Post SoA: U/Wx Reveillark

// Lands
4 Vivid Grove
4 Reflecting Pool
3 Flooded Grove
2 Wooded Bastion
2 Forest
2 Mystic Gate
1 Sunken Ruins
1 Twilight Mire
2 Vivid Meadow
4 Vivid Creek

// Creatures
4 Mulldrifter
4 Reveillark
2 Shriekmaw
4 Kitchen Finks
4 Sower of Temptation

// Spells
4 Bant Charm
4 Firespout
4 Mind Stone
2 Fertile Ground
3 Gift of the Gargantuan

// Sideboard
SB: 1 Shriekmaw
SB: 4 Negate
SB: 2 Knight-Captain of Eos
SB: 2 Runed Halo
SB: 4 Tidehollow Sculler
SB: 2 Mind Shatter

vs creatures
-3 Gift +1 Shriekmaw +2 Knight-Captain (Kithkin)/+2 Runed Halo (Red or Green decks)

vs 5-color/Faeries
-4 Sower -4 Firespout -2 Shriekmaw +2 Shatter +4 Sculler +4 Negate

A different look:

// Lands
3 Vivid Grove
4 Reflecting Pool
3 Flooded Grove
3 Vivid Creek
4 Vivid Meadow
2 Mystic Gate
3 Adarkar Wastes
3 Fetid Heath

// Creatures
4 Mulldrifter
4 Reveillark
4 Kitchen Finks
4 Sower of Temptation
4 Tidehollow Sculler
2 Glen Elendra Archmage

// Spells
4 Bant Charm
4 Firespout
2 Runed Halo
3 Gift of the Gargantuan

// Sideboard
SB: 4 Negate
SB: 2 Knight-Captain of Eos
SB: 2 Mind Shatter
SB: 4 Cloudthresher
SB: 3 Story Circle

The problem here is casting your Tidehollow Scullers in a reasonable time frame while not completely blowing your manabase. We're reaching the outer reaches of greediness here, even for a Vivid/Pool manabase. Still, this build delivers pretty well. Gift has whiffed slightly more than I'd like so far so I might replace it, or just add a couple of creatures instead of Halos.

Lark will probably be my topic for next week. A few things:

Why green? Especially in your first list without Cloudthresher, what's the point? Try out Gift of the Gargantuan in some other aidsy deck. We can (and probably should) have Esper Charm.

Sculler might be the reason to play this deck, in addition to Fulminator Mage, yet you seem reluctant to be playing either.

How do we realistically beat red decks? Hope they run out of removal for Sower? Seems doubtful if they all pack Magma Spray. That is one my main grip with Lark instead of 5cc. Well, that and you are much worse against Faeries and WW, but whatever.

Bant Charm and Spout instead of better stuff like Remove Soul, Wrath of God, or even Cryptic Command?

Yeahhh, Esper Charm is probably way way better than Gift.

It's not that I'm reluctant to play Sculler, I'm just a little unsure of how to make all the mana symbols work out. Fulminator Mage has been pretty underwhelming, but maybe I'll try again. It's way worse if you don't draw multiples, or resolve multiple Reveillarks. I want all my cards to be good lategame. Even though conventional wisdom says that 5cc's cards are stronger and therefore I should be trying to outgun them early and win the game quickly, I don't think I actually have to settle for that. I can play the same cards they can. Why not play a real card instead of Fulminator Mage, which is a blank except in the first ~5 turns?

I mean, I guess the idea against red decks is hope your shitters keep you in the game long enough to draw a Reveillark or some Halos. I should probably play some games before I act like I know what I'm talking about though. One awkward thing is that if you put Esper Charm main, it's generally pretty awful against aggro decks, so you want to board it out...except I think you kind if need it for Everlasting Torment.

