Miracle Control

[Cipher]

With the new Contamination Priest, i doubt that RIP is even worth it in the 75.

I thought the same thing, but Containment Priest doesn't stop Bridge from Below. RIP does seem like jank now that Tarmogoyf is dying an entropic death to power creep. There's always Past in Flames, and Bridge from Below that will keep it relevant, in my opinion.

[exallium]

If you have RIP in your SB/MD for Treasure Cruise you are probably doing something wrong. As already mentioned, playing a card that does something against 4 cards of the opponent deck is kind of embarassing.

With the new Contamination Priest, i doubt that RIP is even worth it in the 75.

I really like the new priest. He's a clock vs. Show and Dredge decks that also happen to completely hose them. What's more, it helps our Death and Taxes matchup, which I find to be a bit on the weak side. (close to 50% but slightly less)

I think that the card is better vs bridge from below than people think. Their bridge triggers come from having dudes die, and Dredge doesn't really have a way to get anything onto the table unless they're playing the long game of casting creatures. No Narcomoebas can enter the battlefield, no ichorids, etc. In this light, Containment Priest is a 2CMC grafdigger's cage.

Containment priest doesn't stop past in flames, but I think that the key here might be to find a happy medium between Priest, cage, and RIP, as all three have their uses.

-- Priest effectively shuts off Aether Vial, GSZ, Natural Order, Reanimation, Show and Tell, Sneak Attack, Narc triggers, Ichorid, etc.
-- Rest in Peace shuts off Past in flames, the reanimation tech, and dredge
-- Graffdigger's cage shuts off PiF, Reanimation, dredge, Natural Order, and Green Sun's Zenith.

The currently seen decks in the format we want the hate against are (arguably, and not completely):

ANT -- Rest in Peace, Grafdigger's Cage
Elves -- Priest, Grafdigger's Cage
Sneak and Show -- Priest
Dredge -- Priest, Rest in Peace, Grafdigger's Cage
Reanimator -- Priest, Rest in Peace, Graffdigger's Cage
Death and Taxes -- Priest
RUG Delver -- Rest in Peace
BUG Delver -- Rest in Peace

Other, less popular decks (seen in my local meta) are:
Lands -- Rest in Peace

Let's go with Adryan's opinion (that I'm inclined to agree to) and say that Rest in Peace is bad against the UR Delver decks.

Now, obviously, every matchup and every miracles deck contain different approaches. Deck A may never bring in RIP vs. BUG Delver, which is fine, while Deck B will bring it in 100% of the time, also bringing in other hate cards like Blood Moon.

But, what we can see here is that there are a very large number of decks we want hate against where Rest in Peace is either our only choice, or where it's a choice along with Grafdigger's cage.

Priest stands on it's own in two matchups, being Death and Taxes (though you probably won't want it in) as well as Sneak and Show, along with still being an option vs. Elves.

I want to revisit Einherjer's 4 ponder list, introducing the removal of a single Jace for a single Dig through time, as I believe that this is the best shell for such a card, and with treasure cruise in the format, Jace has become a bit worse. Furthermore, with UR delver not currently running wasteland, I think I can get away without the basic mountain.

I'm (obviously) not sure which of which is better, so I want to try the following sideboard, which brings in the new priest, and will hopefully help our matchups vs. the current meta:

2 Red Elemental Blast
1 Pyroblast
2 Flusterstorm
2 Blood Moon
2 Vendilion Clique
1 Disenchant
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Containment Priest
1 Rest in Peace
1 Blue Elemental Blast
1 Engineered Explosives

Eventually, I would like to be playing a second Containment Priest, but I think that will depend on how popular decks like Death and Taxes and Sneak and Show become. I'd cut either Cage or RIP for Containment Priest, but I'm (at this point) not sure what my best option is.

[Adryan]

Good points you make, but i'm unsure of the usefullness of the priest vs Death and Taxes. I don't think it's worth it, to bring him. But i could be wrong.

