Miracle Control

[ziggy_stardust]

Yep, Humility is hate for monsters, moat is hate for small men.

While I agree, to an extent, with this assessment, Humility is reasonable against small men if said small men have abnoxious abilities (e.g. lords, symbiote, pridemage, ringleader, every creature in d&t, etc.)

[twndomn]

Yep, Humility is hate for monsters, moat is hate for small men.

If you can't find your mass removal, then you have to waste an Entreat to trade these 1/1 with your 1/1 angel tokens. This anti-synergy alone is enough to reconsider Humility. Of course, if you are going for RiP + EF + Helm build, then it's probably ok.

[lambert101]

@Einherjer

I posted this under your tournament thread but also wanted to post it here for more ideas.

Out of curiosity what where your boarding plans? Do you take out a majority of counterspells against BG/X decks? No love for blood moon? I am helping a friend with this deck and I have the same main you played at Ovino8 except

-1 tundra
- 3 Polluted Delta
- 1 E.E.
+ 4 Scalding Tarn
+ 1 Terminus

My current board with this 2 snap/2 clique/1 ponder list is:

3 RIP
3 Pyroblast
2 Blood Moon
2 Flusterstorm
1 Supreme Verdict
1 Entreat the Angels
2 Wear//Tear
1 Venser, Shaper Savant

Boarding Ideas:

vs. BG/X (jund, junk, mav)
- 4 Force
- 3 Pierce
- 2 Counterspells

+ 2 Blood Moon
+ 1 Supreme Veridct
+ 1 Terminus
+ 2 Wear//Tear
+ 3 RIP

vs. DnT
- 1 Force
- 3 Pierce
- 2 Counterspells

+ 2 Blood Moon
+ 1 Supreme Veridct
+ 1 Entreat the Angels
+ 2 Wear//Tear

vs. Combo (Storm)
- 4 StP
- 1 Verdict

3 Pyroblast
2 Flusterstorm

vs. Combo (sneak Attack)
- 4 StP
- 1 Supreme Verdict
- 3 Terminus ? (not sure here)


+3 Pyroblast
+2 Flusterstorm
+2 Wear//Tear
+1 Venser, Shaper Savant

Vs. Control (stoneblade, miracles, Rug control)
- 4 Force of Will
- 4 StP


+3 Pyroblast
+2 Flusterstorm
+2 Wear//Tear
+1 Venser, Shaper Savant


Vs Temp (GRIXIS/RUG/UR)
- 4 Force

+ 3 RIP
+ 1 Blood Moon

Vs. UWR TEMPO
- 4 Force
+ 2 Wear//Tear
+ 2 Pyroblast

Please note that these boarding ideas are to help a friend get ready for GP DC. All comments and suggestions are welcomed.

[Einherjer]

Thanks lambert, first I'll comment your boardingplans, after that I'll show you my latest list and explain why I like it more :)

"
vs. BG/X (jund, junk, mav)
- 4 Force
- 3 Pierce
- 2 Counterspells

+ 2 Blood Moon
+ 1 Supreme Veridct
+ 1 Terminus
+ 2 Wear//Tear
+ 3 RIP
"
You really have to be sure Wear//Tear is going to do SOMETHING. Against Mav and Junk I'd bring it in - prolly not vs Jund. Additionally I wouldn't bring in all Rest in Peaces against decks like Maverick - Snapcaster into Swords is superior here. Counterspell is huge vs Maverick as they bring in bombs like Elspeth+Garruk alongside Choke and stuff.

"
vs. DnT
- 1 Force
- 3 Pierce
- 2 Counterspells

+ 2 Blood Moon
+ 1 Supreme Veridct
+ 1 Entreat the Angels
+ 2 Wear//Tear
"

OtP you want to keep in your Spell Pierces in oder to counter Aether Vial and Cataclysm. OtD I feel like I am forced to keep all my Force of Wills in - for this said reason. I don't think that you want Blood Moon here.


"
vs. Combo (Storm)
- 4 StP
- 1 Verdict

3 Pyroblast
2 Flusterstorm
"
Rest in Peace is good here too as it shrinks their Cabal Rituals and disables them from PiFing you.

