Miracle Control

[presquepartout]

I am a little lost. Why did suddenly (I mean since last year) playing ponder became a must in almost every miracle build? I'm not saying it's not great, but for a lot of time nobody used to play it and the deck did great anyways. Has anything changed or it's just the build getting closer to its ideal?

Well, Delve spells make Ponder a lot more attractive. Ponder saw an increase in play across all of Legacy when KTK was printed. I wouldn't be surprised to see slightly less Ponder now, but I also think many players have been converted to the cantrip, even if it doesn't fuel Dig Through Time.

[skyout]

Well, Delve spells make Ponder a lot more attractive. Ponder saw an increase in play across all of Legacy when KTK was printed. I wouldn't be surprised to see slightly less Ponder now, but I also think many players have been converted to the cantrip, even if it doesn't fuel Dig Through Time.

Ponder is just so good in conjunction with top and brainstorm, it allows you to shuffle like four more fetches.

[theramblingfool]

Somebody talk me out of this... My mind is really wanting to play a Predict right now... It acts as another shuffle effect (it resets all 3 top cards), burns off your most useless card, provides card advantage at instant speed, counters random tutor effects (fringe), but most interestingly, it does a lot of interesting stuff in the mirror. It can murder their top after they've drawn with it while still providing card advantage. In grindy matchups, and ESPECIALLY in the mirror, it just seems sweet.

[CutthroatCasual]

You're a rambling fool.

In the mirror, if they've drawn with Top, the best you can hope for is finding a FoW with those 2 cards because you're dead to that ETA they just drew.

[CutthroatCasual]

Quick question: how would you guys board against Punishing Blue?
I've also found this particular matchup to be quite a challenge and wondered what the key is to swing this matchups in your favor.
Most games I won were when I would achieve a full counterbalance lock (2 and 3 drops on top) to put enough damage through or with some graveyard hate to remove punishing fires. The problem is that the counterbalance lock is only a temporary solution as it's just a matter of time before they draw their abrupt decays to remove it.

An early ETA for even just 2 is often enough to get there.

Post-board you want W/T, RIP, Venser if you got him, and Blood Moon.

[Dia_Bot]

An early ETA for even just 2 is often enough to get there.

Post-board you want W/T, RIP, Venser if you got him, and Blood Moon.

Thanks CutthroatCasual. A quick ETA racing should indeed be a good solution game 1, I just didn't see those in my testing games against Punish Blue. Which isn't all that surprising seeing I only play it as a one-off.

[Quasim0ff]

I'm participating in a tournament tomorrow, where I expect to see a fair amount of BUG decks.

I've lately been playing 1 Eta/2 Mentors, but I'm considering switching those numbers.

Anyone have experience with such a list?

Thanks.

[Poron]

I love Pyroclasm for Bug decks.
All the rest is settled by Mentor and Jace.

Pay attention to Tombstalkers.

[CutthroatCasual]

I love Pyroclasm for Bug decks.

Pyroclasm is pretty sweet. Even does wonders against DnT and is an out to Gaddock Teeg.

[Quasim0ff]

Pyroclasm is pretty sweet. Even does wonders against DnT and is an out to Gaddock Teeg.

I play Pyroclasm. I'm wondering if its 2/1 Mentor/EtA or 1/2.

[skyout]

I play Pyroclasm. I'm wondering if its 2/1 Mentor/EtA or 1/2.

Most decks I've seen having been playing 2 mentor with 1 ETA. How do people feel about supreme verdict in the current meta?

[Son Alexander]

Ive been watching the recent top 8s on MTG TOP 8 and over the last month Miracles has been on the rise. Staying at about 25 when Dig was banned and climbing to 41. With this knowledge. What are people's thoughts on running the Legends version?

[princeofperasia]

I'm participating in a tournament tomorrow, where I expect to see a fair amount of BUG decks.

I've lately been playing 1 Eta/2 Mentors, but I'm considering switching those numbers.

Anyone have experience with such a list?

Thanks.

If you expect a lot of Shardless, then Entreat is your better card.

[Minniehajj]

If a meta is riddled with shardless, I'm not playing mentor anywhere in my 75. 2-3 (after board) is a far better place to be.

[Quasim0ff]

If you expect a lot of Shardless, then Entreat is your better card.

There was a fair amount of bug, but far more on reanimator and storm. :)

[Minniehajj]

If that's the case, it's better off fighting on the stack against them, in which case, you're less worried about what you're winning with and more about what you're not losing with. In that case, entreat and mentor are interchangeable, and I would play more entreats simply due to bug being there at all

My mistake, I wasn't aware the event already happened. How did it go?

[Quasim0ff]

If that's the case, it's better off fighting on the stack against them, in which case, you're less worried about what you're winning with and more about what you're not losing with. In that case, entreat and mentor are interchangeable, and I would play more entreats simply due to bug being there at all

My mistake, I wasn't aware the event already happened. How did it go?

Lost my win and win on 5-1 to UBg Omnitell. (?)

[CutthroatCasual]

If a meta is riddled with shardless, I'm not playing mentor anywhere in my 75. 2-3 (after board) is a far better place to be.

And seeing as Shardless was easily the best performing deck of the most recent SCG, you can expect to see much, much more of that.

[Minniehajj]

And seeing as Shardless was easily the best performing deck of the most recent SCG, you can expect to see much, much more of that.

Sorry, meant having 2-3 entreats is better than mentor.

[skyout]

With shardless picking up in popularity, does ETA become the preferred win condition over monastery mentor?

Also, how does it effect sideboard plans?