I see you still prefer your fetch land version. I know that you are likely going to stick to your brew, but the mono blue version is objectively just better. It is now finally consistent enough thanks to Assistant, doesn't take damage from the fetch manabase, blood moon doesn't hurt it etc...
Also I noticed that you play 4 Wurmcoils in the 75, which I find to be little too much, given that your manabase can be shut down by a single Arbiter or Mooon to never be able to cast it trought being unble to play Architect. Also I think it isn't necessary to run full four, as you can dedicate maybe two or even three of the slots to something else to cover more matchups.
Next up the Thalia, Path packages...
Thalia might ve OK, although I wouldn't splash for her, but since you already run that manabase of yours it is possible for you. Can be substituted by Thorns or Damping Spheres for similar effect.
Path is just not optimal though. It essentialy gives them back the mana you are trying to hold them back on with cards likes Golems, Thorns, or in your case the Thalias. I would suggest Dismember, but since you already take damage from lands, I'm not so sure.
Also you migt want to cut two one drops for sth more powerful like Myr Superion,or, with the addition of Minamo, Traxos.
You can also take a different path, put Thalias, Trinket mages+Basilisk Collar into the MB along with some number of Renowned Weaponsmith and Myr S. and voila, you have a less synergistic, less aggro but more midrange-like deck with aspects of Taxes, with a powerful anti-creature combo of Collar+Ballista to figt midrange decks, while also being able to figt combo and control by putting pressure on their mana, the more if you add in some Quarters or Fields of Ruin.
I hope I haven't bored you to death and that my suggestions woul'd be of some relevance to you.
Thanks for the feedback, HonozCZ!I agree with many of your points about the mana base and splash. Up until now, I have been mostly viewing it as a free white splash since I already wanted fetches to shuffle away stuff with Sage of Epityr. Thalia and Path both have their merits though. Thalia can attack/block, help with Chief's Convoke, and crew Smuggler's Copter;all things that Thorn/Sphere can't do. Path is better than it looks too since Ballista is there for the early game removal. Path really shines in removing large threats in the late game when ramping the opponent hurts a little less. It's all in the timing. The life loss from the mana base as well as the vulnerability to Blood Moon etc are potential issues too, as you said, but I don't think I have lost too many matches because of those. Just lucky I guess; it's all in the match ups.
Overall, I agree that mono blue should be the standard, go-to build. I am slowly collecting the cards to build it in real life. It is much cheaper not having to buy fetches too! Too bad Ballista is so expensive. I may continue to splash online since I own the cards. IDK, I just like to brew, so I'll probably keep tweaking the last of my flex spots though and trying new things.
P.S It's was a typo saying that there was two Wurmcoil Engines in the sideboard. It is one Wurm and Pithing Needle, so I only play 3 Wurmcoil Engines overall. Seems like about the right amount for the grindier matches. I agree that 4 is too many. Needle is meh though, I may replace it. Fixed my deck list though, so thanks for pointing that out.
Another little detail about the fetchlands, if we are to play artificer's assistant shuffling our deck is a small disadvantage. Whenever we scry a card to the bottom, we never see the card again. With fetchlands we negate all the scrying our bird provides. Not a huge deal, and if our opponent uses path to exile and/or field of ruin/ghost quarter etc, this doesn't matter, but still it is a small advantage of fetchless mono blue to add to the list and be aware of.
Another little detail about the fetchlands, if we are to play artificer's assistant shuffling our deck is a small disadvantage. Whenever we scry a card to the bottom, we never see the card again. With fetchlands we negate all the scrying our bird provides. Not a huge deal, and if our opponent uses path to exile and/or field of ruin/ghost quarter etc, this doesn't matter, but still it is a small advantage of fetchless mono blue to add to the list and be aware of.
Agreed, unless you fetch for the land you just put on the bottom Then you're breaking even.