"Vs. Control (stoneblade, miracles, Rug control)
- 4 Force of Will
- 4 StP


+3 Pyroblast
+2 Flusterstorm
+2 Wear//Tear
+1 Venser, Shaper Savant
"
You probably can't say it just like that. Against Miracles you don't need any removal. Against Stoneblade you need the Swords. Against RUG Control....well that depends on what you see. You might want Blood Moon too, depending on the manabases you see.

"
Vs Temp (GRIXIS/RUG/UR)
- 4 Force

+ 3 RIP
+ 1 Blood Moon

Vs. UWR TEMPO
- 4 Force
+ 2 Wear//Tear
+ 2 Pyroblast
"
You don't want RIP against UR/URB - as they don't use it at all. Additionally you will probably want your Flusterstorms, REBs and Blood Moons - depends on the MU again.


So, to my new list...

4 Tundra
1 Volcanic Island
5 Island
2 Plains
4 Flooded Strand
2 Arid Mesa
3 Counterbalance
1 Counterspell
3 Spell Pierce
4 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will
3 Terminus
1 Supreme Verdict
3 Entreat the Angels
1 Vendilion Clique
4 Swords to Plowshares
3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
4 Sensei's Divining Top
3 Snapcaster Mage
1 Ponder
1 Karakas
3 Scalding Tarn
SB: 3 Rest in Peace
SB: 2 Red Elemental Blast
SB: 2 Pyroblast
SB: 2 Wear // Tear
SB: 2 Flusterstorm
SB: 1 Vendilion Clique
SB: 2 Supreme Verdict
SB: 1 Mountain

I'd really advise your friend to Play this list as it seems superior to my Ovino one- concerning we now have to beat Nemesis.
What has changed? Well, for the first part we cannot play Pyroclasm any more. It was a very good card but has been made just outright bad due to Nemesis. Meaning we have to play more different massremoval, more Verdict for me. Why am I playing the Mountain now? Well for now I think you really want to bring in 3-5 REBs against various Tempodecks that could pack Nemesis. You just can't play 4 Volcanic so we got a Mountain in the Sideboard. The rest stayed pretty the same.

If you have any questions just shoot them at me. Concerning the boardingplans I think it'd be the best if you and your friend went through the important MUs (Miracles, Esper, Shardless, Canadian, Patriot, ANT and Show and Tell... (+ some I forgot now^^) ) on your own and come at me with your boardingplans - via PM or here - and I'll give my best to "correct" them based on my opinion. But be assured that I am making mistakes too, in both - deckbuilding and play - so take everything I (or everybody esle) say(s) with a grain of salt :)


Greetings

[Dzra]

Went a somewhat disappointing 6-3 at SCG Dallas. I started out fairly horribly, but managed to claw back into the money. The first two matches, I had to mull to 5 in both game twos looking for hands with more than one land. It's possible that I should have kept some of them and just hoped to get there, but I feel like I had better 6's. I ended up losing to Punishing Maverick, Burn, and UB Tezzerat. I think they are fair to good matchups, but a combination of bad draws and likely some non-optimal play were involved.

Maverick was unfortunate as I was stuck under Teeg both games. I possibly misplayed g2 when I ran out a Karakas as my second land drop because I wanted to keep Volcanic back for potential Pyroclasms that I could draw. He wastes Karakas then plays Teeg. The following turn he plays Sylvan Safekeeper and I never see Pyroclasm. Swords and Venser EoT don't get the job done as he happily sacs two land and I die with Supreme Verdict in hand.

Perhaps I should have left in more FoW against UB Tezzerat as g3 the guy t2 plays Jace, I pierce, he FoWs, then I proceed to lose to Jace plus his t3 Tezzerat. I find Entreat one turn too late to matter and can't stop Jace's ultimate.

I beat Mono White Weird RIP Helm.dec, High Tide, Tin Fins, Omnitell, ANT, and Lands. Overall I still like how the deck performed (when it got a chance to) and I'm really happy that I didn't get any draws as I've been working pretty hard on speeding up my play (as well as encouraging my opponents to play faster). Ideally, the two GP buys will be enough to clear past the random jank and I'll proceed to enter Combo Winter. :)

[UB Control]

What do you think about playing Runed Halo in the sideboard because of TNN?

