on Narset, Parter of Veils?

in case you're interested my current list


it did pretty well in some locals fnms, (only 2/2s) but im still misplaying and there have been time when i could have easily gone 4/0 if i had been more careful and played correctly)

im currently tinkering with another design. a little more white heavy with a exile opponents stuff sub theme



i can't help think its missing something, if you can figure out any obvious omission in be interested.

Quote from AmicDeep »

gy hate isn't hard to change in the sb. the price of rest in peace is dropping a lot from spellbook and if worse come to worse just take in 4 tormod's crypts into sb

a couple of other questions, is the life gain significant enough from fumigate to so offset the extra mana when compared to supreme verdict or day of judgment?

a popular package u see popping up in budget w/u control build is 4 wall of omens, 2 resto angels and occasionally 2 mb Ojutai's Commands. do you feel like the pw are stronger in this slot?

lastly what's your thoughts on Narset, Parter of Veils?

I agree that the mana could use some upgrades, at first I just wanted to create a functional manabase at a reasonable cost to serve as a baseline for the budget build.
Adding: creature-lands, FoR and better duals is obviously going to improve it (though drawing FoR and Charm together early can be painful).

Regarding Rule of Law, the card is pretty good but being a 3-mana card is often too late in the fast matchups and Damping Sphere offers a similar effect and also stops Tron/Amulet decks cold which is a significant upside and I probably wouldn't want to run both.

Funnily enough Remorseful Cleric is even cheaper than Tormod's Crypt now and can be used as extra GY-hate, it is surely slower but the body can be of some use as well.

Fumigate is just the cheapest wrath I could find for this slot (another is Hallowed Burial), Verdict is a better card and so is Judgment
(though the lifegain can matter sometimes like against decks than can burn you out).

I definetly prefer the PW's as they offer much more closing power (especially Jura and Elspeth) and play better with boardwipes.
There is nothing better than wipping the board and then dropping a PW on an empty board to take over the game.

Another possible direction to go with the finishers is the big flesh threats of which Torrential and Grace are probably the most viable options.

Narset is a good card and has become a maindeck card in a many (non-budget) control builds so she has that going for her.
Personally I find her passive rather hit&miss and as a card advantage engine there is the slightly cheaper Jace and can also better protect itself so I might prefer him despite costing more mana.

thought id add this, this will most likely be my last update for this deck for a while as i feel its now pretty fine tuned having top 8ed me locals and fnm level comps
the price is still around the $100 mark


the decks has increased in power significantly with the change to the meta but it dose still struggle against burn, although the deck could very easily support 4 leylines now they have drops in price.

Angel of Grace has proved it self the best option for the money time and time again and im very pleased with the 2/2/2 split on creatures

Go for the Throat seems to be much better atm than cast down hence its inclusion

i've yet to find a better counterspell than mana leak

Creeping Tar Pit are essential to the deck even with the price tag a card that should no be cut.

narset would be a very solid option over search for azcantat and is down to a mix of personal preference and budget

The newly spoiled Lochmere Serpent seems like a strong finisher for an Esper Control deck.
But I doubt it is going to be as cheap as Chromium, the Mutable as it seems even more pushed and 6-mana and 2-colors is much more manageable than 7-mana and 3-colors so it is going to see far more play in Standard.

i really like Lochmere Serpent, i think the its more competing against Torrential Gearhulk rather than chromium.
i think it comes down to the build of the rest of the deck. if your using planeswalkers and other proactive controlling effects like soc based board wipes etc the i think that serpent is now the stronger option as gearhulk need the targets to be relevant. but in a reactive build using fact and fiction i feel like gearhulk still holds the crown.
the other downside to serpent in a snow build specifically is that the deck wins fairly often with the threat of a marit lage token and sacing lands is something the deck whats to avoid at all costs.
in other news ive finaly sorted out my SB

generic


specialisations
for a burn and aggro heavy meta 2 dovin baan (using almost exclusively for is -1)
control and vial heavy meta (and this may well end up in the recommended sd)1 mb and 1 sb kaya usurper.

been revisiting the deck a little, and came across Punish Ignorance. to me it seems viable but i'm not sure how optimal. do you recon its worth trying as a 1-2 of?