On too many levels, CMC, on what turn will you sucessfully be playing this combo, your opponent must have no answer to you casting queller, you just 2 for 1'd yourself, and wasted a vial activation. I agree that the card is decent with displacer. If you want to play this with strangler you're probably running more eldrazi, so that's 4 colors. The math dosen't add up for this small combo. Too much investment for a decent, not game breaking, combo. In dreamland this is a great, but it dosen't scream "put me in a d&t list"
You said it was a nonbo and I explained to you it is not.
Countering a Supreme verdict, even without trying to do anything else with it on the stack, is already good enough. Especially if you play Meddling Mage and/or Ethersworn Canonist. Even more so if you have Thalia/Wingmare on the table already. That card itself, alongside with Selfless spirit, will make UW Taxes a real thing. Not saying it'll be the best tax deck, but it will be a deck and it will be sweet.
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You said it was a nonbo and I explained to you it is not.
Countering a Supreme verdict, even without trying to do anything else with it on the stack, is already good enough. Especially if you play Meddling Mage and/or Ethersworn Canonist. Even more so if you have Thalia/Wingmare on the table already. That card itself, alongside with Selfless spirit, will make UW Taxes a real thing. Not saying it'll be the best tax deck, but it will be a deck and it will be sweet.
it's a nonbo in the sence that you cant flickerwisp it in answer to another spell to have the next spell exiled as well. the basic flicker combo. which makes it work better with displacer. i'm not gonna try to stop you from living out your wildest modern dreams, just trying to tell you why i think this card is more clumsy than you'd expect at first glance. if you really like the card you're probably better off putting it in another deck that works better with the interaction, i just dont see it running in a d&t shell.
That's fine. The point is you don't know what a nonbo is, or you don't know how to use the term. A nonbo is running 4 thalias, 4 wingmares and 16 non creature spells. A nonbo is playing Rest in peace in a reanimator deck.
The basic combo with flickerwisp on your own creatures always gets the same output: get your creature back at the next end of turn to either counter a targeted removal spell/ability, gain value from the ETB trigger or reset a finks. It does the same with Queller, you give them back a spell that if you can manage them not to cast, or let them cast it in a non profitable way, it's better for you.
I don't really care for UW Spirit Taxes, although it has a brighter future than Eldrazi and Taxes in my opinion.
But you can't say that a creature that exiles a spell on the stack it's a bad card or it doesn't suit the deck. It can be a lot better than sculler in the right scenarios, and the same in others, while being a NON artifact, 3 thoughness, flying and Flash.
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With the new Sigarda's Aid card being printed (the 1cmc enchantment that makes equipment have flash and instant equip), it is probably still too slow for D&T, yea?
Not too slow, just too narrow (in a needs-more-equipment-to-be-strong way like Be_lakorsaid).
Is Sigarda's Blessing what we've been waiting for to make swords much more viable?
The short answer: No.
The long answer: No, because you are bumping useful slots for a very narrow very situational effect that has synergy with a very very small number of other cards in your D&T deck. (like darktutoralluded to)
Sigarda's Blessing is only useful if you can cast it before you cast your equipment spell. After you've cast Sword, SB become dead draws (until you draw another Sword). After you've cast SB, more SB become dead draws (they can't give double-flash or an extra-free equip). If you have 2xSB and 2xSwords you'll probably be drawing them in the wrong order 50% of the time. That means 50% of the time you'll have a Sword in hand and you have to decide "cast it now and pay 2cmc to equip it later" (making SB a dead draw) or "hold it and hope to draw SB soon" (letting Sword rot in your hand). Getting to flash-cast a sword onto an unblocked attacker would be fun, but you're probably better off just equipping it to something with evasion and not dealing with the dead-draw situations that SB is much more likely to create.
With how few equipment spells (Swords) D&T runs, you'll almost never cast more than one Sword off of Sigarda's Blessing in any game. Following that mindset, SB is basically a pre-paid white Magnetic Theft that has been nerfed to only work during friendly-equipment-ETB and only attaching to creatures we control. A white Magnetic Theft doesn't sound like an effect I'd like to waste card slots in D&T to have. The one-time-use equip discount (worth 2 for Swords) isn't generally worth the 1cmc+1card investment, even with flash. The fact that it is an enchantment that sticks around really doesn't matter when we're only playing ~2x Swords; getting more reliable multi-use out of a SB likely requires 6x or more equipment (and 9x or more before it becomes remotely profitable). That's no good for our creature-based Vial-value deck, but it will be fun to see how those white equipment-oriented decks will evolve around it, though.
Also, Puresteel Paladin lets us equip or re-equip at a discount, draw cards, and can turn sideways for a bear attack, and even that little guy doesn't see D&T play due to poor synergy caused by low equipment counts.
If you don't see the nonbo-part of the interaction so be it. Not sure why you wanted to make this personal. I never said it was a bad card, just that you were a bad brewer. I like the card, but I don't see this card in a D&T shell.
I didn't make it personal, but you said it's a nonbo and it's not. It can be a combo if you have enought information and resources available. But the fact that you can't always use as a combo doesn't make it a nonbo, you still don't even know what it means. I won't comment on this subdiscussion anymore, because you just keep changing the focus of it, you can't keep up to your own words and you made it personal. You really seem like a kid (as your name implies), so no point in trying to make you understand, moving on.
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Just to let everyone know, the New thalia doesn't stop them from combing off, they can make them on your end step and untap/attack.
No, it does stop kiki-jiki, mirror breaker. This was true of splinter twin + pestermite, but kiki-restoration angel works differently. Whenever resto blinks kiki, kiki wil etb tapped and be unable to be activated again. Twin was fine because deceiver exarch untaps, but resto blinks, making new thalia effective against it regardless of the timing.
I've played WB DnT for around 2 years now (been lurking since Eldrazi Winter), with a list very similar to your own, and I want to say you're definitely missing out not playing at least 2-3 Wasteland Strangler. The card works great with Tidehollow and Flickerwisp, works well off Vial with Thalia (I've killed so many Tasigur's/Goyfs), and also gets the job done in the Affinity match killing off/blocking Etched Champions and having the extra removal feels really great. Seriously ever since BFZ this card has added so much to the shell, and definitely stands alone from the rest of the Eldrazi Taxes list.
I want to ask you a few questions though since I've been out of the DnT loop for a bit.
1. How are Sea Gate Wreckage and Shambling Vents treating you? Do you find that you actually draw cards off SGW? Does Shambling Vents ever mess up sequencing? I remember I specifically cut Isolated Chapel back in the day just because I hated have a turn 1 ETB land.