On this weekend I plan to bring a pure UW deck to my local Legacy event inspired by the above mentioned lists in this thread:

3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
2 Vendilion Clique
1 Back to Basics
4 Counterbalance
4 Sensei’s Divining Top
4 Brainstorm
1 Ponder
2 Counterspell
4 Force of Will
2 Spell Pierce
3 Swords to Plowshares
1 Unexpectedly Absent
1 Supreme Verdict
3 Terminus
3 Entreat the Angels

2 Arid Mesa
4 Flooded Strand
3 Scalding Tarn
2 Tundra
5 Island
3 Plains
1 Karakas
2 Mystic Gate

Sideboard (15)
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Ethersworn Canonist
3 Flusterstorm
2 Swan Song
2 Rest in Peace
1 Terminus
1 Supreme Verdict
1 Venser, Shaper Savant
1 Disenchant
1 Detention Sphere
1 Runed Halo

Back to Basics seems to be great - according to my few test plays - it is a surprising card against 3-4 color decks, but it can hurt DnT as well! I let out the red splash because: no more Pyroclasm, to be able to play the 3rd Entreat, to be able to use well the Unexpected Results, to enjoy the benefits of BtB. The lack of Pryroblast and Wear/Tear hurts though Swan Song and Disenchant are far less effective.

What are your thoughts about this list?

[Poron]

what about Moat or Elspeth in your list? double W seems easy..

[Rook1e]

Hi guys. I'm preparing for a large Legacy turnament in a couple of weeks. So i was hoping to get some advise. I'm pretty sold on my main 60 (but i'll listen to any suggestions), but i would very much like som input on my SB. Also, i would appreciate some suggestions to what to board in/out against the following decks: D&T, BUG, Jund and Merfolk.

For reference hereøs my current list:

Land (23)
1x Arid Mesa
4x Flooded Strand
4x Island
2x Karakas
1x Misty Rainforest
2x Mystic Gate
2x Plains
3x Scalding Tarn
2x Tundra
2x Volcanic Island

Sorcery (5)
2x Entreat the Angels
3x Terminus

Artifact (4)
4x Sensei's Divining Top

Instant (16)
4x Brainstorm
1x Counterspell
1x Flusterstorm
4x Force of Will
1x Misdirection
2x Spell Pierce
3x Swords to Plowshares

Enchantment (5)
3x Counterbalance
1x Moat
1x Rest in Peace

Creature (4)
3x Vendilion Clique
1x Venser, Shaper Savant

Planeswalker (3)
3x Jace, the Mind Sculptor

Sideboard (15)
2x Engineered Explosives
1x Flusterstorm
2x Misdirection
1x Pithing Needle
1x Pyroblast
2x Red Elemental Blast
2x Rest in Peace
1x Sulfur Elemental
1x Terminus
1x Venser, Shaper Savant
1x Wear / Tear


/Rook

[klaus]

Sideboard (15)
2x Engineered Explosives
1x Flusterstorm
2x Misdirection
1x Pithing Needle
1x Pyroblast
2x Red Elemental Blast
2x Rest in Peace
1x Sulfur Elemental
1x Terminus
1x Venser, Shaper Savant
1x Wear / Tear
/Rook

I strongly suggest 2 Supreme Verdicts between SB & MD. EE ranks among your most versatile spells - to me it has always been a MD car for control decks. RiP is way more random as a MD choice especially since you run a E.T.less build.
Misdirection really only shines against heavy Discard and Decay.dec, and many guys who've tested it were disappointed with its performance.

That's the SB I would roll with atm:
1 S. Verdict (1 MD)
1 Terminus
2 REB
1 Pyroblast
2 Wear/Tear (1-2 EE MD)
2 Fluster Storm (none in the MD)
3 RiP (none in the MD)
2 Bloodmoon (meta call: if you expect a decent amount of greedy decks such as BUG, Punishing Fire.dec, 12 Post etc.)
1 Mountain

otherwise something along the lines of:
Clique/Canonist/Needle/Spell Pierce/Runed Halo (TNN)/...

