MTG Salvation

=\ have we all gone away from our beloved deck?

so kess gives our cards flashback essentially? but it's only on our turn right? not on our opponents turns?

Or what about force of negation? Isn’t that viable for us as well?

I like the idea of dark intimations but for the 2 extra mana I’ll take cruel ultimatum. Gives us that extra card draw, 10 life point swing with them losing 5 and we gain 5 and they discard 3 instead of 1. With Bolas that card seems fun but I think Cruel is the superior version and does exactly what we need it to. The big thing for me is the life point swing. Considering we have 7 turns to pull our card out and drop it means we’ve probably taken some damage already and that’s if we drop it turn 7 and we have the mana. Any later and you’ve taken more damage I’m sure so that life loss/life gain is critical IMHO in turning the tides in our favor.

Against aggro decks, or even in general, what about Wall of Runes? Not something that is AH-MAZE-ZING but I think it might be able to stall us some turns and soak up some damage while we get what we need. Almost like when the deck was standard and I would run calcite snapper, or augur of bolas. Except one had shroud and the other let you dig through 3 cards, but scrying serves its purpose to us. Thoughts?

Cruel ultimatum
————————
Creatures: 5
Snapcaster mage x4
Nicol Bolas, the ravager x1

Planeswalker: 1
Jace, unraveler of secrets

Spells:30
Cryptic command x4
Opt x4
Think twice x4
Terminate x3
Electrolyze x3
Remand x3
Lightning bolt x3
Countersquall x2
Thoughtseize x2
Cruel ultimatum x2

Mana:24
Polluted Delta x4
Creeping tar pit x3
Drowned catacomb x3
Island x3
Watery grave x2
Steam vents x2
Sulfur falls x2
Blood crypt x1
Sunken ruins x1
Dreadship reef x1
Wandering fumarole x1
Swamp x1


This is what my deck currently looks like. The mana base is kind of funky. I haven’t fixed it exactly and I could definitely use some Scalding tarn but it typically works well for me.

It’s still a neat card. Gives me nostalgia when I play it. And the fact that it’s foil is a plus for me lol one of my favorites. But I keep it for late game scenarios where I can Stack mana if they allow me or if I can get a few charges to fix myself for some mid game plays

Sometimes I do, but it’s a favorite card of mine. I enjoy playing with it knowing that I can utilize my unused mana to build a bigger base and to fix some color issues I may come across. I also keep suffer the past in sideboard because it’s also a nice surprise in game 2 or 3.

Lilianas triumph seems pretty solid as an edict. And is instant so that’s always a plus. Kefnet does seem flashy, I would play test him as a one of definitely just to see how he is, it seems interesting to me. Finale of revelation is one I’m actually interested in. I tend to keep my dreadship reef in my deck so stacking the mana isn’t that terrible. And elderspell seems like it would be a huge addition if everyone is going to be running a few planeswalker, gives us the ability to destroy many of them and add counters to ours. Ral would be more viable in my eyes than the Jace, wielder of secrets. But like you said they’re cool and flashy. Don’t know how legitimate they would be until I can test but seem fun enough to try out. I like that we have options now with many of these cards from the set assisting us.

I’m mixed between tyrants scorn because I use countersquall so my mana curve would be hard as hell. But again, options. These cards let us tweak and format a solid deck to utilize.

So what do we think about war of the spark? Any beneficial cards for us? There’s some already that seem to have my interest such as nicol bolas; God-eternal kefnet; finale of revelation; the elderspell; Ral, storm conduit; Jace, wielder of mysteries. They seem fun to try out.

How have Bedevil been for you and Ral, Izzet Viceroy? They seem fun and functional.

I've been playing the deck for some time now and have recently been tweaking it. I don't play too serious, more casual, but from time to time I go to my local shop and interact. This is my current list that I'm working with, while still looking for some final pieces to add (such as Damnation and scalding tarn.)




My sideboard is not well put together at all. It's kind of the excess cards that I have removed over the course of time and just thrown in there with the exception being Suffer the past. Since I first opened that card I've loved it as a surprise/unorthodox finisher. As far as mainboard, 24 mana isn't too rough for me but I am not crazy about thoughtseize. I would much rather have some sort of counter in there whether it be Overwhelming Denial or Condescend which is another favorite of mine. With the amount of instant draw we have now I don't think Overwhelming Denial would be so bad as a 1 or 2 of since we can hit that surge pretty easily. I see people using logic knot but I prefer Condescend. Pulling it mid to late game with a stacked up dreadship reef makes it worthwhile, but even if that's not the case, you still get to scry without sacrificing our graveyard. But that's just my preference.

My mana base is a little shaky as well. I'm missing Scalding Tarn and that's solely because of budget restraints. I've never been too big of a fan of Wandering Fumarole/Lavaclaw reaches but I don't know what I would put in their place(s).

All in all I have a ton of fun playing the deck and it doesn't do too bad for the most part. My brother in law has a R/G Tron deck and Jund deck that I play against regularly and I don't do poorly. Game 1 is always rough but games 2 and 3 I can normally pull off the upset.
Any critiques/suggestions are much appreciated. I'd love to remove the thoughtseize if at all optimal and maybe even add 1 more spell/creature and another mana, or even 2 mana to bump me up to 26. I'm just not crazy about the card, even in the early game and especially not late. Just doesn't fit my style I suppose.

Edit: I just realized that I have Kolaghan's Command that I can put in place of the 2 thoughtseize but I'm not sure how that will make my curve go/affect my mana base, but it is an option now that I have Nicol Bolas.

I still run 2 gearhulk in my main. It's come in clutch for me at times late in the game where i had more mana open to cast other spells from my hand and grab a cryptic from the graveyard or something else, but i may end up swapping them out for some other cards that I have coming in (which is Hieroglyphic Illumination, Opt, and think twice). I like the draw-go aspect of the deck but my deck was severely lacking the draw part so i have those coming in and I'll be tweaking my deck once they come in. I would love to swap out the gearhulks for a nicol bolas, the ravager but haven't come across one yet that I can trade for but hopefully soon.

Are we also still reliant on a board sweeper such as damnation or not so much anymore? I'm sure it's still good to have around but do we actually need it?

So is torrential gearhulk not viable in our deck(s) anymore?
Edit: Also what about Hieroglyphic Illumination? maybe as a 2 of, if not we run the full set for the cycling makes it ideal it seems for us. 1 mana for a draw spell that fits into our kit.