This deck seems sweet. You've obviously put a lot of effort and thought into it. One thing I noticed in the build you have now is that you have a single copy of steelshaper's gift with a single equipment in the whole 75. Steelshaper's gift was better when you had more equipment to fetch in the deck, but right now, if you naturally draw your sword, then the gift is just a dead draw after that.

Jamms Great catch! This is indeed a biproduct of reducing the amount of equipment's in the deck, the loss of Batterskull and the second sword made Steelshaper's Gift less potent. After watching GP Charlotte yesterday, and how Affinity perfectly managed to play around Kolaghan's Command, I'm a bit unsure if I became a bit too scared of it. That being said, the meta is indeed hostile for the strategy and I do think the change is necessary.

Anyway, the reason why I kept Steelshaper's Gift in the list is because it increase the chance of drawing the sword in a game. It's also a 1 mana spell which is a cheap trigger for Myth Realized - even if i draw it after a sword it can still be cast. That being said I might as well bump the amount of Swords to two copies and remove the gift - or remove it completely in favor of another spell.

I'll test it a bit more and see how it goes, though I believe you are right in your concern. Thanks for the comment!

This is an awesome deck. Have you considered Batterskull as another possible equipment? I haven't seen Dragonlord Ojutai in play but having one more way to equip Myth Realized seems valuable.

bjornman Thanks, glad you liked it! Batterskull is already in the 75, though I've just moved it to the sideboard since I wanted to test Sword of Feast and Famine mainboard.

Nice! +1 from me!

It looks like You're trying to run a tempo deck. The goal of a tempo deck is to use a combination of efficient threats and control elements to keep your board presence above your opponent's until the game is over.

Here's some suggestions:

Cards that can stop your opponent's threats while being their own threat are very good in this sort of deck, so I'd run 4 Snapcaster Mage.

You should also run 4 Remand. When you spend 2 mana to negate your opponent's 3+ mana, you're literally doing what the tempo deck wants to do.

You should think twice before running conditional removal mainboard. It's really bad when you have dead cards laying around. You need to think about your meta, but in general, I'd stick to Mana Leak, Remand, and Cryptic Command

In a counter-based deck like this, it's usually bad for you to tap all of your mana and be unable to counter your opponent's threats. Playing creatures with flash helps you both play your creatures and keep your mana up to counter spells. That's why those decks your were looking at had those Vendilion Cliques and Restoration Angels. Aven Mindcensor is another such card, which also has a chance to make fetch lands miss. Hushwing Gryff is yet another similar card that also disrupts your opponent's game plan. You probably want to focus on running these creatures instead of Brimaz, Sun Titan, Spellskite, and Kira.

As a Mythblade player, I can say that some games you can afford to spend the mana on the Myth with swords, other times not. But when you have strong creatures out that can get around your opponent with the swords, it puts you much more ahead. I have been playing mostly against burn, affinity, Zoo, abzan, and a couple others.

I should mention I play in a mardu build too, so that changes it a little I suppose. :P

Sam_I_am first of thanks for the comment and suggestions. Honestly your point regarding utilizing flash creatures is what the traditional Caw-Blade deck did, and the most common approach to this style of deck. While I'm aware that juggling between sorcery speed creatures and instant speed control magic is a conflicting strategy, it's what this list is built to do. Mainboard Dispel and Spellskite is there to protect the threats Brimaz, King of Oreskos, Dragonlord Ojutai and Myth Realized. I think that Sun Titan and Kira was a bit too cute, but right now I'm testing different suits to see who's the best fit. Anyway your reply made got me thinking that maybe something like Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir could be an interesting inclusion to the list.

When it comes your suggestions I think you've misinterpreted the deck - this is not a tempo deck at all. It tries to two-for-one the opponent and generate card advantage where it can. Myth Realized is in my opinion not a tempo card, while its potential is great it's too slow compared to something like Delver of Secrets  ^Flip. Myth promotes a protect the queen game plan which I find best suited in a control shell. Though looking at Grixis I believe control these days need to establish a threat where Brimaz and Myth in my list is the equivalent to Tasigur and Angler, even though they arent directly comparable in cost efficiency.

I agree that the list could utilize a second Snapcaster Mage though I'd argue that playset isn't needed. In my opinion Snapcaster is at its best alongside Lightning Bolt and in strict UW colors he doesn't really have the best targets in the graveyard. While Snap + Cryptic Command or Supreme Verdict are great value plays it isn't something you'd realistically do most of your games. I just feel that jamming four Snapcasters in the deck is where the list wants to be - I might be wrong though.

Vendilion Clique is desirable but currently that's more a budget issue, and Aven Mindcensor is already a two of in the sideboard if you didn't notice - maybe worth a mainboard slot. Finally, Restoration Angel is on my radar and Ive been thinking that I might test Wall of Omens & Hour of Need again.

EverythingIsK That's really cool to hear, I'm so glad that I could inspire others with the list - really cool that you decided to preserve the name! Went over to your profile and took a look - I really like Boros Charm in the list. Honestly adding red (and black for that matter) gives you a much more threatning gameplan. You could make consider adding Valorous Stance shaving one Steelshaper's Gift.