I considered some Wraths, and I don't think they're a bad idea. Maybe I'll fit them in there, but then again I don't want to play too many sweepers, and I think the fact that Firespout costs 1 less is enticing. Remove Soul isn't really what this deck wants to do imo...you'd rather just play a dude basically. Cryptic Command is a bit better because of how much utility it has, but again, it seems a little off the gameplan, and it's a little awkward with Tidehollow Sculler, etc. Firespout on the other hand is usually a pretty reasonable way to kill a few dorks before deploying your army. Bant Charm deals with Demigod, counters Cryptic Command, clears away Forge-Tenders so you can Spout, and more.

It's easy to cast Sculler after you cut a shitty color or two.

Wrath is much better than Spout.

Bant Charm is probably unnecessary if you don't need it to kill Forge Tender, since you should have Wrath instead of Spout in the first place. I know what Bant Charm does, but does it actually DO anything? Why do you NEED to counter Cryptic Command? The only thing they really have to counter is Reveillark, and it isn't like you're going to have mana left over to win the counterwar when you're initiating it on your main phase with a five or six mana spell. Killing Demigod is nice and everything, but there are other ways to do that don't involve fucking your mana base.

I don't consider Fulminator a blank and will probably play it instead of Finks.

Manaquin seems like something that could be considered here also..

If I play Fulminator Mages I might want Mannequins back, but in a build without Mage or Maw it's not that helpful.

I got 2nd in a MODO 8man with this, lost to manascrew and Jace in the finals. Added 2 Jace and tweaked the manabase since then. Basically everyone is playing 5cc on there from what I can see, which is awesome.

// Lands
4 Reflecting Pool
2 Vivid Creek
4 Vivid Meadow
4 Mystic Gate
4 Adarkar Wastes
3 Fetid Heath
2 Vivid Marsh
1 Flooded Grove

// Creatures
4 Mulldrifter
4 Reveillark
4 Kitchen Finks
4 Sower of Temptation
4 Tidehollow Sculler
2 Glen Elendra Archmage

// Spells
3 Bant Charm
2 Runed Halo
3 Esper Charm
3 Wrath of God
3 Cryptic Command

// Sideboard
SB: 3 Story Circle
SB: 2 Runed Halo
SB: 2 Negate
SB: 2 Mind Shatter
SB: 2 Jace Beleren
SB: 2 Wispmare
SB: 1 Esper Charm
SB: 1 Knight-Captain of Eos

Ben, I have a couple decks I'd like to test against this. Are you bringing it to FNM?

I'm looking for something with a good win ratio against 5color for States.

If I can get the cards, yeah. I need to track down a lot of stuff for it though.

Also, this smashes 5cc pretty handily. Sculler and Archmage are pretty sick against them. It's worse against RDW and Faeries, but not too much worse imo.

I like this as well, and nice new avatar btw, made me laugh.

4 Vivid Meadow
4 Reflecting Pool
1 Vivid Creek
4 Arcane Sanctum
4 Adarkar Wastes
4 Mystic Gate
3 Fetid Heath

4 Tidehollow Sculler
4 Kitchen Finks
4 Sower of Temptation
4 Mulldrifter
4 Reveillark

4 Cryptic Command
3 Remove Soul
2 Negate
3 Esper Charm
4 Wrath of God

Sideboard
3 Story Circle
2 Glen Elendra Archmage
2 Knight-Captain of Eos
2 Wispmare
2 Jace Beleren
3 Runed Halo
1 Esper Charm

If anyone can figure out how to improve the tokens matchup, that'd be nice. Knight-Captain is my only idea. Billy Moreno's deck with Ajani Vengeant, Fulminator Mage, and Thoughtseize is a pretty bad matchup.

This is the configuration I want to test...