[YamiJoey]

Back to Basics Vs Blood Moon seems to be an argument that's brewing here, so I think we should have it.

Firstly: In the UWr builds, is Blood Moon better or worse?
Secondly: If it's better, at what point in UW/Esper do you start splashing almost purely for Bloom Moon?

Blood Moon:
+ They can't fetch out Basics after you drop it, making it an absolute blowout in G1 on the play.
+ It allows you to tap all of your excess Lands for colourless (for Jace/Entreat) or get multiple Red ('Clasm into REB?)
- No more fetching to shoot away Brainstorm/Top chaff

Back to Basics:
+ Pitches to FoW
+ Doesn't affect your own fetches
- Doesn't affect their fetches
- Can still be hit by non-basics doing something (Gaea's Cradle only needs activating once).

Just a quickfire thing, I'd like someone to help out.

[klaus]

Back to Basics Vs Blood Moon seems to be an argument that's brewing here, so I think we should have it.

Firstly: In the UWr builds, is Blood Moon better or worse?
Secondly: If it's better, at what point in UW/Esper do you start splashing almost purely for Bloom Moon?

Blood Moon:
+ They can't fetch out Basics after you drop it, making it an absolute blowout in G1 on the play.
+ It allows you to tap all of your excess Lands for colourless (for Jace/Entreat) or get multiple Red ('Clasm into REB?)
- No more fetching to shoot away Brainstorm/Top chaff

Back to Basics:
+ Pitches to FoW
+ Doesn't affect your own fetches
- Doesn't affect their fetches
- Can still be hit by non-basics doing something (Gaea's Cradle only needs activating once).

Just a quickfire thing, I'd like someone to help out.

Most people I see favor Moon over B2B for these reasons:
* will never be Decayed with Bayou/Sea
* turning our future fetches into mountains is not a biggy, since we will hardly ever cast it before turn 5 until which point we've accumulated enough basics to keep us going
* completely disables shenanigans such as Thespian Stage/Dark Depths and the likes
* B2B can be REB'd
* bottom line: I would assume Moon wins more games than B2B, cause it leaves fewer outs to greedy mana bases

[lambert101]

@Einherjer

I am liking your updated list. Some questions though.

1. Why not blood moon over 2 red elemental blast?
2. The 1 of mountain looks smooth, but how do you side it in? Over an island?
3. Has the snapcaster mage - RIP ratio been an issue?
4 .Are the 3 supreme verdicts for ruse of TNN?

Thanks for the help.

[YamiJoey]

* turning our future fetches into mountains is not a biggy, since we will hardly ever cast it before turn 5 until which point we've accumulated enough basics to keep us going

The complaint I make about this is that shuffling your deck is incredibly powerful in this deck. Being unable to later on and just drawing colourless Lands seems - inefficient.

[matunos]

The complaint I make about this is that shuffling your deck is incredibly powerful in this deck. Being unable to later on and just drawing colourless Lands seems - inefficient.

You bring in Blood Moon against decks that are crippled by Blood Moon. So, if you play it right, the upsides are much more than the downsides.

[ziggy_stardust]

On b2b vs moon, in my limited testing with b2b, I've found that it really just delays them by a turn or two rather than totally locking them out of the game, like moon can do. Though, I've also even stopped running moon, because ever since mono-red painter showed up in back to back SCG finals, the BGx midrange decks started running at least one of each basic, and they often start fetching them as soon as they know you're on Miracles as we sometimes run MD moon.

[alphastryk]

On b2b vs moon, in my limited testing with b2b, I've found that it really just delays them by a turn or two rather than totally locking them out of the game, like moon can do. Though, I've also even stopped running moon, because ever since mono-red painter showed up in back to back SCG finals, the BGx midrange decks started running at least one of each basic, and they often start fetching them as soon as they know you're on Miracles as we sometimes run MD moon.