2. With only 22 lands, do you find that you can activate Vault of the Archangel reliably? I used to like it at 23 lands, but 22 seems like it might be a dead colorless source most of the time.
3. I think one of the biggest upsides to not playing Eldrazi Taxes is that you can run more Tectonic Edges. Do you feel the utility provided by the other lands outweighs Tec Edge?
I've played WB DnT for around 2 years now (been lurking since Eldrazi Winter), with a list very similar to your own, and I want to say you're definitely missing out not playing at least 2-3 Wasteland Strangler. The card works great with Tidehollow and Flickerwisp, works well off Vial with Thalia (I've killed so many Tasigur's/Goyfs), and also gets the job done in the Affinity match killing off/blocking Etched Champions and having the extra removal feels really great. Seriously ever since BFZ this card has added so much to the shell, and definitely stands alone from the rest of the Eldrazi Taxes list.
I want to ask you a few questions though since I've been out of the DnT loop for a bit.
1. How are Sea Gate Wreckage and Shambling Vents treating you? Do you find that you actually draw cards off SGW? Does Shambling Vents ever mess up sequencing? I remember I specifically cut Isolated Chapel back in the day just because I hated have a turn 1 ETB land.
2. With only 22 lands, do you find that you can activate Vault of the Archangel reliably? I used to like it at 23 lands, but 22 seems like it might be a dead colorless source most of the time.
3. I think one of the biggest upsides to not playing Eldrazi Taxes is that you can run more Tectonic Edges. Do you feel the utility provided by the other lands outweighs Tec Edge?
Glad to see another BW non eldrazi DnT player!
Wasteland Strangler is on my 'to test' spot, competing with Blade Splicer which has been doing OK but not incredibly amazing. Another upside of Strangler is countering Ancestral Vision with the possibility of killing a Snapcaster Mage in the process (ba dum ts). But generally sacrificing it to make an opponent miss the 'draw 3' is great anyway. I definitely see the power of it, but without TKS the card is also a lot worse. It shines a lot in the Infect, Affinity and Burn matchups, that I take from my E&T testing and I want to play it, I'll give it a go tonight over Splicer, but not too confidant it'll stay as playing splicer I can do at any time, but with Strangler it is usually incorrect to EoT vial or hardcast for no value.
1- SGW is my personal favorite. That card provides the most insane card advantage in the deck. Against UWR Nahiri it made me come back from multiple Paths/Bolts/Electrolizes/Wrath/Verdicts/Snapcaster-Repeat. It shines the most against Path decks, as they provide you with a lot of lands, and the game goes long and grindy. After winning a game where I drew 11 cards off 2 SGWs I heard my opponent say 'He got me with the Sea Gate Wreckage + Vial lock'. I never saw it as a 'lock', as it doesn't prevent your opponent to do anything, but it picked up the pace of my game too heavily. It came to the point where I could activate, retain priority activate again, dump the draws off vial, untap draw 2 more, go to draw step and empty my hand again before untapping for the next turn. Sea Gate Wreckage is an insane card. This game where I am saying I drew 11 cards off it took around 35/40 mins of play and I started on the draw on a mulligan to 5 against a full 7 on the play Nahiri control. This was game 2, game one I mulled to 6 on the draw and still won off SGW by drawin 8 cards off it. There are matches where you don't want to see it, but when you want it it's awesome. The same applies to beating Jund, it makes their lili better to you than to them, as it will start to give you an upside of being hellbent since they will most likely top deck better (the theory of BGx deckbuilding), but you will top deck faster and you'll punish them with instant speed creature deployment to deal with their lili or to run with the game.
2- Vault is a 1 of, for burn/zoo matches, or matches where Bob can shine.Vaul and bob Bob have this synergy where Bob mitigates the fact that I'm playing little lands to activate/draw vault and Vault making gain life to keep up with bob's darws. I love it, and I'd love to play a third one, though I don't the slot for it atm.
3- The reason I play BW is to play Bob, Sculler, Vault and Vents MB and Persecution in the board. The fact that I need colored mana to activate both Vault and Vents and occasionaly cast a T2 Tidehollow kind of puts you in an awkward spot on playing a high number of Tec Edge. I wanted to play 2, but I need to play just 1 for the sake of the rest of the deck.
Tomorrow afternoon we should have access to the entire Eldritch Moon spoiler! As of now we are 105-ish cards into the spoilers. With what I've seen, it is pretty safe to assume that Death and Taxes is looking at the cards best suited for the archetype. With this said, I thought it would be a good idea to generate positive conversation around the cards we have already beared witness to.
Top Shelf
Thalia, Heretic Cathar: I do not think there is much to be said that has not already been covered. I will get a bit opinionated and state that she is higher tiered in specific builds. My thoughts are that green can gain best advantage due to cards like Noble Hierarch and Collected Company. Next, ironically, I think this is red. The likes of Ajani Vengeant, Magus of the Moon and Nahiri, the Harbinger get a huge push from her prescence. While green will fight her fight turn two with attempts to get ahead, red can use the natural curve to create a prison with ease. Nahiri and Thalia 2.0 are a great compliment to each other. Ajani and Thalia 2.0 can be game over for Tron, Jeskai, Jund, and any other decks relying on deep mana pools. (Eldrazi and others seem to be a decent fit for Thalia but may be punished more by her debut via Coco and Zoo decks seeming to want her in board for aggressive matches.)
Selfless Spirit: I cannot fathom what this will feel like in MTGO. I am pretty sure this card is as close as we will get to more Spellskite and/or Mother of Runes. The part I love most about this card is the filling of "the void". He flies, protects the board, only cost two mana and only requires one colored source. I expect that there is three copies in the full list somewhere. More ways to protector our "haters" is going to help kill the variance that our deck runs into against sweepers, burn and removal.
Imprisoned in the Moon: Blue seems to have gotten ahead of the expectations this season. I put this card high on the list for its flexibility as an enchantment. Dealing with opposing boards or jumping your mana for a turn, at the end of it, there is an open opportunity to reset it with flickerwisp. Maybe, I am overpowering the card in my mind but I think the ability is unique enough that it is worth owning the card.
Spell Queller: This card is probably what U/W Death and Taxes list has been waiting for. It fills the curve but most importantly has flash at three mana. U/W needs to have vial up, bluff/have the "counter magic" aka answer the board (think Meddling Mage), and apply pressure. On Twitch, I ran U/W DnT for a "You Build It" League and the issue that surfaced was the inability to actually win the game. The board would be locked up, Opponent in top deck, cards surpressed and vial ready. But, there was never clear attacks, evasion, or an ability to protect dumping creatures into the field. Spell Queller and Selfless Spirit will be fantastic additions for U/W.
