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As a Dimir Player I want to have a Soild sideboard plan against convoke, what are your recommendations beside Malicious Eclipse, Harvester of Misery and Gix Command? Is better for me just play Golgari?

[[Sorcerous Spyglass]] is an easily-overlooked little piece of tech, because we're all used to Duress being better, but Spyglass has applications that kind of devastate the poor Dimir bastards because they have no artifact removal. It not only lets you look at their hand, taking away their element of surprise, you can then name a card they tend to use and then they can't use activated abilities on any cards with that name.

That means if you name [[Kaito, Bane of Nightmares]], they can't Ninjutsu him in because that's an activated ability, and even if they get him onto the board, he can't use his loyalty powers, so now he's just a vanilla four-mana 3/4 they have to play at sorcery speed.

If you name [[Restless Reef]], they can't turn those into creatures. So now that's just a vanilla tap land.

If you name [[Fountainport]] or [[Demolition Field]], those are just colorless lands now. They do nothing else. If they run [[Fabled Passage]] and you name that, they cannot crack them and search for a new land. That just wastes their land play for turn. It does nothing now.

You can even copy it with [[Three Steps Ahead]] later on and then name something else you want to deactivate.

What's Dimir going to do, get rid of it? They can counter it or Duress it out of your hand, but they have to, or it'll lock them out of half their gameplan forever. I happen to run [[Surge of Salvation]] to block Duress to keep them from spotting it early and dropping it, so they almost never see it coming. One time they did spot it early anyway and dropped a Caretaker's Talent instead, not expecting how much the Spyglass would ruin their day.

If they happen to be the type of Dimir that runs Jace, you can name [[Jace, the Perfected Mind]] and they can't mill you. I've named [[Collector's Vault]] against a Dimir Excruciator Mill deck that ran Vault and kept a hand with no black lands in it because they were hoping to use treasure for black, and then they untapped to discover they could never activate the vault again and resigned immediately.

I did this on a whim to see if it might work, and it's been crazy successful. It even comes in handy in matchups you'd never expect it to. It can turn off the level up abilities of [[Caretaker's Talent]] and such. It can prevent [[Rockface Village]] from giving haste. It can't turn off Annex because room unlocking is a special action, but it can turn off any creature land. [[Mazemind Tome]]? Useless. [[Carrot Cake]]? Can't eat them. [[Scavenging Ooze]]? No scavenging for you. I'm having loads of fun with this card.

[EDIT] Decklist is here: https://moxfield.com/decks/_XM4AKLPIECho7X_Z0W-gw

Hey there!

Lucas Giggs has just published a guide on the "Bushwhackerless" Monored Kuldotha deck he used to split the finals of the MTGO Challenge!

The guide explores how Kessig Flamebreaker provides a fresh angle against common hate cards and sweepers while preserving the deck’s explosive core. It also discusses why cutting Bushwhacker is an interesting meta call.

✅ Bushwhacker IN/OUT Debate 😉
✅ Sideboard Guide vs. Top Decks
✅ Tips & Tricks for Maximum Efficiency

Check it out here:
https://mtgdecks.net/guides/pauper-monored-bushwhackless-deck-sideboard-guide-mtg-321

Hope you enjoy it!

Untapped Decklist

Deck

18 Island

1 Time Stop

4 Mystical Teachings

4 Aetherize

2 Finale of Revelation

4 Contaminated Aquifer

3 Flow of Knowledge

4 Bring the Ending

4 Experimental Augury

4 Mindsplice Apparatus

4 Prologue to Phyresis

4 Anoint with Affliction

4 Undercity Sewers

Win condition:

1. Flash in [[Mindsplice Apparatus]]
2. Stall, draw cards, and apply poison/proliferate while letting counters build up on Mindsplice
3. Play [[Finale of Revelation]] for X >=10, draw and play your remaining poison/proliferate cards to win

Though it sounds rather Christmasland-y, I can typically win ~80% of games where I can untap with Mindsplice in play. The hard part really is just surviving until that point, and I would appreciate any advice for achieving that.

The cards:

[[Mystical Teachings]]

Previously, I was running a MonoU version of this list. This card is the main reason why I switched over to UB instead. It makes our gameplan much more consistent, allowing us to tutor for [[Mindsplice]] if it's not in hand. If Mindsplice is in play, I'll typically wait until the OP end step to see if they play anything that requires me to tutor an answer for, and otherwise tutor for [[Flow of Knowledge]].

[[Aetherize]] [[Bring the Ending]] [[Anoint with Affliction]] [[Time Stop]]

Our main tools for stalling the game until we can combo off. [[Serum Snare]] is also a possibility and is what I used in the MonoU version, but it's typically just worse than Anoint.

[[Prologue to Phyresis]] [[Experimental Augury]]

Getting the opponent to 10 poison counters is how we win. If I have Mindsplice in hand, I'll typically wait until it's in play before playing Augury, since the proliferate is great for accelerating our game plan. Don't bother waiting to draw Prologue first, since we can easily combo from 0 counters once we've stabilized.

[[Finale of Revelation]]

The "shuffle GY into library" and "untap 5 land" effects are both essential, and I never play this for X<10 unless I'm about to lose. We only have 8 cards that apply poison, so we need to recover those cards from the GY to reach 10 poison counters. Unfortunately this is our only nonland that isn't tutorable with Mystical Teachings; otherwise I would run only 1 copy.

[[Flow of Knowledge]]

This allows us to bury the opponent in card advantage and have answers to anything they have. Notably it costs 4U and can be discounted all the way down to U.

The lands:

Having 26 lands is important, since you always want to be able to play at least 4 lands on curve. Also, Flow of Knowledge scales off # of islands, and it can discard any extra lands. [[Contaminated Aquifer]] and [[Undercity Sewers]] are the only UB lands that are also islands, so there's not much flexiblity here.

Good Matchups:

Heavily favored into most midrange and control decks since all their removal/boardwipes are useless. Most don't have any answer to Mindsplice. Domain has leyline binding, but that can be countered, and Domain doesn't pressure us fast enough to prevent us from just tutoring/drawing for more. Also all the Avatars have time counters that we can proliferate. Mindsplice having flash also makes it much easier to dodge counterspells from UW or UB when they're tapped out.

Bad matchups:

MonoR kills us t3/4 if we don't draw Anoint or Bring the Ending. UW tempo runs Into the Floodmaw and Soul Partition which are both hard for us to answer. UG can recur TTABE multiple times. Time Stop is invaluable here, since Stormchaser's talent can only recur at sorcery speed.

Now that I have time to write the dissertation that is apparently required to post on this sub, I’m attempting again to gather feedback from the community.

Recently [[leyline axe]] was integral in a UW build that won a small tournament against the current standard meta. Having traditionally had the most personal success with esper or Orzhov builds, but in frustrating bouts with mana screw, I thought I could build a mono colored U deck based around [[sleep cursed faerie]] and the axe.

The premise is to get threats down early and defend them while keeping card advantage in hand. It is a reactionary deck that requires play in response to OP action. This requires patience and will often leave you only slowly chipping away at OP life, but when played correctly, it is extremely difficult to beat.

