Miracle Control

[YamiJoey]

Anyone else excited about the new white commander card: Unexpectedly Absent.
WWX
Instant
Put target nonland permanent into its owner's library just beneath the top X cards of that library.

Seems incredibly versatile, and miracles generally has a problem dealing with non creature permanents. It's also awesome that it has a cmc of 2.
Too bad it can't hit Teeg.

My only concern is that with WW, it will be hard to cast it early unless you want to expose yourself to wasteland.

I definitely have my eye on it. I'm preparing myself for GP Paris more than anything right now, so there's plenty of time for me to try it out. Kind of frustrating that it doesn't hit Teeg, and I do already play Detention Sphere with double Tutor, but it is such a powerful effect.

[Piceli89]

Anyone else excited about the new white commander card: Unexpectedly Absent.
WWX
Instant
Put target nonland permanent into its owner's library just beneath the top X cards of that library.

Seems incredibly versatile, and miracles generally has a problem dealing with non creature permanents. It's also awesome that it has a cmc of 2.
Too bad it can't hit Teeg.

My only concern is that with WW, it will be hard to cast it early unless you want to expose yourself to wasteland.

This is surely interesting. It also fills the cc2 slot for Counterbalance, and reusable with Snapcaster. If this proves to be a good answer to Jace (which it is not but at least it delays him for 2 mana- by the way: it plays very well with our own Jace AND Counterbalance AND Clique), you know what?

It could finally be the right time to eschew red and play straight UW, eschewing REBs from the sideboard and minor-impact cards. REBs are amazing, but I really dislike drawing Volcanic Island in the first 3 turns and expose myself to colorscrew or Wasteland.
An UW manabase would be so sturdy that it would grant Miracle uber-consistency, which is something it still lacks.

Perhaps-probably-I'm exagerating, but this is a worthy card to start toying with.

EDIT: Against BUG, with Liliana down and Shardless on stack cascading, playing this on Liliana acts as a removal.

[alphastryk]

Its definitely a very good card, but WW is hard to get on time. I'll give it a try, but I don't think it is a staple, just a good role-player.

[Piceli89]

Its definitely a very good card, but WW is hard to get on time. I'll give it a try, but I don't think it is a staple, just a good role-player.

No defensive card (removal spell) recently printed can ever become a staple in the sense of "necessary", but this has such a wide range of applications and micro-sinergies with the whole core of the deck that I can see a good 2-ofs soon becoming a status quo.

[Cipher]

Anyone else excited about the new white commander card: Unexpectedly Absent.
WWX
Instant
Put target nonland permanent into its owner's library just beneath the top X cards of that library.

Seems incredibly versatile, and miracles generally has a problem dealing with non creature permanents. It's also awesome that it has a cmc of 2.
Too bad it can't hit Teeg.

My only concern is that with WW, it will be hard to cast it early unless you want to expose yourself to wasteland.

This seems insane. Azorius Charm on Steroids. Funny that we were just debating Venser and then this card get's spoiled. Getting to Memory Lapse any nonland permanent is great, even if there's no shuffle effect. It'll also get around Counterbalance in the mirror, pretty easily.

I almost think this is them being fair after printing Abrupt Decay, but maybe I'm just taking it too far, now.

The is pretty sad, though. You basically never will cast this on turn 2 against these wasteland decks.

[klaus]

No defensive card (removal spell) recently printed can ever become a staple in the sense of "necessary", but this has such a wide range of applications and micro-sinergies with the whole core of the deck that I can see a good 2-ofs soon becoming a status quo.

Actually I must say this card looks weak on paper and will most likely turnout likewise irl.
Though I'll give you that the instant factor and versatility is actually appealing.
The casting cost is horrible, the "getting rid" effect not permanent (CB+Top and the right CMC online is a tricky combo to achieve), you can re-use it with SCM, but you cannot spend X the 2nd time around.
I suggest we do not assess it as an on-color instant speed Vindicate. It's more like a WW for a Submerge that you can use on any non-land permanent? It's basically a slightly better Boomerang/Echoing Truth with a worse casting cost (though Boomerang can bounce land and E.T. potentially bounces multiple trouble makers).
Miracles is not a tempo deck that can profit from a delay à la RUG & Submerge by seizing that essential turn to stomp its opponent. In order to actually benefit from a delay the card would have to be put at least(!) 2 cards from the top (or play it in response to a cracked fetch land). Hence I prefer looking at it as a CMC 4-5 card - at that point I can think of half a dozen cards I'd rather include off the top of my head.

