You can't FoN a boggles and that's not good.
Jokes aside, I'm putting it in side atm. It will come in for extra fast combo and maybe tron and scapeshift replacing leaks for late game. Stubborn and pierces are stronger maindeck imho and those are the slot to compare. Shoal is different since it can hit everything. I like shoaling a goyf.
The other option could be trying to hit creatures with prohibit, so you may want a couple (or more) of FoN main. But then you'd give up on shielding your creatures on your turn.
For our deck I see our current main configuration the one which covers more options, but we'll see.
I don't know about prohibit. 4 mana is a lot to have open. And half of the time it is tempo negative, countering a lesser cmc spell. You can't for example almost ever counter a liliana on turn 3.
It may be good, but I'm not completely sold. I still prefer leak now.
Well just wrapped up a weekend of magic playing delver and had positive results. Nothing stunning, but definitely nothing bad either. Played in three 3-round tournaments a day, Fri-Sun, and landed about 10-6 not counting any draws for prizes. Took home a couple booster boxes in prizes. I’d call UG a real deck.
Nice results! Congratulations!
(P.S. you should have a pm. If you don't, tell me so that I try to send it again ).
I assumed Remand was the go-to spell in any tempo/protect the queen oriented deck?
What happened for Remand to become out of favour?
The other problem is that you need a way to get permanently rid of some threats (especially creatures) since you don't have good removal in these colors. Hence leak is superior to remand. Remand is good when you have combo to close the game immediately.
Would 2 Narset, Parter of Veils and 2 Day's Undoing be playable in our deck? Maybe as a sideboard tech against grindy match ups? Too slow/clunky? In some configurations those cards can be playable even without the other maybe. I may give them a try.
What do you think?
I tried the Tempo strategy and somehow I still think that Delver is too weak for Modern. You can not make it flip like in Legacy and there are better Plays on turn 1.. for example playing Serum Visions or spell piercing/denialing an Expedition Map or Aether Vial or Thoughtseize or waiting if nothing happens casting Thought Scour end of turn..
maybe it's better to make them lose their turn 1 play and start playing the beaters like Tarmogoyf turn 2 and playing some Nimble Obstructionist.. I think this is better than playing a 1/1 and praying that it flips next turn..
You may do it, but then you're much weaker to tron and other combo deck. The other issue is the play pattern. While I love playing tempo, it's very difficult for me to adapt my play style to a control deck for example. Delver is the card that makes this particular type of play possible. And against some deck you can just hold it in your hand if needed. Shoal is another component that pushes towards a turn 1 play.
It's a matter of play style more than power. We all here know that we are playing a deck that's one or two steps away from being top at the moment. We are a couple of card away from being a tier-worth deck and that's not a small issue since other decks (even tiers) keep getting great cards at a much faster rate than us. We'd need general answer, but wizards is printing cards that rewards synergies and that's not very good for us. For this reason I'm keeping my finger crossed for Horizons since it may be the only way we can get what we need (11 days and we should start knowing more...).
Running bad, narrow cards to fight a horrible, high-variance deck that you might never even see is just asking to feel bad playing Modern.
I think Kathal was referring to Conley Wood's narset control deck naming shoal an commandeer. That decks is such a blast and just wrecks neoform! It seems pretty good against the field too.
About goldfished pre turn 4 wins: it's quite impressive so far. Curious to know the difference on the draw (should even increase thanks to the card drawn).
You may reveal the card: so if it's either a creature or a counterspell or a land you can keep it secrets and nothing happens.
If you reveal you get to copy the spell and cast the copy (with a mana discount), keeping the original draw. So it's an actual card advantage (with a cantrip it's as you draw 2 cards the cantrip and the one from the copied cantrip; with a burn spell you can cast one more: being able to reach 6 damage with a single bolt may be huge)
Turn four rule is applayed if some cards enable a top tier deck to consistently win on turn 3 or earlier. Until any deck isn't in a top tier status, nothing will happen. Now, back on Allosaurus deck. I watched it fold to discards. It's far from unbeatable even if it is definetly annoying.
Brew time with the deck.
After playing with Domri, Anarch of Bolas at the pre release, I found him so strong I wanted to give him a chance in Countercats. We have a decent number of creatures and he helps a lot with the aggro plan thanks to the buffing static ability. It helps developing our board giving us mana and can be a repeatable removal. He also hates out random counterspells for our threats.
I played a few matches and he feels quite strong. I'll surely keep him for now.
Post side I'm trying God-Eternal Kefnet (still have to cast it) and a Return to Nature. Domri in this case helps reaching 4 mana for payoff spells.
I played with pteramander. The problem is that it's terribly slow. It doesn't grow until turn 4 on average. So all in all mandrills are faster. And it's graveyard dependant as our other threats (except for pyromancer for people who play it).
I wasn't satisfied and got back to mandrills quickly.
I forgot you were on 16 lands. That changes a bit my considerations. 2 snaps are unaffordable with so few lands (but keep thinking on tarfire ).
Will you play another land in side? I think you'll need some 4 CMC card such as Hazoret or Huntmaster for midrnage match-ups and with 16 lands they are uncastable (it's sometimes difficult with 18 in countercats).
