So did UW Tron just kill off this deck? Is it just not broken enough? Hadn't seen it in a while till finally it poped back up in some dailies with fracturing gust in the board. Maybe Affinity was to punishing? Perhaps its bad against pod and Splinter twin? Still looks good to me with all the Jund n such out there though.
Deck is fine still, IMO, since it has game against Jund. No real meta changes have happened, so this deck remains as solid as before.
Here is a hybrid Im trying. I wanted a bit more draw power and a faster more powerful way to close out the game, gifts was the anser. This deck basically has it all: consistant mana complete with tec edge and man lands, good removal, draw, life gain, inevitability, recursion and counters. Maybe 2 gifts is plenty and maybe the counter suite needs adjusting.
People have tried it. It works. A guy has Top 8'd two MTGO PTQs with that "combo". (That guy also tries stuff like Gavony Township (nutty with Kitchen Finks) and Pendelhaven.)
Caw-Go does require a slightly different play style, but I think it's to Modern UW Control as UW Stoneblade is to UW/x Landstill in Legacy--earlier finishers, but a similar control mentality.
CawBlade has brought me the most success, but now that it did well in the PTQ people are playing the **** out of it. I am still piloting a UW control deck similar to the one I posted earlier because, as long as I don't die, I have a better late game than that deck.
UW Titan Control loses to Tron though (not always, but in a vacuum).
CawBlade < UW Control < UW Tron < CawBlade
This is why I like UW, you can really modify it any way you like, bigger or smaller, and still beat the meta game.
Well I guess I have to eat my words about hawk. It still feels horrible against any red deck. Finally some UWR is showing up in dailies, Go Ajani! Red also lets you play Combust in the board, excellent for twin and fish decks. I like the idea of new Chandra esp v hawks or forking helix, will have to give her a go. Savor the moment saw some play in a ug walker deck a ways back, thanks for reminding me what it was called. Seems a bit win more, im usually happy to untap with a walker in play, let alone 2 but it could just seal up the game however.
Well I guess I have to eat my words about hawk. It still feels horrible against any red deck. Finally some UWR is showing up in dailies, Go Ajani! Red also lets you play Combust in the board, excellent for twin and fish decks. I like the idea of new Chandra esp v hawks or forking helix, will have to give her a go. Savor the moment saw some play in a ug walker deck a ways back, thanks for reminding me what it was called. Seems a bit win more, im usually happy to untap with a walker in play, let alone 2 but it could just seal up the game however.
Hawk is a horrible blocker against red. It can mitigate damage to buy time and represents a card advantage engine with haunt that will allow you to race them through good resource allocation. The fact that the Hawk and Haunt both make flyers means that you will always be able to get evasive points of damage through.
On paper Spell Snare and Remand seem weak, but are really the only counter spells the deck needs (Cryptic doesn't count as a counter spell, IMO. It is much more than that).
My most common autopilot plan is to drop t2 Hawk, t3 Finks, t4 Hawk Hawk, and then sit there with removal, counter spells, and Cryptics to win the game over.
It is a really good deck. I tried red and wasn't really impressed with what it had to offer. Especially so since it made me have to cut Mutavault and I think that is the most efficient man land in the format, which is vital to my game plan.
Trinket Mage!! Yea i squeezed him in my list too, basically I cant play a proper build because Clique and Mutavault are way to many tix atm, waiting for the season to die down. I've got something extremely close though, enough to have some fun and test a bit. Pithing needle has been veeery good for me. Jund u can name liliana or man lands, affinity gets way easy if u name cranial plate, ravager or Tezz. It can hit Skite or Kiki or even Deciver because it gains an ability in twin, birthing pod. If something is annoying needle stops it for 1 lil mana, seriously considering 2. Now Signal pest is a cute idea too but maybe the deck is just a hair to passive for it to warent a slot, imagine drawing it with some counters, u need to attack with 2 guys to make it worth it, and lots of time hawks are on D nice upside though. What about a Bonesplitter or Sylvok Lifestaff? Beleren is pretty bad, Im actually trying think twice, it really is good when u want to hold up counters. I still like compulsive research but no one ever seems to play it.