EDIT (to avoid double posting): Have gone 2-3, 3-2, and 4-1 in the Friendly League since posting my list the other day. Today's 4-1 list is nearly identical to what I went 4-1 with the other day; it is just -1 Sage of Epityr for +1 Artificer's Assistant, for a 2-4 split between those cards in the main. I also went -1 Pithing Needle for +1 Damping Sphere in the sideboard. I brought in Sphere vs Tron and it preformed well. I'll definitely be keeping that one around, hoping to up it to 2 copies after I round out my SB a little more. Path to Exile also preformed really well in these last few leagues. Ramping them from path rarely impacted my game plan either; it's all in the timing as I mentioned before. FWIW, I rarely bring Thalia, Guardian of Thraben and Path in together. That could be awkward. Generally, they're good against different types of decks, so the situation rarely comes up.
EDIT EDIT: another 3-2 and 4-1. Three 4-1's in the space of 6 leagues feels fairly amazing to me. These are the types of runs I go on with my b/r Hollow One deck, which is a well established, tiered, Pro Tour top 8ing deck. I am not saying that Blue Steel is as good as Hollow One (it's likely not), but this is still exciting to me. The only thing that has really changed in my build is Artificer's Assistant. IDK if the bird can be given full credit for this run I am having, but he definitely rocks! I give him my 100% seal of approval as a staple of the archetype, and all that good stuff. We're getting down to our last few flex spots, aren't we? Seems like around 56 of the main 60 card are pretty well established now
P.S. Sorry Ace1 for quoting you and then adding two edits that have nothing to do with my initial comment. I am trying to avoid double posting, but really don't have any clue about how forum etiquette is supposed to work.
Feels good; it's been a long time since I've gone better than 3-2 in a League (and more 2-3's and 1-4's than I'd like). Anyways, I agree with Ace1, Artificer's Assistant rocks. I am going to try going up to 4 copies and go down to 2 copies of Sage of Epityr. Maybe I'll run 2 Signal Pests in the Sages' spot, seeing how they happen trigger the Assistant. Sage was pretty good tonight though, just not quite as good as the Assistant.
As always, questions and suggestions are always welcome. Mad props to everyone for continuing to keep this forum awesome!
When you run the White Splash, it does more damage and does mess up your scry's some, but I am guessing that I'd run Field of Ruins and maybe a Ghost Quarter or two in my mono-blue list, so I will still do some amount of shuffling my own library.
I see the real downside as the shocking yourself and in aggro on aggro matchups that is a real of a disadvantage. In those same aggro matchups the White Splash doesn't really help you. The white does little in Hollow One and Humans matchups maybe the access to Path to Exile is worth it? But if the meta is more combo, control and even midgame/tempo matchups, the white splash is very good. Even if the three best decks are aggro matchups where the White Splash doesn't help, if those three matchups are less than 25% of the metagame, then the white splash could be pretty good.
If I am voting, I am coming down for the white splash. Thalia is very good. Other white sideboard cards are very good. I'm not convinced I am right, but I think I've good logic and not on my face wrong, so I would spend some effort on the white splash to see if its better against the current metagame and I suspect the white splash will be better in big tournaments, where the better players play less aggressive decks.
When you run the White Splash, it does more damage and does mess up your scry's some, but I am guessing that I'd run Field of Ruins and maybe a Ghost Quarter or two in my mono-blue list, so I will still do some amount of shuffling my own library.
I see the real downside as the shocking yourself and in aggro on aggro matchups that is a real of a disadvantage. In those same aggro matchups the White Splash doesn't really help you. The white does little in Hollow One and Humans matchups maybe the access to Path to Exile is worth it? But if the meta is more combo, control and even midgame/tempo matchups, the white splash is very good. Even if the three best decks are aggro matchups where the White Splash doesn't help, if those three matchups are less than 25% of the metagame, then the white splash could be pretty good.
If I am voting, I am coming down for the white splash. Thalia is very good. Other white sideboard cards are very good. I'm not convinced I am right, but I think I've good logic and not on my face wrong, so I would spend some effort on the white splash to see if its better against the current metagame and I suspect the white splash will be better in big tournaments, where the better players play less aggressive decks.
I would actually advocate for playing mono blue over splashing white unless you already own the u/w mana base. A big incentive to playing this deck is that it is very competitive for how cheap it is to build. Playing mono blue is the only way to keep it cheap. I, however, already own the cards, so I figure why not splash? Path to Exile has felt amazing to me, and I can't see Dismember or any of our other options being nearly as good. I used to play Thorn of Amethyst, and yes, that card is fairly comparable to Thalia. But since I am splashing white, Thalia seems like a perfectly reasonable upgrade.
