It is mostly pretty standard I guess, although Entreat has somewhat fallen out of favour and I tried a Mouth of Ronom in the main for additional removal and eventual recursion with Crucible (which I wouldn't want to miss out on currently). I am still not quite settled whether Condemn or Oust is the way to go, although it is annoying that Oust is a sorcery and the threat is rapidly coming back. As far as the sideboard is concerned, the only fixed slots are the RiPs, the Purge and the Reinforcements I guess, otherwise I'm not particularly sold on any of these. Suggestions?
I'm curious about a couple of things. If you're that hooked on Crucible, I'd guess it is because big mana (Gx Tron, Valakut and Amulet) and/or control is really prevalent on your meta. If that's the case, it's really strange that you'd go down on the "typical" number of LD utility lands for the Mouth of Ronom.
I've forced Entreat a lot and I think it's just bad. My excuse was that it helped me close out games faster but in reality what it made me did was mulligan a lot more...
Also, you seem like you're cutting PWs. Is it for budget reasons? Planeswalkers are really important and the 3/2 split feels/plays perfectly.
So this saturday I'm playing the top 8 that I mentioned in an earlier post here. I know I'm up against either Bant Spirits or Ascendancy Combo in the first game, since the pairings are already in. Anything particular I need to change in main board to push up my chances in that game? What should I put in my sideboard for the day? If I have to guess, I think the players will play Eldrazi Tron (could be on infect), Bant Spirits, Burn, Bogles, Humans, Bridgevine, Affinity and UW Control (that's me). My other choice is playing Eldrazi Stompy instead.
Against those matchups I don't see Entreat as being that good. All of those games you win by assembling a full lock of the game. From my experience, the only matchups where Entreat was good was vs Control or Midrange. Against Control I'd have to set it up to Miracle on their End-step, to do that I'd have to resolve a Jace of my own which would mean I'd be winning anyway. On the midrange matchups it was a real beating, but we just favored to win those anyway. I'd probably cut it for another D-Sphere or another counter.
On the sideboard, are you sure you need that many lifegain effects? If so, maybe you should consider Blessed Alliance instead, since it does double work against most decks? Specially vs Infect where it can't be countered by a protection spell and Bogles where it's one of the best answers.
I've been playing 2 Ousts main for a while and I have to admit that I haven't seen humans around much these days. I only play at FNM anyways, so maybe it's not very representative. Anyways, it may be worth it to play Condemn instead, though I'd probably split the 2 Oust into a Condemn and either an Alliance main or a 2nd DSphere.
I will also be playing an Absorb to see how it goes, not sure what the cut is tho.
I am glad you had a look. You are mostly right, the meta consists of quite a chunk of G Tron, Valakut and a few control variants (mostly UWx, but also UBx) against which Crucible is the all-star. One thing Mouth of Ronom also does is deal with manlands, which is one of the reasons if not the reason to play 4-5 LD lands, so this slot doesn't miss out on this aspect. Additionally, against aggressive strategies (of which there are some in every meta I guess) it gives some extra outs.
Regarding Entreat this is also my take, stealing some games with a set up Entreat at the end of the opponent's turn, but it's a fringe application which is why I have gone down to a single one. The number of PWs is atm. tailored such that I can assemble the list from my binder, basically. I was thinking of going up to 2 Teferis which would make a 2/2 split. How crucial is the 3rd Jace in your opinion?
I am glad you had a look. You are mostly right, the meta consists of quite a chunk of G Tron, Valakut and a few control variants (mostly UWx, but also UBx) against which Crucible is the all-star. One thing Mouth of Ronom also does is deal with manlands, which is one of the reasons if not the reason to play 4-5 LD lands, so this slot doesn't miss out on this aspect. Additionally, against aggressive strategies (of which there are some in every meta I guess) it gives some extra outs.
Regarding Entreat this is also my take, stealing some games with a set up Entreat at the end of the opponent's turn, but it's a fringe application which is why I have gone down to a single one. The number of PWs is atm. tailored such that I can assemble the list from my binder, basically. I was thinking of going up to 2 Teferis which would make a 2/2 split. How crucial is the 3rd Jace in your opinion?
