@Patbou
Tapout dras Pack was supposed to be tappout draw spell or package possibly
as I said earlier sorry I'm a phone poster
My next comment is about mana efficiency, with draw spells. You cant flashback Chart a Course, but is to already so much more efficient than your opponent's draw spells it doesn't matter you have to do it on your turn. The key to beating control is putting on pressure and stopping Azcanta. If you can constantly ping your opponent with a two drop and use chart to find ways to protect it, or even better find more threats, you will win the match up.
Sorry the response took so long I've been really busy.
As somebody who plays chart a course let me give you a rundown on the card.
Chart a Course in midrange and control match ups will be a 2 mana draw 2 70% of the time, in aggro matchups it's harder to get in till the mid game so it's functionally a tormenting voice 60% of the time in those games. When I played the older version that you guys are playing I constantly felt that champion was the weakest card in the deck, but I kept it because bringing him back was pure value, I think if you want a Tapout dras Pack you should main or side 2 Torrential Gearhulk and 1 Commit // Memory.
Since I have access to Gearhulk + Glimmer or Gearhulk + Memory It doesn't really hurt not being able to flash it back in a control matchup game 1.
Sidenote you talk of Reanimator your own dudes, but from my experience you want to steal your opponents creatures first especially when playing against temur and sultai. Mono Red and the UB mirror is one of the few games you should prioritize bringing your guys back first.
I beat:
UB Pirate God r1 2-0
Sultai Energy r3 2-0
Mono Red r4 2-0
I lost to:
Temur Energy r2 (1-2)
I lost on the 5th turn of extra turns, and the guy took down the event so I can't be that mad
Top 8 was
5 Mono-Red
1 UB Midrange (me)
1 Temur Energy
1 RB Midrange (essentially UB without Blue cards and without Scarab God, but getting Glorybringer, Chandra, and Hazoret instead.
I lost to Mono-Red round 1 of top 8
I ended the event winning half a box so not bad in a days work if I say so myself.
My maindeck is the Jaberwocki list, the only differences are in the sideboard
In my testing contraband kingpin did nothing so it became an Essence Scatter and an additional Essence Extraction.
It is very hard to beat a good mono-red opponent with this deck, the guy I lost to in top 8 had been on the PT multiple times and he steamrolled me.
I feel 1 Rebuke needs to become a Bontu's last reckoning because in my game against temur I would have won instead of having to go to extra turns and losing if that 1 River's Rebuke I cast was a Bontu's Last Reckoning.
If you want to know more or how I boarded please ask. Sorry if the formatting looks bad I'm posting from mobile.
So I'm currently 2-2 against Temur Opponents tonight which was the main thing I wanted to test, the UB CfB list really wants the Siren as a big harnessed lightning to make you recast the scarab god is huge especially if they have the mana for a scarab god or chandra afterwards. I got one game in with a Ramanup red opponent and one in with a Temur Aggro opponent. I lost my Temur Aggro game and won the Red matchup. SO as of now, the record is 3-3.
My main takeaways from playing the UB Midrange deck are
-Essence Scatter is amazing possibly want 1 mainboard going forward in all UB pirate/midrange builds
-Gonti, Lord of Luxury is an absurd magic card against midrange decks
-Contraband Kingpin is very good against Mono-Red
-The midrange variant is very weak to decks like vehicles and temur aggro due to not having cheap counters available from pirates
-Chart a course was nice, but I'd rather have the body from Champion of Wits which also provides a ton of value in the late game.
-Main benefits of this deck are the Torrential Gearhulks and the draw spells.
I like both decks, but I need to play both more before I make a decision. I will be taking one of these lists to a PPTQ on Saturday.
I can't beat a turn 4 Hazoret, I simply just never have an answer and the game snowballs from there. Usually, I can beat a Chandra but a resolved Hazoret is impossible to beat without contempt or a hostage taker do I just let them play bomat Courier+Khenra+Crasher and pound my face turn 4 and try to make a comeback since I countered Hazoret?