As you already said, Containment priest is almost as good against Dredge as RIP. Obviously RIP has the better effect, but i think the usefullness of the priest against other MU's is something that puts it over RIP in my eyes. Another interesting thing is that, Dredge boards mainly enchantment removal against Miracles, which will be a complete blank when the priest is on the battlefield.

Edit: I played at least 200 matches against ANT on Magic Online. I've won a lot more than i lost, because it's a good MU. My point here is that, i never felt that i needed stuff like RIP. I'm way more afraid of Empty the Warrens, Dark Confidant, Xantid Swarm or even Young Pyromancer than Past in Flames. RIP is kind of slow and you only can play it when you are already winning or stayed alive for several turns. f.ex Turn 2 tapout for RIP is a suicide move. Relic of Progenitus is completely different of course. It is a good card to bring in and whenever i had it in my SB and brought it against ANT it was always decent.

Which brings me to the next point. If i feel like i have to play gy hate that is not Containment Priest, i would run Relic of Progenitus, which is in the current metagame the best GY hate. Because of the cycle effect you can board it against decks who only play 4 targets for it . Ofc it doesn't shut off the Delve spells as good as RIP, but considering that the main goal against decks like UR Delver is to survive the early game, and to simply not die quickly, Relic seems way better than RIP.

[rancOr_]

CPriest against DxT is not worth brining in and can lead to some awkward situations where u let vial stick and get priest stped etc.. Just disenchant/EE/council that vial and u should be okay.

[exallium]

Another interesting thing is that, Dredge boards mainly enchantment removal against Miracles, which will be a complete blank when the priest is on the battlefield.

Yup, which is another reason I find him attractive. Threat diversity.

I guess that comes back to the "it only affects 4 cards in their deck" argument, and it still dies to Terminus, and Pithing Needle might just be the better card in that particular matchup (Death and Taxes)

[nwrobinson]

question of curiosity, what is the upside disenchant over wear // tear ? just because you don't need red to take down artifacts?

[exallium]

question of curiosity, what is the upside disenchant over wear // tear ? just because you don't need red to take down artifacts?

Basically yeah. In Miracles decks without a basic mountain, it's better to not have to fetch a wastelandable land to destroy an artifact.

[KZhang]

Having RIP in your SB is fine. Don't bring it in against UR delver, it is NOT strong against them. Their gameplan after turn 4 wont matter since you wasted your turn casting a useless card instead of trying to stabilize and now their treasure cruise can just pitch to FoW or shuffle away with brainstorm. In the matchup, you can rarely even find time to cast counterbalance (which is miles better than RIP) in turns 2-5, so finding the time to cast an even worse card is out of the question.

Also, this is a matchup I leaving 3-4 FoW in against. I treat this matchup kind of like I would treat burn or infect (super fast comboesque-aggro). If I am playing around daze and am light on real removal, I will gladly force an early threat just to buy a bit of time. FoW also helps resolving aggressively cast counterbalances.

Just to add on, the reason i keep Force against UR delver is for their Young Pyromancers. It is their singular most effective threat against us.

[Cipher]

If you don't stop the dredging, you don't stop Dredge. It's a deck I play when I don't play Miracles, and graveyard hate aside from RIP is never that effective. Also, I run Abrupt Decay, not Nature's Claim. According to MODO data, 66% run Nature's Claim and 33% run Decay. If Priest becomes popular that number will shift further.

I'll probably run a singleton Priest in my board alongside 2x RIP.

[Rook1e]

Went to SCG Oakland this sunday with Miracles. Didn't take any notes so i'm primarily just sharing my list and MU's/results. If you have any questions about specifik rounds feel free to ask.