You probly want 2 swords min and even a Steelshaper's Gift
If you are playing trinket mage and want a fetchable equpment, you can try sigil of distinction. Not sure if it will work out, but its an idea for sure.
Oh Yea Sigil, I forgot that one might be awesome. I've been liking bonesplitter a fair bit, its quite efficient, sigil could be insane in the late game though. Splitter can just be run out t1 if its in your opener, and be ready for action t3 where as sigil could rot in your grip. What I dont like is you have to spend a turns worth of mana to make it powerful, not good for holding counters, and it will shrink fast in a grind or on man lands. It could also just be fireball win the game, worth testing.
I really like the Caw-Blade lists going around, is there a case that could be made to include Delver in those lists also, as the deck moves more towards fish? I started looking at Dan Unwin's U/B Tempo deck as a template, but here is what I came up with in U/W after checking out some lists and following the thread...
Believe me, its far from tuned, but I think there is potential. Teachings hasn't treated me too well, so I've been testing around to see what else could be built.
I watched both pilots responsible for the caw-blade deck during PTQ Barcelona in Manchester yesterday(Randle and Orsini-Jones) and the deck is all about value...plenty of it coming from the man-lands.
I watched both pilots responsible for the caw-blade deck during PTQ Barcelona in Manchester yesterday(Randle and Orsini-Jones) and the deck is all about value...plenty of it coming from the man-lands.
I actually cut 1 Mutavault to start because I wanted another Moorland Haunt. Then I cut the other 2 Mutavaults for Blinkmoth Nexus and haven't looked back. It already has evasion and can randomly get lots of value with the second or with Pendelhaven.
I 3-1'd a daily this evening with a random list. I played jund for 3 rounds and RDW in the last.
So I took U/W/r control to a PTQ in Brooklyn this weekend and basically got stomped on all day. It really felt like I'd taken a knife to a gun fight. Here's the list:
Round 1 I lost to U/R Storm. He mulled to 5 in game 1 and went off anyway and made 12 goblins on turn 4 while I sat there with a hand of Paths and Snapcasters. In game 2 he had the Spell Pierce for Mindbreak Trap when he did the same thing. I played these games poorly, and could have won game 2,, but I had little experience playing against this deck.
Round 2 I beat a guy playing Twin RUG Pod. He had apparently never played a Magic tournament before, ever, and I had to walk him through a lot of card interactions game 1, which I won by grinding him out with Ajani. He had the combo G2 when I gambled that he didn't and tapped out to Wrath, and I won game 3 in extra turns when his Pods and mana base dealt him too much damage and I was able to burn him out (he went off twice that game, the first time I had resolved a Gideon the previous turn and suevived and the second time I burned him out with his win on the stack).
Round 3 I lost a quick game 1 to a turn 1 Cranial Playing + 4 artifacts draw. I dropped a Hawk and threatened to stabilize but he had the burn to kill me. The next game he resolved Blood Moon the turn after I did stabilize, and then topdecked Ravager. Oh well.
Round 4 was a very close match against mono-blue Fish. I lost game 1 to Vial into 4 lords, won game 2 on the back of Ajani and Threads, and got just barely overwhelmed game 3 due to a resolved Kira.
Round 5 was an easy win against a very unhappy and obnoxious Kithkin player. Not much to say here, I removed his guys and won with Elspeth.
