UWr Midrange (also called Geist of Saint Win after our favorite friendly ghost) is a UWR tempo deck that originated as a "Delverless" version of the WUR Delver deck, when its creator decided that Delver of Secrets couldn't handle all of the good removal that Modern has to offer. Thus, UWr Midrange was born.
If you like a deck that is highly interactive and has answers to a lot of things, or if you are just downright competitive, this could be the deck for you. It has had tons of success lately and is regarded by many as currently the best deck in the format. Unfortunately because of the deck's success and popularity the price has gone up pretty quickly, so if you're looking to build on a budget, you may be best looking elsewhere.
Card choices
Creatures
Geist of Saint Traft
Your MVP of the deck. Geist is an incredibly efficient threat that is also very difficult to remove once in play. Sticking a Geist turn 3 with some removal backup will mean a win in many cases. It is legendary, but most lists still run 4 because it is just that good. A lot of times you will ride to victory on the back of Geist alone.
Snapcaster Mage
The other core creature of the deck, Snappy is almost always played as a 4-of as well. With all of the great cheap removal/burn/counters that we play, this is the perfect deck for Snap to shine in. He doesn't require a lot of explanation; you get to reuse your spells and get a 2/1 body to boot. Sounds good to me.
Restoration Angel
I'm honestly not sure what Wizards was thinking when they printed this card. She saves your Geists from combat damage, saves your other guys from targeted removal, and abuses ETB effects, together with a 3/4 flying body. All of this for a mana cost of 3W. For these reasons almost all builds run at least 2 Angels.
Vendilion Clique
Here's where we finally run into a little bit of debate. While the majority of lists run Clique, there are a few compelling reasons not to. Clique is one of those cards that shines in certain matchups but is downright bad in others. It is awesome against combo for sure, but terrible in the mirror (you don't wanna be playing X/1's against any deck running Electrolyze). If you are going into an unknown or fairly "normal" meta, I'd say run a couple of Cliques, but if you know your meta is heavy with UWR Midrange or Control then I'd probably skip it.
The above 4 creatures are the most commonly run, but there are others that deserve a look as well:
Kitchen Finks
Finks is great against any kind of aggro. With Restoration Angel you can "reset" a Finks with a -1/-1 counter on it, having it gain you a net total of 8 life instead of 4. Pretty sweet for a CMC of 3. I'd avoid it against any deck playing Path to Exile however. A lot of people (myself included) don't run Finks in the main but have a few in the SB for aggro matchups.
Aven Mindcensor
This is really underrated card in my opinion. It straight up stops Pod, Tron, Gift Control and Scapeshift decks in the their tracks, and is very good against any deck running lots of fetches. Not to mention it can beat through the air as well. I run two of these main board.
Thundermaw Hellkite
Run as a one of in many builds, Hellkite is a really great curve topper, particularly against decks that run Lingering Souls.
Other spells
Lightning Bolt
The classic burn spell, 3 damage for 1 mana, not much to be said here. Removes creatures and can be a finished shot to the dome.
Path to Exile
The best creature removal in Modern. Exiles any creature for 1 mana. The drawback is not too bad either. Considering all of the creatures with "dies" effects that people run (Finks, Wurmcoil Engine, etc) path is indispensable in the current format.
Electrolyze
At best it will kill two of their creatures and draw you a card. At worst, it's 2 to their head and a card. No matter which way you spin it, Electrolyze is a very versatile tempo spell that fits the philosophy of our deck perfectly. It's an absolute powerhouse against Lingering Souls and Affinity.
Remand
For a tempo deck this is the best counter spell we can run. Cantrips and slows down the opponent; another card that is perfect for this deck.
Mana Leak
It's pretty much always a hard counter in the early game. Late game it loses power significantly, but still a very good counter to run.
Spell Snare
Notable 2 CMC spells in Modern: Tarmogoyf, Dark Confidant, Snapcaster Mage, Cranial Plating, the list goes on and on. Stopping all of these spells for one mana is really nice. Also, Snare is great for winning "counter wars" as it hits both Remand and Mana Leak.
