[Deck's Discussion] Remora Commandeer (in the post BR meta)

[Mr.Coke]

With TFK restricted, Remora+Meditate is actually the last performing way to draw a huge quantity of cards, to control the game and to find a good finisher. I don't consider, actually, Intuition+AK a good draw plan cause with the unrestriction of crops and entomb maybe all the Vintage archetypes will have a lot of disruption against the grave that can hurt the "chain of the AKs" (Extiarpates and Tormod's for example).

So, let's discuss Remora deck !

Here I'll post the list I am actually testing and I'll explain my choices.

Maindeck:

5 fetchlands
5 islands
1 LoA
5 mox
1 lotus
1 crypt
1 sol ring
2 underground sea
2 volcanic island
1 tolarian academy
1 Inkwell Leviathan
1 mYstical
1 vampiric
1 demonic
2 commandeer
2 mis-d
4 FoW
4 drains
1 walk
1 yaw will
1 brainstorm
1 ancestral
1 tinker
4 mystic remora
4 repeal
4 meditate
1 time vault
1 vltaic key
1 ETW
1 Hurkyl's Recall

SIDEBOARD:
2 sower of temptations
2 old man of the sea
2 ingot chewer
2 energy flux
4 leyline of the void
2 pithing needle
1 meta slot

.

Mana :
5 fetchlands
5 islands
1 LoA
5 mox
1 lotus
1 crypt
1 sol ring
2 underground sea
2 volcanic island
1 tolarian academy


5 basic lands to have a very solid base, only 2 undeground and 2 volcanic cause red and black are only 2 splashes of a mono U deck.
LoA is simply God with remora and meditates, I cut petal cause is not good with mystic remora and mana vault for a personal choice, I simply don't like it !

Creatures:

1 Inkwell Leviathan

Leviathan is really strong against fishlike decks, I think it is the perfect target of tinker in this deck

Spells:

1 mYstical
1 vampiric
1 demonic  

I don't like ISeal in this deck, I prefer to play only with this 3 tutors.

2 commandeer
2 mis-d
4 FoW
4 drains

8 pitch counters are necessary, maybe even a configuration with 3 commandeer and 1 misdi it's possible, in each case I was very satisfied of this 2+2.

1 walk
1 yaw will
1 brainstorm
1 ancestral
1 tinker

I heard that they are good .

4 mystic remora
4 repeal
4 meditate

Our draw plan, 12 cards that represent the real core of this type of control deck.

1 time vault
1 vltaic key
1 ETW

Vault Key are a simply but really strong way to win, moreover, playing with 4 repeals, we can easily walk trough chalices or needles that "hates" our combo.
Etw in my opinios is better than TOA in this deck (it doesn't need 2 specific mana...).

1 Huryil's Recall

A bouncer maindeck, it's useful in g1 against artifatcs deck and it helps the storm count, not bad.



SIDEBOARD:

2 sower of temptations
2 old man of the sea

against fishlike or cretures decks


2 ingot chewer
2 energy flux

vs artifacts decks

4 leyline of the void

against grave.decks

2 pithing needle

against wastelands, bazaars, welders...

1 slot (another bouncer or whatever...)




Thanks for reading, now let's discuss about this deck !!

[JACO]

Mystic Remora and Meditate would actually work best with Lorescale Coatl and Tarmogoyf probably, based on previous results the past month.

That being said, Mystic Remora actually sucks right now, because of how good Fish, Confidant, and Stax are at the moment. Stax doesn't care if you tap out to draw a couple of extra cards when they are busy landing lock components. Also, you tapping out for Remora every turn is pretty terrible against GW aggro and RGW aggro, and is also pretty bad against Dark Confidant, which is in everything right now from Tinker decks to Stax decks to Fish decks.

[Churro4]

I have to agree with Jaco on this one. 

I began testing for the ICBM Xtreme with Remora Tezz including lorescale coatl and I continually found remora and meditate very underwhelming.  In the end we cut the remora and meditates all together and substituted other draw spellls in their place.  Whenever I drew one of our replacements during the tournament I was extremely glad that they weren't either remora or meditate.

[Mr.Coke]

Honestly, I don't think that the Stax match-up is so negative...

Rermora has 5 basic islands that helps a lot to avoid mana problems due to our opponent's denial (waste + crucible for example...), 5 bouncers maindeck and ETW that helps a lot.
MOreover if we start with a remora, the Stax player will play more carefully and he'll be slower in the development of his own stategy.
Also Metitate helps a lot in this match-up, expecially against Monobowns that play smokestacks and tangle wires.