Key cards:

Sleep cursed faerie - impending threat that cannot be dealt with early, and requires niche spells ( [[long goodbye]] was brought up last post as a valid answer. Since then I have modified deck to include several instant hex proof) that are not heavily prevalent in the current meta. [[nowhere to run]] is also a decent answer, but can be responded to with the suite of counterspells.

Leyline axe - have won multiple matches with only this and sleep cursed faerie on the board. The trick is to remain patient and not try and swing for the kill too early and leave your only threat undefended.

Sheltered by ghosts - the main reason to splash W. It makes sleep cursed faerie almost impossible to remove with ward 4. Usually gives time to build up counterspells or hexproof spells in hand.

Stormchaser’s Talent & This town ain’t big enough - stormchasers gives us recurring creatures in a very creature light strategy. It can be bounced with This town along with one of their threats. That enables us to repeat the single U mana drop returning a prowess creature to the board and giving us another chance to counterspell whatever of OP was bounced.

Shore up & Fleeting reflection - necessary low cost hex proof spells to protect our few threats on board. Additionally, both of these spells untap sleep cursed faerie to speed up time to active threat. Fleeting reflection can also copy one of their threats in a block trade. Have frequently used it to surprise OP by casting on prowess otter and then removing huge threats they didn’t think could be defended against. Sometimes, the otter even survives

Enduring curiosity - card draw. With the axe, it adds up real quick.

Mockingbird - cast early on sleep cursed faerie or hold out to mimic their big threats. Have also used to copy an OP demon token or my own prowess otter for a low U mana cost.

Into the floodmaw - useful to enable prowess for low cost and to bounce threats for later countering.

Spell stutter and Three steps ahead - essential to any control strategy. Stutter works well with the faeries and Three steps is modal. Both can be brought back by stormchaser.

Deck:

4x [[Sleep cursed faerie]] 4x [[leyline axe]] 3x [[storm chaser]] 4x [[spell stutter]] 4x [[shore up]] 3x [[three steps ahead]] 3x [[sheltered by ghosts]] 2x [[into the floodmaw]] 2x [[this town ain’t big enough]] 2x [[mockingbird]] 3x [[enduring curiosity]] 2x [[fleeting reflection]]

Mana base: 2x plains (for land destruction) 3x [[flood farm verge]] 1x [[fountainport]] 12x island 1x [[cavern of souls]] 1x [[restless anchorage]] 4x [[fabled passage]]

Side board:

2x [[authority of consuls]] 2x [[stone brain]] 3x [[ghost vacuum]] 2x [[rest in peace]] 3x [[unable to scream]] 2x [[faerie mastermind]] 1x [[torpor orb]]

Meta match-ups and sideboard strategy:

Dimir midrange:

Fairly good match up. Kaito is the main threat here. We also don’t want faerie mastermind to land to nullify our enduring curiosity card draw advantage. They are flash heavy with their creatures so it is even more important to be reactionary to this deck than most others. Do not tap out to this deck while they still have cards in hand at all cost. Use unable to scream on biggest threats and save sheltered for kaito if you haven’t stone brained or can counter.

In - 3x unable to scream 2 faerie mastermind, and 2 stone brain Out - 4x leyline axe, 1 shore up, 2 mockingbird

Golgari midrange:

This is another creature heavy deck that is a good match up for us. Knowing their deck will enable you to strategically use counters and unable to scream to nullify their threats while slowly picking away at them. Thrun is the most difficult threat if it lands. This is where the fleeting reflection comes in most handy. Keep in mind you cannot copy Thrun itself as it is immune to none green effects so you must find another option.

In - 3x unable to scream, 2 ghost vacuum, 2 stone brain Out - 2x floodmaw, 2x leyline, 2 shore up, 1x this town

Mono red and gruul prowess:

Good matchup. Don’t worry about early life loss. Bounce and counter until you can cover a sleep cursed faerie with sheltered by ghost. For obvious reasons this strategy requires to pay very close attention to screaming nemesis

In - 2x authority of consuls, 3 unable to scream Out - 4x leyline axe, 1x mockingbird

Domain:

Poor to even match up. You need to end these games as quickly as possible. Move to the more aggro availability of your deck. If the game drags on, you will lose.

In - 2x stone brain, 1x torpor orb, 2x faerie mastermind Out- 2x floodmaw, 2x this town (they have too much etb), 1x curiosity

Gruul Smugglers:

This doesn’t appear to be in the meta, but for some reason I face it a lot with this deck. By far the worst match up. Everything is a threat and smugglers comes out of no where. Pretty much need god hand on the play in the more aggro format of the deck. Just like domain, if it goes on too long, you will lose.

In - 2x authority of consuls 3x unable to scream, 2x stone brain Out - 2x floodmaw, 2x this town, 3x curiosity

So I've had tons of ub mirrors online and have that matchup pretty well figured out. Mono red and gb midrange are common enough as well. I am having a bit of a problem even finding people on arena playing zur/domain, but I know through word of mouth that my local meta has a fair ammount of it.

Anyway, what should the gameplan be as a curiosity player facing up this matchup?

Thanks for the advice.

I have been playing mono white token control splash blue for two jace in the side with two negates.

The deck is the usual suspects with 2 virtue, 2 overlord, 1 elspeth’s and 2 soul partition

I’m thinking about taking out the souls for 1 jace and 1 overlord (or 2 overlords)

The current sideboard is

2 excorcise 2 Rest In Peace 2 authority 3 elspeth smite 2 split up 2 jaces 2 negates

I have an extra excercise, authority, temporary lock and I have 3 stone brains coming that I want put into the side.

But I how do I beat simic tempo and otters.

(Hopefully the examples below are general enough & I've not missed anything about the decks, because I'm not familiar with all the decks/formats.)

Example: you are playing against Mill in Modern. Opponent only has 8 creatures (Ruin Crab + Hedron Crab), but each of those are highly dangerous if played on turn 1 and not removed.

Example: you are playing against Strict Proctor Lotus Field in Historic. Opponent effectively has only 4 creatures (since the other creatures don't really get cast), but if Strict Proctor lives, their entire deck becomes incredible.

Example: you are playing against Ruby Storm in Modern. They have 4 Rals and a couple of Barals. If these creatures live, they can easily combo next turn.

Assuming you aren't a pure control deck & your removal spell is Fatal Push, how many do you keep in post-board instead of just adding more generic threats? How does this change if you're also playing a (semi-)combo deck, e.g. Esper Goryo's? If you could go above 4 removal spells (e.g. you have Sheoldred's Edict in your sideboard), should you?

Obviously with Looting unbanned Phoenix will be a deck again and reanimator also got more gas.

Does Mopal being unbanned mean that Affinity might be good enough?

Are Delver decks going to be good enough in the meta with looting and another 0 mana artifact for DRC?

Does GSZ make the creature combo toolbox lists or Broodscale that much better? Broodscale lists now have a cheap way to tutor for both the artifacts (Blade of the Bloodchief and Tarrians) plus the creature.

Is Splinter twin fast enough in the current meta? Corridor Monitor and Counterspell among others have been introduced since the last time it was legal.

Are there decks that benefited more?

Are there new or fringe decks that might be t1 or t2 now?

Tamiyo? Bazaarless Aggro? (Hollow One, Sneaky Snacker, Amalgam etc) Urza?

