Best U/W Creatures that Grow

[jrw1985]

I was thinking about throwing together a UW Aggro-control deck, but instead of running SFM and Equipment I wanted to try out a less complicated strategy. I want to run some quality U/W creatures that can beat down on their own. Since this is a control deck I plan on running Snapcaster, so a bunch of Instants will also be played, and so Delver makes sense too. But I still have a couple of creature slots to fill, and I'd like to fill them with slow-growing creatures that can get really big eventually. That way I can drop them in the early game, build them up over time, then start bashing in the late game. So far I've thought of Student of Warfare, but leveling at sorcery speed seems slow for my needs, and he only gets to 4/4 d-strike. Are there any decent U/W creatures that pick up counters or grow in useful ways?

Thanks

[Kich867]

I was thinking about throwing together a UW Aggro-control deck, but instead of running SFM and Equipment I wanted to try out a less complicated strategy. I want to run some quality U/W creatures that can beat down on their own. Since this is a control deck I plan on running Snapcaster, so a bunch of Instants will also be played, and so Delver makes sense too. But I still have a couple of creature slots to fill, and I'd like to fill them with slow-growing creatures that can get really big eventually. That way I can drop them in the early game, build them up over time, then start bashing in the late game. So far I've thought of Student of Warfare, but leveling at sorcery speed seems slow for my needs, and he only gets to 4/4 d-strike. Are there any decent U/W creatures that pick up counters or grow in useful ways?

Thanks

To note, 4/4 double strike is actually pretty absurd. Leveling up isn't really that terrible. Creatures off-hand that grow:
Tarmogoyf
Quirion Dryad
Scavenging Ooze

Those are most of the good/decent ones I can think of at the moment.

[TsumiBand]

Honestly, trying to think of UW creatures that 'grow' and then eschewing SFM is sort of counterintuitive. Consider that a Quirion Dryad is a 1/1 for 1G and you may have to pay RRRR to make it a 5/5; SFM is a 1/2 for 1W and you pay 1W for a Batterskull, or 3W for a Sword of This and That.

That said, Shade of Trokair says hi. :(

Srsly, take a look at guys with Level Up. Student of Warfare, Coralhelm Commander, even Transcendant Master is okay-ish. They're all a bunch of dudes I wouldn't want to see under a Standstill, anyway. vOv

Figure of Destiny 'levels up' at Instant speed, but in a UW deck it might be hard to get him bigger than 4/4 and you have to pay it all at once.

While it's not growth in the strictest sense, Geist of Saint Traft is an asshat.

[Pneumatiker]

Not growing but building over time are the Hoofprints of the Stag.

[jrw1985]

To note, 4/4 double strike is actually pretty absurd. Leveling up isn't really that terrible. Creatures off-hand that grow:
Tarmogoyf
Quirion Dryad
Scavenging Ooze

Those are most of the good/decent ones I can think of at the moment.

Trying not to splash G. I wanna keep it UW to keep it simple.

[jrw1985]

Honestly, trying to think of UW creatures that 'grow' and then eschewing SFM is sort of counterintuitive. Consider that a Quirion Dryad is a 1/1 for 1G and you may have to pay RRRR to make it a 5/5; SFM is a 1/2 for 1W and you pay 1W for a Batterskull, or 3W for a Sword of This and That.


Basically I don't want to keep opening hands with Equipment in them, or play 4 Squires if my opponent has a good answer to Equipment. Splashing G for Goyf or Quirion Dryad seems like the most obvious approach, but the G splash makes me vulnerable to mana screw.

I plan on running Delver as an early threat and Snapcaster to generate CA. What I need now is a creature that gets better as the game is drawn out further. But what in UW could fill that roll?

[jrw1985]

This is pretty dumb, but...

Ludevic's Test Subject ?

Drop the Egg, play a counter/removal game for a while, then start removing counters?

[Meekrab]

Play that Life deck? 6/6 Flying Lifelink for W is pretty gud imo.

Either that or just win with Elspeth and Jace.

[Malchar]

All I got is exalted angel.

[Kich867]

Trying not to splash G. I wanna keep it UW to keep it simple.

Sorry, don't know why but I totally thought you wrote "G/W" haha. But yeah, generally it's just levelup creatures.

[trivial_matters]

Figure of Destiny is quite good, but requires a commitment to white.

[jrw1985]

Figure of Destiny is quite good, but requires a commitment to white.

I only plan on splashing W for Path/Swords. So... Yeah, Figure is way too expensive.

[bowvamp]

Why is there a requirement that they grow?
Phyrexian Dreadnought
Stifle
or
Show and Tell
Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
Seems like exactly what you're looking for, except for the fact that they're two card combos.
You could also potentially run
Thopter Foundry
Sword of the Meek
Creature hate is probably the most common kind of hate out there right now so the artifacts shouldn't be as hard to protect.

