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TCG Super Moderator
 Official: UWx Midrange/Tempo
For the past few weeks, we had this new kid in the block that somewhat mimics Delver Tempo of last season to a certain extent - UWR Midrange (or Tempo in some cases). It first originated from Harunobu Takeda in a LMC Championship and has experienced decent success ever since.
As the meta develops further into more control/midrange-oriented, some builds developed a lower curve by eschewing the red. There was less need for the burn suite due to the declining aggro decks in the meta, and it also allowed them to go for a lower curve after cutting Thundermaw Hellkite.
UW Flash, aka UW Tempo (or some would still refer it to UW Midrange), has a much lower curve than its UWR counterpart. While it has less versatile tools to utilize, it does gain consistency due to less enter-the-battlefield-tapped lands and a better manabase.
An Esper variant is also possible.
A few explanations for this archetype's recent success.
1) Cards like Geist of Saint Traft's power levels are undeniable, especially in such a shell that can protect him so well. By itself, it also effectively blanks most of the common removal spells in the format (especially those of Jund's) due to his hexproof ability.
2) It can deal with the commonly played Thragtusk decks rather effectively. This is because:
a) It probably is one of the few archetypes that play the most countermagic, which remains the best solution against Thragtusk decks that don't play Cavern of Souls.
b) It plays a healthy amount of evasive creatures that Thragtusk and his ground critter friends can never block.
c) Runechanter's Pike ensures huge amounts of damage can be dealt, neutralizing the life-gain from Thragtusk. Furthermore, the first strike provided by Runechanter's Pike would mean that your opponents would obtain even less value from Thragtusk combat trades.
3) It is more proactive than a control deck, playing more threats and less control elements. This would mean that it can beat other control decks if they take too long to setup, and that it won't fold to Slaughter Games like some control decks do (due to having too few win conditions).
4) Countermagic is ironically big in this meta, despite Cavern of Souls in the format. They remain the most effective generic solution against threats like Thragtusk and Olivia Voldaren among others, as well as against Planeswalkers. Dissipate and Syncopate are also effective answers to reanimator strategies.
Historically countermagic has been rarely good in aggro matchups. All thanks to Thragtusk and his pals which punishes aggro and encouraging midrange/control decks, it is now more justifiable to be playing with countermagic.
Not to mention Cavern of Souls is less played these days.
5) It can still transform into a control deck (albeit weaker) against aggro decks. The combinations of Pillar of Flame, Supreme Verdict, Detention Sphere, Searing Spear, Azorius Charm and Snapcaster Mage is an anti-aggro suite itself.
Not to mention that aggro decks are actually on the decline.
So one may ask, how is this different from control if they run pretty much the same tools? Well it may be difficult for some to understand if they are new to the game, but the short and simple answer is that they would use the same tools to further different approaches. For example, both UWx Tempo/Midrange and UWx Control often tends to use a card like Azorius Charm.
UWx Tempo tends to appreciate the Lifelink option and the bounce option a lot better, since it allows them to maintain board superiority and to race better. However UWx Control would rather utilize the card draw and the bounce option instead, since they would want to dig for more answers, stabilize the board and occasionally trigger miracle spells like Terminus.
Well this is a pretty long premier already and I do hope that most of you have understood this archetype a lot better. Regardless, do share your opinions/lists/experience and tournament reports with this archetype.
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Card Flipper
Although it's hard to argue with the results, I don't think Bonfire of the Damned should be in the deck.
What do you guys think of Cyclonic Rift in a deck like this instead of Unsummon?
Also, how about Magmaquake in the sideboard against the aggresive mono red and white based decks that have been popping up and against Jace, Architect of Thought?
