Deck thinning via fetch's is innefectual and has been debunked multiple times.
To quote Chapin as he actually addressed this today:
"Shouldn't we just be running a playset of Wooded Foothills and Bloodstained Mires? Believe it or not, the sweet, sweet virtual card advantage of increasing your chances of drawing spells by around 1.3% every turn. That's almost like drawing an extra card every 77 turns (assuming you aren't trying to draw land). Look, I love drawing extra cards as much as the next guy, but there is a price that is too much. How long does the game go on, on the average, after you fetch? Six or seven turns? After all, sometimes you fetch on turn 5. Maybe you're drawing an extra card every eleven or twelve fetchlands. That's a lot of life per card.
The real question is, what's more likely to change the outcome of a game?
— The extra 1.3% chance of drawing a spell actually causes you to draw an extra spell, and then having an extra spell wins a game for you that you would have lost if not for it.
— The life lost up front causes you to lose a game you would have otherwise won."
LP, I'm checking your article out as well. Behind all of your swag is the brain of one of the most intelligent Magic players I've ever known. I guess that's one more thing for you to add to the wall of ego that is your Sally sig.
I can go with that. LK, you are the Mace Windu of red mages...cool, tempered logic in deliberation, but capable of just flat kicking tail when the situation warrants it.
Aggro's not great, but it's infinitely fixable. Just play more bile blight/pharika's cures.
Any deck can beat mono-red agro if it wants, it just has to build with it in mind. Where not talking drastic changes, where talking cheap removal, early game interaction, and a couple drown in sorrows in the board.
LP, I'm checking your article out as well. Behind all of your swag is the brain of one of the most intelligent Magic players I've ever known. I guess that's one more thing for you to add to the wall of ego that is your Sally sig.
I can go with that. LK, you are the Mace Windu of red mages...cool, tempered logic in deliberation, but capable of just flat kicking tail when the situation warrants it.
LP, I'm checking your article out as well. Behind all of your swag is the brain of one of the most intelligent Magic players I've ever known. I guess that's one more thing for you to add to the wall of ego that is your Sally sig.
I can go with that. LK, you are the Mace Windu of red mages...cool, tempered logic in deliberation, but capable of just flat kicking tail when the situation warrants it.
I've got lists that I've been playing, but I changed them constantly enough that they aren't worth posting. Mostly I've been snooping around for idea's and what I've mostly learned is that I should buck up and try empty the pits.
I'm not a big fan of that card or villainous wealth, but I'm probably vastly underrating them and both affects make me curious about running elvish mystic.
LP, I'm checking your article out as well. Behind all of your swag is the brain of one of the most intelligent Magic players I've ever known. I guess that's one more thing for you to add to the wall of ego that is your Sally sig.
I can go with that. LK, you are the Mace Windu of red mages...cool, tempered logic in deliberation, but capable of just flat kicking tail when the situation warrants it.
In my opinion, everyone forgets Urborg is a card. It may have been a conscious decision, but if it was, still you should probably just always play urborg.
LP, I'm checking your article out as well. Behind all of your swag is the brain of one of the most intelligent Magic players I've ever known. I guess that's one more thing for you to add to the wall of ego that is your Sally sig.
I can go with that. LK, you are the Mace Windu of red mages...cool, tempered logic in deliberation, but capable of just flat kicking tail when the situation warrants it.
In an undefined format, I play big splashy affects.
Example: if I was actually gonna play a control deck, I'd play either BG/x constellation since eidolon is the best CA engine and Doomwakde Giant+pharika wraths your opponents board every turn OR I'd play something with a bunch of elspeths. Basically makesure that you're end game is more powerful then what your opponents doing. Also, play the most powerful and least conditional removal spells, probably as 4-ofs if you're unsure. So going like, 4 downfalls, 4 thoughtseize, 3 charm, 3 Silence the Believers would be the best starting place since those cards either don't care about textboxes or are versatile.
LP, I'm checking your article out as well. Behind all of your swag is the brain of one of the most intelligent Magic players I've ever known. I guess that's one more thing for you to add to the wall of ego that is your Sally sig.