Lightning Helix
A 6 life swing is very nice for 2 mana. It's the second best burn available to us after Lightning Bolt, and the lifegain really helps against aggro and to offset life loss from shocklands.
Cryptic Command
Seen in more control-oriented builds, Cryptic is extremely versatile and a force to be reckoned with. Run a couple if you'd like, but most lists don't. This is really a personal choice.
Izzet Charm
Another card that is seen in some builds, the upside is that it has 3 options, the downside is that none are particularly great. Run a couple if you want the versatility.
Mana base
Celestial Colonnade
This man land is an awesome late game beater, and early game it helps color fixing by providing both U and W. The activation cost is a little high, but it has vigilance so you can tap it for mana later. All around just a great late game threat as it survives sweepers and Abrupt Decay.
Shocklands (Hallowed Fountain, Steam Vents, Sacred Foundry)
The color fixers of choice in Modern, as they can be fetched and only have a slight initial drawback. Having access to blue mana is critical, so most lists run 2 Fountains, 2 Vents, and 1 Foundry.
Fetchlands (Scalding Tarn, Arid Mesa, Misty Rainforest)
You'll want to run at least 6-8 of these to fix your colors. I personally run 9, but the exact number is not extremely important. The more fetches you have the more consistent your mana base will be but at a certain point it starts to become somewhat suicidal as the life loss does add up.
Checklands (Sulfur Falls, Glacial Fortress)
A good supplement to shock lands for color fixing; once you have a shock land in play these will always ETB untapped.
Tectonic Edge
In a format where Tron decks and manlands are popular, it's good to have something that can deal with them. Though it's no Wasteland by any means, Tec Edge still gets the job done when needed.
Eiganjo Castle
Most lists run this as a one of, its purpose is to save Geist or Clique when necessary. Quite useful.
Sideboard options
Luckily for us, the colors red, blue, and white have access to some of the best sideboard options out there.
Kitchen Finks
As mentioned before, if you aren't running these main, you'll want a couple in the board as they help aggro matchups a ton.
Stony Silence
Affinity and Eggs are decks. Stony Silence shuts them down completely. It is also good against GR Tron, as without working Expedition Maps and Chromatic Stars/Spheres, it is really tough for them to execute their game plan. Against Mono Blue Tron it stops Mindslaver and their Talismans (which may be their only source of blue mana).
Rest in Peace
The most powerful and absolute grave hate out there, it completely clears out all graves and stops anything from going in for as long as it's on the battlefield. RiP stops decks like DredgeVine and Reanimator, turns Goyfs into useless 0/1s, and stops any combo that relies on graveyards at all (e.g. Melira Pod). If you bring in these you probably want to board out Snapcaster as it's kind of useless with RiP in play.
Supreme Verdict/Wrath of God
Sweepers are good against any kind of all in aggro deck like Gruul Zoo or Affinity. Be careful though because you don't really want your Geists to die unless absolutely necessary.
Celestial Purge
Unconditional exile stops Splinter Twin and Kiki Pod combos, and is great against any black or red deck.
Combust
Another great removal card to stop Splinter Twin and Kiki Pod, with the extra benefit of being uncounterable.
Sowing Salt
Resolving this against Tron or Scapeshift means good game a lot of the time. Downside is its high mana cost.
Spell Pierce/Negate
Great counters against combo when you aren't worried so much about creatures.
He takes a unique approach by running 4 Cryptics and 2 Revelations, a sort of combination of the old Geist list and the URW Control list. He took second at a PTQ in Melbourne.
He takes a unique approach by running 4 Cryptics and 2 Revelations, a sort of combination of the old Geist list and the URW Control list. He took second at a PTQ in Melbourne.
I agree, excellent primer and well written, but (as I've said many times) I feel like the future of this deck goes through Cryptic and Sphinx, since they give so much late game power while still retaining the "drop a Geist turn 3 and win turn 5" tempo approach.
