Ug Skies

[Thibir]

I got tired of all mono U, UW and UR skies decks, so I built my own, Ug version. I would appreciate constructive critique.


Lands 31:
Wasteland
Flooded Strand
Wooded Foothills
Windswept Heath
Polluted Delta
Yavimaya Coast
Breeding Pool
Tropical Island
Mutavault
Faerie Conclave
14x Island
5x Forest
Mishra's Factory
Pendelhaven

I think, there is nothing special about my mana base, quite normal 2 colour skies lands except the pendelhaven, which is quite good, as i´m playing a lot of 1/1 critters.

Creatures 33:
Selkie Hedge-Mage
Jhessian Infiltrator
Mulldrifter
Plaxmanta
Cloud of Faeries
Dryad Sophisticate
Pestermite
Gaea's Skyfolk
Silhana Ledgewalker
Riftwing Cloudskate
Sygg, River Cutthroat
Spellstutter Sprite
Looter il-Kor
Trygon Predator
Waterfront Bouncer
Spiketail Hatchling
Spiketail Drakeling
Cloud Sprite
Sea Sprite
Scryb Ranger
Scryb Sprites
Flying Men
Cloud Pirates
Trinket Mage
Vendilion Clique
Serendib Efreet
Surveilling Sprite
Gilded Drake
Venser, Shaper Savant
Mystic Snake
Latchkey Faerie
Cloud Spirit

my creatures are mainly small evasive creatures, blue ones are quite same as other skies, except the Latchkey Faerie. but i got quite high count of faeries/rogues (10/4 + conclave + mutavault), so it shouldn´d be a problem to prowl it.

Other Spells 37:
Serum Visions
Back to Basics
Moldervine Cloak
Rancor
Standstill
Portent
Ponder
Elephant Guide
Brainstorm
Repulse
Psionic Blast
Echoing Truth
Snap
Snapback
Winter Orb
Repeal
Ancestral Vision
Gush
Bonesplitter
Condescend
Counterspell
Remand
Miscalculation
Mana Leak
Force of Will
Spell Snare
Stifle
Daze
Exclude
Memory Lapse
Disrupt
Snakeform
Sleight of Hand
AEther Spellbomb
Tormod's Crypt
Stonewood Invocation
Sensei's Divining Top

there is some difference in the other spells. instead of red´s burn or white´s Stp or enlightened tutor i got green´s muscles.

I would like to hear your opinion abot my deck, please don´t advise me to build UW or UR skies, just try to tune my Ug version.

[Mythrandir]

I got tired of all mono U, UW and UR skies decks, so I built my own, Ug version. I would appreciate constructive critique.

I would like to hear your opinion abot my deck, please don´t advise me to build UW or UR skies, just try to tune my Ug version.

i think the green is the strangest color to go with skies, however you want to stick to it and i think that´s cool for trying to improve your deck, so here are some suggestions:

One card that i thought i would definitely see there is tarmogoyf even with no evasion it gets pretty huge
Also Erhnam djinn has a nice p/t but no evasion and its a bit more mana intensive, so i dont think its worth testing.
river boa is a definitely must. nice body for its CMC, good evasion.
ALso uktabi faerie or uktabi orangutan have nice abilities.

As for spells i´d probably add giant growth (might of old krosa? might of oaks?)for its surprise factor and sylvan library
And i would also test enshrined memories.

No treetop village? you forgot or its not good enough, it doesnt have flying, but trample is algo good, specially with "muscle" part of the deck

as for your deck i´d probably cut out:
- venser
- mystic snake (these 2 because of its CMC, which i think its a bit intensive for skies, i would prefer glen alendra archmage -> since it i also a faerie; or a man-o-war)
- portent (impulse, IMO is better)
- sygg (have u been getting good results with this one?)
- even with the cantrip i think its too restrictive

i hope its helps.

[Thibir]

well, I forgot tarmogoyf (wait don´t point at me and laught. I just messed up rewriting real deck into mws). same thing with impulse.

As to river boa, I my real life playgroup we´re trying to play as less blue as possible, so i just didn´t realize, that it has some kind of evasion.

right now, i´m testing deck without venser + mystic snake and it seems, it runs well.

i didn´t play treetop village, because i run quite low count of green mana sources and it would constantly happen, that village would be my only green mana.

as for alara: i´m trying Relict of Progenitus instead of tormod´s crypt. i don´t care about losing my grave, but the cantrip should be nice.

[HedgehogPie]

If you don't include river boa, then try mire boa. You are bound to face something black.

