- darktutor
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Member for 9 years, 7 months, and 24 days
Last active Sun, Jan, 26 2020 11:47:54
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1
Twanicus posted a message on Sultai MidrangeThis forum seems to be the catch all for Sultai strategies, so until one of them gets the tier rating necessary to warrant it's own forum I am in favor of updating the title to include all sub archetypes.Posted in: Midrange -
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CharonsObol posted a message on Death And TaxesPosted in: Aggro & Tempo
I'm deeply saddened that you thought I was being serious. The oddball suggestions in this thread just got slightly too real.Quote from darktutor »Quote from CharonsObol »We don't auto-lose G2 to Affinity running Whipflare.
I mean, that's gotta be worth changing the whole deck, right?
While that is helpful, it's kind of the most niche scenario you could possibly wish for against affinity. Burrenton Forge-Tender covers this problem without making the deck weaker to the rest of the field's sideboard, while also providing an edge against a lethal Galvanic Blast or a removal aimed at your best dude. -
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LtGlitter posted a message on Death And TaxesWhile people are bringing up playing red in the deck I finally did it!Posted in: Aggro & Tempo -
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deathandcatmix posted a message on Death And TaxesStarting up a twitch series soon...Posted in: Aggro & Tempo
I don't have a ton of info to share but know this...
It's going to be fun and enlightening. As I get closer to launching the series, I'll fill you all in on the plan. Hope you are excited about this!
-catmix -
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LtGlitter posted a message on Death And Taxesmy opponent ran away before I could find out if this game was winnable :cPosted in: Aggro & Tempo -
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x1uo3yd posted a message on Death And TaxesDeath&Taxes: mtgTop8 QuicklinksPosted in: Aggro & Tempo
What is this post about?
Despite the recent meta-wide popularity of Death&Taxes (and the BW-Eldrazi variant in particular) the posted results still seem to be sorted under a number of crazy titles. Searching through Hatebear, Flicker, Eldrazi, etc. results to find actual Death&Taxes listings can often be a pain, especially when you just want to compare the top few recent decks in your splash color.
This list uses google-fu and short-links to type the "Decks must contain following cards"-entries into mtgTop8 so you don't have to.
Search Posted Wins
The links below are sorted from top-to-bottom following wide-to-narrow applicability. You can hover-over the links here and bookmark them to your browser. Favorite and forget it.
- Death&Taxes / / Hatebears (Searches for: GQ, Vial, and ThaliaGT.) These results are super general and not necessarily D&T. Though, sometimes it's useful for comparing Death&Taxes vs. Hatebears.
- WX-Death&Taxes (Searches for: Wisp, Vial, and ThaliaGT.) Finds >95% of all D&T decks (all color variants) while excluding Hatebears decks with decent accuracy (Hatebears tends to not run Wisp).
- WGX-Death&Taxes (Searches for: Forest, Wisp, Vial, and ThaliaGT.) Finds white-green D&T lists as long as the pilots packed at least one basic Forest.
- WBX-Death&Taxes (Searches for: Swamp, Wisp, Vial, and ThaliaGT.) Finds white-black D&T lists as long as the pilots packed at least one basic Swamp.
- WRX-Death&Taxes (Searches for: Red, Wisp, Vial, and ThaliaGT.) Finds white-red D&T lists as long as the pilots packed at least one basic Mountain.
- WUX-Death&Taxes (Searches for: Island, Wisp, Vial, and ThaliaGT.) Finds white-blue D&T lists as long as the pilots packed at least one basic Island.
- WXC-Death&Taxes (Searches for: TKS, Wisp, Vial, and ThaliaGT.) Finds most Eldrazi D&T lists, even most micro-splashes, since TKS is often the biggest reason to dabble in Eldrazi.
- WCX-Death&Taxes (Searches for: EzTemple, Wisp, Vial, and ThaliaGT.) Finds heavily-splashed Eldrazi D&T lists by searching for maindeck Eldrazi Temple; this will often miss Eldrazi micro-splashes.
Why?
