Teneb opens with Birds of Paradise, Rafiq with Llanowar Elves, Ur Dragon merely plays a land, but I get lucky with Mox and Lightning Greaves. In turn two, however, my greaves and the Mox get Naturalized in quick succession. Ur-Dragon is busy ramping up with Farseek. Rafiq plays Swiftfoot boots of his own... but they also get destroyed. By turn five I get my third land down and play Lightform (manifested Azorius Guildmage). Rafiq has played an infect creature. Scion of the Ur Dragon finally gets that red mana it needed and plays his commander. Teneb just Damns the board (Ur-Dragon activates and becomes a Kokusho), then entombs a Sheldred, Whispering one. Rafiq himself comes down to the table followed by a grafted exoskeleton... I get my Mother of runes on the table. Ur Dragon comes back again, as does a reanimated Sheoldred... But I Plowshares that plan. Without a creature to block, an equiped rafiq deals about 14 poison counters to Teneb. I get Eldrazi Displacer and Rogue Whirler into play. Rafiq gets a Mother of Runes of her own into play. Meanwhile, Ur Dragon has been activating each turn to become several dragons: Hellkite Charger, Dragonlord Kolaghan and a dragon Tyrant. He then tries to cast Living Death. But I counter that idea. Ur Dragon attacks me becoming a Moltensteel dragon, but I just flicker him with the Displacer. I finally get Brago into the game, Armageddon all lands. Rafiq gets protected from red and hits Ur-dragon for a mere 12 poison counters. I hit with my cretures... Rafiq manages a corrosive gale of 4, I protect Brago from green (thanks mom), but he kills my tokens. He attacks with Rafiq, I flicker him with displacer, he protects it from white and I point out that Eldrazi Displacer is actually colorless... he scoops.
Sounds like there could be some additional optimization for the Teferi deck, but I digress.
To be fair, that's how I feel about every single one of my decks... There's always room to tinker and improve on it.
Do you feel like you have enough counterspells in your deck? It seems light in my opinion, but if you haven't been needing it I think your list looks just fine.
Well, I don't need to counter every threat that comes my way, since most of the time I can get by through board sweeps, spot removal or recursion. Rather I save my counters for protecting key assets on my board. On the other hand, my deck does have problems against dedicated, counter-heavy commanders or those with a land destruction focus (In my experience, they also go after mana rocks as well).
Opponent opens with an Altar of the Brood followed next turn by an Hedron Crab. I open with Mother of Runes, Azorius Guildmage. On turn 3 I catch my opponent off guard when he taps out to draw cards with Counsel of the Soratami and I play Cutpurse. He taps out again to play a mana rock and I sneak in Augustin. Augustin gets Lightning bolted, then Terminated... Poor guy gets all the hate. Next turn, I manage to get a hasty Brago (thanks to hall of the bandit lord)and a Wall of Omens, forcing him to sac another land to the cutpurse. He infests my dudes, but the wall and brago live on. I try to cast a land-wiping Catastrophe, but get Arcane Denied... and then Traumatized. I play the Karmic Guide graciously given to me by the Arcane Denial, bringing back Reveillark, flicker them with Brago, bringing Sun Titan, Archaeomancer and Augustin ... Archaeomancer gives me Time Warp (which gets countered) and Titan brought back Flickerwisp, which lets me draw an end of turn Counterspell through the wall. I counter the Damnation and proceed to smash face and go infinite turns via Archaemancer + Time Warp.
As a fellow Teferi player, this game report intrigues me. Was the Teferi list fully optimized? I really like the Stax package that you have and the ability to tap into some excellent Hate-Bears (Aven Mindcensor being the best of course) is even better. What would you say gave you the advantage for the second game you won?
I think that was due to lack of card-drawers or card selecting on my opponent's part. He usually is pretty handy with cards like brainstorm, serum visions or preordain to fix his draws, but I think he only drew a Telling Time this game. Which means that when I baited his counters away he didn't have anything left for the cloudform->titan->cloudform->Archeomancer chain at the end... So, bad luck, I guess?
I've played a couple more games against him and it's a tough match. He's not running any creatures except a Consecrated Sphinx and a Clever Impersonator as far as I can tell, so a good number of my draws are dead. He's playing a decent mana rock selection, including Sol Ring, Mana Vault, Chalice, Thran Dynamo and a few others. I've seen him play Snap, Capsize, cyclonic rift. He has Tezzeret, Ugin and Tamiyo in his bag of tricks. Vedalken Shackles, Bribery, and Treachery are also in his deck. He's card drawing suite is fine but missing a Top. He could use some fine-tuning, (a Snapcaster Mage, for example), but overall, it's a good deck.
Lost the first match due to Teferi's stronger counterspell suite. While a managed to get a few early beats, I promptly lost control when I fought & lost against a cyclonic Rift, followed by Teferi and winter orb. He then bribed my Frost Titan and proceded to smash my face. Still couldn't through the counter barrier as I tried to Exile, Plowshares and Dispatch the thing (once per turn)
Won the second one thanks to baiting him with Brago, getting Eldrazi Displacer through to the board with Sol Ring and Darksteel citadel on the board. The next turn, baited again with a 'geddon to sneak a cloudform into play (manifesting a Sun Titan)... Flickered the manifested titan, who brought back the Cloudform (manifested Archaeomancer). Archaemancer got the geddon back, and wiped the lands to win the game.
