Tempo CAW

[Lord_Cyrus]

I'm well aware that there is another thread on Caw-Blade in this forum but that thread focuses on a hard-control approach using Humility, Moat, and/or Thopter combo. This deck is fundamentally different. I don't claim it is particularly original, because it isn't - it's much more of a "good stuff" approach coopting the best parts of other archetypes with a toolbox sideboard.

What does make this deck unique is its power level. Here is a deck that in repeated testing doesn't fold to any particular archetype. The SB can easily be tweaked to suit almost any meta.

Why play this version? Arguably because it is both balanced and threat-heavy. This deck can play many different roles, from tempo to hard control to beatdown. What is most suprising about it to me is just how quickly it can change gears and totally catch the opponent off-balance. In many test games, opponents have been shocked to discover how quickly I can flood the board with creatures after playing a fairly slow-paced tempo/control based early game. After spending too many resources to fight the tempo game, opponents are often unable to deal with the rapid-aggro + equipment game that the Caw-Blade can establish.

Another factor that other threads have mentioned is the CA advantage provided by the engine. This deck is well positioned to take full advantage of it. Obviously it will never be as strong as playing Dark Confidant, but it also comes without the weaknesses and pain that Bob can bring. It's hard to overstate how many games I've won when I held 5-6 cards to my opponents 1 or none in hand. This is all due to proper use of the Hawk+Brainstorm engine.

Obviously I can't make you play this deck and I won't try - nevertheless I highly suggest you give it a chance. It might not be quite tuned yet but the raw power level is definitely there. I'm open to any suggestions or changes people might propose, but please try the deck first and post some results.

Here are my testing results:

UGR Thresh: 2-0
Junk: 2-1
Deadguy: 1-0
ANT: 2-1
Dredge: 2-0
Thopters: 1-2
Green and Taxes: 1-2 (I think this was winnable, early version of the deck and I made many mistakes)
High Tide: (Still needs testing)


// Lands
4 [TE] Wasteland
4 [ZEN] Misty Rainforest
4 [ON] Flooded Strand
1 [ALA] Island (2)
1 [ZEN] Forest (4a)
3 [U] Tropical Island
2 [R] Tundra
1 [A] Savannah
1 [LG] Karakas

// Creatures
3 [WWK] Stoneforge Mystic
4 [FUT] Tarmogoyf
4 [M11] Squadron Hawk
4 [FNM] Mother of Runes
2 [ARB] Qasali Pridemage

// Spells
2 [WWK] Jace, the Mind Sculptor
3 [DS] AEther Vial
4 [CST] Brainstorm
3 [ZEN] Spell Pierce
4 [AL] Force of Will
1 [DS] Sword of Fire and Ice
2 [BOK] Umezawa's Jitte
3 [NE] Daze

// Sideboard
SB: 1 [ARB] Qasali Pridemage
SB: 2 [ALA] Ethersworn Canonist
SB: 2 [TSP] Krosan Grip
SB: 1 [WL] Null Rod
SB: 2 [TO] Llawan, Cephalid Empress
SB: 1 [LRW] Thorn of Amethyst
SB: 1 [6E] Enlightened Tutor
SB: 1 [SHM] Wheel of Sun and Moon
SB: 1 [IN] Dueling Grounds
SB: 1 [FD] Engineered Explosives
SB: 2 [MI] Enlightened Tutor

[sclabman]

Cool concept. On the manabase: it seems like white is in higher demand than green. Should you not max out the tundras before the trops?

[Lord_Cyrus]

Cool concept. On the manabase: it seems like white is in higher demand than green. Should you not max out the tundras before the trops?

Good point, I haven't really had too much trouble with the manabase yet, but you are right that an early tundra is superior. A lot of opponents with wasteland will aim them at the green source, however, hoping to keep you off Tarmogoyf. But this is usually not a problem; drawing one Squadron Hawk usually gets you out of that situation and at minimum gives you plenty of breathing room until you can find a land.

EDIT: Aether Vial might have made me a little lazy with the proper color balance. If you can suggest a better mana base I'd certainly be open to it.

[xifre]

pretty interesting! the other Caw-Blade was not receiving good thoughts in another thread we have here locally because of the "controllish" side, as you have mentioned. my only question is, have you had a hard time with FOW? given the fact that you only have i think, 16 blue spells to pitch for?

[Lord_Cyrus]

Not really, I can only recall one game where I had a FoW stranded in my hand and it mattered. One thing to remember is the raw CA this deck is capable of - turning Brainstorms into "Draw 3" is a real possibility. So generally you will see a lot of cards every game you can get a Hawk into play (not hard to do). However if you find it a problem you could certainly cut say, a creature and a Jitte for more blue cards.

Another thing to remember is that with the wastelands and high threat density, this deck usually only cares about countering 1-2 spells a game. Doing that is usually plenty to overwhelm the opponent with a flood of creatures via Aether Vial and brutal equipments.

[miko]

Try to fit in Grunt. It will bring back your Hawks every turn.

[Final Fortune]

I think you want to split 2xQasali Pridemage into 1xQasali Pridemage and 1xTrygon Predator, having a tutorable flyer is pretty important with Equipment IMO.

Also, I think Aether Vial is sub-par, this deck is a lot like Excalibur minus the shitty Faeries and Mutas, i.e. you want creatures that accelerate you instead of artifacts because every grubby little hand that grabs Umezawa's Jitte is the effective nuts.

Vendilion Clique should probably be in there somewhere, probably in place of a land.

[dahcmai]

I was trying out an approach like this, but I had problems with Merfolk, Zoo, and Goblins being so fast and having better critters. Have you tried out how this one does against them yet? That's pretty much how I ended up going with those Moats.

