personally, i'm a fan of the barrier to entry. i don't like playing next to poor people or kids.. /s
I've played the format since the beginning and its been really interesting to watch it evolve. its funny to see how blue has gotten literally no help at all in the format post innistrad since they banned dig and cruise. the spells are exactly the same as they were in dec 2011/jan 2012. its arguable that new mini-jace will make a splash, doing his best snapcaster impression, but his other abilities are underwhelming.
you don't need dispel in that list. spellstutter accomplishes almost the same thing. it hard counters low curve spells and creatures in the late game, which is something remand and leak don't do. i fully see where he's going with that list. its an evolution of his UR delver/spellstutter deck that he played 2 years ago. command is good because every creature is value that you want back. the weakest card in the list is the izzet charm. i've also been toying with the idea of telling time vs anticipate in URx decks. the question there is, "what are the odds there are two cards in the top three you want vs one card?" I would assume the scions are there to power the vaults. you're swinging with a shrouded 4/4 when you get 2 out, while keeping up the majority of your mana to deal with things, and you're not reliant on creatures to close things out because you're running 22-26 points of burn not counting snapcasters.
how is ashiok working for you? i can see the pros of running monastery siege as well. it is relevant in more than one match up. against control, it lets us filter, and against things with targeted removal/discard, the tax is relevant.
i'm still not a fan of not playing discard in the mainboard. i admit that i am old school with this deck, and i can see the wisdom of playing more removal instead of discard, especially seeing how creature heavy the format is. however, running into something that doesn't rely too much on creatures, having all these dead cards never sits well with me. whatever we choose to run in the removal/discard suite serves to get us into the mid/early late game by getting rid of problems that slip through before our defenses are online. then we just sit back and run with our virtual card advantage from blossom.
pardon my ignorance, but how does the deck stop liliana? logic knot is the only out before turn 4 to counter it, and post resolution, if the list has no d-sphere or o-ring, death by damage is the only way, which the deck doesn't quite excel in pre board.
i prefer snapcasters. much more versatile. scion doesn't close out the game that much faster, and if you land one and it sticks, you were ahead anyways. that said, don't disregard them when building. i've played versions with no vendilion cliques with scions replacing them. its a meta call.
if twin plays the tempo game, then sure, preordain is a step up. but if they're looking to combo off, it doesn't accelerate that any. a rise in real tempo will coincide with a drop off of tempo twin.
Not to mention that the idea of modern being this format where its a "turn 4 format" is nonsense. You can Karn out on turn 3 which is fine or jam Griselbrand out of the grave on turn 2 with goyo's vengence, yet a stoneforge mystic on turn 2 is apparently too busted since like removal doesnt exist and that Stoneforge Mystic is going to kill you in 1 turn in some alternative universe. The Modern ban list only makes sense to people who are really gullible and believe that any decision WoTC makes is always in the best interest of the game and has nothing to do with money or PR or any other corporate decision that was probably influenced by Hasbro/its shareholders.
but but but stoneforge draws you a card, and the guy who uses removal is down one card! totally broken!!!!!!
i'm not too focused on the geist slots right now. i'm still trying to figure out what to do with the two slots vacated by dig through time. there isn't a card that allows for selection like that. i mean, if we're going for something that's a shadow of dig, it'll be anticipate or telling time. if we're going the remand route, i think telling time is better.
my quick thoughts on the 3cmc slot is bump the cliques (i've always played 2, even in the deck's heyday) and find a big finisher of some sort, like a thundermaw. i wouldn't play keranos in the mainboard. a singular kiki-jiki can pair well with the resto plan as well, after you've traded enough resources. this deck is predominantly a burn deck with some nice supporting creatures. you essentially have to do about 9-12 creature damage, and typically you'll win via burn.
control needs card selection to be good. it doesn't necessarily need to draw cards (but of course that's good as well). so i voted for preordain. sure, it helps twin be slightly more consistent, but it'll help control be more consistent as well. plus it'll give real tempo strategies a shot in the arm, which run over the tempo variant of the twin deck.
i voted for dig through time for the same reason. twin doesn't get that much better with it, but pretty much every other Uxx midrange and control deck does. once again, selection over draw.
i also voted for the artifact lands. affinity doesn't get that much better, like sure, they can go all in more easily, but it also opens them up to a lot more hate. plus disciple of the vault isn't suddenly going to be good. hangerback sort of lets you already do that (albeit a bit slower) and no one is running it. it'll also enable a ton more decks as well, such as metalcraft and UBx tezzeret.
sword of the meek because it should have been unbanned a year ago.
stoneforge mystic because if you can cheat 2 creatures of cmc 3 or less onto the field, i should be able to cheat a batterskull or sword. sure, it tutors as well, but hey, people like doing powerful things.
i think 90% of the people who read it missed the creature part of it. i was freaking out for a minute then my friend told me to reread it. crushed. absolutely crushed. i'll still settle for uu - 3>
I've played the format since the beginning and its been really interesting to watch it evolve. its funny to see how blue has gotten literally no help at all in the format post innistrad since they banned dig and cruise. the spells are exactly the same as they were in dec 2011/jan 2012. its arguable that new mini-jace will make a splash, doing his best snapcaster impression, but his other abilities are underwhelming.
oh lord, that wur ally deck.
i'm still not a fan of not playing discard in the mainboard. i admit that i am old school with this deck, and i can see the wisdom of playing more removal instead of discard, especially seeing how creature heavy the format is. however, running into something that doesn't rely too much on creatures, having all these dead cards never sits well with me. whatever we choose to run in the removal/discard suite serves to get us into the mid/early late game by getting rid of problems that slip through before our defenses are online. then we just sit back and run with our virtual card advantage from blossom.
but but but stoneforge draws you a card, and the guy who uses removal is down one card! totally broken!!!!!!
stoneforge because people like doing powerful things.
my quick thoughts on the 3cmc slot is bump the cliques (i've always played 2, even in the deck's heyday) and find a big finisher of some sort, like a thundermaw. i wouldn't play keranos in the mainboard. a singular kiki-jiki can pair well with the resto plan as well, after you've traded enough resources. this deck is predominantly a burn deck with some nice supporting creatures. you essentially have to do about 9-12 creature damage, and typically you'll win via burn.
i voted for dig through time for the same reason. twin doesn't get that much better with it, but pretty much every other Uxx midrange and control deck does. once again, selection over draw.
i also voted for the artifact lands. affinity doesn't get that much better, like sure, they can go all in more easily, but it also opens them up to a lot more hate. plus disciple of the vault isn't suddenly going to be good. hangerback sort of lets you already do that (albeit a bit slower) and no one is running it. it'll also enable a ton more decks as well, such as metalcraft and UBx tezzeret.
sword of the meek because it should have been unbanned a year ago.
stoneforge mystic because if you can cheat 2 creatures of cmc 3 or less onto the field, i should be able to cheat a batterskull or sword. sure, it tutors as well, but hey, people like doing powerful things.