I'm not sold on the Tarfire/Flameslash idea yet. I think I'm propbably pushing my non-blue cards enough. With the 4 Vapor Snag and 4 Lightning Bolt, I think it'll be good enough to start testing.
Next, we gotta deal with the loss of the blue 2cmc wizard, and I dig the chart a course Idea. So -2 Sleight of Hand, and +2 Chart a Course.
AAAAAAND adopting the kind land base suggestion from @Mikefon with a few personal tweaks...
If you want to play Blood Moon post side (and you definetly should since it's one of the main reason to switch to Temur) I think you need 3 islands. Then I'd play 1-2 snapcaster over 1-2 bauble. 4 are definetly too many I think. You should try tarfire. You'll never leave it at home any more if you do.
I'd rather play a tarfire over a bauble. It grows goyf and flips delver and it's a removal.
Overall id cut 2 baubles and izzet for tarfire and 2 mandrills. Then I'd like to have an echoing truth over a snag, but that's me. Another 2 drop I love is chart a course.
Jokes aside, I'm putting it in side atm. It will come in for extra fast combo and maybe tron and scapeshift replacing leaks for late game. Stubborn and pierces are stronger maindeck imho and those are the slot to compare. Shoal is different since it can hit everything. I like shoaling a goyf.
The other option could be trying to hit creatures with prohibit, so you may want a couple (or more) of FoN main. But then you'd give up on shielding your creatures on your turn.
For our deck I see our current main configuration the one which covers more options, but we'll see.
It may be good, but I'm not completely sold. I still prefer leak now.
Nice results! Congratulations!
(P.S. you should have a pm. If you don't, tell me so that I try to send it again ).
The other problem is that you need a way to get permanently rid of some threats (especially creatures) since you don't have good removal in these colors. Hence leak is superior to remand. Remand is good when you have combo to close the game immediately.
What do you think?
You may do it, but then you're much weaker to tron and other combo deck. The other issue is the play pattern. While I love playing tempo, it's very difficult for me to adapt my play style to a control deck for example. Delver is the card that makes this particular type of play possible. And against some deck you can just hold it in your hand if needed. Shoal is another component that pushes towards a turn 1 play.
It's a matter of play style more than power. We all here know that we are playing a deck that's one or two steps away from being top at the moment. We are a couple of card away from being a tier-worth deck and that's not a small issue since other decks (even tiers) keep getting great cards at a much faster rate than us. We'd need general answer, but wizards is printing cards that rewards synergies and that's not very good for us. For this reason I'm keeping my finger crossed for Horizons since it may be the only way we can get what we need (11 days and we should start knowing more...).
I think Kathal was referring to Conley Wood's narset control deck naming shoal an commandeer. That decks is such a blast and just wrecks neoform! It seems pretty good against the field too.
About goldfished pre turn 4 wins: it's quite impressive so far. Curious to know the difference on the draw (should even increase thanks to the card drawn).
If you reveal you get to copy the spell and cast the copy (with a mana discount), keeping the original draw. So it's an actual card advantage (with a cantrip it's as you draw 2 cards the cantrip and the one from the copied cantrip; with a burn spell you can cast one more: being able to reach 6 damage with a single bolt may be huge)
Note that she would get tucked even if pathed.
After playing with Domri, Anarch of Bolas at the pre release, I found him so strong I wanted to give him a chance in Countercats. We have a decent number of creatures and he helps a lot with the aggro plan thanks to the buffing static ability. It helps developing our board giving us mana and can be a repeatable removal. He also hates out random counterspells for our threats.
I played a few matches and he feels quite strong. I'll surely keep him for now.
Post side I'm trying God-Eternal Kefnet (still have to cast it) and a Return to Nature. Domri in this case helps reaching 4 mana for payoff spells.
Here's the current list:
4 Wild Nacatl
4 Tarmogoyf
3 Hooting Mandrills
2 Domri, Anarch of Bolas
3 Spell Pierce
1 Spell Snare
2 Mana Leak
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Path to Exile
2 Blossoming Defense
4 Serum Visions
2 Thought Scour
1 Opt
1 Sleight of Hand
1 Chart a Course
3 Scalding Tarn
2 Wooded Foothills
2 Flooded Strand
1 Temple Garden
1 Steam Vents
1 Stomping Ground
1 Breeding Pool
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Island
1 Forest
2 Damping Sphere
1 Pithing Needle
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Huntmaster of the Fells
1 Hazoret the Fervent
1 God-Eternal Kefnet
1 Engineered Explosives
2 Pyroclasm
1 Negate
1 Ancient Grudge
1 Return to Nature
I wasn't satisfied and got back to mandrills quickly.
Will you play another land in side? I think you'll need some 4 CMC card such as Hazoret or Huntmaster for midrnage match-ups and with 16 lands they are uncastable (it's sometimes difficult with 18 in countercats).
If you want to play Blood Moon post side (and you definetly should since it's one of the main reason to switch to Temur) I think you need 3 islands. Then I'd play 1-2 snapcaster over 1-2 bauble. 4 are definetly too many I think. You should try tarfire. You'll never leave it at home any more if you do.
Overall id cut 2 baubles and izzet for tarfire and 2 mandrills. Then I'd like to have an echoing truth over a snag, but that's me. Another 2 drop I love is chart a course.