I can go with that. LK, you are the Mace Windu of red mages...cool, tempered logic in deliberation, but capable of just flat kicking tail when the situation warrants it.
In LA, at my store, there's a 2k literally the Saturday after the set comes out. Store owner is apparently buying approx. 7(?) cases to try and have enough product. Wilshire and...Cochran? Detroit. One of those streets. It's next to ******* busby's shouldn't be that hard to find.
Addressing the other ***** in your post:
Milling yourself is generally irrelevant for outs purposes. With scry being so unreliable in the face of fetches, milling from the top is essentially the same as milling from the bottom.
Reaper might be better then Polukranos sure. Regardless of whether or not Reid was the only person playing the Hydra(I have no idea) I'd take his build over anyone elses on his team not because he top 8'd, but because he likely is responsible for the lions share of building that deck since he's by FAR the best midrange green player on a team of Hall of Fame magic the gathtering players.
Lastly, as a self pro-claimed master red mage, nissa definitely falls under the category of whatever. Like, all the 4>6 drops that don't gain life or create multiple bodies/kill things are the same for the turn you play them; I'm probably killing you in the next 2 turns after you play it. If not, you probably win. If I'm playing something boss sligh or rabble red esque, nissa is only better then anything else if your stable since she finishes faster. If not, she's a lot worse by being expensive and the creature having 4 toughenss(stoke).
Lastly, Yeah, Butcher. Mardu midrange/agro is disgusting and likely what I will play as I play red decks whenever possible. The deck is gross because it's very powerful AND has synergy instead of just being a pile of good cards. It's the opposite but equal spectrum of rabble red basically.
LP, I'm checking your article out as well. Behind all of your swag is the brain of one of the most intelligent Magic players I've ever known. I guess that's one more thing for you to add to the wall of ego that is your Sally sig.
I can go with that. LK, you are the Mace Windu of red mages...cool, tempered logic in deliberation, but capable of just flat kicking tail when the situation warrants it.
LP, I'm checking your article out as well. Behind all of your swag is the brain of one of the most intelligent Magic players I've ever known. I guess that's one more thing for you to add to the wall of ego that is your Sally sig.
I can go with that. LK, you are the Mace Windu of red mages...cool, tempered logic in deliberation, but capable of just flat kicking tail when the situation warrants it.
Been skimming this thread and would like to address just a couple points.
Control decks are ALWAYS built around a certain card in some shape or form. At least the good ones.
The recent control decks where built around rev, Esper walkers a couple formats ago was built around lingering souls(CA, Win-Con, and Stablizer that enabled the whole deck), and further back you have control decks built around jace, Stoneforge mystic, Mystical teachings, and Gifts ungiven. If build around is too strong a term, then try INCENTIVE. There needs to be a card that's an incentive for you to build your control deck.
Lets also talk about nissa and sidisi. Both cards are powerful. Both can be built around or simply thrown in a deck that can semi-reasonably support them and excel based on power level alone. What does nissa need to be good? Just blockers. If she stays in play long enough, you essentially make a stormbreath dragon every turn which closes games very quickly. As for Sidis, she just needs creatures and removal spells. Khamal Pointed out BBD's article and used some *****ty reasoning to talk about how Sidisi was bad when BBD in THE SAME ARTICLE talked about how good Sidisi is! Don't perpeptuate bull***** with selective reading!
Sidisi can rather easily be played in bug control as most BUG lists already start with something along the lines of 4 courser, 4 caryatid. Throw in 3 sidis, and you're half way there. Additionally, her abilities are very strong with or without support. People seem to be struggling against small agro and sidisi is good there. Making 2 bodies for 4 mana is a strong play and with any kind of support, you're getting much more then that. Not only do you get the bodies, you fuel delve. So far there are 2/3 compelling delve cards that a control deck would be interested in: Murderous cut, Dig through time, and Necropolis fiend. The fiend may or may not be what BUG wants to be doing, but dig through time is a premier draw spell that finally justifies blue aside from the multicolored cards and Cut is the best removal spell in the format when you can cast it for between 1 and 2 mana.
A very underrated card is nyx weaver. Why is this card good in control? It's basically a split card between an anti-agro wall and a mid/lategame tutor. It simultaneously fuels delve, and rebuys removal/counters/threats later. Seems great. Also combos with Sidisi.