So just to be clear, I think the mono blue version is great, and it even has some advantages over my build. I do, however, want to be let everyone know that there is not as much risk to splashing as you might think. In my experience, the damage from the mana base has been fairly negligible. I rarely have to pay 2 life to shock because I just fetch for island if I need the immediate mana, and I can usually find a place to play Hallowed Fountain tapped if I draw it naturally. Burn is the one match up where it's obvious the damage hurts, but with careful, mindful play the damage can be mitigated. And yes, shuffling after scrying seems counterproductive, the there are a zillion other multicolored decks that play Serum Visions and/or Opt, so scrying with fetchlands is nothing new. I just do my best to minimize this interaction by being mindful of how and when I crack a fetch land.
I also wanted to point out that I finally played against the Ponza deck. On paper, my mana base looks terrible against Blood Moon. However, I was able to beat an earlyBlood Moon and multiple Stone Rains because the most of my powerful spells are (colorless) artifacts. The key to that match up is getting an Engineer or Architect to stick around because then you can still cast big artifacts after they decimate your mana base. Maybe I got lucky in that match though, who knows? I am definitely going to replace one Seachrome Coast with another island. That will help vs Field of Ruin (which literally everyone plays) and give me another out to Blood Moon (which I admit I am still terrified of).
When you run the White Splash, it does more damage and does mess up your scry's some, but I am guessing that I'd run Field of Ruins and maybe a Ghost Quarter or two in my mono-blue list, so I will still do some amount of shuffling my own library.
I see the real downside as the shocking yourself and in aggro on aggro matchups that is a real of a disadvantage. In those same aggro matchups the White Splash doesn't really help you. The white does little in Hollow One and Humans matchups maybe the access to Path to Exile is worth it? But if the meta is more combo, control and even midgame/tempo matchups, the white splash is very good. Even if the three best decks are aggro matchups where the White Splash doesn't help, if those three matchups are less than 25% of the metagame, then the white splash could be pretty good.
If I am voting, I am coming down for the white splash. Thalia is very good. Other white sideboard cards are very good. I'm not convinced I am right, but I think I've good logic and not on my face wrong, so I would spend some effort on the white splash to see if its better against the current metagame and I suspect the white splash will be better in big tournaments, where the better players play less aggressive decks.
I would actually advocate for playing mono blue over splashing white unless you already own the u/w mana base. A big incentive to playing this deck is that it is very competitive for how cheap it is to build. Playing mono blue is the only way to keep it cheap. I, however, already own the cards, so I figure why not splash? Path to Exile has felt amazing to me, and I can't see Dismember or any of our other options being nearly as good. I used to play Thorn of Amethyst, and yes, that card is fairly comparable to Thalia. But since I am splashing white, Thalia seems like a perfectly reasonable upgrade.
So just to be clear, I think the mono blue version is great, and it even has some advantages over my build. I do, however, want to be let everyone know that there is not as much risk to splashing as you might think. In my experience, the damage from the mana base has been fairly negligible. I rarely have to pay 2 life to shock because I just fetch for island if I need the immediate mana, and I can usually find a place to play Hallowed Fountain tapped if I draw it naturally. Burn is the one match up where it's obvious the damage hurts, but with careful, mindful play the damage can be mitigated. And yes, shuffling after scrying seems counterproductive, the there are a zillion other multicolored decks that play Serum Visions and/or Opt, so scrying with fetchlands is nothing new. I just do my best to minimize this interaction by being mindful of how and when I crack a fetch land.
I also wanted to point out that I finally played against the Ponza deck. On paper, my mana base looks terrible against Blood Moon. However, I was able to beat an earlyBlood Moon and multiple Stone Rains because the most of my powerful spells are (colorless) artifacts. The key to that match up is getting an Engineer or Architect to stick around because then you can still cast big artifacts after they decimate your mana base. Maybe I got lucky in that match though, who knows? I am definitely going to replace one Seachrome Coast with another island. That will help vs Field of Ruin (which literally everyone plays) and give me another out to Blood Moon (which I admit I am still terrified of).