Those cards just give you a brutal edge against any midrange deck and even pure control
Scepter is nice tech but I don't think it fits in a midrange build. I'd rather see Sphinx's Revelation instead; that doesn't get 2-for-1'd by Abrupt Decay, Pulse, Ancient Grudge, etc, and will push you ahead once you've dropped all your other threats/answers.
He takes a unique approach by running 4 Cryptics and 2 Revelations, a sort of combination of the old Geist list and the URW Control list. He took second at a PTQ in Melbourne.
yeah this is what i'm going to model my first non-fish deck off.
Now that Ral Zarek has been officially spoiled by Wizards and is on the MTS Spoiler page, I think it's safe to discuss his possible inclusion here. He's competing with the other 4-5cc bomb spells slots typically occupied by Restoration Angel/Venser, Shaper Savant/Hero of Bladehold/Thundermaw Hellkite/Baneslayer Angel/etc., so I'm not quite sure about him. He looks to be great on offense (tap down opposing blocker, allowing Geist to swing through / Bolt opposing blocker, allowing Geist to swing through), less good on defense, and his ultimate could be awesome or terrible depending on the boardstate.
Ral Zarek in modern is pretty bad, there is a better card called [CARD]Ajani Vengeant
[/CARD] that does the same thing but better and it's not seeing play in this deck
Ral Zarek in modern is pretty bad, there is a better card called [CARD]Ajani Vengeant
[/CARD] that does the same thing but better and it's not seeing play in this deck
i agree with you, but i want to play devil's advocate:
ajani's +1 doesn't untap a card. ral on 4 taps a blocker for GoST and untaps a land to open a dispel. also, given all the non-interactivedecks, casting his Ult on turn 6 for GoST beats seems pretty feasible.
Ral Zarek in modern is pretty bad, there is a better card called [CARD]Ajani Vengeant
[/CARD] that does the same thing but better and it's not seeing play in this deck
I disagree, I think Ral Zarek may be "the" Planeswalker for WUR Geist, since it taps down blockers (extremely useful for Geist since it helps him swing through and forces the oponnent to get much more defensive -this deck is specialist in getting an advantage of that). Besides that, it also helps in not tapping out and leaving mana up for remand, path, etc.
The -2 is almost exactly like Ajani, and I don't feel the life gain is "that" relevant considering all the Helixes and Sphinx's, and Ral's extra point of loyalty is VERY important (think about the differences if Liliana had only 2 loyalty!).
The ultimate, like always, is not usually used, but if you get to that point, a median of 2.5 extra turns should be insta-GG.
Only testing will tell though
Edit: on the other hand, I feel that tapping out in this deck (except for Geist or something backbreaking like Batterskull) is always very bad, so Ral Zarek must really prove his worthiness before)
I've been watching every video of people using this deck on the internet lately, and I've noticed how much of a problem Liliana causes for the deck. I was trying to think of an answer that won't get us 2-for-1'd, and I came to the conclusion that the best way to kill a +1'd Liliana could be boros charm. I know the general consensus on that card is that it's bad here, but in a case where Lily is +1ing instead of making us sac our dude, maybe it works well? Plus a 4 damage dome-burn spell is nothing to scoff at with snappy in the deck. AND it allows us to swing another day with geist if we so choose, no matter how many blockers they assign. Any other opinions??
Doesn't seem terrible. Boros Charm, even without thinking about how it interacts with Liliana of the Veil, isn't a terrible card. In my list, I run 4 Remand, 2 Mana Leak, 2 Izzet Charm, so I suppose Boros Charm would take the place of Izzet Charm. I'll try that out and see how it feels. Being able to Boros Charm for 4, then Snapcaster Boros Charm for another 4 damage could be a "win out of nowhere" play too.
