Any love for a 1-off fiery cannonade in the sb? Mono red builds run almost no pirates (except kari zev, but thats easy to remove with other spells). Sweeping the board at instant speed is great and can also be flashed back with hulk.
Also, I've been less and less impressed with harnessed lightning, and more and more impressed by magma spray. If you think about it, there are very few creatures that you want to spend a removal spell on that cannot be removed by magma spray (which besides the exile, it also is one cheaper). Virtuoso is better removed by sweltering suns, glory bringer can easily be countered, scarab god is better off vraska's contempted (or countered), constrictor can be removed with push... there are few creatures where harnessed lightning is the spell you actually want. Anyone else feeling like this? I still play it main deck for its versatility, but i find myself boarding it out very often.
If you want to play NicoB you can always go 2colour with 4 hubs and then Cast NB off the hubs. Wafo Tapa and some others did that at the Pt. Having said that, I actually feel the 2 red sweepers (sweltering suns and hour of devastation) are the best in the format. Specially HoD sine it catches planeswalkes and gets around indestructible, so UR with minimal black might be the control colors
First off, most mono red decks go a little bigger after board, bringing in at least one Chandra, and perhaps 1 Vance's blasting cannons. So post board I'l like to have at least one answer for these cards. In UB your best shot with enchantment removal is a counterspell, so I'd like to get at least one negate in there to deal with both the walker and the enchantment. The rest of the deck is creatures, so I'd like at least one cheap sweeper (I have a love/hate relationship with Bontu's last reckoning... if mono red is the deck in your mind, I'd like Golden demise more). Also, most of the creatures have toughness <=2 (kari zev being the exception) and have "cant block" clauses (khenra, ahn crop crasher, pia nalaar, etc). So (i) I do like moment of craving as a way to trade at slightly better rate than 1-1, and (ii) I dislike trying to block.
With that said, you might want to board out 3 chupacabras, 3 disallows, 1 consign and 1 contempt. Chupacabra is a 4 mana 1-for-1 trade unless you can make it block (which mono red can prevent it, also mono red can fly over it), but it does combo nicely with scabby, so keeping 1 might be fine. Disallow is similarly bad, but keeping 1 around for ther big threats is ok. Consign and contempt are just not efficient enough: you'll rarely activate the back side of consign and contempt is nice as a life gain spell so maybe it can stay, but 4 mana is too much.
I'd bring in 5x 2 mana removal spells that can remove small creatures, 2 sweepers and 1 negate. Given that you have 2 moment of craving in your mainboard, an anti red SB could include 2x moment of craving, 3x dire fleet poisoner (unfortunately, no other 2 mana removals exists in UB, except walk the plank or die young, but those kind of stink), 2 golden demise (or a 1-1 split with bontu's LR), 1 negate. I don't think this leaves you too far away from your current SB.
I agree with @JoinInWherever that SB plans depend on MB. However, I'd never side out searches. I once remember Cuneo saying that he never boards out card draw in any match, because that is the essence of a control deck.
What I do for SB is the following: 1) the MD has answers that are inefficient, but general. By "inefficient" I mean that (depending on the matchup) you can find a less mana intensive card that can fulfill the same role. 2) make a list of decks you are gunning for (in this meta I'd say red aggro, merfolk aggro, GBx midrange, UBx control, approach, vehicles, God Pharaoh gift). For each of those decks, plan on boarding out any answer that can be replaced by something cheaper that does the same thing, and board in the efficient answer. 3) You'd probably end up with more than 15 cards, so then try to ask if you can find a card that plays the role of 2 or more others. That is, find a midway pointy between the Main Deck inefficient answer, and the ideal SB super-efficient answer, so as to get a card that might not be the most efficient, but is still more efficient than your main deck card. Word of caution: when doing these steps, keep in mind your opponent's most likely post board configuration. Example: vs fish, I bing in negates and jace's defeat. Their main deck is mostly creatures, but post board they bring in spell pierce and negates, so i take out some disallows for negates//defeats: negate and defeat play the same role (win conunter wars) but cost 1 less. Defeat is also better because Kumena is actually blue, so jace's defeat can actually counter him too.