I mostly made this post because I got annoyed manually typing entries into mtgTop8 and figured others might be in the same boat. Some of you may already have your own work-arounds but for everyone else, here it is. The formatting is a little over the top but I wanted to grab everyone's attention to gauge interest. (And maybe selfishly snag some likes in the process; Muwahahaha! <--evil laugh)
Suggestions
If there are some important searches that you feel I missed (or better search cards for a given splash/variant) feel free to PM me a suggestion. -
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HomelandZecurity posted a message on Grixis/Tasigur (URB) Twin (2/2015 - 1/2016)Posted in: Modern Archives - EstablishedQuote from Gul_Dukat »you just said you commonly go for the combo and get path'd.
you should never combo unless your about to die, or you can protect it or they don't have ways to interact with it. like if their playing mono green ramp
your playing the deck wrong.
Ok, easy there.
First, @PraiseTheKappa, I will say that I do agree with Gul_Dukat that Pact of Negation is not ideal. I'd almost call it unplayable in this deck at the moment. There are just too many cases where you need your protection spell for other purposes. We aren't hyper focused on the combo, but even if you are trying to jam it on turn 4/5, more often than not, cards like Inquisition and Dispel will do almost the same job as Pact (if not better sometimes), while being much better in any noncombo situation. Especially with all the burn decks and blue mirrors running around, I'd highly recommend those two over Pact. Straight U/R Twin would be more likely to play Pact, given their reliance on the combo and ability to support it a little better, but even they are more likely to play stuff like Spellskite and Dispel instead. That said, if you still want to test it for yourself, you absolutely should.
@Gul_Dukat, chill out dude. He's new to the deck, and is simply asking for advice. No need to berate him and tell him he's playing the deck wrong. I wouldn't exactly call this sound advice either:
you should never combo unless your about to die, or you can protect it or they don't have ways to interact with it
When to combo is a very sensitive choice, yes, but you can't limit yourself to restrictions like this, just as you can't always jam the combo on turn 4. Sometimes you try and jam the combo even if you aren't about to die, or you aren't sure they have interaction. Usually, yes you wait until the coast is clear or you are forced to combo under pressure, but sometimes those things are unknown and you still have to go for it. There is no "wrong" way to play the deck, it's personal preference.
At the very least though, have some respect. Don't just yell at a fellow poster for not knowing the optimal way to play this strategy. Be helpful. That's what the threads are for. Saying something like this would be much more preferable:
"In general, it's better to wait for the combo until you have a good opening, or you are forced to try and win before your opponent kills you. Sometimes you jam it on turn 4, but usually you are better off waiting until you can protect the combo, or when your opponent taps out foolishly. Running into removal every time is a sure sign you are being too hasty with the combo. Just take your time, and remember to do everything at their EOT whenever possible to give you maximum control over the game."
That's much more constructive advice for Kappa than, "you're doing it wrong." -
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Metillon posted a message on [Primer] UB/x FaeriesPosted in: Aggro & TempoQuote from Mitorah »Quote from cwalumd »If you have guides for different common matchups, I think that would be very helpful to the community. I would certainly love to read them.
Indeed. I have FNM this friday, and I was thinking of bringing faeries to the table and I could use all information I need.
I have a lot of personal notes. I will give the infect guide first. Afterwards, we will see how it goes . -
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Metillon posted a message on [Primer] UB/x FaeriesPosted in: Aggro & TempoQuote from Cikan »(See page 169 taking out the Go for the Throat for a H. Recall in the board for deck list. Very much like the Metillion list).
Bladiebla. Tournament succes!
Well done! Always those stupid semifinales >.< . I don't think that dropping Tect Edge is a real deal. Scapeshift and Tron are still not your friends and I found it overperforming in the Jund matchup, were every removal spell counts. That said, new builds of jund are favourable for us (unlike unfavourable junk lists). Bitterblossom is a house now they run 2 Abrupt Decay. My thoughts about all the matches is pretty much the same. It's great to have another sample going on with the list I have been developing for months now.
I only scored very humble results during the last FNM. Being very tired left my play a lot to desire for.
1-1 draw against RG tron
2-1 win against RG tron
0-2 loss against Zoo Company
2-0 win against 8-rack. I have no idea how 8-rack is supposed to win once the opponent gets acquantained with it. It realy is a one-trick pony.
Also, Darktutor, I love you your results and your considerations about anticipate et al. A faeriedeck should have powerful draws, not such cards. I like your experimental, but competitively orientated mind. Really helps us to beat the meta . Grats! Also love the 4 Lilianas.
