Inkwell Leviathan - can earn a slot in the sideboard. The shroud and very high toughness makes him good. Cheap too, at only 49 cents in SCG. ^^
Stormtide Leviathan - worse than Blazing Archon, because creatures with flying can still attack me.
Giant Adephage - worse than Godsire, and Godsire does not even make the cut.
Verdant Force - this is another worse than Godsire card. Weaker body, and only makes 1/1 tokens.
Grozoth - he's a vanilla 9/9 beater, but his ability can search the deck and put both iona and blazing archon into my hand. Still thinking if this guy is worth it in the main, because his tutor ability can get other monsters into my hand
________________________________________
Right now my main creatures look like this.
2 Jin Gitaxias, Core Augur
1 Obzedat, Ghost Council
2 Ashen Rider
1 Blazing Archon
1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
1 Elesh Norn, Grand cenobite
But when I could order next month. The creature lineup in the main would look something like this. Jin has been underperforming. Might cut him out of the main in favor of creatures that can fight better.
1 Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur
2 Sphinx of the Steel Wind
1 Ashen Rider
1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
2 Blazing Archon
1 Elesh, Norn Grand Cenobite
Jin is good again. The draw 7 and mind twist on the opponent can win games, as long as I have not taken a savage beating already. Games where Jin was bad is those games where I was low life and forced to block with him. Back to two in the main.
Lingering Souls has been underwhelming. Some games where I'm being attacked by Hollow Ones or a bunch of elves... then only thing I can cast are lingering souls. My two 1/1 flying spirit vs a bunch of angery elves. Changed the two souls in the main to a fourth lightning axe and a Grave Titan.
Lightning Axe has been very good. Plenty of things to "axe" in my meta = Hollow One, Gurmag, Elf Lords, Baral, Goblin Electromancer, Thing in the Ice. A fourth axe is now added to main deck.
Have you considered Emrakul, the Promised End as one of tbe finishers ?
It is a huge flyers that ends games quickly and can't be interacted with instant speed removal.
I don't really see how Lightning Axe improves your Elves matchup that much, why not go with Anger of the Gods instead which is also good against: Dredge, Phoenix and the smaller creatures in the Hollow One deck ?
Oh, nice. I did not notice that the 13/13 emrakul went to the yard, I always thought she shuffled back into the library.
Well, she does look good to test. But I can't for budget reasons. Cannot afford to buy Emrakul v2 since she is 20$.
EDIT: And I did remove the 4th axe after some more testing.
Ok, some more cards arrived and I was able to test more.
Found out today that Vigor Mortis is not strictly better than Zombify, because vm has double black. It's really hard to cast vm when under a blood moon or magus of the moon. The deck only has 4 real swamps, so zombify is easier to cast when under a moon effect. A blood moon can be discarded by most of the many discard spells, but if one get's through there's no way to get rid of it.
Tidespout tyrant - not as good as I had hoped. Almost hellbent by turn 5, so his bouncing ability is useless.
Four Dragonskull Summit is too much. Two summits and two basic mountains smoothed things out just fine.
Now, just need the last two orders from SCG to arrive to create version 10 of this deck. And that would probably be the final one.
Should have just bought a Sacred Foundry and Nahiri, instead of buying those thoughtseize which are now useless.
Obzedat is not enough. I need Sphinx of Steel Wind to stand a better chance against the phoenix decks.
Almost to the finish line. Went to the post office today, unfortunately the last cards I ordered are not there yet! >____<
Reason for going Mardu instead of Esper.
It's true that esper is more consistent, because of the gifts rites combo.. however, I like the mardu build because it has the powerful Faithless Looting, and lightning axe - both red spells costing only one mana. Having red also allows the use of Rakdos Charm in the sideboard, which can surprise people not familiar with the deck. And last reason, which I think is an important one... because most of the enablers are R spells, the deck can keep fighting even when under a blood moon.
____________________
The final build of the deck has a total of 10 reanimation targets. Three of these can actually be hardcast in tight sitauations, or when yard hate is present. Also, there is a main deck amulet to help bypass yard hate as well.
Did some more tests, and some final adjustments to the main.
Since will not be adding blue. Cathartic Reunion is back, but only two... after extensive tests, the deck can really only handle 2 reunions. And the third reunion is now a Tormenting voice to balance things out.
One Bedlam Reveler added to the main as another enabler. With so many instants and sorceries in the deck, he should be easy to cast game 1. Almost always sided out in game 2, as it is difficult to resolve him when the yard is being attacked.
Whoa, the Bedlam Reveler performed better than expected. With a mix of 28 instants and sorceries in the deck, he is usually just RR or 1RR. He gives the deck much needed gas to keep fighting. Added a second reveler which also performed nicely in our small testings today. Also took out the oblivion rings, and put back 2 mortify to better support the revelers.
Inkwell Leviathan - can earn a slot in the sideboard. The shroud and very high toughness makes him good. Cheap too, at only 49 cents in SCG. ^^
Stormtide Leviathan - worse than Blazing Archon, because creatures with flying can still attack me.
Giant Adephage - worse than Godsire, and Godsire does not even make the cut.
Verdant Force - this is another worse than Godsire card. Weaker body, and only makes 1/1 tokens.
