Quote Originally Posted by Qweerios View Post
I frequently playtest with my roommate and whenever there is an attrition game being played, Riptide Lab gives my opponent a massive headache. I would say that Nic Fit is an unfavorable matchup for any Blade deck but I haven't lost a single game against it in testing simply because I could always grind out my opponent with a single lab. Nic Fit may not be a popular archetype but the same principle applies to Miracle. They try and keep the board clean and really lack land hate so a card like Karakas coupled with a clique or Lab with a Snap or Clique opens up a whole new can of worms for them.

Personally, this deck has given me the best results as of late compared to the usual (Delver and Jace decks). It scales beautifully throughout the course of the game and can takes on different roles depending on the matchup at hand. I've modified my successful list to reduce the amount of removal in favor of more control elements... So far, so good.


Creatures (12)
2 Grim Lavamancer
4 Stoneforge Mystic
4 Snapcaster Mage
2 Vendilion Clique

Spells (19)
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will
2 Spell Snare
2 Spell Pierce
2 Lightning Bolt
1 Izzet Charm

Others (6)
3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Batterskull
1 Engineered Explosives

Lands (23)
1 Academy Ruins
1 Riptide Laboratory
1 Karakas
1 Arid Mesa
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Flooded Strand
3 Tundra
2 Volcanic Island
1 Plateau
3 Island
1 Plains
1 Mountain

Sideboard (15)
3 Surgical Extraction
1 Red Elemental Blast
1 Pyroblast
1 Flusterstorm
1 Counterspell
1 Redirect
1 Izzet Charm
1 Wear // Tear
1 Venser, Shaper Savant
1 Sulfur Elemental
1 Blood Moon
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Engineered Explosives


Here's the list I am considering for my next tournament. SCG's should occur in the near future as I should be getting my passport soon. Every slot is carefully considered and the SB is built with all the major archetypes in mind. Constructive criticism is appreciated.

my list is very similar to yours, but i'd like to share it anyway:

creatures(12)
2 lavamancer
2 snap
3 clique
4 sfm
1 restoration angel

spells(19)
4 plow
3 bolt
3 force
2 pierce
1 counterspell
4 brainstorm
2 detention sphere

walkers(3)
2 jace
1 elspeth

equip(3)
1 jitte
1 feast/famine
1 batterskull

lands(23)
4 strand
4 tarn
2 mesa
2 tundra
2 volcanic
1 plateau
1 ruins
1 karakas
1 mountain
2 plains
3 island

sb (15)

3 meddling mage
3 rest in peace
2 blood moon
2 pyroblast
2 wear/tear
2 supreme
1 ajani vengeant

main differences-

you play more counters/control elements - I prefer more threats.

I purposely lowered the value of snapcaster mage so that I could play rest in peace just because it is such a powerful card in the current meta

example sb vs deathrite/goyf:
sb in: 3 rip, 2 supreme, 2 blood moon
sb out: 3 force, 2 lavamancer, 2 snap

then i just assume a more control role, and try to chain rip>blood moon>supreme. I've done this several times, and its simply amazing. Just be careful of daze+stifle because assuming you are going to hit 4-5 mana before you die is foolish in this format. I will still try to plow/bolt early threats even if I have the supreme just to buy time/remove disruption. if you can land a sfm>batterskull with a mana up for a pierce, this will do work. rug delver is one of my best matchups. rip directly contributes to that.

another key difference is that I play a feast/famine, which I found to be very powerful, it will often allow me to play way more aggressively. i always have resto angel/clique mana/lavamancer/walker mana up. If you are in a "safe" spot you can tapout precombat for a walker, swing, then have all the mana in the world.

things that I consider adding:
izzet charm - seems versatile, ive tested with it before and been left largely unimpressed, hence my 1 counterspell.
explosives - all around very powerful removal, can be abused with ruins. way faster than supreme, and with the recent scg victory, this might become necessary. hard to play it with rip, but you can def do it (ideally want 2)
second resto - I really want this to happen most of all, but I'm not sure what can be cut for it at this time> maybe Ajani? So far, angel has been a beast for me, blocking delvers, representing snapcaster #3, extra cliques, extra sfm, dodges bolt, flash threat to equip up, etc, the list goes on. I really want another one in. I might cut a RIP for it, since it will be powerful in similar matchups. I really like RIP right now.
surgical - if i were to cut rip, this would HAVE to come in
sword of fire/ice - is it better than f/f? maybe.... Since I'm counter light and feel "soft" to the combo matchup, I just prefer f/f to this. Also, I tend to play more aggressively with f/f because of the free mana.

I can recall a turn vs shardless bug where I play ajani, tapped a tropical down, swung in with equipped mystic, untap, slam blood moon, plow deathrite.

some words on Ajani - I have found him to be stellar. nobody sees it coming, and I really like it in those grindy mifrange/control matchups - basically the jace matchups. I will bring him in vs liliana as well. He might be win more, but I really enjoy playing with it right now. The only reason I can run this is because I play the elspeth main over jace #3, which is questionable. It's worked out for me as of right now, especially with the new legend rule (survives a lot more), so I dont think it's a problem, it just feels weird to have 2 jace, 1 elspeth, 1 ajani as the walkers, but I dont want any more than 4-5 4 drops...

alternate sb: (seems better vs the aggro, less against the jace decks)
3 meddling mage
2 ee
2 blood moon
2 rip
1 supreme
1 resto
2 pyroblast
2 wear/tear

as of right now, the worst matchups are things like miracle control, where your removal/disruption doesnt really bother them and they can play around your counters and play large threats (like entreat). the 2 detention spheres really help in that matchup, if you can catch angels with it then youre ahead of the game. I dont mind playing it early on a counterbalance if there is a window. lll be in philly this weekend, and during the week im testing this and u/w miracles. I have more experience with miracles and I do love me an entreat, but I'm not sure if its right in a heavy tempo environment. Jund won 2 weeks ago, delver won this week, so who knows maybe control is poised. Anything is viable in this format, just go with something you like I guess. I have a list of cards that are "must haves" for me right now, maybe ill just throw them all together and play some u/w miracles with sfm deck.

well, thats my 2 cents. looking forward to any feedback, thanks guys.