U/R nobo for states

[fearthefearless]

to start it off here is the list:

4 Grim Lavamancer
4 Snapcaster Mage
2 Delver of Secrets
2 Phyrexian Metamorph

2 Batterskull

3 Gitaxian Probe
1 Devil's Play

2 Koth

1 Galvanic Blast
1 Steel Sabatage
4 Incinerate
4 Mana Leak
3 Forbidden Alchemy
2 Dissipate

4 Sulfur Falls
2 Hinterland Harbor
1 Rootbound Crag
3 Ghostquarter
7 Mountain
7 Island

SIDEBOARD:
1 Steel Sabotage
2 Ancient Grudge
3 Slagstorm
1 Ratchet Bomb
4 Surgical Exraction
3 Mental Misstep
1 Galvanic Blast*


*(? for lack of a better decision right now might be another koth)

So as some of you may know i ussually would be playing puresteel at states if i lived in my own perfect world. But i have looked at the format lately and realized there is to much splash hate towards swords and artifacts to the point that i beleive that i have a better chance of winning with this U/R deck. So that being sadi here is why i beleive that i do...

as everybody agrees snapcaster mage is an obscene card and some may also agree that grim lavamancer is also a realy good card. both of their mechanics work against eachother but there abilities are so strong on their own that it is okay to make some sacrafices to one for the other.

this decks matchups from what i have tested against the gauntlet so far are not bad. the good matchups are Tempered Steel, Mono-Red, Mid-ranged Aggro. its bad matchup is U/B and Reanimator.

the two bad matchups are a problem because reanimator just lays out a big dude and continues to do that over and over making it hard to keep board state. side board aginst reanimator therefor is: 40/60

+4 Surgical Extraction
+2 Mental Misstep*
-1 Galvanic Blast
-1 Steel Sabotage
-4 Incinerate

*if i continue to lists of this without mental missteps of their own i do not need mine they are simply to protect my extractions in which case i leave in 2 incinerates.

U/B is a hard matchup or me because they can one for one me and then drop a bigger bomb then me. if i dont have to counter magic over them then i cant really deal with concecrated sphinx or Grave titan. the sideboard is as follows:40/60

+4 Surgical Extraction
+3 Mental Misstep
-4 Incinerate
-1 Galvanic Blast
-1 Steel Sabotage
-1 Gitaxian Probe

now originally i had koth in the sideboard but taking alook at the matchups i moved him to the main board because he is good against both U/B and Solar flare(Reanimator)

As far as RDW sideboard goes its pretty standard:60/40

+3 Slagstorm
+3 Misstep
+1 Sabatoge
-3 Gitaxian Probe
-2 Dissipate
-2 Phyrexian Metamorph

Tempered Steel:60/40

+1 Steel Sabotage
+2 Ancient Grudge
+3 Slagstorm
+1 Ratchet Bomb
-3 Gitaxian Probe
-2 Dissipate
-2 Phyrexian Metamorph

U/W Blade:60/40

+3 Slagstorm
+2 Ancient Grudge
+1 Ratchet Bomb
-3 Probe
-1 Galvanic Blast
-2 Koth

i like this deck better int his meta wich seems to be flooded with aggro and i have good matchups against those decks. depending on the results from nashville seeing how the top 8 looks will determine states. i would love any help or suggestions or even questions so i might be able to understand the deck better.

some cards for thought:
Consecrated Sphinx
Negate
Disperse
Nihil Spellbomb(over extraction)
Phantasmal Image
Inferno Titan
Frost Titan

please leave your comments and sorry if it was to long and you didnt wanna read it all lol

[justinhering]

I think adding Koth was a good idea and you definitely want one more in the sideboard. Truth is, he is pretty good against everything right now, especially control. I think you needed another substantial threat besides Batterskull (too much mainboard artifact hate). People are starting to run Naturalize in the deck because of Tempered Steel and UW Blade.

You know I like this deck and color combo. We toyed with this in the old standard, but I think this deck is more solid.