I still feel that UB Faeries are reasonably well-positioned in the meta. However, the upsurge of Company decks might really shrink our chances.
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No one else in my meta plays Faeries, so it was a ton of fun Friday to be that guy.
As long as you win you should feel proud . I also have no one else to play and test faeries with. In my country (Holland) Faeries has the highest top8/attendence conversion rate of all decks, guess who played faeries solo .
What are thoughts on Extirpate or Surgical Extraction as a side option? Let's you see hand, can mess with graveyard stuff, can potentially pull cards out of their hand (and library), can kill a combo deck (not that faeries needs help there) - can depower a goyf at instant speed and I really like the phyrexian mana cost aspect. I suppose the question would become, what do you take out that does less work? I guess really, these cards don't effect the game enough to take a slot or two when we already have such good disruption.
Actually, against Tron the cards are nice. A one-off is perfectly justifiable, I would not get anywhere beyond that though. We don't need more than 3-5 slots against combo decks, however, these slots need to be general and good.
Has Sage's Dousing been tested? It seems we run a lot of wizards..
No, did you?
How about Condescend ?
Did you?
Delay?
Good against counter mirrors. However, we already beat counter mirrors so hard that we don't usually care.
Dimur Charm?
Has some sidedeck merits. Can remember some suggested it during the Cruise-Delver Era.
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Posted in: Deck Creation (Modern)Quote from Gregaries »I believe might have mistaken Sakura Tribe Elder and Veteran Explorer.
Haven't even finished the primer and I'm already getting trolled by someone's troll account. - To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
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I second this. Lately, this forum became more experimental than it has been in some time. People are trying new directions and combinations/strategies, which is always good.
As of today, if you wanted to build a competitive D&T deck, these are the most mainstream successful versions:
You should build the version you enjoy the most playing and tune it for your local metagame, while keeping track of what is actually working in the GPs (last GP only 1 D&T made it to the top64 being BWE&T by Craig Wescoe, last GPs 2 GWD&Ts made top8).
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I can see how it could be good in T10, but it's not better than just topdecking a creature. The same is true for early turns topdecking a land or a creature. Yes, it's true that it gives you some selection, but it's nothing otherwordly that it's needed in the deck. In the end, it makes you roll slower at the cost of somewhat removing a little variance. This deck is designed on redundance: 22/23 lands, 4/5 removal, 4 vial, 0/1 sword 27-30 creatures. I don't think the card is good enough for a D&T deck, unless you accept to go slower than other D&Ts because you need to (a reason being playing 3 colors or playing a high reward PW off main color).
I find the comparison with Ponder a little cute though (at least in this deck). Ponder is good in blue decks, because blue decks don't play Thalia, Guardian of Thraben and Aether Vial, they usually play removal + counterspells, or counterspells + combo pieces, while we run none of those apart from 4 random Path to Exile (which the oath can't dig for anyway). It's also good beacause it digs like no other card, it even shuffles the library if the options are not good enough!
The combo with Flickerwisp can be annoying, but it doesn't seem like the dream scenario for the wisp. It does seem like a sweet option though.
I see you're playing a 3 color D&T, so it might be OK there, but I just don't see it paying off really. In GW I'd try to maximize the T2 Leonin Arbiter + Ghost Quarter or Thalia, Heretic Cathar. Something like that I think is more powerful in this strategy than trying to dig for value.
While I see the direction that the Oath takes on the deck, I don't like it on this shell.
I'm of the opinion that the grinding that this deck runs is not the same that other decks aim to. While other decks try to draw multiple cards or filter it to gain access to the card they need, we simply don't care and just try to make their plays slower (even impossible given they punt on lands) and hit them little by little, until the point where we can finish them off whether they deal with the mana screw/spell bottlenecking (as it takes a lot of resources in the same turn to deal with us + develop their win con). This kind of direction removes the amount of instant free wins we have (a little % but still good) by destrying their manabase on T2/3 and don't allow them to recover from there.
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She's relevant against this cards that see a lot of play in modern:
Many many other not worth even listing because It will likely not hit 2 drops, but you get the idea..
