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Whut?!!!Quote:
Originally Posted by Captain Hammer
You are really funny, since "way back" was yesterday. On page 89, someone else suggests that you skip the CB/top for spell snares, and you go "splendid, i'll try that mate".
How much time have you really had to tests all these lists thrown around?
The "way back" was referring to my thread from TEN DAYS AGO, in which I was playing CB + Top along side Knight.
I started siding it out for Diverts and other utility back during thursday night. Eventually, I gave up on CB + Top and found myself leaving it out of the mainbuild entirely. Just didn't feel like bringing it up here and starting another argument since everyone here has such a hard on for CB + Top, which always felt lukewarm at best in the deck.
Since someone else suggested getting rid of CB + Top and wasn't instantly flamed for doing so, I figured I would jump in and share my support of the cutting the card as well.
Against most decks of legacy, CB/top ends the game.
Mana denial strategy can always fail. When i playtested against TA, 2 stifle and 2 wasteland and i still managed somehow to win that game. Mana denial can't prevent lucky top deck from opponents.
CB/top can completely counter every spell opponent attempt to play.
I wasn't happy with CB + Top. But you know what. Play CB if you want. CB + Top is not really relevent. I'm not happy with 4 Spell Snare in it's place either. Had far better luck with Divert. But it's not relevent. And it's not relevent whether you opt to include any basics in the deck or not either.
I just want others players to test Stifle + Wasteland + Knight so that they can see what I'm seeing, which is that this approach is really really strong. I don't much care what the rest of the build looks like.
Ok Mr. Hammer, whatever you say.
When you say that CB/top is lukewarm in "the" deck, do you refer to your own build, or UGw thresh in general? If the second, that is a rather funny statement, I don't care how "anti-inovational" you want to call me.
This whole discussion reminds me a lot of the the one held in this very thread 3 months or so ago, when Rafiq was spoiled and about to become legal. He was said to be "the" tech by some and that enforcer would never need to see play again. How many top8s have been made by a UGw thresh with Rafiq since? Not one.
Although I completely agree with you, there was 1 top8 w/ Rafiq in UGW Thresh: http://www.deckcheck.net/deck.php?id=21816.
And I was one of the people who said that Mystic Enforcer absolutely belongs in the deck and should never get the boot.
Plenty of people opposed replacing Werebear with Goyf as well.
The majority of people opposed CB + Top initially. CB + Top was proposed as soon as Coldsnap was spoiled. Yet it took a full year and a half after coldsnap was printed before CB+Top started becoming mainstream.
Plenty of people opposed Oblivion Ring. I could go on and on.
Practically every single new card that eventually made it into the deck, many people in this very thread opposed playing.
All that proves is that people are always opposed to trying out new ideas and new cards in the deck. The very fact that Coldsnap was out for a full year and a half before CB + Top became mainstream proves this.
What all this proves is that plenty of people talk about how a card or strategy doesn't work in the deck without ever having tested it themselves.
Hehe, missed that one. I hope my reasoning is still valid ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by Arsenal
Regarding Knight/Waste Lock did you try a game vs. UR dreadstill or a thresh deck with basics in it?
No to UR Dreadstill. Yes to Thresh.
And Knight was fantastic there. It was on Saturday. One game in particular that I recall came to a Goyf standstill (each of us had a 4/5 goyf on the board) until I managed to resolve Knight which was already a 7/7 when it came on the board. Won the game singlehandedly.
You're not going to go for Wastelock against decks with a low curve. You use it against decks that either...
a.) Already had their mana development hindered by stifle (and subsequently missed a land drop).
b.) Missed a land drop and don't have many lands on the board.
c.) Play several 3cc and/or 4cc cards.
Many games, you use Knight as a giant beatstick (almost always bigger than goyf) and sometimes, you use it to block/deter attacks and then pump itself.
In that situation, couldn't an Enforcer been just as effective at breaking the Goyf stalemate?
I don't think a UGW-Tempo-Threshold is possible. I've played the deck long enough (pre and post Goyf) to be convinced that its clock is wayyyy to slow to play tempo.Quote:
Originally Posted by Saverus
It doesn't have the reach to play tempo; to be more precise, it doesn't play burn like Canadian Threshold, huge beaters that come fast in the game (Tombstalker in TA) and it plays Sword to Plowshares, which is arguably the best removal in the format, but tends to slow things down via opponent life-gain. In short, UGW-Threshold's clock would be way too slow to make it an efficient tempo deck.
