My previous testing with Wilderness Reclamation in a Bant Midrange-Control shell resulted in WR being a do-nothing card too often, so that's when I sadly figured that WR needs to enable an insane endgame if it is to find a slot in Modern. Does WR enable an insane endgame in this deck? Read further!
The soul of this deck's late-game is spamming Mystical Teachings for Nexus of Fate once you have a Wilderness Reclamation out, chaining extra turn after extra turn. Bonus points if you can plink them with Snapcaster Mage and/or Creeping Tar Pit in those chained turns. I've found that starting a turn chain without any creatures is generally worth it, though.
In order to get to that point, this deck loads up on full playsets of cards that famously resemble Time Walk: Remand, Explore Growth Spiral, and Cryptic Command.
I already figured that 3 Wilderness Reclamations were probably not necessary, and being able to tutor for one with Mystical Teachings would be pretty sweet. I haven't regretted swapping out a WR for Clutch of the Undercity (which can tutor for WR, and which Teachings can tutor for): I've transmuted it into both WR and Teachings several times each.
Despite the Tiagos, Teachings, Blue Sun's Zenith, and Hieroglyphic Illumination, I found that this deck still had too little CA and had trouble coming back into the game at that point, so I swapped out an Opt for Whispers of the Muse. This has got to be one of the best decks for Whispers of the Muse: worst-case scenario, it's a cycled Hieroglyphic Illumination, and it's not that hard to draw a card a turn with it (especially with Wilderness Reclamation). Two cards a turn isn't even out of the question.
Of course, it's quite possible that Search for Azcanta would be a better use for either slot. (That card made Wilderness Reclamation worth it in my Bant testing.) Luring opposing enchantment removal may be a good thing. Then again, Whispers of the Muse doesn't get hosed by enchantment removal...
Most of the singletons--except for maybe the Spell Snare--earn their keep. Logic Knot is a cheap, nigh-hard counter and is one of the most-often tutored cards in the deck. Pulse of Murasa gets your life total out of the danger zone fast and recurs Tiagos, Tar Pits, and Field of Ruin in style. Devour Flesh can eliminate a Hexproof bugger, but its true worth is against Death's Shadow decks. The Abrupt Decay-Assassin's Trophy split is fine: while Trophy is the better removal spell overall because it hits anything, Decay is markedly better against Spirits because Mausoleum Wanderer cannot counter it. Hieroglyphic Illumination is one of the best cards to flash back with Tiago and is a nice middle ground between Opt and Whispers of the Muse. Blue Sun's Zenith is a great way to end a turn chain, as it can draw scads of cards. It's a pretty poor win con, though: even with 2 WRs out, the only opposing deck you can deck out with the ~24 mana you have access to is Dredge. Spell Snare protects WR from opposing Trophy pretty well and still counters the usual 2-drops, but it feels fairly low-impact. Part of me isn't so hot on 2 Fatal Push and wants a second Trophy instead of a Push. In a controlling deck with as little removal as this--and sometimes I want to maindeck a board wipe!--needing Revolt to kill a 3-drop with Push stings quite often.
The checkland-heavy mana base is actually constructed like that for a reason. The checklands are pain-free, often ETB untapped starting on Turns 2-3, are great to drop with Growth Spiral as a result, and keep ETB-ing untapped in the late-game: and this is a very mana-hungry deck.
I'm not sure whether I should swap out another card for a closer Teachings can tutor for, especially since this deck often cannot win the game outright by the end of the turn chain. This deck often does accrue a considerable number of answers in hand by the end of the turn chain, though, and I've been having increasing success ending turn chains with USZ, Pulse of Murasa, Tiago, or simply one more Nexus of Fate. The turn chain often results in an eventual win, anyway. Not to mention the very endgame of this deck: casting Nexus of Fate every turn and getting infinite turns that way. (I've only achieved this once so far, though.)
This deck has a bad time against Burn and Humans in my testing, but several other match-ups seem winnable, including Grixis Death's Shadow (they need early fatties, preferably with Stubborn Denial backup), Spirits (they're disruptive AF, but their clock can be on the slow side), Dredge (you may be surprised--the turn chain can get going fast enough, and USZ is a legitimate finisher against them--Remand as many spells as possible, though), and Hardened Scales Robots (they have no maindeck spell disruption, and this deck generally has an easier time against those types of aggro decks). This deck's Gx Tron match-up isn't completely shabby, but you need to play aggressively against them, to the point that you may want to aim Cryptic at Tron lands fairly early.
