1-2 Magma Spray seems like a good sideboard card. In addition to things like Burn, Spirits, Humans, Bloodghasts, and other small creature decks, it does wonders against opposing Phoenix.
Yesterday won against Bant Spirits 2-1, UR Wizards 2-0 and Humans 2-1
Spirits can't deal well with Thing in the Ice. Can't let them get on board with the lords or their creatures become un-boltable. He played 2 Rest in Peace one game against me and I just ended Thinging him.
Against Wizards my opponent had really bad luck. I had pretty good draws too and the deck raced well.
Ral, Izzet Viceroy was a control finisher against Humans and won through him both times. Bolted and Angered everything, then slammed Ral. It was the most solid plan I could think of against a deck that does well against our main plan. Thalia, Guardian of Thraben is a pain in the ass and the deck can't deal with her well at all if you have to dig for the removal. The game he won I was stuck on cantrips and Manamorphoses.
Don't bolt the Hierarch in this matchup, there's far more important stuff to remove than a dork.
This was the hardest matchup of the night. Played real sloppy but the deck is kind of made to fight small creatures with ease if you want to. Wait for him to Liutentant first so you can Bolt the 3 toughness creatures.
Why everytime I suggest people to not put Rest in Peace against the Crackling Drake version they aren't convinced about how little I care about that card? They're convinced it's good but it isn't at all. A Damping Sphere would be way more effective, for example.
This is the list I ran yesterday. Pretty happy about it. Still not convinced by Opt/Thought Scour that much.
The Young Pyromancer is gas against certain grindy decks, or certain decks that you'll need the chump blockers against, like Humans, Jeskai or Death's Shadow, and I'm happy with the 1x copy I've been running.
Also ran this exact list on Tuesday. Also won the 3 matches, 2-0 against Soul Sisters, 2-1 against Esper Mill, and 2-1 against Mono Green Tron.
Soul Sisters was just about bolting stuff, slamming Pyromancer and Ral, since they managed to deal well with Thing and Drake thanks to Path to Exile and Oblivion Ring, but they struggled a lot with the tokens and the Planeswalker
Mill was weird, because since our deck goes through a lot of cards by itself, it's easy to just go overboard and lose to the milling. I was lucky because I saw how he milled his own Crypt Incursion and Extirpate with his Mesmeric Orb, or things could have gone way differently. He enables my plan and I enable his.
Mono Green Tron was hard.
Lost game 1 to Turn 3 Karn into Turn 4 Ugin EVEN while countering a Stirrings with Izzet Charm.
Won game 2 off of an explosive start.
Game 3 was pretty intense, since I kept a no-lander with Alpine Moon and Disdainful Stroke, while he had a turn 1 Grafdigger's Cage but no Tron. I managed to win in the end in a pretty close way thanks to Alpine Moon slowing them down enough, all the burn since I hit him with 2 Bolts, a Temper and a Gut Shot plus the creatures, and Abrade blowing up the cage to free Arclight Phoenix. Feels good man.
The deck made its way into MTGO, then it made its way into the SCG circuit, and then it made it into the GP top8, so now it's making its way into Established.
If someone wants to make a primer feel free to message the mods.
Played this list to a first place win at the FacetoFace open in Red Deer yesterday.
Played Against:
Hardened Scales (2-0)
Bant Spirits (2-0)
Burn (2-1)
Burn (2-1)
KCI (2-0)
Bant Spirits (1-2)
G/W Devoted Druid Company (2-0)
Amulet Titan (ID)
Went into top 8 as the fifth seed
Quarters: Fourth Seed Amulet Titan (2-1) (Same guy who I ID in round 8)
Semi: First Seed U/W Control (2-0)
Finals: Second Seed Burn (2-0)
Deck felt great. Would highly recommend playing Maximize Velocity. Being able to play, flip, and then attack withThing in the Ice all in the same turn is crazy.
I just bought UR Phoenix yesterday in paper and mtgo.
Yo, I suuuuuuuuucked with this deck. It's actually quite challenging. There's a whole balance of playing your cantrips, holding enough, making land drops, and knowing when to build back up again to get your Phoenix.
I also have absolutely zero clue to sideboard. I get the feeling this deck doesn't want to get super diluted.
What list did you play? I found most of the time with the Thing/Drake/Swifty configuration it kind of just plays itself. Probably the smoothest deck I've played in a long long time, but I already have a ton of reps in Standard where its harder/slower.
Maybe it's just me, but I really didn't feel the Swiftspear one with many cantrips. I know it's the one that won that SCG tournament and maybe I played it wrong, but I really liked the lategame/grind edge 1x Reveler and 1x Peezy gave me instead. Maybe it's meta dependant, because for me, it was always either too slow, or ate a removal spell ASAP.
Funnily enough despite all the hype I didn't play against the deck on MTGO a single time yet. I guess Moderns diversity is at it again.