I've been watching every video of people using this deck on the internet lately, and I've noticed how much of a problem Liliana causes for the deck. I was trying to think of an answer that won't get us 2-for-1'd, and I came to the conclusion that the best way to kill a +1'd Liliana could be boros charm. I know the general consensus on that card is that it's bad here, but in a case where Lily is +1ing instead of making us sac our dude, maybe it works well? Plus a 4 damage dome-burn spell is nothing to scoff at with snappy in the deck. AND it allows us to swing another day with geist if we so choose, no matter how many blockers they assign. Any other opinions??
Generally, I wouldn't even let Lili resolve. I tend to play Geist on turn 3 only if I know they aren't going to drop something terrifying or if I have absolutely nothing else to play. Otherwise, I'm keeping mana open for the counter or some kind of burn. I realize you can't have a counterspell every time Lili comes up, but they might be less inclined to play it if you have mana open.
I've been watching every video of people using this deck on the internet lately, and I've noticed how much of a problem Liliana causes for the deck. I was trying to think of an answer that won't get us 2-for-1'd, and I came to the conclusion that the best way to kill a +1'd Liliana could be boros charm. I know the general consensus on that card is that it's bad here, but in a case where Lily is +1ing instead of making us sac our dude, maybe it works well? Plus a 4 damage dome-burn spell is nothing to scoff at with snappy in the deck. AND it allows us to swing another day with geist if we so choose, no matter how many blockers they assign. Any other opinions??
Blood Moon has given me nightmares in my playtesting.
next week i'll play a modern tournament. last time i built unwin's list and did pretty badly, losing twice from pod and once from scapeshift.
i wanna make some changes for this next one.
I am gonna take out from MB the 2x sphinx's revelation to add the third remand and the third path to exile. Not sure if i should find some place for cmc1 counters like spell snare (situational) or spell pierce (devastating, but risks to be a wasted card after turn 3/4)
Spell pierce isn't really situational any more than GFtT is. It's just... specific about what it hits. We play in a game where the two drops hold much of the fear. Cranial Plating, Bob/Goyf, the eggs (and yeah, they're not the main target but countering them does slow eggs down) or a poorly cast reshape/twincast, prismatic omen (again, buying time... no one wants valakut to be counting to 6), Melira, etc.
Spell Pierce doesn't really get as lost as you'd think. Tron is desperate enough to resolve things that they've won, frequently and every deck has noncreature threats you'd love to see stamped on.
My list, as far as I know right now. Still working on testing it out though. Might up the cryptic count by 1 or 2, probably by getting rid of the leaks. Also, yes I know there's no cliques; I'm choosing not to run them because of price and I find their 1 toughness a weakness with so many electrolyze in the format.
Introduction: Why play this deck?
UWr Midrange (also called Geist of Saint Win after our favorite friendly ghost) is a UWR tempo deck that originated as a "Delverless" version of the WUR Delver deck, when its creator decided that Delver of Secrets couldn't handle all of the good removal that Modern has to offer. Thus, UWr Midrange was born.
If you like a deck that is highly interactive and has answers to a lot of things, or if you are just downright competitive, this could be the deck for you. It has had tons of success lately and is regarded by many as currently the best deck in the format. Unfortunately because of the deck's success and popularity the price has gone up pretty quickly, so if you're looking to build on a budget, you may be best looking elsewhere.
Card choices
Creatures
Geist of Saint Traft
Your MVP of the deck. Geist is an incredibly efficient threat that is also very difficult to remove once in play. Sticking a Geist turn 3 with some removal backup will mean a win in many cases. It is legendary, but most lists still run 4 because it is just that good. A lot of times you will ride to victory on the back of Geist alone.
Snapcaster Mage
The other core creature of the deck, Snappy is almost always played as a 4-of as well. With all of the great cheap removal/burn/counters that we play, this is the perfect deck for Snap to shine in. He doesn't require a lot of explanation; you get to reuse your spells and get a 2/1 body to boot. Sounds good to me.
Restoration Angel
I'm honestly not sure what Wizards was thinking when they printed this card. She saves your Geists from combat damage, saves your other guys from targeted removal, and abuses ETB effects, together with a 3/4 flying body. All of this for a mana cost of 3W. For these reasons almost all builds run at least 2 Angels.
