1. GP Kyoto was the verdict. After that GP, all Miralces are running at least one dig, no more debate after that GP.Originally Posted by Adryan
2. No..., people still don't run Wasteland and there's no trend to suggest otherwise. If you live in Japan, you probably should do it.
If anything, more Karakas and/or enchantment instant removal would also help.
Yup, this is exactly how I board with 21 lands and 4 Ponder. I might try 20 lands next time. I really want to try 1 Preordain, even though I know that the 21st land slot should just be a Pyroblast.
I went 4-0 at a Legacy side event at GP Copenhagen yesterday, playing with SB Mentors for the first time. They were MVPs!
My list:
3 Snapcaster Mage
4 Sensei's Divining Top
4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Terminus
4 Counterbalance
4 Force of Will
2 Entreat the Angels
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
2 Dig Through Time
1 Pyroblast
1 Counterspell
4 Flooded Strand
4 Polluted Delta
2 Arid Mesa
3 Tundra
2 Volcanic Island
4 Island
2 Plains
SIDEBOARD
3 Vendilion Clique
2 Flusterstorm
2 Pyroblast
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Disenchant
2 Meddling Mage
2 Monastery Mentor
1 Counterspell
1 Relic of Progenitus
My matchups were:
1. Grixis Tempo
2. Dark Depths Combo
3. Death and Taxes
4. Weird BUG control brew.
Monastery Mentor was an all-star every time it came in (which was every matchup). Seeing the faces of opponents when Mentor comes down and they're staring at a hand of Red blasts and spell pierces and they've boarded out their plows or their lightning bolts is amazing. The most memorable moment was game 3 against Death and Taxes. It had been a long game where I managed to deal with all his creatures and leave him topdecking, but I was topdecking as well. He tried to play Cataclysm, which I responded to by fetching and topping to find a FoW to stop it. The turn after that, I top deck a Jace and play him, brainstorming into nothing special. His turn comes and time is called for the round as he plays a Batterskull he topdecked. At this point, life totals are me: 5, him: 22. I look at the top at his end step and find a DTT. I cast DTT in my main phase and find Mentor and a second top. I play mentor and top twice so I pass my first turn of extra turn with Mentor and 2 tokens, after using Jace to Bounce his germ. On his turn he untaps and plows mentor, leaving me with just the 2 tokens. He then wastelands one of my lands and leaves port mana for another one. In upkeep I respond to port activation by spinning top and finding one more land. I then shuffle my tops around 6 times and attack for 14, taking him down to 8. I then fateseal with Jace and see a flickerwisp, which I of course put in the bottom. He then draws a land and I win on turn 5 of extra turns.
Anyway, that story is not in any way representative of whether Mentor is good or not, it was just a very intense few turns. That being said, I loved playing 2 mentors in the board, and I'll definitely continue to do so. I haven't had a chance to play him in combo matchups, so I'm still not certain if I'd want to bring him in or not, but having up to 10(!) creatures post-board feels pretty good.
To continue the Monastery Mentor discussion, aside from Mirror, when do you bring them in?
I've been bringing them in in all non-combo matchups so far. The tendency is for opponents to board out removal, and at the time you play mentor, he really is a 2-turn clock, so there are very few opportunities for it to be dealt with before he takes over the game. I would probably not bring them in against combo decks unless I had way too many dead cards, but I think they also should work quite nicely in some of the more fringe matchups which can be very difficult (MUD, etc), since it can allow us to go on the offensive quite early, which can be backbreaking for decks that are just expecting us to sit back and play hard control.
I bring in mentor in matchups with little or no removal like KZhang said. I actually also bring them in when I need added pressure against a non-creature based combo deck.
I played Omni-tell twice yesterday and boarded the mentors in against them. It allowed me to kill them very quickily before they could go off. It also has the added benefit of adding more permanents if you happen to have to take an Emrakul hit.
well... when you cast mentor against omnitell you are lucky if you make it to your next turn.
The most common usage of running Mentor against Omni-tell is that you can float it for CB to counter Wish as well as Show and Tell. Main-phase tap 3 lands against a blue combo deck, yack
I've actually been doing a lot of experimenting with Preordain and going down to 19-20 lands, but ultimately I've decided to stick to 21. I'm playing Cliques in my list though, so my effective curve might be a bit higher.
I think L0cke is still experimenting with Preordains - I know he stuck with it longer than I did.
That was probably more a function of them just not having it, so you likely just got lucky. Omnitell is a terrible MU for us.
I never found Omnitell to be a terrible matchup. It actually ranges from slightly unfavourable - slightly favourable depending on your board.
Terrible would be something like 12 post.
Terrible is, again, hyperbole. It's not favored, but it's only slightly unfavored.
The only TERRIBLE matchups, are MUD and 12 post (ramp).
The rest are matchups we can win, with difficult, but the experience of the player can help.
So for the miracles players on 20 lands, how do you like the 4th tundra over the second plains? Is double white just not needed with only one entreat?
I'm currently playing 2 Tundra and 3 Volcanic as to not get screwed on red. I'm thinking about cutting the second Plains for a Karakas though. I don't think I'd play 4 Tundra, seems a bit much.
Discussion like above suggests that the meta has shifted to a point in which RUG Delver, Vial + Wasteland decks are on the low. People are trying to cut corners.
With that said, I have never seen any Miracles running 4 Tundras.
You'll get to see a 20 land 4 Ponder list that I considered very good two weeks ago in my article tomorrow! I'll obviously be playing some different at the GP but it should give you a good idea on the direction that it's taking, but it's nothing flashy, just the most consistent thing you can build. :)
To be perfectly honest, many lists in our testing process that have led up to GP Lille have featured 4 Tundras, some even 4 Volcanic Islands. I'll explain all in my GP Lille - aftermath article! :)
Greetings
Will your article appear on Eternalcentral or SCG?
Neither, I am now a member of Team MTG Mint Card, which means it'll appear over here: http://www.mtgmintcard.com/
But I'll also post it on Facebook, Twitter, Reddit and TheSource! :)
EDIT: Nevermind, Article will be posted as one. :)
Greetings
What do people think about this card in miracles?
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