Bloodbraid Elf is now THE best maindeckable top-end spell in Zoo. Collected Company can kindly f*uck off.
Mana dorks obviously help cast Bloodbraid Elf sooner, but I don't want to be on too many mana dorks because they decrease the quality of your Cascades. 4 Hierarchs 0 Birds is what I'll try initially.
Considering the above, I'll start with 3 Bloodbraid Elves rather than 4.
Domri Rade's stock has gone up as a noncreature card advantage engine you can Cascade into.
Thanks! I myself prefer those Decks choke-full of counterspells and draw, but it is necessary to be able to end the game "quickly" enough in Modern, thus I want to give the Resto/Wall a chance. Although it appears as though Modern is starting to slow down a bit.
This is my Control/Midrange version of the U/W list. I've been developing the list over the past 2 years with a VERY good deck builder at my LGS. I know it's not the same list everyone else would be running but this list is very solid.
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List
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This is about 73/75 of the deck that I used to run (for reference). I took this to multiple SCG events stretching from Splinter Twin days until most recently about 6 months ago. This deck is always my "Go-To" if I'm unsure about what I want to play or if the deck I think I'm going to play just isn't good enough for the meta. This is the deck that has gotten me into multiple day 2's and would've gotten me cash multiple times if the pilot(me) wasn't such an idiot and making huge misplays left and right.
Anyways, I hope this helps and is a good starting point for you and your version of the deck.
I've been experimenting with UW Midrange/Control recently and am playing a similar creature suite to yours with 4 Wall/4 Splicer/4 Restoration Angel/2 Clique/2 Snapcaster as the core (playing 1x Moorland Haunt as well, which is excellent with my higher creature count).
Blade Splicer has performed better than expected so far. I initially ran it over Finks alongside 2 Ojutai's Command for cute tricks (and due to nostalgia-Blade Splicer and I were best friends in Standard), but I'm still playing Splicers after cutting Ojutai's Command. While it doesn't gain life and isn't as good with your own Verdicts (I play 2) as Finks, its still strong against aggressive decks because of 3 toughness + First Strike, hits for 4 a turn instead of 3 against non-interactive decks, and sometimes you can do stuff like double block to trade with a Thought-Knot Seer. Costing single W is also nice.
My proposed SB would be to trim the Grip and Choke to add an Ooze and the 2nd Charm. The Ooze as an extra hedge against Dredge and the Charm as another answer to DnT, Pyromancer/Elementals, and Elves.
So glad to see someone else rocking the Trinisphere. I saw it in list last Summer and have been playing with it since, its great.
I'd go with Grafdigger's Cage or Nihil Spellbomb to hedge against Dredge. Scavenging Ooze never impressed to me in the deck with 4 Groves and 3 non-Grove Green lands. It's a good card in other matchups, but is often too slow for Dredge.
I think Jund is genuinely underplayed relative to its strength. People shy away from it because it doesn't have Brainstorm and Force of Will, but its one of the most consistent and powerful non-Brainstorm decks out there. Almost every time I'm deciding on what to play at a big tournament I roll with Jund simply because it matches up well against a lot of popular decks.
I could see this changing depending on how popular Eldrazi gets and to what degree the meta warps around it. While discard + Tarmogoyf has been a great recipe for stomping stompy decks, I'm a bit concerned about the inadequacy of Decay and Fire against them. I haven't played this matchup, so I can't say for certain yet.
s3raphix, have you tried the bant conscription variant? It's actually quite stable. That is heavy ramp into an early Sovereigns of Lost Alara with a geist on the field, but it can often just cast eldrazi conscription on a dork for the win if it needs to. Sounds like something you might want to try. It has a lot of development room. It runs hierarch, birds, cobra, geist, sovereigns, and conscription plus whatever else you want to try out. It has done well in the past, I'm not sure if its speed and interactivity are up to par but you've mentioned ramping into big spells and it could be something to look into.
Yes, I'm quite familiar with this archetype-Mythic Bant is probably my favorite deck of all time.
I am testing a Sovereigns list, but don't own Lotus Cobras. That kind of invalidates the Cobra/Knight/Fetchland engine, so I'm currently trying out configurations of other "dorks" like Sylvan Caryatid, Coiling Oracle, Sakura-Tribe Elder, and Courser of Kruphix alongside 4-8 one-drops. Courser has really impressed me so far, its an all-around solid card.
This does fundamentally change the way the deck plays though. You don't have access to explosive Lotus Cobra openings, which I believe necessitates playing some more reactive cards. The upside of this is greater robustness against aggressive strategies or removal. I did some brief testing online against Jund with a Lotus Cobra list and found that the deck became really bad when all your dorks got killed. However, that might be a risk worth taking because of how huge the payoff can be.
I'd like to see a Lord of Atlantis reprint. Right now you can't get one with a new frame and black border. I have no interest in this card, but I'm sure a lot of players do.
I really hope Inquisition of Kozilek makes its way into the set too. It doesn't see Eternal play now anymore that Esperblade is kind of dead, but this would be great for Modern players, and its functional in Limited unlike a lot of other cards that need a reprint.