Middle and Bottom Shelf
The other cards on my list are assumptions. I would not go as far as saying I expect them to see play but I would not be surprised if they slipped into some top finishing lists. The escalate cards in general are nice but might be missing just a little reach for their "wide options". I will probably test them in MTGO just for clarity but would not expect them to cut into slots like Sin Collector or Anguished Unmakings.
Brief run at the rest:
Lilli's Oath seems interesting just for the flicker option. I imagine it could be reasonable against Bogle and Infect (otherwise nothing too exciting).
Eldritch Evo seems like it will be abused in other shells (and more powerful). There might be a G/W Eldrazi & Taxes that would like this (@HUGEELFBOY).
The Mass seems plain old miserable for aggro decks. Resolving this guy early and getting him into combat makes it spread like a disease.
Battlements may be an option for open slots in red splashes. They can benefit from a utility land. Finally!
Academy & GR Sanitarium are unique, exciting and playable. Problem is, so are all the other lands in our deck. Academy has reasonable legs against 8Rack if that becomes tiered.
Closing:
I think most of these cards are going to be cheap enough to pick up and have little to no harm by owning them. As Death And Taxes gets more popular, It is pretty important that we can identify possible cards before other decks tick the prices up or the semi-casual popularity we have obtained forces specific builds to be financial nightmares. Look at Merfolk as an example. Cursecather is almost $20....Things like this can happen to Death And Taxes which would mean its harder to support testing and investing (which is what I live for lol).
Anyway, let me know what you think of the analysis and what cards you are all excited for!
-Catmix
BONUS NEWS: Leonin's Library
I will be loading an archive database to the primer in the next few days! It will house great resources for the forum's new players and experienced alike. The/purpose is to clean up the forum's resources and make it easy to link people back to relevant information that repeatedly pops up. I will also make sure my signature section houses links to the library/primer as well. Any thoughts or ideas are greatly appreciated!
it's a nonbo in the sence that you cant flickerwisp it in answer to another spell to have the next spell exiled as well. the basic flicker combo.
I get what you mean, thebadkid. Saying "Queller+Displacer will rarely exile 2-for-1 (the way Sculler+Displacer often do) because the opponent will rarely leave two abilities on the stack to for us to soft-counter/exile" is absolutely true. However, I agree with darktutor that nonbo doesn't mean non-optimal-combo. Sculler+Displacer have synergy and form a decent combo; if an opponent has only 1 card in hand that doesn't make Sculler+Displacer become a nonbo, the combo just becomes slightly less effective. The same is true for Queller+Displacer, even if one assumes that there are more hoops to jump through to get the combo working (though switching from a BW/Sculler build to UW/Queller build is more likely to involve trading hoops rather than simply adding hoops). A clumsy combo or non-optimal combo does not a nonbo make.
Saying nonbo implies an anti-snyergy that creates a liability in the deck, not just any random non-synergy. You basically have to be shooting yourself in the foot (or at least shooting blanks instead of bullets) for a card interaction to be a true nonbo.
it's a nonbo in the sence that you cant flickerwisp it in answer to another spell to have the next spell exiled as well. the basic flicker combo.
I get what you mean, thebadkid. Saying "Queller+Displacer will rarely exile 2-for-1 (the way Sculler+Displacer often do) because the opponent will rarely leave two abilities on the stack to for us to soft-counter/exile" is absolutely true. However, I agree with darktutor that nonbo doesn't mean non-optimal-combo. Sculler+Displacer have synergy and form a decent combo; if an opponent has only 1 card in hand that doesn't make Sculler+Displacer become a nonbo, the combo just becomes slightly less effective. The same is true for Queller+Displacer, even if one assumes that there are more hoops to jump through to get the combo working (though switching from a BW/Sculler build to UW/Queller build is more likely to involve trading hoops rather than simply adding hoops). A clumsy combo or non-optimal combo does not a nonbo make.
Saying nonbo implies an anti-snyergy that creates a liability in the deck, not just any random non-synergy. You basically have to be shooting yourself in the foot (or at least shooting blanks instead of bullets) for a card interaction to be a true nonbo.
The thing is that you don't need to exile 2 things to make it a good interaction. Exiling one until you win is the reason to play the card in the first place, but having the option of exile it forever is the icing on the cake, it's not the best use of either queller or wisp, but when it's profitable and you have the info to go for it, you totally should.
The fact that you can't play it unfairly, disregarding everything that is good about magic, doesn't make it a nonbo xD.
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r1 draw vs jund, game one took forever, i ended up with double witness, restoration angel, vial on 3 + 4 lands, sweet loop as long as you keep a witness in hand, making removal useless. Lost game 2 due to a misplay while on time. Overall the deck felt very good vs jund.
r2 the guy wasn't feeling well and went home, oh well.
r3 win vs necrotic ooze combo, mana denial was key, i wrecked his mana both games
r4 was cancelled because too many people had dropped
So yeah, not a lot of games... still looking forward to more testing next week with g/w.
How do people feel about Sin Collector in BW lists? Conceptually I like the idea of redundant amounts of discard (I'd play it alongside 4 Tidehollow Sculler and 4 Thought-Knot Seer .) However, I've never played with the card before. What do people think of it?
How do people feel about Sin Collector in BW lists? Conceptually I like the idea of redundant amounts of discard (I'd play it alongside 4 Tidehollow Sculler and 4 Thought-Knot Seer .) However, I've never played with the card before. What do people think of it?
I do play the card in my abzan deck as a two-of in the sideboard and they are great! They can come in in a variety of matchups, and flickering them with eldrazi displacer/flickerwisp is awesome value, i highly recommend the card.
Also a minor upside is additional exile stuff for wasteland stranglers, but often strangler isn't great vs decks you bring them in (but not always...).
Went 4-0 tonight after a few weeks of 3-1s and a 2-2.
Crushed my round 1 opponent on UW taking turns. We played 3 games after the round and I still handily won so maybe that deck just doesn't have a chance vs. the hatebears. Game 1 I played a vial into anafenza + judges familiar, turn 3 blade splicer + thalia and turn 4 a second splicer + resto so the game ended pretty quickly.
Round 2 was vs. affinity. I was able to trade off a few times and my opponent was all in on the killing me with a +7+0 cranial plating on a few flyers. I got into a position where they played a ravager and I went for a vialed in flickerwisp to block with my life at 5. they sacrificed all but a darksteel citadel and basic island to go for the win but I had a dismember in hand, leaving me at 1 life with an anafenza, arbiter, thalia and wisp in play with a resto ready to be vailed in on the next turn. Game two I mulled to 6 and kept a hand of land land Kataki + 3 path to exiles. My opponent played 2 ornithopters, a citadel and a signal pest with no land and a vault skirge on turn 2. He conceded when I played the kataki.