Of the games I've played against mono-red I have drawn Vraska's Contempt twice and Hostage Taker three times, both cards are key to winning the matchup in my opinion.
The games I've won have been mostly due to him not getting a fast start and I get to resolve a turn 5 scarab god
every game i've lost it's because my opponent gets to 8 lands and starts shooting deserts at me with my low life total.
This happens time and time again to me, maybe the essence scatter could help with this I just need to stop the bleeding from the earlier game namely Ahn-Crop Crasher and Rampaging Ferocidon after board. Essence Scatter is also an efficient answer to Hazoret from UR and Opposing Scrab Gods from Temur and UB in G1.
Essence Scatter seems much better imo, from my experience walk the plank has been really awkward since most of the spells operate at instant speed and your turn is normally spent taking cards in one way or another.
Alright, I just picked this deck recently, and the mono-red match-up is nowhere close to 50-50, it's more like 40-60 and you have a very low chance of winning if they draw 2+ ruins.
Out of 6 Games played against Rx decks, I won 2 and one was super close and the other was to a misplay on my opponent's part.
That being said I've found Abzan tokens and Control to be freerolls being 11-1 against those strategies. I have yet to play against Esper Tokens so I will hold my judgement on the matchup for that deck, but I imagine it is hard due to scarab god having access to our graveyard. I feel like I need a Gonti somewhere in this list for opposing Scarab God decks.
I'm 3-0 against Sultai Energy, and I've yet to play against Temur.
@shomotooth I would like to note I have seen people bring in more copies of empty the warrens against Jund, but I feel this just makes their hate like Jund Charm,Golgari Charm, Rakdos Charm, Anger of the Gods, Night of Souls Betrayal, and Damnation become more live. Turn 4-5 Grapeshot is still very consistent against them.
So if you want to try bringing in more copies Empty the Warrens try this.
-3 Remand
-1 Thought Scour
+2 Blood Moon
+2 Empty the Warrens
If you want the bolts as well you could argue cutting 1 Past in Flames (I've seen John Finkel do this with an older list) and the other 2 thought scours
@shomotooth Jund/Junk has never been a problem for me. Death's Shadow on the other hand has, I can deal with some hand disruption OR a fast clock but both is very hard.
I've only played against the new death's shadow deck once, but I lost and it wasn't even close. In my experience you can deal with a fast clock OR hand disruption but both makes it really hard to go off.
Only bad matchup I've played so far with Numot's list was Death's Shadow, which probably means I'll soon be playing leyline in the board.
Surprised with the resilience of this deck to be quite honest, I've beat rest in peace and Thalia plenty of times.
Tapout dras Pack was supposed to be tappout draw spell or package possibly
as I said earlier sorry I'm a phone poster
My next comment is about mana efficiency, with draw spells. You cant flashback Chart a Course, but is to already so much more efficient than your opponent's draw spells it doesn't matter you have to do it on your turn. The key to beating control is putting on pressure and stopping Azcanta. If you can constantly ping your opponent with a two drop and use chart to find ways to protect it, or even better find more threats, you will win the match up.
Sorry the response took so long I've been really busy.
Chart a Course in midrange and control match ups will be a 2 mana draw 2 70% of the time, in aggro matchups it's harder to get in till the mid game so it's functionally a tormenting voice 60% of the time in those games. When I played the older version that you guys are playing I constantly felt that champion was the weakest card in the deck, but I kept it because bringing him back was pure value, I think if you want a Tapout dras Pack you should main or side 2 Torrential Gearhulk and 1 Commit // Memory.
Since I have access to Gearhulk + Glimmer or Gearhulk + Memory It doesn't really hurt not being able to flash it back in a control matchup game 1.
Sidenote you talk of Reanimator your own dudes, but from my experience you want to steal your opponents creatures first especially when playing against temur and sultai. Mono Red and the UB mirror is one of the few games you should prioritize bringing your guys back first.