Sorry for the negative vibes, but I felt like pointing out some downsides was due.

Edit: I'll admit that there is no on-colour spell that has a similar set of applications. Which is why I'd like assess Unexpectd Absence a little further by conducting a comparison to common solutions for opposing non-creature permanents.
Oblivion Ring and Detention Sphere make no good comparison since they suffer from being susceptible to Abrupt Decay and the likes. The first potent sparring partner that comes to mind is EE imo.
UA pros: on-colour, thus usable in straight UW versions, can handle permanents beyond CMC3 (yup, I'm looking at you Planeswalkers), instant speed, enhances CB curve, can be re-used via SCM, plays around CB
UA cons: high casting cost to be truely efficient, WW, late-midgame / lategame card, suscetible to Pierce/Daze

EE pros: on-color (though making it powerful requires a splash), early game applications (Vial, DRS, etc.), can be cast proactively, hits multiple permanents, casting cost, if higher, can paid on two turns, permanently gets rid of trouble makers, can be re-used indefinitely via A. Ruins, less suscetible to Daze/Pierce
EE cons: bad for CB curve, can't hit CMC4 permanents unless you're on 4 colors, which I don't recommend, not instant speed

Ach fuck it, ima test it..

[twndomn]

There is no point in running that card, don't understand the hype.

The only advantage is that it cannot be Pyro/REB, when painter is not in play.

Against Vial Tribal: you want EE anyway
Against Delver: doesn't matter, you have to fight pierce/fow anyhow, cannot target mongoose
Against Show and Tell: once the permanent is already in play, they can always respond to the bounce, respond draw 7, respond cunning wish for free, respond pay red and drop fatty. The card makes almost no difference.
Against Shardless: might buy you couple turns if you target their Lili or Jace. Doesn't do much if you target DRS/Strix/Shardless, can't target Tarpit.

Looks like SB material to me.

[Valtrix]

I think the main problem is that it's competing with Oblivion Ring/Detention sphere as "random permanent answer." The main downside for ring is that it can be decayed (or otherwise answered), whereas this new spell cannot--outside of counterspells of course; however, ring is way better against show and tell. This, combined with the double white, and inherent inconsistencies with unexpected absent actually answering an opponent's card, is inclined to make me prefer Ring/sphere instead most of the time. There is the potential utility to protect your own permanents with unexpectedly absent, but I feel like this won't happen very often in practice. That said, this card certainly seems interesting and I think it's worth testing out.

[Dzra]

you can re-use it with SCM, but you cannot spend X the 2nd time around

Its Flashback cost is X. You can definitely Snapcaster it back and set an X.

I'm also in the camp of it seems good, but I don't know if it's better than ORing/DSphere/Venser mainly due to Show and Tell being such a deck. I suppose it's worth testing, but I wouldn't get my hopes up.

[Adryan]

This is surely interesting. It also fills the cc2 slot for Counterbalance, and reusable with Snapcaster. If this proves to be a good answer to Jace (which it is not but at least it delays him for 2 mana- by the way: it plays very well with our own Jace AND Counterbalance AND Clique), you know what?

It could finally be the right time to eschew red and play straight UW, eschewing REBs from the sideboard and minor-impact cards. REBs are amazing, but I really dislike drawing Volcanic Island in the first 3 turns and expose myself to colorscrew or Wasteland.
An UW manabase would be so sturdy that it would grant Miracle uber-consistency, which is something it still lacks.

Perhaps-probably-I'm exagerating, but this is a worthy card to start toying with.

EDIT: Against BUG, with Liliana down and Shardless on stack cascading, playing this on Liliana acts as a removal.

/ agree

I've stopped reading other forums, because many people lack knowledge and play skill. You are one of the reasons why i still enjoy opening this thread.