Round 3 was vs. scapeshift. Lost game one to a 6 land scapeshift with prismatic omen in play. Mulled to 6 game two and won with a good amount of creatures in play and a side boarded warping wail in hand. Game 3 I mulled to 5 keeping basic plains, aether vial, path and resto angel. I drew a wisp, ghost quarter and two tec edges and mannaged to mess up his lands enough to pull out a win. I took around 8 damage from two tribe elders while holding up vial for flickerwisp, and mana to flash resto into play to disrupt the scapeshift. I found out that he had drawn his 3rd valakut (i had killed 2 already) and he didn't have enough mountains left in the deck to kill me with only 1 valakut, so I had been playing around it all game without needing to. I drew my sideboarded oblivion ring and held off using it until a staticaster came into play. The very following turn he cast Karanos and bolted one of my creatures, but we wiffed on the following turn and I was able to deal the last point of damage for the win.
Round 4 was vs. instant reanimator. My opponent lost game one to a pile of annoying creatures, and was able to win game 2 on turn 4 through a judges familiar, arbiter and ghostly prison. Game three was hilarious. I kept a hand of plains, vial, forge tender, 2 judges familiar, path and a thalia. I got vial into play and my opponent proceeded to draw to 8 and discard griselbrand. I drew ghost quarter and played forge tender and passed. My opponent then played a land, exiled SSG and cast goryo's V, and had a second SSG to pay for the vailed in judge's familiar. Gris came back and with the draw 7 on the stack I ghost quartered myself to path him. They drew another 7 cards but apparently whiffed on shoals and had to discard. I drew a wisp and got the second familiar + thalia into play. From there they got a necrotic ooze into play but I was able to remove it for 3 turns in a row thanks to a string of top decked flickerwips and they conceded.
So some very close and interactive games this week, and hatebears wins again!
One last thing. I'm sure you guys have covered what I'm about to say but please enlighten me. What the consensus on Declaration in Stone as sideboard tech for extra removal? Is Dismember still the best option? I mainly need an edge against grixis delver.
I like declaration in stone as a 5th removal for the deck, but if you need the 1 cmc removal go with dismember. Vs. delver it can help with pyromancer tokens if they are playing that, its power comes from hitting two creatures at once for 2 mana.
I'm not a fan of dismember versus a tempo deck like delver because of the life loss. It especially hurts when it gets countered. I think what scared me most about Dstone is giving them CA but I suppose I'll just have to out-tempo them! I'll give it a try at FNM.
(...) Atm I'm running a GW list because of how eager I am to play new Thalia in turn 2. In my testing against RG Eldrazi she hasn't been game breaking but 4 mb lb and kozileks return weaken her impact so it may not be the best deck to test against. That being said, I don't think it's that good if played after turn 2. As we all know, there's a lot of fast decks out there and this just doesn't have an immediate impact like the old Thalia. (...)
Now, of course she is better turn 2 but i still think she can do work later vs some decks. Also just vialing in a first striker can mess up combat.
I can see it being useful versus Naya Chord because of the reason you stated; another bonus would be hindering the convoke from Chord. As for Nahiri, I fear it's too fragile.
If I need a first striker with a solid body I'll just stick with Blade Splicer because they're sharing the same slot in the end.
I would love to keep her in the deck because 2 thalias side by side sound awesome and she fits the theme of taxing but I'm not yet convinced she's a staple. Could even be sideboard material.
Quick LGS tournament report. Unimpressive 2-2 last night with definitely a better sideboard for my meta.
Game 1: 2-0 vs Naya Zoo
Sorin MB was an all star. Another interesting card that I sided in all night was 2 copies of Mirran Crusader. Went for it as my go to extra card vs Naya, Burn and Jund. Sure, it is a lightning rod, but it is likely that Thalia, Guardian of Thraben or Leonin Arbiter will be targeted first.
Game 2: 0-2 vs Dredge
The worst about this matchup is that I lost to my own deck. Game 1 I mulligan to 6 and keep a hand with 4 lands, TKS and Sculler. Scry removes another land and yet I flood out. Dredge is a really quick deck with a lot of tools. My 2 creatures couldn't hold enough. I had the opposite going on for me on game 2. Kept a 7 cards hand with 2 lands, Thalia, Sculler and a world of 3 CMC creatures, including an amazing blocker for the matchup, Mirran Crusader. Legend says that the DnT player is still trying to find the 3rd land to this day.
Game 3: 0-2 vs Jund
I had similar unkeepable hands due to flood of lands with 7 cards and only 2 lands with 6 cards. Of course, in comes the Thoughtseizes and I miss again my 3rd land drop. My opponent played alone. I side in Auriok Champion, Rest in Peace and Mirran Crusader, 2 copies of each, and an extra Smasher. Out goes the 4 vials, 2 Scullers, 1 Wasteland Strangler. I mulligan to 6, keep a hand with Rest in Peace, Auriok Champion and lands. He thoughtseizes me on his turn 1 and takes my Auriok Champion. My rest in peace resolves the following turn and I'm already in Jund mode again. No luck topdecking. How am I supposed to make this matchup easier if my opponent discards my hate?
Game 4: 2-1 vs Naya Zoo
Much of the same matchup as the first. Sorin was an all star, Mirran Crusader was a more relevant blocker than, say, a Sculler, and stabilizing did the trick.
Overall, I highly recommend the package of 2 Auriok Champion + 2 Mirran Crusader. If in further testing I feel that the lack of pro red doesn't compensate the double strike, I'll mess around with Paladin En-Vec for a bit. Definitely more relevant than 2 Leylines, despite the aggressive Jund discard still being an issue. On another note, I feel like I was really unlucky in the games I missed my 3rd land drop, especially considering that I pack 23 lands. Should I keep a hand with only 3+ lands if I see no Vials? Are hands with only 2 lands unkeepable?
Thanks for the support! Any comments are appreciated.
Extricator of Sin looks like a weird option for all forms of DnT, gives a use for extra vials/lands and once flipped can be a ridiculous threat that blocks Goyf/Tasigur/Siege Rhino.
Now for vials and CMCs I agree on the numbers you mentioned traditionally on monowhite. I should have mentioned that the numbers I was talking about were for BW with no Eldrazi. I have tried the E&T version and I've got all the cards for it, but I am not convinced by it. You want less to sac your lands to screw your opponent, you slow yourself down with clunky draws off your available mana colors and your vial is worse. When the deck rolls, it generally trumps over other decks easily. But a single misstep or stumble, and you're likely to lose to your own deck, especially against fast decks that don't forgive.
