yeah the archangel is really op, I'm glad it's not popular or strong outside mono white, well done on doing so well I'll drop in an extra land to try it soon

After lots of testing/Brainstorming/going through the motions,and adapted the list accordingly to the meta, I took my version of this to the SCG Standard Open in Philadelphia. While I didn't make day 2, the deck had a good running and I was ultimately very proud and Happy with the results.

G1: Win over Abzan Red 2-0

G2: Win over Abzan Midrange 2-0

G3: Win over Atarka Red 2-1

G4: Loss to Dark Jeskai 0-2

G5: Loss to Abzan Midrange 0-2

G6: Win over Abzan 2-0

G7: Loss to Dark Jeskai 1-2

G8: Loss to G/R Landfall 1-2

G9: Loss to Mardu (Midrange?) 1-2

Overall, The deck performed well being what it is. I was informed in my last match after a turn one Faerie Miscreant that my opponent had heard of several others talking about the deck (most likely happened when I played at table 3 going 3-0) And honestly it was a neat experience. I thank youpacman97edition for the inspiration and allowing me to go back to my roots. I play at the competitive level, and while It may not look it a 4-5 finish in a 450+ attendance is a relatively strong performance for a deck such as this.

If I regret anything, it's that I didn't mulligan aggressively enough as I probably should have in the match-ups where I needed a specific start to really keep pace and compete against these top of the meta decks. There are a lot of flaws with any variant of this list, but I'm looking forward to seeing how much better this can be.

If anyone is debating on even running his deck, I encourage you to do so. In a competitive enviroment, you'll catch almost everyone off guard pre and post sideboard. Still going through every match In my head as I remember how each went as clear as day.

OK, so I did a bad thing. I broke mono blue today :(. But it paid off big time:). I added 4 Prairie Streams and took out the Torrent Elemental and Clever Impersonator to stick in 2 of something that only slightly blemishes the purity of blue... Thunderclap Wyverns! They are testing out with amazing results. The +1/+1 to flyers is absolutely insane and stacked with the War Horns... boy oh boy. I can't wait to bring this back to FNM, but can I really still call it Mono Blue Aggro now? Technically Thunderclap Wyvern is considered a blue creature (though not mono-colored), and he can even survive Ultimate Price. Even still, I feel like I'm violating some kind of sacred covenant. Forgive me father, for I know not what I do!

OminousRex oh my god please report back if this works. I tried forcing white in there before but I didn't do a good job of it

Blasphemers!

No.

But seriously.

You are Evil, Unholy and Monstrous.

You took something once so beautiful,

And you made it so, Ugly.

What would your mother say?

As much as I hate not having a mono blue deck anymore, I'm going to have to keep the Thunderclap Wyverns in. It doesn't slow the aggro game at all and provides a HUGE advantage when dealing with Mantis Riders, Wingmate Rocs, and early game flyers. It's just been tremendously helpful in my test matches on untap.in. It also wraps up the game a whole lot faster before they have a chance to catch up with their midrange stuff.

My Updated Mono-Blue-Bastard Deck ;)

MAIN--------
4 Faerie Miscreant
4 Gudul Lurker
4 Harbinger of the Tides
3 Shorecrasher Elemental
4 Stratus Dancer
2 Thunderclap Wyvern
3 Whirler Rogue

4 Negate
3 Scatter to the Winds
3 Mirror Mockery
3 War Horn

19 Island
4 Prairie Stream

SIDEBOARD-------
3 Disdainful Stroke
4 Singing Bell Strike
4 Horribly Awry
4 Reality Shift

I know, I know... I'm going to hell. :p

Hey guys I could use some help playing this deck. What are you looking for in an opening hand to decide if you will mulligan or not?I haven't been able to beat my son's Abzan Aggro deck very often. I run out of counter spells too quickly or I do not have anything on the board big enough to deal with the onslaught of Siege Rhino, Drana, etc. B-HO_BHO, I saw that you went very well against Abzan Aggro and Midrage. How do you play the deck against them? I've only been playing magic for a couple years so I consider myself an amateur at best, and before this deck I played a lot of mono red aggro (although in Magic Duels I've played a lot of different strategies, but never mono blue). Thanks!

Send to Sleep and Ojutai's Breath also helps with Mantis Rider. Though I have used Skyline Cascade and Retreat to Coralhelm to keep two pinned for several turns technically using 0 mana. Though I would call it 1 mana. Of course my deck sucked too much to do anything else but it did show the strength and efficiency of that combo since it was a deck with 0 creatures. It is also funny seeing them tapped.

Bring in Horribly Awry and Singing Bell Strike against Abzan Aggro, or any other Aggro besides red. Mirror Mockery works great against Siege Rhino. I nix 2 Negates and all 3 Scatter to the Winds to bring in the substitutes. Mulligan a hand that doesn't have at least one of the substitute cards mentioned to help maintain board control. Make sure to play your Stratus Dancers face down to make up for the loss of Negate s.

thanks B-HO_BHO, I would love to see blue become competitive outside the norm of it all Jace, OminousRex I know it's bad but I really loved Thunderclap Wyvern myself and don't blame the splash, I really am weak to a good anthem, and OminousRex pretty much nailed the sideboard, Singing Bell Strike is the answer I all jeskai Abd aggro, stops all but swarming aggro like tokens which aren't common in the meta, thanks for the support everyone

By far the dumbest deck from looking at it on paper.

By far the best deck in standard I've seen that cost as about as much as my cell phone bill... after reading description. :) Wow! +1!

I agree and thanks :)

What if I was to play, say, Goblin Piledriver?

You can run Piledriver and loose to Gudul Lurker. :-)

Finally got to play this deck, it did absolutely amazingly in two matches, and then absolutely mana starved for the other two D: What would you take out if you were to drop in two more mana?

probably a single copy Shorecrasher and harbinger, I don't think I could add more land myself though, thanks for trying the deck

and I know jubale :)

Any way to deal with Jeskai dark/black ? i had a small struggle against it in the last fnm , but i went :2 - 0 vs atarka red 2 - 0 vs RG landfall (with all the fetches and etc.)2 - 1 vs Grixis Mill 0 - 2 jeskai black (both close games )Either way great deck , absolutely great .

I've tried many different SB options, but I can't figure out how to beat Jeskai Black :(. Its the one deck that I loose to consistently.

Tried making another mix of spell and creature for blue aggro. This one involves consistantly replaying Skyline Cascade thanks to unblockable creatures using land search and return equipment. Sword and Hammer.

Unblockable Aggro Landfall

Looks effective enough. But I don't have any real experience with Aggro. Been mostly playing with Living Lore at FNM. Though technically, this is a Lore deck as well. :p

For me, the answer to Jeskai / Jeskai Black is....

Neutralizing blast. 3-4 of 'em. Takes care of: mantis rider, crackling doom, ojutai's command, kolaghan's command, and radiant flames (they usually sideboard this). All for cmc 2.

ah sorry, typo on the radiant flames. that shouldn't be included lol

thanks for trying the deck, against jeskai/black I bring in the singing bell strike, dispel and horribly awry, I try keep up as much counter magic as I can against them, you work on beatIng them at their madness which is gaining tempo with cards like status dancers and awakening scatter

I loved reading about this deck so much that I ordered all of it on eBay the next day. I don't get to play much anymore, but this deck looks versatile enough to compete no matter what meta I drop into. Any chance you could give us a few more specifics about which sideboards you sub in for which cards in different situations? Still trying to get a handle on how to balance. Also, do you play aggro always or do you attempt to control and tempo the game out more?