I personally wouldn't play fewer than 3 Jaces. I know it's only 1 card, but the impact is definitely noticeable, to the point where I felt like my list with 2 Jaces was too clunky and my list with 3 is fine.
I am glad you had a look. You are mostly right, the meta consists of quite a chunk of G Tron, Valakut and a few control variants (mostly UWx, but also UBx) against which Crucible is the all-star. One thing Mouth of Ronom also does is deal with manlands, which is one of the reasons if not the reason to play 4-5 LD lands, so this slot doesn't miss out on this aspect. Additionally, against aggressive strategies (of which there are some in every meta I guess) it gives some extra outs.
Regarding Entreat this is also my take, stealing some games with a set up Entreat at the end of the opponent's turn, but it's a fringe application which is why I have gone down to a single one. The number of PWs is atm. tailored such that I can assemble the list from my binder, basically. I was thinking of going up to 2 Teferis which would make a 2/2 split. How crucial is the 3rd Jace in your opinion?
I was playing a 2/2 split for quite a while because I convinced myself that I didn't need it (to save some copper!). I kept losing to too many Terminus in my hand and no Jace to remove them, so to fix that I dropped down the number of Terminus and increased the 4 cmc wipes. It worked out ok. I stopped having my hand clogged with cards that did nothing but I'd still lose because it's really hard to turn the corner when you're paying 4 mana for a wipe. Besides that, usually the first Jace just eats an attack and goes to the bin. It's really good if you have one extra to close out the games with and act like a WinCon.
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It seems that the 3/2 split is pretty much consensus, so I'll just try it myself and see whether it improves things. Maybe the third JTMS then takes the slot of the fourth Terminus, with a couple of cantrips and such we should be able to find them. How many 4 mana wraths do you play? I currently opted für a 1-of Verdict, 4 mana still seems a little clunky, especially against hasty threats (and they are pretty bad against Phoenix).
Initially I played a 4C Gifts Rock build in modern, so I was wondering if Gifts Ungiven could bring some extra spice to the list. It essentially is a different deck and probably would require a slight B splash, but Unburial Rites/Iona out of nowhere backed up with Cryptic Commands and counters seems like a pretty neat idea to be honest. Any comments?
I was working on the gifts idea for awhile, the black splash can be incredibly light if you run a copy of Radical Idea. Between 4 flooded Strand and 4 field of Ruin you can run a single swamp and a single watery grave and be fine to cast unburial from hand if needed and you can use radical idea to pitch your creature if you draw rites and the creature.
I also liked the black splash to increase Engineered Explosives utility and facilitate flashback on a misers lingering souls.
I think Gifts Ungiven isn't as good now as it was before Terminus showed off its power level and people were playing a mix of Verdict and Wrath of God. But between Snapcaster and Mission Briefing, Gifts Ungiven is basically a 2 card tutor at instant speed for answers (not good at finding threats in UW since snap and brief can't get back walkers). It's under played imo.
I did mess around with a Gifts version with Terminus and Noxious Revival, it was interesting but I didn't get a chance to play with it much. Radical Idea, Noxious Revival, Snapcaster and Mission Briefing turn Gifts into a straight up tutor.
I was working on the gifts idea for awhile, the black splash can be incredibly light if you run a copy of Radical Idea. Between 4 flooded Strand and 4 field of Ruin you can run a single swamp and a single watery grave and be fine to cast unburial from hand if needed and you can use radical idea to pitch your creature if you draw rites and the creature.
I also liked the black splash to increase Engineered Explosives utility and facilitate flashback on a misers lingering souls.
I think Gifts Ungiven isn't as good now as it was before Terminus showed off its power level and people were playing a mix of Verdict and Wrath of God. But between Snapcaster and Mission Briefing, Gifts Ungiven is basically a 2 card tutor at instant speed for answers (not good at finding threats in UW since snap and brief can't get back walkers). It's under played imo.
I did mess around with a Gifts version with Terminus and Noxious Revival, it was interesting but I didn't get a chance to play with it much. Radical Idea, Noxious Revival, Snapcaster and Mission Briefing turn Gifts into a straight up tutor.