Yep, people have started to wise-up, so I'm debating cutting the Moon from the board. I never boarded it in at Eternal Weekend because my one GBx (Jund) opponent fetched basics early in game 1, and never wanted it in another matchup. Maybe if I expect a lot of BUG I want it, but most people play around it or at least leave Force of Will in vs us.

[Spaker]

Hi everybody,

I played UWr Miracle last week at my magic store, and made it to the 2nd spot, so I thought i could write down some informations about it.

Being interested in control, I started with Miracle three months ago. Sensei's divining top + counterbalance is the tool that got me into this. Jace was also another strong argument. (that is the least i can say)

At first I struggled with finding the "right" 75'.
I began with one of the list of Joe Losset (as far as I can remember, it was the 2 Karakas, 2 Mystic gate, 1 Venser/Clique build), but my starting hands were too unstable. I had to get down to 6, even 5 to have the proper lands and spells in hand.
Then, a friend of mine suggested me the build of Raphaël Levy ; 20 lands and 4 ponder. I revisited it a little, playing this in the end :


MAINDECK

LANDS : 20

4 Scalding Tarn
4 Flooded Strand
1 Mesa Arid
1 Karakas
1 Volcanic Island
3 Tundra
4 Island
2 Plain


CREATURES : 5

3 Snapcaster
2 Vendilion Clique


INSTANTS : 19

4 Force of Will
4 Swords to Plowshares
2 Counterspell
4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
1 Disenchant


SORCERIES : 6

4 Terminus
2 Entreat the Angels


ENCHANTMENTS : 2

2 Counterbalance


ARTIFACTS : 4

4 Sensei's Divining Top


PLANESWALKER : 4

3 Jace the Mind Sculptor
1 Elspeth, Knight Errant



SIDEBOARD

2 Flusterstorm
1 Red Elemental Blast
1 Pyroblast
1 Celestial Purge
1 Oblivion Ring
2 Rest in Peace
1 Relic of Progenitus
2 Path to Exile
1 Engineered Explosives
2 Counterbalance
1 Wear//Tear



With this build, my starting hands are much more balanced. Even with a single land, I allow myself to keep because I have a ponder in hand.
And thanks to those 4 ponder, 20 lands is great. Also : I've never been so happy to find a ponder in late-game.
About that tournament, we were 21 players, 4 rounds.



MATCH 1 : mono-black Rogue.

I had some luck to begin with this match-up. The opponent just built a legacy-deck on budget to play for fun. Nothing scary in there (no Liliana, no Bob, no Wasteland etc), but some cards were kind of problematic combined with heavy discard : some enchantment that would deal 3 damage to me if I only had 1 cards or less in my hand (Believe it or not : when my opponent played this on turn one, i really didn't know if I was entitled to Fow this, or just let it resolve). I had to abuse the draw-ability of the Top. First game, I wasn't able to setup CounterTop, but some Angels found there way here, and took care of the job. I finished on 1 life though...
Second game : CounterTop Online. Terminus. Entreat the Angels.

Like I said ; i got lucky for this first pairing. 2-0/1-0

SIDEBOARD :

-2 Force Of will
-1 Disenchant (no mandatory-target, and i didn't wanted to waste time on those enchantment)
+ 2 Counterbalance
+ 1 Celestial Purge



MATCH 2 : 4 Colours Dead Guy (I think ?)

First time I played against this deck. Strong cards hit me : Thoughtseize, Inquisition of Kozilek, Batterskull, Tidehollow Sculler, Abrupt Decay, DRS ...
Lost to the dice ; he thoughtseized my Top. I had to play this entire game "blind", unable to find another one. Rough battle : he had boardpresence, i only had my Elspeth in play, chompblocking. Finally, I draw a brainstorm which allow me to setup Terminus/Entreat (which I had in hand since the beginning), while still having my Elspeth. After that, he never recovered.
Game 2 : I mull to 6, while not having a great hand. The next three turns, he played Inquisition/Inquisition/Tidehollow Sculler. I terminus one time, but it's not enough. Game 3 ? No : the clock is over.
I should have tried a mulligan to 5 in game 2, but against discard... it's bad.

