[Deck]UR Control

[kiblast]

Here's the pile I played today splitting the finals of a 32 players tournament.


3 Scalding Tarn
3 Misty Rainforest
4 Steam Vents
14 Island
1 Mountain

4 Blood Moon
4 Spell Snare
4 Mana Leak
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Cryptic Command
3 Remand
1 Call the Skybreaker

3 Vedalken Shackles
2 Batterskull


2 Izzet Staticaster
3 Vendilion Clique
3 Snapcaster Mage

2 Vandalblast
1 Dispel
1 Mindbreak Trap
1 Flashfreeze
1 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Relic of Progenitus
2 Tormod's Crypt
2 Threads of Disloyalty
2 Spellskite
2 Pyroclasm



Please be patient if I make some mistakes or can't remember cards as this was my first modern tournament ever. Can't recall everything correctly.

R1 White Jund (Jund + Souls) This was my 1st modern game ever. G1 I win on the back of an unexpected Blood Moon turn 3. G2 & G3 He puts too much pressure and manages to draw a shit ton of cards through Confidant. I die quickly. 0-1

R2 Junk GWB Leaks and Spell Snares buy enough time for me to establish solid board control through BSkull both games. Moon was good in limiting his resources. 1-1

R3 UWR Sligh-Tempo (? No idea about the deck name sorry.) He's playing Snapcasters, Angel of Restoration, and Geist, some counterspells and burn spells. Today I saw soo many Geists, now I get why that card is 25 eur, everybody and their mothers are playing it in modern. G1 I win on the back of a gamebreaking Moon, G2 he fetches basics and sees a couple of Geists while I only see 1 Pyroclasm and no counters for them. I even get to play call the Skybreaker when he only has his 2nd GoST, I swing with my 5/5 knowing that I can Snapcaster into Command for tap+ draw to timewalk him but he has a Mana Leak in his couple of cards in hand. Maybe should have done it in upkeep. G3 I was clearly carrying a BSkull to victory on an empty board after trading counters for the first 8-9 turns... but time is called. 1-1-1

R4 Exactly the same deck, I win in 15 minutes more or less, I only remember G1 involved a Clique counter bait turn 3 into a turn 4 Moon for GG- G2 was really easy as well, I had a very good hand and countered everything till I could safely land Bskull. 2-1-1

R5 URgw Goblin Electromancer+ mana accel. + Gifts business + Grapeshot. G1 he wins on the back of 3 Electromancers beating, I trade some counters with his business spells but he eventually finds PiF. G2 and G3 I play much more conservatively and he dies to the amount of counters and grave hate I carry and win on the back of Clique+ Snap beatdown. 3-1-1

QF Same UWr Sligh Tempo deck from round 3-4. Seems like a major contender in modern as 6 players out of 32 were playing this archetype today with minor differences. This guy dies like his other previous friends to Blood Moon and a pile of counters+ Snapcaster. Pyroclasm is amazing in this matchup. I win 2-0. 4-1-1

SF Splinter Twin. I was pretty much in complete control of the 3 games and if I dind't misplay g2 could've easily won this one 2-0. G1 I have early counters and double Shackles as insurance Vs his Twin attempts. I win through Bskull. G2 I'm in complete control of the game but after a 20 mins g1 and a 20 mins g2 I want to close the round and land a Bskull with only 10 lands. Comes out that my Command+ Dispel are not enough- should have waited one more turn so I could have had Mana Leak open, and when he would have played his 3rd spell my Mindbreak would activate. Whatever. I still win g3 on the back of a shit ton of permission+ Clique. I aparticularly liked Staticaster here as a preemptive solution to Pestermite, and to Exarch as well in conjuction with Bolt. 5-1-1

F Split vs ?.

