Mono-white in Extended

[John Galli]

I'm going to read over your sideboard plans and I'm not mad at that decklist, but a couple of extra thoughts-

* What does Runed Halo do against summoning trap? Emrakul still gets to Annihilate for 6, which is really what ends up causing the G/G.

* I wouldn't rely solely on your deck database. MTGO dailies are often what draws in a lot of the new metagame as it evolves, so while the database is certainly very useful it's not the end all be all. The new Jund list is specifically that, NEW and has been crushing sword decks from what I've seen. It runs x4 thoughtseize, x4 pulse, x4 burst lightning, and x4 bolt, so it can deal with all of the stuff you mentioned. It's been getting 3-1 and 4-0 results. Will it be something worth preparing for? Probably not worth a whole lot of attention but definitely worth thinking about.

*You're sideboard seems to devote more attention then it needs to aggro and artifacts. I see x3 Leonin and x2 Lone Missionary. So far in the testing I did at your house and goldfishing at home the Boros match seems like a fricken breese, and everything I've read online from the deck designers have made Boros and Bant sound like some of the easiest to play against. Our deck from the get-go is designed to basically be an aggro killer. I think mystic can put up a fight if they play well and run a decent amount of countermagic (btw, your bant deck is not updated in the least), but it's still one of the easier matchups that I don't think requires as much attention. I would say the big three are the ones you metnioned prior, Scapeshift, Trap, and Fae. Those also happen to be the decks that are capable of giving ours trouble at times.

* I like Runed Halo a lot, and it fits well into this deck at being a recurrable target and usable in just about every matchup. That said, we all seem to be comfortable running x4 Leyline in the board, so how much more hate do we need. I think running essentially x7 of a card is great and all (I realize that there are soem very key differences and uses between the two), but at what point does that feel like "too much" in the sideboard. And if we do want to devote that kind of attention, would Luminarch be better at applying pressure on scapeshift? I'm not sure, it's a tough question I've been struggling with at this point.

* We haven't discussed a lot about the mirror aside from Archon of Justice and have no playtesting to say whether or not he's dece. I've been reading forums where people are talking about playing against Mono-white-control 2 out of every 4 games they play in the dailies. I'm wondering what else might be worth it to push the advantage over the edge.

* Obviously testing would iron out almost all of these questions but since none of us play competitively anymore, the PTQ is this weekend, and I'm busy all week, I doubt we'll get much more in. It's a shame, but it's reality. So discussion is the most useful tool at this point even if much of it is speculation. I can't make it on Thursday to cards, and I figure you guys will probably be splitting time between EDH and Extended anyway.

*If you have time on Thursday and you guys end up testing, I'd highly suggest proxying up scapeshift and g/w trap. I think those matches have the most question marks right now and the aggro matches are really pretty solid. Sure, sometimes they might get crazy lucky and you get crazy unlucky, or maybe one's sideboard might not provide enough attention, but largely this deck can put a big fat stomp on those matches. I'd also suggest playing boarded games if possible to get a feel for what cards are better to take out and what cards actually help you win.

What about this (ignore my comments above about Leonin and Lone Missionary due to how this build is)-

Mono White Control

12 Plains
4 Emeria, the Sky Ruin
4 Tectonic Edge
2 Marsh Flats
2 Arid Mesa

4 Path to Exile
4 Wall of Omens
4 Flickerwisp
4 Pilgrims Eye
4 Day of Judgment
4 Sun Titan
4 Oblivion Ring
4 Mortarpod
2 Scepter of Dominance
2 Lone Missionary

Sideboard:
4 Leyline of Sanctity
3 Luminarch Ascension
3 Ethersworn Cannonist
3 Leonin Relic-Warder
1 Lone Missionary
1 Scepter of Dominance

[John Galli]

Ok read over your sideboard ins and outs, whoa lots of questions. Also, thanks for letting me know on Saturday, Chitown here we come! ;D

1. Fae: I don't like either of the cards your taking out. Wall of Omens seems crucial to hitting your land drops and fueling this deck along, I really could never see cutting it. It's doesn't really do anything against fae, but this deck cantrips so much off of it and blinks that I just don't see how you can play a smooth game without it. Feel free to educate though. O-Ring seems great against bitterblossom, and the way your plan outlines it's basically reducing the number of answers to bitterblossom. O-Ring also gets swords and Jace, both of which the majority of fae decks I've seen run. Btw, leyline is reallly good against them as they have thoughtseize and traditionally board in more discard like duress or inquisition.