You lost me there... I'd like to know your testing gauntlet to try to make sense of that.Quote:
Originally Posted by Captain Hammer
Knight is a huge beater that comes down fast. It's bigger than Tombstalker the majority of the time. That's my point actually. With Knight, UGW-Tempo-Thresh works.
He actually managed to resolve an Enforcer I think ~2-3 turns after I played my Knight, but had to use it chump block the Knight so that he could live an extra turn.Quote:
Originally Posted by Arsenal
I actually had a FoW handy but there was no reason for me to stop Enforcer as it was too little, too late and I wanted the FoW if he tried to play another StP. My Enforcer got StPed earlier (I think it was the same game, but I might be thinking of another match.) Either way, I never got to use an Enforcer that game. As my thread above indicates, I played with Enforcer in the deck, and I still often play with Enforcer alongside Knight.
It supplements the aggressive strategy of this build well.
That game, Knight functioned as a 3cc Enforcer #3-6.
Knight often does work as a 3cc Enfocerer to break Goyf stalemates. But my point is, the card has many functions. Breaking Goyf stalemates and subbing in for Enforcer are just one of them.
You know what guys. I'm tired of belaboring this. Play whatever build you want.
Play or don't play Stifle + Wasteland + Knight. Don't really care anymore. It took people an year+ to start accepting Counterbalance + Top as worthwhile. I'm confident that it'll happen with Knight too eventually.
This is far more powerful against much more decks:
Resolved Back to Basics
Resolved Counterbalance
Resolved Sensei's Divining Top
With having that in play, a simple nimble mongoose can seal you the deal.
Stifle + wasteland will only effect your opponent once. It just cannot compete with the cardadvantage Counterbalance creates. I bet that I will win far more games with CB/Top in play (or with Back to Basics) than a "recurring" double-Wasteland.
Although KoR is pretty big, Mystic Enforcer is big enough too. It is awesome against Goyfstandstills, TA and more black removal.
It just seems to me by the way you argument that you do not test properly enough to draw conclusions. As Mtgthesource is pretty conservative, you must first get results in order to convince people to play your list. Discuss your deck with people you test against (etc.), tweek the list by doing that to get a more stable list.
Back to Basics is very hard to support well given our manabase.
Getting two cards into play (both CB + Top) would be more disruptive than Knight.
But you're talking about a two card combo here.
Knight is a one card combo, that also happens to a beatstick/threat. A beatstick that's often just as big as Mystic Enforcer but at a cheaper cc. How many games have you won by swinging with Counterbalance or Back to Basics.
Actually, to clarify things...
CB and SDT both works perfection on their own. Combined together, they are THE combo.
SDT is pretty good alone, probably better than a single CB. Cards selection usually win the game on the long run
CB : Blind reveal is enough to make your opponent slow down. You also have cantrips if you dont have SDT in play
"How many games have you won by swinging with Counterbalance "
False quesiton much? LOL?
CB actually makes me win a lot of game. Whether random blind reveal, or actual SDT/Cantrip. Obviously, CB doesn't attack.
Robert
Have you actually played the current UGw List with CB+Top+BtB? If it were a problem to put CB or Top into play or if it were a problem to support BtB, people wouldn't pilot this list into Top8 more consistantly than most other decks (although not all play BtB).Quote:
Originally Posted by Captain Hammer
Again, play Knight as you like but don't try to support him with shady arguments like: Goyfs big brother, better than CB+Top, "recurring" Wastelands (which they are not!) and concepts like white Tempo Thresh.
I think the Knight is a fine card but doesn't shore up the kind of match-ups UGw Threshold has problems with.
If you cut Counterbalance/Sensei's Diving Top and/or Spell Snare then your TES, Burn, GoyfSligh, AggroLoam and Threshold mirrors get weaker. You're still vulnerable to Swords but lose the insane card and tempo advantages of playing these cards.
I think if a change is needed in the archetype, it would be to shore up match-ups like Landstill or Intuition-based archetypes that can just beat you with inevitability. Oblivion Ring and Trygon Predator have gone a long way to improve those matches.
I don't agree that you can play a tempo role because your argument revolves around you resolving a three casting cost spell. Thrash is able to play the tempo role because of the cheap and efficient nature of every spell it plays. I think you're sacrificing the strengths of the deck to try to achieve something you won't be able to do better than other tempo-focused decks.