2 Glen Elendra Archmage
4 Kitchen Finks
4 Mulldrifter
3 Reveillark
3 Sower of Temptation
4 Tidehollow Sculler

4 Cryptic Command
4 Esper Charm
3 Remove Soul
2 Story Circle
3 Wrath of God

4 Adarkar Wastes
4 Arcane Sanctum
3 Fetid Heath
4 Mystic Gate
4 Reflecting Pool
1 Vivid Creek
4 Vivid Meadow

Sideboard
3 Condemn
2 Infest (for Tokes and Kithkin)?
1 Story Circle
1 Knight-Captain of Eos
3 Wispmare
2 Jace Beleren
3 Runed Halo

If there is very little RDW(doubt it) then maybe 3 Condemn could go md and Finks in the sb? We should test Gerry's version with Fulminator Mage since I've heard that it is doing fairly well.

i am playing the same version with 7 basics and not having any casting problems and the curve is a lot nastier and it allows me to play less lands which may or may not be better the jury is still out 3 color is so consistent i really think vivid's are not necessary but i am a noob so im probably wrong but its food for thought and ive went through two tourneys with no mana screw though i need to play the 4th sculler to find out if its better than my three quad esper is sick when you catch your opponent with their pants down

Sculler is sooooooo sideboard man, i'm telling yas... I'd rather have 4 sower 2 archmage, it seems to be the sweet spot. I honestly don't see whats wrong with 4 color, since adding vivids and removing some basics (i'm still scared of magus..) i've very rarely ever had a problem with my mana base.

@chuck and Tony- Please post your latest lists so I can get an idea what the subtleties are between our various builds.

4 reflecting pools
2 vivid meadow
3 fetid heath
4 mystic gate
4 arcane sanctum
2 adakar wastes
2 caves of koilos
2 island
2 plains


lands25

4 kitchen finks
3 tidehollow sculler
3 sower of temptation
4 muldrifter
2 glen elandra archmage
3 revillark

creatures18

4 cryptic command
3 wrath of god
3 esper charm
2 terror
2 remove soul
1 oona's grace
1 makeshift manequin

spells17

3 story circle
3 condemn
3 oblivion ring
2 infest
1 remove soul
1 negate
1 wrath of god
1 esper charm

so i really like oona's grace especially since land can become a problem late game im thinking of cutting manequin and adding a second another card that i like the idea of is ponder not sure how to work it in though sculler is the nuts want to run a fourth dont know how to work that in either fourth wrath is pretty good too ive tried that

so i posted my deck how about some critcism/ideas jesse chuck ben
ive been thinking a lot about playing green cause i would like to play thresher primal and bant charm is pretty good i here
lol!!!!!!!! i just feel like uwb is so much more consistent

@Tony H- Your deck looks fine and I respect the choices you made even though it differs from what I'm playing.

I've been trying to minimize the painlands(down to 2) and maximize white for Story Circle. I've been thinking of a card or 2 for the Mirror and also some ways not to get blown out by the random Planeswalker decks and such shit as Realm Razer.dec. It's tough to get the balance and in the end I'll just have to suck it up and hope I don't face such nonsense.

umm thanks im playing terror for that match four wraths are very effective too because they can't cast realm if they dont have tenders or birds i actually think agony warp will probably create more advantage though and condemn probably trumps them all but its to retroactive for my taste gaddock will probably never attack if they feel like its hurting you how many lands do you suggest and how do you feel about citpt lands i feel they cripple you if you miss a drop early and are more necessary if your playing more than three colors also me and chuck were talking about how nutty stillmoon cavaliers

Stillmoon is very good. I can see playing him md. The only thing that stands in the way is RDW but that's not a big deal. Your land count and variance seems fine.

Agony Warp is probably better than Terror in most cases. I like Remove Soul a lot right now, I'm not sure about Cryptic Command though. I think playing another two-drop creature is a decent idea so I'm probably going to jam 3 Plains in there and try Knight of the White Orchid.

I was playing a version with fulminator mage + makeshift manaquin and nekrataal. It is actually surprisingly good. I might not go this weekend though due to a possible shift swap with someone at work (7 day vacation next weekend though).

JeremyB, PTQ Springfield?

what day is that on? wow comes out this week and depending on what level i get in the first couple of days, my playing schedule may be sort of filled... read your pms