First my list:

Land (23)
1x Arid Mesa
4x Flooded Strand
5x Island
2x Karakas
1x Mountain
2x Plains
4x Scalding Tarn
3x Tundra
1x Volcanic Island

Sorcery (6)
2x Entreat the Angels
4x Terminus

Artifact (4)
4x Sensei's Divining Top

Instant (15)
4x Brainstorm
2x Counterspell
2x Dig Through Time
3x Force of Will
1x Pyroblast
1x Red Elemental Blast
2x Swords to Plowshares

Creature (5)
1x Snapcaster Mage
3x Vendilion Clique
1x Venser, Shaper Savant

Enchantment (4)
4x Counterbalance

Planeswalker (3)
3x Jace, the Mind Sculptor

Sideboard (15)
1x Blood Moon
1x Council's Judgment
2x Flusterstorm
1x Grafdigger's Cage
1x Izzet Staticaster
1x Pearl Lake Ancient
1x Pithing Needle
1x Pyroblast
1x Red Elemental Blast
2x Rest in Peace
1x Supreme Verdict
1x Venser, Shaper Savant
1x Wear / Tear

Rounds:

R1: 2-1 win over Burn. My opponent got a gameloss in G3 due to him presenting a 59 card deck.
R2: 2-0 win against UR Delver
R3: 1-0 against Miracles
R4: 1-2 loss to 4-Color Delver. G3 he plays turn 1 delver followed up by double delver turn 2.
R5: 1-1 against Miracles
R6: 2-0 against Miracles
R7: 1-2 against Miracles. G3 is not really a game since I stumble on 2 lands (basic islands) for the first 6-7 turns
R8: 1-2 against UWR Delver. G3 I Kept a poor hand an got punished abruptly.

Felt good about my list and still feel I was a bit unlucky with my loses, but then again I was lucky in R1 also.

[Dice_Box]

How useful did you find Dig?

[lyracian]

Went to SCG Oakland this sunday with Miracles. Didn't take any notes so i'm primarily just sharing my list and MU's/results. If you have any questions about specifik rounds feel free to ask. Felt good about my list and still feel I was a bit unlucky with my loses, but then again I was lucky in R1 also.

What happened round one did he drop a card on the floor? Also was Pearl Lake Ancient any use during the day?

[Einherjer]

Read about Tomáš Vlčeks journey to Ovinogeddon9 with Miracles!

Greetings

[SageShadows]

Went to SCG Oakland this sunday with Miracles. Didn't take any notes so i'm primarily just sharing my list and MU's/results. If you have any questions about specifik rounds feel free to ask.

R7: 1-2 against Miracles. G3 is not really a game since I stumble on 2 lands (basic islands) for the first 6-7 turns

Felt good about my list and still feel I was a bit unlucky with my loses, but then again I was lucky in R1 also.

I think I played you round 7 and that was a rough series of draws on your part G3. Congrats on the top 64 though!

[Quasim0ff]

Read about Tomáš Vlčeks journey to Ovinogeddon9 with Miracles!

Greetings

Hi,

Have you tested Dig Through Time?

[YamiJoey]

" I tried two Entreats – one was countered by Counterbalance with Jace on top"

Errrm. How? Entreat for X=1 has a CMC of 5, so it's impossible.

EDIT: So I read further down. The CMC of a card is the top right hand corner NO MATTER WHAT. Whilst not on the stack, X is 0. Whilst on the stack, X is what you set it as. Entreat for 1, no matter how you cast it, costs 5. 2 costs 7, 3 costs 9, and so on. This came up this weekend for one of my opponents twice and he got a different rulling both times.

[exallium]

Keep reading, he gets to that.

[YamiJoey]

Cheers. I should've read it all first. Played a win a Judge Bob this weekend and tanked.