I beat:
UB Pirate God r1 2-0
Sultai Energy r3 2-0
Mono Red r4 2-0
I lost to:
Temur Energy r2 (1-2)
I lost on the 5th turn of extra turns, and the guy took down the event so I can't be that mad
Top 8 was
5 Mono-Red
1 UB Midrange (me)
1 Temur Energy
1 RB Midrange (essentially UB without Blue cards and without Scarab God, but getting Glorybringer, Chandra, and Hazoret instead.
I lost to Mono-Red round 1 of top 8
I ended the event winning half a box so not bad in a days work if I say so myself.
My maindeck is the Jaberwocki list, the only differences are in the sideboard
5 Island
8 Swamp
4 Drowned Catacomb
4 Evolving Wilds
4 Fetid Pools
1 Field of Ruin
4 Gifted Aetherborn
1 Gonti, Lord of Luxury
4 Kitesail Freebooter
3 The Scarab God
2 Torrential Gearhulk
1 Commit // Memory
1 Essence Extraction
2 Essence Scatter
4 Fatal Push
2 Glimmer of Genius
3 Supreme Will
2 Vraska’s Contempt
1 Search for Azcanta // Azcanta, the Sunken Ruin
4 Negate
3 Duress
2 Essence Extraraction
2 River's Rebuke
1 Gonti, Lord of Luxury
1 Arguel Blood Feast
1 Essence Scatter
1 Search for Azcanta
In my testing contraband kingpin did nothing so it became an Essence Scatter and an additional Essence Extraction.
It is very hard to beat a good mono-red opponent with this deck, the guy I lost to in top 8 had been on the PT multiple times and he steamrolled me.
I feel 1 Rebuke needs to become a Bontu's last reckoning because in my game against temur I would have won instead of having to go to extra turns and losing if that 1 River's Rebuke I cast was a Bontu's Last Reckoning.
If you want to know more or how I boarded please ask. Sorry if the formatting looks bad I'm posting from mobile.
My main takeaways from playing the UB Midrange deck are
-Essence Scatter is amazing possibly want 1 mainboard going forward in all UB pirate/midrange builds
-Gonti, Lord of Luxury is an absurd magic card against midrange decks
-Contraband Kingpin is very good against Mono-Red
-The midrange variant is very weak to decks like vehicles and temur aggro due to not having cheap counters available from pirates
-Chart a course was nice, but I'd rather have the body from Champion of Wits which also provides a ton of value in the late game.
-Main benefits of this deck are the Torrential Gearhulks and the draw spells.
I like both decks, but I need to play both more before I make a decision. I will be taking one of these lists to a PPTQ on Saturday.
MY midrange list
4 Gifted Aetherborn
4 Kitesail Freebooter
3 The Scarab God
2 Torrential Gearhulk
2 Hostage Taker
// 1 Enchantment
1 Search for Azcanta
// 14 Instant
2 Essence Scatter
2 Vraska's Contempt
4 Fatal Push
2 Glimmer of Genius
3 Supreme Will
1 Essence Extraction
4 Evolving Wilds
4 Fetid Pools
4 Drowned Catacomb
1 Field of Ruin
8 Swamp
5 Island
// 4 Sorcery
4 Chart a Course
// 4 Creature
2 Gonti, Lord of Luxury
2 Contraband Kingpin
// 1 Enchantment
1 Arguel's Blood Fast
// 4 Instant
2 Essence Extraction
2 Negate
4 Duress
2 Doomfall
My Pirate God [convientiional] list
4 Champion of Wits
4 Gifted Aetherborn
4 Hostage Taker
4 Kitesail Freebooter
1 Noxious Gearhulk
3 Siren Stormtamer
3 The Scarab God
// 12 Instant
4 Fatal Push
4 Lookout's Dispersal
2 Vraska's Contempt
2 Essence Scatter
// 24 Land
4 Drowned Catacomb
1 Evolving Wilds
4 Fetid Pools
3 Ifnir Deadlands
4 Island
2 Submerged Boneyard
5 Swamp
1 Field of Ruin
1 Liliana, Death's Majesty
3 Essence Extraction
2 Negate
// 1 Planeswalker
1 Liliana, Death's Majesty
// 8 Sorcery
2 Bontu's Last Reckoning
3 Doomfall
3 Duress
I can't beat a turn 4 Hazoret, I simply just never have an answer and the game snowballs from there. Usually, I can beat a Chandra but a resolved Hazoret is impossible to beat without contempt or a hostage taker do I just let them play bomat Courier+Khenra+Crasher and pound my face turn 4 and try to make a comeback since I countered Hazoret?
