Miracle Control

[Guy I Don't Know]

Which sideboard card is best against creature decks?

Meekstone
Humility
Moat

I would prefer Meekstones as I already own a few and could buy a Humility but a Moat is too expensive for me :-)

You can also play path to exile or peacekeeper. Peacekeeper is pretty narrow versus Merfolk and elves while path is better the more scm you have

[kirdie]

You can also play path to exile or peacekeeper. Peacekeeper is pretty narrow versus Merfolk and elves while path is better the more scm you have

Unfortunately I just traded away my Peacekeeper but I have 2 Path to Exile. But I would like to have something against Show and Tell and Reanimator and I'm not sure if Path to Exile is good enough there.

[Valtrix]

Thank you for the answer, can you point me the rule about this to me show to the show and tell player from my meta? he dosent beleave in me

Cya

Okay, here are the relevant rules...

603.1. Triggered abilities have a trigger condition and an effect. They are written as "[Trigger condition], [effect]," and begin with the word "when," "whenever," or "at." They can also be expressed as "[When/Whenever/At] [trigger event], [effect]."

603.3. Once an ability has triggered, its controller puts it on the stack as an object that's not a card the next time a player would receive priority. See rule 116, "Timing and Priority." The ability becomes the topmost object on the stack. It has the text of the ability that created it, and no other characteristics. It remains on the stack until it's countered, it resolves, a rule causes it to be removed from the stack, or an effect moves it elsewhere.

These rules show that Pithing Needle and Phyrexian Revoker have no triggered abilities and that Oblivion Ring does. The gather page for Show and Tell also lists a few relevant rulings for the card,

If the cards being put onto the battlefield also require choices, those choices are made after all players choose their card. The active player makes choices for their card (if any), then the other players (if any) in turn order.

The current player chooses first, then each other player chooses in turn order. A player does not have to reveal the chosen card, so long as it is clear *which* card was chosen. After all choices are made, the cards are put onto the battlefield simultaneously.

So from this we see that if your opponent chooses Griselbrand and you choose pithing needle, both enter the battlefield at the same time. But, in order for pithing needle to even be on the battlefield a card has to have been choosen for it already. So, your opponent never has a window to activate Griselbrand when the needle is not in play. As an additional bonus you get to see what card your opponent is putting into play as you put yours into play, so theoretically you could name Sneak Attack instead if you see that your opponent isn't putting a Griselbrand into play.

Which sideboard card is best against creature decks?

Meekstone
Humility
Moat

I would prefer Meekstones as I already own a few and could buy a Humility but a Moat is too expensive for me :-)

Meekstone is generally poor because it doesn't stop a bunch of little guys, and every creature gets to damage you at least once. It's cheap, but a deck like goblins is going to be able to easily play around it. As such, I think its usage is pretty narrow.

Humility I think is the best option of your list. It lets you shut down the cheat-big-fatties-into-play.decs while also slowing down other creature decks and making their utility creatures do nothing. In particular this is strong against Griselbrand, as Grisel will be unable to draw cards against you (to hopefully find an answer for humility). It is also good against Qasali Pridemage, because a pridemage can't answer the humility anymore.

Moat is just not very good right now in my opinion. First off, if you don't own it, it's so expensive to buy. Second, most decks can deal with it...Goblins can burn you out with Seige-gang, Merfolk can fly over it with Coralhelm Commander, Reanimator and Sneak and Show have at least Griselbrand, even RUG has Delver of Secrets. I'd rather take Humility over this.

Ensnaring Bridge is also an option. While being one mana cost less than Humility, it can sometimes take a bit longer to get online since you need to ditch your hand. Money-wise the card is pretty cheap though, and it's great at shutting decks out of the game until they find an answer. Between this and Humility it's tough to say; I like that this can make it so creatures can't actually attack you, but humility can stop many decks from trying to find answers.

You're right that Path to Exile isn't good enough against Show and Tell or Reanimator. I think if that's your concern, then humility is probably the card to choose.

