MTG Salvation

Quote from twicky_kid »

Sagu Mauler is by far the best thing I have found.

Deathtouch (only 1 creature playable has it)

End Hostilies (it will see play but they will eat a ton of damage before they can cast it)

End All Hope (probably will see 0 play even if it does see End Hostilities)

Atherspouts (doesn't really get rid of him just delays)

Also Sagu Mauler is very risky to double or triple block. Any combat trick from its controller is a complete blow out on the defending player.

It's extinguish all hope. But you forgot dead drop! I know that card is so playable :P. Not sure what kind of UGx deck has a lot of instant speed combat tricks? Doesn't sound like a good deck.

He'd be blocked pretty easily by soul of shandalar :P. I like Sagu Mauler a lot and he is difficult to answer. I bring up soul of shandalar again because, when unanswered, he's a beast in combat and directly converts excess mana into damage until you kill him, and then he can still do it one more time

I wanted to make this BUG walkers incorporating Kiora, Nissa, Jace, Ashiok and a Garruk. It looks like the development is not moving in that direction. For one it is slow and secondly the walker cards do not fuel delve (except Jace). I still think of Nissa as a great win condition, as late game you have plenty of expendable lands and she closes the game quick. The 4/4 lands may lose out to a few notables (siege rhino and polukranos) but 2 of them prevents attacks until the board tilts in your favor. Garruk has helped me lock down otherwise unwinnable games. And I like the idea of Jace providing some card filtering and fueling murderous cut and dig through time.

@ Nerf the biggest threat to ETP is probably Bile Blight which will likely see more play as there's less B removal in general. I think that was the 6th card you were going to list... Also Aetherspouts

The beefy 6 drops that I like are Sagu Mauler and Soul of Shandalar.

Sagu Mauler probably better earlier on and dodges removal... Soul is better late-game as a mana sink.

Dig through time by a mile. I'll take 2 good cards over 3 random cards any day.

Been having fun testing rabble red. Question for you rabblers: how do you deal with hornet's nest?

credit goes to Arianeira for posting this link in a Standard deck creation thread. Relevant for this thread

Sultai Is The New Esper
SHAHEEN SOORANI
9/15/14
http://www.starcitygames.com/article/29339_Sultai-Is-The-New-Esper.html

I like his list but.... He goes up to 4x bile blight and does 3x Prognostic Sphinx, along with a clever impersonator, but drops all countermagic to do so. This allows for full playsets of Courser, Thoughtseize, and Downfall.

I'm not sure about dropping counter magic, dissolve and disdainful stroke are useful. He says this is more PROACTIVE. Thoughts?

14 taplands is absurdly slow. I'd switch out 4 taplands for 4 painlands. Rijl meant cut a few painlands, not all of them. Don't use 4 opulant palace, maybe 1-2.

I'd swap sultai ascendancy for another Jace. Similar function but IMO bounce nonland permanent and ultimatting give him an edge.

Otherwise, my main concern would be aggro decks. Although I suppose that's an issue for the sideboard.

Any true control deck should want Jace now. Jace seemed terrible for months, and with delve people are like HMMMMM. Now with Dig through Time, we are going to see that card become a staple of all control decks. Jace and Dig through Time will be a big thing.

EDIT: Maybe I'm overselling it here, but in my testing Dig through time is control's best friend from Khans in a big way, and if you haven't tested with it yet, I suggest you try. Especially with Jace and/or Steam Augury.

Also anticipating more love for Ashiok. I used to dismiss the ultimate as pretty terrible, but in long drawn-out games vs. control (which are going to be running Dig through Time because that card is amazing) or the new Sultai delve stuff, exiling their entire graveyard becomes much better.

But more importantly, there's a lot of power in the 4-5 drop midrange stuff that ashiok hits. Butcher, siege rhino, polukranos, stormbreath dragon, surrak, wingmate roc etc.

Any removal heavy deck is throwing cards in the graveyard left and right. Discard spells, kills and counters. Dig through Time is SUPER viable here, as a more draw-go type of deck that's light on creatures, you can easily afford to spend 3-5 mana for a Dig. It's the place of Jace's Ingenuity, but often less mana. Especially after Steam Augury.

TRY Steam Augury / Dig Through Time. The UWR control thread is all over it.

UWR control is shaping up to be a fine control deck... post board will go up to something like 4x anger of the gods, 3x end hostilities, and additional burn like lightning strike and magma jet. Almost forgot Nyx Fleece Ram. Sounds pretty good vs. aggro to me.

UWR control is well-situated right now, Anger of the Gods kills everything in aggro decks and mana dorks of midrange decks, and end hostilities takes care of anything bigger. Dig through Time is fantastic, and even better when fueled by Steam Augury. I would guess that UWR is better situated to stomp on more of the field. But I would guess that post board, the black targeted discard of BUG should give it an edge over UWR.

How to approach aggro is giving me a headache, because I hate the idea of maindecking Drown in Sorrow. It's... OK but it's not as good as Anger of the Gods, at all. Kind of sucks when all your removal spells are double black and for the most part, 3 mana. I have considered just using Green to add more midrange beef to the deck as stabilizing blockers, but that has nothing to do with the deck's plan. That's why I thought more Ashiok, which is a nice touch... but it's not enough. With aggro decks going for T5 kills and midrange decks being able to power out 6-mana fatties on turn-3, going under your counters, it's gonna be rough.

However, I have my Ashioks, Nissas, and Kioras in hand! So I am somewhat committed to making the BUG PW Control work

If this deck does become a thing, I'd SB Back to Nature real quick. Even if I had a courser out, I'd gladly nuke it to destroy your entire board. The card is a big liability and with the wedges, a lot of people have access to green.

Dig through Time is amazing and IMO way better than treasure cruise. One less card, but instant speed and look through 7?

We should find it in every U containing control deck