Just my 2 cents in the charm vs. truths argument, I've been playing the ichikawa mentor list since it popped up about a year ago and that style of deck absolutely wants to play the discard+truths type of game. You have to be proactive to maximize your mentor, on top of that most counterspells in modern are just bad. You definitely want charm in the draw go style of decks, but those are entirely different decks.
Other observations and changes I've made to the deck are:
-4 Snapcaster +3 Jace, Vryn's prodigy +1 Painful truths
Reason: Jace is a lightning rod in turn 2 that either clears the way for your mentor or takes over the game if unanswered. Snap is a great card but as an ambush viper it's not a real threat and not a 2 drop.
-1 Mentor +1 Kalitas
Reason: Kalitas helps tremendously against aggro and burn and is another must answer threat that can take over the game. Pretty sure mentor is the wrong card to cut for it, but can't decide what else to cut yet.
-1 disfigure +1 Plains
Reason: 23 lands is necessary, I like 2 plains in the main so I can deal with a potentially resolved blood moon
-2 Creeping tarpit +2 shambling vent
Reason: before vent was printed I found that the deck would stabilize within burn range and lose to an inevitable burn spell due to no hard counters. Vent lets us remove the inevitability especially against burn.
-1 Vault of the archangel +1 westvale abbey
Reason: This change has already provided a huge impact on many games. A lot of decks simply cannot beat or outrage and ormendhal and this deck provides plenty of tokens to sacrifice. Many unwinable games had different outcomes because of ormendhal.
Overall the recent bannings have been great for this deck and it has game against most of the tier 1 decks. Biggest piece of advice is to trust in your mentors, most people think they can out race your mentor and in most cases they are wrong. Know when to jam it on turn 3 and when to wait and get value.
If you're running sultai colors golgari charm is a solid sideboard choice. Can deal w/ problem enchantments as well as providing a little protection against sweepers and removal. Fecundity is also an option, but less good if you expect a lot of anger of the gods.
I've found from testing that black isn't required to get the shaman in play. Most common line I found was to loop collected company w/ eternal witness and put it in that way. I've tried the beck version and the blue in the cost was just very awkward a lot of the time. I usually don't play out my sentinels until I'm ready to go off so it would be very unlikely I would have one to attack with. Sylvan messenger could act as a small regal force, but not sure what I would cut. Fauna shaman or rec sage seem like the first cuts, but I currently like them more than the messenger atm.
Cloudstone curio is the enabler that lets you combo off in the early turns, Beck just doesn't seem to work. Problem w/ craterhoof is that you can't cheat it in and the turn you go off you will likely not have any elves to attack w/ the craterhoof. Messenger
Is just too expensive and doesn't work w/ collected company.
Been trying to streamline my list for a few weeks now and this is what I'm planning on taking to the modern event at my lgs tonight. I've found the wincon I usually end up w/ is recurring CoCo w/ eternal witness to put a shaman into play once I have a lethal amount of elves. Regal force has acted as a tutorable (yet expensive) alternate to going off w/o curio. Hopefully I can update tonight w/ results.
Round 1
GW hatebears (2-1)
Games 1 and 3 were a bit grindy, but he had no answer for mentor and tasigur which eventually won the game. Game 2 he played three leonin arbiters and proceeded to ghost quarter all my lands. Timely and Apetite for brains were good here, game 3 I had the please of curving timely into sorin, my opponent exhausted all his resources taking down the sorin which allowed for tasigur and mentor to take over.
Round 2
Junk midrange (2-0)
Have tested this match up a lot and many times it feels like whoever gets the most out of their lingering souls wins. Mutavault shined here as a way to either protect tasigur/mentor from liliana edict or to allow you to kill a lily + cast a spell. This is a match zealous persecution has a chance to shine. G3 had an interesting moment where my opponent inquisitioned me discarded one of my two mentors and cast an explosives for 3, I killed him w/ souls tokens and snapcaster eventually.
Round 3
Affinity (2-1)
Fairly straightforward and boring match, I drew little interaction G1, then all of it game 2. Game 3 I curved discard into stony silence into menToR and made quick work of my opponent.