Totally agree that the power level between U and Uw is basically the same. Either deck could be a marginally better choice than the other depending on the meta-game. Thalia is very strong, but its the access to White Sideboard cards that is very compelling. 100% agree that you add a lot of money to your mana base if you splash white and for the small edge it might give you it may not be worth investing in the cards.
I think that Blood Moon's are being played less right now and that most of the decks in the format can play through a Blood Moon. Which maybe allowing decks to creep back into the metagame that Blood Moon was keeping out of the format.
Ponza will win some games, but generally Ponza is a bad deck. Its cards are powerful, but it has to draw the right card at the right time and often stalls letting people back into a game because it cannot draw a win condition or it draws a lot of ramp and nothing to do with it. Ponza is not a consistent deck, but it is powerful, so we can and will win a lot of games against Ponza, my guess is we matchup favorably, but they will get draws that crush almost everyone, which can make Ponza look better than it is and more threatening than it is.
Keenwa1,
I'm curious if there is a reason you aren't running engineered explosives. The main reason I'm considering a splash is to be able to blow up either 1 or 2 cmc board states if I fall behind.
Keenwa1,
I'm curious if there is a reason you aren't running engineered explosives. The main reason I'm considering a splash is to be able to blow up either 1 or 2 cmc board states if I fall behind.
I would 100% run Engineered Explosives if it weren't so expensive. Just checked, they're still like 40 tickets online (and way more IRL). The fact that it's a Trinket Mage target means that it could come in against all sorts of decks as a niche catch all, as well be used a board wipe like you mentioned. I don't think we'd want to wrath all that often (since it's just as likely to hurt us badly) but it'd be nice to have the option. Seems super good against Boggles too.
What do you guys think is this deck's worst matchup in current meta ?
I think big Tron is always a scary match up because they can ramp faster than us and have better things to ramp into. Eldrazi Tron has fewer huge scary threats, so it's not nearly as bad IMO (Basilisk Collar + Balista wrecks them, as does Path). Anything with a ton of removal can be brutal too, but that's where the tax effects come in. They allow us to play a grindy, tempoish sort of game. It tougher to execute that game plan against creature heavy decks because Thorn/Thalia are fairly useless and Vial/Hierarch kind of get around Golem's Tax. Thankfully, Balista really shines in those match ups, as does Wurmcoil Engine.
the active ability is a little mana intensive
i've been eyeing up Sai, Master Thopterist and Gearsmith Prodigy. not sure how much the deck would have to change to get maximum use out of them :/
Sadly Prodigy doesn't have any relevant ability, flying for example, to replace some of our 1-drops. Signal Pest looks better in most cases.
Master Thopterist on the other side seems very cool. He's not an artifact, but still triggers Assistant and Traxos. Easy 1-of for me (I currently play 3 Traxos and will replace one of them with Master), maybe even gonna play 2 after some tests. Also I thnink about adding couple of Darkstee Citadel - they are good to sacrifice them in late game.
I used to play a bit of this deck, and after seeing a few more card options, I want to test it out again to see if it's noticeably better than before. Can the most competent deckbuilder on here please post their current list?
Since the deck seems a little more low to the ground, are you runnign 21 lands?
LEGACY: Soldier Stompy WW // Blue Stompy UU // Fit Variants BGRW // Sol Land Brews BGRUWC MODERN: Pure Pili-ness GU // Red Devotion RR // Green Devotion Variants GRWUG // U/G Emerge CGU // Lots and Lots of Brews BGRUWC
How is this deck against Affinity and Humans? Thinking of picking this up for fun, but it is almost guaranteed I will face one or both of these match ups everytime.
From the outside it looks like Humans might be rough, and Affinity devolves into a pseudo grind fest given the plethora of fliers and colorless creatures.
Red should be burn, Goblins, Dragons, draw/discard, and Standard-unplayable 5CMC cards with insane, lengthy effects that take 10 minutes to figure out what they do and another 20 to actually make their effects work on the field.