Vendilion Clique
Here's where we finally run into a little bit of debate. While the majority of lists run Clique, there are a few compelling reasons not to. Clique is one of those cards that shines in certain matchups but is downright bad in others. It is awesome against combo for sure, but terrible in the mirror (you don't wanna be playing X/1's against any deck running Electrolyze). If you are going into an unknown or fairly "normal" meta, I'd say run a couple of Cliques, but if you know your meta is heavy with UWR Midrange or Control then I'd probably skip it.
The above 4 creatures are the most commonly run, but there are others that deserve a look as well:
Kitchen Finks
Finks is great against any kind of aggro. With Restoration Angel you can "reset" a Finks with a -1/-1 counter on it, having it gain you a net total of 8 life instead of 4. Pretty sweet for a CMC of 3. I'd avoid it against any deck playing Path to Exile however. A lot of people (myself included) don't run Finks in the main but have a few in the SB for aggro matchups.
Aven Mindcensor
This is really underrated card in my opinion. It straight up stops Pod, Tron, Gift Control and Scapeshift decks in the their tracks, and is very good against any deck running lots of fetches. Not to mention it can beat through the air as well. I run two of these main board.
Thundermaw Hellkite
Run as a one of in many builds, Hellkite is a really great curve topper, particularly against decks that run Lingering Souls.
Other spells
Lightning Bolt
The classic burn spell, 3 damage for 1 mana, not much to be said here. Removes creatures and can be a finished shot to the dome.
Path to Exile
The best creature removal in Modern. Exiles any creature for 1 mana. The drawback is not too bad either. Considering all of the creatures with "dies" effects that people run (Finks, Wurmcoil Engine, etc) path is indispensable in the current format.
Electrolyze
At best it will kill two of their creatures and draw you a card. At worst, it's 2 to their head and a card. No matter which way you spin it, Electrolyze is a very versatile tempo spell that fits the philosophy of our deck perfectly. It's an absolute powerhouse against Lingering Souls and Affinity.
Remand
For a tempo deck this is the best counter spell we can run. Cantrips and slows down the opponent; another card that is perfect for this deck.
Mana Leak
It's pretty much always a hard counter in the early game. Late game it loses power significantly, but still a very good counter to run.
Spell Snare
Notable 2 CMC spells in Modern: Tarmogoyf, Dark Confidant, Snapcaster Mage, Cranial Plating, the list goes on and on. Stopping all of these spells for one mana is really nice. Also, Snare is great for winning "counter wars" as it hits both Remand and Mana Leak.
Lightning Helix
A 6 life swing is very nice for 2 mana. It's the second best burn available to us after Lightning Bolt, and the lifegain really helps against aggro and to offset life loss from shocklands.
Cryptic Command
Seen in more control-oriented builds, Cryptic is extremely versatile and a force to be reckoned with. Run a couple if you'd like, but most lists don't. This is really a personal choice.
Izzet Charm
Another card that is seen in some builds, the upside is that it has 3 options, the downside is that none are particularly great. Run a couple if you want the versatility.
Mana base
Celestial Colonnade
This man land is an awesome late game beater, and early game it helps color fixing by providing both U and W. The activation cost is a little high, but it has vigilance so you can tap it for mana later. All around just a great late game threat as it survives sweepers and Abrupt Decay.
Shocklands (Hallowed Fountain, Steam Vents, Sacred Foundry)
The color fixers of choice in Modern, as they can be fetched and only have a slight initial drawback. Having access to blue mana is critical, so most lists run 2 Fountains, 2 Vents, and 1 Foundry.
Fetchlands (Scalding Tarn, Arid Mesa, Misty Rainforest)
You'll want to run at least 6-8 of these to fix your colors. I personally run 9, but the exact number is not extremely important. The more fetches you have the more consistent your mana base will be but at a certain point it starts to become somewhat suicidal as the life loss does add up.