So far I did not consider Radical Idea, that seems to be a nice synergy for decks otherwise lacking discard outlets. I am less worried about the splash than what to cut in the list for e.g. 1 Rites, 1 Iona/Elesh Norn and 3-4 Gifts Ungiven. I don't think we can greatly go down on counters, nor can be skip on spot removal or sweepers, let alone include Lingering Souls (which would make everything a little more midrange-ish I suppose). In past builds I found myself always cutting Revival for looking good on paper but not quite playing out so well, even after a Gifts it always feels bad to only put it on top rather than in your hand, although I will admit this sets up Terminus nicely. Do you happen to have an example list for reference?
I'll keep it short since this probabky isn't really the type of control deck people come to this thread for, but if you're interested some more we can PM.
It seems that the 3/2 split is pretty much consensus, so I'll just try it myself and see whether it improves things. Maybe the third JTMS then takes the slot of the fourth Terminus, with a couple of cantrips and such we should be able to find them. How many 4 mana wraths do you play? I currently opted für a 1-of Verdict, 4 mana still seems a little clunky, especially against hasty threats (and they are pretty bad against Phoenix).
I don't recommend cutting any Terminus. You're putting them in your deck to cast them consistently, so go all in and play 4. You'll get used to it. The slots I could see cutting from the list you posted before are the 2nd Snare, the Mission Briefing, and the 2nd Negate.
I do run 1 Verdict because it seems pretty standard, but I'm starting to wonder if it's even necessary -- many of the deck we want boardwipes against laugh at Verdict (Dredge, Hollow One, Bridgevine, Bogles with totem armor, etc). Against everyone else, 4 mana wraths actually seem pretty bad. Does anyone else feel similarly? The only decks I can think of that I actually want Verdict against are Humans and Affinity, and Affinity loses pretty hard to Terminus anyways.
Personally, I was running a split of Wrath/Verdict main for a long time to compensate for the fact that I wasn't totally comfortable playing Terminus. Now that I've gotten a decent grasp on how to play with Terminus in the list, I don't feel like I even need the 1 Verdict I currently run.
It seems that the 3/2 split is pretty much consensus, so I'll just try it myself and see whether it improves things. Maybe the third JTMS then takes the slot of the fourth Terminus, with a couple of cantrips and such we should be able to find them. How many 4 mana wraths do you play? I currently opted für a 1-of Verdict, 4 mana still seems a little clunky, especially against hasty threats (and they are pretty bad against Phoenix).
I don't recommend cutting any Terminus. You're putting them in your deck to cast them consistently, so go all in and play 4. You'll get used to it. The slots I could see cutting from the list you posted before are the 2nd Snare, the Mission Briefing, and the 2nd Negate.
I do run 1 Verdict because it seems pretty standard, but I'm starting to wonder if it's even necessary -- many of the deck we want boardwipes against laugh at Verdict (Dredge, Hollow One, Bridgevine, Bogles with totem armor, etc). Against everyone else, 4 mana wraths actually seem pretty bad. Does anyone else feel similarly? The only decks I can think of that I actually want Verdict against are Humans and Affinity, and Affinity loses pretty hard to Terminus anyways.
Personally, I was running a split of Wrath/Verdict main for a long time to compensate for the fact that I wasn't totally comfortable playing Terminus. Now that I've gotten a decent grasp on how to play with Terminus in the list, I don't feel like I even need the 1 Verdict I currently run.
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If for some reason you're playing less than 3 JtMS I'd recommend playing 3/2 terminus/4cmc wipes split. From my experience, I had too many clunky hands with terminus and little to no way to remove them from my hand. When I decided to play the 3rd Jace I brought the 4th Terminus in and cut one of my 4cmc wipes. I would never cut a Jace for a Terminus, they need each other, in reality you're only playing Terminus because there's Jace and you only play Jace because you need Terminus.
Now I'm running 4 Terminus and 1 Settle the Wreckage because on my local meta there's a lot of Phoenix and Dredge decks which are better answered with Settle. Since there's a slight resurgence of GDS, I have a Supreme on my sideboard just in case.
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It seems that the 3/2 split is pretty much consensus, so I'll just try it myself and see whether it improves things. Maybe the third JTMS then takes the slot of the fourth Terminus, with a couple of cantrips and such we should be able to find them. How many 4 mana wraths do you play? I currently opted für a 1-of Verdict, 4 mana still seems a little clunky, especially against hasty threats (and they are pretty bad against Phoenix).