Game 1
I start with Signet and Talisman against my opponent's Llanowar Elf, Farseek & Cultivate. He plays a Spike Tiller, which I Exile. I evoke my Mulldrifter and draw into Reveillark and Tezzeret the seeker. He plays Arcanis the Omnipotent next turn and I draw into Frost Titan, which I use to lock the Arcanis. He bounces the titan and plays Heroes' Bane. I play Mana Vaulta, which I use to get Tezzeret into play, untap it with his +1 and recast the Titan locking down Arcanis again. He plays Boots and Vorel, doubles the counters on his Hydra swings at my walker, but Reveillark chumps bringing back Mulldrifter, getting me Enlightened Tutor, which gets me a Strionic Resonator. On my turn, Tezzeret gets me Greaves of my own, cast Brago and barely have enough mana to go infinite with Mana Vault, Resonator and use the Titan to lock my opponent out for the rest of the game.
Game 2
I mulligan down to a slow hand with 3 lands, Venser, Shaper Savant, a Wall of Omens and a Treachery. My opponent opens with Sol Ring and a Simic Signet. I... play a land. he drops another land and kills my land via Bramblecrush. I... play a land. He kills it again via Acidic Slime. Next turn I play... a land. He entwines Reap and Sow I draw into another land, and he plays Deep Analysis, Flashbacks it and calls it a turn. I've got nothing. He gets an Oran-Rief Hydra on the board and I scoop.
Game 3
My opponent brings in a turn 2 Spike Rogue via Birds of Paradise. I just get going with a Turn 1 Sol Ring and a turn 2 Brago. Next turn, he gets Vorel and a Spike Drone into play. I've not got much going on, so I Cyclonic Rift my oponent's Vorel back to his hand, flicker the sol ring and play Archaeomancer to get the rift back. He gets the Vorel Back, a Glen Elendra Archmage. I get a Wall of Omens into play, plus bounce the Archmage. Get the Rift back again and draw into Time Warp, thus locking my oppoent out. He concedes.
Game 4
First game has my opponent start with nasty dedicated mana destruction: a Sinkhole and then a Rancid Earth. I try to keep up with Mana rocks, but I'm too far behind. He plays Zurgo and swings, I kill it with a Plowshares but he's got enough mana to recast it by now. I draw into Winter Orb, which he Disenchants. He gets some support into play with a Grave Titan and a Lethal Vapors which completely wrecks my flickering gameplan!... I luck and draw into Supreme Verdict... but he recasts Zurgo a third time. Swings and eventually wins through commander damage.
Game 5
Opponent opens with some Mana Rocks, and so do I. I manage a turn 3 Act of Authority to get his sol ring, and he Disenchants my enchantment. I get a small army going with Wall of Omens, Cloudform and Mother of Runes. He gets his Zurgo into play and swings, I decide to block with the wall. Next turn I get Brago and greaves on the board, flicker my artifacts, flicker the manifested creature into a Sun Titan, which gets me wall back and I draw into 'geddon. Next turn he tries getting back in the game with a land plus mana vault, swings again, gets blocked by the wall again "Aren't you going to protect the wall with Mother of Runes?" "Nope" he scoops.
Game 6
I play a turn one Seat of Synod and Mana vault, that allows me to get a turn two Tezzeret the seeker to tutor for greaves. My oppoent Lightning Helixes my walker. Meanwhile, my opponent has been ramping up on his own, via artifacts, allowing him to play a turn 3 overloaded vandalblast, which sends me back to the stone age. I still manage to get back by getting my fourth land into play followed by a Sanctum Gargoyle. He gets Zurgo on the field and the Gargoyle chumps him. I get the Vault back into play, put an Icefall Regent in to lock Zurgo, but my opponent Terminates that idea. During his turn he gets a Bogardan Hellkite on and swings. I draw a couple of non-flying chump blockers that don't help and die.
Game 7
Oponent starts with a Despise, but gets nothing out of it. I play Sol Ring and Mind Stone on turn 1, draw into Sea Gate Oracle and play that turn two, netting me Venser the Sojourner. My oponent makes me discard again with a Mind Rot, but I hold on to the Walker and an Enlightened tutor, which I use to look for Reality Acid. I play Venser and my oppoent puts his commander into play. During my turn I get the acid onto his creature, flicker it with venser and reatach to his black mana sources. I draw into Greaves, allowing me to play the boots and then Brago, attach and swing, killing his land, then following with Venser to kill another black mana source. My opponent decides to tough it out, even as I ultimate Venser, Use Brago, a newly flickered Venser and a spell to kill all his lands, then his few elves.
Game 8
Opponent opens the game with Dark Ritual and Phyrexian Arena, while I get a turn two mana rock, followed by Clever Impersonatoring the Arena on turn three. My opponent starts getting some targeted discard going, but the Arena helps me stay afloat. My opponent gets Nath into play with some elves, and I respond with a Lightform plus Brago. I discard Frost Titan to Nath, holding on to my Enlightened Tutor... when my opponent Mind Shatters me, I have to cast it, looking for Strionic Resonator. I get that into play next turn, and proceed to go infinite mana with mana rocks + Resonator... and my manifested creature that turns out to be Blue Sun's Zenith goes to the graveyard. I eventually manifest Mnemonic Wall getting me the Zenith back and force my opponent to draw a thousand and one cards.