Fishlike or aggro decks, on the contrary, are really a big problem and an awful match-up...
But the side plan ( -4 remora +2 sower of temptation + 2 old man of the sea) maybe will help a little, or maybe is still weak ?
I'll test it soon !

In each case thanks for the replies !

[kkoie]

Fishlike or aggro decks, on the contrary, are really a big problem and an awful match-up...
But the side plan ( -4 remora +2 sower of temptation + 2 old man of the sea) maybe will help a little, or maybe is still weak ?
I'll test it soon !

In each case thanks for the replies !

When I played this deck, aggro and fish decks were always a problem.  I ran 2 sowers and 2 psychatogs main to combat this problem, which helped.  But in the end my win/loss percentage against them was still uncomfortable.

I wonder if you shouldn't include the old men and sowers MD in meta's where there will be a significant increase in fish and aggro decks, like Gencon?

[VikingMetal4L]

Stax doesn't care if you tap out to draw a couple of extra cards when they are busy landing lock components.

Agreeing with Mr.Coke, I have to say that the above has not been my experience versus Workshops, at least on the play.  If I lead with Island, Remora, Go, the shop player can either try to play through it, or they can play a land and pass the turn back (yes, if they have Strip and I didn't have a Mox, then I'm in trouble).  The first scenario will often net me quite a number of cards for my investment of one blue mana, and if I have or draw into a Force for an important lock piece, it could practically be GG right there.  Even if no Force, there are worse things I could have done with my first turn than  : Sorcery: Draw cards.  If the shop player does not play through the Remora, then I can either hold up  next turn unharassed, or I can keep the Remora around to make more and more land drops, at which point it will be much harder for the shop player to lock me out.

As with anything versus shops, Remora is less spicy on the draw, first because they get a chance to play relevant spells before the fish comes down, and second because you don't catch all their SoLoMoxen in hand.

Quinn

[Ufactor]

I give you props for innovation on including Empty the Warrens.  The great thing about it is that it flies just under most people's radar.  It shoulld be quite busted in the deck, allowing you to steal alot of wins.

[mistervader]

I dunno if I should start a new topic, but since the article I wrote on my blog contains a tournament report, I decided to not put it here anymore, as this is a deck discussion. Neither am I a recognized article writer by the international community, so I didn't want to start a thread in the article section, either.

That being said, here's how I did with a new version of Remora, although it relies more on Mindbreak Trap than Commandeer to defend yourself against an onslaught of spells: http://mistervader.blogspot.com/2011/03/tournament-report-and-mini-primer-06.html

You will find there that I tried to use too many tricks: Tendrils and Vault-Key, when clearly, the original deck creator knew better and used only Tendrils for a more streamlined kill via either Tinker-Coll, or Storm.

Any thoughts on this? I think this deck really is still good, especially with the excellent board plan against aggro.

[MULocke]

I feel like pointing out that Meditate is pretty terrible if you're getting aggressive with goyfs and lorscale coatls.

[mistervader]

I feel like pointing out that Meditate is pretty terrible if you're getting aggressive with goyfs and lorscale coatls.

If you're responding to the original poster, yeah, I suppose you'd be correct. However, if you follow the link I gave in my tournament report, the list is remarkably different from this one. I just wasn't keen on starting a new topic for it because it seemed there are enough Remora threads in the forums as is.

[Shax]

The value of a card like Commandeer is specifically there for the cards you can actually capture with it. In this planeswalker heavy format, yeah Commandeer will be pretty useful. But, the non-creature clause is a huge hit against this. When right now things like Lodeastone Golem, and all MUD's creatures are doing pretty good right now. And it's real value in that matchup would be to Commandeer something like a Crucible of Worlds, of Smokestack, which aggro MUD does not run anyways. Matter of fact, the only real value in that matchup to take from them is a Tangle Wire, since it gives you something extra to tap. Not much else about that card, except against all the Fish decks now that like to play Aether Vial, you can tell them to shove it and get to play your own Dark Confidant/ creatures now to conserve mana.

[Grand Inquisitor]

too many tricks: Tendrils and Vault-Key

Just wanted to point out that artifact acceleration with Voltaic Key can be a strong play and that ceding a turn with Time Vault while you have a Remora can be broken too.