MTG Salvation

Well I am playing 58 of your 60 mainboard, so I don't have much to say other than the obvious "I mostly agree."

About living the dream of going T3 Pestermite eatting a removal spell -> T4 Huntmaster: They won't always have two removal spells, and sometimes they won't have any. But I think it's really easy to harp on the times they remove both and forget when they don't.

I've been trying the 2 probe, 22 land lists and I'm consistently having issues making land drops. Thinking about going back up to 23, since that was the magic number for my prior Twin lists, and never had any issues on a consistent basis.

The part you're missing there is that the extra two Probes enable Turn 2 2/3 Tarmogoyf (Land, Sorcery)

Idk I think 22 is right, I don't have the lands spreadsheet with me but I will check at some point and breakdown the math.

Spell pierce was never dead for me and worked out pretty well. It was a hero against boggles, also in the UR twin matchup hitting Jace AoT as well as just working as a dispel at the end of a counter war.

I didn't get an opportunity to have huntmaster shine because I was on the back foot against grixis twin, and boggles. I lost the roll for both game ones and didn't draw him on my on the play draws.

I'm really not sure, I am definitely an amateur at the deck which is natural for how much time I have put into it so far.

5-0 against Burn, Grixis Delver, Goblins, Grixis Control, and UR Delver. Mana base felt perfect, 3 Blood Moons proves to be infinitely better than 2, and 3 Twins is just the right amount for RUG Twin.

Quote from AcademyRuins »

5-0 against Burn, Grixis Delver, Goblins, Grixis Control, and UR Delver. Mana base felt perfect, 3 Blood Moons proves to be infinitely better than 2, and 3 Twins is just the right amount for RUG Twin.

dcovino's DeckMagic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards
Creatures (14) 3 Deceiver Exarch 2 Pestermite 1 Grim Lavamancer 4 Snapcaster Mage 4 Tarmogoyf Instants (14) 2 Cryptic Command 4 Remand 1 Dispel 1 Spell Pierce 1 Spell Snare 1 Electrolyze 4 Lightning Bolt Sorceries (7) 4 Serum Visions 2 Gitaxian Probe 1 Roast	Twinerinos (3) 3 Splinter Twin Lands (22) 4 Misty Rainforest 4 Scalding Tarn 1 Wooded Foothills 2 Steam Vents 1 Breeding Pool 1 Stomping Ground 2 Sulfur Falls 1 Forest 4 Island 1 Mountain 1 Desolate Lighthouse	Sideboard 1 Dismember 1 Dispel 1 Spellskite 1 Nature's Claim 2 Ancient Grudge 2 Anger of the Gods 3 Blood Moon 1 Vendilion Clique 1 Thragtusk 1 Keranos, God of Storms 1 Sarkhan [Totally] Broken

What type of matchups are you bringing in Sarkhan Unbroken for? I assume against midrange / control decks it would serve a similar role as Keranos, but maybe I'm missing something.


Edit: just saw your post on the previous page, so looks like my assumption was right. Did you bring it in? Did it work out? Looking for any elaboration possible.

Quote from dcovino »

What type of matchups are you bringing in Sarkhan Unbroken for? I assume against midrange / control decks it would serve a similar role as Keranos, but maybe I'm missing something.

Edit: just saw your post on the previous page, so looks like my assumption was right. Did you bring it in? Did it work out? Looking for any elaboration possible.

I brought it in against UR Delver and Grixis Control, saw it in my game 3 against Grixis. It served much in the way of Keranos, but allows you to close the door more quickly in a Broodmate Dragon style, or just tick it up a few times to be ultra safe. I just like how, while it's more fragile, it is more versatile and you can't forget the potential for a juicy, 6/7 Goof. The two function near totally the same, so why not give something new a try if you want a second Keranos?

Thanks - that sounds just what I was hoping for out of him. I like Keranos but he's slow and some decks dont care all that much about him. Sarkhan seems like he can take over a game a lot quicker.

I think what we need to look for is a card that actually spells game over unconditionally for GBx and grixis control. A card that, once resolving it, we literally cannot lose. Maybe sarkhan is that card, I dunno, I have never tried it. But the necessity for that type of card is real.