Overall the deck felt smooth and resilient. I had some problems facing multiple creatures if I didn't have any Shackles out (I'm missing some form of mass removal ala Supreme Verdict), but on the other hand the aggrocontrol and combo matchup were more than ok. I liked Staticaster md as he had a lot of targets through the day such as Snapcasters, Confidants, Lingering Souls tokens, Bop, etc.
Originarily the list was meant to be +4 Izzet Charm, which I din't find and quickly swap for +2 Staticaster, +1 Call the Skybreaker (slot for the lol) +1 Mana Leak. I really like Izzet Charm on the paper as it seems really versatile, is bob killer 5-8, comes handy in lots of matchups including Aggrocontrol and Combo, and is amazing to get rid of lands when you already have more than 8 on the table.

Mana base: as simple as possible to maximize Shackles (criminally underplayed).

Mana Leak, Spell Snare, Command: those are the most efficient counters in the format (I guess:P). Snare is essential for Bob and because losing the dice roll with this deck is awful. I'm not entirely sold on Remand but I like the cantrip effect.

Lightning Bolts: Flexible removal spell that can also double as race enabler in conjunction with Snapcatser.

Win conditions: 2 Batterskull, 1 CotS. Bskull can singlehandedly stop opponent's race even if you are facing 2-3 creatures. In conjunction with Shackles is insane. CotS is kinda win more but style points are style points.

Creatures. While Snapcasters and Clique are easily self explanatory, I'd like to spend a couple of words on Staticaster. While often he's sided out, in the matchups were we want him ( Lingering Souls deck, Pod deck I guess, tribal strategies, GW/Wb tokens, Twin, and for sure there are more but I don't know the meta good enough) he's amazing. I choose to play him md mostly because I didn't have any Izzet Charm, but the guy convinced me through the day.

Any suggestions? I don't have any previous experience of the format but I guess the deck is nicely positioned, judging from what I saw today.

Edit: How the list is supposed to look like:

UR Control


4 Scalding Tarn
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Steam Vents
12 Island
1 Mountain

4 Blood Moon
4 Spell Snare
3 Mana Leak
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Cryptic Command
2 Remand
3 Izzet Charm

3 Vedalken Shackles
2 Batterskull


2 Izzet Staticaster
3 Vendilion Clique
3 Snapcaster Mage

2 Vandalblast
2 Dispel
1 Counterflux
1 Wurmcoil Engine
3 Relic of Progenitus
2 Threads of Disloyalty
2 Spellskite
2 Pyroclasm

[Bignasty197]

Good job with your tournament. I've always wanted to see a deck that can play Blood Moons main in this format because these 4 and 5 color manabases are so greedy it makes me sick.

[JDK]

I'd probably cut a land (or swap an Island for Academy Ruins - you can play Engineered Explosives this way and get back destroyed BSkulls) and swap two islands to play more fetchies (8), so I can support early Bolts more easily. Instead of Call the Skybreaker I'd play a card with more impact like Consecrated Sphinx or Niv-Mizzet.

Regarding the sideboard: Why did you play Mindbreak Trap? What's your meta?

[kiblast]

I'd probably cut a land (or swap an Island for Academy Ruins - you can play Engineered Explosives this way and get back destroyed BSkulls) and swap two islands to play more fetchies (8), so I can support early Bolts more easily. Instead of Call the Skybreaker I'd play a card with more impact like Consecrated Sphinx or Niv-Mizzet.

Regarding the sideboard: Why did you play Mindbreak Trap? What's your meta?

I'll try to answer point by point.

1) EE and EE/Bskull recursion through A. Ruins. I admit I thought about this. But Ruins doesn't play nicely with Blood Moon (which was gamebreaking in every single matchup excluding UR Storm and Twin, for obvious reasons) , and anyway while recurring EE is good, recurring Bskull is not that important since it is a very late game threat, in tournament I always played it when I could afford to play and stay open for Command / Leak, bounce it, or Snap into something. I never really wanted a turn 5 Bskull anyway.
Moreover, increasing the number of non island is detrimental for Shackles.

2) Originally I wanted to play 8 fetchlands, but just found 6 in my binder. I guess the 4th Scalding is @my mother's house in my hometown, and I lost the 4th Misty. But yeah they should be 8.