Example time. In my grixis deck, vs mono red, there are 5 to 7 inefficient answers: 4 disallow, 1 Vcontempt, 1 Vona's hunger 1 Consign. Disallow is inefficient because what am I countering? Creatures? Then I can simply have scatter, or removal. Consign is inefficient because it is card disadvantage unless you plan to use the back side (which you rarely do vs red), and contempt is 4 mana. Yes, it does answer hazoret, but you could counter that with essence scatter or make them sacrifice it with vona's hunger (assuming you can keep the field clean). Hunger is inefficient if you use it without the city's blessing, but it is good vs hozoret, so it is kind of iffy. Step 2: Since most aggro dudes have toughness <=2, and few of them have relevant ETB effects, the most efficient answer to creatures is 1 mana 2 damage removal. Out of the two options (shock or magma spray), spray hits more decks than shock does (the xile is great vs scrounger or god Pharaoh gift decks) so I play magma spray. So I replace my 4 disallow with my 4 sprays. What about contempt and consign? Again, those are geared towards answering creatures. So I replace both of those with 2 mana removal (harnessed lightning in my deck, but I've since moved to moment of craving).
Might be a stupid question, but do you think this deck is viable without The Scarab God? I still have all those UR Control staples and those 4 Torrential Gearhulks are sad I can't find them a new home. Seems that UB is the only viable place for them now. But honestly there's no way I'm bying pushed God mythics to only play standard for maybe a few months.
Talking about straight up UR, here is a fun list I put together yesterday. Not competitive beyond FNM probably, but who knows
G1 your wincon is literally just the tower, which is weak to abrade. On the plus side, once the compass flips, there are very few things you actually need to counter, so you can just save your counters to protect your towers.
As much as I love my Torment of Hailfire variant, I agree it's wise not to count on flipping Azor's Gateway. Five turns on the field adds up to a lot of chances to get blown up, especially in the current meta. Despite the downside, I think it wins out over Treasure Map--we don't need the card draw from Treasure Cove and the ramp payoff from Gateway is obviously superior, if you get there.
I think I'm going to try out a copy of Tetzimoc as a pseudo-sweeper in my version, as there does appear to be some risk of getting overwhelmed by larger creatures if you miss a counterspell. Hoping to bring some version of the deck to a PPTQ in a couple weeks.
I agree that suns in double red is an issue. But don't underestimate the power of cycling. Also, I think that 3 damage is better than -2/-2 in the current meta. I think whirler virtuoso and hostage taker are a real thing (and fish decks can grow their dudes beyond x/2, but they have more trouble going above x/3).
Might be a stupid question, but do you think this deck is viable without The Scarab God? I still have all those UR Control staples and those 4 Torrential Gearhulks are sad I can't find them a new home. Seems that UB is the only viable place for them now. But honestly there's no way I'm bying pushed God mythics to only play standard for maybe a few months.
I don't think it's needed. I didn't include it for three reasons.
1) W/out the scarab god, you have access to 3 great cards that hose it, without compromising your own strategy: the spyglasses and the silent gravestone. For some time I had 1x spyglass in the main (instead of the 3d scatter) to further improve your G1 points. A 5/5 for 5 is not so good vs our 5/6s. Also, spyglass is never truly dead, so its not terrible to include in the main.
2) Also, everyone is starting to load up on vraska's contempts for scabby. VC is great vs scabby but reeeeeealy lackluster vs Hulk.