Of note: the maindeck hasn't changed, but the sideboard has. I like Crypt Incursion better than Pulse of Murasa as a sideboard card, as exiling opposing binned creature cards is bound to get useful some day (e.g. vs. Phoenix decks, Kolaghan's Command). I'm not so sure about dropping threats from the board, though.
Tested my deck against Phoenix decks for pre-board games earlier. The UR Phoenix match-up is close enough to even, while the 8-Spectacle Mono-Red Phoenix match-up was Burn levels of miserable. Conclusion: I pulled a Push for an Assassin's Trophy shortly afterwards. I'm sick and tired of needing Revolt to hit 3+-drops, and I could use a boost to my Tron match-up.
How fragile do the tarpits feel? Do you think lumbering falls and adequate tweaks to the mana to compensate the swap would be feasible? I don't have a nexus either, but i'd get one to try this out if it's as fun as it looks. I jam mono U turns for fun every now and then anyway - so this feels like it's up my alley.
Do you think the deck could benefit from 1-2 Search for Azcanta? I feel like having the added utility of being able to activate it and then untap with wilderness reclamation could be extremely useful!
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UU"Brute force can sometimes kick down a locked door, but knowledge is a skeleton key"UU
How fragile do the tarpits feel? Do you think lumbering falls and adequate tweaks to the mana to compensate the swap would be feasible? I don't have a nexus either, but i'd get one to try this out if it's as fun as it looks. I jam mono U turns for fun every now and then anyway - so this feels like it's up my alley.
The Creeping Tar Pits are fragile as usual, and so are Snapcaster Mages, yet this deck leans pretty hard on winning with combat damage. Thing is, this deck can be patient in terms of finding sources of damage, and more than half the time, I start a turn chain with no creatures of any kind. Also, this deck doesn't maindeck board wipes, so since my opponent will often have blockers, I think Lumbering Falls is right out. When I'm chaining turns, I want to reliably damage my opponent, and Tar Pit's unblockability lets me do that. (Even though Tiago gets blocked by everything, his ability to recur spells is too good to pass up, and he's by far the best Pulse of Murasa target.)
Do you think the deck could benefit from 1-2 Search for Azcanta? I feel like having the added utility of being able to activate it and then untap with wilderness reclamation could be extremely useful!
Yes: as I've mentioned in the first post, I suspect the deck can benefit from a Search for Azcanta. I'm not quite sure where to put one, though: maybe removing a Wilderness Reclamation or my Clutch of the Undercity, since Wilderness Reclamation is useless at times? I'm not as confident that I should pull a 1-mana cantrip for it.
Azcanta is nuts with reclamation. There are very few cards you can play in modern that work so well with reclamation, especially that use your mana every turn. Also man lands are great with reclamation. BSZ seems unplayable in modern, but i got to watch the vods i guess.
i just played against this deck, and it's miles ahead of any rug variant i could concoct. teaching is an absolute house; the fact that teachings can be played at instant speed, AND also tutors for clutch of the undercity which can be transmuted for wilderness reclamation is just clutch. against the mirror, that is. not sure how it would fare against faster decks with a significant clock - i assume black helps it give it a stronger edge than red would, because burning the opponent with bolt and electrolyze isn't the goal of the deck.
First they came for the Cantrips, and I didn't speak up, because I wasn't a Cantrip.
Then they came for the Artifacts, and I didn't speak up, because I was an Instant.
Then they came for the Rituals, and I didn't speak up, because I wasn't really a Ritual.
Then they came for me, and by that time there was no one left to speak up for me.
Can you cast spells after WR's eot trigger resolves but before your turn actually ends? (So long as they're instants of course)
absolutely, just like teferi +1
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First they came for the Cantrips, and I didn't speak up, because I wasn't a Cantrip.
Then they came for the Artifacts, and I didn't speak up, because I was an Instant.
Then they came for the Rituals, and I didn't speak up, because I wasn't really a Ritual.
Then they came for me, and by that time there was no one left to speak up for me.