Game 9
First game has me mulliganing down to five cards. My opponent gets some early game ramping via Birds, then Farseek, then Kodama's Reach. I'm trying to keep up with a single Talisman, and then I copy the Talisman with Phyrexian Metamorph. He casts the Wanderer into Bane of Bala Ged and Concentrate. I try to kill the Eldrazi, but that gets Meddled to the Birds of Paradise. After he swings with Wanderer and the Bane I'm so far behind I can't even see where I'm going.
Game 10
Second game gets me to start early with Sol Ring and Mana Vault both in my hand. I get an early Consecrated Sphinx, which manages to net me two cards before getting bounced. I put Brago in turn three, but my oponent gets an explosive Vegetation and ramps into six cards. I play Static Orb, but my opponent untaps two lands, gets another one into play and Krosan Grips it. I untap get the Sphinx back into the game again, and my opponent gets his Wanderer active. He lucks into Avenger of Zendikar for 8 plants and wood elves.He swings, I kill a few tokens, but don't manage to get anything to deal with the horde of growing plants.
Played a pod against Nekusar, the mindrazer, Grand Arbiter Augustin IV[/card] and Momir Vig, Simic Visionary. I keep a hand with 2 hands and a pair of mana rocks. Nekusar opens with a Chrome Mox, Augustin with a sol ring. I try to play a sol ring of my own, but that gets countered by Nekusar. Momir vig ramps with birds. When my second turn comes around I manage to play my signet, but Augustin Disenchants it. I miss my third land drop, so I try to remain insconpicous while Momir vig and Nekusar start amasing an army. Nekusar forces me to discard a couple of cards, and chose to drop Strionic Resonator, reasoning that I can always get it back via Sanctum Gargoyle... But Augustin torpedoes that plan via Rest in Peace... follows that by a web of inertia, ensuring we can't attack him.
Momir Vig starts getting a reasonable army going, but Nekusar Damns them, and I luck out into a Winter Orb to keep board clear long enough for me to get back in the game. I draw into Mana Vault, then some Islands and I finally get Sea Gate Oracle to give me my second blue mana source: a Seat of Synod, play Tezzereth the seeker, untap my artifacts and play Brago. Momir puts a Maze of Ith into play, but I get Lightning Greaves from the walker to keep my creature safe. I start blinking stuff, draw into Armaggedon, which I play, then search for Ancient Den... Then a Talisman of Progress. When I reveal Reality Acid, the table scoops.
Many changes due to new play group. Infinite combos back in the deck (Strionic Resonator shenanigans, Time Warp recursion). Giving a Counterless version & Manifest a try. Upping landcount to 37 to account for the updated mulligan rules from earlier this year.
I kept a nice initial hand with 3 lands, Mana Vault, Tangle Wire and a Signet. Nyelea opened with a Birds of Paradise, Hokori played a Mother of Runes, the other Brago player started with a Mana Crypt. Teysa played innocent blood and I put the Mana Vault into play. Next turn had a Mana Rock from Hokori, Nylea and Teysa and Bragos from my opponent and myself. Turn three saw... Eight-and-a-half-Tails from hokori, Nylea ramped with Farseek, Other Brago got a lightform into play, manifested and promptly flickered for Counterbalance and another manifested thing. I flickered my vault and put Tangle wire and my signet into play. Hokori tried dusting Tanglewire and Mana Crypt but that got counterbalanced, Nyelea tried to Naturalize the wire as well (Negated!). Teysa got a Necropotence into play, Hokori tried to Erase it, but with Imp's Mischief, ended erasing Counterbalance instead. Other Hokori flickered / manifested some big dudes again... but I Path to Exiled it. Drew into Pentarch Ward, then Armageddon and then a Reality Acid.
By the time my next turn came around, I played the acid in the necropotence, eliminated the other brago and started going after artifacts with the acid, my opponents scooped.
Game two vs same pod...
I had a slow start with 4 lands and no mana rocks. Hokori got a Land Tax into play, Nylea a Sol Ring, Teysa got a Soul Warden and other Brago (who discarded to five) got a Sol Ring and mana vault into play. I just played my land. Hokori got a turn 2 rock, Nyelea Explosive Vegetation, Teysa got a Bloodghast into play. Other Brago played a second plains and a Sun Titan. I plowshared it... just because. I played... another land. Hokori gets the old Tax & Rack combo early, but Nylea kills the scroll rack via Acidic Slime. Teysa attacks me, clamps the 'ghast and brings it back and clamps it again! Other Brago does nothing... and I play another land plus my newly drawn Talisman. Hokori plays aura of silence and kills the clamp, but Teysa gets a Liliana of the Dark Realms into play. I get Augustin followed by a cheap Brago (even if I have nothing worth flickering), but Brago gets Exiled. Augustin gets plowshared. Nylea gets a Soul of the Harvest into play, but gets murdered by Teysa... who plays a Sun Titan in his turn, bringing back the clamp and proceeds to beat on me.