3) I actually thought about Sphinx and Niv Mizzet.For obvious reasons Niv is far superior, since at least it replaces himself when you play it. I was going to include Niv Mizzet (the new one) but I was kind of intrigued by the possibility of CtSkybreaker, as a replayable win con not subject to spot removal (or at least in a different way than a single non-shrouded beast). It's cool when you pull off the trick but a singleton Niv Mizzet is just plain better.

4) SB choice: I played Mindbreak because of Remand, I thought that in matchups where you are in counter war situations you want something better than just remanding stuff back to his hand, especially since this deck goes very late in the game and they can just replay stuff. I actually menaged to exile a Vendilion in the Splinter Twin matchup thanks to Remand. This and I thought that PIF+ EtW was a serious contender in this format.
I'll just cut it for another Dispel instead which is way better also in that URW Aggrocontrol matchup (now that seems a serious contender).

[JDK]

If you are worried about counterwars, go for Counterflux or Dispel. Negate is also a strong SB card. Storm is pretty much dead after the Seething Song ban, so the Trap is way too narrow for Modern.

[kiblast]

If you are worried about counterwars, go for Counterflux or Dispel. Negate is also a strong SB card. Storm is pretty much dead after the Seething Song ban, so the Trap is way too narrow for Modern.

Thanks for suggestions! I actually saw Counterflux played from the SF UWR guy... I didn't know the card existed before the tournament otherwise I would have bought a couple of them, seems way better than Mindbreak.

[Arew]

You should try to fit in Trinket Mage and Basilisk Collar.

[kiblast]

You should try to fit in Trinket Mage and Basilisk Collar.

If I had to fit Trinket package in this deck (which I don't want because it forces me to play Academy Ruins, and I believe Moon is better than playing Ruins), my bullets would be:

- 2-3 E.E with Academy ruins to recur them
- 1 Pithing Needle
- 1 Tormod's Crypt
- 1 Expedition Map to find Academy Ruins

Basilisk collar is not even remotely good if you don't have Grim Lavamancer.

[Piceli89]

If I had to fit Trinket package in this deck (which I don't want because it forces me to play Academy Ruins, and I believe Moon is better than playing Ruins), my bullets would be:

- 2-3 E.E with Academy ruins to recur them
- 1 Pithing Needle
- 1 Tormod's Crypt
- 1 Expedition Map to find Academy Ruins

Basilisk collar is not even remotely good if you don't have Grim Lavamancer.

I think you should run Academy Ruins even with Blood Moon, because of Abrupt Decay hitting constantly your Shackles. With 25 lands, I really think you can afford to run a non-blue mana source (along with the basic Mountain) and let it be anti-synergistic with Blood Moon (which will come out in certain matchups, or you'll simply don't always have it on the board together with AR). Even without Expedition Map, which is slow and not needed at all here, Ruins is still a very good tool to be drawn.

As for Trinket Mage: I'm proposing him as well, since he provides Card advantage. Of course Basilisk Collar is totally wrong in the context of this deck, but a single Pithing Needle may be fine to stop random things (Birthing Pod and Eye of Ugin are the first that come to my mind). Engineered Explosived as a 1-ofs (I wouldn't run two because it'd require you to splash another Ux dual to support it @3, and maybe you don't want to).
Trinket postboard opens also the possibility of good solutions, such as Pyrite Spellbomb for all the critters in the format (Dark Confidant, Deathrite Shaman, but also to finish off Liliana), Relic as a 1-ofs, and so on. Btw, I wouldn't play Crypt maindeck at all, since it's a slot that does very little, and there aren't dedicated graveyard-based decks in Modern with the exception of maybe some tier2s like Living End.

I'd trim down a Shackles for Trinket, together maybe with a Moon.

[JDK]

I think you should run Academy Ruins even with Blood Moon, because of Abrupt Decay hitting constantly your Shackles. With 25 lands, I really think you can afford to run a non-blue mana source (along with the basic Mountain) and let it be anti-synergistic with Blood Moon (which will come out in certain matchups, or you'll simply don't always have it on the board together with AR). Even without Expedition Map, which is slow and not needed at all here, Ruins is still a very good tool to be drawn.
Yup, I completely agree with this.