I'm not bashing the Knight or anyone who wants to play it. I just don't think that's the direction UGw Threshold needs to go in to improve.
You're welcome to disagree. That's fine.
Let's just drop the topic.
I don't feel like debating the Knight any more. I will continue to play it because I've personally not found what you said to be the case.
I have one question Hammer...
How does your build fare against Merfolk?
My reason for asking is that I've been having a hard time beating Merfolk with any of the Thresh builds and even Dreadstill. I think that Merfolk is deffinitely a DTB (see current T8 results).
Personally, I think that KoR is a good card. But, my issue with it (no testing to back this up) is that it seems to me that you will mana screw yourself by fetching wastlands unless you run more colored lands in general to support it (especially in a three color deck).
On the subject of CB/top, I also personally think that CB/top isn't that great at the moment for the following reasons;
-Everyone is playing arround it
-It is hard to assemble the combo
(although I agree that top is amazing by itself)
-It slows the game down considerably (more draws)
I do have personal experience playing without CB/top in Threshold. I placed 25 at The Source tournament with Ugr Swan Thresh. I ran 4 Counterspell and 3 Spell Snare in the CB/top spots and was very happy with it all day. I countered Tombstalker a couple times and in fact had my Counterspells Extirpated twice that day. I agree with most that CB/top is the nuts in some matches, winning games all by itself, but I personally am not huge fan of the combo, especially right now.
People playing around it means they aren't playing optimally, which is awsome for you.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sage
Assembling the combo is piece of cake, specially because the combo requires only Counterbalance, since Top is an improvement, but not a necessity. With 8 Brainstorms+Ponders, Counterbalance will be effective almost all the time.
As long as you can imprint a mid/late game aggressivity, after taking control of the game, you shouldn't be getting ties. Countertop does very little if you can't deal with what your opponent plays while dodging it or before it becomes online. With O-Ring (1-2), STP (4), EE (0-2) and a Huge Flying Thing (1), you shouldn't have problems with that.
I actually did play Merfolk about five days ago. I don't really remember the game much. I won twice, lost once. I do think KOR helped but I used it primarily as a large self pumping blocker and beatstick rather than to disrupt the manabase. That's really all I can say about the matchup.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sage
if they get a lord of atlantis out, all your blockers are non blockers.Quote:
Originally Posted by Captain Hammer
the aether vial + standstill merfolk build has a really good matchup against ugw thresh.
I've noticed when playing against Merfolk that the aggro/control decks I've been playing have done quite poorly against it for two reasons;
1-If Aether Vial resolves - that's probably game
(EE just gets Stifled)
2-If Lord of Atlantis resolves - that's probably game
I just think that Merfolk is a really good metagame deck right now because it has a good matchup against most of the other aggro control decks. From what I've read, it's only bad matchup is goblins. I am starting to wonder if the white Threshold splash is the best one for the metta at the moment. Red just gives you soooooo many more options and answers to aggro. But, dropping StP makes your TA/Dreadstill/Eva green matchups worse. So, I guess you can't have your cake and eat it too unless you want to run 4 colors and get owned by moon effects and the like.
even 3 color thresh gets owned by moon..Quote:
Originally Posted by Sage
The Merfolks matchup has been a concern for me due to its growing popularity in our metagame. I've tested it a bit with a pretty standard list and got some opinions.
Even though it's never going to turn into a very possitive one, I've found EE to be pretty useful in this matchup, as it's much better than other cards such as Oblivion Ring, just because it can get you some nice card advantage by blowing X+1 creatures. Yeah, it can get stifled, well, that's what counters/CB are for, as it's usual for them to make you save counters thanks to their f***ing Vials. I have found also that using EE on Vial is a waste of resources most of time. Vial usually leads to an early counterwar. I you don't win that counterwar you can try to get rid of it soon, but as far as the game goes, Vial gets worse, they don't have Ringleader or Siege-Gang, if it goes through, then start worrying about what's appearing. If you can't get rid of it soon, then your next objective is Lord of Atlantis.
Another great card, coming form the sideboard, is Pithing Needle, as shutting Mutavault in the midagame can give you an edge.
Having more than a pair of threats is also nice, as you can get some time if they don't go mad with Lords.
To sum up, we can't deny it's a bad matchup, but I think that with some tight play against non-MD Relic lists you can get some games.
Maybe 4c can get a better game, I haven't tested it, but their mana denial plan in going to hurt, and I'm not sure that it's that necessary against many other relevant matchups.