Has anyone considered Sigil of Distinction as a one-of in this deck? It's tutorable for the versions running Trinket Mage and seems like it would be a great mana sink. Turns a Mausoleum Wanderer into both a beat stick and a hard counter. Just a thought...
Anyway, I'm about to hop on the wagon here since I already have a set of Walking Ballista and this deck looks like both an affordable and competitive entry point for me into Modern.
Has anyone considered Sigil of Distinction as a one-of in this deck? It's tutorable for the versions running Trinket Mage and seems like it would be a great mana sink. Turns a Mausoleum Wanderer into both a beat stick and a hard counter. Just a thought...
Anyway, I'm about to hop on the wagon here since I already have a set of Walking Ballista and this deck looks like both an affordable and competitive entry point for me into Modern.
My first thought is that it doesn't impact enough, and its only great when you have a lot of mana, but its a threat that can often have haste since it hits the board and attaches to an existing creature. You are correct that it works well to make the Mausoleum Wanderers better and into evasive clocks.
I'd need to think about the whole deck you are playing. How many threats are evasive? How many Trinket Mages? I think its as mana efficient as Fireball and it can stick around for multiple turns. Certainly not going to vouch for it, but I don't hate the idea.
I'm a big fan of Sage of Epityr, but is it better than Siren Stormtamer in this deck?
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LEGACY: Soldier Stompy WW // Blue Stompy UU // Fit Variants BGRW // Sol Land Brews BGRUWC MODERN: Pure Pili-ness GU // Red Devotion RR // Green Devotion Variants GRWUG // U/G Emerge CGU // Lots and Lots of Brews BGRUWC
Article about Sai, Master Thopterist by Frank Karsten. He's very high on the card right now, even in Modern. Doesn't specifically mention Grand Architect decks but the analysis here should prove valuable to anyone thinking about trying Sai out.
I think Sai is useful if you want to try to play the long game. I understand that not everyone here thinks that's the best idea and are more focused on the beatdown/disruption plan. Maybe it winds up being a sideboard card vs. control?
I'm a big fan of Sage of Epityr, but is it better than Siren Stormtamer in this deck?
I'm a huge fan of Sage of Epityr as well and in my experience he has been better than the Siren. This deck is tight on blue mana and I found was a struggle trying to leave an island open for the Siren's ability. I really wanted that card to be good, but yeah, it turns out that I'm not a big fan. I'd say that slot should be filled with 4x Artificer's Assistant over any other one drop (assuming you're already playing Mausoleum Wanderer). Sage is good as a one or two of if you're playing fetch lands, but you don't want to play too many one drops.
I'm a big fan of Sage of Epityr, but is it better than Siren Stormtamer in this deck?
I'm a huge fan of Sage of Epityr as well and in my experience he has been better than the Siren. This deck is tight on blue mana and I found was a struggle trying to leave an island open for the Siren's ability. I really wanted that card to be good, but yeah, it turns out that I'm not a big fan. I'd say that slot should be filled with 4x Artificer's Assistant over any other one drop (assuming you're already playing Mausoleum Wanderer). Sage is good as a one or two of if you're playing fetch lands, but you don't want to play too many one drops.
I like the Sage of Epityr much more in decks that have lots of shuffle effects, so if you are running the Uw version, he is much more powerful because you can get the one or two cards you most want and then shuffle the rest away. Scry4 is very powerful and often it is hard to keep U mana up in this deck to activate Siren Stormtamer. They are very different effects, but the flight ability is of limited value, not none...So it depends on the meta game and AA and MW are definitely priority one drops, but its nice to have options.
I like the Sage of Epityr much more in decks that have lots of shuffle effects, so if you are running the Uw version, he is much more powerful because you can get the one or two cards you most want and then shuffle the rest away. Scry4 is very powerful and often it is hard to keep U mana up in this deck to activate Siren Stormtamer. They are very different effects, but the flight ability is of limited value, not none...So it depends on the meta game and AA and MW are definitely priority one drops, but its nice to have options.
Yeah, flying definitely is a sub-theme of this deck so the more the merrier. I think I'd play Judge's Familiar over the Siren though just because it's effect is free.
How is this deck faring against the U/W control decks like the ones from Barcelona? Just looking at it on paper, Terminus scares me because they can cheat it out even if you've already stuck a Lodestone Golem.