I Wrath the table, but Teysa Reanimates sun titan... by now Nylea is also putting some prettybig monsters into play so it's Hokori's turn to wrath. I finally start drawing some people (Mulldrifter and Reveillark) but by then it's too late. Liliana ultimates, puts a ton of tokens into play via Decree of Justice, then pumps them via Sorin, Lord of Innistrad and I pretty much die.
The most interesting part for me was watching the other Brago in action, who actually had very few Instants or Sorceries (Plowshares, Return to Dust, Wrath, Geddon that I saw) in order to maximize his manifesting gameplan with Mastery of the unseen, Cloudform and Lightform
Melek died, and since both Tajic and Geist were looking funny at me, I decided to Mutilate the battlefield. With about 15 cards left in my deck, I draw into Dark Petition for a Necropotence. While I try to survive with a Guildmage and Eternal Dragon in hand, Geist is rebuilding her air force with Lyev Skyknight, Serra Avenger and Ascended Lawmage (come to think of it, I haven't seen a non-flying creature in the deck other than Geist himself). I risk drawing 5 new cards with Necropotence and get Sheoldred among them. Mirko Mind Funerals the rest of my deck and then offers a Deep Analysis to outright kill me. Mirko dies to Geist's Airforce easily... But then Tajic Obliterates the table, leaving only his indestructible commander in play and wins the game.
Mezzek starts more aggressively with a Sol Ring and a Signet. Mirko gets an Ambassador Laquatus into play... which I exile. Tajic kills Geist's Mana Vault and Artifact-Land, then destroys an Azorious Chancery pretty much mana screwing her out of the game for a long while. But then I try to get a Phyrexian Arena into play, which gets Hindered... followed by a Tunnel Vision and I'm dead The game was eventually won by Mezzek who managed to out-draw, out-bounce and out-counter the others thanks to various copy spell effects.
What level of competitiveness would you say this list is at? I've loved Brago since he was released and I've been considering putting a list for him together. I try to make my decks with the 75% philosophy in mind where they are strong and can compete, but are not awful to play against. Would you say this list meets that ideal?
Not sure how to answer this... the deck often does what I wanted it to do, it locks down lands with Winter Orb & Tangle Wire while using Brago to abuse CIP effects, and I usually win by attrition this way, bringing stuff back to reuse. How fun is it for others? Hard to judge, as my local playgroup may be more tolerant to this types of strategies. It took a while for us to house rule Infinite combos away.
Marchesa and Vorel get an early start with Sol Ring plus a Signet in their colors. Oloro counters a Sylvan Caryatid from Jenara and I manage to sneak in Rhystic Study and later a Propaganda, which makes other players ignore me, but the Marchesa player start targeting me as I have higher life A Wrath does pretty much nothing against Marchesa and her cronies and her Unspeakable Symbol. My Act of Authority finally allows me to start fighting back, and with the onlyflyers on the Battlefield at the moment I risk a 'geddon and flicker Act of Authority twice to take care of mana rocks. While I eventually drop an Icefall Regent and manage to kill both Marchesa and Jenara... Oloro Wrathes and Murders my critters while Vorel gets a Fathom Mage going that starts to grow to ridiculous sizes... eventually killing me. This was a fun game.
Game two versus the same pod Saw me getting an early Sol Ring and Talisman of Progress for a turn 2 Brago with counterbackup. I then drop Wall of Omens and Mastery of the Unseen and start amassing an army of manifested morphs, one of which is a Mnemonic Wall, bringing back my Counters. Just before I kill Marchesa, she exiles my graveyard out of spite!. Meanwhile, Vorel and Jenara have been taking turns beating Oloro, so I try some politics by taking a big Jenara with Treachery and untapping some of his lands. Between us, we manage to take down Vorel. Oloro doublecrosses me with a Magister Sphinx. I respond by locking the lands with Winter Orb, Tangle wire and Ghostly Prison and switching my treachery to the sphinx. This slows down the game enough to kill Jenara, and then Oloro.
Teneb opens with Birds of Paradise, Rafiq with Llanowar Elves, Ur Dragon merely plays a land, but I get lucky with Mox and Lightning Greaves. In turn two, however, my greaves and the Mox get Naturalized in quick succession. Ur-Dragon is busy ramping up with Farseek. Rafiq plays Swiftfoot boots of his own... but they also get destroyed. By turn five I get my third land down and play Lightform (manifested Azorius Guildmage). Rafiq has played an infect creature. Scion of the Ur Dragon finally gets that red mana it needed and plays his commander. Teneb just Damns the board (Ur-Dragon activates and becomes a Kokusho), then entombs a Sheldred, Whispering one. Rafiq himself comes down to the table followed by a grafted exoskeleton... I get my Mother of runes on the table. Ur Dragon comes back again, as does a reanimated Sheoldred... But I Plowshares that plan. Without a creature to block, an equiped rafiq deals about 14 poison counters to Teneb. I get Eldrazi Displacer and Rogue Whirler into play. Rafiq gets a Mother of Runes of her own into play. Meanwhile, Ur Dragon has been activating each turn to become several dragons: Hellkite Charger, Dragonlord Kolaghan and a dragon Tyrant. He then tries to cast Living Death. But I counter that idea. Ur Dragon attacks me becoming a Moltensteel dragon, but I just flicker him with the Displacer. I finally get Brago into the game, Armageddon all lands. Rafiq gets protected from red and hits Ur-dragon for a mere 12 poison counters. I hit with my cretures... Rafiq manages a corrosive gale of 4, I protect Brago from green (thanks mom), but he kills my tokens. He attacks with Rafiq, I flicker him with displacer, he protects it from white and I point out that Eldrazi Displacer is actually colorless... he scoops.