What do you think benefits the most and what are you excited to play?

I've been maining Mono-White Tokens (deck list below) for the past month. I know how to beat most of the Tier 1 decks, but Dimir Midrange has been giving me lots of trouble.

For sideboard, I usually remove Virtue of Loyalty, Archangel Elspeth, and a Beza or two. I add in the Elspeth Smites and a Boon-Bringer Valkyrie.

Any tips on how to win?

Things I struggle with:

• When Kaito comes in, I rarely connect with enough damage to get him off the battlefield - I end up having to use spot removal
• They are much faster out the gate, and their flyers will plink me down to the point that I have to pray my board wipe sticks
• Their counter-spells and flash creatures allow a smart player to avoid board wipes
• Their card-draw engine is much more robust than mine - if they're behind, they use the Mastermind to stay in the game. If they disrupt mine, and have Kaito or Enduring Curiosity in play they simply outclass me in card advantage

Deck 4 Lay Down Arms 1 Overlord of the Mistmoors 4 Beza, the Bounding Spring 4 Get Lost 4 Fountainport 4 Carrot Cake 4 Caretaker's Talent 3 Sunken Citadel 4 Sunfall 2 Virtue of Loyalty 2 Archangel Elspeth 1 Plains 2 Soul Partition 4 Enduring Innocence 1 Plains 1 Plains 2 Plains 3 Plains 3 Plains 5 Plains 2 Plains

Sideboard 2 Authority of the Consuls 1 Boon-Bringer Valkyrie 4 Elspeth's Smite 3 Exorcise 2 Split Up 3 Rest in Peace

The final banned & restricted announcement of the year is here, and it has been one of the most anticipated of the year. The following cards were banned in the following formats:

• Jegantha in Pioneer
• One Ring is Banned in Modern
• Jegantha Banned in Modern
• Amped Raptor is banned in Modern
• Mox Opal UNBANNED in Modern
• Green Sun's Zenith UNBANNED in Modern
• Faithless Looting UNBANNED in Modern
• Splinter Twin UNBANNED in Modern
• ZPsychicc Frog Banned in legacy
• Vexing Bauble Banned in legacy

What are your thoughts on the changes? Are you sad they didn't ban or unban anything specifically?

Hello spikes!

This is the place where any and all decks can be posted for all spikes to see. The goal of this is to fit all your needs for competitive magic. Maybe it's a card consideration given an X dollar budget. Maybe you need that sweet sideboard tech that no one else thought of? Perhaps you just can't figure out the best card to beat a certain matchup. The ideas here are only limited by your imagination!

Feel free to discuss most anything here. We only ask that with any question, you also make sure to post your decklist so people have some context to answer your question. Otherwise, have at it! If you have any questions, shoot us a modmail and we'll be happy to help you out. Survive your deck check and survive your competition!

The build that won the 220 person BoP tournament a couple of weeks ago was quite heavily enchantment focused, but since then builds have been tending towards more mice/mono r with a smaller splash of the white enchantments etc.

I am wanting to explore the pros/cons of each build more, how they are better than the other, etc. Is there an active discord around dedicated to the deck?

Decklist is here:

https://www.archidekt.com/decks/10467829/gw_overlords

I was looking at some mono white control lists about a month ago and thought to myself- "Wouldn't it be great to ramp into Overlord of the Mistmoors?" As it turns out, this is a strong strategy! The idea behind this deck is simple: It is essentially mono white control with some alternative draw methods (beanstalk instead of enduring innocence) as well as a ramp package to help us hit the top of our curve much earlier. I limited myself to two colors rather than going full domain for a couple of reasons. Firstly, this list feels a lot faster than domain/ many midrange decks and has a stronger matchup into aggro. With this list, it is possible to hard-cast Mistmoors as early as turn 4. The sequencing is as follows-

T1: Land + Llanowar elves

T2: Land + Hauntwoods

T3: Land + Caretakers talent -> Copy Everywhere token with caretaker's talent

T4: Land + Mistmoors

Secondly, limiting myself to two colors allows me to justify a few copies of Lay Down Arms. Fun reminder: Everywhere tokens count as plains! It is considerably easy, even in two colors, to have valid targets for this crucial removal spell against faster decks, which is where I found myself struggling most in this meta. Additionally, the ramp package is very useful for dropping Sunfall at least a turn earlier. The amount of games I won against faster decks, simply because my Llanowar Elves or Everywhere land allowed me to cast Sunfall marginally faster, were quite high.

The sideboard package is pretty simple, and my sideboarding was crucial to my success in this tournament. The cards are mostly aimed at improving my success against aggro strategies with a few Rest in Peace for graveyard hate and Exorcise/Pawpatch Formation/Nissa for demon and domain decks. Most of my game losses were game 1 but I was able to adjust my strategy to take the following games. First off- I find 4x Authority of the Consuls to be crucial in this meta. I have seen a lot of lists run only 3, which I truly dont understand. This card HOSES fast decks. I would much rather have 4 of these than 3 and an extra Elspeth's smite. Having 4 copies to maximize odds of drawing it and hitting some aggresive mulligans can often buy you 3-4 extra turns to find removal against a lot of aggro strategies. Against the faster decks I played, I would remove all my Beanstalks and Llanowar elves to add in all of the relevant sideboarded removal + 4x Consuls, essentially making my deck mono-white with Overlord of the Hauntwoods (which is still really good by the way).

My matchups in order were as follows:

1. Mono Red Burn 2-1

2. Dimir Doomsday 2-1

3. Boros Burn 2-1

4. Draw

5. Draw

Top 8:

1. Temur Otters 2-0

2. Jeskai Convoke 2-1

3. Azorious Oculus 2-1

I'm still a little stunned that I won, I've played MTG mostly casually for a decade and only started competing in RCQ's last week. Either way, now that I have secured an invite, I am eagerly looking forward to the regional events later this year!

I just came across this list of Lotus Field combo in Frank Karsten's recent article on Chanel Fireball :

4 Expedition Map

4 Consider
4 Artist's Talent
4 Hidden Strings
4 Pore Over the Pages
4 Vizier of Tumbling Sands
3 Dig Through Time
3 Sleight of Hand
2 Into the Flood Maw
2 Lightning Strike
1 Bond of Insight
1 Lier, Disciple of the Drowned
1 Wish
4 Lotus Field
4 Riverglide Pathway
4 Spirebluff Canal
4 Thespian's Stage
2 Valakut Awakening
2 Steam Vents
1 Island
1 Otawara, Soaring City
1 Spikefield Hazard

Sideboard:

3 Fiery Impulse
2 Mystical Dispute
2 Into the Flood Maw
2 Nine Lives
1 Galvanic Iteration
1 Anger of the Gods
1 Niv-Mizzet, Parun
1 Lier, Disciple of the Drowned
1 Thassa's Oracle
1 Narset's Reversal

Now in general this looks like a deck I would enjoy, but I am not sure how well it would stand up against the more aggro heavy BO1 metagame. So before I burn my wildcards I would like to hear some feedback from those of you who have played this list in ranked BO1. Can it be tweaked to thrive in that format (probably after adding a bit more removal to the main deck)?