Play a Null Rod in your sideboard. It obviously hoses artifact decks like Affinity and MUD, but is also good against Death & Taxes, Storm, Miracles, Blade, Turbo Eldrazi, etc.
You can play Ratchet Bomb as a substitute to Explosives while you trade for them. This sort of effect is really strong in the sideboard of this deck as it shores up a lot of blind spots.
I saw someone on the last page mention playing 1x Linvala...is she still good these days with Pod and Twin dead?
There's always the old Standard standby of Putrid Leech. A Modern manabase might put your life total under too much duress for this guy though.
Fleecemane Lion could be another option. Its similar to Sylvan Advocate in that its a fairly efficient body that could become a significant threat late.
Sylvan Adovcate is a very cool card though, I've been thinking of brewing some kind of deck with it.
Play a Null Rod in your sideboard. It obviously hoses artifact decks like Affinity and MUD, but is also good against Death & Taxes, Storm, Miracles, Blade, Turbo Eldrazi, etc.
My inital thoughts:
I've been experimenting with UW Midrange/Control recently and am playing a similar creature suite to yours with 4 Wall/4 Splicer/4 Restoration Angel/2 Clique/2 Snapcaster as the core (playing 1x Moorland Haunt as well, which is excellent with my higher creature count).
Blade Splicer has performed better than expected so far. I initially ran it over Finks alongside 2 Ojutai's Command for cute tricks (and due to nostalgia-Blade Splicer and I were best friends in Standard), but I'm still playing Splicers after cutting Ojutai's Command. While it doesn't gain life and isn't as good with your own Verdicts (I play 2) as Finks, its still strong against aggressive decks because of 3 toughness + First Strike, hits for 4 a turn instead of 3 against non-interactive decks, and sometimes you can do stuff like double block to trade with a Thought-Knot Seer. Costing single W is also nice.
What do you think about Anger of the Gods instead of Wrath of God? it comes down a turn sooner and can clean up most aggressive decks.
Also, Elspeth, Sun's Champion looks too powerful not to play in a Planeswalker-centric strategy.
Aside from Tron, Eldrazi,and Scapeshift, what matchups is it good in?
So glad to see someone else rocking the Trinisphere. I saw it in list last Summer and have been playing with it since, its great.
I'd go with Grafdigger's Cage or Nihil Spellbomb to hedge against Dredge. Scavenging Ooze never impressed to me in the deck with 4 Groves and 3 non-Grove Green lands. It's a good card in other matchups, but is often too slow for Dredge.
http://www.starcitygames.com/article/30429_Todd-VS-BBD-.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V36tcM6X-DI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=athQj4bDeaY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_uXoK-4PEM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VELvo0JmRcc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Ka2HlyGsP4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PI3kSdlcZE
Miracles? Check.
Shardless? Check.
Delver decks? Check.
Death & Taxes? Check.
I could see this changing depending on how popular Eldrazi gets and to what degree the meta warps around it. While discard + Tarmogoyf has been a great recipe for stomping stompy decks, I'm a bit concerned about the inadequacy of Decay and Fire against them. I haven't played this matchup, so I can't say for certain yet.
Yes, I'm quite familiar with this archetype-Mythic Bant is probably my favorite deck of all time.
I am testing a Sovereigns list, but don't own Lotus Cobras. That kind of invalidates the Cobra/Knight/Fetchland engine, so I'm currently trying out configurations of other "dorks" like Sylvan Caryatid, Coiling Oracle, Sakura-Tribe Elder, and Courser of Kruphix alongside 4-8 one-drops. Courser has really impressed me so far, its an all-around solid card.
This does fundamentally change the way the deck plays though. You don't have access to explosive Lotus Cobra openings, which I believe necessitates playing some more reactive cards. The upside of this is greater robustness against aggressive strategies or removal. I did some brief testing online against Jund with a Lotus Cobra list and found that the deck became really bad when all your dorks got killed. However, that might be a risk worth taking because of how huge the payoff can be.
I really hope Inquisition of Kozilek makes its way into the set too. It doesn't see Eternal play now anymore that Esperblade is kind of dead, but this would be great for Modern players, and its functional in Limited unlike a lot of other cards that need a reprint.
The most obvious cut to me is the 3rd Duress. If you're on the "stock" 4 Thoughtseize and 3 Hymn main 2 extra Duress is enough.
After that I'm less sure...maybe the Rakdos Charm? I've never played with it before so I can't comment on how good it is.
I only play a one-of Null Rod, so I don't know if you need to find room for a 2nd.
For G/R some options are Leyline of Lifeforce, Mindsparker, Witchstalker, Thrun, the Last Troll.
Defense Grid can be played in any color of deck.
I saw someone on the last page mention playing 1x Linvala...is she still good these days with Pod and Twin dead?
Fleecemane Lion could be another option. Its similar to Sylvan Advocate in that its a fairly efficient body that could become a significant threat late.
Sylvan Adovcate is a very cool card though, I've been thinking of brewing some kind of deck with it.