I have played this deck during 2 days and have this:
-creeping tar pit is more fragile than lumbering falls but it's just better due to the unblockeable. Sometimes we have to kill them through a table full of creatures and don't have cryptic to tap them. Also better against walkers.
-the wincon with BSZ its not a secondary wincon, is a wincon. I milled my opponent with that like 4-5 times and today my opp went to infinite life with vizier and finks and here was my BSZ.
-I like the tutor for reclamation tutoreable with teachings, but still wouldn't cut the third reclamation. Sometimes we struggle against a turn 1 seize (imagine if we have the nexus)
-also the buyback card swap for opt is good
The main issue I found about this deck is when you have to keep a hand without growth and in late game when we use to draw too many lands. But the deck is cool!
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Modern:
RU UR Storm RU BRU Grixis Control BRU UBUB Faeries UB UBUB Tezzerator UB BG Lantern Control BG
We got 2 more MTGO Modern Constructed Leagues (at least I think they're 2 more Leagues) here and here with Ftzz's 5-0 results in them! The deck's the same both times:
The maindeck remains the same, but the sideboard has slightly changed yet again. Seems that planeswalkers get annoying enough that Hero's Downfall is now in. The Burn match-up is still lame enough that Life Goes On has gone up to 2 and Crypt Incursion still stays. And I was wondering what Display of Dominance was doing in the board...and it's out. Guess there aren't enough Death's Shadow decks for the Devour Flesh to stay in the board anymore.
(At the bottom)
That you don't want to tap out on turn 2 for search because of the diminishing returns or effectiveness of remand. I could also see 1-2 tasigur in the main based on his size and activated ability. I have yet to play it but definitely interested!
What about the old school standard teachings decks that ran teferi and then were able to teachings for dralnu and lock up the game? Obviously dralnu is not good against burn, but I feel that this is a path worth exploring.
What about the old school standard teachings decks that ran teferi and then were able to teachings for dralnu and lock up the game? Obviously dralnu is not good against burn, but I feel that this is a path worth exploring.
Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir can probably be treated as a finisher here, as he's an expensive creature, and as I play this deck more, I'm finding fewer and fewer reasons to include finishers not named Blue Sun's Zenith. Creature Teferi is a lame blocker (outsized by Tasigur, Thought-Knot Seer, lots of Goyfs, lots of Death's Shadows, etc.), and his hosing ability has seen better days. Needing to survive (or needing scads of mana) in order to tutor for Dralnu also sucks at times. And it's hard to find a window to cast Dralnu without Creature Teferi.
Quite often, this doesn't play like a regular Teachings deck: instead of trying to semi-close the game with creatures, you try to semi-close the game with Nexus of Fate spam. Thanks to Wilderness Reclamation, you can actually try to semi-close the game in the midgame instead of the late-game.
While I probably should try going into Regular Teachings Mode more often (I most naturally fall into this mode against opposing Ux/y Control decks, but I probably should stay in that mode longer against Jund because they have some of the easiest times both killing and ignoring Wilderness Reclamation from my testing), I don't think it can remain in that mode long enough to support the Creature Teferi-into-finisher plan, especially alongside the Nexus Turns plan. And given how vulnerable Creature Teferi is to removal, blockers, and even counterspells compared to Nexus of Fate (you can tutor for Nexus more than once even after it gets countered some of the time), I believe the Nexus Turns plan is better for this shell.
What about the old school standard teachings decks that ran teferi and then were able to teachings for dralnu and lock up the game? Obviously dralnu is not good against burn, but I feel that this is a path worth exploring.
I think of Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir as a game ender against U/x Control decks. Dralnu is not really necessary in this matchup. In every other matchup, siding in Teferi would be a mistake, IMHO.
Other than that, this deck needs a mass removal in maindeck. Auto-losing G1 to Humans, Elves, Spirits, Goblins and Bridgevine is just a hard blow. And there is not alot of instant sweepers in sultai colors.
@FTZZ, What cards do you typically side out and/or what cards do you rarely/never side out? Figuring out what card to bring in for a matchup is fairly easy, but since I don't play the deck much it's hard for me to know which cards to cut to make room in game 2 and 3.