Also, I totally get what you are saying about running 4 Squires, but if you make your deck the following way it should be easier to deal with:

// MD
4 Delver of Secrets
3-4 Stoneforge Mystic
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
// SB
3-4 Thopter Foundry
1 Sword of the Meek

[TsumiBand]

Basically I don't want to keep opening hands with Equipment in them, or play 4 Squires if my opponent has a good answer to Equipment. Splashing G for Goyf or Quirion Dryad seems like the most obvious approach, but the G splash makes me vulnerable to mana screw.

I plan on running Delver as an early threat and Snapcaster to generate CA. What I need now is a creature that gets better as the game is drawn out further. But what in UW could fill that roll?

Luminarch Ascension, as once you meet the requirements you never take the counters off. So you just keep generating Angels for 1W a pop during their combat phase/end step. Thopter/Sword might be a little more reliable, but then that's a two-card combo which involves Equipment(which you're trying to avoid).

[Piceli89]

Creatures that stay in the blue and white color are well known for not having a great power/toughness ratio. You should aim to build a Fish-esque configuration with little, clever critters that bring card advantage of some sort and whose weakness is treated by adding some equipments.
Which clearly stands as a call for Stoneforge, though; and since I share the idea that SFM is becoming weaker and weaker these days, I really think you should take the "Landstill with creatures" school of thought already visible in Stoneblade and go that route. Blue/White fish with more than 12 creatures, Vials, and such isn't really viable these days, because of Punishing Fire and Maverick.
Creatures should be conceived as control spells that add marginal gains of having a small body (Vendilion Clique, Snapcaster, Trinket), whose role is to function as a protection/removal until Jace and Elspeth land on the board. Any strategy in these colours that relies on creatures as beaters is going to fail, because green dudes are plain better (yes, I'm also refering to UW tempo).

EDIT: this comes from a purpose of competitiveness, of course. If you want to build UW Stiflenought or Student of Warfare fish you're obviously free to do so, but I'm skeptical about its strength.

[Karhumies]

U and W do not have (enough) creatures which would grow (fast) enough to be competitive in a format where the benchmarks of growth are Tarmogoyf and Knight of the Reliquary. With that being said, here are some low-mana creatures in those colors which tend to "grow" over time - both good & crappy:

U
Cosi's Trickster

UU
Coralhelm Commander

W
Figure of Destiny
Student of Warfare
Hada Freeblade

1W
Ajani's Pridemate

WW
Kazandu Blademaster

UW
Pride of the Clouds

1WW
Gideon's Avenger

1 U/B U/B
Cemetery Puca

2U
Wake Thrasher

UWG
Jenara, Asura of War - but why not rather KotR, if going Green?

[from Cairo]

I kind of like the idea of Allies if trying to get a UW tribal working. I don't think it would be competitive, but it seems fun.

Maybe something like...

4 Hada Freeblade
4 Kazandu Blademaster
4 Phantasmal Image
3 Mirror Entity
2 Kabira Evangel

4 Brainstorm
4 Swords to Plowshares
3 Daze
2 Spell Pierce

4 Aether Vial
2 Relic of Progenitus

2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

4 Wasteland
4 Mutavault
4 Flooded Strand
4 Tundra
3 Windswept Heath
2 Plains
1 Island

This is untested and a totally rough outline, but I guess it's a direction that could be played around with.

[Freggle]

I too do not quite understand why they need to grow.

Two creatures I am surprised to see not listed yet are:

Steppe Lynx
Mindshrieker

Steppe Lynx and fetches are quite formidable. Perhaps better with a bounce spell PTE clearing the way.

Mindshierker plays nice with Snapcaster, and has some fun interactions with Jaces fatesteal on your path to victory.

[Karhumies]

...or you could just go with Sinew Sliver & company.

Thread (http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?5500-Deck-Countersliver-(MeatHooks)&highlight=countersliver)


EDIT:
Mindshrieker seems okay-ish in a slower/more resistant/controllish SnT-build together with Emrakul, Brainstorm, FoW, Jace, etc. I have no idea whether this would be feasible, though.
Or some strange flyer deck which combines Mindshrieker with Delver, Phantasmal Image, Serra Avenger and a defensive Moat to compensate for U/W's power/toughness ratio.

[RogueMTG]

...
I plan on running Delver as an early threat and Snapcaster to generate CA. What I need now is a creature that gets better as the game is drawn out further. But what in UW could fill that roll?

It's not a creature... but Elspeth, Knight-Errant is pretty good here.

Also Geist of Saint Traft can close games quickly once you've established control.