1-1/1-1-0

SIDEBOARD :

-4 Force of will
-1 Counterspell
+2 Path to Exile
+2 Counterbalance
+1 Rest in Peace



MATCH 3 : Maverick.

I've been reading that Maverick is a strong match-up for us, but I haven't felt it that much so far.
Okay : we have Terminus. But Countertop isn't as powerfull as in other MU because of Qasali Pridemage, Cavern of Souls and Green Sun Zenith (which can be off-curve with my top 3 cards), and wasteland is always something to look out for. Anyway ; game 1, I die to a Stoneforge Mystic fetching sword of Light and Shadow equiped on some knight or Ooze (I don't really remember), no terminus in sight, my early defensive entreat got sworded. Let's go to game 2.
I sideboard and shuffle as fast as I can, 35 minutes on the clock.
Game 2, i succeed in CounterTop, which buys me some turns to expend and find terminus/entreat. But at some point, he established a strong board and put Teeg on the battlefield while I had my terminus on top of the library. I had to find a sword to plowshare first... which i found close to the end. Sword + Terminus + Entreat eot. 4 Angels bring us to game 3.
Game 3 with approximatively 17 minutes. I don't quite remember since i played so fast, but the end of the game was full of stress. I cleaned up the board with a terminus and played Elspeth, but I'm low on life and cannot go for it with the 1/1 boosted soldier each turn. I play Jace and brainstorm to setup entreat. Then my opponent find his sylvan library, which was clearly the best he could play at this point, pays life for cards and drop sigarda. During my turn, I make sure I can drop my angels during his turn with top. I block sigarda, keeps 3 angels. On my turn, I play a Vendilion clique to see the last card in his hand : Crop Rotation. I fear maze of ith in response to my attack... but decide no to put it under his library because I feared the topdeck of swords to plowshare. Alphastrike with angels : no response. He sided-out the maze.
We were in the additionnal rounds.

2-1/2-1-0

SIDEBOARD

-2 Counterspell
-1 Force of Will
+2 Path to Exile
+1 Engineered Explosives



MATCH 4 : Affinity

It was one of those on/off match if you have terminus in hand with brainstorm, or if you find it with top in the 2-3 turns. That said, it stays very difficult because they can kill turn 3-4 if you're unable to find quick solution. A friend of mine plays this deck, so I was aware of the "golden tickets" : cranial plating, etched champion, Tezzeret, arcbound ravager etc.
Game 1 : 3 swords to plowshares, but no terminus. Not enough. Die to 5/5 Artefact with cranial plating.
Game 2 : Terminus/brainstorm. I wait the last moment for maximum value of course. Angels show-up pretty quickly.
Game 3 : Disenchant on cranial plating. Engineered explosives ont Etched Champion. Angels on Tezzeret. Got Wear//Tear in hand.

2-1/3-1-0.

SIDEBOARD :

-2 Counterspell
-1 Force of Will
+1 Wear//Tear
+1 Engineered Explosives
+1 Path to Exile


Post-tournament, I decided to take out the 4th Counterbalance and add the 3rd Entreat in the sideboard, since I realized that I wanted to go faster during some games. Disenchant is great in the 60 maindeck : it shuts off batterskull/jitte on game 1, as well as sylvan library or other one-of. Surprisingly, I only setup Countertop twice in the evening, and it didn't have the strong lock that i wished. But the list can still do good without it, so it's okay I guess.

Thanks for reading this (if you're still there !), I hope I didn't over-flooded with irrelevant informations.
On your side : what do you think of the list ? The side-board plans ?

Regards,

Spaker

[Rook1e]

Hi everybody,

I played UWr Miracle last week at my magic store, and made it to the 2nd spot, so I thought i could write down some informations about it.