How is this deck faring against the U/W control decks like the ones from Barcelona? Just looking at it on paper, Terminus scares me because they can cheat it out even if you've already stuck a Lodestone Golem.
Do you have a list? I don't think I've played against a newer version of UW control, but I'll let you know if I do?
This made top 8 in Barcelona. I guess the thing freaking me out about it is Terminus. Any other board sweeper Lodestone Golem would make too expensive but not Terminus.
This is a potentially good sideboard card. I am not sure how many decks it is good against or if it helps enough, but yeah we should look at it. Not maindeck material, but if its impactful enough in enough matchups it could be a good sideboard card because it fits with our game plan of needing cheap blue creatures.
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Thanks for the feedback, HonozCZ!I agree with many of your points about the mana base and splash. Up until now, I have been mostly viewing it as a free white splash since I already wanted fetches to shuffle away stuff with Sage of Epityr. Thalia and Path both have their merits though. Thalia can attack/block, help with Chief's Convoke, and crew Smuggler's Copter;all things that Thorn/Sphere can't do. Path is better than it looks too since Ballista is there for the early game removal. Path really shines in removing large threats in the late game when ramping the opponent hurts a little less. It's all in the timing. The life loss from the mana base as well as the vulnerability to Blood Moon etc are potential issues too, as you said, but I don't think I have lost too many matches because of those. Just lucky I guess; it's all in the match ups.
Overall, I agree that mono blue should be the standard, go-to build. I am slowly collecting the cards to build it in real life. It is much cheaper not having to buy fetches too! Too bad Ballista is so expensive. I may continue to splash online since I own the cards. IDK, I just like to brew, so I'll probably keep tweaking the last of my flex spots though and trying new things.
P.S It's was a typo saying that there was two Wurmcoil Engines in the sideboard. It is one Wurm and Pithing Needle, so I only play 3 Wurmcoil Engines overall. Seems like about the right amount for the grindier matches. I agree that 4 is too many. Needle is meh though, I may replace it. Fixed my deck list though, so thanks for pointing that out.
EDIT (to avoid double posting): Have gone 2-3, 3-2, and 4-1 in the Friendly League since posting my list the other day. Today's 4-1 list is nearly identical to what I went 4-1 with the other day; it is just -1 Sage of Epityr for +1 Artificer's Assistant, for a 2-4 split between those cards in the main. I also went -1 Pithing Needle for +1 Damping Sphere in the sideboard. I brought in Sphere vs Tron and it preformed well. I'll definitely be keeping that one around, hoping to up it to 2 copies after I round out my SB a little more. Path to Exile also preformed really well in these last few leagues. Ramping them from path rarely impacted my game plan either; it's all in the timing as I mentioned before. FWIW, I rarely bring Thalia, Guardian of Thraben and Path in together. That could be awkward. Generally, they're good against different types of decks, so the situation rarely comes up.
EDIT EDIT: another 3-2 and 4-1. Three 4-1's in the space of 6 leagues feels fairly amazing to me. These are the types of runs I go on with my b/r Hollow One deck, which is a well established, tiered, Pro Tour top 8ing deck. I am not saying that Blue Steel is as good as Hollow One (it's likely not), but this is still exciting to me. The only thing that has really changed in my build is Artificer's Assistant. IDK if the bird can be given full credit for this run I am having, but he definitely rocks! I give him my 100% seal of approval as a staple of the archetype, and all that good stuff. We're getting down to our last few flex spots, aren't we? Seems like around 56 of the main 60 card are pretty well established now
P.S. Sorry Ace1 for quoting you and then adding two edits that have nothing to do with my initial comment. I am trying to avoid double posting, but really don't have any clue about how forum etiquette is supposed to work.
When you run the White Splash, it does more damage and does mess up your scry's some, but I am guessing that I'd run Field of Ruins and maybe a Ghost Quarter or two in my mono-blue list, so I will still do some amount of shuffling my own library.
