MTG Salvation

You know what's a delight? When your opponent casts Congregation at Dawn to set up their little Anafenza/Finks/Viscera Seer combo, you Thought Scour THEM!

Also, I think Congregation is glitched on MTGO. Whenever my opponent has cast it, the revealed cards show up as 3 of the same creature when I know for a fact that's not what was searched for.

Quote from Niallplaysmagic »

Has anyone found a configuration that allows Geist to really shine? I tried jamming him into a few more permission heavy spells and felt like he just sat in my hand.

I love Geist but I'm not sure this is the right shell for him. Geist really wants to be in a fast tempo deck with some burn to either clear blockers out of the way or to help with reach, since sometimes Geist just hits for 4 with the angel and dies. We're more grindy and long game oriented with stuff like Mentor and Tasigur.

Gonna try 3x Myth Realized for a bit to get a feel on the card. It seems like it would be great against the blue red decks that only have burn for removal since you can just wait for it to get huge and then use it to break the game open. Feels like it would be bad against BGx since abrupt decay can always just kill it but whatever, it'll be an easy card to sideboard out then I guess.

Quote from Gahouf »

Quote from Galerion »

Quote from Lueseto »

Can this deck manabase afford to run 1 Moorland Haunt? Do you think it can turn out to be useful?

You can definitely run it. I have seen a list online that did run it.

The problem I see with it is that according to the "stock list" our creatures are 4 Monastery Mentor, 4 Snapcaster Mage and 2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang. That's only 10 creatures so you won't have much fodder for it

In the "colorless land slot" I'd rather play Vault of the Archangel. Much better synergy with Lingering Souls and Monks.

I'd second this. Vault + Lingering Souls has helped me stabilize more times than I can count.

Quote from SoDamnLucky »

why would you board curse of death's hold vs twin? because of snappies and 1 pestermite? dont think that's good. i think the only reason it is there are token matchups and obv. infect where it's an insta win!

edit: ahh i got it. lol he can still make infinite blockers

Yeah, it completely nerfs their combo. Also, a lot of lists have a couple copies of random stuff like Vendilion Clique and/or Grim Lavamancer that can be a pain to deal with when you're grinding them out.

Woooo, highlight of my life playing this deck against Tron last night. I got him down to 2 but he stabilized and got enough mana to cast Emrakul. So he taps all his lands, casts Emrakul, and has 1 mana floating, so he goes ahead and casts the Chromatic Star out of his hand, his last card. I kill him with Countersquall. Would've paid anything to see the look on his face.

Also 3-1'ed a Modern Daily last night, finishing like 6th or something. Beat 4C Gifts, Ad Nauseam/Phyrexian Unlife, and Affinity before losing to UR Twin in the 4th round. Had a blast even though I sideboarded like an idiot against Twin (forgot to bring in Curse of Death's Hold for example, why the hell is it even there if not for twin lol). In my defense, it was like 1 in the morning and I was incredibly tired.

Quote from Sasky »

I have tested Narset. She's really bad.

Her +1 whiffs a fair amount - and it's back-breaking because you literally wasted a turn.

Her -2 sounds good on paper, but rebound seems to be too slow for this format. I've often stared at my hand and realised that rebounding my spells aren't doing much. Being casted on your next upkeep really sucks.

I'd recommend just sticking to one of the BW Sorins.

I've also tested Myth Realized - it's amazing. The only thing is that I am unsure if 3 or 4 copies is correct. You always want to see it, but almost never want to see multiples.

Seems reasonable. Narset would probably only be a sideboard card anyways as there are too many matchups where she's awful maindeck. What does your list look like with the Myth Realized? I'd like to add 3 (I remember listening to a podcast where Patrick Chapin said that 3 is the ideal number of a card if you wanna maximize your chances of drawing it in your opening hand but not drawing multiple copies throughout the game) but not sure what should get the axe.

I'm interested in trying Narset Transcendent in this deck. Esper Mentor seems to fit the three main qualifications for Narset being a good card, namely 1) It's a blue and white deck; 2) It naturally has a high number of nonland, noncreature cards to draw off the first ability; and 3) it has spells that are worth rebounding (Souls seems great but Murderous Cut would be nice in the right situation and even Serum Visions would could let you set up a guaranteed card if you ticked up Narset next turn). Also, the ultimate could actually lock some decks out of the game in Modern as opposed to standard. Off the top of my head, it seems like it would be really good against control decks because they'd be hard pressed to generate enough burn to actually kill the high loyalty and the card advantage would be good.

I know but Remanding a Living End somehow feels dirtier than using any other counterspell.

I'll mention a deck I don't think anyone has said... I cannot stand playing against Living End. It's like a referendum on if you play Remand in your deck.

Quote from ThirdDegree »

I do like instant speed cantripping for Mentor. My biggest concern is that the lists seem to be pretty land light. I would hate to mill through some lands if you are getting screwed. But I haven't played this list at all yet. I'll definitely do some testing in the coming weeks.

Edit: I'm wondering if main deck counters are even necessary or if it's worth cutting in favor of better action, and siding in to a counter plan if needed.

I've been playing this on MTGO for like a week now. Going off Yuuki's list, 22 lands (with 4 Creeping Tar Pit) is pretty ambitions. I've been doing fine at 23 land 3 Tar Pits though.

As for the counters, I like Spell Snare since there's so much stuff being cast at 2 mana in this format it's rarely gonna be a dead card. Plus, a turn 1 discard spell can let you know if you need to keep open mana for spell snare in subsequent turns or if you can tap out. Remand is awful in this deck though. I cut it and never looked back.

Quote from DrB00 »

Little surprised no one is using Phyrexian Obliterator I find this card does insane work if he comes into play.

I've played a lot with obliterator and he's a delight but you gotta switch around the manabase a bit (stuff like a second urborg and more fetid heaths over something like Isolated Chapel that would be better otherwise).

I really want to try Butcher of the Horde with Souls and Bitterblossom. Butcher seems like he could be a very playable card in modern since he doesn't die to bolt or abrupt decay which is pretty much all you can ask for from a finisher. I'd appreciate any suggestions, especially with the manabase which is probably kinda sketchy. This color combo seems pretty promising, especially since each color has defined format all-stars and a great collection of sideboard cards.

I think Utter End is probably a 1-of and nothing more. 4 cmc is just a tad high and you don't want to play too many high casting cost removal spells in your Dark Confidant deck. Still, having a maindeck out to Birthing Pod/Wurmcoil Engine/Keranos/whatever troublesome permanent that's never gonna be a dead card in any matchup is probably worth it as a singleton.

Woof, didn't do so amazing SCG DC. 3-3, dropped before the final round. Played the same decklist I had a few posts back.

Round 1: Loss vs. UW Tron 1-2
Round 2: Win vs. Dredgevine 2-0
Round 3: Loss vs. UR Delver 0-2
Round 4: Win vs. Affinity 2-1
Round 5: Win vs. Scapeshift 2-1
Round 6: Loss vs. Melira Pod 0-2
Drop

Deck was still a blast to play. Sadly, Obliterator isn't so hot against pod when they topdeck Sigarda...

Quote from jwf239 »

I will probably start doing a 1/1 split of brimaz, king of oreskos and mirran crusader since I have never really been sold on brimaz but I still want something that doesn't just die to anger of the gods. (And I only have one Brimaz)

Hero of Bladehold perhaps? That card has potential to be a blowout if you've churned out some spirits.