[Zllig]

Went to a small GPT for DC byes, first place also got a Moat so pretty exciting. Went 5-0 (4 rounds of swiss and a cut to top 4) and split the finals getting the byes and the second place prize (4 Goblin Piledrivers) and my opponent getting the Moat. This is the list I played:

Instant/Sorcery:
4x StP
4x Brainstorm
4x Force of Will
1x Flusterstorm
2x Spell Pierce
3x Terminus
2x Entreat the Angels
1x Supreme Verdict
2x Fact or Fiction

Planeswalker:
3x Jace, tMS

Artifact/Enchantment:
4x Counterbalance
4x Sensei's Divining Top

Creatures:
2x Vendilion Clique
2x Snapcaster Mage

Land:
4x Island
4x Flooded Strand
3x Scalding Tarn
3x Plains
2x Tundra
2x Volcanic Island
1x Mystic Gate
1x Karakas
1x Arid Mesa
1x Snow-Covered Island

Sideboard:
2x Rest in Peace
2x Wear//Tear
1x Red Elemental Blast
1x Pyroblast
1x Hydroblast
1x Pyroclasm
1x Pithing Needle
1x Engineered Explosives
1x Flusterstorm
1x Venser, Shaper Savant
1x Entreat the Angels
1x Oblivion Ring
1x Misdirection

This is all from memory since I don't really find I have much time to take notes during the match.

Round 1: Jake with Tinfins
Jake is my brother who was trying out some degenerate combo deck to get some rust off for Eternal Weekend coming up, obviously we get paired first round. Game 1 was pretty unexciting, he manages to not kill me on turn 1 so I assemble voltron on turn 2 with Counterbalance/Top lock out and there is virtually nothing that Tinfins can do to beat that game one.

Sideboarding: -2 Snapcaster, -2 FoF, -2 Terminus, -1 Verdict/+2 RIP, +1 Pyro, +1 REB, +1 Pithing Needle, +1 Flusterstorm, +1 Misdirection

Take out the slow stuff and the wraths and put more counters in, pretty simple.

Game 2 was pretty similar, he doesn't kill me on turn 1 and I have a pretty nice hand with RIP and Counterbalance and some counters so I play it a little slow and land the RIP and then a needle out with Top. He does find a Serenity for all my goods, but I find the backup RIP so it doesn't matter. I then proceed to Jace him out of the game being weary of him hardcasting Griselbrand.

Round 2: Chris with ANT
Chris is my friend who came up with my brother and I, sweet fucking pairings. Game 1 he is on the play we both keep 7. I manage to get a counterbalance down on with a blind 1 on top, but he combos off around it with triple petal, LED and an Infernal Tutor for Ad flipping mono 2 mana rituals and then casting Tendrils for lethal on turn 3.

Sideboarding: -2 Snapcaster, -2 FoF, -3 Terminus, -1 Verdict/+2 RIP, +1 Pyro, +1 REB, +1 Pyroclasm, +1 Flusterstorm, +1 Misdirection, +1 Venser

Game 2 I keep a sketchy 1 land hand going to 6 with a brainstorm and a Counterbalance. I proceed to rip the land like a champ and turn 2 balance. He has a Xantid Swarm but I still have the Swords for it, he tries to go off on turn 2 or 3 but miscounted his graveyard thinking he had threshold and wiffs. I find a Clique and kill him quickly. Game 3 was unfortunate for him, turn 1 he cantrips and turn 1 I play a top. I have a decent hand but need to find a balance or something soon. He Cabal Therapies me on turn 2 naming Counterbalance, I tell him that he was close and I point to the top of my deck and say it is there. I then casually proceed to rip Counterbalance off the top of my deck causing me to lose my shit laughing, he was less than thrilled. I keep him locked out of the game for awhile while I dig for a threat and he waits for a decay to show up. I finally find a Venser and start the slow grind. I eventually find a second Counterbalance and play it, which he seems visibly frustrated with because he finally found the Decay for my first balance. After 10 turns of poking him with Venser I finally get there.

Round 3: Rich Shay with Sneak and Show
I hate this match up quite a lot, but I was glad Rich wasn't on Imperial Painter like he was last time I played him. Game 1 is unexciting as I desperately try to fight off his Griselbrands and him drawing around 21+ cards this game. I can't really do anything so I eventually die to the nice demon.