Hi,

I want to share a build that I've been having some success on it. It was mainly built to have an edge against all the black midrange decks that have been swarming the meta, but so far it feels like it has game against most of the meta. Here goes the Decklist, and I'll try to explain my choices, and then I'd like feedback on the choices and new ideas to improve this archetype. So, without further ado:

Deck

4 [[Knight of Grace]]
3 [[Elenda, Saint of Dusk]]
3 [[Mazemind Tome]]
3 [[Sunfall]]
3 [[Day of Judgment]]
3 [[Split Up]]
4 [[Banishing Light]]
4 [[Get Lost]]
2 [[Liliana of the Veil]]
2 [[Liliana, Dreadhorde General]]
3 [[Kaya, Intangible Slayer]]
3 [[Restless Fortress]]
4 [[Caves of Koilos]]
3 [[Swamp]]
4 [[Plains]]
2 [[Temple of Silence]]
2 [[Shadowy Backstreet]]
2 [[Neglected Manor]]
4 [[Fabled Passage]]
2 [[Fountainport]]

Sideboard

3 [[Authority of the Consuls]]
3 [[Duress]]
3 [[Elspeth's Smite]]
2 [[Rest in Peace]]
4 [[Calamity's Wake]]

So, some write-up the ideas

1. The removal

3 [[Sunfall]]
3 [[Day of Judgment]]
3 [[Split Up]]
4 [[Banishing Light]]
4 [[Get Lost]]

The main idea behind these list is to take the idea that some people have, that Domain is somewhat of a police against the current meta because of its removal suite. So, with 9 sweepers and 8 versatile removal, we got ourselves pretty covered against most things the opponents throws at us. This deals with lots of aggro. Against red-variants specifically, we also have [[Authority of the Consuls]] and [[Elspeth's Smite]] from SB, we have our asses pretty covered.

2. The winconditions

2 [[Liliana, Dreadhorde General]]
3 [[Kaya, Intangible Slayer]]
3 [[Restless Fortress]]

Yeah, since our deck has lots of removal, we need to have sure that our wincons are a) not conflitant with our myriad of removals and b) difficult to interact with. Kaya is one of the hardest wincons to interact with, since only cards like [[Sheoldred's Edict]] and [[Blot Out]] are good to interact with atm. There are other answers that appear in way less number on the meta, and even the mentioned ones aren't run in high numbers, so I'd guess Kaya is pretty safe. Big Lily is good for this style of grindy play, and it's a wincon on its own, serving double duty as removal as well. [[Restless Fortress]] is not a reliable wincon, but it will be enough to close the games after lots of grind is done

3. The support

4 [[Knight of Grace]]
3 [[Elenda, Saint of Dusk]]
3 [[Mazemind Tome]]
2 [[Liliana of the Veil]]

Since the deck has a kinda greedy plan, we need a reliable support for this to function. [[Knight of Grace]] NUTS on this meta. As black midrange is pretty ubiqutous on this meta, a cheap first strikers that dodges black targeted removal and it's able to trade with [[Glissa Sunslayer]], as well as blocking [[Urabrask's Forge]] tokens without letting damage through, all of it for 2 mana, I think every white deck should auto-include 4 of this at the maindeck given the current meta. [[Elenda, Saint of Dusk]] is also efficient in dodging most of removal on the meta, as well helping us stabilize against aggro decks, and it is an alternative win-con, but its role on this deck is most a support one. [[Mazemind Tome]] is there for smoothing our draws and giving us gas when we need it and [[Liliana of the Veil]] helps us stabilize our board and slowing the game down so we can land our bombs.

4. The Sideboard

3 [[Authority of the Consuls]]
3 [[Duress]]
3 [[Elspeth's Smite]]
2 [[Rest in Peace]]
4 [[Calamity's Wake]]

This and the manabase are the most open points for discussion in this deck. I tried to shore the apparent weaknesses of the deck in the SB. [[Rest in Peace]] and [[Calamity's Wake]] are there for Simic Terror and Oculus Decks, as well as the random reanimator decks that appear from time to time. Also, Wake is a very nice tech against Simic Terror because it's basically Time Walk. 3 [[Authority of the Consuls]] help very much in the match against haste-based aggro and shuts down Forge all by itself. [[Duress]] is there to help our match against the other control decks in meta.

The most debatable points would be the sideboard and Manabase. I know manabase could be better, but I don't have the Concealed Courtyards atm, but so far, I didn't lose because of bad mana yet.

So, what you guys think? What changes would you make to make this deck more of a threat? I think it has potential so far.

For some reason this deck doesn't seem very well-known or played (it's not listed on MTGA Zone's meta snapshot for example). I wonder what people think of it. There's a brief writeup for a similar deck here (the 3rd-place finisher) where it is called a "spicy brew", but that seems like an inferior build for reasons I'll go into later. I've played the archetype for like 15 matches and it seems solid, although kinks remain to be ironed out.

Here's a sample list.

4 Sorin, Imperious Bloodlord (M20) 115

2 Fatal Push (KLR) 84

4 Psychic Frog (MH3) 199
4 Overlord of the Balemurk (DSK) 113
4 Saint Elenda (Y24) 4
4 Emperor of Bones (MH3) 90
3 Ulamog, the Defiler (MH3) 15
4 Diviner of Fates (Y22) 22

2 Ripples of Undeath (MH3) 107

2 Treasure Cruise (KTK) 59
1 Wrath of the Skies (MH3) 49
4 Prismatic Ending (SPG) 40

1 Island (XLN) 264
1 Otawara, Soaring City (NEO) 271
2 Swamp (XLN) 268
2 Darkslick Shores (ONE) 250
1 Gloomlake Verge (DSK) 260
1 Plains (FDN) 273
3 Watery Grave (GRN) 259
4 Godless Shrine (RNA) 248
3 Prismatic Vista (SPG) 38
4 Concealed Courtyard (OTJ) 268

Sideboard

2 Spell Pierce (XLN) 81
1 Surgical Extraction (OTP) 19
2 Thoughtseize (AKR) 127
2 Stone of Erech (LTR) 251
2 Mystical Dispute (ELD) 58
1 Sheoldred's Edict (ONE) 108
1 Night of Souls' Betrayal (CHK) 133
2 Damnation (SPG) 68
1 Fatal Push (KLR) 84
1 Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student (MH3) 242

Note for anyone wishing to give this list a try: the mana base and sideboard are not tuned.

The deck attacks on three different axes that intertwine very nicely:

• Reanimating Ulamog / Saint Elenda with Emperor of Bones. Ulamog is by far the stronger card to reanimate, but Saint Elenda is a reasonable substitute.
• Putting Saint Elenda into play with Sorin. Best part about this is that it ignores graveyard hate entirely. This is incidentally why I suspect the linked deck is somewhat subpar: yes, Abhorrent Oculus is a reasonable B plan, but it's also impacted by graveyard hate while the Sorin plan does not.
• Psychic Frog is yet another win condition that doubles as a discard outlet for Emperor of Bones. It also works extremely well with Diviner of Fates - you discard something and Diviner of Fates digs up something to replace it.