Being interested in control, I started with Miracle three months ago. Sensei's divining top + counterbalance is the tool that got me into this. Jace was also another strong argument. (that is the least i can say)

At first I struggled with finding the "right" 75'.
I began with one of the list of Joe Losset (as far as I can remember, it was the 2 Karakas, 2 Mystic gate, 1 Venser/Clique build), but my starting hands were too unstable. I had to get down to 6, even 5 to have the proper lands and spells in hand.
Then, a friend of mine suggested me the build of Raphaël Levy ; 20 lands and 4 ponder. I revisited it a little, playing this in the end :


MAINDECK

LANDS : 20

4 Scalding Tarn
4 Flooded Strand
1 Mesa Arid
1 Karakas
1 Volcanic Island
3 Tundra
4 Island
2 Plain


CREATURES : 5

3 Snapcaster
2 Vendilion Clique


INSTANTS : 19

4 Force of Will
4 Swords to Plowshares
2 Counterspell
4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
1 Disenchant


SORCERIES : 6

4 Terminus
2 Entreat the Angels


ENCHANTMENTS : 2

2 Counterbalance


ARTIFACTS : 4

4 Sensei's Divining Top


PLANESWALKER : 4

3 Jace the Mind Sculptor
1 Elspeth, Knight Errant



SIDEBOARD

2 Flusterstorm
1 Red Elemental Blast
1 Pyroblast
1 Celestial Purge
1 Oblivion Ring
2 Rest in Peace
1 Relic of Progenitus
2 Path to Exile
1 Engineered Explosives
2 Counterbalance
1 Wear//Tear



With this build, my starting hands are much more balanced. Even with a single land, I allow myself to keep because I have a ponder in hand.
And thanks to those 4 ponder, 20 lands is great. Also : I've never been so happy to find a ponder in late-game.
About that tournament, we were 21 players, 4 rounds.



MATCH 1 : mono-black Rogue.

I had some luck to begin with this match-up. The opponent just built a legacy-deck on budget to play for fun. Nothing scary in there (no Liliana, no Bob, no Wasteland etc), but some cards were kind of problematic combined with heavy discard : some enchantment that would deal 3 damage to me if I only had 1 cards or less in my hand (Believe it or not : when my opponent played this on turn one, i really didn't know if I was entitled to Fow this, or just let it resolve). I had to abuse the draw-ability of the Top. First game, I wasn't able to setup CounterTop, but some Angels found there way here, and took care of the job. I finished on 1 life though...
Second game : CounterTop Online. Terminus. Entreat the Angels.

Like I said ; i got lucky for this first pairing. 2-0/1-0

SIDEBOARD :

-2 Force Of will
-1 Disenchant (no mandatory-target, and i didn't wanted to waste time on those enchantment)
+ 2 Counterbalance
+ 1 Celestial Purge



MATCH 2 : 4 Colours Dead Guy (I think ?)

First time I played against this deck. Strong cards hit me : Thoughtseize, Inquisition of Kozilek, Batterskull, Tidehollow Sculler, Abrupt Decay, DRS ...
Lost to the dice ; he thoughtseized my Top. I had to play this entire game "blind", unable to find another one. Rough battle : he had boardpresence, i only had my Elspeth in play, chompblocking. Finally, I draw a brainstorm which allow me to setup Terminus/Entreat (which I had in hand since the beginning), while still having my Elspeth. After that, he never recovered.
Game 2 : I mull to 6, while not having a great hand. The next three turns, he played Inquisition/Inquisition/Tidehollow Sculler. I terminus one time, but it's not enough. Game 3 ? No : the clock is over.
I should have tried a mulligan to 5 in game 2, but against discard... it's bad.

1-1/1-1-0

SIDEBOARD :

-4 Force of will
-1 Counterspell
+2 Path to Exile
+2 Counterbalance
+1 Rest in Peace



MATCH 3 : Maverick.