2. RG Scape - I'm somewhat ok with the plan you outlined. Would still like more threats, but your current build doesn't have anything to bring in. Leonin might be ok against Khalini Heart Expedition but I'm guessing it's too slow and would get burned.

3. UGR Scape - Again I don't like cutting wall of omens due to it's importance to the temp of our deck. I'd rather cut a combination of path and days, since like you said they don't run dudes aside from Oracle and possibly Wurmcoil engine out of the board.

4. Boros - I understand where you're coming from on the cuts in terms of speed, but I still hate cutting Sun Titan if it can be avoided. It's really critical to turning the game around and locking it up against Boros. Tumble Magnet is "fine" against them especially due to swords, but it's awful slow itself and provides no real advantages. The cards you're bringing in help a lot.

5. Elves - Tumble Magnet doesn't do anything against them. That said, you're cuts are fine here. Runed Halo doesn't do anything. This deck IMO needs more attention as you saw the few times I blew you out on turn 3 or 4 before you could do enough to resist (even with paths, etc). I really like having cannonist in the board to make the matchup almost a sure gg. preventing them from dumping and redumping their hand is great and we rarely ever "play" more than one spell a turn.

6. Bant Stoneforge / Mystic - Day of Judgement was usually a good card for me in these matchups when I played against Bant, but with it being slower than Boros by a mile I could see it being cut down a bit. I don't think cutting all of them is right tho, always gotta have a possible out to who knows what.

[Travis Lannoye]

Took a look at all of the Daily Event decklists (mono-white lists and others), and I noticed two cards that really stood out:
- 4 Condemns were almost always in the board, and I have no idea why. They don't do anything against Faeries or against UGr Scapeshift, and by the time they can target Primeval Titan, he's already done his damage. Maybe they are supposed to be good against man-lands or things that carry Swords?
- 4 Luminarch Ascension were also in a lot of boards. I guess this might be OK against Elves, but I would think that Ethersworn Canonist is just better? Maybe I'm missing something here...

I still don't think that the Scepter is as good as Tumble Magnet. The only benefit that the Scepter has is being able to tap down a land, and that isn't terribly exciting on turn four. Also, the extra cost to activate it seems like a burden, whereas Tumble Magnet activates for free.

I also think that you're a little too high on Wall of Omens. I'm up to 24 lands now, and only four are fetches, and I still have four Pilgrim's Eyes to go get more lands. The Wall is a nice way to draw some more cards, and it's a good blink target, but compared to the rest of the cards in matchups that don't involve ground creatures, I'd rather have something else (I'll get into this more in the sideboarding stuff).

I do agree that Runed Halo might not be necessary here, and Ethersworn Canonist is probably a much bigger need to shore up an otherwise awful matchup (Elves). Canonist is also probably a lot more versatile, whereas the Halo is pretty redundant. So, I guess I would swap out the three Halos for three Canonists.

I suppose our aggro matchup is pretty good, so we probably don't need to devote that much attention to it.

@sideboarding
1. Yeah, this probably isn't quite right. I forgot that Days are probably worse than the other two. You're right that O-Ring shuts off Blossoms and Swords and Jaces, but I still think that Walls are pretty useless here. The don't block anything except a Mutavault, and I'd rather play a Mortarpod or a Relic-Warder or a even a Lone Missionary on turn two.
So, I would probably go -3 Day, -1 Sun Titan, -4 Wall, +4 Leyline, +3 Relic-Warder, +1 Mortarpod.

2. This deck seems to only have two cards that can actually kill us: Valakut and Primeval Titan. I think that if we load up on enough layers of protection, they won't be able to fight through them all. They also have Prismatic Omens, so Relic-Warders are probably fine. Day still seems like a good answer to Primeval Titan, and Path still seems like a bad idea against a deck that wants to dig up basic lands. Mortarpod doesn't really kill anything here.
So, +4 Leyline, +3 Relic-Warder, -4 Path, -3 Mortarpod.