3) Almost all the deck plays instant speed. I like that
Having said that, old Scabby Doo is a fantastic card, so i doubt it's bad to play 1 or 2 (but i wouldn't play more than that)
Looks like a cool deck to play! I'm wondering, if you are playing Grixis, why not make room for 1-2 Cut//Ribbons? This gives you a good option to win the game with the Aftermath once you flip the Azor's Gateway. Also still a fan of The Scarab God and I think a singleton Tetzimoc, Primal Death would be good over a Gearhulk.
Totally. I did not include tetzimoc or cutt//ribbons for 2 reasons. 1) i don't own them and I didnot want to go buy them 2) gateway is slow to flip and there is plenty artifact removal going around (abrade, naturalize, the naturalize dino, cast out, ixalan's binding, etc). This deck wants to play assuming that you never flip the gateway, and instead be happy with getting as many loots in before they kill it. With this in mind, adding cards that are medium on their own, and get amazing with a flipped gateway, could lead to some dead cards in hand.
Talking about cards i don't own, and scarab gods, I would love to get a Jace's defeat in th board instead of the 3rd negate. Vs UBx control/midrange decks you board it instead of the 3rd scatter. It fulfills the same role (counter hulk and scabby) but if needed can help fight a counterbattle.
two updates:
1)the esper mastermind lists i posted above are super fun to play... at FNM. In more competitive settings they are a bit clunnky and slow.
2) Grixis seems to be the real deal. Here is the list i piloted to a 4-1 record in a league. Its awesome vs midrange and decent vs aggro. Did not play vs control though so i wouldn't know. It is inspired by Shota's winning list from a couple pro tours before: lots of uber cheap removal to trade 1-1, and a card draw engine that has me nearly milling myself every game. Enjoy!
The reason for the first change is that secrets was meant to be a way to smooth our draws in the early game, while earning a bit of card advantage and without being bad in the long game. But tapping out turn 3 was frequently more dangerous than desires, so i wanted an instant speed way to smooth draws. I still like secrets very much in the late game, so I kept 1, but i am playing around with opt and supreme will. None of them are too amazing, but they do the job they are meant to do quite well. The reason to take out lily is that i faced decking quite a couple of times. And also accidentally milling your last mastermind's acquisition is a real danger (in general, if decking is an issue, i go grab an approach, but if you mill your last acquisition...) I love the pw and I love the incidental synergies (makes tokens for ascend, can recur hulk, azon, and elanda, can even be a wrath), so until i figure a way to reliably not mill myself, I'm letting her go. On the other hand, i faced more GY decks than expected, and never//return is flexible enough card.
Edit: in the board, I added a Lost Legacy replacing the singleton forsake the worldly. Forsake was there in fear of blood sun decks, but i haven't faced any yet, but did face a bunch of approach decks, and stripping them of their approaches is gg)
Good question. There are some turbo aggro decks (the deck formerly known as ramunap red for example, or some vampaire decks out there) that have a sketchy game 1. But this is not because of lack of removal (we have 4 sweepers, 2 of which you can rebuy with gearhulk, and you can also tutor for a fumigate turn 4, and cast the fumigate turn 5). Its mainly because we are light on lifegain and we have some slow cards (like gateway and acquisition). Against less turbo aggro decks (merfolk) you ar epretty even game 1. Games 2 and 3 become closer because of the board. Against a red deck with hazoret and chandra, i sideboard more or less as follows: -3 disallow, -1 fumigate, -2 mastemrind's acquisition, -1 consign, +3 moment of craving, +1 negate, +2 contempt +1 dusk rose.
here is an esper idea for the new set after bans. I've not played any leagues yet, but my games in the tournament practice room of MTGO have been pretty good. Ther idea is simple: 1) leave all your expensive (and narrow) win conditions in the sideboard and grab them with mastermind's acquisition when you are ready to win the game, 2) levy the power of Azor's Gateway to get the mana necessary to play acquisition + your win con in one turn, while leaving counter mana up. Here is the list (the mana base was copied from another esper deck, might need some tweaks for these cards, but i'm too lazy to do it. Plus i've not been having trouble with it so far):
The consign is technically 7 mana (relevant when counting mana costs with azor's gateway).