Hitting 1 drops and 0 drops, and the occasinally 2 drop or X, THAT's the beauty of Spellstutter Sprite. It can swing a sketchy start into a really powerful one. D&T is trying to do one thing: swing opponents out of tempo. Build a virtual advantage on the board that bottle necks the resources of the opponent, and use that advantage to close a game before it gets out of hand. Spellstutter Sprite is great at doing that, but don't expect her to counter a 2 drop (although sometimes it just happens), even less a 3 or a 4 drop like she can do in UB Faeries. That's not her role, but to drop one more power to the board while also protecting a Thalia/Arbiter or key piece of hate and tax with another removal or a counterspell (sometimes impossible due to Thalias being on the board). Make them waste 2 removals instead of one, or wait another turn to try again. That's her role, don't think of her as an all star catch-all answer, because you'll be very very disappointed.
Pestermite is a great addition to Flickerwisp, meaning that if we have both a vial on 3 and 2U we can delete 2 lands off an opponent for a turn, or fog 2 creatures, while also deploying 5 power to the table. If you have a vial on 3 and not the mana, you can deploy pesetermite, untap vial and slam the wisp. It also helps build your manabase when you have a single white source (or none) and are holding a path in hand with a Thalia, Guardian of Thraben in the field. The Pestermite will create impossible scenarios that will open up the game for you. All this while being an aggressive flyer AND improving any Spellstutter Sprite you draw later on the game. That is a lot!
Vendilion Clique is the most demanding Faerie in the splash. While it might prove lackluster (being UU will be restraining for the manabase and she might depend a wee bit too much on Aether Vial), it is a great magic card on her own. She doesn't need support from any other card (unless the manabase proves sketchy) and she can swing a dis-favorable game state into a favorable one (even though you didn't know that until she resolved) and get the combo piece/discard/removal/digger/wincon/planeswalker off their hand and give you enough time to steal the game or seal it with another turn to deploy more hate. All this while being a very aggressive flyer. What a card!
BUT!! These 3 cards are not the deck, nor the core. These are 10 cards in a 38 suite of cards, with the real core consisting of Thalias, Vial, Path, Arbiter, Wisp. They do support that core and the add some spicy flavors to it, that is the only reasoning to even consider them. They are what they are, don't expect the faerie package to pull this deck into a tier 1 one (although one can dream, right?), but rather expect to have an edge on your metagame if swinging in the air while countering 1 drops and tapping dudes is what you need, even if you didn't know that before and find out testing the package. One key thing to remember is that warping the manabase doesn't help to the strategy. Don't go off trying to play 8 faerie lands, you'll get blown out for being greedy and tapping out to counter a 2 drop, that is just not worth it. 2 Mutavaults is all the manabase can afford IMO, if it wants to be a D&T deck at least. Maybe 3, tops, but that's greedy already.
My 2 cents on the hype train on Faeries.
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It can be good in some scenarios, sure, but it will likely be bad in many more scenarios than good. Let's take a look at other five drops that D&T has access to:
I think in fringe scenarios where the hulk can be good some of these can be equally good or even better. In some other fringe scenarios, all this cards can be good or back-breaking. But at the end of the day, D&T has avoided 5drops always. It's not something you could qualify as capricious, it's the fact that the deck is a deck that has a 3/4 CMC at it's top end. Having too many 4/5 drops causes vial to be worse in the course of the game (less activations), causes mana issues (getting the card stranded in hand cause you're saccing your GQ and/or TE, or vice versa, not being able to interact at 100% potential with opponent's manabase cause you have a hulk in hand). It's what ultimately hurts E&T players (who, even playing Eldrazi Temple, have dropped Reality Smasher). Having 5 CMC conflicts with what defines the deck, and with most lists running 22 lands (with up to 7 sacrifice land effects in Horizon Canopy, Ghost Quarter, Tectonic Edge]) people will have issues casting it or be in scenarios where they're forced to uptick vial to 5 which is really bad.
Maybe I just hate the hulk, maybe results will prove me wrong. But I don't see the card becoming a staple of the deck, especially when it's a fringe SB card that eats slots that we desperately need.
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You can be mad at me for pointing out that you made a poor critic of a card all you want, but it won't make your comment right. Bob is awesome in grindy decks. I will not reply anymore to a guy who won't read actual card evaluations and limits to reply quickly to a last post. If you want to see how and when bob was played (and still is) in BW, use the search tool.