Another vial problem is that if your curve contains 20-22 3drops and you can't get a vial or it gets destroyed before it started shining, then you are more likely to lose that game as you won't profitable play the mana denial plan, you don't filter/draw cards and you play too little lands to keep up with your opponents plays.
This here encapsulates my feelings for E&T to a tee. I love the deck, but if the draws are slightly against you it's probably too late unless the opponent punts hard-
That's how the deck has always played though. Everyone has been trying to play as many three drops as possible.
it's a nonbo in the sence that you cant flickerwisp it in answer to another spell to have the next spell exiled as well. the basic flicker combo.
I get what you mean, thebadkid. Saying "Queller+Displacer will rarely exile 2-for-1 (the way Sculler+Displacer often do) because the opponent will rarely leave two abilities on the stack to for us to soft-counter/exile" is absolutely true. However, I agree with darktutor that nonbo doesn't mean non-optimal-combo. Sculler+Displacer have synergy and form a decent combo; if an opponent has only 1 card in hand that doesn't make Sculler+Displacer become a nonbo, the combo just becomes slightly less effective. The same is true for Queller+Displacer, even if one assumes that there are more hoops to jump through to get the combo working (though switching from a BW/Sculler build to UW/Queller build is more likely to involve trading hoops rather than simply adding hoops). A clumsy combo or non-optimal combo does not a nonbo make.
Saying nonbo implies an anti-snyergy that creates a liability in the deck, not just any random non-synergy. You basically have to be shooting yourself in the foot (or at least shooting blanks instead of bullets) for a card interaction to be a true nonbo.
i think you misunderstood. I was talking about its interaction with flickerwisp, and the fact that its exiled until eot.
Its still not a nonbo. Its interaction is not a nonbo. If they cast a supreme verdict and you really really don't want them to cast it you can flash in the spirit, then vial in flickerwisp and exile SV forever. Sure your spirit comes back at the end of turn and its ability doesn't do anything but that's not a nonbo and its not that bad. You still get a 2/3 and removed their spell.
If you still dissagre then you shouldn't be playing tidehollow sculler in your deck with displacers and flickerwisps because you may want to flicker the sculler when your opponent only has one card in hand (which someone mentioned earlier), which is the same kind of "nonbo".
@PasstheChipsExtricator of Sin is interesting, but really only gives 0/3 plus 3/2 (both on the ground) which is typically worse than Wall of Resurgence's 0/6 plus 3/3. The flipside is impressive, especially in an Eldrazi focused list, but delirium is hard for D&T to achieve (from the math and testing I've tried for getting Topplegeist working). Today's new Desperate Sentry is similar; a 1/2 dies into a 3/2 isn't good (it's below Finks and even Matter Reshaper territory), but a topdecked 4/2--dies-->3/2 could be more palatable (too bad delirium is too sketchy).
On the blue side of things, whoever was pushing for UW spirits tribal in standard sure gave us a lot of neat UW tools this printing. Spell Queller and Selfless Spirit are the obvious standouts followed closely by Mausoleum Wanderer. Further down the line, Fogwalker and Nebelgast Herald offer some more decent ETB effects. Running 4xArbiter-4xWisp-6xThalias still leaves room for almost 2/3 of your creatures to be spirits if Spirits&Taxes is your idea of fun. Buy your Spiritfolk staples now (Drogskol Captain, Tallowisp, etc.)?
In black, Liliana's Elite looks like it could get beefy; it's a dumb beater and would grow significantly slower than opposing Goyfs, though.
I don't see much for creatures in red other than Hanweir Garrison the human-tribal Brimaz-lite that dies to bolt.
Green also looked a bit lacking, other than that one drop ground herpes that has already been mentioned.
Last but not least, I don't remember it being mentioned yet (it was spoiled in Russian right around the primer migration) but Stitcher's Graft seems real good for us. It is a potential turn-1 play, it can get our tax-blockers (well) out of Bolt range at an aggressive cast+equip cost (having a 5/4 ThaliaGT or a 6/5 ThaliaHC on guard duty seems bonkers good in my imagination right now), and it plays real nice on attack with Serra Avenger/Brimaz. IMO, it's probably worth playtesting at least as much as that Hero's Blade from FRF in some sort of mono-W legends build.
(As an aside: I'm a little disappointed we don't see one or two more Meld flips; by my count it's only the Angels, Hanweir, and the Rats. I guess it was just too risky a design space? The Emerge mechanic seems far less parasitic, but those offerings are all so rampy and have "on cast" triggers rather than nice ETB trigers.)
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You said it was a nonbo and I explained to you it is not.
Countering a Supreme verdict, even without trying to do anything else with it on the stack, is already good enough. Especially if you play Meddling Mage and/or Ethersworn Canonist. Even more so if you have Thalia/Wingmare on the table already. That card itself, alongside with Selfless spirit, will make UW Taxes a real thing. Not saying it'll be the best tax deck, but it will be a deck and it will be sweet.
That's fine. The point is you don't know what a nonbo is, or you don't know how to use the term. A nonbo is running 4 thalias, 4 wingmares and 16 non creature spells. A nonbo is playing Rest in peace in a reanimator deck.
The basic combo with flickerwisp on your own creatures always gets the same output: get your creature back at the next end of turn to either counter a targeted removal spell/ability, gain value from the ETB trigger or reset a finks. It does the same with Queller, you give them back a spell that if you can manage them not to cast, or let them cast it in a non profitable way, it's better for you.
I don't really care for UW Spirit Taxes, although it has a brighter future than Eldrazi and Taxes in my opinion.
But you can't say that a creature that exiles a spell on the stack it's a bad card or it doesn't suit the deck. It can be a lot better than sculler in the right scenarios, and the same in others, while being a NON artifact, 3 thoughness, flying and Flash.
The short answer: No.
The long answer: No, because you are bumping useful slots for a very narrow very situational effect that has synergy with a very very small number of other cards in your D&T deck. (like darktutor alluded to)
Sigarda's Blessing is only useful if you can cast it before you cast your equipment spell. After you've cast Sword, SB become dead draws (until you draw another Sword). After you've cast SB, more SB become dead draws (they can't give double-flash or an extra-free equip). If you have 2xSB and 2xSwords you'll probably be drawing them in the wrong order 50% of the time. That means 50% of the time you'll have a Sword in hand and you have to decide "cast it now and pay 2cmc to equip it later" (making SB a dead draw) or "hold it and hope to draw SB soon" (letting Sword rot in your hand). Getting to flash-cast a sword onto an unblocked attacker would be fun, but you're probably better off just equipping it to something with evasion and not dealing with the dead-draw situations that SB is much more likely to create.