[Lord_Cyrus]

I think you want to split 2xQasali Pridemage into 1xQasali Pridemage and 1xTrygon Predator, having a tutorable flyer is pretty important with Equipment IMO.

Also, I think Aether Vial is sub-par, this deck is a lot like Excalibur minus the shitty Faeries and Mutas, i.e. you want creatures that accelerate you instead of artifacts because every grubby little hand that grabs Umezawa's Jitte is the effective nuts.

Vendilion Clique should probably be in there somewhere, probably in place of a land.

I like all these ideas but I'm cautious about cutting aether vial... Vial with 2 counters in this deck is so godly it's absurd. What would replace that? Noble heirarch IMO leads to bad mulling decisions and loves to eat removal.

What is so nice about Vial is the ability to blank counters sitting in their hand. This single card gives blue decks absolute fits. I also think it's key to the tribal matchup (although this needs more testing to back it up). I can't see a situation where the tribal deck has active vial and I don't turning out well....

Oh another thing: Don't forget the power of Mother of Runes. Active MoR hands down beats goblins, they have to bend over backwards to try and find double removal for her. Meanwhile she's blanking their Lackey and buying you absurd amounts of time to get active Jitte and win the game.

Merfolk I doubt will be as postive of a MU. But that's why you have Ms. Llawan in the board. It gives you a nice "oops I win" possibility games 2 and 3.

The idea in the Zoo matchup (Again needs testing) is to clog the board with blockers and again try to frustrate their removal with Mother. Once you get an active piece of Equipment it becomes a real headache for them and you have too many fliers for them to handle. I like the idea of adding Trygon Predator and Vendilion Clique, it will strengthen this plan.
Also, don't forget that "Big Zoo" is quite popular these days, and while it plays bigger creatures it is a much slower deck that is vulnerable to mana disruption and daze, both of which we play.

[Drac]

You dont want to play 3 Aether vials. You play 4 or you play zero... period.

[perm]

Sword of Light and Shadow gives protection from format, it's a severely underestimated card

and yeah, you're going to want 4 aether vials

[Qweerios]

I disagree with 4 vials or none. I play 4 vials in decks that need a vial to function properly and where seeing 2 vials early is good (such as goblins/merfolks) and 3 vials in decks where a vial is a great card to have but seeing 2 early is bad (deadguy/bant aggro).

[Drac]

Aether Vial is most effective if you play it turn 1.. So you play 4 or none. Period.

If you play 3 vials, your deck is not optimal.... Period.

[dirtyapes]

Aether Vial is most effective if you play it turn 1.. So you play 4 or none. Period.

If you play 3 vials, your deck is not optimal.... Period.

Are you talking about this deck or Vial in general? Vial in general doesn't need to be a 4-of or 0-of. Some decks want to see 1 Vial and that's it so drawing multiples is bad. Seeing as this deck has 13 2-cmc creatures, 1 Vial is most likely all you are going to need and any more are going to get put back in the deck with Brainstorm and Jace since they will be dead cards in your hand.

[Admiral_Arzar]

Aether Vial is most effective if you play it turn 1.. So you play 4 or none. Period.

If you play 3 vials, your deck is not optimal.... Period.

Perhaps you should consult the multi-page argument in the U/W tempo thread that eventually convinced everybody that less than vials were optimal in that situation. Think outside the box, please.

[Lord_Cyrus]

I disagree with 4 vials or none. I play 4 vials in decks that need a vial to function properly and where seeing 2 vials early is good (such as goblins/merfolks) and 3 vials in decks where a vial is a great card to have but seeing 2 early is bad (deadguy/bant aggro).

It's this, guys.... Vial is a great card and all, but my experience shows that playing 4 leads to more frecquent mulligans. Also, don't forget that Mother of Runes is another first-class t1 play.

But really if you want to play 4 vials or zero vials, be my guest. I just ask that you try the concept of this deck and tell me how it works out for you in gauntlet testing. I'm open to all solutions that are backed by empirical data and experience... But don't just make blanket statements like "4 or zero!!" Sorry to be rude but unsupported assertions of relative value just reveal your lack of knowledge. Go read some articles by MtG's greatest theorists on the subject. 2's and 3's look ugly on paper but are often correct. It's all based on how often you'd like to see the card in your opening hand. If you *never* want to see 2 of a card in your opening hand, like this deck doesn't want to see 2 vials, then you play 3 of a card; it's a well-recognized concept of deck-building.

[Drac]

It's this, guys.... Vial is a great card and all, but my experience shows that playing 4 leads to more frecquent mulligans. Also, don't forget that Mother of Runes is another first-class t1 play.

But really if you want to play 4 vials or zero vials, be my guest. I just ask that you try the concept of this deck and tell me how it works out for you in gauntlet testing. I'm open to all solutions that are backed by empirical data and experience... But don't just make blanket statements like "4 or zero!!" Sorry to be rude but unsupported assertions of relative value just reveal your lack of knowledge. Go read some articles by MtG's greatest theorists on the subject. 2's and 3's look ugly on paper but are often correct. It's all based on how often you'd like to see the card in your opening hand. If you *never* want to see 2 of a card in your opening hand, like this deck doesn't want to see 2 vials, then you play 3 of a card; it's a well-recognized concept of deck-building.

I agree with the point that 2 and 3 offs can be good in a deck, this is indeed basic deckbuilding. This does not apply to this case. Vial is most effective on turn 1, and a bad topdeck in the lategame. So you want to increase the chance that you draw 1 in your opening 7.

discussions in the U/W tempo tread do not really concern me, U/W tempo is a horrible deck.

Also i dont play a deck like this. I used to play Intuition Countertop, but in my current meta i would prefer Spiral Tide or Doomsday Tendrills.