Dismember is noticeably missing from your deck and sideboard. Besides countermagic, and maybe Devil's Play, how do you handle more significant creatures like Hero of Bladehold? You may want to run at least one insteand of Galvanic Blast. Just a thought.

[justinhering]

Btw, here is the decklist I will starting with in new standard...

Creatures [25]
4 Champion of the Parish
4 Elite Vanguard
4 Avacyn's Pilgrim
4 Mayor of Avabruck
3 Hamlet Captain
4 Mentor of the Meek
2 Hero of Bladehold

Spells [9]
3 Gitaxian Probe
2 Naturalize
2 Dismember
2 Nevermore

Planeswalkers [2]
2 Gideon Jura

Lands [22]
4 Razorverge Thicket
3 Gavony Township
2 Sunpetal Grove
7 Plains
6 Forest

Sideboard:
3 Purify the Grave
2 Celestial Purge
1 Naturalize
2 Creeping Corrosion
2 Stony Silence
2 Thrun, the Last Troll
2 Timely Reinforcements
1 Nevermore

[deo]

I like playing this over paladin, as puresteel recives way to much artifact hate. I like Justin's idea of adding dismember somehow. Have you tried replacing maybe one of the batterskull with like consecrated sphinx, as he does live through dismember and doesn't die due to artifact hate.

[fearthefearless]

i have changed my side board:

2 Ancient Grudge
3 Slagstorm
1 Ratchet Bomb
4 Surgucal Extractions
3 Mental Misstep
2 Dismember

i saw my matchup against any hero of bladehold-esque creatures was rough because i did not have a one card way to deal with it so u guys are right i needed the two dismembers.

deo, i think your right about paladina nd that is why i chose to play this deck instead. as far as concecrated sphinx goes i was thinking about hi as a one of but i do not think batter skull is vulnerable to artifact hate because i could always bounce him in response... i try to play the deck as smart as possible and wopuld never play turn five batter skull against any chance that it can be delt with like that. if i were to fit the sphinx i would take it out for one metamorph not the batter skull because metamorph is really good against bigger decks but then again so is drawing obscene amounts of cards. it also helps my control matchup having the card advantage so i am going to test the one of sphinx substituted for one metamorph. we will see how it goes.

Justin, i love the deck i feel liek nevermore should jsut always be in the sideboard though. i might be wrong seeing that the deck only has so many weaknesses i.e wraths. but evn then mentor of the meek allows you to chain draw and rebuild. i love the probes but i also think the timely reinforcements should be in the main. it help post wrath giving you automatic three mentor triggers and obviously dramaticly increases your mono red matchup wich i feel might be a little rough with there removal and equal aggro. another thing i was confused about is the lack of oblivion ring? just wondering if it was forgotten or its for a reason. some things u might want to think about is elspetyh, generating another 3 cantrips for mentor and also sun titan bringing back any creature, the o-rings if there, the nevermore if delt with, and worse comes to worse a gavony township?

[justinhering]

Josh, I do play 2 Oblivion Ring mainboard, just forgot to add them to the decklist. I used to play 3, but cut one and a Hamlet Captain for 2 Naturalize so I don't get run over by swords in game 1. Plus it kills Tempered Steel.

Elspeth Vs. Gideon is a big question mark for me. I think Elspeth does have tremendous synergy in this deck. I should be able to drop her turn 4-5 (remember, Avacyn's Pilgrim) and stabilize with 3-4 creatures on the battlefield. Getting Mentor triggers is an added bonus.

I would probably play a 2-1 split, but how do I split them. Only playtesting will reveal.

I need to test Timely Reinforcements. I may try them in the mainboard and put the two copies of Nevermore in the side as suggested. It seems like a stronger play and if I probe into a wrath effect I can just play around it and force the control player to wrath at an awkward time. As you saw, just one Champion and Elite Vanguard is 5 damage per turn starting turn 3. That's decent pressure on the control player.

Gavony Township makes my 3 tokens from Elspeth or Timely scary relatively quickly.