To be fair, that's how I feel about every single one of my decks... There's always room to tinker and improve on it.
Well, I don't need to counter every threat that comes my way, since most of the time I can get by through board sweeps, spot removal or recursion. Rather I save my counters for protecting key assets on my board. On the other hand, my deck does have problems against dedicated, counter-heavy commanders or those with a land destruction focus (In my experience, they also go after mana rocks as well).
Opponent opens with an Altar of the Brood followed next turn by an Hedron Crab. I open with Mother of Runes, Azorius Guildmage. On turn 3 I catch my opponent off guard when he taps out to draw cards with Counsel of the Soratami and I play Cutpurse. He taps out again to play a mana rock and I sneak in Augustin. Augustin gets Lightning bolted, then Terminated... Poor guy gets all the hate. Next turn, I manage to get a hasty Brago (thanks to hall of the bandit lord)and a Wall of Omens, forcing him to sac another land to the cutpurse. He infests my dudes, but the wall and brago live on. I try to cast a land-wiping Catastrophe, but get Arcane Denied... and then Traumatized. I play the Karmic Guide graciously given to me by the Arcane Denial, bringing back Reveillark, flicker them with Brago, bringing Sun Titan, Archaeomancer and Augustin ... Archaeomancer gives me Time Warp (which gets countered) and Titan brought back Flickerwisp, which lets me draw an end of turn Counterspell through the wall. I counter the Damnation and proceed to smash face and go infinite turns via Archaemancer + Time Warp.
Opponent opens with Sol Ring + Howling Mine. I open to Sol Ring + Talisman of progress + Top... which was pretty good for the match. he gets a Jace's Erasure, and follows by drawing a card via Serum Visions... but I save the Act of Authority at the top of my deck with the Top. I get the Act into play, killing the Erasure. I counter a Traumatize, but get Brain Freezed for nine cards. I manage to get Lightform and Brago into play, with a negate for backup. I negate a Mutilate and the manifested card turns out to be Cloudrazer. Draw into Winter Orb and Muddle the Mixture and the new Manifested critter is actually Lavinia of the Tenth. But after locking down the lands, countering a Dreadbore It's all over.
I think that was due to lack of card-drawers or card selecting on my opponent's part. He usually is pretty handy with cards like brainstorm, serum visions or preordain to fix his draws, but I think he only drew a Telling Time this game. Which means that when I baited his counters away he didn't have anything left for the cloudform->titan->cloudform->Archeomancer chain at the end... So, bad luck, I guess?
I've played a couple more games against him and it's a tough match. He's not running any creatures except a Consecrated Sphinx and a Clever Impersonator as far as I can tell, so a good number of my draws are dead. He's playing a decent mana rock selection, including Sol Ring, Mana Vault, Chalice, Thran Dynamo and a few others. I've seen him play Snap, Capsize, cyclonic rift. He has Tezzeret, Ugin and Tamiyo in his bag of tricks. Vedalken Shackles, Bribery, and Treachery are also in his deck. He's card drawing suite is fine but missing a Top. He could use some fine-tuning, (a Snapcaster Mage, for example), but overall, it's a good deck.
Played a duel against Teferi, Temporal Archmage who had similar stax strategies.
Lost the first match due to Teferi's stronger counterspell suite. While a managed to get a few early beats, I promptly lost control when I fought & lost against a cyclonic Rift, followed by Teferi and winter orb. He then bribed my Frost Titan and proceded to smash my face. Still couldn't through the counter barrier as I tried to Exile, Plowshares and Dispatch the thing (once per turn)
Won the second one thanks to baiting him with Brago, getting Eldrazi Displacer through to the board with Sol Ring and Darksteel citadel on the board. The next turn, baited again with a 'geddon to sneak a cloudform into play (manifesting a Sun Titan)... Flickered the manifested titan, who brought back the Cloudform (manifested Archaeomancer). Archaemancer got the geddon back, and wiped the lands to win the game.