I don't recommend cutting any Terminus. You're putting them in your deck to cast them consistently, so go all in and play 4. You'll get used to it. The slots I could see cutting from the list you posted before are the 2nd Snare, the Mission Briefing, and the 2nd Negate.
I do run 1 Verdict because it seems pretty standard, but I'm starting to wonder if it's even necessary -- many of the deck we want boardwipes against laugh at Verdict (Dredge, Hollow One, Bridgevine, Bogles with totem armor, etc). Against everyone else, 4 mana wraths actually seem pretty bad. Does anyone else feel similarly? The only decks I can think of that I actually want Verdict against are Humans and Affinity, and Affinity loses pretty hard to Terminus anyways.
Personally, I was running a split of Wrath/Verdict main for a long time to compensate for the fact that I wasn't totally comfortable playing Terminus. Now that I've gotten a decent grasp on how to play with Terminus in the list, I don't feel like I even need the 1 Verdict I currently run.
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If for some reason you're playing less than 3 JtMS I'd recommend playing 3/2 terminus/4cmc wipes split. From my experience, I had too many clunky hands with terminus and little to no way to remove them from my hand. When I decided to play the 3rd Jace I brought the 4th Terminus in and cut one of my 4cmc wipes. I would never cut a Jace for a Terminus, they need each other, in reality you're only playing Terminus because there's Jace and you only play Jace because you need Terminus.
Now I'm running 4 Terminus and 1 Settle the Wreckage because on my local meta there's a lot of Phoenix and Dredge decks which are better answered with Settle. Since there's a slight resurgence of GDS, I have a Supreme on my sideboard just in case.
I'm not sure it's worth the inconsistency to run 2 Jace 3 Terminus instead of just conceding game 1's vs Dredge and Pheonix and coming in with sideboard tech to swoop games 2 and 3. I mean dedicated hate, like Settles, 4/5 gy hate pieces (Surgical/RIP), 2 Purges or 1 Purge/1 DSphere, etc. That way, you're gaining percentage points in the fairer matchups and playing the sideboard/matchup roulette like everyone else. If you play Terminus with too few ways to put it back on top, then you're setting yourself up to draw it early and lose to having no boardwipe against otherwise good matchups.
I'd much rather pivot to a Gideon otT, and Gideon Ally list with a set of 4 mana wraths, personally.
Otherwise, I 100% agree with your sentiment on the Jace/Terminus dependency.
I'm not sure it's worth the inconsistency to run 2 Jace 3 Terminus instead of just conceding game 1's vs Dredge and Pheonix and coming in with sideboard tech to swoop games 2 and 3. I mean dedicated hate, like Settles, 4/5 gy hate pieces (Surgical/RIP), 2 Purges or 1 Purge/1 DSphere, etc. That way, you're gaining percentage points in the fairer matchups and playing the sideboard/matchup roulette like everyone else. If you play Terminus with too few ways to put it back on top, then you're setting yourself up to draw it early and lose to having no boardwipe against otherwise good matchups.
I'd much rather pivot to a Gideon otT, and Gideon Ally list with a set of 4 mana wraths, personally.
Otherwise, I 100% agree with your sentiment on the Jace/Terminus dependency.
Probably that's what I should have done. I didn't find the plan was that bad. Now that I got the 3rd Jace everything makes more sense and the way the deck plays way more fluidly. It's really strange, I've played many decks where I would tech some one-ofs and change just a couple of numbers to fine tune my deck to a certain expected meta, but I never experienced a "clunkyness decrease" on a deck by this great of a margin.
Speaking of Gideon, I've been thinking of giving Gideon of the Trials a try but I actually never played with the card so I don't really know how it would work. I understand he's great against Combo mainly, but what combo decks? When would this tech make sense? From your experience when would you take it in/out and why?
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You've been misinformed, Gideon Trials is at its worst in most of the combo matchups. He is a superstar in fair matchups though, and serviceable in most everything else.
I like Trials as a 1-of in the main right now since Shadow and burn have been on the rise. It's also surprisingly decent against pheonix as long as you cast it with instant speed removal backup.