If you don't play Eldrazi (and even if you play just TKS and no other drazis) bob is still a fine choice. You claim D&T has no interaction, but it does in 4x Tidehollow Sculler (+4 TKS if you play them) + Path + the taxing. Taxing is interacting, if you haven't noticed by now. Not allowing your opponent from casting their spells efficiently (or not at all in some turns), force them to fall 1-3 turns behind their curve, that is interacting. Efficient threats we -somewhat- do have, though not so many, I'll give you that. Flickerwisp and Mirran Crusader being the most efficient. I agree that you need to revamp the curve if you want to play it, and that's exactly what I've been saying from the start. I choose not to play Eldrazis because you're playing a bad Eldrazi beatdown and a bad Taxing game with a really, really, clunky manabase. I have gotten nothing but good results in eldrazi-less BW TAxes in all my competitive events, even winning a PPTQ (after top8ing all of them). I am never going back to Eldrazis because the pay-off is explosion at the cost of consistence, and that's something I am not into because we're not playing a deck that wants to explode.
But then you're not seeing the full picture. You still haven't answered about playing Thalia GoT on T3 (because you didn't have any T2), is it too late? Is it obsolete? Of course it isn't. But when you do have a Thalia on the board and you drop a Wingmare, things go really bad really quick for your opponents. The same applies to Thalia HC, they complement each other so well. She's also an all star against creature decks. I understand what you're saying and I will also take back all I said about Kambal if it ends up being a poor choice. But knowing my meta and the card potential, I will play 1 main and 1 side.
Explanations about bob have been given since the dawn of modern and the origins of Junk and Jund as we know them in MODERN (not the origins of The Rock). People are -even in 2016- afraid of the life loss that he provides and still fail to understand why or how they lose to him when they decide not to kill him 'because it's doing damage'. I appreciate your efforts in trying to explain it to this community, but Bob has been played in the past and even in the BW D&T from Legacy. Explanations, experience and insight of him are everywhere in the forum. But here, people aren't asking productive questions about bob, they just want to bury it because either don't like it or don't understand it (or both), and that's not the correct way of getting insight about the deck/card.
Bob doesn't want the game to end quickly (at least not most of the time), bob wants to go long and get you as many cards as possible. I do play Kitchen Finks and with the addition of Concealed Courtyard I'm very likely to play 1 4drop in my main and 1 in my side, being it Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet.
BTW, Vigilance and Crew aren't a combo since you have to crew it before declaring attackers.
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Bob is great in D&T because it does what the decks want to do best: grind. When people face D&T they have a very clear vision on what they have to spend their removal on: Thalia, Arbiter, Mindcensor, New Thalia, Tidehollow. Now, the rest of the creatures we play can't just be random value creatures, or dumb beaters, they have to be creatures that strand your opponent's removal. The average control/midrange deck plays about 8/14 removal spells. We play 27/30 creatures, they play 4/15 creatures. The problem begins when their removal keeps us from getting board presence and by the time we get some, they have dropped larger threats. Non taxing creatures need to prevent that from happening.
So, Taxers:
4x Leonin Arbiter
4x Tidehollow Sculler
2x Aven Mindcensor
2x Thalia, Heretic Cathar
1x Vryn Wingmare
That's 17 cards right there.
Now, the rest of the creatures I play are:
4x Flickerwisp
2x Kitchen Finks
1x Brimaz, King of Oreskos
1x Mirran Crusader
That's 12 creatures. Out of those 12 I got 4 meta calls: 2x Kitchen Finks, 1x Brimaz, King of Oreskos and 1x Mirran Crusader. Either the crusader or Brimaz are likely to leave to get Kambal room. Because those cards are purely meta calls (the same as Kambal) although Kambal seems better than any (at this stage).
Then there's the non creatures:
4x Path to Exile
1x Sword of Fire and Ice
Why is bob good in this deck? It provides redundance at no virtual cost, slamming bob means drawing 2 cards a turn. Now, your opponent won't be spending removal tactically on your taxers to let bob live and refill your hand with taxers they won't deal with. The math is very simple 29 Creatures outweigh 14 removal spells. Drawing 2 cards a turn means than this outweigh is happening more often than not. So you have a Thalia and a Bob, what do you kill? Same goes for Bob + Arbiter. Although context is everything, experienced players will alwasys kill bob (as long as they don't need to kill the taxer in order to kill it).