I almost wish there was a propaganda-esque card that was modern legal.

Thoughts on the new jace? I think he's pretty good vs Jund, as he's good early and late. I split the finals of an iq yesterday with 2 in my deck, I only cast it once vs merfolk and it was awesome. I was able to loot through unnecessary combo peices, and then I was able to flashback a visions and a then a bolt

My old list is a couple pages back, I started 0-2 at a pptq and ended up 3-2.

R1 Elves 1-2
G1 I twinned him
G2 I would have won on T4 but he did instead
G3 I mulled a 6 land, bolt hand, into a 0 lander and kept Breeding Pool, Island, Roast, Bolt, Pestermite... I lost.

R2 Naya Zoo 0-2
I make noticable mistakes in both games and am outplayed.

R3 Mardu Land Destruction 2-0
I just countered his spells and let as many helixs and bolts hit me as he wanted.

R4 Grixis Twin 2-1
G1 I T5 twin him with dispel and snare back up
G2 I keep a 2 land no visions hand with all cheap blue interaction and stumble on land and never caught up
G3 I noticed in G2 he brought in blood moon so I took mine out and we both were stuck on 2 islands and 1 swamp/forest it takes forever and I finally slam a keranos.

R5 Infect 2-1
I killed his stuff and turned goyf sideways.

Here is my next version:



I definitely saw the value of the second cryptic command. As you can see I am dropping huntmaster, I feel there is a high chance I just am not familiar enough with the deck to play him in my 75. I cut a probe because I felt like the cheap interaction is worth more than trying to ensure the T2 2/3 goyf. I tried 3 blood moons and it made me vomit seeing two in my opener against zoo, which in hindsight I don't think I even bring any in, anyways I think 2 is optimal.

Probe is also why you can play 22 lands. If you aren't playing 6 cantrips, Id suggest going to 23 or 24 lands, one of which being a lighthouse if you go to 24.

I don't like the idea of going to 23 lands, but it's not unreasonable. 24 just seems like a waste though.

Thats fine, but part of what lets you play greedy in the land base is the number of filter effects you play on top of that.

I had a couple of questions I wanted to throw out.

Do you guys think Cryptic Command is too slow for the current format?

How many twin targets do you personally use?

How many splinter twins do you currently use?

How many lands?

Quote from hotwaterproxy »

I had a couple of questions I wanted to throw out.

Do you guys think Cryptic Command is too slow for the current format?

How many twin targets do you personally use?

How many splinter twins do you currently use?

How many lands?

Cryptic is better in this Twin deck than the other variants because the tap creatures mode is very offensive too. It's a spell that generates card advantage and you just need hard counters sometimes. None of the modes are impressive, but they combine together for a card that's firmly cemented into the core.

I think the general rule is you want six combo creatures and four Twins, or five and three. It is a two card combo after all, I don't really understand why people play four Exarch and four Twin since Twin has no real use outside the combo. EtB Twiddle is really good with Goof, and Mite beat downs are real, but Twin is only rarely useful late game with Snapcaster when not combo'ing.

The curve of RUG is usually lower and it usually runs two Probe for extra Sorceries, 22 lands is standard and 23 is for the more conservative.

Do you guys think Cryptic Command is too slow for the current format?

Sometimes, yes. But for example it's our best card against GBx decks. It is at it's worst against decks packing 1 or 2 mana counterspells.

How many twin targets do you personally use?

I was on 5 recently but, I wanted to untap goyf more so I went to 6

How many splinter twins do you currently use?

I play 3 currently, which might not be the best considering my 6 tapper dudes

How many lands?

I have seen dickmann play 21 lands with two probes, so I think I will be fine with 22 lands and 1 probe. The only way I would go to 23 is if we were probeless but I believe that would be a mistake.

Thanks for responding. I appreciate it, I brewed a twin version, but now I am in the process of tweaking and optimizing. At the moment my biggest question is about 2 Huntmaster of the Fells. Should I main deck them, board them, or bench them. Still not 100% sure on if they are too slow or not.

I'm in the same boat, on paper (pun totally intended) huntmaster feels like an auto-include because our plan A is beat down and combo'ing is plan B. I realistically need to test with and without him for about 100 matches to even start figuring it out.