Managed to bust out a 5-0 in a competitive league on magic online with this list. Played against Boros aggro, GW Tokens, Abzan Midrange, and 2 esper control decks. Really liked Expansion//Explosion a lot. Card won me several game all on it's own, some I had no business winning.
I actually like this card, though I'm not sure how well it will play in practice. The biggest issue I have with copy effects is they do nothing on there own, and the biggest issue I have with the draw x cards template is they're dead early. These two effects compliment each other very nicely. It is worth noting that if you put enough incidental burn in your deck you don't really need a win con. I think the counter burn style deck is at the point where it can burn someone out from 20.
...I kinda want to try out a few copies in the sideboard of modern storm. This feels like a good way to fight through heavy disruption, and doesn't get tagged by graveyard hate like the rest of storms back up plans. You can just drop this on two, cast a bunch of cantrips, use this to help you through a combo kill or just use the final ability to kill them. Definitely works well with the storm sideboard plans.
If you're looking for velocity, urza's/Mishra's bauble are free cantrips that also give you a bit of info for therapy, the issue is it's slower. Generally speaking the deathrite hit should make things easier so the reduced speed should be fine now that fifty percent of decks aren't packing incidental graveyard hate.
Storm is generally unfavorable. It's hard to get a handle on where to stop them and what spells you need to interact with. Jund and mardu are kind of even with the edge going slighty towards you in jund and slightly towards mardu in the mardu matchup. They have so much discard that it can sometimes just devolve into luck of the draw.
Bogles depends on your build. I've found the match-up easy, but I'm also on the multiple cryptic and terminus plan. Normal U/W with a couple verdicts need blessed alliance to have more of a shot.If you do care about the match-up enough to side, blessed alliance is probably the best card to pick.
This is the list I've been playing for a bit and I thought share and get some feedback. It's got two 4/1 Magic Online leagues and three undefeated locals. Does anyone have tips for the blue tron match-up and hatebears? Those are the decks I've been having the most trouble with.
I think a wait and see approach is required here. We went into this event thinking teferi would be the boogieman. I think waiting to see if other decks can adapt is a decent idea.
And for the people clamoring for a Chainwhirler hit I have to ask why? The card does put a very harsh cost on deck building and although it may not seem like it with all the good cards in red at the moment once they leave, which they will in mass, chainwhirler will be left holding the bag going into a multicolored set on ravnica. The entirety of the red game plan will be leaving in three to four months. We'll be getting new toys to potentially combat it in a month from coreset 19, then standard will enter the weird limbo before rotation where no one wants to touch it anyway. Their's no sense in banning cards out of what is effectively a dead format, especially when that deck almost assuredly dies by rotation.
I think you're trying to skew control in a few too many different ways. Half of the deck is instant speed interaction that T. Gearhulk would love to help out with, and the other half is sorcery speed interaction, most of which is very expensive. I think you need to pick a direction and delve into it more. Either have a mostly disruptive deck with one big win con (Approach is a good choice) or work like an esper tapout deck that leverages it's walkers to victory. Trying to do both can lead to some very by-polar hands where you want to slam a karn on turn 4 but also hold up mana for commit or vraska's contempt.
Furthermore, If you're trying to leverage karn, I recommend Treasure map as card you should probably play.
I'm actually kind of laughing a bit at all the doomsaying and end is naying over jace coming back. Jeskai will play him as a finisher, sure, and he might see some sideboard play in other decks, but honestly Jace isn't that terrifying in the face of humans, burn, storm, tron, et al. Death's shadow won't want to add a four drop to their very stream lined deck. The format is actively hostile to landing a jace and riding him to victory. He's not going to be rebanned in a half a month or so, because outside of jeskai and the random, bad, tapout control shells, no deck wants him in the main deck.
I for one, am happy that one of magic's most iconic planeswalkers is coming off of the banlist, and is getting another reprint to make it more accessible (not much but a little). Just wait a bit and jace will go back to somewhat sane prices.
I don't know why people are shocked or upset. Energy has been the dominant strategy since inception. First it was the energy package + copycat engine as the best deck, then it was energy package + marvel into eldrazi as the best deck, then it was energy package + glorybringer and scarab god as the best deck. For the past year and a half, rogue refiner.dek has been the oppressive overwhelming force to everything BUT ramunap red. Going off of data, the temur energy deck was 1/4 to 1/3 of the meta, That's not even counting the different energy decks that use the same 20 something card base and built from there. If you do count those variants, you're closer to forty to fifty percent.
Half of the meta game was different flavors of energy.
