Miracle Musings | Flow State Is Great but Not in Miracles

Flow State has taken Legacy by storm, showing up in pretty much every deck it can, from Cori-Steel Cutter to Tempo to Midrange to Doomsday to various brews. While Flow State has proven excellent for all those archetypes and more, it is not as strong in Miracles. Here's why.

A Unique Control Strategy

The uniqueness of Miracles as a control strategy lies in how it controls a game. Some control strategies aim to bury the opponent in overwhelming card advantage (e.g., Up the Beanstalk builds), others aim to control the board with card-advantage providing haymakers (e.g., Jeskai builds with Wrath of the Skies and/or Ruination or Esper builds with Pest Control or Grixis Control with every inherent two-for-one available.

Miracles, however, aims to control the top of its library, thereby controlling the game. Terminus, Counterbalance, and the dance of what sits atop the library influence behavior throughout the game. While many control decks attempt to land haymakers, Miracles attempts to land counterpunches.

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Flow State? More Like No State

Flow State is exceptional in decks looking to reload or battle over raw cards, but that is not Miracles' goal. Looking at the top three cards to put two in hand is awkward when the zone that you want a Terminus or a mana value for Counterbalance is on top of the library.

Additionally, having to cast Flow State at sorcery speed is counterintuitive to Miracles' plan. More than most other control shells, Miracles can bob and weave throughout a game. Its flexibility leverages spell timing better than other shells.

Flow State is great when playing from ahead to stay ahead, can help jockey for a better position at parity, but is less valuable when playing from behind. As a counterpunching strategy, Miracles expects to leverage critical spell timing in high-stakes positions when it is behind.

Flow State is rigid. Even when getting two of the top three cards, you can only choose from among the top three. It does not change the composition of your hand, nor does it stack the top of the library. Flow State is a haymaker, not a counterpunch.