Round 4
Burn (0-2)
Game one my opponent had a fast swiftspear start back up by a turn 4 chandra which kept my tokens in check. Game 3 my opponent had 3 figures of destiny in play turn 2 and I was never able to stabilize. Saw no sideboard cards game 2.
Overall I loved the deck and it played very smoothly and the colorless mana of the mutavaults was never an issue.
I put the CoP:red and Apetite for brains in the sideboard since skred rer, Tron, and griselbrand reanimator are popular in my meta. The Azorious charm was a bit of a hedge against burn and a weird love I have for the card.
I cut caryatids for 3 Commune With the Gods and an additional swamp. W/ Tasigur in the deck deck now it serves as pseudo ramp for your delve spells and is a way better top deck late game. I haven't missed the caryatids at all and the communes actually help w/ consistently getting a whip in play or finding a threat.
Went 3-0 this week at my lgs this week with a fairly stock PLA build, running nullify over discard. Beat boss sligh, uw heroic, and jeskai tempo.
UW herioic 2-1, he got g1 when I didn't have an answer for his 4th fabled hero, games 2&3 I was able to side out my dead disdainful strokes for more removal and just played around his god's willing.
Boss sligh 2-1, g1 I had under control and felt like I had stabilized at 7 life and my opponent flooding out, and then he peels craters claws of all things and I don't have a counter for it. Game 2 he played into a bile blight blowout and game 3 a couple early Pharika's cure kept me at a healthy life total.
Jeskai tempo 2-1, games 1&3 I had bile blight and nullify for his turn 2&3 plays, he could never muster much threat and I burried him in card advantage. Game 2 I punted by fetching an island for nullify t2 instead of casting bile blight and never saw a second black source until it was too late.
For playing against 3 supposedly bad match ups the deck felt great, their is just a chance I was running hot, I avoided getting clunky Jaces ingenuity/perilous vault hands for the most part. Mulliganed twice I think.
I playtested the deck a bunch against a friend who has twin and jund built and never lost a match out of ~10 games each. I just always had an answer for twin and jund could never keep up w/ the card advantage. Dig helps negate any damage done by their discard.
As far as cutting charms for counter spells, in all honesty I haven't had any moments where I wish I had more counterspells. This could change after testing more against UWr and scapeshift.
yeah I felt the Azourious charms were a natural swap for think twice that fueled delve.I do actually get quite a bit of utility from the bounce mode, it really shines against swiftspear and ensoul artifact.
Went 5-0 at my lgs this week beating UR delver (2-1), Affinity (2-0), UW Tron (2-0), Gr stompy (2-0), and Esper gifts/pack rat deck that is apparently starting to pop up (2-0)
Delver opponent had T1 delver blind flip T2 every game. He got me game 1, got me with a total of 5 bolts. Game 2 I fought through triple delver by turn 2,followed by triple pyromamcer, while also taking care of two blood moons. It was a frustrating game to say the least but I got it. Game three my opponent tried to thought scour mid combat to pump swift spear wich allowed me to azorius charm for a blowout.
Affinity opponent dumped his hand on the draw and I was able to snare his plating, was able to take over before he could land anything threatening. Game two I got my stony silence spell pierced, but was able to use path and charms to get out of harms way.
UW tron was super easy, he never put any real pressure on me and shadow of doubt blanked all his gifts. Game two I had Stony silence T2 and eventually beat down w/ snaps and collonades.
GR stompy conceded g1 after I rev'd for four and then game 2 after he had a grip full of pump spells looking at my
Spellskite.
The gifts/pack rat deck was an anti delver deck according to my opponent, just like in standard last year pack rat doesn't do well against verdict and shadow of doubt blanked his gifts.
Was super satisfied with the deck overall and love playing on my opponents turn, only wish I could have been paired against more T1 decks.
Don't be afraid to use PLA just to bounce lands so that you can scry and gain more life, also don't be afraid to take a few hits in order to draw some cards.