Round 6 I lost to Eggs Combo! I had no idea how to play the match game 1 and he went off easily, but game 2 I Remanded his Lotus Bloom twice and had Trickbind, Mana Leak, and 2 Snapcasters in hand when it was about to come out the third time. I tried Leak + Snapcaster Remand, and he had the Pact of Negation and went off. We explored the lines of play after the match and it was clear the he knew the deck like the back of his hand, could play around most hate with ease, and deserved the win (even if I had used the Trickbind for the sure thing he had a Reshape to get another Bloom). This match was actually a lot of fun because of how friendly and knowledgeable my opponent was.
Round 7 I lost to mono-blue Faeries just playing their game at the end of my turn and having too many Mutavaults.
Some notes on my list, lessons learned, etc.:
-Too few land! 25 land left me missing drops left and right and I lost games because of it. I generally did not have color issues, but I definitely had quantity issues and that is the first thing this deck would need to fix moving forward.
-Too little pressure! Running a bunch of 1-for-1 answers and small dudes meant that even when I DID manage to deal with my opponent's board, I still had to worry about topdecking back into the game because I was not winning fast enough.
-Too fair! This deck wants to play old-fashioned Magic against decks like Zoo. This deck would LOVE to play Zoo all day. But that's not what Modern is. Modern is unfair decks doing unfair things.
-A tournament that you can't win gets a lot more fun once you realize you didn't even bring a real deck in the first place.
I would not recommend a red splash to future U/W control and Caw-Blade players. It makes the deck clunkier and fairer.
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Thanks to Gabgabdevo for the awesome sig image!
I'm always looking for foil Madcap Skills and Ghitu Fire-Eater, [trade thread link forthcoming]
delver... i think it has potential, but it's more of an aggro/midrange card than a control card. this deck is really, really control. i think delver could fit in some sort of blue/white deck, but not here.
I just think that Delver provide the control deck a cheap and efficient clock against tons of deck. Plus Delver allow you to leave mana up for counter spell and removal against combo deck such as Splinter Twin and Storm.
Deck is fine still, IMO, since it has game against Jund. No real meta changes have happened, so this deck remains as solid as before.
1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
4 Kitchen Finks
2 Snapcaster Mage
1 Sun Titan
1 Vendilion Clique
3 Compulsive Research
1 Condemn
2 Cryptic Command
1 Day of Judgment
1 Dismember
3 Gifts Ungiven
4 Mana Leak
1 Oblivion Ring
4 Path to Exile
2 Spell Snare
1 Unburial Rites
2 Wrath of God
4 Glacial Fortress
1 Godless Shrine
1 Hallowed Fountain
4 Island
3 Marsh Flats
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Mystic Gate
2 Plains
4 Tectonic Edge
1 Watery Grave
1 Celestial Purge
3 Leyline of Sanctity
2 Mindbreak Trap
2 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Pithing Needle
3 Spell Pierce
1 Trinket Mage
1 Wurmcoil Engine
Caw-Go does require a slightly different play style, but I think it's to Modern UW Control as UW Stoneblade is to UW/x Landstill in Legacy--earlier finishers, but a similar control mentality.
Also, this deck shouldn't be called CawGo then. We should call it Haunted Hawks or something.
CawBlade has brought me the most success, but now that it did well in the PTQ people are playing the **** out of it. I am still piloting a UW control deck similar to the one I posted earlier because, as long as I don't die, I have a better late game than that deck.
UW Titan Control loses to Tron though (not always, but in a vacuum).
CawBlade < UW Control < UW Tron < CawBlade
This is why I like UW, you can really modify it any way you like, bigger or smaller, and still beat the meta game.
Hawk is a horrible blocker against red. It can mitigate damage to buy time and represents a card advantage engine with haunt that will allow you to race them through good resource allocation. The fact that the Hawk and Haunt both make flyers means that you will always be able to get evasive points of damage through.
On paper Spell Snare and Remand seem weak, but are really the only counter spells the deck needs (Cryptic doesn't count as a counter spell, IMO. It is much more than that).
My most common autopilot plan is to drop t2 Hawk, t3 Finks, t4 Hawk Hawk, and then sit there with removal, counter spells, and Cryptics to win the game over.