1 Grand Arbiter Augustin IV
Creature
1 Mother of Runes
2 Azorius Guildmage
2 Baral, Chief of Compliance
2 Snapcaster Mage
3 Wall of Denial
3 Aven Mindcensor
4 Venser, Shaper Savant
5 Karmic Guide
6 Aetherling
6 Consecrated Sphinx
6 Frost Titan
6 Sun Titan
Enchantment
1 Land Tax
3 Rhystic Study
3 Aura of Silence
3 Ghostly Prison
3 Propaganda
Artifact
0 Mox Diamond
1 Mana Vault
1 Sol Ring
1 Sensei's Divining Top
2 Talisman of Progress
2 Azorius Signet
2 Lightning Greaves
3 Darksteel Ingot
3 Crystal Shard
4 Thran Dynamo
5 Gilded Lotus
1 Swan Song
1 Condescend
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Brainstorm
1 Dispatch
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Path to Exile
2 Muddle the Mixture
2 Cyclonic Rift
2 Failure // Comply
2 Negate
2 Arcane Denial
2 Counterspell
3 Exclude
3 Dissipate
3 Hinder
3 Stoic Rebuttal
3 Void Shatter
3 Sphinx's Revelation
4 Rewind
4 Return to Dust
4 Fact or Fiction
Sorcery
1 Preordain
1 Serum Visions
1 Supreme Verdict
1 Wrath of God
1 Deep Analysis
1 Cataclysm
1 Day of Judgment
1 Armageddon
1 Global Ruin
1 Austere Command
1 Catastrophe
1 Mystic Gate
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Celestial Colonnade
1 Prairie Stream
1 Glacial Fortress
1 Nimbus Maze
1 Reliquary Tower
1 Halimar Depths
1 Command Tower
1 Temple of the False God
1 Ancient Den
1 Darksteel Citadel
1 Seat of the Synod
14 Island
11 Plains
Just a typical UW control deck taking advantage of Augustin's taxing with White's Mass Land Destruction.
Still untested.
First opponent was Vorel.
Game 1
I start with Signet and Talisman against my opponent's Llanowar Elf, Farseek & Cultivate. He plays a Spike Tiller, which I Exile. I evoke my Mulldrifter and draw into Reveillark and Tezzeret the seeker. He plays Arcanis the Omnipotent next turn and I draw into Frost Titan, which I use to lock the Arcanis. He bounces the titan and plays Heroes' Bane. I play Mana Vaulta, which I use to get Tezzeret into play, untap it with his +1 and recast the Titan locking down Arcanis again. He plays Boots and Vorel, doubles the counters on his Hydra swings at my walker, but Reveillark chumps bringing back Mulldrifter, getting me Enlightened Tutor, which gets me a Strionic Resonator. On my turn, Tezzeret gets me Greaves of my own, cast Brago and barely have enough mana to go infinite with Mana Vault, Resonator and use the Titan to lock my opponent out for the rest of the game.
Game 2
I mulligan down to a slow hand with 3 lands, Venser, Shaper Savant, a Wall of Omens and a Treachery. My opponent opens with Sol Ring and a Simic Signet. I... play a land. he drops another land and kills my land via Bramblecrush. I... play a land. He kills it again via Acidic Slime. Next turn I play... a land. He entwines Reap and Sow I draw into another land, and he plays Deep Analysis, Flashbacks it and calls it a turn. I've got nothing. He gets an Oran-Rief Hydra on the board and I scoop.
Game 3
My opponent brings in a turn 2 Spike Rogue via Birds of Paradise. I just get going with a Turn 1 Sol Ring and a turn 2 Brago. Next turn, he gets Vorel and a Spike Drone into play. I've not got much going on, so I Cyclonic Rift my oponent's Vorel back to his hand, flicker the sol ring and play Archaeomancer to get the rift back. He gets the Vorel Back, a Glen Elendra Archmage. I get a Wall of Omens into play, plus bounce the Archmage. Get the Rift back again and draw into Time Warp, thus locking my oppoent out. He concedes.
Record 3 points, 2-1
Second game against Zurgo Helmsmasher
Game 4
First game has my opponent start with nasty dedicated mana destruction: a Sinkhole and then a Rancid Earth. I try to keep up with Mana rocks, but I'm too far behind. He plays Zurgo and swings, I kill it with a Plowshares but he's got enough mana to recast it by now. I draw into Winter Orb, which he Disenchants. He gets some support into play with a Grave Titan and a Lethal Vapors which completely wrecks my flickering gameplan!... I luck and draw into Supreme Verdict... but he recasts Zurgo a third time. Swings and eventually wins through commander damage.
Game 5
Opponent opens with some Mana Rocks, and so do I. I manage a turn 3 Act of Authority to get his sol ring, and he Disenchants my enchantment. I get a small army going with Wall of Omens, Cloudform and Mother of Runes. He gets his Zurgo into play and swings, I decide to block with the wall. Next turn I get Brago and greaves on the board, flicker my artifacts, flicker the manifested creature into a Sun Titan, which gets me wall back and I draw into 'geddon. Next turn he tries getting back in the game with a land plus mana vault, swings again, gets blocked by the wall again "Aren't you going to protect the wall with Mother of Runes?" "Nope" he scoops.
Game 6
I play a turn one Seat of Synod and Mana vault, that allows me to get a turn two Tezzeret the seeker to tutor for greaves. My oppoent Lightning Helixes my walker. Meanwhile, my opponent has been ramping up on his own, via artifacts, allowing him to play a turn 3 overloaded vandalblast, which sends me back to the stone age. I still manage to get back by getting my fourth land into play followed by a Sanctum Gargoyle. He gets Zurgo on the field and the Gargoyle chumps him. I get the Vault back into play, put an Icefall Regent in to lock Zurgo, but my opponent Terminates that idea. During his turn he gets a Bogardan Hellkite on and swings. I draw a couple of non-flying chump blockers that don't help and die.