Sideboarding: -3 Jace, -2 Terminus, -2 FoF, -1 Counterbalance (Probably a mistake, I boarded it back in game 3 for the last Terminus or another StP), -1 StP/+1 Entreat, +1 Venser, +1 Flusterstorm, +1 REB, +1 Pyroblast, +1 Pithing Needle, +1 Wear//Tear, +1 Hydroblast, +1 O Ring

Game 2 was interesting, he did a whole lot of durdling and I played a V. Clique showing a hand of really nothing but counter magic and a Defense Grid he hadn't played for some reason. I proceed to ride the Clique from 18 life to 0 as apparently he has no outs to it in his 75 some how. At one point I entreat on my turn for 1 leaving up 2 mana because I knew he had 2 Pierce in hand and I figured that 2 Pierce for the entreat was a good trade. Game 3 I had a game plan now, so I stuck a counterbalance and tried my hardest not to die until I found a Clique. Again he spent a long time durdling with his own top while I waited for Clique. Eventually it showed up and again proceeded to ride it to victory.

Round 4: Theresa with Reanimator
Theresa plays at the shop I play at normally and I had put her on Team Italia as that's what I saw her playing last time, I keep a pretty well rounded hand with a force and a sword thinking that should buy me enough time to dig for Terminus. She proceeds to go Underground Sea -> Entomb so I realize I need to switch my game plan. I fight over the Entomb with a Spell Pierce thinking she could have a petal or a Reanimate which would leave it dead the next turn. She forces and I allow it to resolve. She fetches Jin-Gitaxis for some reason so I let the Exhume resolve and figure I can just fight over StPing it. I swords it before we get the end step, she brainstorms looking for a Daze but instead finds a Thoughtseize. She asks me when I was swordsing it and I tell her the end of her main phase 1 like an idiot. She then moves to the main phase 2 and Thoughtseizes me off a petal she had taking some thing which I don't think matter. The game pretty much ended there, I found a top and dug for a win con while she didn't approximately nothing. I eventually find an Entreat and end of turn make 4 angels and one shot her.

Sideboarding: -2 Snapcaster, -2 FoF, -2 Terminus/+2 RIP, +1 Misdirection, +1 REB, +1 Pyroblast, +1 Flusterstorm

Game 2 was pretty uneventful, she keeps a sketchy 1 land hand and gives me DI time to find all the stuff I need to lock her out. I get a Counterbalance/Top online and find a V. Clique to kill her. I probably made a misplay here, for about 5 turns I could have entreated for around 3-5 angels but I chose not to since I didn't feel like cracking my fetches and losing any life plus the game was so locked out with the CB/Top that I didn't really care at that point.

I 4-0 the swiss putting me at first seed for the top 4.

Top 4: Theresa again
She manages to sneak into the top 4 at 4th place, which was great because it meant I got to play that match up again and not the Sneak and Show player or the Imperial Painter player. Game 1 was not even close. I casually had my Karakas on turn 2 and she has zero outs in her mainboard to it. I do some stuff while I bounce her Griselbrand a bunch of times and she eventually concedes to a Jace going upstairs.

Sideboarding: Same stuff as last time

Game 2 I mull to 6 and she goes turn 1 Show and Tell, I have the Force for it and ask if she has the actual nuts with counter back up. She doesn't and I proceed to lock the game out because she has no hand left giving me again DI time to setup the lock and eventually find a Clique to hit her 7 times and take it.

Top 2: Scotty with Imperial Painter
Scotty is another regular at the store I play at, he says he already has 1 bye from planeswalker points so he offers me the byes and the Piledrivers for the Moat. I gladly take the offer since I was primarily after the byes anyway, and wasn't really interested in playing that match up either even though I have made some small tweaks to my deck to better handle that matchup (+1 Island/-1 Fetch, Hydroblast, Pyroclasm, and second Wear//Tear in the board) since it's so popular at my store.

All in all it was very good tourny. Naturally I play against mono combo decks and no creature decks, but whatever. Deck configuration currently feels really good and is almost certainly what I'm going to be playing at Eternal Weekend/DC.

