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Any new changes to the list or any progress made in general?

I have been playing a significant amount of UWx control versions on Cockatrice / MWS against friends with different decks and right now I don't know if black is the colour to go for a splash. The cards black provides are obviously pretty strong:

- Lingering Souls / Mystical Tutor for their flashback
- Demonic Tutor
- Shriekmaw
- Vindicate
- Baleful Strix
- Volrath's Stronghold / Sorin 2.0 (if you think you can utilize them by playing more creatures)
- Single target spot removal + discard

At first glance, this looks like a ton already, but I have the feeling that these cards "only" strengthen the mid to late game where UWx in general already shines. Black feels like trying to make the deck better where it already is pretty good.

I have played an equal number of games with both UWb and UWr and in the current meta, I found R to be much more useful.

Besides strong control cards like Ajani Vengeant, Grim Lavamancer, Ruination/Blood Moon (if you go this route) and Flametongue Kavu I found single target burn (that sometimes even brings utility and card advantage like Fire // Ice, Arc Trail, Helix, Magma Jet, Forked Bolt etc.) and cheap "mass" removal like Pyroclasm, Whipflare and Firespout to be too good (remember: in the current creature based meta) to not run.

Red gives UWx what it misses desperately: a stronger early game. There is almost nothing better than to burn the enemies T1 mana elf and slow them down heavily. It also kills almost every utility creature and eot Lightning Bolt killing the enemy Jace TMS (and burning Planeswalkers in general) is just a super strong play.


Am I missing something that makes black so much better than red?

I have also played both version and right now i'm playing esper instead uwr. What i didn't like about uwr was burn, while it was good sometimes it failed to do it's job in midgame when you are facing bigger creatures and you are staring your lightning bolt in hand and wishing it would be go for throat or other "real" removal instead of burn. Yes, you can burn little dudes and shoot burn to head but if we are control deck, burning opponent alive isn't our plan a really. Just imagine facing a Titan, you have to resolve / have two burn spells instead of one removal to get rid of it. Same is true for some litte bigger dudes what one 2-3 dmg spells can't kill. I don't know what your meta is looking like, if there is tons of aggro then uwr maybe be better there but when you are facing control you wish you would be playing esper instead.

Since birthing pod did get banhammer, what would replace that slot? I'm thinking to add Diabolic Intent back. What's your opinion should life from the loam get slot here too? It works nice with Horizon canopy and other utility lands but since we aren't running wasteland should we now add that for extra value?

Yea i would also want to know what's reasoning to not run Sun titan / Gaea's gradle in tiggupiru's list? Sun titan is hitting several targets, even fetchlands usually if there arent else, going crazy with liliana seems acceptable. Gradle can produce zero mana in some cases (after wrath) but other times it should be good. Combined with deranged hermit? Sweet. I also think that mikaeus 2.0 should be in list, it has synergy with lots of cards in list already and comboes easily with persist guys + sac-outlet. Is sylvan tutor too slow to use vs. worldly Tutor? Also couple more cards what i would want to know your opinion, Thrun and Garruk, primal hunter. Are both unneeded or why you don't wanna play them? Thrun might not be good enought since we don't run any Swords but how about Garruk? Is that triple-g too much?

Hi, have you considered adding one of these:

Hapless Researcher
Personal Tutor
Simic Sky Swallower
City of Traitors / Ancient Tomb

?

Simic is nice with Mimeoplasm, getting flying, shroud guy with trample wins games. Meh, imagining when you get that + Trench Gorger by mim. Good luck for racing. Personal tutor is now even better, since it lets you search Buried alive so you get 3 best creatures straight to graveyard waiting to animated. Or you can get Show and tell if you have already a fatty in hand what you want to play. City of Traitors and Ancient Tomb speed up things. 2nd turn Intuition, Swow and Tell or Buried Alive seems good to me. Hapless Researcher is another 1-drop discar outlet that lets you animate fatty 2nd turn.

Again, new build is up. Our shop's meta has been changing more towards all manner of control and mana ramp decks, so cut some unreliable cards and put in more reliable ones. Discard <3

Diff:
- Elvish Visionary, Body Snatcher, Condemn
+ Fyndhorn Elves, Cabal Therapy, Castigate

With Scars we got Skinrender, and I'm quite interested in replacing Damnation with it. The bugger kills or makes irrelevant just about anything while providing a decently-sized body. The only thing that makes me hesitate are the aforementioned mana ramp decks, against which Damnation is just a far better card.

For those who've tried it, how has Gifts been performing? I've drawn it once or so the entire time it's been in the deck, so can't really comment much. What do you see as ideal piles? Something like Rector-Guide-Order-Witness? Or would Pattern-Order-Witness-Regrowth be better? (The latter only if you're using Regrowth in the first place, obviously. I'm still torn between it and Grim Discovery).

I have tested Gifts some games and it has been good when i needed that. Sometimes you draw it when you have already all pieces together and you can go and fetch like duress, thoughseize, eternal witness and regrowth. So you can get secured win against control if you don't already have that change. What i like about Gifts is that's versality (yeah really), you just grap what ever you need depending your board position and see another turn with better position or win in best case next turn.

Have anyone already tried new titans if they proved to be good enought? If there is someone who plays, patric's list (http://blog.magicplayer.org/2010/05/25/hl-gp-top-8-decklist-place-5-8-fabian-moyschewitz-reanimator/), will you tell me is that Kederekt Leviathan that good? I can see it steal games against stax if they have loaded their battlefield full of stuff but still. Should terastodon replace that or another fatty? And last, have you got any problems with opponents Iona's = should we play some answers for her?

Cabal coffers
Night's Whisper
Dark ritual

Why you have cutted those? You can win games quite easily with unanswered 1st turn dark ritual -> hypnotic specter. Yeah, that have happened too many times for me.. Have you thinked to change your decks function toward mono-b aggro? I'm quite sure that when game tends to go longer, you have several, death, hand disruption cards in your hand, when you could have some dudes to smash.

Any updates here..? Have you tried "karoo-lands" already?