Checklands (Sulfur Falls, Glacial Fortress)
A good supplement to shock lands for color fixing; once you have a shock land in play these will always ETB untapped.
Tectonic Edge
In a format where Tron decks and manlands are popular, it's good to have something that can deal with them. Though it's no Wasteland by any means, Tec Edge still gets the job done when needed.
Eiganjo Castle
Most lists run this as a one of, its purpose is to save Geist or Clique when necessary. Quite useful.
Sideboard options
Luckily for us, the colors red, blue, and white have access to some of the best sideboard options out there.
Kitchen Finks
As mentioned before, if you aren't running these main, you'll want a couple in the board as they help aggro matchups a ton.
Stony Silence
Affinity and Eggs are decks. Stony Silence shuts them down completely. It is also good against GR Tron, as without working Expedition Maps and Chromatic Stars/Spheres, it is really tough for them to execute their game plan. Against Mono Blue Tron it stops Mindslaver and their Talismans (which may be their only source of blue mana).
Rest in Peace
The most powerful and absolute grave hate out there, it completely clears out all graves and stops anything from going in for as long as it's on the battlefield. RiP stops decks like DredgeVine and Reanimator, turns Goyfs into useless 0/1s, and stops any combo that relies on graveyards at all (e.g. Melira Pod). If you bring in these you probably want to board out Snapcaster as it's kind of useless with RiP in play.
Supreme Verdict/Wrath of God
Sweepers are good against any kind of all in aggro deck like Gruul Zoo or Affinity. Be careful though because you don't really want your Geists to die unless absolutely necessary.
Celestial Purge
Unconditional exile stops Splinter Twin and Kiki Pod combos, and is great against any black or red deck.
Combust
Another great removal card to stop Splinter Twin and Kiki Pod, with the extra benefit of being uncounterable.
Sowing Salt
Resolving this against Tron or Scapeshift means good game a lot of the time. Downside is its high mana cost.
Spell Pierce/Negate
Great counters against combo when you aren't worried so much about creatures.
Engineered Explosives
Another nice fast sweeper that's strong against aggro.
Sample Decklists
4 Scalding tarn
4 Celestial Colonnade
2 Hallowed Fountain
2 Tectonic Edge
2 Island
2 Steam Vents
1 Eiganjo Castle
1 Mountain
1 Plains
1 Sacred Foundry
4 Geist of Saint Traft
3 Vendilion Clique
2 Aven Mindcensor
1 Thundermaw Hellkite
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Lightning Helix
3 Electrolyze
2 Izzet Charm
2 Mana Leak
4 Celestial Colonnade
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Island
2 Tectonic Edge
2 Steam Vents
2 Hallowed Fountain
1 Mountain
1 Plains
1 Sulfur Falls
1 Glacial Fortress
1 Sacred Foundry
4 Snapcaster Mage
3 Vendilion Clique
2 Restoration Angel
4 Electrolyze
4 Path to Exile
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Izzet Charm
3 Remand
2 Spell Snare
2 Mana Leak
BGW Junk / URB Grixis Shadow / RGB Lantern Control / WUBCBant Eldrazi
Current Legacy decks
BUG Shardless BUG / UWR Predict Miracles / RUG Canadian Thresh / WRBG 4c Loam
UB Reanimator
http://www.starcitygames.com/article/25854_Jamming-Modern.html
He takes a unique approach by running 4 Cryptics and 2 Revelations, a sort of combination of the old Geist list and the URW Control list. He took second at a PTQ in Melbourne.
UWRUWR Midrange/GeistRWU
Retired
GWBMelira PodBWG
Modern Esper Midrange
EDH Jenara ETB
I agree, excellent primer and well written, but (as I've said many times) I feel like the future of this deck goes through Cryptic and Sphinx, since they give so much late game power while still retaining the "drop a Geist turn 3 and win turn 5" tempo approach.