[kiblast]

What would a Trinket/ relative toolbox list look like? What would you cut to accomodate it? Would you consider a minimal splash for EE at 3?

[TraxDaMax]

Curious why Basilisk Collar gets dismissed when it turns the pinger into a Plague Wind basicly, and you confirmed to be lacking some mass removal sometimes.

[kiblast]

Curious why Basilisk Collar gets dismissed when it turns the pinger into a Plague Wind basicly, and you confirmed to be lacking some mass removal sometimes.

If I was playing 3-4 Lavamancers in addition to Staticasters, then you would be right. But I'm only playing 2 Staticasters, which means that most of the games I will not see one. I find more curious suggesting a card that works only with a situational 2of in a deck lacking any form of library manipulation.

[Iron Buddha]

I think Remand is awful, because too often they just replay the card in the same turn.
I'm also missing some kind of draw/filter engine in this archetyp? Looking over the Modern's banned list, the best that is left seems to be Thirst for knowledge, which is actually excellent spell. And Thirst of Knowledge of course wants artifacts: Shackles, Batterskull, EE, Ratchet Bomb, what else?

I have something like this in mind:

// 25 lands

// Draw/filter:
4 Thirst for Knowledge

// Early defense: 18
4 Engineered Explosives
4 Mana Leak
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Izzet Charm
3 Spell Snare

// Bombs: 11
4 Bloodmoon
4 Vedalken Shackles
3 Batterskull

[kiblast]

Yeah I'm no Modern expert but everytime I had a Remand in hand I just wish it was something else (probably Condescend is flat out better here since we land drop every turn,and scry 2 is a good way to dig).
I actually like TfK as a dig and possibly card advantage spell. Also it plays wonderfully with A. Ruins.

Edit: @Nameless One: I see your point, but I think gaining tempo through Remand is not really good in this deck as we don't have (and don't aim to have) any fast clock in early-mid game...

[(nameless one)]

Remand isn't supposed to be a hard counter but a Time Walk in a format dominated by midrange strategies.

Condescend is only good in Tron-based strategies.

[TraxDaMax]

If I was playing 3-4 Lavamancers in addition to Staticasters, then you would be right. But I'm only playing 2 Staticasters, which means that most of the games I will not see one. I find more curious suggesting a card that works only with a situational 2of in a deck lacking any form of library manipulation.

Well, even equipping Snapcaster Mage with it can take out any non-evasive creature, and I wouldn't run Basilisk Collar without Trinket Mage and probably some Lavamancers too.
It's pretty obvious just adding Basilisk Collar wouldn't improve your deck a whole bunch, but building around it would. Just like Engineered Explosives and Academy Ruins would, and Trinket Mage succesfully finds you 1 part of each combo.

[kiblast]

A spanish player just brought (http://www.tcdecks.net/deck.php?id=10444&iddeck=76192) the exact same list I was playing, including the singleton Call the Skybreaker (which I only included for the lol ) to a top4 in a 100 players tournament.:cool:

I played this deck last week but dropped at 1-2 winning Vs Solar Flare but losing to WUR midrange (which should be a good to even matchup) and to Affinity (which is an amazing matchup when you don't die to yourself with no mountains and 4 Bolts in your hand g1, and g2 you're stuck on 3 lands for 4-5 turns in a row in a deck playing 25 lands... /end of rant)

I was playing with a Trinket Mage md, Needle and EE md. Mage is good, I liked the card advantage and the body he provides. I'll probably end up playing a second copy. I don't think I'm going to keep playing the Needle md instead, while I'm sure I'll leave it in the sb. I think another EE with a Breeding Pool is a much better solution to Liliana because also kills Geist or Kotr; in other words handles much more problems, specially creatures in a creature-centric format. Pool also gives us the possibility of playing Ancient Grudge instead of Vandalblast in sb. Grudge has less impact but is instant speed and more useful in the early game. Also I'll definitely keep playing with 8 fetchlands instead of 6.

Edit: Academy Ruins is super good and underrated in this format.