Someone mentioned Polukranos. This card may or may not be fine. Lets analyze it. The first point in it's favor is that it's HUGE. While it may not seems like a control card, if yo're going through the trouble of playing caryatid in your deck, you need 4's worth playing and this is one of, if not the best 4 in the format. If you're at any reasonable life total when this comes online, it stonewalls aggressive decks while threatening to kill 1 or multiple creatures for free. Additionally, it's also a baneslayer angel. You can draw it, turn the corner and win the game. It's not like this card is bad in the late game since it's a giant manasink. If we care about the composition of the Block decks, I believe Reid played 1 or 2 of this in his top 8 list and that seems reasonable to me.
Back to Nissa, she's interesting. She closes games very quickly, but she also has vulnerabilities(like everything else before people start overly defending here). She gets murked by basically all the flying threats in the format making tapping out for nissa against any agro/midrange deck with red a risky proposition(there are 3 different hasty red creatures AND stoke the flames). She also basically only has 1 ability, though that ability is VERY strong and used 85% of the time in current standard where the jund decks actually play forests. The downside of this is that she only attacks and blocks. Take that how you will. I see her as good against non-red midrange decks.
Hope someone finds this useful. This doesn't necessarily have to be right or wrong, it's just what I've learned and used when brewing BUG decks for my gauntlet. Someone mentioned GP LA which I will be attending but I also have a 2k the day after release so I'd say I have more incentive to be learning the format. Happy brewing.
LP, I'm checking your article out as well. Behind all of your swag is the brain of one of the most intelligent Magic players I've ever known. I guess that's one more thing for you to add to the wall of ego that is your Sally sig.
I can go with that. LK, you are the Mace Windu of red mages...cool, tempered logic in deliberation, but capable of just flat kicking tail when the situation warrants it.
The idea is that in battlecruiser format(removal sucks, do whatever you want), Constellation seems like the best midrange strat as it goes over the top of everything. Sidsi is the only blue card, but she also wins the game by herself. You can also play blue in the board.
Jace doesn't do much for your deck. The filtering just isn't that necessary. In current standard, he and thass are good in mono-blue since that deck is a pile of bad cards plus thass and master of waves. Digging for those cards is incredible because having them in play changes the context of the game. In this deck you have eidolon, doomwake, and Sidisi and nyx weaver as a way to mill+search for them. Basically you have a very good chance to see one during the game and that one either is good enough like doomwake and sidisi or if it's eidolon, it finds the other ones for you. The other issue is that jace's - would be very poor in this deck. This new jace want's to be in a more aggressive deck like some sort of Temur or jeskai deck. Bouncing a permanent doesn't grant CA, just tempo. While every deck likes tempo, this one doesn't do the best job of converting that tempo into an advantage.
Nighthowler, I'm not a fan of because it can be awekward with delve and you have to work for it. It's an incentive card in that sense, and we aren't willing to jump through the hoops to make it consistently excellent. Sidisi works because her only requirement to be good is that you play a bunch of creatures. If you're milling them, great, but if you're not, she can do that herself. It's worth noting that You COULD make a deck built around nighthowler, sidis, and Jace. I have personally made a BUG dredge deck that pushes delver more, but it could be adjusted to be more in line with nighthowler and jace since it would be aggressive enough to make jace appealing.
LP, I'm checking your article out as well. Behind all of your swag is the brain of one of the most intelligent Magic players I've ever known. I guess that's one more thing for you to add to the wall of ego that is your Sally sig.
I can go with that. LK, you are the Mace Windu of red mages...cool, tempered logic in deliberation, but capable of just flat kicking tail when the situation warrants it.
What I mean is most of these decks don't look like they're built with a plan.
If you look at decks in current standard, they're all either built around a card, or a concept.
Rabble red: goblin rabblemaster
UW control: Sphinx's revelation
Mono-Black: Pack rat
Mono-Blue: thassa and master of waves
Most of the decks I'd seen where just a pile of decent cards that didn't really have a plan. With all the previous decks, they're built to maximize flagship cards and have complementary moving parts.
