Owing to the reduced speed and less fliers (Glint Hawk), I have problems against Eldrazi Ramp, Valakut Titan & UW Control, mostly because my Duelists & Students can't get past those damn walls. I'm thinking of taking out the Priests to put in Journeys to deal with all manner of walls, Eldrazi, Titans and Wurmcoil Engines.
I realised no one has seriously discussed Whispersilk Cloak. It's amazing against U/W & U/R control if you manage to get it to stick. They can only answer with DoJ / Into the Roil / Pyroclasm, and a leveled Student is out of reach of Pyroclasm. I've won multiple games on the back of an equipped Student now.
I can barely read the numbers correctly. Why don't you use the deck tags?
Anyway, your manabase seems shaky, especially with double blue and double green and triple red costs MD. I think that's why you have Mox Diamonds and Gemstone Mines, but I think that a single Wasteland could seriously hamper you, if you haven't drawn a LftL yet.
Lava Dart seems interesting. Helps in the goyf vs goyf and Bobs, but otherwise might be marginal.
Personally I think it's too slow... 4 mana for an effect that doesn't get big fast enough. Or if you're going to take control before laying this down, I'm sure there are better alternatives.
I agree with Nightmaster on the combo matchup, and other than that I think the deck's pretty ok. Maybe Aether Vial? I wouldn't know what to take out though.
1) Forget about Vulshok Sorceror, 3 mana is too much for a creature that will extremely rarely be effective in this format which is rampant with Tarmogoyfs.
2) If you have to play a Ball Lightning variant, play the original. But either way, triple red is a problem.
3) Aether Vial isn't useful in this deck. You don't have many creatures, and they're all of different CMCs.
4) Ditto for SoFI. Too few creatures, and none of them are interested in the combat phase on a regular basis anyway.
5) The mana base might need some work.
6) No reliable source of card advantage, which is important in a counterburn styled deck.
Also, Duress would be nice, but even better would be Thoughtseizewhen it is printed. Cabal Therapy is nice with the mindslicer, lol.
Any though of making this like a combo styled deck and adding Dark Ritual? Dark Ritual opening with Duress Hymn or Suspend then Duress is kind of nice.
Hmm... I guess you're right about the equipment... I don't play enough creatures for it to be useful enough.
Would Thoughtseize/Duress be overkill in MB? I think it might find a place in the SB though.
Initially I had Dark Rituals in place of Chrome Mox, but I haven't thought of Chrome Mox AND Dark Ritual. Might that be too much acceleration?
Also, I missed one creature that might be worth adding: Epochrasite.
Don't mind the sideboard, I pretty much just threw 15 random cards inside there. I also haven't done any actual testing.
Anyway, the basic premise of the deck is early disruption, followed by medium-sized threats.
Against combo, Cabal Therapy, Hymn to Tourach, and Mindslicer + Therapy flashback should be adequate, before Braids comes along to lock them.
Against threshold, I'm thinking that there should be enough removal for the 'goyf, but mongeese might be a problem.
Against Ichorid, I think the deck would have some trouble in game 1 at least.
Other cards I considered: Academy Rector
Debtors' Knell
Nettlevine Blight
Gibbering Descent
Phyrexian Arena
I thought of playing a mini rector suite, but I couldn't find the space, and Nettlevine Blight didn't seem good enough when there are so many wastelands and fetchlands running around.
Tombstalker
Gathan Raiders
I'm not sure whether either of these should be in over Nihilith.
Thoughtseize
Chalice of the Void
More disruption, but I didn't like how CotV would interfere with my early disruption.
Diabolic Intent
Infernal Tutor
I wanted to play Diabolic Intent at first, as it goes very well with Mindslicer, but I took out quite a few creatures and couldn't justify putting it in. I thought of Infernal Tutor, as the deck goes out of cards in hand pretty quickly, usually because of Mindslicer.
Shriekmaw
Orzhov Pontiff I thought Shriekmaw would be pretty good but it can't target black creatures, though I can recur it with Volrath's Stronghold. The Pontiff seems useful against Goblins.
How often is Null Rod played anyway? I don't see it in many mainstream lists - it might be worrying about too much, especially since Affinity isn't exactly the deck to beat in Legacy, and Null Rod isn't too useful against most other decks.
AFAIK, whenever you clash, the card that got revealed goes to the bottom of your library. So yup, Soaring Hope will go to the bottom of your library, where it belongs, should it even be in your pile.
Again, your card does NOTHING to an opponent. It stops them playing stuff, but it does no DAMAGE. Simply stopping counterspells is not going to win you the game, however beating your opponent over the head with 4/4's will.
If you disagree then you really oughta play against control decks more. It really bugs them when decent sized creatures slip through.
Also consider the BIGGEST deck in TS constructed was U/B Teachings. A counter control deck that does everything but damnation at EOT.
I believe what hoyerhan means, is that you're not even going to let your opponent have the chance to react.
If you play a really big threat (not necessarily a beater) on your turn, with Eyes of the Wisent in play, they'd much rather counter it and let you have a 4/4 beater which they might be able to deal with more easily, whereas with his fictional card, it's definitely coming down.