[kirdie]

Thank you very much for your detailed answer, Valtrix!
As I always seem to have many cards in hand I will try to get one or two Humilities rather than Ensnaring Bridges.

Another problem I have with the deck is that I often get very low on life and even if I stabilize with a counterbalance I always fear that if even one creature gets through (e.g. via Ether Vial end of turn) I can still lose. Are there any viable options for lifegain?
My ideas would be Stoneforge Mystic with Batterskull, Ivory Tower (as I often have a big hand) or Timely Reinforcements.

[novatinhu]

Thankz too Valtrix!

Talking about life gain anyone has tried in the Land tax version with trinket mage 1 off Ivory Tower? seems to be good!

[Guy I Don't Know]

I am wondering if it is wise to side in surgical extractions. Also, what do you side out versus them? I was thinking Spell Pierce, some number of Swords and some number of termini. I am siding in Disenchant and engineered explosives.

Regarding life gain, remember you can swords to Plowshares your own guys for life. I have seen timely reinforcements played before but I personally would not suggest it. Trinket Mage for Ivory Tower seems cute and fun. Without land tax in play your 4+ card hand that is required for ivory tower to be worthwile should be able to counter or remove whatever they have. If you want life gain play stone blade. It is basically the same deck except miracles play entreat the angels and counterbalance over stoneforger mystic and lingering souls. Lingering souls blocks like a champ and mystic gets batterskull or jitte (both gain life).

(disclaimer- yes there are other differences such as top and discard, I am not trying to get into a discussion of differences)

[LowBeyonder]

Moat is just not very good right now in my opinion. First off, if you don't own it, it's so expensive to buy. Second, most decks can deal with it...Goblins can burn you out with Seige-gang, Merfolk can fly over it with Coralhelm Commander, Reanimator and Sneak and Show have at least Griselbrand, even RUG has Delver of Secrets. I'd rather take Humility over this.

I think you're underselling Moat a little; I've been playing it in my sideboard lately and while few decks have zero outs to it, it blanks so many of their other cards that you can conserve countermagic and StP for the answers they do have. I wouldn't run it against Reanimator or Sneak and Show, but boarding it in against most of the various midrange or tribal decks is worth it.

[Valtrix]

Thank you very much for your detailed answer, Valtrix!
As I always seem to have many cards in hand I will try to get one or two Humilities rather than Ensnaring Bridges.

Another problem I have with the deck is that I often get very low on life and even if I stabilize with a counterbalance I always fear that if even one creature gets through (e.g. via Ether Vial end of turn) I can still lose. Are there any viable options for lifegain?
My ideas would be Stoneforge Mystic with Batterskull, Ivory Tower (as I often have a big hand) or Timely Reinforcements.

Talking about life gain anyone has tried in the Land tax version with trinket mage 1 off Ivory Tower? seems to be good!

I think the moment that you're thinking about Ivory Tower, you're straying a little bit too far. Realistically, in a normal game after the first few turns you are not going to be able to get any advantage out of Ivory Tower, because you will have to be spending your cards to answer their cards or just lose.

Land tax is a decent way to take advantage of tower, but then you also need to determine if land tax is worth including, and I think no. Sure, the most recent UW control lists for the last 5k were playing some number of land tax, but I imagine that was more to test it out. Most decks can play around land tax, and even when tax does "go off" I feel as though the effect is not that great. Frankly, if you want extra lands, I'd just go for Tithe before land tax, and I don't like that much.

Realistically, I think Batterskull or Timely Reinforcements are going to be your best options for lifegain. Batterskull can be a bit clunky to just hardcast, but I have had pretty good success using it this way in a control shell. You really just need to watch your curve. Timely Reinforcements is probably the better option, as a sideboard card, although I don't have a ton of experience with it, so I can't comment much on it.

However, I don't think lifegain is really the problem. The problem is that once you "stabilize," a game, you need to have ways to keep the game state in your favor. That said, it's not so much that you're low on life which creates a problem, but rather your opponent having too many threats for you to deal with every turn. Some lifegain will only buy you a turn or so, but you'll still lose if you can't answer a strong threat. For this reason, you should probably look at more removal or pseudo-removal to give you the edge in the long run. To address this I would probably recommend Vedalken Shackles or Humility. Shackles is amazing at stabilizing the board itself, as well as not allowing your opponent to come back in the game until they answer shackles. Humility has great utility in a ton of matchups, and makes creatures your opponent play not very scary at all.

