[Deck] MonoU OmniTell

[KjU]

- would you always keep the 12-cantrips when building this deck?
- is Probe the easiest cut when making room for other spells?
- how many protection spells is enough? Right now I run 4 FoW and 3 Spell Pierce.
- is Personal Tutor justified as a two-of?
- should I focus on speed, so make room for Lotus Petal?

- Yes, this deck lives off of its consistency.
- There's nothing wrong with cutting a probe or two, but looking at your list I think running 3 Emrakul alongside 3 wishes will give too many clunky draws. You never want to see them together, so if you want to focus on EtI, you should cut 1 or 2 Emrakul.
- It depends a lot on what decks are in your meta and how much hate they're bringing. Anything from 7-10 can be justified. Pierce is a good choice atm due to miracles.
- I really don't like Personal Tutor. In a deck that relies heavily on card quantity, a card that doesn't replace itself should be avoided. It also gives the opponent very important info and a full turn to react to it, which also makes it a horrible top deck. If you DO choose to play it, don't cut probes and maybe find room for a top.
- I don't like Petal in the EtI version, but if you choose to focus more on Emrakul, you'll hit Show/Emrakul more often and being faster will have its advantages.

KjU

[Chatto]

Thanks for the replies, much appreciated!

[Chatto]

Still viable, 8th in Indianapolis

[Tokugawa]

Still viable, 8th in Indianapolis

DAZE looks mystical. Yeah, opponents would never perdict meeting that card.

[pandaman]

With Dig Through Time now banned, it looks like we're back to debating the R&D+Labman kill v Emrakul/Release the Ants kill. I still favour Labman because you run no combo pieces maindeck and Emrakul doesn't always get there. So my list is sticking with that kill and eschewing Emrakul for the time being. At least mainboard. My list is currently as follows:

6 Island
4 Polluted Delta
4 Flooded Strand
3 Ancient Tomb
1 City of Traitors
1 Underground Sea

4 Show and Tell
4 Dream Halls
4 Enter the Infinite
4 Cunning Wish
4 Omniscience
1 Intuition
1 Trickbind

4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
4 Preordain

4 Force of Will
3 Spell Pierce
1 Flusterstorm

Sideboard

1 Research//Development
1 Laboratory Maniac
1 Firemind's Foresight
1 Intuition
1 Slaughter Pact
1 Wipe Away
1 Trickbind
1 Flusterstorm
4 Thoughtseize
2 Massacre
1 Swamp

My theory is that with all your cantrips and redundant combo pieces you should be good against discard, and Thoughtseize is just a generally stronger card than Leyline of Sancity and goes a long way to shoring up your bad matchups (i.e. combo). A couple of ideas I'm toying with in my mind are:

Emrakul+Eladimri's Call instead of Massacre to address hate bears?
2 Duress/2 Thoughtseize instead of the 4 Thoughtseize (would save a lot of life)?
Pact of Negation over Flusterstorm in the board as a counterspell (wishing for a free counterspell preboard seems good, but Flusterstorm comes in against discard decks and does a lot of work)?
Cutting the sideboard Trickbind? I never seem to Wish for it.

[Conscious Insanity]

Is boarding a bunch of Leyline of Sanctity the only way this deck can protect itself from discard? It just seems so underwhelming to me.

[pandaman]

Is boarding a bunch of Leyline of Sanctity the only way this deck can protect itself from discard? It just seems so underwhelming to me.

Spell Pierce, Flusterstorm, and high density of combo pieces is protection enough in my view.

[Chronatog]

Is boarding a bunch of Leyline of Sanctity the only way this deck can protect itself from discard? It just seems so underwhelming to me.

Library of Leng

[Bobmans]

Emrakul+Eladimri's Call instead of Massacre to address hate bears?
2 Duress/2 Thoughtseize instead of the 4 Thoughtseize (would save a lot of life)?
Pact of Negation over Flusterstorm in the board as a counterspell (wishing for a free counterspell preboard seems good, but Flusterstorm comes in against discard decks and does a lot of work)?
Cutting the sideboard Trickbind? I never seem to Wish for it.

LabMan kill is very awesome and means a clean MD. That said, Going all out om LabMan means that Cunning Wish is the decks bottle neck.
Posrboard plan with Emrakul (+ wish/call) is probably fine since you catch people offguard with the focus on LabMan anyway. The problem i do have with EmraCall vs hatebears is that those decks typically have 6+ permanents, have a decend clock and are often able to get a win after you attack with Emrakul. The solution for me has been a second Emrakul to loop into. 2 MD Emrakul means your also able to T2/3 SnT into Emrakul as another way to win. Personally i am very content with 2 Misdirection postboard on top of 4 fow and 3 pierce MD vs discard.
Trickbind has saved me numerous times where Elves (RecSage) being the most important. Also works perfect on Griselbrand activation, which is a problem anyway (i find Sneak and Reanimate to be problematic due to our dependancy on SnT).