I see the real downside as the shocking yourself and in aggro on aggro matchups that is a real of a disadvantage. In those same aggro matchups the White Splash doesn't really help you. The white does little in Hollow One and Humans matchups maybe the access to Path to Exile is worth it? But if the meta is more combo, control and even midgame/tempo matchups, the white splash is very good. Even if the three best decks are aggro matchups where the White Splash doesn't help, if those three matchups are less than 25% of the metagame, then the white splash could be pretty good.
If I am voting, I am coming down for the white splash. Thalia is very good. Other white sideboard cards are very good. I'm not convinced I am right, but I think I've good logic and not on my face wrong, so I would spend some effort on the white splash to see if its better against the current metagame and I suspect the white splash will be better in big tournaments, where the better players play less aggressive decks.
I would actually advocate for playing mono blue over splashing white unless you already own the u/w mana base. A big incentive to playing this deck is that it is very competitive for how cheap it is to build. Playing mono blue is the only way to keep it cheap. I, however, already own the cards, so I figure why not splash? Path to Exile has felt amazing to me, and I can't see Dismember or any of our other options being nearly as good. I used to play Thorn of Amethyst, and yes, that card is fairly comparable to Thalia. But since I am splashing white, Thalia seems like a perfectly reasonable upgrade.
So just to be clear, I think the mono blue version is great, and it even has some advantages over my build. I do, however, want to be let everyone know that there is not as much risk to splashing as you might think. In my experience, the damage from the mana base has been fairly negligible. I rarely have to pay 2 life to shock because I just fetch for island if I need the immediate mana, and I can usually find a place to play Hallowed Fountain tapped if I draw it naturally. Burn is the one match up where it's obvious the damage hurts, but with careful, mindful play the damage can be mitigated. And yes, shuffling after scrying seems counterproductive, the there are a zillion other multicolored decks that play Serum Visions and/or Opt, so scrying with fetchlands is nothing new. I just do my best to minimize this interaction by being mindful of how and when I crack a fetch land.
I also wanted to point out that I finally played against the Ponza deck. On paper, my mana base looks terrible against Blood Moon. However, I was able to beat an earlyBlood Moon and multiple Stone Rains because the most of my powerful spells are (colorless) artifacts. The key to that match up is getting an Engineer or Architect to stick around because then you can still cast big artifacts after they decimate your mana base. Maybe I got lucky in that match though, who knows? I am definitely going to replace one Seachrome Coast with another island. That will help vs Field of Ruin (which literally everyone plays) and give me another out to Blood Moon (which I admit I am still terrified of).
Totally agree that the power level between U and Uw is basically the same. Either deck could be a marginally better choice than the other depending on the meta-game. Thalia is very strong, but its the access to White Sideboard cards that is very compelling. 100% agree that you add a lot of money to your mana base if you splash white and for the small edge it might give you it may not be worth investing in the cards.
I think that Blood Moon's are being played less right now and that most of the decks in the format can play through a Blood Moon. Which maybe allowing decks to creep back into the metagame that Blood Moon was keeping out of the format.
Ponza will win some games, but generally Ponza is a bad deck. Its cards are powerful, but it has to draw the right card at the right time and often stalls letting people back into a game because it cannot draw a win condition or it draws a lot of ramp and nothing to do with it. Ponza is not a consistent deck, but it is powerful, so we can and will win a lot of games against Ponza, my guess is we matchup favorably, but they will get draws that crush almost everyone, which can make Ponza look better than it is and more threatening than it is.
Keenwa1,
I'm curious if there is a reason you aren't running engineered explosives. The main reason I'm considering a splash is to be able to blow up either 1 or 2 cmc board states if I fall behind.
I would 100% run Engineered Explosives if it weren't so expensive. Just checked, they're still like 40 tickets online (and way more IRL). The fact that it's a Trinket Mage target means that it could come in against all sorts of decks as a niche catch all, as well be used a board wipe like you mentioned. I don't think we'd want to wrath all that often (since it's just as likely to hurt us badly) but it'd be nice to have the option. Seems super good against Boggles too.
