UR Wildfire Swans revealed!

[Nastaboi]

UPDATED LIST! 22.02.2010

This is a cool and rather competitive deck I have been playing for some months. Now with Highlander Nationals gone, I could share it with you for some more thoughts. The deck is a heavy control deck built around incredible synergy between Swans and board sweepers. As a Wildfire deck I had to include many signets, so small splashes are totally painless. The best matchups are obviously swarm decks pure combo being the worst. Here's my latest list:

// Lands (33)

   2 [GUR] Mountain
   6 [GUR] Island
   1 [CS] Snow-Covered Island

   1 Tropical Island
   1 Badlands
   1 Taiga
   1 Volcanic Island
   1 Underground Sea

   1 [ON] Bloodstained Mire
   1 [ON] Flooded Strand
   1 [ON] Wooded Foothills
   1 [ON] Polluted Delta
   1 [ZEN] Verdant Catacombs
   1 [ZEN] Scalding Tarn
   1 [ZEN] Misty Rainforest
   1 [ZEN] Arid Mesa

   1 [EVE] Cascade Bluffs
   1 [MM] Dust Bowl
   1 [AN] Library of Alexandria
   1 [TE] Wasteland
  1 Rishadan Port
   1 Tolaria West
   1 Bojuga Bog
   1 Tectonic Edge

   1 [DIS] Simic Growth Chamber
   1 [GP] Izzet Boilerworks
   1 [RAV] Dimir Aqueduct

// Stones (14)

   1 [MR] Chrome Mox

   1 [MR] Talisman of Impulse
   1 [MR] Talisman of Indulgence
   1 [MR] Talisman of Progress
   1 [MR] Talisman of Dominance
   1 [DIS] Rakdos Signet
   1 [RAV] Dimir Signet
   1 [DIS] Simic Signet
   1 [GP] Izzet Signet
   1 [GP] Gruul Signet
   1 [CS] Coldsteel Heart
   1 [WL] Mind Stone

   1 [FUT] Coalition Relic

   1 [MR] Solemn Simulacrum

// Counters (11)

   1 [AL] Force of Will
   1 [FUT] Pact of Negation

   1 [RAV] Remand
   1 [RAV] Muddle the Mixture â€" Finds Chain of Plasma
   1 [LG] Mana Drain
   1 Counterspell
   1 [ARE] Mana Leak

   1 [LRW] Cryptic Command
   1 [EVE] Glen Elendra Archmage
   1 Venser, Shaper Savant

   1 [FD] Condescend

// Draw/tutor (17)

   1 [TSP] Ancestral Vision
   1 Brainstorm
   1 Ponder
   1 [MI] Worldly Tutor â€" Going for Archmage is often  the play
   1 [CHK] Sensei's Divining Top

   1 Demonic Tutor

   1 [LRW] Jace Beleren
   1 [RAV] Compulsive Research
   1 [FD] Trinket Mage
   1 [MR] Thirst for Knowledge

   1 [IN] Fact or Fiction
   1 [OD] Concentrate
   1 [TSP] Careful Consideration
   1 [CHK] Gifts Ungiven
   1 [TSP] Mystical Teachings â€" Finds whole combo with Wordly

   1 [ST] Tidings
   1 [ON] Future Sight

// Removal (11)

   1 Lightning Bolt

   1 [IA] Pyroclasm
   1 [AP] Fire/Ice

   1 [SHM] Firespout

   1 [PS] Flametongue Kavu

   1 [US] Crater Hellion
   1 [P3] Burning of Xinye
   1 [P2] Wildfire

   1 [ON] Starstorm
   1 [P3] Rolling Earthquake
   1 [FD] Engineered Explosives

// Win (4)

   1 [SHM] Swans of Bryn Argoll
   1 [ON] Chain of Plasma
   1 [TSP] Conflagrate

   1 [EVE] Call the Skybreaker â€" Feel free to include your personal favourite, I have a foil one and want to play it

// Other (10)

   1 [ALA] Relic of Progenitus

   1 Regrowth

   1 [FD] Crucible of Worlds
   1 Vendilion Clique
   1 Vedalken Shackles

   1 Control Magic

   1 [UD] Treachery
   1 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir

   1 [GP] Repeal
   1 Mind Twist

Cards that are not there:

Deep Analysis â€" Three life was often too much to pay for cards
Volcanic Fallout â€" Enough sweepers
Foresee, Mind Spring â€" Enough draw
Creatures â€" Are bad

Cards that could be there:

Etched Oracle â€" still debating
More counters
Academy Ruins, Mindslaver â€" Should probably be included, but would make the deck into more generic Gifts control
Tectonic Break â€" Another Wildfire, but only for lands
Into the Roil / Krosan Grip: More answers to Survival/SoFI

Comments welcome, but remember to always suggest what to cut for a certain card.

[Mythrandir]

with so many basics and mana artifacts don't you think you could also run BTB (not that i´m a huge fan of it.. )
I would also try and fit chandra

Personal tutor in my trials wasn't very good because it was sorcery, and you have to reveal it, but since you have more draw spells, perhaps this isn't as bad.

Also would probably cut crucible for LFTL, since you have acess to G and it feeds you cards for the skybreaker , LoA and conflagrate unlike crucible.

Hope it helps in any way.

[Nastaboi]

I do not feel like splashing for Loam. Right now the deck have 2½ black and 2½ green cards, which means you can fetch basics early on. Personal finds Wildfire, WF just wins the game. B2B would kiss bouncelands goodbye which I am not ready to do yet.