I've been reading that Maverick is a strong match-up for us, but I haven't felt it that much so far.
Okay : we have Terminus. But Countertop isn't as powerfull as in other MU because of Qasali Pridemage, Cavern of Souls and Green Sun Zenith (which can be off-curve with my top 3 cards), and wasteland is always something to look out for. Anyway ; game 1, I die to a Stoneforge Mystic fetching sword of Light and Shadow equiped on some knight or Ooze (I don't really remember), no terminus in sight, my early defensive entreat got sworded. Let's go to game 2.
I sideboard and shuffle as fast as I can, 35 minutes on the clock.
Game 2, i succeed in CounterTop, which buys me some turns to expend and find terminus/entreat. But at some point, he established a strong board and put Teeg on the battlefield while I had my terminus on top of the library. I had to find a sword to plowshare first... which i found close to the end. Sword + Terminus + Entreat eot. 4 Angels bring us to game 3.
Game 3 with approximatively 17 minutes. I don't quite remember since i played so fast, but the end of the game was full of stress. I cleaned up the board with a terminus and played Elspeth, but I'm low on life and cannot go for it with the 1/1 boosted soldier each turn. I play Jace and brainstorm to setup entreat. Then my opponent find his sylvan library, which was clearly the best he could play at this point, pays life for cards and drop sigarda. During my turn, I make sure I can drop my angels during his turn with top. I block sigarda, keeps 3 angels. On my turn, I play a Vendilion clique to see the last card in his hand : Crop Rotation. I fear maze of ith in response to my attack... but decide no to put it under his library because I feared the topdeck of swords to plowshare. Alphastrike with angels : no response. He sided-out the maze.
We were in the additionnal rounds.

2-1/2-1-0

SIDEBOARD

-2 Counterspell
-1 Force of Will
+2 Path to Exile
+1 Engineered Explosives



MATCH 4 : Affinity

It was one of those on/off match if you have terminus in hand with brainstorm, or if you find it with top in the 2-3 turns. That said, it stays very difficult because they can kill turn 3-4 if you're unable to find quick solution. A friend of mine plays this deck, so I was aware of the "golden tickets" : cranial plating, etched champion, Tezzeret, arcbound ravager etc.
Game 1 : 3 swords to plowshares, but no terminus. Not enough. Die to 5/5 Artefact with cranial plating.
Game 2 : Terminus/brainstorm. I wait the last moment for maximum value of course. Angels show-up pretty quickly.
Game 3 : Disenchant on cranial plating. Engineered explosives ont Etched Champion. Angels on Tezzeret. Got Wear//Tear in hand.

2-1/3-1-0.

SIDEBOARD :

-2 Counterspell
-1 Force of Will
+1 Wear//Tear
+1 Engineered Explosives
+1 Path to Exile


Post-tournament, I decided to take out the 4th Counterbalance and add the 3rd Entreat in the sideboard, since I realized that I wanted to go faster during some games. Disenchant is great in the 60 maindeck : it shuts off batterskull/jitte on game 1, as well as sylvan library or other one-of. Surprisingly, I only setup Countertop twice in the evening, and it didn't have the strong lock that i wished. But the list can still do good without it, so it's okay I guess.

Thanks for reading this (if you're still there !), I hope I didn't over-flooded with irrelevant informations.
On your side : what do you think of the list ? The side-board plans ?

Regards,

Spaker

Any reason you don't play Wear / Tear over disenchant?

[Spaker]

Well, I've tried both before making my choice, but in the end, I prefer to stick with Disenchant maindeck because of the 1W cost, which is much more stable to obtain than 1R with Wear//Tear if you want to break artifact. And I played several games with Wear//Tear, and 9 times out of 10 i just wanted to get rid of an artifact (enchantment are less popular in general) like the batterskull.
But in order to do that, i was forced to fetch that volcanic island, which is vulnerable to wasteland (I agree : that doesn't make a big difference when you're at 5-6 mana to potentially lose one land, but if the artifact lands quickly, and you're only at 2-3 mana, you won't like putting a wasteland-target on board). The match-up against UWR Delver belong to this scenario since they have stifle and wasteland to stop you from having that strong mana-base.
Let just say that disenchant is a more secured choice since you'll always be able to cast it, no matter what the opponent is playing. (Wear//Tear is especially great in the mirror.)


Regards

Spaker

[twndomn]

LANDS : 20

With this build, my starting hands are much more balanced. Even with a single land, I allow myself to keep because I have a ponder in hand.
And thanks to those 4 ponder, 20 lands is great. Also : I've never been so happy to find a ponder in late-game.

Not convinced. This deck should not miss land drops. Even with 4 ponders, 20 lands is ridiculously low. You are almost forced to play turn 1 ponder to ensure more lands coming, which makes you vulnerable to opponent's turn 1 play.