@shadowgripper Shortlist: Hiero, Assasin's Trophy, Dev Flesh, Field of Ruin, Teachings #3, Wilderness #3, Nexus, Remands, Cryptic #4. I never side out BSZ, spiral, or below 2teachings / 3 cryptic. Remands stay in a surprising amount of the time as trading mana/tempo is all the deck wants to do.
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1 Field of Ruin
2 Creeping Tar Pit
1 Drowned Catacomb
1 Flooded Grove
2 Hinterland Harbor
3 Misty Rainforest
4 Polluted Delta
3 Breeding Pool
2 Watery Grave
4 Island
1 Forest
1 Swamp
Creatures
3 Snapcaster Mage
Spells
3 Wilderness Reclamation
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Assassin's Trophy
1 Blue Sun's Zenith
4 Cryptic Command
1 Devour Flesh
2 Fatal Push
4 Growth Spiral
1 Hieroglyphic Illumination
1 Logic Knot
3 Mystical Teachings
1 Nexus of Fate
3 Opt
1 Pulse of Murasa
4 Remand
1 Spell Snare
1 Devour Flesh
1 Fatal Push
1 Pulse of Murasa
1 Ceremonious Rejection
1 Consume the Meek
2 Dispel
1 Display of Dominance
1 Echoing Decay
1 Fracturing Gust
1 Life Goes On
1 Nimble Obstructionist
1 Shadow of Doubt
1 Surgical Extraction
1 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
So I decided to try it out on Cockatrice and figure out how consistently it can 5-0. I couldn't resist a couple of tweaks, though:
1 Field of Ruin
2 Creeping Tar Pit
1 Flooded Grove
1 Drowned Catacomb
2 Hinterland Harbor
4 Polluted Delta
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Breeding Pool
2 Watery Grave
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Forest
3 Island
1 Swamp
Creatures
3 Snapcaster Mage
Spells
2 Wilderness Reclamation
1 Clutch of the Undercity
1 Assassin's Trophy
1 Abrupt Decay
4 Growth Spiral
2 Opt
3 Mystical Teachings
4 Remand
4 Cryptic Command
2 Fatal Push
1 Nexus of Fate
1 Blue Sun's Zenith
1 Logic Knot
1 Pulse of Murasa
1 Devour Flesh
1 Spell Snare
1 Hieroglyphic Illumination
1 Whispers of the Muse
1 Nimble Obstructionist
1 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
1 Pulse of Murasa
1 Consume the Meek
1 Dispel
1 Ceremonious Rejection
1 Devour Flesh
1 Fracturing Gust
1 Life Goes On
1 Echoing Decay
1 Shadow of Doubt
1 Display of Dominance
1 Surgical Extraction
1 Deglamer
1 Negate
My previous testing with Wilderness Reclamation in a Bant Midrange-Control shell resulted in WR being a do-nothing card too often, so that's when I sadly figured that WR needs to enable an insane endgame if it is to find a slot in Modern. Does WR enable an insane endgame in this deck? Read further!
The soul of this deck's late-game is spamming Mystical Teachings for Nexus of Fate once you have a Wilderness Reclamation out, chaining extra turn after extra turn. Bonus points if you can plink them with Snapcaster Mage and/or Creeping Tar Pit in those chained turns. I've found that starting a turn chain without any creatures is generally worth it, though.
In order to get to that point, this deck loads up on full playsets of cards that famously resemble Time Walk: Remand,
ExploreGrowth Spiral, and Cryptic Command.I already figured that 3 Wilderness Reclamations were probably not necessary, and being able to tutor for one with Mystical Teachings would be pretty sweet. I haven't regretted swapping out a WR for Clutch of the Undercity (which can tutor for WR, and which Teachings can tutor for): I've transmuted it into both WR and Teachings several times each.
Despite the Tiagos, Teachings, Blue Sun's Zenith, and Hieroglyphic Illumination, I found that this deck still had too little CA and had trouble coming back into the game at that point, so I swapped out an Opt for Whispers of the Muse. This has got to be one of the best decks for Whispers of the Muse: worst-case scenario, it's a cycled Hieroglyphic Illumination, and it's not that hard to draw a card a turn with it (especially with Wilderness Reclamation). Two cards a turn isn't even out of the question.