With how few equipment spells (Swords) D&T runs, you'll almost never cast more than one Sword off of Sigarda's Blessing in any game. Following that mindset, SB is basically a pre-paid white Magnetic Theft that has been nerfed to only work during friendly-equipment-ETB and only attaching to creatures we control. A white Magnetic Theft doesn't sound like an effect I'd like to waste card slots in D&T to have. The one-time-use equip discount (worth 2 for Swords) isn't generally worth the 1cmc+1card investment, even with flash. The fact that it is an enchantment that sticks around really doesn't matter when we're only playing ~2x Swords; getting more reliable multi-use out of a SB likely requires 6x or more equipment (and 9x or more before it becomes remotely profitable). That's no good for our creature-based Vial-value deck, but it will be fun to see how those white equipment-oriented decks will evolve around it, though.
Also, Puresteel Paladin lets us equip or re-equip at a discount, draw cards, and can turn sideways for a bear attack, and even that little guy doesn't see D&T play due to poor synergy caused by low equipment counts.
I didn't make it personal, but you said it's a nonbo and it's not. It can be a combo if you have enought information and resources available. But the fact that you can't always use as a combo doesn't make it a nonbo, you still don't even know what it means. I won't comment on this subdiscussion anymore, because you just keep changing the focus of it, you can't keep up to your own words and you made it personal. You really seem like a kid (as your name implies), so no point in trying to make you understand, moving on.
No, it does stop kiki-jiki, mirror breaker. This was true of splinter twin + pestermite, but kiki-restoration angel works differently. Whenever resto blinks kiki, kiki wil etb tapped and be unable to be activated again. Twin was fine because deceiver exarch untaps, but resto blinks, making new thalia effective against it regardless of the timing.
I've played WB DnT for around 2 years now (been lurking since Eldrazi Winter), with a list very similar to your own, and I want to say you're definitely missing out not playing at least 2-3 Wasteland Strangler. The card works great with Tidehollow and Flickerwisp, works well off Vial with Thalia (I've killed so many Tasigur's/Goyfs), and also gets the job done in the Affinity match killing off/blocking Etched Champions and having the extra removal feels really great. Seriously ever since BFZ this card has added so much to the shell, and definitely stands alone from the rest of the Eldrazi Taxes list.
I want to ask you a few questions though since I've been out of the DnT loop for a bit.
1. How are Sea Gate Wreckage and Shambling Vents treating you? Do you find that you actually draw cards off SGW? Does Shambling Vents ever mess up sequencing? I remember I specifically cut Isolated Chapel back in the day just because I hated have a turn 1 ETB land.
2. With only 22 lands, do you find that you can activate Vault of the Archangel reliably? I used to like it at 23 lands, but 22 seems like it might be a dead colorless source most of the time.
3. I think one of the biggest upsides to not playing Eldrazi Taxes is that you can run more Tectonic Edges. Do you feel the utility provided by the other lands outweighs Tec Edge?
Glad to see another BW non eldrazi DnT player!
Wasteland Strangler is on my 'to test' spot, competing with Blade Splicer which has been doing OK but not incredibly amazing. Another upside of Strangler is countering Ancestral Vision with the possibility of killing a Snapcaster Mage in the process (ba dum ts). But generally sacrificing it to make an opponent miss the 'draw 3' is great anyway. I definitely see the power of it, but without TKS the card is also a lot worse. It shines a lot in the Infect, Affinity and Burn matchups, that I take from my E&T testing and I want to play it, I'll give it a go tonight over Splicer, but not too confidant it'll stay as playing splicer I can do at any time, but with Strangler it is usually incorrect to EoT vial or hardcast for no value.
1- SGW is my personal favorite. That card provides the most insane card advantage in the deck. Against UWR Nahiri it made me come back from multiple Paths/Bolts/Electrolizes/Wrath/Verdicts/Snapcaster-Repeat. It shines the most against Path decks, as they provide you with a lot of lands, and the game goes long and grindy. After winning a game where I drew 11 cards off 2 SGWs I heard my opponent say 'He got me with the Sea Gate Wreckage + Vial lock'. I never saw it as a 'lock', as it doesn't prevent your opponent to do anything, but it picked up the pace of my game too heavily. It came to the point where I could activate, retain priority activate again, dump the draws off vial, untap draw 2 more, go to draw step and empty my hand again before untapping for the next turn. Sea Gate Wreckage is an insane card. This game where I am saying I drew 11 cards off it took around 35/40 mins of play and I started on the draw on a mulligan to 5 against a full 7 on the play Nahiri control. This was game 2, game one I mulled to 6 on the draw and still won off SGW by drawin 8 cards off it. There are matches where you don't want to see it, but when you want it it's awesome. The same applies to beating Jund, it makes their lili better to you than to them, as it will start to give you an upside of being hellbent since they will most likely top deck better (the theory of BGx deckbuilding), but you will top deck faster and you'll punish them with instant speed creature deployment to deal with their lili or to run with the game.
2- Vault is a 1 of, for burn/zoo matches, or matches where Bob can shine.Vaul and bob Bob have this synergy where Bob mitigates the fact that I'm playing little lands to activate/draw vault and Vault making gain life to keep up with bob's darws. I love it, and I'd love to play a third one, though I don't the slot for it atm.
3- The reason I play BW is to play Bob, Sculler, Vault and Vents MB and Persecution in the board. The fact that I need colored mana to activate both Vault and Vents and occasionaly cast a T2 Tidehollow kind of puts you in an awkward spot on playing a high number of Tec Edge. I wanted to play 2, but I need to play just 1 for the sake of the rest of the deck.
Tomorrow afternoon we should have access to the entire Eldritch Moon spoiler! As of now we are 105-ish cards into the spoilers. With what I've seen, it is pretty safe to assume that Death and Taxes is looking at the cards best suited for the archetype. With this said, I thought it would be a good idea to generate positive conversation around the cards we have already beared witness to.
Top Shelf
Thalia, Heretic Cathar: I do not think there is much to be said that has not already been covered. I will get a bit opinionated and state that she is higher tiered in specific builds. My thoughts are that green can gain best advantage due to cards like Noble Hierarch and Collected Company. Next, ironically, I think this is red. The likes of Ajani Vengeant, Magus of the Moon and Nahiri, the Harbinger get a huge push from her prescence. While green will fight her fight turn two with attempts to get ahead, red can use the natural curve to create a prison with ease. Nahiri and Thalia 2.0 are a great compliment to each other. Ajani and Thalia 2.0 can be game over for Tron, Jeskai, Jund, and any other decks relying on deep mana pools. (Eldrazi and others seem to be a decent fit for Thalia but may be punished more by her debut via Coco and Zoo decks seeming to want her in board for aggressive matches.)