I also am a fan of Porphyry Nodes. While it doesn't answer threats "immediately," the amount of time it can gain you early game is great. If they play a threat turn 1, and you respond with a turn 1 nodes, then they either will get X-for-1'd if they play a creature on their next turn, or they have to just pass and waste time and tempo. Sure, you take a little damage from the slowness here and there, but I think that nodes can get us a ton of tempo to setup, something that very few other cards are able to do for this deck. While this doesn't necessarily address the issue of them playing another threat after the board is stabilized, I think that nodes can allow you to be in a better stabilized position, when that happens.

So, I'm not sure I completely answered your question, but I hope that this response helps in some way.

I think you're underselling Moat a little; I've been playing it in my sideboard lately and while few decks have zero outs to it, it blanks so many of their other cards that you can conserve countermagic and StP for the answers they do have. I wouldn't run it against Reanimator or Sneak and Show, but boarding it in against most of the various midrange or tribal decks is worth it.

Moat may be marginally to decently better than Humility or Ensnaring Bridge against midrange and tribal decks; however, moat is worthless against Reanimator and Sneak and Show. As such, this tradeoff just doesn't seem worth it. If you're going to bother running a 3cc or 4cc artifact or enchantment, I think it should have a wider application than just tribal or midrange, and the fact of the matter is that for a slow deck like this having more answers to Reanimator and Sneak and Show is very worthwhile. Also, don't forget that Maverick is huge right now, and against them Humility is much stronger than moat, which in itself is probably enough reason to run humility over moat.

[KevinTrudeau]

Timely Reinforcements is probably the better option, as a sideboard card, although I don't have a ton of experience with it, so I can't comment much on it.

I tested with it for a short while and found it to be atrocious. I'd still need to test with it for a little bit longer to come to a conclusive conclusion, but I'm not sure it's worth the time. I'm pretty sure lifegain is just not necessary, though; the best card to prevent succumbing to bolt-inevitability is a card we are (possibly) already running, Counterbalance.

Also, Valtrix, I'm a Monster Den regular (I'm the dude that's usually playing storm and wearing Zubaz), and just finished building a UW derivative that I plan on running this Thursday; I've found the mirror to be incredibly fun, so hopefully I'll run into you!

[Valtrix]

Also, Valtrix, I'm a Monster Den regular (I'm the dude that's usually playing storm and wearing Zubaz), and just finished building a UW derivative that I plan on running this Thursday; I've found the mirror to be incredibly fun, so hopefully I'll run into you!

I only go to the big tournaments once a month, so that won't be happening unfortunately. Plus, I'll be moving to Milwaukee this weekend, so I won't be at the big tournaments anymore. Maybe next summer.

On topic though, how do you guys feel about Spell Pierce in the mirror? On one hand it can do a ton of work early, but at the same time it can become dead in the grindy game that is sure to ensue. This is perhaps a difficult question to ask, since it probably depends on your build, but at what point do you want pierce in your deck? And over what?

[Guy I Don't Know]

On topic though, how do you guys feel about Spell Pierce in the mirror? On one hand it can do a ton of work early, but at the same time it can become dead in the grindy game that is sure to ensue. This is perhaps a difficult question to ask, since it probably depends on your build, but at what point do you want pierce in your deck? And over what?

Countering top, counterbalance and jace are awesome. Not to mention, having the opponent play around pierce with entreaty is helpful. I actually sideboard up to four post board taking out swords to Plowshares because it counters basically all the threats for the first turns of the game and can be pitched to force of wills late if need be. Even if they play around it today gives two more turns to find answers and land threats. My view on the mirror is that trying to win early is better than late because if you lost game one you want two more games to be played.

P.S. How do you sideboard for stone blade?