R1: BUG Delver. I lent him the deck and it was a Force of Will and a Wasteland short. I crush him because it's his first time. I forgot to ask him what he drew, but there were multiple turns where he simply didn't cast any Spells.
R2: UW Helm. This seems like a bad matchup, especially when he makes T1 Top, T2 Counterbalance, Force your Force. I conceded the following turn when he would untap into 3 mana Vs my hand of cantrips and a Counterspell. G2 was much closer. I managed to fight through a Countertop, and ended up Hellbent with Clique/Karakas ready to disrupt the following turn. He Enlightened Tutor's for a Helm. I should have flipped the top to Clique in response, preventing him from using Brainstorm to protect his combo, but I missed it and go for it in the end step. He Brainstorms RiP Helm to the top and there's nothing I can do. He had a Jace in play to draw both cards. Really close game that I could've fought for, but in addition to his combo he had Counter/Top in hand with a Jace in play, so I'm not sure I was winning it.
R3: Elves. I keep a really bad hand in G1. Force, Jace, Counterbalance, Council, and 3 Land. I was so focused on how powerful CB is in the MU that I forgot we had to play a game of Magic. He makes some guys, I end up having to Force a GSZ for 8, then he casts a Craterhoof the following turn. Sadness. I keep a reasonable 7 this time, and get Countertop online, Engi' the board and move on. In G3 I keep StP, StP, Top, something else. T1 Top, Go. He makes T1 Nettle Sentinel. I make T1 Top (mistake). He makes six guys on T2, leaving him with an unknown in hand. I Upkeep a Top, draw a 3rd StP, and StP his Wirewood Symbiot.He untaps, makes a load of mana, and NO's for a Craterhoof. I simply didn't realise how mental Nettle Sentinel is with Birchlore Rangers. I'll have to work out which of the two was a better StP target. Super pissed about this game. I could've played better, but he had an exact 9 cards and needed them all to kill me. Rather frustrating.
R4: Miracles. I think I consider it a good matchup, as I play a pair of Digs and 4 Counterbalance, but he plays Snapcaster Mage which is excellent. G1 consists of us scrapping over stuff until I just Entreat for some number to kill him. It wasn't very interesting. In G2 I go for a T2 Counterbalance, which gets Counterspelled. He then almost taps out to assemble Countertop. I go for an Engi' on 2, he Counterspells, I Force, then he flips his Top to draw a Blue Spell for a Force in hand. After it resolves he has CB on the table, and Top on the top. I slam a Counterbalance, and when he tries for a Top I flip the top card of my deck to counter it; only it's not the Ponder I thought I put there but an Entreat. I look in shock at my horrible misplay, then realise I'm just going to untap and put 12 power on the board. It was a very exciting end to the game.
R5: Merfolk. In G1 I don't remember my opening hand, but it was reasonable. I use a pair of StPs and a Terminus in the game, but after I Terminus a 2/1 and TNN, she still has 7 cards in hand. Fucking Standstill, yo. G2 I end up getting Clique down stable with her at 9 life. I kill her and then concede with a minute on the round.

Her day was way more interesting. In R1 she had a game of 4 Vials, 9 Islands, 2 Spells. In R2 she had a game of 4 Spells all game. She wanted to drop at X-2, but decide to just truck on when her next round opponent convinced her to play for fun.

[exallium]

=( As long as you had a good time and learned something, right?

I spent last night testing what I said I would in my last post. Unfortunately I never played against UR Delver or Burn. I'm going to listen to Joe's SCG Oakland review today to see if he says anything about the matchup.

Dig through time feels absolutely broken, and I never really had a problem casting it in what I would consider "on time"

Last night I beat MUD and Slivers, and was quit on in games vs. Bant Thopter and I think the Mirror. Idk why. I also lost a round to UB Helm Tezzerator. I blame this mostly due to inexperience with the helm version of the deck, as I believe I definitely could have won had I boarded differently and played a bit more conservatively.

MUD was by far the most interesting. Game 1 he took me down. Game 2, Blood Moon actually helped win the game, as I slowed him down to 1 threat / turn, or 1 threat every 2 turns, and managed to eventually entreat and win. Game 3 he missed some land drops, and careful play through a trinisphere let me eventually take him down.

Tonight, I'm going to swap the Cage for a second RIP, As I agree with Adryan (and actually, in my pre-edited post, I said Cage would be the one of the 3 I'd cut).

I'll try to get into an 8 man to actually get some solid games vs. competent players.

EDIT:
So, Joe's basic thoughts are that if anything, SCG Oakland proved that he has a solid list right now. He didn't mention that he'd make any changes. Given the way his deck is built, I agree with him. Dig doesn't belong in Legendary Miracles builds, as you're not going to fill your GY fast enough to make it relevant.

[Dice_Box]

Well I had a good run, got HAMMERED tonight. Was waiting for it and went up against 3 decks with Decay. Did not win any of those matches. Time to change things up.