It is a really good deck. I tried red and wasn't really impressed with what it had to offer. Especially so since it made me have to cut Mutavault and I think that is the most efficient man land in the format, which is vital to my game plan.
2 Island
2 Plains
1 Marsh Flats
1 Misty Rainforest
2 Hallowed Fountain
4 Celestial Colonnade
4 Seachrome Coast
4 Mystic Gate
2 Moorland Haunt
1 Tolaria West
1 Pendelhaven
1 Mutavault
Creature:
4 Squadron Hawk
3 Vendilion Clique
3 Spellstutter Sprite
3 Kitchen Finks
2 Snapcaster Mage
1 Trinket Mage
1 Signal Pest
2 Jace Beleren
Instant:
4 Mana Leak
4 Path to Exile
3 Spell Snare
3 Rewind
Artifacts:
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Pithing Needle
3 Negate
3 Dawn Charm
2 Nevermore
2 Celestial Purge
2 Flashfreeze
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Chalice of the Void
1 Engineered Explosives
You probly want 2 swords min and even a Steelshaper's Gift
Needle seems insane, and I'd consider elixir of immortality as well.
4 Island
3 Plains
1 Arid Mesa
2 Misty Rainforest
1 Hallowed Fountain
2 Celestial Colonnade
3 Glacial Fortress
4 Seachrome Coast
1 Mystic Gate
1 Moorland Haunt
3 Inkmoth Nexus
4 Squadron Hawk
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Spellstutter Sprite
2 Kitchen Finks
1 Snapcaster Mage
18 Instant:
4 Remand
4 Serum Visions
2 Path to Exile
2 Dismember
3 Spell Snare
3 Crypitic Command
2 Sword of Feast and Famine
Believe me, its far from tuned, but I think there is potential. Teachings hasn't treated me too well, so I've been testing around to see what else could be built.
I watched both pilots responsible for the caw-blade deck during PTQ Barcelona in Manchester yesterday(Randle and Orsini-Jones) and the deck is all about value...plenty of it coming from the man-lands.
Inkfox Aesthetics by Xen
I actually cut 1 Mutavault to start because I wanted another Moorland Haunt. Then I cut the other 2 Mutavaults for Blinkmoth Nexus and haven't looked back. It already has evasion and can randomly get lots of value with the second or with Pendelhaven.
I 3-1'd a daily this evening with a random list. I played jund for 3 rounds and RDW in the last.
round 1 cclcw Jund 2-0
round 2 reiderrabbit Jund 2-0
round 3 Forthehorde Jund 1-2
round 4 jakers1016 RDW 2-1
I love this deck. We have to watch out for the random Faerie Vedalken Shackle deck.
I am working on a Delver build with Geists, Snappy, Hawk, Moorland Haunt, and Blades.
4 Snapcaster Mage
3 Ajani Vengeant
2 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
4 Path to Exile
4 Lightning Helix
2 Wrath of God
3 Mana Leak
3 Remand
2 Spell Pierce
2 Spell Snare
2 Sword of Feast and Famine
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Steam Vents
2 Hallowed Fountain
1 Sacred Foundry
2 Glacial Fortress
2 Sulfur Falls
2 Celestial Colonnade
2 Moorland Haunt
2 Island
2 Plains
1 Mountain
2 Mindbreak Trap
3 Threads of Disloyalty
2 Gideon Jura
2 Trickbind
2 Combust
1 Rule of Law
1 Shattering Spree
1 Shatterstorm
1 Wrath of God
Round 1 I lost to U/R Storm. He mulled to 5 in game 1 and went off anyway and made 12 goblins on turn 4 while I sat there with a hand of Paths and Snapcasters. In game 2 he had the Spell Pierce for Mindbreak Trap when he did the same thing. I played these games poorly, and could have won game 2,, but I had little experience playing against this deck.