Of course, it's quite possible that Search for Azcanta would be a better use for either slot. (That card made Wilderness Reclamation worth it in my Bant testing.) Luring opposing enchantment removal may be a good thing. Then again, Whispers of the Muse doesn't get hosed by enchantment removal...
Most of the singletons--except for maybe the Spell Snare--earn their keep. Logic Knot is a cheap, nigh-hard counter and is one of the most-often tutored cards in the deck. Pulse of Murasa gets your life total out of the danger zone fast and recurs Tiagos, Tar Pits, and Field of Ruin in style. Devour Flesh can eliminate a Hexproof bugger, but its true worth is against Death's Shadow decks. The Abrupt Decay-Assassin's Trophy split is fine: while Trophy is the better removal spell overall because it hits anything, Decay is markedly better against Spirits because Mausoleum Wanderer cannot counter it. Hieroglyphic Illumination is one of the best cards to flash back with Tiago and is a nice middle ground between Opt and Whispers of the Muse. Blue Sun's Zenith is a great way to end a turn chain, as it can draw scads of cards. It's a pretty poor win con, though: even with 2 WRs out, the only opposing deck you can deck out with the ~24 mana you have access to is Dredge. Spell Snare protects WR from opposing Trophy pretty well and still counters the usual 2-drops, but it feels fairly low-impact. Part of me isn't so hot on 2 Fatal Push and wants a second Trophy instead of a Push. In a controlling deck with as little removal as this--and sometimes I want to maindeck a board wipe!--needing Revolt to kill a 3-drop with Push stings quite often.
The checkland-heavy mana base is actually constructed like that for a reason. The checklands are pain-free, often ETB untapped starting on Turns 2-3, are great to drop with Growth Spiral as a result, and keep ETB-ing untapped in the late-game: and this is a very mana-hungry deck.
I'm not sure whether I should swap out another card for a closer Teachings can tutor for, especially since this deck often cannot win the game outright by the end of the turn chain. This deck often does accrue a considerable number of answers in hand by the end of the turn chain, though, and I've been having increasing success ending turn chains with USZ, Pulse of Murasa, Tiago, or simply one more Nexus of Fate. The turn chain often results in an eventual win, anyway. Not to mention the very endgame of this deck: casting Nexus of Fate every turn and getting infinite turns that way. (I've only achieved this once so far, though.)
This deck has a bad time against Burn and Humans in my testing, but several other match-ups seem winnable, including Grixis Death's Shadow (they need early fatties, preferably with Stubborn Denial backup), Spirits (they're disruptive AF, but their clock can be on the slow side), Dredge (you may be surprised--the turn chain can get going fast enough, and USZ is a legitimate finisher against them--Remand as many spells as possible, though), and Hardened Scales Robots (they have no maindeck spell disruption, and this deck generally has an easier time against those types of aggro decks). This deck's Gx Tron match-up isn't completely shabby, but you need to play aggressively against them, to the point that you may want to aim Cryptic at Tron lands fairly early.
1 Field of Ruin
2 Creeping Tar Pit
1 Drowned Catacomb
1 Flooded Grove
2 Hinterland Harbor
3 Misty Rainforest
4 Polluted Delta
3 Breeding Pool
2 Watery Grave
4 Island
1 Forest
1 Swamp
Creatures
3 Snapcaster Mage
Spells
3 Wilderness Reclamation
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Assassin's Trophy
1 Blue Sun's Zenith
4 Cryptic Command
1 Devour Flesh
2 Fatal Push
4 Growth Spiral
1 Hieroglyphic Illumination
1 Logic Knot
3 Mystical Teachings
1 Nexus of Fate
3 Opt
1 Pulse of Murasa
4 Remand
1 Spell Snare
1 Devour Flesh
2 Fatal Push
1 Ceremonious Rejection
1 Consume the Meek
1 Crypt Incursion
2 Dispel
1 Display of Dominance
1 Echoing Decay
1 Fracturing Gust
1 Life Goes On
1 Nimble Obstructionist
1 Shadow of Doubt
...OK, 32nd place is better than nothing.
Of note: the maindeck hasn't changed, but the sideboard has. I like Crypt Incursion better than Pulse of Murasa as a sideboard card, as exiling opposing binned creature cards is bound to get useful some day (e.g. vs. Phoenix decks, Kolaghan's Command). I'm not so sure about dropping threats from the board, though.