Also I would suggest to run Wonder. It's a blocker that many won't like to kill.

[Thibir]

i definetly don´t want to play wonder. just 4-5 of my creatures doen´t have evasion, and i gues itś lil bit rebundant to have shadow/nonbasiclandwalk with flying

[Vazdru]

I would cut Portent, Serum Visions, Sleight of Hand, Ponder. In my opinion Ux-Skies do not need that many cantrips. Think about following changes:

Add Black Vise! It's a bomb vs most control-decks especially since LoA will be legal. Have a look at my last game vs Nastaboi:

2: Again no good hand - so i've kept one land and crossed my fingers again. This time i was lucky.   After Black Vise first turn. Second turn Flying Men and third turn Vendillion Cliue (he had Sword of Fire and Ice on the Board and i've took his last critter  ) was tough for him. He lost
13 LP -> Black Vise
3 LP -> Vendillion Clique
2 LP -> Ancient Tomb
2 LP -> Flying Men

Turn 5 Kill

or just ask Mythrandir  . I've never expected Black Vise could be that good but with legal Land Tax, Life from the Loam and so on it's strong in mid- or lategame too and especially in combination with Winter Orb, Bounce or Back to Basics it sometimes kills alone.

Think about adding Mox Diamond and Chrome Moxe. I know it hurts when Moxes get bounced or get destroyed but the tempo advantage is important vs more aggressive decks like yours. An alternative could be Mana Elves.

In my opinion you should play more Equipments. It's one of the stregths of skies cause you have evasion.

I play

- Grafted Wargear
- Bonesplitter
- Mask of Memory
- Sword of Fire and Ice
- Sword of Light and Shadow
- Empyrial Plate (works nice with Gush, Land Tax, Fathom Seer)
- Lightning Greaves

I would't play Mulldrifter in a skies deck. It's too often just a 3 Mana Sorcery for 2 cards. Even Thirst for Knowledge looks stronger to me.

[Thibir]

so I cut venser, snake, mulldrifter, island, some cantrips and added goyf, boas (river + mire), swords, wargear, thirst for knowledge and black vise.

I also swap tormods crypt for Relic of Progenitus, what do you think about this one?

As I had lot of very bad matchups against aggro so far, I´m seriously considering adding Command of Unsummoning. Is it absolutly silly?

What do you think about Cold-Eyed Selkie? islandwalk could be quite sufficient evasion + lot of power boosts in my deck.

[Vazdru]

so I cut venser, snake, mulldrifter, island, some cantrips and added goyf, boas (river + mire), swords, wargear, thirst for knowledge and black vise.

I also swap tormods crypt for Relic of Progenitus, what do you think about this one?

100% agree!

[Nastaboi]

Could you keep an upgraded list somewhere?

I wouldn't cut Venser but add Man-o'-War instead. Instead of Command of Unsummoning you could just run Undo. Or even better, play real cards like Cryptic Command. And please play swords, they both can win games on their own. Try various control magics in place of some bounce. Cold-Eyed Selkie I've been liking in my build.

What would I cut: everything with power 1 except looter and all remaining cantrips.

[Mythrandir]

Could you keep an upgraded list somewhere?

I wouldn't cut Venser but add Man-o'-War instead. Instead of Command of Unsummoning you could just run Undo. Or even better, play real cards like Cryptic Command. And please play swords, they both can win games on their own. Try various control magics in place of some bounce. Cold-Eyed Selkie I've been liking in my build.

What would I cut: everything with power 1 except looter and all remaining cantrips.

i think cryptic is too expensive for this deck, both its CMC and the triple U. This decks wants cheap counters, even if they arent hard counters, it´s all about tempo.

[Nastaboi]

Have you read Cryptic Command beyound its first line of text? Cryptic Command is ALL ABOUT TEMPO. Tapping all opponent's creatures is huge, as are all the other modes.

[Mythrandir]

Have you read Cryptic Command beyound its first line of text? Cryptic Command is ALL ABOUT TEMPO. Tapping all opponent's creatures is huge, as are all the other modes.

of course, even in my 5CC i´ve been thinking a lot of adding it. Its one of the best counters around. however, and like i said, the triple U and the 4CMC is really harsh, specially for a deck like skies that runs low CMC spells. This is just my opinion, i dont play with it (skies), but´i´ve never seen a list of Ux skies, wheter it be red, green or white, with cryptic. But i think ppl who play with it probably knows better than me.

edited: BTW, for a deck like skies, that runs a lot of evasion creatures tapping other creatures isnt that huge, IMO.