The three angles of attack still leave room for lots of interaction: Fatal Push, Prismatic Ending, and Wrath of the Skies are in the above list. (Saint Elenda is also interaction since the spell list includes Invoke the Divine & Faith's Fetters.) The final cards are Overlord of the Balemurk (which fills the graveyard and occasionally recurs some combo pieces), Ripples of Undeath (which is a powerful card advantage engine) and Treasure Cruise (occasionally an Ancestral Recall).

So far it feels like Overlord of the Balemurk is the weakest card (I've literally yet to attack with it, in which case it feels like, idk, Malevolent Rumble). Is there a better option?

Matchup-wise it feels like I have game against everything. Out of my sample size the only deck I've lost twice against is Jeskai Lotus with Phlage and Nulldrifter. Never figured out how to sideboard against that deck, because Strict Proctor is very constricting (it disables Saint Elenda), yet it is also the only target for Fatal Push / Prismatic Ending. Stifle can also counter a Sorin or Emperor activation. Green Devotion might also be a bad matchup if they combo faster. Their creatures are too big to kill with Prismatic Ending, and a lot of them have Reach so Frog might not be able to get there. My feeling in both these matchups is that one wants to combo before they do, so the 4th Ulamog might be nice to have in the sideboard.

Tips for anyone trying the deck:

• If you got Psychic Frog & Diviner of Fates in play, remember to activate Frog on opponent's turn too (unless or possibly even if your hand is already stacked). If you got two Diviner of Fates in play then you're almost-always activating Frog since you net card advantage.
• Ripples of Undeath is different from Overlord of the Balemurk in that it can only return one of three milled cards per turn. I'm usually quite liberal with it against decks that don't pressure your life total because Saint Elenda gains life.
• Saint Elenda is a fairly complicated card. Basically she comes into play, then you choose one of her four spells, which you can cast for free. The list of spells includes enchantment/artifact removal, Faith's Fetters, a card draw spell, and a 3/2 vampire creature. Notably, Faith's Fetters can stop planeswalkers, but it cannot stop passive abilities. All four spells gain 4 life, which means Saint Elenda puts a 4/4 token into play on your end step. Finally, she has lifelink, so if you're putting her into play via Emperor of Bones and you get to attack with her, she makes a 8/8 token instead. The overall package is powerful enough to overwhelm fair decks - combo decks (including those that win by attacking, such as Devotion) might be able to overpower her however.
• It's possible Diviner of Fates might not be a good card to play onto an empty board, since he is one of your two ways to discard an already-drawn Ulamog. Sorin is similar - I am not sure if it's worth playing Sorin without Saint Elenda in hand if you have nothing else to do. I assume not, but my sample size is not enough to tell.
• Emperor of Bones acts as incidental graveyard hate, although I would definitely not throw it out there if I have nothing else to do since it's very vulnerable. At 4 mana it can "combo" in one turn, with instant-speed interaction the only way to stop it. Notably you need to go to combat before adapting, and you do not need to activate full control since the game will pause for you after the triggered ability.

If anyone has ideas for how to improve the deck, please share! One card I'm particularly thinking of is Baleful Strix, which is nice card advantage, but doesn't die in with any of the three main gameplans. Might still be useful for slower postboard games, though. Other possible cards are Jace, Vryn's Prodigy as a looter and 2-mana play that might be better than Overlord (the flipped side does not look strong however), and Faithful Mending.

I keep losing the Domain matchup as GB Midrange and I would like some guidance on how to play this matchup and sideboard against it.

I feel like I keep getting "outvalued" and it's hard to keep up with the Overlords, especially when [[Zur, Eternal Schemer]] and starts animating them. Their premium removal always snipes my threats even when I try to play around it. I think I may have to destroy the [[Up the Beanstalk]]s before they get enough value on them, but then I have to use any enchantment removal on those before the Overlords hit.

I think I gotta sideboard in 2 copies of [[Duress]], 2 [[Dreams of Steel and Oil]], [[Nissa, Ascended Animist]], 2 [[Tear Asunder]], and maybe [[Gix's Command]]. But please correct me if I am wrong.

Otherwise, I've been climbing the ladder with this deck. It's just Domain that strikes me down 😅

My list is as follows:

https://www.moxfield.com/decks/-sDo3_NUsUecfWqU1qEiVA

This is a sample Domain list
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/archetype/standard-domain-dmu#paper

Hi,

this weekend the end of year store championships will take place in our LGSes, and I'm putting together a general sideboard guide to help me with the usual matchups.

I have decided to go with Jace as the main wincon, as it can close games fairly quickly along with the help of Soul Partition. Second, because a lot of removal spells are being played by the Black midrange decks to keep red in track - so playing creatures doesn't feel very good.

This is what I am working with at the moment.

Deck

4 Floodfarm Verge (DSK) 259

2 Deduce (MKM) 52

4 No More Lies (MKM) 221

4 Demolition Field (BRO) 260

4 Restless Anchorage (LCI) 280

2 Plains (SLD) 1468

4 Three Steps Ahead (OTJ) 75

4 Get Lost (LCI) 14

4 Island (SLD) 1469

4 Sunfall (MOM) 40

4 Jace, the Perfected Mind (ONE) 57

4 Mazemind Tome (BRR) 30

2 Fountainport (BLB) 253

3 Soul Partition (BRO) 26

4 Meticulous Archive (MKM) 264

3 Elspeth's Smite (MOM) 13

2 Adarkar Wastes (DMU) 243

1 Split Up (DSK) 32

1 Day of Judgment (FDN) 140

Sideboard

2 Negate (MOM) 68

1 Elspeth's Smite (MOM) 13

4 Authority of the Consuls (FDN) 137

3 Tishana's Tidebinder (LCI) 81

2 Rest in Peace (BIG) 4

2 Boon-Bringer Valkyrie (MOM) 9

1 Soul Partition (BRO) 26

The part where I'd definitely appreciate your help is the sideboarding part. So far this is what I have; it's an excel spreadsheet with In / out numbers. The cell colors are just a bit of help for me to remember what is and isn't very good. How would you improve the general guide? Is there some cards against some matchups I have missed, over or underrated?

Thanks!

https://ibb.co/r0bmz3k

Boros Aura and general b01 question

I realize that b01 isn't likely the favored format of this sub, but it's the dominant format on Arena and the ranked format. There's clearly a strategy difference when sideboards aren't involved and you don't know your opponents deck for 2 out of the 3 games.

I'm playing Boros Aura and hit Mythic pretty easily, hanging around 500. I got there last season with a zero rare Boros burn as well.

Here's my question. If I'm going first and I have a single 1 drop and protection in my hand, do I run out the 1 drop on turn 1 or wait until turn 2 and hold up the rescue or whatever else?

You don't know what your opp is playing so if they are on aggro you lose initiative, but if they are on black or something else with 1 mana removal you probably lose

Even going 2nd you often put down the creature and eat the 2 mana non-outlaw doomblade or something similar

I can't think of any way to make the decision other than gambling, or basing it off what I think the odds are on each deck being played

Been doing pretty solid in BO3 mythic with my home brew of UW enchantments collector's cage. Deck is a blast and I think it could be better than the GW version. Just hit top 1000 mythic with a 25-15 record. Would love to get some feedback/thoughts

Decklist

4 Optimistic Scavenger

Great one drop and counters help getting the cage online

4 Collector's cage

4 Inquisitive glimmer

3 Sheltered by ghosts

As everyone already knows this card is busted, also gets eerie triggers

2 Fear of isolation

Loved this card in duskmourn draft and always thought it could be good in standard. Better version of the pixie, triggers eerie, can pick up cage and rooms

4 Gremlin tamer

Gets the bodies needed for cage

3 Enduring innocence

Card draw and life gain

2 Entity tracker

Card draw, not sure if innocence or this is better?