[pandaman]

LabMan kill is very awesome and means a clean MD. That said, Going all out om LabMan means that Cunning Wish is the decks bottle neck.
Posrboard plan with Emrakul (+ wish/call) is probably fine since you catch people offguard with the focus on LabMan anyway. The problem i do have with EmraCall vs hatebears is that those decks typically have 6+ permanents, have a decend clock and are often able to get a win after you attack with Emrakul. The solution for me has been a second Emrakul to loop into. 2 MD Emrakul means your also able to T2/3 SnT into Emrakul as another way to win. Personally i am very content with 2 Misdirection postboard on top of 4 fow and 3 pierce MD vs discard.
Trickbind has saved me numerous times where Elves (RecSage) being the most important. Also works perfect on Griselbrand activation, which is a problem anyway (i find Sneak and Reanimate to be problematic due to our dependancy on SnT).

Massacre or Toxic Deluge have been able to solve multiple hatebears for me most of the time. I'm not sure how Emrakul will go in their place. I haven't used Emrakul yet in testing.

Cunning Wish is the deck's bottleneck, but postboard if you feel they will go after the wish you can board in LabMan and combo without wish.

I have put 3 Defense Grid in the sideboard and they were excellent so far. It's so nice to be able to combo off and not have to worry about counterspells! My sideboard now is:

1 Laboratory Maniac
1 Research//Development
1 Firemind's Foresight
1 Trickbind
1 Wipe Away
1 Pact of Negation
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
1 Eladamri's Call
3 Defense Grid
2 Duress
1 Thoughtseize
1 Swamp

[Bobmans]

Massacre or Toxic Deluge have been able to solve multiple hatebears for me most of the time. I'm not sure how Emrakul will go in their place. I haven't used Emrakul yet in testing.

Cunning Wish is the deck's bottleneck, but postboard if you feel they will go after the wish you can board in LabMan and combo without wish.

I have put 3 Defense Grid in the sideboard and they were excellent so far. It's so nice to be able to combo off and not have to worry about counterspells! My sideboard now is:

1 Laboratory Maniac
1 Research//Development
1 Firemind's Foresight
1 Trickbind
1 Wipe Away
1 Pact of Negation
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
1 Eladamri's Call
3 Defense Grid
2 Duress
1 Thoughtseize
1 Swamp

Defense Grid is a solid card. Sometimes you open with City of Traitors, Defense Grid, Land, SnT, some combo piece. Going T1 City -> Defense Grid into T2 SnT is just soo nice. I'd YOLO that any day. Aside the fun, Defense Grid ensures a safe trip on the combo step, and at least it will eat a FoW or counterspell of some sorts. Just putting it on the stack and watch closely to how your opponent "handles" it gives away if you can win the turn after or you have to wait.

Currently i have 2 Massacre and 1 Kozilek's Return in the board. Kozilek's Return is a Wish target to deal with hatebears after Omni is dropped (obviously). I have been considering running 1 Volcanic Island and play 3 K.Return's instead. 2/1 split after boarding. Being able to EoT sweep is really solid.
The second application is to go in with FF into C.Wish, Lim-Dul's Vault, Brainstorm grabbing Emrakul and K.Return. Cast Return, Cast Emrakul, flash K.Return. This should nearly clear the board to ensure a safe trip with 1 Emrakul attack.

I find your Wish targets a bit on the low side tbh. Ofcourse a board can't provide solutions for every problem AND it is hard to establish a solid board based on theory-crafting alone. The best board is based of actual play anyhow. So was the list i played back in 2014.
Here is a list to my 2014 mono-blue list.
I was really used to playing that list, and the more i played i, the more i was able to find "solutions" to situations and won from there. With the current list i have less "feeling", mainly because i am not testing and playing it hard enough. That is the effect when you play another deck every week.
The biggest difference with my current list is the inclusion of Lim-Dul's Vault. For me the main reasons to run it: 1. cmc 2 curves perfect into a T3 combo. 2. it is an instant. 3. it is blue. 4. It helps both post as pre combo. 5. It enables some very solid and flexible lines with Firemind's Foresight. I think that LDV is the missing link to a perfect FF. The cons of LDV are obviously 1. it needs a cantrip when you want to grab the target the same turn. 2. it requires some dedication on the manabase.

Current list:
2 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
4 Omniscience
2 Dream Halls
3 Enter the Infinite
4 Show and Tell
4 Cunning Wish
3 Lim-Dul's Vault
4 Preordain
4 Ponder
4 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will
3 Spell Pierce
4 City of Traitors
4 Polluted Delta
3 Flooded Strand
1 Misty Rainforest
5 Island
1 Swamp
1 Underground Sea

Sideboard:
2 Defense Grid
2 Misdirection
2 Massacre
1 Kozilek's Return
1 Release the Ants
1 Firemind's Foresight
1 Snap
1 Rushing River
1 Trickbind
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Noxious Revival
1 Intuition

[pandaman]

My board started off big but has become more streamlined over time. I took Intuition out because I almost never wish for it. I took Slaughter Pact out for the same reason. I took Noxious Revival out because discard is a better solution v Reanimator and, again, I never wished for it. My wish targets in order of most wished for are: (1) Research//Development; (2) Firemind's Foresight; (3) Wipe Away; (4) Pact of Negation; (5) Trickbind. I feel like Defense Grid, discard, and sweepers answer almost everything else acceptably well. Not that I wouldn't love to still be running SPact, Revival, and Intuition, I just think that the other stuff is better in their place.