What I saw was a bunch of caryatid and courser decks that are trying to pick up miscellaneous value, but don't have any big payoff card. You could use the excuse that they're control decks, but sphinx's revelation decks had a specific plan: giant revs. It would do a bunch of stuff in the meantime, but the revs where the engine and everything in the deck was built toward the goal of living long enough to cast them to stabilize and lock up the game.
Value driven super friends is a legit plan, but the walkers in these colors aren't giving you the best value, and you can't protect them. If you're playing jace, maximize all his non ult abilities. The bounce is aweful in a control deck, and the filtering is basically scry+which isn't worth a card by itself, so play more delve affects and/or add super powerful cards that are worth drawing besides generic answers. Kiora is good along friends, but terrible by herself and again, her plus doesn't do anything if she never ults. The minus ensures you get value out of the card but the ramp isn't worth it if you aren't ramping into anything. Garruk is a plan by himself, so if you're gonna play him, even as a one-of, build a deck that ensures he's good enough when he hits the field.
Deckbuilding is more then just throwing cards you like into a deck. It's an art that takes careful consideration. Take this concept I threw together:
This may or may not be good, but there are clear and present plans; two in fact. The main goal is to be a constellation deck, and as a bonus, you have a GY subtheme and Sidisi has enough support to win the game by herself if you need her to.
You don't need to play this deck and you don't need to abandon the walker plan, you just need to focus your energy on one specific goal and push that goal to it's limits.
LP, I'm checking your article out as well. Behind all of your swag is the brain of one of the most intelligent Magic players I've ever known. I guess that's one more thing for you to add to the wall of ego that is your Sally sig.
I can go with that. LK, you are the Mace Windu of red mages...cool, tempered logic in deliberation, but capable of just flat kicking tail when the situation warrants it.
This standard format looks very tempo and synergy based and the bug builds so far are lacking that. PW aren't actually that great since Sarkhan kills almost all of them the turn he's played and he's likely gonna be one of the most played cards comeing up. Additionally, unlike block, the agro decks in standard can deal with a caryatid/courser start.
My real concern with this super friends approach to control is that there's no lingering souls. Courser and caryatid are fine for locking down ground guys, but if you tap out for a walker, you're soft in the are. Prognostic sphinx is fine, but he's a 5 drop and most of you aren't even playing that.
You're all basically building board control decks that add to the board, but don't actually control it. I suggest building around Sidisi as that cards an actual engine, win condition, and stabilizer, all at 4 mana when you need these things.
LP, I'm checking your article out as well. Behind all of your swag is the brain of one of the most intelligent Magic players I've ever known. I guess that's one more thing for you to add to the wall of ego that is your Sally sig.
I can go with that. LK, you are the Mace Windu of red mages...cool, tempered logic in deliberation, but capable of just flat kicking tail when the situation warrants it.
Not in the last format. It would be very good in this deck however since we get actual card filtering in sultai ascendancy and the delve mechanic makes pitching excess lands valuable.
Not sure if the 1-drops good enough. The deck while aggressive isn't that aggressive; at least I don't think so. Having another turn 1 play is probably excellent though since that's generally a blank on the curve most of the time. The ideal game goes turn 2 setup, turn 3 1 or multiple fatties.
The biggest flaw is that aside from being recurrable, the champion doesn't fit into the decks theme that well and doesn't interact profitably with delve. Worth testing.
LP, I'm checking your article out as well. Behind all of your swag is the brain of one of the most intelligent Magic players I've ever known. I guess that's one more thing for you to add to the wall of ego that is your Sally sig.
I can go with that. LK, you are the Mace Windu of red mages...cool, tempered logic in deliberation, but capable of just flat kicking tail when the situation warrants it.
LP, I'm checking your article out as well. Behind all of your swag is the brain of one of the most intelligent Magic players I've ever known. I guess that's one more thing for you to add to the wall of ego that is your Sally sig.
I can go with that. LK, you are the Mace Windu of red mages...cool, tempered logic in deliberation, but capable of just flat kicking tail when the situation warrants it.
LP, I'm checking your article out as well. Behind all of your swag is the brain of one of the most intelligent Magic players I've ever known. I guess that's one more thing for you to add to the wall of ego that is your Sally sig.