Grozoth - he's a vanilla 9/9 beater, but his ability can search the deck and put both iona and blazing archon into my hand. Still thinking if this guy is worth it in the main, because his tutor ability can get other monsters into my hand
________________________________________
Right now my main creatures look like this.
2 Jin Gitaxias, Core Augur
1 Obzedat, Ghost Council
2 Ashen Rider
1 Blazing Archon
1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
1 Elesh Norn, Grand cenobite
But when I could order next month. The creature lineup in the main would look something like this. Jin has been underperforming. Might cut him out of the main in favor of creatures that can fight better.
1 Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur
2 Sphinx of the Steel Wind
1 Ashen Rider
1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
2 Blazing Archon
1 Elesh, Norn Grand Cenobite
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Continued testing with the cards I already have.
Jin is good again. The draw 7 and mind twist on the opponent can win games, as long as I have not taken a savage beating already. Games where Jin was bad is those games where I was low life and forced to block with him. Back to two in the main.
Lingering Souls has been underwhelming. Some games where I'm being attacked by Hollow Ones or a bunch of elves... then only thing I can cast are lingering souls. My two 1/1 flying spirit vs a bunch of angery elves. Changed the two souls in the main to a fourth lightning axe and a Grave Titan.
Lightning Axe has been very good. Plenty of things to "axe" in my meta = Hollow One, Gurmag, Elf Lords, Baral, Goblin Electromancer, Thing in the Ice. A fourth axe is now added to main deck.
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It is a huge flyers that ends games quickly and can't be interacted with instant speed removal.
I don't really see how Lightning Axe improves your Elves matchup that much, why not go with Anger of the Gods instead which is also good against: Dredge, Phoenix and the smaller creatures in the Hollow One deck ?
Well, she does look good to test. But I can't for budget reasons. Cannot afford to buy Emrakul v2 since she is 20$.
EDIT: And I did remove the 4th axe after some more testing.
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The single Mana Confluence is under testing, and will be removed if the lifeloss becomes a problem.
1 iona, shield of emeria
1 Obzedat, Ghost Council
1 elesh norn, grand cenobite
1 Grave Titan
2 Ashen Rider
3 jin-gitaxias, core augur
4 duress
2 Collective Brutality
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 thoughtseize
3 lightning axe
3 Cathartic Reunion
4 vigor mortis
2 zombify
4 Unburial Rites
1 Mountain
4 Swamp
2 Inspiring Vantage
2 Concealed Courtyard
1 Mana Confluence
1 Gemstone Mine
4 Polluted Delta
4 Bloodstained Mire
1 Blood Crypt
1 Godless Shrine
EDIT: Ordered from SCG.
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Found out today that Vigor Mortis is not strictly better than Zombify, because vm has double black. It's really hard to cast vm when under a blood moon or magus of the moon. The deck only has 4 real swamps, so zombify is easier to cast when under a moon effect. A blood moon can be discarded by most of the many discard spells, but if one get's through there's no way to get rid of it.
Tidespout tyrant - not as good as I had hoped. Almost hellbent by turn 5, so his bouncing ability is useless.
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The 2 games I managed to win, one was with Jin drawing 14 cards before getting removed. And another was Iona lockdown + grave titan beatdown.
___________________________
The manabase has a serious flaw. Most of the games I lost was because my opening hand lacked R mana, so I mulliganed into poor 5 card hands.
Removing all concealed courtyard. Will replace them with Dragonskull Summit to attempt solve the red mana problem.
__________________
thoughtseize is only one copy in the main now. Because starting the game at 15 life makes my aggro opponents happy.
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Now, just need the last two orders from SCG to arrive to create version 10 of this deck. And that would probably be the final one.
Should have just bought a Sacred Foundry and Nahiri, instead of buying those thoughtseize which are now useless.
Obzedat is not enough. I need Sphinx of Steel Wind to stand a better chance against the phoenix decks.
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1 Steel Hellkite
1 Stormtide Leviathan
1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
1 Novablast Wurm
1 Resolute Archangel
3 Rakdos Charm
1 Extirpate
1 Anger of the Gods
2 Liliana's Defeat
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Reason for going Mardu instead of Esper.
It's true that esper is more consistent, because of the gifts rites combo.. however, I like the mardu build because it has the powerful Faithless Looting, and lightning axe - both red spells costing only one mana. Having red also allows the use of Rakdos Charm in the sideboard, which can surprise people not familiar with the deck. And last reason, which I think is an important one... because most of the enablers are R spells, the deck can keep fighting even when under a blood moon.
____________________
The final build of the deck has a total of 10 reanimation targets. Three of these can actually be hardcast in tight sitauations, or when yard hate is present. Also, there is a main deck amulet to help bypass yard hate as well.
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Since will not be adding blue. Cathartic Reunion is back, but only two... after extensive tests, the deck can really only handle 2 reunions. And the third reunion is now a Tormenting voice to balance things out.
The single Quicksilver Amulet in the main has been working fine so far.
Jin-Gitaxias has been removed form the deck. Just not good enough for the aggressiveness of Modern.
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Want to play a UW control deck in modern, but don't have jace or snaps?
Please come visit us at the Emeria Titan control thread
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Want to play a UW control deck in modern, but don't have jace or snaps?
Please come visit us at the Emeria Titan control thread
Will take this to FNM when Modern resumes on our LGS.
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Want to play a UW control deck in modern, but don't have jace or snaps?
Please come visit us at the Emeria Titan control thread