If you have problems with Merfolk and non-red aggro in general: We have Path to Exile now.
4 Stop main and 3 PtE SB make the aggro matchup not that painful anymore.
Merfolk and Elves decks are problematic. I think they are by far superior to Goblin against UGW. They have Champions that can end the game on their own (unblockable). Merfolk especially runs Countermagic.
I managed to get some KOR and PTE foil today. They costed me a fortune
Robert
I was thinking about this list:
Creatures (10):
4 Tarmogoyf
3 Nimble Mongoose
2 Trygon Predator
1 Mystic Enforcer (maybe -1 Enforcer, +1 Nimble Mongoose)
Cb/top (7):
4 Counterbalance
3 Sensei's Divining Top
Counters (8):
4 Force of Will
4 Daze
Cantrips (8):
4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
Toolbox (5:)
1 Enlightened Tutor
1 Back to Basics
1 Oblivion Ring
2 Pithing Needle
Removal (5):
4 Swords to plowshares
(1 Oblivion ring)
Lands (18):
4 Flooded Strand
2 Windswept Heath
1 Wooded Foothills
3 Tropical Island
2 Tundra
2 Volcanic Island
2 Island
1 plains
1 forest
Sideboard contains pyroblast's and pyroclam.
However I'm not sure whether playing Wooded Foothills is such a good idea. Heath doesnt fetch Volcanic Island, which is bad postboard. However you do need a fetch that can fetch to forest, plains, tundra and tropical island preboard.
I´m also not content with the fact that this lists plays only 10 creatures, however I can´t get more space.
I think UGW(r) Threshold needs Back to Basics since it really helps your bad matchup´s. So i´m sure I want to play that card.
When looking at other UGW(r) decks on Deckcheck, several lists play Lightning bolt´s. I´m not sure whether that is as good as it looks like. I prefer a toolbox with B2B.
What do you think of the list? How can it be improved? What do you think of the manabase?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cenarius
:)Quote:
Originally Posted by kabal
I do not agree with some choices you make.
You only play 2 Basics, which is far too less. You atleast need to play 3 or maybe even 4.
Second thing: Why do you play rushing river? Bounce is pretty bad in a list that isn't Tempo Thresh, like Canadian Thresh.
Third thing: There are far better options than Spell Snare, I think.
Fourth thing: you only have 2 fetch to get 1 of your basics. Thats really inconsistent.
1. You don't play Back to Basics, which is a bomb. It really helps you a lot against bad matchup's, pretty good against 50/50 matchup's and can lead to instant wins against outtapped TA, ANT (with no basics) etc.
2. Pithing Needle is a card that helps against bad matchup's aswell. You really need general cards in big tournaments. Pithing Needle is a card that is never dead against nearly all matchups. Polluted Delta, Survival, Vial, Deed, EE's, Factory's all seem to be pretty good targets.
I was thinking about a build that ruins more Enlightened Tutor and maybe less Counterbalance/top. Like: If you already have Cb/top, more Enlightned tutor aren't bad, because they can search answers. If you need one peace: Enlightened Tutor can find the card. I'm not sure whether this is really good, but it seems oke to me. What do you think?
I think I can answer a few of these.
-You really only need an Island and Forest to operate. Of course, running more basics does help against some problem match ups, but this deck is 4c and not running enough duals or fetches will get you color screwed.
-Rushing River is probably in there to handle things like Humility. It can also bounce potential blockers or attackers, Survival, Dreadnought, etc. A good, flexible card that you can dig for game one.
-Spell Snare is incredibly good in this format: Goyf, Counterbalance, Survival, Standstill, Sinkhole, Dark Confidant, Hymn, Daze (Pinder), etc.
-True; Personally I would run 3 green fetches.
-Back to Basics is good, but not in a 4c deck. It is pretty spectacular in some UGw builds but the strategies for that list and Der's list are a bit different. One has more counters, while Der's has some more permanent solutions (ie Oblivion Ring, B2B, etc).
-2 Pithing Needle are in the board. Are you wanting it to be main deck? Well, Trygon Predator really helps remove problem artifacts and enchantments so I really don't see the need. Once you know what you are up against after G1, SB them in.
-Enlightened Tutor is iffy. It lets you get some good cards and answers but it takes slots. It is really up to the playstyle. I think the recommended list goes for more counters to assist in the MUs like combo, TA, and the mirror instead of stuff like O Ring, B2B to help against Landstill, etc. Personal preference.
