GP Charleston and Why I Hate Cavern of Souls

Quick intro and then I'll get to rambling. This blog is aimed to be a random gathering a Magic from a few players of various skill levels and experience. We all have different views on the game, the formats we like, and play styles. We hope to give you a few various perspectives into the game.

I'm Alex. I love EDH, I hate Cavern of Souls, and am pretty rubbish with any deck that has 60 cards in it.

The lot of us attended GP Charleston the weekend before Thanksgiving. If you've ever considered going to a Grand Prix, I would highly suggest checking it out. Even with the unexpectedly low turn-out, the even was a ridiculous amount of fun.

In the weeks leading up the tournament, I was playing a pretty heavy U/W control deck with a miracle emphasis using Terminus and Entreat the Angels. The deck aimed to control the board with Azorius Charm and Feeling of Dread, before wiping up and landing a big finisher to clean up a match.

Then, of course, Adam Prosak had to come along with his new U/W Flash list. I was instantly in love with the grinding card advantage and finally feeling like I could play counter magic without feeling like I was totally impotent. Unfortunately, I was not the only person who felt this way, as all the hype of the deck leading up to the GP netted the deck a pretty substantial following and became the deck to beat for the weekend.

Here's the list: U/W Flash

Aaaaaand Here's the enemy: Cavern of Souls

Regardless of my 1-4 record, the deck played beautifully. Of my 5 matchups for the day, I played 1 Reanimator(L), 1 Jund(W), and 3 G/W Agro(L,L,L). Both Reanimator and G/W Agro is a pretty bad matchup for this deck. Post Sideboard, it gets a little more fair, but if you cant find your Verdicts or your Rest In Peace, you find yourself quickly in a very bad position.

I admit my poor performance was a result of lack of practice with the deck as well as being blinded to the meta hate by my love for the deck. 

What I like:

• The creature synergy is just incredible. Every bro you have the the board is ecstatic to see one of his friends show up. Snapcaster > Rewind, Restoration Angel > Snapcaster > Syncopate all in one turn will make you smile, and your opponents will cry.
• Sphinx's Revelation. My only regret is I didn't play 5.
• Having a varied counterspell loadout gives you so much versaility and allows you to seamlessly change out after Sideboarding.

What I don't like:

• Cavern of Souls and Loxodon Smiter blank out a lot of your cards. It's awful to have a handful of countermagic and to see the Cavern naming Beasts on turn 5. 
• The deck would love some targeted hard removal. CharmScour is good and ambushing with Restoration Angel is fun, but sometimes you're just stuck durdling against aggressive and midrange decks.
• No Lingering Souls and no Mana Leak

What's Next?

 Ideally, I would love to splash some black in for an Esper Flash deck. I've seen a few shells floating around and I think the inclusion of Ultimate Price would let this deck put in a ton of work. In addition to trying that out, I would also like to dabble in some Lingering Souls based token agro in Esper Colors. That's still in the very early stages though and more than likely just a pipe dream.

That's all I got for today. 

~Grim