Did anyone catch Fabiano's tech of 3x Relic of Progenitus main? After checking out his match as closely as possible and looking at his sideboard I really like his strategy, I've been trying it with a couple little tweaks. I'm on 1 RIP and 2 Relic main right now, it has felt really nice.
You've been misinformed, Gideon Trials is at its worst in most of the combo matchups. He is a superstar in fair matchups though, and serviceable in most everything else.
I like Trials as a 1-of in the main right now since Shadow and burn have been on the rise. It's also surprisingly decent against pheonix as long as you cast it with instant speed removal backup.
Did anyone catch Fabiano's tech of 3x Relic of Progenitus main? After checking out his match as closely as possible and looking at his sideboard I really like his strategy, I've been trying it with a couple little tweaks. I'm on 1 RIP and 2 Relic main right now, it has felt really nice.
Hmmm... I guess. I'm not sure about it. I've tried to image scenarios where it would be great but I'm not seeing it...
About the Relic/RIP main, my meta usually isn't that "degenerate" for me to want it and because of that I've tried a couple of times to play Surgical Extraction on the mainboard. It's decent on most matchups and can really upgrade g1 vs decks like Tron.
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Trials is good because it keeps creatures and creature lands under control and forces the opponent to over extend into sweepers. It's basically a sorcery speed spot removal spell that persists after sweepers and can act as a win condition in a pinch.
It's also good against burn because they have to kill it if you emblem in order to burn you out. If you untap with it even once you're usually in a great spot.
Gideon is at his best in certain combo matchups and a number of fair matchups. I find I rarely board him out (because oftentimes a clock is required to games 2/3, but mostly because he's just a good card). Gideon is at his absolute best against Shadow and Infect, given that you can safely tap out or low for him. In other words, decks with low threat counts that are just forced to overcommit into a sweeper. He's also good against decks that rely on manlands to supplement few threats, like Rock and Jund. He used to be amazing vs. the mirror, but that was a time when you could cut your opponent off of white with Seas. More recently, I've found Gideon otT to be pretty bad against control opponents in general (well, the ones that play Path anyways). And obviously he's great against burn, even if he just eats a card and an attack it's usually fine. You win against Burn by small margins sometimes.
As for the combo decks he's good against, the main one is Ad Naus. They literally can't beat a Gid emblem game one, and usually not in G2 either. Otherwise, it's not a great card in combo matchups -- see Storm, KCI, etc. Anything that you wouldn't tap out t3 for a 4/4 platinum angel against, basically.
Then there are a few matchups where he's hit-or-miss against. Things like Humans and Affinity, where sometimes they flood the board super fast and just kill Gideon, but other times you line up counters and answers to isolate their board to one main threat and uptick it with Gideon. In general, I don't like Gideon against these matchups, but he's not always bad in G1 -- and can sometimes take over the game completely after a boardwipe.
So I've been testing absorb as a 2-of since it went live on modo. I think it would only deserve 1 slot, but when testing I always start with 1 more than where I feel I would normally be at just to draw it as often as possible.
I've only got about a dozen matches in, but my initials thoughts are that it isn't playable. I've boarded it out more often than I've kept it in and even in the matches where it should be good, it's bad because of the triple color requirement - its very difficult to leave up uuw on turn 3 in a deck with 4 taplands and 4-5 colorless sources.
The other big issue is that the life gain is irrelevant in the matches where a 3cmc hard counter is good, and in the matches where 3 life matters 3cmc counters are awful, especially when you can't reliably cast it on turn 3.
Mcwinsauce on modo tried relics main, he didn't like them. The problem is that you don't have a fast enough clock, so people just play around them, or you're forced to use them for mediocre value to prevent an annoying play (like gurmag angler, loam or faithless looting).
I've forced Entreat a lot and I think it's just bad. My excuse was that it helped me close out games faster but in reality what it made me did was mulligan a lot more...
Also, you seem like you're cutting PWs. Is it for budget reasons? Planeswalkers are really important and the 3/2 split feels/plays perfectly.
Against those matchups I don't see Entreat as being that good. All of those games you win by assembling a full lock of the game. From my experience, the only matchups where Entreat was good was vs Control or Midrange. Against Control I'd have to set it up to Miracle on their End-step, to do that I'd have to resolve a Jace of my own which would mean I'd be winning anyway. On the midrange matchups it was a real beating, but we just favored to win those anyway. I'd probably cut it for another D-Sphere or another counter.