About ten games of testing with KOR against my Brother (mirror match : we have exactly the same list, except he is running MD EE, and i am running MD trygon predator. EE seems to be a more powerful tool in the mirror, pre-board):
I would say half game when i drew KOR, KOR wasnt as explosive as i expected. In the other half games, KOR was like a tarmogoyf #5-6 (by tarmogoyf, i mean a big fat relatively cheap beater). We used KOR to dodge CB mainly, but also a creature that is stronger than Tarmogoyf (generally, using his ability only once is enough to grow it bigger than tarmogoyf), Our lists are also permanent heavy, so we sometimes have problems reaching 7 cards in the graveyard. This is when KOR can be useful to reach it. (We've cut the predict already)
Im not playing B2B at the moment. They are in my sb.
MD Oblivion Ring and Krosan grip worked wonderfully for me. With that many 3cc, i found myself countering 3cc spells quite often. (I play 2 trygon predator, 2 kor, 2 oring, 1 krosan grip, My brother played 2 EE, 2 Oring, 2 Kor). It is also a good way of dodging CB, while keeping the core of the deck intact. However, having that many 3cc spells can make the starting seven more problematic. I also run 18 lands to support my 7 3cc cards. (3 island, 1 forest, 1 plain, 8 fetchland, 5 duals)
I feel very confident with my current list. But i am still hesitating whether not playing the B2B and Pithing Needle MD. In my limited testing (mainly against TA, Dreadstill and UGW), i found them to be unnecessary. But i know that at any large events, Landstill will be very present.
I think the addition of PTE to our SB or MD will improve our TA matchup greatly. If we can get rid of their 8 threats, the game is ours. Ride the mongoose to victory.
B2B is unnecessary against TA i think. I am still not convinced on Divert, although they can be quite amazing in this matchup. I dont know if it is worth 3 slots in the SB.
But back to my real point... I think 2 Oblivion ring with 1 Krosa grip are wonderful MD. They are almost never dead cards (except maybe against combo). The next legacy event here is going to be big (For a timewalk beta). I think CB will be all over the place (along alot of Landstill, Dreadstill, TA, Tres.hold...). Having more 3cc cards, and having more MD answer to it is certainly the way to go!
I think UGW doesnt need to go 4c. It already has answers to everything... except stupid elves
Robert
Elves, Merfolk, Goblins are greatly improved by pyroclasm.
Landstill, Itf, Threshold (extra counters), solidarity (not really worth mentioning but still), MUC and other U-based decks are improved by pyroblast's.
I'm still doubting whether 4c is the way to go, but Pyroclasm and Pyroblast seem excellent choices for large tournaments 60+ (or mb even 100+, since the metagame will be anything even extended decks like elfball or something). Since I play 2 Trygon Predator's, O ring, Back to Basic's, Pyroblast and Pithing Needle (naming one card, what will it be) the landstill matchup is far better then the usual list's. ITF also becomes better. Those are matchup's that are really hard to win. Daze is the most powerful card in your deck against Landstill/ITF (because it has an awesome way of slowing your opponent down and has a nice synenergy with B2B).
4c yes, is better against aggro, and pyroblast is wonderful against blue deck BUT
3c allows you to play 4-5 basic lands which allows you to dodge most Non basic land hate. I think that this is a huge advantage over 4c. In a large event, i think i will be expecting more aggro/control than aggro (there will be some merfolks, slivers. There wont be alot of elfes and goblins. Not at an event where the entry fee is high). I can't be sure absolutely, but im willing to take that risk :)
On ITF : With pithing needle and alot of 3cc. You can defeat this deck rather easily. (Pithing needle allow you to block his removals or his recursion) and 3cc just counter his deed and intuition
UGW is already the best color ThreshThreshThreshThreshThreshThreshThreshThresh in the mirror. Going 4c wont improve it by much.
Landstill is still my scariest matchup. The deck can just go insane! LAst thursday, i tested against someone with UWB landstill. Fortunately, he told me he didnt play Humility, which relieved me a bit. But he was playing like 13 removal ( something like 4stp, 3 edict, 3 smother and 3 vindicate!!!). We are not even counting the EE he had. CB really shined against him.
@ Omega: Could we see a decklist? 2 Oblivion+1Krosan, Knight, Trygon, etc.