Tested my deck against Phoenix decks for pre-board games earlier. The UR Phoenix match-up is close enough to even, while the 8-Spectacle Mono-Red Phoenix match-up was Burn levels of miserable. Conclusion: I pulled a Push for an Assassin's Trophy shortly afterwards. I'm sick and tired of needing Revolt to hit 3+-drops, and I could use a boost to my Tron match-up.
The Creeping Tar Pits are fragile as usual, and so are Snapcaster Mages, yet this deck leans pretty hard on winning with combat damage. Thing is, this deck can be patient in terms of finding sources of damage, and more than half the time, I start a turn chain with no creatures of any kind. Also, this deck doesn't maindeck board wipes, so since my opponent will often have blockers, I think Lumbering Falls is right out. When I'm chaining turns, I want to reliably damage my opponent, and Tar Pit's unblockability lets me do that. (Even though Tiago gets blocked by everything, his ability to recur spells is too good to pass up, and he's by far the best Pulse of Murasa target.)
Yes: as I've mentioned in the first post, I suspect the deck can benefit from a Search for Azcanta. I'm not quite sure where to put one, though: maybe removing a Wilderness Reclamation or my Clutch of the Undercity, since Wilderness Reclamation is useless at times? I'm not as confident that I should pull a 1-mana cantrip for it.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUMfwqGUOscj2XHgDcI4IOe6ILEr350u3
i just played against this deck, and it's miles ahead of any rug variant i could concoct. teaching is an absolute house; the fact that teachings can be played at instant speed, AND also tutors for clutch of the undercity which can be transmuted for wilderness reclamation is just clutch. against the mirror, that is. not sure how it would fare against faster decks with a significant clock - i assume black helps it give it a stronger edge than red would, because burning the opponent with bolt and electrolyze isn't the goal of the deck.
considering a bant bent on this, with glittering wish to get wargate for WR
Draft My Cube!
absolutely, just like teferi +1
Nath'd, but that is the crux of this deck: cast instants (e.g. Mystical Teachings into Nexus of Fate) after the Wilderness Reclamation trigger resolves and thus do your best to dodge Mana Leak.
-creeping tar pit is more fragile than lumbering falls but it's just better due to the unblockeable. Sometimes we have to kill them through a table full of creatures and don't have cryptic to tap them. Also better against walkers.
-the wincon with BSZ its not a secondary wincon, is a wincon. I milled my opponent with that like 4-5 times and today my opp went to infinite life with vizier and finks and here was my BSZ.
-I like the tutor for reclamation tutoreable with teachings, but still wouldn't cut the third reclamation. Sometimes we struggle against a turn 1 seize (imagine if we have the nexus)
-also the buyback card swap for opt is good
The main issue I found about this deck is when you have to keep a hand without growth and in late game when we use to draw too many lands. But the deck is cool!
R U UR Storm R U
B R U Grixis Control B R U
UBUB Faeries UB
UBUB Tezzerator UB
BG Lantern Control BG
Legacy:
UB ANT Storm UB
R U UR Storm R U
B R U Grixis Control B R U
UBUB Faeries UB
UBUB Tezzerator UB
BG Lantern Control BG
Legacy:
UB ANT Storm UB
1 Field of Ruin
2 Creeping Tar Pit
1 Drowned Catacomb
1 Flooded Grove
2 Hinterland Harbor
3 Misty Rainforest
4 Polluted Delta
3 Breeding Pool
2 Watery Grave
4 Island
1 Forest
1 Swamp
Creatures
3 Snapcaster Mage
Spells
3 Wilderness Reclamation
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Assassin's Trophy
1 Blue Sun's Zenith
4 Cryptic Command
1 Devour Flesh
2 Fatal Push
4 Growth Spiral
1 Hieroglyphic Illumination
1 Logic Knot
3 Mystical Teachings
1 Nexus of Fate
3 Opt
1 Pulse of Murasa
4 Remand
1 Spell Snare
2 Fatal Push
1 Ceremonious Rejection
1 Consume the Meek
1 Crypt Incursion
2 Dispel
1 Echoing Decay
1 Fracturing Gust
1 Hero's Downfall
2 Life Goes On
1 Nimble Obstructionist
1 Shadow of Doubt
1 Surgical Extraction
The maindeck remains the same, but the sideboard has slightly changed yet again. Seems that planeswalkers get annoying enough that Hero's Downfall is now in. The Burn match-up is still lame enough that Life Goes On has gone up to 2 and Crypt Incursion still stays. And I was wondering what Display of Dominance was doing in the board...and it's out. Guess there aren't enough Death's Shadow decks for the Devour Flesh to stay in the board anymore.