Those cards just give you a brutal edge against any midrange deck and even pure control
04 Snapcaster Mage
03 Vendilion Clique
02 Isochron Scepter
03 Mana Leak
03 Path to Exile
04 Lightning Bolt
04 Lightning Helix
04 Remand
02 Spell Pierce
02 Cryptic Command
01 Eiganjo Castle
03 Tectonic Edge
04 Scalding Tarn
04 Arid Mesa
02 Hallowed Fountain
02 Steam Vents
01 Sacred Foundry
03 Island
01 Mountain
01 Plains
Any critiques?
Scepter is nice tech but I don't think it fits in a midrange build. I'd rather see Sphinx's Revelation instead; that doesn't get 2-for-1'd by Abrupt Decay, Pulse, Ancient Grudge, etc, and will push you ahead once you've dropped all your other threats/answers.
UWRUWR Midrange/GeistRWU
Retired
GWBMelira PodBWG
yeah this is what i'm going to model my first non-fish deck off.
[/CARD] that does the same thing but better and it's not seeing play in this deck
i agree with you, but i want to play devil's advocate:
ajani's +1 doesn't untap a card. ral on 4 taps a blocker for GoST and untaps a land to open a dispel. also, given all the non-interactivedecks, casting his Ult on turn 6 for GoST beats seems pretty feasible.
still not great, though.
I disagree, I think Ral Zarek may be "the" Planeswalker for WUR Geist, since it taps down blockers (extremely useful for Geist since it helps him swing through and forces the oponnent to get much more defensive -this deck is specialist in getting an advantage of that). Besides that, it also helps in not tapping out and leaving mana up for remand, path, etc.
The -2 is almost exactly like Ajani, and I don't feel the life gain is "that" relevant considering all the Helixes and Sphinx's, and Ral's extra point of loyalty is VERY important (think about the differences if Liliana had only 2 loyalty!).
The ultimate, like always, is not usually used, but if you get to that point, a median of 2.5 extra turns should be insta-GG.
Only testing will tell though
Edit: on the other hand, I feel that tapping out in this deck (except for Geist or something backbreaking like Batterskull) is always very bad, so Ral Zarek must really prove his worthiness before)
http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?p=7790606#post7790606
Generally, I wouldn't even let Lili resolve. I tend to play Geist on turn 3 only if I know they aren't going to drop something terrifying or if I have absolutely nothing else to play. Otherwise, I'm keeping mana open for the counter or some kind of burn. I realize you can't have a counterspell every time Lili comes up, but they might be less inclined to play it if you have mana open.
UWRUWR Midrange/GeistRWU
Retired
GWBMelira PodBWG
Blood Moon has given me nightmares in my playtesting.
Spell pierce isn't really situational any more than GFtT is. It's just... specific about what it hits. We play in a game where the two drops hold much of the fear. Cranial Plating, Bob/Goyf, the eggs (and yeah, they're not the main target but countering them does slow eggs down) or a poorly cast reshape/twincast, prismatic omen (again, buying time... no one wants valakut to be counting to 6), Melira, etc.
Spell Pierce doesn't really get as lost as you'd think. Tron is desperate enough to resolve things that they've won, frequently and every deck has noncreature threats you'd love to see stamped on.
Thoughts?
4 Geist of Saint Traft
4 Snapcaster Mage
3 Restoration Angel
Spells
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Lightning Helix
4 Remand
3 Electrolyze
3 Path to Exile
2 Sphinx's Revelation
2 Cryptic Command
2 Mana Leak
4 Arid Mesa
4 Scalding Tarn
3 Celestial Colonnade
2 Tectonic Edge
2 Steam Vents
2 Hallowed Fountain
1 Sacred Foundry
2 Mountain
1 Plains
2 Island
1 Eiganjo Castle
1 Sulfur Falls
UWRUWR Midrange/GeistRWU
Retired
GWBMelira PodBWG
MODERN :symu::symw: UW Tron :symu::symw:
I'm not liking very much the Restoration Angels lately.