[Modern] Remember the Name

[Simping For Hina]

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDvr08sCPOc[/youtube]

 

4 Squadron Hawk

3 Spellskite

 

2 Liliana of the Veil

2 Elspeth, Knight-Errant

1 Jace Beleren

 

1 Sword of Feast and Famine

1 Sword of War and Peace

1 Batterskull

 

4 Spreading Seas

1 Detention Sphere

 

4 Path to Exile

3 Inquisition of Kozilek

2 Dismember

2 Cryptic Command

2 Lingering Souls

2 Supreme Verdict

1 Thoughtseize

 

4 Marsh Flats

3 Creeping Tar Pit

3 Godless Shrine

3 Hallowed Fountain

2 Watery Grave

2 Tectonic Edge

2 Glacial Fortress

1 Fetid Heath

2 Plains

2 Swamp

1 Island

 

[The Hounds Of Anubis]

Only 3 manlands seems suboptimal. I'd imagine you'd want to find room for another Tar Pit, or maybe 2 Mutavaults in stead. That said you don't actually have a lot of equipment, although the latter works amazingly with Elspeth anyway.

Have the Spreading Seas proven their worth? From my experience they're too unreliable to maindeck since half the best decks are blue, but I've not played many tempo-oriented decks. Even then this deck seems quite a bit on the controlling side of the line to the point that it seems your opponent would draw out of their mana screw before you can punish them properly.

Also 15 blue sources and any number of Cryptic Commands looks really, really bad, especially when your filter land of choice isn't even blue.

I don't know if this deck works from raw power of the cards since there's no denying that the cards are insanely powerful, but there seems to be a lack of focus on whether this is a control deck or not. You have a bunch of tempo-oriented cards like Spellskite and Spreading Seas, and control cards like Lingering Souls and Supreme Verdicts and Planeswalkers, and no real countermagic. Also seems like a rather small number of cards that make your Squaks good. Half the time they seem like they'll just be 1/1 fliers that draw you 3 more 1/1 fliers, which is generally quite embarrassing.

[Simping For Hina]

Only 3 manlands seems suboptimal. I'd imagine you'd want to find room for another Tar Pit, or maybe 2 Mutavaults in stead. That said you don't actually have a lot of equipment, although the latter works amazingly with Elspeth anyway.

 
I was uncomfortable with lands coming into play tapped excessive if I drew manlands too frequently. I originally played a 3/2 split of Tar Pits and Colonnade, then cut the colonnade for Edge, which has had a better set up against Big Zoo than Colonnade did. And it wasn't so bad against Scapeshift. Just having the land destruction was pretty good main board. I never really thought of having Mutavault since I am usually pretty unimpressed with it unless there is always a way for it to do more than just be a 2/2 creature. Without too many artifacts and only 5 cards to make it a threat, I never considered it.
 
 

Have the Spreading Seas proven their worth? From my experience they're too unreliable to maindeck since half the best decks are blue, but I've not played many tempo-oriented decks. Even then this deck seems quite a bit on the controlling side of the line to the point that it seems your opponent would draw out of their mana screw before you can punish them properly.

 
I was just a fan of getting in the early damage to stop the opponent from doing much, and stopping many decks from their non-blue lands was helpful. They have proven to be good, but also just plan bad in a control mirror match or against tempo. I usually side them out in those games anyways since I would rather have instant speed draw anyways. They have be reliable in the matchups that they are very good in, though. I kept them in since they dealt with the necessary lands, and keeping the opponent off of other colors than blue. While the best decks are blue-oriented, they usually rely on the other colors earlier too so it usually slows them down enough.
 
 

Also 15 blue sources and any number of Cryptic Commands looks really, really bad, especially when your filter land of choice isn't even blue.

I usually think the same thing. I have worked on the manabase with plenty of different formulas, and I never actually had trouble casting Cryptic Command when it was needed with this mana base. Of course, it was a reletively bad card early on when I couldn't cast it since I would rely on a better draw and Cryptic Command was a dead draw. Spreading Seas has helped with this a lot as well, though, and it usaully it on a land that hasn't done much anyways.

I don't know if this deck works from raw power of the cards since there's no denying that the cards are insanely powerful, but there seems to be a lack of focus on whether this is a control deck or not. You have a bunch of tempo-oriented cards like Spellskite and Spreading Seas, and control cards like Lingering Souls and Supreme Verdicts and Planeswalkers, and no real countermagic. Also seems like a rather small number of cards that make your Squaks good. Half the time they seem like they'll just be 1/1 fliers that draw you 3 more 1/1 fliers, which is generally quite embarrassing.

It is more of an attrition game with this deck. Hawks aren't as bad in multiples and going for just getting 2 out of the deck gave me a more than decent blocker or a card that just got in one damage. Squadron Hawk has been a decent card just alone, and the other cards just give it more of a bonus to play. This deck is based around raw power more than focus, and it was hard to get used to playing it for a while since I would usually try to play a more control oriented or tempo oriented game with it, but the difference between this is that the raw power is what fuels the deck to make different plays and have the ability to change the game style within a moments notice. The counterspells are only Mana Leak and Remand. I would probably prefer Remand in this deck for the ability to cycle itself, but they haven't really been the best way to answer threats or anything when the other cards usually do what they would normally do and have more to offer as well. It is why I resorted to playing Spreading Seas since they would fix my mana and also stop the opponent.