[door]

Hi guys. I feel that I have to start playing this deck because too many burn decks have appeared in our local meta recently and it seems that counterbalance deck with white is the best tool nowadays.
A pair of questions which everyone is silent about:
At the last SCG several lists were running Land Tax. Is it just a local feature or it provides some profits to the deck? (I'd like to hear from those, who actually tested it)
Also why does no one use Scroll Rack? It's really nice with miracles. Instead people often run a single ponder which seems strange to me as it doesn't help with hiding miracles.
Also do you think, Forcefield is worth testing in place of Shackles? Its effect is more reliable as it works with every creature incl such enemies as Griselbrand, Thrun, etc.
Thanks.

[mordraid]

scroll rack isn't use because we already have brainstorm and jace to put cards on top of library. We also have sensei's divining top to filter cards to ensure that miracles stay hidden on top of the deck.

[rxavage]

I've decided to try + 3 SFM, Batterskull, Jitte, -4 Thoughtseize, Vedalken Shackles. Also adjusted the mana base to run 7 basics including a lone mountain for REBs out of the board. Still trying too decide if replacing a Snapcaster with Trinket Mage is worthwhile.

[Tammit67]

Went 3-1 last night at a LGS, beating to tier 2-3 decks and maverick, losing to RUG after not drawing CB/ removal while he hit 10 of the 12 or so creatures in his deck.

I scratch the RUG loss to variance, but I don't know how i am supposed to beat merfolk consistently unless my opponent walks into a terminus after over extending. Seems like they can lay 2 creatures and just pound away until i can deal with them (often with terminus) then rinse and repeat. They don't need to force anything else in the deck besides the miracle cards, seems really rough.

[Guy I Don't Know]

Went 3-1 last night at a LGS, beating to tier 2-3 decks and maverick, losing to RUG after not drawing CB/ removal while he hit 10 of the 12 or so creatures in his deck.

I scratch the RUG loss to variance, but I don't know how i am supposed to beat merfolk consistently unless my opponent walks into a terminus after over extending. Seems like they can lay 2 creatures and just pound away until i can deal with them (often with terminus) then rinse and repeat. They don't need to force anything else in the deck besides the miracle cards, seems really rough.

You can run peacekeeper Or moat in the board. Also, Snapcastermage plus red blast can clean up Merfolk pretty well. They attack with two guys, Snapcastermage flashback blast kill one, block the other. It isn't the best but you can add cards to help. RUG can be a hard matchup... so variance can happen.

[Tammit67]

You can run peacekeeper Or moat in the board. Also, Snapcastermage plus red blast can clean up Merfolk pretty well. They attack with two guys, Snapcastermage flashback blast kill one, block the other. It isn't the best but you can add cards to help. RUG can be a hard matchup... so variance can happen.

Back when i was playing thopters, I was running Kitchen finks in the board to help with the random aggro. Also helps against goose. I'd rather not splash just for one matchup if i can find the solution elsewhere.

I have peacekeepers, Moats harder harder to get a hold of

[Holden1669]

I am wondering, if you play Counterbalance in the board what do you bring it in against? I assume burn and RUG, anything else? How is it against Reanimator? Sneak and Show? Stoneblade? Maverick?

[Guy I Don't Know]

I am wondering, if you play Counterbalance in the board what do you bring it in against? I assume burn and RUG, anything else? How is it against Reanimator? Sneak and Show? Stoneblade? Maverick?

I would bring it in against all of those excepts maverick. It is also good against storm obviously. it is nice to have against mirror as well. Maverick has qasali pridemage to nuke it and will get out critters fast so you will be under pressure and can lose even if you lock them out. It is also not very good versus goblins ( cavern+vial and high curve) as well as dredge (very few spells). Sneak attack is meh, but better than stuff you presumeably take out.

[kirdie]

What is the best way to find a Lands deck (like http://www.deckcheck.de/deck.php?id=21374)?

I always seem to lose against it unless I get Counter Balance+Top+ a 2 CC card on top against life from the Loam + Jace + Elspeth but that is pretty hard to get.