http://www.starcitygames.com/articles/38272_The-Modern-Format-Returneth.html
(At the bottom)
That you don't want to tap out on turn 2 for search because of the diminishing returns or effectiveness of remand. I could also see 1-2 tasigur in the main based on his size and activated ability. I have yet to play it but definitely interested!
Modern
URGTemur ScapeshiftGRU
EDH
WGKarametra EnchantressGW
UBGSidisi, Brood Tyrant ReanimatorGBU
UBRKess DoomsdayRBU
WBGGhave TokensGBW
WUBZur RebelsBUW
WUBErtai CursesBUW
WRFiresong and Sunspeaker Spell SlingerRW
Greetings,
Kathal
Modern/Legacy
either funpolice (Delver, Deathcloud, UW Control) or the fun decks (especially those ft. Griselbrand)
Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir can probably be treated as a finisher here, as he's an expensive creature, and as I play this deck more, I'm finding fewer and fewer reasons to include finishers not named Blue Sun's Zenith. Creature Teferi is a lame blocker (outsized by Tasigur, Thought-Knot Seer, lots of Goyfs, lots of Death's Shadows, etc.), and his hosing ability has seen better days. Needing to survive (or needing scads of mana) in order to tutor for Dralnu also sucks at times. And it's hard to find a window to cast Dralnu without Creature Teferi.
Quite often, this doesn't play like a regular Teachings deck: instead of trying to semi-close the game with creatures, you try to semi-close the game with Nexus of Fate spam. Thanks to Wilderness Reclamation, you can actually try to semi-close the game in the midgame instead of the late-game.
While I probably should try going into Regular Teachings Mode more often (I most naturally fall into this mode against opposing Ux/y Control decks, but I probably should stay in that mode longer against Jund because they have some of the easiest times both killing and ignoring Wilderness Reclamation from my testing), I don't think it can remain in that mode long enough to support the Creature Teferi-into-finisher plan, especially alongside the Nexus Turns plan. And given how vulnerable Creature Teferi is to removal, blockers, and even counterspells compared to Nexus of Fate (you can tutor for Nexus more than once even after it gets countered some of the time), I believe the Nexus Turns plan is better for this shell.
I think of Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir as a game ender against U/x Control decks. Dralnu is not really necessary in this matchup. In every other matchup, siding in Teferi would be a mistake, IMHO.
Other than that, this deck needs a mass removal in maindeck. Auto-losing G1 to Humans, Elves, Spirits, Goblins and Bridgevine is just a hard blow. And there is not alot of instant sweepers in sultai colors.
Anyone else having success with this deck?
Regards,
bitbroosher.
1 Field of Ruin
2 Creeping Tar Pit
1 Drowned Catacomb
1 Flooded Grove
2 Hinterland Harbor
3 Misty Rainforest
4 Polluted Delta
3 Breeding Pool
2 Watery Grave
4 Island
1 Forest
1 Swamp
Creatures
3 Snapcaster Mage
Spells
3 Wilderness Reclamation
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Assassin's Trophy
1 Blue Sun's Zenith
4 Cryptic Command
1 Devour Flesh
2 Fatal Push
4 Growth Spiral
1 Hieroglyphic Illumination
1 Logic Knot
3 Mystical Teachings
1 Nexus of Fate
3 Opt
1 Pulse of Murasa
4 Remand
1 Spell Snare
2 Fatal Push
1 Ceremonious Rejection
1 Consume the Meek
1 Crypt Incursion
2 Dispel
1 Echoing Decay
1 Fracturing Gust
1 Hero's Downfall
2 Life Goes On
1 Shadow of Doubt
1 Surgical Extraction
1 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
I guess none of the MTGO results guys want to mess with the maindeck.