Edit:
I suppose I should add in my thoughts on some cards to spark discussion so this isn't just a misplaced tourny report post.
I really love Fact or Fiction. Turns out, it's still super good. I have been trying pretty hard to find the perfect draw spell to help gain some some real card advantage when you don't have CB/Top or are playing a really grindy match up. I have tried Sphinx's Rev/Blue Sun's, Accumulated Knowledge and finally I'm on FoF. FoF is really since it's a really nice handful of cards at 4 mana, compared to the 1 you would get from Sphinx's or how slow AK is (Although I did cast all 4 against Shardless Bug once, turns out Ancestral for 2 mana and Oppurtunity for 2 are pretttttty awesome). Not to mention, people don't really know how to properly split FoF piles any more (probably never did).

This tourny may have led to some bias, but god damn is Clique just insane. I used to run 3 in the mainboard, but I needed to make room for the FoF and Snaps so I cut one, plus I don't have the second Karakas so that makes that plan a bit weaker. I definitely think I'm going to find room in the sideboard for another one.

Snapcaster is another card that I want to play to get some more card advantage, plus I needed more 2s for Counterbalance so this just seemed perfect. Sure it sucks I have to side him out for RIP, which is confusing me when I board against Shardless Bug since I want Snap for more CA since the match is grindy but I also want RIP for Gofy, Shaman, etc., but I think the upside it brings is definitely worth it. Plus it's nice to have a flash creature to pressure a combo deck, gogo ambush viper.

Lastly, I liked the switch to 5 Islands and only 8 fetches. I actually dislike having so many fetch lands in the deck. I understand their purpose and how insane they are with Brainstorm and Top, but I really hate when I get a nice card I want to cast but I don't want to crack a fetch to cast and lose whatever I had on top that I also liked. This was also a concession to how much I hate losing to Imperial Painter, it just feels like a deck with 7-8 basics shouldn't have so much trouble with a turn 1 Blood Moon.

[twndomn]

I suppose I should add in my thoughts on some cards to spark discussion so this isn't just a misplaced tourny report post.
I really love Fact or Fiction. Turns out, it's still super good. I have been trying pretty hard to find the perfect draw spell to help gain some some real card advantage when you don't have CB/Top or are playing a really grindy match up. I have tried Sphinx's Rev/Blue Sun's, Accumulated Knowledge and finally I'm on FoF. FoF is really since it's a really nice handful of cards at 4 mana, compared to the 1 you would get from Sphinx's or how slow AK is (Although I did cast all 4 against Shardless Bug once, turns out Ancestral for 2 mana and Oppurtunity for 2 are pretttttty awesome). Not to mention, people don't really know how to properly split FoF piles any more (probably never did).

This tourny may have led to some bias, but god damn is Clique just insane. I used to run 3 in the mainboard, but I needed to make room for the FoF and Snaps so I cut one, plus I don't have the second Karakas so that makes that plan a bit weaker. I definitely think I'm going to find room in the sideboard for another one.

I don't want to take credits away from you, but your assessment presents contradiction. Did you notice how many times you wrote "-2 FoF" in your report? Why are you praising the FoF in your post when you SB them out so many times? Since your posts suggest that Clique is insane, and Clique, Snap, and FoF compete for the same slot, how about just go with the mainstream build, move the FoF to SB? You don't need 2nd Karakas to justify running 3rd Clique as the main stream builds. Most main stream builds have either 3 Clique 2 Snap, or 2 Clique 3 Snap. If you want be creative, run FoF in the SB.

[Secretly.A.Bee]

Nice job. Thanks for the report, helped me understand a couple things.

-ABC

[ivanpei]

Considering how good Nemesis is and how overplayed it will be following its release, I'm confident Miracles will be one of the best decks in the meta again. Miracles stomps combo and now we get to stomp midrange because they will be cutting value 3 drops for Nemesis, allowing us to x for 1 them.

I really feel Nemesis is overated and as a miracles player I welcome people to run as many copies as possible. Also we might have to bump up Terminus to 4 MD now. Btw I'm still not running Clique MD, but I have 3 in the side. I'm playing 2 Counterspells, an Elspeth and
and 3 Snaps MD instead.

I love Fact but unfortunately at 4 cc you really need to interact with the board to be playable. I think the 3rd Snapcaster and an Elspeth might be better gas cards over 2 FoF. You really need to manage tempo as well as card advantage or be ripped to shreds by opposing Jaces/Liliana.