2 Grand entryway / Elegant rotunda

Double eerie trigger

2 Bottomless pool / locker room

Solid interaction, eerie trigger

4 Overlord of the Mistmoors

Best cage hit, think it is even more powerful with eerie triggers

3 Mirror Room / Fractured realm

2nd best cage hit. Mirror room can copy glimmer to make everything cheaper, or copy an overlord for 3 later in the game. Hitting Fractured realm with the cage goes crazy with all the double eerie triggers, overlord now makes 4 flyers

Lands- think they could be optimized, I don't have a ton of experience with deckbuilding

5 Plains

3 Island

4 Adakar wastes

4 Floodfarm verge

2 restless anchorage

4 Seachrome coast

1 Fountainport

Sideboard - Still trying to figure out. Could definitely be improved

2 Authority of consuls

Good against red aggro, jeskai convoke, other go wide strategies

1 Get lost

Catch all removal but seems bad to give tokens

2 Disdainful stroke

Counter sweepers against control decks

2 negate

Counter sweepers, removal, bring in against control

2 exorcise

Exiles enduring curiosity against dimir or overlord decks

2 ossification

More removal replace sheltered against decks with a lot of removal

3 Rest in peace

Graveyard hate for oculus/reanimator

1 Sheltered by ghosts

Bring in 4th copy against mono red

Why blue over green?

Although the GW version can get the cage online quicker, this gets the job done pretty quick as well. Could maybe add more one drops to the deck to hit quicker

Top end overlord has more synergy with the eerie cards. Mirror room/ fractured realm is a great cage hit and not a dead card early

Gives access to counterspells against control decks

Matchups

Go wide strategy seems to be solid in the current meta, don't think there are any bad matchups.

Dimir can be tough with all the flyers without an early overlord. Bring in exorcise and ossification for curiosity

Monored can be tough if they have a good starting hand. An early sheltered or authority shuts them down though, usually feels good after sideboarding

Surprisingly have played much BG midrange in 40 games so not sure on this matchup

Feels great against control take out sheltered and put in counterspells

Hi everyone, I'm currently playing tempo or midrange decks in Bant, Esper, etc. color combinations. Like Flash Azorius. I'm looking to get a good drop 1 to get an answer, I'm between these two instants. What do you say is more worth it today, being able to recover a creature or returning something else?

Good evening to all, otter enjoyers.

In these last few weeks of testing this deck I have come to the conclusion that the deck currently falls into 2 macro categories of building choices.

Choice number 1, the one currently most used, what I want to call the stock build.

https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/6795772#paper

When I talk about stock build, I am referring to a build that plays x1 or x2 of Questing druid, x1 or x2 Song of Totentanz, x1 or x2 Bitter Reunion, x6 or x7 of Analyze the Pollen and Bushwack.

Choice number 2, The sleight of hand list, which is also very interesting and performant but slightly less used.

https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/6797892#paper

This build is named after the sleight-of-hand card of the same name. This list is very interesting, it is a list that you find less interactions but instead uses a lot more cards to go after combo pieces thanks not only to sleight of hand but also Invasion of ixalan. The latter, very strong card that if found in the right spot makes it very easy for the deck to see what it needs in that situation, from the last piece of the combo like a floodcaller or Stormchaser's Talent all the way to a simple third land that can be useful to continue in our plan.

I am currently testing Okawa Takuro's list that made top 8 at The 29th God of Standard (TC Tokyo, Japan).

https://mtgdecks.net/Standard/temur-prowess-decklist-by-okawa-takuro-2298686

This list is very interesting, it does not change much from a stock build, it simply goes to insert x1 solid Ral, Crackling Wit and 2 additional shooters like Scorching Dragonfire that can serve against the current top meta, not only against the more classic monored aggro but also against dimir midrange (flash and midrange versions) it is a really strong card especially to remove figurines that give him pressure while controlling or cards that give him advantage cards like Faerie Mastermind.

The side is currently not yet set according to the meta, so it is very varied and many different things are being tested as well, from the most fun Aegis Turtle (not to be taken under advisement, it is a great blocker for Screaming nemesis) to the best performing card currently in side Pawpatch Formation.

Currently in my side I'm testing Tishana's Tidebinder to be able to interact more easily against Kaito, Bane of Nightmares by countering the trigger of Ninjutzu's ability so that the opponent will find himself without the attacking creature, now bounced in hand, and with Kaito, Bane of Nightmares still in hand, not to mention that then you have a 3/2 on the field, it's like we've done 1 x 2 with a chance to put pressure as well from the next turn.

Now let's talk about Ghost Vacuum, which currently fills x1 or x2 fixed spaces in the side of this deck despite the few decks in the graveyard-based meta. This card I think is a must have in all lists currently because it is the only really effective card against the graveyard if you don't play white. (With white you might prefer rest in peace). The matchups this card goes up against are UW oculus, which once you field Ghost Vacuum, it becomes almost a free matchup, all the way up to even a mirror where it can be interesting to go in and insert a few copies of this card to slow down the midrange plan of the otter deck.

Muerra, Trash Tactician is still under testing, I find it really an interesting card against aggro not only for the fact that it is a great 2/4 blocker but the effect of expend 4 is very useful especially playing Muerra T4 followed by a cost 1 spell thus triggering the effect of expend and gaining 3 life. I will test this card again to see if it convinces me or go back to the more classic cards like Screaming Nemesis or Floodpits Drowner which are definitely very interesting cards.

Unable to Scream is a really strong card, not only against monored to use against Screaming Nemesis , but also against midrange golgari, to stop a pesky Sheoldred or a pesky Dross ( cards that will probably go to sideline out game 2 )

Pawpatch Formation is definitely a very strong card, I'm probably going to test Pick your poison in the future so that I also have a solution for artifacts because not being able to smash artifacts can sometimes be a not beautiful thing, especially when those artifacts are Urabrask's Forge or a hypothetical Ghost Vacuum in metchup grinding as midrange golgari.

Please feel free to update me about your testing, so we can see if we are on the right track to achieve a performing stock list for the meta. Have a nice day everyone, I hope this post can be helpful for someone and we can have a discussion regarding lists and testing.

UPDATE: for those who want to try this deck in Bo3, I have put together a first draft 15 card sideboard. See discussion in the comments for card choice explanations.

Hi Spikes! Long time listener, first time caller. TLDR: I made Mythic with a new version of the classic Azorius Soldiers deck (and it rocks in Bo1).