Im thinking about dismantling my Death's Shadow deck and the question is what would I do then. Cash out and just stick with UW Control or build something different with the money?
Im not as hyped about this deck as a lot of other people are but it does look interesting. There is still some experimentation going on with the deck but I few things look like they have become set in stone so what would you say are the good and bad matchups of the deck?
Looking at lists that have done well I see a shocking lack of interaction against anything that isn't a creature so I assume Combo matchups are pure races?
I'm not traditionally a blue player, I've only been getting better with it with Grixis Shadow, but this is a deck that's mostly cantrips. I just need to get a feel for it.
I am running this list in paper tomorrow night. Wasn't able to play in FNM and don't play MTGO, but feels pretty solid when goldfishing (and going off memories of local meta when playing GDS).
UR ....... WUBR ........... WB ............. RGW ........ UBR ....... WUB .... BGU
Spells / Blink & Combo / Token Grind / Dino Tribal / Draw Cards / Zombies / Reanimate
Spirits
4 thing in the icea
4 pyromancer's ascension
4 faithless looting
4 serum visions
4 thought scour
4 opt
4 lightning helix
2 path to exile
3 scalding tarn
3 flooded strand
2 island
1 mountain
1 plains
4 spirebluff canals
2 hallowed fountain
2 scalding tarn
Not sure if the manabase is right
Spirits can't deal well with Thing in the Ice. Can't let them get on board with the lords or their creatures become un-boltable. He played 2 Rest in Peace one game against me and I just ended Thinging him.
Against Wizards my opponent had really bad luck. I had pretty good draws too and the deck raced well.
Ral, Izzet Viceroy was a control finisher against Humans and won through him both times. Bolted and Angered everything, then slammed Ral. It was the most solid plan I could think of against a deck that does well against our main plan.
Thalia, Guardian of Thraben is a pain in the ass and the deck can't deal with her well at all if you have to dig for the removal. The game he won I was stuck on cantrips and Manamorphoses.
Don't bolt the Hierarch in this matchup, there's far more important stuff to remove than a dork.
This was the hardest matchup of the night. Played real sloppy but the deck is kind of made to fight small creatures with ease if you want to. Wait for him to Liutentant first so you can Bolt the 3 toughness creatures.
Why everytime I suggest people to not put Rest in Peace against the Crackling Drake version they aren't convinced about how little I care about that card? They're convinced it's good but it isn't at all. A Damping Sphere would be way more effective, for example.
The Young Pyromancer is gas against certain grindy decks, or certain decks that you'll need the chump blockers against, like Humans, Jeskai or Death's Shadow, and I'm happy with the 1x copy I've been running.
4x Spirebluff Canal
3x Island
3x Mountain
2x Steam Vents
2x Flooded Strand
2x Bloodstained Mire
1x Scalding Tarn
1x Polluted Delta
Creatures: 13
4x Arclight Phoenix
4x Thing in the Ice
3x Crackling Drake
1x Young Pyromancer
1x Bedlam Reveler
2x Gut Shot
1x Noxious Revival
4x Lightning Bolt
2x Lightning Axe
2x Fiery Temper
1x Forked Bolt
4x Manamorphose
4x Faithless Looting
4x Serum Visions
2x Opt
1x Izzet Charm
1x Chart a Course
1x Thought Scour
2x Abrade
2x Alpine Moon
2x Anger of the Gods
2x Ceremonious Rejection
2x Dispel
2x Surgical Extraction
1x Ral, Izzet Viceroy
1x By Force
1x Disdainful Stroke
Also ran this exact list on Tuesday. Also won the 3 matches, 2-0 against Soul Sisters, 2-1 against Esper Mill, and 2-1 against Mono Green Tron.
Soul Sisters was just about bolting stuff, slamming Pyromancer and Ral, since they managed to deal well with Thing and Drake thanks to Path to Exile and Oblivion Ring, but they struggled a lot with the tokens and the Planeswalker
Mill was weird, because since our deck goes through a lot of cards by itself, it's easy to just go overboard and lose to the milling. I was lucky because I saw how he milled his own Crypt Incursion and Extirpate with his Mesmeric Orb, or things could have gone way differently. He enables my plan and I enable his.
Mono Green Tron was hard.
Lost game 1 to Turn 3 Karn into Turn 4 Ugin EVEN while countering a Stirrings with Izzet Charm.
Won game 2 off of an explosive start.
Game 3 was pretty intense, since I kept a no-lander with Alpine Moon and Disdainful Stroke, while he had a turn 1 Grafdigger's Cage but no Tron. I managed to win in the end in a pretty close way thanks to Alpine Moon slowing them down enough, all the burn since I hit him with 2 Bolts, a Temper and a Gut Shot plus the creatures, and Abrade blowing up the cage to free Arclight Phoenix. Feels good man.
If someone wants to make a primer feel free to message the mods.