Still at three points, 3-3
Third oppoent is Nath of the Gilt-leaf
Game 7
Oponent starts with a Despise, but gets nothing out of it. I play Sol Ring and Mind Stone on turn 1, draw into Sea Gate Oracle and play that turn two, netting me Venser the Sojourner. My oponent makes me discard again with a Mind Rot, but I hold on to the Walker and an Enlightened tutor, which I use to look for Reality Acid. I play Venser and my oppoent puts his commander into play. During my turn I get the acid onto his creature, flicker it with venser and reatach to his black mana sources. I draw into Greaves, allowing me to play the boots and then Brago, attach and swing, killing his land, then following with Venser to kill another black mana source. My opponent decides to tough it out, even as I ultimate Venser, Use Brago, a newly flickered Venser and a spell to kill all his lands, then his few elves.
Game 8
Opponent opens the game with Dark Ritual and Phyrexian Arena, while I get a turn two mana rock, followed by Clever Impersonatoring the Arena on turn three. My opponent starts getting some targeted discard going, but the Arena helps me stay afloat. My opponent gets Nath into play with some elves, and I respond with a Lightform plus Brago. I discard Frost Titan to Nath, holding on to my Enlightened Tutor... when my opponent Mind Shatters me, I have to cast it, looking for Strionic Resonator. I get that into play next turn, and proceed to go infinite mana with mana rocks + Resonator... and my manifested creature that turns out to be Blue Sun's Zenith goes to the graveyard. I eventually manifest Mnemonic Wall getting me the Zenith back and force my opponent to draw a thousand and one cards.
6 points, 5-3
Fourth opponent is Maelstrom Wanderer
Game 9
First game has me mulliganing down to five cards. My opponent gets some early game ramping via Birds, then Farseek, then Kodama's Reach. I'm trying to keep up with a single Talisman, and then I copy the Talisman with Phyrexian Metamorph. He casts the Wanderer into Bane of Bala Ged and Concentrate. I try to kill the Eldrazi, but that gets Meddled to the Birds of Paradise. After he swings with Wanderer and the Bane I'm so far behind I can't even see where I'm going.
Game 10
Second game gets me to start early with Sol Ring and Mana Vault both in my hand. I get an early Consecrated Sphinx, which manages to net me two cards before getting bounced. I put Brago in turn three, but my oponent gets an explosive Vegetation and ramps into six cards. I play Static Orb, but my opponent untaps two lands, gets another one into play and Krosan Grips it. I untap get the Sphinx back into the game again, and my opponent gets his Wanderer active. He lucks into Avenger of Zendikar for 8 plants and wood elves.He swings, I kill a few tokens, but don't manage to get anything to deal with the horde of growing plants.
6 points 5-5
All in all, not a very good day, IMO.
Momir Vig starts getting a reasonable army going, but Nekusar Damns them, and I luck out into a Winter Orb to keep board clear long enough for me to get back in the game. I draw into Mana Vault, then some Islands and I finally get Sea Gate Oracle to give me my second blue mana source: a Seat of Synod, play Tezzereth the seeker, untap my artifacts and play Brago. Momir puts a Maze of Ith into play, but I get Lightning Greaves from the walker to keep my creature safe. I start blinking stuff, draw into Armaggedon, which I play, then search for Ancient Den... Then a Talisman of Progress. When I reveal Reality Acid, the table scoops.
Game two has Nekusar switch with Progenitus. I keep a nice hand with Hallowed Fountain, Adarkar Wastes and Nimbus Maze, plus a Manavault. Maze to Mana vault gets Commandeered (!). My second land is the fountain allowing to play grand abolishoner, Momir plays Back to Basics. I draw into some basic lands, Talisman of Progress and Mother of Runes, allowing me to have something of a defense, while not becoming a target. Augustin plays Static Orb, locking the game down even more. Progenitus gets a Unwinding Clock into play while Momir Vig plays a Seedborn Muse, and suddenly, the situation's looking pretty grim. I try to get Elspeth, Sun's champion into play, but that plan gets squashed... hard. Progenitus gets a Acidic Slime into his board, killing the Orb. But then Momir Vig Copies them, via kicked Rite of Replication, killing my mana producing... everything. After that, he returns the Rite to his hand via Eternal Witness... I died horribly.
Many changes due to new play group. Infinite combos back in the deck (Strionic Resonator shenanigans, Time Warp recursion). Giving a Counterless version & Manifest a try. Upping landcount to 37 to account for the updated mulligan rules from earlier this year.
I kept a nice initial hand with 3 lands, Mana Vault, Tangle Wire and a Signet. Nyelea opened with a Birds of Paradise, Hokori played a Mother of Runes, the other Brago player started with a Mana Crypt. Teysa played innocent blood and I put the Mana Vault into play. Next turn had a Mana Rock from Hokori, Nylea and Teysa and Bragos from my opponent and myself. Turn three saw... Eight-and-a-half-Tails from hokori, Nylea ramped with Farseek, Other Brago got a lightform into play, manifested and promptly flickered for Counterbalance and another manifested thing. I flickered my vault and put Tangle wire and my signet into play. Hokori tried dusting Tanglewire and Mana Crypt but that got counterbalanced, Nyelea tried to Naturalize the wire as well (Negated!). Teysa got a Necropotence into play, Hokori tried to Erase it, but with Imp's Mischief, ended erasing Counterbalance instead. Other Hokori flickered / manifested some big dudes again... but I Path to Exiled it. Drew into Pentarch Ward, then Armageddon and then a Reality Acid.