My background: I cracked my first booster pack way back in 1994 at the tender age of seven, and I have been building my own decks ever since. I am a true Blue Mage at heart: I love intricate decks with a ton of interaction that reward patience, skill, pace, and knowledge of the game. I also try to build decks that are actually a joy to play, where you feel like you always have the right card at the right time, and you always have at least a chance to win, regardless of the matchup. I think Arena is awesome for brewing because you can instantly test new ideas across a bunch of games against different opponents and decks (which is why I mainly play Bo1). Because the deck below is brand-new I haven't done any testing yet in Bo3--although I do think there's plenty of potential there. If you're a Bo3 player feel see what you can do with this and let me know.

I'm here to announce: Azorius Soldiers are viable again!

Azorius Soldiers was a Tier 1 deck back when Brother's War came out. I remember it being the first deck I'd played on Arena that felt truly unfair: you played cards like [[Resolute Reinforcements]] and [[Skystrike Officer]] until you could drop a [[Harbin, Vanguard Aviator]] and swoop in for the kill with a horde of pumped flying soldiers. Eventually the deck got edged out of the meta by Mono White Humans, and then that was supplanted by Boros Convoke (and now Boros Auras). But the other day I came across someone playing a Soldier card from Foundations that I hadn't noticed before: [[Ballyrush Banneret]]. This guy makes all your other Soldiers cheaper, which then makes them fast enough to keep up in the current meta. I've been experimenting and testing all week, and yesterday I hit on a modified version of the classic "flashy" Azorius build (check out CovertGoBlue's version from last year) that took me from Diamond 4 to a high-water mark of #1375 in Mythic over the course of 25 games (and still climbing). Soldiers have the juice again!

The New Decklist

Azorius Soldiers Redux on Untapped.gg - UPDATED

Full text decklist at the bottom of this post.

The Gameplan

We're still working towards the same wincon as the original deck: build up your soldiers until you can overwhelm your opponent in one big wave. But the lines of play are much different in this meta: this is no longer really an aggro deck, even though it looks like one at first glance. We're faster than we were before, but still not fast enough to overcome Mono Red or a turn 3 reanimator combo with brute force alone. Instead we are playing more like a Tempo deck in the early game: be super patient, hold up mana for bounce spells and [[Protect The Negotiators]], and make full use of your cheap flashy soldiers to create 2-for-1s and stall your opponent. Play around board wipes and removal by holding back your key Soldiers until the right moment to drop them all and go. We're utilizing two different one-mana colorless artifact Soldiers to create opportunities to free-cast creatures and chain combos, while ultimately looking to attack with five (or more) Soldiers with Harbin on the board for our coup de grâce.

The New Tech

[[Ballyrush Banneret]] is the engine that makes everything go. Makes all our Soldiers cheaper by 1 colorless mana.

[[Yotian Frontliner]] and [[Spectrum Sentinel]] are our free-to-cast Soldiers. Yotian is an aggro staple that I'm sure everyone here knows well. Spectrum is a card I've always found interesting but never had a use-case for until now: it's a 1/2 artifact Soldier for 1 mana with protection from anything multi-colored (not super useful) and a passive lifegain ability that gives you one point every time an opponent plays a non-basic land (surprisingly useful, especially against Boros Auras).

Our Tempo package is built around [[Protect The Negotiators]]. This is an odd card that for 1B counters target spell unless your opponent pays 1 mana for each creature you control. It can also be kicked for W to create a 1/1 white Soldier token. It's under-powered early in the game, although don't sleep on playing it turn 2 with one of your artifact Soldiers on the board to counter something an opponent taps out for. Where this really shines though is after turn 3 where we can hold up the three mana with at least 2 other soldiers on the board, and lock down the game. Because we're making a new Soldier each time we cast it, our opponent is unlikely to be able to out-pace us and play around the counter.

In addition we're playing [[Into the Flood Maw]] and [[Unsummon]] for bounce, and the truly busted [[Sheltered by Ghosts]] for premium targeted removal that also helps us pump and protect one of our key creatures. We all know by now to be super careful with this card though, right? It's vulnerable to being bounced/removed itself, which will put whatever it removed back on the board (and trigger any ETB again). Save the Ghosts for clearing the way for your final attack, or taking an early threat out of the game for a turn or two.

The core of the deck hasn't changed much: [[Resolute Reinforcements]] flashes in to play around removal and build our board, [[Valiant Veteran]] pumps everybody up, [[Skystrike Officer]] is our big-body flyer that also provides card draw and board presence. It's a great card that's just too slow in the current meta, unless you are paying 1U for it... or even just U for it with two Ballyrushes on the board. [[Zephyr Sentinel]] is our other strong flyer that doubles as protection by allowing you to bounce Soldiers back to your hand at instant speed. Harbin, of course, is our top-end finisher.

We're only running 20 lands in this list, and relying on our discounted Soldiers to help us operate with limited mana. I have won plenty of games with only two or three lands, and we don't play anything requiring more than 3 mana to cast. [[Fortified Beachhead]] is an amazing Soldier-specific dual land that almost always hits the board untapped, and it also provides you an alternative way to pump all your creatures later in the game. [[Cavern of Souls]] helps us play through counter magic, although always remember that it only produces colorless for casting anything other than a Soldier creature. Don't get caught with your pants down thinking it will provide U or W for your Negotiators (like I have a bunch of times). We're generating enough tokens to make [[Fountainport]] a great include, and I'm cautiously optimistic about [[Three Tree City]]: for 2 plus tapping itself it can give us 1 of a single color for every Soldier we have on the board, potentially swinging a late-game situation with a combo chain or by allowing us to trigger a Beachhead.

Combo Notes

Our basic combo is using Ballyrush to cast our artifact Soldiers for free. With the right hand you could potentially have all 5 of the Soldiers you need to trigger Harbin on the board by the end of turn 2. That obviously doesn't line up often, but you will regularly be able to make use of the free-casting in smaller ways. One super useful tactic is to bounce those artifact creatures with your Zephyrs and then re-cast them for free on the same turn. Take that up a notch further by attacking with them first, then bouncing and re-casting on your end step to turn them back into blockers. You can also freely chump-block with them and then bounce them when your opponent attacks, knowing they won't cost you anything to cast again next turn. They can also be used with Skystrike Officer by tapping them to draw a card, bouncing them, then re-casting (and potentially tapping again). Remember that Yotian won't be free to Unearth after it gets killed the first time.

Matchup Notes

I haven't encountered a really bad matchup for this deck yet. We're obviously still going to lose sometimes to a god-draw from almost any deck, and I've noticed that we don't snowball quite quickly enough to keep up with a go-wide deck with lots of ETB effects like Selesnya Rabbits. We have a rough time against super spot removal-heavy control lists because we're trying to get to that magic threshold of five Soldiers on the board. Like any creature-heavy deck we are also vulnerable to boardwipes of all kinds. If there's a chance an opponent is going to wipe you hold back your important cards and build your board slowly with stuff like Protect the Negotiators. Force them to use a wipe on low value creatures. If the game goes long enough and you don't lose your card advantage, you should eventually find an opening. Just keep bouncing stuff, flashing stuff, and casting stuff for free/cheap until you do.