I can go with that. LK, you are the Mace Windu of red mages...cool, tempered logic in deliberation, but capable of just flat kicking tail when the situation warrants it.
To quote Chapin as he actually addressed this today:
"Shouldn't we just be running a playset of Wooded Foothills and Bloodstained Mires? Believe it or not, the sweet, sweet virtual card advantage of increasing your chances of drawing spells by around 1.3% every turn. That's almost like drawing an extra card every 77 turns (assuming you aren't trying to draw land). Look, I love drawing extra cards as much as the next guy, but there is a price that is too much. How long does the game go on, on the average, after you fetch? Six or seven turns? After all, sometimes you fetch on turn 5. Maybe you're drawing an extra card every eleven or twelve fetchlands. That's a lot of life per card.
The real question is, what's more likely to change the outcome of a game?
— The extra 1.3% chance of drawing a spell actually causes you to draw an extra spell, and then having an extra spell wins a game for you that you would have lost if not for it.
— The life lost up front causes you to lose a game you would have otherwise won."
Any deck can beat mono-red agro if it wants, it just has to build with it in mind. Where not talking drastic changes, where talking cheap removal, early game interaction, and a couple drown in sorrows in the board.
This combo is very good, especially in a control shell with murderous cut and sidisi.
I'm not a big fan of that card or villainous wealth, but I'm probably vastly underrating them and both affects make me curious about running elvish mystic.
Example: if I was actually gonna play a control deck, I'd play either BG/x constellation since eidolon is the best CA engine and Doomwakde Giant+pharika wraths your opponents board every turn OR I'd play something with a bunch of elspeths. Basically makesure that you're end game is more powerful then what your opponents doing. Also, play the most powerful and least conditional removal spells, probably as 4-ofs if you're unsure. So going like, 4 downfalls, 4 thoughtseize, 3 charm, 3 Silence the Believers would be the best starting place since those cards either don't care about textboxes or are versatile.
@Khamal: http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/mtg-salvation/upcoming-events/567349-los-angeles-ca-tcgplayer-platinum-standard-gpt
In LA, at my store, there's a 2k literally the Saturday after the set comes out. Store owner is apparently buying approx. 7(?) cases to try and have enough product. Wilshire and...Cochran? Detroit. One of those streets. It's next to ******* busby's shouldn't be that hard to find.
Addressing the other ***** in your post:
Milling yourself is generally irrelevant for outs purposes. With scry being so unreliable in the face of fetches, milling from the top is essentially the same as milling from the bottom.
Reaper might be better then Polukranos sure. Regardless of whether or not Reid was the only person playing the Hydra(I have no idea) I'd take his build over anyone elses on his team not because he top 8'd, but because he likely is responsible for the lions share of building that deck since he's by FAR the best midrange green player on a team of Hall of Fame magic the gathtering players.
Lastly, as a self pro-claimed master red mage, nissa definitely falls under the category of whatever. Like, all the 4>6 drops that don't gain life or create multiple bodies/kill things are the same for the turn you play them; I'm probably killing you in the next 2 turns after you play it. If not, you probably win. If I'm playing something boss sligh or rabble red esque, nissa is only better then anything else if your stable since she finishes faster. If not, she's a lot worse by being expensive and the creature having 4 toughenss(stoke).
Lastly, Yeah, Butcher. Mardu midrange/agro is disgusting and likely what I will play as I play red decks whenever possible. The deck is gross because it's very powerful AND has synergy instead of just being a pile of good cards. It's the opposite but equal spectrum of rabble red basically.
Empty the Pits, I'm not high on.
I'd also look to play just a couple despise instead of a fistful of thoughtseize, but that's most likely stupid and wrong.
Control decks are ALWAYS built around a certain card in some shape or form. At least the good ones.
The recent control decks where built around rev, Esper walkers a couple formats ago was built around lingering souls(CA, Win-Con, and Stablizer that enabled the whole deck), and further back you have control decks built around jace, Stoneforge mystic, Mystical teachings, and Gifts ungiven. If build around is too strong a term, then try INCENTIVE. There needs to be a card that's an incentive for you to build your control deck.