3. The have Valakut and possibly Pestermite/Splinter Twin to kill us. Leyline is good here once again, and Path is probably better than Day in this case. The also have Prismatic Omens, and their mana base is shakier.
So, +4 Leyline, +3 Relic-Warder, -3 Day, -1 Path, -3 Mortarpod.

4. We probably don't need the fourth Day against Boros, so we can probably cut just one Sun Titan.

5. Yeah, this was a bad matchup. Canonists should help here, as does the extra Day and Mortarpod. Stag, Magnet, and Titan are all too slow.
So, +3 Canonist, +1 Day, +1 Mortarpod, -2 Stag, -2 Magnet, -1 Titan.

6. Seems to be a lot of UW Mystic decks out there, and very little Bant Mystic decks. That means a lot less creatures and a lot more planeswalkers and counters. Furthermore, their creatures are either Squadron Hawk (easily replaces itself after a Day), Kitchen Finks (survives a Day), man-lands (survive a Day), and Stoneforge Mystics. Therefore, Day is a lot less good and Magnets are a lot better.
Still think that +3 Relic-Warder, -3 Day is for sure...the rest is up in the air.

One last thing: saw a much different take on our style of deck in this daily event... www.wizards.com/Magic/Digital/MagicOnlineTourn.aspx?x=mtg/digital/magiconline/tourn/2176378.

[John Galli]

@condemn - this actually isn't bad in the mirror. Never really thought about it but now I'm seeing it as ok there. It's probably in there for the reasons you stated though. I saw most decks running x2 - x3 in the board, not x4, but I'm still unsure of whether it's needed or not. One reason it's probably there is because of mana leak which totally pawns our deck.

@luminarch - Elves kills us way faster than this gets online. From every match report I've scoured online, it's there for Scapeshift, Control, and the occasional "get there". I like it against U/G/R Scapeshift, but not sure I agree with it against R/G or Control.

@tumble Magnet - I mostly agree with you, I wish I had more time to test it versus Scepter. You do make a good point about by turn 4 not needing to "screw them with lands" but I also remember that Ajani V was a lockdown ALLSTAR when I played him in extended and single handedly won me tons of matches. A lot of times that land hose is still quite relevant on turn 4. Still, having free tap-downs is also a big deal.

@wall of Omens - I'd say in about 10 actual games of testing, if I didn't have wall of omens to draw me into land on turn 2 or 3, I would have been completely mana screwed. Granted, I've upped the lands to 24 in a lot of my list but he's just too critical IMO. He also made a lot of 2-land hands keepable and was one of the first cards I used flickerwisp on. Time will tell I suppose.

@runed Halo - not sure I'm ready to completely give up on it, just not sure where to put it nor how many nor if we should put it in at all.

@aggro Matchup - The original list ran x2 Lone Missionary with x1 in the board. Most decks I've seen seem to fall in line with this or have the equivalent number in kitchen finks.

1. n/a

2. Agreed on Mortarpod and path to an extent, and just be aware most of the R/G builds don't run Prismatic Omen and those that do typically use x2 or x3. Most builds run x11 mountain, and a ape-ton of ramp, so they don't need prismatic.

3. The manabase is extremely reliable. They have x4 Halimar Depths, x2 Ponder, and x4 Preordain. In goldfishing it was the easiest 3 color manabase I've ever worked with. Prismatic Omen is key to their victory though, so if it can actually be "Destroyed" then they are in deep crap. I'm thinking that's probably another reason why many lists ran war priest of thune alongside of leonin. Also, be wary of cutting paths, as the splinter twin version will destroy us otherwise. Flash in pestermite at EOT on turn 3, cast turn 4 splinter twin = GG.

4. Day is really strong against Boros and Elves. Just sayin. Not sure what to do here quite yet, I'd expect minimal sideboarding. Probably don't need all 4 O-Rings since they only run 2-3 equipment and it's awful slow.