Selfless Spirit: I cannot fathom what this will feel like in MTGO. I am pretty sure this card is as close as we will get to more Spellskite and/or Mother of Runes. The part I love most about this card is the filling of "the void". He flies, protects the board, only cost two mana and only requires one colored source. I expect that there is three copies in the full list somewhere. More ways to protector our "haters" is going to help kill the variance that our deck runs into against sweepers, burn and removal.
Imprisoned in the Moon: Blue seems to have gotten ahead of the expectations this season. I put this card high on the list for its flexibility as an enchantment. Dealing with opposing boards or jumping your mana for a turn, at the end of it, there is an open opportunity to reset it with flickerwisp. Maybe, I am overpowering the card in my mind but I think the ability is unique enough that it is worth owning the card.
Spell Queller: This card is probably what U/W Death and Taxes list has been waiting for. It fills the curve but most importantly has flash at three mana. U/W needs to have vial up, bluff/have the "counter magic" aka answer the board (think Meddling Mage), and apply pressure. On Twitch, I ran U/W DnT for a "You Build It" League and the issue that surfaced was the inability to actually win the game. The board would be locked up, Opponent in top deck, cards surpressed and vial ready. But, there was never clear attacks, evasion, or an ability to protect dumping creatures into the field. Spell Queller and Selfless Spirit will be fantastic additions for U/W.
Middle and Bottom Shelf
The other cards on my list are assumptions. I would not go as far as saying I expect them to see play but I would not be surprised if they slipped into some top finishing lists. The escalate cards in general are nice but might be missing just a little reach for their "wide options". I will probably test them in MTGO just for clarity but would not expect them to cut into slots like Sin Collector or Anguished Unmakings.
Brief run at the rest:
I think most of these cards are going to be cheap enough to pick up and have little to no harm by owning them. As Death And Taxes gets more popular, It is pretty important that we can identify possible cards before other decks tick the prices up or the semi-casual popularity we have obtained forces specific builds to be financial nightmares. Look at Merfolk as an example. Cursecather is almost $20....Things like this can happen to Death And Taxes which would mean its harder to support testing and investing (which is what I live for lol).
Anyway, let me know what you think of the analysis and what cards you are all excited for!
-Catmix
BONUS NEWS: Leonin's Library
I will be loading an archive database to the primer in the next few days! It will house great resources for the forum's new players and experienced alike. The/purpose is to clean up the forum's resources and make it easy to link people back to relevant information that repeatedly pops up. I will also make sure my signature section houses links to the library/primer as well. Any thoughts or ideas are greatly appreciated!
WWModern Death And Taxes (w/ Militia Bugler) (JUL '19)
GWModern Maverick (JUL '19)
WBCatmix on Twitch!
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Saying nonbo implies an anti-snyergy that creates a liability in the deck, not just any random non-synergy. You basically have to be shooting yourself in the foot (or at least shooting blanks instead of bullets) for a card interaction to be a true nonbo.
The thing is that you don't need to exile 2 things to make it a good interaction. Exiling one until you win is the reason to play the card in the first place, but having the option of exile it forever is the icing on the cake, it's not the best use of either queller or wisp, but when it's profitable and you have the info to go for it, you totally should.
The fact that you can't play it unfairly, disregarding everything that is good about magic, doesn't make it a nonbo xD.
r1 draw vs jund, game one took forever, i ended up with double witness, restoration angel, vial on 3 + 4 lands, sweet loop as long as you keep a witness in hand, making removal useless. Lost game 2 due to a misplay while on time. Overall the deck felt very good vs jund.
r2 the guy wasn't feeling well and went home, oh well.
r3 win vs necrotic ooze combo, mana denial was key, i wrecked his mana both games
r4 was cancelled because too many people had dropped
So yeah, not a lot of games... still looking forward to more testing next week with g/w.
I do play the card in my abzan deck as a two-of in the sideboard and they are great! They can come in in a variety of matchups, and flickering them with eldrazi displacer/flickerwisp is awesome value, i highly recommend the card.
Also a minor upside is additional exile stuff for wasteland stranglers, but often strangler isn't great vs decks you bring them in (but not always...).
Crushed my round 1 opponent on UW taking turns. We played 3 games after the round and I still handily won so maybe that deck just doesn't have a chance vs. the hatebears. Game 1 I played a vial into anafenza + judges familiar, turn 3 blade splicer + thalia and turn 4 a second splicer + resto so the game ended pretty quickly.
Round 2 was vs. affinity. I was able to trade off a few times and my opponent was all in on the killing me with a +7+0 cranial plating on a few flyers. I got into a position where they played a ravager and I went for a vialed in flickerwisp to block with my life at 5. they sacrificed all but a darksteel citadel and basic island to go for the win but I had a dismember in hand, leaving me at 1 life with an anafenza, arbiter, thalia and wisp in play with a resto ready to be vailed in on the next turn. Game two I mulled to 6 and kept a hand of land land Kataki + 3 path to exiles. My opponent played 2 ornithopters, a citadel and a signal pest with no land and a vault skirge on turn 2. He conceded when I played the kataki.
Round 3 was vs. scapeshift. Lost game one to a 6 land scapeshift with prismatic omen in play. Mulled to 6 game two and won with a good amount of creatures in play and a side boarded warping wail in hand. Game 3 I mulled to 5 keeping basic plains, aether vial, path and resto angel. I drew a wisp, ghost quarter and two tec edges and mannaged to mess up his lands enough to pull out a win. I took around 8 damage from two tribe elders while holding up vial for flickerwisp, and mana to flash resto into play to disrupt the scapeshift. I found out that he had drawn his 3rd valakut (i had killed 2 already) and he didn't have enough mountains left in the deck to kill me with only 1 valakut, so I had been playing around it all game without needing to. I drew my sideboarded oblivion ring and held off using it until a staticaster came into play. The very following turn he cast Karanos and bolted one of my creatures, but we wiffed on the following turn and I was able to deal the last point of damage for the win.