Lets also talk about nissa and sidisi. Both cards are powerful. Both can be built around or simply thrown in a deck that can semi-reasonably support them and excel based on power level alone. What does nissa need to be good? Just blockers. If she stays in play long enough, you essentially make a stormbreath dragon every turn which closes games very quickly. As for Sidis, she just needs creatures and removal spells. Khamal Pointed out BBD's article and used some *****ty reasoning to talk about how Sidisi was bad when BBD in THE SAME ARTICLE talked about how good Sidisi is! Don't perpeptuate bull***** with selective reading!
Sidisi can rather easily be played in bug control as most BUG lists already start with something along the lines of 4 courser, 4 caryatid. Throw in 3 sidis, and you're half way there. Additionally, her abilities are very strong with or without support. People seem to be struggling against small agro and sidisi is good there. Making 2 bodies for 4 mana is a strong play and with any kind of support, you're getting much more then that. Not only do you get the bodies, you fuel delve. So far there are 2/3 compelling delve cards that a control deck would be interested in: Murderous cut, Dig through time, and Necropolis fiend. The fiend may or may not be what BUG wants to be doing, but dig through time is a premier draw spell that finally justifies blue aside from the multicolored cards and Cut is the best removal spell in the format when you can cast it for between 1 and 2 mana.
A very underrated card is nyx weaver. Why is this card good in control? It's basically a split card between an anti-agro wall and a mid/lategame tutor. It simultaneously fuels delve, and rebuys removal/counters/threats later. Seems great. Also combos with Sidisi.
Someone mentioned Polukranos. This card may or may not be fine. Lets analyze it. The first point in it's favor is that it's HUGE. While it may not seems like a control card, if yo're going through the trouble of playing caryatid in your deck, you need 4's worth playing and this is one of, if not the best 4 in the format. If you're at any reasonable life total when this comes online, it stonewalls aggressive decks while threatening to kill 1 or multiple creatures for free. Additionally, it's also a baneslayer angel. You can draw it, turn the corner and win the game. It's not like this card is bad in the late game since it's a giant manasink. If we care about the composition of the Block decks, I believe Reid played 1 or 2 of this in his top 8 list and that seems reasonable to me.
Back to Nissa, she's interesting. She closes games very quickly, but she also has vulnerabilities(like everything else before people start overly defending here). She gets murked by basically all the flying threats in the format making tapping out for nissa against any agro/midrange deck with red a risky proposition(there are 3 different hasty red creatures AND stoke the flames). She also basically only has 1 ability, though that ability is VERY strong and used 85% of the time in current standard where the jund decks actually play forests. The downside of this is that she only attacks and blocks. Take that how you will. I see her as good against non-red midrange decks.
Hope someone finds this useful. This doesn't necessarily have to be right or wrong, it's just what I've learned and used when brewing BUG decks for my gauntlet. Someone mentioned GP LA which I will be attending but I also have a 2k the day after release so I'd say I have more incentive to be learning the format. Happy brewing.
Jace doesn't do much for your deck. The filtering just isn't that necessary. In current standard, he and thass are good in mono-blue since that deck is a pile of bad cards plus thass and master of waves. Digging for those cards is incredible because having them in play changes the context of the game. In this deck you have eidolon, doomwake, and Sidisi and nyx weaver as a way to mill+search for them. Basically you have a very good chance to see one during the game and that one either is good enough like doomwake and sidisi or if it's eidolon, it finds the other ones for you. The other issue is that jace's - would be very poor in this deck. This new jace want's to be in a more aggressive deck like some sort of Temur or jeskai deck. Bouncing a permanent doesn't grant CA, just tempo. While every deck likes tempo, this one doesn't do the best job of converting that tempo into an advantage.
Nighthowler, I'm not a fan of because it can be awekward with delve and you have to work for it. It's an incentive card in that sense, and we aren't willing to jump through the hoops to make it consistently excellent. Sidisi works because her only requirement to be good is that you play a bunch of creatures. If you're milling them, great, but if you're not, she can do that herself. It's worth noting that You COULD make a deck built around nighthowler, sidis, and Jace. I have personally made a BUG dredge deck that pushes delver more, but it could be adjusted to be more in line with nighthowler and jace since it would be aggressive enough to make jace appealing.