5. I'd say it's a 50-50 matchup, possibly even better, but it IS lose-able. When we had day of judgment, early path to exiles or O-rings, etc, the games seemed a little more comfortable. What I like about Cannonist though is that it completely neutralizes them, it comes down on turn 2 if it's in your opener, and they have almost no answers (some builds actually have no answers).

6. Not sure I see why it's Day versus Tumble Magnet here, both seem pretty bad against U/W. Sure, Tumble's fine against a sworded dude, but it doesn't do anything to stop the planeswalker problem. This is a matchup where the 1-mana pithing needle can come in bigtime against Planeswalkers, Stoneforge, Sword, Man-Lands, or pretty much the whole kit-and-kaboodle. Yes, you have O-Ring, but x4 O-Ring doesn't exactly equal out to all those listed threats and it's easily mana leaked. U/W is certainly worth respecting too, since they function heavily off 2-drops but have the 4 drops to put the crush on when they get to that point. I've heard they mulligan better than any other deck in the field. There's a good article on starcity today about it.

That link didn't work for me, can you repost it?

Also, I offered to cover Karl's tourney fee since I know he's tight on cash, I'll let you guys know what he says

[Travis Lannoye]

Not sure what's wrong with the link, but here it is again:
www.wizards.com/Magic/Digital/MagicOnlineTourn.aspx?x=mtg/digital/magiconline/tourn/2176378

If you look at the list of Daily Events, it's the third Extended Daily event (on 03/22/2011). You should be able to see tournament #2176378 right above all the decklists.

Anywho...

@condemn: I'm not inclined to use it because I don't think we'll see a lot of mirror matches, and I can't think of any other good reasons to play it.

@luminarch: I really want to get some testing in against the Scapeshift decks, particularly to see if this card is any good against them, but also to see if we need any help in that matchup.

@scepter/Magnet: The only case where I could see lands being an issue is against some with Cryptic Command. That three-blue casting cost is tricky, and I could see a Scepter making trouble for that. Still, that's an awfully narrow reason to run Scepter over Magnet, which is a full turn faster.

@wall: I have yet to play any games with the 24th land. I will say that it is always nice to draw those extra cards, and it is a fine target for Mortarpod.

@runed Halo: Again, really need to test the Scapeshift matchups. I have almost zero experience against it, and it would be really nice to know if either this or Luminarch Ascension is any good.

@aggro matchups: The only one I've ever felt bad about is the Elves one. Canonists should be a BIG help (I hope).

@rg Scapeshift: I didn't look too closely, but I thought that the Daily Event lists that I saw ran 2-3 Omens in both the RG build and the UGr build.

@uw Mystic: I like Magnets here because they can go after the one single creature that equips the Sword. Obviously, it doesn't permanently deal with the Sword, but it does a good job of holding it off on their turn (as opposed to Day and O-Ring which have to wait til you untap).

[John Galli]

Ok, the link worked this time, our forums probably cut it off when you first posted it or something. Anyway, I think the list is worth discussion-

Main Deck
60 cards

4 Emeria, the Sky Ruin
4 Marsh Flats
12 Plains
4 Tectonic Edge
24 lands

4 Emeria Angel
3 Kitchen Finks
4 Knight of the White Orchid
4 Mirran Crusader
4 Stoneforge Mystic
2 Sun Titan
4 Wall of Omens
25 creatures

1 Bonehoard
1 Elspeth Tirel
1 Mortarpod
2 Oblivion Ring
4 Path to Exile
1 Sword of Body and Mind
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
11 other spells

Sideboard
1 Burrenton Forge-Tender
4 Day of Judgment
1 Elspeth Tirel
1 Hammer of Ruin
1 Kitchen Finks
4 Leyline of Sanctity
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Oust
1 White Sun's Zenith

We have some of the old, but we definitely have a lot of new things going on here. Lots to talk about-

First off, his deck immediately struck me as more aggressive. He has 25 creatures as opposed to the usual 15-22, he's put in the stoneforge package, and he's got creatures that typically would be seen in a tokens, white weenie, or boat brewish build. The Sun Titan / Emeria idea is still there, but obviously as a supportive plan rather than the primary focus.

