Twin-Blade
For those of you who don't know, I'm a teacher when not a Dad, or a magic player, or a martial artist, etc. End of the school year is a very busy time of year for me. But I'm still thinking hard about the meta and about decks I want to build. Here is the newest version of the deck I have been working on for the last two weeks. It's been putting up pretty impressive results for me.
The best decks in the format at the moment are Splinter Twin decks, a la Mike Flores, or some version of the new Caw-Blade decks, like Edgar Flores tends to run. And I thought... well if these are the two best decks in the current meta-game, then I better be prepared to play both of these over the course of a tournament, or I better be playing them. But why do I have to play just one? Caw-Blade was once Spark-Blade wasn't it and ran red? What if I take the combo and graft it onto a spark-blade shell? So I did.
Here's what I came up with:
This list is very preliminary, but has been doing pretty well in my limited testing. Sideboard will change depending on your meta-game. This deck has all the tools needed to beat Caw and Twin with a fairly high rate of consistency. Some notes on the odder choices.
Venser: Venser is amazing in this deck. He provides an extra win condition, a way to get through the last few points of damage, a way to abuse Mystics, Exarchs, Oracles and Titans all day long, and making a sword wielding dude unblockable when they thought they could block is pretty powerful.
Jace B: As usual for me these would be Jace TMS, but the interactions with little jace, venser and Sun Titan is pretty strong. It is REALLY hard to keep an opposing Jace on the table against this deck.
Sea Gate Oracle: This is one of the major reasons the deck is as strong as it is. This is the card that gets you all the other cards that you really need in a timely fashion. I'm never sad to play him turn three, or four or five, etc. (Obviously don't tap out vs Twin if you can help it) The interaction with Venser is really strong as well, and he carries a sword with the best of them. Oh and putting a Splinter Twin on him is silly.
Spellskite: I love this little guy. He completely negates spot removal (that can target him). Getting a Splinter Twin on him is really fun. He gives Opposing Twin players nice large headaches, and if you twin your own spellskite, their headaches just got HUGE. He blocks sworded up dudes like Mirran Crusader, et al. And generally he makes the game last longer, which is exactly what you want, as against almost all decks, you have inevitability.
Gideon Jura: Gideon is good again. His +2 blanks opposing Twin players from going off without Into the Roil in hand, which is really strong. He carries swords well, and finishes games quickly. Spot removal when needed is also nice.
Into the Roil: Seriously, if you are playing blue and not running this, you're doing it wrong. I mean that. This thing hits everything. It is an instant speed answer to a combo deck going off, resets counters on any ascension. Clears the board of opposing spellskites or other permanents that are preventing you from comboing out yourself. It's good.
I like this deck because it can play every game it needs to in order to win. Want to go aggro? SFM into Batterskull seems strong. Want to go control? SoFaF with counter back-up at your service. Oh and you randomly just win with the combo. I know the mana-base seems a bit weird, and it probably is off a card or 3, but it's a good starting point.
Possible side board cards:
Combust
Mirran Crusader
Pilgrims Eye
Gitaxian Probe
Suture Priest
Elesh Norn
So there it is. I'd love to hear your comments about it.
-Mike
The best decks in the format at the moment are Splinter Twin decks, a la Mike Flores, or some version of the new Caw-Blade decks, like Edgar Flores tends to run. And I thought... well if these are the two best decks in the current meta-game, then I better be prepared to play both of these over the course of a tournament, or I better be playing them. But why do I have to play just one? Caw-Blade was once Spark-Blade wasn't it and ran red? What if I take the combo and graft it onto a spark-blade shell? So I did.
Here's what I came up with:
| 2 Arid Mesa 2 Glacial Fortress 2 Inkmoth Nexus 5 Island 5 Mountain 3 Plains 3 Scalding Tarn 3 Seachrome Coast 25 lands 2 Spellskite 4 Stoneforge Mystic 4 Deceiver Exarch 4 Sea Gate Oracle 1 Sun Titan 15 creatures | 3 Into the Roil 3 Mana Leak 3 Jace Beleren 1 Sword of Feast and Famine 1 Sword of War and Peace 4 Splinter Twin 2 Batterskull 1 Gideon Jura 2 Venser, the Sojourner 20 other spells | ||||||||
This list is very preliminary, but has been doing pretty well in my limited testing. Sideboard will change depending on your meta-game. This deck has all the tools needed to beat Caw and Twin with a fairly high rate of consistency. Some notes on the odder choices.
Venser: Venser is amazing in this deck. He provides an extra win condition, a way to get through the last few points of damage, a way to abuse Mystics, Exarchs, Oracles and Titans all day long, and making a sword wielding dude unblockable when they thought they could block is pretty powerful.
Jace B: As usual for me these would be Jace TMS, but the interactions with little jace, venser and Sun Titan is pretty strong. It is REALLY hard to keep an opposing Jace on the table against this deck.
Sea Gate Oracle: This is one of the major reasons the deck is as strong as it is. This is the card that gets you all the other cards that you really need in a timely fashion. I'm never sad to play him turn three, or four or five, etc. (Obviously don't tap out vs Twin if you can help it) The interaction with Venser is really strong as well, and he carries a sword with the best of them. Oh and putting a Splinter Twin on him is silly.
Spellskite: I love this little guy. He completely negates spot removal (that can target him). Getting a Splinter Twin on him is really fun. He gives Opposing Twin players nice large headaches, and if you twin your own spellskite, their headaches just got HUGE. He blocks sworded up dudes like Mirran Crusader, et al. And generally he makes the game last longer, which is exactly what you want, as against almost all decks, you have inevitability.
Gideon Jura: Gideon is good again. His +2 blanks opposing Twin players from going off without Into the Roil in hand, which is really strong. He carries swords well, and finishes games quickly. Spot removal when needed is also nice.
Into the Roil: Seriously, if you are playing blue and not running this, you're doing it wrong. I mean that. This thing hits everything. It is an instant speed answer to a combo deck going off, resets counters on any ascension. Clears the board of opposing spellskites or other permanents that are preventing you from comboing out yourself. It's good.
I like this deck because it can play every game it needs to in order to win. Want to go aggro? SFM into Batterskull seems strong. Want to go control? SoFaF with counter back-up at your service. Oh and you randomly just win with the combo. I know the mana-base seems a bit weird, and it probably is off a card or 3, but it's a good starting point.
Possible side board cards:
Combust
Mirran Crusader
Pilgrims Eye
Gitaxian Probe
Suture Priest
Elesh Norn
So there it is. I'd love to hear your comments about it.
-Mike
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