What does mean to draw 2 cards a turn? It means increasing your chances of drawing your 1/2 ofs in the deck that can be vital to win. It also means more land-drops, which is awesome when you're playing a low curve with a low land count and you're drawing 2 cards a turn. Sign me up for that, please!
When I play Death and Taxes, I want to put the entire pressure of the game on my opponent. I want to be dropping creatures that put them in a position where they need to be more than careful to answer the board. All the creautres die to Lightning Bolt, but you can't play 29 bolts and if you did (or kinda do like burn) you wouldn't be pointing them at my creatures. So, my creatures come into the battlefield with a bullseye in their forehead, effectively over-weighing removal. That's why Bob is more important than a Blade Splicer, or a Wasteland Strangler, or a Reality Smasher (which is the clunkiest of all in E&T) or Eldrazi Displacer. I want my cards to be good on their own, not depending on blinking them or having a blink target. I want my cards to strand your cards, that's how I play D&T and that's why Bob is key in my deck for me to do my thing.
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That card is a trap. It doesn't attack nor block, it's not a creature, and it's not gonna solve any problem. If you want life whenever creatures ETB, then play Auriok Champion, if you want your opp's critters enter tapped then play Imposing Sovereign and/or Thalia, Heretic Cathar.
It's yet another non-creature spell that is not winning the game, and it doesn't even stop the kiki combo (like it's expected to). You can't vial it in during the combo, and if you play it early you are asking to get it Qasali Pridemaged. The only efficient way of stopping kiki combo is vailing in Thalia or Sovereign with Restoration Angel (as a spell) on the stack, which requires timing and specific cards (and a lot of luck). Yes, you can sneak a victory if your opponent's draws are 100% awful and you land a t1 thingy and win, but that is not real (not consistent, can't rely on your cards to be good based on your opponent's luck).
Royal Assassin seems way too cute. The best cards in BW against creature metagames are Wasteland Strangler, Zealous Persecution, Vault of the Archangel, Ghostly Prison and Orzhov Pontiff. Sunlance too, but that goes in any D&T sideboard, the same goes for Mirran Crusader which also pairs up stupendously with vault (and thalias too).
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The deck featured Wall of Omens, Restoration Angel, Eldrazi Displacer and Thought-Knot Seer. It was a lot of fun. Lost against Zooicide, won against Bant Humans, won against Jeskai Nahiri, won against Bant Knightfall (we actually went 1-1 and didn't get to play a 3rd match and he conceded cause he was out of contention), won against Jund, won against BTL Scapeshift, Lost to Bant Knightfall (1-2).
4x Æther Vial
4x Path to Exile
2CMC:
4x Wall of Omens
4x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
4x Leonin Arbiter
3CMC:
4x Flickerwisp
3x Eldrazi Displacer
4x Blade Splicer
1x Brimaz, King of Oreskos
4x Thought-Knot Seer
1x Restoration Angel
Lands:
4x Ghost Quarter
4x Tectonic Edge
3x Horizon Canopy
2x Eldrazi Temple
1x Eiganjo Castle
9x Plains
2x Grafdigger's Cage
2x Sunlance
2x Burrenton Forge-Tender
2x Stony Silence
2x Rest in Peace
2x Mirran Crusader
1x Ghostly Prison
2x Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
The deck felt really good and I like it. I was expecting to play against Burn and/or Dredge but didn't in the whole day. Walls were good (but not awesome), the same is true for TKS and Blade Splicer. Displacer was very good, especially with E Temple out, sometimes it was just awkward not to be able to destroy a land to flicker stuff (like a Gavony).
Going forward (as the enemy Fastlands were spoiled) I will get back to WB, as I'm Orzhov at heart. In my deck, this printing means that I will no longer support Caves of Koilos and Sea Gate Wreckage. This means 23 lands including Blinkmoth Nexus (or instead +2 Tectonic Edge and no manlands) and Horizon Canopy.