A few nitpicks-

* The Flickerwisp plan has been stripped out. There's still worthy blink targets here like Knight of the White Orchid which I was considering for the deck anyway, Sun Titan, Mortarpod, Wall of Omens, Finks, etc. But alas he's pumped in more aggressive beaters like Mirran Crusader and Emeria Angel. I'm OK with this, but those changes combined with moving DOJ to the board definitely turns this into mono-white aggro and not mono-white control. You still have a powerful end-game and I respect the deck, but it's getting into different territory. It's possible the creator was trying to be more aggressive against fae and scapeshift, which I think this deck accomplishes.

* I'm glad to see that finally someone's not an idiot and is playing x4 Leyline in the board. His board also makes a lot more sense then others I've seen and he's cut the condemns / luminarchs since he's more aggressive to begin with.

* Other than the draw power we all know and love in our deck with wall of omens, why is it in his? He doesn't have flickerwisp to bounce it and his deck takes an aggressive posture, so at this point it's in there for a simple cantrip and recursion later. It doesn't seem like the right choice in this deck, I'd rather have another grizzly bear or something else.

I don't really have any big issues with this build and I like that it's aggressive, I also don't have the cash to go out and buy x4 stoneforge, the swords, bonehoard, elspeth, etc. It's a shame also because I think our deck needs to be more aggressive in the non-aggroish matches (Scapeshift, Fae). As a control deck, I feel like we lack the gas sometimes to keep up.

Knight of the White Orchid was a card I was heavily thinking about just for our build. He fits that nice 2-drop slot, and he helps both Emeria and our ramping. His first strike also might be relevant against a lot of decks, such as forcing out burn or preventing an attack phase. I could still pick him up if he seems to fit, but I'm not sure. The question really would be whether to play him as a substitute for Pilgrim's Eye or as a supportive card to Pilgrim's Eye. Sometimes it's nice to have a flyer around, but I like his lower cc. I think sometimes when we blush over this deck we forget that we're not playing EDH and we gotta bring the pain earlier than usual.

Right now, the pseudo list that I have for our deck is this, and it's very open for debate and change as usual-

Mono White Control

12 Plains
4 Tectonic Edge
4 Emeria, the Sky Ruin
2 Arid Mesa
2 Marsh Flats

4 Path to Exile
4 Wall of Omens
4 Flickerwisp
4 Pilgrims Eye
4 Oblivion Ring
4 Mortarpod
4 Day of Judgment
3 Sun Titan
3 Leonin Relic-Warder
2 Lone Missionary

Sideboard:
4 Leyline of Sanctity
3 Ethersworn Cannonist
3 Tumble Magnet
3 Luminarch Ascension
1 Pithing Needle
1 Lone Missionary

I have of course a few problems with this list-

* It's more creature light then I would like.

* If I cut a land I can get in a 4th Sun Titan, but 23 lands I know might be an issue, especially when other decks have tectonic edge. It's what the original guy ran, but most builds seem to have moved to 24 lands, and it's just a troublesome thought for a deck trying to get to critical mass with Emeria or cast a Sun Titan.

* It doesn't address any issues that might arise in game 1 with G/W Trap other than the fact that it runs x4 mortapod, x4 path, x4 oring, and x4 DOJ to kill the mana dorks. Also, while having Leonin in the main against fae will improve the matchup, it still doesn't make it comfortable.

* I'd still like to see wildly other options for this deck before settling.

* I'd like to see more 2-for-1's in this deck.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Also another route we could take it, a little blending-
(61 cards)
Lands: 24
12 Plains
4 Tectonic Edge
4 Emeria, the Sky Ruin
2 Arid Mesa
2 Marsh Flats

Creatures: 24
4 Wall of Omens
4 Knight of the White Orchid
4 Pilgrims Eye
4 Flickerwisp
4 Baneslayer Angel
4 Sun Titan

Spells: 13
4 Path to Exile
4 Oblivion Ring
4 Mortarpod
1 Day of Judgement

Sideboard:
4 Leyline of Sanctity
3 Ethersworn Cannonist
3 Tumble Magnet
3 Day of Judgement
2 Leonin Relic-Warder