On the sideboard, are you sure you need that many lifegain effects? If so, maybe you should consider Blessed Alliance instead, since it does double work against most decks? Specially vs Infect where it can't be countered by a protection spell and Bogles where it's one of the best answers.
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I will also be playing an Absorb to see how it goes, not sure what the cut is tho.
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Oh I like it alot as well.
Regarding Entreat this is also my take, stealing some games with a set up Entreat at the end of the opponent's turn, but it's a fringe application which is why I have gone down to a single one. The number of PWs is atm. tailored such that I can assemble the list from my binder, basically. I was thinking of going up to 2 Teferis which would make a 2/2 split. How crucial is the 3rd Jace in your opinion?
I personally wouldn't play fewer than 3 Jaces. I know it's only 1 card, but the impact is definitely noticeable, to the point where I felt like my list with 2 Jaces was too clunky and my list with 3 is fine.
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Initially I played a 4C Gifts Rock build in modern, so I was wondering if Gifts Ungiven could bring some extra spice to the list. It essentially is a different deck and probably would require a slight B splash, but Unburial Rites/Iona out of nowhere backed up with Cryptic Commands and counters seems like a pretty neat idea to be honest. Any comments?
I also liked the black splash to increase Engineered Explosives utility and facilitate flashback on a misers lingering souls.
I think Gifts Ungiven isn't as good now as it was before Terminus showed off its power level and people were playing a mix of Verdict and Wrath of God. But between Snapcaster and Mission Briefing, Gifts Ungiven is basically a 2 card tutor at instant speed for answers (not good at finding threats in UW since snap and brief can't get back walkers). It's under played imo.
I did mess around with a Gifts version with Terminus and Noxious Revival, it was interesting but I didn't get a chance to play with it much. Radical Idea, Noxious Revival, Snapcaster and Mission Briefing turn Gifts into a straight up tutor.
So far I did not consider Radical Idea, that seems to be a nice synergy for decks otherwise lacking discard outlets. I am less worried about the splash than what to cut in the list for e.g. 1 Rites, 1 Iona/Elesh Norn and 3-4 Gifts Ungiven. I don't think we can greatly go down on counters, nor can be skip on spot removal or sweepers, let alone include Lingering Souls (which would make everything a little more midrange-ish I suppose). In past builds I found myself always cutting Revival for looking good on paper but not quite playing out so well, even after a Gifts it always feels bad to only put it on top rather than in your hand, although I will admit this sets up Terminus nicely. Do you happen to have an example list for reference?
4 Serum Visions
2 Mission Briefing
1 Snapcaster mage
1 Radical Idea
2 Timely Reinforcements
1 Lingering Souls
3 gifts ungiven
Interaction (13)
4 path
1 Negate
1 detention sphere
2 Cryptic Command
2 Supreme Verdict
1 Wrath of God
1 Day of Judgment
1 Engineered Explosives
2 Jace
1 Teferi
1 Unburial Rites
1 Elesh Norn
1 Iona
Mana (27)
2 Talisman of Progress
4 Flooded Strand
4 Field of Ruin
3 Celestial Colonnade
2 Polluted Delta
1 Watery Grave
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Mystic Gate
5 Island
3 Plains
1 Swamp
3 Unmoored Ego
1 Crucible
1 damping sphere
1 Pulse of the Fields
2 clique
2 Negate
2 Dispel
The terminus version replaces the 4cmc sweepers and EE for terminus and noxious more or less.
I don't recommend cutting any Terminus. You're putting them in your deck to cast them consistently, so go all in and play 4. You'll get used to it. The slots I could see cutting from the list you posted before are the 2nd Snare, the Mission Briefing, and the 2nd Negate.
I do run 1 Verdict because it seems pretty standard, but I'm starting to wonder if it's even necessary -- many of the deck we want boardwipes against laugh at Verdict (Dredge, Hollow One, Bridgevine, Bogles with totem armor, etc). Against everyone else, 4 mana wraths actually seem pretty bad. Does anyone else feel similarly? The only decks I can think of that I actually want Verdict against are Humans and Affinity, and Affinity loses pretty hard to Terminus anyways.