Full Deck List

Deck

2 Unsummon

3 Plains

1 Island

3 Adarkar Wastes

4 Ballyrush Banneret

3 Seachrome Coast

3 Cavern of Souls

4 Resolute Reinforcements

4 Valiant Veteran

3 Protect the Negotiators

4 Yotian Frontliner

3 Skystrike Officer

4 Zephyr Sentinel

2 Harbin, Vanguard Aviator

3 Spectrum Sentinel

4 Fortified Beachhead

2 Restless Anchorage

2 Into the Flood Maw

1 Three Tree City

2 Enduring Innocence

2 Sheltered by Ghosts

1 Raise the Past

Sideboard

1 Rest in Peace

1 Myrel, Shield of Argive

2 Siege Veteran

1 Into the Flood Maw

2 Get Out

2 Aetherize

1 Expel the Interlopers

2 Kutzil's Flanker

1 Enduring Innocence

1 Enduring Curiosity

1 Raise the Past

Boros Version

I started off testing a Boros list that's more a little bit of a mashup of Soldiers and Boros Auras. It allows us to play cards like [[Boros Charm]], [[Swiftblade Vindicator]], and [[Heartfire Hero]], along with [[Heroic Reinforcements]] as a top-end finisher. I like the combos with Yotian, [[Baird, Argivian Recruiter]], and Heartfire Hero. It's a decent deck with a positive winrate, but just wasn't fully taking advantage of everything cheap Soldiers can be. In particular we're paying for a lot of WR mana costs that we don't get any discount on. Feel free to take it for a spin though and give me feedback or ideas! I'd love to get this deck to where it's also competitive, just because it's a completely different take on the archetype.

Boros Soldiers on Untapped.gg

Conclusion

Thanks for reading this far! I'm obviously jazzed about this deck and the potential to see Soldiers make a comeback in Standard. I'm also interested to hear critique and thoughts about both the decklist and this write-up. I'm planning to work on a Bo3 version, and I have a few other fun brews of different archetypes that I'd like to share. Looking forward to what r/spikes thinks.

I do want to thank my opponent who clued me in about Ballyrush, and provided the genesis for this idea. I wish I remembered who they were. I'm sure they were working on a similar list (as I'm sure others are too) so if that sounds like it might have been you--or you've got a list of your own to share with me--I'd love to chat and take a look! I also am super grateful to those who pioneered the original Azorius Soldiers: it's a classic deck that I've just retooled a bit.

Finally, MTG is the most complex game on earth and it's fun to put something together that can compete near the top tier of the game, and then share it with you all. Thanks for all the feedback so far.

Hey I’m super torn right now between playing mono red or gruul really like having the option of pawpatch and questing Druid in gruul but it feels like Golgari is starting to stop running the demon package which makes pawpatch feel a bit worse, but questing Druid feels like a huge plus in the deck. But mono red is just super consistent and seems so strong do you guys think the gruul list is still the one to be playing or is mono red the way to go?

As the title says -- I've recently got into standard and I'm trying to learn Dimir Aggro. If anyone has any content they would recommend, please let me know.

Thanks

Hi all,

Being an Arena only player mainly focusing on Timeless I have very little knowledge in regards to the newly added cards from Pioneer Masters.I have no experience with the cards and no clue how they are currently part of the Pioneer meta.

Are there any cards you see will have an impact on Timeless and become part of the meta or are most of the cards too weak and slow compared to what MH3 and previous sets have added? What are the cards you see could be part of the future meta, what could be potential sleeper cards and what are planning to try out in your sideboards?

If you could share any experiences from Pioneer and what you have seen so far in Timeless would be greatly appreciated.

Before standard season truly got under way, I invested in BG midrange. I don't have a swath of disposable income, and I knew that BG in some capacity would be playable by virtue of the sheer card quality.

However, I have been very unimpressed. Despite the deck maintaining a huge metagame share, I have felt like such a dog into the UB midrange decks of the format. At the SCG columbus 10k on foundations release, I finished 4-3 with all my losses being to UB. Since then, there has apparently been little to no innovation in the lists aside changing up what three drops and the spread of removal options.

This has me wondering if there are any novel builds that utilize the powerful core of cards BG has access to that is more targeted towards UB. One thought I had was looking into reach creatures to prevent enduring curiosity and kaito from taking over the game too quickly, but none have seemed particularly good. Some possible options in this space are:

• broodspinner

• Freestrider lookout

• kraul whipcracker

• wildborn preserver

I recall a BG lands combo deck being good before bloomburrow, perhaps that decks could make a comeback if the red matchups aren't too heinous.

If anyone has any suggestions on cards they've tried that have impressed, or entirely different archetypes in the BG space they've enjoyed, I would love to take a look.

I've been running Azorius Enchants for the last few weeks at my standard nights. Decklist looks like this https://www.moxfield.com/decks/yB2QdXbfZEy6kZ36qfrAVw

I am new to the competitive side of magic, but the decklist seems pretty similar to other decks I saw at my game stores and online. My main issue is I've been losing to slower control decks with on board interaction. Mainly simic control and mono white control. I know I need to be more aggressive which the deck can pull off, but it feels like I get the opponent down to lethal and can't clutch it out. My personal solution is to have more protection, if that's wrong you can stop me there but I have a few questions for people more knowledgeable:

1. Do I need more protection in main board? My main concern is that it makes getting good starting hands harder since I don't necessarily want multiple protection spells in my starting hand when I really need creatures first, and they feel not very powerful in some matchups.

2. If I have to choose between 1 like I currently do, should I run [[Shardmage's Rescue]] or [[Fae Flight]] in main board? Shardmage's costing only 1 is great, but with [[Inquisitive Glimmer]] they both cost 1, and I think I prefer the flying to the toughness.

3. Are there other protection spells I should consider? I'm not very familiar with the metagame. I was going through my collection and found a [[Dawn's Truce]] that would help so much against board wipes, but it's not an aura and I'm not sure how much better that is than my current protection and counterspells.

4. What should I sideboard in against these control matchups? Currently I bring in [[Negate]] and Fae Flight, since my last Standard night I added [[Ossification]] to my sideboard because that has more resillience against removal than any of my other cards so I also would intend to bring that in. Am I doing it wrong, what should I bring out? I usually just thin things out.

If you have any other deck suggestions or advice for the matchups I'm struggling with it would go a long way! Thanks for reading

I have been running a list pretty similar to the one described here: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/archetype/standard-dimir-midrange-dmu#paper for the last month. With the influx of new cards from foundations I'm curious what has changed and what new threats we need to have sideboard tech to deal with.

Looking at MTG Goldfish results, the core of the main deck seems fairly settled. There is some variation on how many copies of certain cards but the core package remains the same. The thing that surprised me was the 3 mana creature slot. Unstoppable Slasher seems to have completely dropped off the radar. Most of the high finishing lists seem to have either gone back to Preacher of the Schism or gone all in on the Kaito plan with Floodpits Drowner.

I'm curious what the reasoning behind these changes are. If you were going to play Dimir Midrange in something like an RCQ, which card would you run?

Just for reference here are my thoughts on how the various options compare:

|| || ||Unstoppable Slasher|Preacher of the Schism|Floodpits Drowner| |Dies to cutdown|y*|n|y| |Dies to Torch the Tower|y (if bargained)|n|y| |Synergy with Kaito|n|n|y| |Good vs slow decks|y|n|n| |Good vs fast decks|sometimes|y|?| |||||