You might want to go to 3 gateway, or even 4. Drawing mutiples is not as bad (even if it is legendary) because you cn exile the second with the first.
Elenda is a great reanimation target vs any deck that can't exile it. I've been impressed (also, suiciding liliana's tokens grow elenda. When i first read the card i thought is was "non-tken creture" but it's just "creature".)
sometimes you need one more mana cost to flip the gateway, and you don't have it in hand. Don't be afraid to acquisition for the relevant card, once you flip the gateway its almost gg.
Yesterdya I started toying wth doing miracles in modern (given that we get Riverwise Augur), so naturally I came to this thread. Does anyone have an idea of a way to put it in play at instant speed (besides vial, which seems terrible in this deck)? The instant speed in brainstorm was a huge part of its power (the 1cmc being the other, of course).
Also, I like the idea of restoration angel and augur, given that we already play snaps. I wonder what is the optimal combination of Resto-Snaps-Augur. I'd say 3 Augur, 3 snaps, 2 Angels?
Here is my current approach list. Its different than the rest, since I am trying to be a good UW control deck first and foremost, and a good approach deck as a secondary objective. As such, I favor stuff like disallow before supreme will. Here is the list
I just got my second 3-2 in competitive leagues. Lost to GR ramp (which seemed unwinnable), temur black feat the scarab god (twice, twice 2-1, and twice i think i punted. did not seam like a bad matchup but i still lost twice to it) and UR gifts. I obliterated zombies, constrictor decks, red eldrazi, and the mirror. The deck seemed to win by a mile when it wins, and the losses were close, so maybe it's me piloting wrong (if someone wants to play the deck and see how they do be my guest).
For the future, the creatures have been underwhelming, so i might try to improve the % vs ramp and perhaps have something vs the scarab god, that always seems to punish me.
Some tips for the mirror and why I like hour of revelation. 1) In the mirror the key for me was to never cast my suns, make sure I can use my 14 post board counterspells (4 disallow, 3 negate, 4 censor, 1 supreme will, 2 summary dismissal) + the two dispels to counter all their suns. From then on, winning is academic. 2) the 1-of hour has been really good; people don't expect it and cleaning up chandra+creatures or liliana (and her mastery) + zombies has been very useful. Also, vs gifts, it was useful to know that i could tap out and not fear the opponent resolving a gift. It means not playing cast outs, but I'm ok with that. I never was in a situation of thinking "if I only had a cast out", but I have been in situations were I was digging deep hoping to draw the hour.
!! seems weak. 2 mana for a 2/2 is slightly below par, and the scavange cost (2 mana + sac a creature) is pretty high. The only caveat is if the format that !! is inteded for is full of "when a creature dies" effects that you want to abuse; then, the card becomes more interesting (giving you a sac outlet and the counters). But it seems a bit clunky.
Next, this card mught be broken, but it is costed high enough that it might work. Ever since revelation, I love the "XUUC: draw X card, do X of something else" template. Draw cards and gain life is good, but draw cards and kill stuff is better!
Lazav's Superiority XXUUB
instant
Draw X cards, destroy X target creatures and/or planeswalkers.
Also, I've been less and less impressed with harnessed lightning, and more and more impressed by magma spray. If you think about it, there are very few creatures that you want to spend a removal spell on that cannot be removed by magma spray (which besides the exile, it also is one cheaper). Virtuoso is better removed by sweltering suns, glory bringer can easily be countered, scarab god is better off vraska's contempted (or countered), constrictor can be removed with push... there are few creatures where harnessed lightning is the spell you actually want. Anyone else feeling like this? I still play it main deck for its versatility, but i find myself boarding it out very often.