This is where I see my WB deck going:
4x Æther Vial
4x Path to Exile
2CMC:
4x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
4x Leonin Arbiter
4x Dark Confidant
4x Tidehollow Sculler
2x Serra Avenger
3CMC:
4x Flickerwisp
2x Aven Mindcensor
2x Kitchen Finks
1x Mirran Crusader
1x Brimaz, King of Oreskos
1x Sword of Fire and Ice
4x Concealed Courtyard
4x Godless Shrine
2x Horizon Canopy
1x Eiganjo Castle
4x Ghost Quarter
1x Tectonic Edge
2x Blinkmoth Nexus
3x Plains
1x Swamp
2x Grafdigger's Cage
2x Sunlance
2x Burrenton Forge-Tender
2x Stony Silence
2x Rest in Peace
2x Zealous Persecution
1x Ghostly Prison
2x Mirran Crusader
Nevertheless, I will continue my journey in MonoW as well as some greedy WUB and WUG builds (now that we can play a lot of fastlands + shocklands + 6/8 destroylands + a couple basics).
I see my mono white turning in this direction though:
4x Æther Vial
4x Path to Exile
2CMC:
4x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
4x Leonin Arbiter
2x Serra Avenger
3CMC:
4x Flickerwisp
2x Aven Mindcensor
1x Mirran Crusader
2x Kitchen Finks
1x Vryn Wingmare
2x Thalia, Heretic Cathar
1x Brimaz, King of Oreskos
1x Sword of Fire and Ice
1x Restoration Angel
4x Thought-Knot Seer
Lands:
4x Ghost Quarter
3x Tectonic Edge
3x Blinkmoth Nexus
3x Horizon Canopy
1x Eiganjo Castle
9x Plains
2x Grafdigger's Cage
2x Sunlance
1x Brave the Elements
2x Burrenton Forge-Tender
2x Stony Silence
2x Rest in Peace
2x Ghostly Prison
1x Mirran Crusader
1x Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
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While what you're saying is true, sometimes it taxes your own colored sources. Giving 3 +1/+1 counters to a Horizon Canopy, Ghost Quarter or Tectonic Edge isn't super exciting, and letting your opponents take on your colored sources with bolts can lead to awkward board-states, especially against control builds running wrath effects. It makes it awkward saccing your own lands (to draw or destroy other lands) and exposing the little ones you remain with to removal.
Darksteel Citadel is horrible in the deck, it doesn't serve any purpose other than putting counters on it with a card you need to draw to make it good and most games it won't happen (unless you put 4 of those and that is even worse). I could see Flagstones of Troakir doing some shenanigans, but then the card is not where D&T wants to be in my opinion.
I can see the argument to why Wall of Resurgence can be great, but I feel it lacks raw power. I believe that when the wall is good it's just awesome, but when it's bad it's painfully awful. It's not really the kind of card I'd like to build around in a ETB deck. I'd rather use blink to blank removal, re-buy wisp blinks, draw cards or get token bodies rather than get my lands exposed.
1
I don't see the value of giving an Armageddon effect to a Wrath of God. I do understand the card is good, but just doesn't cut it for me.
1
Kalitas likely takes a long time to hit the field due to the nature of our deck and the fact that they play 1/2 copies (3 tops), and when it finally does (if ever) dies any day to Mirran Crusader, Path to Exile or gets outclassed by Flickerwisp. If you have Thalia, Heretic Cathar it will never connect/block before it becomes irrelevant for the game state. Jund takes 5/10 damage every game between fetches, shocks and Thoughtseizes, meanwhile we bottleneck their spells and make them take slow turns at little reward and beat them with our dudes . It's never really a problem to beat jund, as long as you can tempo them and get a couple attackers to connect.
What is it with this Stony Silence discussion?
It is very simple: if you play at local level and see 0 affinity, 0 tron and 0 lantern, don't run it. If you play in an open metagame or a big event, play 2/3 in your board or be ready to drop and modify your sideboard before signing up for side events. There is nothing to discuss on Stony Silence other than the number and the possible split between that and Kataki, War's Wage.
Lingering Souls is not gonna save you from an Etched Champion being equipped with a Cranial Plating, nor it will stop Arcbound Ravager's nor Steel Overseer's activations. Neither will Ratchet Bomb (not before it becomes irrelevant at least). If you want to rely on Kataki, War's Wage be ready to scoop to a Whipflare, and also Pyroclasm or Oblivion Stone from tron.
The power level of Stony Silence in the matches where it's good is unreachable by other cards, just like Rest in Peace and Grafdigger's Cage. When you want any of those cards, you want that one and no other.