Discussion Forum

- fetchland or Land Tax would seriously improve the effectiveness of brainstorm, without fetchland brainstorm isn't all that great. Ponder without fetchland is better then brainstorm without fetchland. Seinsei's Divining top would also go well with Land Tax or fetchland to create even more control over your deck which you need in this archetype. I'm guessing you're on a budget, in that case just go for ponder.

- Daze is a house, I would max it out
- 2x counterspell should be fine
- 3x spell pierce should be fine
- drop the entreat the angels, you're deck just doesn't handle them well with only 4 spells to put them from your hand back on top of your deck

- you need wrath of god or simular, there will always be stuff that gets past your counterspells that you can't handle without a good sweeper, or decks that just overwhelm you fast (fish decks like goblins, merfolk, etc that have eather vail and cavern of souls) that require you to sweep in order to regain control.

- why no Stoneforge Mystic? seems to be the card you really want to play. Is it to expensive?


- have you concidered playing Luminarch Ascension?

Tks for comment Seth!. I agree with some points, i could run 4 Daze and run 3 of both Spell Pierce and Counterspell, but how many Wrath of God you would run? 2, maybe 3 i guess.

The mayor problem i see is if i remove Entreat the Angels (you are right about i only have Brainstorm to Miracle it, if the card is in my hand), i would need another solid win condition. Luminarch Ascension seems a bit slow for me in this deck, and if i run Stoneforge Mystic, i need swords, Runecharter´s Pike alone for Stoneforge to tutor it is not good. And i have few creatures, it could be problematic sometimes to equip them. Also, adding them with Stoneforge means that i have to cut out some spells-instants, and i would weaker the Delver-Runecharter mechanic.

- Yeah I would run 2 to 3 wrath of god or Supreme Verdict
- I've played Miracles at legacy tournaments so I'm pretty familiar with entreat the angels and the ups and downs of the card. Ofcourse I was playing 3-4 Jace the Mindsculptor and 4 Sensei's Divining Top in addition to brainstorm.
It's a great card but it's also a pain in the ass half of the time.

- I agree with your point about not wanting to weaken Runecharter´s Pike, a card I like a lot as well. What's your budget? How do you feel about an additional color (red or black would be great)? What's your meta? Maybe I could help you with the build if I know what your limit is.

Well, in my meta is not so common the 3 color decks cause the cost of most of the useful and must-need cards. Mostly you can see Caw-Blade, Maverick and Dredge, some Red Sligh too (Red Deck Win also in mono red, with Vexing Devil and such). Even Affinity. If i could splash one more color, i would play green, for Tarmogoyf and Nimble Mongoose, maybe Green Sun's Zenith, for a more direct approach. Red could be nice too, i saw some version of this kind of deck running Bonfire of the Damned. I want to stick to U/W anyway, for the same reason i don´t run shocklands or fetchlands. The budget is about a more tempo deck, draw the card of your turn and pass, supress the menaces of the opponents and when you have good card advantage, drop your win-con and go for the winning. I do some minor changes, already updated in the page i linked, good in the draw-test but i don´t prove it in a match yet.

So you do have a tournament meta :) I was expecting just some kind of casual play group but I guess the deck could perform ok in small local tournaments. As long as you don't see to many goblins and merfolk decks because they will just walk all over you. I've been playing UW control and Bant for a few years and goblins are just the worst (at least that's my experience, I really hate playing against goblins).

Anyway

A Counterspell based strategy is pretty good against Affinity, Dredge (especially after sideboard with graveyard hate) and Red decks. I won against a Red Burn once siding in 2xEnligthened Tutor and 1xCircle of Pro Red :) That was pretty solid. Guy looked at me like he couldn't believe anyone would ever have a circle of protection in his sideboard, he shook my hand and scooped it up. Last year I experimented with Sphere of Law in side which is pretty good against Goblins and Burn. Baneslayer angel is also excellent in sideboard.

Maverick is a problem as it's build to beat blue control decks. Wrath of God helps but it will always be a very difficult to win match. The only easy wins I had against them was playing Bant with 3xNatural Order and 1xProgenitus in sideboard.

UWx Blade decks can be problematic especially Esper Control that has both discard which is killer against control decks and Lingering Souls which is excellent against counterspells.


have you concidered something unblockable like Invisible Stalker? I know it's not that hot a creature but in legacy outside of countering it most decks can't deal with it.

2x Runechanter's Pike

4x Delver of Secrets
2x Serra Avenger
3x Invisible Stalker
2x Geist of Saint Traft

4x Brainstorm
2x Counterspell
3x Daze
4x Rune Snag
3x Spell Pierce
4x Swords to Plowshares
4x Telling Time

2x Supreme Verdict

4x Glacial Fortress
4x Hallowed Fountain
8x Island
5x Plains


I'm having my doubts about Geist of Saint Traft. It's an awesome creature but in legacy playing a 2/2 in turn 3 isn't all that. When I was playing Bant a turn 1 Noble Hierarch followed by a turn 2 Geist of Saint Traft was ok but only against certain decks. Against Maverick or goblins even that was pretty weak.

A pretty good 3 drop in white is Mirran Crusader, especially with equipment (Umezawa's Jitte on crusader is pretty crazy)

I like Invisible Stalker a lot, but i have doubts about it´s synergy with the rest of the deck. It is a primarly offensive creature, with his unblockeable thing, but it don´t have true offensive power for itself.
Maybe in an Aura oriented deck it could be much stronger (attacked to Celestial Mantle or even Ethereal Armor), or in a Caw-Blade with swords is just unfair. In this deck you could empower it only with the Runecharter (if i remove Sublime Archangel), and i have 2 of them. It would be the only way to protect Geist when it attacks, if you are short of counter-removal.
So i run Sublime Archangel, mostly to attack with Geist if possible, and i don´t need to tap more than that creature.
As you said, Geist could be slow at times, but i think that both of them in this deck (Stalker and Geist) could not be the best, is one or another imo, cause i don´t have sufficient boost for both of them.
Mirran Crusader needs more empower, like you suggest with Jitte, but it would require a great change in the deck, similar to Caw Blade. If i would run it, better to cut out Geist, but i saw them more to a Sideboard in this budget.

yeah I agree, but it's kind of hard finding anything close to Delver in UW that is agressive and doesn't require you to tap out. And while Delver is broken good you need more then 4 delvers to have a consistent strategy. Vendillion Clique is great but also expensive and it's one of those creatures that's only good against certain decks. Against RUG Tempo for instance it's pretty bad.

In black you have Tombstalker and Death's Shadow that come close to delver. In green you have Goyf and Mongoose. In white and blue you don't really have that kind of pressure.


Have you concidered playing 1xVedalken Shackles, it's pretty slow but as a one off it's ok in a control strategy.

I considered the Shackles, even Treachery, but are mostly situational (agains´t Maverick coulld do very well), so i preffer them as possible sideboard cards. I agree with you that the most difficult part of this deck are the win-cons, mostly because i don´t splash one more color like green. Morphling is a bomb, per example, but would ruin my mana base, and Frost Titan is quite slow too.