[Bobmans]

My board started off big but has become more streamlined over time.

Which is exactly what i mean with adjusting it on actual play. :-)

I took Intuition out because I almost never wish for it. I took Slaughter Pact out for the same reason. I took Noxious Revival out because discard is a better solution v Reanimator and, again, I never wished for it. My wish targets in order of most wished for are: (1) Research//Development; (2) Firemind's Foresight; (3) Wipe Away; (4) Pact of Negation; (5) Trickbind. I feel like Defense Grid, discard, and sweepers answer almost everything else acceptably well. Not that I wouldn't love to still be running SPact, Revival, and Intuition, I just think that the other stuff is better in their place.

I surprisingly Wish a lot for Intuition to setup a combo. While being slow, clunky and fragile it occurs quite often.
Noxious Revival is not so much there to deal with Reanimator. It functions as protection against Surgical Extraction, preventing from decking myself (it grabs Emrakul out of the yard aswell. Or EoT setup a combo that failed previously. There is a lot of "hidden" application to Noxious Revival and that card has been part of some obnoxious lines that got me out of weird or impossible game states.

Anyway, how do you feel about playing (or not playing) Lim-Dul's Vault?
And how do you feel this deck to be positioned currently?

[pandaman]

I would like Noxious Revival because I can see how well it can set you up against Surgical etc. and I will definitely try it again. I own it on MODO and it's biding its time to get a run in the board.

I am unsure about how the deck is positioned. Objectively, it's a strong combo with a lot of redundancy in its various pieces, backed by the best cantrips in the format, with a rock solid mana base. But my results haven't been as good as thatobjective analysis would suggest they should be. So I'm currently trying to work out whether it's my play that is the problem or whether the deck just doesn't "fit" the meta.

I love Lim-Dul's Vault, but I think I like the solid U manabase more given that we already have so many ways to combo and 12 cantrips.

[Bobmans]

I am unsure about how the deck is positioned. Objectively, it's a strong combo with a lot of redundancy in its various pieces, backed by the best cantrips in the format, with a rock solid mana base. But my results haven't been as good as thatobjective analysis would suggest they should be. So I'm currently trying to work out whether it's my play that is the problem or whether the deck just doesn't "fit" the meta.

This pretty much sums it up. I'd like to blame it on myself for not playing the deck more often and test more intensively.

[pandaman]

I put Intuition back in the sideboard in place of a Defense Grid. I just needed it and lost a match because I didn't have it.

1 Laboratory Maniac
1 Research//Development
1 Firemind's Foresight
1 Intuition
1 Trickbind
1 Wipe Away
1 Pact of Negation
2 Defense Grid
2 Duress
1 Thoughtseize
2 Toxic Deluge
1 Swamp

I think two Grid is enough for it to show up fairly regularly what with the amount of cantrips we run.

[pandaman]

Can any experienced OmniTell players give me some guidance/thoughts about the Miracles matchup? I've been finding it impossibly hard. It's difficult to keep Counterbalance off the table and after sideboarding I feel like I just get crushed by their additional REBs and Pyroblasts. Will Defense Grid help? I boarded it in but I couldn't find it at all. I am finding it quite miserable.

[KobeBryan]

Can any experienced OmniTell players give me some guidance/thoughts about the Miracles matchup? I've been finding it impossibly hard. It's difficult to keep Counterbalance off the table and after sideboarding I feel like I just get crushed by their additional REBs and Pyroblasts. Will Defense Grid help? I boarded it in but I couldn't find it at all. I am finding it quite miserable.

You cant durdle around against them

Play young pyro, monastary mentor, bloodghast, or even that new wall that can fly.

Play boseiju and then go after them. Should be ok. Bring in sudden shock and pyroclasm.

[Bobmans]

Can any experienced OmniTell players give me some guidance/thoughts about the Miracles matchup? I've been finding it impossibly hard. It's difficult to keep Counterbalance off the table and after sideboarding I feel like I just get crushed by their additional REBs and Pyroblasts. Will Defense Grid help? I boarded it in but I couldn't find it at all. I am finding it quite miserable.

Defense Grid does help. As i wrote earlier, casting one means they have to act. Having them act means it gives away information.
On overall i feel that Miracles MU means you want to try and combo not later then T4. Beyond that point it becomes really hard. But not giving up and keeping pressure might for them into an error. Dream Halls also helps because that means they need to float cmc3 and cmc5.
Miracles is most vurnerable on their early turns and when they are tapped out.
I feel that fast hands with protection are best. Cantrip hands are typically worse here.
Some people believe in Boseiju, but after some testing i would rather play Defense Grid. Boseiju does enable a SnT, but you would need Emrakul for it to work optimal. Going for a Cunning Wish into something requires 3 turns.

[Chatto]

Could Monastery Mentor be a good SB-card?