I tested a 4 Sphinx 3 ashiok build for a little bit, mostly because I really like ashiok, but I felt this deck couldn't compete very well at sorcery speed. PLA bouncing fountains and backwaters is another undervalued reason it is successful, but that is just from my personal observations.
When 4-0 at my lgs this week, beat mono-black aggro, jeskai tempo, the mirror w/ ashiok and Sphinx mb, and uw heroic. Was super happy w/ the list, jeskai opponent even had the nut draw g1 and I was still able to get that game.
Other observations and changes I've made to the deck are:
-4 Snapcaster +3 Jace, Vryn's prodigy +1 Painful truths
Reason: Jace is a lightning rod in turn 2 that either clears the way for your mentor or takes over the game if unanswered. Snap is a great card but as an ambush viper it's not a real threat and not a 2 drop.
-1 Mentor +1 Kalitas
Reason: Kalitas helps tremendously against aggro and burn and is another must answer threat that can take over the game. Pretty sure mentor is the wrong card to cut for it, but can't decide what else to cut yet.
-1 disfigure +1 Plains
Reason: 23 lands is necessary, I like 2 plains in the main so I can deal with a potentially resolved blood moon
-2 Creeping tarpit +2 shambling vent
Reason: before vent was printed I found that the deck would stabilize within burn range and lose to an inevitable burn spell due to no hard counters. Vent lets us remove the inevitability especially against burn.
-1 Vault of the archangel +1 westvale abbey
Reason: This change has already provided a huge impact on many games. A lot of decks simply cannot beat or outrage and ormendhal and this deck provides plenty of tokens to sacrifice. Many unwinable games had different outcomes because of ormendhal.
Overall the recent bannings have been great for this deck and it has game against most of the tier 1 decks. Biggest piece of advice is to trust in your mentors, most people think they can out race your mentor and in most cases they are wrong. Know when to jam it on turn 3 and when to wait and get value.
Is just too expensive and doesn't work w/ collected company.
4 Collected Company
4 Summoner's pact
4 cloudstone curio
1 Primal command
4 Heritage Druid
4 Nettle sentinel
4 Elvish Visionary
4 Dwenyn's Elite
4 Arbor Elf
4 Elvish Mystic
1 Fauna Shaman
2 Shaman of the pack
1 Regal Force
1 Eternal Witness
1 Reclamation Sage
4 Windswept Heath
5 Forest
3 Overgrown Tomb
1 Pendelhaven
Main
-1 Disfigure
-1 Inquisition of kozilek
-4 Creeping Tar pit
+1 Zealous Persecution
+1 Azorious charm
+1 Plains
+3 Mutavault
Sideboard
-1 Curse of Death's Hold
-2 Negate
-2 Timely Reinforcements
+1 Disfigure
+2 Apetite for brains
+2 Circle of Protection: Red
Round 1
GW hatebears (2-1)
Games 1 and 3 were a bit grindy, but he had no answer for mentor and tasigur which eventually won the game. Game 2 he played three leonin arbiters and proceeded to ghost quarter all my lands. Timely and Apetite for brains were good here, game 3 I had the please of curving timely into sorin, my opponent exhausted all his resources taking down the sorin which allowed for tasigur and mentor to take over.
Round 2
Junk midrange (2-0)
Have tested this match up a lot and many times it feels like whoever gets the most out of their lingering souls wins. Mutavault shined here as a way to either protect tasigur/mentor from liliana edict or to allow you to kill a lily + cast a spell. This is a match zealous persecution has a chance to shine. G3 had an interesting moment where my opponent inquisitioned me discarded one of my two mentors and cast an explosives for 3, I killed him w/ souls tokens and snapcaster eventually.
Round 3
Affinity (2-1)
Fairly straightforward and boring match, I drew little interaction G1, then all of it game 2. Game 3 I curved discard into stony silence into menToR and made quick work of my opponent.
Round 4
Burn (0-2)
Game one my opponent had a fast swiftspear start back up by a turn 4 chandra which kept my tokens in check. Game 3 my opponent had 3 figures of destiny in play turn 2 and I was never able to stabilize. Saw no sideboard cards game 2.