With that said, you might want to board out 3 chupacabras, 3 disallows, 1 consign and 1 contempt. Chupacabra is a 4 mana 1-for-1 trade unless you can make it block (which mono red can prevent it, also mono red can fly over it), but it does combo nicely with scabby, so keeping 1 might be fine. Disallow is similarly bad, but keeping 1 around for ther big threats is ok. Consign and contempt are just not efficient enough: you'll rarely activate the back side of consign and contempt is nice as a life gain spell so maybe it can stay, but 4 mana is too much.
I'd bring in 5x 2 mana removal spells that can remove small creatures, 2 sweepers and 1 negate. Given that you have 2 moment of craving in your mainboard, an anti red SB could include 2x moment of craving, 3x dire fleet poisoner (unfortunately, no other 2 mana removals exists in UB, except walk the plank or die young, but those kind of stink), 2 golden demise (or a 1-1 split with bontu's LR), 1 negate. I don't think this leaves you too far away from your current SB.
What I do for SB is the following: 1) the MD has answers that are inefficient, but general. By "inefficient" I mean that (depending on the matchup) you can find a less mana intensive card that can fulfill the same role. 2) make a list of decks you are gunning for (in this meta I'd say red aggro, merfolk aggro, GBx midrange, UBx control, approach, vehicles, God Pharaoh gift). For each of those decks, plan on boarding out any answer that can be replaced by something cheaper that does the same thing, and board in the efficient answer. 3) You'd probably end up with more than 15 cards, so then try to ask if you can find a card that plays the role of 2 or more others. That is, find a midway pointy between the Main Deck inefficient answer, and the ideal SB super-efficient answer, so as to get a card that might not be the most efficient, but is still more efficient than your main deck card. Word of caution: when doing these steps, keep in mind your opponent's most likely post board configuration. Example: vs fish, I bing in negates and jace's defeat. Their main deck is mostly creatures, but post board they bring in spell pierce and negates, so i take out some disallows for negates//defeats: negate and defeat play the same role (win conunter wars) but cost 1 less. Defeat is also better because Kumena is actually blue, so jace's defeat can actually counter him too.
Example time. In my grixis deck, vs mono red, there are 5 to 7 inefficient answers: 4 disallow, 1 Vcontempt, 1 Vona's hunger 1 Consign. Disallow is inefficient because what am I countering? Creatures? Then I can simply have scatter, or removal. Consign is inefficient because it is card disadvantage unless you plan to use the back side (which you rarely do vs red), and contempt is 4 mana. Yes, it does answer hazoret, but you could counter that with essence scatter or make them sacrifice it with vona's hunger (assuming you can keep the field clean). Hunger is inefficient if you use it without the city's blessing, but it is good vs hozoret, so it is kind of iffy. Step 2: Since most aggro dudes have toughness <=2, and few of them have relevant ETB effects, the most efficient answer to creatures is 1 mana 2 damage removal. Out of the two options (shock or magma spray), spray hits more decks than shock does (the xile is great vs scrounger or god Pharaoh gift decks) so I play magma spray. So I replace my 4 disallow with my 4 sprays. What about contempt and consign? Again, those are geared towards answering creatures. So I replace both of those with 2 mana removal (harnessed lightning in my deck, but I've since moved to moment of craving).
Talking about straight up UR, here is a fun list I put together yesterday. Not competitive beyond FNM probably, but who knows
1 Arch of Orazca
2 sequestered stash
2 flied of ruin
22 other lands
Instants
3 essence scatter
2 negate
2 abrade
4 harnessed lightning
4 disallow
4 glimmer of genius
3 whir of invention
1 pull from tomorrow
2 azor's gateway
3 thaumatic compass
1 dynavolt tower
1 immortal sun
Sorcery
3 secrets of the golden city
2 magma spray
1 silent gravestone
2 negate
1 jace's defeat
1 sorcerous spyglass
2 Nocol-Bolas, God-Pharaoh
1 Locust God
1 Nezehal, primal tide
2 sweltering suns
1 commit
G1 your wincon is literally just the tower, which is weak to abrade. On the plus side, once the compass flips, there are very few things you actually need to counter, so you can just save your counters to protect your towers.