Another Rogue Idea-
(61 cards)
12 Plains
4 Tectonic Edge
4 Emeria, the Sky Ruin
2 Arid Mesa
2 Marsh Flats

4 Path to Exile
4 Wall of Omens
4 Flickerwisp
4 Knight of the White Orchid
4 Sun Titan
4 Lone Missionary
2 Kitchen Finks
2 Glimmerpoint Stag
3 Mortarpod
3 Day of Judgement
3 Oblivion Ring

Sideboard:
4 Leyline of Sanctity
3 Ethersworn Cannonist
3 Tumble Magnet
2 War Priest of Thune
1 Day of Judgement
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Mortarpod

[Travis Lannoye]

Just wanted to post some testing results from last night.

I played several games against the Fae menace post-board. Well, technically Ryan U didn't have a board, but I don't think there is really all that much that's different from what is in the main list. My main list was this:

12 Plains
4 Fetches
4 Tectonic Edge
4 Emeria
(24)

4 Wall of Omens
4 Pilgrim's Eye
4 Flickerwisp
4 Sun Titan
2 Kor Skyfisher
2 Lone Missionary
2 Leonin Relic-Warder
(22)

4 Path to Exile
3 Mortarpod
4 Oblivion Ring
3 Day of Judgment

(14)

4 Leyline of Sanctity
3 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Day of Judgment
1 Mortarpod
1 Leonin Relic-Warder
5 other spots that I can't remember

The board plan was like this:
+4 Leyline
+1 Mortarpod
+1 Relic-Warder
-2 Lone Missionary (dies to everything)
-3 Day
-1 Sun Titan

We played a total of five sideboarded games. I ended up going 2-3, with two of my losses coming as a result of not drawing any lands. The third loss was because I made a critical misplay: I chose not to use Flickerwisp to reset an Oblivion Ring and take out his second Sword of Feast and Famine, which ended up killing me on the next turn.

The two wins were largely a result of a turn zero Leyline. That card is pretty disgusting against Fae, shutting off all their discard, all their Cliques, and even the +2 ability of Jace. I'm pretty sure that they would have boarded out their discard spells at some point, but it is worth noting that an opening hand with Leyline is quite good.

The general strategy seems to be to start the attrition war early on, trading your spells for theirs one-for-one as much as possible, and then eventually get a Sun Titan or Emeria online and overwhelm them.

I'm not sure if it is correct to play Emeria on turn one or not, because it allows them time to find a Tectonic Edge to get rid of it. It's probably fine on the turn right before you drop a Sun Titan, because you can get it back if the Titan resolves.

[John Galli]

I was thinking about that question regarding playing Emeria on turn 1 myself, but I still think it's probably the right move because you're not guaranteed to draw into more lands so you may end up hosing yourself on tempo if you get stuck playing a tapped land when you need it to be untapped.

The problem with Fae, other than the obvious fact that it's always just "good", is that I don't really know what else we could bring to the table that would help out the matchup. We know that O-Ring and Leonin are mostly good against it, we know that turn 0 leyline is fantastic, but other than that I don't know. Runed Halo maindeck naming something like "Mistbind Clique" could certain go a long way, but that still doesn't solve the aggression problem. And there's really not a lot of room for it.

Then again we could be really cruel and play x4 leyline maindeck lol

[John Galli]

From what I've taken out of the article that the original deck designer wrote, he felt that the fae matchup was good and they were able to mostly beat it in the major tourneys they took it to (GP Denver and Seattle PTQ). He made it sound like the big keys were an early mortapod that was heavily blinked, and making sure to use mortarpod on spellstutter sprite or any early faerie tokens when targeted by Mistbind Clique.

So I'm wondering if Glimmerpoint Stag might be worth bringing back in, possibly even upping the number.

Round 6 I finally found Faeries. I was completely unsure of how I would fair and I was expecting to be signing up for side events after the match. Mortarpod plus Flickerwisp was amazing and led to a sweep. Round 7 was a sweep of Jund. Runed Halo naming Blightning left two unrevealed cards in his hand for the entire game 1 and Tectonic Edges plus Sun Titan never let him get to the mana to start the Demigod chain that I had allowed him to set up with Fauna Shaman. Round 8 was an easy sweep of Naya, again having so much removal that I just didn't care what he did with Fauna Shaman.