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TCG Super Moderator
SCG Open: Dallas, 11th November 2012
UW Flash - Shane Remelt, 1st Place SCG Open: Dallas 2012
Main Deck
Creatures:
4 Augur of Bolas
4 Restoration Angel
4 Snapcaster Mage
Equipment:
2 Runechanter's Pike
Spells:
4 Azorius Charm
2 Dissipate
2 Essence Scatter
1 Rewind
1 Sphinx's Revelation
2 Syncopate
3 Think Twice
4 Thought Scour
4 Unsummon
Lands:
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Hallowed Fountain
9 Island
2 Moorland Haunt
4 Plains
Sideboard:
3 Detention Sphere
1 Erase
3 Geist of Saint Traft
2 Negate
2 Purify the Grave
1 Rewind
1 Sphinx's Revelation
2 Supreme Verdict
UWR Midrange - Fang Ho, 3rd-4th Place SCG Open allas 2012
Main Deck
Creatures:
4 Geist if Saint Traft
4 Restoration Angel
4 Snapcaster Mage
Equipment:
3 Runechanter's Pike
Spells:
3 Azorius Charm
3 Dissipate
2 Essence Scatter
1 Mizzium Mortars
2 Pillar of Flame
1 Rewind
3 Searing Spear
2 Sphinx's Revelation
4 Thought Scour
Lands:
4 Clifftop Retreat
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Hallowed Fountain
2 Island
2 Moorland Haunt
1 Plains
4 Steam Vents
3 Sulfur Falls
Sideboard:
2 Detention Sphere
2 Dispel
1 Faith's Shield
1 Mizzium Mortars
1 Negate
2 Pillar of Flame
2 Purify the Grave
1 Sundering Growth
3 Supreme Verdict
UWR Midrange - Darin Minard, 3rd-4th Place SCG Openallas 2012
Main Deck
Creatures:
4 Geist if Saint Traft
4 Restoration Angel
4 Snapcaster Mage
2 Thundermaw Hellkite
Planeswalkers:
3 Jace, Architect of Thought
Spells:
4 Azorius Charm
2 Dissipate
2 Essence Scatter
3 Pillar of Flame
3 Searing Spear
3 Syncopate
2 Unsummon
Lands:
4 Clifftop Retreat
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Hallowed Fountain
1 Island
1 Mountain
1 Plains
1 Slayers' Stronghold
4 Steam Vents
4 Sulfur Falls
Sideboard:
3 Dungeon Geists
1 Dispel
1 Dissipate
1 Erase
2 Negate
2 Purify the Grave
1 Searing Spear
3 Supreme Verdict
1 Tamiyo, the Moon Sage
UW Midrange - Max Madrigal, 5th-8th Place SCG Open: Dallas 2012
Main Deck
Creatures:
3 Geist of Saint Traft
4 Restoration Angel
4 Snapcaster Mage
Planeswalkers:
4 Jace, Architect of Thought
2 Tamiyo, the Moon Sage
Enchantments:
2 Detention Sphere
1 Oblivion Ring
Spells:
3 Azorius Charm
1 Cyclonic Rift
2 Dissipate
2 Sphinx's Revelation
2 Supreme Verdict
2 Syncopate
3 Thought Scour
4 Terminus
Lands:
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Hallowed Fountain
8 Island
3 Moorland Haunt
1 Plains
1 Reliquary Tower
Sideboard:
2 Erase
2 Grafdigger's Cage
2 Jace, Memory Adept
2 Knight of Glory
2 Negate
3 Pithing Needle
2 Witchbane Orb
UW Flash - Harold Williams, 9th-16th Place SCG Open: Dallas 2012
Main Deck
Creatures:
4 Augur of Bolas
4 Restoration Angel
4 Snapcaster Mage
Equipment:
2 Runechanter's Pike
Spells:
4 Azorius Charm
2 Dissipate
2 Essence Scatter
1 Rewind
2 Sphinx's Revelation
2 Syncopate
3 Think Twice
4 Thought Scour
3 Unsummon
Lands:
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Hallowed Fountain
9 Island
2 Moorland Haunt
4 Plains
Sideboard:
3 Detention Sphere
1 Erase
2 Faith's Shield
3 Geist of Saint Traft
1 Negate
2 Purify the Grave
1 Rewind
2 Supreme Verdict
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New Member
A great Sticky!! I myself have just recently started my own UWR Flash deck. At first I did test out Shane Remelt's deck list. Extensive hours put into it I started to realize how to beat consistently so I made a Bant Hexproof And Uncounterable Deck. This deck really makes you realize how vulnerable UW Flash really is. Even though it was a hard counter deck to UW Flash the thought wasn't far-fetched from most Bant control/midrange decks. So my thought on answering this hard counter deck was being able to burn what cannot be countered. So when looking at these decks think Cavern of Souls cause it will be a board or main deck card now since UW Flash one a major tournament.
Here I would like to share my version of UWR Flash:http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/deck.asp?deck_id=1069093
Last edited by Stndardfantiq; 11-14-2012 at 12:30 AM.