Also wouldn't board snaps out against combo. You can use your pierces, Rebs and Flusterstorms aggressively against cantrips then flashback them with Snap for value. Or you can just use Snap as an ambush viper which is more than good enough against combo. Card advantage like Jace as well as removal are the first to go out.

[Dzra]

Just won a 20ish person GP Trial for DC. I was running a non-RIP, pretty heavy creature list. I'll try to write a report later on. If anyone else is going to the GP, you should hit me up and we can exchange numbers or something!

[Secretly.A.Bee]

@Dzra: Nicely done. Was Snapcaster in your list or was it more of a Legendary list? What made you decide to go non-RIP heavy creature, lots of midrange? Seems off from your normal list. I look forward to any report you may post.

-ABC

[Valtrix]

Since you seem to know everything about the game, I'm sure you have some good tournament finishes to back up your attitude. What exactly have you done in your playing career? I'm not even talking about anything major like a Grand Prix - have you ever won something like a small 32 person tournament? I'm sure you also have plenty of people on this site who know you in real life that can vouch for you.

You misinterpret his post. He was simply pointing out something that appears to be a contradiction in the post for the tournament report. If you look at each of the sideboarding strategies for the rounds, Fact or Fiction literally was sided out every time. Yet, the writer goes on on to say at the end of the report how amazing Fact or Fiction is/was. To me, if a card is performing very well, then I would not want to side it out very much, and so it seems strange if fact or fiction was so good that it would be boarded out so frequently. This was the issue he was trying to address.

In fact, his statement was actually trying to be polite (in my opinion) because he was basically telling the player good job for the tournament, even though he disagrees with the inclusion of Fact or Fiction. But he didn't just want to say "Hey I disagree with you about Fact or Fiction being good," because that would be rude and not very helpful for anybody. And so he was respecting the tournament placement, but wanted to discuss the topic of fact or fiction a bit more in depth.

EDIT: I realized that the poster who I am addressing here wasn't actually the one who posted the tournament results. As such, I edited my post to reflect this.

[thecrav]

Just won a 20ish person GP Trial for DC. I was running a non-RIP, pretty heavy creature list. I'll try to write a report later on. If anyone else is going to the GP, you should hit me up and we can exchange numbers or something!

This is me hitting you up. Feel free to PM me and we can exchange contact info.

I'm very curious and excited to see your list. I'm running 3 RiP main and no creatures, so I'd like to see where your way was superior and why.

(this is not sarcasm, this is genuine interest for the same archetype but completely different approaches to it)

[Dzra]

I've been running RIP for a long time, but lately (and with some encouragement from friends) have been dissatisfied with how often I board out some or all of the RIPs. Before I switched to RIP, I was playing a Snapcaster version, so last week I decided to try that. It was a little half-hearted perhaps as I wasn't running Spell Pierces and was still clinging to Enlightened Tutor maindeck.

I did alright with it, but was still unsatisfied so I switched back to RIP for Saturday's weekly Legacy. I got fairly slaughtered. Some of it was no doubt due to sloppy play, but some of it was the same old clunkiness and near-misses that the RIP build can have. I was definitely missing the Pierces against a Stifle/tempo as well as a Mono-Red Painter deck that I hit. Pyroclasm also was starting to look really nice when I was sitting under a Magus of the Moon facing down Phyrexian Revoker (on Top), 2 hardcast Spirit Guides, and a Jaya Ballard, Task Mage. Needless to say, it didn't go well with a Terminus and Supreme Verdict in hand and no sources in play.

Last night in a rage after the weekly, I completely revamped my list from either of my last two attempts and rolled a much more streamlined list with Pierces and a lot of Cliques and Snapcasters as well as Venser MD. (I also wanted a good excuse to SB my new 7th Foil Pyroclasms, not to mention Moat has been sitting in the binder for a while now...) It was only a 20ish person GPTrial, but aside from a misplay against Goblins and bad beats against Belcher, the deck performed really smoothly. I've started writing a small report, but the more I write the more lazy about it I feel, so hopefully I'll get around to it over the next few days.

[Higgs]

You could always share the list first and worry about the report later :)