It was by far the most fun tournament that I have participated in as there was never the stress of needing to win. I was enjoying the game and succeeding well beyond my expectations, and it turned out to be a very successful playtest session to put it mildly. My only disappointment was not getting a chance to beat up on Valakut, but that was remedied back at the hotel lobby after another night at Applebee's. The following morning I got another chance to playtest against Faeries at the airport with a very helpful player from Nevada. Out of four unsideboarded games, I only lost the one in which he cast three Mistbind Clique and even then I had held onto a Runed Halo that could have named the disruptive Faerie on turn 2.

And from Travis Woo who was at the Seattle PTQ (best known for his Living End Extended deck)-

The deck is still an enigma to me but I know a little more about it now. According to the creators, the deck is actually pretty decent against Fae, with endless Flickerwisps, Oblivion Rings, and Mortarpods. It looks interesting (and maybe even as awesome as Bantwarp) and if you have a PTQ left I actually recommend it. You are going to have a powerful engine in Sun Titan backed with a surplus of surprise.

I've also been reading a little about the poor scapeshift matchup, so I'm considering what to do in the maindeck / board regarding that. I assume it'll probably be very popular.

Honestly at this point I'm so confused I feel like it might be better to hedge my bets unless we just really figure out something that works.

[Travis Lannoye]

Hmm...so I guess Mortarpod is the key to beating the Fae menace, and Runed Halo/Leyline is the key to beating Valakuts?

The part where they talk about Stags being used for extra blinks on Mortarpod and whatnot kinda makes sense. The more I think about it, the more I think that Mortarpod is probably the best way to keep Faes in check.

Still unsure of what the Condemns are there for...if our aggro matchup is so gosh-darn good, why do we need Condemn?

[crazedferret]

I want to once again mention ratchet bomb. If run maindeck, it kills all BB tokens which is what you want it to do in that matchup and supports the mortarpod in it's role. It can take out the bitterblossom itself if they let it. It easily kills all 1 drops verse elves, killing their combo and slaughtering a bunch of elves in the process, allowing paths, orings, day and wall of omens to play clean up. In addition to leyline and runed halo, it creates another layer of protection against the scapeshift player. You could easily manage to get 1 of each in play making it 3 things they'd have to bounce or disenchant before they go off. This should allow you time to play them out again or recur them. Game 1 you'd have at least something to take care of the omen. Game 2-3 you'd have 10-15 more things to help depending on numbers and leonin relic warders. Against boros it kills all of the one drops easily taking out basilisk collar as well. It takes out eldrazi tokens, birds and noble hierarchs verse g/w trap easily, and with a little extra work can take out lotus cobras thus allowing you time to play out a tumble magnet to take care of emrakul.

I'm pretty sure this helps shore up the weaker aggro matchups and can only help with faeries. It can make an impact on both scapeshift and G/w trap as well. So why isn't this being considered? Because it might be bounced? Seems a weak answer compared to what it helps with.

Also, given that there are a number of articles toting this deck, I'd have a strong plan in place for the mirror. It will happen. Archon seems strong there as well as things like relic of progenitus and nihil spellbomb.

If you still don't like that plan, then I'd very much so consider running either runed halo or leyline main.

[John Galli]

Actually Pat I think you just sold me. I forgot how effective Ratchet bombs would be against elves; I'd actually rather have that over the cannonists (doh'). And it'd be useful in other spots like you mentioned. They can still regenerate with ezuri, but that's what paths are for

Also, I completely forgot, it's yet another thing that kills prismatic omen and it could help out against tempered steel decks.

Looks like I'll be playing Ratchet Bomb . Did you put your Bombs in your deckbox?