Regarding the Sword issue with Myth Realized it's something I've realized myself and honestly why I depend less on that strategy these days. I'm not sure if I'd let go of them or not - tough decision.

How do you like your list and has it performed?

I've been messing around with the Mardu and Esper builds mostly, and I notice that the Mardu deals better against faster decks. I haven't really played much with Esper since it has a lot of proxies in it atm, but I feel as it would be too slow against aggro decks like burn, affinity, zoo, etc, but does better than mardu against other midrange and control decks.

Its been hard to decide between the two builds because with mardu, I can use Blood Moon as a method of shutting down so many decks, plus having the option to go as an aggressor with burn and swing in with my dudes.

I might try making a Jeskai build, because I feel this deck type can be really strong with red, while also having the protection from blue.

As for the Mardu build, I think I will try a copy or two of Valorous Stance, but I feel that it already has enough removal, but just needs a decent draw engine.

Thanks for the peek at my list! Means a lot. :)

Well after somes playtest ...

i suggest you to:

Naosu thanks for testing the list a bit. I'm not sure if increasing the Snapcaster Mage count to four is the way to go, mainly because UW doesn't really have the best "snapback" targets and relying on a flashback Cryptic Command or Supreme Verdict is a six mana power play which doesn't happens a lot. Though, admittedly I should probably look at a second copy.

Apart from that I'm not sure if cutting Mana Leak for Remand is the right move, though I used to run the full playset as Remand provides valuable gas. I could probably test the full playset alongside a single Logic Knot again!

Regarding Narset Transcendent I really don't see her working. A sorcery speed four mana commitment which doesn't have immediate impact isn't tempting. Even though she provides conditional card draw and a nice -2, I believe Jace, Architect of Thought would be more suited for the mainboard.

If you're going to put a jace in, I would put in little Jace Beleren or Jace, the Living Guildpact. One gets you more cards, and the other makes your draws better. Plus if you run more Snapcaster Mages, you can still get value out of cards you chuck.

EverythingIsK mini Jace is interesting though it was more of a hypothetical change than a realistic one. The reason why the Architect is valuable in this list is that Myth Realized isn't providing resilience - opposing creatures will at the early stage get through. So AoT can stall games when needed. But I'm keeping him in the side for now.

I was just thinking that the bounce could be more effective against decks that have a threat or two on the board, and the draw fixing helps more than AoT when you don't have your opponent dictating your draw.

EverythingIsK the bounce is a fair point with all the delve creatures around, though the -3 opens up for bolt range and the +1 is no immediate card advantage (unless you run delve or 4 snaps). With AoT the opponent doesn't really dictate that much as you get to choose between the piles.

Regardless I'm not going to add any walkers main at the moment as I'm testing the changes. Though I have been thinking about Gideon Jura, Elspeth, Knight-Errant as means to up the non-creaturespell count.

Spotred I would say add 2 mainboard Elspeth, Knight-Errant. I can't count the number of times where her tokens or pumps have won me games. Gideon Jura would be nice, but I think Elspeth shines brighter.

EverythingIsK Did some playtesting the past days and always liked it when I drew Jace, Architect of Thought in games 2-3. Decided to go for a planeswalker package as they pump Myth Realized as well, enjoyed it more than Restoration Angel thus far. I'm also debating whether or not i should test Tamiyo, the Moon Sage instead of Gideon Jura or Sphinx's Revelation, just have a feeling that Tamiyo is undervalued.

Tamiyo, the Moon Sage, and I don't have any real experience playing with her, so I can't judge on how she would do in the deck. I think Sphinx's Revelation is a strong card to keep in the 60, since it has a lot of value.

Any advice for elves decks besides SB wrath of god in?

bukowskii87 decks like Elves and Merfolk can be a challenge for us, because they go explosive and wide. Aim for stopping their engine; Zuri, Chord and Company. Reclamation Sage is also a worrisome so don't rely too heavily on the Myths.

There is actually a lot of cards we can swap around for the matchup:

Inn, 7 cards:

2x Aven Mindcensor, Negate, Dispel, Wrath of God, Engineered Explosives, Timely Reinforcements, 1x Spellskite.

Out, 7 cards:

3x Spell Snare, 2x Remand, Sphinx's Revelation, Vendilion Clique, & Narset Transcendent

Just curious have you built the list, or was you just wondering what we did against Elves?

stalydan I'm going to talk more in-depth about different match-ups from my Gauntlet in the primer I'm writing. But in general Merfolk and Tron is maybe the worst MUs'. I realized this recently, and that's why Engineered Explosives and Timely Reinforcements are added into the sideboard again.

Against fish I'd sideboard:

Inn, 5 cards:

2x Spellskite, Wrath of God, Engineered Explosives, Timely Reinforcements.

Out, 5 cards:

1x Remand, Shadow of Doubt, Sphinx's Revelation, Dispel & Narset Transcendent.