[Tabris]

Hm I prefer a standard UR/Counterburn.dec with the 2 combo parts (chain + swans) + Conflagrate.

Maybe you can say something about the matchups and how the games proceed with this deck.

[Nastaboi]

Hm I prefer a standard UR/Counterburn.dec with the 2 combo parts (chain + swans) + Conflagrate.

Maybe you can say something about the matchups and how the games proceed with this deck.

How does this differ from standard counterburn? This is a counterburn deck with worse counters and burn spells replaced with more powerful stuff. I already said about the matchups: WW/Elves you just win, GRx beats can be a bit harder because of more toughness creatures and them always drawing Survival/SoFI, other midrange and control decks are favoured because of mana and card advantage, and against pure combo you just lose unless you get lucky.

The games usually go like: counter/remove some early threats, find Wildfire and win, or accelerate into mad card draw and take total control of the game. Sometimes you have to try to race aggro with the combo, but usually you'll just better to go for WF whenever possible.

[Tabris]

Hm I prefer a standard UR/Counterburn.dec with the 2 combo parts (chain + swans) + Conflagrate.

Maybe you can say something about the matchups and how the games proceed with this deck.

How does this differ from standard counterburn?

http://www.magicplayer.org/forum/index.php?topic=312.msg2710;topicseen#msg2710

[Nastaboi]

I didn't mean which cards are in and which are out, I meant in principle, or how you put it, how the games proceed with the deck.

Brainstorm and Ponder should take diamonds' places.

[Tabris]

Mhhh I just misunderstood you. My point is: you run a lot of acceleration bc of the Wildfire.effects which is in my eyes not so strong. Ok, you can possibly win a game bc of the loss of 4 lands, but to run so many other stuff for this kind of "plan"...I dont know. I think a deck with a strong counter backup and and sweeper stuff + the swans combo would be better. But i never played this deck so maybe its better then i thought.

[Vazdru]

What do you think about following changes:

I've added Tolaria West - it gives me access to Wasteland, LoA, Dust Bowl, Ancestral Visions, Pact, Explosives. Imo a nice Tutor in this deck.

As I've added Tolaria West i chanded Relic of Progenitus to Tormod's Crypt as another target for Tolaria West. Another reason: I prefer to let my opponent removing my gy and do not want to do it myself (Regrowth, Relearn, Crucible).

As I've added Tolaria West i chanced Badlands to Academy Ruins. Academy ruins gives me access to Mindslaver-Combo and also to Crypt-, Explovives - Recursion or as nice target for Gifts-staples.

I play Thran Dynamo and Gilded Lotus instead of Gruul Signet and Diamonds to accelerate Mindslaver-Lock and Sundering Titan which is a bomb in this deck imo.

Blood Moon has gone, Tidings too. I've added Into the Roil + Venser instead.

Maybe I'll add Krosan Grip too because Oath and Survival are the main enemies.


Off-Topic:

I play your deck in Singleton too - of course I've added only the cheap cards because i do not spend much time or money in Modo. The banned list is short but Demonic, Gifts, Crucible are listed so the deck looks way different (no green/black-splash - lack of duals).

Another thing: you can have a sideboard. Any good cheap cards for my 15 cards sideboard 

Here is my actual SB:

Active Volcano
Artifact Blast
Blood Moon
Burnout
Cryoclasm
Dragon's Claw
Essence Scatter
Firespout
Flash Flood
Flasfires
Flashfreeze
Pithing Needle
Remove Soul
Shattering Spree
Zuran Orb



   

[Nastaboi]

I had Ruins in my deck for some time but cut it lately. I cut Personal Tutor too and added Shackles and Vendilion Clique so I am playing one less land. I don't want to play creatures that die to Wildfire, but Clique is just too good. Or Venser if you like it more.

Tolaria West is a fine addition, I must really think about it and reconsider Ruins if I decide to run it. I like signets more than Lotus/Dynamo because they can be played earlier or along with other spells same turn. And you really have to play Mindslaver/Titan to get full use out of them. This is certainly a direction to take the deck, I am just not sure if I want to go that way.

But thank you for the suggestions, you definitely gave me something to think about.

[Vazdru]

Another minor change:

I changed Cascade Bluffs + one Island to City of Traitors + Sandstone Needle (both working quite well with Bounce-Lands).

You can have explosives starts with it.

[Nastaboi]

Updated list OP. Changes from the original:

-
3 Island
Gruul Turf
Rakdos Carnarium
Fire Diamond
Sky Diamond
Personal Tutor
Sphinx of Lost Truths
Blood Moon
Relearn

+
Rishadan Port
Tolaria West
Bojuga Bog
Tectonic Edge
Brainstorm
Ponder
Venser
Lightning Bolt
Vedalken Shackles
Vendilion Clique
Teferi

So basicly fancy cards have made way for the good cards.

[GoblinPiledriver]

Bojuga Bog:  Do you think this card is worth playing in a deck with no black

Rishadan Port: This card is good in a aggro deck to prevent wrath or counter maze of ith , or in a staxx deck. But here i don't think this card will work efficient enough for a colorless land.

[Nastaboi]

Bojuga Bog:  Do you think this card is worth playing in a deck with no black

The deck has two and half black cards. Even otherwise, yes.

Rishadan Port: This card is good in a aggro deck to prevent wrath or counter maze of ith , or in a staxx deck. But here i don't think this card will work efficient enough for a colorless land.

Wildfires add LD subtheme which this one supports nicely. The deck can use colourless manan pretty well. However, I never drew it last tournament, so if it proves to be inefficient, I migh switch back to Island.