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TCG Super Moderator
@Stndardfantiq,
Well I don't doubt the fact that anyone can beat UW Flash if they try hard enough. It most probably is a very good deck that managed to exploit a huge hole in this meta, where many archetypes are still underpowered and many people are still clinging onto their favorite cards (which may be quite weak).
What really surprised me was the fact that countermagic is currently a big deal despite the existence of Cavern of Souls and the rotation of Mana Leak. I mean I do already know how good countermagic is before UWR Midrange even become a thing (since Zombies pretty much died out then and Thragtusk decks were taking over), but I am rather amazed by such an irony that it was happening when Cavern of Souls is still pretty much a real card in the format.
I have just seen your list and I do have to ask this though. How has Izzet Charm been doing for you? I have tried playing with it but it didn't prove to be satisfactory for me, and yet I did see you maindecking 3 copies of it.
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Top-decker
 Originally Posted by vger
@Stndardfantiq,
Well I don't doubt the fact that anyone can beat UW Flash if they try hard enough. It most probably is a very good deck that managed to exploit a huge hole in this meta, where many archetypes are still underpowered and many people are still clinging onto their favorite cards (which may be quite weak).
What really surprised me was the fact that countermagic is currently a big deal despite the existence of Cavern of Souls and the rotation of Mana Leak. I mean I do already know how good countermagic is before UWR Midrange even become a thing (since Zombies pretty much died out then and Thragtusk decks were taking over), but I am rather amazed by such an irony that it was happening when Cavern of Souls is still pretty much a real card in the format.
I have just seen your list and I do have to ask this though. How has Izzet Charm been doing for you? I have tried playing with it but it didn't prove to be satisfactory for me, and yet I did see you maindecking 3 copies of it.
Uncounterability of a single creature type usually doesn't matter. That's why there's so much reset and burn in the UWR control decks.
My counters in a control deck usually aren't there for countering creatures. They are there for countering the other guys counters, enchantments, artifacts, combo spells, or planeswalker. Reset and burn is for killing creatures.
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TCG Super Moderator
@Wade1980,
Well I don't exactly recall having said that countermagic's sole purpose is its use against creatures. Of course I do understand that most countermagic do counter other sorts of stuff, but that wasn't exactly the point.
What I was trying to say though, was the fact that people aren't still willing to play a copy or two of Cavern of Souls in their builds, which I am unsure if it is going to severely disadvantage them or not. Perhaps playing Cavern of Souls may actually hurt their ability to cast other spells more consistently instead, of which they do have to decide what is the best step forward in the UW Flash/UWR Midrange matchup.
Yet such a situation is the kind of irony I was talking about, since they are given a tool which they can easily utilize but not without a cost. And it gets even weirder when none of the countermagic we have today can actually be perceived as good as Mana Leak.
Last edited by vger; 11-14-2012 at 02:13 PM.
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New Member
Originally Posted by vger
@Stndardfantiq,
Well I don't doubt the fact that anyone can beat UW Flash if they try hard enough. It most probably is a very good deck that managed to exploit a huge hole in this meta, where many archetypes are still underpowered and many people are still clinging onto their favorite cards (which may be quite weak).
What really surprised me was the fact that countermagic is currently a big deal despite the existence of Cavern of Souls and the rotation of Mana Leak. I mean I do already know how good countermagic is before UWR Midrange even become a thing (since Zombies pretty much died out then and Thragtusk decks were taking over), but I am rather amazed by such an irony that it was happening when Cavern of Souls is still pretty much a real card in the format.
I have just seen your list and I do have to ask this though. How has Izzet Charm been doing for you? I have tried playing with it but it didn't prove to be satisfactory for me, and yet I did see you maindecking 3 copies of it.
OK, so the response to your question. So far it has been a great Option card. If you are mana flooded its a great way to get rid of them, the burn is always useful, and the threat of a counter on a non-creature gets most players to Second Guess themselves. This is all theory... Now I love it main. I plays decks with as many options as possible and try to win with the Rubix cube block solving.
So, I have tested against most decks lately and the biggest problems I have come across is my friends Junk Superfriends. Its really solid considering that almost every drop is a threat. I have been stumped on this and been making changes left and right. So far Magmaquake has been doing well but still running the Thragtusk Resto combo is way too good. I came the conclusion that a type of aggro method was the way to win against it and 4 Geist of Saint Traft has proven a small solution to the problem.
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TCG Super Moderator
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TCG Super Moderator
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