MTGO/MTGA: Tyclone
My Primers ~ GWx Vizier Company ~ Knightfall ~ RG Eldrazi ~ Green's Sun's Zenith
More Brews ~ Modern Four Horsemen ~ Gitrog Dredge
Has anyone experimented with running 4x Delver of Secrets? It seems like what the deck wants imo, more early pressure
Of all the builds I have tried, the one with 2 Swiftspear has been the best.
Spirits
3 Island
2 Mountain
4 Spirebluff Canal
3 Steam Vents
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Polluted Delta
Creatures
4 Thing in the Ice
2 Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
4 Arclight Phoenix
3 Crackling Drake
4 Serum Visions
4 Opt
3 Thought Scour
4 Faithless Looting
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Gut Shot
4 Manamorphose
1 Lighting Axe
1 Maximize Velocity
1 Burst Lightning
2 Dispel
2 Ceremonious Rejection
1 Spell Pierce
3 Surgical Extraction
3 Abrade
2 Anger of the Gods
1 Ral, Izzet Viceroy
1 Lighting Axe
Played this list to a first place win at the FacetoFace open in Red Deer yesterday.
Played Against:
Hardened Scales (2-0)
Bant Spirits (2-0)
Burn (2-1)
Burn (2-1)
KCI (2-0)
Bant Spirits (1-2)
G/W Devoted Druid Company (2-0)
Amulet Titan (ID)
Went into top 8 as the fifth seed
Quarters: Fourth Seed Amulet Titan (2-1) (Same guy who I ID in round 8)
Semi: First Seed U/W Control (2-0)
Finals: Second Seed Burn (2-0)
Deck felt great. Would highly recommend playing Maximize Velocity. Being able to play, flip, and then attack withThing in the Ice all in the same turn is crazy.
How did you like the Jace? I've seen a few comments about it being clunky at times.
Spirits
Spirits
Yo, I suuuuuuuuucked with this deck. It's actually quite challenging. There's a whole balance of playing your cantrips, holding enough, making land drops, and knowing when to build back up again to get your Phoenix.
I also have absolutely zero clue to sideboard. I get the feeling this deck doesn't want to get super diluted.
Spirits
Was this the configuration you tried?
Spirits
Im thinking about dismantling my Death's Shadow deck and the question is what would I do then. Cash out and just stick with UW Control or build something different with the money?
Im not as hyped about this deck as a lot of other people are but it does look interesting. There is still some experimentation going on with the deck but I few things look like they have become set in stone so what would you say are the good and bad matchups of the deck?
Looking at lists that have done well I see a shocking lack of interaction against anything that isn't a creature so I assume Combo matchups are pure races?
I'm not traditionally a blue player, I've only been getting better with it with Grixis Shadow, but this is a deck that's mostly cantrips. I just need to get a feel for it.
Abrade at 3 in the side, Surgical, and then it's getting thin.
Main Deck there isn't much but again what is there in the meta anyway?
As to bad match ups, I still think Rock is a beating as Push makes a joke out of Thing and Swiftspear and it has the tools to hate on the GY.
I don't think I have played around GDS with the deck yet but it could be an issue as well, but I think GDS is underplayed right now.
Spirits
4 Arclight Phoenix
2 Crackling Drake
2 Monastery Swiftspear
4 Thing in the Ice
//Sorcery
4 Faithless Looting
1 Flame Slash
4 Serum Visions
//Instant
3 Gut Shot
2 Izzet Charm
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Manamorphose
4 Opt
4 Thought Scour
3 Island
2 Mountain
2 Polluted Delta
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Spirebluff Canal
3 Steam Vents
1 Abrade
2 Alpine Moon
3 Ceremonious Rejection
1 Disdainful Stroke
2 Dispel
1 Izzet Staticaster
4 Ravenous Trap
1 Threads of Disloyalty
Spirits
4x Arclight Phoenix
2x Crackling Drake
2x Monastery Swiftspear
4x Thing in the Ice
1x Bedlam Reveler
Sorcery (10)
1x Chart a Course
4x Faithless Looting
4x Serum Visions
1x Maximize Velocity
Instant (19)
2x Gut Shot
1x Izzet Charm
1x Lightning Axe
4x Lightning Bolt
4x Manamorphose
4x Opt
2x Thought Scour
1x Fiery Temper
3x Flooded Strand
4x Spirebluff Canal
3x Steam Vents
4x Scalding Tarn
2x Island
2x Mountain
2x Abrade
2x Dispel
1x Spell Pierce
1x Ral, Izzet Viceroy
2x Anger of the Gods
2x Firemind's Research
2x Magma Spray
1x Dragon's Claw
2x Surgical Extraction
UR ....... WUBR ........... WB ............. RGW ........ UBR ....... WUB .... BGU
Spells / Blink & Combo / Token Grind / Dino Tribal / Draw Cards / Zombies / Reanimate