It's just a matter of being able to follow up No Counters with threats, where Eyes of the Wisent is stronger just on its own - not much point in comparing.
And why am I talking about fictional cards anyway...
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I'm playing a version that forgoes the explosiveness for more consistency (ergo needing less mulligans)
4 Kor Skyfisher
4 Squadron Hawk
4 Stoneforge Mystic
4 Student of Warfare
4 Kor Outfitter
4 Kor Duelist
4 Steppe Lynx
4 Quest for the Holy Relic
2 Argentum Armor
2 Adventuring Gear
1 Sword of Body and Mind
1 Whispersilk Cloak
Land
4 Marsh Flats
4 Arid Mesa
14 Plains
3 Luminarch Ascension
1 Basilisk Collar
1 Nim Deathmantle
4 Kor Firewalker
3 War Priest of Thune
3 Revoke Existence
Owing to the reduced speed and less fliers (Glint Hawk), I have problems against Eldrazi Ramp, Valakut Titan & UW Control, mostly because my Duelists & Students can't get past those damn walls. I'm thinking of taking out the Priests to put in Journeys to deal with all manner of walls, Eldrazi, Titans and Wurmcoil Engines.
I realised no one has seriously discussed Whispersilk Cloak. It's amazing against U/W & U/R control if you manage to get it to stick. They can only answer with DoJ / Into the Roil / Pyroclasm, and a leveled Student is out of reach of Pyroclasm. I've won multiple games on the back of an equipped Student now.
Anyway, your manabase seems shaky, especially with double blue and double green and triple red costs MD. I think that's why you have Mox Diamonds and Gemstone Mines, but I think that a single Wasteland could seriously hamper you, if you haven't drawn a LftL yet.
Lava Dart seems interesting. Helps in the goyf vs goyf and Bobs, but otherwise might be marginal.
2) If you have to play a Ball Lightning variant, play the original. But either way, triple red is a problem.
3) Aether Vial isn't useful in this deck. You don't have many creatures, and they're all of different CMCs.
4) Ditto for SoFI. Too few creatures, and none of them are interested in the combat phase on a regular basis anyway.
5) The mana base might need some work.
6) No reliable source of card advantage, which is important in a counterburn styled deck.
Hmm... I guess you're right about the equipment... I don't play enough creatures for it to be useful enough.
Would Thoughtseize/Duress be overkill in MB? I think it might find a place in the SB though.
Initially I had Dark Rituals in place of Chrome Mox, but I haven't thought of Chrome Mox AND Dark Ritual. Might that be too much acceleration?
Also, I missed one creature that might be worth adding: Epochrasite.
Maybe -2 SoFI, +2 Epochrasite?
4 Nihilith
4 Mindslicer
3 Braids, Cabal Minion
Artifacts
4 The Rack
2 Sword of Fire and Ice
Disruption
4 Cabal Therapy
4 Hymn to Tourach
Removal
4 Vindicate
3 Swords to Plowshares
3 Damnation
4 Chrome Mox
3 Phyrexian Totem
Lands
4 Ancient Tomb
1 Volrath's Stronghold
4 Scrubland
5 Swamp
1 Plains
1 Polluted Delta
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Flagstones of Trokair
4 Leyline of the Void
4 Pithing Needle
4 Extirpate
3 Oblivion Ring
Don't mind the sideboard, I pretty much just threw 15 random cards inside there. I also haven't done any actual testing.
Anyway, the basic premise of the deck is early disruption, followed by medium-sized threats.
Against combo, Cabal Therapy, Hymn to Tourach, and Mindslicer + Therapy flashback should be adequate, before Braids comes along to lock them.
Against threshold, I'm thinking that there should be enough removal for the 'goyf, but mongeese might be a problem.
Against Ichorid, I think the deck would have some trouble in game 1 at least.
Other cards I considered:
Academy Rector
Debtors' Knell
Nettlevine Blight
Gibbering Descent
Phyrexian Arena
I thought of playing a mini rector suite, but I couldn't find the space, and Nettlevine Blight didn't seem good enough when there are so many wastelands and fetchlands running around.
Tombstalker
Gathan Raiders
I'm not sure whether either of these should be in over Nihilith.
Thoughtseize
Chalice of the Void
More disruption, but I didn't like how CotV would interfere with my early disruption.
Diabolic Intent
Infernal Tutor
I wanted to play Diabolic Intent at first, as it goes very well with Mindslicer, but I took out quite a few creatures and couldn't justify putting it in. I thought of Infernal Tutor, as the deck goes out of cards in hand pretty quickly, usually because of Mindslicer.
Shriekmaw
Orzhov Pontiff
I thought Shriekmaw would be pretty good but it can't target black creatures, though I can recur it with Volrath's Stronghold. The Pontiff seems useful against Goblins.
I believe what hoyerhan means, is that you're not even going to let your opponent have the chance to react.
If you play a really big threat (not necessarily a beater) on your turn, with Eyes of the Wisent in play, they'd much rather counter it and let you have a 4/4 beater which they might be able to deal with more easily, whereas with his fictional card, it's definitely coming down.
It's just a matter of being able to follow up No Counters with threats, where Eyes of the Wisent is stronger just on its own - not much point in comparing.
And why am I talking about fictional cards anyway...