Grand Prix Boston is only a week away. We’re in the midst of Modern Pro Tour Qualifier season. It shouldn’t be surprising that many of us (yours truly included) have Modern on the mind.
Lately, I’ve been… frustrated with UWR Geist, the deck I ran at GP Richmond:
UWR Geist
| Land (25) 4 Arid Mesa 4 Scalding Tarn 4 Celestial Colonnade 2 Hallowed Fountain 2 Steam Vents 1 Sacred Foundry 2 Sulfur Falls 2 Island 1 Plains 1 Mountain 2 Tectonic Edge Creature (13) 4 Snapcaster Mage 4 Geist of Saint Traft 3 Vendilion Clique 1 Restoration Angel 1 Thundermaw Hellkite Spell (22) 4 Lightning Bolt 4 Path to Exile 3 Spell Snare 4 Lightning Helix 3 Mana Leak 1 Remand 3 Cryptic Command | Sideboard (15) 2 Anger of the Gods 2 Counterflux 1 Batterskull 1 Damping Matrix 2 Rest In Peace 2 Spellskite 2 Stony Silence 1 Wear // Tear 1 Engineered Explosives 1 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir |
I’ll get to my frustrations in a minute, but first I’d like to discuss about the basics of the deck and the metagame.
Why play UWR Geist?
UWR Geist is a fast and fun deck. All it needs to do is stick one threat (most notably Geist of Saint Traft, though Vendilion Clique works beautifully as well), connect with it once or twice, and Lightning Bolt, Lightning Helix, Snapcaster Mage, and Celestial Colonnade can finish the job.
How does it work?
UWR Geist is burn deck that masquerades (reasonably well) as a tempo/control deck. It has all the fun of counterspells without the fuss of rounds going to time.
Why play these spells?
The deck has the best removal in Modern, packing four Lightning Bolts and four Path to Exile; the best creature in Modern, Snapcaster Mage; the best countermagic in Modern, Cryptic Command, Mana Leak, and Spell Snare; and the best land in Modern, Celestial Colonnade.
It uses Remand better than any control deck, since it plays so fast a game that Remand is often a two mana Dismiss. Similarly, Mana Leak tends to be Counterspell (even after a Path to Exile).
What other options exist?
UWR Geist is the fastest and most aggressive build of the Modern UWR shell, but not the only one.
- UWR Control (which won the Pro Tour) employs game-winning haymakers like Sphinx’s Revelation, Vedalken Shackles, Gideon Jura, and Batterskull. It plays a much slower game, opting to win on turn twenty rather than UWR Geist’s turn five-eight.
- UWR Flash never taps out on its own turn and flashes Restoration Angel, Aven Mindcensor, Electrolyze, and Shadow of Doubt in on the opponent’s turn. It is slower than Geist (its creatures are more expensive and less explosive, and it uses less damage-efficient burn like Electrolyze), faster than Control (which relies heavily on Celestial Colonnade to win), and is best at reacting to an opponent’s early- and middle-game threats.
- UWR Kiki-Control is similar to UWR Control, but plays slightly less disruption (and more Wall of Omens) to have room for the instant-win combination of Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker and Restoration Angel.
So… why is it frustrating?
Not yet, young padawan! We’re close, but not there yet.
How are the matchups?
Glad you asked!
- Against combo decks like RG Tron, Monblue Tron, and Scapeshift, Geist of Saint Traft is immune to Karn Liberated (Tron’s best early-game weapon against UWR) and provides a clock that’s usually faster than the combo deck’s.
- Against other blue decks, Geist of Saint Traft is again the star of the show; it’s immune to Lightning Bolt, Path to Exile, Lightning Helix, and Electrolyze (also known as the majority of their removal spells), and trades one-for-one with Anger of the Gods/Supreme Verdict (which forces them to tap out on their own turn, which the other blue deck don’t want to do).
- Against difficult matchups, like Robots, BG Rock, Jund, Boggles, and Birthing Pod" data-card-name="Birthing Pod">Birthing Pod, the deck is able to steal wins thanks to… (you guessed it) Geist of Saint Traft. It’s a three mana, hexproof, semi-flying 6/2… in blue/white… which is absurd!. In fact, practically any matchup can be won on the back of Geist of Saint Traft plus removal/countermagic, or by pointing a lot of burn at an opponent’s face.
So… why is it frustrating?
Perfect timing, young padawan!
As I said, the deck has good matchups against decks like RG Tron, UWR Control, Splinter Twin, and Gifts Ungiven. However, it has problems against decks with Thoughtseize, Liliana of the Veil, and Tarmogoyf… also known as the BG shell of Jund, BG Rock, and Melira/Angel Birthing Pod. It’s also got a difficult Robots matchup as it has few answers to a turn one Cranial Plating.
I find myself paired against BG decks and Robots quite frequently these days (absolutely shocking, considering that Pod and Robots remain two of the best decks in Modern). Tapping out for a Geist of Saint Traft only to have it be eaten by Liliana of the Veil or stonewalled by a Tarmogoyf is getting old. Having my hand shredded and my few threats stripped by T1 Inquisition of Kozilek, T2 Thoughtseize is no fun. Those matchups are winnable, but they’re always uphill battles and I see no point at going to GP Boston with a deck that’s going to have unfavorable matchups against the field.
What’s the solution?
I’m not so sure. I’ve been toying with a couple ideas (Lotus Cobra/Grave Titan/Plow Under, Snapcaster Mage/Abrupt Decay, and Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas), but nothing’s crystallized and there’s not much time left to finish, prepare, and test. I could tweak the deck, I could brew something up, or I could pick up my own copy of our Modern Hero, Rich’s token masterpiece.
I’m curious what you have to say. What do you think the Boston metagame will look like? What do you enjoy playing/watching in Modern? Do you think I should tweak UWR, transform it into another version of the deck, or scrap it completely? I’d love to hear your thoughts and stories.
As always, thanks for reading!
—Zachary Barash
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Zachary Barash has been playing Magic on and off since 1994. He loves Limited and drafts every available format (including several that aren’t entirely meant to be drafted). He’s a proud Cube owner and performer, improvising entire musicals every week with his team, Petting Zoo. Zach has an obsession with Indian food that borders on being unhealthy.