I don't know whether you looked properly but my list also plays 4 basics. It also runs Trygon Predators and also Pithing Needle's.
This is the list:
Creatures (10):
4 Tarmogoyf
3 Nimble Mongoose
2 Trygon Predator
1 Mystic Enforcer (maybe -1 Enforcer, +1 Nimble Mongoose)
Cb/top (7):
4 Counterbalance
3 Sensei's Divining Top
Counters (8):
4 Force of Will
4 Daze
Cantrips (8):
4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
Toolbox (5:)
1 Enlightened Tutor
1 Back to Basics
1 Oblivion Ring
2 Pithing Needle
Removal (5):
4 Swords to plowshares
(1 Oblivion ring)
Lands (18):
4 Flooded Strand
2 Windswept Heath
1 Wooded Foothills
3 Tropical Island
2 Tundra
2 Volcanic Island
2 Island
1 plains
1 forest
I'm in doubt whether 3 Enlightened Tutor and only 3 Counterbalance and 3 Sensei's Divining Top and 1 Pithing Needle is the way to go. Maybe more Enlightened Tutor's means more answers to everything. I need to test this first, before I can conclude anything.
And I'm in doubt whether 4color+Back to Basics can really work out well...Quote:
Originally Posted by Cenarius
We have already tinkered around with the list for a long time as seen here, here and here:
http://www.deckcheck.net/deck.php?id=21997
http://www.deckcheck.net/deck.php?id=22376
http://www.deckcheck.net/deck.php?id=21395
After having tested a littlebit, coming to the conclusion that Trygon Predator is actually a house in the mirrormatch and Nimble Mongoose usually too small, we restructured UGW Threshold as seen here and here (Clemens scrubbed out of contention at that event):
http://www.deckcheck.net/deck.php?id=22725
http://www.deckcheck.net/deck.php?id=22723
http://www.deckcheck.net/deck.php?id=23034
(Clemens is Der_imaginäre_Freund, Daniel is me, Felix is Brehn btw.)
To copy someone's list and mixing it up with a unnecessary concept is definitely the wrong way. I mean, Back to Basics and a 4color manabase. That's awful.
The idea of running 3 Enlightened Tutors is not recommendable my any means necessar. The tutor is clunky, but served as a proxy No. 5 Counterbalance in our build, making the 1of's from the toolbox virtually 2ofs. That was his only purpose. He was good enough to compensate the disadvantage, but you can't efford that disadvantage most of the time, thus playing more than 1 would be fatal.
Sorry, I just have to ask. Why would you Spell Snare a Daze?Quote:
Originally Posted by Jak.
I did not just copy your list, put 2 volcanic's in them and that's it. I play Threshold for a pretty long time now, played nearly every list (even UG). By doing that I could see all flaws of the decks.
I wanted to build a Threshold list that can deal with all their bad matchup's all the same time. Since Threshold does have pretty bad matchup's or 50/50's and optimal build is necessary.
Team Nijmegen first built an 4c threshold list with black without any nimble mongoose's. People illustrated us as idiots, however our list seemed the right choice playing in our metagame. However I soon saw some flaws which could not be overcome by the 4c threshold list.
I looked at other lists and became aware of the Back to Basic's + Enlightened Tutor list. Tested it briefly and came to the conclusion that this is the way to go on an hugh tournament. I became 20e/156, however I was still not satisfied with the list. I started looking for other solution's. One of them was Trygon Predator's which some list's already played. They were pretty awesome in testing.
However UGw Threshold still has flaws. It has a hard matchup against swarms of creatures. It also has a hard matchup against control decks. Both are played a lot at large tournaments.
One way to solve it is to splash a fourth colour, with still 4 basic's and little demand for red (only 2 Volcanic Island) to keep the manabase as consistent as possible (which is hard).
I'm convinced that you do need to have the fourth colour (red) to make the machtup's that are hard to beat better. Since I do want to play Stp's, a little splash is necessary.
My manabase actually isn't that different from your list. The only way my list is different is that my list plays 1 extra dual in exchange for 1 fetch. So your contradicting yourself. The manabase is still solid enough to play B2B, which is needed aswell.
The Enlightened Tutor is something which I am not sure of. A larger search engine is pretty good, however you already play 8 cantrip's and 3 top's to search your Enchantment's and Artifact's. Your probably right on that, however E. Tutor and Counterbalance do have a nice synenergy. If you simple need a CC 3 for an opposing Deed....