Amonkhet and Ixalan aren't week sets. They've been labeled as such because of the parasitic monster that is the energy mechanic. God-pharaoh's gift decks, approach decks, dinosaur midrange, tokens, and vampires all tried and failed to push through energy. Mefolk would have joined the list of decks that are good but worse then energy.
The mono-red hits are slightly suspect though. I would have liked to see how the meta shaped up with a weakened energy deck before doing anything else. In all honesty though, Hazoret.dek is probably still completely fine. Rather then go for the power cards they went for the cards that stopped you from interacting with mono red in an effective way.
Merfolk might actually be a deck now. Kumena is a VERY powerful card and they have a lot of game with a wide variety of new powerful cards. I think it could actually stand up to the meta. Mono-red got no new tools, but hazoret is still largely unanswerable so it's probably good. Energy will probably still dominate the format. Chupacabra will probably be one of the hallmark best cards from the set.
I'm kind of (very) surprised they didn't include spike on the "banlist" of un cards, since you more often then not just win on turn 1 or 2. This is also the most pointless announcement ever, since casual edh players were going to play silver bordered cards anyway, and competitive edh players didn't care or only care in so far as making the most busted spike deck they possibly can.
4 Steam Vents
4 Sulfur Falls
4 Glacial Fortress
5 Island
1 Plains
1 Mountain
2 Clifftop Retreat
2 Search for Azcanta
3 Seal Away
4 Justice Strike
2 Negate
2 Essence Scatter
1 Disdainful Stroke
4 Sinister Sabotage
2 Deafening Clarion
4 Chemister's Insight
2 Settle The Wreckage
2 Cleansing Nova
3 Expansion//Explosion
2 Ral, Izzet Viceroy
1 Lyra Dawnbringer
4 Legion Warboss
3 Fiery Cannonade
2 Lava Coil
1 Nezahal, Primal Tide
2 Negate
2 Disdainful Stroke
Managed to bust out a 5-0 in a competitive league on magic online with this list. Played against Boros aggro, GW Tokens, Abzan Midrange, and 2 esper control decks. Really liked Expansion//Explosion a lot. Card won me several game all on it's own, some I had no business winning.
Bogles depends on your build. I've found the match-up easy, but I'm also on the multiple cryptic and terminus plan. Normal U/W with a couple verdicts need blessed alliance to have more of a shot.If you do care about the match-up enough to side, blessed alliance is probably the best card to pick.
4 Field of Ruin
2 Mystic Gate
3 Hallowed Fountain
3 Polluted Delta
3 Plains
5 Island
3 Snapcaster Mage
4 Opt
4 Path to Exile
2 Serum Visions
3 Logic Knot
4 Cryptic Command
2 Supreme Verdict
4 Terminus
2 Gideon of the Trials
2 Jace the Mind Sculptor
2 Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
1 Gideon Jura
1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
2 Stony Silence
2 Grafdigger's Cage
2 Negate
1 Dispel
1 Disdainful Stroke
1 Vendilion Clique
2 Damping Sphere
1 Timely Reinforcements
2 Celestial Purge
This is the list I've been playing for a bit and I thought share and get some feedback. It's got two 4/1 Magic Online leagues and three undefeated locals. Does anyone have tips for the blue tron match-up and hatebears? Those are the decks I've been having the most trouble with.
And for the people clamoring for a Chainwhirler hit I have to ask why? The card does put a very harsh cost on deck building and although it may not seem like it with all the good cards in red at the moment once they leave, which they will in mass, chainwhirler will be left holding the bag going into a multicolored set on ravnica. The entirety of the red game plan will be leaving in three to four months. We'll be getting new toys to potentially combat it in a month from coreset 19, then standard will enter the weird limbo before rotation where no one wants to touch it anyway. Their's no sense in banning cards out of what is effectively a dead format, especially when that deck almost assuredly dies by rotation.
Furthermore, If you're trying to leverage karn, I recommend Treasure map as card you should probably play.
I for one, am happy that one of magic's most iconic planeswalkers is coming off of the banlist, and is getting another reprint to make it more accessible (not much but a little). Just wait a bit and jace will go back to somewhat sane prices.
Half of the meta game was different flavors of energy.
Amonkhet and Ixalan aren't week sets. They've been labeled as such because of the parasitic monster that is the energy mechanic. God-pharaoh's gift decks, approach decks, dinosaur midrange, tokens, and vampires all tried and failed to push through energy. Mefolk would have joined the list of decks that are good but worse then energy.
The mono-red hits are slightly suspect though. I would have liked to see how the meta shaped up with a weakened energy deck before doing anything else. In all honesty though, Hazoret.dek is probably still completely fine. Rather then go for the power cards they went for the cards that stopped you from interacting with mono red in an effective way.