Personally, I was running a split of Wrath/Verdict main for a long time to compensate for the fact that I wasn't totally comfortable playing Terminus. Now that I've gotten a decent grasp on how to play with Terminus in the list, I don't feel like I even need the 1 Verdict I currently run.
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If for some reason you're playing less than 3 JtMS I'd recommend playing 3/2 terminus/4cmc wipes split. From my experience, I had too many clunky hands with terminus and little to no way to remove them from my hand. When I decided to play the 3rd Jace I brought the 4th Terminus in and cut one of my 4cmc wipes. I would never cut a Jace for a Terminus, they need each other, in reality you're only playing Terminus because there's Jace and you only play Jace because you need Terminus.
Now I'm running 4 Terminus and 1 Settle the Wreckage because on my local meta there's a lot of Phoenix and Dredge decks which are better answered with Settle. Since there's a slight resurgence of GDS, I have a Supreme on my sideboard just in case.
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I'm not sure it's worth the inconsistency to run 2 Jace 3 Terminus instead of just conceding game 1's vs Dredge and Pheonix and coming in with sideboard tech to swoop games 2 and 3. I mean dedicated hate, like Settles, 4/5 gy hate pieces (Surgical/RIP), 2 Purges or 1 Purge/1 DSphere, etc. That way, you're gaining percentage points in the fairer matchups and playing the sideboard/matchup roulette like everyone else. If you play Terminus with too few ways to put it back on top, then you're setting yourself up to draw it early and lose to having no boardwipe against otherwise good matchups.
I'd much rather pivot to a Gideon otT, and Gideon Ally list with a set of 4 mana wraths, personally.
Otherwise, I 100% agree with your sentiment on the Jace/Terminus dependency.
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Speaking of Gideon, I've been thinking of giving Gideon of the Trials a try but I actually never played with the card so I don't really know how it would work. I understand he's great against Combo mainly, but what combo decks? When would this tech make sense? From your experience when would you take it in/out and why?
WUMiracles ControlUW
RUBGrixis Death's ShadowBUR
I like Trials as a 1-of in the main right now since Shadow and burn have been on the rise. It's also surprisingly decent against pheonix as long as you cast it with instant speed removal backup.
Did anyone catch Fabiano's tech of 3x Relic of Progenitus main? After checking out his match as closely as possible and looking at his sideboard I really like his strategy, I've been trying it with a couple little tweaks. I'm on 1 RIP and 2 Relic main right now, it has felt really nice.
About the Relic/RIP main, my meta usually isn't that "degenerate" for me to want it and because of that I've tried a couple of times to play Surgical Extraction on the mainboard. It's decent on most matchups and can really upgrade g1 vs decks like Tron.
WUMiracles ControlUW
RUBGrixis Death's ShadowBUR
It's also good against burn because they have to kill it if you emblem in order to burn you out. If you untap with it even once you're usually in a great spot.
As for the combo decks he's good against, the main one is Ad Naus. They literally can't beat a Gid emblem game one, and usually not in G2 either. Otherwise, it's not a great card in combo matchups -- see Storm, KCI, etc. Anything that you wouldn't tap out t3 for a 4/4 platinum angel against, basically.
Then there are a few matchups where he's hit-or-miss against. Things like Humans and Affinity, where sometimes they flood the board super fast and just kill Gideon, but other times you line up counters and answers to isolate their board to one main threat and uptick it with Gideon. In general, I don't like Gideon against these matchups, but he's not always bad in G1 -- and can sometimes take over the game completely after a boardwipe.
UWB Esper Draw-Go Control (clicky)
UW Azorius Control (clicky)
Currently pursuing a degree in Biochemistry.
EDH: I've decided I don't like multiplayer formats.
I've only got about a dozen matches in, but my initials thoughts are that it isn't playable. I've boarded it out more often than I've kept it in and even in the matches where it should be good, it's bad because of the triple color requirement - its very difficult to leave up uuw on turn 3 in a deck with 4 taplands and 4-5 colorless sources.
The other big issue is that the life gain is irrelevant in the matches where a 3cmc hard counter is good, and in the matches where 3 life matters 3cmc counters are awful, especially when you can't reliably cast it on turn 3.
Edit** - next up i'll be testing Depose//Deploy