Just give nahiri and or jace a test. May not turn out to be optimum but I've played against them and they are very very annoying to play against. Nahiri can exile pretty much anything and that is relevant.

ChiefBell New Jace is actually bad. Nahiri is bad for this deck. The +2 is worse than Loothouse and worse that a Think Twice. Ajani Vengeant also kills dudes on -2 and his ult and +1 are relevant. Sure, Nahiri's -2 is really good, but Ajani having a repeatable Helix feels a lot more important, especially against aggro decks. I'd be more inclined to run Gideon Jura than Nahiri. Ajani is also a lot better against aggro than Nahiri, because you can keep creatures tapped, or Helix stuff to keep yourself alive. You also get to screw with their mana. There are barely any situations where I want Nahiri over an Ajani.

Well sure but against BGx both jace and nahiri are really bloody annoying. Depending on if the format moves towards many smaller threats or decks with fewer large ones you may want to reconsider. 7 games jeskai control versus my abzan. Every time jace landed it won the game on the spot. Reason? Because a deck like BGx will rarely have more than 1 to 2 creatures out at a time.

Ajani doesn't kill dudes on a -2 if you're playing against midrange, basically. I am not saying you're reasoning is wrong - it's entirely correct BUT it's a snapshot of one particular metagame. If the metagame shifts then I think other options look more reasonable.

Against BGx, Ajani's +1 does a ton of work. Often there will be a single creature on board, and that creature will never get to attack. Nahiri is possibly playable in a Kiki deck, because the +2 is actually useful, and the ult searches for combo pieces.

There are also cards like Pia and Kiran Nalaar which are fantastic against midrange.

That's true.

i did the five hundredth vote! now upvote my deck: Extreme Budget Izzet Smash (Sub $50). anyway, nice deck! have you considered one or two copies of Dragonlord Ojutai?

MasterXandar I'm not a fan of it for 2 reasons. The first being that it's sorcery speed. This is an obvious drawback to most win conditions, so they usually need to be worth tapping out for. The second reason is that it can die to removal, which is actually an argument when you're talking about a win condition. If Ojutai goes uncontested, he will win the game through great card advantage and a lot of damage. However, leaving himself unprotected when he attacks makes him susceptible to Terminates. Another somewhat downside is that Wrath of God effects also kill him, but I don't see that as a big enough negative against him, considering that they're always on our terms.

My current win conditions are Ajani Vengeant, which costs 4, acts as removal, and has a one sided Armageddon after a few turns. Pia and Kiran Nalaar is sort of a win conditions, but not really something we rely on. Very good for grinding, which is the main purpose.

Win conditions I have used in the past, and would consider again are Keranos, God of Storms, Elspeth, Sun's Champion, Gideon Jura and Batterskull. All of these are either impossible or incredibly difficult to remove. A card I'm considering is Archangel Avacyn, which isn't out yet, but could work fantastically as an instant speed Colonnade. Flipping her is deadly.

the thing is you have counter-spells to protect a tapped ojutai. but i do see the downsides to it. Archangel Avacyn has no protection what so ever. but she does have flash so she can flash in when a snapcaster blocks or gets blocked to act as an instant Anger of the Gods.

I don't want to waste counterspells protecting a win condition unless I win on the spot. I also have to hold up counter mana on my turn, which is never fun. With Avacyn, her only negative is that she dies easily, but flash, flying, vigilance and potential with her abilities outweighs that. Similarly, Restoration Angel's negatives are not enough to make it bad. I just don't use Angel because I prefer the full control build, and Resto is best with Wall of Omens, which I dislike.

You can't flash Avacyn for and anger effect, she gives all creatures indestructible that turn :(

She also transforms on upkeep, but the point is that even against a Liliana of the Veil, Avacyn will get things done and give you a faster clock.

Why not Elspeth, Sun's Champion? She's my favorite finisher in UWx.

DrFunk27 I might add her, but the midrange finishers are staying for now until the meta develops.

JexInfinite For sure. I know UW has had great success playing 2 of her. I can also confirmed, I'm playing 2 in my Jeskai Walker Control.

what are your thoughts on Ancestral Vision so far?

I know Jex isnt fond of it as it is very slow and a terrible top deck. (probably more points then this)

I disagree with this for a couple of reasons, Namely something Ari Lax mentioned...Treasure cruise draws more cards which make treasure cruise better...ie Gitaxian Probe, Thought Scour and Serum Visions. These cards make the next Cruise easier to cast.

The same isnt as easy in a AV deck, You want the cards you draw to buy time for the next AV to come down...Which makes it significantly worse than TC.

That being said I think it is simply to powerful to not play, and that changing some cards from the MB to play it is the best way. Cutting cards like mana leak, maxing out remands etc.

Regardless, Im interested to hear Jexs insight.

The big problem with Ancestral Vision is that it costs a mana and a card from your hand, and gives you nothing back ultil 4 turns later.

Even if you get it out T1, you might not get there against aggro decks, because battling them sometimes requires constant interaction.

It's a teir 1 draw spell for modern, but it is is still not that powerfull. It's just the best we got, so we play it.

bijschjdbcd Kjartan

I'm not a fan of the awkwardness that Vision creates. It's a shocking topdeck, and is an effective mulligan, so it sucks against fast decks. That said, the control matchup seems inevitable, and you really do need that to stand a chance. The aggro matchup is also pretty good so losing consistency isn't the worst.

The high variance is something I just have to deal with. I really hate variance, and prefer to play very consistent strategies, which makes AV unappealing. I have indeed come to the conclusion that running 4 is a mistake in the classic shell and you need to make changes for 4 to be smooth. I would very much rather not play Vision, but for the sake of winning, I must. I can probably win more games with the boon from Vision than I will lose due to awkwardness and variance of Vision.

I think you can improve consistency by changing the way you build the deck.

Vclique comes to mind as a reasonable way to cycle extra AVs.

V Cliques and possibly 2 Loothouses, as well as a different counterspell suite can make the list more suited to AV, sure, but I'm not comfortable in my ability to make a Wafo-Tapa style deck.

That is very wise.

A solid start is to cut x mana leaks and play the 3rd and 4th Remand as its good in the AV Mirrors.

Something like Logic Knot is probably fine.

Additional Cryptic, Gideon Jura?

Hey! I love the deck. I plan on throwing together something similar. In the updates, you've got ancestral vision listed as a trap card. What would you recommend as a replacement for the three visions? I was just going to cut the think twice and visions for a playset of serum visions and a Sphinx's Revation.

Visions isn't worth your time.

Card advantage is more important than card filtering.