Right now, this is what I'm looking at for my list. It's probably gonna be the final one for the PTQ barring any hidden innovations-

PTQ List
13 Plains
4 Tectonic Edge
4 Emeria, the Sky Ruin
2 Arid Mesa
1 Marsh Flats

4 Path to Exile
4 Wall of Omens
4 Flickerwisp
4 Sun Titan
4 Pilgrims Eye
4 Day of Judgment
4 Oblivion Ring
3 Mortarpod
2 Lone Missionary
2 Glimmerpoint Stag
2 Kor Skyfisher

Sideboard
4 Leyline of Sanctity
3 Tumble Magnet
3 Ratchet Bomb
2 War Priest of Thune
2 Lone Missionary
1 Mortarpod

I'll consider cutting War Priest in favor of anti-mirror cards as well. I liked the spellbomb suggestion from yesterday or archon.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sideboard Plans:

Fae:
+4 Leyline, +3 Ratchet Bomb, +2 War Priest, +1 Mortarpod
-4 Day, -2 Sun Titan, -2 Glimmerpoint Stag, -2 Lone Missionary

R/U/G and R/G Scapeshift:
+4 Leyline, +3 Ratchet Bomb, +2 War Priest, +2 Lone Missionary
-4 Day (situationally), -3 Mortarpod, -2 Sun Titan, -2 Skyfisher

Mystic:
+2 Lone Missionary, +1 Mortarpod
-2 Skyfisher, -1 Glimmerpoint Stag

Boros (Laugh):
+2 Lone Missionary, +1 Mortarpod (possibly Ratchet Bomb)
-2 Glimmerpoint Stag, -1 Sun Titan

Elves:
+3 Ratchet Bomb, +1 Mortarpod
-2 Skyfisher, -1 Sun Titan, -1 O-Ring

RDW:
+4 Leyline, +2 Lone Missionary, +1 Mortarpod
-4 DOJ, -3 O-Ring

G/W Trap:
+3 Tumble Magnet, +1 Mortarpod
-1 Sun Titan, -2 Lone Missionary, -1 Day

Tempered Steel (very tentative and probably wrong):

+4 Leyline, +3 Ratchet Bomb, +1 Lone Missionary, +1 Mortarpod
-3 Sun Titan, -2 Glimmerpoint Stag, -2 Skyfisher, -1 Flickerwisp

Mirror:
Not sure yet

I'm also considering cutting skyfisher again, but he's not bad game 1 as a blinker so I'm not sure what for. Another possibility could be putting x2 Ratchet Bomb in the main over him. That would give you outs to a lot of stuff you might otherwise struggle with too.

For instance, something like this-

13 Plains
4 Tectonic Edge
4 Emeria, the Sky Ruin
2 Arid Mesa
1 Marsh Flats

4 Path to Exile
4 Wall of Omens
4 Flickerwisp
4 Sun Titan
4 Pilgrims Eye
4 Oblivion Ring
4 Mortarpod
3 Day of Judgment
2 Lone Missionary
2 Glimmerpoint Stag
2 Ratchet Bomb

Sideboard
4 Leyline of Sanctity
3 Tumble Magnet
2 War Priest of Thune
2 Lone Missionary
2 Archon of Justice (or x3 War Priest and x1 Archon)
1 Ratchet Bomb
1 Day of Judgement

[John Galli]

Our deck took down another PTQ. . . ;D

1st Place, San Antonio PTQ 3/26

4 Flickerwisp
2 Lone Missionary
4 Pilgrim's Eye
4 Sun Titan
4 Wall of Omens
Creatures [18]

3 Day of Judgment
3 Mortarpod
4 Oblivion Ring
4 Path to Exile
4 Scepter of Dominance
Spells [18]

4 Emeria, the Sky Ruin
4 Marsh Flats
12 Plains
4 Tectonic Edge
Lands [24]

SIDEBOARD
3 Condemn
2 Kitchen Finks
1 Martial Coup
4 Memoricide
1 Swamp
4 War Priest of Thune

I also just realized a few things condemn is good against (other than just being usable). It keeps vengevine out of the yard and it removes dudes in the mirror.

Another thing of note, the two bant decks in his top 4 both ran stillmoon cavalier maindeck. So Ratchet Bomb is probably not a bad idea at all. . . (even though day of judgement still helps)