Round 4 was vs. instant reanimator. My opponent lost game one to a pile of annoying creatures, and was able to win game 2 on turn 4 through a judges familiar, arbiter and ghostly prison. Game three was hilarious. I kept a hand of plains, vial, forge tender, 2 judges familiar, path and a thalia. I got vial into play and my opponent proceeded to draw to 8 and discard griselbrand. I drew ghost quarter and played forge tender and passed. My opponent then played a land, exiled SSG and cast goryo's V, and had a second SSG to pay for the vailed in judge's familiar. Gris came back and with the draw 7 on the stack I ghost quartered myself to path him. They drew another 7 cards but apparently whiffed on shoals and had to discard. I drew a wisp and got the second familiar + thalia into play. From there they got a necrotic ooze into play but I was able to remove it for 3 turns in a row thanks to a string of top decked flickerwips and they conceded.
So some very close and interactive games this week, and hatebears wins again!
I'm not a fan of dismember versus a tempo deck like delver because of the life loss. It especially hurts when it gets countered. I think what scared me most about Dstone is giving them CA but I suppose I'll just have to out-tempo them! I'll give it a try at FNM.
I can see it being useful versus Naya Chord because of the reason you stated; another bonus would be hindering the convoke from Chord. As for Nahiri, I fear it's too fragile.
If I need a first striker with a solid body I'll just stick with Blade Splicer because they're sharing the same slot in the end.
I would love to keep her in the deck because 2 thalias side by side sound awesome and she fits the theme of taxing but I'm not yet convinced she's a staple. Could even be sideboard material.
GBRJund Elves
GWDevoted Elves
WDeath & Taxes
GWUBRHumans
EDH:
GTitania, Protector of Argoth
Quick LGS tournament report. Unimpressive 2-2 last night with definitely a better sideboard for my meta.
Game 1: 2-0 vs Naya Zoo
Sorin MB was an all star. Another interesting card that I sided in all night was 2 copies of Mirran Crusader. Went for it as my go to extra card vs Naya, Burn and Jund. Sure, it is a lightning rod, but it is likely that Thalia, Guardian of Thraben or Leonin Arbiter will be targeted first.
Game 2: 0-2 vs Dredge
The worst about this matchup is that I lost to my own deck. Game 1 I mulligan to 6 and keep a hand with 4 lands, TKS and Sculler. Scry removes another land and yet I flood out. Dredge is a really quick deck with a lot of tools. My 2 creatures couldn't hold enough. I had the opposite going on for me on game 2. Kept a 7 cards hand with 2 lands, Thalia, Sculler and a world of 3 CMC creatures, including an amazing blocker for the matchup, Mirran Crusader. Legend says that the DnT player is still trying to find the 3rd land to this day.
Game 3: 0-2 vs Jund
I had similar unkeepable hands due to flood of lands with 7 cards and only 2 lands with 6 cards. Of course, in comes the Thoughtseizes and I miss again my 3rd land drop. My opponent played alone. I side in Auriok Champion, Rest in Peace and Mirran Crusader, 2 copies of each, and an extra Smasher. Out goes the 4 vials, 2 Scullers, 1 Wasteland Strangler. I mulligan to 6, keep a hand with Rest in Peace, Auriok Champion and lands. He thoughtseizes me on his turn 1 and takes my Auriok Champion. My rest in peace resolves the following turn and I'm already in Jund mode again. No luck topdecking. How am I supposed to make this matchup easier if my opponent discards my hate?
Game 4: 2-1 vs Naya Zoo
Much of the same matchup as the first. Sorin was an all star, Mirran Crusader was a more relevant blocker than, say, a Sculler, and stabilizing did the trick.
Overall, I highly recommend the package of 2 Auriok Champion + 2 Mirran Crusader. If in further testing I feel that the lack of pro red doesn't compensate the double strike, I'll mess around with Paladin En-Vec for a bit. Definitely more relevant than 2 Leylines, despite the aggressive Jund discard still being an issue. On another note, I feel like I was really unlucky in the games I missed my 3rd land drop, especially considering that I pack 23 lands. Should I keep a hand with only 3+ lands if I see no Vials? Are hands with only 2 lands unkeepable?
Thanks for the support! Any comments are appreciated.
BUR Grixis Death's Shadow/Control BUR & WBC Eldrazi & Taxes WBC
EDH:
UG Edric, Spymaster of Goodstuff UG
Legacy: Merfolk U; Shadow UB; Eldrazi Stompy C
Pauper: Delver U
Vintage: Merfolk U
Primers:
That's how the deck has always played though. Everyone has been trying to play as many three drops as possible.
Its still not a nonbo. Its interaction is not a nonbo. If they cast a supreme verdict and you really really don't want them to cast it you can flash in the spirit, then vial in flickerwisp and exile SV forever. Sure your spirit comes back at the end of turn and its ability doesn't do anything but that's not a nonbo and its not that bad. You still get a 2/3 and removed their spell.
If you still dissagre then you shouldn't be playing tidehollow sculler in your deck with displacers and flickerwisps because you may want to flicker the sculler when your opponent only has one card in hand (which someone mentioned earlier), which is the same kind of "nonbo".
On the blue side of things, whoever was pushing for UW spirits tribal in standard sure gave us a lot of neat UW tools this printing. Spell Queller and Selfless Spirit are the obvious standouts followed closely by Mausoleum Wanderer. Further down the line, Fogwalker and Nebelgast Herald offer some more decent ETB effects. Running 4xArbiter-4xWisp-6xThalias still leaves room for almost 2/3 of your creatures to be spirits if Spirits&Taxes is your idea of fun. Buy your Spiritfolk staples now (Drogskol Captain, Tallowisp, etc.)?
In black, Liliana's Elite looks like it could get beefy; it's a dumb beater and would grow significantly slower than opposing Goyfs, though.
I don't see much for creatures in red other than Hanweir Garrison the human-tribal Brimaz-lite that dies to bolt.
Green also looked a bit lacking, other than that one drop ground herpes that has already been mentioned.
Last but not least, I don't remember it being mentioned yet (it was spoiled in Russian right around the primer migration) but Stitcher's Graft seems real good for us. It is a potential turn-1 play, it can get our tax-blockers (well) out of Bolt range at an aggressive cast+equip cost (having a 5/4 ThaliaGT or a 6/5 ThaliaHC on guard duty seems bonkers good in my imagination right now), and it plays real nice on attack with Serra Avenger/Brimaz. IMO, it's probably worth playtesting at least as much as that Hero's Blade from FRF in some sort of mono-W legends build.
(As an aside: I'm a little disappointed we don't see one or two more Meld flips; by my count it's only the Angels, Hanweir, and the Rats. I guess it was just too risky a design space? The Emerge mechanic seems far less parasitic, but those offerings are all so rampy and have "on cast" triggers rather than nice ETB trigers.)