I agree that suns in double red is an issue. But don't underestimate the power of cycling. Also, I think that 3 damage is better than -2/-2 in the current meta. I think whirler virtuoso and hostage taker are a real thing (and fish decks can grow their dudes beyond x/2, but they have more trouble going above x/3).
I don't think it's needed. I didn't include it for three reasons.
1) W/out the scarab god, you have access to 3 great cards that hose it, without compromising your own strategy: the spyglasses and the silent gravestone. For some time I had 1x spyglass in the main (instead of the 3d scatter) to further improve your G1 points. A 5/5 for 5 is not so good vs our 5/6s. Also, spyglass is never truly dead, so its not terrible to include in the main.
2) Also, everyone is starting to load up on vraska's contempts for scabby. VC is great vs scabby but reeeeeealy lackluster vs Hulk.
3) Almost all the deck plays instant speed. I like that
Having said that, old Scabby Doo is a fantastic card, so i doubt it's bad to play 1 or 2 (but i wouldn't play more than that)
Totally. I did not include tetzimoc or cutt//ribbons for 2 reasons. 1) i don't own them and I didnot want to go buy them
Talking about cards i don't own, and scarab gods, I would love to get a Jace's defeat in th board instead of the 3rd negate. Vs UBx control/midrange decks you board it instead of the 3rd scatter. It fulfills the same role (counter hulk and scabby) but if needed can help fight a counterbattle.
two updates:
1)the esper mastermind lists i posted above are super fun to play... at FNM. In more competitive settings they are a bit clunnky and slow.
2) Grixis seems to be the real deal. Here is the list i piloted to a 4-1 record in a league. Its awesome vs midrange and decent vs aggro. Did not play vs control though so i wouldn't know. It is inspired by Shota's winning list from a couple pro tours before: lots of uber cheap removal to trade 1-1, and a card draw engine that has me nearly milling myself every game. Enjoy!
4 aether hub
1 Arch of Orazca
3 canyon slough
1 dragonskull summit
4 drowned catacomb
1 fetid pools
6 island
3 mountain
4 spirebluff canal
Instants
4 fatal push
3 essence scatter
1 negate
2 abrade
2 harnessed lightning
4 disallow
1 vona's hunger
4 glimmer of genius
1 vraska's contempt
1 consign
4 Torrential Gearhulk
Artifacts
2 azor's gateway
Enchantments
2 search for azcanta
Sorceries
1 sweltering suns
4 magma spray
1 silent gravestone
3 negate
2 harnessed lightning
2 sorcerous spyglass
1 lost legacy
1 Nezahal, primal tide
1 Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh
- -2 secrets of the golden city, +2 opt or +2 supreme will, or a +1/+1 split.