Overall I loved the deck and it played very smoothly and the colorless mana of the mutavaults was never an issue.
I put the CoP:red and Apetite for brains in the sideboard since skred rer, Tron, and griselbrand reanimator are popular in my meta. The Azorious charm was a bit of a hedge against burn and a weird love I have for the card.
UW herioic 2-1, he got g1 when I didn't have an answer for his 4th fabled hero, games 2&3 I was able to side out my dead disdainful strokes for more removal and just played around his god's willing.
Boss sligh 2-1, g1 I had under control and felt like I had stabilized at 7 life and my opponent flooding out, and then he peels craters claws of all things and I don't have a counter for it. Game 2 he played into a bile blight blowout and game 3 a couple early Pharika's cure kept me at a healthy life total.
Jeskai tempo 2-1, games 1&3 I had bile blight and nullify for his turn 2&3 plays, he could never muster much threat and I burried him in card advantage. Game 2 I punted by fetching an island for nullify t2 instead of casting bile blight and never saw a second black source until it was too late.
For playing against 3 supposedly bad match ups the deck felt great, their is just a chance I was running hot, I avoided getting clunky Jaces ingenuity/perilous vault hands for the most part. Mulliganed twice I think.
As far as cutting charms for counter spells, in all honesty I haven't had any moments where I wish I had more counterspells. This could change after testing more against UWr and scapeshift.
Delver opponent had T1 delver blind flip T2 every game. He got me game 1, got me with a total of 5 bolts. Game 2 I fought through triple delver by turn 2,followed by triple pyromamcer, while also taking care of two blood moons. It was a frustrating game to say the least but I got it. Game three my opponent tried to thought scour mid combat to pump swift spear wich allowed me to azorius charm for a blowout.
Affinity opponent dumped his hand on the draw and I was able to snare his plating, was able to take over before he could land anything threatening. Game two I got my stony silence spell pierced, but was able to use path and charms to get out of harms way.
UW tron was super easy, he never put any real pressure on me and shadow of doubt blanked all his gifts. Game two I had Stony silence T2 and eventually beat down w/ snaps and collonades.
GR stompy conceded g1 after I rev'd for four and then game 2 after he had a grip full of pump spells looking at my
Spellskite.
The gifts/pack rat deck was an anti delver deck according to my opponent, just like in standard last year pack rat doesn't do well against verdict and shadow of doubt blanked his gifts.
Was super satisfied with the deck overall and love playing on my opponents turn, only wish I could have been paired against more T1 decks.
2 Snapcaster Mage
Sorceries
2 Supreme verdict
1 Wrath of God
Instants
4 Cryptic command
4 Azourious charm
4 Esper charm
4 Path to exile
3 Spell snare
3 Dig through time
2 Sphinx's revelation
2 Shadow of doubt
2 Remand
1 White sun zenith
4 Celestial collonade
4 Hallowed fountain
4 Flooded Strand
3 Polluted delta
2 Watery grave
1 Godless Shrine
1 Tectonic edge
3 Island
2 Plains
2 Swamp
3 Timely reinforcements
3 Duress
2 Stony silence
1 Elspeth, sun's champion
1 Kor firewalker
1 Utter end
1 Disenchant
1 Engineered explosives
1 Celestial purge
1 Spellskite
2 Pearl lake ancient
Spells
4 Dissolve
4 Hero's downfall
4 Bile blight
4 Jace's ingenuity
4 Dig through time
4 Perilous vault
3 Disdainful stroke
2 Nullify
1 Murderous cut
1 Silence the believers
4 Temple of deceit
1 Temple of mystery
1 Temple of malice
1 Evolving wilds
1 Radiant fountain
4 Polluted delta
4 Dismal backwater
1 Urborg, tomb of yawgmoth
5 Swamp
5 Island
3 Thoughtseize
2 Negate
3 Drown in sorrow
2 Pharika's cure
1 Prognostic Sphinx
4 Jorubai murk lurker