By the time my next turn came around, I played the acid in the necropotence, eliminated the other brago and started going after artifacts with the acid, my opponents scooped.
Game two vs same pod...
I had a slow start with 4 lands and no mana rocks. Hokori got a Land Tax into play, Nylea a Sol Ring, Teysa got a Soul Warden and other Brago (who discarded to five) got a Sol Ring and mana vault into play. I just played my land. Hokori got a turn 2 rock, Nyelea Explosive Vegetation, Teysa got a Bloodghast into play. Other Brago played a second plains and a Sun Titan. I plowshared it... just because. I played... another land. Hokori gets the old Tax & Rack combo early, but Nylea kills the scroll rack via Acidic Slime. Teysa attacks me, clamps the 'ghast and brings it back and clamps it again! Other Brago does nothing... and I play another land plus my newly drawn Talisman. Hokori plays aura of silence and kills the clamp, but Teysa gets a Liliana of the Dark Realms into play. I get Augustin followed by a cheap Brago (even if I have nothing worth flickering), but Brago gets Exiled. Augustin gets plowshared. Nylea gets a Soul of the Harvest into play, but gets murdered by Teysa... who plays a Sun Titan in his turn, bringing back the clamp and proceeds to beat on me.
I Wrath the table, but Teysa Reanimates sun titan... by now Nylea is also putting some pretty big monsters into play so it's Hokori's turn to wrath. I finally start drawing some people (Mulldrifter and Reveillark) but by then it's too late. Liliana ultimates, puts a ton of tokens into play via Decree of Justice, then pumps them via Sorin, Lord of Innistrad and I pretty much die.
The most interesting part for me was watching the other Brago in action, who actually had very few Instants or Sorceries (Plowshares, Return to Dust, Wrath, Geddon that I saw) in order to maximize his manifesting gameplan with Mastery of the unseen, Cloudform and Lightform
Edit: Thanks for the comments Benjimeenbear.
Melek died, and since both Tajic and Geist were looking funny at me, I decided to Mutilate the battlefield. With about 15 cards left in my deck, I draw into Dark Petition for a Necropotence. While I try to survive with a Guildmage and Eternal Dragon in hand, Geist is rebuilding her air force with Lyev Skyknight, Serra Avenger and Ascended Lawmage (come to think of it, I haven't seen a non-flying creature in the deck other than Geist himself). I risk drawing 5 new cards with Necropotence and get Sheoldred among them. Mirko Mind Funerals the rest of my deck and then offers a Deep Analysis to outright kill me. Mirko dies to Geist's Airforce easily... But then Tajic Obliterates the table, leaving only his indestructible commander in play and wins the game.
Mezzek starts more aggressively with a Sol Ring and a Signet. Mirko gets an Ambassador Laquatus into play... which I exile. Tajic kills Geist's Mana Vault and Artifact-Land, then destroys an Azorious Chancery pretty much mana screwing her out of the game for a long while. But then I try to get a Phyrexian Arena into play, which gets Hindered... followed by a Tunnel Vision and I'm dead The game was eventually won by Mezzek who managed to out-draw, out-bounce and out-counter the others thanks to various copy spell effects.
Not sure how to answer this... the deck often does what I wanted it to do, it locks down lands with Winter Orb & Tangle Wire while using Brago to abuse CIP effects, and I usually win by attrition this way, bringing stuff back to reuse. How fun is it for others? Hard to judge, as my local playgroup may be more tolerant to this types of strategies. It took a while for us to house rule Infinite combos away.
Marchesa and Vorel get an early start with Sol Ring plus a Signet in their colors. Oloro counters a Sylvan Caryatid from Jenara and I manage to sneak in Rhystic Study and later a Propaganda, which makes other players ignore me, but the Marchesa player start targeting me as I have higher life A Wrath does pretty much nothing against Marchesa and her cronies and her Unspeakable Symbol. My Act of Authority finally allows me to start fighting back, and with the only flyers on the Battlefield at the moment I risk a 'geddon and flicker Act of Authority twice to take care of mana rocks. While I eventually drop an Icefall Regent and manage to kill both Marchesa and Jenara... Oloro Wrathes and Murders my critters while Vorel gets a Fathom Mage going that starts to grow to ridiculous sizes... eventually killing me. This was a fun game.
Game two versus the same pod Saw me getting an early Sol Ring and Talisman of Progress for a turn 2 Brago with counter backup. I then drop Wall of Omens and Mastery of the Unseen and start amassing an army of manifested morphs, one of which is a Mnemonic Wall, bringing back my Counters. Just before I kill Marchesa, she exiles my graveyard out of spite!. Meanwhile, Vorel and Jenara have been taking turns beating Oloro, so I try some politics by taking a big Jenara with Treachery and untapping some of his lands. Between us, we manage to take down Vorel. Oloro doublecrosses me with a Magister Sphinx. I respond by locking the lands with Winter Orb, Tangle wire and Ghostly Prison and switching my treachery to the sphinx. This slows down the game enough to kill Jenara, and then Oloro.
Took out a few counterspells, Luminate Primordial and some utility cards like Mother of Runes and Pemmin's Aura.