- -1 Liliana, Death's majesty, +1 never
The reason for the first change is that secrets was meant to be a way to smooth our draws in the early game, while earning a bit of card advantage and without being bad in the long game. But tapping out turn 3 was frequently more dangerous than desires, so i wanted an instant speed way to smooth draws. I still like secrets very much in the late game, so I kept 1, but i am playing around with opt and supreme will. None of them are too amazing, but they do the job they are meant to do quite well. The reason to take out lily is that i faced decking quite a couple of times. And also accidentally milling your last mastermind's acquisition is a real danger (in general, if decking is an issue, i go grab an approach, but if you mill your last acquisition...) I love the pw and I love the incidental synergies (makes tokens for ascend, can recur hulk, azon, and elanda, can even be a wrath), so until i figure a way to reliably not mill myself, I'm letting her go. On the other hand, i faced more GY decks than expected, and never//return is flexible enough card.Edit: in the board, I added a Lost Legacy replacing the singleton forsake the worldly. Forsake was there in fear of blood sun decks, but i haven't faced any yet, but did face a bunch of approach decks, and stripping them of their approaches is gg)
here is an esper idea for the new set after bans. I've not played any leagues yet, but my games in the tournament practice room of MTGO have been pretty good. Ther idea is simple: 1) leave all your expensive (and narrow) win conditions in the sideboard and grab them with mastermind's acquisition when you are ready to win the game, 2) levy the power of Azor's Gateway to get the mana necessary to play acquisition + your win con in one turn, while leaving counter mana up. Here is the list (the mana base was copied from another esper deck, might need some tweaks for these cards, but i'm too lazy to do it. Plus i've not been having trouble with it so far):
2 aether hub
3 concealed courtyard
4 drowned catacomb
4 fetid pools
2 field of ruin
4 glacial fortress
3 irrigated farmland
1 island
2 plains
1 swamp
Draw Spells (14)
1 search for azcanta
2 azor's gateway
3 secrets of the golden city
3 glimmer of genius
2 Mastermind's acquisition
2 torrential gearhulk
1 pull from tomorrow
2 fatal push
2 baffling end
1 negate
4 censor
4 disallow
1 vona's hunger
2 settle the wreckage
2 fumigate
1 liliana, death's majesty
1 consign
1 silent gravestone
3 negate
3 moment of craving
1 forsake the worldly
1 cast out
2 vraska's contempt
1 elenda, the dusk rose
1 Azor, the lawbringer
1 approach of the second sun
1 Nezahal, primal tide
Some tips and questions:
Also, I like the idea of restoration angel and augur, given that we already play snaps. I wonder what is the optimal combination of Resto-Snaps-Augur. I'd say 3 Augur, 3 snaps, 2 Angels?
1 blighted cataract
1 westvale abbey
4 irrigated farmland
4 port town
4 prairie stream
4 plains
8 island
Sorceries (8)
4 fumigate
1 hour of revelation
1 descend upon the sinful
2 approach of the second sun
3 blessed alliance
4 scatter to the winds
4 censor
1 supreme will
4 disallow
4 glimmer of genius
4 hieroglyphic illumination
2 pull from tomorrow
1 blessed alliance
3 regal caracal
2 dispel
3 negate
2 thing in the ice
2 summary dismissal
2 crook of condemnation
I just got my second 3-2 in competitive leagues. Lost to GR ramp (which seemed unwinnable), temur black feat the scarab god (twice, twice 2-1, and twice i think i punted. did not seam like a bad matchup but i still lost twice to it) and UR gifts. I obliterated zombies, constrictor decks, red eldrazi, and the mirror. The deck seemed to win by a mile when it wins, and the losses were close, so maybe it's me piloting wrong (if someone wants to play the deck and see how they do be my guest).
For the future, the creatures have been underwhelming, so i might try to improve the % vs ramp and perhaps have something vs the scarab god, that always seems to punish me.
Some tips for the mirror and why I like hour of revelation. 1) In the mirror the key for me was to never cast my suns, make sure I can use my 14 post board counterspells (4 disallow, 3 negate, 4 censor, 1 supreme will, 2 summary dismissal) + the two dispels to counter all their suns. From then on, winning is academic. 2) the 1-of hour has been really good; people don't expect it and cleaning up chandra+creatures or liliana (and her mastery) + zombies has been very useful. Also, vs gifts, it was useful to know that i could tap out and not fear the opponent resolving a gift. It means not playing cast outs, but I'm ok with that. I never was in a situation of thinking "if I only had a cast out", but I have been in situations were I was digging deep hoping to draw the hour.
Next, this card mught be broken, but it is costed high enough that it might work. Ever since revelation, I love the "XUUC: draw X card, do X of something else" template. Draw cards and gain life is good, but draw cards and kill stuff is better!
Lazav's Superiority XXUUB
instant
Draw X cards, destroy X target creatures and/or planeswalkers.