Round 2 I beat a guy playing Twin RUG Pod. He had apparently never played a Magic tournament before, ever, and I had to walk him through a lot of card interactions game 1, which I won by grinding him out with Ajani. He had the combo G2 when I gambled that he didn't and tapped out to Wrath, and I won game 3 in extra turns when his Pods and mana base dealt him too much damage and I was able to burn him out (he went off twice that game, the first time I had resolved a Gideon the previous turn and suevived and the second time I burned him out with his win on the stack).
Round 3 I lost a quick game 1 to a turn 1 Cranial Playing + 4 artifacts draw. I dropped a Hawk and threatened to stabilize but he had the burn to kill me. The next game he resolved Blood Moon the turn after I did stabilize, and then topdecked Ravager. Oh well.
Round 4 was a very close match against mono-blue Fish. I lost game 1 to Vial into 4 lords, won game 2 on the back of Ajani and Threads, and got just barely overwhelmed game 3 due to a resolved Kira.
Round 5 was an easy win against a very unhappy and obnoxious Kithkin player. Not much to say here, I removed his guys and won with Elspeth.
Round 6 I lost to Eggs Combo! I had no idea how to play the match game 1 and he went off easily, but game 2 I Remanded his Lotus Bloom twice and had Trickbind, Mana Leak, and 2 Snapcasters in hand when it was about to come out the third time. I tried Leak + Snapcaster Remand, and he had the Pact of Negation and went off. We explored the lines of play after the match and it was clear the he knew the deck like the back of his hand, could play around most hate with ease, and deserved the win (even if I had used the Trickbind for the sure thing he had a Reshape to get another Bloom). This match was actually a lot of fun because of how friendly and knowledgeable my opponent was.
Round 7 I lost to mono-blue Faeries just playing their game at the end of my turn and having too many Mutavaults.
Some notes on my list, lessons learned, etc.:
-Too few land! 25 land left me missing drops left and right and I lost games because of it. I generally did not have color issues, but I definitely had quantity issues and that is the first thing this deck would need to fix moving forward.
-Too little pressure! Running a bunch of 1-for-1 answers and small dudes meant that even when I DID manage to deal with my opponent's board, I still had to worry about topdecking back into the game because I was not winning fast enough.
-Too fair! This deck wants to play old-fashioned Magic against decks like Zoo. This deck would LOVE to play Zoo all day. But that's not what Modern is. Modern is unfair decks doing unfair things.
-A tournament that you can't win gets a lot more fun once you realize you didn't even bring a real deck in the first place.
I would not recommend a red splash to future U/W control and Caw-Blade players. It makes the deck clunkier and fairer.
Thanks to Gabgabdevo for the awesome sig image!
I'm always looking for foil Madcap Skills and Ghitu Fire-Eater, [trade thread link forthcoming]
http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?p=8476353#post8476353
delver... i think it has potential, but it's more of an aggro/midrange card than a control card. this deck is really, really control. i think delver could fit in some sort of blue/white deck, but not here.
http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?p=8476353#post8476353
2x Celestial Colonnade
3x Plains
2x Scalding Tarn
2x Hallowed Fountain
2x Arid Mesa
5x Island
1x Ghost Quarter
2x Seachrome Coast
2x Mutavault
2x Glacial Fortress
4x Halimar Depths
Instant (15)
3x Cryptic Command
4x Path to Exile
1x Spell Snare
4x Mana Leak
2x Spell Pierce
1x Dismember
Sorcery (4)
2x Wrath of God
2x Treasure Hunt
Creature (8)
2x Snapcaster Mage
2x Vendilion Clique
2x Baneslayer Angel
1x Sun Titan
1x Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
Planeswalker (3)
2x Jace Beleren
1x Elspeth, Knight-Errant
Enchantment (3)
3x Spreading Seas
Here is my current U/W build. Any recommendation is awesome.
http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?p=8476353#post8476353