I think big Tron is always a scary match up because they can ramp faster than us and have better things to ramp into. Eldrazi Tron has fewer huge scary threats, so it's not nearly as bad IMO (Basilisk Collar + Balista wrecks them, as does Path). Anything with a ton of removal can be brutal too, but that's where the tax effects come in. They allow us to play a grindy, tempoish sort of game. It tougher to execute that game plan against creature heavy decks because Thorn/Thalia are fairly useless and Vial/Hierarch kind of get around Golem's Tax. Thankfully, Balista really shines in those match ups, as does Wurmcoil Engine.
seems interesting...
Sadly Prodigy doesn't have any relevant ability, flying for example, to replace some of our 1-drops. Signal Pest looks better in most cases.
Master Thopterist on the other side seems very cool. He's not an artifact, but still triggers Assistant and Traxos. Easy 1-of for me (I currently play 3 Traxos and will replace one of them with Master), maybe even gonna play 2 after some tests. Also I thnink about adding couple of Darkstee Citadel - they are good to sacrifice them in late game.
BRG Shamans
WUBRGElementals
Since the deck seems a little more low to the ground, are you runnign 21 lands?
MODERN: Pure Pili-ness GU // Red Devotion RR // Green Devotion Variants GRWUG // U/G Emerge CGU // Lots and Lots of Brews BGRUWC
From the outside it looks like Humans might be rough, and Affinity devolves into a pseudo grind fest given the plethora of fliers and colorless creatures.
Anyway, I'm about to hop on the wagon here since I already have a set of Walking Ballista and this deck looks like both an affordable and competitive entry point for me into Modern.
My first thought is that it doesn't impact enough, and its only great when you have a lot of mana, but its a threat that can often have haste since it hits the board and attaches to an existing creature. You are correct that it works well to make the Mausoleum Wanderers better and into evasive clocks.
I'd need to think about the whole deck you are playing. How many threats are evasive? How many Trinket Mages? I think its as mana efficient as Fireball and it can stick around for multiple turns. Certainly not going to vouch for it, but I don't hate the idea.
MODERN: Pure Pili-ness GU // Red Devotion RR // Green Devotion Variants GRWUG // U/G Emerge CGU // Lots and Lots of Brews BGRUWC
https://www.channelfireball.com/articles/core-set-2019-spotlight-sai-master-thopterist/
I think Sai is useful if you want to try to play the long game. I understand that not everyone here thinks that's the best idea and are more focused on the beatdown/disruption plan. Maybe it winds up being a sideboard card vs. control?
I like the Sage of Epityr much more in decks that have lots of shuffle effects, so if you are running the Uw version, he is much more powerful because you can get the one or two cards you most want and then shuffle the rest away. Scry4 is very powerful and often it is hard to keep U mana up in this deck to activate Siren Stormtamer. They are very different effects, but the flight ability is of limited value, not none...So it depends on the meta game and AA and MW are definitely priority one drops, but its nice to have options.
Yeah, flying definitely is a sub-theme of this deck so the more the merrier. I think I'd play Judge's Familiar over the Siren though just because it's effect is free.
Pioneer:UR Pheonix
Modern:U Mono U Tron
EDH
GB Glissa, the traitor: Army of Cans
UW Dragonlord Ojutai: Dragonlord NOjutai
UWGDerevi, Empyrial Tactician "you cannot fight the storm"
R Zirilan of the claw. The solution to every problem is dragons
UB Etrata, the Silencer Cloning assassination
Peasant cube: Cards I own
Laszlo Poroskai's White-Blue Control
3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
Creature (3)
2 Snapcaster Mage
1 Vendilion Clique
Sorcery (7)
1 Serum Visions
1 Timely Reinforcements
4 Terminus
1 Entreat the Angels
Instant (18)
4 Opt
4 Path to Exile
1 Condemn
2 Think Twice
2 Logic Knot
1 Mana Leak
1 Negate
3 Cryptic Command
2 Search for Azcanta
1 Detention Sphere
Legendary planeswalker (2)
2 Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
Land (24)
2 Glacial Fortress
2 Hallowed Fountain
3 Celestial Colonnade
4 Field of Ruin
4 Flooded Strand
7 Island
2 Plains
This is a potentially good sideboard card. I am not sure how many decks it is good against or if it helps enough, but yeah we should look at it. Not maindeck material, but if its impactful enough in enough matchups it could be a good sideboard card because it fits with our game plan of needing cheap blue creatures.