Of the games I've played against mono-red I have drawn Vraska's Contempt twice and Hostage Taker three times, both cards are key to winning the matchup in my opinion.
The games I've won have been mostly due to him not getting a fast start and I get to resolve a turn 5 scarab god
every game i've lost it's because my opponent gets to 8 lands and starts shooting deserts at me with my low life total.
This happens time and time again to me, maybe the essence scatter could help with this I just need to stop the bleeding from the earlier game namely Ahn-Crop Crasher and Rampaging Ferocidon after board. Essence Scatter is also an efficient answer to Hazoret from UR and Opposing Scrab Gods from Temur and UB in G1.
https://www.channelfireball.com/articles/deck-of-the-day-ub-midrange-2/
Out of 6 Games played against Rx decks, I won 2 and one was super close and the other was to a misplay on my opponent's part.
That being said I've found Abzan tokens and Control to be freerolls being 11-1 against those strategies. I have yet to play against Esper Tokens so I will hold my judgement on the matchup for that deck, but I imagine it is hard due to scarab god having access to our graveyard. I feel like I need a Gonti somewhere in this list for opposing Scarab God decks.
I'm 3-0 against Sultai Energy, and I've yet to play against Temur.
4 Champion of Wits
4 Gifted Aetherborn
4 Hostage Taker
4 Kitesail Freebooter
1 Noxious Gearhulk
3 Siren Stormtamer
3 The Scarab God
// 1 Enchantment
1 Trial of Ambition
// 10 Instant
4 Fatal Push
4 Lookout's Dispersal
2 Vraska's Contempt
4 Drowned Catacomb
1 Evolving Wilds
4 Fetid Pools
3 Ifnir Deadlands
4 Island
1 Scavenger Grounds
2 Submerged Boneyard
5 Swamp
// 1 Planeswalker
1 Liliana, Death's Majesty
1 Walk the Plank
// 1 Enchantment
1 Cartouche of Ambition
// 5 Instant
3 Essence Extraction
2 Negate
// 1 Planeswalker
1 Liliana, Death's Majesty
// 8 Sorcery
2 Bontu's Last Reckoning
3 Doomfall
3 Duress
So the question presents itself, can we improve the Rx matchup to make this deck worth playing over tokens or UB control?
So if you want to try bringing in more copies Empty the Warrens try this.
-3 Remand
-1 Thought Scour
+2 Blood Moon
+2 Empty the Warrens
If you want the bolts as well you could argue cutting 1 Past in Flames (I've seen John Finkel do this with an older list) and the other 2 thought scours
My List for reference
3 Goblin Electromancer
4 Desperate Ritual
4 Gifts Ungiven
4 Manamorphose
4 Pyretic Ritual
3 Remand
3 Thought Scour
1 Hallowed Fountain
2 Island
1 Mountain
4 Scalding Tarn
1 Shivan Reef
4 Spirebluff Canal
2 Steam Vents
2 Grapeshot
2 Past in Flames
4 Serum Visions
4 Sleight of Hand
Against Death's Shadow
+1 Echoing Truth
+2 Blood Moon
-3 Remand
Against Jund/Junk
-1 Empty the Warrens
-3 Remand
-1 Thought Scour
+2 Blood Moon
+3 Bolts(to get rid of Scooze)
Side note,
GIFTS UNGIVEN REPRINT!!! WOOOO!!!!
Surprised with the resilience of this deck to be quite honest, I've beat rest in peace and Thalia plenty of times.