If you look at decks in current standard, they're all either built around a card, or a concept.
Rabble red: goblin rabblemaster
UW control: Sphinx's revelation
Mono-Black: Pack rat
Mono-Blue: thassa and master of waves
Most of the decks I'd seen where just a pile of decent cards that didn't really have a plan. With all the previous decks, they're built to maximize flagship cards and have complementary moving parts.
What I saw was a bunch of caryatid and courser decks that are trying to pick up miscellaneous value, but don't have any big payoff card. You could use the excuse that they're control decks, but sphinx's revelation decks had a specific plan: giant revs. It would do a bunch of stuff in the meantime, but the revs where the engine and everything in the deck was built toward the goal of living long enough to cast them to stabilize and lock up the game.
Value driven super friends is a legit plan, but the walkers in these colors aren't giving you the best value, and you can't protect them. If you're playing jace, maximize all his non ult abilities. The bounce is aweful in a control deck, and the filtering is basically scry+which isn't worth a card by itself, so play more delve affects and/or add super powerful cards that are worth drawing besides generic answers. Kiora is good along friends, but terrible by herself and again, her plus doesn't do anything if she never ults. The minus ensures you get value out of the card but the ramp isn't worth it if you aren't ramping into anything. Garruk is a plan by himself, so if you're gonna play him, even as a one-of, build a deck that ensures he's good enough when he hits the field.
Deckbuilding is more then just throwing cards you like into a deck. It's an art that takes careful consideration. Take this concept I threw together:
4 Sidisi, Brood Tyrant
4 Nyx Weaver
3 Brain Maggot
3 Doomwake Giant
4 Courser of Kruphix
4 Sylvan Caryatid
3 Murderous Cut
1 Whip of Erebos
2 Pharika, God of Affliction
4 Elvish Mystic
This may or may not be good, but there are clear and present plans; two in fact. The main goal is to be a constellation deck, and as a bonus, you have a GY subtheme and Sidisi has enough support to win the game by herself if you need her to.
You don't need to play this deck and you don't need to abandon the walker plan, you just need to focus your energy on one specific goal and push that goal to it's limits.
This standard format looks very tempo and synergy based and the bug builds so far are lacking that. PW aren't actually that great since Sarkhan kills almost all of them the turn he's played and he's likely gonna be one of the most played cards comeing up. Additionally, unlike block, the agro decks in standard can deal with a caryatid/courser start.
My real concern with this super friends approach to control is that there's no lingering souls. Courser and caryatid are fine for locking down ground guys, but if you tap out for a walker, you're soft in the are. Prognostic sphinx is fine, but he's a 5 drop and most of you aren't even playing that.
You're all basically building board control decks that add to the board, but don't actually control it. I suggest building around Sidisi as that cards an actual engine, win condition, and stabilizer, all at 4 mana when you need these things.
Not sure if the 1-drops good enough. The deck while aggressive isn't that aggressive; at least I don't think so. Having another turn 1 play is probably excellent though since that's generally a blank on the curve most of the time. The ideal game goes turn 2 setup, turn 3 1 or multiple fatties.
The biggest flaw is that aside from being recurrable, the champion doesn't fit into the decks theme that well and doesn't interact profitably with delve. Worth testing.
2 Hammer of Purphoros
11 Mountain
1 Chandra, Pyromaster
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
3 Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker
3 Stormbreath Dragon
1 Soul of Shandalar
3 Chained to the Rocks
4 Ashcloud Phoenix
2 Purphoros, God of the Forge
2 Crater's Claws
4 Battlefield Forge
4 Temple of Triumph
3 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
1 Mana Confluence
2 Prophetic Flamespeaker
4 Generator Servant
2 Wind-Scarred Crag
1 Chained to the Rocks
2 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
1 Reprisal
1 Banishing Light
1 Wind-Scarred Crag
3 Anger of the Gods
2 Magma Spray
1 Deicide
3 Firedrinker Satyr
1) A discard outlet like lotleth troll
2) A creature I can play from my Gy.
If I had those two things, I'd be golden. As is, the deck is still very good.